On September 21 we had one guest who was Eduardo Espinoza, a senior at Northeastern Illinois University and guest of Dirk Tussing.
Robert Mardirossian gave the “thought of the day” and wished everyone a Happy Rosh Hashanah. Robert also was celebrating his birthday, his 23 years as a very active Rotarian, and his retirement from the Counseling Center of the North Shore. He, along with Liz Taylor, who also is celebrating a birthday, requested that we all sing the Beatles song “When I’m Sixty-Four,” with special emphasis on the lyrics “when I get older losing my hair, will you still need me, will you still feed me when I’m sixty-four”. Robert and Liz were thanked for all their contributions to Rotary and a special cake was provided in their honor.
ANNOUNCEMENTS: Our District Governor Don Brewer will be attending our Club’s Board and membership meetings on October 5th.
HAPPY BUCKS: Liz, Dr. John Stone, Rich Lalley and Heather Higgins all donated HB. Rich explained that his Operation Warm distribution of coats and children’s books through an inner- city library will take place in late October-early November and is being supported with a $1000 grant from the Chicago Community Trust. He was also excited about a friend of his in the Chicago Stagehand’s Union who arranged for another generous contribution to permit this same type of coat/children book distribution at a Lawndale library on November 4th. The kids have to pick up their coats and books at these libraries and he encouraged our members to attend these important events.
SPEAKER: Chief Bill Lustig, head of the Northfield Police Department, has spent 36 years with the Northfield Police Department. He started out developing the Officer Friendly program to improve relations between the police and the community youth. As he progressed through the ranks to his current position of Chief, he continued to build positive relationships with all of Northfield’s residents, businesses, and visitors. Dirk and our guest Eduardo were especially pleased to hear that Chief was a graduate of Northeastern Illinois University. Chief Lustig explained the problem that North Shore suburbs had this last summer with car burglaries and theft. There were about 55 cars burglarized and 5 stolen, primarily by about 80 teenagers from Chicago gangs (ages 12-18). Contributing to this spree was that many people on the North Shore still have an unrealistic notion of security—they tend to leave their cars and homes unlocked. This notion has to be changed in order to minimize this type of crime. The street gangs know that juveniles have special protection under Cook County laws—they don’t have to give their names or other information to police when questioned; and usually police do not give chase to them unless they are caught in the act of committing a crime. Even if they are arrested and prosecuted they are usually given light penalties like community service. That’s why the gangs have these youngsters doing this type of activity. Chief Lustig also explained the local police departments’ duty under the new Illinois Trust Act which prevents them from retaining any undocumented person unless they have committed a crime in this State. Chief also explained how 911 now has been combined into one facility in Glenview. The local dispatchers once assigned to our villages have been released and the calls are all received in Glenview. Regarding speeding motorists on Edens and Willow within Northfield’s City limits, Chief explained why it is so difficult to control the speeding motorcyclists who apparently start at the McDonald’s on Ohio street in Chicago and race up to the Wisconsin state line and back to McDonald’s—mostly done between midnight and 2:00 am. Because Northfield has such a small section of Eden’s in its jurisdiction, it is difficult to clock and catch the speeding cyclist. He said there is only one State trooper patrolling Edens to the Wisconsin border during these hours and that the State has approximately 700 fewer state troopers than were employed in the past. On Willow Road in Northfield, the police department is trying to keep the speeds down close to 35 or 40 MPH due to the schools, parks and churches along that road. Speed meters are used to show who is speeding and the department has resorted to parking empty police cars along Willow Road (and even one with a Spider Man behind the steering wheel) in order to keep the speeds somewhat reasonable. Northfield only gets about 10-15% of the revenues from speeding tickets and by the time it pays an officer to take time to go to court, it actually costs Northfield to ticket drivers on Willow. It has given out about 7000 tickets over the last two years. Regarding drug problems in our suburban schools, Chief says that it is a constant problem existing in all the schools. In the junior high schools, the biggest problem is kids usually their parents’ pills from their medicine cabinets. But in high schools when kids have money, there is a lot spent on illegal drugs. It’s a problem that needs education and constant attention. In answer to a question whether police should be called when you see an unusual person doing strange things in public, he said that you should always feel free to call the police, but you need to realize these people also have rights. If they are not violating the law, the police may observe them but will not arrest them. He said that our State is very short of mental health facilities/providers and that is where many of these people should receive assistance.