Meeting Recap for Tuesday, August 19, 2014

We got "stoned" to start this meeting, with Ray Stone (Senior Living) providing the libations for our wine reception and Paul Stone (retired and loving it) offering the overture. (Mike Bullington then echoed with his own delightful lilting rhythms at the piano.)

The meeting itself began with surgical precision precisely at 12:15, courtesy of Past President Skip “One-night stand” Lawrence doing his best impersonation of President Susan. He managed us well, marching through the agenda with aplomb and eloquent alacrity.  

First up was Dana Jones with our Thought for the Day. Dana reminded us of our collective heritage, as embodied in our state and national parks. She cited President Abraham Lincoln, who established the first state park at Yosemite and nearby Big Tree Grove in 1864.  “People die. The land remains,” he said at the time. Amen, Abe.

Speaking of amen's, we paused for an important and somber remembrance of two of our colleagues. Both Mary Healy and Bill Underwood passed away recently. Mary's passing came unexpectedly, and arrangements for her services are not yet set. Services for Bill will be Aug 28th, 1:00 pm, at Fremont Presbyterian Church, 5770 Carlson Drive, Sacramento. We will miss them both.

Next up, Dick Osen led us in another superlative rendition of America the Beautiful. Then Sgt-at-arms John Lemmon did the needful, introducing our guests, prospective members and visiting Rotarians.

Thanks to Todd Andrews, our meeting sponsor for the day, we heard from Eileen Thomas, executive director of River City Food Bank. Hers is an excellent program for our community and deserves our interest and support.

At 12:30 pm sharp by your correspondent's watch (read "iPhone") Past President "One-day-only" Skip released us into Rotary Fellowship. Always the best part of the meeting (with the possible exception of the wine reception) this intrepid Pulse reporter subsequently heard at table:

“I’m a senior. You say you wanna take my pulse?” (Alan Markis)

“Who writes this stuff really?” (Dave McKie)

“I used to be a long-haired hippy weirdo.” (Dan McVeigh)

Meeting announcements followed:

• Clayton Lee. Lots of travel opportunities with ½ price trips to Jamaica, Nepal, Cambodia, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Ethiopia—all in the next few months. So, contact Clayton to sign up!!
• PP Beverley Brautigam. She and PP Hal “world's most famous BBQ griller” Bartholomew host their annual Swim/BBQ Sunday, Aug 24th. 3:00 pm. Their place in Elk Grove. (Check the roster.)
• Allison Cagley, Sacramento Century Volunteers. We partner with Habitat for Humanity for a house build this October. Be involved!
• Tom Chase. Hurry! Tickets are almost sold out for Jersey Boys, Oct 4th; 54 signed up so far.
• Kellie Dockendorf, Children’s Receiving Home, impersonated Gary McDonald to advertise our next Brown Bag Day, October 14th. Contact her, Gary or the office if you wish to host.

Right on the hack at 12:52 pm, PP Skip solicited for Levels of Risk (Community Service). Jim Relles and Lev Kaganovich gave generously of their spirit. Peter Dannenfelser volunteered his golf foursome to be collective ultra-light fliers.

At 12:58 pm Chair of the Day Judge Bill Shubb introduced our speaker, Mr. Benjamin Wagner, U. S. Attorney, Eastern District of California. Mr. Wagner spoke to the federal perspective on national crime, including the recent Smart-on-Crime Program. It was an excellent presentation--clear, well organized, cogent and interesting. Key points:

• The past decade has seen a trend toward more nuanced sentencing guidelines, especially for narcotics convictions.
• Reasons for the trend vary and include changing projections of the criminal threat, the fiscal impact of increasing prison populations since 1980, legal developments pursuant to US Supreme Court decisions (chiefly US v. Booker [2005] and Alleyne vs. US [2013]), and a greater sense of fairness for treatment of the accused.
• The Smart-on-Crime Program is part of this trend. A bipartisan initiative, the program entails changes for prosecutors in charging, sentencing and assessing public risk. It further includes:
  1. A realization that federal law enforcement can’t do it all. Federal priorities thus are:
     • National security
     • Violent crime prosecution and conviction
     • Financial fraud
     • Defense of the most vulnerable
  2. Prosecution strategies that provide greater differentiation of cases. Intent is to provide judges with better sentencing options, affecting outcomes by district.
  3. Initiatives to do a better job reducing recidivism.

As we wrapped up, Sgt-at-arms John Lemmon advertised our next meeting: August 25th at the Red Lion again. Dan Walters, Sacto Bee, will speak to us on the State of the State.

At 1:32 pm, Past President "Definitely one-day-only" Skip adjourned us with the closing bell. RLD