Meeting Recap for June 2, 2015
Posted by Kevin Williams
on Jun 04, 2015
President Susan Sheridan called the meeting to order and recognized PP Beverly Brautigam for donating the wine reception vino, and gave kudos to Dick Wertz for his stellar, pre-meeting piano entertainment. She reported that Dan Cole is recovering well from hip surgery and will be back in action in a few weeks, and also saluted JD Lauppe on his 22nd anniversary as a Rotarian.
With numerous law enforcement personnel in the room, Dennis Smith provided an apt Thought for the Day whereupon we were called to pray for all victims of crimes, for the offenders, for those who make building communities a priority, and of course, for our brave law enforcement officers.
Dick Osen led the group in a spirited rendition of God Bless America with Dick reaching for – and successfully hitting – the high notes at song’s end.
Sergeant-at-arms John Lemmon introduced guests of Rotarians, prospective & visiting members and thanked today’s greeters, Allison Cagley and Ron Crane.
President Susan then introduced the head table and paid special tribute to Jessica Salomon, a recent Cal grad and recipient of a Rotary scholarship to study at Cambridge over the next school year. Susan noted just some of Jessica’s many accomplishments to date and presented her with a blue jacket to represent Rotary in England.
President Susan also saluted Sgt. Dave Gutierrez, recipient of the 2015 Service Above Self award for his humility, sense of purpose and helping others. She cited his volunteerism and recounted his numerous off-duty, life-saving heroics. Sgt. Gutierrez accepted the award on behalf of law enforcement officers throughout the country, including the Citrus Heights Police Department.
It was then on to club announcements…and there were many!
Bob Miller led off his Golf 4 Kids reminder with an inspiring video narrated by Rob Scherer. The video featured interviews with the principal of the Ralph Richardson Center as well as teachers and even thanks from some of the children who directly benefit from the financial support of Rotary and Golf 4 Kids. Rotary “movie stars” in the video were Chris Ann Bachtel, Skip Lawrence, Jon Snyder & PP Peter Dannenfelser II.
Jim Phillips promoted this Saturday’s Yosemite (Glacier Point) hike, Elfrena Foord reminded everyone that there’s only four weeks left before President Susan’s “Kick Out” party, teasing Plates Café as the location for the end-of-month event, and Bruce Hester saluted District Governor Fred Teichert as this month’s membership drive winner.
Steven Walker invited his fellow Rotarians to skydive with him on July 11th in Davis on the occasion of his 1,000th (!) jump, Mike Bullington promoted ballroom dancing this Saturday night as well as bi-monthly dance lessons, Rick Davis reminded us about volunteering opportunities for the Habitat build, and John Swentowsky mentioned both the need for volunteers at Loaves and Fishes as well as our softball team’s late-inning, 7-run rally to secure a narrow victory and preserve our team’s undefeated record. Last, but not least, Rick Osen reminded the group about the upcoming Son’s Day on June 16th.
Next up was giving…Robyn DeLong was cited by President Susan as being in numerous publications for her latest Masters Club achievement, Frank Cook for his recent full-page ad, Clayton Lee’s SacBee mention of his bocce tourney prowess, Paul Bystrowski’s recent merger, and Mike Bullington saluting the Citrus Heights Police Department’s recent James Q. Wilson Award for Excellence in Community Policing.
Chair of the Day Kim Mueller then introduced our featured speaker, District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert, who along with Laboratory Director Jill Spriggs gave us an intriguing presentation on forensic DNA, focusing on the areas of cold case murders, charging suspects through DNA evidence, and the use of familial searching in helping solve cases.
Schubert noted that “my passion is forensic DNA,” adding that “DNA is the greatest tool ever given to the criminal justice system.” She and Spriggs took turns citing numerous high-profile cases in the Sacramento region going back to the 1970’s that went unsolved until the advent of DNA forensic analysis.
Schubert went on to praise what’s known as the DNA “databank” for its archive of 60,000 crime scene samples, of which 35,000 cases to date have been solved. Spriggs provided both a humorous (and slightly unnerving) fact that a glass of water may contain DNA from no fewer than five different people, so we were admonished to always use a straw!