Rotary Meeting, May 17, 2022
WELCOME/GAVEL IN
PRESIDENT BOB MILLER (First US Community Credit Union) gaveled the meeting at 12:10pm, welcoming all to today’s meeting as he and Tears for Fears reminded us that everybody (especially PRESIDENT BOB) wants to rule the world.
THANK YOUS
PRESIDENT BOB thanked this meeting’s greeters TOM BACON (BCRE-Bacon Commercial Real Estate) and MEGAN WYGANT (CLARA Studios), tunesmith ELFRENA FOORD for pre-meeting music, and BOB ROSENBERG (Inve$tnet Inc.) for sponsoring the Wine Reception. He also thanked Pulse Reporter JOHN MCINTYRE (Mercy Foundation) and photographer JOHN SWENTOWSKY (Swentowsky Photography) for capturing images from today’s meeting.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
LARRY CARMICHAEL (Salvation Army), apropos of today’s discussion of justice ultimately (and eventually) prevailing over abject evil, cited the quote (the provenance of which is in dispute, but it’s awesome anyway), “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that: good men do nothing.” LARRY challenged us as Rotarians to work toward a more just and equitable society and further challenged us with the rhetorical question, “How is your courage?”
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
PRESIDENT BOB led the Rotarians in saluting the flag and our country.
INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS
PRESIDENT BOB invited Sgt.-at-Arms-for-the-day PAUL KEEFER to introduce guests:
- PAST PRESIDENT SUSAN SHERIDAN had a delegation from Habitat for Humanity as her guests: LAINE HIMMELMAN, KATHY SEVERSON, MATHEW ROMSA, and CHRIS PLATZ.
- Guest JAMI LOUIS WHITE (Louis White Law)
- Guest STEPHEN WHITE (Howard Medical)
- Guest OYANGO SNELL (California Lawyers Assn.)
- Prospective ROTARIAN SEAN O’BRIEN (Raymond James)
- Incoming member DEIDRE JOHNSON (OAH: Administrative Law Judge retired, (formerly DRE Staff Counsel)
HEAD TABLE
PRESIDENT BOB announced those who graced the dais today:
- Meeting Sponsor PAST PRESIDENT SUSAN SHERIDAN
- PRESIDENT BOB
- Speaker THIEN HO (Sacramento County District Attorney Office)
- Chair of the Day PAST PRESIDENT WALTER DAHL (Dahl Law)
MEETING SPONSOR
PRESIDENT BOB introduced PAST PRESIDENT SUSAN SHERIDAN, who yielded her time to LAINE HIMMELMAN of Habitat for Humanity. LAINE provided the following updates: 77,000 low-income families in Sacramento need affordable housing. She acknowledged the recent “Rock the Block” event with 500 volunteers who collaborated to repair 22 homes in Oak Park. She also shared news of the Cornerstone Development soon underway, which will feature 18 single-family homes and with their partner Mutual Housing providing 108 rental units. She said Sept. 24 will be the occasion of the Habitat Gala at the Sutter Club and encouraged those who are interested to get tickets/tables soon, as the event will sell out. She lastly encouraged interest in the ReStore, which is where Habitat will take gently-used household items, which are then offered for sale in the ReStore – discount cards were on each table.
ATTENCH HUT!! - SPECIAL GUEST APPEARANCE MAY 24, 2022
RCOS Armed Forces Day is next week, May 24th. KITTY O’NEAL of KFBK fame will be our guest Master of Ceremonies (M/C) for this special event. In order to honor those that have served, we are asking veterans that have uniforms that still fit to wear them. If a member brings a currently serving guest in uniform that person’s lunch is complimentary. Our guest speaker is MAJOR MIKE MEEK, a C-17 Combat Airlift Instructor Pilot from Travis AFB. Be there or risk getting drafted. ADVANCE REGISTRATION ENCOURGAGED. Click here for a special preview of the Armed Forces Day meeting
CLUB ANNOUNCEMENTS
- MAGGIE HOPKINS (Premier Realty and Capital Premier Lending) introduced a World Vision video regarding their aim to ensure all have access to clean drinking water by 2030.
- BOBBY REED (Capitol Tech Solutions) thanked all for participation in Golf 4 Kids. He noted a survey would be coming and encouraged all to check out the remaining Silent Auction items. BOBBY also noted the upcoming American River Parkway Cleanup – let’s go!
- JOHN SWENTOWSKY reminded everyone next week’s special “ARMED FORCES DAY” event will start at 12:05 – ten minutes earlier than usual – so plan accordingly.
NEW MEMBER INTRODUCTION!
GABRIEL GENDRON (Coldwell Banker) provided an introduction of newly re-minted member-again HEIDI HERSHENHOUSE-CORBETT (Sacramento Valley Nonprofit) who returns to the friendly confines of RCOS after time spent in reflection (yoga), travel, and marriage – a welcome return!
LET’S GO FOR A RUN
- PAST PRESIDENT JON SNYDER (Snyder Commercial Real Estate) noted that, after working in the trenches of Broadway in NYC, JON’s son would be hitting the big time by performing as BOBBY BIGELOW in “Carousel” at the Music Circus this summer.
- BOB ROSENBERG celebrated a festival of familial academic success.
- HEIDI HERSHENHOUSE-CORBETT showed she hasn’t lost her chops by chipping in, in honor of her welcome return to friends and club.
- SURENDER SINGAL recognized his daughter for her commitment to her mom, ferrying her to and from medical appointments – clearly successfully, as mom is doing much better.
- BUDDY HUBBERT (Mother Lode Capital) celebrated his daughter’s wedding.
- PAUL KEEFER (Pacific Charter Institute) acknowledged his son’s participation in the Rugby 7’s Collegiate Championship where his University of San Diego Toreros prevailed as national champs.
- LAINE HIMMELMAN celebrated her partner GIULIANO KORNBERG’s quick and intrepid action to replace the four leads for the Sacramento Opera when they all caught COVID. His success was remarkable and speaks to his pluck – and the show went on!
- ELFRENA FOORD encouraged all to check out the Habitat ReStore – noting that she’s seen how Susan Sheridan had furnished her own home with ReStore products.
DISTRICT CONFERENCE
PRESIDENT BOB took a moment to celebrate the club’s success at the District Conference, including having 18 Rotarians attend, which seemed to be an all-time high. He also celebrated several awards for the club: Bronze for Club Administration, Silver for Youth Services, and Golds for Rotary Foundation, International Service, and Public Image. CLAYTON LEE was recognized by Rotary International for his "Meritorious Service".
SPEAKER INTRODUCTION
PAST PRESIDENT WALTER DAHL then introduced speaker THIEN HO, a former Vietnamese refugee who became the first member of his family to attend college at UC Davis, then went on to the University of the Pacific’s McGeorge School of Law. PAST PRESIDENT DAHL noted that MR. HO played a key role in the prosecution of the East Area Rapist, JOSEPH DEANGELO, whose reign of terror lasted from 1974-86.
A VISIT WITH THIEN HO. ESQ.
THIEN, the Asst. Chief Deputy District Attorney for Sacramento County, played a pivotal in convicting East Area Rapist (among other hyperbolic monikers) JOSEPH DEANGELO.
Before launching into a discussion of the East Area Rapist, THIEN shared his background. THIEN and his family escaped in dangerous circumstances from Vietnam by boat and were almost out of food and water when rescued by a French vessel. They were refugees in Malaysia and emigrated to Stockton. When THIEN and his family arrived in Stockton, they did not speak English.
THIEN laid out the spectrum of DEANGELO’s depredations – particularly heinous given his law enforcement background – over the duration of his provable incidents of evil: 13 murders, 50+ rapes, 120 burglaries in 13 different law-enforcement jurisdictions throughout California. THIEN described DEANGELO’s modus operandi, which was to ransack a home, eat the household’s food, drink their beer, and steal one earring, leaving the other as his signature. THIEN said DEANGELO often spent hours in the victims’ homes, tormenting the victims inflicting severe emotional injuries. His rampage began in Visalia in 1974. He committed a series of crimes there, while he was also part of the law enforcement team assigned to find out who was committing these crimes. Because he had a ‘near miss’ encounter with a fellow officer, he left Visalia. DEANGELO then moved to Rancho Cordova, where he attacked and murdered a young couple and, while escaping, was aware that he had been seen without his mask. The East Area Rapist then moved on to Contra Costa County, where he committed another series of crimes there, and continued committing further crimes in Santa Barbara, Ventura, and Orange County – and then back to Santa Barbara for additional crimes.
Advances in genetic testing, use of genetic genealogical testing, and a lot of gumshoe investigation, puzzle-making, including searching census and other records, together led law enforcement to narrow their potential likely suspects down to DEANGELO. They needed to confirm it was him by getting samples of his DNA. They accomplished this by gathering his garbage and matching his DNA to a prior rape kit, which resulted in a firm hit.
THIEN headed up the prosecution of DEANGELO and successfully saw to DEANGELO’s conviction on a trove of serious and capital offenses, ensuring that he will never leave prison and providing victims and families some sense of closure and justice.
NEXT MEETING
After thanking THIEN HO for his presentation, PRESIDENT BOB called on Sergeant-at-Arms stand-in PAUL KEEFER, who announced that our next meeting would be at the usual spot and reminded all that the meeting will start 10 minutes early – at 12:05pm – as part of Armed Forces Day.
PRESIDENT BOB concluded the meeting at 1:30pm.
UPCOMING MEETINGS AT A GLANCE!
05/24/2022 – Don’t miss VETERANS ARMED FORCES DAY
05/31/2022 – Dark
06/07/2022 – VLAD SKOTS – Ukrainian American House UAHOUSE.ORG
06/14/2022 - RYAN & ALEXIS SMITH – Room Redux