Written by Patrick Hart

 

Immediate Past President Tom Zengeler presided at this week’s meeting, and we opened with a pledge, a prayer, and an acapella rendition of ”America the Beautiful.”

 

Seb Karasu announced that her son was married in Turkey, and that she gets along very well with her new daughter-in-law.

 

Richard Babjak bragged that his daughter got a job with Goldman Sachs and that he will receive a new knee on Thursday, which considering that I did not get this bulletin out until Friday must have already happened.  I hope it went well.

 

Doug Fendon mentioned that he had done a lot of traveling in the past six weeks.  He also informed us that his daughter has Covid, but that she is recovering well.

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

On September 29 in lieu of a morning meeting, we will be holding a packing event at Feed My Starving Children that evening, followed by a social gathering.  Due to Covid restrictions, you must sign up in advance, if you will be attending

 

At our wine tasting event on October 2 and October 9, we still need volunteers and sponsors.

 

On September 15 we will be holding a club assembly.

 

Our board meeting this month will be on September 21.  Our district governor, Kevin Stevens will be attending the board meeting, and he will also be present at our morning meeting on September 22.

 

We received thank you notes from Center for Enriched Living and from David Adler Cultural Center, two charities which we supported this year.

 

Scott Hezner reported that the American Legion used our contribution for painting and repairs in their facility.

 

Diana Taylor conducted a trivia quiz on modern music based around a recent musical event in Chicago.  She was shocked that we knew most of the answers, but she was not impressed enough to lower the fine below three dollars.

 

 

Chief Ed Roncone of the Libertyville Police Department spoke to us this week. Ed is a thirty-one year veteran of the Libertyville Police Department, who recently became chief.  The Libertyville Police Department has forty-eight employees, including forty sworn officers.  Chief Roncone focused his talk on three topics;  how the department has responded to Covid, recent legislation that affects policing, and the challenge of police recruiting.

 

Response to Covid: Covid has placed a lot of additional burdens on running a police department.  They had to alter work patterns, they have to frequently disinfect vehicles, and police officers are now required to wear masks, whenever they are in contact with the public,

 

New Legislation: The Illinois Criminal Justice Reform Bill passed in 2021 contains a number of rules that are designed to curb police abuse of the public.  Among its provisions, the bill forbids police in Illinois from using choke holds; it requires a verbal warning before officers may use chemicals to disperse crowds, and it disallows the practice of arresting a person for resisting arrest, who has not been charged with a crime.  There is also a provision in the law which enables a citizen to file a complaint against the police without an affidavit, and police officers are now required to intervene when a fellow officer uses excessive force.  Chief Roncone does not believe that Libertyville will have too much difficulty adjusting to the mandates of the legislation, because his department already has policies in place which are intended to avoid police abuse against members of the public, and he does not think that the adjustments required to comply with the new law will be that significant.

 

Recruiting: Recruiting is also a constant part of the chief’s job, and meeting this responsibility is becoming more of a challenge for the Libertyville Police Department.  In the past there was a large overabundance of applicants for police positions, but recently this is not nearly as true as it once was.  He also has to deal with the time lag that is required to put police officers on the job. It takes approximately eighteen months to train and break in a police officer.

 

RAFFLE: Bob Zamor failed to win the $972.00 progressive pot, but hopefully he did not become too discouraged to participate in next week’s drawing, because we need more of his money.  Meanwhile Doug Fendon won the $24.00 weekly drawing, which might help pay for some  of his trip.

 

Greeter and Prayer:  Tucker Olson

 

Fun and Frolics:  Robert Zamor 

 

The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of tiny pushes of each honest worker.  ― Helen Keller