Author Dick Bourne
Get Up and Go
July 9, 2021
By Dick Bourne
As we gathered live this warm July morning, incoming President David Copp confidently led off his first meeting by blowing his squeeze-bulb horn as a substitute bell- then searching for visiting Rotarians and guests. We had no VR’s, but had two non-speaker guests: David’s wife Marina Oshana, attending via Zoom; and with us live was Meaghan Likes’ niece Neveah. Also with us, to be introduced later, was guest speaker Kara Hunter.
After these introductions, David immediately noted, with pride, the breakfast of waffles and his preferred bacon variant (Canadian); and then our leader/north-border ex-patriot flashed a postcard from Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, congratulating David on his leadership ascension. David’s end line and quiz query: What do Canadians call these ham slices? The immediate quiz responder/awardee was Clay Brandow with the correct “bac bacon.” (OK, maybe there’s another “k” in there...) On to Announcements!
Sir David called on Treasurer Tom Read, caught off guard refilling his caffeinator cup, whose quick “bac talk”: “NOT YET SIR!” clearly earned some respect from his new superior. Brodie Hamilton restored the meeting flow by offering up Octoberfest data: 10/9, 5:45 PM in Central Park; maybe with an “outside” caterer...suggestions to Brodie will be welcome. Will the semi-retired Sudwerks team have a chance at this German-themed extravaganza?
A recharged Tom Read discussed our financial status and obligations, now that “we are back to some normalcy.” Annual dues of $180 cover July through June, and yes, are payable now. Where do all our dues go? Mostly to our District (5160) and to Rotary International, with the remainder needed for club operations (PETS, website, etc. and for meeting charges (guests, speakers) uncovered by our breakfast payments. He’s no longer invoicing; it is up to members to keep up, and we can pay any way we want. But please, “no animated icons” in Venmo! (Now I must research what these are, and why they might be unpopular with our faithful treasurer; I suspect these are actually lively, lewd emojis that might offend the circumspect.)
One presidential promise is the adaptation of the former and too-seldom-used “impro-per” into the clarified “Who am I?“ series that began this morning with our much-beloved Gretchen Peralta, who David noted is now honored to serve on the District 5160 nominating committee. Greatly condensing her compelling life story, Gretchen told of her upbringing in Southern California, by parents who taught her to “laugh and love at all times”; and with siblings who taught her to “always come home from the party with a girlfriend” (enough said). In her early career she worked in a trauma ICU in San Francisco, married, had two kids, and started her own business. She is no longer a wife but has spent 50 years as a nurse. She is mother to an English teacher in Oakland, who aspires to be an author (she’ll let us know when and where to buy the first book); her 2nd struggles with mental health, and is usually in Davis. She was captivated with nursing partly due to her fascination with the self-healing of bodies! Rotary is a major part of her life; she has especially enjoyed her international travel for Rotary and its causes. Rotary makes her feel good, and she loves having such a large support group (us...perhaps she’s ignoring that she alone is an entire support group for US...?), Despite recent retirement, Gretchen confessed that “nursing is still in my heart! I am...ME!” What a perfect kickoff for David’s “IAMS” campaign. And next, David called up (LOOK OUT!) Sergeant MANNY! Carbahal.
Striding forward ringing a big cowbell, Manny started unusually seriously, with a moment of silence for former member Bob McCormick who passed away recently in Hawaii. After the shared silence flowed many Happy Bucks, including those from:
- Andrew Newman: for an Olympia “Compact 2” typewriter received from Ray Sullivan.
- Nancy Storm: for re-opened restaurants including Ella’s, DeVere’s, and Tower Café; she’s also happy for Mack Walker to pick up a secret envelope (it’s still secret from us).
- Keith Watenpaugh: for his family’s successful 200-mile sailing trip down the Coast; and for a recent “low six-figure grant” from Mastercard Foundation, to help with refugee academic mobility in Rwanda- primarily for refugees from Burundi and Congo.
- Tim Daleiden: for a great demotion dinner; Tim then snuck in an announcement that certain members still need to pay Tom Read for the event (though Tom later recommended that checks go to Tim). At this point, Manny interjected “How many have of you have ignored an email from Tim?” This jibe was to remind us that Nugget had indeed ignored an email from Tim; hence, no catered Demotion food would have arrived without fast action by Mack Walker, who hustled over and convinced Nugget to throw something together quickly for our event.
- Mack Walker: for how well Nugget responded; meanwhile, retired Nugget Czar Dennis Lindsay professed innocence of the entire matter (we expected at least a small nugget of inside info!).
- Rick Stromberg- for a recent family trip to Hawaii- with everyone passing the Covid “swab test” for the flights.
- Gretchen: for Tim’s frequent donations for the homeless, and also for Manny’s (“He probably has no t-shirts left”); and for Meaghan’s constant willingness to help her, mostly with computer questions.
- Bruce Wolk: for almost achieving our EREY (Every Rotarian Every Year) Foundation goal, and for more contributions than ever before in our history; his “thanks!” generated much applause in response.
- Jeff Adamski: for past VIP treatment from Gretchen in ER- he generously offered up a big Benji in Happy Bucks toward her Paul Harris!
- Rose Cholewinski: for success of her Aquastars synchronized swim club, started 15 years ago, that persevered through the past year; it’s an Olympic sport, so maybe we’ll someday see one of her Aquastars on the US team. Manny prompted much laughter with his reference to Chuck Snipes’ and Tyson Hubbard’s dipping and dabbling in synchronized swimming.
- Don Winters: for currently fishing at a cool 7200’ altitude; kindly and cruelly donating a dollar for each degree cooler there than here ($25)
With Happy Bucks dwindling at last, Manny asked David “what car do philosophy graduates drive?” There appeared to be no fine for missing the obvious answer: an Uber!!
But wait! More Happy Bucks-
- Clay Brandow: for a quick reversal; kids came down from Portland last week to beat the heat; now he and Brooke are returning the favor!
- Andrew Newman: happy to donate $1 for each Rotarian who experienced yesterday’s quake; the final tally is not yet confirmed.
With a few ready “directed fines” up his sleeve, Manny asked Brodie about our missing Sunrise Rotary “sandwich board”. Brodie declared innocence but Nancy Storm admitted guilt. The contraption has been sequestered in the Design House warehouse, but it came alive this morning for all to see. In Joke #2, Manny asked David how to get a philosophy grad off the front porch. Most of us again missed the obvious answer- “Pay for the Pizza!”
After Manny’s “fine time” as sergeant, Ken Firestone introduced our speaker, Kara Hunter of
The Yolo Conflict Resolution Center (YCRC), which is at work encouraging and implementing “Restorative Justice” (RJ). Kara has 20 years of experience as a mediator and problem-solver, has donated hundreds of volunteer hours for social causes, and...perhaps planting restorative seeds, learned to drive a tractor before a car!
Kara admitted right away to the thrill of speaking again in person, before conveying the essence of the restorative justice concept. Their work occupies a unique space in community services, since they enter people’s lives at “the worst moments,” sometimes when the conflict involves crime. Restorative justice is a relatively new term that is gradually becoming better understood (thanks to presentations like this one!). The concept’s roots are not new, going back thousands of years all over the world and widely used by the Maoris and Navajos. It basically deals with three key questions: How should we respond to wrongdoing? What needs to happen? What does justice require?
Kara compared the approaches of restorative justice (RJ) and criminal justice (CJ), as follows:
CJ: What laws have been broken? By whom? What punishment is deserved? (
RJ: Who has been hurt? What are their needs? Whose obligations are these?
She noted that where it works, RJ is cheaper, has lower recidivism, and results in more transformation of peoples’ lives. The challenge is that most wrongdoers don’t know how to have the conversation. In criminal cases, RJ puts keys decisions in the hands of the folks most involved in and affected by the crime. She cited a recent (and first for their organization) manslaughter case where RJ caused significantly better results, confirming that the practice can make justice more healing and transformative; reducing the likelihood of future offenses.
The overview is that RJ is victim-centered, providing a better chance for understanding and closure, with hope for consensus that it won’t happen again. (Often they knew each other before the conflict.) The process often also seeks to know what the offender needs; again, to help prevent recurrences.
Typically, the process involves a conference with the following sequence:
- Both sides tell their stories, with the victim deciding who goes first.
- Next, a focus on “How do we make it right?” The facilitator guides brainstorming here.
- The sides make an agreement; and the facilitator gets commitments from each.
The case is considered finished if the offender lives up to the agreements; if it began as a court case, the case can then be dismissed.
Kara stopped for questions at this point and David immediately asked about recidivism, noting our annual problem with stolen bells, disturbing our smooth presidential transitions in Rotary. Kara wisely sidestepped this question and proceeded to the following queries from the floor:
Andrew Newman: How does RJ deal with the family of the perpetrator, who are victims as well? A: Yes, they are indirect victims, and they may also participate in the process to emphasize the scope of the offender’s damage.
Don Winters: Does the organization look at other ways to benefit the community? A- Yes, by also bringing in community members as indirect victims; Kara used as an example a drunk in the street one night who she almost hit with her car, noting the possible damage to both.
Manny Carbahal: “Ha, thanks for missing me!” Does a successful RJ outcome wipe my record clean? A- Yes, at least of that offense.
Marina Oshana (through Carolyn Stiver): How do you know the “storied” facts are real? A- That’s not the goal, which is to reach an agreement; but they do pre-conference work to be sure folks are “coming clean” about the facts. The intent is for the other side to hear the story. The facilitators are trained for 20+ hours to know how to make the process work successfully.
Lori Raineri: She and Jim Grieshop have volunteered for the “neighborhood court” (NC) process that DA Jeff Reisig described to us- how do the two programs interact? A- their referrals do come from the DA’s office; they work with Jeff; but the original NC process wasn’t quite RJ. The YCRC now trains the volunteers for the DA’s office. But the RJ cases typically are not appropriate for NC.
With questions exhausted, Kara received a notable round of applause and a grinning Prez David uttered a further notable hope that she could solve our bell problem. What about the book signing? Justice will be served if we restore this feature and present The Little Book of Restorative Justice by Howard Zehr to our children’s library (this was heavy-duty scribal research), hopefully signed by Kara.
And now, to set the table for this academic year’s program conclusions! No more kids jokes, we will now end with philosophy puzzles. This week’s is as follows (and there is one answer to all): 1. How can the golden gate not be golden? 2. How can Cat Stevens not be a cat? 3. How can the Bell not be a bell? An after-meeting communication from our doctor of philosophy clarifies that he plans to disseminate puzzling answers in his Thursday pre-meeting reminders, so you should work to solve it and convey your brilliance to David Copp in advance of his Thursday missiles!
No book, but the draw-of-the-day endures. Meaghan’s niece Neveah drew last digits #036, and lucky Dave Morse won...a free breakfast; will it include “bac bacon” again? Come and see...we were dismissed to a Friday headed for 108 degrees F (much cooler than projected for Saturday), with David’s ring of Manny’s cowbell instead of a toot of his own squeeze-bulb horn.