Posted by Bill Kopper on Apr 26, 2019
 
 
Weekly News & Views by: David Morse
Photographs by: Jim Patsy Inouye
News and Views – By Dave Morse
 
April 26, 2019.   Lot’s of talk in basement of Odd Fellows Hall; breakfast included scrambled eggs, hash browns, bacon, cinnamon bread and watermelon. President Rose Cholewisnki is away, coaching youths in Honduras. Dennis Lindsay filled in for Rose. He rang the bell, and we sang “Smile” and “America the Beautiful.”
Announcements
Dick Berry reminded members that seven tickets to our May 18th Ribs and Rotary event will be distributed to each member at next week’s meeting.  Members have one week to sell, buy or return tickets and money.
Grad night and our traditional set up and take down of “China Road,” June 13 and 14, thank you Marc Thompson.  
 
Meghan Likes and Mark Thompson played a short video staring Meghan and noon club member Greg Phister.   This will be the 41st annual Turkey BBQ (Ribs & Rotary). Our Rotary Clubs have collected $825,000 over the last 41 years.  Probably much more adjusted for inflation.
 
Sgt. of the day Sydney Vergis called for Happy Bucks.
Jim Griesop visited his forth-grandson in North Carolina.
Andrew Newman noted that Gary Johns also won Andrew’s March Madness contest.  Andrew’s system allows you to pick the winners. Gary donated his winnings.
 
Meghan Likes thanked Gretchen Peralta for picking up Ribs and Rotary Tickets, Marc Thompson for the video and Mark Pratt for collecting money. Irena Asmundson had a sharing experience with 14 and 15 year olds.  Your reporter didn’t catch why ArnieWolf is happy.  Sid Ron is happy to be going to San Francisco to watch his son play soccer. David Murphy survived his first venture of snowshoes.
 
Sgt. Vergis gave us a brief overview of her Ph.D. thesis: “Battery using electric vehicle sales.”   Noting that she is the only club member with a PH.D. in Davis who has not done a program.  She proceeded with a Q and A about electric car sales in California, Norway and elsewhere.  California has a target of 1.5 million zero exhaust vehicles by 2025.  Last year, in Norway, electric vehicles represented 87% of all vehicle sales.
 
Program Chair Bill Kopper introduced our guest speaker, Kara Hunter executive director of the Conflict Resolution Center (CRC).  Kara has over 20 years of experience in non-profit administration.  She has given thousands of volunteer hours to the community in a variety of capacities including mentorship, tutoring, language teaching, and juvenile and criminal justice reform.
 
Kara asked us if have ever made a mistake? Have we ever said something we would like to take back?  CRC helps Yolo county juveniles and adults with “do overs.”
 
Kara and a staff of two and many volunteers carry out three broad areas of conflict resolution:
 
Mediation Services: Community mediation is a process in which trained, impartial volunteer mediators help participants communicate their concerns to each other, clarify options for resolution, and develop mutually acceptable solutions. Community mediation is voluntary, confidential, neutral, and less time-consuming and expensive than litigation and arbitration.
 
Area two is Conflict resolution training and conflict resolution workshops.
 
And, area three is restorative practice and justice.  Restorative practices most often deal with actions committed by minors.  “98% of youths feel regret but don’t know how to make it better.” The process brings together victims and perpetrators who collaborate on a way to make amends. Kara has worked with inmates at Folsom prison who have committed terrible crimes.  Yet they “feel despair of one act committed 20 years ago.”
 
Questions:
Jim Smith asked how they measure success of their work? Success includes, can a youth fulfill the agreed tasks to make amends in three to six months?  Are their repeated offenses?  Kara is aware of only two cases where an offender came back to the justice system.
Dick Bourne, are their instances where the parties should not be put together?  Generally no, but in some instances where mental illness is present it is not appropriate.
Sid Tom I’m very interested to hear more about work in prisons particularly given our large prison population, what do you expect?  The victim of 20 years ago may not be available; they may indirectly contact the victim’s family. Sid Tom later asked if there is any economic analysis of this work?  Yes, Mary Louise Frampton of the UC Davis School of Law has written a piece on this subject.
 
Andrew Newman, asked about the size, budget, what does CRC need?  CRC has a staff of 3, 25 volunteers, and a budget of $200,000.  The main office is in Woodland; there is a satellite office in Davis.  They need volunteers, new board members, and space for private meetings. 
 
Vanessa Errecarte, do you have some favorite stories?  Yes.  A 15-year-old boy was caught stealing alcohol from Target.  It turned out that he was stealing alcohol for his mother.  The Target manager explained how stealing alcohol affected him.  He explained that they have about 50 stealing instances a month at a cost of about $8,000 to $15,000 a month.  The youth was surprised to learn the effect of his actions on a large place like Target.  The
parties agreed that he would make amends by cleaning up the parking lot for 8 weeks, twice a week.  With the frequent visits, the manager and the youth started a relationship.
 
John Morgan Who makes the decision for diversion?  The DA makes the decision.
 
John McNamara, are there national groups and standards?  There is a mediation national organization, there are no standards.  “Restorative justice” is still new, it is not widely implemented.
 
Manny Carbahal, are lawyers involved?  No.  Manny noted that’s why it is a fine system.
 
Roy Kroener, did the mother own up to her drinking issue?  The mother participated in the process, the father did not. The process created the first time that the mother and son talked about drinking.
 
Draw of the day: $338 in the pot Mike Gunter won a free breakfast.