Minutes of November 21

Minutes of November 21, 2016

 

There is a meeting next Monday, November 28.

 

President Bob Beaumont called the meeting to order promptly at 07:15, leading us in the Pledge of Allegiance followed by Pastor Ron giving a nice Invocation related to Thanksgiving and Rotary service locally around the world. After welcoming guest speaker, Rich Rizzo, Police Chief of Brunswick, and in the absence of Bill Gillespie, recuperating from hip surgery, Bob called upon Joel Merry for Happy / Sad dollars.  With this being Thanksgiving week nearly all happy and Thanksgiving dollars.

 

Joel Merry had a happy dollar for the short workweek and for a happy Thanksgiving. Bob Beaumont had a happy dollar for the active, vibrant community (Topsham, Brunswick, Bath, etc.) that we live in and for, having just attended the 30^th Anniversary function, the continued remarkable success of the redevelopment of Fort Andros. Bob Davis gave thanks for all the efforts of the Club members with our fundraising efforts toward our major non-profit focus, Success by 6 and Family Focus and also for Chief Rizzo being our speaker. Bill Brillant got roundly booed for a happy dollar for the morning snow (very light). Not sure if his happy dollar was for the increase use of  heating oil (a Downeast Energy Manager) associated with cold weather or simply the start of the Holiday season. Bill also had a happy dollar for accomplishing a lot of minor home improvement projects.  Russ Andrews had happy dollars for the schedule change that permits him to be active in the Club again and also for the joy of going out hunting. Ron McLaughlin had a happy dollar for visiting family this week. Fred Burgess also had a happy dollar for hunting. Gordon Donley had another President stumper question – what President swam regularly in the Potomac River. Answer – John Quincy Adams. The river was probably cleaner back then.

 

Under announcements Prez. Bob reminded us we were packing food backpacks later Monday at 5:30 (It went well- we are getting to be a well trained team and, according to staff, we finished in near record time.

Ron M has a signup for gifts / money for a needy family in the area. This year a Mom and Son. Please contact him or be prepared to donate at the next meeting.

 

Ron M is also coordinating bell ringing for Salvation Army at Wal-Mart. We are on for Saturday morning, December 10. There will be a sign up sheet at the next meeting.

 

Our next meeting will be a Club meeting with focus on planning for the Music at the Museum fundraiser. Please attend and be ready to contribute suggestions, help, etc.

 

Bob Davis then introduced Chief Rich Rizzo of the Brunswick Police Department. Chief Rizzo has been a policeman about 24 years and served in several cities, including as Chief in several of them. He has been the Chief in Brunswick since 2008. The primary focus of his talk had to do with media coverage of the police, particularly of police shooting civilians. He said that there are about 1000 shooting deaths by police annually and that about 60 police are shot and killed annually, down from about 120 annually about a decade ago. He attributed the reduction in police deaths to significant improvements in training of police, including use of the weapons. Where firearms training once consisted simply of firing at a range most police now also train in realistic situations. The Chief showed several videos to illustrate how difficult it is for police to determine if the bad guy has a gun and how short the reaction time, including time to assess the danger and make a decision, actually is. The key message from the Chief is to not rush to judgment when the press show a video clip of a police shooting but rather wait for the facts and investigation to be completed.  

 

Again a very interesting, informative presentation. Thanks to Bob Davis and Chief Rizzo.

 

Submitted:

 

Tom