Northwind July 11, 2013
MEETING TO ORDER: Past President Laurie called the meeting to order at 12:30, noting that she still is not Norm. SELL DUCK TICKETS! INVOCATION: was by Jim Blaney.
GUESTS: Pati Villhauer, guest of Tim.
VISITING ROTARIANS: George Tsakumis from Vancouver, Chuck Snyder from Bellingham, and Dave Wilbrecht from Mammoth Lakes CA. Dave will be replacing Gary Tomsic as City Manager in Blaine. Welcome, Dave!
RETURNING ROTARIANS: Tim V. is back from the 4th of July in Van Zandt, and Scott from Langera SELL DUCK TICKETS! Island.
BIRTHDAYS: Tom Lallas had a birthday on July 2.
ANNIVERSARY: Ken is celebrating the start of his 15th year, while Jim Sands has completed three years.
ANNOUNCEMENTS: SELL DUCK TICKETS!
LAURIE: Board meeting after the club meeting today.
TIM V.: Team Villhauer – he and Pati – have unpacked and labeled 1,342 ducks so far. Posters are available to put up in your office. SELL DUCK TICKETS! Turn in money to Rick Cornelius, but since he’s not here, you can give it to Dale today. After inquiry by Pete, it was clarified that all tickets should have the buyer’s name ADDRESS and contact info on them. There will be 24 opportunities (12 time-slots) for Rotarians to sell tickets at the Fair. There will also be chances to do so at Haggen, and hopefully at the Farmers Market. SELL DUCK TICKETS! Julie apparently needs no subliminal messaging, she has sold 50 white tickets already!
KEN: The Vietnam Veterans Association will be having their annual car show at the Sunset Cost Cutter on Sunday the 21st of July.
JAKE: Noted that he visited Mel in the hospital, but he is now back at the Rehab center. Mel is looking well, and Fontine, who was also there looks good too!
HAPPY/SAD ROTARIANS:
· Many members shared fond memories of our long-time friend and fellow Rotarian Gary Snyder who passed away on Monday.
· Tim C. was happy to formally introduce Dave Wilbrecht, and sad about Gary, who he will remember as a great storyteller.
· Julie had sad bucks, since it was under her presidency that Gary’s racy jokes finally had to end. SELL DUCK TICKETS!
· Bill remembered only the punch line of one of Gary’s rare clean jokes : “It’s a Hickory Daiquiri, Doc.” He was also happy that the Elks Club business lunch was able to go on without a cook.
· Ken announced that he has submitted his resignation and as of September 1, he will be officially retired.
· Tim V. was sad for Gary’s passing, and sad that he has not been well, and hence was not able to travel to Iowa as planned recently.
· George was happy about recent election results in Canada, but sad at the loss of Gary.
· Maureen was happy for a holiday weekend trip to Lopez, and a WTA Kids Art event. SELL DUCK TICKETS!
· Dale was happy to have met Paul Bowman recently and surprised to learn that Paul thought very highly of the Richardson and Sexton families. Also, he warned us to beware, as he will be selling Rangers Soccer raffle tickets soon.
· Jake mourned the loss of a good friend in Gary, who was also his doctor for many years. He mentioned how proud Gary was of his son, “even though he is a lawyer.”
· Scott was happy for his fishing trip, which included his granddaughter’s first island trip. He was especially happy for her nap time. He mentioned how as his doctor, Gary had suggested that he ask Marge out.
· Marlene gave happy bucks to welcome Dave, and to celebrate an upcoming trip with her grandson to White Wolf lodge, which is not a casino, and not outside, but it does serve tasty beverages. She noted that Gary was also her mom’s doctor and a good friend of her father. Apparently Gary frequently advised weight-loss for his patients, but at least in the case of our club, met with limited success.
FINEMASTER: Ken Richardson
· Group fines:
o Anyone who did not put in Happy Bucks. (But I think the Northwind editor should be exempt, as it’s very hard to write and be happy at the same time).
o Anyone not wearing their Rotary Pin.
o Anyone who has not SoLd AnY DUCK TICKETS!
o Anyone who has not picked up their Duck Tickets
o Anyone who has not brought a guest in the last three months.
Scott for taking his phone to Sucia Island.
· Jim Sand – haven’t seen him in awhile.
· Jake for being early, nice, and easy to understand. Who ARE you?
· We don’t usually fine guests, but Dave was fined for having a beard to match Gary’s, and Chuck was fined because Ken has always wanted to fine a judge.
BANNERS: The banners were in honor of Dr. Snyder. He brought five banners back from his travels, but two were missing. In addition to those he brought, there was one from Jerusalem to honor his heritage, and one from the Peace Center, because whenever Gary gave the invocation he always said, “Give us the strength to eliminate the epidemic of violence in the world.”
PROGRAM: Whatcom Superior Court Judge Charles Snyder was our speaker. He gave an informative program about the many aspects of justice in which he is involved. He started out with some judicial humor – sadly I was too slow to record most of it, but it involved a judge who was “happier than a tick on a fat dog” to have a case dismissed. We also learned that Whatcom County holds the historic distinction of having the first female juror in the state – in 1911.
Whatcom County currently has three elected judges, and is soon to add a fourth. 1975 was the last time that a judge was added to the staff. When needed court commissioners can hear certain types of cases. Once separated, the Juvenile Court is not back in the County Court system. The current staffing is 20 in Juvenile Court, 37 in superior court, 18 in juvenile detention and 75 other.
A Superior Court Judge can hear a case in any court at the state level, and it’s not uncommon for judges from other areas to trade cases, because they may need to recuse themselves from local cases.
In the past year they had 7,858 cases: 1,400 criminal, 3,400 civil, 804 divorce, 557 adoption, 419 mental health, 540 child abuse/neglect, and 476 juvenile court cases. There were 31 jury trials, of which 21 were criminal, and 10 civil. Each judge is scheduled for three per week, and they can last from 3 days to three weeks. The have 65-80 criminal cases per week, which are all heard, continued or dismissed in one half-day session on Thursday mornings. Civil motions are heard on Friday afternoons, typically about 24 cases.
One of Judge Snyder’s favorite parts of the job is Drug Court. This may sound strange, but the way the program is arranged, the allows for great success stories to be achieved. The way it works is the accused gives up their right to trial, and instead agrees to complete the Drug Court program. There are four phases, which emphasize treatment, sobriety and preparing to return to work or school. Each phase provides increasing responsibility and freedom to the participant. He noted that the recidivism rate in this program is only 18-20%, as compared to a national rate of 75 – 80%.
Q. & A. included discussion of whether threats from convicted criminals was a problem, and why some juries have only 6 or 9 instead of 12 members.
DRAWING: Julie had the winning ticket, but not the winning card. SELL DUCK TICKETS!