WEEE’RE BAAAAACK!!! It was great to be back at Rotary and see our fellow Rotarians! Rotary had a different look / feel post-COVID lockdown but we figured it out! Larry Neal led us in the Pledge but we skipped the singing because that could spread the virus.
I had the pleasure to lead everyone in “The Four-Way Test” (which will get better next week) and Tom Davies led us in prayer. We had Tina (and helpers) serving us lunch through the buffet line but we enjoyed chicken, broccoli, pasta, salad, and caramel ice cream.
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PRESIDENTIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS
- Next Thursday we will be giving checks to our beneficiaries. Please plan to attend if you can for this great event.
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- If you have 50/50 tickets, get them to Don or Jeff ASAP. They need the stubs so that they can all be accounted for.
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- Jeff announced that he just got another $10k donation for the event that will be next year bringing the total to $117k so far.
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- The event moved to next year will be completely repackaged and improved! We will kick off our marketing event with our Valentine’s dance in February.
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GUESTS AND VISITORS
Scott Chabot announced our lone guest Tim Strutz who was our speaker today.
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MEMBER BIRTHDAYS AND FLOWERS
Mary Ann Hosey handled the flowers.
Birthdays:
Mark Zuccaro and Gloria Murray had birthdays but weren’t there to get their flowers!
Flowers:
Jeff bought a flower for his wife Angela for their belated anniversary.
He also bought a flower for Don for his work on the 50/50.
Nancy bought a flower for Luca for being with us today.
Ted bought a flower for Mary Ann for recuperating from “something.”
Larry bought a flower for our guest speaker Tim.
Don bought a flower for Tina for all her adjustments.
Ryan bought a flower for Karan for a great presidency.
New speaker chair, Mary Ann bought a flower for Larry for his help with the speakers.
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MUSIC
No music today due to COVID.
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SUNSHINE/GOOD WILL REPORTS
Sarah Lee announced that we should keep Bob Lee in our thoughts and prayers because he has his hands full with caring for his wife as she has recently returned home.
Also, Ken Kish had to resign because of health reasons.
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ANNOUNCEMENTS
The presidents’ party had to be moved again and is now 8/27 at Bel Mar Marina in Bud’s Showroom.
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RECOGNITION
Nancy Dedenbach was on for recognition today!
Larry Neal was fined because of how quickly he took advantage of hair salons being open.
I was fined for “advertising” because of wearing scrubs...I’ll save the explanation and complaining!
We had epidemic trivia:
Ted was fined for not know president Wilson was in office in 1918.
Jeff knew newspapers weren’t recommending washing your ears, saving a fine.
I didn’t know that there was a run on Vick’s VapoRub during the pandemic.
Doug didn’t know the pandemic ended in 1920, which cost him a few bucks.
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SPEAKER AND PROGRAM
We had the privilege of having Tim Strutz as our speaker today. He is currently a Harrison Township resident who served for 32 years on the police force in Dearborn. While there he was in a multitude of departments including being the Chief of Police.
He talked to us today about many different issues in our society and with the police force as there has been a lot of bad news related to police officers lately.
In the Free Press today there was an article about a Flint officer who was charged for murder while he was on duty and under the influence. Mr. Strutz says “history always repeats itself.” In 1982 there was another incident where an officer was convicted for murder after striking a suspect with his flashlight handle, killing him.
He fielded a lot of questions:
Can officers shoot people who are fleeing?
This used to be ok and he sited an incident of killing someone by shotgun which was then a legal shoot. That has changed and you now can’t use deadly force to stop a suspect from fleeing.
Why can’t someone come to pick up a person who is under the influence instead of going to jail?
There was a law suit involving an intoxicated man who was taken home by police and he subsequently abused his wife. She later sued the police force.
Will things have to change in law enforcement?
Yes, history is continuing to repeat itself. Officers are thinking with their emotions causing some of these issues. There is an us vs. them mentality. The officer’s intention in the Floyd case was to inflict street justice by humiliating him and making him suffer. The intent was likely not to kill him. The fellow officers watched because of the devolving of the us vs. them culture.
What is your opinion on defunding the police?
Money would be better placed into resources that try to stop people from becoming criminals.
