May 18, 2012
           Reporter: Rich Shearer       Editor: Ron Brown        Photographer: Kevin Cragholm                      President:  Alex Arnold, 2011 - 2012          

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

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Outstanding, Ron!

 

Ron Melvin combined two of his passions, Rotary and Special Olympics, with an inspiring story and then the most rousing audience-participation TFTD ever seen in these parts, a shout-out (literally) of the Special Olympics motto:

 

"Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt."

 

There followed the most raucous version of the Pledge of Allegiance in LSR history, which is really saying something.

 

VISITING ROTARIANS

 

Luis Alcon - Concord

Alicia Cragholm - take a wild guess

John Sherry - take the same wild guess

 

GUESTS OF OTHER PERSUASIONS

 

Chip Herman - An Orinda Volunteer of the Year honoree

Joseph Captain - Vintner extraordinaire

Mary Mark - Here for at least her third time (nudge, nudge...wink, wink)

Quang Do - Buddy Burke all but dragged him in, and he seemed to like it

 

BIRTHDAYS, ANNIVERSARIES, AND OTHER MISCELLANEOUS GOODIES

 

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A little over the top, Mark?

Because we are having a special meeting next week (something to do with LSR managing not to be tossed out of Rotary International for 25 years) and because there was no one here to pay up for past transgressions, B&A List-Keeper and President to Be Mark Roberts "paid it forward," so to speak, by recognizing B&A's coming up in the next week. That means that Ken Kosich (his birthday), Mark Lark (his 1-year Club anniversary), Jim Marrgraff (Club anniversary and wedding anniversary), Buddy Burke (Club anniversary), Dan Herbert (Club anniversary), Chuck Yeager (wife's birthday) and Skip McCowan (his birthday) all got nailed . . . I mean "recognized" . . . a week before they were expecting it.

 

JOHN SHERRY MAKING AN ANNOUNCEMENT? WHO'DA THUNK IT

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Where's you blue badge, John?

 

Once again, John Sherry was here to let us know what our sister Club is up to. First, he thanked us for our support of the Concert at the Res, which was the best one ever. (Hey, if John says so, it must be true.) Second, he reminded us about the upcoming Rotary Golf Tournament. Set for June 11 at Rossmoor. It's $150 per person or $600 for a foursome (funny how that works). We win this one pretty much every year, so sign up if you want to be part of the glory.

 

NEW PHOTOGRAPHY TEAM FOR THE LAMORINDAN

 

For the last umpty-ump years, the photos in this weekly weakly have been the product of a certain Tom Black. Week after week, he would tirelessly strive to make us look good. A Herculean task, to be sure, but Tom always strove to meet the challenge, Sisyphusian though it has been. But even Job has his limit of patience (okay, that's the end of mixing mythical name metaphors for this item), and Tom's has expired. (Declined to be photographed, shy and retiring person that Tom is). 

 

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Paul's in charge now

Into the breach has jumped Paul "Where Angels Fear to Tread" Fillinger, who announced that he, Kevin Cragholm, Spike Speicher and Leander Hauri will be striving to fill Tom's shoes (one hopes they all brought their Dr. Scholl's foot powder). A challenge for the ages, no doubt, but one we know this able crew can live up (down?) to.

 

PRETEND HE HAS RED HAIR

 

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The REAL Jim Kendall

Jim Kendall did a remarkable impersonation of Krysten Laine in her absence as he reminded us that Motorama is coming up fast. As in, 30 days from the meeting. There is still lots to do, and if you don't know what you are supposed to be doing to help out (and you are helping out, right?), let Jim know so he can let Krysten know so she can let you know, ya know?

 

And if you haven't brought in your bottle of wine for the big Barrel O' Wine auction item, please do so. That way, Claire Roberts does not have to add "hunting you down like a dog in the street" to her list of red badge-to-blue badge tasks. Make it at least a $20, bottle (and no, multiple bottles of Two-Buck Chuck or Thunderbird does not qualify). And put a removable but secure label with your name and the value on it, please. That way Claire does not have to hunt you down like a dog in the street only to find out that you already brought in a bottle.

 

Finally, don't forget to carry some of the "you have a cool car" cards that Hays Englehart distributed. That way, they will be handy when you see a cool car. Just put it on the windshield under the windshield wiper. Preferably not when the car is moving.

 

NEW MEMBER TALK - RON MELVIN

 

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Looking forward to part II Ron

Despite his name, Ron Melvin is not Scottish. Instead, he is from Guyana, a former British colony in northeastern South America best known in these parts for the unpleasantness inflicted by the allegedly Rev. Jim Jones and his People's Temple.

 

Ron's grandfather and grandmother were Hindu. Grandma got remarried to a Methodist minister. His cousin is Muslim. He was adopted by American Baptists. So what is his religious preference? Roman Catholic, obviously. Seriously, Ron is part of his parish's mentoring program, helping younger folks get a grip on life and themselves.

Ron grew up in Houston and Florida, As a young'un, he made a few extra bucks heading shrimp. It is exactly what it sounds like, was exactly as much fun as it sounds like, and did not pay well. Maybe that's why he isn't still doing that for a living..

 

Ron told of several men he encountered in his young working life who had a great impact on him. These were men in their 50s and 60s who didn't set out to be guiding lights, But they showed him kindness, treated him well as employers, gave him good life advice and generally lived the Golden Rule. By doing so, they served as examples as the kind of man Ron wanted to be. He also used them as examples of how we never know when, or to whom, we will be an influence, and that the seemingly simple, little things can have a huge positive impact on a young person's life.

 

After high school, Ron got a job as a roofer and witnessed a co-worker get seriously injured on the job. This led to him understand the wisdom of some advice he had received from one of the aforementioned men, and he said to himself: "I have got to go to college."

 

He did, but as a part-time student after joining the Air Force. It was also while in the Air Force that Ron became involved with one of his enduring passions - the Special Olympics. This is not a causal thing for Ron. In fact, he has been invited to go to South Korea to help with their coaching and otherwise helping make the program work there.

 

Before Ron got the hook from the ever-punctual President Alex, he let it be known that he was a Richmond Police Department officer for about three years (one suspects there is a story or two to tell there). Police work takes its toll, and Ron went through a divorce. We did not get to hear about how he transitioned from police work to banking (he is the branch manager of the local US Bank, after all), so that will have to wait until his full-blown Expose Yourself.

 

PROGRAM

 

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Welcome, Mark Peterson

Imagine you were born in Anchorage, Alaska (Motto: "Gateway to Wasilla"), got your bachelor's degree from the University of Colorado and your law degree from the University of Denver. Wouldn't it be the most natural thing in the world to become the Contra Costa County District Attorney? It was for today's speaker, D.A. Mark Peterson.

 

Mr. Peterson has been in the District Attorney's office since 1984 and was on the Concord City Council for 15 years before that, including three terms as mayor, so it isn't exactly a shock that this combined prosecutorial and political experience would lead him to run for District Attorney in 2010. He did, and he was elected.

 

The Contra Costa D.A.'s Office mission statement is pretty straightforward. It is to seek justice and enhance public safety by fairly, ethically, aggressively and efficiently prosecuting crime and working to prevent crime. All of these elements were in the mission statement before Mr. Peterson took office, but he has made a change in emphasis by moving "fairly " and "ethically" ahead of "aggressively" and "efficiently" on the to-do list. This does not reflect a lack of desire for aggressiveness or efficiency in meting out justice, but rather a belief that a prosecutorial office has a high duty to be fair and ethical in doing so. Showing a lawyer's fondness for cribbing good quotes from elsewhere (what we lawyers call "citing precedent" would be called "plagiarism" in most other lines of work, but you didn't that from me), he has put up signs inside the D.A. Office's doors that contain a quote from the Sacramento County District Attorney: "Seek justice, serve justice, do justice."

 

The D.A.'s Office has 87 attorneys, 20 investigators, four CPAs, and 41 support staffers (with 14 vacancies in the support staff ranks). The annual budget is $28.7 million, small potatoes compared to the $250 million budget he used to help oversee in Concord.

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These priorities make sense

 

Mr. Peterson listed his priorities as: (1) always prosecute misdemeanors; (2) gang prosecutions and injunctions; (3) electronic monitoring instead of serving time behind bars where appropriate; (4) crime prevention; and (5) restore confidence in the office.

 

Why focus on misdemeanors? Things like graffiti, vandalism, drunk in public or petty theft may seem minor compared to some of the truly serious crime happening in parts of Contra Costa. But allowing those so-called minor crimes to slide creates a palpable physical atmosphere that is conducive to, and indeed invites, more serious crime. The seemingly minor crimes hurt businesses, hurt people, and decrease an area's overall quality of life. This does not mean that Mr. Peterson is ignoring serious felonies - Richmond is consistently in the top 10 for violence in the US, and he wants that to change. But Mr. Peterson does not believe it is enough to address murder, rape and the like after they happen. Instead, he wants to add increased efforts to clamp down on the less serious crimes that, left unchecked, evolve into serious violent crime.

 

Such tactics are aimed at bringing down the high cost of crime. As Mr. Peterson pointed out, the cost of crime is high, and not just for the immediate victims. It costs roughly $50,000 a year to house one convicted felon in a state prison for one year. But that is hardly the end of

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Close attention by one and all

it. In one situation that Mr. Peterson told us about, there was a shooting on I-80 that was the case of a tragic mis-identification, the shooter thought a car that had pulled up next to the one he was riding in contained someone about to shoot him when it was, in fact, a dear friend pulling up to wave hello. The result was one dead and several people seriously hurt, including one person who will be needing a colostomy bag for the rest of his life, and two people in prison for the rest of their lives. In addition to the obvious human toll, which can never be adequately measured, we as taxpayers will be paying for the felons to be in prison for may years, and we will be paying for the medical care of the injured, as they do not have medical insurance. It is this kind of waste, human and financial, that Mr,. Peterson wants to reduce.

 

As for gang injunctions, those are court orders prohibiting known gang members from congregating on public. There is some controversy about them, but Mr. Peterson intends to use them to the extent allowed by law. He also wants to try the Cease Fire program that has had success in Boston. The idea is to bring gang leaders together in a sort of summit conference. The idea is use both the carrot and the stick. The stick is to make sure the leaders understand that the police are not going away and they will be dealt with severely. The carrot is to offer social services and other means of directing the gang members into more peaceful pursuits.

 

Electronic monitoring is another cost saving measure. There are a whole raft of inmates (technically, many of the folks in the County Detention Center are "detainees," not "inmates") who will not be eligible for electronic monitoring because of their histories. But for low risk, non-violent detainees and inmates, Mr. Peterson wants to start using electronic monitoring so they don't have to be housed on the taxpayer's dime.

 

Don't think the County lock-up is going to have fewer inhabitants, though. That is because the state is making the counties house increasing numbers of convicted felons, folks who have, until now, had addresses like "San Quentin" or "Corcoran." Under this state-mandated program, called "realignment," those convicted of "serious" felonies, violent felonies and sexual offense felonies will still be housed in state prisons, but the rest will be parceled out to the counties. And the state will give the counties about half what the state is currently paying to house these folks. Mr. Peterson called it a "huge experiment," and he does not claim to know if it will work. He says he is "cautiously optimistic." In any event, room has to be made for these new arrivals. Electronic monitoring of low-risk detainees is one way to accomplish this.

 

One aspect of crime prevention that Mr. Peterson will be stressing is cracking down on truancy. Research shows that school attendance is a better predictor of high school graduation than eight grade test scores. In short, kids who attend high school are more likely to graduate from high school. And kids who graduate from high school are less likely to become felons. So expect to see more daytime curfews, meaning kids can't be on the street when, by law, they should be in school. You can also expect to see prosecutions of kids and their parents in cases of chronic truancy.

 

Finally, Mr. Peterson wants to increase public confidence in the D.A.'s Office. As you may recall, there was a rather lurid sex scandal in the not-so-distant past. Mr. Peterson wants to make sure that his office is known for it's ethical and effective prosecution of crime and its crime prevention programs, not for the shenanigans of a few.

 

Thank you, Mr. Peterson, for coming out to talk to us and for giving us more insight into the workings of and your vision for the Contra Costa County District Attorney's Office. Now, about that traffic ticket I got last week . . . .

 

CALENDAR 

 

Friday 5/25, 7am - 25th Anniversary Celebration

                   TGITLFOTM - 5:30 pm - Furtado mansion

 

Friday 6/1, 7am - Kara Boatman, the euro zone

Friday 6/8, 7am - Lesher Center Director Michael Butler

Tuesday 6/12, 7am - Board meeting

Friday 6/15, 7am - Motorama revealed

Sunday 6/17 9 am - Motorama, Postino Parking Lot

Friday 6/22, 7am - Gabriel Angelo - Magical musical story

                   5:30 pm - Demotion party, Waal home

Friday 6/29, 7am - Jim Margraff exposes himself

 

Friday 7/6, 7 am - Antje Jahnke - Procrastination

Tuesday 7/10, 7am - Board meeting

Friday 7/13, 7 am - Club Assembly

Friday 7/20, 7 am - John Yoo, Legal Counsel, George W. Bush

 

Friday 8/3, 7am - A woof and a meow

Friday 8/10, 7 am - Economist Tappan Monroe

Tuesday 8/14, 7am - Board meeting

Friday 8/17, 7am - Dan Borenstein & Pensions (continued)

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