Dear Felow Rotarians:
Our April 11th lunch at Seascape was sold out in person, all 32 chairs taken.
Kendra reminded everyone that Derby Day is May 4, at the helicopter hangar at Watsonville airport 130–4 30. Last year‘s inaugural was successful, but especially given how much fun it was and the worthy the causes we are supporting, let’s all try to get there and bring friends and associates.
Once again there will be big screens showing the races, food, a bar, games, and a hat contest.
Dr. Art was a tad late so President Lowry stepped in for the thought of the day: If English made sense lackadaisical would mean lack of daisies. And flammable and inflammable would not mean the same thing
We did not have a joker either though as usual there were several who fit the description. Given that we are approaching a plurality of lawyers as members:
A man has a near fatal heart attack and is told he needs transplant
He goes to the heart store and the salesman tells him there are 3 hearts available now: a $5000 heart, , a $100,000 heart and a $500,000 heart
The man asks “what’s the difference?”
The $5000 heart belong to a 74-year-old drunk who died of alcohol poisoning
I don’t want that one. What’s the next one like?
The hundred thousand dollar heart belonged to a 26-year-old NBA point guard who was killed in a car crash yesterday
Well, that sounds perfect, what about the $500,000 heart?
“It belonged to a lawyer, it’s never been used”
We had a designated detective, but maybe because the sheriff was in town we skipped that and everybody paid $10. Somehow, that feels a better than answering a trivia question correctly and still having to pay.
Thanks to Pam, Lora, Lowery Michele and everyone else involved in the fundraiser for Treasure Cove – we raised over $90,000!
Rich introduced sheriff Jim Hart, who apparently is not only sheriff par excellance but also breaks par on the golf course
Rich mentioned that he had many interactions with the sheriff and perhaps wisely provided no details
In that vein, Kelly managed to begin his questions/comment with, “Say I’m using a lot of cocaine,” which a skilled prosecutor could turn into an admission of repeated cocaine use.
Doug’s similar question was perhaps even more incriminating and he now has another one of Ken’s business cards just in case.
The sheriff spoke for about 20 minutes covering a wide range of topics. He explained the difference between the sheriff’s department, which provides law-enforcement and related services to the unincorporated areas of the county, the police department in the four incorporated cities, and the CHP, which has jurisdiction on the highways. The Santa Cruz county sheriff also runs the corner office for the entire county. The office is quite pleased that it will soon have its own DNA testing lab which will enable the processing of DNA samples in a matter of days instead of the 6-12 months it now takes to get results back from the state lab.
The sheriff said that crime in the county is actually very low compared to most CA counties and has declined steadily over the past decades.
The biggest challenge facing law-enforcement all over the county is the fentanyl plague. Our county has 270,000 citizens last year we had 133 fentanyl deaths, the same as Santa Clara County, which has 2 million people. The prime demographic for overdoses is homeless men in their 20s-30s. The problem is not unique to Santa Cruz, it’s nationwide. Drug dealers are lacing cocaine and methamphetamine with fentanyl. Konstantine pointed out that it seems stupid to do that because the dealers are killing their clients. The sheriff said the financial incentives are greater create more addicts.
Doug and a few others noted that there seems to be a lot of petty theft, burglaries and break-ins and that’s probably attributable to the drug addicts. The Sheriff agrees, but the stats show very little violent crime and comparatively few property crimes. It may be that many crimes are not reported, but if so, that’s probably true in other counties as well, especially high crime counties like Alameda, San Francisco Fresno.
Sheriff Hart reported on the success of the farm project, where inmates learn skills while they are serving their time so that when they return to society they have a means of maintaining a livelihood as well as discipline and responsibility.
The Sheriff noted that the Santa Cruz has a reputation for being a liberal area, but support for a law enforcement is very strong, as he sees in his daily actions and things like the support for Seargent Gutwiller. Several members spoke in support of the department and his members.
Our next meeting is April 18, which day we hopefully have recovered from tax day and can enjoy our musical guest
Claire McAdams won the raffle, but she wasn’t there
We had a group photo with our fundraising check
No report would be complete without mentioning Michele Bassi’s attendance and the even brighter glow in her eyes since she started her new job
Congratulations Michele
She also gets the award for best fashion statement- correcting your author’s complement on her black cocktail dress. “No, it’s just a T-shirt.”
See everyone Thursday at Seascape!