Salem Rotary - The Spoke - Archive (Mar 17, 2009)

Other fines – John Hall told about his life-changing experience at the weekend’s Rotary PET’s conference. He can’t believe all that Rotary International is doing to make the world a better place for everyone.

Juli Lederhaus went golfing this past weekend, a sure sign of spring.

Rich Eisner attended a surgery conference in Atlanta.

Trip visited Hawaii, attended a Rotary luncheon there, and won the pot! (He did return half of his winnings to the Rotary club there.)

Ray Hodge welcomed a new 8 lb, 13oz grandson into the world.

Carl Wathne paid for 7 weeks of sunshine in Florida and only one hour of rain the entire stay!

Mike McLaughlin spoke at length about the Mary Jane Lee Park in Salem. He has sponsored lunches there through his company. He is also working with Steve Dibble to install playground equipment from Little Tykes – Steve can give the Park a great deal. He is looking forward to Rotary’s support of the installation of 9 picnic tables to start the improvements. He’ll also need help cleaning up the park. He’s hoping that people can save the April 18^th date and bring their shovels, rakes and trash bags to clean the area.

Program for the March 17th Meeting:

Today’s Speaker is Captain Brian Gilligan, a 20 year veteran of the Salem Police Department. Brian is currently the Commander of the Administrative and Auxiliary Services Division of the Department. He holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Criminal Justice, and holds a Juris Doctorate from the Massachusetts School of Law. He lives in Salem with his wife, Donna and their two children, Jack and McKenna.

Althought Captain Gilligan is very involved with Haunted Happenings, and the month long festivities held in Salem during October, he decided to speak to Rotary today about a program that is meeting with much success in Salem throughout the year. That is the new Community Police Unit that focuses not on crimes committed, but on prevention and underlying causes of crimes in the neighborhoods.

This program is unique because it cuts across the traditional lines of function and authority that characterize most police departments. In the past departments were divided by patrolmen who patrolled beats or specific neighborhoods, and detectives, who investigated crimes after they had been committed. The new Community Police Unit provides resources within neighborhoods to get to know the people who live in the community and help them with their real concerns, which can be boiled down to: 1) reducing graffiti, 2) reducing homelessness and related crimes, 3) preventing wild parties, and 4) preventing quasi-criminal acts before they are committed.

In just three years, the Community Police Unit has accomplished much. Graffiti is significantly down in most neighborhoods, the number of calls regarding homeless people has gone from 400 down to 150 calls per year. The Unit has provided volunteers for all kinds of projects, including the Mary Jane Lee Park.

Lastly, the Salem Police Department recently purchased a new piece of technology that is mounted on a police cruiser and reads license plates at the rate of 1500 per hour. The first two minutes that the technology was installed, the police on duty found 6 cars whose drivers were wanted for having an outdated license, a suspended license, an outdated registration, and more.

Events to be aware of -- Save the Date

District Conference – May 1^st and 2^nd

Upcoming Speakers:

3/24/09 North Shore Community College
3/31/09 Jim Roosevelt, CEO
4/7/09 Pat Messervy, President SSC
4/14/09 Kristin Gallas, Boston Ballet

Please visit the calendar section of our web site

for additional important dates.

And now a few announcements....

Celebrity Bartending – April 7, 5-7pm, Finz

HAWC walk – Sunday, April 26^th;

NSMC cancer walk – Sunday June 21^st

Fellow Rotarian's,

As you may already know, our club's application for a matching grant was selected by the Rotary Foundation. This grant award was for picnic tables at the Mary Jane Lee Park to be used by the children in the summer program for arts and crafts as well as lunch time breaks.

Our club has agreed to sponsor a park clean up and table assembly day. The clean up and assembly date is tentatively Saturday April 18. Our goal is to use up the funds and complete this project prior to the May 1, district conference which is being held in Salem this year. Our club would like to show case the park improvements during the district event.

There will be a call for volunteers in the near future for the park clean up and assembly day. Please mark your calendars. The Mary Jane Lee Park is a small park and the cleanup should be an easy accomplishment.

**There is another need at this playground for minor landscape needs and repairs, particularly around the existing children's play tower. The railroad tie support curb and sand pit has broken down and eroded. I do not have any landscape expertise. Is there a club member that might be interested in evaluating and assuming some additional responsibility for this repair?

Mike McLaughlin

mmclplumb@gmail.com

Quote of the Week:

“Never iron a four-leaf clover, because you don't want to press your luck.” ~Author Unknown

Stumpers

This week's stumper:

At precisely what time and day did Spring officially begin this week?

Last week's stumper:

Who will be the Keynote Speaker at this year's Rotary Convention?

Answer to last week's stumper:

Jane Goodall

Happy Birthday to:

Bob Anthony, Paul Herrick, and Juli Lederhaus

Please email all announcements to be added to the Spoke and/or feedback to salem_rotary@yahoo.com by Noon on Wednesday. Also, feel free to contact any of the committee members listed below.

Committee Chair: Brenda Smith

Editors: Brenda Smith

Photos: John Quinn (Jay Cue), Trip Mason and File

Graphics and Photo Editing: Rich Eisner

Members: Denise Flynn, Jim Haskell and Sandy Heaphy