President Brandon opened the April 16, 2012 Kirkland Rotary meeting at 6:30 and Scott Rethke led the flag salute.  Pres. Brandon thanked the scribe and front desk personnel.  Gary Bruner gave an informative history of the Pledge of Allegiance as our inspirational moment: it was written by Francis Bellamy, a Baptist minister, in 1892. 

Visiting Rotarians were Gary Moed from the Rotary Club of Downtown Kirkland, and Sheriff Steve Strachan (our guest speaker) from Rotary Club of Kent. Barbara Seaton introduced her husband Tim.

Announcements

1.       Anne Hamilton announced the first week of the Kirkland Nourishing Network (KNN) was a success thanks to the hard work of Barb & Tim Seaton, and the generosity of Makaylaa Powers and Pat Swenson. The KNN is a new service project whereby Kirkland Rotary will be providing groceries to John Muir Elementary families from April 13th to June 29th. Elizabeth Rusnak volunteered to coordinate this coming Friday’s duties of grocery shopping and delivering the food to Kathy Dryden at the school. Kathy Dryden provided feedback to Anne indicating the families were very grateful for our generosity.  You Can Help Too! Sign up with Anne to take the duties for a week, or donate cash for the groceries.

 

2.       Barb Seaton announced the annual Kirkland Rotary Foundation Auction will be held Friday, April 27th at the Kirkland Women’s Club. There will be a wine and cheese pairing that starts at 6pm, followed by the spaghetti dinner (donated by Gary & Ingrid Bruner) and then the live auction. The dessert auction will wrap up the exciting evening. Lots of GREAT auction items have been donated so far, including a condo at Big White, a weekend at the Taylor’s on Hood Canal, golf packages and much more. The beneficiaries for the auction will be Northwest Baby Day and the Kirkland Police Department (to fund alarms for domestic violence victims). Cost per person is $22.00 and you can email Barb Seaton or Rachel Knight to sign up.

 

3.       Megan Nakanishi announced that the Duck Dash sponsorship has almost reached its goal, but still looking for more sponsorships. The sponsorship window closes April 30.

 

4.       Steve Shinstrom needs Greeters and Scribes.  So SIGN UP with Steve!

5.       Miracle League starts Saturday, April 28th at 9:30 am at Perrigo Park in Redmond. Chris Rusnak composed a heartwarming video from his photography of past years Miracle League games, and played this video for all to see. A total of at least 25 volunteers are needed for each game, and it only takes about 2-hours of your Saturday morning to participate.  This years’ games will be April 28, May 5th, May 12th, May 19th, June 2nd, and June 9th (the year-end party with the Mariner Moose). Sign up with Patty Sims. VOLUNTEERS GREATLY NEEDED FOR THESE EVENTS.

The principal of Juanita High School, Gary Moed, thanked all the Rotarians for their generous support of the high school students through scholarships and the Student of the Month program.

Cynthia FitzGerald introduced SueJean Hwangpo, Student of the Month. SueJean gave her final talk and recap of her experience visiting our club. Her parents immigrated from Korea and both she and her older sister were born in the States. Her father attended University of Washington and her mother attended an all-girls school in Korea. SueJean spoke of her passion for volunteering at Seattle Children’s Hospital (where she’s been volunteering as a messenger since she was 15). SueJean is Secretary of the Key Club and President of the National Honor Society. She is also a member of Loyalty, a sponsorship-only club at school. She has been accepted to both UW and Johns Hopkins and is still undecided. She wants to major in either mathematics or chemistry and wants to become a pharmacist.  Her older sister is a junior at UW, and SueJean has occasional opportunities to stay with her on campus so she can get a flavor for college life. Her parents own a gas station in Everett and she is very grateful for all their hard work and support for her.   She thanked the Rotarians for selecting her to be Student of the Month.

 

Our guest speaker was introduced by Chris Morgan.  Sheriff Steven Strachan has been in law enforcement for over 25 years. Prior to becoming the King County Sheriff in January 2011, he was Chief of Police in Kent, and served in many other positions locally and in Minnesota. He is also President of the Rotary Club of Kent.  The current environment of law enforcement has resulted in layoffs over the years at police departments and sheriff’s offices throughout the country. The King County Sheriff Office experienced layoffs 2-1/2 years ago; Oakland PD had 80 layoffs, and Camden, NJ PD experienced 160 layoffs (over ½ of the department). This has been caused by reduced revenues nationwide. The US law enforcement system is based on Thomas Jefferson’s theory of local control. That’s not always the case in other countries. Most sheriff departments and police departments are working together more today to improve on economies of scale and efficiencies.  Sheriff Strachan provided an excellent overview of what a sheriff’s job covers and he explained the sheriff’s office has jurisdiction throughout King County in unincorporated areas (non-city) and some incorporated areas.  There are 15 agencies that are contract partners with the Sheriff’s department.  A “contract” police department is a partnership between an incorporated city and the King County Sheriff’s Office where the local Police Chief is a ranking officer with the Sheriff’s Office, and the Officers are sworn King County Deputies. They are stewards of the public trust and taxpayer dollars. This contracts program has saved money and resources, thereby avoid cut-backs in other areas like parks.  The Sheriff’s Department also provides regional services such as automated fingerprint ID system, bomb disposal, homicide investigations, civil & criminal warrants, court security, dignitary protection, search & rescue, and sex offender registration. Local services that are provided to unincorporated areas and contracts include patrol, investigations/detectives, precinct supervision, SWAT team, K9 Unit, Marine Unit, hostage negotiation, fire investigations, and major accident response investigations.  Contracts include Transit Police Dept. contract, Tribal Police Dept. and Specialty Service & Seasonal contracts. Mental health and drug dependency incidents have been rising due to people with mental illnesses not taking their medication or released from mental treatment facilities. The King County Sheriff’s Department is not connected to the King County Executive. The presentation was followed by some excellent Q&A. Thank you Sheriff Strachan for an informative discussion on the King County Sheriff’s Department.

 

Joker Pool: Chris Morgan had the winning ticket again this week, but did not pull the Joker. Next chance to try your chance at the big bucks (of $2,723) will be April 30 (since next week is scholarship night).

 

The meeting was adjourned at 7:40pm.

 

 Respectfully submitted by Elizabeth Rusnak.