President Dan Ouweleen opened the meeting with the ringing of the Rotary Bell and he took advantage of the season to share his most famous hint on the proper pronunciation of his name….”Ouweleen”/“Halloween”… ”Ouweleen”/“Halloween”… remember that ! … also, make a mental note on the spelling because certain Recognition Masters are known to ask and fine if any one admits to not knowing how to spell Dan’s last name. Four Way Test is used liberally to confirm the truth.

Dan introduced our local high school principals who were instrumental in spreading the word to their students about the Polio Jog-a-thon last Saturday. We were honored that they joined us for the beginning of our meeting! Allen Whitten- Sunny Hills, Rani Goyal- Fullerton Union High School, William Mynster- Troy High School. They said kind words about how the Jog-a-thon was beneficial to the participating students in many ways.

Opening Traditions

After Randy McFarland let us in the pledge, Karen Xie gave a nice invocation and Griff Duncan enthusiastically led us in song.

Dan Introduces Travis McShane to our Club

Special Ceremony

President Dan opened with a few words describing what Rotary represents to members and recipients of Rotarian efforts. Travis McShane was presented the traditional items, starting with the Rotary Pin and name badge, a Certificate of Membership and a copy of The Four Way Test, not just suitable for framing, but actually framed..as the certificate was. Soon, the membership stood and gave a congratulatory and welcoming applause to the “World’s Newest Rotarian”! Welcome aboard, Travis!

Announcements

The “100 Years of Rotary” Gala at the Balboa Pavillion will be November 19. Tickets $110. Raffle tickets are $100. First prize is a stay at a great hotel in Hawaii!

Terri Grassi reminded us that next week’s meeting will take place “same place different time”starting at 5:30PM Next Wednesday, November 10. Only extra fee will be $25. for guests.

Randy McFarland invited stealth members to help with some behind the scenes needs.

1) A few more Rotascribes will spread out how often each person is writing. Please call me or send me a note if you’re interested in helping out as a writer. If you’re not interested, try to avoid me at meetings!

2) We need a couple members to help set up the sound system, which includes plugging 2 microphones into the sound board and plugging the 2 speakers into the sound board and plugging the sound board into the wall. It’s not difficult but it will save our president valuable time which is in short supply just prior to the meeting. Please consider showing your appreciation for our president’s efforts by stepping up in this way!

Randy also ask for members who brought EZ Ups to the Jog-a-thon to confirm that they brought home the correct one, as Randy didn’t end up with his. He will trade you if you have his!

Jim Williams shared interesting history on the early relationship of our club in the Rotary fight against Polio, when in the mid 1980s our club utilized a Rotary matching grant to immunize the children of Costa Rica. Dan mentioned that to date, our club has raised $250,000. for this endeavor!

Special Presentation

President Dan Ouweleen recognized the tireless efforts of our relentless Raco in working with the schools and the school clubs to support the Jog-a-thon. Dan was pleased to announce that Raco is The September “Rotarian of the Month”! Congrats and thank you Raco!

Opportunity Drawing

Raco got to prolong his time in the sun when his ticket was pulled, giving him an attempt to pick the Owl with “winner” on the bottom. Raco inadvertently left the “winner” owl untouched, so someone has a chance next week!

Recognitions

Our own Mike Oates came well-prepared with some very good jokes, which was surprising in itself, but what really impressed me was the great variety of punch lines for the jokes that were given by members that Mike called upon. I was amazed that Judy Atwell (birthday) confidently rattled off the correct punch line to a lawyer joke right off the bat as did Terri Grassi and John Phelps, Don Ludwig, Minard Duncan, Bob Jahncke and Mike Cochran were also part of the fun. After a couple more uncannily correct punch line from members, it became evident that cheat sheets had been surreptitiously given to the members that Mike called on. If the member “guessed” the correct punchline, the entire table had to pay $1.00. If the member didn’t guess correctly, he/she had to pay.

At the time, I didn’t realize why Mike had chosen lawyer jokes until I realized who our speaker appeared. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that Tony Rackauckas, the Orange County District Attorney, arrived late, missing most of the lawyer jokes, but after the meeting, Mike give his entire list of jokes to Mr. Rackauckas… who I noticed took a glance at Mike’s name badge.

Getting back to the jokes, some tried to remember the punch lines rather than reading them out loud. A few did well, and others got crucial words reversed making things even funnier…. it was a hilarious time…. Well done, Mike! Rotarians say the darndest things, don’t they?

Program

Tony Rackauckas shared some interesting statistics including that there are 800 people in the District Attorney’s office and 175 of them are investigators, mostly experienced cops from law enforcement departments. The department enforces state laws and capital murder cases, reviewing 70,000 cases per year.

“Team prosecution” is proving to be more effective and expedient than having one person take a case from beginning to end. Most cases settle rather than go to court.

The DA office also invests considerable effort into GRIP (Gang Reduction & Intervention Partnership) which partners with churches, the Angels baseball team, businesses, non-profits, police department and more. The goal is to expose at risk youth to a different lifestyle than gangs.

State Assembly Bill AB109, “Realignment” forced prisons to relocate some inmates to county jails and let to early release for inmates whose conviction were considered “non-violent”. 20-25% are in for short term, for parole violations, making counties responsible for enforcement. County jails are actually designed for short term stays, like 60-90 days.

Proposition 47 was sold as a way to save money, but the money never went to schools as promised when it passed. Petty theft is for amounts $400-$950. So some criminals kept track of how much to steal at one time to avoid Grand Theft charges.

In 1994, The “Three Strikes” law was passed and crime was reduced until early release caused it to go up again. Also, now, the third strike must be a violent crime.

A problem he has with the new proposition 57 is that it classifies some types of rape as “non-violent”.

Although the death penalty has not been used for several years, those on death row are the worst of the worst. He suggested NO on Proposition 62 which would end the death penalty and he suggested YES on Proposition 66 which is supposed to speed up capital crime cases.

Mr. Rackauckas has a task force that is working on several hundred cold cases in the files or the DA office.