Charlotte-Shelburne-Hinesburg Rotary Meeting
August 8, 2018
President Erik called the meeting to order
Rik Flood shared an opening devotion
UPCOMING MEETINGS:
8/15 Deb Helfrich, Woof, What’s that Dog Saying?
8/21 Board Meeting; All members are welcome
8/22 Club Mtg, RYLA Awards, Restore Golf Balls
8/29 Don Condon, Old Rotarians Never Die
9/5 Vanessa Fortune, Summer Fun in the North End
9/12 Jeff Nick, Real Estate Guru
9/18 Board Meeting; All members are welcome
9/19 Club Meeting
9/26 Aaron Noble, Shelburne Police Chief
CLUB EVENTS/COMMUNITY SERVICE:
8/11 Charlotte Beach Shed Construction. This weekend will concentrate on the roof. Starts at 9:00 am. All volunteers are welcome. Expected to go for about 4 hours. all Linda Gilbert for details
8/17 Charlotte Cook-Out. Call John Hammer for more information
8/18 Shelburne Day Food Booth - Volunteers are still needed. Call Linda Gilbert to sign-up
CLUB FUNDRAISER - GOLF BALL DROP ON 8/18 DURING SHELBURNE DAY
John Dupee reported that there are still many tickets that need to be sold and we only have 10 more days. Volunteers are needed this Saturday at the Shelburne Farmer's Market. Several members commented that it was fun to sell tickets there. John reminded those present as well as members not present that ALL members are responsible to sell a minimum of 2 booklets. Terrell Titus suggested that there should be postings on our Facebook page and in Front Porch Forum.
SARGEANT-AT-ARMS: Chris Davis
HAPPY FINES HIGHLIGHTS:
Members gave Alan Bates a standing ovation when he walked in. Several members added happy fines dedicated to him. Alan gave several happy fines including that he was very happy to be at the meeting after several months absent. He's hoping to be more regular in attending meetings. He was at the Farmer's Market selling Golf Ball Drop tickets and plans to be at this week's Farmer's Market doing the same.
Sarah George (today's speaker) was happy that she officiated at her daughter's wedding
Susan Grimes is going to the Travis Roy Wiffleball Tournament this weekend
Terrell Titus brought the book Wishes Are Medicine: How Make-A-Wish Gave Me Hope And Helped Me Heal, written by wish kid Jamie Heath of Barre, VT, and illustrated by Leonard Kenyon of Arlington, VT. Jamie's wrote about her recovery from a brain aneurysm and how Make-A-Wish played an important role in her recovery. Terrell also paid a fine for leaving her top down as she watched the rain pouring down outside!
Jon Lowell drew the joker and won $336!
SPEAKER: SARAH GEORGE, CHITTENDEN COUNTY STATE'S ATTORNEY
Sarah grew up in Quechee, VT, got her Bachelor's Degree at the University of Connecticut in psychology and criminal justice and a Master's in Forensic Psychology at Castleton State College with her master's thesis supervised under Tom Powell, Ph.D. She interned at the Chittenden County State's Attorney's Office while attending Vermont Law School. Sarah said she thought she would be a defense attorney, but realized that she could do more good working in the state's attorney's office where there was more influence on improving the justice system. TJ Donovan hired her in 2011 and for several years she worked almost exclusively on the domestic violence docket, a very challenging and difficult docket. She threw her hat in to be appointed to replace TJ - not expecting she'd get it, but she did and talked about how different Chittenden County is in comparison to the other 13 Vermont counties. One example she gave was the opioid crisis in Vermont. "We have many services in Chittenden County compared to other counties. This means that I can support prevention and intervention services here that are just not available anywhere else. My colleague in Orleans County has almost nothing to work with so her approach has to depend more on using the justice system to address the problems there." There was a lively discussion of juvenile justice and family violence which are still very important to her.
President Erik thanked her for coming and said it might be good to have her back again. He rang the bell to end the meeting.
Respectfully submitted: Judy Christensen