Meeting of the Rotary Club of Eureka
December 2, 2013
Lunch Menu: Salad bar, canned peaches, corned beef,
meatloaf, potatoes, cabbage, carrots, gravy, rolls, dessert.
Called to order by Acting President Gregg Gardiner at
12:30pm
The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Dan Price. (Gregg asked
that he lead the pledge in honor of Dan’s son who just left for Afghanistan.)
The Invocation was led by Greg Pierson
Visiting Rotarians
Greg Seiler- Fortuna Rotary and Les Merrill- Southwest
Rotary
Guests of Rotarians
Arnold Klein introduced his guest, Dr. Kitty Poterak. Fred
Sundquist introduced Jason Chan, CEO of City Ambulance of Eureka. Matt Owen
introduced Maggie Fleming, who is running for District Attorney in the upcoming
election. Don Smullin introduced Paula Patton, Publisher of the Times-Standard
Eric Bergel introduced two Interact students Jordan Rossi
and Kendall Duncan.
Dan recently left the Williston’s and moved to the Bauriedel’s,
his second host family. He enjoyed Thanksgiving
and liked eating turkey, watching football and watching his father drink beer,
(although he didn’t have any beer because he’s not old enough). He introduced his wrestling coach from Eureka High
School, who is also a Rotarian in McKinleyville.
Jay Reed on 12/5, Jack Macdonald on 12/5, and a standing
ovation for Jim Howard who celebrated his 98th birthday on December 1st!
Anniversaries
Bert Campton’s 29th anniversary with Rotary, Jay and Vonel
Bahner will celebrate their 32nd wedding anniversary on 12/5. With a little prompting from acting President
Gardiner, Jay confessed that he proposed in a bowling alley and that they went
on two honeymoons to Hawaii and Las Vegas.
Mike Cunningham reminded everyone to sign up for the
Christmas Party at the Ingomar Club on December 14th. Information is on the tables or you can email
or call him. About 40 people have signed up so far. Generally there are about 80 that attend,
most of who sign up at the last minute.
Acting President Gardiner said that the secure portion of
the rotary1.org web site is now up and can be accessed by remembering an
important date for our club.
He also talked about Toys for Tots. This year over 5,000 kids will be served in Humboldt County, plus Weaverville, Leggett and
Covelo. There are two ways to help. You can send a tax deductible check or drop
off a toy to one of 50 or 60 locations.
Recognitions
Gregg asked all Rotarians who had driven more than 200 miles
on Thanksgiving to stand. The winners
were Eric Bergel who went to Coeur D’Alene, Idaho and Matt Messner who went to Seattle, WA. Those who attended a dinner with 20 or more
people were John Winzler with 22, Dan Price with 25 (plus 3 little girls), and
Patrick Cleary.
Raffle
$10 to: Matt Messner
and $10 to: Dr. Ted Welton.
Our speaker was introduced by Murl Harpham. Gregg Gardiner noted that Murl Harpham has
been with Eureka Police Department (EPD) for 56 years, 4 times as acting Chief. He asked for applause and Murl received a
standing ovation. Murl then introduced
Andrew Mills our new Chief of Police for EPD.
Murl said that despite having a hard time over the past few years
finding the right person to head up EPD, this time he knows they’ve got it
right. Andrew Mills has been in law
enforcement for 30 years. The past 27
years in San Diego and prior to that in Michigan. Murl has found
him to be an honorable and good person.
Chief Mills said it was hard to follow a legend like Murl.
Murl’s belief in the city and Murl’s willingness to put off retirement so many
times to help out Eureka, influenced Chief Mills
decision to come to Eureka
and that the city owes Murl a debt of gratitude.
He told a “true story” about thinking outside of the box…
When he was in San Diego
his team was working on a case to expose a cartel. It took 3 years and they were finally able to
arrest the individuals when a detective on the team came up with an out of the
box way to “kidnap” a source which eventually led to the indictment of numerous
cartel members. Chief Mills added it’s easy to get used to doing things a
certain way but sometimes you need to take an out of the box approach.
He said Eureka
is a fabulous community. He and his wife
have received a warm, friendly welcome from numerous community members. EPD is a great police department. They have a heavy workload with as many as
400 calls in one day. Generally 13 or 14
people are receiving those calls. He
estimates that the dispatch center is 40% understaffed. There are great people
doing a lot of multitasking.
He needs DATA about where crime is occurring and when so he
can send his men to those trouble spots. He is working with various people to
gather that data. For example after
talking with the city attorney they were able to note that 3 people are
committing 24% of the crime in Eureka. Obviously, those 3 people need to be dealt
with.
They are putting a foot officer back in Old Town. During Black Friday weekend they had a
presence at the mall and in Henderson
Center.
He wants to reduce internal hazards at the police
station. It reeks of marijuana due to
the immense amount of confiscated marijuana located on the 3rd floor. They need to replace or remove the carpeting,
which is 3” higher in one place than another and creates a walking hazard. They need bodies. He’s sending out letters to other police
departments looking for people willing to commit to working in Eureka for a period of
time.
Right now he’s doing a lot of walking and talking… meeting
people, getting to know the problems and needs of Eureka. He then answered a number of
questions.
Meeting adjourned: 1:30pm
Respectfully submitted,
Alicia Cox
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