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President Tom called our meeting to order today at The St. Catharines Golf & Country Club.
Joining President Tom at the head table:
Guest Introducer: Larry Iggulden
Guest Speaker: Chief Wendy Southall
Sgt-at-Arms: Bob Lawler
In-the-spotlight: Vicky Rudachuk
Registrar: Ron Sloan
Introduction of Guests: Ron Sloan
Guests included:
Visiting Rotarian Glenn Stewart from Kitchener Grand River – guest of son Brian Stewart
Lion Ted Collins – guest of Art Wing
Lion Mario Girotti - guest of Art Wing
Lion Bill Wiley - guest of Art Wing
Lion Geoff Crane - guest of Art Wing
Julie Wirtanen – guest of Janet DeVrie
Deputy Chief Gary Beaulieu, NRPS – guest of Chief Southall
CAO Guillermo Fuentes, NRPS – guest of Chief Southall
Monique Charette – guest of Roger Segalin
Grace: Kim Widdicombe
O Canada: Don Shaw
Toast to the Queen and Canada: by President Tom
Art Wing
Art began by recalling that there are over 1.2 million Rotarians worldwide in 530 Rotary Districts and 164 countries.
A person can become a member of the Paul Harris Society by donating $1,000 to the Rotary Foundation – just call Art.
Today we recognized four Merritton Lions, Ted Collins, Mario Girotti, Bill Wiley and Geoff Crane for their volunteer work to create and operate the Merritton Community Centre and Arena. This facility has served St. Catharines youth, family and seniors over the past 4 decades. The Lions started as a service club in Chicago June 7, 1917.
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Bill Wiley, Tom Arkell, Art Wing (standing), Geoff Crane, Mario Girotti, Ted Collins (sitting) |
Ted Collins has been a Lion for 50 years. He has been on the Arena Committee since 1967 and is a member of the St. Catharines Sports Hall of Fame for his achievements in basketball.
Mario Girotti started Hygrade Precast and has been on the Committee for 40 years.
Bill Wiley has been a lifetime advocate of Merritton and represented Merritton Ward for 12 years on City Council – many of these years as Deputy Mayor. Bill is also a Queen’s Jubilee Medalist.
Geoff Crane has been a Lion since 1965 and retired from Hayes Dana Corporation. He is currently employed as the Arena Manager.
Our Club thanks these four gentlemen for their outstanding service to their community and the City of St. Catharines.
Bill Wiley offered thanks on behalf of the Merritton Four. He expressed his being astounded and feeling humbled by the honor. He knows that there are many worthy of the honor within our own Club and understands that for us to recognize their service is special. He stated that their work was not performed for recognition or reward but that they do reap great pride in their accomplishment. He knows that to receive this type of recognition form one’s own Club is a plus in service but to receive it from another Club is overwhelming.
Program Committee will have a meeting Tuesday May 20 at 5:00 pm at Chair John Crossingham’s home.
The Literacy Committee’s meeting scheduled for Tuesday May 27 has been moved to Monday June 9 at 3:00 pm – same location.
The GSE Team has arrived; our duty will begin the week of June 1 and Rick Merritt will need volunteer drivers.
President Tom explained that there is a Rotary program of support for Myanmar – Rotary Shelter Box. These fiberglass boxes contain 6 months of shelter and supplies to support 10 people. Our Board will monitor conditions in Myanmar and take action at an appropriate time.
Jagdish Mehta is doing well at home. He can take visitors but call first – next week would be better than this week.
The meeting scheduled for Thursday June 26 has been moved back to Wednesday June 25.
Brian Stewart began by relating hat he had a joke from the Larry Ross Book of Humor all ready but then learned that his father would be present at the meeting. Instead he recounted how a salesman with a 25-year successful career retired. He enlisted in the Police Force; landed a job in administration; and, always had a big smile on his face. His sergeant asked him why he is always so happy – was it because he now carried a gun – was it because he enjoyed his new place of work in Niagara Falls – Why the big smile. He replied that for the last 25 years the customer has always been right – now the customer is always wrong!
Peggy Davidson is happy to reach her 2nd anniversary.
Rick Vanderkuip is happy for his son making the Top 40 Under 40 list and for reading to two Grade 1 classes.
Henry Becker is happy that every Henry in the Club is a member of the Beers Club.
Tom Pekar is happy for the Smile program his clinic is supporting; they are 25/350 for number of treatments and 15/350 for funds raised.
Jaquelyn Clark was happy to pay-up for her birthday last week.
Stuart Butler was happy to report hat the Ribfest Sponsor kits were going out next week.
John Klassen was happy to report that he is going on yet another cruise.
Oraine DeRosa was happy to report the sponsorship committee has ‘hit the bottle’ – sounds like committee meetings are getting longer and wetter.
Coletta McGrath was happy to recognize National Nursing Week.
John Snowling was happy for the new Paul Harris Fellows.
Betty-Lou Souter is happy that the new hospital bids have been submitted this week.
Liz Palmieri was very happy to report that the Chorus Niagara Sing-a-thon raised $34,000 and that she raised $1,100 of the total.
Mayor Brian McMullen was happy that he could now say he attended lunch with the Chief, the Chair, the Deputy Chief and the CAO.
Sam Walters is happy for his daughter moving to a new job and for his son announcing that he and his fiancée will be getting married June 20.
Art Wing paid a happy $ to award latecomer Geoff Crane his PHF on the floor of the meeting.
Art Weaver was happy to report a successful 10k run that raised $5,600 for the Brain Injury Association.
Vicky Rudachek
Introduced: by Maurice Gomme February 10, 2005 (Maurice met Vicky as a Rotary TV Auction canvasser)
Married to: Blaine McDougal (Educator)
Owner and operator of the Ontario Street Midas Shop
Two Daughters: Talia and Hilary
Committees:
Youth Exchange
Sergeant-at-Arms
Dinner & Registration
Outbound & Host Family Selection
Auction Advisory
Interests: golf, reading, skiing and travel
George Park had the winning ticket but could not draw an ace for a pot of $188.
Peggy Davidson – May 13
Program: Policing in Niagara - Chief Wendy Southall
Past President Larry Iggulden introduced Chief Wendy Southall as his friend. After many years of working shoulder to shoulder and sharing scars, they have become friends. He believes that the NRPS is in good hands. He asked us to welcome Chief Wendy Southall, the 7th Chief of the Niagara Regional Police Services (NRPS).
Chief Southall has been Chief of the NRPS for the past 3-½ years and finds it a pleasure to speak at her own Club today. She thanked Deputy Chief Beaulieu and CAO Fuentes for their attendance today. She cautioned us when comparing statistics from other regional services to our own; they may report statistics on the same items but the methods of collection can be very different and the local cultures can have significant effect on what is or is not acceptable. Chief Southall wants to speak about the REALITY of policing in Niagara. NRPS has 1000 members, 700 police officers and 300 civilians. Senior staff includes one each of Chief, Deputy Chief and CAO; additionally, there are 5 superintendents and 2 civilian directors. Fully 20% of NRPS personnel are eligible to retire today including all of the senior management team! However, the NRPS does have a succession plan in place.
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Police Chief Wendy Southall |
The NRPS operates from the same 12 facilities it did when it was created 35 years ago. It provides urban and rural policing for 1,850 square kilometers, 12 Municipalities, 161 kilometers of shoreline, 1,610 square kilometers of international waters, 2 casinos and the second busiest border with the US (the busiest for truck traffic). They respond to 140,000 calls per year plus the self-initiated actions. The NRPS provides over 50 programs including court services that were assumed as a result of provincial downloading. Court services, currently a service with a $5M budget was downloaded with a budget of $500K.
The NRPS participates in many joint force operations with the OPP (such areas as weapons control, terrorism and bikers), the RCMP and international agencies. They participate in over 50 community partnerships with agencies such as FCS, Women’s Place and the Victim’s Crisis Centre. Their labor relations are very complex with the special Police labor standards layered on top of the general provincial standards.
Unfortunately the NRPS must deal with all types of crime in Niagara. It operates in these areas both reactively (drug related crimes such as Break & Enter or car theft) and proactively (drug addiction prevention for e.g.). Grow-ops have become much more prevalent over recent years. Organized crime in Niagara has become very sophisticated and gangs are being forced out of Toronto only to turn up here in Niagara and other communities close to the GTA. Local crime includes guns from over the border, terrorism, an increase in large nightclubs, and technology related crime such as child pornography. Because service growth and personnel aging are common to all police service organizations, competition for new recruits is fierce. Fortunately, Niagara’s beauty and quality for life result in many who choose to leave other areas to work her and few leave Niagara for other forces.
While budgets are commonly reported in newspapers as areas of concern, they are one area Chief Southall considers as a real accomplishment. Many other communities are seeing 12 to 15% annual growth in assessment while ours has been maintained at much lower levels. Technology was a big problem in 2002-2003 but has been addressed and today we have integrated systems of dispatch and data management. NRPS supports over 200 community events annually.
Chief Southall appreciates the governance side of the NRPS; she is proud of the work performed by her Service and she is proud of her staff’s level of community volunteerism.
Graham Kennedy thanked Chief Southall for her intelligence, credibility, bravery and good judgment. He believes that he can live in peace and go to bed at night feeling safe. He believes that there is a mutual respect between police officer and civilian in Niagara. He recognized that the Out-of-the-Cold program is in part responsible for a reduction of crime in Niagara.
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Police Chief Wendy Southall & President Tom Arkell |
Next Week:
Lee McKenna – Community Health Centres
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, Geoff Crane, Mario Girotti, Ted Collins (sitting).jpg)
