Posted by Elsie Casida
MORRO BAY ROTARY CLUB NOTES
April 10, 2018
 
Meeting called to order by Prez Pete
Invocation led by Nick
Pledge to the Flag led by Pete
We recited the Four Way Test
Joke by Pete....Lawyer joke.....they are always good
 
Visiting Rotarians:   Julie Jenkins from Cambria
 
Guests of Rotarians:   Scott Collins, Morro Bay’s City Manager was introduced by John Weiss; Linda Costley introduced by her loving husband, Dan; Sheriff Parkinson introduced by Judy; and, Police Chief Greg Allen also was with us today.
 
Pete read off the names of every one of us who helped with the Crab Feed.   We grossed $14,000 on this event....Whohoo!!!  Clean up was amazing...we were out of there by 8:30.  THANKS to everyone who helped.  Mary was fined $10.00 for having a candle lit butter warmer on her table, Katherine was fined $10.00 for her birthday, Ken Stilts was fined $53 for his 53rd anniversary.   He said if he had it to do all over again, he would marry the same girl.    Sweet!!
 
John Weiss announced the District Foundation Fiesta being held on May 4th in Santa Maria.  It will be an informative meeting about the Foundation.  One of the speakers will be a man whose mother raised him and his siblings while she was in an iron lung.
 
Greg Hardcastle sent around the signup sheet for the Car Show....help is still needed.
 
Max has a baseball game this Friday at 4:00.
 
PRLS announcement made by Heidi....Melissa and Jude have graduated.
 
Next Tuesday is our clubs anniversary....April 17th.  Come next week for a special anniversary celebration.
 
Golf Tournament forms are on the tables.  They still need help on that day......May 11th.  Also Jamie had posters for the golf tournament.  Come out and join us. 
 
March Satisfaction Survey is out.... 20% response this month, would like to see more of us fill it out each month.....only takes a minute.
 
Next week we will have our 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners of the Four Way Test here to read their papers.
 
Pete had some “fine” questions about the Augusta golf course.  A wrong answer cost some $10.00.  FYI:  The winner of the first golf tournament in 1934 at Augusta was awarded $1,500.  The entire prize fund was $5,000.
 
Judy introduced our Sheriff, Ian Parkinson.  He started his law enforcement career in 1984 in Morro Bay before moving onto the City of San Luis Obispo; throughout his career, he has served in almost every position.  He will be participating in the Human Trafficking Seminar in September at the Morro Bay Community Center.
 
The County will be building a new dispatch center out on Hwy 1.  MB fire/police calls now go through the central dispatch.  There are two types of human trafficking - labor and sex.  The labor side goes unreported because most of the victims are here illegally.  The sex industry has grown in the past years and is run primarily by gangs.  Everyone needs to be on the alert for trafficking, even in a small town like Morro Bay.  Most of the sex trafficking victims are U.S. citizens averaging 16 years old.  They will bring in $150 - 180 thousand dollars per year for their pimp.  
 
In 2014 we had gang members from Fresno bring in two girls 15 and 17; they branded them and used them for sex.  One of them was able to get a cell phone and called for help; SLO police were able to rescue them. 
 
A task force was formed in 2014 including hospital staff, CAPSLO, Women’s Shelter, and other organizations.  The mission of the Task Force is to prevent and combat Human Trafficking through education, law enforcement, etc.  We look to law enforcement to solve our crime problems, but the situation begins way before the problem is discovered by the police.  Ian meets with school administration members quite often and says the tide has turned and they are very supportive of all the efforts being done.  Thanks to Ian for taking the time to bring this informative talk to our group, he said that he is very proud of Rotary for getting involved in combating these labor and sex crimes.
 
Doug brought boxes to mail.
Next week Four Way Test winners will be here to read their essays. 
 
50/50 drawing won by Jeff Jones
 
“It’s really hard to be a good LEADER, it’s really, really hard to be a good FOLLOWER. “
 
Enjoy the beauty of our area.....See you next week.  ECasida