Phather Phil’s Prayer
Click here to read Phather Phil’s Thanksgiving Poem that he read at lunch this week.
Today’s Guests – WELCOME!
| Guest | Guest Of |
| Vance Gilstrap | Karin Gilstrap |
| Debbie Parks | Beth Duncan |
| Julie Rado | Beth Duncan |
| Nate Smiga | Gary Smiga |
| Bill Taylor | Carolyn Trylor |
| Judge Walter Rice | Speaker |
| Kirk Wasmund | Greg Wasmund |
All Photos from the Meeting are Here
District Awards
- Myron Rheaume reported about and distributed awards from the Great Ohio District.
- CNO received a Club 365 Banner Patch representing at least $1/day raised from 50/50, fines and happy bucks and given to the OI Foundation.
- Mike Bevis received his Dime-a-Day Pin for donating $36.50 to the OI Foundation Dime-A-Day program.
- Andrew Dickerson achieved level 2 for the Professional Development Program (PDP).
- New Members Recruited Pins were given to: Greg Griffin for 10 members, Jesse Gaither for 5 members and Judy McFadden for 1 member.
Community Event
Chris McAlpine announced that CNO will have a booth at Winterfest at Primary Village South on 12/7/2019 from 9 AM to 1 PM. The game is super easy. We challenge the kids to balance a bean bag on their foot and walk from a starting line and drop it in a box. If they can do one bag, we add a bean bag to both feet. Then add bags to hands, forehead, shoulder, or anything that’s funny. While the kids are playing, we talk to their parents about the Optimist club. Chris is looking for volunteers.
Social Events
12/10/2019 – 6 – 8:45 PM, Tuesday, Holiday Party at Yankee Trace. There will not be a lunch meeting that day.
Announcements
- Nancy Lehren announced that there will be two Build-a-Bear events for the USO at WPAFB on December 7, 2019. In addition to volunteers, she needs drivers with easy access credentials to get on the base.
- Donna Huss announced that on December 7 from 9:30 to 11:30 in the morning at the St. Leonard center, the St. Leonard Optimist Club will be making blankets. Let her know if you would like to help.
- Christy Gariety announced that all of the children have been adopted for the Adopt-A-Family program. She is looking for the person that took the child coded 77D to record their name for that spot.
- Bob Glavin announced that the Partners Optimist Club (adults with special needs) is still selling poinsettias as a fundraiser. The program has been a huge success. They have sold over 150 poinsettias and their goal was about 30.
- Greg Griffin reminded everyone to please show up for your shifts on the Christmas tree lot.
A Blueprint for Reducing Recidivism by Judge Walter H. Rice
Donna Huss introduced federal Judge Walter H. Rice. She said his reputation precedes him, so he needs no introduction.
His biographical sketch from the Southern District Court Website is here.
From the above two links:
On June 4, 1980, Judge Rice was sworn in as Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, at Dayton, having been appointed to that position by President Carter. On December 13, 2018, President Donald Trump signed legislation naming the federal building in Dayton the Walter H. Rice Federal Building and United States Courthouse. On September 6, 2019, The Walter H. Rice Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse was officially named at a ceremony, with Rice calling the event and the building’s naming “the honor of a lifetime.”
Rice is a fantastic, funny and interesting speaker.
Rice said, “I have an hour-long speech prepared. The good news is I left it at the office. The bad news is that I have memorized it.” For the record, the speech lasted about 23 minutes.
He said, “I was going to thank everyone for the introduction, but since it was short, I will not.”
You can read a document he wrote along with Debbie A. Lieberman, produced in 2010 named, “A Blueprint for Reducing Recidivism in Montgomery County, Ohio”.
Rice said, “What if I could offer to each of you the opportunity to be involved in an initiative to reduce criminal recidivism by 50%? It would save children, family, neighborhoods and communities, while freeing up money to be used in other areas of the community. We could enhance our infrastructure. Fix our streets. It will maximize the public-school system to educate kids for the tasks of tomorrow.”
“It addresses the common beliefs of all religions, to see that no person is beyond redemption If I offered this would anyone disagree? It is about helping those who want to help themselves after having been involved in the prison system. The initiative is spreading, and it is working in our own community.”
“Every year 1500 people come home from prison in our area. Men and woman who come home and want to do the right thing. They have done their time. They suddenly realized that the debt is not paid. The debt follows them to the grave and beyond. Try as most of them do, doors are slammed in their faces. They are greeted with hostility from friends, family. The opportunity for employment and social services are denied. Why are we surprised that they return to crime?”
“Of any developed country we have the most of any western developed country. Half to a third, nationwide end up back to prison within the next three years.”
“For those that do stay out of prison, they find themselves living on the margins of society.”
“There are two other issues that also accelerate the recidivism rates. It used to be 100% of those released were on supervised parole. They were helped to find a place to live and work. This is no longer true. More than half of them have no parole and it is being reduced. Fewer and fewer are supervised. Our prisons are 40% over capacity. Released men and women come home with the same baggage they have in prison. Issues with drugs, alcoholism, mental issues.
“The second thing that we should all know is that there are very few lengthy prison sentences. A typical sentence is about 2 years. Most are 12-18 months. The prisons have less programming as their resources are stretched.”
Rice got involved in re-entry about 15 years ago. He realized that he was sentencing the grand and great grandchildren of those he had sentenced before. The second and third generations are being sentenced.
Having served their time, ex-offenders would ask him for help and he would try to help find a place for them to live and to get their driver’s license back. He would try but fail.
Starting in 2004, Rice along with Debbie A. Lieberman, studied the issue. The “office of Ex-Offender Reentry Welcome One-stop Reentry Center was opened in Montgomery county 9 years ago. Thousands have received help that was previously unavailable. They are working with other counties to change legislation to avoid collateral consequences. There are odd laws. If you have a felony record, you could not be a barber and can’t own a construction company. Most of these laws have no relationship to the crime that was committed.
They offer a “Certificate for Qualification for Employment”. You can apply to the court for a document that warrants that they have been good and are safe. Most employers hesitate to hire felons. They are afraid their insurance rates will go high. They could be sued for negligent hiring. The law says if an employer has this certificate and if something goes wrong, they can no longer be sued for negligent hiring.
Recently the center has hired someone to be an in-reach specialist. They will meet with every person coming out of prison in the next 6-12 months and will work with ex-prisoners to create a re-entry plan. The plan will involve solutions for housing, employment, substance abuse programs, mental issue programs and to help them get back in good terms with their family.
There is something in the reentry program for all ex-offenders. First, it is the right thing to do. This is a country of second chances. All religions stress this concept. Secondly, this is not a hug a thug program. They don’t work with people that don’t demonstrate that they are willing to do the hard work to be successful. Third, this will save communities massive sums of money. An incredibly high percentage of the Montgomery County discretionary budget goes to law enforcement. There are constitutional rules mandating what that they must supply for prisoners and law enforcement and if the recidivism goes down the budget will go down.
The program provides the best public safety measures. If a person is on the right track, then they are working, paying taxes and serving as a role model.
The statistics for the last 9 years show that re-entry works. The recidivism rate in Montgomery County was 40%, now it is 30%. For those that have gone through the program the recidivism rate is less than 5%.
Rice said the program needs our support. He is not asking for money and time. He wants us to realize that most ex-offenders coming home don’t want to go back to prison. Talk openly about the subject with others when the subject comes up. Most of them are not bad people. They want to be judged not by what they were in the past but what they are today and what their future might be.
Thank you, Judge Walter H. Rice, for taking the time to explain your excellent program to us.
Perfect Attendance Awards
Perfect attendance awards were given out today. Not to be confused with the “Perfect Attendance Awards” that you received while in grade school, CNO Perfect Attendance is based on a measurement of continuous club involvement behind the scenes or in plain view of others. Small key tabs are awarded to Members for 5, 10, 15, and 20 years on up.
The 2018-2019 recipients are:
| Consecutive Years | Member(s) |
| 40 | Charlie Tapp |
| 38 | Dan Beck |
| 37 | Don Kelley, Joe Madden |
| 36 | Gary Aiken |
| 32 | Bob Duffy |
| 30 | Gail Aiken |
| 26 | Wayne Christie |
| 22 | Scott Langer, Phil Robinson |
| 19 | Stan Fronzaglia, Nancy Lehren, Jerry Stahley |
| 18 | Tim Clemmer, Barbara Santo |
| 17 | Mike Bevis, Tom Novak |
| 16 | Mary Madden |
| 15 | Bob Burkman |
| 14 | Pat Behn, Kelly Stone |
| 11 | Gary Smiga, Dick Stevens |
| 10 | Debe Dockins, Chris McAlpine |
| 9 | Joan Cordonnier, Sandy Stevens |
| 8 | Will Cale, Roland Rapp, Myron Rheaume, Dav Bremer |
| 7 | Ken Irwin, David Ladd, Larry Lynde, Jean Pummill, Dan Passidomo, Laurie Poeppelman |
| 6 | Pete Rife, Donna Huss, Art Hung, Bill Stone |
| 5 | Bob Bargmeyer, Bob Collins, Greg Griffin |
| 4 | Sue Brubaker, Cherie Gentry, Evelyn Griffin, Gary Hansen, Carrie Million |
| 3 | Diane Arehart, Marjorie Back, Mike Brubaker, Vince Reidy, Liz Fultz, Jesse Gaither, Bob Lawson, Beth Duncan, Vida McDowell |
| 2 | Patrick Arehart, Jane Fiehrer, John Kalaman, Jay McAlpine |
| 1 | Rick Altvater, June Bosworth, Gary DeMarco, Judy DeMarco, Andy Dickerson, Erin Dickerson, David Duncombe, Larry England, Susan Jessee, Paula Kalaman, Joe Kronenberger, Ron Kuker, Steve Linder, Jim Long, Brian Nolan, Carolyn Taylor |
Thank You Notes Sent to CNO This Week
Click here to see the Thank You Notes we received this week
CNO Donations 2013 through June 2019
Click this link to see a summary of the donations our club has made.
Over 50 years, we have donated close to $2,000,000 to our youth community. In the past 6 years, we have donated nearly $700,000.
Birthdays
| Member | Birthday |
| Denny Cottle | November 29 |
| Tom Beery | November 29 |
| Nancy Anderson | November 30 |
Membership Anniversaries
| Member | Month | Day | Joined |
| Cindy Gaboury | November | 27 | 11/27/2017 |
| Jay McAlpine | November | 27 | 11/27/2017 |
| Jayne Weikel | November | 27 | 11/27/2017 |
| Nancy Anderson | November | 27 | 11/27/2017 |
| Patrick Arehart | November | 27 | 11/27/2017 |
| Rhonda Meeker | November | 27 | 11/27/2017 |
| Rick Talda | November | 27 | 11/27/2017 |
| Robby Johnson | November | 27 | 11/27/2017 |
| Ryan Fay | November | 27 | 11/27/2017 |
| Sharon Silverberg | November | 27 | 11/27/2017 |
| Shelby DiPasquale | November | 27 | 11/27/2017 |
| Sonny Singhvi | November | 27 | 11/27/2017 |
| Jesse Lightle | November | 28 | 11/28/2006 |
| Liz Fultz | November | 29 | 11/29/2015 |
| Ted Humphrey | November | 29 | 11/29/2001 |
| Dan Beck | December | 1 | 12/1/1981 |
| Gary Smiga | December | 1 | 12/1/1985 |
New Member Readings and Inductions
| Name | Sponsor | 1st 2nd 3rd Reading or Induction |
| Stephen Rau | Tom Novak | 2nd Reading |
| JoAnne Rau | Tom Novak | 2nd Reading |
Sergeants at Arms
No time for Sergeants this week
Happy Bucks!
No time for Happy Bucks this week.