President Peter kept his remarks to a minimum today, saving time for our featured speaker, Whatcom County Sheriff Bill Elfo. But in his brief remarks, President Peter welcomed back an old friend that had been sore missing lately: Sunshine! Strange and welcome indeed.
Book Review by Jodi Borrelli - "Dopesick" by Beth Macy, 2018
Beth Macy’s 2018 book, Dopesick, examines the evolution of the American opioid crisis. Through diligent investigative journalism, Macy explains how an American Drug Cartel made billions through illegal and deceptive marketing techniques. In their wake, hundreds of thousands of dead and millions more suffering from what Macy calls, “The Disease of Despair.” As Macy exposes the sinister details of the Sackler family (aka Purdue Pharma), the truth is shocking to those unfamiliar, while definitively surreal to those intimately aware of what it means to be, Dopesick.
But wait, I have some exciting news. As many of you may recall my last book review was Travis Lupick’s “Fighting for Space.”
Travis just released his 2nd book LIGHT UP THE NIGHT and tonight is the launch event. He will be presenting LIGHT UP THE NIGHT in conversation with Beth Macy, the author of Dopesick, and I have been personally invited to attend.
Club and Committee Announcements To help members maintain their Covid-19 records, Felicity Dye, pointed out that you can go to waverify.doh.wa.gov to show your status in the Digital COVID-19 Verification Record.
John Dunne shared a video from and about the Community Boating Center, focused on their partnerships with other important community service agencies and non-profits in the interest of serving diverse communities. The CBC has greatly both the programs they offer and the and the participants they reach. This includes children as young as 5, and those with cognitive, physical and emotional disabilities. Well known examples cited were the Max Higbee Center (near to our club’s collective heart) and Youthnet. Great work by a very worthy Major Project recipient!
Football Pool - No new numbers until 1/24, stay tuned!
You will still receive an email from Sandee each week prior to the Monday 12:30 meeting if you are unable to attend in person (you can start logging in at 12:00 for short socializing) with the link for that privacy-protected meeting. If you have not done so, please download the Zoom app on your computer (you need a camera and microphone on it), iPad or phone. There is no cost to you. If you do not have either, you can also call in. On the invitation, there are US phone numbers you can call and enter the meeting ID number also indicated on the invitation. HERE ARE ZOOM INSTRUCTIONS.
Four Points is now requiring a Contract thru March 2022. We will continue to evaluate other locations for a permanent location. Lunch will be $22 for a sit-down meal. We must notify them by Wednesday at 4:00 pm each week prior to the Monday meeting as to the number of members attending. We are sending out meeting “Invite's” weekly and members are asked to sign-up ASAP. You can also sign-up by going to the event section of our website at bellinghamrotary.org. If you sign up for a meal at the meeting, you will need to pay the $22 even if you don't wind up attending the meeting after numbers are turned in. If you plan to attend but not eat, PLEASE indicate that on your sign-up so we don't overorder meals and still make sure there is enough seating.
Four Points also will not collect the payment weekly, so the Club will collect payments prior to the meeting or at the door.
We urge members of the RCOB to set up a Venmo account for ease in payment of Meeting lunches, Happy Bucks, Minister of Fun, Dues or donations to the club. Our account is @RCOB-Bellingham. If you do not have a Venmo account you can set up an account with your computer then download the app. on your phone (just Google "Venmo" and you will find all the information you need) You then attach it to a debit or credit card (a fee on your end) or attach to your checking account at no cost. Payment will be sent directly to the RCOB checking account. When you use it for the first time it may ask you the last 4 digits of the RCOB phone number which is 0282. Give Sandee a call if you need help. 360-734-5532
Other payment options are to bring a check in the correct amount to the meeting made out to RCOB or cash in the exact amount to speed up the payment process. There is also the PayPal option as usual and we are set to take payments at the meeting. We have a QR Code that you can simply click on to pay thru paypal also.
Website and Phone App instructions:
Here is a tutorial on how to login for the first time. (Click here) Go to bellinghamrotary.org first. In order to login you need to know your user name and password in your Clubrunner account. The user name is Yourfirstname.Lastname.264 unless you have changed it. Example: Sandra.Lindhout.264 The password is initially set by Clubrunner at 264 unless you have changed it. Sandee can see your Username from her computer but not the password. She can also change your password for you from her computer at your request if you run into problems.
Once you have originally created your User Name and Password you can download the ClubRunner Mobile app on your phone:
Please contact Sandee at 360-734-5532 or rcob@comcast.net if you run into any trouble.
Guests:
Chuck Snyder joined us from Arizona and sadly announced that he has decided to join the Sun Lakes, Arizona Rotary Club but will continue to join us by zoom.
Also joining us was former member Bruce MacCormack, great to see you!!
Other members who were on Zoom: Robin Halliday, Corey Chaplin, Ken Marzocco, Sandy McIntire, Fred Kaiser, Catherine Riordan, Jack Mulhern, Monty McAllister, Bob Morse, Dave Blair, Jim Cunningham, Nathan Twining, John Pedlow, Felicity Dye, Scott Wallace, Tim Farris, Roland Trenouth, Fred Kaiser and Marty Haines.
Program:
Doug Cole introduced Whatcom County Sheriff Bill Elfo, who has served in law enforcement for 34 years and as Sheriff for five consecutive terms. Sheriff Elfo started his career in the seventies after receiving his JD in 1974. In addition to his long and valuable local service, Sheriff Elfo has served as Vice President and President of the Washington State Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs. The theme of his presentation was “Police Reform Legislation – impacts and challenges” that covered many of the legislative efforts from 2021, including and especially HB 1310, titled “Concerning permissible uses of force by law enforcement and correctional officers” and HB 1054 “tactics and equipment”.
A common and repeated them of Sheriff Elfo’s talk was about unintended consequences from well-intended legislation. A larger theme was his concern for the public safety and quality of life challenges the new legislation was presenting for communities all over Washington. As early examples, Sheriff Elfo cited statistics that the murder rate had jumped by 46% over the past year, and manslaughter by 100%.
Early on in his presentation, Sheriff Elfo made plain his and his department’s commitment to fair and impartial policing, transparency, sensitivity to mental health issues and community outreach. He also noted that, at least in Whatcom County, these were all happening before the legislation. Several troubling aspects of recent legislation include:
“Probable Cause” as the new standard for temporary detention of suspects by law enforcement, which is much higher than the prior standard of “reasonable suspicion”. This can have the effect stifling investigation.
Vehicle pursuits are now limited to serious, violent offenses and, oddly, suspected drunk driving which is inherently dangerous to pursue.
Note: both of the above standards are unique to the State of Washington.
In situations involving mental health disorders, law enforcement is precluded from any force or unwilling detention in situations where the person might hurt themselves. Police must leave the area per the new law with the expectation that unarmed mental health professionals will do the job. Unfortunately, there is a woeful lack of resources for mental health and drug abuse resulting in a serious gap.
All drug felonies have been reduced to simple misdemeanors, and the law prevents prosecution until after the 3rd offense. And this is regardless of the quantity of drugs found, so those obvious as dealing drugs are afforded this same protection. Instead of detention and prosecution, the suspects must be referred to the mental health provider for treatment. Again, due to a lack of resources, there are no real means to offer the treatment.
Interview of juveniles are under heightened rules and must be recorded
Any caliber of firearm >50 is illegal. This had the unexpected result of banning 12-guage shotguns, which are often used with non-lethal loads thereby taking away a key tool in safer firearms. The Sheriff’s department just spent $120,000 on an alternative to non-lethal firearms but other, smaller departments simply don’t have the resources to do this.
Surplus military vehicles (“not tanks, they are armored, not armed”) have been banned. These vehicles are often better in challenging terrain or special situations like floods.
The “Good Faith” and “Without Malice” defenses for law enforcement officers was stripped from law in Washington.
A Special Prosecutor solely focused on law enforcement was put in place under the new laws. Sheriff Elfo is not aware of any similar appointment of a standing Special Prosecutor for any other area of public life.
The new law bars all communications with federal law enforcement at ICE. He said that the prior, highly limited approach locally was more workable. Under prior procedures, the Sheriff’s department could and did arrange handover to ICE those illegal immigrants charged with serious crimes immediately before they were released from jail. Now those suspected offenders go free without ICE notice.
In summary, Sheriff Elfo expressed concern again about the impact on ordinary citizen’s quality of life resulting from the new legislation, which he felt was somewhat rushed and requires common sense legislative fixes soon. He expressed some optimism that certain aspects of the new law will be addressed in the current legislative session, and that suburban state representatives in particulr are listening and willing to act.
Finally, Sheriff Elfo addressed the more local concern about the Whatcom County Jail. He repeated many themes we’ve heard over the years and are more true than ever. The jail is too small and outdated, which became especially apparent during the pandemic. There is also a backlog of releases due to court closures. Social distancing is very difficult resulting in unsafe, unhealthy and inhumane conditions for detainees and staff alike. This has been and remains a very urgent matter for our community.
Covid Report: The Covid report has been retired with Gary Goldfogel's retirement - enjoy the sun Gary and thanks for the weekly updates for the last couple of years!!
Final Announcement:
In his final announcement, President Peter reminded us of no meeting next week due to the MLK Holiday. And as he frequently does, thanked all those who made the meeting possible.
