There were 34 in attendance (55%) and 4 guests. Lee Padgitt brought former member and Florida resident Clyde Willian; Bob Baker introduced former member Judi Geake who just graduated from North Park Theological Seminary; Gina Sich brought Ashley Ward who works for Charmm’d Foundation; and Liz Taylor brought Mike Poupko of Chicago, a teacher at the Music Institute of the North Shore and an accomplished guitarist who has had a very distinguished professional career.
Keith Reed gave the “thought for the day”.
Bob Baker thanked those who attended his “President’s Club Warming” reception on July 29th, and Club members responded with their thanks to Bob and wife Joanne for such a nice event. Fred Schwimmer announced that the Club has been invited to join the Winnetka Club, Hadley School and others in sponsoring a book signing event on September 12 featuring Michael Hingson, a blind man trapped in one of the Twin Towers who led many sighted people to safety with his guide dog. Admission will be charged and the sponsoring organizations will be in charge of selling tickets. They will share part of the proceeds. A decision was not made on this suggestion.
Barb Tubekis thanked those who contributed $40 last week to the Township Food Pantry and she indicated that she would take donations the next 2 weeks for the purpose of buying more toiletries and paper goods for the Pantry.
Rich Lalley announced that our Club recently received $3750 from the Rotary International Foundation to support our “Kids Against Hunger” project.
Birthday greetings were extended (through song) to Luvie Owens who made a donation in the amount of the number of years which she is (wishfully) celebrating—39!
Happy bucks were contributed by Dave Gotaas for being able to accompany his father on an honor flight of 93 WWII Vets to Washington D.C. where they were all treated like heroes and were welcomed home by 2000 people at the airport; Kristen Leahy thanked the Club for its support of the recent Winnetka Youth Organization trip; Dr. Stone was happy that his daughter delivered a new grandchild for him—the name is Penelope; Fred Schwimmer was happy to have just celebrated his 53rd wedding anniversary with Ellie; Tony Kambich was also happy thinking about his upcoming 53rd wedding anniversary; David Birkenstein said he was happy just spending time with and discussing life with Dave Gotaas’ 90 year old father, who is a past minister at the Winnetka Bible Church; and Ned Meisner and Barb Tubekis contributed in appreciation to Bob and Joanne Baker for their lovely outdoor reception on the 29th.
Brooke Peppey did the “dig and grin” which explained how women have helped men develop their “humility” over the ages!
Patrick Kreis, Chief of the Winnetka Police Department, then gave an informative presentation on guns and parking tickets. He reported that the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago found the former Illinois “concealed weapon” statute unconstitutional because it totally banned the carrying of concealed weapons. The State had 6 months to pass a constitutional statute and then a reasonable amount of time to put it in effect, which we are now going through.. To qualifiy for a permit, a person has to be 21 years old; be eligible and possess a Firearm Owners’ Identification card (FOI); pass a background check; have 16 hours of training (which is insufficient); and pay up to $500 for the permit. The applicant can’t be a convicted felon, have been incarcerated for a serious mental health condition, or have been convicted of certain multiple misdemeanors. Another step in the procedure is that the Chief of Police of the village where the applicant lives can file an objection based on the applicant’s instability or other problems local law enforcement has had with the applicant. The Chief said so far he has reviewed 36 applications from Winnetka residents and has not rejected anyone. The Cook County Sheriff’s office can file a similar objection. These objections go to a 7 member review board made up of retired judges and other law enforcement professionals. So far this year, the state has received about 72,000 applications and has approved 60,000. This Board has been criticized by some rejected applicants because it doesn’t have to explain the reasons for such rejections.
Chief Kreis opined that this law is vague, complex(168 pages) and will result in a lot of litigation;
and at the same time the literature/data shows that this type of concealed weapon law doesn’t have much impact on the amount of violent crime in the community. The law is not clear how “concealed” the weapon must be. The law applies only to the Cook County Forest Preserve (not to other counties’ forest preserves); it applies to schools, libraries, public transportation, day care centers etc., but they have to post the State’s official “no weapon” sign on the building. Private owners can put the “no weapon” sign on their buildings and concealed weapons will be illegal in such facilities. Before a legal permit holder can enter such a marked building, he will need to take the concealed weapon and put it in his locked car or home-- but what if these 2 safe havens are not available? Employers cannot ban all guns from its premises—a legal permit holder can take his gun to his employer’s premises as long as he keeps it locked in his car—what if it is his buddy’s car who he rides to work with? Someone who has a legal permit from another state has to keep it locked in his vehicle or he must obtain a non-resident license which costs $300. Chief Kreis is concerned about the number of vehicles that will be broken into by thieves who simple want to obtain these licensed weapons.
Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan have about 3-5% of their population with permits to carry concealed weapons. Illinois’ law is not the most stringent in the Country, but falls somewhere in the upper half.
The Chief also reported on the recently passed Winnetka Administrative Adjudication process for minor parking violations within the Village. Such tickets are usually $35, but to contest them in court, the court cost is $194. So starting this fall, if a ticketed person wants to appeal a Winnetka traffic ticket, they can go before an administrative judge who will conduct an informal proceeding and make a decision, a process that will be far cheaper than going to a county court.
Although there were many questions for the Chief, the meeting ended promptly at 1:30.
