Meeting Recap - August 21

 

 

There were 27 members present along with two guests.  Dave Gotaas brought Tammy Wener, an investment adviser who is from Vernon Hills and works in Northfield.  Ned Meisner’s guest was Rob Engstrom, an accountant from Lake Forest.

 

President Baker encouraged the membership to sign-up to work at the Community House’s “Last Blast of Summer” block party on Saturday, August 23^rd.  Rich Lalley announced the fall campaign for “Operation Warm” noting that this year the coats are even better and come in more color combinations.   It is an opportunity to assist low-income families provide warm outerwear for their children.

 

Fred Schwimmer gave a plug for a program sponsored by The Winnetka Club and the Book Stall that will bring author Michael Hingson to the Winnetka Community House on September 12 at 7:00 p.m.  Mr. Hingson, who is blind, will recount his escape from the 78^th floor of the World Trade Center on 911 with the aid of his dog Roselle.  Our Rotary club with be one of the beneficiaries of this event along with The Winnetka Club and Hadley School for the Blind.

 

Barb Tubekis and Kristen Leahy announced the Club’s fall service project.  We will be showing our appreciation for our local police and fire departments by providing baked goods and other food.  You can assist with the project by making a monetary contribution or bringing baked goods.  See Barb or Kristen for more details.

 

The Club sang to David Birkenstein who celebrated his birthday (somewhere between his 50^th and 100^th according to Bob Baker).

 

Happy Buck$ - Barb Tubekis celebrated 30 years of wedded bliss, while Wes Baumann celebrated is 50^th this summer.  Wes also contributed in recognition and thanks for the great ‘meeting recaps’ written in his absence by Lee Padgitt, Keith Reed and John Thomas.  John then provided the members with two great stories for Dig n Grin.

 

The day’s program was introduced by Rich Lalley, the proud father of our speaker Alex Lalley.  Alex has completed three years of a five-year doctoral program in Forensic Psychology.  Alex, also a graduate of Loyola University, is working toward his Ph.D. at the Adler School of Psychology in Chicago.  Adler is the oldest independent school offering a doctoral degree in psychology in the country.  Social justice is one of the primary goals of the school.  Its program is very community oriented.

 

Alex explained the type of work done by forensic psychologists, including evaluations in child custody cases, pre-screening of police candidates, evaluation of prisoners prior to release in an attempt to determine how dangerous the person may be to society as well as themselves.  Alex has performed both cognitive and personality assessments on prisoners about to be released.  The persons evaluated are really not the clients of the psychologists as the courts, judges and/or the attorneys usually request these reports.  A sex offender judged to be too dangerous to society could be institutionalized as a civil commitment after serving a criminal sentence.  He mentioned that it is very difficult to determine the role of mental illness in criminal cases and very few persons are judged insane.  The criminal penalties are often more severe if a person has been determined to be faking mental illness to avoid punishment.

 

Alex feels there are way too many people place in prison for using drugs and he feels strongly that ALL drugs should be legalized and REGULATED!  Homelessness is another significant cause of incarceration as the homeless frequently resort to crime to support themselves.  Many of those incarcerated today would be better served in the mental health system.