Coral Gables RotaryGram: Vol 66 No. 36 Notes from the Podium

President's Time

President Debbie announced that we will be delaying the Winner's Choice raffle until a later date. We still have a lot of tickets to sell and we're going to concentrate on that after our Gala next week.

Speaking of next week's party ... BUY YOUR TICKETS NOW! We need to give the count to the Country Club on Monday and we want to make sure that we have everybody who's coming ... they charge extra is we go over our guarantee! The dinner is prime rib however there will also be Wild Alaska Salmon and a vegetarian pasta entree. Something for everyone. "A Night on the Red Carpet" is shaping up to be a really great party thanks to Margarita Tonkinson and her entire committee. (Ed. Note: President Debbie too).

JOHN MARTIN'S

ST. PATRICK'S DAY FESTIVAL

Is just around the corner. Be sure to sign up to pour beer or serve food at the hottest green event in town! This year it's on Saturday!

We've been doing this for Martin Lynch for nearly ten years now. We provide the manpower and he pays us for our efforts. Last year we collected $5,000 and shared it with our co- beneficiary and our Rotaract Club, (who also provide manpower). This year's co-beneficiary is Shake-A-Leg.

We need at least 75 people from 4 p.m. until midnight. You can sign up for either a two hour or a four hour shift. Whatever works best for you. But sign up please. And wear your Coral Gables Rotarian at Work shirt so that everyone knows who the volunteers are!

President Debbie's

Last 5th Friday

Time sure flies fast in Rotary. You don't want to miss 5th Friday on March 30th. It will be the last of this Rotary Year and as usual, we save the best for last. Deena Bell Llewellyn and her partner Lewis Aqui are hosting our favorite fellowship event at their new offices on Coral Way.

Bring your spouse, significant other or even a prospective Rotarian. It's only $10 per person for drinks and snacks provided by Elizabeth "Lovables". RSVP to Terry Long at terryclong@bellsouth.net

Introduction of Visitors & Guests

by Dick Bullman

Dick wasn't very happy today because we hardly had any visitors at all. And he likes visitors. They make our club interesting. However Serre Murphy brought his neighbor David Caffrey to see what we're like. Brad Forte brought a guest who's not really a guest - Bob DelPozo. But that's all. So invite more new people next week. We hate it when Dick starts to cry.

More fish are celebrating their birthdays this week. Just like our Club. These loyal, selfless, hardworking folks are perfect Rotarians. Say Happy Birthday to Jim Hirschman today. Dr. Phil Boswell on Saturday, PE Walter Alvarez and John Porro on the 6th.

Only two Rotary Anniversaries this week; Harlan Chiron celebrates 32 years in our Club and Felix Pardo celebrates 27. That's a lot of years of Service. Thanks guys!

Happy $$

For the last few weeks Randy has been happy to announce this year's photography safari, but this week he has a new reason to give $20 to make scholarships Groh. The cupboard is bare. That's right, the scholarship committee gave away all of the money and now we have to start all over again. Terry Long was first up, happy that the Scholarship Committee selected 10 of the 16 outstanding applications last night but really what she was happy about was that after Bruce Kerestes dumped a glass of wine on her last night, Margarita Tonkinson removed the stain by using white wine. George Reeves was lamenting that he is once again in the position of loser with his buddies at RAGS (that's Rotary Amazing Golfers Society). Carol Brock is happy to announce that she has concluded a project with her club in Tennessee that engages six Rotary Clubs - three in Tennessee and three in Dominican Republic and the Rotaract Club from Tennessee Tech and they're all going to the Dominican Republic with Alfalit on a Literacy Project! Awesome!! Dick Golden did it again ... he came up with a joke that pained everyone else, it was about copper wires ... you had to be there! Dar Arian was happy to be at the meeting today and happy to let us know that he is coming back! He's missed Rotary. Bruce Kerestes was really happy about the outcome of yesterday's scholarship meeting and the fine young people who both applied and won the scholarships. He was sorry about dumping the wine on Terry. He was sad to announce that his uncle, Bruce Litke passed away last week. Sad because he so admired the man that he was named for and proud of it. Margarita Tonkinson wanted to thank everyone for responding so quickly when her email was hacked and let us all know that she is not stuck in London and we don't have to send her any money to get her home again! She was also happy to have been able to help Terry with the wine spill. President Debbie was doubly happy today; first because her son is getting married Saturday and she has eight family members living in her house and second and most important, her husband John was diagnosed with Lymphoma a week and a half ago but she's happy because the lump was completely removed. Although he has to be checked regularly he is OK! Happiness pays to keep on smiling!!

Working Rotarians - March 1, 2012

Greeters - Steven Spann & Rolf Frankfurter

Registration - Aaron Glasser

Collections - John Porro

Head Table - Rodney Langer

Special Needs - Lan Nghiem-Phu

Open the Meeting - Jack Witty

Invocation - Kelly Sastre

Pledge - Serre Murphy

Singers - Dan Scipione, Bill Quesenberry & Carol Brock

DeWitt Law Silver Dollars - Lorraine Sheldon

Given to - Ana Fournaris & Jim Roen

Pin Drawing Gift - George Reeves

Pin Drawing Winner - Keith Phillips

50/50 Raffle - Don Trombly & Gloria Burns

50/50 Winner - Bill Forshee

4-Way Test - Dr. Phil

Today's Program

Judge Steve Leifman; "Mental Health Treatment in the County Court System."

Pat Morris introduced us to today's speaker as someone who is passionate about the law and people's rights. Judge Leifman said that until a few years ago he knew nothing about mental illness. He had no idea that there is no collaboration between the court system and mental health treatment.

Miami Dade County has a mental health crises that is three times greater than the national average. This is not sociopaths and dangerous criminals, this is schizophrenics, people suffering from bi-polar disorder and major depression. It's estimated that there are some 175,000 adults and 50,000 children in Miami Dade that fall into these categories. The Dade County Jail is currently the largest psychiatric facility in Florida. The top three of it's nine floors are now devoted to people with mental heald problems. There are currently 1,200 people on anti-psychotic drugs in jail. It's a problem that is costing taxpayers $60 million a year because these prisoners stay eight times longer at seven times the cost per inmate. And it's more critical than that ... since 1991, some 21 people have died in the jail system.

This isn't just a problem here. It's the fault of the system that was set into place 40 years ago which shifted the cost of caring for the mentally ill to the criminal justice system and into the community. The costs are outrageous. In an effort to better understand the costs, he went to University of South Florida as they've developed a program to analyze the data. According to their numbers, 97 people had 2,200 arrests, spent 27,000 days in jail at a cost of $18 million because of our fragmented system of care.

Judge Leifman and his group have developed a pre and post arrest program in an effort to stem the flow of mentally ill people into the system. They have trained 3,500 police officers in crisis intervention and d-escalation, And is is working. Last year they had 10,000 calls with less than 45 arrests. The Dade County Jail has seen it's largest reduction in mental health inmates which proves that while it is a chronic problem, it is treatable.

This is a community problem that requires a community solution. They have leased the old state hospital for 99 years for $1 a year. Here they are establishing the first of it's kind Forensic Jail Facility. It's a place where the mentally ill can get treatment, rehabilitation and retraining to move back into society instead of remaining in the penal system for the rest of their lives.

NEXT WEEK'S PROGRAM: Noelle Galperin with an Update on Haiti.