April 15, 2013 Spokesman
Rotary Meeting April 15, 2013 President Patti Smith opened the meeting at 6:30 and Rich Bergdahl led us in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Scott Becker was our greeter, with Elizabeth Rusnak as scribe.
Guests:
Molly B, the Courthouse Dog. There were no other visiting Rotarians or guests.
Announcements:
Eric Olsen announced the golf tournament will be September 9th. He is working with Bear Creek Country Club to possibly have them host the tournament. We’ll need 18 foursomes to hold it at Bear Creek. More to follow.
Patty Sims kicked off Miracle League with the video that Chris Rusnak produced. Her committee consists of Chris Rusnak, Elizabeth Rusnak, Neil Johnson and Cindy Johnson. The first game will be held April 27th. All games will be held at Perrigo Park in Redmond. The Mariner Moose will be at the game on June 1st, and then the final picnic celebration will be held June 8th. WE NEED ROTARY VOLUNTEERS FOR THE GAME ON APRIL 27TH.
John Pruitt announced there will be a Duck Dash Committee meeting on April 22nd at 5:30. Please attend if you can be on the committee.
Scott Becker updated us on sponsors for Duck Dash. We now have $20,000 in sponsorship funds.
If you have photos of a duck while on vacation, send them to Chris Rusnak so they can be included on the Facebook page and website.
Steve Shinstrom announced that a flatbed truck is needed for the Fourth of July Parade to transport the big duck. Steve will not be in town for the parade, so someone needs to step up to coordinate this.
Chris Morgan introduced our speakers for the evening. Celeste Walsen and Ellen Oneill-Stevens are from the non-profit organization known as Courthouse Dogs. Ellen is a former King County prosecutor who witnessed countless cases where witnesses were in fear of testifying against the defendant. She and Celeste Walsen introduced Courthouse Dogs to King County, where a specially trained dog is able to calm a witness and give that person the strength and confidence to move forward with the court hearing. Dogs are able to reduce stress in people because their presence raises the oxytocin level in our bodies. Dogs are completely neutral and do not sway a witness into making specific statements. All they do is calm the witness and allow them to cope with what is generally a very stressful situation (as they are usually having to re-live a crime). A dog cannot coach a child or adult on what to say. But those who are against having a dog in the courtroom (usually a defense attorney) state the dog is a distraction and doesn’t allow for a full/undistracted testimony. One defense attorney even stated the dog was prejudicial to his client. In that particular case, the Washington State Supreme Court ruled in favor of having the dog in court.
There are 41 dogs working in 19 states across the country. The Court of Appeals has set precedence for having dogs in the courtroom.
Canines for Companions in Santa Rosa, CA provides the dogs for free, and a handler brings the dogs into their home to care for them. The cost is minimal to the municipality. Our guest dog, Molly, is one of the famous Courthouse Dogs.
A very informative session! Thank you Celeste and Ellen (and Molly too)!
Elizabeth Rusnak your scibe for a night!!!