Charlotte Shelburne Hinesburg Rotary Meeting
Wednesday, September 26, 2018,
Trinity Community Room, Shelburne, Vermont.
Meeting Notes
President Erik opened the meeting at 7:15am and led the pledge of allegiance.
Susan offered an inspiring and thoughtful invocation.
Susan offered an inspiring and thoughtful invocation.
Announcements and Business:
- President Eric introduced our Guests - one of the Hinesburg candidate for the Vermont House of Representatives.
- Erik led the club in reciting the 4-way Test and then reminded us to check in on FaceBook.
- Erik provided more information relating to last week’s local Rotary opioid campaign talk He said that the campaign will focus on what our local Rotary clubs can do together to address the problem. He also emphasized that the talk focused so much on cigarettes and juules because they are “gateway” drugs and can alter brain development to be more susceptible to drug addition. The potential for expanding the Dover Youth to Youth program is one option the Rotary Presidents are exploring. While CSH Rotary is ready to go with a program, other clubs are not as far along as we are.
- Linda Gilbert noted that the work on the Charlotte Beach shed has been paused while they await the arrival of the roof shingles.
- ___ reminded everyone that CSH Rotary has pledged to raise $1,000 and that we have $500 so far for the Light the Night fundraiser for Lymphoma and Leukemia. There are six people signed to walk on Sept. 28 from Edmunds School to downtown with candles.
- Richard Fox reminded everyone of the Halloween parade and let us know there would be some modifications this year because we cannot use the fire station or nearby lot and that Bacon Avenue might be closed. Ric Flood said that Kwiniaska’s new owners will still loan us the six golf carts we have borrowed in past years.
- Richard Fox requested that everyone fill in their profiles in Club Runner, since it is the only place where our members can go to get contact info on fellow club members.
- Richard Fox also reminded everyone that District level training will be at Northern University in Lyndon on November 10.
- Jim Donovan reminded the group that CSH Rotary committed to provide home stays for ICTC members visiting our area from around the world next week. Five visitors still do not have a place to stay and he encouraged everyone to consider providing a room for three evenings, October 3, 4, and 5.
- Erik reminded us that our breakfast chef, France, will be away for the 11/7 meeting. Erik’s wife cannot substitute for the day so he will coordinate a potluck breakfast.
- Chris Davis noted that this year’s cleaning effort of the Rotary garden/pond at the Shelburne Town Offices is set for October 13.
The Happy fines were quick so that we could get on to our speaker.
The speaker this week was by Aaron Noble, Shelburne Police Department Chief. George Schiavone introduced Officer Bob Lake who introduced Chief Noble.
Aaron Noble started by providing a quick overview of his career and how he came to be a law enforcement officer. He is a Vermont native; he grew up in Colchester. His path to law enforcement was not straight but eventually found that it was what he wanted to do. He started his career at the Sheriff’s office, where he assisted with the Fugitive Recovery operations. It gave him the chance to meet and work with a wide range of officers from state and federal agencies. From there he went to the UVM Police Force, but decided it was not for him. He was able to move to the Shelburne Police Department where he has been since. His focus during his 20 years as an officer was working with the schools and community relations. He was encouraged by many to apply for the Deputy Chief position when it became available about 18 months ago and got the job. In February 2018, the Town promoted him to Chief.
He then invited questions.
In response to a question, Aaron noted that the Town has been actively focusing on the dealers in the past year. He noted that Shelburne had not been doing much in previous years, which had made the Town a preferred site for drug dealers to operate - using motels as one of the places where they operate. Now that they are being more active, they are getting support from State and Federal agencies in trying to capture dealers. He said that they typically try to go one, two or three layers up from the street dealers. He noted, however, that when they find and eliminate a dealer, a new one pops up quickly to take the vacant space. He said that they get tips from community members and hotel owners.
He and Officer Lake said that the Town is now working with other agencies in the state that embed social workers into the police force, so that they can provide more services to the community, especially in the way of mental health problems. It is helping them to decriminalize mental illness, now instead of arresting someone for bad behavior and putting them into the legal system, they can provide the assistance of a social worker who can help the individual find ways to get help for the issues they are facing.
Answering a question about what other types of problems are common in Shelburne, Aaron said that they spend a lot more times these days quality of life issues and settling neighbor disputes. Officer Lake said that many of the disputes these days are about politics. Often it is the same offender, someone that just has a hard time getting along with others.
Lind Gilbert noted that the Shelburne Police have been generous with the donation of their old uniforms to the Hands to Honduras project. Volunteers carefully take the Shelburne patch off and sew on as Teli patch and the Police there are now wearing the old Shelburne Police uniforms.
President Erik closed the meeting with a shake of Chief Noble’s hand and a photo shoot.