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Another postcard day on the “Big Bay.” Perfect weather and a good turnout for America’s Finest Rotary. Summer means lots of travels and stories of being on the road.
President Dick brought us to order and Richard Anderson gave us an inspirational thought. Your Editor played double duty and with Joe Zakowski lead us in “America the Beautiful.” Janie Davis did the news – the new addition of moments from our Club’s history is really very interesting. Bob Randall received the Club Golf Award from Bonnie Schwartz proving that some folks have too much free time! Doug Arbon reminded us of the Grotarian event at the “Body World” exhibit on Aug. 25. Sign up on line or call the office by Aug. 11!
Our Chair of the Day was Al Harutunian. Al took care of the visitors and introduced Ian Gill’s parents from England but our visitor from the greatest distance was from Germany. I hope he enjoys the book and DVD on our justice system….
Our program was Gary Schons, Senior Assistant Attorney General for the State of California. Mr. Schons first gave a nod to member Howard Frank who provided his first job while still in law school. With 33 years in the office, he now heads up the “least best known State office in town.” The State Attorney General is the chief legal officer for the State. This office is the primary litigant on behalf of the State and “supervises” or oversees District Attorneys as required.
The State office has about 1000 attorneys (130 in San Diego) and some 500 peace officers. They have a total state budget of $751 Million and have experienced some of the same cuts as the rest of the State. The office is divided into multiple disciplines. These include: civil, licensing, oversight of the prison system (the recent finding by the Federal Court demanding release of those thousands of State prisoners will be appealed.) public rights, civil rights, consumer rights, charitable trust defense – all part of this office. The San Diego office handles 1200 felony cases per year and a third of all the State’s death penalty cases. He ended the presentation with some interesting personal stories including his experience in appearing before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Don’t forget, next week we’ll have the FBI and the Duke Cunningham investigation!
Editor of the Day: Steve Hubbard
Photography by Mike Conner
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