BULLETIN JUNE 24, 2014 (Jun 22, 2014)

Stories

NEXT MEETING

Members should note there will NOT be a regular Tuesday meeting on 24th June, owing to our Change-over celebration being held on Friday 27th June.

Any members who have not yet booked for the Change-over should do so immediately as bookings close early in the week -contact Neville Taylor or Marjorie.

MEETING REPORT 17th JUNE

Vic Police Leaders Mentoring Graduation.

Chairman: President Doug Robertson

Reporter; David Jones Photographer: Anne King

Attendance ; 126 guests and members

Visitors;

Rotary District Governor D9800, Ross Butterworth

Victoria Police Leaders:

Assistant Commissioner- People Development Command, Kevin Casey

Assistant Commissioner – Southern Metro Region Luke Cornelius

Assistant Commissioner – North West Metro Region, Andrew Crisp

Assistant Commissioner – Western Region, Jack Blayney

Assistant Commissioner – Transit & Public Safety Command, Chris O’Neill

Assistant Commissioner – Road Policing Command Robert Hill

Assistant Commissioner –Eastern Region Emmett Dunne

Acting Assistant Commissioner Crime Command - Tess Walsh

Commander – Southern Metro Region Doug Fryer

Director Public Support Services - Eileen Armato

Director Media & Corporate Communications - Merita Tabain

Representatives from Victoria Police Legacy: Chairman Roger Schranz and Executive Director Kay Miller

Rotary:

District Governors from the other Victorian Districts:

D9820, Tim Moore, D9810 Merv Ericson, D9790 Philip Clancy, and D9780 Ken McInerney

District 9800:DG Elect - Dr. Murray Verso, DG Nominee - Julie Mason and DG Nominee Designate Neville John

Rotary International Global Grant Scholar from Texas, USA – Michelle Heard

Rotary Club Presidents, Mentors and Representatives, from: Sale, Canterbury, Keilor East, Swan Hill, Ballarat South, Brighton, Essendon, Footscray, Chadstone East Malvern, Mordialloc, Kew, Brighton North, Balwyn, Melbourne, Wangaratta, Hawthorn, Brimbank Central, Camberwell, Balwyn North and Carlton.

Police Mentees

Business Mentors

Members of the Steering Committee & LMP Syndicate Support Leaders

Visiting Rotarians, Guests of members & our own Club members

Honorary Members John and Lorraine Meehan

President Doug welcomed members and guests and proposed the toast to Rotary International.

Dist Governor 9800 Ross Butterworth gave an overview of the mentoring programme [7^th Year] on behalf of the Victorian Rotary Districts.

He acknowledged;

the contributions of Rotarians form 21 participating clubs and commented on the close relationships established within the programme.
the evolving and greater enriching nature of the programme through the excellent work of the Steering Committee
the diversity being achieved in police officers selected for the programme
the number of Police Officers who have partaken on other Rotary programmes
the commitment of Police Chief Ken Lay and the Rotary leaders.

Ross concluded by congratulating RC Melbourne Central Sunrise for their initiative in starting and continuing to be principal club for the programme.

Commander Fryer was introduced and in his comments noted;

140 police members have taken part in the programme to date, including himself.
that Rotary’s involvement is seen as a pathway for further community involvement and a catalyst to assist social change in our communities.
Rotary is the engine behind the Steering Committee
He acknowledged the value of the programme to Vic Police and said it is critical to developing their leaders.
He praised the highly valued partnership between Rotary and the business leaders.
The inspirational special speakers accessed through the year and the strategic associations.

Business Mentor Lisbeth Long, Managing Director of Silent Range Estate, spoke next.

Lisbeth commented that;

In all her business career she had never seen such a beneficial programme of this nature.
her mentoree was an exceptional young woman who demonstrated excellent values and community leadership
much of her mentorees actions were not written in the job description, a situation she suspects applies to many of the Vic Police members.
she saw evidence of excellent support for the mentoree by Vic Police.
she acknowledged the hard ask on mentorees to become involved when outcomes were not easily seen at the beginning of the year
that the mentors gain as much or more from the programme as the mentorees.

Police Mentoree Senior Sergeant Jenny Wilson was introduced by President Doug.

Jenny noted that;

Her first thoughts about the programme were “why me?” And likened the beginning to a first date with two strangers!
She wanted the experience to be positive and she was happy to open up to the two strangers – in return the mentors were both great.
She was challenged by the mentors to step into the unknown and to take up more activities and leadership with outcome of greater self confidence.
She learnt the value of forward planning, access to her leaders and having respect for your leader, knowing when to act and how to better identify issues.
She now has a much widened view of life and realises more the value of her own skills to the community.

Commander Fryer and Ross Butterworth presented the graduates, business mentors and Rotary mentors with their certificates of achievement.

The raffle raised approximately $1300, to be shared between Vic Police Legacy and the Rotary Club.

President Doug closed the meeting.

MANY HANDS MAKE [DIK] LIGHT WORK

Saturday morning,14 June 2014, saw 8 members from our Club make up half of a hard working contingent of Rotarians who collected and loaded 28 beds from a disused wing of the hospital into a 40 foot container. Those attending were Pres Doug, PE Roy, Bernie Gerlinger, Rob Hines, Bruce Heron, Russell Rolls, John Price and Frank O’Brien plus other Rotarians including former member Peter Lake, now with RC of Melbourne, and two who had travelled from Rochester. Two hours later and job done... followed by a well earned coffee break.

The original plan was to load 50 beds into the container but unfortunately 22 of the beds available were ultimately assessed as “Unroadworthy” due to various failings. Nevertheless, the container was due to be transported to DIK warehouse early the following week where further beds will be loaded to fill the container. By the end of the week, the container will be on the wharf awaiting shipping to the Philippines where the beds will be put to very good use.

GRAFFITI FROM NAPLES

Posted by Tony THOMAS

Yesterday I was returning to our nice flat in a very run-down part of Naples near Garibaldi Square, after half a day at the Naples National Archaeology Museum. I decided to detour to Montesanto on the subway line, because my map showed some nice palaces there. This detour was a damp squid because the palaces had disappeared centuries ago, although the names stayed there.

I eventually got to the right platform on Montesanto for the trip home, packed with waiting commuters as it was about 5pm and the subway trains are not at all frequent, e.g. every 20 minutes. The platforms both sides were in clean condition, but unusually, youths were using my platform edge as seating, dangling their legs above the tracks. After a while one of them, about 18-20 with red hair, pale skin, a New York University sweater and baggy pants, got up and joined two mates. One was thin but very tall, the other swarthy and clad in pseudo camouflage top.

They were all only a metre or two from me. The redhead was clutching some tubes, about half the size of a runner's baton. One tube was giving him trouble and he was trying to do something with the lid. I noticed a wad of cotton fall to the platform and he put it back in the tube (I had initially thought there was something edible in the tubes).

I was standing against the light green perspex/glassy wall of the station. There were dozens of others alongside me, some standing and others filling seats against the wall. Still struggling with the cap, the redhead moved to a rubbish bin 50cms from me and ground the top of the tube against it. He looked pleased when something blue came out of the tube onto the rail of the bin. He took two steps towards the wall, between the bin and the first row of seated men and women commuters. This was a wall gap of only a metre.

With practised movements, he waved his arm at the wall (I couldn't quite see what he was doing), stepped back, admired the wall, and took a few steps left to rejoin his two friends. They all seemed quite merry and animated.

Someone moved and I could see the wall. On it now -- it was previously pristine for the whole length of the platform -- was one of those mindless 'tags', the scribbled letters P, W and C, in a squiggly pattern about half a metre square.

I now saw that at least two of the three youths were carrying handfuls of these tubes, king-sized textas. The swarthy youth had a red, blue and empty tube, and the redhead had his own bunch. They were making no attempt to conceal them. I wondered what function these tubes had, other than for graffitists.

I looked at the commuters to see how they were reacting to the wall being defaced at peak-hour right next to them. They would all be fully aware of what had happened but they studiously minded their own business, and acted as though the trio of graffitists was invisible. Surely, I thought, some of those studying their smartphone's would tap out an alert to the station police? Obviously this wasn't happening.

The trio were clearly on their graffiti mission. I'd say they'd been active for an hour or two.

At that moment the train arrived and those still sitting on the platform edge pulled their legs up.

I found myself sandwiched among the three youths as we boarded. Thankfully they moved down-carriage a bit. From there they kept up a loud banter. I tried unsuccessfully to work out from their talk if they were native Napoli citizens or some outsider group. I did make out some variant on 'chi uccede' - croaker, killer, zaps or some other unpleasant jargon.

When I stood up to get out at Central Station, once again I was sandwiched among the trio. They ignored me and formed a knot in the crowds heading for the stairs.

Even now, at Naples main train station, they flourished their graffiti tools of trade in their hands. They moved purposefully, I guessed to some other line where they would continue their evening's fun. Whatever police or officialdom was present, the trio obviously had no fear of them.

I wonder about it all. They did not seem particularly tough or threatening. That's not to say the other train-goers weren't intimidated by them: who knows what else besides giant textas they were armed with? Or were train-goers utterly indifferent to vandalism on their subway, in broad daylight among crowds?

Melbourne has its train graffiti vandals too, painting their horrid tags on platforms and carriages and rigorously scratching train windows into an opaque mess. I recall a case a year or two ago where three were caught and prosecuted -- they had come from Adelaide on a spree and in a week or two, had vandalised hundreds of places on our train system. They had operated late at night.

Let's hope Melbourne never gets to the pass where graffiti vandals do their work openly.

Upcoming Events

Camp Getaway Working Bee

Camp Getaway

Aug 01, 2014 6:00 PM –
Aug 03, 2014 2:30 PM

Board Meeting

RACV City Club

Aug 21, 2014
6:00 PM – 7:30 PM

District Governor visit

RACV City Club

Aug 26, 2014
7:15 AM – 9:00 AM

Board Meeting

RACV City Club

Sep 18, 2014
6:00 PM – 7:30 PM

Speakers

Aug 05, 2014
Dr Ken Walker, Museum Victoria
The role of the ‘citizen scientist’ in caring for Australia’s flora and fauna

View entire list

Bulletin Editor

David JONES (If you have any comments or questions, please contact the editor)