Hail to the Chief

Welcome to the 628th meeting of the Rotary Club of Dixie Sunrise.

Many would think with the struggling economy that crime would be greatly increased. However, in St. George we are seeing reductions in part one crimes by nearly 8%. Part one crimes include: homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, felony theft and vehicle theft. As we hear about these crimes in our community, especially the violent crimes, we feel badly when they happen, but unless they impact us personally, we simply go about our day. Some very good comments from Rotarians about what contributes to crime included: Drug abuse, desperation and gangs. What will force change to prevent these crimes. As we stop and think about it, are we as a society becoming “desensitized” to crime and violence? During primetime TV how many murders and other acts of violence do we (and our children) witness. What do our children learn from video games that glorifies violence? Are we shocked by this or are we getting used to it?

Drug abuse contributes to crime in our community. If we were able to eliminate drug abuse, we would eliminate many crimes against people, and property crimes to include theft and burglary. The St. George Police Department provides seven officers to the Washington County Drug and Gang Task Force. Task Force Officers focus on drug and gang crimes which prevents other crimes in our community. As community members what can we do to prevent crime? We must start with ourselves, our families, and our communities. Get involved! Know what our kids are doing and be involved in their lives. Do not allow them to be desensitized to violence. It is up to all of us to work together to maintain the great quality of life that we love about St. George!

(Nice Halo Chief...!)

Chief Marlon Stratton
St. George Police Department
chief@sgcity.org

Max the Magnificent

Welcome to the 627th meeting of the Rotary Club of Dixie Sunrise--it was a magical meeting full of children's laughter and pure puzzlement!

Max the Magician, from Wedlock, Utah (or just a little outside the town of Wedlock, according to his father) entertained us with some impressive magic tricks. To see what you missed, click here for a primer.

Or Click here for his website.

The magic of Max the Magician is world class, mystifying, and completely entertaining. Max involves everyone - and it's good clean family fun entertainment. The props are colorful and professional, the magic is baffling and the comedy is hilarious. The show is as enjoyable on a showroom stage as it is in a hotel convention room to top off a banquet. Your $100 might be burned to ashes. Water may vanish from above your head. Doves may appear and magically transport to other locations. A large friendly rabbit may appear from thin air. You might survive a hilarious knife throwing farce. Your very mind may be entered and the contents made known to all. The CEO of your company might wind up with a toilet plunger on his head, unbeknownst by him. (Oh yeah - you will get your $100 back...eventually)

I think I need my eyes checked after all that! I guess they call it magic for a reason.

Oh yes, we got to meet the destined-to-be-famous Bull Rider, Braxton which added to the magic.

New Member Induction--Elena O'Donnal

We welcome Elana O'Donnal as the newest member of our club. She is the owner of O'D-Von Studio where she does wholesale-Retail distribution. She is also the Co-Founder of the Guatemalan Children Foundation. She has a passion for fundraising and has graciously accepted our invitation to work on our fundraiser committee. She also is looking forward to going with us on our glasses mission in March.

Elena, we are so glad you are part of our club!!

Strategic Financial Analysis

Welcome to the 626th meeting of the Rotary Club of Dixie Sunrise

This morning’s guest speaker was Eric deVita who spoke on Strategic Financial Analysis and Implementation associated with retirement planning, social security benefits, inflation, savings rates, increased taxes and Medicare’s anticipated 50 trillion-dollar funding needs over the next 40 years. This was a presentation appropriate for the economic times we are all experiencing and provided our members and opportunity to ask questions about various financial planning tools to help deflect market volatility.

An economist and paraplanner for a strategic financial planning firm in St. George, Eric shared personal and professional opinions and theories to motivate all of us to do a better job saving for our futures. He noted the majority of individuals do not plan proactively for retirement and do not understand advantages of specific savings vehicles, withdrawal rates and how to make their money last during a long retirement. By reviewing existing non-qualified and qualified plans and situations, most individuals will feel better about their goals and objectives. Again, knowledge is power; the more you know the better you feel! Eric’s presentation was educational, stimulating, well received and appreciated. Thanks Eric!

(Carl gets his name badge in record time! How about only 2 weeks?!)

Be Prepared!

Welcome to the 625th Meeting of the Rotary Club of Dixie Sunrise!

Today’s meeting was memorable, educational and entertaining with former club member and guest speaker Bob Flowers, Director of Public Safety, City of Ivins. Flowers provided an overview of what we need to do to be prepared for any type of disaster and gave some background experiences to his previously held positions for our state and federal governmental agencies. He explained his current position with the City of Ivins is the very best job he has ever had. But the most “fun” job was with Homeland Security during the Olympics in Salt Lake City. Bob described how FEMA works (or not) and how each of us should take the initiative to be prepared and care for ourselves and families first and not depend on the federal government to assist, especially during the early, more crucial hours following a disaster, such as flood, earthquake or hurricane.

According to Flowers, FEMA is really more of a “money management agency” that distributes the funding for emergency supplies and services rather than actually supplying emergency items such as food, water and shelter. During Katrina there were obvious and blatant misunderstandings and poor communications between FEMA and New Orleans and other affected cities. Unable to create and maintain open communications during a disaster such as Katrina led to massive suffering and irrevocable negative public opinion of FEMA that hopefully will change over time.


--John Johnson