Announcements: Jim Callender announced that a former member of our club, Jack Isbell, passed away last week. Jim and Sunny Kellerman will put together an obituary to be used in the memorial service at the District Conference. 
Peter Falley gave an update on the annual Foundation fund. We currently have 13 members who have contributed to it, and he urged those who haven’t to contribute. Even a $25 donation
will satisfy “Every Rotarian, Every Year” requirement. 

Art stated that if we are going to pursue a district grant, we need to make an initial application by May 1. The seven areas of Rotary focus do not apply to district grants. He asked the projects committee to put their thinking caps on for a local activity that might be funded by a District Grant. Give Grandly is looking for volunteers to set up, break down, decorate, recycle trash, etc. They're also looking for additional matching fund sponsors. This event is May 3 at Gough Park. Epic Day of service is a Rotary event occurring May 17– Mark Richard is looking into teaming up with Toss No Mas. If anyone else has an idea, please speak with Tom Bates.

 

Art introduced Norm Wheeler, District Attorney for Grant, Luna, and Hidalgo counties. He has been an attorney for 44 years. He thanked Rotarians and the community for their open-mindedness and willingness to help. The DA's office is getting good cooperation from law enforcement agencies, which has not always been the case. One of our sitting judges taught him years ago that the safety and health of the community is in direct proportion to the quality of the relationship between law enforcement and the district attorney’s office. The newspaper has published articles about what his office is doing to reach out to law enforcement. He has met with nearly all the law enforcement agencies to determine what they need from him and what the district attorney’s office needs from them. The office is rated for 41 positions and of those, there are 12 attorney slots. There are support staff and investigators, and he brought in a district office manager for a position that had not been filled in quite awhile. One of the reasons for the office manager is that the Supreme Court has put guidelines on when
prosecutors have to present evidence to defense attorneys. The dilemma is the effect this has if evidence is not produced in a timely manner. The office manager has developed, implemented and overseen a program to make sure this is done to keep cases from being dismissed. Another change is that his office is not focused merely on closing cases but that they are closed fairly to insure that the community is protected. There are ways to stop the catch and release pattern. His office has been very diligent in getting the paperwork done to stop this. They don’t just accept an incompetency evaluation; they are requesting second evaluations.
Then, if a person is still found incompetent, the D.A.’s office can request the person be placed in a mental facility until they are competent or as long as they would have been sentenced. DA Wheeler then encouraged us to get involved by attending a docket call, which is held every Monday at the courthouse to see how the system works. Another aspect of his position is that he must present his budget every year in Santa Fe before
the legislature and plead for his budget requirements.

After a question and answer period, Art adjourned the meeting.