Kee-Notes

Weekly Newsletter of the Kiwanis Club of Bethesda, Maryland

Serving the Community Since 1945

Meeting Date: March 19, 2009 ______________________________________________________________________________

President Jeanne Smith led us in the Pledge and God Bless America and Bill Hague gave the prayer.  We had 10 for lunch including out guest speaker.  It was great to see Jim Leder and Pat Norry.

Announcements:

Happy Birthday to Pat Tiede whose birthday is on St. Patrick's day (March 17 for non-Irish) and she was decked out in a  green feathered boa with green sparkling lights (thanks to Jeanne Smith and Bernadeen Zivkovic).  The drinking water glasses were even green!!!. Also Jeanne Smith's birthday was March 10. A lovely cake was presented and we sang happy birthday to Pat and Jeanne.  Our club is fortunate to have Pat who works so hard editing and posting the Kee-Notes on the website, as well as updating calendar activities, keeping track of lunch attendance and paying the tab for Tragara Ristorante.  She also files the monthly reports to the national organization and has served as secretary to the club since 2006.  Pat mentioned that she was a sociology major at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington and has used her people  and organizational skills to help our club.  She retired from Industrial Research Institute, Inc. (a non-profit) in 2002.  She considers Bethesda Kiwanis part of her family.  Kudos also for Jeanne Smith and all the work she has done and continues to do.  One more meeting in March and she will hand the reins of President over to Jim Leder.

From Left to Right:  Bill Pennington, Jim Leder, Pat Norry, Dick Ruprecht.

Bernadeen Zivkovic, Pat Tiede, George Patterson, and guest speaker, Dana Matthis

 

Happy Dollars:   They were coming so quickly that I could not keep track of what they were for.  Everyone was happy.  Most wer for Pat Tiede and Jeanne Smith and our speaker, Dana Matthis.  Bill Hague, Dana Matthis, our guest speaker, Pat Tiede, Bernadeen Zivkovic, Bill Pennington, Dick Ruprecht and Jim Leder all gave Happy Dollars.

President-Elect Bernadeen Zivkovic introduced our speaker,  Officer Dana Matthis. Dana has a BS degree in Criminal Justice from UNC at Charlotte.  She has been a Police Officer for 16 ½ years (prior experience in Child Abuse, Missing Children and Patrol Officer). She has been at the 2nd District 9 ½ years.   She is the Community Services Officer for the Department of Police  2nd District of Montgomery County. This area is roughly bounded by Montrose Road to the North, 16th Street to the East, DC Line to the South and Old Georgetown Road to the West. Montgomery County has six Districts and the Second has about 125 officers on staff (not all on duty at once).  Dana's job is to listen to citizens concerns and complaints and to inform the community through talks like the one today.  She also mentioned that if you call their office-301-279-8000 they can schedule an officer to visit your home or business to assess any security issues around the building and make recommendations. There is a website www.crimereports.com which will give crime stats.  However, the information may not accurately reflect the exact location. For instance a high school student who was raped reported the incident at her school but the rape occurred elsewhere. Fortunately the Second District has very low crime rate. She had a Q & A session. One question asked-- happens when President Obama visits Sidwell Friends Lower School in Bethesda how does Montgomery County Police help out. She replied that the Secret Service generally tries to keep MC Police informed.  The Secret Service initially had a request for 60 officers to help out which was way too many. Other questions concerned delivery trucks double parking on Wisconsin Avenue.   There is a balance between blocking traffic by double parking versus merchants who need the goods delivered. Suggestions included removing parking meters and dedicating the space to delivery trucks or changing delivery hours.  We all enjoyed her interesting presentation from a crime prevention specialist for the Police Department.

Bernadeen Zivkovic won the 50/50.

George Patterson, editor-for-the day.

 

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Editor - GEORGE PATTERSON (301-652-7061, geopatersn@)aol.com)
Website Editors - BEN SCHLESINGER (301-951-7266, bschles@bsaenergy.com), PAT TIEDE (301-493-6937, patriciatiede@comcast.net)