Todd Allen will introduce Lou’s owner Jarrett Berke who will tell us about his challenges during the pandemic and views for the future. 

 

 

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88229582283?pwd=aS9Hd3o1cS9ZK0hQL0ZhUHZXSEdxQT09

 

Meeting ID: 882 2958 2283

Password: 254494

 

The Zoom Room opens at 11:45 AM.  After the Pledge of Allegiance and opening Password Todd will introduce our speaker. 

 

They are recorded in “speaker view” which means if you do ask questions during the Q and A session you will appear on screen unless you disable the camera. 

 

 

The Club officially welcomed Charlie McCrudden, Rob Williams, and Gary Miller, all of whom were members in Rotary clubs before coming to Hanover. 

 

Todd Allen offered the second reading for officers for 2021-22. 

 

David Allen continued his efforts to recruit for the Stuff-a-Truck campaign for a date to-be-announced in late summer or early fall. 

 

We had a long list of Happy Dollars! 

 

John Hochreiter offered one in appreciation of the 5 Club members who volunteered to serve as judges for the speech contest. 

 

Jed Williamson gave a Happy Dollar to atone for hjs error of mis-identifying Gary Williams as the new club member whose years of serve exceed that of David Bradley when in fact it was Charlie McCrudden.

 

Dick Podolec offered Happy Dollars in honor of those who have stepped forward to volunteer as mentors for Roterac members… and genrlt reminded Board members he needs even more to do so! 

 

Wayne Gersen contributed a Happy Dollar because he passed the two-week anniversary of his Covid vaccination and will be taking a 10 day road trip.,, and by the way, is STILL looking for someone to cover for him as Zoom host on April 28. 

 

The Raffle Management Team (RMT) awarded a $10 in-kind donation to Willing Hands to each of the three new members Charlie McCrudden, Rob Williams, and Gary Miller and displayed their new name tags, which he hoped would be used in the near future. 

 

 

REMINDER: Here’s the link to make your donation in lieu of paying for meals at Jesse’s AND the place to donate your Happy Dollars! As Todd announced at the meeting last week, the funds will be earmarked for Willing Hands. https://hanovernhrotary.ejoinme.org/COVID-19.

 

 

David Allen introduced Adnan Sultan an attorney with the Innocence Project, a New York City based non-profit organization founded in 1992 by attorneys Barry Scheck and Peter Neufield. The Innocence Project is dedicated to freeing those wrongly convicted of crimes through the use of DNA testing and campaigns to change the laws and legal procedures that contribute to the wrongful convictions. Mr. Sultan described the lengthy and painstaking procedures the innocence Project employs in its work from intake through trial. A staff of 11 works on the intake process, which examines potential cases by determining if DNA evidence will exonerate them. This process itself can take years since it often involves cold cases that police departments are not interested in revisiting and where DNA evidence is often degraded or very difficult to obtain.

 

Mr. Sultan reported that the Innocence Project has exonerated 375 individuals of their crimes, a figure he believes is the tip of the iceberg. The Innocence Project has determined that in 69% of the cases their client was mid-identified, in 33% of the cases they confessed through coercion, 17% of the cases were determined through false testimony by informants, and in 46% of the cases forensics were misapplied. He matter-of-factly noted that misidentification is common because eyewitness accounts are often unreliable because they occur in stressful circumstances and that some “forensic science” and forensic witnesses are bogus. 

 

In response to questions from club members Mr. Sultan reported that the Innocence Project is wholly funded through private contributions and that in some cases private law firms offer pro bono or deeply discounted prices to assist in cases. An editorial note: by coincidence I was binging on Unbelievable on Netflix. It is an 8 part series that deals with the painstaking work necessary to secure a rape conviction and reinforced Adnan Sultan’s presentation. 

 

 

April 28 – Heather Drinan introduces Steve Thiel, President of Southern New Hampshire University.

 

May 5 – Wayne Gersen will introduce Lori Gosselin who will talk about her community building initiative.

 

May 12 – Jed Williamson will introduce Dan Richards of Global Rescue to tell us about his work intervening when travelers get into danger. 

 

May 19 – Gabe Zoerheide of Willing Hands will be introduced by Todd Allen. 

 

May 26 – David Allen introduces Miriam Conrad of the Office of Public Defenders from Massachusetts

 

We’re now booked through all of June and halfway into July! But summer is coming and we can never sign up speakers too early! Your ideas are welcome!

 

FINALLY: HELP WANTED! As noted above, after my second vaccination, I will be travelling later this month and during a few weeks this summer and would like to have someone serve as Zoom manager, meeting recorder, and note-taker. Anyone interested in finding out how easy it really is, please email me at wgersen@hotmail.com. 

 

Wayne Gersen