Rotary Club of Santa Monica

"2001/2002 - A Rotary Odyssey"

Rota-Monica

ww.RotaryClubofSantaMonica.org

A TOP STAR OF THE FBI

             Ronald L. Iden has been hunting and catching criminals for over 32 years – for his whole career, that is.  He knew when he entered college that this was what he wanted to do.  He earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from the University of Illinois, then a master’s degree in public administration from Illinois Tech.  Then he worked for 10 years as a small-town police officer in Elk Grove Village, Illinois.

            He won appointment as an FBI agent in 1978 and climbed by solving four spectacular cases – the murder of a federal judge in Texas; the bomb killings of another judge and an attorney in Alabama and Georgia; and a conspiracy by 17 Puerto Rican terrorists who were robbing armored cars in Connecticut.  In all these cases the criminals were convicted and imprisoned.

            These successes led the FBI to bring him to Washington to work with its team investigating corruption by public officials around the country.  He did so well that after two years the FBI moved him again, putting him in Los Angeles to investigate its violent crime cases throughout seven counties.

            After four years it was back to Washington to help run the FBI’s worldwide automation and information operations.  Two years later, in 1998, he was sent to take charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles office, and has held that position ever since.

            Iden will be our speaker this Friday.  He hasn’t announced a topic, and may talk about whatever comes to his mind – maybe some of his dramatic cases or maybe his thoughts on the new rules and missions announced for the Bureau last month.

TROUBLED PEOPLE GO TO SEE BRIAN

(One of a series on new members)

            Brian West spends much time talking with people in deep trouble – people who don’t know where their next meal may come from, or whether their clothes will hang together, or perhaps where they’ll sleep that night.  He is the Salvation Army Captain in charge of its Santa Monica office on Fourth Street.

            Each night he provides Salvation Army beds for 75 men and 35 women.  After these are filled, he sometimes faces still more homeless people.  If so, he phones other organizations around town.  He’s never had to tell any wanderer, “I can’t find a bed for you tonight.”

            On an average day about 80 people (some with small children) flock to his office.  Some just need food, or a voucher for clothes.  Others may need mainly spiritual help, which Captain West can give also; he’s an accredited pastor as well as a social worker.

            In his youth he knew little about the Salvation Army.  He grew up in West Virginia, where most men were coal miners.  But the mines were closing in the 1980’s, when Brian began to think about his future.  An obvious route to an education and a future was via the armed forces.  So Brian volunteered.  After a day of testing, he was notified that he didn’t quality.  Why?  “They never told me,” he recalls.

            Brian found another route.  He went to work for a restaurant chain.  The chain moved him from place to place for eight years.  But at a skating rink he got acquainted with a girl named Iva May.  They began skating together.  A year later, they married.

            On Sundays Iva attended services at a Salvation Army chapel.  Brian went along, although he’d never been a member of any church.  Gradually, as they learned more about Salvationists’ efforts in 107 countries, they decided to help.  In 1986 Brian enrolled as a full-time member, a formal act that required signing pledges and donning the well-known blue uniform.  Iva enrolled too.  Together they went through the college for officers’ training.

            Brian began service as a Sunday school teacher, then managed an Army shelter and a camp, and was commissioned in 1996.  After a year as a staffer in Nevada, he took charge of the Oceanside, California office for four years, and was moved to Santa Monica this year.

            They have a daughter at Samohi and two sons at Will Rogers.  Somehow Brian makes time to coach in Little League.  The Wests will move again in about six years, as is customary for Salvation Army leaders.  Meanwhile we’re delighted that Brian is a member of our club.  Salvation Army directors have been Rotarians for decades.

OUR MEMBERS BROUGHT THESE GUESTS

            At our May 31st meeting, members brought the following guests.  We hope they’ll come often:  Craig Blenkhorn, Toby Longacre, Ronald Schweider, Curt Baer, Kathleen Bailiff, Adam Keefe, Dennis Kristan, Jon Artz, Joan Shank and Roger Norian.

GOOD NEWS

            Rotary clubs are solving human problems in many parts of the world.  Here are striking bits of news from recent issues of The Rotarian:

            “In the Uganda town of Gulu, a band of rebels came to the hospital to take the nurses hostage.  (Rotarian) Matthew Lukwiya stepped forward and persuaded the guerrillas to take him instead.  He spent a week with them, treating their wounded soldiers, before they freed him.”

            “With the onset of a financial crises in Singapore, many Indonesian families were unable to pay for university education.  Two Rotary clubs developed criteria to choose 30 exceptional students, and then financed the students’ final year of school…the following year, with help from other Rotary clubs in the Singapore area, Rotarians provided additional funding to 54 college seniors.  Many have gone on to careers in architecture, dentistry and medicine.”

            “In 2000, 25 young women from across the globe traveled to Eugene, Oregon, for a two-week training program aimed at encouraging them to pursue careers in international affairs and development.  These emerging leaders shared a similar challenge:  Each has a physical disability, ranging from visual or hearing impairments to mobility limitations.  The Rotary Foundation funded the unique exchange.  It was conducted and founded in 1981 by Rotarian Susan Sygall, who serves as executive director.  A wheelchair user since a 1971 automobile accident, Sygall has dedicated her life to helping people with disabilities.”

            “Terry Tanka, a member of the Rotary Club of Chula Vista, California, has been involved with the Thousand Smiles Foundation since its 1985 inception, when he spoke to Rotarians about raising funds for a cleft-palate surgery project in Mexico.  ‘They picked it up and ran with it,’ say Tanaka.  Now supported by two Rotary districts, Thousand Smiles run two-or three-day clinics from a warehouse in Ensenada.  More than half the 140 volunteers are Rotarians.  Virtually all equipment is donated.”

            “The Rotary Club of Yakima, Washington, sends medical teams to serve 150 patients at two-day clinics in Anse Rouge, one of Haiti’s poorest villages.”

            “Tom Yuzur, a past district governor, donated $9,000 to the Rotary Club of Surendranagar, India, to restore a school building damaged during an earthquake.”

COMING IN JUNE

                             Association, on storm over medical care.

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