Rotary
Club of Santa Monica
"2002/2003"
Rota-Monica
ISSUE NO. 2 July
26, 2002
OUR 81st
YEAR
www.RotaryClubofSantaMonica.org
What Comes After “I Came, I Saw, I
Conquered”?
Ask Gil Garcetti that question and you’ll get an
astounding array of answers that represent his multiple interests since ending
his term as District Attorney. Campaign assistant. Urban photographer.
Traveling humanitarian. But these creative outlets are more than idle
interests. They’re his passions.
From humble roots as the son of immigrant parents, Gil
Garcetti distinguished himself early on. He earned his undergraduate degree
from USC, attended the London School of Economics, and obtained his law degree
from UCLA. Always the entrepreneur, he expanded his scope from trial law to
organize the first-ever Department of Consumer and Environmental Affairs in Los
Angeles. With his honed management, administrative and legal experience, Mr.
Garcetti was elected to the office of District Attorney in 1992, where he led
the largest prosecutorial office in the United States. Again using his unique
and far-reaching vision, he focused on issues largely ignored in the past:
domestic violence, elder abuse, immigration fraud and public corruption.
It was the devastation of the World Trade Center on
September 11th that galvanized Gil Garcetti into a new realm. An amateur
photographer attracted by the stark black and white images of iron workers
rebuilding LA City Hall, he was invited by the Iron Workers Union to take
photographs of Ground Zero. The haunting images impressed themselves upon him
artistically, emotionally and intellectually. With his artistic and emotional
bent, Garcetti amassed his photos into a pictorial essay of the World Trade
Center cleanup, proceeds from which benefit the Iron Workers Scholarship Fund.
From the intellectual angle, he drew upon his knowledge of the criminal psyche
to understand what motivates people so willing to die.
Mr. Garcetti makes the parallel that those without hope,
regardless of race, religion, or nationality, are at the greatest risk for self
destruction. As the antidotes to helplessness, he endorses acknowledgement,
respect, education, and job training. He believes that Non-Government
Organizations (NGOs) that are funded by charitable organizations, such as World
Vision and the Helen Keller Foundation, ensure needy individuals get the money
instead of fueling developing nations. And the emotionally healthy populace of
those developing nations will not only live, but want to live.
Gil Garcetti knows exactly what he’s going to do now that
he’s had his 15 minutes of fame. Help change the world. And he encouraged our
Rotary Club to do it with him.
Entrepreneurial Enlightenment:
Gil Garcetti made a point in his fine speech that
resonated with two articles appearing in the Wall Street Journal the same day,
one hopeless, one hopeful. The former DA suggested that to help combat poverty
in the Third World we should not just give money to the governments in trouble,
but supply NGO’s (non government organizations) like the independent Conrad
Hilton Foundation who supervise the delivery of aid directly to the people.
The hopeless WSJ op-ed article, about Robert Mugabe,
tyrant of Zimbabwe, showed our lack of success of giving
government-to-government aid. He is diverting this aid to his own uses and
destroying the middle class as well as the poor in a policy of economic
strangulation through starvation. Gil established a parallel between another
African nation, Niger, and his experiences in combating crime in LA County.
Both this country and our county have a preponderance of young males, school
dropouts who see little hope in their future. Both American and African sense
crime and murder as the only way to bring some meaning into their lives. There
is no fear in killing or being killed, because the hope of rising out of the
morass of poverty is not viable. Gil suggested that education and the removal
of corruption rather than violence could assist impoverished people.
The hopeful article repeats an entrepreneurial truth:
“Give a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach a man to fish and he can feed a
family.” I will add, teach the man how to make fishing poles and he can feed a
village. This was the story about Mali: When village women can raise $2,000,
they get a match from the UN or other donors to buy a makeshift, industrial
grade ‘Cuisinart.’ This machine, through various accessories, can grind peanuts
into peanut butter, corn into meal, and de-hull rice. The pre-machine
alternative was for the women of the village to grind those products with heavy
wooden pestles and to do little else from dawn to dusk. Now the women run and
maintain the machine, learn to read and keep simple operational; books, turn a
profit and have more time for other chores or even leisure. Some of the
machines have been rigged as generators to power lights to enable more people to
read as the night was ‘pushed back.’
Garcetti makes his point well. Rotary has proved that it
can stamp out polio. Maybe our next task is to empower simple entrepreneurship
and shared responsibility in the Third World to get at the root of poverty
through literacy and the targeted giving of aid to the people who need it,
rather than to their leaders.
Food for thought? Make it a Great week!
Bill
Heads Up
The head table was graced by David Bohn, who introduced
visiting Rotarians and guests; Robert Fredricks, MD, who introduced speaker Gil
Garcetti; Joey Perlmutter; and Paul Gaulke, who gave the invocation.
Table for Eight
The Host and Hostess Dinner Club is the ideal opportunity
to meet and socialize with fellow Rotarians, their spouses and friends, on an
informal basis. The concept is that eight people meet for dinner four times a
year. There is one host couple and three guest couples (or mixture of couples
and singles). The style of entertaining is up to the hosts. Participants are
asked to donate $75 for the dinner season to benefit a Vocational Scholarship
for the year. Contact David Bohn at 393-9688 to enroll.
Of Significance
Caprice Young, President of Los Angeles Unified Board of
Education, will be the guest speaker at Lawry’s Celebrate Literacy Breakfast.
She was recently quoted in an article featuring Mayor Hahn’s Education Taskforce
findings. Contact Shirley Dowling at 393-5419 to attend this Literacy Breakfast
on August 16th from 8:00 – 9:30 AM at Lawry’s Prime Rib, 101 N. La Cienega.
Scott Clifford sent the following message regarding World
Peace Scholarships: “We have an exciting opportunity to enhance our commitment
to international service by sponsoring a candidate who will compete for one of
the coveted Rotary International World Peace Scholarships. Last year our
District did send a candidate to the R.I. competition, and she was successful in
her bid for the scholarship. We need applications from the clubs during August
for our selection process that will take place in September. If you believe
that this project would interest your club, please call me at your earliest
convenience at (626) 449-1882 or respond by e-mail SCOT@luch.com.”
The Welcome Mat
Stuttgart, Germany, is the home Rotary club of visiting
Gunther Kieninger. A flag from his club is already on file with Santa Monica
Rotary. A hearty welcome was given to guests Takanori Kaneko, Ryukei Kaneko,
Yuko Onishi, Leslie Kenyon, Shirley Fredricks, David Ross, and Linda Tisherman.
Fine Time
Twin granddaughters of Bob and Karen Baker earned them a
$200 fine. Blessings on your heads.
Twin engines on a new Lexus put Robert Siegel back $125.
Older and Wiser in July
Birthday greetings were extended to Robert Adams, Ed.,
Henry Alcantar, Bob Baker, Jr., Norma Barnes, Kent Colberg, Schil Colberg,
Spryos Dellalportas, Jim Haljun, DDS, Monte Herring, Lorraine Jossel, Jackie
Kittaka, Bob Klein, Harris Levey, Keith Magee, Sam Muslin, DDS, Michael
Rosenthal, Lionel Ruhman, Stan Shu.
On The Agenda
