photos by Glen Stroud and Ron Harris (click on photos to enlarge)

Business Meeting

At the December meeting each year the Board members are sworn in by a distinguished judge. This year the ceremony was conducted by Superior Court Judge Richard M. King. Shown in the photo above are the newly elected and returning Board members. From left to right: Bill Underwood*, Connie Buenaventura, Carol Duensing, Carol Morales*, Terry Dancey*, Carlos Olvera, Lynn Bonas*, Robin Bowen, Glen Stroud*, Joe Quiros, John Moohr and Cheryl Brothers* with the asterisk indicating a newly elected or re-elected Board member.

A second business item was the passage of bylaw amendments that include modification of the procedures for nominating and electing Directors.

Program

Judge King, pictured at the right, delivered a well received background talk on the history of the death penalty and the three strikes law – both topics of propositions on the recent General Election ballot.

On a more personal note, Judge King noted his appointment to the California Interagency Council on Veterans. The Council was created in 2011 to help coordinate veterans’ services across local, state, and federal lines. Judge King is a U.S. Navy veteran and his first job as an attorney was with the Department of Veterans Affairs in Washington.

More Photos

On the left is Cheryl Brothers, center, with retiring Board members Viola Stadler and Chuck Holt. On the right members are shown mingling in the festively decorated room while Directors Carol Morales and John Moohr work at the sign in table.

I had the privilege of speaking to the incoming 2012/ 13 Grand Jury panel during their orientation week. They seem like a bright and eager group. Seventeen of the 2011/12 panel who just finished their year will be joining our association with a free six months membership. Let’s welcome them to our group and hear from them about their experience. They certainly served during an interesting time for local governments. They managed to get great press coverage on their reports and seem eager to follow up on implementation of their recommendations. Their members have contacted me regarding the authority af- forded the GJAOC by the county to do follow up work. I suspect we are not done hearing from them. With the help of Joe Quiros, I will be working with the CA Franchise Tax Board to bring the Association into compliance for our tax exempt status. There seems to be some filing that is missing. I have some friendly expert help on this, and hope that the issue can be corrected without penalty. We will be implementing a set of policies and guide- lines to assure that all filing is done in a timely manner in the future. It hardly seems like a year has gone by since we had our election for board members, but, it is that time again. The following members have served a two year term and have agreed to run for re-election: Cheryl Brothers, Terry Dancey, Carol Morales, Glen Stroud. Chuck Holt was appointed to fill a one year term and will be running for the 2013 board.

Assistant Sheriff Mike James has more than 27 years in law enforcement experience with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. He currently serves as the Assistant Sheriff of Custody and Court Operations. During calendar year 2011, the three separate jail divisions within Orange County’s jail system had the ability to house in excess of 7,000 inmates and the Courts dealt with 113,000 inmates and 4.7 million members of the public.

Assistant Sheriff James was also in charge of Field Operations and Investigative Services. He has primary oversight for five divisions responsible for a variety of functions and enforcement activities critical to the safety of the residents of Orange County.

These divisions include Airport Operations, Homeland Security, Investigations, North Operations and South Operations. Within these functions and activities is the patrol of contract cities and unincorporated areas of the county including county parks, beaches, coastline waters, and harbors. He was largely re- sponsible for the Orange County Sheriff ’s Department bringing two major information sharing programs to the law enforcement community.

The Board held a special meeting on March 1st immediately following our general meeting luncheon. Purpose of the meeting was to appoint Board vacancies. There were three nominees for appointment to fill two (2) vacancies on the board for a two-year term each to replace deceased members Ed Wylie and Larry Callahan. Nominees are: Carlos Olvera, Joe Quiros, Mike Harris, An Nguyen, Lynn Bonas. Carlos Olvera and Joe Quiros were selected to fill the two vacant two year terms.

Next, there were four nominees for appointment to fill one (1) vacancy on the board to complete the one year remaining. This appointment will count as a full term according to the bylaws to replace Bob Fauteux, deceased. Nominees are: Chuck Holt, Mike Harris, Lynn Bonas, An Nguyen. Chuck Holt was selected to fill the remaining one year vacancy on the board.

OC Grand Jury March Luncheon Speaker

Phillip E. Yarbrough, President of the Board of Trustees, Rancho Santiago Community College District, will be the speaker at the March 1, 2012 luncheon meeting
The issues and the solutions needed to deal with the curtailment of public education funding by Sacramento as it affects the community college districts will be reviewed.
Yarbrough has been a District trustee since 1996. He is president of a mortgage and real estate investment company.

He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Business and Finance and his Masters of Arts degree in Economic from Cal State University with studies in real estate and finance and macro-economics theory and an emphasis in government budgets.

Active in many community activities, he served as an Executive Board Member with Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and the Orange County Chapter of the American Lung Association. He served as the Orange County Coordinator for the Concord Coalition, a non-profit federal deficit reduction organization.

The menu—choice of chicken or vegetarian:

Breast of Chicken with wild mushrooms
Fruity Autumn Salad- Field greens, crumbled gorgonzola, candied walnuts, diced apples, mandarin oranges, golden raisins, citrus vinaigrette dressing
Warm rolls with butter
Wild rice
Green beans with almonds
Breast of Chicken with wild mushrooms

Vegetarian:
Pasta Al Fresco with diced tomatoes, Basil, Mushrooms in white sauce or cream sauce
Dessert: assorted homemade cookies and brownies.

All for only $20.

The luncheon meeting is open to the public and starts at 11:30 am. For reservations and meeting information contact Bob Fauteux at 714-998-2868 or Joe Quiros at 949-651-0113, jmquiros@cox.net.

It has taken me a while longer than expected to get our website up and running, but it is ready for you now. The site can be as successful as we make it. So, let’s hear from our members on what you might want included. This part of the website will be what can be updated as frequently as we want or need to.

For starters, we can welcome and introduce our new Board members for the year 2012.

• President and Newsletter Editor – Cheryl Brothers
• First VP – Robert Fauteux
• Second VP – Glen Stroud
• Treasurer – John Moohr
• Secretary – Robin Bowen
• Parliamentarian – Carol Duensing
• Sgt-at-Arms – Terry Dancey
• Webmaster – Viola Sadler
• Director – Carol Morales
• Director – Connie Buenaventura
• Director – open
• Director – open

The opened slots were due to the untimely death of Ed Wylie who was to be an incoming Board member. Then in December Larry Callahan who would have started his fourth year on the Board also passed away. We were shocked and saddened by the loss of our two gentlemen. Both were true gentlemen, too.

At the December luncheon, Judge David O. Carter did the honors of installing those Board members who were present into office. See photo submitted by Glen Stroud.

Our Board met on January 5th and our President Cheryl has a great agenda for this year. Hope the world does not come to an end just because the Mayans ran out of space in their calendar. 😉
As we look ahead, these are a few of things we are actively pursuing:

• Lining up speakers for our luncheon meetings
• Investigating best locale for our luncheon meetings
• Assisting in the recruitment of 2013-14 Grand Jury candidates
• Assisting the County in procuring a multi-year contract for IT services
• Staying informed on Legislature action as it might impact the Grand Jury system
• Assisting in recruitment and interviews for Measure M board members
• Continuing and amplifying this website

Stay tuned.
VRS