On Zoom
Barry Fain, Lew Hassell, Ben Hadsell, Barbara Harris, Sam New
Greeter
Dave Hamel
Pledge of Allegiance
Led by Pete Brock
Inspiration
Cap Willey led an inspiration with more of a reflection on our state of society after the assassination attempt.
Announcements
President Pete Brock made the following announcements
- Legends for Literacy Gala – it is time to start planning for the Gala and we need all Rotarians to chip in. We will be holding zoom meetings every Wednesday. Please consider volunteering for the following committees and please reach out to Pete if interested:
- Legends (Pete Brock) – we need folks to get commitments from Legends. They do not have to be sports Legends
- Marketing (Art Norwalk)
- Sponsorships (Don Saracen & Anthony Landi)
- Dinner Committee (Holly Applegate & Liz Messier)
- Auction & Raffle (Need a Chair)
Noted Social Events
- Rotary After Dark – Liz Messier will be hosting a Summer Soiree on July 18th at 5:30. Liz resides at 50 Breakneck Hill Rd., Lincoln, RI. (Here we are enjoying the fun.)
- Trivia event at Narragansett Brewery – in September. More information to come.
- Event at the home of Anthony & Stacy Landi – celebrating Ferragosto, Italian Style, Thursday August 15th.
Pete reminded us of the power of teamwork and the importance of treating each other with respect and appreciating our differing perspectives.
Presentation in honor of Jim Gilcreast
To honor Jim’s memory, a special award was created,
The James E. Gilcreast, Jr. School Attendance Award. The award will be presented to the school that has the highest average attendance. Jim, who was a Rotarian for 50 years, had perfect attendance for 49 years. This year’s recipient is the Leviton Dual Language School, represented by the principal . Jim's wife and family made the presentation.
Happy Bucks
- Bill Applegate is $5 happy just because it is a day to where shorts.
- Dave Hamel is $5 happy because he is going to Quebec, where it should be cooler.
- Pete Brock is $5 happy, because that is what he had in his pocket.
- Kris David is $2 happy regarding a mentor program and having Mary Gilcreast presenting the award.
- Mary Brewster is $5 happy about a recent trip to Washington state.
If we missed on this list you, we apologize.
Speaker
Anthony Hollingshead introduced his friend Priya Banerjee. Priya is a Board-certified forensic pathologist with experience handling a wide variety of case types, involving all manners of death. She has performed over 2700 autopsies including over 150 homicides. She has training from the University of Pennsylvania and The Johns Hopkins Hospital. She is actively practicing in Rhode Island, Las Vegas and has worked in Maryland. She is qualified in multiple states as an expert witness in the fields of forensic pathology, postmortem toxicology interpretation, trauma interpretation, and cause and manner of death determination.
She has published peer review journals on postmortem diagnosis such as infection, tumor diagnosis and toxicology. She has handled domestic and international cases for major clients such as the military, the wrongful death of Breonna Taylor, etc.
She performs private autopsies to aid in family closure and/or litigation needs. This process does not interfere with open casket funerals. Toxicology and other studies can be done. Second autopsies are also performed with precision and accuracy to aid in understanding the truest results. She prides herself in providing high quality expert work with clear communication needed for successful litigation and problem solving. Priya’s presentation was both informative and interesting.
A few highlights were:
- The process regarding the autopsy of Breona Taylor
- A few articles featuring Priya
- Medical Examiner protocol is dictated at the state level
- Not every Coroner is a medical doctor.
- Sadly, many deaths are related to drug abuse and driving accidents.
- Priya described the process of testifying at trial.
Visiting Rotarian After the Meeting
A visitor from Austria game into the meeting after we had closed, apologized for being late, but presented us with his Rotary club's flag, and President Pete Brock reciprocated with ours.
