May 23, 2007

The meeting was called to order by Bettle Bailey. Jeff Baldwin gave the invocation. John Hanson announced that we had no guest. Due to not feeling well, Lyman Whitehead had to leave early but he left his task of Health and Happiness in the capable hands of Lyn Richards who did a marvelous job (GO…….).

John Adair announced that he had a birthday. Lynn Campbell gave the Rotary Magazine quiz for the month and unfortunately, we did not pass.


Ginny Barr introduced our speaker, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott. Ginny informed us that Sheriff Lott does not like long introductions nor does he do power point presentations. Sheriff Lott spoke of how the criminal justice system was failing in his opinion. He feels that the system is measured by the number of individuals who are placed in jail rather than looking for ways to prevent crime through youth prevention programs. He believes that victims and the community here to fore have not been properly represented when crime is committed.

Sheriff Lott, Ginny Barr, Chip Lyerly

Sheriff Lott stated that law enforcement generally is reactive to crime rather than proactive in preventing crime. He also feels that once an individual is placed in the “System” that rehabilitation is difficult thus he has a strong opinion of developing and implementing prevention programs. The Sheriff shared that 5 high schools in Richland County this past year had established arbitration boards which would hear a case against a student and make a decision on the case that would best result in protecting the community and providing a more proactive approach to situations that could prevent other criminal activity. Next year all high schools in Richland County will have arbitration boards.



Lott feels that these type proactive solutions can be effective not only from preventing crime but also be more economic. He stated that it currently is costing $50,000 annually to have an individual in a corrections institution.



A number of questions were asked of the Sheriff. He was surprised that no one asked about the second largest cash robbery in United States history that recently took place in Richland County. He concluded that they had recovered most of the money but there was still a sizeable amount that had not been located yet.