ANNOUNCEMENTS
(notes provided by the erudite Mary Hodson)
Kris Young has accepted the position of President of the SUNY campus at Middleton, NY. Kris formerly served on the Program Committee. If you would be interested in joining the committee, please contact Mary Hodson at maryfhodson@aol.com. If you have just one or two speaker ideas, please let her know about those as well.
PROGRAM
Bob introduced George Vargas, Senior Assistant Public Defender of Champaign County. George was born in Costa Rica and moved to the U.S. to attend a military academy. He joined the U.S Army at the age of 17. He then attended the University of Illinois with a double major in Sociology and Political Science.
After college, George worked one year as a patrolman for the Champaign Police Department. He used the GI Bill to attend the Michigan State College of Law, and in 2004 was hired to work with the Champaign Public Defender’s Office.
George was called to active duty in 2005 and served in Kuwait. Upon his return from active duty, he attended the Judge Advocate Officer Basic Couse and was commissioned as a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Reserve. He returned to the Public Defender’s Office in 2007.
In 2010, he volunteered for a one year mobilization with the U.S. Army Trial Defense Service and served in both Iraq and Afghanistan. He returned to civilian life in 2012 and is currently a captain in the National Guard.
George said his experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan really made him appreciate our legal system. He described Iraq as having a poor system of justice and Afghanistan as having no system. He was involved in one court martial of an American soldier who had assaulted another soldier. Afterwards, the Iraqi officers who observed commented that in Iraq, there would be no jury. A judge would have convicted the defendant and he would have been hung the same day.
In his current position, George handles a full felony caseload of about 60 cases. In addition, he is assigned all Spanish speaking clients.
Sometimes indigent defendants say the “want a real lawyer”. George finds that amusing as he and his fellow Public Defenders have much more criminal trial experience than other lawyers. However, he sometimes does not see his client in advance of the court date. He does a lot of his work over the phone with the clients. Nevertheless, he feels the quality of representation is as good or better than with a private attorney.
George was asked about the recent shootings in Champaign. He responded that he does not believe them to be gang related. He said that young men with access to guns get mad and seek revenge after someone they know gets shot. The violence escalates from there.
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| May 14th | May 21st | May 28th | June 4th | |
| Introductions | Bruce Hatfield | Mary Hodson | Phillip Holthaus | Larry Johnson |
| Invocation | Phyllis Mischo | Gary Olsen | Scott Paceley | Robb Patton |
| Greeters | Bruce Hatfield | Mary Hodson | Phillip Holthaus | Larry Johnson |
| John McDaniel | Jan Merchen | Phyllis Mischo | Gary Olsen | |
| Song Leader | Bob La Charite | BJ Lytle | Ben Mast | John McDaniel |
| Notetaker | Hodson | Lintner | Conforti | Perry |
| Rotary Minute | Phillip Holthaus | Mr. T | Larry Johnson | Dave Krchak |
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UPCOMING SCHEDULE
May 21st – Sam Banks, Don Moyer Boys & Girls Club
May 28th – Antonia Rivera, Rotary Youth Exchange
June 4th – Maria Bohri, Learning in Community (LINC), Engineering Education projects, UIUC
June 11th – Kathie Spegal, Coordinator, Illinois Radio Reader, and former CU Sunrise Rotarian
June 18th – Andy Leipold will discuss grand juries and Ferguson, MO
June 25 – TBD
July 2 – TBD
July 9 – TBD
July 16 – Jen Shelby will discuss the Cannes Film Festival
July 23rd – Phil Hoggatt, Harbor Light Hospice
July 30th – TBD
August 6th – TBD
August 13th – TBD
August 20th – TBD
August 27th – Barry Pittendrigh, Department of Entomology, UIUC
