February 2, 2010
Today’s Program Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Robert Gualtieri
Robert A. Gualtieri graduated from Eckerd College with a Bachelor of Arts in American Studies with High Honors. He then graduated from Stetson University College of Law, J. D, cum laude, in 2002.
Bob has worked throughout the county, including jobs with the following: Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office as a Detention Deputy, Dunedin Police Department as an officer, Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office as a Deputy Sheriff/Detective, St. Petersburg Junior College on the Adjunct Faculty, the United States Attorney Office Internship, Federal Judicial Intern, an Intern for the Pinellas County State Attorney Office, Ford & Harrison LLP, attorneys, General Counsel of Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, and since January 2008 he has served as the Chief Deputy and General Counsel for the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office.
What’s Happening
Love is in the Air
Lorin Bridge announced a Valentine’s Day week-end social for our club. The details:
- American Stage Play – Blithe Spirit (see below)
- Saturday night February 13 at 8:00 p.m.
- Cost is $38.00 per person
- American Stage is located at 163 Third Street North in St. Petersburg,
just 1 block south of BayWalk and across the street from Williams Park in the heart of downtown St. Petersburg.
- Synovus Bank at 333 3rd Avenue North offers free parking. There is also free street parking and two parking garages in walking distance of the new building.
- Blithe Spirit - A smash on Broadway and London’s West End, this comic classic from the author of Private Livesi and Hay Fever is the story of cantankerous novelist Charles Condomine, who is re-married but haunted (literally) by the ghost of his late first wife. When a “happy medium” conjures the late wife’s spirit, all the personalities – real or ghostly - clash with hilarious results. “We are so excited to bring the great Noel Coward back to our stage after being gone for way too long,” said Todd Olson, American Stage’s producing artistic director. “Blithe Spirit is classic British farce at its best by a true master of the genre.”
Scholarship Letters
Bob Byelick received the following letter from Amy Benware, an eleventh grader at Gibbs High:
Dear Mr. Byelick,
My favorite subject in school might just be my History class. Not necessarily because I like History, but because the class is fun. Their lectures aren't boring, they are amusing but at the same time educational. The work we get is really hard, but then when you get that good grade you know that you worked for it.
Yes, I do have hobbies outside of school. They include spending time with my family, drawing, and writing stories. It’s just something I enjoy doing even though sometimes it isn't very good. It’s a good way to waste time and increase our creative thinking. I don't have a specific college in mind, but my guidance counselor suggested Art Institute of Tampa, but I don't know for certain.
I wish to go into a job that involves using creative processes’ like 3-D animation and 3-D movie-making. I would seriously enjoy making my stories into movies much like Final Fantasy. A job that allows me to be anywhere would also be nice because I might move somewhere else when I'm older. It would also be good if that job used skills that I have learned in Photoshop and my computer class period.
I sincerely thank you for this amazing opportunity. I would not wish my parents to be broke just so l can go to college. This is an amazing program, and I am very happy to be a part of it. I thank you from the very bottom of my heart.
Sincerely,
Amy Benware
Rib Fest
Pat Biscotti is at again asking Kiwanians to step up and volunteer at the Rib Fest, April 9-11. Further details to follow.
Special Olympics
It is that time again. Volunteers, please call Pat Biscotti, our full time Kiwanis organizer, to sign up for this great event located at Lakewood High School on March 13, 2010, 8:30 a.m.
The Lithuanian Open
A Golf Tournament hosted by Al Karnavicus is scheduled for March 4 - 8. The tournament, now in its tenth year, is held at St. Petersburg Country Club and is an open invitational for all Kiwanians and other golfers. Al sees to it that proceeds are distributed to summer camps for rural children of Lithuania. Check the website at LTCONSULFLORIDA.com. Al also pointed out that 2010 marks the twentieth year of Lithuania’s independence and will be celebrated during the tournament.
Last Week at Kiwanis
Kiwanian of the Day, Markus Mittermayr, introduced Al Estes, owner of Al Estes Bail Bonds in Clearwater, formerly located in St. Petersburg. Al wrote his first bond at the Courthouse in St. Petersburg on June 12, 1964. Five thousand bonds later, he and his sons, Al, Jr. and Eric, are still going strong.
Al explained that a bail bondsman must go to school for 180 hours to learn the “Code of Law” and be licensed by the State. Bonds were used as security as far back as the biblical days.
Today, it is an interesting business as the bail bondsman has to be savvy enough to write and enforce bonds to make defendants appear in court – the purpose for bonds.
However, with budget cuts, jail space has been reduced as many court systems are not requiring defendants to post bond, and are released ROR (released on recognizance). This enables the defendant to “skip out” a lot easier and to return to the streets.
Today, we are seeing the results of those actions as St. Petersburg’s crime rate is up 10% in the last year as many criminals do not feel the need to appear in court and face jail time.
A year ago, Judge Morris of Pinellas County told the Pinellas County Commission that he and his fellow judges were releasing defendants that a year before were sentenced to jail prior to posting bond.
When Al’s company writes a bond, only two percent of those are nervy enough to jump bond or abscond. His company usually tracts the “bond jumper” within reason. But no more trips to Mexico as an experience there was unsettling, to say the least.
Al gets paid 10% of the bond amount, but on higher bonds, a surety company is brokered to write the bond and Al enforces it.
To keep people from fleeing bond, family members put up their houses or boats. However, sometimes this is still not enough to convince the defendant to make a court appearance. When the defendant flees, it is up to Al’s minions to find the absconder or the bond amount is forfeited, a sad circumstance indeed.
Thanks, Al, for a look at the underbelly of the criminal justice system.
Attendance Last Week
We had 46 members and 8 guests.
Bob Stichweh, guest of Hal Wells
Tom Hallis, Jr., guest and son of Tom Hallis
Tom Cope, guest of Bob Byelick
Eric Estes, guest of Markus Mittermayr
This Week’s Quiz
- In the movie “Heat” what are the names of the actors who play Lt. Vincent Hanna and Neil McCauley, expert thief?
- What is the longest running crime series on television? How many seasons?
- What year was the Pinkerton Agency established?
- What crime movie is considered the greatest movie that showed the dichotomy of the mob just as effectively as the Godfather films without being derivative in any way?
- What was the name of the movie about U. S. Treasury Agent Eliot Ness and his fight against crime? Who starred as Eliot Ness in the 1987 movie?
Last Week’s Quiz
- On July 4, 1946, representatives of the United States of America and of the Republic of the Philippines signed a Treaty of General Relations between the two governments. The treaty provided for the recognition of the independence of the Republic of the Philippines as of July 4, 1946, and the relinquishment of American sovereignty over the Philippine Islands.
- The ibis was chosen as Miami's unofficial mascot in 1926 when the school's yearbook chose its name to be "The Ibis." Sebastian was created in August 1957 and was used as a homecoming competition entry. The next year, student John Stormont performed at Hurricanes football games dressed up in a makeshift ibis costume. The current costume dates from the 1980s. The mascot was named after the San Sebastian building
- The original Starbucks was opened in Pike Place Market in Seattle, Washington, in 1971 by three partners: English teacher Jerry Baldwin, history teacher Zev Siegel, and writer Gordon Bowker.
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