ANNOUNCEMENTS

Amanda Senn invited everyone to attend Happy Hour at North Water Brewing this afternoon from 4 to 6. She noted that a Tap Talk presentation will follow at 7.

 

Doug Fuller announced that tonight’s Tap Talk will feature Laura Davis and Mark Seeman who will tell the story of how they got the May 4^th site on campus designated as a National Historic Landmark.

 

Todd Kamenash presented Rick Bissler with his trophy as Bracket Buster winner of the 2023 Women’s NCAA Basketball tournament.

 

Christy Anderson noted that April is Hunger Month and urged everyone to support Mayor Fiala’s challenge to gather food. Donations may be dropped off at Kent Social Services on South Water Street or at and Kent Fire or Police station.

 

Dave Myers announced that there will be a board meeting on Thursday at 7 pm at Kent Free Library. He also urged everyone to participate in the upcoming Rotary Auction that will support the Kent Rotary Foundation and the new Safety Town project.  He noted the many organizations our Rotary Foundation has supported over 50 years, including: Coleman Health Services, CoCoDa, Edible Kent, Habitat for Humanity, Great Trail Council, Kent Blossom Music, Kent City Schools, Kent Historical Society, Kent Youth Basketball, Kent-KSU Skates, Educational Artistry, Let’s Grow, Recovery Place, Portage Literacy Council. Tree City Preschool, Wick Poetry Center, Walls School “Race for Education’” Kent Free Library, Lighting in Downtown Kent, Ben Curtis Family Foundation, Portage Bike and Hike Trail, Downtown Gazebo, Erie Depot restoration, Meals on Wheels, KSU Fashion School, United Way, Dolly Parton Imagination Library, Kent Reads summer program, Kent Coterie, Kent Environmental Council, Portage County Sherriff’s Department, Kent Parks and Recreation, Salvation Army, and the Kent Police and Fire Departments.

 

HAPPY BUCKS

Various Rotarians contributed to Happy Bucks to celebrate wedding anniversaries, baby showers, recovery from illness, lifetime milestones, our Student of the Month, and the committee’s work on this year’s auction.

 

STUDENT OF THE MONTH

Cole Ray, a senior at Theodore Roosevelt High School was awarded Student of the Month for April by Principal Dennis Love. He holds a 3.8 GPA, has already earned 32 hours of college credit, and plans to attend KSU and Akron U Law School. His proud Mom was in attendance to congratulate him on his well-deserved award.

 

PROGRAM

Nithya Venkataraman introduced her good friend, Nick Deserio, a Detective in the Portage County Sherriff’s Office. Since 2016, Detective Deserio has investigated crimes against children. The Sherriff’s Office partners with Summit Regional Human Trafficking Task Force and various victim service agencies, including Townhall II. Human Trafficking primarily victimizes foreign nationals, those with drug addiction, and those in poverty. About 450 cases are investigated every year in Ohio, but there are many more labor and sex trafficking cases that go unreported and uninvestigated. 

 

Traffickers control their prey by providing them a lifestyle and keeping total control over any resources they may have. They supply addicted people with drugs and threaten foreign nationals by keeping their passports and threaten them with deportation if they go to the authorities. These cases are complicated and, because of fear, victims are often not cooperative with authorities, but those who take advantage of victim service agencies can get help with food, housing, and transportation. 

 

Ohio Internet Crimes Against Children (Ohio ICAC), funded by the Department of Justice, supports the investigation of child pornography, enticement of children, and online sextortion. The goal is to interdict child predators and also to educate parents about dangers children face using various apps on phones and other devices. Parents need to understand that there are no completely safe social media apps for children; Twitter and Facebook Messenger can be appropriately used, but with extreme caution. Others such as Snapchat, Tinder, Bumble, Hinge, Hotornot, Whisper, and Meetme are dangerous because they are often used for hookups. Especially dangerous are KIK, Telegram, and Signal because they are encrypted and impossible for a parent to monitor without access to a child’s device. 

 

For parents, healthy monitoring of a child’s use of social media is key. It’s important to teach kids never to give out personal information or talk with anyone they don’t know. Online sextortion, which starts with predators’ soliciting lewd pictures and progresses to extorting money from victims, is a special problem that can lead to victim suicide. Parents should also emphasize that, if they do become involved with online sextortion that there are ways out of the problem such that their lives can return to normal.

 

RESPONSE

Kent Police Captain Nick Shearer offered thanks to our speaker noting that we are fortunate to have him helping to protect children in Portage County.