On a rather gray and chilly January Thursday, Rotarians and guests returned to the Great Lakes Ballroom of the Holiday Inn Downtown for fellowship and the warmth it brings. Today’s lunch harkened back to a warm
summer’s picnic as grilled hamburgers and all the fixings were on the menu. President-elect Michelle Buria rang the Rotary Bell calling us to order, followed by Rotarians singing America the Beautiful accompanied by Past
President John Baumgarten. Greg Hansen led our
Reflection with a parent’s view of the opioid crisis, which was the topic of our guest speaker.

Past President Phil Strom, a last minute substitution for a busy Darlene Anderson, provided today’s Fellowship Report. Phil began by asking Rotarians to sign a sympathy card for Sue Kerry on the passing of her mother. We had two visiting Rotarians from Harbortown Rotary: Scott Soderberg who invited fellow Rotarians to visit with him for Harbortown Rotary Coffee orders, while Brad Jenson prompted the next American Heritage Book Group’s
fellowship gathering discussing the book Trail of Tears: The Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation scheduled for Tuesday, February 26^, at the Kitch. Club 25 played host to a number of guests this week: Jen Smith brought Cindy Olson, Executive Director of the Arrowhead Regional Computing Consortium; Geiger Yount hosted retired UMD Library Director Bill Sozansky; Greg Hansen was joined by work colleague Collin Zimmerman; Dean Casperson brought Zack Walters of Great Lakes Insurance Agency; and we were pleased to be joined by Louise Hawley, escorted by her husband John Hawley! With the exception of Tom Wheeler’s self-imposed fine for another DNT
op-ed piece, A RepubliCrat Party, Geiger Yount’s self-imposed fine honoring National Football Champs Clemson Tigers, and a stretch to fine Skeeter Moore of a printed piece from 1984 that had his youthful pic, the Golden Can was hardly touched.

President-elect Michelle Buria shared news of Past
President Dick Palmer’s passing and arrangements planned for noon on Saturday, January 19, at Grace
Lutheran Church, 5454 Miller Trunk Highway. She also announced that the new Club 25 Corporate Membership Program will roll out soon, and that we should stay tuned as to how we can help in this new strategy. Two new January Junior Rotarians were introduced: Claire Boettcher of Hermantown High School and Greta Volkman from Harbor City International. Jerry Pelofski placed a call for volunteer judges to assist him in the annual Science Fair at UMD’s Kirby Plaza, an event
Rotarians traditionally help with in judging science
projects prepared by local middle school and high school students. The fair is February 9, and all interested should contact Jerry.

Chair of the Day Dick Pelinka introduced Saint Louis County Attorney Mark Rubin to speak to us on The
Current Opioid Crisis. Before Mr. Rubin began his
observations, he reminded us that he, too, was a Junior Rotarian of Club 25 back in 1971 as a Morgan Park High School student. In order to prepare us to hear of the daunting work Mr. Rubin undertakes to
address the opioid crisis in our region, he read the poem A Future Not Our Own, written in memory of the Columbian Cartel-martyred Saint Oscar Romero. The essence of this poem, and Mr. Rubin’s theme for today’s discussion was, “There’s no ONE answer, it takes all of us.” Mr. Rubin confirmed that Saint Louis County is joining numerous municipalities in a major lawsuit against Big Pharma and makers/distributors of synthetic opioids. The case will argue that Big Phrama deceivingly influenced physicians to over prescribing opioids by using unscrupulous
marketing efforts that held false claims of
minimal adversity to patients. The results of years of over prescribing has led to catastrophic outcomes for people throughout the nation. The lawsuit reveals some disturbing points that hit most every home in America: opioid addiction is a cross-gender problem with more women
becoming victims; disturbing trends in neo-natal additions where babies are born already hooked on opioids; law enforcement agencies stretched to the breaking point; child protection
professionals who work with the problem are abandoning their careers as they experience burnout, seeing no hope for the future; and
Prosecutor’s caseloads becoming
unmanageable. As bleak as things may seem, there is hope. There are efforts to mediate the crisis with hopes to address some portion of the damage inflicted on society. In addition to
doctors and orthodontists reviewing their opioid prescription practices, training is occurring right now in Saint Louis County that will enable
practitioners, including parents and teachers, to assess traits in elementary and middle schools. These types of training are “upstream” solutions that Mr. Rubin funds through confiscated drug monies. Mr. Rubin closed by citing a quote from American Revolutionary patriot Thomas Paine: “If there must be trouble, let it be in my day so my children will have peace in their day.”