MEETING
President Ken DuFour invited George Lesley to provide and invocation, when he expressed our gratefulness for where we live, the Field of Honor and the health of our members. Roy Shlemon led the Pledge.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Ken DuFour reported that Dave Schapiro recently underwent the removal of a tumor by computer at Hoag, and he is in great shape recovering.
Lisa Moncur was introduced as our Field of Honor speaker on Memorial Day, and was presented with a small American Flag, shown here.
Speaker Lisa Moncur
PROGRAM
Introduced by Diane Daruty was Karen Yelsey, Chairperson of the Newport Beach Police Foundation. She left her marketing career for a mom career as her children became involved in more school related activities and sports. When her youngest child graduated from Corona del Mar High School in 2006, she was elected to the Newport Mesa Unified School District Board of Trustees where she served for sixteen years, included four times as president. Since retiring from the School Board in December 2022, Karen stays involved in the Newport Beach community and currently serves as Chairperson for the Newport Beach Police Foundation. She also enjoys a variety of sports activities, traveling and being a grandma.
Karen noted that her son is a great runner, and she has supported the Spirit Run over its lifetime. She also believes the Field of Honor to be a remarkable event, perfect for Newport Beach.
The Newport Beach Police Foundation is a 501(c) 3 organization that works to improve the safety of officers and residents through funding of equipment, training and community outreach programs that complement the City-funded work of the department. We have five ways we love the NBPD: family support in times of tragedy, funding the K9 and mounted police activities; on duty meals for major holidays, sponsorship of the Baker to Vegas relay race competition, and college scholarships for children of the NBPD.
The money donated to the Foundation is quite different from money donated to the NB Police Association because the latter is not a 501(c)3 and deals with union matters. We were pleased to recently announce our new Police Chief Joe Cartwright. There will be a reception on June 28 at 0Sherman Gardens, hosted by the NB Police Foundation. The cost of the refreshments and appetizers is but $125, and the deadline for RSVP is 20 June. Chief Cartwright will be hosting a conversation on crime prevention and community safety.
Generally, there is little crime in Newport Beach, which does not have the same crime as our neighboring cities. There are some thieves from Columbia who typically target homes that are unoccupied and steal cash and valuables, but we are tracking some of them successfully. We have had only one case where a firearm was used.
Q and A: How many officers run in the race? All the officers run for five miles. Q. What was the scariest thing you experienced? A. Simulated car crashes were quite frightening. Q. Why do you use mounted police? A. They are stabled in South County. For crowd control, one can see much better on a horse. Besides, everyone loves dogs and horses. Q. We appreciated the car you were able to place by the Field of Honor. A. Actually, We were quite short of cars because our officers really need them to do their jobs. However, we were pleased to be able to contribute one to be placed by the Field of Honor to discourage theft. Q. What actions is NBPD taking to handle the large number of motorized bikes at the schools? A. We have an organized program at the schools that includes safety and driver’s education presentations.
Karen, thanks for sharing the love the Foundation has for the Police Department.
