Minutes of the May 20, 2021 Meeting
The Rotary Club of Mobile
Call to Order: The meeting was called to order by Claire McCarron at 12:15 PM.
Earl Jackson offered the invocation. Tommy Blankenship led the Pledge of Allegiance and introduced the meeting guests.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
• Board meeting today
NEW MEMBERS
Bud McCrory, Director Mobile Area Water and Sewer introduced by Peyton Mattei
Program: Ashley Rich, District Attorney of Mobile County was introduced by Virginia Guy
Ashley Rich is the District Attorney for the 13th Judicial Circuit of the State of Alabama, which is the second largest Circuit in the State. She was elected in November of 2010 and has the honor of being the first female District Attorney of Mobile County. Prior to taking the over as the leader of the office she served as an assistant District Attorney for 15 years. She has tried over 155 jury trials and numerous defendants who are on Death Row in the State of Alabama.
Ashley has been awarded the Lagniappes “Nappie Award” for Mobile County’s Hardest Working Elected Official four times. She was also awarded the Mobile Baybears Community Service Award in 2013, Along with the Mobile Museum of Arts “Her- Story Award.” This year she was the recipient of The Watson Guy award at the 21st annual Drug Education Council, which recognizes the continuing tradition of helping others.
The mission statement for the DA’s office is to “Vigorously Prosecute Crime, Deliver Justice For All Victims, Supporting Law Enforcement in Seeking The Truth and Aggressively Work to Prevent Crime. Ms. Rich had a slide presentation which showed various statics around crimes, court cases and backlog in the court system. The Covid pandemic has had a tremendous effect on the courts as they significantly decreased the number of trials. Additionally, prospective jurors have been particularly hesitant to serve causing further trial delays. Ms. Rich estimates the backlog will take 3-4 years to clear.
President McCarron thanked Ms. Rich for her presentation and noted that, in her honor, a donation had been made by the club to “Reach Out and Read Alabama”
Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 12:59 PM.
Rob Diehl