Vol. 109, No. 30, January 22, 2025
Next Meeting 
When:Friday, January 24, 2025
Where:Lansing Community College, in Michigan Room 
Address:600 N. Grand Avenue
Speaker: Chief Justice Elizabeth T. Clement
Presentation:"A View From the Hall of Justice"
Chair of the Day:Nathan Triplett
Reflection:Ben Rathbun 
Editarian:Phyllis Riley
Chair of the Month:Nathan Triplett
Greeter:Linda Sarnelli
Microphone:Evan Winters
 
Biography for Chief Justice Elizabeth T. Clement
Chief Justice Elizabeth T. Clement joined the Michigan Supreme Court in November 2017 and became Chief Justice in November 2022. Clement, a 2024 Rodel Fellow, serves on the National Center for State Courts Conference of Chief Justices (CCJ) on the following committees: Courts, Children, and Families; Committee on Legal Education and Admissions Reform (CLEAR); and Public Engagement, Trust, and Confidence. She is the current chair of the Michigan Judicial Council, and previously served on the Governor’s Task Force on Juvenile Justice.
 
Prior to being elected Chief Justice by her colleagues, she served as the Court’s co-liaison on child welfare matters and liaison to the Michigan Judicial Institute. Before joining the bench, Clement served as chief legal counsel, and deputy legal counsel before that, to Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, advising him on a wide variety of legal, legislative, and policy matters. She also previously held the positions of cabinet secretary and deputy chief of staff in the Governor's Office. Clement served as legal counsel to the Michigan Senate in 2010, and as a legal advisor from 2006 to 2010 in the Senate Majority Policy Office. She began her legal career in private practice representing individuals in the areas of family law, adoption, probate, estate planning, and criminal law. She earned her undergraduate degree from Michigan State University and her law degree from Michigan State University College of Law. Chief Justice Clement lives with her husband and children in East Lansing.
Volunteer Opportunity 
We have an opportunity to volunteer with the Greater Lansing Food Bank on Wednesday, February 19th from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.  We will be helping sort food at their regional warehouse that will get delivered to local food pantries.  The location is 5600 Food Court, Bath, Michigan. Please contact Jason Brunette if interested. Email:  Jason.Brunette@martincommercial.com 
Martin Luther King Celebration 
Monday January 20th, a very cold morning had 1,600 people come together at the Lansing Center to celebrate the Martin Luther King's legacy.
 
Lansing Rotarians filled more than two tables at the MLK celebration, the program started wonderfully and the company was great. We were entertained by The Detroit Youth Choir an award winning choir that was on AGT and received a golden buzzer and placed second overall.
 
For some excitement and adventure, half way thru the program, when most were done with lunch and dessert was yet to be eaten, there was a fire. One of the lamps on the overhead hanging lamp had sizzled and was ablaze in the middle of the award-winning essay being read.
 
First we were instructed to move out to the side exits while they tried to contain the fire and then sent to a different ball room to wait for the all clear where we were again entertained by the choir, while we waited. About the time we were ready to give up, we got the all clear and went back in.
 
The choir played again and then it was time for the Fireside address by the keynote speaker Dr. Bernard Lafayette, Jr. There were some historical reminiscences from early in his life and how he got involved in civil rights activism. It was a good time, even though it was interrupted by fireworks.  In the picture:  Front row:  Bill & Christine Frysinger, Joel Hoffman, Joseph & Ger Yang, second row:  Chris Holman, Bilky Joda-Miller, Hari Kern, Jennifer Marr, Chris Swope, Barb Whitney, Umakanth and Ernscie Augustin.
New Member Proposed

The following proposed member has emailed their application to the office.  If anyone has a comment on this proposed member please forward it in writing within ten days to the Rotary office. Thank you,

  • Tristan Wright, President & CEO of LEPFA, Sponsored by Chris Holman
International Grants
A total of $45,000.00 was approved by the Rotary Club of Lansing Foundation Board for International Grants from the committee.  Each week we will highlight one of the non-profits receiving our checks.
 
Global Dental Relief:  This project will provide free dental care and oral health education to 1000 Guatemalan children who otherwise would not have access to this vital, life-changing treatment. Dental care is often out of reach both physically and financially for people living in San Martin, Jilotepeque. In partnership with volunteer dentists, hygienists and other non-government officials to host two week long dental clinics. These clinics will provide free dental care and oral health education to children ages 6-18. Each child will receive three comprehensive lessons in oral health education, a free toothbrush, a fluoride treatment, an exam and any dental care needed. These services are provided at no cost to the children or their families.
Resigned Members
The following members have recently elected to resign from our club.
  • Travis Stoliker
  • Jordan Sutton
Editarian Report for January 14, 2025
Rotarians walked into the Michigan Room at LCC with the welcoming sounds of mid-century modern jazz courtesy of Steve Robinson’s on-site mixing skills. The next surprise for the day was the meeting being called to order by Past President Chris Holman who was filling in for President Rebecca.
 
Rotarians recited the 4-Way Test and Julie Pingston provided the reflection which recognized Monday’s national observance of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the presidential inauguration taking place on the same day. Against that backdrop, she shared moving and timely excerpts from the poem “From the Hill We Climb” which was written by Amanda Gorman and recited at the last inauguration to focus on differences amongst us.
 
Hari Kern led Rotarians in singing America the Beautiful.
 
We were able to welcome special guests to the meeting as Chris Holman introduced Andy Zarkovich from Providence Consulting and Kate Snyder from Piper & Gold who is applying for membership. Carrie Hindmon introduced herself as a visiting Rotarian from the Haslett/Okemos Club but transferring soon to the Lansing Club and she works with Mark Hooper at Andrews, Hopper Pavlik, PLC; and, Scott Watkins introduced Shay Manawar from the Lansing Economic Development Corporation.
 
Past President Chris updated that the Health of the Club is good and introduced our long time “red badge” member Dr. Steve Robinson to provide his new member presentation and receive his blue badge.
 
Steve described his life interests as a Venn diagram including family, work and “Steve’s stuff”. He shared family photos and stories of his parents and grandparents; wife Kathy who studied HR and Labor Relations at MSU; son Owen who received his bachelor’s degree in music from MSU and is now studying Classical Saxophone and Jazz Studies at Florida State University; and, his daughter Julia who graduated from Miami of Ohio and is looking to attend law school, hopefully at the University of Michigan. Steve graduated from MSU and worked at Elderly Instruments and as a faculty intern at LCC. He currently has his dream job as President of Lansing Community College after working at Mott Community College and leading Owens Community College in Toledo. He lives right on LCC’s campus in the college’s Hermann House. His passion is all things music…and his 1972 Porshe 914 which is a combo Porsche and Volkswagen but more Volkswagen that Porsche!
 
Past President Chris announced that the Membership Committee will NOT meet today and will meet on January 24.
 
Chair of the Month and Chair of the Day Nathan Triplett recognized CATA and Rotary connections with former CEO Sandy Draggoo and former Board Chair Pat Munshaw. As CATA’s Board Chair, Nathan introduced our speaker Andrew Brieschke, Deputy CEO at CATA. Andrew has been with CATA for 17 years and his responsibilities have evolved over the years and he now oversees Operations, Maintenance & Facilities and CATA’s contract for service with MSU.
 
CATA’s Board is comprised of representatives from Lansing, East Lansing, Lansing, Delhi Township and Meridian Townships, Ingham County, MSU, and a non-voting member from EATRAN. There are 32 fixed routes CATA manages including 9 routes on MSU’s campus. They also offer robust Paratransit Services through SPECTRAN, the Shopping Bus, Redi-Ride and others.
 
CATA has a workforce of 390 individuals from administration, full-time and part-time drivers and mechanics. Their fleet is always expanding and they have 105 fixed route buses with 50% being electric buses, 34 small cutaway buses, 8 electric vehicles, and 46 support vehicles. They continue to transition to electric vehicles, however the process is slow with a new bus taking 16-18 months to arrive with only two companies that manufacture. CATA has its own maintenance training and offers on-site training to the CATA team as well as other transit agencies throughout the State. CATA maintains 1600 bus stops with 152 of them having shelters.
 
The facilities CATA maintains are throughout the community and focus on the headquarters on Tranter Street which is 212,000 square feet with 175,000 square feet for bus storage to keep the bus fleet under a roof.
 
Andrew highlighted CATA’s plans for a new building at 511 S. Washington, the former Greyhound Station in downtown Lansing. The building will be a meeting space and house the customer facing employees to be accessible to meet their needs.
 
New advancements for CATA include mobile ticketing, contactless payment, cameras and connectivity to the emergency response system in the state. They also continue to expand routes including the Route 3 Extension. This route stopped at the Lansing Mall previously and now goes to the Delta Marketplace resulting in a 45% increase in riders on the weekends. There are also new connectors to Grand Ledge and Charlotte. The CATA Rydz is a new micro transit service that provides first and last legs for riders to be able to extend their rides in downtown Lansing, Delta Township and MSU to their destination.
 
Ridership continues to rise following the pandemic. Fixed-Route Ridership in 2024 was almost 8.5 million rides which is a 21% increase relative to 2020 and 15% relative to 2023. Paratransit ridership in 2024 was 380,000 rides which is a 15% increase relative to 2020 and 17% relative to 2023.
 
During the Q/A, Judi Harris from the American Red Cross Mid-Michigan applauded CATA for their presence at emergencies within the community to provide a warm shelter for this amidst and emergency and she’s never the one to call them. They just show up when needed.
 
Thanks to Andrew for the informative presentation and thanks to CATA for their strong community support in ways that we never knew about until today.
 
Our next meeting will be Friday, January 25 at LCC and our speaker is Chief Justice Elizabeth Clement with the Michigan Supreme Court.  See you there!
 
Email for Julie Pingston:  jpingston@lansing.org   Thank YOU Julie, she took this "job" along with giving the Reflection last Friday.
Speakers
Jan 30, 2025
at the Irish Pub
Feb 07, 2025
Feb 14, 2025
Feb 21, 2025
"Legal Clinical Education & American Indian Tribes"
View entire list
Rotary Club of Lansing
P. O. Box 13156
Lansing, MI   48901-3156
Meeting Responsibilities
Chair of the Month for January
Triplett, Nathan
 
Birthday Chair for January
Holman, Chris
 
Microphone
Winters, Evan
 
Greeter
Sarnelli, Linda
 
Reflection
Rathbun, Benjamin
 
Editarian
Riley, Phyllis
 
Chair of the Day
Triplett, Nathan