It was a sweltering hot day and Centerville City Manager Greg Horn was not at the meeting to see that the air conditioning got fixed. It not being fixed and the club members and our guests and guest speaker having to suffer under the 90-plus degree heat, sweating all the way, our illustrious Sgt-at-Arms Erich Eggers suggested that the club fine Mr. Horn, the case being he must be at fault for the lack of air-conditioning, because of his absence. And even though we were collecting for Operation or Project Warm, we did not need to feel the heat literally. 

 Many members gave $5 for a coat, noting that Mr. Horn should have to pay the remaining $15 needed for the coat to alleviate the suffering of those sitting without air-conditioning. 

 

Erich said we are one-third of our way to getting the 350 coats we have set as our goal for the year, and that as of last week we had enough money for 120 coats.

 

Jeff Senney said he was Happy because the weekend gala for the House of Bread brought in $60,000. He thanked club members who attended the event. He also noted that Tony Hall, who spent time with Mother Theresa, said it is sometimes necessary to take care of what is right in front of you, rather than to worry about the whole world. 

 

Dan Johnson said he is Happy because he and his wife are just two weeks away from a new baby. 

Brian Hayes said he is Happy to see his children back in school and for his wife's birthday.

Don Stewart said he is Happy because he just got back from a vacation out West, where he visited Drew in Colorado and saw Boulder (Yeh, CU, one of this editor's alma maters), Colorado Springs, and Rocky Mountain National Park.

Rand said he is Happy to be Inside...as Fred used to be...

Butch was Happy about something I couldn't hear.

Chuck King gave for a coat and for a visit with his nephew who is studying for the priesthood.

Arnie Biondo reported that our guest exchange student, Saloni Bagwani, is already homesick for some Indian food and would welcome being invited to any home where someone knows how to prepare Indian food (you know who you are). He also noted that his daughter, his beautiful daughter, spent the last 10 months in Brazil and also lent him $3 to turn in for Happy Bucks...When questioned about this, he said, his pockets have been drained with college payments. Arnie said he expects Saloni to visit us at our next meeting.

Lee Hieronymus gave for a zipper and sleeve for a coat.

Jim Harris gave for Operation Warm.

Carrie Lifer gave to thank Boyd Preston for his putting together the Service Day agendas July 23, and her being a part of Project Read, which she found very rewarding. She said she still has 11 weeks before her baby is due. 

Rebecca Quinones gave $5 for a coat, saying Mr. Horn could pony up for the other $15 as part of his fine for the lack of cool air.

Carol Kennard said she was Happy for attending her 40th class reunion, where she found all the women to be fabulous looking and all the men old looking. 

Someone shouted out it "was all the make-up." She also got to see her baby grandson again, she said. 

Carol said she will take a picture for the DDN insert that goes with our news about the Pancake Breakfast fund-raiser of anyone who is dissatisfied with their current picture, or needs a picture taken for the insert. See her at our next meeting.

Shelley Fisher said she was Happy to be taking her therapy dog to several visitations, including one with Jeff Senney's father on this day.

Raj Grandi gave a dollar for his wish for air-conditioning, and another dollar that his wish would come true.

Brad Thorp gave $10 for his 40th wedding anniversary, and when someone asked how he planned to celebrate it, he said he was going to Cincinnati and stay in a fancy hotel and go to the Blind Lemon and visit the beer breweries on Sunday, and then Brian Hayes told Brad he missed saying they would visit the Cartier jewelry store, and then Brad said he would if Brian gave him his card, and then Raj said, "then she would want to sleep with HIM(Brian)...and then Brad signaled the deal was off, to everyone's laughter. 

Ann Blackburn said she is Happy to be going to California in October, and mentioned that from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., there will be free shredding at the LCNB National Bank where she works, at 9605 Dayton Lebanon Pike on Saturday, Aug.27. There may be donuts and coffee, she said. She also gave $5 for a coat and said Greg (Horn) owes another $15 for the rest of the coat. 

Fred Perez gave for half a coat. 

Peachy gave for a coat, but said he wanted two coats, so Greg owes for the other one. 

Ron Hollenbeck gave for a visit with one of his nieces who is a government liaison for the FBI. He said he asked if there was a Take your Father to Work Day that he could attend, but she said. No WAY!

Vas Appalaneni gave for a coat and Erich Eggers again gave for five coats...

 

Shelley Fisher announced that she had placed flyers for getting Sponsors for the Oct. 22  Pancake Breakfast fund-raiser on each of the dinner tables the week before and still has some if needed. The deadline for the newspaper insert is Oct. 1, so work needs to begin now to gather sponsorships, she said. Our goal is to get $25,000 this year, she said. And she hopes to see a hundred percent representation from members.

 

Our club president Ron Hollenbeck introduced our speaker. He said Karl Keith has been Montgomery County Auditor for more than 30 years. He is the 2^nd longest serving auditor in the history of Montgomery County. He is the former president of the County Auditors’ Association of Ohio and was named Ohio’s Outstanding County Auditor in 2012. Ron said Karl graduated from Ashland College and then got a master’s degree from Miami University.

 

The crime of skimming credit cards at gas pumps has been called the crime of the future by a Florida county auditor, Karl Keith said. And it's no wonder. There are 120,000 gas stations with an annual intake of 250 billion dollars, he said. Some 350 to 400 million gallons of gas are sold per day. "Gas pumps make such a great target,” he said.

 

Karl said he worked as a gas station attendant himself when younger for a summer, but that attendants have given way to self-serve stations, which started about 50 years ago, though Ohio did not get them until 1975. New Jersey and Oregon are the only two states that don’t let you pump your own gas, he said. You get a $500 fine for doing so in Oregon, he said.

Nowadays some 60 to 70 percent of gas purchases are made by swiping a credit or debit card, he said.

Karl said that one of his duties as county auditor is being the sealer of weights and measures. There are 200 gas stations and 5,000 gas dispensers in Montgomery County, he said. Each has to be tested at least once annually, and there are 7,000 inspections a year. The pump has to be unlocked and looked at to make sure the internal mechanisms work right and that the calibration wheel is right. Then the pump is sealed. They also look for credit card skimmers. In August, 2015, the first four skimmers were found in Ohio. Since then they have found credit card skimmers in ten Ohio counties.  In southwest Ohio they have found seven in Butler, six in Hamilton, three in Warren, and three in Montgomery County.

 

The skimmer is a small electronic device that fits in the palm of your hand, he said, showing a picture of the device. They can be homemade for about $50, he said. They take less than a minute to install. All the person has to do is open up the pump and attach it. They use blue tooth technology, which works 50 or 100 yards away. They can retrieve credit card information from your card easily that way. The skimmer is not visible on the outside of the dispenser as it is connected to the card reader inside. It is usually taped with black marking tape or duct tape. It now seems to be part of a mass operation, Karl said. There is a thin magnetic code and they can load the card number on a disposable card and can go to an ATM machine or go get gift cards and load to them, thus laundering the money so no one can trace it. There have been cases in Florida and Minnesota in which more than a hundred thousand dollars was withdrawn, and elsewhere where $400,000 was taken from accounts in 300 visits.

Having a card with a chip would help reduce such crime, he said. But often a chip reader is not working. The date for requiring chip readers at fuel pumps has been extended until Oct. 2017, he said.

 

Stations close to interstates are more vulnerable to the skimming, as well as stations with poor surveillance, Karl said. In Auglaize County near Wapakoneta a brand new station was laid out with no direct view outside to the pumps by an attendant, he said.

Karl said the criminals use a Gilbarco Universal gas pump key they can get off E-Bay on the Internet for $3 plus shipping and handling, to open up the gas pumps. They have tried to make the pumps tamper proof by using security seals, but often they are not put on the right place on the pump and the crooks have already been replacing them with phony stickers, he said.

He said they are holding seminars about skimming around the state to get law enforcers and inspectors to be more aware of the situation and the need for more surveillance and cameras and better locking mechanisms and alarms on pumps. Getting a license plate number can help in catching the crooks, he said.

The best way to protect yourself is to pay by cash and/or to use pumps closest to the store and to the attendant’s line of sight. Broken seals should be reported inside. Any suspicious people by the pumps should also be reported, he said.

 

In one case, skimmers were caught when they took off after someone spotted them with both doors of their vehicle open so to hide their activity at the pump. They jumped in the car and took off when a Heidelberg Beer delivery truck driver drove up and noticed them. The police responded to the gas station. As it turned out the man had left his wallet with his ID…and it turned out he had a record of credit card fraud.

 

The meeting ended with club members repeating the words of Rotary's Four-Way Test, as stated on the club’s new banner.