Members of the Sharon Rotary Club International not only got to hear Sharon Mayor David O. Ryan talk about the state of the city Thursday but they also saw one of their own get tasered.

The club raised $800 to buy the Sharon Police Department a new taser gun. Sharon Rotary President Jamie Goodwin presented Ryan with the check during a luncheon at the Rosemont Conference & Banquet Facility.

The police department recently started using the taser guns, which can be used to electrically stun a person from a distance or through direct contact. The department has not been able to afford to buy every member of the department a taser gun.

"I thought that every officer should be able to have one," Goodwin said.

Goodwin volunteered to be hit with the taser gun to show other members of Sharon Rotary how the taser guns work.

Corporal James Masotto hit Goodwin with 50,000 volts for two seconds, evoking a grunt of pain as two other policemen, Mark Johnson and Scott Widmyer, stood by to make sure Goodwin didn't fall to the ground.

Several seconds after the shot, Goodwin was able to announce Ryan as the guest speaker for the day.

Ryan thanked the club members for their donation. "With the crunch we're in we just can't go out and buy 30 officers stun guns at $800 a piece," he said.

Ryan gave the Rotarians a brief overview of how Sharon's finances look in the new year. He told the group the financial state of the city has improved in the past two years and instead of having a deficit going into 2004, the city will actually have a $75,000 surplus. The surplus was used to balance the budget so city officials won't have to raise taxes in 2004, Ryan said.

Ryan said all city department heads will still be held to strict spending guidelines in 2004.

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