Club Business
Mary Thomas Gilbert, our president, brought the meeting to order. Cliff Parker led us in prayer and the pledge of allegiance to the US flag. Mary shared her appreciation for our club and encouraged us to forget any disappointments of the past year and move forward into what lies ahead. She let us know how much she appreciates our club and the shared love we have. Mary Thomas also thanked all who gave at the Christmas Party. Those funds were used to purchase a nice Christmas dinner for twelve families.
Guests
- Mary Thomas Gilbert introduced her son, Tanner.
- Pete Beck introduced Chris Jernigan, an account representative with Boxboard Products. He is a prospective member.
- Ed Woodall presented Dan Molina, an accounts representative at First Bank, where Ed works.
- Charlie Nolette introduced Christi Almond, his colleague at the Country Club.
January Birthdays and Anniversaries
4 | Thomas Phelps | 21 | Matt & Bharna Patel |
14 | Debbie Porch | ||
20 | Carolyn Rhode | ||
23 | Mikie Morrison | ||
29 | Cliff Parker |
Happy Dollars
- Brad Moser announced the merger of his company Gillam, Coble, and Moser with Apple, Bell, Johnson. The new company will be called Gillam, Bell, Moser.
- Carolyn Rhode paid a dollar to let us know how proud she is of her Vikings. She confirmed that there was no pass interference on the last touchdown.
- Kellee Hawley told us that the Vita Program through United Way is up and running to provide assistance in tax preparation.
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Dick O’Donnell showed us the promised banner provided by Dirk Wentzel from the Rotary Club of Karisruhe-Baden, Germany. He visited our club last year and was given one of ours. Dirk is a man of his word. Dick also mentioned Earl Haddon will speak on Income Producing Activity at the Alamance Leads meeting next Monday morning at ACC’s Dillingham Building at the old BMOC.
- Mikie Morrison said he plans to fire up his Trader Nation grill tonight, no matter what the weather is like.
- Ed Woodall paid a buck to say that he saw Cliff Parker doing some fancy dance moves on the jumbo-tron at the last Elon basketball game.
All members should save the date for our Rotary fundraiser the evening of February 11. It will be in lieu of the meeting that day and will be held at Burlington Beer Works. Tickets will be $50 per couple and it will be open to outside members. It will involve a reverse raffle, silent auction and/or other games. Stay tuned for more information.
Matt Patel has the program next week.
Click here to see all scheduled program dates and responsibilities.
Program: Byron Tucker – Alamance County Sheriff’s Department Citizen Academy
Cliff Parker was in charge of providing the speaker this week. Before introducing Byron, he told us that he serves as Chief of Deputies at the Sheriff’s Department. He is married with two wonderful children and five grands. Cliff had to fill in for Byron as the PIO for a while; so, he truly appreciates all he does. There was some confusion over what a BIO vs. a PIO is, but it got worked out.
Byron Tucker is the Public Information Officer at the Sheriff’s Department. He was born and raised right here in Burlington. He served in the National Guard for six years and was a State Trooper for six more. He also had a 23-year career as a sales manager with UPS, was a radio show host with WPCM for nine years, and did public address at Elon sporting events. This all no doubt prepared him for his present job.
Byron told us all about the Citizens Academy that the Sheriff’s Department has twice a year to give citizens an inside look at what the department does. This next one will start April 2 and go for eight weeks on Thursday nights from 6:30-9:30. It will end May 21 and is completely free. Applicants need to be at least 18 years old and reside in the county. Food will be provided at the sessions and a department polo shirt handed out to those who complete it.
Sessions will include the following:
- Q&A with Sheriff Johnson
- Special response team demo
- Taser demo
- Flight operations – drones
- Crime scene investigation
- Laws of arrest, search, and seizure
- Firearms simulator
- Ride along with a deputy
Q&A with Byron
- Mary Thomas asked what is the toughest part of a deputy’s job? Byron said he could not limit his answer to one thing. It includes hostile encounters with suspects having more firepower, searching for missing children, human trafficking, and domestic violence situations.
- Carolyn Rhode asked about the Diversion Program. Byron said it has been a community effort to provide an adequate solution for offenders with mental health issues. He said most deputies have been properly trained in crisis intervention and that our county is viewed as a model of community collaboration. Cliff chimed in that we should proud of the efforts and accomplishments of our community and its various agencies.
- Sam Powell asked if mobile 911 calls give accurate location information to the dispatcher? Byron said that by pinging the call off three towers a location within 400 yards can be established. In those cases when calls are made near a county line, it will depend on which tower picks up the call as to which county gets the 911 call. If it goes to the wrong county, dispatchers have hot buttons with which to immediately transfer the call to the proper county.
- We all enjoyed a good laugh when Charlie Atkins asked if we can find out exactly what Cliff does at the sheriff’s department.
- David Moore wanted to know how to get a Get Out of Jail Free card? We got another laugh when Byron said the Sheriff Johnson would be glad to personally vouch for David and take him to jail himself, in need be.
Conclusion
No card lottery today. Only 48 cards remain. Our odds will be slightly better next week when we once again try to find the Ace of Spades. Mary Thomas led us in a recitation of Rotary’s four-way test before we adjourned. See you next time.