August Newsletter - Week 2
Recap
This week we had our fellow Rotarian speak, Anderson County Sheriff Chief Deputy Mark Lucas. He started his career in law enforcement in 1977 in Knox County. He also worked for the city police as well before returning to Anderson County in 1994 as Chief Deputy. He did a great job of explaining the role of the Sheriff’s Department and what they do for our county. The Sheriff’s Department is a full servicing law enforcement and constitutional office, which references 159 state laws for what the sheriff does. The Sheriff’s biggest duty, responsibility, and expense is running the county jail. Approximately 4,800 people per year are arrested in our county and brought to jail. At any given time, there are between 330-340 people in jail and overcrowding is a serious problem. It’s best described as organized chaos. The jail’s two biggest expenses are food and medical care. They serve 360,000 meals a year at roughly $1 per meal, but must meet minimum nutritional standards and be approved by the health department. Medical care costs $700,000 per year and ranges from treating pre-existing health problems to drug dependent pregnant women.Other responsibilities of the Sheriff’s are protecting the courts and serving civil process. This can only be done by deputies and can consist of as many as 18,000-19,000 papers per year. They must serve state warrants as well, which is typically around 4,600 per year. In addition, they also do Emergency 911 communications for over 100,000 people that reside in this county, including handling167,000 calls per year and dispatching 65,000 instances per year. They also have a crime analyst that maps out and identifies higher crime areas, which helps them work more efficiently. It is also the Sheriff’s responsibility to transport people in need of mental healthcare if they are considered to be a danger to themselves and/or others. Since Lakeshore closed, Moccasin Bend in Chattanooga is the closest mental institution to transport these people to. Depending on age and vacancy, they may have to drive them as far as Nashville or Memphis. Other important roles of the department are providing school resource officers, investigating crimes, state extraditions, community service, and patrolling neighborhoods. He emphasized that drugs are their biggest problem right now. Most crimes now in some way involve drugs. ASAP recently did a study showing that the root cause of about 90% of people in our jail is drug related.
Thank you Kelly for bringing us all our own pair of eclipse glasses! Bear could already see the sun without having to go outside!
MembershipWe had a great crowd again this week. We also had one visitor, David Erb’s wife, Natalie. Thank you for coming Natalie! We were honored to have you back with us again!Also, I have been instructed to issue a correction to the last newsletter. My apologies! Last week, credit was given to Kelly for bringing Larry Gann with her. However, ET would like to officially correct that and make it known that Larry Gann, in fact, was his visitor. The race is still tight with these two ladies and gentlemen. Stay tuned to see which one runs out of new people to invite first! |
AnnouncementsRegina Copeland had a great event last Thursday at the Appalachian Underwriters building. Thank you to all of those that attended.Randy Boyd will be coming to Museum of Appalachia on August 24th for a meet and greet if anyone would like to attend. He is the only East Tennessee representative running for Governor right now. Angie Shumaker spoke to the club about the Express Services Second Chance Program. They will be launching it on August 18th at the Clinton Community Center. They would like to invite businesses, clients, and friends to attend. This will help as many qualified people as possible find good jobs. Our inbound Rotary foreign exchange student arrives this Saturday. He will start school at ACHS this Monday, where he will also be playing basketball. He’s 6’3”, so hopefully he will be an asset for the team! If anyone would like to donate clothing or money to help outfit him then please see Tom. It would be much appreciated! Beth has been very gracious to open her home in Loudon for a possible Rotary meeting on Monday, August 21st to watch the eclipse. Although we did not have enough people able to attend to justify moving our official meeting to that day, you may still talk to Beth about going if you would like. If you decide to go then please let Jerry know and he can mark it as a make-up for the meeting on Tuesday, the 22nd. Thank you, Beth! Our hearts and prayers still go out to past District Governor Fred Heitman’s family over the loss of their 9-year-old granddaughter. We collected donations during the meeting to help with funeral expenses and arrangements. If you would still like to give, please see Bill, Jerry, or Gary. |
Upcoming SpeakersAugust 15Jerry Shattuck - Clinton History August 22Dewey Warren (Swamp Rat) - Former UT Quarterback August 29Carmen Tegano – University of Tennessee Assistant Athletic Director September 5No Meeting in observance of Labor Day |
Rotary Club OfficersBill Gallaher Vickie Violette
Ronnie Fox
Jerry Schlandt
Mike Shrader
Gary Coleman
Tom Connolly
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Clinton Rotary Club
Meeting Address: 101 S. Hicks Street Clinton, Tennessee 37716
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 524 Clinton, Tennessee 37717