Presiding president Marcus Wood opened the January 16th Rotary Club meeting. He introduced our guests: Division Area Governor Mr. Dick Bagget, Rotary Student of the Month Haley Price, and Police Chief Steve Newkirk.
New Business:
Marcus reminded the membership that Rotary International is expanding our membership models to include a new auxiliary membership that is dedicated to just volunteerism. San Saba Rotary is actively looking for individuals whose lives are too busy to attend meetings but are interested in our philanthropic efforts and wish to serve. Please contact a member of Rotary if you are interested.
Old Business:
Jerry Blankenship advised the Club that we are sending five area students to the Rotary Youth Leadership Conference over the Martin Luther King Weekend at the John Newcombe Tennis Ranch in New Braunfels.
Attending are: Jefferson Stencil (San Saba), Libby Mayes (San Saba), Piper Mayer (Cherokee).
Additional students sent as Team Leaders are: Joel Valdez (Cherokee) and Winton Lackey (San Saba).
Guest Speaker – Chief Steve Newkirk
Steve Newkirk grew up in West Texas. He began his career in 1993 with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in Huntsville, Texas. In 1995, he joined the Lewisville Police Department in Drug Enforcement until he retired in 2016. In November of 2021, he joined the San Saba Police Department as an Investigative Officer before transitioning to Police Chief with the departure of Chief John Bauer. Steve has 23 years in law enforcement.
Steve presented the challenges of leading a small police presence in a relatively small community. One of his greatest challenges is the lack of mental health and/or drug treatment facilities available to the City. He cited Meth as a concern and emphasized that a heavy user of Meth has a habit that costs that person $100 a day. Steve emphasized that drug addition reaches into all segments of society regardless of ethnicity or income. State supported treatment centers are in Brownwood and/or Killeen. Our County Courts work with law enforcement to encourage those convicted of abusing drugs to volunteer for treatment.
Marcus thanked Steve for his service and offered Rotary as a resource for community service needs.
San Saba Rotary meets at noon every Thursday at Pepperbelly's. All interested guests are welcome.