Gallia Canine Officer ‘Jeck’ Visits Rotary
VP Bonnie McFarland presided over the meeting for our President who was
called out of town on business. Kurt Dailey gave the invocation. Our guests today included Gallia County Sheriff Joe Browning, Sgt. Rick Harrison, and Canine Officer, Jeck. We had a good attendance today!
Rotary Relays–Jeff Lanham announced that our Rotary Relays will be held this spring on Saturday, April 25th, at the University of Rio Grande track facility. Jeff and David Wiseman are looking to build track interest with these Relays for junior high school students and their families. This event could become a very important annual event for the schools in the future. Let’s all pull together so Rotary can lead the way with youth with projects like this in our area! Jeff says our greatest need is for someone to step forward and chair our concessions for the Relays. Volunteers?
Valentine’s Dinner–Next week’s meeting will be a 6:30 pm evening meeting at the First Church of God located at 1723 S.R. 141, just opposite Debbie Drive and before LeGrande Blvd. The event will be catered by Black Tie & Barbeque (Tammi’s daughter) and is going to be a great evening. Our evening meetings are always special so remember to bring your spouse or guest.
Rotary Reading–Emily Dailey reminded Rotarians this week and specifically TOMORROW, is our regular reading day for the county elementary schools. Those who have signed up, need to have your books ready, and report to the school you signed for. Emily also reminded everyone that we need volunteers to sign up for March and April reading. This is really a fun project and if you haven’t had the experience yet, you should sign up and read. The kids really enjoy having Rotarians in the school to read to them!
Club Board Meeting–Our regular monthly board meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, February 4th, at 1:00 pm at the OVB Main Office down in the board room. Red Badge holders need to attend at least one board meeting to qualify for a Blue Badge and members know this is an excellent way to make up a missed club meeting!
Rotary Coin Box–Bonnie held up a heavy Rotary coin box that was turned in by 
Chuck Clark. Margaret Evans also turned in a full box as well! Remember, this makes giving to the Rotary Foundation very painless and is a great way to make the $100 ‘Every Rotarian, Every Year’ goal. All you have to do is unload your coins nightly into the box from your pockets or purse and the box will fill up in short order! It is easy to fill three of these boxes during the year and with an average of $35 per box, you make the year’s goal. You didn’t even have to write a check and the club will send you a tax statement for your donation to the Foundation!
Fellowship–Lou Ellen Werry ran Fellowship for the meeting and announced that we somehow missed Emily Daily’s birthday back in December. For a small donation the entire club sang Happy Birthday to Emily. It seems we also missed Margaret Evans as well, so we serenaded Margaret with Happy Birthday! Lou Ellen fined a couple of Rotarians that were late this morning and entertained the club with some interesting facts about Ground Hog Day.
Split-The-Pot–Lou Ellen performed double-duty today and also ran STP for our meeting. The lucky ticket holder for the $8 small pot was Birthday-girl, Emily Dailey. Emily drew carefully for the $206 large pot, but missed it by drawing the Ace of Clubs. Oh, so close! The Foundation Fine was assessed against anyone who did NOT make the meeting last week.
Program–Lou Ellen Werry introduced Sheriff Joe Browning and Sgt. Richard Harrison who, in turn introduced Canine Officer ‘Jeck’ to the club. Jeck is a 4 year old Czechoslovakian German Shepherd from Holland who receives his commands in Dutch. He is a dual purpose service dog that is able to handle searches and pursuits as well as sniffing out drugs and money. He paid for himself in the first few months on duty by locating a cache of drugs and $28,000 in cash that was forfeited to the department. He has assisted in the apprehension of an armed robbery suspect last year. As Sgt Harrison remarked, “He can be man’s best friend or a criminal’s worst nightmare!”
Rotarians learned the training for dog and handler never stops and the department must conduct 16 hours of specific training each month to comply with law enforcement guidelines. Sgt. Harrison and Jeck work with other canine units in Gallia, Athens, Washington, Wood, and Jackson counties. During the Q & A time, members learned that Jeck sometimes wears a Kevlar vest for protection. Training for duty as a canine officer requires the dog to pass 20 different tests or drives to qualify.
Thank you Lou Ellen, Joe, and Richard for the great program!