Rotarian Feb 15, 2012draft

The United States Secret Service Visits The Rotary Club of Edmond

What do you know about the United States Secret Service? Did you know that the Secret Service was established at the end of the Civil War, for the purpose of suppressing the counterfeiting of U.S. currency? Were you aware that the agency, headquartered in Washington, D.C., has more than 150 offices throughout the United States and abroad?

According to the agency website, “the mission of the United States Secret Service is to safeguard the nation’s financial infrastructure and payment systems to preserve the integrity of the economy, and to protect national leaders, visiting heads of state and government, designated sites and National Special Security Events.” In addition to interdicting counterfeiting, the Secret Service conducts investigates cybercrimes and other financial misconduct. And, of course, the Secret Service also protects the President of the United States.

I’ve had the good fortune to know several Secret Service agents, and they all have at least one thing in common. All are great people, individuals who regularly put Service Above Self (and are trained and called upon to do so under the most extreme of circumstances). I do not know our speaker, but am looking forward to meeting him.

Adrian Andrews has been Special Agent In Charge of the agency’s Oklahoma City field office since April 2008. Before his current assignment, Agent Andrews served as Assistant Special Agent in Charge at the United States Secret Service Training Academy. His other assignments have included service as an investigative agent in the areas of counterfeiting, identity theft, protective intelligence and undercover programs. He has also served as a member of the elite United States Secret Service Counter Assault Team.

Agent Andrews received undergraduate and graduate degrees in Criminal Justice Administration from Central Missouri State University. He was team captain of the “Fighting Mules” football team and was a three-time District Academic All-American.

He was born in Oklahoma City, is married and is the proud father of one.

Please welcome Adrian Andrews to the Rotary Club of Edmond.

Andy

Bob Hammack, a 40-year advertising veteran, has created over 20,000 radio, television and print advertisements, and won all the typical accolades – and, as he says, a few that aren’t so typical. He is a recipient of the American Advertising Federation (AAF) Lifetime Achievement Award, which is the highest honor afforded an individual in advertising. He has also received the Promax Award, the Gabriel Award, the RAMA (Retail Advertising and Marketing Association) Award, and the MAC Award, and been a three-time winner of the National Addy competition.

An adjunct professor of advertising at the University of Central Oklahoma and the University of Oklahoma, Bob has also been a guest lecturer at Oklahoma City University. He has testified as an expert witness on advertising in two federal court cases.

He was Club 29′s 2010 “Rotarian of the Year”, is president of a local nonprofit working with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to improve high school graduation rates, and is an immediate past president of the Oklahoma chapter of the “Alliance for Women in Media.” In 2009, AWM recognized Bob for his service by honoring him as national “Co-member of the Year.” Bob has also been active in the zoological world, serving as Chairman of the Oklahoma City Zoological Trust and President of the Oklahoma Zoological Society. He has served on the boards of the Omniplex Science Museum, the Oklahoma City Chapter of the American Red Cross, the Oklahoma City Arts Commission, and the Oklahoma City Advertising Club.

Hammack graduated from Northwest Classen High School and Oklahoma State University, and was a member of Leadership Oklahoma City Class XX and Leadership Oklahoma Class XIX. He is also a published playwright.

Bob and his wife Lauren have been married for 26 years.

Please welcome Bob Hammack to the Rotary Club of Edmond.

Andy

Merry Christmas!

In celebration of the Christmas season, the Rotary Club of Edmond will not meet again until Wednesday, January 4, 2012. I hope your holiday is a joyous time.

It was not always so in American history. A century and a half ago, our nation was in the throes of a bloody Civil War. On Christmas Day, 1863, it seemed to many that the war might not end at all. Virtually every community, every family felt the direct effects of the war. Thousands upon thousand had already died, sometimes in a single day, and thousands more would follow. Six months earlier, at the Battle of Gettysburg, the two sides suffered casualties reaching up to 50,000.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was despondent. A couple years earlier, he had lost his wife in a tragic fire. And just recently, he had learned that his son, who insisted on joining the Union’s military effort, had been wounded.

Yet, as he heard the church bells of Cambridge, Massachusetts, that day, Longfellow became inspired to write a poem. Later set to music, the poem became known as “Christmas Bells”. I have reproduced it here in its entirety.

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till, ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime,
A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;
“There is no peace on earth,” I said:
“For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead; nor doth he sleep!
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men!”

I hope you have a merry Christmas!

Andy

The Rotary Club Of Edmond Celebrates Christmas!

This week, the Rotary Club of Edmond will celebrate Christmas with its annual Christmas Jam. And don’t forget. The meeting starts early, at 11:30. If you haven’t ever been, you will want to make sure you attend. This is always an enjoyable event.

Believe it or not, the Christmas Jam will be our last meeting of 2011. I hope to see everyone at our regular meeting place at Henderson Hills Baptist Church on Wednesday, December 14, at 11:30.

The Rotary Club Of Edmond Votes On A New Slate Of Officers And Directors.

According to our Constitution and By-Laws, it is time to elect new officers and directors, whose terms will start next July. The election will take place during our meeting on December 14, 2011. The nominating committee is recommending the following slate:

Past president – Mike Roark

President – Jay Smith

President-elect— Dan Chavez

Secretary – Jay Buxton

Treasurer – Rusty Hale

Club Service – Chris Burton

Community Service – Angie Grimmett

Vocational Service – James Kerr

International Service – Hal Stevens

Sergeant-at-Arms – Cris Price

One point of clarification: We are not voting on either the Past President or the President. We elected our current President, Mike Roark, two years ago, and he will automatically become the next Past President (Gail Carr currently holds that office). And we elected our current President-elect, Jay Smith, at this time last year. On July 1, Jay will automatically become our new President.

One other matter: Traditionally, the person we elect as Secretary is our unofficial President-elect-in-waiting. Nothing in our Constitution or By-Laws mandates this. But many of us believe this kind of succession plan has served us well.

The Rotary Club Of Edmond Rings Salvation Army Bells For Nearly $1,000!

The official returns are in! Rotary Club of Edmond bell ringers raised $946.90 for The Salvation Army. Here are the totals, by location:

Wal-Mart Danforth Grocery — $248.82

Wal-Mart Danforth Main — $205.69

Wal-Mart I-35 Service Road Grocery — $213.29

Wal-Mart I-35 Service Road Main — $279.10

I’ve had the privilege of serving on the Advisory Board for the Oklahoma City Command of the Salvation Army, and have seen firsthand that the officers and employees of the Salvation Army do so much for so many. Thank you for your work on this project. And a special thanks to Stan Kelley for organizing it.

Oh, if you missed the opportunity to put your contribution in one of the red kettles, come by the Belle Isle Wal-Mart main entrance this Friday, from 10:00 to noon. Next to a red kettle, you will see a familiar smile and hear the ringing of a Salvation Army bell!

Andy