1-5-2012 meeting of the Rotary Club of Chickasha

The Jan. 5, 2012 meeting of the Rotary Club of Chickasha opened with a prayer, pledge and a couple of songs.

Guests included James Walters and Karen Brady.

Prayer concerns included Bill and Janice McVey.

Announcements from President Michael Oberlender included:

• Acknowledgement of a thank you note from the Harrison family

• A reminder that Rotarians are need each Friday morning of the school year at 7:30 a.m to greet freshmen arriving at Chickasha High School. Contact Bill McVey to volunteer.

• Board meeting is schedule for Wednesday, Jan. 10 at noon in the board room of First National Bank.

• $4,700 was donated to the DHS for the foster kids program from the proceeds of the Christmas Party and silent auction.

Two new members were inducted into the club. Mark Millsap, a native Oklahoman, is publisher of the Express-Star and comes to Chickasha from Shreveport, La. where he was ad director for the Gannett newspaper. Crystie Shebester is owner of Taylor-Shebester Insurance Agency and formerly worked in banking. Mark was sponsored by Cody White and Crystie was sponsored by Richard Van Dyck.

Rotarian of the Day was Leah Edwards, who was absent but arranged for President Michael to introduce District Attorney Jason Hicks and DA investigator and drug task force head Justin Scott as our guest speakers.

Hicks and Scott said the task force is target the manufacturing  of methamphetamine in Grady, Stephens, Caddo and Jefferson counties.

Hicks said in the last year, his office has handled between 150 and 200 drug distribution cases, most involving methamphetamine.

“That’s the drug we’re having the most problems with,” he said.

Although there is more than one way to “cook” meth, the “one pot” or “Nazi” method is becoming more and more popular.

“It’s very simple to manufacture meth with the one pot method,” Scott said, giving a  a step-by-step presentation of the process.

“Not many people cook to sell,” he said. “They manufacture it to feed an addiction...that they have.”

When asked how the average person knows how to follow the complicated process of cooking methamphetamine, Scott said many learn the recipe in prison.

“When one meth cook goes to prison, he’ll teach 100,” Scott said.

A serious problem with the one pot cooking method is that the process is dangerous and sometimes results in an explosion. In fact, Hicks said there was an enormous amount of property damage from one pot meth lab explosions in the Tulsa area.

“It’s not just a little dangerous, it’s extremely dangerous,” Hicks said.

In addition, because of the ingredients used and the chemical reactions caused during the process, meth labs also pose environmental hazards to the community.

“When the ingredients are mixed, it creates a very contaminating environment,” Scott said.

Scott also said, in 2011 in the Tulsa area alone, the cost of cleaning up meth labs exceeded $8.4 million.

The meeting adjourned after recitation of the Rotary 4-Way test.