6-6-2013 meeting of the Rotary Club of Chickasha
Guest speaker at the 6-6-2013 meeting was District Attorney Jason Hicks.
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The June 6, 2013 meeting of the Rotary Club of Chickasha opened with a prayer, pledge and a rousing rendition of the John Denver Classic, "Take Me Home Country Club," featuring Mitch Williams on the gee-tar.
The club received a thank you note from Madelyn Noland who was a recipient of the Dan Proctor Scholarship and a hominee for Ryla.
Let Ann Manchester if you and/or guests will be attending the June 27 installation luncheon at USAO.
Rotarian of the Day was Ron Sanders who introduced District Attorney Jason Hicks as our guest speaker.
DA Hicks first announced that Leah Edwards was promoted to First Assistant District Attorney earlier this spring.
He said his office and law enforcment recently made some arrests connected to a human trafficking ring operating under the guise of college students selling magazine subscriptions.
They recruit vulnerable teens and young adults looking for a way out of a bad family situation. They often are forced through coercion and/or abuse into prostitution, pornography or debt bandage.
Oklahoma among four states with a bad human trafficking problem, which is second only to drug trafficking. Oklahoma is prime country for both crimes because of major interstates than run in both directions through the state.
Hicks said the U.S. 81 has become a favorite route of the drug dealers. He said a growing concern is the potency of marijuana coming into the area. He said he was not the "pot" the hippies smoked in the 1960s.
He said 3 major Mexican cartels are shipping drugs to the U.S. An interdiction unit of lawmen are patrolling he highways for large quantities of cash and drugs. Hicks said they recently have intercepted 300 pounds of drugs and about $1.2 million in cash.
Meth production, because of the tougher restrictions on the drug sudephedrine, is down. He said a much bigger problem is addiction to prescription drugs like Loritab, which is a much harder addiction to shake than meth. He said synthetic drugs continue to be a problem because there is no known test to see if someone is under the influence, which puts law enforcement in peril.
The meeting adjourned after recitation of the Rotary 4-Way Test.