Republican Club of Okaloosa County, Inc.
28 March 2013 General Meeting, American Legion Building
Ft. Walton Beach, Florida

Call to order; Melissa Windes sounded the chimes and President Marvin Brigman called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm. Marvin Brigman gave the invocation and led the membership in the Pledge of Allegiance. Meal choices were a pork chop dinner or a chicken salad plate.
Board Members present; First Vice President Don Adams, Second Vice President Corey Aittama, Treasurer Ron Webb, Corresponding Secretary Carol Koch and Recording Secretary Melissa Windes.
Elected Officials present and recognized; President Marvin Brigman recognized the elected officials in attendance and welcomed two new members to the club. Mr. Brigman asked Mr. Webb for the Treasurer's report, to which Mr. Webb reported a balance of $6,920.79.
Marvin Brigman introduced the 2013 Board members:
1st Vice President: Don Adams
2nd Vice President: Corey Aittama
Treasurer: Ron Webb
Corresponding Secretary: Carol Koch
Recording Secretary: Melissa Windes
Open Mike; Steve Menchel, on behalf of OCREC, reminded members of the upcoming Lincoln-Reagan Day Dinner and urged members to attend. Kelly Windes announced that there are six new committee members for the TDC and discussed the "meet and greet" for the County Administrator hopefuls. The determining vote will be on April 2. Jerry Turner, Precinct 20 committee member, discussed the special referendum for the Destin Fire Control District regarding the establishment of a new millage cap, 3.75 mills from 1.0 mills. The election will be held on Tuesday, May 14, 2013.

Program; Marvin Brigman introduced Vice President Don Adams. Mr. Adams displayed the club's new Facebook page and discussed the club's interest in forming a website. Mr. Adams introduced the evening's speakers as Sheriff Larry Ashley and Superintendent of Schools Mary Beth Jackson, with school security being the evening's topic of discussion. Mrs. Jackson was the first speaker.
Mrs. Jackson began by thanking the club for always making her feel welcome, for praying and for pledging allegiance. She discussed her concerns for the safety of the children in our schools, not only in the form of shootings, but in children being taken by someone other than their rightful guardians as a result of custody issues. She went on to explain the tremendous growth taking place in the North end of our county. We have 957 children in a local Elementary School and have a new school in Crestview that already has four portables and no more room for new children. Mrs. Jackson stressed our need for legislatures in Tallahassee to allow us local control. We are the best school district in Florida, students AND teachers, and local control would give us the chance to more effectively demonstrate this. Mrs. Jackson answered several questions pertaining to teachers being armed, the number of School Resource Officers currently being used, and suggestions on how to solve the issue of protecting our children. Mrs. Jackson explained her hesitance to arm teachers with weapons due to their lack of training, and explained that there is currently one officer, in uniform, in every school including the Ballet Academy and STEM Academy. Before January, there were only officers in Middle and High Schools. She closed by stating that the sheriff has made a commitment to our children's safety and introduced Sheriff Larry Ashley to continue on this subject.
Sheriff Ashley informed the members that there have been nine Baker Acts between the ages of 9-16 take place between January-March. Baker Acts, suicides and drugs are prevalent in our country due in part to prescription drugs and self medication. After the Connecticut incident, 26 additional School Resource Officers have been placed in our schools. Sheriff Ashley stressed that if this means having fewer officers on the streets, that is what will happen. In 2013-2014, 40 School Resource Officers are anticipated, costing $3.4 million. Mr. Ashley discussed creating second entries for students to use as an exit during mayhem and addressed the subject of the armed teachers proposal, stating that it does no good to be armed if you are not properly trained and willing to take a life. A video of the Bay County School Board Shooting was showed to demonstrate the importance of an officer's presence. The officer was the only shooter to hit his target. Sheriff Ashley answered several questions pertaining to ways to go about ensuring our children's safety in schools, such as video monitoring, secondary entries and doors a shooter could not shoot through.
Adjournment; Marvin Brigman thanked the speakers for attending and reminded the club of next week's meeting where Representative Matt Gaetz and County Commissioner Nathan Boyles will be the evening's speakers. Mr. Brigman adjourned the meeting at 8:38 pm. The drawing winners were Bill Byerley and Marge Webb. Carol Koch sold the raffle tickets.
Following the meeting, President Marvin Brigman took excess meals to the Waterfront Mission where they were appreciatively received by residents of the Mission.

Melissa Windes, Recording Secretary