The Law Officer of the Year and Citizen of the Year Awards were presented last Friday. The law officer award was presented to Chief Deputy Rob Power of the Lewis County Sheriff's Department. The Citizen of the Year Award was presented to Jenny Hayden of Quincy.

Power joined the Quincy Police Department in 1989 after serving in the US Marine Corps. He served in Quincy for 12 years and was a huge part of the Federal drug Task Force in the 1990's. Chief Deputy Powers has been the main conduit of communications between drug forces in Northeast Missouri and West-Central Illinois for years. He was behind a huge drug conspiracy case that led to the arrest of 11 people recently and has directly been involved in putting a huge dent in drug trading in this area.

Meanwhile, Hayden, the Quincy City Clerk, has been involved in many organizations assisting law enforcement including being a member of the Quincy Regional Crime Stoppers, a graduate of the Quincy Police Department's Citizen's Police Academy and now serves as a member of the Academy's Alumni organization.

Special thanks to QPD Chief Rob Copley for his introduction of Chief Deputy Power and to Quincy Mayor Kyle Moore for his interrupted introduction of Ms. Hayden. In the midst of his introduction the hotel's fire alarm sounded prompting the entire room to be evacuated for a short time period. (small trash fire outside the building).

Our main speaker was Secret Service Agent Bill Shink of the Springfield, Illinois office. Mr. Shink, a graduate of Michigan State University, is a veteran of the United States Air Force and began his law enforcement career in 1996 and has been a Secret Service agent for the last 15 years. He moved to the Springfield office in 2013. The topic of his address was the two kinds of people there are today. Those who elected to serve, and those who don't. He used an example of how each one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence basically "signed their own death warrant" when they signed that document. They elected to serve, where others wouldn't have done so.

Special thanks to Adams County Sheriff Brent Fischer for handling the introduction and for co-chairing along with Chief Copley the Exchange Club's 49th edition of the Law officer of the Year Awards program.

Father Ed Arambasich presented the invocation and benediction for the event.

President Curt Moore began the Pledge of Allegiance with a robust "I" followed by a dramatic pause before others joined in.

With the cops there, we did not hold the card draw so the pot remains at $882 for the winner. With the pot where it is you might need a cop for security to get to your car if you win it Friday.

President Curt attempted to read a couple of birthdays and managed to juxtapose two names and gave a club member another first name. (witness protection name?)

The Exchange Club March Madness Stag will be held on Wednesday, March 18th. The event will be at the Quincy Boat Club at 6:30 at a cost of $20 per person. There will be food, drinks, fun and a chance to fill out your NCAA bracket. This is a great opportunity to invite a guest or potential member. You need to sign up by contacting Jared Haugh at www.bethjared@comcast.net.

Good luck to Gary Farha who announced on Saturday that he is running for the position of Adams County States Attorney. He made the announcement Saturday at "The Tower" Conference Room.