District Governor International President
Jim Springer Ray Klinginsmith
Columbia, Tennessee Kirksville, Missouri
Rotary 2010-11
Building Communities - Bridging Continents
October 22, 2010
Today, it’s Obion County Mayor Benny McGuire, "the cotton pickinest cotton picker you will ever see pick cotton". By golly he even cotton picked himself into being the 1965 National Champion of Cotton Pickers. Let’s give him a warm Union City Rotary Welcome.
Benny has been our County Mayor since 2006, he has served on several commissions and committees in Obion County during and before that date, including Highway Commission for 18 years, County Reapportionment Committee, 2 terms, County Nursing Home Board, 6 years, involved in both County Little League and Softball League, Chairman, Northwest TN Development District, and Vice Chairman of the Association of County Mayors for the State of TN. He also boasts of performing somewhere between 2 & 3 hundred marriages since taking office in 2006.
He is a lifelong resident of Obion County, growing up in the Cloverdale/Hornbeak area, graduating from OCCHS. He attended UTM for 1 year then received an Associate Degree in Electronic Technology at Newbern Technology School, applying that degree for 36½ years at U.C. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. in maintenance management.
He is here today to discuss the State of Obion County, with an emphasis on transportation and roadways.
Benny has been married to his wife Carol Ann since 1967, they have 3 children, Shanna, Jolinda and Grant, and 8 grandchildren, who all make Obion County their home.
Next Week,
Monica Shumake will be our guest speaker. Monica is the General Manager and CEO of WLJT TV, the public educational station broadcasting from the campus of UT Martin.
After receiving a BS degree from UT Martin, Moncia began her working career for her dad, Jack Reese in his accounting office in Martin, she then moved to Paris where she worked for Henry County Farm Bureau as a customer service representative and assistant to the agency manager. She also spent some time with MetLife as an agent for American Corp Services.
She began her career with WLJT in 1999 as the Business Manager, she was then promoted to Director of Finance and Administration and in 2009 was appointed to the position she now holds.
She is involved in the Martin Business Association, the Public Broadcasting Management Association, and the National Educational Telecommunications Association.
Monica will bring a power point presentation outlining her topics, which will cover the history of the station, their programs and their education and outreach activities.
Last Week, UTM’s National Collegiate Agriculture Ambassador, Jeremy Fair was on hand with statistics and other information concerning this areas, and also the entire nations most notable industry, Agriculture.
Jeremy had with him a power point illustration which gave a basic overview of the issues we now face in the agriculture industry, specifically water consumption, not only in agriculture, but in other sectors, bioengineering, as it effects genetic modifications of feeds and livestock, renewable fuels, and challenges facing the agriculture animal sector.
He categorized water into four groups, domestic, which included residential, commercial use, this group uses something like 43 billion gallons of water per day in our division. power plants using water to cool power production facilities, 135 billion gallons per day, Agriculture uses approximately 142 billion gallons per day, and industry and mining about 20 billion gallons per day.
He spoke of the improvements going on now to improve the efficiency of agriculture, most importantly in water consumption.
Bio Technology was his next topic, he explained the transfer of DNA being used in agriculture, medicine, and other industries. He said "there is a misconception going on in the DNA field, it is not a new idea, it has been going on for over 150 years, crossbreeding plants for instance". This is being used in agriculture to increase crop yield, produce insect and weed resistant plants, produce food with more vitamins and minerals, and increase the production of milk and cheese to feed the ever growing population, saying you can take a stock seed, much like a stock automobile, keep altering it, adding different components, make it more valuable, make it more desirable, just as you do a vehicle.
Coming Attractions
Oct. 22 - Wallace Ward
Oct. 26 - Jerry Bailey
Oct. 28 - Roger Williams
Oct. 26 - Eddie and Rosemarie Hill
