DOWN EAST SENIORS CLUB

The Down East Seniors Club held its Dec. 13 meeting at the Blind Center of North Carolina in Washington. President Stewart Rumley led the meeting. Jim Hackney played for the singing of “God Bless America,” and Charles Smith gave the invocation. Ed Hamrick read factoids for the date in history, and Dick Paul provided humor.

Chip Ide reminded the members of the Dec. 20 Christmas party at 6 p.m. at the Washington Yacht & Country Club.

There was one guest present.

Frank Stallings introduced Wayland Sermons Jr., Superior Court Judge, as the speaker. Sermons has served in this position since his appointment by the governor in 2009. He stated that the court system, as well as law enforcement, now spends 75-80 percent of their time on cases resulting from the overuse of opioid medications. Some cases involve overuse of the drugs directly and others are for property crimes to obtain funds to buy the drugs. Currently, judges are elected by the voters; appointments are made only to fill vacancies before a term is completed. The legislature is discussing changing selection of judges to appointment only. This would require an amendment to the state constitution.

Bill Cates won the 50/50 drawing.

The next regular meeting will be Jan. 3, 2018.