Crenshaw hosts ‘Fireside Chat’ at Woodlands Rotary Club

THE WOODLANDS, TX – Rotary Club of The Woodlands, the local chapter of Rotary International, a global service organization with approximately 1.15 million members in 36,860 clubs worldwide, recently hosted Congressman Dan Crenshaw for a lunch meeting that included an intimate ‘fireside chat.’ This session was a sit-down session of Crenshaw and Woodlands area icon Bruce Tough in a question-and-answer session.

The concept of the fireside chat originated with President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who delivered a discussion on the Emergency Banking Act eight days after taking office in March of 1933. While FDR’s inaugural chat reached a radio audience of 60 million listeners, Crenshaw captivated the attention of about 100 Rotarians and their guests.

Tough covered several topics in his questions to Crenshaw. Out of the gate, he asked the congressman, “What is your favorite part about The Woodlands?”

“My most recent favorite memory was walking in the July 4th parade; I’d given water guns to the kids and gave them permission to shoot me and cool me off in the hot weather,” replied Crenshaw.

Tough immediately continued with more pointed questions. When asked about what happened with CenterPoint Energy’s apparent difficulties in the recent – and ongoing – aftermath of Hurricane Beryl, Crenshaw replied, “This is definitely a local and state issue and they should be investigating soon. It needs to be known why they weren’t better prepared by bringing in out-of-state linemen before the storm hit, like Entergy did. Communication could have been a lot better. Branches should have been cleared from power lines way in advance; we can’t act like this is a new thing for this area to be in a hurricane’s path.”

Crenshaw pointed out that, unlike previous storms, the majority of the area did not flood, in large part due to upgrades to infrastructure and mitigation with earmarked funds. Earmarks for this district are only used for infrastructure for flooding issues, he asserted.

Next, Tough pushed Crenshaw on the issues of illegal administration and what changes might come should the administration change after the upcoming election. Crenshaw praised several agencies for their hard work, but maintained that the roadblocks to stemming the influx come from the Mexican government, and he hoped dialogue would change with the regime.

When the session opened up to the audience to ask a question, the topic was the recent assassination attempt of former President Trump. Crenshaw spent several minutes outlining some points that the media had gotten wrong or right, summarizing that – while the impending and necessary investigations into all involved in the event were paramount in importance – it seemed to him that an early reason was a breakdown in communication between the Secret Service and local law enforcement.

During the luncheon, Dr. Ann Snyder, chairman of The Woodlands Township Board of Directors, also read and presented a proclamation that had been passed by the Township, naming July 18 ‘The Rotary Club of The Woodlands 50th Anniversary Day.’

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