I've been writing this column for the McCook Daily Gazette for eight years now and it occurred to me that many of you don't know anything about me, other than what I write about on this page once a week. So as we begin yet another new year, I thought it would be appropriate to fill in some of the gaps about who I am and what I've done to get to this time in my life.

 

Many of you tell me that you enjoy the columns I write that recall my "growing up" days in Arkansas. I was born into an extended family and lived the first seventeen years of my life with my mom, dad, grandmother, great-grandmother, aunt and uncle. It was a glorious upbringing that I wish everyone could have. My family always served as my port in the storm. No matter what kind of difficulties I faced outside in the real world, I always knew that, once I walked in the door of my home, I would be safe and protected from any kind of force or threat the outside world could muster. That was a gift and a privilege that will always reside in my heart and one that can never be taken away.

 

I've always loved sports and played baseball, basketball, football and ran track in junior high and high school. Not only did it keep me off the streets, it provided me with a sense of self, a sense of purpose, life-long friends, and a burning desire to always be the best I could be. Some of the lessons I learned in athletics could not have been learned anywhere else.

 

I was essentially "born" into the First Baptist Church, affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, because that's where my folks went to church and I hardly ever missed a day until my senior year in high school when I began asking questions that no one seemed to have answers for. I haven't been much of a church-goer since.

 

After graduating from high school, I attended the University of Arkansas for four years, then moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma and joined the police department. I was a police officer for five years until I resigned to go back to college. I received my Associates degree in Criminal Justice from Connors State College in Warner, Oklahoma and was selected to Phi Theta Kappa, a national honor society. I  attended the University of Oklahoma for a year, then transferred and graduated with my B.A. in Political Science and Sociology from Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. During my senior year at Northeastern, I was named to Who's Who, Rho Theta Sigma Honor Society, Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society, and selected as the outstanding student in Political Science. Also during that year I met, fell in love with, and married Linda, who I would be married to for 26 years and who would be the mother of our three boys; Brandon, Michael, and William. Brandon was 18 months old when Linda and I married. Linda had been a cheerleader at Northeastern a few years earlier and was also one of ten co-eds selected as "Campus Beauties" by actor Clu Gullager.

 

Immediately after graduating with my B.A., we moved to Stillwater, Okla., where I entered the Masters program in Political Science with a concentration in Public Administration. While there I was an instructor in Political Science, graduate assistant to the Dean of the Graduate College and President of the Graduate Student Council. I graduated with my M.A. in 1976 and took a job with the North Central Regional Planning Commission in Beloit, Kansas as the Criminal Justice Planning Director. After a brief stint there, I was hired as the Chair of the Criminal Justice Department at St. Mary of the Plains College, a private Catholic college, in Dodge City, Kan.

In addition to my teaching responsibilities, Linda and I were selected as the first married couple to be head residents of the women's dorm at SMPC.  Our son, Michael, was born in Dodge City in December of 1977. After three years, we moved back to Oklahoma where I was named the Executive Director of a social service agency called "On The Bricks" in Tulsa.

It was a post-release program for convicts leaving prison and the objective was to make their transition from being institutionalized to being free once again as seamless as possible. The interesting thing about this job was that some of our clients who were coming out of prison were people I had helped send TO prison several years earlier while I was a police officer. Amazingly, none of them seemed to hold any grudges against me. Our youngest son, William, was born in Tulsa in December of 1978.

 

The desire for more knowledge, however, was a pervasive thought in my mind during the time I was out of higher education and, after much thought and deliberation, I decided to pursue even higher educational goals. I was admitted to the University of Tulsa Law School in the fall of 1978 and attended for a semester. As I was applying to law school, I also applied for a teaching assistantship in the Ph.D. program in Sociology at Oklahoma State University. I was notified in December that I had been accepted into the program for the following fall semester. That led me to quit law school and pursue the Ph.D. because I decided I wanted to be a teacher more than I wanted to be a lawyer.

 

As I worked on my Ph.D., I was also an instructor in the Sociology department and graduate assistant to the Dean of the College of Education. During our stay there, my wife finished her Master's degree in Art Education and I eventually took a full time teaching position as an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Northwestern State University in Alva, Okla.

I taught there for five years before we moved to Arkansas where I became the Educational Coordinator for a regional mental-health facility. After working in that position for four years, I was named Executive Director of a temporary care facility for abused and/or neglected children, administered by the mental health facility I was already employed by.

 

Two years later, I applied for and was hired as an Instructor of Sociology and Criminal Justice at McCook Community College where I have proudly taught for the past 12 years.

 

So now you know most of the important things there are to know about me in terms of my history, my experience and my education. I draw from all these things every time I sit down to write a column. Since this is a New Year's column, I would be remiss if I didn't share with you my two New Year's resolutions. One of the resolutions I've made for as long as I've been teaching, the other one I've made only for the last three years.

 

The first resolution I make every year is to have the wisdom, the patience, and the perseverance to continue to encourage my students to think individually, critically, and analytically instead of just accepting the status quo, which is often wrong. My second resolution is to get the love of my life back.

 

I wish a happy and prosperous New Year to all my loyal readers.