End Of Watch: Police Officer Kenneth Copeland, San Marcos PD, December 4, 2017

Officer Kenneth Copeland, San Marcos Police Department, San Marcos, TX was murdered on the afternoon of December 4th as he and three fellow officers attempted to serve an arrest warrant.  The subject named in the warrant opened the door after Officer Copeland knocked, and immediately opened fire on the officers.  Officer Copeland was hit twice in the chest.  Officers returned fire and removed Officer Copeland from the danger zone.  The subject was struck by officers' bullets but survived and will be arrested as soon as he is released from the hospital.

Officer Copeland left behind his wife and four children, as well as his many friends in his community and colleagues on the police force.  He is said to be the first San Marcos police officer killed in the line of duty.  I am saddened to hear of his death at the hands of a wanted felon, but honored to mention him in my blog.  Officer Copeland is now in that Thin Blue Line in heaven, but his family and friends are left behind to mourn his loss and to carry on without him in their lives.  May the Good Shepherd, who has comforted them, continue to do so as the days pass by.

I purposely did not write this memorial to Officer Copeland in the hours after his death because I wanted to collect my thoughts and not write things I did not really mean or that would not have been appropriate at that time.  And I wanted to learn a little more about the circumstances surrounding his death, about the methods and measures employed by officers as they planned and executed the arrest warrant for this dangerous person.  Unfortunately very little information of that nature has been made available to those outside of law enforcement, so I am not much better informed now than on that terrible day.

I do not know what kind of planning went into the execution of the arrest warrant that day so I will not attempt to second-guess what was done in the moments before Officer Copeland was shot. Instead I will just discuss a few things that could make service of such warrants somewhat safer in the future, although, as one outside officer observed, sometimes even the best plans are thwarted in some way.  Perhaps weather plays a role, perhaps limited intelligence comes into play, or perhaps some random quirk of fate throws a wrench into the plan.  Nonetheless, there are things that can be done to hedge the odds in favor of police officers in these situations.

The one most important factor, the timing of the warrant service, is totally in the hands of the law enforcement agency, and is most often the most ignored factor.  What I mean is that just because a police officer secures a warrant does not mean that it must be served immediately!  Time is actually on the side of police officers.  Time is a precious commodity, but it can be used to one's advantage.  For instance, police officers should take the time to know the person they are about to arrest, to learn about his home, his mental condition, his access to known weapons, his daily routine, and so on.  Officers need to realize that they can, and SHOULD, take the hours or even days they need to acquire such information.  There is rarely the need to rush off and blindly execute a warrant, especially when officers already believe the person in question to be armed and dangerous.

Related to timing, in a way, is the setting of the arrest.  For instance, must the arrest take place at the person's home?  Is there a safer location to effect the arrest?  If officers take the time to surveill the subject of the arrest warrant, especially one known to have weapons in his home and have the willingness to use those weapons, this person's routine may allow for his arrest away from his home, his "base of operations."  Does he jog daily?  Does he go to a particular store or place of business regularly?  Does he drive to the mailbox at the same time everyday?  If a suspect's routine has been properly analyzed, it is very likely that police can set up an arrest based on this routine and arrest the person outside his home.  A search warrant, if needed, could then be executed on the home in relative safety.

A third consideration is the proper show of force.  Is the warrant for a felony?  That would call for more planning and a more significant show of force, than say, an arrest for outstanding traffic tickets.  This area of planning also calls for the involved officers to quash the "John Wayne Syndrome."  Officers may be tempted to make a "soft" approach to arrest the suspect when, in fact, a more appropriate thing might be to have the "SWAT" team make the arrest.  But pride and bravado sometimes cause officers to take action with less force than is really appropriate.  Officers may opt to knock on the door when the circumstances indicate that the person inside will probably resist the attempted entry or arrest, and that entry should be made with some type of overwhelming force right from the start.

A final precious commodity, but one which the police have time to gather, is information.  When a person has three felony warrants pending, it is very likely that there are two or three people, the suspect's victims, who will probably willingly share this information with the police.  Victims of family violence obviously know the person who victimized them, and know things that would be helpful to the police.  These persons know the suspect's mental state, his habits, his access to weapons, and his personal routine.  And many times they want to cooperate with the police not only so that the offender can be arrested, but that he can be apprehended without coming to physical harm or hurting the arresting officers.

So I am not writing this post to criticize anything that the San Marcos officers did that day, but to encourage police officers to always do the work needed to prepare for serving warrants on dangerous persons.  Granted, almost any person could BECOME dangerous when facing the prospect of arrest for a felony offense, but there are many things the police can do to minimize the dangers associated with attempting to arrest a wanted felon.  Even the best plans can go wrong, even a bullet-resistant vest can fail after sustaining multiple hits.  But the police must always carefully plan their operations and above all, take time to get to know the suspect, especially if the arrest attempt will be made on the suspect's home ground.  He has the "home team advantage."  But with proper timing, choosing the setting to the extent possible, fielding the appropriate task force, and garnering as much intelligence as possible, the police can put every advantage on their side, and possibly prevent officers from dying in situations in which the officers know the criminal has the motive and the means to use deadly force to resist his arrest.

May the Good Shepherd be with all police officers tonight...

And may God Bless America

Winter In Midland - or - I Would Rather Be In Portugal

As I face the reality of winter setting in for the...er...winter...I sometimes start thinking of far off climes that I might like to tour during these cold times in West Texas.  It is not cold at the moment, but the first real winter storm of the season is only days away!  When the cold gets here I think I would rather be somewhere warm.  Maybe Portugal.

Portugal, once a powerful empire-builder, is now a popular tourist destination, a place "right out of history."  Portugal is about average in size as far as European nations go, but small compared to other places - Texas, for instance.  The little nation is roughly only about one-ninth the size of Texas.  Stated another way, a road trip across the entire length of Portugal would take about as long as it would take me to drive from Midland to Houston.  A little more scientifically, the entire nation of Portugal encompasses just under 36,000 square miles, while the state of Texas boasts over 265,000.  But enough Texas braggin'!

I think my first stop would be the city of Lisbon.  Specifically I would like to spend a few hours riding the famous Tram 28 through the various historic districts of Lisbon.  I would love to see St. George's Castle, stroll through the streets of Alfama.  These streets are still paved with cobblestones and lined with small shops and eateries.  They say the trams are not air conditioned, so I hope people - natives and tourists alike - shower before getting on board!

After a day in Lisbon touring the antiquities, I would then make a dash to one of the nearby beaches.  I understand that the beaches closest to Lisbon are beautiful, but the water is somewhat cool.  The Mediterranean waters are warmer than those of the Atlantic.  I suppose the waters of the Gulf of Mexico might have spoiled me to expect warm water wading, but apparently that is not the case in Lisbon.  Nonetheless, strolls along the beach would be just what the doctor ordered.  The first night in Lisbon would definitely be spent in tipping a few Margaritas, or maybe some local favorite.

I suppose the real attraction that Portugal holds for me is that this little nation is chock full of history.  The old buildings, the castles, the convents and monasteries, and even the ancient cemeteries would hold my attention the second day.  Perhaps I would accidentally step where Columbus trod over five hundred years ago.  Would Portugal would have enjoyed another two or three centuries as a world power had the King financed Columbus instead of sending him packing? I guess we will never know.

Now, these five centuries later, Portugal has long divested itself of its colonial interests, the last being the richest colony, Brazil, which was granted independence in 1825.  Since then, Portugal has declined as a world player, but was a founding member of NATO in 1949.  But for some reason, Portugal has called me, gaining a spot on my "bucket list" along with a trip to the "Mull of Kintyre" and a visit to Campbeltown, in Scotland, to see if maybe I have some relatives living there.  Rats, I don't even have a passport!

Hopefully I will get that passport soon and beat the snow to Portugal!     

Sometimes It Is The Little Things

Today during an episode of "Daniel Boone" (yes, the OLD show starring Fess Parker - the man who showed us all -kids of the 60's - what Daniel Boone was REALLY like!), Daniel Boone and his faithful partner Mingo, a Harvard-educated Native American (actually quite an unlikely sidekick, in fact one the REAL Daniel Boone never had), were out in the woods hunting food when Mingo observed that there were no animals, not even a sign of any animal.  He said they might as well go home since they had been on the hunt all afternoon, with no success.  Daniel looked at the clouds and commented that he and Mingo should hurry to the local fort because a blizzard was on the way.  By the time the pair reached the fort, heavy snow was falling.

Prior to the Daniel Boone show, my wife had been conversing with her doctorate-bound "cohort" and one of the topics of discussion was how thankful they were for the "little things in life."  A member of the cohort is facing the daunting challenge of caring for an adult daughter who had a life-changing medical event and is now facing a long, torturous road to what may be only a partial recovery.  The daughter may never fully recover, indeed may never be able to live again as an independent adult.

How could an old episode of Daniel Boone possibly relate to the current medical problems of the lady I mentioned?  Both of these situations hark back to an oft-used, but little-appreciated, phrase: "it's the little things in life."  For instance, how often do you and I all but refuse to leave the house without first "checking the weather."  Many of us do not go to bed at not without watching the weather forecast on our local news show.  Heck, some of us even watch the "Weather Channel" or its cable-vision equivalent.  But really, have you ever thought about what it would be like not to be able to turn on the radio, the television, the computer, or even the cell phone (which of, course most of us never turn off) so that we "know" what the weather will be like.  Most of us do not walk out the door in the morning, especially during any non-Summer season.  Can you imagine what life would be like if we were not able to "predict" a coming blizzard.  Or in West Texas, where I live, we want to know when a "Norther" is coming.  A Norther can drop temperatures from the 70's or 80's down to 30 or 40 degrees in a matter of minutes!  Our forebears actually faced perilous times when they were suddenly caught in a sudden Norther or a severe blizzard.

It is such a little thing to be able to be able to "turn on the weather" and it is easy to take that luxury for granted.  Other things that are easily taken for granted, but which are actually very important, are things such as simply being able to say, "I love you," or "I would like a drink of water."  The woman I mentioned earlier recently lost all her ability to communicate or to care for herself.  Lately she has regained some cognitive abilities, including limited communication with her mother.  I can't imagine not being able to say even simple sentences.  This young woman is now able to point to pre-written words or phrases to communicate.  The positive side of this limited communication is that she is able to recognize the meanings of words and phrases, something that she had lost the ability to do at the onset of her medical episode.

Something that I find myself doing with alarming frequency is believing (that is, taken for granted) that other people are not having as much trouble as I am having.  For instance, the other day on the way to work a car ran a stop sign on a major highway. I was travelling at over 70 miles per hour and had to both brake and swerve.  Just minutes later, on the same road, but within city limits, a car ran a red light, and would have "T-boned" my vehicle but I had seen the car failing to slow and had already begun braking. By the time I got to work I was, of course, in a grouchy mood.

Flash forward eight hours...

By 2 PM many people in the Midland area had experienced worse days than had I.  For instance, police and EMS responded to a traffic accident with injuries at around 8 AM.  Four people came to the hospital via ambulance.  Within an hour one of those four was on the way to a Level 1 trauma center via helicopter.  A few minutes later a possible stroke victim arrived.  Just before noon I spoke with a lady who was checking on a patient's property.  The patient could not collect the property himself because he had died the day before.  Just before 2 PM, another multiple-injury traffic accident.  My shift was only a little more than half over, at this point, and I knew that I was not having a bad day at all.  What I had done was take for granted all the good things that happened to me through the day.  Nothing I had experienced even came close to what all these people had gone through before 2 PM.

So I am trying to make it a habit to actually notice the little things, be thankful for the small things, and enjoy the simple things in life.  As we know, and as we see over and over again, people's lives are changed at the drop of a dime, and fate is waiting at the turn of a corner or the running of a stop sign.  Other changes, while they may not occur instantly, are more profound, and can rob us of our ability to enjoy the little things in life.  Currently I am not up to par due to a sudden illness, but having the granddaughter over today was not the chore it could have been.  And enjoying the company of my loved ones, even through veils of occasional pain and fatigue, was not such a hassle.  There are so many more who have so much more going on in their lives than I do.

May the Good Shepherd embrace all these people and all others who need His help, all the others that had a worse day than I did, and may the Good Shepherd help me not to take for granted the little things, the simple things, the small things that make life on Earth worth the trouble and pain.

December 1, 1955 - Rosa Parks Arrested For Refusing To Yield Her Seat To A White Man

On this day in 1955 Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to yield her seat on a Montgomery city bus to a White man who had demanded that she move and let him sit down.  Rosa, forty-two years old at the time, refused to move.  She was arrested minutes later.  The next day, a young Black Baptist preacher named Martin Luther King, Jr., organized a boycott of the city bus lines by Black citizens of Montgomery.  This boycott lasted for around a year and had substantial impact on the municipal bus line, since over 70% of bus passengers at the time were Black.

The Rosa Parks case was heard by the United States Supreme Court on November 13, 1956.  On that date the Supreme Court ruled that Ms. Parks had been illegally arrested because her arrest was based on unconstitutional Alabama state law and Montgomery city ordinances.  Immediately after this ruling was handed down, Dr. King called for an end to the bus boycott.  Not only that, he called for the Black bus riders to make a point of sitting in the previously "White" sections of the bus.  Both Dr. King and Rosa Parks became hated figures in Montgomery; Dr. King more so apparently, because his house was bombed a short time later.  Luckily he and  his family escaped unharmed.

A couple of things surprised me as I was researching this incident.  For one thing, Rosa's decision to refuse to yield her seat to a White man was not actually a "random" decision, nor was it solely based on the fact that Rosa, who worked as a seamstress, was particularly tired that day.  In fact, Rosa Parks was a politically "savvy" lady who had joined the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Persons (NAACP) in 1943, after seeing that Black American veterans returning from the fighting in Europe and elsewhere overseas during World War II were not accorded the respect they deserved as veterans.  Not only that, they returned home to find the same discrimination and hatred they had faced before risking their lives fighting to keep America free from the Nazi bid to conquer the free world.

In the latter months of 1955 the NAACP had discussed an organized act of mass civil disobedience, such as not relinquishing seats on the bus to White persons upon their demand.  So on this December day in 1955, Rosa, apparently acting alone, decided to take the opportunity to commit her act of civil disobedience.  She remained seated in her chair until the municipal police came and took her to the city jail.  The story might have ended here, had not Dr. King heard of Rosa's arrest and immediately called the Black people of Montgomery into action.  Not only did the King-led bus boycott draw nationwide attention, but Rosa Parks' conviction was appealed and would eventually reach the Supreme Court, where it would be reversed.

A second thing that surprised me was that Rosa was already seated in the "Black" section of the bus.  Montgomery city ordinances not only required Black passengers to seat themselves in the rear section of the bus, it also required that Black persons already seated in the "Black" section yield their seats upon demand by White persons.  A White man told Rosa Parks to get out of her chair and let him sit down.  Rosa, not on a whim, but quite deliberately set out to rebel against the unconstitutional laws of her city and state, and to rebel against the institutions and people that kept those unconstitutional laws in place.  Even if it meant fighting a one-woman war, Rosa was determined to stand up for her rights...which in this case meant sitting down, keeping her seat in spite of the very real potential for, at best, arrest, at worst, physical violence at the hands of the police, the very ones who should have  been protecting her and supporting her constitutional right to use public facilities without fear of discrimination or reprisal.

The Supreme Court handed down the Rosa Parks decision on November 13, 1956.  The next month, on December 20, Martin Luther King, Jr. called an end to the Montgomery Bus Boycott.  The very next day Rosa Parks walked onto her regular bus and, for the first time ever, selected her seat without regard to whether or not she was in the "rear" of the bus, and knowing that she would never again have to yield her seat to anyone because she was Black.  No, the Black struggle for equality was not over by any means, but a small victory was won by a single, courageous woman.  At the same time, a young preacher, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was propelled into the national spotlight...perhaps taking his first step toward that destiny that awaited him on a fateful evening twelve years later in Memphis, Tennessee.

Thoughts On A Wednesday Evening

It is Wednesday evening, just over a week after an animal less than worthy of being called a man shot and killed or injured practically every member of the little Baptist church in Sutherland Springs, TX.  This shooting unfortunately became the worst multiple shooting in Texas, overtaking the Killeen "Luby's Massacre" that occurred in 1991.  Just as the "good Samaritans" in Sutherland Springs confronted the shooter and possibly saved lives, the shooter in Killeen was confronted by police officers who were just across the street from Luby's, saving lives in that situation.

But as I sit here tonight trying to "blog" I find that the weight of the vicarious pain I feel from this latest mass killing, while still not over the shock and outrage of the Las Vegas mass shooting, the truck attack in New York, the church shooting in South Carolina, and just a couple of days ago, the shootings in California, seems to dampen my spirit and drown my creativity.  So much hate and anger in just three or four people has left well over one hundred people dead in the span of just a couple of months.  And this is just in the United States.  The numbers killed and injured in mass casualty incidents around the world are almost beyond calculation. 

I like to write about light-hearted things, funny things, or factual snippets on things of interest in this nation or in our sister nations around the world.  But it is still a struggle, a week later, to feel light-hearted, or to sink my mind into research about historical or interesting things.  The thought of the fear and pain of those church members, those little children, and the hate of that animal...I guess that even from the distance at which I heard of these things, still leaves my heart, my mind numb.  My prayers and sympathy for all those left behind, those just now beginning to bury their dead.  It is difficult enough to lose loved ones in natural, normal ways.  I cannot even imagine what those left behind are going through.

I cannot begin to understand what it is like to be an that safest of all places, a house of worship, and suddenly bullets begin flying through the air, people, friends and relatives, begin falling, dying.  Yet this is becoming all too common in the United States.  Our brothers and sisters in foreign lands have known this fear as a reality for many years.  And in the United States, houses of worship have been targets occasionally for many years, but not on the scale we have seen in the past three or four years. 

One of the most horrific of those "older" church attacks occurred in Birmingham, Alabama on September 15, 1963 when a Ku Klux Klan member (whose name, which can easily be found with a few seconds' research, I refuse to dignify by writing in this post) made a crude bomb powered by FIFTEEN sticks of dynamite.  The bomb was planted in the basement of the 16th Street Baptist Church.  It exploded just after 11:00 AM, killing four young ladies and injuring more than twenty other church members.  These girls were Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Ada Mae Collins, all three age fourteen, and Denise McNair, age eleven.  Their deaths were just as tragic and senseless as those of the children and adults killed last week in Sutherland Springs.  If there was anything even the least positive in the loss of those four young girls, it was that their deaths were unconscionable even by the White America of that time.  Discrimination and racism continued after the church bombing, but the era of wide-spread, socially acceptable discrimination against Black Americans had been dealt a near-fatal blow.

Another thing I cannot even begin to fathom is how a man's heart and soul can be filled with such hate, rage, and such evil that he can kill men, women, and children in cold blood.  How does a person reach such a point in his life that he does not value the lives of other humans, or even his own?  It seems that personal problems, a hate-filled life, the desire to harm others, can lead a person to act in ways that rival the worst acts of the deadliest terrorist.  Motives?  I doubt if the police will ever determine a motive in the Sutherland Springs killings, and even if they do, does that make the tragedy any easier to understand?  Does it make this shooting more tolerable?  Oh, he was crazy...does that help a church member deal with the loss if his entire immediate family?  Motives help give "closure" but only to the paper file.  People may never understand why these things happen until they are finally able to ask the Creator Himself.

Speaking of the Creator, He did a great thing when he created man. He gave mankind a great ability.  Human beings have a wonderful ability to rise up and carry on even after the worst of disasters or criminal acts.  The people where these latest mass shootings have occurred will rebound and carry on in spite of the almost insurmountable losses.  As for me, I am sure I will be able to reawaken my creativity in a little while, but tonight my thoughts, indeed my heart and my prayers, are with all of those who have suffered loss at the hands of such hateful and heartless animals. 

Just some of my thoughts and feelings on a Wednesday evening...

May God be with us all, and may God remove the hate from man's heart...

End of Watch: Senior Trooper Thomas Nipper, Texas Department of Public Safety (Temple area) - November 4, 2017

On Saturday, November 4, 2017 Senior Trooper Thomas Nipper of the Texas Department of Public Safety (TDPS) lost his life when his patrol car was struck by a pickup while the trooper was conducting a traffic stop around 3 PM on Interstate 35 near Temple.  Another vehicle was also damaged in the same accident.

Senior Trooper Nipper had been with the TDPS since 1983, and had over three decades of service with that agency.  Prior to joining the TDPS Highway Patrol, Trooper Nipper served in several municipal and county agencies, including the Coryell County Sheriff's Office.  His total service as a peace officer spans over four decades.

The circumstances surrounding Trooper Nipper's death are both tragic and too-often repeated.  An officer stops a vehicle for a traffic violation, both vehicles park on the shoulder of the road, and an approaching vehicle strikes the trooper, his car, or both.  Too many officers have lost their lives this way - when the oncoming traffic should not have been on the shoulder in the first place.  Why did the pickup swerve to the shoulder and strike Trooper Nipper on that Saturday afternoon?  At the writing of this post I cannot be sure, as I have not seen any further information regarding the driver of the pickup, who was in the hospital in Temple as of Sunday.

The Texas Legislature finally recognized the danger that "routine traffic stops" posed to officers who, of necessity, stopped traffic violators and issued citations along the shoulder of the roadway.  Many times there is no other place to conduct the traffic stop than on the side of the ride.  A safe exit or side street may not be available for miles from the point of the violation.  To try to maximize officer safety, a law went into effect in 2015, I believe, if not the year before, that requires drivers to move to the next lane of travel when approaching an emergency vehicle stopped along side the highway or street.  More importantly, the law requires drivers who cannot change lanes due to heavy traffic to slow down to twenty miles slower than the posted speed limit, unless the speed limit is under 25 mph, at which time the driver must slow to five miles per hour.  If every driver obeyed this particular law, both officers and those pulled over by the officers would be much safer.

At the police academy, officers are trained in the techniques of making safe traffic stops.  One of the first things officers are taught is that they can choose the location at which they want to make the traffic stop.  Such things to be considered include the immediate environment, volume of traffic, whether the location is isolated or in a more traveled area, and whether are not there is sufficient area along side the street or road to allow for a safe traffic stop.  In theory an officer is free to choose the timing and location of the traffic stop.  In real life it is not quite that simple.  I know from personal experience that persons stopped for traffic violations are extremely upset when an officer tells them that they were stopped for violations that occurred several blocks or a couple of miles back.  The driver invariably yells, "Oh yeah! Well, why didn't you stop me a couple of miles back?!"  If the officer attempts to explain that it was because the officer wanted to make the stop in a safer location, that explanation never seems to satisfy the irate driver.

Unfortunately for Trooper Nipper, the option of following the violator then making the traffic stop in a safer location simply was not available.  Interstate 35 is under major renovation construction for literally MILES both north and south of Temple.  Many exits have been closed, and in many locations, the shoulder of the roadway has been narrowed due to construction.  BUT...and I emphasize...the officer had done everything he could to assure both the safety of the person he stopped, and his own safety.  Both vehicles were on the shoulder and out of the right lane of traffic.  AND...all approaching traffic was REQUIRED BY LAW to change lanes.  That may not have been an option for the driver of the pickup.  If that was the case, the driver was nevertheless REQUIRED to slow down to a minimum of twenty miles per hour UNDER the posted speed limit.  I have not driven that stretch of interstate in several months, but I believe the construction speed limit was set at either 60 MPH or 65 MPH.  This means that oncoming traffic should have been traveling at no more than 45 MPH when approaching and passing the trooper's patrol car.  And certainly there should have been no traffic at all on the shoulder anywhere near the trooper's location.

Was the driver of the pickup drunk or on illegal drugs?  Maybe he was innocently texting while he was driving?  Or perhaps he just did not have time to slow to the required maximum of 20 MPH under the speed limit.  Whatever the reason, the driver chose not to slow down.  Even then, however, he probably would not have struck the trooper's car.  Something, either a distraction or the influence of some substance, caused the driver not only to fail to either change lanes or to slow down, but also to run off the road onto the shoulder, where he struck the trooper's car.

As pictures of the accident scene have made their way onto the media and the Internet, it is extremely clear that the pickup was traveling at a high rate of speed, not the 40 - 45 miles per hour as required by the "move over or slow down" law.  Trooper Nipper's patrol car was damaged almost beyond recognition as a state police car, and was barely recognizable as a vehicle at all!  The pickup was severely damaged as well.  Although I have seen nothing official yet as far as estimations of vehicle speed and driver distraction or intoxication, I am sure that the accident investigation will reveal both excessive speed for the conditions at the time, and that the driver was either intoxicated or was distracted.  One man's dereliction of his legal duties and inattention to the road (for whatever reasons) cost the life of this good man and endangered the person the trooper had stopped as well.

No, Senior Trooper Thomas Nipper was not shot or murdered in some other way by a dangerous criminal; instead, he was killed in the line of duty while performing the most dangerous task an officer, particularly a highway patrolman, can do...a "routine" traffic stop.  His death was not only tragic, but senseless.  The law that should have saved this trooper's life had been "on the books" for at least two years.  It is up to motorists to follow this law.  Even more so, it is up to the individual who has been drinking alcoholic beverages or taking illegal drugs to make the conscious choice NOT to drive until he or she is once again sober.  And, it is very important as well to obey the law that prohibits a driver from texting while driving.  So many fatalities have resulted as well from this innocuous activity.

The vast majority of Texas Department of Public Safety Troopers, Narcotics Officers, Investigators, and Texas Rangers who have been killed in the line of duty over the years have lost their lives in traffic-related incidents.  Far too many of these traffic incidents are in fact troopers being struck by drivers who drove off the road and into the traffic stop. If there is a positive in Trooper Nipper's death, it may be that more Texans, because of this tragedy, will choose to obey the "move over" law, will not text while driving, and will choose not to drive when they are impaired for any reason.

Senior Trooper Thomas Nipper (TDPS) leaves behind his wife and three children.  My prayers and thoughts are with this family and their loved-ones, and with the troopers who lost their comrade.  Senior Trooper Nipper, I, and thousands of other Texans, thank you for your many, many years of dedicated service to the people of Texas, and honor you as you made the ultimate sacrifice.  And the Thin Blue Line (sprinkled with the khaki of the TDPS fallen) is a little thicker in Heaven now.  May you rest in peace, and may the Good Lord continue to surround and hold your sweet wife and children in the days to come.

And may God Bless America...

National Deviled Egg Day - November 2

I have to day I feel rather betrayed today...Betrayed by the national media and local news sources as well.  You see...today is National Deviled Egg Day!  That's right...the day the United States set aside to honor (and enjoy!) one of the best recipes EVER CREATED, the Deviled  Egg.  Not only was there no fanfare whatever on any of the major networks, but deviled eggs were not featured at the cafeteria inside my place of employment.  In fact, deviled eggs were available AT ALL!!

Granted, the nation (or parts of it, anyway) were still all excited that the Houston Astros won the World Series last night, but still...I mean we need to keep the proper perspective of a mere baseball game...after all, it was only a game.  But...not featuring deviled eggs today!  Really!!  What a faux pas!! By the way, shouldn't the "deviled" in deviled eggs actually be spelled DEVILLED?  The rule in proper English would be to double the last consonant then add "ed."  Shouldn't the word "deviled" rhyme with the word "reviled"?   But I digress...

I would like to take just a few minutes to honor the Deviled (or Devilled) Egg, and to lick my chops while wishing I had at least a dozen deviled eggs waiting for me in my refrigerator.  It seems that spiced-up, boiled eggs were served at least as far back as the early Roman Empire.  Richer dining patrons were served spiced egg yolk replaced into the boiled egg, although a more expensive version included small birds called fig-peckers in the egg yolk mixture.  I...er...would have to pass on that particular variation.  (ummm...BARFFF!!)

The spiced-egg spread from the Roman Empire across western Europe, finding its way to England and France by the 1300's.  To the spiced-egg yolk people began to add paprika and mustard, and many different kinds of herbs.  By the end of the Dark Ages, the deviled egg was beginning to take its modern form, the delicacy with which many of us are familiar in this very day.  But where did the term "deviled egg" first appear?

It is believed that the first use of the term "deviled eggs" was in British cook books published around the year of 1786.  "Deviling" became a verb that meant to add spices and other herbs and flavors to foods to make these dishes more exciting.  Hence the term "deviled eggs," which referred to mixing boiled egg yolk with various spices, herbs, and mustard, and replacing this mixture into boiled eggs. Thus one of the most popular food items and picnic essentials of all time was created for our culinary pleasure.  By the way, prior to the turn of the 19th Century, some faithful Christians refused to use the term "deviled" eggs, much preferring more innocuous titles such as "stuffed eggs," "dressed eggs," or even "salad eggs," especially if the eggs were served at religious functions!

So I missed National Deviled Egg Day this year.  No matter.  I have worked up such an appetite for deviled eggs while writing this brief post that I will definitely purchase a dozen eggs tomorrow and try my hand at making some of those tasty little morsels this weekend.

Remember, it is ONLY 364 days until National Deviled Egg Day!

Until then...stay deviled, my friends!

End of Watch: William (Bill) Tilghman - City Marshal, Cromwell, Oklahoma - November 1, 1924

One of my favorite of the Lawmen of the "Old West" was a man named William Tilghman.  Known to his contemporaries as either Bill Tilghman, or "Uncle Billy," William Tilghman was considered to be one of the most honest and most effective lawmen of the Old West-era.  The truth is that Bill Tilghman could have gone either way as a young man.  Bill left his home state of Iowa when he was only sixteen, and "went west."  Actually, he didn't go very far west.  In the area of Dodge City, Kansas, Bill joined up with some other young men who made their living by stealing horses from local Indians.  The "Law" did not get too upset with people who stole horses from the Indians, but the Indians themselves were wild with anger.  Young Tilghman was nearly killed on several occasions, and eventually gave up the life of the outlaw - it was too risky.

In a more respectable turn, Bill opened a saloon in Dodge City (I wonder where the money came from?) and also served as a deputy city marshal.  He was accused on a couple of occasions of rustling, once of robbing a train, but there was not enough evidence of these evils, and no charges were ever formally filed.  As the years went by, Tilghman's reputation as an honest lawman grew.  He served as a deputy sheriff in Ford County, Kansas for several years, and eventually joined the US Marshal Service.  Some of Tilghman's contemporaries were the Earp Brothers and William Henry (Billy the Kid) McCarty.

Tilghman was one of the first White men to arrive in Oklahoma when that territory was opened for Anglo settlement in 1889.  In 1891 Tilghman became a deputy US Marshal for the Oklahoma territory. As the 19th Century faded into the past, Tilghman continued his legendary career as a peace officer into the new century.  His resume included several years as a sheriff's deputy, and later, Sheriff of Lincoln County, Oklahoma.  Perhaps his most famous capture was the arrest of Bill Doolin, the leader of a criminal gang that had terrorized parts of several states for years.  Doolin escaped from jail a year later, but was killed by a posse led by one of Tilghman's colleagues, Heck Thomas. 

Bill Tilghman retired from active duty after serving for several years as the police chief of Oklahoma City.  He had taken that job in 1910.  During the year 1908, and for several years following, Tilghman directed four films, the most famous being "The Passing of the Oklahoma Outlaws."  Retirement was not to Bill's liking; however, and by August, 1924, Tilghman was once again a peace officer, this time the marshal of Cromwell, Oklahoma, an oil boom town. 

Cromwell was a boisterous little town, and when the roughnecks were not out on their rigs, they spent their hard-earned pay at several "speakeasies" scattered throughout the city.  Prohibition was going strong at this time, but so was the thirst of the hardworking oilmen, and the money lust of moonshiners and alcohol smugglers.  Marshal Tilghman, the honest lawman, refused to turn a blind eye to the illegal alcohol, as his predecessors had done. 

As he arrested smugglers and bar owners, Tilghman aroused the ire of a crooked "revenuer" named Wiley Lynn, a federal prohibition agent.  Lynn had met with Tilghman several times and "encouraged" the lawman to look the other way as alcohol was brought into Cromwell and distributed among the various illegal bars.  Tilghman not only refused to cooperate with Lynn, but continued to vigorously pursue and arrest those involved in bootlegging in and around Cromwell.

Finally Wiley Lynn had all he could stand.  He was losing money because he could no longer "protect" the alcohol crowd.  On the night of November 1, 1924 - three months to the day since Tilghman had taken over as City Marshal - Wiley Lynn confronted Tilghman.  The prohibition agent had been drinking and was intoxicated.  He railed at Tilghman, then produced a hidden pistol.  Wiley shot Bill Tilghman twice, killing him where he stood.  Lynn Wiley had murdered one of the last of the great lawmen from the Old West.  Wiley was later acquitted, presumably due to his intoxication, but was himself gunned down in 1932.

I am proud to honor Marshal Bill Tilghman, one of the greatest Lawmen of the Old West.  Thank you for your service, Marshal, and may you rest in peace.

End of Watch: Officer Floyd East, Jr. - Texas Tech Police - Oct 9, 2017

Texas Tech Police Officer Floyd East Jr., was shot and killed by a suspect he was questioning inside the Texas Tech Police Department.  Officer East had been a Texas University system security officer for several years, serving at the University of Texas - El Paso for the past several years.  Only this year, in May, Mr. East was commissioned and sworn in as a police officer for Texas Tech University in Lubbock.

On Monday night, Officer East and other police officers went to the killer's apartment to check on his welfare after receiving a call about him from his family.  Officers entered the killer's apartment.  He was not at home, but officers found drug paraphernalia in plain view.  At some point the killer arrived and was taken into custody.  He was transported back to the Texas Tech Police Department.  Officer East was shot a short time later, just after 9:00 PM.  The killer then fled the scene of the shooting but was caught by police a few minutes later near Tech's football stadium.  Officer East died where he was shot inside the police building.

Officer East was 48 years old when he was killed, but had worked as a security officer for several years.  And he had just graduated the required Texas police academy in May.  His police career was cut tragically short by a young man who was clearly dangerous and who clearly had a high stake in escaping custody.  I have no idea what happened and cannot second guess Officer East.  I can only wonder how a search of the arrested person did not reveal the large caliber pistol concealed on  his person.  Was the killer searched at all?  A common "rookie" mistake is either not searching a prisoner, or not searching the prisoner ADEQUATELY.  

Another common mistake for new officers is, out of compassion, to release a dangerous person (i.e. a person possibly under the influence of drugs and who KNEW he was probably going to go to prison) from handcuffs because the person says the cuffs are hurting him.  An act of kindness is often repaid (in the criminal world) by an assault, or by taking the compassionate officer's life.  This tragedy is compounded by the fact that more experienced officers who observed the unhandcuffed prisoner did not intervene and explain to this new officer the dangers of leaving a felon suspect unsecured.
These mistakes were tragic, but did not justify the killer in taking this officer's life.  While the situation could have and should have been handled differently, ultimately only ONE person was responsible for this officer's murder, and that person is the one person who should pay the most severe penalty available for murderers.

Officer Floyd East, Jr., fulfilled his dream of being a police officer and serving his fellow men at Texas Tech.  His career was tragically short, but nonetheless his sacrifice and courage are deserving of honor.  Rest in Peace, Officer East.

My prayers, and those of thousands of other Texans as well as people across the nation go out to Officer East's wife, his two daughters, his family, and his fellow officers.  As far as I could determine, Officer East was the first Texas Tech Officer to die in the line of duty.  I may be wrong on that count, and please correct me if you know different.

The Thin Blue Line in Heaven is one man stronger tonight.

May God keep and protect the officers who strive to protect this nation, and

May God Bless America!

A Call To ACTION For All Pro Football Owners and Advertiser - AND FANS

The disgraceful conduct of the ENTIRE Steelers Football Team (save ONE player) is over the line and is UNCONSCIONABLE.

(Before I write another line I would like to HONOR Alejandra Villanueva - the LONE STEELER FOOTBALL PLAYER WHO CHOSE TO HONOR THE AMERICAN FLAG AND THE NATIONAL ANTHEM.  May GOD bless you, sir.  MOST AMERICANS also thank you for your courage both today and for serving in the military as well.  You are a hero and a TRUE AMERICAN!!)

Now, about the remainder of the Stealers (oops!) and any other NFL players who choose to dishonor (or CONTINUE TO) dishonor the American Flag and the National Anthem, whether "taking the knee" or some other form of disrespect to the colors, I find it disgraceful and outrageous that they are using a national sports platform to dishonor this nation, ALL OF ITS CITIZENS, and ALL SOLDIERS AND OTHER WHO HAVE DIED FOR THIS NATION.  Yet these (GROSSLY) over-paid spoiled brats, I mean, athletes, have the gall to ACCEPT money from the very people, the very institutions, that are responsible for whatever "wrongs" these idiots are protesting.  Does this sound GROSSLY OVER-HYPOCRITICAL to anyone?!!  If YOU - MR. Wronged Professional Athlete - feel so badly "wronged," how can you accept this "filthy lucre" from the very people and institutions who are "WRONGING" you? 

Actually the bigger and much more important question goes to owners and advertisers: Why are YOU - OWNERS - continuing to allow these people to play in the NFL?  Even BIGGER - why are "SPONSORS" still sponsoring these teams?  Why are advertisers still buying "spots" for game-time commercials?  Owners, you have the power to demand that players NOT protest DURING football games.  Why are you silent on this issue, other than Jerry Jones?  Just as a bunch of office workers would be fired for stopping work to "protest" political issues that are not related to their jobs, football players should be fired for political activities during football games.  Owners, your SILENCE right now is SPEAKING VOLUMES!  Advertisers, any of you who were willing could stop all of this by merely threatening to pull the plug on all future commercials and sponsorships.  Like the Owners, your failure to act in this matter is ECHOING LOUDLY ACROSS AMERICA!

And MOST OF ALL, if you, AMERICAN NFL FOOTBALL FAN, are even remotely outraged as you claim to be, WHY ARE YOU STILL AT THE GAME??  Why was there not a mass exodus immediately after the National Anthem was played?  Why is the game still on your TV, if you are watching at home?  You say that you paid for your ticket days, weeks, or months ago and, since you are here, you don't want to waste your ticket even if you ARE outraged at these players' conduct?  I say the HONOR of this great nation is well worth the few dollars you would lose by leaving the football game.  You say you ALWAYS watch Sunday and Thursday NFL?  I say that NFL players have never forced their views on the national audience in this way before.  Do you want the NFL to be a political forum?  I thought you wanted to watch football.  If NFL sponsors and advertisers knew that people were no longer attending or viewing football games, this politicization of football (of ANY sport, for that matter) would stop immediately.  Loss of revenue would certainly trump the players' "right" to protest in such a disgraceful way on national television.

Will Owners and Advertisers step up and demand that football players cease to dishonor this great nation?  Will football fans be able to overcome their game day addiction and boycott the NFL?  We will have to wait for at least one more football game to see what happens.  As for me, the NFL is OFF my TV and radio for the foreseeable future.  If you are truly outraged, if your love for this nation overshadows your desire to watch football, I urge you to stop watching these games...AND I urge you to let the team owners and your favorite sponsors know exactly how you feel, that you are no longer watching football, and that you will no longer purchase ANY products you have seen advertised during previous football games.  I think it will not take long to get the message out.

What Must They Be Thinking?! or The Howling Minority

I have to pause to consider what the rest of the world might be thinking about the United States today. I can't help but believe that many people, even MILLIONS of people, around the world must be thinking that we here in the United States must really have a STRANGE set of priorities of late.

Here is what is happening both in the United States and abroad, at the hands of either American military action, or American corporate action.  The American military has been fighting non-stop at least since 1990 with no end in sight.  Even now, President Trump is gearing up to send even more troops to Afghanistan.  Americans are fighting in Iraq, Libya, and Syria overtly.  Drones and clandestine operations are taking place in many other places around the world.  And this is only ONE issue.

American corporations are polluting and exploiting resources both here and abroad.  Further, American corporations are paying nearly slave wages in various countries around the world.  Big defense contractors are doing their part to keep the United States in a permanent state of war.  No matter how many innocent people are killed, no matter how much "collateral" damage is done, the defense suppliers lobby for contracts and keep the arms coming.  Their colleagues in government and the military also do their part to keep war supplies "in demand."

Relations between the United States, China, and the Koreas are at all time levels of high tension. North Korea has now or will soon develop the capacity to lob their new atomic weapons to the very front steps of the United States, but if the United States did the smart thing and pre-emptively struck the North Korean nuclear facilities, China would step in to protect the North Koreans.  The chances of less than nuclear devastation, should the United States and China go to war, are practically zero.

Yet, with all of these things going on at home and abroad, what is it that Americans are focusing on?  Apparently it is suddenly an extreme necessity to remove statues of Confederate heroes, force the renaming of schools, institutions, and businesses, and to disown any ties to the 'hateful and racist" America of the past.  By the past, I mean two or three years ago.  Coincidentally this strange need so many Americans feel to distance themselves from "the old America" seems to have arisen about the time that Black Lives Matter appeared on the national stage, but that is another blog.

The world looks on as Americans and the American mainstream media are hysterically screaming for statues to be pulled down, buildings to be renamed, and even books to be burned.  Ignoring any real relevant issues, this very small but very loud minority, with the media's most eager assistance, has succeeded in robbing so many responsible people of all sense of rationality.  Not only that, but this small group of people, with media support, has managed to cause otherwise sensible people to suddenly feel guilty about statues, heroes, even of their very national heritage.

Mayors of towns, so eager to please this small, vocal minority, and yet to avoid angering the majority of their constituents, have secretly spirited away monuments of Confederate heroes out of city parks and college campuses literally under the cover of darkness.  How ludicrous! "Leaders" including mayors, councilmen, county commissioners, and state and national politicians are going out of their way to pander to the "protesters" and the media.  I hope that their constituents will remember each and every one of these cowardly politicians at the next election.

While the United States Constitution protects us from government censor, the loud minority, their numbers and power being inflated by the news media, are limiting Americans' freedom of speech and assembly so much more effectively than any totalitarian government has ever been able to do. Literally, if anyone so much as DARES to publicly state that a statue in a park is not necessarily offensive to the majority of people, that person is immediately branded a neo-Nazi racist. And anyone who might support such a person is terrified to do so, fearing the same branding at the hands of loudmouths and the media.

What does the world think of this great nation right now, a nation where such a loud few has been able to overcome the calmness and rationality of the vast majority of Americans?  What does the world think of this once proud nation that now appears to be unable to look back at its own history without whimpering and without denying what took place, but what is now a hundred years behind us?  I think they are wondering "What in the HELL has happened to America?"  What are the Americans DOING to themselves?"

The hysteria displayed in the news from across this great nation has now filtered its way into my city, and true to form, many Midlanders are suddenly either ashamed of the past or afraid to stand up for the institutions of this city for fear of being branded racist.  I am sick of it!!  Many of the people screaming about racism have no idea what that really means!  Are they forced into "ghettos" because of their race, as happened in the Third Reich?  Are they made to enter stores and restaurants through the back door?  Are they denied entrance to any public facility because of their skin color?  Have they ever been attacked by the "Klan?"  Have they ever even been denied a job because of their race?  For most people the answer is no.  The truth is that many of the "protesters" that sparked all of this hysteria were PAID ACTORS who had no interest whatever in Black Lives Matter, some injustice at the hands of the police, or some other fill-in-the-blank "protest."  Their numbers and actions were multiplied and magnified by the media.

In Midland today it was announced that someone has started a petition on-line to garner support to force the local school district to change the name of one of its high schools.  Worse, according to the petition, NOT SUPPORTING this name-change means that one is a racist who supported slavery and all the other evils of the Confederacy.  I suspect that by tomorrow morning the local media, "affiliates" of the big three news channels, will be calling for the name of that particular school to be changed, possibly putting pressure on school board members to do something "now!"  If the sponsor of this petition, and anyone who supports him, is truly a believer in democracy, and not himself a racist or bigot, he or she would use democratic processes first, instead of resorting to"fear pressure" to accomplish his or her ends.  Instead of a rather anonymous "on-line petition" why not approach the school board at an open school board meeting, present an actual paper petition with verifiable names of supporters, and call for an open vote on the matter.  Do the people of Midland truly want to change the name of that particular high school?  If they do, then they will sign the petition, the school board will put it a vote, and if the vote for the name change carries, the people will have spoken and it will be indeed time for the name change.  This should hold true for all of these situations across our nation.

Today we are witnessing a different kind of censorship, a different kind of thought control, a different kind of "fear pressure."  In some ways this new kind of speech censorship and thought control is more fearful than any sort of control our government could clamp down onto us.  When free people are compelled to act or think a certain way by other people and the media, when anyone who disagrees with whatever the "trending" thoughts and feelings may be are labeled racists, bigots, Un-American, or any other derogatory label, and have that label flashed across the nation and the world as "news," as true fact, freedom is just as dead as if Hitler and his henchmen were in charge and the Third Reich had never been blasted off the face of the earth.

It doesn't, in effect, matter whom the Totalitarians are, when the masses are afraid to think differently and to speak freely, censorship is just as complete, just as strong.  The United States is headed in this direction.  Do not be afraid to have a point of view and to stick with that point of view, even if others do not agree with it.  It is so ironic and tragic that men and women fought and died for America over the years to ensure that no foreign power or rogue terrorist group could ever deprive us of our freedom, but today a loud and minuscule minority of Americans (more than likely bought and paid for by a behind the scenes megalomaniac) and a near-mindless and unthinking "news" media is working to shape our thoughts and beliefs, to force us to COMPLY with whatever the "new think" is. And, my friends, the NEW THINK is that we must either go along with the destruction of our history or be called racists and neo-Nazis.  I choose not to go along with this NEW THINK.  If someone is so stupid and ignorant as to consider me a racist and neo-Nazi, that is up to that ignorant person.  

I can't help but hear that thought over and over: Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it

We must remember the past - the good, the bad, and the ugly - and by remembering, we are then positioned NEVER to make those mistakes again.  Conversely, when we tear down the past, alter the truth in our text books, and deny all those things - the good AND the bad - we, as Santayana told us, are DOOMED to repeat the mistakes over and over.

The founders of this great nation made a tremendous and absolutely amazing (though obviously IMPERFECT) attempt to break the cycle of repressive authoritarianism and totalitarianism that had been REPEATED over and over throughout the history of civilization.  The Union was flawed, and a great war was fought to correct those flaws.  But now, a little over a hundred years after that war, we seem to have forgotten that freedom of thought, even if some of us disagreed with others, was the only way to keep the nation strong.  In the past two decades schools, universities, and even corporations have spent MILLIONS of dollars to promote, protect, and emphasize our nation's diversity.  Now, in just two short years Americans have become cowed into accepting ideas and ideals that the vast majority do not agree with, but to DISAGREE with this NEW THINK is be branded racists, Nazi, or even WHITE SUPREMACIST.

Forgive me, I thought disagreement, dialogue, diversity, compromise, and unity were the American way.  No, I BELIEVE this to be the case.  I challenge you to stand your ground on your beliefs, even if they are beliefs I might disagree with.  There are worse things than government control, and one of those is control of the vast majority by a howling, rabid minority mob.

May God Bless America

SIX FLAGS OUTRAGE

I am truly outraged with Six Flags Over Texas in the management's resoundingly ignorant and so obviously wooing the PC crowd decision to remove FIVE of the six flags. The whole, entire THEME of that particular THEME PARK was celebrating the heritage that six nations contributed to the State of Texas. In a nutshell SIX FLAGS management said that the Texas Flag (along with the other four) was in effect a symbol of racism and hatred, and that said management was now ASHAMED to fly the BONNY FLAG OF TEXAS.

I call on all Texans who ARE NOT ASHAMED OF THE TEXAS FLAG to show your disappointment and OUTRAGE with Six Flags (cowardly and pandering) management's incredible, beyond IGNORANT decision and statement. How?

Simple.

In Texas there are well over TWENTY MILLION adults, and many of these adults have children (also numbering in the millions) who are all POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS of the Six Flags Theme Park. Now, if these OVER 20,000,000 adults and their millions of children DID NOT go to Six Flags for the remainder of this year and all of next year, this cowardly and VERY UNGRATEFUL no longer a Theme Park would be forced to shut its gates.

Therefore, I again call on ALL TRUE TEXANS to immediately and permanently stop all attendance and support of Six Flags. Do not darken the entrance to that place ever again.

Six Flags thinks that our heritage is one of racism and hatred. Fine. But the descendants of that terrible heritage literally MADE the fortunes of this company.

Six Flags hates Texas, or at least what they believe the Texas Flag stands for. That is their right. Let us help them unladen themselves from ANY TIE to this state by putting their miserable organization out of business. If Six Flags management thinks our heritage is so terrible, they certainly cannot want our hateful, racist money.

I have personally had my fill of all the hysteria. So, please join me in helping Six Flags GET OUT OF TEXAS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

Further, I CALL ON SIX FLAGS MANAGEMENT NOT ONLY TO LOWER ALL THOSE HATEFUL FLAGS, BUT TO PUT YOUR MONEY WHERE YOUR MOUTH IS. I CALL ON YOU TO CLOSE YOUR PARK AND GET OUT OF TEXAS NOW. DON'T WAIT FOR THE UPCOMING BANKRUPTCY OF YOUR PARK, AND PLEASE DO NOT LET THE DOOR HIT YOUR #$$ ON YOUR WAY OUT OF OUR GREAT LONE STAR STATE.

THE NATION IS IN GREAT TURMOIL - Just Ask Jason Kessler And His Paid "Protesters"

The nation is in TURMOIL!!  Maybe or maybe not...but the Media and certain people want us to believe so.  These people, with the full, knowing, intentional support of the media are trying to paint a picture of nationwide turmoil, a picture of a nation ripping itself apart, indeed...a picture of a nation on the brink of another civil war!

We must be on the brink of civil war! At a Unite The Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia "facist, racist" White Supremacists were confronted by "anti-facist" protesters.  There were some clashes, and some arrests, but very few injuries.  Then a "racist" ran his car into a car full of protesters and into protesters who were blocking the street.  Tragically a person died and many others were severely injured.  Meanwhile, statues of Civil War heroes were torn down. We MUST BE at the brink of war!

But...

It turns out that the organizer of the Unite The Right rally was one Jason Kessler, the SAME Jason Kessler who was an Occupy Wall Street "leader" and an avowed Obama supporter.  WHAT? An Obama supporter and an Occupy Wall Street Organizer?  Yes!  It appears this IS the case.  Even the Southern Poverty Law Center, who has listed Kessler as a White Nationalist who bears watching, noted that Kessler was a "relative newcomer on the White Supremacist scene."

https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/jason-kessler

The Southern Poverty Law Center, bitter opponents of the Klan, Nazis, and so-on, candidly admit that they have never heard of this man before.

But it would appear that Democratic organizations such as Occupy HAVE INDEED heard of Kessler.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-08-14/report-%E2%80%98unite-right%E2%80%99-organizer-jason-kessler-was-occupy-movement-obama-supporter-8-m

Now you will notice that neither the Southern Poverty Law Center nor Zerohedge.com have really brought a lot of attention to Mr. Kessler's ideology PRIOR to his appearance in Charlottesville. Neither have any of the mainstream news organizations.  WHY?  Certainly the Southern Poverty Law Center, which on the one hand feigns no prior knowledge, yet on the other hand has compiled quite a file on Kessler, has certainly come across his liberal ties.  At least they should have.  Just look at what all they DO known about Kessler.

The only conclusion one can draw, when informed of Kessler's sudden emergence as a "racists" is that he is actually an impostor, and an agitator.  He clearly loses credibility as a "white supremacist" when his background comes to light. But Kessler's employers, and the NEWS MEDIA, want us to believe that all hell is breaking loose all over the United States, that "spontaneous groups of protesters" are rising up across the nation and removing those "hateful" reminders of the past evils of this nation.

In fact, not only is Kessler a fake "Facist" but the "spontaneous protesters" are in fact paid actors (amateur, inexperienced, but PAID) hired by company called "Crowds On Demand."  That's right...Crowds On Demand! Most of the "protesters" in Charlottesville were ACTORS.  They were paid rather nominally, between $20 and $25 per hour to "protest."  These people may or may not oppose the statues that represent racism and slavery, but actually what they are really doing is earning money for ACTING.  Suddenly these "protests" ring really hollow.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-08-14/report-%E2%80%98unite-right%E2%80%99-organizer-jason-kessler-was-occupy-movement-obama-supporter-8-m

I had heard that some of the occupy protesters were actually paid actors, but I really did not research the matter, and only half-believed it.  But the same allegations arose with the incident in Charlottesville.  This time I did some checking on my own.  I have listed a couple of sources in this post, and here is one more.  From this one, we can gather Las Vegas is about to sink into TURMOIL!!

http://360daily.net/crowds-on-demand-inc-craigslist-ad-seeks-paid-protesters-for-vegas-protests/

So there are a couple of things to know before we get too upset about the people tearing down monuments or too worried that the nation is on the brink of civil war.  First, someone, Kessler's unknown boss, for instance, and the NEWS MEDIA, WANT US TO BELIEVE THE ENTIRE NATION IS IN TURMOIL AND WE ARE ON THE BRINK OF CIVIL WAR.

Second, they want us to believe that people of different races in this country cannot get along with each other, to the point that violence is imminent.

The truth is that certain evil persons are desperately bent on creating ARTIFICIAL scenes of protest and violence because on the whole the nation IS NOT IN TOTAL AND COMPLETE TURMOIL and these people want that OH SO BADLY.

The second truth is that most Americans, while acknowledging that everything is not perfect, also have the capacity to interact with each other most of the time in a mostly peaceful and understanding manner.  Further, most Americans are able to work together to resolve their differences.

The final truth is this:  We Americans need to take a BIG STEP BACK from what we see and hear on the "NEWS," and realize that we may be living in tense times, but we ARE NOT about to tear ourselves and our nation apart.  We need to calm down and really try to find out who is actually involved in engineering this turmoil, and what might be their motives.  Remember that Walter Cronkite and Paul Harvey are gone, David Brinkley is gone...and truth in the media is gone.  You should depend on the "NEWS" for little more than the time and date that an event happened.  Beyond that, don't panic, and don't assume you have heard the truth.  Do some research for yourself before you believe what the various talking heads are telling you.  And most of all, continue to care for and respect your fellow man.  That will go a long way in reducing any turmoil there might be.

May God Bless America



  

Farewell, Glenn Campbell

It was very sad to hear of the death of superstar Glen Campbell, 81 years old when he passed away.  In the years between 2009 and 2011 Glen began to show signs of some medical problem, which Kim Campbell described as possibly dementia.  During those years Glen suffered from short-term memory loss and confusion.  Kim, his wife of 34 years, was both frustrated and alarmed, because she did not understand why Glen was acting in these ways, and afraid that he was suffering from a serious ailment.  Then, in 2011, there came the day that Glen could not remember the way home from the country club only ten minutes away.  Kim insisted Glen go to the doctor, and she went with him.  The doctor eventually diagnosed Glen as being in the early grip of Alzheimer's Disease.

Glen and Kim had to pack a lot of life into the next few years, not knowing how long Glen had to live, much less to remain cognitive and lucid.  Glen Campbell continued to tour and to sing at various engagements, and Kim stayed very close to him during these times.  During his last tours there were times when Glen forgot songs, forgot recent conversations, even forgot where he was playing or what was the next destination.  By the end of 2015 Glen was succumbing to the most serious effects of Alzheimers, to the point where he could no longer be left alone.  Eventually Kim had to place Glen in a nearby nursing home so that he could receive twenty-four hour help.  Kim herself was exhausted and emotionally drained after caring nonstop for Glen for the past several years.  But she said to many people that she cherished every minute with Glen as the disease progressed and gradually began stealing the life from him.  She spent every second with him, and his now-grown children also spent as much time with him as they could.  Glen was all but incommunicado when he passed away today.

But Glen Campbell's light will shine on.  An article I read about him at one point called the very big hit "Rhinestone Cowboy" Glen Campbell's "signature" song.  I agree with that assessment, but only partly.  Rhinestone Cowboy, released in 1975, WAS Glen's signature song from then on, but I assert that Glen's original signature song the great love ballad, "Galveston."  Released in 1969, Galveston peaked at #4 on the Country and Pop Charts, and #1 on Easy Listening.  Although the song did not hit #1, Galveston was requested at his tours and on the radio, and was a favorite of Campbell fans until Rhinestone Cowboy was released.

Glen Campbell sang many great songs, but my favorites were Galveston, Rhinestone Cowboy...and two that are not as well known.  Glen Campbell released a version of Bonaparte's Retreat in 1974.  In Campbell's fast-paced cover, modern studio technology allowed Glen to play every instrument that was featured in the cut, and play them well.  My other favorite song is Glen's release of Amazing Grace, in which he both sang and played the bagpipes very effectively and emotionally.  I can listen to that song over and over, and both feel comfort and feel Campbell's emotion in the song.

Farewell to Glen Campbell, one of the great stars of Country Music, and prayers for Kim and the children, and for all of Glenn's friends, and his brothers and sisters of Country Music.  A star dimmed here, and the great Opry in Heaven has one more member tonight.
 

End Of Watch: Deputy Jason Fann, Yoakum County Sheriff's Office - August 5, 2017

The past several days have been very trying for police officers in Texas.  Over the past two weeks officers in Central Texas and here in West Texas have captured wanted murderers from out of state, and during those encounters, shots were fired by the suspects at pursuing police vehicles.  Several vehicles were damaged but luckily no officers were injured.  In Waco, a police officer there is still engaged in a very serious struggle with severe injuries sustained when  a suspected drug dealer ran over him.  That suspect received his justice very quickly at the hands of other officers.  Our prayers are with the officer, his family, and his colleagues.  Prayers too for the family of the criminal.  Someone loved this guy in spite of the things he had done. I thought it was very honorable of the Waco Police Department to think of this family even as they mourned the loss of one of their own.

Last evening just outside of Plains, Texas Deputy Jason Fann received a call for service at around 6 PM.  Minutes later he was involved in a traffic accident while responding to that call, and died of injuries he received.  At this point the Texas Department of Public Safety has not released information about the accident other than the news of Officer Fann's death.  Deputy Fann had served the people of Denver City and Yoakum County for the past several years, first as a police officer with Denver City, then with the Yoakum County Sheriff's Office. 

I thank Deputy Fann for his service and honor him in his sacrifice for the people he served, doing what he loved.  Jason Fann was only twenty-eight years old at the time of his death.  It is very tragic that his service was cut short in this way, but the Thin Blue Line in Heaven has one more officer in its ranks today.

May the Good Shepherd watch over officers all across this land.

You Were Always On My Mind - My Favorite Willie Nelson Song

Today in 1982 Willie Nelson scored big with the super hit “You Were Always On My Mind.”  This, in my humble opinion, is Willie’s best love song by far, and probably my favorite song by him, barring his “Good-Hearted Woman” duo hit with Waylon (MAYBE).  Always On My Mind was a record-breaker, even for Willie.  This song stayed at Number One on the charts that year for a whopping TWENTY-TWO WEEKS!  Think Elvis, the Beatles, and Michael Jackson, and put Willie right up there.  Always On My Mind went on to garner CMA Song of the Year for 1982, Single of the Year for 1982, and Grammy Awards that year for Best Country Song AND Song of the Year.  Willie’s recording also earned him Grammy’s Best Male Country Vocal Performance of the Year.  And there was no wonder, because Willie Nelson sang that song almost as he had lived it. 

Almost as if he had lived it.  Really, the lyrics of Always On My Mind resonate with most of us.  Most of us have taken a loved one, a spouse, a lover, for granted and then felt the pain this caused.  But Willie did indeed sing the song as if it was his autobiography.  In fact, for years I believed that Willie Nelson had penned the lyrics, or at least co-authored the song.  Only recently I learned that this song was actually written by a team of writers in Nashville, but the theme of the song can be heartfelt by all of us.  No doubt that explains the remarkable success of this song.  Willie Nelson was able to put that heart-feeling onto the vinyl “canvas” and a hit was born.

The writers of the song never had a doubt that this was a number one hit.  Wayne Carson, Johnny Christopher, and Mark James, already successful writers, put this song together fairly quickly.  Carson wrote the first two verses and the chorus, while the other two corroborated with him to come up with the “bridge,” a contrasting lyric in the song yet which connects the verses and the chorus and also provides a “breakaway” from the “sameness” of the verses and chorus, thus relieving any possible boredom a person might feel while listening to the repetitive words and music of the song.

Carson did not believe that his song needed a bridge, because the words were so moving, and so easy for people to identify with, but his producer told him, “You need a bridge.”  Both Johnny Christopher and Mark James agreed with Carson that the song did not need a bridge, but they knew that without it they would likely not get a deal, at least THIS deal, and might have to find another producer.  So, they all put their heads together and a bridge was born.  In this case, the bridge was these lines:

                                                 Tell me, tell me that your sweet love hasn't died
                                         Give me, give me one more chance to keep you satisfied
                                         I'll keep you satisfied

So the team of Carson, Christopher, and James had their “bridge,” and with the help of Willie Nelson, another number one hit.  Not just a Number One hit for Willie, this was the BIGGEST selling single of his entire career! An interesting sidelight to this story is that the producer who demanded the “bridge,” Fred Foster, turned the song down, saying the world was not ready for it.  So the trio took the song from Nashville back to Memphis, where famed producer Chips Moman took on the song, and Elvis Presley put it on the top of the 1972 pop music chart.  I bet Fred Foster was probably sorry that he did not produce this hit. The sorrow was no doubt relived when Willie released this song a decade later. 

Coming Soon:  How Willie Nelson Came To Cover An ELVIS Hit

A Terrible Crime - A Tough Test For A Christian

This past Friday was a very eventful day, not for me so much, but for a friend of mine.  But what happened to him, based on his choices, was heartbreaking, and was a terrible blow to him and to those who knew him and felt like they could trust him.

On Friday I was devastated to learn that this man was arrested in what was called a "human trafficking" investigation in Midland County.  Various agencies, from Homeland Security to the Midland Police Department, were involved in "Operation Damascus."  This investigation, in spite of the somewhat dramatic title of "human trafficking," was actually a "sting" in which a police officer went to various social media sites and chat rooms online, and pretended to be a child under age eighteen.  A total of thirty-seven individuals, men and women, solicited the "minor" for sex.  As these persons then arrived at a certain residence to meet the "minor," they were instead greeted by the inter-agency "Damascus" team, and arrested for various charges relating to prostitution, soliciting minors online, soliciting persons under the age of sixteen for sex, and promoting prostitution.

Unfortunately one of the persons arrested, as I mentioned, was a person known to many of us in the area, and trusted by many people to be around their children.  This person, in fact, even served as a volunteer school crossing guard at a local elementary right up to the day he was arrested.  Worse, this man was trusted by parents and church members to actually care for their children on a limited basis.  So you can well imagine the betrayal and fear many people felt when they learned of this man's arrest for his part in Operation Damascus.

I am not posting this blog to judge this man, in fact I will not even name him here.  He is easy enough to find, if you are interested.  Just "Google" Operation Damascus.  I am writing about this situation because it sometimes needs to be restated that we may never really know a person as well as we think we do.  I am posting to remind us all that even if we come to trust someone, we must still keep a close watch on our children or on the children of others, such as children in a church or school.  The parents may not be able to spot a potential child molester, but other people might.  I am also posting this to say again that when one gets a "gut feeling" about another person, when one feels the neck hairs prickling, when one notices that even small children seem somewhat afraid of a person, one should not disregard all of these little signs even though others may think the person in question is "okay" or that he or she "just loves" children.

I am mostly chiding myself because I, a former police officer and a former child welfare investigator, one who was specifically TRAINED in the recognition of persons who might POSSIBLY be child molesters, or who at least bear watching, failed to follow my own advice, that is, to follow my own gut instincts.  Because so many others around flocked around this person and championed him as a person who loved children and wanted to help children and their parents in any way he could, because of this, I let my own guard down, and I failed to act on my "gut feeling," my suspicions, if you will.  Yes, the first time I met this person I quickly developed an uneasy feeling as I saw him interacting with the children of our church, and with their parents.  Yes, I know...church is a place where Christians gather, thus by definition, child molesters WOULD NOT be there.  But, actually, the church is made up of sinners.  We are all sinners, we all fall short of the glory of God.  So, in the spirit of Christianity, and seeing all the other people who felt no sort of trepidation concerning this man, I put my own feelings aside.  And I made a mistake.

When a person is arrested for a crime, whether a fairly minor thing such as shoplifting, or a more serious and heinous thing such as soliciting a minor child online for sexual purposes, there are a couple of things to remember.  First, and of very high importance to me, a person IS NOT GUILTY of crime just because the person is arrested.  The person is not guilty of a crime just because he is indicted.  A person must be presumed innocent (at least in court) until a prosecutor provides evidence that proves the person did indeed commit the alleged crime.  So this man, though he has been arrested, and has betrayed our trust, is still entitled to both a fair trial, and to be treated as an innocent man until he is either convicted or he pleads guilty to the crime with which he is charged.  This can be challenging for you and me, particularly if the crime is heinous and disgusting, such as attempting to meet a minor girl at her home for sex.  I want to treat my friend (yes, my friend) fairly and with an open mind, but at the same time I want to be sure that any children that may come near him are safe until the matter is settled in court.  He is an innocent man at this point, but one must err on the side of caution when it comes to keeping children safe.

When a church member, a person with whom other members have shared private troubles and cares, is arrested for a crime or is otherwise brought into question for some reason, it is doubly hard to live out one's belief as a Christian, that is, that no matter what one's sin might be, Jesus has already died for that person and his sins, and that person has but to turn back to the Good Shepherd for forgiveness.  For the other members of the church, it can be very challenging indeed to allow this person back into the congregation, let alone to FORGIVE the person for that thing that he may or may not have done. Indeed, for many it may be much easier to forgive a murderer than one who is suspected of abusing or attempting to abuse children.  And the Good Book tells us that if one causes a little child to stumble, it is better for that person not to have been born at all.  Again, however, if the person has turned back to God and begged for forgiveness, the Lord will forgive him.  Even if Christians find themselves unable to do so at present.  This is indeed a hard thing.

I cannot be too hard on this person even though I am appalled and disgusted at the alleged crime.  I cannot be too hard on this man because, like him, I have failed and betrayed those I love.  We all know people that we love and respect, AND TRUST, but are yet betrayed or "let down" be these people at one time or another.  Sometime we ourselves are the ones who do the "letting down."  The New Testament and the Old are both replete with people in positions of trust and authority who gave in to temptation or fear, who failed...yet failed in one instance only.  From King David to Saint Peter, many great men and women failed at one time or another.  But one failure is not the summary of their entire lives or their entire walk with God.  This is a trying time for our little church, and trying time for the man in question, as well.  It is a very difficult test for us, and for him.  But the truth is that this man indeed failed...in THIS instance...but not in the entirety of his walk with God.  Whether mere mortal Christians are able to forgive him, if he gives his life back to God, the Lord will forgive him.  In time, maybe those of us on this earthly plane can forgive him as well. 

 

Cliff Kingsbury On The Hot Seat, There, I Said It!

I am a die-hard Texas Tech Red Raider fan, and I really don't have any legitimate reason to be.  I am not an alumnus nor have I ever had any connection at all with the school, but I was bitten by the Red Raider bug in the mid-Seventies when Rodney Allison was leading a thrilling, come-from-behind team that always played the game right up to the last second, sometimes defeating such football giants as the Longhorns and the Aggies with hail-Mary, goal line busting passes that left the opponents' jawbones laying on the still-warm astroturf.

Later on I was thrilled to watch the great performances of such legendary quarterbacks as Sonny Cumby, Zebbie Lethridge, and...Cliff Kingsbury.  These guys could always be counted on to snatch victory right out of the jaws of defeat, always with some trick or another up their sleeves.  Time after time they led the Raiders in comebacks that rarely started before the bottom of the 4th quarter, and usually only after the Raiders had generously spotted their opponents at least a thirty-point lead.

Of all those quarterbacks, Cliff Kingbury was my favorite.  He did not always win, but he always played an exciting football game.  Even when the Raiders lost, it always felt like they had played a very good ball game.  So I was more than happy when Kingsbury was recruited to be the Tech head coach after Tommy Tuberville's rather ungracious departure.  I knew that Kingsbury was not experienced as a head coach, but he had learned under the best, and he had coaching experience as well.  Kingsbury was responsible for producing several amazing quarterbacks during his tenure as quarterback coach for the Houston Cougars, and Texas A&M, where he developed the already talented Johnny Manziel, the only freshman to win the Heisman Trophy.  Kingsbury was well-versed in offensive tactics, but not so much on the defensive side.  But he would have a staff of coaches who would cover that aspect when he took the rein at Texas Tech.

Cliff Kingsbury met my expectations the first year, when everyone knew he was at the bottom of a rebuilding program.  Tuberville may have taken preemptive action by jumping ship before the wreck hit the bottom, which was fine with me, since it opened the way for Cliff Kingsbury.  I am sure Tuberville had seen the writing on his wall.  Kingsbury had his work cut out for himself, but he also had some good quarterbacks to work with.  The Red Raiders played hard and won some games under Kingsbury, but they never put together a conference winning season, or even posted a break-even conference record.

The Texas Tech Red Raiders have had two overall winning seasons under Kingsbury, so that means two years of over fifty-percent winnings.  Unfortunately, none of those years include conference titles, and this rankles many Red Raider boosters, who have the ear of Tech administrators.  I believe Cliff Kingsbury finally came to realize over the past football season that he MUST have a balanced football team in 2017.  For several years now, the Tech defense has not been able to significantly slow any major team's offense.  Even with a fine quarterback such as Patrick Mohames, who put incredible numbers on the board, Texas Tech could not beat many teams due to their very lackluster defense.  The Red Raiders were one of the highest scoring college teams last year, and one of the VERY WORST defensive teams.  The Raiders racked up an average of 43 points per game, sometimes as many as 69 points, but still only won three games in 2016 Big Twelve play, five games overall.  The villagers with their torches and pitchforks have gathered at the gates, screaming for Cliff's head.

I believe that Cliff Kingsbury can rebuild the Red Raiders, but only if he continues to accent growth on the defensive side.  In 2016, the Red Raiders scored over thirty points in nine different games.  Of those nine games, the Raiders only won four. All of those wins were by a margin of 14 points or more.  Of the twelve games played that year, the opposing offense scored over thirty points against the Red Raiders NINE times, as well.  As the Raiders proved, it is hard to win football games under those conditions even when the Red Raiders offense posted fifty points or more.  Most football teams only rack up fifty points every three or four ballgames.  Tech's defense MUST rise to the occasion this year!

Kingsbury has his challenge ahead, and I have to say it, he is in the hot seat this year.  I am probably the last person to admit this to himself.  Kingsbury, of course, is aware of it.  So is the Tech administration.  The VERY LAST THING they want to do is fire a legend like Kingsbury, one of their own. Talking heads across the sports networks have been wagging their tongues on this subject for at least two years, calling for his replacement with more and more frequency.  This has to be Kingsbury's year, and I am confident that it will be.  My own prediction is that the Red Raiders will score a little lower per game this year, but their defense will slow down their opponents' offense quite a bit, keeping the game within winning distance.

Kingsbury IS in the hot seat, but he will earn his place there this year...

Guns Up, Red Raiders!!