Thick Skinned

October 5th of 2020 marks my 31st anniversary being employed in the law enforcement profession.  Having spent the first 29 of those years on patrol in the big city of Metropolis I got used to derogatory comments and gestures hurled in my direction.  After all, police officers are exempt for the most part, of being a complainant in a charge of Disorderly Conduct - Abusive Language/Gesture.  We are expected to be 'thick skinned' because of the nature of our job and being a representative of government, therefor allowing people to exercise their 1st Amendment rights to free speech.  For those of you needing case law, see City of Houston v. Hill (1987).  Now don't get me wrong, just because an officer can't charge you for calling him a derogatory name, or for saluting with a certain figure....doesn't necessarily mean that you are getting away completely unscathed.  I will say that if that is all you do then I'm cool with you doing you.  After all, the more classless someone wants to be the more classy I become ignoring your dumb ass.

At the end of 2018 I retired from big city policing and took a position with a school district specifically to make the remaining years of my career one where I could help mold the little minds of elementary level students BEFORE they had an opportunity to be polluted by the bias's of adult living and the pressures of the hate of the day crowd.  On one particular day last month, it was gorgeous outside and a reprieve from the heat and humidity had graced our area.  Naturally, this put a little pep in my step as I walked through my schools, making sure they were safe from intruders and making sure that the little eyes saw a police officer in a positive way.  All of my illusions suddenly came crashing down.

Picture if you will, a fairly open concept elementary school with young eyes able to see you as you pass their classrooms.  They can hear what you say and you can hear what they say.  Now, I will say having many decades more experience in the area of listening for threats (31 in law enforcement and 27 in marriage) I for whatever reason can hear things and conversations from a much further distance at work than I can at home.....I think scientists are still studying that phenomenon.  Anyway, as I walked through the school I hear "hi police", "hi cop", "thank you for your service", " i want to be an officer", "I like your suit"....general things like that.  Now picture two young kindergarten boys sitting on a bench outside of their classroom waiting to be given further directions or redirection and then they see me coming towards them.  One of the little boys is smiling (not wearing a mask correctly) and waving and sitting up straight trying to get my attention and hoping for a wave back or a smile (I'm wearing my mask correctly so that is out).  The little boy next to him I heard like a pin drop in a library, "don't, he'll shoot you, he'll shoot you."  Not only did he say it once, he said it multiple times as I approached them from several feet away and kept saying it as I passed them several feet away.  If these two people would have been adults I would have just blown it off, said to myself "what a dumbass", and walked away.  But this hit me weird that morning....it came from a 5 or 6 year old!  The one kept talking and the other kept waving, not paying attention to the other.  As I walked back toward them, it happened again.  But this time I saw my reinforcements at hand.

Little did the one talker know, but I knew the Kindergarten teacher that had just approached them and gave them a direction.  I pulled her aside and asked her, "who does he belong to?"  Before understanding why I was asking her the question she told me his teachers name and then asked why I wanted to know.  I turned to where the little ears couldn't hear me and said, "tell the teacher to tell them the last thing I want to do is shoot them."  By the look in her eyes I am pretty sure her promise to let the teacher know what happened actually happened.

I'm sure there a few people saying to themselves, what's the big deal.  So a little kid mouthed off and said something he shouldn't.  After all he's too young to know the difference.  EXACTLY!  However, what had disturbed me more was that the little kid that was waving was an African American kid and the little kid that was saying I would shoot them was a little Hispanic kid.  Now I'm pretty sure that this kid is not watching CNN or MSNBC at home for entertainment but I have a good idea that the adult figures in his home do or they have that same misguided sentiment.  I finished my rounds at that school and walked out now not seeing the day so pretty....some of the pep has now left my step.

At my next school, I passed by the Counselor's office and noticed 'the doctor was in' and having a good relationship with her asked her if she could help me process something.  She agreed and I told her what had just happened and said wow.  This was a relief because now I know it wasn't just me.  She validated my thinking that this young person was not hearing this kind of talk from his friends but had to be hearing that kind of talk at home.  Feeling much better I continued my waving and checking the safety of the school and multiple times before I left I again heard "hi police!" and in a way letting me know that one bad apple in the basket doesn't make the entire basket bad.  And if God must have been watching and listening he knew to send a random adult past me that would say, "thank you for what you do."  I was now restored!

If anyone takes anything away from this understand this much, if you are a parent of a young person watch what you do, watch what you say.....they will do or say the same thing.....WAY before you want them to. 

Six yards Shy....Or Was It?

It was the perfect ending to a perfect football weekend.

As I sat in my big chair (aka: My chair, Dad's chair, comfy chair, not your chair), I relished that on my 18th wedding anniversary my lovely bride would let me enjoy the final football game of the weekend.  As fate would have it, the perfect football weekend didn't end as I had imagined or hoped it would. It was like a house of cards built to a personal record height with only one card left to go and then.......BOOM!

It all began on Friday night as my high school team, Angleton, was playing Terry in what was rightly billed as a must win. Keeping track via a combination of my iPad and former classmates who provided score updates on Facebook, the game ended in the exciting fashion it was billed...an overtime victory for the Angleton Wildcats. WOO HOO...GO CATS!

I had already prepped the kids on Friday during the day to be ready to entertain themselves on Saturday as I was going to watch two different football games back to back and nothing, NOTHING would keep me from having that time to myself. After the Angleton win I could finally put my electronic tethers down and get some sleep for the next big day.

Saturday morning came in unusual fashion as neither my wife or kids had work or any birthday parties or ball games or scouting events to be at early in the morning that would keep us from sleeping in. To my surprise, I was awakened at 9:30am with a message that the kids had just received their 30 minute warning to abandon the living room TV and yes......MY CHAIR!  Feeling confident that the day would be productive, ( I would not be interuppted ), I prepared my surroundings for a full day of football.  Noticing that I only had one cold beer left in the garage fridge, I strategically planned when would be the appropriate time to run out of beer.  Hopefully, it would be sometime during the first game of the day....Oklahoma vs. Texas!!

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Oklahoma naturally beat (and beat hard) the Texas Longhorns so minor interuptions during the game really didn't bother me.  I mean really, who benefits more if the kids have a friend over to play...them or me?  ME naturally because now I'm not in charge the days entertainment!  Yee Ha!   Did I mention Oklahoma won?  Perhaps 'dominated' would be a better descriptor.  Winning 55-17 I would say would be dominating.

So far so good....one game down....one to go, and oh yeah, I ran out of beer a long time ago.  The household is cooperating pretty good now.  The kids have a friend over and are upstairs playing, the wife is getting ready for her high school reunion, which by the way I don't have to go to..HA, and between selfishly making myself more comfortable and offering my dutiful husbandly opinion on which outfit looks best, I frantically searched for the second game of the day....Sam Houston State University (my alma mater) and Stephen F. Austin State University (the wife's alma mater).

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It's billed as "The Battle of the Piney Woods".  At our house it's my team vs. your team.  Rarely do these teams rank regional broadcasting but since this is a long time rivalry, they played the game at Reliant Stadium.  I guess they figured that there would be 75k fans between the two teams so they could fill up the stadium.  More than likely it's because most of the alumni live in the greater Houston area and not even for "the game" would they travel to Nacogdoches to see a game.  No, there was not 75k fans!  A pretty ho-hum game from the beginning but by the second quarter, "my team" started to beat "her team".  But since the next day was my 18th wedding anniversary and I learned well before getting married, (thanks Dad), there were unwritten rules to marriage and gloating was definitly not one of them, I kept my mouth shut and made sure I told her how beautiful her booty was as she tried on her outfit for the evening.

That game ended and if the day couldn't get any better...one child was invited over to another friends house for a couple of hours and the other child went over to the first friends house for a couple of hours.  I was beginning to think that I was now a lightweight and couldn't even handle one beer!  My bride had already left for her reunion and the kids were gone so now it was ...... BONUS GAME TIME!

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Texas A&M was in Lubbock playing Texas Tech.  Not that I really strongly root for either team but since family lives in College Station and the best Nena in the world is a Texas Tech graduate (but understands her plight), and since my daughter wants to go to Texas A&M in 8 years to study veterinary medicine, I figured why the hell not.  This was a bonus great game.  Close all the way to the end and by the time it was over, the kids were back home, upstairs in bed, and I was on lockdown for the night.  However, I did have the one exception to stay awake until my bride returned home from her reunion.  Unless I'm camping with the scouts, going to sleep alone not having her there is awful lonely.  AWWWW

Who would have guessed the next morning would have brought so many blessings?  Blessing #1, my wife kept me around 18 years.  Blessing #2, it was raining the best it has in the past 13 months and the desert scape in the front yard was getting some of God's tears.  Blessing #3, the kids (11 years old and 9 years old) served us breakfast in bed...pancakes!  Blessing #4, I got out of bed just in time to watch the Houston Texans game (at noon).

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Houston vs. Oakland is a rivalry that goes way back!  Many of my fond pro football armchair memories come from these two teams.  Anyway, to recap the weekend; my high school team won; the University of Texas Longhorns lost; my alma mater beat her alma mater; and my brothers family is happy in Aggieland!  I'm married to the best woman in the world, we have rain, two of the best kids on the planet made us breakfast and didn't make a big mess in the kitchen and it's time for Sunday Football!

The Houston Texans were doing their best to lose the game all afternoon but were showing signs of brilliance down to the wire.  The Oakland Raiders had the ghost of Al Davis pushing them all the way to the end of the game and it was coming down to the wire.  With only seconds left in the game, the Texans were down 20 to 25 but were on the 5 yard line.  The ball is snapped, Schaub goes left out of the pocket and on TV it appeared that the only thing between him, on the six yard line, and the endzone was one defender.  There couldn't have been anyone ten yards to either the left or the right and only six yards to go and what does he do?  He throws the ball right into one of the only two defenders on that side of the field.  Game over.  Six yards shy of the goaline, the perfect football weekend is over.  It can no longer be considered the perfect football weekend because the last team didn't pull through for me.  Or am I being selfish?

After a few hours of reflection, being irritable, judging others, and generally not listening, I realized after 3 years it was time to renew my posts to this blog.  FINALLY....something came to mind that I had already put together in my head and was ready to write down.  

You know, after all, I think I did have the perfect weekend.  Notice I left out 'football'?  I was able to relax, enjoy God's blessing of rain, God's blessing of my wife, God's blessing of my kids, and God's blessing that allowed grown men to dedicate 60 minutes of all out effort to a man that helped build the NFL.  God's blessing that had UT lose AGAIN, is just a cherry on top! 

I need to remember as I go through life that I can't let 6 yards keep me down when there are so many other things to be thankful for that I need not lose sight of.  Just because I selfishly can't have everything I desire, I know there are many more things that on a day to day basis I take for granted and if I were to base my life on one end result, I would be cheating myself on the things I do have and that I have accomplished.  There are a few special people in my life that I hope have a chance to read this and persevere and press on in life.  Now is not the time to be down on yourself or to give up.  God Bless.













Humans: Part II

Never thought they were real!

I had heard about people like this but didn't believe they existed until I witnessed first hand they do.

Police Officers are there to help in all situations. Some of which demand we speed down the road with our lights and sirens and make people get out of our way and generally ruin their driving experience temporarily. One type of call that "demands" we run lights and sirens is a "Child Locked in a Car" and for good reason obviously.

Such was a peaceful day last week when I received such a call. Here I am near Fondren and Richmond and a Child Locked in a Vehicle call dropped at the rear parking lot of the First Baptist Church roughly located at the Katy Fwy and Loop 610. Not what one would call "in close proximity" but seeing how I was the only available unit at the time I decided I better take the call. That, plus this whole "Love Dare" thing and the call being at a church I felt might be a sign, better yet...superstition was kicking in! So...here I go, moving on down the road making drivers make tough choices (most of them bad) and driving just over the speed limit to get to this child in distress!

Arrival At The Scene

Lucky me I arrive at the rear parking lot of the First Baptist church unscathed and the fire department was already on scene. This is generally a good sign seeing how they love to do these types of things...it's sort of their fill in for not being able to get cats out of trees anymore. Anyway, as I draw closer to the area the firemen are working I am flagged off in a way to tell me that the child is out. Being particular about having all the information so that I can enter it properly in my call slip, I continue walking towards the area of the event and was met by the firefighters who "suggested" I don't go any further.

Now that my curiosity had been peaked, not seeing any sort of gyrations that suggested anything tragic, I asked the standard police question...."sup?" The firefighter smiled and said..."Her battery died and she didn't know how to unlock the car without the power lock...she was inside."

WTF! Yep...there she was....an old "strawberry blonde" female sitting there in the church parking lot...looking for salvation in a sense for her and her car. There I was...knowing that she was in Gods hands (or at least on his property) and with nothing "constructive" to offer her at the moment. I guess my reaction was more like the AFLAC duck in the commercial with Yogi Bera in the barber shop....WHAAA!

Medical Question

******Adults Only******

Ok....has anybody seriously ever gone to the doctor for an erection that lasted over 4 hours? I mean really...is that something that you want to take time out of the "moment" to go seek medical help? Wouldn't it be more like a winning streak at the roulette table...something you would want to play out!

Church "Love Dare"

West Houston Church of Christ has been inspired by the movie Fireproof to initiate its' own "Love Dare." To keep myself honest I'll try to keep track of my progress here on a daily basis.

Day One 10/27/08:
Spend today praising God all day. Whatever you do today, see His glory everywhere. Spend your day giving thanks for all that He does. Acknowledge the Lord to those you come in contact with. Grow in your love for Him.

Not to hard...I even took dinner prayer tonight from Hannah and Michael. God is good!

Day Two 10/28/08:
Today, when you hear or are a part of a conversation involving gossip or someone being put down behind their back, say something positive on behalf of the party being talked about.

I can see this is not going to be a walk in the park already. C'mon...I'm a cop! It's in our blood to gossip! And if we can't talk bad about someone...c'mon! Ok, I finished the day successfully! Actually, I made a point to make conversations short and for the most part stayed away from other officers. Found myself trying to build one day on top of the other. Had a great conversation about God with a maintenance man at Ben Taub Hospital. I've seen what day three is about....Oh Lord!

Day Three 10/29/08
For the next 24 hours, concentrate on being completely truthful with everyone and in everything!!

Scary at first since I have little trouble telling people exactly how I feel. Applying this to work is not a problem at all...if I tell you you're going to jail then odds are you are. Of course it did make me think differently about the messages I send my children when I delay this or that. Today made me more concious of that fact.

Day Four 10/30/08
Do something for someone anonymously with NO EXPECTATION that you will receive anything in return. Pay someone's toll, pay for their coffee, give a small gift, or whatever would be a kindness they did not expect.

Today happens to be Thursday which makes it my municipal court day. I have spent nearly 19 years at Municipal Court "training" the traffic defense attorneys in what is right and what is wrong as oppossed to what is right for their clients. I know it sort of goes against the grain of the typical attorney line of thinking where no matter how wrong their client is they defend them, but someone has to stand up for truth and justice....right?!

Anyway, cases that could have been easily disposed of by having the attorney pose to their clients the choice of pleading guilty or going to trial were disposed of simply by having the attorneys tell their clients not to ever do it again. Needless to say some mouths needed surgical repair to get them to close again.

On the homefront, personal side, I was a little more concious of doing for others without "pre-conditions."

Day Five 10/31/08
May we all live today remembering that our salvation is nothing we deserve; that we need grace to make it each day; that we are not spiritually better than anyone else. As we encounter people today, let us remember we all are in need of His grace.

Some people just don't mean to do the things they do or understand what they do has consequences...sometimes lasting ones. Today I realized I'm blessed to have what I have and in my line of work that is often more than others have. I found my self today praying for others as I saw them and "perceived" that they needed a little more grace than what they were currently cashing in on. We all have the same grace given to us...some of us just need to be more focused!

Day Six 11/01/08
Tell your spouse, child, parent, or someone close how much they have blessed your life. Today, look for good things in others and tell them what you see.

Seeing how today is my birthday you would think that this would be a walk in the park. I "try" everyday to thank my wonderful wife and kids for being in my life and how lucky I am to have them. This is especially important after losing our precious daughter over 8 years ago.

Now for the not so easy part. I stayed home today (I never work on my birthday) and spent the day watching the kids while Mommy worked. The kids invited more kids over (so much for a quiet day at the house) and after several hours had gotten on my last nerve. Once Mommy got home she had to jump right in to the melee and by the end of the day there was not much love left. Now I know it was there and will always be there but to bring it up to the surface was just tough.

Overall I see that no matter how the day goes I need to make a concentrated effort to tell my "core" that they mean everything to my life.

Day Seven 11/02/08
Recommit to following Jesus in all you do. Spend today remembering the time you made your commitment to following Him.

Study study study study...
My first commitment to follow Jesus was when I was very young, before the ways of the world had time to work on me. As time passed, so did the original understanding of what "commiting to Christ" was all about. The only way to TRULY understand what this commitment is all about is to continue to faithfully study and make it a way of life.

Day Eight 11/03/08
Get to know someone you think the world would consider inferior an "outcast". Go beyond what most people would do in these relationships.

This is great challenge for me at work. I see "outcasts" all the time and this Love Dare has done a great job in challenging me in many areas of my job. Unfortunately, I'm off today and I'm very limited to the interactions I have. Now I can make every effort tomorrow to play "catch up" but that would be cheating myself.

Each day of this love dare I have tried to continue and build upon the other and continue each day forward. Remembering that we all are outcasts in some fashion, we must all go outside the walls and minister to those who need to be touched by the Lord.

Day Nine 11/04/08
Today, we are going to practice being like Christ when we drive. Be courteous wherever you go. Let people in front of you. Allow others to have the parking spaces that are closer. Do not allow people to take your joy away while you drive to your destinations.

Now how am I supposed to do this and my job at the same time?

Day Ten 11/05/08
When asked to do something today, whether by an employer, a spouse, or maybe even a child, do so willingly and immediately. Even think about asking if there is anything else that can be done.

Day Eleven 11/06/08
When you start to say something negative, stop. Instead, offer a prayer of praise and thanks to God.

Day Twelve 11/07/08
How can you talk about Jesus or our Father in ways that will plant seeds for those who do not know Him? Try to have a conversation with someone today that will plant seeds.

Day Thirteen 11/08/08
Double Dare Day: Ask someone if you can pray for them. Pray for someone who would not be expecting it.

Day Fourteen 11/09/08
Write notes today to those you love and mail them. Letters are becoming so uncommon that they are truly treasured.

Day Fifteen 11/10/08
Acknowledge God in everything you do today. From the sunrise, to your family life, give God glory for all that is around you all day. As we worship today, acknowledge Him.

Day Sixteen 11/11/08
We can’t do everything ourselves, sometimes we need help and we need to ask for it when we do and not be ashamed. Let others shoulder the heavy burdens in life with you because we can easily collapse under the load: ask for help today.

Day Seventeen 11/12/08
Wash someone's feet -- find a way to serve people today. Be a servant at home, work, school, etc.

Day Eighteen 11/13/08
Who needs you to take up for them today? Look out for those who can't/don't know how to protect themselves.

Day Nineteen 11/14/08
Just as the Spirit helps us, help someone who seems overwhelmed with work or someone in trouble. When you encounter these people today, make it your first instinct to ask how you can help them.

Day Twenty 11/15/08
Make a sacrifice of your time today. Be a living sacrifice today. Give up your time or something that you normally wouldn't give up. Maybe you need to share something.

Day Twenty One 11/16/08
Spend today in an all day prayer. Where ever you go, keep the radio off. In the silence of the car spend time speaking to Him. Think of ways that you can be in constant conversation with God. Pray without ceasing.

Day Twenty Two 11/17/08
Give up your own rights and privileges in order to serve others. You will one day receive everything God has in store for you. Do not ask for your own way today.

Day Twenty Three 11/18/08
If someone says harsh words or does harsh deeds toward you, pray for them instead of retaliating with equally harsh words. Possibly take it a step further -- ask them if there is anything you can pray about for them.

Day Twenty Four 11/19/08
We will encounter people today that look different, think different, believe different, and that are just different. They live in this world and have bought into what this world has told them. Don't be offended that they live this way because they don't know Jesus. They may know of Him but they may not really KNOW Him. Don't judge them today, but love them. Let's grow in our ability to love the people in this world, really love them. They don't need our judgement.

Day Twenty Five 11/20/08
Commit to be a support and friend for someone with health problems or a shut in. Pray for someone who is chronically ill. Choose joy today and everyday. Joy doesn't happen, we have to choose joy.

Day Twenty Six 11/21/08
Today, we are going to fast. Choose something to fast from such as TV, food, internet, etc. Spend that time considering God and His will for you.

Day Twenty Seven 11/22/08
All of us have a lot of stuff!! Clean out your excess and take it to CAM, or bring it to the church for the Impact garage sale.

Day Twenty Eight 11/23/08
Commit to being a person of the word. Spend time reading His word and work on making it a daily exercise.Have a great weekend!

Day Twenty Nine 11/24/08
We can't do everything ourselves, sometimes we need help and we need to ask for it when we do and not be ashamed. Let others shoulder the heavy burdens in life with you because we can easily collapse under the load: ask for help today.

Day Thirty 11/25/08
Today, we will be slow to become angry. We all have those people in our lives that just set us off. Situations, people, circumstances that seem to just set us on edge. Don't let it happen to you today. Pray that you will be able to keep your cool. Stay calm. See what happens when you don't respond the way people expect you to. Remember, your wife, husband, and kids deserve this also.

Day Thirty One 11/26/08
Stop and pray for your loved ones several times during the day.Stop before you get home and pray that you will be a blessing at home duringthe evening and through the Thanksgiving Holiday!

Day Thirty Two 11/27/08
Today is Thanksgiving! Give thanks with your family for what God has done. Spend time having each person share their thankfulness.

Day Thirty Three 11/28/08
Do a random act of kindness for someone you know that is a widow or widower or for someone in your neighborhood or your community that you know is alone. We also have people in our area who are foster parents. Think of a way you can bless them in their ministry to the children in their home.

Day Thirty Four 11/29/08
Show grace and mercy to all! Try and understand where others are coming from. Hear all sides of their story. Give them the benefit of the doubt and give them a break.

Day Thirty Five 11/30/08
Work on cultivating relationships at work, school, in your neighborhood or church that are important to your walk. Let them know they are important to your walk with God.

Day Thirty Six 12/01/08
Check on or write a note, email, or make a phone call to someone who has suffered a loss; someone that is in mourning.

Day Thirty Seven 12/02/08
Make things right with someone you've hurt or offended, whether intentionally or unintentionally. It may mean that you forgive someone or finally let something go.

Day Thirty Eight 12/03/08
Do not procrastinate! Answer emails and phone calls immediately. Make people feel that they are significant.

Day Thirty Nine 12/04/08
Our love dare during the season is we will not add to the stress. Let us work on being kind to the check out person, the people in line, the person who is having a hard time making up their mind, the spouse who wants to make one more trip to the store, the kids who have one more idea. Be the person who makes the season truly joyful and hope filled for all around!

Day Forty 12/05/08
During this time of doing the love dare I have realized how much I have to be a person who acts justly, loves mercy and is humble. The love dare has reminded me time and time again that it is not about what I want or desire. To be like Christ means to die to self daily, to put others before me, and to love Him with all I have. My prayer for all of us is that we learn to be like Christ in all we do. The way we live in our world, at home, alone and when we are with the Bride of Christ. May the way we live be a living testament to His goodness and our salvation.

Humans Are The Most Intelligent Species On Earth...Really?

Let me set the scene. Picture if you will a street lined with apartments and townhomes running north and south. Each direction has basically one lane, although they are about 1 1/2 lanes wide each. Between them is a center turn lane. Now imagine 30-50 fire department apparatus (Engines, Ladder Trucks, Ambulances, Technical Rescue, Canteens, Chiefs, Supervisors, more Chiefs, and more Supervisors. At each end of the "event" there are police officers, in real live police cars with blinky lights on top going blinky blinky blinky. The officers are directing traffic AWAY from the firemen so they can do their job.

Scene set? Good!

Now imagine not one, not two, not even three....but dozens of people coming up to the officers and asking..."What happened?" "What the hell do..." naaa better not. I quizzed several of the people by having them identify the big red trucks. Once they said "fire truck", I asked them what fire trucks were for. Honest to goodness, I got a few hesitations.

Remember the street I described with all of the trucks and stuff? Well they were blocking the street...duh! The people who didn't have enough nads to get out of their cars to ask stupid "what happened" questions, couldn't put their cell phones down long enough and simply motioned that they needed to go down the blocked street and EXPECTED us to play "valet" and move all of the trucks just so they could get home.

Parents, talk to your kids. Help them with their schoolwork. Teach them right from wrong. Give them hugs and encourage them to use common sense once they leave the nest.

Adults, if not for just a fleeting moment...PRETEND you have common sense and if the officer says go one way...GO! Don't be a complete MORON and argue...you and I both know you will lose. That way you will not be subject to the following responses:

Moron: "What happened?"
Officer: "Well Maam...I haven't been fully briefed but I'm pretty sure it was a fire."

Moron: "Is it serious?"
Officer: "Any time you see 50 trucks blocking the street with their little blinky lights on, it's serious."

Moron: "Can I go that way?"
Officer: "Can you fly?"

Moron: "I'm not from here..."
Officer: (under his breath) "Then why the hell are you here?"

Safety Note:
If a dirty bomb goes off or if you see something blow up....DON'T GO THERE! GO THE OTHER WAY!

Hurricane Ike

In my first ever blog post, I decided to give a first hand account of what your typical law enforcement officer goes through in preparation for a hurricane.

Thursday 09/11/08

Preparations are made to strategically be off-duty when the storm arrives. As it currently looks, the hurricane will be hitting on Saturday which means that it will hit on my Friday (having Sunday and Monday off) so currently I will have to deal with it. Prayers are made that it will stall and not come in until sometime after 2pm so I will already be off-duty.

Another option that I have is to get in the "red book" or the book that we are allowed to schedule time off. Normally the book is "closed" when storms are approaching or during things like the World Series (not like that will happen this year) and the Super Bowl (lots of advanced notification). For some strange reason, only one officer had put his name in the book to be off Friday and that left two spots for other officers. My buddy Marvin and I figured that we should jump on those spots and in the event the hurricane came in early! As it turns out, Marvin and I were able to secure the last two spots and he would be safe for the rest of the storm because he was already in the book for Saturday and then he is normally off on Sunday and Monday. Me on the other hand would have to come back in on Saturday and deal with the insanity that mass confusion brings.

Safely being home Thursday evening after a long day in court, I figured I was good to go as far as not having to go in until Saturday. Hopes were dashed when my sgt calls me and tells me that "all" time off has been recinded. Crap. Now I am faced with having to go in and drive around and look important while spending lots of taxpayer overtime money. Not that the money isnt good it's just that I somehow feel a little guilty wasting taxpayer dollars like that (does this make me Presidential?). After speaking with my Sgt I convinced him to call the Lieutenant and see if those with confirmed and scheduled time off were still required to come in on Friday....after all the storm isn't hear yet! I later got a call telling me I could enjoy my Friday but I was expected to be there on Saturday at 0600 and expect to be there until at least 1800 hours. 12 hours isn't bad considering some officers are having to be there 18 hours and even 24 hours at a time.

Friday 09/12/08

Friday is largely uneventfull. The day is spent at home picking up (I refuse to say "flying") objects that tend to dissappear during high winds and playing with the kids. Watching Geraldo getting slammed by high surf is the highlight so far on the news.

My bag is packed with extra clothes, dry socks, a camera, Bible, Computer, download cables...ect.

Friday 09/12/09 2040 hrs ---- Saturday 09/20/08 1035 hrs

NO FLIPPIN POWER! I was taking notes however and after "mobilization" I will try and catch up with the sights, sounds, smells, and utter stupidity of people during the "Great Storm."

Pictures

One thing is for sure...IKE did not discriminate between race, social class, parts of town, who had money and who didn't, republican or democrat. My friend and partner for a few days could not quit saying "SNAP!" every time we saw new and more amazing sites of damage. This picture is from a neighborhood where the average home prices are in the millions. For at least a half-mile, this was the scene along the curbs. This neighborhood also was without power for the longest in the area that I patrol but overall people coped as well as they could.

While this was generally the way most of the streets around town looked for a couple of days, Marvin and I were amazed that there were still people who generally did not have a clue. These are some of the same ones that amaze me day after day that the human species remains on the earth. For example: Driving through one neighborhood, which looked twice as bad as this street, after responding to a house burglar alarm we were flagged down by a man in probably his 40's and his father (looked just like him). Junior pulled along side of my patrol car as I was getting back in from placing something in the trunk and asked, "I noticed that there were a lot of you out here, did something happen?" I turned and looked at Marvin because for the moment I was at a complete loss of words...kind, gentle words which would keep me employed...Marvin looked at me with just as much shock and began to look back at me with that glare as so to say, "PG, be nice!" I turned back towards the MORON and restraining as best as I could from giving him a Billy Engval 'Here's your sign' remark said, "No, just getting something out of my trunk" and hurriedly got the hell out of that neighborhood.

The Storm Is Over

For 14 days straight, HPD was on "Full Mobilization" and therefore regular days off were cancelled, vacations were cancelled, and officers were ordered to work minimum 12 hour days. Naturally there were variations to the 12 hour days as some were ordered to work at noon Friday before the storm and were not allowed to leave until 6pm the following day. Personally, I did 13 straight days before getting the "allowed" day off which we started fighting for almost immediately. Not to shabby however since then next two paychecks had 53.75 and 32 hours of overtime respectively. Sweetie pie at home was thankful for that.

There were many amazing things that happened throughout this ordeal but the most impressive to me was the magnitude of the power of the storm. The destruction this far inland was nothing compared to what happened on Galveston Island or other coastal areas but to comprehend the power it takes to blow full size trees smooth out of the ground is at times mind numbing. Look at it this way....go stand next to a small tree and push on it and see if you can even make it sway...then think of a car or truck having an accident with a tree, who wins...the tree does. Now picture a tree such as this one and imagine the force it takes to push one of these puppies over! Marvin added, and wanted to make sure he got credit for saying it, "When the good Lord comes it don't matter who you are." (Marvin Smith). Of course Marvin also coined the phrase "No more funky bums" so he does have a wide swing of perspective.

Another of the amazing things that I observed was the curiosity of the people. The amount of people who started driving around looking at the destruction almost as soon as the "bad" part of the storm was over was mind boggling. Here we are without electricity to power the traffic lights and Joe Numb Nuts is driving around.

Sharing

Much praise and many thanks go out to those who helped feed our patrol division for a week and a half. Many of them are listed here but not all who were involved could be listed:

George's Pastaria

Lupe Tortilla

James Coney Island

Sam's Club

Lenny's Subs

Scholtskys

Kimberly Osborne

Pappa's (twice)

Souper Salad