MJ-Way

Preparing for our graduation event in our school was always an activity I enjoyed. The academic school whose graduates consisted of General Education Development completions and the Vocational School’s certifications were celebrated annually. One of our guest speakers was the councilor I had advised on finding the paper trail for his lost computers. He had a list of questions he wanted to run by me before he addressed our graduates. He informed me that he did indeed get a copy of the receiver from the shipper. The signature on the receiver was that of our current warehouse supervisor. The supervisor had claimed he didn’t know anything about the computers arriving. He believed that when the boxes arrived he did sign for them not realizing they were computers. The inmate workers in the warehouse informed him that the Business manager had the inmates deliver the computers to the Administration building where they were distributed to the current administration offices. He wanted to know where he could find our Business manager? He also asked for the names of our warden, deputy warden, assistant deputy wardens, and what areas of the prison they were responsible for.

Giving him the information he requested was easy. How he used the information was going to be interesting. Our graduation commencement was completed. We shared refreshments of cake and coffee with our graduates. Our councilor guest spoke on the virtues of honesty and rebuilding integrity. This was something our graduates needed to hear. A few of the assistant deputies were in attendance but our warden and deputy warden chose not to attend. The current prison administration were not big fans of our school. Our new school principal believed they were busy in our states’ capital and were not at the prison for the graduation ceremony. I interjected that the invitations were sent out a month before the graduation commencement, and were not responded to. I was given the “be quiet look” by our new school principal as she walked away. Our councilor guest speaker smiled at me and shook his head. He noted that she didn’t seem to be happy with my response. “Well, all I can say after listening to your speech to our students was that my response to her was truthful.” He smiled.

On returning to the prison after a weeks vacation I couldn’t believe that we had a new computer lab in a classroom across from mine in our school building. Our Business Technology Instructor had informed me that “all hell broke loose” while I was gone. It seemed that our guest speaker councilor had returned to the prison with a couple of agents from the Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons. They located all of the computers and furniture procured by the DOJ, Federal Bureau of Prisons, for the councilor’s program at the prison. They were then moved to this classroom for him to begin teaching employability skills. She informed me that our new school principal was not very happy with how this all transpired and the ramifications of how this reflected on her leadership or lack of it. I shook my head. I thought at the time that our guest speaker councilor had lived up to the measure of his commencement speech to our student graduates on “Integrity and Truthfulness.” He “walked the talk!” I was going to enjoy working with his organization. Our bond was formed from that day forward. To be continued....

For the reporters, Brent Renaud, Piere Zakrzewski, and Olekasandra “Sasha” Kuvshynova. They have given their lives to report the truth. A reflection of the times we are in. For all those fighting to bring the world the truth, THANK YOU!

This was our biggest surprise! We were contacted by an agency that had heard we were donating plants, and vegetables to nonprofit organizations and after a brief description of their “Head Start Program,” we were more than happy to help them. They had a kitchen in their school building and a creative chef who would make healthy vegetable snacks for the children enrolled in their program from the produce we donated to them. Over the years I began a working relationship with two of their program councilors and they provided a lot of support to my student graduates who would be paroling. They were some very dedicated professionals and I enjoyed their camaraderie. My introduction was based on one of the councilors entering my classroom and wanting to inspect my computers. I had three in our classroom which were networked to our school server.

The computers did not have internet access, but were loaded with lessons in all levels of mathematics, reading comprehension, and writing skills. At first I thought the councilor only wanted to see what we had on our computers, but that was not the case. I was more than happy to show what educational programming was loaded on them but but that’s not what he was looking for. Apparently his organization had received computers through a grant from the Department of Justice which were to be used by the inmates to do resumes, cover letters, and employability skill building. He could not locate the computers in our school. He seemed a little discombobulated and confided in me that he needed to locate them. I suggested he check with our warehouse supervisor and see if they had been received. If they were received in our warehouse a bill of lading or shipper would have to be signed. He thanked me for the information and told me he would be in touch.

The next day I had my tutors and students harvest the pumpkins from our garden. We had a combination of different varieties. I was especially impressed with a pumpkin variety called “Lumina.” It was a white pumpkin and I knew the children from the Head Start program would enjoy painting them. I also grew meat pumpkins which could be used for cooking. Their chef could make all kinds of nutritional goodies with those. I made the arrangements with the Head Start Councilors to pick up about 30 pumpkins. They were very happy to take them and promised me pictures. The beginning of connecting with our community through the eyes of children had begun today. The future of a fruitful continued partnership with our Head Start teachers and councilors was promised.

The councilor who was looking for the computers was in our new Principal’s office when I returned to the school. He didn’t look very happy. Upon leaving her office he asked me not to leave the school building. He needed to talk with me. Once in the hallway he informed me that he still hadn’t found the computers. Our warehouse supervisor and new school principal was unaware of them being received by the prison. I informed him not to be stressed. All he had to do was contact the company responsible for shipping them and get a copy of the signed receiver. That will tell him where they are at, and who the person was receiving them. I had thought that they could have been shipped to our main warehouse in our state’s capital, but the signed receiver would be the “tale of the tape.” He thanked me again. At that time I did not realize that I just gave him the key to “Pandora’s Box.” To Be Continued…

This killer has a $1,000,000 bounty for his capture. Paid for by Russian Oligarch’s. He is murdering his own people in the Ukraine bombing hospitals, schools, and apartment buildings. Children , women, and seniors are dying in cities through out the Ukraine because of his invasion, and continued bombardment. Millions are fleeing the country. He has threatened the Western countries with nuclear war if they intercede. I pray he is arrested, and tried for his war crimes. He is claiming they are Nazi’s and are making bioweapons. His army has a history of using bioweapons. I believe he is capable of using them on his own people. He needs to be stopped. He has no concern for the life of his fellow Russians. He will have no concern for ours.

Mathew 6: 25-26

.Our garden began producing immediately after being planted. In the first year we delivered vegetables on a regular basis to the prison chow hall for both officer and inmate meals. Our immediate community food banks could not believe the amount of produce we were donating to them. I thanked my coworkers who were more than happy to make deliveries for us so that I could continue teaching and supervising my students as they worked in the gardens. Our Food Technology program Instructor would make different vegetarian meals from the produce we delivered to him. My students would try things like “green fried tomatoes,” “egg plant parmesan,” and “sweet potato fries.” Many growing up in the “urban desert” where McDonalds and Burger Kings were the meals of choice (many their only meal or they had nothing to eat) were amazed on how the vegetarian meals tasted.

.Fresh vegetables some of my students never ate. Having these types of meals prepared for them “farm to table” was a great learning experience. I could give them the macro nutrients and micro nutrients of everything they consumed from the garden. I had shown them what they were doing here today (creating gardens) was being replicated in urban environments across America. Once released form prison, they could contribute in a positive way promoting and working in a community gardening project. I was informed by my tutors of my student’s success once they returned home. Not all were success stories. Some unfortunately returned to old habits and were either gun downed or returned to prison on new charges. They just refused to change and payed the price for that decision. Some of them felt invincible. I called it “the fastest gun in the west syndrome.” Some one was always willing to lay claim to that title at the expense of the one carrying it.

.Making a fast buck in an urban environment without having to work hard for it was their “modus operandi.” That philosophy was what usually brought them back to prison. Being a positive influence in the community was not at the top of their priority list. Being king of the “crack house” was. In the drug trade: ” heavy is the head that wears the crown.” It usually has a target on it. All the teaching in the world couldn’t change their “money talks and bullshit walks” perspective. I knew I couldn’t reach some of them, but for those I could reach out and change that convoluted perspective, it helped in their continued future success. As we began harvesting the garden my students enjoyed the weighing and packaging of all the produce we would donate. The facilities chow hall would always have first choice of what we grew and then we would offer produce to our schools’ Food Technology program. When both of their refrigerators were filled, we then donated produce to our immediate community, and they were vey happy to receive it. I was always amazed at the poundage we harvested. I was sure to thank the good Lord, and a barn that provided eight dump trucks of “gardener’s gold.” It made a big difference for increasing our present and future yields. For my students, it was a healthy way to reconnect with the community.

To Be Continued….

It took us three days to complete the manure excavation. We filled eight dump trucks and I was able to empty them without incident into what would become the main prison garden. What I learned from the maintenance mechanics who had been involved in the construction of the prison was that the developers took all of the topsoil when they cleared the land for development. They then filled in the areas with sand and clay. I would spend the rest of my career filling all of the gardens with top soil and organic matter. My students would learn valuable lessons on land renewal. My helper graded and leveled the area we had removed all the manure from. The journalist was ecstatic. I thanked God for us completing this work without incident of accidents or injuries. I was always worried a mishap could send the barn crashing down on us, but my coworker assured me it would not be a mistake he would make. He proved my worries needless. Our opposite personalities worked well together on this collaboration. At the time, I did not realize there would be more.

My students and tutors began working the prison garden with a renewed vigor, and my coworker used the tractor to spread the manure turning the ground over as he went. From the furrows he created in the ground, my students made beds for the vegetables plants they grew from seed in the greenhouse. They were able to plant the full garden using topsoil we combined with the compost making raised beds. Almost an acre of land was planted with vegetables. It amounted to well over ten thousand plants. I expected a good continued harvest if the weather permitted it throughout the spring, summer and fall. The garden being next to the school could only be accessed through the school. This unfortunately would change in the future, but for now only my students and tutors had access to the garden. I also set up garden plots for my students. The stipulations were that they had to pick two other students to work in their garden, they had to agree on what they planted, they had to all take time to tend to it, and finally, the yields from their harvest were to be divided amongst them according to the work they put in.

One of my assistants tracked the time they worked in their gardens and the time they worked in the classroom garden labs. The hours worked were tracked as part of the classroom requirement to graduate, and many exceeded that requirement. They loved working in the horticulture labs, and I was hard pressed to make them leave when class was over. They often wanted to return, but were sent back not having a detail (official permission slip) to be there. The garden area was marked with out of bounds signs. This meant that only detailed students and workers could be there at the designated times working. Anyone else caught in the garden without a detail would be written a major out of place ticket. In the beginning this seemed to work. With my students and helpers having sole access to the garden area we were able to increase our annual yields. The warden was happy to be getting letters of thanks from the foodbanks we delivered our product to. The warden shared the letters with me and I made sure to share them with my students. It was a very important lesson for my students. Even though they were incarcerated, they could still contribute to society in a positive way. For some of them working in the garden and contributing in a positive way was a sorely needed redemption. TO BE CONTINUED…

This is my last post for Black History Month. My African American students enjoyed the stories/movies I would show them in my classroom about the positive contributions their ancestors made in America. The following music and video is a great contribution as well for the trying times we all find ourselves in and to celebrate the month: Philippians 2:3

We had agreed that we would need to get the facilities dump truck and back hoe tractor to do the excavation. I would let the warden know what are plans were and get his approval for use of the facilities equipment. We figured that it may take us about 3 days to complete the project, and I was concerned that the barn wasn’t in the best condition. We would need to be careful when excavating. My helper was very confident he could remove all the manure and dump it into the truck without damaging the barn. My job would be to get all the approvals from our supervisors, secure all of the equipment we would need, and finally, get the wardens approval of our plan to excavate the barn. Driving a dump truck full of manure to be dumped into what would become the prison garden was the easy part. So I thought.

The warden when I spoke to him was all for our plan and he had total confidence in our ability to accomplish it safely. He signed off on us using the facilities equipment which would be useful when requesting the equipment. Our supervisors knowing the warden had signed off on the project gave us their blessings. We set a date and I called the journalist to make sure it was a good date for her as well. She was happy to hear it was going to happen. I assured her that all the manure would be removed in a matter of three days, and my helper would grade the inside of the barn making it level again. She agreed on the date, and the amount of time we would need to have access to the barn. I was able get our facilities Director to give us access to the equipment. The equipment was a tractor with a back hoe attachment and our dump truck. We would pick them up by 7:00am and bring them back before we left for home at 4:00PM. If we had any problems we were to notify the control center immediately.

We picked the equipment up as planned in the morning of our first day. Our maintenance mechanics made sure everything was in working order and both had full tanks of gas. We planned to go straight to our job cite by way of a country road which was more like a two lane highway with gravel shoulders on each side. We would drive the shoulder all the way to the farm. My helper headed out with the tractor and had his emergency lights on. I followed behind him with my emergency lights on. It took us about 20 minutes to reach the barn. Once we reached the property the journalist made sure the horses were secured in another area of the farm and would not hinder our operation. With the back hoe he made quick progress starting in the furthest corner from our entry way. The manure itself was compacted in between layers of hay and would be a gold mine for the garden. The first day we filled two dump trucks and the barn was only a quarter completed. Some areas had as much as three feet of this compacted gold and I wanted to get every bit of it if possible.

To Be Continued…. In honor of Black history month I can think of no better way than to post a song I heard in concert by Motown’s one and only Stevie Wonder. The lyrics are most relevant for today’s world.

Mathew 22: 36-40

The journalist finished the interview and the Warden was happy. The article would appear in our metropolitan paper later in the week. I made arrangements to visit her farm. Once that was done, I would let the warden know what I thought we could do to get the manure for our garden. We said our goodbyes, and I informed her I would meet up with her later in the week. I also informed the warden that I needed to get back to the school. I had an idea of someone who I thought might be able to help me out with this project and I needed to run my ideas by him. He would need to get permission from his supervisor to help me, and we would have to look at the barn later in the week to see what was feasible. The warden let me know he trust my judgement and would support what ever I decided to do. I knew I would need equipment. I just didn’t know the logistics. That would have to be decided after I spoke with the person I thought could help me.

That person had a lot of experience with the kind of logistics I would need to maneuver and operate the heavy equipment I would be requesting to use. I also considered him my mentor in the DOC. He had never failed to give me good advice, and I appreciated his honesty. I had what psychologists’ called a “type A personality” and he was the complete opposite, “type B.” This defined our working relationship for the next 20 some years in the DOC. We had some very interesting experiences working together and I appreciated his mentoring. When I mentioned to him what I was planning on doing he laughed. I explained that we would have to view the property first, but that if we could get this manure it would be great for the prison garden. At the same time we would be making a citizen of the immediate community happy as well. He left it up to me to make the arrangements to visit the property and he believed his supervisor would not have a problem approving his help with this project.

The arrangements to visit the property were made and I couldn’t wait. When we arrived on the property there were a couple of horses in the pasture who couldn’t run up to us quick enough for what they probably thought was a meal. I patted their snouts and seeing I had nothing to feed them ran back to the pasture to feed. The barn was tilted to one side and looked as if a strong wind could blow it over. It was old. The barn wood was all weathered and in some areas the sunlight shown through the deteriorating wood illuminating what would be our work area. The opening to the barn was large enough for our tractor but not the dump truck. We would have to excavate and then shovel the manure into the truck. A two step process. My concern was the risk and I knew I had to find a way to minimize that calculus. My helper was all in. He had taken a shovel and determined that in some places there was more than three feet of compacted manure. This was a gardens gold mine. He believed he would not have a problem excavating the manure. He would fill the dump truck and I would take it back to the prison to be dumped in our garden. “The easy part,” He said. To Be Continued….

Psalms 103

.She was a free-lance journalist for one of our leading metro newspapers, and she wanted to speak with me about the Horticulture program. I was called to the Warden’s conference room in the Administration Building, and that was not viewed by any of my colleagues as a good thing. A page overhead for an employee to report to the “Warden’s anything” usually meant bad news for the employee. I signed myself out of the school building and headed to the conference room reviewing in my mind the people met earlier in the day. Did I piss somebody off, and is that why I am being called to this meeting? I was relieved once I entered the conference room to see the Warden smiling. He introduced me to a journalist and began to tell me why she was here. It seems she lived in the area and had been raising horses on a farm not far from the prison. She did a story recently on an agency we had been donating produce to and she couldn’t believe the amounts she was told we were donating. She wanted to do a story on us, and she had a proposal. I looked skeptical at her when she mentioned “proposal.” The Warden seeing my reaction asked me to hear her out.

.I was relieved to know that’s why I was called up here , and not anything I imagined I might have said to piss somebody off. Diplomacy and states man ship were not qualities I could claim. If someone pissed me off they were immediately informed of that fact. I didn’t use tact. I didn’t mince words. I used language that got their attention, and that usually meant someone would not be happy. Especially if they seemed to over hear what I thought was a soliloquy. Anyway, I was glad to inform her that the Warden was responsible for the success of the Horticulture program. and because of his constant support we were able to grow the amount of produce we donated. I emphasized “constant” because his underlings were constantly finding fault with the program when he wasn’t at our facility and my boss was at the other prison school. I quit telling them both of his deputized assistants giving me a hard time. Especially, my last assignment. It wasn’t worth the aggravation. The journalist’s proposal was simple. She lived down the road and she was living at her families house. The family had raised horses. They had more than a dozen horses at a time but had failed to clean the barn for the past five years.

.They decided that horses were no longer going to be raised at their farm. ( I think the local health department had a hand in that decision) She was curious. Would we be interested in looking at the barn the horses stood and shit in for the past 5 years (my words not hers) and find a way to remove the 5 year old compacted horse manure? My mind went into over drive as I started calculating how many times horses shit a day, times 12 horses, times 365 days a year times 5!!!! I asked her for the size of the barn and if she new the size of the area they were kept in. She gave me the size of the barn and she informed me the horses were kept in half of it on one side. This was a gold mine of nutrients for our prison garden, and I thought I had a way of getting all of it. I informed her she could begin the interview. I believed I had a way of getting the manure. I needed to run the plan by our Warden and I would call her for a time to look at the barn. She was glad to know I was interested and began the interview. TO BE CONTINUED…

Isaiah 7: 14, & Mathew 1: 18-23

Earlier in my teaching career I had a run in with a deputy and her assistant. She and her assistant had tried to stop the warden from approving my plans for landscaping the prison grounds to no avail. What I didn’t realize then was that they viewed me as a threat. This was told to me by the maintenance mechanic who installed our greenhouse. He had to do some work in the deputy suite and all he heard was our deputy complaining about the prison looking “too soft” with all the flower gardens, and “what more would I create given card blanche from our warden.” It was a sobering revelation because I thought this all had been resolved in the first year of our greenhouse being constructed, and my plans being accepted by our warden. Three years forward and I was still hearing about pushback from the upper prison echelons who believed the horticulture class was not good for prison security. It was a tough group to convince and I didn’t have the time or energy to school them. However, they had some schooling for me and when the warden or my principal was at another facility they became master disrupters of the program.

The siren was blown and the school was emptied of all students and tutors. We were on lockdown. The school closed. This meant that custody became our immediate supervisors and our new assignments were based on what ever prison administration thought the need was. That meant we could be assigned to search prisoner cells in the housing units, help run the prisoner housing units, giving a break to custody officers so they could get lunch, or do other tasks, like helping out in the mess hall, serving lunches or delivering lunches depending on the severity of the lock down. It always depended on what caused the lockdown as to where we would be assigned. Sometimes it was just a regular monthly drill where all non custody employees were gathered in one area of the school and accounted for. Once accounted for they would be delivered to the Administration building’s visitor room for further assignment. That assignment would depend on the current administrations feelings toward you. If they loved you, or feared you, you got to sit in the think tank and do absolutely nothing in the wardens conference room. I heard the donuts and coffee were to die for.

If they hated, or feared you but not enough to be afraid of how they treated you, you can rest assured your assignment would be one for the record books. I had quite a few of the record breaking assignments and my colleagues often shook their heads when I informed them of where I was assigned. So on this historical day I was the only non custody employee who got assigned to do strip searches of prisoners. With the help of our school officers I was trained in the proper way of conducting the searches referred to as “nuts and butts.” Our school officer couldn’t help but notice I was the only non custody employee assigned here. “It’s obvious”, he chirped. ” Our deputy hates the flowers and you keep expanding the gardens.” I had to inform him that I don’t consider them gardens. They are my laboratories, and with the help of God we have been very successful with our classroom/greenhouse experiments. The landscape spoke of that success. ” Well than, Welcome to our circus,” he said laughing. “With your continued success it looks like you’ll be joining us on a regular basis!” That was understated and he was absolutely correct. I was going to have to figure this out quickly or I would begin being assigned to some very difficult areas every time the siren blew. Being singled out for some” Special High Intensity Training,” by our current prison administration gave me even more motivation to continue expanding our gardens. So I did just that, and I also developed a plan for the next time the siren was blown and I was reassigned. TO BE CONTINUED…

Isaiah 9:6, John 3:16

.After all the craziness with the contraband and the need to change my curriculum away from the distribution of house plants, I took new inspiration from a woman I met at a correctional teacher’s conference in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Her name was Elanor Jositis and I could identify with her struggle to bring opportunity to a community so lacking of it. What I admired the most was her efforts to bring vocational training to an area marked by civil unrest. She was a key note speaker at the conference and she made the Correctional Teachers and Instructors feel appreciated. She spoke highly of her students who had come to Focus Hope from being incarcerated. She felt many of them where prepared having their GED’s and/or vocational certifications. Her staff found them willing and motivated and she thanked us for that. It was a breath of fresh air hearing her say that. Before Mrs. Jositis spoke, we were berated by another key note speaker for not doing enough to prepare our students for the world once they left the prison system. It was nice to hear that someone felt we were making a difference. Especially a leader in the community whose organization was known for providing vocational training and employment for a population lacking the opportunity.

.I began to steer my students who would be paroling to the city to Focus Hope. I was trained to give the General Education Development exams. and to those students receiving their GED’s, if they were paroling to the city, I would direct them to contact Focus Hope. I had a list of apprenticeships for the skilled trades to offer my students, but I always felt that they were capable of becoming skilled machinists. If they could divide an eight ball of cocaine, (many of them being in the drug trade), they could read a micrometer and blue prints. Focus Hope would provide the training and the students would have to show motivation by learning the material then applying it. Focus Hope has state of the art equipment and a genuine environment for training adult learners. I became a conduit for my students to seek them out if they were returning to the city. The demand for good machinists was strong and Focus Hope’s reputation was well known in the manufacturing sector for producing them.

.I would reconnect with Focus Hope on a regular basis. Myself and a colleague would make the trip on an annual basis to visit. The staff were always welcoming and would provide us an update of their latest’s technologies. They were also expanding and included a new child care center and food pantry for their students. After the demise of the house plant business at the prison, it was a welcome relief to hear of the successes this organization was making in the city with our returning citizens. I would be approached on a regular basis by my students or their friends to make copies of the flyers and pamphlets published by Focus Hope which hung in my classroom. I was told over the years of my students who had found success there and became machinists. I was eternally grateful when I had heard this and continue to this day to support this organization. In the world we live today this organization and its’ message is ever the more relevant. I was glad to help my students reconnect with their community through Focus Hope. It was also a new way for me to reconnect with the community having given up on the house plant business. I was refreshed in a sense, and would look for even more opportunities for my students to display their skills. TO BE CONTINUED…

Isaiah 9: 1-3, Mathew 4: 12-17

.So after three long months of investigations and my program being put on hold I was informed by our school officer that a cell phone, 32mm magazine clip (missing 2 bullets with 5 bullets remaining in the clip) and a buck knife were discovered inside a plant container. An ounce of Marihuana was also discovered under a locked cabinet in a supply room. The same room the officers had been meeting each other on regular basis for their rendezvous. I wondered why the current school administration had not informed me of this, and I brought this subject up at our staff meeting. My colleagues were in shock when I repeated what our school officer said was found in the plant container. The colleague I had been admonishing for being myopic informed me that the phone contained a video as well, and was purchased by one of the officers he had seen leaving the supply room a little disheveled. Our new school secretary who was anything but professional blurted out, (to the chagrin of our new school principal) “it was a sex video!” From the secretary’s exacerbated tone and our new principal’s laughing acknowledgement I felt ill at ease.

.Now I was completely befuddled by these revelations. For how long was this known? I was on the administrative hot seat for the past three months and no one from our current administration had informed me of these findings. Our school officer being in the same position as me because of the contraband informed the group that he was just made aware of these facts a week ago and had informed me of the contraband found in the planter. He was just informed today that the video was a ménage a trois between the two officers often seen in the supply room together and a prisoners’ wife. The officers in the video both resigned before an investigation could be conducted on them. One of the officers had risen in rank and was seen as a department “golden child.” The ramifications of liability for the DOC were evident. The school principal informed us that the bullets missing from the 32 mm clip were found and that a gun was not smuggled into our facility. At the time I found this hard to believe. The motivation for the contraband was never discussed formally. The why, what, and when were left to speculation. In the DOC set ups occurred on a regular basis and it was assumed that’s what happened with these officers.

.I remembered what the instructors at the academy had taught us in new employee school. We would have more problems with staff than we would with prisoners. I was skeptical when they made this point. I began losing that skepticism the longer I taught for the department and began seeing staff compromised. I was made a Chief Union Steward by default ( nobody wanted the job) and I had volunteered. I began representing people who had been compromised far beyond my help. I would inform them to contact a lawyer and hope the department doesn’t prosecute. They didn’t appreciate the advice. All terminations could be grieved, but in light of the DOC’s willingness to prosecute, most defendants just resigned. I was a lousy union representative when it came to terminations. I told my employer they would eventually get someone killed. They waited until they had more than enough evidence that an employee was compromised and I informed them that in so doing, another innocent employee could be hurt. They wanted to “make their case” was often the response. In the ten terminations I had to represent while being a steward, not one fought to get their job back. The incriminating evidence was overwhelmingly not in their favor. I think the officers figured that out quickly, and left without letting the door hit them where the Good Lord split them. I don’t know what the department did in their case. The information was never shared with me. I just knew the house plant business I started 10 years ago was no more. My bubble burst. I would look for other opportunities to show case what my students could accomplish by completing the class.

To Be Continued…

Luke 1:31-33