About ten99j4

I am currently employed as a Radio Operator with the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Troop E in Poplar Bluff, Missouri. Previous to that, I worked for the Ripley County Sheriff’s Department in Ripley County, Missouri.  From 2000 until May 2001, I was a Deputy Sheriff, from May 2001 until December 2003, I was Chief Deputy and Investigator.  Then in December 2003, I was appointed as interim Sheriff to fill the the vacant office left after my Sheriff retired for health reasons.  On February 3, 2004, I was elected to fulfill the remainder of the previous Sheriff’s term, then in the general election later that same year, I was elected to my own 4 year term as Sheriff.  While I was Sheriff, I was the youngest active elected Sheriff in the State of Missouri at the time.  The youngest every elected was a couple years younger and was elected nearly 20 years previous.

Under my direction, the Ripley County Sheriff’s Office continued the dedicated work to fight drugs, that was began by my Sheriff Mike Cochran.  During the two combined administrations, the Ripley County Sheriff’s Office was ranked in the top five counties in the State of Missouri for nearly 5 years in a row, in methamphetamine laboratory seizures.  It was a pleasure to serve the citizens of Ripley County and I am proud to have been their Sheriff.

I really enjoyed being active in law enforcement and only left my elected office short of my full term, because the county does not provide health insurance and my wife and I decided that we needed health insurance and it was the right time to make a career change.  I left law enforcement for a short time, but quickly found that I was not happy at all being away.  When the opportunity to get back into law enforcement in the form of communications became available, I jumped at it.  That is one of the best decisions that
I have ever made.  I now have a part in the law enforcement process, have health insurance and a retirement package with the State of Missouri.

When I’m not working, I enjoy computers, squirrel hunting, fishing, major league baseball, wood carving, and spending time with my wife.  I am blessed with a wife that enjoys hunting and fishing, and isn’t afraid to jump right in and help clean the animals and fish that we get.

I have several web projects that I have been working on lately.  I’ve always wanted to do something with the internet and now I have finally taken the plunge head first into making some hobby web sites.

To see some of the wood carving items that I have for sale, check out my Etsy Shop.  Be sure to also check out a really neat Beginning Squirrel Hunting Ebook that I wrote.  If you have a need for wood carving supplies, you can find almost everything you can imagine at the Ozark Walking Sticks Amazon Shop.