Sgt. Barry Rowell

It was a boating accident – an overturned canoe on a lake at Cane Creek Park in Union County, North Carolina.  A fishing trip on a January day that went horribly wrong.  The wife made it to shore, but the husband never surfaced.  After six days of searching, rescuers recovered the body of Josh Chapman on January 15, 2015.

District 6 wildlife officers assisted with the search and served as liaisons between the family and rescuers.  Sgt. Barry Rowell spent considerable time with the family.  Fatal accidents never truly become routine for law enforcement officers, but many cope with the stress of these incidents by becoming emotionally detached.  Sgt. Rowell took a different approach.  He answered their questions and purposely invested time with them.   He spent most of six days with this family, recognizing that this was likely the most traumatic event of their lives.

Maybe Sgt. Rowell took this approach because he had lost his wife LaDonna six years earlier.  He understood grief.  More likely, he did it because it was the right thing to do.

Sgt. Barry Rowell

Sgt. Rowell died suddenly of a heart attack two days later on January 17, 2015.  He was 52 years old and a picture of health.  It was the sixth anniversary of his wife’s death and he had placed flowers on her grave earlier that day.  His death was shocking. 

Barry’s wildlife and law enforcement families gathered at the funeral home for his visitation.  Capt. John Campbell saw a man and two women enter the room.  The man was visibly shaken and crying.  He approached Capt. Campbell and introduced himself as Josh Chapman’s father.  He was accompanied by his wife and daughter-in-law, Josh’s wife.  Mr. Chapman went on to explain how comforting and helpful Barry and the other wildlife officers had been during the past week while they searched for his son’s body.  They were heartbroken to hear of Barry’s sudden death.  Through his tears, Mr. Chapman leaned in close to Capt. Campbell.

“I have to ask.  Was Sgt. Rowell real or was he an angel?”

Barry was definitely real.  A fine man - a loving father and grandfather.  He was natural with the media and spent considerable time in front of the camera.  He was good friend and a great co-worker.

An angel?  No, Sgt. Barry Rowell was a wildlife officer.

On the Wrong Track: A Squirrel Dog Running Deer

Rudy

Rudy, our nine month old Treeing Feist, has taken to running deer.  I almost hate to scold him.  There is such an exuberance in his high-pitched bark when he is hot on a deer’s heels.  His short legs and ample belly keep him from pushing the deer too hard.  All in all it would be really cute if it wasn’t so aggravating.

Early yesterday morning Rudy woke me around 4:00 needing to go out.  I padded into the living room and unzipped his crate.  He shot out like a Jack-in-the-Box and headed to the backdoor.  I opened the door and he popped out onto the back step.  His ear perked up immediately and I knew he had spied a deer.  As I gave him a forceful, “No!” he took off like a top-fuel drag car with me screaming his name at the top of my lungs.  I yelled and whistled for five minutes before giving up.  I figured finishing the night outside in single digit temperatures would be a fitting punishment.  Amy felt sorry for him and let him in when he returned 20 minutes later.

Secondary Fun
Destroying Bedding

Everything settled down until 7:00 when he wanted to go out again.  He ran around to the front porch and jumped into his house.  Within 30 minutes I heard him bark and I got to the porch in time to see five deer bounding off with Rudy on their heels.

I pulled on my insulted bibs and vest.  From the back steps I could hear Rudy’s joyous yips.  I ran a couple of hundred yards into the woods and stopped.  A deer loped by within 50 feet and I saw Rudy coming my way.  He saw me and hunkered down to hide. 

His first movement was rolling onto his back in submission.  Then he decided I was far enough away for him to make a break for it.  I cut him off and lifted him off his feet by his collar.  Normally, he submits to this dominate treatment.  This time, he decided that he wasn’t going peacefully.  His kicking and squirming left my hands cut and bleeding.  I whipped him with a switch as he hightailed it to the house.

Signs of struggle

Back home, we made up.  I wanted him to associate running deer with things that are bad (whippings, near strangulation, etc.), but being at home as something good (pats on the heads and reinforcement that he is a good dog).

I thought afterward as I cleaned the gashes on my hand how the whole episode relates to life.  I want Rudy to tree squirrels, but he enjoys running deer.  So, when he has the opportunity, he does what he wants even though it isn’t part of the plan to make him a squirrel dog.  In fact, it almost runs completely counter to my desires.  Even when I try to call Rudy off of his deviate behavior, he ignores me, choosing to follow his own desires.  And when I try to correct him, he vigorously fights to resist my discipline.

I could plug in numerous examples of this in life.  We resist leaders whose vision is counter to ours.  Most of us thought we knew better than our parents, especially in our teenage years.  We even arrogantly think we know a better path for life than God has for us.

There is even a parallel for one doling out discipline.  As much as I wanted to kill Rudy at 4:05 am, I actually love the little guy and can’t stay mad at him.  But, I know that ranging out from home at night puts him in danger of the coyotes that wake me howling on the hill.  There is risk that he will chase the deer so far that he can’t find his way home.  The deer even stop occasionally to face Rudy down.  A well placed hoof would be devastating to a 20 pound dog.  

Since I love that little pooch so I will continue to run after him through thick woods in sub-freezing weather when he goes astray.  I will struggle with him in a clash of wills to show him the ills of his ways.  Maybe I can even get his energy and abundant testosterone focused on squirrels.

I will do all that even though the easier path is to hope Rudy will figure it out on his own. But I know that rarely happens with dogs or humans.  Hopefully there will always be someone who doesn’t give up on me when I decide my ways are best.

Rudy and Polly

Apathetic Swipes at Spiritual, Social and Political Issues

www.amazon.com

Apathy is not a topic on which I like to dwell.  When considering apathy’s synonyms - indifference, lethargy, laziness – I want to push back from any reference to not just the topic, but especially accusations of these (in)actions.  I got whacked with such an accusation this past week by the book, Letters to a Birmingham Jail edited by Bryan Loritts.

First, I would highly recommend the book.  It includes Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Letter From Birmingham Jail.  Dr. King wrote this letter in response to moderate, white clergymen in Birmingham who spoke out against King’s practice of direct action and civil disobedience.  In part Dr. King wrote:

“I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the last few years, I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizens Councillor or the Ku Klux Klanner but the white moderate who is more devoted to order than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says, "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I can't agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically feels that he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by the myth of time; and who constantly advises the Negro to wait until a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.”

In the book, a series of pastors – white, African American and Korean American – each wrote a response to Dr. King’s letter.  There were two common themes. 

First, while we have made great strides in civil rights in the 50 years since the Letter From Birmingham Jail, we still have a long ways to go.  New Orleans Saints tight end, Benjamin Watson covers a variety of emotions in this Facebook post, but concludes that sin is at the core of recent actions that have led to protests across the country.  The respondents to Dr. King’s letter reach the same conclusion.  Our apathetic tendency is to focus on the symptoms of a problem (if we do anything) instead of the core cause - sin.

Benjamin Watson
www.dailymail.co.uk

Second, the pastors universally agree that multiethnic, multicultural, multigenerational, gospel-focused churches are needed to minister to the spiritual and social needs of our communities.  Multiethnic churches are defined as those where less than 80% of the members are from one racial or ethnic group.  Only 5.5% - 7.5% of American churches fit this definition.  Ephesians 3:4 references the “great mystery” of how the Gospel and grace can do what government and law cannot do: bring diverse groups together.  Therefore, multiethnic churches reflect the Gospel and form an organization that can set about addressing not only social and spiritual symptoms, but lead us to a solution to the sin cause.

***

I received a second lesson in apathy from an article and newscast.  In the article from Rolling Stone Magazine, the writer questioned whether a recent “virtual work stoppage” by New York City’s police officers would expose that police officers are often used by their governing bodies to directly (through citations) or indirectly (through “quality of life” violations) raise revenue to offset shortfalls in budgets.  Keep in mind that NYPD approached Eric Garner for selling individual cigarettes for 75-cents which boils down to a taxation law violation and a "broken windows" issue.  The officers didn’t write those laws, but are agents for enforcing them.  The indifference that concerns me is that most of us never give thought that when we (a government of the people –right?) pass a law that makes it illegal to sell cigarettes on the street (or some other minor infraction), we will ask police officers to enforce this law; that someone will resist enforcement; and that possibly that someone will end up dead by actions initiated to protect tax revenue.

Part 2 of this second lesson came this morning while watching an interview on Meet the Press with Lt. Gen. Daniel P. Bolger (Ret.).  He spoke of us (again – the people/government) sending military troops into situations such as Iraq and Afghanistan where military action is only a part of the long-term solution.  Yet, we expect the military to completely and single-handedly “fix” these broken countries while we sleep comfortably in our beds.  He referenced an article in the Atlantic by Jim Fallows that questions why we kept sending our military (even I write as though “the military” is some faceless entity instead of an organization made up of individual men and women) into no-win situations.  One point made is how disconnected the majority of the country is with military personnel.  A 2011 survey reported that in the previous ten years less than ½ of 1% of American served in the military.  We increasingly assume someone else will handle military actions for us.  And since fewer Americans are personally invested, we let someone else worry about whether military actions are appropriate and necessary.

Lt. Gen. Daniel P. Bolger (Ret.)
www.zimbio.com

So, I guess it all circles back around to apathy.  Apathy about things that are spiritual, social and political.  Somehow we have come to consider ranting as an action against apathy.  We rant in the streets and loot business.  We rant that “they” should just get over it (racism, poverty, joblessness, poor education, etc.).  We rant that law enforcement officers do too much or too little – often at the same time.  We softly rant “thank you for your service” and then send someone else's son and daughters and husbands and wives off on multiple military deployments to prop-up unstable governments that topple as soon as the troops leave. 

When do we buckle down as citizens, accept our share of the mess (chose one from many), and then collectively move toward a solution?  The only choices are action or apathy.