"Deputy in Disguise" is a look back at my career in law enforcement, first as a deputy sheriff, and more poignantly at what it was like to rise through the ranks from patrolman on the streets of a small red-neck town, to Chief of Police in something of a lions den.
In the photo shown here a black band is draped across my badge as a salute to a fellow officer who was killed in the line of duty. That tragedy occurred in the city of Whitehall, Ohio on the day we opened our display tent in Obetz for the annual summer celebration known as the Zucchini festival.
As difficult as it was for all of us to focus on what should have been a celebratory atmosphere, we managed to do do so with heavy hearts. But even the killing of a policeman on that day did not deter the attempts of some to make keeping the peace in our village more challenging than it ever should have been. But the challenges were there and I discuss many of them in great detail in my latest publishing adventure.
"Deputy in Disguise" is also a metaphor for how I personally viewed those years in law enforcement. The book looks deeply into my previous life as something of a hippie as I made my living playing records and talking on the radio at several of Columbus Ohio's top radio stations.
Becoming a cop was probably the most radical thing I ever accomplished, but thanks to the communications skills I honed as a broadcaster I managed to not only survive all of it, but win many friends and supporters, while finding ways to beat off some of the worst detractors who ever attempted to derail my objectives. And in the end, I walked away from all of it laughing at most of it, and knowing that I did make a difference.
Whether my accomplishments were for the better or for the worse may be debated in Obetz for decades to come.
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