Over the last weeks and months, we have heard the demands across the country to change how law enforcement does its job. Locally, community members have rallied and spoken about practices that disproportionately impact people of color. At the same time, others in our community and across the country have spoken to the need to support law enforcement, pointing to departments with limited numbers of officers available within the community or available to staff detention facilities. 

While these groups may seem to have interests that are polar opposites, there is a middle ground where law enforcement officers CAN “serve and protect” and CAN demonstrate a fundamental respect for those with whom they interact. A big part of that equation is providing law enforcement with the resources they need—and I’m not talking about weapons. I’m talking about training and other resources. And, yes, I’m talking about more officers too.

This topic was front and center for me yesterday, July 28th, as I listened to my friend and colleague, Steve Hollis, the Human Services Manager for the City/County Health Department, participate in a webinar sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) GAINS Center for Behavioral Health and Justice Transformation, a Center within the US Department of Health and Human Services. The topic of the webinar was data sharing, particularly among law enforcement, behavioral health, and other social service agencies. In his presentation, Steve focused on the work that we have been doing here in Boone County, work on which I am passionately committed. He started that discussion by listing many of the projects in which we have been engaged since 2014, when Boone County joined the National Association of Counties’ (NACo’s) Stepping Up Initiative. 

The Stepping Up Initiative was created because of the disproportionate rate at which individuals with behavioral health issues across the country are involved in the criminal justice system and detained in our county jails. These individuals are detained for longer periods of time, re-offend at higher rates, and have worse results than other individuals facing the same charges.  

I recognized that Boone County was no different in this respect than other jurisdictions. Our jail was the largest mental health facility in the county, and more resources—from law enforcement, to prosecutors and public defenders, to the court system, to the jail itself—were expended on this population. This further meant that our annual county budget was significantly impacted, as such a large percentage of revenues fund those core governmental activities. 

Given those individual and community impacts, we knew we had to do better. I knew we COULD do better. So, I took the lead in joining the Stepping Up Initiative and together, with many partners, we began the journey.  Steve’s listing of Boone County’s projects and activities was, in large part, an acknowledgement and celebration of those partnerships and collaborations over the past six years.

• With over 35 community stakeholders—from law enforcement agencies throughout the county, to faith community members, to re-entry agencies, to behavioral health care providers, to Probation & Parole, to the courts, to lawyers involved in every facet of the criminal justice system, to the local hospitals, especially MU’s Psychiatric Unit, to MU’s School of Social Work, to the Housing Authority, to EMS providers and the Fire Departments—we held two Sequential Intercept Mappings, and analyzed resources and gaps in resources for individuals intersecting with the criminal justice system.  
  
  
• With huge support from Burrell Behavioral Health, we went from a system that provided a Community Mental Health Liaison (CMHL) for Boone County—but shared with NINE other counties––to a CMHL designated to serve only Boone and Randolph Counties.  This individual can now provide timely assistance to law enforcement as they engage with individuals in mental health crisis. 
  
  
• We built on the commitment of the Sheriff’s Department and the Columbia Police Department to ensure that officers receive Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training and expanded the training by including detention officers in the Boone County Jail and 911 tele-communicators. This means that those interacting with members of the public have a working knowledge of mental health issues; receive training in de-escalation; and recognize the need for self-care in themselves and their colleagues.  
  
  
• Community stakeholders, including representatives of the Columbia Police Department and the Boone County Sheriff’s Department, meet regularly to discuss and find solutions to the disproportionate rate at which children of color are referred to the Juvenile Office in Boone County. This intentional work impacts not only juveniles but also the long-term trajectory of adults since data shows that children referred to Juvenile are much more likely to also be justice-involved as adults.  
  
  
• Boone County voters supported the Children’s Mental Health tax by a wide margin in 2012, and this tax funds, among other programs, the Family Access Center for Excellence (FACE), which has created a place to which children and their families can be referred rather than directing them into the Juvenile Justice system. 
  
  
• Boone County Sheriff Dwayne Carey led the way toward having a uniform records management system across all law enforcement agencies in Boone County. This uniform approach allows officers to make decisions based on knowledge that an individual is in mental health crisis and, in the event of an interaction with law enforcement, the response is appropriate to the situation and safer for both the officer and the individual.
  
  
• With collaboration of faculty members in the MU School of Social Work, the mental health professional assigned to the Jail, detention staff, and Boone County Community Services staff, we developed a two-phase mental health assessment for those entering the jail, to ensure that mental health issues are promptly identified and addressed. 
  
  
• Building upon a data-sharing project funded by a grant from the Corporation for Supportive Housing and implemented by the University of Chicago and the Boone County Community Services Department, we have been able to match data on homelessness and justice-involvement and, based on that match, prioritize resources for the most vulnerable and the highest utilizers of limited resources. This allowed us to obtain, through the incredible efforts of the Housing Authority, housing vouchers that, paired with supportive services, have led to real change for individuals who had been heavily involved in both systems.
  
  

Steve’s account of what has been accomplished over the last several years made me proud to live in Boone County and to be a part of this initiative.  It made me proud to know that, although we have much more to accomplish, we have made a difference through our willingness to look at ourselves in the mirror, to see not only what we are doing well but what we can do better. It made me proud that, in our community, we don’t shy away from discourse or from facts. It made me thankful for those who choose to collaborate, to find a path forward together, from members of the faith community to law enforcement, from court personnel to public defenders and prosecutors. 

Do we need more resources?  The answer is a resounding YES.  We must critically analyze how people become involved in the justice system—from juveniles to adults—and determine what resources will keep them from that trajectory. We must give law enforcement the resources necessary, from training to personnel, to help them make appropriate decisions. And we must continue the candid, open conversations, knowing that only through authentic conversations can we implement positive change.

For additional information regarding the Stepping Up Initiative in Boone County and Janet’s involvement in it, see the following media links:
​
Boone County Commissioner Appointed to National Committee
(Boone County Journal, July 29, 2020)

Data-Driven Justice Community Portrait: Commissioner Janet Thompson 
(National Association of Counties, June 30, 2020)

Boone County Works To Provide Mental Health Programs To The Community
(Columbia Missourian, Jan 20, 2020)

Stepping Up Initiative: Special Topics Case Studies
(National Association of Counties, Dec 12, 2019)

Boone County Joins White House’s Data-Driven Justice Initiative
(ShowMeBoone.com Press Release, Oct 19, 2016)

Boone County Steps Up On Mental Health Issues
(KOMU, Oct 6, 2016)

Thompson Hopes to Continue Mental Health Initiative With Second Term
(Columbia Tribune, Oct 2, 2016)
​
Special Report: Breaking the Cycle
(ABC17News, May 13, 2016)

Originally posted on July 28, 2020.

Early last week, as I was coming out of a grocery store in Columbia, I heard a familiar voice call, “Hey, Janet!” It was James Gray, pastor, friend, and community advocate. As James does, he quickly began to share what is topmost on his mind these days, the pain—physical and emotional—that so many in our community are experiencing on a daily basis, often with little hope that the clouds will lighten or that a ray of sunshine will come forth.  

Talking to Pastor Gray reminded me of several meetings I had last year with him and with Shaunda Hamilton. Shaunda transformed her pain after the tragic death of her daughter in September 2019, into community action, with the creation of Boone County Community Against Violence.  Both Shaunda and Pastor Gray have recognized, on so many levels, the impact of violence on individuals, families, and the community at large.  And Pastor Gray has spoken not merely of the violence but also on the lack of connection between people as being at the core of the problem.

That day in front of the grocery store, Pastor Gray told me that he was planning a meeting on July 24th at the Armory parking lot and that people would be gathering to talk of hope and inspiration. He saw this as one way of urging the clouds to clear and a ray of sunshine to emerge. I joined a small group of people that evening both searching for and trying to provide the hope and inspiration that Pastor Gray sought for in the community. Among the speakers he had called together were Columbia Mayor Brian Treece, Shelter Insurance President Matt Moore, Columbia Police Lieutenant Mike Hestir, and MU Men’s Basketball Head Coach, Cuonzo Martin. 

My words echoed those of many of the other speakers. I told those present that the gathering recalled for me something my brother Ian, now a hospital administrator in San Antonio, had recently quoted to the people of Bexar County: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.  This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” 

Those first two commandments are pretty straight forward, right? You’d think so, but, as Ian’s comments suggested, it’s in the implementation, particularly as to that pesky second commandment, that we sometimes get wrapped around the axle. Who is “thy neighbor” and what does it mean to “love” in the context of these times in which we live, of violence and pandemic.

As the speakers last Friday night so eloquently told those gathered, “thy neighbor” isn’t just the person next door. It isn’t just the person who looks like me, talks like I do, wears the same kind of clothes, eats the same kind of food, believes the same things, speaks the same language, or grew up with the same shared experiences. “Thy neighbor” means everyone.  

Just as important, to “love” isn’t some esoteric emotion. As Coach Martin and Matt Moore told us, that “love” is believing in another person, telling that person that he or she can meet goals and reach for the stars, making sure that a young person has a square meal, and the resources and tools to attain those goals. And, as my brother Ian told the people of Bexar County, right now, to “love” your neighbor also means wearing a mask.  It’s one of those visible signs that you value other people, that you care about and for them.

Whether you are a person of faith or not, I suspect that one of your core values is to “love your neighbor as yourself.” The challenge for each of us, in Boone County and beyond, is to discern who is our “neighbor” and how we can live up to our responsibility to “love” our neighbor as ourselves. If each day we try to make one more decision based on that rule, maybe, just maybe, the pain that Shaunda has felt and the pain that Pastor Gray witnesses day after day will diminish.

Originally posted on July 20, 2020.

It’s probably fair to say that no one fully anticipated the turmoil, uncertainty, or changes affecting our lives over the last several months. All of us have experienced the challenges of a worldwide pandemic and the struggle of how to deal with it here at home in Boone County. And campaigns are no exception. It would be irresponsible of me (not to mention foolish) to hold  events, group meetings, or other traditional, in-person activities typically involved in an election campaign, as if nothing had changed.

While this has made things a little complicated, the importance of electing and keeping good leaders, who make decisions based on science and valid data, has not diminished. In fact, competent leadership has never been so important.

We may have had to throw traditional campaign events out the window, but I would still love to hear from you and would welcome your support and participation in my re-election campaign. I am facing four Republican challengers in the August Primary, any of whom will make for tough competition in November.

We will need to be creative in making sure our message is adequately communicated to all voters, regardless of how they get their information, so that each voter can make an informed choice. Of course, I hope that choice is me, come November 2!

If you could help with a campaign contribution by clicking the link below...

Originally posted on July 16, 2020.

Recently I was asked by the Boone County Farm Bureau to create a video to introduce myself to its members and talk about topics that are important to my campaign. While I could have listed the standard, vague talking points that politicians typically recite, I decided to use the opportunity to focus on one issue about which I care deeply—a topic that usually doesn’t get much attention, especially during a campaign. That issue for me is mental health. 

We cut the video down to its required 4-minute length which you can view here, but I wanted to share the slightly longer version with all of you. This issue affects so many of us, but for many reasons it is often ignored and too seldom seen as a topic worthy of political discussion. It’s that discomfort with the topic—or maybe the skepticism in bringing it up in an election campaign—that spurs the need to discuss it. Sure, county commissioners still must deal with maintaining roads and bridges and the day-to-day work of keeping a county the size of Boone running, but a modern commission has the responsibility to do much more.

Originally posted on July 13, 2020.

In the space of about a week, Boone County lost two educators and life-long learners, Alice Neihardt Thompson and Margaret Sayers “Petch” Peden. Conversation and activity in the Great Beyond is undoubtedly much more vibrant with the addition of these two extraordinary women. I was fortunate to know both of these women for most of my life. Throughout my life, they encouraged in me the love for and dedication to learning.

Alice Neihardt Thompson was the youngest of four children born to John Neihardt and Mona Martinson Neihardt. Dr. Neihardt, the poet laureate of Nebraska, author of Black Elk Speaks and a wealth of lyric poetry, included in his long and storied career years of teaching in the English Department at the University of Missouri, and passed his love of teaching along to his daughter. Mrs. Neihardt, a renowned sculptor who, as a young woman, had studied in Paris with Auguste Rodin, added her love of and respect for physical beauty to the makeup of the young Alice. Alice served her country as a WAVE in World War II; studied dance with Madame Cassan (herself a student of the immortal Anna Pavlova); danced professionally, but then, at her parents’ SkyRim Farm just north of Columbia, found the place where beauty, teaching and learning intersected—as, for over five decades, she trained American Saddlebred horses and taught others to ride, respect and understand these beautiful animals.  

My first exposure to Alice Thompson was as a horse-crazy four-year-old whose older brother had been given a series of riding lessons. As Ian was mounted on one of the lesson horses, I was told that I was too young and would have to wait until I, too, was seven, before I could take lessons.  

Despite throwing myself onto the ground in the middle of the barn lot, and having what can only be termed a “hissy fit,” I didn’t get my way. In fact, Alice (who I always called “Mrs. Thompson”), and my Mom, stepped OVER me and ignored the fit. Lesson learned. Hissy fits don’t work.  Learn by watching Ian. Keep everyone on board to get lessons when I turned seven.  

Lessons began. Ian and I rode with Nancy and Sally Bass, then with Debbie and Cindy Marks, first on the school ponies, then on school horses, and finally, on some of the exquisitely beautiful American Saddlebreds. And ultimately, our parents bit the bullet and we acquired one, two, and then “more” Saddlebreds. Each horse, and each teacher—from Alice Thompson and her long-time partner Uncle Dick Cook, to Annie Lawson Cowgill, to Deborah Booker, to Sue Allmart and a whole host of others—provided insights, gave ideas, and encouraged us to expand our skills and our ability to connect with different horses. And even now, almost six decades after that “hissy fit,” I still ride or drive horses, clean stalls and feed every day. And yes, the horses eat their dinner before I do.

My first exposure to Petch (who I always called Sra. Peden) was through my Mom, who, preparing for our family to move to Barcelona, took Spanish lessons from Petch so that she could keep our family functioning in that city while my Dad took a sabbatical, studying with a renowned Urologist who practiced there. Upon our return to Columbia, it was Petch to whom Mom turned for help in keeping Ian’s and my knowledge of Spanish up to snuff. It was Petch who helped Ian and me navigate the hoops to take classes in Spanish at MU while we attended the Lab School. It was Petch who later ever-so-subtly encouraged an undergraduate and then graduate degree programs in Spanish. It was Petch who opened doors and opened my mind to possibilities by facilitating discussions with people like Carlos Fuentes and Mario Vargas Llosa. It was through Petch and Bill Peden that my appreciation for literature and the importance of carefully-chosen words experienced exponential growth. It was Petch, then, now and always, who was one of the “role models,” and “other moms,” classy, strong, funny, who could always be counted on to transform a thunderstorm into a teaching moment. And she could always make things better with a Coke and something chocolate.

I used to say that, when you stop learning, you are dead. I was wrong. I had forgotten the life lessons from Alice and Petch. If you aren’t learning, you’ve never been fully alive. In these times, more than ever, it’s so important that we accept the challenge and continually pursue the gift of learning.

Originally posted on July 8, 2020.

When I was six years old, my Mom loaded up our family’s station wagon, put me in the back seat and my brother Ian, in the front seat beside her, and began the long drive to Alabama to visit her Mom, her sister Dot, her brother John and their families.

My Dad, who was the Chair of the Urology Department at the University of Missouri, had too much on his professional plate to spare the time to spend a couple of weeks in Montgomery and then at Mom’s Aunt Maude’s house in Foley. But, he did his part for the journey, getting a mechanic to go over the car and buying all new tires.

When we were an hour or so north of Montgomery, Mom saw a sign advertising ripe peaches and she pulled over to buy enough to provide peach pies and peach ice cream for every single family member to enjoy. As we pulled back onto the highway, the air in the car was redolent with the rich smell of ripe peaches.

As we drove south, we talked of who we would see and what we would do on this family vacation. And then, BAM! BAM! BAM! Three of the band-box new tires blew at the same time. And Mom, albeit a great driver, couldn’t control the car. It plunged down the near vertical drop, rolling again and again, finally coming to rest at the bottom of what, to my six-year-old eyes, looked like the Grand Canyon.

Since the car had landed on its back, Ian and I had some difficulties unbuckling our seat belts but, finally managed it, and, Ian went up the hill to try to flag down passers-by while I stayed with Mom, who was sliding in and out of consciousness, having sustained many serious injuries.
Mom spent most of that summer in the hospital in Montgomery, first in the ICU and then in a regular room.

Ian and I spent over a month in Montgomery, living with our Aunt Dot, one of Mom’s sisters, and her husband, Uncle Jimmy. Each day, they took us to see Mom in the hospital. I didn’t know it at the time but they feared Mom wouldn’t make it and they wanted to make sure we had told her each day that we loved her.

Even during the first few days after the accident, the one thing we heard over and over again, was that, had the three of us not been wearing our seat belts, we would all have been dead. As it was, Ian and I had just sustained scratches, and although Mom’s injuries were severe, she survived.

In our family, seat belts have never been optional. You get in a vehicle, you fasten your seat belt. And maybe that horrific experience on a road in Alabama influenced not only our family’s default position on seat belts, but also Mom’s decision, while raising a family and practicing medicine full time, to gain her Master’s degree in Public Health from the University of Missouri.

On the national stage, health and safety professionals have presented data and shown legislators and big business that seat belts should be required in all vehicles (even my John Deere tractor has a seat belt!). Seat belts are now installed in all vehicles. They save lives. And, since the 1960’s, they are much more effective since they have evolved from the lap belts of that time to the combined lap and shoulder belts of the present era.

The discussion about seat belts wasn’t the first public health issue to percolate its way onto the national stage. As early as 1905, in Jacobson v. Massachusetts, 197 U.S. 11 (1905), the United States Supreme Court held that government could act to protect the “public” health, through collective action. In that case, the Court upheld a local ordinance requiring that individuals be vaccinated for smallpox during a smallpox epidemic. The underlying rationale for the decision was, in part, that what happens to individuals impacts the collective body, and that individual rights will not be read categorically to trump the collective well-being.

Since Jacobson, on the national, state, and local levels, we routinely see implementation of rules with public health implications. Their focus is wide-ranging, from infectious disease, to causes of chronic disease, to causes of motor vehicle accidents—speeding, drinking while driving--, and on and on.

Part of the current debate in this country and in this county is whether government has the authority to issue a so-called “mask” order. Short answer is “yes,” the government DOES have that authority, as the Supreme Court recognized starting in 1905. This authority has led to:

* Seat belts
* Speed limits
* Safety glass in automobile windshields
* Polio vaccinations
* Smallpox vaccinations

...and a whole host of other initiatives that enhance public health and safety.

My Mom’s life—and almost death—experience undoubtedly led to her support for and lobbying efforts on behalf of other public health and safety issues—such as the requirement of safety glass in automobile windshields. For that particular issue, Mom had to address the opposition’s claims that safety glass cost more, making vehicles more expensive for individuals and businesses to purchase. Mom and others involved in the push for change asked legislators to balance the relatively small cost of the different glass against the health benefits—saving people in accidents from being injured by shards of glass as the windshield broke.

My brother, who served in the Army for 30 years before retiring as a “full bird” colonel, and who is now a hospital administrator for a hospital designated for COVID-19 patients in San Antonio, recently told the people of his county, “wear a mask.” He, and public health professionals across the globe are all too aware that we don’t have many tools to fight this bug. But, one of the tools that we DO have that can help stop the spread is wearing a mask.

So, my question to you is—when we KNOW that wearing a mask will help stop the spread of this deadly disease, why aren’t we all wearing one? It’s no different than wearing a seat belt or driving the speed limit. It saves lives.

Originally posted on July 4, 2020.

As Benjamin Franklin left the Constitutional Convention, a woman supposedly asked, Mr. Franklin, what form of government have you given us?” He purportedly responded, “A republic, madam, if you can keep it.” His response referred not merely to the kind of government the Framers had created but also acknowledged that this experiment would not be easy, nor should be become complacent as the experiment evolved.
A system of government such as ours requires care and it requires engagement. Engagement can mean voting, or running for office, or pursuing other ways of holding government accountable. But, at its core, it means living into the fundamental promises articulated by the Founders— that all people are created equal, endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights— including life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
It also means understanding that the Constitution is a living and breathing document, one that allows us to expand and adapt our earlier understanding and implementation of our core rights to fully live into our promise to become a beacon of light to the world.
Let us engage in civil discourse and learn from these changing times so that, as Mr. Franklin stated, we can “keep” that unique experiment alive.
I also hope you'll enjoy this video from the Parley P. Pratt Freedom Run, of Mel West answering the question of "What does Independence Day mean to you?"

Happy Independence Day to you all.

-Janet

Originally posted on June 19, 2020.

In the midst of a worldwide pandemic, economic instability, and the chaos erupting in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, I did not believe that fundraising for my re-election campaign as Boone County’s Northern District Commissioner was at all appropriate. I would have been embarrassed to ask my friends and neighbors for money with so much uncertainty in everyone’s lives.
 
Uncertainty remains, but the cold, hard reality is that the issues affecting our nation also affect us here at home in Boone County, as we see the tragic consequences that result from poor, insufficient, and delayed leadership.

In addition to the routine and statutory duties of a County Commissioner, I have spent much of my time as Northern District Commissioner trying to protect the most vulnerable citizens of Boone County, working to: 

• lower the rates at which individuals with mental illness are detained in our County jail; 
  
  
• retain federal benefits for pre-trial detainees so that they remain connected with services and the cost for their care does not rest solely on the people of Boone County; 
  
  
• promote pre-natal to age three programming, along with agencies across Boone County, so that every child in Boone County will be afforded equality in opportunity; 
  
  
• establish a coalition involving MU Extension and the faith community to address soaring rates of depression and suicide in our rural population across Missouri; and...
  
  
• help establish a work group tasked with finding a local food processing solution in support of local farmers that would ensure reliable and safe food supplies to consumers.  

As the Commission’s liaison charged with planning Boone County’s Bicentennial, I have also worked with a large group of volunteers and officials from across the county to organize the activities and events leading up to our year-long celebration, including the completion of the Bicentennial Community Collaborative Mural, which now hangs in the Boone County History & Culture Center, and a video of an original Stephens College production, depicting 12 iconic women in Boone County’s history.   

I know that you and I share a commitment to Boone County. That is why I am asking you to place your confidence in me again. It’s imperative that we not turn our county over to those who refuse to even acknowledge that many citizens continue to face serious inequities due to their race or economic condition.

We cannot turn our county over to those who want to ignore the impact that mental illness and depression have on our rural—and urban—communities alike. We cannot afford to turn our county over to those who believe incarceration is the only means of ensuring citizen safety.

Over the past year, we have seen that electing leaders who reject science-based safety standards or who attack public officials whose only job it is to protect our citizens is a real consequence of local elections.
 
That is why I feel I must do what I’ll admit I find distasteful, and ask you now for your support. A gift in any amount will help me prepare to immediately counter one of the four Republican candidates emerging from the August Primary Election.  No election is without consequences, but this election, in these times, feels especially important if Boone County is to move forward as a fiscally responsible and solvent county in which all citizens feel their safety and their needs are addressed equally.
 
I know your financial support is a sacrifice. I take that responsibility seriously. Thank you for considering a contribution to my campaign. Contributions may be made online at

Bill’s first response when I asked if I could try was to ask if I needed to see a psychiatrist. He then invited me to his gym on Grace Lane and said that, if I could do it at all, it would take five visits to the gym to accomplish the goal. On my first visit Bill and Tony, a really nice guy who works out there, got me started, with Bill directing the show and Tony helping to put weights together. We got through about twenty lifts that first day. I discovered that my right arm is stronger than my left, but that my right shoulder lacks the range of motion of my left. 

I had told Bill up front that I had had shoulder surgery on both sides and that the right one hadn’t been entirely successful because I had had to pull a colt three weeks post-surgery. Bill was also alerted to my bad back—spinal stenosis and three ruptured discs at age 18.  So Bill was very careful to ensure that any lift we did would not cause or exacerbate my existing physical limitations.

On my second early morning visit, twenty more lifts were accomplished. As with the first visit, my back felt better after the work out and my shoulders were more limber. And, since women in my family fight against osteoporosis, it was great to hear that some of the lifts I was doing would help in that fight. Even more incentive to continue!! On my third visit, again before work, I finished with 63 different lifts, one of 715 pounds (!!!!), and left with a dedicated plan to continue to work out.  
Yes, I’m 62 years old. I’m not as strong as I used to be. But, with effort (and Bill’s help), I don’t have to lose strength so quickly, nor become so brittle, nor feel so acutely the aches and pains that until now I’ve taken as a matter of course.  

Whether personally or professionally, sometimes we just need to take a chance to grow and broaden our horizons. Lesson learned!

Originally posted on June 8, 2020.

Almost 20 years ago, as I worked on my Public Defender caseload, I started to ask myself and my colleagues whether a different model of justice might be the better model of justice for many of our clients. I had heard rumblings about something called Restorative Justice and began to read about how a person’s life trajectory could be changed if restorative, not retributive, justice principles and practices were put in place. So, when the MU School of Law sent out a flyer about its LLM (Masters of Laws) program in Alternative Dispute Resolution, I called then-director and good friend, Len Riskin, and asked if I could enroll in the program.

Len told me about the program and the new ways of looking at dispute resolution to which I would be exposed. I was sold. Then, Len asked, “But aren’t you still working full time as a Public Defender?” Well, yeah. In fact, I was carrying a full caseload, almost exclusively handling death penalty appeals. And, because I had to work, quitting or even going back to school part time wasn’t an option. Then, Len said, “But we’ve never had a part time student.” When I asked why I couldn’t be the first, Len responded, “You’ll be so tired. This is a lot of work.” I responded that I would be tired, whether or not I enrolled in the program but, if I were allowed to enroll, at least at the end of two years (not one), I would have learned a lot and would have the degree. Len relented. I was tired. But I learned even more than I anticipated. Sometimes we just need to take a chance.

Earlier this year, in what seems to be another time and another space, I attended the Annual Legislative Conference for the National Association of Counties (NACo) in Washington, D.C. Because of my former colleague and friend, Karen Miller, who had served as the President of NACo several years ago, I became involved in NACo early on after first being elected as Boone County’s Northern District Commissioner. That involvement led to Boone County becoming one of the first counties in the country to join the Stepping Up Initiative, which seeks to reduce the rate at which individuals living with behavioral health issues are detained in our county jails.

Boone County was named one of a select number of counties chosen to become part of the Pritzker Foundation’s Pre-Natal to Three early initiative and became part of the Kreske Foundation’s Leadership Lab project, which allowed us to further the work being done on the Stepping Up Initiative. It also led to my being named the Chair of the Juvenile Justice Sub-committee of NACo’s Justice and Public Safety Committee.

At this year’s conference, between meeting committee obligations on the Health Advisory Board and Justice & Public Safety, I saw another learning opportunity. NACo has joined with the Professional Development Academy to create its Leadership Academy, for which General Colin Powell is not only a spokesperson but an advocate. A twelve-week program full of learning opportunities was combined with a scholarship from NACo, which dropped the tuition to less than a hair under $500. With the green light from Dan Atwill, Boone County’s Presiding Commissioner, I wrote a personal check and started the coursework.

We are now in the midst of the second module in the work and, like the LLM program, sometimes finding the time to fit that work in on top of everything else is a challenge. But it’s worth it. The group that I joined includes elected officials and others in government leadership roles from throughout the Midwest—from Alabama to Minnesota.

Every week we remotely discuss principles of leadership, like listening, taking responsibility, sharing and acknowledging to whom credit is due, praising publicly and criticizing in private, and acting with integrity—in a world that seems to shift and change daily. So, if Len is listening or reading, yes, I’m tired. But I’m learning and it is so worth it!

Sometimes we just need to take a chance.