Let us write teacher’s sins in sand, not stone
This recent story reminds me of Jesus who stopped the crowd from stoning a woman accused by Jewish law of adultery. The passage always fascinated me as we know a group of scribes and Pharisees confronted Jesus who was teaching at the time and brought the woman to him for punishment, AKA: Stoning. We know Jesus wrote something in the sand, possibly her crime and because it was written in sand and not stone, maybe this was Jesus’ way of forgiving sins of the woman.
Fast forward to the present. Now we have a teacher who when she was younger tweeted horrible comments. She was a teenager and has grown since that time. I wonder if parents had spoken to their children to ask what kind of a teacher she was? Was she kind, was this teacher understanding, was this teacher popular with all her students? I wonder if the parents had gone to the teacher to ask about the tweets as if there was an underlying story behind this? I know what it is like to be accused of untruths because of my previous job as a police officer/detective. I won’t even get into the specifics of their reasons for making false statements against me, to the point they wanted my job.
I could tell you of a horrible incident that occurred to a young paperboy carrier one early Sunday morning, to which this child was robbed, brutalized, and wished he was dead after waking up in the street in the dark of morning. He had horrible memories and bruising on his neck. His brand-new bike was gone. He begged God to help him forget as he never wanted to reveal the horrors done to him. Yes, the man was black and because the paperboy did not return home with his father’s newspaper, the father went out to the garage thinking the son left it in his bag and noticed his son’s brand new 10-speed bike was missing. The father yelled for his son to come downstairs, and the son broke under pressure and only spoke of the armed robbery as the suspect had a .38 revolver. The boy never told the police the full story. He was was 14 at the time, and life in the ‘70s had been great up until that moment. The suspect was arrested, and when the boy and his mother attending the first hearing, the suspect had his entire family present in the courtroom. The suspect showed his true colors in court by turning around to face the boy and his mother and slid his index across his neck to send the boy a message, as the suspect knew the boy didn’t tell the entire story. The judge had the bailiffs escort the suspect from his courtroom.
Life went on for the boy until one day he was riding home from a baseball game and heard the loud sound of a car behind him and realized the suspect was trying to run him over. The boy jumped his bike over a four-lane road curb and down a steep embankment. Thinking he would be run over and tossed in the nearby Monongahela River, the boy saw a security guard near some abandoned factories and cried out to the guard. The retired police officer pulled out his ankle gun and pointed it towards the car. They left. Getting a ride home from the police as the front tire of his bike was popped, the police never told the parents the suspect bonding out of jail. The father feared for his family and did not want the boy to further cooperate with the police, so he quit his job and moved his family to Montreal, Canada. So yes, the boy hated this man, not because of his color but because of the horrendous crime done to him. The boy never saw the monster again but forgave as time went on and realized there are monsters who walk among us. At the surprise of the boy’s family and relatives, this boy grew up to become a police officer and later a detective who worked crimes monsters commit. When he spoke to the victims of these horrible crimes, he spoke with compassion and understanding as he knew what it was like to not wanting to tell the police those horrible bits of memory of what had happened to them. Sitting in the witness chair this detective watched jurors cry as they watched the recorded interview of the children or victims involved.
Now this teacher is familiar with me and I can tell you there is a story and she is no longer this person from her youth. So just as Jesus had written something in the sand for the scribes and Pharisees to see before condemning a woman to be stoned, maybe we should sit back and think that possibly we should not be quick to judge.
Oh, and by the way, the paperboy in this story was me.
Ryan Runyan
P.O. Box 787
Secretary of state outlines election rules
As we approach the 2022 primary and general elections, I would like to share important information about the measures in place to ensure a secure election process and encourage my fellow Kansans to participate in this year’s elections.
First, Kansas has some of the most robust election security laws in the country. In 2011, Kansas adopted voter ID, which requires every voter to present a government-issued photo ID before casting a ballot.
Voter ID ensures the voter is an actual person and protects the integrity of your vote. It is a fundamental tool to ensure one vote equals one person.
Second, Kansas counties have conducted over 300 post-election audits. Since post-election audits began in 2019, no county has failed an audit and every legal ballot has been accounted for. Post-election audits will take place following the 2022 elections to ensure the integrity of every vote.
Third, I want to thank our county election officials who work tirelessly to ensure the security of our elections. Election workers play an essential role in ensuring Election Day runs smoothly, and I encourage you to consider volunteering as a poll worker. For more information, contact your county election officer.
Lastly, if you are not registered to vote, the deadline to register is July 12th for the August primary election and October 18th for the November general election. If you have recently moved or changed your name, you must re-register to vote in this year’s elections. Voter registration information is available at sos.ks.gov or by contacting your county election officer.
Thank you for the privilege of serving as your Kansas Secretary of State. If I can be of service to you, please call 785.296.4561 or email me at Scott.Schwab@ks.gov.
Respectfully,
Scott Schwab
Kansas Secretary of State
