Candidate for
Council Member; City of Cincinnati

I was appointed to Cincinnati City Council in June of 2010, filling the vacancy left by Councilmember Y. Laketa Cole. A life-long resident of Cincinnati, I grew up in Avondale, where I attended Cincinnati Public Schools, graduating from Hughes High School in 1963. After graduation, I enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, serving until honorably discharged in January of 1967. After returning home, I became a member of the Cincinnati Police Department.

During my 25-year police career, I experienced a variety of assignments, including working as a uniformed beat officer, plain-clothes detective, old clothes semi-undercover police officer, out of the city undercover (loaned to another city), school resource officer (Withrow High School), and commander of the Police Recruiting Unit. I retired with the rank of Sergeant in June of 1992. In 1994, U.S. Senator Howard Metzenbaum recommended me to President Bill Clinton for appointment to the office of U.S. Marshal for the Southern District of Ohio, though the position ended up going to someone else.

Seeking to continue my devotion to public service, however, I then accepted the position of Assistant Director of Personnel/Equal Employment Opportunity Officer for the City of Cincinnati, a position I held until September of 1999 when I returned to the CPD to be the Assistant to the Police Academy Commander. In September of 2000, I left the Police Department to work at the Metropolitan Sewer District Of Greater Cincinnati as Training Institute Director and Diversity Manager.

In August of 2007, I accepted a teaching position at Aiken College & Career High School, teaching Government and Public Administration and Law and Public Safety.

I have also been active in several community organizations, including serving as President of the Sentinel Police Association and President of the Cincinnati Branch NAACP. Twice, I was asked to serve as the President of the Cincinnati Chapter of the National Forum for Black Public Administrators (NFBPA) and am a former board member of the National Black Police Association and Cincinnati's Retired Senior Volunteer Program. I have hosted weekly radio and television public affairs programs, and I was an on-air reader for the Radio Reading Services radio station sponsored by the Cincinnati Association for the Blind.

I am 64 years old, an active member of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, and I live in North Avondale with my wife, Kathy, and my children, Wendell and Raven.