“These ain’t my pants”
In the late 80’s I was
working for the GBI in numerous counties throughout North Georgia.
One night at about 11:00pm in Colbert, Georgia my partner and I were
working a major crack cocaine distribution case and had information
that a certain vehicle would be traveling the Elberton Highway from
Athens delivering a large quantity of illegal drugs. We spotted the
vehicle and pulled it over. I spoke with the passenger who seemed
very nervous as he granted me consent to search his person. I pulled
a brown paper bag from the front of his pants that contained three
“cookies” of crack cocaine with a street value of over $5000.00.
I asked the man where he got the crack, and he stated the drugs
weren’t his. I said “Well, I just pulled them out of your pants,”
To which he replied, “Hey, these ain’t my pants”.
Before I became a father, I thought
that children were purely innocent and knew no wrong until they were
taught wrong, well, after having three children of my own, I know
differently now. Don’t get me wrong, my daughters are precious
gifts from God, but I can remember one of them standing on my lap at
about age two looking me square in the eye, with the magic marker in
her hand and the ink smeared all over her arms, as she swore she
knew nothing about the new pretty picture drawn on the living room
wall. Where does this willingness to run toward a lie come from? As
the southern comedian Jerry Clower once said, “Newgene Ledbetter
would climb a tree to tell a lie when he could stand on the ground
and tell the truth”.
We see on the nightly news all too
often how, not a common criminal, but a law enforcement officer has
sacrificed his soul and is caught up in some illegal or unethical
activity and instead of doing the right thing, they lie. This is
much worse because it breaks a sacred trust we have placed on those
who swear to up hold the law.
Recently a fellow Sheriff and his
Chief Deputy were arrested in a nearby North Georgia Community. The
Chief Deputy, whom I have known for several years, received charges
stemming from shooting his service weapon eleven times into a house
and then lying about it to the GBI. The sheriff later pled guilty to
charges including lying to the GBI. During one of the court
proceedings a citizen of that county commented to an AP reporter “It's
ironic (what) we get myopically focused into because of a shooting
that didn't hurt anybody, I think there's far too many problems in
this country and this state that need to be dealt with. I'm more
worried about Iran and the atom bomb than this sheriff." This
is a perfect example of an attempt, however feeble, to minimize the
violent actions of one law enforcement officer and crimes of moral
turpitude by the other.
I once arrested a young manager of a
local convenience store who, over a year’s time had embezzled more
than $40,000.00 from the nightly deposits. She told me during an
interview that the money didn‘t go toward a drug habit or any
gambling problem, but she spent it all on her family and she
probably did. She minimized the seriousness of taking what did not
belong to her by using the ill gotten gain for a “good purpose.”
The truth will set you free. Do we
believe this today, when our society seems so drawn toward lies such
as the following;
It depends on what the definition of
“Is” is,
If the glove doesn’t fit you must
acquit,
Michael Vick to the NFL Commissioner,
Former New York Times fraudulent
reporter Jayson Blair,
Accuser Tawana Brawley,
Congressman William Jefferson’s
cold cash,
Idaho Senator Larry Craig denying
wrong-doing in an airport bathroom,
Enron executives,
Election year smears,
Crack dealers,
Embezzlers &
Little children caught red handed.
Today we too often rationalize,
minimize or just plain tell lies.
I long for the time when it meant
something to put your hat in your hand and say, “Hey, I’m sorry,
these are my pants.”
Mark T. McClure
Sheriff
