Merry Thankgivemas

Let me begin by writing that I hate that God continues to chose to allow the lies and liars to still be unexposed and that I have spent 13+ years incarcerated. I do not like living as chattle caged behind concertina wire and fences.

That being said ... Today may have been the best week, and the best day, I have had while incarcerated. It ALMOST felt like living in the free world. The week began with a visit from my best friends, my true family, my brother and sister actually. I enjoyed catching up as well as some real chocolate (since when does an Almond Joy cost $4 - gosh darn tariffs? Unfortunately, our canteen now only sells knock-off dollar store Keefe branded chocolate bars). At work (I am still teaching and facilitating the CareerTech Career Readiness program 40 hours a week) our newest cohort is off to a great start. I work for a wonderful boss who is so easy to get along with. She trusts me to do what I do and to represent her and the program well. As the content creator for our online Dunn Dispatch, I put the final details and finishing touches on the December edition this week. It is so fulfilling to be able to have this creative outlet. I enjoy working with the various writers, contributors, and photographer to produce this extremely well received and high quality publication given the limitations of my resources. This week Senator McIntosh delivered the November edition to both chambers of the state legislature as well as the desk of Governor Stitt. The Leviathan pushed me in my workouts this week to the point of needing ibuprofen every day :-) Today, at Celebrate Recovery® Inside, we had a phenomenal day. We had our regular meeting from 9-11 where we had a time of worship, watched Saddleback lesson #9 on Inventory, handed out recovery chips, heard a powerfully moving testimony from Curtis Rouse, and spent time in our Step Study groups. The room was almost maxed out with 66 participants in attendance (between discharges and moves "up in security" we've lost 8 men this week, but we also had 4 men in our "newcomers" group). Due to the generosity of the Saunder's Family (of Saunders Family BBQ Sauce), Steve Lewis, and the Southern Hills Baptist Church in Tulsa we were able to provide our Step Study participants a delicious Thanksgiving lunch after class was over. The Saunder's family provided 4 large smoked turkeys, green bean casserole, sweet corn dressing, a fresh broccoli salad (my personal favorite), pistachio fluff, pumpkin pie, rolls, and a drink sleeve to each of the men whom regularly attend on Friday. In total we served 80 meals and had plenty of leftovers. This does not happen on most yards. We are so blessed with a compassionate Warden (J. Cultrera) and Religious Programs Director (R. Bell) who sees value in addiction recovery and supports our addiction recovery efforts. There was so much food we offered 2nds and I was able to hold back enough so that our step study leaders could enjoy some more for supper. We even brought the turkey carcasses back to our dorm to pick clean. Offering a meal on the yard can be dicey. Men get butt hurt and angry if they are not invited, but I had the foresight three years ago to institute a 75% rule: you have to attend seventy five percent of the meetings/step studies to participate in special events. This has helped alleviate so much conflict. It leaves little doubt about whom qualifies to participate.

While the meal was delicious (my stomach is so shrunken I have eaten small portions all day long) what really has profoundly affected me today was the sense of "family" that I felt. I have not felt that since being chained and dragged away from my own birth/marital/church/school/scouting family 13 years ago. I have long given up on reconciliation and restoration with my past family/friendships/acquaintances: even my own children. Only 4-5 people from my past have stuck with me (and I will forever be grateful and loyal to them). I will always and forever consider my nephson a part of my new "family". His mutual friendship, love, respect is what started this change in my outlook on institutionalization vs acceptance. But he's been out the gate for five months now*. However, even before he discharged I started allowing myself to genuinely care for a few other people. And then a few more. And then a few more. But I have always felt like Captain Picard - I kept (I keep) that dispassionate stoic social distance that is seemingly required due to my age, my teaching position, and my ministry leadership position. But on days like today, I really feel connected to the close inner circle of the CRI® leadership team that I have so carefully built and developed over the past two years. Tonight, as my Step Study leaders and I were picking over the carcasses, frying up the turkey skins, and enjoying the few pieces of left over pumpkin pie I squirreled away it just seemed like we were all family for a few minutes (the only thing missing was the sound of dominoes rattling on a glass topped wrought iron table). We reflected on the day and the men who we are serving as step study leaders. We spoke of the enormous blessing that Rich Bartlett, Steve Lewis, SHBC, and the Saunders family are.....and for a minute or two, I was no longer incarcerated. I was part of a brotherhood of men whom just lived, worked, ate, worshiped, and served together. For a minute this place could have been a college campus, a monastery, or a men's retreat. I love that. .....and..... I hate that. I will not be given over to an institutionalized mindset but I will not be at "home" here either. However, I certainly loved feeling what was reminiscent of family today. As a bonus, this afternoon I received a brand new pair of Levi jeans from my brother (#YHLN). I also unexpectedly received two new USA Today crossword puzzle books from my Dad and Mother! It was like Thanksgiving and Christmas all rolled in to one day. Days like today give me hope for the future that I can be part of a new family for the last third of my life. I don't know what that will look like IRL, but I am certain that if I maintain my core values, remain authentically transparent, and open myself to all of the possibilities the Lord brings my way that my sixties, seventies, eighties, and nineties will be as productive, fruitful, and enjoyable as most of the first two thirds of my life has been. * In the 5 months that CMcD has been back in the free world the Lord has blessed him so much. His success gives me, gives so many of of hope. Aaon has been a great employer. He has his drivers licence. He own a car and scooter. He is set up in an apartment. He is active in CR, Life.church, and volunteering to serve others this holiday season....and even more great things are in store.

Happy Birthday Dad

 Happy Birthday Dad

Abby Zwerner

 Today Abby Zwerner was awarded $10 million dollars due in part to the inactions of her assistant principal, Ebony Parker.

More than a decade before Abby Zwerner was shot by her six year old first grade student I was forced to face a very similar situation at Skelly Elementary in Tulsa, OK. In 2009 I was in Ebony Parkers shoes. However, instead of doing nothing to protect my teacher, Brooke Rowland, and her other first grade students, when six year old Jaylynn Hilley was stabbing students with sharpened pencils and slicing at Brooke with opened scissors I reacted immediately and quickly extracted him from her classroom. Upon further investigation I discovered that this behavior had been occurring for weeks, but neither our school counselor, nor Brooke Rowland herself, had not brought it to the attention of the two administrators. That morning, when Mrs. Rowland hit her classroom call button to declare an emergency, I took decisive action. In following up on the egregious inactions of counselor Myrtha Mikel (a 60+ year old black woman who was a Tulsa Public Schools DEI hire and wannabe administrator whom resented a younger white boy whom she now had to report to) and issuing her a warning to "do better" she retaliated against me by turning into a "Karen" and creating a simple lie that resulted in my eventual arrest and conviction. While Myrtha Mikel eventually recanted her lie and admitted at trial to creating a false narrative to retaliate against me and have me removed from Skelly Elementary so that she could continue to be utilized as a pseudo administrator AND even though my jury heard her admit to lying, admit to commuting perjury in pretrial hearings, and admit to encouraging others to file a false police report, I still found, still find, myself incarcerated. One of those people Myrtha Mikel encouraged to file a false police report was teacher Bella Mendoza. As an administrator I was having to repeatedly admonish Bella Mendoza for placing rocks in the door jams of exterior school doors creating unsecured points of entry for anyone whom might want to breach the building. The final straw in her future employment was the 12 inch long knife she left on her desk, unattended, in a room full of six year olds. She too was a DEI hire for Tulsa Public Schools (a 30ish Latina). While she too eventually recanted her lie and admitted at trial to creating a false narrative to retaliate against me and have me removed from Skelly Elementary so that she would not be fired AND even though my jury heard her admit to lying, admit to commuting perjury in pretrial hearings, and admit to encouraging others to file a false police report, I still found, still find, myself incarcerated. Assistant District Attorneys Jake Cain, Sara McAmis, and Amanda Self, with the approval and endorsement of Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kuenswieler, manipulated and marionetted my own son (Brandon Yerton aka Brandon Henderson aka Brandon Webel) into telling such magnificent and well constructed lies to the jury that they didn't know what the reality of the situation was, and I still found, still find, myself incarcerated. If this trial was happening today, if I had even one juror whom would hold out for more than 13 hours to seek all of the truth, my life would be so different. The lives of my parents, former wife, and estranged children would be so different. One day God WILL set the record straight and everyone WILL know the truth. And maybe, if it happens soon enough, my manipulated son and I will both be collecting $10 million dollars from Tulsa County for the ways the DA's office manipulated his then immature 17 year old brain into believing he was somehow a hero and a victim. Maybe, as he gets older and gains adult insights, he will step forward with the truth and begin to set the false narratives straight ...

Virginia teacher shot by 6-year-old awarded $10 million in civil trial

 Nov 6 (Reuters)

By Brad Brooks Nov 6 (Reuters) - A Virginia school teacher who was shot by her 6-year-old student in 2023 was awarded $10 million in damages by a jury on Thursday, concluding a negligence lawsuit she brought against a school administrator. AbigailZwerneralleged that an assistant principal at the Newport News elementary school where she used to teach ignored multiple reports that a firearm was on school property and likely in the possession of the boy who shot her in January 2023. Police said the boy had taken the 9mm handgun from his home and carried it to school in his backpack. The boy removed the gun once in his classroom and fired a single bullet atZwerner, hitting her in her hand and chest.Zwerner, who evacuated students from her classroom even after she was shot, has had five hand surgeries and still has the bullet lodged in her chest. Lawyers for Ebony Parker, the former assistant principal at Richneck Elementary where the shooting took place, argued during the trial that she could not have foreseen the shooting. Zwerner'slawyers argued that Parker had been made aware of reports by fellow students that the 6-year-old boy had brought a gun to school, and that she did not act quickly on that information. Parker faces a criminal trial next month on charges of child abuse and neglect. Deja Taylor, the mother of the boy who carried out the shooting, was sentenced to 21 months in prison in 2023 on federal charges of possessing a gun while using a controlled substance and of making a false statement while purchasing a gun. The trials, along with those of a handful of parents of school shooters in recent years, could set a precedent on the degree of responsibility that parents and school leaders have when it comes to school shootings, which have plagued the United States in recent decades.

Happy Birthday Mom

 Happy Birthday Mom