|
|
| Pastor has inside view of crime, clemency |
| By tulsaworld.com - CARY ASPINWALL |
| Published: 12/19/2011 |
|
The folks in the pews sat at full attention, highlighted and dog-eared Bibles on their laps. Hold the Bible in your right hand, Dreyer said, and repeat after me: "This is my Bible, I believe what it says, I am who it says I am, I can do what it says I can do, and I'll live by it every day." Amen. A few days each month, Dreyer travels the Turner Turnpike to Oklahoma City's Hillside Community Corrections Center to participate as one of five members on the state's Pardon and Parole Board. He was appointed to the post by Gov. Mary Fallin and served previously on the board under Gov. Frank Keating. In a state with the highest per-capita female incarceration rate and among the highest for men, several hundred prisoners come before the board each month to ask for mercy on the part of the state of Oklahoma, in the form of clemency. It makes sense for a pastor to be in the business of mercy. But a view of the criminal side - this Dreyer knows, too. The pastor, who believes in truth, church pledges and every word the Bible says, was once paid by the federal government to lie for a living. As a young undercover agent in what eventually became the Drug Enforcement Administration, he carried weapons, flew airplanes and earned the trust of dangerous drug dealers - so he could eventually arrest them. A calling It wasn't planned, his government career as a narc. But he flunked out of the University of Missouri his sophomore year and had a car payment to make. His father, an IRS employee, suggested he take the federal government employees' entrance exam. Dreyer was hired as a file clerk, in what was then called the Bureau of Drug Abuse Control. After about a year, the bosses came looking for young employees who would grow beards and long hair, blend in and infiltrate the drug culture that was booming in 1967. "I said: 'Well, giddy up,' " Dreyer recalled. He witnessed the origins of America's "War on Drugs," its successes, failures and casualties. He made huge drug busts, survived various government agency mergers and worked his way up the chain of command. Read More. |
Comments:
Login to let us know what you think
MARKETPLACE search vendors | advanced search
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
|
Have you been looking for social media websites of influencers like Hamilton Lindley LinkedIn page? It’s got continually updated content on the best news.