Center for Law, Engagement, and Politics

Huntsville Rotary Club: A Centenary Celebration

By Olivia Discon

Those who are acquainted with the Huntsville community are familiar with its strong sense of volunteerism and service, and these qualities are sharply reflected by the Huntsville Rotary Club. Since 1923, the organization has contributed to numerous efforts globally and locally to have a positive impact on both the present and the future. On September 14, 2023, Rotary gathered to recount their club’s efforts over the past century and to celebrate their impact on communities everywhere.

LEAP Ambassadors had the privilege of assisting in small ways and the even greater privilege of enjoying the celebration with Rotary members.

Held at the Walker Education Center, LEAP ambassadors arrived early to greet and sign in Rotary members, who then went on to mingle among the large crowd present.

The friendly crowd made us feel welcome, and we encountered a few familiar faces, such as Walker County Judge Colt Christian; County Commissioner Bill Daugette; City Councilmen Russell Humphrey and Bert Lyle; and Assistant City Manager Sam Maisel.

After enjoying our conversation with our table and dinners catered by Farmhouse Cafe, former Huntsville Mayor and prominent public servant, Mac Woodward, started the evening with a brief introduction…

…followed by a warm welcome by David Thompson. It was here that we were able to comprehend the major world events the Huntsville Rotary Club had experienced, such as the rise of radio broadcasting, television, and the internet, World War II, the Cold War, and the War on Terror.

Carole Mattingly and Marcus Gillespie, two longstanding members of the club, recounted a few projects they have worked on over the years, most notably their efforts to eradicate polio, provide clean water and CPAP machines in Nicaragua. Additionally, they touched on their exchange student program and highlighted a few of their former students from across the world.

Leaders from various organizations highlighted their service to the community, and how Rotary has supported their efforts. This included Holly McMichael, the Executive Director of A Time 2 Read; Sally Davis and Juanita Hall, Supporting Housing Insecure Kids and Families in the Huntsville Independent School District; Dave Smith, Executive Director of Good Shepard Mission; and Michelle Spencer, CEO of the Boys and Girls Club of Walker County. Each of these organizations serves as pillars of local volunteerism and the Huntsville community. They left the group in awe of the many strides they have made in improving the lives of those around them.

The night ended with closing remarks by Michelle Lyons, the current President of the Huntsville Rotary Club. President Lyons further emphasized the importance of Huntsville’s coalition of public servants and how honored she is to represent them.

Thank you to the Huntsville Rotary Club for allowing LEAP ambassadors to attend their 100th-year celebratory gathering, and for all the excellent strides made in uplifting not only Huntsville, but the rest of the world.

Wynne Home Chronicles: The Art of Molly Campbell

Every three months, the Wynne Home Arts and Visitor Center opens a new exhibit, and last week’s opening of Molly Campbell’s “Phoenix Rising: A Retrospective” proved to be very impressive. It was also one of the best attended openings, with approximately 100 or more individuals on hand see Campbell’s art and hear from the artist.

Dr. Ralph and Linda Pease were there; as were Derrick Birdsall, Paul Olle, Betty Nelson, Susan Madely Stevenson, Kristie Stevens, Ann Staples, Jaspyr Sanford, Nancy Gaertner, and many of Ms. Campbell’s children and grandchildren.

Wynne Home staff members Angela Robinson and Peyton Conley coordinated the program, with Robinson doing the introduction.

Promising to speak for a shorter time than “my husband thinks I will,” Ms. Campbell provided an overview of her work, totaling more than 50 pieces.

Moreover, the work included ceramic sculptures, metal sculptures, oils, ink, and multi-media. It was not only a “retrospective,” but also comprehensive.

The title of the exhibit stems, in part, from the fact that Ms. Campbell’s home caught fire during COVID. Only three pieces were lost; all of her other pieces emerged intact and, from the looks of the pieces in the gallery, unharmed. With art also symbolizing a type of rebirth, the exhibit was well titled. Her works reflect her interests, which include her family, dance, and outdoor scenes.

The LEAP Ambassadors, as always, enjoyed seeing familiar and friendly faces, meeting new people, interacting with the Wynne Home staff, seeing Ms. Campbell’s beautiful art works, and meeting the artist!

In other words, it was a typical Wynne Home opening!

Jeff Guinn Discusses Waco and Tragedy at SHSU

After a full day of events, the ever-generous Jeff Guinn was up for a another full day of events–this time, with larger crowds. Bringing together Public Health, Criminal Justice, and Political Science students, the LEAP Ambassadors were also ready (or mostly ready) for a busy day.

Yvette Mendoza led with the introductions, performing well in front of a crowd of more than 100 of her peers.

This session covered the Waco tragedy, of course, but with a bit more focus on the sexual offenses that occurred at the Mt. Carmel compound. In the audience were Dr. Holly Miller and students in her Understanding Sexual Offending class, alongside Dr. Tamara Waggener’s “Texas Government” class and other interested audience members.

In all, when counting radio, podcasts, book signings, and television appearances, Guinn made more than 200 appearances discussing his Waco book. It was perhaps no surprise then, that, Guinn was his usual entertaining self, and his experiences and observations went over well among the audience. Indeed, there were more than 25 questions from the engaged audience, many of which showed insight, and understanding of the subject matter, and genuine curiosity.

Following a quick transition and discussion of what tweaks could be made for the second session, the LEAP Ambassadors were at it again. Yvette again did the introduction, this time in front of more than 300 people.

The audience also included Dr. Ivys Fernandez Pastrana and Dr. Christine Cardinal from Public Health; Dr. Jason Enia, Chair of Political Science; Jennifer Alexander, Tabitha Shanley, and Kaley Hunter, from the Office of the President. Dr. Gene Roberts, Director of the Student Legal and Mediation Services, was also there. Indeed, his office helped sponsor the event!

This session was even more engaging than the previous sessions. In addition to discussing the Waco tragedy, the author also discussed his work on Jim Jones, Bonnie and Clyde, Santa Claus, and Charles Manson. In fact, he recruited an audience member–ironically named Charles–to demonstrate the techniques of stabbing that Manson’s family used in the execution of crimes. Charles (the student) was a good sport, and he was rewarded with a book.

Guinn discussed the larger implications of his subjects and the aftermath of the tragedies associated with them. Subjects such as Jim Jones and David Koresh, whatever their original motivations, became enamored of power and control, which often manifested itself in sexual control over the female subjects. And, in the case of Waco, tragedy also resulted from blinders on the part of law enforcement officials. There was no conspiracy or ill will; the ATF and FBI simply didn’t stop to consider the perspective of religious zealots and how their perspective might prompt them to reach to encroachment.

Guinn took pains to point out that no such outcome has occurred in the last 30 years, suggesting that lessons have been learned on the part of law enforcement. Other legacies, however, such as increasing ideological polarization in the American public are less promising.

Following the event, Guinn gamely endured another hour or so of signings.

….before saying goodbye to the LEAP Ambassadors…

…and heading back to Fort Worth, where he had research to do for an upcoming HBO special.

The LEAP Ambassadors would like to thank Tabitha Shanley for her tips on event planning and Student Legal and Mediation Services for co-sponsoring the event.

A Day in the Community with Jeff Guinn

An Educational Lunch at Rotary

The LEAP Center specializes in unique learning opportunities, and it’s pretty special to spend a day with a New York Times Bestselling author. And it’s particularly special when that author is Jeff Guinn, one of the genuinely nice guys in the book world.

Our day, of course, began at school, with a morning full of classes. For lunch, however, we to the Walker Education Center, where we had the opportunity to bring Guinn to speak to the Huntsville Rotary Club. Our visits to Rotary have always been friendly, and it was good to see friendly faces such as Derrick Birdsall, Mac and Leanne Woodward, Dr. Darren Williams, Rob Hipp, Ray Hernandez, Ken Holland, and others.

With Michelle Lyons as President taking care of business efficiently…

and Professor Yawn quickly introducing the author…

…it allowed Guinn maximum time to speak to the group. He mixed humor, tragedy, drama, and history, while discussing his work on Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and a Legacy of Rage.

Worth noting, Guinn closed by praising Rotary and similar groups, which help foster trust in the community, preventing the type of discord that is now so prevalent in the years since the Waco standoff.

The audience was also lively, asking questions, offering comments, and giving Guinn a standing ovation at the end, ending with time for much interaction, catching up, and photographs.

On Campus with Jeff Guinn

SHSU is, of course, part of the community, and so it was to the campus we headed for the second event of the day with Jeff Guinn (he was a great trooper). Although we did not heavily market this afternoon event, we had 65 students (and Gene Roberts, whose Student Legal and Mediation Services was a co-sponsor of the event) attend, eager to hear about Guinn’s research and writing.

It was a run-through of sorts, with us getting the hang of event planning, public speaking, and using other division’s technology (not all laptops or projectors are the same!) Yvette Mendoza, a fourth-year LEAP Ambassador, did the introductions, and then Professor Yawn and Mr. Guinn took the “stage.”

What followed was more than an hour of interesting discussions, some great questions from the audience, and a lot of knowledge about cults, power, and tragedy.

Capping a Busy Day at 1836

While it was a busy day for us, it was a busier day for Guinn, who had driven in from Fort Worth early this morning. Nonetheless, he agreed to a dinner at 1836, where we joined Drs. Amy and Tim Salazar, Dr. Gene Roberts, and Professor Yawn and Ms. Stephanie.

It was two hours of fascinating discussions. Guinn shared stories of his subjects (Charles Manson, Santa Claus, Bonnie and Clyde, Jim Jones, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford), his research process, and the business of publishing. He also asked questions about LEAP, and he offered some nice words to us, comparing our program to programs on other campuses he visits. It was a nice to hear such nice things from an author of the stature of Guinn.

We also had the opportunity to visit with the Salazars, who moved to Texas less than a year ago. It was great to learn more about them, hear their ideas about education, and help us to think about careers and community in a new way. Moreover, Dr. Roberts and the Salazars found some things in common, particularly their interest in innovative ways to approach conflict resolution.

It was a productive and enjoyable evening, one that was a fitting cap for a productive and enjoyable day.

A Day of Service in Memory of 9-11

With this the weekend prior to 9-11, Judy Webb with justserve.org called on LEAP Ambassadors and other reliable service organizations to assist with an ongoing “billion graves” project. This project involves documenting all the graves in Oakwood Cemetery, one of the most historic cemeteries in Texas.

It’s a project we began last year, but with almost 5,000 headstones in Oakwood, this is a multi-year project. It also meant an early start to today’s work…

After scouting out locations and developing a plan of attack, we met with the other volunteers Ms. Webb had recruited…

….and we got to work.

We had our advisors, Professor Yawn and Ms. Stephanie; Mac Woodward; and we had a grave veteran (Yvette) and grave newbies (Olivia, Michelle, and Ariza), so it was a good opportunity to do a mix of learning and teaching. The work consists primarily of two duties: (1) checking to see whether a grave has been entered, and if not, (2) photographing it, and transcribing its information into the billion graves website.

Professor Yawn has done more than 100 graves, and Morgan and Yvette have done almost 100. Today, we each did about 15, but we also confirmed approximately an equal amount. One of the challenges of this process is that a lot of people go through the cemetery more or less randomly, which means many graves may have been entered, but not in any systematic way. Our goal was to go through these systematically and, eventually, finish the Cemetery.

And, of course, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to pose with Sam Houston’s Grave!

The project is also an opportunity to learn about local history beyond Sam Houston. We were able to see headstones with names that are still seen around town, including: Thomason, Wynne, Powell, Rather, Robinson, Gibbs, Smither, and Yoakum.

We also had the chance to see the graves of (presumably) Yellow Fever victims (those who died in 1867) and the Powell family’s sculpture of Thorwaldsen’s Christ.

It was a great learning experience, a bit of fun, a contribution to the community, and a good way to honor those who were victims on 9-11.

Gene Roberts Interviews the Billion Dollar Bearkat, Brad Ertl

Jessica Cuevas, 09/05/2023

Unlike a typical Tuesday afternoon, the LEAP Ambassadors had the opportunity to attend a virtual event hosted by Sam Houston’s Student Legal Mediation Service (SLMS) Director, Dr. Gene Roberts, featuring Bradley (Brad) Ertl who would be discussing a recent multi-billion dollar ‘revenge porn’ case in Harris County. Brad Ertl is a Sam Houston Alum who, during his tenure at SHSU, received the student Sammy Award. He received his JD from South Texas College of Law and is currently an attorney at Gilde Law Firm, PLLC.

Ertl and his firm took the case of Mark West Jamall Jackson v Jane Doe not for the money but to send a message to the world that the sharing of invasive visual recordings or ‘revenge porn,’ as we colloquially know it as, is not okay. This is what they intended to do from the start, and they were successful in it despite the defendant never appearing in court or having had responded to being served.

In 2012, Mark West Jamall Jackson and Jane Doe met at the wedding of their best friends: he was his best friend’s best man and Jane was her best friend’s maid of honor. They became good friends and kept in contact after the wedding, but it was not until Jane’s father became terminally ill that she began to confide more in Mark and grew closer to him. This led to the start of their relationship in 2016. Soon after Mark was offered a job in Chicago and he asked Jane if she would move with him, which she happily agreed to since their relationship was going well.

The first couple of years were great until Mark lost his job in 2019 and became verbally abusive towards Jane who was currently excelling in her career as an educator. There was testimony to prove that he was a womanizer and could not have any woman be smarter or better than him. Even when things got pretty bad between the two, Jane went to see her mom and believed that she and Mark were going through a rough patch, just like everyone else in their life, she believed this was a ‘forever relationship.’ However, things only went downhill from here when Mark began to share and threaten Jane with nonconsensual sharing of a nonconsensual recording of intimate behavior between the two through all social media, internet websites, emails to her co-workers, etc. Ultimately, after telling their story the jury delivered their verdict within 30 minutes of delivering and favored Jane Doe by $1.2 billion. Although it may seem like a lot, this case was not about the money and no amount of money will ever repair the hardships and emotional toll that she had to endure during the past years.

After providing us with a couple of details of the case but was careful not to share too much, as this case is ongoing and the final judgment is still pending, Ertl broke down the case and explained the legal aspects of the case for the pre-law students: how to choose a jury, how to prepare for a case or determine causes of action, how to continue a case when the defendant evades being served, what the expectations were as he and his colleagues eagerly waited for the final judgment to be delivered by the judge, and how to deal with a case that is emotionally heavy.

To end the evening, Ertl was asked to give pre-law students some advice and he highlighted three things: (1) be present, (2) have and maintain good grades, and (3) go with your gut and tell your story. The latter of which really stood out to me because it was different from what we normally hear but it was a great piece of advice, nonetheless. Intuition is crucial in the legal field as you want to trust gut feelings when having to decide who you want to represent and the best way to defend them to create your reputation. However, at Gilde Law Firm, PLLC. they do focus groups to help guide them in what evidence present to a jury and how to present it as they prepare for a trial.

Thank you, Dr. Gene Roberts…

…for hosting Brad Ertl, and thank you Mr. Ertl for taking the time to discuss this case with Sam Houston State University students and faculty! If you are interested in reading more about the case search Ertl’s name and news articles will come up about this multi-billion-dollar case.

Agent Christopher Combs Talks the Future of the FBI

Michelle Cardenas

After a successful first week of classes, LEAP students headed to The Woodlands for their first World Affairs Council (WAC) meeting of the fall semester. Dr. Gene Roberts, Associate Dean and the Director of Student Legal & Mediation Services at SHSU, graciously joined our coalition of students in this endeavor. The featured guest speaker of the evening, FBI Special Agent Christopher Combs, possesses great insight into the last 20 years of United States affairs. Having served as a Special Agent In Charge of the San Antonio Division, Combs has a particular knowledge of matters concerning border control and domestic terrorism.

The event was hosted by one of WAC’s partners, ChampionX; a chemistry program and drilling technology company. The sunset-casted lakeside view from the building set an elevated tone for the evening.

Before the event began, Chief Development Officer of the World Affairs Council Sandija Bayot graciously introduced us to Special Agent Combs. He went on to share the very qualities that make a prospective FBI applicant stand out, placing a particular emphasis on a strong work ethic and unique experiences they have prior to their application. For example, Combs himself served as a volunteer firefighter for 8 years! The opportunity to speak candidly with a distinguished member of the FBI was incredible, especially for the many Criminal Justice majors in the group.

Shortly thereafter, Ronan O’Malley took the stage and introduced the event moderator, Sandija Bayot and the Director of External Affairs for Champion X, John Breed.

Christopher Combs took the stage with moderator Sandija Bayot and quickly jumped into the conversation. The focal point of Agent Combs’ conversation was to explain the FBI’s role in multiple historically disastrous events. He touched on how extensive FBI investigations are and how much hard work, planning and action takes place on the inside.

After being a part of the FBI for 26 years, Agent Combs has gathered quite a collection of stories; one of them being his experience during the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Indeed, he served as the initial FBI On-Scene Commander at the Pentagon on 9/11. He explained how the Bureau received intel about foreign attacks and expected to be attacked in late September. However, the FBI expected an attack overseas, not here in the United States.

Agent Combs expressed great concern for America as technology continues to advance and the threats of competing superpowers and their tactics. The conversation shifted into an audience Q&A, and many topics such as border control, domestic terrorism, and drones ensued. He made a couple remarks on how the battle against terrorism, whether it be domestic or not, is never ending.

Though the conversation was heavy in nature, it ended on a positive note-thanks to Professor Yawn! Professor Yawn asked Agent Combs to speak to the young people in the audience about careers in the FBI. Agent Combs stated he believes in setting oneself apart from the crowd and truly devoting oneself to the greater good. Special Agent Combs closed with a remark that left the crowd at ease and patriotism: “The FBI is simply an organization made up of good Americans who are trying their best to protect Americans”.

BearKats Dine at Katz’s

Following our event we ventured to Katz’s, a New York style deli, to highlight the area in which Agent Combs was brought up. We started our evening with multiple appetizers that included the cheese crisps, spicy meatballs and the stuffed cabbage. We all dug into our savory appetizers as we waited for our entrees. There was a large group in attendance so we had quite the line up. Some of our favorite entrees included the Chicago bill, matzo ball soup, The Reuben, and The Monte Cristo. To end our night with a figurative cherry on top, we decided to indulge in some sweet treats. The delicious desserts we had included caramel raisin bread pudding, Oreo milkshakes and cheesecake milkshakes. The night concluded with new connections, great laughs, and an even greater anticipation of what’s to come in the fall.

SHSU’s Lowman Student Center at 60

Named for SHSU President Harman Lowman, the Lowman Student Center has been at campus center since 1963. LSC staff made the most of this anniversary, inviting all students, past and present, to attend a celebration, share memories, and join in food, fun, and games.

The event was a joint venture of the LSC staff and the Alumni Association, with Anna Pursley (LSC) and Donna Gilbert (AA) doing the heavy lifting. But volunteers from numerous student organizations, including LEAP (we manned the Photo Booth), were on hand to help.

Chris and Debbie Tritico were there, as were Frank and Mary Thornton. Toni Bruner attended; so did Ruth Lynn Parker and Paula Armstrong. Shannon Higbie was there, too.

Derrick Birdsall was on hand, and Frank Parker, looking like retirement agreed with him, enjoyed the festivities.

Many students were there, too, hovering near the food line.

A few played games. Others listened to the music, which was a generational mix, with songs from the 60s to more recent times. Interestingly, two of the last songs played dealt with rain, and they came just as Huntsville ended what has seemed like a summer-long rain drought!

We had a wonderful opportunity to meet University staff such Donna Gilbert and Joellen Tipton, renew acquaintances with alumni, and even make some new friends!

Many thanks to the LSC and Alumni Association for putting this event on, bringing current and former students to mingle, and for the work they put into making SHSU a wonderful place to go to school.

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