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"In the morning, you can be at an elementary school talking
safety to the kids and handing out coloring books and little
stick-on badges. That afternoon you can have a situation like we
did in Heflin, getting information out on murders."
In other words, he is a good
news-bad news person.
Bringing news of a fatal accident
to a family is as bad as it gets.
"I don't do it as often as I
once did," says Thomas. "The trooper working the wreck
is supposed to make the death notification, but I've had my
share.
"I hate that worse than
anything else.
"If you ask the guys who
work the highways if they'd rather be in a shootout or deliver a
death notification, most would probably say 'Pass the
ammunition.'
"I've never counted the ones
I've done, don't want to," he continues. "They stay
with you."
Reaching into his desk drawer,
Thomas places a sheet of contact prints (photos) on his desk,
each a different scene of a horrible wreck that took the life of
a teen-age boy.
"He was 16," says
Thomas. "He'd been driving three months."
The sadness in Thomas' voice is
immeasurable.
And then there is the joy you
hear when, as the post PIO, he visits an elementary school with
his safety program.
"The first one I did was for
my daughter Michelle's third grade class at Pleasant
Valley," he says, smiling. "The night before, I was
getting all my things together concerning law and safety.
"Michelle spoke up, saying
'Daddy, can you bring some stuff we can see with our hands and
not with just our eyes?'
"When she said that, I
realized I had the wrong program.
"I got an old trooper's hat,
an old shirt, handcuffs, bullet-proof vest, things that we
carry. I talked about safety and the law, but I also passed all
that stuff around, let them play with the handcuffs. We didn't
shoot anybody, but they learned who we are and what we do.
"I'll go to any school that
will ask me," adds Thomas. "Anywhere, anytime."
In addition to schools, Thomas is
also available for businesses, civic clubs, whatever.
And then there's the media:
"Brent Thomas, spokesman … "
"That is a big part of my
job," he says, "handling the media, getting out the
information the public has a right to know or needs to know.
"Actually, while nobody
believes it, the press generally consists of good people.
They're doing their job just like we're doing our job.
"There is a battle between
the print media and TV, and you try to make sure you're fair
with the information you have," he adds. "It's really
interesting."
Thomas, 41, is a late comer to
the Trooper ranks.
With Trooper hiring frozen,
Thomas, early on, opted for a degree in industrial management
with a minor in economics, graduating from Jacksonville State in
1984.
In 1996, married to the former
Donna Green and with two young daughters, Thomas walked away
from a position as a plant superintendent for a Gadsden firm to
pursue his longtime dream of becoming a State Trooper.
"I've always wanted to do
this," he says. "But it's a financial sacrifice. It's
like being a Baptist preacher, bad pay, bad hours. If you don't
have the calling, you aren't going to last long.
"But I told Donna that if
this was what I was supposed to do, the doors would open. They
did. I took the exams, entered the (Trooper) Academy in February
of 1997 and was sent to Clay County that August.
"The beauty of being posted
to a rural county is you do everything," he adds. "I
was transferred here just before Christmas of '99. Coming home
was my Christmas present."
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