By: Duane Ballard

Greetings Brothers and Sisters,

I am going to go off the norm here and start this article with nothing concerning the Union or our Local, but with another passion I have. As most people know, I am passionate about getting kids and youth outdoors and to enjoy life as it was truly meant to be enjoyed.

A young man that truly epitomized what I like to see in our youth today tragically passed away at the young age of 14. My daughter babysat for this young man when he was just a baby. Although I did not get to see him often, I did get to see him mature into someone that every parent would love to see their child grow up as.

Carter Jones was a young man who enjoyed every aspect of being outdoors. I know the young man had a phone, but I can honestly say I never saw him on it. You have heard the slogan “moss don’t grown on a rolling stone.” Well, let me tell this young man never stopped moving. Carter breathed more fresh air than most adults have breathed in their entire lives. He hunted, fished and rode his dirt bike. He has a small farm with his steer, pigs and chickens and had planted a big field of sweet corn to sell this summer.

His latest adventure was getting into bee keeping and selling honey to friends and family. He was adventurous and loved what the outdoors had to offer and look advantage of everything it gave him.

At the young age of 13, he was working at a pumpkin farm picking and rolling pumpkins. Anything this kid could do outside, he was game for it.

I had the pleasure of guiding a pheasant hunt for Carter, his sister, and another young lady, and I noticed how he was the last one to pull up and shoot among the three of them. I started to watch him and figured out that he was doing it on purpose to let the girls try first. That says a lot about someone so young and kids raised right. If I could mold kids from the Local’s Kid’s Day we put on, everyone would be molded after Carter.

Most people say that after someone passes that they want them to rest easy in heaven. I can tell you that this young man right now is not resting easy. Carter is taking advantage of everything heaven has to offer in the outdoors and probably already has a few bee hives going, and ready to sell some of his honey up there.

I want to remind everyone that meetings start back up September 14th. Yes, summer did go fast and it’s that time again. If you want to know what is going on and want your voice to be heard, then this is the time to do it. We need all members to be involved and engaged to make Local 659 stronger.

If you can, please start making plans to make your Unit meetings. Our Joint Council meeting is also here for all members, not just Joint Council Delegates. A lot of information is given out at these meetings, and also about the business of our Local. The only thing is, you do not have voting rights at this meeting if you are not a Joint Council Delegate.

We put out a survey last month to the membership with some questions about the Local and education opportunities the membership would like to see. One of the answers that we received a lot was financial literacy class. I have contacted the Education Committee to get this class together. Stay tuned to the Searchlight for more info to come, because we will be getting one together soon. This class will be geared towards the budgeting of money and how to spend wisely.

Carter Jones lived pretty much his whole life in the outdoors and was involved with a lot of activities. His personality and what he enjoyed started form one seed planted by his parents and grew into a field that he didn’t get to totally harvest. Take the time to plant a seed into a child and let them take it and flourish into what they enjoy in the great outdoors. I promise you, if it is 1/10th of what Carter enjoyed, that kid will thank you later.

Get a child outdoors and let them live life to the fullest.