(February 13, 2013) -- This is my inaugural article as a contributor to LBREPORT.com and I am excited to be starting a new adventure working with someone whom I have known for twenty years now and who is a neighbor and long-time friend.

I have entitled my column the The Bear Truth because it exemplifies what I attempt to communicate in my writing and since one of my passions in life is wildlife photography it gives me a chance to use one of my up close and personal Alaskan Brown Bear pictures along with my article.

During the coming months I am going to spend a lot of time writing about what is happening in the city that I have lived in all of my life. I will also be very candid and honest in my opinions of what I see happening or not happening in the City of Long Beach. I also love to talk politics on any level as I have spent my entire life in public service and believe in those who dedicate their lives to making the lives of others better.

One thing that excites me about writing for LBREPORT.com is that I am under no deadlines and have absolutely no restrictions as to the length of my articles. I can write when something of interest or importance comes up in our city and I feel that this gives me a better opportunity to share ideas and invigorate the discussion.

I just finished a near ten year run as a writer for another community publication here in Long Beach. The last month and a half of my tenure there I was spending a significant amount of time trying to expose what is happening to our fire department. Because of the importance of the fire service as well as the complexity of what they do and how they do it, I feel strongly that it is difficult for the average citizen to get their arms around and fully comprehend the magnitude of what is currently being proposed with respect to staffing and the deterioration of the paramedic program here in the City of Long Beach.

For those of you that know me you know that I spent ten years as a member of the City Council and I am a thirty-two year veteran of law enforcement and am retired from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. I am also a veteran of the United States Army and I served a full tour in Vietnam prior to being discharged in 1973. I have been married to my wife for thirty-nine years and have a daughter who is in her early thirties. We have lived in the same home since 1975 and will probably die still living there.

I love Southern California and in particular I love Long Beach. Even though there are tremendous challenges facing all of us today I still feel that the future can be a bright one. However, if it is to be that way it will require continued media oversight and hopefully the influx of quality people who choose to represent all of us at all levels of government. This has been a huge failure in recent years and I am still optimistic that things will improve.

My next article will not happen for about two weeks as I am taking my wife on a well deserved vacation and when we return I plan on jumping in with both feet dealing with some of the issues facing us all today.

I plan to pay particular attention to what will be taking place with our local elections here in Long Beach and will be paying special attention to what happens with our public safety personnel here in our city. I still believe that local government’s number one responsibility is to maintain an adequate level of public safety. I am also very concerned about what is being proposed in our world of public recreation and of course with a deteriorating infrastructure here in Long Beach. I will spend some time asking some serious questions about how the city is handling, or not handling, those needs.

So I want to thank Bill Pearl for giving me the opportunity to share my views with readers of LBREPORT.com and I hope to invigorate the discussion just a little and get those of you who read my column something to really sink your teeth into.