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behind the ADGE
A Kansan reporter gets an arresting look
Officer Max Miller joined the Lawrence Police Department in 1991.
story by katie burford photos by erin mcelhinney
"You wanna try it?" he asked, handing me the gun. "There's one, coming over the hill. Shoot him."
I took aim and pulled the trigger — the digital display read 40 mph. The reading put the car at five mph above the speed limit. Officer Max Miller of the Lawrence Police Department said he usually would not pull over a car unless it was going at least 12 mph above the speed limit.
I rode around with Miller on Feb. 20 from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. to learn what a typical Saturday night was like for a Lawrence police officer. In the process, I also learned why this Lawrence native chose to become a protector of the people.
It was 6 a.m. on a quiet Sunday when Miller decided to show me the radar gun. Traffic was light on Sixth Street. Miller, a fair-complexioned and sturdy man of Scottish-Irish descent, made a pun about
catching a church-goer speeding to make it to early service.
Then it occurred to me: Miller is a very funny guy. It's a subtle kind of humor that falls somewhere between Monty Python and Bob Dole with just a hint of the macabre. For example, around midnight we were silently creeping through Oak Hill Cemetery with the spotlight on to see if anything was awry.
Just when I was starting to get a little scared, he stopped the car by a faucet that was protruding a few feet from a gravestone.
"Thirsty?" he asked.
I can't quite sure if he was inking
Miller gave three tickets to cars parked on the wrong side of the road and was dispatched on calls that included four burglarized cars, a peeping Tom and a guy yelling in the streets of an east Lawrence neighborhood.
At 2:40 a.m., we stopped a car that was driving with the headlights turned off.
The driver of the car was a 13-year-
"I don't have a lot of tolerance for people who want to mess up life for everyone else."
Officer Max Miller
Lawrence Police Department
old girl. A 28-year-old woman sat in the passenger seat and a teenager was in the backseat with a 2- year-old, who was not in a car seat.
The group was from Topeka and said that they were in town visiting relatives. Miller said that in his eight years with the Lawrence Police Department, the girl was the youngest driver he ever had come across. The woman had no explanation for why she had allowed her 13-year-old cousin to drive the car.
After another officer drove the woman to two 24-hour stores in search of a car seat, Miller and the other officer decided to have them check into a nearby hotel for the night so that they could buy a seat in the morning when stores opened.
Miller said that it was a typical night. From 11 p.m. to 3 a.m., most of his stops are for DUIs or bar fights.
After 3 a.m., most calls deal with domestic disturbances, he said.
I realize that part of being a good cop is developing a sense of what to do in situations that aren't exactly mentioned in police training. But 33-year-old Miller said he enjoyed the unpredictability of the job.
As a boy, he said, he wanted to be a pilot. But soon after, poor eyesight put an end to his aspirations. From that point on, he wanted to be a police officer.
When asked why he decided so early on law enforcement, a long pause followed.
"I don't have a lot of tolerance for people who want to mess up life for everyone else," he said, speaking slowly and intentionally. "I want to see things that are wrong put right. Being a police officer is the societally acceptable way to go about it."
After graduating from Lawrence High School in 1984, Miller spent three years in the Army to get money for college.
In 1897, he enrolled in the University of Kansas and studied criminal delinquency and Russian. It was during the Cold War era and Miller considered pursuing a career with the FBI.
But the fall of the Berlin Wall coupled with Miller's desire to stay in Lawrence changed his direction. He doesn't regret not becoming an FBI agent.
"They're all accountants and lawyers these days, anyway," he said.
While in college, Miller worked as a military policeman with the National Guard. He also worked as a security guard
In 1991, he graduated and started with the Lawrence Police Department.The department tuition reimbursement p
Department. The department has a tuition reimbursement policy that
pays 75 percent of books and tuition for officers wishing to continue their education.
"It would be almost stupid not to take advantage of that," he said.
So he did. While still working for the department, Miller took classes at the University toward a Masters in Public Administration. He finished in December.
Miller said the classes that he took in leadership were the most useful for his line of work.
"I learned that you should never assume that other people think like you do," he said.
Understanding what motivates people is an important aspect to being a good leader, he said.
Miller said that although he hoped the degree would help to advance his career in the future, for now, he was content with his job.
As the sky began to turn a predawn periwinkle, he talked about future goals. He and his wife, an urban planner who also attended the University, recently celebrated their 12th anniversary. He said that they were ready to start a family.
"Yeah, I sent off the coupon and keep checking the mailbox, but that baby still hasn't arrived," he said.
Oddities...
Tinky Winky to lead Berkeley parade
BERKELEY, Calif. — Tinky Winky, the purple, pure-toting Teletubby attacked by the Rev. Jerry Falwell as a homosexual role model, has been invited to serve
as grand marshal of the "How Berkeley Can You Be?" parade. The parade, held every September, celebrates the eccentricities of a city famous for radical politics.
this week endorsed a
Keley City Council earlier this week endorsed a
proclamation that defended Tinky Winky. It read: "Long live Tinky Winky and long live freedom from self-right-eousness!"
Falwell earlier this month suggested that the Teletubbies character from the popular children's television show is a gay role model. He cited the purse, the purple and a head
Photo Illustration by Matt Daugherty
antenna shaped like a triangle, "the gay-
pride symbol."
Teletubbies spokesman Steve Rice and Falwell spokeswoman Laura Swickard both declined comment on the parade Thursday.
High school grad receives diploma after 57 years
Handy graduated from East Bakersfield High School but missed the ceremony when he enlisted in the Army during World War II. He called the school Thursday when rain idled work on his farm just outside of Lamont.
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — Faye2 Handy figured 57 years was long enough to wait before picking up his high school diploma.
Handy never thought about picking up the diploma when he returned from Europe after the war. He was too busy working.
"I was sitting there thinking to myself, 'I never have seen my diploma,'" he said. "I got that diploma coming to me, so I called."
Sure enough, when school registrar Carol Parker went to the Class of 1942 file, there was his diploma. It was the only one left unclaimed.
As for his 15 minutes of fame, Handy is not used to the attention. "I don't care
much for it," he said.
much for it," he said. Man gets chest wound, jail time in foiled scheme
Beaver survived only to have his girlfriend turn him in.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Just shoot me! Clothing store owner John Beaver said that was what he told a friend as the two plotted a fake robbery in 1994. Beaver wanted Christopher Petton to shoot him in the shoulder, but he was shot in the chest because of his friend's poor aim.
Beaver, 29, pleaded guilty to grand larceny Wednesday in exchange for a prison sentence of 18 months to four years. He blamed the plot on cocaine addiction and clinical depression.
Monroe County Judge Patricia Marks ordered him to pay back $143,611 in stolen money and wages he collected while recovering.
"That you weren't killed, that somebody else wasn't killed, was strictly a matter of luck," Marks said.
Beaver had told police that an armed man broke into his T.J. Maxx store, demanded he open the safe, then became agitated and shot him. He had moved to Georgia by the time his girlfriend tipped off police last year.
Dog-bite-dog legislation could be costly for owners
Pelton, 27, pleaded guilty to grand larceny in December in exchange for a six-month jail sentence.
RICHMOND, Va. — There have long been laws punishing dogs that bite people, but a bill approved by the General Assembly takes on a whole new issue: dogs that bite other pets.
The legislation would make owners of dogs that attack and injure other pets pay $50 to register the dog, tattoo it and keep it in a proper enclosure. The owner would have to post a sign warning passers-by that they have a dangerous dog and buy $50,000 worth of liability insurance covering animal bites.
Hunting dogs and dogs that bite pets owned by the same person are exempt.
"It's a dog-bite-dog bill." Sen. John Watkins said Thursday, "It's opening up a situation where a lot of owners of pets are going to have to purchase insurance."
A legislative committee still has to work on the bill before it goes to Gov. Jim Gilmore.
The Associated Press
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