Publisher’s Point: I Just Might Have Missed It!

By: Ali Elizabeth Turner

A month ago, I wrote a Publisher’s Point about D.J. Daniel, the 13-year-old kid that been made an honorary member of the Secret Service by President Trump when he gave his address to both Houses. No one knows how long DJ has to live, and he stole our hearts with his passion for law enforcement, his love for his dad, and his affection for Secret Service Director, Sean Curran.

Fast forward almost exactly a month, and I am sitting and having a meeting with Stephanie Reynolds, who writes for this paper and is the Limestone County Tourism Specialist. My phone rings, and it is from the Atlanta area. I click the side of my phone to make even the silenced buzzing stop, and within seconds, it buzzes again. Now, all the things I have been taught about being present and professional insist that while you are with someone, you don’t let your cell phone pitch a fit until you answer it, and that is what I was determined to do. It buzzed a third time, and Stephanie says to me, “You know, you may want to answer that. They have called back-to-back three times, and it might be real.”

My Stephie has wisdom beyond her years, and so I put on my most professional (and hopefully least annoyed) voice: “This is Ali at Athens Now; how may I help you?” On the other end of the phone I heard, “Ma’am, this is Officer Dennis Rowe from the Atlanta Police Department…”

And now, I am in a dilemma. I am wondering if the next phrase is going to be, “I am calling on behalf of the Policemen’s Benefit Association,” or “Would you like to buy a ticket to the Policemen’s Ball?” And to top it off, I am feeling annoyed all over again.

All I want to do is talk to Steph. Then I hear one of the strangest questions: “Ma’am, do you have DJ Daniel’s contact information?” I stammered a no, and came up with the kind of lame suggestion of calling the White House Press services. Officer Rowe then proceeded to tell me that his department wanted to make DJ an honorary officer. Oh, wow! Talk about feeling small. Here I was thinking that this was a scam, and the truth was, this guy had read my article online and was reaching out to me for help.

So, we began to brainstorm, and officer Rowe decided to Google other police departments that had made DJ an honorary officer, and got DJ’s dad’s contact info. He called me back to tell me, and we celebrated together this kid that had touched our hearts. Then we spent a bit of time praying. Officer Rowe promised me that he would stay in touch and let me know when they were going to do the ceremony, for which I was so glad. And, if it had not been for Steph, I just might have missed it.