By: Ali Elizabeth Turner
When we express our gratitude for God’s grace by saying things like, “We serve the God of second chances,” most of us don’t immediately think of something like a close to four-hundred-year prison sentence being reduced down to just about nothing, let alone becoming one of the premier up-and coming news outlets in the state of Alabama. However, that is Bryan Dawson’s story, and the product of that mind-boggling “second chance” is 1819 News.
Bryan had an extremely troubled childhood, his parents having divorced when he was two. He likes to quip that his life is exactly like what J.D. Vance talks about in his book, Hillbilly Elegy, except that “J.D. Vance went into the Marines and went to Yale, and I got into drugs and went to jail.” Bryan’s mom was “country club” from Colorado Springs, and his dad’s family was from West Monroe, Louisiana, the land of the Duck Commander. This was long before the days of Duck Dynasty, and the saying in West Monroe was that “the only people poorer than the Robertsons were the Dawsons.” Interestingly, Bryan’s grandmother taught Sunday School with Miss Kay Robertson for over 30 years.
To say that Bryan “went south” and was circling the drain is an understatement. He didn’t just do drugs and deal drugs, he got involved with the cartels. He’ll be the first to tell you that he was facing down charges that included attempted murder, aggravated robbery, and extortion. He is quite open about his past, and when you contrast where he was headed compared to being now happily married to his high school crush and the father of seven children, the concept of “second chances” continues to take on a life of its own.
It was in prison that he came to know Christ, and it was far more than just a jailhouse conversion. Of his time in county jail, Bryan says,
“That’s really when God began to work on me,” he continued. “He thumped me on the head and said, ‘This is your fault.’ To normal people, well, of course, this is your fault, Bryan, you know. But for me, up to that point, it was my mom’s fault, it was my dad’s fault, it was the cop’s fault, it was the judge’s fault, it was District Attorney’s fault, it was everybody’s fault. It was a broken system. I was a victim. Why couldn’t anybody see that? And I really believed that, but when God opened my eyes to the fact it was my fault, that was when change really began to happen in my life. I realized that if my bad decisions created these bad circumstances, I was free to make good decisions that would create good circumstances.”
Fast forward to a plea deal and enrollment in a rehab program that stuck, and Bryan was able to transfer his parole to the state of Alabama. The miracles continued, and he was able to get a job in media that put a fire in his belly to be a truth teller for the people of Alabama the Beautiful. Starting up smack dab in the middle of COVID, 1819 News not only managed to survive, but its growth has been nothing but explosive. It is one of my go-to sources for things that pertain to our fair state, and when you read it, remember that the bulk of the New Testament was written by a murderer who also caused people to blaspheme. We do
indeed serve “the God of second chances,” and I hope you’ll become a raving fan of a news outlet that has a lofty war cry: “Rise to the moment of truth.”
June 20, 2025
