A POSITIVE ROLE MODEL

Deputy Is Well-Known, Respected By Area Students

When it comes to being a Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE)
officer, Hall County Sheriff Jerry Watson said, some people have what
it takes and some people don't.

He sees Sgt. Rich McKinny as one person who definitely has what it
takes.

"He gets down on his knees and gives hugs and wipes noses if he needs
to," Watson said of McKinnny, a longtime DARE officer for Hall County.
"It's just really obvious that he cares."

McKinny teaches the DARE program to sixth-graders and a shortened
version of the program to fourth-graders at Wood River, District 1-R,
Alda, Doniphan-Trumbull and Cedar Hollow. He trained to become a DARE
officer in 1989 at the Illinois State Patrol Headquarters in
Springfield, Mo. He began teaching classes in January of 1990 and,
with the exception of one year, has been doing it ever since.

"It's got to be a voluntary thing," McKinny said of being a DARE
officer. "I enjoy working with the kids and enjoy seeing the kids grow
up."

Watson said McKinny taught his kids in the DARE program about 15 years
ago when Watson was still with the Grand Island Police Department.

"He's one of the most compassionate, kind souls that I've ever met,"
Watson said. "He's really good with the kids, and the kids seem to
take to him."

When McKinny walked into the gymnasium at Wood River Elementary last
school year, he was swarmed by students who rushed to give him hugs
and tell him how glad they were to see him. Staff at the school said
the kids respect him and view him as a grandfather figure, and Watson
said that's the case in most of the schools McKinny frequents.

"They respect him, and they look up to him," 1-R Principal Mark
Standage said of McKinny, noting that McKinny congratulates the
students personally and shakes their hands when they graduate from the
program. "It's just a neat relationship they build with him over those
few weeks."

In addition to teaching the 10-week program to sixth-graders and a
five-week program to fourth-graders, McKinny spends time with the kids
on the playground and during lunch. He takes part in school activities
such as the Wood River Fun Plunge (which required him to dress in
shorts and a T-shirt and jump into a cold, mucky river) and said he
runs into many kids years later when they've grown up and they
remember him.

"You get to know them away from the classes and get to know them a
little bit better," McKinny said of the students he deals with.

His one frustration is that he can't reach every student, and that as
a deputy, he sometimes runs into former students who've gone astray.

"The busier kids are with activities, the less likely they are to get
involved in drugs," McKinny said. "Peer pressure is just so tremendous
among kids."

In addition to teaching kids about drugs and alcohol, McKinny talks
about tobacco use, the importance of school and clubs and treating
people right.

"It's more about how they treat other kids," McKinny said. "It's all
about not putting other people down and working on getting kids to
feel good about themselves."

When McKinny isn't teaching DARE classes, he's busy with a variety of
other tasks as a sergeant with the sheriff's department. Watson said
McKinny supervises other deputies, helps with day-to-day activities in
the office and does just about anything he's asked to do.

"He wears lots of hats," Watson said. "He's so kind-hearted. He's the
type of guy who would just give you the shirt off of his back."