A Retired State Trooper Brings Skills Learned in Childhood and on the Job to Volunteering

A Retired State Trooper Spends Retirement Fighting for Kids
<I>A Retired State Trooper Brings Skills Learnedin Childhood and on the Job to Volunteering 1

Bernard L. Chatman says early-childhood education is a key to success in life.

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By Bernard L. Chatman

I’ve always believed in hope. I was raised in a small, central Pennsylvania town with a rich, multicultural environment. This was back in the 1950s, before I had even heard about the civil-rights movement.

My father grew up in the Deep South, and he instilled me with pride in my heritage. I traced Dad and Mom’s families back from living in slavery on a plantation to the Ivory Coast in Africa. In doing so, I realized I had the ability to achieve goals that might at first