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Epic Road Trip #5: On to Arkansas
Been a little gap in the narrative. It’s been easier to make a quick Facebook post with a couple pictures to let people know I am safe and where I am at. But it’s raining and I don’t have a signal so it’s a good time to get caught up.
It was a fairly decent legitimate site at Pine Ridge. I drove down to the Piney Creek Wilderness area the next afternoon and there were lots of well maintained dispersed sites. I did a hike in the wilderness but couldn’t find the trail so came back. I had a controlled fall on some wet loose rocks which was a good reminder of the inherent risks in solo back country hiking. I’m pretty careful but you never know.
I didn’t want to take another hike so I headed south on back roads into Arkansas. I stopped in Fayetteville and saw an old friend. With short notice she was a great host and I got a hot meal and a shower and a chance to go to the grocery store for some goat cheese (a soft peppered one that is delicious) and local beer (Ozark Beer Company, Hardwork APA, it’s ok) and whatnot. I tried a couple gear stores looking for a Forest Service Map but no luck.
After Fayetteville I just drove on some long unpaved roads until I found stuff to do. I was heading towards Mills Springs Day Use area in what is mostly ATV infested woods when was stopped by a tree in the road. There’d been storms when I was in Fayetteville and there were a lot of downed trees. A couple in an F-250 with a camper shell were taking it apart with a hand axe. I got my full size one out but it was a little dull to their liking. We got the branch off and they were trying to pull it out of the way with their truck when the Forest Service arrived with a chainsaw and made short work of it. The couple was cool, recently retired marines who were 5 months into their cross country road trip. I told them about the water falls hike at Hercules Glen and they showed me a good campsite I stayed for 2 days.
I hiked both ways on the Appalachian Highlands Trail. A lot of poison ivy but pretty falls and a nice trail. There was a whole hillside that collapsed onto the trail which made it tough to get around but I navigated the edge until I found the trail again. Spent some time at the Springs area which was cool rock, maybe CCC era. There were some more modern additions maybe 1950s showing their wear and semiabandoned toilets, which are the very worst kind.
So today I drove out of the woods and came east and back into the forest. I’m south of Newton County I believe and there are some cool hikes I found directions too. My plan is to hike them over the weekend, between showers and then down to Little Rock for a couple few days to visit my old friend Jay and his wife.
It’s been smooth sailing and I’m hoping this part of the forest is in better condition then what I’ve seen so far. Well that’s it faithful reader. News from home is Smokey passed on and was buried by the other dogs in the backyard. It’s a sad thing, she was a good dog and had a lot of heart. She’d have liked all the cows I drove by today and barked at them all. Rest well Smokey, the cows will have to take care of themselves.
Newton County is as beautiful as I remember it. I did a couple of hikes near where I camped. Pretty decent trails, more ferns and wildflowers. Then I drove into Newton County and did a cool hike at a natural bridge site. There were a number of caves and pillars and such as well.
I then drove up to the Ponca Wilderness and hiked into Hemmed in Hollow. It was 2 miles of steep drop to get to the overlook to see the falls. It’s the tallest between the Appalachians and the Rockies but was hard to see from the overlook. I hiked out racing the dark and pretty much made it.
I then drove into the Buffalo Scenic River Area to park and camp. Drank a couple of the local APAs which are growing on me with some local jerky. I was bushed and slept hard. Came back to Jasper and will try to add some photos at the Subway with WiFi.
Epic Road Trip #4: The Glades
The deluge came and I managed pretty well through it. I did decide to head to higher ground, the Swan Creek camp trails were all flooded. I think it’s really called Bar K Wrangler Camp, by the way.
I camped in some high country which was nice. After a couple of skewer cooked meals I got a cast iron skillet and a new sauce pan, as well as a baking sheet. I’m keeping them in a messenger bag as cooking on fires leaves a lot of soot on the pan which is how I left my last set.
I took a glades drive and hiked some forest service roads yesterday. Feel like moving south has advanced the season seeing cardinal flowers and indian paintbrush and not the spring ephemerals that go along with morels.
Today I hiked in the Hercules Wilderness Area. I hiked about 5 miles in the morning at the Fire Tower trail head. Later I found a shorter trail to the waterfalls (Blair Ridge TH) . It was 3.8 miles and with what I’d already done a bit of a stretch but I’m glad I did.
Saw a hummingbird in a patch of cardinal flowers and the glades had lots of wildflowers I’d never seen. The creek water was cold but swimmable and the falls were incredible. Nice pools and water action. Met a couple of young guys whose excitement was infectious.
Saw my first copperhead. He was big but had a meal in him and was pretty chill. I got some good pictures and video and I’ll see what I can post. It was a long walk out. I went into town for fajitas and took a little detour to the Pine Ridge section of the National Forest because I didn’t want to drive all the way to the Piney Wilderness Area, my last stop in the Mark Twain nearly complete tour.
As long as I’m not actually parked in someone’s front yard I made a good decision. I am bone weary tired but the best day of the trip so far.
Free Kevin Bromwell #
Update: Governor Parson reviewed Kevin Bromwell’s petition for clemency and it was denied. Kevin’s best chance is a Geriatric Offender Release Bill. Ex-Offenders over the age of 60 have less than a 1% recidivism rate.
Returning geriatric prisoners who have served over 30 years both ensures strong justice for victims and saves tax dollars by reserving prison cells and their tremendous expense for only those who need them. Geriatric prisoners have high medical costs and with an aging prison population they are increasingly becoming nursing homes.
Senator Washington has pre-filed SB 438. Missouri residents please reach out to your Representative and Senator and encourage them to also sponsor SB 438.
For a little more than a year I have been working to help free Kevin Bromwell. Kevin has served 32 years for a crime I do not believe he committed. Below is the content of a letter I wrote to Missouri Governor Mike Parson. The letter explains my long history with the Bromwell family and why I believe Kevin should have his sentence commuted. At the bottom of this post I will include the Governor’s office contact information. Kevin’s request for clemency has gone unresponded for over five years. My repeated communications with the Governor’s office have been ignored. We will need a groundswell of support to give Kevin’s clemency request a fair hearing. I will also include Kevin’s address in case anyone cares to write him. He is bored shitless and could use more outside contact. If you could share this information widely in any format I would appreciate it. I know Kevin would as well.
December 2, 2019
Dear Governor Parson or his designee,
I am writing in support of a clemency request for a commutation of sentence for Mr. Kevin Bromwell #181047. Mr. Bromwell’s brother Reese is a constituent of mine who requested my assistance in advocating for his brother’s release. Kevin has served 32 years of 3 consecutive 30-year sentences for second degree homicide, burglary and arson. Irregularities in the case, the number of years already served and the pressing need of his family for his speedy release compel me to make this urgent request.
I have known Reese Bromwell for many years. I spent a 10-year career with Phoenix Programs, Columbia’s premier substance use disorder treatment center as a counselor, manager and ultimately executive director. Reese is a person in long term recovery from alcohol and because of my position shared details of his growing up with child abuse and neglect in an unstable family in inner-city St. Louis. Reese and most of his siblings had abused drugs and alcohol and had ongoing legal trouble. Reese got into recovery at Phoenix and had a desire to return and tell his story.
I further learned about Reese’s family and his character when Reese’s sister Tina was released from prison. Tina’s home plan brought her to live with Reese and he was a great support to Tina as she had adjustment issues from long term incarceration and trauma recovery. She found employment and worked for several years with stability until becoming disabled.
My relationship with the Bromwell’s deepened when another brother Donnie broke his neck in an accident could not care for himself and was trapped in a nursing home. I worked with the family to secure disabled housing so the three adult siblings could live together and support one another. I helped Donnie come to terms with becoming a quadriplegic and the family provided his home care. I came to admire this family who had come through so much adversity with a fierce desire to take care of each other and be successful.
After Donnie passed away of natural causes Reese told me about his brother Kevin and requested my assistance. I agreed to look into the situation and see if there was anything I could do. I spoke to Kevin by phone and made a trip to Licking Missouri to visit Kevin in the South Central Correctional Center.
I heard Kevin’s story and it had the ring of truth. I am a Certified Co-Occurring Disorders Professional through the Missouri Credentialing Board and have long experience with criminal justice involved individuals. I administered Phoenix Programs primary re-entry programming for many years and have worked with countless offenders and ex-offenders. Kevin struck me as sincere and his story plausible. I do not believe that Kevin poses a threat to society.
I have reviewed affidavits and records that are part of the clemency petition. I have been corresponding with Kevin and speaking with him regularly on the phone. I have come to know another sibling Pastor Larry Booth. Pastor Booth is also convinced of his brother’s innocence and has confirmed the facts of the matter as told to me by Kevin. A brief summary of the facts are as follows:
On May 16th, 1988 a terrible crime occurred. A woman was murdered, and her apartment set ablaze during a burglary. Later that night Kevin Bromwell was arrested on an unrelated charge. Kevin had been heavily drinking in the company of numerous witnesses. Three participants in the crime were arrested and they identified Kevin as the murderer, two of them testifying in his trial. All received minimal sentences and served less than five years.
Kevin has maintained his innocence for the 32 years he has served after being convicted and sentenced for 30 years to be served consecutively for Second-Degree Murder, First-Degree Burglary and First-Degree Arson. Kevin Bromwell (#181047) who is now 60 will not be eligible for parole for another 62 years.
Kevin’s attorney refused to call exculpatory witnesses and conceded his presence at the crime scene against Kevin’s expressed wishes. She did not challenge the serious issues with evidence tampering and police brutality. Kevin lost his appeal regarding ineffective assistance of trial counsel when his attorney at the time presented no evidence. Kevin has been filing habeas corpus petitions pro se which have all been dismissed without prejudice.
We are requesting a close examination of Kevin Bromwell’s clemency petition to the governor. He filed an Amended Application for Executive Clemency on 2/25/2018. He has a brother and a sister who are in poor health who requested assistance so that they might spend some time with their brother outside of prison. Kevin has made the best use of his time possible and has completed self-improvement classes and works hard on the prison garden.
There are six key facts that demonstrate there is not reasonable confidence in Kevin Bromwell’s conviction:
- A new witness proves Kevin Bromwell is innocent. The enclosed affidavit of Lewis Watkins, who as a boy witnessed the crime, swears that Kevin was not there. This affidavit is new evidence.
- Kevin’s clothing was taken by police back to the crime scene. When initially arrested, no blood of any consequence was noted on his clothing except a small amount on his right shoe from a fight earlier in the day. Subsequently the clothing was taken back to the crime scene by the police and then later when trial counsel examined the clothing it was covered in blood.
- Kevin had no stolen items on his person when arrested. As substantiated by police reports, there were no stolen items on Kevin’s person on the first police report when he was arrested. However, subsequent police reports mention stolen items that were on his person when arrested. The items mysteriously appear as part of the State’s case.
- Kevin was in no shape to commit the crime. Kevin had received an SSI check that day and had no need to commit burglary. As many witnesses will testify, Kevin was so intoxicated that night that he was staggering drunk and could barely walk much less commit a crime.
- The victim’s door was not kicked in as testified by witnesses against Kevin. Two of the individuals involved in the crime knew the victim and Kevin did not. The Fire Marshall’s report stated the door was in the unlocked position and not kicked in.
- Kevin had an alibi which trial counsel refused to use. Trial counsel’s strategy was to admit guilt and go for a conviction on a lesser charge then first-degree murder. Kevin wanted to maintain his innocence and go for a not guilty verdict at his trial. Trial counsel refused to do so.
Kevin has been filing appeals and habeas corpus petitions pro se. He has exhausted his appeals and his habeas corpus petitions have thus far been rejected without prejudice. There is no evidence they have been given serious consideration.
A commutation of sentence would be most appropriate because it would allow a quick unification of the family. Both Reese and Tina Bromwell have COPD. Reese has been off work for weeks and Tina is disabled. The siblings would serve as both recovery supports for Kevin and could use his assistance. I would pledge my own efforts to support Kevin Bromwell’s transition to the community. I would provide case management support to link him with needed services and assist him in finding full time employment.
With all of the time that has passed since this crime has been committed we may never know definitively what happened that night and who was involved. We do know that Kevin Bromwell has served 32 years for the crime while the other participants were given probation. By running the three-year sentences concurrently an acknowledgement of the trial irregularities can be acknowledged without a risk to public safety. Kevin has strong family and community supports. Please consider this modest request to help a family that has survived much hardship by pulling together and taking care of each other.
Sincerely,
Michael A. Trapp, MA, CCDP
Second Ward City Council Member, City of Columbia
Principal, AAAAChange, LLC (4-A-Change)
Here is a link to the Governor’s office for respectful requests for Kevin’s clemency petition to be granted, or at least considered thoughtfully with an examination of the evidence. https://governor.mo.gov/contact-us
His contact info is:
Office of Governor Michael L. Parson
P.O. Box 720
Jefferson City, MO 65102
Phone: (573) 751-3222
Fax: (573) 751-1495
To write Kevin:
Kevin Bromwell #181047
3D-266
South Central Correctional Center
255 West Highway 32
Licking, MO 65542
step one part 1
Introduction:
I’ve had the great pleasure to get to teach the 12 steps of recovery, specifically Narcotics Anonymous over the past year or so. I am a treatment person not a recovery person so I do not usually presume. The Steps are supposed to be worked by a Sponsor. Someone experienced in The Program who has worked the steps themselves. For people with multiple challenges Recovery can be an arduous path and unique accommodations must sometime be made.
If an individual speaks only a foreign language or is deaf and only speaks sign both NA and AA graciously make interpreters available but only for meetings not to meet with sponsors. Using deaf as an example you also have the unique challenge of concrete thinking, translation, and lack of all reference even through metaphor for hearing. I just looked the steps on line(cyber recovery) and translated. And its been cool. One of the most interesting therapeutic approaches I’ve ever tried. Has made me really have to understand the text.
Someone requested I write it down for them. I told them it would be a lot of work but it may be of general interest so I would share it.
Step 1
“We admitted that we were powerless over our addiction, that our lives had become unmanageable”
Not understanding the first step makes people use drugs. Addicts have other problems besides using drugs. People in NA can only help others by caring about them and living life as it is not how we want it to be or fear it to be. NA just focuses on not using drugs.
Using drugs makes you selfish and step one helps that. If we are powerless we don’t have to stick up for ourselves or try to do stuff we can’t do. When we used drugs we tried to hurt ourselves, not because we wanted to but because we were sick. Our sickness is because we can’t remember what has happened or learn from other people. We lie to ourselves and can’t see how things are. Sometimes people wait to make decisions until they’ve been clean awhile and they’re better. Recovery is confusing in the beginning and waiting to make decisions helps. We can’t do that forever as we get better in recovery if we want to grow.
We can’t give it up to God without understanding other addicts. We do what other addicts who have been clean longer suggest. We read, study, and ask questions when we can. We share with others so we don’t plan to use drugs. We try to understand we are sick and can’t get better alone. The most important word in the first step is We. “We admitted we were powerless over our addiction and our lives have become unmanageable”. We are not alone we are in a group in NA. We don’t have to do this step alone.
When we were using drugs we felt the strongest when we were making our biggest problems. Sometimes it almost killed us and ruined our life. We thought we were strong but we could just make people do stuff we wanted. Other times we felt weak and nervous. When bad things happened we would admit we have a problem and things would get better. “We admitted we were powerless over our addiction and our lives have become unmanageable”. Then we can keep getting better forever, unless we decide we’re powerful.
Most ask “Tell me how it’s done? Show me what to do. I am afraid to try.” In NA we see people like us who have gotten better. We wonder if they are like us how can they do good? They do things we don’t think people can do. As we get better we learn that how it was when were using isn’t that way anymore. We are no longer dazed by drugs. We have meetings to go to. We learn new positive thoughts.
We learn to catch ourselves and slow down before getting caught up in things. Almost anything, even important things can wait five minutes. Taking time to think doesn’t mean we can’t do some things. It helps us not to feel hurt. Sometimes we don’t have to do anything and we can give it to God. Then we think of good things to do, people to call, and good things happen when we pray.
Some things remind us of drugs. Sometimes it does and we don’t see it and we don’t know why we want to use drugs. Some people make us think about when we were kids or when bad things happened or like they are the cops and we want to get away. This keeps us from getting better. Learning more about what reminds us of stuff lets us change it. Intense anger, fear, or shame for no reason shows you have a problem. We have to give everything in our life to God. When we remember we are not in control problems go away. Without giving it to God we can’t get better and we will do what we used to do. Part of giving it up to God is remembering we made our lives small. We did bad things and bad things happened. We get confused because we did drugs and need other people to help us. All addicts feel nervous sometimes but they help each other.
We have to look at what we do in recovery. We do stuff for a long time and we don’t think about it. We don’t remember why we do stuff we just do it. The longer we are in recovery we can do things better. We ought to think about what we do especially the stuff we were doing when we were using drugs. They make our life like it used to be. We are afraid at red and blue lights because of the cops but we aren’t breaking any laws and don’t have to be afraid.
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had hoped to finish but will call this part 1. The steps can seem daunting but they are front loaded with length and depth. Most of it is really clear. Occasionally I am lost by a thought. In talking with a translator I was told “clarity” was the essential quality. I am curious of what people who know this material better then I think. I enjoy abstraction but its been cool to lay it down for awhile. In the concrete there is room for God but not a Higher Power. If the New York Times said God is dead in the 60s for this exercise Higher Power is dead killed by vagueness and abstraction.
Multiconstruct 
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