Greetings and welcome to the Here We Stand podcast.
We're coming to you from the studios in what RC
Spro used to call the Northex of Providence Baptist Church.
I'm here today with my fellow elder and producer Roger
Dale Peters, and we have a very special show for you today,
a very 2 very special guests.
We have a former guest on our show, Kyle Abear,
and a lot of you who are watching No Kyle.
Kyle is the chaplain at the Livingston Parish Prison.
He also works at Deltak, and he
runs a program that's called the family approach,
inmate, reentry, and rehab program.
It is a fantastic program to help guys who
are inside the prisons at the Livingston Parish prison.
Get them back on their feet.
Once their time is up and really to give them good godly
counsel on what it means to be a Christian.
And we've talked about this before on our podcast, but
for today, what we want to focus on is his
absolute 1st cousin,
Desiree Wybright.
Have I got that name right, Desiree?
Very good.
And she is a prevention specialist
with the 2 good for drugs program in the St.
Bernard Parish community school system.
Now, this is, I've been learning about this today.
This is a fantastic program that
is geared toward children in the public school system at
the high school age, the 1415 range.
And what I'm going to do today is just get Desiree
to tell us a little bit about the program, and then
she and Kyle are going to have some interaction together because
this is going to be geared toward the kids that
she's going to be ministering to in this program.
So Desiree, if you could, just tell us a little
bit about the program too good for drugs.
Okay, it's focused on the ninth grade students.
That's what I work with and specialize in at the time.
And, um, we're trying to bring information
to the students to help them
make better choices at 14 and 15 years old.
Um, they tend to veer away,
um, from doing the right thing and making right choices.
Sometimes they get caught up in, um, you
know, following someone else, peer pressure and issues
that they may be dealing with at home or in school or with
siblings, family members.
It could be any best of things.
And we, um, promote
them and try to encourage them to
make the right choices, to know that their choices are,
um, what matters and that it becomes
something that becomes themselves and what their future may be.
And um, we bring in guest speakers and we
speak to them for about 2 weeks.
Um, and it's not 2 weeks straight.
It's kind of broken off to give them a little bit of a break in between.
And, um, You know, we
basically trying to just make a difference in their lives by bringing
in information that they can utilize that they can relate to
and that they can remember and carry with
them for the rest of their life.
That is so awesome.
And so you get 2 weeks in a school year
and you just break it up in different sessions.
Right.
So we do it in 2 semesters, actually.
So twice.
We do a dorn there.
PE class so that we don't disrupt
their regular school day.
Not that PE is not as important, but we really don't have a lot of time.
during school.
Um, and that's why we do break it up so that,
for example, one of their, their, uh, weeks may look like um, Tuesday.
We may meet with them on Tuesday during their PE
class, and then we don't see them again until the following week,
maybe on a Wednesday.
You know, on Thursday.
And you've had like the sheriff of St.
Bernard Parish, the Crinker.
And so how long have you been doing this?
Is this just started this year?
Started about 5 years ago.
And I have been in the program 4.5 of those five.
And like you said, the sheriff has been our speaker
each time he's been there from the beginning and he still exists today.
And, um, we also have somebody like the district attorney
may come in and speak to them about, you
know, what could happen in dangers.
You know, it could be the parish president, for example, people
like that that are in positions that they
wouldn't ordinarily get to meet or sit at a table with.
So we do, um, bring in, you know, people like
that, you know, we have a pastor that's in one of our local churches
that comes in and speaks about his story and tells, um,
things that relate to these children, you know, to try to help them.
And also somebody that's not from our area that, um,
has a story like Kyle, um,
but, you know, spiraled out of control and his story
hopefully can help the kids relate and understand what not to do.
Right, right.
And I think it's so great that St.
Bernard Parish has community leaders that are willing
to come and do things like this to help the children in their own community.
That is very rare.
And we need so much more of this in our day of
today with so many distractions and things that
the kids have to deal with, temptations that they have to deal
with that we didn't in our generation even have to even think about.
We didn't even consider the things we see going on today would even be a thing.
And now these kids are just bombarded with stuff in the world.
So I really, really love to hear about this program.
And I think what we would like to do is for
you to talk with Kyle here about, you're his 1st cousin.
That's correct.
So you've known Kyle all of his life, right?
And so talk a little bit about your childhood growing
up and then kind of talk to Kyle about
the story of what happened when things went wrong and
then leading up to when you met him in Angola.
Okay, so um, we are almost
exactly the same age.
Our birthdays are about a month apart, and we're 1st cousins.
Our fathers, our brothers, and um, we
both grew up in the same area, same parish of St.
And um, We were pretty close.
We'd see each other for sure every Sunday for
dinner at our mama.
What was her name?
Mama, da da.
Yeah, I like that.
So she lived in Violet, and we both lived in Shelmat,
and, um, we would get to gather at a very large family,
and, um, our parents, our, um, one
of 12 kids.
Anyway, so we had a lot of cousins and it was very nice to get together and
so we'd see each other on a regular basis and because we're about the same age, we
would, um, also be in the same circle
with different things that we may do, you know, maybe a party or a gathering.
And, um, you know, he went to Shalmet High School.
I went to Andrew Jackson, both in school.
So you weren't in Shao Mation.
I was.
Okay, okay.
He was too.
Okay, well leading up to that.
Yeah, so, um, you know, and at the time, they are
in Shalmed High and it's a co-ed school.
But when we went to school, the high school was separated.
That's what sparked you to question that.
So Andrew Jackson was the girls' school.
And he was at the boys' school, which was Shamat High as it is today.
And, um, I was a cheerleader at Shalmat
High, but the girls, for the
school, like, you know, they took the girls from the girls' school to
do the, you know, the Shelmat High things, you know,
yeah, for football and, you know, whatever it might have been,
you know, basketball or what have you.
So anyway, we, um, you know, we were close.
We grew up, you know, as young cousins and friends pretty much.
And, um, I have siblings and he has a sibling
and so, you know, we, we encountered each other on a regular basis and everything was fine.
He was a great kid.
Um, good kid until he wasn't
good anymore, which I will.
I guess like you...
Yeah, well, something, but something happened to Kyle.
early on in his life.
Do you remember that?
I do.
Um, I didn't know if you wanted to talk about that or do you want me to?
Yeah.
Tell the story real quick and you can kind of talk a little bit about that.
Yeah, I was raised with a precious mother
and father, you know, her aunt and uncle and very
moral and my daddy was an engineer, mother of school teacher.
And let me tell you, my daddy, uh, Johnny, would
do virtually anything for his bride.
And whenever my mom wanted something completed
at the house, he jumped on it in this particular time, 1970,
I'm 5 years old, and I love being with my dad, and
he taught me a lot of vocational skills, and I hungered for that.
And I fed off of all of that.
But uh, one November in 1970 remodeling
the kitchen, uh, it was late at night.
He was very tired.
He left the pilot light on the gas stove while installing.
For mica countertops.
The glue is highly flammable.
And lo and behold, the air fuel mixture was
atrocious, and it went off like an atomic bomb, sent
him and I uh, into hospital
for, I was there almost a year, year and 8 months.
46 major operations,
daddy, about six, 7 months.
But, uh, my mom had, uh, just, you
know, basic burns because she ran in the house and and actually
used her body to extinguish the fire of her 5 year old.
Talk about the love of a mother.
And so that created in me a heart that was,
you know, just an angry kid, you know, and, you know, we had talked about this.
Verbally, I was getting abused by
the kids, and I didn't react accordingly.
Once I got back to school.
They let me back and I had to sit in a room by myself because of germs.
So you're like in 1st grade at this point?
Yeah, you know, I'm finishing up kindergarten 1st grade
and, you know, I'm still going through the surgeries.
So I had to be apart from the students because of germs.
And so kids would come look in the window and gawk
at me and I'm sure a lot of this, you know, was my own imagination
until they would verbally say something to me.
And I always said to myself, you know, when I get out this room, I'm going to get out there on
the, on the, on the, on the wreck yard and I'm going to,
I'm going to fight them.
I'm going to beat them up.
And I can remember getting so angry, y'all, that I would smell blood.
And so, lo and behold, when I did get
out that classroom and was able to, you know, interact with
the other children, I was fighting every day, uh, until,
uh, my mother who worked for the school, uh, also,
um, you know, and she was close with everybody at CF Raleigh.
You know, she got with my dad, said, we got to do something with him because he's
going to get kicked out of school and I, you know, I deserve that.
But, um, I was, I was a good
student until I wasn't a good student.
And so the fighting had to stop and again,
I was raising a very moral home.
Um, they were, not real church goers.
But just really good moral people, and
their answer was, hey, let's put him in sports.
And so football was the sport of my
choice, and I excelled in it and loved
it, and not only did it, it helped me with
building community and being a team player.
But my grades began to skyrocket.
You remember that?
And so, yeah, about, you know, coach Ronnie Cornick
at, at Chum at middle school and, you know, they, they
poured their lives into me.
I went from defense.
We came a running back and a pretty good one.
You know, I get broke some records.
Broke some.
Well, yeah, when I got to Shelmet, you know, I broke several records.
Um, and it was a, it was a blessing, you know,
I, I was under Coach Chemento, Ronnie, you know, Ronnie Chemento,
and, uh, You know, the, I
carried a 4.0 grade, a GPA.
You know, you had to make the grade to play football.
So in that sense, my mother and father was
right, you know, put me in sports.
And, uh, Let me
tell you, I became the, uh,
The poster boy, you
know, at Shelmet High, you know, because I had to actually come
out of a wheelchair, you know, and from a wheelchair to
running a football and having a 1000 yard rushing season.
I had a couple of them, and making a
grade, 4.0 GPA, and I wasn't, you know, I was, I was planning on college.
You know, so, you know, between, and
from 5th grade, till 12th grade, I mean,
I was the, the stall athlete, and you're
the cheerleader, cheerleader, and
yeah, you know, Desiree was there for all of that.
And um, It was a blessing.
I loved school.
I enjoyed football.
I enjoyed community.
I enjoyed making the grade, preparing for college, and some,
you know, UL was looking at me, and I even went on
campus until 19, you know, 1983, my senior year.
You know, I, you know, I never, I can never, ever, remember
a practice, our game
that my father was not there.
My father was my rock.
And we was close.
You know, he actually became, you know, my idol, you know,
my little G god, and I love daddy.
And, uh, 1983.
you know, after, you know, we, we, we just beat St.
Auld in the Superdome.
It was the big one.
We had devil beat St.
So my, you know, 1983 is the 1st year.
We have a beat.
St.
I was toting a rock in that, toting a rock.
I ran a punt back in that game, won the game.
And it was it was solid, you know.
And let me tell you, we
was ha- even my brother John, you know, he was even happy that night,
and I was like, man, I need to do that more often, you know?
I love my brother.
And your dad had to be just bursting.
Oh, he was.
And he had to talk with me, you know, look, at night,
had to talk, like, you know, your future's here.
You know, you do.
I'm proud of you.
You know, we get ready to step into the next chapter.
You know, I was going to go to UL to be forestry for forestry.
I wanted to, you know, really, you know, get into agriculture and
everything and dealing with these, you know, these, these,
all these, these state parks and everything.
And uh, I had my heart set on that and uh,
that night, my dad went to sleep.
And I, you know, I never heard my mother and father argue.
If they argue, and I'm sure like every other couple, they did.
They was private about that, you know?
Um, We didn't have the perfect family, but it
was, it was calm at the house.
You know, my mom was a rowdy woman, but, you know, you knew she loved you.
You know, wasn't, it wasn't, you know, punitive.
It was purifying.
And I loved that about my mom.
But I heard her yelling, screaming.
But it wasn't an argument.
It was, Fear, terror.
Me and my brother John come running out of our room, and as I got closer
to their bedroom, I could hear daddy's dad, daddy's dad.
And my life changed.
That very night.
And, um, so I, you know, from,
you know, kindergarten, 1st grade, the fighting, and then
I went from like 5th grade all the way to 12th grade.
Not a mark.
I mean, just your your poster boy, kid,
teenager, got a future, gonna go to college,
and then daddy.
Tragedy.
And that's where the bottom fell out.
And I started running with the wolves.
I don't know any other way to put it.
And uh, matter of fact, I walked away from school and
Miss uh, Cheryl Molair, uh,
was one of my teachers that really poured
in in, uh, you know, Miss Debbie Godey,
uh, 2 those 2 teachers begged me to come back to school.
I had perfect attendance from 5th grade
to 12th grade.
I started missing school in 12th, you know, right after daddy died.
You know, I didn't even cry at the funeral and I didn't go back to school and
mama couldn't handle me.
And so I would go back.
Look, I had a 4 row, but it dropped to like a 3635.
I still graduated with the ropes, but I didn't graduate
number one in my class.
I had the scholastic award locked in and everything.
I lost all of that.
But I didn't, I threw the football helmet down and
picked up a biker helmet, and you know, Desiree can tell you, that's,
I started doing drugs for the 1st time, really drinking.
Um, and running with women and uh,
being abusive and I got, I got arrested
for the 1st time at 17.
And, and look, Judge Garmody.
Judge Garbody was dead and he's like, what is wrong with you?
You know?
And, well, let me tell you, Judge Garbert, he did his job, you
know, and I was grateful for that.
Um, He said,
I'm not going to stand on a soapbox, you know, you, you got to, you're
going to straighten up, but I didn't listen.
I didn't listen.
So drinking and drugging and and partying
and starting to get arrested.
So from 1983 to
1999.
I wound up with 97 arrests and
full felony convictions.
And look, in between that, there was people that came up to me and said,
hey, you know, you need, you need AA.
You need NA. and and I would look them in I and
say, I don't want to hear nothing about no AA,
no NA.
The only thing I know is the DA.
That's right
Getting to know him pretty well.
Very well.
And it was not a pretty
sight because in, you know, the culmination,
in destruction of this downward
spiral to hell, and me
destroying my family, all my relationships.
Led to me coming home in 1999.
And I don't blame the alcohol.
I don't blame the drugs.
I don't blame the police department.
I don't blame the DA.
I blame myself.
I came home and beat up my 72 year old aunt and
my mother witnessed it.
And it was at that point.
That my mama said, you are not welcome at this house anymore.
Because let me tell you, mama enabled
me a lot from 83 to 99.
Mamas do that.
Mamas love their boys, especially they're bad boys.
And there was nothing that woman wouldn't do for me.
Nanny forgave me.
She didn't even flinch.
Her message to me was, you need to get straight.
I'm gonna love you.
And I forgive you.
Nanny looked me in the eye.
I was broken behind that.
And I can never remember a time.
Let me tell you, Sheriff Pullman, who has been in my life.
You know, he went to, The Promised Land Academy and
they was trying to get me to go play ball at Promised Land.
I stayed at Chowmet and he'll tell you that story.
He's trying to recruit me.
I was going to play ball with them because he played ball.
But me and Sheryl Pullman was like that.
That man, never stopped loving me.
But let me tell you, he knew what it was going to take.
But I can never remember an arrest.
That Sheriff Pullman didn't show up.
And I asked him that the last time I was down there with y'all, Desirect.
I said, why you always showed up at the at the arrest?
He said to make sure nobody killed you.
Oh, so when it,
Desiree, let me let me ask you real quick.
Uh, so, you were with Kyle on
this tremendous 5th grade to 12th grade, Joe, 4.0
football star, hit to the biggest game in Shalmette history.
Maybe it's up to that point at least against St.
Ogg and the whole 9 yards and the down, then the tragedy strikes.
And then from your vantage point, tell
us a little bit about what you saw Kyle spiraling into at
that point before he gets to to prison.
He was
out of control, you know, somebody that we didn't recognize and,
you know, we had to, um, deal
with the death of our uncle, you know, because that probably
was one of the 1st ones that passed away.
I don't remember.
Um, but anyway, um, he
was one of the 1st ones that passed away.
So I think it struck us kind of, you know, sudden
and odd and, um, it,
you know, hurt me for a while because, you know,
we were close to him and everything.
And my dad and, you know, just to deal with a death,
it was just a little crazy because I was a guest, same age then.
I was a senior in high school.
And so, um, I can
just remember, like, I don't remember little details, you know, like crazy,
but I do remember things because I was busy, you know, being a
senior myself and, you know, doing my next steps and
stuff for school and all.
Um, I would hear things that the family would say or
I would witness some things that he would do.
Like he saw it swiped my mom's car that
was parked in front of the street.
Um, and, you know, and I was like, you
know, unbelievable, like, why would he do that?
Or how did he do that?
Like what was going on, that he would sideswipe on a regular boulevard.
Like, what could he have been doing?
You know, um, little things like that and then like
you'd hear stuff, you know, you'd hear the chatter.
You know, somebody might have been gossiping about something that he
did because it was, it was kind of unprecedented and weird.
Yeah, because there's a total flip of what he was in high school.
And so, you know, I went through all of that.
And then, you know, of course, the story's going to go on and explain the details,
but, um, I kind of, I think, stepped
away from all that because that wasn't anything that I was, you know, going to be involved in.
And he wouldn't have expected me to, you know?
But he was around my age and he lives in our community and
he, you know, was with other friends and stuff.
So I watched it go on, you know?
And there really wasn't anything you felt like you could do in that situation.
No, I wouldn't listen.
Right.
You wasn't going to listen anyway.
So then, Kyle, this leads up to this event leads
up to, of course, you getting to Angola.
And so tell us a little bit about that.
And then I want to lead up to when you see
him, Desiree, for the 1st time when you go to the.
But you remember, you had somebody at your house when
the, so start from there when you
got arrested after you beat up aunt.
Remember you were at the
house and you had a girlfriend.
Oh, yeah, something.
Oh, yeah, Susan, which that this is all.
Yeah, I had, I had Susan staying with me, a, a matter of fact,
a young lady that I had met while I was in San
Benoit Parish, and I, I brought her home, but
she was there at the house when
I beat up my, my nanny.
And so, Really, the
argument started with her and I, and so she
got the brunt of it when I pulled in that evening,
I was at Lehman's Bar, and we were shooting pool.
But the fight that that started at Lehman's
Ball, I brought it home and Susan and I
was all in and and and fighting and then it let up
my my nanny comes outside to try to break us up.
And then tell me that the truck was overheating.
And I didn't find out none of that until later.
She never mentioned that to me.
And so, It would
be from, from that incident, it would be 11 days later.
And I'm going to school for the local
11 sheet metal union, which I now work with at Delta.
And we'll talk a little bit about that in a minute.
But 11 days later, I'm coming home back.
I'm still living at the house and my mama didn't want me around,
but she let me stay there and, you know, until I found my own place.
So 11 days later, I see, I'm, I'm coming
down Shangri-La.
And there's police calls on both sides of the street.
And I, you know, my self centered
self says, oh, somebody's in trouble.
Little did I know.
And this is the grace of God, y'all.
The neighbor saw my nanny bruised up.
Because you hit a 72 year old.
They bruised pretty easy.
And she was sitting on the porch.
And the neighbor, man, God sovereignly used that neighbor.
To call the police.
And that night, A
miracle transpired and and Sheriff Pullman was there.
Um, when I pulled in the driveway, all
I heard was the guns clicking.
Get out the, you know, put your hands up.
But there was a, it was a freedom in me that I had never felt.
You know, what I didn't mention was
doing those escapades of me partying and and
hanging at auctioneer.
They would have, Kids that
would, you know, from the various churches.
That would, you know, be coming around and sharing the gospel.
I've never had anything against Christians.
Just didn't want to be one.
Right, didn't want to hear it.
Didn't want to hear it.
Yeah, but I was nice to him.
I thought they were doing a good thing.
Yeah.
And I would even go as far as allowing
them to pray with me.
But little did I know, seeds were being planted.
You know, they share the gospel.
I'd hear this, you know, and, you know, there
was no illumination, but, you know, the,
the information was in there.
The information was there, the soil was being in this,
and let me tell you, when I, when I beat up nanny,
My, my, my, aunt anime.
I was broken.
by the humility of that, and it was, and and let
me tell you, God convicted me, but I couldn't put words to any of that.
But on August 19th, 1999,
when the Saint Menard parish sheriff's department came and did their job,
after the neighbor made the phone call and
they put me in the back seat of that Saint Bernard sheriff's
police call, I was free.
And I said to myself, I'm never coming back.
To this home.
And lo and behold, I wouldn't.
But I was like a wild animal that was finally caged and now calmed.
And when they brought me to the same Bernard lockup
for the 1st time and that cell door shut, it went off like a church bell.
My eyes were opened.
I got saved in the back seat of a police call.
So I'm grateful for the sheriff's office.
God sovereignly using Sheriff Pullman and
his group, you know, and all the, you know, the judges and
the DAs that, you know, did their job.
And so, and, and, from me
walking out that cell and going in a dorm, in
the parish jail for the 1st time.
I'm now looking for a Bible.
I didn't, I wasn't, I wasn't looking for God.
But God found me.
And so now my heart and eyes open, and lo
and behold, he would send individuals, and I begin studying the word.
When I went to my 1st court here and I told Judge Garbardy.
Well, I asked him, you don't tell Judge Gorbi anything, you ask.
I said, can I go ahead and plead guilty now, but he wouldn't let me.
But he would eventually.
And for the 1st time in my life, y'all took responsibility.
And so, and the latter
part of 99 and then early 2000, I pled guilty.
And rightly so, you know, should
have got a life sentence.
Judge Galbi gave me 40 years.
Well, I gave myself 40 years.
He was just abiding by the law.
And 40 years wouldn't normally
send you to the Louisiana State penitentiary, usually
send you to hunt DCI or one of the smaller prisons,
but I was blessed to go through the
front gates of the Louisiana State penitentiary, which became
the land of new beginnings for me.
Because, you know, God is sovereign.
And, you know, all those skill sets that my dad was teaching me,
I would be able to utilize them as a trustee,
Morgan Kane is building a chapel in Angola
and needed an air conditioned duck guy.
I'd just come through the local 11 sheet metal union apprenticeship.
I can build ducks.
And so, and they put a young man with me, Ronald Edison,
who's the janitor cleaning up all my metal, walked in as a trustee.
one came, put me at your game.
Never happened.
You usually got to do field time.
God was taking care of me right off the bat.
And, um, you know, my family, rightly
so, had turned from me.
Um, and I don't blame him.
No communication.
None.
So it's just me and God.
So I'm studying the word.
I'm working, Warden Kane, Warden, Venoy, give me a job at Camp D.
I'm a trustee.
I'm putting in all the air conditioned duct work, puts
a young man, Ronald Edison, who's a pastor from Slidell,
who pulls an armed robbery, and he's teaching me the Bible.
Come on now.
And so, boy, Kane says, Kyle, you do
a good job on this chapel, I'll put you anywhere you want in the prison.
Well, I'm not sure where to go, but Ronald's like, hey,
man, we need to go to the main prison.
It's kind of like Jerusalem.
You got all the programs and everything.
But little did I know.
Warren Kane says, well, where you want to work?
Put me in maintenance.
God turns the heart
of the king, whichever way, like rivers of water, takes warden
Kane's heart and bends him, he puts me in maintenance, all right.
Maintenance worker of the New Orleans Baptist
Theological Seminary.
What a coincidence, right?
Divine appointment, brother.
And so I'm in hearing all this theology and
and so let me tell y'all, you know, for me, prison was a mercy.
And so I'm grateful for, you know, everyone who
was, you know, involved, you know, in doing their job, arresting
me, sentencing me, and sending me where I,
I deserve to have never come home.
And, um, and being in that that
Bible college, I found out quickly, I had a calling on my life.
And so I would go through the 4 year program that I
get my MDiv.
And then meanwhile, I find out that prior to my arrest.
I am.
And at spring break, and I meet a girl, Melissa.
Who's running from her husband, she's married,
but we meet the elevator, one night stand.
I get her pregnant.
Oh, no, I get her pregnant, and then I come back the same, but no,
she stays in Panama City, gets back with her husband.
Has to tell him.
I'm pregnant from some guy from Louisiana from
Camp D.
God again.
Sovereign.
You know what that husband says?
He needs to be a part of that baby's life.
And so she gets in touch with me, sends me a picture.
Very rare, you know, only when God's involved.
And so I get to raise my son Matthew from prison.
And again, it's just me.
Old was Matthew when you met him.
Nine.
Nine years old. when you found out you had...
He was he was 2 weeks old when I learned of him.
So I would be early?
He's always known.
He's always known his daddy.
I spoke with mama and grandma, more grandma,
Peggy than mama, but me and Peggy got real close.
Her grandma, my son's grandma.
And so, and then, you know, Kim Martin,
who's a friend of mine, Jack Martin's.
sister, she
pulled into my life and she financially paid because I didn't have no family.
I didn't get no money.
You know, I mean, I got, I got, you know, commissary was low.
It was low.
Yeah, I got full cents, you know, at work.
You know, for working that I got my raised to ¢8.
And then when I became a mentor, I got ¢35.
Big roller.
Yeah, but so long story short, though, Kim paid for
all my, my phone bills and everything.
She wanted me to be a father to my son, right?
Unlike my dad, uh, you know, taught me some really
great stuff occasionally and morally.
I raised my son in the word.
In the word of God, fully in the word of God.
And today, you know, well, Matthew has graduated from Wheaton College with
his MDiv, and he's now in New York in his
2nd year law school.
So he, yeah, we got a, we got a young conservative coming out of that.
loves Trump.
I can't wait to the meeting.
So real quick, because we got to get to the question, the Q and A time.
But just could you tell me kind of what led up to you going to
the rodeo that day and how you met back up with Kyle real quick?
So another coincidence if there's anything...
No such thing, a luck chance or coincidence, only God's probability.
That's right, man.
That's right.
So my son worked for an electrical
company, and he's an electrician, and he's, um, I
guess, um, put on that job and Angola.
I'm not really sure how you guys made the connection or knew how
did he realize who you were or how did that go, 1st of all?
I was part of the angle light, the prison magazine.
And I was doing a story on the reconstruction and
the renewing of the kitchen.
And so I'm interviewing the workers
and I run into your son.
Divine appointment.
And he's like, you're...
are you?
I'm Kali bear.
My mama's an A-Bear.
Who's your mama?
Desiree.
From where?
I said, come here, boy.
I gave him a hug.
I kissed him too.
And we connected.
I mean, it was like him and I had never been apart.
Yeah, it's my blood.
I mean, that's that was like my son.
It would have to be a unique connection there.
Oh, so does he come home and tell you, hey, mom, guess what?
Yeah, I just don't remember the detail like that.
That's why I wanted to ask you.
I didn't remember that.
I might have maybe heard it, but I was like so freaked out.
I didn't remember.
It was precious.
But anyway, so not too long after that, I
went to the rodeo.
And we brought, I think,
I can't remember who went with us, but we had like a little with us.
Yeah, you had your crew?
Yeah, but it might have been like one of my grandbabies.
if I'm not mistaken.
And we went up there and went to the rodeo.
Well, it wasn't like I could call him and say, hey, I just wanted to let, you know, I'm coming.
Or, you know, did I even really expect to see him.
I was, you know, You weren't sure if you're gonna see him?
No, no, but I I think I had maybe an
expectation of it or a preparing in my brain and in my heart.
What if I see him?
Like, what do I do?
I mean, it's been how long?
Oh, goodness, that...
What, 15 years probably?
Well, if it was 3 years before you got out.
Yeah.
Yeah, I got out in 20, you had 22.
Okay, but you had to have been in there serving
at least 20 something years.
That's what I'm saying.
So, um, I accidentally
happened upon him.
I mean, and he was a trustee.
Yeah, I'm walking around with a camera. just walking around and had some kind of a fold on.
You just sitting in the stands?
No, I wasn't in a stand.
As a matter of fact, um, I wonder if Brett was with us.
I can't remember now
I should have tried to find out before I came.
I don't remember.
He may have been.
I think he was with him.
He may have been with me.
He knew where I was at or something.
I can't remember.
But you see Kyle, but I saw him and he was like, just like somewhere.
Not like, you know, like all the others were like detained,
like I could see prisoners and I guess they have them in like sections or whatever where
they could see the public and stuff.
You know, and you see them behind the things and they were all the ones that
were probably there a while that you could trust and that they wouldn't
holler at the public coming to see the, the
rodeo, you know, he was just like, like one
of us kind of like, you know what I mean?
And I don't, it was just the weirdest thing.
Of course, it wouldn't have mattered how he was dressed.
I recognized him.
like, 0 my gosh.
I couldn't believe it.
And he was like, maybe he was expecting to see me or
maybe you were secretly looking around because you might have known I was going.
I just don't remember.
I asked, did you?
Yeah, I do remember now.
Yeah, when he came up to me and I hugged him because I told him, I said,
look, if you come into the rodeo, I'm, we have, just look for
the angle light booth, we sell, you know, we sell magazines.
Because we took a picture.
I forgot.
In front of them, a matter of fact, yeah, probably could find that picture with us there.
And and you was in a bit.
I said, is your mama here?
I was a nervous, you're right.
Yes, she's walking up.
It was the weirdest thing.
I mean, you know, how often do you go to a prison number one?
But not only that, all this backstory.
Yeah, and this, I didn't know what to expect.
I know what to do.
We didn't know what the thing.
I didn't know what to expect.
I didn't know what anybody else would think.
How would anybody else when I got home would receive that or not
even tell anybody that I went?
sure.
I don't understand that.
It's not weird now, but it was weird.
Oh my god, no, you did I.
don't even have to be there to know that.
Oh my god.
Yeah, it was just so great to see her.
And, uh, But he was real mild man or like, you
know, he think, the biggest thing he came out with is this,
you know, humility, like he's so humble.
He, you can, you know, it's written all over him and it's
hard for me to explain to others, you know?
And like I said, being receiving of his story, like you have to forgive.
You know, and like we teach the kids and too
good for drugs and we try to explain to others that your mind
and your brain is not fully developed until you're 25 years old.
So, you know, I'm not trying to make an excuse for anybody.
You know, and that's part of, you know, the story.
Like, you need to, you do know right from wrong once you hit the age of 10.
You know, but you have to forgive.
I mean, you can't just hold something against somebody for the rest of their life,
and who are we to make that decision?
And if the court of law allowed him to get out,
then obviously, you know, their rank is a little
higher than my opinion when it comes to someone.
Right, right.
And so he gets out.
And so I can understand now very clearly why.
Today, you want to ask him a couple of questions.
Right. in regards to what you're doing at St.
Bernard Parish, right?
But, but the, the weird story is that, for
this program, too good for drugs, about 2.5
years ago, I think it was.
Yeah, 2.5 years ago.
Um, maybe it was longer than that.
Maybe it was 3 years.
I think you had just, how long have you been out?
Um, going into my 4th year.
I think you were just out.
Yeah, but maybe 6 months, right?
Oh, I just got there.
Okay, so yeah, Sheriff Polman called me.
Okay, so 3.5 years ago.
Um, He's 1st out.
He's 1st out like 6 months at the time.
And I knew, I knew, because of course,
the chatter, I found out that he was out.
Maybe my son even told me.
But, um, we were having a
program for too good for drugs.
And um, we had a
day for the guest speakers to come, which was Sheriff's
home and coming, and I knew he had a gentleman that was going to speak there.
Joseph Landix.
That's correct.
And I had no idea, and no one else did either.
Sheriff Connor just allowed this other guy to come.
But we didn't know in the program.
No, we didn't even know that there was another gentleman that was going to come with a joke.
Oh, he just thought it was Joe.
Oh, wow, and I'm there.
And I mean, it's the sheriff.
So obviously he didn't call us up and say, hey, would you mind?
I mean, he didn't really know if he was going to speak or not.
It didn't matter.
He was just newly out and it was a part of what the
sheriff wanted to do and I was okay with us.
It was very okay, you know?
And so I was there doing the
thing that I do and maybe, you know, setting up the monitor or whatever.
You know, introducing the sheriff
and, you know, making my way over to sit down and sit
down on a side and mind my business.
And, um, it was like a little foyer that
we would like kind of wait in and have the guest speakers
wait before we call them in to go on like.
kind of like that, you know?
And so I just kind of made my way to the side and um,
he was in that little waiting room there with Joe, I think.
I was with Joe and Joe.
I think sheriff, the sheriff was already speaking at this at this moment.
And so I went over there and then I
think it was almost time for Joe to be introduced to go out and speak.
And I went over there to go like, tell him,
okay, you know, you got like, you got a couple of minutes.
And so, um, I went over there and
I saw Kyle.
And I don't even know what to say.
I don't even know what to say, I thought.
Like, that was weird because I mean, it was just weird.
Like, I had no idea.
Yeah.
That I would ever see him.
That's a lightning boat.
Yeah, it was weird.
Like, I knew he was going to get out, but I mean, he wasn't going to go knock it off.
You come out and come to your gig, that's right.
And so from, you know, I
don't know how he got out there and spoke without any, you know, crazy
feelings.
Oh, maybe he did, but I didn't know.
But there was no way I could have did what he did.
You know who else was in that audience?
There's no way I could have did that.
I was like, out of my mind.
Judge Gorbity's daughter.
No way.
She doesn't care.
And so she calls Judge Galbin and says, look who's the speaker today.
Can you please?
But I got to thank you.
for doing his job.
I mean, that was all of the weirdness.
It's not weird.
That's that's showing me here.
Judge, yes.
let me tell you, Judge Galbity did his job.
Sheriff Pullman used to come to Angola and check on me.
How many sheriffs is going to do that?
You know, I mean, I work for sheriff art out here.
He cares.
And so I got two.
Well, you know, I've got a few showers in my life today that
care, and I'm grateful.
Right, and that's these men.
And these kids have that opportunity to have these men in their lives.
Right.
what's so impressive to me is that they're involved with your program
to the extent that they are.
And that is something that, man, we need more of
that in all of our school community.
And it's not just officials like that.
I mean, I didn't get to really say it's a few other people too.
Like maybe someone who owns a business, you
know, that has a really, you know, unique story where they struggled throughout their life.
They didn't go to prison or anything like that, but they struggled and
they teach their, they, well, they're not teaching,
but their message to the students is that just because I struggled,
it didn't mean I had to be a victim or I didn't
have to fall to drugs or to alcohol or I didn't
have to go abuse people because I was a
victim of divorce or, you know, domestic abuse and violence, you know?
And that brings me to ask you, you know, as
we wrapping up, um, what would you tell,
um, your 14 or 15 year old selves?
Um, I mean, to the audience, that 14 and
15 year old, that's who we speaking to.
If you could tell your 14, 15 year old self, anything.
Um, You know, I know they want to have fun.
I want to explore and they should, you know, but they're new in high school and.
What would you tell them because these
kids are subjected to a lot of things today.
Social media, um, you know,
outside influences.
We talk about all of those things, not just drugs in the program, okay?
The influences that they're up against.
Like you said, that we didn't have to deal with in our day.
You know, and just kind of knowing that stuff.
And what you did and how you were 14 and 15.
Right.
Um, and, you know, you were behaving at the time.
But what about if they're not behaving at 14
and 15 because they're dealing with maybe the death of their daddy at
14 instead of 18?
Right.
What advice can you give them to help them cope or not
make the bad choices that you made?
Learn to say no, number one, peer pressure is blinding.
And let me tell you, peer pressure is a hard thing.
And, you know, even though, you know, at 14 and
15, you know, per se was on the right track, I was
playing ball, making the grade, you know, at
18, everything changed, and I did not have to do the
things that I did, but it was out of selfishness.
Listen, if you're going through anything at that age, and,
and of course, you know, with the peer pressure and the internet,
and you know, and everything that, that these, these young men
and women are, you know, have access to.
If you're caught up in that, talk
to your counselor, talk to a pastor,
don't hold it in.
There's no reason.
I held so much stuff in Desiree.
and fill up that, you know, and I, it, it,
it blew up like an atomic bomb instead
of talking about it.
And I had family.
Not that everybody was listening, you know, and my parent,
you know, my mom, you know, it was still, you know, it was just me and her.
She didn't, you know, she didn't want to listen because she was
trying to, you know, keep her life together.
But that's why you have school counselors, you know.
Hopefully you've got parents,
but if you don't have parents that like I didn't have, you,
you, a pastor, you know, someone who is uh,
older that you know is walking the line.
Uh, it could be a family friend.
My advice is, please do not hold
this in and stay in the dark because
in the darkness is where everything happens.
That's where destructive habits come, destructive
modes come, and its end is destruction.
You know, thank the Lord that I had, you know, prayfully
you don't have to ever go down the road that I did.
It was very effective for me.
And I'm grateful that I got arrested.
Prison became purifying, not punitive, but
the Lord had grabbed a hold of me.
You know, not everyone's born again, you know, I had a new heart.
But for those who who have not received the Lord,
I would have to tell them to
please talk about it.
You don't have to stay where you're at.
There's, there's individuals that you can speak with.
Even if it's in private to speak to the Lord.
Spend time in prayer.
If that's where you being drawn, praise
God, if you're not being drawn that way, you have a counseling.
I'm going to keep saying, you have a counselor at Shalmeh High,
that you can speak with.
You've got, you can go to the principal.
You can go to a PE coach.
You can go to a teacher.
I had Cheryl Moler.
I had Debbie Godey.
These women loved me and stood by me.
So talk about it.
And really, Kyle, the thing about it is, is
nobody hits a guarantee that the Lord's going to move in their lives.
Absolutely, the stories that both of you and I have, so many stories.
So many stories end up the absolute opposite way.
And really destruction in Angola for life is just a terrible, terrible.
That's right.
And you know, that leads me to say this, and I don't even know if I've really shared this with you.
That's right, but you know this.
Bridget was a mercy.
Meaning God had mercy and sent me through them front gates.
How many of my friends didn't go to Angkol is in the graveyard?
And if I'd have went straight to the graveyard, guess what I would have woke up in hell.
Right, exactly.
Exactly.
So.
Yep, yes.
You have another, you have another question for Kyle?
don't think so.
Okay, that is fantastic.
Well, look, I really, really appreciate both of you.
Love y'all.
The ministry that you have, Kyle, is so perfect.
There's nobody that can talk to those guys at LPP
like you can because of what you've been through.
And then for Desiree, for you to just have a heart for
these kids, clearly you have a heart to want to help these kids.
And we need so many more people like you.
That's what it's about getting involved.
One of the problems we have here in America is
that we are way too comfortable.
Everybody wants to sit on their couch and watch Netflix and
not be bothered with showing up to do things like this because why?
You have to sacrifice your time.
You have to go out your way.
You have to have uncomfortable conversations.
There's all kind of things that you have to do in order to make something like this work.
So God bless you and your ministry.
We're going to put this on our here we stand Facebook page.
So what we would like to do is once
we get this out sometime next week on the Facebook page.
Please share this on your social medias,
on your Twitter, on Facebook.
And that way we can get to word about this program and
more people can learn about it.
So thank you guys so much for being here today.
And I want to say one other thing.
All right, here we stand conference this year.
It's actually going to be on Reformation Day, which is October
the 31st, which is on a Saturday.
We'll have some upcoming podcast where
we'll speak about the conference, but for right now, we're
signing off here from deep in the heart of Central.
Be careful going back to New Orleans.
Kyle, you too.
And we thank you for watching.
God bless.
Thank you for having us.
Thank you.