By LANEY COOK, Student Reporter
The middle of March in southern Texas is an extreme difference in weather compared to the middle of March in northwest Oklahoma.
Police officer Ronald Vasquez, a Texas native, moved to Alva roughly 13 years ago on a cold, windy day in March wearing only a T-shirt, a pair of jeans and some boots for the big move from Texas to Alva.
“It was 110 degrees when I left Texas that morning,” Vasquez said recently. “When I got here, it was just like it is outside now, icy and cold.”
Vasquez started his career with the police department in 1984 in southern Texas. He then took a break from the force until 2007, when he and his family made the decision to move to Alva.
He went into the field with the mindset of helping people, to help educate them and to help them achieve what they want out of life, he said.
Vasquez said his main priority as an officer is for people to acknowledge their choices.
“To me, it’s weird, people don’t remember the good others do,” Vasquez said. “They only remember the ‘bad’ mistakes.”
He said everyone has the power to make their own choices, but sometimes it doesn’t work out in the best favor. But when mistakes are made, instead of fretting on it, learn from it and move on, Vasquez said.