When you do the right thing ...
Then good things happen
REX LYNCH and JACKIE WESTMORELAND
Anderson County Circuit Court Clerk Rex Lynch wanted him to tell it, too.
Just not right then.
Lynch knew Westmoreland from “back in the day,” when they were in school — though Westmoreland was a couple of years older.
“I knew who he was,” Lynch said. “I didn’t know him, though, but I remembered him.”
Westmoreland, by his own account, was trouble.
Westmoreland made his intentions known to Lynch that he was going to The Courier News and he was tell the newspaper what Lynch had done for him.
Lynch beat him to the office, however.
He said Jackie was going to come in and ask The Courier News to do a story about the help he has received, but, Lynch said, he’d like it to run at a later date.
The May 3 Republican Primary was about 10 days away, and Lynch thought the timing would be wrong, be misconstrued.
Lynch didn’t mind Westmoreland’s story being in the paper, he simply asked if The Courier News would hold it until after the primary election.
Lynch said he was at a prayer breakfast at a restaurant in town about a month before, and he noticed Westmoreland taking an interest.
“I don’t recognize him, but he recognized me,” Lynch said.
Lynch approached Westmoreland and asked him if he was interested in learning more, of maybe going to church.
Westmoreland did.
The next weekend Lynch picked up Westmoreland on Sunday morning and took him to church with him.
The transformation of a man who had spent his life being pretty much known for not much else than being “trouble” started.
Lynch helped Westmoreland get a job at Aisin, helped him make sure he could get to work, started helping him find a place to live and get his driver’s license back.
Westmoreland’s outlook changed drastically.
Suddenly Jackie Westmoreland didn’t want to let his friends down.
“Rex is a good man,” Westmoreland said. “He really helped me. There have been a lot of people who have helped me.
“I’ve had 50, maybe 100 PIs (public intoxications); law enforcement is very familiar with me,” he said.
He said Sheriff Russell Barker and Judge Don Layton have worked to help him.
“If you do the right thing, then good things come your way,” Westmoreland said.
“It helps me keep not messing up to have these people in my corner.”
Lynch said that Westmoreland’s story is what happens when a community comes together to help somebody.
“It wasn’t just me,” Lynch said. “He’s a got a strong church support group now and he’s got other people helping him.”
Jackie Westmoreland has been sober for a little more than year. He’s stayed out of trouble.
At the Coal Creek Miners Museum about three weeks after Westmoreland came in the office of The Courier News, Lynch said Westmoreland was still doing “great.”