Ohio State Highway Patrol superintendent encourages Harding High students

"Born and raised in Marion" and "Marion made" are more than just catchphrases for Chuck Jones. Those ideals are a vital part of who he is and why he has risen to the heights he has in his chosen profession.

Jones, a Marion native and 28-year veteran of law enforcement at the local and state levels, was elevated to the position of superintendent of the Ohio State Highway Patrol in August of this year. The 1991 Marion Harding High School alumnus began his career as a dispatcher for the Marion County Sheriff's Office and then became a trooper with the highway patrol. At the patrol, he rose through the ranks eventually becoming a lieutenant colonel in 2021 and then taking command of the entire agency in 2022.

At the invitation of Marion Harding boys basketball coach Jamie Pearson, Jones was back in his hometown this week, stopping by the high school on Thursday morning for a promotional photo shoot with members of the Presidents boys basketball team. A highway patrol helicopter was flown in for the photo shoot. He also took advantage of the opportunity to impart some wisdom to the young men.

"Everybody has a story. While those stories are not always the same, it's good to be able to give some perspective about our individual stories," said Jones, who was elevated to the rank of colonel when he was named superintendent of the Ohio State Highway Patrol. "Being born and raised in Marion, this is home to me. Having an opportunity to come back and spend some time with these young men is very, very important. Everybody needs mentors. Everybody needs somebody that they can look up to that they can talk to that can relate to them."

Jones grew up in the Fairpark neighborhood on the north side of Marion, noting that he can relate to the young men he spoke to at Harding because he knows many of their families. It was also in Fairpark where he first was inspired to become a law enforcement officer. A trooper from the Marion Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol lived nearby and seeing that cruiser in the man's driveway every day fanned the flames of a young Jones' desire to pursue a career in law enforcement.

"As I talk to these young men here there's many familiar last names to me," Jones said. "Their parents and their grandparents and aunts and uncles I grew up with. The importance for me today was to spend some time talking with them and let them know that anything's possible. It doesn't matter where you come from. It doesn't matter how you grew up. That can't be a barrier to being successful in life. It's about making good decisions and having a plan. So I just wanted to share that with them today."

Pearson told his players that he hopes they will draw inspiration from the positive example that Jones has established in reaching his personal and career goals.

"Hopefully he can inspire you a little bit with things like acting the right way, doing the right things, the importance of school," Pearson said. "You guys all should be thinking about what you're going to do when you're out of here. I know some of you would like to play basketball or football or whatever, but regardless, you gotta have a plan. And, obviously, this man had a really, really good plan and he's in a great position now."

Jones said having positive role models and mentors is also important for young people. He said he was fortunate to have former Marion County Sheriff John Butterworth and others in the community as mentors.

"Mine started with the Big Brothers Big Sisters program. Myself and a few of my brothers, we had a big brother who spent good quality time with us and showed us what we needed to know about being young men and growing up," Jones said. "That big brother really showed me the importance of mentorship. Then Sheriff Butterworth gave me my first opportunity in law enforcement and hired me as a senior in high school as a dispatcher. He didn't have to do that, but he saw something in me and the whole time that I worked for the sheriff's office, John was that father figure, that mentor to me.

"It's always important to have mentors and people that you can look up to. They're the folks that help us get our feet planted on the ground and get started in life."

With law enforcement agencies finding it increasingly difficult to fill open positions, Jones said he hopes young people in Marion will give serious consideration to joining him and others who have dedicated their lives to serving and protecting the general public.

"These young men are at the age when they are very impressionable and there's a lot going on in their lives right now," he said. "We believe it's very important the sooner we can plant that seed, if you will, with them and talk to them about a career in law enforcement and communicate to them that law enforcement is a very noble profession. It's important to have the opportunities to talk to them and explain that there are certain things they have to do. One of those is to keep your nose clean, so to speak, stay out of trouble, make good decisions, all those things that we know are important.

"The other part is to communicate to them that there is a place in law enforcement for them, if that's something they want to do as a career. But it's those decisions they make at this juncture in their lives that sets them up for success moving forward. Any time we can spend with young men and women talking about law enforcement and getting them interested in it is time well spent. We need good law enforcement officers."

Email: ecarter@gannett.com | Twitter: @AndrewACCarter

This article originally appeared on Marion Star: Ohio State Highway Patrol superintendent encourages Harding students