“Why don’t you run for DA? We’re out there working our tails off arresting thugs for selling dope and we can’t get our cases prosecuted. When we need a prosecutor to answer questions, we can’t reach anybody. You’ve lived here all of your life. You don’t want to live in a place where drug dealers beat us. Why don’t you run for DA?”

The speaker was Mike Pruitt. The time—the winter of 2004. Mike can be persuasive. I knew he was right. I decided to run.

I’ve known Mike since high school. We were on the Fayette County Tigers football team. He played and I watched from the bench. He played fullback on offense and linebacker on defense. When the other team had the ball, he guarded the end zone like it was his back yard.

Today, as captain of the Drug Task Force, he guards Fayette County like it is his back yard. There’s a good reason for that. Fayette County is his back yard.

I wish you could see him in action. Feel the passion as he discusses the plan that will take down a major smuggler. Hear the pain in his voice when a dealer gets a bond. See the glimmer in his eye when the judge sentences a trafficker. He’s like Bear Bryant with a badge. Mike Pruitt is doing his part to preserve the county he and I grew up in and love.

Mike is 49. He has cancer. They took out his kidney. Now cancer is in his lungs.

He’s spent his adult life fighting a “cancer’’ that threatens our peaceful community. He’s done that with zeal. Now, I ask that you pray for him. With zeal.

This week we tried Stinson White for dealing cocaine. The jury convicted. He’s headed to prison.

Mike, this one’s for you.