Dec 2023. Blues Vol 39 No. 12

FROM THE EDITOR-AT-LARGE
Yes, he said 40!
Forty years sounds like a
mighty long time, doesn’t it?
Well, until you’ve lived and
worked that long, it is a long
time. Then you’re like wait,
what the hell happened here?
We’re talking about the 40th
anniversary of The Blues. Forty
years of keeping Houston,
Harris County, Texas and now
the entire Country, informed on
critical issues relating to law
enforcement. Those 40 years
have just flown by.
Now for me personally, I remember
The Blues back when I
was just a kid. My old man used
to let me go with him some
mornings to the old Avenue
Grill, located on the corner of
Houston Avenue and Washington
Avenue. As an extra treat,
he’d let me go with him into
the old “F-15” known today as
Central Police Supply.
The Blues had a magazine
stand in each of those locations,
so every time I was there, along
with pretty much the entire
Central Patrol, Crime Scene
Units and Solo Units, all there
all there drinking their coffee,
eating breakfast, reading The
Blues and waiting for the call to
get to Court. (The Central Houston
Police Station, Municipal
Courts and County Courts were
just blocks from these two former
Houston Institutions.
When I grew up and became
a cop, I still read The Blues. I
looked forward every month to
the new issue, to read about the
latest and greatest as they related
to area Law Enforcement.
Sometimes everything made
sense, and sometimes I was left
wondering “Who and why did
they say that?” Of course, all the
ads were cool and so were the
special editorials along with
the open police officer positions
throughout the greater Houston-Conroe-Galveston
regions.
Fast forward to my regular
extra job at a local Mexican
Restaurant when low and behold
walks in Michael Barron,
the original fella who created
The Blues. As we were reminiscing
about the good ole
days, the subject of The Blues
came up. He explained why The
Blues had disappeared and he
was thinking about resurrecting
the old Police Magazine. I was
ELATED. I was like “DUDE! YOU
HAVE TO!!! The Blues is an Institution!!!
Like, literally. We must
bring it back. Well, he had me.
He was like “Good. That’s settled.
Glad you volunteered to
help.”
Not everything The Blues reported
or printed was popular
with everyone. In fact, there’s
CHIEF REX EVANS
times when clear lines were
drawn in the sand, with two
different points of view on the
same topic. And that was the
real beauty of The Blues. We
could agree to disagree. But at
the end of the day, we were ALL
blue and we all loved The Blues.
Call me “Old Fashioned” or
“Nostalgic”. I believe not everything
from our past needs to be
erased or eradicated. The Blues
is one of those institutions we
should all strive to keep alive
no matter what. It continues to
provide a huge service for our
profession and all those who
come after us. They deserve
to have the same, if not better,
version of The Blues Police
Magazine.
Some traditions are actually a
good thing. The Blues is certainly
one of those things. Merry
Christmas and Happy New
Year’s to all my friends and may
we all see each other on the
other side of this Holiday Season.
Stay healthy, be safe and
watch each other’s six.
10 The Blues 40th Anniversary Issue