Western Nebraska Observer - Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First

New Kimball Police Chief Jose Ruiz has a wealth of knowledge not only from his years of experience with the Cheyenne Police Department but also from growing up on the south side of Denver in Adams County.

Growing up, Ruiz said their family was impoverished, and the culture he was raised in centered on violence, gangs and drugs. Ruiz said his mother tried to keep "us away from as much as she could," but in the end Ruiz said he decided himself that he "didn't want to have the life that his brother and dad had chosen."

Ruiz could have gone down that same path, but he credits a teacher when he...