I’M TO LIVE IN EAST DALLAS

“Live Local” is all about keeping our dollars in our communities. We live here. We work here. We spend our dollars here. That, in turn, results in a “thriving metropolis” where we reap the benefits of our “Live Local” philosophy by keeping our shopping centers fully leased, increasing our home values and drawing people into our community to eat, shop and live! I am born & raised in Lakewood and am proud to be vocal about “living local!”

DARLENE ELLISON

DaleRettman

Dale rettman has keys. Keys to every door in the Jubilee Park community center, keys to his church, keys to his apartment and keys to his truck.

he pulls them from his belt, holds them up like a bell and makes them jingle. The key that most astonishes him, he says, is the one to the police substation a block away from Jubilee

Park, where rettman is facility asset and security manager.

“They hired me to empty trash cans a year and a half ago,” he says. “It was my second job out of prison.” rettman was a lifelong criminal, addicted to methamphetamines for 17 years, and he manufactured meth for about six years. he held down a job making $75,000 a year at a collision repair shop, but he spent all of his money on drugs. Once his two daughters grew up and left the house about 10 years ago, he says he went wild, dealing drugs and doing them nonstop.

It was in prison where rettman learned what he says are the keys to a successful life: consistency, dependability and being christ-like.

Finally, he decided it was time for a change.

“I was tired of it,” he says of the drug-addict life. “I was tired of the lifestyle, the people, everything.” rettman had a rap sheet “this long” for unpaid tickets, possession of drug paraphernalia, trespassing and lots of relatively minor offenses. he was on probation for drug possession when he finally was charged and sentenced to 18 months. he decided to turn his life around and learn the Bible even before he was sent to hutchins Unit, south of Dallas. his wife left him, his adoptive parents were dead, he lost contact with his children. he had no one. and he says he had no contact with the outside world during his sentence. But he was placed in faith-based dorms at hutchins, one of the first residents in a new rehabilitation program.

“I prayed that I would be in there long enough to get better,” he says.

In prison, he says he learned to become a leader and to watch his language, which was peppered with curse words. and he learned those three keys.

“It’s the best thing that ever happened to me,” he says of prison.

“It took that controlled environment to help me. You have nothing but time to work on anything you need to work on.”

The day of his release, he had nothing but the clothes and shoes he was wearing — not even a toothbrush. But he was placed in transitional housing, a group home exclusivelyfor themen from the faith-based dorm, in South Dallas.

Whenhearrived,membersofan EastDallaschurchwerethereto help, at least to give him a toothbrush and toiletries. And this group, fromSkillmanChurchofChrist, would become his new family.

“Ihadn’tbeentochurchin35 years,”Rettman says. “But there was a huge amount of love there.”

His comeback was a struggle. He earned less than the minimum wage in a collections call center. It took him more than an hour to get there on the bus, but he was always the first one there in the morning, and soon, he had the keys to the building.

Slowly, he saved money and bought a truck.

A churchmemberrecommended him for the job at Jubilee Park, whose staff was willing to try out one more ex-convictafterseveralhadbeen fired.

His job was to pick up trash, but Rettman took a sense of ownership of Jubilee Park, which has a park, communitycenter,teencenterand offices.

Hecreated a communitygarden andstartedteachingneighborhood kids about nutrition and how things grow.

His part-time gig turned into a fulltime job, and he rented an apartment near Mockingbird and Central.

Now he’s in charge of the $6 million community center and all of Jubilee Park’s assets.

He has all those keys, a $48,000 salary and a debit card he uses to buy things the center needs.

“They trust me with that,” he says. “It’s amazing.”

Rettman hopes he is an example for employers, showing that ex offenders canbegreatemployees.About75 percentofprisonersreturntojail, butRettman has made it.

He’s reconnected with his daughters.And the greatest joy of all: he has six grandchildren.

“I’m not here to get anything,” he says. “I’m here to give something.”

LEFT//Mark Hearne, coowner of Random, which recently opened at Hillside Village, describes his store as a place to buy “locally crafted, handmade, unusual, fun, funky gift ideas.” Hearne has lived in Lakewood for 30 years, and says that he saw “the movement” taking place at Hillside Village, and wanted to get in on the ground floor before all the retail space was taken. BELOW/ Shawn Phillips, operating partner at Fuzzy’s, carries food to a customer. Phillips says Lakewood residents have a lot of civic pride. “Everybody who lives in Lakewood chose it over somewhere else in Dallas they could have lived in,” he said.