EDITOR: As the person of focus in your article: “Cherry Creek school board candidate memoir discloses ‘sexual misconduct,’ views on race,” I would appreciate you publishing my response.
The first sentence of the article about me and my book, “Fair Winds, Following Seas, and a Few Bolters,” falsely claims that I “self-admitted past acts [plural] of indecent exposure and sexual ‘misconduct.’” It then quotes what I wrote about the single such act in “Fair Winds,” has an advertisement, and then goes back to describing the act again, this time describing it as “sexually touching a woman without her consent at a September 1991 Las Vegas convention.”
This gives readers the false impression that there were multiple acts. To be clear, there was one such “act,” that took place in 1991.
I would also like to clarify why I included the act in “Fair Winds.” The memoir is my attempt to share my high- and low-lights in life, and what I learned from them, with my children and others.
Leaving out my inexcusable conduct at the Tailhook Convention would have been dishonest. As one reviewer wrote:
We all strive for fair winds and following seas, Navy lingo for “have a great life and let the calm winds and seas always be by your side.”
But with life, there are always a few bumps in the road.
“Bolters” in the naval aviation world.
How you recover and shake off the bolters in life, no matter how bad, says everything you need to know about the resilience of a soul.
Bolters are mistakes carrier aviators make when they decide more power is better than less, touch down on the carrier deck behind all the arresting cables, and have to try again.
I have had some highs in life, as a decorated Navy officer and carrier pilot who played a small role in the successful ends of the Cold War and First Gulf War, law school valedictorian, accomplished attorney in private practice and for the government, husband, and father.
I have also encountered some lows, which your readers now know.
“Fair Winds” shares lessons we can all learn from, including children, although it is not meant for immature readers or elementary school libraries.
My comment at a recent forum that it is appropriate for children was in response to the comparison of “Fair Winds” to “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” which our schools carry and describes sex with a child in graphic detail.
[EDITOR’S NOTE: The book McKenna refers to is a memoir by a self-described queer Black man who in one part relives a sexual molestation experience when he was younger. Cherry Creek schools officials said the book is not available in district elementary schools, but is available in some middle and high schools.]
Missing from the lead news article in Sunday’s Sentinel was any mention of why I am running. I believe in and care about the children, who are our future.
I also believe in our country, its morals, people, and values. Voters can decide if they want a school board member with these views in the upcoming election.
For more on my candidacy, please go to InspiringExcellenceCCSD.com. And please vote!
— Steve McKenna, candidate for Cherry Creek Schools Board of Education
I am so glad that you don’t have a chance to get elected.
Dude is a pervert
Seems the Sentinel is just another bias left based publication with an agenda other than reporting fair and honest news. The only reason I would subscribe would be to see just how far these publications will go to push their narratives..
Every woman knows a woman that has been raped but no man knows a rapist………
Yes lets elect a man who calls what he did “a lapse in judgement”. Yup it’s the “lefts” fault who made him attack women and it’s their fault for reporting about it. This man needs to go back into the shadows and STFU. This woman is fed up with the RW in this country electing anyone with a R after their name no matter what crimes they have committed. So much for the family values, moral high ground flag they wave.