One year ago, Officer Richard May, was shot and killed in East Palo Alto while performing his pledged duty to serve and protect. Sadly, for all of us who believe in good and strive to instill values in our children that will help them choose between right and wrong, we have lost a special local citizen, unselfish public servant, loving son, brother, father, friend and role model. I am grateful that I had the good fortune to know Rich from the time he was only 7-1/2 years old and had been able to see him mature into such a wonderful, productive adult.

Those of us who were lucky enough to know Rich personally, were never fooled by his “Clark Kent “ mild-mannered nature — we knew all along he was Superman. On January 7, 2006, he revealed his true identity to the rest of the community.