FCPD
FCPD is a pictorial history of Fort Collins Police that includes hundreds of photographs of former police officers from 1974. Some officers in this book are still working for the police department.
The book contains old newspaper articles and narrative describing important events. The pictures collect are from my personal collections of photographs I took over the years.
Mayor Ray Martinez 1999 – 2005…a photographic story
This is a pictorial story of Ray’s term in office as the Mayor of Fort Collins, CO, from 1999-2005. He served three terms. Ray left office because of term limitations. He has dedicated this book to support the cure and research of Alzheimer’s Disease.
PhotoRays eye-capturing fast shots
Ray’s Personal Biblical Notes… Opportunities to grow and ponder…
This is a compilation of bible study notes prepared for weekly studies every Wednesday morning. I’ve taken the time to review and study a number of references, commentaries, and garnering my own thoughts.
God has inspired me to study for many years, and it is never ending on what new things I learn about God’s principles and values, chalked full of life lessons.
The notes are choppy, but certainly trigger my mind in what to talk about with others. Don’t let the brevity of notes keep you from deep thinking, pondering what you can gain from the word, and my personal notes.
I’ve taken the time to underline specific verses or phrases in the bible and notes that are meaningful to me.
Growing Daily
Forty days and forty nights was an inspired thought during a lunch meeting with Dr. Luke. During our conversation I expressed how important it was for me to not go to bed without learning something new for the day. If I couldn’t think of anything that I learned new, it wasn’t unusual for me to look-up a new word in the dictionary; I just couldn’t rest without learning something new.
I love what David Neenan once said: “Power doesn’t come from what we know—it comes from what we need to learn.” While Dr. Luke and I were talking, I mentioned that he helped me with the idea of creating a daily journal or inspirational thought and publish it into a book. We should learn something new about Christ or the bible daily for daily living and growth. Imagine learning 365 new things about the bible every year, multiplied by 10 years!
My daily personal insights are intended to share what I learned on my journey with the thought you might start your own “journal of journey”. Before starting, I asked God to inspire me everyday with a new thought, insight, or inspiration of what He wanted me to learn for the day. This is a forty day journal, but I intend to continue with my journal as long as possible, God willing.
The Truth About Marijuana; America’s Snake Oil
| There are people who are misled about the genuine use of marijuana for medicinal use. People who are using the drug for legitimate reasons are much sounder in their reasoning and belief that it is helping them. Whether the drug is acting as a placebo for them or not, most people really don’t know. However, the abusers’ reasoning becomes irrational and very vague.
The Truth About Marijuana written by Ray Martinez exposes everything to the public what they really need to know regarding the truth about marijuana and how it should not be allowed to be legalized for it will become a subject for abuse. Many years ago, people would sell bottles of drinks that were supposed to cure everything, better known as snake oil. Today, society is faced with the twenty-first-century “snake oil” that proponents wants the public to believe that marijuana cures everything from minor pains to curing cancer. Snake oil never lives up to the sellers’ hype. It was just a common phrase used by people years ago, and even today, to refer to products that don’t really promote healing in the long run. |
Just Another Opinion
This book is a compilation of opinions that Ray Martinez has published in various newspapers that addresses a wide variety of topics and themes from local issues to state and national subject matters. Just Another Opinion complements Ray’s book, Saturday’s Opinion. Writing these stories is challenging and yet a great learning experience. Undoubtedly, some of these stories/opinions strike a community nerve. Still others are quite critical of a position or value that Ray expresses. These stories will cause the reader to pause or stimulate a discussion while looking for solutions.
Mai Tran: From Darkness to Light
The fall of Saigon was the beginning of Mai Tran’s adventure as one of the thousands of boat people who escaped from Vietnam. This is Tran’s resilient journey from darkness to light, from hiding in a secluded jungle area, to floating on a small vessel, and eventually embarking onto the Skyluck ship, packed with thousands of refugees for six months and ultimately finding freedom in the USA.
The Mai Tran journey of passion was told to me in Mai’s own words: “Growing up in a community of a tightly-woven family that had political ties with South Vietnam, I found myself in a quandary: I would have to leave my country and family, maybe forever. It was clear that if my family and our cultural heritage were to survive, I must escape and try to find a new life for my whole family–a new beginning. I never once dreamed of being one of the boat people.”
Jesus Said
There is very much written about what Jesus said throughout the New Testament. So I captured some of the KEY verses and expounded my personal thoughts and experiences on the ones that concerned me and have an impact on my life. My intention is to stimulate our thought process to help us recognize God’s presence in every aspect of our life, even when we are asleep.
Growing Daily
Spiritual growth is a daily process and, as followers of Christ, we should be striving to learn something new about him and his Word every day. Ray Martinez invites you on a forty day journey of daily inspiration as he captures nuggets of wisdom through life experiences. Follow along as Ray discovers:
- When we’re in awkward positions in life or feel abandoned, the best remedy is to retreat back to our origin – the very person who designed and created us to find out the solution.
- To be inspired requires us to transpire what we have experienced in order to encourage and stir the hearts of others.
- Mini-prayers are many prayers that have far reaching tentacles into many lives.
- If we have an ear to hear the heart, then we shall see what God sees for us; his direction.
Growing Daily can be used as a personal devotional book, a tool to help you discover something new about God each day. Use Growing Daily as a springboard for your own “journal of journey” and let God begin to influence your heart so that he can use you on a daily basis.
Saturday’s Opinion
In 1997 I had recently retired after 25 years in law enforcement and narrowly lost an election bid for a City Council position. Having published a book entitled “A Matter of Survival: Tools, Techniques and Materials to Fight Burglary and Crime” I began writing a weekly column for a community daily newspaper.
My columns addressed a wide variety of topics and themes that I thought would be of interest to community readers. Some topics addressed current political issues that elected officials and citizens were wrestling with in the City and the region. Some columns were intended to educate readers about such things as the origin of local cultural practices or to offer a perspective about some of the social problems that we experience in our community and in our society . Some columns were expressions of some of my heartfelt feelings and experiences that symbolize many of my values and beliefs.
A Matter of Survival
“The recent kidnapping and homicide of one of our citizens illustrates the need of Ray’s 25 years of law enforcement experience.” His continual mayoral leadership is essential to keep a high standard of public safety and quality of life our society needs.
A Matter of Survival by Ray Martinez gives citizens the tools, materials, and techniques to fight burglary and crime.
Ray Martinez offers valuable insight into the characteristics of the typical burglar. This book helps you determine if your home is safe or susceptible to burglary. It gives tips and information on locks, safes, alarms, personal safety, crime prevention programs, and crime analysis. Ray also provides Job Aids to help secure your home and fight crime.
A Matter of Survival offers everyday tips that will make the average citizen more aware of crime as the world takes a more violent turn.
Read this book and be prepared!
by: Becker Publishing Service
Fort Collins, Colorado
Baby Boy-R
A real life story about a boy with dreams that come true. He finds his biological mother through a mystery of miracles.
Preface
I put investigative skills acquired from years of working in law enforcement to the test and coupled them with dogged persistence. The journey to finding my missing heritage made me travel to small towns in Colorado, created new relationships that continue today, and revealed new perspectives to me about my life.
The most significant outcome of my search has been that of reuniting a mother and son. It took the desire and determination of a man who was searching and the courage of a mother, who was told that her newborn had died, to put the pieces of an incomplete life together.What follows is the heart-warming story of how I found my biological mother and siblings. I am now creating relationships with a new family: four sisters and a brother who were unknown to me for almost fifty-four years.I hope my story provides some insight into the process of reuniting family members while emphasizing how it is and can be the beginning of new and fulfilling relationships that may be thought to be improbable.
101 Seeds
This publication contains heartfelt moments of reflections that inspired me over the years. All of the comments and quotes were organically developed during my successful and troubling journey in life. Inspired with spiritual inspirations that are peppered with Christian and everyday insight for living, I think you will find cause to pause and rethink as you read one thought each day.
Some of our greatest hurts become our best growing seasons that impact us for a lifetime. How we accept and respond to those pains makes a world of difference. We have all received tough love some time in our lives that sticks with us for a lifespan.
My hope is to give you a reason to ponder by planting seeds of thoughts, experience, and personification.