"Bear" Woods

Jonathan “Bear” Woods, a Macclenny native and linebacker in the Canadian Football League, shared his story of perseverance with some two dozen youths playing in the Dare to be Different 3-0n-3 Basketball Tournament May 4.

Hoping to inspire the young athletes gathered in the BCHS gym, the former Wildcat standout, Troy University graduate and former Atlanta Falcons player described overcoming the low expectations of others throughout his career and eventually earning a spot with the Montreal Alouettes.

The secret to his success, he said, was relentless preparation, determination and not taking no for an answer.

VIDEO: Click for video from Mr. Woods’ talk and an exclusive on-camera interview with The Press.

Paraphrasing Abraham Lincoln, Mr. Woods said, “I would repeat to myself over and over, I will study and prepare so when my opportunity comes, I will be ready. That’s what I live by.”

As a freshman walk-on at Troy in Alabama, Mr. Woods set his sights on securing an athletic scholarship and a starting position on the football roster. It took two years and a new coaching staff, but he got both.

He said the toughest point of his career was when the Trojan coaching staff sat him down and told him he was a good back-up, but he’d never be a starter at Troy.

 “I said, ‘I respect your opinion, but I disagree with you. I’m a starter. I’m going to start on this team,” he told the coaches.

And he did. Despite his small size for a linebacker (he’s 6 feet, 245 pounds), Mr. Woods went on to lead the nation in tackles before suffering an injury.

“I relish that point in my life, seeing my name at the top of that stat board,” he said.

Troy Howell enters courtroom for sentencing May 7.

A Glen St. Mary man who operated a marijuana grow house was sentenced this week to 7.5 years on drug and child abuse charges, the latter related to imprisoning his 18-year-old nephew.

Troy Edward Howell, 31, was living with the victim, his juvenile niece and another juvenile nephew at a residence on Crews Road while running the grow house inside a second home on the property.

There investigators recovered nine zip lock bags of processed pot buds, 96 pot plants, hydroponic stations, chemicals, fertilizer and a 16-gauge shotgun, according to police reports. Investigators also noted razor wire and infrared surveillance cameras on the property when they arrived in October 2011, responding to allegations of child abuse by the niece, who spoke on behalf of her uncle at the sentencing hearing before Circuit Judge Mark Moseley the afternoon of May 7.

She said she loved Troy Howell and didn’t want him punished harshly.

“His intentions were good,” she said. “His actions were a little bit out of hand. Some people just get a little too aggressive and it happens. Things just happen. I love him to death and I want to see him.”

Troy Howell’s two sisters and the defendant’s mother also asked for leniency, saying he was “a good man” and he only chained up his eldest nephew to keep him from running away and taking drugs.

After the hearing, his sister Shannon Smith, the mother of the two youngest children, said her family’s been torn apart by the case.

“It’s a hard situation,” she said. “Brandon [the child abuse victim] is my son. Brandon was doing a lot of wrong things. And Troy is my brother. It’s been a very hard thing to deal with. So it is what it is, and we’ll make it through it. I just want to put my whole family back together. That’s all I want.”