Mike Morris has announced his candidacy for Clearfield County Coronoer.
Morris and his wife Cathy are lifelong residents of Clearfield. They have two daughters, Christy and Kelly Jo, and two grandchildren, Cassidy Jo and Nicholas.
The Morris’s are members of the West Side United Methodist Church, where Morris has served on the Board of Trustees. He has also performed in and been involved with various productions at CAST, the Clearfield Arts Studio Theatre.
Morris attended Clearfield Area High School. After graduation in 1973, he joined the US Marine Corps. and served until 1977. During his service he completed basic training at Paris Island and advanced training at Camp Pendleton and Norfolk Naval Station. He served on the USS Saratoga with the Marine Security Detachment where he completed missions in Cuba and a tour of duty in the Mediterranean. After returning home from the Marine Corps., he was employed by the Clearfield Borough Police Department and served as a volunteer emergency medical technician.
Morris chose to expand his education and attended the Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where he studied criminal justice. After college he worked for an environmental consulting and analytical company, where he was involved with hazardous material clean ups, laboratory testing, field inspections, environmental safety and consulting. He performed duties with HazMat agencies to aid in clean-up efforts and also served as a liason to simultaneously meet the needs of industry and citizens.
In 2001 Morris returned to law enforcement as a patrolman for the Lawrence Township Police Department, where he is currently employed. He served as the school resource officer at the Clearfield Area Middle School. He stated that he found this experience to be enlightening and continues to have a very cordial relationship with many of the students who attended the middle school at the time. He continues to volunteer for local schools by delivering educational presentations designed to prevent bullying, crime and drug abuse.
Morris is a trained martial artist, holding an eight degree black belt in Goshin Jitsu and black belts in jujitsu and Oriental weapons. He was twice inducted into the Martial Arts Hall of Fame and has taught karate to adults and children for over 35 years. He currently has a karate school in downtown Clearfield and teaches a class at the local YMCA.
He attended and graduated from the Pennsylvania State Police Northwest Regional Academy. He also holds numerous certificates of training including: OSHA hazardous materials handler; basic and advanced SWAT; PA Top Gun Narcotics Operations; Active Shooter training; Homeland Security WMD protective measures; threat assessment training and many others.
Having lived and worked in the area for many years, Morris is well known to the police, fire and emergency response departments of Clearfield County, and has worked side-by-side with their members on many occasions. He also understands the challenges facing members of the community and displays empathy, respect and professionalism when completing his duties and volunteering his time.
He stated that if elected Clearfield County Coroner, he will work to strengthen ties between the coroner’s office and the police, EMS, fire and rescue personnel serving Clearfield County. He would like to see the coroner’s office take a proactive role in the prevention of drug and alcohol related deaths, and he stated he will fulfill his duties effectively, with compassion and professionalism.
“You’re support is greatly appreciated.”
