RALPH SMITH

I was born in Haywood county hospital on February 14, 1969. My parents are the late Mr. & Mrs. Ralph & Flora Mae Smith. I have two brothers, one older and one younger, I also have one sister. I was raised in Cherokee, North Carolina where I went to school, I graduated in May of 1988. I worked a year at the local McDonald's as a cashier for a year before enlisting in the United States Army. I started my basic training in June of 1989 and graduated in late August, then I was stationed in Fort Lewis Washington state. I was discharged from the Army under honorable conditions in late December of 1991. I got back home I started working with the security for the hospital here in Cherokee, I stayed there for about six months until the owner of the security service passed away. September of 1992 I started working for a quilting manufacturing company called Barclays, I jumped around in this company from assembling, packaging warehouse assembling packaging for shipping. Then Barclays closed down early 1994. April of 1994 I started working at the local McDonald's again, then I was doing prep and sandwich making. I stayed there until late December of 1995. I put in for a security position at the Cherokee Tribal Casino. There I assigned radios and keys to the oncoming gaming host and then I signed in all the keys and radios of the gaming hosts that were leaving that worked on the casino floor, then I watched the doors for any illegal activity or any minors that tried to enter the gaming floor. I done frequent parking lot patrols to make sure there was no illegal activity going on in the parking lot, to make sure there was no minors left in the vehicles unattended. I also did escorts of people who requested a escort to their vehicle. November 7, 1997 the Cherokee Tribal Casino closed and all the employees that passed the drug screening these employees was transferred to the newly opened casino Harrahs Cherokee Casino. I moved from department to department, security, beverage department as bar-help and a beverage sever, my last department I worked was operations/ gaming host I paid people for their winnings or cashed out of the machines where the amount was too much for the machine. I also did minor repairs such as coin jams, bill jams, or ticket jams/ refills. I helped celebrate the winners with pictures, t-shirts and hats. April 2007 I started working at the Ramada at the front desk checking people in and out keeping my work area clean and clutter free. Then I was promoted to the house keeping supervisor, I assigned people rooms to clean, I assisted the workers with cleaning rooms, the people in the laundry room making sure that they were doing as expected and also to get to know my employees better. As the rooms were called in to be inspected for proper cleanliness made sure the beds were made. I made sure all beds were stripped down and new bedding was on the beds. I assigned days off to due to the business demands. I also did the ordering to keep my staff up to par. I made sure that all differences were dealt with. From time to time I was asked to help with the front desk that's if I had enough staff to cover my position. In May of 2007 I started working part time at the Stockyard Steakhouse as a sever/ cashier. In 2008 the Ramada had changed ownership and I was let go, I moved to full time at the steakhouse. There I was a server/ waiter, I kept my guest's drinks full, I pre-bussed my tables so their tables were not cluttered with dirty dishes, I kept my assigned area clean chairs pushed in, in my downtime I cleaned windows window seals, wiped down my chairs, removed any gum from under the tables. As the cashier I took orders of what the guests wanted and I kept my area stocked and clean. In March of 2012 I went to part time at the steakhouse and full time at the Cherokee Tribal Bingo. I started out working as a cashier, where I sold bingo paper, pull tabs. In January 2013 I transferred to the security department. There I assigned radios and keys to different departments. Then escorted bingo paper and money across the gaming floor. After assigning radios and keys we monitored the gaming floor to make sure that all departments were doing as prescribed. After the doors open we monitored all guests coming and going to make sure that no illegal activity was going on, such as taking bingo papers out of the building, we often watched people to make sure that they were following rules and regulations, making sure that was no hostile people. At the end of the night we signed all radios and keys in. At the end of each month we did a inventory of all radios, radio chargers, and all keys. We often escorted guests to their vehicles with their winnings or if they felt uncomfortable walking out in the dark, I assisted guests with disabilities into the building and to their vehicles. We had to be certified in first aid/ CPR/ AED. A few times we had to call EMS due to guests that with high/ low blood pressure, high/ low blood sugar levels. In April 2017 I put in for part time at the Cherokee Central Schools as a janitor and working full time at the bingo. Later in the year I went full time at the Cherokee Central School as a janitor, then I was advised that a security position had come open. I had put in a request to transfer to the security department, September of 2017 I transferred to the security department, to where I signed people in that were coming onto the school campus, made sure that guests had no illegal substance, alcohol or any visible weapons. We made sure that no sex offenders had access to the school campus. After school hours we made sure students were not loitering or smoking on campus, any bullying, or fighting. After all the staff had left the school campus made sure that all doors were secured and nobody else was inside the campus.