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Bethany, Mo., resident Phil Adams served in Desert Storm and made a career in law enforcement and corrections. Despite these tough-guy credentials, he would rather be known as a topical cartoonist.

A man spends the better part of two decades in the noisy enterprise of law enforcement and corrections. The quiet moments prove valuable, even essential.

Phil Adams retreats to the solitude of a basement desk, his colored markers and pencils in neat rows before him. And from his hand appears a separate but familiar world, one intent on the commonplace and good humor.

Under the title “North Missouri Life,” his topical artwork shows up in the local newspaper, a form of expression in the making since his high school years. If the cartoons rile people at times, they’re more aimed at eliciting a chuckle.

“I try to find humor in gardening and farming, things like that, plain old everyday life,” the artist says. “The world we’re in nowadays, for somebody to get humor out of something, that’s good.”

The perspective might be different even as the subject is recognizable. That’s the point. The drawing gives an angle that words might struggle with, whether concerning a tough loss for Missouri football, a bad economy haunting on Halloween or an arrest following a burglarized church.

When a pen-and-sketch-pad figure holds up a sign reading “Will Work 4 Fuel,” readers get the point.

Phil Conger, editor and publisher of the Bethany Republican-Clipper, says Mr. Adams generates his own ideas and delivers his cartoons promptly each Monday for Wednesday publication.

“We get a lot of compliments from people around town,” the newspaperman said. “He tackles local subjects, and they appreciate that.”

Mr. Adams had an interest in art since his childhood in Kansas City. In the coloring books of his youth, he admits an aversion to staying within the lines, wanting instead to do his own drawing in the margins.

A southpaw, he still wonders if the old cliche about “left hand, right brain” has something to do with his artistic instincts.

At Oak Park High School, Phil had teachers that inspired him and introduced him to different mediums. He enjoyed what he calls “the serious side,” the work with oils and canvas, but the artist always drifted back to cartooning, where he finds the most enjoyment.

“You can have the natural talent, but for it to go beyond your expectations, it takes somebody to help you stay focused and mold your talent,” he says, praising those early teachers.

Life came calling. He joined the Army and served in Germany during the Desert Storm years. And he returned to do law enforcement and jailing work at various stops in Northwest Missouri, including running Midwest Security Housing in Pattonsburg, Mo. (Last week, he lost a primary election bid to become sheriff of Harrison County.)

Mr. Adams sees no incongruence with his work with criminal elements and his grip on a drawing pencil. He believes the stress relief that art provided helped in his vocation.

“Law enforcement’s just like anything else. They’ve got a lot of people that have other talents,” he says.

At times, hobby and profession intersected. In his collection of law-enforcement shoulder patches, hanging on a wall not far from the drawing den in his Bethany home, he points to a cloth insignia of his own design, one for the private-sector jail he once supervised.

Last October, after his artwork for a local business advertisement got some attention, Mr. Adams started the editorial cartooning in the Republican-Clipper. It’s an unpaid gig, but he’s pleased his artwork has an outlet and brings delight to others.

Some weeks, he struggles for a decent idea. At other times, the artist can’t draw quickly enough to illustrate all his thoughts.

That’s the part of a creative process Mr. Adams loves. In the peace of a basement, in the presence of his hobby’s tools, the artist works toward an expression the public can enjoy.

Ken Newton can be reached at kenn@npgco.com.