A salute to dads and cops

June 15 was Father's Day. Contrary to popular misconception, it was not established as a holiday in order to help greeting card manufacturers sell more cards.

In fact when a "father's day" was first proposed there were no Father's Day cards. Mrs. John B. Dodd, of Washington, first proposed the idea of a "father's day" in 1909. Dodd wanted a special day to honor her father, William Smart.

Smart, a Civil War veteran, was widowed when his wife died in childbirth with their sixth child. Smart was left to raise the newborn and his other five children by himself on a rural farm in eastern Washington state.

It was after Smart's daughter, Mrs. Dodd, became an adult that she realized the strength and selflessness her father had shown in raising his children as a single parent.

The first Father's Day was observed on June 19, 1910 in Spokane, Wash. At about the same time in various towns and cities across American other people were beginning to celebrate a "father's day." In 1924 President Calvin Coolidge supported the idea of a national Father's Day. Finally in 1966, President Lyndon Johnson signed a presidential proclamation declaring the third Sunday of June as Father's Day. Father's Day has become a day to not only honor your father, but all men who act as a father figure: Stepfathers, uncles, grandfathers, and adult male friends are all honored on Father's Day.

My father spent his final Father's Day in a nursing home. It was a very difficult time for our family watching the man who had always been a tower of strength, wasting away; physically unable to care of himself, let alone his family.

Now, nearly 11 months after his death, his absence seems unreal. Every time I'm puttering around my woodshop his presence remains powerful. Dad was a very talented woodworker and it is one of several activities he shared with his two sons that have become important in our lives, too.

Too often we take our parents for granted... sometimes until it's too late to let them know how important they are in our lives. So, if you are so inclined, this Sunday let your own dad know how much you appreciate him.

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Reporting the news often brings reporters into contact with law enforcement and instills a profound admiration of the skills and courage of those who serve in that profession. It takes a special personality of do this job and not everyone is cut out for it.

Top ten signs you don't have what it takes to be a cop

1. You need at least eight hours of sleep every night.

2. Sirens give you a headache.

3. You can't drive really fast, check a license plate on your in-car computer, talk on the radio, and drink coffee, all at the same time.

4. When you see trouble brewing, your first reaction is to call 911.

5. When you get nervous, you have to pee, so you secretly wear adult diapers, just in case it's going to be a busy night.

6. You're being called for back-up, but you don't go because it's too dangerous.

7. At the scene of a riot, you refuse to get out of the car until the crowd thins out.

8. A woman gives birth in the street and you give her a ticket for littering.

9. You think frisking people and giving "mouth to mouth" to someone of your own gender is politically incorrect.

10. You're a bleeder and you faint at the sight of a papercut.