Well, the shit has hit the fan, and there are those who wish to take away my pension and health benefits. My colleagues and I are pretty well stewing over what the future may hold, but I sat on my back porch this afternoon with my mind remembering days gone by. And damn, some of them were funny.....and refreshing to recall.
There was the time I stopped Jeanne Dishong, "Miss Fairweather" on Channel 4, for speeding. I might have warned her and wished her well, but she gave me a ration of shit, so I wrote the ticket for 60 in a 55. On the ticket, where it says "weather", we were supposed to write "NAC" for "Normal Atmospheric Conditions" if it was nice. I couldn't resist it. I wrote "Fair", for Miss Fairweather.
Saw a car pull out of Briggs Stadium in the early sixties, and make a left turn from s/on Trumbull to e/on Michigan from the right lane. Stopped it, and it was Chuck Dressen, manager of the Tigers. As I looked over his driver's license, other members of the Tigers team passed by and every one gave Chuck the horse laugh. I can just imagine how they got on his ass the next day. Naw, didn't write him. Back then the policy was not to write out-of-towners except for extreme violations, and Chuck had a CA driver's license anyway.
Got into a chase on Gratiot that ended up around Connors early in the evening. Car cracked up and the driver was going nowhere. He turned out to be Joe Don Looney, then quarterback of the Lions, and took six coppers to get him cuffed and on his way to the hoosegow for DUI. Met him later at the Lindell AC and sober, he was a perfect gentleman.
Had the honor of meeting Sir Lawrence Olivier alongside Ford Hospital during the filming of "The Betsy", an otherwise forgettable film. Ron Sexton, DPOA pres, asked him, "How do I address you? Sir Lawrence, or Your Honor?". Olivier chuckled and said, "Just call me Larry."
In later years, Jim Bannon, Exec Deputy Chief, asked me to grab a car from the MO Garage and pick up Doug Fraser, UAW president and then a DPD Commissioner, take him to the City Airport and pick up Sen. Ted Kennedy. Take them to Fraser's home and then back to the airport. Doug Fraser was one helluva down-to-earth guy, and Ted Kennedy was a delight. I spoke only when spoken to, but it was an honor. And that from a right-wing conservative......me.
Also had the pleasure of picking up and returning Hal Lindon, he of "Barney Miller" fame, and taking him to "our" 12th Precinct in Palmer Park, where he had a heck of a time with the dicks at number twelve. Some of the guys there were just like the cast in the show; especially Wojo and Fish.
I used to appear regularly in Traffic Court in front of a referee named Roman Gribbs. A straight-shooter, he always impressed me with his fairness, never suspecting he would someday be Mayor. And I worked on his campaign. Just last year, I saw him in a restaurant in Livonia with friends, but I didn't approach him to say hi as he seemed well engaged in conversation with his party. I'm still kicking myself for not doing that.
In my 29 years with the DPD, I don't think there was a day that wasn't remarkable. I loathe the '67 riot, of course, and what has since happened to the old Fort, but even if my pension and healthcare go "poof" in the night, I wouldn't do one goddam thing different.
So there.
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