Grass-Roots Support for Philly's Embattled Cops

On Halloween morning in 2007, police officer Chuck Cassidy of the city's 35th district pulled up to a local Dunkin' Donuts to perform a routine security check and perhaps grab a fresh cup of joe to begin his work day. The bright sunshine of the morning combined with the lesser light inside the shop made it impossible for him to see inside the establishment.

Little did he know as he pulled open the door to that innocent coffee and donut shop, one that he had entered many times before, that it would be the last door he would ever open. Inside was an armed robber who turned and fired a gunshot into Cassidy before the officer ever knew what hit him.

Thus began the most deadly string of murders of Philly's Finest in decades. Just seven months after Cassidy's murder, in May of 2008, Sergeant Steve Liczbinski responded to a robbery in progress taking place at a bank branch inside a supermarket of his 24th police district. It would be the final call of his career, as Liczbinski was also gunned down in cold blood by the robbers.

Philly cops and their supporters mourned the loss of these two popular officers throughout the summer of 2008. Little did they know it was not over yet. Not nearly. In early September the city's police were again driven to shock when officer Isabel 'Izzie' Nazario was killed. She and her partner were involved in a vehicular pursuit of a stolen car, though not in direct pursuit, when the driver suddenly emerged from a blind intersection and slammed into their cruiser at full speed.

The loss of a third officer in less than a year seemed like dirt being rubbed into an already open wound. Then the unthinkable happened. Just a couple of weeks later, still in September, officer Pat McDonald pulled over a vehicle for a simple traffic violation, something that many of the city's police officers do every single day, something that I did hundreds of times. Only this would be Pat's final car stop. This time the driver was a wanted man, and he decided to shoot and kill Pat McDonald rather than risk returning to jail.

It was official, Philly's cops were under siege.

Numb...Again

Another Philadelphia police officer lies dead this morning. He was only 25 years old. His young wife is now a widow as she carries their first and only child in her womb, a child that won't be born until the coming summer is almost over. A child that will never know it's father, never even get to meet him.

He is John Pawlowski of the PPD's 35th district, and he is the 7th Philly cop to be killed in the line of duty in the past 33 months. I remember a time when it seemed that we lost a brother or sister officer every few years. Now we don't even get six months, and often it's been much less.

There was a time when it made me sad and angry. But the wave of murders of our officers over the past couple years has simply left me numb. I can't even watch the stories on TV anymore beyond the headlines to get the basic facts. I am well aware that the danger is part of the job for which we have all signed up, but I want it to just all stop, even if just for a couple years.

Part of the problem for cops is that we do a job that few others could ever possibly relate to, but we can all relate to one another. No matter what our current responsibilities in this career that we have chosen, we were all John Pawlowski at some point.

What Lies Ahead in 2009?

When the calendar turned from 2007 into 2008 a year ago, how many would have been able to envision so many of the events that would transpire in the new year. Pretty much everyone knew that there was going to be a tough, divisive political race in the Presidential election campaign. But how many just one year ago would have given Barack Obama much of a chance against Hillary Clinton? Not many. Clinton had been the 'presumptive nominee' of the Democratic Party for a couple of years leading into 2008. And how many of you had ever heard of Sarah Palin, let alone knew that she was the governor of Alaska? The media-driven Obamamania of the past year showed that the man can campaign. But can he lead a nation? We will begin to find that out as certainly one of the biggest stories of the year unfolds. In just a couple of weeks Obama will be sworn in as the first half African-American President in U.S. history. That will indeed be one of the biggest moments of 2009, but the real stories will be how the new Obama administration handles domestic and world events during the year. From Iraq to Israel, Afghanistan to India, Pakistan to Iran, the Middle East will remain a cauldron bubbling with potential Islamism-inspired disasters. The U.S. economy continues to struggle thanks to the short-sightedness of government bailouts of failing businesses, a situation that is only likely to worsen in the new year. The new President may need to make a Supreme Court nomination in 2009. SCOTUS Justice John Paul Stevens will turn 89 years old in April, and likely only held on to his court seat hoping to be replaced by a similarly liberal thinker, now more likely with the Obama election. Who will be among the famous deaths in 2009? In the last year we lost silver screen legend Charlton Heston, director Sydney Pollack, politician Jesse Helms, and musicians Bo Diddley & Levi Stubbs among many others. Closer to home our Philadelphia police department had lost officer Chuck Cassidy at Halloween in 2007, that coming on the heels of having lost officer Gary Skerski who was similarly shot and killed by a robber in spring of 2006. Who could have imagined that 2008, rather than offering a quiet respite from those tragedies, would heep on even more with the murders of four officers in the line of duty: Steve Liczbinski, Isabel Nazario, Pat McDonald, and Tim Simpson. We can only hope and pray that 2009 is a quiet, safe year for our police officers and fire fighters in Philly. We certainly deserve that much. On a lighter, brighter note, who could have foreseen the stunning, thrilling rise of the Philadelphia Phillies to a World Series championship. The antics of Charlie Manuel, Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, Cole Hamels, Brad Lidge, Brett Myers, Shane Victorino and company brought sports excitement that the city had not seen for a long time, and finally ended our quarter-century title drought. Can any other Philly team step up and take us on a similar ride in 2009? Across the country, around the world, and right at home in our own families 2009 will likely prove to be a year of changes, challenges, and highlights. There is no such thing as a true crystal ball. There is no one who can foresee the events of the coming year. We just have to let them play out while working them to the best for ourselves and our families when possible. Remember that through it all, God has a plan, both for humanity overall and for you in particular. Stay strong, keep a positive attitude, and always remember to turn to Him for help in times of struggle and in thanks during the good times.

Another Auld Lang Syne

In 1788, 29-year old Scottish poet Robert Burns sat himself down and wrote a poem that he titled 'Auld Lang Syne', which would literally translate today into "old long since", "long long ago", or even "days gone by."

 It was similar in phrasing and verse to a 1711 work by James Watson, and Burns himself stated that his work was based on an older one.

The song that is traditionally sang today as we ring out an old year and ring in a new one, as we will tonight at midnight, is attributed to Burns and includes the spirit of the older Watson work with Burns own work blended into it.

In this spirit of celebrating another 'auld lang syne' we are remembering days or times that have gone before us. People in our lives, events, places that have been important to us. This has been the practice stretching back for a couple of hundred years now.

The Scots celebrated a new year with the song and spread this custom into England, then further on into America and around the world. It became a true New Year's Eve staple when in 1929 band leader Guy Lombardo began to use it in his radio and later his television broadcasts as his signature song to ring in the new year.

In modern times we take the song to be a last look back at what has happened in our lives and in our world over the past year, and then look forward to a new start in a new year.

Monday Morning Quarterback

There is so much going on right now that one entry here needs to be devoted to a number of topics.

So I'm driving home after dropping my daughter off at her boyfriend's home this past Friday evening and one of her neighbors has their house decorated for Christmas.

I mean, that would make it November 21st, just one day after my birthday. A week before Thanksgiving Day. It's just too soon.

When I was a kid, nothing 'Christmas' happened until after we had gobbled down the turkey and stuffing in late November. The day after, in fact. That became known as 'Black Friday', almost a national holiday itself, when all the Christmas shopping would begin. Now a great holiday unto itself is being shoved aside more and more.

Moving on to the Eagles...do I really have to? After my hopeful entry just 48 hours ago, the 'Playoff Express' ran completely off the rails in yesterday's second half in Baltimore.

A promising beginning rapidly deteriorated for Donovan McNabb, and he was yanked at halftime of a 10-7 game that was a must-win for this franchise to have any hopes of a 2008 playoff appearance. Frankly, he was awful, but he has been awful early in games before and rallied himself and the team.

This was a close game against a top defense on the road. And this is where Andy Reid chose to make the switch to Kevin Kolb? Kolb was at least as bad as McNabb, the game spiraled out of control, the Birds lost 36-7 while all their playoff competitors won, and the 2008 season officially ended. It's time to let the Kolb Era fully begin, with more roster changes to come quickly.

Goodbye, Tim Simpson

I didn't find out until about five minutes ago. Last night, I went to bed at around 11pm, so I missed the news at that time. Just waking up this morning, I poured myself the first cup of coffee of the day, and fired up the computer. Then a local news anchor said those words on TV:

"Our top story, the Philadelphia Police Department is again in mourning this morning..."

My head whipped around to the TV screen. Sergeant Tim Simpson of the 24th district was dead, killed in a horrific car crash at approximately 10:45pm last night. He was killed at Aramingo & Allegheny while responding to a robbery call, possibly by a drunk driver who was speeding.

This is the second officer killed in an auto accident in the last few months, with Izzy Nazario killed back in the late summer. It is the fourth Philly cop killed this calendar year, the fifth in the last year, the sixth on-duty in two and a half years stretching back to Gary Skerski's murder in spring of 2006.

With Walter Barclay's death from wounds that he received decades ago in a shooting, it marks the seventh Philly cop to die of an on-duty incident in that time period.

My stomach flips again, and I say a prayer for the officer, his family and friends, his co-workers, and all police officers. It's beyond ridiculous now. We got almost, almost, a two month break this time. We deserve years without such tragedy at this point.