Bretagne, 9/11 Search And Rescue Dog, Given Well-Deserved Hero's Farewell

Firefighters salute Bretagne as she entered an
animal hospital recently, as failing health forced
her humans to give her a peaceful death.  

Recently Bretagne, a 16-year old Golden Retriever who was the last known surviving search and rescue dog from the 9/11 terrorist attack, died of kidney failure at the age of 16.

Truly a national hero, Bretagne, spent ten days following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack site in New York, searching for victims.

In 2005, she performed much of the same heroics searching for victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in Louisiana.

I love the way the New York Times handled a story on the passing of Bretagne. The newspaper treated the event the way the New York Times typically writes stories on the deaths of important and influential people.

After retiring from search and rescue, Bretagne joined Texas Task Force 1 and Cy-Fair Volunteer Fire Department, often demonstrating search techniques for people who wanted to learn.

She also frequently visited elementary schools to help first graders with practicing their reading skills, lending her ears to the childrens' stories.

Bretagene on the job in New York after the 9/11
terrorist attack, 2001.  

Bretagne became something of a celebrity, and last year returned to New York where she was given a well deserved stay in a posh hotel and given gifts, and donations to rescue organizations on her behalf.  

In the past couple weeks, Bretagne, now quite old, became ill and suffered from kidney failure.

She was taken to an animal hospital one last time, as it was time for the hero Bretagne to pass away. Firefighters formed an honor guard and saluted Bretagne as she went into the animal hospital.

The video of this moment is below.

The firefighters offered the same sad, grateful salute as Bretagne's flag-draped coffin was taken from the animal hospital.

Bretagne was a true American hero, and we have a lot to learn from her.  I wish more humans were like her.

RIP, Bretagne.

Can't Resist Hero Dog Stories: Maxx Leads FIrefighters To Trapped Children In Fire

Maxx leading firefighters to two children
trapped in a burning Florida home.  

The latest hero in the news is Maxx.

A house burst into flames one recent night in an Orlando suburb.

Arriving firefighters quickly realized that two children, ages four and two, were trapped somewhere in the large, flaming house, but they really didn't know where.

But Maxx, the family dog knew exactly where they were.

He led firefighters through thick smoke to where the children were, says television station WFLA and the Associated Press. 

Everyone from the house, including Maxx, were seriously injured in the fire, mostly from smoke inhalation, but because of Maxx, everyone survived.

At last report Maxx was doing well.

A GoFundMe page has been set up for the family, and Maxx of course. As of Saturday morning, about $41,000 had been raised, which is great, especially given the huge hospital bills and rebuilding the family will have to face.

Hey, the family deserves the help, and Maxx sure could use a reward!

Good boy, Maxx!

Spider-Man Shows Up At Funeral, Nobody Thinks It's Weird And Everyone's Touched

Fort Worth Police Officer Damon Cole showed up
at a five-year-old boy's funeral dressed as Spider Man,
and it was probably the classiest thing anyone
could have done in this siuation 

One of the tackiest things you could do is show up a a funeral dressed up as Spider Man.

Except at one recent funeral in Texas, in which somebody did just that - came dressed as Spider Man -- and everyone was touched and honored.

For good reason.  It turned out to have been the classiest thing anyone could have done.

On April 2, Fort Worth, Texas Police Officer Damon Cole was dispatched to search for a five year old boy who suddenly went missing.

Cole searched for the kid, Joshua Garcia in the murky water of a neighbor's neglected backyard pool. Sadly, he found the child's lifeless body at the bottom on the pool, dressed in Spider Man shoes and a Spider Man shirt.

Cole said he wishes he had super powers to save the kid's life, but he couldn't. Nobody could.

"It just broke my heart," Cole told Today. "I have an 8-year-old daughter and I just couldn't imagine something like this. I heard all these stories about how Joshua was just happy and full of life, and this just made it more personal."

Joshua's favorite thing was Spider Man and his family decided to give him a Spider Man funeral. Officer Cole showed up dressed as Spider Man, which I think is as touching a tribute as any for a child who died far, far too young.

Cole has a habit of doing the super hero thing for kids anyway, so the Spider Man thing wasn't entirely new. He is a membef of Heroes, Cops and Kids, a group of Dallas-area offices who dress up as superheroes to cheer up children at various events and venues.

They do this on their own time and their own dime, notes Today.  

Cole might not have had super powers to save the kid's life. But he certainly does have super powers enought to make a sad situation as much less bad as possible.

Television station WLTX, reporting on this said it best: "The actions of this officer prove that it's not the cape or the custome that make the hero, it's the heart. Even a broken one."

Here's a news video of Cole at Joshua's funeral:

Always Listen To Your Dog: Pooch Saves Couple From Landslide

A coastal landslide blocked this road in Cornwall, England.  

Two friends in Cornwall, England learned the other day it's always a good idea to follow your dog's lead.

According to the BBC, Amy Jones and Matt Smith recently sat on a bench, up on the cliffs above Great Western Beach in Newquay, Cornwall enjoying the gorgeous view.

Hazel, their collie was with them. Hazel suddenly started sniffing around suspiciously, then bolted away, afraid of something.

This dog, sensing danger, dashed off before the landslide,
prompting people to run after her and get away before
the landslide could endanger them.  

Jones and Smith chased after Hazel, not wanting her to get hurt running off like that. But then the cliff they had been on collapsed.

The landslide sent 100 tons of debris onto the access road below.  Had Hazel not run off, the two people would have been caught and possibly killed in the landslide.

"She definitely knew something was happening," Smith said.

Nobody was hurt in the landslide, but it will take a long time to clear the access road, and nobody can really get to the park or the beach until things are cleaned up.

But thanks to Hazel, workers will just be removing rocks, dirt and broken trees, not dead bodies.

Huge Flames, Dense Smoke, Explosions. No Worries, I'll Go In There And Get The Guy

The entire city of Fresno, California is looking
for the man in the blue Dodgers cap who
dashed into a flaming house and
carried a 73 year old man to safety.  

UPDATE:

The guy who rescued the man from this fire has been found. His name is Thomas Artiago, and the man he rescued have been reunited, says KFSN in Fresno.

KFSN reports Artiago "remains humble about the experience, saying he wasn't acting bravely or even courageously. He just acted.

'It was just an instinct, you know,' he said. 'Instinct, you see someone and help out people.'""

 PREVIOUS DISCUSSION:

Authorities are on the lookout for a guy who took something precious from a California home.

They're not going to arrest him, or charge him with any crimes. They just want to find the right person to thank.

The "thing" this guy took from the house was a 73 year old man who was on oxygen.

The house was flaming, big time, and filled with dense smoke. Explosions rattled around inside. The fire department wasn't there yet. 

You'll see it in the video at the bottom of this post, but nobody dared go into that conflagration to get the poor guy out. It was super hot. The explosions weren't helping. But some guy in a Dodgers cap raced in and got the man.

A dramatic video shot by a woman named Beth Lederach, who was driving by, saw the smoke, called 911 and then started filming.

"The rescuer appeared to have 'come out of nowhere,' Lederach said. 'He just calmly walked right in there and came walking right back out with this guy,'" says the Fresno Bee. 

Police believed the rescuer stopped by a hospital after the incident to be treated for smoke inhalation. Then he disappeared.

The 73 year old guy, Robert Wells is going to be OK, too. He suffered from smoke inhalation, which isn't exactly too surprising. But he's on the mend.

"I wasn't going fast enough, so a guy picked me up and carried me out there. He was kind of in a half run," Wells told television station KFSN. 

"Thank you from the bottom of my heart, that I made it out," Wells told KFSN, hoping the rescuer was watching.

Here's the dramatic video:

Awesome Four Year Old Busts Babysitter's Burglary Plot

This little girl foiled her baby sitter's burglary plot.  

Hats off to Abby Dean, 4, of Ferndale, Washington State, who royally screwed up an elaborate burglary plot by her babysitter.    

The babysitter set up this elaborate scheme that staged a home invasion in which a bunch of stuff, including Abby's "kitty" bank, iPod, Wii and X-Box, were stolen.

The babysitter said one of the suspects looked like the next door neighbor. That neighbor, Cody Oakes, who is black, was detained by police for about five hours.

But Abby would have none of it. "Wrong skin color," she said of the next door neighbor suspects. The burglars were white. The whole robbery scheme fell apart.

Abby was NOT happy about the set up. "Wednesday was the worst day in my life," she told a local television station.

"They told us to get out of the house 'cause they wanted to steal stuff," Abby said.

She's also displeased by the babysitter, and I can't blame her.

Said Abby: "That was really her being bad. She's not a good babysitter."

I guess Abby isn't going to give the babysitter a good review on Angie's List, is she? Abby certainly does seem to be a good judge of good vs. bad babysitters, so she's pretty smart there.

In the end, the cops arrested the babysitter and her friends, and the family got their stuff back, including Abby's kitty bank, Wii, X-box and other items.

"They got it back because of me being the superhero," Abby said.

OK, Abby's not shy, but she's certainly accurate.

Here's the news video of Abby explaining what happened.

105 Year Old Man FINALLY Getting Recognition For Saving 669 Kids From Nazis

Congratulations go out this week to Sir Nicholas Winton of Britain, who this week, celebrated his 105th birthday.

About 6,000 people worldwide owe their lives
 to Sir Nicholas Winton due to his actions just
before World War II.   

He is also getting ready to accept the Order of the White Lion, which is the highest honor of the Czech Republic.

You probably never heard of Winton.

Toward the end of 1938, he was a stockbroker in London and decided to take his vacation to Czechoslovakia where the Nazis had invaded and refugees were trying to get out.

Parents, especially were struggling to get their Jewish kids to safety.

Winton decided to help, placing ads seeking foster families, engaging in a little bribery and fun and games with paperwork, that kind of thing. The result is 669 children who would have faced certain death from the Nazis escaped due to Winton's efforts.

His work went largely unnoticed until 1988, when the BBC did a little research, then aired a show in which Winton was reunited with a number of the people he saved.

Lately, there's been more attention brought to Winton's efforts. The venerable CBS program 60 Minutes recently did a feature on him. 

There was recently also a big 105th birthday bash for Winton, at which many of the offspring of the children he saved showed up to wish him well and thank him. According to the Guardian, about 6,000 people in the world owe their lives to Winton for his actions before World War II.

On a side note, his story could make for a TERRIFIC movie.

"If it's not impossible, then it can be done," Winton has famously said.

Here's that video from the 1988 BBC show that reunited Winton with some of the people he saved. Kleenex alert for this one:

A New Zero Tolerance Low: Sixth Grader Threatened With Expulsion For Possibly Saving Classmate's Life

When I've complained about zero tolerance policies in the past, I've thought they could get no worse.

Most people would think 6th grader Adrionna Harris was heroic
for taking a razor blade away from a fellow student who
was harming himself. Her school, however, decided her actions
were criminal and tried to expel her, that is until the
media backlash set in.  

I was wrong.

According to television station WAVY, Adrionna Harris was suspended and threatened with expulsion for taking away a razor blade from a kid who was cutting himself, and immediately throwing the razer blade away.

Since she held the razor for an instant, in the stupid, ignorant dumb, shameful eyes of the Bayside Middle School in Virginia Beach  and their zero tolerance bullshit, she had a weapon in her hand. Time to get rid of her.

They suspended her for 10 days and were going to expel her permanently.

Of course, faced with an ENORMOUS backlash in social media after the WAVY report came out, the school is quickly backing down, and allowed Arionna to return to school Friday. But it's just a PR move. I'm betting Arionna's expulsion would have stuck had the media not gotten its hands on this news.

Almost all of the other zero tolerance overreaches I've complained about in the past involved students who actually didn't do things perfectly and might have actually deserved a minor punishment, like a lecture or even a half hour detention after school.

But here, Adrionna did everything right and was actually heroic.  She found a kid cutting himself with a razor. Really, the classmate was in immediate danger. Since nobody else was around at that moment, Adrionna had to think quickly on her feet.

She did and her parents are justifiably proud of her behavior. As would any parent or school. Except for the stupid people at Bayside Middle School, apparently.

To summarize Adrionna's actions:

1. She recognized a serious problem.
2. She took immediate action by taking the razor away.
3. She got rid of the razor immediately so it would not pose a continued danger
4. She quickly told an (allegedly) responsible adult what was going on, so everyone would be protected.

The only mistake Adrionna made wouldn't have been a mistake in a normal setting. Her "error" (read honesty)  was telling school administrators what happened. They would otherwise have never known she had that razor for a split second unless she'd told them.

Schools are supposed to places of learning. Here are the horrible lessons Bayside Middle School seems to be determined to teach students:

1. If you see somebody who needs help. Do nothing. It only causes trouble.
2. If you think somebody else could help a person in need, again, don't say anything. It's not worth the bother.
3. Rules are to be followed, even if it makes no sense to do so. For instance, if you're driving, we all know we should stay in our travel lane all the time. However, if there is a kid playing in the lane we're in, common sense is to swerve around the child if we can't stop. 
But the rules say we can't get out of our lane while driving so it's better just to run over the kid. But don't stop to help the kid once you've run him over. As I said that would only cause trouble. 
4. Lie to adults or at least withhold information from them to ensure you don't get in trouble. 
5. If people get wind of you following the rules no matter what and that you didn't help somebody in need, and these people criticize you, backtrack and pretend to be sorry or pretend to help, but only because that's good PR.  

I'm glad to report that these hideous, moronic lessons the school is trying to teach Adrionna are lost on her. The girl seems to be a bright, compassionate young woman.

A WAVY reporter asked Adrionna what she'd do if faced with the same situation.  She replied, "Even if I got in trouble, it' didn't matter because I was helping him...I would do it again even if I got suspended, yes."

But imagine the chilling effect this whole thing has on other students who might be faced with a dilemna on how or whether to help.

By the way, what about the boy who was cutting himself?  He needs help. But he was holding on to the razor, too. So instead of getting the kid counseling and medical help, I imagine the school will work really hard to get the boy in jail instead. That'll teach him!

School administrators said their hands were tied. The strict zero tolerance policy came down from the School Board, so the principal and others had no flexibility to consider the reality of Adrionna's situation without holding an expulsion hearing.

Yep, there we go again. Obey the rules even if it this case they cause much more harm than good.

A lot of people commenting on the WAVY article on their Web site want heads to roll at the school. Maybe they should hire people that have at least a hint of common sense.

But I bet that won't happen. They'll just let the bad PR wave wash past them, and go on with being stupid.

I hope most other schools aren't like Bayside. If any other school administrators act this moronically in any other school district, I fear for our nation's future.

Year Old Dog Rescue Video Still Warming, Charming Hearts

A YouTube video uploaded more than a year ago is gaining popularity because, well, I guess I'm not the only one out there who is a sucker for nice dog rescue stories.

Ove Karlsen reaches shore with a St. Bernard he'd just
rescued from a frigid Norwegian lake, in this
still from a YouTube video.  

The video in question takes us to a frigid, half frozen Norwegian lake in January, 2013. A woman named Stine Karlsen came home and told her husband, Ove, she saw a dog trapped in a lake.

It looked like it might be impossible to get the St. Bernard out before he died in the cold water.

But Ove had other ideas. He's a North Sea oil platform worker, and had a handy dandy cold water wetsuit in the house. So he put it on, went down to the lake, with a rope and went out into the frigid water and retreived our cold, exhausted struggling St. Bernard.

The St. Bernard is fine. He was cold and exhausted after the rescue, but a trip to the veterinarian fixed that up in a jiffy. At last report the dog was continuing his happy life with his grateful owners.

Ove Karlsen said he's a bit stunned by a flood of media interview requests he's gotten lately as more people have discovered the YouTube video. "I did what I had to do and actually acted on impulse," he said.

We all appreciate Karlsen's impulsiveness.

Here's the rescue video:

11-Year Old Dog Rescuer Shows WAY More Class Than Hit And Run Driver

A motorist on a busy road in Brazil hit a dog and kept right on going, the kind of infuriating local story that is all too common.

Boy, 11, braves heavy traffic to rescue
dog that had been hit by a car in Brazil.  

Geez, you can't stop for two seconds to seek help for the poor thing?

But the next thing that happened here leads me to Jean Fernandes, 11,  my best person candidate of the week.

According to the Huffington Post and various Brazilian news agencies. Fernandes dashed out into the heavy traffic, stopped cars and carried the injured dog to safety at the side of the road.

A news photographer happened to capture the incident as it unfolded.  The image, and the other images in the link are absolutely heartwarming. 

Latest reports are the dog is under a vet's care, improving nicely and should have a full recovery. Thanks to Fernandes and the compassion he showed.

Nice job Jean! Please continue to be who you are and don't grow up to be like that hit and run driver.

ANOTHER Reason Why Dogs Are Awesome

A couple down in Charleston, South Carolina hired a woman to take care of their infant son because they had to work.

The happy dog who saved the baby from
an abusive babysitter.  

The woman they hired, Alexis Kahn, seemed fine. She passed her background checks and all.

But soon, the couple's friendly dog started being very, very unfriendly toward Kahn. When she'd come to the door, he'd get all aggressive and want to attack her.

The dog would also try to form a protective barrier between Kahn and the baby, according to television station WCSC in Charleston. 

That was enough to get the parents, Benjamin and Hope Jordan suspicious. So one day, when they left for work they left an iPhone on and hid it under the couch, to see if it would pick up any signs something was amiss.

Well, it was. The iPhone caught the sounds of Kahn slapping and abusing the baby. She was fired, faces up to three years in prison and won't be babysitting, hopefully ever again.

Unfortunately, the WCSC report doesn't give us the name of the dog, but well done doggie!  As Gawker put it, that's a real Lassie moment for ya. 

Do you have any Lassie moments with any of your dogs you want to share? Please do.

Watch Disabled Military Veteran Lawmaker DESTROY Military Disability Cheater

In a You Get 'Em video that I found totally stirring, there's a story and video circulating of U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth, D-Illinois, encountering a guy she's none too happy with during a recent Congressional hearing.

Duckworth, a veteran who suffered disabling injuries in Iraq, was participating in hearings on veterans benefits scams and abuses, was questioning Brulio Castillo, a government contractor who is accused of seeking contracts by playing up his military-related disabilities.

U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth, D-Illinois, ripped
apart an allegedly scammy government
contractor in a video that is a sight to behold  

He hurt his foot playing football for a military prep school while a teenager, according to reports.

To gain favor for a government contract,  Castillo is said to have written this about his injuries

"These are the crosses that I bear due to my service to our great country and I would do it again to protect this great country."

Duckworth wasn't buying it.

From Gawker:

"I'm so glad you would be willing to ply football in prep school again to protect this great country," Duckworth responded. "Shame on you, Mr. Castillo. Shame on you. You may not have broken any laws...but you certainly broke the trust of this great nation. You broke the trust of veterans.

Iraq and Afghanistan veterans right now are waiting an average of 237 days for an initial disability rating. It is because of people like you are who are gaming the system are adding to that backlog that young men and women who are suffering from post-traumatic stress, who are missing limbs, cannot get the compensation and the help that they need."

It is so great seeing someone totally destroy a probably scammer like this.

As Gawker notes, you have to watch the whole video of Duckworth dismantling this guy. It is a work of art. Watch: