Shower of Suds:

After asking, “You guys have anything to drink tonight?” Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Travis Smaka is drenched with beer, which was caught on his dashcam. It wasn’t from the occupants of the vehicle that he had just pulled over, it was from a beer truck that lost it’s load when it had to slam on the brakes.

Smaka lamented, “…I had just picked up my uniform at the dry cleaners and then I was soaked from head to toe in beer!”

It Ain’t All Bad News:

Jourdan Duncan was a young teenager walking alone late at night through an area where people usually didn’t stroll at that hour. When the police officer inquired whether he was okay, Jourdan became nervous, wondering if he did anything wrong or would end up in cuffs, but after explaining the reason for his being there was given a ride, not to the police station as he had feared, but to his parents home where he lived.

After hearing that this was part of his everyday routine of walking the seven miles to work the evening shift, and then walking seven miles to return home, Corporal Kirk Keffer of the Benicia, CA police department, cleared off the passenger seat of his cruiser to transport Jourdan home.

That was just the beginning, Cpl Keffer was so moved by the young man’s goals and dedication that he spoke with and e-mailed other board members of the Benicia Police Officers Association, which ended up being one of the fastest votes ever taken, the result being the agreement to purchase Jourdan a bicycle.

After hearing the story, the owner of the bicycle shop threw in a lighting system and helmet. A few days later, Cpl. Keffer and a few other officers surprised Duncan after work, and presented him with the gift that would reduce his commute to one hour.

That was not the end of the story though, as the officers started a GoGundMe account to help him repair his vehicle which ended up raising more than $42,000, and he now has a vehicle, is attending Solano Community College, and pursuing his goal of majoring in engineering and becoming a CHP officer.

Mission of Love:

Rosalyn is a young girl on a mission to travel the fifty states, wielding light against the darkness by showing love and appreciation to those who protect and serve, through the dishing out of hugs.

Wisdom of  Children:

“Do you need a menu, because you can’t order without one?” — Josiah Duncan

Moment in Time:

Dinner time, November 11, 2011

It is dinner time in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and Marc Hadden has just sat down to eat. It has been a slow day, with him working to stay busy cleaning vehicles and honing his skills, but a phone call changed all that; in fact, he had no idea to just what degree his life was about to change or what that call would portend for him, his wife Rebecca, and his two sons.

Marc Hadden is a firefighter at one of Myrtle Beach’s busiest stations, and when that phone rang, him and his partner on duty during their twenty-four hour shift, abandoned their meal and jumped into their ambulance to respond to the call. They came upon a woman in labor when they arrived on scene, and proceeded to place her in the ambulance, but that was as far as they made it, before the baby would wait no longer. It would be the first time Hadden took charge during delivery; he helped the baby take its first breath, and afterwords rushed mother and baby to the hospital.

While filling out paperwork at the hospital, he overheard the nurses, and learned that the mother was going to put the baby up for adoption. Hadden told them, “Throw my name in the hat if this baby’s being put up for adoption.”

Marc and Rebecca could have no more children due to medical complications, but desired more. After a visit at the hospital the next day, the mother agreed to go forward with the adoption, and two days later Rebecca Grace Hadden came home to her family.

Gracie is now five years old and loves playing with her brothers and hearing how she was delivered in the back of an ambulance.

The WaterCooler is an open thread, so ease on up, wet your whistle, and speak your piece.