Nobody believed her the first time. Nobody believed her the second time. But Echo wasn’t moving. On a Tuesday morning in March 2019, K-9 Echo — a Rottweiler with the Memphis Police Department — was doing a routine check on a school bus. Forty-three elementary school children were waiting to board. Echo alerted at the rear compartment. Her handler, Officer Calvin Bridges, checked it. Nothing visible. He cleared it. Echo alerted again. He cleared it again. Then she did something she had never done in five years of working together. She walked to the door of that bus and sat down. She would not move. Officer Bridges had a choice — trust what his eyes saw, or trust his dog. He chose his dog. He pulled the driver aside. He got every single child off that bus. When he opened the rear compartment fully and removed a hidden false panel built into the bus itself, he found eleven kilograms of methamphetamine — packed tight, sealed, and treated with a special compound designed to hide the smell. It had blocked 80% of the scent. Echo found it anyway. At the trial, Officer Bridges was asked why he pulled those children off the bus. His answer was simple. “Because she sat down. In five years, she had never sat down like that. I trust my dog. I will always trust my dog.” The bus driver was convicted. The trafficking network behind the shipment was taken apart over the following year — fourteen arrests, seven convictions. Echo received the department’s Distinguished Service Award. She stood on the podium. She got a treat. She ate it. Then she looked at Bridges — ready to go back to work. Some dogs bark to warn you. Echo just sat down. And forty-three children went home that afternoon. AZ Kris
Life event that changes all: Horse riding accident in Zimbabwe in 1993, a fractured skull et al including bipolar anxiety, chronic fatigue …. co-morbidities (Nietzche 'He who has the reason why can deal with any how' details my health history from 1993 to date). 17th 2017 August operation for breast cancer (no indications just an appointment came from BreastCheck through the Post). Trinity College Dublin Business Economics and Social Studies (but no degree) 1997-2003; UCD 1997/1998 night classes) essays, projects, writings. Trinity Horizon Programme 1997/98 (Centre for Women Studies Trinity College Dublin/St. Patrick's Foundation (Professor McKeon) EU Horizon funded: research study of 15 women (I was one of this group and it became the cornerstone of my journey to now 2017) over 9 mth period diagnosed with depression and their reintegration into society, with special emphasis on work, arts, further education; Notes from time at Trinity Horizon Project 1997/98; Articles written for Irishhealth.com 2003/2004; St Patricks Foundation monthly lecture notes for a specific period in time; Selection of Poetry including poems written by people I know; Quotations 1998-2017; other writings mainly with theme of social justice under the heading Citizen Journalism Ireland. Letters written to friends about life in Zimbabwe; Family history including Michael Comyn KC, my grandfather, my grandmother's family, the O'Donnellan ffrench Blake-Forsters; Moral wrong: An acrimonious divorce but the real injustice was the Catholic Church granting an annulment – you can read it and make your own judgment, I have mine. Topics I have written about include annual Brain Awareness week, Mashonaland Irish Associataion in Zimbabwe, Suicide (a life sentence to those left behind); Nostalgia: Tara Hill, Co. Meath.
canisgallicus 