Real Americans Doing Good Things
All on her own, an 11-year-old young lady in Bellevue, Nebraska raised over $2,000 in order to buy a protective vest for one of the police department’s working K-9 dogs. With four patrol dogs in the department, only two had the vests. Thanks to the hard work of this caring young schoolgirl, now one more of these valuable police service dogs is protected while helping to apprehend criminals.
In Norman, Oklahoma, an employee at Goodwill there proved, refreshingly, that honesty and character still haven’t vanished entirely among most of us. Andrea Lessing was busy sorting through some recent Goodwill clothing donations when she came upon something wrapped in a couple of old sweaters. At first, she thought it might be a book. But when she looked closer, she discovered it was money. And not just a little money. $42,000 in cash! Andrea took the money to her supervisor. Fortunately, there was an identification source with the bundled money, so Goodwill was able to return the cash to its rightful (and extremely grateful) owner. Said a Goodwill spokesman: “The actions of Andrea and our Goodwill organization are real life examples of one of our core values: integrity.” Incidentally, we could use a whole lot more of that quality in D.C. right now. Andrea Lessing was awarded $1,000 by Goodwill for her actions and honesty. Said she: “Just from working there for about a month and a half, I’ve noticed that there are a lot of weird things that have been donated.” No doubt. Refreshing story about an outstanding young lady.
And another fine young employee. Ben Mazur, a courtesy clerk at a supermarket in Alton, Illinois, was busy rounding up shopping carts in the parking lot when he heard a car horn hooking repeatedly. Looking around he noticed an unattended cart rolling down the lot. But not an empty one. This cart had a child strapped into its child seat. The Mom had been distracted helping her other young children into her vehicle and, as can happen, had momentarily lost sight of her child in the shopping cart, never thinking it might roll away! But it did. Alerted to the situation, Ben sprinted after the runaway cart and managed to stop it just before it was about to hit a stop sign. Noted the store’s manager in response to Ben’s actions: “We have a slanted parking lot and carts can get rolling fast. Quick thinking on Ben’s part saved the baby. Congrats, Ben, you’re a hero!” Great response and injuring-saving action on the part of this fine young man.
In Phoenix, Arizona, another one of our great municipal law enforcement officers saved a driver from a burning vehicle. Responding to the dangerous situation, the officer first tried to smash open a side window, as flames were shooting out of the car’s front end. Failing, he obtained a fire extinguisher from a neighboring resident and was then successful in breaking the window. He reached in, unlocked the door, and managed to pull the driver out of the car and laid him on the ground well away from the burning car. The gentleman was unconscious and had no delectable heartbeat. As medical help was summoned, that officer began chest compressions. Said his department later: “In situations where we don’t have time to hesitate, our training kicks in, and that could make the difference between life and death.” It was reported that the rescued driver did survive and was recovering in the hospital. With a great understatement, one local resident, after seeing the TV report of the incident, remarked: “It’s amazing how people forget all the good they do.” Indeed. Far, far more positive service to our communities than, regrettably, they are given much deserved credit for, each and every day, across our nation.
United States Marine Sergeant Danny McDonald, stationed at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, was enjoying an afternoon at the beach when he heard yelling. A young boy appeared to be in severe difficulty in the water, about 300-feet offshore. Remembers McDonald: “I got up to see what was going on and I saw him struggling out in the water I immediately sprinted across the sand and dove into the water.” To further complicate the rescue, McDonald immediately noticed that the boy had suffered a seizure. Due to a rip current, it took a lot more time, and McDonald’s effort, for the two to make it safely back to shore. By good fortune, a Navy corpsman was also at the beach and provided immediate medical assistance while further help was summoned. The boy was hospitalized and survived his ordeal. Sergeant McDonald was subsequently awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal, “the highest non-combat honor for heroic actions.” Said the commanding general of the 2nd Marine Division: “McDonald is a true hero. I couldn’t have asked for a better example of what it means to be a Marine.”
And speaking of brave Marines, 70-year-old Marine Corps veteran, James “Cowboy” Johnson, of Norristown, Pennsylvania, a gentleman who himself suffers from lung problems, discovered his neighbor’s house on fire one morning. He called 911, then, with a couple of neighbor boys, kicked in the front door, convinced that someone must be in there. Mr. Johnson ran up to the second floor and found a man apparently trapped by the flames. “I drug him down the stairs,” recalled Johnson, “brought him outside, and put the fire out in his hair (with a blanket).” He said later that he wasn’t concerned for his own safety. “That doesn’t faze me. I worried about saving a life,” said Mr. Johnson. The Norristown Fire Department put out the fire and referred to Mr. Johnson as “a remarkable man.” And, indeed he is, putting his own well-being and physical ailments aside, as he did. The man rescued with burns was airlifted to a Philadelphia trauma center and survived.
Finally for this edition, also from Pennsylvania, but a far less heroic story(!), though still a good news one. After being challenged by an election integrity citizen group, the State of Pennsylvania, we assume grudgingly due to the challenge, agreed to remove the names of deceased residents from their voter rolls. How many dead “potential voters” still remained, you ask? In November 2020 (does that month seem at all significant?), there were alleged to be 21,000 deceased residents still on the state’s voter rolls! And here’s an idea of just how significant a vote integrity issue this at the time was in that state: About 43% of the names now being removed had actually been dead for more than five years! In all likelihood, in certain states, this may not be all that unique.
Significant? You bet. Recall how many states, perhaps Pennsylvania included, routinely send out absentee ballots to ALL residents still on their rolls, with little concern, apparently, for whether these individuals were alive, moved, or dead. Think perhaps that might have impacted the 2020 presidential election results, there and elsewhere, in other key states, both with votes cast on behalf of no longer eligible voters, and by illegals in states like California, who automatically register individuals with state driver’s licenses, regardless? And now we have groups, and, of all things, major corporations, apparently voicing opposition to heroic efforts in many of our great states, that are revising their election laws to greatly reduce or hopefully eliminate vote fraud. For the sake of restoring voter integrity, our thanks to Pennsylvania for finally cleansing its rolls. And thanks to the citizen group that pressed the issue! We earnestly hope that other states with delinquent rolls will do the same. Enormous understatement coming your way: Legal voting matters !!
(K-9 vest stats via breitbart.com, Amy Furr, 3-30-21; Goodwill $ discovery stats & quotes via breitbart.com, Amy Furr, 3-30-21; Grocery store rolling cart stats and quote via foxnews.com, Michael Bartiromo, 3-30-21; Phoenix rescue stats & quotes via dailymail.com, Sam Baker, 3-30-21; Marine Sergeant rescue stats and quote via taskandpurpose.com, Paul Szoldra, 3-18-21; Marine veteran rescues a burn victim stats and quote via theepochtimes.com, Louise Bevan, 3-22-21; Pennsylvania removes deceased residents from its state voter rolls stats via theepochetimes.com, Jack Phillips, 4-8-21).