Therefore it is time to have that discussion about bicycles and motor vehicles sharing the road. The law says we have to do it, except on the expressway, so why not start out the season with a mutual respect and understanding.

A cyclist commutes by bicycle through downtown Ann Arbor in September.

Ryan J. Stanton | AnnArbor.com file photo

That being said, I have a very healthy respect for the larger, heavier motorized vehicles that zip by on my left. I always wear a helmet and have found that a rearview mirror mounted on my sunglasses, helmet or handlebars is a really handy piece of safety equipment.

The rearview mirror, I rely on so that I do not have to look over my shoulder for oncoming traffic. Looking over one’s shoulder on a bicycle naturally makes you veer out in front of that which you seek to see and avoid. Moving your eyes up or down to your rearview mirror is thus much safer, faster and promotes a straighter attitude down the far right side of the road.

The far right side of the roadway is where a bicycle should legally and safely be. The exceptions are when passing another bicycle or vehicle, avoiding a road hazard, riding on a one-way street or when attempting the two riskiest bicycle maneuvers — the left turn or riding straight through an intersection where there is a right turn lane.

Left turns in high traffic or highway speed traffic conditions always cause me anxiety. I hate depending on the driver of a car behind me seeing the 1/8th ton orange or traffic green rolling lymon in front of them that constitutes yours truly. If the spectacle of a DayGlo Semper Cop’s large frame is not enough to catch that driver’s attention, I throw on a red LED strobe light if I am in downtown traffic, overcast, dawn, dusk or other low light conditions.

Worse than left turns on my personal pucker factor scale, is driving straight through an intersection where there is a right-turn-only lane. This is fraught with all kinds of dangers and depending on the intersection, I will admit defeat, take an optional bicycle-on-the-sidewalk spin, go up to the light and cross in the crosswalk just like a pedestrian. I will then ride down the walk on the other side, use a driveway and continue back on my merry way down the roadway.

There are certain places that people expect to see bicycles and certain places or lanes where motorists do not. Left turn lanes and the left edge — or right edge of the straight thru lane — of a right-turn-only lane are two places it is just dangerous to be a bicyclist.

The key for bicyclists is to assume you are nearly invisible and watch out for motor vehicles that are much heavier and faster than you. Remember the concept of being “dead right.”

Being “dead right” is being absolutely legally correct in your actions, but being just as dead at the scene, because you failed to heed the more non-discretionary laws of physics and common sense.

Speaking of being dead right, bicyclists please consider riding two abreast down two-lane roads not equipped with a paved shoulder or bike lane. Technically it is legal in Michigan, but please be careful and mindful of the terrain and traffic conditions when doing so.

If you are riding two abreast and you see that traffic is backing up behind you, please be courteous, safety minded and insightful. Fall in single file so traffic can safely pass you. The motorist irritation you prevent at that moment may save another bicyclist, another day, from that road rage vulnerable driver “teaching a lesson” and injuring someone.

In limited sight distance areas, like near sharp curves or hills, I strongly suggest you fall in single file to avoid the tragedy that is the late-for-work and speeding motorist or unsunglassed driver heading east near dawn or west at dusk.

Time of day should enter into a bicyclist’s planning process. The most dangerous times to be pedaling are both rush hours and the end of a school day — in the area of a high school.

In school areas remember youthful drivers are “just learning” and are prone to speeding, inattention and inexperience. Their inexperience can lead to a lack of situational and spatial awareness, which might tempt them to cram a small lane with a bicyclist and mom and dad’s full-size pickup or SUV complete with bicyclist-noggin-cracking side/rearview mirrors.

On the secondary roads I travel, I live in fear of those wide vehicles and their extended mirrors. Bicycle helmets might save your head from a skull fracture, but if those mirrors hit a bicyclist, it tumbles bicycle and rider into the ditch or a road sign with tragic frequency. If you drive a large vehicle, please move over for a bicyclist or wait to pass until there is an opening to avoid such tragedies.

Bicyclists, please remember when on the road you must obey the traffic laws applicable to motorists.

Weekend peddlers do not forget your manners — share a wave with your fellow bicyclists. I have found that the chance for a wave, nod, smile or acknowledgement of humanity from oncoming bicyclist is inversely proportional to the amount of Spandex a rider wears — or — directly proportional to the weight of the bicycle and width of the tires. So loosen up your spandex, bikers. Unless you are in a race, all bicyclists are on the road for the same reasons—it will not kill your wind resistance or practice time to nod at the huffing puffing DayGlo orange or lymon rolling down the other side of the road.

Lock it up, don’t leave it unattended, be aware and watch out for your neighbors.

Rich Kinsey is a retired Ann Arbor police detective sergeant who now blogs about crime and safety for AnnArbor.com.

I call this “necessary skepticism.” Police officers can not believe everything and everyone they hear, because as shocking as this might sound some people lie to the police. Some people try to manipulate the police. More importantly, for officers to remember, there are some in society who wish to hurt or kill them.

Photo courtesy of the Michigan State Police

Police officers are faced on a daily basis with ambiguity and uncertainty. Each call for service, traffic stop and citizen contact is a story waiting to be told. It is up to the officers to figure out, as best they can, what is really going on in front of them. What is the truth?

While doing this officerd must trust their instincts and remember everything they have been taught in life, the police academy, through lessons from other officers, and their own experiences on the street in order to stay safe.

For instance even though someone officers are dealing with is all smiles and respect, things can change in an instant if that person is, for instance, a wanted fugitive. Officers are thus trained to listen but also watch what the body is communicating, and most importantly, ALWAYS watch the hands — after all, those are what can kill an officer.

The eyes may be the windows to the soul and they can give clues if people are lying or the direction they are about to flee, but the hands still are the most important body parts an officer must watch. Hidden hands are dangerous and could hold a weapon.

My first real life experience with this came when I was at a family fight. A petite tiger of a woman was palming a butcher knife while showing me only the backs of her hands and she drew nearer. I told her to stop, just about the time my partner had the proper angle and yelled, “Knife!” She was amazed how fast a startled officer can draw his gun. She thankfully dropped the knife before I found out if she was seriously going to use it or just make a point — pardon the pun.

When dealing with strangers, an officer always is wary and skeptical, because the stranger is an unknown entity. Did you know however that two thirds of officers feloniously killed in the line of duty knew their assailant?

Familiarity with an individual can make an officer comfortable around that citizen. An officer may deal with a person 20 times without incident, but the 21st could be fatal. Until an officer has a chance to see and speak to a person to gauge the person's state of mind, they should never prejudge a person’s behavior. Even Melvin Milquetoast, given the right set of circumstances and fueled with the right combination of alcohol, drugs, rage, frustration or hate, can be a serious threat.

On a lower danger level, the general public would be amazed at the whoppers people will tell the police on things as simple as traffic stops. My jaw dropped one day when I watched a guy make a turn onto a one-way street. He saw me and pulled into a parking lot. I had him under constant view, but he absolutely swore it must have been someone else. He was outraged because it was not him!

I was amazed; I watched the whole thing and he was adamant and angry. I did not argue. I wrote the ticket and when I gave it to him he calmed, smiled and told me, “Yeah you got me.”

Another whopper I heard came after hours of interviewing a rapist and murderer that had been identified by DNA, and made admissions to my partner and I. We let him make a call to his girlfriend and heard him say, “Yeah baby they got me on DNA, but you know that’s only 99.9 percent positive, that ain't 100 percent.” There was an argument for innocence.

One of my dear friends, who retired from the FBI, opened up bold new vistas in my interviews with suspects when he told me, “Remember a good lying statement, that you can shoot (evidentiary) holes in, can be better than a confession.” The reason is that juries can identify outlandish lies, and usually only guilty people tell them.

At the time I also envied FBI agents because of a law the Feds had but that local law enforcement did not. At the time it was a five-year felony to lie to a federal officer—Martha Stewart, for a time, had to make her craft projects in a federal penitentiary after being convicted of this.

I do not have to be envious any more. As of last July it is now a crime to lie to a Michigan peace officer investigating a crime. The penalties for doing so are based on the level of crime a police officer is investigating. If you lie or mislead the police during a serious felony investigation — like murder — you can be punished with a four-year felony. That is a good law for the sake of truth and justice.

Police officers are necessarily skeptical because, as I have found during 30 years of law enforcement, there always are two sides to every story when humans interact, and the truth usually lies somewhere in the middle of those two sides. It is not because people always lie to the police, but because whenever we speak about ourselves, we naturally try to put ourselves in the best possible light.

However if you choose to speak to the police in Michigan, it is best to tell the truth, or the light you put yourself in may be the harsh institutional light of a jail cell.

Lock it up, don’t leave it unattended, be aware and watch out for your neighbors.

Rich Kinsey is a retired Ann Arbor police detective sergeant who writes about crime and safety for AnnArbor.com.

Right now, in the first months of the New Year, everyone in the state should have a white or yellow month tab in the upper right corner of their license plate. If they are showing a green month sticker denoting a 2012 plate or, heaven forbid, an orange sticker denoting a 2011 plate, they have an expired plate and are easy pickings for an observant officer on patrol.

Expired tags on license plates can indicate any one of an array of violations to a police officer on duty.

File Photo

Each year the registered owner receives a renewal notice from the Secretary of State in the mail about 45 days prior to the vehicle registration’s expiration. This is a reason why you should change your address with the Secretary of State if you move from one address to another. Changes of address on Michigan driver’s licenses or state identification cards are free from the Secretary of State and are mandated by law.

Renewing license plates can be done online, by mail or in person and is thus easier than ever to accomplish by the expiration date. If you are late and do not get your license plates renewed by the birthday of the registered owner, the Secretary of State’s office will charge you a $10 late fee.

There are several reasons why expired plates are a good violation for an officer to pay attention to. First and foremost, all of us have to pony up the money for our license plate tabs. It is not fun to cut the check, give up the credit card or open one’s wallet to pay the Secretary of State for the privilege of motoring on the Great Lakes State’s highways and byways, but it is necessary to keep those roads open and reasonably free of potholes that can swallow small cars, blow out tires and bend wheel rims.

Another reason officers should investigate expired plates is because it may be a symptom of a more serious violation. People who have suspended or revoked licenses can not insure their vehicles. Insurance companies will not cover these unlicensed drivers. Without proof of insurance, one can not renew their plates. Therefore expired plates can mean an unlicensed driver, an uninsured motorist or both.

People with warrants also are bashful about showing up at the Secretary of State’s office to renew their license plates. Therefore the expired plate may belong to someone with outstanding warrants.

Owners of vehicles also should remember that it is illegal for them to knowingly allow someone who is suspended, revoked or has never attained a driver’s license to drive a car. Furthermore if that unlicensed driver gets in crash and the insurance company finds out that the owner and insurer knew they were allowing an unlicensed driver to drive, the insurance company may not be liable to pay for the damages.

It does not seem fair, but remember if you are driving someone else’s car that has an expired plate, the police can issue you the expired plate ticket.

Before renewing your license plate, take a look at the license plate itself. Is it readable to an officer following you? If it is rusted or oxidized and can not be read, you might get pulled over by an officer. A license plate has to be readable when operated on the roadway.

When renewing your plates ask for a new plate if yours is rusted, oxidized, faded or worn off. You will not get the same plate number, but you will get a nice clean shiny license plate at no additional charge. Make sure you bring the damaged, rusted, oxidized and unreadable plate in, to the SOS office when you ask for a new plate. If you have a vanity or personalized plate and need a replacement, you will have to contact the Secretary of State office for the availability and processing of such a replacement request.

Proper display of the license plate is key as well. A plate obscured by snow, dirt or grime also is a violation if it can not be read. Plastic holders around the plate that obscure the license plate are illegal and also can constitute an obstruction to the plate.

Full plastic plate covers either clear or smoked are illegal as well. The reason for this is the instance has been known when enterprising scammers have printed color copies of plates on paper or card stock and attached them to cars. In order that they do not deteriorate when they get wet, the scammers then place plastic covers over them; that is why plastic plate covers are illegal.

Remember also, if you are renewing multiple license plates at once, that the month sticker has a number on it corresponding to the license plate it is assigned. Do not mix up the tabs and place them on the wrong license plate. If you do mix up the tabs go back to the SOS office and they will replace them for you — I know because I was guilty of such buffoonery once.

While you are tending to your license plate, make sure that your license plate light or lights are operational. It is not a bad idea to turn your lights on and do a walk around on your car to make sure your headlights and taillights are all operating properly. To check your brake lights’ operation turn your hazard lights on and do a walk around.

If you have mobility issues or just want to venture out into the winter wonderland as little as possible, carefully back near a storefront’s large plate glass window and make the observation of tail and brake lights using your rear-view mirrors — which also should be in place, operational and unobscured.

Headlight high beams and low beams can be checked from the warmth and security of your vehicle by turning them on in front of your garage door or a wall. Avoid using your neighbor’s front picture window for such vehicle inspections, as this might be construed as annoying or creepy.

Lock it up, don’t leave it unattended, be aware and watch out for your neighbors.

Rich Kinsey is a retired Ann Arbor police detective sergeant who writes about crime and safety for AnnArbor.com.

The Engineering "Engine" Arch, where cop cars formerly could drive through.

Courtesy of Rich Kinsey

While the Ann Arbor Police Department was under contract by the university, they provided two patrol officers 24 hours a day and two detectives.

The patrol officers split their time. One of the patrol officers walked a foot beat on Central Campus while the other was assigned a car and patrolled central and north campus as well as the area around the University Hospital. At 11 p.m. the motorized patrol unit would pick up the beat walker and from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. the university car was a two-officer — or double — unit.

One of the university beat walker’s responsibilities was to report in at 525 Church St., which was the U-M Department of Public Safety’s headquarters at the time. Located on the ground level of the university parking structure, this was the mustering point for the university units of the Ann Arbor Police Department, U-M security officers, state security — which was a private security company also contracted by U-M — and liaison officers for both U-M Hospital security and U-M housing security.

The base at 525 Church, referred to on the radio as either “5-2-5” or “5-25” provided a much needed air-conditioned oasis in the summer for the overheated beat walker. Winter foot-patrol was not as bad because the Central Campus beat walker could always slip into a warm building to walk through, but in the 1980s few of the university buildings were air conditioned in the summer.

When the Central Campus beat walker arrived at 5-25, it was their job to take all the criminal reports generated on campus and transfer the information to Ann Arbor Police Department crime report forms. It was a tedious duty, but it was a nice diversion to get off your feet, out of the elements and inside for some companionship with the U-M officers.

Some fine university security officers were recruited into the Ann Arbor Police Department ranks in those days. The most notable was a sharp housing security officer named John Seto who rose to his current rank of Chief of the Ann Arbor Police Department.

Walking a beat on Central Campus was actually enjoyable and a good way to meet many of the local characters and downtown criminals who all seemed to gravitate toward the South State Street and North University Avenue corner of the Diag. Most days and evenings were rather uneventful, but not all.

I remember one late June or July evening in the middle of freshman orientation tours when three individuals got into a fight in the middle of the Diag. One guy was stabbed pretty badly by the other two, who just sauntered slowly away. A herd of freshmen at orientation happened onto the scene just after the victim had been stabbed.

The arriving freshmen were wide-eyed as their university conductors tried to shepherd them away from the crime scene, which quickly was filling with fire trucks, police cars and an ambulance. A U-M security officer and I caught up with the suspects who were still walking with that slow “I-don’t-really-have-any-place-to-be” swagger about a block from the wide-eyed freshmen and EMS action on the Diag.

A fun part of campus motor patrol was driving through the Engineering Arch in your police car. We all enjoyed driving across the Diag sidewalks, through the Arch and arriving at the corner of South University and East University. Those motorized expeditions across the Diag were in the evening and often times occurred when the car-assigned university officer picked up the beat walker.

No matter what the time, it always drew cranky and perhaps envious sidelong glances from pedestrians. The University finally tired of such shenanigans and put up pillars and other obstacles to prevent our motor tours of the “Engine Arch.”

The university similarly got cranky and installed obstacles when we parked near the western wall of the Modern Language Building to watch for motorists running the stop sign at Washington and Thayer streets. It was a great spot, and a lot of drivers would blow right through the east-west stop signs without even considering braking.

Another stop sign we watched, from the Chemistry Building loading dock, was at North University Avenue and Fletcher Street.

One night a university unit officer was shining his spotlight around the bushes on the Diag and happened upon a very magical place. The spotlight inadvertently lit up a light sensor, which controlled the streetlights and walkway lights on the Diag. The spotlight’s bright beam hitting the sensor mimicked the sun and caused the lights to turn off on the Diag. Spotlight on — Diag lights off, spotlight off — Diag lights back on.

The secret of the magical spot passed from officer to officer, each of which had to try their hand at the magical light switch. Some officers put on dazzling light show performances that went on for several minutes as they demonstrated the secret to the delight and amusement of the next officer to be let in on the secret of the magic switch.

While an amusing pastime for officers for a while, it was not until about 10 years later, when I was speaking to a U-M detective, that I learned that security officers would report the abnormality of the Diag lights to the U-M security dispatcher. On several occasions, dispatch called electricians to check for short-circuits in the steam tunnels running under the Diag.

Whoops, who knew?

I wonder if the Diag light shows or Engine Arch motoring tours had anything to do with the U-M starting their own police department?

Lock it up, don’t leave it unattended, be aware and watch out for your neighbor.

Rich Kinsey is a retired Ann Arbor police detective sergeant who writes about crime and safety for AnnArbor.com.

The legislature, in spite of its effort, was unable to move the Education Achievement Authority, or EAA, through the lame duck legislative session.

The EAA currently includes 15 historically low-performing Detroit public schools. Many more from across the state could be added from the 5 percent lowest-performing schools in academic achievement.

EAA is focused on delivering a “student-centered”, individually-designed, learning model with the goal of making significant academic gains for historically underperforming students.

The EAA bills were stopped dead in their tracks by an education community fearful of the impact on local control and a belief that the EAA is untested at best and bad public policy at its worse. Are their fears legitimate? Or simply an attempt at protecting the status quo?

The EAA has been described as a life raft picking up students who have been tossed overboard by sinking schools.

The Governor has stated “education reform” is his top priority. It is expected the EAA bills will be reintroduced and acted upon early in the new year.

Sen. Phil Pavlov, R-St. Clair Township and chairman of the state’s Education Committee said, “The problem isn’t going to go away... the reality is that there are kids that are trapped in failing schools across the state.”

Sadly, for far too many of our children, this is tragic and true.

There may be disagreement about the solution, but there is no doubt the problem exists - some schools and communities are failing our children for a variety of reason.

Where is the sense of urgency about doing more to assure children trapped in underperforming schools have an escape route? Imagine that your child, niece, nephew, grandson, or granddaughter were not receiving the education they need and deserve — how would YOU respond? Doing nothing is not an option.

The debate must be broader than “change for change sake” and simply “spending more money”.

If the EAA is expanded it certainly would include schools from Lansing, Flint, Saginaw, Grand Rapids, Benton Harbor, Pontiac and many other communities. Altogether, with the renewed Emergency Manager law passed in the lame duck session, the EAA is feeding fear, if not downright paranoia, of the state completely taking over local schools — not just in struggling, urban areas, but also suburban and rural districts as well.

Tradition-based education groups lobbied lawmakers to hit the pause button on the EAA plan, if not to reject it out right - and they believe they were, at least temporarily, successful. There is a strong belief they have the strength and votes to prevent this legislation being passed in 2013.

My hope is that the education community does not simply play defense in attempting to poke a stick in the Governor’s reform agenda, but will put forth thoughtful, educationally- sound alternatives to addressing the needs of students whose educational needs have historically not been met by the existing public school-system.

We must demand that the focus on the upcoming debates be on TLC: Teaching, Learning, and Children and NOT on PCPA — Power, Control, Politics and Adults.

We need to stop the partisan ideological battles and jointly conclude that the only adjective that matters before school is "QUALITY!"

The EAA will not be the only “reform” on the legislative battle field in 2013. Revising how schools are financed in addition to school choice bills, expanding e-learning, and increased opportunities for “profit-making” educational enterprises to compete with local schools will also be on the front-burner.

Originally, the goal was to have the 400-plus-page school financing plan that lays out a new school funding distribution system based on performance measurements, ready to be included in the administration's budget proposal due out in early February. But Gov. Snyder decided himself to slow the process down.

Richard McLellan, a State Capitol fixture and constitutional expert, the plans architect is continuing to tweak the draft plan that has been used as target practice by a disgruntled education community.

Our schools are critically important in helping reinvent Michigan and the nation. It is critical to us all to get these reforms right.

We need leaders who will help forge a shared vision and common agenda to help prepare our children for the hyper-competitive, disruptive, technologically-driven, knowledge economy we live in. Today, it is all about ideas and jobs that can and DO move around the globe effortlessly.

Reform is necessary — engaging educators in constructive ways to help enact change will produce better results. Gov. Snyder and the legislature have laid their solutions on the table. Educators owe it to the students to do more than simply oppose these bills. Where is their plan of action?

Clearly, there will be change. It should be our collective goal to assure change equals quality and progress.

Tom Watkins served as Michigan’s State Superintendent of Schools from 2001 to 2005. He is an advocate for public education and sensible school reforms, and a 2010 Upton Sinclair Award winner from Ednews.org. He is a U.S./China business and educational consultant. He can be reached at tdwatkins88@gmail.com

The toy gun that launched a conversation about Newtown in our house.

Jenn McKee | AnnArbor.com

Sitting in her chair, wearing white tights and a white dress with blue polka dots, Lily declared, “I’m taking it to preschool.”

“No, sweetie,” I said, a chill in my voice. “You’re not.”

“Yes, I am,” she replied, stubbornly. “For show and tell. Some of the boys bring guns for show and tell.”

“I told her she couldn’t take it,” my husband said, bustling about getting everyone’s breakfast. But my mind was already racing. How could I explain Newtown to a 4-year-old when adults—myself included—were having an impossible time processing it themselves? I’d naively thought I could avoid the whole conversation. Lily wasn’t in elementary school yet, and kids her own age wouldn’t have stumbled upon the story.

But it was like the tragedy refused to stay in the shadows, shoved under a rug.

Delaying, panicking, stalling for time, I looked to Joe, my husband, and pointed at the pistol. “I thought this was on, like, the highest shelf,” I said, referring to our living room’s floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. He shrugged, and I knew it must have been in a place that had been high enough to hide things when Lily was 2, but not high enough for a chair-hoisting, motivated 4-year-old.

The cap gun had been part of Joe’s Halloween costume years ago, when he played in a brass band; because the group was playing “The Cowboys,” the trombone section had decided to dress the part. Joe and I hadn’t looked at the cap gun since. But now, suddenly, it was forcing me to take my young daughter to a place I didn’t want to go.

I sat in my seat at the table, took a deep breath, and began, “Sweetheart, you can’t take that to preschool because just a few days ago - “

At this point Joe stopped in his tracks and looked at me, eyebrows arched in surprise, and muttered, “You’re going to try and do this? OK,” then continued packing the kids’ snack bags.

“A few days ago, a man took a gun into a school with young kids, and lots of people got really, really hurt.”

“Did they die?” Lily asked, like a reflex.

Swallow. Breathe. “Yes. They did.”

“Did they disappear?”

“No, not exactly. But that’s an interesting question. People generally believe that there’s two parts to a person: the body—which is just the physical part of who you are—and the soul, which consists of the things you think and say and believe. And many, many people believe that when you die, your soul goes to a beautiful place called Heaven. But that’s just one thing people believe. Because no one knows for sure. Some people believe your soul is reborn as another person, or an animal, or a tree, or whatever. So people who believe that a soul goes somewhere after you die would say that the people who died did disappear, in a way.”

I gathered my courage, steering us back to the matter at hand. “But see, many of the people who died were little kids that aren’t much older than you.”

My voice inevitably cracked saying these last words. I’d been in the newsroom on the day of Newtown, of course. I cried at my desk as the TV and Twitter and the conversations around me reported the latest updates on the shootings, and the number of confirmed child deaths kept rising.

I couldn’t stop thinking about how Lily would start school in the fall—and how I would feel as one of those parents who stood waiting for news outside the Sandy Hook Elementary School.

“Why are you crying, Mommy?” Lily asked. “Did you know the kids who died?”

“No, I didn’t.”

“Do you know their mommies and daddies?”

“No, I don’t. But even though I don’t know them, I know how I would feel if someone hurt you, so I feel sad for them and what they’re going through. And I feel very scared and worried for you and Neve. I want to do everything I can to make you safe, but events like this make that seem really hard.”

I took a breath and gathered myself a little. “So the reason you can’t take the toy gun to school for show and tell today is that a lot of people are feeling very scared and sad right now, because of what this one man did with his gun.”

“But why did the man kill them all?”

This may have been the toughest question she threw at me that morning.

“That’s a good question, too, kiddo. Some people don’t think quite right, and even if they get help from doctors, they still feel compelled to hurt other people. It’s hard to say. But he was sick, in a way, and must have been in a lot of pain.”

At this point, I steered Lily toward some other show-and-tell options, and she quickly seized upon one of her Hanukkah gifts.

Was I right to talk to my 4-year-old about Newtown? I still don’t know. Lily’s not a kid who’d be satisfied with a non-answer like, “Because I said so”—she’d likely only ramp up her interrogation in response—but even so, in retrospect, I suppose I could have tried harder to avoid the topic.

So why didn’t I?

Maybe it’s because, after combing through several news articles about Newtown, and talking with other stricken, mourning adults, I needed to break the event down to its most basic facts and questions—something we often only do when talking to our children—in order to absorb it. To start to get past the initial shock and horror and focus instead on things I might possibly be able to change, or even improve, within the world around me.

And maybe Lily, in her own unwitting way, was helping me find the courage to do just that.

Jenn McKee is the entertainment digital journalist for AnnArbor.com, and blogs about parenting at www.AnAdequateMom.wordpress.com. Reach her at jennmckee@annarbor.com or 734-623-2546, and follow her on Twitter @jennmckee.

For the past 30 years or so I have been engaged in a profession that I have truly enjoyed. Like every job, not every day is great. I have always shrugged the bad days off and told my family that you have to have some bad days in life, in order to appreciate the good days.

Apart from the tragedy and cruelty police officers see throughout their careers — which can certainly put a pall on their day — there are just some days that everything you touch goes wrong.

“Coach Sok,” my police academy director, one of the men who brought the Field Training Officer Program to Michigan and current president of Field Training Associates — which educates veteran officers how to teach new police officers — had a term for really bad days during Field Training. Coach Sok called them a “snow day.”

A “snow day” starts when a rookie officer makes a mistake, gets rattled by the mistake and can not seem to function while under the watchful eye of a field training officer who is placing numerical grades on the rookie’s performance. These normally occur early in training, and the wise field training officer realizes the officer is not reacting to what is going on in the street, but worrying more about being graded, and consequently everything they are doing is going wrong.

On such a day, to calm the recruit, the field training officer will declare a “snow day,” and dramatically tear up the grading sheet and either take over the car or at least tell the rookie, “Okay, let’s just go out and have some fun and do some good police work.”

Once a police officer is out of training, there are no snow days, so you just have to ride out a bad day. Those days it is best to take a step back, hole up somewhere and catch up on paperwork you have been meaning to do.

A typical bad day might start off with a dead battery on your personal car. That caused you to forget to pick up your dry cleaning and thus not have a clean uniform shirt in your locker. You break a shoelace putting your boots on, and the sergeant informs you that long report you wrote yesterday got “lost in the system” and will have to be rewritten. Every adult has had such a day.

Next you may go out on a traffic stop and decide not to issue a ticket, but give a warning accompanied by a little lecture. I believe an officer should either write a ticket or give a verbal warning explaining—perhaps lecturing — why what the motorist did was dangerous and illegal. Adult motorists should get a ticket or a lecture—but never both.

On this bad day, however, while you are lecturing the motorist you feel an odd draft and realize your fly is down. Nothing kills your command presence while trying to be stern more than having your fly down, an errant mucoid dangling from your nose or slipping on ice walking back up to deliver the warning. Great safety lectures are lost on the motorist, whose attention is drawn more to your buffoonery than the eloquence of your verbal warning.

If your head is not properly in the game in police work, it can be dangerous to you and the public you serve.

Some days can go from good to bad in a heartbeat — like when my old police academy mate, Wilma, and I spotted a brand new pickup truck with a motor scooter and some other power equipment in the pickup truck’s bed, out cruising around in freezing rain at 4 a.m. at East Stadium and South Industrial.

We ran the license plate and found the truck was stolen. We activated the toplights on the police car, and the chase was on. Through ice-covered side streets north of Stadium, we slid around after the stolen pickup with the other stolen goods. All was proceeding well in this rather low-speed chase caused by the ice on the roads.

The thieves came to the T intersection at Brooklyn and Golden. On this darkened icy night, the thief driving the pickup mistook the driveway, running westbound along the north side of an apartment building, as a continuation of Brooklyn.

What are the chances at 4 a.m. on a weekend that an Edison truck would have a lineman up in a bucket working on a power line right at the end of that same driveway? Today I realize, better than usual, since there was an ice storm.

The driver of the stolen pickup tried to shoot the gap between the apartment building and the Edison truck with inevitable results — he crashed and wedged into the corner of the apartment and the rear of the lineman's truck. That stolen truck quickly stopped.

I came to a stop while undoing my seat belt. Wilma was doing the same; she tossed the radio microphone on the seat and bailed out of the passenger seat after the pickup truck passenger. I lost track of her about that time.

When I bailed out of the car I was surprisingly quick out the door. Hasty is a better word. I took about three steps around my door and towards the pickup before I fell due to the ice.

Then I noticed how earsplittingly loud it was in front of the car because the siren was still yelping—that sounded really stupid but was not my biggest problem.

The much more immediate and critical problem was that, in my haste, I had neglected to shift the police car into park. I ran back around my open car door to stop the car, about the time the right front bumper hit and broke a 6-foot-tall privacy fence.

The thieves were long gone. The lineman got bumped around in the bucket but was relatively unscathed. The pickup truck damaged the corner bricks on the apartment building, the rear of the Edison truck and, of course, both sides of the stolen pickup. I do not recall if the suspects were caught by back up officers or not.

All I remember at this late date are the reams of paperwork I cost Wilma and I and the later comparisons of my pursuit performance to the Keystone Kops. It was a bad night at the office.

Lock it up, don’t leave it unattended, be aware and watch out for your neighbor.

Rich Kinsey is a retired Ann Arbor police detective sergeant who now blogs about crime and safety for AnnArbor.com.

Dale Leslie

But to paraphrase a late national newspaper columnist, "Here's what I learned on my way to (the election)."

1. In many jurisdictions, a candidate need not solicit countless signatures to earn a place on the ballot. For a nominal fee, the signature requirement is waved. This fact is an encouragement to citizens who hold full-time jobs in business or at home and have precious time to campaign.

2. The assumption that each campaign issue has two sides may be short-sighted. Despite my pragmatism, I discovered there is a diversity of sound reasoning which quickly can shred the stand you considered sound. "Pragmatic cuts" in government programs is an oxymoron.

3. "Acquaintances" and "friends" are not synonymous. The former outnumber the latter but it's your friends who actively support a candidacy.

4. New developments during a campaign and the ongoing issues raised is avoided review by community organizations, PTOs, business groups and the media, who apparently fear an appearance of advocacy of your candidacy. For instance, the adverse affect on the local economy by school district substantial labor contracts being awarded to cross-state vendors did not raise an eyelash of the area's largest business organization, the Ann Arbor-Ypsilanti Area Chamber of Commerce. Meanwhile, the Electrical Union Local reports that half of their licensed electricians remain without employment. The out-of-district companies hire workers from outside the area and their wages are drawn and spent in their own communities. There are reports of their work quality to be substandard.

5. The temptation to cut cost and overhead can result in the government throwing the "Baby Out With The Bathwater!" Ann Arbor Public Schools program to staff two police officers in each of the three high schools was unceremoniously dumped. Could two officers spending alternating days in the three schools save an effective program from extinction? What about financial support from grants? After the recent Connecticut school shooting, it appears the police presence quickly dissolved in the large high schools might be preferable.

As an aside, a particularly memorable experience occurred after I had voted and was preparing to leave the voting booth. A young father and his son were joining me in submitting our completed ballots. I commented to the father, "I think it is nice that your son accompanied you to the vote today. I should have done the same with my boys." The dad admitted, "My son is here to complete a long-term project in school to follow the election process to its conclusion." "Well, your son would probably be interested in meeting someone whose name is on the ballot — me!" I said. Upon my comment, the boy's eyes opened widely and his startled face appeared as if he had met someone famous. "You better report meeting Mr. Leslie in your summary, Jimmy!" the dad said with excitement. Oh, to be famous in someone's eyes!

Lon Horwedel | AnnArbor.com

It's not obscene that the library board sought to upgrade the library. What's obscene is the predictable way they went about it. The Ann Arbor District Library board has long-behaved like a clique, rather than finding ways to "click" with the patrons that use library services. (I suggest you follow up with current local residents on that assertion).

My view is that the AADL board was shell-shocked at the defeat of its proposal because various neighborhood library renovations had met with comparatively little resistance. How dare patrons not go along with the all knowing downtown AADL! They have an image to preserve and cost is not a barrier to preserving its image (or so they thought).

The appearance of being too "buddy buddy" with the DDA hurt their campaign even more. While Kathy Griswald's group energized patrons who had genuine questions, the millage would have failed anyway. Some input on your story from locals suggesting there is significant underutilized space is right on point. The arrogance of the AADL board in failing to do a space study of its current location is far too "in your face" to ignore.

Other patrons have suggested the current library is compromised because of the presence of homeless people who have body odor. There are many patrons, not homeless, who suffer far more from that hygienic dysfunction than the homeless.

By law, homeless patrons can't be excluded from library services. As to where they should go, someone should be questioning the Board of the Delonis Shelter on making more efficient use of its unused space and revising its policies to reflect the dilemma of current homeless persons. Local tax support of a multimillion facility with only part-time use is a distressing and extremely wasteful event.

When the shelter is not being utilized at night for beds, its space should be converted to job search classrooms during the day that the homeless can attend. There are many educated, but underemployed or unemployed patrons who also use the computers in the libraries.

Hating on the homeless is not a solution for lack of planning on the Board's behalf, nor is it a valid excuse for the ignorance of any who would find any reason to direct vitriol at the homeless.

Reconfiguring the current space at the AADL to achieve needed upgrades is a preferable, affordable option. A newly constructed library will still be unable to discriminate against the homeless. The fact that Kathy Griswald and others have pointed to that population with derision appear insensitive and hateful. Those qualities are only as predictable as the fact that the AADL has been clueless, superficial, and wasteful in its library operations long before the last millage defeat.

When patrons witness an upgrade in the books, tapes, DVDs and other collections that promote library use, they may be more amenable to seeing those resources in a more attractive setting, whether it has been renovated or rebuilt. When the library board stops treating its current space as if it was an extension of meeting space for the DDA or local businesses instead of prioritizing it for patron use, then it will find a supportive ear for its initiatives.

Not least of all, the harsh critics of homeless visitors to the downtown AADL should find time to identify underutilized space so they can offer reading or literacy classes, or even coach homeless patrons on valuable interviewing or job search skills.

The primary service of libraries is to enhance literacy. It is not the duty of the AADL or its board to act as a lackey for the DDA. As for partnering with U-M, don't hold your breath. The cost of a U-M library card to nonstudents is far more expensive than AADL library privileges for non-residents of Ann Arbor.

People expect downtown businesses to be expensive and accept that parking will be challenging. Library patrons do not have an expectation that use of library resources will be inaccessible and unaffordable. The AADL Board needs to take a hard look at what value is most important to the success of library usage, (e.g., improving literacy and narrowing the achievement gap in the Ann Arbor Public Schools) and not what makes them fit into a downtown environment that is obstructive to library use.

I do not think police work would be possible without coffee. I have even heard the famed grand master of Crime Scene Investigation (CSI), forensic scientist and former police officer Dr. Henry Lee ask with a smile at homicide conferences, “How you gonna do police work without coffee and doughnuts?”

If there is a more social drink—that one can consume during the workday—I can not imagine. During the downtimes in police work, usually while most of the city is still snug in their beds, police officers meet for a cup of coffee.

AnnArbor.com file photo

Sometimes officers will meet at diners or stand up coffee shops like “2030”—the address on West Stadium Boulevard that used to house Amy Joy’s, Doughnut’s Time and now houses Dimo’s Deli and Donuts. Most times one officer will make the pick-up and meet another officer at a secluded — that is out of the public’s eye — location for coffee and camaraderie.

These clandestine coffee breaks are made car to car. Etiquette and proper form for such a rendezvous is that the first car to arrive backs into a spot—such as “the 50” which was the old loading dock at Chrisler Arena which was near the tunnel to the 50 yard line of Michigan Stadium—hence the name. The second car to arrive positions itself so officers can speak driver to driver with windows down.

Driving is a source of pride in police work. Precision driving is what many police pursuit-driving courses are titled. Precision driving is never more important than meeting police car to police car for coffee or when midnight officers hang 2 to 5 a.m. parking tickets on offending vehicles without exiting their squad cars. One slight miscalculation can cause hours of paperwork and furious police supervisors.

When the second car parks next to the already parked police car, everyone is watching the pilot of the patrol car on final approach. First that officer must turn off the headlights—so as not to blind their coffee break partners. If ambient light is not sufficient, parking lights can be used on final approach. The approaching police car must park very close to the already parked police car.

How close you might ask? Roughly close enough that if each officer in their perspective cars positioned their spotlights properly the two cars could hold a piece of paper between the respective spotlights.

Young officers not used to the tradition park a safe distance away. They usually are met with the veteran officer in the other car cupping their hands over their mouth and mock yodeling—as if over a valley or canyon—“HELLL…OOO—can—yooou-hear-me-over-there?” That gag, at the rookie’s expense, never wears out and always is a crowd pleaser for assembled veteran officers. It has on occasion caused an unfortunate mishap however.

One icy evening a young officer, nicknamed “Jane Wayne” for her youthful brashness, slid off the runway on final approach and scraped the side of “Louie” and “Big Jim’s” cruiser. I can only imagine the deadpan stares of disbelief, the huge bespectacled veterans shot each other, as Jane ground to a halt with their coffees. I can almost hear Louie gently shaking his index finger skyward and telling Jane, “YOU can explain this to the sergeant…but thanks for the coffee.”

My dad taught me to drink my coffee black. He explained to me, when I started drinking coffee with cream and sugar at my first job at the old A & P in Maple Village, “You want a milk shake, get a milk shake. You wanna drink coffee, drink your coffee black.” My dad is a tough old no-nonsense World War II vet who had real “cups o’ Joe” as he fought his way from Omaha Beach to St. LO—I listened to pops.

Most cops take their coffee black. Some cops have a formula for their coffee like—“two creams and one pink and one blue sweetener if the coffee looks old, only one cream if it is a fresh pot.” This usually is translated to a black coffee, a couple of creams, stirs and a handful of sugars and sweeteners unceremoniously shoved in a bag.

The most unique order came from “Apache” the big Yooper with a deep booming voice who would always order his coffee, “Kahfee… double cream…just.”

No matter how an officer takes their coffee, once the first sip is taken and the warmth of that sip settles through their system it relaxes them. After the first sips and possible jibes about the approximate age of the pot from whence the coffee was poured, the officers settle back, chat, complain, tell stories and joke. Some of the best laughs of my life have come over cups of coffee with other cops.

Those coffee breaks are important to officers. They build work friendships, trust and can teach young officers how certain calls for service or problems are handled. These relaxed moments out of the public’s eye allow the officers to vent and bond with the peers they depend on for their safety. The joking, laughing and good-natured teasing keeps officers from getting bitter and cynical. Happy well-adjusted police officers deal with citizens much more effectively.

So whether the coffee is consumed at the stone orchard (a cemetery), the flatlands (the parking lots near the athletic fields on Fuller), the U-M Golf Course lot or a brain factory (school) it is an important part of police work. Enjoy ladies and gentlemen in uniform—you earn that coffee.

Lock it up, don’t leave it unattended, be aware, watch out for your neighbors and all the best to you In 2013.

Rich Kinsey is a retired Ann Arbor police detective sergeant who now blogs about crime and safety for AnnArbor.com.

AnnArbor.com photo | Joseph Tobianski

No, it has nothing to do with the City of Detroit, but everything to do with the future of higher education in Michigan. Education DOES matter. There has been much debate swirling around our public schools and municipalities which have failed to lead, manage, and control spiraling health care and pension costs and are now engulfed by debt, layoffs, service elimination and in some cases, the appointment of emergency managers or draconian consent agreements to reign in costs and mismanagement. Why should we think some of our institutions of higher learning may not be subject to these same pressures and maladies? According to a story in The Economist, The College-Cost Calamity, many American universities are in financial trouble and have been piling on debt at alarming rates. Between university debt, changing demographics, legacy costs, competition from for-profit educational institutions, soaring student debt, state funding cut backs, philanthropy drying-up and skyrocketing tuition and fees, we may be heading for a crisis. Many universities have gone on building sprees at a time when technology, especially e-learning with its anywhere, anytime, any place, any pace learning — may make the need for dorms, huge lecture halls and other institutional edifices obsolete. There is no argument about the need for higher and better skills to thrive in the hyper-competitive, disruptive, transformational, knowledge economy where ideas and jobs can and do effortlessly move around the globe. The questions remains are our institutions of higher learning positioned to help take the citizens of Michigan where we need to go to be able to collaborate and compete on the world stage? Clearly, Michigan Future led by Lou Glazer has demonstrated the value of higher education and have been a strong advocate for additional public investment in higher education. Yet we would be wise to give pause and study the financial status of our universities, asking how to make them stronger moving forward. Are we receiving and adequate return on our investment now and how should we best invest for our collective future? Bain and Company and Sterling Partners released a report that studied the balance sheets of 1,692 universities and colleges between 2006-2010 and discovered one-third were significantly weaker than several years earlier. This should not come as a surprise, as the study covers the period of time of the worst economic meltdown since the Great Depression. Yet, it should be a canary in the coal mine reminding us of potential trouble brewing. There is no doubt that our major flagship universities, such as University of Michigan, Michigan State will weather the storm. They have solid leadership and endowments to help smooth out the rough patches they have been managing for some time. Yet, just how stable are Michigan's smaller institutions and how will they manage these pressures going forward? I can imagine the hate mail from The President Council, faculty, students and alumni from Michigan universities for daring to raise the issue. Put your hands down, don't go on auto-pilot and email me nasty notes. I am on your side and value education and know it will be our state's and indeed, the nation's salvation.

There are only three ways to balance a budget:

1) Find new revenue 2) Decrease expenditures 3) Combination of 1&2 above

The resources out colleges and universities receive from the state has been on a steady decline. Yet, the first step in problem solving is problem identification and that simply sticking our collective heads in the sand will not make problems disappear. With leadership, clear thinking and time we are capable of solving any problem. I suggest that before a calamity hits Michigan, it is wise to ask ourselves: How stable are our universities? What can we do to strengthen them to assure they remain strong to help prepare us for our increasingly global, knowledge economy? How, or should we change the investment we make in higher education? Will an increase in state funding using the funding formula”s of the past produce the results we need today or tomorrow? Do we have the right number of universities, concentrating on the appropriate academic areas to drive knowledge, innovation, creativity and job and wealth creation in the future. We do know that significant changes have impacted the private sector and K-12 school districts across the state. Have our universities kept pace with necessary change? Have our institutions of higher learning been leading change, reacting to it or ignoring the new realities? Perhaps the answers to these questions will demonstrate we are heading in the right direction — or not. How stable are our institutions of higher education? A calamity and crisis are terrible things to waste. Tom Watkins served as Michigan’s state superintendent of schools, 2001-05. He is a U.S./China business and educational consultant. He can be reached at: tdwatkins88@gmail.com.

Take photos of valuable jewelry in case it gets stolen.

That being said, some of your neighbors and fellow citizens, and thankfully it is a very small percentage, are making plans and figuring out how to make a criminal income. They are trying to figure out how to get the goodies you found under your Christmas tree into their backpack or the trunk of their car, so they can sell it to make money for whatever their addiction or compulsion.

So as we take stock of our lives during the New Year's holiday season, why not take stock of what you own. While the boxes are still lying around, copy down serial numbers of your valuables. Make sure you have the make, model and serial number of valuable items from firearms to iPods, cameras to flat screen televisions and anything else of value that has a serial number on it. You should fill out the registration cards you find in the box as a record of where, when and how much an item was worth when purchased.

Mark your items of value it possible. Names in magic marker or engraved on an item with your name, or driver’s license number. Avoid using your social security numbers because law enforcement cannot readily check that number on their databases. Any markings you can put on your valuables that make them easily identifiable make them less attractive to would-be thieves, because the thief has fewer buyers of stolen property that is well marked.

Make sure that all of your electronic items of value are password protected, which render the items useless to the common person. I realize that password protected devices can still be compromised if someone has the right technology or knows someone with the right equipment, but they are much less attractive to potential buyers the common thief will normally frequent.

If buyers or fences won’t purchase an item because it can not be used, thieves will not steal them — or — if they do steal them, will discard them quickly once they find they can not be used. Therefore if something is stolen from a public place and it is password protected, take a look in the trash receptacles in the area — you might get lucky.

If jewelry was given or received during the holiday season, get copies of the appraisals and place them with other important documents. If the item of jewelry was of high value, check with your insurance agent to make sure it is covered on your home owner’s policy or get a separate rider to cover the item.

Photograph all of your jewelry. Descriptions of jewelry are good, but a picture is worth a thousand words for those who are trying to locate your stolen property. Pictures of unique jewelry on an electronic flyer, that investigators send back and forth to each other, get much more attention than written descriptions.

Most frontline officers know little about carats, cut, clarity and mountings unless they are in the immediate market for jewelry — like when buying an engagement ring or something — and that knowledge is quickly forgotten after the ring is paid for.

If you have a number of items that are sentimental to you, extra caution must be taken. The junkie going through a jewelry box could care less who or where an item might have come from or how much of an heirloom it is. If it is shiny and appears to be a precious metal, it will be stolen and sold quickly.

Buyers of stolen jewelry, especially gold and other precious metals, will most likely melt antique jewelry down right away so that it is not identifiable should the cops come knocking.

Pawn shops that buy jewelry and give the seller only a small fraction of what the item of jewelry is worth must legally hold items they purchase for several weeks before it is sold. When items are pawned the person pawning the item must show identification. Forms are filled out and a copy goes to the police jurisdiction where the pawnshop is located and to the police agency of the jurisdiction where the person pawning the item is from.

Sounds great, but in practice it is not as easy as checking local pawnshops for stolen jewelry. Thieves will take stolen items to another county to pawn them and or they will have other people in their lives, especially those with other last names, pawn the items. Emerging databases have assisted law enforcement in tracking and retrieving stolen property, but it all depends on how honest the person buying the property is.

There are some unscrupulous pawn shop and second hand jewelry dealers who know they are dealing with thieves, buy the items under the table or from the back door and never display or report the items they buy to the police. The thieves make less than 10 cents on the dollar for the jewelry they bring in, but the jewelry is either melted or passed out of town quickly so chances that the police can locate the jewelry is rather slim. The thieves are thus less rewarded monetarily, but there is less chance of the stolen jewelry being tracked back to the thief.

If you have antique jewelry it is best to put it in a bank safety deposit box. If you use the item or just like to look at it — hide it somewhere away from the majority of your jewelry which is normally in a jewelry box in the bedroom somewhere.

Remember thieves want to be in and out quickly, so they will look for valuables but usually only take items that are easily accessible. Most thieves are lazy, losers and opportunists. They do not want to work for anything — even if they are stealing it. So use your imagination and hide items of value, if you must have them near you.

Lock it up, don’t leave it unattended, be aware and watch out for your neighbors.

Rich Kinsey is a retired Ann Arbor police detective sergeant who now blogs about crime and safety for AnnArbor.com.

Here are our picks for Thursday's winner and loser from the news.

The principal at Cornerstone Elementary School in Dexter brings out the best in his building - and that’s something that caught the attention of educators across three counties. McCalla was named the principal of the year by Region 2 of the Michigan Elementary and Middle School Principals Association. “… Every child that goes through his building will remember him for a lifetime. He has that kind of an impact,” said his boss, Superintendent Mary Marshall. That’s no small feat, and we commend him for what he’s accomplishing.

It’s big enough for some grand redevelopment plans - but could fall down before its 20-year owner can finalize a deal, according to Ypsilanti officials. The city has targeted the downtown property, vacant for many years, for repairs that owner Jim Pate hasn’t accomplished. It’s unclear what could be the issue for Pate, since officials say he’s not responding to their notices or citations. However, allowing the structure be “demolished by neglect” isn’t in his best interest or the city’s.

Ileen Kinsey and son, Rich Kinsey, dressed up as Santa Claus.

Photo by Dick Kinsey

In the summer it would have been light and late afternoon, but in the winter it was full dark when I got into my car to drive home. The same guy who warns others weekly to “Lock it up, don’t leave it unattended, be aware and watch out for your neighbors,” was startled to the point of an immediate adrenaline dump in my system. It happened when I adjusted the rearview mirror and saw the stranger reflected in the bluish glow of my dash lights. It was another moment in my life that is burned in my memory. I feel fortunate to be able to tell the tale.

It all started about a month earlier when a friend and co-worker I had shared many laughs, stories and some terrifying “I hope we live to see tomorrow after this call” moments with asked me for a favor. "Buzz" is the ever-smiling and laughing guy I worked with who always is there, if someone needs help.

You might have known "Buzz" as “Officer Brian” at Main and Stadium. We knew each other by a multitude of colorful nicknames depending on the circumstances. Buzz’s apparent favorite was “The Lead Magnet.” I awarded Buzz — who was a highly decorated police officer — this nickname because of his propensity to attract lead projectiles and huge hurdling pieces of metal. Buzz sports a magnet tattooed on his shoulder in honor of his nickname.

Buzz asked me to be a Santa’s Helper and pretend to be Santa Claus at a family party he was hosting. Apparently Santa Claus was booked for that weekend close to the holidays. Buzz and his wife had found an inexpensive Santa Suit and thought that perhaps “Rich — Ever the Ham” might be willing to play the jolly old elf.

I jumped at the chance even though I knew I was not Buzz’s first choice. His first choice would have been the Ann Arbor Police Department’s All Time Greatest Officer—Santa’s Helper, “Fred,” who unfortunately had passed away several years earlier. Fred set the standard for Santa’s Helpers.

Fred had rosy cheeks and blue bespectacled eyes that lit up when he smiled which was often. Fred had taken his red hunting suit, added Velcro and white fur and absolutely looked like Santa Claus.

I feel confident in this bold assessment of Fred’s rendition of Santa Claus, because at the age of 5, my parents took me to J.L. Hudson’s in Detroit where I had met the real Santa Claus. Fred was the spitting image of Santa and could never be outdone!

On the day Buzz asked me, I accused him of being a bit frugal and only asking me because his cheap Santa suit did not have enough padding. Buzz did not deny that my portly stature had entered into the decision making process placing me on the “short list of finalists” he and his wife, a petite former assistant prosecuting attorney, had developed.

Regardless it would be an honor to play Santa. On the day of the big event, I showered, shaved and put the white grease paint on my eyebrows and already partially gray mustache. When I put the white wig on I was transformed. Involuntarily I put my lips over my teeth to feign toothlessness and in my best Walter Brennan impression told the mirror, “One of these days I’m gonna climb that mountain.”

When the suit and especially the hat went on I tried a number of different "HO, HO, HO"s including of course the evil Santa’s Helper from A Christmas Story, before landing on the perfect HoHoHo.

My sons were away that afternoon. Mom did not want them to see me in the Santa suit, because she did not want to spoil the magic for them. I had to test “my Santa” on someone, so I drove over to mom and dad’s house to visit as St. Nick. I received the fitting amount of laughter—one of the great joys in my life is seeing my mom laugh so hard she cries—I did not quite get that. I did however get a shaking head and “Richie, Richie, Richie,” from mom. I was off to Buzz’s party.

I arrived and was briefed in the garage for my entrance. The children were assembled and I made my grand entrance. I can see why celebrities get addicted to the spotlight and adoring crowds. It was incredible to see all the smiles on young and old children in the room.

For the first seconds, even the adults light up with smiles, look you in the eye and I could feel their instant excitement and recollections of Christmas’ long past. The adults soon look away, to smile, laugh and gaze at the unbridled delight and excitement in faces of their children. I even saw a few trembling smiles and misty eyes from parents and grandparents as they soaked in the wonderful sight. Even tough, skeptical, serious, mature adult Scrooges and Grinchs melt when they look at the faces of smiling hyper-excited children when Santa Claus walks into a room.

I found that the children who spoke were so excited they were either tongue-tied or chattering. Most babies who can not speak, but are put in Santa’s arms for the photo op, begin by gazing wild-eyed at all the white hair and red hat of the stranger that is holding them. Many of those gazes turn fearful and babies may start to cry—so mom and dads be warned and make sure those cameras are properly adjusted prior to handing baby to Santa.

In any event the love and joy Santa Claus represents stir huge emotions in both the young and old. If anyone ever gives you the honor of being Santa’s Helper, take it because it truly is magical.

Perhaps you have already guessed, but the stranger who startled me so, as I adjusted my rear view mirror that evening, was none other than the real Santa Claus. Santa said not a word and in an instant he was gone. My initial fright was replaced by a warm calm feeling as I sunk back into my seat. I readjusted the mirror quickly to try to catch another glimpse at Santa, but he was gone. All that remained was Rich in Santa make-up and Karen Carpenter singing Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas on the car radio. The moment was unforgettable and magical.

If you enjoyed this column, I urge you to pass along the magic to those less fortunate and drop a double digit greenback in the next Red Kettle of the Salvation Army you pass or give generously to your favorite charity.

Happy Holidays to you and God Bless our troops, both past and present, who provide we Americans our greatest gift ….FREEDOM.

Rich Kinsey is a retired Ann Arbor police detective sergeant who now blogs about crime and safety for AnnArbor.com.

Tragically, as we painfully witnessed last week in Newtown, Connecticut, our teachers paid the ultimate sacrifice, laying down their lives for our children. Sadly, it often takes a tragedy to make us see.

Soon it will be a new year. I would like to think we will leave behind many of our problems behind. Sadly, many of them will follow us into 2013.

The "Fiscal Cliff" will remain, unemployment is still too high, the lack of care for persons with serious mental illness and gun control debate will rage on.

There is perhaps no bigger problem facing our state and nation than the retraining of our workforce and educating our children to be able to collaborate and compete on the world stage. Doing so is the key to our state and country’s future prosperity.

Far too many people in Michigan and America still are out of work. Yet, there are thousands of jobs going unfilled due to the lack of education, skills and training of the existing workforce.

Economic and social pressures continue to mount as technology and the emergence of new economies in China, Brazil, India, Turkey, and now Africa, change our very way of life.

Globalization and technology will not slow down, they will accelerate moving forward.

Knowledge, creativity, talent, skill and an entrepreneurial spirit are the commodities that will matter most as individuals, states and the nation re-calibrate to the new normal.

More than a decade ago, President Bill Clinton captured the essence of America in his Inaugural Address when he said, "There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America."

The same can be said for our schools. Yet, you would not know it with the harsh rhetoric that is spewed on our schools and the people that educate our children.

One teacher recently told me she “felt like a piece of gum stuck on the bottom of a shoe.”

Teachers Are Key

Education holds the key to our collective futures. The city, state or nation that creates an effective system of learning will thrive. Our goal should be to make Michigan and America the brain bank of the world where everyone wants to come for deposits and withdrawals. This goal calls for the engagement of and support for our teachers.

Yet, rather than seeking ways to develop a shared vision and common agenda to make this happen, political and ideological battles sharpen and continue to beat down the very people we need to build up — our teachers.

Our public schools are the true Statue of Liberty in this great country of ours — taking the tired, hungry, poor, kids who speak English as a second language and children with disabilities to give them hope and opportunity. Our great teachers are the torches lighting the way for us all.

As Michigan's State Superintendent of Schools (2001-05), I had a simple measuring stick against which all decisions made by the Department of Education and State Board of Education were judged: "Show me how this helps our teachers teach and our children learn."

We need to engage teachers in the process of reform to attract and retain the very best in the classroom. Not enough of this is happening today.

Do our schools and teachers constantly need to evolve, embrace change and adapt to a disruptive world where ideas and jobs can and do move around the globe effortlessly? Of course.

Yet, without the ability to tap the energy, talents, skills and passions of these great educators that are touching our collective futures every day, we are missing a major ingredient necessary to soar in the 21st century knowledge economy.

May 2013 be the year we listen and learn from our great teachers and provide them with the resources, respect and support the deserve and have earned.

Tom Watkins, served as Michigan state superintendent of schools from 2001-05. He is a US/China business and educational consultant. Email: tdwatkins88@gmail.com

Governor Rick Snyder

Ryan Stanton | AnnArbor.com

Will he get it? He certainly has whacked the beehive with his move from “Right To Work (RTW) is not on my agenda” to actually helping pass and signing the bill in lickitly-split speed this week.

Signing this signature anti-union bill may have prevented a primary challenge from the extreme right of the GOP or from Teabag waving challengers.

But it clearly has energized left-leaning Democrats and organized Labor who feel the “relentlessly positive action”of this supposedly moderate Milliken-like governor has shown his true colors.

Others argue organized labor created the opening for the Republicans to advance RTW when they pushed and failed in enshrining labor rights in the state constitution. With Republicans in full control of state government some argue what labor did was as foolish as bringing a knife to a gun fight.

Two years is a lifetime in politics — much can and does happen in that brief span of time. Yet, it will be difficult to scurry back to the center for Snyder when it’s anticipated that Mark Brewer, Chair of the Michigan Democratic Party, along with Teamsters, UAW, AFSCME, AFL-CIO, MEA and the Michigan Federation of Teachers and many angry foot soldiers will do all they can to remind voters that “Dog Years” Snyder took a bite out of workers’ hides, single- handedly helping bring down the middle-class with this legislation.

The are even rumblings of a recall drive.

Two years from now, Snyder will have the power of incumbency and the gratitude, support and, yes- the checkbooks of national anti-union, big business support along with the Republican Party right-wing that was lukewarm at best about his first candidacy and not enamored, until now, with his first two years in office.

For their part, the Democrats are “mad as hell and not going to take it anymore.” In the last few days since the RTW vote, all my Republican friends are rejoicing and my Democratic friends are piping hot - steam shooting out their noses, ears, and tops of their heads. Hot and ready for battle!

Can they maintain their intensity and better yet, identify, recruit, and rally behind a Democratic challenger to fight against Gov. Snyder in 2014? Will they have a union card litmus test that when cut, “Solidarity Forever” screams from their veins?

The Dems and labor reportedly spent $25-30 million attempting to enshrine labor rights into the Michigan State constitution but the voters rejected their overture in the last election. What makes them think the voters will embrace them in 2014?

Who is in the Democratic stable they can ride to victory and make it payback time to send The Nerd packing?

Democrats are mad — will they remember come the next election?

Who are the likely Democratic candidates? Let the speculation - and it is just that - begin:

Debbie Stabenow - A great campaigner, U.S. Senator, supported by labor with experience serving at the local, state, and national levels. She would be a strong candidate and as an experienced and capable woman, she would be formidable. She would not have to give up her US Senate seat to run. I suspect while there will be great interest in her running she will decide to finish out her career in the world's most exclusive club — the U S Senate.

Gretchen Whitmer - The Democratic Senate Minority Leader has had a front row seat and been a thorn in the Republican side as the leader of the loyal opposition. A former prosecutor, strong, bright, and ambitious, she has earned support through her efforts to thwart the Republican agenda. She is, as they say in poker is "All In!"

Mark Schauer - A former member of Congress and the Michigan State Senate and House of Representative from the home of Tony the Tiger, Battle Creek, is a labor favorite that seems to has increased his visibility opposing RTW. He is now a development representative with the Michigan Laborers-Employers Cooperation & Education Trust. Speaking about RTW, U.S. Rep. Mark Schauer said, "This is a direct affront to organized labor and its members. It's a game-changer."

That it is. But is it his ticket to the governors office?

Mike Duggan - The retiring Detroit Medical Center CEO and former Wayne County Prosecutor and Deputy County Executive is tough as nails, a turnaround specialist who is in the Detroit mayoral race to stay. In my humble opinion, he will win. Yet, what if Detroit stumbles into bankruptcy and a judge or Emergency Financial Manager holds the reigns of power — would a can-do leader like Duggan want the ceremonial title of “Mayor” without the ability to effect change? Could he then pivot with a year’s head start and challenge Snyder? Things that make you say “hmmm?”

Dan Kildee - Congressman Kildee comes from the Flint area, a hotbed of union activism and is beloved by not only the rank and file, but labor leaders. He will be nudged to run, may bask in the weeks of speculation and likely settle in for a long career in Congress.

Gary Peters - The Congressman previously ran for Governor and Attorney General and would have the backing of labor and a strong south-east Michigan base to make the leap. He has military, business, and legislative background both in Lansing and Washington, DC and would make a strong run - if he decides to go.

Virg Bernero - The “angriest mayor” was trounced by Snyder in the Governor’s race in 2010. But as they say, “That was then - this is now.” The Mayor has experience successfully leading a city during difficult times, making tough decisions to balance his budget, and has local and state legislative experience as well. He stays put as mayor.

Geoffrey Fieger - A quick wit, fire-brand attorney based in south-east Michigan. Fieger is best known as the defense attorney for Jack Kevorkian and as the unsuccessful Democratic nominee for governor (beating the Labor backed candidate) of Michigan in 1998 and standing up for working people. I suspect he will toy with running for both Mayor of Detroit and Governor — but will stay put as a successful attorney.

Mark A. Hackel - Macomb County Executive Hackel is a born and raised Macomb guy who is thoughtful, capable who has worked his way up the political ladder beginning his career in the sheriffs office leaving as the elected, top law enforcement guy to become Macomb's first county executive. He would be a strong opponent if he decides to give it a go. I suspect that he ultimately will decided to adopt his counties slogan and "Make Macomb his home" waiting until 2018 for a shot at the guv's chair.

There are others which space does not allow me to throw into the speculation ring. I encourage you to do so in the comment section below.

If Snyder becomes a one-term Governor, who will the Democrats put up to take him on? Can and will he be beat in 2014? Inquiring minds want to know.

So let the speculation begin.

Tom Watkins has been a participant observer of Michigan's political scene for over 30 years, including acting as deputy campaign manager Governor Blanchard as well as his deputy chief of staff. He has served in top positions in state government including deputy chief of staff in the governors office, state superintendent and mental health director. He was an elected member of the Wayne County Charter Commission and is now a business and educational consultant in the US and China. He can be reached at: tdwatkins88gmail.com

That day Hammer and I drove a brand new Chevrolet Caprice Classic that had just come into the fleet. Unit 48 had less than 800 miles on it. We were told the engine in #48 was actually a Corvette engine. This car’s suspension was tight, it was fast and we could not have asked for a better police car in the late 1980’s.

We were used to Dodge Diplomats that were terrible in chases or any kind of high-speed driving. The problem with them was that if you tried to brake and steer—like making quick turns on city streets—the engine would stall. Those Diplomats stalled more frequently if the air conditioning was on.

Diplomat “death stalls” set an officer up for all kinds of excitement. First of all the power steering and brakes were lost. That made the car difficult to handle, but still controllable with two hands on the wheel—which meant dropping your radio microphone if you were alone.

Next as you shifted into neutral to restart the flamed-out rolling brick, you lost your emergency lights, siren and most importantly your police radio. A lot of information can be lost in a chase or responding to a crime in progress when the radio goes dead for 4-5 seconds—spelled E-T-E-R-N-I-T-Y — in an emergency response.

Lastly it takes a while to build up speed. In the meantime, the crook fleeing has turned another corner, which brings us back to the Diplomat’s Achilles’s Heel—again.

Chasing the stolen Lincoln, Hammer and I were flying about 90 miles an hour in our new Chevy on a gravel road with farmland on both sides. Up ahead I could see a stop sign. That worried me about the cross traffic. Thieves running from the police seldom slow at intersections and which cause tragedies in high-speed police chases.

When I saw that the stop sign was at a railroad crossing and not an intersection, I was glad and back on the accelerator, especially when I saw no trains coming from either direction. We were closing in on the Lincoln.

We were pretty close to the crossing. I was hard on the throttle when Hammer yelled, “WATCH OUT! THAT’S AN ELEVATED……..” If he got out “railroad crossing” to finish his sentence it was lost in the sights and sounds that froze time in the next instant.

Several things happened within split seconds of each other.

First the Lincoln hit the elevated railroad crossing and launched into the air. The car flew. From its new angle we could suddenly see the top of the roof as it continued to climb. It was an amazing sight and a snapshot that is still captured in my memory.

Then we hit the same launch ramp that the late Evil Knievel would have appreciated. Unit 48 was airborne—proving for those less than supportive of the police that for an instant “pigs” could fly.

Now all those old shows like The Dukes of Hazzard or action movies they make car-flying look pretty easy. That is not the case.

First of all when the wheels leave the ground and have no friction, the engine begins to over-rev. This I was used to from jumping wakes in the family speedboat—sorry dad. I took my foot off the gas. All time stood still and it seemed silent as we climbed to peak altitude. I was clutching the steering wheel while Hammer must have had a death grip on the passenger side spotlight handle and his seat or the dash.

Unit 48 kept soaring. It seemed like an eternity. I was willing the car down, because it was not near as much fun as it looked in the movies. The next day I cautioned the officers in briefing, “Remember, when your car is in midair, it does no good to pump your brakes.” I had not however touched the brakes while we were airborne.

In fact as I saw the stolen Lincoln land and apparently lock its brakes and crash HARD into large oak tree off the left shoulder, I made a quick mental note to disregard braking. The Lincoln had landed, locked the brakes, slid off the “crown”—the middle of a properly grated gravel road that promotes drainage to each side—hit some wet grass and piled into the tree.

When we landed, I actually hit the accelerator again until Unit 48 settled and then I eased on the brakes. I wound up backing to the crash site.

The Lincoln was destroyed. The only sheet metal that was not dented was the rear passenger side door. Even the trunk deck had come unlatched. One wheel cover rolled 150 feet down the road. The floor had buckled under the driver, so it was even with the top of the lower seat.

The Lincoln’s driver was a pro and had been seat-belted, otherwise he would have been dead. He was shaken up but got out of the car and tried to run before being tackled, shackled and transported downtown.

In retrospect and by today’s standards the chase was unsafe, but we caught the car thief that day. Unit 48 was fully examined by mechanics and there was not a scratch on it—that was my all time favorite police car!

Lock it up, don’t leave it unattended, be aware and watch out for your neighbors.

Rich Kinsey is a retired Ann Arbor police detective sergeant who now blogs about crime and safety for AnnArbor.com.

Here are our picks for Sunday's winner and loser from the news.

After an unknown man swept up $1,000 worth of Christmas decorations from Ann Arbor Hills, Burns Park and other neighborhoods, it left many residents wanting answers — which luckily, one of them was able to provide. The target who turned in the home surveillance video could lead to naming the thief who stole Christmas.

As an Ann Arbor institution since 1953, Krazy Jim's Blimpy Burger seems to belong on the corner of South Division and Monroe — and residents weren't happy to find out University of Michgian is planning to buy the building known as the home of slinging sliders. With many questions still lingering on what is to come of Krazy Jim's, moving the location of the building is sure to sadden the restaurant's legion of loyal customers.

People line up for late registration during The Big House Big Heart run in Ann Arbor in 2011.

Joseph Tobianski I AnnArbor.com

I had worked with many nonprofits which used small running events to raise funds for charitable purposes. Time and again I heard concerns about the resources required to produce even a small run, and the relatively modest payoffs for the charities. BHBH offered the opportunity to raise funds without the burden of actually producing a race. Others would do that for them. It’s not surprising how popular this event became among local charities.

What is surprising is the cancellation of this event — apparently based solely on the decision by the U-M Athletic Department to withdraw access to their stadium as the finishing line.

Some have compared athletic director Dave Brandon to Scrooge for this decision. I’ll reserve judgment on that. But if the analogy is apt, then, like Scrooge, he has taken away the trappings of Christmas. He has taken the tree.

But that is all he has done.

Dr. Seuss made a more important point. On Christmas morning the good people of WhoVille gathered around a tree that was no longer there. It was not the tree that caused Christmas to come - it was the hearts of the people.

I know many runners, and running event organizers. I know most of them to be good people, and I want to believe that Michigan Stadium means no more to them than that tree in the Seuss classic. Charities, runners, and the organizers at Champions For Charity would all do well to find another finish line to gather around. The enormous good this event generates in our community demands it.

If upon witnessing that, any hearts grow bigger on South State Street, then maybe someone will bring the tree back.

But if they don’t, Christmas will still have come. As a community, we can still make that happen, with or without the Big House.

Jeff Herron is the publisher of Outdoor Athlete Magazine.

A little secret around most police departments is the majority of road patrol officers do not like to take crime reports involving checks, credit cards, fraud, identity theft and now computer frauds. The cases are not as “sexy” as “street crimes” like robberies, burglaries, assaults, murders and the like.

Dave Gray

A fraud investigator must enjoy the cerebral challenge of catching criminals who are some of the brightest and most imaginative criminals the police deal with. Today a fraud investigator also has to be an expert with computers and not intimidated by writing search warrants to obtain information. They will need to obtain search warrants at every turn in the investigation in this age of privacy and civil litigation. Back in the day of the “old” Checks and Frauds Unit — which was absorbed during budget cuts causing reorganizations — the unit dealt mostly with checks.

The kindly sergeant of the unit was recognized throughout the state for his expertise in Checks and Fraud investigations. Everyone’s “Uncle Norm” is a large man and very serious when talking about crime, but has a great laugh and smile when joking around — which happens at almost every retiree breakfast.

Uncle Norm and his detectives, George and Dave, were very sharp guys and always made road patrol officers welcome in their office. They knew that patrol officers were intimidated by some of the cases, so the trio would offer to write the original police report in many cases — so they were properly done.

Uncle Norm’s detective wardrobe included a white plastic pocket protector containing almost every color pen that could be used to sign a check. These he would use to get handwriting exemplars from suspects who had forged checks.

This was back when checks actually were returned from the bank and they could be fingerprinted and the signatures forged on them could be compared to known samples by handwriting experts at the Michigan State Police Crime lab. Uncle Norm merely would ask the suspect for a sample of writing and he would make sure the pen used closely matched the pen used on the check.

Uncle Norm was an innovator and fiscally very responsible. For instance to protect the fingerprints and pen impressions on canceled checks he used clear plastic baby bottle liners, which fit the checks perfectly. The alternatives were expensive clear plastic check envelopes sold in crime laboratory supply catalogs.

Uncle Norm and crew kept all the checks from previous cases, filed in their baby bottle liners, in large files to be compared with future crimes. Armed with these files, their expertise and cunning — these guys locked up an impressive number of criminals.

Of the Checks and Fraud Unit, George was the most mild-mannered and quiet. Always friendly but soft-spoken, few knew that “still waters run deep.” George had been known as quite a street cop, being respected for his cool head and marksmanship in the street. George had been in several notable shooting incidents, before joining the “Bunco” squad.

A week or so ago the old Checks and Frauds Unit alumni lost their third musketeer. The most boisterous and gregarious of the group, (Retired) Detective Dave Gray, died on Nov. 23.

Dave really was someone special. Before becoming an Ann Arbor Police officer he had been a United States Marine. I have seen his official Marine Corps and early police department portrait, and both depicted a fierce looking young man you would not want to anger. That seemed to be the furthest from the Dave we at the police department all knew and loved.

Dave was a wonderful guy who always was quick with a joke, smiled a lot and whose head vigorously nodded up and down when he laughed — which he did often. Professionally at the police department he was known as an outstanding and unflappable dispatcher for the AAPD for many years and a solid detective.

I first became distantly connected with Officer Dave Gray when I was a kid listening to my police band radio. Officer Gray did not know me, but his niece gave my sister a copy of the coveted radio codes for the Ann Arbor Police Department. Armed with those codes I actually could decipher what was going on while I listened to the police calls.

Though I had never actually met him, I knew his voice when I later went to work at the police department. I guess you could say I was a fan from an early age.

Dave Gray was a genuinely nice guy. When an officer is new at a police department, his first wish is to just be accepted. Most officers treat you with a detached indifference until you have “made it” and are accepted as a peer. It can be tough on rookies, and you certainly remember those who are first kind to you. Dave Gray was one of those guys who stood out as a friendly face and a helping hand when I was new and throughout my career.

I had the honor and privilege to work with him from 1982 until 1992 when he retired. Dave was a dedicated police officer who loved people and loved “the job.” I was pleased when he “flunked retirement” and came back to the police department. For several years he was the guy in charge of gun registration, taxicab licensing and applicant fingerprinting. It was great to share a cup of coffee and laugh with him in the morning again.

To Jan and the rest of the Gray family I send my heartfelt condolences. Rest in peace my brother of the craft and the “blue gown.”

Lock it up, don’t leave it unattended, be aware and watch out for your neighbors.

Rich Kinsey is a retired Ann Arbor police detective sergeant who now blogs about crime and safety for AnnArbor.com.