My sister, Sister Brigid (AKA Helen), came to town for a visit in June, celebrating her 80th birthday.  She is retiring from the staff of Bishop Reicher High School in Waco, TX, following 60 years as a dedicated educator in Missouri, California, Louisiana, Alabama and Texas.  I was pleasantly surprised to have cousins Erin, Jan, Steve and Aunt Fern show up from St. Louis, Missouri and from Bloomington, Illinois for breakfast with Brigid, on the morning of her arrival.  We were all off to dinner that evening, and then we surprised her with a large family gathering the next day.

I had to beg off attending an Emerald Society annual event at Muldoon's in Newport Beach and, while I was able to attend the May Highland games event, also in Newport Beach; I was unable to attend the Irish fair on Father's Day (my sister's arrival taking precedent).  Since many friends attend all three Emerald society affairs and since I had sent an unacknowledged e-mail, offering limited help for the Father’s Day event; it must have been the usual really good time, albeit without me.  I hate to break with tradition like that, but it’s sometimes unavoidable.

I had a conversation, one of many, while reminiscing with my sister Brigid and family, during which I commented, facetiously, that I should be grateful to law breakers for justifying my long career in law enforcement.  Ironically, the very next morning I ran across this following quote from Kahlil Gibran that seemed to justify that thinking:

"I have learned silence from the talkative,
tolerance from the intolerant,
and kindness from the unkind.
yet, strange, I am ungrateful to these teachers".

I had striven for that illusive quality, good judgment, indispensable to good aw enforcement.  And, in that I have recommended vegetable gardening to my friends, family and especially fellow retired cops;  I was surprised recently to pick up this following bit of news, that seems to illustrate how enforcement of law, absent good judgment, might so easily go astray:

Unlawful Carrot Growing

“Growing carrots in your front yard shouldn't be a crime. But when Julie Bass of Oak Park, MI decided to try, she was charged with a possible 93 days in jail”.

Stand up for neighborhood gardens!»

”Bass set up her garden in the hope that she and her family could eat organic without having to buy from expensive grocery stores. The garden became a community favorite as Bass encouraged neighborhood children to help her maintain the garden and eat from it”.

”According to the City of Oak Park, however, Bass's contribution to her local environment is a misdemeanor offense worthy of jail time”.

On her blog, "Oak Park Hates Veggies," Julie Bass writes:

”I think people should have a right to grow food. I think people need to take more responsibility for the choices they make…I think governments, large or small, should not be allowed to ride roughshod over their citizens”.