One Of The Last Saves of 2022

An impressive fast response and rescue by Grand Rapids' newly operational  Fire Department Dive Team saves a life on December 31, 2022:

The Detroit News: Divers rescue driver trapped inside submerged car in Grand Rapids river

Divers with the Grand Rapids Fire Department's water rescue team rescued a person trapped inside a submerged car in the Grand River Saturday morning.

They were informed about a car in the Grand River at 10:59 a.m. and responded to the scene by 11:02 a.m. The vehicle had reportedly jumped a snowbank behind a hotel on the 200 block of Ann Street, according to a news release. The initial 911 caller reported that the car was overturned about 150 feet from the shore.

Most of the time when a car goes in the water in Michigan in December, it is a recovery and not a rescue. Here the driver got very lucky indeed.

Great response time and recovery effort by the dive team. Nice to have some good news to wrap up the year.

Even As Macomb County Exec, Hackel Still Catches The Bad Guys

Former Sheriff of Macomb County, and now Macomb County Executive, Mark Hackel still knows how to catch stupid criminals.

The Detroit Free Press: Macomb County exec Mark Hackel chases hit-run pickup, collars drunk

Darn nice job on his part to follow and catch a very drunk driver and hold him for police.

Hackel is pretty much the one Democrat in this state I could happily vote for and support if he ran for Governor of Michigan or another post and know he'd do a darn good job of it. The man is experienced, has character, is darn capable, and is not corrupt.

Unfortunately for his electoral chances for state-wide office, he tends to be very centrist, economically fiscally responsible, and pro law and order, and is thus probably not Democrat enough to catch on with most of the state's Democrat electorate.

That's a darn shame for the State of Michigan, but it is good for Macomb County for him to be in the executive seat.

Camera takes an Epic Underwater Trip

From being lost off Aruba it turns up in the Florida Keys, over 1000 miles away: The Detroit news: The odyssey: Camera survives ocean trip to Fla.

Paul Shultz was walking along the pier of a Key West marina when he saw what looked like a rotting tomato pounding against the rocks.

The Coast Guard investigator waded ankle-deep into the water to fish out the ocean rubbish: a bright red Nikon camera, small enough to fit in the palm of his hand. Its waterproof plastic case was covered with six months' worth of crusty sea growth, but the camera itself was almost pristine when he found it May 16.

However, clues to tracking down its owner were few. So Shultz decided to test his investigative skills.

And he definetly has such skills in abundance - he tracked the camera to its owner and is shipping it back to Aruba.

"I have a smile on my face ... I can't stop laughing about it," Dick de Bruin said in a phone interview from Aruba. "It's really big news (on the island) and in Europe."

De Bruin, a sergeant in the Royal Dutch Navy, has been stationed with his family in Aruba for three years. The camera floated away from de Bruin while he and a dive team were salvaging an anchor from the USS Powell for a World War II memorial. The American ship protected Aruba, a major oil producer, from German forces during the war.

"There's a big connection between America and Aruba ... first with the anchor, and now the camera brings us together again," de Bruin said.

Very cool and kudos to Paul Schultz for tacking the camera back to its original owner and sending it to him, not to mention giving us one heck of a cool story and a new appreciation of ocean currents.