We missed the bad weather last night but to start the day off, a line of heavy thunderstorms came through the area about 4:00 am. There were no tornadoes, hail or high winds, just a lot of thunder and lightning and heavy rain. Everything was cleared out by 8:00 am, and the sun came out and the humidity was down (a little).
Brian, although on duty today, was able to arrange a tour for us of the Lincoln Police Department headquarters this morning. It was a great tour and we met a lot of outstanding people, including the police chief, who are truly dedicated to their profession and keeping the people of Lincoln safe. You could tell, even in our short exposure to them, this is an outstanding organization full of highly skilled professionals. We were impressed.
After lunch, the grandkids, Megan, Cole and Isabelle came over to the RV park and went swimming in in the RV park pool with Karin and Nick. Then we all got ready to go out to dinner before the awards ceremony this evening at a nearby hotel.
We had a great dinner at Hopcat, a restaurant in the Haymarket area of downtown Lincoln. It a casual restaurant, with 300 different beers on tap. The Haymarket is a revitalized downtown hotel, restaurant, shopping and entertainment area near the University sports complexes and auditorium. The area has now become a lively part of Lincoln and a nice place to visit.
The awards ceremony this evening was also the induction and swearing-in of 11 new police officers who just graduated from the Lincoln PD academy. They appeared to be an outstanding group of men and women who will be a fine addition to their police force. They were all individually recognized for their achievements during training, had their badges pinned on by their training officers and were administered their oath by a city official. A film was then shown of what they went through during their training that was both humorous and entertaining. Their next step is a period of field training with specialized officers before they are cleared for unsupervised duty.
The next part of the program was the presentation of awards to police officers and department employees for a variety of achievements during the past year. Brian led off the awards with his recognition as Police Officer of the Year for the department. They read his award citation, gave him a plaque and a commemorative coin recognizing his achievements. Other awards were also given out to officers, civilian employees, and citizens for categories such as Exceptional Duty, Life Saving, Civic Achievement and Outside Law Enforcement Agency Cooperation. It was a great event that recognized the achievements of an outstanding cooperative public safety operation in Lincoln.
Karin and Nick are leaving tomorrow afternoon from Omaha for their flight home. We will be having lunch with them and the grandkids before they leave. Brian and April are working today but Judy and I are going over to their house for dinner this evening.
We are leaving Friday morning for our trip home via Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, weather permitting. Between severe Midwest early summer thunderstorm weather and potential snow in the mountains, we cannot be sure of what to expect, so we will be careful and adjust our itinerary as needed.
No comments:
Post a Comment