Blue Christmas - Photo Essay From Memorial Site Where Four Lakewood Police Officers Were Killed While Their Caskets Arrived at Tacoma Dome Memorial Service

There have been many "Walter Cronkite" moments as Seattle's media covers this.

I heard a KIRO radio host start to tear up and need to go to commercial.

I think there are times when it's OK for journalists to get emotional, share their sensitivities and even cry.

As I watched the service, I decided to drive four miles away to the Memorial Site and show you what was going on as the fallen officers' memorial service began by taking their caskets into the Tacoma Dome. One lady at the site announced that her son had texted her from one of the remote viewing sites that they were being taken inside.

Chaplain Benthien provided comfort to everyone, even just by his presence.

Yes, I wanted to take pictures for you but also wanted to pay my respects. The first time I saw the crime scene, we were driving back from celebrating my 55th birthday in Reno.

The officers were killed on my 55th birthday.

It seems that significant things happen on significant birthdays.

On my 21st birthday, I found a little dog in a ditch after he'd been hit by a car. His neck was broken but I carefully got him in a blanket and took him home. Instead of getting wildly drunk, I took care of this dying dog until it became clear that he needed to be euthanized.

This was a tough birthday for me. I feel like a 16 year old in a 55 year old body. I deny it when the doctor lists out where I have arthritis. I have issues that demand my constant attention, else I fall into disease.

Or worse.

It seems that my ADD is getting worse, too. Kind of like things are speeding up. My brain is like a hamster running in a wheel at the speed of a centrifuge. Or like a frog in a blender but the frog lives.

Coffee helps alot.

I drink tons of it.

My husband got me the best present; a glass vacuum coffee pot.

I got my first one for my 16th birthday.

I got kicked out when I was 16.

I grew up in Seattle's University District in the 60's and lived to tell about it.

Back to this photo essay and why I do what I do.

I am biased.

Way biased.

I hate corruption.

Hate it.

Especially when you do it to your own.

I spent my 50th birthday on Guam writing an editorial about "Anti-Corruption Day."

It was pretty frigging corrupt over there.

It soon became the basis for a legislative resolution.

Then I began covering the case of Guam's first elected Attorney General after his two ex-wives accused him of domestic abuse.

His enemies wanted to get him disbarred.

I was working as a copy editor for the Marianas Variety so I read the coverage.

Something told me things weren't right.

My journalistic antennae started going off as I know men who are also the victims of domestic abuse.

Turns out that the AG was acquitted after showing pictures of him with bruises, cuts and otherwise beaten.

The corrupt will go to any length to protect their activities. I've seen it first hand as I've investigated nonprofit transparency, accountability, and disclosure for nine years now.

When Dan Herbeck of the Buffalo News began reporting how three Jesters were caught in a FBI human trafficking sting, we learned that they included a former State Supreme, his law clerk and a retired police captain.

A Jester subscription list includes the name of the head of one state's sentencing commission. He's also the deputy director of that state's law enforcement commission. I sent him an email a while ago for his reaction to the news about the Jesters and prostitution but he's not answered yet.

I really want to know if he's having the Jesters in his state investigated or if he’s cooperating with any possible investigations.

Or is he protecting and/or participating in what appears to be organized crime?

On this day, we honor those who protect and serve; those who have fallen while serving.

If you are an investigator or law enforcement type who suffers from a conflict of allegiance, deal with it.

Quit hiding behind burned and crippled children so you can party with prostitutes at tax payer expense.

Do the right thing.

Honor your fallen brothers and sisters because being a dirty cop or other corrupt dishonors, betrays and endangers us all.

Thank you,

Sandy