I was a young detective and Jim Caygill was the president of the Patrolman's Union at the time. It was shortly after Miscannon was executed and the street cops were taking a real lickin' - both on the street and in the morale department - not to mention that the higher-ups and the administration were on us all the time.

 

I was in the hallway of 212 on the 2nd floor of the Safety Building, when Caygill approached me and asked if I could come up with a Newspaper for the Patrolman. Hmmmm, I thought. Having worked moonlighting for an advertising agency as an artist, I thought alright, maybe I can. I told Jim I would look into it.

 

The first thing I had to look into was how to physically produce a newspaper, then how to pay for it. I found several volunteers to help and then went to a Union Printer in Toledo, Paryski Printing.

 

My job was to start and run the paper as the founding Editor and told Caygill I would run the paper for 1 year and turn it over to someone else. The paper took off and was a real hit on the streets. I decided to throw a big Entertainment Show at the Masonic Temple for the citizens of Toledo. It was a way to show our appreciation also. We called on an old time Vaudeville entertainer named "Cab Calloway" and others. We filled the house and it went over great.

 

Well I have to tell ya, I was Cub Scout Pack Leader, playing in a Band from time to time, and working a lot of hours in 212. I didn't last the whole year. It was way too draining on me and my young family.

 

Just a side note; I wanted to name the paper "The Shield", but LOF also at that time had an internal company employee paper called "the Shield". It was just a small single fold monthly flyer. I had a meeting the president of LOF and he gave me permission to use the same name. I also used Miscannon's Badge for the cover page logo.