There are no words to describe how valuable dogs are to people. From being the perfect pets and the most loyal friends one could ask for, to helping people with disabilities with their everyday tasks and working hard as police officers and helping fight crime, dogs are awesome creatures we can’t imagine our lives without.
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Recently, a one-year-old Bloodhound named Fred, who works as a K9, helped track an abducted girl. Kinzleigh Reeder, 6, has been abducted by her father on May 26 and was nowhere to be found until Fred got involved in the search. Thanks to his incredible sense of smell, the girl and her father were located in an outbuilding.
Before he started his search, Fred was given a piece of clothing which belonged to the father to sniff.
“They traveled to the home and released Fred who followed a foot path from the home to a burn pile, a truck and an outbuilding,” the sheriff’s office wrote on Facebook. “He sniffed the door and door knob, then sat down indicating he found the father.”
The door was locked and the police forced an entry. Both the father and the girl were found inside the place.
“We made entry into the building and discovered the suspect and child in the back of the shed behind blankets that were hanging from a makeshift clothesline,” Sgt. James Holloway said.
Facebook/Nick Beres NC5
The father, Nicholas Reeder, was arrested and take into custody. He was charged with child abuse and neglect while sweet Kinzleigh was turned over to DeKalbCounty deputies.
She was glad she was saved and gave Fred a huge hug after he licked her face. “I praised him and loved on him,” deputy Tidwell said. “I pulled the chicken reward out of my pocket. He ate the chicken and wanted to meet other people as if to say, ‘Look what I’ve done.’”
Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office must be proud and happy for having a K9 like Fred in their team. Well done, Fred, and thank you for your service.
The Swedish group ABBA is until this day considered one of the most famous groups in the world. Most of their hits are iconic and even those who were born years after the members of the group split know their songs and dance to them.
One of the members, Agnetha Faltskog, the beautiful blonde who captured millions of hearts is now leading a quiet life living on an island in Sweden and spending time with her grandchildren who are still too young to understand how popular their grandmother was back in the day.
Credit: Wikipedia Commons
Agnetha was born in the Swedish city of Jönköping on April 5, 1950. She showed interest in music from very early age and everyone knew she was destined to become a star. When she was five years old, Agnetha wrote her first song and would often go to her neighbor’s place to play the piano. Her parents decided to pay for piano lessons when she was eight because they could see just how much their daughter was interested in the instrument and singing.
During her teenage years, Agnetha formed her first band together with two of her friends, The Cambers. They had gigs around Sweden but Agnetha then moved on and became part of the band Bernt Enghardt. They toured around the country while Agnetha worked as a telephonist for a car company. However, she felt exhausted most of the time and even passed out while on the job one day so her mother told her: “Either you work as a normal person or you dedicate fully to singing,” according to SwergiesRadio. Agnetha chose her singing career and the rest is history.
Credit: Wikipedia Commons
At the age of 17, Agnetha had her first single, Jag var så kär [I Was So In Love], which reached No.1 on the Swedish sales chart, and she rose to popularity in her home country almost overnight.
It was then that she caught the attention of Björn Ulvaeus, who would later become her husband. “I remember hearing Agnetha’s first single on the radio. There was something so special about her voice and the fact that she had written that song herself – it was magic,” Benny said in the BBC documentary Agnetha: Abba and After.
Credit: Wikipedia Commons
The group only became complete when Benny Anderson fell in love with Anni-Frid Lyngstad. In 1972, the four released the song People Need Love and performed under the name Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid. However, it all changed for them when they decided to take part in Melodifestivalen, the Swedish qualification competition for the Eurovision Song Contest. They finished third that year, and Agnetha recalled how she was sort of relieved they didn’t win because she was heavily pregnant with her and Björn first child at the time.
The following year, 1974, the group competed once again and won the Eurovision contest with the everlasting hit Waterloo after which the ABBA hysteria took the entire world. They released hit after hit, including Dancing Queen, The Winner Takes It All,Money, Money, Money, Fernando, Mamma Mia and a lot more.
“I managed to combine marriage, giving birth, divorce and a world-wide success during the 10-12 years we were doing ABBA,” Agnetha told SvergiesRadio. “It wasn’t easy, I can tell you that. It wasn’t easy leaving home, especially since dad [Bjorn] was away as well. We left our children but we made sure that they were being taken care off.
“We weren’t away as much as one might think. If we were away for 14 days, we decided that we’d be home for 14 days as well,” she said.
Credit: Wikipedia Commons
The song The Winner Takes it All was written about Agnetha and Björn divorce and according to her that is why she delivered it with so much emotion. “Bjorn and I have dealt with the heartbreak,” she told Daily Mail. “It’s amicable. In love there are so many ups and downs but I remain optimistic. I haven’t closed any doors.”
ABBA split up shortly after the divorce of Benny and Frida. The group has sold millions of records and has also been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for their incredible impact in the music industry.
After her solo career, Agnetha decided to get out of the spotlight. Her estimated net worth is around $20 million. She’s 71 years old but looks as stunning as ever.
We’ve seen him grow from a young boy of 10 years to a man of 20 something right before our eyes and loved his character on one of the most popular TV shows in the history of film.
Angus T. Jones was offered the role of Jake Harper in Two and a Half Men when he was pretty young. His vibrant personality and wit, along with his beyond cute face was more than enough for the producers of the show to pick him up. Back in the day, he said, ”It was great not having to have the anticipation of a phone call.”
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On the series, he portrayed the son of divorcee Jon, played by Jon Cryer, and the nephew of his womanizer uncle who led hedonistic and carefree life, Charlie, played by Charlie Sheen.
People fell in love with Angus from the very first episode of the hit show and he became a celebrity overnight with millions of fans. Each of the episode was watched by whooping 15 million viewers. Receiving $300,000 per episode, Angus made history as the highest-paid child actor ever.
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Before playing the “half men,” Angus was part of commercials, with his first at the age of four, and was part of a number of movies, including Simpatico, See Spot Run, The Rookie, Bringing Down the House, George of the Jungle 2.
However, over the course of the ten years on the show that was his huge breakthrough, Angus had it enough from Hollywood. His character developed in a way not many expected, with Jake Harper turning into a teen who smoked marijuana and wasn’t interested in studying.
So, Angus left the show and some time after, he said he regretted being part of it. One of the reasons was him joining the Seventh-day Adventist church, a Protestant Christian church known for its conservative principles and lifestyle which were quite opposite of what the Two and the Half Men gave its audience.
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“If you watch Two and a Half Men, please stop watching Two and a Half Men. I’m on Two and a Half Men, and I don’t want to be,” Angus said in an interview for The Forerunner with Seventh-Day Adventist filmmaker Christopher Hudson.
“People say it’s just entertainment,” the actor continued. “Do some research on the effects of television in your brain and I promise you, you’ll have a decision to make when it comes to … what you watch on television. It’s bad news. You cannot be a true God-fearing person and be on a television show like that.”
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In 2014, when he officially left the show, Angus spoke to KHOU and said, ”It was difficult for me to be on the show and be part of something that was making light of topics in our world where there are really problems for a lot of people.” He then added, ”I was a paid hypocrite because I wasn’t OK with it and I was still doing it.”
Later, however, he understood his words were offensive for the show’s producer, Chuck Lorre, and although he kept his opinion regarding the series, he still felt he should apologize to Lorre.
”That’s his like baby and I just totally insulted his baby and to that degree I am apologetic but otherwise I don’t regret saying what I said,” Angus said.
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After the show, Angus has kept a low profile and attended college where he studied religion, saying the life away from the Hollywood glam was exactly what he needed.
Today, the 27-year-old actor looks completely unrecognizable. He has a long hair and a beard and posts confusing and often difficult to interpret messages on his Instagram profile.
Angus T Jones / Instagram
No matter what he chooses to do in life, we are glad Angus was part of one of the best TV shows ever and treated us with laughter each time.
Life is unpredictable. One day you are down and the next you on the top of the world. Sometimes, however, it goes the other way around and your success is shadowed by something and you find yourself at the bottom. What is good to know is that things change, and no matter the obstacles, there is always a way out.
Marion Fleming, or Mimi Swift as everyone knows her, was a young girl from Scotland who spent her entire childhood going from one orphanage to another. She was convinced her rough start in life would follow her in the years to come, but then, her luck changed.
Wikipedia Commons / Alan Light
This then 13-year-old girl was spotted by one of the most famous singing couples, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. They were on a tour in the UK when they visited the orphanage run by the Church of Scotland where Mimi was residing. During the visit, Mimi was chosen to greet them with a song, “Won’t You Buy My Pretty Flowers?”
That encounter was serendipitous.
Just two weeks after their meeting, Mimi was on the plane to California. Rogers and Evans adopted her after they received a legal custody of her.
Wikipedia Commons / Joseph Kane
This is just one example of the couple’s incredible human qualities. Many said over the years that Rogers wasn’t just a singer and the king of cowboys and western movies, but an extraordinary man who made a change in many people’s lives. He and Evans adopted four children and had a child on their own, Robin, who had Down Syndrome and died before her second birthday.
Speaking of her adoptive parents, Mimi says how they always encouraged her to stay in touch with her biological mom and dad and her family in Scotland. They never wanted her to cut ties with her relatives.
She also spoke of the life with the celebrity couple and described them as amazing human beings. “When we were in the house we were just a family, they were not Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, they were mum and dad,” she says.
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Roy and Dale lived a happy life together and had a huge impact on many people’s lives. They will always be remembered as humanitarians and incredible talents.
Deep down, every man wishes to have a daughter, because the truth is that the relationship between dads and their little girls is like no other.
Cayleigh Hinton is a five-year-old girl who lost her daddy. She loved him to the moon and back. He was her hero and her guardian, and now he can protect her from Heaven.
Source: Facebook/ Illinois National Guard
Illinois National Guard Sergeant Terrence Hinton lost his life during a military training exercise, leaving Cayleigh and her mom behind. He served in Afghanistan and his little girl was very proud of him for his commitment and his bravery.
When the time came for Cayleigh to attend the father-daughter dance at school, she was heartbroken. She missed her dad unconditionally, but then someone special came along the way and made her day a bit brighter.
First Sgt. Joseph Bierbrodt was there to escort Cayleigh to the dance. A group of officers and firefighters were waiting for them to arrive at the school and gave the sweet girl flowers. They wanted to make sure she knew they were there for her whenever she needed them because when her dad died, they lost a friend and a companion.
Source: Facebook/ Illinois National Guard
It was a bittersweet moment, but definitely one that Cayleigh will remember for a very long time.
You can take a look at the two dancing in the video below. So touching!
A year has passed since Sergeant Sivad Johnson, 46, lost his life in an attempt to save three girls from drowning, and we still remember and honor his heroic act.
It was late August of 2020 when this off-duty firefighter was taking a trip to Belle Isle with his 10-year-old daughter. At one moment, they noticed three girls struggling to stay afloat and signaling for help. Johnson and another man jumped into Detroit River and managed to rescue one of the girls. The other two were saved by a nearby boat.
Crowd gathered around the girls to make sure they were okay, but then, Johnson’s daughter noticed her father wasn’t there. In all the chaos, he went missing.
Sgt. Sivad Johnson, 49, a 26-year veteran of the Detroit Fire Department, died while trying to rescue 3 young girls from drowning. They were later safely brought ashore. https://t.co/LGF47ENOAq
A search was initiated right away. Many people were involved in searching for Johnson, and that included officers, firefighters, and divers. Everyone was praying for a positive outcome. Unfortunately, Michigan state police later confirmed that Johnson drowned.
As reported by The New York Times, Johnson was part of the Detroit Fire Department for over 26 years.
He was a family man loved by many. “His friends, his colleagues, the people who worked for him said he was a mentor, he was a teacher. Many said he made their careers,” Deputy fire commissioner Dave Fornell said.
A huge number of firefighters gathered to salute their brave co-worker as his body was brought to Detroit Receiving Hospital.
“I would say there was not a dry eye in the house,” he said. “I’ve never seen as many firefighters as emotional as this. He was almost bigger than life. He just moved a lot of people.”
HERO! Our thoughts and prayers are with the family, friends and colleagues of @DetroitFire Sgt Sivad Johnson who, while off-duty, drowned saving three young girls. “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” – John 15:13 – RIP Sir pic.twitter.com/oTplWGCU1v
One of Johnson’s friends started a GoFundMe page to help the family during the time of grief. The void Johnson left in everyone’s heart is huge and the pain is immense, and their only consolation is that he died a hero. May he rest in peace!
The killing of the 13 American soldiers in the bombing attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, last month, broke the heart of every true American. Deep down, we all feel the urge to have our share in honoring these brave people the best we can. One thing we can all do is to never forget that they lost their lives for this country.
Stephen Wing from Gilford, New Hampshire, the founder of Wings Custom Carvings, is honoring these heroes in his own way, by carving hand-made statues out of wood.
He shared his intention on his business’ Facebook page and asked from the public to help him get in touch with the families of the fallen troopers. “Let’s see if This works,” he posted on August 28. “I am trying to reach out to the families of our most recent tragedy in Afghanistan. I would like to donate one of these carvings to all the thirteen family’s for our fallen soldiers It’s a long shot but share away please.”
Soon after, his post went viral and he gathered information on where to send the memorial pieces.
“I wanted to say thank you to everyone across the United States of America for coming together to try and make this happen for the families of our 13 most recent Fallen Soldiers,” he posted. “With out your help this would have been nearly impossible but I’m great full to announce out of the 13 families we are going to be able to get there battle cross to the following.”
People from all over the country got in touch with Stephen and asked him to help with the shipping costs. He asked everyone who was willing to contribute to contact him.
“Now a lot of people are asking how to donate for shipping cost and to be honest I don’t even know yet have to price it all out Tuesday,” he shared on Sunday. “So if you would like to help you can contact me.
“If there is money left over from the donations to ship it will be divided between all of the families evenly. This is to help the families and let them know we stand with them and also grieve with them. Thanks for all of your help in this. Couldn’t have done it with out all of you.”
We truly hope these carvings will stand as reminders of everything the soldiers did for our country and its people.
Our hearts go out to the grieving families of the heroes.
The first day of school is supposed to be an exciting experience. For many students, however, it is also a scary one because of all the new things they are about to discover and all those new people they are about to meet.
As most of the parents of preschoolers and first graders can’t wait for their little ones to start a new chapter in their life, one mom named Brittany Denison had her concerns for her son’s first day of kindergarten.
Her boy, 5-year-old Michael Murphey is born with a condition known as Treacher Collins syndrome characterized by distinctive abnormalities of the head and face. It affects people’s breathing, hearing, and eating, but it doesn’t in any way affect their mental capabilities. Speaking of Michael, Brittany says he’s very clever, maybe even more clever than most children his age.
As Michael was getting ready to start kindergarten, Brittany decided to share a plea on Facebook. She started her post with a quote from the 2017 movie Wonder; “Dear God, please make them be nice to him.”
She asked parents to teach their kids to be accepting and kind towards those that are somehow different. Instead of using words as “weird or scary,” she asked them to teach their little ones to use words such “different and unique.”
However, little did she know that her message would reach to so many people.
On August 16, as Michael was about to leave his home and embark on the adventure called kindergarten, a group of special people who had gathered in front of his house were waiting to make his day one of the most memorable ones.
Police officers and fire fighters were there to accompany Michael to schools. But they weren’t alone. Inside the huge fire truck, there were two of Michael’s favorite superheroes, Batman and Captain America.
Michael was overwhelmed and couldn’t hide his excitement. He and his sister Alison climbed into the fire truck and got to sound the sirens.
The moment they got to Mountain Peak Elementary, the principal and a group of teachers and students were waiting to greet the firefighters and the officers. As the superheroes were giving high-fives to the kids, Michael’s teacher, Mrs. Pearson, welcomed him with a hug.
“Then we walked him inside and I wiped a few tears from my eyes before dropping him off with his classmates,” Brittany wrote on Facebook. She was extremely thankful to everyone involved in making her son’s day the best ever.
Midlothian firefighter Andrew Gatlind was the one who stumbled upon Brittany’s post and organized everything after he shared his plans with Fire Chief Dale McCaskill who contacted the family.
“You don’t know what everyone’s going through,” he told NBC5. “So if you see somebody struggling, or if you see an opportunity to step in and be that hero for somebody, do it. You never know whose life you’re gonna touch or change.”
