Hidden History Badges

While cataloging my Milwaukee County badges I rediscovered my county park workers badges. Then I remembered that all badges have a hidden history. In my case I worked five summers for the parks during my college years and wore badges like these on my belt loop. One year I was a pawn between two feuding supervisors and became a human tennis ball. However, one of my two most memorable events was when a young girl lost control of her bike going down a long hill and crashed into a tree. I was the youngest of the crew so I ran two blocks to the nearest phone to call the ambulance. The second event was the fire in the girls rest room. When I took over the second shift I was warned that the kids might barricade themselves in the girls room at closing time. They did that by sitting on the floor with their backs against the wall and their feet against the door. My turn came one afternoon when five or six of them crowded into the room and start lighting cigarettes while one of the group was pouring a small bottle of rubbing alcohol into the sink. Next door in the pool filter room I heard the screams of fire and grabbed the extinguisher. The kids were in the far corner of the room and the burning alcohol was on floor between them and the only exit. Alcohol burns without a visable flame and gives off jet black smoke so it was easy to find the base of the fire and put it out before the smoke got too bad. After the fire was out the floor was too slippery to walk on but those kids were gone in a flash! No one got more than slight burns and singed hair. After filing a report with the fire department the county removed the doors as I had requested.