The funeral

Funerals for police officers are an amazing thing to witness. I'm just glad that we haven't witnessed them more often recently, at least in the Twin Cities.

A phalanx of more than 1,000 squad cars from the Twin Cities to little towns such as Gaylord, Minn., to Eau Claire and Rice Lake, Wis., joined the funeral procession; it took two hours for all of them to snake the 8 miles to St. Mary's Cemetery in North St. Paul for the graveyard service. . .

Addison Stonewall of the Clinton County (Ohio) Sheriff's Office said he drove the 750 miles to St. Paul after getting a call from his twin brother, St. Paul officer Monte Stonewall.

"They got one of the good ones," Monte Stonewall told his brother.

Addison Stonewall filed for vacation and joined the swell of police, firefighters and others paying their respects. After the funeral, he said it was easily the largest show of support he had seen.

"When one of these guys gets hit or cut down, they bleed blue," Stonewall said. "I think their department would show mine the same support if the same thing happened to us."

It is unfortunate that it takes a tragedy like this for most of us to be reminded of the incredibly difficult jobs that cops face every day.