Saints Be Praised!

Holy ethnic stereotypes, Batman! The Chief of Police is an Irishman! And so is everyone else in yesterday's puzzle. (Also, the guy who bought Central Park.)

Everybody in the following picture is named "O'Hara."



Panel 1 is Bob Wall, playing the scar-faced O'Hara who is Mr. Han's most evil henchman. (If he has a first name, I am not aware of it.) If you haven't seen "Enter the Dragon," you must immediately stop whatever you're doing and go watch it. You will be amazed.

Anyway, on Han's island, O'Hara is feared by all -- but Bruce Lee effortlessly takes him apart. In real life, Bob Wall was a bona fide karate champion, but he will always be best remembered for O'Hara's disgraceful treachery.

The pretty O'Hara is Maggie Lawson from the series "Psych." She plays Juliet O'Hara, the ace police detective who becomes Shawn Spencer's love interest. (Side question: How come "Shawn" is pronounced the same as "Sean"? Does Mr. Connery know that he could have chosen to spell his name the way it actually sounds? But I digress: today's topic is about the Irish, not the Scots.)

Panel 3 contains David Janssen in a still from the show "O'Hara: US Treasury." I'm sure most of you were thinking of "The Fugitive," which was the show he did that was actually good. But it wasn't his only starring role, just as "The Fugitive" movie was not the only thing that starred that other Irish fellow, O'Harrison Ford.

And of course, the fellow to the far right is that stalwart representative of Gotham City's Finest -- Chief O'Hara. I'm sure he performed many civic duties, and guided the police force with admirable leadership...but we hardly ever got to see him do anything other than utter Irish epithets while standing in the background while the Commissioner was on the BatPhone. Faith and Begorra!

The Heggy family connection to Chief O'Hara is admittedly an esoteric and tenuous one. The role was played by actor Stafford Repp...and my dad, Compton E. Heggy, was born and raised in the town of Stafford, Kansas. It is a small agricultural town about 100 miles west of Wichita, and is a site I was forced to involuntarily visit many times in my youth, usually on Memorial Day -- which always included a mandatory visit to the cemetery, a concept that baffled and perplexed my youthful mind. (Hey, if you don't want your energetic kids to disrespect the departed, then you shouldn't haul them off to a place that's full of nice "rocks" that are just the right height for climbing and jumping.)

Anyway, I'm sure Stafford is a swell place, but I can't think of a single reason to urge you to go there. But at least I've done my civic duty in that you now are aware that such a place exists. But if you want a worthwhile tourist experience in Kansas, go see the World's Largest Prairie Dog, near the town of Oakley. Or perhaps the Big Well in Greensburg. Or Terry Heggy's birthplace in Hutchinson.

Or on second thought, maybe you should just take a trip to pretty much anywhere in Colorado. Enjoy your travels, and have a great day!