European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 19, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Up with the image of dangerous dads by James Derk Evansville ind courier i watched As my son carefully rubbed his Little thumb into the Ink pad and an Evansville ind., police officer placed its imprint on a Little card. Wed gotten through half of his fingers before he asked. A what we doing daddy  a we re getting Little pictures of your fingers on this card Here a i said. A a How come daddy a i looked at the police officer for help. How do you Tell a 2ycar-old boy the reason we want his fingerprints on file is in Case god forbid he finds himself in the hands of some Lunatic someday and he needs to be identified  it a just like fingerprinting Bubba a i lied. He has plenty of time to learn about lunatics i guess. Now its time to go hug baby and baby Bop for the 19th time at kids fast �?T94. He shrugged and ran off with dad close behind. Some part of the wonderful part of being a dad ends when your kid has his fingerprints on file someplace. Actually it ended for me a few weeks before that. We were at Wesselman Park a wonderful playground on one of the first Spring like Days. My son went scampering off onto the playground equipment and i sat Down on a Bench to watch. A few moments later a Little girl about 3 walked Over and tried to reach the drinking Fountain. I waited a Little while and when no Parent showed up i stood up and boosted the Little girl to the Fountain. She slurped a Little smiled and ran off. Seconds later i got  stare of death a from her mom who then lectured the girl about a going near  it made me think of a few months earlier when i was in a target store and my son was watching the musical Mickey mouse Christmas ornaments on display. After a while it became Clear daddy Wasny to going to Shell out a Hundred Bucks for musical mickeys and my son began to cry. I stood about 6 feet away and tried to ignore his Tantrum until he settled Down. Soon an older woman began to talk to him asking if he was lost. I walked Over and picked him up which made him cry All the More. When you pick up a Little kid it generally Means to him that he is leaving that location and Mickey Wasny to coming with him that brought an accusation from the woman. A is he yours a my affirmative answer Wasny to Good enough. A is that your daddy Quot she asked my son. Half of me wanted to thank her for looking out for his welfare. Half of me wanted to deck her for assuming any Man carrying a Small child has to be a predator. If a woman had picked up a crying Little boy in a target or lifted a toddler to reach the drinking Fountain would anyone look twice i saw a Story on the wire the other Day about a Man who is suing a police department in the Northeast. Seems he wanted to show his 3-year-old City born son the country so he parked his car Oil the Side of a Road and disappeared into the Woods with his boy. A few minutes later As he was explaining How leaves turn Brown he turned to find a sheriffs Deputy pointing a 9 my handgun at him demanding what he was doing in the Woods with a Little boy. No. Its not easy being a �?T90s daddy sometimes. Scripps Howard nows Sorvick b a w a Quot t v \ . A. Marten Hamilton Eric Parrish with Suzannah and Leigh Anne says a once you get the child care its not bad at All  colourful family of girls dolls and dad i hey were discussing what color barbies dress should be in the colouring Book. Dad thought dark Blue would be a Good color. Daughter agreed Only if the accents could be Bright red. They settled on both colors and everybody was Happy. Such simple family politics. And yet if an election were held in this doll setting the Winner of  world a greatest dad would be Navy Petty officer 1st class Eric Parrish. His write in voters col orcs Are Suzannah 7, and Leigh Anne 3. Parrish 35 and divorced has had custody of his two daughters for almost two years. He has been stationed in Naples Italy for Ivi of those years. Parrish said the move to full time parenting went fairly smoothly. A it Wasny to bad a he said a it happened about three months before i had to Transfer to Naples so it was relatively easy. I just took some leave and the ship was real accommodating. They said a Well you re Short anyhow a so they took me off the watch Bill guard duty roster. I just had to show up for work and i had a baby Sitter for the  once he reached Naples after moving from new Jersey he enrolled Suzannah in kindergarten and found a baby Sitter for Leigh Annc. Parrish and his children live in government housing at pin Tamare a resort town 20 Miles from his Job at  Naples. A living out in the towers the pin Tamare housing area has made it easier a he said. A on Days when i done to feel like cleaning or doing a whole lot we can go out to the playground and i can sit out there and  run for hours. The Only bad thing is All the Sand they track in but we be lived in Florida too and its no big Deal a Parrish feels Safe with his children in Naples. When he a not worrying about italian Drivers that is. A you always worry whenever you take the kids for a walk or anything like that a he said a because italian Drivers come running around Corners or parking on the sidewalk. You re always having to keep an Eye out for that what about the squeeze Between fatherhood and military duties a there Are enough single parents that kind of know each other and hang around each other that if you Ever need anything you can ask them for a favor a he said. A when people have duly they have another single Parent pick up their kids from Day care or the baby Sitter or they make arrangements with a baby Sitter if they have overnight duty a Parrish was surprised at How Many parents share his title single. A  there  whole Bunch of us out there. I was beginning to think i was in a unique situation but i know four or five other fathers that Are single parents. One has three boys another . Boys Sev Era have just one daughter once you get the child car its not bad at  what can be bad Are cooking and cleaning a you do have a tendency to get Lazy once in a while a he said with a laugh. A a Frozen pizza comes up for dinner More often than it probably should have but we do try to limit ourselves As to How Many Frozen pizzas or to dinners that we have. We try to Cook fresh a lot. A the thing about being a single Parent is that when they re younger you do a Jot More cleaning than you really feel like when you get Home from work. But at my kids Ages now its easier so if 1 dedicate one hour a night to cleaning after they re in bed we done to get too far behind  Suzannah a getting to the age now where she maintains her bedroom and the toy room. While she a working on that Leigh Anne just wants to walk behind her and make a mess.�?�. Social life a i g6 out every once in a while get a baby Sitter a he said. A there Are a few nightclubs in pin Tamare i can go to and ill go out if there  party or a group of people who want to get together but not that often. A a in  Couch potato. In a Happy with a couple of movies and my to and just  but his daughters gave him away. A and playing games a squealed Suzannah a yeah a said Leigh Anne. Marian Hamilton june 19, 1994 sunday pages