c It's little wonder that he took a keen interest in the dog park when it opened in Belleville a few years ago. "Jim Moore was the inventor of the dog park," Logan said, ensconced in a rocker recliner in the comfortable apartment he shares with Cook (Bailey is actually her ' dog). "Jim Moore did a great job." Logan eventually took over the Quinte Dog Park Association, but with about 500 registered members, it began to take up too much of his time and he 'bow-wowed' out. The burly ex-cop is the kind of guy you would like as a neighbour in Quinte. But it was a circuitous route to Belleville. Born in Bethany (southeast of Lindsay), the youngest of four siblings (two girls, two boys), he attended high school in Lindsay. He was interested in becoming a police officer from an early age. "I had a lot of respect for policemen," he said. "(They were) doing the right thing. (I decided) that's the team I want to be on." In 1962, he became one of Toronto's finest. "A lot different than it is now," Logan said, when asked what policing in The Big Smoke was like back then. While he enjoyed his time there, he left to join the Oshawa force in 1967. "I wanted to get out of the city," Logan said. "Oshawa was a much slower pace. It was more personal." He's had his share of trouble while wearing the badge. "I've had a few different things (like) taking people down at gunpoint," Logan conceded. But for the most part it was an enjoyable career. He spent the last 16 years in Oshawa as the drug education officer. That meant going into 32 high schools to talk about drugs and drinking and driving, as well as at service clubs and in workplaces like Dupont and GM. Logan remembered Wendy Crawford, a young model who was on her way to catch a plane in Toronto, heading for an assign- ment on the runway in Japan. Her vehicle was hit by a drunk driver and Crawford was left a paraplegic. It was 1984 and Crawford ended up going to schools with Logan to talk to students. "She was a meirvellous person." He took an early retirement in 1994 and liked the Bancroft area, w7here he built a home. "We just found it a little too isolated." As a Crime Stoppers board member, he regularly travelled to Belleville. "I really liked the area so (I) sold up there and moved down here. That would have been about 1999." Today, his son Doug lives in Oshawa and is married to Rose. Their daughter Savannah, John's granddaughter, is nine. John's other son Jeff is also an Oshawa resident. Logan has been with Yvonne for four years after a long-term rela- tionship failed, and is doing what he loves, including driving. He works for Bob Clute Saturn and Belleville Dodge Chrysler. If someone wants a specific vehicle that is not in stock, he travels throughout Ontario and Quebec to pick up the vehicle at dealerships, or delivers requested cars from here to other dealers. He is also a self-confessed sports nut, and travelled to Rimouski, Que., to obtain a Sidney Crosby sweater. On Thanksgiving Day, he and Yvonne drove to Buffalo to watch Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins against the Sabres. The Penguins will be back in Buffalo in December, and so will the Belleville couple. Logan has a big screen TV to watch CFL, NFL and college foot- ball. And then there is politics. He's got a genuine campaign sign tout- ing the 2004 ticket of President George W. Bush and Vice-president Dick Cheney. He worked on Georgina Thompson's campaign for Belleville council, and also for Conservative Daryl Kramp. Both campaigns were successful. But for goodness sake, don't ask him about Premier Dalton McGuinty and broken promises unless you are prepared for steam coming out of ears. Logan is a man of strong opinions and he's certainly not a Liberal. Take the book he is reading, by American Ann Coulter, of Fox Network fame. Its title: How to Talk To a Liberal (If You Must). "If you must," Logan said, laughing and shaking his head. Definitely not a Liberal. Contact Barry Ellsworth at: newsroom@intelligencer.ca