BELLINGHAM, Wash., September 12th, 2012 – A man was arrested on suspicion of taking healthcare into his own hands (literally) by pointing a firearm at a pregnant woman because she was smoking a cigarette near downtown Bellingham, single-handedly proving that happiness is, indeed, a warm gun.

According to the Bellingham Herald, the man rolled up in a blue Dodge pickup at 12:08 p.m. in the 700 block of East Holly Street, with the passenger window down. A 28-year-old woman, who later told police she’s about eight months pregnant, was walking on the sidewalk and smoking a cigarette.

Josh Powell won’t be buried next to his children, thanks to some quick-thinking Washington police. Powell, who was being investigated for his wife’s disappearance years earlier, pulled his two sons inside of his home during what was to be a supervised visitation, then murdered them with a hatchet and blew the house up, killing himself as well. His ultimate cowardice to face courts cost him his life, and unfortunately, took his children’s lives as well.

So, Detective Ed Troyer and Sheriff Paul Pastor of the Pierce County sheriff’s office did what they thought was right – they put down payments on all of the plots surrounding Powell’s boys in the cemetery. That way, Powell would not be able to be buried next to the sons that he murdered.

It’s always hard for us to cover unfunny news on 8BitDad, but our commitment to reporting on fatherhood compels us to share a terrible story about Josh Powell – a Washington father that has apparently set his house on fire on Sunday, killing himself and his two children. This comes years after his wife not-so-mysteriously disappeared.

This tough-to-read story starts in 2009, when Josh’s wife, Susan Cox-Powell, disappeared. Josh was a suspect in her disappearance, and immediately moved his children from their home in Utah to Washington. And even up to last month, police in Utah were still attempting to find Susan Cox-Powell.

If you haven’t been following up on the Solomon Metalwala story, here’s a TL;DR – two year old Sky and four year old Maile were driving with their mother Julia Biryukova one night when allegedly, the car broke down. Julia took Maile with her to get help, leaving Sky in the car alone – and when they returned, Sky was gone. Investigators found the car to still have gas in it and no mechanical problems, and questioned Julia further. She’s been uncooperative with police and is reported by Fathers & Families to have a history of mental illness. Meanwhile, Maile was placed in foster care. Solomon Metalwala, the father of the two children, lobbied for custody, which had been blocked in the past by Julia Biryukova’s allegations of abuse (which were all found to be false).

Finally, all charges and stumbling blocks were overturned and Maile has been returned to her father Solomon, reports NWCN.

Sky Metalwala, the two year old son of Solomon and Julia, is still missing. Solomon believes that someone is holding Sky for Julia.

If you need to catch up on the Solomon Metalwala story, you can do so at Fathers & Families, or we”ll give you the TL;DR.

All the madness starts after the hop.

A father, son and dog panning for minerals near Washington’s Sultan River had to take shelter in a tree trunk. Presumably from Saruman.

According to the small handful of places this story was covered, the 31 year old father had set out with his 10 year old son and the dog to have some good old-fashioned mineral panning down at the river, but called his wife around 10pm that night and let her know that his pack burned up in a fire and they were huddled in a tree trunk. The woman called the police, who had been waiting for a call like this so they could load up the chopper.

And load up the chopper, they did.

The chopper spotted them, lowered supplies to keep them warm, along with a radio, probably so they could jam to some oldies before the cops picked them up. Everyone made it back okay and had a good laugh about it once they got home. Except Saruman, who’s still pissed that he couldn’t retrieve that one ring to rule them all.

Sauce: HeraldNet

A Washington father is being denied the right to attend his son’s funeral – even with a police escort, if that’s any indication of how this story’s going to go.

Gabriel Wilson was attending a birthday party with his son when someone began firing a gun at the party participants. Wilson watched as his son died in front of him.