Mountain Views News          Saturday, May 29, 2010

10 

OPINION

 Mountain Views News Saturday, May 29, 2010

My Turn


HAIL Hamilton

Moving To Mexico?

RICH Johnson

Mountain Views

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Publisher/ Editor

Susan Henderson

City Editor

Dean Lee 

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Patricia Colonello

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Stuart Tolchin

Kim Clymer-Kelley

Christopher Nyerges

Peter Dills 

Hail Hamilton 

Rich Johnson

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La Quetta Shamblee

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Pat Ostrye

Editorial Cartoonist

Ann Cleaves

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John Avery 

 
Jeff, my very good, much 
older, cribbage rookie (and 
very liberal) friend of mine 
forwarded this bit of satire 
to me. 

Dear Mr. President:

I'm planning to move my 
family and extended family 
into Mexico for my health, 
and I would like to ask you to assist me. We're 
planning to simply walk across the border from 
the U.S. into Mexico, and we'll need your help to 
make a few arrangements.

We plan to skip all the legal stuff like visas, 
passports, immigration quotas and laws. I'm 
sure they handle those things the same way you 
do here. So, would you mind telling President 
Calderon, when you see him, that I'm on my way 
over?

Please let him know that I will be expecting the 
following:

1. Free medical care for my entire family.

2. English-speaking government bureaucrats for 
all services I might need, whether I use them or 
not.

3. Please print all Mexican government forms in 
English.

4. I want my grandkids to be taught Spanish by 
English-speaking (bi-lingual) teachers.

5. Tell their schools they need to include classes on 
American culture and history.

6. I want my grandkids to see the American flag 
on one of the flagpoles at their school.

7. Please plan to feed my grandkids at school for 
both breakfast and lunch.

8. I will need a local Mexican driver's license so I 
can get easy access to government services.

9. I do plan to get a car and drive in Mexico but 
I don't plan to purchase car insurance, and I 
probably won't make any special effort to learn 

local traffic laws.

10. In case one of the Mexican police officers does 
not get the memo from their president to leave me 
alone, please be sure that every patrol car has at 
least one English-speaking officer.

11. I plan to fly the U.S. flag from my housetop, 
put U. S. flag decals on my car, and have a 
gigantic celebration on July 4th. I do not want any 
complaints or negative comments from the locals.

12. I would also like to have a nice job without 
paying any taxes, or have any labor or tax laws 
enforced on any business I may start.

13. Please have the president tell all the Mexican 
people to be extremely nice and never say critical 
things about me or my family, or about any strain 
we might place on their economy.

 I know this is an easy request because you already 
do all these things for all his people who walk over 
to the U.S. from Mexico. I am sure that President 
Calderon won't mind returning the favor if you 
ask him nicely.

Thank you so much for your kind help. You're the 
man!!!

The Arizona law states that, "It is a crime to be 
in the state illegally." This sounds like something 
from the (DRD) Department of Redundancy 
Department. But seriously folks, I have 
examined the Arizona Immigration statutes 
along side the federal immigration statutes. The 
big difference I see is the federal law permits 
federal officers to stop anyone, anytime without 
reason. The Arizona law forbids Arizona law 
enforcement officers from doing that. I guess 
the reason people are so against the Arizona law 
is that unlike the federal laws, the Arizona law 
is more likely to be enforced. Now if you really 
want to see what's what, read what the Mexican 
law is regarding people who cross their southern 
borders illegally.

Why We Celebrate 
Memorial Day

 

Once in a while I’m moved to tears. 
On April 17 I went with a couple of old friends to get together 
with a bunch of other folks, most of them combat veterans, in 
a small Burbank park to commemorate a Marine who had been 
awarded the Medal of Honor. 

 It was a beautiful day to be in the park, and an even better day 
to rename a park.

 The focus of attention was a young Burbank man named Larry 
L. Maxam who died 42 years ago in a far away place this nation 
has tried hard to forget.

 Vietnam.

 The 20-year-old Burbank Marine never got the due he deserved 
from his hometown, on this day he finally did. Pacific Park in 
Burbank was renamed the Larry L. Maxam Memorial Park.

 There were hundreds who came to the ceremony that lasted 
about two hours to hear numerous dignitaries speak. There were 
also a dozen Marines present, who had fought alongside Larry 
when he died. The last of his old squad.

 The audience solemnly watched as a lone bugler played Taps and 
Larry’s family was presented with an American flag. Afterward a 
contingent of Marine riflemen fired a 21-gun solute. There wasn’t 
a dry eye in sight.

 The dedication included new a park sign and a bronze plaque 
containing Larry’s full Medal of Honor citation. It was a moving 
ceremony for a war hero who died saving his fellow Marines. I’m 
sure Larry would have been pleased with the crowd who came to 
honor him.

 Born in Glendale, Larry attended Burbank schools before 
enlisting in the Marine Corps in 1965. He arrived in Vietnam two 
years later and served as a rifleman, radioman and squad leader 
with Company D, 1st Battalion 4th Marines, 3rd Marine Division.

 On 2 February 1968, four months after being promoted to 
corporal, while participating in Operation Kentucky, Larry’s 
squad was sent to Cam Lo District Headquarters, Quang Tri 
Province, Republic of South Vietnam. TET, the massive North 
Vietnamese offensive, had begun three days earlier. 

 Larry’s squad was guarding the perimeter of the compound 
when his position came under heavy artillery and gun fire. A large 
breach was created in the perimeter. Wounded by fragments of 
exploding grenades, Larry ran to an abandoned machine gun and 
fired on advancing forces. 

 “As the enemy directed maximum firepower against the 
determined Marine, Cpl. Maxam’s position received a direct hit 
from a rocket-propelled grenade, knocking him backwards and 
inflicting severe fragmentation wounds to his face and right eye,” 
according to the citation that accompanied the medal.

 “Maxam returned to his feet and kept firing. 

 He was hit again with small-arms fire... [but] gallantly continued 
to deliver intense machine gun fire, causing the enemy to retreat 
to cover. In a desperate attempt to silence his weapon, the North 
Vietnamese threw hand grenades and rifle fire against him, 
inflicting two additional wounds.

 “Too weak to reload his machine gun, Cpl. Maxam fell to a 
prone position and valiantly continued to deliver effective fire 
with his rifle. 

 “After 1 1/2 hours, during which he was hit repeatedly by 
fragments from exploding grenades and concentrated small-arms 
fire, he succumbed to his wounds, having successfully defended 
nearly half of the perimeter single-handedly.”

 Larry did what was right; he sized up the situation and, with 
extraordinary valor, did what he had to do to protect his fellow 
Marines. His actions are a remarkable testament of courage under 
fire.

 On 20 April 1970, Larry was posthumously awarded the Medal of 
Honor by President Richard Nixon for his “conspicuous gallantry 
and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of 
duty.” Larry was buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the 
Pacific, Oahu, Hawaii. 

 The Marine Corps Motto “Semper Fidelis” means “Always 
faithful.” More common is the abbreviated verbal version, 
“Semper Fi,” used by Marines to voice loyalty and commitment 
to their comrades in arms. As they say, “Once a Marine always a 
Marine.” 

 This Memorial Day take a moment to reflect on Larry L. Maxam 
and all the other American servicemen who have sacrificed their 
lives in our defense. 

This is why we celebrate Memorial Day. Semper Fi.

STUART TOLCHIN 

Durability


INFORMATION, 

INFORMATION!! 

 The Chinese Master-Eye 
Surgeon got right in my face 
and kept yelling, “Information”! 
“What do you want to know?” 
I pleaded. Once more he asked 
for information. Finally, 
I got it. He wasn’t asking 
for “information” at all. He was screaming 
INFLAMMATION because the swelling and the 
pressure had returned to my son’s eye and once 
again my son was in great pain and might be 
losing the vision in his one remaining functional 
eye.

 Finally I understood. The doctor wasn’t 
yelling at me because he wanted information. 
He was yelling because he was upset that the eye 
was inflamed again and we were back to square 
one. The Doctor kept berating me for letting 
this happen and wanted me to understand how 
serious it was. Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore. 
I screamed back into his face that of course I 
understood how serious it was and that we had 
spent four hours waiting for him after driving 
two hours to get there

 It turns out that the doctor had thought 
my son had completely ignored his instructions 
and failed to apply the eye-drops. No, I said. He 
has religiously followed the schedule. The doctor 
calmed down and asked my son to demonstrate 
how he was applying the eye-drops which were 
prescribed to combat infection. Watching his 
attempts it became clear that it was a hit or miss 
proposition. Most of the time the drops hit the 
eye-lid and fell off to the cheek, never getting to 
the eye at all. Sometimes the drop got into the 
eye and my son squeezed his eye and the liquid 
came out doing no good at all. My son had been 
trying his best but he has his problems and really 
can’t apply the drops properly. Me either. My 
wife does a terrific job but she has her own career 
to attend to. The doctor emphasized that nothing 
could be more important than having the drops 
applied properly every two hours. 
Okay, fine how do we do it? For two months, my 
son had accompanied me as I went from Court to 
Court and he very much did not want to do this 
again. More importantly both he and I had little 
confidence that I could apply the drops properly. 
We drove to a Kaiser facility and a nurse gave 
me a lesson on how to apply the drops but my 
son understandably had little confidence in me 
which made it even more difficult. Certainly, 
there must be someone who could help. I called 
and called but, not surprisingly, no one I knew 
was available to administer the drops eight times 
a day. Furthermore, I guess I was feeling some 
guilt and I was alienating people left and right 
and making my son feel worse.

 Meanwhile, he complained that he was 
starving and I noticed that I hadn’t eaten either. 
A bad thing for a diabetic to do; especially after 
having taken medication. We were nearing 
downtown and my car, almost on its own, headed 
for the Pantry, a place I’ve been going to for about 
fifty years. Upon arriving at the Pantry and 
going into its familiar environment I felt a kind 
of reassurance. I remembered as if in the present 
being there with my father and figuring out how 
to deal with problems during the time he was 
losing his vision. I remembered my friends and 
me teaching my mother to drive and convincing 
her that she could drive my father on his route 
and miraculously she did. She acted as his 
driver for another ten years or so and the family 
survived. 
What can I say? It’s now the next day and today 
my son went to work with my wife and hung out 
at her work. She does a great job of applying 
the drops and she’s trying to teach my son and 
me how to do it. Okay, so it’s 2:o’clock in 
the morning and I’m worried about tomorrow. 
I’m not sure about anything but I’m sure glad the 
Pantry is there. Maybe after my wife applies the 
drops my son will want to go out for breakfast 
and we’ll try and figure out what to do next. You 
know one can rely on the fact that the place will 
be open because it never closes. Yes, it’s good to 
be able to take some things for granted. I wish 
that cars would be advertised for the fact that 
they last thirty years and are always reliable and 
dependable. I guess that’s not our world but 
it’s great to know of at least one place that will 
be around and available when you need it. I wish 
people were like that. 

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SUSAN Henderson

Priorities?!


priority (n): something given or meriting 
attention before competing alternatives

 It is common knowledge in California that 
our schools are failing miserably and there is 
no money to properly fund them. Our society 
has become so litigious that for every teacher 
in the classroom, we practically have to pay for 
a psychiatrist, accountant, insurance broker 
and lawyer to protect the interests of the 
teacher committed to serve and the children who want to learn. 
As a result, there is little left to pay teachers a decent salary and 
provide the proper tools to assist in educating youngsters who 
are growing up in a technically oversaturated society. 

 Yes, we’re broke, as in, we have no money to take care of the 
things that should be most important to us. And the ultimate 
shame lies in the fact that, whether you are the head of a Fortune 
500 company, a doctor, scientist or factory worker, when asked 
what person has had the greatest influence in your life, most will 
answer, “My first grade teacher”, or “My High School Counselor” 
or an educator in some form or fashion. So, why is it that we 
have allowed the education of our children to be thrown to the 
bottom of our list of things that are important to us?

 I’m over the failure of Measure CC, I didn’t believe that people 
in this District would see the need to contribute a mere $120 a 
year to help educate the next generation who will ultimately run 
this society. (But it’s not too late to still make a donation - See 
Mountain View News May 22, 2010 edition). Anyhow, I’m over 
it, but what I am not over is the way we find it unacceptable to 
fund our schools, but acceptable to spend obscene millions to buy 
a vote.

 Just look at the amount of money that is being poured into 
the 2010 PRIMARY Governor’s race. This state would be much 
better off if those candidates would turn their fundraising skills 
to solving the state’s education crisis. Honestly, this year in 
particular the campaign funding is getting outrageous. Consider 
this, from January to May 22, 2010, the three top contenders for 
governor have raised and/or spent over 100 Million Dollars, and 
this is only to get the nomination! How much more will be spent 
before the November election? And they tell me that they want 
to LEAD our state?! Where are their priorities when they would 
rather pour millions into trying to brainwash us into voting for 
them? 

 In case you think I am kidding, here are the stats as of 5/22/10 
per the California Secretary of State:

-Jerry Brown, lead Democratic Candidate has raised $20 million 
plus. He hasn’t spent much, just on popcorn watching the battle 
between the top Republicans.

-Steve Poizner has spent over $20 million trying to keep Meg off 
his butt.

 And then there is dear old Margaret C. Whitman who was 
spending over $249 a minute in advertising at one point. Meg 
has spent over $61 million dollars in the first five months of this 
year trying to get the nomination!

 Jerry, Steve and Meg, do us a favor. Show us that you really 
care. Send us ONE handwritten, xeroxed note telling us why 
you want to be elected. That is more than enough information, 
and then show us that you really care by raising that kind of 
money for our kids. We all need to get our priorities straight.


More Jobs, Not More Lawsuits By Senator Bob Huff

More than 12 percent of California’s workforce is now unemployed. In Los 
Angeles County, more than 600,000 former workers are without jobs. Public tax 
revenues have plummeted, critical services have been slashed, family incomes 
have stagnated and the business climate is depressed. While we struggle to 
find a comprehensive solution to these economic woes, one obvious, critical 
remedy is consistently ignored: frivolous lawsuits. California’s burdensome 
and biased litigation climate discourages new start-up businesses, slows the 
growth of our existing small companies and threatens millions of jobs at the 
very moment we need them the most.

 California has one of the worst litigation climates in the nation. Pointless, 
wasteful and unnecessary civil lawsuits cost Californians billions of dollars every year. Frivolous 
lawsuits

erase thousands of jobs in our state. In an economy as depressed as this one, we simply cannotafford 
to waste critical resources or slow our workforce. Right now, we need more jobs and fewer lawsuits.

 More than four class action lawsuits are filed every single day in California. Last year more than 
1.6 million class action, tort, personal injury, damages and contract lawsuits were filed in

California - making us the most litigious state in the nation. Not only do we file the most actions, 
but our courts are among the most biased. A recent survey by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce 
ranked our state 46th in the nation for legal fairness - placing California among the five most biased 
court systems in the country.

 The legal costs of these cases, both in financial terms and job losses, are immense. The negative legal 
climate affects all businesses, but small businesses are at the greatest risk. Most small businesses 
operate on small profit margins; in an economic downturn like ours, a single lawsuit can be the 
difference between a job-creating business and more people looking for work. The

National Federation of Independent Businesses in California recently found that 98 percent of 
responding small business owners believe lawsuits hurt our economy, one third have been sued in 
the last five years, and six-of-ten have been threatened by lawsuits during the same period. Of equal 
concern are the job losses from larger companies that relocate from litigious California to other 
states with more balanced legal systems.

We can’t know the full financial cost or number of jobs lost to frivolous lawsuits. What is certain, 
though, is that these personal and economic losses are a very serious burden in the best

of times – however, in this recession, unnecessary lawsuits threaten any chance we have of recovery. 
It is way past time our Legislature acted to balance our courts, limit unnecessary

lawsuits and give our businesses a chance to restore this state’s wealth. As a state senator, I know 
firsthand how difficult it can be to pass common sense legislation to support our businesses. I 
introduced a bill, Senate Bill 1017, which will protect retailers from product liability lawsuits when 
the retailer has no responsibility for the product. Current law

now holds retailers liable for anything they sell, even when the seller has no knowledge of or control 
over the defective product. SB 1017 represents just one element of desperately needed

broad civil justice reform. We need to remedy a number of costly, valueless and destructive

aspects of our legal system before we will see real improvement in our economic situation. A

survey of Southern California voters by the non-profit group California Citizen’s Against

Lawsuit Abuse found voters overwhelmingly recognize unwarranted lawsuits negatively affect

job growth and our economy. The same voters overwhelmingly support candidates that promote

genuine legal reform. All the elements necessary for real progress on legal reform are in place:

economic pressure, public support, a recognized problem and clear solutions. All we need now

is the political will to do what must be done.

Senator Bob Huff serves as the Senate Republican Caucus Chair and represents portions of Los

Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino counties.

Mountain Views 
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Mission Statement

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the concerns of 
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informed citizens. 
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will be our guide. 

Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com