Mountain Views News          Saturday, March 31, 2012

16

OPINION

 Mountain Views News Saturday, March 31, 2012

STUART Tolchin..........On LIFE

HAIL Hamilton My Turn

Mountain 
Views

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Susan Henderson

City Editor

Dean Lee 

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Lina Johnson

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Contributors

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Stuart Tolchin

Kim Clymer-Kelley

Christopher Nyerges

Peter Dills 

Hail Hamilton 

Rich Johnson

Chris Bertrand

Mary Carney

La Quetta Shamblee

Glenn Lambdin

Greg Wellborn

Ralph McKnight

Trish Collins

Pat Ostrye

Dorothy White

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John Aveny 

BEWARE THE BRIEF CASE 
CARRIERS

 Yesterday I spent a whole lot of time talking 
to people about the Trayvon Martin calamity 
in Florida. I spent some time in Court, at a 
Doctor’s office, in a restaurant, and on the golf 
course and spoke with people of different ages, 
races, and economic classes. Everyone had an 
opinion and, after saying they were hesitant to 
engage in this kind of conversation, proceeded to say that racism 
and “profiling” still existed but that things were better than they 
were.

 As I struggled to take advantage of the extra daylight afforded 
by Daylight Savings Time I made my way to the golf course and 
was paired up with some 60 year-old Black guy who was trying to 
do the same thing. We got to talking and Trayvon Martin came 
up and almost the first thing he said was, “Look, if that vigilante 
patrol guy who shot the kid had been Black he would be in jail 
right now. None of this, “let’s try and find out what happened 
before we arrest anybody.” Of course he emphasized Black People 
are still treated unfairly but he emphasized something else that I 
had not thought much about.

 He explained to me that when he was growing up his role-
model had been his father. His father was a tough World War 
II Veteran who clearly knew that there was a lot wrong in the 
world but who emphasized that part of the challenge of life was to 
control one’s emotions without losing one’s soul. The importance 
of recognizing right from wrong and to not be defined by the 
expectations of other people was a part of growing up. A big part 
of maturity is controlling your emotions and picking your battles 
and avoiding wars that do not need to be fought right then.

 My playing partner had to race off at the eighth hole but before 
he left he tried to explain to me how difficult it was today to raise 
kids. In his day the message of the world was that Black people 
had little worth and little future. A man’s task was to transcend 
this negative view and believe in his own worth and still believe in 
your own worth and enjoy the life you had and commit yourself 
to something. He mentioned the James Brown song, I’m Black 
and I’m Proud, as penetrating the fog around him and giving 
inspiration. He contrasted this awareness with the awareness 
of today in which young people growing up are surrounded by 
messages of violence, drugs, ostentatious wealth, and spaceships.

 Before he left he made one final comment, “You’re Jewish, aren’t 
you?” 

 “Yes”, I replied. “It probably doesn’t take a detective to notice. 
Why?”

 “Well, you Jews are still getting rich peddling these crazy ideas 
to our kids.” And with that he was off. 

 Now I was alone and while waiting to hit my next drive I 
thought about what he had said. Yes there is still Anti-Semitism 
in the world and there is still racial profiling, notwithstanding 
the existence of our African-American President and our 
Latino Mayor who will become even more visible at the coming 
Democratic convention. Also there is a gigantic proliferation of 
media-garbage displaying violence, explosions, gore, and overall 
disrespect for human life. Somebody must be profiting from all 
this. 

 Who are the actual evil people in this society profiting from the 
struggles of the rest of us? No, I don’t think it’s poor misguided 
George Zimmerman, the Latino vigilante who shot Trayvon 
Martin.. Demonstrators across America are demanding the arrest 
of this man who probably thought he was doing the world a favor 
by acting on his unwarranted belief that young hoodie wearing 
Mr. Martin was a threat to “the good people” living within the 
locked doors of their gated-housing complex. Mr. Zimmerman 
is not alone in his misperception. There is a threat to the values 
inherent within our society; but that threat does not come from 
hoodie wearing teenagers, or from Latino gangs, or from welfare-
queens, or even from greedy over-extended home-buyers. The 
threat comes from our own most educated and able students who 
have become convinced that their own comfort and their need to 
accumulate ever-expanding wealth is the most important thing in 
the world and is therefore worth sacrificing every other principle.

 Some of these people may even be Jewish and many of these 
people were involved in creating and profiting from the nefarious 
financial shenanigans which created the derivatives and the 
defaulted loans. These people are still around in governmental 
positions or being granted bonuses within the private sector. 
These guys are bright, able, and evil. So too are there kids being 
educated to carry on these traditions, eager to repay huge student 
loans and become independent of mommy and daddy.

 This whole bunch should be “profiled” as a potential and 
present threat to basic American values. BEWARE of the young 
and privileged! Perhaps some of them are not-yet-evil people. 
Perhaps they can be reached because really we need their help and 
they need ours. 


MARY ANN 
MACGILLIVRAY... 
SETTING THE 
RECORD 
STRAIGHT... 
AGAIN!

Mary Ann MacGillivray proudly proclaims her 
allegiance to the Tea Party principles of “fiscal 
responsibility, limited government, and free 
market.” She also proclaims she’s for a balanced 
city budget, lower taxes, personal responsibility, 
and against unnecessary spending. Sounds too 
good to be true -- especially from a politician. 

 Unfortunately, truth is not one of Mary Ann’s 
strengths. She has been a ‘revisionist’ since the day 
she took office two years ago. She has in the past 
been among those eyeing cuts in Library Services 
and Community Services. In this campaign she 
claims to support them.

 She opposes the UUT which is NOT a tax 
increase, but an extension of the existing 
tax to insure our fire, police and paramedic 
services. After the unexpected costs of the 
Windstorm, the shut down of the Community 
Redevelopment Agencies and the continued 
collapse of the California economy, who knows 
what the city will be faced with in the future. 
Her contention that it can wait and that there is 
no urgency, is irresponsible, for if it is not done 
now, the city will miss a full year of tax income 
by the time it can go back before the voters and 
be enacted.

 During the Water Rate fiasco, she was opposed 
to the increase and then changed her position to 
say that she was opposed to the ‘process’ of the 
proposed increase. After the opposing side failed 
to get enough votes to stop the increase, Mary 
Ann fought tooth and nail to keep the council 
from implementing the full rate increase which 
ultimately caused Sierra Madre to have its’ credit 
rating drop. 

 As a result, Sierra Madre is now in a compromised 
position should we need to rely on our credit for 
anything. It means that if we have to negotiate or 
renegotiate anything financial, we will have to 
do so at a higher interest rate which will cost the 
city thousands, and possibly millions of dollars 
depending on the transaction. For instance, if 
we have to renegotiate existing bonds, that would 
cost us hundreds of thousands of dollars more. 
An unfortunate position that we find ourselves 
in, thanks mostly to Mary Ann MacGillivray.

 During the 2010 Campaign for City Council, 
she sent a personal citywide mailer, without 
identifying it as a campaign piece or even 
identifying it on the envelope (it simply had 
the return address of Duncan and Mary Ann 
MacGillivray) supporting her ‘slate’ of candidates, 
Don Watts, Pat Alcorn and John Crawford. It was 
totally inappropriate, misleading and perhaps 
illegal.

In 2005-2006 Mary Ann was a member of the 
Hillside Management Zone (HMZ) Committee, 
which ostensibly was intended to protect our 
Hillsides from overdevelopment. During 
the process, she, along with other committee 
members and hillside property owners defined 
“Hillside” in such a manner that their hillside 
properties would be exempt and later included in 
the “Residential Canyon Zone.” 

 And, lest we forget, it was Mary Ann who made 
herself Council liaison to the Community Services 
Commission before she was elected. As a council 
member she has also appointed obstructionists 
to committees such as The General Plan Update 
Steering Committee and the Community Services 
Committee. While she says she is for community 
services, parks and recreation, she has attempted 
to put a halt to almost all recreation related issues 
that have come before her at the Commission or 
Council level. Here are just a few examples: 

 

• In 2011 she protested the waiver of a permit 
fee for the Little League Parade. She stated that 
if they couldn’t afford to pay for the permit, 
perhaps they should cancel the parade. Her sons 
didn’t have a parade when they were little so why 
should today’s children have a parade?


 

• Mary Ann opposed new toilets in Memorial 
Park. Despite a Public Works report that stated 
that the old existing toilets were too old to be 
repaired, certain Commission members and 
MA didn’t want the new toilets. The majority of 
the Council voted for the new toilets and they 
are located behind City hall north of the tennis 
courts.


• Community Services staff presented a creative 
idea for raising revenues for the pool. The plan 
allowed a family to pay for private lessons at the 
pool before other classes began. Private lessons 
would be offered at a private lesson rate thereby 
raising revenues for the pool. Mary Ann opposed 
it. The majority supported the plan, and it was a 
real money maker last year.


• At one Council meeting where the chamber 
was filled with Sierra Madre School parents, she 
suggested that public school students pay $1,000 
year tuition. Apparently, she thinks the kids that 
are bussed in from Northeast Pasadena should 
have to pay for the privilege to attend school here.


• Mary Ann is the one who distributed to the 
City Council members a little over a year ago, an 
unsolicited book on Sharia law, presumably as a 
result of her paranoia about the infiltration the 
city government by Islamic Jihadists. 


Mary Ann carries this whole Tea Party mantra of 
cutting spending and no new taxes with complete 
disregard for the people of this town. The quality 
of life in this town is what is on the ballot this 
year, and unfortunately, in my opinion, Mary 
Ann, who is trying to promote her Tea Party 
profile, is not what this town needs.

It’s time for a change. This Tuesday let’s show 
Mary Ann the door -- to a future of well-earned 
obscurity! 


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OUT TO PASTOR A Weekly Religion Column


A GRANDPARENT’S DAY AT THE PARK 


 Fun is a relative quantity. One person’s fun may be somebody else’s 
drudgery and pain. I know someone, and her name shall remain anonymous, 
whose idea of fun is rooting through thrift stores all day long. That concept 
of fun has never darkened the shadowy corridors of my mind.

 The idea of spending time in the park has to be amended to include one 
very important ingredient. On my own, I probably would not even think of 
going to the park. Not that I do not like the park, I just would not come up 
with the idea all by myself.

 Then, the important equation of fun is a little granddaughter.

 A day at the park by myself does not equal to very much fun. After all, I have talked to myself 
and I am rather boring. I have heard all my stories before and by the time, I tell myself the story 
for the 19th time it is no longer funny.

 A day at the park with the granddaughter does equal fun.

 I think grandchildren are God’s way of reminding grandfathers how much energy we do not 
have and, for that matter, never had.

 The date was set and my wife and I set off to take our little granddaughter to the park. On the 
main features of this park was a merry-go-round. I am rather certain they had merry-go-round 
when I was a child but for the life of me, I cannot remember the last time I took a spin.

 As we set out for our destination in the park, I nonchalantly told the little granddaughter that 
there was a merry-go-round in the park. That was the end of my talk for the trip. The whole 
way there, all she could talk about was the merry-go-round and how fast it went and how many 
ponies there were. By the time we got to the merry-go-round I had learned about all there is to 
know about a merry-go-round from a six-year-old’s viewpoint.

 According to her, the merry-go-round is about the most fun you could ever have in the whole 
wide world. And, she emphasized, “I’m serious.”

 We rounded the corner, before us was the park and in the middle of the park was this 
mysterious, mystical merry-go-round. It elicited a deep heartfelt “Wow,” from the younger 
member of our walking troop.

 She immediately began running and pulling me along to the point where I had to walk a little 
faster than I normally walk. I mean, at my age running is completely out of the question. And 
so, she ran, I shuffled enthusiastically and before long we were in front of the merry-go-round.

 “Isn’t it beautiful, grandpa,” she almost whispered.

 We did not stand long admiring the merry-go-round. She let out a squeal and said, “Come on, 
grandpa. Let’s go ride the merry-go-round.”

 My plans were very simple. I would let her get on the merry-go-round, pay for the ticket, sit 
down on the bench and watch her go round and round and round. Well, that was my plan. She, 
on the other hand, had other plans.

 With almost superhuman force she drug me pass the admission gate, I hardly had enough time 
to pay for the ride and get to the pony she was going to ride.

 “This is my pony, grandpa. Where’s yours?”

 I quickly searched my plans and could nowhere find any notation about riding a pony on a 
merry-go-round on this particular day. Instead, I helped her up on her pony and I stood by her 
and said, “We’ll do this one together.” She was too excited about riding the merry-go-round that 
she did not respond.

 I grabbed hold of one part of the pony, right next to us was another pony and I held onto that.

 “Are we ready to go, grandpa?”

 No sooner had she said that until the bell rang and the merry-go-round began going round. 
And round. And round.

 Not only that, the pony she was on, went up and down and the pony next to her that I was 
hanging onto went down and up. It was as if I was in perpetual motion. It seemed as if that 
merry-go-round ride lasted 17 hours. Eventually, with my head spinning and my stomach doing 
whatever stomachs do, we came to the end of our merry-go-round.

 Being grateful that we have finished our ride, I proceeded to disengage her from the pony. 
However, that was not her plan.

 “Oh, grandpa, just one more time.”

 The problem with grandfathers is that nowhere in their vocabulary lurks in any fashion any 
sound resembling “no.” Consequently, we went round on the merry-go-round “just one more 
time.”

 I learned a deep lesson that afternoon. When a little granddaughter says “just one more time,” 
it is not in any literal sense of the word that they say it. I’m not prepared to say how many times 
we went on that merry-go-round, needless to say, by the end of the afternoon I was in a complete 
whirl not knowing whither I was coming or whither I was going.

 As we walked over to get our ice cream treat, I remembered what the apostle Paul said about 
Timothy. “And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make 
thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:15(KJV). 


 The Rev. James L. Snyder is pastor of the Family of God Fellowship, PO Box 831313, Ocala, 
FL 34483. He lives with his wife, Martha, in Silver Springs Shores. Call him at 352-687-4240 or 
e-mail jamessnyder2@att.net. The church web site is www.whatafellowship.com.


RICH Johnson

MORE REPARTEE 

 

I suspect all of us many times over our lives remember 
occasions when someone said something to us 
that invited a clever comeback or a witty retort. Unfortunately, 
as Mark Twain once observed, “Repartee 
is something we think of twenty-four hours too 
late.” There are those times when all cylinders are 
firing and our response is, what the Aussies call 
“Spot on.” Here is a smattering of those times:

Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet Premier 50 years 
ago, was known for taking off his shoe at meetings and pounding it on 
the table when he was dissatisfied with the speaker. One such occasion 
was September 29, 1960 when British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan 
was speaking at the United Nations. The shoe pounding commenced 
and rather than be flustered at the interruption the Prime Minister calmly 
looked down at the interpreter and said, “Could I have that translated, 
please?”

In 1981, recuperating in his hospital bed after the assassination attempt, 
President Ronald Reagan was reassured by an aide to not worry in that 
the government was functioning normally. Reagan quipped to the aide, 
“What makes you think I’d be happy about that?”

In 2004, once Senator John Kerry had wrapped up the Democrat nomination 
for president a rumor surfaced that he was considering Republican 
Senator John McCain as his running mate. Though on different sides 
of the aisle they were friends and both decorated Vietnam War veterans. 
When asked about whether or not he wanted to become Vice President, 
John McCain responded, “I spent several years in a North Vietnamese 
POW camp, kept in the dark, fed with scraps. Do you think I want to do 
that all over again?” 

In the 1992 presidential primaries there were seven democrats vying 
for the nomination. Bill Clinton was one of those. Now a shining star 
in the Democratic Party, the former Rhodes scholar was introduced as 
the most intelligent of the presidential candidates. He responded with 
a smile, “Isn’t that like calling Moe the most intelligent of the Three 
Stooges?”

I enjoy the interchange between Lloyd Bentsen and Dan Quayle during 
their vice presidential debate in 1988. But I enjoy it for a different reason 
than most. Considering his age, maturity and intelligence Dan Quayle, 
was asked what he would do if he was called to succeed to the presidency. 
The 41-year-old Quayle responded by saying, “I have as much 
experience in the Congress as Jack Kennedy did when he sought the 
presidency.” To which the much older Senator Bentsen moved in for the 
kill: “Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack 
Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you are no Jack Kennedy.”

 What I liked about that interchange was Bentsen, clever as his repartee 
was, appeared to me and others as verbally beating up his opponent. It 
actually garnered sympathy for Senator Quayle. And I guess the final 
proof was in the pudding. Senator Bentsen had to live with only being 
Senator Bentsen. Senator Quayle wore the title Vice President for 
4 years. 

 

Four years later, when Bill Clinton ran against George H. W. Bush, someone 
compared Governor Clinton to Thomas Jefferson. Mimicking Bentsen, 
Ronald Reagan got up at the Republican Convention and said, “This 
fellow they’ve nominated claims he’s the new Thomas Jefferson. Well, 
let me tell you something. I knew Thomas Jefferson. He was a friend of 
mine. And governor, you’re no Thomas Jefferson.”

Much of these examples of repartee I’ve pulled from a wonderful book 
entitle “Viva la repartee” by Dr. Mardy Grothe. It’s worth adding to your 
library.

Mountain Views 
News

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