Mountain Views News          Saturday, October 12, 2013

A5

AROUND SAN GABRIEL VALLEY

Mountain Views-News Saturday, October 12, 2013 


“What’s Going On?” 

News and Views from Joan Schmidt

PERMACULTURE AND THE CURSE OF 
LEAF BLOWERS

By Christoper Nyerges

[Nyerges is the author of “Self-Sufficient Home,” “How To Survive 
Anywhere,” and other books. He does a weekly podcast at Preparedness 
Radio Network. To learn about his books and classes, he can be contacted 
at www.ChristopherNyerges.com, or Box 41834, Eagle Rock, CA 90041.]


WHEN DON BENITO CAME 
TO TOWN (Sierra Madre)

 Almost twenty years 
ago, when my elderly mom 
came from back East for her 
annual visit, we began visits to local museums. 
Mom was very bright and had an alert mind. 
She loved to read about all subjects and always 
was game for adventure. Among our travels 
were Pasadena, El Monte (her favorite), Arcadia, 
Monrovia, Duarte, Baldwin Park, Monterey 
Park and Homestead Museums as well as 
day trips to Nixon’s birthplace in Whittier 
and the Norton Simon Museum.

 When I began to write for this publication, 
I asked Susan (Henderson) if I could 
write about the local city museums. Each 
had a story to tell and I loved the varied 
backgrounds/lives of the cities’ founders. 
Then there was the trip to the Alhambra 
Museum and a lesson on Benjamin Davis 
(dubbed “Don Benito”) Wilson and I was 
hooked! This man had connections to 
Mt. Wilson, General George Patton and 
Washington Irving, yet I never had heard 
about him. I did a little more research and 
wrote an article- I just had to spread the 
word about this fascinating man who wore 
many hats and played a role in several local 
cities’ histories. 

 A few days ago, I noticed an announcement 
that Nat B. Read, author of DON BENITO 
WILSON: From Mountain Man to Mayor, 
Los Angeles 1841-1878 was going to speak at 
the Sierra Madre Kiwanis Club. Of course 
I called and made a reservation for my husband 
Bob and myself.

 What I thought I knew about Don Benito 
Wilson was just a “tip of the iceberg”. Nat B. Read, 
an animated, humorous and most knowledgeable 
author/speaker had the room enthralled for over 
an hour. 

 Why did Mr. Read write Don Benito Wilson’s 
story? As Nat Read became more acquainted 
with Wilson, he couldn’t understand why there 
had never been a book written about Wilson. 
Mr. Read eventually learned of the great amount 
of materials locked away at Huntington Library, 
who was to assign a biographer, but that never 
happened.

 When the opportunity arose, Nat B. Read took 
on this great undertaking. Three years of extensive 
research resulted in an unmatched book that gives 
the background, family history and of course the 
life journey of a humble man from Tennessee who 
traveled across wilderness in search of a better life.

 Mr. Read’s story began with Benjamin Davis 
Wilson’s birth on December 1, 1811 in “the 
westernmost of the seventeen United States-
Tennessee, when John Adams and Thomas 
Jefferson were alive as well as King George 
III…Beyond Tennessee lay a wilderness…and 
a continent away lay the King of Spain’s empire 
along the Western coast of North America…and 
within that Spanish realm, a tiny thirty-year-old 
hamlet called Reyna de los Angeles (Queen of the 
Angels), population about three hundred.”

 Mr. Read’s tells us that his story is “how 
Benjamin Wilson connected those dots”. Wilson 
crossed a dangerous frontier (Three times his 
life was saved by an Indian) as part of the first 
overland settlers (including John Rowland and 
William Workman) to come to California (then 
part of Mexico) because he was fleeing a hostile 
New Mexico. He fell into the California lifestyle 
and economy as a ranchero. A year after buying 
the Jurupa Ranch, Wilson married his neighbor’s 
daughter, Ramona Yorba. They had a son, John B. 
Wilson and daughter Maria de Jesus (Known as 
“Sue”). Sadly Ramona died at an early age, leaving 
Wilson with two young children. He remarried 
Margaret Hereford, a widow with a young son, 
Eddy, and together they had two daughters, Annie 
and Ruth.

 Highlights from the book reveal that Wilson 
owned what are today Beverly Hills, UCLA, large 
parts of downtown Los Angeles, and the cities of 
Riverside, Culver City, Wilmington, Pasadena, 
Altadena, South Pasadena, San Marino and 
Alhambra. He set up local American government 
as the first county clerk of Los Angeles County, was 
the second mayor of Los Angeles, a City Council 
member and State Senator. He led Americans in 
the first local area Mexican War as a captain in the 
U.S. Army, was the first Indian Agent in Southern 
California and played an important role in the 
development of the port of Los Angeles.

 In Nat B. Brown’s book, one will find photos of 
Wilson and his family, maps and areas he resided 
in. I have only given a few highlights, but there is 
much more information and local history in the 
book and it is easy, enjoyable reading.

 Besides being a fantastic author of five books, 
Nat B. Read is a professional public speaker. He 
is a retired Navy Captain, a stand-up comic and 
former LAPD reserve cop who worked undercover 
vice in Hollywood and gang suppression in South 
Los Angeles. As a retired Social Studies teacher, 
I feel he also would be an excellent speaker not 
only for clubs/historic societies but also students-
perhaps eighth grade American History classes. 
On line, www.natread.com or email Nat Read/
nat@natread.com 

 Readers of this 
column should 
be aware of my 
position on “front 
grass lawns,” that they are a tribute largely to our 
vanity, that they serve no meaningful purpose, 
and they waste energy, water, and space. If we are 
to overcome both our ecological and economical 
crises, we need to individually implement a 
revolution – no, not burning down city hall, but a 
revolution in our very thinking. 

 I recently learned that the ancient methods 
of land management that I have believed in and 
practiced for decades have been given the label 
“permaculture.” Permaculture is a coined term 
meaning “permanent agriculture,” a way to 
respect the land and allow it to find its natural 
balance. Though easier to put into practice on 
a larger scale, the principles of permaculture 
can be applied in any urban backyard or front 
yard. Simply put, you plant useful plants that 
are most appropriate for that area; you mulch 
heavily (ideally with the ground-up woodchips 
from locally pruned trees); you fertilizer with the 
compost you make on site; you provide a fragrant, 
healthful environment for people, animals, and 
insects. 

 In one viewpoint, this is our little step back to 
the primordial paradise, back to our paleolithic 
roots. Despite the fact that so much of the world 
is in ecologic crisis, we can turn our front yards 
and back yards and even our neighborhoods into 
a pocket of ecological sanity. We must internalize 
Paradise, and live it within our very private 
thoughts, before we can re-earn it in the material 
world.

LEAF BLOWERS

 Which leads me to one specific topic: Leaf 
blowers.

 Yes, they have been banned in L.A., and yes the 
perpetrators can be fined when a police officer 
actually has the time to catch them.

 I have long been against leaf blowers. How 
many of you have seen “gardeners” simply 
blowing dirt and dust and bits of debris into the 
middle of the street, or audaciously blowing it 
into the neighbor’s yard? I can no longer count 
the times I have seen this. Yes, I know some of 
the guys doing landscape work are conscientious 
individuals, but at least half are not, and they 
view a neighbor’s yard as a good place as any to 
dispose of leaf and dirt and dust.

 I can recall when I did landscape and gardening 
work. We used some power tools, like a mower, 
but mostly rakes and brooms. Though it was hard 
work most of the time, it was a silent meditation 
as we worked in some yard, cleaning and pruning 
with no adverse effects for the neighbors. 

 Today’s mow-and-blow crews are not artists, 
just guys moving from house to house, quickly 
knocking off each job with their blowers and 
weed-whackers and, when you complain, you 
are accused-at best-of interfering with someone’s 
ability to make a living and, at worst, you are 
accused of being a racist.

 The racist accusation does not merit comment. 
As for interfering with someone’s job, since 
when is how someone makes money not subject 
to regulation? If the leaf blowers were silent, 
that would reduce some of the criticism. And 
if the leaf blowing guys used the blowers only 
occasionally, blowing leaves into a pile and then 
picking it up into a container, that too might 
reduce some of the criticism.

 When the blowers come in and do their dirty 
deed, asthma sufferers suffer more, as all the 
nasties in the dust are now in the air - things 
like arsenic, cadmium, chromium, dried fecal 
material, and more. That’s what you’re breathing 
when the knock-off gardeners pretend that 
the leaf blower is the only tool need for yard 
maintenance. 

 I am extreme in t believing we should just 
let all the leaves lie, and let a garden grow where 
you once had a lawn. Weed-whackers and leaf-
blowers make our urban home a nightmare, not 
a paradise.

 What then can we do? Do everything possible. 
First, talk to your neighbor who employs the 
leaf-blowers. Some will understand that yard-
work can be done without excessive noise, dust, 
and fumes, and they might be convinced to hire 
true gardeners. When I lived in L.A., I hired a 
gardener for some occasional work, before the 
blowers were banned. I told him he could not 
use the blower on my property. He objected at 
first, but I told him I’d not hire him otherwise. Of 
course, he found the way to do my yard without 
a blower.

 Other neighbors will not care until they are 
suffering from breathing problems, and the noise 
is driving them mad. 

 If you want to keep your quiet Sierra Madre 
neighborhood tranquil, then go to the city 
meetings and bring up the topic. You could also 
speak up at your local Neighborhood Watch, 
assuming you have one. 

 You may not get the quick action you want, but 
if you remain silent, you can be assured that no 
action will occur.

 Paradise is within, and it is an internal thing. 
We make our homes and neighborhoods a living 
paradise, or an excruciating hell, by all the choices 
we make. Let’s learn to respect each other, and 
especially the needs of the elderly and infirm who 
are home all day. 


Kiwanis President Susan Henderson and Author 
Nat Read


HUFF BILL TO EXPAND ACCESS TO LIFE SAVING MEDICATION 
SIGNED INTO LAW SB 669 HELPS PROTECTS CHILDREN AND 
ADULTS FROM FATAL ALLERGIC REACTIONS

SACRAMENTO: Today Governor Brown signed legislation authored 
by Senate Republican Leader Bob Huff (R-Diamond Bar) that will 
protect children and adults who suffer from serious and potentially 
life-threatening allergies. SB 669 enables California to join a growing 
group of states which properly trains volunteers to administer EpiPens 
on children or adults who suffer a potentially fatal allergic reaction, 
without facing civil liability for trying to save a life.

“This bill will save lives,” said Senator Huff. “We have similar protections 
set up in schools but fatal allergies don’t go away when a student 
steps off the school grounds.” 

 

SB 669 has earned the support of many in the medical community including 
the nationally renowned, Dr. Kari Nadeau, MD, PhD, FAAAAI, 
one of the nation’s leading allergy physicians who leads translational 
research and clinical studies at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital and 
directs the Nadeau Laboratory at Stanford.

“…the bill would allow for a process where volunteers such as Scout leaders and Little League coaches 
may be certified to carry an epinephrine auto injector (EAI) and administer as needed,” Dr. Nadeau 
writes in a letter to Governor Brown. “Allowing volunteers, particularly those that work with children, 
to be prepared for an allergic emergency makes good medical sense.”

Food allergies affecting children is on the rise. According to a report from the Centers for Disease 
Control and Prevention, the number of U.S. children who have food allergies rose by 50 percent from 
1997 to 2011. It’s estimated that serious allergic reactions, suffered by children and adults, are responsible 
for 1,500 deaths a year in the United States.

“Severe allergies are impacting more and more people every day, said Senator Huff. “The truth is we 
needed this law yesterday.”

SB 699 has drawn the support of Food Allergy Research & Education (FARE), the nation’s leading 
organization advocating for people with food allergies and their families, in addition to the California 
Medical Association.

Senator Huff serves as the Senate Republican Leader and represents the 29th Senate District covering 
portions of Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino Counties. Follow Senator Huff on Twitter at @
bobhuff99.


Senator Bob Huff