Mountain Views News, Sierra Madre Edition [Pasadena] Saturday, July 8, 2017

SATURDAY, JULY 8, 2017 SATURDAY, JULY 8, 2017 
SECTION B 


AROUND SAN GABRIEL VALLEY 
PROUD OF MY COUNTRY 



By Joan Schmidt Clayton

As I put up Fourth of July decorations, I thought about 
our great country.

Why am I proud to be an American? My mom toldme her mother-in-law, returned to Italy for visits, butwas thrilled to come home to the USA. Grandma came 
as a preteen, met Grandpa; they married and raisedfive children. Grandpa and his brothers founded asuccessful statue business. My grandparents lived in a3 story Victorian row house and had a bungalow atNorth Wildwood, N.J. They loved the USA!

My Dad stayed back in First Grade; he couldn’t 
speak English. But he was so smart, he skipped 2nd 
grade! He went to the University of Pennsylvania on 
a scholarship, and worked as a chemical engineer; 
he had 14 patents! Only in America! Land of 
Opportunity!

My favorite story is Uncle Pete Carolfi. He was anItalian Prisoner of War at Fort Dix. My dad’s sister,
Natalie, grew up saying, “I’ll never marry an Italian”, 
but followed Pete back to Italy and married himthere. Pete left ALL his family behind in Italy, butbecame a successful sculptor. He and his sons werecommissioned by the City of Philadelphia to do astatue of George Clymer, a Signer of the Declarationof Independence in front of Independence Hall. Hiswork is also at Caesar’s Palace, Atlantic City, and N.J.’s 
Cherry Hill Mall. Only in America. Truly land ofopportunity!

 Why do I love this great land? I lived fiveyears abroad as a military wife. Two years, 1978-1980were in Taegu, Korea. We were fortunate; My husbandRichard’s assignment necessitated us living on CampWalker. Most did not. One American family wasrobbed twice, then moved into a small apartment forsafety reasons.

First off post ,“NO HOME CAN EVER BE 
WITHOUT A PERSON INSIDE.” Once my 
Korean students were explaining, “Chusok”, their 
Thanksgiving. All families meet at the eldest son’shouse. Mira, my student was staying home. Onlyher parents and brothers were going to attend. She 
had to “Housesit”. Usually families in the city hired ayoung woman from the countryside. The girl was alive-in maid/babysitter. These country girls welcomed 

an opportunity to live in a nice home in the city andexperience city life. Mira’s family was kind and wantedtheir girl to spend her holiday in the country withher own family. So Mira remained at home while herparents and brothers went to the Uncle’s House forChusok. 

Besides someone having to PHSICALLY be in thehouse 24/7, all houses, rich or poor had 6 feet concretewalls around them. No pretty lawns! It reminded meof prison!

Then, there was the curfew. In 1978-80, while there, 
the curfew was from midnight -6am, and NO ONEwent on the streets or you would be arrested! Clubsclosed at 11pm; movies ended 11pm: Everyone had tobe home by midnight! My friend had a miscarriage. Itwas awful. The ambulance took her, but her husband 
couldn’t go. There was no room in the ambulance, plusthere was no way for him to get home.

The worst experiences were during President Pak’sassassination. The Girl Scouts’ field trip had to becanceled-we were afraid to leave the post. Becauseof his position, my husband Richard had a militaryvehicle at home and once drove to Kimpo Airport;
the Secretary of Defense gave him an importantcommunication. I had no idea of what Richard was 
dealing with.

With Pak’s assassination came the threat of 
evacuation. We were terrified. Army wives had theirdocuments and their children’s papers, plus all our“doggy” tags. We had to be ready to leave quickly. Ourneighbors, the Military Chaplain and wife had theresponsibility of a Military Police couple’s baby. Allmilitary personnel remained behind no matter what.
So this couple had made these arrangements for theirbaby daughter.

Then our beloved Pets! My neighbor and I agonizedover them. They could not be taken home. What 
would we do with them? The last worst solution was 
the Army Vet would have to put them down. ThankGod it never reached that point.

For all of the above reasons, I am proud to be anAmerican. It is a land of Opportunity! I have seenwhat my immigrant relatives accomplished. I am trulygrateful to have a front lawn and for the whole familyto take a trip together! God Bless America! 

NAPOLITANO WELCOMES $300,000 WATER 
GRANT FOR SAN GABRIEL RIVER PROJECT 


(AZUSA, CA) Today, Rep. Grace F. Napolitano 
(D-El Monte) congratulated the San Gabriel 
River Water Committee on being awarded a 
$300,000 Bureau of Reclamation WaterSMART 
Drought Resiliency Project Grant it received for 
the construction of a new river gate inlet structure 
near the existing Azusa-Duarte Tunnel Inlet 
on the San Gabriel River. Napolitano requested 
in a February 2017 letter that the Bureau of 
Reclamation support the Committee’s grant 
application. Her full letter can be viewed here.

“Congratulations to the San Gabriel River 
Water Committee on being awarded new federal 
funds to improve water delivery to residents of 
Azusa, Duarte, and other San Gabriel Valley 
cities,” Napolitano said. “We are thrilled this 
project’s grant request was fulfilled, and we 
welcome new federal dollars to help address our 
San Gabriel Valley’s water needs. The new gate 
will provide better water management practices, 
which are especially vital during ongoing drought 

conditions, while enhancing safety and systems 
operations along the San Gabriel River.”

The San Gabriel River Inlet Replacement 
Infrastructure Project will replace the existing 
river gate, which was constructed in the 1880s 
and is insufficient and unsafe to operate, with a 
motorized weir gate. The project also includes 
the installation of remote operating technology 
to operate the ditch gate structure in real-time, 
to more efficiently manage water deliveries. The 
grant covers $300,000 of the total project cost 
of $689,093; the remaining money will be local 
funding.

Napolitano is a long-time promoter of 
conservation, water recycling, desalination, 
and groundwater management as solutions 
to Southern California’s water needs. She is a 
current member and the former top Democrat 
on the House Committee on Natural Resources’ 
Water, Power, and Oceans Subcommittee, which 
oversees the Bureau of Reclamation. 

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