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 Mountain Views News Saturday, February 17, 2024 


CHRISTOPHER Nyerges 

 [www.SchoolofSelf-Reliance.com]

LIFELINE FOR PETS SPECIAL 
REQUEST:

Do you “Have a Heart to Save a 
Heart”?

We recently rescued several cats 
and kittens from a horrendous 
LA County “shelter,” where 
they were on the KILL LIST for 
treatable health conditions. We couldn’t let that happen! We 
created a Valentine Giving Grid, a 
fundraiser, to help with the huge 
vet costs they incurred, like lit-tle Farrah Pawcett here. This cutie 
pie with the large bandage has a very serious injury to her right 
front paw. She then developed a URI which resulted in a $5200 
4-night ER stay. She is now facing amputa-tion. Our Valentine 
fundraiser at www.givinggrid.com/feelthelove , is to help us with 
those medical expenses. Won’t you please help by donat-ing any 
amount? It’s very safe and easy. You can see more of the cats we’ve 
saved when you click to donate, or just use the qr code. Thank 
you soooo much!


ENCOURAGING YOU TO VOTE

[Nyerges is the author of “Urban Survival Guide,” “Extreme Simplicity,” and 
other books. Information about his books and classes is available at www.
SchoolofSelf-Reliance.com]

 

Years ago, I was very active in the neighborhood during election times, 
encouraging people to vote. My wife and I, and members of the non-profit 
we worked with, organized a few “voter discussion” meetings. We began 
by making a flier for such an event, and then we walked to every house in our immediate 
neighborhood to give them the flier. This also gave us the opportunity to talk with neighbors 
as well. Our neighborhood already had some sense of organization because we conducted 
periodic Neighborhood Watch meetings, and several of the neighbors had expressed an 
interest in a voter discussion.

We told everyone to read the voter information booklet that they received in the mail before 
the meeting. As some of you might know, those booklets have the pros and cons for each 
proposition, and a little about each candidate for the various offices.

When the evening came, we all gathered in the living room of one of the neighbors with 
about a dozen neighbors who showed up. I first asked if everyone had read the voter 
information booklet, and most had not. I guess I was not surprised. They came to the 
meeting because they didn’t want to take the time to read all the details of that booklet. 

I had actually read most of the booklet, and, as the conductor of the meeting, I made it 
clear that we were in no way going to try to influence anyone’s vote. We began with the 
president, and we didn’t spend much time there because most people had already made up 
their mind regarding that office. I only shared a few obvious points and then we moved 
onto other offices.

My goal was just to help our neighbors be informed, and the propositions and the local 
judges and local offices generally has a far greater effect on each of our lives than does the 
president. Yet, everyone focuses on the president and not the more down-to-earth issues 
and people.

When I had read the booklet before our meeting, I took the time to mark key points on each 
of the propositions, things that I felt were the essence of each proposition. What actually 
results would occur if that proposition passed? How much would it cost? Who would pay 
for it? Were there other laws or agencies that were already in existence that could be doing 
the same work? These are the ways we tried to pick apart each proposition. It wasn’t easy 
and we didn’t all agree. But each of us had a better idea of what the proposition was all 
about than when we started.

And then there is the issue about the cost of administration of some of the propositions, 
and whether or not it would have any chance of fixing the problem if it passed.

Our voting meetings were always very civil, and we had many of them. A few were 
conducted by our non-profit in the local library, where members of the community joined 
in. We always emphasized that we were not there to argue, but to try and shed light on all 
the diverse issues that we had to vote upon.

Voting is a sacred right to be taken seriously, and I really hope that each of you can find the 
time to do something similar with your friends, family, and neighbors.

One year, after the election, a neighbor (who did not attend the meetings), said to me, 
“Well, are you happy with who you elected into office?” He then went on to tell me the 
bad things about a few new elected officials. I told him that I did not vote for those people, 
but I did vote. This neighbor told me that he rarely votes because “nothing changes.” I 
was about to read him the riot act, but I was tired that night, and merely explained that 
you don’t always get what you want, but if you don’t even take the time to vote, you have 
forfeited your right to complain. I told him that many Americans were like him, and that 
I felt the average turnout in the U.S. for elections is pathetic. Those who chose not to vote 
could have completely altered the outcome. I 
also mentioned how many countries do not 
have the right to vote. In some cases, when 
they finally got that right, nearly 90% of the 
eligible voters took the time to vote for their 
leaders. I told my neighbor that he should 
not take his right to vote for granted.

To read a little more about the sacred 
aspect of the vote, read “Democracy is Self-
Government” by H.W. Percival. Then, if you 
want to be shocked into voting, read “On 
Tyranny” by Timothy Snyder.


Pet of the Week

 

 One-year-old Vin is a happy-go-lucky lab/husky mix 
who has never met a person who is not his new BFF.

 

 Vin is sure to steal your heart with his silly nature and 
A+ personality. He is very cuddly and playful, and he 
seems to get along well with other similar-sized dogs.

 

 He recently spent the day out with the Pasadena 
Humane mobile team and had a wonderful time. He 
met dozens of people, played with every toy he could 
find, and got to practice all his training cues. He made 
fast friends with one of the other dogs- they even 
traded toys back and forth. 

 Vin is an active dog, so he would be an ideal hiking or walking companion. He walks 
very nicely next to his person like the well-behaved boy he is!

 Vin and all other animals over 6 months old can be adopted for only $14 from February 
8 – 18, during Pasadena Humane’s Make Your Heart Happy-Adopt A Pet promotion! 

 All dog adoptions include spay or neuter, microchip, and age-appropriate vaccines. 

 New adopters will receive a complimentary health-and-wellness exam from VCA Animal 
Hospitals, as well as a goody bag filled with information about how to care for your pet. 

 View photos of adoptable pets and schedule an adoption appointment at pasadenahumane.
org. Daily adoption appointments can be scheduled online. New adoption appointments 
are available every Sunday and Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. Walk-in appointments are 
available every day from 2:00 – 5:00. Pets may not be available for adoption and cannot be 
held for potential adopters by phone calls or email.

ALL THINGS By Jeff Brown 


GEORGE WASHINGTON:

Here are some of his most notable quotes:

"What is most important of this grand experiment, 
the United States? Not the election of the first 
president but the election of its second president. 
The peaceful transition of power is what will 
separate this country from every other country in 
the world".

Let your heart feel for the afflictions and distress of 
everyone, and let your hand give in proportion to 
your purse.

“Where are our Men of abilities? Why do they not come forth to save their Country?” 

“No punishment, in my opinion, is to great, for the man who can build his greatness 
upon his country's ruin.”

My first wish is to see this plague of mankind, war, banished from the earth.

"Observe good faith and justice towards all nations; cultivate peace and harmony with 
all."

"If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to 
the slaughter."

"The Constitution is the guide which I never will abandon."

"Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism."

Let your heart feel for the afflictions and distress of everyone, and let your hand give 
in proportion to your purse.

The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge 
natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the 
most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a 
more formal and permanent despotism.

Be Americans. Let there be no sectionalism, no North, South, East or West. You are all 
dependent on one another and should be one in union. In one word, be a nation. Be 
Americans, and be true to yourselves.

“But if the Laws are to be so trampled upon—with impunity—and a minority (a small 
one too) is to dictate to the majority there is an end put, at one stroke, to republican 
government; and nothing but anarchy and confusion is to be expected thereafter

"However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in 
the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, 
and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp 
for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which 
have lifted them to unjust dominion."

“I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is 
the best policy.”


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