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OPINIONOPINION

Mountain Views-News Saturday, June 15, 2024 

MOUNTAIN 
VIEWS

NEWS

PUBLISHER/ EDITOR

Susan Henderson

PASADENA CITY 
EDITOR

Dean Lee 

SALES

Patricia Colonello

626-355-2737 

626-818-2698

WEBMASTER

John Aveny 

DISTRIBUTION

Peter Lamendola

CONTRIBUTORS

Michele Kidd

Stuart Tolchin 

Harvey Hyde

Audrey Swanson

Meghan Malooley

Mary Lou Caldwell

Kevin McGuire

Chris Leclerc

Dinah Chong Watkins

Howard Hays

Paul Carpenter

Kim Clymer-Kelley

Christopher Nyerges

Peter Dills 

Rich Johnson

Lori Ann Harris

Rev. James Snyder

Katie Hopkins

Deanne Davis

Despina Arouzman

Jeff Brown

Marc Garlett

Keely Toten

Dan Golden

Rebecca Wright

Hail Hamilton

Joan Schmidt

LaQuetta ShambleE

PUT THE LIGHTS ON

RICH JOHNSON NOW THAT’S RICH

STUART TOLCHIN

FATHER'S DAY 2024


CARETAKERS

 

For me “family” comes first. In President Joe’s case I do not 
believe anyone of his advanced age has any business trying 
to do something as difficult as being President. Seriously, 
if he can’t take care of his own family how can we expect 
him to take care of us. Yes, I think of a President as a 
caretaker. Just look around. World-wide there are so many 
complex decisions to be made it is necessary that our leader 
be someone with sufficient experience and clarity to stay abreast of it all and 
finally do what is the right thing to do.

The President certainly has the experience. He was elected to the 
Senate in 1973, a mere fifty-one years ago. Yes. age limits are arbitrary but let 
us be realistic. I know that at my age of 80 I simply do not have the clarity I 
once had, and the President is even older than I am. The President seeks re-
election because of his sincere belief that our country needs him to prevent 
the election of Donald Trump. If that is true, which I hope it is not, what does 
it say about the probable voting population?

I have heard many theories about Trump’s popularity, but I think 
there is one explanation. He doesn’t pretend to care. I saw a TV clip the day 
before yesterday of Trump saying to his audience of supporters, “I don’t care 
about you, I just want your vote” What does his audience hear? Is it that this 
politician at least is telling us the “TRUTH.” He doesn’t pretend to care, and 
we are sick of politicians telling us they care when they don’t. His actions, 
only perhaps, give people permission to admit to their own feelings. No more 
pretending. I want what’s best for me and my family and I don’t care about 
you. 

Is that crazy? It is so easy for we comfortable educated Democrats to 
think of Trump supporters as only rich people who care solely about taxes but 
that cannot be the answer. I believe Trump gives his supporters permission 
to be themselves and this permission even includes the unthinkable and 
unmentionable. Do you remember Trump’s statements about lusting after 
his daughter and his statement about his habit of grabbing beautiful women’s 
private parts. He is a convicted felon, an immoral adulterer and someone 
whose major desire is to have other people pay attention to him. Yes, he is 
great at this; and perhaps that is also what his supporters want. It is okay 
to break laws, ignore vows, forget the Constitution so long as you avoid 
punishment and, as an added reward, get some attention.

Well, to put it bluntly, these adoring supporters, no matter their 
age, are not mature adults. They need someone to take care of them and to 
help them gain responsibility for their own lives. Here is a personal example. 
The parents of our granddaughter who are both hard-working professionals 
expected my wife and I, mainly my wife, to help in caring for our three-year-
old granddaughter about three times a week. After all, my daughter said, 
“that’s what grandparents are supposed to do.”

My wife explained, “that’s when grandparents are in their fifties, but 
we are now in our seventies.” My daughter understood and obtained other 
people to act as a caretaker. We Americans are in the same position. Joe 
Biden’s age combined with his other problems within his own family makes it 
impossible for him to act as a responsible caretaker. We need such a person. 
Under no circumstances would I vote for Donald Trump to be elected but it 
would be best if Democrats acting as responsible caretakers are able to provide 
us with another choice.

We’ll see by November. Until then and always, TAKE CARE. 

Okay Dads, the most important day of the year is upon us…Father’s 
Day! Important whether or not you are a father. (Quick messages to all 
men: There are plenty of kids who have no active fathers. Think of them as 
“rentals”. Find them, love them, cherish them. This will keep your heart soft 
and squishy, and it will mean the world to the fatherless kids for the rest 
of their lives.) Anyway, do you have any idea who Clarence Budington 
Kelland is? Didn’t think so. 

Mr. Kelland was a writer whose most famous work was “Opera Hat”, which became the 
basis for the 1940 movie “Mr. Deeds Goes to Town” starring Gary Cooper. By far, writer 
Kelland’s greatest contribution to our society is his profound quote regarding Fathers. He 
said:

“My father didn’t tell me how to live; he lived and let me watch him do it.” 

Bravo Mr. Kelland. There is a big hole in the heart of kids who have no loving father figure 
in their lives. And we, as fathers, can fill that hole. Let me demonstrate using notable 
quotes regarding the importance of fathers:

“When I come home, my daughter will run to the door and give me a big hug, and 
everything that’s happened that day just melts away.’ Hugh Jackman

“My mother gave me my drive, but my father gave me my dreams.” Liza Minelli

When my father didn’t have my hand, he had my back.” Linda Poindexter

“I don’t have to prepare to be wrapped around my daughter’s finger. I have been wrapped 
around her little finger since the day she plopped out into this world.” Ryan Reynolds

Sigmund Freud said “I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a 
father’s protection.

Harper Lee wrote, “She did not stand alone, but what stood behind her, the most potent 
moral force in her life, was the love of her father.”

“There is no place higher than on daddy’s shoulders.” Unknown

“Every father should remember one day his son will follow his example, not his advice.” 
Charles Kettering

“The smile of a daughter is the secret purpose of every father” Unknown

“As father is a son’s first hero and a daughter’s first love.” Unknown

“Fathers, be your daughter’s first love and she’ll never settle for anything less.” Unknown

“It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” Frederick Douglas

“I believe that what we become depends on what our fathers teach us at odd moments, 
when they aren’t trying to teach us. We are formed by little scraps of wisdom.” 

Umberto Eco

“I was selfish before. Everyone is. But when you have kids, they become your main priority.” 
David Beckham

“You don’t raise heroes, you raise sons. And if you treat them like sons, they’ll turn out to 
be heroes, even if it’s just in your own eyes.” Walter Shirra Jr.

“One of the greatest lessons I learned from my dad was to make sure your children know 
that you love them” Al Roker

“When my father didn’t have my hand, he had my back.” Unknown

“A father’s goal is to make them better than he is. Being their friend is a distant second to 
this.” Unknown

“It doesn’t matter who my father was; it matters who I remember he was.” Anne Sexton

“Daddies don’t just love their children every now and then, it’s a love without end.” George 
Strait

“It takes less than a minute to make a baby, but more than a decade to make a being.” 
Unknown

“The difference between a man and a father? A man shares his genes, but the father gives 
his life!” Unknown

“You don’t scare me. I have two daughters.” Unknown

And the last quote from an anonymous daughter: “Thanks for being the cool parent. Don’t 
tell Mom.” Unknown

Congratulations Dad! So much of the good in society is in our hands. Embrace and cherish 
your kids, real or rental.

P.S. Don’t forget to keep Mama happy.

Mountain Views News 
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DINAH CHONG WATKINS


CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE WRONG 
KIND

CIRCLE OF LIFE

A ferocious swarm of wasps sting unrelentingly. Searing 
pain erupts at random. Skin - excruciatingly tender, like 
second degree burns. Then the itching. The incessant, 
driven to insanity, don’t do it - it’ll make it worse but it 
feels so good, unhinged scratch-fest.

Shingles, the first line of defense for Russia’s FSB, China’s MSS and rumors 
of the CIA in preparing “people of interest” to talk. But mostly, it hits regular 
joes and janes over 50. 

I woke up covered in a fiery rash from the tip of my ear to down and around 
my neck. I rushed to the clinic hoping it was a reaction to the promotional 
Fourth of July blue dyed Twinkie I ate the day before.

An hour later the doctor dismissed me with a bottle of anti-virals and pain 
killers for my shingles, she seemed sad for me, like a stranger on the reception 
line at a funeral, I took that as a bad sign.

The next morning I woke up and checked the texts from my husband who 
was traveling,

“Happy anniversary honey”

“I got Covid”

Not even a minute later my dog came in from the yard, her back and paws 
were covered in blood. Two steps from panic, I toweled off the blood and 
checked her body for wounds, there weren’t any. I walked out to the yard, a 
deer was standing by the garden. Waving my arms I yelled at it but it didn’t 
move, then I saw the pool of blood it was standing in, I dialed 911. They replied 
they’d contact the Humane Society. 

After I showered the dog, the deer was still there only now lying down. Then 
suddenly, a coyote jumped down from the hill and dragged the deer to the 
corner, trapping it by a set of lounge chairs. The deer was crying, should I go 
out but alone and challenging a predator that just dragged a 180 pound deer 
100 feet? I’d be a BOGO for him.

A good neighbor and the police showed up but the coyote spooked and ran 
away. The deer, a young buck was taking the last glimpses of its life, the light 
in its eyes slowly dimming. The coyote had chewed through the deer’s hind 
quarters and belly, not a pretty sight.

We waited over the deer until it took its last breath. I muttered something 
very suburban-ite, along the lines of protecting the deer, the police officer 
replied, “It’s the circle of life.”

A call came in from Dispatch, the officers and neighbor left. I blared AC/
DC’s Highway to Hell on the backyard speakers to drive away the coyotes 
until the Humane Society arrived, two extra-large Hefty garbage bags and a 
blanket and the deer was gone, well most of it. We commiserated about the 
deer and they replied, “It’s the circle of life.”

A gallon of blood, and bits and blobs of guts was drying in the hot noonday 
sun. Armed only with a painter’s spatula, bleach and a low-flow hose, I took 
care of the crime scene like a seasoned pro, “fuhgettaboutit” was my motto.

My husband called, allowing me to over-share the day’s events and the trauma 
of watching the coyote attack the deer, he attempted to comfort me in his 
Mid-West corn field way and replied, “It’s the circle of life.”

Circle of life - I couldn’t reconcile the half-eaten deer with cuddly Simba the 
cub, but with everything that happened, I forgot I had shingles!

Dinah Chong Watkins column appears every 1st and 3rd Saturday of the 
month.

For more Close Encounters Of The Wrong Kind go to www.ceotwk.com


Mountain Views News

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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