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OPINIONOPINION

 Mountain Views NewsSaturday, October 26, 2024

RICH JOHNSON

NOW THAT’S RICH

STUART TOLCHIN

PUT THE LIGHTS ON

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


MALE ELIMINATION

FERNANDOMANIA

 Yesterday after attending an awards ceremony 
discussing the world-wide loss of any independent free 
press, I thought about the actual declining birth rate of 
all human beings. The birth rate for all human beings 
has declined for the first time since the Black Death of 
the fourteenth century. In fact, according to the internet, 
before the end of this century the number of people on 
the planet could shrink for the first time. The decline in the fourteenth 
century was the result of disease, the bubonic plague epidemic. Although 
you might want to blame the Covid Virus Pandemic for the decline the 
actual reasons cited are that the decline is the result of cross-cultural shifts 
towards having smaller families or choosing not to have families at all. Of 
course, the acceptance of same-sex partnerships resulting in long term 
relationships without the necessity of children might be a factor as well as 
the fact that people are simply living longer including extended periods 
during which they are biologically incapable of reproduction 

 First. let us first talk about Vladamir Putin, perhaps the richest man in 
the world. Putin has managed to end the Russian theoretical prohibitions 
against continuing rule and apparently intends to rule in perpetuity. Of 
course there has been opposition to Putin, but like other tyrants, Putin 
has imprisoned and caused to be murdered those who have opposed him. 
(Donald Trump speaks of doing the same thing.) Yes, there had been a 
growing opposition to Putin which demonstrated weakness which Putin 
intended to combat by his incursion into Ukraine. 

 At first the World Press informed us that this would be an easy task, and 
the conflict would be over in less than a week. Well of course that has not 
happened. Already close to one million deaths are the ongoing result of 
that conflict. It has recently been reported that the North Korean autocracy 
has transferred 3,000 troops to Russia. Putin and other autocrats, such 
as Turkish President Erdogan have tried to counter opposition by jailing 
opposition and centralizing power. This is not atypical of the behavior of 
autocrats now in control and by his own statements Donald Trump has 
asserted that, once elected, he will eliminate all Constitutional limitations 
on the Presidents and dispense completely with further elections.

 It has now become clear that Trump is now supported by another one of 
the world’s richest men, Elon Musk. I believe that Musk, quite correctly, 
views Donald Trump as a doddering ageing idiot whom Musk can easily 
manipulate and control. I believe that Putin, Trump, Musk and other 
controlling autocrats or wannabe autocrats, totally disrespect women and 
view brute force as the only capable instrument of asserting real power. 
If women can be discounted and the number of men can be limited and 
placed within controlled military forces the powerful ones believe they will 
be even more secure in their power.

 Do you recall Jeffrey Epstein and his island of teenaged girls who 
were somehow lured to the island? As I understand it, Epstein talked of 
impregnating all of the girls himself and thereby become the genetic father 
of all of the island inhabitants. I believe the thought was that other men 
were unnecessary in that one man was capable of being the father to all 
while every individual female was capable of being a birthing mother. 
Young men would only serve the purpose of defending the leader against 
opposition and would be removed if they became a threat to the leader 
himself. Perhaps this is a shared dream of the powerful. 

 I know this speculation seems crazy, but I believe that once in power 
autocrats do not want to share power but lust for more. Secret World-wide 
conspiracies might well take place intended to fend off threats to power and 
there may be no free independent press to report it. HELP.

 Really is this any crazier than the talk of a potential nuclear conflagration 
that could potentially cause extinction of our entire specie, or an ignored 
climate crisis that endangers the whole planet? Let us hope that democracies 
and sanity will prevail and that something like civilization we like to 
believe we have can be maintained. I fear that my fears about the upcoming 
election have led to increased fears about everything else. What about you? 

I learned a little bit more about love this morning. That special awareness 
that comes only from losing something or someone valuable and 
precious. Sadly, as we Angelenos are excitedly anticipating the World 
Series, squaring off our wonderful Dodgers against those serpents, the 
New York Yankees, we are experiencing the loss of our pudgy and cuddly icon of Dodger 
mania, Fernando Valenzuela. The creator of that wonderful malady, “Fernandomania” 
passed away just last Tuesday. He was 63.

 Fernando had a 17-year career in major league baseball. He was an All-Star six times. 
And as a pitcher he had 173 regular season wins and over 2,000 strikeouts.

Fernando was one of 12 children born in the Mexican town of Etchohuaquila, Sonora. 
With his signature chubbiness and thick black hair dangling below his Dodger cap we 
somehow knew this man was destined to be great. He came in with a bang before the 1981 
baseball season. What was the big bang? Well, as luck would have it (for Fernando), the 
two Dodger pitching aces were injured. So, this rookie, who had pitched a total of only 17 
relief innings in the major leagues, was surprisingly named by manager Tommy Lasorda, 
as the Dodger’s 1981 opening day starting pitcher. 

 How did he do? He retired 11 of the last 12 batters he faced and finished a complete 
game shutout, giving up only 5 hits. He won the game 2-0 before a sold-out home crowd 
of over 50,000 fans.

 Oh, and over his next 7 starts, he won, let me see, 7 times. He has the distinction of being 
the only player in major league baseball to win the Cy Young Award and the Rookie of the 
Year award in the same season. Hence the birth of “Fernandomania”!

All of a sudden, Mexican music was being played at the stadium, the Dodgers had 
to hire more Spanish speaking ushers, and the number of Mexican radio stations 
broadcasting Dodger games went from 3 to 17. As Dodger fans starting gleefully shouting 
“Fernandomania”, owner Peter O’Malley was heard repeatedly saying, “ca-ching, 
ca-ching”!

 Yeah, but was Fernando a flash in the pan? Oh, contraire mon amie’… He was picked 
to pitch in the next six straight all-star games. And get this…he earned two Silver Slugger 
Awards, plus a Golden Glove. And more, he was used occasionally as a pinch hitter batting 
.368. In addition to appearing on the pitcher’s mound, the Dodgers put him in the outfield 
and at first base...though not at the same time.

After his major league career on the mound and swinging a 32 ounce stick was over, he 
was soon calling Dodger games on Spanish-language radio for the next 20 years. 

Fernando stopped broadcasting Dodger games just this last October 1st, and passed 
away last 21 days later, on Tuesday October 22. Fernando, you will be missed but never 
forgotten.

 And thank you Homero De la Fuente, CNN sports guru for your inspiring coverage.

One last point about Fernando: He was one of a handful of pitcher/sluggers. Pitchers who 
were as dangerous at the plate as they were on the mound. Of course, that mantle, in 
the Dodger world was recently passed from Fernando to Shohei Ohtani. Other famous 
baseball pitchers who could also wield a mighty bat include (you may have heard of this 
guy) Babe Ruth. Then there were the twin Dons; Don Larsen and Don Drysdale. And my 
favorite, Sloppy Thurston.

Fernando, I won’t find out until I enter the Pearly gates, just how many young people you 
inspired and motivated to reach for the stars. Particularly those of us slightly chubby, 
pudgy and podgy!

 A quick nod to one of my two favorite Sierra Madre Restaurants. Corfu. Great 
breakfasts, lunch and dinner. Their Mediterranean cuisine has the distinction of being 
yummy and healthy…a rare combination. Corfu Restaurant is 5 or so storefronts west of 
Baldwin Avenue on the south side of Sierra Madre Blvd. And there is plenty of parking 
and entrance behind the restaurant in a nice sized parking lot. They could certainly use 
the business. They open at 9:00am. And, if you come on a Saturday morning, we can share 
stories as I typically play cribbage, the card game. I would love to ditch the game to meet 
and hang with folks who like my column.

 Before I sign off, I would like to mention my editor, Susan Henderson. She has been 
and continues to be an inspiration to me. I’m certain she considers me a rock in her life. 
Actually, more like a pebble in her shoe. If you can envision a person on the stage twirling 
8 plates on tall sticks, you can envision what a week in the life of this wonderful lady must 
look and feel like. Congratulations dear friend and mentor, for being named an honoree 
for the SPJ/LA Distinguished Journalist Award. 

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AN ARGUMENT AGAINST ABOLISHING HALLOWEEN

ALEXANDRA Paskhaver


Some people argue that we should ban Halloween. And I would raise 
my pitchfork and follow them, were it not for a few considerations.

Let us be clear. I am not a massive fan of Halloween. There are better 
holidays, like Christmas or Talk Like a Pirate Day. Even so, Halloween 
should stick around.

Stickiness happens to be one of the stronger arguments against it. 
Parents complain that all that candy gives their kids cavities. And 
then it gives them cavities.

Not because the adults steal the candy. My mom and dad always denied it, anyhow. Parents 
just get cavities by association.

The fact that high candy consumption might cause teeth to lose their points is certainly a 
strong point against Halloween.

But without all those cavities, how would dentists make a living? Abolishing Halloween 
would mean throwing nine out of 10 dental professionals out of work.

As someone who carefully follows employment statistics only when I have nothing to read in 
the dentist’s office, I cannot justify this risk.

And let’s not forget the excess of Halloween costumes stuffed in the closets of children across 
the nation.

Even I still have my old clown getup, though I haven’t gone trick-or-treating for over a decade.

If we did away with Halloween, to whom would we give those scary costumes? To the armed 
forces?

According to Professor Google, the U.S. boasts about 2 million military personnel and 72 
million children.

Unless each service member got 36 costumes, canceling Halloween would lead to a ton of 
waste. We try to be an environmentally friendly country, at least when it suits us. So we can’t 
have that.

But Halloween doesn’t just prevent waste and unemployment in the dental sector. The holiday 
teaches kids valuable lessons.

Sure, now they’re going door to door asking strangers for treats. But how else would they 
learn to work in government?

The child who scoops the entire bowl you left out into a pillowcase instead of just taking one 
chocolate is the next billionaire businessman.

As for the teenagers who splatter eggs on your house and festoon your trees with toilet paper? 
They’re the Jackson Pollocks of their generation.

It follows that banning Halloween would deprive our society of the salutary presence of 
politicians, tycoons, and modern artists.

I don’t know about you, but that’s definitely—I mean, definitely NOT—an America I’d want 
to live in.

Lastly, some folks propose scratching Halloween from our calendars would enable us to 
celebrate something more worthwhile.

They say we could replace it with a day for commemorating medical workers. Or dogs with 
floppy ears. Or mothers.

Mother’s Day is already a thing, but one day isn’t really enough to make them feel appreciated. 
At least my mother gives me that impression.

But if we abolish one holiday, who knows where it will end? We could lose Christmas. Or Talk 
Like a Pirate Day. Worst of all, we could lose Saturdays and Sundays.

Even if it only commemorates the countless attempts by countless human beings to raise 
their blood sugar levels beyond anything measurable by scientific instruments, we should 
keep Halloween.

If for no other reason, then for this: I need something to guilt me into seeing my dentist.


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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