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Mountain Views-News Saturday November 1, 2025 OPINIONOPINION 1414 
Mountain Views-News Saturday November 1, 2025 OPINIONOPINION 
MOUNTAIN 

VIEWS 

NEWS 

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Susan Henderson 

PASADENA CITY 
EDITOR 

Dean Lee 

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Patricia Colonello 
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Peter Lamendola 

CONTRIBUTORS 

Lori A. Harris 
Michele Kidd 
Stuart Tolchin 
Harvey HydeAudrey SwansonMeghan MalooleyMary Lou CaldwellKevin McGuire 
Chris Leclerc 
Dinah Chong WatkinsHoward HaysPaul CarpenterKim Clymer-KelleyChristopher NyergesPeter Dills 
Rich Johnson 
Rev. James SnyderKatie HopkinsDeanne Davis 
Despina ArouzmanJeff Brown 
Marc Garlett 
Keely TotenDan Golden 
Rebecca WrightHail Hamilton 
Joan Schmidt 
LaQuetta Shamblee 

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PUT THE LIGHTS ON

STUART TOLCHIN 
MOMENTS I REMEMBER 


By the time you read this article, Thanksgiving will have passed, but 
I am taking this opportunity to share some unforgettable moments 
in my life with you lucky readers. The most memorable Thanksgiving 
for me was November 28, 1974. On that Thursday UCLA 
was playing USC in a College Football Game at the Los Angeles 
Memorial Coliseum. The same teams are playing Saturday in the 
same stadium, but now I don’t care very much. Then I did care 
very much even though it was my son’s two-year birthday. Yes, he 

was born on November 28,1972 but that November 28th was not Thanksgiving, but 
November 28. 1974 was.

 A two-year old’s birthday shouldn’t be much of an obstacle, but something else veryimportant was going on. Believe it or not, my wife was due to be delivering our second 
baby that very same day. We had already gone to the hospital, and they had sent us 
away saying it was way too soon. We returned to her parent's house where I was happily 
watching the football game assuming it would be a long time before we’d have to 
go back to the hospital. 

In fact, I assumed we wouldn’t need to return until the next day or the day after. Two 
years earlier, it had taken her three grueling days to deliver. I remember my wrist being 
very sore from trying to assist her. Now, she demanded that she go back to the hospital 
again. Farewell football game, farewell son on his birthday. We got to the hospital, 
and I quickly changed clothes to wear in the delivery room. It probably took me all of 
five minutes, but by the time I got to the delivery room, the baby was already coming. 

Maybe this adventure was indicative of the fact that we did not communicate very well. 
Within two years of my daughter’s birth, my wife and I were seeing a marriage counsellor 
who said these exact words: “If you don’t want to be there and you don't want him 
there then he should leave!” Leave, I did and lived alone on Venice Beach visiting the 
kids on Tuesdays and Thursdays, generally falling asleep under the couch.
Leaving the marriage did not end my parental adventures. It turned out that my son 
was developmentally disabled and that was very hard for my ex-wife, who also had our 
infant daughter to tend to tend to along with her teaching job and surprisingly, she 
asked that I take over custody of my son. Soon he and I were living in Sierra Madre 
where there was a school nearby that specifically catered to children with disabilities.
Now I was a single-parent living with my son, but other changes arose. For reasons I 
never understood my ex-wife became disillusioned living in Los Angeles. One day 
when I came to visit my daughter my ex told me that she was moving to New Mexico 
and that I would also have to assume custody of my daughter. You might think this 
made me unhappy but instead I was thrilled. My daughter was now six or seven and 
the very moment I recall is when I came to see her and explained that she would now 
come to live with her brother and me. She took the information very calmly but explained 
to me that this would not be necessary as her grandma and grandpa could 
come and take her to and from school and that the neighbors in the apartment building 
where she and her mom had lived could help her out. 

I told her that this was not possible as her grandparents would be moving to a place 
called Leisure World that did not allow children. She then explained that at the school 
she was going she had been selected to attend Special classes for advanced students. I 
told her that I would make sure that she would be allowed to attend special classes in 
Pasadena and with a whole lot of effort I was able to keep that promise. To make this 
happen it was necessary that I take her to one School, then take my son to another 
School, then return and pick her up and deliver her to regular School-------- then I 
could go to work lawyering. 

I have shared these memories with you mainly because this Thanksgiving weekend 
is what has occupied my mind. My kids are now in their mid-fifties. On Sunday, my 
wife and I are scheduled to attend the Bob Barker Marionette presentation at the Sierra 
Madre Playhouse. Probably well over 45 years ago my kids and I had attended a similar 
Bob Barker marionette presentation, but I don’t remember much about it. It would 
be nice if my daughter could join us but as a busy immigration attorney representing 
wrongly detained people, she has little time for entertainment.
Life is unpredictable and unexpected. Hooray for at least momentarily predictable and 
enjoyable life in Sierra Madre, but change might come at any moment, and we need to 
know we will be strong enough to do whatever becomes necessary to do. At least that 
is what I keep telling myself. 


HOWARD Hays As I See It 

"This is the most incompetent and idiotic Administration in his


tory. Who's in Charge?" Missouri Congressional Candidate Fred 

Wellman 

If there’s a common 

thread to events last 

week, it’s the question 

of whether this Admin


istration knows what 
it’s doing. This goes beyond a debate over 
what they’re trying to do; it’s rather the 
lack of competence in doing it. 

It’s no surprise a majority of Americans 
oppose ICE’s actions in our cities. What’s 
surprising is agents’ not having the competence 
to realize that if you’re wearing abodycam, you shouldn’t be giving sworn 
testimony at odds with the footage you’d 
been recording. And likewise, if citizens 
are showing up to record, you shouldn’t be 
surprised when they show up with those 
recordings in court. 

This was made clear in a Chicago courtroom, 
when a federal judge heard agents 
testify under oath that they only used minimal 
force as necessary for their own safety. 
Then the judge, in the opinion she handed 
down, described footage the AP reported 
as “scenes of agents launching tear gas 
without warning, aiming rubber rounds 
at reporters, tackling protesters and laughing 
as blood oozed from a demonstrator’s 
ear”. There were flash-bang grenades fired 
at fleeing protestors, kicking them on the 
ground, pointing guns at residents and intentionally 
trying to rile up the crowds. 

This lying under oath wasn’t just by new-
hires who thought they could get away 
with it. The judge cited the officer in 
charge of the operation, Greg Bovino, as 
being “evasive” and “outright lying”. The 
head guy himself was lying even though 
knowing that bodycam footage would 
be reviewed. It was this footage that the 
judge said resulted in “undermining all of 
Defendant’s claims”. 

On the “diplomatic” front, there were questions 
of competence raised in not knowing 
who’s in charge, who’s leaking what and 
why. President Trump announced there 
was a new peace plan for Ukraine, and 
said he expected an answer from Ukrainian 
President Zelensky by Thanksgiving(giving him a week to decide). 

The plan had Ukraine ceding to Russia 
not only the 20% of Ukraine already occupied, 
but additional areas it still controlled. 
There’d be limits on Ukraine’s military 
and ability to defend itself, and a permanent 
ban on joining NATO. Russia would 
be absolved of liability for whatever war 
crimes and destruction in Ukraine. 

Reuters reported concerns that “many senior 
officials inside the State Department 
and inside the National Security Council 
were not briefed.” Nor were our European 
allies, Ukraine itself or even Secretary of 
State Marco Rubio until late in the game. 

The plan came from meetings between 
Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff joined 
by son-in-law Jared Kushner, and Russian 
businessman Kirill Dmitriev. Witkoff is a 
real estate developer who depends on people 
with money to invest. Kushner runs a 

private equity firm that depends on people 
with money to invest. Dmitriev, appointed 
by Russian President Putin to manage 
Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, has $10 billion 
to invest. 

Senators Mike Rounds (R-SD), Jean Shaheen 
(D-NH) and Angus King (I-ME) 
told how Secretary of State Marco Rubio 
assured them this was merely a “starting 
point” for discussion. Sen. King said Ru-
bio told them it was “not the administration’s 
plan” but more of a “wish list of the 
Russians”. Sen. Rounds observed that “it 
looked more like it was written in Russian 
to begin with”. This observation was 
shared by linguists who studied it. 

Sen. Rounds clarified; “Rubio did make 
a phone call to us this afternoon and he 
made it very clear to us that we are the recipients 
of a proposal that was delivered 
to one of our representatives. It is not 
our recommendation; it is not our peace 
plan . . . And we did not release it, it was 
leaked.” Some reports identify the leaker 
as Dmitriev. 

The State Department then issued a statement 
that no, this was indeed the official 
proposal of the United States. It called the 
senators’ statements “blatantly false”. Secretary 
Rubio then denied ever having told 
the senators what they distinctly recalled 
he’d told them. 

Bloomberg released a leaked transcript of 
a phone call between Witkoff and Putin’s 
aide Yuri Ushakov, ahead of a planned 
meeting between Zelensky and Trump. 
Witkoff coached Ushakov on how the Russians 
could best pitch their side to Trump. 
He suggested Putin give Trump a call the 
day before his meeting with Zelensky. He 
advised that Putin start the call by laying it 
on thick stroking Trump’s ego, as he’d then 
be better able to dissuade Trump from 
providing those long-range Tomahawk 
missiles Zelensky was asking for. 

Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) posted that for 
those who “want to see Ukraine prevail 
as a sovereign and democratic country, it 
is clear that Witkoff fully favors the Russians”. 
Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) simply calls 
him an “Actual traitor . . . Steve Witkoff is 
supposed to work for the United States, 
not Russia.” 

Rep. Bacon added, “Some people better 
get fired on Monday for the gross buffoonery 
we just witnessed over the last four 
days. This hurt our country and undermined 
our alliances, and encouraged our 
adversaries.” 

In response to candidate Wellman’s post 
quoted above, “This is the most incompetent 
and idiotic Administration in history. 
Who’s in charge?” Political scientist Norm 
Ornstein answered, “Putin”. 

In the meantime, Secretary of Defense Pete 
Hegseth has been busy severing whatever 
remaining ties between our nation’s military 
and the Boy Scouts. 

RICH JOHNSON 


REGRETS? TOO FEW TO MENTION 

If you are wondering why I would write a column on “regrets”, the 
weeks leading up to the Christmas season are the perfect time to 
realign our priorities. What is really important to us? 

“Regrets. I’ve had a few; but then again, too few to mention.” The 
aforementioned lyric is a gift to us from singer/songwriter Paul 
Anka. Paul rewrote a French song entitled, “Comme d’habitude” 

and entitled it “My Way”. He had Frank Sinatra in mind when 
writing his version and as those of us a certain age or older remember as Frank’s 
defining song. 

I’m inviting all of us to listen to the song (Oldsters, get your grandchildren to show 
you how to get on “YouTube” or “Spotify”, take the message to heart, and alter your 
life’s course just a little bit making life more enjoyable for you (and more importantly, 
those around you)!
Regrets have one purpose…as momentary self reflections that bring about course 
corrections in life. 

Last week my brilliant editor, Susan, reran one of my favorite columns. If you read 
it, it shared the episode when Michael Jordan, (arguably professional basketball’s 
greatest superstar,) quit basketball to fulfill a dream of being a major league baseball 
player. He was good at both and his father always wanted him to be a baseball 
star. 

Michael traded a basketball for a baseball bat and glove and stepped down to a 
minor league team to start. Michael will tell you, in his own words, he learned 
success isn’t always guaranteed, and (GET THIS) the greatest rewards come from 
the journey itself!
Michael may consider himself the worst professional baseball player of all time. He 
has the statistics to back up his lack of success at baseball.
After a year he announced to the world and the National Basketball Association,
“I’m back!” and then led the Chicago Bulls to 3 more championships and solidified 
his legacy as the greatest basketball player of all time.
Let’s all agree going forward to use regrets to improve the quality of our individual 
lives! 
Writer Stephen King faced so much rejection that he threw his manuscript away. 
We suspect his wife fished it out of the trash as the manuscript was titled “Carrie” 
and ultimately became a best seller making Stephen rich and famous! 

Edna St. Vincent Millay, an American poet and playwright wrote: “I am glad that 
I paid so little attention to good advice; had I abided by it I might have been saved 
from some of my most valuable mistakes.” 

And finally, the best perspective on dealing with failure and regret: Thomas Edison 
on his 1,000 unsuccessful attempts inventing a successful light bulb. His problem 
was the right material to act as a filament (the thread that lights up). Edison tested 
over 6,000 substances to find the right filament. Edison really learned success is 
often built on a foundation of failure. 

And finally, if you can’t sleep tonight, fire up the old computer and ask Google how 
many businesses and entities worldwide are named after Thomas Edison? Prepare 
to be up for hours if not days. 

Think of regrets as mental invitations to consider life course adjustments. No matter 
what age you are: Finding success at what age? Colonel Sanders 62, Ray Kroc 
(McDonalds founder) 52, Sam Walton 44 lol, Charles Darwin 50, Stan Lee 40, Ian 
Fleming 44, John Pemberton, founder of Coca-Cola at 55, Grandma Moses (artist)
70’s, Joseph Campbell (Campbell’s Soup), 78.
Your turn! 


1 MILLION LIKES by Paul the Cyberian 

PROJECT BLUE - WHEN THE BIG GUY IS TOO BIG 

Project Blue is a hotly contested Amazon proposal for a 290-acre data 
center complex in the Tucson, Arizona area. At an estimated cost of $4 
billion, Amazon has deployed significant resources to ensure this project 
comes to fruition. 

The Project Blue FAQ can be found on the Pima.Gov Economic Development 
page, and even a cursory reading of the document shows the 
foresight and concern for the environment that Amazon and the developer, 
Beale Infrastructure, put into ensuring that this massive venture 
will fit into the existing environment as seamlessly as possible. 

The very real promise of Economic Growth, Tax Revenue, Job Creation, 
and Commercial Opportunities for businesses supporting the 
new datacenter is enough to launch at least a few political careers on its 
own. However, the Tucson City Council remains unconvinced that the 
benefits received will outweigh the environmental cost to the community. 
Primary among their concerns is the millions of gallons of water 
the new data center will require for regular operations. Estimates for 
operations of the size proposed under Project Blue, a typical hyperscalesized 
datacenter, run into the millions of gallons. 

This fact is of particular concern for the Tucson area, which is currently 
experiencing drought conditions. They do not have the water, on that 
scale, to share. And only one of the parties can do without it. In late July2025, a virtual Town Hall featuring presentations from Tucson Utilities 
officials to address citizen concerns about Project Blue. 
In early August 2025, the Tucson City Council voted unanimously to reject 
Project Blue. This did not spell the end for Project Blue, as the Pima 
County Board of Supervisors had earlier voted in June of 2025 to sell the 
290 acres of land needed for Project Blue to Beale Infrastructure. The 
deal included a requirement that the city of Tucson annex the property 
to supply the water required to run the datacenter. Despite the apparent 
setbacks that would have kiboshed nearly any other business deal, Beale 
Infrastructure is moving forward with its plans under Project Blue. 

The developer and utility officials filed a request to lock in power needs 
for the initial stages of Project Blue, with plans to address the water issues 
at a later date. 

Unless the regulatory bodies at the top of the chain agree with the Tucson 
City Council, the people will have spoken. And it wasn't enough. 

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