Mountain Views News, Combined Edition Saturday, May 7, 2022

14 Mountain Views-News Saturday, May 7, 2022 OPINION 14 Mountain Views-News Saturday, May 7, 2022 OPINION 
MOUNTAIN 

VIEWS 

NEWS 

PUBLISHER/ EDITOR

Susan Henderson 

PASADENA CITY 
EDITOR 

Dean Lee 

PRODUCTION 

SALES 

Patricia Colonello 
626-355-2737 
626-818-2698 

WEBMASTER 

John Aveny 

DISTRIBUTION 

Peter Lamendola 

CONTRIBUTORS 

Stuart Tolchin 
Audrey SwansonMeghan MalooleyMary Lou CaldwellKevin McGuire 
Chris Leclerc 
Bob Eklund 
Howard HaysPaul CarpenterKim Clymer-KelleyChristopher NyergesPeter Dills 
Rich Johnson 
Lori Ann Harris 
Rev. James SnyderKatie HopkinsDeanne Davis 
Despina ArouzmanJeff Brown 
Marc Garlett 
Keely TotenDan Golden 
Rebecca WrightHail Hamilton 
Joan Schmidt 
LaQuetta Shamblee 

Mountain Views News 
has been adjudicated asa newspaper of GeneralCirculation for the County 
of Los Angeles in CourtCase number GS004724: 
for the City of SierraMadre; in Court CaseGS005940 and for the 
City of Monrovia in CourtCase No. GS006989 and 
is published every Saturday 
at 80 W. Sierra MadreBlvd., No. 327, Sierra 
Madre, California, 91024.
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reserved. All submissions 
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Views News and maybe published in part or 
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Opinions and views expressed 
by the writersprinted in this paper donot necessarily expressthe views and opinionsof the publisher or staff 
of the Mountain Views 
News. 

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wholly owned by GraceLorraine Publications,
and reserves the right torefuse publication of advertisements 
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publication. 

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correspondence should 
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Mountain Views News 
80 W. Sierra Madre Bl. 
#327 
Sierra Madre, Ca.
91024 

Phone: 626-355-2737 
Fax: 626-609-3285 
email: 

mtnviewsnews@aol.com 


A member 
of the 
California 
NewspaperPublishers 
Association 

Mountain Views News 

Mission Statement 

The traditions of 

community news


papers and the 

concerns of our readers 


are this newspaper’s 
top priorities. We 
support a prosperous

community of well-
informed citizens. We 


hold in high regard the 

values of the exceptional

quality of life in our 

community, includingthe magnificence of 
our natural resources. 


Integrity will be our guide. 

RICH & FAMOUS 


MOTHERHOOD QUOTES 
VENTS 

Pardon me, but my name is…well, you can 
refer to me as “Famous”. Our Richard, has 
potential. But he is, shall we say, a bit too pedestrian. 
I feel my duty is to intervene and guide my would be apprentice. 
And increase the circulation of a wonderful newspaper, led by a brilliant 

editor. HER name is Susan…of course! 

I really am nothing more than a humble, extremely talented, renaissance woman, doing my part. 
My protegee, Richard, initially tendered a syrupy smattering of standard sappy, sentimental 
Mother’s Day quotes. Typical father. I deemed a more meaningful and lasting gift to mothers 
to be a frank summary detailing “difficulties” faced by “moms” on a daily basis. Let’s permit 
“Mom” the opportunity to vent this year. Shall we? 

Being a mom is like folding a fitted sheet. No one really knows how. 
My nickname is Mom but my full name is Mom Mom Mom Mom Mom Mom. 
Ever had a job where you had no experience, no training, you weren’t allowed to quit, and 

people’s lives were at stake? 
The quickest way for a mother to get her children’s attention is to sit down and look comfortable. 
Being a mother is one person doing the work of twenty—for free. 
Before becoming a parent, I didn’t know I could ruin someone’s life by asking them to put pants 

on… 
Every time I say “no” my kids hear, “ask again, she didn’t understand the question.” 
They say women speak 20,000 words a day. I have a daughter who gets that done before breakfast. 
My kids will walk right past their father sitting on the couch and come bang on the shower door 

for me open a fruit snack. 
You know your life has changed when going to the grocery store by yourself is a vacation. 
Being a mom means you will say yes to putting a dirty tissue in your pocket 
If evolution really works, then how come mothers only have two hands?

We do have eyes in the back of our heads though. 
Some days I amaze myself. Other days I put laundry in the oven. 
Boys: less drama than girls, but harder to keep alive. 
Make your coffee stronger than your toddler. 
Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing up is like watering the lawn while it’s 

raining. 
Ain’t no hood like motherhood. 
Having a daughter is like having a little broke best friend that thinks you’re rich. 
I am a Mother of Dragons. I need an army, not an edible arrangement. 
You aren’t famous until my mother has heard of you. 
Nothing is lost until a mother can’t find it. 

Everyone, have a wonderful celebration of Mom on Sunday. Moms really do hold the world and 
society together. 

Susan Henderson, 
Editor/Publisher 


YOU CAN’T MAKE A WOMAN BE A 
MOTHER. 

It’s Mother’s Day Weekend. It’s one of the few times a year when our 
society takes a moment to give special thanks and honor the women 
who have children in this world – Women who have loved them unconditionally, 
who have dried their tears, tended to their wounds - both 
physical and emotional and who have often been their best friend. I 
had such a Mother. I am such a Mother (or at least I think so, but you’ll 
have to ask my children), and I am eternally grateful for both privileges. 
I was and I am blessed for there is nothing more precious than a Mother’s 
love. Daddy’s are great but Mom….she was extra special. 

Sadly however, on this Mother’s Day our conversations are filled with 
passion over whether or not the US Supreme Court is going to force 
women into bringing lives into this world that they do not want. 

We have sensationalized and politicized this issue to the point of violence. 
We have become a society where too many feel they have the right to tell you what you can 
and cannot do with your own body. And we are trying to become a society where we want to make 
women bring children into this world because somebody else said so, whether they want to, or are 
capable of being a Mother to the child. That is outrageous. 

If you think having an abortion is such a heinous act, please tell me what you think it is to bring an 
innocent child into this world who is not wanted? To relegate an innocent child to a life of abuse, 
physical, sexual and or mental; to bring an innocent child into an environment full of resentment 
and or drugs and violence? Do you think that’s not heinous? 

There is nothing worse than listening to a child who has been tossed around from foster home to 
foster home and feels like they are just a commodity, living in fear and uncertainty every day. 

There is nothing in this world worse than picking up the paper and seeing yet another story of a 
child that has been murdered or exploited for sex because of someone who didn’t want the child 
in the first place and subsequently did not protect them. Have you ever spoken to someone who 
‘grew up in such an environment and actually heard the pain in their view of life and what life has 
ahead for them? Go visit the county jail. It’s full of the residual effects of being brought into this 
world without a loving environment. 

Have you looked into some of the grim statistics as to how many children who come into this 
world to a mother who does not want them, or is not capable of taking care of them, how many of 
them end up committing suicide as they get older? 

Children come into this world as perfect human beings. They should be greeted with love, nurturing 
and care. That absolutely cannot happen when a woman truly does not want the child. And 
no one should make a woman bring a human being into this world that they do not want. Don’t 
bother to suggest that they should have the child and give it away until the almost 400,000+ kids 
that are currently in foster care and the thousands more waiting to be adopted have been placed in 
a loving home. A lot of people talk the pro life talk, but don’t walk the walk. 

God, or whatever Deity one may choose to believe, in all of His omnipotence, did not give the 
ultimate responsibility for bringing children into the world to men. He gave it to women and 
whether wealthy or poor, the responsibility for that newborn is ultimately hers. That is not to understate 
the importance of Fathers, but if Dad dies, runs away, is in denial, is abusive, the ultimate 
responsibility is the Mother's. It is very comfortable for us to think about abortion in terms of our 
lives – but we are not talking about our lives, we are talking about those who feel they cannot, for 
whatever reason, bring a child into this world. 

Taking away the right to have an abortion? Absolutely not! As I said before and cannot say enough, 
there is nothing in this world more painful than seeing or meeting a child who comes into this 
world unwanted. Unwanted children suffer all manners of irreparable damage throughout their 
lives. That is, if they survive the abuse. Yes, I would rather see a woman recognize that they do not 
have what it takes to be a Mother - bring a child into this world and care for the child - rather than 
to see another child with cigarette burns, or bruises, broken bones, locked up, beaten, murdered, 
sexually exploited, abandoned, addicted to drugs, or bounced from place to place, until they 
are 18 and then abandoned. I do not want to hear of another child growing into adulthood with 
such horrendous scars that do not 

go away. 

As I said earlier, you can’t make 
a woman be a mother. And it really 
isn’t your business. It’s hers 
and her God’s business only. Her 
body. Her business. Stay out of it. 
Keep Abortion Legal. It is an individual’s 
right. 

And to the women who choose 
Motherhood…..Have a wonderful 
Mother’s Day and don’t forget 
to pray for those who do not have 
your strength. 


STUART TOLCHINPUT THE LIGHTS ON 

WE MIGHT AS WELL 
TALK ABOUT IT 

 
The subject that is of great concern to


day is an individual pregnant person’s 

right to an abortion. As is pretty well 

known the Constitution does not men


tion the word “abortion”. For many peo


ple, including the now infamous Judge 

Samuel Alito that is enough to end the 

discussion. In his widely prematurely 

circulated Dobbs v Jackson opinion declares 
that since there is nothing in the Constitution protecting that 
right Congress can choose to prohibit that formerly protected right. 
Many Americans are concerned that this decision, which does not 
affect the power of individual States, will open the door for Congress 
and an approving President to prohibit “abortions “ anywhere 
in the United States and to criminally punish the women who have 
consented to an abortion and to punish the Doctors who have performed 
these procedures. 

In his opinion Justice Alito states that he is unconcerned 
by the fact that the right to an abortion was specifically discussed 
in the 1973 decision Roe v. Wade which has protected that right 
for nearly half a century. Justice Alito doesn’t care. He claims that 
he is not influenced by political or even moral considerations or 
the expectations of American voters or even by the consequences 
of his decision. He says that there is no “right to privacy. End of 
discussion. 

 Enough of this attempt at legal discussion and forgetting the 
fact the original Roe decision was based upon a sham presentation 
of the plaintiff ’s interest (good old Jane Roe) who in a deathbed 
confession made clear that she had been paid to take a position in 
which she did not believe. For me a problem with the Roe decision 
has been that as a Male I could not protect the rights of my unborn 
child. As every woman I know today loudly asserts that what is involved 
here is “a woman’s right to have control over her own body”. 

Somehow that has never been a very convincing argument 
to me. What about the rights of the fetus. To me a life, at least a 
potential life in being begins at conception. Experiencing the wonder 
of the presence of my recently newborn grandchild the value 
of these recently conceived lives cannot and should not be questioned. 
Contrarily, I have many questions about the value of many 
older people like myself and President Biden, and Speaker Pelosi, 
and Senator Feinstein, and former President Donald Trump and, of 
course, present Russian President Vladimir Putin. Old folks inevitably, 
have experienced and continue to experience losses in mental 
acuity and memory which affect their judgment. In a rational world 
such individuals would not be in positions to make decisions which 
affect all the rest of us, but that is another discussion. 

More relevantly, I believe the rights of the potential father 
should at least be considered. Today these potential fathers are 
referred to as merely “inseminators” or” sperm donors” or some 
equally disparaging term. Still, in the end, I have been unable to 
convince myself that prohibiting abortions is a correct restriction. 
I am unfortunately aware that what I prefer for myself is not a position 
that should be forced upon everyone. As I have written before 
when I referred to my opposition abortion discussions with my 
grandmother she called me some Yiddish word loosely translated as 
“fool”. She pointed to a coat hanger and did not really need to say 
much more. I understood that even if abortions were illegal, which 
they were prior to 1973, many women would take the extraordinarily 
necessary to obtain illegal abortions which could well lead to 
terrible consequences. 

Another truly frightening realization is that if Justice Alito’s 
decision becomes the decision of the Court grounded in the fact 
that a right to abortion is not specifically mentioned in the Constitution----
then what? The 1965 decision of Griswold v, Connecticut 
first sanctified the constitutionally unmentioned “right to privacy 
found to be a protection of the rights of married people obtaining 
information and possible encouragement regarding contraceptive 
methods. Do you foresee how far backwards laws can become if the 
present stated mood of the Trumpist party prevails and reclaims the 
Presidency in 2024. Now we worry mainly about gas prices. The 
basic, the most basic rights within a democracy are being threatened. 
We all must be protected, and the coat hanger is just a frightening 
reminder. We all need protection! 

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