The Paper • Page 6 • July 20, 2017
The Blind Hill Cont. from Page 4 tle panic at first, understandably, but what everyone said about the boy was correct. He was a good kid. Had a good head on his shoulders. He calmed the rest of the youngsters, told them to hang on. “They’re coming,” he assured them.“They’re coming. They won’t leave us here.” And they didn’t.
The cop stared at the kid in goggle-eyed disbelief, as if a grave had suddenly opened and the corpse started chatting with him. None of the men moved. None of them could believe what they were seeing. These kids were dead, and yet there they were, rubbing their eyes and blinking at the bright sunlight. One by one they climbed out of the shattered car under their own power, shaking beads of safety glass out of their hair and clothing.
Then the spell broke, and the men at the scene remembered their training. The kids were swarmed from all sides by men who began giving them professional first-aid examinations, men who were hugging and kissing them, good men who were weeping with joy. After a few minutes, the seventeen year old driver took a long look at his car. The reality of the thing was just beginning to hit him. “Geez,” he moaned to a deputy, “My dad’s gonna kill me.”
The deputy had just minutes earlier helped pry the griefstricken father’s hands from the boy’s bumper. He had helped half-drag, half-carry the man into the ambulance. He’d tried unsuccessfully to shut he ears to the father’s heart rending cries. The deputy laid his hand on the boy’s shoulder. “No, son. Your dad won’t do that. Believe me.”
The kids were loaded into a police cruiser for the tip to the hospital. They were being taken to a reunion. Before they left, the young driver looked around at all the debris, the mangled car, the battered semi. It was all coming home for him and the other kids. They began to understand just how close they’d came, and why their rescuers had looked so strangely at them. “I don’t…I can’t…uhh… thanks, you guys.” Only then did
the boy realize that he and the others had been given up for dead. He paled, but managed to shake the hands of every man present before getting into the cruiser.
A deputy radioed the hospital and asked for the officer who had rode with the parents into town. The officer came on the air and asked what he could do. The deputy at the wreck scene looked at the cruiser pulling away with four healthy kids in it. “You’re not going to believe this, but…” And a minute later the officer burst into the emergency room where the heartbroken parents were huddled. “I’ve got some good news for you folks…” •••••• Editor’s Note: Rest in Peace, old chum.
Your brightened my days and nights many times with the pleasurable task of reading your stories.
You were somebody very special to me and to a host of other writers, family and friends. It’s been a privilege to know you.
Kent Ballard - RIP
Man About Town Cont. from Page 6
Robert told us .. “I’d like to volunteer on Saturdays. What you and Evelyn did for me and my family . . . I’d like to pay back. Had it not been for Caballeros I would not be where I am today. I’d like to help young kids just as you helped me and my brothers (Gera and Mark).”
This prompted my call to Lynn Murphy, who lives in San Marcos . . . and it was from her that I learned the sad news. It was a wonderful six years and we had some wonderful accomplishments.
The Escondido City Council recognized several of our Caballero families as being outstanding citizens, serving their community. Kids got to go on adventures they otherwise could not afford, got to fly real airplanes - often taking the controls while flyhing in the co-pilots seat (once we were airborne) we went to the ocean, the beach, to Scripps Aquarium, Point Loma . . . Palomar Mountain . . . all kinds of hiking trails . . . and we had a community of loving, affectionate kids who had no time nor inclination for gangs.
Luring people back to fishing
As you know, I am an outdoors enthusiast, and that enthusiasm includes fishing. Anything we can do to get people out of doors, especially our kids, will lure people away from electronic distractions and expose more people to the outdoors.
This session I am a very proud co-author of Senate Bill 187 (SB 187), introduced by Senator Tom Berryhill (R – Twain Harte). Beginning January 1, 2020, the bill will make sport fishing licenses valid for 12 months from the date of purchase, rather than expiring on December 31st regardless of when you bought it during the year.
There has been a significant decline in the number of fishing licenses purchased in California in recent years. California fishing licenses cost $47.01 per year, with a $14.61 additional rod addon, making our fishing license fees the second-highest in the nation. This can be a significant deterrent for families purchasing It was the best of times. I founded Los Caballeros de Aventura as a direct result of a fatal drive by shooting . . . two weeks in a row. The first week upset me . . . the second week, when a five year old boy was killed, upset me to the point that I decided someone had to do something to keep kids from joining gangs and killing each other . . . as well as any hope they and their families had for their futures.
The answer appeared to be that when most of us grew up we were so busy doing chores or having fun with family and friends that we didn’t have time nor the inclination to form, or join, gangs.
Ergo . . Caballeros came to be. We had events every Saturday for the kids and they loved it! As did we. As did their families. But times change. As do cultures.
Thanks to all the volunteers who helped make Los Caballeros such a success . . . thanks to all the kids that brightened my and Evelyn’s life just by having the chance to get to know you and your beautiful families . . . and thanks to city and county authorities for working with us to make such a successful program.
Could Los Caballeros be ressurected? I dunno. Interesting thought though, isn’t it? ••••• So after 2 hours and 43 minutes we arrived at the Quechan Casino/Resort Hotel near Yuma, Arizona. I parked the car and went inside as I had some business to take care of with their Marketing Director . . . but first, I decided to visit the restroom to "make
fishing licenses for several children and adults, especially since many buy their licenses in the summer. Making the licenses valid for an entire year from the date of purchase could be the bait that lures families back to fishing.
I am happy to report that SB 187 is sailing through the Legislature with unanimous support. The bill passed the Senate on May 31, and the Assembly Water Parks & Wildlife Committee on June 27. It is currently in the Assembly Appropriations Committee, with the next step being the Assembly floor for a final vote.
It is my hope that final passage and enactment of SB 187 will encourage more people to buy fishing licenses since they will be valid for an entire year from the date of purchase.
Assemblymember Marie Waldron, REscondido, represents the 75th Assembly District in the California Legislature, which includes the communities of Bonsall, Escondido, Fallbrook, Hidden Meadows, Pala, Palomar Mountain, Pauma Valley, Rainbow, San Marcos, Temecula, Valley Center and Vista. tinkle" as we show biz folk say. My son, Kenny, had the same idea and he headed for the loo' a few minutes before I did.
When I arrived in that hallowed hall I thought it strange. I had never been in a restroom before with no urinals. But, also as we show biz folk say, "when in Rome . . ."
I did a perfectly marvelous job of going tinkle, washed my paws, and left the restroom . . . as I did, I looked across the foyer and saw my son, Kenny, exiting the restroom. Then it hit me.
The reason there were no urinals was because I had inadvertently gone into the women's restroom!
As I think back over the many years I have trod this planet I can't remember ever having done that before. First time for everything.
As far as I know, there were no women in the restroom stalls. May have been but, if so, I didn't see them, they didn't see me. No harm. No foul.
But kind of mentally embarrassing anyway.
Letters to the Editor? We Love ‘Em!
(So do our readers) Send them to: