December 8, 2022

By Cecil JOdds N Ends

When reviewing and reminiscing about our stays in Italy, our mind leaps unerringly to the day Santa died

This whole episode happened in a village in Umbria, which is perched comfortably in the shade – not the shadow, the shade – of its more renowned neighbor, Tuscany

While the Etruscans fashioned a culture that became identified as Florentine, Umbria wove its history

through such hillside towns as Assisi, Gubbio, Orvieto, Perugia, Spello and Todi, all within an hour from this medieval castle-cum-village named Panicale plunked atop a hill midway between Rome and Florence – each a couple of hours away

Umbria wraps around most of Lake Trasimeno, the fourth largest lake on the peninsula, on the edge of the Pisa-Florence-Sienna triangle Hills quilted with chestnut, oak, olive and grape roll away from its shores and juggle dozens of villages

Panicale is also called the Balcony of Lake Trasimeno because of its panoramic view of the lake

It also offers a peek into both medieval and modern living Piazza Umberto I is the town’s living room built around is 550-year-old fountain

Newlyweds have wedding photos taken here Locals begin and end their days here over espresso and wine They stop gossiping only to stand up for crucifix-led funeral

The Day Santa Died

processions chanting the Pater Noster (Our Father) on their way down from the massive 1,000-yearold Umbrian gothic Church of St Michael the Archangel that dominates the town

Most of their city shopping is in the Tuscan town of Arezzo, about an hour north Sometimes they shop in the capital and commercial hub of Umbria, Perugia, just 30 minutes away

On a hillside within viewing distance from Perugia is Assisi, the

The Day Santa Died Cont. from Page 1

birthplace of St Francis, the founder of the religious order that established the string of 21 missions forming the backbone of California

His remains are housed in the basilica named after him, as are those of St Clair entombed in the church named after her at the opposite end of town Both churches are decorated with heart-stirring frescoes, which are everywhere inside and outside buildings in every community throughout the region

A small church in Panicale (the town once had seven) houses a famous fresco – The Martyrdom of St Sebastian It was painted in 1505 by Piero di Cristoforo Vanucci, known as Il Perugino, whose most famous pupil was Raphael

There’s a bit of local history story attached to this painting

On each side of this landmark Renaissance work are two small groups of faceless bystanders watching Roman soldiers fire arrows into the martyr ’s body To make a fresco, the painter puts in the colors while the plaster is still wet The people in these groups were the patrons of the painting and Il Perugino found out they weren’t going to finish paying him, so he painted their faces after the plaster dried -- and eventually fell off That’s why they have no faces now

Il Perugino was summoned by Pope Sixtus IV in 1481 to paint a portion of the Sistine Chapel His “Charge to Peter” is still on view in the Vatican

This artistic bent has filtered down to artisans It’s evident everywhere but you can see it clearly just an hour away in Deruta, the ceramic capital of central Italy Its shops offer baked and glazed clay in all shapes, sizes, designs and colors

Gubbio, tucked into Umbria’s northeastern corner at the foot of the Apennines, gives you a look at what medieval life looked like People still live in 1,000-year-old houses and work in 1,000-year-old workshops And they attend outdoor productions at a 2,000-year-old 15,000seat open-air Roman theater.

You can drive to the towns peppered around here, of course, but trains are best for taking you into the heart of Italy’s major cities

Taking to the road is not the nightmare some would lead you to believe Motorists tend to tailgate but all you have to do is get out of the way There are many roadside pull-over areas to let drivers get by They’ll even give you a beep-beep “thank you” as they pass

Rather than drive, we walked four kilometers (about 2 1/2 miles) to the neighboring village of Paciano for lunch And that’s another of what fun things to experience besides the

g rew thin Finally, she threw a towel around her head and stor med into their room, putting them back to bed with ster n war nings As she left the room, she heard the three-year-old say with a trembling voice, "W ho was THAT?"

heart and history of Italy– the cuisine

The food merits a story in itself local pastas, regional salamis, veal, gelato, wild boar, roast rabbit, truffles, guinea fowl, fresh produce and salads, piquant olive oil, wine without additives, the list is endless

A Yorkshire resident who visits Umbria regularly, said it all: “You just can’t find bad food here ”

An added fillip was the Roman festival just down the road from town

“Why not drop around on Sunday,” suggested Riccardo “We’ll have a few artichokes ”

The retired Alitalia pilot was our landlord when we arrived in Panicale. He and his wife, Mariolina, were friends when we left

They opted out of big-city living in Rome several years ago and occupied our spacious apartment while they built a picture-book home in a hill-clinging olive grove just below the town’s centuries-old walls

“I bought this apartment because when I look out that (living room) window, that’s Umbria,” he said

The Umbria you see is the reddishyellow brick-and-rock front of the Church of St Michael the Archangel leaning on a restaurant by an archway that frames the main piazza with its bars, hair salons, sta-

tinued At last, she headed for the door, saying, "Grandma, I r eally think you should tr y to figur e out some of these colors yourself !"

tionery and gift shops, and small groups of standing and sitting locals sorting out the various problems of the day

We knew we were in for something special as we approached the lane sloping into Riccardo’s farmyard It was like breaking into an opera

About three dozen people wearing the full array of bright yellows, reds, greens – pick a color – were milling about chittering, chattering, and chanting in that Italian singsong manner from which arias emerge The accompaniment was provided by Riccardo’s tractor as it hauled dead grape vines and olive branches to a pile resembling a titanic tumbleweed.

“You don’t work, you don’t eat,” was Mariolina’s mandate.

Our immediate chore was to gather mint leaves off the plant stems and chop the stocks off the artichokes –shopping-cart-sized mounds of them Then the mint leaves were minced with garlic and olive oil The artichokes are given a good slam on the ground to soften them so their hearts can be opened up and stuffed with the mint-garlic-oil mixture

Through all this, you had to balance wine with oil-soaked bread, cheese, fresh fava beans, and more wine

The Day Santa Died Cont. on Page 3

pr egnant means?" she asked

"Sur e, " said the young boy confidently 'It means car r ying a child "

How Children Perceive their Grandparents

1 I was in the bathroom, putting on my makeup, under the watchful eyes of my young g randdaughter, as I'd done many times before After I applied my lipstick and star ted to lea ve, the little one said, "But Grandma, you for got to kiss the toilet paper goodbye!" I will probably never put lips t i ck o n a g a i n w i t h o u t t h i n k i n g about kissing the toilet paper g oodbye

2 My young g randson called the o t h e r d ay t o w i s h m e H a p p y Bir thday He asked me how old I was, and I told him, 72 My g randson was quiet for a moment, and then he asked, "Did you star t at 1?"

3 After putting her g randchildren to bed, a g randmother chang ed into old slacks and a droopy blouse and proceeded to wash her hair As she heard the children g etting more and more rambunctious, her patience

4 A g randmother was telling her litt l e g r a n d d a u g h t e r w h a t h e r ow n childhood was like "We used to skate outside on a pond I had a swing made fr om a tir e; it hung fr om a tr ee in our fr ont yard We r ode our pony We picked wild raspberries in the w oods " T he little girl was wide-eyed, taking this all in At last she said, "I sur e wish I'd gotten to know you sooner!"

5 My g randson was visiting one day when he asked, "Grandma, do you know how you and God ar e alike?"

I mentally polished my halo and I said, "No, how ar e w e alike?''

"You'r e both old," he re plied

6 A little girl was dilig ently pounding away o n h e r g r a n d f a t h e r ' s wo r d processor She told him she was writing a stor y

"W hat's it about?" he asked

"I don't know," she re plied "I can't r ead "

7 I didn't know if my g randdaughter had lear ned her colors yet, so I decided to test her I would point out something and ask what color it was She would tell me and was always cor rect It was fun for me, so I con-

8 W hen my g randson Billy and I entered our vacation cabin, we ke pt the lights off until we were inside to kee p from attracting pesk y insects Still, a few firef lies followed us in Noticing them before I did, Billy whispered, "It's no use Grand pa Now the mosquitoes ar e coming after us with flashlights."

9 W hen my g randson asked me how old I was, I teasingly re plied, "I'm not sur e "

"Look in your underw ear, Grand pa," he advised "Mine says I'm 4 to 6 "

10 A second g rader came home from school and said to her g randmother, "Grandma, guess what? We lear ned how to make babies today "

T he g randmother, more than a little sur prised, tried to kee p her cool "That's inter esting " she said "How do you make babies?"

"It's simple," re plied the girl "You just change ' y ' to 'i' and add ' es ' "

11 Children's Logic: "Gi ve me a sentence about a public ser vant," said a teacher

T he small boy wrote: "The fir eman came down the ladder pr egnant "

T he teacher took the lad aside to cor rect him "Don't you know what

12 A g randfather was delivering his g randchildren to their home one day w h e n a f i r e t r u ck z o o m e d p a s t Sitting in the front seat of the fire tr uck was a Dalmatian dog T he children star ted discussing the dog's duties

"They use him to kee p cr owds back," said one child

"No," said another "He's just for g ood luck "

A third child brought the argument to a close “They use the dogs," she said fir mly, "to find the fir e hydrants "

13 A 6-year-old was asked where his g randma lived "Oh," he said, "she li ves at the air por t, and whene ver w e want her, w e just go get her Then, when w e ' r e done ha ving her visit, w e take her back to the air por t "

14 Grandpa is the smar test man on ear th! He teaches me g ood things, but I don't g et to see him enough to g et as smar t as him!

1 5 M y G r a n d p a r e n t s a r e f u n n y, when they bend over, you hear g as leaks and they blame their dog

In the Jello®-sponsored beauty con-

before the fire was ready

It was at this point that Mariolina explained these artichoke afternoons are a traditional Roman ritual because the plant originates in the region south of Italy’s capital.

The giant pile of shrubbery was burned and the ashes raked into a flat lava-like bed of coals

Then we had to tuck our artichoke into the coals to cook You only get to eat the one you cooked

Again, the operatic metaphor arose as each person displayed a distinctive dance pirouetting around the blistering mound It takes about 45 minutes for the artichokes to cook in this manner, which gave everyone time to sample more wine with the sausages and pork barbecued on a fire fed with larger chunks of trimmed olive wood

Then flowed the desserts, all of them home-made

And that’s when Riccardo reminded us that the lake below still soaks the remains of Roman soldiers massacred by Hannibal more than 2,000 years ago

The Battle of Trasimene is largely ignored by modern-day Italians because it was where the Carthaginian general ambushed several thousand – the number ranges from 15,000 to 50,000 –Romans and corralled them into Lake Trasimeno, drowning most of them

There’s a broad plain off the northwestern shore of the lake where the Roman’s camped as they tailed Hannibal, who looked like he was heading into the jaws of another Roman troupe marching from Rimini in the east Instead, and what made this battle important in military history, the Punic general surveyed the field he chose to use to his advantage rather than using the history honored practice of challenging the enemy and then rushing at it with all your might He stretched his army – this number varies, too, but it was about 12,000, which included a contingent of Celts who eventually killed the Roman leader over a half dozen kilometers of high ground ringing the northern edge of the lake and watched silently while the Romans tromped along the shoreline right into their trap Archeologists are still picking human bones out of the lake An interesting historical sidelight for such a little spot, but there are several such episodes from this region where Tuscany and Umbria bump into each other that date back to the Etruscans.

For example, Panicale was the first community in central Italy to be given official status because it was never – not ever defeated by any attackers It was too high, too well fortified and too self-sufficient with its own animals within the

walls and its own big bubble of water This castle became an important stopover for popes and nobles traveling between Rome and Florence

And we were there the day Santa died

‘Twas

the day before Christmas

We got to the butcher that morning to pick up our gallantine for Christmas Eve and lasagna for Christmas dinner Gallantine is a tradition here A chicken is deboned and stuffed with everything from prosciutto to pistachios and hard-boiled eggs to eggplant, then pressed and cooked, sliced and eaten cold

And we got chores done while we were out -- cash from the bank ATM, started the car to make sure the battery wasn’t dead, and checked our last-minute grocery list as a humid sirocco-like wind swooped in and made the town almost summery My brother, Lou, dropped by for a grappa and headed home for a shower He and wife, Jean, travelled from Toronto to spend Christmas with Beverly and me in our semi-adopted homeaway-from home Riccardo dropped by about midday and said he’d skip coming by at night because he wouldn’t be able to find a parking space because of midnight Mass at the church

Then he told us “Bobbie died,” he said

Bobbie was ambushed by a deadly heart attack on his early-morning walk with his dog He had been looking forward to playing Santa: “A true Santa Claus from the North,” he told me several days earlier

He had been a technical-magazine editor in Sweden before chucking it and moving to Panicale, where he augmented whatever pension and other funds he had by managing rental properties, organizing travel tours, and dabbling in real estate

He was proud of the fact that he was the first non-native offered the role He even let his beard grow to match his thick head of white hair

I skidded down to the piazza to scout out the facts Lou was right behind me We ran into Simone’s wife, who owns the osteria opened in the apartment Bev and I rented on our first trip She told us “Babbo Natale e morta ” (Father Christmas is dead ) I asked if they found an alternate She nodded her head: “Qualqu’ uno” (Somebody)

I asked if her osteria’s Christmas Eve dinner (30 euros per person) was full She shook her head “no,” and explained they didn’t start planning/advertising early enough I said they’ll start earlier next year She nodded, “Si ”

Then she added that the alternate Santa was due to land in the piazza at 3:30 p m We returned to the apartment and sipped a few until it was time to check the piazza It was

Oodles!

Looking for things to do? Places to go? Check out Oodles every week for listings of civic and service club meetings throughout our area

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UPCOMING HOLIDAY EVENTS - Looking for some fun for the whole family this holiday season? Check out either of these performances and get into the festive spirit! Tickets, information, and performance times available at encinitas tix com

Winter Holiday Choir DEC 10 | 1:00pm & 4:00pm $9 to $35 Encinitas Community and Senior Center 1140 Oakcrest Park Drive

Enjoy a cheerful holiday concert that celebrates the season as North Coast Singers presents nondenominational favorites accompanied by piano for the whole family to sing along with

Escondido Library Holiday Hours & Closures All Library facilities will close at 5:00 p.m. on Saturdays December 24 and December 31, and be closed on Mondays December 26 and January 2

still warm and humid but it started to drizzle on the couple of dozen kids and their parents scattered around the fountain. So they trooped into a below-street-level club room across the alley from the osteria. The substitute Santa and his jingling bells were greeted about 4:20 by applauding parents and wide-eyed youngsters Everyone got something Even the adults received a little package of candy that was handed out by the children

But no one seemed to miss Bobbie (A few days later, a hearse squeezed up through the steep archway gaining entrance to the church and a clutch of mourners followed the casket through the doors for Mass When the service ended and the remains rolled back into the vehicle, no one followed but everyone applauded Bobbie’s passing as the long car slipped down into the piazza and out the Umberto 1 gate )

Hybrid Escondido Writers Group with Special Guest Mark Carlson Tuesday, December 6, 2022 • 1:00 p m –4:00 p m Library Board Room • Adults

Writers of all genres are invited to read their work and receive group critiques in a friendly and comfortable environment Meet guest author Mark Carlson on December 6!

2nd Saturday Concert: Vieness Piano Duo Saturday, December 10, 2022 • 3:00–4:30 p m Turrentine Room • All ages

Enthralling audiences with electric and captivating performances of a wide repertoire, the Vieness Piano Duo's commanding stage presence has made them in demand around the world

½ Price Sale in the Friends

Odds N Ends

Speaking of food and cooker y, and I just was, I suffered some discomfiture when I saw a photo on Facebook of some Banana-Nut Bread that Jeri K aufman had pre pared for hubby, Jer r y K aufman, and world class physical therapist

It happens that I LOVE Banana-nut Bread I also can bake a pretty mean Banana-nut bread myself

Nothing better than a cold glass of milk, two or three, or four or five, slices of banana-nut bread, slathered with healthy doses of butter

However, I am on a diet and would be unable to eat and enjoy banananut bread until I complete my diet T hus far, I have lost 30 lbs I only have about 15lbs to g o

The Author, Cecil Scaglione

Former Escondido police Chief Ed Varso will receive 18 percent pay increase when he takes back ld job

an salary among police chiefs in the county, according to Escondido city officials

Varso will assume his new role Dec 27

The city hired Varso again after a nationwide search for his replacement The city contracted with a recruitment firm to conduct the process and will pay the firm $14,000 for its services and expenses, according to the city According to the job listing, the application process closed Oct 2 Varso notified Menifee of his planned departure Nov 17, according to Menifee city officials

Department, other city employees and community members to “ensure public safety ”

“Returning to Escondido is more than just reclaiming an old job, I feel like I am returning home,” Varso said in a statement

Varso started his law enforcement career as a Los Angeles County sheriff ’s deputy in 1997 The Escondido Police Department hired him as a police officer in 2001 As chief, Varso drew attention when he knelt with Black Lives Matter supporters a little more than a week after Minneapolis police officers killed George Floyd in 2020

According to the Union Tribuine and city officials Former will return next month to lead the department again, and will receive an 18 percent pay increase, city officials said Tuesday

Varso will be paid a base salary of $250,000, up from $212,000 when he left in late June to lead the Menifee Police Department in Riverside County

Menifee city officials said his base salary was $224,000 He is only the second police chief in Menifee, a city that created its own Police Department in 2020

The salary Varso accepted to return will be 2 7 percent above the medi-

Escondido’s consultants had screened the pool of applicants At some point the city engaged in conversations with Varso, who was not among the applicants which all but ended the search for a new chief Applicants were not interviewed, according to the city

“Chief Varso left the City on very good terms and continued to be involved in the process of the selection of his successor,” the city said in a statement “During those conversations with the City Manager, the topic of his returning to the position came up and was explored ”

Varso, who rose through the ranks before his promotion to chief in 2020, said in a statement that he looked forward to reconnecting with the Escondido Police

"W hy, yes, yes it is," I answered "Could you talk to m y son? We saw your pictur e in The Paper and he's been bug ging me saying I should call the phone number you listed and see if he could talk to Batman "

"Sur e, be happy to," I said, "put him on " "Hi, is this Batman "

"W hy, yes it is citiz en Ar e you a law abiding citiz en?"

"Um, yeah "

Man About Town

A Good Laugh:

A couple weeks ag o I designed an ad with a headline that read "An Ur gent Plea fr om Batman!" along with a photo of Batman It was an ad urging people to subscribe to The Paper.

L a s t Fr i d ay I g o t a c a l l f r o m a woman I answered and she said, "Is this Batman?"

"And do you pr omise to always make you mum pr oud and do the right thing? And to love your countr y and to always follow the law "

"Um, yeah "

"Okay, citiz en, what's your name?"

"Bobby Rober t, but e ver yone calls me Bobby "

"Well Citiz en Bobby, I'm honor ed to ha ve a chance to meet you, e ven if only by phone I ha ve to r un now as a crimefighter's w ork is ne ver done Remember, be a good boy and follow the law! Batman out "

"Okay Thanks "

I love it when a plan works •••••

I’m a soft touch for stories that tug at the hear tstrings When I read or hear of such a stor y, I like to share it Her’s one that touched me and I think will likely touch you as well:

The Escondido Police Department includes about 220 employees, including 160 sworn personnel Its budget totals $54 million

The Runt

A far mer had some puppies he needed to sell

He painted a sign adver tising the 4 pups and set about nailing it to a post on the edg e of his yard As he was driving the last nail into the post, he felt a tug on his overalls He looked down into the eyes of a little boy

"Mister," he said, "I want to buy one of your Puppies "

"Well," said the far mer, as he r ubbed the sweat off the back of his neck, "These puppies come fr om fine par ents and cost a good deal of money "

T he boy dropped his head for a moment T hen reaching dee p into his pocket, he pulled out a handful of chang e and held it up to the far mer "I've got thir ty-nine cents Is that enough to take a look?"

"Sur e, " said the far mer And with that he let out a whistle "Her e, Dolly!" he called

Out from the doghouse and down the ramp ran Dolly followed by four little balls of fur

T he little boy pressed his face ag ainst the chain link fence His eyes danced with delight As the dogs made their way t o t h e f e n c e, t h e l i t t l e b oy noticed something else stir ring inside the doghouse

Slowly another little ball appeared,

A Critique

We absolutely loved your "Amusing But True Thanksgiving Day Facts" cover story (11/24/22 issue) by Friedrich Gomez We honestly could not stop laughing! But at the same time, it was fascinating on how other cultures celebrate Thanksgiving in various ways! Everyone I spoke with said it made their day with hilarious anecdotes that even had our managers in the breakroom, literally, in tears laughing so hard! On the other hand, your "Last Flight" cover story (11/17/22 issue) was a complete and utter dismal flop And that's not just my opinion The main pathos of an aging man was "sadly lost" with too much heavyhanded details on the PV-1, PV-2, forward bay, "field modifications,"

this one noticeably smaller Down the ramp it slid T hen in a somewhat aw k wa r d m a n n e r, t h e l i t t l e p u p beg an hobbling toward the others, doing its best to catch up

"I want that one, " the little boy said, pointing to the r unt

T he far mer knelt down at the boy's side and said, "Son, you don't want that puppy He will ne ver be able to r un and play with you like these other dogs w ould "

With that the little boy ste pped back from the fence, reached down, and beg an rolling up one leg of his trousers

In doing so he revealed a steel brace r unning down both sides of his leg attaching itself to a specially made shoe

Looking back up at the far mer, he said, "You see sir, I don't r un too w ell m yself , and he will need someone who understands "

With tears in his eyes, the far mer reached down and picked up the little r unt puppy Holding it carefully he handed it to the little boy

"How much?" asked the little boy

"No char ge ” answered the far mer, "Ther e ' s no char ge for love "

Dribs N Drabs

Re c e n t l y, w h i l e h av i n g c o f f e e a t Charlie’s Restuarant in Escondido, we g ot to talking about the several differe n t , a n d i n t e r e s t i n g , ch a r a c t e r s Escondido has seen

Probably the most colorful was a g al named “Crazy Ruth ” Ruth was a tall, s t r o n g wo m a n , g ive n t o c a r r y i n g around a jug of wine, often becoming inebriated in public, challenging traffic, arguing with people, and causing a g reat deal of discomfor t for those around her

Police were often called and when they responded they responded with at least two squad cars, not one Police knew Ruth all too well and one police unit was seldom sufficient to take her into custody Ruth was not in the habit of g oing quietly into the night She had spent time in Las Colinas Women’s Detention facility on several occasions Ruth, it was often said, was often a woman of easy vir tue and was not above soliciting a few dollars in retur n for amorous activities One imagines her clientele were not of the highest social strata, but more likely transients or other g ents down on their luck

I met Ruth on more than one occasion One day, while working in the concession building at Dixon Lake, Ruth came by to buy a soda I made a bad mistake Ruth was wearing a right pretty yellow dress and my mistake was complimenting her on her pretty dress

I could not g et rid of her the rest of the after noon

Ruth would walk up La Honda Drive to the lake and then, later, walk back down A family friend made the mistake one day of offering Ruth a ride down the hill She told me she could not g et the smell out of her car for several weeks

I wa s t o l d l a t e r by s e ve r a l g o o d f r i e n d s o n t h e E s c o n d i d o Po l i c e De par tment that Ruth had apparently chang ed her ways had begun to take care of herself, comb her hair, p ay m o r e a t t e n t i o n t o p e r s o n a l hygiene, dressed in nice clothes and, m o s t i m p o r t a n t l y, h a d g ive n u p Demon Rum She was seen several times in area restaurants and she had behaved herself

I wish her well and hope that she continues in a healthy lifestyle T he young cops now ser ving Escondido mostly did not know Crazy Ruth All the old time cops have pretty much retired but they all have g reat stories about “Crazy Ruth,” several of which can’t be re por ted here

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Homelessness: Real Solutions Needed

By Assemblymember Marie Waldron

California has 30% of the nation’s homeless and over half of its unsheltered homeless $17 billion has been thrown at the problem, yet homeless numbers continue to grow Between 2019 and 2022, the homeless population increased by over 22,000 We have become a national embarrassment

So what can be done? Last session, my caucus introduced a comprehensive bill package with real Homelessness Solutions The package included 15 significant pieces of legislation designed to deal with the root causes of homelessness, including substance use disorders, mental illness, affordable housing If passed, barriers blocking treatment for those incapable of seeking help would be addressed, the behavioral health workforce would expand, barriers preventing new emergency shelters and supportive housing would be removed, and charitable organizations providing shelter services for the homeless would be encouraged The legislation also supported efforts to clean up encampments, to improve homeless outreach, and expanded programs for inmates at risk of homelessness after release Unfortunately, majority opposition blocked most of this legislative package

On the positive side, legislation estab-

lishing the Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment (CARE) Court Program allowing courts to order persons suffering from severe psychotic disorders to participate in treatment plans created by the person, his/her supporters, or county behavioral health agencies, was signed into law And recently, Governor Newsom announced $47 million in new funding for California’s tribal nations to support efforts to end homelessness in their communities Locally, the San Pasqual and Pala Bands of Mission Indians were included in the 16 tribal nations receiving funds

Those are positive, but small steps Despite current efforts, homelessness is getting worse There are proven solutions, but providing housing without treating underlying symptoms such as substance abuse and mental illness hasn’t succeeded – it can’t and won’t A comprehensive strategy is needed We tried last session, and I look forward to trying again when we go back to work in 2023

Assemblymember Marie Waldron, RValley Center, repres ents the 75th Assembly District in the California Legislature, which includes the cities of Poway Santee portions of the City of San Diego, and most of rural eastern and northern San Diego County

Trave l Troubleshooter

Q: I have a Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card I got it because of the good reviews I saw online, especially for their cancellation insurance benefit

We used the card to pay for part of a snorkeling trip to Cuba My husband tested positive for COVID two days before we were supposed to leave, and we had to cancel The entire trip was nonrefundable at that point

I filed a claim with Chase seven months ago I have spent numerous hours on the phone and online communicating with its claims department I've spent many hours on hold and spoken with at least a dozen people at Chase

A Chase representative told me three months after I filed my claim that it had been approved, but that it needed to be "verified." After more calls, Chase still needed more documentation Can you help me get my claim for $15,194 approved? -- Judy Lambert, Sacramento, Calif

A: Chase should have processed your claim quickly, as promised Instead, it took its time, dragging it on for months

I have never been a fan of credit cards that try to hook you with all kinds of bells and whistles, but when a card like Chase Sapphire Reserve makes a promise to you, it should keep it In your case, you received a call from a representative months ago assuring you that a check for $15,194 was in the mail -- only to discover another email from its claims processor asking for more documentation

It isn't unusual for a travel insurance company to dot every "i" and cross every "t" when you have a large claim It is unusual to have the claim drag on for this long I reviewed the paper trail between you and Chase It appears you quickly sent everything the company asked

So why the delay? All travel insurance companies experienced delays this summer because of a surge in claims related to COVID in addition to airline delays and cancellations It's possible that your claim got stuck in that pile

There's a way to get unstuck You can send a brief, polite email to the claims department If that doesn't work, you can appeal to one of the company executives I list the names, numbers and email addresses of the Chase executives on my consumer advocacy site I also have tips on how to file an insurance claim in my free guide to travel insurance

I contacted Chase on your behalf A representative called you and said your claim had already been approved and that the check was on its way This time, you got your money "I was ready to give

up," you said "I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your help "

That's what I do. I'm happy to help

Christopher Elliott's latest book is “How To Be The World’s Smartest Traveler” (National Geographic) Get help by contacting him at http://www elliott org/help

© 2022 Christopher Elliott

Problem Solved!

Q: I recently took a seven-minute ride on a Lyft in New York City Shortly afterward, I received a text and email that there was damage to the car and my credit card would be charged $80

Lyft refused to provide any evidence of any damage caused by me and only sent a form letter in response to my questions I repeatedly asked for additional information or any evidence of damage

The ride took only a few minutes, and I didn't do anything except just sit in the back of the car Lyft stated in the chat that they provided pictures But they didn't send any pictures They refused to provide any additional information about the damage or even a phone contact to discuss this I would like these charges and the claim to be reversed Can you help me? -Svetlana Milina, Brooklyn, N Y

A: Lyft should not charge you a dime unless it can prove you damaged the car Lyft requires its drivers to send at least three photos of the damage when they file a claim And the company should have shared those pictures with you

Lyft also requires its drivers to describe what happened, and it needed to share that with you, too I asked you to share the paper trail of correspondence between you and Lyft, and it shows that Lyft just kept repeating that the claim was valid That's not good enough

Lyft should have offered some way to appeal this damage claim, but it didn't Instead, it sent a series of maddening responses Here's a typical one: "Svetlana, per our terms of service, we charge a damage fee to help drivers repair and clean affected areas of their vehicle, once drivers provide evidence," one of them read "We re-opened your case and after extensive review of the information provided by both you and the d r i v e r, n o a d j u s t m e n t s w i l l b e made to this claim "

Don't worry, I publish the names, numbers and email addresses of Lyft's executives on my consumer advocacy website A brief, polite email to one of them might have helped I also have a free w e r s / h o w - t o - f i x - y o u r- o w n - c o n -

Problem Solved

Cont. on Page 9

Historically Speaking

by Tom Morrow

In station availability those of us living in hinterland America were at least two years behind the East and West coasts

In the fifties the price of TV sets averaged about $600-plus Screen size grew from 8” to 12” up to 17,” and by 1955 the standard was 21inches That dimension became the most popular size until the 21st century when present-day flat screen home TVs dominate and have grown to 80 inches and more

When The Clouds Were Just Right

The first television program I saw was in 1951 when I was around 12 years old I grew up in southeast region of Iowa where buying a TV set was a gamble at best The nearest station was in Omaha (190 miles) and Kansas City, about the same distance

It was a far enough distance to guarantee a snowy picture and on a good night an image would show through Sound usually was better than whatever picture came through, but not always If the clouds were just right we’d get a clear picture Atmospherics played a big role in how far a VHS television signal (75 to 80 miles) would carry With UHF, only about 25 miles any farther was a roll of the dice

The first full program I experienced was a 15-minute “Perry Como Show” over WOW-TV in Omaha We were some 60 miles from the Nebraska city the state’s only station Iowa didn’t have any stations (BTW, it was WOW where future TV star Johnny Carson’s first job was a staff announcer)

Unlike radio at the time, TV newscasts were relegated to no more than two 15 minutes a day The first TV news I saw was in 1952 over Omaha’s KMTV No live news reader, just a camera set up in front of a teletype machine on which viewers read reports as they were ticked out

TV could have been available for home consumption as early as 1939 Demonstration units were on display at the 1939 World’s Fair, but World War II put the new medium on hold until 1946 RCA (Radio Corporation of America) began building TV sets and telecasting equipment NBC (National Broadcasting Company) was TV’s first big network From 1947-48, NBC was entertainment central The network’s biggest star was comedian Milton Berle, host of the “Texaco Star Theater” which was so popular thousands of viewers bought TV sets NBC dubbed Berle “Mr Television ” Viewers called him “Uncle Milty ” The network later gave him a yearly $1 million contract for life a business decision network execs would later regret By 1956, Berle’s weekly comedy hour was off the air but for years “Uncle Milty” continued drawing his giant contract

By the mid-fifties, nearly every major city in all states had at least one station The NBC network was followed by CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System) The ABC (American Broadcasting Company), was on the air by 1951-52 The DuMont and Westinghouse networks were smaller operations By 1965 color TV was easily available

Popular TV programming us kids included “The Lone Ranger,” “Howdy Doody” and “Captain Video ” Boxing, wrestling, and professional football on Sunday offered popular sports programming From radio a crossover such as the weekly “Your Hit Parade,” was highly popular

Daytime programming included radiostyle “soap operas,” along with early game shows such as “The Price is Right ” Still, many stations didn’t go on the air until 4 p m , when the test pattern was popular fare for us kids, who rushed home to marvel at the magic of television Imagine, a picture floating in the air and into our homes for free!

Early newscasters included John Cameron Swayze on NBC, Douglas Edwards on CBS, and later Howard K Smith moved from CBS to the fledging ABC Special social expose news programs such as Edward R Murrow’s “See It Now,” and more sophisticated programs such as “Omnibus,” were offered From the early fifties TV’s most popular comedy program was “I Love Lucy” starring Lucille Ball and husband Desi Arnaz To this day, it’s still being offered in syndication TV’s most popular news program is CBS’s “60 Minutes,” which started in 1968, hosted by Mike Wallace and Harry Reasoner

The longest-running program is NBC’s “Tonight Show ” The program’s concept began in 1951, as “Broadway Open House” hosted first by Morey Amsterdam and later Jerry Lester In 1954 it was revised as “The Tonight Show” starring comedian/songwriter Steve Allen In 1957, Allen stepped aside for Jack Paar ’s more cerebral guest discussions In 1962, the show’s most popular host, comedian Johnny Carson, began a 30-year run When Carson retired in 1992, comedian Jay Leno took over until 2014 To this day the show continues with comedian Jimmy Fallon as its host

Television is a necessary part of our daily lives The number of homes without a TV set is negligible The “Boob Tube” is as commonplace to us as turning on a water faucet Cable and satellite TV ensures nearly every set world-wide can receive a crystal-clear picture The clouds no longer figure into the equation

So, as newsman Murrow always signed off, “Good night and good luck!”

bomb bay, mechanics, glide paths, all well and good but it "went on and on" and "killed" the underlying storyline I polled my online friends, neighbors, coworkers and the huge overwhelming feedback was that they just wanted to "give up" reading it, although everyone "forced" their way to the end Your mainstream readership is made up of seniors, housewives, young college students, and the average 9 to 5 working stiff of men. Even my husband, an ex-military man, found it "drowned" out by too much details Everyone I asked online found it "cumbersome" to read If your readership input is of any value, then you may also wish to move on from "There's Gold In Them Thar Hills" (10/27/22) which initially sounded promising but wasn't, and also the dead driftwood prose of 'The Day They Hung Chipita" (10/13/22) The Paper is better than that

Caroline Douglas North San Diego County

And an apology

Apologies to The Paper Your current Spy/Espionage anthologies (two-parts) are extraordinary examples of high-level journalism I wish to retract my earlier criticism as unwarranted in the face of The Paper reaching new benchmarks of investigative reporting that is rivet-

ing, groundbreaking, and enlightening! Mr Davis, you are a most extraordinary publisher!

Caroline Douglas San Diego County

Editor’s Note: Apology not necessary but accepted Thank you for your kind words

Amazing Spy Cover Stories! Both of them! (Nov 10 & Dec 1st).

Fascinating & incredulous!

From

Terrance

Galloway, North San Diego County

Another Fan

Mr Lyle E Davis, publisher of the weekly magazine, The Paper Why is it, that factual information which helped ensure our country's existence are mostly and purposely "written out" of our school and college history books today? Why? Does our government conspire to "nurse" us on just some facts, but not others? Thank you Mr Davis for publishing the two-part cover stories "Hollywood Stars Who Were WWII Spies" and the followup "Spy Science Ensured Our Victory In the Revolutionary War " My teenage kids asked their history

Letters to the editor

Continued on Page 11

Problem Solved Cont. fr om Pa ge 7

sumer-problem/"guide to advocating your own case that might have helped you convince Lyft to take a closer look at your case.

It turns out your driver had sent Lyft photos of muddy footprints in a car Your seven-minute ride had taken place on a sunny day I contacted Lyft on your behalf. "Our c u s t o m e r t e a m re a c h e d o u t t o Svetlana and handled the matter and provided a refund," a representative told me

Lyft refunded your money and told you it would treat the claim by your driver as fraudulent

Christopher Elliott is the chief a d v o c a c y o f f i c e r f o r E l l i o t t A d v o c a c y E m a i l h i m a t chris@elliott org or get help with any consumer problem by contacti n g h i m a t http://www elliott org/help

How to avoid getting banned on Airbnb

Sometimes, the reason Airbnb bans you is obvious It was for Maksym Bidnychenko, a Ukrainian national who fled Russia during the war, when he was attempting to book a stay in May

“My account got suspended after I confirmed my identity and tried

requesting a reservation,” said Bidnychenko, a freelance artist from Lviv “I tried contacting Airbnb support via Twitter After a couple of hours, I received their standard ‘we are blocking you’ email ”

What went wrong? Bidnychenko had a phone number with a Russian country code And at the start of the war, Airbnb had suspended operations in Russia and had announced that people in Russia would no longer be able to make new reservations anywhere in the world I asked Airbnb about his suspension, and it lifted his ban

But sometimes, the reasons for getting banned by Airbnb are a mystery They were for Tamara Martin, a nurse from Bucyrus, Kan , who received an unexpected email from Airbnb saying it had suspended her account

“The explanation was that I’m associated with someone who was banned,” she says “No details I have never had an issue personally with any rentals I have used ”

After I asked Airbnb about her suspension, it reinstated her account But it wouldn’t tell me why she had been removed in the first place, “due to privacy reasons ”

Airbnb is the largest vacation rental platform in the world, with 6 million active listings and, in 2019, 54 million active bookers. Last

year, Airbnb suspended more than 6,600 people from its platform for attempting to violate its party policy Airbnb won’t disclose the number of bans for reasons beyond parties

Why Airbnb bans a guest

I asked Airbnb how to ensure you don’t get banned

Removals from the platform most commonly result from violations of its community policies and standards, says Airbnb spokeswoman Ruthie Wabula “We take this type of action only when necessary to protect our community,” she said

Airbnb’s community policies are a long read, so here they are in a nutshell: Being disrespectful of the community, mistreating the rental, tampering with security devices or accessing personal property other than your own are all grounds for account termination There are issues on the technical side that can get you banned, too

“Often for less serious issues that still represent violations of our policies, our team will issue warnings as well as guidance and education on how to better comply with the given policy moving forward,” Wabula says “If the user continues to violate the policy despite the warnings, then the issue may escalate to further action, including possible account removal ”

There are other reasons Airbnb might terminate a guest’s account

include being convicted of a crime

Airbnb says that removal depends on the severity of the crime “Lesser crimes,” such as disorderly conduct or marijuana possession, “are not removable offenses.” Other crimes, such as burglary, fraud and property damage, may result in further review or removal. Cases such as murder, terrorism, rape or child molestation could result in permanent removal.

The system isn’t always flawless In September, a Pennsylvania councilperson at-large was banned for a possession and DUI charge from nine years ago She was later reinstated after her tweet went viral

Airbnb contracts Inflection as one of the companies it uses to conduct background checks of users If it finds issues, the service could disable your account These background checks are typically done 10 days before check-in for guests and when a host creates a listing (This is only in the United States and India )

In 2019, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky pledged to verify all listings on Airbnb and has spoken about verifying all users on the platform in recent interviews about listing his own home

© 2022 Christopher Elliott

These

Only the Bold, the Best , and the Brightest , read The Paper

Editor’s Note: Recently, w e r ecei ved yet another note fr om a contented r eader

He was in betw een trips but asked that w e r elay his thoughts and f eelings to you, our r eader

He, too, has been a long time r eader and claims the r eason is because it makes him a mor e r ounded person He collects jokes fr om the Chuckles Column and is a hit at the par ties he attends, usually after conquering a village or town

No w onder he is so bold!

The Pastor Says.

was married to Joseph, Everyone was happy because of Jesus’ birth, We give gifts out of respect to Santa because there are too many people for him to do it Jesus was born into this world to grow up and be declared the Son of God Jesus pre-existed before his birth in some other form We have these statements, most have been made in some time frame, out of humor or as fact

THE TRUTHS OF CHRISTMAS

There are many claims and stories about Christmas The question is, which are true and false Can and do we know the difference? If so, how? I list a few for your consideration:

Ever since I can remember I’ve had the bur ning desire to discover new places, new adventures Because of this, I set out to discover a new countr y and I was successful I even ventured inland a g reat many miles where I discovered a place I called Minnesota “This,” I thought, “would be a gr eat place for Scandinavians ” So I headed back to Norway to recr uit settlers While I was g one, some clown named Columbus claimed he discovered America Life ain’t fair Exce pt life also gives us The Paper I read it whenever and wherever I g o exploring and only buy from those who adver tise in The Paper It’s a Viking thing lÉâÜ yÜ|xÇw XÜ|~ à{x exw

any information about the account, location, or listing that triggered this action,” it tells users whose accounts are disabled

Santa Clause is a real person who lives at the North Pole and distributes presents to children on Christmas Eve. Jesus was born on December 25th There were wise men, who followed a star that led them to the place and time of His birth There were three persons in the group Santa used nine reindeer to pull his sleigh Jesus was born illegitimately with an unknown father There were supernatural and other worldly beings that sang songs for the shepherds, watching their sheep in the middle of the night, who left the sheep while they went to a stable to worship the newly born child in Bethlehem. Santa wore red and white clothes and sang Merry Christmas on Christmas Eve Mary, the mother of Jesus, had only one child and

We are constantly confronted with claims of the truth, whether the vaccinations for Covid lead to heart attacks or protection Our social media often is just a liar ’s chest of information Do we take FOX news as the truth or that of NBC? Almost daily, we are told that our Government with the Democrats deceive and mislead us and that the Republicans can be trusted. It all depends which side of the fence one is on to believe what is being said The fact is that whoever, anyone with authority, whether a politician, economist, religious leader, or maybe even your neighbor or relative says anything, it has to be questioned and researched It goes back to an old maxim my dad taught me, “Believe half of what you see and nothing of what you hear ” I hate to think that this is the kind of world I live in But there is one claim I make for Christmas. The babe in the manger named Jesus said, while he was here on earth, “I am the truth, the way and the life ” Can we believe him?

hat is our choice

Pet Parade Pet Parade

Airbnb will also go a step further and freeze the accounts of users associated with someone who has a criminal record People convicted of a crime could get around a ban by asking a friend or relative to make a reservation on their behalf

Jannick Vielleuse, a physical therapist from Westford, Vt , contacted me for help in the spring after getting banned by Airbnb She had always followed the rules and had consistently received high reviews from her hosts It turns out that a friend of her husband had been convicted for his involvement in the Jan 6, 2021, insurrection, and because Vielleuse and her husband’s friend had logged into an account from the same IP address, Airbnb connected them When I asked Airbnb about her account termination, it reinstated her account

But how does Airbnb decide who is too close? In emails to people who have been banned, Airbnb said it bases its banning on factors such as location and email address; Airbnb wouldn’t comment on how it does this exactly If Airbnb believes you’re affiliated with someone who is banned, it can also remove you And the company offers no details beyond that.

“In keeping with our Privacy Policy, we are unable to disclose

How to undo an Airbnb ban

Is there a way to appeal a ban? Airbnb says usually

“Users who are removed from the platform can typically respond to the removal email and request an appeal,” Wabula says “Appeal reviews vary in time depending on the seriousness of the issue and the complexity of the case ”

That’s true up to a point Many users have reported that appeals to Airbnb just end up with another quick denial, with no reason given That’s frustrating to users who spend time preparing a case that they believe proves their innocence and indicates that they would be responsible guests

And if the answer is still no? Well, there are plenty of other ways to rent a house for your next vacation

Christopher Elliott is an author consumer advocate and journalist He founded Elliott Advocacy, a nonprofit organization that helps solve consumer problems He publishes Elliott Confidential a travel newsletter and the Elliott Report a news site about customer service If you need help with a consumer problem you can reach him through his consumer advocacy site or email him at chris@elliott org This story originally appeared in the Washington Post

Could you use a special somebunny to brighten your days? Look no further than Sangria! Adorable rabbit (and parttime cloud) Sangria is just 12 weeks old, and was born in the shelter along with his 6 siblings! Sangria is a happy-go-lucky bunny who loves to play with his siblings and would do well with another furiend at home If you'd like to adopt this wonderful young rabbit, visit the Escondido Campus at 3500 Burnet Drive! If you have questions about the adoption process, you can visit sdhumane org/adopt

Sangria’s online profile: https://www sdhumane org/adopt/avail a b l e - p e t s / a n i m a lsingle html?petId=835517

Etain is pet of the week at your Rancho Coastal Humane Society She’s a 7-1/2-year-old, 13-pound, female, Domestic Medium Hair cat with a Brown Tabby coat

Etain was transferred to Rancho Coastal Humane Society in 2019 through FOCAS (Friends of County Animal Shelters ) She’s been in foster care for three years Now she’s ready for her forever home

The $75 adoption fee for Etain includes medical exam, spay, up to date vaccinations, and registered microchip

For more information or to sponsor a pet visit Rancho Coastal Humane Society at 389 Requeza Street in Encinitas, call 760-753-6413, or log on to www SDpets org

Open 11 to 4, Friday through Monday, and by appointment Wednesday and Thursday

Pastor Richard Huls (Retired)

Fir st, I discovered America Then, I discovered The Paper!

teacher about this critical aspect in our success in the War of Independence from England and the teachers didn't know what the hell they were talking about! After they read copies of your two part series, they simply smiled and said "Do you mind if we keep our copy? This is really good And well documented!" Thank you again, Mr Davis And please thank your wonderful writer Friedrich Gomez for writing these two cover stories! --

Maria Elena Contreras family and friends, Oceanside and Vista, Calif.

This holiday season shop San Marcos

As the holiday season continues, remember to find your special gifts in San Marcos this year When making local purchases, you are fostering the local economy, saving yourself time, and supporting your neighbors Most importantly, local shopping strengthens our community network Always keep San Marcos in mind during this holiday shopping season There is nothing better than local gifting to your friends and family this year

There are a variety of shopping centers readily available for the community to find the perfect gift for everyone on your shopping list Consider the great options in Creekside Marketplace, Nordahl Center, Grand Plaza and Old California Restaurant Row, and peruse their huge range of gift-worthy items The season of gift gifting is made all the sweeter when it also supports San Marcos

To easily find what you need locally to make it a memorable season of gift-giving, visit the San Marcos Chamber of Commerce website at www sanmarcoschamber com

Only the Best and the Brightest Read The Paper

To r ead or not to r ead: that is the question

W hether 'tis nobler in the mind to suf f er The slings and ar r ows of outrageous fortune, Or to take ar ms against a sea of tr oubles

To sleep: per chance to dr eam: ay, ther e ' s the r ub; For in that sleep of death what dr eams may come W hen w e ha ve shuf fled of f this mor tal coil, Must gi ve us pause: ther e ' s the r espect

“I lear ned how to write by r eading T he Paper!”

People tell me I’m a g reat writer. I suppose that’s tr ue

W hatever it is that I am, I owe to The Paper. My friends and I n e ve r m i s s a n e d i t i o n We a b s o l u t e l y l ove t h e C h u ck l e s C o l u m n A n d t h e C ove r

Stories? Listen, I avidly devour each week’s cover stor y W hat g reat research! Listen you wanna write like me? Read The Paper! It’s free!

Thus conscience does make cowards of us all; But gi ve me m y Paper and I shall r ead for ‘tis timely and I shall flee to wher e the mind doth tra vel and r est That quiet r est that seeks us all

Tis a goodly Paper, that I r ead it often and I lear n to write

San Marcos • Mayor Rebecca Jones

A Weekly Message from the Mayor of Your Community published in the belief that it is important for elected leaders to communicate with their constituents and that constituents have a means of hearing from their elected leaders.

Your friend Wm. Shakespear e

“The

The Computer Factory

The PC age is over?? Part I of II

“We have entered the Post PC age ” Steve Jobs said it in May of 2010 Others point to computer pioneer IBM’s sale of its PC business to Lenovo in May of 2005 as the first sign of the PC age’s impending demise Yet 2022 PC sales will top 300 million, down only 20% from PCs sales best year ever in 2011 and the 2022 worldwide total of over 2 billion PCs in use is the highest number ever How can it be that the PC age is over?

Well it’s true Even though there are billions of “PCs” still in use and

John

Van Zante’s

Cr itter Cor ner

hundreds of millions of “PCs” sold each year The “The PC age is over” To understand this seeming contradiction, we need to step back to the day’s before “PCs” and the Internet

In the 1960s and 70s mainframe computers became commonplace in medium and large scale business operations “DTs” (dumb terminals) like Weiss terminals served as workstations that allowed employees to input data to be processed by the company’s mainframe computer Reports would be printed (printouts), stored (mass storage), transmitted (telex, fax) and viewed locally (Weiss terminal screen) As PCs came into common use in the 1980s, PC “workstations” replaced they DTs “dumb terminals” as nodes on the business LANs (Local Area Networks) The term “distributive processing” was coined to describe the hybrid nature of the PC workstation PCs had both the I/O (input/output) functionality of the DT plus some of the computing and storage capabilities of the mainframe. Large and medium sized businesses used PC “workstations” primarily as nodes on their LANs, efficiently combining the processing, and storage capabilities of the mainframe with the capabilities of the PC workstation (smart terminal) Home and small business users didn’t have the luxury of using the centralized services of a mainframe so their “stand-alone” PC workstations needed to include processing, storage, printers, communication devises and any other peripherals required to run the busi-

Many people who struggle financially still have pets Five to ten percent of homeless people have pets In San Diego, it’s even more If you can barely feed yourself, why would you spend what little money you have on a dog or cat?

Studies show that pet owners are more active and usually have lower blood pressure Some doctors even prescribe pets for lonely patients

ness or home applications

As the Internet grew in size and importance through the late 1990s and early years of the 21st,century, it became evident to PC visionaries like Steve Jobs and others that the Internet had the capability to offer all the features and applications used in stand-alone PCs High speed Internet servers would handle complex calculations faster and more efficiently than any standalone PC PCs would eventually no longer need to be “personal computers”, instead they would be “Internet terminals ”

Tablets and smart phones are already “dumb terminals” meaning that they are essentially I/O devices on the Internet and have no significant “stand-alone” capabilities PCs do have “stand-alone” capabilities but these are sparsely employed by the majority of today’s PC users While some home and small busi-

ness users still use “stand alone” tax, accounting, MS Office programs and other applications, they do so out of habit rather than necessity Nearly all these applications are readily available on the Internet To sum it all up, nearly any PC manufactured in the past decade is easily capable of handling commonly used “stand alone” applications in addition to today’s fastest Internet speeds Since nearly all applications are available using the Internet’s high speed supercomputers and servers to process and download, we no longer really need our PCs to compute and store We need them only to be able to input and receive data. All other functions from processing through storage are available on the Internet “The PC age is indeed over” The “Internet age” is upon us What all this means to you and to The Computer Factory is next week’s topic

Why do we have pets?

After 23 years in animal shelters, I still get surprises From the woman who wanted to surrender her two Labrador Retrievers because “They don’t match the new furniture,” to the man who sent $25 49 to Rancho Coastal Humane Society

We called to ask about the unusual amount He said, “I’m on a pension That’s how much I had left If there’s anything left next month, I’ll send it to you ”

He reminded me of the Bible story about the widow’s mites. The lepton, later called the mite, was the least valuable Roman coin in Judea at the time The widow put two of them (worth a few cents today) in the temple treasury Wealthy people gave more, but their money came from their surplus The widow gave all she had

One case showed a widowed, 72year-old man who wasn’t eating enough to stay healthy His cat died a month before his wife did He didn’t have the energy to get a new cat, so his son got a cat for him The man started eating again Once he was feeling better, he got out and made new friends

Pets take away the age barrier It doesn’t matter how young or old you are If I have a dog and you have a dog, we have common ground

Pets serve as an alarm clock in the morning and for our lives They remind us to get up and get going even when we don’t feel like it

They remind us to take care of ourselves because, if we’re not there to take care of ourselves, we can’t be there to take care of them

Only the Bold, the Best , and the Brightest , read The Paper

Editor’s Note: Recently, w e r ecei ved yet another note fr om a contented r eader

He was in betw een trips but asked that w e r elay his thoughts and f eelings to you, our r eader

He, too, has been a long time r eader and claims the r eason is because it makes him a mor e r ounded person He collects jokes fr om the Chuckles Column and is a hit at the par ties he attends, usually after conquering a village or town

Bookshop December 19-23

Cash only For donations, the Friends can only accept up to five banker-size boxes per person per day If you have a larger donation, please contact the Friends at 760839-4832

The Friends Shop will be closed on Tuesday December 13, Saturday December 24, and Saturday December 31

Greater Escondido Chamber of Commerce: The Holiday’s are in full bloom and for many local businesses a large percentage of their annual sales will be generated between now and the end of the year Based off fresh data from Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales consumer spending is still strong Despite all the doom and gloom news we are feed people are still spending The key is to keep it local

Our local business community has seen many changes over this past year Some of these were more welcomed than others Data from the BLS shows that approximately 20% of new businesses fail during the first two years of being open, 45% during the first five years, and 65% during the first 10 years Only 25% of new businesses make it to 15 years or more

Please do your part to support local businesses in our community this Holiday Season

Carlsbad Chamber Turning 100! 2023 marks the 100th Anniversary of the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce We have a full year of activities planned to celebrate Please stay tuned as the announcements come out beginning in January!

Toy Drive for Rapid Response

In November we hosted a toy drive for Rapid Response Housing Solutions They work with agencies that service the homeless population - such as InterFaith, Operation Hope and La Posada de Guadalupe Men's Shelter This toy drive is ongoing and continues through December 15. You can drop off your donations at the Chamber Office from 9:00am to 4:00pm Monday through Friday.

I think if lions g ot over their fear of chairs, the circus would be a lot more fun to watch

As much as I love it, I must be honest Cor ned beef hash is basically Alpo for people

Avo i d r e a d e r c o n f u s i o n a b o u t whether Africa is a countr y or a continent by never writing about it

My fake plants all died because I did not pretend to water them

W hoever decided that chocolate fountains are only for special occasions is no friend of mine

I f i n d yo u r l a ck o f m a n n e r s adorable and my tone of voice sarcastic

It's really hard to say some things with a straight face For instance, "honey, I'm having a stroke "

Christmas shopping can be so fr ustrating W hy don't they sell frankincense at the same stores they sell the myr rh?

•••••

Grandma is eighty-eight years old and still drives She writes a letter to her Granddaughter :

Dear Granddaughter,

T he other day I went up to our local Christian book store and saw a 'Honk if you love Jesus' bumper sticker

I was feeling par ticularly sassy that day because I had just come from a thrilling choir perfor mance, fol-

lowed by a thunderous prayer meeting So, I bought the sticker and put it on my bumper

Boy, am I glad I did; what an uplifting experience that followed

I was stopped at a red light, just lost in thought about the Lord and how g ood he is, and I didn't notice that the light had chang ed It is a g ood t h i n g s o m e o n e e l s e l ove s Je s u s because if he hadn't honked, I'd never have noticed

T he guy behind star ted honking like crazy, and then he leaned out of his window and screamed, 'For the love of God!' 'Go! Go! Go! Jesus Christ, GO!' W hat an exuberant cheerleader he was for Jesus!

I just leaned out my window and star ted waving and smiling at all those loving people I even honked my hor n a few times to share in the love!

T here must have been a man from Florida back there because I heard him yelling something about a sunny beach

I saw another guy waving in a funny way with only his middle fing er stuck up in the air

I asked my young teenag e g randson in the back seat what that meant

He said it was probably a Hawaiian g ood luck sign or something

Well, I have never met anyone from Hawaii, so I leaned out the window and g ave him the g ood luck sign right back

My g randson burst out laughing

Why even he was enjoying this religious experience!!

A couple of the people were so caught up in the joy of the moment that they g ot out of their cars and star ted walking towards me.

I bet they wanted to pray or ask what church I attended, but this is w h e n I n o t i c e d t h e l i g h t h a d chang ed

So, g rinning, I waved at all my brothers and sisters, and drove on through the intersection

I noticed that I was the only car that g ot through the intersection before the light chang ed ag ain and felt kind of sad that I had to leave them after all the love we had shared

So I slowed the car down, leaned out the window and g ave them all the Hawaiian g ood luck sign one last time as I drove away Praise the Lord for such wonderful folks!!

Will write ag ain soon, Love, Grandma

I just finished talking with my friend in Minneapolis He said that since early this mor ning the snow has reached nearly waist high and is still falling His wife has done nothing but look through the kitchen window

He says that if it g ets much worse, he may have to let her in

US For ms Ter rorism Commission to Investig ate W hy No One Followed Re c o m m e n d a t i o n s o f P r e v i o u s Ter rorism Commissions

If the quality of airline ser vice continues to decline, soon ter rorists will be the only ones who want to f ly

CITY OF ESCONDIDO NOTICE INVITING SEALED BIDS

Trunk Sewer Replacement Project PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN: That the City Clerk on behalf and as authorized by the City of Escondido will accept sealed bids for this Trunk Sewer Replacement Project (“Project”) A sealed bid must be clearly marked with the name of the Project and time-stamped at the City Clerk s Office 201 N Broadway, 2nd Floor Escondido, CA 92025, by 2 p m on the 12th day of January, 2023 to be considered timely Bidder assumes the risk that mailed bids will be promptly delivered to the City Clerk and timestamped prior to the deadline

A mailed bid shall be double wrapped with an external shipping envelope that contains the separately sealed bid documents The shipping envelope will be opened upon receipt The shipping envelope of a mailed bid should be addressed as follows:

City Clerk

Attn: SEALED BID – Trunk Sewer Replacement Project 201 N Broadway Escondido, CA 92025-2798

All sealed bid documents must be enclosed in a separate envelope and clearly marked using Times New Roman size 18 font as follows:

SEALED BID

Trunk Sewer Replacement Project OPEN ON JANUARY 12, 2023

The City reserves the right to reject any bid that does not follow the exact procedures provided in this Notice

Project Description:

The work generally consists of: replacing upsizing and realigning approximately 5 000 linear feet of existing 24-inch 27-inch and 39-inch diameter trunk sewer main via open trench construction with 30-inch and 36-inch diameter trunk sewer main; constructing approximately 200 linear feet of 48-inch diameter casing with a 36-inch diameter sewer carrier pipe via trenchless construction; constructing approximately 1 200 linear feet of 8-inch diameter sewer main; constructing ap roximately 100 linear feet of 24-inch diameter sewer main; and all other associated work, including but not limited to: bypassing sewer flows during construction; constructing new sewer manholes; rehabilitating and relining existing sewer manholes; abandoning existing sewer; and reconnecting sewer laterals

The Prime Contractor on this Project shall possess a valid “Class A Contractor s License issued by the State of California Contractor’s License Board and must perform a minimum of 51% of all the work to be done according to the Contract Documents DocuSign Envelope ID: 0C472CBC-FCBE-4657-BE7C-BC211104968B

DOP: 12/08 & 12/15/22

This business is operated by an Limited Liability Company

First day of business: 8/01/2003 /s/ Orrin C Day Filed with Ernest J Dronenburg Jr County Clerk/Recorder of San Diego on 11/03/2022 11/24 12/01 12/08 & 12/15/2022

The name of the business: Reliance OnPoint, located at 2182 S El Camiino Real #206 Oceanside Ca 92081

Registrant Information: Jessica Reid 105l0 La Tortuga Dr #52 Vista, CA 92081

This business is operated by an individual First day of business: 1/02/2012

/s/ Jessica Reid

Filed with Ernest J Dronenburg Jr , County Clerk/Recorder of San Diego on 11/14/2022 11/24, 12/01, 12/08 & 12/15/2022

11/09 /2022

12/01, 12/08 & 12/15/2022

g Department of the San Diego Superior Court, the following Orde is made:

N O HEA R I N G WILL OCCUR ON THE DATE SPECIFI E D I N THE OR D E R TO SHOW CAUSE

The court will review the documents filed as of the date specified on the Order to Show Cause for Change of Name (JC Form #NC-120)

If all requirements for a name change have been met as of the date specified and no timely written objection has been received (required at least two court days before the date specified) the Petition for Change of Name (JC Form #NC-100) will be granted without a hearing One certified copy of the Order Granting the Petition will be mailed to the petitioner

If a ll t h e rq u irem en t s h a v e n o t been met as of the date specified the court will mail the petitioner a written order with further directions

If a timely objection is filed, the court will set a remote hearing date and contact the parties by mail with further directions

clerk as indicated by the stamp above 12/08 12/15 12/22 & 12/29/22

The name of the business: Mexico Viejo Mexican Food, located at 815 Birmingham Drive, Cardiff by the Sea, 92007

Registrant Information: R&V Mexican Food Inc 815 Birmingham Drive Cardiff by the Sea Ca 92007

This business is operated by a corporation First day of business: 9/18/2020 /s/ Jose de Jesus Dominguez President Filed with Ernest J Dronenburg Jr County Clerk/Recorder of San Diego on 11/14/2022 12/08, 12/15, 12/22 &12/29/22

11/14/2022 12/08, 12/15, 12/22 & 12/29/22