Montebello E-News  

October 18, 2007  

... It is understood that hostility destroys community.
Nickel Mines Accountability Committee, September 13, 2007 

[See the community lesson below for details.]  

1.     A Lesson from the Amish

2.     The Falling Dominos of Democracy, Part 2

3.     Announcements

4.     Fun Facts about Arkansas

5.     The Flashback Quarterback :  “I Held My Breath and…” 

6.     Beware and Share

7.     About Montebello E-News and “My Montebello”  

A Lesson from the Amish

The forgiveness extended by the Amish community to the Roberts family [Roberts was the killer] was noted around the world.  The Amish did not wish such publicity for doing what Jesus taught and want to make sure that glory is given to God for that witness.  Many from Nickel Mines have pointed out that forgiveness is a journey, that you need help from your community of faith and from God, and sometimes even from counselors, to make and hold on to a decision to not become a hostage to hostility.  It is understood that hostility destroys community. ... For the full text of the statement preceding the first anniversary of the killing of Amish children by a deranged person, see http://www-tc.pbs.org/moyers/journal/10052007/statement.pdf .

The Amish gave us a profound lesson.  Hostility destroys community.  And as we all know, the lesson is not just about the reaction of victims to killings.  There are examples which each of us can imagine.  

See this:  

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The death toll in the suicide bombings Tuesday [August 14, 2007] in northern Iraq has risen to at least 500, local officials in Nineveh province said Wednesday. …  

Al Qaeda in Iraq is predominantly Sunni, and [U. S. Major General Benjamin] Mixon said members of the Yazidi religious minority have received threatening letters, called "night letters," telling them "to leave because they are infidels."  

"This is an act of ethnic cleansing, if you will -- almost genocide when you consider the fact the target they attacked and the fact that these Yazidis, out in a very remote part of Nineveh province, where there is very little security and really no security required to this point," Mixon said. ... http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/08/15/iraq.main/index.html?eref=rss_topstories  

Killings like this on a larger scale become genocide, and there have been several of those in the last hundred fifty years.   

Where does a solution lie?  The Amish have taught us a profound lesson, but that neither makes them safe nor makes us wise.  The solution might have been mentioned in a past essay about diversity leading to separate communities.  In other words, the Amish of Pennsylvania, the Yazidi of Ninevah province, and others need to erect walls or, if not that, to find productive land far from others where they can sustain themselves without the need for tourists or merchants.  And since it would seem impossible to find unoccupied productive land, the answer would lie in floating communities.  

If you answer the multiple-choice questions below and e-mail to lessonanswers@mymontebello.com with “Lesson answers” in the subject field, you will be credited toward a “certificate of recognition in community affairs” to be awarded in 2007 by a local nonprofit organization.  

1.   The statement “hostility destroys community” applies to Montebello how?

(a)  There is a strong antipathy to criminals.

(b)  There are political factions which do not cooperate for the community’s benefit.  

2.   By faith, the Amish always will be vulnerable to violence from the outside.  What can they do?

(a)   Nothing.  Their faith, community, and counselors will sustain them.

(b)  Build a wall or get as far away from “civilization” as possible.  

Banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies.   
-----
The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it always to be kept alive.
-----
I have the consolation of having added nothing to my private fortune during my public service, and of retiring with hands clean as they are empty.
Thomas Jefferson, 1743 – 1826,
third President of the United States, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence, and one of the most influential Founding Fathers for his promotion of the ideals of Republicanism in the United States. 

In part 1 we learned that our elected representatives represented many more people than they did in the past.  The claim was made that this change led to several changes for the worse.  What changes? 

Let us start with the obvious.  When an elected representative has thousands of constituents, whether she have a district or be at large, there is no way for her to visit all her constituents.  Some arithmetic.  A member of Congress represents, on average, about six hundred eighty-nine thousand constituents.  Let us take out those who would be too young to understand or value a visit by the representative, meaning that the member could leave an impression on, say, four hundred fifty thousand constituents.  

Let us imagine a room in which the member would spend twenty minutes speaking to twenty constituents.  She would need seven thousand five hundred hours.  If she never went to Washington, D.C., and worked an eight-hour day for two hundred fifty days a year, she would spend three years and nine months before she reached all her constituents. 

What is the point?  We hear often, from pundits and pollsters, about apathy, alienation, disaffection, and distrust.  A good way to overcome that is through personal contact.  But personal contact is impossible, as we have just read.  And the problem becomes aggravated because the population increases. 

Another problem.  If the representative spent all her time talking to constituents, she could not do her legislative work, which would further aggravate the problem. 

This same problem, sometimes worse, sometimes not as worse, but in all cases bad for democracy, happens at all levels of government:  state, county,  municipal, school district.  In the next part, we will look at some ways in which the impossibility of communication affects municipalities.  

FOR EVERYONE.  Alumni barbeque.  Sixth annual alumni barbeque at Montebello High School, Thursday, October 25, 2007, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Montebello High School gymnasium, 2100 West Cleveland Avenue, Montebello.  Montebello High’s 2007 Hall of Fame inductee will be Darrell Heacock, class of 1951, recognized for over fifty years of service to the community.  The next day, Friday, Montebello High will have its homecoming football game against Mark Keppel High School.  $20 per person includes the barbeque by Pie n’ Burger, the MHS history book, admission to the football game, and a football program.  For further information, call 323.728.0121, extension 4438.  One possibility for out-of-towners intending to stay overnight is the Hilton Garden Inn Montebello, located on the Montebello golf course, 323.724.3554.  

FOR YOUTH AND THEIR PARENTS.  Teen dance.  “Noise Factory,” Friday, October 26, 2007.  From 6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. for grades 5 through 8, at the Cathy Hensel Youth Center, 236 South Taylor Avenue.  Identification required to enter dance.  Put on by the Montebello City Department of Parks and Recreation.  For more information, 887.4540.  

FOR RETIREES.  Halloween parties.  Happy Years Halloween Party, Thursday, October 25, 2007, 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., and V.I.P.’s Halloween Party, Friday, October 26, 2007, 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., at the Montebello Senior Citizen Center, 115 South Taylor Avenue, Montebello, 323.887.4575.  

FOR RETIREES, WORKING ADULTS, AND ANYONE WITH ELDERLY PARENTS OR GRANDPARENTS.  Senior health fair.  Saturday, October 20, 2007, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Beverly Hospital, 101 West Beverly Boulevard, Montebello.  Look for the big tent. 

·        Free health screenings:  carotid artery, lungs, blood, and bones.

·        Information and service booths provided by over twenty community agencies, including “Ask the Doctor.”

·        Free flu-shot clinic.

·        Blood-chemistry panel available at greatly reduced cost.

·        Prostate-cancer screening for only $25.

For more information, call 323.725.5033.  

FOR RETIREES, WORKING ADULTS, AND ANYONE WITH ELDERLY PARENTS OR GRANDPARENTS.  More free flu shots.  Thursday, October 25, 2007, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., at the Montebello Senior Citizen Center, 115 South Taylor Avenue, Montebello, 323.887.4575.

Only 500 shots will be available, first come, first serve.  Sponsored by the Los Angeles County Public Health Department.   

FOR RETIREES.  Trip to Laughlin.  Sponsored by the Happy Years Senior Club.  Two days, one night, October 28 and 29.  “Come join us for a great time and maybe you will hit the jackpot.”  Contact Ramona Salinas 323.721.2561 or Virginia Alvarez, 626.455.0889.  

FOR EVERYONE.  Skate nights.  October 26, November 9, November 30, at the skate park in Montebello City Park.  Starting times vary.  For more information, call 323.887.4577.  

Since the 1830s the area now known as Hot Springs National Park has bathed notables as diverse as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Babe Ruth, and Al Capone. The park is entirely surrounded by the city of Hot Springs, the boyhood home of President Bill Clinton.  

Sam Walton founded his Wal-Mart stores in Bentonville.  

Famous singer Johnny Cash was born in Kingsland.  

Pine Bluff is known as the world center of archery bow production.  

Alma claims to be the spinach capital of the World.  

General Douglas MacArthur, soldier and statesman, was born in Little Rock in 1880.  

In a past essay, we have talked about thinking an idea through so as to avoid unintended consequences.  Looking through the September-October, 2007, issue of Spotlight on Montebello, a publication of the Montebello Chamber of Commerce, I noticed an article entitled “Habitat Restoration Underway at Montebello Hills,” by Anne Donofrio-Holter.   

Montebello residents and visitors alike traveling up and down Montebello Boulevard can’t help but notice the thousands of colorful flags that dot the eastern hillside.  The flags, 80,000 of them, are part of the Plains Exploration and Production (PXP) Company’s Montebello hills habitat restoration project. 

The purpose of the project is two-fold.  First, as a fire prevention measure by clearing dry brush, followed by the planting of native California plants in the bare areas left after clearing. ... 

I held my breath—figuratively—as I wondered, against a background of a possible drought in coming years and water scarcity generally, whether the project took into consideration the availability of water.  To my relief,  

[a]ccording to PXP, the plants being added are known as Coastal Sage Scrub which includes sagebrush, buckwheat, coyote bush, mulefat and pricklyh pear cactus.  These plants replicate a natural native Southern California habitat and are drought tolerant. ...

We think that the Internet has made it less difficult (notice that I do not use “easier”) to communicate with our elected representatives.  Beware and share with friends the information about Internet petitions found via the following hyperlink:  

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/petition/internet.htm .  

To learn about this newsletter, Montebello E-News, and the accompanying, growing Web site, “My Montebello”, visit www.mymontebello.com.  Also, you will find instructions and contact information for submitting announcements for publication in this newsletter.