Beachcombing

According to Henry David Thoreau, “Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it.” So I’m going to make a rule that I should pay better attention to the comments I make in this column.

Last week I learned that I accidentally said in our Oct. 26 issue that Proposition 8 was going to get my “no” vote because the renal dialysis companies wanted you to vote “yes.” Actually the opposite applied to the situation. Such is the confusion on several of these poorly worded ballot initiatives.

Proposition 8 did fail, but I won’t blame myself for that, since the margins were high. Healthcare costs are crazily out of control and profit levels need to be controlled, starting with prescription drugs.

Generally my votes go against any “tax and spend” philosophy. But the reality is that we are in a state that is largely Democratic voters, so the tax and spend mantra will continue.

Perhaps the biggest disappointment from Tuesday’s election was that Sheriff Jim McDonnell lost to retired LASD Lt. Alex Villanueva by less than one percentage point. Clearly McDonnell was better qualified for the job.

My PR background always wanted to see Jim do a better job of letting the public know about the many good deeds that deputies perform on a daily basis. I also questioned the use of the LA Times for his political advertisements, wondering if minority and social media was included in the media mix. If not, it should have been.

Speaking of local elections our website poll had Measures BBB and DDD losing, but all four of those local measures won, to my surprise, since several legal authorities think that BBB will possibly extend Garcia’s terms three more times.

So now that the election is over we need a new poll and I would like to know how our readers feel about the Maywood Academy music teacher who pummeled a 14-year-old student who refused to leave the classroom upon request and baited the 64-year-old black teacher multiple times by calling him the “N” word.

Granted the music teacher should be charged with assault and face the legal “music.” I am more than pleased to read that the public has contributed via GoFundMe more than $135,000 to his defense fund, based on my belief of “spare the rod, spoil the child.”

But what about the student? Should he be punished as well? Our online poll asks “How should Maywood Academy school administrators handle the student’s role in the confrontation?”

Options are: (1) No discipline, (2) Some discipline, (3) Severe discipline, (4) Permanent expulsion or (5) Other. Go to www.beachcomber.news to vote as well as to express your opinion.

Ward Johnson has joined the insider group of folks who like to feed me humorous items suitable for print. He provided the following, which is often attributed to comedian Jeff Foxworthy, “You might be a red neck when...”

• You take your dog for a walk and you both use the same tree.
• You can entertain yourself for more than 15 minutes with a fly swatter.
• Your boat has not left the driveway in 15 years.
• You burn your yard rather than mow it.
• You think “The Nutcracker” is something you do off the high dive.
• The Salvation Army declines your furniture.
• You offer to give someone the shirt off your back and they don’t want it
• You have the local taxidermist on speed dial.
• You come back from the dump with more than you took.
• You keep a can of Raid on the kitchen table.

publisher@beachcomber.news