Things are happening, things are changing — and you, the reader, are a part of our future history.
I received a phone call the other day and the woman was absolutely irate. “How dare you print that stuff?” she yelled. “Don’t you understand that people read your paper and they’re getting the wrong idea(s) about our town?” Damn I’m glad she was on the phone and not here in person. I calmly and with what I hoped was my most soothing voice, asked her, “Exactly what do you want me to print?” That was a mistake, because she told me what she wanted. “GOOD NEWS! None of that stuff that attacks people or shows what stupid things they are doing.”
Well boys and girls, she’s right. There are a lot of things that people do that they aren’t proud of. And of course, I print it. Why not? Maybe someone will learn something from it. And it boils down to people. People doing really bad things to our community under the cloak of authority. I think that our neighbors should know about how we lost the Watermelon Festival. How we lost Old Timers Day. How the Rotary club is a fraud (but a good fraud) and can’t get or keep enough mental derelicts in the club to meet the Rotary International requirements for membership. And that puts the 4th of July Parade in jeopardy of being lost also.
There was a time here in Sunland-Tujunga when the Rotary Club and Lions Club were the organizations that people really wanted to be a member of. And then a little four-letter word got in their way (LIAR). Oh, don’t let me forget our good friend Sonia Tatulian who took over and raped these organizations and actually destroyed all that was good in our community. Gosh, let’s not talk about losing her bank manager job because of insider trading. Or the missing money at the tills of the carnival events and the flat out lying about our community members.
Yup, I guess the caller was right. We shouldn’t talk about things like this. It might make people not want to live here. Hummmmmmmmmm, that sounds like a good idea also. Look around you, and try to remember six years ago when people were actually happy here. And then the wet blanket was dropped on us. And it all started going to hell. And we haven’t yet recovered from it. BUT ONE THING NEVER CHANGED! With all the lies and deceit, the back-stabbing, namecalling and character assassination, the community kept going. Through it all, there was one thing that happened every year and never became sullied or smeared or dragged through the mire. It was the S-T annual Easter Sunrise Celebration that brought and bound our community together. Nothing could touch it for its simplicity and purity. “One Community Under God” became our mantra once every year. And the members of the Verdugo Hills Ministerial Association were the keepers of the faith. And for one brief shining moment every year, we all became brothers and sisters, and it made us ONE.
For this I give thanks — and no, it had nothing to do with the water