Looking at our veterans and our local elections
Glad tidings first. The Palmdale City Council made a great choice honoring its “Veteran of the Year,” John Parsamyan, vice president of the Vets4Veterans local nonprofit group and owner of Armed Services Auto Body.
On 9/11 when the terrorists hit the towers in New York, John was a young G.I. with the Army’s 10th Mountain Division, a storied unit that began in World War II. Bob Dole, with 10th Mountain in Italy, was wounded badly fighting the Nazis. It was 10th Mountain troops that rolled to help the Rangers fight their way out of Mogadishu in the “Blackhawk Down” urban ambush.
Young John was soon on his way to war in the mountains of Afghanistan. Since arriving in the Antelope Valley a couple of years ago, he met the top-kicks of Vets4Veterans, one of the most effective nonprofits helping veterans in distress, locally.
His mentor was Tom Hilzendeger, who we lost not long after Memorial Day. John loved Tom and now is Vets4Veterans President Jack Woolbert’s strong right arm. They are a great team and John is a great advocate and hires vets.
On the darker side, local elections are in play. Hit mailers are sliming mailboxes and social media, with mud being slung at local education booster Donita Winn. To read Valley Press reporter Julie Drake’s detailed report, it is shocking to see how many bad lies can be told about one provably good person.
Winn put her splendid daughters through Antelope Valley schools, pressed the public to support investment in schools, attended nearly all Board meetings over the years and served a dozen years honorably on the Antelope Valley Union High School District Board. She even got clobbered in the end zone at a Palmdale High School football game, because she went to every game she could and just got too close.
None of Winn’s detractors can say they put the hours, effort and heart that she invested in better education for our kids.
It is not surprising a dirty campaign is in play against Winn’s effort to return to the Board. That is the only kind of mud that would emerge from the sort who are afraid she will return to the School Board and return balance and dignity. She would never vote against authorizing lunch programs for students, with or without a pandemic. She would never vote to withhold funds for programs that advance students and grow teachers. That is what has been going on, with a 2-2 Board since the abrupt resignation of former trustee Bob Davis, reasons for which have never been explained. It is clear that if Trustee Jill McGrady retains her Board seat in the Nov. 3 election and Winn wins, that the needs of our young people will get the care they deserve.
Newspapers have retrenched from endorsement in recent years for reasons that make sense in deeply divided times, but analysis and commentary continues, whether in a letter to the editor or columns of opinion. Without presuming to endorse, I have been watching campaigns for local measures, which tend to most affect our lives. Both cities, Lancaster and Palmdale, have measures on the ballot — in Lancaster, Measure LC and in Palmdale, Measure AV. Both ask voters to approve a 3/4 cent hike to sales tax.
Nothing is truer than that sales tax in California is already high. That said, the current pandemic has hit funding for counties and cities as hard as the 2008 crash in the Great Recession, when cities had to cut staffs by half and services suffered. It is happening again. After the crash, cities lost redevelopment funds.
Whether you like or loathe taxes (who likes ’em?) cities need stable funding to support the deputies who patrol and answer 911, to fill potholes, provide emergency communications, keep parks and programs for seniors and children viable.
So, you will be the one to decide whether 3/4 of a penny is a penny earned by cities with a commitment to being safe, clean, quality places to live, raise children, or live decently in age.
Dennis Anderson is a licensed clinical social worker at High Desert Medical Group. An Army veteran, he deployed twice to Iraq with local National Guard to report the war for the Antelope Valley Press. He works on community and mental health initiatives.