By Pat Orr
Apple Valley Review
Yes, that is a cry heard on farms across America this week, but actually we are talking about the 11th Annual Turkey Run which kicks off the holiday season on Saturday at the Lenny Brewster Sports Center on Otoe Road.
If you’re under 12, there is a 5K walk/run you can participate in, but the older folks get to go for the 10K run. If you pre-register the fee is only $17 and the first 50 people get a cool T-shirt. Get down and gobble up some fun and exercise before you dive into the pie and mashed potatoes next week.
Call 760-240-7880 for more info and times.
A slap in the head
Many thought when California voters passed our term limits initiative, it would serve as a wake up notice for state legislators that we don’t want career politicians, we want representatives who listen.
A few weeks ago, a new initiative began gathering signatures known as the “Neighborhood Legislature” Plan. This will be on our November 2014 ballot if it qualifies. This ambitious plan breaks up all Assembly Districts into “chunks” of 8,000 voters or “neighborhoods” and each neighborhood elects a representative from their area. These “Neighborhood Representatives” in turn caucus, decide on issues and instruct their one Assemblyman how to vote.
Proponents say this brings the power back down to the people at the neighborhood level. Neighborhood representatives, which may number as many as 10,000, are unpaid and are elected by only the people in the “Neighborhood District.” Apparently, New Hampshire operates under this system quite effectively. Of course, you could fit the whole population of New Hampshire into the L.A. Coliseum, but that’s another issue.
Detractors say the plan would promote chaos and virtually bring government to a grinding impasse. Perhaps a grinding impasse where no new laws, regulations and taxes could be enacted for a few years might not be so bad for California.
‘Hell has frozen over’
This headline was the comment made by Mayor Curt Emick at the last State of the Town address in referring to the progress of the Yucca Loma Bridge project. In case you missed it, the Council awarded the paving contract for the bridge to a company at their Nov. 12 meeting.
A meteor could strike Apple Valley between now and the time they start moving dirt down at the river as construction begins, but other than that it would appear that a bridge that many predicted was a “pipe dream” is about to become a reality.
I also have a wonderfully inclusive idea to avoid all the stupid controversy that surrounded the naming of the La Mesa/Nisqualli overpass in Victorville. Since in the short term the bridge won’t really do what it is intended to do because the Victorville side goes unfinished, let’s use the interim name, “Barry O. Bridge” — it’s pretty but less than effective. Once finished, we can rename it to reflect the long hard battle to build it and make it work.
Perhaps the name, “Independence Bridge,” would be appropriate.
Next week, we’ll analyze Tuesday’s Wal-Mart vote and ask some questions we were too polite to ask before the vote came in.
Pat Orr is a local business owner, community volunteer and political junkie.