About the time we moved to Lake County the prevalent universal truth was that air pollution was going to cause a global freeze. Al Gore, at a cost of 60 billion dollars, banished refrigeration fluid R12 to save the ozone hole, now renamed “gore hole” in his honor. The earth”s last spotted owl was about to disappear if we cut one more redwood plank. Oh, what would we do without a supply of spotted owls!
Jane Fonda, fresh from her triumph in Vietnam, banned nuclear power plants, while her buddies stopped oil drilling and power dams. Freeways were halted for interfering with the love lives of red-legged frogs. Cows needed killing or plugging to stop dangerous flatulence.
Now we hear that pollution, instead of a global freeze, will bring global frying, and the gore hole grows and shrinks just as did the old ozone hole. Spotted owls are disappearing anyway because the shameless hussies mate with more macho barred owls. Cows continue to blast off to suit themselves. Horrors.
Now we Kelseyvillains, after giving up our sports mascot “Indians” for Kelseyville “Knights”, are demanded to change our name from Kelseyville to something else because Kelsey did bad things to Indians.
Not so fast. This country is filled with place names of Indians who did awful things to whites. If we must change our name to Mother Theresa, then so should they.
However, there is disagreement in my own family about this matter. Last night, as she was going to sleep, I observed to my wife that my genes of Irish and Choctaw came from gentle, civilized people. Hers is Roman, Spanish, Osage and Comanche, a whole array of wild, murderous, dangerous thugs with places named for them.
She cocked open one eye, stared at me and replied, “And don”t you ever forget it.”
Randy Ridgel
Kelseyville
