What are they doing up in Sacramento? Check it out: additional gun laws that will only force folks to drive to Arizona to buy ammunition and guns. They will do absolutely nothing to keep criminals from getting guns. How about firearms education? Did you know back then, the National Rifle Association would teach classes in public schools?

There are other new laws in the cook pot up there like the one to raise more taxes from gasoline sales. I’ve got an idea. How about we stop the high-speed train fiasco and use the money saved to balance the budget of our formerly great state?

You may have read about the folks who want to divide the formerly great state of California into six separate states. I kind of like that. All-new congressional districts and congressmen. Ten more senators in Washington. Only a couple of problems with that idea. It seems that nobody wants to take Jerry Brown as a citizen in any state formed out of the old one. We might have to have a tax to get another state to take him off our hands. Oh, the irony: Moonbeam tax to come and one to go. Anyway, Congress would have to approve, and folks there don’t want more “Californians” in the senate.

We may live in a state that is actively finding ways to get people to move away. Jobs, too. Six new states might stop that. Rest assured that at the state and federal level, the term “fiscal responsibility” shall always be an oxymoron.

On other subjects we’ve got some important historical places and things that need protection including Mentryville. The Ruiz Cemetery could use a lot of help. Cleanup and headstones made anew. I’ll have more on this soon. You might have to spend a night at the cemetery to contribute. How cool is that?

It all comes down to money. Why can’t politicians in the county and state level (let alone Congress) be as fiscally responsible as the City Council of Santa Clarita? Like them or not, you’ve got to be impressed by how well off our little city is. We can yell and scream, protest and march – but our city folks on the council seem to keep the coffers balanced. So it can be done, and the quality of life is pretty high, too. Not bad. Can we sell that to politicians up the line?

Could all of you William S. Hart High grads from the years 1966 to 1969 please let me know when we voted to change the school colors? We see in the 1966 Tomahawk that some uniforms are red and white, while others are maroon and gray. I don’t remember a vote. A lot of others can’t remember, either. When and where? Please write me and let me know. Nanette, we have your vote recorded.

I, for one, don’t remember a vote – but there is a lot about those years I wouldn’t or couldn’t remember, for many reasons. That is all I have to say about that.

So where are you attending church today? It might be a perfect opportunity to meet the IRS agent who is monitoring the sermon or homily by the pastor. I’m getting really tired of this “separation of church and state” thing. Some obscure “humanist” group wants to keep religion out of government. I would hope they read what the Constitution says. We have freedom of religion – not FROM religion. I’ll never forget the day on a submarine when during a propulsion test, we lost control and it looked like we were headed deep at a large down-angle. That was the time it was more comfortable standing on the forward bulkheads of the walls of the boat than the deck.

I got to watch an entire dinner for the crew go flying against that bulkhead. Looked a bit like the food fight scene in the movie, “Blazing Saddles.”

And while that was happening, each and every man was praying. Even those who claimed they didn’t believe in some sort of supreme being. Atheists and foxholes are usually exclusive.

The world – and we – can use the prayers and the guidance of the God of your understanding. Crazy folks are running around cutting off heads. If for no other reason, we should do something to stop that. Church attendance couldn’t hurt.

Now I can take off the collar and get back to less important things.

Might I recommend that after you go to church, the family heads out to our parks and hills and trails?

Maybe a movie? Nope. Outside, my friends. Enjoy what God has given us.

This is the day God has made, so we must be glad and rejoice.

Carry on.

Darryl Manzer grew up in the Pico Canyon oil town of Mentryville in the 1960s and attended Hart High School. After a career in the U.S. Navy he returned to live in the Santa Clarita Valley. He can be reached at dmanzer@scvhistory.com and his commentaries are archived at DManzer.com. Watch his walking tour of Mentryville [here].