23 Lions Not Looters

Greetings paid-up Lions,

In honor of the 100^th anniversary of the establishment of Lions Clubs, the Sandy Springs Lions Club in Maryland proposed the minting of a commemorative coin, with the help of the U S Congress, as a way to celebrate this centennial and raise eight million dollars for LCIF to aid the visually impaired, the disabled, youth and those affected by major disaster.--Lions Clubs International Newsletter 2011.08.19

H.R. 2139: Lions Clubs International Century of Service Commemorative Coin Act

[http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h112-2139] provides that the US Treasury

• mint commemorative coins
• sell these coins at a premium
• give the premiums collected to the Lions Clubs International Foundation

all at taxpayer expence.

I believe we Lions are loving individuals offering needed services. We voluntarily help folks using voluntarily donated resources from willing donors.

I believe we Lions are not looters insisting on new seizures, using stolen money to promote ourselves or our organisation. These commemorative coins will be minted by gangsters using money provided by people under threat of violent acts against them if they don't cooperate.

I believe we Lions can do better than this.

I believe we Lions can mint our own commemorative medallions and sell those to collectors and other willing buyers.

I believe this proposal conflicts with who Lions are and what Lions do: loving individuals offering needed services.

Lion Doc Ellis

Acton CA Lions Club

22 Immigration

http://tinyurl.com/3wo8g8s

A bill passed by a state committee would revoke the professional license of anyone who hires undocumented workers.

So, gangsters wanna revoke permission to produce of anyone who voluntarily engages the services of individuals who don't have proper gangster-issued permission slips. I get that some folks think that this is a good thing.


Folks have the right to prohibit unwanted visitors on their own properties. Folks have no business advocating coercing folks from allowing visitors on their own properties. Folks have the right to refuse to associate with anybody. Folks have no business advocating coercing folks from associating with anybody.


The immigration issue is about whether or not folks have natural authority to associate with anybody, or to permit anybody to co-occupy (or occupy) their own properties. This is about coercively maintaining a culture. Such effort will fail.


When folks coercively maintain a culture, that culture is toast. Folks can only maintain a culture by voluntarily living it.

21 Comments about Town Council

I was a member of the Agua Dulce Town Council (ADTC) 1997-2003. The ADTC is a deliberative advisory body with no legislative or tax-levying authority. Council Members serve community stake-holders

• to facilitate community stake-holder consensus
• to discuss community stake-holder concerns
• to represent community stake-holders before other bodies
• to review proposals affecting community stake-holders
• to maintain political neutrality

These comments, especially #1, 4, 5, and 6, come directly from my experiences then. They pertain primarily to the ADTC and other such like bodies.

1. Read the ADTC Charter and By-Laws outside of the TC meetings. Focus on learning what is in those documents. When a fellow council member tries to act outside of the documents, you will know that, and you will be able to remind him. You will also know what you can and cannot do within those documented rules.

• I did not read the Charter and the By-Laws until my third term (2001-2003). I had no understanding when someone was acting outside the limits of these documents.

2. You are just a listener. Pay attention to the best of your ability to constituents and other speakers. Your job is to tell government agents and/or officials what folks in this community have to say. You are a conduit.
3. Remember that you have no authority to tell or coerce other folks to obey you. A lot of folks get on the town council with the idea that they are gonna make things happen according to their own agendas. Leave your agenda outside the council.
4. Be prepared now to stand up for your constituents in the event that town council members or government folks try to violate the constituents.

• A constituent asked for my help in getting on the agenda to present his case before the TC (2001). I failed to do this because I had not prepared to go to bat for constituents before they needed me and because I had not read the Charter and the By-Laws.

5. Be prepared now to refuse to let other town councilmembers run over you or fail to follow through on task-related agreements that they have made with you.

• I never signed any checks while I was treasurer (2001-2003) because I allowed the Presidents to run me around on helping me get authorisation transfers. One President did not keep the one appointment that I made for us to get the account bank to transfer signature authorisation to us and I gave up on him. The other President did not ever keep his promise to get the change-of-authorisation letter to the account bank written. I was responsible for writing the letter and I gave up on him, too.

6. Read the Rural Town Councils Guide Book. There is a wealth of information in there.

• Be aware that pursuant to Johnson et al v ADTC 2007, the information on page 29 does not currently apply. The ADTC is governed by the Brown Act. Read up on that Act.

7. Provide contact information, such as a phone number or an e-mail address.  You can get a cheap disposable phone for the phone contact or you can get a disposable e-mail address for free if you are concerned about privacy.  The contact information provides credibility to you and to the proposition that you are concerned about issues that bother your constituents.
8. Leave your expectations outside the door and remember: this too shall pass.

Edwina Thompson Continuing Her Journey

A fifth-generation Californian who commenced her journey in Porterville 21 June 1942 and settled in Agua Dulce just prior to 1980, Edwina Thompson continued by going on her own everlasting trail ride on Wednesday, 12 January 2011.

Edwina was most happy while horseback.  She commuted to work in Los Angeles every day, where she was a senior legal assistant with O’Melveny & Myers LLP and then with Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP.  Although her commute was a long one, she never complained; because she knew on the weekend her time would be spent in and around her home, and involving her animals.  


She always had a big smile and something nice to say.

She was active with her horses in the cutting arena and actively competed for many years.  In recent years she had spent most of her time on the trail, she participated with Equestrian Trails Group locally, and regularly rode with some of her neighbors.

Preceded by her parents Edwin and Bernice Thompson, Edwina left behind her beloved horses Montequila Gold and Ruby San, her cousins Jim Epperson, Ruth Schieck, Leon Barris, and Vic Barris, as well as her friends and neighbors.