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This is the Rio Grande Crossing in Texas on Sunday, June 15th, 2014 — illegal aliens entering the U.S. by the thousands. Could we be seeing the end of this nation?

The reason I’m posting this is to show you how easily history and objects associated with it can cross through our lives. Above are three different shaving implements.

On the left is the straight edge by which my Great-grandpa and grandpa shaved with. In the center is a safety razor — my father used this style and I learned to shave with one jus’ like it.

Finally, on the right is the style of shaver I am using. My son, learned to shave using this kind and continues to use the multi-blade system.

You also have bits and pieces of family history in your life — all you have to do look around.

He’s a successful student, yet his high school administration refused to allow him to speak openly about his faith at his graduation. Yet that didn’t stop California’s Brawley Union High School senior Brook Hamby.

“In coming before you today, I presented three drafts of my speech, all of them denied on account of my desire to share with you my personal thoughts and inspiration to you: my Christian faith,” Hamby said. “In life, you will be told, ‘No.’ In life you will be told to do things that you have no desire to do. In life, you will be asked to do things that violate your conscience and desire to do what is right.”

He added, “No man or woman has ever truly succeeded or been fulfilled on the account of living for others and not standing on what they knew in their heart was right or good.”

Then he quoted from “the biggest best-selling book of all-time in history.”

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?” he quoted, from Matthew in the Holy Bible. “It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.”

“Be the salt of the earth, be strong and stand for your convictions and stand for what right, what is ethical, what is moral and Godly no matter what is the cost to you,” Hamby concluded. “Stand for whatever is good wherever you go and what ever you do.”

No word on whether his act of disobedience against the school district cost him his diploma.

In High Point, North Carolina the dress she wore was exactly a half-inch too short.

With two hours left in the last day of her senior year of high school, Violet Burkhart said the milestone she hoped would be “great and exciting” was “pretty much ruined.”

A teacher at Central Davidson High School pulled her aside and measured her dress in the middle of the hallway, then told her to call her mother, because she had to go home and change. In tears, Violet did as directed.

“I literally looked back at the clock and I’m thinking, ‘It’s one in the afternoon on her last day of her senior year,’” said Amy Redwine, Burkhart’s mother. “My daughter — it’s supposed to be one of her best days and she’s there crying.”

She isn’t disputing the districts dress code, but thinks it could have been handled better, given the fact Violet had worn the dress to school before. So in response, Redwine decided to wear the same dress to her daughter’s graduation.

“If her dress is too short, then my dress is too short,” Redwine stated, “and I’m going to wear it in front of everybody and be proud just like she should have been able to on her last day.”

The school district has yet to comment on the matter.

Finally, Quintin Murphy disrobed during his graduation ceremony to display his leopard-print skivvies at Jack Britt High School, he was stripped of his diploma.

Murphy stripped down to draw attention to veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan who suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder — specifically his uncle and grandfather — and how they’re being cared for medically by Veterans Affairs.

“Fayetteville does not have the best VA hospital,” said Murphy. “I have been there with my uncle and grandfather, and I’ve see how poor things are, and like these are men that have served.”

His uncle Leonard Johnson, a disabled Iraq war vet, knew what he was planning for the ceremony and says he supports his nephew.
“You know it really touched my heart,” Johnson said.

Johnson said for the last decade he’s battled the VA over PTSD and other medical treatments.

“I have been on morphine for 10 years,” said Johnson. “It took over a year-and-a-half to get my brace, my back brace, my knee braces, and an arm brace.”

School officials claim Murphy’s actions were inappropriate, and for that reason he won’t receive his diploma and has been banned from school property.

He was escorted off by police following the stunt but was not charged with a crime. But Murphy, who plans to go to college and then enlist in the Army, says it was worth it.

The year 2014 marks 50th anniversary of America’s involvement in the Vietnam War. The action cost the lives of 58, 195 soldiers — including nine from Del Norte County.

The men who lost their lives include James H. Whisenhunt, Donald Shanks, Robert G. Owen, John R. Klotz, Paul O. Klotz, Howard Cramblet, Leonard Greville, Richard K. Wells and Gene A. Mitchell.

The Klotz brothers were killed 18 months apart from one another. Paul Klotz and Gene Mitchell were severely injured while in Vietnam and died from their injuries while they were in the hospital.

James Whisenhunt was a local police officer when he went in. He was killed while saving several other soldiers in Ka Sahn and was awarded the Silver Star.

If someone with a gun stops you and takes your money, you would you call police. But what if the person taking your money also has a badge?

California resident Tan Nguyen won $60,000 from a Las Vegas casino. On his way back home Humboldt County Deputy Lee Dove stopped Nguyen on I-80 near Winnemucca, Nevada for driving three-miles over the speed limit.

Dove, a trained narcotics interdiction agent, knows that accusing someone of drug trafficking is all that’s required to walk away with their money and property. The policy enables him to do this is known as ‘civil asset forfeiture.’

Dove immediately stated that he smelled drugs, which gave him legal cause to search Nguyen’s car. From the deputy’s dash cam video recording:

“I just smelled weed. I know I did. I know I smelled weed,” he said as he returned to his cruiser.

“That’s not yours, is it?” asked Dove.

“That’s mine,” Nguyen responded.

“Well, I’m seizing it,” the deputy declared.

The first issue is whether Dove obtained permission to search the car or whether he simply told the driver, Tan Nguyen, he was going to do it.

“Well, I’m gonna search that vehicle first, ok?” Dove asks.

Nguyen challenges the deputy, “Hey, what’s the reason you’re searching my car?”

“Because I’m talking to you …I don’t have to explain that to you. I’m not going to explain that to you, but I am gonna put my drug dog on that,” as he points to money. “If my dog alerts, I’m seizing the money. You can try to get it back but you’re not.”

Nguyen: (inaudible) got it in Vegas.”

“Good luck proving it. Good luck proving it. You’ll burn it up in attorney fees before we give it back to you.”

Dove however never seizes the money under state forfeiture law, instead he offers Nguyen a deal: abandon the cash and leave with the cashiers’ checks otherwise, he’ll confiscate the cash anyway and tow the car because Nguyen’s name isn’t on the rental agreement.

“It’s your call,” Dove tells Nguyen. “If you want to walk away, you can take the cashiers checks, the car and everything and you can bolt and you’re on your way. But you’re gonna be walking away from this money and abandoning it.”

“I don’t have all day to sit here debating it,” Dove insisted.” You need to give me a decision what you want to do.”

Nguyen protested that the officer had no right to rob him. But Deputy Dove reminded him that government theft is legal in a police state.

“Everyday I do this,” said the Deputy Dove. “It’s all I do for a living. It’s drug interdiction and I get money. The only reason why you have that cash is because it’s related to some sort of illegal activity. You know it and I know it.”

“I don’t have to prove my case on the side of the road. Ok, I don’t have to prove that all right? You can take these and the car and the luggage and your written warning and you proceed and I will give you a receipt for the money and you abandon it and you walk away and you chalk it up to don’t do this no more, all right? That is what it amounts to,” Dove told Nguyen.

After taking the cash, Dove forced Nguyen to sign a document stating that he was “abandoning the money,” and then let him leave.

Dove never issued a speeding ticket or warning. In fact, Nguyen was never charged with a crime at all.

After he got home Nguyen cashed his $10,000 in cashier checks and used the money to hire a lawyer to get the rest of his money back. Thankfully, he was successful in recovering the stolen money.

The controversial drug interdiction stops have since been suspended and Nevada’s Attorney General, Catherine Cortez Masto called in to review the practice.

“The public confidence has eroded in the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office. I want the citizens that we serve to know we are lawful. Therefore, I contacted the Nevada Attorney General’s Office to ask for an independent review of our program,” Sheriff Ed Kilgore said.

Kilgore added that departmental guidelines were not followed and claims he thought the cases were being sent to the district attorney’s office. Meanwhile, Dove is still on duty, patrolling I-80.

A man is hospitalized in serious condition after a shooting incident on East Janere Court in Spanish Springs. So far there’s no word on the condition of the person who was shot.

The Washoe County Sheriff’s Office says the suspect is still at large.

06/13/14 UPDATE: Deputies have identified the suspected shooter as 19-year-old Brandon Moore-Montgomery. He’s is described as a white male, about 5 feet 9 inches tall and 150 pounds. They say he has brown hair and green eyes.

He may be driving a white 1991 Chevrolet S10 Blazer with Nevada license plate 836 NVN.

06/15/14 UPDATE: Moore-Montgomery turned himself into the Washoe County Sheriff’s office and has been booked on charges of attempted murder.

06/23/14 UPDATE:The man shot in Spanish Springs earlier this month has died of his injuries. Authorities say the victim is 45-year-old Jeffrey James Montgomery.

Brandon Moore-Montgomery is now charged with open murder.

Del Norte native Rollin Treahearne celebrated his 40th year in the broadcast business. He first sat down in front of a live mic when he was 15 years old.

Back then classmates called him, ‘The Rat,’ a play on his initials.

Trehearne began his radio career at KPOD in Crescent City, going to work before school started each morning. After graduation, Trehearne attended college in Morro Bay , where he when to work at KBAI.

After a few years in Morro Bay, Trehearne moved to Humboldt County, landing a job at KATA in Arcata. He’s been with KRED in Eureka for 24 years and has no plans of retiring any time soon.

Congratulations, RAT! And here’s to another 40-years.

As a writer, I’m constantly at odds with how certain words are misused in the media, by politicians, organizations and individuals. One of those words that give me pause each time I hear it is ‘stakeholder.’

Recently I read a posting from a friend and sheriff: “I attended a meeting where the stakeholders from Southern Oregon and Northern California met and discussed the upcoming Marijuana growing season.”

In this case he was trying to say, ‘other law enforcement officials,’ instead of ‘stakeholders.’

Over and over I hear or see the word being used by people who, I’m certain have no idea what it means. In fact, the term has made a rebounding resurgence in the last six or seven years and this leaves me even more concerned.

A stakeholder is a person that has an interest in an enterprise or project. The primary stakeholders in a typical corporation are its investors, employees, customers and suppliers. However, modern theory goes beyond this conventional notion to embrace additional stakeholders such as the community, government and trade associations.

A common problem that arises with having many stakeholders in any enterprise is that their various self-interests may not all be aligned. In fact, they may be in conflict with each other.

The primary goal of a corporate enterprise from the viewpoint of its shareholders is to maximize profits and enhance shareholder value. Since labor costs are a critical input cost for most companies, an enterprise may seek to keep these costs under tight control.

This may have the effect of making another important group — stakeholders, or rather its employees, unhappy. The most efficient companies’ successfully manage the self-interests and expectations of its stakeholders.

The term “stakeholder”, as traditionally used in the English language in law and notably gambling, is a third-party who temporarily holds money or property while its owner is still being determined.

More recently though a very different meaning of the term is being widely used. In a business context, a “stakeholder” is a person or organization that has a legitimate interest in a project or entity.

A stakeholder was originally a person who temporarily holds money or other property while its owner is being determined. This is, for example, the situation when two persons bet on the outcome of a future event and ask a third, disinterested, neutral person to hold the money or “stakes” that they have wagered or “staked”.

After the event occurs, the stakeholder distributes the stakes to one or both of the original (or other) parties according to the outcome of the event and according to the previously decided conditions. Courts sometimes act as stakeholders, holding property while litigation between the possible owners resolves the issue in which one is entitled to the property.

Trustees also often act as stakeholders, holding property until beneficiaries come of age. An “escrow agent” is another kind of trustee who is a stakeholder, usually in a situation where part of the purchase price of property is being held until some condition is satisfied. In legal documents, the escrow agent is often referred to as a “mere stakeholder.”

The new use of the term arose together from the spread of corporate social responsibility ideals, but there are also dystopian views being served by the new meaning of the term. Now ‘stakeholder’ means putting a ‘stake through private property rights,’ by creating organizations like the United Nations, able to tell you what you can and cannot do with your property.

This is part of a Cold War technique, known as a Delphi, used to channel people into accepting a point of view that is imposed on them, while convincing them that it was their idea in the first place. In essence, a Delphi is used in places where the organizers want to the appearance that they have listened to community opinion and incorporated it into their plan.

It’s time to turn away from words like ‘stakeholder,’ and return to terminology like ‘owner,’ ‘employee,’ ‘parent,’ or ‘law enforcement officials.’ If we don’t, this nation will continue to tumble further into the abyss of its’ civil ignorance.

People describe Jon Meis is a quiet gentle, outdoorsy young man of deep Christian faith. He’s a dedicated student on the cusp of a promising life beyond college.

He is also the “22 year old student who tackled a gunman earlier this week at Seattle Pacific University. His quick and incredibly brave choice to try and subdue the gunman likely saved many lives!” writes one blogger.

Amazing that while we find this young man courageous in the face of danger, we neglect to remember servicemen and women his age are facing the same terror daily as they fight in Afghanistan. While Meis is courageous, he’s no more so than a soldier, sailor, Marine or airman.

Pray they all remain safe.

Last Thursday, Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin signed into law a bill making her state the third to drop the Common Core standards.

Instead of using Common Core for the short-term while forming new standards, the state will immediately revert back to older tests and standards. And when new standards are written two years from now, they will be required to undergo a review to assure they are sufficiently different from Common Core.

South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley signed a bill May 30th, requiring her state to end the Common Core standards initiative and requires new educational standards be adopted. Actual replacement of Common Core with “new” standards won’t take place until the 2015-16 year. The common core will stay in place in South Carolina for the 2014-15 school year.

Indiana lawmakers passed legislation pausing Common Core’s implementation and requiring a statewide review to find a replacement. Governor Mike Pence in March signed legislation making Indiana the first state to drop the national standards, which are not federally required but have become the de facto guidelines.

However, the replacement standards, which include requiring second-graders to “add and subtract fluently up to 100,” have also drawn criticism from national education experts and the grassroots group ‘Hoosiers Against Common Core,’ who say they too closely resemble the tossed-aside benchmarks.

Prior to dropping the standards, the Obama administration issued a warning to Indiana about opting out of Common Core.

The U. S. Department of Education said in a letter to Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz that the state must prove its own standards are just as challenging, or else risk of losing its waiver from the Bush-era No Child Left Behind law and have its federal funding in jeopardy.

“Because the [Indiana Department of Education] will no longer implement those standards, IDOE must amend its [Elementary and Secondary Education Act] flexibility request and provide evidence that its new standards are certified by a state network of [Institutions of Higher Education] that students who meet the standards will not need remedial coursework at the postsecondary level,” the letter says.

Farther south, the Louisiana Legislature signed off on a bill June 1st that many see as a Common Core endorsement of the standards. Governor Bobby Jindal is now considering a veto of the bill.

Finally, a judge has struck down tenure and other job protections for California’s public school teachers as unconstitutional. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Rolf Treu cited the case of Brown v. Board of Education in ruling that students have a fundamental right to equal education.

Treu ruled California’s laws on hiring and firing in schools have resulted in “a significant number of grossly ineffective teachers currently active in California classrooms.” The judge also took issue with laws that say the last-hired teacher must be the first fired when layoffs occur, even if the new teacher is gifted and the veteran is inept.

The case was brought by nine students who said they were stuck with teachers who let classrooms get out of control, came to school unprepared and in some cases told them they’d never make anything of themselves. They also charged that schools in poor neighborhoods are used as dumping grounds for bad teachers.

Teachers have long argued that tenure prevents administrators from firing teachers on a whim. They also contend the system preserves academic freedom and helps attract talented teachers to a profession that doesn’t pay well.

The California Attorney General’s office said it is considering its legal options, while the California Teachers Association, the state’s biggest teachers union with 325,000 members, vowed an appeal. Meanwhile, other states are paying attention to how the case plays out.