When I saw the name in a recent online edition of the Del Norte Triplicate, I had a sudden flash of memory of Dad and Pearl Harbor veteran Tom Gooch, talking about ‘Rocky’ Peterson. This is the sort of history I wish my high school teacher had taught us.

Born Roscoe Earl Peterson in Ashland, Oregon sometime during 1919, ‘Rocky,’ his parents, Arthur and Gladys and four siblings, Dorothy, James, Richard and Lyle moved to 742 2nd Street in Crescent City in 1929. Rocky graduated from Del Norte High in 1938 after being a standout athlete in both baseball and basketball.

While Peterson is best remembered for his skill on the baseball diamond, he was also a good basketball player, starting as a forward on the school’s varsity team. Peterson was so good that he drew the ire of Arcata High’s basketball coach William McKittrick.

In February 1936, McKittrick complained that Peterson was ‘too good,’ which caused him to be declared ineligible for the rest of the season. Not to be phased, Rocky picked up a job coaching the Crescent Elk Middle School’s basketball team.

Three years prior, when Rocky was 14, he joined the local semi-pro baseball team, the Crescent City Merchants. Though still in his junior year of high school, Peterson was playing professionally using his middle name with the Yakima, Washington Pippins, and after two-years, with the Lewiston, Idaho Indians.

He had plans to move to Portland, Oregon and play for the Portland Beavers, but instead joined the U.S. Navy on October 21, 1940, enlisting at San Francisco. Peterson officially reported for duty aboard the U.S.S. Arizona on December 30, 1940 and served aboard the ship for less than a year.

On December 7, 1941, he died along side 1,176 of his fellow shipmates during the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese. His remains rest among the 900-plus souls still aboard the U.S.S. Arizona.

The 22-year-old Seaman Second Class was posthumously awarded several medals including the Purple Heart, the American Defense Service Medal w/Fleet Clasp, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal w/Star and the WWII Victory Medal. On Independence Day in July 1943, Crescent City, California to change the name of Plaza Park at D and Sixth Streets to Peterson Park.

In September 2016, Rocky Peterson was named to Del Norte High School’s Hall of Fame.

Let’s face it, I should have by now, learned to keep my pie-hole shut. Because I yap too much, our new neighbors have moved out even before they moved in.

The young couple was unloading furniture on Saturday and moving it into the rental next to us. The following day, the woman and I were talking about our dogs.

They have a Bull Mastiff puppy named Brutus, who at the time we were talking had crashed out on the living room floor. I offered up the fact that we have four dogs.

“In fact, we jus’ got the fourth one because the man who lived in your house passed away,” I added. “We took it in as a favor, but now he’s ours.”

She made a sad groan as she replied, “That’s so sweet of you.”

There was a slight pause as I could tell she was thinking, preparing to say something else. She grimaced, asking, “He didn’t die in the house, did he?”

My hesitation must have been too long before I answered, “Yes…but I thought you knew.”

Obviously, their landlord hadn’t told them.

She tried hard to smile as she shook her heads sideways. I could tell that the information distressed her as she fumbled for something to say.

“I’m sorry,” I told her.

She sighed, “I think were going to move.”

She and her husband, or boyfriend, or what ever he is to her, haven’t been back since that night and the house is still vacant. I really thought that they knew.

Some 37-years ago I had a friend whose wife was having a baby. He asked me to buy him lunch that morning, handing me a 20 dollar bill, which I promptly stuffed in my pants pocket.

By the time lunch rolled around, I had been so busy that I’d completely forgotten about my friend and the money. So when I stuck my hand in my pocket and pulled out that Andrew Jackson, I was pleased as punch, thinking I’d found cash that I didn’t know I had.

I promptly went to the hospital’s mini-BX and purchased a large jar of Planters’ Peanuts, a couple of Coca0Cola’s, a large Milky Way bar and a People Magazine, as I wanted to find out the low-down on Erik Estrada’s motorcycle accident.

It was evening time and I was heading out the door from a long-ass day in the office seeing patient after patient, when to my horror, I recalled the fact that the now-long spent green-back belonged to my friend. Worse than that was the knowledge that I’d forgotten to get him lunch as I’d promised.

“Totally embarrassed” is how I would describe myself the next day when I saw him in order to return the twenty and tell him what I’d done. He said it was okay, that the nursing staff had fed him as waited for his daughter to come into the world.

A couple of days ago I went to the local market and bought a large Snicker’s candy bar for my friend, Kay’s birthday. She told me that she didn’t want anything, but I can’t let her go the day without a gift and a nice card.

Yesterday, as I sat in front of my computer, bored, tired and unable to think I looked over at the Snickers as it rested on my desk. Without any thought I picked it up, tore it open and took a healthy bite.

At that second, I gasped, realizing what I’d done — I was eating Kay’s birthday present and feeling stupid. When I called to wish her a ‘Happy birthday,” I informed her that I had eaten her candy bar and that I’d have to buy her another one.

This time though, my brain-fart only cost me a buck-thirty-four.

My wife and I were watching television when a promotional advertisement for a new show came on. In it, two men were in a restroom stall with an inflatable raft and one of the men pulled the handle that allowed the raft to fill with air.

It caused me to recall the fact that inflatable rafts do not fill with slowly. In fact, it happens very quickly and even quicker than one can react to it.

At the time it didn’t seem too funny, but looking back, it’s hilarious.

One of the Marines purchased a Vietnam-era ‘rubber boat’ from a local Army-Navy surplus store and to show it off, he brought it into the squad bay. Once there, we all gathered around to hear bout the grand deal he had made.

That’s when some smart-ass reached over and yanked on the handle. I had leaned over to stop him, but it was too late.

In the blink of an eye, the raft inflated, flinging me into the ceiling.  And no sooner had I slammed into the ceiling — I dropped to floor with a thud.

How they managed to get the damned thing out of the barracks without getting busted, I never knew. I had to be taken to the infirmary for the night as I was suffering from a concussion and a dislocated left wrist.

Wonder where Nevada lame-duck Senator Harry Reid fits into all this cash being tossed around?

Between SolarCity, Tesla Motors Inc., and the rocket company SpaceX, Elon Musk’s interests has gotten at least $4.9 billion in taxpayer support over the past 10 years. Now, the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee have launched a probe into the tax incentives paid to SolarCity, which is set to be purchased by Tesla.

In 2013, SolarCity received $127.4 million in federal grants. The following year, in which it received only $342,000 from the same stimulus package, total revenue was just $176 million and the company posted a net loss of $375 million.

As an aside, Musk’s cousins, Lyndon and Peter Rive operate SolarCity. With such shady goings-on between family members — a favorite Harry Reid feature — it isn’t hard to believe that the soon-to-be-gone Senator is somehow benefiting from the arrangement.

It is truly a joy having people I don’t even know threaten me while on my own front porch. One of my neighbors’ dog got out of his yard and was hanging around my fence, visiting with my pups.

The escapee, a Rottweiler, whose name is Rosco, has managed this feat before. So I go out and sit with him until his human realizes he’s missing.

Today however, a large man walking a small dog, yells at me to call ‘my fucking dog’ back or else. I respond that he isn’t my dog – then I add, “Or else what?”

“Don’t get smart wise ass!” he shouts at me.

Now, to be honest, I suffer from ‘Short man’s disorder,’ and I don’t give a shit if this guy with the purse-sized dog is six-foot-four, out weighs me by at least 75 pounds and is at least 20-years my junior, I will not let that stand. So I remain seated as I mouth-off, “You’re the asshole who got stupid by demanding I call my dog — so don’t go giving me any lip, shithead.”

That stunned him as the look on his face told me that he was thinking twice about tangling with me, which is a good thing. Though my adrenaline was up, I would have more than likely gotten hurt, if not severely killed.

“Second god-damned time this has happened to me today,” he complained as he continued to walk by.

“Well,” I called back to him, “that’s not my fault now is it?”

In the mean time, Rosco, sensing he was not being appreciated by the big guy with the tiny dog, came and sat on the porch next to me and drank all the coffee from my cup. I could see him ever-so gently quaking, anticipating what might happen next.

Now, it might be my imagination, but I think Rosco was ready to pounce on the dude had he been anymore threatening towards me — and I’m not even his human. Perhaps I owe Rosco a big steak the next time he goes ‘Hogan’s Heroes,’ for keeping my name out of the obituaries.

It began with baseball; the Cleveland Indians and the Chicago Cubs matching up in the 2016 World Series. The Indians hadn’t been in the series since 1948 and that was the trigger to my recognizing a pattern.

1948 is the year that the U.S. supreme Court rules that religious instruction in public schools violates the U.S. Constitution, while the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the United Nation. Also, during that same year, the State of Israel was reconstituted

Within seconds, other dates were tumbling out of my mind, like the 1967 ‘Six Day War,’ in which Israel had to defend itself against several Arab aggressors. The 50-year anniversary of that war is next year.

Every 50th year in the Old Testament Israel was the “Year of Jubilee” when all the land was to be restored to the original owner; all debts were to be cancelled; and all slaves were set free. It was the year of release and deliverance – a time for celebration and joy when families were reunited and given a fresh lease on life.

The 1967 fight over the land that is Israel came about because of the Balfour Treaty of 1917, which is more of a letter, expressing the British government’s support for a Jewish homeland – which was also a period of 50 years. Also in 1917, the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia occurred.

Both the Balfour Treaty and the Bolshevik Revolution will see their 100th year anniversary in 2017. Also of interest is the fact that the in May 1917, three Portuguese children experienced the miracle in which Mary, the mother of Jesus, appeared at Fatima which also happened to be the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation.

And I can’t help but think about the Blood Moon’s this year or the solar eclipse in August 2017. I don’t know what any of it means, but remember I’m the kid that tried to talk our family priest into believing that the Statue of Liberty in New York’s harbor was like the statue from King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.

It has been an uphill struggle the last eight years as I’ve tried to get the message out to those who would listen that our nation is in grave peril from within. Be for Barack Obama was elected, I began researching him, his past and those he associated with and what I found was terrifying.

Back then though, hardly anyone would listen what I was saying. Those that I told, poo-poo’d me, claiming that I was making a mountain out of a molehill and that I had read too much between the lines as I dug through Obama’s background.

The night he was elected in 2008, I was working at a local radio station and I was an emotional wreck. I vibrated between acute fear for American and extreme sadness, crying off and on throughout the night and early morning.

(No, I do not mind sharing that aspect of myself as it is the real me; I have always been a rather emotional being, even in childhood.)

The second time Obama was elected, I lost it and proclaimed a ‘purge’ was headed our way. This nearly caused an all out fist fight between myself and another announcer at the station.

Instead of being sad, I was irate – too the point that I was out of bounds, both professionally and within myself. The fact that people could not see the damage – the lies – the destruction – this man wrought from his position in the White House and golf course was beyond my ability to understand.

After nearly four-years I had concluded that this nation, as I had known it as a child and as a young man was done for, finished and never to be seen again. Especially with the likes of Hillary Clinton assuming the mantle of Democratic presidential candidate, I knew instinctively this country would not survive.

To that end, I decided to forgo sharing daily articles to my blog, and instead focus my time, my research and my writing skills to Facebook for the purpose of educating those who’d take the time to honestly read what I was posting. Because of this, I have lost a lot of friends and even some family over the course of time and in all honesty, I still do not know if such losses will have been worth it in the long run.

Last night, a couple of minutes after Fox News grew a pair and finally announced what everyone else knew, that Donald Trump had won the election, I sat quietly, bowed my head and prayed for him, for our nation and for you and me – what a difference from 2008 and 2012.

It is comforting to know that I am not the heartless beast, the all out verbal warrior, the Mr. Hyde I had come to think of myself as during this process. As I laid in bed, I found myself feeling sorrow and pity for Hillary Clinton, as I imagined the bitter hurt of being rejected so publically – and it does hurt no matter how tough one might claim to be.

It is a new morning, a new day in the United States. Where we go from this point, only God can say as he’s has made Donald Trump his instrument and we God’s children must bear him up in prayer as that instrument if we wish to undo the damage the Obama administration has done to this nation and her people. Though I am not in charge, my first prayer is that we (as President-elect Trump said,) ‘bind up our wounds,’ forgive each other, return to civilized activity such as a ‘good morning,’ and ‘how are you?’

Lastly, as I’ve told you before, I wanted to be a preacher at one time, but I now understand why God never allowed that to come to fruition – I am too emotional, too foul mouthed, to warrior-like and too politically incorrect in my approach to serve as God’s messenger to the gentler Christian’s among us. For all these things I apologize, if I have offended you – but like war, the battle in defense of the U.S. Constitution and our Constitutional Republic is not meant for the faint of heart and those not willing to hurt and be hurt.

God, bless America and hold Mr. Trump’s feet to your righteous flame.

The Thornton Law Firm in Boston, Massachusetts gave partners bonus checks that mirrored their political contributions, a violation of federal law. Now those ‘gifted’ politician’s who received the money are ‘trying’ to return the ‘donations.’

They are all Democrats and include New Hampshire’s Maggie Hassan and Wisconsin’s Russ Feingold who received $100 thousand; Pennsylvania’s Katie McGinty and Missouri Attorney General Jason Kander who each who got $25,000; Florida Congressman Patrick Murphy received $21,800; Colorado Senator Michael Bennet and Illinois Congresswoman Tammy Duckworth each received $22,500; Former Ohio Senator Ted Strickland received $12,500; Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren each received more than $10,000. Finally, Nevada Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto received $23,300.

This is the same scam Harry Reid ran in 2007. Back then, Reid met with one of his closest friends and supporters, Harvey Whittemore, who promised Reid he would raise $150,000 for his upcoming reelection campaign. Whittemore, his wife, and company contributed tens of thousands of dollars to Reid’s election campaigns and to Reid’s leadership fund, which was used to aid Reid’s allies and is said to have helped Reid attain his leadership position.

A grand jury convened in late February 2012 to investigate the illegal campaign contributions. Whittemore was found guilty by a federal jury of three out of four felony charges in May 2013, sent to jail for two years and fined $100,000.

Oh – and did I mention that Nevada Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto, who is running against Congressman Joe Heck for Reid’s soon-to-be-vacated senate seat, received $23,300 from Thornton?

A new 18-page proposal shows the Obama administration plans to have teachers and mental health professionals intervene to help prevent people from turning to violent ideologies. Under the new guidelines, “local intervention teams” made up of mental health professionals, faith-based groups, educators and community leaders will assess the needs of individuals showing signs of converting to a violent ideology.

The policy also calls on the Justice Department to develop rehabilitation strategies that could include using former converts to violence as counselors for those convicted of terrorism. Prosecutors would still have a role in prevention efforts under the new policy, including arranging after-school programs, but they would not be allowed to use those settings for intelligence gathering.

Throughout this entire proposal, the term “violent ideologies” is not defined, making this a possible danger to certain segments of the public. After all the Progressive media is blaming a recent firebombing of a North Carolina Republican Party office over the weekend on Donald Trump supporters.

And for those who refuse to believe the Progressive media is against Trump supporters’ know that the latest batch of hacked emails released by WikiLeaks reveals that Hillary Clinton confided in aides that she was “upset” by a “continued bad relationship” with what the campaign described as “our press.” This is further forwarded when you learn that newspapers with a circulation of at least 50,000 favor Clinton by a count of 68 to zero.

Out of a total of 82 newspapers that have offered an editorial on who their readers should vote for, 68 of them have endorsed Clinton. Meanwhile, five have recommend Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson, two advise voting for anybody but Trump and seven papers offer no endorsement at all.