Harlem Globetrotter “Meadowlark” Lemon passed away at the age of 83. He played 24 seasons and by his own estimate more than 16,000 games with the Globetrotter organization.

It was the early 70’s and I remember watching his on court antics as a kid, and enjoying Saturday morning cartoons with his team mates solving some sort of problem by playing a friendly game of basketball. And if I remember correctly, they also appeared in a few “Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!” cartoons as well.

But the greatest ‘Globetrotter experience’ I had, was getting to run up and down the basketball court against him and his fellow Trotters in late 1979. Ironic thing is — I’ve never been very good at basketball, but I was the only person to sign up from the 90th Hospital Squadron, so I was an automatic pick.

Anyway, Meadowlark and crew were at Warren AFB, in Cheyenne, Wyoming for a charity basketball game against the Warren Airmen (or whatever we called ourselves.)  While we knew we would lose – we ran ourselves ragged trying to get our hands on the basketball and it wasn’t the least bit helpful when the Globetrotter’s did something that made everyone, including us, crack up with laughter.

I had so much fun that night, playing for whatever charity, that I never knew what the score was in the end.

Perhaps you’ve heard the old saw: “Things happen for a reason.” Well, it seems that Star Wars is running through my son’s and my life, over 32-years after I found myself involved in “Return of the Jedi.”

This thought came to me as we sat watching the new movie over the weekend. Hopefully, I can explain myself well enough not be considered ‘too far’ out there.

Kyle works for an electronics company, where they create, box up and ship electronic parts all around the world. One of the many thousands and thousands of orders he’s helped work on these past few months has been parts for a new droid character in this latest Star War’s film, “The Force Awakens,” known as BB-8.

Made of two spheres, BB-8 includes a large ball for the body and a smaller one for the head. Disney licensed the BB-8 character to Sphero in July 2014, which in turn hired Kyle’s employer to produce, package and distribute the electronic pieces.

Having worked as Mark Hamill’s stand-in and stunt-double when I was 23-years-old, the Star War’s saga has managed to cross-sect 23-year-old Kyle’s life and mine more than three-decades later. I know – the link is very thin – but there it is.

So schools in the Reno/Sparks area are out for winter break — or Christmas break as we used to say in the old days. Despite that, the school zone light’s near my home continue to flash meaning (in Nevada) you’re supposed to slow down to 15 miles per hour.

So the question becomes: Do I drop down to the required speed limit or drive on as if the flashing lights mean absolutely nothing? Yeah — fool me once…

So I slow down to 15 miles per hour. In no time I have three vehicles stacked up behind me and I can tell they’re feeling less than Christmassy towards me.

Without warning, and from where the cruiser came, I don’t know. But he jumped right in behind me and flipped on his siren and flashing lights.

“Oh, crap,” I shouted at the dashboard, “Now what did I do?!”

Wasting no time, I pulled out my driver’s license, registration and proof of insurance, which the man-behind-the-badge didn’t fail to ask for. He looked them over to make certain they were all up to date.

“Do you know why I pulled you over?” he asked.

“No,” I answered.

“You were going only 15 miles an hour when the speed limit is 35,” he politely explained.

“Yes. I know I was, but…” I started to reply.

“You must not have children,” he interrupted.

“Not school aged, no,” I agreed.

“Well, schools out and there’s no reason to do anything other than the posted speed limit, even with the lights flashing,” he continued.

“Oh, good — then you saw them too,” I returned.

He furrowed his brow in a puzzled expression, but before he could say anything, I told him that I’d been ticketed a few years ago for speeding through a school zone in spite of school being out for the summer. I also explained that I didn’t want to get another ticket and waste my time or the courts time jus’ to get it dismissed.

“Gotch’ya,” he stated as he handed me my paperwork adding, “Have yourself a Merry Christmas.”

“You, too,” I called back as he walked to his cruiser, adding, “Stay safe and Happy New Year as well.”

While working as Irving Middle School in Pocatello, Idaho, Dalene Bowden was caught giving a lunch to a girl who supposedly didn’t have the money to pay for it. Pocatello/Chubbuck School District 25 immediately terminated her employment because of her theft of school district property.

Yes – school district property — which is paid for through both federal and state taxes and isn’t hers to give away as she sees fit.

The ex-lunch lady claims she’s never been written up or reprimanded on the job, though she did receive a verbal warning once for giving a student a cookie. And since she has a history such activity – it goes to show that she has a personal agenda.

Bowden should have paid for the $1.70 lunch if she truly wanted to help the child before stealing it in order to give it away. So simply put, she’s a thief – so why the hell is she being portrayed as some sort of hero by the press and social media?

Because no one has taken the time to look beyond the ‘bleeding heart story-line,’ of some poor wayward child being starved by the fascistic government bureaucracy, which is all bogus in the first place. After all, the girl Bowden gave the lunch had money enough pay for the lunch herself, but ain’t anyone talking about that.

And now the district is bowing to public pressure and in ‘the spirit of the holiday,’ is offering to reinstate the woman. Meanwhile a gofundme.com account has been set up help Bowden fund action against the district.

As my grandpa used to say, “A fool and his money are soon parted.”

It was Christmastime 1969, when my best friend and I got off the bus, arguing over whether Santa Claus was real or not. He said ‘no’ and I said ‘yes.’

My conviction was so strong that I eventually picked a fight with him and we both ended up in the principal’s office. I explained that I had jus’ seen a program on TV that took viewers on a tour of Santa’s Reindeer Ranch.

In the end we were both had to spend all of our recesses that day standing against the supply shed, watching everyone else play. Eventually, he moved away, his father having been reassigned to another air base and I soon forgot his name.

Not being able to remember his name always bugged me.

It was later summer, nearly 46-years later when Kay Vail, a friend from high school contacted me, saying she and her husband were in town and wanted to get together. I jumped at the chance.

It was during dinner that Kay’s husband, Steve started reminiscing about how he had attended Margaret Keating School his third grade year. He also talked about playing with the kid’s who live on both sides of Camp Marigold and how he was best friends with one boy right across the fence from him.

Then he shared how he and his best buddy got into a fight and ended up in the principal’s office: “I can’t remember what the fight was about. And worse yet, I can’t recall the kid’s name that I was friends with.”

I nearly choked on my prime rib.

“Your dad was in the Air Force and you were waiting for a place to open up in base housing,” I interrupted. “And if you heard you dad call for you – you had to drop what ever it was you were doing and get home and your dad had a one of a kind holler, kind of like a bullhorn.”

“Yeah,” he responded as a semi puzzled look crossed his face.

“And that fight – it was over whether Santa Clause was real or not,” I added.

He knew it before I could finish my sentence, “It was me who started that fight and got you in trouble.”

All I could do was choke back the tears I felt welling up and offer him my hand, saying, “I’m sorry.”

“No big deal,” Steve chuckled as he gripped my hand, “We were jus’ kids.”

(April 1997)

Match head strikes the grainy pad,
Miniature graphite stones glued in place,
Sparking up with flare and flame.
Bringing warmth and cooking heat.

No roar as it jumps to life.
Jus’ a gentle crackle from hunger,
Gobbling up leaves and twigs.
The tinder I set before the flame.

Smoke curls into my face,
Stinging my nose and eyes.
Yet I stare unblinkingly anyway
An’ breathe in as fully as I may.

In contrast, the whiteness of snowfall
Mixing with dirty brown wisps,
Called campfire smoke,
Blend with the orange glow of flame.

There is a stillness to the day
A quiet only natures’ voice affords,
With a campfire engulfing my mind
An’ snowflakes encircling my being.

Coffee is my great intent this morn’.
Grounds from last nights’ cup inside.
Stream water for to boil to brown mud.
Sitting, waiting, my one great reward.

Rumble then a chug, I wait and wait.
Smoke blows in my face, defiant,
Marking me with it’s burnt odor breath,
Angry that it works so hard while I sit.

Snow falling is quiet to the untrained ear,
Speaking loudly to anyone will to listen —
Wanting of a simple conversation
‘Tween cup of coffee and campfire.

My mind drifts away for a moment,
Lost on breeze and dancing snowflake
An’ the smoke forged in a campfire.
I could live like this — always.

“Would I have been able to survive?”
I asked thinking ’bout blade striking bone.
“Probably not,” I conclude
Content with the present life I live.

The Obama White Administration is continuing its pushing to have women assume combat roles. However, the Center for Military Readiness (CMR) has released statistics showing there’s no such thing as combat equality.

• Females are injured at twice the rate of men in basic training.
• Females suffer a rate of stress that’s four times higher than men.
• Females on active duty suffer depression at more than twice the rate of men and “one of the triggers is exposure to combat” and “not adjusting to Army life.”
• Females suffer a 50-percent higher rate of anxiety.
• Females suffer the same rate of Post Traumatic Stress as men.
• Females have twice the injury rates of men when carrying 70 pounds of gear.
• Females arrive at basic training less fit than men.

The head of the CMR, Elaine Donnelly, says the results are a “scandal in the making” because there’s “no indication that young women …will be informed of the additional risk over and above what men do.”

The Reno-Tahoe International Airport filed a complaint with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency over the treatment of a 15-year-old Mexican girl who was detained and questioned after arriving in Reno to visit family for the holidays. CBP officers claim she was taken aside because she had overstayed her travel visa by 11 days during a previous visit to the U.S.

Reno-Tahoe Airport Authority board chairman Andy Wirth and Marily Mora, the president and CEO of the airport filed the formal complaint on December 16 after the teen was denied contact with her family, who was not informed of the situation until about three hours after her arrival. The complaint also says the girl was left alone with an adult male, not given food until after she was questioned and that her family was “treated with sarcasm and disrespect while waiting…”

Wirth, who has a daughter about the same age as the detained teen, said: “If my daughter had received this treatment while traveling to any country, particularly to a neighboring, friendly country — I would be incensed, absolutely incensed.”

Reno City Ward 3 Councilman Oscar Delgado said complaints began this summer with reports of waits to get through customs lasting up to six hours: “There is a mistreatment taking place. There is an aggressive tone taken by CBP with respects to citizens and guests coming to the city of Reno.”

Frank Falcon, a spokesman for CBP in San Francisco, claimed he hadn’t heard of the situation until called by reporters. He did say though that overstaying a visa is a federal violation that can result in deportation, depending on the specific situation.

“Rules are rules, but we definitely look at minors differently. It’s a case by case basis though. There are so many different circumstances,” Falcon said.

This is a chance for all parties involved to learn something: when few people are following the rules as in this situation — this is what happens in an unruly society.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is rejecting the idea that congressional approval of $50 billion in new spending for 2016 shows that Democrats still run Capitol Hill, and defended the huge spending bill as a necessary compromise between the two parties.

“Republicans felt like we needed [to be] responsive to the foreign policy threat that we’ve just been talking about, to spend more on defense,” he said. “And so, in order to achieve that, we had to work with a Democratic president who wanted to spend more on the domestic side.”

House Speaker Paul Ryan defended — but distanced himself from the $1.1 trillion spending bill Congress passed.

“This is divided government, and in divided government you don’t get everything you want,” Ryan said.

Ryan put responsibility for the agreement on his predecessor, former Speaker John Boehner claiming the bill was largely negotiated when he became speaker seven weeks ago.

“I walked into the speakership seven weeks ago with this process already in place, with this cake already baked,” claimed Ryan.

Democrats praised passage of the deal, crowing that they were able to force the GOP to agree to increase domestic spending as President Obama demanded. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid even said the bill capped off a “successful year” for Democrats.

Not only does it increase domestic spending, it also funds Planned Parenthood and the Affordable Care Act. Furthermore, it doesn’t place restrictions on the admittance of middle eastern refugees to the U.S.

For the last few weeks I’ve been waiting for President Obama to enact an Executive Order that would somehow restrict the purchase of firearms for people whose name appears on the federal no-fly list. However, instead of using his pen, he used his cell phone.

It became apparent when Obama and his senior advisor Valerie Jarrett met with former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to discuss the issue at the White House. Bloomberg, a notorious leader of nanny-state Progressive policies has dedicated billions of his own personal fortune to press for gun control all across America.

Following this meeting, the Obama administration began working on state-by-state bans. For instance, Connecticut Governor Dannel P. Malloy plans to use of an executive order to ban gun sales to people on the federal no-fly list, while New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York Senator Charles Schumer are demanding federal government either pass the law or release the lists to state’s so they can create their own bans.

This isn’t jus’ a Eastern U.S. plan either as Nevada lawmakers have been asked by Congressional candidate and current state Senator Ruben Kihuen to take up legislation that ban gun sales to people on the federal no-fly list. Kihuen says the measure would help keep visitors safe when they visit Las Vegas for New Year’s Eve.

Fortunately, two-thirds of legislators in both Republican-controlled houses must agree on calling a session to make it happen. So far no one’s jumped on Kihuen’s band wagon.

“I don’t believe there’s any chance that two-thirds of us are going to agree to call ourselves together for a particular matter,” said State Senator James Settelmeyer. “I think it’s, sadly, pandering.”

And since I don’t have to be polite about it – I’ll call it what it is — bullshit!