Ask Grandpa

Did kids steal or get into trouble when you were young? Brent.

Kids were kids.  Same as now.  Perhaps not quite as malicious but we were still kids.  Part of being a kid is not taking the time to consider the consequences of our behavior.  For example:  When kids moved old man Crowder’s outhouse, we, I mean “they” never considered that he would fall in the hole.  No one ever considered that eggs can destroy paint on vehicles or homes.  I remember the time someone put a box of tide laundry soap in a waterfall fountain on Central Avenue.  There were so many bubbles and suds that it stopped traffic and made the front page of the newspaper.  It was pretty funny until we learned that it ruined the pumps and filters.  Someone swiped the fat guy statue off the Bob’s Big Boy on Central.  The owner was a good friend of my dads and as much as I pleaded innocent, I’m not sure I was completely believed.  About twenty years later I built some antique ironwork for a mansion being used for a movie, the mansion was off Camelback and while installing some balcony railing, I could see into the neighbors’ property.  The property belonged to an Arizona Senator and guess what was standing next to his gazebo?  Of course, I invited my dad to come admire the ironwork and check out the fat statue in the Senators’ yard.  Probably the rottenest thing we did was collect peoples hub caps.  I don’t even know why we did it; we surely didn’t have any use for them.  I do know the punishment didn’t fit the crime and in today’s world our parents would probably be in jail.  Thinking about it, I do remember a crime caper my buddy and I concocted.  We noticed that at the Encanto Boat Rental Dock people frequently lost coins that fell thru the cracks when they fumbled to pay for their boat rentals, having seen a movie about an underwater demolition team, we decided to become frogmen.  We borrowed some wire cutters from Dads’ tool shed and headed for Encanto Park.  We swam to the dock, cut the chicken wire and crawled under the deck.  We collected two bags of coins, some of which appeared to have been there for years.  Our crime spree ended with us both being caught.  My accomplice surrendered on the spot but the officers had to chase me down on the golf course.  All the silver coins were confiscated and we were allowed to keep the pennies.  Kids were kids but we learned that crime doesn’t pay.  Unless you count the pennies.

- Grandpa

Please send your questions to George at gayoung@cox.net

Ask Grandpa

I read the newspaper at the Library and watch the news.  I’m interested in elections and know more about them than my parents.  They can vote and I can’t.  Who made up that stupid rule?  Damian age 15.

I suppose it was the same guy who says you can’t get a drivers license till you’re 16 and made us wait till we were 21 to legally get drunk and attempt some truly amazing acts of stupidity.

Anyway, Damian, it’s great that you study the issues now because when you’re of age to vote you’ll understand the mechanics of the process and will be an informed voter.  If we had more of those, we’d be better off right now.  A large percentage of citizens either don’t vote or vote because of some goony-bird notions.  Many folks vote a straight ticket (one party) which is silly.  There are candidates of both parties’ that qualify.  You just need to learn which suits you the best.  Another thing that you should consider: We only have one newspaper in town and although they feature some legitimate outside columnists, the majority of the local reporters are pretty one-sided.  My Dad, who had been a foreign correspondent for U. P. I., used to say the local paper was “Pink” (leaning a little to the left).  Mom disagreed; her comment was “they’re redder than a foxes butt at pokeberry time.”  In any case you need to evaluate information from many sources.  Most of our TV stations lean one way or the other too.  I’m sad to hear your folks aren’t involved.  I was pretty lucky in that respect.  My Pop was pretty involved in politics.  He knew who believed what, who kept their word, who was two-faced, what their prior voting and attendance had been and so forth.  I always consulted with him before voting.  Although we belonged to different parties, he would say “look I’m going with this person but since you don’t agree with this or that, you’d probably be more comfortable with the other guy.  I remember a remark a woman made on television last election that sort of illustrates my view of many voters:  She said “Oh my, this is a hard decision! I don’t know if I should vote for her since she’s a woman or him because he’s the same color as me.”  They ran that clip on several stations because they probably thought it was funny.  I think it was tragic.

Who cares which sex or color someone is?  I want a person who can and will do the job.  Sometime I think it would be wise to make people take a test to see if they were competent to vote.  The problem with that is the people who write the test would design it so only folks that fit in a certain group could pass it.  Actually, they did it in the south one time to discourage black folks from voting.  It was unfair then and probably have the same issues now.  Something you might try, Damian, is to discuss political topic with your folks.  Maybe they’ll become interested and perhaps you can nudge them to vote according to the things you’ve researched and decided upon.  So in effect, you will be voting.  Someone said “the older I get the smarter my folks become.”  Could happen.

- Grandpa

Please send your questions to George at gayoung@cox.net

Ask Grandpa

A little girl down the street was put in a box and died.  Why did someone do that and what’s going to happen to them?  -Monica Z.

 There’s a pond at my place that is where some tortoises get their water.  I drained it the other day to add fresh water and noticed afterward that there had been a lot of tadpoles living in it.  Realizing that I had needlessly hurt something, I felt pretty crummy.   Later that day I read about the young lady you heard about being locked in a footlocker.  I guess if one person values the well being of a tadpole and another cares less for a child, one of them is nuts.  So, Monica, I’m probably not the one to ask “why”.  It’s way beyond me.  I don’t know what’s going to happen to the adults, at least here on earth anyway.  I have a pretty good idea about later though.  I’m hoping Sheriff Joe is building a box, big enough to stuff the whole bunch on them into.  The reality is, Monica, there are some rotten people and some of them might live nearby you.  You need to be aware of your surroundings and when you see something that looks weird, report it to your folks or teachers. I’m actually pretty disgusted with the neighbors in that deal.  It’s hard to imagine that nobody ever suspected anything.

I know I keep beating a dead horse but it’s worth repeating: Get Involved!  If you see something wrong, either fix it or report it!  If you want to live in a good environment don’t leave it up to someone else to handle, step up to the plate yourself.  If you see signs that someone is being abused or bullied report it.  When you see trashy people dropping trash, pick it up.  When you see or hear of thieves, drop houses, dopers or graffiti, report it.  There are a whole lot more good folks than cruds around, Monica, if each one does just a little it will sure be a nice place to be.  That probably sounds like a lot to expect coming from someone who’s still hoping some mother frog won’t know what he did to her tadpoles, but I hope you agree.  One thing’s for sure—you’ll feel good knowing you did the right thing.  - Grandpa

Please send your questions to George at gayoung@cox.net