Citizen About Town

By Nancy C. Arcuri, Editor and Publisher

E-mail: nancyarcuri@thecitizensvoice.net

Fax: 626-307-9081

September 11th in a day that will live forever in our collective memory.  That was the beautiful day that was shattered by terrorists who flew four high-jacked planes filled with innocent passengers into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and crashed into the hillside in Shanksville.

Records state that 2,996 people were killed in these attacks.  Many of these victims’ remains have never been recovered. These brave souls live in our memories, our hearts and our souls.

I never met any of these wonderful people who died that day but I still feel very close to them and their loved ones.

Fifteen years later some people forgot how we all pulled together to pray for our America and all of victims and their families.

Now we have people squabbling over which elected officials can give them the most freebees to pay for their food, lodging, education and more.

What happen to the American dream? If you work hard you can be a success in your life.

Now days it is not easy to finding a job that pays more than minimum wages at 40 hours a week.  So many young people may never achieve the American dream that the older generations have achieved.

Many people blame it on our elected officials and large corporations who made trade deals with other countries sending our jobs out of the USA for their bottom line profits.

I watched the banking and mortgage businesses over the last 45 years being merged into several larger companies with a numerous loss of jobs and reduced wages being paid to younger employees who rely on computer programs to do their jobs.

It seems that older Americans are no longer welcomed to work in Corporate America. Their wages were based on their experience.

People are fighting for a larger piece of the pie but the pie can only be cut up into so many pieces.

Once case in point was the August 17th Monterey Park City Council Meeting.  Members of a new sports club Monterey Park (MPK) Baseball and Softball Club that was established in the Spring of 2016 complained that they were not getting enough field time for their practices.

Monterey Park has 13 parks with seven of the parks having ball fields for baseball, softball, football and soccer practice.

Three of the fields at Barnes Park, Garvey Ranch Park and La Loma Park have lights available for nighttime practice.

Longtime sports clubs: Monterey Park Sports Club, CABA Baseball, Casa Softball, Xtreme Youth Football and Cheer, AYSO Region 60 and San Gabriel Valley Knights also uses these fields.

So the Council listened to the speakers and discussed the issue.  The staff was waiting for the number of children in each club to create the new fall schedule for the ball fields.

It was apparent that some adults in the meeting don’t play well with other teams.

The Council and staff will be playing King Solomon to split up the parks equally so all of the teams can have almost the same time on the field with lights.

One football player, Colin Kaepernich of the 49ers, has been reported as refusing to honor our flag before football games based on his believe that not all Americans are treated fairly by law enforcement based on their race.

One wonders why he is now deciding to disrespect our flag.

If he is so concerned about his fellow Americans why didn’t he begin his profession in medicine, education or the legal system where he could have really made a difference.

Instead he chose to play football, which is a very lucrative profession.  One wonders does he dedicate his free time and funds to help people who need a boost up in life.

While it is true that some Americans are treated better than other Americans in our country by the legal and social systems we are still living in the best country in the world.

We have many freedoms that include not respecting our flag. People should always remember the millions of men and women who fought and died for our freedoms.

Another freedom we have is the right to vote for the best person to lead our country, state, county or city.

California voters also have the right to vote on propositions that could change our state and local laws.

Please read your voting materials carefully and vote on November 8th.

This election is very important for the future of our America, our families, our friends and our selves.

May God bless America and keep us a free nation.