My book entitled “A Brief History of Malibu and the Adamson House” can be purchased at the Malibu Lagoon Museum gift shop. All proceeds go to the museum. Because it is only 62 pages and it took me four years to write it, I was accused two years ago by some people of being a procrastinator. I resent this. I intended to answer this charge sooner but I didn’t get around to it. Before the Malibu book I had another little book to write entitled “Keratoconus,” (bulging corneas). I postponed the writing of that book for awhile because I had to correct a chronic hook in my golf stroke and that, in turn, was delayed while I tried to improve my underhand tennis serve. There were a few other matters which arose that caused some delay on my tennis serve but I won’t bore you with these.

Heck, any great book takes a long time. When I was 12 years old in 1931, I began writing a novel about the U.S. Navy fleet cruising around the world, starting in Philadelphia. So far they’ve only gotten to Fort Lauderdale. (But are those guys having fun.)

Five years ago I was approached by some homeless (rent delinquent) folks in Santa Monica who said they knew me by reputation and they wanted me to help them start a chapter of “Procrastinators Anonymous.” I was flattered and I intend to do it.

The other day my psychiatrist subtly brought up the matter of a past due bill. I asked if he thought that indicates a tendency toward procrastination. He said, “Well, let me think about that. But of course there are worse faults in people.”

I said, “Like what?”

“Well,” he said, “some people are paranoid, some schizophrenic, some sadistic, some hypercritical. And they are, in my opinion, worse than procrastinators.”

“I’m glad you told me that, doctor,” I said. “Now I don’t feel nearly so bad about that past due bill.”

By the way, if any of you, my readers, have keratoconus, I have a couple copies of that book. Just call me and I’ll mail it promptly sometime. I’m pretty busy right now thinking about applying for a job with Nike.

Bill Dowey

If you sit on the back patio of Duke’s Restaurant, you can eat lunch with your bare feet in the sand and watch the bulldozers on top of the hill at Las Flores Mesa slowly carving away the hillside. After a while, it’s hypnotic. I simply couldn’t stop watching. I wasn’t alone. The parking lot was filled with other hill watchers and the usual harbingers of Malibu disasters, the ubiquitous TV trucks waiting for some drama to happen. Occasionally, a large rock would come down and the crowd would “ooh” in appreciation. Mostly people just sat silently and watched.

People may bitch that the fix is going to take so long — 120 days at the most recent estimate. Once you watch the bulldozer working, however, you get a sense that it doesn’t really matter what Caltrans and the City Council say. In the final analysis, it’s the guy in the bulldozer seat, pushing the earth and the rocks to the edge and down the hill who’ll ultimately decide how long this fix is going to take. It’s slow, precise and dangerous work. Push too far and he’s over the edge, tumbling down the long drop along with the rocks and dirt. Don’t push far enough and the job could take six months instead of 120 days.

Meanwhile, all that most of us can do is wait and try to make do, which isn’t easy.

For those of you who haven’t tried it yet, there is a tortuous route into Santa Monica. Take Las Flores Canyon up to Rambla Pacifico, then a right turn onto Schueren Road, which turns into Saddle Peak Road and then Fernwood Pacific Drive, which leads into Topanga Canyon. Altogether it takes about 30 minutes and is a beautifully scenic drive, with Valley vistas, greenery and running streams, but be prepared for dozens of hairpin turns. If you’re prone to seasickness or have fear of heights, I wouldn’t recommend it. I haven’t yet tried it at night, and I suspect it is quite an experience. Your other alternative is to come through one of the canyons via the 101, which I understand has been a mini-disaster since PCH closed. Caltrans said it’s hoping to get at least one lane each way of PCH open within five working days, which puts it into the early part of next week — if we’re lucky.

This is not an easy town to live in. In the last few years, we’ve had devastating fires, mudslides, flooding, numerous hillside slides, El Nino battering the beaches, retaining walls collapsing, roads sinking and just about everything but locusts and the waters turning into blood. It takes deep personal reserves, deep cash reserves and a nearly irrational sense of optimism to keep your sanity.

The next four months are going to be especially tough on all of us. Local businesses, for whom the summer is the big season, are going to be hanging by a thread. Some are going to fold. The pressures on our city, its budget, the council and city officials are going to be staggering.

There are a few things we can do. For one, we can all patronize our local businesses and our local restaurants because without us they’re not going to survive.

For another, the city needs to organize a quick-response team, with a duty officer for the day, so that when things happen after hours or on weekends there is an emergency number and an individual with authority who can respond.

We need to work out, ASAP, an arrangement with Caltrans and the sheriff for emergency traffic response, so when a light goes out or blinks red or there is an accident, there is someone there to direct traffic. We also want cones in the roadway at times of bottlenecks. It’s insane to sit there in traffic and have the middle lane empty.

It’s going to take some doing and some dollars. If we want those things, we have to be prepared to pay for it with extra budget. But Caltrans and the sheriff have to shift their paradigm and give the highest priority to keep the traffic moving.

Even with all of these things, we’re in for a tough summer. If we are going to survive with a functioning tax base and insanity intact, we’re going to have to cut each other a little slack and definitely find a way to make fewer trips into town.

A small plaque adorns the wall at the Malibu Feed Bin. It bears a photo featuring the smiling faces of Bev Price’s kindergarten class at Webster Elementary. Similar plaques can be found elsewhere in the city. Each says “Thank you for adopting our class.” What they mean is:Thank you for helping us buy supplies we need to help us learn.

“It enables us to have things that we wouldn’t otherwise be able to have,” said Price. “We bought a water table and a video/book stand” with the Feed Bin’s $300 donation. Price says past donations have paid for software and computer supplies. “It’s a great thing,” said Price. “We always appreciate it.”

“We do have an obligation to put back into the community,” said Martin Morehart, who has owned the Malibu Feed bin for 33 years. He says helping local schools seems the most appropriate way to accomplish that goal in Malibu. “There seems to be a few areas in Malibu where you can help, and that’s one of them. I don’t like to get into a wine-and-cheese deal,” he added. “I’m not looking for something with a great social element.”

Webster’s Adopt-a-Class program was started three years ago when parent Mary Ellen Sherry read about a similar program in a national magazine. “I thought, ‘This makes sense,'” she said. “This is a way for some of these businesses to be involved with our school.” Sherry, who is the Webster PTA’s Financial Vice President, says the program benefits the businesses as well as the school because it creates a “collective spirit” when businesses and schools share in the community’s enrichment. “We’re a small town with all the adversity. We have to pull together as a community,” Sherry said.

But not all donations come from local businesses. Some come from families. Judith Schley donated $1,900 this year to Webster’s Gardening Angels program, even though her child has moved on to middle school. “I like knowing that these kids have had the very best of everything,” Schley said. “If the schools can’t afford it, the community should.”

Harry and Sharon Barovsky donated $500 to the library, even though their children are grown. “We have a strong sense of loyalty to the school system in Malibu and most assuredly Webster. Our children went there and received fine educations.”

Sherry says the Adopt-a-Class program has been gaining speed ever since its inception, with donations up 25 percent over last year. She says this increase helped accommodate the additional classroom added to the school this year and allowed for expansion into other programs such as Instrumental Music. In a letter to sponsor Malibu Seafood, music teacher Steve Ravaglioli wrote, “I’m in the process of building a video and CD library for the instrumental music students.”

Teachers say Adopt-a-Class funds have paid for a wide range of things, from equipment to hatch chickens to water rations and emergency supplies. In the future, Sherry says she hopes the program will bring more science presentations, more art and more art studios to the school.

We went to Turin and saw the shroud

At the festa in Gubbio

Got crushed by the crowd

We found the Pope to be witty and charming

Italian drivers were very alarming!

In Florence we met cousins from Avellino

Nino, Pino and Modestino

They said life goes sideways both “up ana down”

We knew what they meant when they drove us around

With Pacino’s words we made a big hit

When we taught them to say “Fogedabowdit.”

It poured on Lake Como so we watched the Black Stallion

Didn’t know that Liz Taylor could speak in Italian

Assi, Padua and Rimini were great

I overdosed on the pasta I ate

Now I dream of Tuscany, the forests and fiori

And the castle we stayed in at Lago Maggiori

The Aosta valley and Mont Blanc were swello,

The pizza delizioso and Italy tutto bello!

Geraldine Forer Spagnoli

Re: Council Leaves Unpermitted Additions Hanging

This previously mentioned article contained two decisions. One decision concerned illegal additions; the other concerned making the launching of motorized watercraft illegal from six specific private properties. It is the latter decision that bothers me. Although I do not live on those properties, I am offended by the fact that the council’ s members are so pompous and arrogant that they believe that they can make better decisions than the property owners themselves can make. I cannot believe that the council has nothing better to do than fix non-problems. None of the property owners were launching motorized watercraft from their property, and even if they were, who cares? Not only is the council taking away these individuals’ ability to enjoy some forms of recreation, but it could also put a financial burden upon them. If any of these owners decide to sell their home in the future, why would a potential buyer choose to buy their home and property over a different home and property where you can launch your motorized watercraft? These owners will have to endure a lower selling price as a result of this ordinance. However, why should the council care, six households will not effect the vote, and they can claim that they are out protecting Malibu. My question is, does Malibu need to be protected from itself, or does Malibu need to be protected from the council?

Thomas R. Means

Keep two wheels on the pavement,

When you park at Zuma Beach!

No matter if your car gets crushed —

You had best park it on the street!

It’s hard to actually imagine,

That so little needs be done;

That the minions of our city

Target our aerobatic runs!

No matter if the pavement

Is covered by creeping sand —

You’d best have two wheels on the street,

Or the “ticket” is quite grand.

Perhaps now that voting’s over,

People will forget.

But where’s the common sense and kindness?

Could it now be held in check?

H. Emmett Finch