Opinion

Dec. 18, 2012 — The date I’ve been dreading for decades and decades — Dec. 21, 2012 — is finally upon us. The last gear spinning in the long count Mayan Calendar wheel means the end of this age has arrived, and a new one will begin. According to some folks, we’re all going to wind up in one big festering heap. Yep, don’t look now, but the end of the world finally comes at 11:11 UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) this Friday — that’s 3:11 a.m. here in Susanville for all you clock watchers.

Truth be told, I’ve already survived the end of the world a couple of times, and I’m happy to report I’m none the worse for wear. Yet.

Some religious fanantic friends of mine predicted the world would end the summer of 1986, and they headed off for the desert in New Mexico. I don’t know what happened to them because I never saw them again, but I’m pretty sure that I’m still here. Maybe I’m just caught in some inter-dimensional feedback loop, and I don’t know I was actually incinerated 30 something years ago. Nah.

Dec. 18, 2012 — Anyone who’s spent any time in Susanville and Lassen County has seen the way our community comes together when one of our own needs help. Time after time community members step up and reach into their pocketbooks to help the less fortunate or those stricken by disease, disaster or some other misfortune. Such efforts by the community take on a special meaning during the holiday season.

We always seem to rally around numerous agencies and groups from all across the county that collect toys for children who might not receive a Christmas gift from anyone else, and we happily support other agencies and groups that collect and distribute foodstuffs to provide a holiday meal for the less fortunate or senior citizens. Local residents proudly take care of their own.

Dec. 18, 2012 — Christmas time brings many, many emotions. They emerge as we wait for Dec. 25, a day that has become special for millions of people. The season seems to build, much like a great piece of music written for the symphony with Christmas as the crescendo. It is an expectant time; a hopeful time; a joyful time.

As a child I would begin the month lying on my stomach in the middle of the living room, pouring over catalogues mailed by Sears Roebuck and Montgomery Ward. The pages were filled with magnificent possibilities for boxes wrapped and piled under the tree.

Dec. 11, 2012 — Many probably hunkered down in their homes, safe and warm, when a torrential rainstorm pounded Lassen County during a four-day period.

But that was not the case for emergency personnel who were out in the inclement weather, monitoring the situation for flooding and working to get power restored to areas in Lassen County.

Personnel from the Susanville Police Department, Susanville Fire Department and public works kept their eyes for problems in Susanville, particularly at Carroll Street, in the morning of Sunday, Dec. 2.