We lived for a while in one of California's most beautiful towns, Napa. It was a nice place, filled with fine people and we enjoyed our time there.
The small town and valley is a delight for the eyes of all who live or visit there but there is another, almost sinister, dimension to the place. It goes almost unnoticed by the average citizen, and totally escapes the view of all visitors.
The town is OWNED by a few wealthy families, and they run the town, the police and the politics. Their influence even affects who plays on the high school football team. This is no exaggeration - I know of an outstanding player, the strongest and fastest offensive back on the team at that time, who rode the bench, along with his hopes of a college scholarship, while a less capable athlete took the field. The parents money, and their donations to the school, won over the coach.
Some small towns are like that, money buys all the toys, from zoning laws and business licenses to the playing field at the local high school. Some drunk drivers wind up in jail and their cars end up in the impound lots, others are given rides home, their cars driven to their homes by public servants. Mostly, this stuff passes unobserved by most folks - they're too busy trying to feed and clothe their families. I'm not sure if things have changed now or not; we haven't lived there for more than twenty years. But, back then, Napa was such a town.
In the late 1980's Don Quixote, aka Harry Martin, rode into town on his white printing press carrying with him his long lance, The Napa Sentinel.
Harry's weekly publication's circulation grew quickly because he was one of the rarest of journalists, an investigator. He would spend a week researching a story, usually one detailing corruption in the local police or government, and wrote with a style that made it almost impossible to wait for the next edition. He was good.
Soon, the biggies in town started to notice. The advertisers in his paper were rumored, and then proven, to have been threatened by the powers that were. They started having code issues and the like. But, Harry lived through this harassment and his paper flourished. He was such a crusader for the average guy, he soon was drafted to run for City Council - he won.
In fact, he served for three terms, and during that time his paper continued to grow, he continued fighting for the average Joe, and championed the construction of a homeless shelter. This was no easy feat, the monied interests had no use for the homeless in "their" town. It was bad for the tourist industry, they claimed.
None the less, with Harry leading the charge, it was built. And, that has turned out to be a good thing for Harry, because now he and his wife are living there.
They both have had medical problems recently, and the Doctor's, illnesses and hospitals have done to this outstanding citizen what they have done to many other less capable men. His ill fortune has taken from him all he had and forced him into bankruptcy.
Over the course of a lifetime I've been fortunate and have come to know many, many people who have remained in my life as we all travel to our graves. One of these people sent me this information today. Please take the time to read it. http://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/former-councilman-living-in-homeless-shelter/article_e2a47faa-c30d-11e0-a216-001cc4c03286.html
It saddens me to see this happen to a man who cared more for his neighbors than he did for himself. A man who spent his life crusading against corruption and trying to make things a little better in the place he chose to live. Like the good Quixote, I imagine he'll wind up the butt of many a joke among the Dukes and Duchesses of Napa Valley, defeated and humiliated on his deathbed.
We have learned nothing in the last four centuries about caring for our fellow man. But I am heartened by one thing in this article. After all his financial reverses, Harry is still filled with hope. He's looking forward to better health, re-opening his newspaper and writing a book.
Harry remains the man I admired, and I applaud him. I hope his dreams are realized, and not crushed along with the grapes when it's time for the harvest.
Napa is good at crushing grapes.
Damn, Forrest, that's a sad story. And meaningful to me, because I'm a Vallejo boy, born and raised 20 miles down the road. I was there until around 1980.
ReplyDeleteVallejo wasn't any better than Napa, politically. A number of towns in that area got grabbed up by little cliques when they were small, and the cliques hung on when the towns turned into cities.
We wonder why so many people go along with things they know are wrong; "wrong" often gets a good paycheck security from the powers that be, and "right" can lead to a bad end on the street. I'm sure if your friend had let some of the bigwigs pay him off, he'd be in fine shape.
But he didn't, because he's a great man. I just hope things work out for him as they should.
Napa was a beautiful town, but I wasn't particularly fond of it, because a fair number of the locals weren't particularly fond of my African American and Asian friends, and were not shy about telling them they weren't welcome.
I did know a black gentleman from Vallejo who took pleasure in going up to Silverado once in a while and playing 18 holes despite sour looks from some other players. He was an excellent golfer, and took pleasure in shooting a better game than most of the people who didn't think he belonged there.
That was 30 years ago, of course. Maybe things are different now. I hope so.
Funny, I never noticed the racial thing. It just never occurred to me. But, I can envision the Highway 29 Cafe a couple of miles south of the traffic light just before the new bridge into Napa as being a forward observation point.
ReplyDeleteAirstrikes could be called in from there to Jonesy's at the airport if a carload of undesirables was spotted.
I used to enjoy breakfasts at the Highway 29 Cafe on the way to Vallejo. Best in town.