Billings Business: Owner finds extraordinary people on way to success

By OLIVIA KOERNIG
Billings Business

Most business owners operate under the adage "seeing is believing." But Bill Simmons, owner of Masterlube, knows the reverse is true.

Simmons took over a failing lube shop called Minit Lube in 1981. The six men who owned the business hadn't been able to generate profit at the store, so they agreed to let Simmons try his hand. Where they saw a bad investment, Simmons saw his future.

Taking chances when others wouldn't - seeing diamonds in lumps of coal - became the motto at Masterlube. And, according to Simmons, it wasn't just luck that it worked out that way. He had stumbled onto a profound truth. The ability to recognize potential is one skill that today's business owners can't afford to be without.

"We're entering an era where there are more jobs than people," Simmons said. "Employers are digging deeper into the labor pool than they'd typically like to do."

And in Simmons' eyes, that's good news.

As a business owner who has always dealt in the transitional employee market, he has seen his share of ne'er-do-wells, drifters and deadbeats. But he's also seen more real life Cinderella stories than most will see in a lifetime.

"Extraordinary people come in all kinds of disguises," Simmons said. "Over the years, I've discovered that when given the opportunity, people will rise to a level that stuns you. It will be the great surprise of your life."

The seeds of Masterlube's success were sown at some point in the store's infancy. Simmons realized he was ripping his employees off and set out to settle his debt.

"I was asking people to do $25 an hour work for $6 an hour," he said. "Every hour they worked, I was going in debt to them at a rate of $12 to $15 an hour."

He met privately with each of his five employees and explained the situation as he saw it. He explained how he would never turn a profit if he paid them what they were worth. He expressed his gratitude for the level of service they brought to his company and customers. Then he made each one a promise, a promise that became his business model and recipe for success.

"I asked them to look deep into their hearts to see what they'd like to do with their lives," Simmons said. "I told them if they'd continue working for me at that level that I'd put all my resources into helping them make it happen."

One of those first employees was Pat Rose. When Simmons first nudged her toward figuring out what she wanted to do with her life, she set her sights reasonably low. Rose told Simmons she wanted to be the person under the car, "the pit man." In those days, women usually worked only as cashiers, and she said Simmons was understandably hesitant.

"I had to hook to wrenches to provide the leverage to get the drain plug off because I wasn't strong enough," Rose said.

With Simmons' support and her own determination, Rose became the first female in the pit. Eventually she realized she was better suited to duties above ground. And after developing proficiency checking and filling fluids, Rose started to realize what her true calling was. She worked at Masterlube while earning her bachelor's degree. Today, she's a psychologist operating a private practice in Arizona.

"Bill knew that the people he was helping meet their potential made the best employees," Rose said. "It's not like I was his favorite; it wasn't just me that he did this for."

Over the years, Masterlube expanded from one location to four. Masterlube also expanded its service to include a glass shop today and employs 45 people. While the industry's national average aims to service 0.95 cars per labor hour, Masterlube services between 1.5 and 1.7 cars per labor hour. The store's market penetration is unmatched in the nation, and in the past seven years, Masterlube's sales grew from $2 million to $4.7 million.

JUSTICE - MAY BE SERVED FINALLY

Arraignments delayed in Capistrano schools cases

From Times Staff and Wire Reports

June 16, 2007

 

The arraignments Friday of two former top administrators at the Capistrano Unified School District were postponed to July 13.

Former Supt. James A. Fleming was charged with misappropriating public funds, using public funds to influence an election and conspiracy to commit an act injurious to the public. Former Assistant Supt. Susan McGill was charged with perjury and conspiracy to commit an act injurious to the public.

The charges stem from Fleming's alleged attempts to thwart a recall effort against the district's trustees. McGill is accused of assisting Fleming's efforts and lying to the grand jury.

Renee's Birthday

Temecula's new budget to fund 10 police officer positions

10:00 PM PDT on Tuesday, June 12, 2007

By SARAH GORDON
The Press-Enterprise

TEMECULA - The city's newly approved budget includes enough money to fund 10 new police officer positions, a $2.4 million increase over last year.

Those new positions, part of a $65.7 million budget for 2007-08 approved by the City Council on Tuesday night, includes five patrol officers, an officer who will join a regional gang task force, three sergeants and one investigator. The increase puts Temecula's police force at 111 officers.

"This is a pretty good jump, in terms of our commitment to public safety," City Manager Shawn Nelson said.

Public safety and traffic circulation received top billing in the annual operating budget and five-year construction plan, also approved by the City Council on Tuesday. Of the annual budget, 42 percent is allocated for public safety, including police and fire positions.

The city of Temecula contracts police services from the Riverside County Sheriff's Department.

Nelson said he was also excited about a newly funded position for a Human Services/Teen manager. The budget allocates a little more than a $60,000 maximum annual salary for the position.

Whoever fills the job would be ultimately responsible for implementing the city's Youth Master Plan, which Nelson described as a comprehensive document aimed at Temecula's young people, expected to be done in about six months.

In a report to the council, Nelson said the city's finances were healthy, with a strong sales-tax base bolstered by car dealerships and The Promenade mall.

Council members thanked the city manager and staff for the budget.

"It's a great budget," Councilman Mike Naggar said. "It's balanced, it's providing services and it provides a surplus."

The council also approved the five-year Capital Improvement Project Plan. Of the $417 million in planned projects, $265 million is aimed at traffic improvements.

Nelson said that the estimated $140 million French Valley Parkway/Interstate 15 Overcrossing and Interchange project would take traffic off Winchester Road and Murrieta Hot Springs Road and eliminate problems where I-15 and I-215 merge.

He said the project had been designed and funding sources for it existed.

Several council members commented that the project would create safer and smoother road conditions in the city. The improvements are still years in the future, and Nelson said he could not immediately estimate when they would be finished.

Reach Sarah Gordon at 951-375-3733 and sgordon@PE.com

Inland parents float cash as reward for grades

10:17 AM PDT on Sunday, April 8, 2007

By JANET ZIMMERMAN
The Press-Enterprise

Getting good grades and making honor roll are about more than just pride and self-satisfaction. Many Inland students score cash, shopping trips and other perks from parents and grandparents trying to inspire academic success.

Lynne Steger, of Rialto, paid her son (now on the dean's list at UC Irvine) $5 per A on his high school report cards, costing her and her husband about $120 a year. They pay their 11-year-old daughter $2 for each A she brings home.

"I consider it encouragement and positive reinforcement," said Steger, who sometimes takes her kids shopping for shoes or an outfit instead of giving cash.

Adults don't work for free and neither should children, she said.

"I go to work, I do a good job and I get rewarded for it. Our children do well and we reward them for that. That's their job right now," said Steger, a patient-care advocate for a health insurance company.

The rewards system is not without controversy. Critics say the satisfaction of a job well done should be reward enough. Motivation from within -- not in response to outside influences -- better trains children for adulthood, they say.

In his book "Punished by Rewards: The Trouble With Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise and Other Bribes," parenting expert Alfie Kohn said rewards may work in the short term, but ultimately turn play into work and get kids hooked on approval.

Not surprisingly, many children think otherwise. In a 2001 survey by Public Agenda, a nonpartisan opinion research group, 62 percent of sixth- through 12th-graders said getting paid for better grades would motivate them "a lot."

'Motivation to Do Better'

Shirley Kerr, of Riverside, pays her grandchildren $5 per A or a flat $50 if they make honor roll. She hopes it inspires them to get top grades and earn college scholarships, since their mother won't be able to afford to send them.

Kerr started the tradition when her grandson, Gabriel Adriano, was in elementary school and not doing as well as she thought he was capable of.

The incentive was enough to inspire Gabriel, now 15, to make honor roll throughout middle school, and again this year as a freshman at Arlington High School.

"It was a motivation to do better," Gabriel said. "Before, I did the work and didn't care what grade I got."

The bribe also worked for his 13-year-old sister, Katarina, who made honor roll in her first semester in middle school.

To celebrate their accomplishments, Kerr and her husband took the children and their mother to Walt Disney World in Orland, Fla., this week.

Anne Hallberg, of San Jacinto, pays her 14-year-old son, Justin, $5 for A's and B's and takes him out to dinner at the restaurant of his choice. But that's more a reward than a motivator, she said.

What works best is e-mailing Justin's teachers to make sure he's completing assignments, she said. Hallberg makes him complete missed homework assignments even if he doesn't get class credit.

"When I back off, (his grades) nose-dive," said Hallberg, an accounting technician for the Riverside County Transportation Commission.

Brad Mason, principal of Cope Middle School in Redlands, sees nothing wrong with incentives for grades, as long as they are temporary and reasonable. He equates it with the popular technique of using M&Ms as a reward for toddlers learning to use the potty.

"The moment you start the process, you should be thinking, 'How can I wean my kids off of this?' " he said.

Mason gave his children, now seventh- and ninth-graders, money for good grades when they were in elementary school. After a couple years, they were mature enough to accept delayed gratification -- the idea that hard work would produce rewards later in life, such as a good-paying job, he said.

"At some point you do the right thing because it's the right thing to do," Mason said.

Effects of Reward System

From early on, Scott and Mary Key, of Riverside, taught their children, ages 14, 12 and 7, that the joy of learning was its own reward. The couple capitalized on their children's natural curiosity and made learning fun by visiting museums and zoos and going on walks to look at spiders or the sunset or a pair of hawks nesting in their tree.

The Key children are home-schooled, so report cards are not an issue. But learning still is, Mary said.

During the summer reading program at the library, if the kids didn't like the prizes, they read anyway, just to find out what happens in series such as "Chronicles of Narnia," "Lord of the Rings" and "Little House on the Prairie."

Candy, toys and monetary rewards cheapen the experience, Mary said. "We're equating the value of the work they've put in with these things that break in one day," she said.

The two have begun to see the effects of the rewards system crop up at Cal Baptist University, where they are professors. Students often expect something just for showing up to class and employees refuse to put out any extra effort, she said.

"It has to be done carefully because it sets up that expectation," she said. "If we train people to be externally motivated, there's nothing inside, there's no value people hold to because they're important."

Mark Diamond, a Temecula clinical psychologist, said financially rewarding grades is a bad idea because it doesn't create an internal sense of fulfillment, the key to succeeding in life.

His oldest son, 19, skipped high school and graduates next month with a master's degree in public policy from George Washington University. Diamond's 15-year-old son has a 4.57 grade-point average at Murrieta Valley High School and attends community college part time.

The best way to teach children that learning is fun and valuable is by example. Parents should read and continue their education if that's what they want their kids to do, Diamond said.

To eliminate hassles of homework and assignments, parents should actively engage their children about what they read or wrote, he said. Ask them about their report card, and how they feel about it; if it's good, tell them, "I can tell you're proud of yourself," he said.

"If you create it so they're internally motivated, not only does that last a lifetime, but you can save yourself $5," Diamond said.

Reach Janet Zimmerman at 951-368-9586 or jzimmerman@PE.com

 

Soldier's Death Strengthens Senators' Antiwar Resolve

Kerry, Dodd Demand Stronger Challenge to Bush

By Jonathan Weisman and Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, January 30, 2007; A03

Just before Christmas, an Army captain named Brian Freeman cornered Sens. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) and John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) at a Baghdad helicopter landing zone. The war was going badly, he told them. Troops were stretched so thin they were doing tasks they never dreamed of, let alone trained for.

Freeman, 31, took a short holiday leave to see his 14-month-old daughter and 2-year-old son, returned to his base in Karbala, Iraq, and less than two weeks ago died in a hail of bullets and grenades. Insurgents, dressed in U.S. military uniforms, speaking English and driving black American SUVs, got through a checkpoint and attacked, kidnapped four soldiers and later shot them. Freeman died in the assault, the fifth casualty of the brazen attack.

The death of the West Point graduate -- a star athlete from Temecula, Calif., who ran bobsleds and skeletons with Winter Olympians -- has radicalized Dodd, energized Kerry and girded the ever-more confrontational stance of Democrats in the Senate. Freeman's death has reverberated on the Senate floor, in committee deliberations and on television talk shows.

"This was the kind of person you don't forget," Dodd said yesterday. "You mention the number dead, 3,000, the 22,000 wounded, and you almost see the eyes glaze over. But you talk about an individual like this, who was doing his job, a hell of a job, but was also willing to talk about what was wrong, it's a way to really bring it to life, to connect."

"When I returned from war, almost 40 years ago now, I stood up and spoke from my heart and my gut about what I thought was wrong," Kerry said on the Senate floor last week as he recounted his meeting with Freeman. "I asked the question in 1971: How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake? . . . I never thought that I would be reliving the need to ask that question again."

On Thursday, Freeman will be memorialized at his home in California, just days before the Senate takes up a resolution formally stating Congress's opposition to the president's plan to add 21,500 troops to the U.S. force in Iraq. There is no way to know what Freeman would have thought of it, but he would not have been shy about offering his opinion, Dodd said.

Freeman had served out his five-year active-duty tour well before he was sent to Iraq. He graduated from West Point in 1999, then in 2002 was accepted into the Army World Class Athlete Program, training with the U.S. bobsled and skeleton teams in Lake Placid, N.Y.

"It's no exaggeration, he was definitely one of the nicest guys in the start house," said Steve Peters, a team official.

In 2004, eager to get on with his career and family life, Freeman moved into the Individual Ready Reserve (IRR), a pool of trained soldiers not assigned to any unit, to serve out the rest of his eight-year mandatory obligation.

He was in California with a civilian job, a 1-year-old son named Gunnar and another baby on the way in the fall of 2005 when a shortage of officers prompted a large call-up by the IRR of West Point graduates from the classes of 1998 and later -- many of whom had only a few months of service left.

"He was an augmentee, who happened to be called up to fill a slot," said Sgt. 1st Class Joseph Edmond, a full-time staff member at the 412th Civil Affairs Battalion in Whitehall, Ohio, which Freeman was called to join. "It's almost to fill a void," he said, commenting on the Army's deepening manpower shortage, especially in the reserve, which requires it to cobble together units with people from across the country.

Charlotte Freeman, Freeman's wife, recalled her husband's shock upon receiving an Army telegram ordering him back to active duty. "He walked into the house and was totally white," she said yesterday. "He had moved on" from the Army.

"For my sake, he tried to get out" of the deployment, she said. But she knew he felt torn. "A part of him felt very guilty, because he had never gone to Iraq. He had dodged that bullet," she said.

Concerned about leaving his wife while she was pregnant, Freeman was able to obtain a three-month deferral and spend time with their newborn daughter, Ingrid. Just after Christmas in 2005, he grew so concerned about his pending deployment -- and his lack of qualifications to be a civil affairs officer -- that he anxiously contacted a reporter for The Washington Post.

Maj. Tony Nichols, who commanded a tank company that Freeman served in during his active duty, said Freeman "would have gone with a tank crew . . . in a heartbeat" but felt uneasy going with an unfamiliar civil affairs team.

Once in Iraq, Freeman was dismayed to find that his training "had no relation to what they were actually doing," Charlotte Freeman said. "He was appalled," enduring danger but seeing no clear mission, she said. Moreover, he believed that the Iraqis "didn't want us there."

Still, he did his best, working with the governor of Karbala to try to improve security and touching individual lives, such as helping an Iraqi boy who needed heart surgery and obtaining death benefits for an Iraqi interpreter's family. "He truly wanted to make a difference," Charlotte said.

Late last year, Freeman approached the senators at Landing Zone Washington, in Baghdad's Green Zone, "almost out of the shadows," Dodd recalled.

Even though he felt nervous, he told his wife later, he delivered his message with urgency. Soldiers were being deployed to do missions that they were utterly untrained to do; Freeman, for example, an armor officer, had been sent to help foster democracy and rebuild an Iraqi civil society. State Department personnel who could do those jobs were restricted in their travel off military bases by regional security officers who said it was unsafe for them to venture out.

"Senator, it's nuts over here," Dodd quoted Freeman as saying.

Calling him "ridiculously" bright, Nichols said Freeman did not oppose the war but "wanted it to be done better and smarter."

After Dodd mentioned an unnamed Army captain's concerns on NBC's "Meet The Press," Freeman e-mailed him to bring up another concern: the mistreatment of Iraqi interpreters by military contractors.

The connection between Dodd and Freeman went beyond a chance encounter and an exchange of e-mails. On Jan. 20, the day of Freeman's death, his wife was visiting his mother in Utah when a neighbor called to say that a military vehicle had stopped by the Freeman home. Frantic for news, Charlotte Freeman contacted Dodd's staff. The senator's aides learned of Brian Freeman's fate from the Defense Department and helped get military officials dispatched to his wife.

Kerry took the news personally, aides said. In Freeman, he saw something of himself -- a promising young officer, articulate and politically minded. But Kerry made it back from Vietnam.

"All that loss, for what?" Dodd asked.

It was not just Freeman's death that deeply troubled and provoked the two senators, but the way he died, in an apparent betrayal by Iraqi allies. In the days after Freeman's death, Dodd drafted legislation to cap the number of troops in Iraq. Last week in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Kerry backed Dodd in a failed effort to attach the legislative cap to the nonbinding resolution of opposition.

And both men are demanding that the Senate push the confrontation with Bush further. Kerry has resurrected his call for legislation setting a date certain for the withdrawal of troops.

"The notion of sense-of-the-Senate resolutions, what the hell does that mean?" Dodd asked yesterday. "Is that all you got?"

 

Adept at Adapting

"If anything can go wrong, it will." Mr. Murphy! Just where is your silver lining? We're not into peddling pessimism, but a healthy dose of reality comes in handy now and again. The proverbial "wrench in the system" can strike anywhere, anytime. Unexpected change-it's the law.

* Expect it. Change happens. It's one of the few constants in society. Commonly associated with negative circumstances and outcomes, unexpected change often gets a bad rap. Yet, unexpected change can be exhilarating and extremely positive. I feel a Paradigm Shift coming on!

* Plan on it. Rule of thumb: "Plan weekly, adapt daily." When reviewing your daily activities, factor in time for unexpected changes-things that throw your schedule off whack. You'll feel less frustrated and more in control. Be prepared.

* Go with it. Kicking and screaming will only get you so far. Change is good. Adapting, adjusting, and making modifications to changing circumstances will yield new opportunities, new ideas, and new perspectives.
Unexpected change-your friend indeed! What else did you expect?
 

Finding the strength to forgive

The concept is deeply rooted in religion. A dead firefighter's mom says she's trying.

03:43 PM PST on Thursday, November 23, 2006

By BETTYE WELLS MILLER
The Press-Enterprise

As the deadly Esperanza Fire burned out of control, the grieving mother of a firefighter killed in the blaze had a message for the arsonist: Her son, Jason McKay, would have forgiven the person who caused his death. Almost one month later, a heartbroken Bonnie McKay tries to do the same.

"I feel God would want me to," she said in her Apple Valley home. "If nobody is willing to forgive, it's a pretty sad world filled with hate. ... If you can't forgive, you can't move on and heal."

Amid unspeakable grief and everyday hurts, some people find the capacity to forgive those who have wounded them, out of religious conviction or a need to restore peace to their lives, Inland residents and scholars said.

Most Americans say it is important to forgive people who wrong them, but fewer than half said they do, according to a 2002 Gallup Poll on spiritual practices.

Research sponsored by the Fetzer Institute in Kalamazoo, Mich., has found that forgiveness helps people and communities heal, said institute president Tom Beech. The institute is a private foundation established by the late John E. Fetzer, who owned radio and television stations and the Detroit Tigers baseball team. He believed that love is the most powerful force in the world, institute officials said.

The 20-year-old institute launched a campaign this month to encourage individual acts of love and forgiveness. The first of three documentaries on the subject, "Mystery of Love," will air Dec. 13 on public television stations.

"We live in a world that is unforgiving," Beech said. "Research shows when people can forgive they live more peaceful and less stressful lives. ... When communities look for ways to help people live in a generous way, those communities are more comfortable places to live."

Forgiveness reduces levels of anger, increases feelings of love and improves physical and mental health, research shows, Beech said.

The concept of forgiveness is full of nuances and complexities, ranging from a metaphorical writing-off of a wrong to restoring relationships in a way that can lead to reconciliation, said Rick Langer, a Redlands resident and associate professor of biblical studies at Biola University, an evangelical Christian college in La Mirada.

"Forgiveness is both important and difficult," Langer said. "Forgiveness works its magic both on the perpetrator and the one who was wronged."

Forgiveness is liberating, said L. William Countryman, professor of biblical studies at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, an Episcopal Church seminary and a member of the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley.

"It frees you of the evil in the incident," said Countryman, who wrote "Forgiven and Forgiving." "At some point you have to declare your freedom from the wrong that was done to you."

Religion's Influence

Research shows that people with religious convictions generally find it easier to forgive, Langer and officers at the Fetzer Institute said.

"Forgiveness is valued in all the major world religions, although the emphasis will be different in each tradition," said Fetzer program officer Wayne Ramsey.

Judaism, for example, teaches that forgiveness must be earned, a process called teshuvah, which means a return to God, said Elliot Dorff, a philosophy professor at the University of Judaism in Los Angeles.

That means the person must acknowledge the wrong, express remorse, restore what was damaged or lost -- or accept the punishment for criminal acts -- and take steps to avoid repeating the bad behavior.

Jews are not obliged to forgive until teshuvah is completed, he said, although many do.

"Judaism is very much a religion of action," Dorff said. "Lip service won't do it. In the end the real test of whether you mean it is whether you act differently the next time a similar situation arises."

Islam encourages, but does not require, forgiveness, said Dany Doueiri, a lecturer in Arabic and Islamic studies at Cal State San Bernardino.

"There is the concept of an eye for an eye," he said. "You do have a right for compensation. But to forgive is better in the sight of God. ... There is an element of justice. Giving up that right is something very honorable."

Many scholars characterize Christianity as a religion of forgiveness and Islam as a religion of mercy, Doueiri said.

"I don't see them so much apart," he said. "Forgiveness is one aspect of being merciful toward one another."

Forgiveness is key in Christian theology, Southern California scholars said.

"It's a repeated theme in the New Testament" of the Bible, said Countryman, of the Berkeley seminary. "The central thing is we keep praying the Lord's Prayer all the time -- 'Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.' This is something that is based above all on God's boundless love for us."

Forgiveness is imbedded in Catholic theology and sacraments, such as confession, said the Rev. Ron Pachence, a religious studies professor at the University of San Diego, a Catholic college.

"Jesus is constantly saying, 'Be compassionate as your heavenly father is compassionate,' " Pachence said. "Jesus made it crystal clear: Without this (forgiveness), the practice of faith is incomplete."

Test of Faith

The October example of Pennsylvania Amish who offered forgiveness to the family of the man who shot 10 schoolgirls, killing five, is extraordinary, Pachence and others said.

"What the Amish group did was to say right off the bat, this is who we are as Christians. We are forgiving and we continue to reconcile," Countryman said.

So was the example of Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who called for forgiveness and reconciliation to heal South Africa after apartheid.

"The whole idea that enabled the revolution in South Africa to be as peaceful as it was was that forgiveness could be extended to people who didn't ask for it and didn't want it," Countryman said.

Forgiving doesn't mean forgetting, Dorff said.

"It means there's a removal of the taint of the offense and a possibility of reconciliation," he said. "There's the ability of both parties to go on with their lives."

Forgiveness is easier for some people than for others, scholars said. Some circumstances are easier to forgive than others.

"Some people are graced with the ability to forgive and some of us are not," Countryman said. "Most of us are not."

Pain Can Be Too Much

Jerome Redd said he hasn't been able to forgive the three teens who chased down and murdered his 15-year-old son, Dominic, in Corona last year. He questioned his Christian belief.

"I hope that God forgives them," Redd said. "I don't understand how people that have experienced something like this can forgive."

He doesn't hate his son's killers, he said.

But he cannot yet see the day when he might be able to forgive them.

"It's a day-to-day thing," he said.

Bonnie McKay said she believes that God will judge the person who started the Esperanza Fire.

She prays for Raymond Lee Oyler, the man accused of starting the deadly fire, and for his young daughter.

"I think about her a lot," McKay said. "For her to grow up with her father not being forgiven," if he is the arsonist. "If you fill your heart with revenge and hate you can't enjoy life. All it does is destroy the good."

Reach Bettye Wells Miller at 951-368-9547 or bmiller@PE.com

 

Dr. Helm

STANDIFORD HELM II, M.D.

Dr. Helm has been practicing interventional pain management since 1982. Dr. Helm is a diplomate of the American Board of Anesthesiology with subspecialty certification in Pain Medicine and of the American Board of Pain Medicine. Dr. Helm is a Fellow of Interventional Pain Practice (FIPP), the only certifying agency which tests the ability to perform interventional pain procedures. Dr. Helm is also an examiner for FIPP.

Dr. Helm is honored to be president of the California Society of Interventional Pain Physicians and to be Vice President of the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians.

Dr. Helm is the Interventional Pain Management representative on the Carrier Advisory Committee for Medicare in California.

Dr. Helm has published extensively on interventional pain management issues, has lectured internationally and taught pain management procedures.

Dr. Helm has been active in the effort, both on a State and a National basis, to ensure that patients have access to those pain procedures which have been proven effective and to medication. Dr. Helm has had the honor of working with FBI and DEA agents to assist them in discriminating between practitioners who are prescribing medications for a legitimate medical purpose and those who supplying medications used for abuse or diversion.

Dr. Helm graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College and attended Tufts University School of Medicine. Dr. Helm did an internship in Internal Medicine at Boston City Hospital and a residency in Anesthesiology at UCLA.

Dr. Helm is also is the Medical Director of the Pacific Coast Pain Management Center (www.pcpmc.com) in Orange County, California.

Pearl Harbor survivors meet for last time

By JAYMES SONG, Associated Press Writer2 hours, 59 minutes ago

With their number quickly dwindling, survivors of Pearl Harbor will gather Thursday one last time to honor those killed by the Japanese 65 years ago, and to mark a day that lives in infamy.

This will be their last visit to this watery grave to share stories, exchange smiles, find peace and salute their fallen friends. This, they say, will be their final farewell.

"This will be one to remember," said Mal Middlesworth, president of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association. "It's going to be something that we'll cherish forever."

The survivors have met here every five years for four decades, but they're now in their 80s or 90s and are not counting on a 70th reunion. They have made every effort to report for one final roll call.

"We're like the dodo bird. We're almost extinct," said Middlesworth, now an 83-year-old retiree from Upland, Calif., but then — on Dec. 7, 1941 — an 18-year-old Marine on the USS San Francisco.

Nearly 500 survivors from across the nation were expected to make the trip to Hawaii, bringing with them 1,300 family members, numerous wheelchairs and too many haunting memories.

Memories of a shocking, two-hour aerial raid that destroyed or heavily damaged 21 ships and 320 aircraft, that killed 2,390 people and wounded 1,178 others, that plunged the United States into World War II and set in motion the events that led to atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

"I suspect not many people have thought about this, but we're witnessing history," said Daniel Martinez, chief historian at the USS Arizona Memorial. "We are seeing the passing of a generation."

___

The attack may have occurred 65 years ago, but survivors say they can still hear the explosions, smell the burning flesh, taste the sea water and hear the cries.

"The younger ones were crying, 'Mom! Mom! Mom!'" said Edward Chun, who witnessed the attack from the Ten-Ten dock, just a couple hundred yards away from Battleship Row.

Chun, 83, had just begun his workday as a civilian pipe fitter when he was thrust into assisting in everything from spraying water on the ships to aiding casualties.

"From the time the first bomb dropped and for the next 15 minutes, it was complete chaos," he said. "Nobody knew what was going on. Everybody was running around like a chicken with their head cut off."

Chun saw the Oklahoma and West Virginia torpedoed by Japanese aircraft. He heard the tapping of sailors trapped in the hulls of sunken ships. He escaped death when Ten-Ten was strafed, leaving behind dead and wounded.

"How I never got hit, I don't know," said Chun, who was later drafted and served in the Korean and Vietnam wars. "I'll tell you a secret: When your number comes up, you're going to go. Well, every morning I get up, I change my number."

Everett Hyland doesn't know how he stayed alive when almost everyone around him didn't. He was radioman aboard the Pennsylvania, which was in Dry Dock No. 1, and was helping transport ammunition to the anti-aircraft gun when a bomb exploded.

Badly burned, Hyland regained consciousness 18 days later, on Christmas night. During that time, his older brother visited.

"The only way he knew it was me was the tag on my toe," Hyland said. "He (later) told me we looked like roast turkeys lined up."

Today, scar tissue covers most of his arms and legs.

"I got a quick facial out of it. I used to be a freckled-faced kid," he said. "I don't have any lips. They could fix faces, but they couldn't build any lips."

And he was lucky.

Many of the dead were teenage sailors and Marines away from home for the first time. They died before they had an opportunity to get married, have children, build lives.

Four in five servicemen on the USS Arizona — 1,177 in all — did not survive the day. It was the greatest loss of life of any ship in U.S. naval history. They remain entombed in the battleship's sunken hull, which still seeps oil every few seconds, leaving a colorful sheen on the harbor water.

The survivors say they have more than horrific memories to offer. "Remember Pearl Harbor" is just the first half of the association's motto; the rest is "Keep America alert."

Martinez said many Pearl Harbor survivors were disheartened by the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, "as if they had not done their job hard enough."

Once again, it seemed that America had been caught sleeping. Interest in Pearl Harbor and its aging survivors surged. The old soldiers are much in demand — to sign autographs, walk in parades, speak to classrooms and pose for pictures. Visits to the USS Arizona Memorial are at record levels.

Not that everyone sees similarities between the two attacks. "There is no comparison," Hyland said. "That was terrorists killing a pile of civilians. Here, you had professional fighters versus professional fighters. Two different things."

There are those who are unable to forgive the Japanese, But others testify to the power of reconciliation.

"There are some guys that are going to die with hate in their heart. I don't have in me any hatred in my heart," said 87-year-old survivor Lee Soucy, of Plainview, Texas. "They were doing their job just like we were."

Hyland, who was almost killed in the attack, married a woman from Japan. They met at the 50th Pearl Harbor anniversary and wed the following year.

"I got over it a long time ago," he said.

___

Former NBC anchor Tom Brokaw, who dubbed Americans who came of age during the Great Depression and World War II "the greatest generation," agreed to be keynote speaker for Thursday's ceremony. A moment of silence at 7:55 a.m. was to mark the time when the attack began.

Martinez, the USS Arizona historian, likened it to another reunion 68 years ago — the final gathering of Civil War veterans in Gettysburg, Pa., when aging warriors in blue and gray shook hands and shared war stories. In 1938, as in 2006, the nation faced an uncertain future in a world gripped by conflict.

"The passing of that generation had its moment and we're going to have ours," he said.

But some veterans don't believe, or refuse to accept, that this will be the last major gathering.

"They claimed the 60th was going to be the last one. Now they have the 65th. When they have the 70th, then they'll be claiming, 'This will be the last one,'" Hyland said. "They've been crying wolf too many times."

Hyland does accept the fact that their numbers are falling fast.

"We all have our turn and our turn is getting closer," he said.

But until then, they are drawn to Pearl Harbor, and to each other. Military historian Douglas Smith, a professor at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, R.I., says they are proud of their service and eager to return "to their glory days," but most of all they revel in the bonds they formed long ago, when they were young.

The bond is so strong that some ask to have their ashes interred inside the Arizona, laid to rest with shipmates who were not so fortunate as to survive Dec. 7, 1941.

"They're coming home," Middlesworth said. "They feel they're coming home."

 

Photo Album online

Photo albums of the family (click on link):

http://picasaweb.google.com/jpssite

 

Sen. Burns concedes Montana race

By MATT GOURAS, Associated Press Writer 15 minutes ago

U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns (news, bio, voting record) conceded defeat to Jon Tester on Thursday, acknowledging that a tight election had gone to the Democrats' favor, Burns' campaign told The Associated Press.   Burns, a three-term senator whose campaign was troubled by verbal gaffes and voter discontent, congratulated Tester, a farmer and state legislator.   "I stand ready to help as Montana transitions to a new United States Senator," Burns said in a statement provided to the AP. "We fought the good fight and we came up just a bit short. We've had a good 18 years and I am proud of my record."

Burns, 71, did not plan any public appearances Thursday, his campaign said.   He also didn't say what he plans to do now, though he indicated he was looking forward to taking some time off. "I hope there is still a good-sized buck out there, because I am going hunting," he said.  Burns called Tester and conceded in a friendly and cordial conversation at about 11 a.m, said Tester spokesman Matt McKenna.  "This was a hard fought campaign and I think that Montana is glad it is in their rear view mirror and Jon tester is ready to move forward," McKenna said.  Tester, who was busy with chores Thursday, picking up a barrel of oil in Great Falls on the way to his grain farm in Big Sandy, ran as an outsider to the Washington culture — the same theme Burns had used nearly two decades earlier.  "It is absolutely, critically important that we change the direction of the country," Tester, 50, said Wednesday after declaring victory by a thin margin of about 3,400 votes.   Tester said he wanted to empower the middle class, working families, small businesses and family farms and ranches — "the people who have made this country so great."

"It really is time to put politics aside," he said. "We've got many, many issues that are facing this great state and this country, both in foreign policy and domestic policy. We've talked about them for the last 18 months. Now is the time to roll up our sleeves and get some things done."

Tester's win — and fellow Democrat Jim Webb's close victory in Virginia — gave the Democrats the 51 Senate seats they need to control the chamber.

With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Tester had 198,302 votes, or 49.1 percent, to Burns' 194,904 votes, or 48.3 percent.

Together, the two campaigns spent more than $12 million.

Burns had not helped his own cause, with gaffes that included cursing at a firefighting crew in a state that sees thousands of acres burned in wildfires every summer. He was first elected in 1988 as a folksy, backslapping outsider, but this year, he was joined on the campaign trail by President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.  Tester resisted help from the national party during his campaign.   When Burns tried to paint Tester as a liberal who wants to raise taxes and "cut and run" from Iraq, the liberal tag didn't seem to stick to the man who sports scuffed cowboy boots and a flattop haircut.

Tester portrayed himself as a Western moderate who owns guns, opposes gay marriage and has a libertarian's suspicion of the anti-terrorism Patriot Act.

He hammered Burns over his ties to Abramoff. Burns was a top recipient of campaign contributions from Abramoff, who pleaded guilty in January to corruption. Burns has since returned or donated to charity about $150,000 he receive that was connected to Abramoff. He maintains he did nothing wrong and was not influenced by the lobbyist.

Ballot-counting problems delayed results of the race by about seven hours, keeping the nation in suspense. Duane Winslow, election administrator for Montana's most populous area, Yellowstone County, said he made a computer error while tabulating absentee ballots that required officials to start the process over.

___

Associated Press reporter Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this

 

Cardiologist

I had a stress echocardiogram and heart ultrasound done yesterday.  Everything turned out normal but my blood pressure is 160/110 without meds.   

George Carlin's Views on Aging

 

George Carlin's Views on Aging

Do you realize that the only time in our lives when we like to get old
is when we're kids?  If you're less than 10 years old, you're so excited
about aging that you think in fractions.

"How old are you?"   "I'm four and a half!"   You're never thirty-six and
a half.  You're four and a half, going on five!  That's the key.

You get into your teens, now they can't hold you back.  You jump to the
next number, or even a few ahead.

"How old are you?"  "I'm gonna be 16!"  You could be 13, but hey, you're
gonna be 16!  And then the greatest day of your life. . you become 21.
Even the words sound like a ceremony . . . YOU BECOME 21.  YESSSS!!!

But then you turn 30.  Oooohh, what happened there?  Makes you sound
like bad milk!  He TURNED; we had to throw him out. There's no fun now,
you're Just a sour-dumpling.   What's wrong?  What's changed?

You BECOME 21, you TURN 30, then you're PUSHING 40.  Whoa! Put on the
brakes, it's all slipping away.  Before you know it, you REACH 50 and
your dreams are gone.

But wait!!!  You MAKE it to 60.  You didn't think you would!

So you BECOME 21, TURN 30, PUSH 40, REACH 50 and MAKE it to 60.

You've built up so much speed that you HIT 70!  After that it's a
day-by-day thing; you HIT Wednesday!

You get into your 80s and every day is a complete cycle; you HIT lunch;
you TURN 4:30; you REACH bedtime.  And it doesn't end there.  Into the
90s, you start going backwards; "I was JUST 92."

Then a strange thing happens.  If you make it over 100, you become a
little kid again.  "I'm 100 and a half!"

May you all make it to a healthy 100 and a half!

HOW TO STAY YOUNG

1. Throw out nonessential numbers.  This includes age , weight and
height.  Let the doctors worry about them.  That is why you pay "them ".

2. Keep only cheerful friends.  The grouches pull you down.

3. Keep learning.  Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening,
whatever.  Never let the brain idle.  "An idle mind is the devil's
workshop."  And the devil's name is Alzheimer's.

4. Enjoy the simple things.

5. Laugh often, long and loud.  Laugh until you gasp for breath.

6. The tears happen...  Endure, grieve, and move on.  The only person who
is with us our entire life is ourselves.  Be ALIVE while you are alive.

7. Surround yourself with what you love, whether it's family, pets,
keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever.  Your home is your refuge.

8. Cherish your health:  If it is good, preserve it.  If it is unstable,
improve it.  If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.< BR>
9 Don't take guilt trips.  Take a trip to the mall, even to the next
county; to a foreign country but NOT to where the guilt is.

10 . Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity.

AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the
moments that take our breath away.

And if you don't send this to at least 8 people - who cares?  But do
share this with someone.  We all need to live life to its fullest each
day!

Elderly now a fifth of Japan population

Tue Oct 31, 1:01 AM ET

One-fifth of Japan's population now consists of people aged 65 or older, the nation's latest census data show, a development that could threaten the world's second-largest economy.

The nation, which has the world's highest proportion of old people and lowest proportion of young people, has also seen its population shrink since peaking in 2004, according to final census figures for 2005.

Experts have long forecast that Japan's ageing population and falling birth rate meant its population would decline -- shrinking the economy and leaving fewer workers to support a growing number of pensioners -- but the fall began two years earlier than initially forecast.

Last year's decline was the first since 1945, the final year of World War Two.

The proportion of Japan's 127 million people who are 65 or older hit 21 percent last year, the highest ratio in the world The figure was up from 17.3 percent in 2000 when the previous census was conducted.

The ratio of people under 15 fell to 13.6 percent, the lowest since census-taking began in 1920 and also the world's lowest.

In addition, the proportion of people considered economically active -- those aged between 15 and 64 -- fell by 2.1 percentage points to 65.8 percent of the total.

The number of households consisting of elderly couples rose by 22.6 percent to 4.49 million, while households of elderly people living alone soared by 27.5 percent to 3.86 million.

The figures are more bad news for economic planners already worried about how to fund ballooning pension requirements.

Japan's fertility rate -- the average number of children a woman has during her lifetime -- slipped to an all-time low of 1.25 in 2005. Demographers say a rate of 2.1 is needed to keep a population from falling.

In a possible sign of hope, however, births were up in August for the seventh straight month, rising by 3.1 percent from the same month last year.

 

#1 ON THE BLUEGRASS GOSPEL CHARTS

Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver “He Lives In Me” Album: He Lives In Me. Horizon Records 10752

Written by Frances P. Simpson/BMI

http://www.doylelawson.com/

Frances Simpson of Fremont, Mo., who is the widow of my Dad’s cousin Walter Simpson, is honored to have the song she wrote - HE LIVES IN ME - (recorded by renowned Bluegrass artist Doyle Lawson and Quick Silver) nominated for two awards by the International Bluegrass Music Association. One nomination was for Bluegrass Song of the Year and the other was for Gospel Recorded Performance of the Year. The song won Gospel Recorded Performance of the Year. Frances wrote this song about five years ago and pitched it to Mr. Lawson. He liked the song and put it in the line-up for recording once or twice before, but each time it didn't fit with the other songs he had chosen for the particular project, but this time he said, "It was the only song that would fit and was just perfect for the TITLE CUT." Simpson traveled to Nashville to the Grand Ole Opry House in Opryland for the Bluegrass Awards Show in Sept. where she was seated as a guest of IBMA on the first level with other nominees.

At the present time HE LIVES IN ME is # 1 on the Bluegrass Gospel charts, # 22 on the Singing News Southern Gospel chart and # 10 on the secular Bluegrass chart. Frances says "This last one is the one I'm most excited about because it tells me that people who love bluegrass music but do not attend church on a regular basis are hearing how "Jesus came into my heart and turned my life around". That's what my song writing is all about. That's where my heart is."

Genie, Pascale, Jason, Gus, and Polly (last week)

 

Gus and Jason messing around

 

Monday, October 30, 2006

Morning Weigh-in: 232 lbs @ 7 am

Breakfast: 4 eggs and two fat free tortillas

Snack: water

Exercise: Bench press, curls, triceps, squat rack

Lunch: 2 chicken tacos and diet coke

Dinner:

Snack:

Evening Weigh-in: _____ lbs @ ____ pm

Jordan in ER - Bicycle accident

Fire Chief

Jake's Memorial Today

I attended Jake's memorial service today. About 2,000 people attended and everyone heard and witnessed a powerful message today. I know I will never forget it. I was proud of his family, including Shawn.

4 firefighters killed in Calif. blaze (30 minutes from my home)

By GILLIAN FLACCUS, Associated Press Writer 2 minutes ago

A wind-whipped wildfire started by an arsonist killed four firefighters Thursday and stranded up to 400 people in an RV park when flames burned to the edge of the only road out, officials said. "Everybody is hunkered down here. They're fighting the fire around us. It's across the street from us," said Charles Van Brunt, a ranger at the station at the entrance to Silent Valley Club, the recreational vehicle park near Palm Springs. The residents were in no immediate danger, he said. Authorities asked people in the RV park to stay put to leave the roads clear for firefighters. Hundreds of others in the area were forced from their homes. Fire officials said the fire was deliberately set around 1 a.m. and offered a $100,000 reward. Fire Chief John Hawkins said the arson "constitutes murder." The Forest Service crew was trying to protect a house as dry desert winds of 25 mph or more blew a wall of flames down on them in the hills northwest of Palm Springs. "They had left their truck to do structure protection when the fire overran them," said Forest Service spokesman Pat Boss, adding the flames came down so quickly they had no time to retreat to their engine or use protective sheltering. Three firefighters died at the scene and two were hospitalized in critical condition. One of those two died several hours later. The other had burns over 95 percent of his body, Boss said.

The last time four firefighters died battling a blaze was July 10, 2001, fighting a fire in a remote canyon in Washington's Okanogan National Forest. The four became trapped by flames on a dusty dead-end road. Thursday's deaths brought to 19 the number of California firefighters killed in the line of duty over the past year, according to statistics kept by California Professional Firefighters, a lobbying organization. One other firefighter in the burned-out fire engine was critically injured, Boss said.

He said the Forest Service pulled all its personnel off the fire after the deaths so they could "gather their thoughts, say their prayers."

The fire quickly blackened more than six square miles and destroyed at least three homes. The weather service had issued a "red flag" warning for extreme fire danger because of the high winds and dry conditions.

Thick smoke blanketed the small RV park off Highway 243, where as many as 400 people were stranded, authorities said. TV footage showed some vehicles racing through flames and smoke just before firefighters closed the road.

Van Brunt said people were advised to "watch the news and stay comfy."

The cause of the wildfire was not immediately clear. It started early Thursday, burning in a valley with a few scattered ranch homes. The hamlets of Poppet Ranch and Twin Pines were evacuated along with a juvenile detention center, Twin Pines Boys Ranch.

Evacuations were ordered, and by early morning, about 200 people had left their homes, fire Capt. Julie Hutchinson said.

Officials worried the flames could reach an area of the San Bernardino National Forest where a bark beetle infestation had killed trees that could easily fuel a blaze.

In the valley where the fire was burning, the ground cover is mostly grass and chaparral that burns fast and hot.

"The biggest concern is if it gets over the hills," said Becky Luther, a spokeswoman for the Riverside County Fire Department. "That's where all of the homes are."

Timo Hargu, 61, said he rushed from his hilltop home with his two dogs after he looked out a window and saw fire burning toward him in a valley.

"The whole thing was ablaze with flame," he said. "It was the most spectacular view. A terrible view, but spectacular."