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Monday is set aside to honor fallen heroes
It may be the start of summer, but it's also the most solemn of our national holidays.
Summer unofficially starts this holiday weekend with an observance that is designed for all of us to pause and remember those brave men and women who sacrificed their lives for the freedoms that should be so precious to each of us.
This year, I have been prompted by a powerful Prager U five-minute video, “The Fallen Solider.” See it here https://www.prageru.com/video/the-fallen-soldier.
In Pleasanton, we have the All Wars Memorial in the Pioneer Cemetery off Sunol Boulevard. The bronze statue was dedicated in 2016 after robust fundraising led by retired officer Doug Miller.
Bob Sanchez, a veteran who served on the committee, did the research on the 22 names of fallen Pleasanton servicemen that are commemorated around the base on the statute.
Meinrad Auf Der Maur, serving in the US Army, was the first Pleasanton casualty of World War I on June 9, 1918. He was a naturalized citizen originally from Switzerland. His family owned land that was developed over the years in town, including the commercial properties right off Stanley Boulevard on the eastside of Pleasanton.
My humble suggestion is set aside some time to ponder those who gave it all going before us. Pleasanton’s observance is at 11 a.m. at Senior Center on Sunol Boulevard. The Prager U video is powerful and well worth your five minutes.
Sadly, Gov. Newsom continues to throw good money after ill-spent money to try and keep the so-called high-speed rail project alive.
Its price tag already has more than tripled to way over $100 billion; it will be decades behind the original time schedule and the only line the state is trying to complete is scheduled to run from Bakersfield to Merced. Fortunately, the Trump White House has cast an appropriate skeptical eye at the plans—in his first term Trump pulled back money that President Joe Biden or someone in his administration restored. It will go away again.
The Legislature should stand up to Newsom and say enough is enough. Not a single rail has been laid on a project that voters approved in 2008 and was supposedly shovel-ready for the Obama stimulus package in 2009. We’re 14 years down the road and all that’s been done is condemning land and building bridges.
Legislative leaders have already diverted some funds to regional projects in the Bay Area (electrifying rail lines on the Peninsula) and the Los Angeles area. It’s time for a bit of wisdom and scrapping the project that never made sense in the first place. High speed rail to inner cities works in Europe and Asia because they have excellent public transportation systems. Those integrated systems do not exist in California.
Congrats to 49er great and former Danville resident Brent Jones who was finally named to the team’s Hall of Fame. Jones won three Super Bowls with the 49ers and was named All-Pro three times. He’s already a member of the Santa Clara, Bay Area and Division II football halls of fame.
After retiring, he joined CBS for several years in the broadcasting booth before stepping away to focus on his investment business that he founded with former teammates after retiring. Arguably, he was a better businessman than tight end—that’s saying something—but his firm was so successful he owned a home in the exclusive Diablo neighborhood as well as a lakefront mansion in Incline Village.
He and his wife, Dana, raised their daughter Courtney who attended Monte Vista High and earning almost every soccer honor available as a forward. She went on to earn soccer honors at the University of North Carolina and then played professional soccer.
Thanks to Anne Fox for passing along the results of the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee and its attempt to censure Rep. Eric Swalwell and Fremont Mayor Raj Salwan. Recalled District Attorney Pamela Price mounted the effort along with unsuccessful candidate Vinnie Bacon. The progressive wing lost badly, 27-6.
There’s not much I agree with Swalwell on these days as he continues to march to a strong leftist tune, but he’s right on with his statement, “Extremist Alameda County Democrats are trying to censure me for leading the recall of a soft-on-violent crime prosecutor. Talk about missing the memo. 63% of voters supported the successful recall. If they want to highlight my focus on public safety, BRING IT!”
