Desert Messenger

26 www.DesertMessenger.com February 17, 2016 For your dancing and listening pleasure, the popular "On The Road Again" Dance Band will be appearing at the Quartzsite Senior Center EVERY TUESDAY EVENING 7:00-9:30 p.m. 40 Moon Mountain Rd., Quartzsite converted 4WD 1961 Cadillac with 6 bucket seats in an open converted rear of the Cadillac. They also plan to hold car club meetings and ral- lies on the site. The Camel Stop is one of Quartz- site's most interesting historic sites. A two-room wooden house was stuccoed and converted into a grocery store on the east side, and the post office (not the first) and lobby on the west side by P.E. Woodson in 1939. The words "U.S. Post Office" are in relief in the orig- inal stucco above the front metal awning, and can be easily seen to- day. In 1942 the store was sold to Ira & Beaulah Sailiday. CAMEL STOP FROM PAGE 1 Pastelite is typically a cream or flesh pink color, with bands or swirls of brown and red. Porcelain Jasper has a similar color scheme with gray and some grayish-green added to the mix. Much of the material found in the Quartzsite area is lapidary grade and will produce excellent cabochons. For more information and maps to local jasper sites, and to purchase lapi- dary grade jasper, visit RocksInMyHead. We have several varieties of jasper in stock, including local ones, as well as a great selection of rocks, fossils, minerals, and more. We also carry books, maps, tools, equipment and more for all your rockhounding, prospecting, and lapidary needs. We are open November through April, 7 days a week, from 10am to 5pm, at Rice Ranch, A37 in Quartzsite, and online at www.RocksInMyHead.com. Our phone number is 605-376-8754. ROCKS FROM PAGE 11 Ira was very vocal about President Harry S. Truman and the singing voice of the President's daughter Margaret. After sending the presi- dent a threatening letter, he was ar- rested by the FBI for questioning, and ended up losing the position as Quartzsite Postmaster (In The Shad- ow of Saguaros, by Rosalee Oldham Wheeler, Vol. I, p. 136). The build- ings have sat vacant much of the recent past. The well on the prop- erty is dated September 30, 1932, and served as a significant source of water which was sold to locals and transients in the early years. Watch the ongoing improvements and look for the Merwin Family's Off-The-Wall Mini Auto Museum opening next fall! there are safe houses operated by FKOC and Catholic Charities. On the other hand, it seems that the City is doing everything it can to get rid of the homeless, with the support of many residents. There were a reported 40 homeless camps in the mangroves, and recently the city evicted all of them. The City is now preparing to evict the homeless out of other areas. And there's a trickle-down effect for responsible travelers like me (home- less or not) who are dedicated to leaving a place better than they found it. One night as I parked my camper, a woman yelled at me, "You can't sleep overnight here." I don't really blame her. Obviously she has had a bad experience, but that doesn't mean all homeless should be condemned. That would be like condemning all CEOs of big corporations. One thing I notice about homeless people is they are usually missing teeth. I am having about $2,000 worth of dental work done in Key West. Who has that kind of money? Certainly not the homeless. They simply can't afford dental care, even check-ups. And guess what? If people don't have teeth, they can't eat healthy things like apples and carrots, and their health deteriorates. Their health deteriorates, and they can't work. They can't work so they can't afford housing. You get the pic- ture. Thus begins a vicious cycle. Have you ever heard someone say, "The only difference between the homeless and me is my next paycheck." I saw the movie "Monster," the film about a woman serial killer, for which Charlize Theron won the academy award for best actress. It stayed with me for weeks. Surprisingly, I didn't come away from the film hating her. She was abused since the day she was born; she didn't have a chance for any- where near a "normal" life. How could she be anything but what she was? Recently I discovered why I hadn't started writing this story until now. I had a dream or a vision (or something) a day or two ago: Right at the entrance to Key West where Highway 1 goes right and Highway 1A goes left, there was a huge gate that went right across the highway. There were men at the gate, checking each car, and determin- ing whether the car could enter or not. I was an observer in this dream (nightmare?); so I don't know what questions were asked to determine en- trance. But I have a pretty good idea; don't you? It has to do with whether you can afford a home in Key West; I read the average price is $600,000, but a mortgage broker I met says it's much higher than that. In other words, like so many other things in our soci- ety, entrance to Key West was based on the bottom line. The homeless are a major topic of discussion in Key West. More and more this seems to be a city of the rich. The most common bumper sticker in Key West is "One Human Family," but I wonder, does that include the homeless? Proud to be an American? Sometimes..... ~*~*~*~*~*~ Usually I have only one quote at the end of each story, but I couldn't stop at just one this time: The life of the individual only has meaning insofar as it aids in making the life of every living thing nobler and more beautiful. Life is sacred, that is to say, it is the supreme value to which all other values are subordi- nate....Albert Einstein The poverty of our century is unlike that of any other. It is not, as poverty was before, the result of natural scar- city, but of a set of priorities imposed upon the rest of the world by the rich. Consequently, the modern poor are not pitied ... but written off as trash. The twentieth-century consumer econ- omy has produced the first culture for which a beggar is a reminder of noth- ing....John Berger (b. 1926), author Poor America, of what avail is all her wealth, if the individuals comprising the nation are wretchedly poor? If they live in squalor, in filth, in crime, with hope and joy gone, a homeless, soilless army of human prey....Emma Goldman (1869–1940), author *~*~*~*~* Jane's book is WANDERINGS: Living the Ordinary Extraordinarily (Sto- ries from the Road). For an update on Jane's travels and writing, visit her website (janefinley.com) and/or read "Traveling with Gypsy Jane" and "Poems from the Road" in The Desert Messenger (desertmessen- ger.com) beginning March 5, 2014. (janefinley@yahoo.com) GYPSY FROM PAGE 1

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