Saturday, January 18, 2020

Liz Writes Life 1-15-2020


Jan. 15, 2020

Liz Writes Life

Garden

Nope, I haven’t been out working in the garden and on the warmer days I do feel a bit guilty. I still need to pull and pick-up the stakes and supports that were used for the tomatoes (I did pull-out the tomato vines last fall) and the ladder that the non-blooming, but supposed-to-be-blue morning glory encompassed. And, there are a lot of annual and or perennial plants that need to be pulled or cut-off in the wild flower garden. Maybe this week! Ha, ha.

In staring at the garden lot, I have decided there will only be two rows of plants this year. The outside one will be vegetables and the inner will be flowers. I just love flowers. Some will be the perennials that are already there like hollyhocks and bee balm, but I want to add a Black eye Susan and transplant several Echinacea (purple-pink cone flowers). Oh, and there is a shorter plant I put-in years ago that has giant lemon yellow trumpet flowers. I think it gets too much shade from the tansy and coreopsis in the wildflower garden and would do well with more sun on the south garden side. It blooms early morning and makes me smile.

Also, I want to plant more gladiolus – I just love glads and then annual cosmos, maroon amaranth and some four-o’clocks. It won’t take many of these annuals to fill in the spaces, because they get so big. Oh, the hopes and plans!

Assembly

Last Friday night, I attended a meet and greet with Dr. Paul Dhanuka, who is running for our State Assembly Dist. 1 seat as an Independent. I wanted to know his stand on a variety of issues and enjoyed meeting him. He is a prominent physician in Redding and is the Chief of Staff at Mercy Medical Center Hospital. He and his wife have three children with the youngest son a high school senior. His wife, Promila Dhanuka, is also a well-known oncologist in Shasta County.

Dr. Dhanuka told us he grew up poor in India with no chance to improve his economic status and no personal rights, like owning a gun; and realized he did not have the individual power to change things. He swore his daughter would not live like that. After immigrating, he carefully studied the U.S. Constitution and became a citizen of the United States. He has lived in Northern California for 24 years and never dreamed life could be so good.

“This has been such a blessing,” Dr. Dhanuka said of the opportunities that were available to him in the United States.

Since becoming a successful physician, Dr. Dhanuka has started a non-profit to help those with lung cancer and supports museums among his other causes. But most importantly, he believes it is time to give back to his country.

Dr. Dhanuka is an American story and believes “all men are created equal.” But, we have lost control over our own life. “We cannot allow other men to take our rights,” he said. “The Bill of Rights is worth protecting. It is my duty to preserve those rights.”

“We have lost effective representation. Our leaders no longer care about us,” he continued, adding he has lost faith in the two party system. “We need to unite and go beyond party lines and party control,” is his reasoning for being an Independent. He believes the citizens have been divided by design. 

When asked how he would vote on bills in the legislature, Dr. Dhanuka responded: First – is it moral? Second – is it constitutional? And then he would ask his constituents. This received applause from the group gathered at the Fort Jones Community Center.

Dr. Dhanuka does not believe his candidacy as an Independent will split the Republican vote and hopes to attract all who believe in the U.S. Constitution. He has specific ideas on how to improve Health Care and costs in California, which includes attracting more physician training facilities here in the North State that will also entice more physicians to the area -- and has been talking to U.C. Davis about breaking ground on these ideas.

Fires! Dr. Dhanuka believes in local government control and that forests must be managed for forest health -- locally. After the meeting, he told me that 40 doctor friends lost their homes in the 2018 Redding Carr Fire and his home was just a few blocks from the edge of the inferno. He is frustrated with government-mandated power shut-offs by PG&E, which threaten the health of those who are on oxygen and other health-related machines. And, for certain, Dr. Dhanuka does not want PG&E to become a state-owned company. Boy, do I agree with that!

I spoke with Fort Jones resident, Tom McCulley, who hosted the meet and greet. Tom said he was impressed, because Dr. Dhanuka wants to represent the people and to meet the people. The doctor’s passion is contagious.

When serving as Fort Jones Mayor, Tom reached out to Assemblyman Brian Dahle for help, several times, and never received a response. Because Dr. Dhanuka has already visited rural areas, like Fort Jones, Tom believes he will open communication even wider to “the people.”
I also liked Dr. Dhanuka’s  passion for local representation and bringing back our constitutional principles. To learn more about Dr. Paul Dhanuka, he can be found on the internet: dhanuka2020.com and the same on facebook.

Liz Bowen began writing ranch and farm news, published in newspapers, in 1976. She is a native of Siskiyou County and lives near Callahan. Columns from the past year can be found at: lizwriteslife.blogspot.com. Call her at 530-467-3515.

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