Using a term made famous by the now infamous Governor of
Alabama, George Wallace during the civil rights struggles of the Sixties, there
is an “Outside Agitator” in our midst. I know based on the response to my last
couple of columns some of you might think it’s me, especially the person who
complained to the Express about that Jew making fun of the Catholics. But it’s
not me, at least not in this instance.
It’s someone who is very new to town but could
easily be mistaken for someone who’s lived here all their life. It’s someone
who has seen and done more in their lifetime than I could ever even conceive of
doing. Someone who was born in “The City” but moved here from “Down There”, you
know, SoCal.
This agitator has infiltrated the
local Rotary Club and ruffled a few feathers of the “Old Guard”. She (hint –
hint) can be seen chumming it up with the Mayor and her father while sipping
cocktails at the Buckhorn. Or on many an evening she can be found drinking a
glass of “The Boss” wine (that should have been named after her) at the
Turkovich Family Wines tasting room. While there (I know firsthand), she will
engage anyone who will listen in conversation about how things were, and how
things should be.
She is someone who seeing that the
Rotary Park Gazebo was in need of repairs and not able to get the club to
commit, just went ahead and fixed it herself. She’s that kind of a person
because at 93 years young she doesn’t have time for BS, at least not on the
receiving end.
So who is this woman and why am I
calling her an “Agitator”? Well first let’s clarify, unlike the negative
connotation that George Wallace tried to put on outside agitators, agitating
for social change can be a good thing. Without a good shaking most of us don’t
look past our routine lives to see the problems and injustices that are all
around us.
I know this column is starting to
sound like a pitch for Citizen of the Year but I figure if Donald Sanders can
keep talking about Libby Earthman and her work on the creek I can introduce all
of you to someone who is also trying to make this community better.
Without further ado, let me
introduce you to the one and only Mary Rolston, my “Provocateur du jour”. Oh,
for those of you that don’t speak French that means trouble maker of the day.
Well she’s not really a trouble maker, she’s just trying to get attention
focused on an issue that most of us don’t see around us. An issue that at some
point will affect all of us in one way or another.
That issue is the plight of Winters
Seniors and I don’t mean the High School kind. Just because we sometimes see
the Senior Nutrition van delivering meals on wheels doesn’t mean that all the
old folks are OK. Sure there are a lot of seniors (like Mary) that are in great
shape, physically, financially, & emotionally. They are the ones we see
around us, the ones that make us think “why should I worry about them, their
house is paid for and mine is underwater”. But the reality is that just like in
most aspects of modern America they are just the top percents.
The majority are on small fixed incomes or just Social
Security. They have very limited or no access to transportation. The same goes
for health care and access to good nutrition. And in Winters, one of the
biggest problems is language and communications because a lot of our seniors
are Hispanic and don’t speak much English.
Now that I’ve told you about Mary and the issue that she’s
agitating about, what next? Last week the City hosted an informal meeting to
get input on addressing and bringing attention to this issue. If any of you
would like to get involved (and we all should) call City Hall and find out when
the next meeting will be and give them your contact information.
To view the column in it's original form go to page 13 of the following link. Winters Express 9/4/14
