San Bernardino Shootings . . .

Whew, we used to live in both San Bernardino and Redlands, California.  So the shootings are sort of irony to us.  We have lots of friends that still reside there.  We lived in that area for about nine years.

The Lambe's are old friends that just visited us over the Thanksgiving holiday.  They were here to see their daughter that lives in Dallas and came out to see us.  We had a grand visit together.  He works at the golf course across the street from the Inland Center.  Fortunately, he was not there yesterday, he had other things to take care off.

The Smith's, long old friends that lived next to us in the late 70's in San Bernardino, still live in the relative near area (they move on up, so to speak) called North Highlandsm, a suburb of San Bernardion.  She regularly visits a counselor that lives a block from the shooters residence in Redlands.  They are on vacation in Hawaii.  So they are out of the range of any shooters.

There are others that live in Redlands that we have not heard from but are safe and sound.

I know that this is a tragic event and is yet unfolding as to who, what and where is going on or went on.  Right now it sounds like home grown Islamic terrorism but you never know.  California has always been known for its crazies, lunatics gone wild.

But I recall the night of the riots in Los Angeles, I went out to play cards at home in San Bernardino.  Later heard where a local cop on part time employment shot a potential looter in San Bernardino.  That stopped all riot activity in San Bernardino on the spot.  Word was out, the cops in San Bernardino shoot first and ask questions later.  There was no rioting or looting in San Bernardino that night.

San Bernardino has always been a violent city.  Back in the old wild west days, the gold rush times, it was town where there shoot outs in the streets.  Even in the 1070's through the 1990, it was a tough town with over a hundred murders per year.  There are a lot of indigent people living there, Chicanos, blacks and whites all mixed in together.  Some of the high schools were literal war zones.  Street gangs abound, drugs run amok.  Near by Mentone was the home of the Hells Angels, a famous biker gang. Near by Colton was a tough town too, adjacent to San Bernardino.  Colton's history includes Wyatt Earp as one time City Marshal in that town, his last place as he died there of old age.

We are long gone from that town and community.   We often speak of going back to visit but never seem to get around to doing it.  I think we will wait a little longer now before making a return visit.