February 26, 2003

Comments on Harry, Honora & the NRA

In less than a month, The Reactor column begins its 29th year. I've had a lot of fun, taken a lot of flack, expressed quite a few opinions, re-enforced the preconceptions of hundreds of Pacificans. If I've ever changed anyone's mind, meaning a mind that was firmly committed to the other side of any given argument, I've yet to be made aware of it. It's easier, far easier, to make a citizen feel good about his own mindset, his prejudices and biases than to persuade that same citizen he's mistaken. I'd like to think those who happen to agree with my ideas are all so intelligent and rational it's no wonder we agree, but I know there must be a few situations when reasonable people might disagree with me.

For example, if you're a longstanding, gun-loving member of the National Rifle Association, what would it take to persuade you to come out four-square for gun control? At least one Pacifican who was furious with me for advocating gun control was in trouble with the police less than a year later. The police report said he and his wife had a spat, and he'd gone straight for his gun cabinet.

It's interesting that Jim and Sarah Brady, the national leaders in the effort to minimize America's out-of-control handgun violence, were never able to persuade Jim's old boss, Ronald Reagan, to join them in their efforts. Jim still suffers, after more than 20 years, from the terrible pain caused by bullets meant for Reagan. Reagan, the target, who took bullets in the same attack, never faltered in his support of the NRA. Just what would have persuaded him that guns should be registered, made less unsafe, and taken out of the hands of children, the unstable, the mentally ill, the suicidal, etc.?

There's still plenty of subjects I'd like to write about and learn more about. I'd love to learn more about the life of Harry Danmann, who arrived on Pedro Point in 1879 and finally died in 1954, a month before the microfilm records of the Tribune begin. Harry was 98. He must have been a fascinating character.

I'd like to know more about Polenta, that staple of California's Italian immigrant families for the first half of the 20th Century. A coarsely ground corn meal, it stuck to the ribs of folks from North Beach to isolated Italian farming enclaves Seattle to San Diego.

I think I'm the ranking expert on her, but I'd still like to know more about Honora Sharp, a woman of Irish ancestry and Canadian heritage whose remote coastal ranch now splits Pacifica in two. She died in February 1905. She resided most of her adult life in San Francisco hotels. Except for a disastrous and brief second marriage, she was 23 years a widow. She's buried in an ornate tomb in Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery. Her will left money to the Salvation Army but not the Catholic Church. I wonder why? She could have cut off each of her first cousins with a dollar and saved a lot of court costs, but her lawyer evidently wasn't aware she had any relatives. Nevertheless, her cousins thought they should share her estate. It took years to shake them off.

There's so much about Pacifica and Pacificans I don't know I can only hope I've the time to learn more before this column finally concludes. Pacifica is a work in progress. I hope that before I stop writing in this opinionated corner, Pacifica will have its new library, the Little Brown Church is repainted, reroofed, and saved for posterity, and our city has a large enough budget to meet all our needs and a few of our wants.

Paul@thereactor.netis the e mail address to use if you want to give the Reactor a piece of your mind. Check his website at www.thereactor.net.