Lon Allan

For more than a year, a small group of Atascaderans have been meeting regularly to plan a big party for 2013: the centennial celebration of this community carved out of a Mexican land grant by Eastern publisher Edward Gardner Lewis in 1913.

The issue of whether state hospital police officers should be allowed to carry guns comes up every so often. I have addressed it a couple of times over the past 35 years as a reporter and an editor. As an editor, I opined that hospital police should carry guns just like their counterparts in the state prisons.

I always get nervous when work comes to a screeching half on some project in Atascadero. I have more than 40 years of watching things move slowly here in the Colony with which to justify my concerns.

As my wife and I were driving home from visiting children in Southern California last week, we were scooting along the Interstate 405 freeway in the carpool lane and we noticed a car ahead of us kept inching across the white line and then back. As we passed cautiously my wife looked into the car and the driver, an adult woman, was texting.

I remember seeing a brief piece of news film decades ago when James Michener returned as an old man to visit the Pacific Islands. As he stepped off the boat there were tears in his eyes. Surely the music from “South Pacific’s” Bali Ha’i must have been ringing in his ears.

I have been a member of the Atascadero Historical Society for more than 30 years. I’ve served as a director, museum docent, president and now as the society’s historian, replacing the late Marj Mackey.

After writing about the Printery and its role in the approximately $8 million of FEMA funds the city of Atascadero may have to pay back to the federal government, many people have asked me about the status of the structure.

In reading that the city of Atascadero might have to pay back close to $8 million to the federal government over some FEMA funding issues is no surprise, especially pertaining to the Printery.

While sitting through a city study session held a week ago on the proposed Eagle Ranch development, I felt sorry for those residents for whom this will be a major impact.

I never cease to be amazed at the volume of ads on television appealing to our desire to look more youthful or fit.