Bill Morem

Some columns take longer to gestate than others. This one, for example, had its genesis about a year ago when I first talked with Lt. Col. Nicole Balliet while she was the garrison commander of Contingency Base Adder in Iraq.

Without question we’ve had a cold winter so far, and it’s in that light that I can’t help but wonder and worry about those who are going without in our community — homeless mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters and children. The down-and-outs, the mentally ill, the foreclosed upon whose defense against the elements may only be a bridge over their heads or brush along our creeks.

In the interest of sharing something that I ran across while looking for something else, I found a speech that President Harry Truman delivered on Nov. 3, 1949, in St. Paul, Minn.

Norman’s a squirt of a pooch. Long of body and standing no taller than shin-high, his genetics may include dachshund, terrier and Chihuahua.

A little over a year ago, I ran into a woman whom I hadn’t seen since high school. The circumstances weren’t ideal. She had dropped by The Trib to talk about an obituary for her father — the late, great Coach Phil Prijatel, a coaching/sports icon at San Luis Obispo High for 34 years who had recently died at the age of 90.

The last time I diagrammed the Morem household animal menagerie, Buster, the 13-year-old lemon beagle, had died and The Lovely Sharita and I had concerns that our 13-year-old pug, Bailey, was going to die of a broken heart with the passing of her lifelong boy-toy.

As a New Year’s resolution, I’d like to be more like how my dog thinks I am. Of course that bar is so incredibly high, I can’t imagine making the effort. Therefore, as odd as it sounds, a more reasonable resolution would call for being more like Betty Branch.

Those of you who have followed this space with any regularity know there are a couple of topics that I revisit from time to time. One of those is cancer — specifically pediatric neuroblastoma.

It’s becoming such a common occurrence that we could leave a standing headline in place here: “Another employee(s) assaulted at Atascadero State Hospital.”

To say Lionel Johnston is a supporter of planting native oaks on the Central Coast would be an understatement. Devotee? Maybe. Fanatic? Warmer. Zealot? Indeed.