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Contents © 2000
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.

FEBRUARY 2000 LITTLE NOTES

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"We look forward to seeing you and your family. If you have any questions please feel free to use e-mail or call me at (619)267-4108."


FROM PHIL LAWLER, EDITOR OF CATHOLIC WORLD REPORT, who lives and works in Massachusetts: "The web site for my Senate campaign against Ted Kennedy is now up and running. Once we're finished with the construction, we'll be posting new material pretty much every day. You can see it now at: www.lawler2000.org."


OUTGOING STATE ASSEMBLYMAN Steve Baldwin has endorsed La Mesa City Councilman Jay LaSuer to succeed him when voters take to the polls on March 7. Baldwin, who must vacate the seat due to term limits, says "I endorse Jay because he is the only man running for my seat who has a history of defending the principles this country was founded upon. He is a solid conservative man who is not afraid to battle the liberals."

A Kansas native, LaSuer grew up in San Diego and El Cajon. He served six years with the San Diego Police Department. Jay joined the San Diego County Sheriff's Department in 1970 and retired in 1994 as Undersheriff, second in command to the Sheriff. Jay, 59, and his wife of 37 years, Lynn, are the parents of two daughters and three grandchildren. In 1990 LaSuer ran for successful election to the La Mesa City Council. He was subsequently re-elected in 1994 and 1998 and currently serves as the Vice-Mayor of La Mesa.

LaSuer says, "I believe in pro-life, however, the only thing that can legally be accomplished at the state level is to be sure there are laws requiring parental consent. The overwhelming majority of parents I know would want to be included in a decision involving their daughter's [proposed] abortion.

To donate or assist with LaSuer's campaign, contact Friends of Jay LaSuer, 5360 Jackson Drive, Suite 208, La Mesa, CA 91942, Phone: (619) 337-6557, Fax: (619) 337-6559.


PLANNED PARENTHOOD Affiliates of California has issued its scorecard for state legislators on January 18 and three Republicans have scored a whopping 85.7 percent "Pro-Choice." The three are Marilyn Brewer of Orange County, Jim Cunneen of the Silicon Valley, and from San Diego -- Charlene Zettel. Zettel, a parishioner at St. Gabriel's in Poway in an interview published in January's News Notes, claimed, "My record has been one that is pro-life." Planned Parenthood's website (www.ppacca.org/leg/9910score.asp) shows legislators' voting record on individual bills.


MISSIONARIES OF THE FAITH, an evangelizing study group headquartered in North County, begins a monthly "Back to the Basics" adult education series at St. Francis church in Vista. The series begins January 24, with a study of the Eucharist. Subsequent topics are: February 28, the Catholic Church; March 27, Reconciliation; May 1, Mary and the Saints; June 5, Trinity/Incarnation; June 26, Salvation/Celebrate. Mass and rosary begin at 7 p.m., and the speaker at 7:45 p.m. 525 W. Vista Way, Vista. 760-945-8000 for more information.


FOX NEWS CHANNEL COMING TO SAN DIEGO. Daniel Novak of Cox Cable told a News Notes reporter in early January that Cox will add the Fox News Channel to their cable line-up "by the second quarter of the year. Fox is a 24-hour news organization recognized by its viewers as more balanced in its reporting than the major networks. A spokesman for Fox in New York claims his 3+ year-old network has a more stable prime-time viewing audience than the other 24-hour cable news networks (CNN, CNBC, and MSNBC).

Cox Cable has an estimated 510,000 subscribers in San Diego (representing 65 percent market share of all households). Assemblyman Steve Baldwin contends that Fox Cable "would be an antidote to the liberal news monopoly in San Diego" television. What made the difference in getting Fox on Cox, says radio host Roger Hedgecock, "is that consumers here are willing to fight back." Hedgecock claims that over the last year his radio audience has contacted Cox and Time-Warner to request adding Fox to their programming.


THE FOLLWING TWO MISSIVES from local Catholic evangelist Scott Maxwell: "For those that would like to have evangelizing training and to learn the basics in apologetics, we will be hosting a session on February 5th @ 7:00 p.m. at our home in Poway. If we get a huge response, we will change locations to the Church hall or something.

"We will review the previous door to door missions; relay stories, successes, and talk about future missions. We want everyone to come and give input and also to hear Jason Evert speak about going door to door and engaging in apologetics with charity in mind and then hopefully leave time for questions regarding our wonderful Catholic Church. Jason is a great source for Catholic teachings!

"For more information, email me at themaxwells@familink.com or voicemail 760-788-3166. No Charge for the training.


"GREETINGS YE FAITHFUL CATHOLICS! For our next door-to-door evangelizing mission, Msgr Gallagher of Our Lady of Grace Parish has agreed to have us evangelize in his area. Our Lady of Grace is in El Cajon. We will meet there at 9:30 a.m., Saturday February 5th! I am meeting with Msgr to find out which area he would like for us to evangelize. (Just as a side note, they offer 24 hour Eucharistic Adoration!)

"Once again we will team up in pairs and hand out Pillar of Fire, Pillar of Truth, Be Magazine and anything that Msgr. has for us to represent his parish. Same format as before: Simply asking if there are any Baptized Catholics in the household, and what can we pray for in their life. That usually opens a dialogue of some sort. Apologetics is usually not necessary, and we have never had any hostile homeowners. All that is required is a love for the Lord and some tennis shoes.

"Get your teenagers out here as well! We have had many young people join us, and they were praised for being out there with the adults--and they had a blast! And what a witness we were to our children, standing up for something we strongly believe in. What affect do you think that has on these young impressionable minds?

"Afterwards we will meet back at the Church for rosary and a recap. Total time approximately 2.5 hours. If you feel the Holy Spirit moving within you to join us, please do. Believe it or not, it has been non-threatening, enjoyable, and it has helped the evangelizers to be stronger in their faith. Not to mention we have come across lapsed Catholics that feel neglected, hurt or just very hungry. So much so that if any other denomination would have reached out to them, this Sunday they would be there instead of receiving our Lord in the Eucharist.

"Our Lord has blessed us in so many ways, this is one way to glorify His Kingdom and take part in Jubilee 2000. As we saw first-hand in our previous door-to-door missions, there are many people that enjoy to be visited. With a few of them, I feel we were able to plant seeds for bearing much fruit in the near future.

"May God enrich each and every one of your lives through your works and your faith in Him. Please pass this along to everyone you know, and don't forget those without email. If you have any questions or comments, please email me themaxwells@familink.com or call 760-788-3166.


ABOUT 70 PEOPLE rallied peacefully outside Assemblywoman Susan Davis' (D-San Diego) Hillcrest office on January 14, to urge her to vote against the so-called Death with Dignity Act, which would legalize physician-assisted suicide in California. The California Pro-Life Council, Life Resource Network and the Catholic diocesan office for Social Ministries sponsored the event. Davis was targeted because she maintains that she is undecided on the measure.

The demonstrators carried placards, singing "All we are saying is, give life a chance" and chanting "Hospice yes, homicide no" as they marched around the small strip mall where Davis' office is located and the corner of University Avenue and Tenth Street. One demonstrator stationed himself on University Avenue with a large sign stating "Hitler Loved Euthanasia."

D'Jean Becker, director of the San Diego office of the Western Service Workers Association, told the assembled crowd, "If you've got a society that thinks that it's acceptable to get rid of people who can no longer produce their weight in whatever, we have a real problem. The United States is one of the wealthiest nations in the world and no country and no population should ever be putting forward such an idea: that a life is not worth sustaining or worth living."

Rally attendee Erica Sanchez told a News Notes reporter, "We're here today, because we are worried that, if this bill would pass, life that is not considered valuable by some people would not be protected."

Assemblyman Dick Ackerman (R-Fullerton) told CNSNews.com that the euthanasia bill "comes down harsher on the handicapped than non-handicapped people; if you were not able to respond or sufficiently able to make your desires known, you would fit right into this bill and they could eliminate you. This bill covers not only people who are able to think, but also those who are in a vegetative state and unable to think. There are already sufficient ways to handle cases involving the terminally ill.

"We know that we have 41 Assembly people who say they will vote no," Becker said. "We're talking about going now and actually getting it in writing. We want to make this case very strongly, to preemptively just kill this bill....

"While Susan Davis has refused to take a position publicly on the bill (she actually removed herself from the vote wherever it was going down last year), we know that she's a classmate of [the bill's sponsor, Assemblywoman] Dion Aroner [D-Berkeley]; there's a loyalty there ... and there was a pledge by her to back Dion on this bill. Now, since that time, she's never admitted such a thing and she said that she hasn't taken a position and won't until the vote....

"Our perspective on it is that we represent the lowest-income workers in this county. We represent the elderly, the disabled, the unemployed, the people who do service work and don't have any benefits, and our membership is regularly killed by omitted medical care; they don't have access to care. So treatable illnesses [are] left untreated; they end up in emergency rooms past a position of being able to be cured, and what this bill does is actually make it public policy, and it funds the ability of HMOs to get rid of unprofitable patients....

"They just prosecuted a doctor and a pharmacist in Anderson [Northern California] under the idea that this doctor was prescribing painkillers and what they said was [that the prescription was] exorbitant, but in fact wasn't, given the illness he was treating...."

Following the rally Kent Peters from the diocese delivered 15,000 petitions opposing the euthanasia measure to Davis' office. Prior to doing so he told rally participants that he would request that Davis' office inform petition signers of her response within one week of receiving the petitions.

Aroner introduced the bill in 1999 and, despite her heavy-handed manipulations to ensure its passage in the assembly appropriations committee (of which Davis is a member), she decided to defer floor debate on it until 2000, due to insufficient support in the full Assembly. The full assembly must vote on it by January 31.

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