Politics & Government
The World The Way I See It
A commentary on Dana Point residents, Dan and Assemblywoman Diane Harkey's company, Point Center Financial.
(Editor's Note: Thanks to reader Kurt Sipolski of Palm Desert for this contribution).
When I was a little boy bedridden from polio, my parents did everything they could to lift my spirits while other little boys were outside playing.
They flashed on the idea of foreign coin collecting. My stepfather gathered his European coins from WWII. My grandfather who was a Colonel in WWI sent his. Relatives and neighbors gave me theirs, scavenged from some corner of some drawer.
Soon I had rubles from Russia, a coin from Zanzibar (Where was that? I searched my globe,) and paper pesos from Japan (Japan had pesos?) Green and red enameled coins from China had square holes. A hundred were catalogued and researched.
It was a hobby that became my life. Many years later and free from the constrictions of leg braces I set out to see the world from whence those coins came. I collected other things along the route. A pale white bowl from the Sung dynasty, a blue one from the Ming dynasty. An old icon from Kiev. A few things from my years in Australia. A carved whale tooth from Alaska.
The coins and everything else is sold now, or for sale as I try to live with my monies lost with Point Center Financial. The much-delayed trial is April 9.
As politicians banter about less regulation needed in business I blanche at the devastating prospects of just such a move.
Recently I heard Diana Henriques, author of "The Wizard of Lies: Bernie Madoff and the Death of Trust" speak in Rancho Mirage.
She, also bemoaned the fact that there is such talk, and warned of many more Ponzi schemes out there since savings account interest is so low. "Even a 2% return from a shady firm will seem attractive," she warned.
Fortunately, a bill by Bob Blumenfield, D-Van Nuys protects elderly people during financial abuse trials. AB1293 gives courtsthe ability to seize and freeze a defendant's assets in cases where $100,000 or more is suspected of being stolen or embezzled from an elderly person's property.
It's too bad a law like that is even a necessity.
As I am embroiled in litigation and delays and costly maneuvers for the plaintiffs (the defendants have all the money) I wonder why there is talk of colonizing the moon when there are so many problems right here on our earth.
The earth I was so fortunate to have seen while I could.
Sipolski is a Palm Desert writer and the author of "Too Early for Flowers: The Story of a Polio Mother" and can be reached at CanMan619@aol.com
