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ENLARGE
In the Aug. 22 News-Review, a front page story detailed the police pursuit of a stolen car which ended in a barn on Jim and Bonnie Pynch's ranch. Jim and Bonnie were characterized in broadcast news that day as “an elderly Dixonville couple.” Below that story was another decrying the looming demise or massive reworking of Social Security. The juxtaposition of those two stories is ironic because Jim and Bonnie had just been talking about the second topic when the subject of the first burst on the scene.
They were enjoying a quiet day on the ranch. Jim — a living testament to the fact that you don't have to be old to be busted up but you can be both — was considering using his good leg and remaining good eye to take a hike, possibly as far as the bathroom.
Bonnie was trying to pick up her bracelet with the charms for their kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids. It weighs 13 pounds and had fallen off the coffee table. Her back's been bothering her and stooping over is no longer a task to be entered into without a back-up strategy (such as napping on the floor.) They were talking about how they might tackle their respective job searches if and when the Social Security minimum retirement age gets upped to 72, 78, whatever's in the offing.
Jim, as the patriarch of the family, favors getting a job providing him with a lifeguard tower mounted on a Hover-Round so he can ambulate freely and shout orders from a great height. Bonnie favors having babies brought to her by a team of assistants so she can dote on and spoil them in proper grandmotherly fashion. Given the cutthroat competition among the 20-, 30-, 40-, 50- and 60-somethings, neither sees their job prospects as particularly favorable. So you can imagine their surprise when the clear answer to their (and society's) dilemma hove into view at great velocity upper left to lower right across their living room picture window.
The car left the pavement across the creek and sped down the gravel driveway, drifting into a broad-slide at the bottom that somehow resulted in a swerve onto the bridge dead center. The driver gunned it across the bridge and raced past the house toward the barn, disappearing inside. Somehow, the perps' attempt at surreptitiousness failed (possibly because of the cloud of dust roiling from the pavement to the barn marking their passage.)
As testament to Jim's job readiness in any situation (potential employers take note), he was instantly on his feet and headed across the floor toward the door. Bonnie says he would have been outside in plenty of time to handle the whole situation if the police hadn't cornered the desperadoes, arrested them, impounded the car, completed their paperwork, transported the offenders, straightened up the scene and left with all six squad cars first. As a matter of fact, his doctors (to a woman) all agreed that given favorable long-term weather conditions, he could have easily made it to the barn before the perps had disassembled the stolen car and buried the parts.
But the larger significance of the incident is what encourages Jim and Bonnie. Maybe these young people represent not the hopelessness of jobless youth failing to shoulder their share of the social burden, but instead, activists stimulating the service sector economy. Consider the income generated by just this incident for local law enforcement alone! And that doesn't even count the trickle-down to jail and prison personnel, food services, laundry workers, lawyers, social services, parole and probation, even indirectly to local retail, lodging, restaurants. Every dollar generated will reverberate throughout the local economy. Given such entrepreneurial acumen and fearlessness within an economic sector other than one involving actual productivity, perhaps all bodes well for the well-being of the system. “Elderly” citizens like Jim and Bonnie might reasonably look forward to retirements free from worry, secure in the knowledge that the system is still capable of sustaining them in their reclining years without forcing them back into the job market.
By the way, with regard to the mug shots printed in the paper along with the article, one might wonder what the girl has to smile about after such an incident. I can attest that, after a long personal association with the Pynch family and attendance at many a ranch hoe-down, I know that Jim and Bonnie have gracious, solicitous natures that have long made every visitor to the ranch feel special, singled out, and doggone it, just real good about herself. The mug shot pretty much epitomizes how people feel about the Pynch Ranch experience in general. It's nigh impossible for a girl to visit and not leave smiling!
Steve Gorthy of Roseburg is a former carpenter who worked with and for Jim Pynch. He taught construction at Roseburg High School and was vice principal before retiring in 2006. He now spends his days tinkering and urging those in the whippersnapper populace to support Social Security cheerfully and generously. He can be reached at gorthy57@hotmail.com.
They were enjoying a quiet day on the ranch. Jim — a living testament to the fact that you don't have to be old to be busted up but you can be both — was considering using his good leg and remaining good eye to take a hike, possibly as far as the bathroom.
Bonnie was trying to pick up her bracelet with the charms for their kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids. It weighs 13 pounds and had fallen off the coffee table. Her back's been bothering her and stooping over is no longer a task to be entered into without a back-up strategy (such as napping on the floor.) They were talking about how they might tackle their respective job searches if and when the Social Security minimum retirement age gets upped to 72, 78, whatever's in the offing.
Jim, as the patriarch of the family, favors getting a job providing him with a lifeguard tower mounted on a Hover-Round so he can ambulate freely and shout orders from a great height. Bonnie favors having babies brought to her by a team of assistants so she can dote on and spoil them in proper grandmotherly fashion. Given the cutthroat competition among the 20-, 30-, 40-, 50- and 60-somethings, neither sees their job prospects as particularly favorable. So you can imagine their surprise when the clear answer to their (and society's) dilemma hove into view at great velocity upper left to lower right across their living room picture window.
The car left the pavement across the creek and sped down the gravel driveway, drifting into a broad-slide at the bottom that somehow resulted in a swerve onto the bridge dead center. The driver gunned it across the bridge and raced past the house toward the barn, disappearing inside. Somehow, the perps' attempt at surreptitiousness failed (possibly because of the cloud of dust roiling from the pavement to the barn marking their passage.)
As testament to Jim's job readiness in any situation (potential employers take note), he was instantly on his feet and headed across the floor toward the door. Bonnie says he would have been outside in plenty of time to handle the whole situation if the police hadn't cornered the desperadoes, arrested them, impounded the car, completed their paperwork, transported the offenders, straightened up the scene and left with all six squad cars first. As a matter of fact, his doctors (to a woman) all agreed that given favorable long-term weather conditions, he could have easily made it to the barn before the perps had disassembled the stolen car and buried the parts.
But the larger significance of the incident is what encourages Jim and Bonnie. Maybe these young people represent not the hopelessness of jobless youth failing to shoulder their share of the social burden, but instead, activists stimulating the service sector economy. Consider the income generated by just this incident for local law enforcement alone! And that doesn't even count the trickle-down to jail and prison personnel, food services, laundry workers, lawyers, social services, parole and probation, even indirectly to local retail, lodging, restaurants. Every dollar generated will reverberate throughout the local economy. Given such entrepreneurial acumen and fearlessness within an economic sector other than one involving actual productivity, perhaps all bodes well for the well-being of the system. “Elderly” citizens like Jim and Bonnie might reasonably look forward to retirements free from worry, secure in the knowledge that the system is still capable of sustaining them in their reclining years without forcing them back into the job market.
By the way, with regard to the mug shots printed in the paper along with the article, one might wonder what the girl has to smile about after such an incident. I can attest that, after a long personal association with the Pynch family and attendance at many a ranch hoe-down, I know that Jim and Bonnie have gracious, solicitous natures that have long made every visitor to the ranch feel special, singled out, and doggone it, just real good about herself. The mug shot pretty much epitomizes how people feel about the Pynch Ranch experience in general. It's nigh impossible for a girl to visit and not leave smiling!
Steve Gorthy of Roseburg is a former carpenter who worked with and for Jim Pynch. He taught construction at Roseburg High School and was vice principal before retiring in 2006. He now spends his days tinkering and urging those in the whippersnapper populace to support Social Security cheerfully and generously. He can be reached at gorthy57@hotmail.com.
