"The Searchers"…..or "The OC"?

Bureaucrats are a lonely bunch. They spend endless days in study sessions, dealing
with irate citizens, lobbyists and elected egos “gone wild”! It is a terrible job
for longevity…if you really wanted to get anything done! Even if you come up
with a great idea…it takes months, years and sometimes decades to reach anything
called fruition. Today, with the advent of the internet….the processes would seem
to be easily accelerated. But that is just what it is: Perception! The realities
are sadly similar to the 1960’s. “Is the process open to the public?”, “Will the
developers and moneyed people buy off?”, “Can we get the public to vote for some
stupid boondoggle….that will take 20 years to get started and ensure that the
bureaucrats retire with a higher pay grade?”. An ugly process to be sure! Nothing
straight-forward, nothing obvious, nothing efficient, nothing that doesn’t cost
an arm and a leg to accomplish – Welcome to Government!

So, when these little baby policy issues pop up, you have to kind of “feel their
pain!” Like, let’s just change the name of our County! Let’s make it “Apple
Butter County”…rather than Orange County for example! Hey, maybe Smuckers or
one of those big jam and jelly companies will pay for another Stadium in our
county, if all we have to do is just: “Change the name!” The scary part of this
process is….that they may not even have to ask for a vote of the people to get
that done! These guys can retire in 15 years and say: “Hey, we changed the name
of Orange County to “Apple Butter County” way back in 2008! All it took was a
quick vote of five Supervisors who were just following the suggestion of perhaps
an array of County professional bureaucrats! The Supervisors can claim that it
wasn’t even “their idea”, but once brought to them – “What could they do?”

Well, fast forward to John Wayne Airport, Orange County Airport, Santa Ana Airport, Tom Reilly Terminal and the fact that the true name should have been: Eddie Martin Airport! People forget sometimes the roots…of things….like the fact that in the 1950’s Eddie Martin had to rent out a runway on Sundays to Drag Racers..just to make
ends meet! Hey, Test Pilot Paul Mantz died in a homemade plane built for “Flight of the Phoenix” with James Stewart. Orange County Airport was designated such..because it was surrounded by Orange Trees…if you can believe it. The FAA(Federal Aviation Administration) was pretty flexible about names in those days. There was even a Tustin Blimp Hanger Base….now a shopping center called “The District”. Odd name for those of us that thought they should have called it “The Blimp Hangers”! Rich people and electeds all around the county have spent years erecting pieces of metal and cement which adds their names and tells people: “I was there way back then – and we did that!” A little too self aggrandizing for the average person to relate to! But those bureaucrats know how to “pander to the electeds” and get them all excited. It starts with basic “Citizen Proclamations”…and goes downhill from there!

So, what do they want to call our beloved John Wayne Airport…that should have
been Eddie Martin Airport? Oh, “The OC”? Aren’t we then supposed to have some health
drink called “The OC” first? Something that is a combo or Red Bull and Orange
Juice? Aren’t we supposed to have a variety of T-Shirts that say: “I’d rather be in
the OC!” (They already have those in the SNA Gift Shop!) before we run out in the heat of the day and start changing major FAA transportation designations? Who knows? But to now take away the John Wayne Statue…which was our first clue….and now to completely blot the name of John Wayne from the Orange County lexicon…..is sort of unseemly! The concept is that “John Wayne Aiport” is yesterday’s news! We need a Mischa Barton, or an Lindsay Lohan or Paris Hilton Airport…..more up to date get it? Actually, we think the expansion should be tied to that of Christina Aguilera instead. Much more fitting…with all the additions of parking and added gates and
Customs area…ya think?

It is nice that John Wayne’s relatives…(Ethan in particular!) have stepped up to
the plate and are letting people know: “This is wrong!” We agree: totally! We
think Pilar, Patrick, Aissa, Marisa, Michael, Toni and Melinda should all let people know what they think! We also believe we need to give credit to those Supervisors and non-elected bureaucrats that want to demean John Wayne’s memory..let them step up and be counted, if they dare!!!!

Some things are just best left alone – and John Wayne Airport is one them!


About Ron & Anna Winship

Independent News Producers/Writers and Directors for Parker-Longbow Productions. Independent Programming which includes a broad variety of Political, Entertainment and Professional Personalities. Cutting Edge - a talk show...is the flagship of over 30 URL websites developed or under development. The Winships have been blogging for the Orange Juice since back when nickels had buffalos on them, and men wore onions attached to their belts, because it was the fashion back then.