9/8/07
Do you remembers where you were when you learned Senator Paul Wellstone had died?  I do.  I was on my way to a protest at Camp Pendleton.    We were not protesting the military.  We were protesting on behalf of the military.  Most involved in the protest were opposed to the war in Iraq, but the protest was not about the Iraq War. 

In 2002, Tom Calabrese, a military base housing inspector, found proof of mold, rats and other serious conditions that were making military families sick at Camp Pendleton.  He reported this to Congressman Darrell Issa and told a TV audience .  For this, he was placed on administrative leave and later fired for blowing the whistle on the dangerous housing situation that was harming servicemen and their families. There was mold, dry rot, fungus, rats,  and worse.   Children were sick with lethal diseases caused by the unhealthy conditions.  Mushrooms were growing in shower stalls and the children were afraid of the large rats. 

Political science professor and veteran Mike Byron and his wife Ramona (a veteran) also inspected the housing and got photographic evidence of the extreme conditions.  Despite being threatened, the Byrons and the families continued to speak out.  Issa claimed everything was fine and there were no mold or rats.  Mike put the pictures up on his website.

Mike went further than just reporting on the situation.  Every Friday, he held protests outside Camp Pendleton on behalf of the servicemen and their families, who were prevented from speaking out further on their own behalf.  As the servicemen and their families would drive by, they would honk at Mike, Ramona and the growing crowds supporting the rights of these families to live in decent housing.   Mike attempted to convince Representatives from the Orange County area to allow the families to move to the vacant housing at the former El Toro Marine Base, located about 20 minutes from the northern end of Pendleton.

The day Wellstone died, Mike and Ramona comforted the crowd that came to the protest.  Many of the liberals in the crowd had been expecting Wellstone to run for President in 2004 and were in a state of shock, disbelief and sadness.

In addition to striving to get the military families into better housing, Mike worked to bring the troops back home from a war that was based upon lies.  Within the Democratic Party, he rallied support for an end to the war and an end to the unconstitutional actions of the Bush Administration.  

Mike, a very popular instructor who believes that knowledge is power,  brought Vincent Bugliosi to North San Diego County in 2001 to promote Bugliosi's book, None Dare Call It Treason, a book proclaiming the decision in Bush v. Gore to be an act of treason. Mike put together events with other great speakers, such as Greg Palast (The Best Democracy Money Can Buy), who educated the public on what happened in Florida in 2000.

In 2002, when the Democratic candidate for Congress for the 49th District dropped out of the race, Mike Byron stepped in to challenge Issa.  Despite being a write-in, he received a great deal of popular support and was encouraged to run, again, in 2004.  In 2003,  I was one of thousands in the audience at a Dennis Kucinich event in San Diego.  Prior to the time Kucinich spoke, the announcer listed the names of people in the audience.  When Mike Byron's name was mentioned, the entire audience stood and applauded.  In 2004, Mike was on the ballot and got well over than 60,000 votes, a large percentage of which came from servicemen and their families. 

In 2006, the anti-Republican, anti-war fervor brought Issa's totals down to barely over 70,000 votes.   Supporters urged Mike to run again, confident that he would get tens of thousands of additional votes.  Mike chose not to run.  He was unhappy that the Democratic Party had deserted its roots and that members of Congress (except for a few like Kucinich) were siding with the corporations instead of with people.

With Mike stepping aside, Jeeni Crisenczo ran unopposed.  She had had a rocky personal and business history and had claimed to have been revitalized by past-life regression, a therapy that is popular with with some reincarnationists.  She came across as rigidly out of touch, something that did not sit well with the voters, particularly with the military voters.  PDA and a number of Democratic groups tried to boost her campaign in an effort to defeat Issa.  In the end, she got less than two-thirds the votes Mike received.  Issa was very unpopular.  His totals fell, but he still creamed Criscenzo.

Mike's successes aren't limited to politics and college teaching. He is the author of a very successful book, Infinity's Rainbow.  This book educates readers on a major energy and environmental crises that threatens the very existence of humanity.  The book has been getting rave reviews and is very popular with the scientific community.

In 2007, with another election approaching, opponents of Darrell Issa are looking into the possibility of a "Draft Mike Byron" campaign.  Mike has expressed no interest in running.  However, supporters are still hopeful he might change his mind.  Aside from his commitment to the people and to his students, Mike has an exemplary personal life.  He and Ramona are a model couple and Ramona,herself, is brilliant and successful.  Together, they make a great pair.  If Mike won't run, some are suggesting Ramona, who worked side by side with Mike to assist the military families at Pendleton, challenge Issa for the 49th Congressional seat. 

Mike Byron is the kind of citizen who inspires students, voters and the American public to go out of their way to help others.  To the people of Southern California, he is a hero.

The above is the first in a series of articles about local heroes.  Check back for more articles on other heroes who are making a difference.

Copyright © 2007 by Alex H.  and creativeyouth.net. All rights reserved.

This material is NOT in the Public Domain and all rights and privileges are reserved. All content of this page is under the copyright of the respective author and/or CreativeYouth.net .  It may only be copied or used on any website, newsgroups, or anything having to do with the Internet with the expressed written consent of respective author and/or management of creativeyouth.net.  Any and all reproduction of this work MUST contain proper accreditation to both author and this web site. This work is used by permission. All fact-checking for accuracy is the personal responsibility of the author and NOT of creativeyouth.net  Creativeyouth.net  puts up the articles as written.