What do you know? It’s been 35 years since I started writing this column

Temecula, Murrieta, Menifee, Wildomar and Canyon Lake were not incorporated. High schools were few. There were only about 75,000 people living in southwest Riverside County.

And I started writing a column for this newspaper 35 years ago.

While it might appear I’m announcing the end of it, not yet.

Instead, I’m marking an anniversary I couldn’t have ever imagined. I consider it my greatest professional achievement. My goal when I started was to last five years. Now I’ve done that, times seven.

The first one was about the number of pizza places in Temecula that seemingly opened by the week at a time when there was new construction on every corner, local jobs were few, and all these new commuters needed something fast and easy to eat.

I wrote a lot about the first Temecula City Council and the loquacious Karel Lindemans, who said the most outlandish things — often in the name of having a good time — while highbrows cringed. In folksy Murrieta, backers of cityhood raised money with potlucks and the first city council there included Dave Haas and his rattlesnake hats. Those were the days. Three of the first five council members had public safety jobs and thus the town formed its own police department, totally contrarian.

Today’s city councils are more serious, as befits maturing communities.

The construction is steady, not frantic. Cities also include Menifee, Wildomar and Canyon Lake, not just Lake Elsinore and Perris that have been cities for seemingly forever. Most local communities also have multiple high schools, not just one or none.

Finally, the population today is about a half-million — some seven times what it was in 1989.

Restaurants are much more ethnic and so are the people and schools. Hurray!

Things are different and my column has reflected that.

Yet despite all the change, there are constants.

The schools are considered good and young families still flock here. Local school board politics continue to be as fascinating as they’ve always been. Crime rates are low, with local cities often bragging that they’re among the safest in the state. And, while the open spaces aren’t what they were, we’re still not L.A., San Diego or Orange County in congestion. Not that Temecula isn’t trying.

It was my dream as a teenager to write a newspaper column. In elementary school, I wanted to be a pro athlete, but by high school that wasn’t happening. So writing a column instead was something realistic.

I did high school newspaper and majored in journalism in college. I wrote for newspapers in Thousand Oaks, Porterville and Palm Springs. In the latter two towns, I wrote a couple columns because I had the freedom.

I started writing two columns a week for The Press Enterprise in September 1989. Eventually, I added a third each week about Lake Elsinore.

I gave all that up in 1998, when I became a Murrieta elementary school teacher. People said I was crazy. Maybe true, but I’ve always chased dreams. The newspaper allowed me to continue as a freelancer, so I had the best of both worlds.

I long ago lost track of how many columns I’ve done, but I’m well past 2,000. I also took my daughter Julia when she was in elementary school on some assignments because she was interested. Today, she is a tech journalist in San Francisco. My son David is an accountant and a writer, publishing a novel, “Tinfoil Sunrise.” My wife Joanne also was a reporter for this newspaper, so our kids were destined — or cursed if you prefer — to write.

I’ve written two books. One is the “greatest hits” of my columns, “From Two Lanes to the Fast Lane.” The other is a memoir about my teaching career, “I’m Not Your Friend, I’m Your Teacher.”

All of this and more was made possible by what you’re reading and the people who continue to do so. So thanks, readers.

When I’m asked when this thing will end, I answer that I write every one as if it’s my last.

This isn’t that.

Reach Carl Love at carllove4@yahoo.com.

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