Now, I have always loved children. Their innocence and their brutal honesty, you just can’t help but laugh at the things that come out of their mouths.

Flash forward to my twenties, and me actually having my own children, and my heart absolutely explodes. An entirely new level of appreciation for them was uncloaked. And not just a love for my own kids, the type of love that you as an adult that transcends into an appreciation for others.

I know I am not alone in this sentiment, as we as a county have a plethora of people who make it their careers to teach, help, watch, protect and guide kids. From Child and Family Services to Lassen Family Services, to all of our educators to the volunteers at Sunday School, I am certain I am not the only one who takes stock in our littlest citizens.

In fact, I have watched hundreds of you go out of your way to nourish these little guys. From waiting patiently in line as they zoom around your feet at the fair, to buying your 12th raffle ticket for the same cord of wood for the 12th little girl that asks. I see you too Lassen County.

I see you pull along the gaggle of boys “selling lemonade” at the corner Grand Ave and North St. Happily telling them to “save” their precious concoctions for the next customer, but still providing them with the last of your change. I see your businesses setting up booths, year after year uptown, making sure you buy some unworldly amount of candy for Uptown Trick or Treat.

It’s the volunteers of PTAs, the coaches of little league, the teacher’s aides at the schools, who lord bless all that they do for our kids. It’s all of it. I simply know that I am not alone in my love for the kids in this community. And God willing, the benefit of living in such a tight community is you get to take part in watching them grow up. Even the ones that aren’t yours. …Especially the ones that aren’t yours.

We are so blessed to be able to witness that. I really don’t think any other community dotes on the children of others like ours06 does.

The local checker knows their names. The server at Mazatlán remembers their orders. The coach they had 6 years ago, now has their sibling. The interwovenness of our community which allows us a first-row seat into this miraculous journey is overwhelming to me.

So, in honor of this month, go out there and watch a softball game. Volunteer as a Casa Volunteer. Ask a teacher if you can help grade papers. Pay for the flustered mother in front of you holding her baby’s groceries. I’m certain you can find a way to help nourish and encourage this wonderful sense of community we have and help foster a child in one way or another. Because Lassen County kids are simply the best. They always have been, and they always will be. And they will always be one of the reasons I love the place we live.

A committee of Public Health and Healthcare professionals will announce the winners of the Public Health Art Contest at 3:30.

Lassen Public Health is located at 1445 Bunyan Road in Susanville.

Registration will be at 7:00 that morning followed by a shotgun start at 8:00. Organizers recommend that you preregister to secure a spot.

To preregister call or text 1.530.249.5215.

Seniors If you ordered a shirt, they are ready to be picked up in Mrs. Lepage’s Room, but not during class. There are extra shirts if you didn’t order one and want to. Please see Mrs. Schall or Mrs. Lepage.

Teen Court April Meetings will be Thursday April 7th and April 21st.

Senior Boys Would you like an opportunity to showcase your talent, receive a free ticket to prom, and win the title of Mr. LHS? If so, go signup for Mr. LHS in the library. Deadline is April 27th

Do you want to see some really cool artworks? Lassen’s most advanced seniors are having their Individual Art Shows in the display cases on the first floor of the 700 building. Dharma Jones’ ceramics and Christine Walsh’s drawings and paintings are now on display. Come by and check out how amazing their work is. Art shows will last through April 19th.

New scholarships Ask at the counseling office about new scholarship opportunities from Dr. Richard Meinert III, LCC Faculty Scholarships and Lassen Youth Soccer.

What was believed to be the tusk of a mastodon was unearthed recently by a county road crew digging in a gravel pit about two miles west of Standish. However, when scientists at the University of Californian’s department of paleontology examined the relic they found it to be the horn core of an extinct bison, “tremendously more important as scientifically” than a mastodon tusk would have been.

D. E. Savage, assistant professor of paleontology and museum curator, wrote T. W. Ogilvie, county road commission as follows: “The fossil specimen arrived today in excellent condition. To my surprise, it is not a tusk of a mammoth or mastodon at all, but the horn core of a giant-long-horned bison. The technical name of this species is Bison Latifrons, and we have reason to believe that these animals lived in California until only a few thousand years ago.

“The find is tremendously more important scientifically than a mammoth would have been, and we will certainly get up there as soon as the weather permits.

“Skeletal bones have never been found definitely associated with Bison Latifrons, and if you have a complete skeleton it would make quite an addition to the knowledge and paleontological records on these extinct beasts.

“I have enclosed a photo of a skull of a Bison Latiforms placed next to a skull of a living bison; the fossil must have been a third larger than the recent animal.”

The horn core was excavated at a depth of approximately 40 feet, Ogilvie said. It is about five or six inches in diameter.