Page 3 - Sanger Herald 4-19-18 E-edition

SANGER HERALD 3A THURSDAY, APRIL 19, 2018 EDITORIAL & OPINION
Random thoughts If you can't get it right the first time you probably shouldn't take up sky diving ...
By Dick Sheppard
Last week the Herald had a story about the city council, acting as the Successor Agency
to the Sanger
Redevelopment Agency,
approving the sale of a five
acre parcel in the Sanger
Kings River Technology Park to the Sanger Unified School District (SUSD).
Soon after the paper was published we heard from a member of the Oversight Board to the Successor Agency.
It's probably a good idea, before telling you about the concern of the oversight board member, to let you know what a "successor agency" and an "oversight board" are.
They both were created by the state legis- lature.
When redevelopment agencies were dis- solved a few years back, "successor agencies" were created - in Sanger's case, that's the city council. It'spurposeis"towinddownthefor- mer redevelopment agency’s operations." Each successor agency has an oversight board. The oversight board was created to oversee the successor agency. Oversight members are appointed by various govern- mental entities.
The local oversight board hasn't had a meeting in months. The most recent agenda I could find on the city's website was, in fact, from last year.
So, with that background, maybe you'll understand why the oversight board mem- ber was curious to know when the successor agency - the city council - got approval from
the oversight board to sell that land.
I shared what I knew - only what I saw and
heard at the city council meeting when the sale was approved by the council, acting as the successor agency.
"I know that we [the oversight board] were not presented with a proposal of sale to SUSD," the oversight board member said.
Is this beginning to sound like deja vu all over again?
That "we were not presented with a pro- posal," was pretty much the response of Jeanne Adams who was chairperson of the Measure S Citizens Oversight Committee when the council approved thousands of dol- lars of Measure S expenditures that had not been vetted by the oversight committee.
Just goes to show once again that appar- ently the only thing this administration and council learn from history, is that they learn nothing from history.
Stay tuned - there may be another council do-over on an upcoming agenda.
•••
A "do-over," according to the Oxford
English Dictionary is "A chance of doing something for a second or further time,
after an unsuccessful or unsatisfactory first attempt." Thecouncil'sdo-overatitsApril5 meeting was to fix something it screwed up back in December.
I don't remember previous administrations and councils having do-overs.
•••
This administration/council seems to have
so much difficulty getting it right the first time, it probably wouldn't be a good idea for any of them to take up sky diving as a hobby.
•••
No, the incident that annoyed Mid Valley
publisher Fred Hall, see his column below, did not occur in Sanger. But it easily could have. For the past couple of years there have been rampant rumors of the Herald's immi- nent demise, all apparently initiated by one person and that person's all too gullible min- ions.
No, there is no truth to the rumors. Just apparently some wishful thinking on some- one's part. Reminds me of something Adlai Stevenson II said, “I offer my opponents a bargain: if they will stop telling lies about us, I will stop telling the truth about them.”
•••
So very sorry to hear of the death of Miguel Real owner Chapala's Mexican Restaurant, maybe my all time favorite res- taurant.
My condolences to the Real family.
For years after Miguel retired, when we passed each other on our morning walks, he always shared a smile and a happy greeting.
I couldn't do either of those things that early.
Great man.
•••
Just about the time I started feeling proud
of the way our downtown streets were look- ing PG&E decided it was a good time to move
in and tear up the streets and alleys to put in new gas lines.
I'd be willing to bet a six pack that PG&E will not put things back the way they found them.
Yes, I know, they can't do any harm to most of our alleys.
•••
There are a couple of great events com-
ing up at the community center - the cham- ber awards banquet tomorrow evening and the inaugural Sanger Athletic Hall of Fame enshrinement dinner on May 5.
You've seen the list of Sanger super stars to be honored at the chamber dinner.
Super coaches and players, 20 of them, will be honored at the hall of fame event.
The list includes Tom Flores, Pete Beiden, JR Boone, Huntley Dayton, Dean Nicholson, Lynette Wilke, Atomic Torosian, Brent Webber, Clare Slaughter, Brian Wallin, Lou Papac, Rene Schneider, Bill Powell, Nick Katzemayer, David Naranjo, Bill Herron, Jim Merlo, Gene Green, Herman Cooks and Bruce Barnes.
A few tickets are still available at the high school.
Comments, complaints and suggestions may be emailed to sangerherald@gmail.com or may be made by calling 875-2511.
Dick Sheppard
In my OPINION
We've been around for more than 100 years
and we're looking forward to the next 100
GUEST local commentary
Help make Sanger a healthier city
By Fred Hall
By Keith Woodcock
What is a "Healthy Sanger?"
Help answer this and otherquestionsataHealth Summit on April 25 at the Sanger Community Center, 5:30 to 8 p.m.
How do you describe the
health of a city? It is fairly easytodiagnosisthehealthofyourchild (fever, runny nose, cough, etc.). But what aboutthehealthofacitysuchasSanger? Howdoyoumeasureitandhowwouldyou “cure” it?
Thereisagrowingbodyofevidence thatthereisarelationshipbetweenhowa city is planned and built (called the built environment)andpublichealthoutcomes.
Environmental quality, I think, comes to theforefrontwhendiscussingairquality and asthma. What goes into improving airquality?Andwhatcanplanningdoto improve Sanger’s built environment related to air quality? This is but one example
of many of that relationship I mentioned between the built environment and health.
I have been working with the Public Health Department of Fresno County in
addressing these and other similar issues. Projects that have been conducted to date
include a walkability survey, a community survey of over 500 residents, a neat tool called CX3 that uses GIS, PhotoVoice and otheroutreachtools.
Where you come in: A Health Summit is scheduled for April 25, 2018 at the Sanger Community Center from 5:30 to 8 p.m. A lite meal and childcare will be available.
There is no cost!
Thesummitwillpresentourresearch
and findings to date and will ask for us to become“CooksintheKitchen”byhavingus developandrecommendactionsthattheCity of Sanger can take to improve its current and futurebuiltenvironment.
Ilookforwardtoseeingyouthere!
Oh, lastly, we will have a drawing for four $25giftcertificatestoWalMartthatwillbe awarded!
So,comeandhelpmakeSangerthe Healthiest City in the Valley
Mr. Woodcock served as Sanger's City Planner from 2014 through 2016. His interests are community outreach and building healthy cities that support healthy eating and active living. He can be contacted by email at kjw14@att.net.
Reference to a “fourth
estate” has been with
us since medieval times
although it is often viewed
as a recent phenomenon.
The original division of
society was into what could
be identified as estates or
divisions; theclergy,nobil- ityandcommoners. Withthearrivalofthe printing press, printed publications became known as the fourth estate.
Many Americans believe that news reporting had become a fourth branch of governmentbutthatisincorrect. Ourjob has always been to keep an eye on those who havebeenassignedthedutytooverseethe governanceoftheirgivenarea. Sadly,in recent years the role of a free press has been abusedandmisused. Today,ourbusinessis rampantwithpoliticalspin,oversimplifica- tion, exaggeration, dramatization and advoca- cyforpersonalagendas. Noneofthesehave any place in the “news hole” of any weekly or dailynewspaper. Idatemyselfbyusingthe term when today's youthful journalists pro- vide“content.”Istillfirmlybelieveourman- date is to report the “news” and not provide content to fill pages.
Small town newspapers, in my opinion, contribute greatly to the quality of life in American cities which are still fortunate to have a professionally edited paper in their service. Where,forsolittlecostcanoneturn to get all the school news, club news, commu- nity news, sports coverage as well as what's goingonatcityhall? It'snotjustamatter
of supporting your local paper, we feel that wearestillthemostbelievable,trustworthy, efficient, enjoyable delivery system
for news and advertising and generally one of the best buys anywhere in spite of the decreasingnumberofnewspapersinthis country.
Any loss of a local newspaper is a loss for the entire community.
That's why it was particularly distressing to me when an incident happened this past week involving a merchant - incidentally one who, to my knowledge, has never spent a dime with us but loves the free publicity which we provide - asking one my people in front of others “are you going out of busi- ness?”
The word for what afflicts such people is
SANGER HERALD(USPS 418- 340) is published weekly every Thursday for $25 per year for Fresno County residents and $29.50 per year for residents outside the county and $3150 per year for residents outside the state, non cancelable Periodicals postage paid at Sanger, CA and at additional mailing of ces
Postmaster: Send address changes to the Sanger Herald, 740 N, Sanger, CA 93657
Keith Woodcock
“schadenfreude.” Thetermappliestofolks who gain great pleasure at the difficulties or anticipated problems of others.
One can sink no lower than enjoy the mis- fortune of others.
Ournewspapershaveallbeenherefor over a century and experienced the vagaries oftheeconomy. Therehavebeensaladdays andtherehavebeendifficulttimes. Tothose who are experiencing a bout with schaden- freudeIwouldsaythatMidValleynewspa- perswillbehereforalongtime. Wehave diversified into other areas and now provide anelectroniceditionofyourfavoritepaper as well as the old reliable printed version.
Wecontinuetohavehundredsofloyal advertisers and thousands of faithful sub- scribers. Thesewonderfulpeoplearethe reason we get up and come to work every morning. They'rethereasonweworknights tocovermeetingsandsportingevents. To each and everyone of them I say “God bless you.”
To our detractors, I say get a life and broadenyourintellectsoyouhavesomething else to talk about!
Newspaper people are a breed unto their own. Theworkishard,oneisoftencursed for their reporting, hours are long and the payislow-butwelovewhatwedo. It'sas if it is in the bloodstream. Your Mid Valley newspaper intends to be here to record the history and happenings in your community foralongtimetocome. Countonusto report accurately and unbiased on the sub- jects that impact your daily life.
And, oh yes, occasionally we will offer our opinion.
That's not an opinion - that's a promise!
In addition to the Sanger Herald, Publisher Fred Hall oversees two other Mid Valley Publishing newspapers - Reedley Exponent, and Dinuba Sentinel. He can be contacted by phone at (559) 638-2244 or by email at fred@ midvalleypublishing.com.
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Fred Hall
Established 1889 • Published every Thursday 740 N Sanger, CA 93657 • (559) 875-2511
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