Page 4 - Mid Valley Times 5-6-21 E-edition

Thursday, May 6, 2021 | A4 | Mid Valley TiMes Editorial & Opinions
Serving the Readers of the Reedley Exponent, Dimuba Sentinel and Sanger Herald.
A Mid Valley Publishing Newspaper
Founded March 26, 1891, in a two-story building on the corner of 11th and F streets, by A.S. Jones
Fred Hall — Publisher
In my OPINION A drastic change over the
years to 'Fourth Estate'
There once was a time when I took
great pride in being identified as a
member of the Fourth Estate. For any-
one who might be hearing the term for
the first time, everyone looked to the
press and general news media in gen-
eral as a virtual fourth branch of the
government. There seems to be an ex-
plicit capacity of advocacy and an im-
plicit ability to frame political issues.
It is obvious that, while not a true branch of government, media yields significant amounts of social influence.
We were expected to be the truth detector; an inde- pendent thinking group which would shine a little light into the darkest corners and misdeeds of those who oc- cupied the executive, legislative and judicial branches. That day of dedicated ink-stained wretches has now be- come the stuff of history.
They've been replaced by spoiled, ill-trained, ethi- cally-challenged reporters and television anchors who carelessly report their own manufactured set of facts to support their agenda.
Sadly, everything is so biased as to create discus- sion of news broadcasts and interviews as campaign contributions. Conservatives are subjected to extreme amounts of criticism. Destructive riots, driven by inane political positions, are defined by reporters as peaceful demonstrations. Even during this time of a major in- crease in crime, most mainstream media seem to pour fuel on the cause of those who want to rid us of all police protection. All of that is occurring while the same media wants to disarm all Americans, leaving them defense- less.
The newly-elected president who, on the first day in office, created a crisis all along our southern border and took away our energy independence with the swipe of a pen, has been compared to Franklin Roosevelt by at least one television talking head. That makes it obvious that making $10 to $12 million a year is no guarantee that one is possessed of common sense!
There has to be good news of some sort in this tangled mess for all of us. It would appear that the political pen- dulum has swung about as far in its arc as possible. We believe that the sudden acceleration of this hard lurch to the left since last fall is about to see its demise by the stupid activities of “wokeism” and the cancel culture.
Their overreach and attempt to inject this nonsense into the nation's classrooms has managed to turn aver- age, hard-working Americans against positions that or- dinarily would be laughable. Bad news is, although it may be beginning, nothing substantive can really happen sooner that a couple of years when we expect Republi- cans will take over Congress. In the meantime, we fear that their will be some pain for taxpayers and business owners.
No one, including this government, can spend $6,000,000,000,000 (six trillion dollars) without causing real economic uncertainty for those homeowners, tax- payersandbusinessowners. AlthoughtheBidenadmin- istration seems to think it comes from a bottomless well, money is generally considered to be finite and inflation rears its ugly head.
The salary gains under the Trump administration will be wiped out by a shrinking dollar and increasing prices of consumable goods. New homes will become even more expensive and capital for growth and expan- sion will become harder to borrow and ever more costly.
If one attempts to shrug off the effects of inflation, one only need remember the early 1980s when home mortgages hovered around 20 percent. It seems that electric cars, charging stations and solar panels are a poor trade-off. We'll pay dearly for today's stimulus checks!
Reedley council comes to a tough decision privatizing trash services
Jon Earnest — Reedley Editor Dick Sheppard — Editor Emeritus
Fred Hall
In the end, all five council members voted to approve the four resolutions which ended the city services, agreed to a contract with Mid Valley, and negotiated deals to sell excess equipment and also pay off an equipment loan to allow for the sale of the equipment. Let's hope for a hap- py ending to this painful chapter – one where all affected employ- ees have a similar job to their longtime duties, and that the city has much-needed financial relief from state mandates that can be passed on to residents.
•••
I want to offer congratula-
tions to Amy Wu, a former Mid Valley Publishing employee who served a stint as editor of our former weekly print publi- cation, The Parlier Post. Amy now lives on the East Coast, and recently released a new book she wrote called "From Farms to Incubators." The book is about inspiring female entre- preneurs revolutionizing the agriculture industry through innovation and technology.
You can order her book through Amazon.com, Barne- sandNoble.com, IndiBound.org and wherever books are sold. Wu also has been named one of Food Tank's "15 Inspiring Wom- en Leading the AgTech Sector" Well done, Amy!
Jon Earnest is news-sports editor for The Times.
The last two Reedley City Council meetings are perfect examples of the fact that it's no picnic to be involved in govern- ment and leadership — be it a city, region, state or nation.
Reedley's five city repre- sentatives voted on April 27 to dismantle the city's solid waste and trash disposal services while going into a contract with Mid Valley Disposal, LLC to provide private trash pick- up and handling of the city's organics waste and recycling. It's an action brought about by the state of California's Senate Bill 1383, signed in 2016 and mandating that cities need to implement an organic waste recycling program to divert or- ganic waste (food waste, green waste, landscape and pruning) generated by businesses.
The city's main incentive for privatizing came from the Summer/Fall 2021 mandate that will eliminate exemptions for cities that have not reduced by 50 percent the level of disposal involving organic materials.
City officials said that Reed- ley would eventually be sub- jected to fines of up to $10,000 per day for non-compliance.
Of course, it meant the elimination of the city servic- es which meant that 10 present employees were having their positions eliminated. But the City Council was adamant that any city agreement with a pri- vate company had a primary provision that all affected em- ployees would be offered their jobs with the company, in this case Mid Valley Disposal. The Kingsburg-based company serves five other cities in the Central Valley, has a recycling facility in Fresno and an organ-
ic food waste processing plant in Kerman.
Francisco Sandoval, who spoke for his fellow solid waste employees during public com- ment on April 27, said that he and his fellow workers "earned our stripes" despite being short- staffed and pressed to pick up extra hours. He said he and his fellow employees never wanted to get privatized, and always were willing to handle the extra work — including organics — to avoid that city action.
"This isn't impossible, we've dealt with the impossible," he said. "We got the job done. If prices go up a little bit, why not look at it as investing in your community and keeping the service you have here."
Joseph Kalpakoff, president and owner of Mid Valley, later spoke during public comment and told employees of the com- pany's pledge to them. "'I've heard only great things about you guys," he told the employ- ees. "If this goes through, we're excited to have you on our team. You're part of our family. We need drivers like you. You all have a job with us."
Nicole Zieba, city manager, said she stood firmly behind the process to privatize de- spite the misgivings from af- fected employees and other contract bidders who felt the process was rushed and not properly vetted. Speaking via video, Mayor Mary Fast said she sympathized with employ- ees as she herself had a com- pany she worked many years for close its doors and put her out of work.
Matt Tuttle, Reedley's new- est council member, said he studied the effects of SB1383
when he began his tern, and as the vote neared he contacted representatives in cities with Mid Valley Dis- posal services. All gave posi- tive feedback.
Jon Earnest
Letters from readers
But, as always, that's only one man's opinion.
A feel-good case of generosity
I have a wonderful little story to share. On Tuesday and Saturday mornings, I walk around town with a sign telling people the Reedley Museum is open. I also lest people know the exact hours (9 a.m. to noon), where it is (under the water tower on 10th Street), and that
admission is $1 and kids are ad- mitted for free.
On April 24, a man said "take this for the museum," and gave me a dollar. I said "thank you, you are kind." Twenty minutes later, after my usual "speech," another man got out his wal- let and gave me $20 to donate to the museum. I was almost speechless — very unusual if you know me. Later, when I
told people at the Eagles Lodge about the gifts, I was given $9 to donate.
There you have it. Thirty dollars in donations from won- derful people in one day. I was smiling all day (and still am).
I believe it is special to share terrific memories.
Vicky Anderson Reedley
Letters Policy
MID VALLEY TIMES invites letters from the public on any topic of local relevance. We reserve the right to edit letters for clarity or brevity, and we reserve the right to NOT publish them if they could be deemed libelous or profane. Letters should
be 350 words or less, and bear the author's name, address, and phone number. Letters can be mailed, emailed, submitted via our website, or personally delivered to: Editor, Reedley Exponent, 1130 G St, Reedley CA 93654.
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QUOTE
“A true friend is the greatest of all blessings, and that which we take the least care of all to acquire.”
— Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680)