Page 4 - Mid Valley Times 9-19-19 E-edition

Thursday, September 19, 2019 | 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 Democrats' 'free' list
rivals old Sears catalog
In an attempt to present perspec- tive for the thinking in this column, you should know that it is being writ- ten the morning following the most recent Democratic Party debate, which was telecast by ABC and held in Houston, Texas.
Random thoughts about flying bugs, dead trees and conspiracies
Rick Curiel — Dinuba Editor Jon Earnest — Reedley Editor Dick Sheppard — Sanger Editor
But, as always, that's only one man's opinion.
Fred Hall
By Dick Sheppard
That breeze over the past few days is not the first hint of fall, which doesn't officially begin until next Monday. It's being stirred up by Sanger conspiracy theorists who are all atwitter over the resigna- tion of Sanger's finance direc- tor Gary Watahira.
In case you have a short memory or live in Reedley or Dinuba where city hall is, well, boring, Watahira, who had nev- er been a finance director be- fore, was brought in to clean up the mess made by city manager Tim Chapa's first finance direc- tor who bollixed up the books so badly they couldn't even be audited. Since then Watahira, city hall insiders say, has been working about 12-18 hours a day. A lot of those hours have undoubtedly been devoted to learning his job and the rest probably trying to clean up controversial Measure S public safety tax issues that brought the most recent of four grand juries to town.
Conspiracy theorists are marveling at the coincidence of Watahira's resignation com- ing just weeks before a long awaited audit examination of Measure S spending is due to be presented to the city council.
No one I know of is holding Watahira responsible for any- thing except being a good sol- dier and falling on his sword more than once for his boss.
I wish Watahira well wher- ever he goes. I hope he winds up in someplace as normal and boring as Reedley or Dinuba. He deserves it.
I also wish that the next fi- nance director Chapa brings in will be experienced and com- petent and I can't help wonder- ing why the first wasn't com- petent and the second wasn't experienced.
•••
Are we in the midst of a fly-
ing bug apocalypse?
My little dog Sadie and I
have foregone our usual walks in the park because of so many mosquitoes and gnats.
The annual Sanger Rotary BBQ fundraiser on the lawn Sunday at Kings River Win- ery was a classy event, even the flying bugs — lots of fly- ing bugs — enjoyed it. Don't remember any bugs last year.
I walked into an office in Reedley the other day just as the receptionist was rubbing DEET on her arms and legs and muttering about mosqui- toes being almost as thick in the office as they were outside.
Not sure what's going on, but I'll be glad when cold weather puts an end to the little critters.
•••
Mid Valley Times reader
Martha Googooian is among many who wonder who is sup- posed to be taking care of the trees in the Jensen Avenue median west of Sanger. The
city made a big
deal once upon
a time about
how it would
make such a
great entrance
to the Nation's
Christmas Tree
City to have
beautiful green
Christmas trees welcoming people to town.
Seems to me, however, that those now brown, dead trees are not really the best welcom- ing committee to any town.
•••
Nominations are still wanted ...
• The veterans parade com- mittee is looking for a past or present U.S. Coast Guard man or woman to be grand marshal of the annual Sanger Veterans Day Parade on Nov. 2. If you know of someone contact JD Bennett at sangervdp@gmail. com.
• The Sanger High School Athletic Hall of Fame commit- tee is looking for names of for- mer athletes, coaches or con- tributors to be honored at the Hall of Fame dinner on May 2 of next year. You can contact the committee by email at sangercahof@gmail.com.
•••
“We have met the enemy
What’s it going to take?
Wow is the right word for what transpired at the Aug. 15 city council meeting. What an embarrassment for Sanger and its city management.
Is the city council discon- nected from reality? Yes it is!
The council just doesn’t get it and as long as residents keep letting them get away with mis- management, the troubles will continue.
It’s time to put a stop to this kind of nonsense from our city council and city manager.
So many residents were against the reappointment of Michael Montelongo to the Mea- sure S Citizens Oversight Com- mittee, and with good reasons. He has a history of imposing his
will on the committee. He sup- ports police and fire only and has demonstrated he could care less for non-profits that provide gang and drug intervention/pre- vention services for youth.
Because of his bullying mis- behavior, Melissa Griggs re- signed from the oversight com- mittee. We heard at the council meeting that he also threatened former committee member James Miser.
The council apparently thinks that kind of action is ac- ceptable.
The council should have read the 2009 grand jury report which mentioned that Montelon- go as mayor made or received 6,663 city-related phone calls while working on high school
time. The school officials were shocked when they found out, and I don’t know why didn’t they fire him on the spot.
Now he is chair of the Mea- sure S Citizen’s Oversight Com- mittee. That paints a wrong pic- ture.
Very sad to say the least!
It seems like from the time City Manager Tim Chapa was hired to now, everything has been a “Big Set Up” — with the council’s approval.
My God, after four grand jury reports, what’s it going to take to wake up these dysfunc- tional council members?
A very concerned citizen of
Letters from readers
Sanger!
Efren T. Rubio Sanger
QUOTE
“If you put tomfoolery into a computer, noth- ing comes out of it but tomfoolery. But this tomfool- ery, having passed through a very ex- pensive machine, is somehow en- nobled and no-one dares criticize it.”
— Pierre Gallois (1911-2010)
Dick Sheppard
Stop and think about it for a mo-
ment. We still have about 14 months
until the general election in Novem-
ber 2020. The first in the nation, New Hampshire pri- mary, is still months in the future and yet we hear the media breathlessly quoting from meaningless polls that — in their opinion — indicate anyone of these (their) candidates is capable of defeating the sitting president.
In a nutshell, what I watched, for what seemed like a mind-numbing duration were unworkable and coun- try-damaging solutions being proposed by 10 people, seven of whom only solidifying the fact they were un- electable!
We would caution everyone to keep in mind that the list of “free” things they are offering during the prima- ry list rivals the old Sears catalog that many of us grew up with. That catalog was a veritable wonderland of items that had appeared on the wish list of most of us.
Democrats — at least these running for president — make it sound as if government will somehow, magi- cally, provide all these newfound entitlements for us — even if we don't want to work. During a rational moment, while toting up the cost of all this largesse, it quickly becomes apparent that there is not enough wealth in this country's gross domestic product to un- derwrite such an undertaking.
Politicians continue to lie and tell us that the total cost will be extracted from the wealthy but there sim- ply isn't enough money available. If the government takes everything from the rich and gives it to the bu- reaucrats we will soon find there is no viable economy left. We all know that places like Washington and Sac- ramento produce absolutely nothing and simply rely on what they are able to extract from this country's taxpayer.
Traditionally, Democrat primaries are won by cam- paigning to the left and then returning to a more cen- trist position for the general election. It just appears to me that all of the current field of potential nominees are so far left that they will find it difficult to negotiate anything approaching a centrist position.
Most of the evening was spent with all of the candi- dates promising to eviscerate the Second Amendment; open our borders to basically anyone and everyone who was attracted to our welfare style state; provide health insurance, a tuition-free college education, free hous- ing and a guaranteed income for anyone who can sneak into America. The Democrats? They're busy enabling illegals to enter this “land of milk and honey” as easily as possible. California is in the process of becoming one giant foreign embassy where the well-being of illegals seems to supersede that of citizens.
Along with this self-destructive stew being cooked up by the party apparatchik on the national level one can always count on some really dumb governmental machinations on the part of the state of California. Lo- cal pols are busy doing everything they can to assure high crime rates, poor education, rampant homeless- ness as well as the highest taxes, utility rates and fuel costs in the entire country. Affordable housing? Forget about it. Sacramento says we need even more rules and regulations to help stifle a roaring Trump economy.
The race for the exits seriously has begun. Lower living standards, raise taxes and the cost of making a living marks the onset! Will the last one leaving Cali- fornia please turn out the lights!
and he is us,”
- Pogo
Dick Sheppard can be con- tacted by email at sangerher- ald@gmail.com
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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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