Page 3 - Sanger Herald 12-13-18 E-edition

Random thoughts Kazuo Komoto was a WWII hero ... from Sanger ...
Kazuo Komoto
By Fred Hall
There can be little doubt that the difference in the way immigrants arrived
in this country in the early 20thcenturyandnowislike nightandday. Backinthe early 1900's we required
assimilateintotheAmericanculture. When was the last time anyone saw indications that the criteria was being met?
Doing otherwise with an arbitrary deci- sion to continuing one's native language would result in America becoming a nation of tribesexistinginsmallenclaves. Itdoesn't requirealotofresearchordeepthinkingto realize lifestyles that are “foreign” to basic American culture are are already becoming alltoocommoninthiscountry. Acoupleof generations on our current path could con- ceivably make any corrections from tribal- ism an impossible task.
Our new Democrat dominated state gov- ernment seems to be in a race to see who can submitthelargestamountoflargesseinthe form of proposed legislation that will add to be number of “freebies” available to anyone and everyone in California. A welfare state is an absolute magnet to the poor, uneducated or under educated peoples of the world.
The newest undertaking by the most recent iteration of the socialist order being optedforbyCaliforniavoterscallsforfree health care for everyone, Including illegal immigrants. Wherethehellthatmoneyis going to come from has to be a complete mysterytoanythinkingpeople. These,by the way,are the same voters who thought it would be a good idea to keep an oppressive gasoline tax in place to reward a state which willinevitablysquanderthemoneyonthe HighSpeedRail. Insteadofcontinuingto expand the right to vote to more and more people,perhapsweshoulddomentalevalua- tions to qualify for voting.
That, you realize, was uttered in jest because we can never eliminate stupid people fromtheirConstitutionalrights! Wedo,how- ever, wish that really dumb voters would do a little more due diligence in evaluating issues. One can't always decide issues in the “what's in it for me” basis.
What happens to California when middle class citizens are no longer able to afford the cost of housing and personal maintenance fortheprivilegeoflivinghere. Politicians alreadyhavealargesegmentofourvoters convinced that they will continue to “soak the rich” because they owe a special debt to the restofusbecauseoftheirsuccess. Sorry,I just don't understand the thought process.
The current mess along the border is harmful to all Americans, including our hard- working hispanic neighbors who have taken the time to learn the English language and immerse themselves in the American culture. They have truly become Americans which
so many claim to want but make no effort to achieve.
But, as always, that's only one man's opin- ion.
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.
SANGER HERALD 3A THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2018 EDITORIAL & OPINION
By Dick Sheppard
There's a relatively short obituary for Mr. Kazuo Komoto of Sanger on page 2A of today's Herald.
The obituary says there
will be a memorial service
at 10 a.m. this Saturday
in the chapel at Wallin's
Sanger Funeral Home for Mr. Komoto. It says he was a real estate broker, he was 100 years old when he died on Dec. 3, and it lists his survivors and notes that remembrances may be made to the Fresno Veterans Affairs Hospital in Fresno.
What the obituary doesn't say is that Mr. Komoto was a U.S. military veteran of WWII who received a purple
heart when he was
wounded in battle in
the South Pacific.
board meeting and during the public forum stepped to the podium to praise the school district and, for the first time I can remem- ber, brought a message of solidarity and support from the City of Sanger to the school district.
way to do it - and was almost all the way around, making a left turn from northbound N Street onto 7th Street when another car making a left turn from eastbound 7th onto N cut the corner instead of going around the tree.
Almost a head on collision. I swerved left into the tree, probably knocking off a few decorations and the other driver, while flip- ping me off, swerved to her left, probably scraping a street light pole.
I now avoid making a left turn around the tree by taking another way home.
Don't know why the city doesn't put up signs letting drivers know how to deal with the intersection obstruction.
•••
I can't say enough positive things about
the Toyland Parade, Sanger Rotary's senior citizen luncheon, the Trek to the Tree and all the people involved in making those things happen.
The great events and the wonderful people more than make up for that annoying tree in the middle of a downtown intersection!
•••
"There are only two days in the year that nothing can be done. One is called yesterday and the other is called tomorrow, so today is the right day to love, believe, do and mostly live."
- Dalai Lama
Comments, complaints and suggestions may be emailed to sangerherald@gmail.com or may be made by calling 875-2511.
Dick Sheppard
I've been covering school board meetings for more than a dozen years and that's the first time I can remem- ber someone from the city extending an olive branch to the school district.
Frank Gonzalez
While he was recov-
ering in the hospital,
"He even got to speak
with First Lady
Eleanor Roosevelt,
who came to visit the
hospital. In that conver-
sation, he was able to express concern over his family being placed in a relocation camp in Arizona - something he never really talked about with his children," wrote Tony Cabrera inaVeteransDaystoryonKFSNChannel30.
Mr.Komotowaslikesomanyofthe heroes of the greatest generation, unassum- ing, modest and not willing to talk much about the sacrifices he made to keep our country free.
"The importance of his sacrifice has been passed down to his kids, who now have the job of passing that legacy down to his four grandchildren, three great-grandchildren and onegreat-great-grandchild,"wroteCabrera.
I hope there will be representatives from Sanger's military veterans' organizations, VFW, AMVETS and American Legion at Mr. Komoto's memorial service on Saturday.
He deserves that.
He was an American hero. From Sanger.
•••
Waytogo to hizzoner mayor Frank
Gonzalez.
Frank showed up at the Tuesday school
"Olive branch" is an
appropriate way to put it because usually city representatives act like they think the city should be able to boss around the school dis- trict in spite of the very obvious difference in success rates between a very, very suc- cessful school district and a city that has had four grand jury reports in less than 10 years criticizing its governance idiosyncrasies.
The City of Clovis was once smaller than Sanger. It outpaced the Nation's Christmas Tree City by riding on the coattails of its almost as good as Sanger's school district.
The City of Sanger has acted for years as though - heaven forbid - the school district should play second fiddle to the City.
Maybe it's the start of something good.
Maybe it's just another opportunity for the cityadministrationtoshootitselfintheother foot.
•••
While Frank was at the podium he praised
school board member Marcy Masumoto who will be taking the seat on the Fresno County Board of Education she won in the November election.
The city council recently decided to replace councilmember Melissa Hurtado, whowonastatesenateseatinNovember, by appointment rather by election. It's likely the school board will do the same to replace Masumoto, who represented SUSD trustee district 4.
•••
That darn tree in the middle of the 7th and
N streets intersection and Sanger drivers go togetherlikeoilandwater.
I had a rush of adrenalin Monday evening onmywayhomewhenItreatedthetreelike a lighted, annoying traffic circle - the proper
In my OPINION
Much of California's population growth is from
poorly educated who survive on the public dole
an orderly process which
provided health checks and
other criteria for entrance into this country. Places like Ellis Island did everything in their power to insure newcomers would not bring diseases and would be a net plus for America while affording them all the opportunities of beingAmericans. Intheearly21stcentury
it is more of a stampede with no control and little federal oversight.
Today there is much being written and said about immigration, both legal and illegal, with calls for everything from a wall to stem the unchecked flow of human beings and con- traband to open borders facilitating the con- stant,unimpededtraffic. Thesimpletruthis that, as long as we maintain a welfare state, it isanimpossibilitytooperateanythingclose to an open border with anyone and everyone beingwelcomedwithopenarms. I'mafirm believer in the axiom that a nation without borders is not a nation!
California has become the king of welfare states. Assuch,thatmagnethasresultedina statewithinfrastructuretosupport20million souls now at 40 million with homeless villages fillingthestreetsofourlargercities. That should be no surprise to anyone when much of our population growth is poorly educated and survives on the public dole.
Basicfactsforyourconsideration: Fully 72 percent of the homesteads occupied by illegals are on some sort of welfare from the State of California, according to surveys; California taxpayers spend $30.3 billion per year on illegal immigration in excess of their tax contributions; there are 1.105 million children of illegals jammed into our already overcrowded,underperformingschoolsys- tem. Thosenumbersaloneshouldprovethat, although individually they may be wonderful people, they, as a general rule, are not a net plustotheCaliforniaeconomyassomany claim.
One must realize that, when referring to these facts in any discussion of orderly, con- trolled immigration there is a good possibility that it will result in one being called a racist. The prevalent rebuttal by the open borders crowd is that illegal immigration is a net gain for the State of California, but that simply and demonstrably is not the truth.
The original intent of immigration law relied on three stipulations as criteria for anyone who wished to become a citizen of America. Onemustprovideproofofbeing self-sustaining with no burden for financial support being placed on others; one must develop the skills necessary to communicate in English; and one must make real efforts to
Fred Hall
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