Page 4 - Mid Valley Times 8-12-21 E-edition

Thursday, August 12, 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
In my OPINION Pavlov's Dog effect is
hitting many Americans
A week of new beginnings, tributes and accomplishment — and COVID
Fred Hall — Publisher
Jon Earnest — Editor
Dick Sheppard — Editor Emeritus
QUOTE
“The Constitu- tion gives every American the inalienable right to make a damn fool of himself.”
— John Ciardi (1916-1986)
“We will take America without fir- ing a shot. We do not have to invade the United States. We will destroy you from within. We cannot expect the Ameri- cans to jump from capitalism to com- munism, but we can assist their elect- ed leaders in giving America small doses of socialism until they suddenly awake to find they have communism."
— Nikita Khrushchev (1961)
The week of Aug. 4-10 was quite eventful for our little re- gion of the world — the stretch of Mid Valley Publishing cities between Sanger and Dinuba. There were some new begin- nings in our educational institu- tions, tributes and recognition in sports and local government, and concern about the uptick in COVID-19 cases.
Let's open with the new be- ginning, one that kicked off the start of our news cycle week. On April 4, Reedley Col- lege students, teachers, staff and administrative leaders celebrated the grand opening of the college's new $27 mil- lion Math & Sciences Building with a ribbon cutting ceremo- ny. The beautiful two-story, 28,000-square-foot structure, funded with Measure C mon- ey, will be the new home for the college's math and science programs, and features a new expanded Math Tutorial Cen- ter. There are also two lecture classrooms, five lab class- rooms (including a dental lab), and chemistry labs that the col- lege said "offer the latest scien- tific innovations.
The Math & Sciences Build- ing's ribbon cutting and dedica- tion helped set up another new beginning, Reedley College's Fall 2021 semester and a return to on-campus instruction. On Aug. 9, the campus again was abuzz with students on campus, purchasing books and supplies and attending class while re- turning to direct contact with
instructors and staff.
The other new beginnings?
They took place in the Dinuba Unified School District on Aug. 9 and the Cutler-Orosi Joint Unified School District on Aug. 10. Both districts returned to full on-campus learning again for the first time since the Coronavirus pandemic struck in March 2020. On Aug. 11, Kings Canyon Unified in Reed- ley and Orange Cove along with Immanuel Schools in Reedley launched their respec- tive schools years. On Wednes- day, Aug. 18, Sanger Unified will follow with its return to on-campus instruction.
•••
Next, there are the tributes
and recognition of excellence. The most emotional one for the city of Sanger — along with Sil- ver and Black fans nationwide and worldwide — was the of- ficial induction of Tom Flores into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Aug. 8. Flores' big weekend in Canton, Ohio, ac- tually began on Aug. 6, when he first had the opportunity to wear the famed Hall of Fame gold jacket.
Flores delivered a brief, eloquent and oft-times humor- ous speech, giving more than a passing mention to his upbring- ing in Sanger and the Central Valley. His popularity and leg- endary status in the Sanger community only continues to grow, and we look forward to his next visit to the area.
surprise, took
place near the
start of the
Aug. 10 Reed-
ley City Council
meeting. City
Manager Nicole
Zieba received
a surprise pre-
sentation and gift in recogni- tion of her 10 years of service with the city. Zieba received many words of praise and ap- preciating from Reedley lead- ers and residents, and her gift was a copy of the award-win- ning Blossom Trail painting by local artist Tamsen Taves. That piece of art was recognized as the Blossom Trail painting for 2021, and is a fitting tribute to Zieba's accomplishments and dedication to Reedley.
•••
Finally, there's the air of concern about the sharp in- crease this summer in CO- VID-19 active case, in par- ticular among younger people and driven by the more recent Delta variant strain. While I completely respect any opposi- tion or reservations that unvac- cinated people may have about the COVID shot, I also can say with confidence that I felt fine and had no ill effects (or extra limbs, brain chips) from my shots in late March and April.
Fingers are crossed that the increasing number of new cases doesn't bring back a rash of deaths and critical illnesses.
Who would ever have thought that the day would come when the people of this country had been so successfully divided by the politicians, the media and educational in- stitutions that even a virus could and would become po- liticized and convince Americans to give up freedoms in the replacement of a small government stimulus check?
After much thought, it seems apparent to me that the Coronavirus scare has been a godsend to a large segment of the Democratic Party inasmuch as it has provided them control over the politics of America via utilization of a relative minority. Since the last election occurred during the height of the pandemic, it allowed them to drag a highly unqualified individual across the finish line to become the 46th president of the United States. Along with Joe Biden came a vice president who received less than one percent of the vote during the presidential primaries. We always will believe that spe- cial voting provisions put in place for COVID allowed manipulation of the results.
After about two generations of ultra-liberal educa- tion, we see the product of those teachings being elected to positions of authority. All around us, there are political moves and decisions being made with media support and antipathy on the part of the American electorate. Hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens have swarmed across a wide open Southern border with little or no pushback for citizenry. except those folks who live in the Rio Grande Valley who are faced with COVID exposure and criminal activity on a daily basis.
One of the worst things about this, we believe, is the fact that the sudden influx of people from all over the border in that area was planned and by Biden and the Democrats. With all the special treatment and socialist "gifts” being provided by Democrats, it's obvious that they look upon these people as potential Democrat vot- ers. Under-educated people are particularly susceptible to being led with “free” things. When one considers that Democrats are trying to codify citizenship for illegals via the current bloated budget bill, it's obvious! Govern- ment's job is to defend our borders.
The whole thing smacks of classical conditioning and Pavlov's Dog!
Pavlov was an early 20th century Russian physiolo- gist who won the Nobel Prize in 1904 for his work study- ing the digestive process. While studying digestion in dogs, Pavlov noted an interesting occurrence: His ca- nine subjects would begin o salivate whenever an as- sistant entered the room.
The dogs would salivate at the sight of the lab techs' white coats, which they came to associate with food. Interesting that a physiologist discovered a link with conditioned psychological response.
Intended or otherwise, Pavlov's Dog certainly sup- plies a connection between Nikita Khrushchev's com- ments and a critical hard shift to the left by many Amer- icans. It's most accurately identified as a conditioned response. After years of being slowly but increasingly immersed in creeping socialism we are looking squarely down the barrel of that gun.
It's time for the American people to put their foot down and declare that we're not going to accept bondage by bureaucrats. We've slowly accepted socialism and Marxism in small doses. We're smarter than that and certainly we deserve better.
Jon Earnest is news-sports editor for The Times.
Fred Hall
Jon Earnest
Another tribute, this one a Letters from readers
But, as always, that's only one man's opinion.
Congratulations go out to Tom Flores
Thanks to Coach Tom Flores for a great acceptance speech at the Pro Football Hall of Fame ceremonies on Aug. 8.
He acknowledged his fam- ily's support in achieving a "su- per" career in the National and American Football leagues; as a player, assistant coach, head coach, president and general manager; mostly with the Oak- land and Los Angeles Raiders.
Also, thanks to all those who communicated with the Hall of Fame selection committee to
finally get Tom inducted. His parents and brother, Bob. no doubt were extremely proud watching from above.
Written for fans from Sanger and Del Rey, and fans elsewhere who might not have been able to communicate this message.
Harry Yasumoto, PhD San Luis Obispo
Reedley needs new library
Up until February 2020 we used the Reedley library until it closed because of CO-
VID-19 in early 2020. Unlike other Fresno County library branches, it is now open with only limited hours in a tempo- rary location in the entrance to the Senior Center. We're told the old building is not fit to be used anymore.
Last week, we visited the Fowler Branch Library — a real library with a large selec- tion of books to check out. What a contrast to Reedley's three book carts loaded with library materials! We need a new li- brary in Reedley.
Arthur & Margaret Johnson 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.
Have an opinion? Want to share it?
Weigh in. Let your voice be heard.
Send us your letter to the editor for publication on this page and on our website.
news@midvalleytimes.com