Page 4 - Reedley Exponent 2-8-18 E-edition

The Reedley Exponent A4 Thursday, February 8, 2018 Editorial & Opinions
Serving “The World’s Fruit Basket” since 1891
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
Jon Earnest — Editor
Chris Aguirre — Sports Editor Felicia Cousart Matlosz — Panorama Editor Budd Brockett — Editor Emeritus
QUOTE
“Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.”
— Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)
Newspaper deadlines being what they are, we fully realize that by now the president’s State of the Union speech will have been ana- lyzed to death by the pompous pundits from me- dia and politicians as well. There has been much wailing about the perception of these learned people that there was not enough effort on the part of the president to “reach across the aisle” when it was blatantly obvious that those on the other side already had their negatively charged minds set. The “resistance.”
Floods or drought, you can count on budding blossoms in early February
Fred Hall
It doesn’t seem to matter if rural Fresno County is drenched by rain like in 2017, or bone dry like this year or any of a handful of years before 2016. When the first week of Febru- ary hits, count on the blossoms to start popping up in rural orchards.
This year, was no different. Tak- ing my morning commute from Kings County, I spotted the first pink blos- soms developing on trees just north of Avenue 416 (Mountain View Avenue when you hit Fresno County) along both sides of Road 52 (Reed Avenue). The addition of a traffic light at that intersection since the avenue was wid- ened to four lanes makes that left turn off the busy road much easier.
With no rain in the immediate forecast — we hope it’s not longer — the pink and white blossoms likely will flourish in the next week or so warmed by above-average season temperatures. And that signifies that it’s nearly time for the annual Blos- som Trail activities in cities along the much-publicized trail through eastern Fresno County.
The first activity took place Feb. 2 in Sanger with the opening ceremony. This year marks the 30th season of the trail, which counts Reedley and Or- ange Cove among its stops. Visitors should expect plenty of spectacular blossoms by the middle of the month. At the opening ceremony, Erik Valen- cia spoke in his first Blossom Trail appearance as executive director of the Greater Reedley Chamber of Commerce. He informed representa- tives of the neighboring Blossom Trail cities — Sanger, Selma, Orange Cove, Fowler and Kingsburg — about the annual Blossom Bike Ride on Satur- day, March 3. The 29th annual event again is sponsored by the Reedley Li- ons Club and will attract riders from Central California and parts beyond for the non-competitive rides of vary- ing lengths.
Other blossom-related events scheduled include the Blossom Trail
dation represents farmworker radio stations in Califor- nia — KUFW-FM (90.5) in Woodlake — and Arizona. The stations were cited for overstepping restrictions against commercial adver- tising.
Let’s begin with the fact that Donald Trump
delivered precisely what the speech was entitled to represent. It is a time set aside when the chief executive is scheduled to deliver a report on the state of the union. An area, in our opinion, where he did exceedingly well. It was never intended as an hour, set aside, for the leader of the country to pander to the opposition party. The accent this year is on opposition because they seem to oppose everything which Mr. Trump says or does.
Tom Brokaw, from his perch at the NBC News desk, pontificated that perhaps the time had come to put an end to this annual ritual. He was so disappointed that Mr. Trump had not delivered on what this television has-been and Democratic operative deemed as ap- propriate.
How else can one explain the lack of applause or any type of recognition when glowing reports are delivered on the almost euphoric state of the economy or the growing employment sta- tistics in terms of ethnicity? Both black and Hispanic job figures should make all Americans — as well as the media and politicians — smile.
What’s not to like? Can keeping the borders wide open be that important to Democrats?
Let’s face it. The stock market was setting records, almost on a daily basis until the recent profit taking, meaning that 401(k) accounts for average people are experiencing a healthy growth. Tax reform soon will be placing more money in almost everyone’s paycheck. That very same tax reform has resulted in many workers, throughout the economy, receiving pay raises and bonuses. This has led Nancy Pelosi of California to declare that $1,000 bonuses are crumbs. Perhaps the rarified air of living such a sheltered, privileged life in San Francisco has affected her thinking.
Repatriated money, again because of tax reform, will be re- turned to the United States and invested in job and infrastructure growth. Some firms have announced they will be returning their plants to this country. Remember that President Barack Obama famously declared that was impossible — even with a magic wand. Perhaps if he had used economic common sense instead of a lib- eral tax-and-spend magic wand, he would have discovered that it is possible.
Ask yourself, just what does opposition to Trump from Demo- crats, media and “never Trumpers” actually stand for? Surely it must run deeper than the well being of millions of illegal aliens compared to hundreds of millions of American citizens. Personally, it seems Trump has it just about right—America and Americans first! The Democrats have what seems to be a good solid offer on the table to take care of over a million of the so-called Dreamers.
Trump must be careful in dealing with Democrat leadership on this issue. Previously we’ve seen Republican presidents make concessions based on promises of a balancing, offsetting agree- ment which would be implemented later. Just give us what we want now and we’ll take care of you later. Guess what? With these people that will never happen — whether it deals with tax cuts or promises of citizenship for illegals we’ve been there, done that and got burned!
I don’t know about you, but I was personally relieved that our president did not use the personal pronoun “I” 150 times as his pre- decessor had done. Mr. Trump’s personal choice was “we” and “our” — he used “I” only 29 times. So much for the liberal proclamation that he is narcissistic.
But, as always, that’s only one man’s opinion.
Jon Earnest
By Gary Welton
Guest columnist
I was a late adopter of Facebook. I had a nagging fear that no one would befriend me, and that my Facebook experience would become a monologue. Of course that was irrational. I currently have 257 friends, representing my connec- tions during the various decades of my life. I have worked diligently to post interesting and intriguing perspectives. Some of my friends have graciously suggested that I have been successful.
My treasured friends represent the entire range of the political spectrum. Many are outspoken propo- nents of President Donald Trump; others campaigned for Bernie Sanders. Some post vitriolic statements against Sen. Elizabeth War- ren; others post venomous diatribes against the presi- dent. Yet I count each and every one of them as my treasured friends.
I proudly note that I have never intentionally unfriended anyone. For a few months I had an over- active touchscreen on my
computer that sometimes sensed my finger’s choice, even though nothing was near the screen. During this time my computer, without my knowledge, ac- cidentally unfriended one of my sensitive friends. Fortunately, she asked me about my choice, and we were able to reestablish our Facebook connection.
On the other hand, I have had some “friends” block me. Apparently they were offended with some of my moderate views and found it necessary to pro- tect themselves from me. I guess they did not agree with some of my positions. That’s quite understand- able, given that I don’t al- ways agree with all of my positions either. In fact, although I have never blocked any of my friends, I sometimes have come close to blocking myself. Is that an option?
I seek to learn and to expand my thinking when I read the posts of friends who have differ- ent perspectives from me. Of course we know that extreme Facebook posts convince almost no one to significantly change their
thinking about anything. Nevertheless, I find that I become a more informed citizen and a better think- er as a result of consid- ering posts with which I disagree. Nevertheless, I do wish that people would tone down their attitudes and exhibit less hatred.
I followed Facebook posts and comments dur- ing the autumn visits of Richard Spencer to various universities. Spencer is the president of the controver- sial National Policy Insti- tute, a white supremacist organization. I do not in any way support Spencer’s views or his vitriolic ha- tred. However, neither do I support the anti-Spencer hatred I observed in many Facebook comments dur- ing these visits. My wife described the comments as “haters hating haters.” We can do better.
In stark contrast was the post about Julius Long, an African American in Gaines- ville, Fla., who sought to communicate a message of love to the white suprema- cists rather than of hatred. His father posted, “[Julius] escorted the guy to safety and talked with him for
over an hour. He eventu- ally gave him a ride to his car and exchanged contact information. This strange encounter proves that when we talk with each other we can better understand each other and one day love will conquer hate.”
Social media has made it extremely easy to scream, yell, and hate, but we must do better. We need to act more like Julius Long and convey messages of love and humility. I beg my friends to offer me that tolerance, and I promise that I will continue to do the same. Let’s promise to fight the modern trends. For those who would like to think more about the battle against hate in our society, I encourage you to read and consider Elliot Aronson’s short 2001 book, “Nobody Left to Hate.”
Gary L. Welton is assis- tant dean for institutional assessment, professor of psychology at Grove City (Pa.) College, and a con- tributor to The Center for Vision & Values. He is a re- cipient of a major research grant from the Templeton Foundation to investigate positive youth development.
Jon Earnest / The Exponent
Blossoms were starting to bud Feb. 1 in an orchard south of Reedley on the west side of Road 52. The blossom trail season began with a kickoff event in Sanger on Feb. 2.
bus tour and wine tasting commenc- ing out of Sanger on the weekend of Feb. 24-25; the 30th annual Blossom Days Festival and 21st annual Blos- som Trail Run in Sanger on Saturday, March 3; Blossom Trail train rides at Hillcrest Farms north of Reedley the weekends of March 3-4, 10-11 and 17-18; and the Orange Cove Blossom Festival on Saturday, April 7.
Of course, there’s no set calendar of events to merely take the scenic drive along the course ranging from as far west as Fowler to the foothills near Orange Cove. There are farm stores and tours you can enjoy. A map of the route can be found online at goblossomtrail.com
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A recent report in the Los Ange-
les Times told of a $115,000 fine and a one-year moratorium on new un- derwriting from for-profit sponsors against the Cesar Chavez Foundation, a nonprofit social service affiliate of the United Farm Workers. The foun-
According to the Times report, the stations strayed from Federal Com- munications Commission rules allow- ing educational stations to acknowl- edge underwriters without making “commercial” pitches for them.The FCC ruled that the stations violated the rules from August 2016 to March 2017, The violations involved promo- tional announcements that implicitly compared one of the underwriter;s business with a competitor as well as information on discounts and business recommendations.
The Times reported that one of the complaints about the radio spots came from an attorney for Gerawan Farm- ing Inc. The Reedley-based fruit grow- er and packer has been in more than two decades of legal disputes with the UFW. A current lawsuit involving the two sides currently is being heard in the United States Supreme Court.
•••
Ticket sales continue for the
Greater Reedley Chamber of Com- merce Awards Dinner on Saturday, Feb. 24, at the Reedley College Stu- dent Center. Tickets can be purchased in person at the Chamber office, 1633 11th St.. Ticket information is avail- able by phone at 638-3548 or online at info@reedleychamberofcommerce. com.
Erik Valencia, Chamber executive director, earlier this week notified The Exponent who this year’s winners are. We’ll profile each winner in our Feb. 15 issue.
Hate and humility in the social media
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