Page 3 - Sanger Herald 7-26-18 E-edition

Random thoughts I can't help wonder if the city council even cares about grand jury concerns ...
While driving to the
Herald on Monday morn-
ing, carefully navigating the
dangerous angled parking
slalom course on 7th Street
between P and O streets,
I heard a comment on the
radio about San Francisco
and Chicago registering illegal aliens to vote in the general election. By the time I got safely but shaken to the office I had a snarky comment in my head, ready to add to this col- umn, ready to take those two cities to task for letting foreigners influence our election pro- cess. ThenIdidalittleresearch.Alwaysa good thing these days. Turns out, according to severalsources, SanFranciscoandChicago are indeed registering "non-citizens" to vote - in local school board elections only.
That wasn't at all what I heard the radio guy talking about or saw on Twitter or had pop up a couple of times on my Facebook news feed. I had to rethink my snarky com- ment because I'm not sure how I feel about what is really going on. Can't help wondering how it can be controlled so it's only the school boardthat'saffected. ButIamsureIdon't like the way it is being misrepresented on
SANGER HERALD 3A THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2018 EDITORIAL & OPINION
By Dick Sheppard
radio and social media. I don't watch TV news so I'm not sure what's going on there besides Trump bashing.
•••
The adjective "surreal" comes from
Surrealism, a popular subculture movement back when I was going to college that pro- duced films, writings, paintings, and other art forms that often contained irrational, disjoint- ed images. So, "surreal" describes something that's a bizarre mix of elements, often jarring and seemingly nonsensical.
Surreal is probably the best description I can think of for how the majority of our city council has reacted so far to the latest grand jury report.
Councilmembers had an opportunity last Thursday to comment on proposed respons- es, prepared by city staff, to the grand jury's "Findings" and "Recommendations." (See the story on today's front page.)
City manager Tim Chapa's verbal sum- mary of the proposed responses for the coun- cil was just different enough than the written version to cause more than one listener to wonder about the spin factor.
"Findings" and "Recommendations" are very specific. Mayor pro tem Eli Ontiveros was the only councilmember who seemed prepared to be equally specific when react-
ing to each of the staff's proposed responses. Other councilmembers made vague, philo- sophical remarks that caused more than one listener to wonder if the couuncilmembers had even read the staff's recommendations or even knew or cared what the grand jury was concerned about.
Mayor Frank Gonzalez got hung up on the meaning of a word in one of the recommen- dations and his discussion about it with city attorney Hilda Cantu Montoy caused a few
in the audience to remember an equally sur- real moment in 1998 when Bill Clinton made a comment to deputy Independent counsel “Sol” Wisenberg that went something like, “It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is. If the – if he – if 'is' means is and never has been that is not – that is one thing. If it means there is none, that was a completely true statement.”
Surreal.
•••
There will be lots of fun things to do in the
next few weeks.
St. Mary's Community Summer Festival
with its great food and entertainment is com- ing up on Aug. 3, 4 and 5.
In my OPINION
Don't miss the big talent show on Aug. 3, "Youth Night"
The Sanger Womans Club rummage sale will take place from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Aug. 11 and 12. There'll be something new this year, a "clunky and fun" costume jewelry table, said club president Jeanne Adams.
And, believe it or not, there are just three more Fridays before the first Apache football game of the season. The Apaches will host the once arch rival Reedley Pirates on Aug. 17. Gametime is 7:30 p.m. Go Apaches!
•••
Yes, I know the guest local commentary
today by Vincent Wall is a tad long and lawyer-like. But, Wall is writing about ways parks can happen instead of, like the city administration and council, reciting all the ways they can't happen - and that's both refreshing and important.
"We have met the enemy and he is us."
- Pogo
Comments, complaints and suggestions may be emailed to sangerherald@gmail.com or may be made by calling 875-2511.
Dick Sheppard
GUEST local commentary
How to build parks in Sanger
Trump Derangement Syndrome symptoms
By Vincent Wall
I went to the city council
meeting on July 19 where
the topic of sports parks for
our children, like the kids on
the Sanger Stars team, was
brought up again. And, again,
the city council did nothing
more than hear a report by
the city employees, and then
state the City does not have the money.
No plan other than to wait for the updated General Plan was given.
That is a ridiculous statement by our mayor and the city council. It is ridiculous because the City already has a plan for build- ing a sports complex, and ways to pay for
it in the City of Sanger 2025 General Plan
( https://www.ci.sanger.ca.us/devserv/plan- ning/2025%20GENERAL%20PLAN.pdf) (“General Plan), and the City of Sanger 2025 Parks and Recreation Master Plan (https:// www.ci.sanger.ca.us/docs/parksrec/P&R%20 Master%20Plan%202025.pdf) (“Parks Master Plan”).
The General Plan in chapter 6, pages 6.1- 6.22, details the parkland the City currently has and needs. Parkland is both community and neighborhood parks. Community parks are the parks which have sports fields and playgrounds and neighborhood parks are the little parks built into developments which generally only have a playground. According to the Master Plan the City needed 47.5 acres of community parks, and 12.7 acres of neigh- borhood in 2003. The Master Plan goes on to state that by 2025 the City will need 75 acres of community parks and 75 acres of neigh- borhood parks. Which means that by 2025 the City will need to build 68 acres of community parks, and 40.2 acres of neighborhood parks. (Master Plan pages 6.1-6.5 and Table 6-2.)
All this is to say that our city council knows our City needs 108.2 acres of parkland. Further, on page 6.13 the city council already stated they should construct a 25-75 acre community park which includes a new com- munity center. (Master Plan page 6.13.)
One may think that's great and all, but building a 28-75 acre community park takes time to make a plan and money to pay for the park. The Parks Master Plan on page 26 contains a plan for such a park, and on pages 40-47 of the Parks Mater Plan in the section titled Implementation, Section V, Financing the City has already determined how much it would cost and how to pay for it.
The mayor and city council already know that our city needs at least 108.2 acres of parks and that we need a 25-75 acre com- munity sports park, they already know what the sports park should look like, about what it will cost and how to pay for it.
The question is “why are the mayor and the city council not doing anything about this issue?”
There are excuses that one may make for not addressing our park issue. For example, the mayor and city council never knew about, or read these two documents. However, as elected officials, is it not their job to review these document, especially when determining the 2030 general plan? The answer is easy, there are no excuses. The mayor and the city council have been derelict in their duties to us. Or, they are not the leaders that we need running our city.
While this may be true, it doesn’t help build the parks that we so desperately need. So, I propose this plan to help the mayor and city council. They need to direct the city manager to work with the Sanger Unified School District to generate a list of all sports teams in the City. This list would include all school teams, all recreational teams, all club teams, all adult league teams, all cheerleader teams, all band practice teams, and any and all clubs or teams of any age or kind which need a place to play, practice or gather. This should include generating a list of the types of teams which cannot routinely find a place because of lack of availability of parks and recreation facilities. And then, based upon this information solicit from the public by survey, chamber of commerce, clubs, Sanger Unified School District, etc. what else the people of Sanger need in their parks.
After this the mayor and city council can ask and find out how the maintenance cost
of the park(s) can be reduced. One idea may be to incorporate aspects into the park that can be leased out to private enterprises. For example, batting cages, a driving range, an amusement area, concessions, a chamber
of commerce sponsored Sanger Nations Christmas Tree City store, etc. Then direct the city manager to determine the size of the park needed to fulfil the needs of our commu- nity, and direct the planning commission to determine sites in, or outside, the city where the park can be placed.
Note at this point, no money has been spent. All that has been asked is that people perform their regular duties.
While the planning commission is trying to
Irony is the depiction
of something, generally
through the use of words
to express something
different from and often
exactly opposite from its
literal meaning. Our old
friend “common sense” is
generally the best measure
in defining anything written which is ironic in nature.
Irony is when an area newspaper runs a columnpennedbyanextremelyliberal New YorkCity“newscontent”provider inwhich the writer says the conservative news media is “propping up” President Donald Trump. First of all, it's virtually impossible to find any form of the media that could be deemed as being conservative, with the exception of FoxNewsandtalkradio. Theirpositionmust be an extremely lonely spot, trying to hold off everyone in the liberal media along with “never Trump” politicians and bureaucrats who are suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome!
With today's prevailing political climate, one would have to concede there is more than just a fine line between that which is ironic and that which is embarrassingly stupid.
Last evening I watched a guest on one
of the many liberal networks attempt to explain to the host of the show how President Trump's Helsinki press conference was somehow worse than the attack on Pearl Harbor or Kristallnacht.
Most of you will remember the enormity of those events because, until the past decade or so, history was still taught in our schools.
Wanttoknowsomethingevenworse? The individual who was hosting the show never even challenged his guest over just how ignorantsuchastatementsounded. Even the most rabid Trump hater must recognize that it's a non-starter to compare a press conferencetotheseviolentevents. I'm beginning to fear that America's “electronic generation” is becoming so dumbed-down
as to not realize the negative impact on humanity imposed by both of those atrocities.
Pearl Harbor was a sneak attack on a Sunday morning planned to destroy as much of the American Navy as possible and kill large numbers of citizens and military men andwomen. Kristallnachtwasafree-for-
all in Danzig, resulting in murder, looting and vandalism allegedly as a response to a 17-year old Jewish boy allegedly killing a Nazi. The year was 1938.
Sadly, that sorry episode is not a singular event. On an ever rotating set of issues and
SANGER HERALD(USPS 418- 340) is published weekly every Thursday for $25 per year for Fresno County residents and $29.50 per year for residents outside the county and $3150 per year for residents outside the state, non cancelable Periodicals postage paid at Sanger, CA and at additional mailing of ces
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Vincent Wall
See GUEST LOCAL COMMENTARY and LETTERS TO THE EDITOR on page 6A An award winning
By Fred Hall
false claims, this President is attacked every day and every night by politicians and the media. Democrat Congressman Steve Cohen of Tennessee recently voiced support for a military overthrow of this administration.
Common sense and empirical evidence shows, definitively, that there has been no collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, and yet the Mueller hearings have dragged on for a year and a half.
People, firmly entrenched with the opposition, will point out that there have been a number of indictments but none have to do with anyone colluding with anyone. Anyway, an indictment simply means that someone has been charged which is a long, long way away from a conviction. Some
of these individuals have been dogged by the Federal government until they have spent all available resources and are facing bankruptcy. Mostofthechargeswhichthey face are simply process crimes and have nothingtodowiththeelection. Essentially, what we are dealing with is a Special Prosecutor in search of a crime rather
than investigating a specified wrongdoing which is the norm for such an empaneled group. Wearestandingbyandwatchingour government spend millions of dollars on a partisan political hunting expedition which is dividing our country deeply and possibly irreparably.
My greatest fear is that much of the anti- President rhetoric is becoming so heated and irrational with claims of treason and equally ridiculous charges that I have come to worry about the ever present danger of violence. Afterall,thatisthegreatestthing our adversaries, including Russia, could ever hopefor. Theirclaim,forever,hasalways been that they will defeat us without firing a shot.
Ever since the 1960s and 1970s there certainly seems to a deliberate and measured shift in that direction with American politics moving ever more leftward in government and education. The people of The United States of American elected this man according to established rules. He seems
to have accomplished more in a really short timethananyoneIcanremember. Leave him alone and let him work!
But, as always, that's only one man's opinion.
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