Page 4 - Mid Valley Times 8-22-19 E-edition

Thursday, August 22, 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 Tab coming due for those
trading in misinformation
All those years ago, when our
Forefathers penned the First Amend-
ment, they had every expectation that
it would be utilized responsibly. Ev-
ery single word was carefully chosen
so as to provide a press corps which
would not be restricted or in any way
impeded from printing the truth to
hold government accountable. Those
learned gentlemen had no way of an-
ticipating a day when much of that
“free press” would choose sides in the political process.
There could not have been a more perfect “align- ment of the planets” with an unreliable press and much of our society now turning to social media for their “news” which has become the Wild West of me- dia. Nothing is edited, nor is it fact checked. If some guy or gal in a basement has an opinion or thought, they can now throw it against the wall and see what part sticks. Our crumbling educational system as- sures that ideas emanating from these nut jobs gets far more consideration than it deserves.
The level of political discourse has deteriorated so badly over the past several years and has been so solidly supported by a media which seems more than willing to participate in “fake news”in support of their personal views that I have become truly fearful of that which normally follows.
The news consuming public has been so abused as to reach the point where they will refuse to believe anything which is presented for their consideration. The mission of old-school journalism where facts were gathered and presented for your consideration has been abandoned for today's agenda-driven hyperbole which is a complete stranger to the truth..
Although I'm unsure about the modern educational system, it seems difficult to believe there isn't anyone who has not heard the story attributed to Aesop about the little boy who cried wolf. The lesson which should have been learned by contemporary press is that if one persists in telling the same lie over and over again, there will be a day of reckoning when no one will believe any- thing being reported by that same “lying” press.
Almost three years of the Russian hoax and Mueller investigation turned out to be a complete disappoint- ment to many because all the information which was force-fed on cable television, the internet and main- stream was absolutely untruthful. Remember “fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me?” Those who traded so freely in misinformation must now realize the tab is coming due and the ultimate loser will be all of us!
Every aspect about the “deep state” is that, with their track record of corruption, sooner or later there will be a huge ugly story which a press with an es- tablished reputation for lying will have to plea with a cynical public, but this time it's true and we mean it. Yes, we were lying before but not now. Why won't you believe us?” That will represent a time when both the public and the press will suffer. Politicians don't suffer ... they simply scurry for cover!
There probably is no more poignant representation of the current situation with the press than that of The New York Times. Don Baquet, executive editor of that newspaper, indicated at a recent editorial meeting that their coverage for the coming year would shift from covering the Mueller hearings and Trump-Russia in- vestigation to race and racism. This is the newspaper which was once famously known as America's newspa- per of record. How the mighty have fallen!
Moving immediately to react to that directive, one of their columnists recently penned a column which lik- ened green lawns and Americans infatuated with them to racism. Your guess is a good as mine as to where the hell that came from!
As I said earlier, after spewing this garbage over a period of time, the day will come when there will be something honest that will happen and the American people won't have anyone to believe.
But, as always, that's only one man's opinion.
Not-so-random thoughts about a full moon, feasances and fiascos
Rick Curiel — Dinuba Editor Jon Earnest — Reedley Editor Dick Sheppard — Sanger Editor
QUOTE
“I know that there are people who do not love their fellow man, and I hate people like that!”
— Tom Lehrer (1928 - )
Fred Hall
Was it the full moon or was it the city council’s apparent dis- connect from a reality shared by most of those who attended the Aug. 15 council meeting that caused someone who sat through a cringeworthy evening at city hall to text me afterwards, “That was an incredibly uncomfort- able meeting to watch”?
Yes, indeed it was. It made the November 2020 city coun- cil election seem so very, very far away.
•••
In the decade-and-a-half
I’ve reported and commented on Sanger news I have seen the school district transform from one that was so dysfunctional it was in danger of being taken over by the state into one of the best districts in California, maybe the nation. I’ve seen the chamber of commerce blossom into an amazing, more dynamic and effective promotional en- tity than anyone could have ev- er possibly imaged just a few years ago. I have also watched fiasco after fiasco with bewil- derment and frustration as city hall administration after administration seemed to be caught in a continuous loop of nonfeasance, misfeasance, malfeasance and every other kind of feasance. Don’t take my word for it. Read the Fres- no County Grand Jury reports about Sanger from 2009, 2012, 2015 and 2017 on the Fresno County website.
Yes, four of them.
Maybe it’s because the city is the only one of the three — city, school district and chamber of commerce — that has a govern- ing board sitting on a dais. May- be the air on that elevated perch is so rarified it slows down cog- nitive processes. Maybe it’s be- cause the only thing the council ever seems to learn from history is that it learns absolutely noth- ing from history.
If it had learned anything it would never have reappointed Michael Montelongo to the Measure S Citizens Oversight Committee. He will now, if his- tory is any teacher, either be successful imposing his will on the committee — or he will disrupt it. Don’t take my word for it. Ask James Miser, Me- lissa Griggs or — if he feels like talking about it — former mayor José Villarreal.
Then go to thesangerherald. com and search for “Montelon- go” to read an award-winning Herald story from December 2007, “School officials 'shocked' by the mayor's on the job phone calls” and other Herald stories the council should have pre- viewed, along with the 2009 grand jury report.
I don’t make up this stuff.
Reappointing Montelongo was not the only cringewor- thy action by the council. It approved and sent on to the state a flawed plan to rezone 54 acres within the city limits
for affordable
housing. It is
a plan that ap-
pears intended,
if more afford-
able housing is
ever built, to
segregate haves
from have nots.
It’s appropriately being chal- lenged by Central California Legal Services and it would not surprise me if the state rejects the plan and sends it back to the council for a do-over.
Something good did come out of the meeting — at least a couple of people hurried to the county elections office to sign up for classes on how to be a candidate for city council.
All three, coincidentally, who voted for Montelongo’s reappointment, mayor Frank Gonzalez, mayor pro tem Dan- iel Martinez and councilmem- ber Esmeralda Hurtado are up for re-election in the Novem- ber 2020 election.
•••
The awesome Apaches will
be in Reedley this Friday to play the Pirates. Go Apaches! •••
“Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed; everything else is public relations."
— George Orwell
Dick Sheppard can be contacted by email at sanger- herald@gmail.com.
Dick Sheppard
There's a little good news/bad news on the horizon for Reedley taxpayers
Reedley taxpayers received some good news and some bad news in the past week from two recent developments.
Let's start with the good news. In a news release on Aug. 15, the Kings Canyon Unified School District announced that the district recently refinanced bonds that generated $18.16 mil- lion in taxpayer savings. The release said these savings oc- curred by refinancing facilities bonds that were approved by voters in November 2006 to a lower interest rate for the same financing term. During this refi- nancing, the district did not take any cash out from its coffers.
"All savings will be realized by District taxpayers in the form of lower tax bills without any financial benefit by the dis- trict," the release stated. That benefits city and rural property owners within the district. Ac- cording to Adele Nikkel, chief
financial officer for KCUSD, the district "has always felt a fiduciary responsibility to the community. This is a big sav- ings for our community. It is our responsibility to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars.”
Well done by Kings Canyon Unified. But with that good news comes a sobering reality in the future for Reedley residents and those buying products and ser- vices from city businesses.
Paul Melikian, assistant city manager, held an hour-long workshop at the Aug. 13 Reed- ley City Council meeting. The workshop addressed the city's general fund forecast for fis- cal years 2020 through 2025. It's not a pretty picture, despite all the best efforts and diligence by Melikian and city numbers crunchers to keep budget and medical costs as low as possible.
Because of projected in- creases to CalPERS (the state's
employees' re-
tirement sys-
tem), the mini-
mum wage and
other expenses
and expendi-
tures — along
with a flatten-
ing in revenues
— Reedley will see its balanced budget become a deficit by the 2020-2021 fiscal year should the city conduct business as usual with current staffing.
That's why the city is begin- ning plans to bring before the voters a proposed sales tax of a half-cent or three-quarters cent in Reedley. The hope is to take action to get a ballot measure before voters in time for the March 2020 election (also the new date for the state's presi- dential primaries).
We'll have a story on the workshop in the Aug. 29 issue of The Times with details.
Jon Earnest