Page 3 - Sanger Herald 4-5-18 E-edition

Random thoughts Will it be a rule of law or a rule of whim?
Maybe a couple more days.
Maybe a week.
Maybe never.
It looked from my chair at the press table
like a battle between committee members who prefer a rule of law to decide what happens with about $2 million a year in tax revenue and a city manager who seems to prefer a rule of whim.
The city manager, Tim Chapa, appeared to want the committee to trust him and the city council to do the right thing when it comes to spending Measure S money only for public safety and not for any other purpose.
The committee's apparent and understand- able lack of trust has grown at about the same rate as the escalating problems caused by a lack of communication or just plain miscom- munication between the council and the com- mittee.
The lack of the committee's trust in the city manager apparently comes from its suspicion that he is intentionally responsible for the com- munication problems.
In my opinion, the council, not the city man- ager, is responsible for the problems related to Measure S governance, problems that became so public they attracted another grand jury in- vestigation.
The trust issues can't be resolved until com- munication problems which caused them have been resolved.
Yet, the council refuses to do anything, anything at all, even though without apparent council oversight and with members of the grand jury sitting in the back of the council chamber during many of the committee meet- ings, the communication and trust issues seem to be getting exponentially worse.
An audit firm that got caught up in problems created by the rampant miscommunication has chosen to walk away and say, in effect, we want
In my OPINION
Common sense and politics just don't seem to go
together in California - or the rest of the nation
SANGER HERALD 3A THURSDAY, APRIL 5, 2018 EDITORIAL & OPINION
By Dick Sheppard
It's going to take more time for me to be able to un- derstand and explain com- pletely in a coherent and understandable way what happened Tuesday evening at the Measure S Citizens Oversight Committee meet- ing.
Dick Sheppard
nothing more to do with Sanger and its Mea- sure S issues, even though we've been offered more money to do another audit.
The audit firm, a private company, has a right to do that.
The city council does not have a right to walk away or turn its back on the problems.
The council needs to step up, acknowledge the problems and take immediate steps to solve them, even if it means getting a new city man- ager or a new committee.
•••
Congratulations to Citizen of the Year Ro-
linda Hernandez and Mr. and Mrs. Farmer Douglas and Norma Hazelton.
Chamber of commerce boss Tammy Wolfe announced the selections this week.
Hernandez and the Hazeltons will be hon- ored at the annual chamber awards banquet on April 20 at the community center. Better get your tickets right away.
Here are the names of a few more Sanger super stars who will be on stage at the banquet:
• Educator of the Year: Nancy Penny
• Firefighter of the Year: Christopher Wad- dle
• City of Sanger Employee of the year: Ja- vier "Jay" Acosta
• Police Officer of the Year: Abraham Ruiz
• Recycler of the Year: Elim Place Dementia Care Sanger
• Special Presentation: Matthew Jerome Navo (Yes, "Jerome.")
Gold Seal Awards: • Les Schwab
• David J. Pearson • Paul Welch
• Kaylee Wood
Golden Bell Chamber Scholarships: • Desiree June Leija
• Mauricio Lamas-Carlos
• Gabriella Rose Ceja
We still don't know the identity of the Moth- er of the Year and the Hall of Fame inductee.
Maybe next week. Stay tuned.
•••
The Herald missed a good story this week. We didn't cover it because we weren't told about it until a few hours before it took place. We found someone to take photos but there just
wasn't time to get details, process photos and find space for it in the paper.
It will be in next week's Herald.
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•••
We've already been told about an event that
will bring home grown hero Tom Flores to town on May 5.
It's the inaugural enshrinement banquet for the new Sanger High School Athletic Hall of Fame.
Tickets are on sale at the high school and they're going fast. Better get yours today.
•••
"The only thing necessary for evil men to tri- umph is for good men to do nothing."
Edmund Burke
Comments, complaints and suggestions may be emailed to sangerherald@gmail.com or maybe made by calling 875-2511
By Fred Hall
`"I don’t make jokes. I just watch the govern- ment and report the facts."
– Will Rogers
When one does a critical
review of the news over the
past week or so, there clear-
ly has been no abatement to
the less-than-lucid thought
process currently sweeping
America. We'vecometo
expect, and even accept the
craziness which passes for
governance and public acceptance of inanity here in California, but I thought the rest of the country was more grounded in reality.
During that period, an over endowed porn star has received headline status by major media outlets without apparently having the temeritytoquestionherveracity. Afterall, this is a woman with a waning career look- ing to “jump start” her future earnings with amovieandabookdeal. Withthevicious- ness being displayed toward our president, coupled with the venomous approach by Hollywood and our mainstream media outlets no one was about to question the strangeness of such a claim, twelve years after the fact.
That would defeat the narrative.
We've been told, even by newspapers
right here in our area, that our 15, 16 and 17 year old children are perhaps the best and brightest among us and should be consulted for answers to constitutionally settled issues. One local newspaper even suggested that
the kids should be consulted in terms of the needsandbudgetsforourschools. Ever watch a teenager go through a hundred dollar bill?
We've even read, in local newspapers, that California is a virtual marijuana desert and somehow it's an unfair situation that resi- dents do not uniformly have access to this mood-alteringdrug. Perhapsourrecently formed Bureau of Cannabis Control should step in and take steps to insure everyone has an equal opportunity to get stoned.
Why not?
Oakland is making sure that convicted criminals will get first choice on licensing as theyareissued. Liberalssayitissomesort of social justice because we originally put them in jail for selling drugs to our children. This process is so stupid I found myself shak- ing my head as I wrote it.
Anyway, California needed another bureau and staff personally chosen from the friends andfamiliesofpoliticians. Whenwehave more than 500 bureaus and committees that do nothing but regulate and restrict the movements and actions of hardworking citi- zens, how much harm can one more cause? We're talking about probably a dozen more
We welcome guest columns at the Herald
bureaucrats, making six-figure salaries, who answer to no one.
California has literally become a magnet for the homeless and down and out because of the ideal weather conditions and our lib- eralsocialmores. A.B.109aswellasprops 47 and 57 provide cover for the very worst amonghumanity. Ifcriminalactivitywere your calling why wouldn't you move to Californiaandsetupshop. Theverysame people in Sacramento who are busy passing such idiocy for legislation are the very same folks who are behind the exodus of people and business we are seeing.
We're dismayed at the fact that police agencies who receive little or no support from our state government have recently been called account in area newspapers and some of the media for their having to use deadly force in dealing with criminal sus- pects who feel almost “bulletproof” because of the special protections provided out of Sacramento. A“ride-along”withapolice officer is a great eye opener as to some of the situationswithwhichtheyarefaced. When the first command is “show me your hands” and they won't give up their precious cell phone an officer has only a split second to determinewhetheritisaphoneoragun. If he guesses wrong, he won't go home to his familythatnight. Emptyyourhandsand show them if you're ever challenged and left- wing writers won't have to agonize over your fate.
Stupid seems difficult to fix in this day and age but it's good to be a thoughtful person who recognizes poor government when one sees and experiences it.
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.
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