Page 3 - Sanger Herald e-Edition 5-16-19

SANGER HERALD 3A THURSDAY, MAY 16, 2019 EDITORIAL & OPINION
Random thoughts Train wrecks and smoke and mirrors ...
By Dick Sheppard
Waytogo to those special Sanger people who will be honored for their above and beyond community service efforts at tomorrow's 95th annual chamber of com- merce awards banquet.
Chamber boss Tammy
Wolfe has a couple of added
incentives to get you to the event - yes there are still a few tickets available at the chamber office, 1789 Jensen Ave., Suite B. Stop by, call 875-4575 or email sangerchamber@gmail.com.
A Raiders' helmet signed by Tom Flores will be part of the live auction and a Raiders' T-shirt signed by Flores will be on a silent auction table.
It's very likely Flores
will become a member of
the pro football hall of fame next year. So, you'd better bid on that helmet now, before its value goes up.
•••
Dr. Marvin Call and his wife Jean died with-
in weeks of each other. They had been living at their home away from home - Sanger - near Albuquerque for several years.
Dr. Call practiced medicine in Sanger from 1963 to 1978. He once said he delivered more than 650 babies while he was in Sanger.
He was the Apaches' team doctor for 24 years and the press box in Tom Flores Stadium is named after him.
Tom Nicholson is among the many friends of the Calls who believe it's important to honor them here in Sanger. Tom is in the process of organizing a memorial service. He's looking at 11 a.m. on June 15 for the service - but is not sure yet where it will be held.
It will have to be a very large venue. Maybe a stadium where a press box named after Dr. Call would be overlooking the service.
•••
Those train wrecks that seem to occur at
every Measure S Citizens Oversight Commit- tee meeting are just plain ugly.
They've gotten even uglier since the mayor with the council's approval appointed former mayor Michael Montelongo to the committee.
A very assertive Montelongo, not a fan of the Measure S grant program for nonprofits with gang and drug prevention/intervention programs, does a good job of taking over each committee meeting and leading the commit- tee members and audience on a guided tour of all the reasons he believes the grant program should not exist.
He is challenged more often to stay on topic by members of the audience than by anyone on the committee.
Former committee member Melissa Griggs tried bringing civility and order to the over- sight sessions before resigning after the April 15 meeting.
Committee chairman Johnny Perez took a shot at it at the May 13 meeting before declar- ing at the end of that meeting that he was going to resign.
While Montelongo may be the tip of the spear, the spear was hurled at the committee by mayor Frank Gonzalez and the council that approved Montelongo's appointment to the committee.
The results were entirely predictable.
Montelongo has made no secret of his belief that all Measure S money should go to police
and fire departments, not to nonprofits. Anyone who has paid any attention at all to Sanger politics knows that Montelongo is a take charge kind of guy who is not easily confused
by facts once he makes up his mind.
So, the results were entirely predictable - chaos on the committee until everyone either agrees with Montelongo or resigns from the committee to get away from his sermon at ev- ery meeting about how Measure S was never intended to provide money to nonprofits, just
to the police and fire departments.
Why was he appointed?
Why did he suddenly veer off track at the
May 13 meeting and surprise everyone with a motion to recommend that the city council up the ante to nonprofits by tossing $35,000 into a pot that already held $8,000? (See the story on page 1A.)
I don't have a Magic 8-Ball to answer those questions and I'm as baffled as you.
Montelongo's principal detractor at over- sight meetings has been SAM Academy boss Jerry Valadez who frequently challenges Mon- telongo's mantra that nonprofits are a stain on the very existence of the public safety tax pro- gram.
Valadez is among a multitude, that doesn't seem to include the city manager, staff or city council, who lament the cloud of confusion that has created chaos in the nonprofit grant pro- gram since city manager Tim Chapa walked into city hall.
Chapa and the council had an opportunity to clarify Measure S language regarding nonprof- its - but declined to do it - before the measure went to voters for renewal in 2016.
Why? Again no Magic 8-Ball. •••
Is it possible to agree with both Montelongo and Valadez?
Absolutely, because they hold the same posi- tion on the cause of the problem and its solu- tion.
Montelongo is right to ask that the city at- torney clarify the intent of Measure S.
Was the resolution that created the grant program carried over when the measure was renewed in 2016?
The ballot language didn't say it was. Neither did it say it wasn't.
The train wrecks with the Measure S non-
profit grant program - and the siphoning off of Measure S money to bolster the general fund - will continue until the council finally demands that the city attorney and the city manager clarify the intent and the language of the ordinance that defines Measure S.
Is that likely to happen?
Probably not.
There have been many opportunities to do
it and all have been ignored.
Who benefits from the confusion? Certainly not the nonprofits or the young
people who would be served by the gang and drug prevention/intervention programs .
The city manager and council would appar- ently rather see the nonprofit grant program incrementally dismantled rather than to do the right thing. The right thing would be to ask for a legal opinion and then to clarify the language of the ordinance. But that might make it neces- sary for the council to formally rescind what for all but maybe two of the councilmembers appears to be a program that serves only one real purpose, draining off money that could be used to create the illusion of a balanced general fund budget.
That confusing language and the opportuni-
ties it creates for a multitude of interpretations about how the money can and cannot be used is even more necessary after that auditor's re- port called attention to how utility funds have been used to create the illusion of a balanced general fund budget - while handing out lots of pay raises that might not be sustained if non- profits are allowed to continue to drain off pub- lic safety funds that are needed by the general fund.
Smoke and mirrors?
You betcha and lots of them.
•••
Montelongo and Valadez are both right.
Get this problem resolved and move on even if it doesn't work in favor of a balanced general fund budget which probably hasn't really been balanced in a long time anyway.
•••
"The only thing necessary for evil men to triumph is for good men to do nothing."
- Edmund Burke
Please direct your questions or comments to sangerherald@gmail.com.
Dick Sheppard
In my OPINION
Social media is creating a new version of
the English language - SMH!
By Fred Hall
as publishers instead of platforms they will continue to censor information with which they agree and continue to publish stuff which leads to an ever dumber American population. Publishers can be sued in a court of law for their malfeasance; Congress continues to allow “platforms” to do as they please with no form of repercussion.
Spelling and punctuation are no longer
a requirement taught by schools as
being needed for any sort of intelligent communication. There was a time when English involved reading and understanding the great works of literature in the Western world. Now, more and more, we find that many of the great books are no longer politically correct and instructors promote far inferior reading as a requirement for students. We have, instead, substituted racial and cultural quotas on curriculum as guides for recommended reading. Where has simple common sense gone?
An interesting contrast to our “woke” modern day education and one from the days when students were taught writing, reading, arithmetic and history can be drawn if one takes a few moments and goes to
the computer and checks on “eighth grade graduation test from 1895.” Very few of
us today could hold any hope of passing that examination. Remember, that was for eighth graders! Probably the most exciting discovery in that bit of historical perusing would be the fact that those listed subjects were still being taught in the classroom— even history!
If I were to offer a single piece of advice to today's student it would be as simple as learn to read well, write well and communicate well. Communication skills can't be overemphasized in the job market or about any thing anyone does in the real world. The garbage we are currently exposed to on a daily basis of phonetically abbreviated words, little or no punctuation and various other ills will have, I suspect,
a far more grievous affect on coming generations than anyone can anticipate. I even had a high school teacher once tell me a horror story about one of their students submitting an essay written in social media text scripting.
But, as always, that's only one man's opinion.
Postscript: Bynowyou'veprobably
taken note of the fact that Colorado recently approved hallucinogenic mushrooms as being approved for use by people with “deep”depression. Some people are already carrying a medical marijuana card and soon a medical psychedelic mushroom card will be added. What's next a medical cocaine card, a medical methamphetamine card or a medical heroin card? Don't laugh because California can't be far behind. Does anyone need more proof of a cultural decline?
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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We've often written
about the sorry state of
the American educational
experience but it has now
reached the critical phase
where we are about to lose
the correct usage of the
Englishlanguage. There
can be little doubt that
much of it can be attributed to uncontrolled immigration and our government mandated usage of the illegal's native language in all forms. Teachingmethods,socialmediaand a plethora of other methods have also greatly erodedtheuseofpropergrammar. Isee
an increasing use of incorrect grammar by television personalities and celebrities that is almost painful and yet, these are the people are children admire and attempt to emulate.
The requirements for U.S. Citizenship are quite specific in requiring applicants be able to read, write and speak basic English. There can be little doubt that requirement is either ignored or trampled on by bureaucrats.
Sad to say, the people who suffer most economically in the competitive job market arethosepeoplewithnoEnglishskills. This is,afterallanEnglishspeakingcountry. It
is a perfect example of how liberals, who
in their avowed efforts to help people, are actually harming them!
If one will take a moment to review many of their monthly statements from utilities and others it becomes obvious, from the numberoflanguagescontainedtherein, that the bureaucracy has bent over backward
to eliminate the basic English requirement. The more accommodations we make for something that is improper the more it is acceptedasthenorm. Oursorryjudicial systemcanalsobeconsidered complicitin this ugly development.
The government further displays how irrational it has become by displaying otherlanguagesinourvotingmaterials. I always thought that one must be a citizen to participate in the electoral process so by listing a secondary language our officials are either ignoring the requirements of proper voting restrictions or are actually encouraging non-citizen participation.
Politicians openly pander to these non- English speaking residents.
That only represents a small portion of our problems when it comes to learning proper usage of a language (English) that people aroundtheworldstrivetolearn. Formuch of the balance one can blame our educational system and the subversive erosion of social media where everything is so dumbed-down that it leaves one shaking one's head at what passes for civil communication in today's America.
Whether it's Facebook, Twitter, SnapChat or any of the similar modes
of communication by any other inane sounding name. There's not a dime's worthofdifferenceinanyofthem. The lowest common denominator is the well establishedrule! Twitter,inparticular,has become a literal pile of garbage from real outliers. Untilthesepeopleareidentified
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