Page 4 - Mid Valley Times 10-24-19 E-edition

Thursday, October 24, 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 Are we governed by deeply
entrenched political hacks?
Random thoughts about parades, random thoughts, big football games
Rick Curiel — Sanger Editor Jon Earnest — Reedley Editor Dick Sheppard — Editor Emeritus
How in the world, in a country which is renown for checks and bal- ances, have we found ourselves liv- ing under a system where there ap- pears to be a dual track for standards of conduct and justice depending on one's party affiliation? It has be- come abundantly clear that if one is a Democrat or Republican, they can expect entirely different treatment by government agencies and a corruptly agenda.
By Dick Sheppard
When it comes to Sanger’s great annual parades, the Vet- erans’ Parade on the first Sat- urday of November and the Christmas Parade on the first Saturday of December, my role has pretty much been dodging Sanger drivers who ignored barricades and my orange vest while I was trying to organize one of the parade divisions.
This year, the chamber of commerce’s Christmas Parade committee and the Sanger Vet- erans’ Network parade com- mittee apparently took pity on me and asked if I would like to ride in their parades as a grand marshal. Heck, yeah!
Seriously, that’s a really big deal and I am honored beyond words.
I am not foolish or vain enough to believe I am worthy of an honor like that. I am, how- ever, pleased by the opportuni- ty to accept it on behalf of the people who earned it.
For 15 years I did the best I could, as editor of the Sanger Herald, to report and com- ment on the good, the bad and sometimes the ugly goings on in our great community. The Herald won a lot of journalism awards during those 15 years and comments in this “Random Thoughts” column were prob- ably responsible in part for attracting four grand juries to town — in each case to confirm what had already been written in the Herald.
I’m not smart or creative enough to come up with the random thoughts that led to the grand jury investigations
or, for that matter, almost any- thing else good that came out of this column.
I merely parroted, some- times paraphrased, what I heard others talking about at Gong’s, Save Mart back in the days, Walmart, Starbucks, Mc- Donalds, Farmers’ Markets, Oa- sis, Tops and many times in my office while sharing good bour- bon with a late night visitor who didn’t want to be seen with me during daylight hours. (Read the 2008-2009 grand jury report and you’ll understand why.)
It was, in my opinion, a way to give voice to those who didn’t have a newspaper column or any other kind of forum to ex- press their thoughts about the good, the bad and sometimes the ugly goings on in our great community. They trusted me to share their thoughts without putting them in the line of fire when those thoughts were about the ugly things that went on back in the bad old days when evil men and women claiming to be “developers” were aided and abetted by a naïve city council and a city manager who came to town with a resume that in- cluded bankruptcy, forgery and a gambling problem – and then more than lived up to his repu- tation. (It’s all there, in those grand jury reports.)
Those are the heroes, the ones who earned any honors that may come my way because of whatever we – together – ac- complished during those 15 years at the Herald.
We made a good team.
•••
I just heard from Rigo Aria- ga, a member of “The Com-
mittee of Those
Who Served”
that the annual
Sanger Marine
Corps Ball on
Nov. 10 at the
community cen-
ter is sold out,
“and we’re still
getting calls for more tables.”
Hope you’ve already picked up your tickets to one of Sanger’s biggest, classiest, dress up, social events of the year. It’s always on Nov. 10, Sun- day this year, because that’s the date the United States Marine Corps was established in 1775.
If you have any questions or to beg for a ticket, call Miguel “Gunny” Calderon, GySgt, USMC Ret., at (559) 786-0916.
••• Congratulations to Sanger
High’s Homecoming King and Queen, Roberto Zamora and Jenna Montelongo, and to the classy Homecoming Parade Grand Marshal Chuck Shidan! •••
Hope to see you at Tom Flores Stadium this Friday for the Apaches’ game with Edison and the following Friday when San Joaquin Memorial comes to town.
The Apaches made it look easy with a 42-0 romp over Madera South last Friday. Nei- ther Edison nor San Joaquin Memorial will be that easy.
Join the tribe as the 12th man on the field and cheer and tomahawk chop the Apaches on to the playoffs.
Retired, sleeping in Dick Sheppard can be contacted by email at dicksheppard86@ gmail.com.
It's often difficult to ascertain whether the Demo- cratic Party is in charge of their destiny or if the nar- rative setting is done by the media.
Truth is, we appear to be governed by a network of a deeply entrenched political hacks in the bureaucracy who are pulling all the strings while the folks for whom we voted are getting all dressed up everyday in pursuit of their re-election, social life of the Capitol and media appearances. It's pretty clear that they care damned little about that which benefits the daily lives of those who pay their bloated existences.
Donald Trump spoke, quite succinctly, about “drain- ing the swamp” and ridding ourselves of these covertly operating miscreants. Anyone notice where that got him? Lots of guys wearing $3,000 suits bitterly and an- grily turned on the man for even daring to examine the fiefdoms in which they operate. These are all sneaky people who, through the years, have become so embed- ded in government operation that their functions have become essentially invisible to a trusting constituency.
There is something that one watching this mess can ascertain with 100 percent certainty and that is that ev- erywhere throughout Washington there are people who have burrowed deep and do anything to keep the gravy train running. Imagine their panic when Americans elect someone bureaucrats did not expect, and even worse, promised to ferret out misdoing in the nation's capitol. Remember, everyone thought Hillary Clinton would win easily, thereby assuring the status quo would remain.
The deep state, after fattening themselves at the trough for all those years and suddenly being threat- ened with it ending, must have seen it as something more than they could tolerate. Even though Trump has enjoyed tremendous success in lifting a nation out of the doldrums of the Obama-Biden economy, increas- ing economic opportunity of everyone, it's obvious that deep state and Democrat resistance has done great harm to the country.
We're sincerely convinced that although everything we see is about acquiring power and maintaining that power, it should never be at the cost of our security and it is!
Ignoring the crisis at our southern border, 24-7 im- peachment hearings and investigations while ignoring a congressional legislative agenda that is badly in need of attention allows problems to build and fester. Intel- ligence agencies leaking documents of security inter- est greatly handcuff our president to conduct official business with other agencies. One can add to that phony whistleblowers coached and placed by the chairman of the National Intelligence Oversight Committee, and the piling on continues.
When one has people like Mitt Romney, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski as members of the political party which should have one's back, it becomes even more complicated. Much like lemmings, one must admit that all of the Democrats are unified behind their brand of scorched earth politics. Not so with Republicans.
Propping up that smelly alliance of views we have the so-called main stream media who might as well be writing the daily talking points. They are followed closely by Twitter, Yahoo, Google and Facebook.
But, as always, that's only one man's opinion.
Model plane national competition is another hidden gem in MVT region
Fred Hall
compliant media
QUOTE
“My doctor told me to stop having intimate dinners for four. Unless there are three other people.”
— Orson Welles (1915-1985)
Dick Sheppard
This past week, I was able to discover the hidden gem that is Peg Field, site of the 40th U.S. Scale Masters Champion- ship for model airplanes, jets and other miniature radio-con- trolled aircraft.
A remote piece of property just south of Highway 180 off Alta Avenue east of Minkler was transformed into a "mini- airport" with covered tents, vendor booths and viewing areas set up to watch approx- imately 40 qualifiers from around the nation compete in a variety of classes. Aircraft ranged from gasoline-powered single wing propellor planes to
mini-jets that run on jet fuel. The flying models were con- structed from scratch or kits, and featured many intricate details.
A panel of nine judges rated how each competitor looked, flew and was documented. It was an impressive sight to see the creations take off, run loops and even soar above the highway below.
Erik LaCour, president of the Clovis Area Modelers RC Club that hosted this nationals event, said organizers were extremely impressed with the location and setup. This could mean future nationals compe-
titions could re- turn here. and that could mean an economic shot of revenue to the region. •••
Another
dose of congrat-
ulations go out to my former co-worker and now-occasional column neighbor, Dick Shep- pard. Dick's only slowed down a bit since his retirement as Sanger Herald editor, and the honors keep coming in as he's been named grand marshal of the upcoming Sanger Veterans Parade and Christmas Parade.
Jon Earnest