Page 4 - Mid Valley Times 11-7-19 E-edition

Thursday, November 7, 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 Time to assess 'deep state'
Stop for a moment and realize just
how prescient he was when Donald
Trump announced, during his 2016 pres-
idential campaign, that his intent was
to drain the Washington, D.C. swamp.
Governments throughout this great
country have become so powerful that
they are out of control, no longer being
accountable to the voters for their ac-
tions. Unelected department and com-
mission heads routinely take administrative action that literally carries the force of law. Their constituency is no longer the American voter, but rather the lobbying special interest groups or their own political leanings.
We now find ourselves amid an odd set of circum- stances where career government officials decided — on their own — that voters made a mistake in the 2016 presidential election. For the first time in the history of this country, a small group of Ivy League elites decided they knew better and have spent the last three years try- ing to oust a sitting president who has committed no im- peachable offense. To be more explicit, their plans began formulation on election night in 2016. They didn't have enough dignity to even wait until he had been sworn in.
As more and more is revealed involving the Demo- crats three-year-long obsession with impeaching this president, it is becoming abundantly clear that the be- ginnings are deeply imbedded in the government's intel- ligence agencies. Others aiding and abetting include an alphabet soup of administrative level FBI and Justice Department officials. Right about here is where one's thoughts turn to Andrew McCabe, James Comey, Peter Strock, Susan Page, John Brennan and James Clapper who were among the original perpetrators of this hoax. Their insurance plan, I believe they called it.
Numerous other Senate and House investigations have fallen by the wayside, completely lacking in either a crime or in any evidence that would even support the claim of wrongdoing. When FBI Director Jim Comey was unable to construct any scenario that would indicate guilt, he leaked information to the New York Times through a close personal friend. The leaking of that information alone, was a crime in and of itself. No one seemed to care because it resulted in Rod Rosenthal of the FBI being able to appoint a special counsel who just happened to be best friends with Comey. Mueller dogged the president and his family for the next two years and found nothing. Democrats were stunned, but weren't about to concede.
Democrats in the House, who have done nothing except hound Trump for the duration of their power, continued the pursuits with various committees pour- ing over every scrap of the Trump family's presence on earth. Finally, Adam Schiff — who is in charge of all things, the House Intelligence Committee — appears to have a made a deal with the devil in recruiting a “whis- tleblower” who it turns out is not a whistleblower but rather a stenographer for Alexander Vindaman, a mem- ber of the government's intelligence community — one of Trump's most dedicated enemies.
The alleged whistleblower is in every sense, a “paja- ma boy” who had worked for Barack Obama, Joe Biden and John Brennan — in other words, a died-in-the-wool Trump hater. Trouble is that the young man had heard none of the telephone conversation in question and was solicited to relay someone else's (that would be Vinda- man) interpretation. Troubles with the plan arose when Trump released the original transcript and clouded the attempt by Democrats' attempt to play fast land loose with the truth—a Schiff specialty.
Although no one can describe any crime or misde- meanor for action, it appears clear that Democrats are hell-bent on action. On the flip side, there appears to be real criminal investigations coming to fruition which are targeting some of the worst of Trump haters. This coun- try is almost four years overdue for a real assessment of the “deep state” and a housecleaning!
But, as always, that's only one man's opinion.
Reedley College, region's schools maintain tight bond to Fresno State
Rick Curiel — Sanger Editor Jon Earnest — Reedley Editor Dick Sheppard — Editor Emeritus
This week's article about the Oct. 30 "community conversa- tion" event at Reedley College shows just how much of a con- nection the schools in the Mid Valley Times coverage region have to Fresno State. And the university is well aware of the fact, which is a primary reason why the event featuring presi- dent Joseph Castro and other university leaders came to the RC cafeteria.
The numbers don't lie. Of the university's 24,000 stu- dents for the 2019-2020 semes- ter, 1,730 come from Reedley or Sanger, either through the high schools or Reedley Col- lege. This year, 114 RC gradu- ates are enrolled in the Jordan College of Agricultural Sci- ences and Technology while 71 students in the Lyles College of Engineering have ties to RC.
And high school students connections continue to grow. Not mentioned in the article is the Reedley Middle College High School education oppor- tunity. Castro was told that 51 students are enrolled for 2019- 20 with 31 on pace to graduate high school with an associate's degree.
It was encouraging to hear that Fresno State continues to tap into students in the re-
gion with higher education opportunities, but challenges remain. Castro told Roberto Vaca, Orosi High School prin- cipal, about how soaring num- ber of applications and demand have caused "impaction" when it comes to admission. Most re- cently, 9,000 students had been denied admission because of overcrowding and demand.
Castro said he's proud that the university's roughly $6,000 in tuition is a bargain com- pared with many comparable and larger schools. "I'm really happy to tell you that our av- erage debt level for our gradu- ates has remained flat during my presidency," he said to at- tendees. "That's about $18,000 for bachelor's degree. Compare to national average of about $27,000, that's a pretty big dif- ference. Here's the other good news, about half of our stu- dents graduate [and] have no debt at all."
One of the university's speakers at the conversation was Terry Tumey, director of athletics, who spoke of his long- time relationship with RC Hall of Famer Ed Kezirian; Tumey's offensive line coach when he
played football
at UCLA. In
one of the eve-
ning's lighter
moments, Tu-
mey also ac-
knowledged the
Bulldog football
team's failure to
recruit Josh Allen. The former Firebaugh and Reedley College standout later went on to star for the University of Wyoming and now is the starting quar- terback for the NFL's Buffalo Bills.
"I don't know how we missed that one," he told the audience. "But I will make a promise — you guys produce another Josh Allen, and we will be there bright and early to get this guy to be a Fresno State Bulldog."
•••
A shout-out of congratu-
lations goes to the Greater Reedley Chamber of Com- merce and the many downtown businesses who participated in the annual Trick or Treat on G Street event the afternoon of Halloween. It's always great to see throngs of people gather downtown, and an opportunity for children to collect candy in a relatively safe environment. A good job by all involved.
Guest editorial, Page A6
Random thoughts on football officiating, other bad smells
While I know it would be inappropriate to condone what happened last Friday at the Sanger football game with San Joaquin Memorial I can most certainly empathize with the Sanger fan — a mother of one of the players — who vaulted a barrier intended to keep fans in the stands – picked up a pen- alty flag and threw it in the di- rection of one of the officials.
You had to be there.
I’m in agreement with
many Sanger fans, probably including that athletic flag thrower, who would like to see a rematch with a different set of officials who understand the difference between commit- ting unnecessary roughness and defending against unnec- essary roughness.
The rematch could hap- pen down the playoff road if Sanger gets by teams in its bracket, starting with Dinuba this Friday, and SJM does the same in its bracket.
•••
If the Apaches make the
mistake of looking beyond the Emperors when they come to town for a 7 p.m. game in Tom Flores Stadium, it could be the end of the playoff road. Dinu-
ba has a good team and I don’t say that just because I gradu- ated from Dinuba High School back in the 50s. You may have heard of a pretty good Fresno State quarterback who wore an Emperor uniform, Marcus McMaryion. He was named to the Bulldogs’ “Team of the Decade.” By the way, so was Sanger High’s Nikko Motta, now an Apache line coach.
•••
Wondering about that nasty
smell annoying residents in southern Sanger for the past few weeks?
It’s coming from the in- dustrial wastewater treatment plant, according to public works director John Mulli- gan, “As you may recall, every year around this time Gibson Winery receives grapes to be crushed for wine. During their processing they dispose of relatively ‘heavy’ effluent that tends to overwhelm the biologi- cal treatment causing the treat- ed effluent ponds to lose their effectiveness,” said Mulligan.
Among options being con- sidered to solve the problem, according to Mulligan, “is an entirely new treatment plant.”
Not sure how that’s going to
happen because
the way I re-
member it the
City has never
paid off the
last bond debt
it incurred way
back in 1996 to
overhaul the
treatment plant. A 2012 Fitch Ratings report said there was still $19.5 million in outstand- ing wastewater treatment fa- cilities lease revenue refund- ing bonds debt.
I believe the administration back in those days was trying to find a way to finally make a payment or two on the bal- ance, not just on the interest. So perhaps the balance is a little lower now. Also, perhaps that more recent State of Cali- fornia report saying Sanger is in pretty good financial shape will come in handy if the City needs more bond money for a new treatment plant. (Any- body else wonder about what appears to be a contradiction between the Fitch Ratings and the State financial reports?)
Recently retired, sleeping in Dick Sheppard can be con- tacted at dicksheppard86@ gmail.com.
QUOTE
“A conference is a gathering of important people who singly can do nothing, but to- gether can decide that nothing can be done.”
— Fred Allen (1894-1956)
Jon Earnest
Fred Hall
Dick Sheppard