Page 4 - Mid Valley Times 6-18-20 E-edition

Thursday, June 18, 2020 | 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 Woke movement is
leaving quite a wake
When anything seizes public dis- course and acclaim among the media and young, college-educated young- sters such as “woke”, I always try to turn to definition of the word in an at- tempt to establish some context.
Immanuel High live graduation a precursor to future school events?
Rick Curiel — Sanger Editor Jon Earnest — Reedley Editor Dick Sheppard — Editor Emeritus
Fred Hall
I have to admit, it felt a little strange to again cover a live community event featur- ing more than a handful of people. Living in the world of "shelter in place" for much of the spring will bring out that reaction, even though I've re- mained busy working full-time with The Times.
But the June 3 Immanuel High School graduation cer- emony was a reminder at how much I've missed the activi- ties usually associated with the school year — particularly the graduations at the end of a school year. The school con- ducted a traditional gradua- tion ceremony in the face of "virtual" online ceremonies throughout the Central Valley and most of California and the nation, and the 57 participating graduates were at least able to experience one final chance to gather together and fellowship with their longtime classmates. That included three graduates — Jazmine Cabrera, Megan Pe- na and Claire Ramirez — who
earned Lifetime Eagle Awards by attending Immanuel Schools for all 13 of their years.
Because of the COVID-19 outbreak that took away the fi- nal two months-plus of on-cam- pus instruction, there were sig- nificant changes to Immanuel High's commencement. The ceremony moved from indoors inside the Reedley Mennonite Brethren Church to outside in the County Line Stadium at the Immanuel Sports Complex.
The graduates sat socially distanced from one another, with groups flanking both sides of a stage. They were presented with awards and their diplomas that had been cleaned and protected, and the only close contact was when immediate families of each graduate posed for photos on the stage. Family members watched the ceremony from the west grandstand seating area. Masks were optional, although only some family members in the stands wore them.
Ryan Wood's explanation for the live graduation was a
simple one: the
graduates and
their families
wanted one,
and would take
the steps neces-
sary to make it
happen. Those
desires came
weekly Zoom meetings and Q&A sessions.
"Early on, they said we want to go back to school if possible. Very early on, [they said] we want to have a graduation," Wood said. "They made it clear on what they wanted. Why would Isay, 'no, you don't know what you're talking about, we're not going to do it.' That's not how we operate around here."
Wood said that Immanuel families gave highly positive feedback about the graduation, and outdoor ceremonies could be repeated in the future. Based on how smoothly the ceremony went, it could become a new tradition.
Jon Earnest is Reedley edi- tor The Times.
I think it was Andy Warhol who said in the future every- one will be world famous for about 15 minutes, or something like that. My memory has not been all that good lately. Any- way, the comment went a long way toward popularizing the concept that media scandals and other claims to fame would almost always be fleeting.
By the way, Warhol was way before Facebook and the cur- rent crop of biased networks spewing their propaganda that is barely disguised as news. But he was right on the mark when it came to the poor mur- der hornet, a made-up story that among all the other non- sense flooding network “news” and social media couldn’t get enough traction to last even 15 minutes.
•••
There’s a Kenny Rogers
country song that goes some- thing like this,
“You picked a fine time to leave me Lucille, with four hungry children and crops in
the field...”
Could be the Sanger city administration glee club might be singling a variation of that song to former police chief Sil- ver Rodriguez who, after seven years, apparently knew when to fold ‘em, turned in his resig- nation and walked away from a job that might be a little harder to fill after several cities raised a cry to defund their police de- partments.
To make it even more in- teresting, while I doubt the de- fund the P.D. chant originated in Sanger, variations of it have been heard for years from the dais with council member Humberto Garza wanting more money put into social services and less into guns and “boots on the ground.” And ever since Measure S, the public safety tax, passed, Garza’s buddy in the audience, Osvaldo Vera, has begged for the same thing — more money for the kids and less for the cops.
It’s probably going to make the selection process a lot
more interest- ing. Stay tuned. More later.
•••
A day to re-
member, June
25, 1950, when
North Korea
invaded South
Korea. A heartfelt salute to all comrades in arms, especially those who served during the Korean War, which started 70 years ago.
I miss the guys and gals from AmVets, VFW and the American Legion who used to get together once a month for biscuits and gravy — and lots of bacon — during breakfast at the Legion Hall in Sanger; before Corona meant anything to any of us other than a good Mexican beer. (Did I mention lots of bacon?)
Dick Sheppard is editor emeritus for The Times and can be contacted by email at dick- sheppard86@gmail.com.
QUOTE
“An education isn't how much you have com- mitted to mem- ory, or even how much you know. It's being able
to differentiate between what you do know and what you don't.”
— Anatole France (1844-1924)
Jon Earnest
When looking up the meaning of
woke, I found only a reference to the
definition of wake. It might surprise
you, as was my case, that the word
wake refers to the trail of turbulence left behind.
Suddenly the mess being advocated and currently left behind would qualify this as the “woke generation.” They are burning down small community stores that were family owned; rioting, looting and stealing; tearing down historical statues and, because of their ignorance, often defacing ones that were tributes to blacks who fought with the Union. They have come to feel so em- powered by the inaction of Democratic governors and mayors that they have burned down police stations and actually seized large areas of privately held real estate in downtown Seattle.
This is about the point where you're probably asking what public officials intend to do about it to deal with the problem. Much of the media who lie to us on a routine basis say we don't need to do anything because their occu- pation of Seattle is like a garden party or farmers market. With all the graffiti and garbage everywhere in “CHAZ” that's kind of tough to swallow. For your information, Chaz is an amalgamated mess composed of Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone. Makes you kind of proud doesn't it?
Helping break the camel's back there are advocates for defunding and ridding ourselves of law enforce- ment. That truly strains any rational thought when one considers the amount of violence in this country, coupled with the great social experiment of releasing convicts and eliminating their need to post cash bail. That is literally a get-out-of jail-free card. We're guar- anteed an endless supply of criminals who won't have to worry about the police.
The first — and easiest — group to blame would be the Democratic Party and their members who have been able to spin-off a group which identifies themselves as Socialist Democrats. Were it only that easy! There is an ample group of weak-kneed Republicans who are capitu- lant to almost anything to get the left-wing press and Washington social circle to like them.
The last time I saw any statistics on the matter they indicated that over 90 percent of those employed in news gathering and reporting efforts regularly voted for the Democrat candidate. Their political contributions all flow in the same direction. Early last weekend while watching coverage of the police involved shooting in At- lanta, I was struck by the difference in coverage.
When one of these events occur I usually tune back and forth between Fox, CNN, MSNBC and One Ameri- can News to watch the difference in coverage.
Commentators from CNN and MSNBC seemed to take the role of agitators instead of reporters. A great deal of emphasis, via film, was focused on the burning of the fast food store as well as statements and interviews with family members of the man who had been shot. Interviews with the crowd are often nonsensical and provocative. How did the family “lawyer-up” so quickly?
Fox and One American News, to their credit, seemed to just report the facts as known and avoid inflaming a volatile situation. Sensationalism has become a business plan for too many members of media.
To the mayor of Atlanta: It's not right to fire an of- ficer before there is even an investigation.
But, as usual, that's only one man's opinion.
Thisjustin! TheRepublicofChazhasrenameditself Chop according to their public officials. They also agreed to return three square blocks which they had stolen from Seattle and have agreed not to prosecute the government.
Random thoughts on fleeting media scandals, defunding police and bacon
Dick Sheppard
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