Page 3 - Sanger Herald 7-12-18 E-edition

Thank you Mr. Chapa
little more time off is always appreciated.
Sadie likes that I get to stay home another evening to play fetch with her, have an early dinner and maybe walk to the
SANGER HERALD 3A THURSDAY, JULY 12, 2018 EDITORIAL & OPINION
Random thoughts Those who oppose city hall shenanigans are slow to learn ...
By Dick Sheppard
Independence Day may
be my favorite Sanger holi-
day because of the block
parties, the annual Jenni
Park Parade and Ice Cream
Fest and now a similar
patriotic parade in the older
Stonehaven subdivision, the
city's fireworks spectacular with my favorite events caterer Sadie Mae and her delicious short ribs and peach cobbler and an inspiring flag retirement ceremony by my buddies in AMVETS Post 98.
What I like most about those events is the opportunity to visit with busy neighbors and friends and catch up on what's going on in Sanger outside of city hall.
My job tends to keep me focused on things that are really not as important as a good relationship with friends and family, but need to be reported because they involve people who control the city's purse strings and who are responsible for the health and welfare of the residents of Sanger.
Except for a few weekends not filled with activity that must be covered for the Herald, holidays and a few early mornings are about the only times I am able to get away from local politics, the frequently confusing drama at city hall and people who are upset with me for one reason or another, usually because of too little or too much coverage.
A little terrier named Sadie is my mental health therapist. She takes me along on her morning walks around the neighborhood to check for new pee mail and to bark at squir- rels in the park. She also lets me go along
on her Sunday afternoon car rides around town to see what's going on outside our little neighborhood - and maybe pick up some ice cream. We always see lots of family gather- ings and bounce houses in Greenwood Park, lots of kids running and playing in JFK Park. Jenni Park has its walkers and joggers, fami- lies barbecuing and people working out on the relatively new exercise equipment. The little park - I don't know if it has a name - at Church and Greenwood avenues always has children and parents playing and family dogs chasing sticks, balls and each other.
Sanger is a great family town and the fam- ilies all seem to love parks in the summer. We need more parks, more soccer fields, more softball diamonds, more barbecue pits and fewer squirrels.
•••
I would be remiss if I didn’t thank our city
manager Tim Chapa and the majority of the members on the city council who made the Measure S Citizens Oversight Committee so irrelevant that it’s no longer necessary for me to cover the committee’s meetings unless there’s something on the agenda related
to Measure S gang and drug intervention/ prevention grants. A
park if it's cool enough.
It’s obvious the city manager and the
majority of the council members who always approve anything the city manager recom- mends, have no interest in any input from the oversight committee – or the grand jury - about how the approximately $2 million each year that comes in from the public safety sales and use tax should be spent.
The oversight committee – in name only – has been left, temporarily in my opinion, with just one responsibility, to sort through grant requests, make recommendations and hope the council will approve them and the city staff won’t screw them up too much.
Temporarily, I believe, because recent actions by the city manager and members
of his staff seem to be leading up to a take- over of the grant program and the subse- quent awarding of grant money according
to the whim of the city manager - once again bypassing that pesky committee and its annoying obsession with rules that frequently get in the way of the wishes of the city man- ager and his lap dog city council.
If the takeover happens, the only reason for an “oversight” committee will be because city ordinance 1094, ignored by the city man- ager and council when it doesn’t serve their purposes and quoted as though it's gospel when it does, calls for an oversight commit- tee but doesn't mention any penalty for ignor- ing the committee or the ordinance itself.
I’m sure that what's happening now is not what voters had in mind when they heard from proponents of the measure and read in ordinance 1094 on the ballot that the Measure S fund would have an “oversight” committee.
But in a city where apathy seems to reign supreme when it comes to what goes on at city hall, who really cares besides a grand jury that will be just as ignored as was that obsolete, almost extinct as the dodo bird “oversight” committee.
In Sanger, the vast majority of residents obviously care more about barbecuing and potholes than politics. I’ve heard it said that Sanger politicians are slow to learn. I believe the contrary. I believe they have learned well. They have learned that so few residents and potential voters are paying attention – that as long as they take care of those pesky potholes - they can do whatever they want without fear of reprisal or long term repercussions.
I believe the ones who are slow to learn are those few residents who really seem to care about and pay attention to what goes on atcityhall. Forsomereason,afteryearsof being proven wrong, they still appear to feel they can make a difference by showing up at council meetings and speaking their minds, posting their concerns on Facebook, writing letters to the editor and sending complaints to the county grand jury. I believe that’s what Einstein called a form of insanity, doing the same thing over and over again and hoping for a different result.
Those are all things that may be emotion- ally satisfying, but they get very little, if any, attention from the city manager or council and produce practically no results.
Nothing is going to change until the few people who really care about and pay atten- tion to what happens at city hall get together to recruit and organize like minded people
into voting blocs to elect like minded people in each city council district.
That will obviously take way more plan- ning, organization and follow through than showing up at council meetings, posting on Facebook, writing letters to the editor and bringing a fifth impotent civil grand jury to town to marvel at and criticize the idiosyn- crasies of our unique municipal governance.
•••
If you want to be a candidate in the
November election, you have from next Monday, July 16 to Aug. 10 to get your paper- work to the city or county clerk, depending on what office you're seeking.
Next Tuesday, Brandi Orth, the county clerk and registrar of voters, is holding a seminar that, according to Brandi, will cover everything you need to know about running for office. It's from 5:30-7 p.m. at the Fresno County elections training room at 4525 E. Hamilton Ave. in Fresno.
To reserve a seat, contact Victoria Najera at vnajera@co.fresno.ca.us or call (559) 600- 3020 or Rachel Lopez at ralopez@co.fresno. ca.us or call (559) 600-3023.
There will be three city council and three school board positions on the ballot. I've heard there will be a challenger for each incumbent.
•••
Maybe, after mentioning the election it
would be a good time to remind candidates, some of whom will be first time politicians, that it is not in a journalist's job description to be a public relations arm of any candidate, the city government - or the chamber of com- merce, for that matter.
And, yes, by the way, the Herald is biased.
Ken Paulson, president of the Newseum and Freedom Forum described it best, “It’s
a bias against whoever’s in charge in the moment, maintaining a healthy skepticism about how the public’s business is done. That’s not always comfortable for govern- ment officials, but it’s in the best interests of a democracy.”
Yes we may sometimes seem standoffish. Journalism students are taught to beware of getting too close to sources. So, in order to maintain objectivity and credibility we try
to adhere to a journalists' code of ethics by keeping politicians, policymakers and entities that rely on tax dollars at arm’s length. No hugging. We're not trying to be unfriendly. We're just trying to stay objective, out of the way and in the background, not making our- selves a part of the story.
"We have met the enemy and he is us." - Pogo
Comments, complaints and suggestions may be emailed to sangerherald@gmail.com or may be made by calling 875-2511.
Dick Sheppard
In my OPINION
Select the most qualified person
By Fred Hall
The recent Fourth
of July celebrations throughout the nation were in remembrance of the publication of this country's Declaration
of Independence from England on July 4, 1776.
seeking approval of the Congress.
These issues have all become pertinent
because of the recent retirement of Justice Kennedy and the President's imminent appointment of a new Justice to The Supreme Court.
Before even knowing the candidate cho- sen was U.S. Circuit Court Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, we were being inundated with leftists crying of “returning to the middle ages” because of their concerns over abor- tionrights. Frankly,Idon'tunderstandthe fact that this has become the “holy grail”
of women's civil rights but I'm pretty sure that the discovery of a “privacy” right in the Constitution was a political invention to sat- isfy a political whim.
It's way above my pay grade to determine the validity of Roe v. Wade but in view of the outpouring of love and support for babies, it's difficult to believe that the “law of the land” would sanction ending the viability or even thelifeofachild. Thisentireindustry
has grown to the point where there now exists a giant nationwide operation, Planned Parenthood, receiving taxpayer funding, to terminate pregnancies.
Again, that just seems wrong when that is one of the preeminent criteria used by the left in the staffing of our court system.
Strict adherence to Constitutional law, the intellectual strength to correctly interpret the law and a strong trail of legal writing should be the basis for any such selec- tion—be it Republican, Democrat, liberal or conservative. Socialist leanings and political agendas must be absolute non-starters. I
feel comfortable in saying that I'm sure that would be the wishes of our Founding Fathers.
There are no reserved seats for either men or women. For once, let's just select the most qualified individual to occupy that seat.
Why don't we return to the concept of picking the best person for every job that impacts our daily lives and the greatness of America? That's surely not where we've been headed politically for quite some time but it would go a long way toward insuring the future of this great country.
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.
Fred Hall
“We, the people of the United States, in order to create a more perfect union, estab- lish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the blessing of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity do ordain and establish this Constitution for The United States of America.”
This preceding concisely penned para- graph, in all its simplicity, is the preamble for that which is the basis of the supreme law of theland—TheUnitedStatesConstitution. It was never intended, as is the contention of many liberals and left-wing politicians, to be a malleable or fluid document. It is the very basis for the interpretation of every law in thisland. Therearehardandfastmethods of altering this document and they do not include a handful of judges on the Supreme Court!
It was the vision of those Forefathers that there be a House and Senate to make the laws; an Administrative branch to enforce those laws; and a Judicial branch to inter- pret those laws as to whether they pass Constitutionalmuster. Thisjudicialbranch was supposed to be completely apolitical. Decisions they made in interpreting the law were to be solely based upon the facts of the case and an unbiased interpretation of the intent of the original law makers.
It's really just that simple and yet in recent years, we find that there are many bureaucrats and government officials who seemconfusedbytheentireprocess. Evento the most casual observer it has become obvi- ous that appointments to the Supreme Court havebecomeapoliticalfootball. Thereare all sorts of “litmus tests” and virtual enemas of anyone appointed as a potential candidate
That began a great deal
of “heavy lifting” by our Forefathers which resulted in the ratification of our Constitution which created our current form of republican governmentonJune1,1789. Thathistoric signing began 229 years of freedom in the most solid form of governance on earth!
An election season of waves
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