Page 4 - Reedley Exponent 8-2-18 E-edition

The Reedley Exponent A4 Thursday, August 2, 2018 Editorial & Opinions
Serving “The World’s Fruit Basket” since 1891
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
Jon Earnest — Editor
Chris Aguirre — Sports Editor Jodie Reyna — Panorama Editor (interim) Budd Brockett — Editor Emeritus
It was almost as if a breath of fresh air swept over me while watching Major League Baseball showcase their annual All-Star game about two weeks ago. The stadium and the players were awash in the national colors. Service members who were medal winners were recognized and honored during the pre-game ceremonies and the players stood proudly with hands or caps over their heart during the playing of the national anthem. Pride of who we are and where we live was on display everywhere.
Reedley fire crew doing its part to battle blaze threatening Yosemite
Fred Hall
As mountain and foothill re- gions in California continue to burn in this deadly summer fire season, four members of the Reedley Fire Department enter their third week battling the longest-burning blaze.
Engineer Fabian Morales and firefighters Arturo Gonzales, Jeremy Luther and Noah Montes and one of the department’s engines — number 531 — have been up in the Mariposa region battling the Ferguson Fire that threatens Yosemite National Park. The blaze was 33 percent contained — having burned just more than 58,000 acres — as of 8 p.m. July 31. The fire started on July 13 and has gradually crept closer to perhaps the country’s most famous national park.
The Reedley fire crew has helped build containment lines and clear brush from the area where the fire continues to spread. Because of the threat to Yosemite, many re- gions of the park remain closed at least through Sunday, Aug. 5. Areas closed to the public include Yosemite Valley, Wawona Road, the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias, the Mer- ced Grove of Giant Sequoias and Hetch Hetchy. The smoke and haze are miserable enough in the Valley, but they’re extra thick near the fire scene and continue to hinder the firefighting operations.
As so often happens with mul- tiple wildfires, the Ferguson Fire’s deadly burn effects (clamming the lives of two fire personnel have been overshadowed by a larger and more fierce blaze. The Carr Fire in North- ern California, near Redding, explod-
ed to life on July 23 and had torched nearly 113,000 acres in just eight days. This blaze has proved even more destructive, destroying nearly 1,000 residences and 16 commercial structures in the Redding area. Five people — including two firefighters — have died from the fire.
As always, good thoughts and prayers and support go out Reedley, California and all fire crews from the western United States teaming up to get these killer fires under control.
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Tragedy on Central Valley roads
continue to take lives of people with Reedley and eastern Fresno County connections. Sadly, two multi-fatality crashes within a 24-hour period on rural roads and highways in Madera County killed eight people — seven of them with a connection to the Reedley-Orange Cove area.
A two-vehicle crash on rural Road 30 in Madera County claimed five lives, three of them men living in the Kings County area. Two of them, Hanford resident Joe Avila, 75, and Laton resident Taylor Hanning, 32, both attended school in Reedley. Avila starred in football and baseball for two years (1960-61 and ‘61-62) at Reedley College, and was ultimately inducted into the college’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2006. He also was a world class fast-pitch softball player in the 1960s and 70s, and was hon- ored with a 2010 induction into the International Softball Congress Hall of Fame.
Hanning attended high school in Reedley, graduating from Imman-
uel High School in 2004. He was a standout golfer, earning four var- sity letters and eventually golfing competitively for two years at Reed- ley College. He later owned a suc- cessful well repair business in Hanford.
QUOTE
“You need only reflect that one of the best ways to get yourself a reputation as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating the very phrases which our founding fathers used in the struggle for independence.”
Charles Austin Beard (1874-1948)
Protect residents from fraudulent solar panel practices
By Joaquin Arambula
Guest columnist
I’ve become alarmed by the increase in fraudu- lent practices involving so- lar panel installations that target our most vulnerable residents in Fresno County. These residents are prom- ised substantial savings on their energy bills. Instead, they find themselves on the hook for thousands of dol- lars, left with inferior work and, in some cases, have property liens to pay.
In late June, my office collaborated with the state Department of Community Services and Development on three workshops to share information with communi- ty agencies, consumer ad- vocates, energy businesses and others about these in- cidents and what can be done. Our partners included the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office, Central California Legal Services, the Contractors State Li- cense Board, the California Public Utilities Commission, and the Dolores Huerta Foundation.
Let me be clear: my con- cerns are not about all solar panel installation compa- nies. There are good actors
who abide by the rules and regulations that our state has established to help Cali- fornians make their homes more energy efficient.
Our focus is on the un- ethical practices undertak- en by certain third-party contractors and installers, who typically prey on senior citizens and low-income residents. Be assured that law enforcement and other agencies that are investigat- ing these cases are working to relieve residents of eco- nomic responsibility with- out damage to their credit. And, they are planning to take action.
For example, at one of the workshops we heard from an attorney for Cen- tral California Legal Ser- vices, who said her agency has seen a spike in calls from communities, includ- ing Parlier and Fresno. She shared this story: a door-to- door salesman told an elder- ly, Spanish-speaking gentle- man that he was eligible for free solar panels. The sales- man told the gentleman that he needed to sign on a com- puter tablet so they could inspect his roof — what he really unknowingly signed was a contract.
CCLS was able to get him out of the contract without harming his credit, plus a $900 reimburse- ment. But, without help, the gentleman would have been respon- sible for payments over 25
years totaling $35,000. Here are just some of the measures you can take if you’re interested in solar
panels:
• Don’t fall for high-
pressure tactics or “affin- ity” fraud. You have the right to spend time reading details.
• Ask for materials. And, you have the right to a printed contract that is in your primary language.
• Ask if your property taxes will be affected. Is this a lease or for ownership of the panels?
• Don’t pay up front more than 10 percent of the contract price, or $1,000, whichever is less. And don’t pay cash.
• Hire only state-li-
censed contractors. You can check the license number and status at the Contrac- tors State License Board website, cslb.ca.gov (which also provides other informa- tion) or by calling 1-800-321- 2752.
• Get at least three bids, check out references and review their past work in person.
• If you believe you are a victim of fraud — or be- lieve an attempt was made — file complaints with as many agencies as you can. These agencies include the Contractors State License Board at 1-800-321-2752; the Consumer Affairs Branch of CPUC at 1-800-649-7570; and the Fresno County Dis- trict Attorney’s Office at (559) 600-3156.
By informing residents about solar panel fraud, we hope more people will con- tact authorities and seek as- sistance. Together, we can make sure we all do what we can to protect our fellow residents and their homes as we strive to achieve clean energy solutions.
Joaquin Arambula is the representative for Califor- nia’s 31st Assembly District, which includes Reedley.
Joaquin Arambula
Jon Earnest
Contrast that, if you will, with the sorry state of affairs being displayed by the spoiled young players — and the league itself— of the National Football League. The flap over participants be- ing allowed to show their disrespect and even contempt for the American way will apparently be allowed to continue. It’s a safe bet that this coming season there will be continued sitting, kneel- ing or other forms of disrespect for the American flag during all pre-game ceremonies.
Strange thing about these overpaid, and as I said earlier, spoiled players, is that I managed to get through last season with- out watching a single down of professional football and I survived, quite well!
Television ratings continue to plummet and attendance is sharply off, but they don’t seem to care. One of these days the league will discover that the very folks they are busy turning off each and every week with their antics are the very individuals who help pay their bloated salaries for playing a kids’ game! They claim their protests are because of perceived inequities in the way police deal with members of the black community.
The standard condemnation of police brutality is always used by the soft-on-crime liberals when any physical force is required to subdue the bad guys. Inevitably there are rare occasions when extreme prejudice (having to use one’s service weapon) is unavoid- able with today’s entitled criminal element. Just take a look at the havoc which California has wrought with the infamous Proposi- tions 47 and 57!
Please don’t resort to the cliched and time-worn arguments that take into consideration “the plantation” because I don’t believe that. America still has seriously deep-seated problems, although some are occasionally whipped up by “race pimps.” America, as a rule, has moved beyond that. Anyway, there is certainly no in- dication that America’s past problems with slavery involved pay rates that ran into the millions annually. National Football League players are, in no way, disrespected or mistreated. Their wounds are self-inflicted.
The National Basketball Association and Major League Base- ball have no problems with presenting a proud patriotic front far more in line with the feelings of their fans. Why, then is the NFL so opposed? Perhaps if they lived more exemplary lives there would be less negative contact with police departments.
I see it, quite simply, as being symptomatic of the problems that face today’s divided America. Our political class and their number one supporter, the media, have succeeded far beyond their expectations of being able to divide the United States along politi- cal and ethnic biases. When one stops to think for a moment, it becomes abundantly clear that all of which is totally unacceptable under Donald Trump was considered the norm under President Obama.
To the spoiled athletes of the NFL, I would suggest that you take some of those millions of dollars earned from inflated con- tracts for having special skills at a kids game and invest it in providing better quality education and economic opportunities in the neighborhoods from which many of you came. Put some of your largesse back into the community! I believe the correct, although currently questionably politically correct term would be to “man up!” The preseason begins in about one week. We’ll be watching to see if these people can act as if they are grown- ups or will continue to flaunt their position which is, on its face, un-American.
But, as always, that’s only one man’s opinion.
Hanning and Avila were riding in a truck driven by William “Billy” Siegel, a former mayor of Lemoore. The three were returning from a golf tournament in Reno, Nev. and driv- ing on rural Road 30 when they were broadsided by a vehicle that ran a stop sign. The two people in that ve- hicle also died when their car caught fire and burned after the crash.
About 16 hours later, Pablo and Catalina Barba of Orange Cove were traveling south on Highway 99, just south of Madera, when they were struck head-on by a car driven the wrong way by a Fresno woman who also was killed. Three younger mem- bers of the Barba family suffered major injuries in the wreck.
In both crashes, the California Highway Patrol reported that it was uncertain if drugs or alcohol were in- volved. What is apparent is that both cases involved innocent people from the area losing their lives because of reckless incidents of running a stop sign and driving the wrong way. Sadly, this is unlikely to be the last incident.
Please, drive safe — to the level that your life depends on it.
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