Page 3 - Sanger Herald 2-22-18 E-edition

Random thoughts Another political season is headed our way ...
•••
Diamonds may be a girl's best friend -
everywhere but in Sanger.
In Sanger there are just not enough dia-
monds for all the softball teams that want to practice and play during the season.
It's a problem that has been escalating every year for a long time and the city has apparently done little or nothing about trying to find a solution.
The current city hall administration seems intent on building an image of dealing with problems created by cans kicked down the road by previous administrations. Solving this problem would go a long way toward enhancing that image.
Councilmember Daniel Martinez made an excellent point when he suggested the city hand out naming rights to parkland donated by local property owners. That seems to have worked in Fresno.
Maybe give the task to public works super- visor Frank Sani. He and his team, thinking outside the box, saved the city more than $100,000 with an innovative way of renovat- ing Sanger Park.
•••
Another political season is upon us.
That's an interesting press release on
the front page announcing councilmember Melissa Hurtado's intent to run against Andy Vidak for the 14th state senate seat.
In part it says, "Hurtado, who is currently the only woman serving on the Sanger City Council, has spent her career fighting for greater access to quality healthcare, educa- tion and high paying jobs. As a healthcare advocate, Hurtado fought to protect Medicare and Medi-Cal while increasing access to qual- ity healthcare for all Californians."
Guess I haven't been paying attention because I haven't noticed any of that taking place during Hurtado's first year on the coun-
In my OPINION
Gun grabbers are focusing on the wrong
issues and doing more harm than good
SANGER HERALD 3A THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2018 EDITORIAL & OPINION
By Dick Sheppard
I was so sorry to hear of the passing of "America's Pastor" evangelist Billy Graham.
I remember my mom listening to him on the radio every Sunday.
He will be missed.
Dick Sheppard
cil.
But, who am I to question the truthfulness
of statements crafted for a political campaign by a Sacramento political consultant?
Seems like it's going to be tough for Hurtado to do much campaigning and still pay attention to what's important, like getting more softball diamonds, in Sanger.
She may be a lot better than I am at mul- titasking. When I try to multitask I usually wind up screwing up more than one thing at a time.
•••
In spite of an effort by Hurtado, the
city council refused to show any love for Tombstone, the little unincorporated neigh- borhood south of Sanger.
The wells in Tombstone are running
out of water, according to a resident who recently appeared before the council, backed up by representatives from the Central California Environmental Justice Network and the Leadership Council for Justice and Accountability.
Hurtado who missed the Feb. 15 council meeting, suggested through city manager Tim Chapa, that the council put an item on the agenda that would allow it to explore the feasibility of finding grant money to help out Tombstone residents who apparently aren't interested in annexing to Sanger, but want the city to extend its water lines to the little com- munity bounded by Bethel and Greenwood on the west and east and Central on the south.
The other members of the council made it clear they prefer the efforts of the city's grant writer to be focused on finding money for Sanger, not Tombstone.
•••
Speaking of politics and politicians, it's
interesting to note that Amanda Renteria is back on the California political scene, run- ning for governor this time.
The well spoken native of Woodlake in Tulare County who attended both Stanford and Harvard and lived briefly in Sanger while running against congressman David Valadao back in 2014 will compete with Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, former Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, state treasurer John Chiang and former California superin- tendent of public instruction Delaine Eastin in the June primary.
Renteria told the Bee she aims to bridge the divide between rural and urban America. She said as a Mexican-American, she feels
a personal responsibility to counter Donald Trump's "demonization" of immigrants.
It's going to be another interesting political season.
•••
When city finance director Gary Watahira
was asked at the Jan. 15 city council meeting about the city's unfunded pension liabilities to the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS), he said he thought it was in the neighborhood of $1.5 million.
After hesitating a moment, he attempted to clarify by saying, that would be the city's short term obligation, $1.5 million.
Then he admitted he wasn't too sure.
CalPERS, by the way, is multi-billions of dollars short of what it needs to continue to pay the pensions of retired public employees. That's not a problem for the retired employ- ees. They'll get paid. It's a problem for cities like Sanger when CalPERS goes after them and their unfunded liabilities - money owed CalPERS.
That's probably going to happen within the next few years. That's the short term Watahira was talking about and the little lon- ger term which will be even tougher.
Private businesses use an accrual system. They accrue or save money to cover their lia- bilities. Municipalities don't do that. So they'd better have a substantial reserve set aside for when those unfunded liabilities come due.
It was those darn unfunded liabilities and a lack of reserves that bankrupted cities like Stockton and San Bernardino.
Did I mention that Sanger's unfunded liabilities, last time I looked, were more than $14 million, according to the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2015 - and that's was in addi- tion to the $14 million the city still owes on 1996 sewer bonds.
That could just about max out somebody's MasterCard.
I remember the 2011/2012 budget estab- lishing an “unfunded liabilities” reserve account to prevent budget shocks that could occur when an employee leaves city service and cashes out unused leave balances or CaPERS decides to call in a debt of say $14 million.
I haven't heard anything about that account recently.
Wonder if it even still exists. •••
Seems like some of the recent problems we’ve had in Sanger may have been caused by confusing data with information, knowl- edge with understanding, intelligence with wisdom, governance with management and assertiveness with competence.
Comments, complaints and suggestions may be emailed to sangerherald@gmail.com or maybe made by calling 875-2511
By Fred Hall
With the tranquility of this country being ripped with reports of another school shooting, this one
in Florida in an exclusive neighborhood, perhaps it is time--once again—to exam- ine the causation of such mindless events.
Fred Hall
and press is nothing more than an organiza- tion whose goal is to protect and preserve second amendment rights of all Americans. This is a group which teaches and advocates firearm safety. Politically they seem to be the easiest target when some nut fires a gun in anger. Their basic purpose is as a lobbying group.
Much was made, this past weekend, in a local paper about the fact that NRA money went to Republicans instead of Democrats. Forgive me for questioning their rationale but it just seems like common sense to sup- port those who support you.
There is no designation of Phd after my name to indicate that I've been sufficiently schooled to qualify as a true scholar by those in academe, but we believe that even when it comes to the human psyche, there should be an element of common sense.
During the last half-century, with all of the growth in products which tend to make our lives easier, the main thrust of our endeavors is to invent new and exciting ways to enter- tain ourselves. It doesn't require a rocket sci- entist to realize that the source of most of the things being offered for our leisure wasting of time are produced or otherwise connected toHollywood. That'shardtodenywhen some of us even take our political guidance from “movie stars” and celebrities.
I don't believe there is a single gun ordi- nance—there are after all, hundreds of them- -on any of the books that would have stopped the most recent school shooting in Florida. When one's mind has been so warped by one's surroundings that such an act is even con- ceivable there is a real problem. Early inter- vention by mental health professionals may have helped and there seemed to be many warning signs that this young man had seri- ous mental problems.
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.
We welcome guest columns at the Herald
Having reached an age when I have to admit, or perhaps be proud of the fact, that
I went to school in the 1950's when no one could even conceive of such a deranged individual whose sole drive was to slaughter innocents. ThekidsIwenttoschoolwithall lived in homes which had firearms available and none were ever discovered or used in the classroom for a student to commit harm on others.
As I recall, it was a much more simple task to acquire a weapon for the citizenry to useforsportingpurposesorhunting. Many were sold at your local hardware store or departmentstore. Governmentregulation and requirement was far less than today's ”advanced”society. Tomybestrecollection, theyouthofthatdaydealtwithsimilarsourc- es of angst as today's student.
Perhaps it's a radical thought, but has anyone ever thought that perhaps some of the blame might lie with a changing culture? Violent video games that feature killing oppo- nents as a central objective or movies made in Hollywood where carnage is optimized in storytelling have so desensitized the last gen- eration to a point which should raise concern.
We played “cops and robbers” and cow- boys and Indians” as children with toy guns and no one seemed scarred for life or turned into a sociopath as with the products of today'smodern,informedgeneration. As
I recall my first purchases as a young man consisted of a .410 shotgun and a .22 pistol. No permitting and no wait—I walked out the door with the firearm and the ammunition. I've never killed anyone so obviously I wasn't somehow twisted by the ease of purchase!
The National Rifle Association which is regularly demonized by today's politicians
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