Page 4 - Mid Valley Times 7-18-19 E-edition

Thursday, July 18, 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 Elected officials' main
interest? Gathering power
In the event anyone ever had any doubt, I would like to declaratively state that I ab- solutely have no faith in our elected officials ever doing what is best for the citizens of ei- ther the United States or, more specifically, the state of California! Once separated from the idiocy they seem to espouse on a daily basis for the likes of CNN and MSNBC, their only interest is in gathering power and achieving their own re-election.
Random thoughts about the Cisco Kid, margaritas, customer service problems
Rick Curiel — Dinuba Editor Jon Earnest — Reedley Editor Dick Sheppard — Sanger Editor
We need look no further than the presi-
dent's announcement of the impending arrests
and deportation of illegal aliens. These people have already been given their day in court and that same court has issued deporta- tion orders. Hard on the heels of his announcement comes a great hue and cry from Democrat politicians — from congressmen to hometown mayors — providing these criminals with advice of how to resist and avoid being arrested and deported by immigration officials. Does the rule of law not stand for anything anymore? We notice both Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi as being included on the list of those providing unsolicited advice to avoid the long arm of the law. Hillary is the expert — she should be in jail already.
According to the Democratic Party, anyone who believes in the lawful process of gaining citizenship is somehow a racist. Pelosi recently accused the president of “trying to make America white again” because he had requested a simple citizenship question be returned to the census. Asking one about one's citizenship seems never to have created a problem in this country's past, until after the Trump election. When Trump asked that it be returned to the census, the Supreme Court stepped in to block such a “controver- sial” idea. John Roberts, what the hell happened to you in this 5-4 decision?
The du jour usage of “racism” is particularly troubling to me because I grew up the the 1950s in the South, and I realize what the true meaning of the term is to those who survived the taunts and mistreatment of true racism. The term is currently being spewed about by people who are too young and poorly educated to grasp its true meaning. Today, its usage is all about politics and has the result of diminishing the true meaning. Does anyone remember the childhood story of the little boy who cried wolf?
When one isn't intelligent enough to frame a real argument and must resort to name calling it is difficult to take seriously anything that flows from the mouth of the individual.
As is the case in most circumstances, one doesn't need go very far for some examples of life's greatest lessons. The latest is as close to us as the city of Fresno.
Having observed the machinations of the County Board of Su- pervisors to effectively deal with providing a proper animal shelter, Derral Ridenour, probably best known locally for his storage facili- ties, stepped forward and volunteered to build a true state-of-the-art facility for roughly $3 million under private sector provisions. The county now has announced plans to proceed with the construction of a shelter that will meet minimum standards with public (taxpayer) money for a mere $5 million.
One of the reasons that I now eke out a living in the newspaper business and nothing math-related was that I wasn't much of a math student but even I recognize the economics of the message in this one. The private sector can build a “Cadillac” while the public sec- tor offers barebones for an additional $2 million. That's a 40 per- cent differential! Seems to me that if you're wondering about the efficiency comparison between government and the private sector, enough said!
I use this colorful and illustrative example of the government's inability to get anything done in a cost efficient and timely manner for a reason. Most, if not all, of the Democrats who are running for the presidential nomination for their party in 2020 have announced all sorts of giveaway programs that will be moved from the private sector to the Capitol. One should then expect the “free” health care for illegals and others, guaranteed incomes, free college and all the rest to cost about 40 percent more than it normally would. Best of all, remember, the government produces nothing...they extract it from us!
Memo to the government: Go back to defending the borders as mandated by the writings of our forefathers and leave us the hell alone!
But, as always, that is only one man's opinion.
Maybe Frank, by the time I retire, the city will have figured out how to take care of its customer service prob- lems in house. Maybe.
•••
Those who have traveled with me through the Valley of the Shadow of Doubt for the past few years should probably sit down before reading any further.
I believe it’s possible our current city council may have more potential than many in the past. (And, yes, I know that's not setting the bar very high.) The current five on the dais, in my opinion, have a good mix of per- sonalities, temperaments, experienc- es, educations and priorities.
If they can just figure out how to create a positive vision for our won- derful little city they might be remem- bered for something other than letting Measure S public safety funds be used inappropriately.
•••
"There is no heavier burden than
a great potential."
—Linus Van Pelt (Peanuts) Dick Sheppard can be contacted
by email at sangerherald@gmail.com
Fred Hall
What a pleasure to hear from old friends in Dinuba who saw my column in the Mid Valley Times.
It’s been a long time since my best buddy at Dinuba High School, Johnny Medina, and I spent our weekends watching 50 cent movies and eating five- cent bags of popcorn at the old State and Pep theaters or, during the season, pick- ing grapes and turning trays.
As soon as we graduated we en- listed in the military, Johnny in the Air Force and me in the Army, because that's what guys did back then.
In our high school days, every morning we saluted the Flag and pledged allegiance to “One Nation.” The words “under God” weren’t add- ed until a year before we graduated. (Check with Johnny for what year that was. He may still remember.)
A lot has changed since Johnny and I saw our final episode of the Cis- co Kid and Pancho at the Pep Theater.
It’s not so much “One Nation” anymore.
In my opinion we are moving rap- idly toward a tribal society created by those who encouraged immigrants who came here to escape the evils of tribal societies to keep their old ways, rather than to assimilate. They encour- aged us to believe it was the American way to accept those old divisive ways in the name of tolerance and diversity. Some of that was done with bad inten- tions by politicians who traded favors for votes with newly embedded tribes of unassimilated immigrants. Some was done by naïve “humanitarians” with good intentions, paving the path to hell for all of us. But most was done by those of us — people like Johnny
and me — who accepted that nonsense and just let it happen.
I liked it better when it was just “one Nation under God.”
•••
Now that Sanger’s Farmers' Mar- kets have moved to September, the three-day St. Mary's Festival, be- ginning Aug. 2, is the biggest social event of the summer. I always enjoy the "Youth Night" talent show with some of Sanger's best young singers and dancers on Friday and the tradi- tional mariachi music on Sunday. It's become tradition to stop by the Gua- dalupana booth and buy enough home- made tamales to get me through the holiday season.
Just hoping the temperamental margarita machine is working this year.
•••
Another good eating event is coming up Saturday. No tamales, but you can stop by HOPE Sanger, 502 L St. (the old Rose Motel), ahead of time to pick up your $8 tickets, then go by on Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon for your spaghetti plates. Pro- ceeds will be used to stock the HOPE Sanger pantry. HOPE Sanger serves more than 600 meals a month to homeless people, according to HOPE Sanger’s prez/CEO Julie Mendoza.
•••
Julie and Mayor Frank Gonzalez got upset last week over an incident at Sanger Park involving cops and home- less people. Julie heard a rumor and asked me to check it out. Police chief Silver Rodriguez quickly took care of the problem and it never rose to the level of deserving a story in the Times.
Hizzoner was out of town and
wasn’t able to do much more than get bent out of shape about why Julie would con- tact me instead of someone at city hall to find out what happened, in- volving a city em- ployee, at the park.
Dick Sheppard
Moving forward in the new digital world
“One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them, one ring to bring them all together, and in the darkness bind them.”
Many of you may recognize the above passage from J.R.R Tolkien’s Lord of Rings series. In the books, and in the movies, it refers to a spe- cific ring of power that allows people to basically disappear upon putting it on. Its power is so alluring that it can bring the strongest person to his or her knees. To those who have held it, it is precious to them.
I often think of this passage when confronted by one startling reality in our time. The advent of technology has certainly changed the playing field of our economy, our social struc- ture and even our way of life.
Just recently, I read an article about a large chain store that had filed for bankruptcy a second time and will begin liquidation as it plans to close all 200-plus stores. The article’s author described the current shift in retail as the ‘retail apocalypse’.
Commerce has certainly changed over the years, and no other factor has changed it more than the online industry.
The World Wide Web is currently celebrating its 30th anniversary. Hav- ing been created in 1989, most of us discovered this new world in the 90’s. Remember American Online and ‘You’ve got mail’?
Since then that world has only grown exponentially. Now, the World Wide Web of zeros and ones, and ones and zeros, has found itself removed from its original desktop and onto the
palms of our hands. Accessibility is literally now at the tip of our fingers. We surf, we post, we share, we
comment, we like, we scroll, we search, we sell and we buy. Much of what we once did as a culture, society and civili- zation has found itself transformed into an existence reliant on the devices con- necting us to this new world.
The commerce-world around us, however, once so frequently traveled, has seen its numbers drop. Sure, you can still go to any mall in America these days and find a decent amount of retail shoppers. But the consensus is also widespread that traditional brick and mortar stores are strug- gling to survive in the face of an ever- increasing online industry.
Online giants, like Amazon, have made it increasingly more difficult for small town America and mom-and-pop locations to really make it in today’s economy. How can a business survive when you can purchase the same item online for well below the business owner’s cost?
It’s simple math. It cannot.
The same holds true in our indus- try. Before the age of online news, the newspaper was the relied upon source of the masses for the dispensation of current information. These days, more and more people, unfortunately, rely upon the words of whatever post they happen to scroll upon. Many now turn to the web as their sole source of information.
Take for example a recent com- ment on a post regarding another area paper’s post for a promotion campaign.
“No, thank you. I’ll just keep get-
ting my news on- line,” said one per- son.
And in a recent
post regarding the
launch of the new
Mid Valley Times
and the end of the
individual town
papers Mid Valley
represents, one person expressed sad- ness over not having a local paper and asked, “Do they still have the Me-N- Eds coupon?”
(Note: the coupon in question has not been used in years.)
Still another person commented, “We should rename this group the Di- nuba Sentinel.”
Now there’s a scary thought, both in matters of practicality and legality. But it shows how many of us are unknowingly contributing to the very things we are sad to see go — like the brick and mortar stores of the moms
and pops of America.
Tolkien grew up in the middle of
the industrial revolution and saw the effect the machine had on people. The ring, in fact, is a symbol for the ma- chine, and man’s desire for it.
So how do we move forward in the midst of this new digital world?
Stay in the real world as much as possible. Log off from time to time. Go for a walk. Go downtown and visit your local merchants. Pick up your lo- cal newspaper. And invest in people, not technology.
Rick Curiel is editor for the Mid Valley Times' Dinuba office.
QUOTE
“The fascination of shooting as a sport depends almost wholly on whether you are at the right or wrong end of the gun.”
— P. G. Wodehouse (1881-1975)
Rick Curiel
Letters Policy
MID VALLEY TIMES invites letters from the public on any topic of local relevance. We reserve the right to edit letters for clarity
or brevity, and we reserve the right to NOT publish them if they could be deemed libelous or profane. Letters should be 300 words or less, and bear the author's name, address, and phone number. Letters can be mailed, emailed, submitted via our web- site, or personally delivered to: Editor, Reedley Exponent, 1130 G St, Reedley CA 93654.