Page 3 - Sanger Herald 5-9-19 E-edition

Random thoughts Lots of waytogos this week ...
Martinez was impressive at both events, knowledgeable, to the point, humorous - and most important, brief.
•••
Lots of waytogos are in order this week for:
• everyone involved in putting together the Sanger Woman's Club Spring Tea, the Cinco de Mayo event downtown and the Sanger High School Athletic Hall of Fame enshrinement banquet ;
• all 10 of the 2019 Hall of Fame inductees - Willie Garcia, Cole Herron, David Dodson, the 1950 Baseball Team, Ted Torosian, Cindy Weibert Fires, Roy Tanimoto, Ron Blackwood, Chris Wallin and Chuck Shidan;
• Tom Flores for playing such an important part in the local Hall of Fame event;
• developer Sam Lucido who, at his own ex- pense - because PG&E wasn't taking care of business - fixed the alley next to the Sanger Woman's Club so members could use the park- ing lot during their annual Spring Tea event and their regular monthly meeting this Tues- day;
• Sanger Rotary club for being named the district's Club of the Year; and,
• the award recipients at next week's annual chamber of commerce banquet - we can't list all of them because some haven't been notified yet.
Yes, I know I probably left out a deserving person or group and I'll probably get yelled at. Comes with the job and I have enough choco- late and red wine to get through it.
•••
Contrary to rumors, there has been no mass
exodus by members of the Measure S Citizens Oversight Committee.
Melissa Griggs recently resigned - a little more than a month before her term would have ended anyway on June 30.
Michael Montelongo was named as a re- placement to serve for the remainder of the unfilled term of James Miser who resigned quite awhile ago - and that term also ends on June 30.
The City is accepting applications for those two positions.
The Measure S problems aren't going away and, apparently, neither is the oversight com- mittee, although I can't image why anyone would volunteer to jump into the middle of that mess.
•••
Mother's Day is this Sunday and I have spe-
cial and not so random thoughts about that.
A few years ago, with Mother's Day around the corner, I shared an early memory of my mother and I've been asked if I would reprint
part of that column for this Mother's Day. Here it is:
I'm an Okie.
My friends sometimes call me a redneck and while I consider that a compliment not all Okies are rednecks and not all rednecks are Okies.
I came to California from Oklahoma with my family in an old Chevy stake truck in the late 30's.
My first real memories of my mother in California are at Linnel Farm Labor Camp in Tulare County near Farmersville. It was one of
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SANGER HERALD 3A THURSDAY, MAY 9, 2019 EDITORIAL & OPINION
By Dick Sheppard
Waytogo mayor pro tem Daniel Martinez who start- ed last Saturday morning speaking to about a dozen VFW members at their monthly breakfast meeting and ended the day speaking to the more than 300 people at the Sanger High School Athletic Hall of Fame.
Dick Sheppard
with others but didn't put up with people trying to take advantage of her.
She shaped my early years – my early at- titudes and priorities.
I like to believe I turned out a little like her. All her Okie kids turned out pretty well – at least a lot better than the orange juice-cod liver oil ladies expected.
I forgave them a long time ago.
As my mama used to say, "They probably meant well – they just didn't know any better." She was 93 years old when she died in 1994.
Happy Mother's Day mom! I love and miss you.
•••
Please direct your questions or comments to sangerherald@gmail.com.
1920 or '21 ... my dad and mom are in the back row on the far left ... 16 or 17 years before I was born ... before migrating from Oklahoma to California ... before Linnel Farm Labor Camp ... way, way before Sanger ... my roots ...
the first places we settled in the San Joaquin Valley.
We lived there in a small, metal cabin. We had to go to another building to use a bathroom and to take a shower. We brought drinking wa- ter into the cabin in a bucket, filled from a nearby spigot and we drank from a "dipper."
My mom and dad, two sisters and my broth- er and I lived in the unheated metal cabin. I was probably 6 or 7 years old, the youngest in the family.
We all worked in the fields.
Between crops my dad looked for a steady job in towns around Linnel, Farmersville, Visa- lia and Tulare.
He was quiet and intense and didn't interact with us kids very much. Looking back, he was probably overwhelmed with the realization that California was not the land of golden op- portunity he had been led to believe.
My mom sang a lot - always church songs.
She seemed happy – even though much later I realized she must have been just as worried as my dad.
She hugged us a lot.
She made sure we ate our meals and kept clean and picked up after ourselves. She patched up my brother and me when we got into scuffles with other boys in the camp.
She sewed shirts and dresses for us out of feed and flour sacks. She always fixed us breakfast and supper - no matter how early or late we had to be in the fields.
We didn't work on Sunday and when visitors came she never let them leave without serving them a snack or sometimes a full meal. She worried if they had traveled far and urged them to, "stay the night" – and we made, "pal- lets on the floor." Somehow, in the morning, she managed to find something else to feed them before they went home. Sometimes it was only biscuits soaked in "bacon drippings" and drizzled with sorghum molasses or "Karo" corn syrup.
There were camp workers at Linnel – volun- teers maybe – women with little white starched aprons and an I'm better than you attitude. About once a week they looked at my throat, took my temperature and gave me and the other Okie kids a little cup of orange juice and cod liver oil and talked about us as though we were not capable of understanding what they were saying.
One day my mom heard them talking about me – "the little pigeon-chested Okie boy who would probably grow up to be a drunk just like his daddy."
That was the first time I had ever seen my mother mad.
Real mad.
She let those women know – in front of ev- eryone – that I was a smart and a good boy and I would grow up to be, "somebody!"
She took me back to our cabin, hugged me and told me I could grow up to be whatever I wanted to be – not to pay any attention to those women.
We left Linnel soon after that.
My mom was strong, confident, brave and
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optimistic. She worked hard. She had a good sense of humor. She shared whatever she had
In my OPINION
Uneducated voters and liberal educated
politicians are paving a path to socialism
By Fred Hall
Have you ever wondered
if some of these “progres-
sive” politicians truly
realize just how dumb and
unrealistic their ideas are,
or are they just so propped
up and surrounded by
sycophants that the truth of
their ignorance is shielded
fromthem? Franklyit'seasytofeelembar- rassed for them until one realizes that what is pouring from their mouths is exactly what our own children have been taught in school and university over the last several decades.
One would assume there is some sort of pain associated with being completely void ofcogentthought. Ashortlistcouldbe compiled of virtually all of the announced Democrat candidates for President, as well as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Mazie Hirano, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Talib, Maxine Waters, Richard Blumenthal, Adam Schiff, Eric Swalwell, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer and all of the commentators at CNN and MSNBC.
At some point, we are going to be forced to realize that the seed of failure and destruc- tion of our lifestyle has been sown and has beguntotakeroot. I,personally,seeitas
a huge threat to about everything that has become known as American but can, and should be, reversed by sending more sober people to our capitols!
We've seen how quickly one weed can become dominant and soon take over anentireplotofland. Socialismand Communism offer great promises to the people of the country which they infest and once established it usually results in the entire economic collapse of the entire nation. Venezuela is a current glaring example of that premise. Those great promises are little more than great lies used in the seduction of gullible voters.
Our forefathers envisioned a free press as a guardian against lies and misinformation but the American media have been “missing in action” over the past couple of decades. Sad to say, it has become even worse over the past three years, with few signs of objec- tivereporting. Notonlyaretheyshirking their duty, they have become so opinionated and compromised that they have formed an allegiance with one of major political parties. Outside of clearly identified opinion pieces, that is an absolute no-no.
The job of an effective press corps is to informthepublic,provide themwithperti- nentinformationandthenletthemmakeup theirownminds. Wehaveamajorproblem when America's press corps begins to feel they are smarter than anyone else and must provide the “great unwashed" with instruc- tionsabouthowandwhattothink. Itcertain- ly was never intended for a group of privi- legedwriters, reporters, editorsandnews producers tocarrythewaterforthecurrent crop of corrupt public officials.
Our greatest concern is that bunch of kids
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Fred Hall
from the 1960s and 1970s have graduated col- lege, entered the field as educators and are now in a position to teach current youngsters in the socialistic views they shared in school. In my opinion, the 1960's and 1970's was the erawhenourcountrycame closerthanever in history to being consumed in anarchy. Thugs alongside professors and students participated in and led the ensuing riots. Academia ruled the roost and “if it felt good, doit.” Everyonewasexhortedtoriseupand defeat “the man.”
Thependulumof eventsnormallyis self-correcting in that it normally will only swing so just far before self adjusting in the oppositedirection. TheAmericanpeopleare not stupid—contrary to what many of the politicoshavecometobelieve. Webelieve that over the past three years the reality of the situation is such that most people real- ize that ever increasing government is not the answer to a strong country and a vibrant nation. Iknowthatitoftenseemsthatwe over use the term common sense but seems increasingly that a return to common sense for the electorate has begun to arrent that overswingingpendulum. Severalareasand states like the entire “left coast” and the New England area leave one to shake one's head at the silliness that is still occurring in elections andgovernance. Onceagainthereisample evidence that a lazy press corps and a cor- rupt political system have combined efforts to further exacerbate the erosion of good government. Californiaareyoulistening?
We believe the real answer is as simple as controlled immigration, elections that are fair and closely scrutinized for irregularities such as ballot harvesting and a voting public that is well read and educated on the real issues which are involved. Use and belief in that which is garnered from social media further erodes any hope of having an aware citizenry. Nothing appearing on social media has been checked or otherwise edited for content or veracity.
The time to control our own destiny and return government to the original parameters ofourConstitutionisnow. Theoldsayingin sportsisthattheballisinyourcourt. Begin rightnowtobecomethearbiterofgoodgov- ernment!
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.
Dumb politicians are not the problem.
People who keep voting for dumb politicians are the problem.