Page 4 - Reedley Exponent 3-21-19 E-edition

The Reedley Exponent A4 Thursday, March 21, 2019 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 / Sports Juanita Adame — Panorama Editor Budd Brockett — Editor Emeritus
QUOTE
“The pursuit of happiness is a most ridiculous phrase; if you pursue happiness you’ll never find it.”
C. P. Snow (1905-1980)
Thanks to the Fresno County Board of Su- pervisors signing on to the Voters Choice Act, elections in Fresno County will be taking on an entirely new look and we’re being told it makes it easier for people to vote. How dif- ficult is it to vote how? Personally, I never saw it as some kind of ordeal to go down to the local polling place and cast my ballot. This entire mess is a political solution to a problem that does not exist. Why is it that every time they change the rules it seems to facilitate cheating?
Council’s annexation vote means Rancho Vista closer to fruition
Fred Hall
Reedley’s push toward devel- opment cleared another hurdle on March 12 when the City Council, in a near-unanimous vote, approved the annexation of 41 acres including the proposed Rancho Vista subdivision.
It wasn’t a slam dunk lacking any type of resistance. Three residents to the south of the proposed single family development raised objec- tion to part of the subdivision map. In particular, the issue was with an exit street at the south end of the project that would lead out onto Duff Avenue. The residents wanted that feeder street to spill out at nearby South Orange Avenue, two lots to the east.
There was productive discussion and counterpoints made by city of- ficials and council members. In the end, four of the council members approved the four items. One didn’t. Ray Soleno didn’t come out against the project, but said he was unhappy about the lack of information regard- ing public comment received from the Feb. 21 Planning Commission meeting. Because of that, he decided to abstain from voting on the action items. Soleno did go on record say- ing the projects were good for the city, he just had an issue with parts of the process.
While the council’s approval of
the items were in contrast to the wishes of the residents speaking in public comment, it was good to see the transparent civil discourse and debate in action. What’s important is that the city remain diligent in addressing citizen concerns about safety regarding traffic in their neighborhoods.
I heard just such concern with a resident who lives across the street from the Luke Trimble Splash Park that will open later this spring. He zealously showed me examples of ve- hicles driving excessively fast when I stopped by the area last week to take some photos of the splash park.
As more construction projects around Reedley take place, it’s healthy to see the city be transpar- ent with its residents in the process. In the end, it should only result in a better community.
•••
I wasn’t able to write a column
last week, so I’ll hand out some praise a few days late. The Immanu- el High Eagles are to be commended for their stirring postseason run to the Division 4 state championship game in Sacramento. It was a plea- sure watching a group of mature young men handle increasing pres- sure that comes with playoff basket- ball.
The Eagles
pulled off some
amazing victories
in the 2018-19 sea-
son, starting with
frenzied regular
season Central
Sequoia League
comeback victo-
ries over Central
Valley Christian
and Kingsburg. Then came a four- game run to a sixth consecutive Central Section title, featuring two more wild wins and capped by a dis- mantling of rival Dinuba High in the Division 3 final.
Finally, the memorable four games of the Northern California playoffs, all unexpectedly in the Ea- gles’ familiar South Gym. Although the state title dream fell just shorts, Immanuel has the foundation set for a return trip to Sacramento in the next couple of seasons — of course, depending on a little good fortune.
While I’m at it, a welcome home to Tony Gates as the Reedley High Class of 1991 alum returns to cam- pus as the Pirates’ new head football coach. Gates comes off a 10-2 season as Orange Cove High head coach, and is looking forward to swinging the RHS football needle upward once again.
The title, “Voters Choice Act,” sounds innocuous enough and has become something of a standard used by our political class for packaging all these inane political adventures from Sacramento which are shoved down our throats after being “sugar coated” to cover their true intentions. “Now you see me, now you don’t!” If you doubt that assertion, check the titles of Propositions 47 and 57 as well as the recent attempt on the part of voters to repeal the governor’s arbitrary gas tax. That one was so deceptively worded and titled as to result in the voting public counter intuitively vot- ing to keep taxing themselves — and that my friend, makes no sense at all.
Ballot harvesting, which we were told was instituted to “make it easier to vote,” is so bad that it is illegal in much of the United States. We saw the results of ballot harvesting, in my opinion, for the first time here in the Valley following our last election. Many races had literally been decided by a large number of votes and, yet, when the “harvested” ballots were counted many of the first results were turned on their ears. One would not expect 75-80 per- cent of those votes from late-comers falling to one party!
One of the biggest problems with the afore mentioned ballot harvesting is that there is no chain of control. Ballots should pass directly from the voter’s hand to an election official. That alone seems to make this whole process subject to legal scrutiny.
Originally, we were told that absentee ballots or “vote by mail” would “make it easier for everyone to vote” but, considering the bumbling DMV registering thousands of illegals to vote, those same absentees are an open invitation to election fraud and cheat- ing. The simplest solution would be to return to the old system where everyone went to vote in person at their local precinct — with proper identification — unless they applied for an absentee ballot with sufficient documentation. However, that isn’t going to happen. We will continue to have thousands of ballots floating around to be voted by heaven only knows who.
Everything has become so ridiculous that it is politically unac- ceptable to ask voters to produce identification to indicate they are how they claim to be. Hell, we can’t even ask people if they are citizens!
“Motor voter” was a dumb idea which was designed to be ad- ministered through the Department of Motor Vehicles but it was implemented to “make it easier to vote.” Anyone beginning to see a pattern here? Anyone wondering why I am so cynical about seeing any intelligent changes to a corrupt system? The DMV is incapable of handling their current assignment of tags, titles and drivers licenses. Why on earth would any right-thinking person have decided it was a good idea to give them increased responsi- bilities?
Fresno County had 200 polling places. Under the auspices of this new plan, 150 of those will be closing. That, in and of itself, will pretty much lock the voting plan into place since there will be so few places where one can vote in person anywhere in the county.
Most right-thinking Americans see voting as a duty and re- sponsibility on their part to elect other patriotic Americans who will represent their causes and needs in maintaining a strong free country. That concept seems to have been hijacked by a profes- sional political class whose main goal is the assumption of power and its maintenance. There are times when simply living in today’s modern new high-tech world isn’t easy. I don’t believe that the in- tent of our Forefathers was to make voting an easy, simple matter.
Truth is that time and effort must be invested in making edu- cated choices when selecting those individuals who hold such sway over our daily lives.
It takes effort to separate truth from lies and obfuscation when analyzing records of those asking for your vote. We’ve seen too many of them run as one version of who they are then when elect- ed, change completely. No, voting was never intended to get easier and easier!
When I look at today’s political campaigns, I see the hand of Madison Avenue and Hollywood more than I see anything to do with good governance. A candidate is much akin to a product which is packaged as attractively as possible and marketed as one would market a commodity. Charisma, personality, attractiveness and acceptability to the general public are key criteria in a party selecting its candidates. Perhaps we should have casting calls in Hollywood instead of primaries!
The last couple of weeks we’ve pontificated over the damage we believe the current education system is exacting on our chil- dren. One can even extend that by looking at the recent moral crisis over the way wealthy children are preferentially being ad- mitted to tier one colleges. One could almost predict that someone from the Democratic Party would not be far behind, calling for 16-year old children being given the right to vote. The more di- luted the standards become involving this basic right, the more it expands the opportunity for enterprising politicos to cheat!
We believe our politicians are so heavily invested in this pro- cess, they will do little to clean their own house. Please, stop “mak- ing it easier to vote!”
Jon Earnest
But, as always, that’s only one man’s opinion.
Medicare preventive services can help you stay healthy
By Greg Dill
Guest columnist
You may have heard something lately about “pre- ventive health care.” What does that mean?
At its most basic, pre- ventive health care means living a healthy lifestyle. Eat a balanced diet. Exer- cise regularly. Maintain a healthy weight. And stop smoking.
Like anyone else, people with Medicare can benefit from healthy living habits. But Medicare covers a wide variety of shots to help you stay healthy. It also covers numerous tests to help de- tect diseases early, when they’re in their most treat- able stages.
You pay nothing for most Medicare-covered pre- ventive services if you get them from a doctor or other qualified healthcare pro- vider who “accepts assign- ment,” meaning they accept Medicare as payment in full for their services.
For example, you pay nothing out-of-pocket when you get a “Welcome to Medicare” physical exam. This one-time exam is of- fered during the first 12 months after you’ve en- rolled in Medicare Part B.
This visit includes a re- view of your medical and social history related to your health, and education and counseling about pre- ventive services, including
certain screenings, flu and pneumococcal shots, and referrals for other care if needed.
If you’ve had Part B for longer than 12 months, you can get a yearly wellness exam. You pay nothing for this visit if you’re doctor ac- cepts assignment. And the Part B deductible doesn’t apply.
The wellness exam is designed to help prevent disease and disability based on your current health and risk factors. Your provid- er will ask you to fill out a questionnaire, called a “Health Risk Assessment,” as part of this visit. An- swering these questions can help you and your pro- vider develop a personal- ized prevention plan to help you stay healthy and get the most out of your visit, which can also include:
• A review of your medi- cal and family history.
• Developing or updat- ing a list of current provid- ers and prescriptions.
• Height, weight, blood pressure, and other routine measurements.
• Detection of any cog- nitive impairment.
• Personalized health advice.
• A list of risk factors and treatment options for you.
• A screening schedule (like a checklist) for appro- priate preventive services.
However, you may have to pay coinsurance, and the Part B deductible may ap- ply if:
• Your doctor or other health care provider per- forms additional tests or services during the same visit.
• These additional tests or services aren’t covered as Medicare preventive benefits.
Medicare also covers shots for flu, pneumococcal disease (which can cause pneumonia), and Hepatitis B. Flu, pneumococcal infec- tions, and Hepatitis B can be life-threatening for older people. Flu and pneumococ- cal shots are recommended for people over age 65.
People with Medicare also can get screened for cardiovascular disease and different kinds of cancer, including breast, pros- tate, cervical/vaginal, and colorectal cancer.
Take colorectal cancer, for example.
Medicare covers screen- ing tests to help find precan- cerous growths or find can- cer early, when treatment is most effective. Medicare covers the multi-target stool DNA test, screening fecal occult blood test, screen- ing flexible sigmoidoscopy, screening colonoscopy, and screening barium enema.
You pay nothing for fe- cal occult blood tests, flex- ible sigmoidoscopy, and
screening colonoscopy if your doctor accepts as- signment. (Note: If a polyp or other tissue is removed during a colonoscopy, you may have to pay 20 percent of the Medicare-approved amount for the doctor’s ser- vices and a co-payment if the procedure was done in a hospital outpatient setting.)
For people who have or are at risk for diabetes, Medicare covers screen- ings, certain supplies, and self-management training.
If you need help to stop smoking, Medicare pays for up to eight face-to-face counseling sessions per year with a doctor or other qualified provider.
Medicare also pays for tests for lung cancer, HIV, and bone mass (to see if you’re at risk for broken bones.)
People with Medi- care don’t use preventive health services as much as they should. But getting screened can help you stay healthy and live longer – and save the government billions in healthcare costs.
It’s a classic win-win.
Greg Dill is Medicare’s regional administrator for Arizona, California, Ne- vada, Hawaii, and the Pa- cific Territories. You can get answers to your Medicare questions by visiting www. Medicare.gov or calling 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800- 633-4227).
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