Page 4 - Mid Valley Times 3-25-21 E-edition

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 Our military shouldn't be
viewed as social experiment
At the risk of offending some sensi-
bilities, I would point out that the rea-
son the United States has the strongest
military in the world is because they
are proficient at killing the enemy and
breaking things while doing it more
efficiently than the other side. It just
doesn't get any more simple than that.
Our military should never be looked
upon as some kind of social experi-
ment as is becoming the case. That is
absolutely reckless. And, that's exactly what's happening with the Biden administration and their gang of radicals.
We are the freest people in the world and the peo- ple to thank for that quality of life should be a member of the military. Under the new Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, our soldiers have a “stand down order” while “the brass” make sure that not any of them have ever had a thought that is politically unacceptable to the new gang in Washington. It really doesn't require much thought to realize how really dumb that is!
Everywhere one looks, standards of acceptance are being lowered to further diversity and inclusion. Sol- diering is already a dangerous occupation for the stron- gest mentally and physically. Lowering those standards will, invariably, damage national security and place all Americans at greater risk in the eventuality of an armed conflict with a foreign power. It's a safe bet that the re- sult will be increased casualties of our own.
One of the best examples is to compare China's ap- proach to military preparedness vis-a-vis the priorities of some of America's leading generals with their syco- phantic political approach. When one examines the qual- ity of this “leadership” there can be very little doubt as to why it has been so long since we definitively won a conflict. Practice political correctness somewhere else. Our military should have no political affiliations.
It can safely be said that no one likes to fight a war but it's also guaranteed that no one ever enjoys losing one and reaping the subjugation that will most certainly follow. A generation of brave, dedicated soldiers are the reason that we speak English in America instead of Ger- man or Japanese. These people are the reason we live in a democracy and are not ruled by a fuehrer. Think about that when someone tries to convince you that in- clusion and diversity are more important than skill and dedication level!
It's anybody's guess as to how Joe Biden's promised first press conference will go on Thursday, March 25. Two things that we do know, however, is that it has never taken an American president so long to take questions from the press corps. One should keep in mind that this is a sycophantic group of scribes so I wouldn't expect anything very probative.
If I'm going to be completely honest, I would have to admit that I have never seen such a gaggle of execu- tive orders that were so counterintuitive. Never have I seen an administration do so many dumb things in such a short time.
Instead of laying out an agenda intended to improve the quality of life in America these people simply seem hell-bent on changing everything Donald Trump had done. President Trump's vision was one of solving prob- lems, not causing them. From immigration to the econo- my and job growth, it was all working well, pre-COVID.
The flood of illegal aliens has become a crisis for Americans as well as those trying to simply walk into our country. Why would they, you ask, do it in the middle of a pandemic? All the Democrat candidates for president — including Joe and Kamala — promised free health care and indicated they were welcome and citizenship was at their fingertips. One's heart has to break for the ranchers along the border whose homes are routinely being broken into and burglarized while their automobiles and pickup trucks stolen. All of us deserve better from our elected officials.
But, as always, that's only one man's opinion.
Beautiful words of tribute at celebration for Dick Sheppard
Jon Earnest — Reedley Editor Dick Sheppard — Editor Emeritus
Thursday, March 25, 2021 | A4 | Mid Valley TiMes Editorial & Opinions
Fred Hall
It provided a bit of closure, but the March 20 Celebration of Life service for Dick Shep- pard at Calvary Fellowship Church in Sanger still proved a little difficult for me. It's tough to say goodbye to a co-worker, fellow company employee and friend who gave me plenty of great memories in the nearly nine years I was privileged to know him.
I give much credit to the four speakers and their pow- erful tributes — retired Sanger Police Chief Thomas Klose, former Sanger Police Cap- tain Kent Matsuzaki, former Sanger Mayor Joshua Mitch- ell and former Sanger Unified School District Superintendent Marc Johnson. All told stories of their work and personal re- lationships with Sheppard, with both humorous and touching memories shared during the service.
The common thread was Dick's journalistic integrity and diligence to tell the truth, no matter how much it would effect those he was writing about. Those were reflected in the stories and his trademark "Random Thoughts" columns he
penned throughout the 15 years he wrote for The Sanger Herald and The Mid Valley Times be- fore his retirement in 2019.
The Celebration of Life also featured military honors to recognize Sheppard's ser- vice with Army Intelligence, and featured members of the military participating in the traditional 13 Folds of the Flag that was then presented to his widow, Nadine Sheppard. The military honors also included a gun salute by a veterans unit.
Before the service, an audio interview of Sheppard by Ian Holmes in October 2017 as part pot the National Print Journal- ism Oral History Project was played for attendees.
You can experience the ser- vice for yourself by watching the video on YouTube. Log on to https://youtu.be/w1mCam- VC_IM.
•••
There's a sad passing to
note in the Reedley area. Har- ry Horasanian, who owned and operated Uncle Harry's Classic Meals for 25 years in down- town Reedley before retiring in June 2015, died at age 85 on March 19. After a long career
running a cabi-
nets business
in Orosi for 35
years, the Cut-
ler native and
longtime Di-
nuba resident
made a drastic
career shift
opening his Mediterranean style restau- rant (specializing in Armenian dishes) that drew acclaim and fans from all parts. Among the celebrity visitors were Chuck Yeager and Huell Howser.
We'll try to get more details on "Uncle Harry" for our April 1 issue. You can ready a num- ber of social media tributes to him on the Uncle Harry's Clas- sic Meals page on Facebook.
•••
Next week, we should have
more good news on the CO- VID-19 front when Fresno County exits the purple tier category and improves to the red tier. Keep going with the work of masking up and prac- ticing physical distancing when not masked. The finish line is slowly drawing closer.
Jon Earnest is news-sports editor for The Times.
QUOTE
“The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it.
— Sir Terry Pratchett (1948-2015)
Jon Earnest
Vaccination is key to get back on track
By Carlos del Rio
Guest columnist
The end of the pandemic in the U.S. is in sight. The Covid-19 vaccines currently available in the United States have proven to be outstandingly effective at protecting recipients from coro- navirus and they are also safe.
These vaccines — and the potential of others on the way — have the power to lift us out of the depths of this pandemic and put us on the path forward to rebuilding from Covid-19's devastating economic, social, and psychological impacts.
Put simply, getting America vaccinated is our ticket to halt- ing the death toll and signifi- cantly slowing the spread of the virus. The vaccines are our ticket forward -- this is the mes- sage that needs to be shouted from the roof tops right now.
While public confidence in the vaccines, and access to them, continues to grow, many Americans — especially Black and Hispanic adults and those living in rural areas — remain hesitant about getting the shot.
In redoubling efforts to dispel fears about Covid-19 vaccines, the message that needs to be conveyed across the board is that these breakthroughs will not only stamp out the virus, but also end much of the growing collateral damage due to the pandemic.
We know that these are very safe vaccines. Out of the first 1.9 million Pfizer vaccine re- cipients, only 21 people experi- enced severe reactions. That's 0.00001 percent.
We also know that the vac- cines have demonstrated suc- cessful results. In a Moderna trial of 30,000 volunteers, half received the vaccine and the other half a placebo. In the placebo group, 185 came down with Covid-19, whereas in the vaccinated group, only 11 did, and all those cases were mild. That translates into an efficacy rate of 94.1 percent.
Even more importantly, the data shows that the Moderna vaccine is 100 percent effec- tive in preventing severe Cov- id-19 infections. The data from Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson is remarkably similar.
Skeptics say the vaccines were developed too quickly to be effective, that they'll cause worse side effects than the coronavirus itself, or that they won't prevent person-to-person spread.
The medical community knows that the first two of those statements are wrong, and the third, while very unlikely, has also been proven wrong in clini- cal trials where even when the virus was contracted the cases were notably mild.
Underselling the vaccine and fostering skepticism has
very real consequences — es- pecially for the vulnerable communities who have already been most hard hit.
Even before Covid-19, our health care system was fraught with millions across America living with one or more chronic conditions. People with chronic illnesses are six times more likely to be hospitalized and 12 times more likely to die from Covid-19 than people with no chronic conditions.
We also know that this pandemic disproportionately impacts persons of color. Ac- cording to the CDC, Black and Hispanic people are about four times more likely to be hospi- talized and almost three times more likely to die from Cov- id-19 than whites.
With awareness of these im- pacts must also come aware- ness of the path forward that the available vaccines provide us. This awareness is simple: Get vaccinated as soon as you are eligible.
Carlos del Rio, M.D., FID- SA is a Professor of Medicine at Emory University School of Medicine, Professor of Global Health and Epidemiology at the Rollins School of Public Health of Emory University and the Executive Associate Dean of Emory at Grady Health System.