Page 4 - Mid Valley Times 11-12-20 E-edition

Rick Curiel — Sanger Editor Jon Earnest — Reedley Editor Dick Sheppard — Editor Emeritus
Hard on the heels of the 2020 Gen- eral Election, I find myself drawn to the old story of the young girl who, up- on being given the parental assignment of cleaning all the excrement from the horse barn, didn't blink. Her response? She immediately rolled up her sleeves and went to work explaining, with this much horse excrement there must be a pony in here somewhere. That's ex- actly how I view the last election.
It’s hard not to talk about politics after perhaps the most historic election in U.S. his- tory. So, in order to spare you the agony of further drawing out the state of our current de- mocracy — I’ll talk about the weather.
You’ve got to love the rain.
This past weekend’s show- ers were truly a breath of fresh air. Saturday morning, I stepped outside to do some- thing I always do after the sea- son’s first rain — to take a deep breath.
It was chilly. The streets were wet. The day was bright. And the skies, cleansed by the nightly shower, were a rich blue.
The first rain has a way of putting things in perspective. Living in the Valley, an appre- ciation for rain comes natural- ly. But recent events have left many people wishing for, even praying for, rain.
I was reminded of this by my daughter’s first words upon realizing it had showered.
“I’m so happy it rained,” she said, “because of the fires.”
We haven’t seen clear skies in months. For some it may
seem even longer. This sum- mer has been the worst fire season in California history, perhaps even U.S. history. All of us have been witness to the devastation and destruction that an uncontrolled forest fire can do.
Saturday, the rain finally came. And it was welcomed by so many, including myself.
You get a true sense of ap- preciation for the valley we live in after a good rain. Trav- eling through endless orchards against the majestic Sierra- Nevada Mountains to the east can make you wonder if this is not truly the land of milk and honey.
The rain brings out the goodness in the Valley and ev- ery season can bear us fruit.
It’s amazing how fast the season changed. It’s like we went from summer to winter in a matter of two weeks. This weekend’s rain made it feel like a new season. There was change in the air.
I’m hoping for a better sea- son. The last few have been rough.
I’m hoping for growth. I’m hoping for fruit. I’m hoping for
more rain.
But the new
season also
brings with it a
chill. Some peo-
ple don’t like
the cold weath-
er, but the cold
weather is necessary. Oranges in the Valley actually need the cold weather to get their color and sugar content. So without the rain and the cold, an orange would just be...green.
Some don’t like change, es- pecially when it comes abrupt- ly. But change can not only be a good thing, it can also be nec- essary. And every season can bring us fruit.
The rain and the cold, they’re nothing to fret about —nomorethantheheatofa scorching summer, something else we are no strangers to. In the end, every season is neces- sary for the balance of life.
So, with the holidays ap- proaching, I’m hopeful for a good season. And, I’m thankful for the rain and the cold.
Rick Curiel is Sanger editor for The Times.
Thursday, November 12, 2020 | A4 | Mid Valley TiMes Editorial & Opinions
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Fred Hall — Publisher
In my OPINION Looking for the 'pony'
from the 2020 election
After months of heat and fires, a little rain cleanses the sky, soul
Rick Curiel
Fred Hall
After the election outcomes in so many races — par- ticularly the president — one only can assume the attitude of the young girl in the story and remain as optimistic as possible. Fortunately, it appears the Senate should remain in Republican hands and represent a breath of sanity in regards to so many of the nutty proposals being pushed by Democrats. The wild cards in that mess would include Mitt Romney, Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins. Who knows what they are liable to do. That's assuming that voting numbers remain as they are today. This election has been so strange that one can't even count on that.
The undecided Senate races are both runoffs in Georgia and should be firmly in GOP control, but with the apparent shenanigans of this election cycle no one can take anything for granted. So far the irregularities discovered in procedures are too great to mention. The deeper they dig, the uglier it looks.
Never have I seen an election turn on the basis of irrational hatred for one individual. Despite all of the tantrums of a biased press, Donald Trump's record of accomplishment has been stellar in all regards. What makes his accomplishments so laudable was the man had to bring Congress and the media kicking and screaming through all four productive years of his administration. They never seemed to grasp the fact that this man, al- though a billionaire, represented the hopes and dreams of the average voter.
From bringing troops home from their deployments around the world to making the movements regarding oppressive taxes, restrictions and bureaucratic regula- tions, President Trump helped provide an environment for one of the strongest economies in history. Unemploy- ment dipped to record lows and particularly benefited minorities. That's pretty remarkable when one considers oversight is being provided by a “racist” according to Democrats and the media.
The “demon virus” from China has played havoc with our economy over the past seven months and has been heavily politicized, blaming the president for something over which he had no control. During his “campaign” Joe Biden claimed that he would “fix the problem” with COVID-19 and a lot of people suspended common sense and believed his specious claim.
I've emphasized the word “campaign” in the previous paragraph because there was no campaign. It seems the strategy for Democrats had to be to keep their candidate quiet and out of sight. With the assistance of a sycophan- tic press, they were able to hide the candidate from any questions that might challenge his cognitive abilities.
Sadly it appears that most people did not actually vote for Joe Biden, but voted against Donald Trump. Ob- viously there is a large number of our society that are so malleable as to hate a man who did a pretty good job of keeping the American Ship of State on a true course which was designed to help everyone.
So far, our greatest fear is that the first actions of what promises to be the most progressive (read that as socialistic leaning) administration in history will quickly move to rejoin all of the treaties Trump extracted us from including, but not restricted to, the Paris accords on climate change, the Iran nuclear deal, the unlawful DACA deal, open borders, and increased taxes are just some of the things we can anticipate from a Biden-Har- ris administration.
Kamala Harris always should be included because this most liberal senator now will be serving — in short order — as our president.
Reedley's COVID numbers stable, but county could face a downgrade
The city of Reedley ap- pears to be doing better when it comes to COVID-19 num- bers, but the picture isn't so promising for Fresno County as a whole.
At the Nov. 10 Reedley City Council meeting, City Manag- er Nicole Zieba told the coun- cil that Reedley added only about a dozen new cases in the calendar week, and hasn't had a death in more than four weeks. As The Times reports this week, the city was sur- passed by neighboring Sanger four overall positive test cas- es, although Reedley remains slightly higher in active or un- der investigation cases.
That's the good news. Un- fortunately, the outlook – as soon as next week – doesn't ap- pear good for Fresno County.
"Countywide, we are not meeting the state metrics and statewide, we are not meet-
ing metrics," Zieba told the council. "So today, [Gov. Gavin Newsom] announced seven or eight counties that have moved backwards to a more restrictive tier. They have announced to us, through the health officer, that they expect we may be moving back to the purple tier."
Zieba said she heard from Dave Pomaville, Fresno Coun- ty health officer, that the county expects to hear the bad news from Newsom's office on Tuesday, Nov. 17. "That is not good news for us, but it's not good news for any of the coun- ties," she said.
Zieba said that gyms, res- taurants and churches — enti- ties that were most adversely affected by the highly re- stricted "widespread" catego- ry — would again be forced to close to indoor activities should that action be taken.
That means
that the limit-
ed indoor din-
ing that res-
taurants in the
county have
had will again
disappear; in
Reedley that
means the outdoor "parklets" that have been built to pro- vide outdoor seating will be- come extremely necessary for those businesses.
The best we can do is con- tinue to wear masks as much as possible when gathering in public places, practice so- cial distancing and proper hy- giene. Also, hope the numbers somehow level off in the next week so the county won't have to rejoin Tulare County with the purple tier restrictions.
Jon Earnest is Reedley edi- tor for The Times.
But, as always, that's only one man's opinion.
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QUOTE
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Jon Earnest