Page 3 - Sanger Herald 3-7-19 E-edition

Random thoughts Is it time to start building an ark?
While the rest
of us may have
been wondering
if it was time to
start building an
ark last Saturday afternoon, the wild ducks and geese were enjoying the temporary lakes formed in the city's ponding basins.
It was a wild storm - around two inches of rain fell in a very, very short time, over- whelming Sanger's storm drain system.
I don't agree with the several I've heard complaining that there must be something the matter with the system to allow so much water to back up onto lawns and into build- ings - like the Herald's press room.
That was just a once in a lifetime storm and the rain water backed up for a couple of reasons: 1. it was just coming down faster than it could be drained away under perfect conditions and, 2. conditions weren't perfect because many storm drains became clogged with debris residents should have kept out of their gutters.
Sanger got the brunt of the storm because apparently the cell was located almost direct- ly over the city.
So we have some great stories to tell our friends, relatives, kinds and grandkids about how we survived the great rainstorm of '19!
•••
Sometimes I think Lewis Carroll's non-
sense poem "Jabberwocky" about the killing of a creature named "the Jabberwock" makes more sense than industry jargon used by insiders trying, not very hard, to communi- cate with people who are not in the industry and who don't speak the language.
The first couple of stanzas of "Jabberwocky" go like this:
In my OPINION
'Men are born ignorant, not stupid.
They are made stupid by education.'
SANGER HERALD 3A THURSDAY, MARCH 7, 2019 EDITORIAL & OPINION
By Dick Sheppard
’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe.
“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun The frumious Bandersnatch!”
That, in my opinion, is about as easy to understand as the notice on the city website about a public meeting coming up on March 14 at the community center.
The meeting, according to the city's indus- try jargon, is "regarding preliminary consid- eration to help guide future determinations by the Planning Commission and City Council on the following: Potential sites for rezoning to satisfy City of Sanger 2015-2023 Housing ElementUpdate,Program4: Rezoningfor RHNA and related General Plan amend- ments. CityofSanger2015-2023Housing ElementUpdate,Program4: Rezoningfor RHNA, requires rezoning of approximately
63 acres of vacant land with the City Limits of the City of Sanger for High Density ResidentialUse. Theproposedzoningdesig- nation is RM – 1.5, Medium Density Multiple Family Residential."
Yeah right!
Whatever that means.
It would have been helpful if, in plain
English, it had said something about wanting to get some public input before doing what the city has to do because the state says so - zoning about 63 acres for affordable housing.
The city is not planning to build now, or maybe forever, any affordable housing proj- ects on those parcels it has to rezone because the state said it had to.
It just has to do the rezoning to comply with state law.
"Press 1 for English." •••
So sorry I missed the Blossom Trail Festival this year because of the flu bug.
I hear it was a great event even with the light rain that fell off and on most of the morning.
Mike Nemeth has done a great job of covering the festival in today's Sports and
Lifestyles sections.
•••
You can count on it being another interest- ing city council meeting this evening.
The independent audit of the previous fis- cal year will be presented and even though much of it is in industry jargon and about as understandable as the "Jabberwocky" there are some things that stand out and raise ques- tions that maybe inquiring minds will want to know more about:
--------------
• The hiring of a political lobbying firm
in the previous fiscal year instead of a grant writer apparently cost the city $1,300,000. (Page 75 of Agenda)
• General Fund Revenues dropped by 4 percent, expenses increased 14.6 percent and net income (change in net assets) dropped by 52.5 perccent (Page 75)
• Utility revenues increased 5.1 percent, expenses increased 18.4 percent ,and income dropped by 199 percent (went negative). (Page 75)
• $3,900,000 from the utilities was trans- ferred to the General Fund. (Page 89 of Agenda).
• Finding 2018-2 Cost Allocation. For 3rd year in a row, no support for the taking of the $3,900,000.
• Since $2,791,085 was the General
Fund net income, is it possible the entire General Fund Income came from raiding the Utilities?
• Note 10 states in industry jargon that the City cannot follow a budget. More than $570,000 was spent over City Council approved amounts.
• Finding 2018-001 Capital Assets (Page 1961). The city has accounting and control issues on capital assets.
• The Summary of Control deficiencies starting on Page 196 shows many account- ing problems. The City waits 3 months to reconcile bank accounts and more issues exist. Normally they are reconciled monthly. Unless bank and investment accounts are reconciled, one cannot verify revenues and expenditures.The accounting issues gener- ally show untrained people managing City finances.
Without a reconciliation, can the treasur- er's report be trusted?
•••
One of my very favorite reasons for over- eating is coming up very soon.
The annual St. Mary's St. Patrick's Day dinner from noon to 5 p.m. on March 17 will be served at the church's social hall on the corner of North and Bethel avenues.
Faith and begorrah you don't want to miss it laddies and lassies!
Please direct your questions or comments to sangerherald@gmail.com.
Dick Sheppard
By Fred Hall
With the omnipresent call for free college and lifetime free education by Democrats, perhaps the time has come for us to take a critical look at the product which is being produced for all the money expended.
mitted their institutions to become diploma mills which crank out worthless degrees, under-educate students and spend copious amounts of time on political correctness. Closely examining our current educational facilities as well as people like Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez - a college graduate, but who would know from listening to her - we find no reason to find fault with his assertion.
Far too much classroom time is being devoted to personal political opinion than is being spent constructively teaching history and other life assisting skills which provide students the ability to use common sense in forming their own conclusions about current politics. It should be a crime against the sur- vival of humanity, considering all the malfea- sance in educating our young people.
Our view of the situation may appear sim- plistic to some, but as I recall, older methods now considered passe worked for all those yearsthattheywerethestandard. Teachour children to speak proper English; teach them to read, write and communicate well; teach them math to put in place a basic under- standing of business and an introduction to scientific thought; and teach them history to provide a perspective of our background that will allow them to avoid the same mistakes and follow an educated path into the future. Most of all, keep politics out of the class- room! Their experiences and proper educa- tion will provide all the knowledge needed for them to make political determinations on their own. Teachers are paid to teach, not propagandize.
We've only had space available today to discusseducation,itsescalatingcostand poorreturn. Oneshouldnotforgetthatthis is the same group of Democrats who want to“give”us“free”healthcareandaguaran- teed income for life whether we want to be employed or not! As they set about destroy- ing America, there must be a pot of gold somewhere, which I fail to see!
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.
Fred Hall
Bertrand Russell was an early 20th centu- ry philosopher, scientist and a proponent for liberalism. Giventoday'scropofcollegeedu- cated young people, we find ourselves more in line with his view of education than any
of the other famous quotes we were able to locate. Russell said, “Men are born ignorant, notstupid. Theyaremadestupidbyeduca- tion."
No analysis of our current educational sys- tem would be complete without the examination of the number of "soldiers”
on the line in the form of teachers who are doingwhatwecallthe“heavylifting.” It
just seems to us that many school systems are invested too heavily in administration. Furthering to complicate things is a national Department of Education which is a complete wasteoftimeandmoneyinouropinion. All educationaloversightshouldbeonthestate and local level.
Aretherebadteachers? Yes,thereare. Sadly, they, although often rare, are a drag on the entire system, especially when they are teaching your kids! The slackers and incom- petents are protected by one of the strongest unionsinthecountry. Onewhichshouldnot evenexist. We'veallheardthesayingthat onebadapplewillspoilthebarrel. Thesize and strength of these unions is so large as to allow them to influence the political climate.
The California State University is a clas- sic example of the diminution of the value of possessingadegree. They'vewillinglysub-
It seems every time taxes
are increased, there is more set aside for education and yet that threshold seems to be to dumb down every matriculating class. Adopting the lowest common denominator isnotthewaytoachieveexcellence. Callit what you want, but we are in fact “dumbing- down” that which is acceptable from our schools.
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