Page 3 - Sanger Herald 9-6-18 E-edition

SANGER HERALD 3A THURSDAY, September 6, 2018 EDITORIAL & OPINION
Random thoughts That reminds me of an old joke ...
By Dick Sheppard
Last week when I began my annual office cleaning, sorting, filing, organizing project I came across a glossy Townsend Public Affairs presentation folder.
It was dated Nov. 2, 2017.
Here's an excerpt from
theNov.2,2017 RandomThoughtscolumn:
When I looked at the agenda for this evening's city council meeting and noticed a staff recommendation to the council to hire Townsend Public Affairs as the city's new grant writer, it caused me to check my phone to make sure I remembered correctly a text message I received several months ago from John Quiring.
John was with Acquisition Partners, the grant writing firm the council fired, with no explanation, way back in May.
John predicted the council was going to hire Townsend to replace Acquisition Partners.
And, sure enough, even though the staff went through the formality of an RFQ (Request for Quotation) process, a prediction made months ago will apparently become a reality this evening.
I think I'll text John and ask him who the Apaches will meet in the first round football playoff game on Nov. 10.
Funny thing, when I Googled Townsend Public Affairs, it looked more like a public relations, lobbying firm than a grant writ- ing group. It may be tough for a PR firm to match the 14 to 1 return on investment ratio Acquisition Partners had achieved when it was fired.
Stuff like this always make me wonder if things are really what they seem to be these days at city hall.
I haven't checked recently but as nearly as I can remember the last time a Townsend representative made a progress report to the city council it seemed like Townsend deserved an A+ for its public relations skills and an F- for its grant writing results.
And yet the contract was renewed ... even though Townsend at that time had produced
New Kings River challenges
The county's proposed general plan for 2020-40 includes a component pertaining to the Kings River Regional Plan. The Kings River Conservancy's (KRC) Board is very supportive of the county's plans for the
lower Kings River. The KRC agrees that agricultural production, open space, wildlife and fauna, and recreation in and on the Kings River area need to be preserved. Proscribed mineral extraction, that is quarrying, benefits private enterprises and the local economy.
While the KRC was only started in 2004, we have contributed both "sweat" labor and financial support of a new county park,
no, nada, zilch, zero dollars for the City of Sanger. But the report to the city council was a glowing representation of how good things were going to be in the future.
•••
The Townsend presentation reminded me
of a very old joke - which is a signal for you to tune out for a moment if you are easily offended.
The joke:
A man married a woman who had previ- ously divorced eight husbands. On their wed- ding night, she told her new husband, "Please be gentle, I'm still a virgin."
"What?" said the puzzled groom.
"How can that be if you've been married eight times?"
"Well, Husband #1 was a sales representa- tive: he kept telling me how great it was going to be.
"Husband #2 was in software services: he was never really sure how it was supposed to function, but he said he'd look into it and get back to me.
''Husband #3 was from field services: he said everything checked out diagnostically but he just couldn't get the system up.
"Husband #4 was in telemarketing: even though he knew he had the order, he didn't know when he would be able to deliver.
"Husband #5 was an engineer: he under- stood the basic process but wanted three years to research, implement, and design a new state-of-the-art method.
"Husband #6 was from finance and admin- istration: he thought he knew how, but he wasn't sure whether it was his job or not.
"Husband #7 was in marketing: although he had a nice product, he was never sure how to position it.
"And husband #8 was from Townsend Public Affairs: all he ever did was talk about it. "
•••
I wish the construction crew that has been
upgrading Church Avenue would come over to the 700 block of N Street and restripe the parking spaces and fix that deep, tire ripping, alignment destroying pothole on N Street at the intersection with 8th Street.
new all access trails at North Riverside, the promotion and protection of the local fishery and significant control of invasive species. Our work includes maintenance of restrooms, graffiti clean-up, and trash pick- up. Major new projects underway include
a nature preserve and educational center near Pine Flat Dam, an educational program coordinated with local schools, and a new River access point in Sanger.
There will be even greater challenges
in the next 20 years. The extension of the expanded 180 freeway and the future closure of older quarries will require the county's vigilance and planning. There is ongoing evidence of greater public demand for recreation on the Kings from all parts of our community.
The Kings River Conservancy looks forward to working with the county on these challenges and opportunities and hopes the improved strength of the county will enable it to participate even more as a partner in our mutual aspirations for the Kings.
Vernon Crowder
Reedley
The lines are so faded there's no way to tell if you're parked correctly in a space
until you get out of the car and peer down at the barely visible marking. Maybe the city's grant writer or public relations firm can round up a few bucks for the city to buy paint for parking spaces and a little asphalt con- crete for fixing potholes on downtown streets that are not being reconstructed.
•••
Hope to see you at the chamber of com-
outdone herself with nonstop activities -
free to the public - downtown from 5-9 p.m. There'll be a petting zoo, carnival games and rides, a great country singer John Pemberton - and the city manager will get to hit me in the face with a pie.
Not sure exactly how that's going to work out.
•••
"We cannot solve our problems with the
Dick Sheppard
same thinking we used when we created merce boss's extravaganza, "Night at the them." - Albert Einstein
Carnival." TammyWolfe,thechamber'sprez/ CEO, has done a great job of re-vitalizing Sanger's traditional Street Faire and Farmers' Market and this Saturday she seems to have
Comments, complaints and suggestions may be emailed to sangerherald@gmail.com or may be made by calling 875-2511.
In my OPINION
Let's celebrate diversity under one Flag
and in one Nation ...
By Fred Hall
which one is voting.
This is still early in the season but vote-
by-mail ballots will go out soon and we felt
it imperative to at least identify the 12 state- wide measures which have qualified with enough time as to allow voters an opportunity to evaluate each of them. If you fail to do
so, you will find yourself in the voting booth attempting to parse the true meaning of each by an often mis-labeled title by the politicians and little else.
Propositionl authorizesbondstofund specified housing assistance programs; Proposition2 authorizesbondstofundexist- ing housing program for individuals with mentalillness; Proposition3authorizes bonds to build projects for water supply
and quality, watershed, fish, wildlife, water conveyance and groundwater sustainability and storage; Proposition 4 authorizes bonds funding construction at hospitals providing children'shealthcare; Proposition5changes requirements for certain property owners to transfer their property tax base to replace- ment property; Proposition 6 eliminates cer- tain road repair and transportation funding, requires retail fuel taxes and vehicle fees be approved by the electorate; Proposition 7 con- forms California daylight saving time to fed- eral law and allows the legislature to change daylight saving time period; Proposition 8 regulates amounts out patient kidney dialy- sis clinics charge for dialysis treatment; Proposition 9 was removed from the ballot
by order of the California Supreme Court; Proposition 10 expands local governments' authority to enact rent control on residential property; Proposition 11 requires private sec- tor ambulance employees to remain on-call during work breaks; Proposition 12 establish- es new standards for confinement of speci- fied farm animals.
Now, that's a load of stuff to work your way through. Some certainly appear to
be benign but accept nothing for granted because it's a good bet that one way or anothertheywillimpactyourlife. Mytradi- tional caveat would be to examine especially closely those which will add to your cost of living which, here in California, are grow- ing—seemingly exponentially—every year. It's difficult to ask any of us to tax ourselves even more.
Remember to pay very little attention to the way our Secretary of State has titled thesepropositions. Onapersonalnote,I would suggest we be particularly careful whenapprovingadditionalwaterbonds, given the way the Valley has been treated previously. As in everything that happens in this state in terms of politics, the devil is in the details. Read them all carefully and make yourself an informed voter.
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.
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In the event you may
read this column on some-
thing of a regular basis, you
are well aware of my posi-
tion that the missing leg of
the three legged stool that
is immigration would be the
one that represents assimi-
lation. Absentthatvery
important element it will always be a balanc- ingactthatisdoomedtofailure. Withoutit, we become a nation of tribes.
Try to imagine my surprise when, this past weekend in the local daily newspaper, I read a column which advised its readers that all whitepeopleshould“justgetoverit.” The flying of foreign national flags and the domi- nation of a foreign language in the workplace was here to stay and if it presented a prob- lem for any English speaking residents of The United States they should just go “pound sand.”
A diversity of people can, indeed, rep- resentstrengthtoanation. However,that same diversity - when it comes to language and other items which bind us together as Americans - represents a devastating weak- ness! Themottoofthisgreatcountryisnot lost on many of us. E pluribus unum is Latin for “out of many, one.” What the hell is so hard to understand about that simple state- mentbysomany? Ifoneislookingforthe real reason for the strength and greatness of thiscountry,thatwouldbeit. Manypeople, from all over the world, have come together and assimilated to become Americans.
True Americans are not hyphenated Americans. Theheredityof allofusvaries to some degree but language, opportunity, purpose and love of the country by all true Americans is what binds us together with such resolve!
Please stop telling me to get over it and idly stand by as this country is allowed to slide into the same morass which bedevils most of the third world countries from which manyofthesenewimmigrantscome. How in the world will their bringing their old way of life with them make us stronger when, by their own admission, they're trying to escape that?
Those arriving here should be especially cognizant of placing an economic burden on theirfellowAmericans-andyet,oursocialis- tic politicians are on record advocating free “universal”healthcare. Initssimplestform, that means the tax payers will be called upon to provide a haven for medical refugees and pay for anyone who can get here. That's just completely wrong on every level.
Moving on to a different subject, we're just entering that time of our political year which is best known for its obfuscation.
The ballots will soon be printed featuring candidates representing the party of your choice and several statewide ballot measures. Experience has taught us that due to titling
at the Secretary of State's office the wording of ballot measures does not always honestly signify the true nature of the proposition on
FredHall