Page 3 - Sanger Herald 5-24-18 E-edition

SANGER HERALD 3A THURSDAY, MAY 24, 2018 EDITORIAL & OPINION
Random thoughts Don't miss this year's Memorial Day ceremony ...
By Dick Sheppard
"Memorial Day isn't just about honoring veterans, its about honoring those who lost their lives.
"Many veterans had the
fortune of coming home. For
us, that's a reminder that
when we come home we
still have a responsibility to serve. It's a con- tinuation of service that honors our country and those who fell defending it."'
- Pete Hegseth
Waytogo to the City of Sanger for getting all those military banners displayed along Academy Avenue in time for Memorial Day.
They're on both sides of the street between Church and Annadale avenues.
•••
Patrick Niemeyer will be the speaker
at the 11 a.m. Memorial Day ceremony at Sanger Cemetery.
Niemeyer is a retired U.S. Navy com- mander who is now the lead pastor at the Calvary Fellowship Church in Sanger.
The modest and soft spoken Niemeyer has multiple academic degrees and a highly decorated 14 year career as a U.S. Navy chaplain which included an association with the famous Seal Team Six.
AMVETS Post 98 is the host of the event this year.
•••
Waytogo mayor and military veteran
Frank Gonzalez for keeping us aware by Facebook posts of what's going on at "RECon The Global Retail Real Estate Convention."
Frank has been in Las Vegas, meeting with representatives of industry, retail and hospitality (hotels), trying to convince them the Nation's Christmas Tree City would be a great location for their next site.
I'd like to see a nice new restaurant, the
kind where you look down at your cloth cov- ered table instead of up over the counter and a disinterested cashier to check out the menu - and a hotel where the school district and the American Legion could put up visitors, instead of sending them to Clovis or Fresno.
C'mon, mayor! You can do it! •••
Sunday morning while fixing breakfast I was reminded - again - of several things about packaging that baffle me.
Easy open, easy close and resealable bags don't. One of the fragile eggs in the soft, eas- ily crushed Styrofoam carton was broken, apparently when the cashier/bagger put a bottle of juice on top of it.
But the almost indestructible electric toothbrush I bought was just fine in a hard plastic container I had to use my pocket knife, garden shears and pliers to open.
Not the packaging, but the words on a
box of frozen breakfast burritos puzzled me, "Made with real ingredients." I didn't realize some breakfast burritos are apparently made with "unreal" ingredients.
•••
I love this time of year in Sanger except
for allergies and the emerging foliage of spring that hides stop signs - like the ones at the intersections of Greenwood and 3rd and Greenwood and 5th and at a lot of other inter- sections in town.
Visitors, who don't know the stop signs are there have to be psychic or lucky to get through those hazards unscathed.
•••
Sanger drivers who parallel park on one of our many, many narrow downtown streets
and then hold the driver's side car door wide open while wrapping up a phone call, finding something in a purse or whatever activity takes precedence over common sense are high on my list of most annoying people.
I recently had to come to a complete stop
and honk several times to get the attention of a woman who had parked parallel on the north side of 7th Street in front of the Bank of the Sierra and was holding her car door wide open while apparently listening to the end of a song on the radio.
I couldn't swerve across the center line and drive around the open door because eastbound oncoming traffic was swerving across the center line to avoid the rear ends of SUVs diagonally parked in front of Bank of America.
Driving right through the open car door was an option I briefly considered.
•••
The special Measure S Citizens Oversight
Committee do-over meeting that was first scheduled for this Tuesday has been moved to next Tuesday, May 29. Not sure that was
a really good idea. There's a full moon that night and the oversight meetings, even with- out a full moon, have frequently been kind of scary.
It seems like, ever since the current city hall administration took over, it's been doing its best to annoy and frustrate the oversight committee with bad or no Measure S money information and incomplete or no communi- cation about why it can't or won't get things right.
The meeting, with a full moon, could be better than anything on TV. Next Tuesday, 6 p.m., city hall, 1700 7th Street.
•••
I believe this may be the most "educated"
city council we've had in awhile. I think four of the five councilmembers have college degrees. Yet, those four seem to always be focused on finding reasons why things can't get done instead of looking for ways things can get done.
Maybe education is overrated.
Comments, complaints and suggestions may be emailed to sangerherald@gmail.com or may be made by calling 875-2511.
Dick Sheppard
In my OPINION
An informed Central Valley
electorate will be an angry electorate
By Fred Hall
"Fulfilling your promises is the easiest way to get elected and breaking your promises is the easiest way to get fired."
- Thom Tillis
Last Wednesday evening,
I received the great honor
of being asked to serve
as moderator of a politi-
cal forum for the govern-
ment affairs committee
of the Dinuba Chamber of
Commerce. Ontheagenda
for the evening were four
candidates for State Assembly 26th dis- trict and two candidates for Tulare County Supervisor District 14.
Six of the seven candidates who were able to attend were greeted by a delightful Central Valley Spring evening, well prepared and tasty hors d'oeuvres as well as an interested andinvolvedturnoutoflocalcitizens. Since the forum was outdoors at the Alta Historical Society it would be redundant to say the venuewasabsolutelybeautiful. Theques- tions—provided by those local citizens—were often open and pointed as they probed for candidate positions on items considered cru- cial to the local area.
This event is cited in particular because it, once again, points out how critical it has become to the Central Valley to become active, aware and involved in all local poli- tics.
The truth is that our area of the state
has become “the red headed stepchild” of statewidepolitics. Weare,withincreas-
ing frequency, being given short shrift with governmental financing and other issues which dramatically impact the quality of life inoursmallcities. It'smoreimportantnow than ever that we must thoroughly study and research the candidates we select to oversee andprotectourinterests. Therecanbelittle doubt that all candidates are completely dedi- cated while running but are often seduced and subverted by the halls of power once elected. Digdeepwitheachandeveryoneof them!
It's never been more important than it is right now to send people with strong values torepresentourCentralValley. Burgeoning budgets, governmental pensions, rising taxes and a tendency to completely ignore the needs of agriculture make it imperative that we make our votes count to return California toitseraasthe"GoldenState.” Alltherosy projections being flouted from Sacramento will mean absolutely nothing if we have mort- gaged the futures of our children and grand- children.
Thistimethestakesarehigh! Thetime spent in examining the actions and past proc- lamations—as well as the ethical behavior— will provide insight into how they might act as opposed to their spouting political opinion
FredHall
which has been group tested.
With the California primaries facing all of
us on Tuesday, June 6, it's time to either fish orcutbait. Arewegoingtoallowthestatus quo of growing state budgets, increasing government and their pensions which are so out of control or are we going to elect people who will attempt to bring it under control? Are we going to continue to support a govern- ment that rewards itself by putting common criminals back on the street to rob, steal and plunder? That'sSacramento'sjob!
Will we stand idly by while utility and fuel costsgothroughtheroof? Willweallowpoli- ticians to plow another $1 billion into MediCal toprovidehealthcarefornoncitizens. Lies have been sold about increasing water stor- age here in the Valley and yet nothing hap- pens. Thereisahousingshortageandthe housing which is available is beyond the price range of most Californians, both of which one can lay right at the feet of the political over- lords.
The governor can talk about his “rainy day” fund all he wants, but this state is on thevergeoffinancialruin. Thecheckforall those unfunded liabilities will become due and rainy day funds won't make a dent in thatnumber. Read,questionandinvestigate thecandidatesthisyear. Yourvotemaybe considered critical to the very future of this beautiful state.
But, as always, that's only one man's opin- ion.
As a separate afterthought, please con- siderthis: Muchhasbeensaidoverrecent weeks about taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood, the nation's publicly funded “abortionmill.” Whentheycry“poverty”if denied taxpayer support, claiming that it will deny basic services, consider that they have spent $30 million on the upcoming mid-term elections. Iftheyhavethatkindofmoneyto throw around to influence elections, why the hell do they need any taxpayer money
at all? I don't know about you, but I don't want any of my money being spent on either abortions or liberal Democrat politicians!
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@
Yes, more parks!
The local shortfall in our investment in parks, and our spending on the operational and maintenance costs of our parks is now getting overdue attention. Proposition 68 - Parks, Environment and Water Bond -- will be on our June 5th ballot, and Assembly Bill 3218 by Joaquin Arambula will significantly expand the State Parks in the San Joaquin Valley if passed into law.
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These, along with the drive to place a tax measure on the November ballot for the City of Fresno to fund more parks, will provide more resources for capital investments and greatly needed money for parks operation and maintenance.
The Kings River Conservancy supports these initiatives and urges local and state leadership not to overlook the Kings River going forward. Our river is a great resource for recreation, education for our local, diverse population.
The Kings River Conservancy protects the river and its plant and wildlife, as well as the rights of local property owners, including you, the public on county parks. We espe- cially need help funding the management of eight county parks along the Kings River.
Deborah Lapp, president The Kings River Conservancy
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