Page 4 - Mid Valley Times 2-13-20 E-edition

Thursday, February 13, 2020 | A4 | Mid Valley TiMes Editorial & Opinions
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 Much more to presidential
elections than popular vote
Increasingly, we are told by Demo-
crats and the media that our current
roaring economic engine is attribut-
able to Barack Obama and that Hill-
ary Clinton actually won the 2016
presidential election and it was stolen
by the Russians. The culprit is inter-
changeable between Donald Trump,
Ukraine and any number of others.
Most are so asinine as to be easily re-
futable, but we'll attempt to deal with one so you truly understand the facts of the situation.
After listening to a CNN “reporter” regurgitate, completely out of context, that Hillary Clinton had won the election with more popular votes than our president in 2016, it seemed time to take a few minutes and give some perspective to that claim.
Let's begin by paying homage to our forefathers for having the wisdom and foresight to establish the Electoral College as the basis for selecting a person for national leadership. When these men drafted our Declaration of Independence, Constitution and other documents germane to the establishment of a democ- racy that would stand for centuries, they were forced to deal with potential shenanigans from a developing ruling class.
It was necessary to anticipate and address the pos- sibility of huge cities where people of a common mind- set could potentially hold sway over smaller towns and more rural areas. Their solution, which has served us well for centuries, was the Electoral College, which seems to have provided equity for the ballots of mil- lions of voters. Judging from the current state of af- fairs in California — Los Angeles and Sacramento, in particular — as well as New York, it's hard to believe that someone selected from those Democratic-run messes would serve the vast part of this country well.
Let's examine just how large that disparity has be- come in America. For sake of a close-up look at how America felt about the candidates in 2016, we can set California aside and concentrate on New York, and New York City in particular. In terms of legislative malfea- sance, that may be the only area that outstrips Califor- nia in dumb counterintuitive laws.
There are 3,141 counties in the entirety of the Unit- ed States. Our current president, Donald Trump won 3,054 of them while Ms. Clinton garnered only 57! That means that the president carried 98 percent of Amer- ica's counties and Ms. Clinton finished with 2 percent.
It is true that Clinton won the popular vote by ap- proximately 1.5 million votes. Unfortunately for Dem- ocrats, our forefathers had the wisdom to install the Electoral College in the selection process to assure a more equitable distribution of the influence on govern- ment to the entire country.
In the five counties that encompass New York City (Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Richmond and Queens) Clinton received two million more votes than Trump. Clinton won four of these counties; Trump won Rich- mond. Therefore, these five counties alone more than accounted for Clinton winning the popular vote of the entire country. These counties encompass 319 square miles; the entire United States measure 3,797,000 square miles.
When one has a country that is comprised of almost 4 million square miles, it strikes us a ludicrous to even suggest that the vote of those who inhabit a mere 319 square miles should dictate the outcome of a national election.
Large, densely populated Democrat strongholds — New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco — do not nor should they be allowed to speak for the rest of this great nation. If one has any doubt, look at what years of Democrat rule have done for them!
Aviation training program already making its mark on young students
Rick Curiel — Sanger Editor Jon Earnest — Reedley Editor Dick Sheppard — Editor Emeritus
Anthony Corona, a fifth- grader at Jefferson Elemen- tary School in Reedley, admit- ted he was a little scared the first time he took the wheel of the new flight simulator that's been on campus for about two months as part of a new pro- gram designed to develop a new generation of pilots.
"I was like 'What is this thing? Is it like some type of Ferrari controller, or su- perspace game?'" he said. "I thought it was really big and weird. Then I started playing, and I was like 'Whoa, I can ac- tually drive a plane!' And so I started going through the con- trollers and I learned how to go down, up, turn on and off the engine."
Although Anthony crashed his first two times on the simu- lator, he began to improve as he maneuvered through cir- cled targets. "The third time, when I came I started going slowly and I went through all of the courses," he said. "And then the librarian said 'Who- ever makes it through all of them will get lots of gummy worms." Sure enough, Antho- ny was the first to finish the course unscathed and collect the gummy worms.
Patty Ledesma, principal at Jefferson, said the addition of the simulator has brought a real excitement to all students on campus. Not to mention staff and parent group who have come onto campus and tried out the simulator.
Jefferson (along with T.L. Reed K-8 School) is one of two Kings Canyon Unified School District campuses with the simulators — after all, their longtime school nickname is the Jets. And it's been jet-like speed that the program was established on campus.
"It's been only a couple of months since they first came on campus and took a tour with Severin [Wandji, Boeing Company official]. Right after that, it happened very quick- ly," Ledesma said. The initial visit was followed by a trip to Fresno's Chandler Executive Airport, where electric planes are housed.
"That's really where I got to see everything happen," she said. "We got to see the hangar, see the electric airplanes that they had. It was the next week that they installed the simula- tor. It was that fast.
"I was very surprised how quickly it was occurring. It's been a whirlwind, but an excit- ing one."
During her brief presenta- tion before television media, government and school offi- cials and other visitors, Ledes- ma it is exciting to see other skills arising from the young people who use the simulator.
"Our students are learn- ing patience, they're learning communication. They're learn- ing to encourage one another," she said. Pointing to the stu- dents as she drew laughter, Ledesma said "They're sitting quietly right now, but nor-
mally they're coaching one another and helping them fly and become better. And the perseverance that it takes to continue.
Jon Earnest
Fred Hall
"We're very grateful to Boe- ing and the city for this oppor- tunity."
Anthony was joined dem- onstrating the simulators by fellow fifth-graders Angel Zeferino and Leonardo Gue- vara along with fourth-grader Kaileigh Hirihara-Corona. All four shared to me their admit- ted struggles at first with the simulator.
"I thought this was very re- alistic. It felt awesome," Angel said. "At first I was not that good, and after my first time I decided to try to practice to get a little better. It's so hard, but it's fun. I want everyone to try it so they have the same experience that I have." Leon- ardo echoed the same theme. "In the beginning, I couldn't even make one (circle). After a few weeks, I started getting better at it. Now I can make like five."
Kayleigh, a symbol of of- ficials who hope to get more young females to become pilots, said she continues to work on improving her scores. "I try to come here every sin- gle lunch and recess," she said.
It's only appropriate that
Letters from readers
Jon Earnest is Reedley edi- tor for The Times.
But, as always, that's only one man's opinion.
Unhappy with
new cemetery restrictions
Editor:
I am a resident of Dinuba and have grown up here my whole life. I just read the ar- ticle in the Feb. 6 paper about the Smith Mountain Cemetery restrictions. I own a plot over there where my first husband is buried and my plot is al- ready paid for and I personally bought our headstone.
I do not believe anyone should have the right to tell me
what I can and cannot put on “my” headstone. I understand the whole balloon thing due to possible harm to animals, but to say I cannot put shells, or knick-knacks on “my” head- stone is ridiculous! It is bad enough that we have to re- move our stuff every Monday evening. As a plot owner my- self I feel that my rights as an owner are being trampled on. What does it hurt to have shells or rocks or knick-knacks on the headstone if they are on the actual marker? It does not
hurt a thing!
I feel oppressed by these
such rules. If they want to tell everyone what they can and cannot do with their head- stones, then by all means let them purchase them for us! Of course, this is just one per- son’s opinion/feeling, but as a resident of Dinuba who owns and personally paid for the whole thing, I have a right to be heard.
Karen Greenwood Dinuba
Letters Policy
MID VALLEY TIMES invites letters from the public on any topic of local relevance. We reserve the right to edit letters for clarity or brevity, and we reserve the right to NOT publish them if they could be deemed libelous or profane. Letters should be 350 words or less, and bear the author's name, address, and phone number. Letters can be mailed, emailed, submitted via our website, or personally delivered to: Editor, Mid Valley Times, 1130 G St, Reedley CA 93654; Editor, Mid Valley Times, 740 N St. Sanger, CA 93657; of Editor, Mid Valley Times, 145 S. L St, Dinuba, CA 93618.
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.”
— Terry Pratchett (1948-2015)
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