Page 4 - Mid Valley Times 7-2-20 E-edition

Thursday, July 2, 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 This holiday celebrates
year 2 of Mid Valley Times
While celebrating Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness, don’t forget about the Right to Life
Rick Curiel — Sanger Editor Jon Earnest — Reedley Editor Dick Sheppard — Editor Emeritus
In July 1775, the people of New England began their battle with the British to secure their independence. The following year, on July 2 the Congress voted, in secret, to declare independence from Great Britain. Two days later, July 4, 1776, the final words of the Declaration of Indepen- dence were approved and the docu- ment was published. Delegates began signing the Declaration of Indepen- dence on Aug. 2, 1776.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
These words, found in our Declaration of Independence, are the foundation for life as we know it here in the United States of America. They are the words that kicked of one of the greatest social experiments in, perhaps, world history.
As we celebrate our nation’s Independence this weekend, I feel it’s worth noting these highly regarded words. With all that is going on in the world today, these words have been ringing in my ear for some time now. And, after chewing on the words carefully, I’ve come to the conclusion that these words are exactly what a new social structure needed to start on the right track. And they may be exactly what we need today.
The words are really quite brilliant. It all begins with truth, the dignity of all life, and the liberty to pursue happiness. On the surface, the words can seem like a formula for a uto- pian society. But fast-forward
244 years and it would seem the words have lost some value by way of a relative interpre- tation. Personally, I believe the words “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” are not in random order. Rather, they are listed in its proper order.
True, here in this great country, we are all free to pur- sue our own happiness. But happiness, unlike Life and Lib- erty, can be an abstract idea in today’s world. What makes one person happy may not have the same effect on another, and vice versa.
That’s why we have laws.
But ultimately, the right to pursue happiness and the liber- ty we are afforded in this great nation is all in vain if we do not honor the core of our declara- tion.
It seems today that this na- tion has lost sight of the most governing principal of our in- dependence. We argue on the streets about rights and free- dom, liberty and justice, this side against that side and that side against this side.
People say Black lives mat- ter and people say all lives mat- ter. I believe it is our responsi- bility as Americans to see that the words ‘all men are created
equal’ ring true from genera- tion to genera- tion. Otherwise the words of the Declaration of Independence will fail to be ‘self-evident’.
Rick Curiel
Initial descriptions, in a letter from John Adams, first declared what should be a day of “pomp and pa- rade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations throughout the United States." It wouldn't officially be recognized as Independence Day until 1791.
Throughout the years, nothing has stood to deter American people's collective chest from swelling in pride at the sight of the Stars and Stripes and a genuine feeling for patriotism and the struggles of our forefa- thers to provide all of us with the freedoms we now enjoy. Freedom our millennials, academia, professional athletes and Hollywood take for granted.
This is the first year, in my recollection, where cel- ebrations will be dimmed or made non-existent by a virus from China and a collection of power-mad bureau- crats. For a holiday that should be all-encompassing in terms of our population, we find ourselves in a time and place where everything is always about politics. That's truly a sad thought at the very time which should be celebratory at every level. Thank heaven for every- thing we have!
Time really does fly!
This issue of The Mid Valley Times marks the be- ginning of our second year as a combined form of The Reedley Exponent, The Dinuba Sentinel and The
Sanger Herald. We appreciate all the help we've re- ceived from subscribers, advertisers and our own staff whose help was invaluable in converting over three centuries of collective journalism into one history re- cording newspaper.
We're living in a time period when the future of com- munity journalism has become problematic. Roughly 2,000 newspapers — or about 25 percent of the total — have been forced to shutter their operations during the past decade. That means that a huge number of American cities or communities have been touched by becoming “news deserts” owing to all of the closures.
We're not only talking about small town weeklies but some of huge metropolitan dailies are experiencing the same economic pressures as the little guys, like us. The Visalia Times-Delta, in Tulare County, is a prop- erty owned by Gannett, which recently merged with another giant group publisher. Both of the companies owed huge amounts of money in a move that seems to make them “too large to fail.” The Fresno Bee is in the process of a bankruptcy which is tearing that once powerful publisher to shreds. They probably will wind up being owned by a hedge fund which is, all too often, the death knell for any business. That's heartbreaking for someone who spent a lifetime doing this.
Further complicating a situation that was already bad, there is the additional impact of the virus which closed so many of the retail businesses. This is a busi- ness where advertising from our customers is required to cover the costs of allowing us to deliver a 50 cent news product of this size to your door. When the normal operation is impacted by changing how they receive their news, it has been exacerbated by a new disease about which the “experts” know very little.
There is little doubt that, as strong and resilient as they are, the American people will survive all of this. Now it would be good time to get the morons off the street and have them stop destroying public property.
But, as always, that's only one man's opinion.
Not-so-random thoughts about making sausage and Measure S
Fred Hall
The words of our found- ing fathers are the foundation upon which this nation is built. Our founding fathers may not have been perfect, but their words are rock solid — so long as we honor them.
But we cannot truly honor them if we leave out the Right to Life. It is at the heart of our independence. We cannot say “all men are created equal”, or Black Lives Matter or All Life Matters if we cannot recognize the dignity of all Life. And we cannot honor the dignity of all life unless we start at the be- ginning — at the point of cre- ation. After all, the words are not ‘all men are born equal’.
This nation needs to get back on track. We need to start at the beginning. We need to start with Life.
Rick Curiel is Sanger editor for The Times.
QUOTE
“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”
— Alvin Toffler (1928-2016)
Under the current admin- istration, in my opinion, the police union with the city man- ager’s help has become one of the most potent lobbies in Sanger government. Control of Measure S, public safety tax money, was undoubtedly what motivated the unusual alliance.
Can’t blame the PD for wanting some say about how the money is spent. The mea- sure, after all, was written and twice approved by voters primarily to benefit the police and fire departments. The pub- lic service language that came along between votes changed the original intent of the mea- sure considerably and opened a lot of doors for public service programs for youths.
City Manager Tim Chapa I’m sure at the frantic urging of the police union, seems to be trying to ratchet it back to its original intent — to ben- efit the police and fire depart- ments — and to do that with the
current national, regional and some local negative sentiment about police is not going to be be an easy task. In my opinion, it can’t be done without some Machiavellian machinations to ugly up the process. Those of us who have watched Chapa since he’s been city manager know he’s not likely to pass up an opportunity to show us how sausage is made — it’s an ugly process that sometimes produces an acceptable prod- uct. The difference this time is that he may not be able count on the City Council to support him if the chopping and grind- ing part of the sausage making becomes too public, too visible, too ugly.
Could be the public service entities that say their youth programs depend on Measure S money to survive will just roll over and tell Chapa to take their money because Sanger doesn’t need any more pro- grams for youth as much as
it needs “boots
on the ground.”
Nah, that’s not
gonna happen.
It’s going to
take the hands
of at least three
City Coun-
cil members
turning the sausage grinder’s wheels to make it happen — to make public service entities with great programs for young people, like SAM Academy, give up the money that funds those programs.
If Chapa had wanted Mea- sure S restored to its original version for the benefit of the community, not just to avoid the probable loss of a valuable political ally, there was plenty of time to rewrite the measure before it went to the voters the second time.
Dick Sheppard is editor emeritus of Mid Valley Times and may be contacted by email at dicksheppard86@gmail.com.
Dick Sheppard