By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune

I don’t know what you’re going to do with your stimulus bonus, but I’ve been thinking the patriotic thing to do is buy stuff that I’ve been putting off buying.

For example, I’m going to get a bunch of new undershirts, so Mrs. Doud won’t have to wash so often. We have a big washer that could wash bigger loads of undershirts than it already does. But since I have so few, she has to wash what I do have a lot more often than if I had more. However, I might be making it tough on the laundry detergent people, who will be selling us fewer scoops if Mrs. Doud washes fewer loads.

But something has to give as we stimulate this economy.

For another example, I was thinking of buying an upscale brand of cat food instead of the cheapo stuff we’ve been feeding her, and which she seems to like just fine. Buying the upscale cat food will put money in the pockets of the upscale cat food moguls, but will pick the pockets of the poor folks who turn out the cheaper stuff. I tried a few cans of the expensive stuff, and the cat didn’t seem to like it, so I could have saved my money But we are talking about stimulating the economy here.

Here is a way to stimulate the economy that can’t miss: spend those dollars locally, whatever you spend them on. When you spend locally, the city sales taxes you pay stay home instead of paving somebody else’s street or putting gas in somebody else’s police car. The dollars pay local wages, maybe even yours.

Locally spent dollars get passed around locally. That really stimulates an economy.

If you use your bonus to pay off your credit card, that’s okay. When you’re ready to max it out again, though, do it here in town. You’ll be glad.

All comments are edited for length and content. Due to content some comments may not be published. Please limit your calls to two minutes or less.

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A woman gave “kudos to Margaret Maguire for her excellent letter in the Tribune on Wednesday, April 16 concerning the casino. It was very well thought out and she is absolutely right. We do not need the money from the casino.”

“I’m totally for the casino,” said another lady who “was born and raised in Madera.” She “thought it sort of bad that you have to be bilingual to get a job here. The casino will be a place for those who don’t know, or don’t want to know Spanish, to get a job.”

“Please be an angel,” a lady asked, “to all those thousands of animals that need rescuing.” She left a Web site address, but unfortunately it could not be transcribed. The Red Line suggests the lady write a letter to the editor expressing these views and the Web site.

“I’m just blown away,” said a lady, “about the (Jane Doe) supposed longtime resident of Madera,” concerning a caller last week. “I can’t understand her criticisms when she is living in the middle of the biggest commercial zone that Madera has ever had; out on (Avenue) 17, the fairgrounds and out on Yosemite and Tozer, plus office buildings all around.”

This week’s caller also asked “Where were you all the years our local officials were supporting the state legislature trying to get the trains to the tracks to the east?”

“It is totally amazing,” began a regular caller about the fairgrounds construction and the new shopping center at Yosemite and Tozer. The man spoke of there not being “any mention of a high-dollar, sit-down style restaurant, rather than fast food or takeout.” He wondered, “if this was because of the ethnic background or we just don’t have enough high-class citizens in Madera to warrant to have quality sit-down restaurants.”

“I’m calling about the water, and sprinklers overflowing over on Doubletree and Westberry,” said a man. “Every day, and all the time, there’s water in the gutter.”

A woman who gave her name “wondered where they’re going to put the fairgrounds this year. They’re building a Lowe’s shopping center there, so they will probably have to move the fair. They moved the flea market.”

A man said he “seems to live on a street in Madera where the residents seem to enjoy leaving their trash cans out on the street for days at a time after the trash has been picked up. It is too bad they don’t have an ordinance like Fresno where trash cans are required to be behind fences or barriers. Code Enforcement even left a copy of the code for each residence, but the people on this street still ignore it.”

A woman who gave her name and phone number said she “helped write a story for the Sierra Star,” and she was “wondering if The Madera Tribune would like to pick it up. It is about a woman up here that has been foreclosed on and has to find homes for these whole bunch of cats she has sheltered for the last 20 years.”

A man asked that the Tribune cover “track and field teams. The past few weeks they have done some very good work. We had a couple of girls winning races at the West Coast Relays.” He also mentioned other meets where Madera athletes did well.

A man who gave his name said he “was reading about the athletes that came from Madera High and will be in the Madera Hall of Fame.” He said, “I know several other athletes that should be included.” He left his phone number. (Note: This year’s initial dinner and induction will become an annual event — hopefully with inductions every year.)

“There’s a new scam going on,” warned a man. “They follow older people driving, and sabotaging their vehicles they then offering to help. They’re requiring senior citizens to go the bank and draw out money. Watch where you park.”

A woman responded to the letter to the editor “concerning the pit bull attack in (Town & Country) park. Thank goodness she was not injured. When are our city council members going to wake up and do something about this? My children play ball at the park every night. It is time for Madera to protect their kids, before somebody gets killed or seriously mauled.”

“I now check the letter writer before reading the letter to the editor,” said a gentleman. “I am a Republican yet I am so tired of Mr. Skeels’ letters to the editor. They are redundant and boring.

“I suppose,” he continued, “when a Democrat gets elected he’ll blame the war, the economy, and the gas prices on them instead of the man now in the White House and his rich oil company and corporation buddies.”

“We do need to fix our roads,” said a woman responding to an article in The Madera Tribune. “Maybe the county needs to look into raising development fees. Developers have not paid their fair share in what goes to the school and roads and now it’s catching up with the community. Supervisors, it is time to take charge.”

A man gave his name, said he was with Kids Safety First and asked, “Why do our city and county officials think they are so much more important than the citizens paying the taxes and pay their salaries?” He said he and his organization “talked to county engineering about painting crosswalks at Avenue 9 and Road 23 to no avail.”

He then called back and asked that citizens call the county engineer “to see if we can get a crosswalk at the corner of Avenue 9 and Road 23.”

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Thank you for your calls. Remember, the Red Line is open for your messages 24-hours a day by calling 674-4478, or by visiting www.maderatribuneredline.com.

By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune

I thought the dance craze would be over by now, but it seems it is just getting started.

Dance shows are proliferating on television, and dancing teachers are getting more customers than they know what to do with.

A lot of those who are dancing are people who just a few years ago were jogging or running. The football player Emmitt Smith, who not so far back was running down sidelines dragging two or three tacklers behind him, last year was whirling around the dance floor on “Dancing With the Stars,” with professional dancer Cheryl Burke hanging on to him and whispering to him where he should put his feet. Most of the time, he did what she told him.

Now, a whole new set of dancers is sweeping across the ballroom, and Mrs. Doud is their biggest fan. She hardly ever watches television, but when the dancers are doing their stuff, you better not get between her and the TV.

I always thought it would be nice to learn to dance like Emmitt and Cheryl, but about all I can do is bump into the other dancers. I think I also embarrass Mrs. Doud, who is a pretty good dancer in her own right.

I do attempt free-form dancing, that a lot of rock ’n’ roll fans enjoy. For example, I used to be able to do the Twist, but now it makes me dizzy, and it soon turns into the Stumble.

The real ballroom dancers are getting into the dances which have “structure.” Dances like waltzes, fox-trots, salsas, rumbas and tangos all have great discipline and build smoothness and grace.

Of course, it helps when you know the difference between your left foot and your right, which is where my problems begin.

By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune

We were in a restaurant the other night when a couple came in pushing two child carriers.

“Oh, boy,” I thought. The restaurant had been peaceful, but I could imagine it getting noisy very quickly. And we were just starting to eat.

Well, was I ever surprised.

The children were well behaved. Their parents paid loving attention to them. Whatever the children said, they said in normal voices, without yelling.

On our way out of the restaurant, I stopped and told the parents what great kids I thought they had, and how that reflected what good parents they were. They looked at me with a bit of surprise. They apparently thought all children were supposed to behave the way theirs did.

It made me think about the children who were removed from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints compound near San Angelo, Texas.

Many of the 462 children have been separated from their mothers and taken to foster homes, which has been a problem for Texas authorities. It seems as though the majority of the children are very well behaved, so well behaved, in fact, that the officials have had trouble finding foster homes that are appropriate for well-behaved children. Most of the kids who wind up in Texas foster homes apparently have behavior problems, brought on by coming from families with awful parents.

I know that the parents in the RLDS compound are suspected of being cruel to their children in some ways. Girls reportedly are forced to marry older men. Young boys can be thrown out and made to fend
for themselves.

Yet, something right must be going on, too.

I’m glad I don’t have to sort it out.

By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune

It made news when animal trainer Stephen Miller was killed by a bear Tuesday at the animal training facility where he and the bear worked, near (wouldn’t you know) Big Bear Lake. It made news because the human was supposed to be smarter than the bear, and was supposed to have trained the bear not to hurt him. It didn’t quite work.

Nobody is hurrying to blame the bear for being a bear, although an investigation may change that. When Siegfried and Roy’s tiger nearly bit Roy Horn’s head off, they didn’t blame the tiger. They let the tiger live on, as though it had not tried to kill one of them.

A friend of mine trained horses, and one day he was working with a horse and the horse kicked him and wrecked his knee. He didn’t have the horse turned into dog food, just went ahead and kept working with the animal, as soon as he could walk again.

The animal tried to kick him again, but he was ready for it, and got out of the way in time. But my friend kept his patience.

“You can’t blame a horse for being a horse,” he said.

I don’t think I could be that patient. A few weeks ago, my cat for some reason decided to climb up my pant leg with her claws out. The scratches are just now healing. I didn’t whack the cat, but did bawl her out. Our relationship has cooled. We are no longer best buds. Just acquaintances.

I would no more try to train a bear, or a tiger, or a horse than I would run naked into a garden of rose bushes. And yet, I admire people who are brave enough and tough enough to do it. They wouldn’t care a bit if their cats clawed them in the thigh.

I don’t mind being around bears and tigers, but not until the taxidermist is finished with them.

By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune

I don’t know about you, but the farther away I get from my own neighborhood, the less I know where I am.

I carry around a little map in my head, and on that map, I can pick out where our neighbors are, as long as I am focusing on our block. But when I leave our block, in my mind’s eye, I sometimes put people and things where they actually are not.

For example, I sometimes will say, “I’m going up to Fresno.” Well, you never go up to Fresno from here. You go down to Fresno. But not in
my mind’s eye, which sometimes sees Fresno as “over there someplace,” and not where it is actually is. Perhaps when they hear I am coming, they move the city just to play with my head.

I get lost right here in town because of the way our founders (bless their hearts) laid out some of the streets. In the central city, streets are tilted at 45 degrees from due north, but in my mind’s eye, they are laid out north-south and east-west. I’m always getting turned around.

If I get lost in the town where I live, work and spend most of my time, imagine what happens when I travel.

Mrs. Doud and I went to Denmark once, and in my mind’s eye I could have sworn we were right across the English Channel, south of England.

Well, while I wasn’t looking, they moved Denmark, and there we were, way east of England across the North Sea, and it turned out that Copenhagen, where we were staying, was just a rowboat trip west of Sweden, which I thought was way to the north. Uff dah, as they say over there.

I hate the idea of whole countries, even local neighborhoods, moving around merely to confuse me.

I’m thinking of just staying home.

I am writing this letter with the hope that people will come forward to tell police what they saw on Saturday, April 12.

I am a woman who went for a walk in Town & Country Park with my 11-year-old daughter and my small dog. You would think that would be completely safe.

Think again!

We were five minutes into our walk, when I was violently knocked to the ground by a pit bull. The pit bull began to attack my small dog and me. I fought with everything I had to protect myself, my daughter and my small dog.

The park was full of people. I was screaming as loudly as I possibly could scream for anyone to help us.

Thank God, one man did (thank you).

And, the coward who owns the pit bull fled the scene.

It is so sickening how anyone could allow this to happen. And, one of the owners of the pit bull, who was a female, watched the attack from a short distance. She casually walked away with the pit bull after the vicious attack.

To my surprise, nobody has come forward with any information regarding the attack. I am pleading with all people who were at the park to contact the Madera Police Department, 675-4200, with any information. The case number is 08-11709. You don’t have to give your name if you don’t want. This could have been your grandmother, mother, sister, doughter, and wouldn’t you want someone to come forward to help get the vicious animal off the streets. This vicious pit bull, if not found, will be back at the park, and it will happen again. The cowardly owner has no regard for human life.

Please help find the owner of this vicious animal … and bring him to justice.

Sonya Roach,
Madera

All comments are edited for length and content. Due to content some comments may not be published. Please limit your calls to two minutes or less. Repeat messages on the same subject adding to the length will not be published. Some weeks, due to the number of comments and space, some may not be published.

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A woman last week responded to a previous gentleman’s call about the noise, and drums coming from the band practicing on the Madera High school tennis courts. Last week’s caller praised the band and their efforts. In response, the gentleman called this week and said, “I agree with her a hundred percent,” and suggested maybe she “misunderstood the article. I think it’s great and they sound good.”

A lady called to “thank John Silva for the very generous donation to the horseshoe park and the skateboard park at Rotary Park.”

A man called about “the new business on Howard and Mainberry.” Besides being concerned about “Lowe’s being built at the fairgrounds why isn’t someone concerned about the new business at Howard and Mainberry? A brand new convenience store operating 50 years back in time out of a tin building.” He wondered “how he was allowed to operate in the city of Madera under these conditions.”

A gentleman called “in response to the man (last week) who said he had lived here for three years and called Madera a joke, underdeveloped and culturally flawed and downtown looking like little Tijuana.” This week’s caller said, “I moved here 30 years ago because I wanted to. I stayed because I wanted to. I like the town.”

The caller suggested to last week’s gentleman, “if he doesn’t like the town he merely leaves. No one asked him to live here. He is not required by law to live here. Love or leave it.”

A woman called about an apartment building in need of repairs, but unfortunately most of her call was lost due to a technical problem.

A visitor to the online Red Line, “Bree,” wrote to the late Krista-Rae Pike, who died Jan. 14th, “I miss you so very much… There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about you. I remember growing up thinking we were going to get old, (and) get a house where we could grow old together. I remember when we would spend long nights up together just talking about things that bothered each other.

“I wish you were still here. I miss you and love you so very much… I love you… I talk to you every night and hope you listen to me… You always made me feel complete.”

Another Internet guest, “Ken Carson,” responded to a letter written by David Boyle about investing in oil during the presidency of George Bush. He wrote, “Is this the David Boyle that lived on Jennings Street. This is your old neighbor (for a short time), Ken. Remember the Super 8 movies? Loved your comment and subsequent clever investing.”

A Web site reader, “nomasguey,” wrote in reply to a Red Line caller who had urged the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce to launch a graffiti art competition, “First off who said that a majority of everyone doing graffiti in Madera is a gangbanging Hispanic? It’s not right to group people like this.

“Also, the artistic type of graffiti would be good for an art contest but not the type related to gangs. I’m not saying that gangbangers are not artistically talented but unless in this art contest you are proposing you want fights breaking out or gang symbolism in the entries you should rethink what you said…”

An online guest, “Margaret,” wrote, “It’s so sad to see the ducks and geese living in horrible conditions. They have no swimming area and (are) basically living in mud. I made a call to the manager (of the) parks (and) when I asked him when was the last time he had a look at the park he had no answer.

“So I went and took photos to show him and The Madera Tribune how the city manager was keeping up the maintenance in the park… It’s really a big shame on the parks manager and a huge disappointment for the wildlife.”

A Web surfer, “Tony Isaacs,” reacted to a comment by an alleged “holistic psychotherapist” that asserted that “blue man” Paul Karason was addicted to colloidal silver and the metal was toxic.

“Colloidal silver is not addictive and can be taken far longer than 10 days,” he wrote. “What is addictive appears to be Karason’s notoriety — despite his protests to the contrary. Although he continues to testify that colloidal silver saved his life, he is clearly being used as a prop to scare people away from colloidal silver…”

An exchange of opinions took place on the Web site between two visitors, “Annoyed Citizen” and “JP” in reaction to Margaret McGuire’s letter to the editor against the casino.

In the initial comment, “Annoyed Citizen” wrote to McGuire, “You can bring religion into this all you want but a casino would still be the best thing for the economy of Madera despite all of the ‘negatives’ mentioned. Many cities do not have casinos in them and are far worse off than Madera…”

“JP” responded, “Just because you don’t necessarily like the ‘religion’ angle doesn’t mean that it is not an applicable argument. Aside from that point … said casino will probably cost more for the area than it gives back. This in the form of policing, waste management, and the increased traffic burden along this section of the (state Route) 99 corridor just to name a few issues…”

“Annoyed Citizen” replied, “As is obvious, I am for the casino and believe that the goods presented outweigh the negatives, at least in the future if not right away. I’m sorry if I failed to address any point or truly offended anyone. I am not trying to do this but am trying to ‘open’ every readers’ mind as to other sources of problems even if there were no casino…”

As always with comments from www.MaderaTribuneRedLine.com, the full published text can be found by visiting the Web site.

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Thank you for your comments. Remember, the Red Line is open for your messages 24-hours a day by calling 674-4478 or visiting www.MaderaTribuneRedLine.com.

I read Mr. Doud’s editorial on April 21. Your comments about Barack Obama’s speeches made a lot of sense. Especially the part about his speeches not making any sense.

You are right when you say Obama seems ignorant of recent U.S. history and basic economics, not to mention the U.S. Constitution.

Paul Sanders,
Madera

By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune

When Earth Day, which is observed today, was begun in 1970, it was meant to promote the preservation of what nature has provided, and that has been successful. In our waterways and in much of our air, pollution is less than it would have been had not the environmental movement shown light on problems.

But the environmental movement did not begin on April 22, 1970. It began with people like Teddy Roosevelt, who knew the treasures we had in nature and made huge contributions by setting aside land for national parks.

His reasons were selfish. Roosevelt, like most men of his generation, was a hunter and fisherman, and he took pleasure in shooting game as much as he did in preserving nature, which to him was a place to hunt and fish.

Roosevelt was a conservationist, probably the most prominent of those who knew if they didn’t take steps to preserve what they hunted or caught, nothing would be left to shoot or catch. The generations that followed Roosevelt worked to keep deer, elk and moose in the woods, and ducks and geese in the air.

Even today, although their numbers are gradually dwindling fishers and hunters, through their license fees, do more to preserve “nature” than almost anybody.

Hunting and fishing isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, and many environmentalists oppose hunting and fishing. Yet, hunters and fishers for the most part know more about the outdoors than many self-described lovers of nature who see the outdoors only through
their car window as they pass by.

Modern environmentalists owe more to hunters and fishers than they will ever admit. Hunting and fishing conservationists already had made environmentalism intelligible when a new generation took it up, and they still know more than most about nature.