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A woman called about the recent Madera District Fair. She said, “It would be nice if they did some paving with all the money they got from the shopping center, so you don’t come back home with muddy shoes. The fair was very small, very awful, and there was not enough security. It should have been spread out a little more.”

A man had a similar comment. He said, “With all the funds from the shopping center deal you would think they could have done a lot better with the fair. If it remains the mess it was this year, me and my family will not be returning.”

Another, and regular, caller asked, “has the fair become irrelevant? I never saw a report on the county (actually District) fair this year. A non-report usually means the results were negative. The rides weren’t good, the displays were down, parking was almost impossible and traffic was congested. Come on newspaper, give us a report on the fair.”

A woman agreed with last week’s caller “about the trains blowing their horns all night. We live by the AMTRAK station and the freight trains blow their horns for what seems like three miles from one crossing to the next unnecessarily all night long. Can something be done to stop this?”

“This is America,” began a woman. “I don’t understand why they should teach bilingual education in our schools. English is the number one language. If they come to America by choice they should learn to speak English.”

A lady wanted to “leave a message about mayor Sally (Bomprezzi). I know she likes to have her picture printed in The Madera Tribune as often as she can. However, I find it very distasteful when I opened the paper today and see her supporting the Republican headquarters. Look (at) all the white faces. No wonder Madera is in the state it’s in and who has control.”

A gentleman had a similar comment. “I find it not too class of an act to have the mayor and a councilman at the Republican headquarters. Our local officials are supposed to be non-partisan. They do not run affiliated with a party. These two, knowing that Madera is mostly conservative and Republican, knew what they were doing in posing for the picture. A blatant attempt to get more votes.”

A gentleman said, “How can anyone vote Republican after what they have done to destroy the economy of this great nations. Banks and financial institutions are failing with no help from the White House. Even though both parties are saying they’ll change things, I cannot trust or support the party that favors big business, corporations and the rich.”

A female had a message for last week’s caller and “longtime Maderan, regarding the football game Friday night (against Edison). You obviously did not see the number of boys we had on our side compared to the number Edison had to work with. Most of our boys play both offense and defense with little or no breaks. Those boys practice hard.”

She also had a message for “the Lions Club” that until this year operated the concession that is now run by the school. “What money (from the concession)?” she asked. “The football team never got any of that money back. As far as giving back to the community, where does it go? Obviously, it didn’t go to the football team because they can’t even afford to buy matching cleats or anything.”

“A longtime Madera football fan,” had this message. “After Friday night’s game (vs. Merced), would someone please tell me what game coach Randall Blankenship is watching? He said we could win both games against two state ranked teams?”

Referring to an article in yesterday’s paper he quoted Blankenship as saying, “the team has quit, has cashed it in. Whose fault is that? It’s the coach’s job to keep the kids playing hard.”

Another man said, “it was easy for (coach) Blankenship to win in Clovis. Most any coach could. Give him a real challenge, motivating the kids, and building a program here in Madera. It is obvious he is not the wonderful coach we were told he was.”

A woman, and “parent of a football player,” commented on the “the person that was collecting money at the MLK-Thomas Jefferson game on Saturday morning. It seems all the rules don’t apply to everybody. She was allowing the Caucasians to bring in ice chests and not the Latinos. I didn’t think that was fair.” She wanted to let the “wonderful coaches know that some of their players are being discriminated against.”

A lady wanted “to ask a simple question. Somebody explain to me why we are paying a Fresno county supervisor for consulting for Madera Unified School District to the tune of $50,000 plus? We must have somebody qualified within the school district in Madera County.”

An online reader, self-identified as “Concerned,” writes in response to Red Line discussion on downtown and such, “I would like to see more people stepping up and calling people on their bias. I have my own biases, mostly intellectually inclined, so it hurts my soul to see so much ignorance in this town. Are we all familiar with ‘The Twilight Zone’ (television show)? This town, if the ignorance is left unchecked, will soon be home to a dark cloud, with no sun to ever rise again. If Madera stays the same, then we won’t be undeserving.”

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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

Fully a third of American college students have to enroll in remedial classes, mostly English and Math, the Associated Press reports. The numbers are higher in California: three of five.

This is old news, really. High schools for the last 20 years haven’t prepared all their students to handle college-level work, even though many of the students who get As and Bs in high school English find themselves having to take remedial English when they get to college.

The course were called “bonehead English” and “bonehead math” 40 years ago, and probably still are.

Students are amazed when they get to college and find out they will be expected to write coherent papers about the subjects they are studying, or will be required to know how to solve algebraic problems in math and science courses.

Students in bonehead classes can’t really catch up with their classmates who learned what they had to know in high school, at least not until they master the English and math skills they should have brought with them.

The costs to bring these slower students up to speed is an average of $2,000 in community colleges and $2,500 in four-year schools.

It could be students who have to take bonehead courses don’t belong in college until they have mastered those basic skills. If they manage to get out of high school without learning them, let them pay for private lessons to bring them up to speed before putting them into college, where their chances of success will be limited at best.

The colleges aren’t without blame. They are so eager to get students, they take the ones they have to re-educate along with those already qualified.

I am a daily reader of The Madera Tribune, but this article by Fred Thomas has really been a great frustration for me and so here I write in response:

Sir, if you do not mind I really would prefer you not perceive me “as dumb as they have been in the past.” This quote is very troubling to me, and feel you probably need a good dose of positive, loving care, which can only come when you see that killing our “least able to defend themselves babies” are one of the reasons for your feelings of insecurity and lack of hope about our wonderful nation and the diverse people who live in America.

To set the record straight I would like to make you aware, if you do not listen to the Congress and House of Representative speeches you may wish to consider spending time listening to these representatives, it could give you a clearer picture of what is happening.

As for me, I do listen, and what I have seen lately is that the Democratic representatives have taken a five-week leave when we are experiencing trouble with mortgage defaults, high prices and actually everything you mentioned in your article this morning. Why do you not understand that the President cannot do anything with these issues until there is a package to consider, and if your Democratic , ruling party, Representatives have taken a leave, how can the government handle these issues? It amazes me how much you place the problems with our country onto the current and hopefully future Republican presidents.

You consider Barack Obama as, “intelligent, honorable, has a great world view, easily accessible, open-minded, willing to listen to others, and not an egotistical ego-maniac.”

Okay, so lets talk about these traits.

Honorable: How much honor is there when our troops are scattered all over this world, and Mr. Obama, with his “great world view,” wants to tell the world on TV that he does not care about how to get our troops home safe, because he doesn’t care about life and bringing them home safe.

If some have to be left behind, because they “have to come home” by his deadline, then so be it. And the unborn child, also known as abortion, the smallest who cannot defend themselves, is it honorable to allow the mother to kill them? Not too “open minded or honorable” in my point of view.

Open Minded: Oh no! Republicans want to have both sides of the issue creation, and evolution taught in our schools, and Democrats feel that would be an invasion of rights. How open minded is that?

When does a pregnant woman’s rights become more important than the unborn child? I guess that is one of the most important differences between the Republicans, who believe all life is valuable and worth fighting for. Those Democrats who have decided which ones can live and which human being must die, well I have a feeling Hitler felt just as justified…

This vote is basically about death versus life. If we don’t value all human beings, no matter what their level of intelligence, in your opinion, then the choice is clear about your wanting to vote Democrat. This means human beings who are being tortured, killed, because they do not belong to the right side of the party at the moment, maybe their level of intelligence isn’t quite there, have no rights.

Our soldiers who have given their lives for others,(those past lives are not important, just get out) the firemen, and people who stepped in when 9/11 happened (their lives did not matter, we should not have defended them), or Katrina, people caring for other people, instead of themselves, these people are not what the Democrats feel are worth fighting for. In fact where are our Democratic representatives? Oh Yeah! Taking a break!

You spoke about how “the surge” did not make up for 7 1/2 years of disasters and deaths caused by this monumental mistake which is the Iraq War.” The surge is just what is going to put an end to this war. (Again, a mistake in your opinion to save a life).

I am happy to hear you are concerned about the deaths in this area, not sure why our unborn babies are not given as much concern. Is it the money, which you will not be able to put into your pocket because we may all have to help them become adults? Maybe 7 1/2 years of no more 9/11s doesn’t mean much to you, but I am very grateful to all those young boys and girls who have given their lives for America and me …

As stated earlier, this election is about life versus death, and for me and my family, we will choose life, Republican life. Because without life and hope for all human beings, even the very small, we won’t have to worry about mortgages, war, future energy decisions, water, food or anything else which may come up, because we have killed off half of our children, and those are the ones who would be using those resources.

And hope, Mr. Thomas, is what you are lacking. Get the idea?

Bowling match, cold beer, or the unborn child’s life, which is more important?

Cecelia Jones,
Madera

By Ramona Frances
The Madera Tribune

Gwen Crag: McCain is most qualified. He served in the military and has knowledge of military and foreign policies. You know more at 72 than at 52.

Joanne Glantz: I have not decided yet. I am excited about the Democratic change, but that makes me nervous. I think Obama is very strong. That is who I am leaning toward.

Sharon Kelly: I have not decided yet — the political arena is in such a disarray.

Jim Erickson: I am voting for McCain — even though he is not my first choice. I am voting for him because he is the most conservative of anyone else out there that has a chance.

By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune

T. Boone Pickens, the billionaire oil man who is using television commercials to challenge the United States to domesticate more of its energy production, isn’t seeing much in the way of results for his efforts.

That’s because energy production in the U.S. is not unlike those tankers that bring us oil from overseas: it takes a long time to turn around.

Pickens’ television commercials make the putting of thousands of megawatts of wind farm capacity into production sound simple, but that isn’t the case, and here’s why:

First, the people who manufacture windmills — and there aren’t many of them — already are a couple of years behind on filling orders they already have. A big new influx of orders might bring new manufacturers into the business, but it would take them a while to get tooled up.

Second, not everybody wants windmills in their backyards. The most famous of these nimbys is U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., who does all he can to oppose windmills off Cape Cod, which he might be able to see from his waterfront home. In California, nimbys object to windmills for all kinds of reasons. They say the machines kill birds (which they do, but it is as much the birds’ faults as the windmills; the machines don’t go looking for birds to kill, after all). They say the windmills are noisy (they are if you get quite close to them, but most wind farms are built quite a ways away from where people live).

Third, wind farms aren’t cheap to operate, even though wind is free, and they do require backup, fuel-fired generators.

Still, Pickens deserves credit for focusing attention on the need to stop sending our energy dollars overseas. More power to him.

By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune

Some people, most of them Democrats, are snickering that most of Gov. Sarah Palin’s governmental service has been as a member of the city council or mayor of Wasilla, a small city northeast of Anchorage, Alaska. They say that experience, along with her short time as Alaska governor, has not prepared her to be vice president of the United States.

I disagree. There may be reasons for not liking Sarah Palin, but having served on a city council shouldn’t be one of them.

In fact, I think there ought to be a law that every candidate for president should at one point have been a member of a city council, or county board of supervisors, and also should have served in a state legislature.

That is because these local politicians quickly learn the hard way what government is really all about. They stand in the same grocery lines as the people they represent, and in those grocery lines the citizens are usually willing to give pieces of their minds to the local politicians. The voters of their cities and counties show up at council and board meetings when they’ve got an axe to grind, and let the local politicians know what they think in no uncertain terms.

City council members don’t have bodyguards following them around and chauffeuring them in big cars. They don’t have a bunch of flunkies to do their work for them. They have to live with the consequences of the ordinances they pass, and with the public reaction to decisions they make about land use, codes and law enforcement.

All this teaches local office-holders what it really means to live in a republic, and what it really means to be an American. The average Washington, D.C., politico could use a little of that.

Barack Obama? I’d sooner vote for his campaign manager then I would for him. At least his manager has his finger on the pulse of the nation.

I wonder who the leader really is.

One hundred forty-three days tenure as a senator does not qualify as experience. Obama was probably concentrating more on his political aspirations than what was happening on the Senate floor, disregarding the reasons he was put there in the first place.

Sen. John McCain has more time in the senate washroom then Obama on the senate floor.

I am neither a Democrat nor a Republican, but instead try to look at the overall picture instead of being narrow-minded toward a particular political party. I am an Independent which means my ballot will have both candidates on it and not just what a party dictates.

Sen. McCain has just announced his selection of his VP, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska. A strong woman, just what we need near the top. After all it was a strong woman that brought us into this world in the first place. I like the way she handles Big Oil and her grass roots beliefs.

The right to bear arms in our country’s Constitution helps to guarantee our sovereignty, as no one wants to attack the most heavily armed nation in the world. An attack on this country would only serve to bring this country together as it did in World War II.

Because of outside interests and influences Alaska would be a hard state to govern. Her short tenure as governor of Alaska is not without controversy. Have you ever seen one that wasn’t?

Sen. McCain has been in the Senate for 26 years and in the military for 22 years. This is not his first time around the block. Can you imagine what he has learned in his 72 years? The oldest? Yes, but there is no green around his collar. He is known as a renegade on the hill and that’s what we need. Most party members feel as though they are there to rule, rather than to govern.

Gov. Palin is young, 44, but her ability to see through the political smoke screen and to grab the bull by the horns is an attractive trait.

This ability is not learned but rather a part of her personality makeup. I agree with her beliefs about marriage, but not on abortion. That should be the woman’s own choice and not that of the government. Don’t put you nose that deep into someone else’s business.

Gov. Palin is a better choice then some of the others that were considered. They were more party puppets than clear thinking individuals.

Larry Turner,
Madera

By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune

We’ve been reading stories lately about North Korea — how the government there has decided not to shut down its nuclear production facilities like it said it would, and about the health of the Dear Leader Kim Jong Il, who has had brain surgery.

It is a great temptation for headline writers to pen “Kim Jong Il ill” as a headline over one of those stories (headline writers are easily amused), but I find most interesting the fact that North Korea has an army consisting of contortionists.

The stories I’ve read have been illustrated with photos of their soldiers, men and women, marching in parades, and the way they march is most curious.

First, they lean way back, with their arms straight down at their sides, then in that position, they look to the right. After that, they raise one leg straight out, being careful not to kick the soldier in front of them, and then they stomp that leg down and lift the other straight out, still leaning backwards and still with their arms straight down at their sides.

It is probably meant to send a message to the observer, a message which goes something like this: “We look fierce marching like this.”

But it’s not a very accurate message.

I decided to try marching like a North Korean soldier, and it was almost impossible. Try it and see. You’ll discover that when you lean back, put a leg straight out while keeping your arms stiffly at your sides, and try to move forward, you either tip over or run into things, and your spouse asks whether you want to lie down until you feel better.

That’s probably why the North Koreans want to keep their nuclear weapons going. Learning how to march has made them no good for actual fighting.

As the Madera High School football season is under way, I remember the 1948 Yosemite League champs. And I remember Coach Joe Feeble, and also that was the first year 1948 when Madera Varsity Football team played at Memorial Field before that football field was where the woodshop is now.

Also I remember that year 1948, when lots of fans went by train to Bakersfield to see the championship game. Playing in the 1948 league champs were as follows: Leon West, Fred Behway, Bob Gutierrez, J.D. Simmons, Paul Stuart, Keith Carlin, Angelo Spera, Fountaino Rueleb, Lou Bollinger, Morgan Johnson, Earl Vanderburg, Bob Mattsumeto, Bob Tunnel, Buck Rogers, Richard Rigby, Ron Camy, Tom Schoettler, Ed Britsueiser, Bob Tishmaker, Dellert Denny, Walt Smith, Bill Smith, Floyd Shillings, Peanuts Aguirre, Travis Wisener, Frank Bruneli, Fermin Huarte.

Also in 1948, coach Joe Keeble and I played baseball with the semi pro team, The Red Wood Hut Restaurant, which was where the AM-PM gas station is now on Gateway and Yosemite. The Red Wood baseball team manager was Noble Tiller, who was the owner of the Red Wood Hut Restaurant. Coach Joe Keeble told Noble Tiller he could only pitch for us in April, May and June because he had to start football practice in July. And boy he sure was a good left handed pitcher. I know because I was his catcher.

And that’s what I remember of that 1948 Yosemite League champs and Coach Joe Keeble.
Hoping that this year after 60 years some of these players should be recognized during Homecoming Week.

Eddie Chapa,
Madera

By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune

Nevada game wardens have tracked down the vendors of illegal African clawed frogs, a mail-order company called Grow-a-Frog, which sold some 200 of the banned creatures to unsuspecting Nevadans. If released into the wild, the frogs get ravenous and devour fish, other frogs — anything they can get their mouths around, even small children.

What surprises me (and it is difficult to surprise a person of my years) is that anybody would purchase a frog through the mail — or at all, for that matter.

Frogs will come around on their own if you wait. I have lived in places where frogs will drive you nuts with their croaking at night, and will only leave if you sic a flock of flamingoes on them. And then you have to clean up after the flamingoes. In some places, frogs will stop traffic by crossing the roads in such numbers that if you drove over them you would slide off the road and into the ditch where you would be attacked by croaking frogs lying in wait.

It seems that the croaking is part of their mating habits, and if the amount of croaking I have heard is any indication of frog propensity to mate, it is a wonder the world isn’t wall-to-wall frogs already.

I imagine frogs developed croaking to make up for their lack of glamour. A frog couldn’t get very far in the romance department on looks alone, even dressed in little tuxedos, top hats and formals, as you sometimes see them portrayed in the movies.

The croak says, “Come on over to my lily pad and we’ll catch some flies,” or something like that.

If you buy a mail-order frog, you are letting yourself in for trouble, unless you have a lot of flies you’re trying to get rid of and you’re also hard of hearing.