President Obama does not like the United States. Releasing the memos on tactics of the CIA is proof that he does not have the best interest of the U.S. in mind. He is demeaning the office of the president, badmouthing this country to foreign governments, bowing to Arab heads of state, showing weakness to North Korea, Iran and anyone else wishing to do harm to this country.

There are things we, the public, have a right to know and things we do not need to know because if we know, then our enemies know, and that is an advantage for them. I don’t care that high-value terrorists were water boarded or deprived of sleep or stripped of their clothes as long as they gave up information that would save American lives, and it has been reported that did happen. Messing with their minds was the idea, we were not killing them, beheading them or even breaking any bones.

I suppose Obama believes we can give them cookies and milk and they will tell all. I am afraid our Central Intelligence Agency will be in shambles by the time Obama is out of office, and our country will be weaker than when Carter was there.

If Obama did give his approval to take out the four terrorists last week then I will give him credit for doing something right. I will certainly give credit to the U.S. Navy Seals that shot three of them dead and rescued the shipping captain, Richard Phillips.

By the way, I just saw a Channel 47 poll that stated 83 percent of the voters of that poll thought giving up CIA intelligence was dangerous for our country.

Frank Bradford,
Madera

By Duane E. Furman
River Crossings

This week’s news is from Niranjala Kottachchi, Fresno State University on-site paleontologist for the Fairmead Fossil Site:
The Fairmead Fossil Site introduces two new fossil finds.

Located approximately 12 miles north of Madera, the Fairmeaad dig, which operates in conjunction with the Madera County Landfill, has produced a treasure trove of Ice Age fossils dating back to the Middle Pleistocence Epoch (750,000-500,000 years ago). Since its discovery in May 1993, at least three dozen species of vertebrates have been discovered. Fossil finds with such high diversity are particularly rare for this time period and thus makes this site the largest in the San Joaquin Valley and one of the largest along the west coast of North America. A complete list of species found at the site has been published in a previous article.

Generally, finds such as horse, camel, mammoth, and large ground sloth are the most common among the species found at Fairmead, so when fossils from rarer animals are found, it is something to get excited about. Over the past two months, during fossil preparation and cataloguing, a fossil fish vertebra and sabertooth cat skull were discovered. The fossil fish vertebra is an example of a microvertebrate.

Microvertebrates are recovered from sediments screened through mesh screens of varying size, ridding finer sediment and leaving behind any larger fragments such as coarse sands and pebbles or shells, bones, and teeth of smaller animals. Often times, microvertebrates require magnification in order to be visible and identified. What is exciting about the fish find is that it is our first fossil fish species ever found from the site.

Although collected from screened sediment back in 2001, it had yet to be identified. The specimen was sent to Dr. Ken Gobalet, a quaternary fish specialist at the Department of Biology at CSU-Bakersfield, who identified it as Archoplites interruptus or Sacramento perch, which still exists in California today. The Sacramento perch is actually a sunfish native to the Sacramento, San Joaquin , Pajaro and Salinas river areas in California as well as other parts of western North America. Reaching as big as 24 inches in length, the Sacramento perch prefers a habitat in sluggish, vegetated waters such as lakes.

Another nice surprise came along during the removal of one of our plaster jackets from 2004. A plaster jacket is composed by mixing burlap with plaster and water which is then used to encase a large or fragile bone to facilitate its removal from the ground. It is very similar to a cast put on a broken bone. As the overlying sediment was slowly being removed from the jacket, a partial skull of a sabertooth cat was unveiled.

According to Dr. Robert Dundas of Fresno State, the specimen appears to be from Smilodon, but the species is yet to be determined, as much cleaning and preparation is required. The Fairmead Site has produced fossils of the species Smilodon fatalis in the past but the back of the skull on the new find is different from S. fatalis.

Dr. Dundas believes it could be Smilodon gracilis or an entirely new species. Although the long canines (up to 7 inches in length) for which the sabertooth cat is famous are both broken, all six of its incisors are present. The skull is incomplete and appears to have undergone severe breakage prior to being buried in the sediment, possibly as the result of trampling by larger animals.

We are very excited to share these findings with the public and will continue to make our discoveries known as further identifications are made. Until then, our list of species continues to grow, making us more aware of just how rich and unique the Fairmead Landfill is to our valley.

Cooperation between the Paleontology Foundation and the County of Madera is resulting in steady progress toward completing and making accessible the Discovery Center. Next steps in the process, now that the site is cleared and the ground breaking ceremony held, are to coordinate the activities and agencies involved in establishing the main building, the watering hole with appropriate plant and animal life, rest rooms, prep. lab., walkways, and security housing on the four acres of the site.

We have also ordered exciting and appropriate skeletal models of some of the creatures who once lived at the site, and are planning state of the art exhibits that will ultimately include a historical time line and the geology of the area.

By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune

The state is getting ready to promote and perhaps even require low-carbon fuels in hopes of cleaning up the exhausts of the millions of vehicles which Californians drive.

That sounds to some like a good idea, and it may be, but get ready to pay a lot for whatever those fuels turn out to be. And don’t be surprised if the amount of carbon that goes into the atmosphere doesn’t change all that much.

For example, hydrogen, the dream fuel of the no-carbon crowd, produces only water as it burns, but have you bought any lately? There isn’t a ready supply of it in many places, and the cost right now is the equivalent of about $1 a gallon more than gasoline. Ethanol also costs more than gasoline, and even now is economical only because of a federal subsidy, and also must be mixed with gasoline.

Hydrogen and ethanol both have to be manufactured by processes that require lots of energy. The production of that energy, either as electricity or heat, produces — yep, carbon dioxide.

If cars ran solely on electricity, very little carbon would be eliminated from the air. Electricity has to be generated, most of it by natural gas or coal. About a fifth of the country’s power is produced by nuclear fission, which doesn’t pollute the air, but all that juice is spoken for. Likewise for the electricity produced by hydroelectric dams. There isn’t much extra electricity out there that isn’t already on the grid being used.

Newer, more efficient internal combustion engines are coming on line which are likely to have the effect of reducing carbon dioxide emissions a little while burning regular gasoline.

Those designs, coupled with the efficiencies of hybrid vehicles, could be the best carbon-lowering answer of all. Perhaps new-fuel regulations aren’t needed. Let the market come up with them.

By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune

People already are celebrating Earth Day, which isn’t until Wednesday, with ceremonies such as planting trees in city parks, opening community gardens and holding ceremonies, which is all good.

Here in the San Joaquin Valley, however, Earth Day is celebrated year around.

The original stewards of the earth are farmers. The orchards, vineyards and other crops that are planted and tended in Madera and neighboring counties are prime examples of how land should be used.

Tended land is both productive and environmentally beneficial. It’s no secret that the crops grown here feed and clothe people throughout the United States and even the world. But often overlooked is that probably no other activity rises to the environmental tests like farming.

Those who are concerned about carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, for example, should be aware that orchards and vineyards, besides being productive, also lower the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere during spring and summer when crops are growing. The vast tonnages of carbon dioxide produced in cities are gobbled up by the trees, vines, bushes and grasses on valley farms.

While trees, bushes, grasses and flowers planted in yards or parks within a city also consume carbon dioxide, that consumption doesn’t come close to using up the output of urban exhaust pipes, furnaces and other sources of human generated carbon dioxide.

Farms and forests keep the carbon cycle in balance.

If city folks wanted to celebrate Earth Day in a truly meaningful way, they could do one thing that would be significant: Stay home that day. Don’t drive anywhere. Stay off the roads, eliminate traffic, eliminate exhaust, stop polluting their own air and that of their neighbors. That would be a gesture of true meaning.

On April 29th, a joint City Council and Planning Commission workshop will be held to introduce the City’s Draft General Plan Update. That workshop will start a public review period for the General Plan Update, and Maderans are encouraged to take the opportunity to check it out and let us know what you think.

We should expect that Madera will continue to grow, and we have the opportunity to determine what our community will look like in the future.

In the next few weeks, hundreds of high school seniors will be graduating from Madera’s high schools and beginning the next phase of their lives. As their family, friends, and neighbors, we’ve had the opportunity to watch them grow and mature, from taking cozy rides in their strollers, to jumping on the school bus, and eventually to taking the wheel of their first car. Along the way, they’ve made us proud to the point you couldn’t wipe the smiles off our faces, and, chances are, they’ve done a few things that made us cringe and ask, “He didn’t just do that, did he?”

As our graduating seniors were entering our lives in the early 1990s, Madera had a population of a little under 40,000 people. In the 17 or 18 years since then, our town has grown by about 20,000 people, and today our population stands at close to 60,000.

Just like we’ve watched our kids change over time, we’ve seen the city mature and evolve. A lot of really neat things have happened in Madera during this time. Unfortunately, there are also some things that cause us to look back and say to ourselves, “Wow, we could have done that better.”

A couple of years ago, Madera residents came together to consider what kind of community they wanted to live in as the city continued to evolve. The result was the preparation of the Madera Vision 2025 Plan, which identified four key principles that should influence actions that occur in the community. In summary, Maderans said that they want a well-planned city, good jobs and economic opportunities, a safe and healthy environment, and strong community and great schools.

One of the most powerful tools that can help Madera achieve the core principles of Vision 2025 is the General Plan.

The General Plan serves as the official guide for the development of the community, identifying where and how development occurs and what it looks like. While comprehensive updates are typically made at 10 or 15 year intervals, our last comprehensive General Plan Update in Madera was completed in 1992, about the time our high school seniors were born. We are due for an update.

The city began work on this process in 2007 with a series of public meetings and workshops. As we heard during the Vision Madera 2025 process, residents are not completely pleased with the way that development has occurred over the last several years. They described their desire for Madera to grow into an attractive, walkable, compact and sustainable city that protects open space and natural resources.

The General Plan Update that will be introduced on April 29 is intended to change the way we view and implement development in Madera. This plan looks to break from the same pattern of “cookie cutter,” development that has really been the norm for most cities in California over the last several decades.

The city will look for more dwelling units to be put on less land in an effort to preserve agriculture uses, and for increased attention to be placed on design and public amenities, like parks. The establishment of neighborhoods where residents are able to walk to schools, shopping areas, and other gathering places is emphasized.

The General Plan Update speaks to where and how the city should allow for physical expansion. Most annexation opportunities are provided to the north and east of the current city limits, and a growth boundary is proposed to define the limits where the city may allow urban development. Outside this boundary, an agricultural green belt is called for.

The General Plan Update emphasizes the need to adequately plan areas before they are annexed, in order to create integrated neighborhoods and to avoid instances where new development creates a financial burden on existing city residents.

This General Plan is also intended to help the city reduce its contribution to climate pollution through broad-ranging strategies including investing in transportation choices that allow residents an alternative to relying solely on private automobiles and promoting clean energy and conservation.

The plan will call for the city to lead by example, and to encourage and inspire others to take action. Specifically mentioned is the development of a voluntary, market-driven green building program that includes performance standard guidelines, review criteria, incentives, and implementation schedules.

Its hard to believe that the kids we’ve watched grow up are actually graduating from high school. In a few more years, those young adults will get married and have kids themselves.

There are few things as important to me as making sure that we plan adequately so that Madera is capable of supporting our kids and grandkids, and that Madera maintains itself as a community where future generations will choose to live.

I encourage all residents to learn more about the General Plan Update and let us know what you think. Attend our workshop on April 29 at 6:30 p.m. in City Hall.

For information, visit www.maderageneralplan.com.

While the recent storms have brought some much-needed rain, we cannot be lulled into a false sense of security about our water situation.

California is in drought. And with the state of our infrastruc-
ture, we are running the ironic risk of simultaneously running
out of water and experiencing devastating flooding. We must
resolve years of neglect or deal with dramatically reduced water.

Our water infrastructure has become inadequate, yet the state
has failed to act. As this infrastructure continues to decay, we
are confronted with the challenge of keeping pace with the demands of a state growing by 500,000 new people each year.

Already, farmers are taking agricultural lands out of production, and building permits could be put on hold, forcing the loss of thousands of jobs. California’s gross cash income from agriculture alone is more than $31 billion, and nearly 400,000 Californians are employed in agriculture-related fields. California’s water crisis has the potential to devastate our economy.

There is no simple fix. California relies on an elaborate network of water storage and delivery systems to supply cities, farms, businesses and the environment with adequate water year-round.

The state must address our water crisis in a comprehensive
approach emphasizing below- and above-ground water storage, strengthening conveyance that recognizes area-of-origin water rights, delta restoration and resource protection.

However, all necessary negotiations will mean nothing unless we are committed to building the brick-and-mortar infrastructure this state needs.

While solutions are being studied and debated, it is important to remember the importance of the delta as part of the complex water delivery method throughout the state. Focus should be directed toward the aging levees that protect the delta’s fresh water from floods and are at risk of a major failure that could cripple water deliveries.

Many of the levees were built in the 19th and early 20th cen-
turies and have not been adequately maintained. It is unfortunate that the delta is at an environmental tipping point. It is even more disturbing that in the midst of water rationing, much-needed rain is squandered as it runs to the ocean due to lack of storage facilities.

Additional storage would provide a valuable tool for meeting
the needs of people and ecosystems. The surface storage projects envisioned today would increase water system flexibility by capturing higher levels of peak runoff with minimal environmental impacts. The direction we need to head is simple, but the implementation will be much
more difficult.

There is no single solution to the multifaceted water problem
in the state. How we manage these risks is entirely dependent
on whether or not the state’s water system can finally get the
attention it requires. We cannot afford to be shortsighted by focusing on quick fixes and lesser priorities. By not moving forward and addressing the entire state, we are compromising safe drinking water, the safety of our communities and environment, and our economy.

Assemblyman Tom Berryhill,
Modesto

By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune

A good piece of news last week came in the form of a conversation with a Realtor who said she was exhausted from handling so many offers on houses in Madera.

“I’ve had as many as nine offers on one house,” she said. “The mortgage broker that I refer my customers to says he is so busy he can’t take any more work. He has to catch up with what he already has on his desk.”

Of course, that is one Realtor’s story, and the stories of others may differ, but I have heard others say they are busy right now.

“The business is out there if you want to do the work,” said one longtime Madera Realtor. “But it takes a lot of effort. You have to sell more houses to make money. The prices are sometimes just half of what they were a couple of years ago, and the commissions in many cases are limited. But there is a market out there.”

With multiple offers being made on houses, that means prices, at least for some houses, are going up. Part of the reason for that is that prices may have bottomed, and part is because interest rates are at their lowest in a generation.

One thing is different: People with poor credit can’t buy houses, as they were able to a few years ago, without cash.

The other side of the good news coin, unfortunately, is that more default notices are being filed, and more houses are going into repossession. That represents a wave of misfortune for some that others in better circumstances are riding to their advantage.

Perhaps the day is getting closer, though, when the real estate market will be more at a balance — something to which we all look forward.

By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune

I was impressed by the local Tea (Taxed Enough Already) Party, and also by the fact that hundreds of other tea parties were held throughout the country. It was good to see the light being shined on the tax burden a good many of us bear.

However, the spotlight missed a few things.

First, who is to blame for most of the taxes we pay? Maybe we need to look in the mirror. Our expectations of government have grown ever higher. In the last half of the 20th century, we became a people who wanted government to do almost everything for us, and in the first tenth of the 21st century, we have turned into heavy borrowers because we don’t want to pay for all the things we expect government to do.

Most recent and most obvious are all the bailouts. From New York bankers to Madera mortgage holders, we seem to expect government rescue when the going gets tough.

President Bush pumped hundreds of billions of dollars into the banking and mortgage industries before he left office, and it was all borrowed money, mostly from foreigners. Bush also fought a prolonged war on borrowed money. If we had paid the taxes that all that spending represented, you wouldn’t be
seeing tea parties, you’d be seeing federal politicians tarred and feathered for insisting we pay our way.

President Obama has continued it even more so. But our taxes haven’t gone up — in most cases, at the federal level, they’ve gone down.

At the state level we expect our kids to be schooled, we expect our roads to be in good repair, we expect to have enough water to irrigate our crops and to wet the whistles
of our cities, we expect to have clean air and water, and we expect to be safe. But we don’t give much thought how to pay for it. We need to adjust our expectations.

Only at the local government level, where politicians also are citizens, does sanity reign.

The usual thing, I say after looking at the photographs in (a recent) Friday Tribune. Then, on the back page, I find the simple and surprising photograph by Ramona Frances.

And I want to walk up to Billy Alessini, whose clothing store is closing after all these years, or walk up to the policeman getting an award, or up to the man selling liquor in North Dakota, and say, “All of that’s important, for sure, but look at the picture of a small boy climbing up the rocks at Millerton, look at the colors — isn’t that dear?

Ken Butler,
Madera

By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune

When you were growing up, I would imagine your mom taught you good table manners. She probably told you to come to the table with clean hands, to use a napkin and not your sleeve to wipe your mouth, to not spill your food while you eat it, to use knives, forks and spoons when appropriate, and to say “please pass the peas” instead of reaching across the person next to you to grab for them. And, I’ll bet, she also told you, as my mom did, to chew with your mouth closed.

Good table manners are a sign of social sophistication, and those who don’t possess them usually wind up being considered crude, and aren’t invited back very often when they betray their lack of manners in public.

Good table manners also are a sign of consideration for others. They tell others you are concerned about their feelings — at least to the point of not wanting to disgust them by the way you eat.

With all this as prologue, I can’t understand why food purveyors occasionally think it is a good idea to allow their foods to be shown being eaten in television commercials by people who have the table manners of chimpanzees.

What got me thinking about this was a commercial I saw on television the other evening for a spring roll. This company is making frozen spring rolls, and apparently wants to sell them. In order to do so, they show a mother and daughter eating the product and discussing it. The mother takes a bite, chews it with her mouth closed, then remarks on how good it is. The daughter, however, chews it with her mouth open and tries to talk about it while chewing.

It was so disgusting, I had to look away.

I got a similar feeling a few months ago when I watched a hamburger commercial in which an actor was trying to eat the product while it was dripping all over everything, including the actor. I still won’t buy that brand of burger. Mom wouldn’t have, either, I’ll bet.