All comments are edited for length and content. Due to content or space limitations some comments may not be published. More than one comment from the same person during the same week will normally not be published. Please limit calls to two minutes or less.

A “concerned parent” called about happenings “at Howard School.” The man said, “recently, I don’t think the community is aware of what is going on out there. There has been a lot of fights taking place in the boys’ restrooms.” He believed, “there is an overflow of kids that are being sent to Howard because they have been kicked out of central schools in Madera. I think Howard is the only school with 7th and 8th grades that does not have security on campus.”

Yet another lady said, “in regards to Eddie Chapa’s letters. “Your letters are wonderful.”

Another lady, somewhat hard to understand, said, “in regards to Eddie Chapa’s letters to the editor, other people and me don’t appreciate it placed in the Madera Tribune.” She thought, “he should pay for his advertisement.”

“You probably won’t print this,” began a lady. “More than two years ago I wrote a letter to the chief of police regarding a citizen who drives drunk daily. I identified him, gave them his exact address and told him everything I knew about him except his license plate number. The man was never arrested. He continues to drive drunk. I not only notified the chief of police, but the watch commander with the same information. He drives without a license, without tags on the truck.” She said, “he hit a woman in the rear. I asked her if she was hurt and she said no. He hid his vehicle for a few days and decided, oh well, they are not going to come after me. Now he is back on the streets of Madera. He laughs about going to court. When is something going to be done?”

A woman said she, “has lived many years and enjoys Eddie Chapa’s letters (to the editor) and Leon Emo’s (columns) and who cares if he wears shorts and hugs people at the Relay For Life. They both write something nice, instead of the people who seem like they’re prejudice against other nationalities.”

A man who said he’s known Leon (Emo) all of his life. “If that man goes to any Mexican basketball game God bless him.” He had a suggestion for the lady who called last week, “leave town.”

Another man who said, “I live on the east side of town,” had this to say. “Leon has been a fixture not only in Madera, but he is well known on this side of town, and most of all is well-liked by Mexicans, blacks and everybody over here. Unlike that lady, he doesn’t care what color a person is. He’s just a friendly guy.”

“Hey Leon,” began a man, “I’ve got some news for you. If you look under ‘hater’ in the dictionary you’ll see a picture of the lady who’s always razzing you about wearing shorts.”

A male caller said, “a city work crew worked my alley and I want to give them a compliment. They worked well, they were organized, they did a great job, they were neat and clean and the end product was good. When I asked them questions they were very courteous and helpful. Their boss is Bob Mack over at Public Works. I’m a private citizen and usually grumpy, but these guys did a great job.”

“While attending the T-Ball games at Town and Country Park on Saturday,” began a lady, “I noticed some other wonderful activities taking place all over the park. The police had a bike safety activity going on, and there were many families enjoying barbecues and picnics. Then right in the middle, on a large rock scrolled in black to ruin the whole day, was some gang graffiti. I don’t blame the park crews. They were busy out there picking up trash and keeping the park clean. When is the city council, the police, the judges and anyone and everyone connected with law enforcement going to begin getting tough with these punk gangs?”

A man had similar comments. “These taggers have got to go, one way or another. Come on law enforcement. You start cracking down on these taggers and at the same time you’ll be cracking down on gangs. Why even the Tribune, I see, got tagged. And it’s still there.”

Of several callers on the subject, a lady said it best when she said she was concerned about “the Madera Unified School District classified employees voting for taking a furlough” (to save jobs) and “challenged the administration, teachers and employees in the district office to do the same.” She also “challenged the teachers to take a cut in pay.” (Note: teachers have a separate union from classified employees). “I think it is outrageous that we are taking (unpaid) furloughs and they are doing nothing.”

“Good job, Tami Jo Nix,” began a woman’s call. “You were right on the money. It’s okay to do the paddling. Maybe they (students) will sit still in school, and pay attention to the teacher. It worked when we grew up.”

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

By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune

The credit card “reform” bill passed handily by the Senate on Tuesday eventually will mean credit card companies will have to change some of their practices. Users of credit cards may feel they will benefit, and in some cases they will.

For example, requiring that terms and conditions be printed in larger type will help people who bother to read such information. The ability of banks to charge higher rates on some balances will be limited, as well.

However, there always has been a sure defense against perceived abuse by credit card issuers, a defense available to rich and poor alike: If you don’t like the terms, don’t use the credit card.

Credit card companies provide us with a remarkable and very valuable service, which is the granting of quick, short-term, usually unsecured credit.

If one has a credit card in one’s pocket, one can buy just about anything as long as the purchase doesn’t cause one’s account to go over its limit. And even then, additional credit may be granted without so much as a pretty please.

Repayment is made easy. One can charge $1,000 on a credit card and choose to pay it off at $50 or so a month. This service — easy credit and easy terms — is very convenient. One is spared the need to save up for the $1,000 purchase. Or, one is spared the need of going into a bank or finance company, filling out a bunch of forms and pledging collateral. One just pulls out the plastic and away one goes.

It’s idiotic to think the credit card companies wouldn’t charge for this service and convenience, especially when you consider that the banks get stiffed by a lot of the users. If one doesn’t like those charges, all one has to do is not reach for the plastic. Or, reach for it, and instead of swiping it, put it away or cut it up.

That shouldn’t take an act of Congress.

By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune

Congress has itself in a quandry over two related issues — torture and the proposed closure of the military prison at Guantanamo Bay.

The Democrats want to punish Bush administration officials who okayed “enhanced interrogation techniques” used against some prisoners, and some of them want to close Gitmo for good, and quickly. President Obama campaigned in part on both those issues.

But once in office, the president back-pedaled on both, saying it would do no good to re-air the history of “enhanced questioning,” and that while he would entertain closing Gitmo, he wanted to merely wind down operations there until a permanent plan for closure was in place.

And many of the less-liberal Democrats in Congress, along with most Republicans, say Obama is right to have taken those positions.

Atop that, no member of Congress, liberal or otherwise, is willing to have the prisoners moved to prison facilities in their states once Guantanamo is closed. What a surprise.

All this revolves around the larger question of how a country should treat prisoners taken in time of war. The Geneva Conventions prohibit torture, which they define as intentionally causing extreme pain in order to obtain information or to inflict punishment. In the good old days of torture, when professionals at it were employed by kings, the victims of torture usually died.

Now, the obtaining information from one unwilling to give it is more psychological than physical. Sometimes, it involves being made to listen to music one doesn’t like at an unpleasant volume. Sometimes it involves making people think they are going to be shot or drowned (waterboarding).

One thing is sure, and anyone who has been in combat will tell you this: Rules about such things tend to be open to interpretation in battle.

Obama, to his credit, has recognized this reality, and rightly so.

I have lived in our Valley for 80 1/2 years. I have survived the “wet” years and the “dry” years. I played and water-skied in the Fresno River in Madera. It is now a dry river bed with dumped trash and weeds.

I still remember the laughter and simple family pleasures echoing in my mind. I have seen the power of Yosemite Falls, and rivers both awesome and empty. I’ve seen Friant Dam empty and full, and Florence Lake, Huntington Lake, Shaver Lake and all the dams and subsidiary canals.

I thought I understood the reasons for water conservation, and was mildly but increasingly alarmed at the increasing politics involving water districts. After all, I was just a solo parent rearing my three children on our Valley’s bounty.

I got free-for-the-picking peaches, apricots, strawberries, and grapes — great days out with the kids — and cantaloupes and melons from the West Side. We picked and plucked, and came home and canned and froze our bounty.

And, my oh my, the sizes of the vegetables in season. We bought our milk, and the once-a-week gallon of chocolate milk treat at Harpain’s and dodged the camel spit and teased the monkeys.

Time continues to march on. Children graduated, married, and along came grandchildren, retirement, great-grandchildren and now the wondrous news of a pending great-grandchild. And the amazing fact hit me like the proverbial ton of bricks — whom can I share this wondrous news with? My mom was gone, and most of the family now live in Colorado, Texas, Alaska, Hawaii, Washington, Arkansas, Kansas, and even a fourth tour of duty in Iraq.

The local living grandchildren and great-grandchildren are all wrapped up in their own desperate daily lives of not enough money for the now commercially inter/intra-county grown peaches, apricots, and strawberries, etc. It gets harder every payday to explain why you don’t have enough money to share anymore with those you love, because your retirement pension check doesn’t increase with the daily cost of living.

The circle of friends have diminished, and its not now popular or acceptable to know your neighbors or share your bounty.

It is now acceptable to use the laptop to share the wondrous news, even if you double check that all 19 messages were received.

My best friend is a one way relationship, but I could not survive without it. My TV is my companion, but it does not argue back to me in shocked realization that most politicians and our own government and our own citizens look pretty suspicious and mighty greedy.

Barbara Miles Brown,
Madera

By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune

Let’ see, now. The state propositions which supposedly would have rescued the state from budget disaster have train-wrecked. The proposition which will punish the state officials for not crafting a balanced budget — by denying them pay raises — passed like a Porsche going around a Greyhound bus.

What does this tell us? The voters are restless. They didn’t exactly storm Sacramento with torches and pitchforks, but that might be next. If the legislators want to get those raises, or even get re-elected, they’ll have to come up with something better.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has painted a gloomy picture of what will happen now. More state employees, including teachers, will be laid off. That will mean many state services will either be cut back or will disappear. Expect roads not to be fixed, expect parks to be closed, expect help for the poor to be reduced.

Prisoners will be freed early. A lot of them will wind up back in local jails, which will hurt local economies, including Madera County’s.

Another thing that is likely to hurt local jurisdictions is that the state will grab local tax revenues which it should have returned to the cities and counties, even though voters have forbidden it. That will hurt local governments. In all, we could be in for a rough time of it until the state’s economy turns around and money starts flowing as it did before the budget crunch.

One reason for this deficit, besides the general state of the economy, is that not enough Californians pay taxes. For example, half of all income taxes in this state are paid by just 1 percent of the taxpayers. If you paid your share of income tax, it means a lot of people didn’t pay their shares.

The legislators won’t starve. They’re by far the highest-paid in the country, even without raises. It’s time they earned their money.

The recent drama over Carrie Prejean’s statement of belief that “marriage should be between a man and a woman” clearly shows how intolerant and bold people have become towards those opposed to their ungodly beliefs, as well as how hypocritical professing Christians can be.

Miss Prejean is to be commended for expressing her beliefs that are in line with God’s will; but the ungodly exploitation of her body should not have been so lightly disregarded by her. It was disappointing that she did not take the opportunity at the press conference with Donald Trump to express regret and denounce the taking of nude or partially nude pictures for any reason. As a role model for young women, it would have been nice to hear her discourage such behavior.

But, in defense of Miss Prejean, Christians are not above sinning; the process of becoming Christ-like and living holy lives is ongoing until the return of Jesus Christ. Hypocrisy does exist and will continue to exist because Christians are in different levels of understanding and maturity.

The Word of God is the standard by which Christians believe and endeavor to live. However, we are weak in our human nature; the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life will continue to be points of temptation for Christians as it is for unbelievers. But the difference between a Christian and an unbeliever is that a Christian, upon repentance, is a saved sinner and the unbeliever is a lost sinner. This difference is a serious matter involving eternal life or death.

The moral problems in our nation and the world are not within man’s ability to correct. The closer to the return of Jesus Christ, the worse things will get, and the more intolerant and bold the ungodly will be.

Though there are so many Christian denominations, and so many different non-salvation teachings, and too much showmanship, compromise and liberalism in the church, it will not be an acceptable excuse to reject Jesus Christ as savior because of the hypocrisy in the church.

It is in one’s best interest to choose to be among the hypocrites where there is hope, help to change, and strength to endure the escalating evil, than to be one who denies God and his ways, and does not strive to understand his word.

In the book of Revelation, Jesus is pleased with, had nothing against, two of the seven churches. It is in the Christian’s best interest to study this. Christians also need to beware of the health and wealth teachings, and study teachings for and against the rapture doctrine before accepting this teaching.

Katherine Atilano
Madera

By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune

If you were to take a poll right now and ask whether people were going to watch election returns tonight or the final episode of this year’s “Dancing With the Stars,” it wouldn’t surprise me if “Dancing With the Stars” won feet down.

The ABC show has high ratings, so high, in fact, that if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the leaders of the Assembly and Senate who came up with the six propositions on today’s ballot had danced around the state with good-looking professional dance partners, they might have drawn big-enough crowds to help them sell the ballot measures.

“Dancing With the Stars” is right out of Hollywood, as is the governor. One would think he could have figured out a way to have show-biz biggies back the propositions.

As it is, far more people will be disappointed if their favorite dancer loses than they will if any or all of the propositions lose.

I know Mrs. Doud is thinking a lot about which dancer will twirl to the top. That isn’t because she isn’t a serious-minded voter. I know she voted, because I took her ballot to the Post Office with my own, and she made me promise not to lose it or throw it away.

But she probably has forgotten today is election day, and that by the time she is learning who won “Dancing With the Stars,” the first election returns will be coming in.

There will be other election questions that will be answered besides the fate of the propositions. Will we raise the transient occupancy tax? Who will win the first school board elections by district? These are important questions that will affect our lives more than who wins “Dancing With the Stars.”

But “Dancing With the Stars” is what folks will be talking about tomorrow.

I think only two of the measures — 1A and 1F — have a chance of winning. As for which dancing star will win – my money is on …

Hats off to the Latinas Unidas Club for their extremely successful tea party for Mothers Day. It was awesome, including the food and the music; everybody had a good time.

More than 50 prizes were given away. I admire the Latinas Club for their contribution to our community. One honor went to the oldest mother in the audience. She was 95 years old. Keep up the good work, Latinas Unidas.

A.M. Ayala,
Madera

By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune

Mrs. Doud and I got one of those new-fangled sprinkling-system controllers last year, and so far she is the only one who has been able to figure out how to operate it. The man who installed it set it up to run at certain times, and that was fine with me. But Mrs. Doud has the habit of changing her mind about when she wants things watered.

That is also fine with me, because she has the courage to fiddle with the system, which I don’t have. I could handle the old controller, which was mechanical, and ticked and made swishing noises, but this new one, which is digital and quiet, has me backed into a corner.

When it comes to electronic gizmos, I get the white flag out right away and wave it. My ability to adapt to electronic things seemed to freeze in 1988, and I have not been able to get it started again. In 1988, we got a new video player (VHS), one of our kids hooked it up for us, and it ran just fine — and still does. It was, after all, just a tape player, and I had learned how to run tape players back in the day when it wasn’t so hard to learn things.

But a few years ago, one of the kids gave us a new DVD player, hooked it up and gave us a couple of movies to play on it. I never have been able to get that thing to run. So our movie watching is limited to whatever’s on tape or cable.

Back to the sprinkler controller. Mrs. Doud decided over the weekend to readjust the watering times, and she had me running all over the yard to see whether it was turned on where she wanted it. The yard got a good watering, I got a good workout, and she only got mad at me once.

Now I am wondering if we will have to go through that every time we want to adjust the water. We are trying to be good citizens and conserve water, but it is not always easy.

I’m thinking about getting the old controller put back in if I haven’t thrown it away.

By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune

I’ve decided to vote for Proposition 1A because I think the chance for harm is greater if it fails at the ballot box on Tuesday than if it passes.

According to the state budget analyst, it would:
(1) Produce higher state tax revenues of roughly $16 billion from 2010-11 through 2012-13 to help balance the state budget.

(2) In many years, increase amounts of money in state “rainy day” reserve fund.

(3) Potentially avoid ups and downs in state spending over time.

(4) Possibly enable greater state spending on repaying budgetary borrowing and debt, infrastructure projects, and temporary tax relief. In some cases, this would mean less money available for ongoing spending.

We’re already paying the additional taxes. Prop. 1A would just have us paying them for two more fiscal years. Will they go on after that? Probably.

But we now have adjusted to the additional tax. Prop. 1A would not add another.

Here is a very serious consequence to contemplate: If 1A fails, it could hurt Madera County more than many others in the state.

We have to remember that the largest employer in this county is government. When you consider the schools, law enforcement, county and city staffs, forest service and agricultural department personnel, most of the paychecks that keep Madera County families going are issued by government entities.

If 1A fails, some of those paychecks are likely to go away, along with some government services, and that will hurt our county, already suffering from unemployment, far more than keeping a tax we’re already paying.

The state is facing another deficit next fiscal year — about $15.4 billion — even if 1A passes. If it fails, that will raise the deficit for next year to nearly $22 billion.

I’m voting for 1A to keep our county from being clobbered.