California Water is the most important thing we have to address. It needs to be controlled from start to finish. Visionaries of the 1920s recognized this and gave us what we have today.
Flood control seems to have been forgotten and is left out of the modern cost analysis. We consider how much the cities are willing to pay for water and use that figure to calculate rates to all users. How much are cities willing to pay to get rid of too much water when it comes? Nothing. They want the government to come in and save them and their property.
Look at the history of floods and you will see this to be true. Fresno would not be where (location) it is today without the dams on the San Joaquin. Sacramento is only there because of levy’s AKA dams. The levees are not so much in disrepair as they are inadequate. They would be fine if we were able to store everything Mother Nature gave us, up stream.
I put underground storage in the same category as High-Speed Rail. That category is, boondoggle. More dams would give us the ability to handle the 100-year, 200-year and even back-to-back events that we have had in the past. Now, we have release levels and dates. If we get behind with a rapid snow melt, our drainage system can’t handle it. We try to sandbag when in effect that is what the government has been doing for far to long — sandbagging. Wouldn’t it be nice to look at those gray skies and say, “Bring it on.”
Sacramento levees were built to maintain farm land. Developers came in and took that land. If you have to look up to watch a boat go by, you should consider that it’s not the levee, but that you are living in the wrong place. The Planning Commission in Fresno approved a trailer park in the San Joaquin river bed. High water made those bluffs.
The Sierra Club wants “wild rivers.” I say no. They want rapids to float their kayaks on. I have seen “wild rivers” before dams. No, you don’t want that.
If we are going to calculate water cost, let’s use the total picture. Ask the insurance companies what they think about dams and flood control. Would they write flood insurance without them?
Sen. Dianne Feinstein says she is working to increase the amount of water available from the San Joaquin Delta for irrigators this coming season, and that is good news.
Even though she is well known as an environmentalist, she also is rational. She has visited the Valley and seen the devastation last summer’s cutbacks caused — the fallow fields, the lost jobs, the small cities struggling.
All that having been said, she should take a ride on State Route 152, where it crosses the San Joaquin and Fresno rivers. There, she will see that both rivers at that point are dry as straw, even though water is being released into the river below Friant Dam as part of the river-restoration agreement forged in court after a lawsuit of some 20 years.
She would see that the idea of trying to bring salmon back up the San Joaquin River is about as practical as using hens’ eggs as baseballs. Yes, you could pitch them, and yes, you could hit them with a bat; but you won’t get many of them to first base.
The salmon counts in the San Joaquin already had dropped considerably before Friant Dam was built. Salmon, which lives most of their lives in the ocean, probably would have stopped migrating up the San Joaquin even without the dam. They likely more preferred the colder and more rapid Merced River.
The agreement to restore the San Joaquin has the force of law now — court-made law — but it is bad law nevertheless. And its goals can’t be achieved without building another dam to capture more of the river’s water higher in the watershed, above Friant, at Temperance Flat.
The state is getting ready to float a bond that would build such a dam. But we’ll need federal help.
Let’s hope our environmentalist senator understands this as well as she seems to be understanding the delta problem.
We, the seniors of the adult school computer class under the tutorage of Ms. Patti Horn, are saddened about the plan to eliminate the adult school after this semester.
We are all aware of the current financial crisis in the state. We did not cause it, but will be the losers in this situation.
The adult school provides a necessary benefit for our community.
Without educated people, the city, state and all entities will suffer. No corporation will come to a city where people cannot read, write, do math or use a computer.
Maybe we seniors will be okay, because most of us are retired, but what about the young people who did not finish regular high school but found out the hard way that they could not get a job without a high school diploma or some kind of trade. Do we jeopardize their future? Or do we bite the bullet and find ways to keep the adult school going?
Maria Hernandez, Millie H. Borzynski and Jena Warner Sanders
Mrs. Doud had a great night Monday night. “The Bachelor” and the Winter Olympics both were on television, just one channel click apart. Life was very good.
That would be like having the Super Bowl and the Indianapolis 500 both on at the same time for some of us. You wouldn’t be able to keep enough popcorn, nachos, soda pop or beer on hand to feed the TV-watching beast.
Politics are becoming a lot like that, especially since they are being played out by unelected performers who shout at one another on television rather than by actual elected officials. If you are a politics junky, there are times during most weeks when you can sit and stare for hours at people who barely know what they’re talking about, doing their best to make us think that they really do know what they’re talking about, and that it actually means anything. They are selling ideologies with the same fervor that Billy Mays (rest in peace) used to sell OxiClean.
I miss Billy Mays, because he never for one moment tried to make us think that the product he was pitching was any more than what it was — a household cleaner, a wall hook, a kitchen gizmo. I like that in a huckster. Even though when you get the product he or she is selling, and you try it out and discover it really doesn’t work any better than what you’ve been using, you don’t necessarily mind the fact that you weakened and bought.
When the Winter Olympics announcer tells you that person A is going to win an event, and then person B wins it, you don’t mind the fact that you rooted for person A just because the announcer told you person A was the one to watch. And just because the bachelor sends home the gal you would have kept, you get over it pretty fast. Your team lose the Super Bowl? Get over it.
I had to laugh when I saw the editorial cartoon on Rahm “Dead Fish” Emmanuel. The Obama crooks, including Rahm, have devastated job creation, raised a trillion dollar debt, continued financial destruction, and the downfall of our military. I can’t wait for the coming elections to vote out the socialist Democrats from office.
When you look at the gaggle of socialists Obama has surrounded himself with, you realize it’s time to dump the misfits he appointed to high offices.
As I read the local newspapers, I do not read editorials raising hell about the water delivery to the west side of the San Joaquin Valley. Food production and sales keep folks employed and salaries give folks the ability to buy staples and the newspapers that keep you in business!
Keep the heat on the deadbeats that keep water from food-production folks. As I traveled to Los Banos recently, I saw hundreds of “Dust Bowl created by Congress” signs. My heart was sad as I drove I-5. Folks out of work created by Barrack Hussein Obama!
Whew! That was a lot of work, just as we knew it would be. But here we are, in the new Tribune building, at 2890 Falcon Drive, putting out our first issue of the paper in our new digs.
You will notice the lack of color in today’s paper. That is because the experts are still hooking up and adjusting press units and other equipment needed to print in color. We will be back to printing in color in a day or two.
The move took place over Friday and Saturday, and for most of that time we had some 50 people at the new and old plants, sometimes all at the new plant.
Chipman Relocations, which handled the move, brought four moving vans and a crew of 12. More than 15 members of the Trib staff were on hand to help, and several people were here from Basila Construction’s subcontractors to put finishing touches on heating and electrical work.
Everybody who was involved worked hard and maintained a cheerful attitude. The moving part of the job was finished with time to spare.
Of course, now comes the hard part — the hard part of any move — which is unpacking and putting things away, and also fetching items that for whatever reason were missed by the movers. Things like a clock on the wall, for example — so taken for granted when it is there, and missed so much when it isn’t there when you look for it — have to be gone after or replaced. The microwaves and coffee makers for the break room had to be fetched and carried, and so did some overlooked garbage cans and tables.
All the good people in every department are doing their best to put the newspaper back together again and make it functional so we can keep bringing you the daily news of Madera, the state, the nation and the world.
I had the pleasure of attending the VFW Hall’s grand opening ceremony last week at 2026 N. Granada Drive, complete with a commemorative fly-over. I want to send my best wishes to all VFW members on a great job in developing the building.
I was given a tour by Dr. George Block, a VFW member and good friend, and I was greatly impressed with the fine planning and design. Spirits were high. The food was delicious and I even had potato chip cookies.
The members will rent the building for events with an emphasis on weddings and funerals, and the veterans perform ceremonial duties.
Again, congratulations and great job to the VFW. Donations are being accepted for improvements. Maderans will enjoy this facility for many, many years to come.
Short Film: A Short Love Story in Stop Motion by Carlos Lascano
+ + +
All comments are edited for length and content. Because of 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 woman called and “referred to an article from the California School Employees Association Focus magazine. “There’s a story about King City,” the caller said, “and how the school board members, who had shown nothing but disrespect for classified employees, had been kicked out of office and candidates endorsed by CSEA had been elected.
“King City was just like Madera until the citizens realized who really ran the school district and who really helped the children. With the current superintendent’s greed and in-house, closed-door politics, it is time for Maderans to do the same as King City and vote out the all the current school board.”
A woman “found it very interesting that Madera Unified School District is having a budget workshop on a holiday to find out how they are going to save money for the school year and how they are going to budget for the children. They might consider not giving enormous wages to somebody who is planning for retirement.
“Now they are asking teachers to take furloughs. They have laid off more custodians, more bus drivers, more clerks and those are people who put their money right back in the community; yet give outrageous raise to the superintendent. Where are our responsible people?”
“Are there not people qualified to run our city?” said a gentleman. “Yes there is. The (school district) superintendent is just one example of high up administration staff who live in Fresno, Clovis, anywhere but here, take our money and spend it elsewhere. Look at the city departments, Except for Jim Taubert, David Tooley and the police chief there are very few department heads, managers or supervisors who live here. To be a director of any department, school district, or county office, it should be required that you live in this city or county.”
A woman called “about the article about the dog being found at Madera High campus being beaten and possibly drowned. The article said if it was found to be intentional they will go after the culprit. Do they think the dog beat itself? The dog was bludgeoned to death.
“I hope our police department continues to look for the individuals who did this. I find it absolutely pathetic that we have so many cases of animal cruelty taking place in our community.”
Another lady “just wanted to say how appalled I am that this poor dog was murdered at the high school campus. What is going on with people?”
She also expressed concern “about the mural the police department is going to put on their building for $100,000. I thought we didn’t have any money. Where’s the money coming from?”
A woman said that “a letter to the editor (Feb.1) about immigrants expressed her feelings exactly. On name changing, she knew what she was talking about on immigrants.”
The caller said she had relatives that “came over from Germany and they changed their name to an American sounding name. It is frustrating when you speak to people who have lived in this country for almost 20 years and you still can’t understand what they are saying.”
A woman responded to the caller last week “about having the luncheon for (judge) Ed Moffat’s friends and family at the Elks Lodge. That was because Holy Spouses Hall would have cost a lot of money and the Elks Lodge waived the fee. The Elks do a lot of good things in the community.”
Another caller expressed a similar point and added, “until I started reading all these articles about the Elks in the paper the last few years I never realized they did so much for our community.”
Yet another caller said she was “sending the Elks a check in the amount of $200 for their generosity and hoped others would send whatever they could to them and the YMI, because they are always available and very generous.”
A woman who “picks up her kid every day from Monroe (school)” said, “I have watched people try to get back in traffic and nobody lets them get back in. Even a public works truck, city or county, wouldn’t let the guy in. He just sat there in traffic. Have a little more consideration when you pick up your kid.”
A woman asked about the Tribune’s new building “and while it was under construction, if you would consider putting a mail drop somewhere in front. It would be convenient for us that live on the other side of town and now that you are out in the boonies.”
A woman “congratulated Pioneer Tech for winning that money from the Milk Council. I was so impressed with the work they did, so congratulations again.”
A woman expressed concern over “the new Smart Meters the electric company is putting in, and what they are going to do about it because it is really expensive to have them. It makes your bills go way up and a lot of people around here can’t pay their bill. It’s a big concern.”
+ + +
Thank you for your comments. Remember, the Red Line is open for your messages 24 hours a day by calling 674-4478 or by visiting the Red Line online at www.maderatribuneredline.com.
+ + +
Music: Acoustic version of “Don’t Let Me Fall” by Lenka
During the debate over the health care bill, spokesmen for Anthem Blue Cross warned that if the bill passed, their insurance rates would go up 40 percent. Well, the Anthem rep was right about one thing. The rates did go up.
As its 800,000 customers in California know by now, Anthem has raised its charges by as much as 39 percent.
The company’s excuse is that because of the economy, healthy people aren’t buying health insurance as much as they were, and only people with pre-existing conditions are hanging onto their policies, so it will cost the company more to take care of them.
Now, let’s see. Does anybody see the shell game going here?
I can tell you, my doctor’s fees aren’t going up 40 percent this year. In fact, he actually is being paid less lately for his services than he was paid last year, overall.
And with rates going up, who will continue to buy from Anthem other than their customers with pre-existing conditions who find it difficult to change insurers under the best of circumstances?
It’s a lucky thing for Anthem and other medical insurers that Congress made such a hash out of the medical insurance reform bill, because the medical insurers, with Anthem as a prime example, are making no case for their continued existence without a government-operated, single-payer system that would be open to all Americans regardless of pre-existing conditions.
That would not be fair, say the medical-insurance companies, but the question then becomes, “Fair to whom?” It certainly would be fair to the rate payers, whose participation in a larger pool would keep their rates lower, their coverage assured and their blood pressure less likely to boil over when the next rate increase notice shows up in the mail.
As cars have evolved through the last 15 or 20 years, they have become more and more “fly by wire.” Toyota jumped into this big time with cruise control, 4-wheel ABS, traction control, stability enhancement, and even automatic parking. The driver now has mechanical connection to the steering only.
The throttle is a transmitter that tells the engine control what you would like to do. It no longer mechanically connects to anything.
The brake systems are more complicated and much harder to explain. I’ll point out the obvious and you can apply your own logic. Traction control can apply one brake at a time to stop wheel spin with no driver input. Stability control can apply or release one or more brakes at a time and take over throttle control to stop a skid and prevent rollover regardless of driver input. The driver can provide the hydraulic pressure. The control system can remove what the driver wants or supply hydraulic pressure itself without driver input.
The Toyota control system evidently has a failure mode that opens the throttle and releases the brakes. You are correct in saying that this failure does not happen often. You are wrong in implying that this is acceptable. Think about this when you are near one of these cars in traffic.
Toyota is caught trying to avoid embarrassment. They didn’t want to admit that this problem got by quality control. They didn’t want to admit that all of these vehicles, regardless of price, have the same control components. Instead of preventing pain and suffering and preserving their own jobs, they chose to try to save face.
