By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune

A fair number of Madera County citizens have had no small amount of trouble with pit bulls. A lot of them feel it would be a good idea to outlaw those dogs. People report being attacked by pit bulls. They also report pit bulls attacking their dogs.

Now, we learn that scientists are attacking pit bulls, but not with their teeth. A dispatch from Malcolm Gay, a science writer for The New York Times, tells us that a national bad-dog DNA database is being set up.

It’s a nationwide effort because pit bull attacks apparently aren’t just a Madera problem. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty Against Animals, along with similar groups from seven states, are joining with the Veterinary Genetics Laboratory at UC Davis to do DNA comparisons on known bad pit bulls. They want to see whether these dogs are related by specific strains.

So far, the comparisons on 400 dogs seem to prove that pit bulls used in dog fighting are likely to be related.

Dog fighting is illegal, and usually carried out away from the eyes of all but the fans and fighting-dog owners. But it’s no small industry. It’s often associated with drug trafficking. Purses can be big at these illicit fights. The betting can be hot.

But most important to dog fighters is the breeding. “The pups of a champion fighter can fetch up to $5,000 each,” Malcolm Gay quotes Tim Rickey of the ASPCA.

Dog fights are a way of eliminating the not-so-good bloodlines, and preserving the bloodlines of the most vicious animals. In other words, they are a way of carrying on the bloodlines of the worst of the bad dogs.

For the dogs themselves, this is horrible. They are born to kill or be killed. Perhaps the DNA database will help track down the breeders and put them out of business.

Don’t get stopped or need help in Madera County.

Recently, my son was arrested and confined in Madera County jail. I made the original call to the sheriff’s department to ask for their help.

After two weeks in solitary confinement it was determined he was in need of some form of medicine and care. He was ordered by a local judge to be transferred to a facility which deals with this type of behavior.

Every two weeks he is back in court to see why he hasn’t been transferred. He has been in confinement since February, with one delay after another, with no one agency or person to get direct answers from.

His condition and mental state have deteriorated because of not obtaining the right conditions and medicines he would receive in the facility he was assigned to.

I must admit the sheriff’s department was good at racking him up on many charges so it becomes more criminal than mental, so he becomes locked in jails rather than getting the help he needs to be active as before at his age of 23.

Again, I say, don’t get caught up in this town; it could happen to you.

Thomas Underwood,
Madera

By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune

If asked, most of us probably would say President Obama made the right decision when he fired Gen. Stanley McChrystal as commander in Afghanistan. And, most of us probably would say the president was right to appoint Gen. David Petraeus to replace McChrystal. But those decisions were obvious.

The subtleties are less so.

First, we have to remember that McChrystal had a long string of successes in Af-ghanistan, even though he achieved these under a considerable hindrance. That stone in his shoe was Obama’s promise to the world that U.S. troops would start pulling out of Afghanistan in July 2011 — a year from now.

McChrystal’s apparent concern over the president’s policies, reflected but not actually stated in an interview published in Rolling Stone, may have seemed insubordinate. But most people with any military experience would have understood those doubts.

If after invading Normandy and gaining a foothold on the beaches, President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill had announced the troops would pull out the next year, Hitler would have known he could win just by biding his time.

The Taliban in Afghanistan seem to be reacting just that way, increasing their attacks, then pulling back, taking ground, then melting into the mountains if they themselves are attacked. But McChrystal, even with Obama’s promise facing him every day, was making progress by working with Afghanistan leaders on the ground — work that was opposed by Obama’s ambassador to Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry, who also was opposed to working with Afghan leaders himself. He has been less an ambassador than a political commissar. Maybe he should get the boot next.

Also, we have to remember Obama backers campaigned against Petraeus during the 2008 election — calling him “General Betray-us” in national ads. That was because Petraeus had suggested the surge — which worked.

Let’s hope Obama doesn’t betray Gen. Petraeus.

Music Video: “Lady Gaga Acapella Medley Multitrack” by Naya Marie

+ + +

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 asked “why the Tribune hadn’t published anything about the National Little League championships.” (See below.)

A man started “by thanking The Madera Tribune for their pictures and stories on the Little League championship games so far.” He added, “no one at our last board meeting came to stand up in front or our the board to speak about our ability to do our job. But we did ask a petition to be started to tell (sports editor) Paul (Stanford) we need more Little League coverage. I know when I was a little boy my parents were able to make a scrapbook from my write-ups in the paper. We need stories about our community, not world news.”

He suggested we “maybe go back to the archives. Back in the ’70s when Les Hayes, Ron Winter and (indiscernible) were there. You could take some notes from that era, and make our paper a better paper and make our community a better place and more informed.”

Online contributor “Sean Carrell” writes, “Whoever out there wants to complain about what the National League board does or doesn’t do should come to the board meetings and express it at that time. You should not hide your name. There are a lot of expenses and issues obviously you do not know about. Give thanks to all the volunteers that have sacrificed their time for the love of the kids and the game. Until then, stop giving lip service for things you have no idea about.”

More than one was call was received in support of Madera High baseball coach Fernandez. The gist of which said, “I am a supporter of coach Fernandez.”

To the letter writer, a woman asked, “Did you really have to hide behind a pen? Did you really talk to (a family) or (tell them) that you were going to use them in your attack on coach Fernandez?” She had a message for the coach, “Hold your head up high. You have done nothing wrong. There’s a lot of coaches in the bleachers, but only one out on the field.”

A man left a message for columnist Leon Emo, who writes Mo’s Musings. “Thank you for the great tribute (on Friday, June 18) to your father. I knew you when you were a kid and know what a gentleman and good father your dad was. Like me, we both lost our fathers too soon. But what fun we had while they were still here to guide us. Keep up the good work, Emo. Your readers appreciate it.”

A woman asked, “Is it going to take some child to get killed because there are no sidewalks on Martin Street going to and from the school? We have had some very close calls. Where is (Supervisor) Max Rodriguez?”

A person who “has been reading your newspaper for 3 1/2 years was very surprised at the DUI checkpoints. All the photos that appear in the paper are of Hispanics. Is there anyone else that gets arrested besides the Hispanics? I’m looking forward to others (being published) because I do believe there are others being arrested.” He said he “didn’t know if it was the police department or the paper that was doing it, but would like some response.” (News editor’s note: The photographs are taken by a correspondent for the Tribune. When racially diverse photos are submitted to us, they are used.)

A woman called “on the behalf of all the truckers who park on Pecan and Madera avenues. I drive by there at least twice a day and they’re not hurting anybody. They are trying to make a living. They transport our goods, everything we need. They are hardworking people. Leave those guys alone.”

Online contributor “Christine” said, “The new Youth Center is embarrassing for the City of Madera. The city did a great job of talking it up, but what a disappointment. I cannot believe the City of Madera would allow such chaos to go on. There is absolutely no structure, and I certainly will not ever leave my kids there again. There are far too many kids for the amount of staff in the building. Something needs to be done.”

Online contributor “Alex” said, “I agree there must be a hidden agenda (for Meg Whitman’s heavy campaign spending). Special interest groups and she’ll make a lot more money than she paid. Look at Arnold. Vote Jerry Brown.”

+ + +

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 on the Internet.

By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune

Like that of the disaster in Haiti, news coverage of the Gulf oil gusher will soon subside. You can only say “the oil gusher is bad” so many times before people will start to think of something else.

One of the things that makes coverage of such an event not altogether believable is the tendency of reporters to exaggerate when describing it.
The other day, I heard, and then read that the Gulf oil gusher is “the worst environmental disaster in history.”

Well, unless you’re only 2 years old, that just isn’t true. Hurricane Katrina, for example, was far worse, as was Hurricane Ike that preceded it. An unnamed hurricane that hit Galveston in 1900 killed 8,000 people and virtually wiped that city off the map. Hurricane Andrew, in 1992, caused $26.5 billion in damage to the Miami, Fla., area. That $26.5 would be like $50 billion today.

The eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980 killed almost 60 people in an instant, and only in the past few years has the vast forest and river system it destroyed began to recover.

When Krakatoa, in Indonesia, erupted in 1883, it caused incredible environmental da-mage throughout the Pacific area, and the smoke and ash resulted in global cooling and crop failures. Some 3,000 people died immediately, and countless bodies washed up on beaches for years.

Let’s not forget the quakes of the last century in San Francisco and the Los Angeles area.

And let’s not forget the almost forgotten Haiti, not all that far from the Gulf oil gusher, where (depending on who is estimating) 220,000 people died and more than a million were left homeless.

In the Gulf gusher, 11 people died in the initial explosion, a tragedy to be sure. Economic problems have resulted from the oil sheen, but those who have suffered have a good chance of being made at least partially whole.

We have to keep things in perspective.

The June 16 Madera City Council meeting, at which Madera Irrigation District’s offer to sell water to the city for groundwater recharge was summarily rejected, provided a disturbing display of just how the City Council, other than Council Member Poythress, who does understand the issues, might be out of touch on water-related topics.

More disturbing was that the council’s action seemed to be based in part on factually incorrect assertions about irrigation district assessments on land within the city, assertions which were technically irrelevant to the subject at hand.

There was a claim that the City receives no significant benefits from MID. Well, let’s review the short list.

First — flood control and drainage. Under a 2000 agreement, MID assists the city with its storm water management by taking storm runoff into the irrigation district’s canal system (a pain in MID’s operations-and- maintenance rear). This enables the city to avoid huge costs for alternative storm water management. If the council feels that isn’t a benefit to the city, MID can cease that program and avoid all the associated headaches and costs that come with it.

Second — the district is working cooperatively to help the city reduce its Regional Water Quality Control Board “problem” at the wastewater treatment plant. Here again, if the Council feels that program has no value, and since there is no benefit, and it’s a pain in the rear, to the District, maybe MID should simply terminate that program.

Third — significant groundwater recharge benefitting the city is occurring as the direct result of MID’s conveyance of water in its canals running through and around the city. If the council doesn’t understand there are costs associated with that benefit MID can line its canals so that benefit is not accruing to the city. Alternatively MID could send the city a bill for the recharge that is occurring to the city’s benefit. This year’s MID water rate: $60 per acre foot, double the offered price of $29.51 rejected by the council.

Fourth — MID holds rights to pre-1914 water, which unlike the District’s CVP water, can legally be provided to the City for recharge. If the City council believes having access to MID water to supplement its groundwater recharge needs is of no benefit and/or that it is so easy and less costly to acquire and import other sources of water I say “go for it.” Then maybe it’s time for MID to terminate the 2001 Agreement under which this year’s pilot program was going to occur.

There are other lesser benefits to the city which I won’t delve into. But I would mention the fact that the district’s delivery system runs through and around the city creates a great deal of additional problems, headaches and significantly increased operation and maintenance costs, costs and problems which in some other valley cities are reimbursed to the districts by the city. Hmm, maybe MID should consider that approach.

I hope this council in understanding some of the benefits the city derives from MID. If the council still doesn’t believe those benefits accrue I would ask the council to let MID know, so the District can initiate steps to terminate these apparently meaningless, worthless efforts, programs and agreements, and commence billing the city for the full cost of benefits and the problems urbanization has created for the district.

It’s bad enough that a majority of the City Council seems naïve about the demonstrable direct benefits provided by MID. But the council’s naiveté does not stop there. In the exchanges among council members and between council members and city staff occurring during the Council meeting it was obvious the council would be well advised to educate itself on a number of subjects including:

* Groundwater hydrology – to understand that everyone in and around MID is sucking the same water out of the same bucket, an unconfined aquifer,

* Conjunctive use – to understand the importance of groundwater recharge of unconfined aquifers in wet years and that everyone benefits from that recharge,

* California groundwater law – so they’ll understand urban agencies are junior appropriators to the rights of those pumping for use on overlying land – usually farms,

* Groundwater overdraft conditions in Madera County – to understand that raising water rates to drill ever deeper wells is not the answer to the city’s worsening water supply problem,

* State law regarding municipal water conservation, water management and most particularly water supply assessments – to help them come to grips with the reality that without dedicated groundwater recharge any plans for significant future development in the city are all but dead,

* That as was pointed out by city staff: Sooner or later the city will have to start buying and importing water to meet its water needs — and the only way to deliver that water, regardless of the source, will be via MID’s delivery system,

* Impending wastewater treatment and disposal regulations — to understand requirements coming down the pike are, without MID’s assistance, going to make the city’s wastewater treatment and disposal much more difficult and costly, and finally …

* That in the absence of buying water from MID, the open market price for out-of- county supplies delivered for use by the city starts at well over $75 per acre-foot plus conveyance charges and regulatory costs which add another $25-40/acre-foot. And in dry years those costs can be expected to triple.

In summary, it’s incumbent, vital actually, that the City Council start getting a grip on reality and educate themselves starting by listening to and heeding the advice and recommendations of city staff, highly qualified people who do understand the issues and ramifications. If council doesn’t deal appropriately and timely with these matters the city and its residents will be facing some very difficult, costly, no win, scenarios.

Lance Johnson, general manager of Madera Irrigation District

By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune

I don’t know about these scientists. Every time they find an old skeleton, especially one that looks like it could have been a humanoid, they get excited. Then, they spend 14 years studying it, and you soon have a story about it.

Such is the case with Ardi, who is featured in the July issue of National Geographic. She is now being discussed in the scientific community, pictures are being drawn of how she must have looked and her toes and thumbs are being discussed in detail.

Frankly, I think they should give the girl a break. Think about it. Would you like to have a bunch of scientists discuss your skeleton a few million years from now? Would you like to have them discuss your toes and thumbs?

He looks like he probably could walk upright,” these scientists of the future might say of my skeleton. “But maybe not. He has such small toes. Maybe he was swinging through the trees.”

They would draw a picture of me with no clothes on, and make me look in the picture like a large, furry monkey who could not afford pants, socks, shoes or shirt.

That is what they’ve done with Ardi. There she stands for all to see, and it is a good thing her mother can’t see these pictures. What if Ardi went to church every Sunday and wore demure dresses made of palm fronds? What if she had a nice leather jacket and wore high heels? And what if she actually was quite a bright girl, instead of having a brain the size of a small tomatillo?

Worst of all, the scientists are suggesting that she traded sex for food. I don’t know where they got that idea, except maybe they got drunk one night while discussing her. What if some scientist of the future looks at your skeleton and says you traded sex for food? How would you feel? Who is to say she wouldn’t want a mink coat as well?

Thursday, June 10, Madera South High School, had its graduation at Memorial Stadium. We would like to congratulate our first grandson, Jonathon Chapa from Madera South High School, and also as you all know, the varsity baseball field was named Eddie Chapa Field, Feb. 24, 2007, and we were very happy this last three years to see him play there.

Jonathon has a brother, Chris, and we are hoping to see him play there.
And also we would like to congratulate Coach John Fernandez, for the good three years of coaching Jonathon.

Also, we’ve got five great-grandsons, and would like to see them play at Eddie Chapa Field.

Jonathon, hoping you continue your baseball career, and would like to see you play at Fresno City next year.

Eddie and Frances Chapa,
Madera

By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune

Mrs. Doud and I are fortunate in that the cat’s retirement fund probably won’t break us. We’ve been putting aside some Kit ’n’ Kaboodle here, some Friskies there. When she actually retires, she won’t have to do so much work to get her food. Now, she has to squawk and rub legs twice a day to get fed. After she retires, we’ll just get her one of those big automatic feeders, fill it with her retirement fund, and let her have her way with it. We’ll all be happy.

I was thinking about this because at last week’s City Council meeting, a warning flag about pensions was unfurled. Ken Pun, CPA, the city’s outside auditor, said the city’s pension costs could “increase significantly” over the next two years because of investment losses in the state pension fund.

He said the city should do an actuarial report on what that potential liability could be. Won’t that be fun.

And it’s not just the city that has a pension problem. Madera may have kept up its pension funding pretty well, compared to some other municipalities. The county may have a scary liability, and so may the school district. And, of course, the state owes a bundle to its present and future retirees.

A few years ago, the public pension funds were fatter than the Pillsbury Doughboy. They had so much cash, and were raking in so much interest income that they were able to provide new retirees with big bonuses for taking early retirements. They were throwing off so much money that many municipalities did not contribute to their employees’ pensions, or if they did contribute, gave very little.

Now, because of investment losses, the pension funds may not be able to meet their obligations. Yet, those obligations must be met.

And guess who will have to meet them. It will not be your cat.

By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune

Folks in the Madera Ranchos have wisely been working with county planners and a design team from Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo to come up plans for that part of Avenue 12, which runs through the Ranchos “downtown.”

On Wednesday, at a workshop on the redesign of that corridor, they will get a chance to see some of the work that has been done.

The citizens of the Ranchos made it clear that they don’t want the Avenue 12 corridor to be any busier than it is. Instead, they want a bypass to handle expected heavier traffic of the future. And they want Avenue 12 to be more pedestrian friendly, more business friendly and easier to navigate.

The Cal Poly team and Planner Scott Harmstead have put together some options, and those who attend the Wednesday workshop, 6:30 p.m. at Liberty High, can have a look at them and provide their opinions about which options they like the best.

The Avenue 12 draft vision has been available for public review and comment since December. If you live in the Ranchos and haven’t had a chance to see it, you can find a copy at the Ranchos Public Library, or you can pull it up on the Internet. A copy also is available at the Resource Management Agency offices at the Walmart shopping center in Madera.

This is an example of good and much-needed community planning. The Ranchos area has been targeted by developers who want to plant some 28,000 new homes in the future. Those new developments could turn the present very pleasant Ranchos into a rural slum without good planning. It’s good that county planners are taking the lead.