By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune

Here is the problem we’ll likely face in too many more years: Despite President Obama’s efforts at establishing “Kumbaya” diplomacy with North Korea and Iran, both those countries continue to develop nuclear arms, and probably will use them.

Iran and North Korea are tight in the grip of totalitarian governments who show no sign of weakening.
The Iranians help support terrorist organizations who target U.S. assets and allies.

The North Koreans sink a South Korean ship with no apparent effect on themselves.

What will happen when Iran attacks Israel with a nuclear weapon?

What will happen when North Korea fires one of its missiles toward Seoul?

These questions occurred to me on rereading some excerpts from “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich,” by William L. Shirer, which tells the story of Nazi Germany and tries to explain why a great civilization imploded into totalitarianism and terror.

One thing Iran and North Korea have in common with Nazi Germany is worship of their leaders. Iran’s powerful Islamist Shiite ayatollahs and North Korea’s Kim Jong-il demand and usually get total obedience from their subjects, even to the point of enforcing that obedience with murder squads and secret police. How like the Nazis those two countries are in that respect.

Iran and North Korea also maintain big standing armies, as did the Nazis once arms-manufacturing began again in Germany in defiance of the treaty ending World War I.

We also see the use of propaganda in those countries, as it was used by the Nazis.

Remember that Britain entered World War II not because Germany attacked British soil, but because the Nazis attacked Poland, a British ally.

Remember that we sent troops to Korea because the north attacked the south.

Will we go to Israel’s aid if the Iranians attack there? Can there be any doubt?

May I please clarify that the July 13 decision (4-0-1) by the Planning Commission to refer the proposed Text Amendment to adopt the Madera County Air Quality Element (GP# 2010-003) and refer it to the Board of Supervisors without a positive recommendation was not due to inaction or lack of courage.

The decision to refer without recommendation was, and is, a concerted action by members of the Madera County Planning Commission to stem the rubber stamping of state mandates, which provide no cost analysis, sustainable financing guarantees nor valid economic impact discovery.

While the scientific assumption and political agenda for the proposed amendment may certainly be called into question, my personal and primary concern remains with the potential for permanent economic damage through nebulous implementation, unspecified and unfunded costs and predictable future development disincentives.

I applaud Matt Treber’s and staff’s highly professional efforts in the research and preparation of this mandatory proposal and considered several elements contained therein to be of a solid value.

However, if I may call your attention to the certified statements on pages 54 and 71 of GP# 2010-003, where “findings indicate that the proposed project will have no effect on the environment.”

May I please ask your collective support in rejecting this premise in its current form. The madness must stop somewhere.

Ray A. Krause, Jr.,
Planning commissioner,
Madera County

By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune

Bula Blazer of Madera offers this cautionary tale, which happened in early June:

“I was volunteering at the hospital,” Bula said, “and after I got off duty, about 2 o’clock in the afternoon, I went to my car. A pickup drove in right beside me.

“This fellow got out of this pickup, and he came up to my car and said, ‘Oh, there’s smoke coming out from under your car. Something needs to be done.’

“And I said, ‘Oh, thank you,’ and then he leaned down and looked under my car, beneath the two front wheels. And he says, ‘Oh, you need a part. I can fix it for you if you buy it.’

“I said I’d have it towed to my mechanic, but he said, ‘Ma’am, it would just take a little bit of time. I can go get the part, and I’ll be back and put it in for you. It will be no problem.’ Well, I finally told him okay.”
Bula said the man got on his cell phone and talked into it, and reported that the part was available at a parts store nearby. He said, ‘Joe has the part. I’ll go get it and be back in a few minutes.”

Bula said she had wanted to drive her Taurus home, but the man cautioned her she should not do that.
“He said if I did, it would burn out all my electric. It sounded serious.”

Bula said he left and came back in about 10 minutes, got under the car and “replaced the part.”

Then, he followed her to her bank, where she withdrew enough money to pay him in cash — about $90 total.

“Well, I fell for the whole story.”

Bula had her mechanic look at the car later, and he told her she had been taken. The part the man had mentioned wasn’t under the car at all. It was behind the engine.

She said she hoped printing her story would “keep some other 80-year-old lady from getting taken.”

By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune

The most interesting story this week has been about the fellow in Idaho who captured 25 rattlesnakes and took them to his motel room in Malta.

Malta, in southern Idaho’s Casia County, is on the outskirts of nowhere. One of the things it has is plenty of rattlesnakes, and you would not think a snake-catcher’s having 25 of them would matter much. But the citizens of Idaho years ago decided to protect their rattlesnakes, and made it illegal to kill more than four of them a year, according to the AP.

Maybe that regulation was passed to keep husbands from being killed by their wives. I know Mrs. Doud would reach for the shotgun if I brought home 25 rattlesnakes and they got loose in the house. But if I brought home only four, she might just make me take them outside and put them in the big gray trash can. That way, they would wind up at the landfill, where they might be dug up in the future by a paleontologist, who probably would wonder what the heck was going on.

But getting back to Malta, the snake-catcher was told he had to take 21 of his 25 snakes out in the wilderness and release them. It is said, however, that as soon as the sheriff’s deputies who oversaw this activity had gone home and horrified their wives with this story, the snake-catcher went out with a friend and killed those he had released.

Of the four which were left, he kept two as pets and cooked and ate the other two. No doubt about it, they make them tough in Idaho.

I have been in Malta, and I can tell you they don’t have snake festivals there, nor do they have statues commemorating snakes. The rattlers of Malta stay up in the hills, as the rattlers around here are wont to do. They don’t want trouble any more than you or I do.

But you would have to pay me a lot of money to stay in a motel there.

By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune

Just reading about the Obama family’s vacation over the weekend made me tired. Visiting in Bar Harbor, Maine, they went hiking and biking, played tennis, went boating and ate out. They also hung out at a pool, toured a lighthouse and stopped for ice cream.

That’s a lot of activity to pack into two days. Of course, the Obamas are young, and they need to show the nation they are full of energy.

Thank goodness Mrs. Doud and I don’t have to show the nation anything, except proof we have paid our income tax.

When we go on vacation, we don’t do squat. Our idea of a busy vacation is to sleep late, maybe go out to lunch, maybe take a little walk, take a nap, watch a little TV, maybe go to a movie.

If we are staying near a beach, we may go out on the beach for a while. If we can find any, we will stretch out on beach chairs and sweat for half an hour or so. We like to watch the other people on the beach. They run down to the water’s edge and let the waves wash over their feet. I tried that once, but soon went back to the chair. The water was cold and tried to pull the sand from under my feet.

Also, there were squiggly things, sort of pink with legs, swimming in the surf. Unlike the Obamas, we don’t have Secret Service people watching out for us, to keep squiggly things away from our feet.

Sometimes I will walk to a nearby bar and buy us a couple of bottles of pop. That sets us up for another half hour or so. Then, Mrs. Doud says we have to go back inside because the sun is beginning to make us look like two pink squiggly things that inadvertently have been beached.

This sets us up for another nice little nap. As you can see, we are not the Obamas.

Music Video: “Mountain Man” by Crash Kings

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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.

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A man “commented on the headline of Saturday, June 26, about the Arizona immigration law may become a pattern for other states.” The man “sure hoped California is one of those states.”

On the same article, a woman said, “we should take the stance of Arizona with illegal immigrants. It is a well documented fact they are costing this state and you and me too much money in welfare and health costs. We could probably solve our budget issues if we didn’t spend so much on these illegals.”

A man was “in total agreement with last week’s Red Line caller about parking at the government center. I believe all the employees of county government should park up on the top floor. That goes even for the board of supervisors.”

A man followed with “I don’t know what the man is so concerned about parking on the first floor of the government center. What are you worried about it for? If you were working there you can bet you’d want to be on the first floor too.”

A woman said, “Don’t get me wrong. I really enjoy Tami Jo Nix’s column on Saturday, but after reading her story on the annual Seniors Saluting Seniors Luncheon at the (Fresno) Convention Center I wondered what happened to your writer Leon Emo. Over the years Leon has gone down to the luncheon to take firsthand notes and pictures and writes a wonderful article on us seniors. He takes the time to take a picture of all the Madera folks that are there. We love him. He always makes us laugh and smile when he’s at the luncheon and when visiting a senior center.”

A man agreed with last week’s caller concerning “the recent road repair on Howard Road. I’m sure we are all grateful for the quick repair of the broken water main on Howard Road. But I have to go down Howard Road a lot, as I’m sure hundreds if not thousands of other cars do every day, and that spot repair job where the leak was is awful. Is that the best the city can do with our taxpayer money?”

A woman who said she was “middle-aged and a good driver” commented, “I hit that awful repair place on Howard Road while changing lanes and almost lost control. And I was going the speed limit. They better do something about that before there’s an accident.”

A man had a comment about the Babe Ruth League. “They had the all-star team picked halfway through the season.” He mentioned his own 14-year old son. “He’s no Mark McGwire, but it seems the selection is pretty much based on who their parents are instead of the way the kids are playing. I’ve talked to the (Babe Ruth) president several times and nothing’s been resolved. I’m moving my son to Fresno next year.”

A lady “responded to the man complaining about the Little League all-stars. I have no one on the Little League team in Madera. Why doesn’t he try coaching if he thinks he can do better. Think of all the time the coaches put in.”

A woman “called about the Ellis Street overpass.” She “agreed wholeheartedly with a letter to the editor this week. We don’t need this overpass. Especially one that goes nowhere and doesn’t benefit the citizens of the city and county. We have roads in this county that they could spend the necessary money to repair.”

A man “commented on The Madera Tribune regretting about printing the wrong name of the man who was shot. It’s not the Tribune’s fault. They have borrowed identity or stolen identity. Madera Tribune, you’re doing a good job. There’s no need to regret printing his name wrong.”

A woman commented “about increasing the speed limit on Granada. It is absolutely ridiculous. I would recommend speed bumps.”

A man said, “they might as well raise the speed limits. The cops can’t do a very good job giving speeding tickets now. This way they won’t have to worry about it and have time to arrest and run the gangs out of town. Oh, wait, they don’t do that either.”

An online reader, self-identified as “Ronette Lopez,” wrote, “The (city’s) fireworks show was beautiful and it was nice for my family and we had a great time. It was good. I hope you raised all the money you need for this, and that you do it again next year ’cause it was all worth the traffic and time. Thank you.”

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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 maderatribuneredline.com on the Internet.

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Fan Music Video: “Fragile Dreams” by Anathema

This week’s odds and items:

Congress passed a comprehensive financial bill. Its backers are calling it reform, but others believe it is anything but. The two sponsors, Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., and Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., both say they have no idea whether the 2,300-page bill will do any good, but they hope it will. That’s what I call clear thinking. Now, federal employees in various agencies will start making rules, so hang onto your wallets. Most observers think the biggest change we ordinary people will experience is higher interest rates, and that it will be a godsend for Wall Street lawyers.

At this writing, BP seems to have stopped, at least temporarily, the flow of oil from its ruptured well head beneath 5,000 feet of water in the Gulf of Mexico. The Obama administration is looking for ways to take credit for this achievement. Quotes like, “We have stopped the oil flow” are coming from federals who are representing the administration in Louisiana. We? That sort of language must come from excitement, I think. We all know the task was accomplished by employees of BP and its contractors.

Roman Polanski, the film director and child rapist, was freed from house arrest Tuesday by a Swiss court. He had been held in Switzerland while a court in Los Angeles tried to have him extradited. Now, at 76, he once again is at large — but will not be able to visit the United States unless he is able to sneak in. He has gone back to France, where apparently people of his ilk are held in higher esteem than they are here.

Mexican drug gangs have now turned to the use of the car bomb as a terror weapon. I think a civil war is under way in Mexico. It’s civilized society vs. forces of evil. Those who stand on the side of law and order there are very brave, indeed.

Each night during World War II, I would kneel with my grandmother as she prayed for my uncle, Francis Orval, who was serving in the armed forces in Europe and in the islands. She and I would pray for their safe return. The following is a poem she wrote during that time. God answered her prayer and brought her boys safely home.

“Old Glory”
By Florence Ruth (Harmon) Myers

May the flag of our country keep waving;
May we all pray in one accord,
Until we see the enemy vanquished;
And we all stand in fear of the Lord.
For God surely wants her to fly;
She was born through the blood of our nation;
By men who were willing to die.

The blue is the blue of Heaven;
The stars are our guide in the night;
The red represents the blood that was shed;
And our souls are washed pure in the white.
The pole is that staff that supports her;
And our soldiers are the army of God;
And the people who give to sustain them;
May also represent the rod. (Psalms 2:1-9) “Thou shalt break them with a rod of Iron” Psalms 2:9

God blesses the nation that loves him;
The battle is his, He has said;
He is there when they’re sick and dying,
He visits the home of the dead.
There are men who have gone on before us,
Who have suffered and bled for our land.
And now our loved ones are dying —
Is it true that you don’t understand?

Today as I knelt down in prayer,
The spirit of God lingered near;
I seemed to catch a vision of the suffering and pain;
The misery, the dread, and the fear.
Then I saw foreign country;
Our soldiers were fighting to win;
The shots and shells were falling about;
Midst sorrow, and strife, and the sin.

I saw through a veil of smoke;
Our boys in the darkest Japan;
Shut away in their grimy prisons;
Tortured only like the enemy can.
I saw airplanes falling out of the sky;
brought down by an enemy’s plane.
I could see the still face of one of our boys;
Who would never be home again.

And then with tear-streaming eyes;
I saw in that great sea of faces;
Many a face was bleeding and trusting,
Thinking of home no doubt;
Feeling that we were behind them,
Pulling to help them out.

Then as God’s spirit touched me,
I saw in a vision of light,
Mothers and mothers and mothers
Whose sons are in this great fight.
They sat in the quiet evening,
Eyes dimmed with unshed tears;
They hold in their laps the Bible;
As they read, it quiets their fears.

They think of their sweet baby boys
Who once played there on the floor,
And they pray that God in his mercy
Will just bring them home safe once more.
Then, as their eyes stray to the window,
With a chill in their hearts they see
Stars representing those dear, precious, boys
Who’ve enlisted and gone over the seas.
Well, nevertheless, mothers gave them,
Some smiled when their boys went away;
But God alone knows the heartache,
And he’ll bring them back home some day.

And so as time marches swiftly on,
And clouds are thick overhead,
Many a home, God bless them,
Are hanging out crepe for the dead; (The custom of using crepe paper for making wreaths and ribbons)
And many a soldier is dying,
And many are crippled for life.
Is it right for us to care less
And not have a part in the strife.

May God have mercy upon us,
For God has an all-seeing eye,
And he knows our hearts
And he knows when we really do try.

I read in the evening paper,
Of three boys reported lost;
And my heart stood still for a moment,
As I thought of terrible cost.
They are spending their money by millions,
They are giving it with a free hand;
But can anyone give like a mother,
Who gives sons to defend our land.

So then, let us all stand together;
Yes, let us help hold the pole
That keeps Old Glory a-waving,
’Til we come to the home of the soul.
Some think it’s a sin to salute her,
But God knows our hearts, and therefore,
Old Glory represents God’s great blessings;
May we all honor God evermore.

(It is interesting to note here, that my grandmother only had a 4th grade education. Her school sat where the armory is now.)

Anyce Ruth Malone Hutchison
Madera

By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune

The City of Madera deserves to take a bow for its new solar power array at its sewage-treatment plant. The array, once up and running in a few more weeks, will generate about 60 percent of the electricity used by the plant. Put another way, the plant will generate the amount of power used by about 300 homes.

That’s a big deal for Madera, which only about 18 month ago made a commitment to become a more sustainable city. Soon, more solar panels will be up, with one installation planned for the new youth center. Even with these and other installations, however, it will be some time before this or almost any city’s power needs can be provided by combustion-free methods.

A few cities own their own power-generating dams, and some get a share of their power from windmills. But totally conserving the ecological balance may not be possible in the lifetimes of most of us.

One development under way, however, could make it possible for individual cities or groups of cities to generate combustion-free power in quantities that would be enough not only to electrify cities, farms and factories, but to charge electric vehicles.

The Bechtel Corp. of San Francisco and Babcock and Wilcox of Lynchburg, Va., are seeking approval of plans to build small nuclear reactors to provide clean power for local areas. The two companies together are the most experienced nuclear providers in the country. Bechtel built 64 of the 104 presently operating reactors in the country, according to The Wall Street Journal.

What they are proposing now, instead of big regional plants, are localized plants to provide combustion-free power without the energy loss of having to wheel it over long distances.

Add developments like that to solar and wind generation, and sustainability could be much closer.

In a past essay, I’ve described the benefits provided to the city by Madera Irrigation District (MID), and urged the City Council to educate itself on a the myriad of water issues facing the city, issues which all of us in the region can and must work on cooperatively.

Today, I hope to clear the air about MID assessments on properties within the city about which there is a tremendous lack of knowledge, and disinformation, regarding the historical background.

Madera Irrigation District was formed in 1920 to secure, develop and deliver surface water supplies in the Madera area. In 1939, MID signed a water service contract with the United States for delivery of Central Valley Project (CVP) water, deliveries which began in 1952. When MID signed that 1939 CVP contract, the City of Madera encompassed about 1,280 acres, less than 2 square miles. Today the City encompasses 9,930 acres, over 15 square miles. Then 1968 MID entered into a second federal contract for Hidden Dam and the supplies it provides. Water deliveries from Hidden Dam began in 1978.

Those federal water contracts indebted the land within Madera Irrigation District for a portion of the cost to plan, design and build Friant Dam, the Madera Canal, Hidden Dam, other CVP facilities and most of the District’s delivery system. And in the years since those facilities were built, the original debt actually increased incrementally due to improvements, repairs, upgrades and various regulatory mandated actions that have been imposed on CVP facilities associated with the delivery of MID’s water supplies.

Today those federal debts are not yet fully repaid: There is $31.7 million still owed.

Regardless of the misinformation one hears, the fact remains that irrespective of what occupies the land today, be it homes, businesses, industries or farms served by MID, the federal capital repayment obligation still exists, which is little different than an assessment for construction of schools placed on vacant city land, despite the fact those future lots don’t have houses on them yet.

If council members are truly interested in learning more about the myriad water resource issues facing our region, including the city and MID and how we all can and must work together to deal with them, I extend a standing offer to meet with council members anytime, anywhere for as long as they want to talk about the subject. And I encourage the council to do the same with city staff members.

And I renew my standing invitation for City Council members to attend the monthly meetings held between senior staff members of the city, county, the Madera Redevelopment Agency and MID, meetings at which we discuss issues, concerns, goals, objectives and projects of mutual interest and involvement.

Lance W. Johnson, general manager of Madera Irrigation District