All I know is that we are going to build some track from Borden to Bakersfield. The reason for that is because we don’t know what to do after that. No one has yet explained to me how they are going to maintain a 2 percent grade out of the Valley. Probably because it can’t be done.

I say we demand an engineering drawing with a proof of concept illustration of those crossings before we have another discussion.

As for Supervisor Frank Bigelow’s comment on his position, that he voted to support the rail but personally opposes it, that’s like Goering saying that because he is a member of the Nazi party he is in favor of killing the Jews, but as a citizen he is against it.

Bill Hoffrage,
Madera

By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune

As you probably are aware, cats don’t like water, except in a little bowl from which they can drink. Thus, when it rains as it has been doing, cats tend to seek shelter.

Our cat is dry, because she can hang out in our garage all day, or on our covered patio. If she is in the garage, she will lie on the window sill and watch the rain through the glass. Otherwise, she will lie on one of the welcome mats, or on the outdoor table, and snooze.

That’s something you can’t blame cats for doing. For one thing, it keeps them from annoying the birds, and for another, you always know where they are, in case you need them for something.

However, it is highly unlikely you will need a cat for something. Cats are not like fire engines. We keep fire engines around because we know the day will come when we need them. When the alarm goes off, the firefighters come running, start the engine and off it goes — to fight a fire, or perhaps to get a cat out of a tree.

There is no particular danger to a cat if it spends some time in a tree. It got up there, let it get down. You don’t see many cat skeletons in trees. If you are really worried about the cat, you can put some pillows beneath the tree so when the cat comes tumbling off the branch where it is staying, it won’t hurt itself much. No need to call the fire department, but some do.

Not long ago, there was a mouse in our office that needed catching, so I brought the cat from home. Sort of like calling the fire department, although as far as I know, the fire department doesn’t go after mice.

I brought the cat to the office, and just as I put it on the floor, I saw the mouse scurry across the carpet. The cat ignored it. But the mouse was not seen again. Was it necessary to bring the cat, just to show the mouse its fate? We’ll never know.

We don’t want a superstar.
We are not looking for a celebrity.
We just want someone a lot like us,
Who would enjoy spending some time with us,
Who’s sincere, transparent and has integrity.
Where, oh where could this person be?
He/she might be a member of our commumnity.
Time will tell. Time will tell.
We’ll just have to wait and see.

Brian Donald O’Donovan,
Madera

By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune

The most interesting information to come from last week’s developments in the Middle East was a statement by Hillary Clinton that she would not serve another term as secretary of state, nor
would she run for president.

Clinton is probably the smartest member of the Obama Cabinet, and no doubt she is the hardest working. While Obama is schmoozing in South America, Clinton is trying to make sure things go well in the Middle East — probably in spite of her boss, who no doubt is surprised to find himself in the position of having to help police the skies of Libya — exactly the sort of thing he said in his campaign he would avoid.

We all remember that after Obama became president, one of his first out-of-country acts was a grand tour through the Middle East to assure the potentates what nice people we were becoming. People still shake their heads about that. An American president doesn’t pay such visits, at least not at that point. Rather, he receives representatives from other countries at his convenience,
then returns the visit when and if the time is appropriate.

Did he gain anything from that breach of long-standing diplomatic protocol? The fact that our planes, and those of the British and the French, are now beating down Libyan air and ground forces so the rebels in that country can get a second wind would seem that he left the wrong impression after his Mideast visits.

Long tired of being ruled by despots, informed Mideastern citizens, starting with the Tunisians, are pushing for democracy. There’s no doubt Obama left them with the impression they would be backed, at least to some extent, by the United States. Obama continues to learn that war is not like community organizing, and he has only himself to blame for that.

Secretary Clinton is probably weary of it, and you can’t blame her.

By Chuck Doud
The Coalinga Recorder

Tonight begins the celebration by our Jewish friends of Purim, which commemorates the Jews in ancient Persia being delivered from a plot to have them all killed. It is a good story, and if you want to read all about it, go to the book of Esther in the Old Testament if you happen to have a Bible around the house.

If you don’t have a Bible, and think you might want one, give a call to 674-2753 and arrangements can be made to deliver one to you free. The Madera Ministerial Association is sponsoring the Got Hope
campaign in the area during Lent, and providing Bibles to those who don’t have one is part of it.

But back to Purim. It’s quite a coincidence that the United States and its allies decided to initiate their no-fly protection for the Libyan rebels on Purim eve. The no-fly zone amounts to another deliverance — for the Libyan rebels, who have been getting the worst of the fight. If Moammar Gadhafi were to win this conflict, he no doubt would order as many of the rebels killed as possible.

The principal goal of the rebels has been to get rid of Gadhafi and his cronies. Gadhafi’s principal goal is to stay in power by any possible means, which could include mass murder, because he has used it before. But if the rebels’ lives are saved, don’t expect the Libyans to throw us a ticker-tape parade.

We have only one friend in the Middle East that we can count on, and that is Israel. We have been putting that friendship to the test lately by doing our best to force new talks between Israel and the
Palestinians. The Israelis know the Palestinians are unlikely to keep the terms of any new agreement, just as they have not kept any other agreements they have made with Israel.

This Purim, Israel probably would like to be delivered from the well-meaning pressure being applied by its friend, the U.S.

By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune

The good people of the California High-Speed Rail Authority, who visited Madera Thursday, probably came away from the meeting shaking their heads, wondering whether anybody in California really wants their train.

The story on Page 1 of today’s Trib will give you the details, so I won’t repeat them here. But the theme of the objections to the rail system has been heard time and again by the rail authority people.

That theme is that the fast train should follow I-5 from Los
Angeles to the Bay Area. Both ends of the high-speed line would connect with already existing transit, which has plenty of unused capacity, but already is in place. Then, light-rail feeder lines could be built from Central Valley cities as they were needed, connecting with the fast train at a couple of central stations.

That would reduce the cost of the initial construction by many billions. It would help beef up existing transit systems such as Caltrain and Bay Area Rapid Transit. And it would be the least disruptive route in terms of how it affects people’s lives.

Yes, it is true that Fresno, Bakersfield and Merced want the train, because they perceive potential economic benefit, and you can’t blame them for that. That is especially true of Fresno and Bakersfield, which both are big enough to generate enough passenger trade to make it worthwhile for the trains to stop at their stations.

For Madera County, with no stop planned, little benefit would occur unless the proposed heavy-maintenance were built between Madera and Chowchilla. That, supposedly, would create some 1,200 permanent jobs, mostly of a highly technical nature.

As it is now, though, the proposed route starting in Borden makes no sense, except to have a tail of track ready to expand into Madera County farms, its cities or both. As they clearly heard Thursday, not many around here want that.

By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune

The Madera County Board of Supervisors did the right thing in voting to send a letter of support for the proposed nuclear power facility planned for Fresno.

In the aftermath of the problems being experienced by the Japanese because of tsunami damage to some of their nuclear power plants, it would have been easy for the supervisors to put off the request or even vote no on it.

But the fact is, we are facing a situation in which we are going to need nuclear power, solar power and wind power right now more than ever before. Right now, all you have to do is look at the price of a gallon of gasoline to know how far behind we are in being able to supply energy for ourselves.

We have been in similar binds. Remember the rolling brownouts of a decade ago? Remember the sharp rise in gasoline prices that punched our economy in the midsection five years ago? Remember the two Arab oil embargoes? Have you heard about California’s new energy regulations, which practically guarantee that our need for so-called green energy will be unfillable without a significant increase in nuclear, solar and wind power-generation facilities?

One big truth few of us are willing to admit is that we are so far behind the power-generation curve, we may never catch up in this decade, or in the next, or even the one after that. It takes too long to go through the permit process for any nuclear, solar or wind
project.

We talk about the green advantages of electric cars and bullet trains and other hightech advances, but right now the only thing we have to accommodate them is the burning of coal, natural gas and what nuclear plants we have on line. Solar and wind have
yet to provide significant amounts of power to the nation’s grids. And so-called environmentalists are doing their best to make it hard to establish new solar and wind installations.

Unless we start building nuclear plants soon, you’d be smart to put your money in coal.

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

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A “concerned parent of the Madera Unified School District”
called to say she was “concerned about the amount of work being put on the teachers.” She was “very upset that the teachers had no flexibility when it came to activities. Children have different needs and teaching all of them just one way is not how education was intended. The district needs to start listening to the parent voice, because there are many out there who are aware of the pressures being put on the teachers.”

“In regards to the (girls) volleyball program at Madera High and coach Davis’ termination,” said a gentleman, “I understand the school wants to take the volleyball program in a different direction. News flash folks: That statement is code for something that might be embarrassing for the coach or the school and would be better off not to be brought out into the open. Personally, I am pleased about the decision for reasons I will keep to myself.”

A regular caller had “a message to Mr. Ruiz of the Neighborhood Revitalization Program.” The caller suggested “that people have yard sales every day, any day they want. Mr. Ruiz should walk out the front door of his office and see the pigeon crap, the non-working benches and water fountains and get that fixed before he starts telling everybody how to run their life.”

“Once again we find the City Council and county Board of Supervisors lacking,” said a man. “They just seem to not come up with anything on their own that makes any sense. Now they want to regulate yard sales, stop yard sales. In these hard times a yard sale helps people to be able to supplement their income.”

A man said, “For those people who object to the new yard sale
ordinance, not to worry. It’s not enforced. Have one anytime. Friday, the biggest one in town was at Yosemite and K Street. Code enforcement was notified at 11 a.m. and the yard sale ran until 3 p.m. Why draft and publish these notices?”

A lady called again to say she had tried to call someone for help and “I don’t know if they’ll call me back. But I’m done. I have no money, nowhere to live. I’m just looking for a little one-bedroom apartment. I have a little dog and cat. If someone could help me. I get $800 a month from Social Security.”

The same voice called three more times. The gist of which
said, “I’m a 54-year-old disabled female. I don’t understand why people can’t live. Just love one another. This is to my mom and my sister. You know who I am and I am a mess. I want to tell my daughter I love her with all my heart. To my sister, I want you to be in my life. I want you to help me.”

Like the past few weeks, a couple of callers wondered, “Why don’t we keep California gas and oil in California?”

A lady “read in a Fresno paper, on the front page, ‘California Drowning in Debt.’ I’m reading a quote in the Madera Tribune from Henry Perea (Fresno County Supervisor) and he is convinced that a high-speed rail system should be built. What is the matter with this man and others, when this state is so
broke? Every county and city is broke. It doesn’t make sense.”

“I walk my dog on a leash every day along the Fresno River Trail,” said a woman. “Not a day goes by that someone with a
large dog runs past us without a leash. It is very threatening to me, my small dog and other walkers. What gives them the
right to frighten others and not obey the leash law?”

“Why don’t you have an answering machine for circulation?” suggested a lady. “That way we can stop papers for vacation. I think you should be able to figure out how to do it. It shouldn’t be too hard to buy an extra recorder. Everyone doesn’t live on the same schedule as your circulation department.”

A man called about “the county road department doing test patching on Sunset, almost to (Road) 23. It seems to be working. Why don’t they just go ahead and finish everything, instead of just doing a little bit here and a little bit there?”

A lady said, “I went by the Amtrak station about a week ago.” She agreed with last week’s message about “everything being nice, but they need restrooms.”

A man called “in regards to the kidnapping of the Chowchilla school bus driver and kids. I saw the van being pulled from the almost grave at Pleasanton. You’ll find as many people in Pleasanton, Livermore and Chowchilla that want all three of the kidnappers kept in jail. It was premeditated.”

A gentleman suggested, “I’m sure you could improve profits,
bottom line and otherwise if you would update the TV Guide. That would help your sales. A lot of people don’t get cable. I’ve
called on this before and it has been going on since the TV channels were revised. It’s time to wake up and maybe make some more money for the newspaper.”

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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 accessing www.maderatribuneredline.com.

By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune

The earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan on Thursday could have been much worse for those brave people who have seen more than their share of earth-caused disasters. Over the years, they have learned how to protect themselves, to the extent that protection against such fury is possible, and while they still are victims, the extent of their victimization is quite a bit less than it could have been.

To some extent, we on the West Coast have followed their lead. Over the years, building codes in coastal areas have mandated earthquake-resistant construction, just as they have in Japan. As a result, structures are less likely to collapse on people when a quake strikes.

And warning systems have been set up to try to let people lessen the effects of damage from a tsunami. However, these warning systems haven’t always been welcome by those they were meant to help.

I remember one instance of community reluctance in a city where we once lived and owned property — Lincoln City, Ore.

Lincoln City is a tourist town, built along the shoreline and cliff edges of the Pacific Ocean and U.S. Highway 101. In the mid-1990s, the mayor of Lincoln City and the sheriff of Lincoln County received information from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that Lincoln City had a target painted on it as far as tsunamis were concerned. A subduction zone not far offshore has the potential of causing a huge earthquake, and sending a tsunami crashing into the restaurants, houses and hotels and the Douds’ former house.

“We have to get warning signs up so the tourists know what to do if a tsunami hits,” the mayor and sheriff said. But the hotel operators opposed it. They didn’t want to remind people that they could be wiped off the map.

In the end, though, the signs went up, showing people running for the hills, and I have no doubt that in Lincoln City on Thursday, people were paying close attention, and getting ready to flee if “the big one” hit. Some lives would have been saved as a result.

By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune

The decision by the governor of Illinois to sign legislation ending that state’s death penalty raises old questions about the viability of that punishment.

Gov. Pat Quinn, a Democrat, said, “If the system can’t be guaranteed, 100 percent error-free, then we shouldn’t have the system.” Then he commuted the sentences to the 15 men remaining on the Illinois Death Row to life without parole.

If California made the same decision, the sentences of almost 700 on Death Row would have to be commuted to life without parole. Which means that for all practical purposes, California has no death penalty either.

California’s death penalty is nonoperational, as administered. The courts have simply decided, for whatever reasons, to delay imposition of the death penalty for any reason that can be found.

The latest justification for delay in California was difficulty in finding drugs to use for the final fatal injection. Come on. Get serious. We are not talking about a flu shot here. We are talking about killing somebody.

But the irony goes further. Prosecutors and victims of crimes seek the death penalty because they know it is there and is supposed to be ultimate. They believe it will be carried out, but as we have seen, that doesn’t happen.

Wouldn’t it be simpler to make life without parole the last stop? That would be fairer to prosecutors and victims, because they wouldn’t be misled into the hopeless belief that the death penalty would ever be carried out. That amounts to a double victimization.

Is the possibility of the death penalty a deterrent to crime? Probably it is to those who would be unlikely to commit death-penalty crimes in the first place. But most people who commit them are idiots and lunatics to whom the prospect of death is either welcome, or as remote as one of Jupiter’s smaller moons.

California’s death penalty is unenforced, but we’re still spending money as though it weren’t. Knowing that, the Illinois decision seems reasonable by comparison.