By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune

Although it has been an interesting winter — “snowmageddon” in the East and lots of nice rain and snow hereabouts — don’t expect the global-warming debate to slack off.

The global warming evangelists haven’t lost their fervent belief that the presence of humans on the planet is making the climate warmer — this time. Remember that the geological record, and even the recent printed record, show the earth has warmed and cooled before. But their point of view is that the earth would be warming more slowly if people weren’t putting so much carbon dioxide into the air.

Huge portions of the earth’s population, however, don’t buy it. The government of India, for example, isn’t about to slow the economic progress of more than a billion people to make Al Gore happy.

Some geologists aren’t too worried about global warming, but they nevertheless think we should be conserving energy and the fossil fuels that provide energy. They believe that while the earth may be warming now, it will cool again — and rather quickly — before too many more centuries. They believe the effects of cooling are likely to be harder to deal with than the effects of warming.

They believe that in a time of cooling, any fears about nuclear power would be set aside, because such energy would be needed just to keep people warm and to keep industries operating if fossil fuels were no longer as readily available as they are now.

Places like the San Joaquin Valley might have a growing season, but also might have to melt some glacial ice to provide irrigation water. Heat for that melting could only come from a plentiful and viable energy source.

Many of the world’s people would starve unless a way could be found to grow their food in greenhouses, which, again, would use energy.

It’s an interesting prospect, and likely to be raised as the debate goes on.

This letter must be shared for all to know kindness goes a long way and much further in emotions.

My spouse and I are a retired couple now, after both of us having worked at least 45 years.
We are counting on our social security income but with gratitude at reversing our roles of labor. Which means it’s Heaven to get paid while we get to be home or go here and there at our desire day or time. We’re loving it.

Of course our income is pretty much at one of the lowest paid out from Social Security so our monthly income is very important to us to receive our checks on time and without problems.

My husband had to send a signed form on this particular occasion in order for his check to be sent to him. Well, he filled it out and signed it, and uh-oh, we had no postage stamps.

So off we went to the Madera Post Office. It was Saturday so the office was closed. We tried to work the stamp machine located inside the entry of the Post Office, but the machine would not take cash and I was not able to use my debit card for I was not sure I had enough money on the card for this transaction.

So we decided to go across the street to the next corner and buy a stamp at the local pharmacy. We hurried over there and no stamps are sold there so off we walked to the nearest shop that did have a post stamp coin machine. Got change and the stamps. And …

Oh Lord, the letter was not with me. My blood rushed through me as I scrambled all over and over and repeatedly for the letter. My husband and I panicked and I told him I must have set it down when we were trying to work the machine in the Post office! We first stopped at the pharmacy on our way and it too had just closed. I pounded at the door until finally a pharmacist came and unlocked the door and I explained what happened and he was nice to let me come in and check for my letter. No nothing. In distress we hurried as fast as we could back to the post office, I never knew we could cut rug like that.

It had only been about 10 minutes in all. We ran into the building and hurried to where we were fussing before. No letter to be found. We searched every corner on and off the floor.

We dug through the trash cans, took everything out and looked one by one of every piece of paper and tossed mail. No letter anywhere. We looked twice, three, four times in the same places. We knocked on the door till an employee came out. We explained what happened, and asked whether they could look to see if someone threw our letter in the bin slot. The employee looked and saw nothing without a stamp. We came home so upset we were sick to our stomachs.

We were too distraught, so we went back again and again retracing our steps. Even looked on the road thinking I may have dropped the letter. No nothing.

I knew what lay ahead now. We’d have to wait until Tuesday because Monday was President’s Day. Then we’d have to try to get through to the Social Security for another form to be sent, which takes a good three to four days to get to talk to a person. Another week for a second form to be sent and another week for them to receive our letter and another week for a check to be cut.

Oh my, we were so worried sick over this. My husband said maybe someone saw it and put a stamp on it for us. In this day and age I replied, “no.” I told him, “someone probably saw it and thought there was money or a check inside and took it, then opened it in their car and to their surprise — no money, so they threw it.” No one does a good gesture anymore. He said “you and I would,” but I just told him the odds are too far fetched.

We called to report the lost form on Tuesday and didn’t get through to talk to a person until Thursday. They said a new form will be sent out but will take 10 working days.

We accepted our horrible mistake and learned by it.

Well, Friday, the mailman came, and I went to get our mail. To my shock, my husband’s check was there. Someone had seen the letter lying there without a stamp ready to go and had the compassion and kindness to put a stamp on the letter and toss it into the mail slot.

I just want that person to know how we are both so very grateful. I can’t express how elated I am. You have changed our fate from dark to light. You don’t know how much that meant to us and prevented a long hardship of a wait to us.

Thank you with every ounce of gratitude we hold. It has made me see Maderans reach out.
I was so wrong in thinking people don’t care for one another.

I hope Madera community will feel inspired by the acts in us that can have an overwhelming outcome for others. We just never know how we can touch someone with kindness.

Joyce Echavarrea,
Madera

By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune

It turns out the State of California missed its chance to be eligible for Race to the Top funds that President Obama was ready to hand out and that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was ready to accept.

Not enough of the state’s school districts signed up to improve their schools. Madera Unified School District did sign on, however, well aware that it has some schools that need the kind of help a fat federal grant could provide.

The Obama Administration, in announcing the Race to the Top program last summer, said it would reward only those states that raise their academic standards, improve teacher quality and expand the reach of charter schools. Obama said politics would not be part of the mix, only “whether a state is ready to do what works. We will use the best data available to determine whether a state can meet a few key benchmarks for reform.”

While not enough school districts in California would sign on, Kentucky and some other states already have shown their eligibility by signing on to improve the jobs they do in education.

We mention Kentucky because that state often lags behind California in some basic educational measurements.

Now, what? Will California change its mind and reapply?

A lot of teacher unions hate the idea of Race to the Top because it recognizes the contributions charter schools have made to improving education for some students. They also realize that federal money, once accepted, might bring with it an obligation to perform, and that the money could be withdrawn if performance was not evident.

Madera Unified was willing to rise to that challenge, even with the knowledge that most or all of its programs might be affected by budget cuts. MUSD can teach some districts in the rest of the state a thing or two on that matter.

I understand the Madera Unified School Board is considering eliminating the position of transportation director, and I feel compelled to share my thoughts. I worked for over 36 years in the MUSD Transportation Department, the last 27 years as an accounting technician. I have worked for a number of directors and supervisors over the years, some great, some mediocre and some just there to receive a salary.

The current director, Sam Armentrout, has established his abilities to cut costs, generate income for the district, and purchase new equipment, (currently 24 buses fueled by compressed natural gas) with grant funding at minimal cost to the district. Mr. Armentrout came to the district with the qualifications to direct the transportation department, and he has done an exceptional job. If the School Board chooses to eliminate his position, I assure you any cost savings realized by eliminating his salary and benefits will soon be lost.

Due to Mr. Armentrout’s diligence, overtime has been virtually eliminated and all employees have been made accountable for their time. Charter bus costs have been drastically cut and routes monitored, all at a tremendous savings to MUSD.
I do not feel that eliminating Mr. Armentrout’s position would save any money in the short or long term.

I feel the transportation department has taken a tremendous hit with the budget cuts. I also realize that transportation is probably a large drain on a school district’s General Fund. But eliminating high school transportation is a mistake.

Many families have children in high school and elementary school, so a bus will stop for only the elementary students? Are the parents in the district that live 15 to 20 miles from town prepared to drive 30 to 80 miles per day to transport their children to school? Adjust bell times at the schools. The transportation department is located within a half mile of both high schools. Each and every bus returns to the transportation yard after its route. Is it more cost-effective to return to town with an empty bus? After years of calculating cost per mile on school buses, I know any savings would be minimal. This plan may work for cities with public transportation, but it would only jeopardize the safety of the students in our district.

These recommended cuts by the district administration and the School Board would be a grave injustice to the community, the taxpayers, and the children of Madera Unified.

Luann Owen,
Madera

By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune

A recent story in the San Francisco Chronicle tells of Bay Area people who are commiting “strategic” defaults. These folks just quit making their house payments when the amount of their mortgages exceeds the appraised values of their houses.

They don’t want to keep paying, the story says, for a property that for a long time, if ever, won’t be as valuable as the prices they paid.

They would rather make payments on credit card bills and make car payments. That is even though the credit card bills are often for things like lunches that stopped having value the moment they were eaten; and we all know that cars depreciate much faster than real estate.

But along comes Joel Kotkin with some observations that may make these strategic defaulters kick themselves a few years down the line. Kotkin is the author of a book, “The Next Hundred Million: America in 2050.”

He observes that unlike Europe and Japan, and even China, the United States continues to grow at a rate which will assure the country will have a population of 400 million by mid-century.

That will mean, among other things, a tremendous demand for housing. In fact, we are likely to see that demand manifest itself before too many months go by.

Kotkin also says the population growth will emerge not in the big, long-overdeveloped and overpriced cities, but in places where land is still relatively cheap and families, especially young families, can afford places to live.
California is a microcosm of the nation. It has big cities which are expensive and basically full, but it also has wide-open spaces where residents can be accommodated.

The Central Valley is typical of a place where people can come to live. Naturally, they will bring some problems, but they also will bring opportunities, and it will be sooner than 2050.

By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune

Put your editorial of March 3 together with the environment article of March 2, “State may ban companies from using ocean as coolant,” and the real dilemma becomes clear.

Let me critique your editorial to clear up a minor area of disagreement.

Electronics today use amazingly little power. When I was young, it took 120 watts just to light the filaments in an “All American Five,” the simplest of radios. Televisions had a bunch of vacuum tubes, including the CRT, and used a lot of power. The days of vacuum tubes are gone. The CRT has now been replaced by the LCD. (Don’t buy plasma, it uses too much power.) Projection TVs still use CRTs, but, in large sizes, the economics still favor projection. Circuits are now digital instead of analog. The junctions are either on, dissipating only the current through the drop of the junction, or off, dissipating no power.

I agree completely with your remarks on battery-powered devices, including cars. The charging and use cycle of battery systems is poor. My best guess is 50 percent utilization of the energy in. Put this together with 40 percent, at best, efficiency of a fossil-fuel power plant and transmission losses, and the picture of plug-in cars isn’t so rosy. But, the emissions are at the power plant, not in my community.

Rechargeable battery-powered devices in general are very wasteful of energy, but, very handy and time-saving.

The article of March 2 shows one of the many ways the profit motive is being hit with punitive measures. If the owners of power plants are banned from using sea water for cooling they will install cooling towers or cease operating. A cooling tower can only lower the water temperature to within about 10 degrees F of the wet bulb temperature of the air entering to tower. In summer, the cooling water will certainly be warmer than sea water. This will reduce plant efficiency and reduce power output.

Cooling towers must use fresh water so they increase fresh water use, require the use of chemicals to control biota and corrosion, require cooling tower blow-down to control solids accumulation (water is evaporated in the cooling process), and require the disposal of water containing high solids and treatment chemicals. I’d rather keep power plants operating as designed and avoid a huge disposal problem.

We needed more power plants long ago. Two nuclear power plants in the south San Joaquin were needed when the pumping of water over the Tehachapis south to the LA Basin and east to the Mohave thence to San Bernardino began. A pumping lift of over 1,000 feet at the volumes involved requires enormous power.

I think that the current situation with the California Aqueduct and the Delta Mendota Canal is influenced by power availability during summer. This is one of several problems not being discussed.

Bob Christiansen,
Madera

By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune

The four photos are bloody and violent, so much so that we don’t want to print them here. The reason they caught my attention is that they won second place in the World Press photo contest. They were taken in Somalia, and showed a mob of people stoning a man to death.

The photos show a man lying on the ground, and a half circle of other men hurling chunks of white stone at him — chunks the size of cantaloupes. Some of the rocks are so big they have to be picked up with two hands.

The victim is being stoned to death by Islamic militants, carrying out a sentence imposed in a local Islamist court. The man being stoned had been convicted of adultery.

In the first photo, the victim is shown standing in a hole that will become his grave. In the next picture, he lies on the ground while the execution squad pummels him with the rocks. In the third, his bloody body is lowered into the grave hold, and in the next photo, more stones are hurled at his body in its grave until he is covered with them.

His killers seem to be enjoying what they are doing.

The photos reminded me of that admonition found in the Gospel of John, in which Jesus came upon a woman who had been accused of adultery, and was about to be stoned to death according to the law of Moses. Jesus said to her accusers, “Let those who have never sinned throw the first stones.” The accusers pondered those words, and then left. The woman was saved.

It makes me wonder whether the Somalis throwing the stones were themselves without sin, or whether they were just stupid young men with religion-fed bloodlust. If they were without sin before, they certainly were not after they executed this man.

Stoning is nothing new, as the Biblical references to it make clear, but it has long been abandoned, as has burning at the stake and other charming work of religious maniacs.

When someone mentions Somalia to you, remember they still stone people there.

I’d like to say a few things about myself. My name is Leslie Jasmin Giron, I am 17 years young and I attend Mountain Vista High School. I’m writing to say even though the decision is final, I still believe my school shouldn’t be moved.

As I sit in class I keep hearing my classmates repeat that they feel they’ll drop out if the school does move. Many others believe they can’t make it through if moving the school does occur.

I’ve only been here for about a year, but in this year I’ve seen this school flourish into a haven. Students who were kicked out of regular high school have found a better place to fit in or be accepted.

Mountain Vista is very friendly school with brilliant minds and wonderful staff and students. It saddens me to know I won’t be seeing certain people when the school moves.

I know what had to be done was done, but I wish they’d take it back and leave our little school alone.

Leslie Giron,
Madera

As more facts come out, it is becoming clear that of the three proposed routes for the envisioned high-speed rail right-of-way through Madera County the one known as A-1 would be the least harmful.

None of the routes will be beneficial to our county.

There will be no stops here.

Riders who want to head for Yosemite National Park will stop in Merced or Fresno, where depots will be established. They’ll never know Madera is a Yosemite gateway.

All the trains will do is roar through 40 or 50 times a day as they speed like shells from Navy guns, carrying people who, for the most part will not live here or be headed here.

The proposed A-1 route would generally follow the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad right-of-way. While its presence would not be without negative effects — some homeowners adjacent to the line would have to move, some agricultural land would be sliced off — at least the cities of Madera and Chowchilla would remain whole.

The A-2 route would roll right through Madera and Chowchilla, dividing those two cities even more than they are now with a wall of steel and wire some 40 feet to as much as 90 feet high. It would wipe out Fairmead.

The A-3 route, which would run through agricultural land west of the cities, would carve up some of the world’s most productive farmland, taking it and a lot of its infrastructure permanently out of production and destroying forever the income it brings the farmers and our county.

The Burlington Northern Santa Fe route, on the other hand, already traverses farmland. Another 100 feet or so would have to be shaved off to accommodate the bullet train, but that would be the least damaging result.

We support the high-speed rail system, but we also support causing the least harm possible.

I’m writing to let everyone know how grateful I am for the professional and caring treatment that I have received recently from the medics and EMTs of Pistoresi Ambulance Company.

My late husband, Joe, was born and reared in Madera. I have lived here for nearly half a century. I was recently hospitalized, treated and then released to go home. Unfortunately, some of the medication that I was prescribed didn’t agree with me and I became ill.

I called for emergency help several times. The medics and EMTs from Pistoresi Ambulance arrived quickly. They always knew what to do. They took me to the hospital for examination and treatment when necessary. Sometimes they simply cared for me at home. They called back to see how I was doing. Every time, however, they were knowledgeable, caring and friendly.

The young men and women of Pistoresi Ambulance treated me well. Thank you so much.

Betty Pia,
Madera