Short Animation: “Felled” by Charles Bendebel

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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 Because of content or space limitations, some comments may not be published. More than one comment from the same person during the same week will normally not be published.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 woman (name given) called to ask “if you could come out tomorrow to St. Joachim Church. We’re having our kids’ second day camp and wondered if you could do a report on that.” The same lady called the next day to ask the same question and “wanted to know if a reporter could come out and take pictures.”

Another woman said, “On Monday I took my son over to St. Joachim Church for day camp. It was very nice. My only complaint was the people doing the registration didn’t speak any English. None of them. Everyone was speaking in Spanish. We need to understand that English is the language here. I don’t know if I’ll take my son next year unless they have English-speaking people.” (Editor’s note: The Tribune’s photographer, who speaks no Spanish, had no difficulty speaking in English with those she saw at the day camp, both leaders and participants, when she took photographs there.)

“A letter (to the editor) in Wednesday’s (Aug. 11) paper was titled Tribune should watch your mistakes,” said a man. “Well, you didn’t that day. The poor relatives who read their loved ones’ obituaries that morning must have been really disappointed when the names came out with letters missing. You couldn’t even understand the name of the person who had passed.”

“I was really disappointed in the photos used in the concert article,” said a lady. “They were taken by Ramona Frances, who came late to this event, while Leon Emo was there well before 5 p.m. He took several pictures of Susan and Andrea Venturi, Chuck DaFina, the crowd and the barbecue that would have been far more fitting to honor the tribute to Mr. Jerry Venturi.”

A woman said, “I’d like to apply for a job as a proofreader because you obviously need one. Saturday (Aug. 14), the front page has three different pictures with the same caption under the same one. I’m ready to start today. Come on guys.”

A lady suggested, “Let’s have a contest among readers. And, at the end of the week, give a prize to the one that found the most errors in the Tribune.”

A woman “suggested if you have complaints or issues with the Brown Bag program or the commodity program, please direct them to the Madera Community Food Bank in writing. Your phone calls will fall on deaf ears. The Pan-Am Center is a distribution site of these programs only. They do not manage them. I, for one, find it unacceptable that the seniors in our community are shown such lack of compassion and consideration. It’s called communication, people, and the Tribune will post it free.”

A lady called “in regards to Memorial Stadium where Madera High and Madera South play. It came to my understanding recently that people are using it as a playground and party area. They bring their children. They lift the covers on the long jump pits to play in the sand. They leave dirty diapers and leave debris on the field. They are ruining this field they just put in a few years ago.

“We’ve been wanting to install an extension to the fence to make it 12-feet high so people couldn’t help themselves over the fence. They are destroying the field.”

A woman responded to last week’s caller who “complained about the Indians taking the land they say belongs to them.” This caller said, “The whole cotton-picking Valley belong to them because the white man stole it away from them. Any part they can say is theirs.”

A man saw “another ad for the tire amnesty (program) in the paper. I’ve lived here five years and seen this ad many times. Living in Southern California (previously) I had never heard of tire amnesty. I guess you keep the tires off your old car and save the $2.50 recycling fee. Why would I want to keep four smelly tires around waiting for this amnesty? Maybe it’s geared toward the farming community. It just doesn’t make since. I just don’t get it. I’m confused.”

A woman called about our daily photo of “Madera County at work. I think you’ve missed a very important citizen of Madera County.” She gave the person’s name and said “she works for Dr. Mohammed Ahsraf. She’s worked there for at least 30 years. She’s been an asset to every patient that’s been there and the doctor.” She hoped the paper “would consider the person and feature her in Madera County at work.”

Thank you to Sam (Pistoresi),” said a woman. “He wrote the article (actually a letter to the editor) about the illegal aliens. Just keep it coming Sam. We all have to stand up for Arizona and do something about the illegals.”

Another caller had a similar comment. “I hope they suspend the welfare because they (illegal immigrants) are having babies, then collecting welfare and taking away from the people who really need it.”

Another lady said, “great letter in the Tribune from Katherine Atilano for her letter to the editor about her support of Proposition 8. She is correct. It is not God’s will to have same-sex couples united in marriage. I am so tired of this thing being pushed down our throats.”

“Unbelievable, only in America,” said a woman. “You have Mexicans that carry Mexican (Spanish rather) signs and speak no English protesting against a rock quarry. Cannot believe it. Out in front of the Government Center with a bunch of kids running into Fourth Street forcing cars to slam on their brakes. Only in America is the language English. You don’t protest unless it’s in English. You have no right because you’re probably not legal.”

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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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Short Animation: “Sonata” by Ryan McDougal

This entry was posted on Monday, August 23rd, 2010 at 2:16 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.