Red Line (Dec. 26)
All calls are edited for length and content. Due to content some calls may not be published. Please limit your calls to two minutes or less. Repeat messages on the same subject adding to the length will not be published. Some weeks, due to the number of calls and space, some may not be published.
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A man agreed with last week’s caller about the Madera South High School nickname, Stallions, not being appropriate for girls teams. He corrected the previous caller by saying “the jury awarded (in a discrimination suit) $30 million not $3 million.”
A woman called “about the column in Saturday’s paper (Dec. 22) titled Merry Xmas by Tami Jo Nix.” She said, “Also, I am not easily offended, but this short way of spelling Christmas is indeed offensive. You are not abbreviating Christmas,” she said, “you are x-ing out Christ. If you abbreviate USA this way it would be USX.” She concluded by saying, “Merry Christmas.”
Webmaster’s note: The tradition of abbreviating the word “Christmas” as “Xmas” is actually of Christian origin. The English letter X resembles the appearance of the first letter of “Christ” in Greek, cristoV or CRISTOS (Cristos). According to one online source, the abbreviation emerged in the 15th century after the invention of the printing press and first appeared in religious publications before spreading to other media. Although many have forgotten the abbreviation’s roots, the same can be said for the holiday of Christmas itself … at least for some who consider it merely as a day to celebrate family.
A woman who gave her name and said she was president of the Friends of Madera Animal Shelter (FMAS) brought up “a couple of points” about the article “about the newborn pups being dumped in someone’s yard.”
First she said, “they are probably not newborn, but probably six to eight weeks old. An age they should be weaned from their mother.” She also “would have liked to see something that, because of the friends of the shelter, people can get their dogs spayed for $20 for low income people. If they would have spayed their dogs these puppies would not have been brought into the world and would not be a problem for others to take care of.”
A woman responded to the man last week that said, “we should not be trading with these illegals, picking our vegetables.” She said, “I think it would be wonderful if the merchants didn’t trade with the illegals at all. Going to the doctor would be great. Right now it takes two or three hours to take my children to the doctor because of the illegals with five or six kids and their Medi-Cal card.” She suggested, “the new mayor take a look at this situation and get these people out and turn this city into what it used to be, a nice beautiful town.”
“Regarding Gordon Skeels long letters,” began a lady, “the Tribune ought to charge him for the huge amount of space he is given free to voice his political propaganda. He is not as well read as he claims or he would be outraged at President Bush.”
A woman who “during the holidays,” said, “we miss our comics, crossword and Ann Landers,” would like to see “if you all could print those on the day following the holidays so we can still work those puzzles and exercise our brains and have the comics too. I do enjoy them and appreciate the paper.”
A woman wanted to “order two or three copies of a particular edition of the paper.” (Note: To obtain additional copies stop by the office at 100 E. 7th Street.)
Another lady, “after always reading all the negative stuff in the Red Line, just wanted to wish the Tribune staff and all the people of the city a very merry Christmas.”
A man “wanted to remind everybody, now that the rainy season is upon us, that there is a state law that says you must have your lights on when your windshield wipers are on.” He said, “I would hope the law enforcement people would start enforcing this law.”
Another man said he misses “the downtown Christmas decorations hanging across Yosemite. They were colorful and always brought a good feeling to see them. Then again,” he concluded, “I guess you could say the downtown businesses are colorful enough already.”
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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 visiting http://maderatribuneredline.com.
It’s hard for me to believe that in order to read The Madera Tribune online (subscription version) I have to subscribe. The SF Chronicle is free online, and it’s actually a good newspaper. I can rarely say the same about the Tribune. Perhaps if the articles in the Tribune were of better quality, I would pay to read them.