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Due to a receiving error a message was printed incorrectly last week. It should have stated: A lady said, “I would like to thank the Madera County Social Services Department for dedicating their conference room to my daughter, Julie Moore. I know she would have loved the thoughtfulness of all her friends.”

A woman who “remembered an article in the paper (in December) about a house at Cleveland and Tulare and an elderly gentleman in his ‘90s that lived there. They said it would be repaired within a couple of weeks.” Evidently it hasn’t been done. “It’s very cold,” said the concerned lady, and asked, “if you could do a follow up article on them. Thanks,” she concluded, “you guys do a great job.”

A woman responded to last week’s caller, who left a message about the city’s 2025 plan and an injured animal she saw. This week’s caller said, “She talks about the kids getting off the bus and three-quarters of the kids trying to kick, step-on or shoot (with rubber bands) the poor animal. And why didn’t you go and rescue the cat? You’re knowledgeable enough about the city’s plans, surely you could have gone over to the cat before the kids got to it. You need to quit complaining, get off your butt and start doing something about what you’re complaining about.”

“I’d like to see all the signs in the City of Madera and Madera County with Spanish translations,” began a man. “This includes all the streets, the boulevards, major highways, and” he continued, “I’d like to see all the STOP signs with a Mexican sign that reads ALTO. That way our south of the border, non-English speaking people —if they can read— can read traffic signs in the language of the country they came from. Because in the year 2025 Madera will look just like Tijuana, Mexico.”

A (concerned) man called in response to an Opinion Page column on the inauguration by Chuck Doud on Jan. 20. He said, “Mr. Doud, the gift that the oil prices dropped to $34.39 a gallon. That was an enormous gift for Mr. Obama. I’m wondering, traveling around Madera, have you noticed the price of gas has jumped anywhere from 6 to 8 cents a gallon and continues to rise? So who really got the gift here? Certainly not the American people.”

He also said, “This is the first time in our history with the inauguration of a president the stock market dropped so severely.” (Note: Though Tuesday provided the greatest drop, of 27 inauguration days when the stock market was open, the Dow dropped on 19, including the first inauguration of President Ronald Reagan when it dropped 1.9 percent.) “So much for Mr. Obama’s presents. Think twice Mr. Doud, look around.”

“I don’t believe the national bird of Madera is on the endangered species list,” said a man. “The little black bastardly crow. The other day I was over at the shopping center by Kragen’s and Carl’s Jr. near Mervyn’s. That shopping center parking lot is atrocious. The trees are even whitewashed with crow feces. (For) anyone that is driving through Madera and stops at Carl’s Jr. to eat, what a horrible sight and horrible impression they have of Madera because we can’t do anything about our national bird of Madera, Calif. This is ridiculous.”

A lady asked about “the inauguration and a local soldier who got to dance with Michelle Obama,” and “why there wasn’t something in the paper.” (Note: An article appeared on this turn of events shortly after her call.)

A woman quoted the article on the Madera soldier who danced with Obama. She said, “His parents had been living here in the United States for 30 years and they were using an interpreter. What a pity that the family did not take the initiative to teach their parents to speak the language with all the problems we have with immigrants.”

A man “asked again, because it has been asked before, whatever happened to all the blue and white (Madera High School colors) that was supposed to go up on Stadium Road after Madera High beat Madera South in football? Nothing has been done. Did someone speak with forked tongue?”

After reading an article about the “school district hit with a $1.2 million claim,” A man said, “those three individuals, Maria Esther Rey, Jesse Lopez and Carlos Uranga have no concerns for Madera Unified School District. A lawsuit not only asking the school district to pay $1.2 million to their attorneys. They could care less what happens to the schools. All they want is their money.”

Another caller said of the lawsuit, “these people are doing no good for the school district with their lawsuit. Heaven forbid they win because only the children will suffer.”
With the decrease in budget this year “of over $6 million and who knows how much after that, there will be the inevitable loss of jobs and programs. The City of Madera must be rolling in cash, buying $100,000 pictures. Do these people ever talk to each other?”

Another man questioned “a mural for a $100,000? It is the same irresponsibility as is on the state and national level that brought on the largest financial crises since the great depression. Bad choice, (City) Council.”

A man left his name and then complained about the city’s graffiti abatement program. “I wish they would stop using all their chemicals because they sprayed my fence and got my dog sick and killed all my plants. If this keep up I’m going to report them to OSHA.”

Thank you for your calls. Remember, the Red Line is open for your messages 24 hours a day by calling 674-4478, or by logging on to maderatribuneredline.com.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 28th, 2009 at 4:22 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.