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David Weigel is filling in for Andrew Sullivan on his national blog. Given Fresno's "cleanup" efforts on the homeless issue, his observations are interesting.
"In Venezuela, tough luck if you work on a golf course. The mayor of Venezuela's capital, Caracas, says he plans to expropriate two exclusive golf courses and use the land for homes for the city's poor. Mayor Juan Barreto has said playing golf on lavish courses within sight of the city's slums is "shameful"." Hmmmm. If this idea caught on in Fresno, maybe the homeless should start signing up now for their bluff lots.
It's time for serious action by the Fresno City Council and Mayor Alan Autry. The council has been spending much time on the heavy issues of the day, such as hiding garbage bins and giving themselves a raise.
But now the bar must be raised. The council should immediately begin crafting an ordinance that makes it a misdemeanor for an adult to catch a foul ball at Grizzlies' Stadium and not give it to a kid. Sentences should be enhanced for the beer-soaked 30-something swine who knock little kids aside and wrestle fouls balls away from them.
The timing is perfect. The Grizzlies' season is coming to a close, so the council and the mayor will have several months to work this out before next season. The mayor can appoint a blue-ribbon task force to study the idea to death, and the Valley Taxpayers' Association will have plenty of time to develop its ritual opposition. The Clovis Chamber of Commerce, meanwhile, can ignore the issue, as they like to do with anything beyond the borders of the own little slice of heaven.
But come next season, when the San Francisco Giants trot out another sub-par team for our enjoyment, at least our kids will be safe. Call it the Juvenile Souvenir Protection Act, or some such. It'll put Fresno on the map.
We can all rest easier now. I know I will, anyway.
Police in Oslo, Norway, recovered two paintings they believe are the Edvard Munch masterpieces "The Scream" and "Madonna," two years after masked gunmen seized the priceless artworks from an Oslo museum in a bold, daylight raid, authorities announced Thursday.
If I see a classic piece of art, in most cases there's no guarantee that I could identify the artist on sight. Da Vinci's "The Mona Lisa," some Picassos, maybe a little Monet, and from there, we're stretching it.
But I know Munch's "The Scream." I bet you do too.
"The Scream," which shows a waif-like figure apparently screaming or hearing a scream, has become a modern icon of human anxiety. It's been widely reproduced, even on coffee mugs and ties and, according to trivia on movie reference Web-site IMDB, as the inspiration for the killer's mask in the movie "Scream."
It seems like a happy ending for this modern art masterpiece.
Always in search of a good hamburger at a full-service restaurant, especially in the Clovis area, I finally wrote to the customer comments department of restaurant chain Ruby Tuesday, which seems to have launched an aggressive ad campaign on air waves of some television channels I watch:
"You either need to stop showing your commercials here, or open a restaurant in our market! We want one of your triple prime burgers and there's not a Ruby Tuesday to be found. Build one in Clovis!!"
Here's the response I got back:
"Dear Lisa,
Thank you for taking the time to write us. We apologize there isn't a Ruby Tuesday closer to you. Our national advertising campaign is reaching some areas where we do not currently have Ruby Tuesday locations. We apologize for any confusion (and/or cravings!) this may have caused. The state of California is a part of our franchise territory and at this time we do not have a franchise partner for your area of interest. We do have a Ruby Tuesday unit in Woodland, CA and are currently beginning development in the Sacramento area. We hope to grow in to other parts of California in the future.
We have also just announced a new partnership with a franchisee who will be developing the Riverside and San Bernardino areas of Southern California. Development in those areas should begin within the year. During your travels we hope you will give us the opportunity to WOW you until such a time that you can enjoy a Ruby Tuesday near you. Should you need anything further, please let me know. Have a great day!"
Woodland, Riverside and San Bernadino are a little farther than I'm willing to travel, even for a triple prime burger. Sigh, what's a carnivore to do? Maybe I can talk Logan's Roadhouse into establishing a Clovis site?
You're wondering what's up with kids these days? What's up with mothers these days?
The wire has one for the books today. A Los Angeles mom has been arrested for allegedly shuttling her two sons and their three sons around for a graffiti spree, according to the Associated Press. Victoria Villicano and five teens were booked on suspicion of vandalism. Villicano is being held without bail and is scheduled for arraignment Wednesday. The story says a witness followed the SUV and told police that Villicano made several stops to allow the five to spray paint the tags "HIV" and "HIVC." Plus, they are sloppy vandals. Police said Investigators found paint on the five teenagers' hands when they arrived at the scene. Just to show how much damage one determined team can do, the crew sprayed about 100 tags over a two-mile span before authorities arrived, police said.
OK, we've made a top 10 list of punishments for taggers. What would be a good punishment for this messed up mom, should she be convicted?
Here's a link.
Here's a Web site that's fun -- sort of. It may also leave some people more than a little steamed. It's called "Federal Bduget Trade-Offs," and it's the work of an outfit called the National Priorities Project.
You choose your congressional district, then choose from a list of federal spending priorities -- "War in Iraq," "Tax cuts for the rich," etc. -- and find out what your district could have had instead. A sample:
The $421.2 million for the war in Iraq -- so far -- from Rep. Jim Costa's 20th District would have paid for 46 new elementary schools or 6,551 additional elementary school teachers.
The $127.8 million in lost revenue from tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans would have paid for 2,348 additional public safety officers, or health care for 52,992 people in Rep. George Radanovich's 19th District.
Check it out.
Curious about who made the decision to oppose Measure C, the Fresno County transportation tax on the Nov. 7 ballot? This list of directors is right off the Clovis Chamber of Commerce's Web site:
Executive Officers
Guss Annan, Chairman - Hungry Howie's Pizza
Alex Ott, Chairman elect - Ott & Davison Consulting
Steve Fenster, DVM, Immediate Past Chairman - Clovis Pet Hospital
Ed Prince, Vice-Chairman: Events - Performance Edge Marketing
Rodney McKinney, Vice-Chairman: Membership - Mac's Tires
Don Watnick, Vice-Chairman: Advocacy - Sir Speedy Printing
Jim Ware, President/CEO - Clovis Chamber of Commerce
Board of Directors
Ronald Barsamian - Barsamian, Saqui & Moody Professional Corp.
Peg Bos - Clovis Historical Society/Museum
Mark Cannon - Clovis Garage
Daniel Casas - Table Mountain Casino
Carol DeBellis - Pelco
Vicki Dobbs - London Properties
Rod Geist - Central Valley Community Bank
Terry Kershaw - Clovis Center, State Community College District
Larry Kitahara - Kitahara Pontiac-Buick-GMC
Chi Ly - Kaiser Permanente
Ken May - Assemblyman Mike Villines
Thom Richardson - Sunrise Builders
Dave Smith - Consultant
Paul Spraetz - CSAA
Bill Syvertsen - Tutoring Club of Clovis
Ex-Officio
Jeffrey Roberts - Millerton Lake Chamber of Commerce
Elaine Hundchen - Coarsegold Chamber of Commerce
Ellie Huston
My favorite laughing fit this week came from reading the reactions to a column by forbes.com editor Michael Noer. His premise basically is that men shouldn't marry women who work. In this column, which has ignited a firestorm of fury in the blogosphere, he compiles the results of a bunch of studies and comes up with the conclusion that marrying a working woman is asking for trouble. Statistically, she's more likely to become unsatisfied with you, more likely to divorce you, more likely to cheat on you, tolerate a messier house, etc.
The whole idea struck me as ridiculous. Can't you just hear some guy proposing marriage to Angelina Jolie: "Angelina -- marry me! Oh, but a few things have to change. There won't be any more of those multimillion-dollar movie jobs in exotic locales; no more taking millions for those magazine cover shots. And no more of that nonsense about being a goodwill ambassador going around the world helping Asian and African children. Nope, nope. You need to be home cleaning house, diapering the kids, pouring me a beer and matching up my socks. Heck, you might get annoyed with me or even divorce me if you aren't dependent on me for all your money. So, what do ya think, baby?"
Oh, yeah! That's gonna happen!
I wonder what Noer would dig up from the social science researchers about a prospective bride like this:
* Professional woman working unpredictable hours
* Bride in same profession and same office as groom
* Divorced
* Child from previous marriage
* Bride's parents divorced
* College education
Now, there's a recipe for disaster, right?
Well, I'm so glad Rich, also known as the World's Best Husband, didn't read the research before we got married. We'll celebrate our 25th anniversary March 13.
We ran this picture today of our Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Democratic leaders of the state Legislature, Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez and Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata in their latest love fest. They're getting along great these days. Too bad they're not getting anything done.
(Photo: Associated Press)
Lovers of words will love this Web site: It's called World Wide Words, and it's assembled with great care and passion by a British fellow named Michael Quinion. He's an interesting guy. Studied physical sciences at Cambridge, where he got into radio. Made audio-visual tapes advertising tourist attractions throughout Britain. He also was the curator of the Cider Museum in Hereford, and a cider maker and author of two books on the process.
Mostly he's a word maven, with a dry British wit and an apparently inexhaustible set of resources for digging up obscure words and their even more obscure origins.
Recent posts have included "stiff upper lip," which, I was surprised to learn, is American in origin, despite its long association with the British. Then there's "two-car funeral," (the entry for which quotes -- ahem -- The Mighty Fresno Bee). And there's "gowpen," which means a double-handful.
If you love words, and love wallowing in them while you're supposed to be working at your computer at the office, this is the Web site for you. Bookmark that puppy.
Here is The Bee's editorial on the Clovis Chamber of Commerce's decision to oppose Measure C on the November ballot. Russ Minick, our deputy editorial page editor, wrote the editorial. It looks at the issue through the eyes of a mother explaining life to a whining child (the Clovis Chamber).
The Clovis Chamber of Commerce followed through on its threat to try to torpedo the extension of Fresno County's transportation sales tax by publicly opposing Measure C on the November ballot. This position is wrong-headed in so many ways. But the real problem with the Clovis Chamber's position is that it will hurt its own members -- the businesses that will prosper if Measure C is extended.
The Clovis Chamber members don't support the measure, which was a compromise agreed to by dozens of local groups and agencies with diverse memberships, because they don't like the mix of projects. The main problem with their thinking is they don't seem to understand the concept of compromise: agreement by the parties to give a bit to reach a consensus. Measure C is not perfect, but it's very good.
Let's set aside the fact that the current Measure C was very generous to Clovis, including building Freeway 168 that has helped to expand business in Clovis. The new Measure C would widen Shaw Avenue, among many other Clovis projects, and that would help Chamber members, as well as all Clovis residents. But even if Chamber members are blind to that benefit, the mere fact that Measure C will create $1.7 billion in construction projects should get their attention.
Much of that money will be end up in Clovis over the next 20 years. A big chunk of it will be earned by Clovis residents who will buy homes, cars and other goods. It's an economic development project all by itself.
But because Clovis Chamber members did not find the proposal to their liking, they want to kill the entire tax.
Not very smart.
The news of John Mark Karr set my my temper off like a roman candle before I even got out of my pajamas yesterday. Promotions were on TV all morning about an exclusive interview on ABC with John Mark Karr's "child bride," Quientana Ray, whom he "married" when she was 13 and he was 18.
Just the very words "child bride" and the idea of allowing an American 13-year-old to get married made me furious. That's not marriage; that's child abuse and rape. Though the "news" was whether Karr was or was not in Boulder, Colorado the night JonBenet Ramsey was killed, all I wanted to know was how he came to have a so-called child bride. What kind of sick American microsociety could possibly have sent a young girl into marriage at age 13 with a grown man? I admit to leaping to impulsive conclusions about her parents, Melissa and Larry Shotts of Alabama, the law enforcement wimps in that town and even the person who married them. I was only a little more compassionate after seeing the interview with Ray and her parents.
Ray was soft-spoken and timid in the interview, but her eyes teared up when she talked about her experience with Karr. The Shotts come across as very caring, deeply repentant but incredibly pathetic people. They apparently fought as best they could for their daughter, but got no help from law enforcement in Alabama and at the end of the day, they were scared by Karr because they were afraid he would hurt their daughter if they didn't go along with his plans. Even if all that is true - yet inexcusable - what would stop them from pursuing him in court after their daughter recounted stories of unspeakable abuse during her short "marriage?" Did no one in this town have a sliver of a spine?
Are you kidding me? I realize I was lucky to have really really really protective parents, but I can tell you that if I'd been in a similar situation, the only scared person in the picture would have been this 19-year-old jerk. My mother always packed, so he very quickly would have been making his arguments to a very ladylike-sized pistol that fit very handily into her purses (which always matched her high heels). And nobody ever wanted to get on the bad side of my father. His reputation was legend and he would never let his expensive suits and French cuffs stop him from delivering a message to a guy who didn't get it the first time. My stepmother has a more gentle nature on the outside, but she's not one bit less scary as a mother bear. She has tons of friends and family from both sides of the tracks, and, like the little Amish boy who rang the bell in "Witness," all she had to do was make a call and that guy would be having a really awful day.
I remember once a very bad man threatened me when I was about 11 years old. He said I'd better not call for my mother or he'd hurt me. As soon as he said that, I wasn't even scared anymore, and I remember almost laughing at him. I looked him square in the eye and confidently confronted him with the only weapon I needed: "My mother will kill you." I must have sold it because he couldn't get away from me fast enough.
All that is to say that a parent's premier job is to do everything in their power to protect their minor children. Everything else comes second. We all have our weaknesses, but in this area, there is no substitute. Of course, we cannot always keep harm from our babies, however kids should feel that passion that their parents will fight to the death for them. Children should know that it is they who will be believed if there is ever a question; that their parents are their raving fans and anyone who tries to hurt them will experience the worst kind of pushback. Parents who somehow didn't get the "papa bear" instinct to protect their cubs should admit they are not up to the task should be willing to call in law enforcement, friends and relatives to take care of business. Children carry that confidence with them and I think that others sense it.
Quientana Ray, if she and her parents are telling the truth, is a survivor of unspeakable abuse and, in my view, she was let down by numerous adults who should have stepped in to convince Mr. Karr that if he didn't leave that child alone, he'd soon become the bride of Bubba the Bruiser in Cellblock 4.
We can be thankful that she now lives to tell her story and, regardless of the outcome on the JonBenet charges, we can only hope that enough evidence will be assembled to give him a day in court. Perhaps, if these horrific stories are found to be true, no other little girls will have their childhood tragically ended.
As I drove north on Temperance toward Community Medical Center - Clovis, taking my daughter to the doctor, I smiled at the two stone lions lining the driveway of a house near Sierra.
These are no courtly, imposing lions, leading up to a fancy, country manor. They have style -- and it changes with the seasons. This week, in honor of the kids returning to school, they are wearing little backpacks draped around their necks. Other times, they sport big sunglasses, floppy sunhats or Santa hats, depending on the time of year.
It fun to look for them, to see what they've got on this week. I suppose it's not really any different from those people who hang different seasonal banners from their house -- but in a way it seems a more personal touch. It's little things like that that give character to a community. And that makes it feel more like a neighborhood, even if I don't know the people that live in that house.
A week ago, I'm happy to say, I was blissfully ignorant of this phrase. But it has been much bandied about since last week, when John Mark Karr was arrested in Thailand.
Wikipedia defines perp walk as "the controversial practice in the United States of the police parading a suspect who has been arrested through a public place where the media (in particular, television cameras) may observe and record the event."
An article on the CBS news Web site says: The "justice system ultimately is going to have to deal with Karr's comments during the Thai version of our infamous 'perp walk.' Watching that video, you could almost envision a modern-day Jack Ruby jumping out from the crowd to fire a bullet into Karr's midsection."
It was during that circus-like walk that Karr claimed that he had been with JonBenet Ramsey when she died and that her death was an accident.
Now that I know what it means, I can't help but remember Fresno's own most interesting perp walk of the past couple of years -- when Marcus Wesson was led from police headquarters with his hands handcuffed behind his back the day after he was arrested on charges of murdering nine victims in Fresno's worst mass slaying. A reporter asked him if he had anything to say. Wesson looked at the row of reporters and photographers and said, "I love you."
My colleague, Eddie Jimenez, wrote in his column Monday about the challenge of sitting down to family meals together in this busy age of music lessons, volunteer work, church activities and ballgames. Well, technology may soon help us gather the family and even include the extended family in the equation.
The consulting firm Accenture is developing the virtual family dinner, which will allow family members to chow down together regardless of where they are, according to an article in AARP margazine. Sally Abrahms writes that a small, ceiling-mounted camera is already monitoring Accenture's Chicago test kitchen, tracking a test mom as she prepares a meal. When the system sees her bring dishes to the table, that's a cue that she's ready for company.
Up pops a screen on the wall or at the end of the the dining table and a computer automatically looks up a directory of extended family members, finds someone who might be available to chat and projects that person's life-size image on the screen. Within three to five years, even the college kids should be able to join the family for Sunday dinner direct from their dorm rooms.
Graffiti is one of those issues that continues to frustrate us even after decades of attempts to eradicate it. We got an e-mail recently from retired Bee staffer William K. Patterson, who covered courts for The Bee for years. He saw Pablo Lopez' story on graffiti last week and wanted to remind us of an idea he came up with years ago that involved working out an arrangement with the Fresno County Probation Department to use probationers to clean up graffiti and paint murals depicting events in Fresno County's history.
Bill wrote a commentary for the Op-Ed page back in 1997 explaining how other communities, including Philadelphia, had successfully used such a program to their benefit. He ran across a magazine article that carried a photograph of a six-story-size depiction of basketball's Dr. J. And it all was done with manpower provided by the probation department.
Did anything come of that idea locally, he wonders? Clearly not, since the murals have not yet appeared. Perhaps it's time to reconsider.
Here is Bill's original article from our archives dated April 6, 1997:
Let's paint the town
* City murals set a fine example for Fresno, too
What if there were a community effort that could give Fresnans a feeling of a return to the "good old days," reflect the roots of our city and find a dignity and a love for our town rarely seen these days?
I propose telling the story of Fresno, its humble beginnings as a railroad town, diversity of nationalities, culture and leadership in the nation's agricultural community with huge, colorful murals painted on the sides of our buildings.
I can see a pastoral scene of Native Americans as well as antelope and other wildlife on the Mariposa Mall. Or perhaps the arrival of the first Central Pacific railroad locomotive would be a good choice. Maybe we could paint Fresno's first settler, A. J. Massen, starting a primitive water works by digging a well. Perhaps a picture of the first hotel built by the Larquier brothers, Russel Fleming's livery stable, or perhaps Fresno's first store opened by Otto Froelich and Julius Beal, Millerton merchants before the county seat was moved to Fresno in 1874.
There could be murals depicting personalities like blacksmith Ah Kit and Fresno's first physician, Dr. Lewis Leach; newspaper editor J. W. Ferguson, and W. Parker Lyon, one of Fresno's more colorful mayors, as well as Dr. Chester Rowell, beloved physician, newspaper publisher and civic leader.
Other murals might show famous Fresnans such as auto race driver Billy Vukovich or champion pole vaulter Cornelius "Dutch" Warmerdam.
Of course, we would want to include Fresno playwright and novelist William Saroyan, ragtime composer James W. Gearhart and photographer Claude "Pop" Laval.
The murals would tell the story of Fresno from its railroad infancy to a growing metropolitan city and agribusiness center.
The inspiration for such an effort came to me during a visit to the tiny logging town of Chemainus on Vancouver Island in British Columbia a few years ago.
When the residents learned its logging mill was closing in 1983, they came up with the idea of telling the history of the town with murals.
According to Sunset magazine, Chemainus now hosts more than 400,000 vacationers who come to see their "Walls of History," a collection of 32 larger-than-life paintings recreated from early-day photographs.
Since the murals went up, Chemainus has opened a museum dedicated to the town and its logging history. The merchants and the citizens of Chemainus have prospered.
Other reasons have prompted other communities to turn to murals to tell their story to visitors.
Philadelphia, for instance, has an ongoing program to beautify its streets and reduce its graffiti by enlisting "taggers" to produce the murals with the help of local artists as mentors.
One result is a six-story high, full-length portrait of basketball star Julius Irving. According to the Smithsonian magazine, a dozen or more of the former graffiti "taggers" have found new doors of opportunity in formal art schools.
Closer to home, the central coast community of Lompoc has murals depicting local industries, early educational efforts and community activities. Some of the art works were privately commissioned by the building owners. Others were sponsored by businesses and civic organizations.
Exeter has two fine murals completed and another under way. Tulare is planning for four new murals to be a part of its downtown revitalization.
While I don't have all the answers to what it will take to have something of a like nature in Fresno, I believe a community effort could resolve many of the obstacles that might arise.
Government funds are tight at the moment, but it would be to the advantage of building owners to commission the art works to beautify and attract attention to their properties. It might even boost real estate sales.
Local artists, law enforcement and probation officers could be involved and there will be a need for a committee to take on the task of applying for grants.
There are plenty of photographs available as source materials. Among them are the Laval photographs in Jerome Laval's books "As Pop Saw It," Edwin Eaton's "Vintage Fresno," the Centennial Celebration Editor of "A Portrait of Fresno" and the archives of the Fresno City and County Historical Society.
William K. Patterson is a retired columnist and former staff writer with The Fresno Bee. He coauthored two local history books: "Fresno County: In The 20th Century" and "M. Theo Kearney: Prince of Fresno."
Ever think about the cost in energy and to the environment involved in shipping all the food and drink we consume over long distances, sometimes thousands of miles? It's considerable. That's one of the reasons I was intrigued by an e-mail from an old friend, Ellie Bluestein, advising of something called the "100-mile Diet."
It was cooked up by a pair of Canadians, Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon, of Vancouver. They have a wonderful Web site, smart and charming and not at all preachy.
The idea is to find all the food we eat within a 100-mile radius of home. In the case of Fresno, that's a circle that stretches nearly to the coast, north almost to Stockton, and south almost to Bakersfield.
Smith and MacKinnon acknowledge difficulties: "We walked into the diet cold turkey for a full year, and it was hard. ... It took us seven months to find a rogue local farmer who actually grows wheat. Meanwhile, we ate an unbelievable number of potatoes." But they also came quickly to realize that they were eating fresher, more nutritious food, preparing most of it at home and avoiding all the additives and extra sugar, fat and salt that come with most processed foods.
Living in this region ought to make such a diet much easier than it might be elsewhere. Smith and MacKinnon may be on to something.
My husband, Rich, and I are just back from a vacation to Slovakia to visit four past exchange students and the trip was, um, an adventure. Seeing the kids? Priceless. However, midway through the visit, as we settled into our beautiful guest bedroom in Ivanka, near Bratislava, the terrorism plot was announced and the travel restrictions imposed.
We checked in with CNN every day, hoping the situation would improve before it was time for us to make the transcontinental flight home via Vienna, then London Heathrow to San Francisco. We kept seeing the mobs of people stuck in Heathrow Airport on TV and imagined ourselves at the end of one of those long lines. We hoped the international James Bonds had snagged all the plotters and not left one or two wandering around to complete the deal. We spent a sleepless night before our trip, anticipating the worst. We held hands for a quick prayer before we left, on accounta our math figured the original plot was probably scheduled for the days we were set to travel. We were lucky enough to be on British Airways and not one of the targeted American airlines, but still we saw long lists of cancelled and delayed flights on TV. It looked like we were in for the traveling nightmare from hell.
Knowing that we were facing some stringent travel restrictions, we were carrying few items with us. For Rich, that included a small medical kit with his insulin, a syringe for injections and a plastic bag of medications. We had to get up at 4:15 a.m. in a hotel at the Vienna airport so we could be in line by the time the British Airways counter opened at 5 a.m. We had flown to Europe with four carry-on pieces, but we repacked and checked almost everything straight through back to San Francisco. I carried a purse and Rich had a little plastic bag of medicine.
There were no problems whatsoever in Vienna, but London's Heathrow airport was an entirely different story! I guess Rich -- with his graying hair, dressed in a blue blazer and limping noticeably because of a strained muscle in his hip -- looked like a likely terrorism suspect, because he seemed to be a magnet for the airport security personnel. We had only an hour and 40 minutes to get from Terminal 4 to Terminal 1 for our departure, and that included a 15-minute bus ride across the airport. On arriving at Terminal 1, Rich got through the first line of security without a problem, but with the clock ticking down toward the flight time, a young -- and very apologetic -- security guard discovered that Rich was carrying the insulin and syringe. Rich was pulled out of the line and patted down while the security guard's supervisor telephoned her supervisors to get clearance for Rich to proceed.
The guard told Rich that he should be carrying a doctor's perscription for the insulin, but Rich pointed out that we were in Slovakia when the whole terrorist plot was disclosed. He also noted that the signs advising of carry-on restrictions specifically said that diabetic kits were OK. After about a 10-minute delay, Rich was allowed to proceed to the gate, where the plane was beginning the boarding process. We breathed a sigh of relief, but it wasn't over.
After another passport check and turning over our boarding passes, we went though the doors to board the plane, but inside was another impromptu check point. And, yes, Rich was selected again for additional scrutiny. He was once again patted down, asked to remove his shoes and the bag and medical kit he was carrying was searched thoroughly. A small tweezers was confiscated, and then the insulin and syringe was discovered. The security guard wanted to confiscate the insulin, but Rich argued that he probably would require a shot during the 10-hour flight. Then the security guard said he would have to confiscate the syringe, but Rich argued that without the needle, the insulin would be useless.
Rich was asked to go back out into the boarding area and wait for the floor security manager to come over. The security manager was extremely nice, but repeated that Rich should have gotten a doctor's prescription before attempting to board. Rich repeated that he was in Slovakia when the whole terror plot thing went down. The security manager thanked Rich for his patience but said he had to call the terminal security manager for his approval. That gentleman came up about 10 minutes later, asked the same questions, got the same answers and finally allowed Rich to board. However, the floor security manager escorted us down to the plane and told the pilot and chief flight attendant what Rich was carrying. The attendant then escorted Rich back to row 47 to know exactly where he was seated.
Luckily, our flight had been delayed for a short time while British Airways was waiting for U.S. officials to approve the flight to San Francisco. We were the last passengers to board. The 10-hour flight was long and tiring, but the airline food served was actually pretty good and our luggage made it through.
Whew!!!
As the California Republican Party wound down its convention in Los Angeles, delegates voted to oppose two of the five bond Measures Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is pushing on the November ballot.
The party will oppose Proposition 1C, a $2.85 billion affordable housing bond, and Proposition 84, a $5.4 billion water bond. It supports Proposition 1B, a $19.9 billion transportation bond, and Proposition 1E, a $4 billion flood protection bond. And it is taking no position on Proposition 1D, a $10.4 billion education bond.
All but the water bond are part of a bipartisan package Schwarzenegger worked out with Democrats in the Legislature. That bipartisanship has some of his conservative friends upset. But that's just politics as usual in the Golden State.
What really struck me was the quote, in the Sacramento Bee story about the convention, from Jon Fleischman, former California Republican Party executive director: "By passing these bond measures, we are passing the buck to our children and grandchildren."
Viewed another way, by not passing these crucial infrastructure bonds, California voters would be bequeathing their children and grandchildren a decayed and ungovernable state. I wonder which gift the kids would appreciate more?
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is following Fresno Mayor Alan Autry in trying to take over the school system in his community. While Autry failed to get the support to change the law, Villaraigosa has a much better chance of getting a special bill passed in the Legislature because he's the former speaker of the California Assembly and still has plenty of pals in Sacramento.
No matter. It's still a bad idea. Here's my column in today's Bee in which I point out the problems with Villaraigosa's effort to take over the Los Angeles Unified School District.
Villaraigosa, like Autry before him, can help the schools by doing his job as mayor. School test scores follow the poverty line. Improve the economic plight of Los Angeles and it will help the children of L.A. Unified.
Is the city of Los Angeles running so smoothly that Villaraigosa can now turn his attention to the Los Angeles school system? Tell that to all the people complaining about City Hall's lack of responsiveness to their problems.
As we do every Friday afternoon, here's a preview of what's on tap in the weekend opinion pages of The Bee:
Saturday -- Our main editorial takes a look at a recent court decision upholding California's high school exit exam. You'll also read the fascinating opinions of four local writers on our Valley Voices page. Of course, there also will be letters to the editor right next to our editorials.
Sunday -- Our main editorial discusses the extreme doctor shortage in the San Joaquin Valley. The Vision section's cover story is a nice feature that says we should be encouraging school teachers instead of criticizing them. My column on the op/ed page says Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa should be tending to the business of his city instead of trying to take over the Los Angeles schools. Victor Davis Hanson talks about excuses for Islamist anger in his column that runs at the bottom of the Vison section cover.
There is plenty more. Check out The Bee's opinion pages and then come back to our blog and tell us what you think.
Recently here in Fresno, our police shot and killed Joaquin Figueroa, a man suspected of shooting a Fresno police officer and committing numerous other violent crimes in the past few months. 
The day after the shooting, an aerial photo on the front page of the paper showed the suspect's body. Several readers objected to our use of the photo.
Last Sunday, our executive editor, Betsy Lumbye, wrote a piece for our Vision section, explaining the thought process that goes into choosing photos and why some graphic ones are excluded.
"I respect the fact that people don't want to be faced with gore when they pick up the newspaper," Lumbye wrote. "I understand that they want to protect their children. I know that you can choose not to read a disturbing story, but it's not so easy to avoid a front page picture. For that reason, we'll continue to avoid pictures that show bodies and bloodshed, especially on the front page. But I will consider exceptions for compelling reasons or when the picture is not graphic."
Her commentary directs readers to an online poll , showing several controversial photos and asking readers to decide how they would play the photo if they were the editor.
This Sunday we will be following up, using comments from several who responded to the survey.
(Photo by Eric Paul Zamora/The Fresno Bee)
The Legislature had no intention of passing a redistricting reform bill, even after the state Senate resurrected the idea on Wednesday. But on Thursday, the last day to act to get the measure on the November ballot, the Assembly adjourned because the Senate did not "transmit" the bill in time for Assembly members to vote on it.
This "technical" problem occurred even though we're in the 21st century and the bill package is not being delivered by pony express. The Senate clerk only had to walk it a few yards over to the Assembly clerk. But somehow that didn't happen, although seven other bills with no time element happened to be transmitted to the Assembly.
Wouldn't it be nice if they were honest and just said they refuse to let go of their power to draw the boundaries of their own districts? But they say they should turn redistricting power over to an independent commission and then promise to do it -- just not right now. . . or maybe never.
Authorities in India believe that some sodas bottled there by Coca Cola and Pepsi contain large amounts of nasty chemicals -- not the ones in the recipe -- and they're taking steps to reduce the hazard. Coke and Pepsi don't like it, and they've called in some heavyweight support -- the Bush administration.
The U.S. government has squawked about the audacious attempt of Indian governments, national and provincial, to protect their own people. That's bad for business, apparently, and the Bush folks aren't shy about making that point.
It isn't the first time the Bush administration has gone to bat for American companies doing business in the huge south Asian nation. Enron -- remember them? -- ran into trouble for overcharging, among other malfeasances, on a power project in western India back in 2001. Just like they did in California. Dick Cheney embarked on an effort to help Enron, but that was suddenly abandoned when the company started to take heat for its crimes in this country.
Duane Chapman has a lawsuit on his hands, and it illustrates one of the pitfalls of the increasingly popular reality TV genre. Chapman is better known as "Dog the Bounty Hunter," whose show on the Arts & entertainment cable network is seen by more than 2 million viewers. He is being sued by a Daly City nightclub promoter, Simaile "Cisco" Lutu. Here's the San Francisco Chronicle story.
Chapman and his Hawaii-based posse -- his wife and his two sons -- nabbed Lutu recently in a Daly City park. They were looking for a Hawaiian drug dealer. Unfortunately, Lutu isn't their man. He's suing Chapman and his family, and everyone else involved in the episode.
Chapman, who once served two years in a Texas penitentiary for being an accessory to murder, walks a fine line in the TV show, and sometimes blurs that line. But that's a signal characteristic of reality TV: When the reality doesn't offer compelling drama, invent a new reality.
The stunning developments in the JonBenet Ramsey case should give everyone pause as we consider how many people in the public believed that John and Patsy Ramsey killed their daughter.  This rush to judgment, fueled by the cable televison talk shows and some local authorities, should be something that we're all ashamed of. The parents couldn't even grieve for their daughter because they had to defend themselves against murder allegations spun by cable television and other so-called experts on the case.
This investigation is still unwinding, but here's an interesting story out of the Rocky Mountain News that explains how authorities finally got on the trail of John Mark Karr, who had been e-mailing University of Colorado journalism professor Michael Tracey.
At this point, let's not continue the rush to judgment and allow the facts to come out before we continue the wild speculation about this case. This investigation coud take other twists and turns before we finally know everything about it. Besides, Karr seems so whacked out that he may have made all this up just to get attention -- and we're giving him plenty of it.
This is what the prosecutor in the case said today, according to the AP:
"I'm asking you this morning, let us do our job thoroughly and carefully. The analysis of the evidence in this case continues on a day-by-day, on an hour-by-hour basis as we speak," said prosecutor Mary Lacy, adding that "there is much more work to be done now that the suspect is in custody."
The State Senate has given new life to a redistricting reform proposal that was considered dead on Tuesday. In a stunning reverse of field on Wednesday, the Senate voted 27-11 to support Senate Constitutional Amendment 3. It now must be passed by the Assembly if it is going to go on the Nov. 7 ballot.
Fortunately, the Senate had the good sense to overrule legislative leaders, who tried to kill redistricting reform until at least next year. Will Assembly members be just as wise as their Senate counterparts?
Remember when legislative leaders promised to put a redistricting reform measure on the November ballot? Well, they were just kidding. Today, they killed a compromise plan aimed at meeting a Friday deadline to put the proposal before voters. It would have linked redistricting reform to a change in term limits. Voters would have the final say on both issues.
But with the Legislature's latest action, it's no wonder that the public is so cynical about politics.
This is what the Democratic and Republican leaders said in a joint statement:
"There is no question about the need to reform the redistricting process and our current system of term limits in California. But given the tremendous impact any proposal crafted by the Legislature this year could have on politics and policymaking in our state, we feel it is the best course not to pursue a sweeping reform package in the waning hours of the legislative session. Make no mistake, our caution in crafting a reform package this year does not in any way diminish our determination to fix a broken system. We stand committed to revisiting redistricting and term limits reform in the next legislative session - to once and for all craft responsible, bipartisan political reforms for the people of California."
What they didn't tell you is the reason that this issue has come down to the "waning hours" of the session is because they dodged it all year. They are being dishonest about their motives.
Here are the people you can blame: Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland; Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles; Senate Republican Leader Dick Ackerman of Fullerton, and Assembly Republican Leader George Plescia of La Jolla. Of course, it was Perata and Nunez who really killed this issue. They control the votes in both houses and they could have put redistricting reform on the ballot if they wanted.
Sometimes you've just "gotta go," as the current TV commercial repeats ad nauseam. But it's always wise to pick your spots. Michael Ray Hunter, a 37-year-old Kentucky man found that out the hard way.
Hunter apparently spent some time drinking the other night, then answered the call of nature when it struck. Only he did it in the parking lot of the West Virginia State Police headquarters in South Charleston.
Trooper J.S. Crane spotted him, and Hunter led the officer to his pickup, where a buddy was checking phone messages. A search turned up marijuana and and pills for which there was no prescription. The pair were arrested. Now they've "gotta go" to jail.
Last year, the now-disgraced Republican Majority Leader Tom DeLay advocated impeachment for judges, or dramatically limiting their power. It created a stir even in GOP circles in Congress, and Democrats jumped all over the issue, suspecting DeLay was out to eviscerate the so-called liberal, activist judges who are among the principal demons in the Republican catechism.
DeLay is out of Congress now, brought down by charges that he is connected to the scandalous swindles of Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff. And he's furious with the Supreme Court for backing a lower court ruling that his name has to remain on the ballot in his former Texas congressional district, even though he's not running and now lives in Virginia.
Here is how he described the Supreme Court justice who refused to accept his arguments: "He obviously spent no time looking at what's happening in the court in which he has oversight. Within three hours, he denied this stay."
And "You can always count on the judiciary to make stupid rulings. Not only stupid, but dangerous."
The judge DeLay is excoriating is the darling of the conservatives, Justice Antonin Scalia. Who knew?
The Los Angeles Times listed the Top 100 most powerful people in Southern California on Sunday, and Barbara Kerr, president of the California Teachers Association, was No. 3. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was listed in a category called the "Next 90." Wow. Schwarzenegger didn't even get a number of his own.
And, of course, if you're powerful in Southern California, you also have plenty of juice in state government.
According to the Times, the CTA president is more powerful than the governor, not to mention Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Cardinal Roger Mahony, Lakers owner Jerry Buss, former Secretary of State Warren Christopher, movie director Steven Spielberg and former baseball Commisioner Peter Ueberroth. Only Donald Bren, chairman of the Irvine Company, and civic leader Eli Broad ranked ahead of Kerr.
No wonder Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides doesn't do a thing without checking with the CTA.
The possibility that the Clovis Chamber of Commerce might not support Measure C, the renewal of the Fresno County transportation tax, would be a huge blow to the effort to get it passed in November. It takes a two-thirds vote, and any significant opposition would be difficult to overcome. Here's our editorial that explains what's at risk.
This is a key statement from our editorial: And it's a little upsetting to hear people in the Clovis chamber complain about this extension of Measure C when the original initiative, passed in 1986, brought so much to their community. Funds to complete Freeway 168 were a major component of that measure, and were given a higher priority than other projects precisely to satisfy the political demands of Clovis leaders and voters.
The Clovis chamber shouldn't be as shortsighted as its leadership is suggesting. It's in everyone's best interest for Measure C to win passage in November.
"The cordless phones don't have enough power to last through a five-minute conversation," my 10-year-old daughter complained.
"That's because they aren't being replaced on the chargers," I replied. "They can't recharge if they just get left lying around."
This is precisely why we had to buy an old-fashioned, attach-to-the-wall phone several months ago. With three phone-using (or abusing) children between the ages of 10 and 17, even if we could find the phone, much of the time it was dead.
"No," Shayna protested, "it was on the charger all day yesterday... Oh wait... Alyssa [the 12-year-old] got on the phone and she probably had one of her two- or three-hour conversations."
"Exactly," I pointed out. "And that runs down the battery."
"The living room phone and the phone in Mikel's room usually die so Alyssa can't talk and neither can anybody else," Shayna went on. "You know yesterday I was on the phone with a friend when the one in the living room died then i called her back one the one in Mikel's room and IT died while we were still talking so i had to call back about 5 times."
I was well into my thirties before I ever got my first cordless phone. I'm still not sure about them, because of the drawbacks I mentioned above. I pointed out a fail-safe alternative to my daughter, who has probably never lived without access to cordless phones:
"The one on the wall in the kitchen will never die."
"Coolness!" she replied, like the magic of uninterupted phone calls had never occurred to her.
Fresno County sheriff's candidate Cal Minor has picked up a huge endorsement in his runoff campaign against Assistant Sheriff Margaret Mims. He just got the backing of the Service Employees International Union Local 535. It's the largest union in the county and includes about 600 sheriff's employees. Here's Kerri Ginis' story in today's Bee.
But this is a big change from the primary when Tom Abshere, the union's representative, castigated The Bee for endorsing Minor. In May, Abshere fired off a letter to the editor that ripped into Minor and the newspaper editorial we wrote backing him. Here are the first two paragraphs of Abshere's May 19 letter:
"The Bee thinks Cal Minor can clean up the Sheriff's Department. The Bee knows that Minor's supporters include the people the attorney general mentioned in his report as being part of the problem. How can Mr. Minor clean up the mess if he surrounds himself with those causing the mess?
"Mr. Minor has no experience in running the jail, which is more than 50% of the Sheriff's Department. He has no experience as a homicide or narcotics detective, yet he is going to solve our drug problems. He wants to remove deputies from our kids' schools. Will that action make our kids safer?"
Now Abshere's union thinks Minor is the best candidate. Here's Abshere's quote today: "We thought he was the best one, out of the two candidates that were left, that could change the image of the department and move the department forward."
Very curious indeed.
On the way home last night I saw a welcome sign at the corner of Weldon and Maroa, very near my house. (It may have been up for a while -- I've been avoiding Van Ness-Maroa while it's all torn up.)
The sign advertises the beginning of the long-awaited renovation of the Old Administration Building at Fresno City College. And today, The Bee writes about an effort to close a funding gap for the project. City College employees are being asked to give an hour's pay each month to the project. The college hopes to raise $1 million that way, toward the total of $4 million needed to make the nut.
I hope it works, and I hope the community pitches in as well. This grand old building, dripping Fresno and Valley history, had several close calls over the past couple of decades. The college administration, for a long time, wanted desperately to tear the thing down. Preservationists and their supporters -- including The Bee -- fought even harder to keep it alive and get it repaired and reopened.
Now we're on the verge of seeing that happen, if the restoration fund can come up with just a little more cash. It's worth every penny.
Libraries are in my blood. My mother is a retired school librarian; my dad retired after 30 years on the Fresno State faculty. I grew up in a relentlessly literate household. (That's not a complaint.)
So it is kind of an odd feeling to look at the pictures of the Madden Library at Fresno State being demolished (here's The Bee's story today) and feel excited. Pleased. Delighted, even.
That's because what's coming in place of the old library will be so much better: Vastly more space, 3,500 study stations for students, wireless Internet access, ethernet connections at most of the workstations and room for up to 2 million books.
The new library is expected to be finished in the fall of 2008, at a cost of $95 million. That's almost as much as the $103 million it cost to build the Save Mart Center. It puts me in mind of an old poster from the '60s. To paraphrase: Wouldn't it be nice if the library had all the money it needed, and the Athletic Department had to have a bake sale?
Maybe there's someone out there who can explain this to me. Why do junk emails often contain such snippets of unintelligible garble? Here's some that was in one I found in my inbox this morning:
"The quantity route of ruminants adjust. Kill! I kill! Endurance, I kill! Ocean, and reminder that accept snow might be falling all about Caprona."
And this, from another unwanted correspondent: "As I extra-curricular could menu tiger, and the rest of the Anna world far more definitely dining room than her isolated."
What? It's like they try to slip it by with passages from some of the worst prose ever written. Just leaves me scratching my head.
Political candidates for years have inflicted portraits of spouses and kids on voters, hoping to create at least the image, if not the reality, of "family values." A candidate in Florida -- why am I not surprised? -- has gone them one better.
Randy A. Fleischer, who is running for a county judgeship in Davie, Florida, has put a photo on his Web site that includes his wife, Bonnie, their sons, Max and Sam, the family dog, Lucky, and the family iguana, Reptar. That makes me want to vote for him.
Check it out.
At some point, I plan to write a column for our Op-Ed pages about what it's like to deal with depression. I've had this in my mind for months. It's something that I was diagnosed with several years ago, and something I've struggled with especially this year, as I've switched to a new health-care provider.
Unfortunately, the times when I'm most in touch with the down side of dealing with the mental illness, I'm not really in the best place to write about it, if you know what I mean. And by the time I am better able to write, the keenness of my dark memories has worn off a little, much as the labor pains from when my daughter was born have faded with time.
But here's where maybe I can take help from others. If you or others you know have experienced the effects of depression in your life, I'd love to hear your stories, whether it's on the record or just for my own background of knowledge.
As a commercial for a depression medication says, "Where does depression hurt?" Everywhere. And it affects everyone who knows anyone that lives with it.
Kids are often told in school these days that punctuation doesn't matter. Tell that to Rogers Communications Inc. The Canadian firm is out several million dollars because of a misplaced comma in a contract.
The company had a deal with Aliant Inc. to string cable TV lines over thousands of utility poles in Canada's Maritime Provinces, at $9.60 per pole. They thought the deal was set for five years, but after the first year Aliant said it was canceling the contract and hiking the rates dramatically. An 18-month legal battle ensued, and Rogers lost. Read the full story in the Toronto Globe and Mail.
Punctuation does matter, and so do grammar and spelling -- and not just for the sake of full employment for editors like me. They are aids to full and accurate communication, and in some cases -- as with the unfortunate Rogers Communications -- a healthier bottom line.
Now if only I could get that across to many of our letter writers, who apparently bought the bilge they heard in school about punctuation's unimportance.
I spent the last few days on the beach at Capitola near Santa Cruz with some dear friends. That part of the Central Coast has been our summer vacation spot every year since we were kids. It's the traditional escape from the Valley heat. I especially like having to put on a sweatshirt in the evenings, although it was a bit warmer this year, and most nights a T-shirt would suffice.
But finally, it's time to return to reality. When we drive home from the coast, there's a place where I know we are almost in the San Joaquin Valley. Heading down Highway 152 at the San Luis Reservoir you suddenly hit a wall of heat. Ka-blam! No more coastal coolness. I liken it to re-entering the Valley's atmosphere. I picture heat shields flying off my car like they do when the space shuttle re-enters the Earth's atmosphere after a long mission in space. Even with the air conditioning on, you can sense that wall of heat, signaling that we're not far from home. This isn't some wimp region we live in. You feel the Valley in a big way (and with our poor air quality, you can see and taste it, too).
But this morning, it was a bit different driving back to Fresno. Cool temperatures greeted me at the "wall" just west of Los Banos, and it didn't seem like summer at all as I looked out on the San Luis Reservoir. Of course, the summer heat will be back soon, so we should enjoy this respite.
Fortunately, the coast is just three hours away, and it's easy to make a day trip when the heat again becomes unbearable in the Valley.
We hear a lot about the need to stanch Fresno's "brain drain," the tendency of younger, well-educated people to spend a lot of time plotting their escape from the Valley. It's an old story; I recall my eagerness to leave after high school, lo, these many decades ago. I also recall how delighted I was when a series of flukes gave me the chance to come back after years in the Bay Area and Los Angeles, punctuated by travels in Asia.
We also hear a lot about how downtown Fresno can become the magnet for these young, talented people. I came across a study published last May by the group CEOs for Cities, with the decidedly un-lyrical title of "Attracting the Young, College-Educated to Cities."
Its principal finding: two-thirds of college educated 25-to-35-year-olds say they make a decision where they want to live first, then seek a job in the area. And a similar number say they'd prefer to live in a downtown or near one.
There's more in the study, but my conclusion is that, if we want these people to populate a new, vibrant downtown, and we build the downtown they want, they will come.
I called San Francisco Giants General Manager Brian Sabean this morning to set up an editorial board meeting with him to discuss the Giants' Player Development Contract with the Fresno Grizzlies. The contract expires at the end of the season. The public policy question that we have is the publicly funded downtown stadium must be successful, and the Giants sending a losing team to its Triple-A affliate isn't helping put butts in seats.
"No one is more disappointed than us in the eight losing seasons in Fresno," Sabean said. He said the Giants want to continue the arrangement with the Grizzlies, and the big club understands the impact that its player development philosophy has had on the Fresno organization.
The main reason the Grizzlies aren't competitive is the Giants have traded away prospects and signed free agents in an attempt to win a World Series with a team built around Barry Bonds. This is likely Bonds' last year and the Giants are in for an extreme makeover. That could be good for the Grizzlies if the philosophy for the Giants becomes one of developing a stronger farm system.
Sabean said he needs to schedule a trip to Fresno to discuss the Player Developement Contract and other issues with the Grizzlies' owners. He said he would meet with The Bee's editorial board during that visit to Fresno.
Here's a Bee story from last Sunday by Bryant-Jon Anteola laying out the issues in renewing the contract with the Giants.
Last night I was filling out my entry form for a quilt I'm making and plan to enter in The Big Fresno Fair, which will run this year from Oct. 4-15. At the front of the Exhibits Handbook are letters from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state officials involved with planning the fair.
"History chronicles fairs as events when people of all cultures come together once a year to exchange ideas, exhibit handiwork and share new creations," writes Michael F. Treacy, director of the division of fairs and expositions. "Only at a fair can you enjoy your neighbor's latest work and actually be a part of your hometown celebration."
My favorite things about the fair aren't even out on the midway -- it's eating the food and seeing all the exhibits that people have entered. Last year, my daughter Katie enjoyed dancing at a performance by the Valley-based band Washboard Wizardz.
Last year was the first time I had entered a quilt into competition at the fair. It didn't place, but it was fun seeing it hang when we went to the fair with our children.
Maybe someday I'll get a ribbon for a quilt that I've made. So far the only ribbon I've ever won at The Big Fresno Fair was a third-place ribbon my husband and I won together several years ago in the media goat-milking competition. We're so proud!
The Senate failed Thursday to confirm the appointment of a new American ambassador to Armenia, an important symbolic victory for those who'd like to see the governments of Turkey and the United States formally recognize the genocide against Armenians perpetrated by the Turks during and immediately following World War I. Here's The Bee's story.
Richard Hoagland will eventually be confirmed, in all likelihood, and he appears to be a well-qualified career diplomat. But he choked on using the word "genocide" in a June confirmation hearing -- following the administration and State Department line -- and that has Armenian American activists and their supporters seething.
They were already upset because the man Hoagland would replace, John Evans, lost his job after making public references to the genocide -- a no-no in this and previous administrations.
The Armenian National Committee in Washington, D.C., is leading the effort to block or at least delay Hoagland's appoitnment. Visit their Web site here, or visit the Web site of the Fresno-based Central California Chapter here.
A California Supreme Court decision will force state universities to negotiate with local governments over how to mitigate the impacts of campus development on surrounding communities. Some say the California State University system may even have to pour development money into mitigation measures instead of bricks and mortar. Here's the San Francisco Chronicle story on the issue.
The court case comes out of Monterey County where Cal State, Monterey Bay, was in a beef with local communities over how much to pay for roads, firefighting and other services for the new CSU campus. The Chronicle reports that the Monterey campus could be on the hook for $20 million in impact fees.
Closer to home, the ruling could affect Fresno State, which is on a building boom. For example, what will be the cost of mitigating the off-campus impacts of the Campus Pointe project slated for east of the Save Mart Center? Clovis officials say the project could have major impacts on their community. Campus Pointe is already controversial because a private developer is building it on Fresno State property, and does not have to go through normal planning procedures. Critics also contend government is competing against private business with this project, which will include retail businesses.
This court case is making CSU officials very nervous. Watch this issue closely. It will affect every community in the state with a CSU or UC campus.
The Bee's story today about Louise Hoak's missing iron dog caught my attention, just as the statue itself frequently caught my eye on my way home from work. Ms. Hoak's lovely house, with the cast-iron black Labrador standing guard, is on one of the routes I often use at the end of the day.
I had not noticed the dog was missing, and it saddened me to learn it had been stolen. Doesn't surprise me, I suppose; there is so much bad news to confront each day. But it's curious how such incidents, which seem trivial arrayed alongside stories of death and pain in Israel and Lebanon, car bombings killing innocents in Iraq and all the other mayhem in the world, have the power to move us.
Perhaps it's because this literally hits close to home. Such episodes can even make adults cry, as one man reportedly did when he learned from Ms. Hoak of the theft.
Ever ask your teenager why she did that dumb, impulsive thing only to get the answer, "I dunno." She may be right. Anne Pleshette Murphy, editor of Parents magazine, has filed an interesting story for "Good Morning America" that says the teen brain develops from back to front. And guess what lives up front? The part of the brain that helps teens reason, plan ahead and manage their impulses. She writes that it's the last part of the brain to mature - at about 25.
If you want to help your children succeed during their teen years, she says it helps to teach them self control when they are younger. Make them wait to take turns, don't rush in the minute they cry for something. Use routines to create predictable schedules at home. Teach your child to tolerate frustration. Be a good model for that behavior yourself. Be patient. Show them how you set goals, then gradually accomplish them over time. Walking the walk rather than just lecturing is most helpful.
If you already live with an impulsive teen, Murphy advises getting them into activities that require practice, like music lessons, sports, volunteer work or even a job that forces a child to set goals.
She quotes a guy named David Walsh, who has written a book with a super title: "Why Do They act That Way: A Survival Guide to the Adolescent Brain for You and Your Teen." He says this: "If we were to compare the teenage brain to an automobile, it's as if the gas pedal is to the floor, and there are no brakes."
French soccer star Zinedine Zidane just can't get a break after his infamous head-butt of Italian defender Marco Materazzi in the World Cup final on July 9. Now there's a song -- "Coup de Boule," or the "Head-Butt" -- that has soared to the top of the charts in France.
The song warns, "Watch out: it's the head-butt dance," while a chorus of "Zidane, he hit him" plays repetitively over an upbeat African tune, according to the Associated Press.
The song's lyrics also slam David Trezeguet, the French player who missed a penalty shot in the shootout the Italians eventually won, and goalkeeper Fabien Barthez, who didn't stop any of Italy's penalty kicks.
Some 60,000 copies were sold in just nine days, all the time it took for the tune to reach No. 1 in France. And we think fans in New York and Philadelphia can be tough.
Actor/director Mel Gibson acknowledged Tuesday making anti-Semitic remarks when he was arrested on suspicion of dr |
