There were some eyeball roll moments in last week’s Candidates Forum hosted by the Ceres Chamber of Commerce.
Gary Condit delivered a polished performance but that’s expected growing up in a family of political aspirants. For example, he employed the gimmick of rising to his feet and moving out from behind the table to speak while everyone else sat.
Condit pledged to serve a four-year term unlike his other brothers who bailed. But he did use brother Channce Condit’s playbook, echoing the same 2018 pledge of making Ceres the “safest city in the county,” only Gary this time added “cleanest city” in the county. Channce left to join the Board of Supervisors in 2022 before that goal of being the safest city was accomplished. But I do credit Supervisor Condit for holding trash collection events.
The “stand up to the city manager” plays well to the crowd and it’s easy to say you’ll hire more police. But finding the money is far more difficult and next year the city can’t continue tapping into reserves while the ARPA fund pool is nearly exhausted. If Condit plans to fill six frozen officer positions if elected, what city services get cut? Parks and recreation? Public works? Surely not closing the Community Center.
Condit also pledged to hold office hours to meet with constituents (like his brother and his grandfather). But I’m not sure if that’s necessary given how few people even turn out for council meetings.
I’m old enough to remember when his grandpa Gary A. Condit held mobile office hours as a state Assemblyman and congressman. On one occasion I recall passing by the Hickman post office one afternoon to see Gary standing outside, alone as nobody had shown up.
Gary Condit 2.0 also pledged to give out his personal phone number so residents may call him anytime. That’s in contrast to the times I’ve heard more than one resident in the past three plus years say the present mayor didn’t return their call.
Mayor Lopez dished out a word salad on occasion. When answering the question about would you support the lowering fees to encourage affordable housing development, Lopez said “I do not support raising the fees.”
By the way, none of the candidates really answered that question; which, of course, we all know development fees will be lowered when hell freezes over.
When Condit suggested that Ceres has gotten dirtier in appearance in the last few years, Lopez suggested that was an “ill-representation” and “disrespect.”
While I do believe Ceres is making inroads into dealing with trash and code enforcement issues, it’s apparent that there are just far too many trashy folks undoing their work.
Social media conversation last week reflected on the “insane amount of trash coming from the bridge area by the airport all the way down Mitchell Road.” Chantel Forest suggested the eyesore needs to be addressed, inquiring if “this is something the city does” and wondering if the city would give bags to citizens if they wish to organize a cleanup effort.
Some believe the trash is coming from the homeless who live under the bridge and along the river and make their way into Ceres in search of food and handouts and washing themselves in business bathrooms. Others say trash is blowing out of trucks hauling trash to Gilton on the other side of the river.
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The mayor addressed Condit’s charge that the council engaged in irresponsible spending when they allocated over a half million dollars to replace the Whitmore Park gazebo. Bret Silveira who was the ramrod for the gazebo project steered clear of talking about the gazebo the entire evening.
Mayor Lopez said he supported the gazebo because the funding sources were not from the general fund. Okay but I think there was a question about whether a replacement structure is really necessary.
Mayoral candidate Rosalinda Vierra emailed me the next day to fact check Condit when he said the council voted 4-1 to approve the gazebo. In reality, she and James Casey voted against the project but were outvoted 3-2. Similarly, Vierra and Casey voted against the APRA budget. However, the vote to accept the grant which funded the gazebo did pass with a 4-1 vote, in which Casey voted against it.
She also wanted it known that she and Casey also voted against the increase in the Mello-Roos assessments.
Condit said Lopez an
d Vierra painted a “rosy picture of our city” but went on to say that police training was cut 43 percent, investigative services cut 46 percent, ammunition cut eight percent and protective apparel cut 18 percent. Those cuts were real.
Vierra’s email to the Courier stated that on June 11 she confirmed with Police Chief Chris Perry that he was satisfied with the budget they passed. Officers also now receive a longevity bonus if they stay instead of leaving Ceres.
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So where was the mayor of a small city that hasn’t even hit the 50,000 population mark on Wednesday, the day after the candidates’ forum? He was up in Sacramento at an Assembly Republican press conference talking about high gas prices. It’s surprising that the Republicans gave such a platform to two small city mayors, the other being the mayor of the shrinking city of Taft.
Lopez has been getting cozy with Republicans and shares office space in the Republican office on Hatch Road.
Is Lopez eying state office in the near future? Probably not if he doesn’t win re-election against the Condit machine.
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The landlord – maybe we should call him a slumlord – of the shopping center at Mitchell and Fowler should be absolutely ashamed at how his property looks.
Perhaps the council could explore implementing a blight control ordinance and force a cleanup at owners’ expense when they decide to be the irresponsible owners they are.
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I regularly watch crime documentaries because I am fascinated at how police detectives process clues and tracking down murderers. I’m still disappointed that the person or persons who murdered Lauren London in March 2015 and left her charred body in an orchard near Central Valley High School has not been brought to justice.
But I was recently made aware last week of a case that happened in our area that personified evil and is a good example of a case of murderer who should not be breathing good air and occupying space aboveground.
Levi Anthony Oliver, 41, of Modesto was found unsuitable for parole in a March hearing of the State Board of Parole Hearings held at Mule Creek State Prison in Ione.
In 1995 Terry Harrison suggested that Oliver, then 14, his 19-year-old brother and two teenage friends help her steal a car so that they could sell it for drugs. They found a 1967 four-door sedan worth $200 parked on Yosemite Boulevard and asleep inside was its owner, 74-year-old homeless veteran William E. Smith. Oliver, Dennis Fulton (then 15) and Ernest Gene Cothan (then 46) overpowered Smith. Harrison drove them to a park where they dragged Smith out of the car to kick him repeatedly to quiet him before stuffing him in the trunk. Oliver kicked the victim in the face so hard that it left teeth marks on his shoes.
Harrison then drove them around for an hour searching for a source to buy drugs. Whenever Smith would plead for his life from the trunk, Harrison would slam on the breaks to quiet him.
Oliver and his friend drove the car to an orchard off of Whitmore Avenue outside of Hughson where they pulled Smith from the trunk, bound and gagged him, and threw him into an irrigation well. As the victim begged for his life, Oliver jumped down into the well and physically shoved the victim’s body further down into a pipeline where he died a death by suffocation.
Local farmers found Smith’s decomposed body a month later.
But our bleeding heart system plans to give Oliver another chance at freedom in 2026. Disgusting.
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Have you ever come across a disclaimer on Facebook that reads: “Violent or graphic content. This photo is covered so people can choose whether they want to see it.” If you click on Learn more you can see it.
Well, that came up on one of the feeds I watch and what the “violent or graphic” image? It was of a bald eagle looking down with a superimposed image of the American flag and the words, “Dear God, I bow my head and ask, if it be thy will, please save this land from those who seek to destroy it. Amen.”
You’ve got to be kidding me that anyone would find a message to preserve the United States from enemies is objectionable. The verbiage doesn’t call out any political party or nation, just “those who seek to destroy it.”
Some folks in charge of social media are really deranged souls.
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Well, it appears the legislative Democrats are not done with jerking around the consumer. Remember the great law about reusing plastic bags in stores, and we had to buy them? Apparently their plan backfired and the incidence of plastic bags winding up in the landfills has increased with their legislation. It seems recyclers have no interest in recycling those thicker bags.
Now our misguided governor has signed another bill to undo what he already did, this time to make it illegal as of Jan. 1, 2026 for stores to offer plastic bags. So what that means is you must bring your own reusable bag or a paper bag (if you can find them anywhere). So if you’ve just purchased a lot of items in the store and you don’t have a bag well that’s just tough for you.
Meanwhile, no legislator ever talks about those tall kitchen waste can liners which add a lot of material to the landfills. I would submit, however, that if a legislator was really concerned about needless waste going to landfills they would attack disposable diapers. That wouldn’t happen because it would alienate the young female voter – the one who still believes in having children – who typically votes Democratic.
When I was a parent, we used cloth diapers to save money. While it’s not pleasant disposing of your child’s poop and washing them, imagine the cost savings and how much toxic material waste would be kept out of our landfills.
This column is the opinion of Jeff Benziger, and does not necessarily represent the opinion of The Ceres Courier or 209 Multimedia Corporation. How do you feel about this? Let Jeff know at jeffb@cerescourier.com
