Lopez is right, he is the mayor – but has to operate within the bounds of the law.

So who does he think he is to call for the Ceres Planning Commission to reject a site plan for a chicken restaurant when the zoning ordinance permits that use?

Pollo Campero came to the city wanting to build a new business in Ceres. The place they chose is a vacant piece of the former Kmart parking lot – next door to Raising Cane’s, also a chicken place. On the opposite side of the street on Hatch Road is Popeye’s Louisiana Style Chicken.

The commercial zoning designation does not allow the city to discriminate what business gets approval and which does not.

And suggesting that Pollo Campero build on Whitmore Avenue where the traffic volumes are lower, or else they will be denied is not something he can do. 

Consider that in a short section of Hatch Road, there is a McDonald’s, Carl’s Jr. and Burger King – three burger places. Yet I didn’t hear anyone on the Chris Vierra led City Council tell BK they couldn’t build near the Home Depot over 13 years ago.

Ceres resident Shirley Rogers – who doesn’t hold back in expressing her viewspoints – confronted Lopez about his intentional interference with the planning progress when on Aug. 19 he hinted that the project would be appealed to the council where “there is a strong possibility that this establishment will not be able to open at this location.” In answer to Rogers, Lopez told her: “I am the mayor.”

End of discussion?

At the end, Lopez said he was sure the Courier would have a “field day” with the exchange. Perhaps his acknowledgement that stepped in a big pile of it.

Lopez is now between a rock and a hard place. If he doesn’t appeal the Planning Commission’s 5-0 approval Pollo Campero, his was nothing but an idle threat. If he does appeal and he finds the council won’t support him, he appears out of step. If an appeal is successful and shuts the door on Pollo Campero, he’s anti-business and has set the city up for a lawsuit.

Lopez wants to be mayor of Ceres another four years but two others hope to replace him – Gary M. Condit, the grandson of the former congressman and a member of the Planning Commission, and Councilwoman Rosalinda Vierra.

It’s been a tumultuous four years, due to part to Lopez being ill-prepared for the job. He hadn’t even a rudimentary understanding of how planning works – which he would have received had he first served on the Planning Commission.

Four years ago we asked Lopez to answer a questionnaire as a candidate. Lopez refused and there was a big blank space in our “Meet those who want to represent you” special section.

Let’s review how things have gone.

In his first months as mayor, the Lopez led council found itself in a perpetual 2-2 deadlock over appointing a replacement to Channce Condit who left the council to join the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors. By then, Condit’s brother Couper was elected to the council and had some sort of grudge against the most logical pick for Channce’s replacement – Laurie Smith, who spent 14 years on the Ceres Planning Commission.

Lopez refused to go along with appointing Smith who had a remarkable grasp of planning issues, was poised and thoughtful. Even Bret Silveira called Smith a “no brainer” choice.

After hearing Silveira and Linda Ryno repeatedly insist that Laurie Smith was the most qualified and best choice, he sat back and threatened to let the meeting “go on all night” until somebody flipped. That somebody wasn’t going to be the mayor. His conduct was condescending and off-putting.

As I wrote on Feb. 21, 2021: “If anyone should have capitulated it would have been the inexperienced mayor, who could benefit from the schooling a mature and experienced member would bring. After all, wasn’t it the mayor naively asked if the members could all take a break and talk about it behind closed doors – a clear violation of the Brown Act?

Lopez’s refusal to budge resulted in the council limping along for months with a missing member and more deadlocks – including over the budget – until the city was forced to hold a pay for a special election that would later add James Casey to the council.

I suspect Lopez’s opposition to Smith was based on the influence of the Condits.

Lopez also lacked horrible judgment in his desire to appoint John Osgood to the council on Nov. 9 2021 to replace Couper Condit (who inexplicably bailed from his council seat 10 months into a four-year term). Lopez decided to break free from yet another 2-2 council deadlock by flipping to Osgood, a crass and boisterous hot head who used profanity and threatening language on his podcast. Linda Ryno and James Casey also made the unwise choice to appoint Osgood but Bret Silveira wasn’t fooled saw and saw Osgood as trouble with a capital T.

Before Osgood could be seated two weeks later, local NAACP leader Wendy Byrd came before the council and played audio of one of Osgood’s podcast rants using the n-word. The council wisely rescinded his appointment and eventually appointed Mike Kline to temporarily fill the seat.

Then there was Lopez’s insistence that the unfinished Guillermo Ochoa Park be dedicated without a single blade of grass in 2021. Then City Manager Tom Westbrook said that the city sought bids on the park but didn’t have “anywhere near” the $1.9 million to get the park looking more like a park. It wouldn’t be finished today without federal COVID money.

It finally gets dedicated this week.

Lopez also led the charge to shut down public comment remotely at city meetings via the Zoom platform after two racist clowns “Zoom bombed” one meeting.

While he is far cry from the controversial self-serving mayor of Dolton, Illinois Tiffany Henyard, Lopez is not shy in promoting himself. His “State of the City” addresses have become productions with darkened room and spotlights, mariachi bands (2023) and high school bands (April 2024). More than a few eyeballs rolled when he made a grand entrance from a side room.

Lopez also took over the May 30 “Bridging the Gap” business workshop to promote his interests before an embarrassingly dismal turnout of about 12 people. About 150 attended the year before.

When there was a school shooting scare at Cesar Chavez Jr. High on April 29, the mayor felt the need to put out his own press release – in English and Spanish – other than the one Ceres Police released. Hey, it’s an election year, right?

We also publicly questioned why Lopez felt the need to go with city staff to an ICSC Conference in Las Vegas on the city credit card when no councilmember in prior years felt the need to attend. Mayor Lopez’s expenses came to $1,824 and Councilwoman Vierra’s came to $1,691. After public backlash, the city adopted a policy that only staff members would attend in the future.

In recent months, the council has taken hits for approving a new gazebo at Whitmore Park at a cost of $491,649 (but with a 10% contingency means the total cost could reach $540,813.)

And the most recent flap whereby the city was going to implement whopping new fees for Ceres Youth Soccer and Ceres Youth Baseball, showed just how rudderless the council seems to be.

* * * * *

Do you ever stop and think about the world view of a thief?

I’m not necessarily talking about the drug addict who is so hooked on drugs that he is desperate enough to do anything to get his fix.

I’m talking about the person who walks into a department store and loads up the cart with merchandise and pushes it out the door, sometimes with security completely oblivious.

We have people coming into Stanislaus County from Stockton and the Bay Area and helping themselves to thousands of dollars of goods and cosmetics – not for their personal use but for resale. When they don’t get caught, they make a living stealing and reselling.

Is their conscience so cauterized that they feel good about themselves in this line of work? 

Following an investigation by the CHP’s Organized Retail Crime Taskforce (ORCTF), an Inglewood father-daughter duo was arrested and charged for stealing nearly $400,000 in goods and selling counterfeit items at a swap meet. Johny Arciniegas-Cortes and daughter Paula Arciniegas were arrested after having been watched numerous times committing retail thefts throughout Southern California.

A father and daughter operation! I’m pretty sure the dinner table conversation during her growing up years wasn’t about instilling a work ethic or even what the Ten Commandments entails, especially the part of  “Thou shalt not steal.”

Closer to home, last July Fresno County Sheriff’s deputies busted 21-year-old Mexican national Jose Araujo-Valenzuela. He was traveling on I-5, a major drug corridor now, and was stopped for code violations. A deputy’s canine alerted on the scent. The drug runner had 240,000 fentanyl laced pills known as M-30s and 2.2 pounds of cocaine. The drugs had a street value of $1 million.

Since fentanyl is killing Americans faster than D-Con is killing rats, Araujo-Valenzuela should get the death penalty. But state leaders prefer an open border policy which unfortunately puts a lot of young people like high school jocks and cheerleaders on Death Row. We have Gavin Newsom’s progressive policies to thank for the longevity of vile murderers since we don’t execute the worst of the worst in California – even with the humane lethal injection method. 

Does it ever bother someone like Araujo-Valenzuela that the pills he’s peddling will kill somebody? I might know the answer after viewing his mugshot online to see his dead eyes, you know, when the soul of someone is vanquished by the Evil One.

And I wonder if the retail thief is so shortsighted about his business enterprise contributing to the demise of drug store chains that he doesn’t realize that his source of inventory will also dry up.

Let’s get serious. Mollycoddling thieves has only exacerbated the problem. Please vote to support Proposition 26 this next election.

Its passage will help but there is a spiritual sickness in our land that needs to be addressed, and it’s not going to be solved by any proposition or elected official or government.

* * * * *

Democrats in the State Capitol have been clamoring for people who were never slaves to receive a taxpayer windfall paid for by people who were never slave owners. If it ever happens this is an unconstitutional gift of public funds and voter buying scheme in an attempt to keep black folks from switching over to the Republican Party like they are.

Before the Labor Day weekend, two key reparations bills for blacks died hours before the deadline to pass legislation this session.

Senate Bill 1403 would have created the California American Freedmen Affairs Agency, tasked with implementing reparations and determining eligibility. And Senate Bill 1331 would have established the Fund for Reparations and Reparative Justice, to eventually pay for the various forms of reparations.

State Senator Steven Bradford, a black Democrat, suggests that his two bills are “160 years overdue” and that the recipients “deserve it.”

Gov. Newsom, the phony that he is, has played the fence, giving a head fake to the notion while delaying matters. He’s afraid such a bill will pass because the state simply cannot afford more deficit spending, and because this would be an election issue should he run for president in 2028. Most Americans know reparations are pure political BS. Newsom asked Bradford to amend his bills that would only study the issue further.

The tyranny of Democrats was evident when state Assemblyman Bill Essayli (R-Corona), lashed out angrily after he was ignored as he tried to motion for a vote on the Democrats’ black reparations scam. Essayli, opposes cash reparations but wanted to force a vote to shine the spotlight on how the Democrat majority only wants to give lip service to black Californians and not actually follow through. The Republican was indignant at his mistreatment.

In a statement on X, Essayli wrote, “I believed there should be a debate and a recorded vote on the issue. Politicians cannot be allowed to make promises to the people who elect them, and then hide like cowards when it’s time to go on record…In the coming weeks I intend to have meaningful, serious, and productive conversations on this topic. “My message to Black Americans is do not blindly support any political party or politician simply because of the letter next to their name. Make them earn your vote!”

The gall of Bradford who replied: “I question the motives of some of the individuals who wanted it to come to the floor…but I appreciate the help.”

Bradford was complaining that somebody wanted the Assembly to vote on the bills at the same time saying he had the votes to pass them? 

* * * * *

The snarled tentacles of Condit family involvement in state and local politics came home to roost this year. But last week it reached a jaw-dropping level with Chad Condit lobbing all kinds of sickening accusations against his former foe and later boss, state Senator Marie Alvarado-Gil of Jackson.

Either Chad Condit has fabricated stories out of whole cloth out of retribution against his former boss; or the state senator is a bonafide nymphomaniac. (I know where I’d place my bets.)

The timing is interesting. Last month Alvarado-Gil switched parties, from a Democrat to become a Republican.

Earlier this year there was a convoluted controversy over a state grant snagged to build sidewalks and infrastructure in South Modesto.

Let’s go back to July 2023 when Senator Alvarado-Gil and Supervisor Channce Condit posed for a photo-op with a mock check for $5 million to herald the good news. Whenever a politician brings home the bacon for their district – and theirs are overlapped – it’s a great way to dazzle voters.

In December Chad Condit gets fired as her chief of staff and things get weird. In late May of this year, Channce Condit came out to suggest Alvarado-Gil was reneging on the grant, this after she called for California State Attorney General Ron Bonta to investigate if Chad Condit acquired the funds for his son’s district in a legal manner. There’s much we don’t know because it’s being investigated and nobody is giving us details.

Chad Condit claims the senator subjected him to all kinds of degrading and domineering abuse and groomed for sexual favors. He claims she ordered him to perform oral sex on her – and that he complied the first time “without thinking” because he had become numb from being subjected to months of grooming. Condit claims he continued to please her until he tweaked his back in a car doing it and required surgeries for three herniated discs and a collapsed hip. Interesting. His attorneys say the injury gave him the excuse to refuse her advances. They say: “The fact that he is a man, does not take away from the shame at being put into submission by his boss.”

Chad Condit claims Alvarado-Gil compared him to resembling Brad Pitt? Really? I mean, I’ve yet to find anyone who would remotely think that. 

In his quest for a jury trial, he even mentions that he was humiliated to be asked to wear a Santa Claus suit at an event.

The legal document that landed on our desk last week makes for great political theater if not steamy reading. But it remains to be seen if dad’s explosive allegations have implications for Ceres mayoral candidate Gary M. Condit and who is undoubtedly coached by dad. Will voters have had enough of Condit family drama and opt for someone with more experience and less baggage than that family seems to carry?

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