This one deserves an eyeball roll: a quote of a Turlock City Councilwoman who mentioned how Border Patrol activity in search of illegal aliens in Kern County was causing panic in Stanislaus County.
In Kern County the Border Patrol was reported to be stopping random motorists, asking people for papers. One man stated: “They were going to gas stations and Home Depot where day laborers gather. It’s provoking intense anxiety and a lot of fear in the community.”
Turlock City Councilwoman Rebecka Monez, who represents a district inhabited by many Hispanics, said she’d received several calls from constituents on edge after hearing that “raids” were soon to be conducted in Turlock.
Monez told the Turlock Journal: “People are scared and if you’re here in search of a better life, you shouldn’t have to live in fear like this.”
If you are here in California in search of a better life and came across the border legally then it would be silly to “live in fear.” Herein lies the issue: we’re talking about the millions who entered America the wrong way people and so people who break the law should “live in fear” just like the guy who steals a car and sees a police officer following him – you know the hammer is coming down.
Stanislaus County Sheriff Jeff Dirkse said that to his knowledge, no such raids have been executed in Stanislaus County nor are they planned here. He also pointed out that his department is not in the business of rounding up undocumented immigrants.
“We are not federal agents,” noted Dirkse. “We do not have the legal authority to enforce federal law – period.”
That’s because Senate Bill 54, passed in 2017 by the Democrats, prohibits local police agencies from using their resources on behalf of federal immigration enforcement.
One reason Donald Trump is president again is because of Americans’ concerns about illegal immigration. The vast majority of Americans do not approve of those who snuck across the border to become a burden on our system and housing and schools and the judicial system. They are, however, a bit more sympathetic to the Dreamers, or the kids who grew up here after their parents snuck them across as kids.
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Eyeball roll #2. An editorial cartoon published in a local paper drawn by Mississippi Today cartoonist Marshall Ramsey showed two people leaving a movie theater where the marque reads: “Now Showing: Mother Nature.” The man tells the woman, “Well, that was terrifying.” No doubt, the cartoon was drawn in response to the L.A. County fires.
A poster on the front of the theater facade reads: “We’ve made her mad.”
The message: We caused the fires in Los Angeles due of our carbon-spewing lifestyles which is total bunk.
There’s nothing new about Santa Ana winds. They blew long before filmmakers settled there because of the great year round weather and ample real estate. But since then Los Angeles County has been covered with homes and businesses and when one house goes up it can mean a whole town burning up, thanks to the high winds serving as a blow torch.
Any regular reader of mine knows my feelings about Gavin Newsom. He is a self-serving, arrogant, image-conscious feckless leader concerned more about looking like the cool dude with his ball cap and aviator sunglasses rather than solving problems, homelessness being one of them after spending billions. His water policies absolutely harm California, especially farmers in the Central Valley. But do I blame him for the devastation in Pacific Palisades and Altadena? You’d be surprised if I say not entirely so.
One fire official told a TV reporter that the fires were burning so fierce and so fast that the supply of water and firefighters and fire engines would not have been able to keep up. He said there weren’t enough fire engines in California to fight those fires. The winds were incredibly fierce and obviously Newsom had nothing to do with that.
In their anguish, homeowners who lost everything naturally need someone to blame. LA Mayor Karen Bass will likely pay the price since she cut the firefighting budget by $17 million last year. Why any Los Angeles mayor needs to represent her city in Ghana instead of staying in her jurisdiction smacks of a taxpayer funded vacation.
Was no water coming from fire hydrants because the water station pumps were shut down by power outages or damage from fire? Time will tell but I hope we can learn from this tragedy.
Newsom is responsible for the state, as a whole, not having enough water it could have.
If this sinks Newsom’s popularity – and any chance to be president – that’s one good thing that comes from these fires. The truth is that many of the folks who lost their multi-million homes supported Newsom and his party and now they have a taste of the frustration of Central Valley dwellers. Water supplies for valley farmers have been diminished because they want half of it flushed out to the Delta. The state has done NOTHING to build new water storage even though voters passed a water bond. Not one dam has been built in California since New Melones in 1978! In fact, Newsom said he was “proud” of the removal of four dams on the Klamath River to protect salmon and steelhead trout. Tearing out the dams cost $450 million!
Environmental policies of progressives like Newsom are the reason we stopped cutting crisscross fuel breaks into the foothills, a common practice in the 1970s and 1980s but ended to save the migratory patterns of rodents. Rodents over residents? They lack common sense.
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Another thing the LA fires have done is once again cause officials like Newsom to admit that the state’s regulations hamper the building of much-needed housing in California. Mortgages and rents are way too high in California because we haven’t built enough homes. It’s all about supply and demand.
I’ve been saying for years that the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) is the primary reason why our homes cost so much more than other states and this headline proves it: “Newsom suspends landmark environmental laws to ease rebuilding in wildlife zones.”
So what does it mean when Gov. Newsom says he will cut regulations so that the homes in Pacific Palisades and Altadena can be built faster? It means that he knows that CEQA and other regulations are an absolute impediment to building adequate housing units here.
Never fear, to make it seem like he’s not a hypocrite, he told NBC: “California leads the nation in environmental stewardship. I’m not going to give that up. But one thing I won’t give into is delay. Delay is denial for people: lives, traditions, places torn apart, torn asunder.”
Sounds like a typical politician speaking out of both sides of his mouth. Newsom has shown zero concern about CEQA delaying development of housing in other parts of the state but he wants to suspend it for his wealthy Southern California voter base. His fast-tracking orders are only for fire affected cities in LA County. Regulations that delay housing for Altadena are dropped but not for Atwater or Atascadero. You can build faster in Glendale, but not Gilroy. Get the idea?
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That mental genius named Kamala Harris left us with another typical meaningless word salad last week when speaking about the fires and Santa Ana winds: “Our definition of the wind is a definition that takes us back over a period of time where part of how we measure the wind is are we making progress. How we measure the wind is based on the knowledge that it is an enduring fight and that we must be strong and that whatever the outcome of any particular moment we can never be defeated.”
Thank God we have smarter people running the country now. And to think 75,019,257 Americans voted for her.
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Speaking of LA Mayor Bass, did you hear her tell Angelinos that help was available if they just went to URL? She’s a lot dumber than I knew.
And to think Karen Bass was also on Joe Biden’s veep list in 2020. The pick had to be a black female, you see, despite intellectual capabilities.
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The Ceres Garden Club presented a certificate to the city last week which was accepted by Mayor Javier Lopez who said “everybody knows how much I like trees.” Then he said the city joined Tree City USA “when I came on council.”
Actually I’ve written probably 15-20 articles about Ceres being a Tree City USA and holding Arbor Day observances at schools over my time as Courier editor long before being mayor was a gleam in Lopez’s eye.
There is criteria that must be met in order for Tree City USA status. So did the city of Ceres drop the ball after the city lost two of its biggest assets in the Recreation Department, Traci Dayton Ferris and Cambria Pollinger? I’d call City Hall for an answer but honestly I bet nobody even knows; they’re all newbies.
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Ceres resident John Silveira went before the council and asked something to be done about illegal fireworks, proposing a $10,000 fine as a deterrent for those getting caught. He noted that Ceres Police only cited six people last July when there were 53 issued in 2019, 39 in 2020, 34 in 2021, 25 in 2022 and 18 in 2023. He pointed out the trend that I have noticed: increasing illegal firework use and fewer police citations. There is no lack of violators to cite but it seems like the enforcement effort is half-hearted.
What’s the point of a steeper fine if people know that Ceres Police have been citing fewer and fewer violator each year?
He also had a lot to say for the lawless drivers who imperil life and limb in Ceres.
Since the automobile was invented, humanity has seen much recklessness on roads. But it seems that since the cell phone landed in our hands that things have gotten far worse. And for whatever reason, COVID made people throw caution to the wind, perhaps because they were like pent-up rats in a cage during the shutdown and went wild once free.
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I went into the Jan. 13 council meeting knowing exactly that Lopez would choose Daniel Martinez to be vice mayor. How? I know he has absolute disdain for James Casey and Rosalinda Vierra and wasn’t about to pick newcomer Cerina Otero. Besides, Martinez was given the spotlight on the stage after Lopez hijacked last year’s “Bridging the Gap” business workshop. If Lopez wanted to highlight a successful businessman he should have picked Councilman James Casey the owner of a successful business.
Martinez eagerly took the position of vice mayor by seconding Lopez’s motion, followed by a 4-1 vote where Casey voted no.
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Mayor Lopez lacked class after he was called out last week for initially giving Rosalinda Vierra only one committee slot out of 16. Knowing that she was upset and instead of working with her on it he read a prepared statement, suggesting that he felt Vierra was “lying to the public.”
Funny thing coming from a guy who issued a campaign flyer last year falsely accusing his two opponents, Vierra and Gary M. Condit, of voting to “allow the homeless to camp out in front of parks and public spaces.”
The truth is that last year Rosalinda Vierra was appointed to six committees. Was it coincidence that Vierra was given only one committee after she challenged him in the election? And when she suggested District 2 didn’t have much representation committee wise, he bragged that he represented all districts.
New Councilwoman Otero graciously helped out, saying she wanted to Vierra to remain on the Stanislaus Homeless Alliance.
The mayor also claimed that information published by the Courier about Bret Silveira’s committee assignments, presumably from January 2024, was false. Here is what we reported: “Vice Mayor Bret Silveira’s request to remain on the Ceres Concerts in the Park and Fire Contract committees was disregarded by Mayor Javier Lopez at Monday’s City Council meeting. As a result, Silveira voted against all of Mayor Lopez’s committee appointments but was outvoted 4-1.” We also accurately reported: “Mayor Lopez defended his choice to appoint himself to and replace Silveira with Councilman Daniel Martinez on the Fire Contract Committee; and appoint Martinez and Councilwoman Rosalinda Vierra to the Ceres Concerts committee, saying they are ‘a good opportunity for new councilmembers.’”
Last year Lopez took 10 of the 23 committees, this year nine out of 16.
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Clovis, which is about an hour and half drive southeast of Ceres, has a city council that is considering becoming a charter city. The reason being they are sick of state leaders in Sacramento running roughshod over their city.
Charter cities operate with greater autonomy from state control compared to general law cities like Ceres.
Obtaining charter city status could cost $120,000 and would have to be approved by voters. Clovis City Councilwoman Diane Pearce, who likes the idea of voter ID requirements like those passed in Huntington Beach, favors the idea of Clovis (population 125,826) being a charter city.
“It comes down to the battle with Sacramento. The idea that Sacramento has eroded local control basically with every session and it gets exponentially greater every time they get together.”
True. Every time lawmakers get together they come up with more and more and more laws we don’t need, which is why California needs a part-time Legislature like in Texas.
Clovis wants its own authority over issues like prevailing wages, voting rights and housing development. Not paying prevailing wages alone on city projects could save tens of thousands of dollars.
Clovis officials resent being forced years ago to go to district elections under the threat of being sued. The same thing happened to Ceres years ago when abandoning at-large elections wasn’t necessary.
One Clovis resident named Brian Wilson likes Clovis having more autonomy, saying “We need to do something to isolate.”
Of course, the progressive Attorney General Rob Bonta is suing Huntington Beach which only wants to ensure legal residents vote. Apparently Bonta wants illegal aliens to be able to vote.
Maybe Javier Lopez – who says he is a Republican – could broach the idea for Ceres. Lest you think Ceres is too small to become a charter city, Cerritos is roughly the same size as Ceres and is one. Dinuba is another and much smaller at 25,864 residents. Oroville, another charter city, has 19,449 residents.
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McClatchy ran an op-ed (“Fires devastated Los Angeles but Gov. Newsom and Democrats could also get burned“) written by Mike Madrid. Madrid notes that “The underlying movement in voting behavior is a strong sense that things in California aren’t working.” He mentions homelessness which Sacramento is “incapable of solving” and the “tired song from the supermajorities of California Democrats that they are working to address housing affordability when it’s evident that they’re either not or failing miserably.” Maybe, he opined, voters will start giving Republicans a shot at fixing what Newsom and company have bungled. “Meanwhile, Democrats must recognize that their lack of will to tackle the issues voters most care about, exacerbated by the harmful monoculture of a one-party state, has contributed to the roiling sense of frustration that must no longer be ignored,” writes Madrid.
Maybe, just maybe, the fires that have destroyed parts of L.A. will become the voters’ wakeup call.
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
