The stupidity continues.

You’d think someone 23 years of age would know better. You’d think all the warnings about getting drunk and climbing behind the wheel with friends in the car would have washed over Isaac Urbeana of La Grange but sadly, no. Less than four hours after the New Year was here, he’s flipping his car on a rural backstretch near Roberts Ferry, killing two of his Turlock passengers, both of who did not apparently learn life’s lesson about wearing seat belts. A fourth third passenger was critically injured.

The lives of four people and their families destroyed by the stupidest thing a young man could do.

It’s sad but it just continues, leaving a wake of dead people who were deprived of their futures.

It’s too bad that Leilani Romayor-Bettencourt, 23, and Danny Reyes, 28, only got to see four hours of the new year and the rest of what could have been life into their golden years.

Such a sad, stupid and needless tragedy. Learn from their mistakes, people.

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California has the dubious distinction of being number one out of the 50 states for having the highest percent of hit-and-run drivers. Over one in 10 fatal crashes involve a hit-and-run driver, which is 66 percent higher than the national average and 20 percent higher than the second-ranking state.

I have my theory why this is the case: California has a high concentration of illegal immigrants who are driving, getting into wrecks and fleeing the scene for obvious reasons.

Of course, the Democrat governor elected by Democrat voters has rolled out the welcome mat for illegal aliens. (Yeah, I know, the liberals use the term “undocumented workers” or “unauthorized immigrants” but that’s like calling a burglar an “unauthorized home occupant” or “unlicensed property acquirer.”)

Thanks to Newsom, as of Jan. 1, all illegal aliens, regardless of age, will qualify for Medi-Cal, California’s version of the federal Medicaid program for people with low incomes. You and I are paying for this generous gift to 700,000 folks who snuck across the border to be living in our state.

When your state is staring at a massive budget deficit of $68 billion for the 2024-25 fiscal year and operating deficits projected for the three budget cycles beyond, the last thing you do is take on medical costs for folks who should be deported. But who said the governor had much common sense.

But back to the hit-and-run issue. In California, hit-and-run drivers injure 19,000 drivers and kill 150 per year. I’m not saying all hit-and-runs are committed by foreign nationals but I suspect the number is very high based on empirical observations. And consider that there are far too many legal residents who are driving around unlicensed and uninsured, which is like playing with fire. They don’t stick around when they crash. Nor do drunks.

At least 15 years ago we covered a story in which a drunk driver (who was an illegal alien) was speeding southbound on Highway 99 when he rear-ended a car, causing it to burst into flames and he kept going. One of three women in the car he struck was killed. When good citizens followed him to the location in Keyes where his car stopped, they detained him as fought them.

Our late advertising director, Bill Sanborn, relayed to me that he was hit from behind on Highway 99 by a man who spoke hardly any English and offered him money on the spot. The only reason a person who caused a crash would offer the victim money would be owing to the fact that they didn’t have insurance as required by law, maybe no driver’s license and don’t want police involved – possibly deportation in this case.

But remember, this was back in the days when both parties clamored against illegal immigration and deporting border jumpers. Now lawbreakers are  shielded from ICE, thanks to sanctuary state Democrats.

In 2012 my son who was in the Air Force at the time, sold his VW Jetta to a man who couldn’t speak a word of English so I suspect he was an illegal immigrant.

Several days after the sale, Jeremy sent the DMV the “Release of Liability” within the prescribed seven days. However, the buyer didn’t bother to transfer ownership. Months later, a registered letter came from the Stockton Police Department informing Jeremy that “his” pickup was involved in a hit-and-run crash in which the victim sustained $1,200 in damages. The driver fled the scene so police went to the registered owner on record – which was my son since the ever efficient DMV apparently didn’t process the release.

Warning to anyone selling a car to a private party: Ask to see a valid DL and insurance card.

* * * * *

We sure heard a lot of allegations of election interference in 2016 – and largely reported but later fake news about Russian election interference – but what do you call the Democrat machine removing candidate Trump from the ballot in Colorado and Maine? So that’s democracy at work blocking voters from their choice?

The U.S. Supreme Court undoubtedly will strike down these acts of lower court malfeasance and it needs to do so quickly for democracy is legitimately at stake.

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Another school shooting, this one in an unlikely place – America’s heartland, Perry, Iowa, with a population of 7,929. That’s the same size as Hughson.

When I was in high school in the mid to late 1970s, school shootings didn’t happen in the USA. What changed in our country?

In my childhood, when a student had a beef with a fellow student, they duked it out with fists after school. Being that our country was more rural then, guns were probably more readily available. Consider that gun laws have tightened since that time so obviously the problem isn’t guns but a culture in which kids entertain the idea of planning an attack at school to kill. And I wouldn’t say bullying has worsened because bullying went on when I was young and it was probably less on the radar of school officials than it is now.

What changed in our young people and in American culture in the past 40 years or so? Why are so many young people mentally ill?

I have my ideas and it starts with the disintegration of family. When dads split that’s the beginning of trouble. A good dad keeps his kids in line out of love. Kids feel secure in perimeters because it shows they are valued. Too many parents think permissiveness equates to love.

Video games were Atari when I was a teen. That was it, so I never got into video games. The idea of playing them brings me no pleasure. Games now involve wanton killing. Now we have grown adults whose attention are consumed by them and shirk responsibilities and relationships. Anger over a video game even caused a grown man like Matthew Douglas Nicholson to murder his mom on Jan. 11, 2018 in Ceres. 

Thirdly, we’ve shoved the influence of church aside. Let’s face it, when you dispense with God and his rules for living – which were designed for our benefit – then anything you invent is the standard of life. There is no fear of God if you’ve said he doesn’t exist, right? So it’s the rule of the jungle. Consider that our own laws are based on the Ten Commandments.

Fourthly, the pursuit of pleasure has caused millions to turn to do harmful things, notably drugs. The addictions are destroyed the brains of people and killing others. While cannabis is now accepted socially, it’s causing drug induced psychosis among many teens; just ask any mental health professional. I have firsthand knowledge of an example of this.

Fifthly, we’ve allowed our culture to be hijacked by a media that assists in upending the truths we’ve long held as truth, we’re making people question life itself. Men can be women and women men? Weirdos like Devon Mulvaney are rewarded with an image on a can of beer? Gay lawmakers like Evan Low forcing stores to make sure dolls are pushed into the aisle where boys can see them? Black football players who are making millions of dollars can be disrespectful of the National Anthem as they proclaim we’re a racist nation? And what about an incessant ridicule of Christians or anyone who holds fast to religion? For that, refer to Barack Obama who referenced bitter clingers as holding onto their guns or religion or Hillary Clinton referring to half the country (the conservative side) being a “basket of deplorables.”

* * * * *

The lack of disrespect for someone who holds great power over your life was reflected last week when U.S District Court Judge Mary Kay Holthus was attacked violently by a suspect in her courtroom. Deobra Delone Redden literally flew over the bench in rage. I can only imagine what the news coverage would have been like had Redden been a white man attacking a black female judge.

Redden was in court after being convicted of attacking a person with a baseball bat in 2024. Redden, who has a history of being violent his whole life, claimed he was “not a rebellious person” and was now “in a better place in my life” before his brazen courtroom attack. When the female judge rejected probation and told him it was time he got a taste of something (back to prison), Redden replied, “Nah, f--- that b----!” and jumped over the desk in an obvious attempt to kill her.

This is what happens when the criminal justice system goes soft on men who have been violent their whole lives. We need to all soundly reject  say Democrat policies.

* * * * *

This is not surprising news.

Remember how Newsom touted California as this successful place for business in his debate with Ron DeSantis while the rest of us looked to detect signs that he was under the influence of pot?

A new study by Restaurant Furniture reveals that California is the state where it is most expensive to open a restaurant. New York, another blue state, is second place.

The study analyzed for each state the various costs that an entrepreneur would need to spend in one year to run a restaurant, from the rent of a commercial space to licenses such as a food service permit and a liquor license, to discover in which state it would be the most expensive. The data were turned into scores from 1 to 10, where the highest scores would mean better results. Therefore, the lower the total score over 100, the more expensive it would be to open and maintain a restaurant in the area.

California takes first place due to a combination of factors such as annual rent per square foot, which is the third highest of the top 10 at $45.74, the food service permit, which amounts to $809 and state sales taxes and corporate taxes. If we consider that commercial units in California can be between 400 to 5,000+ square feet, monthly rent can cost between $20,000 to over $200,000: this alone proves just how expensive it can be to open a restaurant in the state.

Also, not surprising last week to see research by banking experts at CreditDonkey telling us that Californians are in the most debt.

Credit Donkey analyzed the average mortgage, student, automobile, and credit card debt in every state.

California has the highest average mortgage debt, with $422,909 per household; due to the fact that California has some of the highest house prices in America, meaning that many people may need to take out larger mortgages to live here. In California, car debt averages around $23,262, one of the highest figures across the states.

So it’s no wonder why people are leaving California. But it seems we need to send the party in charge packing.

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