Archive By Section - Editorial
Just doing our jobs
Local law enforcement agencies - namely, the California Highway Patrol and the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department - should take a lesson from the Turlock Police Department in media relations.
Don’t worry, be happy
On Sunday, my pastor preached that "God will provide." He went on to say that since God has our needs covered, there is no reason to worry. I left church feeling good about the message and thinking, "You're right Pastor Dave. There's no need to worry, God has my back."
An open letter to Denairians
Dear residents of Denair, Do you care about your community? Do you have any aspirations of outgrowing the shadow of Turlock to become your own, independent locality? Well, I hate to say it, but you've got a long way to go to prove it. I'm not sure if any of you are aware of this, but there's an election coming in about three months. According to the electoral calendar three members of your five-member Denair ...
Visiting Darwin’s grave ere I die
My Labrador-mix from the dog-pound is quite a mutt, but even so he shows Lab enthusiasm for retrieving sticks I throw into the river. (Just for the record, he's a specialist and won't retrieve sticks thrown on land.)
Hate should not drive health care debate
If my mom or dad caught me on TV acting a complete fool like some of the protesters at the various health care town hall meetings, I can guarantee you that my dad would fly up from Houston and smack the hell out of me.
Hammocks away
Can you smell it in the air? Freshly sharpened pencils, Crayola crayons and Gucci backpacks - the smell of a brand new school year.
A shocking pattern
I am one of those people. You know, the ones who keep pictures of adored pets in their wallet and who think a family Christmas portrait isn't complete without Fluffy and Fido in the shot. I love my pets and animals in general.
Karma or dumb luck?
I have an older brother in the Boston area who I don't see very often. He has a sick wife who was hospitalized for some time because of two failed kidneys. He took days off from work during that time, wanting to be by her side.
Cool it with beat it
On June 25, the world changed forever. It's hard to believe that it's been a month now. You know, since Michael Jackson died. He was the King of Pop. He was Captain EO. He showed us how to moon walk, for goodness' sake. The first album I ever bought was "Bad." While growing up, I incessantly listened to "Thriller," "Dangerous," heck, anything the man put out. And, yet, in just a month, I've grown sick ...
Cows, pigs and cavies — oh my!
I can't believe it's already that time of year again. The streets of Turlock are clogged with horse trailers. Local boot retailers are seeing an increase in sales and quad riders of all ages are suping up their engines. Yes, the Stanislaus County Fair is back in town.
To sleep, perchance to scream
Late the other night I was sitting in my room, minding my own business and absentmindedly watching a little television while scribbling some notes, when much to my surprise sunlight started shining through my window.
The kidnapping of our work
Plagiarizing, according to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, is to "steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own: use (another's production) without crediting the source."
A Canadian primer for Americans
I'm what, 30 miles across the border? If that? It's amazing how quickly it becomes apparent that you're not in Kansas anymore, Todo. From the second I stepped off the plane and into Vancouver, Canada, for a week-long writer's retreat I felt as though I'd entered bizarro America. The subway is on the honor system; there are no turnstiles to check your tickets, you just walk on. They call gyros "donairs" for no apparent reason. ...
California’s Amber Alert celebrates seven years of success
It has been nearly seven years since California implemented its own statewide Amber Alert system. In that time, the system has helped recover 179 abducted children.
The sweet smell of money
The river of green flowing from Washington D.C. has finally reached Western shores. Ever since the House of Representatives and Senate approved the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the glitter of free gold has been a glint in the eyes of cash-strapped agencies nationwide and especially in the Golden State.
Articles by Section - Editorial
The missing piece of the Turlock arts scene
There really is no excuse for Turlockers sitting at home on Friday nights. Despite what a few Bay Area transplants may think, Turlock has a lot to offer those seeking cultural stimulation.
Doing more with less on the road
Between the debt-ceiling kerfuffle and Hurricane Irene, you may have missed two bits of summertime news that will be important for what we drive in the coming years. First, President Barack Obama announced that the administration and automakers had reached a deal to double the fuel economy of our national fleet of cars starting in model year 2017 and reaching the goal by 2025. Right now, cars and light trucks – light trucks ...
Power of the pedal
Lately, I've been encouraged to see more bicyclists pedaling their way around town. With the Valley's air quality issues, the increasing childhood obesity rates, and a country-wide emphasis on "greener" power, bicycling is a beneficial activity. Around the U.S. new bike lanes and paths are all the rage, helping cash-strapped cities simultaneously green operations and trim budgets-adding bike lanes is far less costly (to taxpayers and the environment) than building new roads. Also, ...
Sign of the times: To twirl or not to twirl
It is a sign of the times. The Great Depression had men walking around in A-frame signs. The Great Recession has young people twirling signs. Employing them are businesses vying for a commodity that seems as scarce at times as common sense in Sacramento - consumer dollars. I haven't come across anyone who said they were prompted to visit a particular business because of someone head banging to i-Pod music ...
Occupy Wall Street: All bite, no apple
As Occupy Wall Street activists clogged New York's Zuccotti Park protesting "corporate greed" and Occupy SF hit San Francisco's Financial District on Wednesday protesting "corporate greed," the world learned that Steve Jobs, perhaps America's most beloved modern capitalist, had died at age 56. The protesters claim to represent the working people, the 99 percent of Americans who, according to their blog, are getting kicked out of their homes, must choose between groceries and ...
A big, blue, acid ocean
Our deep blue has always been engulfed in a rich and remarkable legacy. After all, its Portuguese name "pacifico" was chosen by explorer Ferdinand Magellan to mean peaceful, steady, pacific. But such times are quickly changing. The Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, as a part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, has affirmed that the oceans are truly the prisoners of our pollution– adapting to increasing carbon-dioxide emissions by swallowing one-fourth of ...
The other side of death
"Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything - all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking ...
High speed rail means quicker trip to poor house
The Central Valley Water Project implemented during the Great Recession helped lift the lot of the poor in the San Joaquin Valley by providing the means to turn fields into fertile farmland. There are those who believe launching the California High Speed Rail will do the same thing for the San Joaquin Valley and help it shake poverty that is rooted deep especially in the valley's southern part. Unlike the CVP that brought construction ...
Nothing heroic about same old, same old
If your business was failing, would you keep doing the same thing, or would you try something new? Or would you even know what doing something new would look like, having spent so long mired in an unworkable business model? Just recently, DC Comics was forced to answer those questions, opting to fight falling sales with a "new" tactic which, sadly, ends up being more of the same old thing. For ...
Not too long ago …
One hundred years seems like a long time in most situations. When someone turns 100 years old, I can't help but marvel at all the technological changes that one person has seen just in his or her lifetime. In 1911, automobiles were a novelty and many people still traveled by horse and carriage. Radios were only in the homes of the rich, but entertainment was something that many families didn't have much time ...
Real VIPs
Today I had the honor of meeting some impressive VIPs and I don't think I will ever forget the time we spent together. They were patients at Emanuel Cancer Center. As I tell you about some of them, I'm going to use fake names because of patient privacy, but they were anything but phony. These were real men and women involved in a major battle for life. First I met "Sally." She was ...
Season of new beginnings
According to my desk calendar, Friday was the start of autumn. I usually don't like to argue with inanimate objects, but I made an exception when temperatures reached 98 degrees Fahrenheit on what was supposed to be the start of a cooler season. I'm not sure if my calendar was trying to make up for the sizzling hot end of last week with two days of mild weather conditions on Sunday and Monday, ...
Worried about America? Visit a Boys & Girls Club
The political world is so toxic that I needed some relief, so I tuned into a reality show more real than anything on television. I wasn't disappointed. The stories I heard were at once harrowing and inspirational. And they were deeply connected to the future of the country. This week, I served as one of five judges in the Boys & Girls Clubs of America National Youth of the Year competition. This is ...
MacGyver to the rescue — most of the time
For those of you too young to remember the television show "MacGyver," allow me to share about the 1980s American action-adventure series. The show was about a secret agent, Angus MacGyver, who employed his resourcefulness and knowledge of chemistry, physics, and technology, and often a little duct tape and a Swiss Army knife, to resolve what were often life or death situations. I'm married to a MacGyver kind of guy. I've nicknamed my ...
Want a job? Stay in college as long as you can
With the unemployment rate hovering above 9 percent, today's job market is bad for everyone. One group does seem to fare better than the rest, however: The jobless rate for workers with a bachelor's degree or better is just 4.3 percent, compared with 14.3 percent for high school dropouts. But among college grads, the outlook is gloomier for one critical segment: recent graduates. A study this year put their unemployment rate at 10 ...
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