Pay-check your facts, Wasden doubters

Let's get this out of the way right at the start. Yes, new Turlock City Manager Roy Wasden will be making just over $202,000 in base salary during his first year on the job. Ignoring taxes and required benefit contributions, that's enough for Wasden to purchase a beautiful new 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom, 1,500 square foot cul-de-sac home in Turlock with just one year of pay. Yes, Wasden will be receiving a $500 a month ...

From the desert to the valley

By now you might have seen my name in a few bylines in the Turlock Journal. I am the new education reporter, and I started the day after Memorial Day. I came in on that first day expecting to sign a stack of papers, fill out my W4 form and be in and out in about an hour. Boy was I wrong.

Keep the discourse coming with public art

I admit it; I'm a fan of Califia. Since 2005, when the 14-foot fountain statue was placed at the corner of Main and Market streets in downtown Turlock, it has evoked many a passionate opinion - mostly negative. But I , for one, am a supporter of the mythical Amazon queen that is supposed to symbolize this area's connection to the soil and its agricultural vitality. On my daily drive to work, the ...

Yosemite must be available for all to enjoy

I am writing to provide comments on the National Park Service's (NPS) Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the Merced River Comprehensive Management Plan. Yosemite National Park is a national treasure that must be available for the American public to access and enjoy in the same manner that Americans have for decades. The 1864 Act authorizing the original Yosemite land grant to the State of California stated that the "premises shall be held ...

From the AP Stylebook: How to obscure

The Associated Press announced last week that it no longer sanctions the term "illegal immigrant" in its stylebook. Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll explained that the AP has decided it is wrong for reporters to use the word "illegal" to describe a person, but it's OK to use the word to "describe only an action, such as living or immigrating to a country illegally." Make no mistake about this decision. Whatever prompted the change, ...

Inspiring students to take on STEM

Anyone tuned into science news has probably heard that the prestigious Intel Science Talent Search recently announced this year's winners. The competition is an opportunity for high school seniors in the United States to win scholarships for their original science, technology, engineering, or mathematics research. This year's 1st place winner, 17-year-old Sara Volz, used her own bedroom to make trailblazing research towards cost-efficient, algae-powered biofuel. Other students' truly incredible projects ranged from improving ...

High speed rail folks sue me, you and a dog named Boo

The $68 billion train wreck in the making – California High Speed Rail – continues rumbling down the tracks with all of the subtlety of General Sherman's march to the sea. The folks who never saw a cost overrun they didn't like have used an obscure state law to blanket sue you, me, and every soul on earth - and presumably the space station too. It is a bid to gain immunity from future ...

Penalizing the law-abiding to punish criminals

How do you fight lawbreakers? The new trend is to punish those who abide by the law. And - wherever possible - make responsible citizens pay even more. Have a problem with "meth heads" using over-the-counter flu remedies such as Sudafed to cook up their poison? Simply make those suffering from the flu get a doctor's prescription. That's the solution Senator Dianne Feinstein is proposing. Forget the fact it takes ...

Outsourcing may be the answer for Caswell

At the southern terminus of Austin Road is one of 280 gems known as California State Parks. Caswell Memorial State Park is home to unique valley riparian woodlands. Such clustering of woodlands once covered immense swaths of the Valley floor alongside rivers. Today less than 2 percent of riparian oaks that existed when unsuccessful gold seekers turned to farming still stand. The 258 acres in the state park are home to perhaps a hundred ...

Economic two-step is getting old fast

On the front page of Wednesday's paper, there was a story about an open house at a new business in town and right next to it was a report on the number of unemployed in the county, which increased to 15.6 in the month of January. Along with the not-so-great news of increased unemployment, was the announcement that Post is closing its Modesto plant and laying off 140 workers. Sometimes it feels like ...

The new child abuse: Buying your kid a rifle

My brother Ronald knew how to safely use a rifle before he entered the fifth grade. His two kids - Joshua and Jennifer - were introduced to shooting long before puberty. Joshua was a serious contender for the Junior Olympics Rifle competition and earned a partial college scholarship based on his marksman skills. Ron is involved in running the Junior Rifle program that's part of the Lincoln Rifle Club. The 80-year-old ...

Proposed Delta water solution not good for region, economy

The following letter was sent to Governor Jerry Brown: The undersigned members of Congress express our bi-partisan concerns with the State Water Resources Control Board's policies surrounding the Bay-Delta and rivers tributary to the Delta. Many of us have been providing our various perspectives on the Bay-Delta Conservation Plan and we will continue to engage with you as the draft BDCP and related environmental documents emerge in the next month. However, for ...

College districts need to put education first, jobs second

Just 36.4 miles separate Delta College and Modesto Junior College. They both offer similar courses. Both have had to clamp down on enrollment and raise fees. But were all of the fee hikes and class caps necessary? The simple answer is no. That's because the fantasy known as "local control" takes precedent over education. San Joaquin Delta Community College District and Yosemite Community College District could easily be operated under one board and one ...

Complaining about roads second nature to Turlockers

New California gold rush: Folks making $200K+

They don't call California the Golden State for nothing. Contrary to some crying wolf, the better off among us aren't leaving California. Posturing politicians as usual miss the real story. The past two decades - according to the U.S. Census' American Community Survey - have seen a net 3.4 million people flee California for other states. If it hadn't been for high immigration from outside the United States and the birth rate the ...

Learning the lessons of Debi Austin’s life

It is with great interest that I've been following the story of Debi Austin, the woman from the trailblazing 1996 California anti-tobacco ad. Austin recently passed away after battling a host of health problems brought on by decades of smoking. Austin, who began her addiction at age 13, was already plowing through a pack of cigarettes per day before she graduated from junior high school. Not long later, she underwent a laryngectomy that ...

State water decision would leave Valley hanging dry

There is no life without water, and nowhere is this sentiment truer than in California, where water is critical to the vitality of every part of the state. But that does not give bureaucrats the justification to decimate the San Joaquin Valley to divert water from some areas to give even more water to others. The State Water Resources Control Board quietly decided on New Year's Eve to increase water exports for fish ...