Monthly Archives: November 2008

The joker in the farmer’s deck

By Site Admin | Published: November 25, 2008 | Comments closed
Farmers are seen as conservative. But there’s a risk-benefit analysis in farming akin to gambling. Decisions about what to plant, how much, what to pay for fertilizer, market timing, contracts, loans, all come back in one way or another to a random and unpredictable element: the weather. And it’s sister element, water. Across the Valley you [...]
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments closed

Reader: library not acquiring popular books

By Site Admin | Published: November 24, 2008 | Comments closed
Reader Virginia Lamphear writes: Your column on Friday said the Grand Jury is investigating Natalie Rencher and the Library. I hope they investigate the direction she is steering the library. Staff morale is so low because of the changes she is pushing. You quote Rencher as saying she’s the new broom stirring discontent from longtime employees [...]
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments closed

Machado: prison hospital is an opportunity

By Site Admin | Published: November 24, 2008 | Comments closed
State Senator Mike Machado writes: This is a follow up to your column on the proposed prison hospital.  There are many issues that need to be addressed re the prison hospital.  There are also opportuinities.   What  other proposal for the San Joaquin community will provide between 3,000-4,000 well paying jobs?  There will be need for RNs, LVNs. [...]
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments closed

A reader’s mostest proposal to fix Social Security

By Site Admin | Published: November 24, 2008 | Comments closed
Richard Farago writes:    Just solved the Social Security problem but before I give you the answer let me tell you a true story. My Mother in law died about 2 years ago. She was a decent woman who worked all of her life as a seamstress …  She retired at 60 and lived until she [...]
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments closed

Nordstrom brilliant vs. dreary Eldo Street project

By Site Admin | Published: November 21, 2008 | Comments closed
Larry Nordstrom, fighting the El Dorado Street Widening project, acutally appears to be winning his campaign, though the project was well underway when he cranked up the war machine. He writes: We had a productive meeting today with the City Council Development & Planning Committee. To very briefly summarize …  The city staff, through their consultants, provided an [...]
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments closed

Collecting Stocktons: land of pippies

By Site Admin | Published: November 21, 2008 | Comments closed
This Stockton is “a land of plenty, with oysters, pippies, myriads of fish species in the surrounding waters and abundant wildlife in the forested areas.” Don’t know what a “pippie” is, but I’m glad they are abundant — in Stockton, Australia.
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments closed

Shadowbird case: David 1, Goliath 0

By Site Admin | Published: November 20, 2008 | Comments closed
The Shadowbird case – the city’s longest-running legal entanglement – partially concluded on Wednesday when a judge handed a defeat to The Grupe Co. and a victory to the progressive nonprofit Shadowbird.   The background on this curious case is here.   Throughout this David vs. Goliath case – a battle over 50 acres of land west of [...]
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments closed

Determined to be a disaster until the very last day

By Site Admin | Published: November 19, 2008 | Comments closed
Proving they cannot get along with anybody, Delta College’s famously dysfunctional board rebuffed pleas from new members-elect Tuesday not to make any more decisions about bond money or Delta’s south-county satellite campus. The sitting trustees, demonstrating the collegiality for which they are renowned, told the new board members to get lost. “There’s only one board,” huffed trustee Greg McCreary, [...]
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments closed

Don’t give Martin one penny

By Site Admin | Published: November 19, 2008 | Comments closed
Today’s column about Joe Martin, the checkered character suing Stockton Unified, doesn’t include Martin’s perspective. Evidently Martin’s attorney has advised him not to speak to the press. Given Martin’s temperment, this is probably a prudent decision. To call me today in anger would only cement his image. So, absent his perspective, my additional thoughts are speculative. I’m guessing Martin [...]
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments closed

Podesto: unbuilt bridges snarl traffic

By Site Admin | Published: November 17, 2008 | Comments closed
A voice mail from former mayor Gary Podesto:   What that anonymous writer (see below) fails to recognize is there were 10 bridges that were not voted in by Councils of the past that woud have take traffic off the few north south roads that exist. Pacific Avenue, Eldorado Avenue, Pershing Avenue, West Lane. Had they been approved – even though [...]
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments closed