Who gets stop signs?

by reenee, Santa Maria

About 18 months ago I was grousing about West Fesler Street. This is the speedway that I have to back up into from my driveway. Lately, due to more than a few close calls from drivers on this speedway, I've taken to backing up into my driveway, so that I can be eye to eye with the driver that slams into me. This is a residential street with four lanes. This wide street, begins at the Broadway intersection that has a stop light. Traveling west it turns into North Railroad Street with no stop signs for eleven blocks. These aren't the normally short subdivision type blocks.

See the picture I've included? This is what I see every day on this street.

Okay, now factor in an idiotic three way intersection where Fesler turns into Railroad in a sharp right turn. Drivers from Depot Street, the third street in this intersection, try to squeeze in as cars go by. If you want to turn left, you have to stop and wait for cars coming off of Railroad turning left onto Fesler at top speed, or turning right onto Depot. If you're lucky, the cars waiting at the Depot Street stop sign will not get impatient and cut in front of you before you can make your turn. If however you want to continue west on Fesler, you have to turn right and then immediately turn left, if the coast is clear.

Why am I mentioning this again? Well, I'm going tell you.

Fesler Street heading east from Broadway is as wide as on the west side, but after only three blocks there's a stop sign. This is the Miller Street intersection. Once you cross Miller, Fesler gets very narrow. Drivers generally do not speed through this area, speeding would create too many side swipes since cars are usually parked along the curbs. Even dumb drivers know this. So imagine my surprise to see yet another stop sign two blocks past Miller Street at the intersection of Elizabeth and Fesler. It's still so new it's adorned with blinking lights. This is only two blocks before the next stop sign at the intersection of Fesler and College. That's three stop signs within a seven block stretch of a very narrow street.

Meanwhile, West Fesler, with four lanes has no stop signs. What's up with that? According to a few people I've mentioned this to, East Fesler got the new stop sign because it's the "gringo" side of town. Since there are quite a few "gringos" on this side of town, I'm going to take the less hysterical view and guess it's because we haven't hollered loudly enough. Or perhaps we've not paid for one. Or perhaps it's because there aren't as many churches over here. Or perhaps it's related to property values. I don't know. Whatever the reason is, we need one over on West Fesler as much if not more than on East Fesler.

There have been too many accidents on this street. Last year a speeding car lost control making a turn and took out a neighbor's fence. Quite a few collisions have occured, and just yesterday, a speeding car almost smooshed two children crossing the street. The driver left skid marks for several yards.

Did I mention that there is a school two blocks away? This means that kids are all over this intersection crossing Fesler twice a day. One of those times is early in the morning when people are hurrying to work.

That's it, I'll have to go fight City Hall. Hopefully I won't be detained and I'll be back soon with more original gripes.

"You've got to vote for someone. It's a shame, but it's got to be done." ~Whoopi Goldberg

by reenee, Santa Maria

The headline asks the question, "Why do so few people vote in the U.S.?" There are so many opinions as to why people stay away from the polls in droves. Laziness? Apathy? Ignorance? I'd say it's a combination of all three mixed with a good helping of complacency, but then I'm very judgmental and opinionated. It's that obnoxious behavior that we find in children of all ages. Everyone that has ever been a parent understands and recognizes it. You know what I mean. Children will often sit and ignore you until you holler at them or threaten them. Children that grow into adults with some or all of these features still intact are the poorer for it. In children, these tendencies can be redirected into positive behaviors by parents that put forth efforts to raise responsible, interested and interesting people. If you see a lazy, apathetic, ignorant and complacent adult, then chances are they either had a stupid parent, were kicked in the head by a horse, or they're too busy sitting at the dock waiting for their ship to come in to rescue them.

Laziness is nothing to be proud of. Why people would strive for this is beyond me. That anyone would choose to sit idly in a hovel or remain satisfied with minimal efforts on the job or incompetency in their government amazes me.

Apathy is even worse. For a person to exhibit a general lack of interest or concern, especially regarding matters of general importance that relates directly to them shows a lot of ignorance.

Obviously, ignorance is the condition of being uneducated, unaware, or uninformed. However, if someone is lazy or apathetic, they will never care about how ignorant they are. It's pretty much a vicious circle.

Then there's complacency, which is the real killer. This would be a person that has the feeling of contentment or self-satisfaction, with their lot in life, even when there might be danger, trouble, controversy or incompetency in their government.

In any event, there are many reasons that people do not vote. Quite a few people believe that their vote won't count. Another group of people feel that all politicians and crooks and liars and refuse to vote for any of them. Other people will vote for the straight Democratic or straight Republican ticket without bothering to learn about who it is that they're voting for. All of these types bear the responsibility for the outcome.

This article goes on to say that about 40 percent of U.S. citizens of voting age population cast ballots in nonpresidential year elections. In 2000, just more than half turned out. In 2004, the turnout climbed over 60 percent. This is sad to me. Voting is one of our rights that have not yet been whittled away, so we all need to get off of our butts and go vote. How will we as citizens ever have a voice in Washington when we fail to put forth the effort to vote?

A shining example

by reenee, Santa Maria

Have you ever noticed how the worst of the worst always makes the front page, especially when it involves the salacious? When it's good deeds, or amazing accomplishments, the story is relegated to a lesser part of the newspaper. This is no less true for the marginally acceptable Santa Maria Times.

Today's front page featured story was about the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department needing more officers. Section B, page 3, had a headline that read, Lauded local woman laid to rest. This woman was Dorothy Jackson, an educator for 40 years, the last 10 as the Principal of Clarence Ruth School, in Lompoc, California. She was the first black woman to hold that position, and by all accounts did her job admirably. Some will argue that this story was where it needed to be due to the other obituaries on the same page. Well, sorry, this is not a valid argument. The day before there was a front page story on the less accomplished former mayor of Santa Maria, George Hobbs. Yes, he was the longest serving councilman and mayor, but he was also the man who said that this town had a "Mexican problem." The story was all about how there were two hundred people paying their last respects. This man's passing apparently elevated him to sainthood. Pretty much the same thing happened when the 40th president died.

Getting back to Dorothy Jackson. She was a force to be reckoned with, a proud, honorable and strong woman. According to this sadly abbreviated story, Ms. Jackson was a confidante of superintendents and mayors who fought tenaciously for programs to assist fieldworkers and single mothers.

That was the portrait painted by speakers from the diverse strands of Jackson's life as they gathered Saturday morning to share recollections of a woman too strong to be denied, yet who never forgot from whence she came.

A crowd of 300 composed of family, her Beta Sigma Pi sorority, staff and clients from the Dorothy Jackson Family Resource Center, members of her church, and scores of colleagues from the Lompoc Unified School District filled First Presbyterian Church.

Rubbing shoulders with the prominent were dozens of people associated with Jackson's proudest creation, the family resource center that bears her name.

After Jackson retired in 1995 she served as chairman of the school district's School Attendance Review Board (SARB) which monitors school attendance. “Stories are legion of her challenging parents,” Steve Straight said afterward. Bradley added that it seemed “dishes clattered” in those meetings.

But Jackson is also widely credited for changing SARB's approach away from a strictly punitive one. “It became more parent friendly,” said Cindy Callaham, a member of the SARB board with Jackson. “Truancy is just the symptom. She was Mother Teresa, Dr. Phil and Santa Claus all in one.”

As news of her death spread, heartfelt testimonies jammed the center's phone lines. They came from people spanning the American tapestry of ethnicity and income and their descriptions were as revealing as the books Jackson so prized.

Her direct style was evidenced with the following:

“What are you doing here? Get your butt into college.”

Those were the sledgehammer words Dorothy Jackson wielded on one of her former students when she saw him working in a fast-food outlet. Today the anonymous young man is studying for the bar exam to become an attorney.

This is what teachers should attempt to become. This is the behavior, attitude and support that people in power should present to others. This is what the chunkheads in Washington, who are in a position to do the most good, will never understand. This woman was light years ahead of them with integrity and character, and those bozos will never know it.

Habla American, amigo!

by reenee, Santa Maria

¡ Noticias importantes !

Here's an item that will cheer up the people that are getting the drizzles over whether or not English will be lost forever in the communities where those pesky Spanish speaking people congregate. This was one of the front page stories in the Santa Maria Times on Thursday, September 14th, but when I looked for it on their extremely limited and not at all attractive "Online Gateway to the Santa Maria Valley" it was not to be found. I wonder why. Perhaps I'm not as computer savvy as I think? Anyways, no matter, I found the story at the Monterey County Herald.
Are you ready for this? A few generations after families move to the United States from Latin American countries, fluency in Spanish dies out and English becomes the dominant language, according to a new paper published by sociology professors from New Jersey and California.

This study effectively deflates the argument that so many alarmists raise about a bilingualism. For example the one that stresses that the size of Latino immigration to the United States could create a bilingual society and a fundamental change in American culture.

The paper -- authored by Douglas Massey at Princeton University and Ruben Rumbaut and Frank Bean at the University of California-Irvine -- found Spanish giving way to English among Southern California's heavily Latino population. The study suggests that Mexican immigrants arriving in Southern California today can expect only five out of every 100 of their great-grandchildren to speak fluent Spanish. Among Mexican-Americans with two U.S.-born parents but three or more foreign-born grandparents, only 17 percent spoke fluent Spanish. Among those with only one or two foreign-born grandparents, Spanish fluency dropped to 7 percent. Only 5 percent of Mexican-Americans with U.S.-born parents and U.S.-born grandparents spoke Spanish fluently. Among the third generation of Mexican-Americans, 96 percent prefer to speak English in their homes.

I really do not think that reports like this are going to make an impact on the "English only folks." I never did understand the resistance to learn another language. Wouldn't knowing how to speak Spanish in an area like this make you a more viable candidate for employment? Many other countries require their schools to teach other languages, why don't we?

Immigrants

by reenee, Santa Maria

Get ready boys and girls, the next 66 days until the November 7th election will bring out the best and worst in people as always. One of this year's hot button topics is of course, immigration. Even Janet Napolitano, governor of Arizona, has announced that she's heading to Mexico during her re-election bid. It's the issue.

Both sides have valid arguments. To be fair, it also has to be said that both sides have idiotic arguments.

Let's start with this one: "We need to deport the 11 million illegal immigrants that are already here."

Yeah, good luck with that one.

How about this one? "Let's grant amnesty to all of them and allow them to become citizens."

That one isn't going to fly either.

It's obvious that something has to be done. It's also obvious that the nitwits in power aren't going to do anything. Perhaps the borders can be made more secure, but how would that help this country if Mexico is not doing anything to help their citizens? There are people living there without things that we take for granted. You know, simple things like running water inside of the house or a toilet, or perhaps electricity.

Most of us don't think about these conveniences since we have a decent roof over our heads, instead of cardboard or tar paper. The people that you see among us have already been through the most brutal of journeys just to labor in our agricultural fields. They are not here to make people angry, they are here to fill a need that no one else will. There are extended families living in less than desirable conditions in order to survive. Cultural differences aside, they all are not the sloppy and dirty and lacking in manners that so many say they are. Whether we like to admit it or not, the sloppy and dirty and lacking in manners type are in every ethinicity and socio-economic group on this planet.

The immigration issues that people are arguing over are not new. While working for the Jackson County Education District in Medford, Oregon, in the 80s, I met many, many immigrant families. They were hard working decent people who were there to harvest the fruit that you see beautifully packaged by Harry & David. I found family after family living in small shacks with smudge pots as heaters. Forget running water. If they were lucky, there was a sprinkler nearby.

I'd like to believe that the conditions for these workers have improved.

Now, the immigration proponents feel that marching in the streets again is going to make a difference to the lawmakers. Perhaps a few in Congress will try to appeal to this side, what with it being an election year, but in the end, nothing will be done, again. It's a complex issue and there are too many dodo birds in Congress, that we put there by the way, protecting their own special interests to tackle something this huge. Look at what happened when Alan Simpson, the former Senator from Wyoming tried to do something in the 80s. The only thing that really took off with any success back then was the hugely profitable industry that sprang up to make forged passports and forged green cards.

Meanwhile, immigrants from Mexico and further south will continue their attempt to enter this country at greater and greater peril to themselves. Let's face it, immigration has been an ongoing problem in this country since Leif Erickson and Christopher Columbus came ashore.