• In defense of deWerk
I want to call in response to "Practice what you preach" call in the May 13 "Sound Off!" I know they're referring to an accident with a car and motorcycle at Whitmore and Crows Landing and I happen to have been witness to that accident. While Chief deWerk did quote some regulations and things, the part that's not in there is that accident wasn't responded to by Ceres P.D. because Whitmore and Crows Landing is in Modesto, not Ceres, and it was the Highway Patrol that responded to it, which he has no control. Busting his chops on that was quite unnecessary and off base.
• Thanks for hill clean-up
Many thanks to whoever cleaned up the hill behind the Ceres High School football field. Our backyard view is amazingly improved!
• Start English only push
I'm already tired of seeing state offices would get together and finally put an end to putting Spanish on signs or in the stores. You know, stand out and be the first ones to say "No more Spanish - English only." Every Hispanic person I know speaks English and understands it very well. I'm just tired of seeing it and I hope companies or stores or state office will be the first ones to do this. It would be nice to start a chain reaction of everybody deciding to say English only. I understand Latino people and have great respect for them but they also need to understand and know English, point-blank. And this is the opinion of many people I know.
• Spanish signs at store
I need to get this off my chest. There is a grocery store on Central Avenue near Ceres High School. As a longtime resident and one who speaks English, I don't see why they put up banners that are written only in Spanish. There are tall signs that read "carniceria" and "abarotes" hanging on the light poles. I don't speak Spanish so I don't know what they're advertising. There is no English on the flip side. Maybe they just don't want English speakers shopping there. I have to conclude that. So, I won't be shopping there any more. I am sorry it has to be this way but this offends me.
• Downtown needs bark
I'm a merchant here in downtown Ceres. I am always amused to see the men who come by with their gas motor blowers to blow dust all over the streets. I believe that the men are being paid by the assessments that we downtown businesses pay. But all these guys are doing is putting pollution in the air when Valley air is bad enough and blowing dust. They blow it off the sidewalk and it falls down into streets and back onto the sidewalks. It's a waste of time. The passing cars just blow it back onto the sidewalk.
How about better street sweeping to get rid of the dust?
Also, since we downtown merchants are paying that assessment, can't that money buy some landscaping bark nuggets to fill in the flowerbeds which had bark and after the years is all gone. I invite the city fathers to take a walk down here and look at the flower beds. All it would take is a new bed of bark and it's not expensive and besides us merchants are paying for it.
I say get rid of the guys with blowers and buy some bark and keep up with the flower beds!
• Millions better spent
If the governor and his political pals had taken all those millions of dollars that they invested in deceitful advertising to try to get the voters to be stupid enough to pass their propositions on May 18 and put it into the budget, California wouldn't have a budget problem. Instead they just try to deceive the voters so they can get more tax dollars in their pockets to go on deceiving the voters more. Thank God the voters were smart enough to vote no!
• Yearbook disappointing
This message is for the CHS yearbook staff. My two children go to Ceres High School and I bought them each an expensive yearbook. My son played football and my daughter played softball at CHS. They were both surprised when they noticed the yearbook pictures were not of their team's leaders or standouts.
My niece is on the dance team and most of the pictures in the yearbook were of the beginners' class, not the dance team that worked so hard to be good.
Same thing with the swim team. My son said he couldn't believe the pictures weren't of the standouts. What is wrong with putting in pictures of the leaders or standouts in the yearbook? They work very hard to be good at their activities. Shouldn't they be the ones represented in pictures? I know they were when I went to school.
Also, doesn't Ceres High School pay a full-time activites director good money to check this stuff.
I will not buy my kids an expensive yearbook next year.
• Good job on horseshoe pits
I'd like to say what a good job Ceres has done on the horseshoe pits in Smyrna Park. Some friends of mine and several of us had a tournament on Thursday afternoon about 4 o'clock. We're going to do it again this Thursday if anybody would like to play horseshoes or watch people play horseshoes. You're welcome to join us and have a good time. None of us has ever seen horseshoe pits taken care of this like this place has. Come and join us and have some fun. If you don't have horseshoes, somebody will let you use theirs.
I want to call in response to "Practice what you preach" call in the May 13 "Sound Off!" I know they're referring to an accident with a car and motorcycle at Whitmore and Crows Landing and I happen to have been witness to that accident. While Chief deWerk did quote some regulations and things, the part that's not in there is that accident wasn't responded to by Ceres P.D. because Whitmore and Crows Landing is in Modesto, not Ceres, and it was the Highway Patrol that responded to it, which he has no control. Busting his chops on that was quite unnecessary and off base.
• Thanks for hill clean-up
Many thanks to whoever cleaned up the hill behind the Ceres High School football field. Our backyard view is amazingly improved!
• Start English only push
I'm already tired of seeing state offices would get together and finally put an end to putting Spanish on signs or in the stores. You know, stand out and be the first ones to say "No more Spanish - English only." Every Hispanic person I know speaks English and understands it very well. I'm just tired of seeing it and I hope companies or stores or state office will be the first ones to do this. It would be nice to start a chain reaction of everybody deciding to say English only. I understand Latino people and have great respect for them but they also need to understand and know English, point-blank. And this is the opinion of many people I know.
• Spanish signs at store
I need to get this off my chest. There is a grocery store on Central Avenue near Ceres High School. As a longtime resident and one who speaks English, I don't see why they put up banners that are written only in Spanish. There are tall signs that read "carniceria" and "abarotes" hanging on the light poles. I don't speak Spanish so I don't know what they're advertising. There is no English on the flip side. Maybe they just don't want English speakers shopping there. I have to conclude that. So, I won't be shopping there any more. I am sorry it has to be this way but this offends me.
• Downtown needs bark
I'm a merchant here in downtown Ceres. I am always amused to see the men who come by with their gas motor blowers to blow dust all over the streets. I believe that the men are being paid by the assessments that we downtown businesses pay. But all these guys are doing is putting pollution in the air when Valley air is bad enough and blowing dust. They blow it off the sidewalk and it falls down into streets and back onto the sidewalks. It's a waste of time. The passing cars just blow it back onto the sidewalk.
How about better street sweeping to get rid of the dust?
Also, since we downtown merchants are paying that assessment, can't that money buy some landscaping bark nuggets to fill in the flowerbeds which had bark and after the years is all gone. I invite the city fathers to take a walk down here and look at the flower beds. All it would take is a new bed of bark and it's not expensive and besides us merchants are paying for it.
I say get rid of the guys with blowers and buy some bark and keep up with the flower beds!
• Millions better spent
If the governor and his political pals had taken all those millions of dollars that they invested in deceitful advertising to try to get the voters to be stupid enough to pass their propositions on May 18 and put it into the budget, California wouldn't have a budget problem. Instead they just try to deceive the voters so they can get more tax dollars in their pockets to go on deceiving the voters more. Thank God the voters were smart enough to vote no!
• Yearbook disappointing
This message is for the CHS yearbook staff. My two children go to Ceres High School and I bought them each an expensive yearbook. My son played football and my daughter played softball at CHS. They were both surprised when they noticed the yearbook pictures were not of their team's leaders or standouts.
My niece is on the dance team and most of the pictures in the yearbook were of the beginners' class, not the dance team that worked so hard to be good.
Same thing with the swim team. My son said he couldn't believe the pictures weren't of the standouts. What is wrong with putting in pictures of the leaders or standouts in the yearbook? They work very hard to be good at their activities. Shouldn't they be the ones represented in pictures? I know they were when I went to school.
Also, doesn't Ceres High School pay a full-time activites director good money to check this stuff.
I will not buy my kids an expensive yearbook next year.
• Good job on horseshoe pits
I'd like to say what a good job Ceres has done on the horseshoe pits in Smyrna Park. Some friends of mine and several of us had a tournament on Thursday afternoon about 4 o'clock. We're going to do it again this Thursday if anybody would like to play horseshoes or watch people play horseshoes. You're welcome to join us and have a good time. None of us has ever seen horseshoe pits taken care of this like this place has. Come and join us and have some fun. If you don't have horseshoes, somebody will let you use theirs.
