If you’re one of these residents who expect police to be able to stop all illegal fireworks from being blasted on the Fourth of July, you’ll be disappointed every year. There is simply no way to stop the problem because it is widespread.

As long as illegal fireworks are smuggled into California from states that sell them, it will continue to be a problem. As long as there are folks who think they won’t burn down someone’s house with illegal fireworks or set a field on fire, this will be a problem.

But if you’re one who enjoys the sight of fireworks bursting overhead, you might condemn the complainers of illegal fireworks as “Karens.”

I spent some time speaking to Ceres Police Chief Trenton Johnson about his department’s enforcement this past holiday.

Fifteen administrative fines of $2,500 were either given to the violators directly or will be receiving one in the mail.

Chief Johnson was operating one of the police drones which was monitoring street activities from the 400 foot elevation. The drones can shoot infrared and regular video.

If police can see individuals coming from a house with fireworks and setting them down and lighting the fuse, they don’t necessarily need to see who is doing it. The homeowner gets nailed with the violation as the one responsible for allowing it, he said.

The chief also noted that the threat of a $2,500 doesn’t deter some. In fact he stated that he’s heard of parties chipping in money in case the police do cite the violator because they want the fun of it all.

In our talk, the idea occurred to me that perhaps the use of illegal mortars and bottle rockets would be curtailed if Ceres actually had its own professional fireworks show. Ceres has not had such a celebration as far as I know.

It’s an idea worthy of consideration considering how much money the city spends on salaries of officers during beefed up Fourth of July patrols.

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There has been a lot of discussion on social media about the June 24 ordeal that Officer Salin Chrim faced when she was shot in the leg when her gun went off. Video shows that the officer’s Sig Sauer P320 went off as it was in the holster as she was preparing to load up belongings into her police SUV.

The public is great to rush to judgment and many said there was no way her gun could go off like that. They immediately cast aspersions on the officer but video shows that she was doing absolutely nothing wrong.

Since the incident, Chief Johnson has banned his officers from using the P320. He told me that the gun is too unreliable despite the manufacturer claims that there are no problems with it. The chief imagined a time in which an officer might be holding that model on someone, say in a felony car stop, and it goes off. The chief rhetorically asked: “Who’s ever going to believe her that she didn’t pull the trigger? That scares me. You can’t take that risk.”

The department currently issues a Glock 22, a 40 caliber. It’s not a great gun, he said, and the department is working to find a better gun for officers.

Sig Sauer needs to come clean with the P320. For now, Chrim’s gun and holster have been sent off to the Department of Justice for study.

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Did you ever think you’d live in a country where politicians like Gavin Newsom would be encouraging folks to fight against federal immigration officers in their quest to round up those who violated U.S. border laws? I grew up in a country where Americans believed in doing things the right way.

How far we have come since President Bill Clinton condemned illegal immigration. Now we have Democrats like LA Mayor Karen Bass and Gov. Newsom trying to bait the federal agents to arrest them for impeding with law enforcement because they think it would be great theater to secure their political ambitions.

We all saw the lawlessness in Camarillo of protestors becoming criminals as they tried to interfere with deportation efforts. Rhetoric from Newsom is only exacerbating and encouraging the lawlessness.

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Albert Avila enjoyed making a snide comment on our Facebook page in answer to my column, “The media outright spreading lies about Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill.” 

Avila wrote: “We can’t afford big Corporations not paying their fair share of taxes or subsidies to corporations that are making profits! Start from the top! Sh- - rolls downhill! Typically clown response!”

Clown response, Mr. Avila?

Here’s a dose of truth for you:

• Forty percent of American households don’t pay any federal income tax!

• Per the Tax Foundation, the top 50 percent of all taxpayers paid 97 percent of all federal individual income taxes, while the bottom 50 percent paid the remaining 3 percent.

• The top one percent of taxpayers (those with an adjusted gross income of $663,164 and higher) paid the highest average income tax rate of 26.1 percent — seven times the rate faced by the bottom half of taxpayers.

 Clearly, the tax burden falls on the rich and not on the poor. We have a socialist system that robs from the upper and middle class and gifts it to the poor. 

Surely Avila doesn’t have a problem with government weening the lazy able-bodied men and women from the welfare rolls. I believe most of us who pay taxes don’t think it’s unfair that the able-bodied be asked twice a year to prove they have been actively looking for work or volunteering at least 20 hours a week (four hours per weekday) to a charity as a way of “earning” the subsidy of Medicare. Bill Clinton didn’t. Currently society gets nothing back for subsidizing the government dependent.

Keep in mind that shareholders bear most of the corporate income tax burden and they are socked with taxes.

Tax breaks are offered to corporations to stimulate economic growth, foster innovation, address market failures, create jobs and encourage sustainable practices.

The answer to bringing back jobs to America that fled after NAFTA is to lower the tax burden on corporations.

So, again, why is it wrong for the couch sloths to be forced to be productive while the rest of us shoulder the country’s tax burden?

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I once gave thought earlier in my life about entering politics and I did get elected to a city council in the 1990s. But as I’ve grown older I find politics to be an amusing game of self-promotion for self-gain and rarely about helping others.

So digging in my email spam folder I found a press release from Anna Caballero, the state senator who formerly represented Ceres in the Legislature and who is now running for state treasurer. Caballero is running for higher office, of course, because she can’t run for State Senate again. She’s being termed out and we know how addicting that sense of power is.

It’s humorous to see how politicians will stretch onto things they think will gain brownie points with the common man. It seems to be a bit disingenuous for anyone who is boasting that she just raised $1.5 million for her campaign to proclaim: “I am the proud granddaughter of copper miners. My family taught me that there is value in hard work, power in collective action, and that every dollar counts.”

Great, Anna, three generations in your family lineage somebody worked really hard in the mines but that certainly doesn’t apply to you. Truth is, your policies and that of your Democrat cohorts would hurt your grandparents were they living. Hell, they might even be homeless.

And honestly if you think every dollar counts, why were you part of the leadership team that has spent California finances into oblivion? You don’t say “no” to things that California cannot afford and you sure did support giving free medical care to the border jumpers. But that IS your preferred constituency, isn’t it? After all, you did support sanctuary state policies which drew so many destitute immigrants who then needed state services. Why else would you say, “As I run to become the first Latina to manage California’s finances …” Couldn’t you just as easily said, “As I run to manage California’s finances …”? Is being Latina important to any voter and if so, why? What does that say about the voters’ criteria for electing the best candidates? I mean, I’d support anybody of any color if they were as tight with the state’s purse strings as the average Californian is with their household income. You have been party to giving away the store and now look at the billions of dollars in the hole you drove this state.

Caballero goes on to say that her campaign is in a strong financial position (OK, but what about the state’s financial ruin?) and you are ready to “empower working families with a bold vision for our future.” I’d love to see the plan because Californians have the bleakest future out of all 50 state dwellers. People are leaving and more would if mortgage interest rates dropped. You’ve helped drive Californians into the poor house by your high taxes, excessive regulations that either kill or drive businesses out of California and create such onerous environmental restrictions that you couldn’t build a cheap house in California if you wanted to.

Anna Caballero has no business being state treasurer, in my opinion. But we all know the vast majority of voters here are not tuned into what’s going on or can’t figure out that it is the Newsom and Bonta types why their condition is so bleak and futures so dark.

* * * * *

I enjoy being around the agricultural community. There always seems to be wholesome, good and honest qualities about folks who work the land and raise animals and that makes me comfortable.

So I was not surprised to see a wise young man at the Stanislaus County Fair with a T-shirt and the back read: “If genders confuse you, go milk a bull.”

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Don’t be fooled. The matter between Chad Condit and state Senator Marie Alvarado-Gil isn’t over. Both have suits in the courts so just because the Senate Rules Committee hasn’t substantiated allegations doesn’t mean the courts won’t. Just saying.

This column is the opinion of Jeff Benziger, and does not necessarily represent the opinion of The Ceres Courier or 209 Multimedia Corporation.  How do you feel about this? Let Jeff know at jeffb@cerescourier.com