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Atwater gives the state a taste of its own medicine
Opinion

Good for Atwater.

The leaders there dished out a bit of what the state has been dishing out when it comes to sanctuary state status.

Atwater City Council voted recently to become a “sanctuary city” relating to ignoring state laws closing businesses during the COVID lockdown. Makes sense, after all the liberals in charge of state government decided they can ignore federal immigration law so why not cities ignore state law. The state modeled anarchy so why shouldn’t cities?

It’s too bad it’s come down to this.

When restrictions were lifted a bit on Wednesday Stanislaus County restaurants were afraid to get off the ground lest the boots of state government come down on their throats.

Atwater Mayor Paul Creighton was interviewed by Glen Beck on the radio Tuesday morning, May 19. The nationally syndicated talk show host thanked Creighton for standing up for the Constitution and for businesses by taking the action. Creighton credited Vice Mayor Brian Raymond for the idea.

Creighton told Beck about the total financial devastation resulting from the state lockdown and noted that Atwater was 10 days declaring an emergency. He said everybody went along with the two-week shutdown only to watch the state drag it out longer and longer. He spoke about farmers dumping milk and killing animals because of a lack of processing facilities; and about how doctors and nurses are sent home for a lack of need.

It’s too bad Ceres City Council didn’t beat Atwater to the punch.


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The political correctness of the Left gets old.

The latest eyeball roll comes from Sen. Kamala Harris, who was overwhelmingly rejected for the presidency not because she’s a woman but because her liberal ideas were rejected.

Harris – unfortunately elected by the liberals of California and not the people of our conservative Valley – last week condemned references to the Chinese coronavirus or the Wuhan virus. She and her Democrat cohorts have jumped on the China propaganda bandwagon by introducing a virtue signaling resolution condemning references to the China virus as the Wuhan virus.


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There’s an old colloquialism about “squealing like a stuck pig.”

That’s what the California Teachers Union is doing now that the governor’s May revise of the state budget is out. The CTA has an insatiable appetite for burning through taxpayer money. Because of Newsom’s mandated shutdown of business in the state and squandering of money on the pandemic, the state’s surplus is gone and is staring at a multi-billion budget deficit. Newsom said he’s talking about a $54 billion sea of red ink.

The CTA doesn’t like the funding cuts coming their way and are squealing like stuck pigs. Last Thursday the CTA released a statement saying: “Schools and colleges cannot physically reopen safely with the funding level proposed in the May revision … We understand the severity of the drastic decrease in revenues, but that cannot interfere with prioritizing equity by providing resources for all students.”

Hear that? They’re saying “no way in hell can we be cut.” A bit ironic wouldn’t you say when Californians have been forced to join the Great Depression ranks of the unemployed? Did you see any teachers issued layoff slips when parents were forced to educate their children at home?

The CTA’s solution is to milk the cow harder. “We look to the administration and the legislature to identify and agree on alternate revenue sources, in addition to supporting the suspension of tax credits, to ensure K-12 schools can provide quality and safe educational environments for California’s six million students.”

Next, of course, they will be engaged in a hard court press to eliminate the property tax cap in Prop. 13 passed in 1978.


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State Senator Anna Caballero, who represents Ceres, is heralding legislation Senate Bill 1385 “The Neighborhood Homes Act” that would cities to approve residential development infill projects on commercially zoned retail and office space to accommodate affordable housing.

I’ve covered city government for decades and I know this will go over like a lead balloon.

Planners zone for commercial uses for a reason – to allow commercial uses.

Caballero’s idea is that since retailers are struggling with Amazon and eBay and other online shopping, there is less need for commercial. But can you imagine what her legislation would do? Allow cities to put low-income apartments along routes like Mitchell Road?

Her press release acknowledges that California is woefully inadequate in the number of dwelling units. According to the California Budget and Policy Center, over 50 percent of renters and nearly 40 percent of homeowners pay more than 30 percent of their income in rent.

Keep in mind Caballero is a proponent of sanctuary state and cities, which, if you think about it, California’s state policy induced housing shortage would be alleviate if the state wasn’t protecting illegal aliens from being deported back to the country from whence they came. 

But Caballero is silent as a cricket about the state regulation, excessive environmental studies required and its costs and delays as well as the high cost of building permits and fees before you can put a shovel in the ground. Democrats like her don’t want to dream of making adjustments to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) which should be renamed the “Making it Nearly Impossible, Exorbitantly Expensive and Slow as Snails to Build Anything in California Act.” But wow, was she ever quick to strip cities of the power to regulate horn-honking peddlers roaming the streets selling ice creams and other food items because she thinks “immigrants … bring an entrepreneurial spirit and they really want to be able to not only provide for their family, but they’re interested in starting new businesses.” But it sounds like she wants to pave over commercial land with high-density residential units.

All I ever see is the state grabbing more control and ever pre-empting local cities and counties from controlling their own destiny.


* * * * 

And I thought Gavin Newsom was the worst governor in the 50 states. 

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown (what is it about Brown?) may be the worst. She just signed a bill that provides free abortions for all women, including illegal aliens, and making insurance companies and taxpayers pay for the infanticide.

Whenever they pass horrible bills they always give them grossly twisted sugarcoated names. This bill was dubbed the “Reproductive Health Equity Act” when it more aptly should have been labeled the “Legalized Murder of Babies at Taxpayer Expense Act.”

Brown is an evil doer.


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