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If you’re not breaking the law then no fear
Opinion

Hey if you’re the gutless person sending anonymous notes to me, have some decency to at least sign your name. Especially when you’re trying to get me to investigate sour grapes of a former city official.

I have my suspicions on who you are because of the content and because I know your M.O. Your last note read: “Hey Jeff the expert of all Ceres issues …Ryno didn’t say 5 words during the Nov 12 Council meeting. Did she not do her homework??? I thought it was a sin to be a hypocrite!”

This was an obvious retort of my Oct. 23 column in which I asked if Channce Condit had done his homework because he was mostly quiet during the Ceres Municipal Code update discussion.

I record council meetings so I have a record of every word spoken. True, Ryno didn’t have much anything to say but the anonymous (gutless) note writer may think he delivered a gotcha moment to me but failed to observe that there was no Municipal Code update discussed on Nov. 12. The only discussion was on Condit’s beautification committee but what more could she have added to the fact that she already said she was in favor of the committee?


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I don’t think I’ve been so shocked in my life than listening to the Board of Supervisors meeting during the community forum in which Sheriff Jeff Dirkse gave a report on arrested persons turned over to ICE.

About 20 liberal activists – including the ACLU – hijacked the forum by suggesting that this body of elected officials who swore to uphold the Constitution should thumb their nose at federal immigration law.

I was most shocked by a Democrat who sits on the Waterford City Council who suggested she is concerned that the Sheriff’s Department might employ license plate reader technology to catch lawbreakers. What Elizabeth Talbott means by that is she’s concerned that illegal aliens might be caught driving around in cars not registered, which would then enter them into the court system. She showed her true colors as a Democrat by stating: “I can only assume it’s my white skin and privilege that I don’t have to worry about it.” Actually, Lizzy, you’re likely not worrying because your car is licensed and registered. I say you probably should have fear if you are breaking the law. The Bible has some wisdom regarding fear for breaking the law. The New Living Translation of Romans 13:3 reads: “For the authorities do not strike fear in people who are doing right, but in those who are doing wrong. Would you like to live without fear of the authorities? Do what is right, and they will honor you.”

The fact that Councilwoman Talbott would turn a blind eye and give special preference to an illegal alien who dodges the law is an affront to the oath she took to uphold the Constitution. That kind of action deserves recall.

What especially galled me was when Liz suggested many in Waterford are not white and from indigenous roots and suggested “they didn’t cross the border, the border crossed them.” By definition, illegal aliens are from another country who’ve snuck across our borders and violated our laws. The border didn’t cross them. Nobody alive today was around when California  became part of the United States in 1848 through the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and the exchange of $15 million to Mexico.

Learn your history, Democrats, instead of trying to rewrite it.

Even more shocking was the disrespectful young woman from Hughson, Julissa Ruiz Ramirez of Hughson, who suggested she was intimidated “being in a room where the people that hold power are older white men.” Talk about racism – this time against white men!

I told you that the Left wants to undo our Constitution and our laws because they were written mostly by older white men.

And we thought Martin Luther King and his desire to have people be judged not by their color was something to ascribe to. Not to the Left it isn’t.


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You’re kidding me, right?

The town of Brookline Massachusetts wants 16-year-olds to vote?

Board member Raul Fernandez wants kids as young as 16 to vote in municipal elections. He said since they can work and pay taxes they should have a say. Others like me disagree, knowing that a 16 year-old doesn’t have a brain developed enough to make wise decisions and I agree. “I think we need to be older, and maybe in college, and when you start thinking independently to vote with care and so we know what we’re voting on,” said one 17-year-old girl at Brookline High School, reported CBS.

Since Obama required kids to fall under their parents insurance plans until 24, I’d say that might be the age they can start voting. Most kids don’t know doodly squat at age 16 and they surely aren’t affected by taxes in the larger sense. They are, however, directly under the influence of the school system which is largely liberal.


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Bret Durossette should probably start recording his words at council meetings. 

When it came to talk about revamping the noise ordinance in October, Vice Mayor Linda Ryno had issue with the 50-feet distance for noise, saying that could be too close a distance from someone blasting noise. City Attorney Tom Hallinan suggested striking a reference to distance, an idea that Ryno liked. Later the council came down to replacing 50 feet with “reasonable distance.” Durossette had suggested a more lenient approach.

Last week the noise issue came up again with Durossette asking, “What did I say last time?” Ryno answered: “You said you didn’t think it was your place to tell people to be quiet.”

“That’s not what I said,” Durossette protested.

It indeed was what Councilman Durossette said when he uttered: “I’ll be darned if I’m a councilperson to say, ‘Listen, we gotta be quiet in Ceres.’ This is a vibrant community; a lot of things are taking place. And I get it: noise is a pain.”

Most vibrant communities have quality of life standards, do they not?


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