There is a major difference between being able to run a meeting and being a leader.

There was a lot of discussion at last week’s Ceres City Council public hearing on the appeal of the Planning Commission approval of the Maverik station. Councilwoman Rosalinda Vierra and Vice Mayor Daniel Martinez asked a slew of questions about project specifics. The mayor didn’t come up with a single question nor did he offer any comments on the matter. Perhaps congressional candidate Javier Lopez was afraid of alienating those in his voter base who disregard the concept of a free market system for their own economic benefit and wanted Maverik deep-sixed.

But there was also a telling exchange that made me believe the mayor doesn’t understand the term “appellant.” The appellant was businessman Sunny Ghai who had finished dispensing his “people will die” objection to Maverik building on Mitchell Road when the city attorney said: “This is the part (of the hearing) where the council is considering statements made by the appellant and the applicant (Maverik) before we open to public comment.” She added that she wasn’t sure if the next speaker was part of the appellant’s presentation. The mayor then asked, “Would the appellant like to make a comment?” City Attorney Nubia Goldstein then replied: “The appellant made a comment” ... and asked for any Maverik representative speak.

You have to wonder, folks.

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Knowing the council has made some bad decisions, I was fearful the four councilmembers (Cerina Otero had a conflict of interest and did not vote) were going to slay the Maverik project. Thankfully they did the right thing and rejected the appeal.

The zoning fits and the city really has no business turning down a gas station just off the freeway and zoned Highway Commercial.

It was downright silly for a businessman who was allowed to build his Popeye’s Chicken and impact traffic on Mitchell Road to protest another company the same right, spelling his doomsday predictions about how Maverik will “cause accidents … you only see cars smash, people get killed, driving, drinking, and as far as we know, loitering, panhandling.”

Sam Khacho, who owns the site which is part of SamBella Plaza for which he won approval years ago, revealed that the opposition has been trying “non-stop” to buy his property. So ask yourself why they wanted his land. Was it so they could build their own truck stop at that location? Certainly it wasn’t to just sit on it because they enjoy the sight of vacant weed-filled lots.

These appeals are usually about  the money, folks.

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Ever since it was revealed by the Civil Grand Jury that StanCOG executive director Rosa Deleon Park was spending taxpayer money like a drunken sailor in port, I wondered if StanCOG Policy Board President Javier Lopez (the mayor) was also fleecing taxpayers. The Bee suggests he was taking advantage of rental cars.

The Bee reporyed that they contacted Lopez for comment and that he didn’t respond. I had to laugh when Lopez issued a statement claiming that he didn’t receive “any email, call, or message requesting comment” from the Bee. What’s new? He doesn’t return my phone calls either which is in direct contradiction to his boast that he has “always been open and available to clarify the record and remain committed to transparency.”

When then candidate Javier Lopez first ran for mayor in 2020, he refused to fill out the Courier’s candidate questionnaire. He has not answered calls for an interview such as the full-page Q&A articles we published on Bret Silveira, Rosalinda Vierra and James Casey.

When I called him earlier this year for a comment about his announcement of running for Congress, he had Duane Dichiara of Axiom Strategies (his political consultant in Sacramento) return the call.

Hardly accessible to the media.

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Gavin Newsom is so out of step with voters that it’s almost humorous at how clueless that man is.

Newsom must be desperate. The Democrats are unraveling faster than a candy bar wrapper in a sugar addict’s hand so he wants to hijack the system already put in place by the voters.

California’s clown-in-chief wants to do away with the independent citizen commission that draws congressional lines because they can’t win with status quo. He threatened last week: “DONALD ‘TACO’ TRUMP, AS MANY CALL HIM, ‘MISSED’ THE DEADLINE!!! CALIFORNIA WILL NOW DRAW NEW, MORE ‘BEAUTIFUL MAPS,’ THEY WILL BE HISTORIC AS THEY WILL END THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY (DEMS TAKE BACK THE HOUSE!),” Newsom wrote on Aug. 12, in a post written in the style of President Donald Trump’s occasionally all-caps social media posts.

If he hates Trump for such behavior, why is he modeling after him now?

But the voters see through his desperate efforts. A brand new Citrin Center / UC Berkeley Possibility Lab / POLITICO poll shows independents oppose Newsom’s plan by a nearly three-to-one margin. Seventy-two percent want to keep the independent redistricting commission.

Only 28 percent are willing to let the Legislature take back control of congressional map drawing.

Of Republicans, 66 percent want to keep the commission and of the Democrats 61 percent want to keep the commission.

California has far too many messes which Newsom created to be messing with Texas state politics. He must be banking on short voter memories when as an ex-governor he seeks the White House to inflict damage to the other 49 states. I think he realizes that he has alienated much of this state and scared those living in other states by his radical agenda.

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I had an interesting conversation with City Engineer Michael Beltran at Friday’s Coffee with a Cop event.

I brought up the topic of the Ceres water tower since a councilmember asked for it to be placed on a future council meeting agenda and it has yet to appear.

What he had to say is not going to sit well by those who have affection for the tower and want to see it painted or preserved. He speaks from strictly an engineer’s perspective and one who has experience with seismic engineering. It comes down to how much the city can spend to retrofit the tower so it can withstand a serious earthquake; or does the city repaint it and accept the risk if it were to fall and take out buildings or people?

Now, is it at serious risk of falling? Probably not  unless we get hammered with a massive earthquake. But the Ceres area has never been known to be hit by one like 1906 in San Francisco or 1964 in Alaska. The nearest fault is the Great Valley Fault west of Los Banos and generally along I-5 but it hasn’t shaken in recent memory. But, never say never.

Merced was faced with the same issue with its water tower. Beltran said it was going to cost the city of Merced $2.5 million to seismically retrofit the tower or pay $278,000 to have it torn down. City officials tore it down.

I asked Beltran if he thought the tower was that weak and he replied: “It’s not about is it that weak. It’s what (seismic) code does it not meet and none of them meet our seismic codes.”

I’d bet the tower, built in the early 1930s, won’t fall over the next half century or so years after many of us will be gone so why not paint it if the money can be found?

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There is a movement afoot to get on the November 2026 ballot an initiative that would require voters to show an ID before they can voting in-person and require a verified ID number (such as the last four digits of a Social Security number or a license number) when voting by mail. The move would undoubtedly cut down on a voter fraud and help restore confidence in the voting process.

The initiative would also mandate that voter rolls be cleaned and verified for citizenship; provide free voter ID cards to any eligible voter who requests one; require annual compliance audits by the State Auditor; and allow citizens to sue to enforce election integrity standards.

A total of 35 states require some form of voter ID, but blue state California is one of only 14 states — plus D.C. — that do not. Even worse, state Democrats have taken extreme steps to prevent local governments from passing their own voter ID laws.

What are Democrats afraid of? All votes being legitimate?

I flew to Michigan last week and had to show my ID to get on the plane. We have to show an ID when buying alcohol at a store or cashing a check at the bank.  There are others examples where we must prove who we claim to be. But when it comes to voting there is no proof required and that is absolutely absurd.

I’ve heard the Dems argument that voter ID laws suppress the vote of the disadvantage community but that’s a spurious argument when everybody is supposed to carry a form of ID.

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I’m probably not the only one who has noticed that the mayor hasn’t balked about Ceres getting too many food truck courts, AKA taco trucks.

To refresh your memory, last year Mayor Lopez raised a ruckus about Ceres having too many chicken restaurants on Hatch Road after the Ceres Planning Commission approved – rather appropriately – Pollo Campero for 1355 E. Hatch Road. The business wanted to bring their Guatemalan style of chicken to Ceres but the mayor threatened to file an appeal and the restaurant decided to brush their hands of Ceres.

So when the commission was faced with two new applications for “grub hub” style food courts earlier this year, Commissioner Gary Condit didn’t want to make a decision and wanted the council to weigh in on how many grub hubs are too many. When the item came back, the council had not weighed in and the commission was told they had to decide.

So will the mayor be consistent in appealing the latest approvals? Or does he pick and choose what businesses come to town?

* * * * *

David Yonan, an elected member of the Turlock Irrigation District who lives in the River Oaks Golf Course area, is tired of the homeless population that has infested the area. He emailed the council and noted that Code Enforcement is doing a good job in telling the folks to clear out “only to have them back within the hour.”

He asked the council to pass a “No Loitering” ordinance be passed to prevent the homeless from camping out on the sidewalks or near them and ticket them.

I have to ask, is that going to work? I mean, do you think a homeless person with a citation is actually going to pay a fine or show up in court? And I don’t think we can arrest our way out of the problem. Besides, how many people are out there with active arrest warrants who skate by?

I like Donald Trump’s efforts to crack down on the problem plaguing the nation’s capital. But of course CNN slanted his effort with this headline: “Chaos, fear and confusion’: Trump-backed crackdown hits DC’s homeless population.”

Why would there be any chaos or confusion about wanting to get squalor of homeless camps cleaned up? White House officials said they’ll send homeless people to shelters — or to jails if they refuse to get off the streets. But of course the defenders of squalor claim this is unlawful, counterproductive and costly by disrupting existing efforts to move homeless people into shelters or permanent housing, according to CNN. Clearly the “existing efforts” aren’t effective.

A federal survey pegs the U.S. homeless population at 770,000.

Of course, Democrats are critical of Trump federalizing the police force in D.C. Why would they be against National Guardsmen keeping the peace in our crime ridden capital city? It’s simple. They want D.C. to become a state so they can have a Democrat congressman and two U.S. senators.

* * * * *

As a newspaper editor, I daily read far too many fatal accident reports sent to us by the California Highway Patrol. Deadly crashes happen just about every day in our Central Valley.

Unfortunately a lot of the tragedy is caused by inexperience, stupidity and recklessness among young drivers. An accident on Aug. 13 in Auberry northeast of Fresno ended the life of a 22-year-old man riding in the backseat of a pickup driven by a 21-year-old Clovis man who was going too fast around a curve.

First of all, this happened at 1:45 a.m. The CHP press release stated: “The driver was unable to negotiate a curve, causing the vehicle to travel off the roadway.” It would be more accurate to say: “The driver was going too fast and lost control of the vehicle.” The pickup hit a tree and while the driver and front seat passenger survived as they were belted in, the unfortunate soul in the backseat lost his life because he wasn’t buckled in. 

What a tragic choice to make. Don’t be another statistic by following his example.

* * * * *

Have you ever met a psychopath who always accuses someone else of the things they are guilty of?

The same could apply to those who run the Democrat Party.

Newsom wants to dismantle the current system of having non-elected non-partisans draw district maps. The voters like it that way but, by God, Newsom doesn’t care. He wants politicians to control district boundaries.

DCCC Executive Director Julie Merz released a statement after the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee submitted a congressional map for consideration by the California state legislature:

“We will not stand by as Republicans attempt to rig the election in their favor and choose their voters.”

Isn’t Newsom trying to rig the election in his favor?

Next paragraph of their press release: “It’s increasingly clear that Republicans will do anything to protect their narrow majority because they know they can’t win on their disastrous legislative record which has raised costs and rips away health care for millions, all to give the ultra-wealthy a tax break.”

Wait, Republicans can’t win on their disastrous legislative record?” If that’s true, why are the Democrats worried?

The truth is the Dems are in trouble. Who took the White House? Who took the Senate? Who took the House of Representatives? And they can’t win on their record? If that’s the case, why does Newsom need to gerrymander?

In 2024, Adam Gray won his 13th Congressional District seat by 187 votes. The Republicans could take it back if they find a candidate to replace Javier Lopez who seems to be blowing it.

But I digress. California has 52 members of Congress; and 43 are Democrats and nine are Republicans. And Democrats want to draw new lines to get and/or keep more Democrats?

Another fact: 46.82 percent of California voters are Democrats and 23.9 percent are Republican, basically two to one while No Party Preference is 22.23 percent. Other is 7.05 percent. There are more voters who are not Democrats in California than there are Democrats.

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