It’s apparent to me that California doesn’t deal with criminal offenders in the manner in which they should be.

In February 2024 I wrote a story about a DUI driver being arrested in Ceres. Jose Perez Hernandez fled the scene of a crash on Hatch Road and was apprehended inside the Voyager’s Cove Mobile Home Park. He lied to Ceres Police about his identity because he was wanted for felony assault.

Apparently the courts were light on him and he certainly did not seek out any help for his addiction to alcohol because last week he got behind the wheel of his car drunk again, entered an oncoming lane in rural Delhi and struck an SUV driven by my uncle, my dad’s brother. My 83-year-old Aunt Faye died from injuries sustained in the crash. My 84-year-old uncle suffered broken ribs and must go without his wife. The pain this drunken fool has inflicted on the family of my dad’s brother is incalculable.

Time and time again I write stories about the same old characters being arrested over and over and over as if jail/prison has a revolving door. The system is not working. It’s sad that the majority of Californians keep electing the lawmakers who believe in low incarceration policies because short of locking some folks up longer they go right back to their harmful and criminal ways.

An elderly woman in Delhi was robbed of the rest of her days with her family because of the irresponsible actions of one man who didn’t learn the first time. It’s time the law came down harder on repeat offenders and it’s time that voters realize they should not vote for any progressive candidate who treats offenders like victims.

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I agree with Shirley Rogers when she suggests that the city makes things so complicated when it doesn’t need to be.

Case in point: The city has a Military Banners Committee (or Military Appreciation Committee as listed on its website) and needs two members. The city advertised for applicants but nobody in the city limits of Ceres applied; but two residents living just outside but within the CUSD boundaries did apply.

The council was consulted last week what to do, even after Ceres resident/veteran John Warren said the original idea was to limit members to reside within the school district which goes beyond city limits.

You’d think, okay, proceed and appoint the two who bothered to apply. No, they had to complicate the matter and duplicate the effort and go back out to the public to see if once again anybody within the city limits cares to apply and ask the existing committee how they feel about appointing an “outsider.”

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I can’t let this slip by given what the mayor said last week. Javier Lopez outlined why he doesn’t support a moratorium on gas stations and car washes: “We also have to understand we need to bring more businesses to Ceres. But it does not mean government picking which lawful business can and can’t be allowed to come into the city of Ceres.”

Alright, fine. Then why did the mayor feel it was okay to challenge the right of Pollo Campero to build on a properly zoned Hatch Road lot and try to force them into locating in west Ceres where they didn’t want to be? He felt Ceres has too many chicken restaurants (his words) but doesn’t feel there are not enough car washes and gas stations.

Don’t get me wrong – I believe in letting the free market fill demand but Lopez put his foot in his mouth on this one.

After the mayor placed the unwelcome mat in front of Pollo Campero in 2024, the company said adios, Ceres. So what is now coming to the same location at 1355 E. Hatch Road? Another car wash! Oh the irony.

I wonder if the mayor called Pollo Campero to apologize as he said he called Quick Quack to apologize for the Planning Commission not speaking for the city and that they are most certainly welcome on Hatch Road.

I suspect the mayor wants to reign in Commissioner Gary M. Condit because he’s a political threat and running for James Casey’s seat. In 2024 Condit ran a campaign critical of the mayor’s track record and likely would have defeated Lopez had Rosalinda Vierra not entered the race and split the vote. Lopez won with 6,195 votes; while Condit received 5,508 votes and Vierra 2,330 votes. Lopez won with 44.15 percent of the vote while 55.85 percent voted for someone else.

Elections matter, folks. Elections matter.

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What is the world is the council doing by not automatically hiring Steve Williams as permanent city manager? Seems like a no-brainer decision but there it is on the city’s website under Job Openings: “The City of Ceres, California is currently recruiting for its next City Manager – Annual Salary $184,992 to $226,800.”

This council does not have a great track record in hiring city managers. Alex Terrazas was let go and Dunford demonstrated less-than-impressive service.

Williams, however, has impressed with exemplary performance during a very tough budget session and appears to be quite organized and professional. Williams has been quite impressive to those who watch city government. He is the first breath of fresh air since Tom Westbrook left the city and the council possibly is not going to keep him on?

Elections matter, folks. Elections matter.

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Politics often brings out the worst in people.

Donald Trump has certainly not taken the high road in dealing with adversaries and his caustic wit and insults are what have earned him much of the hatred aimed his direction. Many feel he is a bully.

But look who has ripped a page out of Trump’s playbook and trying the same nastiness. None other than Gavin Newsom. He is trying to be a Trump clone while despising the man’s policies. He thinks nasty tweets will work since it worked for Trump. But Gavin Newsom is no Donald Trump.

Many folks see Newsom as a slimy politician with a supreme ego whose boasts don’t match his record.

Last week MSN reported Newsom engaged in some trash talk after popular Joe Rogan reshared an old clip criticizing Newsom as a terrible pick for the looming 2024 election in 2023. Rogan said of Newsom: “Nobody wants President Newsom either. Nobody believes in that guy. That guy’s a [expletive] con man. I mean, everything he did in California, from trying to mandate vaccines for kids when it was totally unnecessary to being caught out in public without a mask and lying about the fact that he was outdoors. All of it. It’s just, nobody believes in the guy. He’s just a politician, just a stone-cold, narrative-driven politician, you know, and nobody thinks he’s a real human.”

The supremely arrogant governor said Rogan is “obsessed with my good looks.” (No, Newsom is obsessed with his own “good looks.”) Newsom reacted on April 30, again in all caps: “Joe ‘Little Guy’ Rogan is too chicken to have me on his failing podcast because he know I’d crush him, so he takes cheap shots from the peanut gallery as he gets relegated to irrelevancy. ‘All talk, no action. I’m ready when you are, “Little Guy.” Or keep hiding!!!!”

Newsom’s is nowhere near successful as Rogan’s podcast but delusion is one of the traits of the governor.

Maybe it’s a good thing that Newsom isn’t on the job much and out of the state because he manages to make things worse for California.

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Pundits like Jon Stewart don’t get it. Because Democrat Senator John Fetterman hasn’t swallowed the socialist Kool-Aid and votes with Republicans, Stewart blames it on a stroke. “To be fair to him, he had a stroke,” said Stewart. “I do think that creates processing issues. I don’t think it’s a great environment for him in longform, necessarily. I don’t wanna lay all of it on that because I don’t think all of it should be laid on that. But I definitely think he may have a more thoughtful mode of communicating that we are not necessarily privy to.”

Most of America looks at Stewart and the growing lunacy of the left and wonder what is missing upstairs

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Galen Guzman has come out of nowhere in the last year or so to appear at council meetings. Now he is running for a council seat, which is fine but he seems to be a bit misguided at times, insinuating that corruption is in every dark corner at City Hall.

Guzman shots from the hip last week in suggesting that something corrupt is going on with the city’s use of Northstar Engineering (owned by former Mayor and state Senator Anthony Cannella). He specifically noted that former Community Development Director Leah Simvoulakis left the city but is now working for the city as a contract planner with Northstar. Guzman said “that’s not OK.”

While it’s true that the council years ago adopted a policy of not hiring former city employees for consulting services within a year, that’s only in cases where a firm seeks to get hired by using an ex-employee to win a contract. The city has for years used Northstar prior to Simvoulakis working for them. Does Guzman know the city has long contracted with Northstar on projects? I suspect not.

Simvoulakis is a true professional. Since she had a year’s experience familiarizing herself with Ceres issues she’s the most logical person to continue working on on unfinished matters like the cumbersome Housing Element.

Guzman threatened to go to the Grand Jury because he believes something is unethical related to StanCOG funds, which are allocated to cities for Housing Element updates among other things, being spent hiring a consultant to help with said element!

The eyeball roll moment for me came when Guzman suggested that there might be a conflict of interest with Nubia Goldstein owning part of the law firm of White Brenner LLP which works as the city attorney. How in the world is that a conflict to own part of the law firm that contracts with the city?

At the same meeting, Guzman suggested that the solution to what he considers a rash of accidents at Hackett and Morgan roads that the city should install road bumps to wake up the folks who are distracted on their phone. He said he said a similar treatment placed in Turlock at a T-intersection. Well, he’s not speaking about a T-intersection and I can’t imagine a more irritating city than having to ride over speed bumps approaching intersections because of a few distracted drivers.

Guzman should have gotten acquainted with how local government works before trying to win a seat on the City Council.

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There’s an old saying, “You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.”

That phrase has been playing in my mind as I contemplate finishing out my waning years at the Courier. Quite frankly, I’ve been the Courier – along with the help of a limited amount of writers over the years – longer than I ever expected, over half of my life.

Last week’s news of the cancer death of one of our Oakdale colleagues younger than I only magnified the thoughts that time is entering a narrow corridor. I can count about 10 others who I’ve worked with who have passed away since my time with the Courier and a vast number of persons I have encountered as part of my job in that time.

I turned 65 on Monday and my plan is to be out of here in two years, if not sooner. Remember that I started here in 1987, mind you, when Reagan was president! After attending your umpteenth council meeting or covering three decades of Christmas Tree Lane, there often comes the feeling that I’ve overstayed my welcome.

Then there was that conversation I had on August 6 with Lillian Loera, a longtime CUSD employee. I asked when she plans to retire and she essentially said she’s having too much fulfillment to quit now. I wish I could say the same. Lillian also told me: “Your heart is gonna tell you ‘I don’t want to be here anymore.’”

This I know: when I do leave the Courier likely won’t be of the same quality. I believe I put out a meaty product that focuses on the community while some of my cohorts, affected by a loss of morale from salary cutbacks and the growing menace of social media usurping our role in the community, let things slide and use a lot of filler.

Still I do my best, even though paychecks have shruken this year as we deal with inflation. I try counting my blessings as I know my adult kids have it really tough living in today’s Newsom California.

Will newspapers as we know it be around another five years? Ten years? I don’t know but remind yourself about how telephone books used to be dropped off at your doorsteps. They are gone because of the internet and smartphones. The handwriting is on the wall: Paper on ink to convey news to an audience is fast becoming a dinosaur practice and we all know what happened to the dinosaur. A big comet named Social Media came by and destroyed it. Humor me.

When newspapers do go the way of the eight-track and rotary phone – and they will – there will be people who cry about it, yet might conveniently forget how the town’s businesses quit supporting newspapers with advertising like they did 20-30 years ago. Businesses feel they can get away with having Chatgpt design an ad and post it on social media and that’ll do the trick to bring folks through their door. But does it really?

Community newspapers are an asset and far too many fail to utilize them or read them – if we’re being honest. Heck, they’re hardly reading books and filling their heads with great stores. No, we have new generations in a F-bomb dropping TikTok world now where the attention span is a nanosecond if it doesn’t grab attention. They also get their news delivered by their viewing algorithms that isn’t exactly vetted for accuracy.

I feel sad for my grandkids who will never experience a world I did where connections were real and we had standards of language and conduct.

Rant over, I have stories to write whether or not anybody reads them.

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I have a disdain for most defense attorneys. They twist, they minimize, they deflect and come up with cockamamie theories to get their clients off of charges.

So when Karen Agnifilo, Luigi Mangione’s defense attorney, said this I about flipped: “It was a single tragic event and he’s being prosecuted twice for the same conduct.”

Agnifilo refers to a cold-blooded assassination of shooting a man in the back as a single tragic event? She uses a word like conduct instead of murder.

She goes on to say it’s unfair that he has to fight off the death penalty. Well, lots of us are not enamored by his looks and think the arrogant, unrepentant SOB deserves to face the same death penalty he intentionally carried out for an unsuspecting victim.

Too bad our system works so slow that Mangione won’t be sentenced until December!

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The control freaks in Sacramento now want to regulate what kinds of tires you can buy. I’ll look into that for next week.

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