Editor, Ceres Courier,

I was a long time resident of Ceres, graduated high school here, and my mother still lives here. She had been telling me about the Walmart debacle with the few citizens and their uproar over leaving an empty building and putting a new shopping center on some sort of hallowed ground. Sounds like disgruntled ex-employees?

I am now staying with my mother for a bit and again reading the Ceres Courier. If there isn't a story about Walmart, it is now about the placement of a stop sign on Fowler road. How can two people who live on this street make such a fuss and get such attention? Where are the Citizens of Ceres? Why is money being spent on attorney fees for something like this? Their argument against the sign is that people are going to be speeding up because they lost time slowing down for the new stop sign? That is beyond lame!

Plus, since when do you just slow down for a stop sign? I believe you are supposed to stop for a stop sign. If you are in that big of a hurry, better leave a few seconds earlier for that big "slow down." Why is there no uproar for stop signs on numerous other streets where this is probably taking place in Ceres? Did anyone count traffic or ask for public opinion on any other residential street before placing stop signs? Oh, yeah, Citizens for Ceres have to live on those streets, I suppose.

Jolley says his clients desire a safe street but road conditions do not meet the threshold to require a stop sign. So, how about Ms. Jacobson and Mr. Rushton who live on this street, take turns standing in the street monitoring traffic, slowing down the ones who need slowing, shoo kids out of the street when they need shooing and speed up the ones that are going too slow, and if there are too many cars, maybe they should have a detour sign handy and could foist them off onto another neighborhood.

Seriously, I do not understand who has left these folks to be in charge of Ceres, and the citizens are just sitting back. That's not the city I grew up in.

Oh, and I also see the city attorney is getting a raise - he's going to need it, and deserves it!

Sandy DeMott