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The Valley Citizen
The Moral Dilemma of Homelessness
As more and more studies reveal that homelessness is a result of material factors unrelated to cultural issues like family values, it’s become increasingly evident that the majority of homeless people are victims of forces beyond their control. If this is truly the case, state and local management policies for homelessness need to be reevaluated.
James Costello and Modesto’s Homeless Action Group
As this winter’s often heavy rains repeatedly drenched numerous streets and alleyways here in the city of Modesto, I ran across the inevitable evidence — when I ventured out, usually in the aftermath of a downpour — of the toll those storms were taking on the most vulnerable among us, i.e., our unhoused neighbors who are at the mercy of the high winds, the cold rain, and the clinging chill of their own soaked clothes.
How Homelessness has Enabled Cruelty
We’re no longer stunned or dismayed. We’ve become so habituated to California’s vast sprawl of homelessness that encampments along the freeways, bodies on the sidewalks. and human debris everywhere arouse no more concern than a speed bump or fire hydrant. The objectification of human beings in distress has become a norm for almost all of us. Homeless people have become inanimate parts of the daily landscape.
How Homelessness has Enabled Cruelty
We’re no longer stunned or dismayed. We’ve become so habituated to California’s vast sprawl of homelessness that encampments along the freeways, bodies on the sidewalks. and human debris everywhere arouse no more concern than a speed bump or fire hydrant. The objectification of human beings in distress has become a norm for almost all of us. They’ve become inanimate parts of the daily landscape.
Trinitas Bankruptcy: We should have Listened
Trinitas Partners recent declaration of bankruptcy is likely just the beginning of widespread economic devastation throughout the San Joaquin Valley. No one saw it coming more clearly than the pseudonymous author of On the Public Record (OtPR), who wrote nine years ago,. “This economic model, in which powerful outsiders come...
Trinitas Bankruptcy: We should have Listened
Trinitas Partners recent declaration of bankruptcy is likely just the beginning of widespread economic devastation throughout the San Joaquin Valley. No one saw it coming more clearly than the pseudonymous author of On the Public Record (OtPR), who wrote nine years ago,. “This economic model, in which powerful outsiders come...
Trinitas Partners Farming Declares Bankruptcy
Trinitas Partners, the Bay Area investment firm that bought cattle land in Stanislaus County’s eastern foothills over a decade ago and then converted it to almond orchards, has declared bankruptcy. Trinitas made headlines when it was annexed into Oakdale Irrigation District (OID) and jumped ahead of local farmers who protested that its out-of-town owners were not serious farmers, but speculators who had their eyes on OID’s abundance of surface water.
Trinitas Partners Farming Declares Bankruptcy
Trinitas Partners, the Bay Area investment firm that bought cattle land in Stanislaus County’s eastern foothills over a decade ago and then converted it to almond orchards, has declared bankruptcy. Trinitas made headlines when it was annexed into Oakdale Irrigation District (OID) and jumped ahead of local farmers who protested that its out-of-town owners were not serious farmers, but speculators who had their eyes on OID’s abundance of surface water.
State Rejects Groundwater Plan for Modesto Subbasin
The late Vance Kennedy was appalled when he learned tens of thousands of groundwater-dependent acres had been planted with almond orchards on in the foothills on Stanislaus County’s east side. “That groundwater is our savings bank,” said Kennedy, then a resident of the City of Modesto. “That’s our reserve...
What the Armchair Experts get Wrong about Homelessness
Rachel Sheffield’s widely published OP/ED piece on homelessness earlier this month offers a prime example of misunderstanding the problem. A research fellow for Heritage Foundation, Sheffield recycles the old “treatment first” tactic that has impeded efforts to manage homelessness for decades. Sheffield is correct when she argues...
What the Armchair Experts get Wrong about Homelessness
Rachel Sheffield’s widely published OP/ED piece on homelessness earlier this month offers a prime example of misunderstanding the problem. A research fellow for Heritage Foundation, Sheffield recycles the old “treatment first” tactic that has impeded efforts to manage homelessness for decades. Sheffield is correct when she argues...
On Politics — The Valley Citizen’s Endorsements
This election year marks a crucial moment in world history. America’s attempt to create a nation based on our original motto — e pluribus unum — is under siege. While it’s easy to understand nationwide dissatisfaction with both political parties, we shouldn’t ignore that one of those parties has endorsed totalitarianism and is engaged in a slow motion coup that could upend our long effort toward equal opportunity and justice for all. Anyone who doubts our slow but sustained drift toward a repressive government need only consider the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to severely limit women’s rights.
On Politics — The Valley Citizen’s Endorsements
This election year marks a crucial moment in world history. America’s attempt to create a nation based on our original motto — e pluribus unum — is under siege. While it’s easy to understand nationwide dissatisfaction with both political parties, we shouldn’t ignore that one of those parties has endorsed totalitarianism and is engaged in a slow motion coup that could upend our long effort toward equal opportunity and justice for all. Anyone who doubts our slow but sustained drift toward a repressive government need only consider the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to severely limit women’s rights.
Homeless: Cave Dwellers in Modesto
Based on widespread news reports, the entire nation seems enthralled by the recent news of homeless people living in caves along the Tuolumne River near Modesto. In fact, insiders have known about the caves for years. One nearby resident said of the homeless people living in caves near his own home that, “he sees them as neighbors who are ‘going home at the end of the day.’” The statement is a strong indication that many local citizens understand the plight of people with nowhere to go, even when their presence might seem threatening.
Frank Ploof: Practicing Humanity among the Homeless
Four people, two wheelchairs — back-to-back atmospheric rivers on the way — those were just some of Frank Ploof’s concerns Saturday, January 20, as he piloted his 2001 Chevy truck through and around the potholes dotting the road that took him to people he sometimes refers to as the “deep homeless” — individuals and couples who’d been on the streets for years and most everyone had given up on. Overhead, dark clouds threatened rain.
Congressman Tom McClintock: Worst Representative Ever?
One only needs to read House Representative Tom McClintock’s newsletters to realize how useless he is to the nation, his district, and his constituents. Now that he is up for re-election this year, he has started sending out newsletters extolling his accomplishments after months of silence. Reading and analyzing the newsletter, one may readily discern that what he is doing is either meaningless or counter to what is in the best interests of his constituents.
SHARE: Making a Difference for People in Need
Bleak, dark, and piercing cold, it was a night for the well-housed and fed to draw round the bright fire, and thank God they were at home; and for the homeless starving wretch to lay him down and die. Many hunger-worn outcasts close their eyes in our bare streets at such times, who, let their crimes have been what they may, can hardly open them in a more bitter world. – Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist, 1838.
Inside the Global Hospital: With Thanks
“We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.” Martin Luther King. Other than a major airport, there are few places more cosmopolitan than a Valley hospital. At every level of care, Valley hospitals represent a living reminder of America’s original motto, “E Pluribus Unum.”*
Homeless: Pastor Dan’s Modesto Ministry of Food and Prayer
Years ago, Dan Lempenau was attending church when he had an epiphany. “This isn’t what Jesus is about,” he thought. “Jesus is about caring for the poor.” Since that time, some fifteen years now, “Pastor Dan” has been feeding homeless people in local Modesto Parks three days a week, day after day, week after week, rain or shine. His ministry features Bible lessons for those who wish to listen, but there are no requirements and there is no judgment. ed.
Posts #62-67 in Jim Gain’s “Learn 100 Common Valley Birds”
Jim Gain’s series, “Learn 100 Common Valley Birds” may be the best introduction anywhere to the common birds of the San Joaquin Valley. An accomplished naturalist and superb photographer, Jim offers the beginning birder quick and easy lessons for identifying and enjoying the common birds around us. We’ve previously published complete versions of each previous bird in the series; below, we offer quick looks at numbers 62 through 67 and links to each complete segment. As always, we urge our readers to review Jim’s entire website, Reflections of the Natural World, for an excursion into nature that will dazzle your eyes and introduce you to the infinite delights and beauty of the natural world around us.
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