As I turn 40 this year and am expecting my first child any day now, I look back on how my parents raised me. It is now time for me to pass it on to my children. I sat down with my stepson Izaac and told him some small things to make this world better. Here is a short list. Please feel free to add on to it.

+ Hold the door open for someone and let them walk in first.
+ Before getting into an elevator, let the people get out first.
+ Listen to an elder person; they do have wisdom in their words.
+ Help someone with their groceries to their car.
+ Show class and respect for yourself and others.
+ Don’t be afraid to smile and say “hi” to strangers (of course only when he is with an adult).
+ Lend a small hand to help someone.

Here is my example. I was at a restaurant having a business meeting with a VP from a major wireless company and we hear a car alarm go off and the horn kept honking. I look over and saw an elderly couple standing by their car with no idea how to stop it. I got up went to the parking lot and showed them how to stop it.

As I was walking over there I passed four people who walked past them without even trying to help. It took one minute out of my life to help somebody. I was amazed, as everybody was looking at this couple (the horn was still honking) but nobody did anything to help.

When I got back inside the meeting at the restaurant, the VP told me he heard the honking too but did not want to get up. He asked me, what made me get up and go help? This leads me to the most important rule I live by.

+ Do something your mom would be proud of.

And that was my answer to the VP, my mom would have been proud of me for helping that couple.

Of course we all know that we need to have our pets spayed and neutered, and we all need to recycle.

Kirk Atamian,
Madera

In our Madera Tribune on Wednesday, May 7, I read about Scholarship awards that were presented at Madera High School annual Scholarship night, and I remember in 1976 our daughter, Janie, and Steve Fuentes received scholarships from the Pan American Club, where I was member from 1964-1981.

She went to college in Fresno for about three months. After that, she went to work at Madera County Of Education, where she has been working for the past 30 years.

As a member of the Pan American Club my wife and I always appreciated the scholarship they gave our daughter, Jane.

Jane is married to Mickey Gutkecht, they have a son Jason who is a police officer here in Madera, and a daughter Stefanie. While I was writing this letter, Stefanie just gave birth to a baby boy, 5 pounds, 11 ounces, for their 1st child. Stefanie is married to Keith Schoettler. Stefanie is on leave of absence from her job as a teacher at Nishimoto School, and Keith is an officer in the Madera County Sheriff ’s Department.

Jason and Ellen have a little girl, 1 1/2 years old. I would like to congratulate our daughter Jane for all the good years she has worked at the County Office of Education, and also for being a good grandma for the second time.

Eddie Chapa,
Madera

Madera County Planning Department’s solicitation of comments regarding the proposed bypass for Madera Ranchos is disingenuous and ill conceived.

One is forced to ask a fundamental question: What is the purpose of this by-pass? I cannot help but conclude that it is intended to facilitate the developers who are seeking east-west mobility for developments along state Route 41 and Avenue 12.

What motivates those in position of authority to support this bypass at the taxpayer’s expense is an unknown. The proposal is seriously flawed and defies logic, considering the prevailing, future and environmental concerns. The proposed bypass will require right of way for approximately four miles of new alignment at additional cost and environmental mitigation. These funds can be wisely spent on improving Avenue. 9, where such improvement is urgently needed.

The increased traffic before and after the bypass will require improvement on Avenue 12, from additional lanes to re-striping Avenue 12 to provide continuous left turn lanes. Regardless of any alternative improvements it will make it difficult to access Avenue 12 both east and west of the bypass. High-speed traffic with continuous turning lanes is destined to turn Avenue 12 into a blood alley. We must not ignore the experience of those communities who had to endure such conditions for years, and the expense it took to correct the problems…

The bypass is bound to have a negative impact on the existing businesses in the Madera Ranchos; if these businesses fail it will affect the property values in addition to the great inconvenience for the residents of Madera Ranchos and in the vicinity.

The high cost of gasoline is anticipated to force residents of bedroom communities to move closer to their location of their employment, especially in the absence of a convenient mass transit system. This projected migration itself will negatively impact the property values of the bedroom communities such as the Ranchos. And a bypass is bound to compound the problems.

The thought of turning Avenue 12 into a blood alley is extremely frightening. The financial liability related to lawsuits originating from accidents of this shortsighted proposal is incomprehensible, thus must be avoided.

As a resident of Madera like many others who commute to Fresno almost daily, I strongly oppose the idea of spending funds on this proposal. The distribution of traffic between Avenues 9 and 12 will serve the community for many years to come. The interest of the developers should not be advanced at the expense of the taxpayers.

Ron Sekhon, PE,
Madera

Our country is always helping the less fortunate, especially the children of the world. And more so if the children have no mother or dad, or maybe just one parent or the other.

I went through this as a child, 4 or 5 years old the first time and many more times. Most of the time my dad was picked up while working in the cotton fields. At times I use to wonder why God allowed the Border Patrol to take my dad. One would think this is something the young citizens in our country would no longer still allow to happen … I lived that on up to (the) age of 10

If that had not been the situation my life as a kid would have been happy. As a matter of fact to this day I still hurt. So those first 10 years messed up my future because it threw life off its normal course … I still have dreams of those days as a child and I find it hard to believe those sort of acts still go on…

In spite of all I went to Viet Nam (14 months), not having to go, and if allowed I would love to go to Iraq. I am patriotic. I love my country.

So who takes care of these kids, leaders of the future?

Joe Ureña,
Madera

By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune

We haven’t heard much about Social Security yet in this presidential election, but whoever wins the presidency will find he must deal with it, along with the Congresses which serve with him.

President Bush gave up on Social Security reform after his plans for privatizing part of it were turned down by Congress. Whether his plan would have worked is beside the point — Congress ran from it instead of trying to work with the president, who was right to try to get something done to keep the system from going broke once the bulk of the baby-boom generation enters the ranks of recipients.

Don’t be surprised if we find the only solution to meeting the obligations of Social Security is to raise the taxes that pay for it.

That happened in the 1980s, as part of a plan that was supposed to put Social Security on a financially solid basis. And it worked for a while.

Now, though, the experts tell us, Social Security is on its way to bankruptcy. This has four principal causes.

First, is that many who have never paid into the plan, or who have paid very little, are receiving ever-increasing benefits, decreed by Congress. If that continues — and it will — only a tax increase will make it possible.

Second, Congress has been borrowing virtually every nickel of Social Security income to finance general government operations, and won’t have the cash to pay back this ever-increasing debt without a tax increase.

Third, people are living longer, and as a result, most Social Security recipients will receive considerably more than they have paid in. It will require more workers to support the program.

Fourth, real wages are decreasing and so, as a result, are Social Security tax income projections also dropping.

Get ready to pay more, unfortunately.

By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune

On this past Father ’s Day a politician said this in a speech laced with conservative language:

“We need fathers to realize that responsibility does not end at conception.

“Too many fathers are MIA, too many fathers are AWOL, missing from too many lives, and too many homes. They have abandoned their responsibilities, acting like boys instead of men. And the foundations of our families are weaker because of it.

“Conception … that doesn’t just make you a father. What makes you a man is not the ability to have a child. Any fool can have a child. That doesn’t make you a father. It’s the courage to raise a child that makes you a father.”

Those words ring true, considering the statistics that define a story we are reporting this week — that of Madera’s teen moms. Eighty percent of the males who father children with teen girls in Madera County wind up having nothing to do with the children.

They abdicate their responsibilities. They essentially disappear. And their absence leaves an emptiness in the hearts of those little kids, who usually suffer poverty and the loneliness of not having a father in their lives.

Those dads who do stay with the teen moms and help them rear their children earn and deserve respect for doing the right thing. The only problem is, there are just too few of them.

But getting back to the politician who spoke those words. He was speaking in Chicago, before the Apostolic Church of God, a largely black-membership congregation, and was referring to the
fact that most black babies are born out of wedlock. He was warned afterward that he would be criticized for “beating up on the victims” and “airing dirty laundry.”

Who was this conservative-sounding speaker? Barack Obama.

All comments are edited for length and content. Due to content some comments may not be published. Please limit your calls to two minutes or less. Some weeks, due to the number of comments and space, some may not be published.

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A lady called, giving her name and her husband’s before stating, “we witnessed that little boy getting killed on Foxglove.” She referred to last week’s Red Line caller about speeding on Foxglove and replied, “whoever wrote that in the paper about the person who hit the boy (and said he) was speeding that is not true. We were behind him. He (the driver) was not speeding. The little boy walked out in front of a car. He did not see him. There is no way he could have seen that kid.”

A man asked, “what has happened to Chuck Doud and his editorials? Has he quit writing? That page is rather boring since he has stopped his article.” (As noted previously on the Opinion Page, Doud was on vacation but has since returned.)

“Nothing sounds as foolish as the lady complaining about (columnist) Leon (Emo) and his hugs,” began a woman’s call. “But,” she suggested “perhaps her religion doesn’t believe in hugging, or she is just a cold-hearted woman. To me, it’s a strange attitude. She is so adamant about another giving a hug why doesn’t she have the guts to tell us why she objects. She doesn’t know how warm, friendly and caring a hug can be. We need to give more hugs all over the world. She is a strange lady to make such an issue of one person giving a hug.”

A man suggested, “let’s water once a week. Lets cut down the areas of grass. Lets expand rocks and decorations. That would help the city and farmers and general water practices. Lets only water golf courses once a month. We can save water. Lets don’t talk about it. Lets do.”

“Mo’s Musings on Friday (June 13) and Tami Jo Nix’s column Saturday (June 14) were a disgrace,” began a man. “I didn’t even read halfway into my favorite writers’ comments and I had to go searching for the rest of their columns because a large ad took up the entire page. I buy the paper to read their columns and I am sure there are many other readers like me. Give them the decency of running a true column down the entire side of the page where it belongs.”

A regular caller suggested we turn downtown into freeways because “the only city that revitalized downtown properly was Los Angeles. They ran freeways all over the place. There you can watch people come and go and you don’t need to worry about re-painting and revitalization and it’s something that doesn’t matter anymore. And downtown Madera doesn’t matter.”

“It’s too bad trees and grass can’t pay taxes,” began a woman. “With all these shopping centers filled with concrete and asphalt going up all over the place we are losing more green. What we need are more parks.”

An Internet reader that claimed to be a former Madera resident writes, “If the City of Madera would focus on the east (for new growth) we would have a great city overall. If we had (a) better cityscape in these new areas it would’ve been so much better. The east is not bad. Should it stay divided by Highway 99? Don’t let culture divide us but unite us all.”

An online guest, self-identified as “Ashamed and embarrassed,” writes, “An update on the unfinished business downtown: This week when I was walking downtown I was happy to see that they were finished the work and repainting the buildings. Finally it got started on again. All I can say is I’m glad.”

A visitor to the Red Line site responded to a column by Thomas Elias about high-speed rail funding in California. “Rafael” writes, “Every country with a dedicated high-speed rail network has invested public money in at least the starter line, which is all CHSRA is asking for. The spurs to Sacramento and San Diego would be financed with private bonds backed by fare revenue.”

A Web site reader self-identified as “Original Pechanga” responded to the Red Line published June 10. He writes, “People should not care what Picayune wants. They are a tribe that has terminated 50 percent of their tribe. This is not an enterprise that should be patronized. It should be avoided.”

An Internet guest, “floydy,” wrote a long explanation of “why the Central Valley, including Madera, is full of ‘illegals.’” As a summary, he writes, “Basically the agricultural industry historically has always made its profits on the backs of people willing to perform a very difficult, labor-intensive and dangerous job for very cheap.”

Another reader, self-identified as “It’s true…,” comments, “Why should anyone complain because they’re doing the work that us Americans are too lazy or just don’t want to do? Just think about that when you put down illegal immigrants working in the fields.”

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Thank you for your calls. Remember, the Red Line is open for your messages 24-hours a day by calling 674-4478, or by visiting www.maderatribuneredline.com.

Thank you for the Editor’s Corner article (”The return of the catentate”) this morning (June 13). I too have cats, three Himalayans. I want to relate a story regarding Elegant Medleys.

In the spring of 2007 I received a sample can of Elegant Medleys in the mail. I had only one Himalayan then. She immediately ate the entire can. That evening and next day she too turned her nose up at any other food.

I went to local market to purchase more Elegant Medleys and found them to be $1 per can. I purchased some and immediately e-mailed Fancy Feast not to do me any more favors (free samples) they laughed and wanted pictures of Sassy Gene for their Web site.

I now have three Himalayans and they get one can of Elegant Medleys in the morning and eat regular canned food and dry food the rest of the time.

My father always tells he wants to return as my animal as they get to lie on my bed and eat better than he does, or I do for that matter.

I have a cat/house sitter when I am lucky enough to take a trip, as my Himalayans do not venture outside at any time. Yes, they are spoiled rotten, and they know it.

It is always said humans do not own the cat, the cats own the humans.

Again, thank you I enjoyed that the fact I am not alone with Elegant Medleys.

Jan DeWoody,
Madera

By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune

When we returned from our vacation a couple of days ago, we picked up the cat from the vet’s office, where it turned out she had been living like an Arabian potentate. A catentate.

When we took her in before we left, the vet thought she looked puny, and put her in a special room, where she idled away the time she was there, eating high off the mouse.

I did not see the room personally, but it must have been a fine place. When we got her home and opened the carrying cage, she took a glance around and gave us a look like, “Get me out of here and back to the vet’s office, where they know how to treat a girl.”

She turned her nose up at what I gave her for dinner that night, and it got me thinking that maybe I haven’t been taking enough care in how or what I feed her.

I do try to make sure that her canned food is always the right temperature, and aways in a clean bowl, and always served on time. But that night, it was not enough.

Then, I happened to spot a coupon for Elegant Medleys New Recipes Inspired by the Tastes of Tuscany. The cans pictured on the coupon looked irresistible. I could imagine cats swaggering through Tuscany, sauntering into restaurants and ordering White Meat Chicken Tuscany in a Savory Sauce, or more likely stealing it from the kitchen when the cooks weren’t looking.

As it turns out, this Tuscan cat food costs more than what Mrs. Doud and I eat. And, the next day, I noticed that the food at which the cat had turned up her nose the night before was gone, the bowl licked clean. So, I decided not to buy the Tuscan food.

I did show her the coupon, though, so she would know what she was missing. Just for that, she’ll probably rub hair on my pantleg.

With the choice of the two that are running for president of this great nation, I am sad to say that I am considering an enlistment in the French Foreign Legion. The minimum enlistment is five years. Perhaps after that I could return and some sanity will have returned to my country.

James Georges,
Madera