Red Line (April 29)
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 Due to content some comments may not be published.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.
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A woman gave “kudos to Margaret Maguire for her excellent letter in the Tribune on Wednesday, April 16 concerning the casino. It was very well thought out and she is absolutely right. We do not need the money from the casino.”
“I’m totally for the casino,” said another lady who “was born and raised in Madera.” She “thought it sort of bad that you have to be bilingual to get a job here. The casino will be a place for those who don’t know, or don’t want to know Spanish, to get a job.”
“Please be an angel,” a lady asked, “to all those thousands of animals that need rescuing.” She left a Web site address, but unfortunately it could not be transcribed. The Red Line suggests the lady write a letter to the editor expressing these views and the Web site.
“I’m just blown away,” said a lady, “about the (Jane Doe) supposed longtime resident of Madera,” concerning a caller last week. “I can’t understand her criticisms when she is living in the middle of the biggest commercial zone that Madera has ever had; out on (Avenue) 17, the fairgrounds and out on Yosemite and Tozer, plus office buildings all around.”
This week’s caller also asked “Where were you all the years our local officials were supporting the state legislature trying to get the trains to the tracks to the east?”
“It is totally amazing,” began a regular caller about the fairgrounds construction and the new shopping center at Yosemite and Tozer. The man spoke of there not being “any mention of a high-dollar, sit-down style restaurant, rather than fast food or takeout.” He wondered, “if this was because of the ethnic background or we just don’t have enough high-class citizens in Madera to warrant to have quality sit-down restaurants.”
“I’m calling about the water, and sprinklers overflowing over on Doubletree and Westberry,” said a man. “Every day, and all the time, there’s water in the gutter.”
A woman who gave her name “wondered where they’re going to put the fairgrounds this year. They’re building a Lowe’s shopping center there, so they will probably have to move the fair. They moved the flea market.”
A man said he “seems to live on a street in Madera where the residents seem to enjoy leaving their trash cans out on the street for days at a time after the trash has been picked up. It is too bad they don’t have an ordinance like Fresno where trash cans are required to be behind fences or barriers. Code Enforcement even left a copy of the code for each residence, but the people on this street still ignore it.”
A woman who gave her name and phone number said she “helped write a story for the Sierra Star,” and she was “wondering if The Madera Tribune would like to pick it up. It is about a woman up here that has been foreclosed on and has to find homes for these whole bunch of cats she has sheltered for the last 20 years.”
A man asked that the Tribune cover “track and field teams. The past few weeks they have done some very good work. We had a couple of girls winning races at the West Coast Relays.” He also mentioned other meets where Madera athletes did well.
A man who gave his name said he “was reading about the athletes that came from Madera High and will be in the Madera Hall of Fame.” He said, “I know several other athletes that should be included.” He left his phone number. (Note: This year’s initial dinner and induction will become an annual event — hopefully with inductions every year.)
“There’s a new scam going on,” warned a man. “They follow older people driving, and sabotaging their vehicles they then offering to help. They’re requiring senior citizens to go the bank and draw out money. Watch where you park.”
A woman responded to the letter to the editor “concerning the pit bull attack in (Town & Country) park. Thank goodness she was not injured. When are our city council members going to wake up and do something about this? My children play ball at the park every night. It is time for Madera to protect their kids, before somebody gets killed or seriously mauled.”
“I now check the letter writer before reading the letter to the editor,” said a gentleman. “I am a Republican yet I am so tired of Mr. Skeels’ letters to the editor. They are redundant and boring.
“I suppose,” he continued, “when a Democrat gets elected he’ll blame the war, the economy, and the gas prices on them instead of the man now in the White House and his rich oil company and corporation buddies.”
“We do need to fix our roads,” said a woman responding to an article in The Madera Tribune. “Maybe the county needs to look into raising development fees. Developers have not paid their fair share in what goes to the school and roads and now it’s catching up with the community. Supervisors, it is time to take charge.”
A man gave his name, said he was with Kids Safety First and asked, “Why do our city and county officials think they are so much more important than the citizens paying the taxes and pay their salaries?” He said he and his organization “talked to county engineering about painting crosswalks at Avenue 9 and Road 23 to no avail.”
The caller mentioned a conflict between “Madera Unified and the county” and an official who stated “I don’t know them and they don’t know us.” He then asked “if the safety of our kids depends on knowing someone. If this is the policy, it needs to be changed. If it’s one person’s outlook they need to be fired.”
He then called back and asked that citizens call the county engineer “to see if we can get a crosswalk at the corner of Avenue 9 and Road 23.”
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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.
Hi,
On April 28, 2008, at 8:57am at the … (gas station) in Chowchilla right off Highway 99, I gave $120 to the cashier: $100 for my truck and $20 for my gas can. To my surprise, the price indicator of the pump went up faster than usual to $120 and without me putting anything into my gas can (the gas can was still empty at this time). Then thinking of the gas pricing these days, etc. (even though I put a full tank of gas in my truck every other days) I decided to put another $20 for my gas can.
Once back from the cashier, I picked up the gas pump and without pressing anything, the price indicator went all the way up to $20 in 10 sec. After 15 seconds, I called the cashier for her to check it because my can was still empty and she accused me of stealing the gas or hiding it somewhere in my truck (We all know that it doesn’t take 10 seconds to go up to $20).
So I put another $10 and then the gas was functioning properly and I filled up a little bit my gas can. But I turn on my engine and I saw that my gas (tank) was still half way empty (because I actually didn’t get $120 of gas into my truck because I know that it only takes $90 to $95).
So I called again the cashier and then she called the cops. They didn’t help me and ask(ed) me to leave and not complain or else they would had taken me to the police station. Therefore, five minutes later, I went to the Chevron gas station on the next exit and I still had to put another extra $58.80 into my truck. All in all, I paid over $200 for my gas.
The next day, on April 29, I called the company to try a mediation for any kind of refund. No way for them to listen to me and they denied my story. According to them, it is not possible that their machines were deficient, as the manager told me “our customers pay for the gas and get their fuel” … except that I ended up with over $200 of gas.
If you need information, I also have receipts and names of the police officers, etc …. I hope that you are interested in my story and would gather information from others or so. Please let the population know of this treachery and give me some feedback. Thank you for your time.
King
Town and Country Park safety:
As everyone knows baseball and softball season is well under way. Why does people think it OK to race on the back side of the park by the softball fields? … our young kids and parents are put in danger every night with these reckless and dangerous races.
And where is the Madera Police? … I have not seen one car patrolling this area and something needs to be done before one of our precious kids are hit or worse killed by these cars.