All comments are edited for length and content. Due to content or space limitations some comments may not be published. More than one comment from the same person during the same week will normally not be published. Please limit calls to two minutes or less.

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A woman said, “my son goes to Sherman Thomas Charter School … It is one of the best schools in Madera County. They treat the children just like family, everybody. I just wanted everyone to know what a great school it is.”

After reading last week’s Red Line “and the people who wanted the drive-in theater swap meet to continue,” a woman said, “I think it is wonderful that they have closed it. That road on Sunday was impossible to go down with all the roach-coaches and all the cars going in and out. I don’t blame the people who live there. It was terrible for them.”

Another woman said, “Keep the swap meet closed. It’s a mess.”

But another lady said, “I find it sad the actions of the filthy, uncaring people at the swap meet has caused it to be shut down. The drive-in owner has given a lot of time and funds over many years, and even before the swap meet, to help make Madera a better place to live. Now he is being punished instead of the people who have no respect for fellow citizens or Madera.”

A man suggested “the lady who’s complaining about the Spanish billboards should get together with the lady complaining about the American flag hanging in front of somebody’s house. English is the spoken language and the red, white and blue is the favorite color.”

A man said, “I just got my VIA magazine from AAA, and there is a piece in there about an open air art museum just east of Death Valley. I got to visit that piece of land, thanks to your columnist Leon Emo. He took me on a four-day trip through the northern Mojave showing and telling me the history of ghost towns, scenery and everything. Quite a guide.”

A man called about “the comments made about the red paint overspray on West Yosemite and Howard Road.” He suggested, “Some people just don’t see the big picture. In this economy the government is trying to create jobs. So let’s send two or three people out to do a job that normally would only take one person to do. Then, when they get overspray all over, they have to go back the next day with another crew and clean up the mess the first crew made. They’re just creating jobs.”

A woman spotted “a certain lady, a Highway Patrol officer, on I Street,” and “thought it was odd she was on her cell phone. I don’t think it is any less dangerous for the Highway Patrol than it is for anybody else. My daughter is starting to drive and if she sees a Highway Patrol person on her cell phone I think it is a bad signal.”

A man said he read that “the State Fair in Sacramento is going to change dates because of poor attendance, etc.” He also “read that the Fresno Fair had good attendance and was happy with the results. However, concerning our local fair, there was absolutely no information about the results of our fair.” He “was just wondering if it was good, bad or indifferent. Are fairs becoming a thing of the past?”

A man “wanted to thank the teachers at James Monroe for their hard work. Especially those teachers that are tutoring after school.”

A lady called about “the surplus commodities. I was trying to call the phone number today to see if I could pick my food up at Oberti’s (warehouse) and they said the number had been disconnected for Madera County Food Bank.” Another number, she said, had also been disconnected. “My friend missed out on her food because she could not call and find out where to pick it up.” She had been told, “it was supposed to be in the newspaper, but there was nothing in the paper. They need to get a schedule in the paper. I thought they (the Food Bank) was supposed to be helping people get their food.”
(Editor’s note: The Food Bank has opened in a new location, 225 S. Pine St.)

A lady said she “was concerned about the pedestrian lines (crosswalks) on Yosemite Avenue and D Street. They’ve needed painting for a long time now. I don’t know if it is Caltrans who’s supposed to paint it; and (also) the crossing area is chock-full of holes. Somebody needs to put some new asphalt down.”

“A parent” made a “comment about Madera High’s varsity football team. If the school board or whoever is in charge of that position can’t see that it is not getting any better with the same coach. Over and over, it is the same thing. What are they waiting for?

The man mentioned last Thursday’s game, “77-14 they lost.” (Actually, 70-14) against Central. That’s embarrassing.”

A woman asked, “can somebody explain why, week after week in your TV guide, you show, under weekday mornings the same shows as you show weekday afternoons? Please let me know. Thank you.”

A woman did not want Maderans to forget the coming Veterans Day (Nov. 11) and requested, “please fly your flag, attend a memorial service. Let’s pay tribute to all those, from the Revolutionary War to Iraq and Afghanistan wars and those in between, who have given their lives so that we can have freedom. Thank you, veterans, men and women.”

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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 maderatribuneredline.com.

The modern warming trend began about 1850 and, I conclude, is now ending, as predicted by the people that actually study these trends.

The solar constant varies through 11-year cycles. In order to see a trend one must compare complete 11-year cycles. Comparing decades allows one to choose to avoid a peak or a null and adjust the results.

NASA has data on solar output since 1978. Because of all this fuss, they have made it difficult to find these data on the Internet. I found the first 25 years.

Others use tree ring growth to infer insolation (exposure to solar rays), not solar output. These data go back to the age of the oldest living trees. There are other ways to infer insolation and earth surface conditions from the remains of life in deposits, etc.

The people who study these periodic trends are worried about global cooling and glaciation (disaster), not global warming (inconvenience).

Bob Christiansen,
Madera

Fortunately, wise heads prevailed and state lawmakers proved they could (1) recognize a problem for what it is and (2) make rational decisions about how to solve it.

Backers of the bill will have to work hard to sell the $11.4 billion bond issue to the voters.

However, three-fourths of the state’s citizens stand to gain directly from the improvements the bond would pay for, and those improvements won’t get any cheaper in the future.

Without those infrastructure changes, the state’s economy will surely suffer over the long term.
Southern California’s access to water would be limited, and growth there would be stalled.
The agricultural economy would be much at risk.

Efforts to use water for environmental restoration would be restricted and subject to new court challenges, particularly if future drought conditions are like those of today or worse.

One of the things the legislative package doesn’t address enough is something the state needs — a change in thinking about how it manages its water.

As individuals, we all will have to alter the way we approach how we use water. We do use the water we have more responsibly than we did, say, 25 years ago, but compared to changes we could make, we have much to learn.

Fortunately, Madera County is on the cutting edge of some of that thinking.

The Madera Irrigation District’s decision to develop a 250,000-acre-foot water bank is beginning to look more like a stroke of genius every day. That storage capacity — almost half that of Millerton Lake — can help buffer the county’s farmers and others against the effects of future droughts.

And efforts are under way locally to discover more about water management in arid conditions.

Optimism reigns.

I know that Dr. Getwell completed his internship at a hospital in Stockton and has been employed at a hospital on the coast for nearly two years. But what would a doctor do in a hospital, I mused, if he isn’t a surgeon? My granddaughter confirmed my suspicions. Dr. Getwell is a hospitalist.

Glynn describes a hospitalist as being a case manager who communicates with physicians, coordinates hospital modalities, and oversees the general welfare on the patient. I later learned from Arthur that Glynn’s description is pretty much true.

Where I disagree with Mr. Glynn in his description of the hospitalist’s use of medical history obtained from the primary doctor (“a hospitalist may have time to give the list only a cursory look”) and an “exit strategy.” And since Glynn’s Dr. Doom paints a rather dismal picture of the hospitalist, I wanted to get the other side of the story.

I interviewed Arthur the following weekend. I asked him to explain the steps that might be taken if a patient arrived in the ER one night and was diagnosed with a severe heart attack. How would he, Dr. Getwell, be involved?

Arthur said that after the initial care of the patient, the doctor in ER would contact him and would discuss the course of care to be given to the patient. I should imagine that when Dr. Getwell sees his patient, it might go like this:

“Good morning, Mrs. X.”

“I want to see my own doctor.”

“I just called your doctor. Dr. Caring said she can’t come over just now, but she would have your medical records faxed to me immediately. She did say that she might visit you this evening. In the meantime, I can answer any questions you might have.”

Dr. Getwell will examine the records received from Dr. Caring and then will order whatever additional tests, such as blood tests and X-rays, are necessary. He will check to see what medicines Mrs. X takes so there will be no conflict with the medication he prescribes. And if there is a medicine available at a lower cost that can effectively do the job, he will prescribe it.

Prior to Mrs. X leaving the hospital, he will discuss with her the course of action — including her medication, of course. He will see that a copy of the discharge summary that outlines the tests given, the diagnosis, and medication prescribed is faxed to her physician. He will emphasize to Mrs. X that she see Dr. Caring as soon as possible.

Arthur explained that hospitalists are available 24/7 and work 12-hour shifts. He said there is always a doctor on the premises. Dr. Getwell commented that the hospitalist’s goal is to give the patient the best care in the shortest amount of time and in a cost-saving manner.

After my discussion with Arthur, I read an article that the reference librarian at our Madera County Library found for me. It is titled “Hospitalists,” and was written by Terese Hudson Thrall for the “Hospitals & Health Networks” magazine in November 2003. The information, which I feel is still timely, is now available on the Internet.

Thrall says the program began in 1993 with the Mercy Medical Center in Springfield, Mass., using hospitalists to take care of unassigned patients from the emergency department, and later expanded to include patients from the surgical department. Included in her article were some of the following points:

– Many family practice doctors prefer to make rounds and check on their own patients; however, others have chosen not to come to the hospital. (Patient X’s doctor may not want to come to the hospital.)

– Hospitals can quickly do something about a situation as they likely have established relationships with the nursing and respiratory departments.

– Cost and length of stay may still be a factor, but improving patient safety is also important.

Personally, I would feel well cared for if I had a doctor such as my grandson, Dr. Arthur Getwell. If Mr. Glynn and other sociologists must compare a hospitalist’s patient to a Mc Donald’s patty of meat then could it be a Premium Sandwich?

Viola J. Turner,
Madera

Those of us who heard Elaine Craig’s presentation before the Madera County Board of Supervisors Tuesday learned first hand that many more Maderans have been suffering from the recession than many of us realized.

Craig, executive director of the Madera County Workforce Investment Board, said her agency had provided help to Madera County residents about 35,000 times in the last six months.

A lot of that help was with unemployment claims through the state Economic Development Department, which reflects the depth of joblessness here. The EDD shares the building at the corner of 7th and D streets with the workforce investment board.

In Madera County, the labor force at the end of September was approximately 70,400, while the number of unemployed was about 8,700. Dealing with all those job-seekers and benefit claimants made up a lot of the contacts Craig and her staff completed.

Craig’s agency also tries to get jobs for people, or help them find better ones.

The agency provided paid work-training experience for 307 young people through partnerships with other agencies, such as the Madera Redevelopment Agency, with Madera Community Hospital, with private businesses.

The investment board operates the City of Madera Leadership Academy, in which workers learn leadership skills; sponsors classes in English as a second language, and helps paroled and released ex-offenders train for work and then finds them jobs.

The investment board benefitted from federal job stimulus funds of more than $2 million, she said.
If you find yourself out of a job, it would seem the first place to go is to the Madera County Workforce Investment Board, where much help is available.

Hundreds of thousands of Americans have heard the call and hundreds have returned to fulfill that pledge to share their experience through literature.

Sharing our experience is the third goal of the Peace Corps.

The Kennedy Library only accepts original material. Tragically, even the Peace Corps Resource Library in Washington, D.C., does not keep published work written by its own volunteers, the salt of the earth.

Popular government-sponsored programs are rare. During the first half of the 20th century only the WPA and the CCC caught America’s imagination. During the second half of the 20th century, only NASA and the Peace Corps have been equally popular. Yet, like theWPA and the CCC, first-hand experience books about the Peace Corps are hard to find, and our collective memory fades.

The Library of Congress has a great set of special collections, several of which include 20th century work. There is even a collection of amateur publications by early 20th century journalists.

The addition of Peace Corps literature will serve our nation well at no cost to the taxpayer. The books will be donated.

Lawrence F. Lihosit,
Madera

But now I don’t know.

Boeing has decided to build a new plant in which to build the 787 — in South Carolina.

I think that’s bad decision.

While I’m sure the folks in South Carolina will try to do a good job putting the planes together, if it ain’t a Seattle Boeing, I ain’t going.

The Boeing employees in Seattle represent generations of airliner-building experience and knowledge, from engineers to riveters. The managers would like to think they can take their plans to South Carolina and have South Carolinians who have never built an airliner put them together, but it won’t be the same.

Seattle-area Boeing workers build the 737, 747, 757, 767 and 777, which set the standards for all other airliners. When you get on those planes, you know they’re going to fly. All you have to do is look at their records.

Now, Boeing managers are trying to build the 787 out of carbon composites to make it lighter than aluminum, but they aren’t letting the best airliner builders on earth — those who live around Puget Sound — build those composite components. They are are ordering them from other manufacturers, some of whom are overseas, and apparently aren’t quite sure what they’re doing. Mistakes and bad timing on the part of those companies have cost Boeing dearly in delays and design changes.

Boeing’s move to South Carolina is meant to get it away from the pricey unions with which it deals in Seattle, and you can’t blame the company for wanting to do that. But it may, in the end, gain Boeing nothing.

Airliners aren’t like cars. They are the most expensive and complicated of passenger-carrying machines, besides spacecraft. If one model isn’t safe, people will turn to manufacturers they can rely on.

I applaud Capt. Jerry Rigg and all of the few volunteers who are left to try and maintain some type of assistance when needed but, as it was stated, they are not always available for responding to every emergency call.

Now the people in our area are stuck with a one-man engine coming from Oakhurst or Yosemite Lakes Park, which will add up to six to 10 minutes in response time and at least that amount of time to get an ambulance into our area. What a farce.

Do our supervisors know what will happen when a house in our area is on fire? You can kiss it good-bye.

With that said, there is no doubt that our homeowner policies will greatly increase thanks to our inept supervisors in the valley. Maybe they can pick up the increase for us.

Oh, my God, I forgot, they didn’t cut any of their emergency services in the valley.

In my humble opinion, the Ahwahnee Area Council and the residents of Raymond need to put forth a major undertaking and make a massive showing at the Board of Supervisors meeting and demand our fire stations be manned the year around.

Further, I have had some severe medical problems within my family over the past couple of years, and thank God I had the professional services respond in a timely manner for their assistance.

If the board feels that the people in Ahwahnee or Raymond don’t need what most people have throughout the country, and something happens in my home, and it fails to provide a timely response, you can bet you’re going the see the biggest lawsuit Madera County has every seen. Trust me.

Dale Miller,
Ahwahnee

Schools are getting a lot of criticism lately, and some of it might be deserved, but public schools also deserve a lot of praise.

Public schools continue to educate children despite being burdened with onerous babysitting duties by thoughtless parents and goofy politicians.
These babysitting duties are insisted upon by parents who are unable or unwilling to love, socialize and care for their own children.

Teachers have to patrol restrooms, cafeterias and playgrounds like prison guards because many parents don’t teach their children to behave like civilized people.

with gross misbehavior in their classrooms because the parents of some students model misbehavior in their own lives. They get drunk, they take drugs, they lace their fanity. They lie, cheat and steal. Guess what that teaches their kids. And guess who has to deal with it when the kids drag themselves reluctantly to school on threat of being hauled there by a truant officer.

these children and provide them with basic medical care if they show up sick. The schools have to keep them out of trouble if they start hanging around with gangs, getting into fights or committing crimes.

And still, the schools manage to educate the kids who many cases, they do a great job.

The kids who do well are those who want to, who have support at home as well as support at school. That’s the one constant. I’ve seen many Madera students excel. Some are children of the upper middle class; some are the children of people who came here to pick crops and can barely speak English; some have but one parent. But the one constant is that these parents love and support their children, and teach them character.

The schools can only do so much of that.

Maybe there would be something to be said for more of us wearing blinders.

Actually, blinders is a poor term. In the days when horses were the chief means of mobility besides our feet, blinders were used not to blind the horses, but to focus their attention.

Horses’ eyes are set up to expand rather than limit perception. That was good for the horse. If you were a horse clopping along, and a mountain lion showed up on your left or right, expanded perception would have helped you defend yourself.

When horses became pullers of wagons and chariots, however, things changed. The driver wanted the horse to focus on the road in front of it, not on other things it might see in its peripheral vision. The driver would assume responsibility for keeping the horse out of trouble.

Horses aren’t the only creatures whose performances can be improved through the use of blinders — or of focusers, if you will. Focusing on a goal, for example, can help one toward success.

A good example of this is how the Internet has evolved over the 40 years since it was first introduced to the general public in 1969 at UCLA, which hosted the Internet’s first public switchboard. The result of the first Internet message was — surprise — a computer crash.

In its first years, it was basically a way for technologists at universities, big business and government agencies to communicate using their computers, largely for research.

But many smart engineers remained focused on introducing the Internet to the public. These people tuned out the buzz of the time, which was that the applications of the Internet were too technologically difficult and expensive to interest the average person.

Their focus paid off, the result being the Internet of today, which is now so populated with wild advertising, spam and entertainment that it requires great focus just to use it for research. What goes around comes around.