The four photos are bloody and violent, so much so that we don’t want to print them here. The reason they caught my attention is that they won second place in the World Press photo contest. They were taken in Somalia, and showed a mob of people stoning a man to death.

The photos show a man lying on the ground, and a half circle of other men hurling chunks of white stone at him — chunks the size of cantaloupes. Some of the rocks are so big they have to be picked up with two hands.

The victim is being stoned to death by Islamic militants, carrying out a sentence imposed in a local Islamist court. The man being stoned had been convicted of adultery.

In the first photo, the victim is shown standing in a hole that will become his grave. In the next picture, he lies on the ground while the execution squad pummels him with the rocks. In the third, his bloody body is lowered into the grave hold, and in the next photo, more stones are hurled at his body in its grave until he is covered with them.

His killers seem to be enjoying what they are doing.

The photos reminded me of that admonition found in the Gospel of John, in which Jesus came upon a woman who had been accused of adultery, and was about to be stoned to death according to the law of Moses. Jesus said to her accusers, “Let those who have never sinned throw the first stones.” The accusers pondered those words, and then left. The woman was saved.

It makes me wonder whether the Somalis throwing the stones were themselves without sin, or whether they were just stupid young men with religion-fed bloodlust. If they were without sin before, they certainly were not after they executed this man.

Stoning is nothing new, as the Biblical references to it make clear, but it has long been abandoned, as has burning at the stake and other charming work of religious maniacs.

When someone mentions Somalia to you, remember they still stone people there.

As I sit in class I keep hearing my classmates repeat that they feel they’ll drop out if the school does move. Many others believe they can’t make it through if moving the school does occur.

I’ve only been here for about a year, but in this year I’ve seen this school flourish into a haven. Students who were kicked out of regular high school have found a better place to fit in or be accepted.

Mountain Vista is very friendly school with brilliant minds and wonderful staff and students. It saddens me to know I won’t be seeing certain people when the school moves.

I know what had to be done was done, but I wish they’d take it back and leave our little school alone.

Leslie Giron,
Madera

None of the routes will be beneficial to our county.

There will be no stops here.

Riders who want to head for Yosemite National Park will stop in Merced or Fresno, where depots will be established. They’ll never know Madera is a Yosemite gateway.

All the trains will do is roar through 40 or 50 times a day as they speed like shells from Navy guns, carrying people who, for the most part will not live here or be headed here.

The proposed A-1 route would generally follow the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad right-of-way. While its presence would not be without negative effects — some homeowners adjacent to the line would have to move, some agricultural land would be sliced off — at least the cities of Madera and Chowchilla would remain whole.

The A-2 route would roll right through Madera and Chowchilla, dividing those two cities even more than they are now with a wall of steel and wire some 40 feet to as much as 90 feet high. It would wipe out Fairmead.

The A-3 route, which would run through agricultural land west of the cities, would carve up some of the world’s most productive farmland, taking it and a lot of its infrastructure permanently out of production and destroying forever the income it brings the farmers and our county.

The Burlington Northern Santa Fe route, on the other hand, already traverses farmland. Another 100 feet or so would have to be shaved off to accommodate the bullet train, but that would be the least damaging result.

We support the high-speed rail system, but we also support causing the least harm possible.

My late husband, Joe, was born and reared in Madera. I have lived here for nearly half a century. I was recently hospitalized, treated and then released to go home. Unfortunately, some of the medication that I was prescribed didn’t agree with me and I became ill.

I called for emergency help several times. The medics and EMTs from Pistoresi Ambulance arrived quickly. They always knew what to do. They took me to the hospital for examination and treatment when necessary. Sometimes they simply cared for me at home. They called back to see how I was doing. Every time, however, they were knowledgeable, caring and friendly.

The young men and women of Pistoresi Ambulance treated me well. Thank you so much.

Betty Pia,
Madera

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All comments are edited for length and content. Because of 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 who “just picked her children up from school out at Dixieland,” said she “just then found out the school board meeting planned for the next night would be considering shutting the school down. No notices, no phone calls to the parents. I pay my taxes I want a school in my own area. You give that superintendent that raise? Stop picking on the kids. This is absolutely shameful. And to not tell the parents before you take the vote, that is criminal, and you should all be recalled.”

Due to her crying, a woman’s message was hard to understand. She pleaded that a teacher not lose her job. “All I want is for you to be with my kids.” She also said she is “more than willing to take a pay cut to save my job.” She mentioned the many school district “higher ups, they don’t live in Madera and do not have the best interests of our kids at heart.”

A woman “made an observation about the Madera Unified board meeting last week. I think it was shameful for them not to have a facility large enough to keep people out of the rain. I think they did it on purpose so they would turn away people. The people in this community should have the right to say what they want to.”

“This concerns the school superintendent,” said a gentleman. He then paraphrased President Ronald Reagan. “Mister superintendent of schools, turn down that raise.”

A woman “just attended the Town Hall meeting on the proposed prison here in Madera. I am livid that the supervisors are supporting it. I am livid that (supervisor) Tom Wheeler told me it’s no different than our county jail. It houses the same type of criminals. Build it somewhere else. Build it next to the Chowchilla prisons.”

A man attended the same meeting and said, “I am very disappointed with some of the comments made at that meeting. They were more concerned about what they wanted and they have their mind made up about where they want the location.”

Another woman said this about the prison subject: “Where are the people that want to revitalize Madera? Where is the revitalization department? Mr. Taubert, where were you? (Note: Jim Taubert is director of the Redevelopment Agency). How is this going to revitalize Madera? Right in the middle of schools too.”

A man saw “the biggest waste of taxpayers’ dollars. Road 36 between Avenue 15 and Avenue 12, the county just had that section of road repaved in the last couple of months. Today, there’s county crews out there repairing a bad section in it. This one section there was one person operating piece of equipment and six people standing around.”

The caller “thought this was done by a contractor. Why is the county repairing it and not the contractor?”

A man read a “letter from a reader, Veronica (Pleitez, who told of becoming a citizen and college graduate after originally being an illegal alien). My hat’s off to you,” he said. “What a wonderful story.”

A man who said he “served in the Merchant Marine,” said, “your writer, (Leon) Emo and his Meanderings, Saturday described the dockside atmosphere of San Francisco perfectly. His story brought back a lot of memories.”

A woman said this about the same story. “It was shameful you printed Emo’s (Meanderings) in Saturday’s paper. He talked about panhandling, that’s just stealing, and drinking, and even prostitutes in San Francisco. Mr. Emo, you need to clean up your act.”

“I have a complaint,” said a woman. “Our code enforcement department, do they work? Or do they just take the complaints and set them aside? I reported a house with a swimming pool and a fence down giving access to the backyard. The pool is totally green, there’s mosquitoes, and it stinks. I’ve reported it to code enforcement twice already. Obviously it doesn’t do any good. Maybe I’ll call mosquito abatement.”

A lady said she “went to the high school alumni softball game, but I do have a comment. I was wondering why there was a coach out on the field that was not a high school softball coach, but yet, in the stands, there was one coach that was a very good softball coach.” She wondered who made the decision.

A woman “walked out to get her Madera Tribune and sit down to read it.” She was disappointed “it was half wet even though it was in a plastic bag. It was very annoying. I sure do miss the days when the paper person would throw it on the porch on rainy days. Problem solved.”

A man read a “Saturday, Feb. 27, newspaper about the three doctors who opened up their new office building. It is quite interesting that the contractor is not from Madera and, of all the sub-contractors, not one of them are from Madera. It is all outside people. What happened to the old adage that we would try to keep at least some of the work here in Madera to help our own people out?”

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Thank you for your comments. Remember, the Red Line is open for your messages 24 hours a day by calling 674-4478 or by visiting the Red Line online at www.maderatribunered line.com.

The article on the family-owned and operated Burrito King on Gateway Drive evidently was close to being fabricated.

I patronize the establishment regularly with my family, because it is very family-orientated, safe, clean and serves excellent food.

I have gotten to know the family who owns and operates the restaurant just by patronizing regularly and getting to know the family members by their friendliness.

They mentioned to me that the article stretched the truth, and were bewildered as to why it was written as such.

The incident the article wrote about happened in the separate bar area, after the restaurant was closed. Being in the wee hours of the night most establishments who serve alcohol at those times also confront similar problems.

One of the owners told me that there were no kind of gang members present or involved in the incident, stating that the reporter and police did not come until their own security had already handled the incident.

Why the article on the front page of the Tribune was written as such, the owners have no idea.

I, for one, would like to reiterate and assure other families that the Burrito King Restaurant is more than a safe haven to dine and enjoy excellent Mexican food.

Steve Sanchez,
Madera

WEBMASTER’S NOTE: The article on the police being dispatched to Burrito King Restaurant in response to reports of a fight was not a “fabrication.” Regardless, the Tribune did later publish an article that shared the restaurant’s perspective on the incident, the article, and the effects of its publication on their business.

President Obama promises to tackle the nation’s immigration problems soon, and that might be good news.

It also might be bad news if any bill that results is another 2,000-pager that hardly anybody reads and most people hate — sort of like the health-insurance-reform bill the president hopes to be able to slide through Congress on a “reconcilliation.” If ever a parliamentary trick were misnamed, it’s that one.

The president and Congress aren’t one whit interested in what folks think out here in the hinterlands about immigration, legal and otherwise.

But if they ever wanted to ask, here are some suggestions, gleaned from locals:

(1) First, secure the borders of the United States. That’s easy to say, hard to do. While we might be pretty good at keeping invading armies, navies and air forces at bay, we are terrible at stopping the individual invader who often just walks across the border and melts into communities of his or her own kind in the United States. The Border Patrol does its best, and so does the National Guard in the places where it’s deployed along the border for short periods. The number of illegals crossing our borders has gone down. Doubling the size of the Border Patrol might help.

This is important, because we are being invaded by drug dealers and other criminals, as well as people who just want to get a job.

(2) Make it easier for people from other countries who want to come here to work to do so legally. Then, when they are here, monitor them carefully, almost as you would someone on probation or parole. At some point, they would be given the choice of either returning to their country of origin or taking steps to become U.S. citizens.

(3) Appropriate the money to pay for all this. Don’t expect states to do it.

(4) Make a one-time offer of citizenship to all illegals presently here, provided they go through the same process as legal immigrants.

This will probably require a special election with incumbent cost, but, this will eliminate the salaries and expenses of a flock of administrators with cushy jobs that do nothing to teach children. This will also free their office space, chairs, desks and filing cabinets for better use.

I think the history in California since unification began in the 1960s shows, very clearly, that this layer of bureaucracy needs to be eliminated to improve education.

Bob Christiansen,
Madera

I noticed the man with the gun right away.

He was dressed like a cowboy on his way to church, and he was checking out canteloupes, thumping on them and sniffing at the place where the stem had been, just like our moms taught us to do.

The gun on his hip, which he wore in a leather holster, was a big 45-caliber revolver, the kind you would see John Wayne or Dirty Harry shoot in the movies. Because it was a revolver, I could see it was loaded.

I didn’t want to stare at the guy, so I watched him out of the corner of my eye. Had he been wearing a badge, I wouldn’t have given his gun a second thought, but he seemed to be a civilian. It made me nervous.

I went on with my shopping. When I got to the checkstand, there he was again, in front of me.

“What if he pulls that gun on the cashier and holds up the grocery store?” I thought to myself. I looked around for something to crawl under.

But he didn’t do that. He exchanged pleasantries with the clerk, who wished him a good day, and off he went with his groceries.

“Did you see that guy had a gun?” I asked the clerk.

“Sure,” she said.

“Did it make you nervous?” I asked.

“No,” she said. “A lot of people carry guns in Arizona. It’s perfectly legal. Besides, nobody is likely to hold up the store while he’s here.”

I remember this because people are openly carrying loaded guns into Starbucks stores around the country now, and they are welcome, apparently.

The Wall Street Journal reports the baristas aren’t steamed about it at all. The company says it follows state laws, wherever they are.

In California, you can carry, but the gun can’t be loaded.

Some 66.5 percent of California’s voters rejected an almost identical diversion plan (Proposition 1E) in a special election last May. The current proposal not only ignores the public will, but also purports to double the size of last year’s attempted raid.

Cutting MHSA programs simply doesn’t make economic sense. They successfully direct individuals with serious mental illness away from more expensive, “last resort” options such as emergency medical care, long-term nursing home care, state hospitals, juvenile justice, jails and prisons, into less expensive community based mental health care.

MHSA funds are providing Madera County with an impressive array of programs that deliver a range of services, from prevention and early intervention to intensive wraparound services.

Madera County Full Service Partnerships service people with mental health conditions across the age range from early childhood to older adults. Since they began providing service in 2006 the people enrolled in these programs have experienced an:

– 85 percent decrease in homelessness

– 72 percent decrease in hospitalization

– 74 percent decrease in incarceration

– 81 percent decrease in arrests

– 52 percent decrease in school suspensions

– 75 percent increase in school attendance

– 61 percent decrease in out-of-home placement

– 55 percent increase school grades

If the governor’s proposal is approved, additional statewide costs include losses of:

– At least half a billion dollars in federal Medicaid (Medi-Cal) funds annually.

– County-based mental health assistance for returning Iraq and Afghanistan combat veterans.

– Mental health services for the increasing number of inmates being released from state prisons

– A total of $1.75 billion over two years if additional addition federal aid to California is not received, decimating California’s community mental health system.

MHSA is virtually the only funding source remaining for community-based public mental health programs. Given our current economic downturn, diverting these funds to State General Fund obligations is tantamount to completely dismantling public mental health services.

Please, reject the governor’s proposal to divert MHSA funds to the State General Fund. Let your representatives know that it is unacceptable to balance the budget on the backs of California’s most vulnerable populations, while increasing costs to taxpayers.

Gwendolyn Palmer,
Madera