Eye On Modesto

Thoughts and observations about Modesto and Stanislaus County

Archive for the category “Uncategorized”

22 Jul 2012

Where is Assistant City Attorney Rollie Stevens?

By Emerson Drake

While it doesn’t have the same connotations as asking “Who’s John Galt?” , “Where is Rollie Stevens?” should make people stop and think.  Rollie Stevens was Modesto’s  Attorney negotiating the water contract between the City of Modesto and the Modesto Irrigation District back in 2005.  This contract spells out the fact that Modesto and the Farmers stand first in line for OUR/MID water.  MID has demanded and Mayor Marsh has acquiesced to, Rollie Stevens absence at any talks between MID and Modesto.  Why?  Because MID knows Mr. Stevens is the most knowledgable  individual on the city staff regarding this contract which is vital to Modesto’s long-term BEST interests.

MID is supposed to be owned by the ratepayers but over the years, we ignored the MID Board and allowed the Board to spend/waste Millions of dollars unchecked, and at an ever-increasing rate.  In recent years the public exposed several of their ill-fated ventures.  One was the TANC project that the MID General Manager led, and despite public outcry against it, the proposal was curtailed only when (SMUD), Sacramento Municipal Utilities District came to their senses and pulled out of the monstrosity of overspending  that General Manager Short had helped to create. The cost to MID was approximately $5 million dollars.  The second was the Bio-Mass/ Garbage burner Project of Stephen Endsley.  After discovering how badly they were being duped by Endsley and MID, the MID ratepayers rebelled and finally MID pulled out of the garbage burner business.  The cost to ratepayers was $1.2 Million plus MID Attorney Tim O’Laughlin pocketed a cool $92,000.00 for this project alone.  This was despite being assured by attorney O’Laughlin that MID had no exposure to litigation. It seems it’s all a mater of perspective with O’Laughlin, who lives in Chico,  and doesn’t buy water or electricity from MID.

Now MID is pretending the small sale of 2,240 acre feet isn’t important, but as always the devil is in the details.  And the details here which bear importance are;  if the contract is signed, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission will be first in line for any MID water for the next fifty years, yes before Modesto and the Farmers, and has first right of refusal over any potential water sales MID might care to make.  The contract also sets a price for future water sales which includes an extremely small price escalator.

Just as important and maybe even more so because of its size is the looming 25,000 acre foot sale.  MID intends on pursuing it immediately after the 2,240 sale, so both sales should be considered at the same time by ratepayers trying to make a decision.  We also need to consider the small sale doesn’t pay for anything. The 2,240 acre feet times the $700.00 per acre foot comes to $1,568,000. yearly.  At this rate it will take 70.79 tears to pay for the $110 Million in infrastructure the MID Board claims we need.  And yes, the much larger sale triggers an EIR or Environmental Impact Report but with the SFPUC  footing the cost and being the lead agency, stopping it at that point is a much harder task than most realize.

Now back to the initial question of  “Where is Rollie Stevens.”  To use a sports metaphor,  it’s like playing a Superbowl and having our coach decide to bench our all-pro quarterback or 2,000 yard running back because the other team doesn’t want to play against him.  Why would we concede to those conditions?

This is the $64,000 question we need to ask Mayor Marsh. 

So Mayor, why are you keeping Rollie Stevens on the sidelines? 

Modesto and the farmers need to stand shoulder to shoulder on the water sale issue.  Agriculture is the economic driving force in the Central Valley and we need to nurture it.  And as we all  know,  if you want to keep something alive in the Central Valley, you need to water it.

We have NO extra water for sale to San Francisco.

Rollie Stevens, we need you.

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20 Jul 2012

Here are the Letters Between MID and the City of Modesto

By Emerson Drake

You’ve heard about them and here they are the written  exchanges between Modesto and MID.

MID-CityLetters

Also, here is a little teaser.  You know the MID has been using Martino Graphic Design INC to funnel money to political consultant and lobbyist  Mike Lynch.  But were you aware of the potential amount in their contract?  Under purchase order 54981 from July 23, 2010 thru December 31, 2011:

This contract is issued to provide professional services to Refocus and Enhance Public Education and Information per Board Resolution No. 2010-35.

Not-to-exceed $450,000.00 plus cost and expenses.

$450,000.00 for Lobbying?  Now you know why your rates are so high.  They been giving contracts like these to friends to stay in power.

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16 Jul 2012

“On Watch” Cable TV Comcast 15, Streaming Video and 89.5FM

Emerson Drake
I’m guest hosting Athens Abell’s cable TV show “On Watch” at 6PM tonight Monday July 16th. Supervisor Terry Withrow will be there to discuss farmland mitigation. I’m doing a segment on Modesto’s negotiating with MID and Modesto City Councilman Dave Geer will be my guest. And if time permits a segment on the County Fair. It’s all on Comcast channel 15 the Assyrian Channel and online via streaming video and KBSV-89.5 FM 

http://www.betnahrain.org/KBSV/kbsv.htm

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16 Jul 2012

More Corruption at MID

From Dave Thomas,

In  one of the most egregious in-your-face deals imaginable, Allen Short has made a deal with MID union employees to increase their already bloated salaries by 4%.  That is correct, “The contract was drafted with the help of an outside negotiator.  Two of the three bargainin  units have accepted it, MID General Manager Allen Short said.” (The Modesto BEE, page A-1, July 16y, 2012)

        If we did not understand how out of control MID management is, this should be the final teachable moment.  Remember, that $100,000 a year meter reader gets another $40,000 in benefits, partly because he pays NOTHING into his pension.  Short’s pay will likely be increased by a lame Board of Directors, meaning a monthly increase of about $10,000.

        This pay raise will also be used to justify the next electricity rate increase. 

        If there was ever evidence that Short must go, this is it.  Also, Glen Wild and Tom VanGronigan will be up for re-election next year.  Remember this when you vote.

        Thank you, Dave

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16 Jul 2012
1 Comment

The Most Dangerous Place To Give Birth

By Gaetana Drake

Here in the United States we have the highest infant/maternal mortality rate of any industrialized country.  But listen to the stories of two women who live in Gabu, Guinea-Bissau, located in Africa.

Gabu is considered the most dangerous place in the world for a woman to give birth.  A woman here has a 1 in 19 chance of dying as a result of pregnancy or childbirth, compared to a 1 in 2,100 chance in the U.S.

Most births still take place in villages, and if something goes wrong the woman can be hours away from medical help.  Cell phones (if someone in the village has one) work sporadically, travel by boat depends on the tides and automobiles are rare and expensive.  A journey of just a few miles can take hours.

When a woman arrives at a hospital or clinic, she is not treated until her family pays up front for any necessary medication.  The clinics do not have pharmacies and a family member will be told what medication the woman needs and be sent to purchase it before treatment can begin.

Generators are used only for storage.  Mid-wives work by flashlight or candlelight.  There is no power for refrigeration to store blood donations or to run incubators for premature babies.

Cultural practices make it even more difficult for women.  It is common for girls to marry as young as 13.  Unicef estimates that 7% of girls under the age of 15 are already married and mothers.  Most of the women of the region have undergone female mutilation.

Aissato Sanha is spending the last few weeks of her high risk pregnancy in a bed near the surgery room.  Her room is filled with women in labor.  She tells the nurse she is 18, but the nurse believes she is probably 15.  Her water breaks early in the morning and she goes into labor.  By the next day her baby is no closer to being born and the hospital director determines that she needs a Cesarean section for her and the baby to survive.  But first her mother must go to the pharmacy to buy the necessary medications.  When Aissato’s son is finally born he is missing part of a leg and his fingers are webbed.  One eye socket is completely obscured by a cleft palate and his head is abnormally large.  The massive deformaties were not discovered during the pregnancy because ultrasounds are not part of pre-natal care in this region.  The baby will go home with the family, but in many cases, severely deformed babies are neglected and die.

Fatumata Djau stayed home to give birth to her fourth child.  The placenta does not deliver normally and hours later she is at a maternity ward, losing a lot of blood.  Her brother is sent to buy medicine to stop the bleeding, but comes back with the wrong one.  He goes off to the pharmacy again, while his sister continues to hemorrhage.  Fatumata goes into convulsions and cardiac arrest.  CPR fails.  She leaves behind 4 daughters and a 75 year old husband.

Outreach teams operated by Catholic Relief Services have helped cut the mortality rate in the past two decades by going into remote villages and determining which women have high risk pregnancies and providing training for mid-wives.  However, the one thing they won’t do is provide birth control education.  Women in remote villages don’t know there is such a thing as birth control.  They grow up knowing they will probably have many more children than they can care for and will more than likely die in childbirth.  Remember, young girls are given to older men in arranged marriages.  They do not have legal, political or financial power.  They are subjugated to men.

For some reason many people equate “population control” or even birth control with “extermination”.  The world is over-populated.  Thousands of people die every day from starvation and lack of clean drinking water.  Is it humane to allow this to continue?  Isn’t it more humane to help women control their reproductive lives so they don’t die?  So they don’t have to watch their children die?

We should all support the effort to bring birth control to third world countries.  Lives depend on it. 

 

 

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09 Jul 2012

Tonight at 6:00 PM Athens Abell’s “On Watch” MID Water Sales and More

Tonight at 6:00  PM Pacific I will be guest hosting Athens Abell’s cable TV program “On Watch” with guests John Duarte and Troy McComak.

It can be found on the Assyrian Channel KBSV-15 on comcast, KBES 89.5 FM, and http://www.betnahrain.org/KBSV/kbsv.htm streaming video.  Just click on DSL at the top of the page.

First off we’ll be discussing with John Duarte  MID’s proposed water sale and the propaganda and misinformation  that the Modesto Bee and others have  been spreading.

The we’ll bring you some interesting thoughts of Troy McComak a former California 10th District Congressional candidate.

I hope you can take the time to visit with us.

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09 Jul 2012

Here We Go Again – What Men Don’t Understand About Birth Control

By Gaetana Drake

Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wi) was recently discussing how low-income women can get birth control.  He was asked “what if I can’t afford birth control?”  His response was to “Google it”.  He explained that his wife recently Googled it and “bam, it was there!”  So, I tried it.  I went to Google and typed in “what if I can’t afford birth control”?  He was right in one respect.  BAM!  There were my solutions, right there on Google.  Four solutions from which to choose:

Option #1 – go to Planned Parenthood.  Wonderful idea, as Planned Parenthood’s mission is self-explanatory.  Planned Parenthood is so much better than unplanned parenthood.  And Planned Parenthood provides so many necessary services, along with affordable or free birth control.  But then I remembered!  The GOP is trying desperately to defund Planned Parenthood.  So, the first option just flew right out the window.

Option #2 – go to a doctor.  The initial visit may cost from $45 – $125 (in my opinion this is a very low estimate for costs).  Follow-up visits may run up to $60.  Then there’s the cost of the actual birth control.  Pills can run from $9 – $40, depending on what pill works best for the woman.  As a woman who has had experience with the pill, I know that pills have different effects on different women and there are many women who simply can’t tolerate the pill.  How about an IUD?  $1500 – $2000.  What part of “what if I can’t afford birth control” didn’t the good Senator Johnson understand?  But then, Senator Johnson and his family have the best health care in the world – at our expense. 

Option #3 – If your employer offers a choice of insurance plans, simply choose one that covers contraception.  Hmmmm….30 – 35 million Americans without health insurance and thousands of employers that don’t offer insurance coverage,  but just pick the plan that covers contraception.   Again, the good senator doesn’t seem to understand the problem.

Option #4 – ask your partner to contribute to the cost of contraception.  I agree with this completely!  Especially since options 1, 2 and 3 aren’t really valid in so many cases.  Unfortunately, even in 2012, there is a mindset among many men that birth control is just a “woman’s issue” and they don’t need to be involved in it.  And let’s not forget that most men don’t like condoms, and don’t want to use them.

So here we have a U.S. Senator (male) who has absolutely no realistic understanding of the costs of birth control and how that effects low-income women.   And we have Rush Limbaugh (male) who famously believed that you took a pill every time you wanted to have sex (I believe he was confusing birth control pills with his Viagra!)  I truly believe it’s time that men stop making comments about this issue unless they actually have something valid to contribute to the discussion.  When they make outrageous statements, like both of these men did, they just look silly.

Since 1960 when the pill was approved by the FDA, the graduation rates (from high school and college) for females have skyrocketed.  And the number of women in the workforce has tripled since then.  All of this is directly tied to being able to control when and how often we give birth.

Senator Johnson claims there is no one trying to deny women access to contraception.  He claims this is an issue of religious freedom.  As I’ve said before, no one is forcing any woman to use contraception, so I really don’t understand the “religious freedom” issue.

In the past I have thought that this GOP/male obsession about birth control was just something to distract us from the real issues – war, jobs, the economy.  But I’m beginning to believe there is a more sinister reason behind their plan.  The political and financial power of women has steadily increased since 1960.  They don’t like that.  They would like to change that.

We have the strength and determination of our great-grandmothers and grandmothers who fought for the right to vote.  We have the strength and determination of our mothers who fought for their rightful place in the workforce.

I think they’re afraid of us.  And they should be.  Because we won’t stop fighting.

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05 Jul 2012
1 Comment

Here is the Email that Forced Supervisor Withrow to Recuse Himself from WestPark Discussions

By Emerson Drake

We’ve attempted to discover the actual sender but to this point were stymied. If anyone can pinpoint the exact sender for this information we’ll all be grateful.

Return-path: <billlyons82@hotmail.com>
Received: from snt0-omc2-s20.snt0.hotmail.com ([65.55.90.95])
 by mail.stancounty.com with ESMTP; Tue, 19 Jun 2012 08:49:57 -0700
X-CheckPoint: {4FE09FA4-2F-5264C83F-FFFF}
Received: from SNT136-W54 ([65.55.90.73]) by snt0-omc2-s20.snt0.hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.4675);
  Tue, 19 Jun 2012 08:49:56 -0700
Message-ID: <SNT136-W549F334BE6452C7901A66BA9FF0@phx.gbl>
Return-Path: billlyons82@hotmail.com
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
 boundary=”_4fe5a1d5-b6da-4d55-a837-b96e8e82a8eb_”
X-Originating-IP: [174.254.228.224]
From: bill lyons billlyons82@hotmail.com>
To: <gstapley@modbee.com>, <boggsk@stancounty.com>, <obrienw@stancounty.com>
Subject: West Park
Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2012 08:49:56 -0700
Importance: Normal
MIME-Version: 1.0
X-OriginalArrivalTime: 19 Jun 2012 15:49:56.0849 (UTC) FILETIME=[2CF9F610:01CD4E33]
 
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on a project where his family and their partners own surrounding land. Del =
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02 Jul 2012
4 Comments

Muratore Stabs Constituents in the Back

 By Emerson Drake

When MID’s General Manager Allen Short and attorney Tim O’Laughlin made their water presentation to the Modesto City Council, they deliberately misled them regarding the reliability of Modesto’s water supply from MID.  This was acknowledged by the Council when they finally had the opportunity to read the proposed contract with the San Francisco Public Utility Commission , also know as the SFPUC.  O’laughlin had the audacity to stand  in front of the Council and claim the contract would protect Modesto and keep Modesto first when it came time to divvy up available water.

Obviously that was just a lie.

When the council first voted in closed session it was 5-2 for exploring a lawsuit against MID for violating a  2005 contract. But before it became public the Council took another vote which made it a unanimous 7-0 vote.  Councilman Lopez spoke about this in open session. The two votes against were Mayor Marsh and Councilman Lopez.

 Councilman Muratore Betrays Modesto and Changes His Mind

Unfortunately MID Director Tom Van Groningen has since somehow  “persuaded” Muratore to change his mind and suddenly Muratore loves the proposed water sale.  What arguments did Van Groningen use?  Did he magically make more water appear in Don Pedro? No. Was he able to convince the SFPUC to take a back seat to Modesto and the farmers?  No.  So what did he dangle in front of Muratore to change his mind?

Well we do know from past experience with Councilman Muratore that money talks.  Maybe VanGroningen apologized for not passing a special exemption when Muratore, Swehla, Endsley and Hawn brought a solar project to the MID board.  Unfortunately that time Swehla screwed the pooch and failed to meet a paperwork cut-off and the project wasn’t eligible for the increased financial inducement which would have made the project viable, costing their fledgling company any chance of remaining in business.  And of course we remember Van Groningen supported Endsley’s biomass/garbage burner plant which cost ratepayers $1.292Million dollars. The $92,000 went to MID attorney O’Laughlin’s firm, but hey, who’s  counting?

Maybe a Forensic Auditor should be brought in to examine MID’s books given the revelation MID’s General Manager made when he admitted he had funneled money to political consultant Mike Lynch through Martino Graphic Design,INC. Has he done this before?  Have they paid a political consultant through a graphic design company or another company unrelated to political consulting to disguise their intent?  Couldn’t this sleight of hand be considered illegal, especially if there is evidence of this not being the first time?  Lynch has been making the rounds whispering in the ear of political wannabes like Councilman Lopez’s stepson Josh Vanderveen, who has been speaking out for the sale regularly since this issue came to light. Up to this point there hasn’t been enough known inducement for Lynch to be making promises to so many political candidates.  And of course it can’t hurt that Councilman Lopez has been making discrete inquiries about running for Supervisor Dick Monteith’s job when the supervisors term expires.

Whatever VanGroningen whispered into Muratore’s ear worked and as a result the potential vote is now 4-3 regardless of anything you’ve heard.  Now all eyes are on Councilman Cogdill to see if he’s as honorable as we hope.

Above all we need Council members to watch out for the Citizens of Modesto’s best interests and not their political careers or their wallets.

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28 Jun 2012
1 Comment

Obama’s Affordable Health Care Act Upheld By Supreme Court

By Gaetana Drake

We’ve all heard by now that the Supreme Court gave a 5-4 ruling in favor of the Affordable Health Care Act.

I’d like to point out some very positive aspects to the plan.  Young adults who are over the age of 19 can stay on their parent’s insurance.  This effects millions of college age people in the country, who are struggling to go to school and find jobs at the same time.

A person can’t be denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition such as diabetes or high blood pressure.

Your current insurance cannot drop you if you become ill.

There is no longer a lifetime maximum coverage amount.  Most policies were limited to $1,000,000 of lifetime coverage, which could easily be wiped out by cancer treatments or care for chronic conditions.

And the best part of all….it will be illegal to charge a woman more for insurance than a man.  Some states actually allowed insurances to charge a woman up to 80% more for insurance coverage.   President Obama has made it illegal for insurances to consider having a uterus a “pre-existing” condition and charging more for coverage.

Several studies have suggested that passing this law will actually result in lower insurance premiums.  This is what happened in Massachusetts when then-Governor Romney mandated that everyone purchase insurance.  97% of the citizens of Massachusetts have coverage and the average cost of premiums declined.

Some people are concerned about the tax penalty for not purchasing insurance.  The plan calls for a $150 tax penalty in 2014, if you have not purchased insurance, with the penalty going higher each year, to a maximum of $695.  However, there are no “teeth” to this penalty.  The plan specifically says that if you fail to purchase insurance and do not pay the penalty, there will be no liens on your tax return, or your property.  The prospect of a penalty simply encourages people to purchase insurance.

All in all, the Affordable Health Care Act will be beneficial to millions of American citizens.  The Supreme Court was right on this one.

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