OPINION Section
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Mommy Musings – Good, Bad and Ugly This week as I sat preparing my thoughts the words that keep cropping up are: What should I have done? or What would you do?Perhaps I should offer a little clarity on what has me so confused and perplexed.Recently, our family, along with some friends who were here on holiday, visited an area park for some outside activity.It is ... |
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Hospital Update For Community Dear Editor,As the newly elected Chair of the Board of Directors of Oak Valley Hospital, one of my major goals is to improve lines of communication with the community, employees and our many health care partners. Because our local community hospital is such a critical part of vibrant health of our citizens, I’m going to try and briefly summarize what occurs at those meetings. |
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Back To School Safety I always remembered being late on the first day of the new school year.My day would usually start by sleeping through the alarm clock and being awakened by my parents pounding on my door. I would jump out of bed and quickly rummage through my closet for something to wear. If I were lucky I would have enough time to eat a piece of toast, before I ... |
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Taking Care Of Business Dear Editor,I would like to thank Mayor Farrell Jackson and Chief of Police Marty West for their personal attention to our problem, which was the theft of our “Parts Drop Boxes” twice in Oakdale. We are Holt of California, a Caterpillar Tractor Dealer in Stockton/Modesto/Sacramento/Los Banos. We deliver parts daily to our customers in these areas. It is very ... |
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Marg-Ins - Of Moves And Shoes So much happens in a month. Regular readers are familiar by now with our column rotation, with a submission each week for the ‘Perspective’ page, myself the first week of the month, Dawn M. Henley the second week, Craig Macho the third week and Kim Van Meter the fourth week. If there happens to a fifth Wednesday, we let John Branch sneak in a column on this page as well. |
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Stuff ‘N Nonsense - A Love So Strong On the day this column reaches the newsstands, my oldest son will turn 17. I’m still trying to wrap my brain around that concept. Was it really 17 years ago that I brought that nine-pound, 10-ounce kid into this world? I guess so. When I look into his eyes, I see the boy he was, but when I pull back, I see the young man he’s turning into. |
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Back To Basics Dear Editor, |
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What Is A City Manager? Recent media scrutiny of city managers — or, more specifically, their compensation — has reached a fever pitch in California and across the country. The city management and governmental compensation abuses uncovered last month in the small Los Angeles suburb of Bell are deplorable and warrant a full investigation. Such trespasses are rare in a profession known for transparency and populated by talented and dedicated individuals.
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Mommy Musings - More Than One Reason In a past column I shared a little insight into my recent undertaking of helping with costumes for the Oakdale Community Theatre Production of “Annie” the musical. 
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Macho Madness - Little Ears, Big Ears It’s a constant battle. It’s been an issue for generations, with both sides using the latest in technology, psych-ops, and state of the art equipment. |
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A Random Act Of Kindness Dear Editor, |
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Accident Scene Provides Lessons Dear Editor, As part of a group of friends, gathered with our families, at a home on Orange Blossom Road for a Friday evening of riding horses and BBQing, I was among the unfortunate witnesses to a horrific accident. The sickening sound of screeching tires and rolling metal on the concrete is something I won’t soon forget.
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City: No Cents Dear Editor, |
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Kimberly’s Book Reviews As Good As It Got by Isabel Sharpe |
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Mommy Musings - Time To Adjust Last week our oldest child started Kindergarten. |
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Dawn’s Column - Yard Sale Tale My husband and I recently held a gargantuan, one-day yard sale. Due to our union, we had double, and in some cases, triple, of everything required to furnish a home. We had filled the shelves of the garage with boxes of items just for the yard sale, knowing that it wasn’t even everything we needed to put out because we hadn’t had time to address it all. |
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Cop Corner – Identity Theft Each year, identity theft, one of the fastest growing crimes in the nation, harms thousands of consumers throughout the Central Valley. Ultimately, the identity thief aims to obtain personal information about you, your Social Security number, birth date and credit card numbers. With this information, the identity thief can assume your identity and establish bank accounts or credit in your name, leaving you to deal with ... |
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Reporter’s Notebook – Lessons Learned High school graduation is an exciting time in a young person’s life. One chapter of life has ended, excitement for the future is at an all time high and gifts from lost relatives arrive by the truckload. Yet among the excitement and parties, nervousness came over me. Where to go, the four-year universities I was accepted to or Modesto Junior College, which was affordable, ... |
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Marg-Ins - Summer What? Welcome to August and the resumption of school and a somewhat normal routine. Summer, or what months pass for summer vacation here in California, are just about over and like it or not, alarm clocks will soon be back in use. The unusually mild summer weather (trust me, I’m not complaining at all) has made it seem like we are still waiting for the ... |
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Appreciative Of Support Dear Editor, The Reynolds family would like to extend our sincere thanks to all of our friends, extended families, and neighbors for your help and caring support during our loved one’s illness. Your thoughtful assistance, phone calls, notes and prayers were greatly appreciated. Thank you all for your generous donations of food. All of ... |
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For Your Information – So Why Do They Do That!? |
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Mommy Musings - All For Love Today I cannot help but wonder … have I lost my mind? The good news is, I realize I am not alone and many parents wonder this on a daily basis. The bad news is, I am still really wondering if I am completely nuts. |
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Stuff N' Nonsense - What’s New? As July comes to a close and August creeps closer, a number of important calendar events are coming for our household. Most notably, school starts quickly followed by both sons’ birthdays but also, my first Silhouette Romantic Suspense novel is coming out and that’s very exciting. You may recall the trip my husband and I took to the northern coast ... |
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Grateful For Police Response Dear Editor, |
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Physician Hiring Bill Needs Support Dear Editor, |
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Mommy Musings - The Open Road The time has come for yet another unforgettable Hammond Family vacation.While I am writing this prior to the vacation happening, there is one thing I am certain of. This vacation will indeed be unforgettable. The location we will travel to this summer is not exotic, tropical or even coastal. This year the Hammond Family is headed to the hip ... |
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Macho Madness - Hey, Whippersnappers! I recently turned 50.I’ve heard people say “50 is the new 40,” or some other sort of nonsense during the past couple of weeks, possibly in the spirit of cheering me up.I’m not sure if this is true, but now that I’ve reached this benchmark I’ve found there is an upside to this whole turning 50 thing: I’m able to release my inner ... |
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Friends Give Thanks, $$ Dear Editor,Friends of the Oakdale Library would like to thank Ellis Storage for giving us a free place last year to store our books, for our book sale.Hi Tech Storage is helping us out this year.We appreciate these local businesses assisting us in our efforts to support the Oakdale Library.Friends of Oakdale Library gave $5,000 ... |
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The Rest Of The Story Dear Editor,This past February I was out on a business trip when I got a call from my wife at approximately 9 p.m. She had just gotten a frightening call from her 82-year-old mother who lives alone on Tioga Avenue. She said there was a strange acting, hooded man sitting in a rocking bench on her back patio. I told my wife to call the Sheriff’s Department ... |
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Dawn’s Column - Married…Finally It’s official. I’m now a Mrs. — for an entire month already.All the details came together for the wedding, which was a beautiful, memorable event — that went by very quickly. We feel blessed to have wonderful friends and family who supported us throughout this whole process.I now have a husband. I’ve altered my name, moved into a new home — just to ... |
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Mommy Musings - Bloom In The Gloom We’re still in a recession. This simple sentence is far from breaking news, even for a small weekly such as ours. Legal Notices continue to occupy a minimum of three complete pages in our paper each week and property rental ads continue to come and go quickly in our classified section. |
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Marg-Ins - May I Ask You A Question? If you have been a regular reader of the paper for any length of time, you are probably familiar with our feature that has been called a number of things, from ‘Street Beat’ to ‘Question of the Week’ to our latest moniker ‘People Poll.’ It typically occupies a space here on the ‘Perspective’ page but that, too, has changed over the years, from the bottom of the ... |
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Cop Corner I thought for this month’s article I would write to you in the role of a criminal. I am going to tell you what I am thinking and what I am looking for in order for you to protect yourself against me. Here we go: |
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For Your Information - Do Your Retirement Plans Need Retooling? Where does your retirement plan stand? Although this phase in everyone’s life looms in the future, many people fail to set aside the money they will need to fund a healthy and happy retirement. Others who have saved diligently over time may have been hit hard by the stock market declines of the last couple of years, finding that their nest egg has declined sharply in value. |
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Ramblings – Slip Sliding Away Words slip and slide. I discovered that a long time ago. In writing essays for high school, papers for college, accounts of trips and adventures, I found the words take over and dictate the story, not the other way around, and the story doesn’t turn out the way you intended it even when you sometimes, almost by accident, choose the right word. Much is the same with life ... |
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For Your Information – Home Remodeling Can Make Financial Sense My wife and I survived two major home remodeling projects and we’ve got the battle scars to prove it. Like most people feeling cramped for space — thanks to two growing children in our case — we weighed the plusses and minuses of remodeling versus moving to a larger home. Because we live in a great neighborhood with strong local schools, we ... |
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Stuff ‘N Nonsense – Homeownership: An Education In Economics As previously mentioned, you might remember that we purchased our first home last year. It’s been about six months now and we’re still settling in but we’ve managed to unpack most of the important boxes even if we aren’t entirely sure where everything ended up (I still can’t find certain items that once resided in the kitchen). |
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Cop Corner - Auto Alarms: What Works And What Doesn’t Automobile thefts occur once every 27 seconds in the United States. One in every five vehicles stolen has the keys inside. In Oakdale, we have had 58 vehicles stolen and 36 vehicle burglaries in the city in the last 10 months. There are many ways you can reduce your chances of becoming a victim. |
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Golf Course, Staff Are Top Notch Dear Editor, |
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In Opposition Of Bills Dear Editor, Police and Firefighters are to “serve and protect” the citizens of their community and should not be controlled by Big Labor overriding state and local labor laws. This is the first step in forcing all state and public employees under Big Labor’s thumb and will do nothing to make our communities safer. It is more likely to drive out upstanding ... |
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A Tale Of Two Cities Dear Editor, |
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Mommy Musings – Grown-up Friends I’ve recently come to realize that navigating through grown-up friendship is no easy task. A couple of girlfriends and I were recently discussing an awkward situation I had been in and, well, being girls we digressed onto the topic of making friends. Before I continue I have to point out what I love about grown up friends is how age and interest can vary. ... |
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Macho Madness - Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes A few years ago — in fact, it was one of my first columns — I wrote about the changes my wife, Donnelle, and I were going through as our children prepared to leave home. |
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Don’t Abandon Your Animals Dear Editor, |
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Please Be Considerate Dear Editor, |
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Guest Opinion - California Dairies Meet Our Needs The month of June is set aside as a celebration of all things dairy. In California it also is a celebration of Real California Milk and the hardworking dairy families who bring this nutritious food to the table. California milk and dairy foods are high-quality, economical food sources that come in an endless array of flavors and formats to ... |
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SavetheStan: A Life Or Death Fight Both the South San Joaquin and the Oakdale Irrigation Districts are in a fight for their lives against the federal government’s misguided attempts at helping salmon and steelhead in the South Delta. Our two agencies have filed suit to stop the same government decision that shut the pumps down on the westside of the Central Valley and destroyed much of its agriculture and economy last year. That same decision (known as ... |
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Therapy Pool Needs Support Dear Editor, |
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Dawn’s Column - On To Something ‘Big’ A couple years ago around this time, I wrote a column about going to see the Sex And The City movie on opening night. I drove three hours to meet up with one of my partner-in-crime girlfriends from college and some of her girlfriends who held a ‘Big’ bash, complete with cosmopolitans (and champagne and kamikazes and…) and a limo to drive all 10 of us to the ... |
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Mommy Musings - Not-So Common Sense Knowledge is not always power. |
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