archives

The Old 97's, a great alternative country band from Texas, announced today that a new album, "Blame it on Gravity," is on the way and one song can be heard on the group's Web site.

The song is catchy and gives me hope for this release, set to hit shelves May 13. Their last album, "Drag It Up," was good, but not great, since it was more a collection of a bunch of songs that had been kicked around for some time.

A few weeks ago I wrote about the smoking cessation facilitator training to be held for people who want to help Merced County smokers quit.

This morning I got a call from the Merced/Mariposa Asthma Coalition -- the group that got a grant to put on the program with Mercy Hospital -- letting me know that the first facilitator training was completed.

Eleven locals participated in the training Feb. 25-26, most of whom came from health education backgrounds. But the Asthma Coalition does hope to include community members as well. The training was led by Anne Dondro Davis, a master trainer from the American Lung Association. Not only did she train the future facilitators, she also formed a support group for them.

Livingston's General Plan -- the holy book of future development -- will be done fairly soon, and then the comment period will re-open. Then it should go up for a vote in the summertime, just before four of the five Livingston councilmembers are up for election.

There has already been a flurry of residents upset at how the city is looking to grow, which is by leaps and bounds based on ambitious projections -- nearly 10 percent more Livingstonians each year. By 2028, the city is projecting a population of 73,000. The main concern for some is that people don't want Livingston to be like Merced, or any other larger city.

I did a story this week about showing dogs. I talked to a couple of long-time breeders and handlers of purebred dogs, and I took away some things I never thought of before, even though I have also been breeding and showing dogs for more years than I like to admit.
These two women both said the same thing - if you want to show a dog, do your homework first.
Too many times, I see people who have a purebred, registered dog and think that they automatically have a show dog. Or they think that because their dog is registered, it should be bred.

I pick up a fourth-grader every day after school. He goes to a private school, and generally, it seems that his schooling is pretty good.
Except that this week, when I picked him up, he had a worksheet to study. He was supposed to study the people listed on the sheet. Because he’s in the fourth grade, he’s studying California history.
But if he tries to find the folks listed on this sheet, he’s going to have a hard time. People like Luther Burband or Leland Standford.

They are doing it again.
I truly believe that if the powers that be had their way, every type of pollution in the state of California could be blamed on agriculture.
From cows who fart too much to pollution from irrigation runoff, the finger has once again been pointed at the farmers and ranchers who grow our food and fiber.
I think I’ve figured out why. We are totally unwilling to give up our big Suburbans and Tahoes, despite the fact that gas is creeping up to $4 a gallon. The millions of cars that clog our highways have got to be putting the majority of goop in the air, not the farting cows and belching pigs.