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Tuesday, September 07, 2010
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White No Show
City Council Held 'Hostage'
| Residents of Riverbank turned out for Monday night's regularly scheduled Riverbank City Council meeting ... but council member Jesse James White did not.
That left only two council members - Mayor Virginia Madueno and Sandra Benitez - on the dais and, once again, the council was unable to conduct any official business.
"There were people outside with signs that said 'Wanted - Jesse James White to attend council meetings'," said City Manager Rich Holmer. "We're sort of being held hostage right now by an individual that doesn't seem to care about Riverbank."
Holmer said even though Jesse James White has indicated he would be attending regularly scheduled council meetings but not special sessions, he called in late Monday afternoon to say he was in Los Angles and would not be attending the meeting. With his grandfather Dave White recuperating in a convalescent home and former councilman Danny Fielder resigning his post, the attendance of Jesse James White is imperative for the council to have a quorum.
"We couldn't do anything," Holmer said of the Monday night meeting, which basically included a presentation from local FFA members and a proclamation in their honor by the city. Other than that, the council could not officially conduct any business.
Last week, the younger White reported he was out of town and unable to attend a special council meeting to decide whether to appoint someone to fill the council seat of Fielder, who resigned from the council last month. Dave White is on medical leave until September, according to City Clerk Linda Abid-Cummings.
If the council does not appoint a replacement for Fielder within 30 days of his July 29 resignation, the seat will have to be filled via a special election. That could cost the city between $25,000 and $40,000, and would not be held until March of next year, according to Holmer.
An option - if the council can get a quorum - is to appoint one of the nine people running for a seat this November, Holmer added.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010 |
| Opinion
| | 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.
It's a bittersweet thing, to watch your kids grow up.
This boy changed our lives in ways only a firstborn can.
When the nurse put my son in my arms, I remember being dazed, exhausted, but mostly terrified. Who said I was ready to be a mother? How could the hospital allow me to leave with this precious bundle when I was little more than a kid myself? I was a child, playing house, enjoying the idea of having a baby. But as I stared into his deep, brown eyes, it got very real, very fast and I wasn't ready. Here was this helpless infant, depending on me, when I didn't have a clue as to how to care for him. And to compound matters, I didn't feel like a mother. I kept waiting for this rush of maternal love for this little stranger and yet I felt empty. My husband, on the other hand, fell in love with his son the moment he was born. I remember watching as my husband, barely old enough to drink, wearing a funky bandana and operating on very little sleep, cradled that small bundle in his arms as if he were the most precious thing on earth. Whatever I wasn't feeling yet, my husband found in abundance. He delighted in being a father, finding his way easily and without reservation while I floundered, too ashamed to admit I worried I'd never be a good mother because I felt so detached from this tiny being that shared half my DNA and demanded my every resource. I was afraid I'd never feel right, never feel what I was supposed to. For the first three weeks of his life, I relied on my aunt to be his primary caregiver. She loved and kissed him, gave him the affection he needed. She even gave him his first bath. I was too afraid of breaking him, of doing something wrong, to try.
Slowly, I found my footing as a mother but it was a rocky climb and the learning curve was steep. I made a lot of mistakes, some minor, some not. He was a very good baby, which was a blessing. He rarely cried and when he did, it was never loud and piercing. He was adorable and almost too pretty for a boy. He had gorgeous soft, chestnut curls that no matter how I dressed him, always made people think he was a girl. Eventually, I had to cut those curls and they never came back.
We almost lost him when he was 3; and to this day I carry the weight of the emergency room doctor's condemnation for waiting too long to bring him to the hospital for his cough. By the time I carried his little body into the hospital, eyes rolling into the back of his head, he had such bad bronchial pneumonia that his lungs couldn't pull in enough oxygen to breathe. The doctor told me another hour and he likely would've died.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010 |  |
| Sports
| | Herrera Tackles Third Year As RHS Athletic Director |  |
Some 180 of the 730 or so students at Riverbank High are currently participating in Bruin athletics.
By the end of the spring season, over 400 RHS students will have competed on a Riverbank court, field, track, link or mat.
Behind that crowd - or above it, rather - is the lofty frame of third year Bruin athletic director, Jason Herrera.
The 1998 Bruin graduate is ready for continued improvements to RHS sports, big changes to Riverbank's Trans-Valley League lineup and the continued quest to keep Bruins eligible and active for competition in the California Interscholastic Federation's Sac-Joaquin Section.
"It was a little rough my first year - and it's a lot of work - but I enjoy it," Herrera said. "I have been pretty busy this summer with fall schedules and getting on top of physicals."
And athletic director duties weren't the only thing keeping Herrera occupied this summer. The former Bruin scholar and athlete turned 30 in May, married his wife Paloma in July, and also moved from Modesto to Riverbank to be closer to the school where he played both basketball and football.
The biggest change for Bruin athletic programs in the 2010-11 school year is the addition of Orestimba and Hilmar to the TVL schedule and the loss of longtime league rival, Ripon Christian.
The Knights depart to the Southern League while the Warriors and Yellowjackets break away from the TVL's twin, the Western Athletic Conference.
Both Hilmar and Orestimba have a deep history in TVL athletics. The Warriors joined the league with Riverbank in 1968, and enjoyed the school's first ever conference football title in 1970 before an end to their six-year tenure in 1973.
Hilmar joined the league in 1980, winning consecutive TVL football titles from 1982 to 1989 with a streak of 42 league victories across that span.
The 37-mile, hour-long trek to Orestimba won't be the easiest thing for Riverbank's travel plans, and RHS doesn't require a transportation fee for athletic participants. It's a luxury that has allowed many Bruins to get involved in sports over the years.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010 | | | Final Horse Show
Of Season Scheduled | The Mid-Valley Saddle Club will be hosting its last horse show of the year on Sunday, Sept. 19 at the Diamond Bar Arena, 6055 So. Central Ave., Ceres.
There will be first through fourth place ribbons and high point winners in the age divisions at this Western schooling show.
High point winners in the most recent June show were: Manual Sousa, 11 and under; Gina Hitchman, 12 to 17; Robin Norgard, 18 and over. Judge for the Sept. 19 show will be Lisa Vandemer and the club is also planning is popular Halloween Playday, when riders are encouraged to attend in costume with their horse.
The playday will feature fun and games with prizes and costume classes, set for Oct. 31 with sign ups at 8 a.m. and the day starting at 9 a.m.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010 | |
| Obituaries
| | Henri Ethier, Jr. | Henri David 'Hank' Ethier, Jr., 87, died peacefully on Sunday, Aug. 15 at home after a hard fought battle with Alzheimer's disease, surrounded by his loving family.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010 | | | Veronica Patron | Veronica Rose Patron, 56, of Riverbank died Monday, Aug. 9 at Oak Valley Hospital.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010 | | | Henry Medrano | Henry Medrano, 62, of Riverbank died Wednesday, July 14, while enjoying one of his favorite hobbies, fishing, in Sonoma County.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010 | | | Lorna Hansen | Lorna Helen Hansen, 80, died Saturday, July 3 at her Oakdale home.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010 | |
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