Oops! Sure thankful I’m NOT that guy

I can’t tell you how thankful I am that I’m not the City of Fresno employee who signed off on and authorized payment for the November 2017 AT&T Yellow Pages Governmental Listings, which still indicate that Blong Xiong, Andreas Borgeas, Larry Westerlund, Sal Quintero, and Lee Brand are Fresno’s City Council members and Ashley Swearengin is the mayor!

I guess that new (10 months) Mayor Lee Brand isn’t at all concerned about what information is disseminated to his constituents in the 200,000 or so issued telephone directories, which are used daily by so many residents.

Equally joyous that I’m not the Clovis city employee who negotiated the paving contract with the asphalt company permitting the pavers not to work on weekends.

I’m also so fortunate this season that I’m not the Fresno Unified School District employee who came up with the $500 daily replacement teacher salaries in the event of a strike. I guess there’s plenty of money to pay unproven replacements but not enough of the greenbacks to reward today’s experienced educators who day-in-and-day-out are held responsible for educating our future leaders.

Truly a thankful and glorious Thanksgiving and Christmas season we have here, made possible by the local governing bodies of both Fresno and Clovis.

This story was originally published November 22, 2017 at 3:14 PM with the headline "Oops! Sure thankful I’m NOT that guy."