Farmland along Kings River should remain open, not covered with homes or businesses

Keep Kings River beautiful, open

There are wealthy people who own land not for profit, but for environmental protection. One of the functions of the Kings River Conservancy is to protect the Kings River, its biome and beauty, for generations to come. The Kings River Conservatory and state Department of Parks and Recreation work to protect and enhance this and the adjoining the river biome from further exploitation.

We all would love to have a beautiful home along a river or stream, but then the question is, who should really own the river and the natural habitat along its path? I suggest Mr. Harris and Mr. Ewell support and enhance river-bottom property for the greater good and promote a balanced natural ecosystem for all.

Driving the highway on both the left and right side of the Kings River towards Pine Flat is always an enjoyable refreshing outing: The river, the oak trees, the orange groves, horses, cattle, flowers, people fishing, picnicking, etc. Let’s not screw up this beautiful agricultural property for monetary gain.

Democrats drive state to dark ages

Democrats, Biden and Newsom are driving our country and state back to the “dark ages.” Their vision of our country is a landscape of solar panels, a horizon of power generation wind turbines, a seascape of wave power generators, landfills overflowing with unrecyclable and hazardous batteries, blackouts, rationed electricity and a one party government oligarchy of leftist elitists.

It is coming, folks, and, as the old saying goes, “You asked for it.” It is coming because we already have a censorious fourth estate owned by the Democrat oligarchists. They have begun their march.

Is oil derrick right on his car?

Thomas Williams, in his letter (The Bee, Aug. 21), “Try running a car on solar power,” ridiculed the notion that there are alternate sources to power automobiles besides fossil fuel. His examples of installing solar panels, windmills or nuclear reactors directly on an automobile, which, of course, are ridiculous, illustrate the limited thinking of those who can’t see beyond the oil well.

For the past five years, I have powered my Toyota plug-in hybrid vehicle with the energy generated with a roof-mounted solar array. A plug-in hybrid, some will say, can’t power a vehicle on long distance trips. I agree, but of the 75,000 miles driven on the vehicle, 60% of those miles (45,000) were for short, in-town trips, all of which were powered by my solar panels. No, those panels are not mounted on the roof of the car; they are on the roof of a building. The energy they generate directly offsets my PG&E bill, and when driving in town for those 45,000 miles I don’t need to buy gasoline.

It is a fallacy to think that the energy source for an automobile has to be an integral part of the vehicle. If that were true, I wonder where on his car Mr. Williams mounts the oil derrick?

The real winner in Wyoming election

In primary election in Wyoming, Harriet Hageman won the Republican nomination for Congress, defeating Liz Cheney by a wide margin.

But Jesus asked his disciples (Mark 8:36, KJV), “What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”

Ms. Hageman won the Republican primary and will probably be elected to Congress, but at what price? She had to endorse the Big Lie that Donald Trump won the presidential election of 2020, even though that statement has been proven false again and again. She has sacrificed her honor to satisfy her political ambition.

On the other hand, Ms. Cheney lost an election, but she did not give up her integrity or her patriotism. She deserves respect.

So who was the real winner?

Focus on the district for once

While his fellow Fresno City Council members are reaching out to their constituents in multiple meaningful ways by hosting community outreach events in their districts and using their council websites to list resources and opportunities for district residents, Mr. Bredefeld invests his time in going from microphone to microphone, drawing attention to himself while making disparaging remarks about his City Council peers.

My hope is that good people will step up to run for office when Mr. Bredefeld “terms out” of his council position so we District 6 residents can elect someone who will provide us with the advocacy and support Mr. Bredefeld’s fellow council members currently provide to their constituents.

The Bee shows its forgetfulness

It shouldn’t surprise me that The Bee has a short memory. When TJ Cox was running for the first time against David Valadao, The Bee’s Editorial Board wrote an article in full support of Cox, not mentioning his tax issues or his problems with the senior housing he was involved with. His best attribute was that he wasn’t Valadao or a Trump supporter.

Now I read recently that The Bee says “Cox’s business dealings never passed the smell test.” That’s right ... never passed the test. But The Bee now writes as if it never supported this man who has broken the law in so many ways (I’m sure there is much more that has not been uncovered), creating an assumption of fairness on its part.

Sorry, I, as do so many others, have a memory longer than The Bee wants its general public to have and am not buying its latest “Opinion.”

High-speed rail drains money away

It is time to end California High Speed Rail. It has been 15 years since we voted to build HSR. As of May 29, not one mile of rail has been laid. The transcontinental railroad was built between 1863 and 1869, all by hand labor; it covered 1,776 miles and the cost in 2013 dollars was $1.2 billion.

The first phase of the HSR from Los Angeles to San Fransisco is about 500 hundred miles and is expected to cost $105.1 billion. The rout for the transcontinental railroad was completed between 1853 and 1855.

On Aug, 8, The Bee printed an article telling us that two contracts totaling $83 million had been awarded to contractors, not to start construction, but to think about routs for the HSR.

When will this drain on taxpayers come to an end.

This story was originally published September 16, 2022 at 10:28 AM with the headline "Farmland along Kings River should remain open, not covered with homes or businesses."