Articles by Date

  • What's the difference between a deposit and a bribe?
    Wed, 2012-06-20 19:07

     

    Let's talk today on Lunch with the Mayor at noon.

    Supervisor Terry Withrow, who has not supported West Park in previous votes, left the room, saying a potential conflict of interest would prevent him from voting.  Withrow said. his wife's parents owned property around the proposed project.

     

  • WATER EVERYWHERE BUT WHO HAS TO PAY AND WHO GETS IT FREE
    Mon, 2012-06-18 11:49

     

     

    Let's talk water politics with Reed Smith today on Lunch with the Mayor at noon.

     

    Join in at 846-1814, and share this e-mail with your friends to end the Modesto Bee monopoly on news you can use.

     

    The Modesto Bee purchased the following story from the Associated Press and we thank them.

     

    Posted on Sat, Jun. 16, 2012

  • CALIFORNIA STATE BAR: VILLALOBOS AND WOOD
    Mon, 2012-06-18 09:46

    DRAFT ONLY:

     

    Office of the Chief Trial Counsel/Intake

    The State Bar of California

    1149 South Hill Street

    Los Angeles, California 900115-2299

     

    Actions of attorney's:

     

    Ruben A. Villalobos #197677

    As Chair of the Modesto Board of Education he represented interests in favor of the Modesto Irrigation District's sale of water to San Francisco and also signed an article that argued for the water sale in the Modesto Bee that identified him as Villalobos is a Modesto attorney and co-chairman of the Latino Community Roundtable Water and Power Committee.

  • JULIE HANNON TALKS TOUGH BUT WHERE IS THE $25 MILLION THE FEDS GAVE THE CITY
    Mon, 2012-06-18 09:40

     

    You should know

    By Mayor Carmen Sabatino

    Double Tree has been behind on paying $90,404 dollars in commissions for events held at Modesto Centre Plaza. When it can, the city collects 15% of all food and beverage served in the Centre Plaza.

    "Our partnership has been in place for the past 22 years and it is my hope that the Double Tree Hotel will move quickly to resolve this ... before we have to terminate this agreement," Julie Hannon, the city's parks and recreation director, wrote in a March letter."

  • MS. SLY, WE COULD NOT HAVE SAID IT BETTER JOHN MICHAEL WAS ACCURATE
    Sun, 2012-06-17 19:52

     

    Mayor Carmen Sabatino

    "The best show in town and four years of turmoil"

    A history of Modesto

     

    MS. SLY, WE COULD NOT HAVE SAID IT BETTER JOHN MICHAEL WAS ACCURATE

     

    Sad news for readers of The Bee's Opinions pages

    Submitted by Bee_Opinion on Fri, 2010-07-30 09:15.

    We have some sad news to share -- John Michael Flint, who has contributed community columns to The Bee for a dozen years, passed away.

  • De Martini on transferring water out of the County
    Thu, 2012-06-14 11:17

     

    You should know

    By Mayor Carmen Sabatino

    The sale of our water is the most important act in the history of this valley.

    You can't depend on the opinions of a few Bee employee's to decide to take action.

    The County is about to take and Supervisor Jim DeMartini will be having Lunch with the Mayor, streaming

  • REJECT THE EXPANSION AND THE SCHOOL
    Thu, 2012-06-14 10:47

    You should know

    By Mayor Carmen Sabatino

     

    Stanislaus ed board rejects charter school expansion

    By Nan Austin

     

    The Stanislaus County Board of Education on Tuesday unanimously voted down an innovative charter program's plan to expand to a second Modesto site and into home schooling.

    Board members said they had many questions about the school's effectiveness, questions the school's leaders repeatedly had failed to address.

    Great Valley Academy operates independently, but the county board granted its charter four years ago and must approve expansions or changes. The school served 678 kindergarten through seventh-grade students this year at its Tully Road campus and will add eighth grade in the fall. School leaders sought to add eight classrooms at Grace Lutheran Church on Orangeburg Avenue, two miles away.

     

  • CARGILL IS ABOVE THE LAW AND MID IS OUT OF CONTROL
    Fri, 2012-06-08 17:24

    The Modesto Irrigation District is OUT OF CONTROL

    Profligate spending, unsustainable debt, many large and expensive failed projects, significant lack of oversight, along with ongoing symptoms that suggest the possibility that special interests are operating inside the top levels of management, seem aligned to secure the destruction of MID.

    Since October 2011, the “story” of the nature of this water sale, literally, changed daily.  After 6 months of intense investigation, “we” still do not know who the “players” are, or what the “deal” really is.  One has to assume that if it is irrational, intensely illogical, and fraught with false claims, it can only draw one’s attention to speculate that the “players” influencing the “deal” are not in the room.

    Who and what are they really hiding?  There is nothing that suggests selling the only asset MID has is a good idea. 

    We believe MID has already over-contracted it’s Tuolumne River allocation.  Why would they do that and make false claims about it? 

     

  • HOW MUCH IS OUR WATER REALLY WORTH?
    Wed, 2012-05-30 11:05

     You should know

  • Think about it, would you want the advice of Mayor Marsh in selecting a used car?
    Wed, 2012-05-30 10:56

     Despite his vote to hold the MID accountable to the contract which guaranteed that the City would have first call on water, the Mayor and Councilman Dave Lopez want the MID to sell our water.

     

    Now in the spirit of empire building he wants to take control of a liability. Let's see how this works,