Big money flows to Fresno police at expense of other needs | Opinion

No wonder Fresno PD gets big money

Marek Warszawski’s Opinion piece wondering why Fresno politicians trip over themselves to heap praise on police is a welcome criticism of the nauseatingly sycophantic behavior displayed by the City Council. But let’s not pretend it’s some great mystery why this occurs: Fresno City Council is swimming in campaign contributions from law enforcement PACs.

In May, I relaunched whotakescopmoney.com, a website documenting police contributions to local officials. Who Takes Cop Money shows these donations in an easily accessible format with documentation going back decades. Throughout their careers, six out of seven city council members collectively received $122,834.15 in campaign contributions from law enforcement associations.

Fresno politicians have no problem forking over an obscene 50% of the general fund to FPD so long as police continue to back their campaigns. They see time in office as a stepping stone in their careers, prioritizing donor relationships they can maintain for future higher-office endeavors. Four of seven council members are running for higher office, not including (Mike) Karbassi who lost an Assembly run and (Annalisa) Perea who is part of a political-climbing dynasty.

Fresno needs true community leaders to step up and run for office. The city cannot afford more of this toxic dynamic.

Emily Cameron, Clovis

Donald Trump just a skilled con man

If you are a Trump supporter, do not be discouraged. Donald J. Trump is is a professional at what he does. He learned his trade from a man named Roy Cohan. He was the mob lawyer who defended John Gottie — the Dapper Don.

Roy taught Donald how to get out of trouble. Attack your opponent and make them the enemy. The first tenet of the mob lawyer with many other “tricks” of the trade. Donald Trump is a professional con man.

Being sucked in by a con man is normal. This is why there are con men. Because the con works. Donald Trump confessed on CNN. He cited the “Presidential Records Act” after declaring he had the right to “do what he wants” with classified information. The Presidential Records Act is the law specifying such behavior as being against the law. He confessed citing the law he broke.

Amazingly dull. Maybe too stupid to believe. Or, he knows his supporters don’t know what is in the Presidential Records Act and will take his word for what is in it. Has any Trump supporter actually read the transcript from “the perfect phone call?” There’s another public confession. Lead by leaving Trump’s con.

Chuck R. Hoyle, Fresno

Fresno missing out on pickleball

There’s been a sixfold increase in the number of public pickleball courts in the 100 biggest U.S. cities since 2017 — from 420 to 2,788, Axios’ Jennifer A. Kingson writes.

No. 1. is Seattle, with 20.5 courts per resident. Fresno? No. 93, with zero.

There’s now about one pickleball court for every 24,000 residents in the largest cities, per the Trust for Public Land (TPL), a pro-parks nonprofit.

“The cities that have really good park systems tend to be the ones that have a lot of pickleball courts,” says Will Klein, associate director of parks research at TPL. There are 23 million tennis players and 9 million pickleball players in the U.S. So “for every 100 tennis courts, there should be 37 pickleball,” he says.

Dale King, Clovis

Thanks to Bee editor John Rich

Many years ago I read a yearbook tribute to a teacher. The caption below the teacher’s picture read: “For those who understand, no explanation in necessary; for those who don’t, none is possible.” What a profound compliment.

I recently heard that Bee Managing Editor John Rich was retiring. Those words came back to me. I worked with John for more than 20 years, and people should understand the depth of his devotion to the Valley and his commitment to the highest standards of journalism. It is not possible to explain in 200 words.

His name appears on few things in the Bee, but his fingerprints are everywhere, in a positive way. Like so many, though, he will pass into retirement with little mention. I’m sure he would prefer it that way.

So, if he wants to bark at me and kick dirt on my shoes, I’m fine with that. People should know what a Hall of Famer you are. Thank you for your service, John.

Mike Reddin, Clovis

AI is dumbing down our students

As a teacher at an area high school I constantly witness students on their phones and not paying attention in class. At one point this school year, I counted 17 students out of 27 on their phones.

It’s no suprise to any teacher that one of the most annoying parts of our job is fighting the phone addiction while trying to teach. Unsurprisingly, students may not take an interest in the French Revolution or wonder why it matters when they can see the latest Tik Tok trends.

Yet, another evil has emerged recently thanks to advanced technology. Technology has caused a terrifying philosophical question: what does it mean to be today? Thanks to artificial intelligence, and sites like Chat GPT, students today no longer think for themselves, but instead rely on AI to submit assignments.

When we study state test results and remember that today’s students cannot read or write at grade level, but then turn in work with vocabularly such as “atonement” or “discrepancies,” red flags quickly emerge. Before AI, students had to find ways to cheat. Now, thanks to AI, students no longer even try.

Thus, I’m returning to pen and paper next year for all assignments.

Matt Deombeleg, Fresno

Thanks for caring ER nurses, doctors

There was a recent article on the editorial page of The Bee mentioning the scarcity of nurses in America. The Central Valley has an even worse scarcity of not only nurses, but doctors and other health care professionals.

We have a friend with cancer who needed an urgent blood transfusion. The oncologist sent her to the emergency room of St. Agnes Hospital. My wife was accompanying her, and they were there for about 14 hours, until all the tests were done, and the transfusion was given.

During those hours they witnessed the tremendous number of patients who needed care, the seriousness of their illnesses, the patients with mental crisis, and many others.

The few doctors, nurses, nurse assistants and LVNs could not have done a better job, managing all these cases. Some of them had to stay extra time because more hands were needed to treat so many. The efficiency and speed with which the patients with severe problems were handled was amazing. Our friend was treated with so much caring and compassion, and the time they took to explain things made her comfortable.

This scenario repeats itself every day at the Community Health System, Kaiser and Valley Children Hospital, and the load is compounded by the closure of the Madera Community Hospital.

We need more health care professionals, and as the article on The Bee mentioned, one way to get well qualified professionals is to allow immigrants with those degrees into the system, after some local training.

Congratulations and a heartfelt thank you to the nurses, LVNs and doctors of the emergency department of St. Agnes Hospital.

Sergio D. Ilic, Fresno