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PRISON EXPANSION THREATENS OUR QUALITY OF LIFE! BEWARE OF PHONE-Y CALLS! WHEN YOUR HUT'S ON FIRE! URGENT NEWS FOR ALL CITIZENS! THE MAYOR'S PERSONAL AGENDA! BUYING THE PRESIDENCY! HILLARY'S DONATIONS SUSPECT! THE CAB RIDE! TONIGHT'S THE BIG NIGHT, PEOPLE! IT'S YOUR CITY - AND YOUR MONEY! August 06 September 06 October 06 November 06 December 06 January 07 February 07 March 07 April 07 May 07 June 07 July 07 August 07 September 07 October 07 November 07 December 07 January 08 February 08 March 08 April 08 May 08 
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Once again the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) has selected the greater Tehachapi area for expansion of CCI. They plan to build a new unit to house 2200 more inmates that will require 830 new employees. That's 3000 added to the current 9000 inmates and employees which will only perpetuate the current 200% overcrowding rather than resolve it. All this comes packaged in a new 110 acre under roof facility. Prison families moving into the area, further contamination to our aquifers, a never ending stream of visitors to inmates, traffic congestion and road deterioration, additional housing for employees, air pollution, crime, overcrowding of schools, burdens to our hospital and law enforcement and public safety all come to us in the form of prison expansion. We have an opportunity to stand up and say "NO" and join with CVPA at the City Council meeting on Monday, May 5th. where representatives of the CCI will be making a presentation. We need to let them know that expansion should occur in closer proximity to the source of criminal activities - NOT in Tehachapi. Please plan to attend this critical meeting. If several hundred people plan to do so, the meeting will be moved from the Veterans Hall to the High School Cafeteria. Encourage your friends, family, neighbors, and co-workers and call 822-1887 or 822-3478 to let them know you will attend. I know I will! Jim Richards Right here, in small town Tehachapi at 9am on a nice Saturday morning, I received a phone call and will relate it here for your information: ME:"Hello." Canned voice recording, "Are you aware that your Visa and Mastercard interest rates will be automatically increased by 17 or more percent within the next 30 days? Press 8 to talk to an operator about what you need to do to prevent this". ME: Pressing 8. Live voice: "Please state your full name and credit card numbers so I can advise you accordingly". ME: "Sure, please give me your full name and telephone number and I will call you back". Live voice: "Certainly, do you have a pen handy?" ME: "At the ready, go ahead". Live Voice: CLICK!!!!! Need I say more? Jim Richards
The only survivor of a shipwreck was washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He prayed feverishly for God to rescue him. Every day he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming. Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect him from the elements, and to store his few possessions. One day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, with smoke rolling up to the sky. He felt the worst had happened, and everything was lost. He was stunned with disbelief, grief, and anger. He cried out, "God! How could you do this to me?" Early the next day, he was awakened by the sound of a ship approaching the island! It had come to rescue him! "How did you know I was here?" asked the weary man of his rescuers. "We saw your smoke signal," they replied. There is a moral here if we but recognize it. Jim Richards
This is URGENT news! The real key is to print out your listing EXACTLY as they have it and then enter it the same way on the removal form. Don't wait...do this NOW!
Jim Richards
Google has implemented a new feature which enables you to type a telephone number into the search bar and hit enter and you will be given the person's name and address. If you then hit MapQuest, you will get a map to the person's house. Everyone should be aware of this! It's a nationwide reverse telephone book. If a child gives out his/her phone number, someone can now look it up to find out where he/she lives. The safety issues are obvious, and alarming. Note you can have your phone number removed or blocked. I tried my number and it came up along with the mapquest and directions straight to our house. I did fill out the removal form for myself, and encourage all of you to do the same. Quite scary. In order to test whether your phone number is mapped, go to: google & nbsp; &n bsp; &nb sp; (http://www.google.com/ ) Type your phone number in the search bar (i.e. 555-555-1212) and hit enter. If you want to BLOCK Google from divulging your private information, simply click on your telephone number and then click on the Removal Form. Removal takes 48-hours. Check your own number and although this may not apply to you if you have an unlisted number or cell phone as primary contact, but you may know someone who needs to know this. & nbsp; Please share this information with friends and FAMILY. JIM RICHARDS
HAND’S COUNCIL AGENDA ITEM:
I just received my on line Agenda for the
I distinctly remember her public remarks at the meeting where she was “appointed” Mayor and stated that it was a memorable day because a WOMAN was named as Mayor and a WOMAN was named as Mayor Pro Tem.
Now, if a MAN had said that, about MEN, he would have immediately been pelted with over ripe tomatoes and rotten eggs (yes, I think some people bring them) and called a SEXIST PIG and probably even tarred and feathered and run out of town. On a rail. Through the loop. Never to be seen or heard from again.
Well, I don’t want Ms. Hand to be considered sexist so I propose, in the interest of being Fair and Balanced, that she go on to proclaim April, 2008 as: MEN IN HISTORY MONTH.
And May, 2008 as: SENIORS IN HISTORY MONTH.
And June. 2008 as: GAY PRIDE IN HISTORY MONTH.
And so on, just to fair to everybody.
What can you suggest?
Jim Richards
BUYING THE PRESIDENCY! How can the American people have any respect for a president who bought his/her way into office? The hundreds of millions (now expected to top over one BILLION by election time) spent by all parties is downright obscene! The Brit’s campaign for a mere 30 days. We should take a lesson from them. The money spent pursuing entry to the Oval Office could have been spent on the People of the As this indecent money spending for ego involvement continues, it will only get worse with each successive election. We must all get involved in the running of our own government. The Ivory Towered people in Jim Richards We American's are selling and/or giving away our own country, bit by bit, piece by piece. Someday soon, we will own none of it. Should the Saudi monarchy be permitted to purchase an important equity position in some of America’s leading banks? How would a President Hillary be objective when the very same monarchy donated $10 million to the Clinton Library and Foundation? It doesn's take a Nuclear Scientist to figure this out. Jim Richards This is something I just HAVE to share: The Cab Ride
& nbsp; &n bsp; &nb sp; &nbs p; When I arrived at 2:30 a.m., the building was dark except for a single light in a ground floor window. Under these circumstances, many drivers would just honk once or twice, wait a minute, and then drive away. But I had seen too many impoverished people who depended on taxis as their only means of transportation. Unless a situation smelled of danger, I always went to the door. This passenger might be someone who needs my assistance, I reasoned to myself. So I walked to the door and knocked. "Just a minute", answered a frail, elderly voice. I could hear something being dragged across the floor. After a long pause, the door opened. A small woman in her 90's stood before me. She was wearing a print dress and a pillbox hat with a veil pinned on it, like somebody out of a 1940s movie. By her side was a small nylon suitcase. The apartment looked as if no one had lived in it for years. All the furniture was covered with sheets. There were no clocks on the walls, no knickknacks or utensils on the counters. In the corner was a cardboard box filled with photos and glassware. "Would you carry my bag out to the car?" she said. I took the suitcase to the cab, then returned to assist the woman. She took my arm and we walked slowly toward the curb. She kept thanking me for my kindness. "It's nothing", I told her. "I just try to treat my passengers the way I would want my mother treated". "Oh, you're such a good boy", she said. When we got in the cab, she gave me an address, and then asked, "Could you drive through downtown?" "It's not the shortest way," I answered quickly. "Oh, I don't mind," she said. "I'm in no hurry. I'm on my way to a hospice". I looked in the rear-view mirror. Her eyes were glistening. "I don't have any family left," she continued. "The doctor says I don't have very long." I quietly reached over and shut off the meter. "What route would you like me to take?" I asked. For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me the building where she had once worked as an elevator operator. We drove through the neighborhood where she and her husband had lived when they were newlyweds. She had me pull up in front of a furniture warehouse that had once been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a girl. Sometimes she'd ask me to slow in front of a particular building or corner and would sit staring into the darkness, saying nothing. As the first hint of sun was creasing the horizon, she suddenly said, "I'm tired. Let's go now" We drove in silence to the address she had given me.It was a low building, like a small convalescent home, with a driveway that passed under a portico. Two orderlies came out to the cab as soon as we pulled up. They were solicitous and intent, watching her every move. They must have been expecting her. I opened the trunk and took the small suitcase to the door. The woman was already seated in a wheelchair. "How much do I owe you?" she asked, reaching into her purse. "Nothing," I said "You have to make a living," she answered. "There are other passengers," I responded. Almost without thinking, I bent and gave her a hug. She held onto me tightly. "You gave an old woman a little moment of joy," she said. "Thank you." I squeezed her hand, and then walked into the dim morning light. Behind me, a door shut. It was the sound of the closing of a life. I didn't pick up any more passengers that shift. I drove aimlessly lost in thought. For the rest of that day, I could hardly talk. What if that woman had gotten an angry driver, or one who was impatient to end his shift? What if I had refused to take the run, or had honked once, then driven away? On a quick review, I don't think that I have done anything more important in my life. We're conditioned to think that our lives revolve around great moments. But great moments often catch us unaware-beautifully wrapped in what others may consider a small one. PEOPLE MAY NOT REMEMBER EXACTLY WHAT YOU DID, OR WHAT YOU SAID, ~BUT~THEY WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER HOW YOU MADE THEM FEEL. Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here we might as well dance. If you have to shovel out your driveway, change your dinner hour, or even leave work early to attend tonight's City Council meeting, I urge you all to do so. There will be a resolution to the Council for an "Investigative City Audit" and a vote will be taken. If any Council member votes against this, I want to know WHY, don't you? If you don't care how, where, and why the City is spending your tax dollars then don't bother attending this meeting, but then, don't try to later complain about it. This is a matter that affects us all and is a thing whose time has come. Let's show them a record attendance and hold them up to ACCOUNTABILITY! Jim Richards IT’S YOUR CITY – AND YOUR MONEY! Do you know how, why, when, and where the City of Neither do I. But we can and should know and even have a voice in these expenditures. To the best of my knowledge, for the first time in this City’s history a proposal has been made for an outside, independent “Special Investigative Audit” of the City’s books and expenditures. This proposal will be made to the City Council by Councilman Stan Beckham at the meeting of Monday, Jan. 7th. At 6pm. EVERYONE is a tax payer and we all have a stake in the outcome of this vote. Councilmember Hand asked the question, “how much will this cost?” The real question should be “how much is it costing us NOT to do this?” The quotation given by the Audit firm was $8,000.00. This is just $3,000.00 more than the City paid for an Indian Basket Weaving Class (where no one signed up as a student) and this money has never been questioned. That’s the sort of thing that has to be stopped and examined. It’s called FISCAL ACCOUNTABILITY! I encourage everyone who possibly can to attend this important meeting and make your voices and concerns known and heard. The Council will take a vote on this measure and if any Councilmember votes against it….I want to know WHY. Don’t you? I hope to see all of you there. Jim Richards |
