Could Fresno State finally be rid of Welty?

Is anyone else excited about the prospect of John Welty leaving Fresno? According to the Bee his wife is in the final 4 to head up Education at California State Polytechnic Pomona. As a side note, considering all the money Fresno State is in the hole for (and some of us blame Welty for some of it) should they still be paying Welty enough that they are traveling around the country? I am sorry, I meant to say should WE (the taxpayers) be paying him so much.

Local Woman's Family Fights to Keep Her Alive

There is a battle for a woman's life in the Fresno County Courts. Janet Rivera(46) had a heart attack back in February 2006 that has left her comatose. Her court-appointed public guardian had filed and succeeded in having all artificial life support, including food and water, removed on July 14, 2008. The family filed for a temporary restraining order and got a new attorney.

I was able to talk to the family's attorney, Brian Chavez-Ochoa, today about the status and some of the facts of the case. There was a hearing at 2pm today. In this hearing it is established that all life sustaining measures are to be taken until a further order. This includes all medicines, food, water and even a respirator if needed. The doctors had actually started Rivera on food and water yesterday evening. There is a trial set to begin next Tuesday for a family member to be established as Janet Rivera's guardian.

Previously Janet Rivera's husband, Jesus Rivera, was her guardian. According to the article I read in the Fresno Bee, it appears that the family is unified in its position to sustain Janet Rivera's life. So I asked Chavez-Ochoa what caused this to move into a public guardian situation and he was unclear. He has only been on this case for 2 days so he isn't familiar with all the background that got us to this point and is unclear as to how this got into the County's hands to begin with. But Chavez-Ochoa was crystal clear on the fact that the family is a unfied force that wants to keep Rivera alive.

If the family loses its case the public guardian will stay and can turn around refile to have Rivera once again taking off all life sustaining measures. This would once again leave her in a position to starve to death.

I am shocked that the County has taken a woman off food and water and this is the first I was hearing of it. I am shocked that this hasn't received the national coverage that the Terry Schiavo. Could it be that Janet Rivera is on Medi-Cal that the county was so quick to act or that the media was so lax to cover it? Is this just further proof that the State doesn't value human life? I mean they took her off all support, food and water and she lived for over a week that way. What kind of humanity can sit by and watch a human suffer that way. Not to mention, maybe her body isn't quite as ready to give out as those consulting doctors thought it was.

So once again I ask, where is the outrage?

A Revolution in Fresno?

I was out running errands with the brood today and was listening to Ray Appleton. I came into the show late and he was talking with Major Autry about the water crisis in this area for farmers. I don't know all the details but there is a water crisis in Fresno and its outlaying areas due to the need to save the lives of smelt (a fish). It is another time when the environmentalists aren't thinking about human live and its value at all. Apparently there was a hearing with House Subcommittee on Water and Power where Autry was a witness. So Major Autry and Appleton were discussing the long term and devastating effects this is having especially in the small communities in the area. At one point Major Autry said if this issue isn't resolved that we need to think about how to revolt, possibly by not paying our property taxes. Now I didn't listen to the entire 2 hours but I find this interesting. You can go over and listen to the podcast then tell me what you think.

Median Law Drama

Back in March I wrote about how Brian Calhoun wanted to criminalize beggars and those who would dare to help them due to the safety of the median. Well, Calhoun got the local law written and it failed to pass the City Council. The fun part in all of this is Calhoun's apparent attempt to save his "reputation". When it was clear he didn't have the support he attempted to pull his proposal from consideration even though it called already been called to a vote. Don't worry Councilman Calhoun, it is known to be your bad idea regardless.

Another's Farmer's Market

I found out about another Farmer's Market. This one is at the Sierra Vista Mall in Clovis on the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of July and August. It is from 6:30-8:30pm and has live music.