Wading In

Champion the goals of Garcia By Kelvin Wade | | August 27, 2009 14:23 Next week marks the tragic one year anniversary of the murder of Councilman Matt Garcia. It boggles the mind that such a dynamic, imaginative, giving young man could be horrifically taken from us far too soon. Sometimes it still feels like a bad dream. But what a legacy he left. My brothers and I grew up in a Fairfield that had a bowling alley, roller skating rink, PAL and Pop Warner, and shootings were almost unheard of. It wasn't Mayberry, but it was different from the Fairfield Garcia grew up in. His community was just the opposite. But instead of cursing the darkness, he chose to bring light. By the time I met Garcia, I'd seen almost half a dozen local politicians stumble and embarrass themselves. I didn't expect much from some kid. During the course of two hours at Joe's Buffet, he made me believe. There are few experiences more transformative than someone being capable of offe...

Nazism should never enter the argument By Kelvin Wade | | August 20, 2009 14:09 Addressing the Wehrmact and Schutzstaffel (SS) troops in the summer of 1941, Adolf Hitler told his minions, 'Close your eyes to pity! Act brutally!' And they obliged. In camps like Dachu, Buchenwald, Bergen-Belsen and others, Jews and other prisoners were starved and worked to death. In hellish camps like Auschwitz-Birkenau, Treblinka, Belzec, Chelmno, Majdanek, Sobibor and others, the SS murdered millions of Jews by gassing and burning them. More than a million of the victims were children. The Nazis murdered two-thirds of the Jews in all of Europe. Adolf Hitler's Nazis also targeted and killed the physically and mentally disabled, Gypsies, Jehovah's Witnesses, communists, Christian Poles, Slavs, homosexuals and others they branded deviants. There were hundreds of African-German children who were forcibly sterilized so as not to contaminate the Aryan race. And of course th...

Festival improved by VIPs | | August 14, 2009 16:27 This weekend Fairfield hosts the 18th Annual Tomato Festival and Sixth Annual West Coast Barbeque Championship. Forget the garlic, onion and asparagus festivals other cities put on, with the addition of the barbecue championship, Fairfield has the best smelling festival hands down. It's big. It's tasty. It's entertaining. And there's something for the whole family. Fifty thousand people attended this awesome event last year. There will be three stages featuring live music and entertainment. There will be fun activities for kids including a block of inflatable slides and bouncy thingamajigs. More than 200 kinds of heirloom tomatoes will be on hand to sample and buy in Tomato Alley. There will be arts and craft vendors. And of course, there will be all manner of food and drink to satisfy the rumbly in the tumbly of thousands of festivalgoers. Scores of barbecue teams will square off in the largest barb...