Wading In

Swing the ax, spare the Three R's By Kelvin Wade January 27, 2010 5:51PM The Fairfield-Suisun School District is in the unenviable position of having to slash $16.5 million from its budget. There are numerous proposals from shrinking the school year, closing an elementary school, slashing music, art and sports, and focusing only on the Three R's. Of course music, arts and sports are always the first to go. I sympathize with parents who don't want to lose these popular courses. I was involved in band in elementary school, played school sports in junior high and enjoyed art classes. These things are part of a well-rounded education. But they're not the only items on the chopping block at www.fsusd.k12.ca.us. We could have to ax elementary school assistant principals, cut library and media technology services and lose counselors, among other possible cuts. Former Fairfield city councilman and teacher Jack Batson wrote an article recently calling for an end to compulsory e...

Council between a rock and a hard place By Kelvin Wade January 21, 2010 Who thought it would come down to cutting police officers? I guess I thought we'd let our parks be overrun with vegetation and critters, our roads crumble into dust and have every city employee earning minimum wage plus tips before we'd make cuts into public safety. But it appears our financial situation has left us with little choice. Of course, this is never where you want to have to cut. If you ask people on the street what are the last two areas they'd want to see cut, it's going to be police and fire protection. We understand that Thin Blue Line. We know the value of first responders in our hour of need. And we're a city nervous about containing our gang problems. While it's never a good time for a city to lose police, at least this comes in the midst of a downturn in crime. We've seen the numbers decline. It may not be full consolation to a citizenry fearful of gang violence, but ...

Technology a tool to preserve family history By Kelvin Wade January 14, 2010 Life can take some unexpected turns. I walked out of a doctor's appointment last week feeling great. The previous day I'd had a mystery 102.4 degree fever. But at my doctor's office, my temperature was normal. Everything was fine. I'd just received blood work back and most everything was great for someone my age and general medical history. Twenty-four hours later, I'm in the ER with a leg infection, swimming in morphine once again pondering the fragility of life. Lately, Tony has been posting a lot of old photos of the family on Facebook. Some of them evoke a lot of fun, wistful memories. Still others only remind one of the silliness of youth. Early on in my relationship with Cathi, she suggested we make books for my parents that they could fill with memories of their lives. When they were finished writing down special memories, inserting photos and making audiotapes, we would present the ...