Wading In

By Kelvin Wade No, this isn't my newspaper column. My paper would never print this. So it's going on my personal blog. I'm writing about a column a colleague wrote. One time I couldn't take it and I responded in my column to a column written by Bud Stevenson. Bud went crying to the powers that be at the paper and the memo came down that we weren't allowed to mention other columnists by name. It's insane because I used to write columns responding to the nonsense Stevenson wrote but I wouldn't use his name. What did he do then? He went to the higher ups and whined that I was writing about him but not mentioning his name! I kid you not. Bud wrote a column called "Pedophilia may soon be big issue in the military." I wondered how that could be. As far as I knew children weren't allowed to join the military. No, it turns out that because of the repeal of 'don't ask, don't tell' Stevenson evidently believes gay soldiers will somehow mo...

Thanksgiving Day November 24, 2011 A tale of two Novembers makes me thankful by Kelvin Wade At first glance, I can’t really blame folks if they find it difficult to be thankful this Thanksgiving. A casual look around reveals a lot of sad, troubling news. We have a thoroughly constipated and useless federal government. The parties fight like two kids in a sandbox. If you don’t have a job or are uncertain about your employment, it’s hard to be thankful right now. Too many people are losing their homes. If your house is underwater or you’re behind on your mortgage payments and you’re dodging bill collectors’ phone calls, it’s difficult to see a silver lining in your situation. A study released this week from the nonprofit Wider Opportunities for Women finds that 45 percent of Americans live in economically insecure households. That’s defined as the inability to pay for basic needs such as food, utilities and transportation. Protestors in the streets, in parks and on campuses remind us of ...

November 17, 2011 | Daily Republic Put down the paint can! by Kelvin Wade This week, the Fairfield City Council passed the tough anti-graffiti ordinance proposed last month. It will hold perpetrators (and their parents, if they’re minors) responsible for cleaning up their graffiti. It also prohibits minors from carrying graffiti implements, such as spray paint and markers, in public. Councilwoman Catherine Moy expressed concern over students who are legitimately carrying felt markers being caught up by the new law. I think it might well work the other way around. Some young taggers may try to skirt the law by carrying art supplies along with their felt-tip markers. Back in the day, one could enjoy beer and wine in Fairfield parks with picnic lunches. As young adults, my friends and I learned quickly to always bring food along to pretend our beer drinking in Laurel Creek and Allan Witt was just a part of a fun picnic. We didn’t fool police. The fact that our picnic usually consisted of ...

November 10, 2011 | Daily Republic Nonvoters, thanks for nothing by Kelvin Wade This week saw another dismal election turnout in Fairfield. Low-turnout elections favor the candidate who works the hardest to get their voters out. In this case, it was new council member Pam Bertani, and Judi Honeychurch among others running for school board. When you look at what the city faces, with budget shortfalls in the millions, one would think the public would be engaged. We’ve seen city services slashed. We’ve been fortunate enough to get a federal grant for law enforcement while many other communities have had to make deep cuts to public safety. Still, only a minority of voters bothered to vote. Nonvoters left my brother, pollworker Tony Wade, bored while waiting to assist voters. When you look at the cavalier attitude we have about voting, it’s hard to believe the right to vote has such a contested history in this country. Women’s groups fought for more than 70 years before the 19th Amendment g...

Fairfield Daily Republic November 03, 2011 | Follow the money By Kelvin Wade The Fair Political Practices Commission sent a letter last week revealing that it was Jake Pauline of Black Diamond Electric who spent $21,169 with Benicia-based Bellaci Designs to mail out last-minute hit pieces on Fairfield City Council candidates Teresa Courtemanche, Pam Bertani and Jamie Johnson before the 2009 election. Suspicion fell on Councilwoman Catherine Moy because she used Bellaci Designs to send out campaign mailers and one of the mailers sported her campaign’s colors. Moy has steadfastly denied being involved. So, why would an Antioch-based businessman donate $500 to Catherine Moy’s campaign and spend more than $20,000 on mailers trying to influence an election in Fairfield? Who is Black Diamond Electric? Minimal digging finds that they used to be located in Pittsburg and are now in Antioch. And it turns out Black Diamond Electric has a history of donating to candidates and causes. In 2006, Blac...