Wading In

Thursday, February 28, 2013 Universal background checks a sound concept By Kelvin Wade From page A7 | February 28, 2013 | 3 Comments Do you know why we have a hard time passing common-sense gun laws? Some folks fear that the tyrannical Obama administration, secretly being controlled by the Illuminati, stages mass shootings like Aurora and Newtown to scare the public into allowing government stormtroopers in black helicopters to seize our guns and circumvent the Second Amendment. Even the ones who aren’t so extreme in their views still fear that the government plans to disarm the public. You see this fear promulgated by NRA propagandist Wayne LaPierre, right-wing radio hosts, as well as some gun supporters in the letters to the editor of this paper and the paper’s website, which has seen contentious battles on the issue. This paranoia is at the heart of the opposition. The resultant fear has caused an explosion of gun purchases. According to data by the Centers for Disease Control and...

Thursday, February 21, 2013 California’s death row sham By Kelvin Wade From page A7 | February 21, 2013 | 4 Comments As a community, we cheered the arrest of Anthony L. Jones for the alleged kidnapping, rape and murder of 13-year-old Genelle Conway-Allen. But I wonder if Jones is convicted of the crime, does justice begin or will it be delayed? Last week, the Solano County District Attorney’s Office decided to seek the death penalty in the CHP Officer James Capoot murder case. The special circumstances in the Genelle Conway-Allen case make it likely it, too, will be a capital case. There’s no question to me that anyone who would sexually assault and murder a 13-year-old child deserves death. But given the state of California’s death penalty, would it really happen? There are approximately 729 inmates on California’s death row and we haven’t had an execution in seven years due to a judge-imposed moratorium. What’s worse is California Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye tol...

Thursday, February 14, 2013 Happy Valentine’s Day to dogs, dog lovers By Kelvin Wade From page A11 | February 14, 2013 | Leave Comment This past Monday, my brother Tony wrote about missing our dogs and I wanted to continue the story with some background information on some of our beloved pooches. Back in 1985, my younger brother Scott and I went to Thiessen’s Pet Shop downtown to look around. We found these two Australian shepherd mix puppies regularly $6 marked down to free. One was rambunctious and friendly while the other was meek and clearly the runt of the litter. Of course we chose the feisty one and were about to leave when we decided we couldn’t leave that small, quiet, shivering puppy alone. So we took her instead. (If you adopted a feisty tan free puppy who was alone in a cage from Thiessen’s in 1985, you’re welcome.) The fragile little puppy thanked us for choosing her by puking all over Scott on the way home. Once home, our mother told us there was no way we were keeping ...

Thursday, February 7, 2013 Keeping tabs on our kids By Kelvin Wade From page A7 | February 07, 2013 | 2 Comments The shocking killing of 13-year-old Genelle Renee Conway-Allen has devastated the young girl’s family and friends and rocked the community. A haunting surveillance image of the girl released earlier this week shows a normal teen in skinny jeans, sweatshirt and pink backpack. She looks like countless other young girls out, a fact not lost on Fairfield-Suisun parents. While this tragedy was unfolding, a Fairfield teen, 15-year-old Kelsey Bostick, was reported missing by her mother. Fortunately, Kelsey was found safe Saturday. Having teens missing and one found murdered has jangled the nerves and broken the hearts of area residents who are rightly concerned that a killer is on the loose. While I have no information on Genelle’s killer(s) or what happened to her on that fateful day, we need to seize this moment to talk with our kids. Many parents have already changed their sch...