View from The Sutter Buttes

Happy New Year – Really.

The pages of this record are replete with conservative writers that have addressed what’s wrong in 2014. Most of us will not look back with nostalgia at the events of the past year gone by. No, for most of us it is good bye and good riddance.

We as human beings seem to have an ever forward bent that says things will get better. Yes, and change is going to come. Many have had enough change and would like to go back to times of yester year when living was easy, laws were simpler, and our moral compass was better followed. Yet to survive we must go forward, to progress, to be better, to get better. So it is with cautious optimism we peak around the corner to the year 2015.

Closing out 2014 we note the following conditions.

The elections have produced a new crop of legislators. Let us hope that they really have run for office to do better than their predecessors.

Oil and gas prices are coming down. Even though this may cause some constrictions in the petroleum industry it should increase savings and spending in other areas and help our economy overall.
The Stock market is up around 1800 with the S&P around 3000. Heady territory for investors and traders.

Actual jobs are up with unemployment down. Yes we still have hard core unemployment and under employment with some people taking multiple jobs to make ends meet. We don’t really need a higher minimum wage if we can get more people working at better jobs.

Immigration poses a dilemma, an influx of folk striving for unskilled jobs, more applicants for care programs, but safer highways if they qualify for driver’s licenses. Less crowded jails holding illegal's and fewer tax dollars to pay for those beds. For those of you that bemoan Spanish/English conversations in schools and the market place remember that John Sutter’s Hoch Farm was a Spanish Land Grant when John C. Freemont came over the hill. We can’t afford not to be gracious.

It may be that we are returning to a more Christian society as the effects of denying God are recognized as problems of irresponsibility not more freedom.

There are more local organizations that strive to improve local conditions with local talent and local money. They are not demonstrating in the streets, blocking traffic, looting stores, burning property or hindering commerce. Instead they are working with others to clean the parks, rivers, and Ellis Lake. They are feeding the hungry, providing a warm bed for the homeless, and reaching out to our Vets. Just helping the disadvantaged for Christmas means that we have the spirit of giving and love and we can make that last all year in 2015.

We still need a new fire department, a better manned police force, the new Sheriff’s Office, the recertification of Bullard’s Bar, and knowledgeable city and county fathers on the East side of the river. An improved traffic corridor, and third bridge, across that river. And we look forward to an improved performance in the DA’s office, timely accountability in the county auditor’s office, continued success in the animal shelter, on the West side, and the joint Juvenile center for the tri counties. Continued interest in our two airports and an increase in business and industry while holding our agriculture prowess and rebuilding Shoei Foods.

To be sure our mountainous problems won’t melt away as fast as the Sierra Snowpack in the spring but I am reminded of the words on our Capitol Buildings in Sacramento; by Sam Walter Foss “(Lord) Bring me men to match my mountains.”