Appliance Repair in Patterson, CA

PATTERSON, Calif. —

Parents, educators and community members in Stanislaus County demonstrated at a rally on Tuesday, expressing concern that their city of Patterson might not be able to support four housing projects that would bring in thousands of families.

The concern is that there might be more children coming in than the schools in Patterson can support. More than 6,800 kids depend on the Patterson Joint Unified School District. The four housing projects, one of which is already approved, would lead to 9,000 homes being created.

The "Save Our Schools" rally outside of city hall raised questions on if the city could handle that growth, and demonstrators demanded those projects be properly vetted.

“Growth is not a bad thing. It’s actually positive and it’s inevitable, but it needs to happen responsibly,” Valerie Benavides, a parent said.

Rally attendees who spoke with KCRA 3 said they want housing developers to pay what they say should be the developers' fair share of fees.

Donna Moullette, a teacher, said the city does not have the facilities to house incoming students.

“We don’t have facilities to house these new students that are coming our way. We can barely house the students that we have now,” Moullette said.

KCRA 3 reached out to developers and heard back from one of them: Joe Hollowell.

Hollowell said talks with the school district are already underway.

“We’re committed to making it work with the district," Hollowell said.

A representative with the school district said class size limits are already at capacity and 75% of students come from low-income households.

KCRA 3 also reached out to the city manager. As of Tuesday at 5:30 p.m., we have yet to receive a reply.

“The city needs to have a collaboration with the school district, right, that we could be in this together and that we need to be heard. Our concerns are valid,” Benavides said.

Community members say if developers pay the legal minimum fee, it would only cover a third of what it would cost to build a new school.

“I’d like them to really slow down and really think this through, because it affects our community and it affects our children,” Moullette said.

Photo by Bill Garman/ISD

Notre Dame Football

Notre Dame got a significant boost to its offensive line when captain Jarrett Patterson decided to return for his fifth year with the Fighting Irish.

A few weeks later, the excitement was met with the unfortunate news Patterson would miss the spring after a pectoral tear in March.

"It's feeling a lot better," Patterson said following Thursday's practice. "It's going to be four weeks tomorrow. Next week, I should get the sling off, but I'm making a lot of good progress so far."

The California native has started rehab and if there is a silver lining, Patterson feels it's easier than last spring when he was rehabbing from a Lisfranc injury.

"I started rehab probably three or four days after surgery," explained Patterson. "Shoulder mobility, basic strength exercises and the next part of the process with be starting to strengthen the pec and prepping for bench pressing and things like that."

Notre Dame offensive line coach Harry Hiestand would love nothing more than to coach his most experienced lineman, but he's been thoroughly impressed with Patterson's leadership this spring.

"He's a guy that has earned the respect from his teammates," said Hiestand. "You can lead once you have the respect of people. He does that, so he's key to helping bring out the best in each guy. It starts with himself and we'll get him healthy and push forward from there."

Patterson has made it a point to still be a presence in meetings and the practice field despite not being able to play.

"Just keeping guys confident and playing hard," Patterson said of his current role. "That's what I want to help these guys do. They've done a great job and it's made my job easier."

One of Hiestand's most significant points of emphasis is taking care of the small details and Patterson has made sure to help keep his teammates on track.

"It's just about picking one thing every day to get better at," said Patterson. "It's not looking at the big picture, but it's looking at the little things every single day we can we improve on and master."

In summary

Electric-only advocates assume that renewable energy alone can power California; instead, we may pay the price with blackouts.

First, it was fossil fueled power plants. Then it was emissions-free nuclear power. Now they’re aiming for natural gas stoves and appliances.

Cities across California are enacting bans or restrictions on natural gas. Last year, the state advanced a plan that says every new home needs to be “electric-ready,” which is regulator code for “we can’t ban natural gas, so we’ll just mandate that you install something else to make it cost prohibitive.”

All of this assumes that renewable energy alone can power a modern industrial economy. Yet those advocating for this Neverland are rarely held to account for the physical limitations and economic costs of their solutions. Instead, Californians pay the price with blackouts and some of the highest electricity prices in the country.

Unlike natural gas or nuclear power, renewables are dependent on the weather, and electrons can’t be generated when families need them most.

Researchers from UCLA found that “daily peaks in gas use don’t coincide with the times that renewable energy sources are producing the most energy.” When people need to use their stoves, water heaters and air conditioners, renewables can’t power them.

Gov. Gavin Newsom acknowledged this two years ago when the lights literally went out for millions of Californians. Newsom said there were “gaps” in reliability when families and businesses needed energy the most, even as he bizarrely committed to continuing shutting down fossil fuel power plants that are needed to fill those gaps.

The idea that we can switch more than 11 million natural gas customers in California to electricity without causing blackouts isn’t backed by physics.

But it’s not just gas stoves and household appliances. This fantasy includes converting all passenger cars and trucks in California to run on electricity – a plan that would further raise energy demand by as much as 25%.

California is the largest importer of electricity of any state and can’t seem to keep the lights on as it is. Yet policymakers are pushing us headlong into another energy crisis by pretending the wind and sunshine will save us.

Then there’s the sheer cost of replacing much of our energy infrastructure. The same researchers at UCLA who raised concerns about how well renewables can replace gas also said that “gas is four to six times cheaper than electricity.” So even if we could meet this enormous new demand for electricity, efforts to ban gas stoves and water heaters would cause monthly energy bills in California to skyrocket.

Ask anyone living paycheck to paycheck, this is a scary thing to consider especially when recognizing the average consumer in California already pays two to three times more for electricity than the national average. And the drought drains the state’s ability to produce electricity when there is no water to run through our hydroelectric dams.

The growing trend of “environmental justice” is supposed to give low-income families and disadvantaged communities a bigger role in decision-making, but ends up stripping resources from them. Attempts to ban natural gas, as one columnist recently wrote, “are, in fact, regressive energy taxes that will hurt low- and middle-income consumers and in doing so, exacerbate California’s poverty problem.”

Electric-only advocates ignore basic economics and are now veering us into an idiosyncratic terrain, suggesting that your gas stove – an appliance that homeowners have used safely for decades – is secretly spreading cancer and asthma. Even the New York Times suggested such claims are overblown.

Last year, California Assemblymember Jim Patterson, vice-chair of the Assembly Committee on Utilities and Energy, rang the alarm bells. “We cannot keep the lights on without additional natural gas,” Patterson said, “and the state’s been forced to go out and find it in an emergency situation.”

Patterson is right. But will anyone listen?

Elaine, her husband Jim, and their boys Matt and Luke moved to the newly minted (1963) All-American City of Roseville in 1969 for Jim to accept a pastor call in the charming small town. Elaine soon accepted a position to teach second grade at Newcastle Elementary School. Elaine loved those kids, that calling, the faculty and staff. Elaine taught there through 1995 when she became informed her first grandchild was on the way. The family continues to live in Roseville. Elaine enjoyed spending time with her family and served in many volunteer roles. Elaine held officer positions involving the Association of University Women, Roseville Arts Council, Friends of the Roseville Library, church circles, an art docent at Cirby Elementary School for many years, and a number of other volunteer positions. Elaine was born in Mohawk, MI and lived her early years on the Upper Peninsula (UP) speaking English at home and Finnish at school. Elaine’s mother Ellen Koivu and extended Finnish family took care of Elaine and her siblings Mildred, Elwood, and Lorraine when their father Wilfred, determined to deliver their family out of the UP went alone west to find better work and better social opportunity, The American Dream. Wilfred found work as a miner, bought a house and the family emigrated to Prescott, AZ. Elaine comes from an upbringing involving measures of adventure, curiosity, and spirit. During her school years Elaine excelled in art, drama class, sports, student government, and journalism. Elaine graduated in four years from Texas Lutheran College with a BS in English and a close knit group of lifelong friends. They kept in close touch via a “round robin package,” that was forwarded in order and received by each twice a year. Now there is the internet. Elaine later took night classes and obtained a Masters in English. Elaine, Jim, and the boys traveled at least six months in Mexico over all, mostly going native in remote locations, but also attending the ballet and symphony in Mexico City. Elaine pioneered teaching Spanish to her second grade students at Newcastle Elementary. At least one year she wrote and directed her students in the annual school play competition involving the students’ lines delivered in Spanish. Elaine particularly loved live plays and together with Jim and the boys attended plays in Ashland, OR, had season tickets to Music Circus for decades, and attended plays in San Francisco and other nearby small theater venues. Elaine and Jim spent weeks in London and New York City attending a matinee in the afternoon and a different play at night. Elaine was a seeker and explorer always. Even more so in middle age involving month long trips, destinations for Elaine and Jim including most of the U.S., across Canada, Costa Rica, England, Scotland, Finland, Russia, Belgium, Turkey, Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Palestine, and other European countries, as well as China. This turned out to be a good thing. Elaine and Jim held a lifelong philosophy, “It’s good to visit the pyramids while you can still climb them.” One of Elaine’s adventure journeys later in life was progressive dementia during which she maintained her sense of adventure, curiosity, positive outlook, enthusiasm, and spirit. Physically, she could still hike like a mountain goat… but she couldn’t tell you what she had for breakfast. Elaine is preceded in death by Jim. Survived by her sister Lorraine, sons Matt Patterson (Barbara), and Luke Patterson, grandchildren Jayne Geiser (JP), and Sam Patterson, great grandson Crew Geiser, as well as other family and loved ones. Services will be held at Advent Lutheran Church 5901 San Juan Ave, Citrus Heights, CA on April 3, 2022 at 2:00 P.M. COVID was a contributing factor to Elaine’s death, and reason for the delay of her Celebration of Life. In lieu of flowers please make donation in Elaine’s name to Mount Cross Lutheran Bible Camp, P.O. Box 387, Felton, CA 95018, www.mtcross.org.

Call comes in response to Senate motion asking for federal study on suicide

Nunavut Sen. Dennis Patterson is calling for more action on suicide prevention, and less focus on studies.

“We cannot begin to heal unless there’s concrete actions taken,” he said in an interview Monday.

Patterson initially issued the call for action in a speech in the Senate March 31, responding to a motion by Sen. Stan Kutcher that asked to review the Federal Framework for Suicide Prevention, 2016 document that spells out the federal government’s principles and objectives for preventing suicides.

“While I applaud the intent, I do have concerns about this motion,” he said in his speech, which he gave in Inuktitut through the Roman orthography, since he himself does not speak the language.

“My constituents in Nunavut, who are dealing with suicide and its impacts every day, need action instead of more studies.”

In an interview, Patterson focused on having programming and counselling led by Inuit, saying they are the ones who are suffering most from the suicide crisis in Nunavut.

The Tukisigiarvik Centre in Iqaluit and the Ilisaqsivik Society in Clyde River are good examples of the types of facilities needed in Nunavut, he said.

Both offer programming to help Inuit’s mental health and connection with their culture, Patterson said, adding that Ilisaqsivik also helps train Inuit to become mental health counsellors.

It’s important that each community in Nunavut has similar centres so Inuit can easily access mental health services instead of having to travel for them, he said.

With the federal budget to be released Thursday, Patterson said he expects to see a good amount of funding for mental health services that can be accessed in Nunavut.

Having been an MLA in Iqaluit of the Northwest Territories between 1978 to 1995, before Nunavut became a territory, he said there are career moments he is proud of and some he regrets, in terms of mental health.

Closing regional schools in Iqaluit and Rankin Inlet that functioned similarly to residential schools while he was education minister are actions Patterson said is proud he took.

However, he said he regrets not discovering there were a couple of serial sex abusers within the Northwest Territories education system while he was an MLA, including Ed Horne.

He added many of Horne’s victims were traumatized by the incidents later struggled in their own lives.

“I regret that happened under my watch, without my knowledge,” Patterson said.

Outside of funding for mental health programs, he said the apology Pope Francis gave last Friday for the role of some Catholics in abuses that occurred within the residential school system is an important step forward in addressing the intergenerational trauma Inuit face when it comes to mental health.

Patterson added the apology, while not perfect, is seen as “a step in the journey and progress.”

Here are resources for people in distress who need to talk to someone:

Kamatsiaqtut Help Line is Nunavut-specific and offers services in Inuktitut. Phone: 979-3333 for Iqaluit residents and 1-800-265-3333 for other Nunavummiut. The First Nations and Inuit Hope for Wellness Helpline: 1-855-242-3310 or chat online at hopeforwellness.ca.