You may have noticed, it has taken me some time to put together the latest Hometown Highlights. I have had writer’s block since the Delhi Express went online. I know it seems silly. After all, it’s not like I’m writing a book and need inspiration or plot details and the like. I just write about my life - my family, friends, things I do, my thoughts, memories, feelings, etc.

But, to me, it’s one thing knowing that I am writing for my extended family of Delhi, and out of town friends and family, and quite another to write knowing that anyone in the whole world could read my column. I know what some may be thinking. My trepidation could be unfounded because who really knows how many or how few people are reading our paper other than people who live in Delhi or our families and friends. But that’s just it, you just never know. The Internet connects all of us in a way the likes of which I could never have imagined.

This new world is kind of scary, especially for us seniors. That is why many of us don’t bank online, why we don’t use the ATM or have Debit cards. (What is a debit card anyway? I don’t have one and I don’t think I want one.) But I digress. We also tend to want our newspapers printed so we can read them with our coffee in the morning, or sitting outside in our beautiful community of Delhi. But the Internet is the way of the world now and I think I’ve reached the “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” point. So I guess we’ll have to give this a try and read our printed newspaper once a month or so and the rest of the time, well, any time really, 24/7, read it online. Wait a minute. You mean I can go on the Internet and look at the Delhi Express whenever I want to, and maybe even see something before most anybody else? Hey, that’s not too bad, is it? After all, some of my topics may be of interest to others as well. I’m willing to give this a chance if you are. Let’s do it. Let’s see how this works and continue to support our hometown journalism.

I’ve been a little disturbed since the President’s state of the Union Address. Do I live in the same country as President Bush? I’m not sure I do. He told Congress that they wouldn’t let him fix social Security so now they better fix it. I don’t believe his proposal for private spending accounts would have fixed social security and his own economic advisers pretty much said the same thing. He said we need to kick our oil “addiction.” Later I heard that his spokesperson said “He didn’t really mean that.” Has he proposed any meaningful incentives to jump-start alternative fuel innovations? I don’t think so. In the days that followed the President’s speech, I heard somebody speculating that a new gas tax would cause people to get serious about oil consumption. I am against that. I think if the President is really serious about getting rid of earmarks, he could do so, it should be retroactive, and we could use that “pork-barrel” money to fund alternative fuel research. The fact is the Republicans have control of the White House, the House of Representatives and the Senate. They can pretty much pass any legislation they want. Speaking of money, I recently heard a report that Haliburton, the U.S. corporation awarded more than half the Iraqi war contracts, over-billed the taxpayers, that’s you and me, over a billion dollars. Wasn’t that Vice President Cheney’s own company? It’s bad enough that Haliburton was the only company to bid on the war contracts because they were the only ones who knew about them, but they have the nerve to OVER-BILL us A BILLION DOLLARS. Isn’t this war profiteering? Why do we put up with this behavior? I heard today that there is 8.8 BILLION TAX DOLLARS MISSING or unaccounted for since the U.S. declared war on Iraq - and nobody is looking for that money. Doesn’t that enrage you? It does me.

President Bush talked about protecting our country. I don’t feel very secure. A week or so ago, on Dateline, the nation witnessed an individual who described himself as an “active criminal detective for Homeland Security” get arrested for intent to child molest. How serious are the powers that be about our safety if a pedophile got through the screening process? Is there a screening process? Didn’t Bush personally pick the F.E.M.A. Director and, if he was qualified, why didn’t he get the resources he allegedly requested from the president during the Katrina tragedy? Why would you pick somebody and then not listen to them? So many things don’t make any sense to me. The administration is trying to force a reporter to name the source who leaked the fact that for the last four years the administration has been listening to our phone calls via illegal wiretap? Wasn’t it a member of the president’s own staff who leaked the name of one of our own intelligence agents, thereby putting her life in jeopardy? Isn’t that a double standard? And didn’t President Bush say in a speech that no wire tapping would be done without a court order? Doesn’t all this add up to an abuse of power?

Why is it if you are against the war in Iraq, you are considered to be unpatriotic and not supportive of our troops? Even our military who speak out against the war, are called unpatriotic. If they don’t have a right to oppose the war, I don’t know who does. And does it make any sense for our military to fight for freedom and liberty in Iraq when it’s starting to look like we are losing basic liberties in our own country? The right to privacy in our own homes, the right to protest a president we disagree with (and not from five miles away), the right for information from a free unfettered press, the right to demand that our elected representatives investigate abuses of power, take to task whomever is responsible for losing or bilking us out of our tax dollars, and make the republican president and his republican administration accountable for declaring war on the wrong country and for not capturing Osama Bin Laden.

As I watch the Olympic awards ceremony, with our National Anthem playing, and a sort of scrawny kid from Carlsbad, California, Shaun White accepts the Olympic Gold Medal for Snowboarding, I am reminded of how much I love this country, where anything and everything is possible, and I want it to be the best it can be. If we participate, if we inform our elected representatives of what we expect from them, we can at least be proud that we are participating in our own destiny?

And just as I’m feeling a little more hopeful about the state of our union, the news reports that our vice president has just accidently shot someone. Terrific.

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Merced County is once again holding community clean-up days throughout the county. The Department of Public Works has teamed up with each Municipal Advisory Council for local community clean-up days.

These community clean-ups allow local residents to discard of items such as tires, appliances and other “throw-away” items at a minimal fee.

The Delhi Community Clean-up Day will take place promptly beginning at 9 a.m. this Saturday, March 4 and will end at 2:30 p.m. sharp.

Automobiles carrying loads will cost $1; pick-ups, vans and station wagons cost $2; trailers (less than eight feet) cost $3; trailers of eight feet and one-ton trucks cost $4.

The first four tires are free, included in the cost of hauling a load for disposal. Each additional truck tire of 16.5 inches to 20 inches will cost $2 each and each additional passenger car tire will cost $1 each. Tractor or heavy equipment tires will not be accepted.

Large appliances cost $1 each.

Oil waste and commercial loads (trucks over one ton and trailers over eight feet) will also not be accepted.

These clean-up days provide a low-cost alternative to making a trip to the dump. They are also designed to help prevent people from dumping their discarded items on public and private land. All residents are encouraged to take advantage of this annual opportunity.

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The Delhi Municipal Advisory Council will hold a special meeting this Thursday, March 2 at 5 p.m.

The meeting has been scheduled so the MAC can take action on the Delhi Community Plan. By meeting this Thursday, the Community Plan Update process will stay on track for the most recent timeline. Once the MAC has taken action, the Plan will go first to the Planning Commission and then to the Merced County Boar of Supervisors.

The MAC will also hold its regular monthly meeting on Thursday, March 9 at 7 p.m.

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This Sunday, February 26, Delhi Missionary Baptist Church will celebrate Black History Month. Following the 11 a.m. service, a pot luck will be held at the church located at 14525 Campground Road in Delhi. All are welcome and encouraged to attend.

Sunday mornings kick off with Sunday School from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. The 11 a.m. service follows. The church also hosts a Bible teaching on Tuesday nights at 7:30 p.m.

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Ninth through twelfth grade students are eligible to enter the National Young American Creative Patriotic Art Contest. The Ladies Auxiliary to the Veterans of Foreign Wars sponsors the contest. The Livingston-Delhi Auxiliary is offering a first-place prize of $100 and an “Eagle Liberty” jacket and a certificate. Second and third place winners will also be awarded. The winning artwork will be eligible for State competition, and from there, to the National competition, where the winning artists receive scholarships of up to $10,000.

Entries are due by March 29, 2006. Students must have crafted their entries during the 2005-2006 school year – and this must be verified by a teacher’s signature on each entry form. If a student used the U.S. Flag in his or her work, the flag’s depiction must conform to the Flag Code.

Partial contest rules: Artwork must be on paper or canvas and must be 8 inches by 10 inches to 48 by 24 inches, not including mats. Watercolor, pencil, pastel, charcoal, tempera, crayon, acrylic, pen-and-ink or oil may be used. Digital art may be used, but must be on paper or canvas; no computer disks will be accepted. Do not frame entries. Submit canvas entries on stretcher frames. Other entries must be matted on white. Do not use color mats. In matting, use heavy paper to reinforce the back. Mounted and floating mats may also be used.

Complete rules and entry forms can be obtained from Denis or Sue Wells at 394-2059.

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