It's no secret the Merced County Farm Bureau is a champion of farmers and agriculture. You've seen its signs: "We Farm, You Eat."
But when it comes to the weather, that all-important factor in farming, its position is more like a weather vane stuck pointing south in the middle of a storm blowing north.
Apparently, the county bureau's national parent, the American Farm Bureau, isn't altogether sure that global climate change is happening. You'd think an organization looking out for Farmer John might want to keep an eye on the weather above Johnny Boy's fields, too. Apparently not.
On Jan. 7 a group of scientists sent a letter to the organization to address its "inaccurate and marginalized" position. The Farm Bureau folks must have been shaking in their loafers. There's nothing more frightening than a group of white-coated scientists beating their chests with beakers. "We are disappointed that the American Farm Bureau has chosen to officially deny the existence of human-caused climate change when the evidence of it has never been clearer," stated the letter.
While the American Farm Bureau couldn't be reached for comment, Lips called the local boys to see if they agreed with daddy. But they didn't have much to say on the matter.
"We don't really have a position at this point in time," said Peter Koch, president of the county's farm bureau.
He said they were still reviewing the legislation on climate change. When Lips pointed out that legislation on climate change and actual climate change are two different issues, the phone went dead. Koch couldn't be reached for further comment. Maybe it was the weather?
It looks as if turkeys aren't the only birds that can drown in the rain -- ostriches can, too.
Where there's fire
Meanwhile, Merced's new City Councilman Bill Blake has been causing some warming himself. He may be an ex-lawman, but that doesn't mean he doesn't break the rules sometimes.
Last week Blake was busted -- by the burn police. Blake had a fire blazing in his fireplace and it was a no-burn day. Tsk, tsk, tsk.
Blake said two men were outside of his house taking pictures. He went outside to ask what they were up to. They said they were documenting his illegal fire. So there.
Caught red-handed, Blake told the two men they might as well come into his house and get a shot of him and his grandson in front of the fireplace. They declined.
Blake wasn't coy about the infraction. "There's no excuse for it, I just didn't check the paper in time," he said. "Since then I've been dialing 1-800-SMOG info." (The Sun-Star's Web site publishes the wood-burning rules and air quality standards each weekday afternoon.)
Where there's smoke, there's fire. In this case, literally.
An editor at City Hall
At the Dec. 21 Merced City Council meeting, Councilman John Carlisle was acting more like an editor than a councilman. When homeless czar Mike Conway, a former reporter, gave the council a staff report on a homeless task force, Carlisle took him to task. It seemed as if Carlisle had gone line by line through the report like a newspaper editor hacking away at Conway's copy. Carlisle didn't have a red pen in his hand, but the look on Conway's face was all the red that was needed.
