Happy New Year everyone. May it prove to be happier than last year (nationally)!

One particularly bright spot stands out for the City of Fillmore. That is the election of our new city council and the seating of our new City Manager, David Rowlands.

When I recall the dismal situation the city was in before the 2012 election it seems remarkable we have made so much progress since that time. Most of the worst problems we faced back then have been resolved to our benefit. Other fiscal challenges are well on the way to being fixed. I’ll try to include a summary of Fillmore’s achievements since 2012 in next week’s Gazette; they are impressive!

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One challenge on the city’s front burner for the New Year is the completion of the Business Park. This is the key to Fillmore’s economic future. It will provide the new jobs and cash flow needed to spark healthy growth for Fillmore. No other project comes close in importance for the city’s fiscal health. I know the city is working very hard to promote a successful outcome.

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NEW PRICE FOR THE GAZETTE.
Beginning January, 2014, the new retail price of the Fillmore Gazette will be set at 75 cents. Also be alert for the new paywall for our online edition, www.fillmoregazette.com.

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I wish I could be as optimistic concerning America’s future, but common sense and experience won’t permit it. When I consider the gross incompetence, corruption, and invincible political correctness imbedded in what pretends to be American leadership today, I want to shout duck and cover!

This is an alarming time for traditional Judeo-Christian conservatives. The Leftists seem to have a death grip on American culture. Our Constitution, at every level, is under deconstruction. Our republic has become deeply Orwellian. We have little personal defense remaining against Big Brother. Probable cause amounts to little more than the Leftist inclinations of a corrupt legal system. Otherwise, why would the District Attorney of Los Angeles County, in September of 2010 have been authorized to wiretap my office (Wiretap NO. 10-108)?

Why would Target capture my photo on its facial recognition apparatus? I wondered how anyone such as the pharmacy lady could welcome me by name as I approached the counter a year ago, as I had not been in the store for three weeks. I congratulated her on her superior memory, but on my way out it dawned on me that the store must be using that much vaunted secretive identity snatching software. That image, of course, is shared within the ever growing commercial network (shades of our NSA). After verifying that Target does use this system, I’ve never been back. Why bother asking why it was done?

America has abandoned its innocence. There is no longer a place for private life, to think, to act, to pray. Cameras search out the quietest corners, busiest streets, offices, bedrooms. No chance to foil or defend. We learn of these invasions only after they are revealed by equally secretive hackers. We now know that strangers can videotape us as we tap out our computer work. I especially resent this particular type of voyeurism because I don’t wish to have the rest of the world see me sleeping at my desk!

But, I think most of all, my hope for America ebbs when I remind myself that we Americans have consciously inflicted our rapid demise on ourselves. We elected (twice) the most radical Leftist in Congress to lead this nation as its Chief Executive Officer and Commander in Chief. He has neither the experience nor the ability to succeed at either job. Until he was elected president I didn’t know a profession entitled “community organizer” existed. But every aspect of Obama’s life is clouded with strangeness and uncertainty. He is not a leader and stands outside traditional American character and culture. In foreign policy, especially, he is bringing the country to catastrophe, and has plenty of time to succeed during the next three years.