By MYRTLE OSNER

We start with new numbering again on propositions this election, and the first one is numbered 1 A, a bond measure; bond measures must be placed first. Then there are eleven more propositions.

So let's take number 1 A first. At this moment I haven't been able to get a copy of its exact wording, because it was put on the ballot at the very last minute, the very last day it was possible. Prop. 1A authorizes $9.2 billion to provide funding for at least four years for class size reduction, to relieve overcrowding and accomodate student enrollment growth and to repair older schools, and for wiring and cabling for education technology. Some of the funds can be used to upgrade and build new classrooms in community colleges, California State University campuses and the University of California.

This sounds like a wonderful thing and it's all that the local Elections Dept. has in its summary page. However, it is rumored that in order to pass this measure in the Legislature (where it requires a two-thirds vote) the building industry lobby insisted on a provision that limits the amount school districts can collect in fees from new developments, which right now is the only way we can build schools to serve the children those developments inevitably bring us. Developer fees would be capped at $1.93 per square foot. The power of cities and counties to turn down construction projects because of inadequate financing for schools would be suspended for eight years. This should also raise a red flag for those who think we ought to slow growth in this valley in order to save agricultural land.

Read the fine print when you get your ballot pamphlet.

Propositions 1, 2, and 3 are legislative constitutional amendments.( the Legislature can't change what the people vote without putting it on the ballot again)

Prop. 1: makes an exception to Prop 13, the original property tax limitation measure of 1978. Owners of environmentally contaminated property would be allowed to replace or repair them without triggering a new tax rate. Proponents say that this extends to homeowners the same protection as is afforded victims of natural disasters. Opponents say it will increase the inequities already widely present between people who bought at different times, since Prop 13 froze the rates in 1978 for those who have not moved or rebuilt., and the system should be totally overhauled instead of tinkered with.

Prop. 2 requires that state loans from the Transportation Fund have to be repaid within a year. It also requires local transportation funds to be used for that purpose only. This is a ploy to prevent governments from using these funds to balance their budgets by putting them "temporarily" into their general funds. Read the arguments to find out if this is good or bad for us down here.

Prop 3, another constitutional amendment, changes the open primary law (which we only adopted in 1997).

This measure would affect only the presidential primary, preventing voters from crossing party lines to vote for presidential candidates. I'm assuming this will strengthen the two-party system in this country. There are other states which allow open primary votes and still get their votes counted, but with the electoral college system still in place, it's a winner-take-all system anyway. When do you suppose we will ever consider getting rid of that old chestnut?

Prop. 4. is an initiative which prohibits animal trappers from using certain kinds of traps and poisons. specifically body-gripping and leg-holding traps, and bans the use of "1080" and cyanide poisons.

Prop 5. sets forth rules to be followed in contracts for tribal casinos on Indian land. You will see massive amounts of money spent on this, both for and against. A number of compacts have already been signed and casinos opened to enhance (so they say) employment opportunities on reservations.

Prop 6 makes it illegal to slaughter horses and sell them for human consumption. It's pretty hard to figure out why this is on the ballot, since there are numerous countries where the consumption of horsemeat is common and controlled to meet health standards just like other meats. Horsemen and women are adamant about this, though.

Prop 7 is called the "Air Quality Improvement Initiative". It provides tax credits for a number of types of projects to improve air quality. It has a large number of supporters, with the lead agency being the Planning and Conservation League of California, whose executive director, Gerald Meral, is a genius at putting together coalitions of likeminded people to cover projects of environmental significance. Others are: American Lung Association,Union of Concerned Scientists, California Air Pollution Control Officers Association., and California Nurses Assn. Opponents say tax credits take away money for other needs in this state, which is hard to discredit, since there is only so much money in the budget.

Prop. 8 Makes major changes in the California Education Code. This one would take a full length article to cover, and it's hard to see how voters will react. Class size reduction is a buzz word that's in there, as well as adding parent teacher councils to schools (on top of site councils we already have), and even something about teacher credentialing. Anything this complicated should be considered very carefully before you vote yes.

Prop 9 limits the power of electric utilities to use tax, bond, and surcharges to pay for nuclear power plant investment. We have a whole article by the TURN organization about this issue. This consumer-based group were the people who got it on the ballot. I suggest you read it thoroughly. It's a very complicated issue.

Prop 10 adds a tobacco surtax to pay for state and county early childhood development programs. No question, there is a dearth of money for this purpose. But, is creating a new State Commission to run it a good idea? And then county commissions too? Will the money really go to help children? I don't know

Prop 11 was another added at the last minute. It authorizes local governments to share local sales and use taxes. The problem right now is that counties and cities are fighting over who gets these taxes and there is never enough to go around. It has badly skewed our land use decisions. Revenue sharing is possible now if put to a vote, but this measure would avoid elections in favor of contracts approved by local elected officials. It would have to be endorsed by a 2/3 vote of each city and county board of supervisors. I can envision in the future a fight over whether we will continue to get our library funded, since that tax "sunsets" in another two years. It would be nice if we could do it without a vote, but I don't think this measure will change that requirement, since it is a special extra tax for the entire county. If there is any way to end the fight over who gets the sales tax, I think we ought to implement it.

These are my personal views and do not in any way represent the views of the Peace Center or any other organization to which I belong.

ACTION: Pick up a copy of "Pros and Cons of the Ballot Measures" at any library, or call the League of Women Voters office for info (524-1698) Unbiased, non-partisan arguments are presented in this free tabloid newspaper at each election.   Also available on the web, click here.

By JIM SHULTZ

The Democracy Center (edited)

THE ISSUES

The consumer fight over reforming the utility industry has its roots in a deal crafted by state lawmakers two years ago. The utility industry and their allies in the state's corporate community declared that it was time to bring competition into the monopoly world of providing electricity.

The result was a legislative utility plan that made the companies happy and left consumer groups complaining. For most of the rest of us all we really understand is that there are a whole lot of new billboards around warning us about "changes in the electric industry". I especially like the one with the confused woman about to drive her convertible through a car wash with the top down. I don't understand it but as my son Miguel would say, "it looks cool."

The Consumers Union/TURN initiative has become Proposition 9 on the Nov. 3 ballot. What does it actually do and what are the policy issues? One of my graduate policy students at San Francisco State, Kevin Mullin, names three:

1) Who should pay for the utilities' $11 billion nuclear power debt?

In the 1960s and 1970s California utilities invested billions in nuclear power plants despite ample warnings from environmentalists and others that nuclear energy was bad, both ecologically and economically. Much of the critique by nuclear opponents turned out to be true. Today California utilities are stuck with about $11 billion dollars of what economists call "stranded investments" (what regular people would call bad debt) from plants like Diablo Canyon that didn't pay for themselves.

The utility deal passed by the Legislature says that ratepayers have to pay off the nuclear debt by including it in our monthly electric bills. The Consumers Union/TURN initiative would require that utility companies and their shareholders pay a part of the price tag as well, about 25 per cent of it. It sounds reasonable that PG&E and the others should at least have to pay for some of their losses on nuclear power. [Any time MID wants to thanks its citizenry for preventing it from "going nuclear", we're ready to hear it!]

2) Should Consumers be Borrowing Money to Finance a Rate Cut?

Another feature of the deal approved by state lawmakers two years ago is a 10 per cent rate cut on all our electric bills for five years. That's the good news. The bad news is that the rate cut is paid for by issuing bonds (i.e. borrowing money) that we will pay back with interest over ten years. The 10 per cent rate cut gave lawmakers and the utilities something to talk up with the public, but the consumer groups criticize it as a shell game with consumer dollars. Their initiative bans the practice of borrowing to finance rate cuts.

3) How much of a rate cut should there be?

The Consumers Union/TURN initiative calls for a 20 per cent rate cut. Utility companies will warn that this cut combined with the requirement that they help pay a share of the nuclear debt will make it impossible for them to do business. The consumer groups counter that once the utilities chip in to help pay off their own nuclear power debts that consumer rates could easily be dropped by 20 per cent.

THE POLITICS

Why are the consumer groups taking an arguably complicated issue to the oversimplified realm of the ballot? Why did David use a sling to go after Goliath? It's what he had. To be sure, there are two sides to this debate. But in the Legislature those two sides confronted one another on that most uneven of playing fields, lawmaking under the shadow of millions of dollars in industry lobbying and campaign contributions. It is exactly for conditions such as these that the initiative process was created.

Already the utilities have signaled that they are ready to wage one of the most expensive and ruthless initiative campaigns in the state's history. On the Friday afternoon before Memorial Day Weekend the utility campaign filed legal papers seeking to prevent the initiative from being on the ballot altogether. The timing was deliberate. Consumer advocates were not so lucky. Nettie Hoge and others were named personally in the suit, making they and their families personally liable for the utilities mammoth legal fees if the companies can find a court to go their way. In politics this is called "hardball".

All this is a preview of a fall campaign in which the utility companies may break all records for initiative spending. So get ready for their claims: "It will wreck the economy, it will destroy jobs, it will raise taxes."

Consumer groups will need to take care not to fall back into oversimplified rhetoric of their own. There are legitimate policy questions raised by this initiative and all sides have a responsibility to debate them. So, if you are still in recovery from the June election, you ain't seen nothing yet.

For more information on the initiative on the Web visit: http://www.nonukebailout.org

The Democracy Center, 1535 Mission St. - San Francisco, CA 94103 (415) 431-2051 tel./ (415) 431-0906 fax: Web: http://www.democracyctr.org

The 1999 Peace Essay Contest

We are posed on the brink of a new millennium. Creating a time capsule is one concrete way to preserve for future generations ideas, events, inventions, and artifacts for a time that, for future generations, will be "the past."

The 1999 Peace Essay Contest will honor the legacies of people and groups, past and present, who have worked for peace, justice, and/or the environment through nonviolent social change.

The contest is open to all fifth through twelfth grade students in Stanislaus County. Prizes range from $25 to $150. Deadline is December 4, 1998.

ACTION: For details contact the Modesto Peace/Life Center for a flyer, 720-l3th Street, P.O. Box 134, Modesto; phone at 529-5750; or e-mail at peaceessaycontest@juno.com

By MYRTLE OSNER and TINA ARNOPOLE DRISKILL

The Great Valley Center, headquartered in Modesto and headed by former Modesto mayor Carol Whiteside, has announced its LEGACI grants for this year.

The LEGACI program distributes grant money provided by several foundations. LEGACI stands for Land Use, Economic Development, Growth, Agriculture, Conservation and Investment. So it's a rather all-encompassing program that is still growing in amount and focus.

$618,000 was divided among 54 recipients from throughout the Central Valley this year, with innovative programs on the list. We list Stanislaus County recipients:

• $15,000 went to the Tuolumne River Regional Park Authority for native trees and plants.

• $15,000 went to the City of Turlock for an agricultural conservation program;

• $1,000 to the Stanislaus Wildlife Care Center, to support its efforts to help native wildlife in an increasingly urban environment.

• $500 went to California Women for Agriculture, West Stanislaus chapter, to support Ag Day in the Park.

Particularly innovative for the most variety and number of grants were those to Sacramento county. Among others, there were grants to

•The Planning and Conservation League to print a Valley guidebook,

• The CA Coalition for Rural Housing for housing design,

• CA Waterfowl Assoc. for evaluating wetlands restoration on 73 sites.

Tulare County was given a grant to help establish a permanent greenbelt between the cities of Visalia and Tulare. Several counties received grants to work on their river parkways, and some to put on Central Valley Conferences.

The Center invites interested persons to participate in a seminar in Fresno Oct. 8 titled "Conflict or Consensus: A Regional Conversation about Water". To be held at Centre Plaza Fresno Holiday Inn, the seminar is from 8 am to 3 pm. $50 at the door includes lunch.

Highlighted in the report are the efforts of five counties to implement transportation linkages for commuters over the Altamont. We in Modesto know about that since the bus to the Pleasanton Bart station is already in place, and a commuter train between San Joaquin, Santa Clara and Alameda counties is about to become a reality. So we can, hopefully, look forward to cleaner air in the future if more people choose to take public transit.

The Institute for the Development of Emerging Area Leadership (IDEAL) has been established by the Great Valley Center in cooperation with Coro Foundation (Northern CA) to "address the need for emerging Valley Leadership." The program is "designed to promote the importance of collaborative community leadership in fostering effective, creative and quality decision-making in the public affairs of the Central Valley."

The GVC IDEAL program will select fifteen men and women from the Central Valley as fellows in the course slated for a weekend retreat and four monthly one and a half-day seminars between February and July 1999. The progam "strives to provide access and information to emerging leaders, with focus on outreach to under-represented communities - on issues relating to land use, economic development, and conservation of the Central Valley."

The Center's August newsletter is full of information about who lives here, what kind of work we do, and how divided we are by county boundaries and cities.

Grant applications for the LEGACI program will soon be available for the coming year, with a due date for submission in February, 1999.

To get on the Great Valley Center mailing list or to participate in its events, write or call (209)-522-5103 . 911 13th Street, Modesto, CA 95354, FAX (209) 522-5116, or email at info@greatvalley.org .  Web page at http://www.greatvalley.org/ .

By TINA ARNOPLOE DRISKILL

Take a Portuguese Oxcart ride, go through "customs" and tour the Global Village or eat some of the best international cuisine around at the 8th Annual International Festival Saturday October 3, 1998 from 11 a.m. until 9:30 p.m. in Graceada Park near downtown Modesto.

Exploring your own ethnic and cultural heritage or that of numerous others will be great fun during the day-long event, which features international music and dance, arts and crafts, games, children's activities, food, the Global Village and much more.

Festival highlights include 11 a.m. opening ceremonies honoring our American heritage; Escola Nova, Brazilian music and dance, at 3 p.m.; and the internationally known jazz artists, Shahin and Sepehr, at 7 p.m., who's sounds echo their native Tehran and those of their current home in Washington, D.C. They are heard regularly on Modesto radio station KRVR, 105.5, The River. Entrance to the festival is free. To learn more about the celebration call (209) 521-3852.

Alana Donated Her Hair

This morning when Alana came over to our house,
Her hair hung to her waist, covering her blouse.
This evening after a visit to a hairdresser's chair,
Those luxurious long tresses are no longer there.
Alana donated her hair

She made the decision after giving it much thought.
It was something she wanted to do, not something she ought.
Alana donated her hair.

She heard of a place that takes hair that is shorn
And makes it into wigs that can be worn
by people with cancer whose locks have been lost,
A side effect of chemo, as part of the cost.
Alana donated her hair.

I'm reminded of my sister, maybe Alana was too,
As she was losing her hair, and wondering what to do,
She asked for a wig, to cover her head,
So she could greet with more dignity those who came to visit
As she lay in her bed.
Alana donated her hair.

Nine years of length went to a group called "Locks for Love"
And those who receive them will be glad for real hair up above.
Alana donated her hair.

One person can make a difference,
And bring comfort to those facing strife,
By injecting satisfaction and joy to the downtimes of life.
Alana donated her hair.

It's a random act of kindness, they happens every day.
All of us can contribute in some great or small way.
Alana donated her hair.

I'm extremely proud of her, she responded to an unusual request,
And she did what she is good at doing, She gave her very best.
My daughter Alana donated her hair.

— Gordon Switzer - 1998

Submitted by Nancy Bupp and used by permission of the author.

Around the Center

Cultural diversity will be celebrated at Modesto High School on October 14th. Community volunteers are need to speak about personal experiences with discrimination during this Day of Respect (see article, this page ).

So you enjoyed Peace Camp (or wanted to come but life was overfull). Come to the 1999 Peace Camp Planning Potluck at Jim and Lenore Dupré's home in Turlock, October 3:00 p.m. (The Smart/Scheller family has been requested not to bring Tofu Surprise. . .) Camp is traditionally the fourth weekend of June.

Stanislaus Connections needs a calendar editor. This job has traditionally been filled by a student who inputs all calendar material gather by the board approx. 10th-15th of each month, computer template provided. Also people are needed to write, serve on editorial board (meetings first and third Thursdays of each month), work on the mailing crew (fourth Tuesday), sell ads, etc.-A calendar editor. is needed. This job has traditionally been filled by a student who inputs all calendar material gather by the board approx. 10th-15th of each month, computer template provided.

The Peace Essay Contest Committee could use help with an October mailing to 1200 teachers and lots of office work during and post-judging in December -March.

On October 24th, there's pies to bake in the morning for the Harvest Supper, decorating and preparing salad bar in the afternoon, serving and clean-up in the evening.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemoration Committee is meeting to plan annual mid-January Modesto event.

ACTION: All welcome. Phone the Center to volunteer 529-5750.

"A sign of intellectual maturity is the ability to imagine ways of being very different from one's own. To simply assume that everyone comes from a similar context as oneself, or alternative, to simply reject anything that is alien to one's experience, is to deny my possibility of understanding. Taking either path is a sign is a sign of intellectual immaturity, and can come either as a result of provincialism -- that is, lack of exposure to worlds beyond one's own -- or bad faith."

-Renny Christopher, "Some Thoughts on Multicultural Education" In The Grove, Spring/Summer 1997

By JIM HIGGS

The Modesto Peace/Life Center was asked to work with Sharon Froba and Modesto High School to put on a Day of Respect at Modesto High on October 14, 1998. The day will focus on people who have experienced oppression, racism, bigotry, exclusion, and shame. We need volunteers to help. To volunteer to participate during the day for an hour or more, please call: Sharon Froba at or Jim Higgs at 522-6706.

Training will be required of all speakers and the speakers will work as teams. The training will be October 11 2-4 at College Avenue Congregational Church, College and Orangeburg, Modesto.

Blue Bags provided free by City of Modesto

The City of Modesto is distributing blue plastic bags for recycling free to Modesto residents at the Solid Waste Management office, 1012 I Street and at City Hall at the Mall inside Vintage Faire Mall. Additional blue bag pick up sites will be available in the near future. City of Modesto residents are encouraged to use the blue bags to recycle steel and aluminum cans, glass bottles and jars, plastic bottles and jars (with a "neck" and #1-7), newspapers, brown bags, magazines, junk mail, telephone books, mixed paper and computer paper. Filled blue bags should be tossed into the black toter along with other garbage. The blue bags should not be used for garbage, yard waste (put in green toters), or household hazardous waste.

Residents are asked to empty and lightly rinse all containers, remove all lids and flatten any cardboard. Labels may be left on containers.

ACTION: Follow steps above. Call the recycling hotline , 577-5493 for information.

By BONNIE EMERSON

Most people generally assume that other people think and act the way they do. This assumption, however, can be quite misleading and result in misunderstanding and alienation in personal and professional relationships. One of the most difficult aspects of working or living with youth or adults who have attention deficit disorder (also referred to as ADD) or a learning disability is to understand how they think or feel.

On October 10, 1998 people in our community will have the unique opportunity to experience this insight through the message of nationally acclaimed speaker Jerry Mills. The four hour workshop is an intensely personal in-concert presentation offering a vivid first hand look at the difficulties and challenges faced by those who live with behavioral and learning disorders.

Through the telling of very personal and powerful stories and the live performance of songs, Jerry Mills shares powerful insights into how children, adults, parents, peers and professionals can work together to preserve and enhance the self-esteem and inherent creative potential of those who learn and behave differently than is commonly expected.

As a teacher and assistant principal, I can personally attest that the information and insights that I have received from Jerry Mills in the past have made a profound impact on my daily interactions with all students. I highly recommend this workshop to all professionals and parents who interact with children who behave and think differently than you do. I guarantee the information you receive will give you the empathy that is necessary to help you enrich the lives of the children with whom you work and live.

ACTION: The conference will be held at Beyer High School Little Theater, Modesto from 9 am to 1 pm. Saturday October 10. Pre-registration is necessary. For info call CHADD, 523-4939

(Bonnie Emerson is a teacher and the coordinator of CHADD, an organization in Stanislaus County which helps deal with the problems of ADD. The Conference is co-sponsored by Modesto City Schools, Parents Education Resource Center, Stanislaus County Office of Education, and the Regional Perinatal Services Program of Doctors Medical Center.)

A new collaboration between the Mexican Heritage Center and The Haggin Museum has produced a series of free events to mark October as Mexican Heritage Month.

The Opening Ceremony on Sunday Oct 4 about 12:30 pm will take place outside the museum in Victory Park on Pershing Avenue. The Aztec Dancers are featured and will offer prayers, songs, dances, and other rituals which honor the indigenous people of Mexico as well as the Spanish and American cultures. It's a uniquely California experience.

Following the opening ceremonies at 1:30 pm and on display till Nov. 15, Stockton's departed Mexican American Sports Heroes will be honored. It's called Ofrenda/First offering. Ofrendas are a family's yearly spiritual commemoration on the Day of the Dead/El Dia de los Muertos..

There will also be a museum tour that day. Museum docents are available for school tours at times to be arranged, by calling 462-4116.

Saturday Oct. 10, from 1:30 to 4:30 pm., is a family program celebrating Mexican heritage. Hands-on arts and crafts and other demonstrations will be led by local artists (children invited to make projects to take home).

Sunday Oct. 18 at 3 pm, Guest Curator Rudy Garcia has arranged panelists to discuss the accomplishments of the athletes who are being honored through the Primera Ofrenda.

3 pm Saturday Oct 24 will celebrate Stockton's "El Chivo" neighborhood and its memories, and on Sunday, Oct 25 at 3 pm there will be a big musical celebration featuring local groups singing and playing music some of which dates back to the Mexican Revolution.

For information call Haggin Museum, 462-4116.

Merced Somoto Sister Cities celebrate friendship

By SHELLY SCRIBNER

Merced Somoto Sister Cities celebrate 10 years of friendship with Somoto, Nicaragua with a dinner on Saturday, October 24, 1998 at 6:30 p.m. at the Sierra Presbyterian Church, 3603 M St., (across from Merced Junior College) in Merced. Three members of our sister city will be here from Somoto. We will have typical food from Nicaragua for dinner, dances by Nicaraguan dance troops, a silent auction, displays from previous delegations to Nicaragua and crafts. The dinner is open to the public and costs $10.00 per ticket. Call 521-6304 or 722-0401 for information.

ACTION: support this important cultural connection and have fun and good food at the same time!

KUOP:  Bring back the music!

A "Concert of Protest" will be held Friday October 23, 1998 at 2 p.m. outside the studios of radio station KUOP on the University of the Pacific campus in support of "true public radio."

Jazz guitarist Gene Radino, violinist Kim Angelis and other musicians whose music has been broadcast on KUOP have volunteered to perform. "We are praying for a great turnout in support of true public radio, with unique local programs, hosts and human contact," says concert organizer Andrea Metz. The free concert is open to all persons interested in having a voice in local public radio, while enjoying the music KUOP has offered its listeners prior to recent changes in format.

ACTION: To learn more about the concert or how you can take part in the protest, call Andrea Metz at 572-4180 or 723-2401 or email: merced-museum@kaizen-ryu.com

The Save Our Station Web Page is here.

By ELIZABETH ANN VENCILL

KUOP Radio, 91.3 FM, radically changed its broadcasts. Gone is classical music. National Public Radio News and Public Radio talk shows from across the country during the day and a locally produced generic Americana music format in the evening are the new fare. The move is expected to broaden the audience base, according to Station Manager Dennis Kita.

Creating an unprecedented outcry among callers, writers, editors of the Stockton Record and Modesto Bee and others, the change is seen as another example of dumbing down. Disappointed members received what many considered to be inadequate notice and insufficient reasoning in the form of a letter to them the week before the change. In fact, the station is willing to refund pledges from the most recent drives to those who wish it.

Kita indicated that changing back or allowing pledge pressures to influence the station's decision would be the ultimate sellout. KUOP would then be essentially the same as a commercial broadcast station, where financial sponsors dictate programming. KUOP is out of that business and looking forward to serving listeners a variety of nationally acclaimed programs.

Congress wants a variety of broadcasting among public radio stations which serve the same geographic area, Kita said. Very soon, KXSR Radio, 91.7 FM, will increase broadcast strength from Twain Harte, with 20 hour Classical Music and NPR News in the morning and late afternoon time slot. Kita declared research shows that when two Public Radio Stations try to compete for the same audience with the same programming, both experience a decline in listeners. But when programming is diversified between the stations, both gather greater audiences.

KUOP cannot compete with the classical music resources KXSR will bring to the valley. It was, therefore, a choice between classical music with specialized radio shows and guaranteeing the decline of the KUOP audience, or moving towards a programming set that will serve listeners a choice of Public Radio offerings. In the station's language, change was the most responsible course.

By ANN BRIARCLIFF

1 lb lean hamburger
3 onions, chopped
1 garlic head, peeled and crushed
1 12 oz can of red kidney beans
3 zucchini, 7 or 8 inches each, sliced in rounds 3 yellow crook neck squash, sliced in rounds 3 St Patrick's patty pan squash, sliced in rounds 4 or 5 vine ripe tomatoes, sliced
1 cup dry red wine
1 Tbs. Parsley crushed
1 Tbs. Oregano crushed
1 Tbs. Basil crushed
1 Tbs. Thyme crushed
1/2 cup water
salt & pepper to taste

In a 12 cup skillet, break up the hamburger and sauté until brown and coarse. Push it to a side of the skillet, and drain the fat to the other side. SautŽ the onions and garlic in the fat until clear, then push them into the hamburger and drain the fat. Remove fat from skillet with a spoon. Mix the hamburger, onions and garlic in the skillet. Add the red beans and mix it up.

Layer the squash over the beans/hamburger mixture sprinkling the herbs into the layers. Layer the tomatoes on top. Add the water and the wine, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

Open the skillet and let the flavors tickle your taste buds!

Only in the Air

What siren song called me away
from the swing in the willow tree
behind my house
into some other, half-imagined world
where books crowd shelves
and squeeze out all other things
where people talk about
ideas that exist only in their talk
only in the air
and can't be seen.
The siren song flowed out of the books
I read in that swing
all summer afternoon
in my bed all summer night
in the window all long winter.
I lived in the books
but was anchored by the willow tree
and when I broke away
I left flesh behind
the scars still bleed like stigmata
the ropes and boardswing creak
empty in my memory.
Now the siren song calls me back
but there's no road back
it exists only in my mind
only in air.
The siren song seduces
pulls me back and forth
lost between
my self exists
only in the air.

— Renny Christopher

Be the Student of the Month
Be the Citizen of the Day

Rush Limbaugh
Is THE guru
"Interpretations" of Jesus
THE "Good News"

Capitalism
THE system
Compassion
A "stated" mission

Militia mentality guides those
Who think themselves most right
Dictating "No" to choice
Allowing reproductive rights no voice

Blessed are the many who
Wield guns, rape land and lake
For they shall inherit,
Each and every one,
The earth which they create.

— Tina Arnople Driskill

The Hazing of Big Blue Mother Marble

Human animal choice
Sucking self-ignited smog
Sucking out gray matter
Exhaling deadly gray clouds

Brain chemistry denial of deadly gases
Drawing pink-lunged youngsters
Away from fresh air

Budding wakefulness negated,
The clarity of renewal
Clouded by the haze of sickening in-breath

Desensitizing shades the senses
To stench of body, clothing, closed spaces

Amazing Body Human
Choosing from "The Everything"
The "All There Is"
Free will to tear the fabric
From personal and planetary wellness

Older and wiser make themselves free
As 9 & 10 year olds enter the generation of Coolness
Minds too young to brave
A morass of environmental and genetic stupidity

"At least I can still smoke in my car,"
Challenges the bumper sticker.
Personal awareness murked in thought-less fog

Millions of personal smoggers
Big Blue Mother Marble's
Taxing burden

What inalienable rights
Say any place on earth
Is an ash tray?

— Tina Arnopole Driskill

By DON MCMILLAN

For those who want to believe our Great Valley is a cultural wasteland, evidence easily accumulates and challenges are rare. But for those willing to question such Valley stereotypes, a fledgling literary journal has appeared. Titled for allusions to a short story, "In a Grove," and to a certain lush spot at some university in California, In the Grove features fiction, poetry and essays "for the Central Valley and California."

In its second year of publishing three issues annually, In the Grove's Spring issue presented many facets of a diverse and dynamic hometown literary community. Contributions ranged from the brazen guffaws of Modesto writer Jim Peck's "dog poem" on one page to the ironiesÑbrittle as dried, fog-rimed grape vinesÑof the facing page's "Necessary Lies" in which Fresno writer Neomi Sanchez-Daniels invokes the voice of a Bracero laborer's grandchild "ditching school again" to help prune the vineyards.

In the Grove smolders with the working class rage of California State University, Stanislaus teacher Renny Christopher's "Rags to Riches: Narratives of Unhappy Upward Mobility." Christopher's experience of trading a working class identity and its limitations for higher education leaves her brooding over the hollowness of the experience. Through prose analysis and verse, Chrstopher works through a sense of anomie to a revolutionary resolve. "Work, in every corner of our lives, scholarly and otherwise, to bring about social change that will destroy hierarchies, so that there will be no upward mobility, happy or otherwise."

Vivid, too, though not in urging social and political reform is Karen Moody's appreciation of the seasonal sensations of life in the Central Valley, "Almond Blossoms and Fog." A mere four pages frames a gestalt to which my own experience of the Valley resonated. To the many who find little to admire in the Valley, Moody catalogues its often overlooked beauties.

Other offerings sample on-the-job experiences, on-the-road experiences, walking (with pride in big feet) experiences and the reading experiences of writers, most if not all of whom have some link to our Valley.

This issue shows evidence that In the Grove has already begun to catch on in Fresno, Modesto, and a few places between. Four of the spring issue's advertisements are for Modesto businesses, the other two from Fresno. Bookstores listed as selling copies include one in Modesto (The Bookstore), one each in Turlock and Merced, and the remaining three in Fresno. Fresno-based Editor Lee Herrick once lived in Stanislaus County. Modesto's own Optimism One is In the Grove's poetry editor.

Just in at press time: Stanislaus area writers quicken this fall's issue, including Paul Neumann, Sheila Landre ("a member of Licensed Fools, a Modesto-area poetry group"), and Angelique Arnold. A precedent-setting display of images from Chicano-Christian artist Ramses Noriega's "Portraits of the '90's" tease the eye, contorting human faces into questions about human fears and "hopes of cloning masters." Look it at The Bookstore.

The high-energy contributions selected and sturdy binding suggest pride in the contents. Through this quality creation, editors and writers proclaim that literature home grown in our Great Valley is to be read seriously, to be savored, digestedÑmaybe even memorizedÑas essential to our lives where Sierra-combing rivers converge and nightfall blooms from the crest of the Diablo Range.

ACTION: to participate in this exciting cultural emergence, support the journal. Editor Herrick calls it a do-it-yourself project. It doesn't rely for financial support on some college or university and requires readers' backing for survival. Contributions of $18 or more are good for a year's subscription. In the Grove can be reached at P. O. Box 16195, Fresno, CA 93755. Email: inthegrove@rocketmail.com

Highlights in Armaments, Disarmament and International Security, 1997

Edited from the SIPRI YEARBOOK 1998

"The post-cold war transnational threats and challenges call urgently for a redefinition of the traditional concept of international security. The security agenda ahead must be founded on a new political philosophy, encompassing a common, institutionalized system of standards and shared values rather than concepts based on the balance of power. . . . It is now commonly understood that security comprises much more than military security, although the military dimension - particularly the need to strengthen the non-proliferation regime for weapons of mass destruction - is still relevant. Consequently, a new arms control agenda must be set for the 21st century; one of the top priorities must be the complete elimination of nuclear weapons, now that the production, possession and use of chemical and biological weapons have been prohibited in international agreements. Only in this way can the intentional and accidental use of weapons of mass destruction be prevented. The success of the new security agenda will require the cooperation of all states and substantive coordination of the work of global and regional security organizatiïns."

— From the Introduction

Security and conflicts

• Of the 25 major armed conflicts in 1997, only one - between India and Pakistan - was interstate. All the others were internal conflicts.

• World military expenditure declined by around one-third over the 10-year period 1988-97 and is estimated to correspond to roughly $740 billion in 1997. In recent years the decline has slowed to an average rate of less than 1 percent in the past two years, as against an average of 4.5 percent over the entire period.

• The most significant impact on the trend in global military expenditure was the sharp cut in Russian spending in 1992. Russia's actual military expenditure in 1997 was less than one-tenth of that of the USSR in 1988. There have also been significant cuts in Africa, Central America and the United States.

• The arms industry continued to undergo significant restructuring in 1997, mainly in the form of mergers and acquisitions in the US arms industry, which proceeded rapidly, and international joint ventures in Western Europe, a slower process.

• The USA remains the dominant power in terms of military technology - with a military R&D budget more than seven times that of France, the nearest competitor - while Russian military technology is coming under stricter export controls and continues to fall further behind the state of the art.

• India has spent about $500 million (in 1995 dollars) annually on military R&D since 1993, a figure that will rise significantly if current plans are carried out. This is roughly 28 percent of Indian Government funding of science and 18 percent of funding for science in the entire country, a figure exceeded only in the USA. If funding for nuclear and space R&D is included, the amount is $910 million, or 68 percent of government-funded science.

Non-proliferation, arms control and disarmament

• The START II Treaty remained in limbo in 1997, despite agreement between Presidents Clinton and Yeltsin on a series of measures to boost its chances of being ratified by the Russian Parliament. Proponents of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty faced a difficult struggle to win the ratification of all the 44 states needed to bring it into force.

• In 1997 China, Russia and the USA ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention. The convention entered into force on 29 April 1997, and work was started on the establishment of an effective chemical weapon disarmament regime.

• The Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction (the APM Convention) was opened for signature in December 1997. By May 1998, 11 states had ratified the convention. The International Campaign to Ban Landmines, together with its coordinator Jody Williams, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 1997.

The SIPRI YEARBOOK 1998: Armaments, Disarmament and International Security

is published by Oxford University Press.

By JUDITH MAHONEY PASTERNAK

It is a 20th-century paradox: the era that has seen the most massive and horrible slaughters in history has also seen the growth of nonviolent direct action as a formidable and, often, massive form of resistance. Nonviolent action drove the British out of India after World War II, lighting a beacon for colonized peoples around the world -- and for people in this country who opposed racial segregation. Ultimately, nonviolent movements ended legal segregation in the U.S. South and shook the Pentagon during the Vietnam War. As the century draws to a close, nonviolent direct action is at the heart of a broad range of movements on every continent seeking peace, justice, and a livable Earth.

Across the globe, every nonviolent activist is in some sense an heir of Mohandas K. Gandhi, called the "Mahatma," or "Great Soul," one of the pivotal figures of our time. Born in India in October, 1889 -- and assassinated there 50 years ago -- Gandhi was practicing law in South Africa at the turn of the century when he was moved to action by the country's separation of its citizens by race. He developed a clear vision of the strength of nonviolent resistance that he called satyagraha, a combination of Hindu and Gujurati words that can be translated as "holding fast to truth" -- or "soul force." Not long afterward, he began to test it in the long process that ultimately led to Indian independence.

. . . His example never brought a permanent peace to his strife-ridden nation, where sectarian violence continued to take thousands of lives over the ensuing decades. Yet in many nations, hope for freedom and democracy has been pinned to nonviolent direct action, sometimes with more success than others. Gandhi's ideas were a major force in the post-war ebbing of European political domination of Asia and Africa. A strand of nonviolent direct action was woven into the long struggle to free South Africa from apartheid. As the undemocratic regimes of Eastern Europe toppled, their populations held the world's eye with huge nonviolent demonstrations. Since then nonviolence has been the foundation of massive protests against the former post-Communist governments of the former Yugoslavia. From Mexico to Timor, Iran to the Philippines, activists have tried to resist even the most brutal regimes nonviolently.

In the 50 years of Gandhi's career, satyagraha won Indian independence; in the first-quarter century after his death, it transformed U.S. opposition politics; in the second quarter-century, it has won adherents -- and victories -- around the globe. With the understanding that no one person reshapes human thought or life outside of the currents of history, it is nevertheless safe to say few people have brought about as much change as Gandhi has; few have inspired so many others to risk so much for change. Those of us who are his heirs only hope that the next hundred years bring the world closer to his legacy of nonviolence.

Excerpted from The Nonviolent Activist, the publication of the War Resister's League, 339 Layfayette St., New York, New York 10021; (212) 228-6193; email wrl@igc.apc.org. website: http://www.nonviolence.org/wrl/nva.htm.

Staying the Course

[M]y passion plays itself out in a deep, patient way. When I care about something, when I commit to it, I am prepared to take the long, hard road, knowing it may not happen today or tomorrow, but ultimately, eventually, it will happen. That is what faith is all about. That's the definition of commitment -- patience and persistence.

People who are like fireworks, popping off right and left with lots of sound and sizzle, can capture a crowd, capture a lot of attention for a time, but I always have to ask, where will they be at the end? Some battles are long and hard, and you have to have staying power. Firecrackers go off in a flash, then leave nothing but ashes. I prefer a pilot light -- the flame is nothing flashy, but once it is lit, it doesn't go out. It burns steadily, and it burns forever.

— John Lewis, Walking with the Wind: A Memoir of the [Civil Rights] Movement

By MYRTLE OSNER

Our readership is somewhat fluid, and I frequently get calls wanting to know where they can pick up copies. Of course I always urge people to get a subscription so they don't miss any of the good stuff! But we do know that lots of our readers pick up Connections at a coffee house, grocery rack, restaurants, or what have you. At the moment, our faithful distributors leave them at most of the following locations. If you know of any other likely place, let us know and we'll recruit you to pick some up. Remember, this is an all-volunteer effort, including all the writers, editors, collating and mailing crew, etc. Thanks a heap, all of you!

McHenry Ave.: Bagel Junction, Wherehouse, The Bookstore, Le Croissant, Togo's in McHenry Village. On out to Barnes and Noble, Bei Jing, & Caffe Espresso.

Modesto Jr. College area: Great Valley Museum, Tutoring Center on Tully Rd., MJC English Dept., also Barber shop and Beauty Parlor on College & Orangeburg Sam's Food City on Roseburg.

Roseburg Shopping Center: Appetez Restaurant, Bonanza books, Beauty Shops.

Eastside: Raley's in Century Center, Nature's Gifts on Oakdale Rd., Richland Market at Claus and Yosemite.

Westside: Richland Market on Carpenter. Raley's on Tully Rd.

Downtown: J St Cafe, Beads of Contentment, Tresetti's, State Theatre, DeVa, Readmore Books, McHenry Museum, Great Valley Center, Chamber of Commerce, Sweetwater Diner, St. Stan's, Picadilli Deli, Condit's office, The Carrot, Gypsy, Frailing and Rockwell, The Brighter Side.

Oakdale: Cafe Bliss, and the Library.

Turlock: Library, Bagel Junction, El Jardin, Dennis Cardoza office, El Antonjito, various locations at Cal State Stanislaus campus. We even have someone picking them up to take to Livingston.

By TINA ARNOPOLE DRISKILL

Aztlan Bookstore, quickly on its way to becoming a cultural center for Hispanic and other ethnic diversity in Modesto, welcomes well-known children's author and poet, Gary Soto, for a reading and book signing Oct. 24 from 4-7 p.m.

The bookstore, located at 907 10th Street, is offering other public events during October, Hispanic Cultural Month. Tierra Morrena, a hot salsero group from the San Francisco Bay Area will perform in concert Oct. 3 at 8 p.m. An $8 cover will be charged.

Four short films will be featured each night during the Chicano Film Festival from Oct. 7-9 beginning at 7 p.m. Included will be Algun Dia, a docudrama focusing upon the after effects of Proposition 187 on a Hispanic family. A reception and discussion with the producers of the films will be held Oct. 9. The films will be in Spanish with English subtitles or in English and a $4 entrance will be charged each evening.

An evening honoring Hispanic women on Oct. 10 at 7 p.m. will feature San Francisco folk singer Lorena Sanchez. The evening also will include poetry readings. Tickets will be $5.

Chicano Reggae with Vick and Red Tlaloc will be offered Oct. 17 at 7 p.m. Cover charge will be $7.

Rounding out the October concert list is Rosa Marta Zarata with Nuevo Canto and Mexican folk music. Tickets will be $5.

The group Quetzal will be featured Nov. 21 and an Afro-Peruvian concert will be scheduled at the State Theatre at a later time to be announced. Ongoing at Aztlan are bi and tri-lingual (English, Spanish and Aztec Nahuatl) poetry readings Thursdays at 7 p.m., bilingual children's storytelling from 3-4:30 p.m. Sundays, and educational dialogues on social issues impacting the community at large Wednesday evenings at 7 p.m. There is no charge for these offerings.