By Guest Columnist Michael Ceremello, Former Vice-Mayor/Council Member of the City of Dixon – September 3, 2016 –
Another interesting week in Dixon where you never know who will be your instructor or fool. I was heading out of town late Friday night to view the Dinesh D’Souza movie Hillary’s America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party. I was surprised to see a “DUI License Check” gauntlet of police including motor cycle cops lined up just past Regency Parkway.
I thought for a second to continue straight down Industrial to avoid an unnecessary confrontation. I am glad I changed my mind.
As my vehicle slowly crept forward, I noticed the badges were not Dixon police but once again Vacaville’s invading our territory. I am sure there were other agencies involved but I didn’t notice them. I was distracted by the young officer who asked me to show him my license. My question to him was “What does having a license have to do with a DUI checkpoint?”
If you have ever had concerns about the loss of personal freedom and actually believing you live in a free country, his answer would stop you in your tracks. He responded by avoiding the question and instead concentrating on the ID portion. “You have to have a license when you are driving”, which I countered with “I think I know that”. Then he added, “Even if you are walking down the street, we can demand you show us identification?” Excuse me?
Now I know the 4th Amendment to the Constitution states “[t]he right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures” but evidently these bullies with badges continue to believe as long as they have some ill defined “reasonable cause”, they can force you to show ID. However, that is not what my research showed.
There is nothing in any law in any State of the United States which says you need to do more than give your name. Let’s take a common sense approach to this. Say you are out for a jog, wearing gym shorts and a T-shirt, with no pockets. Is it reasonable to think you need to carry a wallet or an ID card let along a driver’s license, if you are jogging down a sidewalk? Do you need a driver’s license if you aren’t driving? What if you don’t drive?
According to people like our mayor, Jack Batchelor, “if you have nothing to hide, you shouldn’t have a problem with this kind of aberrant, intolerable police behavior.” Jack is up for election this year. Jack is taking away freedoms in many little ways. Has Jack spoken out against this type of police conduct or does he condone it by allowing this kind of nonsense to occur in Dixon? After all, Jack claims credit for everything that goes on in Dixon, even if he has had nothing to do with it, so why not this?
Rather than letting this ruin my evening, I continued on to Roseville to see the movie. It seems this was the only theater showing it in California at this time. I find D’Souza’s movies to be truthful and educational as well as entertaining. I totally disagree with the two reviews from the Leftist critics posted on the internet. Attempting to save face has become a constant pursuit for those attempting to “deny, deny, deny”, which is one of the main themes within the movie.
I was surprised that Dinesh incorporated his criminal justice system interaction courtesy of the retribution of Barack Obama who evidently wasn’t too fond of Dinesh’s prior work “Obama 2016″. Who has ever gotten jail time for an illegal campaign contribution?
Rather than review the whole movie, the nutshell version is our political system is run by gangs who have a scam and a plan for fleecing the populace. When you are found out or caught, you “deny, deny, deny”. Does this sound like Hillary on Benghazi, on her emails, or on the “right of abused women to be heard”?
The lies of the Left such as Republicans are pro-slavery and that Southern Democrats changed their party affiliation to being Republican was shown to be what they are: a lie. All of eight out of several hundred representatives from all Southern States changed their party affiliation.
It was the Democrats who wanted to keep and expand slavery. Their military arm was the Ku Klux Klan. One of their elected politicians almost killed a Republican on the floor of the legislature who was speaking out against slavery. Andrew Jackson not only kept slaves but drove the American Indian off their lands. How did he end up on the twenty dollar bill or Woodrow Wilson, another bigot, anti-constitutionalist, and Democrat, be honored by placement on the $100,000 bill?
What does any of this have to do with Jack Batchelor, two other phonies up for election named Steve Bird and Jerry Castañon, and Dixon? It is all about “deny, deny, deny”.
I say the town is business unfriendly. They all deny it and point to the three or four new businesses, which they had no part in bringing to town, as evidence.
I say the waste water treatment plant was largely a waste of money. Jack denies it and says the problem with the water board is solved. No, the problem is solved until the next demand comes down the line. Was Vacaville done after spending over $100 million or did the State demand another similarly sized project to reduce nitrates?
Jack’s latest lie and denial is over the financial impact of expanding the salary range for executives to enable recruit for vacant positions. Only a total fool would not acknowledge the future impacts on the general fund and only the foolish among us can be conned into believing all salaries won’t be pushed up because of this action. I am sorry but I don’t believe you should be paying salaries of over $150,000 to anyone including the police and fire chief or salaries over $100,000 to firemen for working two days a week.
I say the council isn’t transparent and Jack denies this. I happened to read in detail Jack’s commentary in the Dixon Tribune about how the expanded range is necessary to recruit a police chief among other positions. I thought we had tentatively hired the new person who knew what the old salary range was going in. So if he didn’t pass muster or decided to pull out on his own, why oh why didn’t Jackie boy or the other four bone heads on the dais tell us this?
I can hear Jack’s denial now. “This is a personnel matter. We can’t divulge anything.” Bull. No one is asking you to explain what happened. We would just like to know where we are in the process. Sort of like the “reasonable cause” excuse the cops want to use to justify their elitist superior behavior, Jack and his goons continue to believe they are above us, those who elected them as well as those of us who have had to suffer through their antics for the last four years.
The difference of how to govern between Jack Batchelor and those running against him are like night and day. Neither Thom Bogue or Loran Hoffman want to run this city in the vacuum of their minds per Jack Batchelor. Citizen participation has been touted by Loran and Thom was always on the same page as myself in making Dixon self sufficient.
Jack touts his “accomplishments” of getting infrastructure repaired including an area in the south of town. Thom was the one who pointed this out. Where Thom would have used funds we had within the city, Jack got grants from other agencies. Who cares, you say? There are always strings attached and the STA has the power of eminent domain whether Jack wants to admit it or continue to “deny, deny, deny”.
You may not have noticed it but this column has always been about principles and concepts. As we continue toward November, I will focus on those two as we examine the candidates together. The problem with the incumbents is they have no concept of concepts. They simply want someone else to tell them what to do or, in Jack’s case, he uses some outdated concept pushed by fellow bureaucrats rather than looking for solutions which incorporate new technology while still preserving what Dixon is.
It truly doesn’t surprise me that Jack can say “the general plan is almost finished” when there is an immense amount of work which should be done on it. The reason it doesn’t surprise me is the general plan was done once the consultant was put under Jack’s thumb. The rest has all been a dog and pony show.
I think it is a time to shift away from the dog and pony to either Thom’s “happy ram” or Loran’s inclusive style of government. While many of you are saying “Never Trump” or “Never Hillary”, you need to focus a little closer on the stagnation of Dixon or its progress towards a vision held by only a few “controllers”.
“Never Jack” … after the Jack Hole, Chief Cox’s firing, and Carissa Carpenter’s movie studio, it has more than just a ring to it …
