Orchard is no more

On a flying visit through Tracy, the first thing that jumped out is that the iconic Orchard Diner is replaced by some other establishment.

Runaway powered chute

I admit not to keeping up with Tracy news recently, so I stumbled upon the thread in Backcountry Pilot in November. Fortunately the ever dependable Tracy Press had a blurb:

According to the Federal Aviation Administration’s Ian Gregor, a powered parachute that took to the skies from outside Tracy without its pilot Saturday, Aug. 14, was found a week later hanging in a tree in a remote part of Napa County.

“The plane headed northwest then circled around for about a half hour before flying southeast toward Yosemite,” Gregor stated in an e-mail.

The probability of injury was very small once it cleared populated areas, and even then it was small. Still, talk about the improper hand-start technique.

Huckabee guilty plea

Apropos the Sandra Cantu case, Huckabee entered a guilty plea in exchange for life in prison.

Authorities disclosed an investigative summary that depicted a brutal killing that left the child with wounds to her head and body, including injuries to the outside of her genitals that were consistent with a bloodstained rolling pin found inside a church where Huckaby had taught. The stain matched Sandra's blood, prosecutors said.

A pathologist's report listed the official cause of death as "homicidal asphyxiation." Prosecutors believe Huckaby drugged the girl then smothered her with a cloth soaked in rubbing alcohol.

Sandra's body — found in a black suitcase pulled from an irrigation pond — contained alprazolam, a prescription sedative commonly used to treat anxiety. Prescription bottles of the drug were found in Huckaby's purse and home, prosecutors said.

Testa believes two other drugging cases against Huckaby were "practice attempts" leading to Sandra's killing. Charges also were dropped in those cases, which involved a 7-year-old girl and a 37-year-old man whom police believe Huckaby had been dating.

So, practice runs, huh. Also:

District Attorney James Willett said he was satisfied with the plea deal as a way to avoid a costly trial that could drag on for years. He believes the outcome would have been the same, with a jury sentencing Huckaby to a life term.

"California's death penalty is a joke," he said.

Well, voters wanted it that way, so...

Masses turn away from mass transit in California

An article at Hit and Run compiles as list of government reports from all over the area about the plummeting ridership, as people switch jobs in the recession and find no alternative to driving in new directions (there's also a quote from a liberal mag that blames the rising prices of tickets). I imagine the situation is even worse in our sticks. I remember taking a SJ "Regional" bus route 70 to get from Tracy to Dublin BART. It only had two departures per day. Good grief!

Nonetheless, I'm quite certain that governments will continue to rob everyone and throw big sacks of money down the transit hole (instead of doing the necessary minimum to comply with ADA). They really should build more freeways. And perhaps raze the Livermore's downtown. On this note, anyone remember the hapless Richard Pombo and his "highway 130" project? How did that work out for him? Not that Pombo was all white and fluffy: he wanted to build a turnpike.

Lammers Road Junction meeting

I received a notice about the meeting on December 8, 5:30 p.m. in Larch Clover Community Center. It was sent to property owner address. On the agenda is building a freeway interchange where the dead overpass is currently (and dead raiload tracks). I really wish I were able to come, to support the project and oppose NIMBYs, but alas...

Voters say NO WAY to tax hikes

At The Rhetorician:

Yes, we California voters are to blame for where the state’s finances find themselves. But it’s not that simple. It’s easy to vote for fiscal conservatives and low spending, but even when we do that, we always get out-organized and out-voted by California’s public employee unions, including the teachers union. They are the ones who run things in Sacramento. The Legislature and the governor largely work for them and their interests.

The only way to save California now is to ban state employee unions period. The. Only. Way. Any half-measures are only going to hurt later.

"Normal" unions strike an adversarial relationships with businesses purportedly to balance interests of workers with interests of the company. But this just does not work when the unions have the official state power at their disposal. Very quickly they start using that power to squeeze citizens who are not state employees. And when they squeeze too much, the whole state goes bankrupt. That's the difference between carpenter unions and "teachers unions": when carpenting company goes bankrupt under the weight of its union, it's not a big problem. When the state goes bankrupt, well...

Tracy in the national news

Tracy made the national news when the charges were filed in the murder of Sandra Cantu. Fox News reports:

A female Sunday school teacher kidnapped, raped and murdered an 8-year-old girl who was the close friend of her 5-year-old daughter, then stuffed her body in a suitcase and dumped it into a pond, prosecutors contended Tuesday.

Sandra disappeared March 27, and was last seen on a surveillance camera skipping outside the Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park in Tracy where she lived just five doors down from Huckaby.

My faith in the criminal justice system have grown quite a bit after the trial of Hans Reiser, whom I knew professionally. His guilty verdict was rendered only just, and many people (including his friends who I knew personally) maintained that he was innocent -- right until the time when he led police to the body of his victim, buried on the outskirts of Oakland.

The trailer park in question is located behind the Kragen near the freeway. Quite close to my house actually.