Our View: Thumbs up, thumbs down
We take a look at some of the good, and bad, people have done recently
Thumbs down to the apathy demonstrated by voters last Tuesday. Local election officials used words like "very, very discouraging" and "abysmal" to describe the local turnout: 29 percent in Sutter County and an astoundingly low 19.6 percent in Yuba County. In fact, Yuba County ranked in the "top five" in the state for voter apathy, joining Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. (The statewide average was 22.4 percent). So what happened?
Yuba County Clerk Terry Hansen attributed the low turnout to "voter fatigue and disillusionment." It didn't help that this was the first year since 1940 that California's presidential and state primaries were held on different dates. In sharp contrast to last week's Election Day, February's presidential primary attracted 58 percent of registered voters, the highest for a primary since 1980. Still, we hoped for more from local voters, especially in Yuba County where three supervisors races and a state assembly district contest dominated the ballot.
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Thumbs down to Hillary Clinton. Yes, she made history as a woman breaking barriers in a high-profile race for president, but she took too long to step aside and acknowledge the significance of Barack Obama's achievement as he became the first African American to clinch the presidential nomination of a major political party in the history of the United States. In fact, as the Orange County Register recognized, he is the first person of color to gain that distinction in any Western industrialized country. Tuesday night she could have begun the process of uniting the Democratic Party. Instead, she only congratulated Obama only on running a fine campaign, then let her supporters push her for the vice presidential nomination.
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Thumbs up to the success earned by the Yuba City Chiatku Lacrosse Club. For the second straight year, the team, which finished the season with a 13-5 record, earned a bronze medal after competing in the Northern California Lacrosse Association. The program is only in its second year and most of the players were in their first year, so making the playoffs the first two years of existence and winning the bronze twice is a big deal.
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Thumbs up to the evolution of the annual Hershey Track and Field Meet from its humble start 26 years ago in Marysville. What began as a recreational community event has become Yuba-Sutter's premier track meet for children between the ages of 7 and 14. Last weekend, some 200 athletes from around the state competed at Yuba City's Geweke Field. The Hershey meet receives no corporate or public funding, relying on private donations to make the event happen. More than $3,000 was raised to stage this year's meet. Congratulation to the athletes, the event organizers and those who donated funding.
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Thumbs down to the cancellation of this year's Independence Day Regatta powerboat races — one more victim of the soaring cost of gasoline. The price of race gas — currently about $10 a gallon — and liability insurance costs led to the decision last week by the Northern California Outboard Association. Outboard boat races at Ellis Lake in Marysville have been part of the city's fourth of July celebration every year since 1994.
Regional outboard races in Bakersfield, Lake Minden and Oroville saw few entries earlier this season, and NCOA organizers anticipated the same in Marysville. Boat-racing won't be the only ones disappointed by the absence of races; local businesses such as motels and restaurants will experience a loss in revenue Hey, at least the cardboard boat races are still scheduled to be held as part of this year's festivities in Marysville.
