Feature Archives

11/23/04: The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors last year wisely voted to ban elephant rides from the annual Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival, for reasons of animal welfare and public safety. California State Fair officials, though, are currently negotiating to have elephant rides at the 2005 State Fair. When not giving rides, these Asian elephants (an endangered species) are kept in chains. The travel from Southern California is highly stressful on the animals, and potentially dangerous. Elephant rides serve only to reinforce the idea that animals are here merely for our entertainment, and the animals' welfare is secondary. There's also a public health risk: elephants can carry and transmit tuberculosis to humans and if they manage to escape, can be a serious risk to people. Read this report, to find out what you can do to stop this.

11/22/04: Pictures taken at the Poverello House’s “Village of Hope” show the improved living conditions for Fresno’s homeless. Besides these newly installed tool sheds, Fresno’s homeless have few options about where they can sleep at night. The City of Fresno has criminalized poverty and homelessness making it a crime to sleep on the street. Every morning at 8 AM everyone in the Village of Hope has to leave and they can’t return to their “home” until 5 or 6 PM at night. For earlier Indymedia coverage of the homeless in Fresno go here and here

11/14/04: Modesto and Fresno activists joined others around the world in protesting the invasion of Fallujah. Peace Fresno made their voices and feelings known on Fresno street corners, holding signs and being vocal. Peace Fresno will continue to be at Shaw and Blackstone from 4:30 - 6:30 PM every Friday, at least until mid January. For more information about future Peace Fresno actions, visit the Peace Fresno website. In Modesto activists held candles and held signs in the downtown area, and did a quiet procession down a busy Modesto street.

11/04/04: Activists in Sacramento gathered express their anger, rage and sadness about the “election,” as a group of around 100 activists demonstrated in front of the federal building in Sacramento on Wednesday November 2, as part of the nationwide “Beyond War” actions. The call to action issued the week before, said, “If we want to live in a real democracy voting at the ballot box is not enough. Vote with our hands, feet and imaginations every day of every year! “ A group also called for an anti-Bush Critical Mass bike ride.

11/05/04: Fresno County voters cast their ballots for Bush by a wide margin. Voting more like they were in Kansas City than San Francisco, Fresno County voters supported Bush over Kerry by a margin of 58% - 41%. But, there were some positive developments too. This is the first year that the Fresno County Green Party has run candidates in Fresno. Larry Mullen, who ran in the 19th District for the House of Representatives, received 13,362 votes or 7% of the vote. John Crockford, running in the 29th Assembly District received 4,401 votes for 3% of the vote. But, as Crockford pointed out, there are only 1,129 Greens registered in that district. He received almost 4 times the number of votes than there are registered Greens. For an analysis about the races and ballot measures in Fresno, go here

10/28/04: The Sacramento City Council refuses to rescind the "Son of Patriot Act" parade ordinance, in spite of overwhelming opposition from community members. The council, without any proper notice and public input, adopted the ordinance limiting free speech prior to the USDA Agricultural Ministerial held in Sacramento in June 2003. The law was put in place according to city leaders, to stop possible "violence" from protestors, (although police violence went unnoticed). Instead, the Council in a unanimous vote on September 14 advised the city staff to return within 45 days with a revised ordinance that took into account some of the criticism leveled at it. Report here.

10/27/04: The FCC stopped Pappas Telecasting from giving away $325,000 of free advertising to Republican Party candidates. The FCC, prompted by public complaints and Democratic Party lawyers ruled that the attempted giveaway was unfair and ordered Pappas to halt the practice. The FCC ruling was a windfall to several Democratic Party candidates in the area. Fresno County Green Party candidate for the 29th Assembly District, John Crockford, also showed up at the Pappas office asking for free time. Read the story here to find out what they told him.