Tracy's birthday boy

Er, birthday man.

Esteemed publisher emeritus Sam Matthews turned 76 years young today, and he's still going strong.

Sam's weekly column, Tracing Tracy Territory, is one of the mainstays of the Press' local coverage, and editing it is one of the highlights of my week on the copy desk.

He's a virtual encyclopedia of Tracy history — I'd wager no one in town knows more about the place than he does — and along with Google, he's the best resource we have as an editing team.

Here's wishing Sam many more happy returns.

More signs of the times

With each day it seems there's another story detailing the impact of a housing market run amok. Today's focuses on Stockton, the county seat.

Evidently, the city's debt rating has been lowered, which means

Moodys, the financial house known for its professional ratings and money management, said “The downgrades reflect the city’s deteriorated financial position, which is not expected to improve in the near term."

Just another example of how relying on boom-and-bust businesses, like Stockton did with the housing market, is a sure bet for trouble.

A cool place for a takeoff

Today's column about the Tracy Municipal Airport just wasn't big enough to include some of the other cool things happening south of the city:

• Get Real Behind the Wheel founder Ken Ucci and the Altamont Motorspots Park are talking with the city to use some of the taxi lanes for a teen driving and racing course.

• It was also the site of this year's hazardous waste collection day, when folks turn in their busted electronics for proper disposal.

• American Legion Park, named in honor of the group who founded the airport in 1929, is a peaceful (though slightly windswept) place to watch takeoffs and landings.

• Corporate VIPs aren't the only precious cargo flying into Tracy. Just the other day, a waiting ambulance took a few freshly landed organs to a waiting recipient. I'm sure he or she was thankful for TMA that day.

Oohs and aahs

On the roof of the Tracy Press building to watch Friday's fireworks display, you could hear the crowd at Peter B. Kyne Field exlcaiming its approval.

A fitting aerial display for the Fourth, even if I did have to watch it on a work night.

Flag-waving Friday random thoughts

• Today, red and blue are not gang colors: But don't think that's going prevent some from thinking otherwise.

• Saluting the flag alone does not make you a patriot: It's important to honor the symbol of this wonderful nation, but there are more important things to being a good citizen than simply acknolwedging our shared piece of cloth.

• Do you know the five rights enumerated to you by the First Amendment? If so, you're one of the less than 1 percent of the U.S. population that can. (Speech, press, religion, petition, assembly.)

• 49% of people believe the president can suspend the Constitution? This article is not encouraging news for patriots.

• With or without work, with or without fireworks, this is one of my favorite holidays: Pops Goes the Fourth makes my list of top Fourth of July traditions. That music is magic.

• And finally, a humble thank you: To the many men and women past, present and future who have given or will give their blood, sweat and tears to protect this country, its citizens and its Constitution. These heroes come in all shapes, sizes and colors, and I owe them all a profound debt.

Sweet success

So this is what success smells like — the scent of settling effluent near the old Holly Sugar factory.

Despite odiferous opposition, Tracy finally has a suitable sports park location on 150 acres north of town next to the old plant and current sewage treatment facility. Yes, there's a pungent odor if you get too close to the treatment plant, just ask the folks who drive into the Tracy Animal Shelter each day.

But the council decision to build sports parks near Holly is a good one, a sign of progress after years of stalled and misguided efforts. There's plenty of land out there to expand, the city won't have to pay for the land to begin with, there are no developer strings attached and the offending odor actually wafts away from the future fields' location because of the prevailing Delta breeze.

OK, so the site isn't perfect. And the planning process that got us here has been mismashed at best. But there's a positive development in the city's sports park saga.

Three cheers for sweet success.

Death and Destruction

Five people shot. Out in front of a home. Gangs possibly involved. Right here in Tracy.

I'm waiting for the knee-jerk reactions, including gun control, increased police patrols, a renewed push for a bigger jail and "zero tolerance" laws.

I've said before that local law enforcement needs more tools to combat crime, and the county does need an expanded jail to deal with the criminals who are caught.

However, punishment alone will not prevent incidents like last night's. In fact, nothing will guarantee 100 percent safety (a reason why we shouldn't sacrifice our souls in the name of fighting terrorists, but that's another tangent).

If you're looking for a solution, look to youth groups, strong schools and involved families.

Unfortunately, there's no way to legislate these kind of things in a free society. There are, though, plenty of ways to support them, including paid maternity and paternity leave, mandatory vacation time, guaranteed sick leave, and more available affordable day care.

Yes, that will all cost more money, most likely in the form of taxes. But given incidents like last night's and the multifaceted costs of pervasive law enforcement, might it not be worth it?