A Brand New Day for McFarland

The recall results are in and Melendez, Cantu, and Santillano will finally be removed from office. This is a great new day for McFarland. Thanks to all of the people in the community that got involved in this effort. We look forward to working with all of you to make some positive changes in the community.

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News Broadcast for August 3rd

Here are some clips of the stories that aired on our local news stations regarding the recall. Everything that comes out of Melendez's mouth is all a bunch of lies of course. He claims that all his trips were for city business and it didn't cost the city anything to have his wife travel with him. Well we have the documents to prove him wrong. I'm still amazed at how he continues to lie. Well tomorrow we'll find out if the people of McFarland believe him or not.

News - English (~9MB):
http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/News_English.wmv

News - Spanish (~9MB):
http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/News_Spanish.wmv

How to Get Rid of Your Recycling Bill?

Here is an interesting story shared with me by one of our McFarland residents:

"The very same day I received the blue recycling can early this year I called Sunset and asked them to pick up their can because I did not ask for their services nor did I want their can on my property. They stated to me after picking up the can that they would not bill the city for my address and in turn the city should not have reason to bill me. Eventually, the city sent me a bill not only for 3 months but 6 months. I then called Sunset back and their accounting department told me they did not bill the city for my address so I took that person's name with her permission. In fact, she encouraged me to tell city hall if they needed any confirmation they could contact her. I then went to the city and asked them to research this billing process an demanded answers as to why the city billed me. The clerk that I spoke with at the city insisted that she confirmed my situation with Sunset and in haste the clerk at city hall confirmed that the accounting manager at Sunset did speak with me and eventually the end result was that city hall reluctantly cleared my bill. After clearing my bill the clerk did inform me that the recycling bill will be added to my water bill as of July 1st and I will be forced to pay it now and also that Sunset will be delivering another blue can to my residence and once again I will have to ask them to come and pick it up further refusing their services. I wonder what their motives were in wrongfully billing me. I even wonder how many other residents were charged wrongfully. I hope this is helpful to anyone else.

Jesus G Ramos"

Last Minute Recall Flyers

On Saturday, Melendez and Cantu distributed a flyer to a select few parts of the community, me and several of my neighbors did not get ours, but we were able to obtain a copy of it. Once again they have produced a document that is full of lies and false promises. Their reasoning for why they chose to award the contract to Sunset Waste makes absolutely no sense and it would only make sense to people that are math illiterate. How sad that Cantu is a teacher and he couldn't figure out this one on his own.

I laughed when I read their comment where they give themselves credit for the increased home development in our city. Nearly every city in the county has experienced growth and these people can't take credit for any of the growth in our city. In fact, they have discouraged developers from wanting to develop in our city due to the restrictions that they try to impose on them for low cost housing. The housing in our city is already very affordable compared to other communities.
http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/9thStreetFlyer.pdf

On Sunday morning, we were able to distribute a rebuttal to their flyer. The response to this morning's flyer has been great. We have received several phone calls from people in the community that have requested copies of documents and evidence that we have gathered against these guys. Within hours we have provided copies to them and many of them have been amazed that the mayor continues to state that we are making false accusations. The evidence does not lie.
http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/081306_RebuttalFlyer.pdf

Vandalism on Cantu's Recall Signs

I drove around town this morning to find that all of the signs that were put up by Melendez, Cantu, and Santillano were vandalised. I just wanted to say that although I and several other people leading the recall effort do not agree with what was written on these signs, we in no way had any part in this act. We do not condone this kind of behavior and we regret that some people chose to do this.

Cantu's Recall Sign

Here is a picture of one of the signs that have been put up by the group of misinformed individuals that support Melendez. The best argument that they can come up with is that they feel R&F is charging us too much for our garbage service, so that is why we should be paying $4.50/month for our recyclable garbage vs the $2.25/month that R&F offered. They probably don't realize that the recyclable material has resale value and standard garbage does not. I also guess they didn't get to read a copy of the Grand Jury letter who found that our contract with Sunset Waste was "detrimental" to the citizens of Mcfarland.

What's with the mexican flag? Last time I checked, the City of McFarland fell well within the borders of the United States. But maybe what they are trying to suggest is that the administration of Melendez, Cantu, and Santillano is just as corrupt as any of the political organizations in Mexico and they are willing to accept bribes.

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