Small talk with Amanda Renteria and Citizen of the Year laughs highlight the week

Renteria is rapidly becoming a known presence in Valley politics after a career in politics and high finance, having worked in the Halls of Congress with such heavyweight legislators as Diane Feinstein and Debbie Stabenow where she was the first Latina chief of staff in Senate history.

The Woodlake High School and Stanford graduate, as well as mother of two, cemented her solid credentials recently by raising during the first quarter of finance reporting, $335,000 in her race to unseat first-term Republican Congressman David Valadao.

Renteria sat down with The Leader over coffee and conversation at Lemoore’s best known watering hole - Starbucks, and expounded on what the issues she thinks will resonate with voters in the District as well as the state. It was a friendly hour-long conversation that centered on a few of her ideas and a couple of mine. She was very impressed with Lemoore’s growth and how it has evolved since she was a member of a Woodlake basketball team that played Lemoore High School. She played on a team that beat the Tigers in a tournament and always remembered Lemoore as being a “big time” program.

I also expounded on a few of my ideas, such as an amendment to the Constitution banning gerrymandering, that loathsome process that divides Congressional districts into unrecognizable patterns, resembling something akin to a corrupted Rorschach inkblot.

If Renteria was smart, and I have no doubt that she is, and despite the fact that she didn’t attend Cal Poly, but rather Stanford, she will completely disregard anything I have to say and politely nod her head and check her watch – incidentally, none of which she did.

The fact of the matter is Renteria is pleasant and a very good conversationalist. I think she asked me more questions than I asked her.

Lemoore Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year

It was a gay old time at the Lemoore West Hills College Golden Eagle Arena Friday night in Lemoore. Not only did the Chamber honor a new Citizen of the Year, Business and Organization of the Year, but over 300 persons in attendance got a few good laughs in as well.

Kings County Supervisors Doug Verboon and Joe Neves, both hefty men in their own right, joked that between the two of them, the small stage they shared might not be able to support them both.

Stoney’s owner and fellow honoree for Business of the Year, had fun with Mayor Billy Siegel when he announced that he had a comment to make to the mayor, but couldn’t “Recall” what it was, drawing laughs from the crowd.

The Lemoore Volunteer Fire Department, which over the years has demonstrated that it just may be one of the best volunteer units in the country, and certainly better than many “paid” departments, had a few people on edge as they entered the Arena. The firemen brought a pair of their engine trucks to the event and parked them out in front of the West Hills College Lemoore Arena. Upon first sight, one may have wondered if there was trouble in the arena, but not need for worry, the firemen were just showing off some of their hardware.

Apparently the only drawback to the night was that none of the firemen bought any “Tecate” beer, a bunch of it leftover from the prize fight held last month in the arena. Seems the fire department prefers Coors Light. Rumor has it the Coors Light sold very well.

Congratulations to new Citizen of the Year Don Warkentin, who truly deserved the honor. I was a recipient in 2001 of the Chamber’s Citizen Award and hold firm to the belief that perhaps that someone may have made a mistake in the final balloting and punched the wrong card.

Oh well, I’m not giving it back.