City’s Budget, a Tough Decision for Council

By Jessica Caswell

The Fairfield City Council voted Tuesday night to close the curtains on its support for the theater, despite supporters’ pleas. The city is trying to close a $6 million budget gap.

The vote was 4-1 in favor of the proposed budget cuts, with the biggest hit being taken by the Cultural Arts Awards Programs (CAAP) grant.

Many arts supporters attended the meeting to plead with city council to keep the program going.

“One thing I do know is theaters bring in money. Even if they go through McDonald’s, money is being spent,” Pam Spearing, who came to plead the theater’s case said. “We’ve got to work together.”

The CAAP grant contributes to the city’s art programs, which includes funding for the Fairfield Civic Theatre. The city will be saving $116,000 by eliminating the grant.

Sean Quinn, city manager for Fairfield, presented to the council and the public the budget proposal to keep the city from going bankrupt.

“This is uncharted territory,” Quinn said. “If the economy continues to stall we’ll have to cut more than now.”

Quinn said without the cuts he is proposing, Fairfield will be in a deficit within a year.

An 8.38 percent surcharge is included in the budget proposal. It includes technology and indirect cost surcharges for people using the city’s Web site to pay fees, according to a report released on the city’s Web site.

This surcharge is expected to raise $400,000 for the city’s general fund. Without this money, the city will be forced to cut more jobs and services, according to the report.

Councilwoman Catherine Moy was the only member to vote against the proposed budget because of the surcharge.

“I think it’s the nastiest times to raise taxes,” Moy said. “I see this hurting people. What about the seniors? What about the children who need daycare?”

Vice Mayor John Mraz called on his fellow council members to forgo their salaries to help with the budget crisis.

“If I took this job to make money, you don’t need me in this job,” Mraz said.

Quinn is giving up his annual cost of living raise and his company cell phone.

“Save everyone’s job – it’s a matter of sacrifice,” Quinn said.

One police captain will be demoted and another vacant position will be eliminated.

The captain will return to his previous position as a lieutenant.

Five police department vacancies will not be filled, along with one dispatch position.

Two fire inspectors will be laid off and a vacant fire captain position will be left unfilled at the Fairfield Fire Department.

Altogether, the budget cuts will eliminate 35 city jobs. According to the city report, 53 percent of those jobs are currently filled. Seven of those currently employed have the option to move to another position in their department.

“We need to listen to the people in Fairfield,” Councilman Richard Vaccaro said. “We’re stretching the rubber band and it’s definitely going to break."

A Lesson Learned From a Stressful Thanksgiving

By Jessica Caswell

Thanksgiving and the holidays is not my cup of tea. Now before you call me a scrooge, please keep reading. It’s not because I don’t like the holidays, but because there’s not much for me to usually do on those designated family days.

That old saying, be careful what you wish for, rang true to my Thanksgiving holiday this year.

I have grown accustomed to not having a big holiday celebration. Every year, I’m alone because my family lives in Arizona. I'm usually kind of bummed I don't get to be with them. 

I have lived with my boyfriend Zack for the past 3 years and we haven’t had many holiday celebrations. He works as a conductor for Amtrak Railroad and he typically works on the holidays.

But, this year Zack had Thanksgiving off. I was happy when I heard the news. I thought, “Finally a year where we can be together and not worry about work.”

Little did I know that Zack had something else planned for Thanksgiving. His plans and my plans were on opposite ends of the holiday spectrum that’s for sure.

He decided that since he had the holiday off, it would be a good year to host our very first Thanksgiving. This is not exactly what I had in mind for my day off.

At first I tried to fight it. I was simply mad that he had invited everyone to our house without talking to me about it first. What did he expect me to do, be Superwoman? Last time I checked, I was a very busy college student with papers consuming my every wakened second.

What I really wanted to do was go to another family member’s house to eat. If we couldn’t do that, then a turkey dinner at Marie Callendar’s was just around the corner. I would’ve perfectly content with that.

But before I knew it, cooking the turkey and buying enough Tupperware was suddenly on the list of things to do, along with the 10 page paper due next week.

So what’s a girl to do when faced with this problem? I could scream and bitch about it, or I could just go with the flow. Well, I decided to scream and bitch about it for a few days. Hey, at least I’m being honest. It didn’t last for very long because it wasn't worth the stress. 

After all of the complaining was out of the way, I decided to get my rear in gear. If I was going to have a Thanksgiving at my house, I might as well go out Martha Stewart style.

When I woke up on Thanksgiving morning, I cleaned my little butt off. I made sure the kitchen was spick and span and then moved onto the rest of the house.

The best part about it was that I didn’t have to worry too much about cooking the turkey. I had assumed that I would be the one cooking it, but Zack was great. He cleaned and cooked the turkey without any assistance. 

The guests began to arrive around 2 p.m. It was nice to welcome people into my home.

It wasn’t as bad as I had originally thought. I thought I was going to have to entertain people like a court jester juggling for a king, but people came in and just did their own thing.

Some people watched the television, others sat outside in the sunny weather drinking a little bit and the ladies were in the kitchen.

It kind of just came together. It’s amazing what a fridge full of beer and some wine can do to help a party.

The dinner was great. We had all the trimmings that a Thanksgiving is suppose to have, from the stuffing to the sweet potatoes.

But most importantly I learned a good lesson; nothing is as bad as it seems at first. If I would’ve taken a second before Thanksgiving to stop griping so much, I could’ve enjoyed more days prior to the holiday, rather than just the holiday itself.

Maybe next year I’ll offer to host again. Well…we’ll see.

Television Equals Unhappiness or You’re Just Lazy

By Jessica Caswell

If watching a lot of television makes you an unhappy person, then writing this column should make me and a lot of other television column writers from around the world pretty damn miserable.

A study released by two sociologists at the University of Maryland is saying that people who are unhappy watch more television. On the other hand, people who describe themselves as “very happy” spend more time reading and socializing.

“TV doesn't really seem to satisfy people over the long haul the way that social involvement or reading a newspaper does,” said University of Maryland sociologist John P. Robinson. “It's more passive and may provide escape - especially when the news is as depressing as the economy itself. The data suggest to us that the TV habit may offer short-run pleasure at the expense of long-term malaise.”

The study also says that with the economy going down the drain, television watching is only going to go up.

With people having so much time on their hands these days, the only logical thing to do is to turn on the tube.

People can’t get jobs, which then turns into being bored with no money, and then that turns into a lot of hours of being a couch potato with the remote as your ally.

But is it really pure laziness or is it an addiction?

“Addictive activities produce momentary pleasure and long-term misery and regret,” said University of Maryland sociologist Steven Martin. “People most vulnerable to addiction tend to be socially or personally disadvantaged. For this kind of person, TV can become a kind of opiate in a way. It's habitual, and tuning in can be an easy way of tuning out.”

Television being compared to a drug may seem like a bit much, but television can be a much needed fix at the end of a long day’s work for some people.

Maybe it’s because television can be your best friend without asking for anything in return.

The study suggests that television viewing is “easy.” Through television, we can do or be whatever we want.

“Viewers don’t have to go anywhere, dress up, find company, plan ahead, expend energy, do any work or spend money in order to view. Combine these advantages with the immediate gratification offered by television, and you can understand why Americans spend more than half their free time as TV viewers,” says the study.

It’s obvious that watching the television is easy. Maybe that’s why people relate television watching to people being lazy. Easy equals lazy for some, but for others the television is an escape.

“TV is not judgmental nor difficult, so people with few social skills or resources for other activities can engage in it,” says the study. 

This quick fix for the socially challenged will not help in the long run, the research also suggests. Most likely, it’ll lead to overall unhappiness for most people.

So what is the solution for the unhappy socially challenged people who like to watch too much television?

Well, the best suggestion is to get up off your butt and engage in some other kinds of activities besides watching the television all day.

It’s easier said then done is probably ringing in your heads, but the best way to find out is to try.

 The best part about tying a new activity is that at the end of the day if all else fails; you can always go back to watching your television alongside me and all of the other miserable television column writers around the world.

Former "American Idol" Contestant Commits Suicide

By Jessica Caswell 

“American Idol” is just around the corner and people are already anticipating that Simon Cowell will again be rude and demeaning to the contestants trying for their big showbiz break.

The season is scheduled to kick off in mid-January, but it’s already a little different from other seasons.

Different because people are now questioning how far is too far when it comes to Cowell criticizing the contestants.

All of this came from a former tryout contestant, Paula Goodspeed committing suicide near the home of Paula Abdul in Los Angeles.

Abdul is a judge for the hit show, alongside Cowell and Randy Jackson.

Goodspeed was obsessed with Abdul and while on the reality television show, she revealed many life-size pictures that she had drawn of the former 1980s pop singer and Lakers girl.

“It appears to be a suicide by overdose,” Detective Robert Bub of the Los Angeles Police Department said in a statement. 

Police found Goodspeed’s body in her car along with prescription drugs. Pictures and CDs of Abdul were also found in the car.

So is this the case of an obsessed fan or someone who was so hurt by the judges’ rejection and Cowell’s ridicule that she would take her own life?

Well let’s just say that she may be a little different, but Cowell should feel terrible for the way he treated her when she went in for her audition.

Goodspeed stood before the judges with a smile on her face and Cowell told her that he noticed a resemblance between her and Abdul. Goodspeed replied, “I take it as a compliment because you’re beautiful.”

“I meant as a compliment,” Cowell said.

She then performed Tina Turner’s hit “Proud Mary.”  The judges weren’t so nice after they heard her rendition of the song that wasn’t exactly up par.

“Well Paula, I’m speechless. I don’t know what to say,” Abdul said.

She continued to say that it wasn’t a good thing that she was speechless and Cowell kept the critique going by making fun of Goodspeed’s appearance.

“I don’t know any artist on earth that could sing with that much metal in your mouth anyway,” Cowell said. “You have so much metal in your mouth.”

He then made a comment that Goodspeed’s braces were like a bridge and used his hands to point out the size.

Some psychologists are saying that the way Cowell treated Goodspeed was wrong and that “American Idol” should’ve never aired the insults towards her.

“For someone that may have an unstable personality or not a clear, solid sense of themselves or self-esteem, that can really destroy them,” said therapist Julie Albright, a lecturer at the University of Southern California to Yahoo! News.

Goodspeed had a Myspace and after the show she blogged about her experience.

“I have to believe there is something good about me,” Goodspeed wrote.

There were probably many good things about Goodspeed. If you watch the clip of her on the show, she was an amazing artist. Hopefully, Cowell along with the other judges will take into account how they make people feel when they criticize them.

“I am deeply shocked and saddened at what transpired yesterday,” Abdul said in a statement. “My heart and prayers go out to her family.”

Good Eats in Natomas

By Jessica Caswell

If you’re ever in the Natomas area of Sacramento, Calif. please take the time to eat at Malabar. It has tasty food, good service and a nice atmosphere—so long as you can figure out the parking.

When you pull in, you drive up to back side of the restaurant and if you don’t pay enough attention, you’ll end up parking in the back and thinking it's the front.

Once I figured out I was on the back side of Malabar, I pulled around to the front and still thought that it looked like the back of a restaurant.

The exterior is very modest and the door is not an inviting glass door like you see at most restaurants. It’s a single wood door that opens to the right with no windows.

The building does have windows, you just can’t see into them from the outside.

But all of the outside confusion was made right when I walked inside the boring door into a cool vibed restaurant.

The mood of the restaurant makes you feel like you just stepped into a lounge in New York City where business men just got done with their 9 to 5 jobs.

As I walked in the hostess approached Eric and I and sat us immediately.

We waited for the others to arrive and chatted a bit. The waitress Marianne was prompt on getting our drinks. I originally wanted a Diet Pepsi but, Marianne told me that Malabar only carries Coke products. I was disappointed, but moved on with a freshly brewed iced tea.

Group members arrived one by one and we all decided to order an appetizer.

The appetizer menu was pretty large. It had everything from Spicy Chicken Wings to Dungeness Crab Cakes. We all agreed on the Three Cheese Garlic Bread at the modest price of $3.95.

It was good for the price. I wasn't blown away. It tasted like cheesy garlic bread that you can throw in the oven yourself.

The service was great and Marianne was on point. As we ate the appetizer and waited for our entrees, our drinks were kept full and anything we asked for was accommodated to.

The entrees finally arrived and by then I was ready to get my grub on.

I ordered the Roasted Garlic Shrimp Ravioli. I took a bite and thought it was delicious. I actually wanted to stuff my face but, didn't want to finish my food in one minute when everyone else had only taken one bite. It was $17.50 and worth the price.

The sauce on the ravioli was a porcini cream and it brought out the taste of the shrimp inside the ravioli and also the artichoke that was served with the pasta.

The menu was very diverse, which I liked. It had everything from pizza to steak sandwiches.

After I finished my delicious entree, I was ready for dessert.

Marianne promptly brought us the dessert menu and my eyes were drawn to the Double Delicious Double Fudge Chocolate Brownie. It was $6.50 and in my chocolate loving eyes, worth ever penny.

The bill finally arrived and Marianne put all of our orders on one ticket but, we wanted to pay separately. When we told her she quickly fixed it and gave us each our own ticket.

All in all, I think Malabar may not have an inviting outside but, it makes up for that when you walk through the door.

The service was prompt and my drink was always full. That’s all I can ask for in a restaurant.

Media Coverage Biased?

McCain May Think So

By Jessica Caswell

We’ve seen the ads, the debates and the money being poured into this presidential election but, what do you think about how the candidates have been treated by the media?

Well, it seems that presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain hasn’t received fair and balanced coverage from the evening news.

According to the Center for Media and Public Affairs at George Mason University, Sen. Barack Obama has the lead in the fight to get good press from the news networks.

This isn’t much of a surprise now that election season is coming to end. These days it seems if you say you’re a Republican, you might as well get ready for a look of disbelief.

Maybe the media has something to do with it because the data from this study sure swings in favor of Obama.

The study is calling it, “Obamamania” and is saying since the Democrat and Republican conventions, the evening newscasts of NBC, CBS and ABC have had 65 percent more positive comments about Obama.

For McCain the positive comments aren’t coming as easily. The study shows that McCain has received a much less 36 percent in positive comments from the same networks.

The study came from 585 election news stories that aired from Aug. 23 to Sept. 30. It included: ABC World News Tonight, CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News, and the first half hour of FOX Special Report.

Gov. Sarah Palin’s numbers aren’t much better than her running mate’s numbers. Comments about her have been only 42 percent positive.

“For whatever reason, the media are portraying Barack Obama as a better choice for president than John McCain,” said Robert Lichter, a George Mason University professor and head of the center to the Associated Press. “If you watch the evening news, you'd think you should vote for Obama.”

But, surprise surprise, the study found a difference in the way that FOX covers the race for the White House.

Obama’s coverage from the biased news channel has been only 28 percent positive in contrast to McCain’s 38 percent positive coverage.

Palin got positive comments from FOX almost half of the time the study says.

So, where you get your news is definitely a big indicator of where you stand on partisan issues.

According to a study released by Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, 52 percent of people who got their news from FOX News Channel said they are Republican, 17 percent are Democrats and 30 percent identify themselves as Independents.

But, regardless of where you get your news, all the major network news stations will be setup to give minute by minute election coverage.

ABC will be broadcasting from Times Square, while NBC will be in Rockefeller Plaza covering the results.

FOX News Channel is scheduled to debut its new High Definition studio on election night and Katie Couric will be hosting election coverage for CBS in New York City.

So with all those studies, all the news coverage and all the hard work put into both of these campaigns the only good news and its 100 percent sure, is that we have only 78 more days of President Bush in office.

"Dancing with the Stars" Season of Drama

By Jessica Caswell

“Dancing with the Stars” is only half way through the season and it already has enough drama to fill seasons to come.

So far this season there has been six injuries.

• Model Brooke Burke and soap opera legend Susan Lucci both have foot injuries.

• Olympic gold medalist Misty May-Treanor dropped out of the competition because she ruptured her Achilles tendon. 

• Comedian Jeffrey Ross suffered a corneal abrasion when his partner Edyta Slwinka poked his eye out during a rehearsal for the live show.

• Professional dancer Derek Hough was rushed to hospital when he fell causing him to black out during a rehearsal.

• Last but not least, his sister Julianne Hough was also taken to the emergency room for stomach pains last week.

With so many injuries you would think this was an injury list for a professional football team and not a ballroom dancing competition.

There's  other drama for the show surrounding the 82-year-old fireball Cloris Leachman. 

People are surprised that Leachman has lasted this long because she’s not as skilled as the other celebrities.

''We thought it would be fun to have Cloris on and expected her to maybe make it through one or two weeks. But now it's gone from people being amused- similar to the way it was with Jerry Springer- to being downright concerned,'' said a staffer to the Chicago Sun Times.

She did the tango two weeks ago and that was the first time the judges thought they actually saw the elements of a ballroom dance from her.

Leachman is also unpredictable during the live show saying things like, “skanky hoe” and “bitch” for the entire world to hear.

People from the show are a tired of her kooky antics too according to the Chicago Sun Times.

A source who’s been working for the show since the beginning told the Chicago Sun Times that Lucci and host Samantha Harris are tired of her obnoxious shtick.

Last week, Harris snapped at Leachman for interrupting an interview she was trying to conduct with kids competing to win the junior competition of “Dancing with the Stars.”

“Stay away from the kids,” Harris told Leachman while on the air.

“After we were off the air, Samantha, Susan and a lot of others were saying they had had it with Cloris,” the source said.

With an anonymous source telling the Chicago Sun Times these rumors we’ll never truly know if the accusations from Harris and Lucci are true but, it’s no secret that the competition is about ballroom dancing and Leachman is not at level of the other celebrities.

She’s great at entertaining but, not at ballroom dancing. People shouldn’t really be surprised though, knowing that she’s 82-years-old.

Maybe America should give Leachman a break. We should applaud her for joining the competition and lasting this long. 

With the competition only half way through we’ll have to wait and see what other drama is in store. Surely, Leachman will have more in-your-face humor for us to see Monday night when the final seven celebrities compete in a group routine, as well as learning a new dance.

UPDATE: Julianne Hough will be going into surgery to treat endometriosis. She'll have her appendix removed tomorrow and hopes to back to dance next week. While gone, Edyta Silwinska will take her place with her partner, Cody Linley.