I’m not sure if Sandra Brown knows how to write a novel without at least one steamy sex scene. She is the counterpoint to John Grisham who probably couldn’t write a sex scene if his life depended upon it. But the thing that gets me about Sandra Brown is that she writes great novels, wonderful plots, believable characters. I’ve read many of her books, and find the blow-by-blow scenes of carnal intimacy to be irrelevant. After I finished a few of her novels, I learned to spot t

Daderot, Wikimedia Commons Baking some homemade dinner rolls will make your kitchen smell cozy and comforting. Even though I love dinner rolls, I only have them during big holiday dinners. The thing is, that type of dinner is also the time for lots of other special foods, and a plate can only hold just so much. Sometimes the rolls don’t find a place on my dinner plate. But they sure come in handy much later, when a midnight snack attack puts leftovers to good use. Perhaps a m

For The Madera Tribune Richard Nixon campaigns on Yosemite Avenue in Madera. In 1950, national politics caught the eye of most Maderans, especially the race between Congressman Richard Nixon and Congresswoman Helen Gahagan Douglas for the U.S. Senate seat left vacant by Sheridan Downey. While the record shows that Douglas campaigned in Madera once, Nixon upstaged her by doing it twice. On April 11, 1950, Nixon came to Madera to campaign from the back of a station wagon. He pa

For The Madera Tribune A job at Brammer’s shoe store wasn’t enough to dispel Jim Brammer’s despondency. He committed suicide after his father made him a partner. In 1917, Herman Brammer and his son, Will, decided to expand their shoe store and build that three story, brick building that still stands on the north side of Yosemite Avenue. At about the same time, they determined to bring Jim Brammer, Herman’s stepson, into the business by placing him in charge of the new clothin

Wendy Alexander/The Madera Tribune Madera Community Hospital CEO Dr. Sony Sidhu, holding scissors, is joined by staff, board members and dignitaries as she cuts the ribbon for the reopening of the Family Health Services Clinic during a ceremony on November 4. When American Advanced Management re-opened Madera Community Hospital earlier in the year, the next box to check was to re-open its clinics.  With the grand opening, consider that box checked as dignitaries throughout th

Wendy Alexander/The Madera Tribune Torres’ Trinity Anderson reaches up for a kill attempt during Tuesday’s three-set sweep over Fowler in the Div. IV Central Section semifinals. She led the Toros with 13 kills.  The Matilda Torres Toros girls volleyball team culminated a five-year building process to advance to the Central Section Div. VI Championship match after a three-set sweep Tuesday over the Fowler Redcats.  The Toros battled through the first two sets, 25-20, 25-23, be

Well, the elections didn’t go the way I had hoped, but they did go the way I thought. Proposition 50 was a given, or a Gavin. California voters are predictable. East Coast, however, is a misunderstanding. They think the “Robin Hood” theory is a form of government. Socialism and Communism is a smoke screen. Kinda like hemp. It makes you feel good for a short time.

For The Madera Tribune Members of the Madera Elks Lodge 1918, from left, “Bear” Hernandez, Doug Row, “Elroy” (Kathy Row) and Scott Boghosian pose with Mrs. Thomson’s third grade class at John Adams Elementary School. The Madera Elks Lodge No. 1918 is serving the community by promoting its annual Dictionary Project.  The club raised funds to purchase dictionaries for third grade students for 27 schools in Madera and Chowchilla.  This year, the Lodge also used grant funds from