Fresno Famous

I'm not the one behind homeplate with

the double ziplock bags in my oversized cowboy boots. My socks and feet don't smell like JD. Besides the food stands don't have soda water.
Now considering the tagged down gangsters and other people of fine looking morals they hire to work there do we really know?
Maybe thats why the bathrooms smell like Grape Swisher Sweets and Cherry Blunts
See you at the game.
;-)

Are you sure that's garlic

Are you sure that's garlic in those garlic fries?

Here we go again Northe` Fresno wanting more tax dollars.

The Aquarium is another bad idea of the Northe` Fresno Bluff crowd. Siphon off public tax dollars to build an aquarium for the elitist River Pork Snobs.
We don't need it and don't need a new zoo.
The City could not take care of the old zoo as it was.
The "new" zoo as it has been set up with its elitist board of Gottrock's Northe` Bluff Housewives can't handle the zoo.
The whole Zoo tax was an elitist scam to create a board and jobs for people that don't need jobs or money. They shamelessly used a little girl and an elephant to mislead voters.
The "new" zoo has been a failure.
They know the public will not support an aquarium tax.
Also why is it the taxpayers job to pay for school kids to go to the ocean? Isn't that the parents responsibility? Maybe if mama would put down her pipe she'd have money to take trips to the ocean.
Taxpayers already pay enough for school buses but you can't get a school bus for field trips. The school has to take money out of its regular budget for bus costs. Also if your leaving the district you have to rent private buses to take kids to the ocean.
FUSD buses will not leave the district.
Most local FUSD field trips use the City bus to get to the museums, park and fair. The kids ride for free shifting the cost from FUSD to the taxpayers. You don't see alot of FUSD buses used on field trips.
The money and buses are there but not used for the kids.

Zoo move next to Aquarium

back when around the time of Measure E there are a report and even a planed map of a new Zoo to be build near the Aquarium.
It was talked about on here by Jarah and others, but the search still sucks so bad I can't find the post, that even had a link to the FresnoBee's image of the planed map of the New Zoo.

"80% of our Valley children have never visited the ocean"
I bet you would save more money by just taking local Children on a annual Bus trip to the Ocean than building a maintaining a Aquarium. Then your 80% statistic will be down.

1 year and almost 4 months

the last time craig scharton commented on this thread was about a year and a third ago. so, although, the comment by mr. lang is verrrrrrrry late to the conversation, it is quite helpful in understanding the aquarium and how it does relate to our local scene.

it's too bad it took so long to appear in this thread. it would have been very helpful for the discussion.

re: I don't get it

As I work in Fresno with the delta smelt, the species that has caused all the ruckus about people vs. fish right here in Fresno with Judge Wanger's Endangered Species Act rulings, I thought back to this post by Craig Scharton which I read last year but vowed not to reply to because of its obvious ignorance. People who have really followed our progress understand that Aquarius Aquarium Institute is, and will continue to be, so much more than Craig seems to think.

But then, the little 3 inch smelt swimming around happily in our holding tank, made me realize how important it is for me to correct the misconceptions some folks like Craig continue to have. I accept some of the blame for this, because I should realize that not everyone realizes the impact Aquariums can have on their communities and that some of the most successful Aquariums in the world are, of course, nowhere near the ocean (Chicago, Chattanooga, Paris, Jenks Oklahoma and the largest in the world in Atlanta). Are Beluga Whales in the Windy City inauthentic? Perhaps as inauthentic as penguins and coral reefs in Monterey - but not irrelevant.

A survey taken a couple of years ago revealed that upwards of 80% of our Valley children have never visited the ocean, let alone an Aquarium. Sure the Monterey Bay Aquarium offers educational tours to schoolchildren, but these are allocated by lottery and less than 1% of our county schools had a class lucky enough to be chosen last year. Valley teachers and children may pay to stand in line to visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium whenever they like, but unless they have an exceptional teacher, these students are not afforded the same experience as those who are led by an Aquarium education staff member. Julie Packard, executive director, whom I have spoken with, agrees that their institution simply cannot provide for the needs of all the Valley students.

Aquarius Aquarium Institute in Fresno is, and will continue to be, authentic. While we have had freshwater Riparian Habitats in our plans (and on our website) since we began this endeavor, our region is inextricably linked to the oceans via the San Joaquin River, California's second longest river. The story of this river and the history of this watershed is the primary legacy of our region. Lest we repeat the actions of the past, educating our youth and general population about how aquatic ecosystems work, or worked in the past, is vital. Understanding how the river in our own backyard connects us to nature and the greater world beyond our Garden City under the Sierra Nevada enriches our population and encourages thinking beyond the persistently provincial.

Yes, Craig, Fresno is all about Agriculture and Water. Nobody knew that better than the fig farmers who donated the 10 acres for the Aquarium. But not simply the water we drink or with which we shower or irrigate our fields, but also the water that is the lifeblood of all the species that have depended or still depend upon this massive, interconnected ecosystem for their survival. Our region's natural history began long before immigrants, air basins, runoff and produce dominated our society. The Native Americans who lived here not all that long ago understood this and their connection to fish and the streams, rivers, lakes (yes, Tulare Lake) full of species that no longer exist in our Valley is as tightly woven as their fish baskets. This is one of the most important stories Fresno's future Aquarium along the banks of the San Joaquin River will tell.

Looking closely at the delta smelt (you know, they really do smell like cucumbers), I hope they realize that some people out there understand how discovering who we are is directly tied to discovering the natural world around us.

Tom Lang
www.AquariusAquarium.org

p.s. For those who are concerned about the amount of water an Aquarium uses, you need to know that Fresno's will utilize a state-of-the-art closed filtration system which reuses the same water over and over again. The Aquarium will use far less water than a housing development on the same 10 acres and none will be taken from, or discharged into, the San Joaquin River.

"California Dreamin"

-Do you think such things even as this site could have happened anywhere else???
I mean, I know Jarah was in NY for a while, -but the woman is obviously from here, --and has taken some close qeues from you.
I've mentioned Dani, and there are many many others.

People from Fresno don't get it, and they cannot see it, because they are from here, (they're too close to it.)
A friend of mine tells me that one of the reasons why he likes what I write, is because it takes a foreigner to show you your own land.
(Fine, so call me Borat.)
...and I'll be honest... I can't figure Californians nor Fresnans out... (I mean, hum a few bars and I can fake it, but...)

But I will say this, and it has completely pulled me in and has me caring far far more than I'd ever want to admit to...

I call myself an "import"
the best thing that ever happened to me, was moving to California when I was 17, I've lived in 2 diff megalopolises, & tons of small, & in-betweens. after college here, I went off to LALAland, but many suns & moons later, I realized that Fresno had qualities that drew me back, the people was the thing that did it, they always made me feel a part of something, they were real, & as I've told Out of the Void, this place is special, it draws people from all over, you can not just come to Fresno, its not like its a destination, at a terminus or major crossroads, its almost like an episode of the "Twilight Zone", where you suddenly find yourself in this small town, & there you are, that just happens to be magnetically pulling people from Armenia, China, India, Russia, East coast, Midwest, South, just everywhere

& it has its own talented people, but it draws talented "imports" too
artists, poets, dreamers, musicians, I've been around artists & poets long enough to know, that we're 2nd to none, we have the talent, it just takes "attitude" to know who you are, what you stand for, & not back down, or run away, just because you're from Fresno

it is the only city I came back on purpose to stay, to set down roots

Bram Stoker/Buddy Holly/Scharton/Void Fresno

First of all, I absolutely loved the last two posts (scharton/void).

I think what OotVoid said about us all living in Fresno as we sculpt it hit a very important point. Marcel Nunis (Rogue Festival creator guy) speaks of Fresno as 'the last frontier'----He decided to stay and develop in Fresno instead of going to the "Big City" of San Francisco for this reason: New things are still possible here---the concrete is not yet set---it's still happening and we can make a difference.
Being ABLE to make a difference can be maddening.
THere's a story by Bram Stoker ('the white worm'? i think) anyways, this guy is being sucked into a vortex/whirlpool and there's no hope...he finds peace in the fact that he can be resigned to his fate. BUT, then a ray of hope and a chance of escape dawns on him----THEN, he's all desperate and crazed again. Ha! So being able to make a difference can lead to the frustrations mentioned in the posts above, but it's also gives us a dose of hope.
As Buddy Holly said to us all, "Rave on"!

My Dear Mr. Scharton

...trust me on this, length is not to be envied.. (I don't think I'll be writing that statement again anytime soon..)

Considering your history with this town, considering your passion and insight.
I must be honest with you in saying that that post, sir, may have been one of the most stunningly agonizing and beautiful things I've read yet... Well, Blake writing about the ditchbanks some time ago? and Johnny Z writing about the zoo, i lost it on those too...

My humor, is kind of a gaffe.
I've been here for not even two years... (and even that was via something that I still don't quite understand.)
It's mostly a coping mechanism, (though it's nice to make folks happy.)

But I have seen this.

As much as some make fun of Fresno,
There are so many who deeply love this place, and look at it like the fading picture of my mom's family that sits on my sink windowsill, taken in the early 50's where so many of the smiling faces are now gone ahead.

I'll tell you all a secret, it's a confession.
back home? the place that I reek of? The towns that no longer exist?

There is no opportunity to discuss what happens to those areas.
(You just ride through one dark night, realizing that the seven-eleven used to be the back yard of you and your friends, and everybody drives cars that resemble Ford Taurus.'
There are no landmarks, with exception of the school you used to attend, -that is now some corp. office.
And that's a bad crazy day.

Here?
You understand it, as do everybody else.
You can sculpt Fresno and live in it the same time.

It's maddening, and it's painful, I know.
Sometimes, it's quite overwhelming to see the looks on my friends faces, as they try to explain what has happened to here, and how so very different it is.
I don't envy you in that, and it's a constant source of prayer. (I mean this sincerely.)

But what I DO envy?

Despite all the 'sprawl,' the 'graft,' the 'developers,' hell, even the poor crazy lady who is convinced that pipes are being moved and houses are being created inside themselves...
--Fresno actually has the opportunity to build itself as it chooses.

We haven't had that opportunity back east for three quarters of a century if not longer...

Out here?
There is a fighting chance to actually try something out, make it work, and really build as you go.

Will every opportunity be seized and treated respectfully and optimized?
No.
And it will be painful to see people do stupid things.
And people are amazing in their levels of stupidity...

But there are those who will get it right.
And they will do so spectacularly.
And this is not blowing sunshine up your backside, sir.
You have had a lot to do with guiding a lot of them, as well as your cohorts.

Some of it is timing...
-But some of it is caring enough to teach people and talk about it even if you think nobody is listening...

--Do you think such things even as this site could have happened anywhere else???
I mean, I know Jarah was in NY for a while, -but the woman is obviously from here, --and has taken some close qeues from you.
I've mentioned Dani, and there are many many others.

People from Fresno don't get it, and they cannot see it, because they are from here, (they're too close to it.)
A friend of mine tells me that one of the reasons why he likes what I write, is because it takes a foreigner to show you your own land.
(Fine, so call me Borat.)
...and I'll be honest... I can't figure Californians nor Fresnans out... (I mean, hum a few bars and I can fake it, but...)

But I will say this, and it has completely pulled me in and has me caring far far more than I'd ever want to admit to...

One of the most beautiful things about this town, with it's wretched air, shortening water supply, and shoot-em-up neighborhoods, is:
The people here sincerely do care about what happens here.

Each person, for better or worse, is actively building something in this place, (even if they're half drunk far too often.)

It's not just arrogance.
It's this sense that what little piece of dirt that they happen to be standing on, means something, and they want to do better with it.

I've never seen anything like it.
Am I in love with here? No.
I cannot be, for personal reasons.
---But I will tell you this.

I have never seen a group of people more in love with their town, as people here are with this place.
They may hate it, and say bad things, (shit, live in Philadelphia for a decade you want to see self-loathing,)
---but here the anger, the pettiness, the territorial spirits that posses each curb and vacant lot that 'used to be,' -runs stronger and is more moving and more confounding than anything I've ever seen.

I've lived in towns where the people are broken, and the towns are living shells.
And that is devestating.

In Fresno?
If you break the people, each peice will grow arms and legs and pick up a club and come at you, (-and you wind up with an army attacking, where there was once just one to contend with before.)

It's been written that the angels cannot figure out what it is that God sees in mankind.
I've not been here that long, but I can see a little that people from this area see in here, -and each other.

The stubbornness? the opinions? my god, I came within inches of marrying a Fresnan, (and an Irish/Chickasaw at that,) (okay, she was origionally from Clovis,) but still, she would have put me in the ground... (...But what a beautiful way to go...)

You have to NOT be from here, and then come here, and still not get it, and know, that, unless you are from here, you never will...

But the beauty and the profoundly moving love that people have for here... (and this from people who are movers and shakers all the way down to someone who is standing at this moment on the corner of First and shaw hoping for change,)

I've not seen anything else like it, sir.
And I've seen a lot of things.

What does scare me?
The nukes.. (I know them too well.)
-but there are smart people here, and they won't let them go through, hopefully.
Racism.. -but it's a funny thing, I do believe in love prevailing, and you can only hate someone for so long, and then you just break.

But here, in front of all these people, some of which (myself,) who really havn't a clue as to all that you have done, the positions you've held, and the gods of power that have played before you?

Thank You.

Your passion and caring about your town, even your frustration, and dust thrown into the air in anger,,, have not gone unnoticed, they mean something, they inspire others, such as myself to care about someplace that they may never have thought about before actually moving here,
-and such a thing is both priceless, quite beautiful, and as I said before, very moving.
Back East?
Grown men don't care about their towns and write as candidly as you do. (As a grown man myself, I find this quite clarifying.)

This can be taken in a lot of ways, Craig, but please understand what I'm saying.
I had no idea that I'd be witness to such thought, growth, and amazing things, anywhere, (and here I'm seeing it happen in Fresno.)
Nobody 'phones one in,' in this place... When it comes to their feelings about here? They show up for work and care.

Thank you for caring, Craig, (and Spleece, too.)

Diaolgue and actions like this just don't happen.
I sincerely doubt that they ever have... the technology simply wasn't previously available.

This is a humbling thing to observe, and for what it's worth? I have never prayed so much for 500,000 people, and their world that I barely know.

good night to you (all.)

sincerely.

E.L. Field

Interesting points orcaoid

The possibility of negativity has kept me from asking questions or expressing my thoughts/feelings about the aquarium. I was surprised by the concept of the aquarium when I came back to town. It just did not seem to fit (my opinion).

Against what do we measure proposals or decisions in our fair city? Do we have priorities?

Valley Children's moved to Madera to reduce their percentage of medi-cal patients. This is not hearsay, I was told this directly by the man who was running the hospital at the time of the decision. there was nothing that we could have done to change this, other than have more wealthy people and fewer poor people.

The UC Board of Regents are nothing but developers. They wanted thousands of acres, so that they could develop some of the land as a campus and develop sell or partner the rest for funds for their system. I floated the idea of a Fulton Mall campus in The Tower District News, and the story was carried in the Bee. Fresno planning staff had sound reasons to name the downtown site as the best, but the developer mindset of UC was too much to overcome. I'd be glad to show you the old article some time.

There are so many parts of Fresno that need repair...the Crest, the Liberty and the Warnor's Theaters, the Bank of Italy, Kearney Blvd....I could go on.

We continue to overdraft our aquifer while we plan to double our population. Does this make me negative about growth, I guess so, until someone shows me how the equation makes sense.

Judy Chicago, Frank Chance, Ross Bagdasarian, Tom Seaver, Phil Levine, Forestiere (maybe built the first and last innovative house in Fresno), Lamonica, Saroyan, Audra McDonald, Dyson, Ellard, Masumoto, Dick Contino....

Hmong, Armenian, German-Russian, Chinese, African, Spanish, Mexican, Japanese, Indian, Mono, Italian....

There are many things that I am dubious about, does that make me negative, when there are so many good things that I love about Fresno? Bass Pro, Sports Town, Forrest City, the influx of chain stores and restaurants that are packed while locally owned businesses close...yuck.

Palm Bluffs drives me nutty. They have the best bluff top land left in the city, and what do they do???? The put cyclone fencing along the bluff top. No trails, no picnic benches...and then, they face the buildings away from the river, toward the street and parking lots or they wrap the building in mirrored glass. Doesn't anyone else see this? Does this make me negative...wanting more for my hometown? Hell, a half-assed developer could have seen the value of taking advantage of the natural features and beauty...why the mediocrity?

Not exactly sticking to the old topic at hand, am I? Giving Eric a run for his money on length, but not nearly as creative or humorous.

Craig
Fresno: Garden City under the Sierra Nevadas

listen

we lost out on a UC campus to Merced,

we lost out on an international Ag show to Tulare,

we lost out on outlet stores to Tulare,

we lost out on a Children's hospital to Madera,

we need to find out if we are too negative, or what's the problem, that we lose out on so many good things,

too much red-tape, not business friendly enough, unimaginative, not risk-takers?

disclaimer
does not wanting a nuke power plant here, make me too negative?

I do want a "First Feminist Museum" here, Judy Chicago & "feminist art" got their start here at FSU
I want these museums here also;
Armenian, Hmong, Italian, Portuguese, Native American, early California, early Fresno, farming, "green, recyclable, sustainable & solar"

an aquarium would be nice too

Free the fish!

Screw the aquarium, restore Tulare Lake!

How many people are even aware that the largest lake in the west was once next door in Tulare county?

www.fresnolution.com
http://www.myspace.com/jghall00

Now we're talkin'

It'd be neat is good enough for me too. I'm pro neat (although not in the tidy sense of the word).

I do think that there is plenty of authenticiy in Fresno, my question was really a question, what do you and others think is authnetic about Fresno. The Big Fresno Barn was a great post recently, in my opinion (which doesn't really mean a hell of a lot). Seemed authentic/organic/roots based.

I'd propose that there are many facets of Fresno which are authentic and worth exploring, developing and promoting.

If someone were to propose a history of space travel museum for Fresno, I'd feel the same way as I do about the aquarium. But hey, that's just me, and unlike others, you'll never have to wonder what I think, and why I think it.

Craig
Fresno: Garden City under the Sierra Nevadas

Okay...

Sorry, but "Fresno is about Agriculture and Water" is NOT a reason to completely shut down the idea of bringing something positive into Fresno that could educate Valley people, MANY of which have never been, and never will go to Monterey, San Diego, San Francisco, or anywhere else you might feel is an 'authentic' community.

The word ignorant means not knowing about something. Your 'argument' basically states Fresno is a non-authentic community, and therefore not worthy of a public aquarium.

I guess what I really need is for you to entertain MY own ignorance and spell out exactly what you mean by what constitutes an authentic community according to you (call me stupid and I may come swingin', but call me ignorant and I take no offence and ask you to educate me about what the heck it is I'm apparently missing out on). At this moment, I don't see how authentic / non authentic matters in the issue at all.

We just think it would be neat? I think that alone IS enough reason, if enough people feel the same way, and support it. Public awareness and education is an even better one. How many little kids who have never been outside this valley (many of which never will) could walk through that aquarium and be inspired to become the next greatest biological oceanographer or marine biologist?

Do you realize there are people in the world (and within Fresno) who actually do not believe that Global Warming is happening? An aquarium is NOT just a box full of fish: they serve as a catalyst for public awareness about environmental issues too. Good aquariums such as the Waikiki Institute or the National Aquarium in Baltimore serve as research facilities as well, discovering all sorts of new things.

I support a local aquarium, always have, and always will, and voiced that to Tom Lang twelve years ago when I used to sell him stuff @ a local pet store (been a fish geek my whole life). I'd take my kid every week.

-s

this is not an argument, it's just contradiction

The Monterey Bay Aquarium is authentic becuase it is about that place.

What is authentic about Fresno?

If we need an aquarium, because Monterey is 2 1/2 hours away, then apparently we need to start dotting the map with aquariums. What would make Mornterey citizens want to come here, to learn about us or this place?

Becoming an authentic community takes work, thought, discussion, insight...it is the deep work of our collective consciousness and experience.

Sell Out, you can do better. Calling me ingnorant and limited in my vision, is a personal attack, which usually just bullies people out of a discussion. I'm sure that I'm guilty of having done the same, but let's focus on the points of fact and opinion. Argue with my point and not me. Then we'll both hopefully be less ingnorant, and yet still hold onto our bliss.

What are the main reasons for an aquarium in Fresno? Monterey is too far? It will attract tourists? It will give us a cause to rally around? It will be educational for our kids (who can't get to Monterey, Long Beach, Marine Land or Sea World)? It will be good for the economy? Or we just think it would be neat?

Craig
Fresno: Garden City under the Sierra Nevadas

....thinking..

(hhhmmmm, how to make this work...
No water.... but we want an aquarium.... and each aquarium as we all know has to have a major high-dive daredevil act.... and this is a very Bible oriented community.... and it's a family gig besides..... .......um,,,

ok

-pile up a whole bunch of mattresses and stuff into a huge wooden box.
-paint the side of the box to look like a giant whale (mouth open.)
divers will dress up as old testament prophets...
-voila-
'Jonah goes to Nineva, er... Fresno.'
(and when the diver bounces back out--- boom, done, perfect... (even follows the story line, 'Jonah gets vomited ashore.' (we're going to have to put flour on the boxes and such, as Jonah was kinda bleached a bit and looked sorta weird from being in the belly of the whale though...)
-of course, he has to stand and tell part of the audience to repent...

-but this could work...

Theme two...
(a little more abstract....)
-collect large amounts of fur from local ASPCA shelters and the zoo...
-have removable panels on the boxes,,,(this time,) painted to look like various wild-beasts (lions, tigers, etc. etc.)
-Go with a 'Christians as Martyrs theme.'
-have divers dressed up as prophets...
-when they dive down, and bounce back up, the hair will bounce up too... -(ala furrballs)

...I'd pay a buck to watch that....

(Lessee.... for a dry aquarium???)

(folks caught doing low level crimes (DUI's and such,) could be forced to wall around with helmets strapped on their heads, on top of the helmets will be long sticks (maybe about 6f,) ---various fishes of the sea could be made out of cardboard and affixed to said sticks... -They'd have to walk around inside of an enclosed area, (panels of wood, about... um, I dunno, 7 ft. tall, obscuring walkers from the view of the audience....
-Naturally more aggressive miscreants will, of course, kinda boss around the more demure types, (just like real aquariums...)
(kelp can be simulated by having long strips of green, yellow and blue crepe-paper streamers tied to large fans pointing upwards for a graceful, artistic and realistic 'undersea effect...'

---we could even probably arrange special shows of the police helicopter (disguised as a crane or heron or something,) swooping in and grabbing those who are walking in the 'aquarium,' -who have more extensive records, -necessitating them to be hauled off to more, um, dedicated environs...

'Fresno is about...'

What a limited mind set. Ignorance is bliss...

-s

...dude

...you know how hard it is to teach cows to swim and do tricks like big aquarium fishes do???
-and tractors just don't float well, (don't ask, it was a bad night..)

...Maybe if we did a Fresno 'Dry Aquarium,' (old pieces of farm equipment making reefs, and such...)

-The HighDive act is really going to go through a lot of employees though...

I don't get it.

It seems like aquariums should be located near the ocean, as a way to interpret marine ecology. Or, they should be located in places where children don't have a chance to go to the ocean. Fresno does not fit either of these criteria.

The Monterey Bay Aquirium is authentic. It uses water and creatures from the Monterey Bay. It helps us to understand what is going on in the world just beyond our sight. It connects us to nature.

Fresno is about Agriculture and Water. We have our own natural history to reveal and to explore. Fresno is about immigrants and air basins, and runoff, and produce.

I would that that a facility that explains the relationship between water and the valley, including our fish (salmon) whould be more authentic. Let's focus our efforts on discovering who we are, and then the world will be interested.

Craig
Fresno: Garden City under the Sierra Nevadas

I'd go...

...every weekend!

SERIOUS! I've been waiting for a local aquarium (outside my own home) my whole life...

-s

three little fishies, one killer whale, and who-thro-pu

Totally into aquariums... love them.
(I also happen to like zoos, as well..)

Corporate centers and massive Bases of Business ker-filled with white shirted grudge workers???
--Now those poor darlings, really need to be handed the necessary gear from L.L. Bean, given a nice sack lunch, a leatherman, a lighter, and turned back free into the wild... (once they stop blinking from actually being outside..)
...hang in there Tom.

I'm just wondering what happened to Shamu???
apparently the poor bastard was having a very rough day, and decided to make good on the FarSide cartoon and chomped his trainer???
(...can happen to the best of us... last I heard he was in the corner of his tank, drunk and sulking... (the fish, not the trainer.)

Any follow up???

(And is there really a monkey at the zoo who can actually throw poo with such velocity that even the catch fences stand as no deterrent???)
(....HELLO, 'pitching arm' here people...

(somebody think outside of the box and give this kid a contract... if he practices better grooming technique, wears a decent afterahave, and learns to read signals from the catcher...?
----No bachelor in Fresno will have a shot at an earstwhile dinner date ever again...)

(..Please, somebody get him before the Yankees do... we own too many good players as it is, and I want to see things mixed up a bit...)

This could be big... very big...

Look at it this way

An aquarium will be another positive for Fresno, regardless of location.

Fresno's downtown will benefit from there being more/better attractions downtown. (Met hat on) We're doing it here at the Met with the renovation, (Met hat off) Arte Americas is doing it by bringing in better exhibitions all the time, and Grizzlies Stadium (err Chukchansi Park) is doing it slowly but surely.

An aquarium brings people to Fresno. While they're here, they'll come downtown to see the museums and everything else too...hopefully.

I've had the chance to meet the Langs briefly, and they're good people with a mission to bring this aquarium to life in Fresno, for Fresno. They deserve your 5 or 20 bucks when it opens, wherever they open it. There aren't enough like them around putting money where their mouth is.

Everyone that wants to open an attraction in Fresno shouldn't be saddled with this "it should be downtown" weight. Be happy we're getting something new and exciting, people. And support it.

I am excited

I am really excited about this. I live really close to Herndon and 99 and have a 3 year old daughter. I will be so glad when I don't have to drive to Monterey to enjoy an exhibit such as this. Although I will still go to Monterey because I love it, but when Sunday comes and my daughter wakes up with "Daddy I want the fish", I know it's only 5 minutes away :)

Anthony

may never go to it...

Since I still have never gone to save mart center, and I know other people who live here that have never gone there. I doubt I may ever go to this Aquarium if it's ever built.

aquariusaquarium.org

Tom and Aletha Lang 559-224-FISH
aquariusaquarium.com

disclaimer for the sensitive

...considering that this is a family show,,, when I was putting in the the part for the rollergirls it was to read:

'piece of cake...'
NOT
'piece of...'

thank you,,, (on behalf of the, '..o dear lord,,,' Dept.

we continue on with todays regular scheduled events...

(Bonus attraction at the Aquarium:

'--Sunday, Sunday, Sunday, at the Fresno I-99 Aquarium Dragway, Davy Jone's HEMI-Barricuda versus the Blown Stingray of Captn. Bleigh in a salt water showdown...!!!!'
(...tends to attract a rough crowd, I'm hearing lots of porpoises and seagulls in attendence...
-that's right, plenty of 'Flipper' -n- the birds.)

(ba-dumm)

..okay, they can't all be winners.

Ah thanks bud

First great laugh of the morning is the best.

Hmmm in that vein we need the deep sea fishing men to do a can-can and sing "I'm a fisherman and I'm ok!"

God I keep giggling about the bi-polar penguins...lol

..something fishie going on here...

Awright, John,,,, lets help Santa out and see if we can put this together,,,, as nobody else seems to be up yet...

I think we can combine a few different venues...

Yes, it's a aquarium...
---however, it's SO MUCH MORE...

((start Monty Python Holy Grail Intermission Organ Music))

International Sports:
Simply add swimming lanes, to the Piranah tank, and you have a world class olympic racing pool, (-quicker speeds than the russians (darn their branflakes and steroids...)

Public Transportation: (Not quite Light Rail):
set up long, (okay very long,) tanks, with a few few whale sharks, and you have a bussing that is cool in the summer, -and goes faster than FAX.

Screw Bass Pro:
-Deep sea fishing in the tuna and swordfish tanks,
-and the more affordable 'blue gill,' display (sponsored by wal*mart.)

Aviation and National Defence:
The flying fish put on shows with the local f-18's,

Support groups:
-regular meetings of sea otters standing up and saying,
'hullo,,, I look like Gerry Garcia, and I'm abalone addicted.'
--not to mention waddling penquins who are (!) truly bi-polar.

Area Landscape Designers and Blake and the Trike Shop
-sponsoring a whole tank full of eight arms to hold you, doing 'Octopusses Garden,'

Retro/Vintage?
-100 year old sea turtles bubbling around Yoshi's lagoon, with the Neptunes providing surf guitar and umbrella drinks

Mermaids?
-piece of...
-the Smog City Roller Grrls (with skates and fins,) doing the waki-weechi underwater ballet, in a natural dazzling reef...
(I'd pay a few bucks just to see that...)

And finally-

Concerts:

-The Maine Crustacean Tank with the B-52's singing (don't make me have to tell you that one...)

or

Throw in a seven seals in slinky lingere, (with horns,) -truck them to the arena, (or) set up a floating stage,
and we can have Madonna back

so she can sing:

wait for it...

'like a Sturgeon.'

--whaddya think babe? -we could put the kids through Med School on the Mermaids alone....