It’s more blessed to give
Editor: After 21 years as owner, cook, greeter of Lodi Avenue Grill, Mike Metcalf sold the business in February this year and is going fishing (more often).
Mike is a Giver with a capital “G.” For over two decades, he’s not only fed much of the population in Lodi, but has always gone the extra mile in serving the community. He cheerfully supported countless local fundraisers and other projects.
I have been touched by Mike’s giving heart that’s bigger than the giant flapjack which drapes over the edge of a 10-inch plate. Since 2007, Mike welcomed my cancer patient support group, Been There — Got the Wig!® Breakfast Club. He often stopped to greet us with his warm smile and a word of encouragement.
He occasionally added extra food to our orders without additional charge. I ordered one egg, he gave two. Asked for two pieces of bacon, he gave four. Until I got to know him, I just thought he was lousy at math.
Sometimes he actually paid the table’s tab. I kidded him, “Next time you’re going to buy us breakfast, tell us first so we can order big.”
His picture is in the dictionary under “generosity.” In summer 2016, Mike graciously and enthusiastically gifted lunch for 25 hungry cast and crew members who were filming a movie in Lodi. After serving burgers, fries, onion rings, drinks, he surprised us with ice cream sundaes!
My husband, son and I have enjoyed being “regulars” at Avenue Grill since we moved to Lodi 14 years ago. We soon realized that the main ingredient was Mike Metcalf. He is a blessing and cherished friend to so many who will miss him. Happy fishing Mike! JANA FLAIG Lodi
President Trump is draining the swamp
Editor: A couple of years ago before Trump announced he was running for president I wrote a letter saying that after Obama left office the people of the United States would find out things about him and his administration that would shock them.
I was then accused of the usual bigotry. After Trump's inauguration I wrote that the swamp populated by Republicans and Democrats with the willing help from the hateTrump press would do everything in their power to undermine Trump but I foretold that starting in late 2017 or the beginning of 2018 high-ranking officials of the Obama administration would be facing charges, some even criminal, of crimes stemming from eight years of "fundamentally changing" America.
I was chastised from the left because they knew that these officials were untouchable and when in our history has any government official been held accountable for anything? After their destruction of civil liberties of the common folk they simply go into retirement with full benefits giving the finger to the very people who finance their incomes and arrogantly pass judgment on the unwashed as ignorant not comprehending the genius that is the liberal mind.
The firing of McCabe has changed all that and now those who thought they were untouchable and above the law will be running for their lives with the loss of their reputations, income and possibly their freedoms and like rats they're going to be telling all they know to save their pathetic necks. I also wrote that it will be one messy ride what with the Republican/Democrat neverTrumpers and their corrupt press. They will do all they can to protect themselves even to the point of destroying the nation that has nurtured and fed them.
So writers can talk about tariffs and greed, meaning profit which the left considers evil or say Trump is the devil incarnate. Whatever, the fact remains that Trump’s promise to clean out the swamp that is Washington has shifted into high gear and government bureaucrats and political appointees will finally be taken off their imaginary thrones and held accountable. RONALD PORTAL Lodi