Saturday March 26, 2005 Modesto Bee

Every subject has a political side, and that emerged when the supervisors discussed, albeit uncomfortably, the Health Services Agency's request to boost funding in response to the rise in gonorrhea and chlamydia.

Typically blunt Tom Mayfield favored spending more to get the word out about the threat, especially the risk to women of infertility due to chlamydia.
New Supervisor Jim DeMartini had an entirely different reaction. He doesn't see a crisis and suggested the department was simply trying to pad its budget. We appreciate fiscal prudence, but DeMartini's comment was needlessly rude.

Eventually the board took the right step and approved spending $60,000 through June to start responding to this growing health issue.