Merced County Times Newspaper
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Author

John Derby 71 posts 0 comments

Currently retired and living on the shores of Mexico, John Derby is the founder of the Merced County Times and Mid-Valley Publications. He is currently enjoying his time away from the newsroom he developed in 1964 by sailing through the waters south of the border while continuing to write his weekly From Ship to Shore column and other articles of interest to the readers of Mid Valley Publications' newspapers.

Around Town

Local family launches yacht they built over 14 years

John Derby
Every family has its challenges; however, it is hard to find a family like the Hansens of Atwater who took 14 years to build a 49-foot yacht. Fleet Week was held in San Francisco recently and that special day was picked as the perfect opportunity to have the boat called “Escape Fantasy” officially christened. Literally thousands…
Around Town

A Sign Before The Times

John Derby
"I used to own the place where you work," said the man at the Atwater Restore Store. "I am sorry you must be mistaken," I replied. “I know the complete history of the place where I have worked as a newspaperman for so many years. It was once a church — the First Presbyterian Church of Winton — and it was originally built in 1918 with the…
Insights and Opinions

Are We Ready To Accept Afghans In Our Town?

John Derby
The last figure we saw was over 65,000 Afghans were being flown out of Afghanistan to somewhere; however, it did not say where. Are we willing to have some of them live in our town? Many of us are Christian, God-fearing people. The right thing to do is to welcome them into our community and our homes. After all, they were there for the…

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