Garth Stapley, The Modesto Bee

Garth Stapley

The Modesto Bee

Modesto, CA, United States

Contact Garth

Discover and connect with journalists and influencers around the world, save time on email research, monitor the news, and more.

Start free trial

Recent:
  • Unknown
Past:
  • The Modesto Bee
  • The Sacramento Bee
  • MercedSunStar
  • NationalMortgageNews
  • McClatchyDC
  • The Kansas City Star
  • newsobserver.com
  • Bradenton Herald
  • The Fresno Bee
  • Idaho Statesman
  • and more…

Past articles by Garth:

Garth Stapley’s thumbs up, thumbs down: Olsen, nut tariffs, Highway 132 and Epstein

An opinionated roundup of issues behind some recent headlines: → Read More

A look at fireworks from both sides now

Four-and-a-half years ago, as a Modesto Bee reporter working a New Year’s Day shift, I covered the sad aftermath of a fire that destroyed a two-story home in east Modesto, displacing a couple and their three young children. They smelled smoke, went outside and found their wood-shake roof on fire at 12:51 a.m., and their home soon went up in flames. All the neighbors I spoke with said the sky had… → Read More

Modesto Bee seeks visiting editor applicants

The Modesto Bee has openings for visiting editors, who help form the newspaper’s editorial opinion. That includes political endorsements for important races coming up in the March Primary. → Read More

The good, the bad, the young and the old — Thumbs up and down in Modesto

A roundup of positives and negatives from recent news in the Modesto region, with a focus on children and the elderly. → Read More

Letters to the Editor | Sunday, June 9, 2019: Homeless man dismayed by Modesto emergency shelter

Letters to the Editor Letters to the Editor | Sunday, June 9, 2019: Homeless man dismayed by Modesto emergency shelter Doug Holcomb, Operations Manager at the Modesto Outdoor Emergency Shelter talks Monday about the creative measures the county is taking to accommodate more residents at the camp that is nearly full. By Homeless man reflects on tent city The lack of any real effort to deal with… → Read More

How Modestan’s poignant moments in France this week mark arrival of D-Day anniversary

Editor’s note: Modesto’s Joe Swain is in France preparing for Thursday’s 75th anniversary of D-Day, the Normandy landings that eventually liberated Europe during World War II. See Friday’s paper and modbee.com for his subsequent report on the main ceremony. → Read More

Stapley: MID plays favorites with its electricity rates. So who’s paying the price?

Sure, California’s Modesto Irrigation District deserves credit for keeping electricity prices stable. But the board must correct unfair prices charged to 13,000 stores and offices. → Read More

Modesto, California City Hall lured by promise of big money at expense of local disabled workers

Editorial: The bottom line — money — promised by a big outside company is not more important than keeping local disabled people busy at a meaningful job. → Read More

Our View: It’s time for Ripon schools to get rid of the cell phone tower

Whether a cell phone tower is responsible for a cancer cluster in Ripon is debatable. What’s not is the emotional toll it’s taking on students’ families. → Read More

Stapley: I’ll be both left and right, but mostly informative, engaging and pointed

Garth Stapley, the Modesto Bee’s new Opinions Editor, offers what will be his approach in his new position. He says he’ll sway both to the left and right, but be mostly informative, engaging and pointed. → Read More

Our View: Stanislaus County needs to continue backing up words with action

Terry Withrow, chairman of the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors, gave his state of the county address in Modesto, CA. He stressed relationships and cooperation. Nice words. Now, let’s see more action. → Read More

Owning a falcon shouldn’t mean sacrificing constitutional rights, lawsuit says

Peter Stavrianoudakis, a Modesto defense attorney and falconer, brings a lawsuit to prevent state and federal wildlife officials from entering his home unannounced just because he owns a bird of prey. → Read More

Newsom isn’t backing away from high-speed rail, after all

Governor Gavin Newsom seemed to frown on high-speed rail in Tuesday’s State of the State address. But his commitment to a terminus in Merced actually is good news for Valley commuters heading to Bay Area jobs. → Read More

‘Wilful and malicious injury.’ Lawsuit seeks to block Nathan Damigo’s bankruptcy

Nathan Damigo of Oakdale, CA, who helped organize a deadly white supremacy rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, should not escape financial responsibility to those injured, says a new lawsuit in Modesto. → Read More

Steven and Cary Stayner: Stories of hero, serial killer in same Merced family revisited

One brother, Steven Stayner, saves a little boy snatched by the same child molester who had kidnapped him seven years earlier. But Stayner’s brother, Cary, brutally murders four women in Yosemite National Park. → Read More

‘That’s a blatant lie.’ Rift on Modesto Irrigation District board grows deeper

A new alliance on the Modesto Irrigation District board could be forming to transfer local water elsewhere, some in the audience charged in the heat of a verbal battle. → Read More

Choosing between groceries and gas: Government shutdown hits Modesto woman hard

To Modesto CA’s Amira Muhammad, a TSA security screener at the Stockton airport, the government shutdown is more than a far-away political argument. Working without pay means choosing between groceries and gas. → Read More

Mental illness increasingly helps defendants avoid trial. But not always.

Stanislaus County’s last two accused cop killers both have used mental competency questions to delay prosecution. → Read More

Accessibility is the name of Harder’s game, he says on first day in Congress

“It’s been a wild first day,” newly sworn-in House member Josh Harder said as the representative from Turlock, Ca., promises to keep lines of communication open with his constituents in the valley. → Read More

Harder spins into action in Washington, defends support of Pelosi

Just sworn-in, Rep. Josh Harder, D-Turlock, takes a break from congressional action on the government shutdown to briefly reflect on his first day on the job in the House of Representatives. → Read More