I’m still sorting through this week’s State of the City address and the mayor’s stimulus plan, so we’re going grab-bag style for this week’s Second Thoughts.

One week ago, one of our city’s finest was senselessly killed in Oakland while trying to keep the peace.

Sgt. Mark Dunakin didn’t work in Tracy, but he was part of this community. He died with three fellow officers in the service of others, and it’s no wonder Friday’s memorial in Oakland drew thousands of mourners.

Quickly, however, some have tried to turn the good sergeant’s sacrifice into a prop.

Some say the assault-weapon killing spree of convicted felon Lovelle Mixon is evidence of a too-lenient prison system. Some say it’s evidence that it’s too easy to get an AK-47. Others say it’s evidence that every Joe and Jane Citizen needs to pack heat.

Maybe it’s all those things. Maybe it’s none of them. It’s a debate we need to have. But it’d be nice if we could grieve for a week without someone using a police officer’s death for political gain.

Not everyone, however, mourned for the four officers who tried to keep the peace.

Nearly 60 people decided that last weekend’s tragedy wasn’t the fault of a convicted felon and suspected rapist who murdered four police officers in cold blood when pulled over for an expired car registration tag. Mixon, these genius moralists said as they took to city streets with signs and slogans, was a victim of "police terror."

Begin your silent weeping for society now.

Of course, Mixon’s apologists haven’t cornered the market on ignorance, hate or misguided activism.

Members of the Westboro Baptist Church — the ones who claim dead U.S. soldiers in Iraq are God’s punishment for homosexuality — planned to be present at Friday’s services to spread their bile.

Reminding us that some parasites can feast on anything.

Thursday morning, eight busloads of Tracy Unified School District students, parents and teachers embarked on a trip to the Capitol.

The field trip, brainchild of several Tracy Unified parents incensed by school spending cuts, was officially billed as a chance for students to get a hands-on lesson about the state’s dysfunctional budget process. Unofficially, it was a protest against underfunding education.

Students toured the Capitol and got some floor time in the state Senate. And Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, Assemblywoman Cathleen Galgiani and Sen. Lois Wolk all took turns hosting student delegations.

According to Tracy Unified parent Mike Mahedy, who helped organize the trip, the kids asked challenging questions and received straightforward answers. Some, he said, even engaged their representatives in debate.

So students got their civics lesson, and lawmakers got to see firsthand the students affected by the state’s drastic budget cuts.

"We definitely met the educational goal of the trip on both sides," Mahedy said.

Though the trip was a success, Mahedy hopes it’s just a beginning. He’d like to see annual field trips to Sacramento, as having students talk with lawmakers face-to-face about substantive policy makes the political process much more real than just reading about it in a government textbook.

I’m not in disagreement.

Voters who helped pass a bond to begin a Los Angeles-to-San Francisco high-speed rail line might have their vision backed by the federal government.

Included in President’s Obama $787 billion stimulus package is $8 billion for rail improvement. And California, having passed that $9 billion ballot initiative in November, should be first in line for funding. Keep your fingers crossed.

Several water bond proposals are being considered by state lawmakers, among them an effort to provide "improved conveyance." That’s code for a canal that would ship water around the Delta to the pumps outside Tracy instead of letting the water flow through the Delta.

According to the plan’s backers, the only thing we didn’t get right when the state and federal governments first decided to ship millions of gallons a year to Southern California and the southern Central Valley was that we didn’t send enough.

But the Delta was never meant to bear even the burden it does now.

Water siphoned out of the San Joaquin and Sacramento rivers was supposed to be supplemented by water from the north. But the Eel River and others were designated off-limits to water exports (it’s no coincidence that those rivers are now the state’s most prized by anglers and tourists).

We’ve never come up with a plan to make up for that shortfall.

As a result, the Delta’s health has declined as more and more demands are placed on its limited bounty. We’re seeing the effects of that lack of foresight now, with Central Valley farmers staring down another year of next-to-no water and urban consumers finally being forced to cut back.

A remedy is needed, for sure. But you don’t treat blood loss by opening another wound. So tell the canal backers to stop bleeding the Delta dry.

• Jon Mendelson is an award-winning columnist for the Tracy Press. Share your thoughts at jmendelson@tracypress.com.