Opinion

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Written by: Judy Thein

Published: 22 April 2011

April has been proclaimed as National Child Abuse Prevention Month.

Child abuse comes in many forms, and though visible scars may fade, the long-term psychological damage could haunt a child for life.

Every child deserves to have a loving and supportive home life that nurtures his or her development; however, child abuse and neglect continue to negatively impact the formative years of many children across all ethnic, cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds.

Protecting our children is one of our highest priorities. This responsibility belongs to everyone. It is vital that we all do our part to ensure that our youth are safe and given the opportunity to have happy childhoods.

There are no excuses for child abuse or neglect. Therefore it is critical that residents, neighborhood groups, community organizations, schools, businesses, government resources, social services and others come together to form a network of awareness and support that can reach out to those in need and identify the signs of child abuse.

I commend these various groups and individuals for their continual hard work and lasting commitment to protecting our children and strengthening families.

I urge all communities throughout Lake County to join together in fighting child abuse. By raising awareness of this issue and standing up for the safety of children, we can prevent child abuse and allow our young ones to look forward to bright futures.

Judy Thein is a member of the city council of Clearlake, Calif.

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Written by: Deborah Wallace

Published: 21 April 2011

The Lake County District Attorney’s Office, Victim-Witness Division would like to say “thank you” to all the agencies that helped facilitate all the events that took place during the week of April 10-16, 2011, National Crime Victims’ Rights Week.

A special thanks to Annie Barnes of the Sunrise Special Services Foundation for generously providing the funding for the Victim-Witness barbecue to honor law enforcement and all service providers that assist crime victim’s throughout the year.

We would also like to thank Sunrise Special Services, Inter -Tribal Council of California, Lake Family Resource Center and Victim-Witness for their collaboration on coordinating and setting up three individual trainings on “Reshaping the Future and Honoring the Past.”

The Lake County Office of Education, the Lake County Children’s Council and the Lake County Child Care Planning Council did an excellent job planning the successful event at Library Park called “Lake County Cares for Kids.”

Deborah Wallace is program administrator for the Lake County District Attorney Victim-Witness Division, based in Lakeport, Calif.

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Written by: Raphael Montoliu

Published: 14 April 2011

This is an open letter to Speaker of the House John Boehner.

It seems that the Republican party has decided, while under the influence of some extremist, radical right-wing ideology, to embody evil in all its forms, from the war on women to the war on the working class and the environment ... even wolves do not escape your dark agendas.

More people than you can possibly imagine understand the “good cop/bad cop” games the two parties indulge in to confuse and divide the American people along completely phony and forever shifting ideological lines, while providing equal support for the military-industrial-corporate-banking

complex.

Your masters indeed pull your strings while you distract the public with the circus acts you call governing, which are pitifully pathetic and more obscene than any known act of prostitution.

Give it up, and no longer call yourselves members of a government. Instead call yourselves managers, as the actual agenda of both parties is to manage the affairs of the military-industrial-corporate-banking complex while screwing the people of America, whom you obviously despise.

Raphael Montoliu lives in Lakeport, Calif.