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Opinion
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- Written by: Jim Steele
I know everyone has their own views on politics, but here’s mine for what its worth.
When my wife and I moved to Lake County we watched as the sheriff and district attorney made what seemed to be poor decisions in the Dinius and Perdock boating accident that resulted in a death.
It seemed neither could find a reason (or a valid reason why not) to bring to justice the person that caused the accident.
Speeding at 35 to 50-plus miles per hour in the black of a moonless night is the same as speeding during fog conditions or any other unsafe vehicle operation. There are many precedents in maritime law. So I asked the three district attorney candidates about this in the primary.
All three people in the race were very nice, intelligent and well spoken. You would invite them for dinner.
All had management experience and good educations in law and life. In fact, if I were to rank them on speaking qualities and maybe criminal law experience I would say 1. Jon Hopkins, 2. Doug Rhoades, 3. Don Anderson.
But after questioning them on the Dinius case it becomes very clear that only one has the clear judgment skills to see through the clutter of opinion and know that it was incumbent on the boat operator with the steerage way and higher speed to slow to a safe speed and navigate so damage would not be caused.
Even today, Hopkins and Rhoades cannot find a reason to charge Mr. Perdock or know he could have prevented the situation.
But yet, Anderson has no problem with clear logic and can explain his judgment for bringing an involuntary manslaughter charge for the speeding boater and operating under the influence against the sail boater.
The good judgment ability rating clearly goes to Don Anderson and a tie for very distant second goes to Hopkins and Rhoades.
It takes more than smooth speaking skills to make the right choices as district attorney; Mr. Hopkins demonstrated that more than once. I just don’t want us to make that mistake again with Rhoades.
Jim Steele lives in Clearlake Oaks, Calif.
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- Written by: Patrick McMahon
In the same letter, Jack claimed, “I refused to join in personal attacks or rumor spreading and tried to stick to the issues of concern for our community.”
He goes on to claim how he kept an open mind and met with each candidate before deciding who to endorse.
I think there’s another side to this story.
In a June 1, 2010, article about campaign finances by lakeconews.com, a commenter using the screen name, “drjoaquin” posted:
“Mitchell, donation or bribe?
written by drjoaquin, June 01, 2010
A $10,000. contribution to Mitchell is quite a charge for a concealed weapons permit. I wonder how many other donors have CCW permits issued by Mitchell. If this is not an outright bribe what is it? What else is Mitchell doing for these generous special people? Would he do the same for those of us who don't have the cash to pay him off?”
Now I don’t know about you, but I would consider this comment a personal attack and rumor spreading. Seems to me the commenter is alleging improper conduct by a citizen and the sheriff with no apparent facts to back it up.
The donor who provided the contribution the comment referred to does not hold a concealed weapons permit nor have they applied for one.
Now in an August 18, 2010, lakconews.com article about Lakeport Police retirement package, we again hear from “drjoaquin,”, when he posts:
“Lakeport Police retirement
written by drjoaquin, August 19, 2010
I'm disappointed to see the City of Lakeport turn down the request for an improved retirement by their police officers. We are quite fortunate to have the good people we have here and failing to take care of their needs is a big mistake. Times are tough but these people have only to drive over the hill to double their salary. They are here because they want to be here and they do a fine job. I rate the current Lakeport PD as the finest in Lake County.
Remember Lakeport, you get exactly what you pay for.
Jack Baxter, Lakeport
As you can see, “drjoaquin” identifies himself as Jack Baxter.
Now, like Rivero, I don’t want Jack to dismiss this by claiming some type of mistaken identity, so I checked further.
“Drjoaquin” posts on another lakeconews.com article dated May 23, 2010, about the Clearlake Police Department. Again he identifies himself as Jack Baxter, but he goes even further and adds the fact that he is a candidate for the office of the sheriff. This is the post:
Clearlake Police Officers
written by drjoaquin, May 24, 2010
I'm disappointed to learn that Clearlake is having to lay off working Police Officers. Times are tough but In a time when crime is on the rise and police services are declining we can not afford to cat back on those who protect us. Taxes go up and services go down while our federal and state governments continue to throw money away to special interests leaving communities to fend for themselves.
You get what you pay for and with cutbacks in pay and benefits and job security a law enforcement career becomes much less attractive to good qualified candidates. In the long run playmng catch up in replacing these people when you can afford them will be more difficult and much more expensive. We must work smarter, reconsider priorities and use our officers where they will do the most good.
Jack Baxter, Lakeport
Candidate for Lake Co. Sheriff
I believe this is pretty conclusive proof that I have the right Jack Baxter.
In this last Lakeconews.com article (which chronologically was the first) from Sept. 3, 2009, before he announced his intention to run for sheriff, Jack Baxter not only participates in a personal attack against Sheriff Mitchell, but he then goes on to claim he was former captain from the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department.
I’ll let you read it for yourself.
“Local
written by drjoaquin, November 23, 2009
Meno Co. Sheriff thinks Mirchell is a GOB.
Odd indeed. Sheriff lee Baca from LA Co. thought he was a dork and shared it with some of his senior staff ioncliuding yours truely a former LASD Captain now living in Lake Co.”
I assume, “Meno Co. Sheriff” refers to the Sheriff of Mendocino County, Tom Allman, who has endorsed Rod Mitchell for Sheriff.
Additionally, I’ve had several conversations with Jack Baxter, never once did he mention he was a retired captain from the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department. Nowhere in his resume or on his political Web site did he list or claim that he ever even worked for the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, let alone promoted to the position of Captain.
Holding such a position would have made him a much stronger candidate for sheriff in my opinion and failing to include this fact would be an unconscionable omission on his part. It wasn’t included because it is not true; in fact, he is a retired sergeant from the San Jose Police Department.
I also know that screen names for Lakeconews.com are individual and, unlike Topix, require a password to access them.
So yes, I think Jack Baxter has a credibility issue, and a BIG one. As such, we should view his comments with a very critical eye.
Jack Baxter says his mind wasn’t made up about who to endorse, but it’s clear now that it was.
Jack Baxter said he did not engage in personal attacks or rumor spreading, but it’s clear that he did.
Jack Baxter now endorses Francisco Rivero.
Jack Baxter says he wasn’t promised a job.
Patrick McMahon lives in Middletown, Calif.
NOTE: Links to all of the stories and comments are listed below in the order they appear.
Links:
http://lakeconews.com/content/view/14258/919/ - June 1, 2010 Campaign finance story
http://lakeconews.com/content/view/15453/919/ - August 18, 2010 Lakeport PD story
http://lakeconews.com/content/view/14093/919/ - May 23, 2010 Clearlake PD story
http://lakeconews.com/content/view/10156/764/ - Sept, 3 2009
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- Written by: Keith Buter
I began my journey in Middletown with the Middletown Area Town Hall (MATH). I met with a board member by the name of Sandy Hamilton prior to attending the meeting. She showed me the marketing materials Middletown uses to promote itself. Residents of Middletown drive over the hill to Napa Valley and place advertising materials in key tourist locations.
I sat in on a full board meeting of MATH and found they were proactive about ideas to promote the economic health of their area. I contacted District 1 Supervisor Jim Comstock by email to talk with him and received no response.
I met with Rick Gunier who works with the winegrape growers of Lake County. We discussed placing a co op and/or wine center at the airport property in Clearlake. He said there was an interest in a co-op among some growers, but had more interest in Kelseyville for a location than Clearlake. I told him I had the concept for the airport. Our last conversation was about him getting a local big name engineer to draw up the plans for him.
I contacted Monica Rosenthal of the Lake County Winery Association. She told me that some of the ideas I presented were being implemented this year. She said she worked with “Shannon Gunier, executive director of the Lake County Winegrape Commission, and Debra Sommerfield of the County of Lake to implement promotional and advertising programs that benefit not only the wine industry here in Lake County, but other industries as well.”
I emailed District 2 Supervisor Jeff Smith in which Clearlake is located. He told me that a group had tried to develop an entertainment idea 20 years ago but ran into obstacles and they abandoned the idea. He said he was open to any ideas that could help the people in his district.
I emailed District 3 Supervisor Denise Rushing to find her position on helping the city of Clearlake. I met her for the first time at a FLOW meeting in Lucerne. It was a garden planting/campaign stop for her.
I spoke with her for a few minutes about her view of Clearlake and the airport property. We spoke about the financial problems the city was having. We spoke of how the city of Clearlake being healthy could help the county. She felt the city’s disincorporation would not necessarily be a bad thing.
I met with Betsy Cawn who was a fountain of information relating to Lake county ecological history. She knew the hows and whens of government actions relating to Lake County, and, what studies were done on our county. If you ever meet her, take the time to grab a little of her knowledge.
I emailed information to Denise Rushing about the Lucerne castle and how the Google Foundation is donating $1 billion to education based projects.
Carol Bettencourt put a lot of thought into her idea about Lucerne and the potential to tie in the Lucerne castle to a tourist activity. Out of respect to her creativity, I will only say it was filled with fun and adventure to all participants.
Herb Gura felt that the existing businesses in Clearlake needed support and a better approach would be promoting our area to fisherman, bird watchers, sailors, and water lovers of all kinds.
Tom Cammarata who is a 40 year veteran of advertising offered some astute observations that should be obvious to us all. The first and most obvious is our tourist base lives within 100 miles of us.
There is a disconnect between the lodging industry and the wine industry. I am attempting to locate a motel/hotel lodging association to find their view on improving their industry.
One thing is certain. There are locals with the money reserves to invest in making our county more appealing. The wine industry needs lodging for its customers. The lodging industry needs the customers the wine people can provide. At the center of all this is the Lake which our economy is dependent on.
To be continued.
Keith Buter lives in Lucerne, Calif.
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- Written by: Herb Gura
My band had finished its last set and we were packing our instruments. There was a young gospel singer on after us. He had traveled from Sacramento to sing a few songs and was using our sound system to plug in a boom box with recorded backup instruments.
He had one of those rare angelic voices but partway through one of his first songs, “Lean on Me” something went wrong with his CD player and suddenly he was singing with no music in the background.
After hesitating for a split second, he squared himself to the mic, faced the audience and sang on, a cappella.
The crowd at first listened silently but soon began to clap on the upbeats to give the song some structure. My drum set was already partially packed but I sat down and used what was left standing to add to the beat.
Our keyboard player grabbed a tambourine. Audience members began to sing background vocals and three members of the band stopped packing and stepped up to a mic and formed an instant gospel trio.
As the entire audience began singing along, the guest singer now wore a huge smile and sang all the more sweetly as intricate harmonies filled the air and Austin Park became an impromptu gospel revival.
It was one of those inspiring moments both musically and spiritually that provided a metaphor for the AIDSWalk event and for what our community can be.
Thanks to all those who organized and attended the event. And special thanks to the on the spot gospel choir for turning a moment of adversity into one of inspiration.
Herb Gura lives in Clearlake.