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Opinion
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- Written by: Anita McKee
When my dog, Genghis, passed away just a few weeks ago I cannot begin to describe how devastated I was. He was my companion for 14 years and when I returned to the US he flew over on the plane with me from Australia. He traveled with me everywhere and I always knew that he loved me unconditionally. He was my family and my friend and I cannot begin to think what I would have felt if someone had picked him up and not called me. Dogs are not personal property that can be easily replaced like a bicycle or any inanimate object. They are flesh and blood animals that love and are loved by their owners.
So, I’m wondering, what makes a person think that they can pick up an obviously well-cared-for dog, wearing his tags, and take him home?
If it was to call the owner or take him to Animal Control then that is one thing, but in this instance, that didn’t happen.
My business partner Kathy and her son have been frantically looking for Bogey, their bulldog pup, who wandered from their home in Baylis Cove early Friday morning.
With Bogie’s short little legs he couldn’t have wandered far from his home on a deadend street in the few minutes that he was missed.
He was obviously picked up by someone.
The majority of caring dog owners do keep their dogs safely in their home or in a fenced yard, but there are occasions when there can be a slip up. But the penalty for that slip up should not be “lose your dog.”
I would ask anyone who has seen Bogey, or has seen someone who has recently acquired a beautiful tan and white bulldog pup (7 and a half months old), please give us a call. It might just be Bogey.
There is a $500 reward for any information leading to the return of Bogey with no questions asked.
Please call 707-295-7000 or 707-277-7776. Any one of us will be happy to pick him up with money in hand because we know Bogey wants to come home!
Anita McKee lives in Kelseyville.
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- Written by: Michelle Villines
I would like to inquire how it is that yet another Indian casino is allowed to be put in less than a block from a public school! It also sits adjoining to our only local county park, and less 100 feet from a residence! How is it that the state allows for this to go on?
California is in such a bad situation at the moment and yet you (California) continue to run hard-working, tax-paying families out of this state with these poor decisions!
I used to be proud to raise my child in this small town where I grew up, but now I am ashamed! Between the pot dispensary on Main Street and now this casino I plan on leaving this area that my family has called home for over 35 years!
So think about it ... you are not getting taxes paid on the dope or the money people make from growing it or the gambling! So maybe you should consider the fact that you're running this community into the ground! Also in a recent article in the Press Democrat it stated that Lake County ranked 13th out of the nation for poverty, so do people really have the money to support another casino?
Perhaps this editor can figure out how it is the cash kick backs out weighs the serenity of the community!
Michelle Villines lives in Upper Lake.
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- Written by: Jamie Jourdan
I read the article about Lake County in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat (“A community in crisis”), and the truth is not told purely in facts and figures.
Lake County is a wonderful community and home to many who take pride in the place they call home.
The article states that Lake County relies heavily on tourism, winegrapes and real estate, and that all three sectors were hit hard. Where weren’t they hit hard?
Why does it not state in the article that as a community we have pulled together and are making great strides in keeping our dollars local.
We encourage the fine residents of this beautiful place to shop local, and there are many business owners who I am sure will state that yes, most of their business is local, and that perhaps the total volume of local shopping has increased.
And to further that, the tourism trade we usually experience is not a “lower income” group. We have people visit here from across the globe, and many who visit decide this is a better and more economical place to live.
Sure, businesses have seen the pinch, but that is everywhere. Sure, we have unemployment, but that is everywhere. We have high foreclosures, lack in tourism, stressed economic times, but that is EVERYWHERE.
We invite you to come to Lake County again, and get a broader perspective on things than just numbers and negativity.
Jamie Jourdan lives in Lucerne.
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- Written by: Jonathan Martin
We stand now at a critical juncture, one where we could act to protect one of the last "mom and pop" businesses left in America, or stand by as massive corporations steal yet another industry.
AB 390, introduced by Tom Ammiano to the California legislature, along with other initiatives, are some of the only sound politics our state has seen in years. While these bills have many issues, with swift action in local communities we can work to ensure that the holes left by these new laws do not endanger the local businesses and families which they directly affect.
Great challenges lie ahead, both in legislative fields related to cannabis and in the transition of the gray medical market to a traditional business model.
The growth of cannabis and hemp was legal in America until the early 1900s, when states began to move to prohibit its cultivation, and finally on a federal level via the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937. This situation persisted until the ratification of senate bill 420 in 1996. Since then a grassroots business has sprung up all over California allowing for the first time since the the 1900s – Americans to raise cannabis without fear of persecution.
In 1637 in Hartford Connecticut, and in the Massachusetts courts in 1639, an order was placed stating that "all families must plant one teaspoon of hemp seed. That we might in time have supply of linen cloth among ourselves." Motivated by economic desperation the colonists resolved to best utilize the natural resources they had at hand.
We too must seek to do the same in this time of need. It is my hope that if granted this opportunity, we meet these challenges in a way that protects the interests of California families and businesses.
Two of the issues that need to be addressed are worker protection and employer integrity. I know many people who have worked on farms over the years, and while there are a sizeable number of respectable growers that provide adequate conditions and compensation to their laborers, there are others who take advantage of the fact that in an illegal industry workers have no rights.
These exploitative individuals, often members of criminal cartels, take little responsibility for the quality of their crop, or for the environmental consequences which result from their practices. This creates substandard medication in a marketplace that is supposed to foster health as well as bolster the economy.
It has become clear to me that these practices must be stopped, and that crop quality and worker treatment be made a priority if this industry is to be taken seriously. This will not happen if regulators come out to a farm that is haphazardly run by criminal profiteers.
The best course of action is to allow regulation of the industry, so that irresponsible growers are eventually buried under red tape and fines, allowing law abiding citizens to continue their work unthreatened by violent outlaws.
In order to move forward, a clear standard of business ethics must be implemented and fair labor practices enforced.
The area for which I have the greatest concern is the intrusion of corporate entities into the cannabis industry. We must act quickly to raise awareness and keep out massive agribusiness giants and tobacco concerns in order to preserve currently operating family farms.
Since 1907, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, North Dakota and several other Midwestern states have adopted strict anticorporate farming laws. With few exceptions these laws have done wonders for preserving family business, ensuring that the ownership of average acreage stays within family hands and in fact creating provisions for small corporations created under strict guidelines, such as that one of the members of the corporation lives and works on the premises, and that all members live in the county in which the corporation was created.
These farm bills bills are already written and have withstood repeated legal attacks as recently as 2009, including challenges of constitutionality and those concerning commerce laws, while cities like Arcata have banned the construction of additional corporate stores within their city limits.
If given the opportunity, giant companies like Monsanto, RJ Reynolds and Philip Morris will immediately set up shop and begin pushing out the local growers. This will totally undermine the point of Ammiano's and related bills – namely, the creation of jobs and wealth for California citizens.
I would suggest the adoption of plain language city and county ordinances that prohibit any corporation (except those created under strict guidelines) from purchasing land or participating in the farming of cannabis in the respective areas. I think these initiatives would be met with great enthusiasm by the people of Humboldt, Mendocino and Trinity counties especially, as their livelihood has long been based on the local production and distribution of cannabis.
If we do this right, we can create thousands of legitimate jobs for our struggling friends and families in local communities, while also creating billions in tax revenue for the state of California.
The home grower will no longer experience fear, persecution and the possibility jail time. Farmers in the central valley squeezed by drought, and the need to produce crops with high production costs will have an alternative in the production of hemp or cannabis, and additionally farm laborers will be able to demand fair treatment. We must follow the examples of the hemp growing Virginia colonists, and raise awareness about the possibility of change in our communities.
Either we establish an organized plan to manage the autonomous California cannabis industry, or we allow our one homegrown business to be buried by successive corporate takeovers of large swaths of land and warehouse space. It's up to us! It is my hope we can collectively rise to the occasion and protect the industry we have all worked so hard to create.
Jonathan Martin lives in San Francisco.