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Opinion
- Details
- Written by: Jon Hopkins
It is a great concept, from my perspective, because I implemented that same idea when I was chief deputy district attorney in Santa Cruz County.
The actual feat had to wait for the right time to be accomplished, however. There had to be free county space of sufficient size and security, and the caseload, available staffing and office functions had to be workable.
In order to do that here in Clearlake, you have to consider that the staff of the district attorney is not currently large enough to give up the ability to assign attorneys, investigators and victim advocates to cover others when they are in a different court, in trial, out on vacation or training, or more importantly, to cover the caseload. When the staff is large enough, that is not a worry.
We currently have a domestic violence team, a child sexual assault team, an elder abuse team and a narcotics district attorney who are assigned to all the cases in their specialty even though they are in both Southlake and Northlake.
That means you cannot assign them to just the Clearlake office, even though it would be wonderful for those victims, witnesses and law enforcement officers located in the south county to be able to only go to a Clearlake office.
Felony district attorneys are only in Clearlake one day a week, and are required to be in Lakeport in court two days a week and two more days if they are assigned to do a trial in Lakeport.
There are two and sometimes three courts in the north that take trials and only one in Clearlake, so it is much more likely that felony district attorneys will be in Lakeport.
There are two district attorneys assigned to the misdemeanor cases in Clearlake. They are only in court one day a week and one additional day the third week of the month. They also are more likely to be assigned to trials in one of the courts up north. They are also required to be in the settlement conferences that are held in court in Lakeport.
You can see that there are days when the attorneys who might be handling cases that occur in the south county will not be able to be there. As a matter of fact, all of them may be required to be up north on the same day.
If the new district attorney covered the office on those days, that would be very helpful, but Don probably would not be familiar with every case filed in that court.
Also at issue is the availability of files in the Clearlake office.
To handle all the facets of office work that are done with the case files, it would not work to send staff to do it in the Clearlake office, because they are needed to cover each others work in the main office.
One would need to wait until more staff is hired so you could have duplicate functions covered in each office. A number of the important functions have only one person doing that job.
My suggestion to Don Anderson is that he hold office hours in the office in the Clearlake courthouse a couple of days a week, with announcements to the public so there will be a regular time when they know they will find someone there. That way, while he is looking into the money and logistical issues, he can also assess the need and response of the public.
It will be a lot easier to sell the Board of Supervisors on the expenditure of extra funds if he has the stats to back up the idea instead of just having the idea.
Jon Hopkins is the current district attorney of Lake County. His term ends in January.
- Details
- Written by: Keith Buter
This raises an issue of changing Lucerne from a tourist destination to a county government satellite that could change the dynamics of the area.
My feeling is this investment is counter to the intention of the redevelopment expenditure previously spent. The county has invested millions of dollars already into creating the entire Northshore as a tourist draw.
From my perspective, I see a need for the supervisors to spread a little of the taxpayers money around
in different areas of the county.
My belief is, they should be looking at what area of the county could benefit the most from government investment. They should look at property already owned by a government, rather than grabbing one more piece of private land. They should be looking at what location suits the largest amount of people when they spend taxpayer dollars.
The airport property in Clearlake is a better suited site for construction of a government complex to
service the citizens already begging for satellite services.
The capital expenditure required to build a multi story complex could be spent building a single story building of greater square footage. The building could house county service representatives from varying departments. The sheriff’s office could be expanded to better accommodate the employees working the south district.
Given the politically sensitive issue of the current proposal for a Lowe's, and the money some claim
will be spent defending the Lowe's project; this could be a viable alternative for both the county
representatives and the Clearlake representatives to consider.
Those who are concerned about environmental impacts in the county could argue that a government
service building in the city of Clearlake would decrease the amount of emissions by lowering driving to
Lakeport. The roadways will see less wear and tear, traffic could be lowered and perhaps a few more
deer will live to see another day.
The citizens of the Southlake district will save thousands of dollars in making single reason trips. It would be a shorter trip to conduct county business. Given the tight budgets many are living with, it could make a difference in their quality of life.
The city of Clearlake would benefit from having a dependable source of income from a reliable tenant.
This also creates a complex where state government, such as the Department of Motor Vehicles, could lease space and as needs arise additional buildings could be built.
The property is large enough that the city of Clearlake could maintain a portion of the roadway section to sell off or lease to business requiring a smaller building footprint.
The city of Clearlake would be able to spend their redevelopment money on the preexisting areas of
commerce. Lakeshore businesses can benefit from a revitalization process once the funds are freed
from the airport.
Although most people do not realize it, there is a greater area of the county in the south district then
there is in the north district. The taxpayer money in the county seems to be spent disproportionately in the north over the south.
The Board of Supervisors is a compilation of people who are supposed to represent their own districts and the county as a whole. The health of the city of Clearlake, the service of all county residents in all parts of the county, and a resolution to this ongoing discussion over the airport can all be addressed.
The supervisors need to look at the city of Clearlake as part of the county family and not the red-headed stepchild as they have in the past. Clearlake can once again be the shining jewel she once was.
The county is going to spend the money, so why not service the Southlake and the citizens?
Keith Buter lives in Lucerne, Calif.
- Details
- Written by: Raphael Montoliu
As their politically conservative counterparts, they seem to believe that God wants all of us to become filthy rich, regardless of the cost to the environment or to poor nations.
But here wealth is defined in specific cultural, social and historical terms, that have absolutely nothing to do with either natural or divine law.
The natural order is merely concerned with the fulfillment of real needs, not with the accumulation of unnecessary possessions or symbols of riches. Trees do not grow more roots that they need, and lions do not kill more zebras than they can eat.
Only humanity is concerned with the building of capital, which leads to wealth and is erroneously associated with the idea of abundance by pseudo-spiritual new age gurus.
The rule of abundance is to satisfy actual needs in harmony and accordance with natural law, not to satisfy greed in accordance with competitive and alienating social standards.
Abundance leads to sharing, not to the selfish individual hoarding of wealth. As nature does not hoard its riches, neither does the natural man or woman who lives according to natural and divine law.
When sharing is allowed as a constant practice, the question of wealth, of capital, becomes irrelevant. No one needs be a millionaire, no one needs to live in a mansion or own an estate, as all share in the bounty of the earth, and none is left behind to suffer abject poverty, exploitation, abuse, neglect.
The spiritual way is to be contented satisfying authentic basic human needs, not to seek wealth and luxury according to the myth that we all can and must become rich within a destructive and predatory system.
The pseudo-spiritual crowd as well as the conservatives who espouse the view that God rewards the virtuous with gold bullions and punish the sinner with poverty miss the fact that the accumulation of capital, or wealth, is only relevant in a system funded on alienation and insecurity, a social structure rooted in the unintelligent and unnatural principle of the survival of the fittest.
Contrary to the common myth, it is natural for nature to cooperate, and unrealistic to perceive nature to amount to nothing more than a chaotic and meaningless food chain, a grouping of digestive systems equipped with fangs and claws that have no other purpose or preoccupation, beside procreation, than struggling endlessly to eat one another.
In truth natural and reasonable predation is part of a natural cooperation, for the natural predator, unlike man, does not seek the total annihilation of the prey.
Only man, in his delusion, seeks the total elimination of competitive elements, and absolute supremacy over all life. Only man experience near absolute insecurity because of having created warlike social conditions whereby he has become its own greatest enemy, and can trust no one, not even himself.
Only man needs creating 100,000 laws enforced by threats and coercion to protect himself from his out of control and totally unnatural predatory mindset.
These topics are however not discussed by people who are not accustomed to question anything, who are educated to comply rather than think, and to think as taught rather than feel.
For if people felt with their heart and soul, they would understand the natural human drives of cooperation, of needing to give and share, of compassion, of social harmony and equity.
They would feel the total absurdity of merciless competition, of having created a society that resemble a battlefield, where the victorious, the winner, crushes and enslaves the so-called weak, the meek, the disadvantaged. Where the powerful, privileged or ambitious takes advantage of the misery or failures of others….and single mothers, adolescents, families become homeless while the filthy rich becomes forever more bloated with obscene wealth and more controlling and arrogant.
It is possible that a majority of people vaguely feel something is rotten in Denmark. The widespread use of alcohol, hard drugs, anti-depressant medications, tranquilizers, the epidemic of mental illness and addictions seem to speak of a general state of malaise among the general population, who appears to be falling apart and to reach for whatever is available to attempt to cope with a crazy-making social structure and culture.
Yet as no vision of sanity is offered, and the population is made to believe alienation, competition and insecurity are natural conditions, and reality is harsh and life destined to be as hard and cold as a tombstone, the only solution people envision is personal escape or individual survival, in whatever forms these selfish paths take, that perpetuate the pathology of the system.
Raphael Montoliu lives in Lakeport, Calif.
- Details
- Written by: Robert Schaerges
As the cannabis industry evolves, unions will protect individuals and promote investment through fair and effective labor standards.
Additionally, the Drug Enforcement Administration and other law enforcement agencies will be much less eager to arrest growers belonging to unions (free Lake County’s Eddy Lepp and drop the charges against Tom Carter).
Let’s create jobs, not criminals. The right to unionize is not only a labor right, but it also is a human right.
During a speech in August of 1960, President John F. Kennedy declared, “Through collective bargaining and grievance procedures, labor unions have brought justice and democracy to the shop floor. But their work goes beyond their own job, and even beyond our borders. For the labor movement is people. Our unions have brought millions of men and women together … and given them common tools for common goals. Their goals are goals for all America – and their enemies are enemies of progress. The two cannot be separated.”
As of Sept. 26, current polls show that Proposition 19, which would legalize marijuana, is ahead by seven percentage points.
One of the most influential labor unions in the state, Service Employees International Union (SEIU), has recently endorsed Proposition 19.
Bill Lloyd, the president of the 700,000 member SEIU, said the union decided to back the legalization of marijuana because it could help raise revenue to avoid cuts to health care, home care, education and services for children, families, the elderly and people with disabilities.
Proposition 19 is also supported by the United Food and Commercial Workers, the Northern California Council of the International Longshore & Warehouse Union, Communications Workers of America Local 9415 and Sign Displays & Allied Crafts Local 510.
Unions are already organizing within the medical marijuana industry. Earlier this year, approximately 100 workers in Oakland's retail Medical Marijuana dispensaries joined the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union.
Dan Rush of the Local 5 union stated that, “the marriage of the cannabis-hemp industry and the UFCW union is a natural one. We are an agriculture, food processing and retail union, as is this industry. We are proud to represent our cannabis workers and we’re determined to create a responsible, safe, and effective industry not only for our members, but for the communities that we live in and work in too. We have only just begun to organize this industry.”
Teamsters Local 70, an Oakland-based union, has recently unionized medical marijuana employees. Approximately 40 new members were added earlier this month. Members of this union work as gardeners, trimmers, and cloners for Marjyn Investments LLC, an Oakland business that contracts with medical marijuana patients through collectives.
Their newly negotiated two-year contract provides individuals with a pension, paid vacation and health insurance. Their current wages of $18 per hour will increase to $25.75 an hour within 15 months, according to the union. Ken Jacobs, chair of the UC Berkeley Labor Center, said Cannabis unions will, “help further legitimize the notion of legalizing and taking cannabis. This reflects a change in attitudes about cannabis in this state- and the recognition of the economic realities that California is facing.”
On July 20, the Oakland City Council voted 5-2 in favor of a plan to license four production plants where marijuana would be grown, packaged and processed. More than 260 potential applicants are interested in competing for the four production plants permits according to Arturo Sanchez, an assistant to the Oakland City administrator who will ultimately issue the permits.
During the bidding process, union connections will be looked upon favorably, as labor standards will be an important factor in determining who receives the permits. Oakland is laying the necessary framework to allow its citizens to profit in a legal market. Even Oakland’s popular Oaksterdam University has unionized.
Individuals within Lake County’s cannabis industry should be researching, collaborating and innovating. What will be the future of the cannabis industry? Will it be in large agricultural fields or industrial production plants? Or will it be more scientific, with testing to find that perfect medicinal strain? Could cannabis tourism revitalize Lakeshore Drive in Clearlake or maybe even reopen Konocti Harbor Resort? What about the production of hemp?
Lake County has great soil and some of the cannabis industry’s most knowledgeable professionals. To use economic terms, Lake County needs to capitalize on its comparative advantage and invest in its future.
The evolution and success of Napa’s wine industry is an excellent model of development and innovation. Napa County constructed a local wine industry that prevailed over neighboring counties (including Lake County). Right now, Humboldt and Mendocino counties are looking to blaze ahead in the “green rush” and Lake County shouldn’t be left in their smoke trails.
The Bay Area and other Northern California counties are thinking big. For example, a Los Angeles-based company (Plant Properties Management LLC) is proposing a 600,000 square foot indoor hydroponic medical marijuana grow in Chico.
Chico councilman Andy Holcombe was favorable to the idea, saying, “If it actually creates jobs and tax
revenue, it sounds like a promising business, just like any other business.”
During a July 2010 Berkeley City Council meeting, Mayor Tom Bates said, “If Prop 19 passes, it would be available to cities to tax, so we’re putting an item on the upcoming ballot to allow us to be able to tax marijuana in the event it passes, so we’d be ahead of the game.”
On Sept. 14, the Lake County Board of Supervisors prolonged the moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries.
Pointing to the potential passage of Prop 19, the county thought it was better to wait until after the November election to address the issue. I think we should address the issue now, before the price of marijuana drops and Lake County is left with an outdated cannabis industry.
The Lake County Board of Supervisors should be developing a strong relationship with members of the Lake County cannabis industry. If cannabis is legalized, an efficient growing system should be set in
place by spring of 2011.
When it comes to taxing cannabis, it is important to note that if taxes are too high then people will resort back to the black market. Lake County should be creating ordinances that promote development. Local growers should welcome the county’s involvement in the process, as it would bring in revenue and add legitimacy to their product/medicine.
Yes, I understand the current proposition to legalize marijuana is alarming to many individuals who currently profit in the marijuana black market and the medical marijuana gray market. It is natural to resist this economic trend towards commercialization, but it is irrational not to prepare for it. The good news is that the outdoor harvest this fall will not have to compete with large companies, however next
year the market may be considerably more competitive.
Unions are not perfect, but would you rather have a union or a public defender represent individuals in the cannabis industry? The formation of unions would promote development and safe investment. A union would not only be great for Lake County’s Cannabis industry, but also for the Lake County economy.
Until then, we will have ambiguous cannabis prescriptions/cards, cartels illegally growing on public and private land, and no tax revenues to fund our government’s ridiculous marijuana enforcement
expenditures.
Links:
www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/09/25/MNC21FJMOQ.DTL
www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9IBM2CO0.htm
www.tokeofthetown.com/2010/08/nations_largest_indoor_pot_grow_proposed_for_chico.php
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/east_bay&id=7539724
www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hZLBYFaEsfHiwcOne9fhw5u1tVuAD9ICGPHG1
http://articles.sfgate.com/2010-05-28/news/21647932_1_tax-cannabis-union-dispensary
http://sfappeal.com/news/2010/05/pot-goes-union-oaksterdam-joins.php
Robert Schaerges is a student at UC Davis Law School and was born and raised in Lake County.