Letters

Details

Written by: Norman Taylor

Published: 26 June 2011

Lakeport Police Officer Gary Basor (left) and Lakeport Police Chief Brad Rasmussen washed cars to benefit Lake County Sheriff's Sgt. Brian Kenner and his family at a special benefit car wash on Saturday, June 25, 2011. Photo courtesy of Lakeport Fire Chief Ken Wells.

As most of you know, Lake County Sheriff’s Sgt. Brian Kenner was injured while at work and suffered a traumatic brain injury.

His recovery will be a long road and the members of the Lakeport Police Department wanted to go the extra mile for a close member of our law enforcement family.

So, we organized and held a benefit car wash for the Kenner family on Saturday June 25.

The event was an absolute success. We washed more than 125 cars and raised over $1,600 in just a few hours. The community showed us the high regard with which they hold their public safety members.

I would like to thank and recognize a few folks for their hard work at the car wash today.

Before I list those hard working members of the Lakeport Police Department who participated, I need to extend a special thanks to some special people who heard about this event and took it upon themselves to come and help.

Community members Steve and Crystal Esberg, Heather Wichlaz and her children, Phil Mateer Jr. and Tyler Martin all deserve a special thanks.

Lakeport Police Department members and family Bob Marks, Pat McFarland, Brad Rasmussen, Gary Basor, Bob Jordan, Jason Ferguson, Dale Stoebe, Jarvis Jessica and Cameron Leishman and Gage Taylor worked hard through the day to make this event a success.

Seeing our community and law enforcement family come together to support of one of our own was amazing.

Thank you all.

Norman Taylor is president of the Lakeport Police Officers Association, based in Lakeport, Calif.

Details

Written by: Bruno Sabatier

Published: 21 June 2011

The multitude of booths erected their canopies filling the park with a variety of colors and attracted a variety of people.

Kids played in the bouncy house, the mini basketball hoop and in the sand box. Teenagers (sometimes even younger) and young adults took part in a two-on-two basketball tournament and a skate park competition (skateboard and BMX).

All ages enjoyed the music and live performances that were played on the main stage in the park. Even the tug-o-war brought a great big cheer from the crowd watching the competition. Though of course much was learned from the event making decisions that were taken, what I saw and what most seemed to have seen was that we succeed in bringing our community together.

The event offered a meaningful environment of healthy competition, local community services/businesses and solid local entertainment.

Throughout the event and after we've received many comments and phone calls for more, most interest seeming to come from the basketball competition.

So what's next? Do we wait one full year to re-create and enhance the Power to the Youth experience giving again a good reason to come together in the park as a community in unity? Or was Power to the Youth an experiment where we choose to let the audience of our event lead us to what the community wants and not what we believe the community may need?

Do we try to create more outdoor basketball competitions? Do we try to create more skate park competitions? Or, do we try to create a constant stage for musicians whose dream is to be heard by a live audience?

No matter what happens, I think that for sure we will continue our original idea of making this an annual event and hopefully a community tradition.

We plan on meeting soon after a week of rest and reflection. We'll let you know what we choose to do, just keep an eye out for Power to the Youth.

Thank you to all the participants of the event and to all who came to attend it as well. Events require both sides to show up to be successful.

Last but not least, thank you to Lake Community Pride Foundation for believing in us and giving us their full support to make our vision a reality.

Bruno Sabatier is the lead coordinator for the Power to the Youth. He lives in Clearlake, Calif.

Details

Written by: Jim Steele

Published: 16 June 2011

Remembering back before the last election there were many concerns regarding activities of the sheriff’s office. A promise by then-candidate Rivero was for a citizen’s review committee to serve as watch dog over the functions and actions of the sheriff’s office. The now-Sheriff Rivero has called for a broader oversight committee than just for the actions of the officers in the performance of their duties and includes expenditures and overall quality of performance.

The establishment of this committee can be one of the most important additions to law enforcement and citizen’s rights since the county was incorporated and should have the participation and support of those that want it done right. This will benefit every resident when there is a controversial issue, both citizens and officers alike. A complaint easily made can either be an insult to good police work or a need for training or new policy. Of course tax dollars, always in short supply, should be spent wisely and defensibly and public employees should not be afraid of shedding light on their performance.

The sheriff proposed keeping the committee independent of the sheriff’s office and asked the county Board of Supervisors (BOS) to both head up forming and over sighting the committee.

One would expect that the direction of the BOS and support of staff would insure a positive result. So far, without even the first meeting in hand, the lack of involvement by the BOS and staff was evident.

Two members of the BOS volunteered to be on the organizing committee, but one quit complaining of lack of direction, presumably aimed at the sheriff. This is curious because it’s a BOS committee established by the BOS to review and develop the sheriff’s request. But possibly the decision to quit was based on a question of bad fit or lack of vision and ultimately a good choice.

Now, very professional county staff have been assigned to the task of helping the exploratory committee establish the model that will be advanced to public hearing. It’s too bad that another supervisor didn’t step up to also help represent citizens in this important business, as this job clearly requires strong skills and lack of conflict as I know others have. But self-selection is likely the best method and it’s hard to second guess motives.

Although it’s not required by law for an ad hoc committee to be publicly noticed, Sheriff Rivero wants everyone who has an interest to attend this “exploratory” committee’s work. It will be publicly noticed by BOS staff for what I hope is the forming of a truly historic citizen’s committee in Lake County.

Those who complain and don’t act are doomed to despair. I hope all Lake County citizens seize this opportunity and make it theirs. This kind of sheriff doesn’t come by very often.

Jim Steele lives in Clearlake Oaks, Calif., and is one of three citizen members of the exploratory committee.