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Letters
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- Written by: Carly Stockman
In a recent opinion published in Lake County News, Robert Schaerges wrote as if Proposition 19, which would decriminalize possession and cultivation of cannabis, had already passed and that Lake County will prosper by unionizing the industry.
Timeout!
California has not yet voted on the proposition and even if approved there is still a little thing called federal law.
Before anyone entertains such far-reaching, if not offbeat, ideas, there are many obstacles to overcome.
For one, there is the obvious conflict between state and federal law; the US Department of Justice openly opposes the proposition.
Second, even if cannabis was legal federally (try to imagine getting the U.S. Congress to vote for legalizing drug use) the proposition does not establish taxes on sales to fund enforcement and does not outline substance control; it seems obvious, at least to me, that these obstacles and probably a lot
more must be resolved before seriously considering second tier issues.
If passed by voters in November, Proposition 19 will make it lawful for any person 21 years of age or older to “personally possess … not more than one ounce of cannabis, solely for that individual’s personal consumption, and not for sale,” (about a full Ziploc sandwich bag). It would make legal “cultivation … in an area of not more than 25 square feet per private residence,” which is not nearly enough space to truly “industrialize” its production.
The Board of Equalization recently noted that Proposition 19 “…does not establish a statewide
regulatory framework, nor does it impose an additional statewide tax on cannabis.” Unlike alcohol beverages that are regulated statewide by the Department of Alcohol Beverage Control, Proposition 19 leaves it up to an unmanageable patchwork of 536 local jurisdictional entities to tax and regulate cannabis.
Federal law categorizes marijuana as a “Schedule 1” drug and prohibits the possession, usage, sale and/or cultivation. In a letter to former heads of the Drug Enforcement Administration, US Attorney General Eric Holder promised that the Justice Department will continue to enforce federal cannabis laws in California even if the state’s voters approve Proposition 19.
As a practical matter all that Proposition 19 does, in a very limited way, is decriminalize cannabis
in state law without all the bells and whistles required to make the new law work as intended.
Those pushing for unionizing the non-existent cannabis industry should take a timeout. We need much more serious-minded evaluation and discussion before we get any deeper in the weeds (no pun intended).
Carly Stockman was raised in Kelseyville, Calif., and currently lives in Sacramento and attends Lincoln Law School.
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- Written by: Raymond Daviesson
Essentially, what we were listening to, was excuses by the contractors, for the terrible job on repaving the road they did.
Caltrans is the state agency that opens bids for work on our roads, and has the oversight responsibility from the time the contract is awarded, until they sign off on the job. The contractor also has to have a performance bond, which indemnifies the state, for failure to perform the job correctly.
The district manager from Caltrans had already “signed off” of the work, and so released the contractor from further work. Clearly the person in the hot seat should be that district manager of Caltrans.
Right from the onset of the meeting he was asked repeatedly, and once by me, if he had classified the road was safe? And, repeatedly, he not only answered to the affirmative, but had the contractor's representatives repeat that statement, that in their opinion it was safe.
It was only after heated debate by the majority of attendees that both the Caltrans district manager and the contractor seemed to agree that a mistake had been made in stating that it was safe.
The money for the work came from the taxpayers of California, from the general fund and from the fuel taxes, which we all pay. Aren't Caltrans,and contractors they use supposed to be held accountable for the work down under contract to the state?
Caltrans in this case clearly failed to exercise oversight, and the contractors clearly did not meet their terms of reference in this contract with the state.
Three things should happen. Firstly the contractor should be made to go back and correct all of the mistakes, including resurfacing of the road with the proper aggregates and completing the road markings.
Secondly, the contractor should be barred from future contracts with the state.
Thirdly, the district manager for Caltrans should be fired.
Furthermore, I believe that a class action may well result from this incident, because hundreds – if not thousands – of motorists are finding that their tires are wearing out very rapidly since the new surface was laid down.
Additionally, the noise level from the traffic on Highway 29 has become incredibly loud, something that was not a factor before in Hidden Valley Lake.
Finally, there is absolutely no question that the work on the Highway 29 is the most outrageously unprofessional road work I have ever seen. Lake County taxpayers deserve a professional level of performance by contractors, and the state should evoke the performance bond they established to get the contract, even if they were the lowest bidder.
Just compare the recent work on other roads in neighboring counties to see what they should have looked and felt like. The same manager from Caltrans is also in charge of those road works, so he knows better. Why is he acting as if he does not know what all the fuss is about? Is it because he might lose his job?
I am looking forward to seeing what the fall out to this is going to be.
Raymond Daviesson lives in Hidden Valley Lake, Calif.
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- Written by: Nina Bouska
Income taxes have been on a steady downward trend since the early 1980s. Our tax rate now is lower than it was in 1955. The upward trend started because of the war in Iraq.
You might also want to look into Jane Bryant Quinn’s analysis for CBS Money Watch: http://moneywatch.bnet.com/investing/blog/make-money/your-federal-income-taxes-are-lower-than-you-think/109/?tag=content;col1.
Or be brave and get into the comparison of U.S. personal income tax rates between 1975 and 2008 with those elsewhere in the world, at: www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxfacts/Content/PDF/oecd_historical_toprate.pdf.
While our rates are certainly not the lowest, they’re far from being the highest.
On another note: it’s interesting to look at the U.S. Department of Labor: Bureau of Labor Statistics on unemployment now and during the Reagan years: http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/data/UNRATE.txt.
When Barack Obama took office in January of 2009, the unemployment rate stood at 7.4 percent. It climbed to 10.1 percent by October but dropped to 10.0 in November and December. At the end of September 2010 it stood at 9.6 percent.
When Ronald Reagan took office in January of 1980, the unemployment rate stood at 6.3 percent. By September of 1982, the unemployment rate reached 10.1 percent, stood at 10.8 percent in November and December. It remained over 10 percent for 10 months. It took 46 months to push the rate back down to 6.3 percent.
Perhaps we should show some patience.
Nina Bouska lives in Hidden Valley Lake, Calif.
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- Written by: Brian Foster
This of course is very, very illegal. Had I been home, I certainly would have called the police (not that they would understand what to do).
It may not seem at first to be a big deal, but there are numerous places to put a flyer – on the fence, on a car or even directly on my door. But to put it in a mailbox without postage is tampering with the mail and subject to considerable fines as well as jail time!
Brian Foster lives in Clearlake, Calif.
Editor's note: U.S. Postal Service regulations state, “no part of a mail receptacle may be used to deliver any matter not bearing postage, including items or matter placed upon, supported by, attached to, hung from, or inserted into a mail receptacle. Any mailable matter not bearing postage and found as described above is subject to the same postage as would be paid if it were carried by mail.” The Clearlake Post Office also confirmed that use of a mailbox to deliver flyers such as is described in the letter above is not permitted.