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Letters
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- Written by: Mike Tabacchi
I moved to Harbin in 2000, and I am currently working there part-time. Prior to the Valley fire, I was employed as a cook in the restaurant. I held a few temporary jobs as well, but the restaurant was always my ”bread and butter.”
Over the course of those 15 years, by my estimation, I prepared upwards of 8,000 omelets of one type or another. It’s true. In hindsight, I suppose I was destined to be a breakfast cook given that my mom’s name is Over Easy and my dad’s is Over Hard: but a grain of truth.
Beyond the economic ties, I also found a home at Harbin.
Prior to moving to the area, I had lived a rootless existence. As an adult, I had bounced around the country, and the world (including four years in Germany), never living in the same community for more than two years. By age 40, finding a place to land represented a personal milestone or turning point.
Sept. 12, 2015, was a game changer for me and many others in south Lake County. I lost most of my possessions, my home and my Harbin community to fire. I decided to stay, but many others opted to relocate and start over.
The Harbin rebuild and successful reopening reman a county priority. This was clearly communicated by the supervisors during last month’s meeting.
In my opinion, having this discussion was both necessary and proved to be productive. A number of challenging issues were identified during the meeting:
– a complex mix of prevailing state regulations, county ordinances and Middletown Area Plan guidelines;
– diverging opinions in the interpretation and application of some of those parameters; and
– in small measure, the growing pains of building or establishing new professional working relationships.
The Harbin rebuild is a multi-phased project with many moving parts. Many have dedicated long hours to push this project forward.
My hope is that everyone who was present in that chamber will work together, and to paraphrase, “make Harbin great again.”
Mike Tabacchi lives in Middletown, Calif.
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- Written by: Mary Morse
The Kelseyville Business Association covered all the costs for the event. Thank you!
Thanks to all the people that helped with the town decorations, setting up the day of the event and cleanup, the parade participants, all of the merchants and churches, and especially the community that comes out to enjoy a simple old-fashioned Christmas in the country, with merchants opening their doors for all sorts of free goodies, wagon rides and a beautiful parade of lights. To see all the smiling faces and childrens twinkling eyes brings so much joy to us all.
I want to thank many individuals for sharing their time and talents: Mike and Kim Riley, the couple I can count on to always be there to help; Dave Morse, always right in there helping: and I hope I don't forget anyone, Sue Dodd, Cooper Dodd, Rick White, Trena Pauly, Nick Buttitta, Debbie Gerace, Eric VonOrden, Ross Mason, Helen Finch, Marilyn Holdenried, Rob Brown, Caroline Chavez, Brian Fischer, Rafael Perez, Mike Lorrenzini, Brenda Young, Westamerica Bank, Studebakers Coffee House, Kelseyville Lions Club and Kelseyville Lumber.
Thanks to all the merchants who decorated their stores and windows so beautifully, the churches that opened their hearts and doors, the parade entries this year were so colorful and fun, thanks for all your effort to make our parade so festive.
As we celebrate the birth of Christ, we are so thankful for all of the wonderful people and all of the blessings we have in our lives.
Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas.
Mary Morse owns Kelseyville Appliance and is an organizer of Christmas in the Country in Kelseyville, Calif.
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- Written by: Phillip Hayes
Congressman Mike Thompson does all of those things by backing U.S. sugar policy.
Sugar policy operates without taxpayer cost, helps thousands of farms from California to Florida and backs 142,000 jobs nationwide, including hundreds at the local C&H refinery.
What’s more, the price of sugar today is actually cheaper than it was in 1980.
Amazingly, the congressman was personally attacked by a D.C. lobbyist, Nicholas Pyle, for defending local jobs.
Pyle is paid to promote the outsourcing of U.S. sugar production to subsidized foreign industries that break international trade law and employ child and slave labor.
His clients hope Congress will reward these bad actors to the detriment of U.S. farmers and workers so they can save a couple of pennies a pound on ingredient costs.
That’s terrible policy. Made in America means something to most reasonable people. Too bad D.C. attack dogs like Pyle aren’t paid to be reasonable.
Phillip Hayes represents the American Sugar Alliance, based in Arlington, Va.
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- Written by: Nicholas A. Pyle
Thompson continually votes to maintain the U.S. Sugar program. Why? It is really quite simple, Congressman Thompson received well over $96,000 in political donations from the sugar cartels since coming to Washington in 1999.
Thanks to Rep. Thompson and others, the U.S. Sugar Program continues. The Sugar Program is a Soviet-style command and control scheme that restricts planting and imports. This inflates the price of sugar in the United States to almost double the world price. So, when you go to the store to buy a snack cake or anything sweetened, you pay more!
According to the Congressional Budget Office, the program means Americans pay $3.5 billion every year in increased grocery costs, which breaks down to of upwards of $50 per family.
In Rep. Thompson's 18 years in office, he repeatedly voted against sugar reform costing each California family an additional $900 for groceries.
You have to ask yourself, is my Congressman really fighting to make life better, or is he just another politician in it for the campaign contributions?
It's time for Congressman Thompson to step up and end this costly government giveaway to the cartels!
The Independent Bakers' Association is an international trade association that fights to protect the interests of mostly family owned wholesale bakers and allied trades. For more information about IBA and sugar program corruption, visit www.IBAbaker.com.
Nicholas A. Pyle is president of the Independent Bakers' Association.