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Letters
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- Written by: Lillian Secrist
Harken! What is this word they call justice? Where was it put into use in the trial of Andrew Serranno?
What an atrocity! A jury could rule that premeditated murder was not the factor after all of the facts and incidents?
And then to deem not guilty by reason of insanity?
I beg to differ. This man is not insane. Just manipulative and sly like a fox.
This went on for years and he knew exactly what he was doing. And now the rest of the recipients can still live in fear of what can still happen to them next!
From where was this jury panel selected?
This should not be the last of this terrible decision.
It is time to examine your thoughts and hearts, as he gleefully plays out his game. Let us not settle for this.
Lillian Secrist lives in Elko, Nev.
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- Written by: Dave Rosenthal
Please join me in voting no on measures O and P.
These measures pose the single biggest threat to our quality of life in Lake County. Both measures seek to allow increased marijuana cultivation with little or no enforcement capability.
If O or P passes in November, the current and effective county regulations approved by the voters in June (Measure N) will be replaced and our neighborhoods will be overrun by out of county growers seeking to move here to profit on pot.
Measure O, at first glance seems somewhat reasonable; it is not.
This ordinance is a cleverly written document constructed by marijuana growers, for marijuana growers.
The enforcement procedures of Measure O, buried on page 20 of this document, will prohibit the county from proactively enforcing excessive marijuana grows and reduce violations to an infraction.
The only way actual enforcement action would be allowed is if two written complaints are filed with the Community Development Department by a someone who lives or works within 600 feet of the grow. The name of the person(s) filing the complaint must be included to be accepted for follow up.
The first complaint would limit the county to simply sending a “courtesy” letter to the grower, giving them 10 days to comply. If the grower fails to comply, the county cannot follow up with enforcement action unless a second written complaint is filed within 15 days of the first complaint.
If a second written complaint is filed in time then the county can inspect the site, verify the violation and post a notice of nuisance giving the grower 10 more days to comply or file an appeal to the Board of Supervisors and drag the process out even further.
The true intentions of the authors of Measure O are to turn Lake County into the location for pot growers. It is all about profits and greed, hidden behind a smoke screen of medicine.
Prohibiting effective enforcement will help assure that violations will be rampant and growers will have no need to register their collective grows or pay per plant fees that the advocates of Measure O claim will generate revenues.
I do not believe for a moment that growers will register plants and pay fees; most of them already ignore all federal, state and county laws regulating the cultivation of marijuana.
Measure P seeks to allow people to grow whatever they want, wherever they want and in whatever quantity they want. Enforcement provisions are almost nonexistent in this measure.
We have land use regulations for good reason, so that hog or poultry farms, or industrial parks are not located in neighborhoods. For-profit marijuana cultivation should not be in our neighborhoods either.
If marijuana is so good for our economy, then why haven’t the sales tax revenues and property values increased yet?
Please join me in voting no on measures O and P, and send a strong message to the growers that this is our community, not their pot factory.
Dave Rosenthal lives in Middletown, Calif.
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- Written by: Rodger D. Elliott
I have followed with keen interest your coverage of events leading to and the trial of Andrew Serrano for his attacks on Lesa Koloff, her fiancé Willy Turner and friends. Lesa is my niece.
It is difficult to fully express my consternation and outrage at the jury finding of “not guilty by reason of insanity” following their verdict of guilt to most of the charges against him.
Without reportage of specifics of the sanity phase of the trial or a polling of the jurors there is no way to understand the jurors’ reasoning behind their verdict found after only two hours’ deliberation.
Could they have simply figured there were two testifiers for insanity and just one for sanity?
It seems that both the defendant attorney and the prosecutor were somewhat surprised at the outcome – was the district attorney blindsided and tepid in his presentation of sanity arguments?
Some things are clear. The victims and their families, far from finding closure in justice served, must try to move forward with burden of fear and apprehension of further danger and savagery.
I should think other Lake County citizens might likewise be concerned.
Rodger D. Elliott lives in Bellingham, Wash.
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- Written by: Tom Guthrie
I have some thoughts for Lake County's marijuana growers.
Nearly all of us live our lives based on trust.
We trust that money we put in the bank today will be there for us tomorrow.
We trust that the pound of hamburger meat we buy is 16 ounces, not less.
We trust that a car behind us won't slam into us at a light. We trust that we get back the right change at stores.
We trust ... well, you get the idea, and we rarely give any of it a second thought.
Because of our compassion for those of you in pain, we agreed to protect you from criminal prosecution for growing a few marijuana plants to ease your suffering.
We trusted you to act sensibly. We trusted you to act in the spirit of the agreement you led us to believe you would honor.
Your response was to take advantage of us far beyond any reasonable expectation.
You saw our compassion for you as open season on us.
You violate our trust with impunity, you put the safety of our children at risk, you drive down property values, you make a mockery of county government, you depress the economy by making visitors and vacationers think twice about coming here, you're a reason businesses don't locate here.
In sum, what you do threatens the peace and safety of us all.
And now you expect us to believe that even more of what you do is good for Lake County.
You want us to believe that a drug-based economy – one with more marijuana in more yards in more neighborhoods – is the “sensible” solution. And you tell us that you'll do it responsibly.
After all you put us through – including your superbly misleading petition drive to “support children's hospitals” – you tell us to trust you.
We don't want your marijuana grows next door or 10 doors away, we don't want them next to our churches, we don't want them next to our children's playgrounds and nursery schools.
We remain unalterably opposed to your marijuana grows in any of our residential neighborhoods. We trusted you once with that, and then you played us!
That's why so many of us are voting no on measures P and O in November!
Visit www.SaveMeasureN.info for details.
Tom Guthrie lives in Lakeport, Calif.