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Letters
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- Written by: Herb Gura
It’s come to my attention that there is some backlash regarding the local Democratic Party’s support and endorsement of Measure O, The Medical Marijuana Control Act. I am personally in support of Measure O and wanted to share the reasons that I am hoping it will pass.
Some of you have written letters in which you describe negative experiences that you have had or are currently having with marijuana grows and growers in your communities. I sympathize and have had some similar experiences myself.
But these irresponsible growers are operating under the existing ordinance, which obviously is not working.
Law enforcement’s and code enforcement’s attempts to operate an effective program to control illegal grows have been sporadic and seemingly random at best.
In some communities the police have been heavy handed and gone overboard, resulting in lawsuits and claims of civil rights violations.
Meanwhile, many large problematic illegal grows seem to proliferate out in the open with no interference from the authorities whatsoever.
The current ordinance does not provide any specific means for the county to deal with the most problematic abuses of Proposition 215.
There are no funds for an ongoing enforcement operation and no dedicated personnel for that purpose. So the Lake County Sheriff’s Office and county Code Enforcement can make a big expensive show of force at the beginning of the season and then run out of steam and out of money a month or two later.
Both these agencies have plenty of other work to do to ensure public health and safety, and being saddled with the job of chasing after pot grows takes away from their ability to fight other crime and enforce county health and building codes.
Measure O addresses this problem very directly. It allows for very small backyard grows of just a few plants while allowing for larger cooperative grows on bigger and more remote parcels of land. Even small grows that comply with Measure O would be subject to mitigation if there were complaints from neighbors.
Larger growers would pay a per plant fee to the county and the moneys collected would be used to fund a department whose only job would be marijuana enforcement.
These officers, who would be trained in this very narrow and specific set of regulations would respond promptly to complaints because that would be all they have to do. They would go to the sites of reported violations and give the violator a choice to come into compliance or to have their crops confiscated and pay fines and penalties.
Measure O was written based upon a great deal of research and a professional survey that took input from many people on all sides of the issue. It may not be perfect, but I believe it is clearly a better law than the one currently in place which is causing a myriad of complaints from all sides and is not effectively taking care of the actual problem.
That is why I am supporting Measure O. I hope you will read the entire measure in detail and join me in supporting it.
Lake County is one of the few counties left in California that does not yet have any sort of working and effective ordinance in place. I believe the passage of Measure O will provide us with an opportunity to get past the medical marijuana battle and move on to other important issues in need of our attention.
Herb Gura lives in Clearlake Oaks, Calif.
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- Written by: Deborah Wallace
If measures O and P pass it will raise Lake County’s water rates.
Commercial pot growers use more water collectively than all Lake County residential water users combined!
Twelve marijuana growers were recently caught using 150,000 gallons of water in Spring Valley in just four months.
If measures O and P pass it will make it more difficult to prevent water thefts and excessive water usage within our communities.
Keep in mind that marijuana is a thirsty plant and can use up to 10 to 14 gallons per plant, per day for six months!
In January of 2014 I had to drill another well because the one I have used for over 30 years went dry.
I realize that we are in a drought but I have no doubts that the two marijuana grows that are attached to the east and north side of my horse pastures since May 4, 2012, significantly contributed to my loss of well water. That first year they had 99 plants in one grow and 99 in the other grow.
So let’s do the math using the low number of 10 gallons per day times 198 plants, that is 1,980 gallons used every day from May through October.
From May through October there are 183 days times 1,980 gallons used per day resulting in 362,340 gallons used in that time frame. That does not include the water used in their indoor grow that year. The next year the number of outdoor plants went down but the indoor grows expanded.
The marijuana growers are diverting and drying up already drought-plagued water sources throughout Lake County.
They are polluting our streams, Clear Lake and our ground water with fertilizers heavy with steroids.
If measures O and P pass Lake County will no longer be a place where families come to vacation, fish or wine taste.
I cannot fathom what it will do to our property values, our quality of life, our environment and our limited water resources.
It has been a peaceful summer without the two grows next door. However the growers left both places looking like I live in a third world country with their camouflage fence all tattered and torn and the huge marijuana planters and piles of dirt and trash just left behind because they care so much for this county’s environment.
Don’t let these growers for profit take over our county, vote no on measures O and P.
Check out www.protectourlakecounty.com or www.savemeasureN.info for truthful information on this topic.
Deborah Wallace lives in Middletown, Calif.
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- Written by: Ellen Sommers
In September I attended a Board of Supervisors meeting where the library budget was discussed.
Christopher Veach, Lake County head librarian, was asked to present budget adjustments to reduce the expenditures of the library for the current budget year.
Although Mr. Veach suggested that budget shortfalls could be met by using library reserve funds this year, the Board of Supervisors felt this was unacceptable.
Suggested cuts included closing a library and reducing librarian hours. When it was announced that these were possible service reductions, the community response was strong. A petition was signed on Facebook and many community members contacted their local supervisors.
Others attended the Board of Supervisors meeting to make an impassioned plea for their library and the library system as a whole.
As a Lake County Library Advisory Board member I thanked the Board of Supervisors for its support of libraries, which are not always considered essential county services.
There was a strong statement at the meeting that libraries were essential services of the county, that the democratic process depended on libraries and that libraries frequently served as community hubs.
It has not been my experience over the past two years that the Board of Supervisors has backed that sentiment up with much real (or economic) support for their belief.
In many ways the Board of Supervisors has taken the “saving of the libraries” as a wonderful political moment, but ignored the fact that the budget for the library system has been reduced each year that I have served.
County libraries are funded by state library funds and dedicated Lake County property tax money, established by a 1984 ballot measure.
Reductions in the state library funds have accounted for tremendous revenue loss for the library system. But the Board of Supervisors has not moved to backfill those funds, in fact, they have asked for library budget reductions to make sure the library stays within the amount of the dedicated property tax base even as inflation raises library costs.
The Board of Supervisors could add money to the county library fund budget, as they did in 2012 to help cover sudden shortfalls from state budget cuts, but apparently they have other, more essential, priorities.
In the 2013-14 budget year, line item administrative fees in the library budget for county Buildings and Grounds Department costs were $6,844 (in accordance with OMBA-87).
In 2014-15 the Board of Supervisors allowed $131,092 in line item administrative fees for work by that department. This contributed greatly to this year’s library budget shortfall. It is unclear what those charges were for since they do not have to be itemized.
As we look at the expenditures of the library, they do not come from lack of oversight by the librarian.
I question the decision of the Board of Supervisors to backfill this budget shortfall by assigning the tasks of the Visitor Information Center to the library staff.
If the programs and services of the library are so essential, then how can you ask them to take on tasks that will only take them away from those services?
I have found the library staff in Lake County libraries to be very professional and very busy. They are engaged in the operations of the library. Now they will do the tasks of the Visitor Information Center, taking time away from creating programs and serving the community more completely as professional librarians.
Mr. Veach suggested that the budget shortfall could be covered with library reserve funds for this year with the assumption of better state funding for the following year and of normalization of county administration fees, which contributed directly to the shortfall.
The Board of Supervisors' decision to “save” the libraries by adding more tasks outside of the definition of library services to cover a budget shortfall that comes from additional county costs does not make me believe that the Board of Supervisors feels library services are essential.
These are just two of the concerns that have been on my mind since the Board of Supervisors' magnanimous decision last month.
Mr. Veach will be asked to come back to the board to report on the activities of the library for the upcoming budget year and to review the recommendations of the advisory board.
As interested citizens, do not to assume that the level of library service will be maintained in your community.
To support your community library, please join the Friends of the Library in your community, visit the Lake County Library on Facebook, and let your supervisor know that you continue to feel that libraries are essential services in Lake County.
Ellen Sommers is a member of the Lake County Library Advisory Board, serving Lake County, Calif.
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- Written by: Mark Bredt
I recently received mail urging me to vote NO on Proposition 45.
There is nothing wrong with that, as a conscientious voter I want information on both sides of an issue.
It would be nice, however, if the information provided would include some reason, some facts and some intelligence.
Proposition 45 presents placement of the elected insurance commissioner as the decision maker in matters of health care, the vote no propaganda I received focused its opposition on the “fact” that the current insurance commissioner is, in their opinion, a liberal Democrat. While that is probably true, it is not relevant to this matter.
My reaction to this declaration was, despite being a registered Republican, to immediately dismiss the entire argument.
But, something needs to be said about health care. The political material provided to me contained some other statements and allegations. “The proponents of Prop. 45 are ardent supporters of a “single payer” government-run care system for all,” they declare.
Every American will need health care at some time in their life. I do. And, I have personal testimony that the American health care system is completely out of control.
As my economic health has waxed and waned in the face of physical health issues I have seen some revealing incidents.
I discovered that my prescribed medications can be purchased at a lower price (as a private citizen without insurance, directly from my pharmacist) than the amount I was paying as my co-pay while insured. I have been quoted different prices for the same treatment as an uninsured patient, and as an insured patient.
The party material quoted Dr. Lee T. Snook, Jr., a board certified physician, saying, “Health care decisions should be made by doctors and patients, not someone with a political agenda.”
I completely agree. But the implication is … that possibility exists; it does not, and it never has. I have personally experienced veto of treatments prescribed by my doctor(s) by some anonymous member of my insurance coverage. I have heard the frustration from my doctors who are losing, have lost, faith in the American health care system.
I don’t know if nationalized health care could be an improvement. I do know the system we are suffering under now is not driven by care or compassion. It is a for-profit business driven by a desire to accelerate gain and minimize cost.
I am a capitalist, philosophically. But there are arenas that are not best-served by capitalism. An industry that should be focused on healing is one of those arenas. Nationalized health care in other countries seems to be working. I am sure there are problems, all systems have them.
Lastly, I am so tired of political affiliation being perceived as the primary consideration for decisions. In fact, I am seeing party politics as a tremendous threat to the welfare of ALL American citizens.
The first “fact” declared in the propaganda I am discussing is, “Puts a Democrat politician in charge of your health care.” If this is the best argument that can be mustered against any legislation, reasoning people have to question the motivations of the speaker.
I will read the legislation. I will read the “for” and “against” material. I will vote my conscience. In my heart, I am not a Republican or a Democrat, I am an involved, concerned American.
Mark Bredt lives in Clearlake, Calif.