Letters To The Editor – September 1, 2010
Absolute best in integrity
I write this letter in support of Paul Gallegos. I am a former resident of Humboldt County, a businessman who served the criminal justice systems in Humboldt and surrounding Counties for over a decade, and one of Paul’s former business associates.
In my 35 years of working on criminal cases as a peace officer and defense investigator, I have had the opportunity to work with many exceptional attorneys, both prosecutors and defense. Paul consistently exhibited the absolute best in integrity, knowledge of the law and making common sense decisions. In these times of extremely tight and shrinking operational budgets, our elected officials must make tempered and difficult decisions on many issues and none more important than a district attorney who can make appropriate charging decisions and use of taxpayer funds to achieve effective prosecution of offenders. Paul has displayed these virtues long before he ran for district attorney, and continues to exercise good leadership in making the most of his limited budget and staff.
To the contrary, I have also been involved in many costly trials that his opponent served as the prosecutor in. Unequivocally, in my opinion, there has never been more wanton waste of taxpayer money and poor prosecutorial decision-making than in those trials which saw defendants and victims forced into lengthy and costly trials apparently solely to archive triple digit terms in sentencing for the defendants. In most instances, extremely lengthy plea offers that would have assured that the defendant would in essence serve life terms were rejected at the victim’s and taxpayer’s expense.
I encourage the voters to ask the questions, do the research on previous trial costs and to re-elect a proven leader and prosecutor in Paul Gallegos. He will continue to serve you honorably and effectively.
Bob Cloud
Kelsey
Crooks coddled, crime up
Here we go again; things will be heating up for the November election. It seems to me that just about every day in our local paper you read about a violent crime or murder here in Humboldt County. I grew up here and have lived here now for 50 years, have family in law enforcement and cannot remember any time that things looked this bad.
We are told by Mr. Gallegos that crime is down, anybody that has lived here for any amount of time knows that this is about as truthful as the statement that he worked for the Los Angeles District Attorney.
Only in Humboldt County can you murder your wife or an innocent child and spend one to 12 years in prison for it. Not only is Mr. Gallegos easy on the drug producers and dealers but he is easy on the abusers who commit violent crimes where there are drugs involved.
I cannot for the life of me understand why two of our three local tribes, Blue Lake and Bear River, each donated $10,000 to Mr. Gallegos’ campaign but I do know one thing, as a frequent visitor to both casinos, I will never enter either one again.
It is time for the good citizens of Humboldt County to stand up and put a stop to this madness in November.
Kenneth A. Quigley
McKinleyville
Mean-sprited preposterousness
Civics teachers who want to illustrate the hazards of the Nanny State run amok would do well to review the preposterous letter authored by four organizations: “How that cute li’l Speeder helped open up a can(yon) of worms” (Eye, Aug. 11).
For example, “…[a poster advertising] commercial passenger service….” Does the Timber Heritage Association want to operate the California Zephyr between Arcata and Bracut? Wow! What next? 100-car freight trains?
Of course the THA must be attentive to the integrity of the right-of-way as well as any bridges or trestles on the line. But to dismiss the all-volunteer THA, who want to bring a little joy into our lives with excursion rides and a fascinating railroad museum, as “THA guys basically us[ing] it for their hobby” is simply mean-spirited.
I think these claims of protecting the environment and the safety of the public are little more than a thinly-disguised tactic to ensure that the existing railroad right-of-way will never be shared by both excursion trains and bikers/walkers. I hope I’m wrong.
Sincerely,
Duncan B. MacLaren
Fieldbrook
Earth is a survivor
Responding to Kate Tour’s letter, “Earth is on the brink,” (Eye, July 7), I think we had best direct our concerns not to Earth but to the inhabitants thereof. Earth is old, tough, resilient. Earth is a survivor. Earth abides. Earth adjusts. At this very moment she is adjusting.
What about living creatures who dwell upon her, though? Especially those of the Homo Sapiens kind? Beings well worth the concern.
Richard J. Stanewick
Sunny Brae
NO on the Slush Bond
Arcata wants a lot of things from the proposed $26 million slush bond, and they want others to pay for them. Arcata wants a bunch if expensive buildings. Arcata wants acres of impermeable plastic grass instead of real grass. There is no reason to keep the platic grass enviro-green because it can be manufactured in any plastic color, so why not match the school colors? Plastic trees too? Perhaps the name of the Arcata football team should also be changed to the “Sponges.”
Like with other school districts, the bond company, lawyers and architects will be contributing to the election campaign and their future job either in actual money or on so-called free services, but nobody will know the amounts until after the voting. Are school job qualifications based on how much you paid to play?
I’ll be paying $10,000 over the many years of the Slush Bond. Perhaps you can trivialize the amount to “just a nickel or dime an hour,” but it is still over $10,000. People who purchased their properties recently may be paying $25,000 or more.
The frivolous replacing of three-year-old computers raises the question of why and how they will be replaced over 10 times during the life of the bond. When will the plastic grass be replaced? Is secrecy about the fantasy proposals needed because nobody knows yet what the Slush Bond is for? Will it just be wasted on building an administrative pyramid?
Vote NO on the Slush Bond.
Charles Wilson
Orick/McKinleyville
Paul vs. the crazy woman
And then there were two.
Back in June I was torn about who to vote for District Attorney, but now that it is just between Paul Gallegos and that crazy woman, it’s a bit of a no brainer. Gallegos may have had a slow start when he was first elected; he did have to deal with that whole recall funded by the corporation he was prosecuting and it seemed to take him a few years to finally get a staff in place that was loyal to him and who all worked well together. But now that he’s gotten that worked out, I have to say that I do like having someone in that job who is willing to prosecute the rich and the powerful, including the police, if there is evidence that they have broken the law. All in all, I guess we should consider ourselves lucky to have a D.A. who is committed to justice and also to crime prevention, and not some angry zealot, who thinks locking everyone up who is ever accused of a crime, and just throwing away the key, is the answer to all of society’s ills.
Caitlin Scown
Eureka
Fuzzy wuzzy discrimination
Just when I think I’ve heard them all: “Adopt A Waiting Child,” “Adopt A Shelter Animal,” “Adopt A Highway,” “Adopt A Library,” “Adopt A Platoon,” “Adopt A Minefield,” “Adopt A Hospital Room,” “Adopt A US Soldier,” “Adopt A Microbe,” “Adopt A Manatee,” and even “Adopt A Liberal”….
…now we have “Adopt A Duck” for public television!!! Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for fundraising, but “adopt” has become a fuzzy, wuzzy term used to make people feel good about handing over their money. It’s as if they are acquiring ownership of the “item” that is “adoptable.” These cool ducks with shades are “adopted” in order to race them and possibly win a prize for “adopting” a fast swimmer.
Adoption is NOT always a fuzzy, wuzzy term for an adoptee. This process requires the loss of one’s biological family and one’s original identity. While everyone else celebrates his/her “arrival,” the adopted person is mourning a profound loss.
I also want to remind the public that the liberal use of the word “bastard” is an insult to adopted people and to every person whose biological father is unknown. Many people who use this word are unaware of its actual definition: “an illegitimate child.” This word is currently being used in our culture to describe evil, mean, crazy, and disgusting people. One cannot watch primetime T.V. without hearing it, and hearing it often. This is discrimination.
In California, an adopted person’s birth certificate is sealed from them FOREVER. If his/her Amended (Fake) Birth Certificate was issued over a year past their birth date, he/she is routinely denied a passport out of this country. (The Federal Government considers Amended Birth Certificates to be fake, but the State of California won’t give us our real documentations of birth!) This is discrimination.
Adopted people need to be treated a lot better in this society. Discrimination is NOT fuzzy, wuzzy.
Sincerely,
Mara Rigge (adoptee)
Trinidad
Where is our humanity?
I do not understand it. Everyday when I look at the news I see the same reports, the same kind of pictures. Pakistan needs our help, where is it?
The Roshni Centre and other nonprofit organizations in Pakistan can help and want to help those who desperately need support, and yet the donations are trickling much too slowly.
We are so blessed in the West; even we who are out of work or have limited work still have so much more than those suffering in Pakistan right now. The pictures speak for themselves.
The Roshni Centre is a very small nonprofit not backed by any large foundation, we depend solely on private donations. We do on the other hand have direct contact to the people of Pakistan; we can track where the money goes.
Even before the monsoon we were trying to raise money for a Free Women’s Health Clinic in our village in Swat Valley, now the need is even greater.
Please, please help us to help those who depend on us in rural Pakistan, don’t let them be forgotten. Let not our humanity be put to shame.
Donations can be made online at roshnicentre.org or send to The Roshni Centre, P.O. Box 361, Bayside, CA 95524
Rabia O’Loren
CEO of The Roshni Centre for Women
Arcata
BL Chamber thanks
The Blue Lake Chamber of Commerce would like to say thank you to everyone who supported and participated in the 41st Annual Annie & Mary Day in Blue Lake. It was also the celebration of the City of Blue Lake’s Centennial!
Our thanks to everyone who participated and especially to our sponsors: Green Diamond Resource Company, Mad River Brewery, Blue Lake Garbage Company, Calgon Carbon Corporation, North Coast Imports, Granite Construction, Stardough’s, Blue Lake Museum, Mad River Grange and Michelle McCall Wallace.
A special thanks to Dell’Arte Mad River Festival, the Folk Life Society, the Bill Nessler Car Show, Mad River Grange for the wonderful breakfast, and our most precious volunteers, Rebecca Collins for organizing our parade, Saremy Duffy and Adelene Jones for organizing the event and Karen Barnes, Marvin Samuels, Tera Spohr, Robin Meyer and Stacey Jones for their help throughout the year.
Thank you to all for an extraordinary day that was celebrated by family and friends.
The Blue Lake Chamber of Commerce is an organization made up of local business owners and private citizens with the common goal of promoting the economic, civic, and social welfare of the community of Blue Lake and vicinity.
Blue Lake, where the sunshine and sea air meet!
Karen Barnes
Blue Lake Chamber of Commerce
Annie & Mary Trail thanks
Please allow me to take this opportunity on behalf of the Friends of the Annie & Mary Rail-trail to thank all the folks who helped out with fun(d) raising this summer.
We had so much support from the concessioner at Dell’ Arte who donated an evening’s tips to the Summerfest folks who gave us a check for $1000 and Par Infinity who set up baskets at Summerfest and gave us $131 at the end of the day to one of our biggest supporters Mad River Brewing Company for all their help over the years with our beer booths and mostly to the good folks of Humboldt County who support us at these events, who share the dream and understanding of the importance of a trail. Thank you all very much.
Next month when the board of directors of HCAOG meets, let’s hope they will pass a motion to railbank the Annie & Mary finally. Let your HCAOG person know how you feel.
Sincerely yours,
Ingrid Kosek
Friends of the Annie & Mary Rail-trail
Blue Lake
A very rare find
To the residents of Humboldt County:
In October I on a dreary winter day I was flipping the TV channels and hit Chnl 11 Humboldt Access and upon seeing the picture my jaw hit the floor. For the next 45 minutes I was glued to the screen for there were pictures that I found hard to believe AND when you first see them so will you.
It seems that about the turn of the century that Park Ranger Roy Ritchie whose ancestors first came to Humboldt County in 1835 put on a narrative show and it was filmed and put on DVD. It was then archived and very few people even knew of its existence. It contains VERY RARE photographs like
One of the first pictures of Eureka (about 1830). This one dumbfounded me for there is NO WOODLEY ISLAND. Woodley island was formed 1850-1890 from ballast from the timber schooners..
North Humboldt bay so full of lumber schooners docked at ARCATA that you cannot see the water.
A 200-foot steamship docked ARCATA. Humboldt had daily service from Arcata to San Francisco Nelson Steamship Lines.
Details of the Gold Rush of 1850, Gold Bluff, Prarie Creek, Bald Hills Trinity River and on to Trinity Alps and Weaverville.
Can you imagine a Horse Race Track where the Eureka Bayshore Mall now stands
This DVD is now being offered by the Humboldt Bay Maritime Museum (Next to the Samoa Cook House) & the MADAKET/ The Ship shop at the Woodley Island Marina/ The Bookstore at College of the Redwoods.
Louis Robinette
Eureka
