Bulletin, Progressive, Record, Reporter
Wednesday, July 15, 2009 11B
COMMUNITY
PERSPECTIVE
Reform needed now to decentralize California
WHERE I STAND
BY'DAN LOGUE
ASSEMBLYMEMBER, 3RD DISTRICT
"The greatest threat to lib-
erty is the concentration of
economic and political pow-
er." Milton Freeman's words
have never more accurately
described the reality of a situ-
ation as when this truth ref-
erences the government in
California.
Years of big government
power grabs, shifting control
over every hspect of life from
the sovereign citizens to
Washington and Sacramento
bureaucracies, have left our
beloved state and nation in
an economic ruin and crises
in confidence.
Even when the people of a
region send responsive repre-
sentatives to the Legislature,
they fight a losing battle un-
less that battle is fundamen-
tally shaped by the basic
self-government principle
that economic and political
power should be sent back
to the people.
This should be our reform
message to the people of Cali-
fornia and our nation.
Across the state and na-
tion, the people are rising up
and demanding that govern-
ment return their god-given
liberties that Sacramento and
Washington have stolen
through excessive taxation
and overregulation.
The people's cries are get-
tang louder and rightfully so;
Sacramento bureaucrats are
getting more brazen and
shameless.
But demands for change are
not enough. The answer to our
problems, the tangible action
behind our message is simple:
Decentralize California.
Now is the time to shift
economic and political power
away from Sacramento to
counties, cities and families.
The more localized the con-
trol, the more likely the voice
of the people affected will be
translated into real and tan-
gible results.
When Sacramento unties
the hands of local leaders,
they are freed to make deci-
sions that are in the best in-
terest of their communities.
Consequently [they] are more
accountable for their actions.
They truly are boots on the
ground.
One-size [-fits] all solu-
tions for localized problems
are the rule, rather than the
exception in Sacramento.
California is as diverse as it
is large.
North and South are like
night and day. Agricultural
valleys bear little in common
with coastal shorelines. Cali-
fornia is not per se ungovern-
able, but it is ungovernable
from a central location that
treats Lassen and Los Ange-
les problems with the same
solution.
Restoring local control
means regaining the ability
for government to function.
It needs to be fluid and re-
sponsive, not draconian in
nature.
When California is decen-
tralized, cities and counties
will compete for industries
and business that will, in re-
turn, lower the costs of busi-
ness and will enable us to
grow out of this recession.
Jobs fleeing California for
Nevada because of hyper-tax-
ation and overregulation in
this state are not shared by
our neighbor state. President
Reagan started the move-
ment of power away from
Washington to the states; the
problem is that after he left
office, we stopped.
The end goal is not for
Sacramento to replace Wash-
ington, D.C., as Big Brother;
the goal is for individuals
and families to grab hold of
as much liberty as possible.
We've seen the state over-
reach, with its costly and
grand scheme quick fixes,
but we've also seen the peo-
ple rise up and restrain gov-
ernment.
Proposition 218 and Propo-
sition 13's limit on taxation
are great examples of what a
passionate and organized
people can accomplish when
they set out to protect their
liberty.
Propositions 13 and 218
must be maintained as amax-
imum threshold of taxation,
but cities and counties must
be allowed to charge less.
They should be allowed to
lower impact fees and
streamline permitting re-
quirements so their neigh-
borhoods can be revitalized
with jobs and prosperity.
The California economy
will not rebound until we
end the hostility toward pri-
vate sector job creators. Com-
petition brought about
through decentralizing Cali-
fornia will put us on the road
to recovery.
Unfortunately, "decentral-
izing Sacramento" and
restoring both power and prl-
macy to local governments
will not occur overnight. It
will only be achieved one dif-
ficult step at a time.
If the California Legisla-
ture put as much effort into
restoring the principles and
prerogatives of local govern-
ment as it has into promoting
dependency upon state gov-
ernment and increasing fund-
ing for state entitlements, the
cost of state government
could be significantly re-
duced, helping to balance the
state budget while reducing ;
our tax burden.
Government would be-
come leaner, more account-
able and individual freedom
would expand.
California should shift di-.
rection and give local govern
ment more control over our
tax dollars, law enforcement,
land use decisions and our lo-
cal schools, while simultane-
ously relieving pressure on
the state budget.
There is no way a legisla-
tor from Malibu understands
the needs of Red Bluff. Local
control, together with strong.
taxpayer protections like
Propositions 13 and 218, the
"Right to Vote on Taxes Act,"
are the certain prescription
for our ailing state govern-
ment.
"We, the people" was
based on trust. It's time we
start doing this.
This is what Thomas Jef-
ferson and James Madison
had in mind all along.
LETTERS to th.e EDITOR
Guidelines for Letters
All letters must contain an ad-
dress and a phone number. We
publish only one letter per
week, per person and only one
letter per person, per month re-
garding the same subject. We do
not publish third-party, anony-
mous, or open letters. Letters
must be limited to a maximum
of 300 words. The editor will cut
any letter in excess of 300
words.The deadline is Friday at
3 p.m. (Deadlines may change
due to holidays.) Letters may
be taken to any of Feather
Publishing's offices, sent via fax
to 283-3952, or e-mailed at
mail@plumasnews.com
People vs.,HP
We nee/,{6 daiiii down the
overwhelming negative talk
in Plumas County about the
amount of patrol cars we see
every day and the amount of
tickets that are given out. We
need to make the CHP ac-
countable to the people.
From "I think your license
plate light is out" to "Oh! I
smell alcohol, how much
have you been drinking, and
your light is not out."
Driving Highway 70 at 55
mph seems like you're going
30 mph after being out of
town. Also you will see three
to four CHP cars. Put on your
cruise control.
The CHP have five new
people with one new car. BeL
fore we had 24-hour service
for five days a week. Now we
will have 24-hour service,
• seven days a week and after 3
p.m., we could have up to five
CHP cars at once.
With all the higher taxes,
less services, and layoffs,
Plumas County is in very
hard times. The Plumas Coun-
ty courts agree with the CHP
tickets because they make a
lot of money. Businesses are
hurt by the negative CHP.
Some of the CHP make over
$100,000 a year. A lot of the
people in Plumas County
don't even come close to this.
People do have a problem
with CHP's arrogant atti-
tudes and their sneaky ways
that they come up with to
stop you. A lot of the truckers
get stopped twice a day for up
to 1-1/2 [hours] inspection.
This is a lot of down time and
money. Pretty soon we will
all end up in jail because we
can't pay these tickets. Send
me your pros and cons about
the way the CHP here does
their job to 36 North Mill-
creek Rd., Quincy CA 95971.
Spend a Saturday morning
with your family, checking
out your vehicles. Tell your
visiting friends to watch out
for CHP. If you drink, don't
drive, get a designated dri-
ver. If you need to use your
cell phone, pull over. Wear a
seat belt.
Let's try.not to give them
any more money. We need it
in our pockets.
Art Vieira
Quincy
Fish tale
Although I did not see a
vision of the Virgin Mary in
the scales of a fish, l still do
believe in miracles nonethe-
less.
On Father's Day, I was
fishing the Hex hatch from
my kayak on Butt Lake up
near our cabin. Just about at
dark, I realized I had drifted
away from the rest of the
group. With the rod tip facing
the bow I let out about 20
yards of line with a nymph
fly on the leader and
clenched the reel between my
knees and started to slowly
paddle the craft backwards,
thus trolling my way back.
I had turned to see where
the Others were when he hit
... a fish of mythical propor-
tions. My Sage rod and
Hardy reel were jolted out of
my knees and vaulted over
the bow of the kayak, disap-
pearing into the dark waters
of the lake.
After some rude utter-
ances, I mark.ed the location
for later search:
The next day we returned
to the scene of the crime.
With the rowboat anchored,
son-in-law Keith, in a short
wet suit and mask and
snorkel, began searching the
weed-strewn bottom. High
winds made the water murky
and after three hours, the
search was called off.
Driving back to town, I told
Keith that, just as a long
shot, I would alert the owner
of the fly shop in Chester of
my plight, as there still are a
few people with moral fiber
and most of them fish.
Tom, the fly guy, let me put
a notice on his bulletin board
and said he would spread the
word amongst his regulars. I
believed the rod and reel
where buried in the weeds in
the lake bottom. Hope of see-
ing my tackle again (worth
around $600) was lower than
the lake bottom.
This last Sunday, two
weeks later, I returned to
Butt Lake to fish the end of
the Hex hatch and perhaps
dive once more for the rod. It
was very windy and we de-
cided to fish Lake Almanor
that night, where I did get a
fine trout and a bass.
Monday afternoon a
stranger drove up to our cab-
in and said he was looking
for "a Rick Lewis." It seems
Sunday evening he was
trolling Butt Lake. He had
his down-rigger set at 25 feet
and was trolling a lure in the
middle of the lake (over 1/4
mile from where the rod and
reel went overboard two
weeks previous). His lure
grabbed my fly line. The drag
of my tackle released his line
from the down-rigger weight
and up came my rod, reel and
fly (the criminal fish escaped
at some point during the two
weeks).
The fisherman, one Bran-
don Gardener of Napa,
realized this was a good rod
and reel. Monday he went to
Chester's Lake Almanor Fly
Fishing Company and Tom
pointed him in my direction.
So once again, I believe in
miracles, and in the goodness
of people ... at least the ones
that fish. Thank you, Bran-
don. Thank you, Tom.
Rick Lewis
Windsor
Garbage in and out
When dealing with Goliath
a man must try to reason and
argue a point and hope that
over time the behemoth will
act correctly. I wrote a letter
to the supervisor of the
Plumas National Forest and,
well, the behemoth has yet to
move. I sent a copy of the let-
ter to the Feather River Bul-
letin in hopes that a stone
from David in between the
eyes would wake Goliath up.
Alas, the letter was too accu-
rate and lengthy to be pub-
lished by the FRB and went
the way of the all arguments
against giant tyrants.
The complaints about the
firewood cutting restrictions
go unanswered. It was nice
the FRB went ahead and
printed that the Plumas Na-
tional Forest supervisor is
another lemming ready to
follow the rest of the Nation-
al Forest system up in
smoke, good article FRB.
Gone are the warnings of
forest closure, gone are the
partial closures by zone, gone
is the concept of time re-
stricted (1 p.m. closure) shut-
down. Gone is the logic to de-
termine the amount of dan-
ger to the Plumas; that is, we
are tied to every other forest
in California. That means the
valley temperature readings
are used to close the moun-
tain forests. Gone is the fact
that Plumas is a water re-
source because we are now
tied to the thought and be-
cause we use too much water
in the forest we don't send
enough water to the valley.
I have no confidence in a
system that has no ties to the
National Weather Service for
its weather and water con-
tent information. There is a
20 degree difference between
what was told me by USFS
and the weather service.
Garbage in and garbage out.
The net result is arbitrary
use of temperature data to
justify no science. This con-
tradicts the article in the pa-
per by the USFS. This was al-
so in the list of complaints
against the USFS that was
not published by the FRB.
So what was not listed in
the FRB was that a citizen
was threatened with being
Tazered by a USFS enforce-
ment officer for trying to
complain about the new re-
strictions to the USFS super-
visor. A minor oversight I'm
sure. I hope this is not too
long for the FRB to print.
Dennis M. Cokor
Quincy
Editor's note: We did not print
Mr. Cokor's previous letter be-
cause it was 1,479 words long.
Our word limit for letters is
300.
Obama knows best
QuR criticizing President
Obama. Millions were lost in
401ks, IRAs and other retire-
ment funds, but we received
a check for $500 and one for
$250. So be thankful and shut
up.
The banks do not want any
more properties, which puts
an end to foreclosures. Be-
sides, Mr. Obama, Senator
Dodd, Barney Frank and
many others are unable to ac-
cept money from Freddie
one income when" their
neighboring family suddenly
has no income.
It all amounts to the idea
that everyone needs to look
at what exactly are necessi-
ties versus luxuries. Maybe
five cars in the front yard
parking area could become
one car and four bicycles.
Oh yes, and those govern-
• ment furlough days aren't re-
ally a total loss; they can eas-
ily be spent cooking ahead,
holding a yard sale, strug-
gling with a new budget,
shopping sales or helping
someone else's family figure
out how to survive a "no in-
come" crisis.
Nansi Bohne
Mack and Fannie Mae, at ....... '
least for now.
All of our wars are pro-
gressing nicely. Old Bill Clin-
ton taught President Obama
everything he knows about
military tactics. In fact all he
knows. You can tell we are
winning because the antiwar
protesters are not against the
war anymore.
Except for the casualties,
the casualties are sort of in-
significant. Just a few, here
and there and those are prob-
ably still President Bush's
fault After the day Michael
Jackson died we suffered 20
killed in action. The news
didn't report anything. I
guess no news, no casualties.
The Axis of Evil does not
exist anymore. Let's face it.
Now that they have atomic
weapons, you got to get more
careful. Maybe we should
call them APEs--Atomic Pro-
liferation Extremists? How-
ever, that may be racially in-
appropriate and insult the
apes.
Gas and food prices are on
the rise, That's good. Walk
more, and eat less. You see
that the president knows
what's good for you! I don't
know much about foreign af-
fairs, except that there is a
lot of that going around, but
admittedly some are just
plain domestic affairs. We
cannot drill for oil in the Gulf
of Mexico because China
wants to do that. Why tick off
a billion people? Besides,
with the Chinese there will
be less pollution, the oil will
be cheaper, because it is clos-
er. You have to admit that
the whole idea is a little
slick, like oily.
Jan Klement
Quincy
Quin'cy
Forever grateful
On behalf of the McMasters
family, I would like to ex-
press a long overdue thank
you to the great first respon-
ders, firefighters, EMTs and
excellent hospital staff that
we are so fortunate to have
here in Quincy. Thank you is
actually too tame a word to
convey our gratitude.
In March, my father-in-law
collapsed due to a cardiac ar-
rest. The event changed our
lives forever; we are lucky to
say, with a good outcome. If
it wasn't for the expertise of
these professionals, there
would have been one less dad
at the table last Father's Day.
I sincerely would like to
commend Deputy Shawn
Webb. He was on the scene
within minutes of the 911
call.
I was administering CPR to
my father-in-law when he ar-
rived. He quickly assessed
the situation, helped me
Total loss
What ever happened to the
ethics of the "Head of the
Household" employee being
the last to be laid off during a
budget crunch? This was
once practiced to protect the
family incomel not necessari-
ly the family's total income.
When so many families are
facing financial disaster, it's
not the best time to complain
that a two- or three-income
family can't possibly live on
move him to the floor and
teamed up to continue chest
compressions, hardly miss
ing a beat.
At the hospital, he diligent-
ly worked on his report, as
the ER staff rushed to save
my father-in-law's life.,
Deputy Webb was even on-,
site consoling the family, as:
my father-in-law was loaded
into the ambulance to be
transported to Reno,
Our law enforcement pro-
fessionals work silently in
the background, unselfishly
putting their lives on the line
to keep our families safe;
quite without notice. Deputy
Webb's life was recently on:
the line as he recovers from
brain cancer.
Please join us to show sup-
port for Shawn Webb by con-
tacting the Plumas County
Sheriffs Office. He is a noble.
man and a great member of
our community.
Don Miller
Quincy
Kick the can
On June 16 the Board of Su4
pervisors gave, with mixec
feelings, the Quincy Library
Group $35,000 for their cur-
rent legal battle. Assurance
was given by the QLG's
George Terhune the money
was a wise investment. It ig
hard to believe him, because,
the QLG .since inception has'
produced a meager 20
percent of their objective
while blaming others for
their failure.
There must always be ac
countability for how publi
funds are used. Just giving
money without this is totall
See Letters, page 12
How to contact your
elected officials...
PRESIDENT - Barack Obama, the White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.,
NW Washington, D.C. 20500. (202) 456-1414. Fax: 202-456-2461.
E-mail: president@whitehouse.gov.
U.S. SENATOR - Dianne Feinstein (D), 331 Hart Senate Office Bldg.,
Washington, D.C. 20510. (202) 224-3841, FAX: 202-228-3954; TTY/TDD:
(202) 224-2501. District Office: One Post Street, Suite 2450, San Francisco,
CA 94104; Phone: (415) 393-0707; Fax: (415) 393-0710
E-mail: senat°r@feinstein'senate'g°v
U.S. SENATOR - Barbara Boxer (D). District Office: 501 I St., Suite 7-600,
Sacramento, CA 95814. (916) 448-2787; FAX (916) 448-2563; OR 112 Hart
Bldg., Washington, D.C. 20510. (202) 224-3553. FAX (202) 228-0454.
U.S. REPRESENTATIVE, 4TH DIST. - Tom McClintock. 508 Cannon
HOB, Washington, D.C. 20515 (202) 225-2511; FAX (202} 225-5444.
mcclintock.house.gov. District Office 4230 Douglas Blvd., Suite #200,
Granite Bay, CA 95746. (916) 786-5560, toll-free 800-232-1335;
FAX: (916) 786-6364
STATE SENATOR, 1st DIST. - Dave Cox (R), District office: 2140
Professional Dr., #140, RoseviUe, CA, 95661. (916) 783-8232, FAX (916) 783-
5487; OR: State Capital, Room 2068, Sacramento, CA 95814. (916) 651-
4001, FAX: (916) 324-2680; assemblymember.cox@assemby.ca.gov;
Quincy office: 2094 E. Main St., Quincy, 530-283-3437. FAX 283-3439.
STATE ASSEMBLYMAN, 3RD DIST. - Dan Logue, State Capital,
Sacramento, CA 95814, (916) 319-2003; FAX (916) 319-2103. District Office,
1550 Humboldt Rd., Ste. #4, Chico, CA 95928; (530) 895-4217, FAX (530)
895-4219
GOVERNOR - Arnold Schwarzenegger, office of the Governor, State
Capitol, Sacramento, CA 95814. (916) 445-2841. FAX: (916) 5583160.
gov.ca.gov/inteact#contact
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