Lake County NAACP speaks
As President of the Lake County Branch of the NAACP, I speak for this branch. Since this tragic event (the Dec. 7, 2005 shooting of Christian Foster and Rashad Williams) occurred in Lake County (Clearlake Park), the Lake County Branch is and always has been the lead branch in the Renato Hughes matter. We have been in attendance at each court hearing.?As we continue to monitor the judicial proceedings,?we routinely communicate with the State Conference President, Alice Huffman, about this case.? As a civil rights organization, our role is to insure that Mr. Hughes gets the fair trial that the constitution?entitles?him to.?
The parents of Renato Hughes, Christian Foster, and Rashad Williams formally filed complaints with the Lake County Branch of the NAACP in?February 2006. While all parties involved in this matter have been irreparably harmed (including Dale Lafferty), it remains our position that Mr. Hughes is entitled to have his day in court.?
We do question, however, why Mr. Edmonds and others?have not been charged with any offense in these pending proceedings.
Finally, we were neither informed about, nor invited to any prayer vigil or event that recently took place in front of the courthouse in Lakeport.
Aqeela El-Amin Bakheit, president
Lake County Branch, NAACP
Mixed bag of good and bad
It (the governor”s budget)”s a classic mixed bag of good and bad. And that”s a fine place to start, because this isn”t a budget, this is just the governor”s initial suggestion on what a budget should look like. We have a lot of work ahead of us before summer, when we actually pass a budget.
But, bottom line, and I”ve been saying this ? and meaning it ? since I got here: we will not balance this budget on the backs of seniors or California”s most vulnerable citizens.
Assemblymember Patty Berg
Chair, Budget Subcommittee
on Health and Human Services
Editor”s Note: Patty Berg issued this statement in response to the budget proposed by State Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
We need a stop sign
on Lakeshore Drive
On Dec. 21, 2006 at approximately 9:30 p.m. I was involved in a car accident on the corner of Lakeshore, Park and Manakee. This corner has been of concern to me and my husband Brian since we first moved to Arrowhead Road three years ago.
One day as we were traveling north on Lakeshore toward home we came to Manakee when suddenly a car traveling south on Lakeshore crossed in front of us to Manakee without even slowing down. Since then I slow down and look carefully for oncoming cars when I come to this corner.
This helps at night when car lights warn of on coming vehicles but during the day visibility is blocked by the curve in the road and the privacy fence on the corner. Since then I have seen a repeat of this numerous times in the past three years.
But on the night of the accident going slower and being cautious did not help me. As I came around the corner going north on Lakeshore I saw the lights of the car coming the other way. I saw the car slow down and assumed the driver was going to continue going south on Lakeshore so I proceeded when the driver suddenly sped up and crossed to Manakee hitting my van, breaking the front axle and sending my car through a fence. The other driver”s vehicle stopped only a few feet from the house that was on the other side of the fence. I broke two ribs and was taken by ambulance to Redbud Hospital. My van was totaled. The other driver got out of his truck and ran from the scene on foot.
I was told that the fence that I went through suffered damage as a result of similar accidents three times prior to this and that requests for a stop sign on the north bound approach have been turned down by the city council. I am proposing that a stop sign be posted on the south bound corner where the real problem exists. Since I began talking about the accident with friends I have discovered others who have had near accidents on this corner; one only two weeks after my accident.
I will be asking the Clearlake City Council to carefully consider installing a stop sign somewhere on this section of Lakeshore Drive; stopping south bound traffic on Lakeshore at Manakee and Park.
On Jan. 14 another car was observed illegally crossing Lakeshore to Manakee. Maybe others too have had trouble at this corner. If so, I would like to them to contact me at 994-4890.
Suzanne Hoyt
Clearlake
That all may be one
“I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” ? John 17: 20-21
Brothers and Sisters:
Five years ago The Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) entered into a relationship of full communion. As the name of the agreement, Called to Common Mission, makes clear, the unity lived out between our two churches is for the sake of God”s mission in the world. The full flourishing of our world and the human family requires our urgent attention to the fight to end global poverty and build a more peaceful, secure world for all God”s people. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) provide the Church and the world with a clear path to do this.
Extreme poverty binds more than one billion of God”s children, depriving them of the abundant life God intends for all. The MDGs are a set of eight targets for eradicating global poverty adopted by the 191 member states of the United Nations, including the United States, out of the conviction that humanity can build a better and safer world if it is willing to unite. The Goals reflect the reality that the resources, strategies, and knowledge to end global poverty exist if only the moral and political will can be built. Christians must play a key role building this will and holding governments accountable for promises made.
A world that meets the Goals would have 500 million fewer people living on less than a dollar a day, 70 percent of whom will be women. More than 400 million fewer people will go to bed hungry each night. The lives of 30 million children currently destined to die before their fifth birthday would be saved. The rise of HIV and AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis would be halted, and infection and death rates would begin to decline. The population of orphans in the world ? currently numbered at more than 110 million ? would begin to decline as well. In short, a world that has achieved the MDGs will be a world that more greatly reflects Christ”s prayer that all be one as he and the Father are one.
This joint pastoral letter comes as the ELCA and The Episcopal Church embark upon new shared commitment to the MDGs, particularly through our collaboration in ONE: The Campaign to Make Poverty History, a large and growing movement of more than 2.3 million Americans working for the end of global poverty. We hope that by reflecting together on the challenge of global poverty, our communities may be called into deeper conversation, collaboration, and advocacy on this urgent topic.
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As churches that stand in the shadow of the cross ? knowing that in God”s kingdom death and sorrow always give way to resurrection and life ? we pray that the Spirit may equip us through the deathless love of the Risen Christ for God”s mission of making all things new.
Most Rev. Frank T. Griswold
Most Rev. Mark S. Hanson
Editor”s Note: The Most Rev. Frank T. Griswold, presiding Bishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church; and The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; recently issued this joint pastoral letter urging Episcopalians and Evangelical Lutherans to recommit themselves to ending global poverty through achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
