Clearlake needs doers, not uninformed critics
I”d like to respond to Frank Brumfield”s letter that was printed on Oct. 31 in the Observer*American.
I attended, and spoke at, the Sept. 27 Clearlake City Council meeting Mr. Brumfield described as an exercise in “abuse of power.” That meeting followed the standard rules of order for all public meetings, be it Boards of Supervisors, City Councils, and Planning Commissions.
Mayor Thein opened the meeting by explaining how the rules of order would be applied and very properly moved through the agenda.
I”ve attended many City Council meetings and I am a Clearlake Planning Commissioner. I understand the rules of order and the process of conducting public meetings. The Sept. 27 Clearlake City Council meeting followed these procedures to a perfect “T.” No one was denied the opportunity to speak.
It is clear to me that Mr. Brumfield does not understand, or does not want to understand, how public meetings are conducted. Out of his confusion, his letter smears honorable decent public officials.
I am highly offended by Mr. Brumfield”s approach to the City of Clearlake. Unlike Mr. Brumfield, many of us, including our City Council, Administration, Vision Task Force and other willing citizens are rolling up our sleeves to make our city a better place. Mr. Brumfield shows no interest in improving our city. Instead he seems to be content with smearing good people and spreading false information about our city.
Enough is enough. Our city doesn”t need uninformed critics, it needs doers.
Albert F. Bernal
Clearlake
Recent letter disguises author”s ?hopes” as ?facts”
Bethany Baylor”s recent letter (Observer*American, Oct. 31) stating that 75 percent of Democrats support the war is delusional. She says its based on a recent poll but does not state which poll had this result. This is the usual modus operandi of fringe conservatives in which “hopes” are dishonestly disguised as “facts.” I and all the fellow democrats I know could hardly be considered as being for this asinine and cruel war.
The conservatives that Bethany represents ? no self respecting liberal would ever have the views Bethany has ? remind me of someone with a gambling addiction. You can be down to your last 10 bucks and yet one can” t give up because you have already lost a thousand dollars.
Instead of admitting that way too many American (and Iraqi) lives have already been lost, she thinks we should let still more people die in order not to have to admit the previous lives lost were needlessly lost. One doesn”t want to “lose.” I guess war is just a game to some people.
Eric Habegger
Lakeport
Family disagreement over K”ville name change
About the time we moved to Lake County the prevalent universal truth was that air pollution was going to cause a global freeze. Al Gore, at a cost of 60 billion dollars, banished refrigeration fluid R12 to save the ozone hole, now renamed “gore hole” in his honor. The earth”s last spotted owl was about to disappear if we cut one more redwood plank. Oh, what would we do without a supply of spotted owls!
Jane Fonda, fresh from her triumph in Viet Nam, banned nuclear power plants, while her buddies stopped oil drilling and power dams. Freeways were halted for interfering with the love lives of red-legged frogs. Cows needed killing or plugging to stop dangerous flatulence.
Now we hear that pollution, instead of a global freeze, will bring global frying, and the gore hole grows and shrinks just as did the old ozone hole. Spotted owls are disappearing anyway because the shameless hussies mate with more macho barred owls. Cows continue to blast off to suit themselves. Horrors!
Now we Kelseyvillains, after giving up our sports mascot “Indians” for Kelseyville “Knights,” are demanded to change our name from Kelseyville to something else because Kelsey did bad things to Indians.
Not so fast! This country is filled with place names of Indians who did awful things to whites. If we must change our name to Mother Theresa, then so should they.
However, there is disagreement in my own family about this matter. Last night, as she was going to sleep, I observed to my wife that my genes of Irish and Choctaw came from gentle, civilized people. Hers is Roman, Spanish, Osage and Comanche, a whole array of wild, murderous, dangerous thugs with places named for them.
She cocked open one eye, stared at me and replied, “And don”t you ever forget it.”
Randy Ridgel
Kelseyville
Tinted front windows
I have been bombarded by people calling and walking into the CHP office with questions about window tint. The most common question is: How dark can I have my windows tinted? Or the common comment is: The guy at the window tint place said I could have tint as long as you can see through it.
Section 26708 (a) (2) of the California Vehicle Code states that: No person shall drive a motor vehicle with any object or material placed, displayed, installed, affixed, or applied in or upon a vehicle which obstructs or reduces the driver”s clear view through the windshield or side windows.
26708.5 (a) VC states in part that No person shall place, install, affix, or apply any transparent material upon the windshield, or side windows of any motor vehicle when the material alters the color or reduces the light transmittance of the windshield or side windows.
So the basic answer is: if it”s not a clear UV protectant then it”s not legal. The exceptions are a narrow band at the top of the windshield and the windows behind the driver”s head may be tinted. If rear window is tinted, a right-side mirror is required. If you have more questions regarding this matter please contact the CHP Clear Lake Area Public Affairs Officer Adam Garcia at 279-0103 or visit www.chp.ca.gov/html/streetlegal.html on the Web.
Adam Garcia
Public Affairs Officer
Clear Lake area California Highway Patrol
