Confused
Mac McKay appears to be confused with the term racial profiling. It is the use of an individual”s race or ethnicity by law enforcement personnel as a key factor in deciding whether to engage in enforcement (e.g. stop and search or arrest). So, witness description of a perp is not involved. And what this has to do with investigation of possible discrimination (not to prove discrimination!) is beyond me. This is one of the USAG”s jobs and I am glad that this type of incident is investigated and not ignored, even when no discrimination is found.
On to Robert Byrd. The NAACP rated his voting record, in the 2003—2004 senate session, as being 100 percent in line with the NAACP”s position on the 33 Senate bills they evaluated. Yes he was a leader in the KKK, but how many apologies and bills does he need to make to show us he has changed for the good? Is this hypocrisy? I guess it is, to Mac.
Kevin Bracken, Kelseyville
Scary!
Two scary things happened to me Friday morning! Reading the R-B I came to the Opinion page and found another letter from my acquaintance “Mac.” About half way through I began to have a strange feeling. Finished the letter with more of the same. Read it again and it came to me, I was actually agreeing with much of it! On reflection, I realized the second scary thing: Mac actually wrote an entire letter without using the phrase “Dem”s lies”!
I agree that what the Attorney General notes as “racial profiling” is not about to disappear. When the whole world uses the profiling process (using experience to plan future actions) it is not about to go away. I feel the term racial profiling is in error, if only because it is insufficiently specific. Real profiling is based on observations of real life actions and happenings and people tend to have a data base in their minds. If the same sort of actions happen repeatedly, by the same players, that data gets entered in the base, regardless if one is pink or purple, a breed of dog, or a faulty product. Going through life everyone has uncomfortable occurrences, usually based on perceived differences between what is desired and/or expected. It takes guts, or a very good reason, to purposely “be different.” Good or bad, “making no waves” may be boring, but it keeps you from being noticed (and/or profiled).
I firmly believe that “equality” comes in two forms: That derived from our country”s legal foundation (although I would like to have a talk with the writers of the Declaration); and that which is derived from one”s acceptance by one”s (potential) peers, based on behavior, actions, and social values. The latter is the hard one, as it may necessitate some behavior/cultural modification (perhaps affecting “individual rights) on the part of the applicant.
Change is often the price of acceptance and it may take a lot of time and effort to achieve.
Guff Worth, Lakeport
Regarding Lakeside Heights
I would like to thank Supervisor Farrington specially for doing everything he could possibly do to get monies for repairs for Lakeside Heights and bringing other board members to understand his thinking and their help to do the best they possible could for the residences of Lakeside Heights. I would also like to thank Rick Coel for his smart thinking, not putting any type of heavy equipment for the repairs for Lakeside Heights at this time.
But I do think that the County of Lake is in way over their heads regarding doing any repairs of any type on Lakeside Heights. The dirt that came down last year was 100 percent a major ball of mud, which was totally saturated. When the mud stopped sliding and the water drained out, it became 100 percent compacted natural ball of mud in its specific position. Then the County goes out there and tries to put all that dirt back in place where it came from, covers it with a tarp, which was a major effort which was appreciated by everyone. I do not believe it was 100 percent compacted in place; as we saw when it rained this year, the tarp and the mud came back to where it was plus more. So now after it was repaired it is worse than it was before.
The taxpayers have paid money to help solve all these problems but I believe it is time to bite the bullet once and for all, and here is why: At one time or another this was a county approved subdivision. Erv Pettenger originally started the subdivision, approximately 30 years ago. Every house and garage was built with a county building permit, building plans with footings and inspections, excavation inspections, sewer fees, water fees and more inspections, building progress inspections, and a total certificate of approval for occupancy. Every one of these homeowners paid for permits, taxes, water/sewer, electrical fees to the county and lived there and paid their taxes. Now they have nothing and many houses are in piles of lumber with more are coming down, more houses are being red-tagged for non-occupancy. This is totally unfair and just as easily could be Rivera Heights, Rivera West, Clearlake Rivera, Hidden Valley Lake — the process is all the same.
My solution: for the County to float some bonds and get everyone of those homeowners off the hook so they can be reimbursed for the value they lost. In order to make the county pay attention they filed a lawsuit. So therefore, the county had to counter sue, but they are residents of Lake County like the rest of us and taxpayers of Lake County like the rest of us. I believe the county as a whole should make a special effort to come up with a plan to solve that problem for everyone because the shoe could always be on the other foot no matter who you are or where you live in the county. These people have paid many years of property taxes and this could put them into bankruptcy if they could sell — who would buy? — who would finance? I think the county still expects property taxes and their fees. However, I still do specifically want to thank the county for doing their part so far to try to solve the problem, but it is now time to end the problem.
Ron Rose, Lakeport
Where was our president?
Some 40 to 50 nations, some Muslim states and the Palestinians were represented at the Paris march on Sunday, but not us. The Administration touts that they sent Eric Holder. He did not show up for the march. Holder was in France for a security conference. According to Fox News, Holder stated Sunday that we have no credible information as to who was behind these attacks. Possibly our Ambassador to France, Jane Hartley, was there. However, she was not visible. Secretary of State John Kerry could not cut short his meeting in India at an entrepreneurship summit. So where was President Obama? An Administration official said, “… that security concerns for both Obama and Vice President Biden was distracting from such events.” That official stated that we continue to work behind the scenes. Either Obama and his administration do not realize or do not care about the loud and clear message this sends to Islamic extremists all around the world. That message allows terrorists to believe that we are soft on curbing their terrorist attacks.
This is the same administration, in the guise of Eric Holder and the Department of Justice, who are recommending criminal charges against General David Petraeus for allegedly allowing his reporter/mistress access to certain classified documents in Afghanistan. Petraeus denies the allegations and he has stated he is not interested in a plea bargain.
Peter MacRae, Lakeport
