Climate change
I went to Mike Thompson’s climate change town hall today. He talked about lands he’s helped preserve and vineyards carbon farming. When someone asked about animal farming he had no idea what they were talking about. And he has continued to support more and more oil drilling and more and more military spending. The U.S. military is the largest producer of greenhouse gases in the world, ranking above two thirds of the world’s countries. When will everyone see that unless we leave fossil fuels in the ground and stop bombing people to keep our prices low, the rest of this is just a show?
—Jason Kishineff, American Canyon Democratic Congressional candidate
Barbara Ringen did not plan to step down
Article in Record-Bee August 7, Barbara Ringen intends to step down. No she didn’t plan to step down she had decided to retire January 2020. Her conscience pulling her towards helping the county towards transition and training for the department is nice but they won’t help a sinking ship. Ringen carries a lot on her shoulders as she has very limited staff to help. Yes, wait time is long when paying your taxes because there is no staff; I have seen Ringen come out to the counter to help. Tax-defaulted property auctions checks such as transient occupancy taxes and property taxes are some of the duties. Also doing deposits and going to the bank is time consuming.
Barbara Ringen, forget your duties to people that won’t come work in your shoes for a week to see the stress of everyday in the tax collector’s office. I vote that you go forward with your retirement before you are unable to enjoy life.
–Debbe Blake, Lakeport
Soda Bay cleanup a success
Congratulations to County Supervisor Rob Brown for spearheading a successful event that brought together volunteers from the Soda Bay Road communities to clear flammable materials from the southbound roadside. Six to eight dozen volunteers from communities along the Soda Bay corridor cleared six miles of roadway providing an increased measure of fire safety since most wildfires start along the road. The volunteers worked hard, did a great job and came away with a feeling they had made a difference.
It was gratifying to work alongside county staff, fire fighters, law enforcement, CalFire and our county supervisor who provided the logistical support that made the project possible. Lake County may be poor economically but its residents and public servants are rich in spirit. Thank you to Supervisor Brown and all those who made this day of community service a success.
—Phil Hartley, President of the board of directors, Riviera West Home Owners Association
Needs to be removed from office
So he’s been dubbed, ‘King of the Jews,’ and now calls himself ‘The Chosen One.’ Hey, Trump supporters…need any more proof President Trump is mentally unstable?…and I’m ‘King of the World!’ You don’t have to be of any political persuasion to see there is something not right with the man who needs to be removed from office ASAP.
—Herb Stark, Mooresville, NC.
Immigrant bashing is bad for America
Trump hates reality but the facts are the facts. America is a land of immigrants, many of whom were abused refugees. Much of America’s greatest accomplishments are rags to riches stories. In a recent nonpartisan Pew Research poll nearly two-thirds of Americans believe that immigrants strengthen our country because of their hard work and talents, while only one-third believe that immigrants are a burden. To quote Pew: “It is obvious that downward wage pressure because of unskilled workers is more than overcome by all the growth and job creation that immigrants excel in.” They go further to say that 42 slots (10.5%) on the Forbes 400 belong to naturalized citizens who immigrated to America with nothing and became billionaires – a composite of European, Asian, Latino, Indian and MidEastern cultures. The combined wealth of these 42 immigrants is $250 billion. The constant refrain from all of them is that their drive came from being poor and abused in their countries, a drive that never goes away.
Immigrants are not an economic drain or a security threat. According to the nonpartisan Kauffman Foundation immigrants are twice as likely to start a new business than native-born Americans. The Partnership for a New American Economy, a group formed by Rupert Murdoch and Michael Bloomberg, reports that immigrants start 30% of all new businesses in the U.S., employ one out of ten workers and generate $775 billion in revenue. According to the nonpartisan National Foundation for American Policy 50% of American tech companies valued at $1 billion or more were formed by immigrants – many among the richest people in America – and one-third of all adult immigrants have a college degree, the same as native-born Americans. Trump would have you believe that all these immigrants are somehow “un-American” and rip-off “real” Americans, when in “fact” according to the American Policy Foundation the very least of them pay into the government through federal, state, city and sales taxes four times what the small percentage of them get from the government.
—William Hui, Clearlake
