Drought and water concerns
I agree with Ron Rose proposing another look at the Scotts Creek Dam that was a consideration back in the 1950s. Biden has promised $50 billion dollars to California to improve water infrastructure. If there is any grant money available to this county in that $50 billion it would, or should be prudent for the Board of Supervisors to reconsider that project once again. A Lake in Scotts Valley would certainly be beneficial for reasons of continued water flow into the lake to cool it in the summer, spawning sources for the hitch, recharging the Scotts Valley aquifer which 50 percent of Lakeport depends on, flood control, more water for Yolo County and most importantly, water for fire suppression. Small reservoirs like this should be considered all over California instead of breaking down dams like Lake Pillsbury, what utter nonsense that is.
On another note, per Record-Bee article on June 24, Los Angeles will not see any water rationing for this year, while most of us will be subject to only 55 gallons a day per person mandated by the California State Water Resources Department.
Water storage is going to be the most important thing we need to address for our future in California and elsewhere. maybe water rationing will wake some people and politicians up.
Another golf course is going in down by Middletown. What are these people thinking? Several golf courses in Lake County are not even being used. More nonsense.
As far as I know, no water rationing mandate has been implemented in Lakeport. I have recently seen homes and business watering in the middle of the day with water running down the street.
Also, if it has not been considered already, the BOS should consider a moratorium on any new plans for vineyards, hemp grows, legal cannabis grows and golf courses ASAP until we get out of this drought situation.
I realize this county needs the tax revenue but enough is enough.
—Thomas Nickel, Lakeport
The United States trying to prosecute an Australian journalist is crazy
I am writing this letter shortly after the 50th birthday of Julian Assange, his third in Belmarsh Prison, a maximum security prison in the UK, despite no pending UK charges, because the US tried to extradite him here and was denied, but they still have the right to appeal.
Julian Assange is an accredited and multiple award winning journalist whose work has been published in every major US outlet. He exposed the US torture program under Bush, US soldiers killing civilians and journalists in Iraq, files on Scientology, emails that show Citigroup picked the majority of Barack Obama’s cabinet and yes, the rigging of the 2016 Democrat primary.
Recently, the key witness in the hacking charge against him admitted to fabricating the charge in exchange for immunity from prosecution for other crimes. It turns out the FBI made a deal with him in order to fabricate a charge against Assange. The remaining charges amount to things that every journalist does, including asking sources for information and making sure a source is safe.
Many powerful people want him dead for exposing their crimes- crimes which none of them have yet been held accountable for. Some officials have been featured in video clips calling for him to be assassinated. A journalist. That’s how important he is. And his prosecution is an assault on the First Amendment, and it is a disgrace that no major national outlets will speak out against his persecution, or even mention that the key witness against him fabricated the charge.
Julian Assange is not even an American! Imagine if Russia was trying to extradite and prosecute Anderson Cooper for doing a 60 Minutes piece on some criminality by the Russian government or military. That would be crazy! And so is the United States trying to prosecute an Australian journalist, and trying to sentence him to 175 years for charges that amount to basic journalism.
Some people are angry with him because of the 2016 primary or because his first release was not redacted to protect the innocent, a mistake which he apologized for, and the Pentagon Information Review Taskforce in 2013 showed that no soldiers had been harmed as a result of Wikileaks publications, and in both cases I think people are wrong at the messenger instead of the person whose criminality or shady dealings were exposed. Some people think publishing classified information is a violation of law. That’s not true.
Nor is Assange the only journalist to publish classified documents. The New York Times printed the Pentagon Papers, and Bob Woodward did all the things that Julian Assange is being accused of, in order to get the information he did. Our government is filled with criminals and Assange was exposing their crimes.
—Jason Kishineff, American Canyon
