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Opinion
I have followed with keen interest your coverage of events leading to and the trial of Andrew Serrano for his attacks on Lesa Koloff, her fiancé Willy Turner and friends. Lesa is my niece.
It is difficult to fully express my consternation and outrage at the jury finding of “not guilty by reason of insanity” following their verdict of guilt to most of the charges against him.
Without reportage of specifics of the sanity phase of the trial or a polling of the jurors there is no way to understand the jurors’ reasoning behind their verdict found after only two hours’ deliberation.
Could they have simply figured there were two testifiers for insanity and just one for sanity?
It seems that both the defendant attorney and the prosecutor were somewhat surprised at the outcome – was the district attorney blindsided and tepid in his presentation of sanity arguments?
Some things are clear. The victims and their families, far from finding closure in justice served, must try to move forward with burden of fear and apprehension of further danger and savagery.
I should think other Lake County citizens might likewise be concerned.
Rodger D. Elliott lives in Bellingham, Wash.
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- Written by: Rodger D. Elliott
I have some thoughts for Lake County's marijuana growers.
Nearly all of us live our lives based on trust.
We trust that money we put in the bank today will be there for us tomorrow.
We trust that the pound of hamburger meat we buy is 16 ounces, not less.
We trust that a car behind us won't slam into us at a light. We trust that we get back the right change at stores.
We trust ... well, you get the idea, and we rarely give any of it a second thought.
Because of our compassion for those of you in pain, we agreed to protect you from criminal prosecution for growing a few marijuana plants to ease your suffering.
We trusted you to act sensibly. We trusted you to act in the spirit of the agreement you led us to believe you would honor.
Your response was to take advantage of us far beyond any reasonable expectation.
You saw our compassion for you as open season on us.
You violate our trust with impunity, you put the safety of our children at risk, you drive down property values, you make a mockery of county government, you depress the economy by making visitors and vacationers think twice about coming here, you're a reason businesses don't locate here.
In sum, what you do threatens the peace and safety of us all.
And now you expect us to believe that even more of what you do is good for Lake County.
You want us to believe that a drug-based economy – one with more marijuana in more yards in more neighborhoods – is the “sensible” solution. And you tell us that you'll do it responsibly.
After all you put us through – including your superbly misleading petition drive to “support children's hospitals” – you tell us to trust you.
We don't want your marijuana grows next door or 10 doors away, we don't want them next to our churches, we don't want them next to our children's playgrounds and nursery schools.
We remain unalterably opposed to your marijuana grows in any of our residential neighborhoods. We trusted you once with that, and then you played us!
That's why so many of us are voting no on measures P and O in November!
Visit www.SaveMeasureN.info for details.
Tom Guthrie lives in Lakeport, Calif.
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- Written by: Tom Guthrie
I, like many, voted to legalize medical marijuana, only to see time and time again the scumbags of society making obscene amounts of money growing marijuana while hiding behind sick people.
I see healthy, able-bodied adults growing in their backyards, not because they are “sick” but because they enjoy getting high, or because they sell weed for profit.
I am tired of kids coming to school reeking of weed, because their parents use their homes to process marijuana for sale.
I'm tired of kids coming to school stoned, with no interest in getting an education because they make thousands of dollars selling weed/growing weed/processing weed and see no value in an education because they can scrape by being a criminal.
I'm tired of the violence and the crime that comes with marijuana in this county.
I'm tired of growers ignoring the laws because they don't want to follow them, then rationalizing their breaking the law because they don't agree with it.
Last but not least, I'm tired of the nonstop lies and excuses coming from the pro-marijuana side.
If there were as many people in this county who were deathly ill and needed marijuana for legit medical purposes, half the county's population would be on chemo or in and out of the hospital on a daily basis.
The excuses and lies are sickening. Just admit you want to get high.
For people who have legit needs for medical marijuana, my sympathies are with you. You are the reason most of us voted on legalizing it.
I am now to the point I want it to be legalized, not because I want to use it, but so that we can take the profit out of it.
Shawn Matthews lives in Kelseyville, Calif.
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- Written by: Shawn Matthews
I will be voting no on measures O and P in November and I want to explain why.
Among the many problems with both these ordinances, Measure O contains a fatal flaw.
This measure actually prohibits residents of Lake County from reporting violations. Yes, it’s true!
Unless you live or work within 600 feet of a noncompliant grow, you are prohibited from reporting it. Live 601 feet away, too bad.
If your child goes to a friend’s house that is 200 feet away, you can’t complaint. If there is an illegal grow 100 feet from the neighborhood playground you are prohibited from complaining
Read Section 72.12(a) to see for yourself.
The pot growers claim it's to stop people from reporting violations that don't affect them. I say, it doesn't matter! A violation is a violation.
If you're serious about compromise, why restrict who can report violations?
To make matters worse, even if you are “allowed” to report the violation the only recourse is a letter to property owner/occupant.
The only way a noncompliant grow even gets a mandatory visit from the enforcement agency created by the measure to enforce it is if there is a second, independent complaint within 15 days of the first complaint, otherwise, even if a grow is in violation the only enforcement action is a written notice.
You can’t even report it to the sheriff’s department. Read Section 72.12(b) to see for yourself.
No anonymous complaints will be allowed and you will have to report any violations in writing. They claim they will protect your identity if you make a complaint, but I don’t trust the pot growers to have my best interests at heart.
And if by chance the case goes to criminal court and you are deemed a witness they may be obligated to release your identity under California state law (Ca Evidence Code Section 1042(d)) regardless of the claims in the ordinance.
If anonymous reports were allowed, that couldn’t happen. Read Section 72.12(a) to see for yourself.
We can come to a middle ground, but neither of these measures are it.
There are plenty of reasons to vote no on both of these ordinances, but in my opinion this is the most serious. There isn’t one other ordinance in the county that has such reporting restrictions.
Any legitimate ordinance should allow any citizen to report violations. Measure O severely restricts your rights to report even blatant violators.
Under Measure P there would be no violations.
Any legitimate ordinance should prohibit convicted felons from growing marijuana. Neither of these do.
Any legitimate ordinance should have an immediate abatement process, neither of these ordinances do.
Where’s the compromise?
We can fix the problem, but only if we work together.
Passing either of these ordinances will put us right back to where we were with unregulated and unenforceable growing in our neighborhoods.
Please join the Lake County Farm Bureau, Lake County Chamber of Commerce, Lake County Deputy Sheriff’s Association, and me in voting no on measures O and P.
You can get more information at www.protectourlakecounty.com .
Patrick McMahon lives in Middletown, Calif.
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- Written by: Patrick McMahon