Opinion
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- Written by: Craig Bach
Earlier this summer residents of Lucerne were presented with another proposed rate hike of 21.7 percent next year, and 3.38 percent the following year. The purpose of this rate hike would be to cover increasing health care costs, pensions and workers compensation insurance costs, water quality programs and after-hours customer service support.
In addition to this, once the new plant is finally completed (hopefully by next summer), Lucerne's ratepayers will be presented with yet another raise to pay back the state loan. The only good thing about this raise is that with the completion of the new plant, our water should actually be drinkable!
Cal Water is also planning to consolidate all of its rate hikes into a package deal, because now they apply for raises for one-third of their districts at a time. This means that their next major rate hike for everyone in the Cal Water system would be in 2011, and promises to be a real whopper.
This all leads me to two other issues. One was that we were notified last week of excessive levels of Trihalomethanes (THMs), which are a residual product of chlorination, that had occurred over the last year. Then, for a grand finale, last Friday, we were presented with “boil your water” notices for our good behavior. There was an excellent article in last Saturday's online Lake County News that went into great detail regarding these two events. The boil water order would last five days.
An attempt on my part to contact the California Public Utilities Commission by phone resulted in my being on various holds for half an hour, and then finding that the ONE (and only one) person assigned to water issues wasn't even available. Better results were obtained when I called the state Department of Health Services in Santa Rosa (707-576-2145), who promptly returned my call.
We don't have a new water plant yet due to an originally overly-ambitious, platinum-plated design on the part of Cal Water. Luckily both the county and Caltrans had enough problems with the original design that it has since been simplified and downsized, keeping the existing office, and using a modular microfiltration system that will vastly improve water quality here in Lucerne.
It seems to me that the only way for the citizens of Lucerne to be fully served by their water system is to own it. How we'll actually do that remains to be seen, but we DO have options.
In Lucerne there is a group of Volunteers,called Lucerne FLOW (Friends of Locally Owned Water). This group is working on acquiring the water company for the benefit of Lucerne. They meet at the Lucerne Alpine Senior Center on the first Thursday of the month. Feel free to come and help.
The contact phone number for messages only is 274-3346. Call and leave your name and phone number and someone will get back to you.
Craig Bach is a director of the Lucerne Community Water Organization.
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- Written by: Scott and Linda Fergusson
First, HVL Security for their timely and professional response, the paramedics, the fire department and the California Highway Patrol for their professional care and treatment at the scene. Redbud hospital ER for the good care in the middle of the night. Our friends and family for being there to help us when we needed it for help with work, rides, meals and good company. Everyone who has wished us well and kept us in their thoughts and prayers.
And finally, the powers that be for divine intervention in keeping us protected from serious injury and death.
Always buckle up for safety! And never drink and drive.
Scott and Linda Fergusson (aka Hero and Angel) live in Middletown.
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- Written by: Robert MacIntyre
I would like to applaud Representative Mike Thompson’s work on HR 1303, the bill known as “The Passenger Bill of Rights Act of 2007.” I know firsthand what it feels like to be sitting on the tarmac for over two hours waiting to take off. Long delays end up causing problems with connecting flights, and they make it challenging to get reunited with your luggage.
The Passenger Bill of Rights Act of 2007 states that if a flight is delayed the airlines will have to keep the cabin at a comfortable temperature, and drinking water must be provided to the passengers. This is all well and good, but unfortunately, that’s about all this bill does.
Here are a couple of things you should know regarding this bill: First, according to the language of the bill, an excessive delay is three hours or more. You should also know that the pilot can extend this time by another hour, bringing the total to four hours. I don’t know of anybody ever being held on an aircraft for four hours or more. Do you?
Second, the language of the bill states that a passenger cannot just get up and leave the aircraft. The bill only requires airlines to “establish procedures to allow passengers to exit the aircraft” whatever that means. I am fearful that the procedures that get established will have more to do with the economics of the airline than passenger comfort.
When I first read the article in the paper regarding this bill I thought: “Wow that’s great! We will no longer be held captive on delayed flights!” Then I read the actual bill and discovered that it wasn’t exactly what I thought.
As an involved citizen I feel an obligation to constantly check on bills that are going through process, and encourage others to do the same. If you know of a bill that you support or oppose, your local representative should know what you think. You can call them or write them – you can even e-mail most of them. To act on behalf of their constituents, your legislators must have input!
For actual text of this bill and other proposed regulation go to: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/legislation.xpd
Robert MacIntyre lives in Hidden Valley Lake.
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- Written by: Harold Riley
There are real, important stories out there awaiting some enterprising reporters or an editor who's truly interested in community affairs. What about the "ghetto" that about six blocks from Clearlake City Hall? I'll gladly take some reporter on a tour if he's got the nerve and guts? How about exorbitant prices for water and rental rates that are rendering our senior citizens penniless? How about the building contractors who are constructing expensive units on sandy dunes and near creeks that are flooded in the winter?
Instead, they devoted the front page to a "cross dressing" principal. Is this the only method left for a principal to induce his students to achieve scholastic rewards? I sincerely hope not.
Their propensity for cheap, easy humor at the expense of a minority verges on the National Inquirer mode. The readers deserve better. This was not a matter of principle, it was a matter of embarrassment for the citizens of Lake County. In the future, if they feel so compelled, I hope they'll keep the "drag" at least on the entertainment page.
Harold Riley live in Clearlake.
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