Details

Written by: Wanda Harris

Published: 03 September 2007

Created: 03 September 2007

Last Updated: 03 September 2007

Forget those scientific polls you keep hearing and reading about ... Lake County Democrats conducted our own straw poll at our fair booth over the Labor Day weekend.

We had many responses and a lot of enthusiasm expressed for the presidential candidates; 131 people participated in the straw poll.

As with national scientific polling, Hillary Clinton takes the lead in this wholly unscientific survey.

Democrats have a supremely talented and qualified array of candidates to choose from for the 2008 presidential election.

As Democrats here in Lake County and nationwide work hard for their own candidate during the primary season, we are committed to coming together next year and supporting wholeheartedly the winner of the primaries.

America knows that putting a Democrat in the White House in 2008 is our country's best hope.

If you did not get a chance to participate, look for our ballot box at the DEMOCRATIC booth at the Kelseyville Pear Festival on Sept. 29.

We want to thank all of our booth volunteers and the supporters we visited with over the Labor Day weekend.

It is a pleasure to be at the fair and we are proud to be a regular participant.

We know that the staff and directors work tirelessly to put on the best fair in the state!

Wanda Harris is chair of Lake County's Democratic Central Committee.

{mos_sb_discuss:4}

Details

Written by: James Henderson

Published: 02 September 2007

Created: 02 September 2007

Last Updated: 02 September 2007

What must it say about such a large number of us that would believe Sheriff Mitchell and DA Hopkins are dishonest? Maybe we have been told to eat cake too often.

James Henderson lives in Lakeport.

{mos_sb_discuss:4}

Details

Written by: Lake County News Reports

Published: 29 August 2007

Created: 29 August 2007

Last Updated: 29 August 2007

At the instigation of Supervisor Denise Rushing, on Aug. 28 a supermajority of the Lake County Board of Supervisors voted to enroll in the Cool Counties initiative against global warming. They thereby pledged to analyze the effects that catastrophic climate change will have on our community and to devise both corrective and protective responses, to reduce our own greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by the year 2050, and to urge the federal government to adopt similar policies leading to the same objective.

Four board members voted in the affirmative – Rushing, Robey, Farrington and Smith – all of whom seemed to be so well versed on the issue that persuasion was superfluous. The most striking remarks came from Board Chair Jeff Smith, who admitted to an original assumption that global warming was just the latest example of media hype, but went on to say that his doubts had been vanquished after his wife brought the alarming reduction of polar bear habitat to his attention, and that he no longer questioned the scope and immediacy of this worldwide threat, or the necessity for a proactive stance from all levels of government.

Unfortunately neither the arguments of his colleagues nor those presented by members of the public appeared to carry much weight with District 5 Supervisor Rob Brown. Although his objection to participation in the Cool Counties initiative seemed to be largely based on the fallacious ideas that Alameda County was trying to impose its will on rural California and that signing on would be a merely symbolic "feel good" gesture, he nonetheless took the opportunity for a completely egregious swipe at former Vice President Al Gore, comparing him to self-confessed dog-fighter Michael Vick. After that, Brown's "no" vote seemed almost beside the point – though one that District 5 voters might well remember when he comes up for reelection next year.

The nationwide Cool Counties campaign has been up and running for barely more than a month, and no list of subscribing entities seems to be available, although more than 600 municipalities have signed onto the corollary Cool Cities initiative during the past two years.

But aside from Alameda County, which was among the eight large urban "founding members," Lake County appears to be the first participant in California. If so, our primacy is especially appropriate since in many respects Lake County – with our abundance of unspoiled habitat and the cleanest air in

California – is already in the Cool Green lead, and county government has already begun to take many positive steps to conserve energy, reduce polluting emissions, and set us on the path to a sustainable future.

Please take a moment to give your supervisor a call at 263-2368 to say "well done!" – unless you live in District 5, in which case an inquiry about the whereabouts of the particular sand dune where Supervisor Brown lays his head these days might be appropriate.

Victoria Brandon is chair of the Sierra Club Lake Group. She lives in Lower Lake.

{mos_sb_discuss:4}