So many stats as we start the new year.

Did you realize that there will be a new accounting of homeless in Lake County on Jan. 23?. In 2017 Point-In-Time counted 401 people who met the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s description of homeless. As the homeless register, they receive many considerations of value.

More than one-quarter of the total homeless population nationwide lives in California, roughly 114,000. Homeless in California continues to rise at a steady clip.

My question is why, with a county population of around 64,000, do we have so many homeless? There is always the – why is this happening? Can anyone tell us why? Will there be an increase in the 2018 count?

Another stat that seems to be true – do you remember the 2008 vote to build a bullet train, or what is now being called the “train to nowhere,” that was estimated cost was $43 billion? It was anticipated that about one-third of the money to build the bullet-train system would come from the state bond, about one-third from the federal government, and about one-third from private investment.

For the last few years, the estimates have hovered in the mid-$60 billion range. I have picked up reported facts from by Tim Sheehan, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.: “Price has been a ever-changing thing for the rail project’s leaders since California voters in 2008 approved Proposition 1A, a $9.9 billion high-speed rail bond. At that time, the price tag for Phase 1, 520 miles of tracks and infrastructure from San Francisco to Los Angeles, was forecast at $33 billion. Since then, the estimates have fluctuated, sometimes wildly: to $42.6 billion in 2009, taking inflation into account during development and construction; to $98.1 billion in late 2011; to $68.4 billion in 2012 after a major retooling of the construction plans in the San Francisco Bay Area.”

Now with Gov. Brown making California a sanctuary state, how will the financing all turn out? Think on that one for a while.

We can even look at a stat very close to home, actually in your neighborhood and mine. If you care for yourself, family and neighbors, you might want to look at the names on the list of Lake County registered sex offenders. Their addresses and photos are also listed. At this time there are 251 Registered Sex Offenders in a county population of around 64,000. How many such people are not registered?

We are always left with a question.

Leona Butts lives in Clearlake Oaks, Calif.