Letters
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- Written by: Monica Rosenthal
As of Jan. 20, 2009, I am the former District 1 planning commissioner. On this exciting and spectacular day of the inauguration of new president, Barack Obama, my term has come to an end — not that there is any connection between these two events.
I would like to thank former Supervisor Ed Robey for giving me the opportunity to serve. It has been a challenging, rewarding, educational and thoroughly enjoyable experience. While serving as planning commissioner, I have had the opportunity to explore some very special places throughout the county, and to meet the most incredible people, and to be involved in our local government.
As many of you know, the Lake County Planning Commission is charged with the responsibility of making land use decisions that affect the future growth and development of Lake County. Those decisions should be based on reasonable and logical growth patterns that take into account the health, safety, and welfare of the people and the environment. Those decisions should also be consistent with our newly adopted General Plan, the Lake County Zoning Ordinance, the California Environmental Quality Act and numerous other local, state and federal agency regulations. Additionally, those decisions should represent the desire of the people of Lake County both today and for future generations.
At a recent Board of Supervisors meeting during which former Supervisor Ed Robey was honored for his many years of public service, District 4 Supervisor Anthony Farrington stated, “We did not inherit this land from our grandparents, we are borrowing it from our grandchildren.” Mr. Ed Robey, Supervisor Farrington and I trust that Supervisor Jim Comstock and his newly appointed planning commissioner are among many who endeavor to uphold this philosophy. However, protecting and preserving our land is also the responsibility of the people in each of our communities.
I encourage everyone to be involved in the future of Lake County. The Lake County Planning Commission is a public hearing, the supervisors can be contacted by phone, email, fax or at their weekly meetings. Individuals need to be heard not just the voices of special interest groups or developers. The elected and appointed decision makers can make better decisions if they hear a wider range of perspectives — it is similar to the sound of a symphony orchestra verses that of teenagers playing the drums and an electric guitar in the garage; not that I have anything against youth and their interest in music.
Finally, I would like to thank all of those who supported my appointment as the District 1 planning commissioner. It has been a pleasure to serve the people of Lake County and the District 1 community.
Monica Rosenthal, former District 1 planning commissioner, lives near Middletown.
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- Written by: Evan Willig
As a person who shares his progressive orientation, his political party and his optimism I thank my fellow Americans for making this happen. To those who don’t agree with his politics or his call to shared sacrifice I cannot help but think you are impressed with his intelligence and grace.
The nation and world are challenged as we have not seen in more than a half century. An economy in recession because we thought wealth was our birthright and not something worked for. A financial system in ruins because we trusted greedy men to do the right thing when no one was looking. The Earth in peril because we pretended it was infinite when a picture from space clearly shows how limited it really is. Our relations with the world strained by our reliance on the technology of war rather than the art of diplomacy.
Yes, our new president has his work cut out for him. So if you see me and millions of others of your fellow citizens a little emotional as we watch and listen to the new president please forgive us.
We invite you, we implore you, to take a moment to reflect in what this country stands for. That the justice and equality we seek and promotion of the general welfare we long for are not the talking points of a politician but the bedrock on which this nation is built.
The United States of America has turned a corner and Barack Hussein Obama is our president.
Evan Willig lives in Cobb.
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- Written by: Jerry Ketchum
I heard that the state will not be able to pay beginning Feb. 1. As you know, a lot of people depend on these programs to get them by. If these programs are cut we will see an increase in homeless families and crime throughout the state.
I would like to get the people of Lake County and the State together on Wednesday, Jan 21, and contact our lawmakers by calling, emailing and faxing them. Letting them know that we want the budget passed now.
We voted them in and we can vote them out.
Jerry Ketchum lives in Clearlake.
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- Written by: PatriciaAn Raymundo-Schmidt
The 17th , “the philosophical definition” appealed to me which states: “The power to exercise choice and make decisions without constraint from within or without; autonomy, self-determination.”
My Filipino ancestors’ innocence was violated hundreds of years ago. Their welcoming, open arms and hands were restrained by brutal invaders and conquerors; forced into religions and new cultures of either Catholicism or Islam or be slaughtered … killed is a tame word.
My mother’s Filipino parents came to California in the 1920s. They worked hard in a new land surviving prejudice, and to be fair, as most people have in the 1920s to the present.
My paternal grandfather was an American Soldier fighting in the Spanish American War in the Philippines. There he met my Filipino grandmother. During WWII in the Philippines, my father and uncles were privileged enough to look Filipino, and did not have to hide from the Japanese. However, my aunts looked American and hid in the mountains, covering their heads to hide their light brown hair, to avoid being killed by the Japanese.
Today, my strength is quickened by the realization that my freedom MUST arise from deep within; my DNA if you wish AND the Spirit of God. I pray each day to see the soul and spirit of people with whom I interact.
My freedom, your freedom, if you choose, MUST be defined by the Spirit loving my enemies, doing good to those who hate me, bless those who curse me and pray for those who mistreat me ... Luke 6:27-18.
PatriciaAn Raymundo-Schmidt lives in Lakeport.
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