Letters
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This pain began around 1848 in Lake County, just about the time despicable individuals like Kelsey and Stones came to get rich at the expense of local Native people, who through murder, forced starvation, enslavement, disease and massacres had lost at least 50,000 of their own by 1870 ... not to mention dispossession or the loss of land and cultural resources, as well as decades of forced assimilation or acculturation.
In the face of this very real pain, how does the majority of Kelseyville residents react 150 years later?
The Kelseyville residents, as a people and culture, have no pain of their own that can compare to what the Pomo people were made to endure. All they prove to have is a pettiness which reveals an underlying persistent current of ignorance and mean-spiritedness, doing all in their power to revert to the old mascot name.
Kelseyville beats South Dakota in racism. South Dakota, long one of the most racist states in the nation in its dealing with Native people, found the courage to replace Columbus Day with Native American Day.
Kelseyville has neither the courage nor the generosity of heart to allow a change that is meaningful to the Pomos of Lake County, and shames California and this nation.
Raphael Montoliu lives in Lakeport.
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- Written by: Lake County News Reports
Both parks protect precious lakeshore habitat; both contain significant cultural resources; both shelter many species of wildlife; both provide important recreational opportunities to county residents and visitors alike.
Each park hosts a vibrant outdoor festival and welcomes school groups for special functions throughout the year, and – to add an extra touch of irony – volunteer interpretative associations in each park are currently engaged in massive facilities expansion projects that will greatly augment the parks’ value to the community.
The meager projected savings from closing these parks wouldn't even result in a net gain to the state budget after deducting direct losses from diminished transient occupancy tax and sales tax revenues generated by park visitors. Potential costs to the people of California from deterioration of public property, increased legal liabilities, and diminished prosperity are incalculable.
Both Assemblymember Patty Berg and State Senator Patricia Wiggins have promised to work hard to keep Clear Lake State Park and Anderson Marsh State Historic Park open – but they need our help.
Please send a message to the governor: by mail to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, State Capitol Building, Sacramento, CA 95814 with the message “Keep Lake County parks OPEN!” Delivery by fax is particularly effective: 916-558-3160. Or if you’d rather make a phone call, the number is 916-445-2841.
As always, your own words will convey the strongest message, but there's a great deal of power in sheer numbers too, so don't hesitate to send a form letter if you don't have time to compose your own. A letter can be downloaded from the Sierra Club Lake Group Web site (http://redwood.sierraclub/lake) in both pdf and editable Word format.
Please act today to save our irreplaceable community treasures.
Victoria Brandon is chair of the Sierra Club Lake Group. She lives in Lower Lake.
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- Written by: Mark Bredt
For several years state legislators have rattled their swords regarding the governance of community colleges – the proposal has been to develop a state board to oversee the community college system eliminating local control of the individual districts. The founding premise of the COMMUNITY college system is to provide local supervision of the college system and responsiveness to the needs and ambitions of the community that supports it. The community college is charged with providing educational support and assistance in partnership with community government and local business. Rural California colleges would suffer most under a centralized state governance. Proposition 92 guarantees a stable system of independent college districts.
The California Community College system is under funded, the current apportionment of funds, set by Proposition 98 dictates that 11 percent of education funding be directed to community colleges and 89 percent be directed to the K-12 system. Historically the legislature has been very cavalier in suspending this agreement – over the past 10 years funding for community colleges is in arrears over $4 billion. Proposition 92 separates the Community College system from the K-12 system and sets minimum levels of state funding based on COMMUNITY COLLEGE growth instead of being indexed as a percentage of K-12 population. California ranks 45 out of 49 states in support per full-time student revenue.
In the 2003-2004 budget legislators doubled student enrollment fees for community colleges as a source of revenue for state budget deficits. Funding to community colleges was also decreased by a similar amount. Student enrollment dropped by more than 300,000 students statewide. Our college district fared better than most due to effective management and planning but, we were forced to layoff faculty and staff and cut programs to balance our budget. While students paid twice as much to attend college we were forced to provide fewer classes, less supportive services, fewer opportunities. Proposition 92 will stabilize funding, secure student access, and allow our local governing board to be proactive in planning programs that support our community needs. That is far better than the current process of holding our breath, each year, wondering if we're going to receive funding.
A healthy community college system helps to grow California's middle class and bolsters the state's economy, offering every California resident an opportunity to attend college. California community colleges provide an education for 2.5 million students compared to the 180,000 students in the University of California system and 380,000 students attending California State Universities.
California's community colleges partners with labor to provide 160 apprenticeship programs – 250,000 apprentices on 35 campuses. Forty colleges, including the Yuba Community College District, provide Police Officers Standards and Training (POST) academies. Another 64 colleges offer fire technology programs to train our firefighters. Nearly three quarters of registered nurses in California received training through their community colleges.
A healthy California Community College system supports diversity and offers higher education to students who might otherwise be unable to afford college. There are 463,000 Latino students, 118,000 African-American students, and more than 250,000 students of other minorities attending community colleges. This represents a higher minority population than the UC and CSU systems combined.
Proposition 92 lowers the current fees to attend a community college to $15 per unit, placing a college education in the reach of every Californian. It limits increases in student fees to cost of living adjustments. It provides stable funding indexed to student enrollment. The California Postsecondary Education Commission is projecting that there will be 375,000 to 525,000 additional applicants to the community college system over the next three years. We need to be funded and prepared for this surge.
Vote YES on Proposition 92.
Mark Bredt is District 4 (Lake County) Representative on the Yuba Community College District Board of Trustees. He lives in Clearlake Park.
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- Written by: Andrea Anderson
When you vote…
Do you vote for your team or the best person for the job?
Do you vote for the most popular person or do you vote for the most intelligent person?
Do you vote for the person who looks respectable or do you vote for the person who has earned your respect?
Do you vote according to your standards or the standards of your peers or party?
Do you do your own research on the candidates or do you rely on commercials, catch phrases, and/or corporate media to make your decisions for you?
Does your vote have your personal stamp of approval or does it simply have the stamp of approval of your party?
Before you vote, this year, take some time to ask yourself these questions and one last vital question:
Are you electing someone according to your conscience or are you selecting someone according to someone else’s agenda and/or persuasion?
Andrea Anderson lives in Lakeport.
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