Letters
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- Written by: Laurel Elliott
I have talked to many other care givers from all over the nation, and almost to a man, every one of them goes above and beyond what work they get paid to do. These are caring individuals who take their jobs seriously. This type of devotion should be rewarded.
I heard from David Smith today and he read an excerpt from the Lake County Record-Bee about an opinion sent in for their editor's column where the comment is made that Supervisors Farrington and Brown are doing their jobs and that the California union president should "stay in Los Angeles and beat his chest" [paraphrase].
I feel that this is a strong racial comment and it makes me wonder if maybe Supervisors Farrington and Brown feel the same way. Were I in their districts, I would not vote for them, as this comment is, I feel, a racial slur. I wonder if the residents in Lake County want supervisors that they believe feel that way?
Laurel Elliott is an In-Home Supportive Services care provider who lives in Nice.
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- Written by: Perry McCosker
Recent statements that came out in the local newspaper in response to the IHSS union recall attempt sounded a little racial. I don't think there's a need for that kind of thing to be going on in Lake County.
I'm an IHSS client, and I'd be a dead duck if I didn't have an IHSS worker helping me day to day.
This whole big argument between the county and the union is not a good thing. I think we're able to pick our own providers, without a lot of input. That's the way it was set up by the State of California and I think it should be left alone.
Perry McCosker is a Vietnam veteran and an IHSS client who lives in Nice.
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- Written by: Lake County News Reports
The In-Home Supportive Services program is one California can be proud of. It allows the disabled (from mild to severe) choose caretakers to provide helping services in their own homes. The choice of caretaker is the client’s alone, and not many conditions are imposed on the caretaker – meaning this can be a person with no training or someone with criminal offenses in their past.
The proposed raise for IHSS workers is causing controversy because it will only be given to those who qualify “to be registered.” Caretakers (providers) can currently work for any recipient or multiple recipients who requests them. Under the proposal, those who pass a drug test and background check would additionally qualify for a registry (labor pool), where people looking for caretakers could find help. These professionals would receive a higher wage than those who aren’t registered. This is similar to a normal promotion resulting in a higher grade of pay. So what is wrong with that? And how is that different from any professional registry or licensing board (like nurses or doctors)?
Drug testing is probably fair criteria in the caretaking environment, because drugs are often readily available. However, I would take away the requirement that the person not have a criminal background. Past behavior should not prevent caretakers from earning as much as their peers or joining the registry (although the registry would certainly have to notify potential clients of criminal backgrounds).
In its place, I would require a minimum competency test. If competency was a condition for extra wages, it would be more understandable that those who see caretaking as a profession would have the right to earn more than those who do not want to prove their qualifications.
Janis Paris lives in Clearlake Oaks.
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- Details
- Written by: Lake County News Reports
U.S. district court judge Jeremy Fogel put the brakes on executions in California in February 2006. He interpreted the law to say convicted murderer Michael Morales shouldn’t experience pain when executed by lethal injection. This is no joke! Morales brutally beat a teenager to death with a claw hammer! Fogel and the law, however, are worried about his pain. Unfortunately, Fogel isn’t the only judge that strictly follows the “no pain for murder” commandment.
Why shouldn’t murderers suffer when they die, some people ask? Murder victims suffer when their lives are taken. Family members of murder victims suffer the rest of their lives. For 400 years, convicted American killers experienced pain when they were executed by hanging, firing squads, electric chairs and gas chambers. Regrettably, times have changed.
Where do Fogel and other magistrates get their crazy no-pain-for-the-guilty dogma? Nobody knows, for sure. Some say they attend that new “Godless Church of Liberalism and Conformity” that’s all the rage. It’s the liberal mullahs in that sect who teach followers they must execute murderers with out pain if they want to be righteous. Many dim witted disciples believe and convert to this wacky doctrine. It’s more trendy every day, especially in California.
Unfortunately, the same liberal justices don’t apply their no pain doctrine to unborn babies who’re killed in abortion clinics. Unborn babies are innocent. Their screams are silent but everyone knows the excruciating pain they experience when they die.
It’s quite clear, Fogel and his madcap associates practice law backwards and upside down. In case after case, they adjudicate no pain for guilty murderers and unbearable pain for innocent unborn babies. One day, judges must regain their senses and reverse themselves. Innocents won’t suffer and guilty human vermin like Morales will be speedily executed. Of course, judges who reverse themselves will be excommunicated from that goofy “Church of Liberalism and Conformity.”
Darrell Watkins live in Kelseyville.
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