Letters
- Details
- Written by: R. Foley
Last Tuesday, Feb. 13, I had the misfortune to observe the varsity basketball game at Clear Lake High School between the Clear Lake varsity and the Upper Lake varsity.
From the beginning of the game, Upper Lake led Clear Lake in every respect. They outplayed Clear Lake; however, as the game progressed, and the coach and players on the Clear Lake team became concerned, the blatant bias of the referees came to play in order to assist Clear Lake. Numerous fouls were called on Upper Lake and yet the same type of foul and some very over-the-top physical play by Clear Lake went unnoticed by the referees.
This is not sour grapes. Anyone attending the game, supporters for Upper Lake and Clear Lake, realized something not kosher was going on.
As the game progressed and went into the fourth quarter and then into overtime, fouls were called on Upper Lake and still - few called on Clear Lake.
Clear Lake won the game by one point. Clearly this was a tough fought game, however, Clear Lake, obviously to all who attended, was assisted by the biased refereeing. This is not to take anything away from the Clear Lake players.
My concern is that our high school athletes work very hard to compete in various athletics. Our students believe, as they should, that officials refereeing games will remain neutral. This game was so blatantly biased on the part of the officials that those attending started booing. After the game the referees quickly left the court and the building - no wonder!
Athletes should be able to go into a game expecting a win, and if that doesn't occur, then in a loss they will know they lost fairly. This was anything but a fair loss.
These two officials should hang their heads in shame and should not be allowed to officiate in this county every again.
R. Foley
Lakeport
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- Details
- Written by: Lake County News Reports
Tango Mike? That's the phonetic alphabet for the letters T and M. In military slang, that's Thanks Much.
The local volunteers who have been forwarding comfort parcels to our combat troops also forward their Thanks Much for the contributions that made and make this effort possible.
Of course, we begin with our Den Mother, Ginny Craven, whose determination and hard work are the essential spark plug.
Veterans organizations have pitched in: Chapter 951 of Vietnam Veterans of America, the United Veterans Council and American Legion Post 194.
Many veterans have pitched in, including Dean Gotham, Michael Kirch, Frank Parker, Skip Hulet, Kirk MacDonald, Ron Quick, Woody Hughes, Jess Combs, Bill Combs, RJ "Bob" Tucker and myself.
Other organizations and businesses have helped, including Mendo-Lake Urology, Christ Loves All Youth, Watershed Books, Catfish Books, Staples of Ukiah, and the Kelseyville Lions Club.
Many individuals also contibuted (and if there are veterans in here unbeknownst to me, bless you): Nancy Rhoades, Suzi Parker, Sharon Leuzinger, Wayne Myers, Tammy Myers, Joe Myers, Valerie Stewart, Sandy Hughes, Tamara Newby, John Cain, Naomi Cain, Patricia Larson, Bob Berkowitz and Albert Carter. A special mention here for Mary Ann Carter, who drove all the way to Sacramento to load up out of a 99 cent store.
The response has been so overwhelming, I may have missed someone. If so, my apologies.
George J. Dorner
Public relations chair,
Chapter 951, Vietnam Veterans of America
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- Details
- Written by: Lake County News Reports
Now that Nancy Pelosi has mugged when she should have wumped and wumped when she should have mugged by passing "a non-binding" resolution rebuking Shrub on Iraq she needs to impeach the psychopath for real.
Put your mug where your wump was, Madam Speaker.
Gary Peterson
Belmont
PS: Don't forget to include "Shotgun," Dick Cheney.
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- Details
- Written by: Sarah Ryan
In an interview appearing in the January Farm Bureau newsletter, our Agricultural Commissioner Steve Hajik commented on new regulations from the state regarding the application of dormant sprays. It seems the state is wanting to better regulate ag runoff because it is ending in the Sacramento River. The new regulation has several conditions that need to be met before dormant sprays can be applied.
"The problem is, we don't know when you're going to be applying it and I don't see us going from place to place to examine the soil moisture," Hajik said to the growers. "So, I don't see how I'm going to be able to enforce this." (as reported in www.lakeconews.com.
Those of us in the online community have been mulling over this and other statements for the past week. I wanted to jump into the mix because I'm concerned that the farmers who have replied on this issue don't seem to be getting the source of concern: that our ag commissioner has said that the new regulation is unenforceable.
Industry needs to monitor itself. When it can't (or won't), government gets involved. It seems the farming industry has not regulated itself. Organophosphates and pyrethroids are ending up downstream. The state seems to think it comes from pesticide applications to ag - why else would a new regulation come down the pike about dormant applications?
All well and good except the chief enforcer in our county happened to believe that because of the nature of the regulation, he and his staff would not be able to enforce the new law. It appears that the state made this new reg without consulting ag or else the state would have heard the concerns of people such as Steve Hajik and given clarification before the law went into effect. It must have come as a surprise. Whatever.
This is not good. A law came into being to protect health and the environment. As citizens of the county, we are supposed to have a government that upholds the laws. Steve's admission that the new regulation was unenforceable could only mean one thing: that the Lake County Department of Agriculture is not up to the task of enforcing the federal and state laws which are enacted to protect our health and the environment. For tribes, it could be an even greater concern because some of them practice a subsistence level lifestyle which of course means they are consuming less from grocery stores and restaurants and
more from hunting, gathering and fishing.
There are many of us in this county that are counting on farmers to get out of the trap of pesticides and start practicing a sustainable agriculture which does no harm to the environment, the residents or the tourists either.
It appears to us nonfarmers that the cultural practices have killed the soils, encouraged pests and destroyed the natural predators as well as the natural defenses of the plants. In addition, these cultural practices have lead to a contamination of our soils, earth and water and have caused an unknown number of illnesses. This is not acceptable.
I don't think anyone wants to see Lake County agriculture disappear, but I think more and more people are finding that the cost has become too high for comfort. We don't know the full extent of the damage.
How can we support more farmers to move toward and then past ipm? Are more subsidies needed? More partnerships? How can we encourage them to not hide behind ag exemptions but see their responsibility toward our environment? This conversation needs to occur.
Sarah Ryan
Environmental Director
Big Valley Rancheria
Lakeport
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