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Opinion Letters for May 24, 2010
Letters for May 24, 2010
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Choose Callaway To the editor: It is time for the voters in Calaveras County’s District 3 to disregard the desperate character assassination, Rovian hijinks, and old-school propaganda and do the heavy lifting. It is time to vote for the person who has performed year after year, promoting the interests of District 3: Merita Callaway. She has worked to support public safety, the Ebbetts Pass Scenic Highway, and the Sheriff’s Animal Services, to name a few. Merita Callaway has demonstrated her commitment to us year after year and her dedication has not diminished. It is amazing and amusing that some nebulous persons in District 5 have thrown their lot in with other candidates. But Merita Callaway is who she has always been: transparent, able, and ready to continue representing District 3. Gary Domazlicky Arnold Ethical man To the editor: What is a county supervisor’s role when representing us versus his personal views as a citizen? It seems to me that it is incumbent upon all Supervisors to support the majority board position publicly. A supervisor has no right to represent their personal opinion as though it is an official county policy. Whenever any county official chooses to write letters on county letterhead, he or she is in effect representing us. To write unauthorized letters is inappropriate, unconscionable, unethical and unacceptable. When the board edited and approved a letter to the U.S. Forest Service arguing against closure of forest roads, two members of the board announced they were writing dissenting letters on their own. What message did that send to the Forest Service? They ignored us. Supervisor Paolo Maffei lent the prestige of his office to the Restore Hetch Hetchy effort by serving on its advisory committee. As our supervisor, he also endorses “Empowering Local Government Climate Action,” and his Web site has numerous examples of letters written to Senators Boxer and Feinstein stating that “My constituents” agree with his position. He did not ask me. A letter to Susan Skalski, Stanislaus Forest supervisor, explains his minority board opinion. Finally there is a letter to the BLM espousing a position on oil-shale policy. I was unaware of a county position on oil shale. The point is that Paolo Maffei is doing his own thing rather than representing us, his constituents. I object to this unethical behavior. I am expressing my opposition by voting for an ethical man, Randy Hanvelt. Chris Luckie Sonora Positive focus To the editor: As a life-long resident and business owner in Tuolumne County, I believe we live in one of the best places on earth. Importantly, I believe we are at a very important place to position ourselves for the future. Tuolumne County has a lot to prepare for, to deal with and to understand. Those willing to take on leadership roles need to be informed on all issues and able to understand the holistic picture of the future. Having gotten to know Evan Royce, I believe he encompasses all of these things. Evan understands what an incredible place Tuolumne County is and is energetic about the important factors facing us in the future. It is evident to Evan that the county’s senior citizens need to be protected. He understands the importance of jobs that will keep families in the county, the importance of our natural resources, and the need for public safety. Evan understands the need for infrastructure, the vital importance of tourism and the need for a focused position on numerous issues. From my experience Evan is a calm, well-spoken, informed and articulate businessman, who cares about his home and his community. For those of you who do not know Evan, I encourage you to visit www.EvanRoyce.com and take the time to get to know him. I am confident that you will be impressed and excited about the positive focus Evan can bring to the Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors. Heidi Lupo Cold Springs Honest, authentic To the editor: I met Tom Memmer, candidate for sheriff, nearly 18 years ago. Tom was a deputy sheriff and was called to a disturbance at my place of employment. I directed Tom to a woman, who was intoxicated. I watched him as he assessed the situation and approached the woman with the utmost care and professionalism. While questioning her, Tom became the recipient of her spitting in his face. He held his composure and wiped away the spit while still questioning and placing her into custody. Tom and I have shared a friendship over the years. He has become a golfing buddy, where you can certainly find an individual’s honesty and integrity. Tom would often assess a penalty shot on himself that none of us saw. This shows his true character of honesty, trustworthiness, authenticity, decency as well as morality. As we all know, Tom is running for sheriff. I can’t think of a better individual to lead Tuolumne County over the next several years in an exciting direction that he has laid out in his recent campaign crusade. I believe Tom would be a benefit to Tuolumne County and would only improve the overall quality of life. He definitely would lead the Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Department and take the leadership position while protecting people’s rights as well as aiding in their safety and quality of life. Having known Tom for all these years, I know he will not imagine himself higher than those he serves if elected, but will act as a co-citizen looking to step up to the task where he knows his past experience will be of value. Jon Mahanna Columbia Empty rhetoric To the editor: As a citizen and voter in every election, I am gravely concerned with the anti-incumbent rhetoric I have been hearing that could blind us to making the right choice on election day. I refer specifically to the District 2 supervisor’s race, where Paolo Maffei, a most competent incumbent, is being challenged by an opponent using baseless and shallow “buzz words” that fail to address the specific issues important to Tuolumne County. It is easy for an uninformed candidate to promise to solve all our problems, clean house, “restore property rights” and create jobs. How will he do it? He never says. Yet many buy into this promise. But now is not the moment to be persuaded by empty rhetoric. These are challenging times requiring knowledge and experience in order to continue essential services with ever smaller budgets. It takes extra time to read the paper or watch the Board of Supervisors on Channel 8 (for those with cable) to observe how Supervisor Maffei works to deal with today’s economic realities while providing leadership towards preparing for a better future. Counties and cities that live in the past will be left behind once the economy turns around. Real jobs are already being created by the Economic Development Authority, which was put in place by forward thinking supervisors and city council-members. Is it really time to shuffle the deck and hope a random group of newcomers can do better? Let us all be mindful as we enter the polling booth be sure to read between the lines of empty rhetoric versus the real proven performance of incumbents such as Paolo Maffei. Mike Strange Tuolumne A vote for Randy To the editor. I am strongly endorsing Randy Hanvelt for supervisor in Tuolumne County’s District 2. Although I live in Calaveras County, 95 percent of my time and money is spent in Sonora. Randy will bring a breath of fresh air to our community, not the old political ploys. Randy has the ideas to get our economy going again and keep our young people here in good jobs, he will reduce government intervention and has the integrity to supervise as we would expect. Randy is the president of his church congregation, a former General Electric executive and a part owner in a California winery, which gives him the background to operate budgets and control spending. A vote for Randy would be a vote for all of us. Norman Whitsed Copperopolis Career carpetbagger To the editor: Do you need a reason to not vote for this carpetbagger? Richard Pombo wants to drain the Sacramento River, killing the remaining salmon and the industry they currently support so almond farmers — who planted trees where there wasn’t water to support them — can pay a select few for the water to make them grow. He wants the Peripheral Canal — the one voters have already turned down. “The Peripheral Canal is widely supported by agribusiness powerbrokers such as Stewart Resnik, and others who wish to turn the public water supply into a private asset to be held and controlled by individuals. If built, water in the Sacramento River would become the property of central Californian farmers, who currently hold the right to resell the water at high cost.” Sounds a lot like socialism to me. Send this career carpetbagger and dropout packing. We don’t need someone who was once been identified as one of the most corrupt members of the House of Representatives. Charlie Speight Groveland |
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