When they sent those born from 1925 to 1945 off to war in Korea we went quietly, not bothering to ask why.

In high school, when they showed us “Reefer Madness,” we sat quietly and watched it, a good many of us wondering why they were telling us about this drug we had never heard of before.

It would be some decades before we began to question authority, but when we did we produced some of the country's most persuasive spokespersons.

There were many musicians including all of the Beatles. Noam Chomsky, Richard Dawkins, Hugh Hefner, Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., Gloria Steinem – well, you can go look them up in Wikipedia as easily as I can.

Today we are not the most noticeable of the people who support the concept of legal medical marijuana, but we may be the largest group which quietly uses it to ease pain in our aging bodies.

And we wonder what all the fuss is about among somewhat younger people who passionately and very loudly take a position, pro or con, in public hearings, radio talk shows and the comment section of the online news media.

Most of us want medical marijuana to continue being legal. In fact, many – if not most of us – think the prohibition on recreational use is pretty silly when recreational use of alcohol is legal.

Recently, however, it's been getting tougher to support the people who argue for more liberal laws for marijuana dispensaries and cultivation.

In public testimony they've asked for what seemed to be very large numbers of dispensaries. When the county Board of Supervisors adopted an ordinance allowing five dispensaries in the unincorporated areas of the county they immediately started gathering signatures demanding a referendum vote.

San Jose, a city with nearly one million population, recently limited the number of MMDs to 10, after a proliferation of them opened in the city. That makes five dispensaries in a county of about 65,000 people seem pretty generous. And we have two cities which can adopt their own regulations.

The Lake County supervisors on Oct. 4 unanimously approved the first reading of the revised cultivation ordinance written by Community Development Director Rick Coel and Sheriff Frank Rivero.

The ordinance allows each qualified user to grow a maximum of six mature or 12 immature plants, with three patients able to grow up to 18 mature or 36 immature plants on properties one acre or larger, and still larger grows allowed on properties five acres or larger with a minor user permit.

Since I don't plan to grow it really doesn't matter to me, but I wonder how and when the growers will decide plants have become mature and what they'll do with the six extras.

Because so many of the questions about growing at home are complaints about the smell from a variety known as skunk, I wonder why people don't just grow less smelly varieties.

The ordinance will have its second and final reading and a final vote today.

The referendum group has already promised to seek a referendum on cultivation if they don't like the final version of that ordinance.

One of their tactics in arguing against the ordinances has been to call them “draconian measures.” The term refers to the very harsh laws of Draco, a 7th-century Athenian statesman and lawmaker, and his code of laws, which prescribed death for almost every offense.

The Lake County supervisors may be getting a little testy about the constant objections to their decisions but they have yet to suggest any harsh treatment of the critical citizens, much less a death sentence. It's probably time to retire the hyperbolic draconian argument.

Sophie Annan Jensen is a retired journalist. She lives in Lucerne, Calif.

Remember that scene?

“The Wizard of Oz” was perceived as a giant terrifying disembodied head. Even Dorothy was fooled, until her dog Toto barked at a curtained alcove. The man inside the alcove shooed Toto away, while speaking into an amplifier: “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!”

Today, thanks to thousands of plucky kids occupying Wall Street, America is looking away from the Big Giant Head. Instead we are finally focusing attention on what is behind the curtain.

Many have criticized the tender years of the Occupy Wall Street protesters, sneering, “These kids still live with their parents.”

Well, who else COULD stage a weeks-long sit-in … ?

The rest of us are chained to jobs. We are chained to dependents (children, elders, pets). We are chained to mortgages. We are chained to credit card debt. We must wait for accumulated vacation days (if we are lucky enough to have a job) and then have the boss's permission to use them.

It is the young, who have not yet been chained, who can take the lead, in times like these.

So, the kids are sleeping in a cramped urban park, enduring police brutality, being maced, beaten, hand-cuffed and arrested, and they have been doing this for weeks now. They are doing it because no “leader” seems capable of protecting or serving us, the majority of Americans, the 99 percent.

The corporate-owned media is near-unanimous in its disdain. “They don’t have a clear message!” (5,000 people chanting “Banks got bailed out, we got sold out” … ? Only a media pundit could fail to find a clear message there.)

The Media would rather we continue to be suckers for Corporate America’s favorite brainwashing tool, distraction. “Politicians cause your problems! Vote for different politicians, if you want change.”

In other words, “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.”

Congress has become almost a wholly-owned subsidiary of Corporate America. One hundred percent of Republican politicians are owned outright, and at least half, or maybe two thirds, of Democratic ones.

Thanks to the corporate-stacked Supreme Court, the wealthiest 1 percent now enjoy unbridled control of our political system.

Here’s more corporate spin: “OWS attacks success itself” or “they hate successful people!”

Sorry to disappoint, but no one is against success.

We ARE against crooks, criminals and liars.

We are against a system that has been gamed and rigged to continuously channel money to the 1 percent, while making the 99 percent poorer. Fair markets? Fair playing field? You won't find these in America today.

OWS has pulled back the curtain. They chose the right spot and the right time. Wall Street is the epicenter of financial earthquakes and tsunamis that have damaged the entire world’s economy. OWS points straight at the people who caused economic disaster, and says “You stand accused!”

Wall Street does not like the attention. Wall Street spends a great deal of money on PR firms, politicians, lobbyists, media pundits and talk radio, to avoid this kind of attention.

Bottom line: In 2008, nearly twenty percent of America’s net worth, accumulated over 200 years, disappeared. The criminal banksters responsible would prefer people not stare at them.

In the words of a Holly Near song, “We are a gentle, angry people, and we are singing for our lives.”

Thanks to OWS, our nation is finally beginning to hear the people’s voices.

Thank you, Occupy Wall Street, for pulling back the curtain.

Thank you to all Occupiers across America.

Those “crazy kids” started the ball rolling. Will you help keep it going?

To learn about Occupy Together events in Lake County, including two occurring on Saturday, Oct. 15, in Lakeport and Clearlake, visit www.occupytogether.org or www.ruralvalues.org.

Deb Baumann lives in Upper Lake, Calif.

I have remained silent to these comments from the sheriff as I feel it does not benefit either of our offices or the fight for public safety.

However, he has recently started slandering individual members of my office with falsehoods and misrepresentations.

This is not acceptable for any elected official, especially one who should be a partner in law enforcement.

The sheriff has publicly made statements that I am left of the ACLU and a member of the American Communist Party, neither of which is true.

He quoted me of saying I intend on putting him in jail for the rest of his life, a statement never made publicly of privately.

Sheriff Rivero has said I am soft of criminals and I put outlaw motorcycle gangs above the interest of citizens.

I will do everything legally possible to provide for public safety, but let there be no misunderstanding, I have taken an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution, and will honor that oath.

I never have, and will not make personal attacks on the sheriff. Using my position to do so is not in the best interest of the community or the administration of justice. Additionally, to try and humiliate anyone in public is against my upbringing.

Recently, Sheriff Rivero has publicly attacked my criminal investigators in order to discredit them prior to the release of their investigations into his activities.

The sheriff has publicly said some investigators illegally made entry into the Sheriff’s data base system (RiMS) for “entertainment purposes.”

The truth is, for many years prior to Francisco Rivero ever working for the sheriff’s department our two agencies have worked together to investigate and assist each other in our mutual goals of protecting the public.

For years some investigators who also worked for the sheriff, had been updating the sheriff’s RiMS system with current information.

Additionally, both agencies have mutually shared reports to help in criminal investigations, which is not for “entertainment purposes.” This was the practice that had been followed until he discontinued this valuable tool in combating crime.

The sheriff has said my investigators are “running amok,” “bullying” and “threatening” people. The sheriff gives no examples nor has he ever brought his beliefs to my attention.

I have found my investigators to be extremely professional and understanding of the needs of the people, but at the same time we are aggressive in our fight against crime.

Lastly, Sheriff Rivero publicly said I am “scared”of my investigators. My only response to him is, do not confuse fear with and respect.

This office is committed to seeking the truth and holding accountable those who violate the public trust.

Don Anderson is district attorney for Lake County, Calif.