I recently attended a public meeting that one of our county supervisors attended. Eight people attended, including the supervisor.

Three individuals seemed to be there only to challenge this supervisor regarding the Lake County Board of Supervisors’ vote on an ordinance regulating marijuana dispensaries in the unincorporated areas of Lake County.

They accused the supervisor of accepting a monetary bribe for voting in favor of the ordinance.

Name calling, innuendos, lack of courtesy do not promote positive outcomes.

The few who were there to confront the supervisor were rude. They did not allow the common courtesy of letting each person express their views without being interrupted by rude side comments.

However, when they were speaking common courtesy was expected.

I am a passionate person, so I know how it feels to be passionate about an issue.

Courteous and respectful debates generally result in finding common ground somewhere in the middle.

Maybe the outcome isn’t exactly what we want, but that is the foundation our country was built on: Finding common ground that addresses opposing views.

I think that is what our supervisors tried to do: Find a compromise between those who want dispensaries banned, and those that want them to be unregulated.

All individuals who wish to do business in Lake County have guidelines imposed by the county and state governments. The guidelines vary and are based on type of business, location, products sold, services rendered, etc.

Dispensaries are a business and as such should be treated as other businesses in Lake County with guidelines to follow.

All those present at the meeting agreed that medical marijuana seems to help people and those individuals should be allowed access to their medicine.

One person stated that he does possess a marijuana card, but that he got it purely for recreational purposes.

Other comments were made regarding having to hide the use of marijuana, yet people are allowed to drink and use pharmaceuticals openly.

After a few more rude comments, two people at the meeting got up to leave clearly angry, and one commented that the room was full of bigots.

I looked up the definition of a bigot: “One who holds blindly and intolerantly to a particular creed, opinion, etc.”

The comment reminded me of the old saying, “When you point your finger at someone, there are three pointing back at you.”

Clearly some people have forgotten how to play nice.

Linda Diehl-Darms lives in Middletown, Calif.

Lake County voters mandated by a vote of 11,933 to 7,908 to change the politics of the good old boys club controlling their lives. Voters clearly called for the end of party politicians and connected special interests controlling the make up of electoral districts. The electorate chose a new way to set up representation in Sacramento and in Washington.

Our hard working Lake County Registrar of Voters showed the June 8, 2010, election tally of 15,559 total votes in the county. Of those votes, Supervisor Rushing received 1,625 votes or roughly 10 percent of the votes cast in the entire county. She won her district by 54.6 percent.

The Lake County Registrar of Voters showed the November 2010 election with a total of 19,841 votes cast on Proposition 20, the congressional redistricting measure: www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/ROV/Final_Election_Results.htm.

Supervisor Rushing has decided receiving 1625 votes in an election means she does not have to listen to the majority voice of 11,933 voters. She has chosen to go against the majority of voters in our county. She is ignoring the fact the voters asked for a fresh new approach to governance. She has chosen a politics as usual alliance with special interest groups, and state and federal representation that has led our county to be one of the poorest counties in the state.

Our representation in both Washington and Sacramento has awarded us with the 51st worst position in unemployment out of 59 positions available in the state.

We are in the 54th spot as a high poverty level county with only five counties in the state poorer than we are. We are also the second most impoverished county in Northern California, being slightly less poor than Del Norte County, which, is represented by the same Washington political machine as we have representing us. In fact, almost all of the coast district is made up of severe poverty level counties.

What is even more appalling, over 30 percent of children ages 0-17 in our county live in poverty. Think about that for a moment, almost one third of all children living in Lake county are living in poverty.

Our state and federal representatives; policies have awarded one third of Lake County's children with a life of poverty trophy for 54th place in standard of living: www.ers.usda.gov/data/povertyrates/PovListpct.aspst=CA&view=Percent&longname=California.

That leaves real questions Supervisor Rushing should be addressing.

Why is she going against the wishes of the majority of voters in the county after she received clear instructions by a sound majority in an election?

Why would she continue to support and push for maintaining a failed representative body that has not looked out for the interests of Lake County's working class?

Is blatant partisanship more important than following the will of the voters even if the system has harmed the economic stability of her constituents?

What private sector job creation by way of federal grants, or funding has found way to producing new jobs?

Why was our local private sector overlooked by our representatives when all the government corporate welfare money was handed out over the last two years?

Are we being represented for the people in the county, or are we just a stop off for some photo opportunities, a little wine sipping and some glad handing?

According to comments left in an article, a couple million dollars went to school districts and hopefully some money found its way into county protective services. But how does money going to support public sector jobs address the issue of loss of revenue from tax paying private citizens who no longer pay much in taxes because they are unemployed?

There are a people in our county faced with losing hours in job cutbacks as local businesses try to survive. Others are losing their jobs as more businesses cut back to cut labor costs. Some businesses have failed and closed their doors.

There are citizens trapped in the maze of continued unemployment for over a year because there is no affordable work within 50 miles. Others can not afford a newer dependable car to drive up to 1000 miles a week to get to work in the Bay area or Sacramento.

I do not know all of the local politics, because I am not a politician. I met Supervisor Rushing at a campaign stop during her 2010 election run. I was doing research on ways to bring the politicians and the business community together to help the city of Clearlake.

Supervisor Rushing made a striking statement that threw me back at first. It was a warm sunny day with a gentle breeze coming in from the Lake. The breeze had a cooling effect and I commented that it was nice the breeze was blowing in from the right direction today. She replied with something similar to, “the wind only comes in from the left.” I was stunned for a moment until I realized she was living and breathing pure politics.

What I am concerned with is, why has she gone against the will of the people so aggressively? There was a greater percentage of voters who voted for change then there were who voted for her.

Why is she so set on business as usual that the voice of the people means nothing to her. Surely, she respected the majority that put her in office, so why does she disrespect the will of the majority of voters?

There is not a platform she can stand on that says the working class have benefited from the old political system. The platform she is fighting to retain is the cause of our county being in the winners circle of extremely high unemployment and poverty. I am sure some will attempt to blame the citizens, but it is the politicians that are responsible for the laws and regulations that stifle a healthy economy.

We are in the circle of shame as a county with a third of our children living in poverty. Is maintaining the stronghold of power by the good old boys club so important to her that poverty is acceptable as long as the control is maintained?

The voters spoke, clearly and plainly: 2010 was a call for the end of Good Old Boy politics in Lake county. Denise Rushing needs to listen to the voters' voice.

Keith Buter lives in Lucerne, Calif.

There are rejected but tame kittens and cats that wind up at the pound. They can make good house pets. Then, there are stray or “community” cats that are actually tame, not feral, and they can make good pets or good barn cats. And, the feral cats can also make good barn cats, or just outdoor cats that keep down the rodents.

In April I went to Animal Control to get a license for Zeus, my Great Dane. I couldn't resist, so I took a peek at the cat room. I wound up leaving with a wonderful 5-month-old Lynx Point Siamese that had no business being at the pound. She had actually been adopted once and then returned to the pound. She is beautiful and sweet, though feisty, and has made a good adjustment to our home and our other dogs and cats. She was and remains healthy. I was sad that I couldn’t save all the kittens there.

I urge people to consider adopting a cat from the pound. It is located in an out-of-the-way location off of Hill Road next to the county jail, which is unfortunate. Animal Care and Control could place a lot more cats if they took them out into the community, like they do elsewhere.

For instance, Rainbow Ag in Ukiah has cages with kittens from the Mendocino pound, and also from private rescue organizations. I once adopted two kittens from there, just because they caught my eye when I was shopping. Perhaps Rainbow Ag and other places in Lake County would be willing to showcase pound kittens and cats.

Concerning feral and stray cats, Lake County clearly needs to organize a TNR (trap, neuter, release) program. There are plenty of people willing to feed feral colonies, and plenty of rats, mice, gophers and voles for them to eat. (Yes, the occasional bird too, but such is life.)

According to veterinarian Richard Bachman, director of Veterinary Services for Contra Costa County, there are numerous successful models of TNR, usually combined with vaccinating for rabies and “tipping” the cats' ear so they can be easily identified as sterile, and studies show a decrease in feral and community cat populations when such models are used.

Besides the love and companionship, many of us cat lovers like having cats around in the country to keep rodents under control. Rodents attract rattlesnakes, so having cats also keeps the rattlers away, and if one shows up, a cat is a good early warning device (you’ll hear the rattlesnake rattle as the cat stalks it), and, more often than not, a cat will kill a rattlesnake before it can strike.

Of course, rats can really wreak havoc and devastate the human population. Rats transmit over 20 diseases to humans, including bubonic plague, a dread disease that thins the rat population when it exceeds the available food supply.

We need to learn from history. In the Middle Ages, cats were commonly blamed for everything, thought to be witches, and millions were murdered. As a result, the rodent population surged out of control. In the 14th century, following widespread superstitious destruction of cats and their near-extinction, rats proliferated and bubonic plague (“Black Death”) decimated the population of Europe, killing more than one-third (possibly even two-thirds) of the people, but generally sparing those households with cats.

We shouldn't return to Ancient Egypt's death penalty for killing a cat, but the Board of Supervisors should take steps to adopt more cats and prohibit the killing of healthy feral cats, and initiate a trap, neuter, release program instead of exterminating the feral cats.

Neuter and feed the stray and feral cats, but let them roam and destroy their share of rats, mice and other rodents. Respect the cats – they're among our best friends.

Ron Green is an attorney who lives in Lower Lake, Calif.

Human blood containing toxins from GMO crops?

That was not supposed to happen.

When MON810 was released into the US food supply over a decade ago, government approval was based on Monsanto’s own word that the toxin in the corn would pass harmlessly through the human body during digestion.

No independent research or testing was done, to verify Monsanto's claim. No long-term animal trials were done, to determine effects on multiple generations. And, no human trials were done.

“Yes, every cell of our corn contains a deadly pesticide. But don't worry! We assure you the toxin will just pass right through human digestive tracts. Take our word on that.”

And, bowing to pressure for deregulation, that's what the USDA and FDA did. They approved MON810, and other genetically modified crops, over objections from their own scientists.

Other countries chose to follow what is known as The Precautionary Principle. Based on real science (as opposed to Corporate-bought-science), they seek to understand long-term affects on health and the environment, before popping the lid off Pandoras Box.

Based on testing done elsewhere (since independent testing is not done here in the USA), many countries have outright banned Mon810. Thailand (producer of a third of all rice consumed in the world) has banned GMO rice. The list of GMO products banned in other countries is very long – products which unwitting and unwilling US consumers have been eating for years.

Corporate ag has been very successful at hiding the truth from Americans.

A 2006 study found that only 26 percent of American consumers believed they had ever eaten genetically modified food, while a 2010 survey reported that only 28 percent of respondents knew such foods were sold in stores. (Los Angeles Times 6-2-2011, “Debate rages over labeling of foods with genetically modified ingredients”).

The truth is, most Americans consume GMOs daily. Not because they want to. But because they are not allowed to know.

In almost every developed nation in the world except the United States, labeling of GMO foods is mandatory. In England, consumers are allowed to choose. In France they have that choice. In countries of the former Soviet Union, consumers have that choice. In China, they have that choice.

But not in the USA.

Japan preferred a “wait and see” moratorium, so they could see what happened to the first generation born and raised on GMOs in the USA.

And what has happened to the US population in the 15 to 20 years since GMOs were introduced to our food supply?

Chronic disease rates and severe food allergy rates doubled – from 6 percent to 13 percent.

How much of that doubling of our chronic disease (mostly GI tract) and food allergy rates can be directly attributed to consumption of GMOs?

In the absence of labeling, how could we begin to answer that question?

The absence of labeling would seem to be working rather to the advantage of Big Ag and Corporate Food, don't you think? Certainly hard to identify need for product recalls, when we have no way of knowing which products are making us sick.

Twenty years after it was introduced with the unsubstantiated promise that it would “pass through the human digestive tract,” we now know that Monsanto's claim that its GMO Bt toxin would be expelled by our digestive tracts was wrong. Instead, it remains in our blood.

Whoops.

To learn more, read food industry professional Robyn O'Brien's “The Unhealthy Truth: How Our Food is Making Us Sick” (www.robynobrien.com) and please join the consumer movement to label GMOs (www.labelgmos.org/).

Deb Baumann lives in Upper Lake, Calif.

Creatures such as insects are not known for their intellectual prowess, yet they are master survivors … so are weeds and viruses.

A civilization at once motivated and validated in its most extreme behaviors by such theory essentially acts as an insect, a virus, even as a cancer cell, because it's characterized by a single-mindedness which is the hallmark of all lower organisms, inexorably driven, as all creatures who lack imagination and vision, and as if possessed, to blindly overtake, consume and discard all it encounters regardless of consequences.

Our now worldwide civilization has sought new territories, new people, new resources to exploit and consume from its inception, seeing its victims as weak because vulnerable to aggression, and perceiving itself to be superior because driven by aggression, not as the natural predator that rests when fed and satisfied, but as the bacteria that is never satisfied and never rests, or perhaps as the proverbial damned.

Indeed scientists hope to, some day, be able to extract resources from nearby planets, so we can all perpetuate our extravagant lifestyles, lifestyles that are obviously not sustainable within the limits of the earth resources, not to mention lifestyles that poison the air, the water, the land and will sooner or later make life on earth impossible for humanity, when the planet reaches its threshold of tolerance to such stress.

The idea of endless growth, the ideology of the cancer cell, is indeed a dangerous and destructive myth that has no parallel in nature … except when nature is out of balance, such as when a river floods, when an epidemic overtakes a species.

Within the natural order, the predator does not annihilate the prey to extinction, winter does not overcome summer, trees do not grow until they become too tall and too heavy and fall down … natural growth is limited within the natural order by balance, for indeed only that which is in balance with natural laws survives, and what is out of balance, such as possibly were dinosaurs, is made to disappear.

The concept of an endless growth founded on the survival of the fittest is as profoundly unintelligent as a fisherman would be who would load his boat with fish to the point of sinking under the weight.

This is what our civilization is presently doing, being so out of sync with the so-called environment as to no longer understand the consequences of its actions, looking at environmental disasters, species extinctions, climate change and other problems as separate events having separate causes, unwilling and unable to connect the dots, to point to the origin of this global mess.

Such however is not civilization but technologically advanced barbarism … which many years ago propelled Einstein to say, “It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity,” as well as “technological progress is as an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal.”

It will be easier to understand the depth and truth of Einstein's statements if we remember that all we do today, in the name of technology and materialism, of endless growth and greed, will affect the future generations in a way that will, then, most probably be assessed to be criminal.

Raphael Montoliu lives in Lakeport, Calif.

Despite the lack of information, direction and decisions from the state of California regarding education funding, our local school districts are working hard to develop balanced budgets that meet the state-prescribed criteria and time lines.

Local school boards, administration and staff continue to work together to develop “plan for the worst, hope for the best” scenarios to provide the very best education for each and every student in Lake County, while remaining fiscally solvent during these difficult economic times.

A major difficulty expressed by local educators is the lack of timely information which would enable them to make informed decisions regarding education funding and budget development.

Most concerns revolve around three basic issues:

1. Continued decrease of the COLA and ongoing increases in the deficit factor.

2. Increase in the number and amount of deferrals of funding apportionments.

3. Tax extensions … “The big unknown” … yes, no, how much and when?

COLA and the deficit factor

Over the past few years the education dollars have been greatly impacted by lagging cost of living adjustments and an increasing deficit factor (a percentage by which an allocation of funds is reduced until the state’s economy recovers, and then the amount would theoretically be restored).

The cumulative effect of these two factors – along with a decline in student enrollment in Lake County Schools – have resulted in significantly less money per child now than we had five years ago, as reflected in the table in Figure 1. At the same time, health benefits, goods and materials, fuel and food costs continue to climb.

Deferrals

The state continues to increase the amount and number of deferrals. Deferrals don’t necessarily increase or decrease the funding for education. Deferrals simply put off a portion of payment or funds to a later date. This is similar to Wimpey’s deal, “I will gladly pay you next Tuesday for a hamburger today.”

Imagine having an annual salary of $36,000 and budgeting and planning to pay your monthly bills based on $3,000 per month. Then you are told that your monthly paycheck is being held until sometime next year. You are still responsible for your rent/mortgage, utilities, food and other monthly bills.

In an effort to pay your bills, you exhaust your savings to meet your financial obligations. Two months later you are told again that your paycheck is being “deferred” to next year. Now you need to secure a loan to meet your monthly obligations and to pay the interest fees as well.

This is the situation faced by our school districts in Lake County and across the state.

According to the Governor’s proposed “May Revise,” It is anticipated that Lake County schools will have over $14,896,205 in “deferrals” from the 2011-12 school year to the 2012-13 school year.

Recent news releases report that education can expect an additional $3 billion statewide in funding, if the proposed budget is approved.

Unfortunately, this does not mean new dollars for education. If the budget is approved as proposed, it would reduce the impact of deferrals and help hold funding levels close to last year … if, and only if, the tax extensions are agreed to by voters.

Tax extensions

Proposed tax extensions are the “big unknown” for local educators. Tax extensions are a significant piece of the proposed budget.

A balanced state budget depends on resources from existing taxes to be extended through the 2011-12 school year. This requires voter approval and cannot be counted on until the public decides “yes or no.”

If the voters turn down tax extensions, the effect on education funding will be significant, resulting in even greater reductions.

Projections related to an “all cuts budget” may result in an additional $350 per student in further reductions. Reductions of this significance will cause local boards and administrators to grapple with reductions far beyond what has been considered “the worst case scenario.”

Summary

While budget concerns are certainly a huge issue for our local school districts, we continue to maintain our focus on serving and educating our students with dedication and compassion.

We will strive to keep cuts away from the classroom and continue to investigate strategies to be more efficient and cost effective.

We continue to be grateful and appreciative of the tremendous support for education by parents, community members and service groups.

Together we will successfully and creatively provide the best possible education for each and every one of our students in Lake County.

Thank you for your continued support.

Wally Holbrook is superintendent of schools for Lake County, Calif.