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Letters to the Editor - September 10, 2008 |
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Written by Sentinel Readers
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Swallows are welcome at American River
Fret no more swallow lovers, and fear not that odious, acidic plop on your copper dome, dear Placer Courthouse lovers. The mighty cliff swallow lives on and is welcomed with open wings by its country cousins living the good life on the American River beneath the graceful arches of the Mountain Quarries Railroad Bridge, also a dignified structure of national stature. Exquisitely crafted mud nests hang with honor and dignity beneath the concrete arches of this powerful icon of human-engineered Placer County history. What a wonderful choice to take up residence where history and wild adventure come together.
Come to the river, Mighty Courthouse swallows. Your zippy flights that combine so many twists, turns and somersaults have mesmerized the throngs of nature lovers picnicking on the beaches by the bridge or floating beneath the arches on a sticky, hot summer afternoon river trip. In this time of Olympic obsession your winged aerial acrobatics, darlings of the avian species, have earned you solid 10’s to the delight of all, without performance enhancing drugs -just an occasional mosquito or mayfly. Poop, not a problem! Plop, plop, plop into the pine, willow and bay-scented waters of the American River, diluted for export to quench the thirsts of Sacramento and western Placer County (it’s best refrigerated though).
Come, Mighty Courthouse swallows. Join your country cousins. Gather on the wet, sandy banks of the river with your dipper friends for a fresh hellgrammite larvae appetizer and chat with your yellow-breasted cousins from south of the border. Plead not your case in the hallowed halls of the Placer County judicial system, for your gifts are not appreciated and may land you behind bars to boot. Your mortgage at the Courthouse has ballooned, reversed, foreclosed. Scram while you can. Don’t ruin your credit. Join us nut and berry eating canyon-cave dwellers who delight in your aerial antics. Simplify! Come into the light of the American River Canyons. Let nature be your guide!
“Swallowtail” Peach
Auburn
Moffat was wrong regarding movie button
Thank you Mr. Moffat for your insightful editorial column (Otro Lado de Auburn, Sentinel, Aug. 29, 2008 edition). Having been in the Auburn area for over 15 years, not the six you have, I have heard talk about the John Travolta movie “Phenomenon” and actually saw it filmed and know people who were extras in it. Isn’t anything that will attract tourists to Auburn a good thing? Is the traffic that busy in the plaza that a few sandal-clad tourists will cause trouble? I think there should be, in addition to the proposed Brass Button commemorating “Phenomenon,” a plaque at the Foresthill Bridge commemorating the spot that was used to launch the car in the American River Canyon in the Vin Diesel film “XXX.” Auburn should do more to promote its film history.
Auburn should also promote the returning of the swallows. Anything that will attract tourists is a good thing. Your idea to move the nests to the Auburn Journal building is just silly, though. One can not disturb the nests while the birds are nesting, and the way the nests are constructed prevents them from being successfully moved.
You sir, should get your head out of the wine barrels and breathe some fresh air to aid your thinking.
Charlie Oldenburg
Auburn
Sierra College budget policy is incomplete
In his recent report, Sierra College Board Trustee Bill Martin opposes the board’s balanced budget policy that requires expenditures and revenues be balanced without ongoing use of reserves. Martin continues to support another bond election and higher property taxes. A balanced operating budget does not address the infrastructure repair needs of the college. Since voters have not supported the last two bond measures, it is imperative that the board better use currently available budget resources to address all of the College needs, including:
1. Regaining authority back from the unions to set salary rates and staffing levels. Last year, for example, the unions approved a salary schedule giving entry level positions such as custodian, cashier and groundskeeper up to approximately $50,000 salary plus 22.5% benefits, some administrative assistants $83,000 while only giving some faculty $49,000. These salaries are much higher than comparable private sector jobs as well as exceeding beginning faculty salaries. The board needs to take back control of salary rates and staffing levels.
2. Two years ago the College received $10 million in new state revenue that the board could have allocated for infrastructure repairs but simply gave to the unions. Then last year the board borrowed $7.8 million for replacement of the telephone and computer systems. In essence, the board borrowed money for the previous year’s salary increase.
In addition to a balanced budget policy, the board also should develop an infrastructure repair policy and more effectively allocate currently available budget resources to better meet the needs of the college and the students.
Lamont Royer
Auburn
Thanks for passing fair winery ordinance
In this time of dysfunctional government, I would like to express my gratitude to the Placer County Planning Department, Planning Commission and Ag Commission for its thorough and painstaking work on the new Winery Ordinance. It was a job well done by other interested parties who offered information and insight to help accomplish the passage of the ordinance.
Thank you to the Board of Supervisors and county counsel who offered input and examined all aspects and ramifications of this ordinance with careful – and at times excruciating – consideration. They approved a fair and workable ordinance that aims to balance the challenge of growth/development and agriculture in our county.
As a small family farmer in District 5, I must also give a special thank you to Supervisor Bruce Kranz and his staff. I witnessed firsthand the time and energy they spent on research and education. They worked hard to find compromise and common ground on the ordinance for all concerned. With a plate full of other important issues of public safety and fire prevention, he treated the issues of private property rights and the right to farm with equal importance.
Thank you for allowing us to get back to nurturing our vines and producing award-winning wines here in Placer County. This ordinance is important for us to become financially viable and sustainable as we pursue our dreams. We’ll keep our family farm and preserve the agricultural heritage of Placer County.
Stephanie Perry, owner
Fawnridge Winery
Auburn
Montgomery will not ‘take guns away’
Jennifer Montgomery says the biggest challenge in her campaign has been getting her name out to people. Utilizing “traditional grassroots” techniques – a website, standing in front of post offices and schools, attending a slew of community events and talking to many – the process was easier than she expected. While Bruce Kranz is “substantially better funded” with outside developer money, Montgomery said her campaign is doing an incredible job with the money it has.
One issue she wants to clear up, however, is a rumor circulating that if elected, she “would take everyone’s guns away from them.” A supporter of the Second Amendment, she finds the rumor comical, since as a County Supervisor, she would have no power to do so even if she wanted.
Montgomery’s slogan is “Preserve, Protect, Restore and Respect,” a shortened version of “preserving the county’s natural assets, protecting property rights, restoring responsive government to the people and respecting existing communities.”
One of Montgomery’s key goals is to “restore transparency to government.” She will reinvigorate the Municipal Advisory Committees, the true purpose of which has been undermined by Kranz. What was once an avenue of citizen input to the County, now has become a way for the County to tell the people what it is doing. Kranz has publicly stated he believes developers – not the people – should have the right to create Community Plans. Montgomery believes only the people have the right to develop their communities.
Replacing Kranz, she will join the two moderate voices on the Placer County Board of Supervisors and politics will be free, once and for all, of the Doolittle Developer Death Grip on our beautiful home. Our votes can reclaim Placer County for its citizens.
Jack Sanchez
Auburn
YOUR VIEWS The SENTINEL encourages the free distribution of ideas and information regarding our community. We strive to be a neutral forum for the discussion of issues of public interest. Letters are due Friday at noon for the following Friday edition and are limited to 300 words or less and must be signed. Please include your name, address and phone number. All letters to the editor become the property of Sentinel Communications, Inc., and we reserve the right to print them in condensed form and to edit them for libel and factual error.
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