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Is sewer hike legal? Dear Editor, Auburn raised the sewer charge from $35 to $52.50 per month to raise money to do what? At the June Auburn City Council meeting it was implied that the funds, along with an extra million out of the existing fund, would be used to renovate the existing plant. The Sentinel reported $11.7 million and was also the amount discussed at the council meeting. Question: Who bid this amount or is it a number picked out of thin air? Now there is a contract for $732,668 with the company that has been operating the sewer plant that can be halted if a decision is made to spend $53 million on a regional plan. My understanding is that California law prohibits fees/taxes/assessments from being arbitrarily increased. Mike Monahan, Auburn
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Why are we silent? Dear Editor, With the recent news
reports estimating the cost for the wars to be about $2.4 trillion
within the next 10 years, I ask, what will you tell your children when
they can’t afford to go to college because you’ve been silent about
having to pay an estimated $8,000 per family member to cover the cost
of Bush’s war? What will you tell your children/grandchildren
when they ask why you were silent when the President vetoed the
Children’s health care bill, so he could feel “relevant” (his words)
while telling the uninsured they can get medical care at the emergency
centers? Wonder why your premiums are sky high? What will you
tell them when they ask why you didn’t speak up to defend our brave
soldiers and generals, who were called “phony soldiers,” by some media,
because they dared to question the insanity of Bush’s war, even though
some lost life and limb while serving? What will you tell them
when they ask why you stood by silently watching our Constitution being
torn to shreds by a President who ignores the rule of law, including
your right to privacy when he irresponsibly uses illegal wiretapping of
American’s phone calls? What will you tell them when they ask why
you said nothing about Abu Ghraib, or about U.S. policy of “rendition,”
sending people to other countries to be tortured, so the President can
boast, “we don’t torture?” Maybe not, but he obviously condones it! What will your children say because you remained silent? Lesley Janusz, Auburn
* * * Eco-friendly bulbs contain mercury Dear Editor, I
am writing this letter to alert people to the dangers of the so-called
low energy, “eco-friendly” bulbs that are being pushed by everyone,
including the Environmental Protection Agency. They contain mercury,
one of the most deadly elements on the planet. If one of those
bulbs leak or break in your home, you and your family will be exposed
to a very hazardous, poisonous heavy metal. I have read of people
having to seal up their homes because of it, with no help from their
insurance or anyone else. Like so many other products made in
China, here is another one with poisonous content, and yet, nothing has
been said about it. The EPA has even hired an outside company to
promote these as being “eco-friendly” and PG&E is promoting them
heavily. I’d like to know exactly what is eco-friendly about
millions of these mercury containing bulbs ending up in our landfills
further polluting our planet, not to mention the danger to anyone who
gets exposed to them if they should happen to leak or get broken. For
myself, I had replaced all the regular bulbs in my house with these
before I realized they contained mercury. I packaged them up
and sent them to the companies that had imported them from China and
told them that they could be responsible for disposing of them because
I wasn’t going to. I suggest you read the labels on these
packages before you buy and reject them just like we should reject all
the other dangerous Chinese imports. Better yet, write to your
congressman, senator, the Governor and the President. We don’t want any
more poisonous stuff from China! Marcia Winborne-Graven, Auburn
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