Editorials

The opinions expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of East County Magazine.

READER'S EDITORIAL: A NEW PATH--MOMS UNITE TO END THE WAR ON DRUGS

 

“Moms are uniting and leading the charge to end drug prohibition, just as they did with alcohol prohibition in the 1930s. It’s time to end the pointless and punitive criminalization of people who use drugs and the needless deaths caused by the illegal drug trade.” -- Gretchen Burns Bergman, Executive Director & Co-Founder A New PATH

By: Dennis Moore


July 10, 2010 (San Diego) –Family members of drug victims have joined forces with healthcare and others to forge a coalition calling for changes in failed drug policies.  These policies have led to increased violence and mass incarceration, while failing to curb addiction and overdose deaths.


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READER'S EDITORIAL: IT"S TIME TO BRING CALIFORNIA'S SPECIAL INTEREST TRAIN TO A GRINDING HALT

 

By Ann Menasche

 

The 2010 election cycle is demonstrating beyond a shadow of a doubt that California’s proposition process is undemocratic, corrupt, and irreparably broken. It’s time to reform the process to eliminate moneyed interests and return decision making power to the voters.

 


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READER’S EDITORIAL: MEDICAL MARIJUANA ORDINANCES VOTE TOMORROW, JUNE 30


“Many have difficulty traveling very far, and to make someone travel 10, 15, 20 miles or more to get their medicine is inhumane. For some who are forced to take public transportation, such a trek could easily take up to half of a day.” – Charlie Imes

An Open Letter to the San Diego Board of Supervisors

 

By Charlie Imes

 

June 29, 2010 (San Diego) – I am a medical marijuana patient. I wasn't using marijuana prior to my diagnosis and emergency surgery in 2001 for stage 3 colon cancer. I had complications. I almost died a few times; the chemo almost killed me, too. I've had subsequent abdominal surgeries for diverticulitis, then later for a ruptured spleen, and finally for a severe abdominal hernia related to the previous surgeries.


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READER'S EDITORIAL: AN OPEN LETTER TO MY SAN DIEGO BOARD OF SUPERVISORS

 

"Now you are finally considering zoning and operational ordinances regarding medical marijuana, which you will vote on tomorrow, and what are you proposing to adopt? A de facto ban that would effectively eliminate all medical marijuana facilities from operating in the unincorporated areas of San Diego County." -- Martha Sullivan

 

By Martha Sullivan

 

June 29, 2010 (San Diego)--As someone who is not a medical marijuana patient nor dispensary operator, but simply a taxpayer, voter and small business owner, I find the continuing opposition by my County Board of Supervisors to the Compassionate Use Act passed by California voters 14 years ago an affront to voters and taxpayers.


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READER’S EDITORIAL: YES ON PROP 17: BENEFITS SOLDIERS & VETERANS

 

By Bob Kipper, Vietnam War veteran and owner, KIAC Insurance Agency, San Marcos

 

Editor’s note: Last week we ran an article titled “Prop 17 would hurt veterans and consumers, experts warn.”  The Yes on Prop 17 campaign has responded by submitting the editorial below.


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EDITORIAL: THE BIG PICTURE—A CREATIVE SMALL SCHOOL MODEL FOR ALPINE

 

Creative learning model is part of agenda at June 8 forum on Alpine's new high school

 

By Megan Werland
Alpine resident and member of the 12th HS Design Team

May 29, 2010 (Alpine) -- On June 8th, the GUHSD’s 12th High School Design Team will introduce its curriculum and architectural design to the community of Alpine and Blossom Valley (BV).

 

People will see innovation that will inspire them and may even make them a little nervous. Because after all, a school of the future will not look like the high school we attended when we were younger. Not to worry, parents!


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READER'S EDITORIAL: DUNCAN D. UNTER INHERITS HIS FATHER'S IGNORANCE, POSING DANGER TO CONSTITUTION

By Patrick Osio, Editor, www.HispanicVista.com  

May 20, 2010 (San Diego's East County) -- Ignorance is a sad state.  It stops being sad when the ignorant person holds public office, where actions can be harmful to the community, state or nation he/she serves.  This is particularly true when adding to ignorance are biases and a narcissist personality. Further damage is often done by passing on to sons/daughters those traits.


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EDITORIAL: STOP THE FISCAL INSANITY

 

By Rick L. Powell, Republican Candidate, 78th Assembly District

 

May  20, 2010 (San Carlos) – While the citizens and businesses of California continue to suffer economic hardship, Sacramento’s politicians are on an unsustainable and reckless spending spree with our money. This behavior is irresponsible and dangerous, and we must stop the fiscal insanity now.

 


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EDITOR'S BLOG: GUHSD COMMITTEE SHOULD CHECK REAGAN RECORD ON NATIVE AMERICAN ISSUES BEFORE NAMING ALPINE HIGH SCHOOL FOR FORMER PRESIDENT



By Miriam Raftery

 

"Your comments about American Indians indicate that your knowledge about us, and about the historical relationship between Indian governments and the United States, is lacking to the point of being shameful." -- American Indian Movement of Colorado, in an open letter to President Ronald Reagan, 1988

 

May 13, 2010 (Alpine) – Alpine's Native American tribal members were not invited to serve on a committee to recommend a name for Alpine’s planned new high school. A Union-Tribune editorial published during  debate over whether to build a 12th high school observed, “The Viejas and Sycuan Indian tribes consider Alpine to be their community. The tribes fully understand how important education is…They are important allies to have when taking on a forgetful district bureaucracy.”


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READER'S EDITORIAL: DRILL-BABY-DRILL OFF-SHORE -- A PRESCRIPTION FOR ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER


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READER’S EDITORIAL: DOES REP. HUNTER UNDERSTAND WHAT HE SWORE TO UPHOLD AND DEFEND?


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READER'S EDITORIAL: CONGRESS MUST ASSURE MEXICO DEALS WITH ITS ECONOMIC PROBLEMS

By Tracy Emblem

Recently Arizona enacted its own immigration bill which potentially usurps the federal government’s authority to regulate immigration.

 

California Congressman Brian Bilbray, Chair of the Immigration Reform Committee, and former lobbyist for FAIR (listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center), offers no real solutions to the immigration debate. In response to Arizona’s new radical immigration bill, Bilbray supported its legality and explained that police could spot illegal immigrants merely by the way they dress. His remarks demonstrate a lack of critical thinking skills necessary for leadership in Congress on complex, human, social and economic issues.


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EDITOR'S BLOG: WHY ISN’T IT NEWS WHEN A DEAD BODY IS FOUND IN EAST COUNTY?


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EDITORIAL: PLEASE, NO MORE PHOTOS OF FIRE-RAVAGED HOMES

 

By Robert Deason, Deerhorn Valley resident


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EDITORIAL: FINANCIAL RAPE OF POWAY TAXPAYERS/HOMEOWNERS

By Morrie Itzkowitz

April 23, 2010 (Poway)--It’s un-American; it’s financial rape; it’s against State Law – the City is planning to sell the land under our homes to a Chicago firm Hometown America – instead of the Homeowners.

 


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EDITORIAL: GOLDEN EAGLES FALL PREY TO WIND INDUSTRY


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EDITORIAL: WHY DIDN'T SAN DIEGO COUNTY POST ANY INFO ABOUT THE QUAKES AT ITS "EMERGENCY" WEBSITE?

 

 

 By Miriam Raftery, Editor

www.EastCountyMagazine.org

 

April 6, 2010 (San Diego’s East County) – More than 24 hours after a 7.2 earthquake jolted our region, triggering more than 100 aftershocks, why has the County of San Diego failed to post a single mention of the recent quakes on its so-called “emergency” website at http://www.sdcountyemergency.com/


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EDITORIAL: MOST ALPINE RESIDENTS WANT HIGH SCHOOL NAMED FOR OUR REGION, NOT REAGAN

 

GUHSD TO HOLD HEARING APRIL 15 ON PROPOSAL TO NAME SCHOOL AFTER REAGAN

By Bill Weaver, Chairman, Alpine High School Citizens Committee
 

April 8, 2010 (Alpine) -- There has been correspondence accusing the Alpine High School Citizens Committee (AHSCC) of having name bias, and of being anti President Ronald Reagan. The AHSCC does not take a position on the naming of our high school, other than supporting (1993) Grossmont Union High School District (GUHSD) Board police #7310, without exception, and nobody representing the AHSCC promotes an anti-President Ronald Reagan position.
 

The AHSCC's non-scientific sampling of area residents (www.ahscc.com), suggests that less than 10% of Alpine support's the GUHSD March 11th Board action to deviate from the original BP#7310.


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EDITORIAL: SHOULD SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS LIKE THE HEALTH REFORMS?

 

By Sylvia Hampton

 

April 6, 2010 (San Diego) --Congressman Duncan D. Hunter, in his monthly report to the district, continues his opposition to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and its accompanying Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act signed into law recently. Hunter says he opposes “any approach that imposes higher taxes and onerous regulation.” 

 

What he is missing with this statement is the rising cost of health insurance premiums (like a tax out of control,) the obvious need for stronger regulation of the insurance companies and the over-all rising cost of care. As the nation faced increasing numbers of uninsured and under-insured, Hunter ignored the issue and didn’t even include “health care” as a priority on his website.


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EDITORIAL: HEALTH CARE REFORM BILL OR HEALTH CARE TYRANNY BILL?

 

 

By Mike Benoit

April 6, 2010 (San Diego’s East County) -- First and foremost the word tyranny, as it is being used here, means: “taking power over something without the right.”


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EDITORIAL: PROPOSITION 14 WILL MAKE OUR BROKEN TWO-PARTY POLITICAL SYSTEM EVEN WORSE


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EDITORIAL: JOBS MUST BE PUT FIRST

 

 

 

By Assemblyman Joel Anderson

 

March 31,  2010 (San Diego's East County) -- A Fresno businessman, Alan Jurkonis, moved his company to Minden, Nevada last year because he said operating in California was like "death by a thousand cuts." For Mr. Jurkosis, it was far cheaper to ship his product from Nevada to Southern California than from Fresno to Southern California.

 


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EDITORIAL: SENATOR KEHOE SEEKS SUPPORT FOR BILL TO INCLUDE SELF-DEFENSE FOR GIRLS IN P.E. CLASSES

 

By Senator Christine Kehoe

March 24, 2010 (San Diego) --Violence against women has plagued the world for centuries, and recent events in San Diego County remind us just how much more needs to be done in California.


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EDITORIAL: A REVITALIZED MANUFACTURING BASE WILL STABILIZE OUR ECONOMY

 

By Tracy Emblem

March 29, 2010 (San Diego) -- For far too long our government has allowed our manufacturing jobs to be outsourced to foreign countries. Recently the Blue-Green Alliance, a partnership between labor and environmental groups, called for a comprehensive industrial policy and commitment to rebuild America with green technology and products.

The public should ask both government and corporate America this question: Should corporate America focus only on making profit any possible way using the cheapest possible avenues to produce products and services they sell in America or should corporate America ask itself how do we create good paying jobs for Americans?


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EDITORIAL: SEVEN YEARS!

 

 

 

By Fernando Suarez del Solar

 

Seven years have passed since the darkest day of my life. On March 27, 2003, my son Jesús died in an unnecessary war against the Iraqi people.

 


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EDITORIAL: POWERLINK SHOCKER: FEINSTEIN TELLS FOREST SERVICE CHIEF SHE SUPPORTS POWERLINK, SEES “NO OPPOSITION” OTHER THAN “NIMBY GROUPS FULLY CONSIDERED & DISMISSED”

 

ECM URGES FEINSTEIN:  COME TO A PUBLIC MEETING IN EAST COUNTY ON POWERLINK

 

By Miriam Raftery, Editor

March 26, 2010 (San Diego’s East County) – Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-California) has pressured the head of the U.S. Forest Service in an appropriations hearing last week to fast-track approval of SDG&E’s request to run Sunrise Powerlink through the Cleveland National Forest, the Union-Tribune reports today. Claiming to be unaware of major opposition, she later said she may reconsider her support if she hears of major concerns from the community.


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EDITORIAL: STOP THE VIOLENCE OVER HEALTHCARE REFORM

 

Editor's note:  At least 10 members of Congress who voted for the healthcare reform bill have received threats of violence or harassment.  Some family members of Congressional representatives have also been targeted, including one Congressman's brother who had a gas line intentionally severed at his home, police report.  House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer has called on Republican leaders to condemn such acts, which are being investigated by the FBI.   

 

By Emma Turner
Republican candidate, 78th Assembly District

 

March 25, 2010 (San Diego’s East County) -- As an African American woman who happens to be a moderate Republican, I am appalled at the incendiary language and violent actions which have ensued since the House of Representatives passed the healthcare bill on Sunday, March 21, 2010. I hereby strongly denounce this rhetoric and these violent acts, regardless of where they originate.


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EDITORIAL: THE CRIMINALIZATION OF SENIORS, THE DISABLED, AND THOSE WHO CARE FOR THEM

 

 

By Pamela Hoye

 

March 17, 2010 (San Diego) -- I was relieved to read in East County Magazine that the federal Department of Justice has come forward to support court challenges that would block Governor Schwarzenegger’s funding cuts to the State’s In-Home Supportive Services Program (IHSS). But there other ways to kill a program, and do so quietly, besides funding cuts. Those of us currently receiving services are facing a vastly altered and far less caring program that threatens to force many of us into nursing homes.

Although disabled by cerebral palsy since birth and unable to keep a pace required by regular employment, I have been a productive member of society. I have worked as a freelance writer, editor, and desktop publisher, in addition to serving on citizen advisory committees and being active in political action groups.

 


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EDITORIAL: AT A CROSSROADS

 

By Assemblyman Joel Anderson

 

March 2, 2010 (Sacramento)--The RGP Prosthetic Research Center, a San Diego company that provides artificial limbs for California Children's Services, is in danger of having to stop providing these critical services for children in need... again.

 


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EDITORIAL: VALUE LIVES, NOT PROFITS!


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