By Rocky Neptun

“Mommie, I’m hungry,” the little girl cried as she stood shivering in the cold wind, waiting for food. The image has never left me…and now that I am semi-retired I want to be part of an effort making sure no more children starve on San Diego city streets.

By Russell Buckley

August 25, 2010 (La Mesa) -- The President of the Board of Directors of the Helix Water District opened last Wednesday's rate increase hearing by saying it was imperative that the Board do the right thing. I hoped that meant to hold off on the proposed increase until excess pension costs were reduced. Unfortunately, that was not to be the outcome of the vote.

By Senator Denise Ducheny
Chair, Senate Budget Committee

“Thoughtless slashing would eliminate a whole series of State investments that are necessary to our recovery and to providing a sound base for our future prosperity.”

August 24, 2010 (Sacramento) -- In the wake of the global economic turmoil of the past few years, there are signs California’s economy has hit bottom and is beginning to recover. While our recovery is fragile, and it will take time to make up ground lost to the worst economic recession since the Great Depression, California is still the 8th largest economy in the world. California’s future is still bright--if we can sustain ourselves in the short term.

By Mitchell Dubick

August 24, 2010 (San Diego’s East County) -- There is suffering among the people in Gaza. How that suffering compares to the misery of other groups around the world, who is causing this suffering, and what should be done to alleviate it are all subjects of much debate. However, it is the duty of caring and responsible people on all sides to address these issues.

A journey of hope from San Diego to Gaza

by Faith Attaguile

August 24, 2010 (San Diego) -- Recently I spoke to a group of people about a 31-day journey I took a few months ago. It was a land convoy to Gaza of 200 vehicles and 500 people from 17 different countries. We were Muslims, Jews, Christians, Hindus, Atheists and Humanists journeying together over 4,000 miles through 13 countries. We traveled from London to Gaza on a journey of hope.

 
“Senate Democrats are proposing a fair and practical budget that includes an intelligent tax reform proposal and more local control of services… Our Republican colleagues seem to view even more cuts to schools, public safety and women and children’s services as a virtuous end in itself. They are not – cuts hurt Californians and the economy.”

By Senator Christine Kehoe
 
August 18, 2010 (San Diego) -- The Governor’s latest tactics for negotiating the budget are unnecessary when he has better ways to help forge an agreement. The first round of furloughs were poorly planned and executed; it is doubtful they saved the taxpayers much money.

“Democrats' idea of increasing taxes delays REAL budgetary reforms and stalls true economic recovery in State.”

By Mike Cully
President/CEO, San Diego East County Chamber of Commerce

August 19, 2010 (San Diego’s East County) -- It is disappointing that the Democratic Legislative Leaders continue to delay California’s economic recovery by increasing taxes and delaying serious budgetary reforms.

By Francine Busby and Tracy Emblem

August 18, 2010 (San Diego) -- As we commemorate the 75th anniversary of Social Security, we are reminded of the profound transformation that Social Security has left on our society. Since its enactment in 1935, Social Security has provided a critical national safety net that Americans have come to value.

Prior to enacting Social Security, the concept of retirement and “the golden years” did not exist. The elderly either worked until they died, lived with family or were relegated to live in “poor houses” and “poor farms.”

By Dave Patterson

August 18, 2010 (Ramona) -- The birthright debate that Congress now wants to engage we Americans in is, in fact, a smokescreen designed to divert our attention from the real issue: what to do with 12 million illegal aliens currently working across America. The real responsibility for this problem falls squarely on those that employ the illegals--not on Mexico, not on the border leaks, and not our welfare system. Here’s why.

By Patrick Riggs
 
Ray Lutz, Democratic candidate for the 52nd Congressional district, slammed incumbent Rep. Duncan D. Hunter’s vote against the Tribal Law and Order Act HR725. Democratic Lutz, I assume, did not read the “riders” (90 pages) added to HR725 which seem to be contradictory and at times confusing. This seems to be the rule with most good bills that have pages of “riders” attached. These riders authorized over $1 billion in spending which would be an additional burden on the taxpaying citizens.

By Alan Ball, Chair
Sustainability Alliance of Southern California

July 28, 2010 (San Diego) -- I urge a NO vote on PROPOSITION 23.

As Chair of the Sustainability Alliance of Southern California, a community based non-profit committed to a sustainable future, I am convinced that we must not abandon the course that has been agreed to protect our health as well as those who will be following us.

"How many of our returning troops and civilians are suffering from environmentally induced cancers? Unfortunately, the VA stopped reporting cancer cases in some state registries including California..."

By Tracy Emblem

July 12, 2010 (San Diego's East County) -- The Iraq and Afghanistan wars have created toxic environments. In April, the Department of Veterans Affairs reported in an environmental hazards training directive: "Exposure to open burn pits has created significant concern among veterans and their families."

“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.

 

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.

“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.

"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.

 
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.

June 2, 2010 (San Diego) -- I have been an insurance agent for 23 years in San Diego County. My customers include retired and active military personnel, including those stationed at Camp Pendleton, Miramar Air Station and Point Loma Naval Base. I am also a Vietnam War veteran, having served in the Air Force.

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!

 
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.

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.

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.”

By Tracy Emblem
 
May 4, 2010 (San Diego) -- The U.S. Interior’s Mineral Management Service estimates 11 billion barrels of crude oil along the west coast, including 1 billion barrels in our regional area. In 2006, Congressman Brian Bilbray voted for HR 4761, the “Deep Ocean Energy Resources Act”, which if passed by the Senate, would have lifted the offshore drilling ban off the coast of California.
 
According to Source Watch, Bilbray has accepted $182,818 from oil companies. Considering Bilbray touts himself as an “environmentalist” is it reasonable to suspect there is a relationship to his special interest in lifting the long term off-shore oil drilling restrictions?

 
By Hugh Moore
May 1, 2010 (San Diego’s East County) -- At a public forum this past week Rep. Duncan Hunter suggested that children born in the US of parents that are not citizens should not be granted citizenship specifically stating, “And we’re not being mean. We’re just saying it takes more than walking across the border to become an American citizen.”

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.

By Miriam Raftery, Editor
 
April 28, 2010 (Deerhorn Valley) – Five days after a man’s dead body was found by motorists on Deerhorn Valley Road following a night of freezing temperatures, San Diego Sheriff Bill Gore has not bothered to issue a press release. Neither has the County Medical Examiner. The Sheriff’s office has not returned a call from ECM requesting information on the man, who carried no identification.  
 
Why aren’t local authorities interested in getting public help to identify the deceased stranger?
 

 
By Robert Deason, Deerhorn Valley resident

April 25, 2010 (Deerhorn Valley) -- On behalf of my community and all people living in fire-threatened areas, I want to point out that your one-sentence "HOT NEWS" article (only mentioning the Counties limits on firefighting monies and a proposed tax) should – NEVER – have been splashed with "head turning" "sensationalistic" photos of fire devastating the country we live in and love.

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.

 
By Jim Wiegand, wildlife biologist
April 17, 2010 (San Diego’s East County) -- The controversy surrounding wind farms in America has been brewing for over 25 years. The debate centers around the use of the deadly propeller style wind turbines and the large death toll to what are supposedly protected species. One of these species, the federally protected golden eagle, has been at the forefront of this debate from the beginning.

This is for good reason, because at Altamont Pass California, 50-75 golden eagles have been killed each year in the blades of the prop wind turbine. This killing has been taking place for over 25 years. Dr. Shawn Smallwood the foremost expert of bird mortality at the Altamont Pass wind farm estimates that 2300 golden eagles have been killed by the spinning turbine blades.

 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/? 

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.