Editorial Comment from ALT

Hey gang,



I understand that e-mails carry with them the sense of urgency and the following does negate some of that with its length. However, when it comes to talking about the characterizing traits of Ms. Incumbent and Mr. Retread it is very hard to keep it short! So please bare with me and keep thinking the central theme of this commentary - So who in their right mind would want another four more years of what we had?



Well friends here we are on the eve of an election - apart from the new voting machines (thanks Vicki) operationally this one is no different than previous ones. However, if we scope in to look at the character and physiological make-up (beneath the skin) of the various candidates, there is a very big difference that could result in a substantial shift in our county government from a "do nothing" majority 'tude to a "CAN DO" majority attitude.

Who in their right mind would want another four more years of this?



But does it stop there, OH NO! Let's turn briefly to cooperation, team spirit, creativity, projection, planning, timing, crisis management and other organizational skill sets needed to think outside the already tried, failed and discarded incumbent & retread mind set. Skills disparately needed to heal divisions and redirect our community. Skills needed to tap and use it's enormous potential. By this I don't mean trees, mountains and water (they WILL always be there). I refer to the energy, synergy, ingenuity, independence and downright desire to help within us Del Nortians (and we may NOT always be there).



In this regard, three incumbent & retread efforts, or lack there of, jump to mind:

1) Contempt for a public shouting out for team effort to a dysfunctional government entity. Lack of restraint by the incumbent in the exercise of a Machiavellian bureaucratic back stabbing, concept sandbagging, wanton waste of team time, petty retribution, political grandstanding, wholesale sellout, violation of policy, irresponsibility toward constituency, backroom / backdoor deals with total disregard for their area of representation. Mind you these are just a few of the infantile actions we can easily document. The incumbent and Retread never consults only insults their constituencies.
2) The other was the sellout of a great visionary project of six community service organizations to provide medical service to the community, train medical staff, technicians, badly needed nurses and provide A1 facilities to local physicians. Toward these community needs a great deal of time, effort and monies were spent. The original concept was good, but in a classic example of a "day late and a dollar short" - the project implementation, planning, scheduling and coordination slipped worse than the deadline. Under the incompetent guidance of retread thinking the original six dropped to one woefully under staffed clinic in a prefab building on valuable tax property on a very busy street corner. So for 1/6 the service, none of the envisioned added capabilities, we gave up critically needed tax dollars and traffic taxed an already congested intersection. Oh, and did I mention we don't even have the doctors to properly staff this facility (not sure about the nurses - we may be hurting in that area too).
3) Approximately two years ago I had three doctors and two nurses. Today I have none and if my situation became life threatening I'd have to travel 220 miles to another state to get help. In a classic "too little too late" within two short years our doctor shortage grew by 10+ while incumbent & retread did next to nothing. Incumbent was too involved protecting discretionary money for "happy hour attitude adjustment" and retread's plate was too full to respond to this serious and going medical threat. Retirement and death have been cited as excuses but these only highlight the shortsightedness of the incumbent & retread. No thanks to these two office aspirants, two doctors did recently join our community; but the bets are running 2 to 1, in the Physician-B- Gone pool, they'll leave in less than two years.
So who in their right mind would want another four more years of this?



One would think this is enough to sink any potential incumbent & retread candidacy, but it doesn't stop there!



Our community desperately needs a vibrant harbor to serve our diversified needs and an economically viable airport to make us a key player in this area. The incumbent & retread has made one into a political football and the other into a potential bureaucratic boondoggle. A harbor that is stuck in first and crawling forward at a snail's pace and an airport terminal that may be converted some day to an expensive B&B with a landing zone for ultra lights and hang gliders (or maybe another "environmental interpretive center").



These two projects are Del Norte's version of the army ad; "be all you can be"! Here the incumbent & retread are long on promise and way short on the delivery.



Did you realize that, sailing wise we are approximately halfway between Puget Sound and San Francisco? Our harbor should be a Mecca for both fishermen and yachters; a summer two weeks lay over attraction for vacationing getaway family boaters. But instead we're mired in the usual California red tape. Here is where experienced supervisor direction could best help in cutting through this with hard economic talk and effective business savvy. Not costing valued team time and wasted prep in a "glad handing" political stunt for an election "puff piece" and photo op in the "local opinion rag". Ask the Commissioners - why few participated.



Speaking of ports - in a classic example of the old saw " you can chew gum and walk too?" Our window of opportunity for an airport upgrade is very very small. We have to be there with longer runways and acceptable safety requirements when the airlines want us. Do it piecemeal and we'll most likely miss the window. Extending the runway (an est. 5 to 10 years) afterward may push the timeline window, perhaps irrevocably, beyond the airline's acceptable time limit. Building a new terminal first will only make this miss far more costly and add insult to injury. We all know the present terminal is an outmoded facility that needs to be replaced. We also know it needs to be moved - not for runway extension but for taxiway line of sight. So why can't we do both in tandem. I know the new candidates to the Board of Supervisors can easily "walk and chew gum" at the same time.



How about our port to the ocean, trees and mountains? Close off Tallowa Dunes to open, free and equal access for historic multi use but stuff down / shove up the coast to crest insult as another gate from nowhere to nowhere opening to nothing. Yet another Retread arrogant "in your face" assault on public needs and private property - for WHAT? Instead of humbling constructive efforts to solve the problems he left behind!

So who in their right mind would want another four more years of what we had?



Enough is enough it's time for a change!



Del Norte's future begins on the sixth and its soul is a "CAN DO" spirit!



Now as we all understand, "Can Do" doesn't automatically mean we'll attain every thing we espouse. Nor does it mean that Del Norte will become a paradise of riches and harmony. What it does mean, is that in the future we won't lie down and have it done to us. We will take charge.



The new candidates we elect on the sixth will help us to do it, not do it to us, as so often has been the case in the past! Please get out on the sixth, bring your friends and neighbors, VOTE - for our dignity, our future and our respect in our area of our state. Let’s take back our county!







I believe, when first used, it was a baseball term but it undoubtedly applies here !







"TROW DAH BUMS OOOUUUUT!!!!"



ALT