Monday, February 18, 2019

Liz Writes Life 2-19-19


February 19, 2019

Liz Writes Life

Well, last week was pretty crazy with snow dumping on Redding and I barely got a few inches here at Callahan. One friend told me her brother measured 16-inches of snow at his home in Redding. Wow, that is a lot of snow. When we lived in Cottonwood, in the 1970s, it snowed a few inches – twice that I can remember. So, it can happen, but over a foot is shocking. Most people couldn’t even get to work, because cars were stuck at home in the snow; and then the power outages made it difficult for stores to open. Oh, and even the U.S. mail couldn’t get through with Interstate-5 being shut-down twice.

Yep, once again, trees are getting a bad rap as limbs break or the entire tree topples landing on homes, cars, streets and taking-out power lines causing power outages. Some areas were out of power for three days or more. Whether it is fires or winter storms, trees need to be managed so destruction can be minimized. In residential areas, they need to be groomed and in the forests -- thinned.

One of my pet peeves is the ugly sculpture-cutting of trees under power lines. Just cut the tree down! There are plenty of trees. Now, I am not blaming the companies that cut the limbs away from the power lines. I blame our society that is afraid to remove a tree, because trees have become sacred. Again, there are plenty of trees. Decide which ones you want to care for and thin the rest, including forests.

The buckets of water are still full in my bathtub, so my superstition of having extra water (and other supplies) in case of power outage is working. Since blinking once over a week ago, the electricity has stayed on at my house. Yay, I feel very lucky.

Congressman LaMalfa

There is continuing controversy at the national level regarding protection on our borders. President Trump signed the latest bill sent to him, which stops another government shut-down, but didn’t give him the $5 billion he wanted for border security.

As a member of the House, Congressman Doug LaMalfa did vote for the bill and some folks are frustrated with him for this. In explanation, he recently sent out several comments regarding the situation. It comes down to compromise, which is the basics of politics, folks. He was part of the coalition that pressed to get funds increased for the Forest Service to manage our federal forests and help prevent catastrophic wildfires. Also, because of his involvement, FEMA will reimburse 90 percent of the cost for wildfire recovery, in 2018, which includes the Carr and Camp Fires. This is huge for our victims of those fires in Northern CA. Way to go, congressman!

In his latest comment, LaMalfa said: I’ve been working with the White House to ensure funding for disaster recovery and critical civil works projects, such as levees and water storage, are not affected by a shift in funding in this process. The situation at the southern border is a humanitarian and national security crisis, and it’s a national emergency. The stubborn opposition to a regulated border is incomprehensible and endangers American citizens.”

CA Fire Tax update

There is good news and bad news regarding the Fire Tax fee that rural folks fought against several years ago. Many of us were enraged at the additional “tax” on our property to Cal-Fire and sent letters of frustration demanding restitution if the Fire Prevention (tax) fee was over-turned -- when we sent in our annual check.

Eventually, the annual additional fire prevention fee was halted and we are no longer receiving the dreaded bill. But, we soon realized California was not going to refund the fees. So Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association brought a lawsuit that asked for refunds of these past payments. Unfortunately, the trial court judge threw out this case.

HJTA is still trying to get a decision through the courts for the ill-gotten Fire Tax fees to be refunded to property owners. So, on Feb. 6, 2019, HJTA filed a Reply Brief in the Third District Court of Appeal. The briefing is now complete and the case will be scheduled for oral argument.
Now for more bad news, according to the HJTA newsletter: “The Third District Court of Appeal is backlogged due to a shortage of justices. Another HJTA case has been pending a decision in that court for over two years. There is nothing we can do about the slow pace of justice.”

More troubling is the fact that State Senator Bob Wieckowski, who represents an urban stretch of the East Bay, has announced consideration of a bill to reinstate the Fire Prevention Fee. Although his proposal doesn’t have a bill number yet, HJTA said we need to respond quickly.
HJTA said to voice our opposition by calling Senator Wieckowski at his capitol office. The number is 916-651-4010. His email and U.S. mail address is available online.

We also need to let our own senator know our frustration. But, at the moment, we do not have a state senator to contact. Last November, our Dist. 1 Senator Ted Gains was elected to a position on the CA. State Board of Equalization. So his seat is empty.

Upcoming election

But, have no fear, have no fear another election is near. Yes, on March 26, 2019 a California Primary Special Election will be held for this office. There are six people running, which includes our Dist. 1 Assemblyman Brian Dahle, a Republican. Two of the other candidates recently visited Siskiyou County. They are Kevin Riley and Rex Hime, who are Republicans. Candidate Theodore Dziuba is also Republican. There are two Democrats running for the office. They are Silke Pflueger and Steven Baird.

POW

Scott Valley Protect Our Water will hold its first meeting of the year on Feb. 28, 2019 at the Fort Jones Community Center at 7 p.m.

Liz Bowen began writing ranch and farm news, published in newspapers, in 1976. She is a native of Siskiyou County and lives near Callahan. Call her at 530-467-3515.
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