How many out there know, or have looked into the very large “stupid” spending for outside attorneys, unnecessary lawsuits, bilingual interpreters, and this voting area rights bologna (baloney). A very very large amount of monies that could have used to hire police and fire personnel. Do you know about this?I want to vote for intelligence, smarts, and personality, and one who goes along with all of our citizens’ wishes when possible. Bar none.Now, before my soapbox crumbles, I again will say that we give the police permission to write $50 tickets for illegal parking anywhere, skateboards and bicycles on sidewalks, U turns, spitting, turn signals, speeding, etc., and let the P.D. use this money to buy up-to-date equipment they need. This has been going into deaf ears a long time.And I miss when we had a courtroom to settle our own “stuff.”Ken Z (Zimmet)Santa PaulaCouncil meetings beat TVTo the Editor:If you’re tired of watching television, you should try our council meetings. True, they can be boring at times, but if you are patient enough, our council member Laura Espinosa is bound to come through with one of her verbal tirades. Laura usually goes ballistic when an issue comes up and someone doesn’t agree with her political agenda. She then proceeds to make unsubstantiated accusations, and fabricate out and out lies. When asked to provide factual examples, she mumbles and ignores the question. One of her best performances was when she called the rest of the council evil, and when challenged by a fellow council member she denied saying the word evil.Laura is an embarrassment to the city of Santa Paula, and is a poor representative of her constituents.Huguette JohnsonSanta PaulaCommunity disserviceTo the Editor:Jess Victoria wrote in the December 24 edition of this paper that the Attorney General’s Office (state or federal - he didn’t say) must be “invited” to Santa Paula and to the County of Ventura to investigate the “Reserve Fund.” Mr. Victoria called for a detailed audit of every department of the city and county!As everyone who prepares their own tax return knows, no matter how honorable and diligent you are, there is a mountain of government regulation that can be used to demonstrate that your honest error or decision on how to proceed is evidence of lawbreaking. So why on earth would Jess Victoria, or anyone who has given it the proper amount of thought, invite the government in for an audit? If Mr. Victoria has specific evidence of wrongdoing, he should just state it. Otherwise, he does his community a disservice to try to bring the wrath of Big Brother down upon us without specific cause. What does he want, govern for the sake of government?Rita GrahamSanta Paula
Letters to the Editor
January 07, 2000
Opinion
Citizens urged to act
To the Editor:The following letter was mailed to the Supervisors of Ventura County and read before the Board at its meeting on December 14, 1999, by Marie Offerman:A year ago, on December 22, 1998, the League of Women Voters of Ventura County addressed the Board and expressed its strong support of the proposed Juvenile Justice Center.What precipitates the League’s appearance today is that due to the financial crisis facing the County, suggestions are being made which would endanger the scope of the County’s proposed Juvenile Justice Center and the League is very concerned.In 1997 overcrowding forced the release of more than 1300 gang members and serious juvenile offenders back into the community when they more appropriately should have been either locked up or enrolled in an alcohol or drug rehabilitation program.Public safety, the safety of inmates and of staff mandate replacement of the antiquated, overcrowded, unsafe facilities as approved and accepted by the State in the granting of $40.5 million public safety funds toward construction of the Juvenile Justice Center.Sheriff Brooks has been quoted in the press as being willing to designate some of the future increase in Prop. 172 public safety funds towards the operating budget of the Juvenile Justice Center. This should be pursued in the interest of public safety.Respectfully,Sue Kelley, President,Marie Offerman, Co-chair Juvenile Justice Study CommitteeThe League urges concerned citizens to contact their County Supervisor in support of the construction of the proposed juvenile justice facility in compliance with the State approval of this project.Mary D. DoddPublic RelationsLeague of Women Voters of Ventura CountyOxnardY2K to you, tooTo the Editor:I (we) survived. Now we have to try for another (new) year. If it were possible, we could tell the U.S. Gov’t outsiders to shove it about the voting precinct thing. This is our town and everyone I’ve talked with about it says “It is silly.”I will vote for anyone who I think is best qualified, no matter the nationality or religion. But they cannot be radical, or lean left. I think we have a few like that here among our local citizenry.Here in our town we are mostly close knit with most, and know what goes on. We elect those who we think will do the job for us. On occasion we miss on one. A very large city like L.A. can have voting as one council member does want here. But not in a small town. As it now is and has been, I can vote for all five council members and I sure do hope it stays that way.
