Letters for September 5, 2002

Dogged by neighbors

Re “Dog Days (and Nights)” by Matt Raymond (SN&R News, August 29):

Wow, we can all sympathize, and my heart goes out to people who are bombarded with all sorts of public noise.

However, let me give you another side of the story. I have dogs, never anything but the sweetest relationships with neighbors, and then I went through a quick move predicated by personal circumstances. Suddenly, my dogs and I are next door to neighbors who complain about everything. But let’s just keep it to my dogs: first, within a few weeks of moving here, this neighbor looked over the fence, noticed one of my dogs and decided it was being improperly cared for and stomped over to my house to rip into me about how she’d take my dogs away for poor care. Next, I became the unwilling recipient of notes attached to my door about the ungodly amount of hours one of my dogs was barking. No matter that the times outlined were often totally bogus because I was home (and the dogs inside) nearly all the time. There was a letter from the Animal Control officer, who said this sort of thing does happen often, and also malicious gossip to neighbors.

Sigh. Just a quick note to let you hear another side. … suppose somebody keeps crying about dogs that don’t bark?

Name withheld by request
Sacramento

Quit or pay up

Re “Dying to Balance the Budget” (SN&R Letters, August 29):

What compelled SN&R to publish the inane letter written by H. Chase concerning raising the tax on cigarettes? Chase whines that increasing the cigarette tax places a discriminatory economic burden on poverty-level ethnic minorities who are smokers, 66.5 percent of whom are Black or Hispanic and earn less than $30,000 a year. Thirty thousand dollars is not economically disadvantaged; it is basic middle class.

I know plenty of people who live a decent life on $30,000 or less. I live on far less than $30,000 and I don’t consider myself poverty level. I don’t smoke. I made a decision as a teenager never to start smoking. It is a question of taking personal responsibility for your lifestyle habits.

Chase states that cigarettes are a necessity that must be purchased because smoking is an addiction. Clothing, food, shelter, medical care are necessities. Cigarettes are not a necessity. Smoking is an addiction that has a cure, just as alcoholism and drug abuse can be resolved through treatment and self-discipline.

If H. Chase is so concerned about poverty-level ethnic minorities, he should be in favor of the cigarette tax. Medi-Cal is about to be eliminated because the state can’t balance the budget. Access to health care for poor people is more important than coddling smokers. Sacramento County has nearly eliminated Adult Protective Services because the government is broke. I think defending senior citizens who are beaten up, embezzled and abused is more important than defending the 9.2 percent of senior citizens who smoke cigarettes.

Playing the race card to protest the cigarette tax proves their argument is irrational. Nobody can force you to become addicted to smoking, drugs or alcohol. Heavily taxing cigarettes creates an economic incentive to help people quit smoking.

Colleen Whalen
Sacramento

Watching from the wings

Re “Splendor in the Grass” by Mindy Giles (SN&R Cover, August 22):

No mention was given to one of the principal people behind the restoration of the Winters Opera House, the late George Sanders. Let us hope the ghost of George is lurking in the wings of the Opera House. Indeed he would add additional character to the place. George was a driving force behind the restoration of the Opera House. He admired the Palms and looked to the Palms as an example of what he hoped to turn the Winters Opera House into in terms of who he wished to see perform at the Opera House. For the Palms to move into the Opera House is fitting.

George and I had spoken several times on the phone and [exchanged] daily e-mails regarding his burgeoning interest in the Folk, Americana, Roots and World Music scene. He was seriously considering attending the Folk Alliance Conference to future his involvement in the music community. He had a marvelous sense of humor and great instincts for marketing. His tragic death of a heart attack was greatly felt by the music community as he was just beginning to work his magic on the Folk, Americana Roots and World music scene.

If you hear the distant wail of a harmonica in the halls of the Winters Opera House, it is probably George. If you listen I am sure you will hear George accompanying Jimmie Lafave with his harmonica on opening night at the Palms in Winters.

Bruce Hayden
Garden Valley

Dubya’s boys

Re “Wacko in Waco” (SN&R Editorial, August 22):

Unfortunately the problem goes beyond the retentiveness of Dubya. The man has the intellectual level of a southern college fraternity boy and many issues including fiscal policy are beyond his ability to comprehend. The real problem lies with his advisers, a brilliant group but hopelessly right wing.

He has a Vice President who when the head of a large corporation enriched himself through some creative accounting, an Attorney General who seems determined to ignore all 10 amendments of the Bill of Rights in his quest for his vision of justice, and a Secretary of Interior who thinks the way to stop forest fires is cut down all the trees.

The only hope for the country is for the Democrats to get control of both houses of Congress. If the Republicans get control we sure will get more “voodoo economics” and ultimately inflation coupled with a recession.

James G. Updegraff
Sacramento

A taxing rebuttal

Re “Hey, I Pay Taxes!” (SN&R Capital Bites, August 22):

This Capital Bites says it pays taxes, considers taxpayers league groups silly, that we control how public money gets spent, and want tax money returned to taxpayers, but not to those on the lower end of the economic spectrum. Every statement is wrong!

Bites, city residents and commercial enterprises pay three times more than anyone in the county. There is no utility tax in Folsom, Galt, and Isleton.

Silly? Only two taxpayer leagues in the county defend taxpayers. Both, all volunteer, monitor billions in taxpayer’s money spent by hundreds of elected officials.

We don’t spend tax money, but do watch to see if it is needed and spent legally.

Unneeded tax money should not be collected, and when collected, returned to those who should not pay. Bites doesn’t seem to know our Measure T, the fair utility tax act, both offers voters the opportunity to reduce their utility tax and also expands the city’s utility tax rebate program for seniors and the disabled, with incomes less than $25,000 a year, to all whose income is less than $25,000, regardless of age.

City and county utility taxes are different issues. The county illegally passed their utility tax and increased the hotel tax. It took us four years in court to win that argument, and the court instructed the county to put it on the ballot. Measure T fights windfall taxes resulting from increased utility rates. City utility taxes increased $12.5 million over the last three years. Failing months of negotiation with the city to voluntarily reduce the tax, we resorted to the ballot box.

The personal shot on my global warming article skipped telling readers I am a geological engineer with 51 years of experience. Global warming involves my field of expertise. Open “Issues” on the league Web site, www.sactax.org, and judge for yourself.

Joe Sullivan
Executive Director
Sacramento County Taxpayers League

Fish sticks

Re “Nurses 86’d by 13” (SN&R Guest Comment, August 22):

Nancy Spradling advocates having more school nurses but most of her reasons could be handled in a much more cost effective way: fix school meals.

For instance, she mentioned asthma. The Medical Journal of Australia reported that children who eat fish regularly have about one third the risk of asthma compared to those who do not. Asthma has reached epidemic levels in the U.S., and is the chief cause of school absence. Asthma mortality is climbing steeply and is especially serious in our caldron between the Bay Area and the Sierras, famous for frequent Spare the Air warnings.

It would be a real health service if school nurses informed families that diet plays a huge role in Attention Deficit Disorder. Omega-3 deficiency has symptoms that match those of kids with ADD: excessive thirst, increased need to urinate, dry hair and skin. Over and over, ADD kids were found to have very low levels of omega-3 lipids.

As a parent of an ADD child who benefited from omega-3s, and as a teacher who witnesses daily the junk kids eat, I know what a difference it would make to fix school meals, and school nurses could help that along.

Paula Frechin
Sacramento