by Lou Binninger

Some California cities and counties are determined to be sanctuaries for their citizens rather than hide-outs for criminals illegally in the United States.

Orange County and a number of its cities (Los Alamitos, Orange, Westminster, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, San Juan Capistrano, Santa Ana, Mission Viejo) are opting out of the California’s Sanctuary State law (SB54) and advising law enforcement to cooperate with federal immigration officers. The Northern California cities of Ripon and Yuba City recently voted to abstain from SB54. San Diego County’s Escondido opted out, as well.

On April 11, Westminster, the “All-American City,” voted to reject Senator Pro-tem Kevin De Leon and Governor Brown’s law. De Leon actually attended the council meeting and spoke in defense of the law.

The Westminster vote has an historic twist. Westminster has the most Vietnamese-Americans per capita of any city in the nation.

In 1975, with the withdrawal of American troops and the resulting fall of Saigon, the nation of Vietnam became a communist country. Millions of Vietnamese fled the former French colony by foot and by boat. Thousands died trying to escape. Some were shot by Vietnamese military while other freedom-seekers died from starvation, dehydration and drowning at sea.

Hundreds of thousands of survivors languished in resettlement camps of nearby Asian countries while applying for refuge in America and other nations. However, a young democrat California Governor Jerry Brown became a key proponent in a national campaign to reject the Vietnamese and even plane loads of orphans from coming to the US, and particularly to California.

Other prominent Democrats calling for the ban were Delaware’s Senator and future Vice-President Joe Biden, former presidential “peace candidate” George McGovern, and New York Congresswoman Elizabeth Holtzman.

Julia Taft, who in 1975 led President Gerald Ford’s Inter-agency Task Force on Indochinese refugee resettlement, said Brown’s rejection of the freedom-loving and anti-communist Vietnamese was “a moral blow.”

According to Taft, liberals were open as to why they were rejecting Vietnamese war refugees including the Hmong and other mountain people, “....they had too many Hispanics, too many people on welfare, they didn’t want these people.”

“They didn’t want any of these refugees, because they had..... unemployment,” Taft told NPR (National Public Radio).

When Brown took office in 1975 California’s unemployment rate was 9.4%, and the country was in the midst of a recession combined with high inflation. In 2011, during President Obama’s open borders everyone-is-welcome antics California’s unemployment was at 12.4% and was in the midst of the Great Recession.

In 1975, liberals were no friends of immigrants or as they saw it people fleeing a communist ideology. Though hundreds of millions were dying from communist takeovers around the world liberals thought anti-communist Vietnamese should just get over it and settle down over there.

At the Westminster council meeting third-term Mayor Tri Ta, a Vietnamese immigrant and the first Vietnamese-American mayor in the United States said, “Our forefathers of this country, they fought for freedom.” He affirmed his compassion for immigrants, but reminded the audience about the issue. “I would like to clarify that the Vietnamese boat people came legally. We waited twelve years.”

The Hmong, those who survived crossing the Mekong Delta and by land into Thailand from Laos and Vietnam, tell of remaining for years in refugee camps applying for access to America and elsewhere. Many married and birthed their first children in these camps.

Janet Nguyen, State Senator representing parts of Long Beach and Orange County, was born in Saigon, Vietnam, on May 1, 1976, roughly one year after the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975. She is the first Vietnamese-American State Senator in the nation.

Nguyen and her family fled with other boat people when she was five, making it to California in 1981. Ironically, Governor Brown aggressively opposed Nguyen and her kind. Today, Brown claims to welcome foreigners no matter how they entered the country including protecting dangerous criminals. A communist leaning California Senate leadership shouted down and removed Nguyen when she tried to recognize the sacrifice of the Vietnamese fighting alongside Americans for freedom.

Maybe liberals did not see thousands of Vietnamese and tribal minorities as an easy voting block for democrats. In 1975, entitlement freebies for immigrants were not as plentiful as today. And, these immigrants were anti-communist.

Today, liberals “love” anyone that can float, tunnel under or climb-over to get here, and “Christmas” is waiting. Just vote democrat to keep it coming.

It will be interesting to see how many jurisdictions seek to be a sanctuary from the Sanctuary Law. In the meantime if a high-profile person or two are raped, robbed, or murdered by an illegal alien the foundation of this democrat stronghold might get a little shake-up.

by Lou Binninger

When longtime Yuba County foothill resident Buck Weckman began complaining about massive grows of marijuana, illegal construction, pollution from ag chemicals and pesticides, and dangerous people with weapons, supervisors rolled their eyes.

Then, Weckman asked for Supervisors to declare a State of Emergency to solicit state and federal law enforcement to stop lawlessness involving marijuana grows and trafficking. Other counties like Siskiyou had done so with success.

Supervisors’ spokesperson Randy Fletcher from the 5th District hill area proclaimed his territory safe in spite of Weckman’s concerns. However, residents were not feeling that way with many giving-up even reporting incidents due to no response from the county.

Then, on August 1, 2017 two Yuba County deputies, Phillip Bronson, a 14-year veteran, and Andrew Everhart, a 10-year veteran, were shot at a grow near Oregon House by felon Mark Sanchez, 32, of Gilroy. They survived, but have not returned to work. Sanchez died.

Following the shooting, law enforcement agencies began to step-up raids on marijuana grow-operations. They were successful but are barely getting started with some people estimating 1,000 illegal sites.

Finally, in December 2017 Supervisors relented and declared the State of Emergency. Federal agencies now claim that three Yuba County properties involved in marijuana raids in 2017 are connected to an international Chinese crime network.

Agents from the DOJ, FBI, DEA, Homeland Security, IRS and other agencies along with local law enforcement have now seized more than 100 homes and searched 74 properties in the Sacramento area. The network received nearly $100 million in electronic transfers from China to purchase properties and set-up grows.

Maybe this will confirm the board’s decision to declare the State of Emergency. Hill deputies have done their best and Neighborhood Watches are great but all fall short of curbing organized crime.

Now, Supervisors are mulling over what to do about cooperating with Sanctuary California policies undermining the work of the Border Patrol and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Yuba County jail is one of ten ICE facilities in California holding detainees until the court adjudicates their immigration cases.

Inmates are fighting deportation after committing crimes in the U.S. and completing their sentences. ICE employees are embedded in the local jail and buses come and go moving new inmates to the jail and back and forth to Sacramento and San Francisco for hearings.

If you ever thought that illegal immigrants think like American citizens or have similar values, think again. That is why there is an immigration process to vet people.

Mexico’s Tijuana (TJ) just across the border to the south of San Diego is a shocking contrast to one of America’s top tourist destinations. There were 549 TJ homicides in the first quarter of 2018 and most will not be solved according to the Baja government. Of the first 132 homicides this year only five resulted in arrests with a total of 11 suspects detained.

In Mexico, the drug cartels control and if not control then kill politicians, judges, journalists and anyone else that hinders them. Their manner of killing can be eccentric. They utilize public shoot-outs and decapitate and dismember folks to make a memory.

Mexico, ala Trump, sent 400 of its Army troops to the border city not to deal with lawless Americans but to stop their own murder-mania. It rages on.

San Diego has a population of 1.4 million compared to Tijuana’s 1.8 million. In 2016 and 2017, TJ finished with 910 and 1,734 homicides while San Diego accounted for 50 and 34 for each year.

Many illegals from Mexico and Central American do not share the importance of obeying the law, respecting life or the innocence of underage females. Three teen illegals shot an Olivehurst boy that they never even knew in the face. Sexual assaults of underage girls are common.

Many illegals in Yuba Co jail have multiple driving under the influence crimes along with hit and runs. Substance abuse and addiction are a huge problem. Their attitude is that if deported they will simply illegally return.

Unfenced open borders welcome the mayhem into America’s lap. The current fence along the border has helped immensely in curtailing rampant crime that once flooded into San Diego and other California border cities.

Supervisors and new sheriffs-to-be in Nevada, Yuba and Sutter Counties will have some gnarly decisions to make as to whether they plan to honor their oaths to defend the Constitution or will bow to the demands of rulers in Sacramento.

by Lou Binninger

A local employer wondered whether he should still complete an I-9 form when hiring a new worker. The US Customs and Immigration Services (USCIS) I-9 is for Employment Eligibility Verification. The USCIS website says “All U.S. employers must ensure proper completion of Form I-9 for each individual they hire for employment in the United States. This includes citizens and noncitizens.”

Certain noncitizens have permission to work but not illegal aliens. An I-9 completed honestly by an illegal could bring ICE calling.

However, this employer is in California, a rogue state that is now picking and choosing which federal laws to obey. Is it still illegal to hire an illegal in California? Politicians are ordering law enforcement to release border busters and ignore requests from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain the lawbreakers.

The state college system including nearby Yuba College ordered staff to pay the $495 fee for DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) students. And, DACA student out of state tuition fees have been waived. They would qualify for hardship benefits.

Campus personnel were told not to cooperate with immigration authorities. All this may create resentment among hard working overregulated and taxed parents who pay their property taxes, college bonds and the cost of tuition and books for their children.

While the state endorses and advocates lawlessness, a politically bipolar Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced legislation to root out the state’s underground economy and bring it to justice. According to a 2013 University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Labor Center report, the state’s black market is estimated at $60 to $140 billion annually, depriving the state of $8.5 billion in corporate, personal, and sales and use taxes each year.

A study with findings that general sounds contrived, bought and paid for or just plain trash talk. However, you don’t need to be an illegal alien to be someone willing to work “under the table” in the once Golden State. The egregious and burdensome regulations together with fees, taxes, surcharges and fines are creating criminals out of honest folk. The state has passed the tipping point where people are bothered by a conscience that says they need to pay more for these “wonderful” benefits.

State infrastructure is approaching Third World quality and the service is horrid. Agencies are overstaffed, overpaid and underperforming. State lawbreakers pass 1,000 new laws annually to control, manipulate and force their social agenda.

Becerra’s Senate Bill 1272 would permanently establish the Tax Recovery and Criminal Enforcement (TRaCE) Task Force within the California Department of Justice, and add a permanent Task Force across the State: Sacramento, Los Angeles, San Diego, the Bay Area, and Fresno. The question is will Becerra’s “people” be arrested along with other ethnic groups? And, will those here illegally be arrested?

In other thieves and predators news from Sacramento the state purposely ignored Medicaid rules by enrolling hundreds of thousands of ineligible adults according to the U.S. Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG). The OIG says the state bilked the federal government out of more than $1 billion in funding. And, these figures probably understate the amount that California officials have stolen from taxpayers. The OIG used a six month sample, from October 1, 2014 through March 31, 2015, to arrive at its conclusions.

Like the doctors who defraud Medicaid, California asked for and received funds to which it wasn’t entitled — only big time. States are required to ensure that new enrollees are eligible. The steps to qualify are clearly noted by HHS: The state must verify that applicants meet citizenship and residency requirements, have a household income at or below 138 percent of the FPL (Federal Poverty Level), be from 19 to 64 years of age, not be eligible for any other mandatory coverage group, not be pregnant, not be entitled to Medicare benefits, and furnish a Social Security number.

California officials made no serious effort to verify any of these data. The OIG sample revealed that 18 percent of enrollees were clearly ineligible, and that another 9 percent are most likely in violation. All of these enrollees failed one or more of the above-noted requirements.

So, how did this happen? Obamacare removed the incentive to be thorough and honest. At present, 1 in 3 Californians are on Medicaid. As long as the “Affordable Care Act (Obamacare)” remains in place, the federal government will pay a minimum of 90 percent of California’s Medicaid costs for new enrollees. Thus, state officials don’t want to get it right.

If a doctor cashes-in on unallowable Medicaid reimbursements he goes to jail for fraud. In California, rulers can break the law at will with no consequences. Remember, this is a rogue state for those in charge.

by Lou Binninger

Yuba County rice farmer and newly elected Yuba County Water Agency (YCWA) Director Charlie Mathews believes hundreds of millions of water and power dollars should be more fairly dispersed to benefit residents.

The YCWA was founded to construct and manage the New Bullards Dam (built in the early 1960s) and its power and water revenues. After the construction bonds were recently paid-off via a 50-year agreement with utility monopoly PG and E, the YCWA assumed full control and responsibility for maintaining the dam, power production, water dispersion, and sales of power and water.

Both the composition of the agency board (Yuba County Supervisors plus two elected community members) and the management of the revenue have been a local debate topic. Some believe supervisors managing the county should not have a water and power slush fund at their disposal as water agency directors. Others question the history of a select number of farmers (water pumpers) making millions of dollars off selling water that belongs to all citizens via their creation of Bullards Bar Dam.

Agency water is available to farmers from the Yuba River due to storage at Bullards. In an agreement with the YCWA, farmers instead pump well or ground water and forgo their river water allotments to be sold by YCWA. Pumped water is more expensive than YCWA water. However, farmers / pumpers are rewarded handsomely per acre/foot by the agency for allowing their surface water allotments to be sold.

Charlie Mathews argues that those water sales revenues should be allocated to the citizens, water districts, YCWA and the farmers. His attempt to place an initiative on the ballot to change the formula on water sales was refused by YCWA. Some feel this violated the constitutional rights of citizens to vote, that YCWA exceeded its authority.

The controversy seems to be about who owns the water and power or more specifically the sales revenues – the agency, the seven directors, or the citizens. All fear the state usurping everyone’s rights. Mathews is talking about placing another initiative on the ballot to ask voters to more fairly distribute the benefits of YCWA power and water revenues.

Agency directors and management warn that they need hundreds of millions in reserves to maintain the dam, powerhouse etc. The YCWA is solely responsible. And they argue that millions have been spent on flood protection and water resources. That is reasonable as far as it goes.

However, the Supervisors aka agency directors are voting to disperse funds as they see fit which the citizens may or may not agree with. It smacks of a bit of self-dealing particularly when county politics are involved.

Without fully comparing oil to water or power sales, Alaska may offer ideas. In 1976, Alaska citizens voted to establish a permanent investment fund to manage royalties after oil was discovered on the North Slope. The principal may not be spent, according to the state constitution, and the earnings may be used by the Legislature for any public purpose, including dividends. Residents began getting money (dividends) from the fund in 1982.

If an Alaskan qualified for all checks distributed from the beginning (1982), it would have amounted to $41,221.41, said Sara Race, director of the state's Permanent Fund Dividend Division. The checks are distributed annually to Alaskans who apply for them after living in the state for at least one calendar year, and to those born in Alaska by the Dec. 31 deadline of the previous year.

A record payout of $2,072 was distributed to qualifying Alaskans in 2015. However, last year’s check amounted to just $1,100 due to slumping oil prices.

Egregious taxes and fees, exorbitant real estate costs and burdensome regulations make California affordable for the rich and those on the dole. Yuba County citizens are some of the poorest in the state.

Working class middle income people are struggling and moving elsewhere. Yuba County residents seeing some financial benefits from water and power sales would be a welcome relief to being routinely gouged and patronized by all levels of government.

Mathews’ initiative idea deserves more debate and a vote of the people. The composition of the YCWA board deserves the same.

by Lou Binninger

Attorney Paul Matiasic announced his lawsuit last week against Yuba City Unified School District, former Superintendent Nancy Aaberg, Superintendent Doreen Osumi, former Physical Education teacher Jim Whiteaker and others on behalf of a minor female student alleging that Whiteaker grabbed her bottom.

The suit addresses not only this Whiteaker incident, but accuses district leadership and employees of failing in their obligation to protect students against known improper behavior by Whiteaker. It points out the failure of mandated reporters to follow the law and further states that administrators ignored aberrant behavior and did not inform parents about risks in sending their children to Yuba City High.

Matiasic cites incidents occurring in 1993, 1994-5, 1997, 1998, 1999, 1998-2001, 2002, 2003, 2013, 2014, and the current assault in question. He describes reports of abuse made to administrators, the police and recently to teacher Bradley Steinmann, but nothing was done.

This is the second action filed against the district and Whiteaker as attorney Michael Trezza is representing a former student claiming that Whiteaker used his cell phone to inappropriately film her backside while in his class.

Whiteaker has been dismissed from school employment and has a right to appeal to retain his job.

Whiteaker has been Sutter County Supervisor representing the 4th District since November 2002. The district’s borders are Hwy 20 on the north to Bogue Road to the south, Hwy 99 to the east and South Township on the west. A recall has begun primarily due to the school developments. Recall petitions are being circulated collecting signatures to qualify for a special election or the November 2018 ballot.

Recall proponents believe County Clerk Donna Johnston delayed processing the paperwork and worked to stop the recall. State law clearly describes the steps to remove a representative. It’s not complicated.

The County Clerk is a nonpartisan position and like a judge should conduct business in an impartial nonpolitical fashion. The Clerk’s petition process has raised concerns among recall organizers. The Clerk still must certify signatures and count votes.

Recall efforts are common throughout the state. Of course, not all recalls qualify for the ballot. If they do qualify, then the representative still must be voted out of office by 50% plus one of those voting.

In other Sutter County trouble Deputy District Attorney Anu Chopra was asked to resign and then was fired by Sutter County in 2015 for unethical behavior or misconduct in her dealings in court and with defense attorneys. She was accused of withholding evidence from a defense attorney. She countered that she made an error.

Chopra in turn filed a suit listing a barrage of accusations including the DA’s office being racist and harassing her. She accused the DA of being “bad at her job.”

DA Amanda Hopper responded saying the Chopra lawsuit made “scandalous and false accusations.” “My office intends to defend itself against the allegations and will seek to strike out scandalous and false accusations from the court complaint.”

A committee was convened to determine whether to go to court or settle with Chopra. The vote was to fight the suit. However, word was that a settlement would be offered but too late for a redeemed Chopra to oppose DA Hopper in her current election.

So, a settlement of $325,000 was agreed to on February 22, too late to mount a campaign against Hopper. Judge Timothy Nunley made it official on March 26. The settlement included presenting a plaque to Chopra for ten years of service, rescinding her termination, allowing her instead to resign, and removing certain items from her personnel file and sealing it.

DA Hopper had no comment other than saying she was not named in the suit. Chopra agreed to not seek employment from Sutter County. She could run for DA, though it’s too late this time. It’s just amazing how that all worked out.

As usual, the lawsuits against the school district, the Whiteaker recall and the Chopra settlement all will cost taxpayers a bundle.

by Carol Withington

When African Americans arrived in California during the Gold Rush, the idea of working in the mines was not always for the "allurement" that finding gold meant for the majority of miners. For the African Americans, the possibility of success in mining opened the doors to purchasing not only their freedom but freedom for their families as well. In addition, proceeds from diggings would also assist these miners in pursuing their dreams despite the many struggles that lay ahead.

And although these miners were not afforded protection of the California laws, Delilah Beasley was often told in her personal interviews when compiling her book, "The Negro Trail Blazers of California", that white miners were often "fair and kind to them."

SWEET VENGEANCE MINE

In 1848, a group of African-American miners organized a company and worked a claim in Browns Valley. The miners included Gabriel Simms, James Cousins, M. McGowan, Abraham Freeman Holland, Edward Duplex and Fritz Vosburg. By naming their mine "Sweet Vengeance", it appears they hoped to prove to everyone that there were more than capable in achieving success. And to this end, they reached their goal.

By the time the mine closed in 1854, each had become wealthy enough to either accumulate property, establish their own businesses or pay for their freedom and the freedom for other family members. But best of all, one of them would become a Civil Rights leader.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Simms, a native of Virginia, was able to open the Franklin Hotel on First Street in Marysville with his proceeds. According to research, the hotel was situated near a "cluster" of other African-American businesses. Cousins, an Ohio native, worked as a barber on D Street in Marysville. He was able to purchase the freedom of several relatives and bring them to California due to monies received from The Sweet Vengeance Mine. Holland was also able to purchase freedom for his family and reportedly made a "fortune" from the mine. At one time, he was credited in assisting Vosburg in a fight with claim jumpers.

Vosburg, a native of Pennsylvania, also worked as a barber on D Street. With his proceeds from the Sweet Vengeance Mine, he organized a company with James Riker and together they manufactured "Coconut Oil Soap" in San Francisco. Vosburg was also manager of the Phillips and Company Public Bathhouse in San Francisco.

In addition to his many business pursuits, Vosburg was a Yuba County delegate to the 1856 State Convention of Colored Citizens along with M.J. Brown and George Symes.

One successful miner would use a portion of his proceeds in a leadership capacity which would represent, not only Yuba County, but northern California in a continued fight for rights.

By the last half of the 1850s, Duplex, a native of Connecticut, emerged as one of the most important members of the African-American leadership outside of San Francisco. He was a Yuba County representative at the first California Colored Citizens State Convention in 1855, where he was selected to become a member of the Executive Committee.

According to Beasley, the activities of the Executive Committee were part of the Underground Railroad. The Committee also assisted fugitives in many ways. Whenever possible, the Committee provided temporary lodging, purchased food and medicine, located jobs or provided small amounts of money as well as offered legal protection against kidnappers.

A secret code system was also formed. As there were no telegraph or rapid mail system during those years, the African-American barbers proved the ideal course of action for communicating. In Marysville, alone, there were over twenty barbers not including Duplex's own establishments including one in Yuba City and one in Wheatland.

These coded messages were relayed around the state and by inland waterways--the main highways of the day. One can only speculate the possible role that Marysville played during that time regarding the Underground Railroad under the leadership of Duplex as a member of the Executive Committee. But this would be only the beginning--there were still many hurdles to overcome.

The May edition will focus on the Archy Lee case and the exodus to British Columbia.

by Lou Binninger

The city council of little Los Alamitos in Orange County, a town of under 12,000 people had the courage to announce their resistance to Gov. Brown and the La Raza Government Sanctuary State law. These legislators are the same moral bottom feeders that prosecuted the undercover reporters who discovered Planned Parenthood was selling body parts of aborted babies.

The city council voted 4-1 to defend the constitution and law enforcement rather than protect foreign criminals in the U.S. The 4.09 square mile city is represented in the state legislature by Republican Senator Janet Nguyen (Vietnamese Immigrant) and Republican Assemblyman Travis Allen.

About 160 people showed up to the City Council meeting, a monthly event that usually gathers little interest to ever fill the tiny 40-seat chamber. Many citizens addressed council members before the vote was taken.

Los Alamitos critics take issue with the SB 54 “Sanctuary State Law” which Gov. Jerry Brown signed after the Legislature passed it last year. It prohibits state and local police agencies from notifying federal immigration officials in many cases when legal and illegal immigrants subject to deportation are about to be released from custody.

The Trump administration went to federal court to invalidate Sanctuary State laws, claiming they obstruct federal immigration law and thus violate the Constitution's supremacy clause. This clause gives federal law precedence over state measures. That case is pending. Los Alamitos leaders voted to file an amicus brief to the Justice Department's lawsuit.

Orange County, once a conservative stronghold, voted in 2016 for Hillary Clinton for President and also helped elect democrat rookie State Senator Josh Newman (D-Fullerton). Newman is facing a recall for voting to raise the gas tax.

Orange County officials led by Supervisor and former member of the State Board of Equalization Michelle Park Steel (South Korean immigrant) as well as leaders in Aliso Viejo and Buena Park said Tuesday they plan to push for various versions of the anti-sanctuary ordinance as well.

Steel said the first duty of government is to protect its citizens, and a law that prevents Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from apprehending criminal illegal immigrants does just the opposite.

"We are not talking about law-abiding illegal aliens. We're talking about criminals on the street. It's very dangerous, and public safety is very, very important in Orange County," Steel said. "We just want to stop these criminals walking on our streets."

Steel hopes that California's 57 other counties join Orange County in rejecting the "bad law," because all Californians deserve to be in a safe environment.

Shasta County Supervisors approved a resolution declaring the county is not a sanctuary jurisdiction. Similar efforts to officially resist the sanctuary law fell short in Kern County and the City of Costa Mesa.

Local Third District Assemblyman James Gallagher is encouraging cities and counties he represents to follow the lead of Los Alamitos and others in rejecting the bad law.

No official declarations have been made yet by local elected bodies in Yuba-Sutter Counties, but it is unlikely that Yuba County will act. The relicensing of Bullard’s Bar Dam worth hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue is still unfinished and supervisors fear a vengeful Governor Brown could punish the county for opposing the Sanctuary Law.

Citizens in the 1800s formed this state to serve and protect counties and cities rather than be a dictator over them. State government is now corrupt, morally bankrupt, has too much control and too much power. The massive bureaucracy is an ineffective mess and harmful to the citizens. Cities and counties are now held captive by those who were supposed to serve them.

The State has gone from being a republic to a regime.

by Lou Binninger

After spending awhile in Asia and landing back in America people appear overinflated. They look like they’re going to pop. It takes yards of material to cover them. Women often look like they have a meteorite attached to their backside. Guys get pants that are wider and shorter to get a grip below the belly.

Nichole Quick, the good doctor for Yuba County Health, reports like those before her that Yuba County is too fat, too sick, smokes too much and overindulges in narcotics and adult beverages. Of all California’s 58 counties Yuba scores near the top for consuming too much of all the wrong stuff.

So, what’s the difference? If people enjoy their life, why fret. Maybe fat folks are happier. Why don’t we just let people be?

Yuba County is spending around $8 million and change per year to tell everyone how to be healthy, eat this way, quit smoking, use a condom, drink water and wear a hat when it’s hot. However, what if Yuba County people are like the guy that pays the gym membership, but stays home? County health employees, like the gym owner, prosper while those paying for the service stay the same.

Since Yuba County is broke maybe supervisors should try closing the health department for 3-5 years to see what impact it has on the well-being of residents. The county may be surprised and save some money to pay their employee pension liability. Yes, granted, most of the health money is from state and federal sources. But, what if a health department has little impact on people’s health? Should we pay employees anyway?

Since the same educational information is on the Internet and social media at no cost why should county residents pay twice, once in taxes and a second time to attend to their own health needs?

What causes people to change? Think about smoking. Although some experts disagree, many say that increasing the taxes on cigarettes causes people to stop smoking. At $9 a pack per day, that smoker spends $3,285 annually. The majority of these users are poor. (Many of the local squatters are smokers.) However, retailers argue that price increases are not a major factor causing people to quit.

State and federal taxes per pack are at $3.88. Most of the recent $2.00/pack tax is going to Medi-Cal and then to insurance companies to insure poor people. With the decision in 1987 to provide free medical to people unwilling to care for themselves government uses ‘sin’ taxes to off-set those costs.

When people want government to take responsibility for their lives then they surrender their freedom in that same measure. If we want a government to pay for our food, rent, medical care and education, that same government gains the right to tell us what to eat, drink and smoke, where to live and attend school and whether that medical treatment is allowed.

Social scientists and medical professionals are predicting that obesity will become the leading health crisis that smoking once was 25 years ago. Billions have been spent on anti-smoking education campaigns. However, some feel that laws prohibiting where people can indulge have done as much or more to get people to stop.

California taxes are high, but not the highest on smokes (New York is #1). California does have some of the toughest restrictions on where people can light-up and now is second lowest next to Utah on the incidence of tobacco use. However, Yuba County resists those healthy trends.

What about obesity? Some argue that fat people are abusing the healthcare system (insurance) because of ailments related to being over-weight. Others counter that fat people die younger thereby compensating for getting more than their share of services early on.

Facts show that most of the medical care dollars per all individuals are spent at the very end for people in their 70s, 80s and 90s to prolong life a year or so. Expensive operations and extraordinary care in hospital intensive care units can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in a week.

Is it too futuristic for the La Raza Government in Sacramento to tax people based upon their weight? If a one-pack a day California smoker is spending $1416 annually in cigarette taxes how about charging $15 per pound overweight annually. That would be $1500 for a person carrying 100 pounds too much for their height.

People could visit a weigh-in center each year like we get a smog check. With the weigh-in certificate they could pay their annual dues to eat all they want. Here’s to happy fat people who like government medical care.

by Lou Binninger

Thousands of students around the country were hustled by second amendment foes to walk-out of school last week to memorialize the deaths of 17 students in a Florida shooting. However, the rallies were tainted by anti-gun ownership propaganda and acts of violence by those supposedly there protesting violence.

Rocklin High School history teacher Julianne Benzel was placed on administrative leave for discussing the merits of the upcoming protest 2-days prior to the event. The question she posed to students was too much for liberal government schools. She asked whether students with strong views about other important causes like abortion should also be permitted to leave class to protest.

Out of more than 120 students two complained along with one parent that she would prompt a discussion of the merits of releasing students to protest. The shame is that most students were clueless that they were pawns in a political war over the future of the Constitution itself. Last week’s student protests likely will leave them less safe than they were before if liberals get their way.

Amy Wax, a University of Pennsylvania tenured law professor specializing in Social Welfare Law and Policy has been disciplined following statements she made about the lack of black student achievement in her required first year course. She now will only be allowed to teach electives after complaints from some teachers and black students.

Penn Law Dean Theodore Ruger said Wax spoke “disparagingly and inaccurately” when she claimed that “rarely, rarely” had she seen a black student finish in the top half of her class. However, in an article in the Daily Pennsylvanian about the petition to discipline her, Wax said plainly that “student performance is a matter of fact, not opinion. It is what it is.”

The professor’s original remarks came in an interview she gave in September 2017 with Brown University professor Glenn Loury titled, “The Downside to Social Uplift.”

“Here’s a very inconvenient fact, Glenn, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a black student graduate in the top quarter of the class, and rarely, rarely, in the top half,” Wax said in the video, which discussed affirmative action policies. “I can think of one or two students who scored in the top half of my required first-year course.”

Although Wax’s specialty is Social Welfare Law she is forbidden to cite statistics on student achievement that question affirmative action policies. She could probably give stats on the lack of whites or Asians in the NBA with no backlash.

Before her video remarks were attacked, an August commentary written by Wax and another academic stirred controversy for advocating a return to a “bourgeois” era in American society.

“All cultures are not equal. Or at least they are not equal in preparing people to be productive in an advanced economy,” Wax wrote. The column went on to state that some working-class whites, the “rap culture of inner-city blacks” and “anti-assimilation ideas” among Hispanic immigrants were destructive to American democracy. The piece called on academics, the media and Hollywood to “relinquish multicultural grievance polemics” and “return to the 1950s posture of celebrating” bourgeois culture.

Wax also told the Daily Pennsylvanian that “everyone wants to go to countries ruled by white Europeans” because their cultural norms were superior. “I don’t shrink from the word ‘superior’,” Wax said.

Coddlers of whiners can scream all they want but thousands are not fleeing to Third World nations or Muslim-run countries with the hope of freedom and prosperity. It’s just the opposite as Wax says.

Black conservative economists have written books outlining cultures that embrace hard work, freedom, and innovation and those that don’t.

For example, when Dictator Idi Amin took over Uganda he ran the Indian technocrats out of the country. The Kampala cement factory was now run by locals. The new inexperienced “bosses” did not sweep the cement dust from the roof as the Indians insisted upon. Or, maybe the Ugandans all considered themselves bosses and no one wanted that lowly job.

When the tropical rains came the roof collapsed ruining the factory. They all were out of work. Ignoring the truth and plain old facts eventually leads to ruin.

University administrators and liberal professors are living in a dark place while novice learners dutifully follow their silly ways.

by Lou Binninger

No aspect of California is exempt from the absurd and corrupt management practices of the state government. Most people in the rural north state have received those fire safety mailers showing how to clear-out grass and brush from around buildings. Yet, the environmentalist-controlled politicians and bureaucrats prevent the same management of our forests, namely routine clearing out of underbrush and dead trees to stop apocalyptic-level fire disasters.

So one day a human can’t tread somewhere to spare a beetle or owl and the next day a forest fire destroys all habitat, 500 homes and 12 lives while we spend millions of dollars flying around dumping retardant for weeks. Is that stupid or what?

As Sinclair Upton said, “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.” Whether it is ruining the timber industry, insane forest management and even ‘stand and watch’ fighting of forest fires, whoever will write the biggest check wins the argument.

Then, the San Diego Tribune brings up the fact that Cal Fire’s use of state prisoners or ‘slave labor’ to fight forest fires has allowed employed firefighters to cash in on exorbitant salaries.

Of course, prisoners love fire camp duty. It is better than prison life. They are out and about and learn marketable skills. They make more money than being “inside.” Pay is $2 a day plus $1 an hour, and meals and hygiene supplies are superior.

Well, let’s not get stuck at those ne’er-do-wells are getting a great deal. This chump-change-earning chain gang is toiling side by side with firefighters collecting enough on a strike team to return home and order a new car. And, state officials say using prison labor saves their budget $100 million a year. Firefighter union leaders are drooling.

The medium compensation for Cal Fire firefighters is $148,000 and the typical battalion chief is getting $15,800 per month. However, the ranks of Cal Fire workers are loaded with those earning in the $200,000 - $300,000 range.

According to Robert Fellner of the Nevada Policy Research Institute, when you add up the entry level average pay ($27,713) for 1,500 seasonal workers (9 months) including their “other pay” ($15,676), and overtime ($11,410) and pensions ($26,848), they’re compensation is at $81,647.

In late 2017, Cal Fire employees were set for a wage increase, ranging from 8.5 percent for the $189,600 per year battalion chiefs to 22.3 % for low-ranking firefighter/paramedics. However, the complicated formulas determining firefighter pay masks from the casual observer what is truly paid out in the end.

And this formula does not include retirement pension liabilities (promised but not budgeted) that the taxpayers are on the hook for. However, if you think this pay is high, Cal Fire employees are paupers compared to city and county firefighters.

California Policy Center shows the average compensation package for county firefighters is above $196,000 and for city firefighters is above $198,000, which is more than $50,000 a year in average total compensation above those at Cal Fire.

Some argue that state firefighters have a tougher job than the locals, since they are focused on wildfires when only 8 percent of local calls are fire responses. Most city and county call-outs are for medical assistance.

So, city and county firefighter higher pay is not attributable to more dangerous work than state firefighters nor is it reflective of free market supply and demand. There are hundreds applying for each job opening. Actually, many will do the job for no pay. Nationwide, 70% of firefighters are volunteers. It is at 30% in California.

The high pay is linked to political clout. Although the fire unions have leverage at the state level they have to compete with special interests and many other unions wanting a bigger slice of the budget.

Firefighter union intimidation has greater impact at the local level on council members and supervisors that depend on union endorsements and contributions to get elected. Candidates are fearful of being tabbed anti-public safety. Firefighter and law enforcement unions have less competition for local dollars.

Cal Fire said they only had around 680 firefighters on the Cascade Fire that should have had 3,000. If firefighters were paid based upon supply and demand rather than union muscle there could be more experienced personnel to save life and property and prisoners could receive better pay as well. However, this is Kalifornia.

by Lou Binninger

Marysville City Council, buried in millions of dollars in debt, decided last week to pay a consultant $12,000 to conduct a one-day retreat and have dinner with the mayor and city manager. It must be nice having all that money lying around, all courtesy of the taxpayers.

In the past, these annual events to set goals and brainstorm were led by the city manager or a local leader. Former city manager Walter Munchheimer conducted the last one but neither the council nor our $100,000 a year City Clerk could locate a copy for review. Guess it wasn’t that memorable. At least it didn’t cost $12,000.

Neither could the highpoints of a council gathering led by former Yuba County Superintendent of Schools Ric Teagarden be recalled. Teagarden annually guided his board trustees through such a meeting and provided attendees with cold drinks, sandwiches and coffee. Back then, administrators had the skills to lead and that’s what you paid them for. Maybe the refreshments cost a hundred.

The Council also agreed to hire another consultant for $22,400 to find a new fire chief for their one station department. With an amazing network of communications throughout the firefighting world a job solicitation for firefighters attracts attention from around the west.

Couldn’t the council use the same network to call for a chief without dishing out $22,400? How about contacting retired captains and battalion chiefs in this community and nearby that may be interested? At least they wouldn’t leave before they run out of business cards.

The city council appears to have little interest in the soccer field complex in Riverfront Park. A nonprofit soccer group took over maintenance of the fields from the city years ago and raises money to care for the fields.

The complex is utilized by thousands of children and their families. Thousands of visitors each year travel here to compete in tournaments. That all adds up to purchases of shoes, clothing, hotels rooms, food and fuel from local retailers.

Last year’s flooding damaged the entire river lowlands for which the city received federal monies for repairs and clean-up. Little if any funds went toward repairing the biggest sports complex in the two counties. Like the closed boat ramp that was ignored for years it seems like the city council has little vision for upgrading the valuable soccer complex to become an even bigger asset to the community.

If the complex were improved more tournaments could be hosted bringing more young athletes and their families to town. Currently, the local soccer program has more than 20 traveling teams competing around the state.

Photos from the 1900s show a Marysville with developed recreation opportunities along the Feather River. The city has miles of river frontage along the Yuba and Feather Rivers. However, city leadership has ignored the opportunity to take advantage of this asset. With a little revenue and leveraging volunteer help the riverside could be developed into a source of pleasure and pride for residents.

Nature abhors a vacuum. If the riverfront acreage is left abandoned others will find a use for it.

The city should make it easier to use the amphitheater and look at renovating the baseball parks. With these improvements along with the motocross, improved river frontage, boat ramp and soccer fields, the park would be busy year around. That all translates to better business for the twin cities and great activity centers for residents.

by Lou Binninger

The tension over what to do with the “homeless” aka vagrants, addicts, hustlers and mentally ill has nothing to do with loving and helping people who have lost their way. The federal judge ruling that towns and counties must provide one more location for squatters is a liberal potentate not someone that bases a ruling on law.

These renegade jurists are creating a back door to socialism by exempting criminals and rebels from obeying the law. Responsible hard-working citizens have their earnings forcefully taken to provide cash aid, food, and housing to those that reject rehabilitation and the values of their abused benefactors.

Legal activists like California Rural Legal Assistance attorney Ilene Jacobs, threaten the finances of taxpayers but are unlikely to take a “victim” into their own home for reformation. Jacobs declined the opportunity to put her home where her mouth was in the late 80’s when offered a personal challenge as she threatened to sue the Salvation Army to get federal funds for her “victims.”

Most communities have a multitude of resources - rescue missions, clean and sober homes, drug and alcohol rehabs, shelters, church food pantries and work programs. However, if troubled people refuse existing opportunities then loony judges force the jurisdiction to provide another resource at taxpayers’ expense. This is asinine and should be rejected by community boards and councils.

Look at what happened in Orange County. About 1,000 campers were evicted from along the Santa Ana River after a 10-year legal battle. The negotiated resettlement reached by U.S. Judge David O. Carter, social justice attorneys and the county forced the county to pay for almost 500 motel rooms for the former campers. Those rooms will never be the same.

Attorneys claimed campers had a “civil right” to squat on non-private property. Now, where will the nonconforming campers go to squat and sue? Is anyone asking about the squatter’s civil responsibility to behave?

The victorious “model citizens” forgot to clean-up after themselves in Orange County (OC) so Public Works (OCPW) spent three months on the detail. OCPW reported that in the first month workers removed 5,279 pounds of human waste, 404 tons of garbage and 13,950 used needles.

Health officials declared the area so toxic that the top 3 inches of two miles of bike trail along the river from Santa Ana to Anaheim needed to be removed and burned. The county will use asphalt slurry to seal all bike paths along the river’s edge.

Allowing this lawbreaking and the resulting health crisis is turning communities into Third World Countries health-wise. The Hepatitis A epidemic that started in San Diego, Los Angeles and Santa Cruz camps has spread statewide now infecting 350 new people and killing 11 each week.

This is social policy Venezuela-style. Socialism converted the most prosperous nation in South America to citizens dining on rats. The average person there has lost 19 pounds.

An NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit surveyed 153 blocks of downtown San Francisco in search of trash, needles, and feces. The effort revealed trash littered across every block. Forty-one blocks were littered with 100 needles and 96 blocks had 300 piles of feces.

“If you do get stuck with these disposed needles you can get HIV, Hepatitis C, Hepatitis B, and a variety of other viral diseases,” said Dr. Lee Riley, an infectious disease expert at University of California, Berkeley. Riley explains that once fecal matter dries, it can become airborne, releasing potentially dangerous viruses, such as the rotavirus. “If you happen to inhale that, it can also go into your intestine,” he said. The results can prove fatal, especially in children. Hepatitis A is also spread by human feces.

Riley, author of the book ‘Slum Health,’ believes areas of San Francisco are filthier than many developing countries. Poor does not have to equal gross polluter. It takes a twisted thinker to excrete where you eat.

Mohammed Nuru, Director of San Francisco Public Works, says cleaning human feces, trash, and needles from the city's sidewalks costs his department about $30 million each year. A single pile of human feces takes at least 30 minutes for one of his staffers to clean. “The steamer has to come. He has to park the steamer. He's got to come out with his steamer, disinfect, steam clean, roll up and go.”

Other infectious disease outbreaks are starting in homeless camps. They include new strains of tuberculosis that emerged in Northern California; a deadly new strain of streptococcus that killed three street people in Anchorage; and a shigella food borne illness that causes bloody diarrhea, began in Portland.

The government kabuki dance around “the homeless” purposely ignores the liberal welfare state that created the problem and the resulting homeless industry in the first place. Now, a delusional judge rules that taxpayers must accommodate the waste.

by Carol Withington

THE ADDIE TAYLOR SAGA

Although it was generally believed that slavery was banned in California by the Compromise of 1850, one can only research the newspapers during that time period to find items describing slaves for sale, cases involving enslavement or advertisements offering rewards for runaways such as the one that appeared in 1852 in the San Francisco Herald.

In this advertisement a $100 reward was offered for a "runaway from Mrs. Elizabeth Ware in the month of October, 1850, from Marysville". A description of Hagar was given along with the fact that she had changed her name to Mary. The reward was increased to $150 if she was located in any other county "with her delivery in the hands of the sheriff of San Francisco".

In another example, some slaveholders hid their slaves in remote areas such as the case of Addie Taylor who worked as a sheepherder in the Yuba County community of Hansonville, which was first settled in 1851 by James H. Hanson, from whom the town was named.

Although it is unknown when Taylor first arrived, Hansonville, located 28 miles from Marysville, once boasted of a population of a thousand residents. A quartz ledge was found in 1851 and, in addition, a number of miners worked along the Honcut Creek. Serving this thriving community were seven stores--each with a bar; eight hotels, a bowling alley and a private school, which was established in 1853. A permanent school house was built in 1864 and was also used by the Methodists for religious services.

Hansonville would eventually endure a major fire and flood along with the loss of many established stamp mills. By 1860, the last store remaining closed down. It appears that prior to this time, the life of enslaved Addie Taylor took on an amazing turn of events--thanks to a man named Robert Anthony.

THE RESCUE

According to research, Anthony came to Sacramento from St. Louis, Missouri between 1849-1852, traveling by ox team with his owner. Anthony worked in the mines for two years in order to pay for his freedom. It is said he worked by day for his master and by night for himself.

With the money he saved, Anthony was able to eventually purchase two quartz mills and is credited as owning the first quartz mill in California. Both of his mills were located at Horncutt (Honcut) between Yuba and Dry Creek. One mill was worked by horses, the other by water.

Anthony later moved his mills to Browns Valley, which was once the scene of the most extensive quartz mining operations in Yuba County. While working at the mills, he learned about Taylor and her enslavement in Hansonville. As the story goes, one day Anthony drove by wagon where Taylor lived and asked her if she did not wish her freedom. "Yes," was her reply and Anthony then requested Taylor to get into his wagon and they drove to Colusa, where he was now a resident. It appears that a mine tunnel had earlier collapsed and crippled him so that Anthony was no longer involved with the quartz mills.

Many years later, Delilah Beasley, author of the "Negro Trail Blazers of California" interviewed Anthony at a "poor" farm in Marysville. Regarding his life after the rescue, Anthony remarked that he and Taylor were married and the marriage was witnessed by Allen Pinkard and Thomas Scott, both natives of Colusa.

Sadly, he added that "he had an only son, who worked on one of the Hearst papers, but who had forgotten his old father".

The April edition will include the history of the Sweet Vengeance Mine and the lives of its miners.

by Lou Binninger

United States Olympic Committee (USOC) Chief Executive Scott Blackmun has resigned following accusations that the committee knew about former team doctor Larry Nassar’s sexual abuse of hundreds of female gymnasts and other athletes, years before it acted.

“For 31 months, I heard nothing,” gold medal gymnast Aly Raisman, 23, told the Wall Street Journal. “I find it hard to believe after all this time that the USOC is genuinely concerned about anything other than the scrutiny it’s now facing.”

Former Olympic gymnasts, including Raisman and McKayla Maroney, won’t participate in the U.S. Olympic Committee’s investigation into the Nassar scandal, saying they don’t trust the body to conduct a thorough and independent inquiry. The gymnasts are among 150 women formally accusing Nassar of sexually abusing them.

Nassar was arrested in November 2016 and last year pleaded guilty to state sexual-abuse and federal child-pornography charges. Nassar, who is now serving a 60-year sentence in federal prison, was sentenced earlier this year by two Michigan judges to terms of up to 175 years and up to 125 years in state prison.

Victims are now filing lawsuits against the USOC and others, alleging that the organization failed to protect athletes and lied about when it learned of the Nassar allegations.

Former USOC board member Edward Williams says the investigation is too narrowly focused. The probe should be expanded to include “the climate within the USOC in July 2015, as well as in the years leading up to the July 2015 disclosures, which permitted the abuse to occur.”

Aly Raisman said, “This investigation needs to be bigger than Nassar. There have been countless allegations of abuse for years and years. Anything other than a full investigation just isn’t good enough.”

Why are sexual abuse complaints against adults often ignored, minimized or scuttled altogether? It protect “important” people, schools or organizations.

It is no wonder young people lose respect for teachers, administrators and a judicial system they thought would protect them. Women who graduated from Yuba City High say they made complaints against Physical Education teacher Jim Whiteaker as far back as 1996. Some reports indicate “appropriate action taken” but don’t describe the action, nor were the victims informed. Whiteaker remained at work.

US female athletes have turned their attention from a pervert doctor to a perverted governing system that wanted to save face by ignoring victimized young women and hoping they would remain silent.

Athletes didn’t get counseling, an apology, anything. In fact, the ladies risked reputation, relationships, occupations and being shamed to come forward. To take on the full force of the USOC and the national exposure is no game.

For ladies to begin the case against Whiteaker, the Teacher’s Union and Yuba City Unified School District, let’s say it’s not for the faint-hearted. The union has plenty of tenured bad apples and more money than all the students’ families put together.

The life of a crime victim is tormenting. Being a juvenile target of sexual abuse is nearly impossible to overcome. For a young person, taking a stand against the adult perpetrator and facing a judicial system that is confusing and overwhelming causes many victims to just walk away.

Yuba City Unified, like the USOC, needs to do its own broader investigation on reporting of abuse as well as the morally permissive culture it has fostered.

by Lou Binninger

Many citizens and politicians relegate the Constitution and the convictions of the founders to the future of phone books and rotary phones. However, the nation-builders were literate, intelligent with some considered genius and they had backbones.

Far different than leaders today, they did not view “constituents” as sheep to be sheared.

The following quote is from the 1801 Inaugural Address of Thomas Jefferson. “With all these blessings, what more is necessary to make us a happy and prosperous people? Still one thing more fellow citizens – a wise and frugal government which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned....”

Government today would not be described as “wise and frugal.” Politicians have mastered the fine art of thievery to lift the bread from the mouths of workers and make them feel that the taking is good and necessary.

The founding fathers launched the fastest growing industrial power and most successful country in history from scratch when today high-priced bureaucrats cannot even manage without hiring expensive consultants and incurring massive debt. Most of the elected know little about the Constitution and others treat it like a buffet. The result is a quasi-socialist government going broke while freedoms are routinely removed.

Yuba County Supervisors, already needing repeated bail-outs from the Yuba County Water Agency spent $30,000 for a firm to do an opinion survey of 556 voters on how to acquire more money. Before this survey to raise sales taxes they secured a consultant to cure homelessness.

Now, the City of Marysville lists on its March 6 Consent Agenda an item to pay a consultant $12,000 to conduct a retreat for councilmembers. They aren’t even willing to have an open discussion about the expenditure with the community.

Retreats usually teach participants how to get along and set some goals. Doesn’t City Manager Marti Brown have the skills to do this? It’s so easy to spend someone else’s money.

Did Mayor Samayoa recently write that the city needed to work on a General Plan? More consultants? Didn’t the city spend a couple hundred thousand for Bounce Back “experts” already? When is the city actually going to make improvements after getting its added 1% sales tax or an extra $1.5 million a year?

Did the council forget its slogan “We can’t lose one more cop” for the sales tax increase measure as they now spend the money wherever they please? Even after raising money for the police the council then borrowed more money to finance new police cruisers.

For those planning to reside in Marysville for the next two decades much of your taxes will go to pay-off B Street property bonds, employee pensions and police car debt. If residents managed their affairs like the city does they would go broke and maybe to jail.

Sutter County Deputy District Attorney Clint Curry announced he will campaign to replace retiring Yuba County District Attorney Pat McGrath. McGrath and Sheriff Steve Durfor have endorsed Curry. Curry has worked for 8 years prosecuting cases for Sutter County.

Clint’s father James Curry after serving in Vietnam 1963-1966, served as a Yuba County probation officer, attorney and then Superior Court Judge from 1997-2010. Clint also served in the Army, studied for a year in seminary and then completed UC Davis School of Law in 2007.

Clint and his wife Meredith founded the nonprofit Restoration Railroad to assist human trafficking victims and raise awareness about the problem. The effort led to a more active enforcement to protect children and arrest predators.

The Sutter County Citizens Advisory Committee on Homelessness met for the second time Monday, March 5. The Committee was commissioned by the Supervisors to identify a location for a homeless shelter, not whether or not to build one. No county leader has a solution on homelessness but they are sure the community needs to own a shelter.

However, no one has been able to answer the question of once a shelter is built then what is to be done with the homeless population remaining? If there is no plan of action then why spend a million dollars for a shelter and leave the rest of the vagrants to ignore existing resources and the law?

“Unclaimed debris,” as Sutter County Administrator Scott Mitnick calls it, is mounting in both Yuba and Feather River bottoms waiting for high water to take it to San Francisco. Like the local crows and pigeons the homeless are returning to their roosts and even developing new haunts.

by Lou Binninger

Sutter County 4th District Supervisor Jim Whiteaker was served with a Notice of Intention to Recall on Sunday February 25.

Recall proponents believe Whiteaker’s history of improper behavior with Yuba City High School students including accusations going back as far as 1996 make him unfit to serve as county supervisor. He was elected to that position in November, 2002 and is employed as a physical education teacher at the school.

So far, two lawsuits have been filed on behalf of students against Whiteaker and Yuba City Unified School District. After the latest incident in January school trustees placed the teacher on administrative leave and initiated termination actions against him.

A second teacher was thought to have been disciplined regarding the latest Whiteaker incident, but the administration said it did not place another teacher on leave. Whether a lesser form of disciplinary action was utilized is unknown.

The second teacher was accused of refusing to report a student’s accusation of abuse against Whiteaker to the administration. If true, it is a crime punishable by a fine and incarceration. Teachers at the high school received emails from the administration instructing them not to discuss developments with the Whiteaker case.

Recall proponents now have 7-days to file the original Notice of Intention along with an affidavit of the time and manner of service with Sutter County Elections Clerk Donna Johnston.

Then, Supervisor Whiteaker has 7-days to respond to the Notice with an answer of not more than 200 words. If a response is forthcoming then Johnston has 7-days to legally inform one of the recall signatories.

Once petitions are drafted and approved by the Clerk then recall proponents have 90-days to submit enough valid signatures of registered voters from the 4th District to qualify the recall for the ballot. At least 25% of the registered voters in the 4th District will have to sign the petition. The exact number has yet to be determined from Clerk Johnston.

After enough recall signatures are submitted and certified by the Clerk then the Board of Supervisors has 14-days to order the Clerk to set a date for an election. If the Board does not act then the Clerk shall do so.

A ballot question would ask whether Supervisor Whiteaker should be recalled. The ballot would also include candidates interested in replacing Whiteaker should he lose the election.

If the recall qualifies for the ballot it has an historic Whiteaker family twist.

Supervisor Whiteaker’s father and 20-year incumbent Sheriff Roy Whiteaker was upset by Yuba City Police Captain Art Brandwood in the 1990 Sutter County Sheriff’s race. However, after less than 90-days in office Sheriff Brandwood was served with recall papers by defeated Sheriff Whiteaker’s shocked and disgruntled supporters.

Their complaint was that Sheriff Brandwood was cracking down on issuing concealed weapons permits. Brandwood argued that Sutter County had issued the highest number of gun permits per capita in the state (one permit for every 48 Sutter County residents). LA County Sheriff issued one weapons permit for every 24,216 residents that year.

Brandwood turned back the recall by capturing 59% of the vote and served two four-year-terms before retiring.

In other Yuba City High School personnel actions Varsity Basketball Coach Mamo Rafiq was fired last week. Rafiq had been the head coach since May 2013. He was not a teacher and can be terminated at will. The reason for his dismissal is unknown, but he had been the target of complaints from parents and others at the school.

Rafiq had been exonerated in 2016 after being placed on leave due to accusations of mismanaging school athletic funds. He was reinstated in September 2016 following an audit costing an estimated $27,000. Auditors criticized the district’s training and policies regarding handling of student funds.

by Lou Binninger

On Jan. 11, the campaign to recall Santa Clara Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky turned in nearly 95,000 signatures. Only 58,634 valid signatures were needed to qualify for the June 5, 2018 ballot.

“This historic campaign is part of a national social movement to end impunity for athletes and other privileged perpetrators of sexual assault and violence against women,” said Stanford Law School Professor Michele Dauber, the leader of the recall campaign. Dauber has received death threats for her recall efforts.

If Persky loses, it will be the first time a California judge has been removed by a recall election in 85 years.

The recall campaign was sparked by the Brock Turner case. Brock Turner, a 20-year-old student and elite swimmer at Stanford University, served only three months for sexual assault due to Judge Persky’s light sentence and a state law aimed at reducing jail overcrowding.

Following Turner’s release on September 2, 2016 he returned to his hometown in Ohio. California law requires Turner to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

Turner sexually assaulted an unconscious woman and was convicted of three felony sex offenses, including assault with intent to commit rape. The victim, still anonymous and not a Stanford student, was found half-naked behind a dumpster.

She attended a fraternity party with her sister earlier that night. The victim woke-up with no memory of events and learned the details of her assault from the media. Two bicyclists pulled Turner off of the victim.

Judge Persky sentenced Turner to six months in county jail with three years of probation. Persky ignored the statutory minimum sentence of two years. The victim said Turner received essentially "one month for each felony."

Dan Turner, Brock Turner’s father, wrote a letter to the judge during sentencing. The father wrote, "His life will never be the one that he dreamed about and worked so hard to achieve...That is a steep price to pay for 20 minutes of action out of his 20 plus years of life." The letter and Persky’s actions provoked anger among those believing judges and authority figures are lenient on sexual assault when it involves connected people.

Prosecutors asked that Brock Turner be sentenced to six years in prison for the January 2015 assault. The minimum sentence for his crimes was 2 years and he could have faced a maximum of 14 years. Turner was presumptively not eligible for probation under the law.

Judge Persky found that the case was "unusual" and justified sentencing Turner to probation instead of prison based primarily on the fact that Turner was an elite athlete at a top university and that alcohol was involved. He noted that a harsher punishment would have had a "severe impact" on him. The judge had to make a special exception to hand out such a light punishment.

In June 2016, at least ten prospective jurors refused to serve in a misdemeanor trial for possession of stolen property where Persky was presiding, citing the judge's sentencing of Turner. The following week, Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen filed a peremptory motion for recusal in a case where Persky was to preside over the criminal trial of a surgical nurse. The nurse was charged with sexual battery for allegedly touching the genitals of a patient under sedation. In August 2016, Persky requested to be transferred from criminal to civil court, citing unwanted scrutiny and attention stemming from his ruling in the Turner case.

The recall has pitted the government system of justice (judges, public defenders and the bar association that support Persky) against citizens and victims.

In 2002, Persky, a Santa Clara County deputy district attorney lost a close race for Superior Court Judge to another deputy district attorney Ron Del Pozzo. Persky then was appointed the following year by Governor Gray Davis to the Superior Court.

by Lou Binninger

In 2014, the City of Marysville initiated a campaign to raise the sales tax rate to 8.5% for 10 years. It failed by 75 votes. The council, unable to service debt on a lame decision to speculate on property, blamed the shortage of funds on police and fire. City Hall launched a second identical tax measure in 2016 which passed on June 4 by 209 votes.

Both pitches promised the funds though not legally restricted would be used for police and fire. That was a lie. A citizens committee was to keep the council honest.

As soon as funds began to flow raises were given to employees, not restricted to emergency services. The other day City Manager Marti Brown in an interview with radio personality John Black mentioned that maybe some of the funds could go to parks. Yes, parks are terrible, but the money wasn’t for that.

Opponents of the sales tax increase argued that as personnel and council members come and go the new cash flow will be just that, and have nothing to do with police and fire. We are already there in Marysville. People are forgetting the emergency services tax lullaby.

Now, the Yuba County Supervisors just spent $30,000 of taxpayers’ money for a survey of 556 voters to convince citizens to raise sales taxes by 1%. It’s for police and fire they say.

Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association says, “Local governments also frequently hire expensive consultants (at taxpayer expense) to tell them the best way to pass a sales tax. These consultants sometimes advise local officials not to publicize the sales tax election to the entire community, but to target only their supporters. This means running a stealth election, communicating only with known tax supporters.”

“Since it is illegal for local officials to use public resources (including public tax funds) to urge a vote for or against a ballot measure, consultants frequently counsel sales tax supporters on the best way to wage ‘information’ or ‘education’ campaigns. This often means putting up signs or sending out material stating all the ‘good things’ a sales tax would do, but stopping just short of telling people how to vote. These tactics sometimes occur even before a tax is officially placed on the ballot.”

Cities and counties use scare tactics explaining this is the only alternative to save law enforcement and fire. They use “It’s only” campaigns. “It’s only a few cents a day or a few dollars a month more for police and fire.” They make it sound trivial. However, many people will pay more than $1,000 in additional taxes a year. The poor of the county will be hit the hardest.

The truth that won’t be told is that supervisors misspent funds designated for emergency services, overpromised on salary and pensions and now want a bigger bucket to bail- out a leaking boat.

This is a budgetary shell game. A sales tax measure is put on the ballot to fund a politically popular purpose (emergency services), and if the tax passes, it would enable local government to free up money from the general fund that can then be spent on the pet projects or programs of local politicians.

The Appeal Democrat will support the tax increase since the paper owes the county for getting their legal advertising. Businesses needing a favor from the county will contribute campaign funds as will employee unions that want their pensions funded by taxpayers.

Sacramento employee unions paid for Measure U, the half-cent sales tax voters approved in 2012 to “restore public safety services.” The union will likely fund the tax renewal campaign as well.

The League of California Cities reported this month that pension costs are expected to jump by at least 50% by 2024-25. It is unsustainable. Rather than stopping the insanity the league is advising all cities or in this case counties to launch local tax measures.

Since unions have money-and-vote-hungry politicians by the short hairs they both will get exactly what they want with taxpayers once again getting screwed.

by Lou Binninger

This is Black History Month. It was deemed so in 1976 but got its real start when Carter G. Woodson, scholar, historian, and educator, created “Negro History Week” in 1926. February was chosen because it marked the birthdays of black abolitionist Frederick Douglass and President Abraham Lincoln.

Depending on who’s talking black people are today enjoying the bounty of America or are cursed here. Black economist Walter Williams says “Americans should be proud of the tremendous gains made since emancipation. Black Americans, as a group, have made the greatest gains, over some of the highest hurdles, in a shorter span of time than any other racial group in mankind’s history.”

Williams says that “if American black income is totaled and thought of us as a separate nation along with its own gross domestic product, black Americans would rank among the world’s 20 richest nations.”

Then there are key national leaders. Colin Powell directed the world’s most powerful military and Barack Obama the nation. Clarence Thomas is a world-class Supreme Court jurist. Ben Carson is a renowned neuro-surgeon. Blacks routinely are picked for the President’s cabinet, sundry legislative seats and to be mayors of our largest cities.

A few black Americans are among the world’s richest and most famous personalities. There is a multitude of black millionaires.

Black intellectual, educator and author Thomas Sowell and Williams both contend that neither former slave nor slave owner would have dreamed that such changes and advances were possible in 150 years. It is a tribute to the Constitution and Americans that worked and fought to make the needed changes to conform the nation to the grand document. It should not be forgotten that 620,000 mostly white men waged a Civil War and died contending for and against slavery.

Yet, there are the black and white race hustlers that prey upon and keep the black population riled-up and always ready to throw-down the race card. It plays well for power politics by creating modern urban plantations of millions addicted to handouts and getting special benefits to stay there.

Liberal Charles Darwin-disciples are convinced but won’t admit that blacks are intellectually inferior to whites. Therefore, blacks need social and economic handicap ramps to compete in modern America. Quotas and affirmative action rules remind blacks that they can’t measure-up and are oppressed. Just one more hand-out and maybe even reparations will finally even the score though no one living today ever owned or met a slave.

Union government schools prepare blacks to drop-out and then blame them for the failure. However, private and charter schools see black students achieve excellence and qualify for college, tech school or the military.

NAACP and most legislative black leaders were glum knowing that blacks were going to work in record numbers last year. The charlatans were like pimps grieving the decision of their hookers to return to school and families. For race-chasers the term “black” has turned from a color or demographic group to a socialist political agenda of class warfare.

That’s why when Obama or the socialist black leadership say “our people” it means black people, not Americans of all flavors. That’s racist, but they get a pass. If a white referred to whites as “our people” it would be the political unforgiveable sin. There is no White History Month.

Democrat California Rep. Maxine Waters attended a Nation of Islam convention where the hate group’s leader, Louis Farrakhan, defended Palestinian suicide bombers. Farrakhan is an anti-Semite who calls Jews “Satanic” and says Hitler was “a very great man.”

Farrakhan argues whites are inferior to blacks, but all this is ok for him to say and Maxine to hang out with him. Don’t forget other Farrakhan democrat groupies like Obama, Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison and Indiana Rep. Andre Carson.

In fact Ellison and Carson, both Muslims, can have frequent meetings with the Muslim Brotherhood, a known terrorist organization and have no negative political repercussions. Whose side are these blacks on, not the side of the America most love.

Africa’s Liberia and Sierra Leone were both established in the 1800s to offer freed slaves a place to go should they detest America or not be able to make a living. A few took advantage of it, but most died of disease or were killed in conflicts with nearby black tribal people.

Today, both nations are corrupt, poor hell holes. Those that relocated there did not return to their tribal living but established essentially an American society founded on a Judeo-Christian worldview. They started churches and sent out missionaries.

Slavery was horrible but no American descendants of slaves are clamoring to return today to African poverty and corruption. It’s just the opposite.

In fact, there’s not much African about African–Americans.

by Lou Binninger

Since liberals took over the California legislature they have been concerned about water – storing less, using less for humans, and letting more go untapped to the ocean. In the last 50- years there have been no dams built while the population doubled and farms were abandoned after being deprived of a water allotment.

As liberals “re-wild” California and prepare the state for Governor Brown’s Global Warming Armageddon, conservatives have been smitten with the Stockholm syndrome. They repeatedly vote to borrow billions via water bonds and get no more water storage or water for farming.

Finance counselors advocate saving in good times to survive future difficulties. However, liberal legislators see no sense in holding back more water during winter to prevent drought or deluge.

In November 2006, 64% of voters passed “Proposition 1E -The Disaster Preparedness and Flood Protection Bond Act authorizing $4.09 billion in borrowing to rebuild and repair California’s most vulnerable flood control structures to protect homes and prevent loss of life from flood-related disasters, including levee failures, flash floods, and mudslides and to protect California’s drinking water supply system by rebuilding delta levees that are vulnerable to earthquakes and storms.”

On the same ballot, 53.8% said yes to “Proposition 84 - The Safe Drinking Water, Water Quality and Supply, Flood Control, River and Coastal Protection Bond Act” creating an additional $800 million in debt.

None of these nearly $5 billion included work at Oroville Dam but there was money to spend on “Sustainable Communities & Climate Change Reduction, Planning and Design Protection of Rivers, Lakes, and Streams, Forest and Wildlife Conservation, Protection of Beaches, Bays and Coastal Waters, Parks and Nature Education Facilities.”

It’s now 12 years later and some of the 2006 funds have yet to be spent.

However, in 2014 after a severe drought, neglected dams and insufficient water storage more than 67% of fearful voters approved “Proposition 1 -The Water Quality, Supply, and Infrastructure Improvement Act authorizing $7.545 billion in general obligation bonds to fund ecosystems and watershed protection and restoration, water supply infrastructure projects, including surface and groundwater storage, and drinking water protection.” This act also included “Climate and Drought Preparedness,” code words to address the governor’s climate disaster phobia.

Breitbart writer Chriss Street wrote in a September 4, 2014 piece “that a close look at the language in the proposition reveals that the initiative is another legislative ‘bait and switch’ that will not complete a single major water storage or delivery system.” The $2.7 billion for water storage in essence offers to fund 25% of a project and only if it can prove a payback or “public benefits to taxpayers in recreation, ecosystem improvements, water quality and flood control.”

These benefits ($1 per $1 of state contribution) are defined not as how much water a reservoir can hold, but rather how much it improves recreation - boating or hiking, flood control and environmental conditions, such as helping endangered salmon populations come back by providing cold water to streams during dry periods.

The bond also states, “A project shall not be funded...unless it provides measurable improvements to the Delta ecosystem or to the tributaries to the Delta.” Any submitted proposals to use the funds must clear Governor Jerry Brown’s select California Water Commission.

“We’re not paying for water. We’re paying for public benefits,” said Chris Orrock, a spokesman for the California Water Commission. “As defined in Prop 1, water is not one of those benefits that we are funding. We’ve been very clear at every step.”

Four years later and they are just beginning to vet proposals for storage increases. Remember, the Empire State Building was erected in a just over a year. As Street wrote, the political game is rigged against new dams, plain and simple.

Now, environmentalists and their poll takers believe the voters racked by a 5-year drought and then torrential rains are still up for more bait and switch borrowing for water. In June 2018, the Legislature’s new $4.1 billion ballot measure will fund water recycling, construction of flood-control levees and cleanup of polluted waterways.

However, close to half the bond money would have little or nothing to do with water projects. Some would go to park acquisition and maintenance, much of it in Southern California. Money would be allocated for trail construction and land conservation in the Bay Area. Low-income communities would be given priority for the funding.

An $8.9 billion measure if it qualifies for the November 2018 ballot would not add storage. It would support more recycling, groundwater and clean-up programs. It would also pay for traditional water projects such as improved canals for farm irrigation in the Central Valley with a spiff of $200 million for Oroville Dam repairs and millions more for other reservoir upgrades to persuade Nor-Cal voters.

With $12.43 billion borrowed already and 2006 funds remaining to be spent and no sincere effort to build new dams, why do citizens keep voting yes? The voters are ideological hostages and joined the perpetrators to survive. It’s called the Stockholm syndrome.