by Lou Binninger

Marysville City Administrator Walter Munchheimer is leaving soon. It appeared all was well with the city as he received his raise after voters agreed to an 8.5% sales tax. Then, boom, he resigned. Maybe he’ll return to Florida where there are no state income taxes. California’s top rate is 13.3% and the Florida’s sales tax is 6%, not Marysville’s 8.5%.

There hasn’t been talk of Marysville’s infamous Bounce Back plan for months. Remember how indignant Bounce Back committee members became when the entire plan was challenged? Did the city spend $100,000, $200,000, or more? Did the consultant ever get the work done? No matter. There’s more money where that came from.

Maybe the committee would like to return for a reunion.

Most people thought the city council, after going against voters to permit two marijuana dispensaries for medical uses, would expand sales for recreational use as well. As of January 1, recreational cannabis gets the green light in California.

However, council members McKenzie, Pedigo and Whitmore said no to recreational sales. Remember, cannabis users for medical purposes already had home delivery in Marysville without dispensaries. However, the city wanted the tax revenues from cannabis outlets.

After cannabis people greased Mayor Samayoa’s palm with $10,000 along with some ordinance and zoning massages, these dispensaries may finally be Marysville legal. The odd thing is we knew who would win the dispensary lottery ahead of time. Is that how it’s supposed to work?

A Colorado Springs Gazette editorial (“Five Years Later, Colorado Sees Toll of Pot Legalization”) takes the euphoria out of the benefits of legalizing cannabis. The writer refers to the story of legalization as an “embarrassing cautionary tale.”

“Visitors to Colorado remark about a new agricultural smell, the wafting odor of pot as they drive near warehouse grow operations along Denver freeways. Residential neighborhoods throughout Colorado Springs reek of marijuana, as producers fill rental homes with plants.

Five years of retail pot coincide with five years of a homelessness growth rate that ranks among the highest rates in the country. Directors of homeless shelters, and people who live on the streets, tell us homeless substance abusers migrate here for easy access to pot.

Five years of Big Marijuana ushered in a doubling in the number of drivers involved in fatal crashes who tested positive for marijuana, based on research by the pro-legalization Denver Post.

Five years of commercial pot have been five years of more marijuana in schools than teachers and administrators ever feared.

‘An investigation by Education News Colorado, Solutions and the I-News Network shows drug violations reported by Colorado's K-12 schools have increased 45 percent in the past four years, even as the combined number of all other violations has fallen,’ explains an expose on escalating pot use in schools by Rocky Mountain PBS in late 2016.

The investigation found an increase in high school drug violations of 71 percent since legalization. School suspensions for drugs increased 45 percent.

The National Survey on Drug Use and Health found Colorado ranks first in the country for marijuana use among teens, scoring well above the national average.

Commercial pot's five-year anniversary is an odious occasion for those who want safer streets, healthier kids and less suffering associated with substance abuse. Experts say the worst effects of widespread pot use will culminate over decades. If so, we can only imagine the somber nature of Big Marijuana's 25th birthday.”

Maybe McKenzie, Pedigo and Whitmore are sensing troubled times mixed with the cash cow of cannabis outlets. The Colorado Springs Gazette sure is.

Is City Hall getting easier to deal with. A local paint contractor said his client had to submit the proposed exterior paint color for approval by the City. Sometimes, these life and death decisions need to go before a special committee. But no, the city official quickly signed-off at the counter. Is it a honeymoon at City Hall or is this a new approach to encouraging business?

Does going to government to pick a paint color for your business sound Communist to you? There is something bad wrong when you invest your life, money and sleepless nights into an enterprise only to have the government say what it should look like, operate like, who can work there, what the wages are and what you can and cannot sell. Then they want to approve the sign for the building. And they call this ‘free enterprise?’ Who are these people?

There is a sense of hope and anticipation with many key employees at City Hall leaving. Let’s see if the change is lasting.

by Lou Binninger

The Yuba County Board of Supervisors did their best in the past to make senior citizens another entitlement group. Supervisors believed it was their job to provide them a center. That would be fine if Supervisors were investing their own money and not the taxpayers’.

Supervisors first gave seniors a free ride in the now demolished county offices on 14th Street in Marysville. That was a financial black hole and possibly an illegal arrangement. They had talked of actually building them a center.

The seniors then rented the facility on Olivehurst Avenue from Yuba County Office of Education (YCOE). After years there when the seniors heard the building was for sale they threw an ‘entitlement fit.’

Since the building is now being sold by YCOE, the seniors group must determine their future. Some say they may rent a location in Marysville.

The taxpayers do not owe the seniors a place to meet or funding. However, politicians would like to take credit for giving taxpayers’ money to seniors or solving their problems. It’s all about ego and getting elected. “I saved the seniors center.”

What we owe our seniors is respect, honor and kindness for their service to the community and the country. Individuals may be inspired to assist the seniors but it is not government’s business to make them a charity case.

Seniors were 13.3 percent of the U.S. population in 2011 or 41.4 million people 65 and older. Once turning 65 people did not forfeit their intelligence or decades of experience and wisdom. In fact, as a resource, they are the best kept secret in town. They have time and most have sufficient money to allow them to serve others. Jesus said that was the best way to live.

They have worked, parented, governed, coached, built, taught, cooked and gone to war. And there is no reason someone should be inclined to assume their affairs unless they become unable to care for themselves and lack any family to come alongside.

You can find them everywhere serving --- A Hand-Up, Hands of Hope, Trauma Intervention Program, law enforcement agencies, hospice, the hospital, and churches. They improve our quality of life.

Seniors in America have an impact worldwide. In 2005, two seniors in their 70’s, Eva Galambo and Oliver Porter, created the first new Georgia city in 50 years, called Sandy Hills. The city of 100,000 has a surplus, no pension problems, has a state of the art infrastructure and outsources all city tasks except police, fire and the courts. These two city builders are not outliers either.

Nelson Mandela was elected President of South Africa at 75. Colonel Sanders started KFC at 65. Noah Webster completed his American English Dictionary at 66. Peter Roget created the Thesaurus at 73. John Glenn returned to space at 77. Gladys Burrill ran a marathon at 92. Benjamin Franklin signed the Declaration of Independence at 70 and the US Constitution at 81.

The notion that seniors need to pack-it-in or become dependent on hand-outs is insulting to most of them and simply another indicator of socialist ideology permeating our government’s thinking.

Only a small percentage of all Yuba County seniors even attend the center. That’s like any group. Other seniors are involved in service clubs, churches, veterans groups and other nonprofits. Some are traveling and others still want to work. Most have other interests than this particular center. That does not mean the center is not serving a purpose. It just means that this group of seniors enjoys getting together.

That being the case, they should carry-on if they wish, manage their funds, do some outreach and strengthen the organization. Like any other nonprofit or business, the center will thrive, muddle along or cease to exist. All three are fine. Sometimes an idea or project has run its course and needs to be knocked in the head and given a decent burial.

In the private sector it happens every day. That’s how the nation grows and improves. Government is the one that keeps programs and departments on financial life support long past their usefulness. It can afford to with your money. It’s one of the many reasons the Founding Fathers had a disdain for the institution.

by Lou Binninger

The downfall of Marysville Chief of Police Aaron Easton after being accused of sexual misbehavior by a former Yuba College Police Academy student should be sobering for many locals in places of authority that are pioneering their own moral path.

Easton’s departure adds to a legacy of sexual misconduct accusations against Marysville Police Chiefs. After decades of respected leaders the City Council hired Bret Smith in 2003 and then paid him $48,882.40 to leave in June 2006 while receiving sexual harassment accusations from female co-workers and rumors about him hot-tubbing with teen girls. Today, he’s Chief of Ferndale PD.

Then, longtime lawman Jack Beecham, after losing a Yuba County Sheriff’s race, filled-in until Wally Fullerton could double or triple dip his way to an unceremonious departure after 6-years. Fullerton was accused of inappropriate sexual conduct by a female employee, as well.

Dave Baker took over in April 2013 and lasted until Measure W (1% sales tax increase) was turned down by voters in November 2014.

Aaron Easton was promoted to replace Baker. Soon after taking the position Easton’s wife, Sara, died from a gunshot wound in 2015. After over two years, neither the Yuba City Police Department nor the Justice Department has determined whether someone shot her or she ended her life.

Yuba and Sutter Counties have been riddled with inappropriate sexual behavior by those in government authority. Sutter County District Attorney Carl Adams resigned after it was discovered he was having sex with an escort he granted immunity to for her testimony in a murder case. The county paid Elizabeth Pollard $150,000 as Adams’ employees sexually harassed her.

Sutter County Sheriff Captain Lewis Mc Elfresh was prosecuted for sexual improprieties with his adopted teen daughter. Mc Elfresh and other Sutter County employees were engaged in group sex and spouse swapping.

Other Sutter County officials have been noted for inappropriate sexual behavior but victims have so far been unwilling to come forward. Some believe Sutter County putting District Attorney lead investigator Jason Parker on administrative leave is about his questioning of improper behavior by government officials, both sexual and otherwise.

However, the national stampede of both male and female victims now emboldened to come out about their abuse is a phenomenon. Politicians and government workers, Hollywood elites, producers and actors, and corporate executives have been outed by hundreds of victims. Recently, a letter signed by140 female employees in the California legislature protesting a culture of sexual harassment and intimidation was presented to Democrat leadership in Sacramento.

For decades, the sexual revolution touted no barriers to intimate behavior. Those seeds of ‘freedom’ are now coming to fruition in all kinds of sexual indiscretion, deviancy and perversion.

The question is whether citizens are comfortable with those in places of authority and power engaging in deviant lifestyles while ruling over them.

Former New York Congressman Anthony Weiner recently entered prison for sending photos of his genitals via social media to young ladies. He was married at the time. New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez is being tried for political corruption including trips to the Dominican Republic for sex with young females.

Easton has not been charged. However, his electronic records were acquired by the Yuba City Police Department in the investigation involving the death of his wife.

A Yuba City Police Detective indicated that “Some of the information located (in digital format) made reference to sexual acts that occurred with unidentified females other than Easton’s wife, and (the YCPD detective) remembered seeing sexually explicit photographs of Easton taken while Easton appeared to be working in his official capacity as a peace officer.”

If this proves to be true it confirms rumors of Easton and others having sex while on duty. Law abiding taxpayers are hoping for a complete purging of dishonest and morally tainted government employees.

Government leaders are too lax on vetting new hires and too eager to pay-off those who have been wronged by morally deficient employees to maintain the status quo.

By Lou Binninger

As Sutter County Administrator (CAO) Scott Mitnick ramped-up efforts to establish first a tent city and a 6,000 square foot permanent living facility and then a ‘repurposing’ of Whitaker Hall for 60 people, he emailed 29 key county employees to all do their part.

Plots maps, surveys of illegal campers, lists of products needed, costs estimates, sources for funding, arguments to establish a village of vagrants, oral presentations and power points were all choreographed to inform the five Supervisors. Let’s call the emailed 29 the $5 Million Club. That’s the approximate total of their annual salaries and benefits.

Not only have taxpayers spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to lodge people in hotels rooms and provide them benefits but the $5 Million Club has been laser-focused waging the War on Homelessness. And, that is an expensive Club for the citizens to fund.

Using hours-worked-per-month estimates, when the $5 million Club is engaged on this project its costing taxpayers $2,894 per hour. If Club Members spend 6 hours per week it is $17,364 and for four weeks $69,456.

All the while law enforcement declared “We can’t arrest our way out of this.” And, consultant on homelessness Scott Thurmond would not promise that the massive mobilization of resources would even solve the problem.

It’s a lot of expensive hoopla when Mike Johnston, local attorney and resident near the homeless camps, offered some common sense. Johnston urged the county to adopt a “one problem at a time approach.”

He challenged the use of euphemisms to describe the issue and the people. Johnston emphasized, “They are not homeless. The legal definition of a squatter is: ‘An individual who settles on the land of another person without any legal authority to do so, or without acquiring a legal title.’ In the past, the term specifically applied to an individual who settled on public land. Currently it is used interchangeably with intruder and trespasser.”

He then quoted County Counsel Jean Jordan in urging the enforcing of the camping ordinance now. Johnston maintained there is no legal requirement to build a shelter other than ‘government charity.’ Johnston said, “My belief is that Sutter County has a wealth of outstanding charitable organizations that provide services for the homeless, and the County should not become a charitable donor of taxpayer funds.”

In spite of Johnston and other citizen protests, the county will build 42-units for ‘homeless’ people and Supervisors Dan Flores and Ron Sullenger will assemble an 11-member citizens panel to pick an unnecessary shelter site. The county will also clean-up tons of garbage left behind in the camps.

Meanwhile, homeless people continue to get arrested for rape, weapons, warrants, and various other felonies. They are not cited for blocking traffic on Hwy 20 and 70 rather than using crosswalks or for guiding their bicycles against traffic and red lights.

Cities allowing squatting and law-breaking are in trouble. They are experiencing Hepatitis A outbreaks. The San Diego crisis has killed 20 people and hospitalized more than 370. As of last week, the county tallied 544 people infected, and new cases continue to surface. It’s one of the worst national Hep. A episodes in decades.

‘Homeless’ people and street drug users represent the majority of cases and are considered most at-risk. The virus is spread from feces to mouth so unsanitary conditions, particularly among San Diego’s growing ‘homeless population,’ make it more likely to spread. San Diego is trying to sanitize the streets and sidewalks to stop the virus.

Visitors to San Diego and 17 food-service workers have also been affected. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say nearly 40 percent of those who contract Hep. A require hospitalization, but it’s rare for someone to die from the disease. Death is more common among individuals who are over the age of 50 or have underlying liver problems.

Symptoms include fever, fatigue, and nausea, loss of appetite, yellowing of the eyes, stomach pain and vomiting. The usual time period from exposure to showing symptoms is 15 to 50 days.

Unfortunately, it’s rare for the public to know much about those who have contracted the disease. Health officials are hesitant to release specifics on where cases are concentrated and who has been exposed, citing state and federal health privacy laws. Taxpayers are intentionally put at risk by poor public policies.

That’s no comfort when both Marysville and Yuba City have become sanctuary cities for transients and vagrants.

by Carol Withington

The village of Leesville was once situated at the head of Bear Valley, 22 miles northwest of Williams. Leesville was named after Leander "Lee" Washington Harl, a Mexican War veteran who served as Justice of the Peace from 1869-1874 for the Leesville District.

Although background information is lacking regarding Harl, what is known is that he was born on September 5, 1817 and died September 21, 1892 and is buried in the Colusa Community Cemetery. His brother John Lewis Harl was a Civil War Confederate veteran. Born on July 8, 1828, he died on May 30, 1912 and is also buried in the Colusa Community Cemetery.

A Post Office was established in Leesville on June 24, 1874. According to the San Francisco Bulletin newspaper, Elias C. Peart was the first Postmaster. A native of Nova Scotia, Peart arrived in California in 1868 at the age of 19. After a few years of working at various general merchandise stores in Knights Landing and Eddy's Landing on Grand Island, Peart began a venture of his own during the Fall of 1871.

Upon his arrival in Bear Valley, Peart partnered with J.W. Graham and opened a general merchandise store near Leesville. From the onset, trade was deemed "most satisfactory". However, a year later, fire destroyed the store along with its entire stock of merchandise. It seems insurance was not sufficient enough to pay off the San Francisco creditors. Yet, together, the partners faithfully paid off their debts over time.

Peart and Graham then opened a store in Colusa. But, due to heavy competition, the partners decided to close the establishment. Peart then bought out Graham's interest and returned to Leesville where he opened another general merchandise store. During that time, other businesses had developed in the community. They included a livery stable, a wagon shop and blacksmith along with an assortment of other shops which filled the needs of Leesville and the surrounding area.

Much of the land around Leesville was low and kept wet until late Spring which made for ideal conditions for growing grass. The soil was also considered one of "the best" in Colusa County.

In addition, limestone was discovered two miles north of Leesville in 1878 by the Rathbun brothers. Located on Indian Valley Road, the brothers erected a limekiln and reportedly burned lime of "very good quality". However, due to lack of demand, operations were suspended.

Stages for the Lake County hot springs also passed through Leesville where connections were made for Cook's Springs, eight miles distant. At one time, there were daily stage rides from Sites to Leesville. Again, interest in hot springs later faltered and the routes to these destinations ended.

By then, some residents began to look for other areas for more opportunities. Elias C. Peart was one of them. Although he was successful with his Leesville merchandise store, his eyes were on Grand Island, particularly the community of Grimes where he would serve as Postmaster in 1883.

Grimes, along with Sycamore and Eddy's Landing, will be featured in the last of the series of Colusa County Cameos in December.

by Lou Binninger

Sutter County continues to alter its ‘homeless’ agenda as citizens react to the extraordinary expenditure of tax dollars and the administration’s poor judgement. This Tuesday, November 7, 3P.M., Supervisors will entertain yet another strategy to ‘Win the War on Homelessness.’

The current ‘crisis’ developed as local government began refusing to enforce laws on vagrancy, panhandling, being drunk in public, squatting on private and public land, possessing stolen property etc. As a result, illegal camps grew along both Yuba and Feather Rivers with lawbreakers doing hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage and establishing their own set of norms and values.

In Yuba County, a tipping point occurred in March 2016 when Greg Kelley, 62, an often incarcerated man who struggled for years with substance abuse, was clubbed to death and buried near the Simpson Lane camp. It was an act of street justice after he was accused by river bottom ‘neighbors’ of raping a female camper. The rape victim is a longtime heroin addict, also often incarcerated who refused many rehab opportunities for the outdoors.

Gilbert Wilden, 56, pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter. Wilden’s longtime partner Beverly Brown (not the rape victim) testified that Kelley held a machete to her neck and threatened to kill her along with many others dwelling in the river bottom hovels. It’s just another sunny day in the neighborhood.

Numerous enclaves were then cleared-out by Yuba County authorities. The ‘14 Forward’ government settlement was created with 20 Tuff Sheds as an option for the illegal squatters. However, those evicted are now returning to their preferred habitation or new roosts like behind the Marysville Cemetery.

Sutter County’s initial multi-million dollar proposal to site the variety of homeless personalities (60, 90, 200, Who knows how many?) along Garden Highway is intriguing. Why there, with the obvious destructive impact on the airport, sheriff’s training center / range / posse arena, the Twin Cities Rod and Gun range and the Peach Bowl Little League operation?

Though the proposal would spend millions it was called a ‘2-year Temporary Plan.’ What? The problem would be resolved in 24 months? No one believes that.

The fact is that county officials do not care about the homeless nor the entities affected along Garden Highway. It is a task to address, maybe just a pain-in-the-ass, maybe just politics. In fact, County Administrator Scott Mitnick can’t even remember where he is. He routinely refers to Sutter County as Ventura County where his home and family are. That’s where his heart is. That’s normal and expected, but it would be nice to have an administrator that considered Sutter County home, where the problems were not just academic, but personal.

Beneath the homeless shuck and jive Mitnick and County Counsel Jean Jordan are working to close the 170-acre airport in order to develop it. County supervisors and bureaucrats have for years violated Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rules including financially mismanaging the airport. The operation has been deprived of millions of rental dollars due it for structures encroaching on airport acreage.

Mitnick and Jordan think the airport is a poor use of county land. Maybe or maybe not, but is it their decision to make? Who sets policy for the county? Where are the Supervisors on this? Shouldn’t the Supervisors conduct public meetings to debate the airport’s future rather than use an underhanded approach like we need to house 60 homeless?

Jordan has been exploring ways to accuse the nonprofit pilots group (Sutter Buttes Regional Aviation Association), who manages the facility, of transporting drugs in and out of the county. The initial plan to launch a camp for transients at the airport would violate FAA rules eliminating federal funding and possibly trigger an action against the airport. Both contrived controversies could have ended the airport operation delighting Mitnick, Jordan and Assessor Todd Retzloff.

The so-called homeless are looking more like political pawns, particularly when there is no nation on earth that offers more hand-outs, more food, more rehabs, more shelters and more jobs than this country. However, you cannot force people to conform to living standards and rules they left behind.

The problem here is not those we now euphemistically refer to as homeless. They have been with us since the beginning. The problem is that government is incompetent when it comes to delivering charity and shouldn’t be in the business. And, government manipulates and deceives the public.

Yuba and Sutter County taxpayers would be thrilled if each jurisdiction would simply provide law enforcement, fire service and maintain the infrastructure. The private sector can do the rest.

by Lou Binninger

As a Californian, where ever you notice troubles like increasing regulations, lousy schools, the highest taxes in the nation, wasteful government, Third World road and dam maintenance, services insolvency, or a corrupt state pension program, you have government employee unions to thank.

They own the politicians, and their hefty union dues literally control who gets elected and what measures and propositions pass. They are bullies and they are corrupt. Recently, they muscled any non-union workers off the Oroville Spillway project.

Your 12 cents per gallon increase on fuel as of November 1 and continuing for the next ten years, the additional DMV fees and the 72 cents per gallon spike starting on January 1, 2020 will pay overcompensated government employees who deliver their steep union dues to elect Democrat politicians.

Last year, Senator John Moorlach (R-Costa Mesa), the only CPA in California’s state legislature, released a report on CalTrans which he summarized in the article “7-Step Fix for ‘Mismanaged’ Caltrans.” A few highlights reveal why the state’s billions are wasted.

In May 2014, the Legislative Analyst Office determined that CalTrans was overstaffed by 3,500 architects and engineers, costing over $500 million per year. In America, an average state transportation agency outsources over 50% of its work. CalTrans outsources only 10%.

Arizona and Florida outsource more than 80%. The unions benefit from California’s ‘white collar welfare’ keeping the payroll all union and with inflated numbers of employees whether they are needed or not. Little outsourcing means more union laborers and higher costs.

Therefore, the unions oppose any outsourcing. Outsourcing exposes their shameful wastefulness and they lose the dues and therefore the power to control. Moorlach found that 54% of CalTrans staff is at or near retirement age, so a hiring freeze would reduce staff merely through attrition, without requiring layoffs. However, the unions and therefore the politicians say “No way!”

The unions are pushing the Bullet Train Boondoggle. It will be union built, managed, operated, policed and maintained, all a cash cow for union political bosses.

The American Road and Transportation Builders Association estimates that California’s freeways can be resurfaced and have a lane added in each direction at a cost of $5 million per rural mile and about twice that in urban areas. Autos and freeways offer residents maximum efficiency and flexibility in transportation.

Meanwhile, the latest estimate for California’s ‘bullet train,’ is $98 billion (that’s $245 million per mile). That same money could (at the urban price of $10 million per mile) resurface and add a lane in each direction to 10,000 miles of California’s freeways. Imagine smooth, unclogged roads. It’s not impossible. The unions just won’t have it.

Except for a couple population-dense urban areas in California, mass transit is a loser. That includes light rail and street cars where ridership never covers the costs. The invention of ride-sharing apps, the advent of non-polluting cars, and the option of using buses to accomplish mass transit goals all offer the superior versatility of roads versus rail for urban transportation.

Liberals carp about a lack of both enough housing and ‘affordable’ housing. This is laughable. They passed the environmental laws causing California housing to cost 2.5 times more than comparable sizes and locations in other states. The median home value in America is $202,700. The median home value in California is $509,600.

When union-backed politicians talk about needing more ‘affordable housing’ they are talking about unions constructing government housing projects where the funding is forcefully removed from taxpayers and the units are provided at nearly no cost to the ‘less fortunate.’ That is socialism.

Finally, let’s look at government union employee pensions. The average unionized state or local government worker in California makes over $120,000 per year in pay and benefits. However, to adequately fund their promised benefits, government will need to pay at least another $20,000 per employee to the pension funds.

This funding gap, over $20 billion per year, is the additional amount required to cover the difference between how much pension funds currently collect from taxpayers, and how much they must collect to keep the promises that union-bought politicians made to government unions they ‘negotiate’ with. Political incest produces unsavory outcomes.

Unions collect over $1 billion in dues annually and use it to get their way. You, the taxpayer then are robbed of your hard-earned money to maintain a corrupt over-funded and under-performing bureaucracy.

by Lou Binninger

At a meeting last week a representative from Hands Of Hope, the nonprofit designated by Sutter County to manage the proposed homeless village, made two interesting statements. The first, was observing that many of the so-called homeless have migrated here. The second alluded to a question no government official is asking publicly, “What is the plan for the ‘homeless’ that resist assimilating back into society, since that is where this all started?”

In other words, if the homeless person rejects help is he still worthy of that designation, ‘homeless?’ Or he is a ‘conscientious objector?’ Or, does he now qualify for a second or third solution that suits him? Remember, a smart guy once said, “A starving man asks for no menu.”

Studies show that California’s multitude of hand-outs are particularly generous to those that could work but don’t or won’t. And they are stingy to the elderly unable to work. For those addicted to government largess there is a penalty to take a job. As you earn money, your benefits are reduced. It is no fun to wean off the system so most don’t.

County Administrator (CAO) Scott Mitnick says social workers will lead the ‘lost’ to ‘paths of self-sufficiency.’ A former county worker last week said the law forbids welfare employees from assisting recipients in that fashion. Employees determine eligibility and give out benefits. That’s it.

Not only are the homeless on the move to California but poorly educated immigrants flood into the Golden State. The more-skilled settle in Texas or New Jersey seeking jobs.

In 2012, using money from federal, state and local sources, California spent $69.1 billion on welfare. That’s almost one–third of all state spending. That explains why although the Golden State only has only one–eighth of the nation’s total population, it has one of every three Americans on welfare.

Many liberals carp about the ‘poor’ in America and California has the most. According to Census Bureau calculations California has 23.4 percent of its population living in what federal bureaucrats define as poverty.

However, it is important to establish a context for American poverty. As Dennis Prager notes, “Over 99 percent [of those defined as poverty–stricken] have a refrigerator, television, and stove or oven. Eighty–one percent have a microwave; 75 percent have air conditioning; 67 percent have a second TV; 64 percent have a clothes washer; 38 percent have a personal computer.

"Seventy-five percent of the poor have a car or truck. Only 10 percent live in mobile homes or trailers, half live in detached single-family houses or townhouses, and 40 percent live in apartments. Forty-two percent of all ‘poor’ households own their home, the average of which is a three-bedroom house with one-and-a-half baths, a garage and a porch or patio.”

And should they need to reach their caseworker, 80 percent own a cellphone. In other words, people living in ‘poverty’ in California would be called middle class in most of the rest of the world.

This ‘hard-times-in-California’ mantra is what homeless industry charlatans use to persuade hard-working citizens to fund nonsensical ‘solutions.’ Of course, the homeless are a cash cow for consultants.

So, why does CAO Mitnick want to spend millions of dollars to mimic Yuba County’s debacle of 14 Forward and lavish more gifts and options for less than .5 of 1 % of Sutter County people, 150-400 individuals?

It is amazing how local government could not prohibit the homeless from doing whatever they wanted, but magically Sutter County suddenly can do miracles if taxpayers will just commit more welfare. One-third of the state budget is just not enough even though the Founding Fathers did not include any government ‘charity’ in their writings or practices.

Why don’t social workers, employment people and law enforcement just do their jobs now? There are scores of pages of resources that the county paid to assemble. Are workers familiar with them? Citizens certainly don’t support Human Services spending a thousand dollars a month per hotel room to house people.

If the supervisors cannot discern the sentiments of constituents, maybe it’s time for a change in leadership.

by Lou Binninger

On Wednesday, November 1, the state gasoline tax will increase by 12 cents. It was 18 cents but now will be 30 cents per gallon. The excise tax on diesel fuel will rise 20 cents, to 36 cents per gallon. The sales tax on fuel will also go up by 4 percent, to 9.75 percent.

Motorists will also have to pay another annual vehicle fee, though that doesn't take effect until Jan. 1, 2018. The fees range from $25 for cars worth less than $5,000 to $175 for those valued at more than $60,000.

Households may now be out another $600 annually due to state government mismanagement and outright theft of past fuel tax dollars. Those buying gas in Marysville are already paying an additional 1% sales tax and also pay an added 1% on top of the 7.5% for vehicle purchases.

Electric cars get preferred treatment though they use the same roads and bridges. A $100 annual fee on electric vehicles will not be imposed on owners in lieu of gas taxes until July 1, 2020. This inequity is expected from the crazed anti-fossil fuel legislators.

The SB 1 Road and Car Tax Bill was touted as necessary since there was not enough money in the budget to repair our Third World class roads and bridges. Current fuel taxes are spent for other programs.

This tax hike will be with us for ten years to raise about $5.2 billion annually. Already legislators are saying the money will be diverted away from roads etc. which is normal for the bait and switch socialist elite in Sacramento.

This increase will of course insure that local Cal Trans employees can continue sauntering around Marysville sipping lattes. Remember, 3500 Cal Trans employees were proclaimed unnecessary by the state auditor. It’s called white collar welfare.

Meanwhile, the recall of ‘Gas Tax Senator’ Josh Newman of Fullerton is moving forward. Newman is a Democrat representing the 29th Senate District, encompassing parts of Los Angeles, Orange, and San Bernardino counties. His election was a surprise, as he narrowly defeated state Assemblywoman Ling Ling Chang to succeed term-limited Republican Bob Huff.

Newman’s election created a ‘Supermajority’ for the Democrats where they can approve any bill like the Gas and Car Tax without Republican votes. Newman, from a traditionally conservative district, cast the deciding vote for the Gas Tax.

Newman’s opponents appear to have enough signatures to put the recall question on a ballot. When that occurs is up to Secretary of State Alex Padilla, Governor Brown and probably the courts.

State Republicans have launched a repeal of the gas tax and vehicle fee increases via a November 2018 ballot initiative. The measure, should it qualify for the ballot, would also require voters to approve any future tax hikes.

The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association (HJTA) released its 2017 scorecard featuring a selection of 22 bills. The scorecard makes it easy to see who is either a friend to taxpayers or beholden to special interests. The card asks one question: Did legislators stand up for the interests of taxpayers? While politicians may lie, the numbers don’t.

A record 79 legislators failed the scorecard with an ‘F’ while only 24 got an ‘A.’ Ten legislators received a perfect score of ‘100’: Assembly Members Travis Allen, Brian Dahle, Vince Fong, Jay Obernolte and Jim Patterson. They were joined by State Senators Joel Anderson, Patricia Bates, Jean Fuller, Mike Morrell and Jeff Stone.

District 3 Assemblyman James Gallagher received an ‘A’ with a score of 93.7. District 4 Senator Jim Nielsen was awarded an ‘A’ with a 95.6.

To view the 2017 Legislative Report Card, go to hjta.org where the scores can be found under ‘Hot Topics.’

By Lou Binninger

Sutter County is essentially broke owing $150 million dollars to the California Public Employees Retirement System(CalPERS). This debt is owed for Sutter County employee pensions.
However, long before the court is petitioned for bankruptcy protection taxpayers will experience ‘services insolvency.’ That is a phrase now used to describe a county, city or agency unable to provide the public services it was created for. The reason is that most all tax monies will be consumed with paying down debt, government salaries and pensions.
Roads, parks, and infrastructure will deteriorate due to funding shortages while government office hours are cut. Police and fire will be reduced creating higher risk for emergency responders and skimpy protection for citizens.
County Administrative Officer (CAO) Scott Mitnick recently revised employee schedules causing some offices to close during the week and others to run with fewer staff. His justification was to benefit employees and save money. No mention was made of the inconvenience to those the government serves.
Tuesday, October 24th, at 3pm, Supervisors will decide whether to commit millions more in tax dollars each year to 150-400 ‘homeless’ people, out of over 97,000 Sutter County residents. CAO Mitnick says the number is less than 1% of the population. The number is actually four-tenths of 1%.
There are currently hundreds of agency and nongovernment organizations and programs to help needy people along with numerous funding streams. There are jobs available.
This population is resistant to reformation and assimilation. Of course, there are a few exceptions, but why is government involved at all other than enforcing the law? It is lousy at helping people.
Since 1956 the Twin Cities Rescue Mission (TCRM) with no taxpayer money has housed 40-50 people a night and serves 100-150 meals each day. The mission directs people to jobs and all the local services. TCRM’s annual budget is $80-100 thousand with three employees plus many volunteers.
Government funding streams encourage addiction, laziness, and resistance to assimilation with no accountability and have actually created this debacle of a few hundred people in illegal camps. The lack of law enforcement for vagrancy, panhandling etc. has fostered a second set of rules for those that will not behave. Most simply do not share the community’s value system.
Mitnick’s model, Yuba County’s 14 Forward, is failing. Yuba County asked the TCRM to feed their 14Forward people lunch (county paid $3000/month) in addition to breakfast and dinner that the mission covered. Recently, the county wisely discontinued the lunch plan. Now, after never consulting in advance with the mission, Yuba County now wants the mission to take over the Tough Shed mess next door.
Why wouldn’t either county or either city help the mission double its size? Is it the fact that the mission insists upon accountability, looking for jobs, getting clean, and good behavior? Or, maybe it’s the mission’s worldview that what people really need is spiritual?
The mission breaks-up fights at 14 Forward, collects residents’ discarded hypodermic needles and runs off campers sleeping outside Forward’s fence line. The county’s approach has actually led to more camping in Marysville, more panhandling and more law breaking. Meanwhile, the population is resettling the camps that citizens paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to clean-up.
Mitnick’s scheme will convert Whiteaker Hall (Sheriff’s Training Center and Shooting Range) into a shelter and tent camp. It will adversely affect the Sutter County Airport, Sheriff’s Posse Arena, Twin Cities Rod and Gun Club Range and the Peach Bowl Little League operation.
British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said, “Socialist governments traditionally.... make a financial mess. They always run out of other people’s money. It’s quite a characteristic of them. They then start to nationalize (sic) everything.”
Government violated the Constitution by nationalizing the caring of wayward youth, the poor, addicted, non-conformists and rebels by taking money from hard working people and giving it to others. This move undermined an amazing network and mission of churches, charitable organizations and volunteers that actually loved and cared for this population, but refused to enable their destructive behavior.
Since the 1960’s War on Poverty liberals have felt good about taking trillions of dollars from responsible citizens to squander. It has had no effect on the percent of the population in poverty and in fact has ruined millions of lives robbing them of the pride and dignity of hard work to support their families.
Just as it would be shameful to see an adult still nursing from his mother, the government has created an entire population of full-grown infants. They demand government’s tit or they will riot in the streets. The Sutter Supervisors and welfare bosses are spiritually blind. And, when the blind lead the blind everyone ends-up in the ditch.
Just like President Obama tragically flitted away $250,000-$500,000 per ‘shovel ready job’ Mitnick is proposing dumping $10,000, $15,000, $20,000 or more per ‘client’ because they refuse services that already exist. Incredible.

by Lou Binninger
Yuba and Sutter Counties get two new sheriffs as of January 1, 2018. Sheriffs are the highest law enforcement officials in the county and therefore are the key individuals to uphold the Constitution. With the remaining influence of lawless and repressive Obama bureaucrats and now tyrannical legislators in Sacramento the new sheriffs may have a time of it.
On July 22, 2013, El Dorado County Sheriff John D’Agostini stripped agents of the U.S. Forest Service of their law-enforcement powers in his county. More than 50 citizen complaints about forest service employees harassing them and issuing citations while they visited National Forests led to the sheriff’s decision. Some of the issues involved ‘right to carry.’
McGeorge School of Law professor John Myers was asked if D’Agostini could tell federal law enforcement to stand down. Myers said, “It looks to me as though the sheriff can do this.”
This isn't the first time D’Agostini protected the rights of his constituents. In January 2013 the sheriff informed Vice President Joe Biden that he would uphold the Constitution over any gun ownership restrictions the Obama Administration would contrive.
Now, D’Agostini has spoken about the passage of the Sanctuary State Law (SB54) limiting law enforcement working with Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials when an illegal alien is encountered. D’Agostini sees the new state restrictions as coddling criminals. He isn’t having it.
SB 54 stops law enforcement from asking people about their immigration status and from participation in most federal immigration enforcement activities. It would also largely prohibit school and security officers from using money or staff to investigate, question, hold or arrest people for immigration violations.
Yuba College has informed its staff they will protect students here illegally, waive out-of-state tuition and pay their Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) application fees of $495.00. Local property owners should note the bond payments for Yuba College on your recent tax statements. You are funding this rebellion against the Constitution.
College employees report fellow workers making daily crass and disrespectful comments about President Trump while lacking any deference or tolerance for those who may honor the office or God-forbid have voted for Trump. Parents may want to evaluate the campus sentiment toward the Constitution and the President before leading their youngsters to the ideological slaughter.
Congressman Tom McClintock and others are looking at ways for cities and counties to directly apply for and be awarded federal grant monies. The Counties of Tehama and Siskiyou and the cities of Anderson and Lincoln have adopted Resolutions declaring they will follow Federal Immigration Laws.
Residents in many of the Northern rural counties are requesting that their County Supervisors take a stand by adopting similar Resolutions and also officially support their County Sheriffs that have taken an oath to uphold the laws of the United States Constitution.
In a recent poll by the University of California, Berkeley, 74% of Californians oppose the Sanctuary State designation.
What is going on locally, in California and at the federal level is a usurping of the authority of the Constitution. The founding fathers established the Second Amendment, reaffirming the right to possess firearms to resist the government. It had nothing to do with hunting or protecting against criminals. The primary fear was that politicians turned tyrants would rule over the people. It’s happening now.
There are seasons in life when you can win or lose big depending on decisive action, not rhetoric. This is one of them. If you have any interest in how the future looks you should talk or write to the sheriff candidates, the supervisors and council members. If you want the freedom the forefathers gave their lives for then vote for those who will uphold and not violate the Constitution. Most elected officials after swearing to uphold the Constitution do what those before them did and violate their constituent’s rights.
You only have the freedom you are willing to fight to possess.

by Lou Binninger

Sutter County citizens against spending $2 million on a homeless village along Garden Highway came to speak at the October 10th Supervisors’ meeting. Supervisors feigned surprise that there would be a protest from Little League parents, Airport operators, Posse Arena and Twin Cities Rod and Gun shooting range advocates. Supervisors contended the issue wasn’t even on the agenda.

The concern was Item #9, the second reading of a new and improved camping ordinance outlawing squatting on county property. Supervisors argued that Item #9 had nothing to do with a homeless development on Garden Highway. However, a Little League representative noted that the new ordinance exempted the property in question essentially allowing a homeless camp in the city.

Though supervisors acted astonished at the dust-up, there are detailed plot plans, purchase lists and cost estimates for cots, tents, hygiene items, food, security patrols, an agreement with nonprofit providers, and plans for a 6,000 sq.ft. building, and more. Were supervisors ignorant, deceived by County Administrator (CAO) Mitnick , or devious?

The meeting started in bizarre fashion. Board Chairman Jim Whiteaker moved #9 from a stand-alone agenda item to the Consent Agenda where there is no discussion and a number of issues are voted upon at once. However, scores of people were there to speak about #9.

Whiteaker then asked county counsel if the supervisor made a mistake. Counsel responded that Item 9 should now be considered in a separate meeting. Whiteaker ignored counsel by saying he was taking responsibility. The supervisors then passed the Consent Agenda allowing the use of Garden Hwy property for a homeless camp.

In spite of the ordinance being passed without discussion and public input, Whiteaker allowed homeless village speakers to have their say. This was governing in spite of the people. The supervisors already made up their minds without debate. Then they grandstanded about how transparent and easily accessible they were.

In fact, Supervisor Flores promised Peach Bowl Little League new ball fields, just somewhere else. A new shooting range had already been proposed to the Rod and Gun Club, but somewhere else. In other words, everyone along the corridor is being hustled with promises and spending someone else’s money. However, rather than building new facilities first, people are being asked to trust their fate to the Supervisors.

No such guarantee is given to the airport people though. If CAO Scott Mitnick has his way the airport will be closed. Mitnick is not a fan of the Sutter County Airport. He considers it underused and not the best utilization of the property. The county owes the Airport Fund hundreds of thousands of dollars because Federal Aviation Administration rules requires paying fair market rent to the airport for using portions of it for unrelated activities.

So, is creating a camp where hundreds of homeless people will live across the fence line from the airport the first step to closing the facility? Thieves are already stealing from the gun club, baseball operation and airport hangars.

Drugged and drunken homeless pose a threat to airport safety and children at the ball parks. Will sex registrants be allowed in the camp in violation of the law? Speakers addressed the supervisors about these issues but the ordinance was already in the books.

Supervisors played the crowd encouraging them to return on October 24 when the camp itself will be on the agenda. However, the issue may already be decided and then reassigned to the Consent Agenda for a vote.

Last Friday, Gov. Jerry Brown declared a State of Emergency because an outbreak of deadly hepatitis A has killed at least 18 people in the state, and forced almost 500 to be hospitalized. How did that happen?

The epidemic has been linked to homeless communities in San Diego, Los Angeles and Santa Cruz.

So far, 581 people in California have been afflicted with the liver virus, more than half of whom have ended up in the hospital. The virus is very dangerous, and can be fatal for those who already have other liver diseases, like hepatitis B or C.

Federal health officials said last week that even with the ongoing efforts to slow the spread of the disease, California’s outbreak could last for years.

Should a handful of local politicians and bureaucrats spend millions of tax dollars while putting the community at risk? The voters say no but no one is listening.

by Lou Binninger

Liberal policies coddling the homeless are reintroducing troubles from the Dark Ages, illnesses spawned from human filth. As Governor Brown declared a State of Emergency due to an outbreak of Hepatitis A in San Diego, Los Angeles and Santa Cruz, San Francisco civil engineer / web designer Jennifer Wong created an interactive map called Human Wasteland.

The computer map notes human excrement incidents in San Francisco reported by the public to SF311. SF311 is essentially a “Crap App” to request a Public Works “Crap Buster” crew. Have liberals outlawed the plastic bags that could be used by homeless to catch and release their own stools in convenient receptacles?

The highest concentration of crap is at a downtown alley next to the financial district, right in a high-traffic area frequented by tourists. Why? That’s where the hand-outs are? If you wonder where that Third World scent is coming from, that is the fragrance of rewilding modern America.

Marysville and Yuba City should look into launching a “Crap App” since they are both Sanctuary Cities for the homeless.

As the rural North State burned did the payers of the fire tax wonder where the benefits are? Approximately 800,000 rural property owners living in State Responsibility Areas (SRAs), have been paying a fee of $152.33 per habitable structure or a reduced fee of $117.33 if living in an area that overlaps with another fire service area.

The tax was illegally passed by the legislature and became effective July 1, 2014. Remember, Governor Brown said rural dwellers were not paying their fair share.

The fee was said to pay for a variety of fire prevention services like fuel reduction activities that lessen risk of wildfire to communities and evacuation routes. Other tasks include defensible space inspections, fire prevention engineering, emergency evacuation planning, fire prevention education, fire hazard severity mapping, implementation of the State and local Fire Plans and fire-related law enforcement activities such as arson investigation.

However, no firefighting assets were funded by the more than $300 million collected as of June 2015. And, while the Butte and Valley fires raged that year $43 million remained unused in the fund. A state agency was also paid $22 million just to collect the tax.

Last week, a Cal Fire spokesperson revealed that there should have been 3,000 personnel working on the Cascade Fire. Instead, since resources were spread thin throughout the state, there were fewer than 700 firefighters or just over 20% of a proper allocation.

Just how many Yuba Co. burned homes could have been saved if the fire taxes paid for more firefighting? Unfortunately another Cal Fire representative commented that they saved a lot of money on this fire by not having sufficient personnel. Fire victims are not thrilled to hear that.

Cal Fire spokes-people need training on how to communicate with victims. One started his briefing of evacuees, many of whom had lost everything, by alluding to how hard his firefighters had been working the past 24 hours. That certainly was true, but not the right moment to tout their exploits.

Another evacuee thanked firefighters for their work but asked why displaced people couldn’t get more information. The Cal Fire boss then asked, “Would you rather have us put out the fire or get you information? With a more than $2 billion budget is it impossible to do both?

Another lady, maybe a tad naïve but trying to be helpful, offered Cal Fire easy access to areas through gates on her property. The macho Cal Fire executive retorted that they would simply drive over her gates. Probably true, but not the kindest comment for a traumatized victim.

If you have HIV these are better times to intentionally infect sex partners or donate your HIV-tainted blood. Being selfish and deceitful possibly leading to someone’s death will get the perpetrator only a misdemeanor charge and just 6 months in jail. Governor Brown signed the legislation.

However, if you willfully refer to a transgender person using the wrong pronoun you can be fined up to $1,000 and get up to 1 year in jail. Legislators are actually paid to make these laws.

If you missed the part where you needed to participate in this form of government to keep it on track, this is what you get for not being involved.

by Lou Binninger

Sutter County Public Information Officer (PIO) Chuck Smith says, “There’s a saying around here that nothing is on the agenda until the agenda is posted.” That’s makes sense, but Yuba and Sutter County citizens don’t trust their politicians so rumors abound about what is being considered to be on the Supervisors’ agenda. Residents have been fooled before.

Currently, people are hearing all kinds of stories about the upcoming Homeless Village planned for the Sutter County Airport that will affect a number of current and adjacent uses. PIO Smith wrote to clarify what is happening at the October 10th and 24th board meetings.

The homeless have been dictating city and county policy by their errant behavior, law breaking and ignoring county ordinances. Their acts of entitlement give them more benefits than taxpayers who pay for services.

Smith describes a County Two-Year Plan, not to resolve homelessness, but to spend millions in tax dollars on more programs for them. Mark the Plan on the calendar.

At the October 10 board meeting, supervisors will entertain the second and final reading of a new and improved camping ordinance more perfectly teasing out what is and is not acceptable. Smith says this is the only aspect regarding the homeless to be considered at this gathering.

However, the entire Homeless Village proposal will be presented by county staff for Board approval at the October 24th meeting. This will address funding for a temporary emergency shelter for up to 200 people. There will be 17 large tents on cement slabs, with 24/7 security and sanitary facilities.

The camp will be used until a 6,000 square foot structure can be constructed nearby. “Startup costs (including lighting, four acres of base rock, a concrete slab, environmental studies, potential mitigation measures, and a portable office modular building) are estimated at $250,000; the tent shelter is about $115,000 (tents, cots, fencing, animal kennels, onsite storage for personal belongings); and another $285,000 in operating costs (including sleeping bags, toiletries, meals, services provided by Hands of Hope non-profit, and private security).” This comes to $650,000 plus county staff costs.

Then, the county will apply to the state and federal governments for permission to use up to $720,000 in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds for the construction of the permanent long-term emergency shelter housing up to 60 people.

Smith says if the plan is approved, the Tent Village would only be utilized until the permanent structure is up and occupied in a year, 18 months or so. As the Village is erected the revised camping ordinance will be enforced to remove the homeless population from the river bottom property between Shanghai Bend and the Yuba City Boat Dock. The assumption is that the squatters will migrate to the Tent Village but no one can be forced to locate there.

The PIO’s email says the county will offer paths to self-sufficiency, including job training and affordable housing. Weren’t these already available? Health and Human Services and local service providers for the poor will be enlisted to do what they were already supposed to be doing. Right? Is there anything new offered here other than living facilities?

Since government has a horrible record teaching self-sufficiency, job training and being in the housing business, this could get interesting. One thing for sure, a lot of money will be spent, approaching $2 million to launch.

For years, welfare workers were forbidden to even offer budgeting help to aid recipients. Now, are they becoming self-sufficiency mentors? Where have they been?

According to a county official the welfare department has not filed a fraud case in years and doesn’t even confirm residence addresses to hand-out aid. The agency refused to file a welfare fraud case against former District Attorney Carl Adams’ escort Sarah Garibay though she was collecting county benefits while living on thousands of dollars a month from male clients.

As the October 24th meeting agenda is not finalized additional items may appear or points above may change. Watch for the agenda posting on the Sutter County website.

A number of current uses along Second Street will be eliminated or negatively affected by the homeless development. Those uses include the airport itself, Little League Parks, the Sheriff’s Posse Arena, Twin Cities Road and Gun Club shooting range, and the Sheriff’s Training Center and Range.

by Lou Binninger

California’s Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC) notified Kumar Kairam, owner of Washington Avenue Market in Yuba City that after nearly three years his convenience store can finally sell a single 16 oz. beer. Kairam recently applied to have the restriction removed and never understood why his business was targeted in the first place.

The bizarre aspect to this case is that the store sells all kinds of liquor including beer, wine, and hard drink. However, the City of Yuba City asked for the restriction on Kairam’s liquor license in spite of the fact that his competitors can sell the product.

A Freedom of Information Act request of police responses showed his store having fewer incidents than his competitors that have the freedom to sell a 16 oz. beer.

He could sell a 6-pack or a case of beer but could not sell just one. Sound wrong? That’s because there is nothing right about fascist policies ruling over citizens and businesses.

President Ronald Reagan in a television interview discussing conservatism vs. liberalism said, “If fascism ever comes to America it will come in the name of liberalism. What is fascism? Fascism is private ownership, private enterprise but total government control and regulation. Isn’t this the liberal philosophy?”

Reagan concluded his thought by saying, “The conservative (way) so–called is less government, get off my back, get out of my pocket, and let me have more control of my own destiny.” Some city council members may consider themselves conservative but they act like socialists.

City management arbitrarily crippled Kairam’s ability to make a profit by chasing off customers wanting to buy a beer. So Kairam lost the ‘privilege’ to sell those customers hundreds of other merchandise items as they took their beer business elsewhere.

The single 16 oz. beer issue surfaced when Sutter Buttes Tea Party Patriots routinely frequented the store for coffee and learned of the owner being abused by the city. They attempted to intervene on behalf of Kairam to no resolve.

City Council candidate Jason Rikard drew attention to the city’s bullying tactics during his campaign. Rikard noted the fact that this was neither a City Council decision nor an ordinance forbidding 16 oz. beer sales but rather the arbitrary act of a single bureaucrat Director of Development Services Darin Gale.

Kairam and his wife have three children, 2 in college and one working for an anti-human trafficking organization in Sacramento. The hard working immigrant who never completed high school confesses to not understanding the myriad of rules governing business here. Kairam thought he just needed to pay someone money like he would in his former homeland.

Kairam has also gotten sideways with the complex city sign rules. Again, he sees the rules being stifling and applied inconsistently among similar stores. And, he wonders why the State Lottery sign can be on the curb but he cannot have his own curb advertisement. Why the favoritism?

Currently none of the five city council members are small business owners. If politicians were required to successfully operate a small business for 10-years prior to ruling over enterprises, maybe they would make fewer rules and regulations and quit jerking hard-working citizens around.

Politicians and bureaucrats have removed the ‘freedom’ from free enterprise. The city’s 16 oz. beer nonsense is symbolic of the government’s routine abuse of business people.

by Lou Binninger

As state voters twice approved the usage of marijuana few considered what that would look like in terms of growing, sales, distribution and use. Well, the devil is in the details.

Sacramento authorized up to thirty dispensaries with abundant rules to keep the city leaders happy. However, a recent audit concluded that the dispensaries may be underreporting revenue and receipts, not paying enough taxes and are essentially running rogue.

Of the six dispensaries whose finances were targeted for audit, four did not cooperate. The city auditor asked the dispensaries for information in 8 categories including monthly receipt records, financial statements, tax returns, member names and vendor list.

Five of six audited did not provide gross receipts, finance statements or member names. None offered a list of vendors (providers of their merchandise).

Sacramento City Auditor Jorge Oseguera led the investigation and said his staff went to dispensaries to keep track of purchases. Based on what they observed, they were able to estimate how much the dispensaries should be reporting in revenue and paying in taxes. In one case, a dispensary was more than $100,000 short in taxes paid.

Dispensaries have trouble finding a bank to take their money so there is no ‘paper trail’ via deposits and bank statements. It is an all cash operation with plenty of opportunities to beat the government out of payola.

One dispensary, All About Wellness, refused to allow auditors inside, much to the frustration of Oseguera. “This is critical for the city to be able to do if we’re going to allow these dispensaries within the city," Oseguera said. "And to the extent that (the audits were) contested, well perhaps they shouldn’t be operating in the city.”

Dispensaries also failed to meet city code during surprise on-site inspections. Violations included not posting the required signs, not securing doors, selling medical marijuana to people other than qualified patients and allowing the on-site consumption of marijuana.

Last year, Sacramento collected $4.5 million in taxes from the dispensaries.

Yuba County prohibits dispensaries but the City of Marysville has authorized two outlets in spite of voters’ opposition. Local dispensary rules are many and detailed, but will the city face the same lawlessness as Sacramento?

In Yuba County some have estimated more than 1,000 people are growing illegally. While many rural residents concluded that local government had given up enforcing the law, there has been a change since two deputies were shot at a marijuana grow-site on August 1.

Since then, scores of grows and thousands of plants have been eradicated, honey oil labs removed, hundreds of thousands of dollars and many guns confiscated, and dozens of suspects arrested. Toxic chemicals have been discovered at the sites.

A recent sweep saw 18 apprehended. The interesting aspect is that most all of the accused are from elsewhere - Jamaica, New York, Maryland, Illinois, Mississippi, Georgia and Alabama. Chances are none of them were checking the quality of schools here to enroll their kids.

Those arrested were charged with 182PC/Conspiracy, 11358 H&S/Illegal Cultivation of Marijuana, and 11359H&S/Possession of Marijuana for Sale. There were also additional environmental and water violations for perpetrators associated with some locations.

No State of Emergency has been declared, but there is certainly a multi-agency effort to make a statement about what the will of county leaders is. It will take many more raids to alter the attraction for lawless profiteers to Yuba County. Great weather and soils combined with a poorly crafted growing ordinance and feeble enforcement created a perfect environment for a criminal element to thrive here.

Residents are firmly behind law enforcement restoring order and peace before the county has completely lost control. Marijuana industry entrepreneurs consider themselves exempt from the law and their responsibility to their neighbors.

by Lou Binninger

Back in the day before TV ruled, Big Time Wrestling would come to Marysville at the noisy Veterans Memorial Auditorium with its cigarette smoke, hardwood floors and mezzanine. To a youngster, the ‘wrestlers,’ the ring and the close-up were magical.

It was a few years before the gig was up. It was all an act. In fact, maybe the contenders were not only fake but someone you wouldn’t hang-out with either. We learned too much.

The recent throwing of the Raiders-Redskins game by black players because their white quarterback Derrick Carr stood for the National Anthem was a come to Jesus moment for those who for decades have watched NFL games. Fans assumed the best about the teams, the players and commonly-held beliefs. The problem is that the fans’ NFL persona was a myth.

Millions this season are realizing they have little in common with the players, certainly not their athletic ability, nor wealth, and neither their value system. In fact, it seems players may allow their quarterback to be sacked, a player to get injured and passes to be dropped to force political conformity. What about the pursuit of victory, giving it all? Busted.

The truth is that though the players are amazing athletes and physically disciplined, NFL teams spends millions on classes to shore up young men skimpy on character, clueless on finances, about how to stay out of jail and the downside of being a gigolo. It’s a fulltime job.

The expressions on the players’ faces at the recent Packers / Bears game came across as rich spoiled brats. We are standing up on the outside but taking a knee on the inside. Good for them. It’s great to see who people really are. You just never see them the same again.

They didn’t just become different from you. They always were. It’s a little painful to lose a fantasy friend.

One player told fans to stay home if they didn’t like what the players were up to. Hilarious, this stuff is too good to be true. How would you like to go into Raley’s Grocery Store and the manager tell you to “F-off” after you’d been shopping their all your life?

A local judge whined about fans discussing boycotting Budweiser. He wanted them to think about all the good souls that would lose their jobs from fewer sales. Who’s kidding whom? Every choice made and dollar spent is a vote for a person or a product and a vote against the rest. People make hundreds of buying decisions each week contributing to the success of some and the demise of others. Where do these judges go to school, anyway, the Lenin Academy?

President Trump suggested firing employee - athletes who don’t reflect the owners’ values and appreciate the country. Welcome to the real world. He has a right to his view. Obama talked plenty of smack. Lefty eunuchs moved up a couple octaves excited about Trump interjecting politics into football. Really, is that what happened?

ESPN once had all sports enthusiasts slobbering 24 hours-per-day over their programming until they became socialists with token sports highlights. Trump may be the only political figure alive willing to tell the truth about the left’s takeover of sports broadcasting.

For those thinking this has something to do with free speech please read the First Amendment to the Constitution. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Congress never made a law limiting what the players are doing, but Congress did violate the Constitution by giving millions of taxpayers’ dollars to the NFL each year.

And, no one in America is being forced to agree or disagree. The players are betting their careers on their beliefs. Good for them. Let’s see how it all turns out. Transparency is a healthy thing. It’s never good to live a lie, for the players or us.

Starbucks became vocal as anti-marriage and pro-illegal immigration. I don’t hate them. I’m just happier buying coffee elsewhere. Same with the NFL, no ill-will or bitterness, life is short, make yours count somewhere.

by Lou Binninger

The founders believed that a populace unwilling to exercise self-discipline based upon Biblical principles would eventually lose the republic, their freedom and self-destruct. The framers believed a very small governmental presence was needed to protect from foreign invaders and neighbors running roughshod over neighbors by violating what amounts to the Ten Commandments.

Today, government is seeking to dictate every facet of life, every move citizens make. We are now a fledgling totalitarian system though we still throw around words like liberty, freedom and the Constitution. Very few Americans understand the document or adhere to it, including legislators and judges.

They discover novel concepts like welfare, education and abortion in the document. You can liken it to some members of the population that introduce creatures into their anal cavity. It just wasn’t intended to be so.

Legislators lord it over the law-abiding and have an impotent bent when it comes to law breakers. The prima donnas get rough and tough on when to water the lawn, whether kids can wash cars to earn money for a school project, and grocery bags. Then, they spend years debating a marijuana-growing ordinance that is really enforceable or the funding of enough deputies to withstand the take-over of rural counties by rebels.

Dr. Mourad Gabriel, field agent for the Integral Ecology Research Center has been studying the mess left at illegal marijuana plots. It’s toxic, very toxic, killing insects, small and large animals and surely making humans ill at the very least. Remember the days when meth labs were discovered occasionally with dead cooks when the recipe went wrong.

Gabriel finds fertilizers, poisons and insecticides. Unwelcome bugs, animals, and humans who wish to partake of the crop are the enemy to growers. Gabriel says one of the more gnarly chemicals repeatedly discovered is Carbofuran. Carbofuran, an extremely toxic pesticide that’s effectively banned in the United States, is a favorite product among many growers and Mexican drug cartels. Gabriel says it is at 60 to 70 percent of illegal grow-sites he visits, often mixed in bottles that have no warning label.

“An eighth of a teaspoon would kill a 300 pound black bear,” says Gabriel. Farmers in Malaysia discovered 18 cows dead from Carbofuran in 2010. In 2009, it was used to poison lions in Kenya. The chemical is also highly toxic to fish, and is believed to be one of the main contributors to the reduction of salmon populations in the northwest.

Will it take a couple dead youngsters that were out for a hike and partook of some grow-site’s baited fruit to get politicians on their soap boxes? When reasoning and pleading fail, someone’s dead kid is always good fodder for remedial action.

While some local politicians cash-in playing ‘cat and mouse’ on marijuana growing, Carbofuran residues could become Yuba County’s own little Love Canal. Because of its long soil half-life (from a few days up to 60 days) Carbofuran has a high potential for groundwater contamination and has been detected in surface water.

This highly restricted chemical is responsible for the deaths of millions of birds and wildlife since its introduction in 1967. The pellets often resemble plant seeds commonly eaten by birds and are often applied on newly cultivated soil. One highly toxic granule can kill a small bird and can move up the food chain when dead birds are eaten by predatory species. It can also be obtained as a liquid.

China is manufacturing and then exporting Carbofuran all over the world. It can be obtained online. If delivery is difficult in the US bringing it through Mexico is a popular option where another illegal Chinese killer, the super-opiate Fentanyl or China White is finding its way here.

While food-producing farmers are harassed and fined over the location of portable toilets, tissues, shade structures, drinking water, their monthly spray reports and the posting of notices, thousands of pot growers are slinging killer chemicals with no consequences, all for the sake of profit and a buzz.

It’s actually no surprise at all. It’s always easier to snatch some good citizen’s freedom than pursue his abuser.

by Carol Withington

Stonyford is located in a mountain plateau at an elevation of approximately 1200 feet above sea level. The community was originally known as Smithville after pioneer John L. Smith.

Smith, a native of Illinois, traveled to California in 1863, where he settled on the banks of Stony Creek. He soon after erected a hotel, livery stable, blacksmith shop, a lumber mill and grist mill operated by Ernest Seidel, Smith's son-in-law.

The town retained the name of Smithville until 1890 when a "so-called" promoter by the name of H. C. Stillwell literally moved the existing town to its present site and changed the name to Stonyford. According to research, Stillwell laid out the new town and paid the expenses of the relocation of the buildings. Some were moved as they stood; others were torn down and rebuilt.

It must have been quite an undertaking. For example, the old Smithville Hotel and a store, operated by W. J. King and Ragain were moved and torn apart. A horse then pulled the buildings after they had been placed on rollers. it is said that business was continued at the store as usual while the moving process was underway. Unfortunately, the Smithville Hotel burned down two years later.

Other businesses involved were two saloons with George Howard and Silas Tatum proprietors; two stores, a restaurant, a livery, a feed stable and a blacksmith shop which was operated by P. D. O'Connor.

Stillwell also reportedly spent $20,000 to build a flour mill. It took an additional $8,000 for the construction of a ditch to bring water power to the mill. However, the investment proved profitable. A "brisk" market in Colusa and the large amount of wheat raised in the area kept the mill busy almost continuously.

A Post Office was established in 1891 with Henry Engraham serving as postmaster. Residents in the area were given twice a week delivery service with mail brought to Stonyford by stage.

At one time, Stonyford became a tourist stop as people came to spend time at the several hot springs that "dotted" the hills above the town. Among the destinations were Cook Springs, Wilbur Springs and Fouts Springs.

According to old photographs now housed at the Stonyford Museum, the community once sported planked sidewalks, a large hotel and a variety of stores. However, the hot springs later were out of vogue and a fire destroyed the hotel and other buildings.

The Stonyford Cemetery was first used as far back as 1862, when a man named Smith was buried there. Other pioneers in this cemetery include Daniel Smith, who passed away in 1868 and John Martin Smith, the son of John L., who died in 1883 at the age of 30 just seven years before the town named after his father was changed to Stonyford.

The former hamlet of Leesville will be featured in November.

by Lou Binninger

On September 16th, City Limits Showgirls, a Yuba County bar and strip club conducted a car wash fundraiser at their establishment on Hammonton-Smartsville Road in Linda. The proceeds of $2565 were given to assist the families of Yuba County Sheriff Deputies Phillip Bronson and Andrew Everhart.

The two deputies were shot by a felon employed by an illegal marijuana operation when they responded for a request for service at the Rastafarian Church marijuana planting.

The car wash was planned for 11am-5pm with up to 15 topless ladies cleaning the cars. The event was extended an hour to cope with the large response from the community and those passing through town. The ladies then returned to work their shift from 8pm-3am.

Club manager Hal Meyer said they appreciate and support law enforcement whenever they can. Meyer was raised in Orange County and was an explorer for the sheriff’s department as a young man. He said he has many fond memories of his work with the harbor patrol and credited a deputy for mentoring him.

When Meyer approached the ladies with the idea there was an immediate positive response, he said. Leslie Carbah, information officer for the sheriff’s department, said it was legal for Showgirls to have the event outdoors as long as there was a visual barrier.

The car wash was a complete success. However, car washes have been outlawed in Yuba County since the supervisors passed an ordinance forbidding them. An individual can wash his or her car, but cheerleaders, families seeking burial expenses and showgirls are not to be washing multiple cars in one spot. The person with a filthy car could have washed their own but cannot have it washed in a group of cars. It sounds silly because it is.

Although Community Services Director Kevin Mallen did not respond with an explanation, maybe it depends on who you are as to whether the law is enforced. The code is an example of the lunacy of federal and state environmental ‘wack jobs’ who want to control our every move even when any positive outcome is unmeasurable. Of course, supervisors felt compelled to rubber stamp the loss of freedom and lame thinking.

Yuba County marijuana advocates are in a panic. They think Supervisor Randy Fletcher representing the Yuba County foothills may propose a State of Emergency at the Tuesday, September 26, 9 am board meeting. The agenda says nothing of the sort. However, the growers say they received information from a reliable source on the board.

There is a movement among rural northern counties to combine their efforts to solicit state and federal help. That takes more time and organization than a single board meeting. And the sheriff needs to make the declaration.

Siskiyou County Sheriff Jon Lopey and his County Supervisors declared a State of Emergency along with State Senator Ted Gaines requesting help from the National Guard. A brother and sister attempted to bribe Lopey with a million dollars to allow their marijuana business to continue without interference.

Chi Meng Yang, 31, of Montague, and his sister, Gaosheng Laitinen, 36, made a payment to Lopey of $10,500 when the FBI arrested them. Hundreds of Hmong have moved into the area buying up parcels from a failed development and are growing marijuana.

Yuba and Siskiyou Counties have this in common. Thousands of people are growing illegally and have no intention of registering with the state on January 1. Even strong marijuana advocates like candidate for Governor Gavin Newsome see that we have become a lawless state.

This weekend, foothill resident Buck Weckman who advocates soliciting more enforcement help and money for the Yuba County Sheriff’s Department and code enforcement was threatened by a grower accusing Weckman of causing the removal of the grower’s plants in the middle of the night.

Weckman recently noted ‘the grow’ in this paper as an illegal planting. Just like thieves steal walnuts and watermelons, they also steal mature crops of marijuana. That’s why the plantings and million dollar harvests are guarded with gunmen.