Dear
Nancy,
I am so thrilled that you have started this paper! It's high
time we have a real valley paper again! You and your staff are doing a
wonderful job and I'm enjoying every minute of it!
Thank you from a 49 year resident and fan of your exquisite
Quarter Horse breeding program. I always look forward to attending functions at
your ranch and seeing old friends.
Keep up the good work! The "old timers" are behind you
100%!
C.C.
Beaudette - Wellman
Congratulations
Congratulations
on the high-quality content of the current issue; it was a shock to read that
Steve Dennell had passed away.
The
Valley Journal is SO much better than ANYTHING else printed in and/or about
Santa Ynez Valley. Keep up the great work.
Jim Buckley
Montecito
Response to Political
Opinion Black Gold, Texas
Published on May 11 th
Good sensible article,
David. Keep them coming.
Mel Oshins
Dear
Nancy,
Hi Nancy, I was wondering if your
Valley Journal would be running an article on the deer control measures in
place to keep them away from vineyards. It seems that poisoning is not a
very good idea. If the vineyard owners are shooting them — well I
guess it’s their right, but certainly poisoning is a bad idea.
Several W.E. Watch members called and wanted to know if there would be
any follow-up information on the deer and how they are controlled. By the
way your paper and your editorial section is doing a
wonderful job. Keep it up. Everyone is reading it. We needed
a newspaper like this for sure.
Thanks, Carol Herrera
Thanks, Carol-
We will surely be doing more stories on the deer and the other wildlife
in the Valley. They are an important part of our environment as well as giving
us great viewing pleasure. We have always shared our alfalfa with the deer,
oats too, because they need to eat too but I guess it’s someone’s
right to keep them out of their crop because they are voracious eaters! I guess
I have very mixed feeling on the subject, although I don’t find it
necessary to kill them.
Glad you like the paper- we want to get the truth out to everybody and
let them decide for themselves.
Some
Facts About Gambling
At the annual
Berkshire Hathaway meeting in
"I bought a
slot machine a long time ago and I put it in my house. I could then give
my children any allowance they wanted as long as it was in dimes, and I had it
all back by nightfall. I wanted to teach them a good lesson. People will
always want to gamble, but to quite an extent gambling is a tax on ignorance. I
find it socially revolting when a government preys on the ignorance of its
citizenry. When the government makes it easy for people to take their
Social Security checks and pull (slot machine) handles, it relieves taxes on
those who don't fall for it. It's not government at its best."
Charlie Munger, Buffet's long time business partner said
“It’s a dirty business and you won't soon find a casino in
Berkshire Hathaway."
Jason Zweig writes the following about Neuro-economics
"Much of
our decision making occurs in the limbic system, or unconscious brain. This
makes it difficult to spot, let alone fix, decision-making errors.”
The Prediction Addiction
Dopamine
functions as a neurotransmitter, a chemical that relays and amplifies
electrical signals between neurons and other cells in the brain. Consider
dopamine a method of communication between brain cells. A surge of dopamine is
largely associated with expectations/anticipations, not with the actual
occurrence of the expected event. This explains why people play slot machines
in the face of poor odds. The dopamine pleasure arises from the anticipation of
winning. Even after not winning the slots over and over, a
slot player can still "get high" by playing again, thus triggering
another surge of dopamine [fed by the anticipation of winning the next time].
The slot machine
player pulls the lever over and over, each time triggering a dopamine
"hit" of anticipation. In a very real sense, the dopamine high is an
addiction, which explains the prevalence of problem gamblers in society".
Richard and Gretchen Kieding
Solvang
Commentary by Kathy
Cleary
Making
Cents of Tribal Donations
It is very important that
Community members and the Santa Ynez Band leadership are able to voice their
opinions in a public forum to shed more light and provide greater understanding
of the tribal gaming industry. Although some say this public discussion
is a mean attempt to divide the community, dividing the community is not the
goal. The goal is to get people to think about an industry that affects
every person in the Santa Ynez Valley, and thousands of people in the
surrounding area.
Most people now realize that
tribal casinos are not subject to the same rules that the rest of us follow,
and tribal casinos are not taxed. Because they do not pay taxes and
because they impact communities, it is mandated by law that casino tribes must
contribute to a Special Distribution Fund (SDF) to attempt to mitigate the
impacts of the casino. These monies distributed through the SDF are
mandatory but are often referred to as “donation” dollars.
The important points to remember
are that the gambling industry profits when people lose and this industry does
not pay taxes. Who are the people gambling? Where are these
“donation” dollars coming from? Here is more food for
thought:
In 1999, the bipartisan National
Gambling Impact Commission found that 80 percent of gambling revenue comes from
households with incomes of less than $50,000 a year.
The Chumash Casino makes over
$250 million dollars a year profit. If it were taxed at the same rate as
every other corporation, it would pay about $112 million dollars a year in
taxes.
On 5/21/05 El Tiempo
Newspaper reported the impact of gambling on Latinos. “Going on now three
years, every two weeks after finishing his job cutting cilantro or spinach in
Arroyo Grande, Moises catches a free bus ride for his
“ride to riches.” The article quoted other Latinos discussing
gambling.
On 9/21/05 the Santa Barbara News
Press reported the impact of gambling on college students. “College
students take the gamble.” “According to
the Division on Addiction at
Citizen at 2/27/07 Board of
Supervisor Hearing: “I found a number of entries where she actually
brought money home with her. However, the net just before she died was nearly a
50,000 dollar loss, This by an 86 year old widow of over 35 years, who was
living on Social Security, and a very small income from one of a, from a one
day a week bookkeeping job. She got hooked because it was easily accessible to
her and right in her community.”
In addition, the Santa Ynez Band
of Mission Indians continues to receive federal subsidy. It is
approximately 1.8 million dollars a year.
When people discuss the benefit
to the many recipients of tribal donation dollars, they choose not to think
about, or discuss, where these “donation” dollars are really coming
from. Certainly, gambling is a form of recreation when it has not become
an addictive process. Nevertheless, “donation” dollars come
from gambling losses, plain and simple.
Although recipients of
“donation” dollars greatly benefit, let’s not be
naïve. This “donated” money is also being used as a
powerful marketing tool to buy community and political favor. This favor is
used to justify the industry, buy local, state and federal elected officials,
and promote expansion of the gambling establishment.
2/13/07 Board of Supervisor
Hearing, Chairman Armenta: “We will
through time and time again, have conversations about expansion. And we're gonna continue to do it, as a tribal government, because
that's our right. And we're gonna do it.”
This means an additional 5000
more slot machines. Currently the Chumash Casino has 2000.
Our elected officials are selling
us short as they live for any dollar they can get today…without regard
for the future. If we do not speak up loud and clear to the politicians,
including the fine Governor of California, Schwarzenegger who wants to use
gambling money to help balance his budget on the backs of rural communities,
our community will be sold out to a sovereign government for gambling dollars.
Special Distribution Fund dollars
are required by law because tribal casinos do not pay tax and casinos harm
communities. Let’s not glamorize these dollars as
“donations.” Let’s not forget that they are being used
as a tool. And, most importantly, let’s not forget who they are really
coming from: the
Preservation
of Los Olivos, P.O.L.O.
Kathy Cleary