Is It Me?
Is it me or do other people wonder what in the world is going on here? I am referring to the Board of Supervisors (BOS) vote on going to the public to raise taxes to fund a projected $8 million dollar shortfall in emergency services and trauma care. So I am asking, how and why did this happen? What is the reason or reasons for this problem? It seems to me that budget watchers for many years, including the Grand Jury, have politely suggested that the BOS has been spending money on items that are not actually their responsibility, such as the “Oak Tree Czar” which costs the taxpayers a minimum of $150,000 a year. Now, the BOS wants to use some apparently mythical “surplus” in their budget to pay $1 million to fund uninsured children. So, why are they uninsured and how many are here because of their illegal immigrant parents?
So, when did it become the average American’s duty to fund foreign nationals’ health care, education and everything in between? Have we become a nation of caring, responsible people or just a bunch of suckers who will pay the bills for anyone who can reach our borders? The issue is so very complex and I continue, as many do, to struggle to find a fair and reasonable answer.
As for the huge increase in the need for funds for emergency and trauma care, have we not planned for the future for a long time and that is why we, all of a sudden, have such a major increase? Or what could have precipitated this sudden need? Do we have a large increase in a segment of the population who uses the emergency rooms in a community as their primary health care facility because they have no regular health treatment? Is there some health threat raging in the citizenry that we are not aware of?
I really don’t understand where the millions of dollars the county takes in every year go to. Someone who has been watching this scenario unfold over many years is Andy Caldwell of COLAB who we welcome as a regular contributor to the Valley Journal. He alone has sifted through reams of financial reports making up the county’s annual budget and he takes the time each year to report his findings to the BOS. Each year, he and the Grand Jury’s recommendations are politely listened to and then summarily dismissed. Is it time for the taxpayers of this county to demand that their elected representatives begin to use their hard-earned tax dollars in a more responsible fashion? Shouldn’t we ask that the BOS fund health and welfare priorities before spending whatever surplus they might have, supposing they actually have one, on their pet projects like “open space,” etc? And, come to think of it, if they do have a surplus, why do they need to raise taxes to pay for emergency health care? Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?
Priorities
It occurs to me that priorities in at least some peoples’ minds have made a major shift in the last 10 or 15 years. The environment has become very important which is a good thing, on some levels, because there are people who treat the outdoors as their garbage can and toilet. Living here on the ranch, I have become aware of the increase in garbage along Highway 154 that periodically people come by and pick up. In between those times, however, the trash simply flows over the fences in the afternoon breezes to litter the pastures and endanger the creatures that live there. Did you know that a plastic bag can threaten the life of any animal who consumes it?
Coming down Highway 154 this past weekend returning home from a horse show in Paso Robles, I noticed four beer bottles smashed on the shoulder. Not only is this a hazard for domestic and wild animals, but also for the occasional bicycle rider who will have to travel through it or swerve out into traffic to avoid it. What unthinking, classless person threw them there since they clearly didn’t just fall out by themselves? What parents teach their children that it’s OK to throw things out of the car window? What parents don’t plan ahead and allow their children to use someone’s driveway as their bathroom? I can’t tell you how many times I have come out of my driveway to find some adult holding a child up to use it as a bathroom. This is so awful I cannot express my disgust at those parents who practice this behavior. We often find adults doing the same thing which will prove interesting when “storm run-off” measured along Highway 154 shows a high incidence of certain pollutants. Don’t people teach manners anymore?
I have recently read the BOS Agenda Letter regarding the Wetlands Recovery Project. You may not have heard of this program but it was issued in an Executive Order by Pete Wilson when he was Governor in 1993. This order was designed to protect, enhance and restore wetlands in California. Knowing what we do now about how cows can help restore and maintain biodiversity and vernal pools, I can’t understand why Santa Barbara County is busy spending millions of dollars “restoring” sloughs and wetlands, having walking programs and buying whole ranches when all it had to do was move a bunch of cows in to do the job. In fact, the emergency health funding shortfall could be almost totally funded by the $7.9 million spent planning, studying, restoring and acquiring wetlands in this County. Priorities?
Land Grab of the Worst Kind
Have you read about the Rim of the Valley National Park? Probably not because, once again, our “environmental” folks together with some legislators, including the National Park Service and the Wildlands Project (a group of radical enviros who want to “re-wild” your rural areas with large carnivores) are planning to make 491,518 acres into a National Park. Large parts of the Angeles, San Bernardino, and Las Padres National Forests will be made into a National Park. Over 169,000 privately owned parcels will be negatively affected. HR 1835 is supposed to be authorizing only a study but what federal study has ever turned down the opportunity to control more land? If you would like more information on this and other land rights issues, the Web site www.landrights.org should give you all the data you need.
This is another attempt by the wrong people to take land out of the hands of American citizens and to use a specific agenda to control it. Every time any government entity takes land under its control, that property comes off the tax rolls. 89 percent of Santa Barbara County’s budget comes from property taxes so taking land out of private hands is really counterproductive. First, the county or other government agency buys the land, with your tax dollars, and then, because the property no longer produces tax money, the agency must raise taxes on you to pay for the maintenance of the property. Whenever we vote to “acquire” more land for wetlands, viewsheds or whatever environmental reason is given, we must pay twice for it and, eventually, there will not be enough people to pay enough taxes to support all of the government property. For many years now, California State Forests have not had the funds or personnel to properly (according to them) care for the land in their trust. So why do we continue to support this? If you think this is the wrong direction we’re headed in, call your representatives and tell them.
Independence
This coming week America will be celebrating our independence from British rule. I have a standing joke with my husband who was born in England that I state every year. I say to him, “Today is the day we finally got rid of you and your taxation without representation!” His response to me is always, “And we were damn glad to be rid of you!” I don’t know how many people think of what this day means beyond the required barbecue and day in the sun with family and friends. To me it is a time to reflect on how this relatively young country has evolved that has radical ideas, like freedom of speech, freedom to succeed no matter who you are, freedom to own your own piece of property, and the freedom to live in peace without fear of recrimination for who you are or what you believe in. These are freedoms no one else in the entire world guarantees to their citizens. That’s why so many from other lands risk life and limb to live here, even illegally. Many people have died to keep these freedoms secure and it is amazing how American citizens can claim how horrible this country is while not being hauled off and summarily shot as would happen in many other countries. I may not like what they say and think they are ignorant, foolish, or too self-absorbed to appreciate what they have here, but I will always defend their right to believe and express those thoughts. I am forever grateful to those who have gone before me who have instilled in me a profound understanding of what this country stands for. I am sad when I see supposedly educated people try to tear down the values this country has kept sacred but I am reassured that the majority of Americans believe, as I do, that, warts and all, there is no place else we would rather live. Happy Fourth of July, Happy Independence Day to you all!