Aggression
On Dec. 7, so many years ago that you may no longer
remember, a horrible act of aggression occurred, which plunged the United
States into a World War. Planes from another country bombed the United States
Navy Fleet anchored in the harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii. Many lives were lost,
many ships were sent to the bottom of the ocean, and all that is left of this
terrible incident are memories and the USS Arizona Memorial that stands over
the remains of the ship and its entombed sailors who didn’t have a chance to
escape. In these times of worldwide conflict, it is so easy to politicize the
aggressions as this country’s fault or that group’s fault, and what is so
easily forgotten for many is the terrible cost to life and the environment.
In a perfect world, people would not continue to be
belligerent toward others,
murder people in the name of some belief system, and discriminate
between different people; but such is not the case. It is still acceptable in
parts of the world, even our own, to commit crimes against people and not be
punished for it. It is still acceptable for people to discriminate legally
against groups of people and, in fact, be rewarded for it right here in the
United States, in California, and in the Santa Ynez
Valley.
How is it that people get fired from long–time jobs in
the public eye for using defamatory language when the very people making the
accusations do the very same thing as a regular part of their speech and are
not punished for it? Why do we have laws that make it possible for one group of
people to forever control all aspects of business and land use to the detriment
of any other group? You will not read about this in any other publication
because it is not a popular topic, but I firmly believe that until we truly
make our country immune from discrimination of any kind, we will not be
fulfilling the dreams of our Founding Fathers.
I cannot for the
life of me figure out why we have legitimized laws that clearly give some
groups preferred status, as if that would make up for real or perceived
discrimination in the past. I think that the people of Irish descent, who were
treated very badly upon their arrival in the United States, should now be given
preferred status to repay them for that — except, oh yes, I forgot — they
assimilated into the society; many worked hard to get ahead and some have even
become presidents. If we have made discrimination a crime in this country, then
why do we also promote laws which clearly discriminate against groups of
people? It makes no sense to me.
Sneak attack
It is a bit of a stretch to compare something going on in
the Santa Ynez Valley to the attack on Pearl Harbor,
but somehow the feeling is similar, with a loss of life in terms of people
giving up in disgust as they watch their beloved valley become another San
Fernando Valley due to the inability of the local leadership to stand up
against an onslaught of developers. Or, what is going on anyway?
Due to timing, I was not able to give you much lead time
to understand the situation the Cargasacchi family
was facing at the LAFCO meeting on Dec. 6. Also, because of timing, I cannot
say here what happened at that meeting, and I can only hope that reason
prevailed. What I do think is worth discussing is the whole topic of how and
why the development of our agricultural lands can and will eventually become a
reality. First, I would like to mention the specifics of this ranching family’s
experience and then talk about some of the plans the county has of which you
may not be aware.
What I understand is this: The Cargasacchi
ranch is located between Lompoc and Buellton, with a subdivision of 1,600
agricultural acres, named the Lakeview Estates, between the ranch and the Santa
Ynez River. This subdivision was created by its
owners (not the Cargasacchi’s) under the Map Act in
1968. Road access to it was created by “overburdening” a private easement from
the end of Sweeny Road through the ranch and changing the easement from single
to multiple for 38 parcels. This action was litigated, resulting in a
restrictive covenant limiting access to its current agricultural use and not
for residential development.
Creating the Santa Rita Hills Community Services District
announces the county’s intention to provide services, such as water, power, et
cetera, to what obviously it intends will be a development there. In addition,
the county wants to condemn (read that as eminent domain) the private road
easement and remove the limit on development, all without any Environmental
Impact Report or California Environmental Quality Act review. The county claims
that this is exempt because the subdivision is pre-existing. In fact, the
county has already tried once to seize the private road easement, claiming that
it was a county-owned road.
This just sounds so familiar to me. Having grown up under
eminent domain proceedings over San Lucas Ranch being condemned in its entirety
in the late 1940s to build Cachuma Dam, I am very
wary of such behavior by governments. The dam certainly was an important
project, at least to the folks on the ocean side of the mountain, and my father
spent nine years in federal court fighting to retain ownership for my
grandmother, an effort that ultimately was successful, except for about 500
acres.
In this case, I am thoroughly opposed to the county
abusing its eminent domain powers to take property from one private individual
to give to another private individual. This is not what this power was
developed for, as it will only benefit the developer and those individuals who
can afford to live there on the banks of the river. It can hardly be called a
“public benefit.”
It cannot be
stressed enough that this type of development is specifically prohibited in the
General Plan, as it destroys agricultural land forever and is a great example
of “hopscotch” development, which ultimately fosters development of all
undeveloped land because agriculture cannot exist surrounded by houses. The
first time a cow belches or a tractor begins discing
in the early morning or the baler starts up at 9 p.m., when the moisture is
just right, the homeowners will complain loudly.
Just as was announced several years ago by the Blue
Ribbon Task Force, which was charged with determining the best ways to add to
the county revenue stream, development of oil and housing were potentially the
two biggest revenue generators they could come up with. So it is not surprising
that while the county protests any development that they themselves did not
have a hand in, while we are not looking they set the stage for development all
over our agricultural lands. Is that perhaps why there is a Design Review
Overlay proposed for about 1,800 acres of my cow pasture along Highway 154?
It is clear that the county needs increasing revenues
because of the holes it has dug for itself with regard to paying employee
pensions in the future. They cannot afford them at current rates. It is equally
clear that if federal and state estate taxes are not changed radically, large
agricultural properties will not remain intact — cannot remain intact — because
of the confiscatory nature of the current tax structure. Maybe you feel you
want to tax the rich, but it is a foolhardy attitude, because it is those
people who keep together those lands that you treasure and who pay the salaries
of many people to keep them in good shape. Think about it.
So just how many bombshells like the Lakeview Estates are
out there that we don’t know about? And why were all of the subdivision lines
on those two pastures with the Design Review Overlay erased from of the
planning department maps during the GPAC and VPAC planning process of the
Community Plan. Does the county know something I don’t?
Cows and horses
There’s good news and bad news from Oklahoma this week.
The very good news is that while neither of us won the $125,000 check for first
place at the National Reining Horse Association Futurity (3-year-olds), both
Mark and Kelly Gowing of Lompoc and I saw our horses
make it to the finals — out of a field of 400 horses. Only 30 (35 including
ties) of the very finest in the world (35 countries participated in addition to
the U.S.) made scores high enough to be included in the final group. Non-pro
Shannon McCarty from Gaviota had a good showing as
well. It was a very exciting show, and it was fun to share the glory with
friends from the valley.
While in Oklahoma, I enjoyed reading the local papers and
watching local television stations to get the flavor of what is going on there.
I was surprised and shocked to hear of a situation from Northern California
where unidentified people are shooting cows from the road with small caliber
weapons. I suppose it is some teenagers unaware of the devastating impact of
their entertainment, but the video of the cow being shot and dropping to the
ground, where she eventually bled to death, was horrible to watch. I cannot
imagine what kind of distorted mind would think this behavior is acceptable
under any circumstance. It illustrates, to me, the complete lack of moral
structure that we see more and more these days.
I remember from many years ago finding cows out in the
field that had been shot with arrows, after they were brought down, their hind
quarters cut off, the rest being left for us to find. I always imagined that
this happened because someone was hungry, and I just hoped the cow didn’t suffer.
On the other hand, perhaps the motivation was for something else, as many of
our road signs will testify. It is still behavior that exists today, but not as
frequently, because discovery by passing vehicles is more likely.
I have heard that people who become seriously mentally
ill as adults, and whose illness makes them capable of
murder and torture often have numerous incidents of animal abuse or torture in
their childhood. The bad news is that whoever is responsible for killing and
maiming these cows has not yet been caught. I do hope that someone having any
knowledge about this will turn the person or persons in for treatment. I also
hope this does not spread further in California. My cows are precious to me,
and I am very glad to be back.
Happy Hanukkah!