The future of California depends on the utilization of water. Water is the new California gold. Without proper control, the state will slowly deteriorate.
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Most people identify the Pacific Northwest with salmon, but, in fact, there are more than 30 kinds of salmon, steelhead and trout native to California. These iconic fish once supported fisheries all along the coast and in our mountainous interior, but their numbers are disappearing. As my colleagues at the University of California at Davis and I recently discovered in a research study and subsequent report, 65 percent of the remaining species of our native fish are in danger of extinction within this century, if not sooner.
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By the Rev. James Wilson

I watched the video of the young people who were escorted out of the Castro district of San Francisco by armed police, who arrived in time to prevent the gay mob that was bearing down on them from attacking and perhaps causing serious injury. These young Christians are from a local house of prayer. Despite media reports that they argue gays into giving up the lifestyle, they come solely to pray blessings on the neighborhood, talking only to those people who talk to them. The screaming mob followed closely as police escorted them to special vans that would transport them to safety.
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It's been a dismal eight years for the U.S. Forest Service. When the Bush administration took office, it immediately suspended a popular measure to protect 58 million acres of backcountry public forests from new roads. Instead, the agency became consumed by firefighting.
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I find it amusing that the Shasta County Board of Supervisors has attacked the U.S. Forest Service over pending decisions concerning OHV use on the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. The reason for my amusement stems from an incident I had with one of the board members some time back in Clear Creek Campground, where I found him and three others riding ATVs off-road in and around the campground. I introduced myself to them as a Forest Service employee and explained that riding off-road was not only illegal but that it caused damage to the land they were riding over.
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This afternoon, the Shasta County Board of Supervisors will have a hearing concerning the Hatchet Ridge Wind project. The board's decision will have a significant impact on birds living in and migrating through the West. The Board of Supervisors has not been given the knowledge to make a proper decision on the project. Also, the Shasta County Planning Commission could not possibly make a wise decision with the poor biological assessment that was presented to the county. I cannot emphasize how important this meeting will be. I hope to bring some clarity to the matter.
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In their recent "Speak Your Piece" against Proposition 5, Shasta County District Attorney Jerry Benito and Sheriff Tom Bosenko suggested that the proposition would allow people who sell drugs to avoid consequences. Full story » Comments (13)

Proposition 5 is the latest attempt to decriminalize illegal drug usage. The extremely lengthy and convoluted proposition disguised as a "rehabilitation" measure, in reality, increases "chances" for drug users and decreases accountability. Everyone hopes that drug users will be rehabilitated. But this proposition ignores what has worked in Shasta County and the rest of the country - rehabilitation with accountability.
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Hardly a day goes by that we don't hear of yet another California city or county - or the state itself - facing a fresh financial crisis. With each comes a litany of budget reductions, cuts that are becoming increasingly painful to those affected.
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This year's budget crisis had one major cause: a lack of accountability by the leadership of the California legislature. In my six years of living in California, the yearly budget process and numerous other legislative issues have been almost intractable fiascoes. An examination of the makeup of the Legislature shows the reason why: Both Republicans and Democrats have unbreakable holds on their seats. Term limits may change the faces every few years but not the balance of power. This balance of power generally favors the majority party (Democrats) but also gives the minority Republicans veto power over the budget. Why the unbreakable hold? The Legislature draws labyrinthine district boundaries to make it so. Even with term limits, the current legislative prerogative to draw district boundaries allows a chokehold on power and prevents any meaningful choice on the part of California voters. Full story » Comments (7)

They closed the forest to the lumberjacks And I did not speak upBecause I was not a lumberjackThen they closed the forest to the OHV community
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Fire season is on the wane and now is the time to discuss fire issues. This is the third summer in a row where the citizens of Shasta County have been forced to endure long periods of hazardous air quality caused by ongoing forest fires. Wildfires are to be expected, but everything should be done to minimize the impact of those fires. Full story » Comments (6)

James Wilson, in his Monday piece stating his opposition to legalized same-sex marriage, comments, "None of this is opinion; let readers fire up search engines and see for themselves." So, I researched the Internet for confirmation or denial of his statements. Wilson wrote, "Repeated studies show that heterosexual marriage becomes less frequent and shorter lived in the wake of legalized marriage." An Internet search reveals how inaccurate the predicted "death" of heterosexual marriages by Focus on the Family board Chairman James Dobson really is. Conservative writer Stanley Kurtz incorrectly asserted that gay marriage helped to kill heterosexual marriage in Scandinavia. Full story » Comments (53)

The Sept. 6 edition reported that a project, Sonata, consisting of 10 builtout homes, with 60 future lots, is threatened with foreclosure. This is the nature of the times, the greed that drove the housing onto the road to upside down housing. It is unfortunate for the speculators, developers, bankers . . . and the land. We cannot build more land. Full story » Comments (8)

The state Supreme Court decision OK'ing civil rights laws for suppression of doctors' consciences is a wolf in sheep's clothing; it is also part of an alarming pattern. The decision held doctors liable after they refused — for religious reasons — to inseminate a lesbian. The doctors referred her; there was no injury to the woman as she was inseminated and gave birth. (Provable injury is the first criterion — traditionally — in a court's decision to even hear such a case.) But the court said doctors lose their right to free speech and religion when licensed to practice medicine in California. And — if the experience of northern Europe and Canada is any indicator — pastors will lose those rights should Proposition 8 fail in November. That is because courts in those nations have found pastors (and any who express politically incorrect views) guilty of "hate speech." Full story » Comments (357)