Tuesday, June 3, 2003

Rodeos don/t deserve support

Please don/t support rodeos. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you," applies to animals too.

Bucking straps, spurs and holding chutes cause horses and bulls to suffer. Roping, tripping and diving onto calves causes injuries. Animals have backbones, muscles and joints that can fracture, tear and dislocate.

Teach your children well. Don/t tell them to be kind to animals and then take them to a rodeo.

Deborah Hutchins

Los Osos

Remember who gives freedom

To all liberals in America:

It is the American soldier, not the reporter,

who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the American soldier, not the poet,

who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the American soldier, not the campus organizer,

who has given us freedom to demonstrate.

It is the American soldier, not the lawyer,

who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the American soldier,

who salutes the American flag,

who serves under the American flag,

and whose coffin is draped by the American Flag,

who allows the protester to burn our American Flag.

American freedom, is not free, don/t take it lightly.

77 Taken from the Internet.

Richard Nelson

Santa Maria

Remove /good ol/ boys/ from power

Having been a lifelong resident of Santa Maria and Santa Barbara County, I am completely shocked and appalled by the recent actions of our city leaders.

Supposedly, our "All America City" has given one man, Tim Ness, total authority to run Santa Maria and make important decisions that residents do not like or want.

Firing a police chief, who is highly respected and doing a great job, is a very serious matter. Mr. Ness is the one who is expendable 77 much easier to replace than Chief Sterling. Yet our elite city council seems to back his decision 100 percent.

I think it/s high time we elect these city leaders, not have them appointed by their friends and buddies. It/s time to get rid of the "good ol/ boys" 77 they/ve been running things their way for much too long.

This same group will be making our decisions in Mission County. If you sign that petition to split, these will be your illustrious leaders 77 the "good ol/ boys" and all their appointed friends 77 scary, isn/t it?

Giving such a great deal of power to one man is a dangerous thing, and "friendship politics" can be just as bad. Let/s get Police Chief Sterling back on the job where he belongs, and get some new blood running this city. It/s time for us to take a stand.

Kimberly Lapiz

Santa Maria

Split is about overregulation

Re: Split supporters grasping for power, Santa Maria Times, May 18

I find this letter from Gail Allen quite interesting. She is obviously not in favor of the county split proposal, but her reason for opposition, in reality, should make her a strong supporter if she were looking at things in the proper prospective. Ms. Allen contends that the split supporters are motivated by greed for power and are interested only in making money from increased urban development.

The facts are that the true motivation of the majority of those of us who support the split concept is we are tired of paying for and being overregulated by all of these unnecessary and bloated county departments and their bureaucrats.

The proposed Mission County would not need, nor would the majority of its citizens want, anywhere close to the government we currently have in Santa Barbara County. A new county with that much government would be every bit the financial disaster predicted by those opposed to the split. A new county with only the needed agencies and departments and run much more efficiently with a lot less employees can be financially viable.

It is very likely that the county being split would result in less urban development than what we will see in the north should the county remain whole, for a couple of reasons.

First, agriculture will fare much better without Santa Barbara County/s stifling overregulation, and our local ranchers will be less likely to sell their land for development.

Also, much of the proposed growth in north county is being planned to accommodate the requirement of the State of California than all counties must provide enough new housing to accommodate projected growth. Currently, economics dictate that most of that growth will occur in the north county. A new county would be required to accommodate a smaller portion of that proposed growth, and the remaining portion of Santa Barbara County would be forced to find a way to come up with its share of that new housing on the south coast.

Ms. Allen contends those of us who support the split, if successful, "Will reach for more, and more, and more!" The reality is that we will reach for less, and less and less county government intrusion into our livelihoods and our everyday lives.

Dave Lee

Santa Maria