Press Release

July Letters

Editor,
Those darn Democrats want to defund the police. Not true. Besides, there is not much left to defund after the last 4 out of 5 Republican presidents severely cut the income tax rate for the wealthy and corporations. Federal and state income tax helps pay for the police!!! Now the wrecking crew are going after the only federal agency that actually makes money, the IRS. That's real smart. Taxes support the military, VA, military pensions and humane civilizations.. Those same people that tax cuts benefit can continue to shaft working people and cheat on their taxes. Thanks Republicans.
Don McKechnie
Sierraville and Sparks
Happy Juneteenth, a better America.

Dear Editor:
I do not understand why in California our Sierra County refuses to acknowledge two important Federal Holidays. Martin Luther King was the chief spokesperson for nonviolent activism in the Civil Rights Movement, which protested racial discrimination in federal and state law. Monday June 19th was Juneteenth an annual commemoration of the end of slavery in the United States after the Civil War, it has been celebrated by Americans since the late 1800s and now observed by the nation but not Sierra County. Years ago as a Sierra County employee I questioned why we did not observe MLK Day and was told county employees were unwilling to swap out existing holidays for MLK and supposedly the same is true for Juneteenth. I don't know who is disrespected by this more, Americans or Employees of Sierra County who apparently are not worth an additional holiday according to the powers that be… whoever they are.
Liz Fisher
Downieville,CA 95936

Portola City Council cares more about dogs than people!
It has been mentioned in the last two City Council meetings about plans to try to find a spot for a dog park. The City Council knows that our Portola community resource center is only open one or possibly two days a week, and possibly going to be closing permanently. Why isn't our city Council planning on keeping the Resource Center open instead of making
a dog park? Perhaps City Hall will open up their doors to allow the public to come in and make photocopies and do all their faxing to social services, or other county services or businesses. Perhaps the City of Portola made a lot of money on that bike race that we recently had a couple weeks ago, and maybe they're
planning on using that money to find a dog park? There was no mention at all at the last four meetings of any action going to be taken to help to keep the Resource Center open (by possibly partnering with Plumas Rual Services to keep the Resource Center open?).
Why isn't our City Council taking action to keep our Resource Center going? Why are they wasting time on a dog park?
Adrian Hardy
Portola

Mr. Green's letter needs a rebuttal. First the obvious - (1) assault weapons have one purpose - to kill people, cars are meant to drive, (2) mass shootings do not involve self-defense, (3) yes, most mass shootings are gang related or domestic, but - they are still mass shootings and they still kill innocent people, (4) you think it is “ridiculous” to include suicide in gun statistics. Why? You don't care about people that commit suicide? By far, the largest group of people who commit suicide are white, middle-aged men in rural areas, and most use a gun, (5) there is literally NO ONE who wants to ban all guns, but 6 in 10 people want to ban assault-style weapons which have absolutely no place except in warfare.

Our country can make a serious difference in the number of mass shootings and gun violence IF we make it a priority. We CAN reach a point where we feel safe, and feel safe dropping our children off to school. We can do this by (1) banning assault-style weapons. The risk of a person in the U.S. dying in a mass shooting was 70% lower during the period in which the assault weapons ban was active (1994-2004), (2) raising the age from 18 to 21 for gun purchases, (3) background checks and waiting periods, (4) mandatory gun safety training certification for gun purchases, (4) criminalize leaving guns accessible to children, and (5) very importantly, because mass shooters often exhibit multiple signs of their intent, making sure every school has a threat-assessment program with teams in place, with teachers, administrators and students trained. This has prevented dozens of potential shootings at schools and workplaces throughout the country. The Secret Service, which helped pioneer its techniques three decades ago, offers trainings; last year 26,000 people took part, from schools to Fortune 500 companies.

The argument that mental illness causes gun violence is not true. Extensive research shows the link between mental illness and violent behavior is small and not useful for predicting violent acts. The argument that guns don't kill people, people do, is not true. People with guns kill people.

There is no good reason not to implement the above, except that legislators in Congress are shills for the NRA. The REASON they are shills for the NRA (and big pharma, big oil, etc) is that the far right majority on the most corrupt Supreme Court in history under John Roberts are SHILLS FOR BIG MONEY PRETENDING TO BE JURISTS, and have methodically and systematically eroded the laws that prevented corruption and undue influence of big money in our campaign system (the Tillman Act in 1907 and Taft-Hartley Act 1947), with multiple decisions since 1976 including the horrifying ruling of Citizens United. We now have the most corrupt Supreme Court and the most corrupt Legislature in history. It doesn't matter to them that we no longer feel safe going to the store, watching a parade, or dropping our kids off at preschool. Thoughts and prayers. Unlimited money is rolling in. Like Mr. Green is trying to argue, it's not that bad.

D Higa

Submitted: 06/24/23
Article By: Sierra Booster