Sunday, April 15, 2007

Amen, Bear.

Baykeepers should guard bay against folks who don't have money
4/14/2007
Dear Editor,

I know that these folks, the Baykeepers, will be on my butt for saying this, but it makes no difference in reality: They need to get a grip on stuff that matters and quit hassling Security National about a road and potholes.

SN has done its job in checking with folks about doing what is right about roads, potholes and cleaning up the area to help all and better things.

Now the Baykeepers want to take SN to court over lame stuff. If they want to do some good in reality, watch over the bay and go after folks who are messing up the bay who don’t have money. Yep, folks who trash the rocks, beaches and life in and around the bay.

Go after folks who dump crap in and around the bay, not folks who are trying to help make things better.

No, I do not work for, get paid by, nor know anyone from SN that I am aware of or even The Eureka Reporter. Oops, my mistake; I have met some of the reporters when being in court to make sure abused children are protected and with clients. Get a good grip, Baykeepers!

J. Bear Marler
Rio Dell

(Security National owns The Eureka Reporter.)
Copyright (C) 2005, The Eureka Reporter. All rights reserved.

###

The trouble is, Bear, for these new age con men, it is all about money and deep pockets. And Rob Arkley/Security National and Red Emmerson/Sierra Pacific look like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow to them. No need to get a real job, just get some local kayakers to go out and take some samples for you, put up signs along the estuary asking people to call in complaints, and you are armed, pay for a couple of lab tests and threaten a lawsuit, then walk away with millions in go-away money.

That's not to say that there aren't problems. There are. And good people have, for many many years set about solving the problem. The trouble is, the well-meaning laws and regulations that were put in place set the stage for these predatory litigious groups to adopt the grass-roots citizen mantle and operate with impunity.

Think I am overstating the case? Check out Richard Salzman's latest listserve email... It isn't about Palco/Maxxam and Hurwitz, it is about money, and with Palco on its knees, it is very clear who the next targets are. You're already seeing the NEC sounding the drumroll against Simpson/Green Diamond. But that's not where the real money is - and this message says it very clearly:

"Quick, name the largest private landowner in California.

Need some clues? The company owns more than 1.5million acres, mainly in the Sierra Nevada. Each year it clear-cuts thousands of acres of forest. Its logging techniques damage watersheds throughout the Sierra. And most Californians have never heard of it.

Meet Sierra Pacific Industries, a privately owned company led by billionaire timber baron Red Emmerson..."


Notice the author lays the groundwork for demonizing Emmerson with the buzzwords "billionaire timber baron." Class warfare is a big card in the activist deck, makes it easy to upset well intentioned people.

Then they bring up the spectre of political donations to people they do not approve of and end with the ominous statement "SPI's vision is a checkerboard of moonscapes and plantations. Its corporate values are destroying Sierra forests. What are your values?

Well? It's a good question. But the answer may not be what they intended.

10 comments:

  1. Rose, you put out the most informative blog in Humboldt County. This blog is where we all go to find out the "real" story behind the machinations of local activist organizations.

    While other blogs may be more popular and entertain with current event stories and back and forth debate, Rose's blog provides information substanence rarely seen on any blog site.

    Rose, you are a special treasure to those of us who see truth as the highest sustainable value worth preserving in any community.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Rose posing and Stevo.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I value information more than cutsy put-downs of good activist people by our cowardly anonymous posters hiding inside their electronic hoods and sheets.

    Psychological studies have shown that when people think their identity is hidden from others they feel freer to do malicious harm, hitting the shock button with glee as it were when they knew their victims couldn't identify them.

    Anonymous posting is almost like identity theft in its ability to mess with people's lives. Real information from real people--

    Thank you, Rose, for providing the community this informational blog service.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I agree with you and Steve - Bear ought to be thanked for summing it up so well.

    1:31 is just jealous.

    ReplyDelete
  5. 1:31 is just Salzman.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Actually, my first reaction to 1:31 was that it was Sleazman, but he usually posts at 1:31 am not pm. I am thinking that maybe it is Pete Nichols or Mark Lovelace.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hear, hear, Steve! Rose is doing what newspapers are supposed to do & should do but don't do. She is a watchdog & thorn in the side of your local government & a beacon of light & hope to those of us who believe, as Thomas Jefferson did, that public opinion & the agitation it produces "is necessary, to keep the waters pure".
    I don't live in Humboldt Co. but I have an interest in the goings-on there, especially in the top cop's office, & I always read Rose's blog before any of the Humboldt Co. papers.
    Long may she write!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Stay tuned for the upcoming show covering the "Ethics of Paralegals and Attorneys Who Manage Blogs" Guests to be announced.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thanks, Stephen and Robin. It's been interesting. This blog started because of a need to post all of the various documents that people were desperate to get someone to pay attention to. It wasn't intended, initially, as a chat blog, but it has taken on a life of its own. It is a place where people can freely add to record of Paul Gallegos and his handlers, where they can say without fear that the emperor has no clothes. And detail exactly why.

    The mission hasn't changed, and when the next election comes around, the facts and figures that are needed to prove the lies will be here.

    ReplyDelete
  10. And for the record - and for those out of the area - what anon 12:53 above is referring to is the "outing" of the mysterious blogger "Captain Buhne."

    Apparently, someone isn't happy. Which is exactly what Buhne had said was the reason he remained anonymous.

    The Arcata Eye broke the story... and Buhne promoted it, then the dailies picked it up...
    CAPT. BUHNE COMES OUT
    Blogger Captain Buhne is no longer a mystery
    The outing of a legend
    Identity of formerly anonymous blogger Captain Buhne revealed

    ReplyDelete

Comments are closed for the time-being.