One of Salzman's head cheerleaders, one of the Orks... Just looking at comparing the writing styles in each of his letters...
Especially this one:
Writer advises PALCO to stop allowing the pollution of rivers 2/2/2007
Dear Editor,
When you say Pacific Lumber Co. is living up to its end of the historic Headwaters agreement, I assume that includes Section 10.16 of the HCP Implementation Agreement (that’s the contract you signed), which specifically states “... notwithstanding any other provisions in this agreement, all activities undertaken pursuant to this agreement, the HCP, or the federal or state permits must be in compliance with all applicable federal and state laws and regulations ... .”
Thus, PALCO contracted to comply with all laws and regulations, which include, among many others, the Porter-Cologne Water Control Act. This law has nothing to do with logging per se, but rather protects our streams and water bodies from polluting discharges, such as silt and sediment, regardless of what activity causes the discharge.
So, what’s your complaint? If PALCO would just stop allowing excessive sediment to pollute our streams and rivers, you could harvest as much timber as the Department of Forestry would permit.
Cletus Isbell
Freshwater
(Editor’s note: This letter was originally sent to Andrea Arnot. It has been reproduced here with the author’s permission.)
Copyright (C) 2005, The Eureka Reporter. All rights reserved.
This is more his style:
linkWriter would like to see more editorials on Moore inquest
9/14/2006
Dear Editor,
If it’s true that the only question Jager plans to present to the inquest jury is to determine which of the four allowed causes was responsible for Ms. Moore’s death, any moron, including me, can answer that for free.
— It was not accidental;
— it was not suicide;
— it was not by natural causes;
— therefore, it was by another’s hands other than accidental.
Then to say “they may also give recommendations about changes they think the police or mental health should pursue” is ridiculous. Recommendations from a proceeding that has no civil or criminal standing to begin with must be meaningless squared.
I’d like to see The Times-Standard and The Eureka Reporter do editorials on this whole ridiculous approach to answering the citizens’ question — was this a justified shooting or not? This is the question and it should have gone directly to the grand jury.
I hope that smell I’m getting isn’t a bucket of whitewash waiting to be spread over the entire incident.
Cletus Isbell
Freshwater
Copyright (C) 2005, The Eureka Reporter. All rights reserved.
Salzman's talking points:
Dikeman not unanimously endorsed by local law enforcement
5/21/2006
Dear Editor,
(Christine Bensen-Messinger’s) article is incorrect when (it says) that Dikeman has been unanimously endorsed by all local law enforcement “agencies.” Not a single Police Department or the Sheriff has endorsed him. It’s the law enforcement labor unions that have endorsed him for their own political purposes, whatever they may be.
You do a disservice to your readers and falsely influence voters with gross errors like this in reporting endorsements.
Cletus Isbell
Freshwater
Copyright (C) 2005, The Eureka Reporter. All rights reserved.
Benefit Assessment May Be Only The Alternative
by Cletus Isbell 7/27/04
(This is a letter sent to Humboldt Taxpayers’ League President Leo Sears and The Eureka Reporter.)
First, let me say that I will probably support the HFD No. 1 "assessment increase," since it appears that it is the only alternative available for needed funding, considering that the supervisors have denied the Prop. 172 funds which, in my opinion, were rightfully due the fire district.
I believe the Humboldt Taxpayers’ League's stated purpose is to both advocate and to inform. If you choose to not take an advocacy position on the benefit assessment, you should still support your mission statement by informing us taxpayers.
The HFD No. 1 public notice flyer is long on emotional appeals and woefully short on facts to let the taxpayers understand the full context of the benefit assessment. I would have expected the league to at least identify, if not fill, this void.
Incidentally, before I continue, let me object to the league’s directors being allowed to use the league forum in an attempt to influence the outcome by, according to The Eureka Reporter, stating to the press how they intend to personally vote. This is a cheap political ploy to influence the outcome without officially taking a position, as we saw numerous times in the recent attempt to recall the district attorney. I wouldn't expect such doublespeak from an organization such as the league.
The following statements and comments were derived primarily from the HFD No. 1 public-notice flyer and a short conversation with HFD No. 1 personnel. This is the kind of information I would expect the league to make sure that taxpayers are aware of so they can understand the overall context.
1. The benefit assessment was invented to circumvent the Prop. 13 property tax limits. Prior to 1985 HFD No. 1 was entirely supported from property taxes.
2. The proposed assessment "increase" is not an increase in the present $6/unit assessment to $12/unit; rather, it is an entirely separate new assessment. This means that, if it passes, the total benefit assessment will be $6 plus $12 or $18/unit.
3. The average single-family urban residence referred to in the HFD No. 1 flyer is assessed as four benefit units (rural single-family residences are six units) and has a property-tax-assessed value of $153,000.
4. Of the $188 that HFD No. 1 currently receives for the example single-family urban residence, $24 comes from the existing 1985 benefit assessment ($6/unit times four units) and the remaining $164 from regular property taxes.
5. If the proposed $12/unit assessment would yield $461,748 for fiscal year 2004/2005, as indicated in the flyer, then the present $6/unit can be expected to yield half that amount or $230,874.
6. If the $230,874 from the current $6/unit assessment provides 13 percent of the HFD No. 1 revenue, then total current revenue is $230,874 divided by 0.13 or $1,775,954.
7. If the proposed new additional benefit assessment of $12/unit passes, then the HFD No. 1 revenue will be the current $1,775,954 plus $461,748 for total fiscal-year 2004/2005 revenue of $2,237,702. Of this, $1,545,080 would be from property taxes and $692,622 from the two benefit assessments, which would total $18/unit.
The bottom line is that HFD No. 1, a community safety agency, which was funded from property taxes prior to Prop. 13, is now proposed to receive 31 percent of its funding from special "benefit assessments" and there is no limit on future additional assessments. I wonder what government agency will be next to attempt a "benefit assessment"?
All this leaves me with two additional related questions in my mind. If the supervisors are successful with their proposed 1 percent sales-tax increase, will any of these funds be allocated to HFD No. 1? If not, why not?
If you have any additional or corrected information on these issues, I would appreciate being made aware of it.
(Cletus Isbell is a Freshwater resident.)
(Following is Leo Sears’ response to Isbell’s letter.)
Dear Cletus Isbell,
The action item regarding HFD No. 1as it appeared on our July agenda was:
5. District assessments: Assigned to Jerry Partain for analysis and recommendation.
Both the Arcata and Humboldt fire districts will mail weighted ballots for increased property assessments.
Recommendation: To approve the motion that “The Humboldt Taxpayers’ League takes no position for or against the proposed increases in Arcata and Humboldt fire district assessments, because only the benefiting property owners will be voting by weighted ballot.”
Our meetings (and therefore the discussions that precedes a vote on a motion) are open to the public.
The media present included a reporter from The Eureka Reporter, who chose to report portions of a discussion wherein individual positions were voiced prior to a particular vote. Other media were also present and chose to report on other of the items on the agenda.
We did not issue a press release, and we have no control over what portions of our meeting the media chooses to report. However, to the best of my knowledge, all media coverage of that meeting was accurate.
As you so correctly stated, our mission statement says that we are "a watchdog organization to advocate for and inform the taxpayers.” In this instance we chose to inform the taxpayers that: “The Humboldt Taxpayers’ League takes no position for or against the proposed increases in Arcata and Humboldt fire district assessments, because only the benefiting property owners will be voting by weighted ballot.”
At some point in time we may make further statements regarding the district assessments. At present, our time is taken addressing other issues.
Our mission statement also says that "the league will not endorse political candidates" and they are never on our agenda – including the district attorney recall.
As to what the county will do if the 1 percent passes, I am sure your crystal ball is as good as ours.
Humboldt Taxpayers’ League
Leo Sears
president
9/22/04 Hard Data Missing From Discussion
by Cletus Isbel
The Headwaters Fund provides $22 million that is intended to make up for Humboldt County's loss in tax revenue; this is not "free" money, it's taxpayer funds.
I find it incomprehensible that the supervisors are permitting these funds to be spent as they are now while maintaining there is no money to patch the potholes in our roads. (Example – Why would the taxpayers knowingly give $25,000 of these funds to Johanna Rodoni's Buckeye Conservancy to study the permitting process? Has anyone read the conservancy’s mission statement for relevancy?)
According to Headwaters Fund Coordinator Tony Shen, as reported in a local news article, 67 jobs have been created so far for $3 million of these taxpayer funds, but they can't say exactly what the jobs are or how much they pay.
It should take him less than a week to personally determine what these jobs are and how much they pay. How about some hard data to go with all the self-promoting PR they pass out?
Why is it that all the people who make their living doing the planning seem to go out of their way to make sure there are no hard data available for the taxpayers to use in judging the results of the planning they are being paid to do?
I find it highly questionable that the county's "Prosperity! The North Coast Strategy" Web site has been taken off-line at the very time when taxpayers might want to read about it for themselves.
I believe that some of the statements currently being made by our officials and paid planners are not consistent with the data which were previously available on their own Web site. (Example – flight of our working youth.)
The thrust of the county's Prosperity! economic development plan is to "support existing enterprises, entrepreneurship and homegrown activities, as they are the best source of business expansion and local job growth."
By omission, this specifically rejects any effort to attract selected existing national level companies to locate facilities here.
I find this to be an unsupported and isolationist approach to the economic development needed for our particular situation. We need to get from an economy based on selling our timber and fish … to a sustainable economy based on the value added by our labor.
The county's present approach is like renting space under a Zippo billboard to protect us from the freezing rain while we wait for a "local entrepreneur" to discover fire and rationalizing that it's a good plan because we'll eventually get rich selling matches.
I believe it is our supervisors’ direct responsibility to manage the Headwaters Fund to ensure realistic near-term economic development in Humboldt County, not just to hire coordinators.
I think a fresh blank paper assessment may be required in order to get us refocused on what the real problem is – we need living-wage jobs and we need them now.
(Cletus Isbell is a Freshwater resident.)
12/6/04 Those who want Mills Act
should pay for it
Dear Editor,
I wholeheartedly support Humboldt County Supervisor John Woolley's opposition, as reported in the press, to Eureka’s plan to possibly adopt the Mills Act, without the consideration and concurrence of all Humboldt County voters.
County property tax matters must be administered at the county level – increases and decreases in available property tax funds impact all agencies and residents in the county.
The public should be informed, via the press, of the specific potential impact to each and every county agency and entity. This should be a total picture at the level of individual cities and county departments, such as the Sheriff's Office, district attorney, road maintenance, certainly the library, welfare programs, etc., with a grand total for the present year and a projection going out 10 years.
Eureka Councilman Chris Kerrigan is quoted in the Times-Standard as saying, “We certainly don't want to do something that would impact the budgets of other agencies.”
If this is a sincere statement on his part, he should make it a mandatory condition for any consideration of Eureka adopting the Mills Act.
A straightforward way to implement this would be for the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors to reduce county tax fund allocations to the city of Eureka to fully offset the loss of property tax income due to the Mills Act.
In turn, this would ensure that the Eureka City Council gives proper consideration to the cost-benefit aspects of the Mills Act before adopting it.
If Councilman Kerrigan and the city of Eureka want the Mills Act, then they should pay for it.
Cletus Isbell
Freshwater
3/3/04 Are Some
Editors Deaf?
Dear Editor,
The election regarding the recall of District Attorney Paul Gallegos is over and 32,000 citizen voters (61 percent) have shouted their no verdict.
And yet, the editor of our major local newspaper doesn't seem to hear their voices at all.
In his post-election editorial, he devotes a paragraph to lecturing District Attorney Paul Gallegos on the need to "mend fences" with his false accusers. This is an affront to Gallegos and to the overwhelming majority of our voters.
And then to MAXXAM/Pacific Lumber, the instigator, on the $250,000 it pumped into the recall in hopes of hijacking our justice system and avoiding prosecution for major fraud, he says only "let's put this behind us." Unbelievable!
The fact that PALCO employs people and gives some money to charity does not justify or excuse this rogue corporation's blatant attempt to seize control of our justice system.
And he doesn't even mention the law-enforcement unions and their members who distorted facts and told half-truths and outright lies in their vain attempt to justify the recall.
He is correct that fences need to be mended so we can move forward. And the mending needs to be done by MAXXAM/PL, which instigated the recall and supplied the money, the law-enforcement unions and their members, who told the lies and lost their credibility in the process, and this dominant local newspaper, which seemed to amplify and publicize the entire sorry recall mess at every opportunity.
It's these three that need to mend fences, not Gallegos, and there are 32,000 of us who say so.
Cletus Isbell
Freshwater
2/16/05 Online article about water
board was incorrect
Dear Editor,
Your statement in the subject article that "The water board has jurisdiction over deciding how many THPs PALCO can execute" is factually incorrect. The water board has no jurisdiction over THPs.
Rather, the water board requires anyone discharging waste (sediment from logging operations in this case) into our creeks and rivers that may violate state water laws by impacting beneficial uses and by causing flood damage and destruction of property and homes to apply for and receive a waste discharge permit before proceeding.
This is true for PALCO's logging operations just as it would be for a dairy, a chemical plant, a pulp mill or anyone else. PALCO did not do this in a timely manner to support its own schedule, so any delay is solely its own fault.
The water board's responsibilities are, by law, different from and independent of CDF and the other agencies that are involved in THPs. These are not "duplicative regulations," to use PALCO President Robert Manne's favorite words – "different from and independent of" are the operative words here.
If PALCO was logging on flat land where its waste (sediment) wasn't being discharged into streams, the water board wouldn't be involved. But this isn't the case. PALCO is logging on steep, unstable slopes which results in large amounts of sediment being dumped into our streams every time it rains. This impacts the streams themselves and everyone and everything associated with them, including downstream residents who are suffering from flood damage to their homes and sediment buildup over their property.
Any delay PALCO is experiencing is due to its noncooperation in submitting required data to the water board in a timely manner to support its own desired schedules.
I request that your immediate correction of this factual error be as prominently displayed as the subject article which contained the error was.
This is a major issue in our community and your factual error is significantly contributing to the false information being circulated by PALCO, its officers and others with vested interests in supporting PALCO's false claims against the water board.
Cletus Isbell
Freshwater
2/9/04 Maxxam/PL Is
Definitely No PALCO
Dear Editor,
A jazzed-up logo and lots of TV time doesn't make a MAXXAM/PL into a PALCO or magically make it environmentally friendly.
Press releases by PL public-relations talking heads and testimonials from their present and former California Department of Forestry management buddies don't change facts.
They don't seem able to figure out that the best way to avoid being sued for fraud is allegedly to just not commit fraud. This is a cold-blooded predatory company that will never live up to the ethical, moral or legal standards of a PALCO.
PALCO would never have tried to shine up its image problem by slick advertising on TV, because it wouldn't have had a problem in the first place.
PL? Well, that's another story. Just watch them fumble and struggle and shake your head.
PALCO would never have promoted or supported the unwarranted attempt to recall an elected county official.
PL? Well, it has admitted, so far, to spending at least $70,000 in an attempt to unjustly recall District Attorney Paul Gallegos.
PALCO would never have abused its forests and streams, or nature's residents in them, or their downstream neighbors’ properties and homes.
PL? Well, its knowing destruction of these same forests, streams, critters and downstream private homes and properties in order to support Hurwitz's bond debt and profit plan is well documented. The question is what agency will stand up to the political and lobbying heat to stop it? Watch, it's close.
And old-time loggers? They knew and loved PALCO and they will tell you straight out, MAXXAM/PL is definitely no PALCO.
Cletus Isbell
Freshwater
2/2/04 Robert Manne’s Letter Shows
Pacific Lumber’s Doublespeak
In my opinion, Robert Manne's reported letter to the three candidates running to replace District Attorney Paul Gallegos if, and only if, he is recalled, has set a new gold standard for doublespeak. So far, he has been successful in getting a lot of free unearned positive publicity for himself and for The Pacific Lumber Co.
If Robert Manne, PL’s top executive, is sincere that "PALCO wants its day in court" to meet the fraud charges head-on in open court under oath, he can easily ensure that he will have that opportunity. All he has to do is withdraw the demurrer PL has filed in the case before Judge Christopher Wilson rules on it.
I don't believe this is what Manne wants at all. I think his writers have created for him what they think is a PL win-win situation with their clever doublespeak.
Consider PL's possible reaction to Judge Wilson's future ruling on the demurrer. If Judge Wilson grants the demurrer and dismisses the DA's fraud suite, Manne can say, “PL has been vindicated in court, as we knew we would.”
On the other hand, if Judge Wilson denies the demurrer and lets the DA's fraud suit against PL stand, Manne can say, “That's exactly what we wanted, a chance to disprove all the DA's fraud charges in open court.”
Isn't that clever? What other options does he have? And, as I said before, it’s getting Manne and PL a lot of free positive public-relations coverage. I guess that makes it double-clever doublespeak.
If Manne is sincere when he says that “PALCO wants its day in court" to fully answer the DA's charges under oath, he can guarantee that he will get it by simply withdrawing the demurrer before Judge Wilson rules on it. That way his “day in court” can't be taken away from him. I'm surprised his writers didn't think of this.
I think Manne's sincerity in making these statements is extremely questionable, at best. This is the same Manne who wrote the “character-assassination” letters to PL employees and retirees last fall that publicly insulted and demeaned the Humboldt County district attorney and his staff, all the residents of Freshwater and Elk River, EPIC, the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board, and the Humboldt Watershed Council, among others, and the same Pacific Lumber Co. that is almost totally funding the attempt to recall Paul Gallegos, our Humboldt County district attorney, in the March 2 election.
I think that was the real Manne speaking in the “character-assassination” letters -- not the one who wrote to the three candidates that "PALCO wants its day in court." The question of which exactly is the true Manne can easily be answered. Just ask him if he has withdrawn the demurrer -- yes or no?
I think his answer is vital information needed by the voters of Humboldt County in this final run-up to the district attorney recall election and I believe Manne and PL owe us a straight answer.
Has The Pacific Lumber Co. withdrawn the demurrer or has The Pacific Lumber Co. not withdrawn the demurrer? The voters anxiously await Manne's answer.
Cletus Isbell
Freshwater
9/22/04 Swifties Are Delusional;
Bush Gets F+
by Tim Crlenjak
Where were we, fellow polemicists? Oh, yeah, we’re fighting the Vietnam War all over again. Again and again until we learn.
Here’s why it still matters, 35 years later. The Swifties are delusional or suffering from amnesia. Of course, the vast majority of service personnel performed honorably. But the war was ill-conceived and unwarranted. And yes, atrocities happened.
Look at the similarities with the current conflict. LBJ was a macho, Texas politician. Is Bush Light a macho, Texas politician? Check. Have the obvious geopolitical and religious aspects been ignored in the rush to war? Check. Have facts been distorted or “cherry-picked” to justify war? Check. Has the intelligence community been pressured to provide support for war? Check.
Was the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution a phony and trumped-up pretext for war like the Iraq War authorization? Check. Are the poor and middle class doing most of the killing, suffering and dying? Check.
Are the rich at least going to pay for the war, like ’Nam? No, they’re not! LBJ imposed a surtax to pay for Vietnam.
Bush and the Republican leadership have achieved an extraordinary level of cynicism and arrogance: tax cuts, especially for the wealthy, in a time of war; massive deficits to be paid for by a struggling middle class for generations to come. Great job, George W. Bush.
Draft-dodging is not the main issue, although the Bush record is egregious, even for the era. Many men of my generation realized that something was very wrong with the Vietnam War.
I could easily have made a different choice. Like Bush, I was a draft-dodger but joined the Navy. Blue-collar, steel-working Daddy was not connected. Like Kerry, my initial suspicions were confirmed. I understand that honorable people opted out of that war.
But Bush and his apocalyptic horsemen have no excuse. Any man today in his mid-50s who was an able-bodied youth and does not remember the sigh of relief when his too-many-babies deferment or school deferment came through, or his draft number was too high, ought to think a little harder.
That’s the issue here. Men who were young then, men who knew it was wrong, men who took a pass on that nightmare, have created another similar fiasco in their late maturity. It’s far more criminal than anything Clinton did; worse even than Nixon.
This flagrant few (they’re in the pew), this craven crew, it’s their due, they’ll forfeit you. Bush and his neo-con chicken hawks willfully and fraudulently deceived Congress and they are going to walk? Or even get elected (this time)? Where are the articles of impeachment?
Good things can be said about most presidents. Reagan? Sure. Bush the elder? Absolutely. Nixon? Yep. Even LBJ for civil rights and the environment.
But George W. Bush? Zip. Nothing. OK, he promotes physical fitness.
Bush is a loser on: Iraq and the war on terror; international diplomacy; the environment; health care; the economy; women’s issues.
And labor? When Bush talks “Family Leave and Flexibility Act,” it’s not blue-collar families that he’s thinking of, but his corporate “base” of overpaid executives.
Final grade: F+. Worst president ever.
Next time it gets even grimmer as we examine Bush’s attempt at Christianity, yet another failure! No flip-flopping here. At least he’s consistent. Can he hang on to his F+? See ya then, sports fans.
(Cletus Isbell is a Freshwater resident.)
Personalized Results 1 - 10 of about 594 for cletus isbell. (0.09 seconds)
Loren Steffy: Sound Off: Pacific Lumber's bankruptcy
And Cletus Isbell is a supporter of the local DA who was trying to SUE palco. ... Posted by: Cletus Isbell at January 26, 2007 05:38 PM ...
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