.Letters to the Editor

06.24.09

 

More tribal power grabs

The Robinson Rancheria Tribal Council were all voted out during their last election, and they disenrolled the tribal member who won the Tribal Chairman position (“Inner Circle Outcasts,” June 10). The current council will not recognize the last election, like the Iranian government. What’s the difference?

I am a member there but work for a different tribe. My relatives work at the Robinson Rancheria Casino. The current tribal council is micromanaging and fraudulently transferring funds of the Tribal TANF program because there is a lack of or no oversight of that program. These funds are your tax dollars.

I believe the only reason they don’t try to steal casino revenue from the gaming business is because there are much more stricter gaming controls in place to monitor gaming revenue.

The Anderson family is not stepping down from the council, even though they have been voted off in the last tribal election and they have been systematically disenrolling members or firing anybody who does not support them or speaks against them. They do not remove my family members because we are an old original Robinson family.

Michael A
Upper Lake

Whose ass is at Fault?

Lindsay Pyle’s thoughtful article about the proposed asphalt plant (“Tit for Tat,” June 17) captures a fundamental problem with California society today. As a native Californian who has lived or worked abroad and in several other states, I understand California’s “la-la land” reputation. We insist upon a lifestyle whereby we gobble up incredible amounts of the earth’s resources yet moan whenever any project necessary for our lifestyle occurs anywhere near us. People feign concern about global warming yet insist on exporting our trash or importing our asphalt–never mind the huge amounts of wasted fossil fuel and bloated costs.

Kevin Starr, California’s state historian, captured the essence of this problem in his book Coast of Dreams: California on the Edge, 1990-2003. California, he writes, “contained within itself the mind-set of a resort–a society, that is, with little room for the trade-offs, the nitty-gritty, the ambiguities of a real-time American place. California was a society that wanted the good life but was not prepared to deal with the environmental trade-offs the good life demanded.”

We have gotten away with this for several decades, but we won’t much longer. Our budget deficits and sour economy will bring us back to some semblance of reality.

Craig Harrison
Santa Rosa

From the Niece, No Less

I am Robert McChesney’s niece, the daughter of his sister, Mary Ann McChesney Harris. I want to thank you for such a great article on my “Uncle Pearson” (“True Bohemians,” June 10). I hope to be able to make it up for the show during its duration.

He was indeed a colorful character, even as a young man, according to my mother. A maverick in his small town of Marshall, Mo. Too artistic and hearing the call of the wide world, he left as a fairly young man.

A friend who lives in Santa Rosa alerted me to this article, and I want to thank you for writing it.

Roxanne Harris Hill
Westlake Village, Calif.

From the CoFounder, No Less

Please pass on my congrats to Alastair Bland for his excellent article on Transition work (“Cheer Up, It’s Going to Get Worse,” June 17). I found it balanced, engaging and well researched, with lots of characters to liven up the text. One of the best articles on this subject that I’ve read, anywhere.

Ben Brangwyn,
CoFounder, Transition Network
Totnes, U.K.


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