Tulelake/Newell Times
Sacramento removes family from moldy rental home
By Robert Lewis rlewis@sacbee.com
Posted: Saturday, March 6, 2010 3:05 pm | Updated: 3:27 pm, Sat Mar 6, 2010.
Renée C. Byer / rbyer@sacbee.com
Sacramento County public health nurse Julia Noto, right, listens as Anisha Valdez shows
her mold-covered bedroom. City of Sacramento Code Enforcement officials moved Valdez and her family to a
hotel to give the landlord time to make repairs.
Bugs crawl in and out of the gaps in the window frames and under doors. The family uses a hose for drinking water because the kitchen faucet is broken. Walls in the small Sacramento home are covered in black and gray mold.
Anisha Valdez, 26, lives there with her husband and four children, including their 4-month-old baby. Their $1,050-a-month rent is paid with government-issued Housing Choice Vouchers to a landlord with a history of code violations, records show.
"You cannot let people live like animals – worse than animals," said Julia Noto, a Sacramento County public health nurse who alerted authorities to the conditions after a recent home visit.
After city of Sacramento Code Enforcement officials inspected the house Wednesday, they moved the family to a hotel to give the landlord time to make repairs.
Code Enforcement operations manager Ron O'Connor said inspectors found "an abundance of rodents" that left droppings on the kids' toys, a leaky roof, fire hazards and other violations.
O'Connor said he heard mice in the stove that chattered until he banged on the appliance.
"It's not a stove I'd want to use," he said.
The Bee took a sample of mold off a living room wall and had it analyzed at MicroTest Laboratories in Sacramento. The result: traces of yeast and three kinds of mold that can cause health problems.
O'Connor said the owners of the home, Montgomery and Deborah Casey of Elk Grove, will be billed for the family's three- to five-night hotel stay.
March 6, 2010
Basin businesses already hurting
Posted: Saturday, March 6, 2010 3:05 pm | Updated: 3:27 pm, Sat Mar 6, 2010.
By JILL AHO H&N Staff Writer
H&N photo by Jill Aho
Bob Gasser, co-owner of Basin Fertilizer, points to a photo of a tractor rally organized in protest of the 2001 water shut off. The photos remain on the office walls as a reminder of that time.
Service technicians at Floyd A. Boyd in Merrill are working three-day weeks when they would usually be putting in overtime.
Sales are slow at Basin Fertilizer, when product is usually moving out the door.
Workers at the Malin Potato Co-op are working partial days and partial weeks. If water isn’t delivered, they may not work at all later this year, said Dave Cacka, general manager.
“Our best case is we operate on a limited basis,” Cacka said.
The potato co-op employs about 45 people from Merrill, Malin and Tulelake. Some have been with the company more than 10 years, Cacka said. Operating half time would mean some employees would look for work elsewhere. The rest would suffer from reduced wages.
“It’s not just the grower or the owner of the business, but you have labor, the people who own the trucks, trucking agencies and firms,” he said. “It’s a ripple effect that goes much further than the man on the farm raising the crop.”
Then & Now: Water in our Basin
H&N photo by Ty Beaver
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger shakes hands with Jeff Mitchell, Klamath Tribes council member, as U.S Interior Secretary Ken Salazar looks on.
One-Person Towns Eagerly Await Census
AP updated 9:03 a.m. PT, Sat., March. 6, 2010
Photo Credit: Nate Jenkins / AP
MONOWI, Neb. - The founding fathers must have chuckled at the impossibility of the job when they etched it into the Constitution: Count every man, woman and child along every back road and big-city avenue in the entire country.
From Key West to Nome, today's Americans will largely get the founders' joke yet again as the U.S. Census embarks on its once-a-decade count this year — they're accustomed to approximations of how many people plod their shared corner of the world.
Photo Credit: Ed Reinke / AP Mary Faye Shaffer, foreground, points out items in her general store as she sits at the wood stove with regular customers in New Amsterdam, Ind. Shaffer says she counts at least 19 people in town, but both a census estimate from last summer and the 2000 census count say the town has just one resident.
Why does it really matter, after all, that a Nebraska town comprised of a tavern, a few crumbling houses, four street lamps, and one drivable, dirt street be counted exactly right? Or even at all?
One-person towns to Census: Count me in
"Because I live in it," said Elsie Eiler, who is Monowi's entire population. Yet Census Bureau estimates from this summer say that there are two Monowians.
"Where's this other person?" Eiler said. "Let me know. ... I don't want to come back to my house at 11 or 12 and see someone else there.
Photo Credit: Nate Jenkins / AP Elsie Eiler stands near the bar and grill she owns in Monowi, Neb. A census estimate and the road sign outside town says the town has two people. But Eiler is the only resident.
One too many?
The Census Bureau estimates that there are four incorporated towns with just one person. But when contacted by The Associated Press, residents in three of those places say they aren't the lonely souls the census says they are. The population of the fourth — Hoot Owl, Okla. — could not be verified by the AP.
"Who's that one?" said Thomas Saucier of Goss, Miss., one of the supposed one-person towns. "There's 50 right here in Goss!"
Tiniest U.S. communities say their official population doesn't compute
Told that some estimates of the country's most microscopic towns haven't gone over too smoothly, an official of the federal count got a bit chapped herself.
"We're doing the whole country," said Barbara Vandervate of the Census Bureau. "If we could do one state a month, it'd be much easier to count everybody."
And another thing: "If people don't answer the questions, guess what? They don't get counted."
Photo Credit: Nate Jenkins / AP
A road sign outside Monowi, Neb
Read the 2010 census form (PDF)
March 5, 2010
Photo Credit: Library of Congress, LC-USZ62-387
A New Portrait of America
As Secretary of State in 1790, Thomas Jefferson was chief administrator of the first census. He certified the results reported by marshals and assistants in the original 13 States plus the districts of Kentucky, Maine, Vermont, and the Southwest Territory (Tennessee). A total of 3.9 million people were counted in the first census, although for apportionment purposes the count was around 3.6 million.
Spreading the Message
Tulelake, California-- Yesterday, Greta Rodriquez from Bieber stopped by the Senior Lunch in the Drop-In-Center at the Tulelake Newell Family Resource Center to share with seniors how important it is to be counted. Greta Rodriquez from Bieber was invited by Iva Rogers to stop by during the senior lunch.
Greta Rodriquez shared that for each person that is counted a $1,000 in federal funding is added to help with the programs in the community. So it is very important in the 2010 Census to be motivated for everyone to be counted. There are only 10 questions and it takes about 10 minutes to fill out the 2010 Census and mail it back. It is that simple.
So do your part and be counted by helping with more funding for the local communities.
Photo Credit: U.S. Census Bureau, Public Information Office
The 2010 Census-sponsored Ford Fusion No. 16 makes a stop at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington. Greg Biffle will drive the car in the three NASCAR Sprint Cup races in March.
A New Portrait of America
Every ten years, a Portrait of America is taken by the U.S. Census Bureau. The 2010 Census will provide a clear and detailed picture of our nation, and its results will be used to determine how $400 billion in federal tax money is spent in states and communities. Prior censuses have told us our country's population is an extremely diverse one - and these videos, photos and audio files on the Portrait of America galleries celebrate that diversity.
Complete Count Committees (CCC’s) are being formed by state, local and tribal governments, and by community organizations to increase awareness about the 2010 Census and to motivate everyone to be counted.
More than 200,000 nonprofit, corporate, community or government organizations have partnered with the U.S. Census Bureau to encourage full participation in the 2010 Census. These elected officials and organization leaders speak out on a regular basis about the importance of the census to the communities they represent.
Testimonials - Partners
How it works
Politics in Tulelake, California
Theodore Roosevelt
Quote: "To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." ---Theodore Roosevelt
Councilmen and Police Commissioner, "Dar Carroll" on Record at City Council Meeting
March 4, 2010
Publisher and Editor: James C. Garland
The Tulelake/Newell Times
PO Box 772, Tulelake, California
http://rocks4me.com
Tulelake, California -- I attended the council meeting not only as a Journalist, but also as a citizen, resident, regestered voter in the city of Tulelake in Siskiyou County in the State of California, as well as a United States Citizen. Who was born in Long Beach, California in the State of California on Sept 5, 1954. The following is a statement on record by councilmen and police commissioner of Tulelake, California on March 1, 2010 at the regular council meeting. Quote as follows:
Councilmen Dar Carroll and Police Commissioner:
Voter March 2001 p1 CLICK HERE
Quote:“Yeah! You talk about. Beg your pardon? Many years ago I told Tony to quit making statements in newspapers because every time he does the story comes out a lie. So, so we have no lies. I just assume he don’t talk to you. And another thing is you want to know right away. It’s an investigation, they can’t tell you anything anyway. And another thing is when you write something make darn sure it is true or you may end up in court yourself. Because a lot of statements are being made that are not true.”
The above is from Councilmen and Police Commissioner "Dar Carroll" of Tulelake on record and recorded on March 1, 2010 at the council meeting public comment section during the regular meeting of the City Council of Tulelake, California.
City commission government
"City commission government is a form of municipal government which was once common in the United States, but many cities which were formerly governed by commission have since switched to the council-manager form of government. Proponents of the latter form typically consider the city commission to be the predecessor of, not the alternative to, the council-manager form of government.
In a city commission government, voters elect a small commission, typically from five to seven members, on a plurality-at-large basis. These commissioners constitute the legislative body of the city and as a group are responsible for taxation, appropriations, ordinances, and other general functions. Individual commissioners are assigned responsibility for a specific aspect of municipal affairs, such as public works, finance, or public safety. One commissioner is designated to function as chairman or mayor, but this is largely a procedural or ceremonial designation and typically does not involve significant additional powers beyond that exercised by the other commissioners. As such, this form of government blends legislative and executive branch functions in the same body.
It is in many ways similar to the "weak mayor" form of mayor-council government.
The Mayor–Council government system, sometimes called the Mayor–Commission government system, is one of the most common forms of local government used for the most part in modern representative municipal governments in the United States. It is also used in some other countries. The Mayor–Council variant can be broken down into two main variations depending on the relationship between the legislative and executive branches.
Weak-mayor, or ceremonial, form
In the weak-mayor form of the mayor–council government, the council possesses both legislative and executive authority. The council may appoint officials and must approve of mayoral nominations. The council also exercises primary control over the municipal budget.
The mayor, though elected, has little real political power and less independence under this form, serves largely ceremonial duties, and may even be a member of the council.
Charles Adrian and Charles Press explain, "The weak-mayor plan is a product of Jacksonian democracy. It comes from the belief that if politicians have few powers and many checks, then they can do relatively little damage."
This form of government is most commonly used in small towns in the USA. It is a variant of the city commission government.
Voter March 2001 p2 CLICK HERE
Strong-mayor, or executive, form
The strong-mayor form of mayor–council government consists of a popularly elected executive branch and a legislative branch, usually a city mayor and unicameral city council respectively.
In the strong-mayor form the mayor is given almost total administrative authority and a clear, wide range of political independence, with the power to appoint and dismiss department heads without council approval and little public input. In this system, the strong mayor prepares and administers the city budget, although that budget often must be approved by the city council. In some strong-mayor governments, the mayor will appoint a chief administrative officer, or CAO, who will supervise department heads, prepare the budget, and coordinate departments. This CAO, sometimes also called a city manager, is responsible only to the mayor. Most major American cities use the strong-mayor form of the mayor–council system."
Now which kind of city government do you think the city of Tulelake has? A Weak-mayor, or ceremonial, form or Strong-mayor, or executive, form?
Send your comments or Letter to the Editor to Publisher and Editor of the Tulelake/Newell Times. To be published with your point of view and opinions in the "Letter to Editor" section of the Tulelake/Newell Times on line.
James C. Garland - Publisher and Editor of Tulelake/Newell Times at rocks4me@msn.com
The Tulelake/Newell Times
PO Box 772, Tulelake, California
http://rocks4me.com
Print Here.
February 28, 2010
Lines drawn over census results
By Kristi Keck, CNN
(CNN) -- President Obama recently encouraged Americans to "take about 10 minutes to answer 10 questions" and fill out their 2010 census form.
This year's questionnaire is one of the shortest in history, but the results of the survey have long-term effects.
"There is no representative democracy without it. It's the scientific, nonpartisan, apolitical starting point of what eventually becomes a quite partisan, political process," said Kenneth Prewitt, a professor at Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs and the former director of the United States Census Bureau.
The census, taken every 10 years, is used to determine how to allocate more than $400 billion in federal funds and seats House of Representatives and determine the boundaries of representatives' districts.
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