Letter to the Editor, Desert Dispatch - August 30

Letter to the Editor
Desert Dispatch
August 30, 2007

Citizen Oversight and Public Participation

If you read the Constitution, the Federalist Papers, or any of the writings of our founding fathers, the over-riding philosophy was about freedom. Their directive to all future generations of Americans was that freedom isn’t free and the price of freedom is eternal vigilance in protecting those freedoms. Freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, and all of those freedoms guaranteed under the Bill of Rights, must be preserved through public participation and oversight of their governments at all levels.

Thomas Jefferson said that: “Dissent is the highest form of patriotism!” Ben Franklin urged the people to be protective of your rights at all cost and added that: “Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security, deserve neither!” Our founding fathers even advocated a violent revolution to take back the government from tyrannical leaders, which is the motivation for the Second Amendment with the right to bear arms.

Public Participation is the friend of any politician that is trying to do the people’s business. However, when special interest groups like Barwest start buying up influence, politicians like Mayor Dale start viewing public participation as a nuisance and those that disagree with their agenda as the enemy. Thomas Jefferson addressed this issue when he said: "I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it."

I have had strong differences of opinions with Mayor Dale and his three vote coalition. Top of that list would be Indian Gaming as I am 100% convinced that the Barwest project will never ever succeed. And yet Barwest has bought influence and had some of our local leaders compromise the institutions in the process. They have corrupted our political process and violated our elections.

Whether the issue is economic development, community planning, green energy, youth activities, or environmental concerns such as the Hinkley human sludge threat, I do my research and speak the best educated truth that I can. But those who don’t like what I may have to say have chosen to make personal attacks on me and my family instead of sticking with the facts of the issues involved.

The BarWest Kool-Aid Club is now engaged in an all out campaign to smear me with lies, false accusations, and name calling. Tom Shields is actively involving his local groupies, to spread these lies at City Council meetings and in this forum. Space does not allow me to delve into my response to each and every one of their vicious attacks. But when you see the lies from Robert Vassuer, Charlie Moore, Julie Clemmer, and those that are certain to follow, please know that they are doing the bidding of this outside Detroit developer. You should also know that the truth will be revealed soon enough and the credibility of these attackers will be lost forever in the process.

My definition of treason definitely includes those that would suppress public participation and dissent with financially motivated smear attacks filled with lies. Martin Luther King used to say that: “The only thing necessary for evil to flourish is for good people to do nothing. I would encourage all citizens, Republican and Democrat alike, to become more involved in citizen oversight at all levels of government.

It is imperative that we heed the warning of Thomas Jefferson when he cautioned that: "Experience hath shown, that even under the best forms (of government) those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny."

Larry D. Halstead, Barstow

Note - Letters to the Editor are available on the paper's website starting the night before they appear in the paper. I have been reading them early there for awhile now. This piece did not show up the night before and as of this post is still not available online. Normally I might consider this a simple oversight but back during the campaign, the paper screwed up all of my advertising and my 'Candidate Responses' to their questions that they posed to all the candidates. The screw ups were so blatant and frequent that it was laughable. What makes this all highly suspect is that the paper has received tens of thousands of dollars from BarWest and their PAC not to mention a small fortune from the City of Barstow. Worse yet, Bea Lint, the Advertising Director for the paper, participated in the BarWest election of Tim Silva and Julie Hackbarth McIntire by secretly serving as their Media Adviser. When I confronted her on this, she claimed that she was dispatched by her editor to do so. The fact that this is a right wing oriented paper only reinforces their motives in always seeming to screw on on anything I submit.

Barstow Citizen Oversight on the Internet

When it comes to protecting our democracy, the drum I beat the most is Public Oversight. That means you simply pay attention to what your elected officials are up to and that way you know when it is time to take action when things go awry. In Barstow, before the internet and before Councilman Joe Gomez made a push to get our meetings on the internet, the only way to conduct this Public Oversight was to get your butt off the couch, turn off the TV and spend hours at a time watching meetings that can often get boring on many of the agenda items. But after fighting Joe Gomez kept pushing the idea, we now have the luxury of watching the meeting in the comfort of your home or office. Best of all, if you miss them when they are live, you can see them whenever you want. To the technically challenged like myself, I have broken down the steps necessary to do just that.

How to View City Council Meetings

If you live in the City of Barstow and have cable TV, then you can watch the Meetings of the Barstow City Council, Planning Commission, and Fire District, live on Chanel 6 and later as reruns. Otherwise, you can view them on the internet along with the agenda for the next meeting as follows:

1. Go to the Barstow City Website - http://www.barstowca.org/ or Click Here.

2. On the horizontal directional bar, click on “City Government” and then on the drop down menu click on “City Council”

3. On the new window there is a menu at the left of the screen, click on “Agendas and Minutes”.

4a. Regular meetings - On the new window there will be another menu on the left of the screen. Click on “City Council” or Click Here or cut and paste the following:
http://barstow.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=2

4b. Special meetings - On the new window there will be another menu on the left of the screen. Click on “Special Meetings” or Click Here or cut and paste the following: http://barstow.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=3

You will notice that the video for the Special Meeting of August 28, 2007 is broken into two different videos:

Special Meeting - Open Meeting Prior To Closed Session,
Special Meeting - Continued Meeting Following Closed Session

Skipping ahead when watching the video - Underneath the video screen is a time bar that will allow you to move ahead to any point in the meeting. Just below that time bar on the right is a time counter which tells you how many hours, minutes, and seconds into the meeting. Between now and the time that am able to become technically able enough to record and edit relative portions of the video, I will direct you there by giving the exact time at which the comments occur. For example if I mention something that happened and I cite the time as: [2:43:26] In that example, the comments I am directing you to watch would be two hours, forty-three minutes, and twenty-six seconds into the meeting.

For your convenience, there is a drop down window under the video that will allow you to “Skip Ahead” to another agenda item in the meeting. The complete Agenda and other relative documents are on the right of your screen.

Citizen Oversight and Public Participation

Citizen Oversight and Public Participation

If you read the Constitution, the Federalist Papers, or any of the wittings of our founding fathers, the over-riding philosophy was about freedom. And their directive to all future generations of Americans to come was that freedom isn’t free and the price of freedom is eternal vigilance in protecting those freedoms. Freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, and all of those rights granted under the Bill of Rights, must be preserved through public participation and oversight of their governments at all levels.

“Dissent is the highest form of patriotism!”

Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson said that: “Dissent is the highest form of patriotism!” Ben Franklin urged the people to be protective of your rights at all cost and added that: “Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security, deserve neither!”

The words of the founding fathers go as far as to advocate a violent revolutions to take back the government from tyrannical leaders. This was the motivation for the Second Amendment with the right to bear arms. The clear intent of that Amendment was that a well armed militia "being necessary to the security of a free State". A militia at that time was a voluntary people’s army that was formed to take back control over a territory or the whole country. The founding fathers knew that if we were not vigilant, then tyranny would certainly follow.
















Public Participation is the friend of any politician that is trying to do the people’s business. It provides them with valuable input and new ideas and how to create responsible and responsive government.

However, in this day and age of lobbyist and special interest, politicians have increasingly come to look at the public participation as a nuisance and those that disagree with their agenda as the enemy.


Thomas Jefferson addressed this issue when he said: "I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it."

But modern day politicians have trended to ignore the warnings of our founding fathers and the underlying philosophy that drives the Constitution. Consequently, they have attempted to restrict and limit the public’s access involvement in the public process. These days there is almost always a time limit, usually three minutes, for which a citizen is allowed to speak on any issue. Bigger municipalities like Los Angeles have reduced the time limit to one minute. If you educate yourself on a particular issue and attempt to present an articulate argument, three minutes is almost never adequate to speak your mind.

What has developed is an us vs. them mentality where citizens are having to go to battle with their elected officials just to participate in the way that our founding fathers anticipated we should. Countless lawsuits have resulted while meanwhile citizens are routinely interrupted, cut off, and even arrested when they try and exercise their First Amendments. As a result, case law and legislative law has come to dictate the parameters of how a open government should operate.

The Brown Act has become the premiere over riding law on open government in California. Anyone that has followed any city council or county supervisor meetings is undoubtedly familiar with The Brown Act. Enacted in 1988, and is officially known as the Ralph M Brown Act and is actually part of the California Government Code, Sections 54950-54962. It was enacted to attempt to shed some light on backdoor politics and protect citizen participation and oversight.















The Brown Act basically states that all local governments must:
-Post notice and an agenda for their meetings, at least 72 hours prior to the meeting.
-Notify the media of special meetings.
-Hold meetings in the jurisdiction of the agency.
-Not require a "sign in" for anyone.
-Allow non-disruptive recordings and broadcast of meetings.
-Allow the public to address them.
-Conduct only public votes with no secret ballots.
-Treat all distributed documents as public.

City councils and county supervisors have increasingly tried to skirt these laws by taking agenda items into closed session. I have seen a rise in use of the closed sessions to “close-out” the public from what is going on in their government. Some politicians have remained true to public participation and the Constitution by resisting the use of closed sessions. One councilwoman in San Diego has refused to participate in any closed sessions at all.

Throughout my life I have been committed to speaking out on issues that I feel strongly about, and feel that I can add something to the debate. I make a practice of speaking out at council meetings, County Board of Supervisors, the State Capital or other public forums. I have also participated as an activist in rallies and demonstrations on those issues. I believe in writing “letters to the editor” and to your elected officials. I have also done a fair amount of talk radio which can be an excellent way to get your message out and participate in citizen oversight.

Here in Barstow, I have had strong differences of opinions, on a range of issues about policy issues of the Council, most notably the Mayor. Top of that list would be Indian Gaming as I am 100% convinced that the Barwest project will never ever succeed. And yet Barwest has bought influence and had some of our local leaders compromise the institutions in the process. They have corrupted our political process and violated our elections.

Some of the other issues I care about involve economic development, proper community planning, bringing green energy to Barstow, youth activities, local environmental concerns, and the Hinkley human sludge threat, just to mention a few. With the election last November of the two Barwest candidates, (Tim Sylva and Julie Hackbarth McIntyre) Mayor Dale now enjoys (and abuses) the power of having a guaranteed majority vote on every issue. I often find issues of public policy that I disagree with but I am under increasing personal attack for speaking out.

I always try to research any issue I speak out on. And I try to speak the best educated truth that I can bring to the “public comment and participation” segment of our Council Meetings. But those who don’t like what I may have to say have chosen to make personal attacks on me and my family instead of sticking with the facts of the issues involved. People that know me know that I will always speak my heart and with the passion of believing that it is the truth as best I know it.

In the future, I intend to continue speaking out on issues when I disagree with government policy. I am proud of my record of speaking truth to power. Martin Luther King used to say that: “The only thing necessary for evil to flourish is for good people to do nothing. I would encourage all citizens, Republican and Democrat alike, to become more involved in citizen oversight at all levels of government. I believe it is more import to speak out and protect the spirit of the Constitution, than it is to enter the popularity contest involved in worrying about the negative personal attacks from those ignorant and disrespectful of our American heritage. My definition of treason definitely includes those that would suppress public participation and dissent.

It is imperative that we heed the warning of Thomas Jefferson when he cautioned that:

"Experience hath shown, that even under the best forms (of government) those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny."