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Mailbox
Editor:
Thank you for shining the light on the arrogant actions of local builder Travis Schneider, and the responses to his building violations by the Humboldt County Planning Commission (NCJ Daily, Aug. 8).
Mr. Schneider needs to be held accountable for ignoring the stop work order. It’s creepy to read his scripted sounding remarks; since he keeps invoking images of his children — “tears streaming down their faces,” “being tucked into bed” — I want to hear how he teaches the kiddies simple concepts, like, “No means no” or “Stop right now.” At the end of the most recent meeting, Mr. Schneider pledges to seek approval “at the local level.” Is that what the image consultant is recommending now?
The defense (devotion?) iterated for Mr. Schneider by Planning Commission Chair Bongio tracks like a trail of slime. His racist remarks are unacceptable and he should already be gone. It is also appropriate to question his fitness for the job: he defends Mr. Schneider’s 8,000-square-foot mansion as consistent with the others in the area that are half that size — stating nearby houses are “in the 4,000 to 6,000 square foot range.” It calls into question his sense of proportion. Really, he needs to resign if only to spare us from his public displays of obsequiousness.
Trust in government erodes when such shenanigans arise “at the local level.” Thanks for keeping us informed.
Sheila Evans, Eureka
Editor:
In your article about Arcata City Councilmember Brett Watson seeking re-election (“‘Outcry,’” Sept. 8), he says: “I believe it’s important to challenge the assumption that support for my campaign is defined by who has time to email their council member or attend a public meeting.” This dismissiveness toward people who took the time to email him or to speak at public meetings about his down, or be swept away by a flood, or for your water to be rationed, or to suffer 115-degree heat to accept that while we may not be able to stop this catastrophe, we must make substantial effort to mitigate what and where we can or our future will be “absolute global chaos.”
It doesn’t matter if mankind is a major driver of this change, or whether the change is a result of natural forces, there is evidence that we can mitigate its effects. Our ingenuity has never been inadequate to any task, but time is running out on this one. Larry Hourany, McKinleyville
sexual harassment of a city staff member is astonishing.
As I mentioned in my own (May 18) letter to Mr. Watson, the 600-page report unequivocally supports the staff member’s claims about sexual harassment. The pages of Mr. Watson’s texts to the staff member are both obsessive and disturbing. The public has also been privy to Mr. Watson’s ongoing antagonism toward staff in city council meetings, as he pulled consent calendar items only to berate people and flex his own ego.
He needs to resign.
Erin Kelly, Eureka
Editor:
Regarding Jerry Rohde’s column “This Land is Their Land” in the Sept. 1 NCJ:
As a thought experiment, consider if those of us who are descended from colonists, settlers and immigrants stopped reproducing. Not impossible since birth control has been legal for over 50 years.
Then the indigenous American Indians could finally retake the continent in only two or three generations. After 500 years. Of course, all new immigration would have to end also.
Just a thought experiment. Carman Gentile, Arcata
Weeping for Our Climate
Mankind has a very real danger closing in on it: This danger is moving at a rate that is making a mockery of avoidance and denial. It is climate change (Mailbox, Sept. 1). Science, that purveyor of the magnificence through which civilization flourishes, also provides us with the methods and markers to gauge the degree and rate of this change. Despite occasional disagreements, 97 percent of climate scientists agree not only about the magnitude of the change, but about the consequences. And, most ominously, they agree this change is speeding up.
You don’t need your house to burn
MAD RIVER COMMUNITY HOSPITAL Health Fair
FEATURING
• Vendors, Booths & Exhibits focused on wellness • Fresh produce from our garden for sale • Gift shop sidewalk sale at 75% o • Low cost blood testing • Free giveaways & Ra es
Terry Torgerson
Correction
The photo on the cover of the Sept. 1, 2022, edition of the North Coast Journal was credited to the wrong entity. It was taken by Valerie Hanson and the Journal regrets the error.
The Red Moon Rises (A Haiku)
Fires burn in the east, Smoke lifts high into the sky, The Red Moon rises. — Sherman SChapiro
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