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Letters to the editor, March 13, 2009

Having just read the article by Adam Jensen (Regulation without Representation? Tribune, March 6) I have to completely agree that the TRPA needs change and the sooner the better. Having an elected majority on the board just makes sense. I can attest that the current incarnation of the TRPA does not have locals’ best interest at heart.

As a resident of Tahoe Shores mobile home park, we were not even given a chance to state our case as to if we may still be living here this time next year. I hear so much about limiting new building and new major projects that may have adverse affects on the lake itself.

Million-dollar condos are great for the 3 percent of the population, but if this trend continues in the new world order of our economy, there will not be enough middle-class working Americans to sustain the life blood and soul of South Lake Tahoe.



It’s amazing that eminent domain can be so easily enforced in America, and in its wake leave holes in the ground and the stomachs of former residents because apparently they did not bring in enough tax revenue. Having eight of the 15 TRPA members elected locally makes sense in so many ways.

Bryan Hightower



Stateline

Regarding the supposed cancer benefit for American Cancer Society: ACS, what are you thinking? Why on earth is this event being held, not at Bill’s smoke-free casino, but at the the smoke-filled Horizon of all places? Is this a joke?

We will be forced to breathe 63 known cancer-causing carcinogens, 4,000 to 8,000 deadly chemicals, and 619 additives in second-hand tobacco smoke including arsenic, cyanide, cadmium, acetone, Polonium 210, nicotine (bug killer), and ammonium hydroxide in order to attend a cancer benefit? In other words, we have to risk getting cancer in the future by attending this event inside of a smoke-filled casino?

Ninety percent of lung cancer deaths are from smoking, and the rest can be attributed to secondhand smoke. Get real!

We will not be there. Please find a smoke-free venue in the future. At the very least, we will not have to risk having a heart attack, future lung cancer or an immediate asthma attack that way.

What part of the Surgeon General’s Report stating, “there is no safe level of exposure to tobacco smoke” did you not understand? American Cancer Society, shame on you.

Diana Inagaki

Nevadans Opposed to Smoking (NO Smoking)

I would like to know what our El Dorado County Board of Supervisors is thinking. They have crippled mental health here in Tahoe, and now are in the process of destroying it completely by laying off four more full-time counselors. They have already reduced their staff to less than a skeleton staff. Since November they laid off 15 people. Programs that are vital have been stopped. People need their medications regulated on a daily basis ” you know, the ones who hear voices and need counseling the worst. Do they know that the jail will be even more overcrowded?

The police, who are completely understaffed, will be overwhelmed as a result of our supervisors. So will the hospital and every other agency. Our supervisors are taking people who cannot afford to pay for help and cutting them off. They think a staff of five can handle more than 300 cases.

I am becoming more convinced that they are not in touch with reality. I would like to know what sacrifices they have made.

Have any of them offered to take a large deduction to their salaries to save a program or a counselor’s job? I doubt it.

Michael Pickens

South Lake Tahoe

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or write 3079 Harrison Ave.,

South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150,

or fax (530) 541-0373.

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