My previous article blossomed to about 40 comments. Most of the comments were between Sewertoons and I. I’m happy that there’s finally some discussion going on in the blog, but sometimes I wonder about being careful of what I wish for.

I remember attending one of the first PZLDF (Prohibition Zone Legal Defense Fund) meetings a few years back and it was a small group of people who happened to be people that received proposed CDOs (Cease and Desist orders) from the Regional Water Quality Control Board. At the time, there was a small cluster of CDO recipients who put some money in a jar to hire a lawyer to represent them and defend them from future enforcement. I thought that was reasonable. Start simple.

After a while, the name changed to Citizens for Clean Water and the executive director of the group was Gail McPherson. Oddly enough, she lives outside the Prohibition Zone. After that, the mission of PZLDF was clouded with mixed messages of water board compliance and fighting regulatory enforcement. When McPherson became part of the equation, the message was no longer simple and they no longer had any solid foundation to defend themselves.

Upon looking at PZLDF’s court filings in May 2008, I knew even then that they did not specify a suitable cause of action(s). Upon looking at their most recent filing of the Second Amended Petition for Writ of Mandate, I noticed that PZLDF attorney Shaunna Sullivan felt that it was more of a compelling case to analyze the issue and background information of what the petitioners went through instead of the rule challenging the issue. Moreover, the petition for writ of mandate did not make the intent of the filing clear. Instead, Sullivan petitioned for a long laundry list of causes of action that were not thoroughly touched upon in the text on prior pages.

It was not a surprise to discover that the San Luis Obispo Superior Court ruled (in a ruling filed on January 15, 2009) in the favor of the respondent as it sustained the RWQCB’s demurrer. It was even revealed that the challenge against the issuance of CDOs was “untimely” because the complaint was filed more than 180 days (the window of opportunity to file a CEQA complaint) from the issuance of the last CDO.

To not understand the criteria to file a proper challenge is shameful. To not take action within a reasonable amount of time shows a great deal of neglect. To base a part of the complaint on a resolution (Resolution R3-2008-0005) that has not yet been approved is catastrophically incompetent. The ignorance of such major issues outline — and to a greater extent symbolize — Gail McPherson and Shaunna Sullivan’s lack of understanding. The consistency of this lacking of understanding borders on the intent to deceive.

I’m disappointed by the string of disappointments that were crafted by McPherson. You can take an issue with her for her autocratic micromanaging tendencies, you can take an issue with her inciting divisiveness by personally slandering community members and leaders, but the biggest problem I have is that she keeps failing to meet the bare minimum for creating effective change in Los Osos. The inclusiveness of her initiatives (the coercion of having to unite behind the initiatives) starves other challenges that have a better probability of evolving if not succeeding outright.

The now cash-strapped CCW-PZLDF must make the decision to establish a professional creed that sets the standard for making concise, qualitative assessments of the Prohibition Zone homeowner’s rights. This creed cannot be established if Gail McPherson and her loyalists were to remain on PZLDF or as any significant role in the Los Osos wastewater project.

For the past few days, I’ve been reading and studying comments made on Calhoun’s Cannon. After reading what some of these people are writing, it repels me from writing about the specific topic of Los Osos wastewater. The conversation becomes so rigid and tempers continuously flare… over comments made in a blog article? Is this what Los Osos has turned into? Anonymous jabs by community elitists, blowhards and pseudo-scientists? It blows me away.

When I’ve made physical appearances at CSD board meetings, I’ve never had anyone approach me or start some sort of discussion, but when I step into the blogging medium to issue a comment, suddenly people start saying a lot to me, but because they’re anonymous, they can be hostile and unrepentant. Being anonymous gives people this intoxicating power to be the kind of person that they can’t be in a public setting. Gee… and people wonder why this town is so divisive?

I noticed that people who are representatives of Taxpayers Watch or claim to be supporters of Taxpayers Watch tend to inflate the numbers so that they represent the “majority” of Los Osos. I’ve seen a lot of comments from them that say something like, “We and the majority of the community believe you are [blank],” or “The community does not support ,” as if they represent the community in a partisan manner. This inflated presumption of authority is something that bothers me more than their point of view pertaining to the Los Osos wastewater project. Anyone can have an opinion. Anyone can have an opinion that I disagree with, but when you start saying that you or your group represents the majority, you manifest this mindset, this ideology that the United States fought against in World War II. It’s a very anti-democratic, Aryan-authoritative mindset that evokes war and there is a war going on in our town.

You will never hear me say, “I represent the majority of Los Osos,” or, “I am an authority in Los Osos,” because I know where my place is. I know that I’m not speaking for my neighbors and the community. I’m speaking as someone who lives in the Prohibition Zone and if people agree with my stance, they are more than welcome to stand with me and I will be more than happy to stand with them. Everyone can lead. Taxpayers Watch may have a lot to say, but if they are leaders, they are not people that ought to lead given the lack of actual grassroots taxpayer representation. Instead, they file lawsuits that — to this day — show no actual public benefit unless they write out a check to every homeowner of the Prohibition Zone for the debt caused by the previous board incarnation.

The moment people say, “I’m an expert. I’m a leader,” they disqualify themselves from being a fit leader. One thing that Barack Obama taught us was that the campaign to change Washington was not about him. It was about us. The selflessness found in his message was something that should inspire everyone to take the “me” part out of politics. Unfortunately, Taxpayers Watch is full of “me” pundits. People like Lynette/Lou Tornatzky and Joyce Albright have only shown expertise in knowledge that only they believe to be true, not the truth. The truth is that there is more than one answer, one solution to Los Osos and that truth can only be expressed by those who are willing to stand with others and build a consensus.

As of 9:00 AM PST (12:00 PM EST), Barack Obama has sworn in as the next President of the United States. Congratulations!

Unfortunately, the celebration was bittersweet. Ted Kennedy collapsed at the inaugural luncheon today after suffering a seizure. My thoughts and prayers go out to him and his family.

Dr. Mr Limbaugh,

Hi, I’m a Democrat. You’re probably not going to read the rest of my letter after reading the previous sentence, but like many Americans, I’m concerned about your party, the Republican party, the “Grand Old Party,” the party of spiteful, jaded politics that rallied behind a president who has done colossal damage to our country for the past eight years.

I read a transcript entitled “I Hope Obama Fails” on your web site. I know that you’ve been trying to up your ratings by preaching controversial points of view, but all I’m seeing is just lip from someone who really should be more concerned about reestablishing and rebranding conservative values more than wishing failure on a president-elect before inauguration.

Here’s something I took issue with from your broadcast on January 16th:

Everybody thinks it’s outrageous to say. Look, even my staff, “Oh, you can’t do that.” Why not? Why is it any different, what’s new, what is unfair about my saying I hope liberalism fails? Liberalism is our problem. Liberalism is what’s gotten us dangerously close to the precipice here.

Okay, where has liberalism been a problem? You can talk about Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi all you want and blame them for this and that, but we had George W. Bush who consistently stonewalled what you’ve called the “liberal agenda” through the power of veto. True, we’ve had a Democrat-controlled Congress, but the Democrats haven’t passed that magic 60 number in the Senate to override GOP filibusters so whatever “liberalism” that is practiced — principles that are applied within our government — has been ineffective.

If you’re talking about the ideology of liberalism, I would love to know how the problems of liberalism in our country fare in comparison to the Laissez-faire market deregulation, which led to the subprime mortgage crisis, billions of dollars of bailout money given to banks who haven’t said where that money is going or whether that money will ever have some positive impact on the people who put faith in their crumbling system.

Here’s another point that I have an issue with:

Why do we have to play the game by their rules? Why do we have to accept the premise here that because of the historical nature of his presidency, that we want him to succeed? This is affirmative action, if we do that. We want to promote failure, we want to promote incompetence, we want to stand by and not object to what he’s doing simply because of the color of his skin? Sorry.

Who is saying that? Please point out to me who, in America, is saying that they want to promote failure or completely ignore the possibility of Obama failing because they stand by the historical aspect and stand by him unconditionally because he’s black.

Yes, Barack Obama is an African-American. Yes, tomorrow we will be seeing the inauguration of the 44th President of the United States who happens to be black — and yes, there has been extensive coverage about the inauguration but that’s because this is something that America — throughout its entire history — has never seen before until now. Judgment of his policy will happen once he moves into the White House.

We don’t know what this man is capable of. We know of the promises that he’s made. We know of his cabinet and the diverse bipartisan meeting of the minds that make the cabinet dynamic, but we have not yet seen anything that would justify a wanton request that Obama should fail. You happened to cite liberalism and socialism as two interchangeable terms that apply to Obama’s presidency.

Wait, Mr. Limbaugh. You can be skeptical. You can be one Hell of a ruthless critic if you want to be, but judge based on what’s in front of you, not what you think is going to happen.

If you’re going to say that Obama is going to fail, you are also inadvertently setting up a platform so that your party will fail. The GOP suffered defeat not because Barack Obama is an African-American, not because of incredible amount of shortcomings made by George W. Bush. The GOP suffered defeat on November 4th, 2008 because they wanted Obama to fail so badly, they had nothing else to offer that would make John McCain any more desireable of a candidate than George W. Bush.

Before you criticize Obama, be sure to rebuild your party. Before you say that you want Obama to fail, be sure to remedy the failures by your own party.

I was reading an article posted in the Huffington Post called “Obama and Conservatives Break Bread At George Will’s House,” and what struck me is that Barack Obama is trying to push this Quaker agenda of having everyone sit at the table for a bi-partisan discussion but after he’s met with John McCain and has felt the need to say several times that he wanted conservatives in his cabinet, I’m starting to find his actions to be a bit disingenous.

It’s nice that Obama is preaching and practicing open-mindedness in Washington, but at the same time, I feel like he’s trying to hard to show people that he’s not that “spread the wealth around” socialist, terrorist fist-jabbing Muslim that many conservatives still think he is. I’d prefer it if he focused on revising his economic stimulus package and conversing with the Republican members of Congress on the floor where it matters instead of courting a bunch of prominent conservative pundits who haven’t “forgiven” Obama for his positions as he has forgiven them and moved past their transgressions.

Here’s a transcript of my speech at the Los Osos Community Services District meeting:

You may have your slick brochures and presentations, but it will always promote what Dr. Thomas Ruehr has called a “fatally flawed sewer proposal.”

Ruehr was someone who consistently urged the people to rise up and take action against the government who goes against the grain of their constituents. Even though he left us so suddenly last week, we must carry his legacy proudly and look at the Los Osos wastewater project under a scientific lens instead of pushing for a flawed project.

It’s been said before. The Obama stimulus package hasn’t been finalized and all we know is that there isn’t any specific language that condones a project like this. The project is not “shovel-ready,” and by saying that the stimulus package is in tune with the County’s plans is deceitful and fraudulent. Barack Obama has championed for affordability while we’ve been going through an economic recession. Barack Obama has also said that we need green projects, sustainable projects, innovative projects. The County is committed to more of the same illegitimate practices than actual change. It’s been more of the same.

Ruehr said, “We should correct the problems first. Then – and only then – should we worry about the advertising to sell the project. In fact, this community is highly educated. They do not want to be insulted by glitz from brochures. They want to know all of the facts about the system, all of its components and how all of the previous problems have been changed to meet all of the needs of the citizens of Los Osos.”

Stop insulting us.

Additional commentary:

I shouldn’t say it’s a problem (it’s more like a peeve), but when people say, “I fully support the County process,” I just want to go up to those people and ask, “Why?” I’m asking “Why?” because it seems to me — and I could be wrong — that people are so desperate to not have that septic tank in their front yard. They want a sewer built already. It’s that desperate push for a system whether or not the system is green, affordable or sustainable. Let’s hurry it up!

Everyone wants a sewer because everyone (I’m sure) doesn’t want this issue to be looming over them for as long as they live here. I completely understand. Nobody should be subjected to constant doses of heated discussion, but to say, “Build the sewer already. I support the process,” it’s completely ignoring the socioeconomic impacts that will likely affect Los Osos. People will have to move, life will be disrupted in such a way that there will be a permanent rift between residents.

I keep hearing people talk about the “pro-sewer and the anti-sewer,” while mentioning in the same sentence that they’ve lived in Los Osos for x amount of years. Look, if you lived in Los Osos for a long time, you should realize that it’s not as clear-cut as that. There are people out there who want a sewer but they want the process done the right way. Yes, they want to support that process, but if that particular process neglects to take community input into serious consideration, then the process is flawed.

“Oh, but they’ve held many meetings!” Meetings don’t mean a thing. You can talk about the process as far as the steps being taken as well as the proposed timeline of events, but if you’re going to talk about “shovel-ready” projects and whisper in corners of the room that your heart is still in a place that was supposedly off the table, then the process isn’t really transparent. Just because you hold a lot of meetings locally doesn’t mean it shows transparency.

TOM RUEHR (1943-2009)
AN APPRECIATION

Tom Ruehr was a giant in his community and county and a genuine hero of the Earth. A dedicated teacher and activist, he was a leading voice in the struggle for environmental and social justice for Los Osos and for transparent government absent in San Luis Obispo.

A Renaissance educator, Tom wore a variety of hats with ease and grace. Among his many skills he possessed a genius for clearly, fearlessly and eloquently articulating his positions, in writing and in public, that left no doubt where he stood and which way to go. Understandably, Tom was both revered and feared for his razor-sharp intellect and critical ability to separate the wheat from the chaff, science from myth, fact from fiction, and, ultimately, truth from its pale but highly active competitors.

Brilliant, profound, passionate and courageous, Tom Ruehr was the rarest of human beings: he lived the life he preached. The truth was no abstraction to him; he lived about as close to truth as a man can get and practiced living it with dignity day in and day out. Tom the accomplished individual, the honest and faithful man of matchless integrity, the learned and enlightened teacher, devoted father, husband, brother, uncle and grandfather, is utterly irreplaceable. Fortunately, as a role model, he has inspired an army of believers who will follow his example as thoughtful, caring human beings, always dedicated to infallible truth. That is the bright candle of Tom Ruehr’s lasting legacy that continues to burn within all who knew and admired him.

Tom had been active in the Los Osos wastewater debate since the mid-1970s. Through the years, time and time again, he volunteered his expertise, wrote and spoke out, protecting the community he loved by reminding the State and Regional Water Boards and county that they would be held to higher professional and evidentiary standards. He demanded documentation supported by science and fact, not unproven assertions and unchecked bias. Tom Ruehr, the gentle giant, never backed down from a fight when the truth was on the line.

He relentlessly sought accountability from government agencies on the Los Osos Wastewater Project. Confronted by Dr. Ruehr’s findings (often confirmed by other independent experts), the county felt it had no other choice but to try (and fail) to discredit him simply because they could not refute him based on real science and cold fact, and still haven’t to this day.

The Rock is proud to have featured an exclusive in-depth interview with Tom Reuhr in the May 2007 issue. It may be the most comprehensive interview with Dr. Ruehr ever published and covers a wide range of sewer-related issues that unapologetically cut to the core of the debate. Tom Ruehr’s comments on the Los Osos Wastewater Project on www.rockofthecoast.com are ‘must reading’ for anyone seriously involved or interested in the Los Osos sewer. The truth can be easily found in Dr. Ruehr’s comments, if the truth is what you’re after. His words remain powerful testimony forever on the record.

Ed Ochs
Publisher
The Rock

The Tribune covered an article regarding the Cal Poly protests over the fighting in Gaza. On a local level, it’s drawing attention as it should.

About a hundred Cal Poly students gathered in protest of Israel’s offense against Hamas and the Gaza Strip.

Out of those students, there were two sides: the Students for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (SJMPME) and the Cal Poly Israelites group.

SJMPME member Grace Kirschner said to a KSBY reporter, “Hamas needs to stop sending rockets into Israel, and Israel needs to acknowledge the human rights of Palestinians.”

Easier said than done.

On January 6th, Hamas has said (through spokesman Ismail Radwan), “We will not abandon the battlefield, and we will stay on the thorny course and we will fight until the last breath,”, which is more like a declaration of war than saying something like, “We will be defending ourselves against the Israelis.”

Their language is very much in par with the terrorist theatrics that were made infamous by the likes of Osama Bin Laden and his number two man in Al Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Suddenly, instead of Hamas bringing up the issue of defending the innocent people of the Gaza strip, Abu Ubaida, spokesman for Hamas’s armed wing, the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, says to Israel, “You have been unjust to yourselves by supporting this war against innocent people in Gaza.”

To be fair to Israel, the problem is that the Gaza Strip is an extremely dense area and while there are innocent people who are unfairly caught in the middle of the crossfire, according to Israeli Army officials, Hamas has been firing rockets within these residential areas (as did the Hezbollah in Lebanon from July to August 2006) where there are innocent civilians and to many people’s dismay, missiles don’t discriminate when it comes to hitting targets.

United Nations had reported that 257 Palestinian children were killed in Gaza. This should never happen. Death outside of natural cause should never happen to anyone, however, as unfortunate as the circumstances as, this is what happens when Hamas launches rockets into Israel. Expect retaliation and tragedy. Expect Israel to defend themselves.

The problem that I have is that the Palestinian people should be able to hold Hamas accountable without having to draw suspicion of defending Israel. The people ought to rise up and say, “What do you expect Israel to do when you launch rockets into their land?” They’re not going to sit there and twiddle their thumbs. They’re going to defend themselves and when Hamas conducts preemptive missile strikes within a heavily dense area with innocent civilians, it no longer becomes a war of Israel fighting innocent people. It becomes a question of how competent Hamas is as a government.

If Hamas feels the needs to carry out their fundamentalist, anti-Zionist, extremist ideology more than carrying out their duty to protect the citizens they were elected to serve, then the real war is not with Israel. It’s a war of flawed Islamic ideology that evokes an astronomical amount of selfishness and irony: one that draws innocent civilians into a war between two groups of blood-thirsty ideologues.

Hamas has selfishly put their own people in danger.

Israel, being so accustomed to battle, have aggressively defended themselves to a point that it creates friction around the world, but one must understand the hypocricy of fundamentalist Islam (cause vs. duty) in order to see the issue better. While Israel has conducted operations that raise human rights issues, that does not — and never will — negate the fact that terrorists continue to put their agenda in front of the innocent people that they claim to strongly represent.

Dr. Lynn E. Moody, Chair of Chair, Earth & Soil Sciences Department at Cal Poly, had released a statement to students regarding the passing of Dr. Thomas A. Ruehr, a devoted friend of The ROCK and an active contributor of scientific input for the Los Osos wastewater project. He will be missed, treasured and on behalf of The ROCK, our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family.

Here is the released statement in its entirety:

Dear Earth and Soil Sciences Students:

I have some very sad news.

Dr. Thomas A Ruehr passed away last night.

We all appreciated Dr. Ruehr’s knowledge and teaching skills, and held him in great regard. He loved his students, and I know many of you loved him as well, and we all will miss him.

Dr. Ruehr earned his bachelor’s degree in agronomy at Ohio State University, his master’s degree in agronomy and soil science at Iowa State University, and his PhD in agronomy and soils at Colorado State University. He came to Cal Poly in 1974. Dr. Ruehr taught a variety of courses, mostly related to plant nutrition, soil chemistry, soil microbiology, and bioremediation. He also team-taught courses in global food systems, human values in agriculture, world food politics, and the global environment. This variety of courses reflects his many and varied interests and expertise. Dr. Ruehr conducted research in many aspects of agriculture, food systems, and bioremediation, and has many grants, publications, and presentations. He reviewed many articles and books for the profession, and worked in curriculum development for our department, Cal Poly, and other universities as well. He was very active in his community in many capacities, including as an advisor for the Los Osos wastewater treatment facility.

Dr. Ruehr received many special recognitions, including the Petoseed Agriculture Faculty Award in 1996, a Teaching Award of Merit from the National Association of Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture in 1994, and Cal Poly’s Distinguished Teacher Award in 1980. He was a dedicated teacher, always challenging his students, and always concerned with your welfare, in academic and other matters.

Dr. Ruehr has a wife, Evelyn, and two children (grown), Denise and Brent. I spoke with Evelyn this morning, and she is with friends. Please keep Mrs. Ruehr and their family in your thoughts and prayers. Mrs. Ruehr will notify us of the time and place of commemorative services.

Dr. Lynn E. Moody
Chair, Earth & Soil Sciences Department
Cal Poly State University
San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
(805) 756-2807
lmoody@calpoly.edu

In May 2007, The ROCK unveiled the complete interview with Dr. Ruehr, which can be found here.

I received an e-mail from new CSD director Maria Kelly that I wanted to post here:

Dear Neighbor –

First if you do not live in Los Osos – and some of you don’t, this is still a great opportunity to find out how your local community group is organizing to celebrate January 19th – Martin Luther King Day of Service. The call to action has been nation wide and communities nation wide will be responding with the task that they chose to accomplish for their community. Some of us have been called to action and are now calling our neighbors and friends to help us accomplish the following task:

The Task:
1. Organize by neighborhoods/precincts with a precinct leader
2. Organize teams of 4+
3. Go to your neighbors on the 17th (as many as you can!) and distribute paper bags for a collection for the San Luis Obispo County Food Bank
4. Check your neighborhood on the 19th – we will have tags for folks to leave on their doors if they have something for us to pick up – collect the bags.
5. Designate one team member to deliver to the porch of St.Benedict’s Church on Los Osos Valley road – across from the cemetery.

The goals:
1. Meet our neighbors
2. Meet an ongoing need within our communities.
3. Working together builds stronger communities.

Needs:
1. Precinct Leaders- let me know if you are interested!
2. Walkers

I have agreed to take the task as leader for this one event because I believe in it very strongly and don’t laugh, it sounds like fun! Please email me, call me, let me know if you can spare at least 2-4 hours of time between the 17th and the 19th – if we cover by precinct, it takes about an hour to an hour and a half. When walking with a team, it may be the same because you end up talking more but maybe not.

When you contact me, please send me your address as I will begin to map out what neighborhoods we will actually be able to cover and start putting together teams.
If you have a boyscout troop or a 4H club that needs/wants a service project, this is a great opportunity! My thoughts on this are, even if you can only cover the 10-20 houses on your block and need assistance picking up on the 19th – our community benefits. The need is real, it is great and we can help make sure that for another month, or maybe even two, we ease the burden of those who serve at the food banks and those who receive.

Thank you for your consideration!
Sincerely,
Maria M. Kelly
534-9890

Please see the following website for more information: www.centralcoastunitedforchange.org