CCT

About Town

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by

nick
in

By Donna Westfall – June 13, 2017 – While collecting signatures on the Petition for Recall of Sup. 2nd District, Lori Cowan, former constituents, now friends like to spend time catching up.  Lots of news about births, deaths, sickness, neighbors and crime.

The Bryan Ranger case is finally going to trial after four years.  Yesterday, Judge Spinetta spent hours listening to witnesses including Dr. McKellar.  It was after listening to Attorney Joyce Blair from the Attorney General’s office prosecuting the case,  that I walked out. This was after hearing her ask for an opinion from the Doctor on a hypothetical situation wherein she droned on and on and on and on and on. Fortunately, the good Judge didn’t allow the question. Today, the process of picking a jury begins. The Judge anticipates the trial lasting 2-3 weeks.

People are complaining about the petty thefts going on all over the city. Another aggravation expressed are the barking dogs that bark nonstop and their owners seem deaf to the noise… plus nobody will do anything about it at Animal Control. Then there’s the motor home’s that seem to park wherever they want, dump their trash, and again, nobody does anything about it.

This morning, I went and took pictures of one motor home parked in a vacant lot situated between the Thai House restaurant and the Safeway shopping center.  It’s not the weeds that are the first eyesore.  It’s the pile of trash several yards from the motor home that catches your eye.  Parked there for several weeks, no one on the public payroll seems concerned about enforcing the law and having the motor home removed and the trash picked up.  No wonder our town looks like a dump.

 

 

 

 

Comments

5 responses to “About Town”

  1. Linda Sutter Avatar
    Linda Sutter

    Well don’t expect the city council to do anything about the above picture. Blake Inscore said, “that is somebody’s home”. Ok well that is somebody’s home but when do we begin to respect the garbage that is displayed by “somebody’s home”?I personally grew up in very poor conditions. Our furniture was tattered and torn. It was hardly worth sitting on. But, we kept our house, clothes, and yard very clean. There is no excuse why our city officials take a stand that it is alright to allow blight in a shopping area that is seen by everyone.

    This is not beautification of our city. I have watched on the City website where people actually come and ask that hanging baskets of flowers be hung around our city. What for? When the city has no ambition to clean up the area. Another waste of taxpayer dollars.

    I am accused of complaining about everything. Hmm. well somebody got to do it…These elected officials who have their rose colored glasses on might want take a real gander of our Community and surrounding area. Do you not see what is wrong with the above picture? Have you not driven over there and got a nice close view? In the mean time, these elected officials are all getting fat from sitting on their bottoms, attending fund raising parties that provide food, drink, laughter and taking your money for their own self interest.

    Cant we just get back to the basics? Can’t we develop some real pride not false pride?

    Reply
  2. WTF Avatar
    WTF

    Donna, I want to thank you for writing an excellent newsletter. Your four paragraphs have given me more local news than I might get in a month from the Trip. Your time and effort is very much appreciated.

    I have seen that motor home you are referencing and have the same concerns you have. You may have also noticed that he has several “objects??” placed in water outside of the motor home- are there any environmental issues there?

    Frankly, with our new elected representives at the city and county levels I was hoping that we might see more unified actions to clean this town up. Instead, we have bickering and going down rabbit trails that lead to nowhere. Nothing of any real substance is getting done. Do others feel this way?

    Reply
  3. Nicholas Maietta Avatar
    Nicholas Maietta

    That RV belongs to Steven Thomson. He’s in and out of jail and always causing a problem in the city limits, doing a lot of yelling non-stop through all hours while riding around on his green BMX style bike. He’s been there more than 30 days between 2nd and 3rd.

    I did some 4 wheel driving out behind Safeway and area about 3 weeks ago before I left and noticed that his RV is practically too dangerous at this point to be on the road, as I went off road, in the gravel area and saw the passenger side of the RV. It’s dilapidated and is absolutely and obviously not safe. It needs to be forcefully removed from him. He’s better off without it.

    A few months ago, he managed to set his table on fire inside the RV. My own RV was parked behind my office, he was parked with his next door on vacant property. Around 2 am (a few months ago) I had to call the fire department due what I at first, thought was a firebomb. He had a gas can near the table and was burning a candle and fell asleep. The explosion was very loud and woke me up. He was lucky he didn’t get hurt that time.

    As of this writing, you can look at the http://ois.dnco.org website. Here’s a photo of him: http://ois.dnco.org/ptmp/I114108.jpg. He was again, released today, yet again with no charges listed. He’s constantly in and out of jail.

    He has a long history yelling in the middle of the night, waking people up, and then running from law enforcement when they appear. He’s constantly being contacted by LE and asked to tone it down.

    The last time I saw him, he got extremely angry with me because I wouldn’t talk to him and kept riding my bike. I waved down an officer and she keep tabs on him, as I advised her he was likely going to be a handful again that evening. I was right. The scanner has repeated calls by the community dealing with him.

    If I was law enforcement, I would have CHP tag the vehicle next time it is on a street. If it’s on county owned land, i would immediately tag it for removal. I would keep eyes on it near the 72 hour mark and then require he not drive onto the roadway with it. At that point, the city/county needs to pony up the required money to have it towed away.

    None of the tow companies in town will touch it. (The city police contracts for tow rotations, but I guess it’s up to the tow yard to decide if they want to deal with something like that). However, it’s just a matter of time before someone’s going to have to tow it regardless. Better to get it dealt with.

    Another thing that annoys me about this situation. The guy is OBVIOUSLY not okay to be riding his bike around when he’s off his meds, or high on something. As a result, he should be jailed for DUI like anyone else would. Yes, riding a bike while impaired is a DUI offense. Once they do that, he can lose his license. If he’s caught moving the RV, under that premise he’d lose his RV and be re-jailed. It is for his own safety that RV needs to be removed from him. It is a major health hazard.

    It is beyond just being ugly. This particular situation is a bad one that has been going on far too long.

    Reply
  4. ScannerLand Nick Avatar
    ScannerLand Nick

    Donna, someone just spray painted “Free RV, Tow Me” on the motor home. Just heard it on the scanner less than 10 minutes ago. The owner flagged a cop down to report.

    Reply
    1. Nicholas Maietta Avatar
      Nicholas Maietta

      A group of young punks were avoiding cops and creating graffiti at various places yesterday include a bus stop at the Clinic. I wonder if these situations are connected.

      Reply

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