CCT

Dave Mason Nails Sups Howard & Hemmingsen on Withholding Information Re: Indians Reclaiming Land

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By Donna Westfall – April 26, 2018 –

If Dave Mason never spoke up at Tuesday’s Del Norte County Board Of Supervisors meeting held April 24, 2018, we would probably not know until some time in the distant future that the Tolowa Dee- Ni’ Nation wants to expand their borders: 13 miles starting from the Oregon border going to the southern tip of Lake Earl, and 5 miles going inland equaling approximately 6,000% expansion .

Supervisor’s Howard and Hemmingsen sit on a committee called a 2 by 2. They attend meetings and learn information.  They are supposed to report out to the public at the next Board of Supervisor’s meeting the information or salient points of their 2 x 2.  This they did not do. Did they violate the Brown Act?

The Indian Tribe has been working on reclaiming land since 2012.

Congressman Huffman sent out letters dated April 4, 2018 regarding this issue. Howard and Hemmingsen attended a 2 x 2 on January 8, 2018, three months prior to Huffman’s letter.

If it hadn’t been for someone posting on Huffman’s letter on Facebook and picked up by Jaime Yarbrough, then spread around Facebook, most of us wouldn’t have known what has been going on.

In his most powerful speech todate, Dave Mason, Candidate for District 4, Mason enumerated the following:

  1. Chris Howard denies knowing anything prior to Congressman Huffman’s letter dated April 4, 2018.  Later he recants at a public meeting.
  2. Jan 8, ’18 Howard & Hemmingsen attend a 2 x 2 on the Issue
  3. Jan 9, ’18 Howard & Hemmingsen stated during BOS reports of their meetings that they had attended the meeting, it was an excellent discussion.

Nothing further. The public doesn’t have a clue as to what transpired in the 2 x 2.

Mason shifts his focus from reciting the facts to reciting a portion of the Ralph M. Brown Act.  In Chapter 9:

54950. In enacting this chapter, the Legislature finds and declares that the public commissions, boards and councils and the other public agencies in this State exist to aid in the conduct of the people’s business. It is the intent of the law that their actions be taken openly and that their deliberations be conducted openly.
The people of this State do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies which serve them. The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people insist on remaining informed so that they may retain control over the instruments they have created.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

13 responses to “Dave Mason Nails Sups Howard & Hemmingsen on Withholding Information Re: Indians Reclaiming Land”

  1. Jesse Davis Avatar
    Jesse Davis

    This looks like an attempt to mislead the voters for personal political gain. This is divisive politics that doesn’t really serve local needs or solve problems. I heard no ideas or positive solutions, just one sided accusations with no intent to learn the truth. Dave, it’s getting hard to ignore all the respectable people who have nothing good to say about you. Please do not add to the division in our community; please help to solve real problems, thanks.

    Reply
    1. Samuel Strait Avatar
      Samuel Strait

      Jesse, I have a question for you, Would you like to see what is happening at the BOS continue for another two years? I see that you are aware of the division in our community and no doubt you see that it for the most part is a division along political party lines. Currently Democrats hold political sway in this State and are responsible for most of the decision making in this State. At the local level we do not have the kind of political clout that will gain much attention at the State level, even if we agree with what is happening. It is incumbent upon us as you have stated in previous comments on this site to protest in a reasonable fashion anything we think is not right, no matter whether it is a local,State, or Federal issue. Whether you support SB 54 or not, it does have a variety of impacts at the local level, economic for the most part that no one seems to be concerned about. The expansion of Tribal lands to the extent being discussed will have similar impact. If you trust our representative, Mr. Huffman, to do the right thing for us in this County with regard to the expansion of tribal lands, then I will say no more. In that case, the failure of our County’s representatives to keep the public informed about the issue is a moot point. If by some chance Mr. Huffman is not a man of his word, and the expansion would have gone forward with little or no notification, then Supervisor Howard and Hemmingsen have failed in their duties to keep the public in the loop, something that should have happened no matter how this issue is resolved. It is strongly indicative in the careless approach Chair Howard has towards the proper way local government business should be handled. If various members of the public were to press the issue, there have been regular violations of the Brown Act under Mr. Howard’s watch and violations of the First Amendment in several instances. Whether your opinion is that Mr. Mason is politically posturing prior to a coming election, you should be able to discern that three supervisors on the current board act in a manner that heightens this divisiveness and does not encourage government for the benefit of the County as a whole, or show any kind of unity. If you think that anything is going to change regardless of Mr. Mason’s posturing right or wrong, I think that retaining one or both of the current supervisor’s up for re-election will not reflect well for the County in the future. Keep in mind that supervisors sit on other boards and commissions where bad judgement and decisions can also effect this County in a fairly dramatic fashion.

      Reply
  2. Wesley Nunn Avatar
    Wesley Nunn

    Go Dave Mason! Nothing misleading about it, Jesse Davis. Just the facts. I personally agree with Dave that it is of the utmost importance to keep the public informed that border changes are proposed.

    I served with Dave years ago on the local solid waste task force. He’s a straight shooter and I very much appreciate his bringing this matter to light. Sorry you disagree, Jesse, but your attitude may be part of the problem. If you’re asserting there’s something right about keeping the matter quiet, I couldn’t disagree with you more.

    Reply
  3. C. Luttrell Avatar
    C. Luttrell

    I totally agree Jesse. I am afraid that Mr. Mason doesn’t have much experience solving problems. I personally asked for his assistance several times when he was Mr. Blight to no avail. “I will add it to my stack” was his favorite response.

    Reply
    1. Samuel Strait Avatar
      Samuel Strait

      I live in the County on a street, about twenty four properties, where there are two properties with serious blight problems and four more where the blight is moderate. For the past eight years I have lived next to an extremely blighted property that has just recently been cleaned up by new owners. It took them nearly a year of hard work to transform the property.

      If you think that a single code enforcement officer can operate on the basis that every complaint he receives will be addressed immediately, you need your head examined. There are properties in this County that are beyond the pale blighted and every where in between. I know being an enforcement officer, especially the only one, is not going to make you many friends. Mr Mason, whether you like him or not was given an almost impossible task with very little in the way of a budget or resources. If those that are complaining about his efforts as a code enforcement officer for the County were to walk in his shoes, I’m willing to bet you they would change their tune. I don’t care whether you are a respectable citizen or not, to judge a man on hearsay or even from the stand point of “I made a complaint and he said I will add it to my stack” does not even begin to understand the amount of code enforcement necessary on any given day for a single person to deal with in this County.

      It would take an extremely dedicated person just to cover the most obvious cases of code violations, let alone all of the more minor instances. I don’t know Dave all that well, but the few contacts that I have had speak well for the man who is only interested in what is good for the County. I believe that he will do his homework and most importantly vote yes or no on the issues before the BOS. His opponent over the times that I have been present at BOS meetings is regularly unprepared and shies away from tough decisions by voting to abstain. Not much of a leader or representative. He has had twelve years of “adding to his stack” with almost nothing to point to as an accomplishment. Time to give someone else a shot at fixing just a few of the many problems we have here in the County. I say dump Hemmingsen, and give Dave Mason a shot at moving forward on so many of the things where Gerry Hemmingsen has failed to produce.

      Reply
      1. Larry Laffer Avatar
        Larry Laffer

        Excellent post. I too believe that Mason can only be a positive step in fixing some of the problems that have not been addressed by (some of the) current BOS, or have even been brought on by some of them. We are a community largely dependent on just a few economic factors: PBSP, fishing, tourism. Tourism is the area the BOS can have the largest impact. As an owner of a vacation rental, I repeatedly hear from vacationers how disappointed they are in the blight, the vagrants, and the look of storefronts. If the BOS were to put in place a plan of action to deal with these three elements, not only would tourism go up (a tax gain for CC/DN), but property values would increase (another tax gain for CC/DN). The resultant revenues would solve some of the financial issues that CC has due to past poor decision making. The only hope of accomplishing this is the replacement of three of the board members.

        Reply
  4. C. Tygart Avatar
    C. Tygart

    Except for the fact that these two (Mason & Smith) candidates are “WAITING until elected” to get a look at the budget…. HELLO, it’s public information. You should have been gathering all of that (information) before you signed up to run…. and had solutions and suggestions for your campaign.

    What the heck are you waiting for?

    And these smart guys want to lead our community?

    Reply
    1. Samuel Strait Avatar
      Samuel Strait

      I am willing to bet you that even the sitting supervisors who are running for re election don’t really have much of a grasp of the current budget, public information or not. What is your point?

      Reply
      1. C. Tygart Avatar
        C. Tygart

        If they are stupid enough to spout that they are waiting until elected to get a look at the budget to make real change – what IS the point?

        Reply
        1. Samuel Strait Avatar
          Samuel Strait

          Apparently you do not understand how the budget cycle works. There would be very little need for the challengers to be familiar with this year’s budget. That’s for current board members to examine and approve. If the challengers are fortunate enough to be elected in November of this year, then they may wish to examine the 2018-2019 budget in preparation for the 2019-2020 budget year. For all practical purposes a budget will be some what different each and every year. Challengers really won’t be involved in the 2018-2019 budget and can only glean a certain amount of information that may or may not be relevant if they are elected to office. So I guess what you meant to say, is you have no point.

          Reply
          1. Mel Avatar
            Mel

            WOW! Sam is going out on a limb to tell us that an understanding of the budget is of no use. Sam, you devalue other your other statements when you don’t even thing the people who hold the purse strings should know the ins and outs of a purse.

  5. Roger Gitlin Avatar
    Roger Gitlin

    Code Enforcement Officer Mason answers to CDD Director AND the BOS. Let’s be fair and not so ideological C. Lutrell and Jesse Davis.
    Roger Gitlin

    Reply
  6. Angelina Countess Bieber Avatar
    Angelina Countess Bieber

    Having a hung jury on every topic doesn’t produce any results or progress. The Gang of Three are so hell bent on sabotaging Roger and Bob, that they have completely lost their way. They don’t vote based on defending the Constitution or pass the necessary Measures, Codes, Ordinances or Resolutions that we need as a community to perpetuate growth, prosperity and safety. They are nothing but obstructionists and in office for their own political and personal gain( a paycheck and benefits). That’s it. Because if they were there to accomplish an altruistic civic duty, they would vote accordingly. It’s midterms. It’s imperative that (H & H) get the boot!

    Reply

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