Please vote Yes on Measure B

Article Last Updated: 06/02/2008 08:01:42 AM PDT

To the Editor:

Don't sit on the sidelines on Measure B. Please come out and vote on what your mind and heart tells you. You have heard the issues and views from both Yes on B and No on B advocates. Supporters believe Measure B will meet the needs of all seriously ill Mendocino citizens, reduce toxic exposure to the brains of children and adolescents, reduce crime, nuisance, and environmental pollution. Opponents of B believe the current 25-plant limit is necessary for medical illness, will not contribute to crime, and will improve the economy. Others believe that improvement can occur only when federal laws might change in the future. But, for the here and now in Mendocino County, all of us must weigh in with our beliefs. Come out and vote Tuesday, June 3rd.

Robert Werra M.D.
Ukiah

Ukiah Daily Journal Staff

Article Last Updated: 06/02/2008 08:02:05 AM PDT

To the Editor:

I am so terribly afraid that the illegal dope growing drug dealers have taken control of what once was a very nice place to live. I am afraid that the recent fact that the registrar of voters has been flooded with well over 2,000 new voter registrations in the past couple of months is an indication of methodical and devious tactics of the No on B supporters, who will do anything to maintain their strangling hold of this county.

Surely not all of the new voters registrations are from legitimate Mendocino County residents. They are probably from people who live out of our county and are making it appear as if they are legitimate residents purely for the purpose of defeating Measure B. You watch, as soon as the election is over these registered voters will scatter like cockroaches in daylight. There are even ads on the radio from the No on B faction promoting this activity.

I am afraid that the criminal element has infiltrated our local government by deceit, fraud and financial backing by NORML. This criminal element has taken over like a cancer spreading its disease into every facet of our local government. Has anyone checked to see where election campaign contributions have come from? Has anyone followed the money?

I am afraid that when our sheriff had the guts to stand up to the dope growing, drug dealers, they threaten him with impeachment as a tactic to try to shut him up. I hope this doesn't happen and that the good people of Mendocino will see through this attack on our highest level law enforcement official. If they control him, they control the county.

I am afraid that while the Yes on B Coalition played by the rules, the No on B people scurried around like rats in the night stealing and defacing the Yes on B signs placed on private property. They distributed confusing literature full of lies and misinformation concerning what Measure B is all about in an attempt to scare people who might have a small amount of pot into thinking they will be targeted by law enforcement. The reality is non-medicinal use of pot is illegal. It has been for over 40 years. Yet, no one has had their doors kicked in by law enforcement because they are smoking a joint in the privacy of their own homes, not unless there is more severe legal activity going on to warrant this.

I also do not believe the No on B people have at all been honest about their funding. Common sense dictates that a large amount of money has probably come from out of county and most likely from NORML, a nationally based organization trying to legitimize the dope growing drug dealers. The No on B people have hired consultants to aid in distraction techniques aimed at confusing the average Mendocino County resident about what the true facts are concerning Measure B.

I am afraid that we have lost our beautiful county to the drug dealers whose slogan is Support our County' when in fact the only thing they are interested in is supporting the environmentally destructive profits which goes directly into their drug dealing dope growing pockets as well as the pockets of their unethical and immoral attorneys who sell their souls to the highest bidders.

Yes, I am afraid that the citizens of Mendocino County are being held hostage by the dope growers and drug dealers. We have slowly allowed them to take over. I am afraid it might be too late to save our county. If we do not actively try to stop the dope growing, dope dealers by demanding that a voter registration fraud investigation be started immediately even if it means postponing the current election, we may never have another chance to stop the criminals. They are too financially supported and too devious. They are a parasite that is eating away at our community. I strongly encourage everyone to please vote Yes on B on June 3rd and don't buy into the propaganda sludge that the opposition has attempted to brainwash and confuse us with. This may be our last chance. We need to break free of the bondage that the drug dealers have on us. Please vote yes on B.

Sallie Palmer
Ukiah

Ukiah Daily Journal Staff

Article Last Updated: 06/02/2008 08:02:02 AM PDT

To the Editor:

I have been listening to people talk about why they are either for or against Measure B. I am for Measure B because since Prop 215 passed I have seen a big decline in our youth.

There are a lot of businesses that are saying they are having trouble getting young people to work. When I was working for Willits High School as a coach some of the players were getting a hold of marijuana. I had trouble having them keep their grades up. A lot of them became ineligible at the end of the quarter. I never saw any student go from a C to a B while using marijuana. I have never heard of any teacher saying a student's grades improved by using marijuana. There may have been one or two. I personally never heard of any one including parents say that it did improve their children's grades by using marijuana or that it made their child a better student.

I have talked to over 200 students' parents in the past 10 years and they felt marijuana did a lot of damage to their children's lives. That is why I am voting Yes on B in June.

Dan McBride
Willits

Article Last Updated: 06/02/2008 08:01:34 AM PDT

To the Editor:

Why does "Yes on B" have my support? There are several reasons, one of them being the absolute rudeness of "No" supporters at the Forum on B held last week at the Willits Grange Hall. Even after their speakers politely offered their reasons for a "no" vote (medical marijuana), it was painfully aware that the vast majority of "no" people in the audience were there because they want to continue on down their path of greed and refusal to make a living in some honest and legal way.

Believe me, I voted for Prop. 215. I fully support honest peoples' rights to use medicinal marijuana within the limits set by the State of California, as well as their personal medical doctor. I support the growers who grow without profit for these people who need their medicine for legitimate reasons.

The main reason I support a "Yes" vote is my frustration in being unable to safely walk on and enjoy my own property anymore. There is marijuana growing just over our fence line. None of us is willing to go to the far reaches of the property to check for pot growth, for fear of what or who we might find there.

We are the third and fourth generations of our family to care for, nurture, protect and love our land in Willits. Another generation -- my grandchildren -- wait in the wings to play on their land and cherish it as we do. I cannot, in good conscience, allow them to play there as their parents did. It is just too risky. What a very sad thing.

If there were no other reason for me to vote "Yes on B," this would be it. I want Mendocino County to go back to being the peaceful, beautiful place it was when my children and I grew up. I truly fear for the future of Willits and Mendocino County if Measure B does not pass.

Please join me in voting "Yes!"

Kathleen Lewis
Willits

Article Last Updated: 06/02/2008 08:01:34 AM PDT

To the Editor:

Let's all begin the process of taking back our community and providing a better place for our children. Please join me and vote Yes on Measure B.

Paul Jepson, M.D.
Ukiah

Article Last Updated: 06/02/2008 08:01:37 AM PDT

To the Editor:

Measure G has opened a floodgate of criminality in Mendocino County. People from all over the state and the world poured into the countryside and neighborhoods to grow commercial marijuana.

They don't care about anyone or anything else. Some are growing large crops in the thousands. Others are growing smaller, yet still lucrative grows right in the middle of once quiet, safe neighborhoods. The danger from these growers -- their verbal threats, guns and vicious dogs is obvious.

But, there is another, more insidious kind of criminal that came out of the woodwork. This is the commercial grower who amasses big bucks while pretending to grow for medicinal purposes. They claim to be a caregiver providing medicine for the sick.

Then out of the other side of their mouth they say, "Marijuana is the number one cash crop in Mendocino County." Why? Because it's illegal. Do these people really want marijuana to be legalized? No. They want prohibition. They like prohibition. It keeps their profit margins high.

They claim to be interested only in marijuana for medicine, but then proudly proclaim marijuana is the number one crop in Mendocino County.

Well, which is it -- medicine or money?

I think we all know the answer.

Please vote Yes on Measure B.

Larry Puterbaugh
Ukiah

Article Last Updated: 06/02/2008 08:01:37 AM PDT

To the Editor:

The how and why of the California six plant limit.

A visit to the pro-marijuana website, http://www.safeaccessnow.net/sb420letter.htm, shows the letter from John Vasconcellos and Mark Leno, authors of SB 420, which established the six plant guideline in 2002.

They note that, "We have crafted SB 420 as the result of three years of intensive negotiations among all key stakeholders (including patients, providers and physicians)..."

They also say that, "These guidelines are endorsed by several credible knowledgeable supporters of the medical uses of marijuana: Dr. Marcus Conant (well respected HIV/AIDS doctor), Scott Imler (long-time medical marijuana patient advocate and president of the Los Angeles Cannabis Resource Center), Marsha Rosenbaum (medical sociologist and director of the San Francisco office of Drug Policy Alliance), and Jerry Uelman (Professor of Law at Santa Clara University and medical marijuana defense attorney)."

Most important of all, they note that the adopted state limit of six mature plants or 12 immature plants and 1/2 pound of dried marijuana isn't inflexible, but rather allows any patient to have more if a physician recommends that they need it.

They conclude by saying SB 420, "Provides broad protection to tens of thousands of ill Californians without jeopardizing any ill Californians."

As the election approaches, voters should beware of last-minute misinformation from the opponents to Measure B.

The SB 420 guidelines were carefully developed to account for the medical needs of patients. In contrast, Richard Johnson, the principal author of Measure G, has described the 25-plant limit of Measure G as being, "Entirely arbitrary. We were going for the maximum." It is the 25 plant limit that has no scientific or medical basis.

We have a crisis from the impacts of commercial marijuana. Measure B will help us deal with this crisis by getting us back in line with the rules that govern in the vast majority of California counties instead of making Mendocino County a magnet for commercial growers.

Ross Liberty
Ukiah