Better yet, this silent majority will have the opportunity to speak volumes — about the travesty a small group of marauders in our midst are attempting in an effort to plunder democracy — by stopping a special election attempt at the city level.

Refuse to sign the petition for a recall on two City Council members, Kathryn Murray and Charles Slert.

Who is this silent majority? It is you, the good citizens of Crescent City. The people who pay taxes, take your children to school, sports activities, go to work every day, and give to your community in a hundred different ways.

In explaining his opposition to city participation in local tourism promotion, Dennis stated that “We (city government) don’t benefit the most ... I’m not in favor of it.” I would remind Dennis that this is a nation where the government is supposed to serve the people, not the other way around where “government benefits the most.”

Dennis explained in the article that if a visiting family of four spends $500 during its stay in our community, the city gets “only” about $23 in sales tax and Transient Occupancy Tax. Continuing, Dennis complained that the rest of the $500 goes to the hotel, restaurants and retail shops.

In response, I remind him that the balance goes to the businesses that earned that money, with no help from the city if it does not fund tourism promotion.

The balance goes to the business owner and his family and to desk clerks, housekeepers, gardeners, grocery checkers, baggers, produce workers, butchers, security, janitors, waiters and waitresses, dishwashers, bar tenders, cleaning crews, gas jockeys, mechanics, drivers, insurance brokers and their families.

It was a foggy but warm, beautiful morning. Perfect for agate hunting and strolling along to the pounding of the surf before true winter sets in. We left our truck and walked through the dunes to the beach with our 10-month-old spayed female heeler/

Lab mix on her 6-foot leash.

Suddenly from 20 yards or so away a pit bull charged us, flew onto our pup’s back, rolling her leash out of my grasp and viciously bit on her throat and pinned her, then kept biting until he was on top with her snout flat into the sand and her yelping piteously. I was screaming “No no no no” and my husband (who was recovering from a bad fall) was trying to ward off the fearless brute with his walking stick (no reaction from the monster) and screaming for the owners.

The fact was the pit bull was in full attack mode and humans yelling meant nothing to him. With no provocation, he’d thrown us into shock and terror so fast we were just blindsided! We went into shock just like being in a car wreck!

Del Norte County’s political landscape is often described as green versus brown more than Republican versus Democrat. When it comes to the traditional political parties, we’re about 50-50. It’s harder to measure green/brown allegiance, but certainly both “sides” are represented when it comes to debates over growth control and stewardship of our vast tracts of public land.

But a funny thing is happening here on the North Coast. While our Democrats and Republicans have long worked together on local issues for the betterment of the community, the lines between brown and green are now blurring as well.

Sure, we’ll still squabble over thorny issues like where all-terrain vehicles should be allowed on public property and how to balance the needs for economic growth and environmental protection. But the business community here is increasingly embracing the concept of ecological enterprise — for profit.

Green, after all, is the color of money.

Continually, the citizens of Crescent City are being misled by City Councilwoman Donna Westfall, and now her most current escapade regarding the sewer plant.

“It’s easier to believe a lie heard a thousand times than the truth heard once.”

Councilwoman Westfall has publicly stated on various occasions that she likes to grandstand, engage in theatrics, and admits she doesn't know how government works.”  Clearly, she has proven this self-assessment repeatedly. Westfall is not fit to serve the people.

Not only does Westfall not know how government works, she continually makes false, misleading statements and accusations that further her one-horse, destructive political agenda.

We need to decide what kind of garbage and recycling pickup service we want in the future.

We need to figure out how to configure our elementary schools for maximum efficiency and effectiveness.

We need to make the best possible use of an extraordinary opportunity to improve the health of our community, especially our children’s.

This past year has been surreal. Phrases once taken for granted, like “innocent until proven guilty,” are now painfully laughable.

Within 24 hours of being arrested, I was tried and convicted in the media. Before I ever saw a judge, or heard the actual charges, people from Gold Beach all the way to Eureka, were hearing a vilifying, sensationalized version from the radio, television and newspaper.

Business-wise, the damage was done no matter the final outcome. Personally, it was just beginning.

The following six months of court dates ended with a dismissal, but it felt like six months of walking in the dark, never knowing what was coming or when the bottom might fall out.

Business almost stopped completely, Christmas sales were non-existent and every month posed the question, “Will this be the month we close a business I’ve had open for 12 years?”

The Highway 101 traffic corridor flowing through a row of national chains and fast food outlets is not Crescent City’s most elegant physical feature.  

It is good to show where the monument (designed by architect and City Councilman Charles Slert) is proposed to be located at the S curve.  However, the white frame mock-up there (now replaced by a sign with flags) was misleading, because the monument is a solid geometrical block on an 80-foot pad with five flagpoles, and upward facing night lighting that cost money daily and is bad for wildlife near Elk Creek.

In urban design terms, H Street is appropriately centered about halfway between the 101 corridors and beautiful Pebble Beach Drive. H Street is slowly becoming an attractive, walkable civic center. From the county administrative offices, one passes the freshly painted veteran’s building, the historical society museum, and the county courthouse. The street has a calm, pedestrian friendly feel with small residences and businesses as one continues on to the Front Street Park with an ocean view vista. 

At the proposed S curve location, the monument becomes a poorly recognized drive-by element in an intersection that is already filled with a variety of visual distractions.  The tail end of the southbound 101 lanes is already awkward for pedestrians and cars. There would not be enough space for it to stand out and gain the civic respect deserved of such a monument.