Kaminski family thanks Avalon community
From the family of Jamilyn Kaminski, and our beloved pet Kodi Fox Lynde. Who will be forever missed. We are truly humbled by the thoughtfulness of friends who prayed for us, hugged us, in our time of Losses. Our hearts are empty and our plates full. We are finding balance as we accept, and heavenly peace as we forgive. We’ve learned death is a word. Devastation is what you cope with. Colossians 2:5, for I am absent in the flesh, I am with you in spirit. Just as we need to learn to live, we need to learn to die. Cleanse not only your body but your soul too.. Love is the only eternal grace we receive in heaven- it’s all we’ve sent.
We wish to thank our Avalon community, Doctor Richard and Anne Denney for their unconditional support, Doctors Norton, and Doctor Mellon, Catalina Island vacation rentals, Catalina Islands women’s forum, Linda & Michael Rivkin, all those wonderful people who donated to the raffle, Shawnen e& Bluewater Grill work crew, Megan Wright & the Avalon Grill work crew, Michelle Bray and Boys, Catalina sea spa. Lourdes, Island Breeze salon and spa, Sarah Costa, Island spa Catalina, Lola, Lobster Trap. A shout out to Casey Ulrich, Jessie, Kate Cush, Lynde’s Inn, Mark & Cathy, Penny &f amily, the Larson, Belde, Cushman, families,James, Vince,Jose..and the many friends of Jamilyn’s.
Listening to the stories of Jamilyn … so much shared, so much love, it was truly heartwarming.
We thank the Minneapolis Cremation society, Sea Breeze Pet Cremation society for taking care of us all.
Domestic violence is real, Mental Illness happens, I’m just sayin’. Reach out.
Sue Lynde, Jamilyn, Kristopher, Michael and Samantha Kaminski. Kodi Fox, Meah, Chula
Avalon
Re ‘Displacement’ letter
Our “displaced” (read “ex”) City Attorney Pam Albers called me out not once, but seven times in her letter to the editor last week (“Displacement of the neighborhood if Vons built,” Catalina Islander, Friday, April 17.) She gave me a lot of credit, but many of her assertions were simply not based on facts. I am writing to set the record straight.
First I want to be clear I do not have anything to gain by supporting Vons other than some shopping choices, fresh food, room to maneuver a cart and a happier wife.
Ms. Albers is a trained attorney who has skin in the game. As such, she is highly motivated to do what attorneys are trained to do. Find the loopholes. Make small issues big. Confuse the jury. Twist the facts. Question the credibility of people, companies and even the California Public Utilities Commission.
Read her letter. She has not only added nearly 1,000 square feet to the building, she has dramatically expanded the Vons project, adding a Starbucks, a Panda Express, a bakery, a bank, a pharmacy and even a Chuck E Cheese, all of which will put nearly everyone else out of business … and she accuses me of using scare tactics?
She quotes me as suggesting a new Vons would not be financially viable unless every single visitor bypasses local businesses to spend their dollars at the new Vons. She forecasts the end of the drought with a 100-year rain that will spare Vons but flood the neighbors. She asserts that the Chamber has inappropriately used their millions to send “misleading” emails in a sophisticated PR campaign in support of Vons and she asserts that “secret deals” were made to allocate water to the project.
As with all good stories, it is her ending that really slays me. She tries taking the high road. Her motives are pure. She is fighting this righteous battle for the history and character of our town (this is a dirt lot we are talking about) because she does not want our town tarnished by short-term thinking and greed.
I have to give her credit. She is good at this. She has successfully brought the Vons project to a halt with her tactics. She has made the “real issues” so complex that the sub-council voted not to vote. The project is on hold pending an as yet unscheduled (and unclear) meeting with the CPUC to question their water allocation policy.
The CPUC has already investigated the allocation of water for the Vons project and has responded to the City of Avalon in writing that the allocations were in full compliance with policy. As a courtesy to the city, the CPUC agreed to meet to discuss water policy.
This meeting has very little to do with the challenge to the Planning Commission’s approval of the project by the anti-Vons folks. The straw-drawn sub-Council was to vote on that challenge on April 21. Instead, they called a special meeting and voted to delay the vote until after the meeting with the CPUC.
I do not blame them. The weight of this decision lies squarely on their shoulders. It is a huge burden. This decision should not be made by a sub-council. It probably should not even be made by the council. This is a community decision that should be put to a vote of the citizens and property owners of Avalon. Unfortunately, we cannot get to that point until the council votes to vote.
If you believe as I do that Vons is not a convenience store, but an essential service within our community, it is time to make your voice heard above the noise and fury. If we do lose Vons we will lose a lot more than a grocery store.
John King
Avalon
Reality check and real solutions to drought
No one at the Federal, State or local level wants to talk about the real problems affecting our water. Clear cutting, pollution and new orchards, we don’t need. If you look at Google Earth around Mount Lassen Volcanic National Park and Mount Shasta, you will see that more than half of the Sierra is bald from clear cutting. With no trees to protect our snow pack, it evaporates right back into the atmosphere. With less trees there is nothing to pull what little snow we have into our watershed. Between the clear cut hot mountains and the pollution bubble over Northern California, all of the storms are going around us.
Crain Orchards, the fifth largest and wealthiest walnut producer, just put in a 700 acre orchard across the street from our home and wells have been going dry in Red Bluff, as a result. During the last rainstorm, they and other orchards were irrigating, while residents have to wait 48 hours after a storm to water our lawns. Citizens have to live by legal limitations, but farmers can keep putting in water sucking orchards with no restrictions.
On 99W, some farmer not only tore out essential wetlands, which was illegal, but put in another monstrous orchard, which is now running wells dry over in that area by Walmart distribution. They were fined a pittance and allowed to keep their orchard, when they should have been fined millions and made to pull the orchard out. Farmers take 80 percent of the water and only contribute 2 percent to the California economy. We are the bread basket of the world, but if California runs dry, the bread basket is gone, even for the farmers.
This is happening all up and down California.
Everyone in California should be making sacrifices, including farmers. As I see it, farmers putting in these new unnecessary orchards don’t care about the farms of the future or California’s future, all they care about is making as much money as they can now and the rest of California can just suck it up!
Homes keep being built, when there is not enough water for our current population. Stop over-farming, over cutting our forest and over-building California and just maybe we can save California!
Thinking we can continue doing this without destroying California is just another pipe dream cooked up by the government and rich corporate farms, who care nothing about the future of California!
The other thing we need to look at is building pipelines from over saturated North Eastern America to our mountain ranges and let nature take its course.
Think of all the jobs that would create! If we can build pipelines for oil, why can’t we build pipelines for water?
When it comes to California water, there is no red or blue, both political sides only see green, including Gov. Brown.
All this talk about building more reservoirs and tunnels to fix our water problems is absolutely idiotic and a waste of money, as we can’t fill our lakes and reservoirs up as it is.
We need to address problems at the source, pollution and over-abuse of our water first, before we spend any money on storage and we need to do it now or California will die, including all of the farms.
Our creeks are already running dry and dying in Northern California and we are at the top of the watershed. Some real solutions are needed to save California economically, environmentally and recreationally.
Pat Johnston
Red Bluff, CA
