December 13, 2007 meeting

RCD staff Karen Whipp announced that the agenda for the meeting was legally posted outside the RCD meeting room in the USDA building on Wardrobe Ave. She also said that staff doesn’t not send out staff reports on agenda items to either board members of members of the public because of time constraints. She said county and city boards do the same.

In fact, it is possible to get staff reports for all items on county Board of Supervisor agendas Friday afternoon before the meeting on the following Tuesday.

Merced CA (February 12, 2008) – A Merced County Superior Court ruled on February 7 against respondents Merced County Board of Supervisors approval of the Black Diamond Aggregates project. Petitioners in the California Environmental Quality Act lawsuit were Merced-based San Joaquin Raptor Rescue Center and Modesto-based Protect Our Water.

Judge John D. Kirihara ruled that a writ of mandate would be issued to "vacate and set aside the approval of ...the project."

A number of years ago a state forester was interviewed concerning changes in the culture of his agency following the passage of the Endangered Species Act, the California Environmental Quality Act, and kindred legislation regarding the forests. He said, "I knew I was in a different world when bureaucrats started talking about 'viewsheds.'"

Many of us wondered, when John Edwards quit his campaign for the Democratic Party nomination for president, if the subject of poverty might not disappear along with his campaign. The middle two passages in this posting are recent columns indicating that at least some journalists have managed to remember poverty remains, despite the disappearance of its champion in this campaign year. The columns are framed by passages from two books of prophetic social science, written 30 years ago.