Kudos again Roger for your boots-on-the-ground activity in Del Norte County.

On a somewhat related issue, I would like to address our local government “Blight Enforcement” efforts. My neighbor, both elderly and disabled has an overgrown lawn due to a recent illness. I will emphasize that her home is not cluttered with trash, or unsightly in any way; but her lawn is overgrown. After repeated badgering from our Blight Enforcement Officer, she bought what she could afford online, a cheap electric weed-eater, and attempted to meet local “Blight” code. Another neighbor broke out her lawnmower in an attempt to assist, til the lawnmower gave out. I do not own a mower, and nobody else has assisted. Blight Enforcement is still knocking at my neighbor’s door threatening fines.

Recently, our “Citizens Oversight Committee” for the new law enforcement sales tax decided to increase the numbers of Blight Enforcement Officers at the detriment of actual crime enforcement. Lawn Crimes trump Serious Felonies in Crescent City. Instead of focusing on the abatement of drugs, gangs, human trafficking, theft, shoplifting, assaults, battery, public intoxication and robbery; we focus on badgering, intimidating and fining otherwise tax-paying law-abiding citizens who are down on their luck.

I am aware of recent enforcement of Blight in trashed-out neglected and abandoned homeless camps; but these laws were put into effect long before homelessness was an issue in Del Norte County. As longtime locals may remember, these laws and Blight Enforcement efforts began decades back when before the Communist overthrow of California and the decline of free enterprise, when most people were working and had jobs. These Blight Ordinances came about when our local Board of Realtors were looking for ways to harass elderly and disabled residents out of their homes to increase home inventories. Spearheaded by the Real Estate “Activists” at Bayside, our local government embraced the scam with gusto. Fast-forward to today, with available home inventories at an all-time low. The “Blight” vultures are at it again.

Although I am old and disabled myself, if I had a mower, I’d help my elderly neighbor. I don’t call for a letter writing campaign to our City Council, because they do not care about anything but their own wallets and those of the special interests that they serve to pad their pockets. The system is working they way they intend. However, I do call for anybody selling their home to sell it themselves. “For Sale By Owner!” Hire a real estate attorney for advice, and don’t give a single solitary dime to any of these local real estate parasites. Starve the bastards!

I love my Country, but have grown to despise this Government; and NO they are not the same! Always remember, our government and the over-paid elitist bureaucrats that serve it and themselves are not deserving of common courtesy, much less respect. Get to know what our City Counsel Members look like, and do not give them the time of day when you meet them in person; turn your back and shun them. The same goes for our Board of Supervisors, School Board, Health Officers, “Citizen’s Oversight Committees” and every other above the law, god of the universe, scalawag and scoundrel from Crescent City, Sacramento and all the way to the White House itself.