Council Behaving Badly - Fullerton Observer

Page 10 FULLERTON OBSERVER LOCAL NEWS
MID DECEMBER 2010
Find Out What’s Happening
Countywide at VoiceofOC.org
The Voice of OC, a non-profit investigative
news agency, launched its website
www.voiceofoc.org in early 2010 to provide
in-depth coverage of the most important
stories in Orange County.
The reporting team includes Tracy
Wood, who also serves as an advisor for the
Fullerton Observer. Tracy was one of the few
women assigned as a combat correspondent
during the Vietnam War for UPI. She also
worked as an investigative reporter for the
LA Times for 17 years and later became the
OC Register’s Investigations Editor. She has
won numerous awards and was named LA
Print Journalist of the Year in 2001 by the
professional journalism association Sigma
Delta Chi. She and eight other reporters
co-authored “War Torn, Stories of War
from the Women Reporters who Covered
Vietnam” (2002 Random House).
The other editors and reporters on the
team, including Norberto Santana Jr.,
David Washburn, Adam Elmahrek and
Terry Francke each have equally impressive
backgrounds.
The groups list of boardmembers
includes former Senators Joe Dunn and
Marta Escutia, UCI Law School Dean
Erwin Chemerinsky, journalist turned UCI
law school professor Henry Weinstein,
journalist Daniel Weintraub, and attorneys
In just one sign of ongoing Southwest
drought conditions, Lake Mead was down
to 39 percent capacity in Sept. 2010.
From California to New Mexico, the
Southwest is in the midst of a drought that
just won't quit while experiencing the
warmest decades in more than a thousand
years, the latest issue of the Proceedings of
the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)
reports.
Whether it's caused by greenhouse
gases or nature, it's still
climate change, said Glen
MacDonald, a UCLA professor
specializing in drought research
and the guest editor of PNAS's
new drought issue. From
research on devastating historical
droughts to climate models
from top scientists predicting
only a drier, warmer future, the
articles spell trouble for the
region, he said.
“It doesn't matter what side of
the debate you're on,” MacDonald said.
“We're facing a chronic water shortage.
These things can happen. They've happened
in the past. We're in the midst of a
prolonged drought and we have to plan for
it.”
The combination of an unusually long
drought — 2001–09 so far — that also
affects even the region's distant water supplies
converges like the perfect storm to
make this the “perfect drought,”
MacDonald said. Many cities have already
enacted water restrictions, he writes in his
introductory article, but it's not enough.
While the water shortage continues, growing
populations mean demand is still
increasing.
With roughly 80 percent of water use
going to agriculture, and 50 to 70 percent
of urban water use going toward landscaping,
those are the obvious places to conserve,
MacDonald said.
“We're not talking about cutting back on
drinking or bathing,” he said. “I'm all for a
pretty landscape, but if we look at where
our major urban water savings can be, it's
in landscaping.”
Stephen M. Garcia, Jess Araujo, Thomas V.
Girardi, and James J. Brosnahan.
The site is well worth bookmarking for
anyone interested in a reliable look at what’s
happening within the county. You can also
sign up for the news update to come directly
to your inbox. Some of the current topics
on the site include:
•You Don’t Need a Blue Card to Speak
Your Mind at Public Meetings
•OCTA Tweaks Its Public Comment
Policy
•Superior Court Judge Denies Request to
Halt Fairgrounds Sale
•No More Valet Parking in Artists Village
•County Computer Contractor Gets
$254,000 Bonus
•Supervisors Approve DA’s “Spit and
Acquit” Program
•Appeals Court Blocks Pulido-Involved
State Property Sale
•Moorlach’s Controversial Ex-Chief of
Staff is Back as Consultant
•More Bad Budget Medicine for County
•CalAware Wants Officials to Check
Blackberries at the Door
•Irvine to Reform Email Records Policy
•OC is Still the Wild West for Lobbyists
•KOCE on Fire Authority Layoffs
•More Bad Budget Medicine for County
•Preparing for Disaster in the OC
The Southwest's ‘perfect drought’
means it's time to plan
Likewise, farms will have to find ways to
cut back. Improved irrigation practices and
breakthroughs will help, and genetically
modified low-water crops might be another
solution, he said.
“We still can't attribute this 100 percent
to greenhouse gases,” he said. “We need to
do more studies before we can emphatically
say it's outside the range of natural vari-
ability ... What we're seeing
in the Southwest is
consistent with greenhouse-gas
climate change,
but being cautious scientists,
we can't say that yet.
We also can't confidently
say it's not.”
Whatever's causing it,
climate models suggest it's
only going in one direction:
warmer and drier.
“I suspect some people
will use the medieval
drought to say we don't
really have to worry about greenhouse gas,
but we don't have evidence to show that,
either,” MacDonald continued. “We have
to deal with these arid conditions whether
greenhouse gases caused it or not. We have
increasing demand and decreasing supply.
It seems wise to me to start planning now.”
Whatever's
causing it,
climate models
suggest it's
only going
in one
direction:
warmer
and drier.
The above is an excerpt of an article by
Allison Hewitt. Read the entire December
13, 2010 news release at
www.newsroom.ucla.edu
Haines Shoe House
Continued from frontpage
Haines Shoe House was built in
1948 by Mahlon Haines. It is located
on Shoe House Road between the
Lincoln Highway (state route 462)
and U.S. Route 30. The Shoe House
is easily visible from Route 30. The
building was modeled after a hightopped
work shoe. It is a wood frame
structure covered with wire lath and
coated with cement stucco. It is 48
feet long, 17 feet wide at the widest
part and 25 feet high. The interior
consists of five different levels and
contains three bedrooms, two bathrooms,
a kitchen and a living room.
Originally the Shoe House was
used as a guesthouse. Haines invited
elderly couples to spend the weekend.
He also let honeymooners stay there.
Mahlon Haines, known as the Shoe
Wizard, was one of York County's
most colorful citizens. From his first
consignment of $127 worth of shoes,
he built a shoe sales empire in central
Pennsylvania and northern Maryland
that included more than 40 stores.
Throughout his life he was an
enthusiastic supporter of Boy Scouts,
staging safaris that brought thousands
of scouts to his Hellam
Township "Wizard Ranch".
Go to www.hellamtownship.com
for more info.
Tax Move Deadline Looms
The Internal Revenue Service
reminded taxpayers on Dec. 14, 2010
that they have about two weeks left to
make their final financial moves for the
2010 tax year. Taxpayers may find tax
planning done now may well save time,
and money, later. Several key points to
consider:
•Charitable Contributions
– Make 2010 deductible
charitable contributions no
later than Dec. 31. If the taxpayer’s
goal is a legitimate tax
deduction, give to a qualified
public charity and keep a
paper trail. Clothing and
household items must generally
be in good used condition
or better to be
deductible. Donations
charged to a credit card by
Dec. 31 are deductible for
2010 even if the bill is paid
in 2011. Taxpayers must be
itemizing deductions on a
Schedule A in order to benefit.
•Winterize Now, Save on Taxes Later
– The Energy Tax Credit provisions
from the 2009 Recovery Act are set to
expire at year’s end. Two credits provide
tax incentives for individuals to invest
in energy-efficient products. Up to
$1,500 can be claimed in 2010 for
qualified home improvements such as
adding insulation, energy efficient
exterior windows and energy-efficient
heating and air conditioning systems.
Taxpayers
may convert
other IRAs
to a Roth IRA
in 2010
regardless
of their income.
Those who
convert
before Dec. 31,
get two choices
to pay the
taxes due...
Also, taxpayers can take a tax credit equal
to 30 percent of the cost for qualified residential
alternative energy equipment,
such as solar water heaters, geothermal
heat pumps and wind turbines.
•Sell the Losers – Check investments
and consider a portfolio adjustment. Up
to $3,000 can be deducted in
capital losses each year.
•Retirement Account
Contributions– The maximum
2010 IRA contribution
is $5,000 ($6,000 if age 50 or
over). Eligible taxpayers can
also take a tax deduction for
making an IRA contribution.
The Retirement Savings
Contribution Credit or
“Saver’s Credit” is also available
to taxpayers who contribute
to a retirement plan
and whose income is generally
less than $55,500. This underthe-radar
tax credit may be
worth up to $2,000 for eligible
taxpayers.
•Required Minimum Distributions –.
Taxpayers 70.5 or older must take 2010
required minimum distributions from
IRAs before Jan. 1, 2011. This requirement
was suspended in 2009 but for 2010
they must be taken.
•Consider a Roth IRA Conversion –
Taxpayers may convert other IRAs to a
Roth IRA in 2010 regardless of their
income. Those who convert before Dec.
31, get two choices to pay the taxes due
from the conversion: Pay in entirety when
filing their tax year 2010 return next year,
or divide income from the conversion
between 2011 and 2012.
•Gift Giving – Taxpayers can give a gift
worth as much as $13,000 in cash or
property in 2010 to another person without
having to file a gift tax return. Gifts to
individuals are not deductible.
•Save Receipts and Paperwork
–Accurate recordkeeping is a must and
also provides a good reminder.
For more year-end tax information and
to access all IRS forms and publications,
visit the IRS website at http://www.irs.gov