The circumstances surrounding Mucaw's death are currently being investigated, as described in this article in the Yuma Sun: Quechan mourners take spirit walk for youg leader
Monday, December 8, 2008
Lewis 'Mucaw' Jefferson, July 4, 1987 - November 26, 2008
The circumstances surrounding Mucaw's death are currently being investigated, as described in this article in the Yuma Sun: Quechan mourners take spirit walk for youg leader
Friday, November 7, 2008
No Power Line is a Good Line
The recent news about the CPUC (California Public Utilities Commission) proposed decisions to reject the northern ‘Sunrise Power Link’ alignment outright, and possibly approve a southern alignment with conditions is DANGEROUS! Already we hear partying in the streets, as folks rejoice in the apparent saving of our beloved Anza-Borrego Desert State Park from this ill-advised power line. But wait…
We must all be strong, and maintain our focus to stop these power lines completely!
The 'southern alternative' would be devastating for the federal public lands that have been the focus of so much work over the past several decades. (Ironically, a northern alignment would by-pass many of the federal lands that are now seemingly at risk.) A southern alignment would: Cut in half the Hauser Canyon & Hauser Mountain federal wilderness and proposed wilderness complex near Campo; run up the middle of McCain Valley, impacting Carrizo Gorge existing and future federal wilderness areas; and encircle the La Posta, Manzanita and Campo Indian Reservations (think 'electric fence'), while running adjacent to the Cuyapaipe Indian Reservation. Impacts to federal public lands in the eastern Cleveland National Forest and along the San Diego River adjacent to El Capitan Reservoir further compromise the public trust. Wreck less proposals being put forward by the BLM and wind energy companies to destroy thousands of acres of land in McCain Valley, adjacent to the Carrizo Gorge Wilderness, Sawtooth Mountains Wilderness, and precious Anza-Borrego Desert State Park... are the icing on this electric cake.
We are not out the woods yet – not by a long shot. In fact, these proposed power lines are very much still *IN* the woods that we have come to know and love as our precious public lands.
The potential impacts brought about by the 500 KV power lines and towers would destroy the wilderness value of these lands, and place them at great peril due to the associated roads, infrastructure and fire risk.
Don’t be fooled. Continue to watch this process carefully. Participate when and where you can to unplug the power line proposal once and for all.
Geoffrey Smith
http://www.wilderness4all.org/
858.442.1425
PS – For up to the minute news on this and other desert and public lands issues in San Diego, visit the Desert Protective Council’s DesertBlog at http://www.dpcinc.org/blog/
View the maps of the proposed allignments at:
http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/environment/info/aspen/sunrise/feir/figs/Figure%200ES-04_Environ_Superior_N%2BS_Routes.pdf
We must all be strong, and maintain our focus to stop these power lines completely!
The 'southern alternative' would be devastating for the federal public lands that have been the focus of so much work over the past several decades. (Ironically, a northern alignment would by-pass many of the federal lands that are now seemingly at risk.) A southern alignment would: Cut in half the Hauser Canyon & Hauser Mountain federal wilderness and proposed wilderness complex near Campo; run up the middle of McCain Valley, impacting Carrizo Gorge existing and future federal wilderness areas; and encircle the La Posta, Manzanita and Campo Indian Reservations (think 'electric fence'), while running adjacent to the Cuyapaipe Indian Reservation. Impacts to federal public lands in the eastern Cleveland National Forest and along the San Diego River adjacent to El Capitan Reservoir further compromise the public trust. Wreck less proposals being put forward by the BLM and wind energy companies to destroy thousands of acres of land in McCain Valley, adjacent to the Carrizo Gorge Wilderness, Sawtooth Mountains Wilderness, and precious Anza-Borrego Desert State Park... are the icing on this electric cake.
We are not out the woods yet – not by a long shot. In fact, these proposed power lines are very much still *IN* the woods that we have come to know and love as our precious public lands.
The potential impacts brought about by the 500 KV power lines and towers would destroy the wilderness value of these lands, and place them at great peril due to the associated roads, infrastructure and fire risk.
Don’t be fooled. Continue to watch this process carefully. Participate when and where you can to unplug the power line proposal once and for all.
Geoffrey Smith
http://www.wilderness4all.org/
858.442.1425
PS – For up to the minute news on this and other desert and public lands issues in San Diego, visit the Desert Protective Council’s DesertBlog at http://www.dpcinc.org/blog/
View the maps of the proposed allignments at:
http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/environment/info/aspen/sunrise/feir/figs/Figure%200ES-04_Environ_Superior_N%2BS_Routes.pdf
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Solitude in Borrego Springs
Sometimes we need to attend meetings inside to save the wilderness outside.
So it was with a sense of purpose that I headed out to Borrego Springs on Monday to participate in the CPUC’s public hearing on the dreaded proposed SDG&E 500KV power line, which would run from their dirty gas-fired power plants in Mexico, all the way to Carmel Mountain north of Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve – with a northerly way-point near Lake Henshaw where a large substation would be built to serve as a jumping-off point for a northerly link to the ultimate goal: Electricity customers in Los Angeles, the City of Angels. Along the way, portions of 64,000 acres of proposed federal wilderness stand to suffer the impacts of 7-story tall power towers, high tension lines, and associated road and building infrastructure. The presence of solitude – the very core of federal wilderness – would suffer tremendously should this ill-advised power line be allowed to go forward.
On my arrival, I was greeted to some of the first public comments in an evening that was to include testimony by nearly 70 individuals. I took a number: #65. What I heard as I entered the venue set the tone for the evening: A folk music quartet with a fiddle was singing a heart-warming ode to the desert and the public lands that we all hold so dear to our hearts. It was beautiful, and touching. And it brought smiles to the faces of the four commissioners (one commissioner was absent), and several hundred ‘publics’ in the chamber.
What a moving experience it is to hear the 1-1/2 minute soliloquies spoken by
citizens who have strong feelings about the proposal. Mothers, fathers, kids, cowboys, riders, runners, homeowners, boy scouts, business owners, advocates for the power lines, advocates against the power lines, biologists, engineers… all of them tax payers, all them rate-payers (well, there were a handful who were off the grid), and all of them heard. Some of them were woefully miss-guided, but what are you going to do? This is a democracy! (Photo: Ten public citizens lined up against the wall, awaiting their turn to give heart-felt testimony.)
As I made my way to the podium, I took a moment to poke my head out the open door. Just as I suspected, the dark night sky was still there, and the bright twinkle of stars penetrated the few dim lights that illuminated the courtyard there. Moments later, I uttered these unrehearsed lines into the public record: “Good evening members of the Commission. Thank you for having us. I hope you can all join me, this evening soon after the hearing adjourns, for a walk out in the desert to view the dark night sky, examine the stars, and have a beer. Or any libation of your choosing – water works. And even if you cannot join me – as I will most certainly be out there very shortly – I urge you to drive your vehicle to a solitary road in the nearby desert, head down the road a bit, stop the vehicle, turn off the engine, and take a walk into the darkness. Look up into the sky, take in the freshness… and experience the solitude. After all that’s why we’re all here (gesturing to the gallery): Solitude….”
I hope some did.
Geoffrey
So it was with a sense of purpose that I headed out to Borrego Springs on Monday to participate in the CPUC’s public hearing on the dreaded proposed SDG&E 500KV power line, which would run from their dirty gas-fired power plants in Mexico, all the way to Carmel Mountain north of Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve – with a northerly way-point near Lake Henshaw where a large substation would be built to serve as a jumping-off point for a northerly link to the ultimate goal: Electricity customers in Los Angeles, the City of Angels. Along the way, portions of 64,000 acres of proposed federal wilderness stand to suffer the impacts of 7-story tall power towers, high tension lines, and associated road and building infrastructure. The presence of solitude – the very core of federal wilderness – would suffer tremendously should this ill-advised power line be allowed to go forward.
On my arrival, I was greeted to some of the first public comments in an evening that was to include testimony by nearly 70 individuals. I took a number: #65. What I heard as I entered the venue set the tone for the evening: A folk music quartet with a fiddle was singing a heart-warming ode to the desert and the public lands that we all hold so dear to our hearts. It was beautiful, and touching. And it brought smiles to the faces of the four commissioners (one commissioner was absent), and several hundred ‘publics’ in the chamber.
What a moving experience it is to hear the 1-1/2 minute soliloquies spoken by
citizens who have strong feelings about the proposal. Mothers, fathers, kids, cowboys, riders, runners, homeowners, boy scouts, business owners, advocates for the power lines, advocates against the power lines, biologists, engineers… all of them tax payers, all them rate-payers (well, there were a handful who were off the grid), and all of them heard. Some of them were woefully miss-guided, but what are you going to do? This is a democracy! (Photo: Ten public citizens lined up against the wall, awaiting their turn to give heart-felt testimony.)As I made my way to the podium, I took a moment to poke my head out the open door. Just as I suspected, the dark night sky was still there, and the bright twinkle of stars penetrated the few dim lights that illuminated the courtyard there. Moments later, I uttered these unrehearsed lines into the public record: “Good evening members of the Commission. Thank you for having us. I hope you can all join me, this evening soon after the hearing adjourns, for a walk out in the desert to view the dark night sky, examine the stars, and have a beer. Or any libation of your choosing – water works. And even if you cannot join me – as I will most certainly be out there very shortly – I urge you to drive your vehicle to a solitary road in the nearby desert, head down the road a bit, stop the vehicle, turn off the engine, and take a walk into the darkness. Look up into the sky, take in the freshness… and experience the solitude. After all that’s why we’re all here (gesturing to the gallery): Solitude….”
I hope some did.
Geoffrey
Monday, April 28, 2008
Wild Border!
In response to Serge Dedina's blog on Cafe San Diego (Voice of San Diego),
I wrote on April 17, 2008 4:24 PM:
"As a young boy, in 1968, I visited the Berlin wall. I was fascinated that such a structure would be built by humans, to cage in other humans. To this day, I still cannot fathom it. But I saw it with my own eyes. 40 years later I am seeing it again. Where is my country? What has happened to us? Mr. Bush, "Tear down that wall." The cost in human lives, the irreparable damage to our ecosystems, and the loss of integrity of our federal wilderness system at Jacumba Wilderness and Otay Mtn Wilderness, demonstrate a serious degradation of our country's values. Shame on us. Kudos to Serge at WildCoast for highlighting this important issue. Let's keep our border wild. WildBorder!!! Geoffrey Smith"
I wrote on April 17, 2008 4:24 PM:
"As a young boy, in 1968, I visited the Berlin wall. I was fascinated that such a structure would be built by humans, to cage in other humans. To this day, I still cannot fathom it. But I saw it with my own eyes. 40 years later I am seeing it again. Where is my country? What has happened to us? Mr. Bush, "Tear down that wall." The cost in human lives, the irreparable damage to our ecosystems, and the loss of integrity of our federal wilderness system at Jacumba Wilderness and Otay Mtn Wilderness, demonstrate a serious degradation of our country's values. Shame on us. Kudos to Serge at WildCoast for highlighting this important issue. Let's keep our border wild. WildBorder!!! Geoffrey Smith"
Friday, April 11, 2008
Comment letter to the CPUC for the Proposed SDG&E Power Line draft EIR/EIS
April 11, 2008
CPUC/BLMc/o Aspen Environmental Group
235 Montgomery Street, Suite 935
San Francisco, CA 94104
Fax: (866) 711-3106
Email: sunrise@aspeneg.com
Subject: San Diego Gas & Electric Company's Sunrise Powerlink Project, Draft EIR/EIS
We support of pending federal legislation, The California Wild Heritage Act, to protect over 45,000 acres of San Diego County public land as federal wilderness. We oppose any wire-based transmission line alternative that proposes to run high-voltage transimission lines through the San Diego back country from Imperial County to San Diego's urban areas.
San Diego supports more biodiviersity than any county in the continental U.S. Much of this biodiversity is located on city, county, state and federal public land. A new transmission line would potentially impact sensitive lands through increased fire risk, road support infrastructure, visual impacts, and loss of solitude -- an essential component of federal wilderness protection.
How would each of the alternatives proposed in the EIR/EIS mitigate the impacts they would have on existing and proposed federal wilderness and wild and scenic river areas?
Affected wilderness and proposed wilderness lands include:
Hauser Canyon, proposed Forest Service wilderness
Hauser Mountain, proposed BLM wilderness
Pine Creek Wilderness, existing Forest Service wilderness and proposed wild and scenic river
No Name, proposed Forest Service wilderness
Sill Hill, proposed Forest Service wilderness
Eagle Peak, proposed Forest Service wilderness
Cedar Creek, proposed Forest Service wilderness and wild and scenic river
San Diego River, proposed Forest Service wilderness and wild and scenic river
Fish Creek Wilderness, existing BLM wilderness
Additional impacted federal lands would include:
San Felipe Hills, BLM wilderness study area
San Ysidro Mtns, BLM wilderness study area
In addition to these designated wilderness or wilderness quality lands, the proposed routes would seriously impact other city, county, state and federal public lands -- lands that were set aside for the protection of resources, watersheds, and to promote recreation. We have no business using these important resource areas as transmission line corridors.
As established in "Mineral King verus the US Forest Service", truly, "the rocks have rights" -- a right to an environment free from power lines, roads, and associated infrastructure.
Geoffrey Smith
Wilderness4All.org
858.442.1425
gsmith@thecomputersmith.com
11572 Alkaid DriveSan Diego, CA 92126
CPUC/BLMc/o Aspen Environmental Group
235 Montgomery Street, Suite 935
San Francisco, CA 94104
Fax: (866) 711-3106
Email: sunrise@aspeneg.com
Subject: San Diego Gas & Electric Company's Sunrise Powerlink Project, Draft EIR/EIS
We support of pending federal legislation, The California Wild Heritage Act, to protect over 45,000 acres of San Diego County public land as federal wilderness. We oppose any wire-based transmission line alternative that proposes to run high-voltage transimission lines through the San Diego back country from Imperial County to San Diego's urban areas.
San Diego supports more biodiviersity than any county in the continental U.S. Much of this biodiversity is located on city, county, state and federal public land. A new transmission line would potentially impact sensitive lands through increased fire risk, road support infrastructure, visual impacts, and loss of solitude -- an essential component of federal wilderness protection.
How would each of the alternatives proposed in the EIR/EIS mitigate the impacts they would have on existing and proposed federal wilderness and wild and scenic river areas?
Affected wilderness and proposed wilderness lands include:
Hauser Canyon, proposed Forest Service wilderness
Hauser Mountain, proposed BLM wilderness
Pine Creek Wilderness, existing Forest Service wilderness and proposed wild and scenic river
No Name, proposed Forest Service wilderness
Sill Hill, proposed Forest Service wilderness
Eagle Peak, proposed Forest Service wilderness
Cedar Creek, proposed Forest Service wilderness and wild and scenic river
San Diego River, proposed Forest Service wilderness and wild and scenic river
Fish Creek Wilderness, existing BLM wilderness
Additional impacted federal lands would include:
San Felipe Hills, BLM wilderness study area
San Ysidro Mtns, BLM wilderness study area
In addition to these designated wilderness or wilderness quality lands, the proposed routes would seriously impact other city, county, state and federal public lands -- lands that were set aside for the protection of resources, watersheds, and to promote recreation. We have no business using these important resource areas as transmission line corridors.
As established in "Mineral King verus the US Forest Service", truly, "the rocks have rights" -- a right to an environment free from power lines, roads, and associated infrastructure.
Geoffrey Smith
Wilderness4All.org
858.442.1425
gsmith@thecomputersmith.com
11572 Alkaid DriveSan Diego, CA 92126
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
We killed our television this week
On Saturday afternoon, I unplugged our venerable 27" 1982-vintage Sony TV, and put it in the garage. Next stop: Goodwill. Our home is now television-free. The feeling of release and freedom began to flood over me immediately. We're looking forward to more balance, more sleep, more reading, more communicating, more exercising, less brainwashing, less BS, less spin, no more insulting programs, no news at 11, no 1/2-hour sitcoms, no "What time does X start?", no "When is it over?", overall improvement in mental attitude, more radio, more movies, more Internet or print news WHEN we want it and how we want it, blissful ignorance. More time to read this web site: http://www.turnoffyourtv.com/. Let me know if you see any difference in my behavior...
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Save Rose Canyon, too
The Friends of Rose Canyon are determined to protect their open space resource from the threat of a Regents Road crossing. For 20 years, I have worked with legions of volunteers to safeguard Los Penasquitos Canyon Preserve from roads, with some good success, and some notable failures ('Sorrento Valley Boulevard'). I read with interest the 'Strife Span' piece in the San Diego Reader, 2/21/08, and posted this comment:
#5.
Kudos to the Friends of Rose Canyon team! Generations from now, the efforts of Debbie and her team may well be forgotten, but their legacy will remain: A beautiful, un-interrupted open space canyon preserve serving as a natural treasure in a city that is defined by its canyon systems. Rose Canyon is part of the paradise that will always be 'temporary' -- if not for the leadership of visionaries like Debbie who understand that paradise is not for paving. May the Rose and Los Penasquitos canyon open space preserves remain just that: Open!
By Geoffrey 1:48 p.m., Mar 22, 2008
#5.
Kudos to the Friends of Rose Canyon team! Generations from now, the efforts of Debbie and her team may well be forgotten, but their legacy will remain: A beautiful, un-interrupted open space canyon preserve serving as a natural treasure in a city that is defined by its canyon systems. Rose Canyon is part of the paradise that will always be 'temporary' -- if not for the leadership of visionaries like Debbie who understand that paradise is not for paving. May the Rose and Los Penasquitos canyon open space preserves remain just that: Open!
By Geoffrey 1:48 p.m., Mar 22, 2008
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