Is Cougar Gold a predator?

Dear Editor:

One morning last week I received a personal phone call from a Cougar Gold employee asking me to attend Tueday evening’s Town Hall meeting. She wanted to know if I would be attending. I had questions for her, which she was unable to answer, so I asked her to have someone call me back with answers. I’m still waiting.

With individual phone calls and the half-page ad in The Sheet inviting locals to the meeting, it appears that money is not an issue for this mining company. Cougar Gold, with ties to Tigris Financial Group, a global financial company, must be flush with cash.

Is our small county sophisticated enough and sufficiently knowledgeable to withstand such a well funded onslaught? Will we allow big promises backed by big money to sway opinions without proper inquiry and information as to their intentions?

Does anyone know specifically and exactly what Cougar Gold wants and why,  i.e., what they want the [Bodie Hills] Wilderness Study Area (WSA) release to afford them that is different from what they are already able to do under Bureau of Land Management’s supervision?

They have the right now to exploratory drilling/mining, but they [seem to] want more. What do they think they need? Is it genuinely a “need” or simply a cheaper “want” at the expense of our public lands? What kind of exploratory drilling/mining will they be able to do with a WSA release that BLM will not currently allow? What, precisely, is Cougar Gold really after?

A sincerely concerned citizen …

Sharon R. Clark
Mammoth Lakes

“Social Network” and Rome’s fall
Dear Jack:

God in his wisdom gave us a short life span. No matter when you are born, after 50-60 years there have been too many changes. The original fabric is shredded, the colors and patterns hard to discern and the new stuff for sale is just too jarring. The recent film “The Social Network” is a scathing portrayal of privilege.

Harvard wasn’t any different when I used to visit there as an undergraduate, but I was too naïve to “see” what I was seeing. Innocence can protect.

You should see the movie … and soon. Rome is sinking fast.

I would like to hope that the revolution in Egypt births a new vision, an historic tour de force, but what are the chances?

All we can do is hold our loved ones close and treasure each day as it comes.

Mom
Etna, N.H.

A true victory for the radicals

Dear Editor:

It was September 2005 when Debie Schnadt, John Bachar, Tony Barrett and I staged the campaign to keep synthetic fluoride out of the Mammoth water supply.

Since that time several significant events have occurred:

In early January this year, the U.S. government issued a shocking statement saying the level of fluoride put into municipal water supplies was too high. The reason:  it is causing a condition called fluorosis, which causes splotching, streaking and erosion of teeth.

The maximum allowable amount of fluoride in municipal water supplies was lowered last month from 1.2 milligrams per liter to .7 milligrams per liter. Two out of five adolescents in our country have signs of fluorosis.

Fluoride’s effects are not limited to just the cosmetic. Many studies say overexposure to it makes your bones brittle.  There are many other adverse health-related problems due to overexposure.

The fluoride they put in municipal water comes from toxic waste. This material is scraped off the inside of smokestacks used by the fertilizer industry. It is then processed and put into many municipal water supplies.

There is no synthetic fluoride added to our local water thanks to several things:

First, there was a dedicated small group of individuals who put the health of our community at the forefront.

Second, a democratic system that made change for the better possible.

Third, a community that wanted clean water, rather than the fluoride deception.

I remember designing and producing those full-page ads in The Sheet and The Mammoth Times with the giant smokestack in the background asking, “Why would we want to put that toxic waste into our water?” I happily paid for the distribution and exposure of those full-page ads. It was important to me to keep that crap out of our water.

Many people in this community looked at us as crazy people by wanting to keep fluoride out of our water. Isn’t fluoride good for you? We were bashed, labeled as radicals, and certainly despised by some.

Our inertia was opposed by those whose interest was to maintain the old way of thinking. We were opposed by those who suffocate in the stifling atmosphere of ignorance, prejudice and tradition.

Time has now told the tale here, a true victory for us “radical” health minded people. A huge thank you goes out to everyone who voted to keep fluoride out of our water supply. We are now seeing direct results of our actions.

I will now ask any reader of The Sheet, and especially any local dentist or doctor to calculate how much more brittle the bones of the people of Mammoth would have been if each of us would of drank four glasses a day of this fluoridated water for the past seven years? 5%? 15%? I look forward to that letter to the editor. Fluoridated water, yum! Anyone thirsty?

Learn more at flourideactionnetwork.org.

Steve Klassen
Mammoth Lakes Owner,
Wave Rave Snowboard Shop
Director, Green Mammoth

MLTPA delivers

Dear Editor:

During the Fall 2010 Measure R grant cycle, the Mammoth Lakes Trails and Public Access Foundation (MLTPA) was awarded funding to engage in a two-year contract for services with the Town of Mammoth Lakes (TOML). Among the many projects associated with this contract is the first phase of a new signage and wayfinding program for the Mammoth Lakes Trail System (MLTS), which is a partnered effort between MLTPA, the TOML, and the Inyo National Forest (INF). The public has had a small taste of this project already with the installation of 19 signs along the Lakes Basin Path last summer/fall.

On Friday, Feb. 11, MLTPA delivered to the TOML Public Works Department a comprehensive set of maps and messaging for 95 new MLTS signs that will be put into the ground this summer/fall. This is a significant deliverable to our TOML contract and a big step forward in bettering the outdoor-recreation amenities our community enjoys and shares with its visitors, and we wanted to be sure to celebrate this milestone with the public as an example of their tax dollars at work.

Much effort from all parties, including volunteers from the Mammoth Trails Map, Signage & Wayfinding Committee, was put into the development of standards and guidelines for how the MLTS signage will look, which types of information it will present and how it will be offered, and how it will be manufactured and installed, including an exhaustive list of consensus-based destination names that are tied to Mammoth Lakes’ recreation opportunities.

The resulting program is an enriched version of what was presented in Chapter 5 of the Draft Trail System Master Plan 2009, which is on schedule for official adoption by Town Council this summer and which was heavily informed by much community input through the CAMP (Concept and Master Planning) process in 2007/2008. In addition to enabling the current phase of signage to move forward in a timely manner, this work will also be used to develop the MLTS Standards Manual, the MLTS Operations and Maintenance Plan, and the forthcoming MLTS website (mammothtrails.org), which are also projects currently underway as part of MLTPA’s two-year contract for services with the TOML.

We wish to thank all of our partners and the Mammoth Lakes community for their continued commitment to outdoor recreation, and we look forward to sharing more positive news with you over the coming 24 months. We’re happy to answer any questions about this signage and wayfinding program, our contract with the TOML, or any other matter.

Inquiries can be sent to info@mltpa.org or we may be contacted at 760.934.3154.

Kim Stravers

MLTPA Foundation
Community Engagement Dir.