Calhouns Can(n)ons

Oh, Poor Tormented Los Osos, Oh, The Inhumanity! The Inhumanity!

Ah, ya gotta love the November 27 Viewpoint in the Tribune, (“How Unprofessionalism is tormenting Los Osos,”) written by seven former Los Osos CSD directors (three of whom were recalled from that office, though the Tribune fails to mention that in their little blurb at the bottom.) The piece ends with an earnest caveat to the current CSD Board: “Dig a hole too deep, you’ll be unable to climb out.”


Ah, quel cri de Coeur caveat! But isn’t killing off and the burying the CSD in a deep, deep hole exactly what many of the Viewpoint writers have been working tirelessly to achieve all along? I mean, before the recall was even certified, one of the authors sent those now infamous secret e-mails to the RWQCB’s Roger Briggs begging him to “fine the CSD out of existence.” Then there were those ongoing lawsuits filed either by Taxpayers Watch or encouraged by Taxpayers Watch, all very costly for the cash-strapped CSD to defend.

Not to mention the disastrous decision by three of the Viewpoint authors to vote (while they were still CSD Board members) to go into court to block Measure B from getting on the ballot. That absolutely guaranteed the giant hole of bankruptcy right out of the box when the [new] CSD ate it big time settling that case rather than continue it and eventually loose even more money in a court mandated settlement that would have been even worse. (I’m not a lawyer and I don’t play one on TV but even I knew that California case law took a dim view of people attempting to squash citizen initiatives before elections. Talk about hole digging.)

And then when all of the above failed to kill off the object of their hatred, many of these same folks started up and supported efforts to demand LAFCO just dissolve the whole doggoned CSD altogether – baby AND bathwater – an effort that failed, by the way because the County didn’t want to get suck with any holes either. Then these folks supported an effort to elect a new Taxpayer Watch-supported Board majority slate, which the voters turned down, preferring to re-elect the hold-digging incumbents and one new guy, who hopefully will arrive on the Board with some fill dirt and maybe a back hoe?

Apparently hole digging and corpse burying is a whole lot harder than it looks. So, instead of issuing pious caveats about deep holes, maybe our Viewpoint authors should just send all the CSD Board members a nice vat of toadstool soup for Christmas?

On the other hand, the Viewpoint soundly supports, “The upcoming audits to be conducted by the state, the courts and the district’s own independent auditor [which] shall clarify for the community exactly what has transpired in Los Osos. The citizens deserve no less.”

Hear! Hear! And let’s hope those audits start at year zero and move forward and are all inclusive and thorough. Then we’ll be able to separate sheep from goats, mistakes from illegalities, muddlements from malice.

Then maybe everyone can stop digging holes with their own ox-gored little shovels and focus on bigger things: Like getting a sewer system we can all live with .