So Kathryn Barger, our new county supervisor, is going to make a motion to check all the dams so we don’t experience an Oroville event. Sounds prudent, and also like a political stunt. A stunt, because there are no present indicators of danger that we’ve heard of, and no pleas from the community for her to make such a motion.

On the other hand, Barger ignores all of the pleas, letters and petitions of Santa Clarita Valley residents who have to live next to the landfill – a landfill that not only wants to double its size, but has also been caught accepting substances too dangerous and forbidden for the dump to accept.

In contrast to the dams, the landfill is a real and present danger, with documented violations of rules set up to protect our neighborhoods. And Barger, like her mentor before her, does absolutely nothing. Isn’t that cause enough for a recall?

We are told that good citizens have to sort our trash into three cans regardless of the extra costs and inconveniences for the sake of the environment and public health. Our landfill gets caught doing the opposite, and our supervisor rewards them. Wouldn’t that make her spoken concerns regarding public safety from dams and reservoirs rather shallow? How about empty?

If this situation appears sick to some, especially those claiming sickness due to having to live nearer the expanding landfill, why not apply a little sunlight, known to act as nature’s disinfectant? Let’s shine a little light and check to see if the landfill was a contributor to Barger’s election campaign, and if it was, to see who goes scurrying away from the light. I’m guessing some who try to explain away the landfill’s violations are paid, too, and well. I wonder if and when that money is paid out, it carries with it a horrible stench?

I hope those in a governing position for our city don’t accept campaign funds from the landfill, as that would indicate either tremendous ignorance of their neighbor’s struggles, rights and health concerns, or a blatant disregard for the same. As the landfill expands, so will their own constituents’ concerns and complaints. Maturity demands foresight, and our council members are too mature a group of leaders to wait, like Barger, for a fake crisis when an ongoing, real one is right under – and soon in – their noses.
Richard Hood is a Valencia-Bridgeport resident.