Comments of the Week

Barn-burner of a week with a surprise plea in the Merrick case, lots of reader input on the rise and fall of local business, dog parks, employee pensions, burglars using Fido's door, miscreants at large, and local sports.

We'll give the last words on the eleventh hour plea of former to Patcher David Smith, who summed up the tortuous case succinctly and -- we thought -- appropriately.

"How very, very sad..." -- David Smith

On a short piece we did on two Lamorinda cities and their approach to handling the , we quickly heard from about 20 Patchers, all of whom had very definite ideas about the issue:

"...There is only once source of funds for these obligations: our tax dollars. Although it is nice that no money from my right pocket is spent on pensions, I value the money in my left pocket just as much....." -- Chris Nicholson

"Please note: Lafayette, Orinda and Danville all contract with the Contra Costa Sheriff for police servies. Lafayette gets their fire service from ConFire, Orinda from MFD. All these "contractors" are on defined benefit programs." -- Moraga Mayor Mike Metcalf

"Agree with Chris. I recall reading the Orinda Fire Chief retired with a $254,000 lifelong pension at age 54. Nice for him!" -- Louise Benvenue

"The obligation does not extend beyond the contract. But the annual contract rate has the current pension obligations built in. In the current two year Orinda budget, the second year (12/13) expects that the sum of police benefits (retirement + medical) will exceed salaries for the first time. Please note, however, that at least the rate of growth in the Sheriff costs has been moderated by their new 3 tier structure. MOFD, whose firefighters have now been out of contract for over two years, has not even taken this step." -- Carol Penskar

"It is good to know that City of Orinda employees are not part of the problem. Our City Council members are showing good judgement. Thank you. This is the way all public pension funds should be handled. No one guarantees a rate of return for any investments by those of us working in the private sector.
Unfortunately, we are going to be held for ransom on the MOFD and the police services provided by the Contra Costa Sheriff." -- Lark Hilliard

There was also quite a bit of reader reaction to our story on a writ of mandamus  filed in an effort to keep open to dog owners who bring their animals there to run during set hours and which cited California Environmental Qualilty Act implications:

"CEQA cases have almost no effect on projects this small. The City of the Town of Moraga can go back to the drawing board, hit their marks, and end up doing *exactly* the same thing. These sorts of cases are used by the losing side just to reopen the question, since the City -- to avoid the expense of a CEQA suit -- has to pull back and then re-up their plans.

I've often thought CEQA ought to build in more exemptions based on total project size to avoid this sort of political gamesmenship." -- Lafayette Curmudgeon

"When in battle, one must use the best arrows in their quiver." -- MF

"That's an honest comment MF. But why must there be a battle?" -- Jon Chambers

"For you non-attorneys out there CEQA objections in a case like this are equivalent to Wesley Snipes saying he didnt pay taxes because the IRS was an illegitamate government agency. Mr. Cosden can file his action just like Mr. Snipes made his claim, but in the end the this will be a sideshow. BTW, Mr. Snipes paid some of his back taxes and then went to jail." -- Mike D

"With all due appreciation for the update on Mr. Snipes, I seem to remember CEQA being effectively cited and supported by the appellate courts in conjunction with the wandering sound issue here in town. So while it may be a paper tiger to some, it has teeth for others and if argued correctly may prove convincing. But I literally have no dog in this hunt!!" -- James Coleridge

"One thing I don't get is the assertion that a majority of people in town or a majority of park users want the park to stay as is. Is this based on valid unbiased survey data? If so, where is it? I ask out of curiosity. We are dog owners with small kids and have used RLP for dog play and sports and picnics and hikes, yet we feel a separation of some kind is common sense. In fact I can't recall another park in years of living here & elsewhere that had an 'honor system' / open social hour of this type regarding pets. It actually strikes me as more atypical than the norm." -- Jennifer Koziel

And then there was the little (we thought) story we did on a trio of wannabe and picked an unusual method of entering the targeted home -- the doggie door:

"Missed them by a whisker! No bone for that dog!" -- Robert Strauss

"I'm always reading how the majority of Americans are overweight. So, either doggy doors are getting bigger (maybe dogs are getting fat, too?) or these crooks are skinny." -- Kenny Tuckerman

"Someone got into my house via a cat door and stole a lot of stuff.
Most pet doors have barriers for when you are gone. I didn't think of it." -- Eliz

"Either you have a really large cat or a very tiny cat burgler came in your house..." -- Chris F

And from a doggie door burglary we swing over to a , with the "perp" last seen walking with his loot in the direction of the Lafayette Taco Bell:

"After robbing the bank he had to make a run for the border!" -- Shon Sherwood

"That's no way to celebrate Taco Bell's new breakfast menu!" -- Kenny Tuckerman (who makes "Best Comments" twice this week!"

Okay, so that was what you came up with, you Wags of Lamorinda. Let's see what the new week brings us all. Have a good weekend.