District 5 Supervisors Race
Candidates
Reprinted with Permission by Valley Springs News By Nick Baptista The first public face-off between the three candidates running for District 5 supervisor is scheduled for 7 p.m. April 10 at the Rancho Calaveras Community Clubhouse. All three candidates - incumbent Victoria Erickson and challengers Mike McDaniel and Russ Thomas - have indicated they will attend the Meet the Candidates Night being hosted by The Valley Springs News. The format for the forum includes opening statements by each candidate, questions from the media and questions from the audience. Each candidate will have three minutes for their introductory statement and will be limited to two minutes per question. Prior to the forum, the candidates will draw numbers to determine the order they will speak. In addition, the order will rotate through each phase of the program. "This is the first candidates' night we've hosted since buying the newspaper last year and we're looking forward to a well-publicized and well attended event that will be beneficial to the voters of District 5 in making an informed choice when they go to the polls on June 6," said Nick Baptista, editor and co-owner of The Valley Springs News. Opening statements and media questions are scheduled for the first half of the forum. The public will be encouraged to submit questions in writing in marked boxes throughout the room. The media will screen the questions for redundancy and items not pertinent to the election and the candidates in the second half of the forum will address the public's questions. Refreshments will be served during a brief intermission in the program. If a candidate receives 50 percent plus one vote in June, the race is over. Otherwise, the two top vote getters in June will face one another in a run-off election in November. The new four-year term for District 5 supervisor will begin in January 2007.
Meet the Candidates report request
I was unable to attend the meeting at Rancho Calaveras, so I would appreciate it if somebody could write up a summary of the event.
Thanks in advance.
Might help a bit?
I was also unable to attend so checked in with Nick Baptista to see what he thought (he's the co-owner / editor of the Valley Springs News) - there's a fairly comprehensive overview of the evening posted on the Valley Springs News website. (click link to visit)
Hope this helps,
-Sloane
Thanks!
Thanks for the link!
Nice to see what was said, but it would also be interesting to find out what people thought about the candidates. As a reporter one has a responsibility to report the events in an impartial manner, but a bit of discussion from more opinionated observers might also prove to be helpful. Hopefully more people will weigh in here with their thoughts at some point prior to the election.
Elect Russ Thomas
I am writing as a past part-time and hopefully future full-time resident of Calaveras County. I was fortunate enough to visit my parents’ cabin in Dorrington all throughout my childhood years (1970s to 1990s). I still fondly remember departing San Leandro every Friday night to begin our family’s 2 ½ hour ascent up the hill. The course of this drive also brought us through the lovely (and then rather sleepy) community of Valley Springs. Little did I know then that my parents would choose to retire in Valley Springs, and I would have the opportunity to spend even more time in its charming embrace. At first, I was slightly shocked that my parents chose to retire in Valley Springs. It always seemed a little hot as we would drive through in our non-air conditioned truck. But my impression changed indeed when I visited their property for the first time. It was a serene oasis located in an area which truly seemed to possess community spirit. My husband and I were recently married at that point in time, but somehow we knew that we must work hard in other parts of the nation so that we would have the opportunity to join my parents out in this wonderful area. What was so alluring to us, you might ask. Well, many of the things that Supervisor Erickson purports to conserve: natural beauty, tourism and local small businesses. Unfortunately, during my annual visits to the area these past four years, these are the very assets that are being flagrantly ripped away from Valley Springs. For those of you familiar with nature shows on television, I wish I could have videoed the “growth” of Valley Springs these past four years and then fast-forwarded the scenes at lightning speed. That, unfortunately, is the representation that I have of the area. To put it in real simple terms, it is DISGUSTING. If I wanted a Burger King, Subway, Starbucks, KFC, gourmet hot dog joint, etc. and its concomitant drive-by traffic I could stay in Rock Island, IL and visit my local strip street. What is local or small about any of those businesses? If I wanted natural beauty, I surely wouldn’t try to find it in some tract housing division. And tourism you might ask; what’s touristy about some nameless, faceless commuter village? Yes, the answer to that is again NOTHING! I urge all of you to think long and hard before you head into the balloting booth next week. To me, a visiting outsider, it is clear that this community is at a crossroads. What sort of community do you want to live in? Do you want to live in some garbage pit that serves the needs of those heading to and from the high Sierras, or do you want to live in a truly desirable destination which is charming not just to tourists but offers a quality of life to its residents which is unrivaled and sorely lacking throughout so much of this nation? While so many other communities throughout the nation are scrambling to create redevelopment programs that will make their areas more hospitable and reminiscent of yesteryear, don’t let Valley Springs enter into the development processes that will require redevelopment 25 years from now – it just doesn’t have to happen that way. FYI – my parents support Russell L. Thomas for Supervisor, 5th District. Kopriva M. Marshall nee MartinRock Island, IL
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