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View Winners → Dear Editor: Federal Government wants more land
Arcadia Weekly Nov 13, 2014
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Dear Editor:
When President Barack Obama signed a proclamation last month, designating parts of the San Gabriel Mountains as a national monument, Editor Terry Miller asked readers, “What good will it do and how much will it cost?” (“Confusion Mounts Regarding Judy Chu’s NRA Proposal,” October 23, 2014).
In August, Congresswoman Judy Chu asked for — and got — President Obama to fast-track her bill (HR 4858), designating the San Gabriel Mountains as a National Recreation Area, by using his power of executive order. NRA opponents assailed the order as “a land grab” and “a surprising bypass of the democratic process.”
Robert C. Newman II, who finished second to Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Republican primary election in 2006, was among the protesters who filled both sides of the 57 Freeway overpass on October 13, when Obama signed the order at Frank G. Bonelli Park in San Dimas. Holding a hand-lettered sign (“No U.N. Agenda 21”), Newman denounced the proclamation as part of a United Nations plan for “sustainable development,” known as Agenda 21.
On November 6, Senator Dianne Feinstein announced that she will introduce legislation next year to establish not one but two national monuments, totaling more than one million acres, in the Mojave Desert — a proposal likely to infuriate NRA opponents.
“If the federal government wants more land,” said Elliott Graham, chairman of Voters Against Corruption and Tyranny, “it should sell off its existing land to pay off the national debt, which is nearly eighteen trillion dollars.”
Les Hammer
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