Diversity, dead cat factors
in Yuba City Council race
Sac Bee Excloo
YUBA CITY 10/11/02 (YSN) - The numbers tell the tale in the countdown to the Yuba City City Council election Nov. 5: four candidates challenge three incumbents, with two first-evers and one dead cat thrown into the mix.
The incumbents trying to retain their seats include Mayor Lee Welch and council members David Doolittle and Eric Hellberg.
Welch is a retired real estate agent, Doolittle owns a gourmet food store and Hellberg is former B-52 bomber pilot who retired to a second career as a city purchasing agent.
The challengers include retired nurse Karen Cartoscelli, businessman and former California Highway Patrol officer Jim Harrison, county government official Tej Maan; and medical doctor Anjinderpal Sekhon.
All of the hopefuls base their platforms on growth-related issues such as traffic, infrastructure, public safety, schools and fears that Yuba City may lose is small town ambiance under an onslaught of Sacramento commuters.
From 1990 to 2002 Sutter County's population has grown from 64,000 to 81,000, with most of the growth occurring in Yuba City, whose current population is pegged at 47,000, the state Department of Finance reports.
Averaged out, the growth rate over the last decade has been a relatively modest 2.05 percent, according to county planner Dale Follas.
There have been periodic spurts of development with growth rates as high as 3.5 percent, and those isolated spikes may have given some residents a deceptive impression of unbridled growth, Follas said.
The city council has done much to accommodate growth, incumbents said at a recent candidates night. Welch pointed to levee improvements at the worrisome Shanghai Bend and Hellberg cited improvements to the city's water treatment and sewage system.
Cartoscelli, who was the first female mayor of Yuba City in an earlier term on the council, believes unchecked growth has been a problem.
"There's been rampant residential construction. The council allowed it with disregard of negative impacts," Cartoscelli said.
Anticipated new industries never materialized to provide local jobs, said Cartoscelli, who has been endorsed by the Yuba City Firefighters Association.
The candidates all agree that Highway 99 needs to be widened. Welch said state funds to finish stretching 99 to four lanes have been set aside, and he promised to fight to make sure they are not reallocated elsewhere.
Hellberg, said he, too, supported widening 99 but wants to be certain it continues to run through town, instead of as a bypass, as some have suggested.
Doolittle, whose store is located in the downtown area, supported continued efforts to revitalize the city center.
Sekhon, a lung specialist, wsaid that, if he is elected, he will work to end what he considers separate and unequal health care accommodations in Yuba-Sutter.
Currently, there are emergency room facilities at Rideout Hospital in Marysville but not at Fremont Hospital in the more populous Yuba City.
Sekhon, a Sikh of military bearing, wants both cities to have their own Ers in the event the two bridges between the twin cities should be knocked out by natural disaster or, he said, "terrorism."
Sekhon and Maan are both Punjabi-Americans, and together they mark a double first, of sorts.
They are believed to be the first candidates from the long established Punjabi community to run for the city council. If either is elected, they could become the first Punjabi-American mayor of a major U.S. city, Maan said.
"There are other races in which Punjabi-Americans are running, but Indian communities in the U.S. and Canada are watching this one," said Maan, who is the director of the Yuba County Envoironmental Health Department.
From an historical perspective, such a first does not mean quite the same to Punjabis-Americans as it might, say, for African-Americans or Hispanic-American communities, Maan said.
Punjabi immigrants have by and large prospered when they come to the U.S. and have not felt the same sense of disenfranchisement as other minority groups may have, Maan said.
"This country is so set up for success. All you have to do is work hard and you can de well," Maan said.
Candidate Harrison is another example of a local boy made good by hard work.
His parents were migrant farmworkers and he grew up in public housing before becoming first a cop, then a CHP officer based in Yuba City.
While a CHP officer he started his own crop dusting business, farmed rice on the side and when he retired from the CHP bought and ran a popular restaurant.
"All my life I've worked two jobs," he said.
The blunt-spoken Harrison is regarded a formidable candidate and may do well at the polls - provided the dead cat issue doesn't hurt him too much.
In August, tired of having roaming cats messing in his wife's garden, Harrison borrowed a cat trap from county animal control. He captured several felines before the unfortunate incident occurred involving "Barney," a male Maine Coon Cat mix.
Barney was died in he cage leading the distraught owner, neighbor Scott Kingham, to post flyers in the neighborhood advising people to beware of traps set out at Harrison's backyard.
Kingham's flyer was followed by two flyers posted by other people with varying opinions on cruelty to animals. The flyers led Harrison to file a small claims action in Sutter County Superior Court alleging defamation and 'malicious persecution" against Kingham.
Kingham countersued for autopsy, cremation and disposal costs, and there the matter rests with no date set for trial.
Some voters have said news of Barney's death have caused them to reconsider their votes for city council.
"Oh yes, it seems to be a factor (in the race)," voter Francie Lane said. "As one of my friends said, 'How can I vote for a cat killer?'"
Harrison shrugged off the cat incident, saying he had received a handful of calls about it, the overwhelming majority of them supporting his action.
"If I hadn't been truthful and just disposed of the cat, this wouldn't gone anywhere," Harrison said.
in Yuba City Council race
Sac Bee Excloo
YUBA CITY 10/11/02 (YSN) - The numbers tell the tale in the countdown to the Yuba City City Council election Nov. 5: four candidates challenge three incumbents, with two first-evers and one dead cat thrown into the mix.
The incumbents trying to retain their seats include Mayor Lee Welch and council members David Doolittle and Eric Hellberg.
Welch is a retired real estate agent, Doolittle owns a gourmet food store and Hellberg is former B-52 bomber pilot who retired to a second career as a city purchasing agent.
The challengers include retired nurse Karen Cartoscelli, businessman and former California Highway Patrol officer Jim Harrison, county government official Tej Maan; and medical doctor Anjinderpal Sekhon.
All of the hopefuls base their platforms on growth-related issues such as traffic, infrastructure, public safety, schools and fears that Yuba City may lose is small town ambiance under an onslaught of Sacramento commuters.
From 1990 to 2002 Sutter County's population has grown from 64,000 to 81,000, with most of the growth occurring in Yuba City, whose current population is pegged at 47,000, the state Department of Finance reports.
Averaged out, the growth rate over the last decade has been a relatively modest 2.05 percent, according to county planner Dale Follas.
There have been periodic spurts of development with growth rates as high as 3.5 percent, and those isolated spikes may have given some residents a deceptive impression of unbridled growth, Follas said.
The city council has done much to accommodate growth, incumbents said at a recent candidates night. Welch pointed to levee improvements at the worrisome Shanghai Bend and Hellberg cited improvements to the city's water treatment and sewage system.
Cartoscelli, who was the first female mayor of Yuba City in an earlier term on the council, believes unchecked growth has been a problem.
"There's been rampant residential construction. The council allowed it with disregard of negative impacts," Cartoscelli said.
Anticipated new industries never materialized to provide local jobs, said Cartoscelli, who has been endorsed by the Yuba City Firefighters Association.
The candidates all agree that Highway 99 needs to be widened. Welch said state funds to finish stretching 99 to four lanes have been set aside, and he promised to fight to make sure they are not reallocated elsewhere.
Hellberg, said he, too, supported widening 99 but wants to be certain it continues to run through town, instead of as a bypass, as some have suggested.
Doolittle, whose store is located in the downtown area, supported continued efforts to revitalize the city center.
Sekhon, a lung specialist, wsaid that, if he is elected, he will work to end what he considers separate and unequal health care accommodations in Yuba-Sutter.
Currently, there are emergency room facilities at Rideout Hospital in Marysville but not at Fremont Hospital in the more populous Yuba City.
Sekhon, a Sikh of military bearing, wants both cities to have their own Ers in the event the two bridges between the twin cities should be knocked out by natural disaster or, he said, "terrorism."
Sekhon and Maan are both Punjabi-Americans, and together they mark a double first, of sorts.
They are believed to be the first candidates from the long established Punjabi community to run for the city council. If either is elected, they could become the first Punjabi-American mayor of a major U.S. city, Maan said.
"There are other races in which Punjabi-Americans are running, but Indian communities in the U.S. and Canada are watching this one," said Maan, who is the director of the Yuba County Envoironmental Health Department.
From an historical perspective, such a first does not mean quite the same to Punjabis-Americans as it might, say, for African-Americans or Hispanic-American communities, Maan said.
Punjabi immigrants have by and large prospered when they come to the U.S. and have not felt the same sense of disenfranchisement as other minority groups may have, Maan said.
"This country is so set up for success. All you have to do is work hard and you can de well," Maan said.
Candidate Harrison is another example of a local boy made good by hard work.
His parents were migrant farmworkers and he grew up in public housing before becoming first a cop, then a CHP officer based in Yuba City.
While a CHP officer he started his own crop dusting business, farmed rice on the side and when he retired from the CHP bought and ran a popular restaurant.
"All my life I've worked two jobs," he said.
The blunt-spoken Harrison is regarded a formidable candidate and may do well at the polls - provided the dead cat issue doesn't hurt him too much.
In August, tired of having roaming cats messing in his wife's garden, Harrison borrowed a cat trap from county animal control. He captured several felines before the unfortunate incident occurred involving "Barney," a male Maine Coon Cat mix.
Barney was died in he cage leading the distraught owner, neighbor Scott Kingham, to post flyers in the neighborhood advising people to beware of traps set out at Harrison's backyard.
Kingham's flyer was followed by two flyers posted by other people with varying opinions on cruelty to animals. The flyers led Harrison to file a small claims action in Sutter County Superior Court alleging defamation and 'malicious persecution" against Kingham.
Kingham countersued for autopsy, cremation and disposal costs, and there the matter rests with no date set for trial.
Some voters have said news of Barney's death have caused them to reconsider their votes for city council.
"Oh yes, it seems to be a factor (in the race)," voter Francie Lane said. "As one of my friends said, 'How can I vote for a cat killer?'"
Harrison shrugged off the cat incident, saying he had received a handful of calls about it, the overwhelming majority of them supporting his action.
"If I hadn't been truthful and just disposed of the cat, this wouldn't gone anywhere," Harrison said.
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