CITY OF FILLMORE CITY COUNCIL AGENDA
REGULAR MEETING TUESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2011 6:30 p.m.

CLOSED SESSION
5:30 p.m.

FILLMORE CITY HALL
CENTRAL PARK PLAZA
250 CENTRAL AVENUE
FILLMORE, CALIFORNIA 93015-1907
(805) 524-3701 • www.fillmoreca.com

WELCOME TO THE CITY OF FILLMORE CITY COUNCIL MEETING! Your participation at this public meeting is valued and appreciated. Please note the City Council and Redevelopment Agency convene concurrently.

Agenda/Packet: The CONTINUED »

Not surprisingly, the Taliban have ignored Karzai's protests. "3rd 'Turban bomb' attack rocks southern Helmand province," by Matt Dupee for the Long War Journal, August 20:

For the third time this summer, a Taliban suicide bomber with an explosive device hidden within his traditional Afghan headdress detonated at an Afghan government center. The Friday attack occurred during a ceremony marking Afghanistan's Independence Day held at the Helmand Military Corps Center. Three Afghan National Policemen were wounded in the attack.

The Taliban-led insurgency is... http://www.jihadwatch.org/2011/08/afghanistan-third-taliban-suicide-bomb...

Written By Scott Stewart

It is summer in Juarez, and again this year we find the Vicente Carrillo Fuentes organization (VCF), also known as the Juarez cartel, under pressure and making threats. At this time in 2010, La Linea, the VCF’s enforcer arm, detonated a small improvised explosive device (IED) inside a car in Juarez and killed two federal agents, one municipal police officer and an emergency medical technician and wounded nine other people. La Linea threatened to employ a far larger IED (100 kilograms, or 220 pounds) if the FBI and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) did not investigate the head of Chihuahua State Police intelligence, whom the VCF claimed was working for the Sinaloa Federation.

La Linea did attempt to... http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20110817-buffer-between-mexican-cartels-a...

Assembly Member Jeff Gorell’s District Director Ernie Villegas reacted to the California Citizens Redistricting Commission’s release of their final maps, stating “Jeff’s record as an independent problem-solver and fiscal reformer has great appeal with the district’s new voters. In addition, Jeff’s background as a Naval Reserve Officer makes him a natural to represent the high number of active, reserve and retired military personnel in the newly added communities of the district.”

Villegas added, “He will be proud to represent the only State Assembly district that is wholly contained within Ventura County.”

The addition of most of the city of Oxnard brings familiar neighborhoods to Gorell’s district. As a former Deputy District Attorney for Ventura County, Jeff Gorell has represented the community in hundreds of public safety cases, and is known by community groups and victim rights advocates. As a businessman, Gorell owned a company in Oxnard, and was a member of both the local Chamber of Commerce and Rotary.

Last year, Gorell achieved broad-based voter support across the political spectrum, earning a landslide 58% win over a well-known opponent in the November election.

The new district maintains Jeff’s strong political base in Camarillo, Thousand Oaks, and Moorpark. The new lines add most of Oxnard and the coastal areas of Port Hueneme down past the naval base at Point Mugu. Jeff’s existing communities in North Ventura and Los Angeles counties will be shifted to neighboring Assembly Districts.

District lines will not change until after the 2012 elections, and Gorell will continue to represent the entire current 37th Assembly district for his current term of office. He continues to be proud of all the communities that he was elected to represent, and his office will continue to be there for his constituents in cities such as Simi Valley, Castaic, Chatsworth, Fillmore and Ojai.

A third generation naval officer, Assembly Member Jeff Gorell was called back to active duty by the U.S. Navy on March 18th for deployment to Afghanistan. He currently holds the rank of Lt. Commander with the Navy (Reserve) as an intelligence officer and has previously served a tour of duty in Afghanistan shortly after the events of 9/11.

The new district now includes the Ventura County Naval base at Point Mugu where Gorell reported for duty before being deployed by the Navy to Afghanistan, as well as Port Hueneme near Oxnard.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-CA) released the following statement today on his vote to cut government spending and raise the debt limit:

“This was a hard-fought battle to cut government spending in the face of unsustainable debt between those who wanted a free rein to continue spending and to raise taxes to do so, and those who want to streamline government, stop wasteful spending, and give the private sector opportunities to create jobs.

“While this is not a perfect bill, it gives us a strong down payment on cutting the nation’s deficit, cutting federal spending and getting the government’s financial house in order.

“The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates the bill will reduce budget deficits by at least $2.1 trillion between 2012 and 2021. There are more than $21 billion in spending cuts next year alone, and the bill continues to reduce the deficit in the years ahead.

“And it cuts spending without raising job-killing taxes in a struggling economy. Make no mistake. This is the beginning, not the end, of our efforts to cut wasteful Washington spending. It’s not a perfect deal, but considering the Senate and White House are controlled by elected officials who want to spend and tax, this deal serves as notice that those days are over.”

Background:
Since President Obama took office, the national debt has increased by $3.7 trillion. It took the United States from 1776 until 1992 to accumulate the same amount of debt that President Obama accumulated in 2½ years.
Our national debt is nearly $14.3 trillion – higher than any time in American history – and already equals more than 95 percent of our entire economy.

AUSTIN, TX - The plan to raise the debt ceiling agreed on by the House this weekend is a total fraud, a vessel of broken promises, and a gross evasion of congressional responsibility to spend within its means, according to the Republican Liberty Caucus, a national organization of activists with official affiliates in 42 states. The Caucus Board of Directors blasted the latest deal as an insult to the basic American principles of individual liberty, limited government and private enterprise.

"The details will probably be secret until after the law is signed by the President," says RLC Director Bill Westmiller of California, "but it is certain that it will authorize enough additional debt to pay the costs of last year's bailout, the Democrat's stimulus, all the expenses of ObamaCare, and the continuation of extravagant federal programs implemented by both Republicans and Democrats over the past decade."

The nearly three trillion dollar increase in the Debt Ceiling will take away all pressure on Congress to implement responsible spending policies for the next eighteen months, ensuring that spending and debt issues will not be prominent during the 2012 campaigns.

"This deal is a blatant violation of the promise from House Speaker John Boehner that every dollar of new debt would be matched by a dollar of cuts," noted RLC National Chairman Dave Nalle. "All of the cuts are stretched over ten years, while the deficit spending will occur in less than eighteen months," explains Nalle, "which means that we're actually getting less than ten cents of current cuts for every dollar of perpetual debt. That's not a deal, it's a blank check for bigger government."

The final plan includes unspecified spending cuts, which would be spread over ten years. For the coming fiscal year, there will be real cuts of less than $100 billion dollars. Since the bill assumes that the same level of reduced spending will continue for ten years, the "savings" are simply added together, for the supposed $1 trillion of cuts. There's no real plan for specific long term cuts.

"Whether it's one trillion or three trillion, it's meaningless," explains RLC Northeast Regional Director Vic Berardelli of Maine. "The Supreme Court has already ruled and all legislators acknowledge, that one Congress cannot impose any obligations on a future Congress," says Berardelli. "That means that all of the promised cuts are not binding on the federal government after the next election. They might as well not even exist"

The Supreme Court threw out the Gramm-Rudman Balanced Budget Act in July 1986, as a violation of the Constitution, by a 7-2 vote. Every prior budget authorization must be renewed by the new Congress, or it simply expires.

"There are no real cuts in the debt ceiling compromise," says California RLC Director David Johnson. "Instead there are just promises of cuts to 'projected spending," which is another way of saying they've eased up slightly on the accelerator of the car heading for the cliff. These guys aren't even trying. I fully understand that the big cuts needed from defense and entitlement are controversial. But where are the smaller uncontroversial cuts? Why are there no cuts in corporate welfare? Why no cuts in foreign aid?"

The main source of added revenue is more than a trillion dollars obtained by auctioning off cell phone frequencies. All of those costs will be passed on to clients of the cell-phone companies with increased prices. Although technically not a "tax increase", it will produce additional federal revenue that can be applied to new programs or expansions of old programs.

"This authorization, applauded by leaders of both parties, does absolutely nothing to reduce the debt," says RLC Director Aleq Boyle of Georgia. "The deal actually allows a 50% increase over ten years, from $14.3 trillion to at least $21 trillion by 2021. Even if annual budget deficits were reduced by 100% over the coming decade, the actual public debt and annual interest due will increase more than it has in any prior decade. The pretense that the debt problem is solved is a perverse charade."

"The fear-mongering about this issue is truly craven," says RLC Vice Chairman Aaron Biterman. "Telling people that failure to adopt this huge debt increase will result in U.S. bond rating downgrades, higher consumer interest rates, and possibly cutting entitlement payments. That's all pure fantasy. The reason that the monopoly federal agencies cut bond ratings is because the interest demanded by the consumers of government bonds has increased, not because an agency lowers their rating."

Currently, U.S. Federal Debt is nearly 100% of GDP, comparable with Italy (120%) and Ireland (114%). Those countries have had their debt ratings downgraded simply because of the level of their debt in comparison to their GDPs. Two of the major U.S. ratings agencies say that adding more debt will not prevent a ratings downgrade: the Congress must show an earnest effort to reduce the outstanding debt, not merely the deficit. This bill does not include enough cuts to offset the massive increase in debt.

"In any case, there is no reason to default on bond debt or interest," adds Westmiller, "since the government has more than enough incoming revenue to pay all public debt, all pension checks, and everything else enumerated in the Constitution as a federal power. In fact, the Fourteenth Amendment requires that the U.S. Treasury honor all debt instruments and pensions 'without question'," says Wesmiller. "Contrary to the claims of some Democrats, nothing in the 14th Amendment gives the President any power to borrow money at his sole discretion."

"The most grievous flim-flam in this deal was trashing the requirement that Congress send a Balanced Budget Amendment to the states," notes RLC Secretary Corie Whalen, "which simply won't happen. The deal was modified to simply require one vote on the issue, which Democrats will easily defeat in the Senate. That ends any hope that Congress might actually allow the states to make a decision on balancing the federal budget."

"The entire budget deal is a shameful fraud," says RLC Chairman Dave Nalle. "It doesn't do what our leaders say it will do; it allows increased revenues demanded by the President; it only pretends to cut spending, and it gives Democrats the power to force tax increases and other revenue raising measures through a Super Committee before the end of the year."

"Although this agreement was a failure and a fraud," concluded Nalle, "some praise goes to the small cadre of newly elected fiscal conservatives in the House, most of whom were endorsed by the RLC. They at least spoke up for fiscal respnsibiity and forced a change in the terms of the debate. They stuck to their principles in the face of hysteria and doomsday threats. The RLC will be looking for more responsible candidates to join them in the House and the Senate in 2012."

The Republican Liberty Caucus is a nationwide grassroots organization which promotes individual liberty and limited government within the Republican Party. You can find more information about the Republican Liberty Caucus at www.rlc.org

Assembly Member Jeff Gorell’s District Director Ernie Villegas reacted to the California Citizens Redistricting Commission’s release of their final maps, stating “Jeff’s record as an independent problem-solver and fiscal reformer has great appeal with the district’s new voters. In addition, Jeff’s background as a Naval Reserve Officer makes him a natural to represent the high number of active, reserve and retired military personnel in the newly added communities of the district.”

Villegas added, “He will be proud to represent the only State Assembly district that is wholly contained within Ventura County.”

The addition of most of the city of Oxnard brings familiar neighborhoods to Gorell’s district. As a former Deputy District Attorney for Ventura County, Jeff Gorell has represented the community in hundreds of public safety cases, and is known by community groups and victim rights advocates. As a businessman, Gorell owned a company in Oxnard, and was a member of both the local Chamber of Commerce and Rotary.

Last year, Gorell achieved broad-based voter support across the political spectrum, earning a landslide 58% win over a well-known opponent in the November election.

The new district maintains Jeff’s strong political base in Camarillo, Thousand Oaks, and Moorpark. The new lines add most of Oxnard and the coastal areas of Port Hueneme down past the naval base at Point Mugu. Jeff’s existing communities in North Ventura and Los Angeles counties will be shifted to neighboring Assembly Districts.

District lines will not change until after the 2012 elections, and Gorell will continue to represent the entire current 37th Assembly district for his current term of office. He continues to be proud of all the communities that he was elected to represent, and his office will continue to be there for his constituents in cities such as Simi Valley, Castaic, Chatsworth, Fillmore and Ojai.

A third generation naval officer, Assembly Member Jeff Gorell was called back to active duty by the U.S. Navy on March 18th for deployment to Afghanistan. He currently holds the rank of Lt. Commander with the Navy (Reserve) as an intelligence officer and has previously served a tour of duty in Afghanistan shortly after the events of 9/11.

The new district now includes the Ventura County Naval base at Point Mugu where Gorell reported for duty before being deployed by the Navy to Afghanistan, as well as Port Hueneme near Oxnard.

In the information overload that has become our every day, worrisome world, it is often difficult to see the forest for the trees.

This video may explain the hubris of constant political distractions keeping us from the truth. It is the bottom line of the Truth For Our Times:

Many have had the sneaking suspicion that our elected “leaders” in Congress are not going to Washington D.C. to represent us but for their own personal gain. This video may just validate that assessment!

Using the net worth data compiled by the... http://pronlinenews.com/?p=11018

The United State government authorized and allowed gun dealers to sell thousands of weapons to “straw” purchasers for Mexican drug cartels. The guns were used as part of the drug cartel’s war against the Mexican government which has ended up in the killing of over 35,000 people in Mexico during the past four years. Now the anti-gun forces in Congress are using this as a poster child for tightening reporting requirements for gun dealers along the Mexican border when in reality it was the White House’s program that wanted to arm Mexican drug cartels and trace the weapons to make arrests. The plan backfired, resulting in the deaths of at least one, maybe two American law enforcement officers.

California Republican Congressman Darrell Issa is... http://www.dailyjot.com/dailyjot/The_Jot.html

As seen in the Sacramento Business Journal

Several state leaders said Monday that the state’s Board of Equalization should revamp a program aimed at collecting out-of-state sales taxes from small businesses — and the legislature should consider killing the program outright — claiming it has failed to generate the money expected and has put an unfair burden on small business owners.

At issue is the state’s Qualified Purchaser Program, which was designed to generate extra revenue in the 2009 budget by requiring small businesses the generate more than $100,000 in gross revenue to pay use tax on items bought out of state going back to 2007.

But business owners say it requires them to spend hours combing through invoices only to determine that 95 percent of the businesses owe no additional tax. That has pushed the average tax owned down to about $47 per filer.

George Runner, a former state senator and current member of the Board of Equalization, said at a news conference that he will seek changes to the current regulations to ease that burden, while looking for a sponsor in the legislature for a bill that would end the program.

The program has collected an additional $56 million in taxes, but has cost $23 million in administrative costs and small business advocates say it has placed a huge burden on businesses that don’t have accounting departments. It was expected to generate four times as much revenue for the state as it has collected.

Businesses that generate $100,000 or more annually were automatically registered for the program. Many were confused, especially because the state’s tax forms already have a place to declare use tax. If the business revenue drops below that figure, the business is still required to file the forms, Runner said.

John Kabateck, executive director of the California Chapter of the National Federation of Independent Businesses, said the program is “just another classic but very dangerous” example of regulations driving business out of California.

They were joined by state Sen. Bob Dutton, himself a small business owner who has been required to submit forms even though his business has dropped below the initial requirements for the program. Dutton said he would consider carrying a bill to eliminate it.

The state of Nevada has the highest unemployment rate in the nation, but California is a close second. Unfortunately, recent employment trends show California could soon swap places with Nevada, assuming the dubious distinction of having the worst unemployment rate in America. This is discouraging news for California's more than two million unemployed workers.

Adding insult to injury, California's liberal political leaders are like a flock of ostriches with their heads in the sand when it comes to getting California's economy back on track. As lawmakers continue their annual tradition of sending "job killer" bills to the governor's desk, California's economy remains stuck in neutral even as other states pass us by.

Take Nevada, for instance. Nevada's unemployment rate, which peaked at 14.9 percent -- considerably higher than California's 12.5 percent peak -- has fallen to just 12.1 percent. That's only four tenths of 1 percent higher than our state's current unemployment rate.

Nevada isn't the only high unemployment state recovering faster than California. Michigan's peak unemployment rate of 14.9 percent has fallen more than four points to 10.3 percent.

Clearly, the economic recoveries of Nevada, Michigan and many other states are outshining our own.

This reality is underscored by the flight of California's work force. Between 2005 and 2009 more than 870,000 Californians packed their bags and departed our state. The top destinations were Arizona, Texas and Oregon, but even Oklahoma attracted nearly 30,000 transplants.

Warning signs

But it's not just California workers who are leaving. Our employers are as well. According to business relocation coach Joe Vranich, the number of California business relocations is five times higher this year than in 2009. He also warns that at least 14 states are actively recruiting California business owners, encouraging them to expand or relocate for cost savings of up to 40 percent.

The warning signs of California's jobs problems are everywhere, yet the California Legislature seems oblivious. Lawmakers waste their time on nonpriorities or churn out new taxes, fees, mandates and ridiculous regulations on business owners who are barely surviving.

The Sacramento Bee recently identified 10 bills to watch in the California Legislature. Nine of the 10 bills have nothing to do with jobs. Instead these bills seek to regulate unloaded guns, shark fins, cell phones, ski helmets, smoking and tanning. Given our Legislature's propensity to regulate every facet of our lives, it's no wonder the Mercatus Center recently ranked California as the third "least free" state in the nation.

A tenth bill on The Bee's list, dubbed the "Amazon tax," was recently approved by the Legislature as a budget measure and signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown. This measure is just the sort of misguided law that may guarantee California soon becomes the nation's leader in unemployment.

Losing income

Proponents of the so-called "Amazon tax" claim it will "create fairness" by "leveling the playing field" between California's brick-and-mortar retailers and out-of-state online sellers. They claim it will generate $200 million in new revenues for the state. But evidence shows this measure will actually cause California to lose, not gain, millions of dollars.

Amazon.com and other out-of-state online retailers have already terminated their California-based affiliate programs and are taking other steps to ensure that they have no legal connection to California that would force them to collect sales tax here. These out-of-state retailers continue to sell into California without collecting sales tax.

Meanwhile, the true victims of the "Amazon tax" are California job creators who will suffer an unavoidable loss of income if they continue to do business in this state. As many as 25,000 California affiliates who pay an estimated $124 million in state income taxes are impacted. Small businesses that currently benefit from affiliate referrals will also suffer lost revenue.

Another surprising victim of this new law is eBay , a homegrown California success story and major private sector employer. Ironically, the "Amazon tax" will actually disadvantage eBay and drive online sellers away from eBay toward to other platforms, like Amazon. As sellers living outside California discover that continued sales on eBay trigger new, unwelcome relationships with California's tax auditors, they will take their business elsewhere. And I can't blame them.

Unless California's leaders want to make California the nation's unemployment leader, they need to radically transform their priorities. They need to stop making California offensive to business, and instead start wooing private sector jobs by extending a welcome mat to entrepreneurs and businesses of all kinds.

Written by By Daniel Martin and Simon Caldwell

Scientists have created more than 150 human-animal hybrid embryos in British laboratories.

The hybrids have been produced secretively over the past three years by researchers looking into possible cures for a wide range of diseases.

The revelation comes just a day after a committee of scientists warned of a nightmare ‘Planet of the Apes’ scenario in which work on human-animal creations goes too far.

Last night a campaigner against the excesses of medical research said he was disgusted that scientists were ‘dabbling in the grotesque’.

Figures seen by... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2017818/Embryos-involving...

WASHINGTON – A newly unclassified Department of Homeland Security report warns against the possibility of violence by unnamed "right-wing extremists" concerned about illegal immigration, increasing federal power, restrictions on firearms, abortion and the loss of U.S. sovereignty and singles out returning war veterans as particular threats.

The report, titled "Right-wing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment," dated April 7, states that "threats from white supremacist and violent anti-government groups during 2009 have been largely rhetorical and have not indicated plans to carry out violent acts."

However, the document, first reported by... http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=94803

Written by By Bill Gertz

China's military is developing electromagnetic pulse weapons that Beijing plans to use against U.S. aircraft carriers in any future conflict over Taiwan, according to an intelligence report made public on Thursday.

Portions of a National Ground Intelligence Centerstudy on the lethal effects of electromagnetic pulse (EMP) and high-powered microwave (HPM) weapons revealed that the arms are part of China’s so-called “assassin’s mace” arsenal - weapons that allow a technologically inferior China to defeat U.S. military forces.

EMP weapons mimic the gamma-ray pulse caused by a nuclear blast that knocks out all electronics, including computers and automobiles, over wide areas. The phenomenon was discovered in 1962 after an aboveground nuclear test in the Pacific disabled electronics in Hawaii.

The declassified intelligence report, obtained by the private National Security Archive, provides details on China’s EMP weapons and plans for their use. Annual Pentagon reports on China's military in the past made only passing references to the arms.

“For use against... http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jul/21/beijing-develops-radiati...

Last Saturday, actress-turned-fitness guru Jane Fonda was to appear on the shopping TV network QVC to peddle her new lifestyle book Prime Time, until the channel suddenly canceled her appearance. In response, Fonda wrote an angry opinion piece for the showbiz website “The Wrap,” explaining that “The network said they got a lot of calls yesterday criticizing me for my opposition to the Vietnam War and threatening to boycott the show.” (QVC issued a statement that answered Fonda’s comments only by noting that such scheduling changes happen often and unexpectedly on the network).

Fonda was “deeply disappointed that... http://frontpagemag.com/2011/07/21/jane-fonda-%e2%80%9ci-have-never-done...

Written by Ed Feulner

Fellow conservatives,

We find ourselves in the midst of an important battle, the outcome of which will be determined by decisions to be made in the immediate days ahead. We must win this fight. The debate over raising the debt limit seems complicated, but it is really very simple. Look beyond the myriad details of the awkward compromises, and you see an epic struggle between two opposing camps.

On one side are those who have come to realize it would be madness to let the political class borrow more without imposing a serious check on government spending. They have produced budgets and now an actual legislative plan to get things under control.

On the other, you find those who consider more spending, taxing, and borrowing a royal prerogative. They have produced nothing but rhetoric and empty promises and have pushed this debate to the brink.

It is a fair fight—or would be, if those trying to bring sanity to the nation’s fiscal picture were not held back by confused allies. These allies say they still want to cut spending, but (temporarily, we hope) have put love of political maneuvering ahead of the principles that brought them to Washington in the first place.

It would also help if... http://blog.heritage.org/2011/07/21/morning-bell-the-fight-were-in/?utm_...

Written by Tiffany Gabbay

Rep. Allen West is reportedly “strongly opposed” to a planned U.S. sale of M1A1 Abrams tanks to Egypt given the growing probability that the Muslim Brotherhood could, at some point in the near future, lead the Egyptian government. Allowing the sale of such tanks, would, according to West, “seriously jeopardize the safety and security of the state of Israel.“ West added that the ”last thing” he wants to see are Egyptian M1A1 tanks “rolling through the Sinai toward Jerusalem.”

Sunshine State News reports that in a letter Monday to Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon, West wrote:

“It has come to my attention that... http://www.theblaze.com/stories/allen-west-slams-planned-u-s-tank-sale-t...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-CA) released the following statement today in response to Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Peter D. Lichtman’s Opinion and Order of Allocation in the Chatsworth Metrolink Collision Cases:

“Mark Joseph, Vice Chairman and CEO of Veolia Transportation, claimed in a March letter to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee that the $200 million compensation fund Veolia and Metrolink planned to provide to the families of the 24 people killed and those severely injured in the September 12, 2008, Metrolink crash was more than adequate, and to believe otherwise, ‘one would have to accept valuations that far exceed the norm in serious accident cases.’

“Judge Lichtman’s opinion shows how wrong Mr. Joseph and Veolia have been since the day of the crash.

“In Judge Lichtman’s words:

“’In this Court’s view, after having conducted all of the hearings, the total value of the collision was appropriately in the range set forth above, i.e., $320,000,000 - $350,000,000. If each of the cases were tried separately to a jury, the verdict potential in all cases would be close to that number, if not greater.’

“Even after going through a painful preliminary allocation process, Judge Lichtman found damages exceeded the fund by $64 million.

“’There is not enough money to compensate the victims for future medical care and past pain and suffering,’ Judge Lichtman wrote.

“In the end, Judge Lichtman was forced to make what he called 120 Sophie’s choices.

“I thank Judge Lichtman for the impossible task he has undertaken.

“Now that Judge Lichtman has made his ruling, I once again call upon Veolia to do the right thing and fairly compensate the victims of the September 12, 2008, Metrolink crash in which the company was grossly negligent. The victims should not have to make Sophie’s choices every day among proper medical care, food, and a roof over their heads.”

Background:

More than 2½ years after the crash, Veolia created a fund for $200 million for the victims – the cap on rail accidents proscribed by U.S. federal law.

To date, Veolia has declined to pay any funds to the victims over and above the $200 million statutory cap. That means taxpayers will probably have to foot most of the victims’ bills once their personal insurance runs out.

Some victims will never work again. Some will never walk again. One young woman was studying to be a doctor. Part of her brain had to be removed. Everyday people just riding the train home from work have had their lives terribly altered forever.

Gallegly, whose district is home to most of the 2008 Veolia victims, has publicly called on Veolia to take full responsibility for the devastation caused by this terrible train crash and to do the right thing by those victims who have already lost so much. He has met with victims and Veolia executives together and separately.

He and 15-year-old Mackenzie Souser testified before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials on March 17. On Monday, he and 17 members of the California congressional delegation sent a bipartisan letter to Veolia urging adequate and fair compensation to the victims.

Veolia’s website claims it is committed worldwide to “Accountability, especially in Safety.”

Veolia should hold itself fully accountable for this tragic crash and should pay the real lifetime damages to the victims because it is the right thing to do.