Zeanah Recall Bad for Thousand Oaks : No Agreement on Health Care District

* I was greatly upset to read the article on Elois Zeanah’s recall. It is extremely sad that the residents of Thousand Oaks don’t see that Zeanah and City Councilwoman Linda Parks have been the only ones trying to resolve the city’s problems.

Since all the construction began, there has been nothing but chaos between all the council members and the residents of Thousand Oaks. Unlike Andy Fox and Judy Lazar, Zeanah and her followers have tried to handle any conflicts in a mature manner.

From the beginning, Zeanah has tried to preserve the quiet atmosphere of Thousand Oaks, but Fox and Lazar have only wanted to destroy the city by allowing construction in almost every corner of the Conejo Valley. It is clear that Zeanah is not the “unethical and antagonistic” council member as stated in The Times article--it is definitely the opposing council members who have these characteristics.

FLEUR VIVES

Newbury Park

* The battle between Councilwomen Elois Zeanah and Linda Parks vs. Mayor Judy Lazar and Councilmen Andy Fox and Mike Markey is much more pervasive than Thousand Oaks.

The battle between conservationists and developers is being waged in Ventura, Fresno, Salinas, Humboldt County and elsewhere throughout the state.

Since the passage of Proposition 13, many communities have become dependent on developers to replenish their coffers. Apparently this replenishment isn’t sufficient to service the many needs development creates in its wake. Consequently, many communities, like Fresno, are developing themselves into bankruptcy.

I find it distressful that Zeanah is facing a recall election for trying to head off Thousand Oaks from developing itself into bankruptcy.

SAMUEL M. ROSEN

Newbury Park

* Big money is once again trying to buy a City Council seat. The anti-Zeanah committee would never have gotten enough signatures for a recall election against slow-growth Councilwoman Elois Zeanah if Jill Lederer, Andy Fox’s former campaign manager, had not spent more than $100,000 to hire out-of-town petitioners and pay for slanderous advertising to mislead voters.

Lederer has stated she will continue to spend whatever it takes to railroad Zeanah out of office.

If big money succeeds in buying the recall of our slow-growth leader, what will this mean for our city?

First, it will have a chilling effect on potential candidates for the City Council who put the interests of residents above profits for developers. If a hard-working, ethical person such as Zeanah can be wrongfully recalled because uninformed voters can be manipulated by big money and slick PR smear campaigns, no honest person will be willing to enter such a hostile political environment.

Second, the council majority and out-of-town interests who profit from development will have no checks and balances.

MARIE KOERNER

Thousand Oaks

* Re “Health Care District Is Under Fire,” July 24.

As a private, nonprofit agency, the Ventura County Alzheimer’s Assn. has attempted to forge partnerships with other private and public agencies to better serve the 15,000 people in Ventura County with Alzheimer’s disease or a related disorder, their families and caregivers.

We have found that community-based services, such as those provided by the Camarillo Health Care District, are more easily utilized by families of people with Alzheimer’s disease who may not be able to transport their loved one to a distant location or may be elderly or frail themselves.

In partnership with the health care district, the Alzheimer’s Assn. has been able to give seminars on Alzheimer’s disease to caregivers and professionals, co-sponsor support groups for family members, train volunteers to work on association programs and provide a weekly walk-in satellite office to better serve the eastern end of Ventura County.

The health care district provides one of the few programs in Ventura County that gives Alzheimer’s caregivers time off so that they may continue to care for their loved one at home rather than prematurely placing them in an institutional setting. The higher costs of institutional care cost taxpayers millions in Medi-Cal payments to nursing facilities when the patient’s funds are exhausted and in higher medical costs for caregivers who become ill themselves.

Caregivers need to give their family member the best care possible and want to do so at home, but they are often burned out by the 24-hour-a-day stress of caring for someone who needs constant supervision. Supportive services in the community can make all the difference in the difficult choices caregivers of people with Alzheimer’s disease make every day.

The Ventura County Alzheimer’s Assn. invites H. Jere Robings and the Ventura County Alliance of Taxpayers to contact us for more information on services provided to caregivers, families, professionals and people with Alzheimer’s disease in Ventura County. We believe that the best decisions by our public and private representatives are informed decisions.

TONI KAMM

President,

Ventura County Alzheimer’s Assn.

* Re: Attack on Camarillo Health Care District by H. Jere Robings, president of the Ventura County Alliance of Taxpayers.

Robings is wrong . . . just plain wrong. The Camarillo Health Care District is an organization that the people of Camarillo want and need.

It is run by a local board of outstanding citizens, whom we elect. The board and the staff are local individuals who care about the people of Camarillo, Somis and the surrounding communities.

Over the years, the health care district has evolved from operating [St. John’s] Pleasant Valley Hospital to offering a wide variety of health care services to more than 14,000 people each year. These services are widely supported by our community.

The Camarillo Health Care District serves each of us in so many different ways--numerous special and unique services for seniors, health and wellness classes offered nowhere else and the Apple of Excellence Awards program, which honors leaders in the health care community. It offers more than 1,000 programs and classes each year.

I am privileged to serve on two advisory boards for the health care district. At our meetings, the staff listens to our suggestions and ideas for programs and classes. Community input is a vital part of planning in the district.

Camarillo deserves something unique because we are a wonderful community of people who care about people. The Camarillo Health Care District is part of that caring.

GERALD “GERRY” OLSEN

Camarillo

* Fat cat doctors and their high-priced hatchet people rolling and thrashing about in a trough of money squealing with utter delight--that’s what this health care mess is all about. Money, money, money--taxpayers’ money!

Jere Robings was right about building a huge, unneeded new county hospital and he is right about the Camarillo Health Care District.

I live in the city of Ventura and my mail and the local papers are flooded with offers to attend free classes on the same subjects as those offered by the Camarillo Health Care District. They come from as far away as Santa Barbara and Westlake Village.

We have read many times how half of the hospital beds in the county are empty. If you are tired of paying for two beds when you only use one, write, call or buttonhole your county supervisor and demand an honest, impartial study of our health care system in Ventura County.

You won’t be alone; the head of the county deputy sheriff’s association is calling for an outside audit of the Ventura County Hospital and Health Department.

DICK CLEMENCE

Ventura