Dear editor,

In recent weeks I have been noticing a lot of negative horror stories concerning Measure A, the fair pay issue, such as if it should pass, the county will be sued into nonexistence. The schools will go broke, health departments will not be able to function. All of the public programs will go belly up. The police won't be able to police, the fire marshals won't be able to put out a small fire. And oh! Oops; the fine wine will die on the vine and the world will stop turning. Enough doom and gloom, let's look at this realistically. If the government takes or places unreasonable restrictions on one's property they should have to pay you fairly for it. When you owe the government fines, taxes, permits, penalties, etc., etc., you pay right now with interest, or else heaven forbid. As I recall, the Land Stewards fought for your property rights on the creek setback measure and you, the people of Napa Valley, voted the creek setback measure down. In doing so, the people showed some common sense. Now the Land Stewards have put this measure on the June ballot and now I read that nothing but negative comments about it. But strange enough, most of the names on the poison pen letters are names that wanted the creek setback or belong to enviro groups. I remember hearing the same ghost stories about Proposition 13 26 years ago. Well it passed, thank heavens, and we are still here with more programs than we need. Myself, I will support the Land Stewards with my vote of yes on Measure A in June.

Brian Abbott

South Napa County