Opinion Piece By Samuel Strait – May 1, 2020 I have never been able to have a particular fondness for government, nor some of the groups that seem to be inevitable off shoots from government. I seem to have that almost inescapable feeling that the government and those groups claiming to be ever so beneficial to the general public will some how manage to do just the opposite. For some unknown reason we have here locally collected a group of people that populate our government boards commissions, and authorities, as well as, many of the affiliated professional groups such as the Local Chamber of Commerce that do not have our best interests at heart. It is quite often the same people who regularly appear on multiple boards, are those that make decisions directly effecting us here in this County. While I don't pretend to attend many of these of meetings, if you pay close attention to the results of these meetings, it is not hard to determine the value each has to Del Norte County. With this recent experience of Covid-19 it should now become clearly apparent that we are ill served by most of these groups and they should either be disbanded or re structured. A careful consideration at election time has become ever more important. I don't think that there are very many people who live in Del Norte County that do not realize how vitally important to our general welfare, the three summer holidays, Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, Labor Day, and the County Fair , are for all of our citizens. Recently the local Chamber of Commerce announced that the festivities planned by that group for the Fourth of July had been cancelled and alluded to long and painful discussions of that decision. While most of us realize at this date and time the possibility of an economic boost from Memorial day is not going to happen, but the July Fourth holiday is still a couple of months away. With the almost daily changing of the Covid-19 picture it has seemed a bit premature that sixteen members of the Chamber should decide the fate for all of us of the Fourth of July Celebrations without waiting until it was closer to the actual event, but that is exactly what has happened. Earlier this week, a request was made by two local citizens representing a larger component of the community that the Chamber revoke that decision and revisit it closer to the actual event. The reasoning being that should circumstances change and the Fourth of July Celebrations be allowed to take place, the loss to the business community could be some what mitigated. Remember, the sole function of our local Chamber of Commerce, of whom local businesses pay for their services, is to protect the interests of the local business community. As such a Tella Conference was arranged by the Chamber to hear the request and the reasoning behind it, to perhaps revisit their recent decision. What transpired in this meeting was so far beyond disrespectful behavior by the few members of the Chamber Board that bothered to attend, that an immediate call should be made for the entire board to be removed from their seats by the members of the business community who pay dues for their services. Certain members in that conference call displayed such blatant scorn and disdain towards the two petitioners that those board member do not deserve to be called an adult. As a witness to that event I am ashamed that our Chamber can be so cavalier with the lives of the people that populate the business community and if I were a current member of the Chamber, I would immediately cease to be one. It is truly unfortunate that our daily lives have been so disrupted by the Covid-19 virus, but it is beyond comprehension that our leadership at both the State and local levels make decisions for us that are far more devastating to us, not simply over the 2020 summer season, but will very likely affect us for years to come. While it is much too late now to revisit the scene of the local Chamber of Commerce's incredibly atrocious and bad behavior, it isn't beyond the scope of the business community to take action and do some serious house cleaning of the Chamber's Board. This is clearly a much needed task in order to restore some credibility towards the idea that the Chamber is meant to aid local businesses not destroy them……