FEINSTEIN CRITICIZES STILLWATER, POT FIGHT

Senator Seeks Aid for Housing Slump

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein said the first thing that she wanted to do
when she came to Redding on Wednesday was to stop by the site of the
yet-to-be completed Stillwater Business Park.

California's senior senator from San Francisco wasn't thrilled that
the vacant land she visited four years earlier hadn't changed much.

"Well, I was hoping to see more than I saw today," Feinstein told
about 100 Rotarians and their guests at the Riverview Golf & Country
Club. "But at least we got the permits."

Ground has yet to be broken at the planned industrial site despite
more than $3 million in federal grants intended to spur the
development. Much of that money came from Feinstein's and U.S. Rep.
Wally Herger's offices. At least $40 million in local funds are
promised for the project.

Stillwater wasn't the only local issue that drew the senator's
ire.

Feinstein also said she is disappointed that the federal funds she set
aside to fight illegal marijuana cultivation on public lands isn't
being used as she originally intended.

The senator said she's worried that a large part of the $18 million
she earmarked to fight marijuana cultivation may be used on
intelligence efforts rather than eliminating the Mexican drug cartels
that are planting hundreds of thousands of pot plants in national
forests and parks.

She said she approves of more eradication efforts like last summer's
Operation Alesia campaign.

"I put the money into the budget," she said. "It's called an earmark
and earmarks are not looked upon favorably. But I put that money in to
get them out."

During her half-hour presentation to Redding East Rotary Club members,
Feinstein also addressed the nation's troubled economy, global warming
and the war in Iraq.

She said it's imperative to help communities stop the "downward
spiral" in the housing sector, which is leaving a trail of foreclosed
and oftentimes blighted homes across the state.

She also called for passage of a bill that would regulate "bad actors"
in the banking and mortgage industry by imposing more stringent
education and disclosure requirements on lenders.

Global warming, Feinstein said, can be addressed by finding and using
"green" alternative energy sources to stave off the country's
addiction to fossil fuels. She touted a bill she authored that created
national fuel-mileage standards on new autos.

On the fifth anniversary of the war in Iraq, Feinstein said the
"surge" of U.S. troops is working to curb violence in the country, but
it's a temporary fix at best, because Iraq's leadership is rampant
with corruption.

To get U.S. troops out of Iraq, Feinstein said, Iraqi leaders need to
take control of their own affairs.

She also blasted many of the private military contractors working for
the U.S. military as being "corrupt."

Locally, Feinstein said it's imperative to pass a bill that would make
permanent federal subsidies that pay for rural schools and roads based
on revenue lost when logging was largely banned on public lands.

She also called for the passage of a bill that would put harsher
federal sentences on some gang members, while providing more education
and gang-prevention efforts.

Feinstein's trip to the north state Wednesday was at least the third
time the senator's visited Redding since she was first elected to
federal office in 1992.

Before Wednesday's speech and question-and-answer period, the senator
ate lunch at a table with Shasta County supervisors David Kehoe and
Mark Cibula, District Attorney Jerry Benito and Redding City
Councilman Dick Dickerson, among others.

She also joined the Rotarians in some good-natured
ribbing.

Bill Hazeleur, manager of the Shasta Mosquito and Vector Control
District, joked that he wrote himself a senatorial proclamation in his
own honor.

But when he presented it to the senator, he got some sass
back.

A grinning Feinstein said the Rotarian spelled her name wrong and
asked that he be "fined" a $100 donation for the gaffe.

The audience howled with laughter.