O.C. BASHING: A Riverside Press Enterprise column...

O.C. BASHING: A Riverside Press Enterprise column this month blasted Orange County voters for being in debt to the freeway system while refusing to tax themselves to improve it. . . . “Orange County’s way of building Southern California,” it said, “is to pull back a gnarled, shriveled hand--afraid it might be asked to give a dime in return for the dollar it is taking.” Stan Oftelie, O.C.’s transportation czar, has heard such criticism and says, “We’re being isolated . . . and no one is stepping in to save us.”