ORANGE COUNTY IN BANKRUPTCY : BOND TICKER : Measure R Friends, Foes File Rebuttals

Supporters and opponents of Measure R on Thursday filed rebuttal arguments with the county registrar of voters office that will be included in voter pamphlets for the June 27 special election.

The rebuttals respond to ballot statements filed two weeks ago on the proposed half-cent sales tax increase.

The rebuttal prepared by Yes on R forces said that home values will decrease and new businesses won’t locate to Orange County if the tax hike is rejected.

“Years of turmoil, endless lawsuits, higher interest rates and lower home values are the price of a no vote,” said the rebuttal, signed by county Chief Executive Officer William J. Popejoy and Sheriff Brad Gates.

The rebuttal by the No on R camp predicted that the county would fall into a recession if the tax is approved. The statement also said that none of the money raised by the tax will go to benefit schoolchildren.

“Don’t be frightened by the Chicken Littles,” said the rebuttal, signed by Thomas C. Rogers, former chairman of the Republican Central Committee of Orange County, and Bruce Whitaker, spokesman for the Committees of Correspondence, an anti-tax group.

Vector Control Plans for Killer Bees Stung

The county crisis has the Orange County Vector Control District worried about killer bees.

The Africanized honey bees have been slowly making their way north from South America. The bees entered Arizona last year and were detected recently in Riverside and Imperial counties.

The Vector Control District planned to spend $250,000 to combat the bees when and if they enter Orange County. The district purchased the needed pesticides. But because of the county bankruptcy, it has been unable to hire two of the five workers who’d handle the task.

The district has $2.16 million in the collapsed county pool and expects to receive about $1.7 million in cash and recovery notes by June 5.

Vector Control Director Gilbert L. Challet said this week that it’s impossible to know when the bees will arrive in Orange County, or if they ever will. Despite their nickname, the Africanized honey bees are no more venomous than other bees.

Assistant Registrar Gets Top Job for Now

Rosalyn Lever, formerly the county’s assistant registrar of voters, has been promoted to registrar on a temporary basis, replacing longtime Registrar of Voters Donald Tanney, who retired last month.

Robert A. Griffith, the acting director of the county’s General Services Agency, said he is in the midst of “reviewing various organizational changes and alternatives” and needed someone to run the office until a permanent registrar can be named.

“Ros has lots of experience and is a real good manager,” Griffith said. “She may get the job permanently, but we will deal with that later.”

Compiled by Shelby Grad, with Len Hall.