GUEST COLUMN

I HAVE A SOLUTION FOR CALIFORNIA’S BUDGET CRISIS
By Trey Rusk
　
California's Governor recently lowered 200,000 state workers pay to the minimum wage, $7.25 an hour. This happened because the state legislature and the Governor could not agree on a budget and Oh Yeah, California is broke.
　
Visit California. Don’t miss it because it is worth a toll. What? A toll! Those are fighting words in Texas. Just ask Governor Perry or the Texas Department of Transportation.
　
My solution to the budget crisis in California is to charge each automobile occupant a $10 toll to enter the state. It would be good for one week. Then charge every airline, train and bus passenger the same toll.
　
I would gladly pay because my wife and I traveled extensively in California in 2006 and 2007. The state is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been.
　
We lived in Fresno and saw Yosemite National Park, drove the high Sierra Mountains and the Sequoia National Park. These were all in driving distance of our apartment. I fished the crystal clear San Joaquin River while surrounded by the most beautiful scenery I had ever witnessed.

Our next stop was Yuma on the California border. Our apartment overlooked the Imperial Sand Dunes that dwarf the surrounding landscape. We visited the Great Salton Sea and Palm Springs, which has to be the cleanest city I have ever visited. We spent the weekend at Big Bear Lake and played in the snow. We drove to San Diego with its magnificent beaches, then we hugged the coast and saw seals and otters while visiting Encinitas and Oceanside. The diverse landscape always amazed me.
　
Our last stop was Santa Rosa, forty miles north of San Francisco. We visited the Golden Gate City many times. We enjoyed Fisherman’s Wharf and looked upon all sorts of marine life while dining. We walked the Marina District, visited Telegraph Hill and drove across the Golden Gate Bridge. We drove the coast highway and visited Half Moon Bay, Big Sur and Monterey.
　
We lived near Napa Valley and enjoyed the constantly changing landscape with rolling hills covered in vineyards. There were mountain lion warnings, wildfire alerts and the ground rumbled constantly. Living in Texas, I always wondered why people would live under those conditions. Now I know. Besides, is it any worse than hurricanes and tornadoes?

Taxing the medical marijuana industry hasn’t saved the state. Who ever thought that a bunch of ‘legal’ drug dealers would keep California from going broke anyway?
　
I’m sure some federal statute forbids my idea of tolls, but I think it would work.
　
[Trey Rusk retired as a lieutenant with the Texas Alcohol Beverage Commission. Denise, his wife, was a travelling nurse while they lived in California. Trey is currently an agent with the Galveston County auto theft task force.]