On our minds: Wildfire-prone areas; police drone protocol; a governor’s stand on clemency

A few things that have been on our minds for the last few weeks:

Where to build homes

A news service article we printed a few weeks ago proclaimed: “A million California buildings face wildfire risk.”

More than 1.1 million structures – about 1 in 10 buildings in California – lie within the highest-risk fire zones in maps drawn by the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, it was reported by the Los Angeles Times (a contributor to the Tribune News Service, which the Appeal subscribes to).

It’s not just speculation, is it? From the Camp Fire and others this past season: more than 20,000 homes were lost, more than 100 people were killed. Red zones can be dangerous.

The risk map identifies highrisk areas, taking into consideration terrain, vegetation and location of past fires. There are red areas close to where we live.

But the larger point is that the whole California map is not red... far from it. So there are areas to avoid and plenty of areas that would be safer to develop. So will there be more calls for new development to be restricted in fire-prone areas?

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How to use drone surveillance

We’re hoping Marysville police show great constraint when doing up the local protocols for use of drones.

The Yuba Water Agency provided the department with a small grant to purchase drone capability: equipment, training, licensing.

The grant came with the logic that the police could use the drone to monitor safety situations from the air – including floods and levees. (YWA is somewhat limited in who they can give money to – there is supposed to be some connection to water issues of some sort).

We’re sure the police are aware of a natural skepticism people have born from that tinge of fear about being watched too much. This is America; we value our privacy; things that fly over us and watch us seem spooky. With a drone, authorities can watch a wide area, or a specific area ... such as the back yard normally hidden by a privacy fence. We just hope they continue to emphasize and expound on the philosophy that they don’t look unless there is a very compelling reason to.

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What to ask gubernatorial candidates

Retired Gov. Jerry Brown, in one of his last acts in office, granted clemency to many prisoners, including a man who murdered another man in cold blood here. It’s that simple, really. But, of course, it’s not.

Brown cited the the prisoner’s remorse and efforts at rehabilitation as cause to change his sentence from life without parole to a sentence that will allow him to make his case in front of a parole board.

Sentencing: Is it purely for reforming people who do bad things? Or to put problematic people out of the way and make our community safer? Or is it a compensation for the crime; revenge in some form or another.

We’re fine with a combination of those things. Maybe others aren’t. Some may weigh more heavily on the compensation side and believe the killer should never be released. Some, evidently including Brown, weigh in from the opposite direction and believe it is possible that a killer can become a different person and should have the right to make a case for himself in front of a parole board.

The point? We can’t remember having asked Brown, or his successor Gavin Newsom: Will you grant clemency to people who murder other people in cold blood?

(Jessie Biggs, now 63, was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life without parole in 1981. He was found guilty of standing outside the home of Monty Anderson, in Linda, and shooting through a window Anderson was sitting in front of. Biggs had been paid $500 as a down payment from Anderson’s wife to commit the murder. On Christmas Eve, Brown granted 143 pardons and 131 commutations. Biggs doesn’t automatically get out of prison now; he is allowed to be considered for parole).

Our View editorials represent the opinion of the Appeal-democrat and its editorial board and are edited by the publisher and/or editor. Members of the editorial board include: Publisher Glenn Stifflemire and Editor Steve Miller.