Editor:

While I am appalled and dismayed by Estelle Fennell's attempted hijacking of the General Plan ("Publisher," June 13) I am even more disgusted that all but one of the other supervisors supported her audacious power grab. Ms. Fennell's rewriting of the guiding principles for the county general plan is a slap in the face to the democratic process by which the original guiding principles were determined, and it is a slap in the face to the citizens of this county who have given their time in order to participate in the general plan update process. The fact that the majority of the supervisors were willing to support Ms. Fennell's power grab clearly shows their lack of respect for the average citizens of this county and for the principles of citizen participation upon which this country was built.

Caught red-handed, these supervisors are now insisting that their illegal vote was just a "straw poll," and they will be holding a meeting to allow the public to weigh in on Sept. 23 from 6 to 9 p.m. I would urge anyone who values democracy and is concerned by the actions of our elected officials to plan to attend this meeting.

Jennifer Raymond, Ferndale