Editor,

Keep The Code, Inc., a non-profit Corporation of Mendocino County citizens, has hired legal representation in litigation, challenging the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors’ certification of the Environmental Impact Report for the Harris Quarry Expansion Project (“EIR”), which allows tripling of the rate of aggregate extraction at the quarry and industrial zoning of the site with an asphalt plant.

On behalf of Keep The Code, Environmental Law firm- Remy, Moose, Manley, LLP will challenge the County approved project on multiple legal issues- governed by the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Since the Harris Quarry Expansion Project includes a new ‘Mineral Processing Combining District Overlay’ (MPCD) industrial zoning. The complexity of the proposal increases accordingly; since the entire County is potentially affected. Keep The Code contends a “Programmatic Environmental Analysis” of this new zoning code is required to provide for, or anticipate these potentially unforeseen, adverse consequences across the county. This current EIR provides no such programmatic countywide analyses.

Keep The Code contends the proposed MPCD zoning ordinance is inconsistent with the General Plan. The MPCD ordinance would specifically allow heavy industrial/manufacturing uses on land designated in the General Plan as “RL-Range Lands” Currently such industrial uses are prohibited on parcels with a Range Land general plan and zoning designation.

Maximum 50 trucks loaded with aggregate rock per hour will create traffic safety hazards and congestion unlike anything we have seen.

Issues of conflict abound with existing residential development and the nearby church, and senior residences with significant adverse environmental impacts such as air pollution, traffic safety, wildfire risk and visual degradation of cultural resources — will all be contested.

This filing represents the culmination of a long, arduous, circuitous journey from that day- November 4, 2004 when, according to official minutes, then Planning Commissioners John McCowen and Greg Nelson voted unanimously, with other Commissioners to “ Deny DR 1- 2004- placement of a permanent asphalt-concrete plant, applied for by Northern Aggregate precursor (Hot Rocks Asphalt & Aggregates), finding that:” land use conflicts with existing residential development in the area are irreconcilable,” and further finding, “ the proposed project is inconsistent or potentially inconsistent with applicable goals and policies of the General Plan, with regard to noise, industry and air quality, and significant environmental impacts would result from the proposed project which can not be adequately mitigated through the conditions of approval” Another Commissioner, Mr Little, recused himself due to “conflict of interest.” Today Greg Nelson and John McCowen Chair the Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors, respectively.

The County Planning Department Staff Report of Feb 27, 2012 provides an accurate historic account of the process… The establishment of a permanent asphalt plant in a General Industrial(1-2) zoning district, was applied for by the operator, but denied by the Planning Commission on Nov 4, 2004, due to irreconcilable land use conflicts with existing residential development in the area. The applicant appealed the decision to the Board of Supervisors , but during the hearing withdrew the appeal after a discussion with the Board about locating the plant at the Harris Quarry. The Board directed Planning and Building Services to prepare an ordinance amendment that would allow the development of asphalt plants, in association with surface mining operations so that the applicant could apply for a permit at the Harris Quarry site.

According to former Third District Supervisor Hal Wagenet, in recent public hearing comments to the 2012- class of Board Supervisors: “The current Harris Quarry location was suggested (at that time), to the applicant as a viable alternative in January of 2005, and agreed to by the Supervisors, including myself.” Currently serving Supervisor Kendall Smith was also on that Board in 2005. In a Willits News article dated Feb 4th, 2009, then retired Supervisor Wagenet stated: “ He had agreed to help shepherd the Quarry expansion application through the County permit process”

Jack Magne’, of Keep The Code, stated today, “ It probably serves no purpose to comment on the appropriateness of former Supervisors acting as guidance-counselors on behalf of Applicants, and perhaps active Board Supervisors should not be in the business of assisting Applicants locate a place to build an asphalt plant.” Magne’ continued, “ Even the casual observer might see (built in bias)- That said, the real irony here is the fact that the previously stated reasons given for denial of the plant in 2004, are the very same objections voiced by the opponents of the current Harris Quarry proposal in 2012. The result, however, is quite the opposite” The Board Supervisors voted unanimously on April 10, 2012, in favor of certification, just as their appointees, the Commissioners had recommended- 7 to 0.

Magne’ said: “Keep The Code, Inc members continue to be inspired and determined to do whatever is necessary to defeat this concerted push to change the zoning ordinance to ‘industrial’, to allow construction of a 300 ton per hour industrial asphalt complex, on unsteady soil, at the top of a ridge, proximate to a major seismic fault, adjacent to historical Ridgewood Ranch, which is home to senior citizens, LaVida Charter School and Christ Church of The Golden Rule, and resting place of world-famous racehorse Seabiscuit.” “A project which the current FEIR states will produce a total of ‘ 4 to 9 ‘additional jobs.” “A loss of tourism, declining property values, horrendous traffic, and jeopardizing the health of our citizens, makes no sense at all.” The complaint states that more appropriate alternatives were not considered.

Keep The Code is entering another chapter in its long battle to defend the air we breathe and the land we cherish.

Support is pouring in. Spirits are lifted. The process and the outcome will rest not on politics- but on the law.

Jack Magné, Keep The Code

www.keepthecode.info

Willits,

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UKITOPIA

To the editor,

How I love living in the utopian Ukiah dining alfresco under the majestic oak tree providing a wonderful canopy for my cottage. Watching the worms descend on silken threads from the limbs high above, leaving hundreds of fine lines of silk swaying in the wind resembling “la Circe de Solie.” I am as fit as Mitt “The Holy Trinity” Romney willing and ready to run the 100 yard dash if only to impress the ladies!

Clearing up my dry mouth with a cool crisp white wine I fill my ballot voting for John McCowen, a man who is dedicated to the protection and further preservation of the county and the people he loves to serve, not to mention his slick campaign signs. Were they bought at the “Sharper Image”?

The best is yet to come. On July 15, “free concerts in the park,” Mckenna Faith will be performing. This young lady is the up and coming superstar! I will be there sober and not smoking, wearing my American flag T-shirt and Nashville cap. Grand Ol’ Opry. That’s if I am not running the 100 yard dash impressing the ladies on the other side of the park. I bought a laser tape measure and stopwatch!

Life is good here in Mendocino County and I am blessed with a little inspiration that is bringing not only joy and good health with a love for life and prosperity.

The new courthouse would be well placed by the railroad.

Trent Foster

Ukiah

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Memo Of The Week

Know Your Enemies

CERTIFICATE

(Elections Code §7228, 7423 and 7772)

TO THE HONORABLE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS

COUNTY OF MENDOCINO

I, SUSAN M. RANOCHAK, ASSESSOR-COUNTY CLERK-RECORDER, do hereby certify that at 5:00 p.m. on March 9, 2012 the number of nominees did not exceed the number of offices to be filled in the following County Central Committees and that no petition requesting a special election was filed with the County Clerk. NOW, THEREORE, I hereby request that the Board of Supervisors declare the following candidates elected to such office, as a qualified person or persons who filed Declaration of Candidacy papers, to serve as Member, namely:

REPUBLICAN CENTRAL COMMITTEE: Carol E. Crosby, 2nd District — 171 Carolyn St., Ukiah 95482; Michael G. Carter, 3rd District — PO Box 1952, Willits 95490; Stanley E. Anderson, 4th District — 18751 Dwyer Ln, Fort Bragg 95437; B.B. Grace, 4th District — 201 Cypress St. #203, Fort Bragg 95437.

DEMOCRATIC CENTRAL COMMITTEE: Irma Turner, 1st District — 8001 East Rd., Redwood Valley 95470; Joe Louis Wildman, 1st District — PO Box 1395, Ukiah 95482; Paul C. Holden, 2nd District — 5087 Jones St., Ukiah 95482; Virginia Pohlson, 3rd District — PO Box 1522, Fort Bragg 94327; Rachel Binah, 5th District — PO Box 353, Little River 95466; Val Muchowski, 5th District — PO Box 367, Philo 95466; Jefferson Evan Tyrrell, 5th District — 21000 Orr Springs Rd., Ukiah 95482; Steve Antler, 5th District — PO Box 1046, Mendocino, 95460

Witness my hand and official seal this 23rd day of April 2012.

Signed: Susan M. Ranochak, in and for the County of Mendocino, State of California.

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THE QUARRY IS GREEN!

Editor,

Why is no one talking about the environmental advantages of the Harris Ranch Quarry? Producing 200,000 yards of material there would cut out 1,500,000 to 1,700,000 big rig miles now spent to import that material to central Mendocino County. Over 30 years that is 45,000,000 to 51,000,000 big rig miles. How many thousands of tons of greenhouse gases and other pollutants does that save?

We have some of the strictest environmental controls in the world which will be imposed on the quarry. The environmentally “green” way is to produce local materials for local use, create local jobs, keep sales tax local, all under local control.

Harris Ranch Quarry is the green choice for Mendocino County.

John Jeffers

Ukiah

ms notes: Actually, all of these points, and several more of similar nature, were made during the Supervisors meeting when the EIR was certified.

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A FISH STORY

Editor:

A dozen or so years ago a ranch that lies on the Garcia River between the two rancherias owned by Vernon Kendall had the river breach its banks during high water and start to erode Mr. Kendall’s field.

Mr. Kendall hired a bulldozer to reopen the channel — maybe 100 yards of river.

About halfway through the project, Ed Ramos of the Department of Fish and Game came down to put a halt to the project.

Soon after rains came again and proceeded to wash hundreds if not thousands of yards of soil and gravel into the river.

This filled the entire lower river making it very shallow, also making it easy for prey to eat the young trout and warming water in summer which is also lethal to steelhead and salmon.

Attempts were made to plant willows on the Kendall Ranch probably after scientific studies and grant money which resulted in more pollution into the river in the form of giant balls of tangled plastic pie, far more than any pot grower has ever done.

The river has still not recovered.

So I wonder how many fish have died over this period of time. But you didn’t hear a word about it. It wasn’t plastered all over the papers from here to Los Angeles.

So does the Department of Fish and Game really care about fish or publicity? You would think if they really cared about fish there would be no way and they would allow a vineyard in the river that is also making a comeback — the Gualala River. And for the record, the Stornettas always impeccably maintained their portion of the Garcia River at no charge to anyone but themselves.

John Smith

Manchester

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CRAIG BELL REPLIES

Editor,

I would like to respond to a number of erroneous statements made in Mr. Smith’s letter.

Vern Kendall (deceased) owned a ranch on the Garcia River that developed some bank erosion problems that were caused by his sheep eating the riparian vegetation, leaving the banks unprotected.

As a consultant to the Mendocino County Resource Conservation District, I worked with Vern to prepare and submit a Department of Fish and Game restoration grant to restore the failed bank site.

The grant was approved and Fish and Game, Regional Water Quality Control Board, and the National Marine Fisheries Service issued necessary permits. All that remained was a needed Army Corps of Engineers 404 permit.

Vern and I participated in numerous site visits with Army Corps staff and still no permit was issued.

Despite repeated attempts and pressure, two winters went by and the erosion site grew from several hundred feet to over a thousand.

Vern used to say to me he was going to fix it before he died.

The second year in February Vern brought in heavy equipment and attempted to repair the site with no permits or adequate design. He redirected the river over as far from his land as possible and built gravel berms to keep it there.

While Vern was well-meaning and frustrated with the Army Corps of Engineers, the effort was doomed to end in complete failure with the first good storm leaving the site in even worse condition.

Not long after he died relatives of Vern’s who inherited the ranch had to carry out a cleanup and abatement of the site.

This effort was not comprehensive enough to truly restore the damage. Those owners sold the ranch to Mike Boer.

I worked with Mike to prepare and submit a Department of Fish and Game grant application to carry out the extensive bank stabilization and revegetation.

I worked as project manager for the firm of Bioengineering Associates.

The project has been extremely successful in not only stopping further bank erosion but also creating deep pools and a healthy riparian vegetation zone that benefits many species.

Mr. John Smith in his letter infers that giant balls of plastic pipe polluted the river.

As part of the project we installed a very extensive irrigation system.

We had hoped to get a second year of irrigation of the plantings.

The Garcia River came up over 15 feet at winter and did dislodge some of the pipe.

I worked with crews to remove and dispose of the pipe the following summer and can assure that there was no harm done to the Garcia River in the form of pollution as the pipe only conveyed water to the plantings.

Mr. Smith, if you call me I would be happy to take you on a tour of the restoration site with before-project photos.

I also worked with Bioengineering Associates to carry out successful bank stabilization projects funded by the Department of Fish and Game on property owned by the Stornetta Brothers Farm, Henry Stornetta (deceased), Oz Farm and the Galiano family.

Each of those projects also created deep pool habitat and stopped the loss of farmland.

Walt and Lance Stornetta and I have also carried out a number of successful riparian projects at their own expense.

The Department of Fish and Game has real and well-placed concern about salmon and steelhead being killed on the Garcia River.

I have been conducting steelhead spawner surveys of the lower river from the Eureka Hill Road bridge to the Highway 1 bridge for seven years.

Due to the extensive upslope erosion control work in commercial and private timberland properties (mostly from Department of Fish and Game funding), the spawning gravels and habitats in the lower river are showing strong recovery and steelhead have begun to spawn in large numbers.

Seven years ago I counted 103 steelhead redds! The following year’s totals were: 87, 62, 47, 25, 5, and this year only 3.

This lower river spawning population in particular and overall numbers have been severely impacted by illegal harvest of state and federal Endangered Species Act-listed fish.

Fish are being gill-netted, speared, snagged and even poisoned.

There are reports of Garcia River steelhead being sold in Santa Rosa and even downtown Point Arena out of cars.

There have been millions of dollars spent and countless volunteer hours by concerned locals and Garcia River watershed land owners. This is all being severely undermined.

Craig Bell

Point Arena

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PAY OR DIE

Dear Editor:

As your readers may know the U.S. is the only industrial country that does not have an universal health program. It is worth noting the US spends about 15% of GDP on healthcare and yet there are 50 million plus Americans without health insurance while the countries with plans spent about 7-9% of GDP on health costs. Further, the way the health insurance business (which is mainly for profit corporations) operate a goodly percentage of their customers are under-insured. Meanwhile in the rest of the world countries are moving toward healthcare for all their citizens. These include such countries as Rwanda, Ghana, Chile, Mexico and in Thailand only 1% of the population do not have health insurance. Incidentally, one of the important measures of a country’s health is its infant mortality rate which in the US ranks about 35th in the world. Even Cuba has a lower infant mortality than the US.

Pax Americana spends more on the military industrial complex than the rest of the world combined yet it is unwilling to develop a system of healthcare that will provide for all of its citizens.

As we have seen with Obamacare the GOP which seems to be dominated by Tea Party nihilists who are intent on destroying what little healthcare safety net currently exists. This is clear when you look at Representative Ryan’s budget as well as how they will fund the cut in interest rates for student loans. If these nihilists ever get full control of the government it will be the beginning of the end of the American Empire.

In peace,

James G. Updegraff

Sacramento

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THE ONE TRUE REPUB

Dear Editor,

As a Republican there is one easy vote in the June 5th election for Congress.

Mike Halliwell is the only true conservative running for Congress in the new 2nd Congressional District.

If you believe in smaller government, less taxes and fewer regulations. If you believe in freedom and what our Constitution is suppose to stand for. If you believe it is a free market that allows businesses to grow, thrive and create jobs, then you should cast your vote for this true Republican who shares those beliefs.

Mike Halliwell is no RINO. He is a real Republican and he’s running for Congress and he deservers your vote.

In the race for Congress you’ll see a second Republican on the ballot, one who seems to agree with the Democrats on almost every issue. Mike Halliwell is the only Congressional candidate who has stayed true to our Republican ideals.

Join me and cast a vote of conscience on June 5th by voting for Mike Halliwell.

Mark Grimes

Eureka

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WRONG ROCK

Editor,

I agree that we should do everything possible to save our landmarks. However, “the unique, beautifully imposing triangular boulder that looms large across from the Black Board Road intersection” is not “The Black Bart Rock” of historical significance. The original Black Bart Rock was located south of the summit on the old stagecoach road that later became old 101, parts of which can still be seen occasionally on the west side of the new highway.

Unfortunately, that rock, which we have pictures of at the Mendocino County Historical Society Library, has State signage saying that it is Black Bart Rock. Unfortunately, it reportedly slid down the hill and was lost. The rock that Mr. Magné referred to last week was called Black Bart Rock by a PR person who I believe was working or writing for the Redwood Empire Association.

So this week I will research the files that we have and hopefully have the correct story ready for publication with pictures in a future article for local papers. We should still hold on to the monolith that Caltrans cut when putting in the new road.

Paul Poulos, Director

Held-Poage Home & Research Library

Mendocino County Historical Society

Ukiah

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A DEAL’S A DEAL

To Pebbles Trippet,

You are terribly uninformed. Chris made the decision to take the plea, which reduced the charge to a second degree felony. The range of punishment for a second degree is 2-20 years and Chris got only three years. He has already spent more than four months over the minimum parole eligibility and will be paroled very quickly. After the evidence presented to me by the DA that Chris was selling grams of hash for “40 a g,” all of the goodwill in the community that I had built disappeared (even though you and I know that he was going to sell a little medicine for gas money.)

I have been a long time advocate of legalization of cannabis. People like you are the old-time warriors who deserve the credit for taking the issue this far. But your time has come and gone. It will be people like me, in suits and ties, who take us the rest of the way. We can no longer call non-believers evil while alienating them from the truth. The all-out assault on Texas and Brown County was unproductive. The assault on me is ridiculous.

Peace.

Rudy Taylor

Brownsville, Texas

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RECOVERY? WHAT RECOVERY?

Esteemed Editeur,

Robots are becoming increasingly clever and capable, leading some futurists to forecast the eventual displacement of all human labor, perhaps as soon as a few decades from now. On the other hand, many conservative pundits would not concur with such a scenario at any time in the future, so, what is it that they see that assures them that new jobs will proliferate forever and ever? Their rosy perspective on job security certainly isn’t shared by all.

As robots evolve and improve much faster than human abilities, the future of human job prospects becomes increasingly tenuous. Now that a few years have passed since our economic melt-down, today’s employment picture would surely have bounced back to at least Bush era levels if job prospects had really been so promising, but mired in the doldrums we seem to remain. Many economists note that productivity has been zooming skyward using the same number of workers, all because of the rapidly escalating introduction of cheaper labor saving devices. They warn that, as a trend, high tech will increasingly displace humans as opposed to creating more jobs. Given the exponential acceleration of tech progress, it isn’t all that reckless to predict that, in another half-dozen years, smarter robots will make sufficient inroads into traditional jobs at the same time not so many new jobs get created, which will cause many more people to pay closer attention to this growing problem of humans struggling to survive, but with fewer opportunities to land a paycheck.

Think of what just plain old-fashioned ‘more of the same’ might mean for the future. If current employment trends don’t change for the better, wages are doomed to remain stagnant, the rich are fated to get even richer, power and wealth are fated to concentrate in ever fewer hands, the government is fated to become even less useful to ordinary people as big money monopolizes political influence, all the while we are bombarded with media messages to enjoy whatever new gadgets find their way into our lives, with reassurances that we live in the best of all possible worlds. Meanwhile, bridges and roads continue to crumble, and those who can’t afford flying cars might be doomed to weave from one pot hole to the next while praying that their vehicles don’t soon fall apart.

The same pundits who insist that 7,000 years of civilization somehow prove that class divisions will never end also claim that labor’s final liberation from toil will never arrive due to a never-ending proliferation of jobs. The pundits need to be asked: Is it also inevitable that the gap between the rich and poor must continue to widen? And that ever more people must sink into poverty? Please spare us from the future as prescribed by the upper classes, and instead let us insist that the machines liberate everyone from toil in a manner that ensures universal freedom from want.

The upper class politics of exclusion have long needed to be replaced with the working class politics of inclusion. A giant step in that direction would be to convert ‘workers competing among themselves for scarce jobs’ into ‘bosses competing among themselves for scarce labor’. And that agenda can be fulfilled by using time-tested methods such as a shorter work week, mandatory month-long paid vacations, earlier well-paid retirement, higher overtime premiums to discourage overwork, etc., anything to get labor from glutting the labor market. As labor great Samuel Gompers stated a century ago: “As long as there is one man who seeks employment and cannot find it, the hours of work are too long.” Political will for a working class agenda will someday be generated as surely as smarter robots increasingly replace human labor. It’s only a matter of time before more people catch on and create a movement to see to it that what little labor that remains for people to do gets equitably shared by everyone who could use a little work to get by.

Ken Ellis

New Bedford, Massachussetts

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FAT CACTI FACTS

Editor,

Mr. Ericsson is correct about the Saguaro not growing on the Pacific. However we were not on the Pacific when we took the enclosed picture. Highway 1, the only paved road down the length of Baja goes inland for many miles, thru an amazing desert, coming closer to the Sea of Cortez than the Pacific coast.

We did not confuse the saguaro with the boojum (cirio). As you can see in this picture that would be pretty hard to do. If we confused anything it would be the fat cacti on the left and in the background of this picture. I can’t swear they are saguaro. There is also an ocotillo in this picture. The rest of the tall funny growths are boojum trees. Quite interesting characters aren’t they?

Neva Dyer/Kent Rogers

Boonville

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SMALLER, NARROWER, SLOWER

Editor,

Sorry, but I got another rant coming on!

I hear that Caltrans is contemplating raising the speed limit in Philo!

I want to go on record that I am violently opposed to this stupid idea. I live in Philo and I am routinely chased across the street by cars that plow through Philo completely ignoring the posted speed limit. I have had cars honk and drivers yell obscenities at me because I slowed down to pull into my driveway. And yes I do use my turn signal to indicate what’s coming. I have more than once been by passed by cars that felt I was driving to slow in Philo.

Do I have to remind Caltrans how many tragic accidents we have had in Philo in the 11 years that I have lived here? More than once my former business sign was decimated and most recently a drunk, speeding driver flew through my gate and rolled his car in my front yard. Doesn’t anybody remember the horrible accident where several Roederer workers wrapped themselves around the tree in front of the Pinoli residence and all of them died?

And while I am at it… I can understand that the Philo-Greenwood bridge being 50-plus years old needs some work, but why oh why does it have to be made a two lane bridge?! It has worked just fine as a one lane bridge for the longest time.

Bigger, wider isn’t always better.

Monika Fuchs

Philo

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OBAMA THE UNNECESSARY

Greetings AVA,

I am called to address Steve Heilig.

Steve, I will take your calling me crazy in the Letters to the Editor section last week as an unintentional compliment. Growing up in Chicago playing ice hockey one would seek to be sufficiently nutty. It was a matter of self-preservation really. Have you heard the cliché, “We’re all crazy in Chicago!”? Probably have, but I am shocked that you are unaware of the very famous quote of Ursula K. Leguin, “What sane person could live in this world and not be crazy?” You were busy reading my rambling letter and missed this excellent quotation which appeared in the margins of the AVA quite recently, if my memory serves me correctly.

If you’re troubled by the letters of mine you’ve read thus far you should see the shit I write that the AVA doesn’t publish. Let me make this clear I have not read nor am I commenting on any of your articles. I routinely skip any article with your name on it and I don’t believe you belong in the same company with the excellent writers at the AVA. Just an opinion, don’t send hate mail Mr. liberal.

Somehow you remind me of every other middle-class, middle-aged white man who grooves to the reggae and live in San Francisco. Each one I know is a rabid sectarian Democrat who wears the coat of progressivism but gets extremely mad and worked up when their little worldviews get challenged. They tend to be overall crabby self-centered people despite the joyous and sharing nature of reggae music, go figure.

As far as you cheering for Obama, it’s entirely predictable, it’s class based. The editorial staff of this paper seem to know the absolute futility of President Obama, so I’m not quite sure why your lukewarm liberal opinions matter.

If you’re perplexed by my letters maybe you should skip my letters and read the small excerpts of literary quotations in the margins. I will slightly amend a quote that recently appeared in the AVA by William Wrigley Jr. and say, “When two men in politics (he said business) always agree, one of them is unnecessary.” That would be your president and candidate Obama, who has proven himself to be entirely disposable, unremarkable and completely unnecessary.

I will follow a Nick Nolte quote that just appeared in the AVA saying, “The only people who ever called me a rebel were people who wanted me to do what they wanted” and say, the only people who ever called me crazy were people who wanted me to think exactly like them.

To your accusation that I am writing on behalf of unspecified people I take serious offense. Not an empty accusation in a hyper surveillance war on terror society. You’ve creeped me out sufficiently with that one Steve. Shows me where your instincts are, typical yuppie business, pick a fight and call the police. After all of your crying these past weeks about “dangerous people” who you are telling us are going to get you.

I guess in your world you are a hero if you get in a sufficient tizzy about those red state meanies. Problem is your religious (Democratic) fervor prevents you from seeing how silly you are. You are a sectarian extremist Democrat Steve, and that is the only way you see the world. You therefore try to place all things within your red state/blue state worldview, a boring thing to witness. In that light I will quote my constituency, an illiterate Afghani goat herder who said, “Your King Obama is like a homeless drunken Santa Claus,” and that about sums it up. As the Jamaicans say Steve, “Tek weh yuself.” Translation from the Jamaican is, “sulk away after you have sufficiently embarrassed yourself.”

Nate “2Red” Collins

Berzerkeley

PS. Let me guess, Steve, you are a financial supporter of KQED/NPR and were deeply hurt by my diatribe. Well Steve if you understood democracy you would just register your vote , as we were taking tally, that you support National Public Radio. But your party is up to something much more sinister than democracy, Steve. I am absolutely perplexed by your breed though, Steve. It was the subject of my review of the Sierra Nevada World Music Festival in Boonville last year. The apparent disconnect between the extreme hyperbole of black supremacy spoken by reggae artists and the absolute disconnect of the listeners. If you are bothered by my mild hyperbole you clearly have not been listening to the lyrics in the music. All the more perplexing because you wrote for a reggae/world music magazine called “The Beat” for many years. A bland and underwhelming magazine if there ever was one. The whole aesthetic reminds me of everything wrong about this “progressive” nor-cal culture that this fine paper so clearly elucidates.

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HIPPIEBILLIES

Editor,

Regarding Bruce McEwen’s May 2 article about the “Bush Hippy.”

In Gold Rush Sierras these back-to-the-land lovely people with dreadlocks and tattoos and all were colloquially called Hippiebillies, though that is sort of what I thought I had signed onto all of 40 years ago.

Tim Moriarty

Watsonville

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KENT STATE TRUTHS

Editor:

Laurel Krause’s letter (May 9) “No More Kent States” about the murder of her sister Allison on May 4, 1970, by the Ohio National Guard prompts me to add a little footnote to what is one of the most despicable acts of government violence our country has ever seen.

In September of 1970 I was a student at the State University of NY at Buffalo (known as “UB”) living in a house with three other roommates. One roommate had moved out over the summer, and we needed a fourth to help pay the rent.

One roommate brought in an old friend from high school. He explained that his friend Barry had transferred to UB over the summer from Kent State University in Ohio, and needed a place to live. He seemed like a nice guy, kinda quiet, so we said of course, no problem, welcome to beautiful Buffalo!

Then we asked about the horrors of that past May 4 at Kent State, and asked if he had been around the tragedy.

He replied slowly and deliberately with just one word: “Yes.” We knew it was probably a sensitive subject, so we just left it at that and showed him his new room, and went over the kitchen chores list, etc.

A few days later we were talking about what it was like at UB, and we mentioned that although it was a very liberal university — it was nicknamed the “Berkeley of the East” — the local police had stormed the campus and tear-gassed hundreds during the peaceful demonstrations during the nationwide protests of May 4. So someone asked him again, forgetting the earlier interaction, what it was like at Kent State.

He said something like “Well, everyone was just peacefully protesting with some signs, and then all of a sudden someone thought they heard firecrackers, or something like that. Then people noticed that several people were now lying flat on the ground. Four of them were dead. One was my girlfriend, Allison Krause.”

We all sat stonefaced for a couple of minutes, not knowing what to say. After the usual “sorrys,” somebody perceptively said “Well, who’s turn is it to make dinner?”

We never spoke about Kent State again, until Barry told us that the famous author James Michener might be calling, as he wanted to interview Barry for a new book he had been writing. “Wow,” I replied. “James Michener! He wrote all those South Pacific books, and some day I’m gonna go live down there because of him!”

After the book “Kent State” came out several months later, I asked Barry what he thought of it.

“A bunch of crap. Pure bullshit! Everything I said to him, well, he twisted it all around where it wasn’t anything like I told him. He obviously had a certain agenda in what he wanted to say, and he didn’t care about the truth.”

Michener, not telling the truth? One of my writing heroes being debunked? This was hopefully an aberration, this book on Kent State.

I lost track of Barry and many of my UB friends when I moved to California a few years later, but in fact many UB graduates also moved to the Bay Area, as UB got more conservative over the next few years.

As kind of a footnote, I eventually moved to the South Pacific in 1995, and lived for 12 years on one of those little islands Michener had so romantically described as “little paradises.”

Turns out his South Pacific books were all a bunch of crap as well. These island “paradises” aren’t much different than Buffalo or Berkeley, except bananas and papayas are cheaper.

So, I for one won’t ever forget Kent State, and hopefully we can keep an eagle eye on governments that don’t give a crap about anything except the agenda of those in power. And on a much lesser note, one should read all of Michener’s books as if they are pure fiction, rather than “based on fact.”

Elliot Smith

SF Bay Area

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JOINT PRESS CONFERENCE

Editor,

Northern California Congressional candidate and medical marijuana patient Andy Caffrey made history Saturday by whipping out a joint and smoking it as part of his speech at the Occupy Mendocino street fair in Fort Bragg, CA on Saturday afternoon May 12. This is part of an effort by three of the twelve candidates for the House seat representing the 2nd District to stand up to President Obama and the actions by the federal government which have already shut down 200 of California’s medical marijuana dispensaries.

The 2nd Congressional district is unique. It includes the entire coast of California north of San Francisco, including the three counties (Humboldt, Mendocino and Trinity) referred to by the marijuana community as The Emerald Triangle. Caffrey is a southern Humboldt resident and lifelong community activist best known for his environmental activism as a co-founder of both US Green parties, the Citizens party in 1980 and the current Green party in 1985, as a veteran Earth First! organizer and action videographer who has helped save forests all over the world, as a BBC World Historic Figure for being the World’s First GMO Crop Thrasher, and as an activist who’s worked on the Climate Crisis for over 30 years. He coined the meme “Climate Crisis.”

Caffrey has built his campaign around a 7-item agenda called New Green America which places the Climate Crisis at the top of our nations list of priorities and he is calling for President Obama to declare a national climate emergency and announce a crash program similar to that of World War II to rebuild America’s infrastructures away from fossil fuel and nuclear energy sources as fast as humanly possible.

Last week in Ukiah, Caffrey also called on competitor Norman Solomon to leave the race so as not to prevent the election of the first Green to Congress in US history: Andy Caffrey. Solomon’s own polls reveal that after raising over a half million dollars to run his campaign, he has actually lost support during the last seven months, moving from 11% in October down to 10% in April.

“He has hit a plateau at around 40% of what he’ll need to make the top two in the new open primary,” said Caffrey. “I’ve got 8% in the most recent poll and with Solomon’s support would be in second place with 18%, five percent ahead of Susan Adams.”

“Solomon’s built his campaign around organizing only progressive Democrats. The problem is that all of his Democratic competitors are at least progressive Democrats, and my politics are Green,” said Caffrey. “Norman has been squirming for more than a year to find even one issue on which he stands out from the crowd, but I have over 100 of my issue positions up at my web site and from a progressive or Green point of view, Norman isn’t better than me on a single issue. So he’s fabricating his own reality, making bogus claims. Right now he’s spinning the illusion that he is the only one of us with any foreign policy experience. But all he’s done is jet set to Iraq and Afghanistan with celebrities a handful of times. Nothing was accomplished, but he’s flown to foreign countries, so that makes him an expert in his own eyes. I’ve been working with Green politicians all over the world since 1984, fought with the Penan people, the last migratory tribal people in the world, and have changed genetic engineering regulations around the world. Because of my work in 1987 against the genetically-engineered microbe Frostban, the company producing the GMO microbe went out of business a year later and there have been no more releases of gentically-engineered microbes by anybody else anywhere on Earth ever since.”

Caffrey also points out that Solomon doesn’t actually have any accomplishments which have solved the issues he’s worked on. “He hasn’t saved any forests, shut down any GMO tests, saved the homes of any tribal people, saved the lives of North Coast homeless people, or won healthcare for anybody. He’s started a couple of think tanks on the media and written some books about war and peace. Last time I checked, ten years after Norman’s flight to Kabul, we’re still in Afghanistan murdering thousands of people. He’s just another CEO, but for non-profit corporations.”

Caffrey’s run a tight “$10,000 campaign” to reach as many people with his own media, including the Internet and grassroots organizing, as a million dollar candidate reaches with their million dollars worth of TV ads. “I was also the first of the candidates to produce and air on broadcast TV campaign ads. ‘Destroying Democracy,’ ‘No Jobs On A Dead Planet,’ and a celebration of the 25th anniversary of my anti-GMO campaign against Frostban have been the themes of my ads. So far, I’ve run them in Humboldt and Del Norte counties during Late Show with David Letterman and CBS This Morning with Charlie Rose, as well as the local NBC news and Fox TV’s Mornings On Two and 10 pm news.

On Thursday, the three “Emerald Triangle candidates. Caffrey, John Lewallen (I) and Dr. William Courtney (D) plan a joint press conference in Marin County to denounce President Obama’s raids on dispensaries. More details forthcoming but Caffrey promises to smoke his medicine again at that conference.

Our concern is no longer can we power our civilization entirely with renewable energy sources. It is that we must do so as fast as humanly possible.

You can help elect the first Green to Congress! Really! In 2012! Help today!

Andy Caffrey for Congress 2012 CA-2nd District

Send your contribution today! P.O. Box 324, Redway, CA 95560.
Please make a campaign contribution here.

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WODETZKI’S PICKS

Hello,

Folks regularly ask me for voting recommendations, so here they are.

PRESIDENT: For registered Democrats, I suggest you write in Rocky Anderson, ex-mayor of Salt Lake City, who is in favor of single-payer healthcare, fair taxes, and an immediate end to our wars. Obama is sure to win this Democratic primary, so a protest vote for his selling out to Wall Street, health insurers & the war machine (who all gave his campaign million$) is needed. For registered Greens, vote for Jill Stein.

US SENATOR: Diane Feinstein is sure to win again, but instead of voting for this conservative Dem and true 1%er, I’m voted for retired teacher Marsha Feinland of the Peace & Freedom Party.

US REPRESENTATIVE: Definitely Norman Solomon for Congress.

STATE ASSEMBLY MEMBER: Mainline Dem Wes Chesbro is a shoe-in; my protest vote goes to “father/small businessman” Tom Lynch.

PROP 28 (Term Limits): Yes, says the presidents of the League of Women Voters, Common Cause and Congress of Seniors state chapters. I agree.

PROP 29 (Cigarette Tax): Yes, says the presidents of the American Cancer Society, American Lung Assoc., and American Heart Assoc state chapters. The tobacco industry is blanketing TV and our mailboxes with No-on-29 messages. Will Big Money buy another victory? I hope not; vote Yes on Prop 29.

I hope this is helpful.

Tom Wodetzki,

Mendocino Coast Alliance for Democracy, Move To Amend, KZYX radio show Corporations & Democracy

Albion

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SHEEP DOG TRIALS 2012

May means Sheepdog Trials in Redwood country and this year it began at the Yorkville Hills on the Reyneri Ranch, part of the old Hulbert place, in what is colloquially known as Downtown Yorkville this year, featuring over 20 sheepdogs and a flock of rangy, white-faced Torgees, fresh off the Stanley Johnson Ranch in Yorkville.

Who won?

The sheep — by a long shot.

But five dogs took home ribbons and other awards, as well.

Two tied for first place and a run-off was held between Ross, who belongs to Jack Mathieson of Sebastopol; and Jasper, owned by Teri Tucker of Santa Rosa.

Jasper won.

Both dogs had 34 points out of a possible 50, but Jasper’s time was 5:32; Ross came in at 5:58.

Third Place went to Cali, Karen Kollgaard’s dog, with 26.5 points, and a time of 9:04.

Glen took Fourth. He’s owned by Sue Gustafson of Sebastapol. 12.5 points in ten minutes flat.

Bill Slavern of Zanora “retired” his dog, Chance II, and still got Fifth Place.

“Retired,” means he bowed out, as graciously as he could, considering how badly things were going with the clock running out.

The sheepdog trials in the Redwood Empire are done differently than elsewhere. For one thing, the dog handlers are not allowed to use canes, or hand signals, or body english. As opposed to the Drive-Away Style, or as it is sometimes called, the International Style.

The Redwood Empire Sheepdog Association (RESDA), formed locally in 1947, has its own particular rules. Contestants start with a maximum of 50 points; then points are deducted. The “outrun,” “lift” and “fetch” are worth a maximum of 15 points, five points for each sheep. Judges look for a wide outrun to get the dog in place behind the sheep, a calm lift, and a fetch which is controlled and in a straight line. The sheep must go around all four corners of the pen before the handler and sheep can proceed to the first set of panels. As soon as the sheep pass the pen and are headed for the first set of panels, they are being judged. The judge looks for a straight line — no zigzagging, no turning around, no darting off to the left or right, no stalling, no running at high speed. Five points are awarded at the first set of panels; five more at the second set. If the sheep miss the panels, without going through, it’s usually one point per miss.

The handler stands on a base, one-and-a-half foot square, five feet from the inside panel. No movement by the handler is allowed. No hand signals or waiving, no body english, the dogs must do it on their own.

The four basic commands are “left,” “right,” “lie down” (stop) and “walk on” (approach the sheep).

The chute is the most challenging obstacle. It is 10 feet wide at the mouth then narrows to 18 inches at the neck. Getting the sheep through the chute is akin to threading a needle. Ten points are awarded for the chute. Finally, the sheep are put in the pen. Fifteen points are awarded for the pen.

The chute is a harder obstacle than the pen. One might think it should be the other way round, points-wise. The chute is harder because the handlers might stay at the chute too long and run out of time before attempting the pen. There is a 10-minute time limit, with a warning at seven minutes. Usually, the handlers are at the chute when they hear this.

The dogs must not bite the sheep. Only rarely, in self-defense, and then only on the nose. Any biting or “gripping” is an immediate “thank you” from the judge (meaning you are disqualified).

All the judges are from RESDA and are dog handlers themselves. They have to have been competing for at least two full years in the Open Section, which is the Senior Class. The other section is the Pro/Novice Class, where either the dog, or the handler, or both, are new to the trials. There is no chute obstacle in this section. There are around 12 RESDA sheepdog trials each year, from April to October. Some are held on ranches, and the others at the county fairs in Mendocino, Lake, Sonoma and Marin Counties. For a schedule, go to RESDA.com.

The Yorkville Hills trials were first held in 1987, and the event has continued every year, with a few exceptions. Ribbons and money are distributed to the winners, along with beautifully turned wooden bowls, which are made by Cesar Reyneri, a master woodworker. The perpetual first-place trophy was brought by myself from Wales. It’s a carved oak plaque depicting a sheep and sheepdog with a shield bearing the names of the winners since 1987.

On July 22nd the first trials on the Johnson Ranch, at the corner of Highways 128 and 253, will be held. This will be the Curt Beebe and Floyd Johnson Memorial Sheepdog Trials, with Eva Johnson hosting. Of the 20 dogs entering the elimination, the top eight will go on to the Mendocino County Fair in September, where I will be doing the announcing.

I would like to thank Cesar Reyneri for allowing me to hold the trials on his property and for donating the lovely wooden bowls as prizes.

Kevin Owens

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POINT ARENA SAYS GOODBYE TO NIC KING

The town was so full of cars. Theater from noon to 5 Saturday for Nic King’s memorial. Color Slides organized by sons Julian and Silas on the theater screen shot by Nic and family. Overflow then spill’d over to Bill Golly and Andy Johnson’s new bar at 215 Main where Nic’s black and white slides were shown. Bill one of Nic’s neighbor’s on the land and one of the theater founders. Sweet to watch old girlfriends of Nic and folks from the land, slack jawed in front of the screen seeing themselves in the years they started their families. Saw so many people you don’t always see in town.

Nic’s first adopted son, Sam King, was found by his bio-dad a couple of years ago. It was something Sam couldn’t ignore, because PA folks kept returning from Cabo, and Baja saying they ran into this guy who was asking about Sam King. He divulged that he was Sam’s Dad. He’d been a friend of 5-10 years of Elro, our old PA Rx clerk who has a second home down by Cabo. He ran into so many folks from PA that knew Sam King, that he finally met Sam, too! They know each other now. I think Sam is happy with that.

One of Nic’s kids asked (at the memorial) how many people had one of Nic’s apple trees. Most in the room raised their hands. Nic was always giving them away if no one wanted to buy one. As it should be!

Silas, #3 out of 4 King kids, was very impressed and gratified that Tim Bates stood and said they have 500 of Nic’s apple trees at the Apple Farm. Silas was so proud. He mentioned it a few times. He lives in Taiwan now.

Nic had me do bodywork on all his kids since I first moved to Point Arena in ’93. Our kids were in Acorn school together. Nic used to bring me mother’s day gifts after Ruby died. It was usually Ruby food – a favorite cupcake or something. Still makes me cry. He was good that way. Sentimental. So, Silas has been a client since he was about 12. He’s in his 30′s now living in Taiwan where he studies martial arts, meditation and lives full-time on part-time jobs.

About 15 years ago Nic started driving off the road unconscious in his various automobiles. He had Louie Body dementia. Don’t know if I spelled it right. The carwrecks (3) had become too numerous to ignore. Finally, Sara, Nic’s beautiful, bounciful, and bountiful adopted daughter of Black/Italian heritage, came home to check on Nick, and wound up returning here to live (from South Dakota — no brainer).

Since our kids (Julian and Ruby) were in Acorn School, we’d taken a few safety breaks together; sparked a few at the Smoothie Booth Nic ran for Acorn School at Reggae on the River each year. The year I went with Nic was one of his last running the Smoothie Booth. Nic would get all wound up before the event, hoping for HOT HOT weather. Two degrees meant more sales! He used to repeat over and over again, if the weather wasn’t over 100, we might as well pack it in! True, Smoothies sell better at Reggae when it’s over 100°, and we sold $24,000 in Smoothies that year in the 102° heat, compared to $14,000 the next cold overcast year at Reggae. Nic could be a lot of laughs even if he was a worrywart.

Debra Keipp
Point Arena

President Obama: Kent State Letter from Allison’s Family

Kent State Peace May 1, 2012

President Barack H. Obama, The White House Washington DC 20500

Dear President Obama:

Last week my mother Doris Krause urged me to write a personal letter to help you understand the May 4th Kent State Massacre from a mother’s perspective, one parent to another. Voicing my reluctance to write again, I said, “I’ve written to President Obama more times than I can count.”

But Mom insisted, “Laurie, I want you to write about our family and how we’re similar to President Obama’s family. Let him know what happened when Allison went to college at Kent State, how she was shot dead protesting the Vietnam War by the National Guard on her campus. How afterwards your dad fought for the rest of his days, for Allison’s death to ‘not be in vain’ and how, even today, we have lost every Kent State battle for truth about Allison’s death.”

My 86 year-old mother, Doris Krause, was born and raised in Lorain, Ohio, growing up during the depression. When she was 20 years old, she married my dad Arthur just as he returned from service in WWII. Art and Doris Krause had two daughters, Allison and me.

In September of 1969, my big sister Allison went away to college. Allison was a smart, beautiful, loving, funny freshman enrolled in the Kent State University Honors College. She was deeply in love with her boyfriend Barry and was popular on campus. Allison had a special quality nearly impossible to describe, a compassionate, gorgeous, full-of-life young woman who seemed to have it all.

On April 23, 1970, our family celebrated Allison’s 19th birthday together in Kent, Ohio, going out for dinner. It was the last time any of us saw Allison alive.

Ten days later, our family life and world were torn apart forever. We heard about trouble at Kent State, then that Allison had been hurt. Frantically we searched for information on Allison but all the Kent phone lines were cut. Hours later we heard that Allison was dead on arrival at the hospital, killed by National Guard bullets.

Mr. President, there were no officials from Allison’s school, the state of Ohio or the National Guard to help us at the hospital when we identified Allison’s body on May 4th. Instead, at the hospital where her body lay still, we heard men with guns mutter to us, “they should have shot more.”

The 10 years following Allison’s murder were filled with lawsuits from the lowest courts in Ohio to the U.S. Supreme Court. I was going to college yet remember the government’s staunch resistance to our lawsuits and the utter unwillingness to share evidence or any reports on what happened to Allison in the May 4th Kent State Massacre. In 1979, the court cases ended with a settlement based on civil rights. http://bit.ly/JkeGxG

During my family’s pursuit of justice for Allison we were constantly hounded by the FBI. Our phones were tapped, threats were made to my father, agents took pictures of us where ever we went. This harassment finally culminated in my father being offered a bribe. In the presence of author Peter Davies, my father was told to name his price for dropping his case, “One million, two million?” It was made clear that the bribe was coming through the Ford Foundation, and if he refused it, his job at Westinghouse and our family’s freedom would be in serious jeopardy. My father was furious and obviously turned this down in no uncertain terms, but the threats had a chilling effect on us. Every facet of our lives was ripped apart by Allison’s death and the endless harassment by our government.

Since May 4, 1970, the U.S. government has never allowed the Krause family to know the facts or see the evidence related to Allison’s murder on her Kent State campus. The truth at Kent State remained buried until recently in the examination of the Kent State Tape. http://bit.ly/HcliUa

The Krause family rejects Attorney General Holder’s refusal to open a proper, impartial, independent investigation into the Murders at Kent State. We agree with Congressman Kucinich on Kent State, demanding the 2012 Department of Justice disclose their full report leading to their decision to close the books on Kent State again. http://1.usa.gov/IDiv2q

Two years ago, I began phoning the Justice Department about the new evidence found at Kent State, as the statute of limitations never lapsed on Allison’s murder. Mr. President, AG Holder’s Department of Justice refused my calls and kept sending me to the civil rights division even though Allison died at Kent State.

Last week’s Department of Justice letters on Kent State do not mention the loss of life on that campus, continuing this government ploy to deflect murder by pointing to loss of civil rights. A violation of Allison’s civil rights turned into homicide when they fired the bullets that took her away from us. http://1.usa.gov/IN6RDu

On May 4, 1970, just after noon as students were changing classes and a protest was called, the National Guard shot live ammunition at Kent State students. Our Allison was more than a football field away at 343 feet from the guardsmen that shot her to death. Since then, we have never learned what Allison did wrong to meet such a tragic, violent end. Our original call for ‘Allison’s death to not be in vain’ has been scrubbed from the history of the May 4th Kent State Massacre.

Coming back to what Mom asked me write to you, President Obama, she shared how, “The First Family is almost identical to the Krause family.” If this happened to your family President Obama, how do you think you’d survive this onslaught?

Last week Alison would have celebrated her 61st birthday. With the 42nd anniversary of Kent State approaching on May 4th, we continue to stand for Truth and Justice for Allison. We hope no more American families will bury their young as we did after Allison’s unnecessary and unwarranted death, with zero accountability by the May 4th Kent State Massacre perpetrators.

Please do not allow another Kent State anniversary to pass without truth and justice for Allison Krause and her fellow murdered classmates Jeffrey Miller, Sandy Scheuer and William Schroeder.

No More Kent States.

Laurel Krause

Kent State Truth Tribunal

www.TruthTribunal.org

Fort Bragg

PS. ‘Voluntary Quicksand’

I read the Chronicle this morning

as if I were stepping into voluntary quicksand

and watched the news go over my shoes

with forty-four more days of spring.

— Richard Brautigan, Kent State America, May 7, 1970

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BOND DISCREPANCIES NEED INVESTIGATION

Dear District Attorney Eyster:

Re: Discrepancy in Measure E Bond Funds

In 2003, over 73% of the voters in the Point Arena School District voted to pass the Measure E Bond ($3.7 million) to build a K-5 school in Gualala and convert the Point Arena Elementary School into a middle school.

Unfortunately, in 2008, State funds were rescinded due to “no substantial progress made for the project lists.” A decision was made in 2009 to split the Bond and proceed with the projects at the Arena Elementary School specifically a library/media facility, science instructional lab, and dining/community hall. At that time, the Bond was split with $1.8 going toward Gualala, $1.8 toward Point Arena and leaving $158,980 into an undesignated reserve fund to be used to pay any administrative fees the Bond would incur.

The district proceeded with the above projects at the Point Arena Elementary and in the autumn of 2010 the decision was made to defease the remaining portion of the Gualala Bond.

On January 18, 2011, the Bond Oversight Committee met. At that time, a draft was presented to the members by Dr. Cross. Throughout the splitting of the Bond funds the undesignated reserve had paid the administrative fees incurred. Yet, the draft clearly indicated the undesignated reserve would be split between Gualala and Arena and then out of that split the administrative fees would be split between both Gualala and Arena. However, the cost to defease the Gualala Bond would only be charged to Gualala. I questioned this because I believed it to be unjust to the taxpayers of Gualala. Dr. Cross informed the members that the defeasance costs were to be taken only out of Gualala because it was the Gualala Bond that was being retired (totally opposite of what Dr. Cross stated in her email to me on November 1, 2010 — Exhibit J). However, I maintained the premise that had it not been for the taxpayers voting for the school in Gualala the projects performed at the Arena Elementary School would have never taken place and only felt it was fair for the taxpayers to receive the funds. The committee members approved the draft with the “final” amount of $1,848, 250. Dr. Cross informed the members “since they would no longer have to meet the Bond Oversight Committee was being dissolved” and thanked them for their service. The committee also approved this. Thus, the members were disbanded and never met after this date.

On January 20, 2011, the Board of Trustees agreed to defease $1,848,250 “back to the taxpayers”….

However, as you can see from the attached information provided you this is not the “final” amount that was returned “back to the taxpayers” but only $1,818,155.07 (Exhibit D) was returned. Essentially, the defeasance costs were deducted twice from the Gualala Bond Fund.

On April 2, 2011, Meg Kailikole, Financial Administrator in Point Arena, informed me there were remaining Bond funds which would be spent on another project at the Arena Elementary School (not previously authorized by the Bond Oversight Committee). This project approved by the Board was for two additional modular classrooms to the elementary school because of an increase in enrollment since 2006. In 2009, one of the reasons the community was told the school in Gualala just couldn’t happen was due to the fact enrollment had been decreasing and without enrollment there was no need for the school. As a matter of fact even, at the January 2011 Bond Oversight Committee, Trustee DeWilder informed the members this was also one of a main reasons and, yet, at that time we had two kindergartens, first and second grade classes.

California Education Code 15282 clearly states: “The purpose of the citizen’s oversight committee shall be to inform the public concerning the expenditure of bond revenues. The citizen’s oversight committee shall actively review and report to the proper expenditure of taxpayers’ money for school constructions.” How can a committee actively review the project approved by the Board of Trustees since they were been disbanded when there were still funds in the Bond? Also, I see nothing on the “Bond Project List” under Arena Campus Conversion to Middle School that would permit bond funds to be spent on the installation of new classrooms (Exhibit K).

Education Code 15288 states: “It is the intent of the Legislature that upon receipt of allegations of waste or misuse of bond funds authorized in this chapter, appropriate law enforcement officials shall expeditiously pursue the investigation and prosecution of any violation of law associated with the expenditure of those funds. That is why as, district attorney, this needs to be investigated. So, I believe due to the discrepancy in what the Bond Oversight Committee and the Board of Trustees approved as the “final” amount to be “returned to the taxpayers” you as the “appropriate law enforcement official” should investigate this to assure the taxpayers the correct amount of monies are returned to them in the good faith for which they voted for this bond.

Finally, if it is to be in good faith what needed to have happened is all “administrative fees” (including defeasance costs) should have been deducted (as per Schools and College Legal Services and Dr. Cross) from the “undesignated reserve fund” and then the remaining monies returned to the taxpayers — $1,934,273.07. However, if monies were to be split between Gualala and Point Arena it should, at least, have been done after “administrative fees” were deducted. This would have left Point Arena $67,571.04 to complete the protective overhang and Gualala $1,866,702.03 to be returned to the taxpayers.

Respectfully,

Suzanne L. Rush

Manchester

PS. In the AVA on April 18th, I wrote a letter regarding the lack of discretion the Point Arena School Board has demonstrated over the past six years and continues to demonstrate. I also noted numerous times in the AVA Trustee Susan Sandoval’s (a lawyer) refusal to let members of the community ask questions of the Board during their meetings. I informed the Board this was not in accordance to State Board Bylaw 9320(a) which stated: “In accordance with state open meeting laws (Brown Act), the Board shall hold its meetings in public and shall conduct closed sessions during such meetings only as authorized by law. To encourage community involvement in the schools, meetings shall provide opportunities for questions and comments by members of the public and shall be conducted in accordance with law and Board-adopted bylaws.”

This paragraph was changed (at the discretion of the Board) and approved by Board to read: “Meetings of the Governing Board are conducted for the purpose of accomplishing district business. In accordance with state open meeting laws (Brown Act), the Board shall holds it meetings in public and shall conduct closed sessions during such meetings only as authorized by law.” Obviously, it was done to prevent opportunities for members of the public to make comments and or ask questions!

The Point Arena School Board continually fails to grasp the concept of Brown Act Law (which there is absolutely no consequence for them if they do not obey this Law). The Law clearly states, “The people of this State do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies which serve them. The people, in delegating authority, do not given their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people insist on remaining informed so that they may retain control over the instruments they have created.”

I only have one simple question, how is it even possible to assure any member of the community that they have control over a Board when they are refused to ask any questions even for clarification of Board decisions? There is absolutely no accountability, transparency, or integrity to “public servants” in which the Point Arena School District Board Members’ are suppose to serving!

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MORE WINE?

Editor,

Re: Will Parrish’s “Artesa’s Hitman,” (AVA, 5/2/2012)

So, while Spain is heading spiraling into the economic abyss, a mega Spanish conglomerate is reaching out to a remote Mendo forest to make what? more wine? what is wrong with this picture? Artesa of Barcelona is seriously, and possibly crimially misinformed as the Spanish government if they believe they make make one Euro off of this ‘project’. Aresa leave those logs up there for the loggers and mills. An 80 yr old redwood is definitley more economically productive than a tub of fermented grapes!

Name Withheld

Healdsburg

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OCCUPY THE GROVE

Editor,

Redwoods Occupy Begins May 12.

Beginning Saturday, May 12th, Occupy Richardson Grove offers the opportunity to kick back in the Cathedral quality shade of our old growth Redwoods. Our planned “4 day American Spring event” will end on Tuesday the 15th but it could last as long as our shared enthusiasm. Richardson Grove was put on the chopping block by the previous Governor. The CalTrans plan that resulted was recently returned to the drawing board by a federal judge who called it “implausible,” noting that their “false data” and “inaccuracies” demanded “a corrected analysis.” But there’s no victory until the plan is cancelled. Join us at the Truth Booth in French’s Camp. Come and get a feel for the grove, camp together, do some hiking, biking, enjoy an American Spring in the oldest Forest in the World. Meals will be provided but bring food to share, maybe a bike too.

You can donate to us through our Garberville Credit Union, 757 Redwood Drive, Garberville CA 95542, Account # 15929. Contact us through occupyrichardsongrove@gmail.com  or phone us direct at 707-932 5898.

Paul Encimer

Garberville

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ANOTHER GREAT SHOW

Dear Editor,

The Anderson Valley Unity Club’s Garden Section thanks everyone who made the 2012, Wildflower Show another success. This year’s show was dedicated to Gwen Sidwell, a beloved member whose love of her garden and her music inspired us all. We had very good weather and an increase in attendance over last year. Eugenia Herr’s botanical prints made by her grandfather were an especially nice compliment to the show. Thank you to Anderson Valley High School’s art instructor, Nadia Berrigan, for her efforts in providing the materials for her students to produce beautiful watercolor scenes from our Valley. In addition, Evelyn Ashton’s herbarium and watercolors of plants and Dot Hulbert’s scanned wildflowers made wonderful displays. The invasive plant table had specimens, pictures and information regarding the damage these plants cause to native species. An extensive Lyme Disease exhibit presented by Sue Davies provided needed information regarding preventive measures and the dangers associated with Lyme. On Sunday a slide show of wildflowers was shown on a photo monitor, courtesy of Pat Smith, Alice Bonner and Robyn Harper.

We wish to thank the following for raffle donations: Celeri and Son of Fort Bragg, Ken Montgomery of AV Nursery, Ludwig’s Tin Man Nursery, Oak Valley Nursery, Whispering Winds Nursery, Fiddler’s Green Nursery, Digging Dog Nursery, Dirt Cheap of Fort Bragg, Lovin Blooms, Gowan’s Oak Tree, Praetzel and Herr, Sun & Cricket, All That Good Stuff, Laughing Dog Books, Farmhouse Mercantile, Friedman Brothers, Ukiah Safeway, The Pot Shop, The Rock Stop, Philo School of Herbal Energetics, The Puzzle People, Christy Kramer, Malcolm West, Susan Gross, Linda McElwee, Lee Serrie, Val Hanelt, Linda Wylie, Eileen Pronsolino, Robin Lindsey, Joanie Clark, Barbara Scott, Beverly Dutra, Mary Darling, Christine Clark, Liz Dusenberry, and Sue Davies. Thank you to Shirley Hulbert, Gloria and Sharon Abbot for the delicious food served in the tearoom.

We wish to also thank the following people who helped our club members with collections, identification, the raffle, plant donations, set- up or cleanup: Peter Warner, Kathy Bailey, Bob and Chris Sowers, Lynn Halpern, Ken Montgomery, Wally Hopkins, Hans Hickenlooper, Sandra Nimmons, Sarah McCarter, Keith Gamble, Walt Valen, Bill Harper and Eugenia Herr.

Thank you to the Fairgrounds staff for all their help and allowing us to hang our banner. Also thanks to Robert Rosen and the Anderson Valley Brewery for allowing us to place our banners advertising our event on their fences.

Anderson Valley Unity Club Garden Section

Robyn Harper, Chair

Anderson Valley

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A FEW LEGAL POINTS

Dear Editor:

I like Bruce McEwen, and I admire his writing.

Please allow me to add a few points to his article “When an LA Cop Meets a Westport Bush Hippie.”

1. In addition to entering a plea to brandishing a firearm, Kieth Jakovac pled to “criminal threat” as both a felony and a “strike.” When taking his plea on March 5, Judge Moorman said: “Now, I did want to advise Mr. Jakovac that Count 5 . . . is a strike offense, which means that . . . it remains a strike offense for the rest of your life.”

2. I told defense counsel Justin Petersen before his client entered his plea that I would be arguing for 365 days in county jail as a condition of probation. Mr. Petersen stated on the record: “My client … understands there’s an agreement there would be no state prison at the outset, that he could still get up to a year in the county jai, and how much jail time he does is up to the Court.”

3. The victim, Tui Wright, was present in court at the time of the plea, and agreed to the disposition.

4. At the time of sentencing on April 24, I argued for 365 days in county jail despite the extraordinary number of favorable letters on behalf of Mr. Jakovac.

Thank you.

Tim Stoen, Deputy DA

Fort Bragg

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THE END IS NIGH

Oh, my, my.

The tip-off was the arrival in the Persian Gulf of the THIRD aircraft carrier group.

We need all that power for the upcoming war with Iran, already planned!

Netanyahoo will start it, of course (to keep Number 1 bully position in the neighborhood), he being suicidal and all.

Plays straight into the hands of the military-industrial complex which is threatened with peace in the world. If Romney wins we won’t need a coup d’tat. If Obama does we will. And we’ll get it too.

Head in the Clouds

Eureka

PS. It might even just fit the timing of the end of the Mayan calendar. What a coincidence — or is it?

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OOPS, FORGOT A FEW

Dear Editor,

In our haste we forgot some important people and businesses who helped make the Earth Day Hendy Woods benefit at Navarro Vineyards such a success. Huge thanks to Karin Strykowski, Pat Hanks, Felipe Mendoza and the rest of the crew at Navarro Vineyards. Thank you, as well, to Rhonda Sands and Real Goods, the Anderson Valley Advertiser, Mendocino Beacon/Fort Bragg Advocate, Eric Labowitz and Matt Rowland.

Sincerely,

Hendy Woods Community Board of Directors

Philo

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KASHIA TO VISIT RUSSIA

Editor:

In 2012 Fort Ross State Historic Park will commemorate the founding of Settlement Ross in 1812.

This 200th anniversary event will include programs and projects which will highlight the natural and cultural history through the park’s existence.

The Kashia Pomo, the First People, are the first people of this diverse history.

We are pleased and honored that the Kashia Pomo are participating fully in the 2012 events.

January of 2012 we started the year off with the Kashia offering the opening blessing and acknowledgment of Kashia as First People of this land by the Russian people and California State Parks.

Another highlight and historic moment is the planned trip to Russia by the Kashia Pomo to view the artifacts collected by Russian scientists — a collection today viewed by many as the oldest known collection of Kashia Pomo basketry as well as many other adornment artifacts.

This one single event is the most warranted international cooperative effort for the Kashia and the Russian communities.

Fort Ross is an excellent example of the best of California and what it has to offer the world: a rich history, diverse cultural legacy, beautiful nature and dedicated people.

As stated in our mission, we want all cultures represented and feel as though they have many opportunities to contribute by sharing this story.

We are reaching out to you to ask for support of the Kashia Pomo and this amazing trip we hope to take.

We are raising funds for seven Kashia Pomo tribal members to travel.

The Russian Federation in San Francisco has offered to support the Kashia Pomo and this historic journey by providing for transportation and housing while in Russia.

We would like to ask our American counterparts to assist in funding the other needed travel and living costs of $2,000 per person. Any donation would be welcomed. (Fort Ross Conservancy, 19005 Coast Highway 1, Jenner, CA 95450. FortRoss2012.org)

Emilio Valencia, Tribal Chairman

Kashia Band of Pomo Indians of Stewarts Point Rancheria

Robin Joy, Chair, Fort Ross 2012 Steering Committee

Jenner

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2 TIMES BLUE

Editor,

Haiku in response to Nate “2 Times Red” Collins, who offers long rambling semi-coherent letters of great authority on many matters and on behalf of unspecified “people”:

“Whining”? Me? Say what?

Consensus here: You’re a nut.

But thanks for reading!

Steve Heilig

San Francisco

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WHAT’S UP WITH THE PARKS?

AVA,

I wish you would investigate the extremely well-heeled California State Parks Foundation — “your voice for parks.” Not to be confused with State Parks and Recreation Department which should be our voice.

Anyway, this bunch appears to be at the forefront of the takeover of our parks. They seem to be operating with insider information. Their board of trustees has presumably ponied up the lucre to get the ball rolling. Also, in celebration of their long-standing partnership, PG&E has given them $1.5 million for park improvements.

Walt Disney Company is helping with the Park Film Fest and Earth Day 2012 is presented by PG&E, Chevron and Edison International.

They publish a slick little newsletter on-line and in print. According to the most recent edition of California Parklands, Sonoma County and the city of Benicia have received approval to negotiate agreements with the California State Parks Foundation to keep certain state parks open. Who is at the helm?

I’ve heard that they are trying to exclude non-profits that are not of corporate parentage and that they are lobbying for taxpayer-funded subsidies with a return of 3% of any profits, the sermons are wild and varied and the talking heads are not talking about this.

Meanwhile California Parklands Foundation is busily and ceaselessly seeking donations to add to their booty.

I am sure they would like their logo with the cute California partridge to replace our state parks.

What’s going on?

The Beckingtons

Little River

PS. Your drumbeating for Hendy Woods appears to have helped make great headway in saving that cherished local park.

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FRANKLIN GRAHAM REPLIES

Editor,

I have written (see AVA March 28, Tin Cup Politics and Park Closures, p1) of my frustration as an attendee of the California State Parks Foundation’s Park Advocacy Day that any mention to the legislators that day of the threat of privatization was discouraged. I was told repeatedly “Don’t go there.” To date, the Department of Public Works, which is responsible for vetting proposals to operate state parks slated for closure refuses to identify private, for profit companies that are trying to take over selected parks—generally those with the highest revenue potential, such as Hendy Woods. Anyone seeking to know how well such for profit operations do in managing parks should check out the reactions of visitors to Big Basin State Park, run by California Parks Company. The picture is NOT pretty.

To date, 23 parks have been tentatively removed from the closure list. The means of taking a park off the list have been many and varied. Volunteer groups have been formed to run a few, none of which offer overnight camping, which is the main draw for a for profit outfit. Many have been saved by the donations of thousands of dollars In one case alone, Henry W. Coe, private citizens had to pony up $900,000 for a 3 year reprieve.

It should surprise no one that the California State Parks Foundation is carrying water for the likes of PG&E, Chevron, and such likes. CSPF has become a permanent, executive bureaucratic dream. They have convinced 130,000 members that they are doing good. Yet, when it comes to park closures, they have played a two-faced game. They claim to be trying to avert the worst effects of the closures. But in truth, their prime objective is to stay in play with the legislature, the Governor, and private companies willing to underwrite part of their ongoing operation. If necessary, they will throw overboard sacrificial parks to stay at the table. It is the way with most bureaucracies. The executive staff of CSPF is full-time, career based, professionals. Their first priority is job security. Otherwise, they would be much more strident about the pending closures and the advance of private, for-profit initiatives.

Next week, I will have an update on the situation and more to say about CSPF and the “running out the clock” two-step on the part of the State Parks Department.

Franklin Graham

Park Closures Study Group

Navarro

PS. At the organizational meeting of the Park Closures Study Group there were about a dozen of us. However, since the first meeting we have been unable to shake loose the information about the closures process that we focused on, so no meetings since. I have, however, met more than once with Barry Vogel (Radio Curious) about the problem of public disclosure of the documents. As a member of the Los Alamos Study Group (which was voted one of the ten best small NGO’s last year) I took the name from their example. My son Darwin is one of the real driving forces there — as a member of the board. I do have more information coming in from MAPA (Mendocino Area Parks Association) and Senator Noreen Evans’ office. It appears things are beginning to pop — and not for the better for the North Coast. A private company has a bundled bid in for four Mendocino parks — all with camping as a main attraction. Want to bet they get the concession? Interesting how every volunteer group that has submitted a proposal to run a park is identified. Yet, no one will identify who the for-profit company is.

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FROM HIPPY TO 401K

Editor,

Re: “Death of Hippie,” (AVA, 4/26/2012)

Nice read, thank you. After reading this piece, I wanted to look more into Owsley. I found a great article written about him in the Rolling Stone. What an interesting cat he was. This led to that, from here to there, and the reads and memories and the moment in time took me happily for a good hour or two reminiscing away and surfing down the paths of Memory Lane.

Looking back, those 60s and early 70s, they were good times… and then we moved on and onto other things, I suppose. Yeah, I lived in a commune, too, the happiest time of my life. Everything a young man could possibly want. Then we grew up and traded it all in for a life of toil and responsibility, a house and a car and the kids and central plumbing and 401Ks, the road of excess leading to the palace of wisdom, they tell me. Sigh.

‘Skippy’

Santa Rosa

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WHO REALLY CARES ABOUT FISH?

Editor:

A dozen or so years ago a ranch that lies on the Garcia River between the two rancherias owned by Vernon Kendall had the river breach its banks during high water and start to erode Mr. Kendall’s field.

Mr. Kendall hired a bulldozer to reopen the channel — maybe 100 yards of river.

About halfway through the project, Ed Ramos of the Department of Fish and Game came down to put a halt to the project.

Soon after rains came again and proceeded to wash hundreds if not thousands of yards of soil and gravel into the river.

This filled the entire lower river making it very shallow, also making it easy for prey to eat the young trout and warming water in summer which is also lethal to steelhead and salmon.

Attempts were made to plant willows on the Kendall Ranch probably after scientific studies and grant money which resulted in more pollution into the river in the form of giant balls of tangled plastic pie, far more than any pot grower has ever done.

The river has still not recovered.

So I wonder how many fish have died over this period of time. But you didn’t hear a word about it. It wasn’t plastered all over the papers from here to Los Angeles.

So does the Department of Fish and Game really care about fish or publicity? You would think if they really cared about fish there would be no way and they would allow a vineyard in the river that is also making a comeback — the Gualala River. And for the record, the Stornettas always impeccably maintained their portion of the Garcia River at no charge to anyone but themselves.

John Smith

Manchester

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JUST IN FROM CRAIG…

Warmest Cali spring spiritual greetings,

Just finished an extraordinary hike at Briones…with zen priest and dharma dude Steve Cunningham. Who, carried up to the Dickerson bench/peak, a bottle of cold white wine and his lunch plus the finest of Oaktown- style brownies.

A cool down at Berkeley’s Triple Rock brewery (in which it was necessary to go next door and get a premium coffee and bring it back, because the Tripler doesn’t serve coffee), and Steve had a “Bug Juice” beer. This instant at Eudemonia using up my computer time, in order to send you this groovy message: “You must have a clear understanding. ‘Karma’ only governs the experiences you have to undergo. It cannot curtail the freedom that God has given you to act while in this earth plane. This earth plane is a plane of self-exertion. It is your karma bhumi for purushartha. Act! Act!” —Swami Chidananda (Attained mahasamadhi August 28, 2008)

Please appreciate that I am now passively seeking new creative situations, and wish to make spiritually infused artistic statements, with other participants who are taking down the psychotic patriarchal plutocracy. Contact me anytime. All unreasonable offers will be considered.

Love from Oakland, y’all,

Craig Louis Stehr

Oakland

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TAXPAYERS CATCH A BREAK

Editor,

A Ukiah Daily Journal article last week reported that the State Department of Finance has effectively reigned in the efforts of the Ukiah RDA people to continue to spend borrowed tax dollars to subsidize CostCo and help prepare the site for the Court House Palace.

My Letter to the Editor last week (also sent to other local papers) warned of the boondoggle that City Plannng was arranging. Luckily, Governor Brown’s people smelled it out and shut it down.

Hooray for the Taxpayer!!

Jim Houle

Redwood Valley

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DEMOLISH THE PALACE

Editor,

Far be it from me to disparage any worker doing an honest day’s toil, but when I saw those guys rubbing on the exterior surface of the Palace Hotel today, I couldn’t help but think of that scene from a comedy movie where someone has a parakeet which is dead and decapitated. Nevertheless, with a little duct tape to reattach the head, he then attempts to sell the bird to someone. When the prospective buyer points out that the bird is dead, he says, “No no — he’s just sleeping.”

What is it going to take to get it through the thick skull of the Palace’s owner that that bird is really and truly dead!?

Sincerely,

John Arteaga

Ukiah

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RESTORE THE PALACE

To the Editor:

The Palace Hotel has been in the news often recently and on my mind for the past 40 years. A series of owners have done little to preserve it, including Pat Kuleto, who reopened the restaurant for a while.

Now she sits heavily in a sorry state of disrepair, decay, and vandalism. Yet, when I recently went through it from top to bottom I was impressed with how stable the basic structure remains. And now Norman Hudson is cleaning up the interior and exterior. That’s a crucial first step towards rehabilitation.

Please everyone, let us all — the owners, the community and the city — devise a plan to restore and revitalize the Palace and then make it happen.

To demolish the Palace Hotel would be a greater penalty to us all than a profit.

Robert M. Axt

Calpella

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BE THERE OR BE SQUARE

To the Editor,

My name is James C. Anderson. If you can send a reporter to the Safeway Gas Station to the picnic table on Tuesday the 15th in Willits between noon/afternoon and 1pm afternoon, boy, do I have a very good story for you. My hair will be spiked straight up. Everyone knows me there. Just ask for Jimbo.

James Anderson

Ukiah/Willits

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WHITE HOUSE DINNERS

Editor,

The delicate Todd Walton (Too talented for college! Traumatized by a slap on the hand from his music teacher!) writes, “I very rarely watch American movies and almost never watch films containing more than a suggestion of violence.”

Grapes of Wrath, From Here To Eternity, Apocalypse Now, relegated to the tumbril.

Bruce Anderson smugly dismisses the White House Correspondents’ Dinner as “unamusing,” “beyond vulgar,” and “squalidly decadent.” Emma Goldman, don’t invite this guy to the prom.

Sad to read Emil Rossi’s utterly clueless tribute to the rich and unregulated. They sure don’t give a shit about him.

Speaking of whiners, does Lee Simon ever offer any advice or solutions?

Curmudgeonly, but not immune to fun,

Michael Townsend

Port Townsend, Washington

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SCOUT’S HONOR

Dear Editor,

The River Center has found a new partner!

I would like to give a huge shout out to Redwood Empire Boy Scout Troop #82. I am so impressed with this troop of boys led by Mitzi and Dave Wagner and their son and soon to be Eagle Scout Zachary. These kids showed up to work on the second “shady” outdoor classroom at the AV Elementary School two Saturdays ago ready and raring to go. I told them to get ready, that we had some serious work ahead of us that day and they didn’t blink an eye. Zach and Dave went straight to work on building the new information kiosk as the main part of Zach’s Eagle Scout project. The rest of us set to installing 11 benches in an arched design under the shade of the canopy of the Bay and Oak trees. The design was measured and laid out and then we set to digging the holes in the loamy forest soil. Cement was mixed and the benches were placed and leveled and then held in place until the cement was placed in around the bases. This was real work and they stayed with it, all day! The main thing was that together we finished what we set out to do, and it is beautiful! Mitzi and Dave Wagner are offering the Boy Scouts a wonderful opportunity to learn and explore in the outdoors, engage in civic activities that benefit others and feel the reward and satisfaction of taking pride in their efforts. They helped to create a place that is beautiful, that they can return to again and again and feel the satisfaction and pride of what one hard day’s work can become. Thank you Redwood Empire Boy Scout Troop #82 — you rock!

Sincerely, Linda MacElwee

Boonville

Embattled Texas medical marijuana defendant Chris Diaz, 22, facing 5-99 years prison for 14 grams of cannabis hash that he uses as legal medicine in California, got a rare piece of good news from the trial court on 4/20/12.

Judge Stephen Ellis granted Diaz a hearing, May 10, 1:30pm, in Brownwood Superior Court on the right to withdraw his felony intent-to-sell plea as coerced and involuntary. Chris adamantly insists he was not in his right mind when he agreed to the plea and that he had no intent to sell the small amount of cannabis he carried for his own medical use, driving thru Texas to visit his ill grandmother. If Chris’ motion to withdraw his plea is granted and a mistrial declared, his conviction and 3-year prison sentence would be reversed, allowing him to start again in his effort to challenge the Texas marijuana law for lack of medical access.

The DA can file the same or different charges…or decide not to bother, considering the mounting evidence of criminal coercion and civic humiliation heaped on the little town of Brownwood Texas from this wrong-headed prosecution of a qualified California asthma cannabis patient for a tiny amount of medicine.

On the other hand, the more likely scenario is that Chris’ motion to extinguish his plea will be denied, the Judge will say it was not coerced, giving as proof that he asked Chris at his 3/29 plea hearing if he was aware he was giving up his right to appeal and Chris answered, “Yes.”

What Chris was not aware of were the implications of forfeiting his right to appeal, since his lawyer was so busy extracting the plea that he never explained to Chris the practical effects of the plea. Chris was misled to believe that agreeing to the plea would more or less get him immediate parole with time served rather than a year of prison, allowing him to continue his fight on the outside with legal assistance that has been lacking on the inside.

Involuntary pleas are strictly illegal. Defendants are required to state that their plea is voluntary and knowing — no promises, no threats — for the court to accept it.

Nine months of incarceration under miserable conditions from Mendocino County California to Brown County Texas, including 111 days in solitary confinement, took its toll on Chris Diaz. Waiting for trial in total isolation, deprived of mail, phone calls, visits, all human contact, even legal mail prior to trial when defendants most need guidance, Chris, at age 22 with no prior record, felt confused, scared, abandoned by family & friends, and just wanted release from the “nightmare you never wake up from,” as his Public Defender Rudy Taylor had promised if he’d agree to the plea.

It appears there was never any intention of putting on a defense at trial. Diaz qualifies as a genuine medical necessity patient since his lifelong severe allergy condition is life-threatening, but his doctor was never contacted. In his Mar 31 letter to Judge Ellis, Dr. Courtney wrote: “Your honor, I am confused as to why my patient’s lawyer has not made contact with me regarding my appearance nor reviewed my participation in Mr. Diaz’ defense…the family understood that Mr Taylor would make a motion to the court…but to date I have yet to receive such notice.”

At Chris’ plea hearing 3/29, Judge Ellis asked, “Do you understand you are giving up your right to appeal?” Chris answered “Yes.” He was totally alone in the hearing, unaware of what was going on. His family and supporters were not present because they were not told about the hearing or that a plea agreement would cancel the trial.

Chris later wrote his mother that he’d never been informed of the implications of giving up his right to appeal. “I would never have knowingly given up my right to challenge all the wrong that has been done to me.” This is a classic example of an unknowing plea; he did not understand the consequences of his signature on the plea agreement. Rudy Taylor’s ineffective counsel was responsible for that.

Chris Diaz was misled into thinking the plea would spring him from “the nightmare you never wake up from” by substituting parole for prison. He believed his lawyer was on his side, seeking justice at trial based on medical necessity, in a challenge to the Texas marijuana laws. The act went on for months of deception and degradation with promises never kept, instead solitary confinement imposed without lawyer or family communication, until it came time to extract the plea that would end the case forever. Such treatment cannot possibly be legal, unless torture is now considered legal.

–Pebbles Trippet

Editor,

Make no mistake about it: I love Richard Brautigan.

I really love Richard Brautigan. He was as much a part of my early literary training at the Writing Seminars Department at the Johns Hopkins University as anyone I can think of.

Brautigan was out-of-this-world creative — otherworldly, innocent, child-like, fanciful, fantastical. He was lyrical. He was deeply emotional. He was an occultist.

But Brautigan was also, in his own way, a formalist and polished.

Taken together, all of the above is a rare combination of talents.

Early work, like “Trout Fishing in America,” is an American classic along the lines of Mark Twain. Real satire. True Americana. Pure genius.

Other work, like “In Watermelon Sugar,” is important sociological commentary on Utopia and communal living. Again, real satire. True Americana. Pure genius.

Later work takes another direction. “Sombrero Fallout” draws heavily from Zen Buddhism. In this respect, Brautigan is as important as Jack Kerouac.

Late work towards the end of Brautigan’s life is dark.

Very dark. “So the Wind Won’t Blow It All Away” is a premonition. A premonition of nuclear proliferation? A premonition of capitalism, materialism, consumerism? A premonition of our infatuation with media and technology? A premonition of overpopulation? A premonition of peak oil? A premonition of global warming? A premonition of a dying planet? A premonition of madness?

Take your pick. Brautigan was right about all of it.

That said, I highly recommend the biography written by Brautigan’s daughter, Ianthe Brautigan. It’s called “You Can’t Catch Death.” (St. Matin’s Press)

Incidentally, she lived in Santa Rosa and worked at Copperfield’s for several years.

Her memoir, “An Unfortunate Woman,” is equally compelling.

Ianthe Brautigan tells a sad tale. Living with Richard Brautigan, being

his daughter, and trying to love him and be loved by him, was no picnic.

In fact, there was little about Brautigan’s life that can be romanticized.

Brautigan was an alcoholic for most of his life. A serious drunk. And as a young man, at Oregon State Hospital, he was also diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and clinical depression.

Quoting from the last paragraphs of his Wikipedia page…

Brautigan was an alcoholic throughout his adult life and suffered years of despair. According to his daughter, Ianthe, he often mentioned suicide over a period of more than a decade before ending his life.

In 1984, at age 49, Richard Brautigan had recently moved to Bolinas, California, where he was living alone in a large, old house. He died of a self-inflicted .44 Magnum gunshot wound to the head. The exact date of his death is unknown, and his decomposed body was found by Robert Yench, a private investigator, on October 25, 1984.

The body was found on the living room floor, in front of a large window that looked out over the Pacific Ocean. It is speculated that Brautigan may have ended his life over a month earlier, on September 14, 1984, after talking to former girlfriend Marcia Clay on the telephone.

Brautigan was survived by his parents, both ex-wives, and his daughter Ianthe. He has one grandchild named Elizabeth, who was born about two years after his death.

He left a suicide note that simply read: “Messy, isn’t it?”

Brautigan once wrote, “All of us have a place in history. Mine is clouds.”

* * *

If I had a few million dollars, I’d build a public library in a very beautiful place by the Pacific Ocean, like Muir Beach or Moss Landing, and I’d call it the Richard Brautigan Memorial Library.

John Sakowicz

Ukiah

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WHOSE SIDEWALK?

Attn Editor,

Who Owns the Sidewalk in Fort Bragg?

I feel my case would be of interest to local people. I’ve talked to a couple of homeowners who didn’t know they own, and are liable, for the sidewalk. Here’s what happened…

The city public works saw-cut and removed about four square feet of sidewalk, installed a water-meter split, and walked away and left it. The city’s own laws require the hole to be left safe and suitable for traffic, or protected by barricades until completed.

For years city workers stepped in that hole to read the meter, yet never noticed it. Finally, at night, I stepped in it and tore my foot apart, broke my leg, and crushed my back. I filed a claim. The city rejected any responsibility: maintenance of sidewalk is solely the duty of the adjacent homeowner.

Most homeowners don’t know that the city can tear up their property, walk away, and blame them for failure to maintain. The sidewalk is apparently their property, except if they want to do that, they need an encroachment permit and a $2,000,000 bond.

I enclose copies of claim, rejection, city specifications requiring safety sidewalk laws, and the city’s letter to homeowner. Apparently the city work order (also enclosed) said owner would complete concrete work — but that can’t allow them to just leave a hole with no protection, never tell the owner it’s ready, and never do anything until it’s too late.

Yours truly,

Marvin Miles

Fort Bragg

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TRUE BUT STRANGE

Editor,

Fourth paragraph of Off the Record, April 18, 2012: The plural of “penis” is the same as “oasis,” and “crisis,” — i.e., “penes.”

Strange but true. But strange.

As ever,

Pete Jussel

Santa Cruz

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ZIMMER IT!

Editor,

Crawdad Nelson’s recent story, “Squirrel Stew,” AVA, 4/18), brought back fond memories of my Mooney clan’s meat harvesting days in eastern Oklahoma during the middle years of the last century.

The Mooney manifesto was, “never eat store-bought meat,” so we hunted, gathered and rustled critters for our chow.

The small, furtive game on our menu included squirrel, muskrat, rabbit, beaver, woodchuck, raccoon, and opossum. But squirrel, in my opinion, is the most delicious of all small game meats. Chicken fried young squirrel is better than rabbit or chicken, two of my favorite meats.

And squirrel hunting with a .22 is one of the most rewarding of the rifle sports since the wary, “squirrely” rodent is not an easy prey. My weapon of choice, a model 62 Winchester pump, proved inadequate much of the time since the crafty gray and fox squirrels of eastern Oklahoma were mysteriously adept at knowing exactly when you were about to pull the trigger.

Once you scored a bull’s-eye, though, the fun began — gutting, skinning and preparing the carcass for cooking in anticipation of a scrumptious meal.

I still remember my first squirrel, spit roasted over an open fire, which tasted like salted rubber with the texture of shoe leather.

Crawdad’s uncle was right — squirrel has to be “zimmered.”

The Mooney clan’s primo chef, Grandma Mooney from Hoopston, Illinois, had a repertoire of gourmet recipes for wild game that she had perfected over the years — barbecued squirrel, squirrel stroganoff, squirrel braised in sauerkraut, squirrel cobbler, and my favorite, okie squirrel stew.

Here is the recipe for Granma Moonet’s Okie Squirrel Stew. Very slow “zimmering” is the trick. (Serves four):

1 squirrel, drawn and quartered into seven pieces

flour

salt and pepper

three tablespoons butter

8 cups boiling water

1 teaspoon thyme

1 cup fresh corn

1 cup lima beans

three potatoes quartered

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

two onions, sliced

2 cups canned tomatoes with juice

Roll the squirrel pieces in flour, salt and pepper. Brown in butter. Add squirrel and all other ingredients, save the tomatoes, to the boiling water, cover, and simmer for 1.5-2 hours.

Add the tomatoes and continue to simmer another hour.

Serve the stew in soup bowls with cornpone or hush puppies, and wash it down with Uncle Eddie Mooney’s homebrewed poteen (Mooneyshine) made with “Okie taters” — based on a secret clan recipe brought over from County Tyrone, Ireland, by our ancestor, Robert O’Mooney in 1735.

In Mendopia the native western squirrel doesn’t pose any hunting challenges since the obviously stoned rodents routinely commit suicide by throwing themselves under the tires of oncoming vehicles. This is the land of roadkill stew. So when traveling by vehicle in Mendopia always carry an ice chest, a role of butcher paper, a sharp Bowie knife, and a sharp hatchet. You’ll never go hungry. Bon appetite!

Bottoms up!

Joe Don Mooney

Hopland

PS. I’m told that most of the sharpshooters in World War II were squirrel shooters from Oklahoma, Arkansas and Texas.

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A FOUR-YEAR OLD MASON

Editor,

The following is from “In A Sunburned Country” by Bill Bryson:

In the 1950s a friend of Catharine’s moved with her young family into a house next door to a vacant lot. One day a construction crew turned up to build a house on the lot. Catherine’s friend had a four year old daughter who naturally took an interest in all the activity going on next door. She hung around on the margins and eventually the construction workers adopted her as a kind of mascot. They chatted to her and gave her little jobs to do and at the end of the week presented her with a little pay packet containing a shiny new half crown. She took this home to her mother who made all the appropriate cooings of admiration and suggested that they take it to the bank the next morning to deposit in her account. When they went to the bank the teller was equally impressed and asked the little girl how she had come by her pay packet. “I’ve been building a house this week,” she replied proudly. “Goodness!” said the teller, “and will you be building a house next week too?” “I will if we ever get the funking bricks,” answered the little girl.

Robert Jouncewell

Willits

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FIRST MOVE

Editor,

We have a chance to make history — to be the first county in California to let voters say if they want corporate money removed from our elections by ending corporate personhood.

Vermont, New Mexico and Hawaii and numerous cities, like LA, NYC, Fort Bragg and Point Arena, have passed resolutions in favor of an amendment to the US Constitution saying corporations are not people, money is not speech, and regulating money in elections is legal. But they have all been passed by state legislatures and city councils. It is even more powerful to let citizens directly cast their votes on this crucial issue. That’s what we’re aiming to do here in Mendocino County — to put the question before all voters in the November election.

To do this we need to gather 5,000 signatures by the end of May. Will you help? If so, please attend the final meeting for MoveToAMend petition circulators this Saturday, April 28th, at the Fort Bragg Library, from 11:00-12:00. Or contact Carrie Durkee at 937-2554 or cdurkee@mcn.org

Thanks for helping us make history — the first county in the largest state — and thereby significantly undermining Corporate Rule.

Tom Wodetzki

Albion

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PUNOGRAPHICS

Editor,

I changed my iPod’s name to Titanic. It’s syncing now.

When chemists die, they barium.

Jokes about German sausage are the wurst.

I know a guy who’s addicted to brake fluid. He says he can stop any time.

How does Moses make his tea? Hebrews it.

I stayed up all night to see where the sun went. Then it dawned on me.

This girl said she recognized me from the vegetarian club, but I’d never met herbivore.

I’m reading a book about anti-gravity. I just can’t put it down.

I did a theatrical performance about puns. It was a play on words.

They told me I had type-A blood, but it was a Type-O.

PMS jokes aren’t funny; period.

Why were the Indians here first? They had reservations.

We are going on a class trip to the Coca-Cola factory. I hope there’s no pop quiz.

I didn’t like my beard at first. Then it grew on me.

Did you hear about the cross-eyed teacher who lost her job because she couldn’t control her pupils?

When you get a bladder infection urine trouble.

Broken pencils are pointless.

I tried to catch some fog, but I mist.

What do you call a dinosaur with an extensive vocabulary? A thesaurus.

England has no kidney bank, but it does have a Liverpool.

I used to be a banker, but then I lost interest.

I dropped out of communism class because of lousy Marx.

All the toilets in New York’s police stations have been stolen. The police have nothing to go on.

I got a job at a bakery because I kneaded dough.

Haunted French pancakes give me the crepes.

Velcro — what a rip off!

A cartoonist was found dead in his home. Details are sketchy

Venison for dinner again? Oh deer!

The earthquake in Washington obviously was the government’s fault.

Be kind to your dentist. He has fillings, too.

Name Withheld

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

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OK, BUT…

Editor,

Just got off the phone with my son-in-law (ex). I told him you printed his remarks relating to my rhyme, Death of Hippie, beneath mine. He was delighted even without a by-line. But I don’t want to take credit for his comments on the punk rock phenomena. He writes better than I do.

John Wester

San Diego

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SAVE THE NAVARRO BRIDGE

Dear Nancy, Bill and Olivia Allen,

Thank you for your letter of April 21 regarding work on the bridge on Philo-Greenwood Road at the Navarro River crossing.

The Anderson Valley Community Services District (CSD) has agreed to hear this matter on its agenda of June 20 at 5:30pm. (Meetings are held at the Anderson Valley Fire House on Highway 128 in Boonville.) Mendocino County Director of Transportation Howard Dashiell will be present along with me to discuss the project.

This bridge rehabilitation/replacement would be financed using Federal Highway Administration funds which are is unfortunately not available for some of the excellent projects you mention in your letter such as the AV Health Center and Hendy Woods.

The Navarro River bridge on Philo-Greenwood Road is 61 years old. 50 years is a typical design life but some of Mendocino County’s 157 bridges are older.

I certainly agree that this is a beautiful structure and the area beneath makes a wonderful swimming hole. Please be assured that we want to do everything possible to preserve the beauty of the bridge and the recreational value it provides.

Please attend the CSD meeting on June 20, hear what Howard has to say, and voice your concerns. This project is still in a preliminary stage with no contract approved yet by the Board of Supervisors. If work on the bridge does go forward, it is scheduled to begin in the spring of 2015.

Best regards,

Dan Hamburg

Supervisor, District 5

Ukiah

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BOOJUM, NOT SAGUARO

AVA,

The Boonville Baja travelers (AVA, April 25, 2012) have confused the saguaro cactus with the boojum tree called in Spanish the ciro. I believe the saguaro appears on Arizona’s auto license plate. There are some saguaros in Baja; they are on the northeast side of the peninsula up near San Felipe but they don’t make it to the Pacific side of Baja California. Both can reach as high as 50 feet and both are remarkable examples of Baja California plant life.

Harold Ericsson

Harbor City

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 LEAVE THE POSTERS UP

Dear Occupiers,

We have postered most of the area but notice people remove them.

Let us know if you see a location that needs one.

Better yet, go to Mendo Litho where we have an account and get more to put up.

Richard Karch

Fort Bragg

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WHERE’S MATSON’S JOURNAL?

Dear AVA:

(Sep. 7, 2011) My name is Dan Shealor and I’m writing to inform the general public of a grievous miscarriage of justice being perpetrated on me.

I was released from prison and parole last December having discharged my number as a two-striker. I was and am actually aware of the necessity of keeping my nose clean, particularly in the area of violence.

I began dating and ultimately moving in with a woman named Gina several months ago. Several months into our relationship, a certain weasel named Garret Matson began insinuating himself into our affairs and Gina’s affections. You may remember Matson’s name in connection with a recent suspicious death — Justice for Katlyn! — and the ensuing murder investigation.

Long story short — said weasel is running a Svengali trip on Gina using illicit chemicals and mind control techniques. He shot a hole into Gina’s car and convinced her to tell the cops it was me. Now here I sit awaiting trial for attempted murder which would mean life in prison for me if convicted. I would ask anyone who has any knowledge of shenanigans committed by Matson to contact my attorney, Bart Kronfeld, 964-6111.

* * *

Dear AVA,

(Sep. 22, 2011) Whenever I read a crime novel or watch a program like CSI, the investigating officers are focused on one thing: evidence. Do we have enough evidence to charge this suspect? Does the evidence we have tie a suspect to the crime?

In the real world? Not even close. All it takes is an accusation from some unbalanced bimbo with a cryptic agenda that I’m not even sure she understands and I’m fighting for my life and spending thousands of dollars to prove my innocence.

Had I known it was this easy to convict someone I would have disposed of all my business and romantic rivals long ago. Not to mention the neighbor who runs his chainsaw at 7am.

The evidence in my case can be summed up as follows: there is what purports to be a bullet hole in the accuser’s vehicle. The accuser claims I put it there.

That’s it. No independent eyewitness, no gun, no sound of a shot, nothing tying me to the scene, no motive.

A month down the road, the only firearm that’s even remotely associated with this case is the unregistered one found in the possession of that traitorous she-hyena, my accuser.

Then there’s the bad actor with 2nd billing in this tawdry melodrama: Garrett Matson. It’s common know-ledge that this “gentleman” stays armed and isn’t shy about brandishing or using his weapons. The community knows he got away with murder once. He is currently being sought for questioning in several violent matters.

These, ladies and gentlemen, are my accusers. The people who hold my future in their hands. A bipolar tweaked out ex-girlfriend who can’t keep her shit together long enough to keep her kids in the house, and a megalomaniacal mama’s boy who bolsters his Napoleon complex with guns and thinks he’s living in a western movie.

There needs to be a system of checks and balances in place to ensure that innocent people cannot fall victim to vindictive — what? There is one?! The what, the Constitution? Oh, I see. We just don’t use it here in Mendocino County.

Justice for Katlyn Long! Justice for Dan Shealor!

* * *

Dear AVA,

(April 27, 2012) I still sit here in the County jail awaiting trial for a crime I did not commit. I’m facing 25 to life if convicted, the best deal the district attorney has offered is 10 years with 85%. There is no physical evidence, no one heard a shot and puke Garrett Matson and his girlfriend have been caught in number of lies, not to mention the unregistered .38 they claim I used “of the same caliber” with an unknown amount of drugs shortly after my arrest. They set me up!

Why? Why would they do such a thing? I’ll tell you why. About five days before they did this to me I came across Garret Matson’s journal. I know it was his because it was in his belongings — ID, credit cards, etc. In that journal he confesses to murdering his girlfriend in May of 2009 (Katlyn Long). Upon my arrest I lost the journal. I believe he got it back — but I read it! And when I read it to Garret Matson over the phone he was furious. The next thing I know I’m arrested on bunk charges that the District Attorney won’t dismiss. Has any investigator talked to me about Katlyn Long? No! They don’t care about her, only protecting Garrett and his tweaked out girlfriend. I’ve done nothing but beg for my life to these tweakers and now I’m not only charged with attempted murder, I’ve got persuading and bribing a witness. What is wrong with this system?

Daniel Shealor

Ukiah

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ONE BUCK, ONE VOTE

Editor,

A petition to put the issue of corporate ‘personhood’ on the Mendocino County November ballot is currently being circulated by volunteers. This issue is fundamental to our retaining fair elections and, therefore, the democratic process. The 2000 election moved an administration with an overarching Big Business agenda into Washington. That administration intentionally changed the balance of justices on the Supreme Court to favor the special interests of corporations. The new make-up of the Supreme Court enabled the passage of the ruling on Citizens United which upheld the misinterpretation of early rulings that corporations are ‘persons’. ‘Corporate protected speech’ now includes unlimited donations to political action groups for political advertising. If you are unfamiliar with the full ramifications of the Citizens United ruling find out here: www.movetoamend.org why it is critical to get the issue on the ballot so that real citizens can make our voices heard.

In a nutshell, what we have now in Washington is representation by Corporate Dollars, rather than by Individual Citizens. The only way to change this situation is to amend the Constitution, which is a process that is estimated to take several years. Dozens of municipalities across the country, city by city, county by county have passed resolutions in support of an amendment.

To help place a MoveToAmend proposition on our county ballot this November, coast residents can contact Carrie Durkee, 937-2554, CDurkee@mcn.org, and inland residents can contact Margaret Koster, 459-5970, MKoster@pacific.net

Rita Crane

Albion

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SHIVA GOES SHOPPING

Editor,

After leaving the O2 internet cafe on Polk Street Thursday afternoon, I went around the Folsom/Howard Street area, visited mostly bars, in which I briefly was just lookin’. I advise not going into the Hole in the Wall on Folsom Street (so dark I couldn’t see where I was walking; designed that way so the customers can see you coming in and you cannot see them at first, so they get to size you up while your eyes are adjusting to the darkness. And then, you find out that you’re in a bar with kinky pervs who only want to drink beer and then do a group golden shower in the restrooms!!!

Left without ordering and went over to Zeitgeist, discovered HofBrau Munich’s Maibock on special for $5/pint. Played all of the jazz & blues on the jukebox, to get some diversity from the rocknroll, was having such a good time I put down five pints and a shot of Johnnie Walker Red Label, and smoked Sherman’s Cigaretello’s. Then, wandered over to Delirium and gave my barmaid friend Genea a kiss. She approved. After eating a burrito somewhere on Mission Street, I went back to Berzerkeley and visited the Crystal Massage Parlour at 11PM. The Chinese masseuse said that she was tired and wanted to go to sleep, but would give me a half hour massage that would be FULLY SATISFYING for $40. We went into one of the massage rooms, and she massaged my back so well, I was too deeply relaxed, plus the after-effects of the drinking, to cum. So, she lifted her blouse and ordered me to massage her breast. I shied away from this at first, but she more aggressively took my hand and put it back on her large stone hard nipple. She smiled down at my naked body, and then stroked my shiva lingam lovingly with a copious amount of body oil. However, after rising to the occasion, I still didn’t fully respond (but did sufficiently so that she let me leave). She threw down a towel onto my pulsating penis, and humorously suggested that it was time for me to go home and get some sleep. We both started laughing. After I got dressed, she warmly squeezed my crotch and with palms upward, asked me for a tip. I plead poverty and gave her $5 more, and she agreed that $45 for only 30 minutes was reasonable.

It was vital that I spent an evening partying until the wheels fell off, to counteract my living indefinitely as though I am being dragged through purgatory. I don’t care if I spent my survival money for the month. I’ll be okay. If the Goddess wants me to have more money, she’ll see that I get it. As you know, I have tremendous faith in Her looking out for Her devotees.

Please understand that my over-the-top effort on Thursday did not elevate me into a permanently higher social/spiritual reality. I am still very much on earth. However, I can mentally relax now, as I actually did something about my idiotic social situation in postmodern America. Besides, I got to kiss Genea at Delirium bar at 16th & Albion in the Mission; hey, I like her, and have liked her since I met her when she co-managed the Crow Bar when it was open on Broadway in North Beach. Most importantly, I feel much better now. Also, I do not have to superbinge out in the future, because Thursday night was a success in many ways, on many levels.

No regrets whatsoever,

Craig Stehr

Oakland

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GOD RESPONDS

Dear Editor:

I read with some amusement Gilbert J. Garcia’s recent Letter to the Editor, entitled “The God Complex.”  His “inside looking out” ramblings were primarily criticisms of how criminal matters are different now that I am directing the prosecution of local matters.

But there’s more to this Mr. Garcia than meets the eye. Mr. Garcia is not just a disgruntled local writing from the Low Gap Hilton; rather, Mr. Garcia hails from San Jose and, candidly, didn’t even buy the bus ticket that brought him to Mendocino County. That ticket was provided courtesy of the California Department of Corrections. You see Mr. Garcia is a convicted felon who was serving his prison time at a fire camp here in Mendocino County on a Strike conviction out of Santa Clara County.

Obviously not realizing how good he had it, Mr. Garcia took it upon himself to try and improve camp conditions by trying to smuggle into camp methamphetamine, vodka, brandy, tobacco, and other contraband dropped off by an accomplice just outside the camp boundaries.

When Mr. Garcia and another inmate stole into the night to retrieve the bounty, they didn’t see the guards waiting and watching in the brush.

Don’t get me wrong. I do appreciate why Mr. Garcia is unhappy — he got caught … again. As of this morning (April 30th), Mr. Garcia waived his right to a jury trial, plead no contest to being a part of a conspiracy to bring controlled substances into a prison facility, and he will be sentenced by the local courts on May 25, 2012 to an additional 16 months in prison to be served consecutive to his San Jose commitment. That’s how we roll these days here in Mendocino County.

C. David Eyster

Mendocino County District Attorney

Ukiah

_______________________________________

MASS OPT-OUT

Editor,

Wondering what to do as the SmartMeter issue hits a critical deadline (May1st?) 50+ cities and counties demanded a free smartmeter-less opt out plan with community opt outs. The California Public Utility Commission(CPUC) simply accepted PG&E’s Opt Out plan. The issue is growing worldwide as Australians and British Colombians complain of equipment damages, fires and health impacts along with many U.S. states (www.emfsafetynetwork.org .) Concerned citizens in Maine and Illinois are suing their utilities, while other states such as Connecticut and Hawaii are not implementing the program. The controversial high initiation fees, the decision to stop allowing rural self reads, and to charge for multiple meters, makes the charges punitive and unfair. Some Californians are abstaining from paying, demanding no extra charge for opting out (www.stopsmartmeters.org .)

Refuse SmartMeters Mendocino recommends that those who recognize the serious health and property right violations protect their family, and do what they feel comfortable with. Either choose to 1) pay the Opt Out initiation fee or 2) protect your meters and join others against this trespass. Many are discovering that the monthly cost is less than the rise in power increases post SmartMeter installation, or figure that the cost of hassling the argumentative utilities, getting satisfaction from a deaf CPUC, or potential impacts on health are worth it. Refuse SmartMeters Mendocino recommends that citizens avoid living with the 24/7 wireless technology that has already damaged many lives and driven folks from their homes and workplaces. Hope for a no charge real option that allows community opt outs is still high and being actively pursued.

Many think that PG&E accepted the Analog meter instead of radio-off SmartMeter into the Opt Out plan in good faith. The truth is it was the combined action of determined mothers who had sick families, anti SM organizations, government representatives, and many letters and complaints from

PG&E customers that forced this crucial part into place. It is a big win but not enough!

The Opt Out proposal has many unresolved concerns. The Utilities and the CPUC ignored the various county resolutions and laws. Neither care about rate payers. The CPUC isn’t representing the tax payers that pay their wages and who expect fair representation and safe regulation. Here are some of the unaddressed concerns: How can an impacted person be protected in high meter density areas like apartments, condominiums or tract housing? How do those with biological (heart brain, insulin) implants protect their wireless sensitive devices (NIH and FCC?) Do impacted or concerned folk really have access to the option? Or is the charge keeping cash strapped rate payers from protecting themselves? The CPUC, by law, is the ultimate authority on these issues until it makes a decision. Any law suit on the issues is forced into CPUC consideration. It is only with the CPUC sanctioned Opt Out that these law suits can go to higher courts. The CPUC left impacted folks in harm’s way as it took years to accumulate information that they then ignored. These folks remain impacted while others litigate a solution. Where is the regulation? Where is safety and concern?

The wireless fields impact sensitive folks. This is called Electro Hypersensitivity (EHS.) EHS leaves victims with heart, cognitive, DNA damage, calcium uptake problems and immune suppression. EHS victims become sensitive to any AC power source. Victims must live in battery powered facilities away from wireless and AC. There is no provision in the US for this now. Worldwide trends show that 50% of the populace in a layered wireless area could have this malady by 2017 (2008 study.) Will victims be able to opt out in the future when they become EHS? As the World Health Organization (WHO) put wireless onto its class 2 Carcinogen category, along with DDT this year, the trend with wireless should be towards precaution and protection.

If you are on the fence, we recommend you immediately contact your utility whether it is gas or electric or both and join the Opt Out. We further recommend you contact your State representatives (Chesbro and Evans) and the CPUC and file a complaint. Send one short letter to all. Protect yourself and your family and be sensitive to victims, who have no other choice but to leave their homes and jobs when the malady strikes them. It is hard to believe that this sort of blanket environmental trespass is occurring in California, the most environmental state in the Union.

Greg Krouse

Refuse SmartMeter Mendocino

Philo, CA www.refusesmartmeters@saber.net

 _______________________________________

ONLY NORMAN

Editor,

Why I Am Supporting Norman Solomon For Congress— I learned, after working four years on Capitol Hill for Congressman Wendell Wyatt, that there is tremendous pressure in DC to submit to the general needs and demands of the American imperial political class. The pressures are so strong, that it is easiest for a Congressman just to go along with their dictates However this political leadership is failing to address the most egregious problems in our local communities and across our vast planet. As global warming wracks the environment, economic collapse rocks this country and the US continues to expand its military around the world, it is crucial for our country, the planet and the North Coast to have national political leadership that effectively addresses these pressing problems.

Norman Solomon is the only candidate in the race with the track record on foreign policy and domestic issues that shows he can stand up to this imperial pressure. None of the other major candidates have ever taken the public stands that Norman has against our imperial foreign policy and the attendant wars in places like Iraq. Nor did any of the other candidates take a public stand against the bank bailouts in 2008 or the destructive power of corporate money in politics after the Citizens United decision in 2010. We need a representative in Washington that is clear on his principles and can amplify our North Coast voice on issues that are vital to us and to the future of America and the world.

Twenty-four term Congressman John Conyers, who is the Ranking Minority Member on the House Judiciary Committee, and Congressman Raúl Grijalva, Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, the largest Democratic Caucus in the House, have both endorsed Norman and are anxious to have him join them on the floor of the House to begin moving this country in the right direction. Congressman Mike Honda calls Norman a young Bernie Sanders. Norman has worked with these politicians, he has worked in Washington DC, and he knows how to get things done there.

Remember, among the major candidates in this race, only Norman has a public record of coming out against the Iraq War and the other imperial wars we have waged in the last 50 years. Only Norman is the national co-chair of the Healthcare not Warfare campaign with Congressman John Conyers. Only Norman was active in trying to set up a green economy in Northern California as Co-Chair of the Green New Deal. Only Norman was an early endorser of the Move to Amend to end corporate personhood. Only Norman has been arrested protesting nuclear power, laying on the tracks in front of the military supply trains or protesting corporate power. And, of course, only Norman among the major candidates has refused to take corporate PAC money.

Without that kind of stamina, no other candidates will have the tenacity or priority to stand firm in the face of the pressures of the imperial political class. Others would be okay congressional representatives. But Norman would be an exceptionally good and historically important voice to have in Congress. This is one of the few districts in the country where someone with Norman’s history and politics could ever get elected. It is important to our community, country and the earth that we do not let this opportunity slip away. Please vote for Norman Solomon in the June primary election.

Jim Tarbell

Caspar

_______________________________________

SMOKE & MIRRORS & SMOKE

Editor,

The unanimous decision of the Board of Supervisors to build an asphalt plant along the Willits Grade makes me wonder if the Supervisors were representing their constituencies most affected by their decision — the people who drive the sometimes dangerous section of highway 101 where the asphalt trucks would enter or exit the plant — the biointensive gardeners whose demonstration garden is visited by viewers from near and far — the residents of Sea Biscuit Ranch — the residents of the lovely valley below…

Some questions remain unanswered such as how much water would be extracted from an already damaged water collecting shed, damaged by mountain removal. How much light, noise, and exhaust pollution would affect migratory and resident bird and animal populations. How a huge increase in large truck traffic would affect the stability of the Willits Grade section of Highway 101, an already unstable roadway during periods of heavy rain, built on slippery blue clay. The unanimous rush job of the Supervisors to approve the asphalt permit in spite of local opposition, smacks of greenbacks being the overriding consideration. Would the cost to the county of negligence lawsuits from what seems to be the inevitable result of constructing a flawed traffic plan — increased number of collisions — justify the short term money saving? Is this mega asphalt production to be used for additional road construction to open this rural county to road construction for the convenience of the one percent? Is it advisable to open another toxic industry to provide a few jobs? Remember how arduous and time consuming it was to force Masonite to cease polluting the Ukiah Valley?

These policy considerations were handled in an autocratic, authoritarian manner, failing to elucidate the reasoning underlying the decision of each individual supervisor. Policy decisions such as this deserve a town hall process and possibly a referendum. Better noticing of planning decisions like this one should include the local independent newspapers, KZYX Community Calendar for those of us who do not buy the corporate press or enjoy internet connection.

Occupy.

Dorotheya M Dorman

Redwood Valley

_______________________________________

THE OWL & THE PANTHER

To The Editor

‘The City Council in their Beautiful Pea-Green Boat’

Ukiah City Manager Jane Chambers warned last week that Ukiah faces a $1.8 million deficit for the FY2012-13 budget. This elicited much hand-wringing.

Former mayor Mari Rodin complained that Ukiah City is like an adult who keeps her baby in too-small shoes so the children can’t run. Ukiah Daily Journal Editor K.C. Meadows found Mari Rodin’s concerns incomprehensible and excoriated her at length, suggesting that the City might ease down (in its spending) rather than buying larger baby shoes just now.

Deputy City Manager “Sage” Sangiacomo published yet another iteration of his list of how he intends to spend RDA funds that were borrowed at high interest rates last spring against the future growth of tax revenues. He does not propose to actually pay back these expensive loans any time soon but instead uncoils yet another “ROPS” (Recognized Obligation Payment Schedule). This complex document always manages to confuse and frustrate City Council members who really don’t know “The ROPS.” As an example, when asked why he is holding $250,000 aside to pay the costs of shutting down the RDA machine, Sage “wisely” explained: “The hierarchy of distribution is the county gets paid for administering the program first, then the pass-throughs, then the bondholders and the administrative costs to the successor agency is the final priority if there is any tax increment leftover.”

This wisdom silenced the Council to the point where they never even bothered to question why City Staff needs to spend another $654,500 for something called “Costco Project Management.” Can’t a private sector project manage itself?

Last year’s Grand Jury discovered that Ukiah had budgeted $640,401 to support 18 staff salaries and benefits for the administration of the RDA program. With RDAs now out of business, why have we not heard about a staff reduction plan?

Within this latest ROPS trick are a number of proposed expenditures of bond revenues to promote commercial enterprises. I had naively thought that when Governor Brown kaboshed the RDA program, it meant that we would pay back those costly bonds forthwith and save ourselves the very high interest rates (5.6 to 8.0% over ten years). Apparently, there is little interest in such an idea. Instead, Sangiacomo shows $2,337,212 to be paid by Costco to reimburse the City their acquisition of the land years back with RDA funds. Sage then shows another $2,050,00 in bond money combined with this and all to be used for “development of infrastructure, to improve traffic, drainage and utility services for CostCo.”

Isn’t this $4.3 million merely a form of the corporate welfare that our Governor and state legislature wisely intended to shut down when they terminated the RDA boondoggle? Why in the world do we need to bribe a commercial business like Costco into expanding our unneeded retail marketplace? We’ve already got all the supermarkets, clothing outlets and drug stores one could need.

Mark Scaramella succinctly explained in the AVA last week the mysterious theory of redevelopment: “Public agencies borrow money in anticipation of future tax revenues. This money is then used for private purposes supposedly to increase the borrower’s tax base. The magically broadened tax base supports more commercial programs and allows the public agency to pay back the redevelopment loan. In other words, the proverbial private pig dives face first into the public poke.”

Apparently, City Manager Chambers and her befuddled Council Members are still living in the good old times, and fail to heed warnings of more economic rough water on the horizon as they set out like the sage owl and the CEO pussy cat in their beautiful pea-green boat: “They took some honey and plenty of tax money, all wrapped up in a RDA note.”

James Houle

Redwood Valley

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EVERYONE’S ON BOARD

Dear Editor,

Anyone who has lived here for any length of time knows what a helpful, supportive community we have here in Anderson Valley. On Earth Day, April 22, many of us experienced yet another example of such largess. Thanks to the amazing generosity of Navarro Vineyards and Ted Bennett, Deborah Cahn and family, the Hendy Woods Community raised well over $10,000 to be used in our efforts to keep Hendy Woods open. Many thanks are sent to the following: Sarah Cahn Bennett for having such a great idea, Aaron Cahn-Bennett for tech support and numerous other things, Lemon’s Philo Market/Erica Lemons, Mendocino Cookie Co., Costeaux Bakery, The Apple Farm, Pomo Tierra, Gowan’s Oak Tree, the AV Senior Center, AV Lion’s Club, Judy and Garth Long, AV Winegrowers, Boont Berry Farm, Lauren’s, John Dixon/Glendeven Inn, Pennyroyal Farms, Hotel Rex, San Francisco; Coast Botanical Gardens and Michael Jolliffe, Bob Day and Erica Zissa, Nahara, John Scharffenberger and Audrey Wells, Kirk Wilder, Wax&Bing Pottery, Malcolm West, Greg Gorman, All That Good Stuff, AV Nursery, KZYX&Z, KOZT, Susan McClure, Via Keller, Husch Vineyards, Toulouse Vineyards, Eileen Cunningham, Neva Dyer, Anne Bennett and Sheep Dung Properties, Cory Morse, Heidi Knott, The Pot Shop, Elaine Busse, Judy Nelson, Nancy McLeod, Pearly Basehore and Pearl Handles Graphics, Jean DuVigneaud, Steve Anderson, Rob Giuliani, Anne Duvigneaud, Andy Duvigneaud, Sarah Gretsky, Aaron Sawyer, Mimi Duvigneaud, Xenia King, Linnea Totten, David Ballantine, George Castagnola, Torrey Douglas, Ellen Saxe, Leah Collins, Moss Bittman and Joe Petelle. Special thanks to Margaret Pickens, Monica Landry and Joe Rubin. And, of course, thank you to all the attendees!

I hope we have not inadvertantly forgotten anyone.

Sincerely,

The Hendy Woods Community Board of Directors

Philo

_______________________________________

NPR: THE VOTES ARE IN

Editor,

Can I start a tally on which voices that appear in the AVA support National Public Radio (NPR) content and which critical voices see NPR for the national atrocity that it truly is, a biased and one-sided corporate voice of war and profiteering?

Affirming the fact that NPR is absolutely one-sided and biased are one Helen Redmond, Louis S. Bedrock, Nate Collins (myself) and the mighty editor Bruce Anderson (yourself) for your mutual loathing of one David Brooks and EJ Dionne guests of the Jim Lehr news hour on NPR and of the New York Times and Washington Post respectively.

The lone voice to appear in the AVA in support of the atrocious bribery, cronyism and Jim Crow that NPR represents is the weary voice of Bill Brundage of Kurtistown, Hawaii. After further reading of your contributions Bill, I will wholeheartedly encourage you to continue listening to NPR for the benefit therein, it can be found.

For those who wish to pay stricter attention in honor of throwing off the unlikely oppression of the hippie scourge, or just the general slackness prevalent in this savvy post technical gadget addicted society, all we have to do is listen to who underwrites this propaganda; Insurance, Banking, Oil, Industry, etc. as well as their neo-corporate recipients and lackeys in the form of faux do-gooders such as the Skoll foundation, exposed by David Severn’s latest article, “Go Back Where You Came From, Safely Please”(April 18, 2012).

With David’s permission of course I would like to count David with the votes that NPR content is fundamentally crooked, biased and un-democratic. In question is his encounter with a worker representative of one illustrious billionaire, the Canadian born LA based Jeffrey Skoll. Ironically the stated Vision of his Skoll Foundation is “to live in a sustainable world of peace and prosperity” … some viciously coded language whenever I have ever heard such things voiced by cynical billionaires.

On a different but perhaps similar note; Hey Steve Heilig, quit your incessant whining in the Letters to the Editor section. The Letters to the Editor section is usually reserved for the un-published, and your whining is annoying for people trying to enjoy the paper and give honor to the published writers herein and the quality of their work as well as their typically brief and clever responses. Not a good look for a respectable writer.

Respect same-way to all contributors.

Fear and Loathing (of NPR)

Nate ‘2 times Red’ Collins

Oakland

PS. To Editor Anderson: I’ll be in the upper deck just to the first base side of home-plate for the Giants/Marlins game this Thursday first pitch at 12:45. Maybe I’ll see you there.

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SAVE BLACK BART ROCK

Editor,

Recently, Black Bart Rock, the unique, beautifully imposing triangular boulder that looms large across from the Black Bart Road intersection, has caused quite a stir.

It seems local engineers and advocates of the Harris Quarry Asphalt Expansion Project, have been seen crowded around, measuring and busying about this symbolic cultural resource as of late. This happens to also be the spot where an important highway road widening mitigation is being proposed to offset the danger of a so-called “suicide lane” which would exist if the envisioned maximum 50 massively loaded trucks per hour become a reality.

We have just received word that Black Bart Rock may indeed become a casualty. Placed conspicuously by nature at the top of the highest ridge on Highway 101 from Mexico to Canada, it could succumb to the blasting out and hauling away as dust by a gang of another modern-day era hell bent on paving over a legend.

A little research on the actual documented history of Black Bart reveals he was a somewhat sophisticated gent who relieved stagecoaches of excess funds in Northern California and other places. Records show that on June 14, 1882, Black Bart interrupted the stagecoach journey from what is now Willits on its way to Ukiah. Local lore has it he used the landmark rock across from Black Bart Road as cover. One of the stagecoach occupants was the Postmaster, Hiram Willits. Bart was famous for the trademark hood used during business hours and for poetry he occasionally left at the site of the deed.

In an effort to Save Black Bart Rock, this writer is similarly inspired.

Legend of Black Bart Rock

In eight-two the Willits stage

Was on its Southbound run

White black Bart stood behind his rock

A hooded, shadowed gun

Ukiah’s loot would soon be gone

A legend would unfold

And Black Bart Rock still speaks today

Of Mendocino gold

A hundred years and more have passed

Since Willits stage moved on

But Black Bart’s ghost still rides the trail

Until that rock is gone.

Jack Magné

Willits (www.keepthecode.info)

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WHO’S NEXT?

Dear Editor,

Legal medical marijuana dispensaries all over California have received orders from the U.S. Attorney’s office to go out of business within thirty days or face federal prosecution and asset forfeiture.

As a candidate for US Congress, I have sworn to uphold the Constitutions of the United States and California. I demand that the US Government immediately stop and reverse its unconstitutional assault on the legal medical marijuana industry in California.

The federal assault on California’s legal medical marijuana industry is an attack on the sovereignty of California and Californians. It is clearly intended to destroy a legitimate source of livelihood for thousands of Californians, forcing patients who need medical marijuana to deal with outlaws.

Democratic President Obama recently stated his opposition to ending the prohibition of marijuana. The marijuana industry is a major source of income in Northern California, accounting for an estimated one-third of the total income in Mendocino County.

The federal government is building a police state by crushing legal medical marijuana, terrorizing local officials who try to regulate marijuana, and attacking marijuana growers and providers with an ever-expanding police force.

This ugly world of violence, corruption, economic waste and environmental destruction will grow unless we unite to stand in resistance. If we remain silent in the face of this federal assault on a legitimate California industry, who will they come for next?

John Lewallen

Philo

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SILLY, BUT SMART

Editor,

‘Mimi’ Fine Foolishness — I encourage all to attend “Cocktails with Mimi” at the Grange Friday or Saturday Night. Director Marcus Magdaleno who also directs our AV Teen Drama Group has done a fabulous job of coaching the talented actors of the AV Theater Guild to go over the top and then some with their performance. Having been a puppeteer for many years I have a great fondness for the perfect exaggerated gesture and clowning in general. These guys give this strictly for laughs play all they’ve got. Very, very funny and appropriate for all ages the “cocktails” are not a major player in the plot. This is mainly all about watching crazy people do crazy things. If you like smart with your silly this is your kind of play. The only thing lacking is a Vicar jumping in and out of windows and you won’t even miss him.

Terry Ryder

Boonville

Editor,

Our next trip was to travel from Baja Norte to Baja Sur in search of the Grey Whale. These whales travel from their summer feeding grounds in the Bering Sea to the warm water lagoons in Mexico to bear their young. The one way journey covers from 5000 to 6,000 miles. There are three lagoons that these whales migrate to in Baja and they are Guerrero Negro, Magdalena Bay and San Ignacio Bay. We decided to try the lagoon at Guerrero Negro as it the shortest distance from where we live. Getting to the whales at Guerrero Negro means driving about half way down the Baja peninsula. The country side is as varied as the roads that wind up and down the hills and around lots of turns. Not long after we leave Ensenada we see a fertile valley with hundreds of green-houses growing vegetables and fruit. We understand that most of this produce is shipped by trucks to the states. There were also many fields of grapes. After many miles we start to see most desert like country with cactus and rocks and mountains in the back ground. The cacti includes Century plants and Saguaro cactus and many others we can’t identify. We’re amazed at the size and number of rocks and boulders on both sides of the road…..like a giant had piled these huge stones in a hay stack shape.

Since we didn’t get started on our trip until noon we decided to spend the night at El Rosario, a small town with a few places to stay. We stop at a nice looking hotel and the sizable and clean room costs about $40 per night for two persons. Right next door is Mama Espinosa’s restaurant where we enjoy dinner. The next day we arrive in Guerrero Negro and pass thru the 23rd parallel which is the dividing line between between Baja Norte and Baja Sur. We stop at a check point and are asked if we have any fruit, so we surrender the last orange we brought along. Baja Norte doesn’t seem to care about fruit going north. Guerrero Negro is best known for being the world’s largest producer of salt. The huge salt ponds are square or rectangular in shape and the water dries out quickly in the desert like weather. The salt is dredged and placed on conveyer belts to load the trucks. The company running this operation is Japanese owned and is a large employer there, providing housing for the workers which from appearances is much nicer than Mexican housing.

The name Guerrero Negro is of interest as if dates back to the 1800′s. In Massachusetts a new whaling ship was built for hunting whales in the pacific. It was named the Black Warrior and eventually ended up in Baja Sur and the community named their town Guerrero Negro after the ship. We stayed the night and arranged to get on the whale trip at 11:00 am. We drove in a bus for about a half hour and boarded a 24 foot boat. Although the boat could hold 12 persons, there were only six of us and the pilot. After a 30 minute ride in the lagoon we started seeing whales……one mother and her new baby swimming together. They came under the boat, beside the boat but did not stop at the boat side to let us pet them. We saw many like this not really knowing if it was the same pair or a different group. According to officials there were nine hundred whales in this lagoon where ten days before there were twenty-six hundred. Most of the male whales have left by this time while the mothers and new babies stay in the lagoon until the baby is strong enough to make the journey north. They travel night and day on this long trip averaging five miles per hour. We had lunch aboard the boat and when the whale watching began to wane, our pilot took us around to see a bunch of sea lions atop a floating tank which was anchored. We also saw dolphins, seals and dozens of osprey nesting on poles or other supports in the lagoon. It must take many boat trips to photograph the whales in a breeching position or spying or the beautiful full view of the whole tail. The weather was sunny but we had some wind and the water was choppy so not the best of whale watching. Maybe next year. Neva insists that on her other two whale watching trips the whales came up to be kissed. Maybe it was me!

This lagoon is called Laguna Ojo de Liebre, also known as Scammon’s Lagoon after a whaler from Boston. In December 1857 Charles Scammon entered the lagoon and killed 20 whales. He returned the following year and in 3 months killed 47 cows yielding 1700 barrels of oil. Scammon and other whalers practically decimated the whale population in this and other lagoons along the Baja coast. Since 1949 the International Whaling Commission granted protection from commercial hunting for the Grey whale in their lagoons while still permitting whale watching. The largest whale is the Blue Whale which is found in the Sea of Cortes only and it has different breeding habits than the Gray Whale. But that’s another story.

On the trip back we decide to take a side trip to Bahia de Los Angeles which is a fishing village on the Sea of Cortez. The road is good but windy and hilly and as we drive down the mountain we see the beautiful blue waters of the sea with many islands and mountains in the background. There was not much going on in this small town by the sea as the economy limits the fishing and tourists who usually come there. We found a lovely motel with tables in the court yard and so the only thing to do was order a margarita and enjoy the views. The next day before we left, we rented a boat to take us around some of the islands to see many birds and sea life. We had a skipper who knew the islands and took us to great spots to see the animals and birds. We came across a group of about 40 to 50 seals lying on their backs with one flipper in the air as though they taking a sun bath. After a while they moved about jumping into the air and keeping us entertained for over an hour. They seemed to be sorry when we decided to move on. We motored to another island that was covered with about 10 different species of birds nesting and we spent another hour watching them feeding babies & building nests & the young ones fledging. It was a lovely spot to end our trip so then back home.

Kent Rogers & Neva Dyer

Boonville/Baja

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FOUR STARS!

Editor,

Four stars? I must be behind the times. Back in the old days, the Michelin scale topped out at three stars (at least two stars beyond our reach, and probably three).

No matter how many stars it does or doesn’t have, Table 128 at the Boonville Hotel is a dining treasure. We ate there twice and had the two best meals of our past five years dining experience. I only say “our past five years” because I can’t recall much before that. Everything we had was perfection in preparation, presentation, and proportion. We really liked that Table 128 stays within itself and doesn’t over-reach in trying to emulate the flourishes so beloved of starred restaurants. Just honest, perfectly prepared and presented food in a comfortable environment, at a fair price.

Chuck Becker

San Francisco

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THE COERCED PLEA

Editor,

Enclosed is a copy of the letter I mailed to Judge Stephen Ellis (the 35th District Judge). I am mailing this to you to document that I’ve sent him this letter informing him that I was coerced into a plea and I wish to withdraw the plea.

Thank you for everything and all that you do.

Christopher Diaz

Brownwood Texas

Honorable Judge Ellis,

April 16, 2012 — I am writing you to inform you that I was coerced into signing the plea agreement. This is my motion to withdraw the plea agreement, entered on 29 March 2012 and motion to have a hearing on the illegal coerced plea. I also motion to represent myself and have counsel of my choice present at the illegal coerced plea hearing. I motion/move to withdraw the plea agreement. I motion/move for a coerced plea hearing.

Please give me notice of the coerced plea hearing five business days prior to the hearing. Thank you.

Without prejudice, Christopher Diaz

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UNA PALABRO DE LOS SABIOS

Editor and Fellow AVAers,

Bueno! All right! Falta la cola por desollar. The worst is yet to come. (The tale still has to be skinned.) Mas vale saber que haber. Knowledge is better than riches. Obra empezada, medio acabada. Well begun is half done. Quien busca halla. Seek and you will find. En la tardanza va el peligro. Delay is dangerous. Las pare-des oyen. Walls have ears. “Five cent nickel, ten cent dime, busting rocks is busting time. Little rice, little bean and with no meat in between. I’ll lay my head on the railroad line. Busting rocks is busting time.” “Mary had a Little lamb, her father killed it dead, and now it goes to school with her between two chunks of bread.” Gauguin’s Lady in Red Dress with a White Flower carries a boy on her shoulder. Three ladies in the background watch mama and her boy with a halo. Where do the children play? “The burnt out ends of winter evenings with withered leaves splash about your feet” at the corner of a chipped stone morning. Todo el mal nos vience junto, como a los perros los palos. It never rains but it pours. Socrates was always barefoot.

Diana Vance

Deadtree, Mendocino (Splash)

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JAILHOUSE LEGAL ADVICE

Letters to the editor:

Regarding Chris Diaz’s “unfair custody treatment” and dump truck attorney. Chris — check this out, OK. You have to file a formal attorney complaint on your stupid public defender, OK. And somehow — some way — you have to get a habeas corpus writ filed with the Texas court system due to your custody problems and forced plea, OK. I have researched it all, OK. When you file your habeas corpus writ starting with the 1. judicial branch that sentenced you, then 2. appeals court, 3. Texas Supreme Court, if denied all the way to the 4. federal court system, OK. So cite these four in your writ applications, OK. Habeas corpus writs are no fee to file!

1. Eighth amendment, US Constitution — cruel and unusual punishment.

2. 14th amendment, US Constitutional — equal protection, due process.

3. Strickland V. Washington (1984) 466-US668 (104 Supreme Court, 2053, 80 L.Ed-2d-674). Ineffective assistance of counsel.

4. People v. Guizar (1986) 180 Cal App 3d. 487. (255 Cal Rptr-451) Ineffective assistance of counsel.

Cite these cases, Chris, OK. Texas cannot get around them, OK. Also, to Chris’s mom, call attorney, Catherine Campbell — bar #65103 — 1-559-227-4043, explain the matter with your son to Ms. Campbell who is a civil litigation expert as I assisted her in the Preston-Tate land-mark victory at CSP Corcoran security housing unit civil trial. She may be of some assistance or she may know attorneys in Texas who can take your son’s case pro bono.

Thanks for your time to all who read this. Feel free to write me as a penpal.

Kenny Callahan F17158

PO Box 409060 Mule Creek State Prison

Ione, CA 95640-9060

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GO FOR IT, FLYNN!

Dear AVA,

Greetings and salutations. I’ve been out of touch for a while, having fled the toxic environs of the Prison by the Bay for a more salubrious posting, the quaint mountain top retreat of Tehachapi.

Some months ago while engaged with you all in an epistolary flurry, the possibility of my submitting a memoir to you was broached by a reader. I agreed and have been working toward that end. But due to severe several factors, i.e., a neurotic tendency to over-edit/criticize, sloppy handwriting, and an occasional tendency to lapse into sentences of Jamesian complexity and grandeur, I would like to put out a general call for an amanuensis.

I need someone to edit and transcribe my work into something printable. It wouldn’t be a huge job, my grammar, syntax and spelling are mostly unimpeachable. But my printing does occasionally evolve into something resembling cuneiform or spilled toothpicks. Plus, fresh and intelligent eyes never hurt in posting up a ‘script.

So if anyone with an unclaimed couple hours and a computer would like to help, please write. As an inducement, all I can say is it’s an interesting story involving such far-flung locales as London, Paris, Austin, New York City and Boulder, and such characters as Kesey, Cassady, an African prince, Henry Rollins, Ian Mackaye, Sting, the guy who killed Adolph Coors, and Gary Hart.

And may I please impose on you to continue my subscription? One aches for news from the wooded north down here in the sere and southern hinterlands.

Flynn Washburn #V79663

California Correctional Institution Facility “E” Briggs Hall 92-L.

PO Box 107

Tehachapi, CA 93581

Ed note: We’d be happy to edit your memoir, Flynn, right here at the AVA. Send it up a chapter at a time; we’ll serialize it.

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WRITING OFF TIN-FOIL ART

Editor,

“There have been radio towers on the high school for 30 years and there were never complaints about them until Firstenberg started his campaign of misinformation and fear, you can’t argue with zealots.” — Scott Southard, audio teacher, Mendocino High School, 2002 (Source: Wired)

My favorite thing Mr. Firstenberg ever said was: “The 1918 Spanish flu epidemic was spread by radar on American naval warships,” in a public meeting with about 200 people in attendance.

That quote, and after I saw him at the College of the Redwoods with his face about six inches from a 21-inch CRT monitor were all it took for me to write him off as another Mendo mental casualty.

Chuck Wilcher

Comptche

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BOGUS STATS?

Editor:

It seems we have a displeased reader named Louis Bedrock in New Jersey, who wrote a long letter to critique three AVA pieces/writers he disagrees with. I can’t defend the others, but he saved his longest diatribe for me and my half-hearted defense of Obama’s healthcare reform. He accuses me of “bogus statistics,” “deranged speculation,” and “ad hominem attack” — while indulging in all three himself and sounding close to unhinged with anger. Strangely enough, I’ve read most of the authors he cites and agree with most of what they say. But since even by his quoted estimates, 15-25 million people will newly have health insurance under the ACA, here’s what he’s really saying in practice:

Dear Uninsured Americans:

Sorry to have to tell you, but the new health reform is no good, even if many of you do get better access to care and other services. Even though I don’t know much about clinical issues or the realpolitik of health policy, I’ve read some bad stuff about it and so it has to die, until we get a much better deal. And since that better deal isn’t coming in our lifetime, you may suffer more and die earlier than otherwise, but believe me, I know what’s good for you. Healthcare paradise will come someday, so hang in there. And I’ve got mine. Good luck! — Louis S. Bedrock

How progressive.

Steve Heilig

San Francisco

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HANDLE BARS

Dear Bruce,

There are many mind-boggling things in our culture, but this one is perhaps the most astonishing. I refer to the total flip-flop of conservative and liberal perspectives on evolution.

Darwin’s theory (postulate) is that nature is amoral, rather brutal, highly competitive, and goalless as to the process of natural selection. The discipline of evolutionary biology is the traditional hang-out of liberals, as they have no truck with “creationism” or “Divine Plan.”

On the other hand, the New Testament teachings of Christianity talk about brotherhood, serving the poor, turning the other cheek, and have always been associated with religious conservatism. But lo and behold, it is now the liberals who advocate help for the poor, peace, brotherhood, and social cooperation. It is now the conservatives who have ignored the poor, who trumpet competition in a free market, etc.

What makes it even more confusing is the notion that while liberals hold with evolution, they also eschew rampant competition, war for profit, and dog-eat-dog business practices. Add to this the notion that today’s conservatives have no use for evolutionary biology, while talking loudly about the very concepts that evolutionary biology espouses.

All of this is yet another example of why the electorate is so confused, why the social fabric is unraveling, and why one either has to laugh or cry over the insanity of it all. It’s mess, and the broom has no handle.

Lee Simon

Far ‘n Away Farm, Virginia

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GROWTH INDUSTRY

Editor,

Hey, those clever old birds at the Willits Senior Center Thrift Store have reconfigured the customer flow so’s the try on space has been able to come back, at the front of the store, by the check out counter. The rearrangement has shifted many things about, creating a fresh new look for Willits’ oldest and best priced po’ folks big box.

Smoke shops, second hand stores, gardening supplies, and Mexican restaurants seem to be our local growth industries. They keep popping up, I’m loosing count!

Take care,

Linda B

Leggett

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TOO BIG TO TAX

Editor,

Our president says to raise the taxes on the very rich. A great campaign platform as many of our people believe in the socialist theory of share the wealth, but they only want to share the wealth of those who have more and don’t want to share their wealth with those who have less.

Let’s examine one very wealthy man, Bill Gates, whom we all know. He built a very large mansion which employed carpenters, plumbers, etc. and now he hires many people to keep it up, to run the mansion. The rest of his wealth is in his company, Microsoft. Also, other parts of his money goes to charity. All this wealth creates thousands of jobs. This money is not put in a can and buried. Even when some very wealthy person builds a big yacht, they hire people to build it and to run it, to upkeep it, to dock it.

Our corporate income taxes are almost the highest in the world. Much of uur big corproations have big parts of their operations all over the world. Why would they bring their profits back here to this high income tax? So they invest it over there. Worst of all they send much of their profits made here in the US to these lower tax countries.

Let me add to this the over-regulation of our business. Our politicians keep saying we have too much regulation, but they keep on adding more. Look around. Most of what one buys is made in some other country. To create wealth for all our citizens we have to have wealth and efficiency and sensible regulation. Wealth I have explained. Most efficiency comes from an efficient labor force which means that management has to have the absolute ability to hire and fire which also means no tenure of any kind.

The last is to keep government out of business. Failure is part of our system which in the past has made us the best without the too big to fail that has cost us an unbelievable debt of over $1 trillion every year.

Emil Rossi

Boonville

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SALVAGING MARK WEST CREEK

Hello all,

Several different individuals have recently asked me about the status of the Cornell winery project affecting Mark West Creek in Sonoma County. Despite being totally inappropriate for the location, the project continues to move forward. NOWWE and others have been fighting this winery project for seven years now, after construction of 24 acres of vineyard and the corresponding degradation of Mark West Creek. In the time since the first trees were cut on that property in 2000, Mark West Creek has been reduced from a vibrant, pristine spawning and rearing tributary of the Russian River to its current condition. Formerly deep pools are filled with silt/sediment, and the creek is experiencing flash winter flows and summer flows down to a trickle. The Winery project could be the final nail in the coffin. We have funded and submitted 20 or so scientific studies, expert reviews and other reports to the County to try to expose the shortcomings and dangers of the project. Many of these can be found on our website (http://www.nowwe.org/alerts.html). We thank the scientists who have bravely helped us in this fight, some of whom have been attacked for their work and who have participated in the process at personal peril. Henry Cornell, head managing partner at Goldman Sachs, is a formidable adversary. While we have not been able to stop the project, we have had some small successes along the way, the latest being the project proponents are working with the County to prepare an EIR for the winery project. As part of the process, NOWWE attorney, Steve Volker, has prepared a letter which sums up the results of the scientist’s findings. We are hopeful, but not optimistic, that this additional environmental scrutiny will protect Mark West Creek from further degradation. We anticipate a continuing battle ahead. Please feel free to forward this update to anyone you know who might be interested.

Laura Waldbaum

NOWWE (New Old Ways Wholistically Emerging)

Santa Rosa

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PETAL PUSHER

Ye Editor,

This has been bugging me for years, so I’m going to do you all another favor and tell you about it.

In the April 11 issue there appeared a brief notice about a benefit for Norman Solomon. Among the musicians is John Mattern who will play a variety of instruments, including what you call (spell) a “peddle” steel guitar.

The Elusive Homonym Curse strikes again! This hap-pens all the time, unless I see as I usually do, “petal” steel guitar. Neither is correct. To “peddle” is to offer for sale. The “petal” is part of a flower. This instrument is a “pedal” steel guitar which emits according to Webster’s Encyclopedia unabridged dictionary (my Bible), a “wailing sound that is modulated by use of a foot pedal.” For crying out loud. Try checking with a musician sometime.

Best regards,

Carol Pankovits

Fort Bragg

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LETTER TO EDITOR CORRECTION

Dear Editor,

Assuming that you are the one responsible for the creative editing on my letter to Costello, I’m sorry to say you’ve let me down.

To be precise, is a previously-printed quotation that shouldn’t have tampered with, but reprinted as it originally was, you changed the spelling of a misspelled word (“nickle” to “nickel”) and left a word out (“ass”) without acknowledging it, making it appear as if I had misquoted Jeff’s original.

Moving right along to the first line of the second paragraph, I did not write the phrase “dumb as hippies” in my typewritten letter to you. I wrote “dumb ass hippies.” Now a careful reader may wonder why “dumb as hippies” was put in quotation marks, when it has no earlier referent. The source of the confusion is that quotation marks were required when I was accurately quoting “dumb ass hippies,” but you left the word “ass” out, again making me seem like an even poorer writer than I already am. Why did you leave “ass” out? Just an oversight?

One last nit to pick. Seventh line, third paragraph. The words “would” and “it” are reversed. It should read “…non-user it would be a bummer, etc.”

Costello writes: “I don’t know where the confusion is, but it was Bruce Anderson, not I who made the comment about arguing with dumb-ass hippies about the war. So pounce on him.”

How did “nickle” sneak by? Jeff’s a good speller. Type that got by the proofrearder?

Aloha,

Bill Brundage

Kurtistown, Hawaii

PS. Uh-oh. Two more nits. Why did my two words “dare say” turn into one word “daresay” at the end of the third paragraph? And why was my upper case “B” changed to the lower case in “Bohemian”? Either is correct, I think, so why not just leave it?

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LEAVE IT ALONE

To Supervisor Dan Hamburg:

Dear Dan,

We hear that there are plans to widen the bridge on Philo-Greenwood Road that goes over the Navarro River. We are strongly and adamantly opposed to this.

We cross over that bridge at least two times every day, sometimes 4-6 times (taking daughter to bus stop or school) and it is never a problem. Occasionally we have to wait a few seconds to go over — absolutely no big deal.

As is, it’s very easy for pedestrians to walk over and enjoy the view, and it is no problem for a car to easily and safely pass them. Keeping the bridge a single lane slows the traffic down, and that is a good thing!

If the roadbed is unsafe, then re-do the roadbed. But there is absolutely no need to widen it.

This is a beautiful bridge, over a beeeeautiful spot. Have you gone swimming there and looked up at that glorious arch?! It’s perfect!

If the county has extra money to spend, we recommend it go elsewhere. How about the AV Health Center? Or Hendy Woods? Or spend some money for the county road crew tree “pruners” to take classes in pruning for beauty as well as utility. But don’t waste the money on something so unnecessary and so unwanted.

Sincerely, three constituents

Nancy MacLeod, Bill Allen, Olivia Allen

Philo

PS. The recent bridges on Highway 253 that CalTrans put over Soda Creek and the other creek nearer Highway 128 are extremely ugly, and obscure the view of the creeks. One used to be able to see the beautiful creeks as you went over. No more. We are disappointed every time we go over one of them now. California roads used to have many beautiful bridges. Most have been replaced with nondescript, purely utilitarian, ugly ones. It does matter to a lot of people!

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OUTDOOR DAY!

Dear Editor,

Thank you so much to everyone who turned up to work on the AVES Creek trail and outdoor classroom on Earth Day Saturday! Once again, it was miraculous to start the morning with a few simple drawings and raw materials and people showing up willing to work one by one, two by two, and by mid-afternoon our mission was accomplished. Himalayan blackberry was removed from the lower end of the trail, Vinca and French broom were removed from the top of the trail, and 11 lovely benches were built and installed in the field below the track to create the framework of an outdoor classroom looking out over the Anderson Creek flood plain, absolutely beautiful! Please come check it out and see for yourself. Thank so much to all of the skilled carpenters and workers who so willingly and capably showed up to get the job done, Chris Bing, David Jones, Tommy Brown, Jeff Ellis and daughter Anika, Patty Madigan, Donna Pearson-Pugh, Julie Rumble, Arturo Bucio, Bruce and Trish Patterson, Josh Living Tree & daughter Lotus, Theresa and Albino Guerrero, their beautiful two teenage daughters and five year old Samuel, Mike Langley for coaching from the sidelines, Bill Myers for helping design the benches. All of the wood for this project was donated very generously by Jim Boudoures, I&E Lathe Mill, and Rob Goodell. Thank you also to Jack’s Valley Store for the generous discount. The Creek Trail and Outdoor Classroom project was funded by a grant from the Community Foundation, administered by the Mendocino County RCD and implemented by the Navarro River Resource Center. Community, Kids and Creeks are simply an incredible combination! Hooray for AVES and the Anderson Valley community!

Sincerely,

Linda MacElwee

Boonville

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NO MORE KENT STATES

Editor,

As we approach May 4th & the 42nd anniversary, we sincerely wish for this story to break on the anniversary, so time is of the essence!

Here’s the story:

Last week, the son of a high-ranking officer in the Ohio National Guardsman contacted me. I’ll call him ‘Brown’s Son’ in this email.

Brown’s son grew up in the shadow of Kent State & was only four years old when his father was called in on May 5th to ‘audit’ the weapons used on that fateful day. For the next ten years, and as a result of my father Arthur S. Krause’s lawsuits, the shooters in the ONG were under scrutiny & fighting legal battles to maintain their version of the story. That the guardsmen were in fear for the lives, that they reacted to sniper fire.

Brown’s Son shared with me that the ONG in the aftermath of Kent State, specifically Brown’s father, made sure the weapons shot at Kent State (handguns & M1′s) were to become ‘unavailable’ as he gathered them on May 5th, sprinkled them into a shipment of more than 10,000 weapons shipping from Ohio, then sent them to NATO in Europe. His aim was to make sure that no gun used in the Kent State Massacre would be traceable to any bullet or bullet fragment at Kent State.

Brown’s son points to two documents in the Kent State Univ archive, that I have in my possession, am happy to fax them as well as share Brown’s son’s contact info. The first memo relates to the prosecution ‘taking the fifth’ in my Dad’s request for evidence. The second is a listing of guns used that day. There’s also commentary on my father’s requests for the Struebbe tape.

Two years ago earth-shaking new Kent State evidence emerged, the Struebbe tape aka Kent State Tape was analyzed for the first time by leading forensic evidence expert Stuart Allen. The tape verified the long-denied (finally!) Kent State Command-to-fire. Ever more damning on the tape was Terry Norman, FBI provocateur’s four pistol shots 70 seconds before the command in which he created ‘the sound of sniper fire’ to support the ONG taking aim at the unarmed students, killing four & wounding nine. Here’s the detailed new story, examining the tape, on the Kent State Massacre & the FBI Cover-up (~ http://bit.ly/HcliUa)

I am happy to work with a journalist on this important news story. We feel the safety of #OWS protesters are at stake. Here’s my recent blog on that http://bit.ly/JpQgIO

For the 42nd anniversary, we are running a 30-Day Virtual Petition to President Obama/AG Holder to Examine the New Evidence in the Kent State Tape by May 4th (http://bit.ly/HlUu2c)

We continue to remind President Obama & AG Holder that the laws of evidence are clear: the statute of limitations does not lapse, never expires for homicides ~ even homicides perpetrated by the government.

For the historic angle, here’s the NYTimes article on what went down at Kent State May 4th. Please note the commentary from the ONG generals pointing to the sniper fire as an excuse for the massacre ~ the sniper fire that Terry Norman, one of their informants created. http://nyti.ms/HtdisV

In the 40th anniversary of the Kent State Massacre, Emily Kunstler & I founded the Kent State Truth Tribunal. We held three tribunals (Kent, SF, NYC), collecting & filming 88 testimonials from original participants & witnesses at May 4, 1970. Please peruse our work so far, especially the testimonials at our website, http://TruthTribunal.org

A colleague suggested NYTimes journalists that may have interest in the Kent State new evidence & ONG officer’s son story: Naomi Wolf, Nicolas Kristof

Finally, in June 2010, Prime Minster Cameron apologized for Bloody Sunday (happened in 1972, 14 protesters died by British Paratrooper gunfire, most folks were shot in the back as they ran away). Seems the investigators in the U.K. kept running into government-created cover-ups, only getting to the truth 38 years later. We’re seeking a REPEAT here in America!

Peace & Justice for Kent State by May 4th,

Laurel Krause

Fort Bragg

www.TruthTribunal.org

PS. In this year’s Kent State action, we’re blogging in a countdown to May 4th, the 42nd anniversary of the Kent State Massacre, called 30 Days for Kent State Peace at the Kent State Truth Tribunal facebook page http://bit.ly/b0SlSY at MendoCoastCurrent http://bit.ly/aOfPp0 & at MichaelMoore.com http://bit.ly/HlUu2c

The latest: 13 Days for Kent State Peace, No More Kent States at MichaelMoore.com ~ http://bit.ly/JpQgIO

Tweeting: On #1stAmendment Right2 #Protest in #USA Then &Now at #Occupy #ows. Safety 4 #PeacefulProtesters! #NoMoreKentStates http://t.co/uTZlvg5h

Appreciating every social media help re Kent State Truth Tribunal ’30 Days’ blogs as well as your guidance, support & referral for the Obama administration to Examine the New Evidence in the Kent State Tape by this May 4th. Thank you. No More Kent States! Seeking YOUR ACTION & Participation ‘liking,’ adding your comment on this post at the White House follow link 2 join us Virtual Petition to President Obama:

13 Days for Kent State Peace https://www.facebook.com/WhiteHouse/posts/350260565022218. Examine the New Evidence in the Kent State Tape by May 4th! This Year, Peace & Justice @ Kent State

Editor,

I’d like, with your permission, to respond to two letters and one article in the AVA of 4 April 2012.

1. To Lee Simon’s letter, “Three Questions”:

Yes, good brother, there are many who would like to overturn not The New Deal, but The Enlightenment. Not long ago, my old friend, José Antonio Sanchez Paso wrote me from Salamanca, Spain. I’ll quote his exact words, and then translate them:

“Todo lo que dijo Franco es como una broma pesada, pero la frase suya que más recuerdo y que más terror me produce fue aquella de “Arrancaré de España hasta la ultima raiz de la Enciclopedia.”

“Everything Franco said is like a sick joke, but the utterance by him that I remember best and which most horrifies me is, “I will tear from Spain every trace of The Encyclopedia.”

And don’t forget the words of Yeats from “The Second Coming.”

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere

The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

The best lack all conviction, while the worst

Are full of passionate intensity.

2. To Bill Brundage’s letter, “Defending One Side”:

Mr. Brundage, NPR sucks. It is bland, boring and corporate.

It is a final resting ground for mediocrities like Margo Adler, Cokie Roberts, Lenny Lopate, and many other second and third rate journalists.

Because it accepts funding from corporate scumbags like Monsanto, Entergy, The Waltons, and The Gates Foundation, its reporting is compromised. You will never hear about research on the dangers of GMOs from Jeffrey Smith, William Engdahl, or Dr. Arpad Pusztai; nor the broader dangers of corporate control of our food supply and the use of toxins like Round-Up from Doctors Vandana Shiva, or from Marc Lappe and Britt Baily.

Don’t expect to hear comprehensive analysis of the insanity of nuclear energy from Dr. Helen Caldicott, Karl Grossman, Harvey Wasserman, Arnie Gunderson, or from Stephen Wing — who documents the untruth of the claim that there were no deaths as a result of the disasters at Chernobyl or Three Mile Island.

Don’t expect to hear Jonathan Kozol or Danny Weill dismantling the lies of Arnie Duncan and the destroyers of public education; don’t expect to hear Cecilia Farber or Rebecca Culshaw challenge the AIDS paradigm.

And you’ll never hear real journalists like Alexander Cockburn, Michael Parenti, Bruce Dixon, Glenn Ford, or Amy Goodman challenging the blatant lies of Obama or his spokes-people like Hillary Clinton or Samantha Powers about American foreign policy — may they rot in Hell with Condoleezza Rice, HenryKissinger, and Zbigniew Kazimierz Brzezinski.

3. To Steve Heilig re his article “Two Cheers for Obama Care”

Chris Hedges, who has written an article called, “The Health Care Hindenburg” wrote in a more recent article about the corrupt, evil, rotten bill, ACA, entitled “The Real Health Care Debate,”

“The debate surrounding the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act illustrates the impoverishment of our political life. Here is a law that had its origin in the right-wing Heritage Foundation, was first put into practice in 2006 in Massachusetts by then-Gov. Mitt Romney and was solidified into federal law after corporate lobbyists wrote legislation with more than 2,000 pages. It is a law that forces American citizens to buy a deeply defective product from private insurance companies. It is a law that is the equivalent of the bank bailout bill — some $447 billion in subsidies for insurance interests alone — for the pharmaceutical and insurance industries. It is a law that is unconstitutional. And it is a law by which President Barack Obama, and his corporate backers, extinguished the possibilities of both the public option and Medicare for all Americans. There is no substantial difference between Obamacare and Romneycare. There is no substantial difference between Obama and Romney. They are abject servants of the corporate state. And if you vote for one you vote for the other…

Obamacare will, according to figures compiled by Physicians for a National Health Plan (PNHP), leave at least 23 million people without insurance, a figure that translates into an estimated 23,000 unnecessary deaths a year among people who cannot afford care. Costs will continue to climb. There are no caps on premiums, including for people with “pre-existing conditions.” The elderly can be charged three times the rates provided to the young. Companies with predominantly female workforces can be charged higher gender-based rates. Most of us will soon be paying about 10 percent of our annual incomes to buy commercial health insurance, although this coverage will pay for only about 70 percent of our medical expenses. And those of us who become seriously ill, lose our incomes and cannot pay the skyrocketing premiums are likely to be denied coverage. The dizzying array of loopholes in the law — written in by insurance and pharmaceutical lobbyists — means, in essence, that the healthy will receive insurance while the sick and chronically ill will be priced out of the market. …”

I highly recommend perusal of the entire article at www.truthdig.com.

I could easily fill ten pages with a rant against this mamarracho of a bill, but great work has already been done by writers like Mark Scaramella (“Judge Vinson Does Us A Favor”), Bruce Dixon (“Obama Democrats vs. Tea Party Republicans: A Fake Fight”), Doctors David Himmelstein and Steffie Woolhander (“Obama’s Reform: No Cure for What Ails Us” and other articles), and NNU Co-president Jean Ross who cites ten significant problems with the bill in “We Need Medical Care for All,” as well as the aforementioned and excellent Mr. Hedges.

Unlike Mr. Heilig, the above authors do not resort to questionable and outright bogus statistics, deranged speculations about the preferences of American consumers, or ad hominem attack. If Lindorff, Scaramella, Dixon, Hedges, and the others are members of the “so called left,” how do I join?

Respectfully,

Louis S. Bedrock

Roselle, New Jersey

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DISBANDING OVERSIGHT

Editor,

While at the Point Arena School District to review the upcoming Board Meeting Packet, I was informed of monies remaining in the Measure E Bond Fund, in spite of the Bond being defeased (retired) and the Bond Oversight Committee (BOC) disbanded,

January 18, 2011 by Superintendent Cross (chairman/secretary-BOC). Education Code 15282: “No employee or official of the district shall be appointed to the citizens’ oversight committee.” BOC was approved to disband because all members (as was I) were under the impression no remaining funds would exist once the bond was defeased. Exact quote from minutes, January 18, 2011 states: “KNN [the bond finance consultant] has given a quote of $33,500 for the cost to defease the funds, and bank/audit fees total $25,000, leaving a final Gualala School project defeasance of $1,848,250. . . .” The “final” amount taxpayers were to have returned to them.

January 20, 2011, School Board Meeting minutes state: “After a discussion, the Board agreed to defease $1,848,250 back to the taxpayers…” However, this was not the amount to go “back to the taxpayers.” Instead, of Superintendent Cross giving the correct amount to defease the Bond of $1,881,750 (after the cost of bank/audit fees), she gave them $1,848,250. The “final” amount given “back to the taxpayers” was only $1,818,155.07 and not $1,848,250. Bottom line, the amount of $33,500 (cost to defease the Bond which both BOC and Board approved to be deducted prior to the final amount to be given back to the taxpayers) was deducted twice thus, the extra money that remains in the Bond Fund. How much, I don’t know although I have inquired. However, it should be over $30k.

California Education Code 15282 clearly states: “The purpose of the citizen’s oversight committee shall be to inform the public concerning the expenditure of bond revenues. The citizens’ oversight committee shall actively review and report to the proper expenditure of taxpayers’ money for school construction.” They are in place to assure taxpayers’ money was spent on what they voted for. Exactly how can the BOC accomplish this when they don’t exist? By the way, the Point Arena School District has approved plans to use the remaining funds which should have been released “back to the taxpayers.” Yet, the BOC was not informed this would take place — oh, yes, Superintendent Cross told them they could be “DISBANDED.”

Respectfully,

Susan Rush

Manchester

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POP QUIZ FOR EDUCRATS

To the Editor:

In response to the article in the Mar. 6 Daily Journal stating that Mendocino County Superintendent of Schools Paul Tichinin is being considered for a salary increase, I would like to say that I am firmly of the opinion that Tichinin should not be considered for a raise until he can provide irrefutable proof that he actually knows what the word “niggardly” means.

David Anderson

Ukiah

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EUREKA!

Hello everybody,

Following a six-hour mother-of-all Alameda County social services appointments, in which I applied for emergency food stamps, please appreciate the fact that I now have an EBT activated card, and as of midnight I am able to purchase more food products for my enjoyment and well being.

After a thorough interview process in which I interacted with four young, tough, black, urban-hip caseworkers, intake specialists, and general clerical personnel, this was their determination. “Craig, we checked. The social service worker in Berkeley attached to the Berkeley Department of Mental Health who told you for two years that if you kept quiet, everything would be taken care of, did not even put you in the system. We don’t think that anything is being taken care of for you in Berkeley. In fact, we don’t believe that anybody anywhere is giving you anything at all. We believe that your situation in Berkeley is insane! We believe that there is nothing the matter with you; you are fine. From now on, you need to take care of yourself. In terms of social services, contact your caseworker here at the Oakland office if you need anything. We are giving you an emergency EBT food stamp card today, and at midnight, you will have food. If we can get you anything else, we will.”

I look forward to a future of intense Kundalini Shakti spiritual energy working through me, which is my definition of basic sanity.

Love,

Craig Louis Stehr

Oakland

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THE GOD COMPLEX

Editor,

David Eyster, I have heard people call you many things but the closest to reality was “Caesar.” (Last month’s AVA.) I am currently in Mendocino County Jail awaiting trial. Although this one is not about me. ((Stay tuned, one is coming.)

Anyway, David Eyster, I’ve read in the paper just last month (Ukiah Daily Journal) that you yourself have made the decision to pick and choose what cases you think are valid. I want to say “valid” because most cases are valid or they would not be brought before you. Let’s just use your own words, “It’s just a different focus,” meaning the way he’s trying cases. Our previous DA was mentioned. Ms. Meredith Lintott saying she had the courts backed up — of course, with the cases the system brought forth the usual way crimes are committed. Cases were submitted by law enforcement to the District Attorney’s Office and, as our previous DA was doing, things were done the way they are done. Due process according to the law submits the cases to the courts making court dates for arraignments than pleas. Then if by chance a plea bargain is not made, a preliminary hearing before a judge to decide if there is enough evidence to go to trial.

In other words, District Attorney Lintott did her job. Not her way, but the way the system is designed.

Now the way Mr. Eyster has decided to run our justice system seems criminal and very much out of context. The system is a system for a reason and here’s why. Doing things Mr. Eyster’s way gives him too much power, power to drop cases for friends, family, for favors, bribes, payouts, possibly being racially motivated or even biased. It has also become obvious to us that Eyster’s making many enemies in our court system.

The Public Defender’s office has stated their feelings on his tactics with his holier than thou God complex and “Because I Can” attitude. I’ve seen the way judges look at you, always standing with your arms across your chest. You are more representing yourself then the people. You’re a pain in the ass which is to be expected. You’re disrespectful and downright rude. The people are supposed to be seeking justice, not one man’s opinion on the way he sees fit. Innocent until proven guilty, right? Our justice system already does not work, much less with this man’s antics and behavior, inexperience, disrespectfulness and rude way of representing the people.

Furthermore, Mr. Eyster, you also said, “I believe in seeking praise.”

The last year Ms. Lintott was in office she filed 5,609 cases. Mr. Eyster takes office and files 3,988 cases the first year under his direction. He says his approach has taken 70-90 cases out of court over the past year. (Just vehicle violations.) He says, “It’s the equivalent of one deputy district attorney caseload.” (I don’t think anybody at the District Attorney’s Office has been let go.) Vehicle violations? Really? This is your approach?

What he’s talking about is Western Corrections. It’s a firm that has access to DMV records and can give a defendant direction on how to clear their record. This firm was already on the books before Mr. Eyster arrived but wasn’t used much if at all. He said, “Right!” Please, Mr. Eyster, tell us more.

Mr. Eyster also stated, and I quote, “As the man responsible for the flow of cases into the court system.” Eyster attributes the changes to two things — fewer arrests (which would explain some of his claim of less court cases then Ms. Lintott), and new practices he has instituted for making tougher decisions on how defendants are charged. (What he means is instead of getting a “drunk in public” you may be looking at drunk in public, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.)

What he is doing is railroading people. He said it in so many words. “I’m making tougher decisions on how a defendant is charged.” This is what he means. I have witnessed it myself.

He also states, “As the number of sheriffs goes down they are not patrolling and there is less enforcing,” referring to layoffs and other cost-saving measures that mean less patrol. “So it’s the dynamics of the situation we’re in plus my policies.”

There have been deputies hired in the last two months. Officers Cooper, Logan and Corning. These that I know of.

Mr. Eyster, you are full of shit and I believe your true colors will come to light. Although I do agree with Eyster’s innovative pot prosecution policies, after all, we are a pot-friendly county. But as a person of ethics without bias or prejudice, he just is not someone who should be representing the people.

Justice for all,

Gilbert Garcia

Ukiah

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SEEGER’S GIFTS

Ye Editor,

I was gratified to learn, via Jeff Costello’s article, of the (re?)publication of the book about Pete Seeger. For many years Seeger has been a hero of mine, a real American like the founding fathers, an inspiration to young and old alike.

He impressed me most forcefully at a concert in the hills of Menlo Park in about the middle 60s sometime. I was then dating, or seeing, or something, an early guy named David, a very conservative guy of the sort you’d see today yah-yahing for somebody like Santorum. (What was I doing with him? Long story short, I really don’t know, but he was a pretty good lay and I was pretty young.) Anyway, I told him, “We are going.” (I usually wasn’t so pushy, but this was important.) He grumbled, “Damned commie.” So we went and the concert was great, I thought. Anyway, at one point Ol’ Pete said, “Stand up and join hands and we’ll sing We Shall Overcome.” And so help me everybody including uptight ol’ David stood and took hands and sang it and it was a terrific moment. I could hardly believe it; he’d worked a miracle! Then, later, David and I were walking out to the parking lot and our paths were crossed by Pete and a whole slew of children hanging on his every word — a tale of some kind from what I caught. On they went trailed by what I supposed were the moms, sort of shrugging and laughing. Nobody called the cops and he was a real Pied Piper. If there is a shred of evil in Pete, by now we’d sure have heard. You know kids — they know phony. The only folk ever said otherwise where those HUACs and we all know what jerks they were. I think we’ve been gifted by having Pete and we should all be grateful.

Carol Pankovits

Fort Bragg

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BIG WINE’S BIG NOISE

Editor,

The phone at Starcross rang frequently the day the Santa Rosa Press Democrat ran a story mentioning the impact on our contemplative community of noise resulting from the Artesa/Codorniu “conversion” of forest to vineyard adjoining our land. One caller said: “I was in the wine business for 28 years, we don’t need more wine. From the minute they cut the first tree you will have no peace!”

Starcross was identified in the article as a “lesser known and latebreaking critic.”

We have been raising the same concern about noise repeatedly at every opportunity since 2004!

We have been and still are ignored despite the fact that the noise producing corporate yard has been placed over our objection only 440 feet from our property line in an area known for carrying noise from hillside to hillside. No noise study has ever been carried out by Artesa/Codorniu on our land.

The well-known and talented crisis consultant recently hired by Artesa/Codorniu referred to our concerns as “minor.” He was just doing his job and he is good at it. But CalFire had the same attitude and this is troubling to me.

I like wine and vineyards. Starcross is privileged to have two family vineyards adjoining us. There have never been difficulties between us in the 36 years we have been neighbors. We know each other’s dreams and we are sensitive to them. They know that peace and quiet is essential for our life and our mission.

It is impossible to have the same relationship with a giant multinational corporation whose owners reside on estates far across the ocean.

Sonoma County has noise ordinances covering our concerns. We suggested that if Artesa/Codorniu would commit to the standards that would satisfy our concerns. There was no response.

Had the county been overseeing this large conversion project I believe they would have attempted to balance the various public interests including the concerns of adjoining property owners like ourselves with the profit-making objectives of Grupo Codorniu with its lawyers, public relations and other experts.

Once on the phone with our Sister Marti screaming at her, “You have no leverage with Calfire. You have no leverage with Artesa!” over and over.

He was so loud that others of us could hear him. What is the leverage that we lack?

Presumably he means a special relationship with Calfire. The concerned over lack of independence in the process has been commented on by a number of others.

This is not something for our small community to solve, but it is certainly something to be examined by appropriate authorities if Calfire is to continue to oversee massive “conversions” of redwood forest to vineyards.

Recently when I stepped out of our chapel the sun had just risen. The piercing cry of a mountain lion came out of the redwood trees that may soon be cut down. Probably the lion was only looking for a mate as his ancestors have been doing for centuries.

But as our neighbor, a Kashia Pomo spiritual elder, said to me a few weeks back about a similar situation, “He is crying over the loss of his home.” She could be right.

Brother Tolbert “Toby” McCarroll

Starcross Community, Annapolis

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PAY ATTENTION!

Editor,

In my travels on our roads I’ve observed a lot of drivers who seem to be getting very lazy.

Your vehicle is equipped with turn signals — use them!

You also have lights; when it’s foggy or rainy — use them! This does not mean parking lights which are illegal to drive with anyway.

How can the rest of us drive safely if we can’t see you? Especially if you’re making a right or left turn?

Illegal parking in the area has become so commonplace that delivery trucks and even the MTA do it!

Perhaps they have forgotten, or more likely are too lazy to park correctly and walk across the street.

Believe it or not, Anchor Bay does have a crosswalk, but you would never know it from the number of cars parked in it on a daily basis!

Get out of La La Land or off your cellphone and pay attention to your driving!

Just because we don’t have so much traffic it’s not a good reason to break the law.

Let’s keep everyone safe!

Pat Goerlich

Anchor Bay

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STOLEN APPOINTMENT

Editor,

I am an elderly woman, great grandmother and great-great-grandmother, almost 80 years old.

I have gotten my feelings hurt — I have been crying — a lot and I am trying to get out of my funky mood but it just hangs around.

My problem started when I called a bus driver and asked if he would be available to take me to a doctor out of town. He said Yes. So I called and made an appointment. He also then decided he needed to see a doctor too, so he called and made an appointment too. Oh yes, it was for the same time. He called back and told the boss what happened. I also called the boss and she agreed with the bus driver. So I had to call the doctor and cancel my appointment. It will never even happen again. My feelings are hurt. I still spend a lot of time crying. My planned nice day turned into a disaster. A friend had said she would like to go but I can’t seem to shake it off. You know the saying, “It’s hell to get old”? I am a believer.

I try not to be a nuisance to anyone. I thank goodness for having a wonderful daughter and son-in-law.

Name Withheld

Boonville

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FAIR PLAY FOR MARC HUNTER

Editor,

Marc Hunter at age 20 was sentenced to two and a half years in the dungeon system by the Mendocino County Superior Court of Cruelty for a first offense. Marc had poisoned his own mind with a street drug his friends offered him, then broke a window of the Community Center to steal their old VCR so he and his friends could watch a video. His public defender Jan Cole-Wilson estimated the value of the VCR at $50. When he regained his common sense, Marc was so sorry for what he had done. He would have willingly performed any community service required of him, including replacing the window he broke. Twice I attended court for his trial by judge. Twice the prosecution failed to have their act together so the hearing was cancelled. The next day with no notice the hearing was held impromptu where Marc was sentenced to this long prison term. Jan Cole-Wilson told me that Marc would have done anything to make amends. She also told me she was so distressed by the judge’s excessive sentence that she cried all night. Here is an excerpt from Marc’s latest letter to me from Tehachapi State Prison where he has just been transferred:

“I have been having a lot of problems here. I would appreciate it if you would contact Jan Cole-Wilson. Three weeks ago a corrections officer attempted to have me moved in with another inmate to assault the inmate with a weapon. He said if you don’t do this, we will smash your tv and we will have somebody assault you. Instead my mail is being stolen and my tv is stolen. I don’t take orders from the cops here. I am doing my time and will not let anybody tell me what to do! I really don’t understand it. I guess I am left with no choice but to file with the Kern County DA’s office. The inmate they wanted me to assault was running his mouth to the C/Os and is (labeled) a sex offender, I don’t take orders from anyone unless I respect them.”

Approximately 20 years ago, Marc arrived at my home as a wanderer with an older acquaintence. He was weak from a diet of junk foods, possibly drugs and cheap wine. He requested to stay at my land as a helper. I told him he would have to stay clean of any drugs, street or pharmaceutical, drinking except at the dinner table and eat a vegetarian diet of whole grains, nuts, fruit and vegetables. He accepted my offer. A year later this 19 year old weakling who couldn’t walk a mile uphill without severe pain in his legs was hiking home from the bus stop five and a half miles, half of that distance steep uphill, with a 40 pound bag of dog food on his head for his little dog Bingo. I knew that my health program of an organic vegan/vegetarian diet with healing herbs would work, that it has been used to improve young athletic teams from losers into champions. Even so, Marc’s turnabout was amazing.

By sentencing young Mr. Hunter to prison, a successful program was ruined. After the initial prison term, Marc started using drugs, was trapped into successive reimprisonment for parole violations, some of them unbelievably petty.

Sincerely,

Dorotheya M Dorman

Redwood Valley

PS. If anyone can help Marc please write to him directly at:

Marc Hunter P-8084; P.O. Box 1906 — 4B7 C 105

California Correctional Institution

Tehcahapi, CA 93581

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RESIST THE FEDS

Dear Editor,

Resist the Federal Attack Against Legal Medical Marijuana

It’s time for citizens to unite in a nonviolent campaign to resist the federal attack against legal medical marijuana. We, the people, have the power to end the current federal assault on legal medical marijuana, if we unite to demand that the U.S. government respect the sovereign right of California and Californians to develop and regulate a legal medical marijuana industry, free of federal SWAT-team raids, threats of criminal and civil actions against public officials, and IRS denial of the rights of legitimate businesses to open bank accounts and deduct business expenses.

Since the federal crackdown on California’s medical marijuana industry began last October, the burgeoning medical marijuana industry, providing livelihood and essential medicine to hundreds of thousands of people, has been terrorized into a defensive mode. Local officials fear regulating medical marijuana because of federal threats of criminal and civil actions, and asset forfeiture.

Last October, Northstone Organics, leader in compliance with Mendocino County’s medical marijuana laws, was raided by federal DEA agents who handcuffed the proprietors and confiscated their 99 legal medical marijuana plants.

The recent SWAT-team raid on Oaksterdam University and its director, Richard Lee, has led to a broad-based campaign of nonviolent resistance in the San Francisco Bay Area, with several local public officials calling for an end to the federal attack on legal medical marijuana.

These coercive federal tactics, coupled with threats of criminal prosecution and asset forfeiture from U.S. Attorneys to owners and landlords of legal medical marijuana dispensaries, have forced over 200 legal medical marijuana dispensaries in California to close. Now the over 1,000 legal medical marijuana dispensaries still operating deserve our united support in a nonviolent movement to resist this federal campaign of terror.

As a candidate for US Congress in California’s Northcoast Second Congressional District, I have sworn to uphold the Constitutions of the United States and of California. This unconstitutional federal attack against a peaceful, legal industry threatens all Californians. United, we can stand up against this federal crackdown on legal medical marijuana.

I believe we need to end the federal prohibition of marijuana, which has made one of Northern California’s leading income-producing industries an outlaw enterprise bringing violence, corruption, economic waste, and environmental destruction on many levels. Now let’s join with California State Senator Mark Leno in demanding that the federal government “stand down in its massive attack on medical marijuana dispensaries.”

John Lewallen

Philo (707) 895-2996

www.johnlewallenforcongress.org

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DIMINISHING RETURNS

Dear Editor:

Politics is fun. I find the Republican Party very entertaining as they continue on their path of self destruction. Decades ago they chased the African Americans out of the GOP. Now with their immigration bashing and racial profiling they are doing a good job of chasing the Latinos out of the party. Concurrently, they are on the attack against women’s reproducive rights. You can already see the affect of this action on the increasing percentage of women supporting Obama since no self respecting woman could support their position. Also of course they have a bad case of homophobia and engage in Islam bashing. On the congressional level Ryan’s budget goes after Medicare for lower income retired folks. The GOP will not be happy until they have cleaned their party of all but the racists, bigots and misogynists.

In peace.

James Updegraff

Sacramento

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LET’S HAVE A NIGHTCAP

Dear Editor:

AV Theatre Guild has ‘Cocktails with Mimi.’

The AV Theatre Guild is ready for their 7th season with the production of “Cocktails with Mimi” by Mary Chase, author of the play, “Harvey.” “Cocktails with Mimi” is a hilarious comedy under the direction of Marcus Magdaleno one of the Guild’s popular actors in previous productions. It opens April 27th at the AV Grange #669 in Philo and also plays April 28th, May 4th and 5th.

Seven years ago my wife Judy Basehore and I saw the need for the Anderson Valley to have its own community theatre once again. So I approached the AV Grange with the idea of establishing a Theatre Guild as the resident acting company of the grange. All profits would go towards improving the theater facilities and theater equipment at the grange. This venture would benefit the grange in its goal of providing a meeting hall for the community for large group activities and presentations. The grange members agreed and the AV Theatre Guild was created.

Judy and I then spent the next six years building a reputation for the Guild by producing plays and teaching theater skills to a stable of approximately twenty actors that could entertain our local folks with quality talent. So far the Guild has earned over $11,000 dollars for the grange and has established an excellent reputation for family entertainment.

Then came the fly in the ointment. Judy and I have to take a break from theater creation, something we did professionally on the University, community and high school level, so we can address the issues that come with my adventure with cancer.

Marcus Magdaleno asked to take on the demands of play production and direction so now the Theatre Guild has a new director. Marcus is opening the Guild’s 7th season with the comedy “Cocktails with Mimi”, starring some of your favorite local actors. It will be produced at the AV Grange April 27-28 and again May 4-5. It’s a win/win situation. The Guild will continue, Judy and I get time off and the show goes on. Break-a-leg. Please continue to support your local theater and actors.

Rod Basehore

Philo

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FIRSTENBERG METERS

Editor,

The smartmeter issue continues, becoming more complicated. Why? First, the CPUC did a dismal job of regulating or reviewing the Opt Out plan presented by PG&E. They simply just accepted it. Second, every one will eventually become a victim of smartmeters/wireless. In fact many are already impacted quietly, just unaware.

The CPUC ignored the extra concerns sent to them by counties, cities and concern organizations including: 1) How to protect victims of the 24/7 intrusion, 2) allowance of communities to Opt Out in mass, and 3) no extra cost for Opt Out. To understand the level the CPUC’s blindness, they had the audacity to suggest that health issues not be considered in the consideration of the Opt Out plan and yet it remains the central issue. PG&E may be good at providing power but they are seriously lacking in considering all of the variables in an alternative plan. Here are some evolving extra issues not considered.

Does a person with an analog need to have the same initiation fee as one with smart meter? (Since no change out labor is needed.) How is the cost of the involuntarily part of the SmartMeter plan costs (via CPUC change) being credited to those Opting Out and not using this service? Are customers to be charged for meter reading, in rural situations and cities where meters are located in locked or outback locations, and where customers self have previously read and report? Why are property owners in multiple metered properties with Ag power, or secondary homes be charged for each meter including an initiation fee especially when the meters are not being changed? Why did the CPUC allow the utility to change out meters when many folks had delayed; adding an additional cost for change out and the loss of discarded analog meters? Why did the CPUC allow subcontractor Wellington to ignore names on the Delay list and allow Wellington to lie to residents as they said, “they will get a Smartmeter anyway? What happens if a person finds they can not live with a SmartMeter? Can they Opt Out later on? Does an Opted Out rate payer take the Option with them along with the initiation fee when they move? Is the initiation fee reimbursed if they move out of state? Will they have to pay another initiation fee in the new location?

To give an idea at how PG&E handles rural users, power users are supposed to mark a plastic card like the dials on their meter and put it on the main road for the meter person to read, yet many call, fax or mail in cards. The SmartMeter hotline experts insist that meter readers will come to these locations to read. These folks are clueless as many of these meters live on difficult off-road locations and local PG&E exceptions will be made again. The difference is there will have no clearcut rules which leave rate payers at the mercy of sometimes grumpy dissonant PG&E employees.

Although independent scientists are discovering more and more health issues with wireless, a few key things changed during the SmartMeter roll out. The documented Electro Hypersensivity (EHS) in countries that have been wireless and willing to see a problem because of single payer health care are finding that EHS is growing. EHS is a sensitivity that leaves victims unable to live with wireless and regular power without the symptoms of heart arrhythmia, seizures, headaches, nose bleeds, ringing ears and increased issues with many diseases (Klindhart reports wireless enhances Lymes diseases in a negative way.) You wouldn’t wish this on your worst enemy. Most revealing is Dr. Magda Havas’s simple study using a common remote DECT phone (walk around remote used in most houses.) In a double blind study of 25, 70% showed heart arrhythmia and most were unaware that the arrhythmia was occurring. Double blind and 70% means it is beyond doubt and this is using the common home remote phone! Dr. O. Johansson of the Karloinska Institute in Stockholm, key in revealing the CRT or TV tubes can hurt viewers close to screens, discovered in early 2000 that wireless provokes skin immune response followed by depression of the same. Others have discovered that wireless breaks down the crucial blood brain barrier that keeps common toxins out of the sensitive brain tissue and a recent report (D. Davies 2012 personal communication) suggests that wireless makes liquids acid,) Acid conditions are perfect for cancer formation. As High Density TV was destine to roll out early in President Obama’s term in office, European doctors lobbied him to hold back as they were finding their patients with many health issues post HDTV. Doctors are traditionally careful to stay out of these sorts of issues, yet the reactions have been severe. Likewise the recent acceptance of the World Health Organization (WHO) that wireless is a class 2 carcinogen along with chemicals like DDT ads a big red flag. A study in 2008 looked EHS growth trends and noted that a simply plotting on a graph illustrated a disturbing statistical trend leaving 50% of the population in layered wireless environments by 2017. Many are unaware and impacted

Sacramento’s Municipal Utility District has created its own Opt Out but is charging $130 initiation fee and almost $40 per month. One supervisor said that the cost to whittle down the Opt Out participants; suggesting that the higher cost was a means to ward off applications. Is this what we want limiting our personal precaution? When one sees trends in a world were cancer and other maladies are growing, do we want to take chances or err on the side of Precaution? Mendocino County chose to support the Precautionary Principle because it makes sense. That is a primary reason they recognized the concerns of their constituency.

Those rocking on the decision to Opt Out should consider this: It is you and your family’s health

and the cost will probably be absorbed in the added costs of the soon to be non voluntary time of use costs, cost do to Smartmeter dysfunction errors, damage to personal home equipment and concerns around personal health implants. For me the cost is to be absorbed. Yet more important, I think that the CPUC has shirked its responsibility much as it did not oversee PG&E gas line records or use of gas line testing costs. The CPUC is not doing its job and our health is at stake. There are some activists who are not paying what they call extortion unfair fees (see www.stopsmartmeters.org.) The war is not done on this intrusion in to privacy and private spaces. Remember who created the war and who it is against and well, who is paying for it. Pretty disgusting huh?

Still angry,

Greg Krouse

Philo

PS. We are not alone in these concerns. Maine and Illinois are suing on the Smart Rollouts. British Columbia and Australia are discovering overcharges, health issues and meter fires. Arthur Firstenberg, long time activist has a crucial lawsuit to establish that EHS disabled Americans have a right to be protected.

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Memo Of the Week

County of Mendocino

Board of Supervisors

To: Linda Ruffing, Fort Bragg City Manager, 416 N. Franklin Street, Fort Bragg, CA 95437

Subject: Fort Bragg Homeless Mental Health Intervention Program

Dear Ms. Ruffing,

We wish to go on record in strong support of the proposed Homeless Mental Health Intervention Program. We write in our individual capacities as County Supervisors, but also as the current (Supervisor Hamburg) and immediate past (Supervisor McCowen) Board of Supervisors representatives to the Mendocino County Mental Health Board. In addition, we have closely followed issues related to the provision of mental health services prior to our tenures on the Board.

Even before the economic downturn of the past several years, Mendocino County struggled to deliver appropriate mental health services to those in need or to connect them with community-based resources. Problems with service delivery are exacerbated in rural communities like Fort Bragg where fewer services are available, services are less centrally located, and hours and/or days of availability of services are limited.

Individuals who are mentally ill and homeless are at an even greater disadvantage in attempting to access services. Homeless people usually lack the basic transportation and communication resources necessary to connect with services and the structured living environment and/or peer support that would be conducive to successfully accessing and utilizing available services. Mentally ill homeless individuals may also have substance abuse problems which impede accurate diagnosis and treatment.

For the reasons stated above, the Homeless Mental Health Intervention Program is critically needed to provide the screening, outreach, advocacy and case management essential to connect the homeless mentally ill with case appropriate services and improve the chances for successful utilization of those services.

We anticipate that the Homeless Mental Health Intervention Program will successfully assist individuals with seemingly intractable problems that burden the community and too often result in hospitalization and incarceration. Effective treatment for these individuals will greatly improve their personal outcomes and free up resources to better address other pressing community needs.

Please contact us if we may be of any further assistance.

Sincerely,

Supervisor John McCowen, Supervisor Dan Hamburg

Ukiah

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BRUCE RICHARD’S NEW LOGO

Editor,

MT(Empty)A

Name Withheld

Ukiah

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STILL IN THE RUNNING

Editor,

The three parks in the Request For Proposal you saw advertised in the Ukiah Daily Journal are Hendy Woods, Russian Gulch, and Westport Union-Landing.

This does not mean that our proposal has failed. The Proposal submitted by the Hendy Woods Community (HWC) in conjunction with Save the Redwoods League (League) is currently in the review process. We have met in person several times with Sector and District personnel and the Proposal has passed that level of review. It is now undergoing review in Sacramento and we anticipate the next meeting will occur the week of April 23. We are cautiously optimistic, but we still have a ways to go before we will know whether the Proposal will be approved.

In brief summary the Proposal is:

The Parks Department will operate the Park at the 2011-2012 level of service (Day-use year round; Camping from April 1 through October 15) with volunteers and paid staff.

Camping fees and cabin rental rates will be increased during the high season by $10 per night on Friday and Saturday, and $5 per night Sunday through Thursday; and extra vehicle fee will increase to $10.

HWC and the League will donate $40,000 on July 1, 2012 to be held in a contingent fund to bridge any gap resulting from shortfall of revenue generated by the Park (i.e., camping and day use fees).

HWC will secure and co-ordinate volunteers to provide a minimum of 1000 hours of service as State Park Volunteers to allow DPR to reduce paid staffing while operating the Park at the level of service delivered in FY 2011-2012.

HWC will fund a Volunteer Coordinator to facilitate efficient integration of volunteers into park operations.

The actual proposal is much more detailed. We’ll let you know as things progress.

Meanwhile, as a fail-safe, the Department has issued the RFP that includes Hendy Woods. It does say: “State reserves the right to issue single or multiple contracts based on the best responsible proposal(s).” We have been told repeatedly that if our Proposal is accepted, there will not be a problem with the RFP. But time is short, so they needed to get the RFP in motion.

Kathy Bailey

Boonville

PS. By the way, the park is open for camping right now and a camp host is already on duty.

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FAIR’S FAIR

Editor:

Hey College Kid, I’ll protest tuition hikes when you verify you’re not an academic slacker. I’ll join your picket line when it’s demonstrated you regularly read books and newspapers. I’ll retract this letter when we see you write logically without plagiarizing then pay attention and take notes in class rather than use that time to check Facebook messages while playing a video game. I’ll write in your favor to Sacramento when we establish you study alone at least ten hours weekly and know where Afghanistan is. Of course, you’ll also need to prove you take classes from tough teachers instead of those rated on line as “easy” and “hot” by other students. And if parents are helping you out financially they obviously merit and should demand the same documented evidence. A few, youngster, refuse to gush obsequiously over your charming self. A few are on to you.

Phil Baldwin

Ukiah

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NEIGHBORS, NOT ENEMIES

Editor,

As he introduced himself last night at our front door, with a nice (albeit not locally produced) bottle of wine, it turned out to be Mr. Farrer of now nearly “road to River’s Bend fame.”  He apologized, invited us to take a stroll down the road any time and explained that somehow things had gotten too far. I couldn’t have agreed more! Turns out Mr. Farrer has had some troubles on the old family estate; a break-in and Sam Prather won’t graze his sheep no more, because they had been attacked by unsupervised dogs. Not my dogs, of course, who are well-mannered and never unsupervised. I really appreciated his neighborly visit, explanation and bottle of wine and I am only sorry that I wasn’t home and didn’t get to meet him. Beverley was the recipient of his apology while in the middle of a well crisis, dripping with water! So, Mr. Farrer, I still owe you that cup of tea! Now I am wondering and waiting if soon I will find Rebecca and Justin, this year’s caretakers at the former Shenoa at my door step, having also remembered that we are neighbors not enemies!  I have lived in Anderson Valley for 11 years now and still can be surprised and humbled by the people who make up this unique community.

Monika Fuchs

Philo

“They had me locked in seg… coerced into doing things I would not normally have done.” — Chris Diaz, letter from Brownwood Texas Jail

The new development in the Chris Diaz case is that he has now decided he wants to withdraw his plea because he was “scared and coerced… into doing things I would not normally have done.”

Here is Chris’ statement, addressed to Judge Ellis: “I wish to rescind my signature and withdraw the plea recommendation/agreement. I was coerced into signing and agreeing to the plea deal. I also wish to rescind my signature to the waiver of jury and withdraw that document as well. Please do as I wish, immediately with no delay. Thank you. C. Diaz”

These revelations came to Chris after reading all the family mail that had been withheld from him during his weeks in solitary confinement leading up to the April 2 trial, when he most needed his family’s advice and support.

He wrote his mother: “I have not given up! I’m sorry I agreed to a felony. They had me backed in a corner, actually locked in seg. They would not let me call you. They have kept me from talking with you about important issues and my trial. If I only knew all of what you’ve been trying to tell me before I signed…I had no idea what’s going on. I was right about Rudy working against me. He was scary and intimidating. He wasn’t going to put on a defense for me.”

The Judge must allow a defendant to withdraw their plea if “coerced” or “misled.” Those magic words can force a new trial. That’s why every defendant who pleads out has to say on the record in court that their plea is “voluntary” and knowing; no promises, no threats.

Chris faced 5-99 years in a Texas prison for half an ounce of cannabis hash, his legal asthma medicine in California, but a top-level felony crime (five years minimum) in Texas.

There is a strong element of inherent coercion in pleas offering short time instead of long time to make it attractive enough for a defendant to give up their right to a jury trial. On top of that, the corrupted system in the Chris Diaz case has aimed all its insidious fire power at an inexperienced youth to assure a felony conviction for a very small amount of personal use marijuana.

Texas is a prohibition state with no initiative process and local officials working together to enforce draconian laws.

Chris is perceived as an enemy of the state — a long-haired organic hispanic hippy with a code of cannabis ethics as an independent way of life, a close family support system and a facebook support system.

To undermine all that, nine months of incarceration and 111 days in isolation, were designed to break him down. He was held in Mendocino County in solitary confinement for 90 days awaiting extradition to Texas, then again “locked up in seg” in Brownwood Jail for 21 days prior to trial. His entire way of life was taken away from him and he was stripped of all contact with the outside world in the weeks leading up to trial — no mail, phone calls, visits, no communication with his remote lawyer; even legal books were not allowed in.

His letters which were allowed out expressed his confusion, pleading for help, desperation growing with each letter. He knew nothing about what was going on. The plan was working.

There is nothing voluntary about extracting a plea from an incarcerated person locked in solitary confinement without privileges or rights for weeks prior to trial.

Furthermore, Chris has been deprived of his allergy diet, free of pathogens, despite Dr Wm Courtney’s request. So he eats very little in order to avoid allergic reactions to chemicals in the food and is growing increasingly frail and weak. Some people cannot process toxins, GMO food, etc., and instead have massive allergic life-threatening reactions. Chris was recently rushed to the emergency hospital when his temperature hit 103. Dr Courtney has unambiguously stated: “Chris Diaz faces a death sentence in a Texas prison.” He is a canary in the coal mine.

One of Chris’ letters, received 3/22/12, explains:

“Please help. I have continuously been poisoned, day by day, as well as malnourished and put in hazardous/harmful living conditions & situations. I live an organic and all natural lifestyle. I do not eat GMO foods, but am being forced to or not eat at all. I have (also) been taken away from my family and two children. I have not harmed anyone I have not injured anyone. I was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time with my medicine, and yet my family and I are being harmed. There is a complete injustice going on here.”

A “Free Chris Diaz” petition addressed to the Texas Parole Board is circulating on line.

His mother, Rhonda Martin, introduced the petition with the following message: “Please Help Medical Marijuana Patient Chris Diaz Gain His Freedom From The Texas Prison System & Go Home To California.” The petition reads: “We are asking you to grant Christopher’s parole out of Brown County jail, not subject him to prison for a first-time non-violent offense.”

If Chris can hold out, he may yet see the end of this case either in a trial — or a mistrial

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KENT STATE

Editor,

28 Days for Kent State Peace

4/6/12 ~ Our third posting into 30 Days for Kent State Peace, a virtual petition to Pres Obama & AG Holder.

Our Plea: examine the New Evidence in the Kent State Tape. It is going on two years since new Kent State evidence emerged yet we have not received one response from the Obama Administration.

The law is clear: the Statute of Limitations does not lapse for murder! Four Student Protesters were shot dead at Kent State University on May 4, 1970.

Examine the Kent State Tape Now!

In 28 days it will be the 42nd anniversary of the slaughter of Allison Krause, my sister who was one of four student protesters shot dead by the U.S. government on May 4, 1970.

In today’s post we’re taking a look at Arthur S. Krause, father of Allison. On 9/8/74 as President Ford ordered a Full Pardon For President Nixon, Arthur Krause wrote and sent this telegram:

Dad’s 9/8/74 telegram —

President Gerald R. Ford, White House, Washington DC 20500

You pardoned Nixon because you believe he and his family have suffered enough. My wife and I lost our daughter Allison on may 4 1970 at Kent State due to actions and words of Nixon. He compounded this horror of giving the National Guard the right to kill by ordering Mitchell, Erlichman, Dean, Garment, Leonard, and Norman to coverup the murders and maiming by blocking the convening of a federal grand jury. 20,000 or more our soldiers were killed and thousands wounded by illegal continuance for 4 years of the Viet-nam war. We and others will suffer through eternity and you pardon nixon who had no regard for morality, ethics, the constitution or the rights of man. Have you become a despot who is a party to this horror. You are compounding his felonies and are burying justice.

Sir you are less a man today than you were yesterday.

Doris and Arthur Krause

President Ford’s full pardon signaled to our family that nothing would be done to expose the truth in the May 4th Kent State Massacre.

When this telegram was re-discovered on March 1, 2012, we quickly realized it was the lowest, most desperate time in Allison’s parents’ fight to learn what happened at Kent State, as they also sought accountability for the murders & injuries.

In December 2010, the U.S. Congressional Record published our account of what happened on May 4, 1970 ~ A Day That Changed America! http://bit.ly/fgI0h2

Watch this amazing footage from an early news report on the Kent State Massacre & at the end, Arthur Krause speaking his truth. http://bit.ly/ArGfFl

Learn the details of what really happened at Kent State ~ That the FBI & Cointelpro provoked the Kent State Massacre, bringing it to successful conclusion, complete with a cover-up that has held over 40 years. http://bit.ly/HcliUa

We Seek Kent State Peace Now!

28 Days for PEACE at Kent State
Please stand with us at the White House
https://www.facebook.com/WhiteHouse/posts/203316336445077
Join Us in Demanding Pres Obama/ Gen’l Holder
Examine the Kent State Tape Now!

Our virtual petition for an Impartial Investigation into the Kent State Tape NOW! http://bit.ly/I2408k

Laurel Krause
Emily Kunstler
Kent State Truth Tribunal

http://TruthTribunal.org/

at facebook http://bit.ly/b0SlSY

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MORE PA BOARD INACCURACIES

Dear Editor,

In a letter to the AVA, I wrote a letter regarding a Point Arena Board Meeting held March 7th in which Susan Sandoval made a motion to move the second Closed Session at this Board Meeting to follow adjournment of the meeting. Sandoval stated a report would be given at the next regularly scheduled Board Meeting (April 7th). However, Brown Act Law states: 54957.7 (b) “Once a closed session has been completed, the legislative body MUST reconvene to open session.” Motion was unanimously approved by Board.

At the March meeting, I also requested to go on record regarding inaccuracies in minutes at a Special Board Meeting also held in February which Scanlon-Hill nodded they would. One huge inaccuracy I pointed out, at that time, was at the February Special Board Meeting it was Scanlon-Hill whom suggested the Closed Session be placed at the end of each Board Meeting then the Board would report out at the next regularly scheduled Board Meeting.

However, minutes for the March Board Meeting did not reflect this nor do they reflect my request to go on record regarding inaccuracies in minutes. The minutes reflect only the following for Sandoval’s motion: “Moved the Closed Session after Section 10, Next Meeting/Adjournment/Action.” Also, I asked several people who attended the March meeting if the Board stated they would return following Closed Session to report and they told me they did not, they were asked to leave “quickly.” Since it was not part of Sandoval’s motion which was approved, no one would know to return. However, the March Minutes clearly state: “At 7:15 P.M. the Board reconvened to Open Session with no announcements made.” Again, not sure how any Board would approve minutes with so many inaccuracies, although I am not surprised this Board did.

Respectfully,
Susan Rush
Manchester

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HIPPY TALK

Dear Jeff Castello,

When I first read your “If I had a nickel for all the hours spent arguing with dumb hippies about Vietnam, well, the war might have ended earlier.” (3/22/12 AVA), I had to chuckle. Then I got to chuckle again. It would have been hard to help end the war earlier on such a small budget. If you had a nickel for each of those presumably many hours, or if you had nickels for all those hours, then you might have had a lot of nickles but “a nickel for all the hours spent,” is just only one nickel. The reader knows what you are trying to say and can cut you some slack, but this isn’t an example of your best writing.

But “dumb as hippies”! What’s that all about? I thought you liked hippies. For one thing, though you probably don’t think of yourself as a hippie anymore than I consider myself one, in the eyes of the world, guess what? For another, to make hippies the target of your joke doesn’t compute. Since hippies, almost by definition, like to make love, not war, what could you possibly have been arguing about? You weren’t arguing in favor of the war, were you? Wouldn’t it have made more sense to say “dumb ass gung-ho military types,” or “dumb ass right wing fanatics,” or something of the sort? I don’t get it.

Hippies are also known for taking drugs. Now that you have pulled a Salvador Dali on us (“I don’t take drugs: I am drugs.”), I have to wonder if this has anything to do with your apparent hostility. You poke fun at users who become smug about their particular choice of drugs in the same issue of the AVA. Now that you are a non-user would it be a bummer if you became intolerant of those who still use. You are giving me that impression. With apologies for reminding you of something you already know, don’t forget about all the music that never would have been played, all the paintings that never would have been painted, all the poetry and great literature that never would have been written, if it were not for alcohol and drugs. Two of the writers you most admire, Hunter Thompson and Alan Watts, come to mind. I can’t let the chance to rib you a bit slip by. I daresay drugs and alcohol have made you the man you are today, and you seem pleased enough at the results!

I also got a good laugh over the exchange with Wallis Williams. There’s probably not a kid alive who didn’t dream about pulling a fire alarm to get out of taking an exam, but she actually had the nerve to do it! What a gal! I’ll have to pay you a quarter to repeat my story about the innocent kid at my prep school who was marshaled into his room by some of his more sophisticated classmates and made to listen while they explained the facts of life to him. I never knew the particular act they described to him, but it prompted a remark that made him famous throughout the school: “No! People don’t really do that, do they?”

Aloha,
Bill Brundage
Kurtistown, Hawaii

PS. I wouldn’t like it very much if someone called me a “hippie,” but if someone called me a “bohemian,” that would be cool.

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SUBSIDIZING BP

Dear Constituent:

Because you have previously written to me in support of Gulf Coast restoration efforts following the disastrous oil spill of April 2010, I wanted to share some good news with you.

I am pleased to report that on March 14, 2012, the Senate overwhelmingly passed the Resources and Ecosystems Sustainability, Tourist Opportunities, and Revived Economies of the Gulf Coast States (RESTORE) Act as part of a major transportation bill. I was proud to help lead the bipartisan effort to develop the RESTORE Act, which would dedicate funding from Clean Water Act fines to restore the natural resources, economy, and coastal environment of the Gulf Coast.

As recommended by the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, the RESTORE Act would dedicate 80% of BP penalties to the Gulf Coast states to invest in the recovery and health of their coastal ecosystem and economies. Under the Clean Water Act, BP could be fined billions of dollars as the party responsible for the spill, and it is only right that these penalties be immediately directed to the Gulf Coast’s recovery efforts.

The BP oil spill exacerbated long-standing problems faced by the Gulf Coast ecosystem, harming the region’s natural resources — including fragile wetlands and wildlife habitat — and debilitating its tourism, fisheries, and other crucial industries. I believe it is our responsibility to provide support to the communities of the Gulf Coast and ensure they have the resources they need to rebuild their coastline.

I am proud that the Senate has approved the RESTORE Act. Be assured that I will keep working with my colleagues to enact this vital legislation as soon as possible.

Thank you for your past correspondence on this matter. Please feel free to write to me in the future about this or any other issue of concern to you.

Sincerely,

Barbara Boxer, United States Senator
San Francisco

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KIND OF, YES

Dear Readers,

If the Ricard slum stands as a symbol of community impotence, does that make it a religious symbol?

Bruce Patterson
Boonville

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ASPHALT & HORSES DON’T MIX

To the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors, and Whom It May Concern:

The members of the Cultural Renaissance Project oppose the siting of an asphalt plant on land adjacent to the Ridgewood Ranch environs we call home. This land is a working ranch, a cultural center, and a sanctuary for those who live, work, and visit this historic ranch. Our program evolved on this land, with this precious view shed, pristine environment, and absence of industrial activities that would disturb the experience of nature in this setting. We are developing curriculum that would assist youth in reestablishing a connection with nature, as well as with the practical arts. It is crucial that such a program exist in a place that promotes such a seamless connection to nature.

Further, as some of us are Ridgewood Ranch residents, the proposal for such an unnecessary and dangerous intrusion into this carefully stewarded valley is offensive in the extreme. The continuous impact of light, noise, air emissions and water pollutants will definitely, and negatively affect the quality of life for us in this valley. With the higher percentages of elderly and youth in this community, we should be doubly aware of the vulnerability of these populations and direct our stewardship efforts against short-term profits, and perpetual damage to this land which can never be undone.

This land is referred to as one of the most sustainably managed properties in the County, with a world-renowned biointensive garden, grass fed beef operation, and an active goat dairy, all in the shadow of this potential source of contamination. The combination of many nature-based programs located here, all working together in harmony present a range of educational and experiential activities unparalleled in this area. Please protect this rare balance of life and legacy. Please say NO!

Shauna Heiselt, Lisa Wilde, Virignia Fish, Tim Easterbrook, Tony Novelli, Tracy Livingston
Willits

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THANKS, STEVE KRIEG

Dear Editor,

For the past six and a half years, Steve Krieg, has been President of the ElderHome Board. His leadership, professionalism, and hard work made a solid base for the rest of the Board. He has resigned from this position. BUT, fortunately he will remain on the Board.

The Board cannot thank Steve enough for a job well done!

And Steve, thank you, for the fresh eggs to buy at our meetings (when the hens co-operate). Most of all thank you for being a wise, hard working, and fun team member.

Sincerely,
The ElderHome Board: Maureen Bowman, Pres.; Aaron Weintraub, Vice Pres.; Nancy Wood, Secretary; Karen Ottoboni, Treasurer; Steve Krieg, Director–at –Large; Dave Papke, Director-at-Large
Boonville

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COLUMNIST WANNABE

Dear Editor,

It’s a croc of #*@#. That’s exactly what the assertion of the right-wing religionists is. They assert that the liberals and atheists have declared a “war on religion.”

Nobody is arguing that houses of worship should be closed or that freedom of religion should be abolished. In fact, it’s the other way around. Religious institutions, churches, mosques, temples, are all tax exempt. They participate in tax-funded social service programs. Houses of worship are not required to report their income to the IRS, They do not even have to apply for tax-exempt status; they get it automatically when they form their church. They are routinely exempted from employment laws, anti-discrimination measures, and even routine health and safety inspections.

Furthermore, unlike secular lobbies, religious groups don’t have to register with the federal government. They are free from the stringent reporting requirements imposed on any group that lobbies.

So where is the “war on religion.” It is a figment, a delusional figment of the imagination of the religionists who seek dominance over the minds of the rest of us. In a sane society, Rick Santorum would be in the looney bin.

The religionists are using the cry of “war on religion” to hide their demands for even more exemptions at law than they have now. If the idea of the separation of church and state makes Santorum want to throw up, then the idea of giving religious institutions even more exemptions makes me see them for what they are.

What they are is a group who know, somewhere deep down, that religion is losing the battle with modern science. They are desperate, as they see more and more people abandoning their religions of birth in favor of agnosticism or atheism.

As modern science rips away at traditional religious explanations of history and biology, the religionist’s doubts get stronger and stronger. The greater their doubts become, the more vocal they become in demanding that we all believe exactly what they believe (even though they don’t even agree with each other about what they believe).

We generally think of greed as related to money. With the religionists their greed is for mind control. They would, if they could, if we let them, demand that everyone think what they think, act as they say they should act, and pray to the god they say is the only god.

That went out hundreds of years ago, but it’s making a come-back as their doubts increase and their power slips away. They seem to be very powerful, but it is the power of the bully. If we stand up to them, in public and in the courts, they get more and more irrational. Our hope is that an increasing number of young people will see them for what they are and laugh them out of town.

Lee Simon
Far ‘n Away Farm, Virginia

PS. I have written two books titled Oh My God! A very skeptical look at organized religion. And Absolute Truth: Why There is No Such Thing. I will be happy to send a free copy of either book or both, , in digital format, upon your readers request, to LSimon@shentel.net.

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US FINANCE 101

Editor,

Here is a great lesson on U.S. finances.

Lesson # 1:

• US Tax revenue: $2,170,000,000,000

• Fed budget: $3,820,000,000,000

• New debt: $ 1,650,000,000,000

• National debt: $14,271,000,000,000

• Recent budget cuts: $38,500,000,000
Let’s now remove eight zeros and pretend it’s a household budget:

• Annual family income: $21,700

• Money the family spent: $38,200

• New debt on the credit card: $16,500

• Outstanding balance on the credit card: $142,710

• Total budget cuts: $385.

Got It ?

OK now: Lesson # 2:

Here’s another way to look at the Debt Ceiling:

You come home from work and find there has been a sewer backup in your neighborhood, and your home has sewage all the way up to your ceilings.

What do you think you should do? Raise the ceilings, or pump out the crap? Your choice is coming November 2012.

Jesse Cahn
Tulsa, Oklahoma

Texas marijuana defendant, Chris Diaz, age 22, in poor health from advanced asthma most of his young life, is a legitimate medical patient in California, but a felony-level heinous criminal in Brownwood Texas.

Facing 5-99 years prison for 14 grams of hash he uses as asthma medicine, Diaz took a three-year intent to sell plea to end months of misery — extradited from California, isolated in solitary confinement most of the time, shut off from all outside contact, no visitors, no mail, no phone calls, no lawyer contact, emaciated from barely eating due to food allergies, vulnerable to breathing problems from lifelong asthma but deprived of an inhaler in jail, feeling lost without guidance and phone calls from close family. His Mother’s daily letters were being withheld by sheriff’s deputies, increasing his desperation and feelings of abandonment.

Public defender Rudy Taylor never contacted Chris’ California doctor, William Courtney, for trial testimony nor inform his mother there would be no trial.

Instead he made the obligatory trip to see Chris in solitary on the eve of his April 2 trial, having filed zero motions to defend him, and coerced a felony plea from a sick man who feared conviction at trial and a long Texas-style sentence.

A coerced plea is strictly illegal, so Chris had to promise in court that his plea was voluntary and knowing, even though he reported to his mother that he felt “terrorized” and begged her, “Please get me out of here.” His family was not informed of the plea hearing, so Chris was in court alone, confused as to why no one was there supporting him. It would have been the last time Nona Martin would see her son in shackles before being sent off to prison, but the information was withheld from her, just as her letters were withheld from Chris.

The internet-based Free Chris Diaz Committee had lined up 40 people who pledged to be at the trial, but that was forfeited, without family notice and without public notice.

As violations and betrayals began to mount and form a pattern, from the sheriff to the DA to the PD, my concern turned to alarm. I filed a grievance with the Texas Bar Association on March 28, the day before the plea hearing March 29. I asked for an investigation, predicted the coerced plea as the next step and said that signs pointed to a mistrial. I had no knowledge of the meeting between the PD & Chris but I knew the best time to coerce a plea from a confused defendant is on the eve of trial after weeks in the dark without communication. Compared to life in prison for medicine, any plea is tempting.

Had there been effective legal counsel, there would have been motions for a mistrial, for challenging the illegal stop and seizure of medicine, and for a medical necessity defense to prove Chris’ innocence. But no defense was ever forthcoming. Rudy Taylor claimed he’d filed multiple motions on Chris’ behalf, but on checking with the clerk of the court, there was no truth to any of it. Lawyers lie. Rudy set it up so there is no record on appeal, no motions, only the “plea agreement.”

With the plea, the Texas marijuana laws won the day…local law enforcement avoided expose, all the dirty laundry swept away. The most important grievances they can now ignore came from Rhonda Martin, Chris’ mother, whose side of the story shows how all parts of the system worked in concert to subject Chris to harsh Bradley Manning type treatment — break him down, coerce his plea when he’s lost all contact and confidence in the outside world.

Even one day in jail is too much for an innocent medical patient, let alone two years of systematic humiliation, intimidation, isolation. Chris Diaz, a gentle soft-spoken soul, experienced the injustice from Mendocino County to Brownwood Texas. (See Beth Bosk’s excellent video interviewing Chris in Mendo County jail before extradition to Texas.)

Chris reported a Mendo County jail incident to his family where another prisoner handed him the phone smeared with come from having masturbated on it. Sheriff’s deputies laughed and called it, “Phone sex.”

Every Texas lawyer in private practice had their reason for refusing to take the Diaz case. The fix was in and everyone knew it.

One said, “I don’t want to represent a martyr.”

Another, a NORML lawyer, said he wouldn’t consider it because of the “bail jumping” charge.

What happened there was that Chris’ original Public Defender died and Chris bailed out on his family’s property bond. There was no condition in it that he couldn’t leave the state, so he went to California, where he lives, seeking legal help.

Chris called his new PD numerous times to check on his court dates but the calls were never returned. So Chris was unaware of his Texas court date and inadvertently missed it. That added a couple of failure to appear felonies to his case and enhanced punitive treatment every step of the way.

Texas prosecutes cannabis celebrities like Willie Nelson & Snoop Dogg for small amounts with light punishments (time served and stealing their stash). But Chris Diaz is a scapegoat for organized wrath, he with his long hair and organic lifestyle. He is a clear liability to the corporate state, which is “at war” with the independent cannabis culture and economy, making felons of millions of innocent youth for non-violent so-called “crimes.”

A dragnet of marijuana prohibition laws are used effectively against those who dare to assert their beliefs.

Black activist Lee Otis Johnson got 30 years in Texas for standing at a rally between two narcs who passed the joint from one to the other.

Hispanic Chris Diaz is the new Lee Otis, a political prisoner based on his beliefs, i.e., ending prohibition of legal organic cannabis medicines.

Have we learned nothing in 75 years of the “Marijuana Wars”? When will we ever learn?

Attached: OPEN LETTER TO TEXAS BAR

Texas Bar Association

Office of the Chief Disciplinary Counsel

PO Box 13287, Austin TX 78711

Dear Members of the Texas Bar Association

This is to call your attention to the situation of Chris Diaz, Texas marijuana defendant.

Public defender violations are so numerous, they point to a mistrial.

With trial scheduled for Monday April 2, 2012, in Brownwood, Texas, Chris faces up to 99 years in prison for 14 grams of cannabis hash for his own personal medical use. He is a qualified medical marijuana patient, but his California doctor, William Courtney MD, has not been contacted to testify on Chris’ behalf on the eve of trial. No motion has been filed. Chris has essentially been abandoned and betrayed in Brownwood.

Chris’ lawyer, a public defender, has not visited Chris to prep him on what to expect, has filed no motions on Chris’ behalf, and the bail has doubled in the last month with no explanation as to why. An illegal coerced plea from a prisoner locked up in solitary confinement is likely to be their next move.

Chris has not been granted the right to use the medical necessity defense or any other defense.

There has been no challenge to the illegal stop, search and seizure of medicine, based on profiling due to California plates. There is a police tape of the stop that documents the illegalities.

Chris is sitting in solitary confinement but Texas NORML chapters are not lending a hand due to the “bail jumping” charge on top of intent to sell.

When Chris’ previous lawyer died during the Brownwood proceedings in 2010-11, Chris remained in Texas for a month unable to find legal help.

Only then did he return to California, since his family and friends live there, to search for advice on how to save his own life. There was nothing in the bail motion stipulating that he not leave the state.

Despite multiple phone calls, the public defender would not return Chris’ calls to inform him of his court date. So he inadvertently missed it, thus engenderng two additional felonies.

Chris’ frail condition based on lifelong asthma attacks is a factor in why I fear for his life. Dying in a Texas prison is a liklihood, as his California Doctor William Courtney has publicly stated. On one previous occasion, both of Chris’ lungs collapsed after a severe asthma attack. This is well documented.

Chris is being deprived of his legal medicine in the midst of a vindictive prosecution with ineffective assistance of counsel. The legal system is targeting Chris Diaz rather than protecting him.

There are so many constitutional violations going on here, my concern has turned to outrage! I am filing this letter as a preliminary grievance against Public Defender Rudy Taylor and request that you investigate. I will follow up tomorrow with the same grievance on the official State Bar of Texas Grievance Form, as required.

Chris’ mother intends to file her own grievance on behalf of her son with detailed text messages to back up her claims.

Thank you for considering these issues.

–Pebbles Trippet (of People v Trippet)
California member of the Free Chris Diaz Committee

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BANK ROBBERS?

Open Letter to Reverend Dan Fowler, President, Fort Bragg Food Bank

Dear Reverend Fowler,

My name is not important but my messages is as far as fairness is concerned.

I help my senior neighbor from time to time when I can. Her car was in the shop and she called to see if I could give her a ride to the Fort Bragg food bank. I asked to see what time she wanted me to pick her up. I was surprised when she told me she needed to be there before 9am and preferably by 8:30. She said the earlier she got there the longer the wait to get food. But it was necessary if she wanted to get any decent produce. She went on to explain the volunteers would have taken whatever they wanted first before the seniors even had access.

I thought she was exaggerating so I waited with her as I could not believe the seniors would be treated in this way. But sure enough about 10 volunteers started going through the line as well as the woman employee pictured in the fall edition of the Food Bag. Although seniors are limited to one bag, she had two and was certainly taking her time to pick through the produce. A couple of volunteers even had boxes which obviously hold more than one bag! She told me that they ran out of turkey at Thanksgiving and now I wonder how many of those were taken by the volunteers? I have volunteered in our church and with other organizations but this was a first for me.

I mentioned this to a woman who used to volunteer there and she said it was the custom when she was there for the volunteers to make their selections after the seniors had been taken care of. She also said that hot meals were provided for the volunteers which I feel is more than fair. But to give them priority over seniors when produce prices are so high doesn’t seem to be very Christian or ethical.

I don’t know if this is approved of by the board or if you can do anything about it, but I wanted to bring it to your personal attention as well as the generous local market providers who might like to drop by around 10 o’clock to see for themselves.

I also feel they should be brought to the attention of the general public but I don’t expect the Fort Bragg Advocate will be covering this hot potato soon.

Sincerely,

A Concerned Citizen

Fort Bragg

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ROCKABILLY ROUNDUP

Editor,

Listen up, Weird Music fans, the Queen of Rockabilly, Wanda Jackson, will perform in San Francisco at the Regency Ballroom on April 17, followed by a trip into World Music territory for a show at the Humboldt State University “Depot” in Arcata on April 18. Tickets available in Frisco at axs.com and in Arcata from the usual suspects.

Wanda’s last appearance on the Northcoast was her legendary high octane performance at the Fifth Annual Rockabilly in the Redwoods festival at Scotia in 2010. (See AVA, August 4, 2010: “Weird Music Festival.”)

After Wanda’s last performance in the Bay Area in 2009, San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Jonathan Curiel wrote: “Fifty years after Elvis Presley persuaded her to play rock ‘n roll, Wanda Jackson is still performing with her pink guitar, still singing about heartbreak and salvation, still rousing audiences with her charm and throaty voice. Only now, Jackson’s fan base includes children and teens who say her music is “cool,” octogenarians who remember Jackson in her prime and elite performers like Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen who cite Jackson as a musical inspiration. Springsteen called Jackson “a doll who has inspiration in her voice.” Dylan said she was “an atomic bomb in lipstick.”

According to a liner note bio by Capitol Records Rick Kiensle (Wanda Jackson Vintage Collection), Wanda Jackson’s father, Tom, was a musician who moved to Oklahoma and met Nellie Whitaker. They married in 1936 and settled in tiny Maud, Oklahoma, 50 miles southeast of Oklahoma City where Wanda was born on October 20, 1937. The Jacksons spent 1941 through 1949 in California where Wanda got her first guitar. By the time they moved to Oklahoma City where Tom sold cars, Wanda was a good enough singer to win a local talent contest. In 1953, still in high school, she landed her own show on KLPR Radio. Capitol recording artist Hank Thompson, by then a major star, had moved from Dallas to Oklahoma City where he heard Wanda’s show and invited her to sing on weekends with his Brazos Valley Boys at their local home, the Trianon Ballroom. Thompson landed Decca recording contracts for both Wanda and his band leader, Billy Gray. Their vocal duet, “You Can’t Have My Love,” backed by the Brazos Valley Boys reached number eight on the country charts in 1954.

Wanda graduated from high school in 1955 and started touring with Thompson. She created her own image of onstage glamour, designing a dazzling outfit light-years from the cowgirl garb favored by female singers. One of her form fitting dresses boasted rhinestone spaghetti straps that bared her shoulders. The dress caused problems when her hit with Gray lead to a guest shot on the Grand Ol’ Opry. Before Patsy Cline joined the show, conservative, hidebound Opry artists and management considered such outfits too sexy. Ernest Tubbs insisted that Wanda cover her shoulders before going on stage. Boiling mad, she slipped on her old fringe jacket, sang her song for the crowd and left, never to return.

She became a regular on Springfield, Missouri’s Ozark Jubilee Barn Dance with its own national ABC-TV broadcasts hosted by Red Foley. Later in 1955 she met Elvis, touring with him on package shows, and in 1956 when her Decca contract ended, she signed with Capitol Records. In her first season at the Capitol Tower in Hollywood, her studio and bands featured several high-octane pickers, including the dazzling Joel Maphis on lead guitar and Buck Owens, and an obscure singer and studio musician on rhythm guitar. Legendary Ralph Mooney (one of my clan) played pedal steel.

She recorded “I Gotta Know,” a play on the new rock craze that moved between a mournful country ballad and rock. It made the country Top 20 that fall. To attract both teen record buyers and country fans, Capitol paired a rocker with a country song on Wanda’s singles. In September of 1956, 18 years before Linda Ronstadt’s hit version, Wanda recorded “Silver Thread and Golden Needles” and at the same session with Maphis, Owens and Mooney backing her, she cut “Hot Dog That Made Him Mad,” a growling, rocking version of the 1954 Betty Hutton recording.

In 1957 Wanda recorded “Cool Love,” co-written with high school friend Vicki Countryman with Buck Owens on lead guitar and boogie artist Merrill Moore on piano. In the fall of 1957 she recorded an explosive R&B version of “Fujiyama Mama,” again backed by Owens and Moore. Perhaps her greatest rock tune of all — it was ignored in the states, but was a smash hit in Japan leading to a triumphant 1958 tour there.

By 1958 Wanda recruited a rock band, Bobby Powell and the Poe Cats, to back her onstage featuring lead guitarist Vernon Sandusky and pianist Big Al Downing who also backed her on her first Capitol recording of the country ballad “Make Believe.” That day she also recorded a vicious version of “Let’s Have A Party” later followed by “Mean, Mean Man” and the hard-driving “Rock Your Baby.”

By 1961 Wanda resumed recording but focused on country with sessions in Nashville and performances in Las Vegas. But rock wasn’t totally eliminated during this period with her lively versions of “Kansas City,” “Hardheaded Woman,” “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore,” and a ferocious, growling version of “Riot in Cellblock #9.”

With her renewed commitment to country in 1961, wonder recorded several popular tunes — “Why I’m Walkin’,” “The Window Up Above,” and “I May Never Get To Heaven.” That summer her recording of “Right or Wrong” reached #9 on the country charts. The following single, “In the Middle of a Heartache,” became her biggest hit, peaking at number six. In the fall of 1961 she produced excellent versions of “This Should Go On Forever” and her own “Kickin’ Our Hearts Around,” which she’d specifically written for Buck Owens, once her session guitarist who was then a rising country star. His version made the top 10 in 1962.

Wanda Jackson’s career was far from over in the mid-60s, though her singles sold only modestly and she never really found a satisfactory style on records. By the early 70s she and her husband Wendell Goodman embraced born-again Christianity. When Capitol records refused to honor her request to record a gospel LP, Wanda signed with gospel oriented Myrrh records which allowed her to record secular and gospel but after a change of ownership she became frustrated when Myrrh insisted on gospel only. Though she alternated secular performances with church appearances, Wanda easily reconciled country and rockabilly with her sacred music, explaining, “All the early country things stemmed from gospel.”

Still proud of her Capitol sides, Wanda continued touring Europe, performing rock, gospel and country. In 1995 she made a guest appearance on a Rosie Flores rockabilly album with another pioneer rocker, Janis Martin. Thanks to a renewed interest in rockabilly, Wanda Jackson is extensively touring America again, rockin’, whoopin’ and rollin’ — keeping the music alive.

In 2008, the Smithsonian channel screened a documentary on Jackson, “the sweet lady with the nasty voice.” A year later she was inducted into the rock ‘n roll Hall of Fame along with Metallica whose ear splitting performance drove her off the stage.

Bay Area and North Coast rockabilly fans should give rock pioneer Wanda Jackson a warm, hearty welcome as the “atomic bomb in lipstick” struts back on stage and detonates.

“Let’s have a party!” If we keep the rally going we’ll defeat time.

Bottoms up!

Joe Don Mooney

Hopland

PS. For those who don’t know Wanda Jackson, I highly recommend her comprehensive Vintage Collections CD produced by Ken Nelson of Capitol Records in 1996

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DEFENDING ONE SIDE

Editor,

After reading Helen Richmond’s dour appraisal of NPR (“NPR: The Voices & Views Of One Side,” AVA, 3/7/12), followed by fan mail from Nate “Faruq Redshank” Collins (“Intolerable,” AVA, 3/14/12), it makes me wonder if the real reason people don’t like NPR is that they don’t get enough sex. Maybe if the two of them got together they would hear the same NPR that I hear.

Seriously, I think they’re both mean-spirited, low minded and just plain wrong.

Aloha,

Bill Brundage

Kurtistown, Hawaii

PS. If I hadn’t been listening to NPR’s 3/27/12 “Morning Edition,” I would have missed a story about the adverse effects on the economies of cities like Boise, Idaho with midsized airports, of a reduction in air traffic due to the cost-cutting measures of commercial airlines. Similar forces are at play in the shrinking of services and the shutting down of rural post offices.

The report included interviews with officials who bemoan the loss of jobs and a slowing down of the economy in general, as well as an interview with a man who could no longer take a direct, daily flight from Boise to San Jose to commute to his job in Silicon Valley. It’s bad for him, and bad for those whose livelihoods depend on a lots of air traffic, and I can sympathize with them over their hardships. But I wish the news report had included one more interview with than eco-nut like me who would have shouted, “Hooray! It’s good for the planet!”

Why is it that whenever I say that in order for frequent flyers to pay their fair share of the high environmental cost of air pollution, they ought to pay more for a ticket, not less, people look at me like I’m out of my mind? Airline companies take note: here’s a way to maximize profits and do the right thing at the same time!

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RATS

Editor:

Seattle has a vibrant downtown, with a small Chinatown.

A tourist walked into an antique shop. Dusty. He wandered around and found an 8 inch bronze rat. He was not excited about the subject, but the sculptural execution was superb.

He asked the price. There were two prices:

Twenty-five bucks for the rat alone. One hundred and seventy-five bucks for the rat — and the story that goes with it.

He bought the rat.

As he was leaving he noticed, out of the corner of his eye, a rat rushing out from a nearby alley. He made his way toward the harbor. Two more rats came out of a storm drain. Another eleven (no, twenty) came from under a car.

More rats appeared. LOTS more rats. A block away from the harbor there was a seething mass in his wake.

By the time he arrived at the harbor, rats were crawling over one another to get near him. He was a veritable Pied Piper for rats.

He figured it had something to do with the bronze rat. He threw it into the harbor. The rats followed — and died in horrifying numbers.

He retreated and watched. They were still jumping into the water an hour later. Uncounted millions drowned.

Shaken, he made his way back to the antique shop.

As he entered, the proprietor smiled, “So, you came back for the story?”

The man shuck his head, “No, but do you have a bronze Republican?”

Best regards,

Bart Boyer

San Diego

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YOU’RE NEXT, GRAMPS

Editor,

The Social Security program was created in 1935 to provide old age, survivors and disability insurance benefits to workers and their families. This was one of the great achievements of the Roosevelt administration. The “conservatives” fought it tooth and nail, calling it “communism.” Now they all line up to collect the benefits.

The fight is now over what is called “Obamacare” in the Supreme Court hearing. The right wing is doing its best to have it declared unconstitutional. Will the next step be to go after Social Security? All senior citizens better watch closely what the far right is up to. If you suffer in silence, you will die in silence. The fight is on. You had better join in.

M.H. Page

South San Francisco

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MAKE WINE OUT OF VINEGAR

Editor,

The following letter was sent to Señor Xavier Pages, Director General Señor Luis Sierra-Rey, Marketing Director, Barcelona, Catalonia, España.

Almost a year ago, Friends of the Gualala River and more than 20 prominent national US and California State environmental organizations wrote to you with a respectful request to withdraw the controversial Artesa proposal to destroy redwood forestlands for construction of a new vineyard in Sonoma County, California.

Many circumstances in the last year have changed, some very recently. We believe these changes seriously impair the feasibility of this proposal and substantially increase the liability of this controversial project to the esteemed Codorniu and Artesa names, as we anticipated.

Please carefully review the well-documented facts in context and revisit the strategic value or liability of this Artesa Sonoma project to Codorniu.

First, the local Sonoma County government has recently (January 20, 2012) approved a moratorium on conversion of forest to vineyards. This has occurred in part because of the high political controversy and public disapproval of large forest to vineyard conversion projects like Artesa’s.

The local county government’s Agricultural Commissioner is scheduled to propose permanent legislation that includes restrictions on tree removal for vineyards later this spring. The county has asserted that these restrictions will apply to the Artesa Project. The underlying political strength of the motivation for these new legislative actions, and its publicity, should not be underestimated.

Second, three federally recognized California Indian tribes (Kashia and Point Arena Pomo and Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria) have officially approved strongly worded resolutions firmly opposing the Artesa Sonoma vineyard conversion project which they assert “threatens our watershed, forests, sacred sites, archaeological sites and tribal cultural resources that are of cultural and religious importance to the tribe.”

Public awareness of these resolutions has only recently begun and we anticipate that our national media will again give increased attention in coming months to Artesa and Codorniu proposals in the context of tribal culture, tribal religious values, and unacceptable threats to them.

Third, as you know, a national online petition initiated by an independent California citizen generated more than 92,000 signatures. This petition reflects extraordinary national US public disapproval of this notorious project in association with Codorniu and Artesa. A related local online petition generated more than 1800 signatures for the limited purpose of demanding that public comments be accepted by the lead California permit agency for the project.

Fourth, the final environmental impact report required for the permit approval of the Artesa project is deeply flawed in many important technical respects, and is ripe for challenge on many environmental and cultural resource issues with support from recognized experts.

For example, the tribal resolution complaints against Artesa and Codorniu are strongly supported by the scientific expertise of an authoritative professor of Archaeology and Anthropology. These disputes will inevitably contribute to protracted controversy and adverse publicity.

Finally, we hope you are by now fully aware of the intense national and California media attention generated jointly by the Artesa project and the Preservation Ranch vineyard conversion proposals. A series of very prominent front page and feature articles on this pair of Sonoma vineyard conversion projects has appeared in the Los Angeles Times and in hundreds of leading newspapers carrying an Associated Press syndicated article, critical coverage in financial journals and in Northern California wine country magazines and newspapers.

We fully expect media coverage to surge again to greater levels during inevitable objections or challenges to the final permits for the Artesa Project.

Is this outdated proposal from the speculative Pinot Noir frenzy of 2001 still sufficiently valuable and feasible four Codorniu to risk the effects of intense media based negative publicity this notorious project poses to the Codorniu name and Artesa brand?

Given that the project has not advanced in approval after over 10 years since its inception and given that it faces further significant delay and adverse publicity due to opposition and challenge, is this single project still a sufficiently reasonable investment and marketing strategy for you to pursue?

Please consider this question in the context of the availability of alternative sites due to many vineyards for sale during a period of industry consolidation in Northern California.

We hope you share our sincere wish to avoid needless costly conflict and controversy over this project. We offer an alternative, cooperative course of action. We would be willing to endorse and facilitate Codorniu’s effort to sell the parcel to a consortium of conservancy and land trust organizations who are dedicated to conserving the important natural and cultural resources of the project site.

We would publicly support praiseworthy actions by Codorniu to benefit the fish and wildlife resources of the Gualala River’s forested watershed and for the protection of California Indian tribal uses and cultural heritage. This would turn the controversy into a marketing benefit for Artesa and enable them to reinvest in productive winegrape land located in established, proven agricultural areas with no impacts of forest conversion.

We would be pleased to work with you in finding interested conservation buyers at fair market value of the land.

Again, we offer to promote widespread endorsement of Codorniu’s environmental stewardship and positive publicity for Artesa if you pursue this alternative in collaboration with us and our allied conservation organizations.

Chris Poehlmann

Friends of the Gualala River

Gualala

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COROPORATE SPONSORSHIPS, A COKE, & A SMILE

Editor,

I realize the massive amount of articles these days are on the merits of Privatizing Parks but none have any real consistent data, and most information comes directly from Park Privatization.com, Recreation Resource Management, ReserveAmerica (all one company, many aliases). Most editorials and web based articles have a related links section where half the links go to information by category that is directly linked to one of the above sites pages. This is a massive web advertising campaign by ReserveAmerica, AmericanDreams, and the Active Network supporting privatization of public recreation resources, in this case State Parks. Articles as recent as March 8th, 2012 continue the mantra. State Parks: The Virtual State Of American Dreams Inc. Trans-national corporations located in Southern CA, Arizona, and Ohio: 1) San Diego, CA, 2) Phoenix, AZ, 3) Logan, Ohio are building a virtual network empire on Mary and Joe Citizen’s vacation tickets and some management of concessions, and local branding.

The Solution Is In The Problem

Camping Reservation Fees (not the campsite fees but online and call center credit card banking fees – $9 for reservation and $10 for cancellation through ReserveAmerica — 2012) are my main focus, even Local District offices seem to be heading in the wrong direction. Having read the latest talked about report, from the California Legislative Analyst’s Office I feel another viewpoint would be enriching.

The report lacks data or quantifiable criteria in key areas regarding:

1. attendance revenues, separated from camping reservations, length of stay, etc.

2. attendance revenues related to camping reservations, and length of stay

3. the amount of hours of volunteers – by what criteria were volunteer efforts cataloged, Was it just the daylight hours per program funding requirements and Park hours? What local group efforts, such as the many Coastal Ocean Groups that for decades have logged hours in cause-promotions, and celebration that brought people together to clean beaches, were included?

4. The cost to taxpayers due to Corporate Citizen clauses, Corporate Sponsor tax deductible contributions i.e., brand philanthropy and cause marketing promotions.

5. What amount of time in hours is spent by State Parks Employees and other State Officials researching Privatization data (mostly put together by Privatization Firms) — translating the privatization mantras — symposiums and luncheons, meetings, emails and phone calls, All contracts state that the responsibility for promotion and monitoring of public perception of the ‘benefits of privatization’ fall on the DPR or NPS.

6. What amount of taxpayer subsidies are going toward the programs that set up the transfer of Parks to (Privatization)? Critical accountability in the Legislative Analyst’s Office report for all is needed.

The level of volunteer work is estimated to be worth over $20 million a year. (estimate assumes a labor cost of $21 per volunteer hour, based on an average of production and non- supervisory labor costs in the private sector) The DPR currently invests about 90,000 staff hours annually ($7 million) to train and operate its volunteer program. How much to train and operate the Corporate Privileges Program?

It is not proven that anything is more efficient, and there are no “lower fees.” Quite the opposite in fact. Privatized Concession Run Parks “pay a penny on the dollar” for credit card processing and bank fees — November 2, 2011, Warren Meyer – ReserveAmerica

Under the State Corporate Sponsorship agreements, all corporate involvement is tax deductible, thrice over. 1) General Fund Tax dollars for development of the “Parks for Perks” business model 2) Tax dollars pay to make up for the corporate citizen’s allowable deductions, and 3) tax dollars will pay for the promotion, public acceptance and market monitoring, and protection of the business management of concession agreements. On the National level, it will be the corporate-only financed National Park Foundation, presumably with it’s billion dollar fund by 2016 that foots the promotions bill. But the National ‘Parks For Perks’ program is so rewarding it’s worth it!

Frankly, they ought to be showing the classic film “Mr. Smith Goes To Washington” in National Theaters. The parallels are perfect.

Reservation and cancelation fees are a Sustainable Green Fund For Parks Non-Profits!

Amazing that the State hasn’t figured out how to take the tickets without handing over the operation to Private Companies!

Commercial Free Zones or Corporate Citizens Parks Privileges — the term “Corporate Citizenship” is used as a requirement of the California State Parks Corporate Sponsorships Proud Partner Agreements.

Tomas DiFiore

30 years on the North Coast

Albion

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SAVE THE STREET FAIR

Dear OMers,

The Street Fair Committee (Rick, Mark, and Syd) want to let you know that they urgently need help.

One of the key parts of the May 12 block party will be the “non-profit” tabling – all our local non-profits agencies setting up tables on Laurel Street sharing their work and activities with the public.

A “miscommunication” has occurred in which the non-profit part of the Street Fair has no person in charge. Although a proposed letter to each of our 30 local non-profits has been written, there is no one currently willing to be the designated contact person – for the non-profits to respond to and work with over the next 6 weeks making it all happen.

This work won’t be that time-consuming – but we do need someone with good organizing, communication, and follow-up skills to take on this important work….staying in touch with them, answering questions, communicating with them things like what to bring (tables/chairs, etc.), how to set up on May 12, etc.

This is a critical part of the Street Fair. If you’re willing to do this for OM, please contact Rick (964-1722) or Mark (964-2986) immediately. If this doesn’t happen, we may need to take another look at the Street Fair’s future.

Rick, Mark, and Syd

Fort Bragg

PS. There will be other important jobs coming up in the next month that we’ll be needing help with….please be aware of this and open to offering your time and services – specific work needs will be announced in Saturday’s General Assemblies.

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GOOD FOOD FOR KIDS

Dear Editor:

The role of the School Board is to model reasonable and fair resolution of conflicts — no bullying, fighting, corporal punishment; to advise employees of goals and acceptable and effective achievement of same.

If the goal is to establish the power of those charged with the safety of the students and achieve cooperation, how do we accomplish this?

• Show public respect for all parties — school employees, food service workers, students, administrators

• Model mutually respectful resolution of conflict (how to show cooperation with power without loss of dignity).

• Present to our students ways of cooperation which benefit the group, allowing civic participation without threats or denigration.

• Avoid arousing opposition and defiance by settling discipline issues publicly as the Board did with parent employees and offending student at the March Board meeting.

• Separate corporal punishment (i.e., closed campus) for individual transgressions which have already been resolved.

If the goal is to promote healthy choices and eating habits in young adults, how do we accomplish this? Here are a few suggestions:

% • Schedule town privileges by rotation three grades/day,

% • Every one eats on campus before leaving;

% • Obtain vendor cooperation via reduced size, cost and content of food choices at a student rate;

% • Consult food service workers, gardeners, parents and students re: palatable healthy choices on campus.

All interested parties are urged to attend the scheduled public Board meeting to witness the fair resolution of these issues Monday, April 9, Family Resource Center, 6pm at the Jr./Sr. High campus.

Patricia A. Beverley

Boonville

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WHY NOT JUST WATER?

Dear AVA,

I am pleased to see the local efforts beginning to take place to improve our children’s diets. It seems that a grass-roots effort is needed to change our culture’s perception of acceptable foods. There is pressure from advertisers and from children’s peers to supply unhealthy snacks and drinks for kid’s lunches, snacks and sports teams. Simply cutting out sweet beverages makes a huge difference in our children’s (and adults’) health. The greatest amount of empty calories comes from sugar-laden beverages such as soda, juice and syrupy coffees. The Network for a Healthy California will soon launch a statewide campaign called Rethink Your Drink that aims to educate the public about the dangers of sweet beverages and the benefits of increased water consumption. I love the idea of going back to water as our primary beverage and look forward to the day when we have more water fountains and fewer vending machines.

Donna Pierson-Pugh, Principal

Anderson Valley Elementary School

Boonville

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THREE QUESTIONS

Editor,

I live in Virginia, in the Shenandoah Valley. My county, I’m told, has more churches per- capita than any county in America. Our local newspaper is so full of churchy news, events, columns, etc. that you’d think that the Lord has taken up residence here. And, it’s a liberal paper.

Those articles/columns/letters to the Editor are so full of delusions, confusions, and illusions that it boggles the mind of any reasonable reader. Virginia votes regressive every time, and the Legislature is a throw-back to the Dark Ages.

Given that, it is not surprising that Rick Santorum is a major candidate for the Republican nomination for President. Nor is it surprising that he receives tens of thousands of votes in state primaries, and gets lots of pledged delegates.

It is pretty certain that he will run again in 2016. What he is doing now is laying the groundwork, building an organization, and setting it all up. So here are some interesting questions for AVA readers: 1. Given that the lying, distorting, and vilifying has been so pronounced in 2009-2012, will it get so bad that the American public will see it for what it is and reject Santorum? 2. Will social and wedge issues dominate the 2016 campaign to the point that voters will be so sick of it that they will reject the religionist take-over of the political dialogue? 3. Will the Democrats have the guts to call-out the religionists for what the power-crazed greed-bags that they are?

Score yourselves. The right answer to all three questions is NO. If you answered with one yes, you are simply a bit confused. If you answered with two yes answers, you are trapped in illusions. If you answered with three yes answers, you are as deluded as they are, but for different reasons. If you answered with three NO’s you are already selecting where you will emigrate to.

Lee Simon

Far ‘n Away Farm in Virginia

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REMEMBERING ‘NANA’

Dear Editor,

I would like to thank all the friends and family of Arline “Nana” Day-Chambers for all the heartfelt thoughts, kind words and for joining us at Nana’s recent service. She will be in our hearts forever and dearly missed. Thank you all.

Sincerely,

Christina L. Kramer

Philo

Dear Editor,

I want to thank the good home town newspaper of Boonville for keeping me informed on what is going on around Mendo County. I love it when I can open up the AVA and read about someone I haven’t seen or heard about in many many years.

I’m currently serving a four-year sentence due to my addiction. That seems to be the case with a lot of society’s biggest problems these days. It all started for me in my beloved town of Boonville California. I was born in Ukiah in 1974 and raised and went to school in Anderson Valley, elementary and high school. A good portion of my family still lives there and although I haven’t lived there since 1991, I still inquire about the people and family and friends there. I’ve often thought of moving back to Boonville but there isn’t really anything left for me in California. I went back through the years and I say to myself, “I love my hometown.”

People ask me all the time if I have the Boontling talk. I sometimes wonder because I never really talked to myself to know if I do or not! Just kidding! I just wanted to write to you Mr. Editor to thank you and ask all my friends and family that it would be really nice to hear from them. If anyone wants to check out my facebook it is under Glenn Jenkins 34. Or they can write me at Glenn Jenkins Jr., #AK-6244, San Quentin State Prison, San Quentin, CA 94974. I love letters and pictures and I do write back. I would like to reminisce about old times. Thank you again.

Your hometown homeboy and family member,

Glenn Jenkins Jr.

San Quentin

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HOW BAD?

Dear Editor:

It’s much worse than most people think it is. The progressives are aware that that is so. The majority of Americans know it is bad but are not in recognition that it is much worse than they think it is. The regressive right-wingers don’t want to know that it is bad, let alone worse than bad. They hide out behind the Bible, which in reality is a sand box into which they stick their heads.

So what’s wrong? Nothing that a brain enema wouldn’t cure. One of my favorites is calling anti-abortion “pro-life”. As Bruce Patterson eloquently pointed out in your 3/21/12 issue, the “pro-lifers” do not stand up against anything that shows concern for human life.

I think that their unconscious opposition to abortion is really their fear of and disdain for sensuality and sexuality. How dare you people fuck and enjoy it.! We told you not to, because our god told us not to. We told you to abstain, you vile, sensual woman. We even make it difficult to get affordable birth control so you will choose to abstain; and look at you, pregnant and wanting to abort that fetus. Sinner!

Calling it murder is a legal concept. Calling it a sin is simply a religious belief. In order to preserve our nonsectarian political culture, which is what the Constitution mandates, we need to get all religious ideas out of the body politic. Christopher Hitchins nailed it when he said, as the subtitle to his book, “How Religion Poisons Everything.”

We are rapidly moving forward toward the past. The regressives, like Santorum, want to go back 150 years. I thought that the Scopes Trial put an end to it, but William Jennings Bryan is alive and well in the form of Rick Santorum! It is not surprising that he believes what he believes and says what he says. What is amazing is that instead of being laughed out of town by an educated citizenry, he is being voted for by tens of millions of dumbed-down,, head-in-the-sand, frightened, know-nothing, Bible-pounding, ______, ________(add your own terms here).

So what went wrong? I think we took the 18th Century Enlightenment for granted. We projected our own ideas onto the populace, when, in fact, they have been reading the Bible instead of the Constitution. We assumed, since the Enlightenment was based on reason, that it was reasonable to assume that everyone would go for it. Not so.

If you are a devoted reader of this weekly newspaper, and Santorum gets elected in 2016, I hope you have your spot picked out to which you will exile yourself. If history is any guide, and it better be, if he gets elected, the forces of righteousness will be coming for you. They will have the flag in one hand and the Bible in the other hand. They will persecute you violently and rationalize it as the need for dominance. The only ideas they will approve are their own ideas. You and I will be labeled traitors and heretics. Count on it.

Lee Simon

Far ‘n Away Farm in Virginia

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BAJA REPORT

Editor,

Sometimes people ask what we do down here in Baja. Mostly we do what others do and that is eat, drink and try to stay healthy. My favorite answer to what we do is from a book written by acoupethat moved to Mexico full time. His reply was “I got up this morning with nothing to do and by evening I was only half finished.” But most days we get a cup of coffee, walk half a block to the ocean, sit on the sea wall and watch the waves, birds and maybe a dolphin or two. Amy, my dog does her morning chores while we relax for a few minutes. Then it’s off to the fitness center where we work out for 35-40 minutes. I then take Amy for another walk before we head back to Neva’s home and have breakfast.

We get the San Diego paper and so work on the crossword with breakfast. Then a few chores like water the plants, do dishes and it’s soon time for lunch. After lunch we usually have a nap and up and at ‘em to make dinner and sip a margarita as the sun slips into the sea. A little reading in bed or sometimes the evening news which is mostly bad and then to sleep. Other days when we don’t use the fitness center, we go for a hike in the hills across the highway from our complex. Our annual goal and big hike is to the top of El Cornell, whose top elevation is 2500 feet. Starting at about 100 feet it’s quite a climb. It’s seven hours roundtrip. Neva has done it thirteen times and I’ve done it once. Oh yes, the hike along the beach during low tide is fun too. The easier walk is one and half miles and the longer one is 3 miles. Each hike has a cantina at the end so we slither in for a drink and eats. After lunch we go out to the highway and catch a bus or taxi back home.

One of the products Baja shares with Anderson Valley is good wine. The Guadalupe Valley is only 35-40 miles down the highway near Ensenada. Ninety percent of the wine consumed in Mexico is made in the Guadalupe Valley. A bit of history first about how wine made it’s way to Mexico. The Spanish were used to eating and swilling wine to wash down their meals, but when they arrived in Mexico they found nothing but ceremonial wine used in the missions for Mass. Something had to be done about this. So, maybe some of the sailors eating raisins spit the seeds out and they grew into vines or maybe they planted the seeds or brought cuttings from Spain. But the grapes grew by whatever way they came. However the history of good wine making in Mexico is relatively a recent event. Early winemaking techniques remained primitive, with cowhides used as containers in the fermentation of the grapes. Imagine how that would affect the taste….maybe having a nose like cow hide and taste of leather boots. Gradually a commitment to quality improvement was made when the Santo Tomas Winery hired Dimitri Tchelistcheff as technical director. He was credited with replanting Cabernet, Pinot Noir, Reisling, Chenin Blanc and Chardonnay. Cold fermentation of whites was introduced and Tchelistcheff is credited with producing Baja’s first sparkling wines. The many wineries of the valley can be found on the web site www.valledeguadalupe.com . There are a couple of wineries we have visited that are worth mentioning and they are LA Cetto and Vena Cava. LA Cetto is the largest producing winery in Mexico and is located in the Guadalupe Valley. This winery produces over one million cases of wine and so is found in most places in Mexico as well as exported to over 30 countries around the world. They make most varietals but their best in my opinion is Nebbiolo. Their young wine maker hired back in the seventies named Camillo Magoni began his training at Alba in northern Italy’s Piedmont region, followed by a study of clonal varieties of the Nebbiolo grape at Nino Negri in northern Lombardy. The Guadalupe Valley’s Mediterranean climate was conducive to the cultivation of Italian varieties as well. The Nebbiolo wine has a nicely balanced flavors that linger on the finish. It is priced around $ 15 a bottle but I have seen it for around $13.50 at Costco. So, we enjoy the Mexican wine but they really can’t match the taste of the wines produced in Anderson Valley.

The Vena Cava winery just opened in January 2012 and is located on the grounds of the La Villa del Valle, a fancy bed and breakfast located 20 miles northeast of Ensenada that opened in 2005. The owners are Phil Gregory and his wife Eileen who designed the Mediterranean style inn perched on a hill in the heart of the wine country. It is flanked by its own vines as well as organic vegetable and herb gardens that provide makings for their Corazon de Tierra restaurant built in 2011. They have a lovely cactus garden and a separate yoga studio for your morning workout. As one approaches the complex it takes a while to absorb the fact that there are upturned fishing boats partially submerged in earth among the grapevines.These land bound vessels are the roof structure for the 3,200 square foot facility for making, aging, storing and tasting wine. In creating this ‘wine cave’, designer and builder Alejandro D’Acosta states that storage of wine underground maximizes energy efficiency and makes the most of a limited land area. When we visited in early March of this year, the tasting room was not open but the workmen opened the doors for us to amble around in the various wings of the cave. It is a truly great idea for the winery to do this sort of thing and has to be seen to be believed. Their Vena Cava blend consists of Syrah, Zinfandel, Cabernet, and Petit Syrah and it the best Mexican wine I’ve tasted. It sells for $20 a bottle at the restaurant but less by the case. In my opinion Anderson Valley doesn’t have to worry about competition from Mexican wines. Most of the wines made in AV are superior tasting to the Mexican ones. Next adventure is seeking out the whales in Guerrero Negro area as they give birth and move north for the summer.

Kent Rogers and Neva Dyer

Boonville/Baja

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ROACH RHYME

Pebbles,

Read your article on the competing Marijuana Initiatives. You cleared things up for me, thanks. I’ll pass it along.

Wrote you a rhyme.

Regards,

John Wester

San Diego

Attached: 70,000 every year

Arrested because of pot.

Millions and millions of dollars they steer

Toward making sure the users get caught;

And millions more in defense we pay

For a victimless crime, they say —

But doing the time for acts that rate

A mighty yawn from the Golden State.

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MEMO OF THE WEEK

Dear Constituent:

Thank you for contacting my office regarding the closure of California State Parks. I appreciate hearing from you on this very important issue.

As you know, our state is in the midst of a very serious fiscal crisis and difficult choices must be made. One of the most difficult issues the Legislature has faced is the reduction in funding to State Parks. I feel that these recreational areas are the jewels of our state. There were 70 parks identified statewide for closure, 17 of these in the First Assembly District.

Last year the Governor signed AB 42, a bill I co-authored with Assemblyman Jared Huffman which authorizes the Department of Parks and Recreation to enter into contracts with qualified non-profit organizations to assist with the operations of State Parks. Since the implementation of the bill in January, local organizations have been working with State Parks to develop proposals for the continued operations of parks slated for closure. There are many moving parts and it is not a simple process. That said, I am proud of, as well as inspired by, the hard work that many people in our community have been doing in an effort to keep the parks open to the public. My office will continue to do what it can to assist in this process. .

Assemblyman Jared Huffman and I have also authored AB 1589, the California State Parks Stewardship Act of 2012 which would identify new revenue enhancement opportunities for state parks. This would include enhanced fee collection within state parks, a new state park environmental license plate, and tax incentives for purchase of state park access passes. It would also create a state park enterprise fund; modify the criteria and public disclosure requirements for state park closures; place a cap on the number of state park closures that can be implemented without advance notification to the Legislature; and state legislative intent that a multi-disciplinary advisory council conduct an independent assessment and make recommendations for the long-term management and funding of California’s state park system.

AB 1589 has cleared its first hurdle and gained unanimous, bipartisan support from the Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee. The bill will now be scheduled for a hearing in the Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee. If you would like to track the progress of AB 1589, you may do so by logging ontowww.leginfo.ca.gov.

Thank you again for your correspondence. If I can be of any assistance in the future, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Respectfully,

Wesley Chesbro, Assemblyman, 1st District

Arcata

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A REAL SAN FRANCISCAN

Editor,

Loved your piece on how you know you’re a native San Franciscan. Here are a few more:

• Shopped for school clothes at Macy’s on Union Square and always had lunch at Blum’s on the first floor.

• Always stopped by Robinson’s (made famous in “The Birds”) on Maiden Lane to check out the adorable puppies.

• During the holidays, made the trip downtown to see the towering Christmas tree at the City of Paris, the window display at Gump’s and the decorated trees at florist Podesta-Baldocchi.

• Had lunch downtown with Dad at Jack’s, Paoli’s, The Iron Horse, The Red Knight, Gino’s and Tadich Grill.

• While at Jack’s, sometimes saw good buddies Herb Caen, Willie Brown, Wilkes Bashford and Harry de Wildt gossiping about the rich and powerful.

• Sailed around Alcatraz when it was still a federal prison while men in bullhorns warned you not to get too close.

• Went to the original Fillmore Ballroom at Fillmore and Geary, the Avalon Ballroom on Van Ness and Winterland where you not only saw the Ice Follies every year but also the Rolling Stones with Stevie Wonder as their opening act in 1972.

• Picked up free rock posters and handbills every week at City Lights Bookstore.

• Paid 35¢ to sit in the bleachers at Candlestick Park before it was enclosed where you could stand less than 20 feet away from the greatest ballplayer of all time, Willie Mays.

• Ice skated at the rink on top of the Jack Tar Hotel, at Legg’s Ice Arena south of Market and at the Thurstons’ on 48th Avenue.

• Had your first legal drink, a Mai Tai, on your 21st birthday at Trader Vic’s.

• Saw the Grateful Dead, Youngbloods, Jefferson Airplane and others in free lunchtime performances at the bandshell across from the De Young Museum in Golden Gate Park.

• Remember the controversy when the Transamerica Pyramid and the Bank of America headquarters were built with people fearing they would ruin the skyline.

• Considered the Palace of Fine Arts a great place to go at night with friends and a couple of joints.

• Remember the Carousel Bar in the lobby of the Fairmont Hotel.

God, Bruce, there is so much more, many of which were covered in your article. So many great memories!

Best,

Lisa Walters

Gualala

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GRANGE MONTH

Editor,

Needless to say, you may not be reading this or this infamous paper with no friends. The AVA could be hand distributed solely in Anderson Valley, if it weren’t for Grangers.

A bold statement hmm? Rural mail delivery, an idea ridiculed by early representatives, was suggested by a woman in a Central western state small Grange meeting. This then ‘silly’ idea, to serve farmers, grew to 30,000 rural routes in 48 states, servicing 7,000,000 farm homes. Grangers supported Parcel Post too as early as 1887 and kept the fires burning under the idea until it cooked. When the special interest tried to wrench away funding for this service in the late 1900s, it was the Grange action that not only stimulated funding, but pushed for more. They spearheaded rural electrification and roads too. These combined made farming life easier and reduced the cost of food. Why support those pesky farmers, who merely feed the cities and governmental centers? Grangers supported a transition for tenant farmers to eventually own land and created Land Grant Colleges and the extension services that problem solved a bug or mold problem on your vineyard, got some nasty bug out of your garden or kept some dangerous pesticide out of your water. You’ll often find references to the Grange in old traditional American song, as the Grange was and still is the community center of many rural locations and a great place to dance and socialize.

Does the Grange still serve you? The Grange could be a driving force to rein in banks. It is attempting to cast out aggressive dangerous corporate agriculture laws that cram genetically modified foods down our collective throats with the lack of labelling. If you have gone to an event at our Grange, chances are it was a benefit, partially supported by the AV Grange. The Grange hall was a meeting place for the idiotic state park closure/privatization reaction meetings. The State Grange lobbyist is actively working with the State food regulators to revise the dairy laws to allow raw local milk production and distribution to continue by generating new rules. Grange supported events have funded the health clinic, the senior center, local students going off to college, etc. The Grange’s Theatre Guild not only brings you great plays, it provides a means to teach new actors, new lighting technicians, videographers, DJs and more. A grand piano is soon to grace the Grange stage for local piano centric performances, perhaps part of your event. It could be the place your daughter learns to dance ballet or modern, you brush up on computer skills, log on or listen to local poetry. It could be the place you celebrate your anniversary, receive your friends for a wedding or celebrate life in general. The Grange will be the place that resolutions are crafted to change laws on the state and national level.

April is the month the Grange offers a free membership to interested friends. You could come and discover our vision, or bring your ideas to create a broader commitment to our local community. Come to our Potluck dinner meeting at 7pm on April 17th.

Greg Krouse, Over Seer

Anderson Valley Solar Grange #669

Philo

PS. Perhaps Grangers can stop the idiotic idea of removing telephone wires in favor of the cellphone that failed in Japan’s recent Tsunami/nuclear disaster. It was the pay phones in Tokyo that allowed impacted citizens there to communicate when the nuclear power took down the cellphone system too. Redundancy is a popular biological and human process. Grangers have checked dangerous de-funding, added new regulation and made life a bit nicer in general.

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THE NYC-PA CONNECTION

Dear Editor and Readers;

Most people lament America’s economic and political crises, but don’t know how to help improve things. We see the rich and giant corporations getting richer and paying less taxes, while we struggle to stay ahead and see our neighbors lose jobs and homes, and watch our schools, roads and parks deteriorate.

We know this decline is caused by Congressmembers who provide tax breaks, subsidies, deregulation and other goodies to the corporations that fund their election campaigns. This rotten system corrupts our democracy, hurts average citizens and threatens the planet.

What can we do to help stop the rot and get our nation back on track? Concerned citizens have been trying for decades to limit corporations’ campaign donations, but the Supreme Court’s conservative majority recently decided that corporations are persons who have the same constitutional rights as humans, and therefore can not be stopped from flooding our elections with super-PAC money, attack ads and other distortions.

Individuals and organizations across the country have responded by proposing an amendment to the US constitution that clarifies that corporations are not persons, pouring their money into elections is not free speech, and citizens have a right to limit election spending (MoveToAmend.org ).

Municipalities nationwide, including the city councils of NYC, LA, Point Arena and Fort Bragg, have passed resolutions in support of this amendment, reflecting a grassroots groundswell demanding structural reform. Now there is a signature-gathering campaign to place a similar proposition on Mendocino County’s November’s ballot.

If you’ve been wondering what you can do to help turn our nation around, look no further. To help us gather the 5000 signatures needed, coast folks should contact Carrie Durkee, 937-2554, CDurkee@mcn.org , and inland residents should contact Margaret Koster, 459-5970, MKoster@pacific.net

Tom Wodetzki

Albion

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WHY NOT AN iPAPER?

To the Editor:

A Letter to the Ukiah City Council

New Toys For the City Council:

City Manager Jane Chambers proposes to buy twelve iPads (or equivalent) for our six Ukiah City Council Members as well as for six senior staffers. At a cost of $600 each, it is claimed that this would reduce the cost of paper copying and move Ukiah towards that visionary goal of a “Paperless Agenda.”

Couldn’t you save the volume of paper reproduced by merely sending each Council member an electronic agenda to review on their own personal computers? A written agenda will need to be produced in any case for public display in the lobby at council meetings. Could it be, as numerous citizens and even a few office holders occasionally opine, that the City Manager’s real agenda here is to divert council members’ attention with toys and gadgets and thereby allow staff an even freer hand to run the City of Ukiah as they know best? City Council Members: beware these gifts!

If you have $9,000 burning a hole your pocket, Ms. Chambers, why not have a half dozen wooden bulletin boards placed around town to display copies of the daily, weekly and monthly newspapers. There are many who cannot afford a $164 dollar yearly subscription to the UDJ but would like to know what you’re up to. This is common practice in more advanced societies in Europe and Asia.

Respectfully,

Jim Houle

Redwood Valley

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THE BASIC PROBLEM

Editor:

Inequality is the problem, not the solution. In their fine, insightful book “The Spirit Level,” authors Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett offer irrefutable, empirical evidence that what matters most in determining not only the health and mortality of any society but also the prevalence of a host of other social problems — including mental illness, obesity and homicides — is how wealth is distributed or, in other words, the extent of inequality.

In the most unequal societies — US, Britain, Portugal and New Zealand — the level of homicides, mental illness, teenage pregnancies and so on is much higher than in the more equal societies, such as Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Japan. “The reason these differences are so big is, quite simply, that the effects of inequality are not confined just to the least well-off; instead they affect the vast majority of the population.” Inequality causes shorter, unhealthier, unhappier lives.

America is one of the world’s richest nations, with among the highest figures for income per person, but has the lowest longevity of the developed nations, and a level of violence — murder, in particular — that is off the charts. For some, mainly the young, the experience of daily life at the bottom of a steep social hierarchy is enraging. The US has institutionalized economic and social inequality to the extent that, at any one time, a quarter of our respective populations are mentally ill. Yet we are constantly bombarded by the tiresome drone of the “free traders” and neo-conservatives touting the low wages, low benefits and low public spending that increases inequality and imposes unhappiness on us all.

If, instead, we were to concentrate on making our citizens’ incomes as equal as those of people in Japan and Scandinavia, we could each have seven extra weeks’ holiday a year, we would be thinner, we would live longer happier lives, and we’d trust each other more. We could start by raising the minimum wage, social security benefits, and taxes on the wealthy. Then impose stiff tariffs on incoming cheap goods from abroad as we increase small business entrepreneurship by breaking up the hugely destructive monopolies in banking, communications, and retail. We have high unemployment because of monopolies, pure and simple. When President Carter busted up AT&T, entrepreneurship in America bloomed.

The removal of economic impediments will allow a flourishing of human potential. We will all do much better and be much happier when we’re more equal.

Dave Smith

Ukiah

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CLASS WARFARE

Dear Bruce,

I have been rather mystified by how the director of First Five, Anne Molgaard, blathered at length on KZYX about the county supervisors being underpaid at over $60,000 a year, and that we needed to pay more in order to attract competent people. The last time I heard this it was none other than garbage czar Mike Sweeny making the same argument. Obviously, Sweeny who contracts with the county, has a personal interest in buttering up the supervisors so I suspected the same thing with Molgaard. A quick check of the website reveals to no surprise that First Five got $175,000 last year from the Mendocino County Health and Human Services Agency, and supervisor Dan Hamberg sits on the First Five board. What we have here on the part of Sweeny and Molgaard is a flagrant display of brown-nosing on the public radio airwaves.

Particularly offensive was Molgaard’s argument that higher pay will get better government representatives. From my observation in recent years, the opposite is true. The supervisors who were “in it for the money”, I am talking Smith and Colfax here, with Hamberg falling in lock step behind them, have been the worst supervisors I have seen. They joined forces to commission the Slavin study to justify awarding themselves a 40% raise. They elevated the salaries of department heads to cover their newly exorbitant pay. With an out of balance budget they borrowed excessively to pay the pension fund. With this rip-off still insufficient, Smith and Colfax were falsifying their expense accounts to steal money from the county taxpayers. To make matters worse Smith refused to take the same 10% pay cut she was demanding of the people who really do the work in the county. No wonder they couldn’t negotiate a contract. This is what you get by Molgaard’s reasoning. Meanwhile, the records of these three supervisors are devoid of any significant contributions to the operation of the county.

I would like to propose another way of analyzing the county supervisors rate of pay. The budget of any county is directly related to the size of the taxpayer base. This is also a primary factor in the complexity of the supervisor’s job. The issues that supervisors deal with in Sonoma County are obviously more complex and demanding than those in Mendocino County. With more people and a bigger tax base they have more resources to work with. Perhaps, a better way of comparing the pay of various county supervisors would be to look at their pay per person in the county they serve. I suspect our supervisors would look very well paid compared to most counties in the state.

I’ll close with a comment on this outrageous governmental structure that allows the supervisors to grant themselves a raise. This is purely undemocratic. The people of Mendocino County should vote on whether a supervisor will get a raise on re-election. This would help make them accountable to the people they are supposed to be serving.

Barney Cartright

Ukiah

Editor,

“Hales Grove” Road Number one. Celebrating the 50th anniversary of its abandonment, 1962.

Several years ago I read a book entitled “What’s the Matter with Kansas?” by Thomas Frank. It is a pretty discouraging look at Kansas, a “conservative” stronghold.

Right-wing religious racketeers have teamed up with the many cryptofascists in the state to successfully brainwash a majority of its residents resulting in a skeptical, selfish, narrow minded population.

Do not be too smug. It reminds one of Orange County, Redwood Valley, and a couple of congressional districts east of Sacramento which elected Dan Lungren and Tom McClintock to public office. Totally undesirable right-wing wackos.

Around the first few days of each month I have what might be called a “significant” dream. It seems to come just after eating one of those small frozen pizzas that cost around a dollar and are very popular now. (Warning — Safeway charges $1.59.)

Pause right now for a trivial interlude. What is Dorothy Parker’s most famous quotation? Answer: “I would rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy.”

The February dream features the time I persuaded the New York Times to present the 50 most influential persons in each Kansas county with a free subscription to the Times. You have already guessed what happened. Kansas was transformed from a dark red (almost black) state into a bright blue paradise.

This is typical of the useless and rejected proposals I come up with all of the time.

For many years I have been handing out leaflets calling attention to social, economic and political injustice. There are suggestions and proposals piled on top of the proposals — none of which are ever adopted nor receive a sympathetic audience.

Recent examples: the State of California needs revenue. I propose that each time the price of gasoline falls 5¢, 1¢ is added to the gas tax until it has been increased 10¢ a gallon. Sure it’s regressive. All sales taxes are. But it would raise a lot of money.

Another interruption for the trivialades. What do composers Benjamin Britton, Samuel Barber, Peter Tchaikovsky and Aaron Copeland have in common? Answer: They were all closet dwellers.

Next we come to my proposal to shake up the state legislature. It’s called the “2012 Lobbyist Reporting Law.” Each member of the Assembly and Senate would be required to keep a log of all encounters with lobbyists and other enemies. This log must be sent to at least one newspaper in each district the legislator represents twice a year.

Let’s see how it would work with our intrepid assemblyman. Is it Cheeseboro or Chessborough? It’s Chesbro. Okay Mr. Chesbro, what is your background? Hippie. Have you ever held a productive job? Never. Mr. Chesbro, I want you to get a yellow pencil and a lined school tablet and answer these questions:

1. Name of lobbyist. 2. Sex (this means sex of, not sex with. We’ll get to that later.) 3. Who does the lobbyist represent? 4. What do they want? 5. What gifts were you offered? a. Cash b. Whiskey. c. Tickets to World Cup, Super Bowl, etc. d. Pussy. e. A private meeting with Obama in Hawaii.

Needless to say I have come up with the answer to the Willits bypass problem. To hell with the bypass — construct a limited access through street that will move traffic quickly. It should be built on the present railroad right-of-way which will never be used for choo-choo trains. We will see how much support that idea gets. Probably not.

Inasmuch as I’m getting nowhere fast, I have decided to put all proposals on hold until all of the opponents are dead. Howsomeever, I have not given up. I plan to play a game called, “If I owned the Times.”

One more annoying trivia question. A lot of high-class journalists use the initials QED. What does QED mean? Answer: That is to be or was demonstrated. What about Savoie fair? Tact. Tempus fugit? Time flies. Sin verguenza? Without shame — all of the Republican presidential candidates qualify.)

Now that we have established that it is the New York Times and not the big Cadillac car that is the number one icon in the country, it would be foolish not to join the winning side. Not only the best newspaper (whatever is second is not even close), it is the most influential, the most progressive, the most liberal, the most honest. It is the most feared — it gets its phone calls answered. It does not edit its columnists. It is not scared of its advertisers. Only the federal government and possibly Wall Street have as much influence over the day to day activities of the country. (The undesirables are influenced by Fox News.)

I don’t know how many people in Mendocino County read the Times online. The bookstore across from the courthouse sells three copies a day. Starbucks sells the times but not in Willits. We have the PeeDee which is not all that bad when compared to the dominant paper in Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Nevada and Arizona.

Even though I mostly agree with the Times editorial position (even a left wing wacko shouldn’t find too much fault with it — and I may be one myself) there is plenty of room for improvement.

If I owned the Times (and I have several shovel ready projects lined up) I would change the masthead slogan to “All the news that other newspapers are too chickenshit to print.” I would be much less polite to idiots, stupid and ignorant people.

The first project would be what I would call “The Gray Lady’s Mandatory Questionnaire.” (Mandatory as in automatic liability insurance.) In time for the 2012 election, all candidates for the House and Senate (including the 66% who are not up for election) will receive a questionnaire which must be answered yes or no or refuse-to-answer. This will amount to around 1000 questionnaires assuming there are two candidates for each position. The results of this survey will be made available to media outlets in each candidate’s district and state, broken down by party and each candidate and his or her opponent. In case a candidate doesn’t want to cooperate, this will be reported to the media in his home district as well. We are looking for 100% compliance. Only the New York Times has the power to bring this off.

There will be the usual questions, of course, such as “Do you favor the elimination of the Electoral College?” And, “Should the filibuster rule be scrapped?” And, “Should the president be elected for a single six-year term?” Other questions might include: Are you in favor of a switch to the decimal system in the next 10 years? Is it time to start discussing a change to the parliamentary system? Are you in favor of closing military bases in foreign countries? Should the millions of undocumented aliens in the country be brought into a program that would lead to eventual citizenship? Do you hope the Supreme Court will outlaw abortion? Same-sex marriage? Do you place a high priority on funding high-speed rail? The government subsidizes the arts, public radio and TV, public transportation, the homeless — should they also make a modest contribution to all public libraries? Do you favor public funding of elections? Do you support a single-payer health plan? Shall we nationalize Exxon-Mobil?

Half of these bastards will be elected. It’s about time we learn where they stand. They will never voluntarily tell you.

R. Jouncewell

Willits

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CALLING WALLIS WILLIAMS

Dear Wallis Williams,

Are you the same “Wally Williams” whose family moved to Farmington, Connecticut when you were in high school? And had a party where you played Beach Boys records? And was involved with me in a fire alarm incident at the high school? If so, I owe you an apology. That prick Bennett (the principal) tortured a confession out of me, that I did not pull the fire alarm, leaving you the only other suspect. Please contact me through this paper.

Jeff Costello, FHS class of ’64

Portland

WALLIS WILLIAMS REPLIES

To Jeff Costello in Portland from Wallis Williams

Yes, I am Wallie, the girl you knew during our Farmington High days. A native Californian and surfer, it was natural to play the Beach Boys at my parties. Oddly I actually met the Beach Boys in Connecticut in my senior year, at the local radio station in Hartford.

Meanwhile back to the fire alarm, yep I did it to avoid the history final I was not eager to take. Bennett [principal] suspended me for 5 days though I stuck to my guns in denial, giving me time to bone up and pass the thing with a good grade. Bennett did not dare expel me, I was already accepted at a fine college and was prom queen, even being the school anti-hero. So don’t feel badly. I remember laughing out loud during the entire graduation ceremony. I was not cut out for high school, but once in college my grades shot up and I became interested in learning rather than absorbing things hit or miss. .

Speaking of which, your letter concerning the upcoming election is right on and well written. You are not alone in pondering how to handle the presidential choices and I too have decided for the first time since becoming of age, I will forgo even trying. Such a shame, I hate being a quitter. To me it seems the Democrats hand picked the Republican candidates in order to make sure Obama got back in by default if nothing else. If a dark horse appears on the ballot at the last minute, I’ll take’em.

All the educated and brilliant people in this country and We The People are given egomaniacal paper dolls for choices. So many of us are terrified for our future and can do nothing, not even pull the fire alarm.

Wallis Williams

Ukiah

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STATE PARKS’ CASH AGENDA

Editor,

There are other elements to all of this that have been hidden from view. Last May my business offered to support first one, then two, of the parks in Marin County. The park staff buried our offer as deeply as they could while continuing to tell the public through the media that no supporters were available. The Park staff wants only supporters who will fund the existing park operations with a blank check as the State had done in the past. Absent that blank check the staff will drive the parks into closure. The staff does not want any supporters to come to light because they feel that they can bully the state into refunding the operations status quo. We are being lied to by the State Park staff. There are likely supporters like us all over the state but our offers will never be considered and your parks will be closed. Shame.

Tony Magee

Petaluma

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REMEMBERING LEONARD

Editor,

Leonard J. Cirino: poet, reader, editor, publisher, teacher, friend. Leonard died at 11:30am on Friday, March 9, at home in Springfield, Oregon. He’s out of his pains. Here’s my last message from his good Lady Ava, on March 7.

“Bud, [GB] — Thank you for your help. Also, I will pass along your message, too. Leonard is a little more alert since starting a medication that helps reduce his confusion (caused by the buildup of fluid from the failing liver.) I’ve been reading cards and letters to him but realized today that he can handle only so much emotion at one time. So I will make every effort to share this with him when he is receptive and relaxed. He’s not reading his email or writing at all. He is turning more inward and is less interested in what goes on around him. He’s clearly preoccupied with the most basic needs. Yet there are the times when he bestows one of his dazzling smiles on us and we know he’s still our beloved Leonard. Thank you, once again. — Ava

* * *

I decided to read some of his poems at the open reading last Sunday in Willits. He’s written nearly 30 books. I easily found a selection of about 5 minutes, and some of it will be aired on KZYX.

In the process of handling that material, I found myself understanding that all these lines are now real, not provisional or tentative, as they seemed when he might have made changes. This is the record, in full strength as such, without my own distracting questions or critique. And I hear it in his gentle voice.

Gordon Black

Mendocino

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COLLINS TRANSPARENTLY REPENTS

Dear Editor,

Recent events have changed my mind and I want everyone to know about my Conversion, especially the folks at KZYX. Once I was a radical and a believer in Direct Democracy. Not any more: I have transformed myself into a Moderate Liberal. Why? Because it is very dangerous to speak Truth to Power. Dreadful things happen when one eats from “the forbidden Tree of Transparency.” It’s so much easier and smarter to tell power what it wants to hear. Besides, the folks in the Mother Ship in Philo know what is best for all of us. Here’s my Open Letter to my liberal colleagues wherever they are:

* * *

And so it came to pass that I, King Collins, ate from the forbidden Tree of Transparency and it emboldened me. I loved Transparency and promoted it as a cure for Bureaucracy and related diseases like Arthritis.

But I was Unlearned and Wrong and I was cast from the mash Garden of KZYX. And yet I continued to try to convince everyone that “Transparency Makes Good Radio.” (This and other misbegotten documents are unfortunately available at www.greenmac.com .)

Oh how reality has smitten me. Too late, I see how dangerous Transparency can be in the hands of Common people. Look what happened to Mubarak and Quaddafi.

And so I stand before you, a misguided Shadow of a man, to confess my Sins of Anti- authoritarianism. In Shame I must follow the long road to Rehabilitation. I am told that, with sincere and concerted effort, there may come a time when I will no longer Yearn for “Member Control” and “Direct Democracy” and that crazy stuff.

There is so much that Nobody needs to know. Like What the Agenda is, or What happened to the Money those Suckers collected for the Ukiah studio? These things and many others should be kept behind Closed Doors, bounced about on the board listserv perhaps, but Not in Public. No need.

Besides those Questions bring up History. And we don’t need History. Better to operate in a perpetual present.

I know I have been wrong, a miserable ex-believer and User of the T word. The stubborn few who continue to use the T word in relation to our station are Misguided, possessed of the Devil Weed. Like Heretics of old they should be Burned at the stake. But I exaggerate. A little. They should be shunned. Their names forgotten.

Humbly submitted,

King Collins,

Reformed Moderate Centrist

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MOVE TO AMEND

Hello Anderson Valley friends;

Signature gathering for a county ballot initiative for the November election has started in Mendocino County. We need 5000 county registered voters to sign in the next several weeks.

This is part of a national movement, Move to Amend, calling for a constitutional amendment to disallow corporate personhood; it’s being done city by city, county by county, state by state. Check out the website at MoveToAmend.org

Signature gathers are needed in Anderson Valley. There will be an orientation session if you want some training. Written materials are ready. South Coast were first out of the starting gate and they are racking up the numbers… several hundred in a week or so. Ukiah is getting started and having good success as well.

If you want to help in this effort please call or respond via email and we’ll connect with what you need.

Unity

Lynda McClure

Boonville

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FRANKENSALMON

Dear friend,

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is preparing to approve genetically engineered salmon, which would be the first genetically engineered animal on supermarket shelves in the United States. The salmon is engineered to produce hormones year-round that cause the fish to grow at twice its natural rate. But without labels, we’ll never know.

We need to speak out now, because there’s just 10 more days until the FDA must respond publicly to a petition calling for labeling of genetically engineered foods — and we need to make sure the FDA knows how ordinary Americans feel about this issue before that deadline.

That’s why I submitted a comment to the FDA demanding that genetically engineered foods be labeled. And in about 30 seconds and with just a few clicks, you can join me. Will you tell the FDA that you support mandatory labeling of genetically engineered foods too? (www.justlabelit.org)

Please, log in and click on that link and contact the FDA today. They need to hear from more people like you and me.

Thanks!

Dennis Jones

Cottage Grove, Minnesota

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WHY I OCCUPY

Dear Editor;

I joined the Occupy Mendocino movement to work with publicity and the Fighting Foreclosure Committee. We joined with Occupy Petaluma and participated in weekly telephonic conferences from which I learned alot about foreclosures and the need to raise community awareness through Foreclosure Prevention Zones. See www.occupy-our-homes.info to learn more.

To bring light on the corrupt practices of the major banks the Occupy Movement planned a statewide direct action at county recorders offices. On March 12th, Occupiers in Sonoma county singled out the Mortgage Electronic Registration System (MERS) ,which was created by the mortgage industry to track changes in ownership of loans as they are packaged and sold on the secondary market.

Tim Nonn of Occupy Petaluma and other critics say the electronic registry does not have the legal standing to claim ownership of the mortgages in its data base, making it illegal for MERS to foreclose on mortgages. He said “This is a call for action by homeowners to fight back and not be picked off by the banks!”

Four homeowners protesting with “Occupy-the -Crime-Scene Day of Action” went into the Mendocino County Recorder’s Office

to get copies of their deeds of trust to see if they were part of the electronic registration system, which now covers 60% of mortgages.

The registrar helped one of them to find MERS stamped on his deed of trust and other anomalies. He wanted to re-fi, but they could not find who owned his mortgage.

I believe because of the way lenders repackaged loans into mortgage backed securities- a process which requires multiple, seperate transfers or assignments of loans from the original lenders to several intermediate Special Purpose Vehicles, that then pooled loans into securitization trusts created specifically for the buying, selling and trading of residential and commercial loan pools- it makes it impossible to find who holds the loan/mortgage and makes it impossible for home owners to refinance loans in spite of TARP funding specifically for that refinancing.

On the other hand , Phil Ting, the S.F. Assessor said “Foreclosure fraud at county recorders offices throws into question the right of corporations to foreclose without legal documentation of title.This also means there is no clear chain of title in foreclosure processes ”

MERS was set up by the banks to increase their profits and avoid paying assesors fees. Petaluma lost $200,000 in fees and $800,000 in declining property taxes.

MERSCORP CEO,RK Arnold admitted that MERS saved its members over $2 billion dollars in county recording fees.

There have been 61 foreclosures in Mendocino County from January to Feb. 8th. Another 500,000 are in the pipeline statewide for 2012. Also there were one and a half million foreclosures in CA since 2008.

By the end of 2012, foreclosures will cost California homeowners and local governments an estimated $650 billion.

Homeowners have been left to fend for themselves.

What can can the City Council do to let the homeowners know they are not alone? By declaring Fort Bragg as a Foreclosure Prevention Zone we can let the banks know that we stand behind homeowners who face fraudulent practices of foreclosure. The City Council can declare that as soon as a homeowner receives a notice of default of payment of mortgage they must contact Susan Nutter 964-3711, a retired Real Estate Broker or Petaluma Broker, CJ Holmes, at www.occupy-our-homes.info for help.

Citizens should know that banks like BofA, Chase and Wells-Fargo, have been practicing predatory lending, refusing to refinance mortgages, use delaying tactics, fake affidavits. CJ Holmes said — – “Foreclosures are often fraudulent because the servicer,( the bank) or foreclosure trustee or it’s agent does not own the mortgage note. This makes them strangers to the loan contract and was a result of failing to legally perfect transfers of the notes in the securitization process.”

United as a community under the banner of Foreclosure Prevention Zones the Fort Bragg City Council or any Community Services District can educate citizens and urge them to call government officials for an indefinite statewide Moratorium on Foreclosures. It will take a grass roots effort to educate and mobilize citizens to contact their government to stop foreclosures now.

The CA State Attorney General, Kamala Harris and the Governor Jerry Brown have the power to call an indefinite Moratorium on Foreclosures until the AG’s investigation is done. During the 1930s, 28 states imposed Moratoriums on Foreclosures. We can do it again.

Thank you for your attention.

Agnes Woolsey

Mendocino

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BAD CLASSIFICATIONS

To the public:

My name is Nick Randolph. I am currently incarcerated at Mendocino County Jail for alleged possession of drug paraphernalia. The reason I am writing this letter is the injustice in the jail’s new classification system. Only one who has been to prison is automatically put in max lock-down 22.5 hours a day with a restricted commissary of $35 a week, while right down the hallway the protective custodies — where they house child molesters and snitches, most of which have also been to prison — these people who have committed these heinous crimes receive the best Mendo has to offer. They get full day room privileges from 9am to 11pm and $75 a week commissary plus a TV that is twice the size of ours. The reason I know this is when I am out for my hour and a half, I see them about 150 feet down the hallway enjoying their snacks and dayroom with the extra-large television set.

So is the Mendocino County Sheriff trying to say that child molesters and snitches are better than general population which we should be not in maximum?

Sincerely,

Nick Randolph

Ukiah

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THE GODFATHER OF JAILBIRDS

Editor,

I just read about Vern Piver. This awesome man reminded me of another elder who by the way is still alive and kicking though struggling with health issues. The man I am referring to is the one and only, the godfather of us jailbirds, Glen Glass. This man religiously donated, volunteered and prayed for not only stand up organizations but even made his way into the county jail to give words of encouragement and support to us shit-ass addicts and criminals whether circumstantial or outright perps. Mind you, behind every good man is an awesome woman and I believe she shouldered more than her share of his persistence to say the least — an old-school role.

I am writing to express my feelings because I was touched by the Piver article and just wanted to share my gratitude to Glenn while he is still able to fully appreciate my/our appreciation of his heartfelt service to the Lord, family, friends and that pretty much includes most everyone in Mendo County.

From what I hear through grapevine is that good old Glenn is making the best of his late years inside a mental institution hospital in the Bay Area. I have known him personally since I was a child and as I struggled to help my ailing grandfather after diabetes took his toe, then his foot, then his leg below the knee, and a stroke left him half the man he used to be. So I am aware of the troubles of our elders. I am told that Mr. Glass is still handy and helping run the maintenance at the nut house and as I send my final hug, I can only pray that you, my father, my brother, my friend are all happy, healthy, horny, hungry, humble and hopeful. I/we appreciate and remember you, Glenn. Strength is embedded within the foundation of God’s government. I know by the life laws of natives order and if they don’t follow those loving life-giving laws then they don’t belong here in heaven — as Eric Clapton said.

Blessed to know you, just one of the shit-asses,

Charlie James Schwarm V

Corcoran

PS. Addicts. If drug addicts were classified as disabled or having disabilities one idea would be to give them many small work programs to utilize the disabled in skill fashions. I believe 50% of drug addicts who have access to stable living can be productive and useful outside of prison or are assigned to programs that only allow no relapse. For example, day labor programs or clean grunt work to earn money for living commodities such as housing, food, etc. — and more for those who are more consistent and productive. If these individuals could generate through clean labor enough funding to keep them stable then the prisons and the taxpayers would be less burdened. It costs approximately $40,000 per year per inmate to be housed inside prison. Most come back due to our addiction or addiction related crimes. This liability can be turned into a disability and although we are disabled we are not useless. I’m just brainstorming to help create ideas that open up new avenues because the old paths are leading us — where again? Striving for success because setting up for failure brings us all down.

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DEVIL’S DUES GO UP

Editor,

Below is a speech on campaign contributions when I ran three times for US Congress in the 90s. The only thing that’s changed is it’s now $35,000 minimum and you don’t get dinner only a worn out speech. It seems very timely. (PS. I am now only running from Father Time.)

* * *

(July, 1998) We have reached a point where the amounts of money all candidates take in contributions that they now owe so many obligations and favors it is impossible to legislate for the good of the country. It has become fraud, bribery, blackmail or payoffs. You name it. It is like the mafia. A politician can lie to his constituents, but not to his contributors or the ultimate tragedy happens: no money. My solution to this is to limit the amount of money that any person, corporation, union, association, etc. can give to a candidate: $50.

I know they will say elections cannot be conducted on such small amounts of money. Well, let’s take an example. In a national election, say there are about 30 million Democrats and Republicans. Two million give $50 each. That’s $100 million. In a congressional district of approximately half a million, if 10,000 voters give $50 that is a total of $.5 million. Even that is too much, but it will buy a lot of beans. The wonderful part of my proposal is that it’s simple and reasonably easy to control. Will it be abused? Oh, of course. But way less than the fiasco in place now.

I have taken no money from anyone and I owe no one. What you hear is what I fight for. A while back it was $1,000 a plate fundraisers, now it is $25,000 a plate! When a bill is being drafted in Congress, there are hundreds of riders that each politician has to pay back in the form of favors for contributions. It’s the old story of the devil, in this case taking the politician’s soul for a wish. The wish is to be elected and the devil is the money.

I would limit the time of campaigning to six weeks at most. People get bored and lose interest. People have been disillusioned as can be seen by the turn out in elections. The last election in 1996, my opponents Riggs and Alioto each spent over $1 million. The winner, Riggs, after his two year salary, still owed a million dollars and the loser owed it all. Just think, in order to get out of hock what the payoff has to be even down to state, county and city positions. Corruption galore! It’s time politicians really get honest and admit it’s nuts and listen to Emil — me that is.

Emil Rossi, Libertarian Candidate,

1st Congressional District

Boonville

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THE REAL GRANGE GOOVE

Editor,

I’m Greg Krouse, Over-Seer (something like the vice President) of the Anderson Valley Solar Grange #669.

Most folks think the Grange is just that big building in Philo.

No, we are much bigger than that! Much of what America is and how our government formed happened because of Granges like this. Officially we are the Patrons of Husbandry, but our locals are called Granges. There are 240 Granges in California and many across this great nation. Granges are the core of agricultural areas and the very heart of the community.

Why? We are the community and the farmers.

In 1867 our founders saw how the new immigrant farmers, were lonely and struggling; living rugged lives. America was in disarray after a fierce, destructive Civil war. The founders knew how ritualized organizations like Masons, Elks and others helped city folks. They formed the Grange in 1867 to help devastated farmers get back on their feet. Helping folks is a core Granger value. Grangers recognized women as equal contributors and one of the key founders was a woman. A huge national experiment worked, farmers socialized, organized and shared. Grange halls became crucial social centers, and the meeting house on the Prairie.

Yet it was the greedy railroad barons, overcharging farmers in shipping, supplies and tools that grew the Granges; sprouting like new corn on a May morning. In two years 800,000 folks formed the new Granges.

Grangers used their secret passwords, and handshakes to insure new laws would protect farmers and provide a fair shake. Known as the Grange Populist movement, it engaged a nation and reined in the railroads. This role in directing government is still core to Grangers, who meet annually at State and National conventions to craft resolutions and empower their lobbyists to get changes to protect Americans and farmers. The Grange had direct impact on labor rights, sales tax, fair tariffs and women’s rights. Last year they tackled local raw milk production and pesticide impacts on bees among many important issues. Conventions are also similar to county fairs; displaying farm successes, talent and more. Grangers set the seed and cultivated the Federal government for the US Department of Agriculture. They created Coops to buy and share supplies at lower costs and shared commonly owned tools. U. S. Presidents have been germinated in Grangers. And Presidents have spoken in front of Granger conventions. Grangers have clout!

Michigan Granger, Dora H. Stockman, created a special agriculture club for children called the Four Leaf Clover Clubs, we know today as the 4 H. Granges were early to support Woman voting rights. Grangers insured the uninsured with Grange fire and crop insurance.

Just a building huh? No Granges are the very heart of the land and the mental force to keep America fair and strong.

The Anderson Valley Grange is unique. We are the first Solar Grange, and also known as the theater Grange, because of our variety show which has sent many novel acts to the State convention talent shows and wowed them. Many other Granges are following in our footsteps.

In difficult times Granges swell again to raise our common voices to rein in corporations and support good regulation. Mendocino county Granges are expanding and Ft Bragg Grange has seen the most growth in the entire nation. Willits Little Lake Grange will be the site of the 2012 State Grange Convention in October: bringing access to this unique organization to your door in October.

Our Grange is growing; associated with local foods movement and, looking to help Anderson valley folks learn canning skills, garden, share tools, theater skills provide special events, engage those committed to social/political change into the Grange means and possibly create a solar cooperative.

Yet there is one key ingredient needed for Granges to do this: You! It is through your interests and passions that we can make our valley even stronger.

Interested?

Why then git yourself down to our potluck meeting on the third Tuesday, April 17th at 7 PM, or get one of our membership flyers in the Grange dining hall or entry hall, or talk to a Granger and join us. April is the month we invite new members to join at no cost. We know we can help you find a way to contribute to your community. We are already friends, yet we can be much more. Strengthen our community by growing the Anderson Valley Solar Grange!

Greg Krouse, Over-Seer AV Grange #669

Philo

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GET THE CORPS OUTTA THE HOOD

Editor,

Help get $ out of elections; gather Amend signatures locally.

If you want to DO SOMETHING to help take control of our country back from the giant corporations, help us get 5,000 signatures countywide so we can put a proposition on the November county ballot that allows all county voters to say whether or not they think corporations should have personhood rights, super PACs are a form of free speech, and citizens have a right to regulate elecion spending. Similar campaigns are happening around the country (see MoveToAmend.org ), and you’re needed to help us do our part here in Mendocino County.

Carrie Durkee is the signature gathering captain on the northern half of the Mendocino coast, so please contact her if you’d like to help– by just circulating a petition among friends, or by tabling at Corners, Harvest or where ever. Carrie wrote:

“These are the times that I will be tabling this week. Please feel free to call or e-mail me and set up any time that works for you. Come by and ask questions, help us get more signatures, or to exchange full petitions for new ones. Come out and get trained at one of these times. You do not have to stay the whole time. Carrie.”

Monday, Fort Bragg Harvest, 12:00-3:00

Wednesday, Mendocino Harvest, 10:00-11:00

Wednesday, Fort Bragg Harvest, 1:00-3:00

See you out there

Carrie Durke, 937-2554, cdurkee@mcn.org

Mendocino

Editor,

So classic: your nephew hosts Barack Obama and you were busy walking around north beach, probably for the better, I’m sure you would have been incapable of holding your tongue, for good reason of course. I wonder what the hell is Barack gonna do after two utterly status quo, read murderous, terms in office, move to Canada? Well, to the perpetual pushover president, I retract my allegiance to your pathetic party, you didn’t save it and it can’t be saved. So I’m not quite sure what’s next: are we trying to save capitalism or to destroy it once and for all. I tend towards the latter. More wars perhaps, against indestructible enemies. We need a more hawkish president. I’m looking for a preferably one-eyed candidate who, you know, favors that character from the Book of Revelation. Be careful what you ask for comes to mind at this point, but on we go

While we’re on the topic of the apocalypse I thought I would mention, if no one had noticed, that the Shiites have won the war. They will continue to dominate and menace the region and retain minority rule in places like Syria. A Shiite-Sino-Russian alliance is a serious challenge to the projection of the Obama empire.

Ralph Nader on Obama’s State of the Union address; “Well, I think his lawless militarism that started the speech and ended the speech was truly astonishing. I mean, he was very committed to projecting the American empire, in Obama terms, force projection in the Pacific, and distorting the whole process of how he explains Iraq and Afghanistan. He talks about Libya and Syria, and then went into the military alliance with Israel and didn’t talk about the peace process or the plight of the Palestinians, who are being so repressed. Leaving Iraq as if it was a victory? Iraq has been destroyed — massive refugees, over a million Iraqis dead, contaminated environment, collapsing infrastructure, sectarian warfare. He should be ashamed of himself that he tries to drape our soldiers, who were sent on lawless military missions to kill and die in those countries, unconstitutional wars that violate Geneva conventions and international law and federal statutes, and drape them as if they’ve come back from Iwo Jima or Normandy. So I think it was very, very poor taste to start and end with this kind of massive militarism and the Obama empire.”

Well with that roast still sizzling I’ll move to the next topic. The Bob Dylan story. ‘Bob Dylan Bows Out’ was one of the most remarkable pieces I’ve read in quite a while. It seems like a slap in the face to Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair (whom I applaud) whose website Counterpunch has an ongoing holier than thou commentary about Bob Dylan, his music, his career and in general his overall inauthenticity. I’ve read their opinions on Dylan for years so finally getting a chance to hear Dylan’s side was like a lightning rod. Go Bob! I love how he went to the wailing wall in Jerusalem and donned a skullcap for a photo shoot, sent the pic worldwide, all as a ploy to get the creeps, kooks, freaks, and groupies to back the fuck off. So classic. No disrespect to Alex Cockburn or Jeff St. Clair or Counterpunch, no one’s perfect, but I would like to hear a revision on their opinion of Bob Dylan after having read “Bob Dylan Bows Out.”

I met Kevin Epps the other night at the Roxie on 16th in the Mission for a screening of his new documentary ‘Straight Outta Hunters Point 2.’ An excellent expose about a very neglected corner of this wealthy city. A very remarkable segment when it is described how the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard was contaminated by cancer-causing radiation when ships returning from World War II were washed off there. The movie provides an excellent connection between the wrongheaded and genocidal domestic and foreign policy of these U-nited States, namely the killing of brown people at home and abroad with unerring efficiency and commitment.

Ishmael Reed was named poet laureate by SF Jazz and appeared in the SF Chronicle gossip section photo alongside the ever-dapper Robert Mailer Anderson. A hint of celebrity and a whole heap of substance — now that is refreshing, kind of the opposite of Hollywood, which is a whole heap of celebrity with a mere hint of substance. I think Ishmael Reed is the most right on commentator on the topic of race in America today. I’ll quote from one of his booksleeves; “African Americans have been living under a police state, a sort of banana republic within a democracy, for 300 years. This republic has had many overseers, from slave patrols to state sanctioned racial profilers, but Ishmael Reed shows that the culture of aggression has remained the same, and popular 19th century defenses of slavery bear an unsettling similarity to arguments used today to justify prevailing notions of black inferiority.” To put it short he is an intellectual Muhammad Ali, a real frontline soldier delivering a barrage of fast powerful jabs at America’s long tradition of racism.

With that said greetings to all of the talented guest voices at the AVA. It seems to be expanding with more talented incarcerated voices adding their two cents.

The AVA promotes basic literacy in a basically illiterate society so I hold it high like a banner.

Every once in a while, the writing is so exceptionally good that I must comment. Helen Redmond in ‘NPR: The Voices & Views of One Side’ is one such story. I had no idea that anyone out there thought precisely as I do. I used to be so perturbed by NPR hypocrisy that I would call during pledge drives and quiz the operators about egregious program content such as one time I recall Neal Conan soft pitching the war criminal Madeline Albright with utter cheer and delight. Invariably the minions were incapable of forming an opinion about program content or politics and in their state of bewildered confusion five minutes into a well fueled rant I would say “See, you prove my point, this entire charade is completely without substance, I’ll listen and I’ll never pay, Forever, I promise.” Click!

In that spirit I hereby nominate Neal Conan as Eternal Reptilian Defender of the Imperial Chalice. I cannot think of anyone I detest more or who is more worthy of detesting except perhaps on weekends when my ancient ire is focused on Scott Simon, now that guy is a real pompous ASS!

I love you Helen Redmond.

And I love you Lenny Bruce for saying among other things, “To me, if you live in New York or any other big city, you are Jewish. It doesn’t matter even if you’re Catholic; if you live in New York you’re Jewish. If you live in Butte, Montana, you’re going to be goyish even if you’re Jewish. Evaporated milk is goyish even if the Jews invented it. Chocolate is Jewish and fudge is goyish. Spam is goyish and rye bread is Jewish. Negroes are all Jews. Italians are all Jews. Irishmen who have rejected their religion are Jews. Mouths are very Jewish. And bosoms. Baton twirling is very goyish.”

I played basketball with a Hungarian girl in Berkeley the other day, an exquisite pleasure, and was ready for conversion almost immediately. There’s something about a babushka and skin tight jeans. It’s like the old and the new world together in perfect harmony. I told her my Hebrew name and that my soldier had a helmet and not a shroud, aesthetically superior. She concurred and I sincerely thanked her for everything her people had brought us, including her, a robust representation of good health and genetics.

Hitler was dead wrong, and the saddest most pathetic thing I’ve seen in the modern world is poor white men in California State Prison idolizing Adolf Hitler and tattooing swastikas on their bodies. Cry for the ignorant. Man, they really got those guys in serious chains, mental and physical. I guess these guys forgot that the Nazis were prison guards. For all the self-identified Nazis maybe they should tattoo their prison numbers on the inside of their wrists and then degrade their conditions to refugee camp third world squalor, but I digress. A bunch of boys in men’s bodies being babysat by the State while they draw all sorts of offensive things on their bodies in permanent permanent ink and fight on the yard. Yeah.

Communique to a good man on the inside Michael Carson: When they hunted down Qaddafi I remembered the Muslim Chaplain Imam Jumah from B yard 1998, and the humiliation that was visited upon the Libyan people. I think of all the Syrians I used to know in the South Bay, and immigrants from various Islamic countries all with varying degrees of repression, and their stories. The reaction is visceral. Now Syria.

Well, Islamic culture has a warrior component that makes one desire to fight wickedness and injustice upon the earth and end the humiliation of muslim people, and by extension everyone else. This desire was legal for Bosnia but after 9-11 any such sentiments were clearly illegal for at least a decade until the Arab Spring. I have seen people join the resistance army in Libya, the revolution in Egypt and people will do the same for Syria. The warrior tradition is alive and well because the humiliation is intolerable. That is the greatest lesson I learned from studying Islam, that humiliation is intolerable. In that regard I submit for your consideration the Feb. 23, 2012 New York Review Of Books article “An Exclusive Corner of Hebron” by Johnathan Freedland.

I submit that humiliation for Palestinians is as intolerable as humiliation for Jews.

Nate ‘Faruq Redshank’ Collins

Berkeley

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MISSING PERSON

Dear Editor,

Could you please post this missing woman in your paper. Her name is Sarah Mitchell, 39 years old, 5’8,” 220 pounds, blondish brown hair. She’s been missing for eight months. Her friends and family are very worried about her. We think there is foul play. She was last seen in Willits at or around 24635 Birch Street. If you have seen her or have any information please call the family at 707-376-5265 or the Sheriff’s office.

Frances Seymour

Corcoran

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HEALTH PARTNER

Dear Community Partner:

In March 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) became law. Legal Services of Northern California (LSNC) received a grant to provide education and outreach around this new law, commonly known as health care reform. Beginning this year, I will spend 50% of my time on health law matters. My goal is to help Californians struggling to get health coverage understand their options, and be able to resolve problems with their health plans.

I can provide direct legal assistance, give presentations to community groups, conduct trainings for staff at community organizations or agencies, and attend community events to educate individuals about health care reform.

The Ukiah office of LSNC will continue to provide free legal services to low-income individuals in the areas of public benefits, housing, health, and civil rights law. LSNC has eligibility guidelines for our services, however with regard to our new health care reform grant, I can assist individuals regardless of income. Please feel free to refer potential clients to me, and let me know if you’re interested in scheduling a presentation or training. The attached press release and our brochure have additional information. Feel free to circulate widely.

I can be reached at:

Phone: (707) 513-1024 (direct) or (888) 354-4474 (toll free) Email: lhansen@lsnc.net  Stop by our office: 421 North Oak Street, Ukiah, CA 95482

Sincerely,

Lauren Hansen, Staff Attorney

Legal Services of Northern California

Ukiah

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MORE SEA STORIES

Editor,

In the February 22 edition of the AVA there was a letter from Chuck Becker entitled “Flying Cloud” that was very interesting and a fun read. Do you know him? And if you do, do you think that he would take a moment to recommend further reading on the same subject? There are a few of us here who have an interest in that type of literature. We have read “Two Years Before the Mast,” “The Essex” (about the whale sinking the whaling ship), and a couple of stories about Shackelford, and we would like to read more stories along the same line. If you can and if you want to please see if he knows of any others. I have a friend who will order them from Amazon if he does.

A couple of years ago you reviewed a book about Comanche Indians and another about Tiborcio Vasquez that I bought and have greatly enjoyed reading. I read the Comanche story three times and will be reading “Bandido” again in the future as well. So thanks for that.

I also read a book by Bill Gifford that’s a few years old called “Ledyard,” America’s first traveler. I think you would like it. It’s well-written and interesting — a true story about a Forest Gump type (met everyone) ne’er-do-well from the late 1700s. He helped build Dartmouth College and after screwing that up went on to a series of fortunes and misfortunes.

Take care,

Richard Dooley

Avenal

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PA SCHOOL BOARD: MISINFORMING THE PUBLIC

Dear Editor,

At the Point Arena School Board Meeting on March 9, 2012 before approval of the agenda, Trustee Susan Sandoval (I have been told is an attorney) wanted to move the second Closed Session to follow the adjournment of meeting. Sandoval stated a report can be given at the next scheduled regular Board Meeting. According to Brown Act Law 54957.7 (b) “Once a closed session has been completed, the legislative body MUST reconvene to open session.” I am not sure but I really don’t think the word MUST means a month later! However, the entire board approved the motion without a blink of an eye.

I requested to go on record regarding inaccuracies in the Special Board Meeting Minutes held on February 12, 2012. President Scanlon-Hill inquired as to what they were. I told him I had copies for them that I could pass out. Hill said, “No, just tell us what they are,” but when I started to elaborate on them, I was interrupted by DeWilder expressing to the Board he believed minutes are to be concise and reflect discussions held between Board members. I stated, “Yes, they should be concise but shouldn’t they also be accurate”? Sandoval immediately informed me I could not question the Board. DeWilder told the board he had read the minutes and they looked fine to him. Of course, after that the minutes were unanimously approved. Truthfully, I would think for transparency sake the minutes would not only include discussions/decisions by the Board but also input from community (taxpayers) members and have the minutes be concise but ACCURATE!

Below are a few inaccuracies in the Point Arena School Board Special Meeting Minutes held on February 15, 2012:

3.2 Governance: Public Comment: The minutes stated: “Once a topic has been introduced, Board President Scanlon-Hill will call for public comment giving audience members approximately 3 minutes each to make comment. After comments are made from the public, the Board will deliberate and vote if action is needed.” Actually: Hill had no idea of the time frame to give someone and stated, “We [meaning the Board] will have to decide how much time to allow.” The 3 minutes was stated but only as one option. Obviously, the board did come up with the time frame, just not at this meeting. Should not one wonder when this decision was made?

Placing an item on the agenda: The minutes stated: “If a Board Member places an item on the agenda, that Board Member will address the item by giving introductory information on the item. If they do not wish to address the items, they should clearly communicate with Superintendent Cross, the Board President and another Board Member to present the item for the agenda.” Actually: Superintendent Cross told the Independent Coast Observer this would happen prior to the meeting ever taking place but Hill never stated what is quoted above at this meeting!

Regarding moving the time to hold the Board Meetings. Not in the minutes: Doug Burkey asked when Board is considering the decision to change the meeting to an earlier time they need to take into consideration the public who might want to come to a meeting but work. Hill went on to state, “Yes, we will need to consider this.” Incorrectly put into the minutes: I never stated “if folks would have to wait outside until the Closed Session adjourned….” which is in the minutes. What I did state was, “Would we have to wait until the Closed Session is adjourned to hear what was decided from Closed Session?” I never thought for a minute the public would wait outside in the cold. Hill stated, “The Board could report out at the next Board Meeting.” He never went on to say (which is what is recorded in the minutes) “if not after the meeting.”

When Hill started to talk (at the 2-15-12 meeting) as president of the Board, how he would like the meeting to run, he first stated it was the Board’s agenda but was quick to change his opinion and state “really, it is Dr. Cross’s agenda.” What it truly looks like is, this is not only Cross’s agenda but also Cross’s minutes because most of what was in the minutes (the Board unanimously approved) just DID NOT take place at the same meeting I attended.

When I first received the agenda for March 7th Board Meeting, I noted the change in time from 6pm to 4:30pm and immediately emailed Cross to find out when the Board met to decide on the change. She informed me it was in the Special Meeting Minutes. Yes, it is in the minutes but NO MOTION was ever made to change the time only discussions the Board may consider doing this. Secondly, it was never agendized at a Regular School Board Meeting so interested community members could give input but at a Special Board Meeting. I again questioned the fact there was no motion and Cross told me I should ask the Board at the meeting on March 12th. Per Sandoval I (community member/taxpayer) cannot ask the Board a question and the Superintendent refused to answer my question. Just who is accountable in answering questions in the district? Forget the fact they have a community that does work and just might periodically want to attend a Board meeting. The majority of Board members live 45 to 60 minutes from the district so why should they be inconvenienced?

What the Board really doesn’t know and the Brown Act Law clearly states is, “Public agencies in this State exist to aid in the conduct of the people’s business.” How does this Board “aid in the conduct of the people’s business” when the people can’t attend a meeting because they need to earn a living? The Brown Act Law goes on to state, “The people insist on remaining informed so that they may retain control over the instruments they have created.” However, please tell me the name of “the person” who helps “the people retain control” and keep public agencies that are governed to follow The Brown Act Law accountable? I have tried to obtain help but to no avail. Also, how can the people remain informed when you are given minutes with total inaccuracies in them?

On a follow-up note regarding Measure E Bond Fund monies which seem to be missing. This week I received an email from Superintendent Cross and to the parties I copied with the draft of what both the Bond Oversight Committee approved and the Board approved to be returned to the taxpayers but the amount was not the amount that was transferred to be defeased (retired and returned to taxpayers) with Cross informing them, “Please be assured that on behalf of the school district and regarding the Measure E Bond Defeasance, I will respond to Ms. Rush’s questions contained in this communication.”

I will keep the readers of the AVA updated. So, stay tuned!

Respectfully,

Susan Rush

Manchester

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THE BYPASS BOONDOGGLE

Editor,

On March 28, 2012, the California Transportation Commission (CTC) will be deciding whether or not to allocate $200 million to fund the Willits Bypass. This costly bypass would be only 5.9 miles long and transport less than 10,000 vehicles per day. In 2007, the CTC denied funding for this project because of demands from areas of the state that are in more serious need of congestion relief. In response local city and county officials cried foul, and have been lobbying CalTrans ever since. It is unfathomable that this project is still being seriously considered while every year its proposed costs skyrocket.

As the attached breakdown from Caltrans shows, as of January 2012, the Wetland Mitigation expense alone is over $60 million, making this now not only a $10 million per mile “freeway to nowhere,” but the most expensive highway mitigation ever. As Caltrans and local career politicians push this project ever closer to reality, many of us still believe, as was well pointed out in Mark Scaramella’s February 22, 2012 AVA article “The Shifting Sands Bypass,” that an elevated freeway viaduct anchored in unstable terrain is an unacceptable concept from almost any viewpoint — environmental, safety, financial — except, of course, political.

This project makes a travesty of Prop. 1B funding for traffic relief in the most congested areas. Even a casual glance at the 2011 CalTrans Statewide Transportation System Needs Assessment shows numerous costly projects that would improve General Purpose and HOV Lanes and provide the traffic congestion relief voters were promised with these monies.

The same report clearly demonstrates a shortfall of $295.7 billion in available funding for projects and programs identified in the needs analysis, all of which would more effectively serve transportation and safety needs than the limited number of vehicles passing through Willits.

As to the traffic at the south end of town, the funds that MCOG has been sitting on to throw at the bypass should be used instead to just fix the problem with any one of half a dozen city-street two-lane north-south artery alternatives, proposed many times and always instantly rejected by CalTrans. We believe the political pressure applied to the Army Corps & others to push this project along and the continual rise in its costs represent the worst kind of pork barrel politics and is ripe for public inquiry, investigation, or at least public dialogue, and ask you to keep your watchful eye on it.

Please feel free to contact us for more details on the Willits Bypass Project, or our work to promote responsible transportation planning.

Yours sincerely,

Donna Kerr Bob Whitney, (707) 459-3906

Mendocino County Citizens For Responsible Transportation

PS. Mitigation expense for the proposed Willits Bypass Project will be more than $60 million

At almost $60 million, the proposed Willits Bypass estimated mitigation cost has only been calculated for actions related to the US Army Corps of Engineers 404 permit to offset the impact on wetlands. Wetland mitigation costs for the proposed 5.9-mile highway will be over $10 million per mile.

So far, the almost $60 million estimated mitigation cost to offset the impact on wetlands is as follows:

Mitigation land acquisition, almost 2,000 acres: $16,000,000

Mitigation construction costs (minus Ryan Creek): $17,850,000

Ryan Creek Fish Passage Project: $3,000,000

Mitigation short-term endowment: $11,290,021

Mitigation long-term endowment: $11,781,165

Total USACE- related mitigation: $59,921,186

Wetland mitigation cost per mile (5.9 miles): $10,170,000

In addition, the project will be required to provide additional funds, yet identified, for mitigation with the California Fish and Game Code Section 1602 streambed alteration and Section 2081 incidental take permit, the Regional Water Board Clean Water Act Section 401 certification, and the National Marine Fisheries Service incidental take permit. Total mitigation expense for the proposed Willits Bypass Project will be more than $60 million…

Source: Chapter 13 Financial Assurances, Willits Bypass Project Mitigation and Monitoring Proposal, January 2012, Caltrans

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PRESSING CHARGES

Editor,

Civil service officer of Cartier IMT —

John Marcus Palacios is always the butt of the joke. I just can’t stay out of trouble for some reason. People just don’t care about my 20 problems but I do always care about thers. I’m back in jail after I had a talk with Adult Probation and he (one member of that organization) could not handle it, the speech that is, for some reason, so he had been arrested. I was just walking by the place at the time. I’m still in jail and I have a court date on March 16 at 1:30 in Ukiah. The Adult Probation officer falsified and straight out lied about the whole incident. It seems they got unlimited resources for lifers. The moment I am feeling free it seems hell’s following me and they said I was being charged with a PC 69, a priest in progress that always gets stomped on. Thank you for your support. Please help. Give me liberty or give me death. Holding fort in County jail. I’m pressing charges back on them for violating my civil rights and unlawful entrapment by lying and false imprisonment and negligent neglect, all on false pretenses.

Best wishes,

John Marcus Palacios

Ukiah

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NOTE FROM THE GRAY BAR

Letters to the Editor:

Correspondence requested.

I am currently housed in the Gray Bar Hotel. I am a nonfiction writer (mostly true crime, ‘Charles Manson Now’ published November 30, 2010, and other nonfiction stories and present artwork, drawings, et cetera. If anyone would like to write or correspond on a Pen-pal basis, feel free to write me at my current address below. All replies will be answered.

Kenny ‘Irish’ Callahan F-17158

PO Box 409060

Ione, CA 95640-9060

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WHISTLING PAST THE METERS

Sirs/Mesdames:

We are writing to you because you allegedly have some control over PG&E. The practices of this institution have become so egregious, so irresponsible and out-of-control, that we believe they should be indicted on criminal charges.

Last year they murdered people in San Bruno. Since then, it has been documented that many hundreds of miles of gas pipelines are inadequate, inadequately inspected, inadequately maintained, and a danger to anyone who lives within a few yards of a gas pipeline — which is, essentially, everyone. No thoroughgoing repairs have been made.

We also object to the so called “smart” meters which PG&E wishes to install in every home. PG&E hopes to save money by using these wireless devices to transmit user data instead of hiring human beings to check their meters. However, to us, this seems to be a ploy to put many people out of work, in addition to installing a unit that may very well be a danger to people’s health, and definitely an invasion of privacy. Recently we learned that if we wish to “opt out” of such a program, PGE will charge us each $75 initially and then $10 a month after that. This is absolutely intolerable. PGE posts huge profits every year, and it is our judgement that they should pay us if we decide to accept the “smart” meter program. PG&E charges way too much in any case.

We sincerely hope that you will attend to this severe problem, which has been the cause of so much controversy, and either rein in PG&E or somehow establish local municipal power programs which can be locally controlled and operated.

We would appreciate your earliest response.

Sincerely,

Agnes Woolsey, Linda Jupiter, Laurie York, Adrienne Ross, Anne Marie Cesario

Mendocino

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WHY PAY GRAPE GROWERS?

Editor,

“Eight Million More.” Wow, USDA to grape growers. Seems to me there’s an imbalance in emergency government aid between agricultural crops. Are any other crops given such generous attention when pests cause damage and losses?

I don’t know if peach farmers are compensated for the costs of maintenance to protect their crops and profits from pests and disease, for instance.

I don’t believe the wine industry and grape farmers are so poor that they require aid from our struggling budgets. There are many more worthwhile projects to consider.

Virginia O’Shea

Ukiah

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LOCAL PULITZER

Editor,

Is there a Pulitzer prize for local writing and reporting? And if there is, how do we get Will Parrish nominated?

He has been outstanding.

Chris Skyhawk

Albion

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ADDITIONAL MATERIAL

Dear Advertiser,

I’m writing this letter in regards to a back issue dated July 29, 2009, and an article you published concerning “Waterboarding: The Kenny Rogers Saga” by Tim Stelloh. If there is any way possible I could get this back issue I would appreciate it very much. I’m also an indigent inmate without funds to pay for anything.

With this thought in mind I will close here and get this note on its way to you. Please advise Mr. Tim Stelloh that in the coming month I’m going to send him legal material which I’m sure will change his outlook on this subject matter — things the police or court did not want known publicly. But Mr. Tim Stelloh will be the first person who will get this information first. My respect to you.

Sincerely yours,

Richard Peacock J-21505

CSP-SATF Corcoran

P.O. Box 5242 D4-114-L

Corcoran, CA 93212

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DO THE RIGHT THING?

Editor,

What kind of world is it when a young person sees a hit and run right in front of them on their own street that they live on, they do the right thing, make a police report, and the officer is so indifferent about it that it seems like he is not listening or even cares!

When a young person does the right thing because it is the right thing to do they need to be acknowledged and praised for it. They need to hear from their authority figures that they have done a good job. Sometimes a word of praise can go a long way to a young person, especially from our police officers here in Mendoland who most people say they have their own rules they go by and only care about who they will harass next.

My daughter and nephew said, “I don’t know why we even bother, mom. He didn’t act like he cared or even write anything we said, so why should I even care?”

I said to her, “I’m proud of you. You did the right thing and maybe because you did someone else will too!”

Just a little irritated in Ukiah!

Donna Vineyard

Ukiah

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ANOTHER FREE AD

Dear Editor,

Classic music lovers in Anderson Valley will be pleased to know that Deep Valley Chamber Music Series will be presenting the acclaimed Ives Quartet in concert on Saturday, March 31 at 7:30pm at the SPACE Theater, Ukiah. The program includes Haydn’s String Quartet #38 and String Quartet No. 3 from 20th century composer Quincy Porter. It will conclude with Schubert’s String Quartet No. 14 in D minor, known as “Death and the Maiden.” Tickets are $25 adult and $10 students (8-18). Advance tickets are available at Mendocino Book Co., brownpapertickets.com or by calling 467-1341.

Sincerely,

Linda Malone

Deep Valley Chamber Music Series board member

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HIPPIE DANCE RETURNS

Groovy Grange Greetings

We are on for March 16, the traditional third Friday slot. Pilar will kick it off and hopefully the sound system will be ready (We can improvise if all the pieces of the puzzle are not there).

The third Friday is reserved for the forseeable future, so we have time on our side as we line up guest DJ’s for those slots.

We will have more trainings for the audio for the DJs as the equipment is ready. There are possibilities that one of premier sound specialist, Mitchell Holman, Mike Crutcher, Greg Krouse, and others can help you out for your first session, or just to hold y our hand.

I will not be s sound guy and will focus on coordination, facilitation, and PR for the event.

If you are interested in presenting, please give me your best months (third fridays), a blurb high lighting your dance groove music, a short bio and what ever other information or questions that might help.

A brief reminder of a little background for this event. The first Grange Groove was hosted by DJ Pete and went successfully for a year and one quarter. At the end attendance was falling off and we decided to give it a break. Much of the feedback was that people wanted more diversity in music. Though we did have a couple guest DJs. Jeff totally volunteered his set up,take down time, his equipment for the groove, not mention his sometimes ecstatic electronica, and we still just scraped by with donations.

So if we want diversity then that means we must support diversity, and embrace other styles of dance music, if we want this to be a success

The Danceometer is the final criteria` of good dance music, or in other words we got to have good dance music and a bunch of people there to enjoy the groove. There will be lots of variables for selecting time slots for DJs,so keep the faith,talk it up and most of all come to support our local community dance. Remember we might have years to do all the venues

There will be a donation jar for the grange costs and DJ support (If requested)., and a suggestion box for feedback. There will be ambient lighting,water, and possible other electronic gadgetry to augment the dance.

Again, the dance format, Dance Jam, if you are not familiar with it, is a freestyle, no partner required, opportunity to express yourself through dance groove with your community, and get a really good workout. The event is traditionally bare foot, no drugs, and any verbal socializing is encourage to be outside. The dance is a continuous 2 hour groove, and some DJs follow the Gabriel Roth format of the wave’ ,a gentle rise to peak of intensity, an the slide back down for the finale over the two hours.There is some talk of an early start half hour of warm up, stretching yoga music(730-800)

Here are some potentials after Pilar on March 16:

Mica Smith aka Reverend Lovejoy from Emerald Earth, Jerry The Jazz Master Karp, Eric Roots Blues Labowitz, Jenine Native Beat Pfeiffer, DJ Pete, the guy who supported and got the original GG off the ground, DJ Basin, a master dancer and dance jam wave master, Mitchell Holman, Mr. Cool Groove

Bruce Hering

Boonville

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NO CORPORATE PERSONALITY

Editor,

Like-minded citizens in Lake and Mendocino Counties are now circulating petitions promoting nothing less than an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to end ‘corporate personhood’ and re-establish a government of, by and for the people. Collaboration between Lake and Mendocino Counties is not new but their simultaneous participation in an initiative process to change national politics is.

At the time the Constitution was adopted, state governments limited corporate influence through charters that defined their activities and lifespan. Further, corporations were not allowed to make political contributions and lobbying was prohibited. Fast forward to January 2010, when the US Supreme Court voted 5 to 4 to uphold lower court precedents establishing the concept of ‘corporate personhood’ and extending to corporations the same constitutional rights as ‘natural persons.’ Among other things, the Citizens United decision empowered corporations to challenge existing campaign spending limits.

Many Americans believe that it is time for “We the People…” to join together to demand a Constitutional amendment to defend democracy from the undue influences of corporations and unrestrained political spending. Toward that end, grass roots organizations across the nation are working to raise awareness and solidify citizen support through local activities such as petitions, resolutions and ballot measures.

Volunteers in Mendocino and Lake Counties just began gathering signatures to qualify advisory measures for the November ballot. Both measures ask if voters will stand with the Move to Amend campaign and communities across the country to defend and distinguish their role in this democracy as distinct from the influence of legal institutions such as corporations by amending the United States Constitution to firmly establish that:

1. Only human beings, not corporations, are endowed with inalienable, constitutional rights, and

2. Money is not speech, and therefore fair regulation of political contributions and spending is not equivalent to limiting political speech.

Both advisory measures also direct state and federal representatives to enact resolutions and legislation to advance this effort.

Registered voters in both counties can help place these advisory measures on the November ballot by signing a local petition. Petitions will be circulated in Lake County until mid-May; Mendocino petitions until early June. If you have trouble finding a local MTA petition or would like to help gather signatures, please contact Margaret Koster in Mendocino County at (707) 459-5970 or mendomovetoamend@gmail.com and Jackie Armstrong in Lake County at (707) 274-2459 or lakemovetoamend@gmail.com.

Move to Amend is a nationwide grass roots campaign that already enjoys the support of hundreds of organizations and nearly 200,000 individuals. Through its website and barnstorming tours, Move to Amend encourages folks to form local affiliates and return authority for our democracy to the voters. Mendocino and Lake Counties are among 74 Move to Amend affiliates in 27 states. For more information about local and national Move to Amend activities, please visit www.movetoamend.org .

Margaret Koster

Willits

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D’LOVELY!

Editor,

Delicious, Delectable & Delightful!

Thank you to all of the resident community members who chose to bake for the Anderson Valley Grange #669 Variety Show this year. The AV Grange Women’s Auxiliary especially appreciates your time, as well as your favorite recipes, that you so generously shared with all of us. Of course we want to also thank all of our other volunteers that help out with all of the unexpected details that are involved in such an all encompassing event. Everyone seemed mesmerized when coming up to the counter to choose which dessert to purchase. Each year the home-made delights served at the Variety Show refreshment stand makes me nostalgic — especially the handmade fudge, peanut brittle, Meyer lemon bars and strawberry pie, oh my! The aroma of fresh popcorn always takes me back to the memories of my first visits to movie theatres. Thank you one and all for helping to build and grow a thriving and successful community! A good time was had by all and we’ll do it again next year — De-wonderful!

Anderson Valley Grange #669

Women’s Auxiliary

Mendocino County

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ONE NATION, UNDER $

Editor,

From a radio report — Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae are asking for antoher $4+ billion “loan.” This’ll bring the total to $150 billion these two agencies have cost the taxpayers, so far.

According to CNN, the TARP bailout program cost $356.2 billion. Also, according to the same source, we spent $577.8 billion on federal stimulus programs. The 2012 budget for the Department of Transportation is $128.6 billion. Agriculture costs another $115.5 billion. The financial rescue package cost another $1.5 trillion.

But the big daddy of them all is the toll for kicking ass around the world. Funding entities like the Pentagon, the CIA, Fatherland Security, Lockheed and Blackwater is staggeringly expensive — in the trillions if you count everything — probably half of the federal budget.

None of these functions are required by the Constitution. (The framers were especially wary of standing armies.)

However, the post office is mentioned. Article 1, Section 8, Paragrpah 7 of the US Constitution states Congress has the power to … establish post offices and post roads.

At present, the postal service is running a $10 billion deficit. That’s an annual deficit. (Afghanistan costs $10 billion a month!)

It could be a lot worse and still be legal. There’s nothing in the Constitution that requires the postal service to be run like a business — let alone profitably. It’s a public service for crying out loud — a service for unifying the nation.

Yet, the postmaster has responded by recommending the closure of thousands of post offices, scores of processing facilities, cutting delivery to five days and laying off tens of thousands of employees — on top of the 110,000 who have already been let go.

Is this a great nation, or what?

Best regards,

Bart Boyer

San Diego

SAVE THE SCOUT CAMP

Dear Editor,

As many Anderson Valley residents may have heard, the Camp Masonite Boy Scout Camp is struggling financially and is currently up for sale. Long story short, their inability to dam up the North Fork Navarro behind the camp to provide for boating and kayaking access has apparently hampered their ability to attract the big groups needed to keep the funds rolling in. A decrease in local participation in scouting is probably also a major factor.

I’d like to see if this community could generate some ideas to help keep this facility in the hands of the Scouts. The facilities are currently available to the public for rental use, but who knows what would happen if a sale occurred to an outside entity? I was thinking about an affordable day-care or recreational center that the Deep Enders (and beyond) could use on those rainy winter weekdays? Do you live nearby and need day care? Do you know anything about running a day care? Or, do you have any other suggestions on how to help support this facility as well as the community? Please let me know.

Thanks,

Kirk Vodopals

From the Deep End, 357-1095

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REMEMBERING DARROL & DAVID

Greetings all—

Today, I received an email from Darrol “Hank” Cox, a member of the Anderson Valley Facebook page, who went to school in Boonville, as did his older sister Laurie and his older brother Donald. Although Don was not in the graduating class of 1974, he was in our class for many, many years when their family lived on the Nash Mill road. Unfortunately, Hank advised me today that Don passed away over the weekend, due to health issues. Don lived in Kansas City, MO, and had a stroke a couple of years ago, which had slowed him down. He still managed to work and helped veterans with legal problems, working out of the Veterans hospital in Kansas City. Hank told me he had a number of arrangements to make in a short amount of time, but did want all of us to know. On my personal Facebook page, under “School Days,” I have a number of pictures of Don. Hank and I had been working on Don to visit the valley in September for the all-classes reunion over fair weekend. Their sister Laurie lives in Texas, and is married with 2 grandchildren, and their mother lives in Mt. Vernon, in Washington State. I am sure our hearts and prayers go out to the Cox family during this difficult time.

Also, in communicating with Waive, Debbie and Fred Clark about the reunion, Waive advised me that their brother David, who also went to school with many of us over the years, was killed in an accident in Fresno in 1997. And we also lost graduating classmate John Ferguson several years ago as well.

If anyone would like to reach out to the Cox family, Hank’s email address is: koda@peoplepc.com, and the mailing address is Darrol H. Cox, 2600 East Division 16, Anacortes, Washington 98274

Jimmy Short

Formerly of Boonville

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O BROTHER WHERE ART THOU

Dear Editor:

With my late brother Pat’s birthday of March 25th approaching, I wanted to honor him by expressing my feelings of gratitude for having had the best of show, blue ribbon perfect example of what a sibling should be. Sadly some have never felt the bond of family or choose not to love. Pat’s love and loyalty never waivered. And, he was a superior father of two bright daughters. Losing Pat had a profound impact on me, how time is so precious and should be well spent with those you love and cherish most. I am just so thankful that we had preserved a perfect love for each other throughout our life together. I am the luckiest sister I know. Love is the most powerful way to happiness. I miss him terribly. Happy Birthday to Pat Brendlen who will always have my undying love. And I know there are many friends and family who share these feelings. My love to everyone and best wishes.

Terese Brendlen

Ukiah

Justice is being served, slowly but surely. As some may recall, my truck was broken into last June at Lake Mendocino under cover of darkness at the southern boat ramp parking lot. About $1300 worth of cash and goods were ripped off. I figured it would be a total loss as insurance doesn’t cover personal effects and you rarely hear about perps in these cases being caught. As it turned out though, the Sheriff’s Department had some guys on their watch list and nabbed them with some of my stuff. But, of course, that wasn’t really the stuff I wanted back. They did have a bunch of other people’s stuff and the District Attorney turned the screws on them pretty good. So I’m here to report that I have received my first restitution check for $21.39 from one of the thieves. Hopefully, the other perp has found a better job and his check will be for more.

So if Patrick Dale (the perp) pays at this rate it will be about five more years to recover my losses. In any case I would like to thank Deputy Denton for tracking the shitheads down, the DA’s office for pursuing the case, and Evidence Tech Debbie for making sure I got what was recovered back to me. Now here’s the good part: All this could have been prevented with two high pressure sodium lightbulbs — that is (I believe) the only two bulbs that light that south parking lot at the Lake. As the Sheriff was taking my account that day, an Army Corps of Engineers supervisor was also in attendance and I could not stress enough to him that this would not have happened had the bulbs been replaced. He responded that they would have a meeting to determine the proper steps necessary to allocate funding and determine the plan of attack to get the bulbs changed. Apparently light bulb changing is not in the Army Corps officer’s scope of duties. He added that the truck necessary for such a task was at Lake Sonoma. I left that day figuring sure, they’ll get it right on this — how hard is changing a lightbulb? So… a month and a half later I went back to the same lot to go wakeboarding with the same two great friends who had spent the night out at the boat with me and we were camping at same spot where we were on the night my stuff got ripped off. I hadn’t noticed but when my friend came to pick me up and get something out of his truck, there it was: sitting on its rims with all eight tires drained of air. At least he didn’t get broken into. This time we were pretty livid about the light situation still not being remedied. The Army Corps officer just continued with his bureaucratese about budget cuts, staffing, equipment deficiencies, etc. Two bleeping light bulbs. So if you’re wondering why the country is broke — well, we only hire the best and the brightest.

INSUFFICIENT JUSTICE

Dear Editor:

Great article by Susan Green on solitary confinement ( the Gray Box) Our criminal justice (?) system is based only on punishment. We ignore the other part of that equation: rehabilitation. This missing aspect in our criminal-industrial complex is keenly pointed out in a novel on India titled Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. In it a tribal elder says “Justice is not only the way to punish those who do wrong. It is also the way we try to save them.”

Marshall Curatolo

Oakland

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BYPASS THE BYPASS

Editor,

Mr. Thompson shall not have made any comment on the supposed ByPass since he does not live in or around Willits and since due to re-districting he no longer will represent our district of Willits but he will represent the Calistoga area. Caltrans work will cost the area money plus air and water pollution, traffic congestion, noise pollution, fish habitat destruction, loss of businesses being able to stay in business, loss of revenue with summer travel going to other routes for years if they ever come back, higher crime, and more. It seems that if their mouth and their brains were in gear they (Caltrans) would Love to have an open forum to explain all that they will be doing to this wonderful community.

With Peace, Health, Harmony, Love, and Fun,

Ronald Lippert

Willits

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POT V. BEER

To Washington State Governor Gregoire, Fourth Branch of America, NORML, THCF, MPP and others who may be concerned:

In response to the recently released news item, which generally states that marijuana makes people twice as likely to have a car accident after smoking marijuana, it seems appropriate to get some university professors and lawyers to do a statistical study of existing DUI records. Part of the rationale for doing the study would include the need to have accurate information available when the necessary DUI laws are rewritten to accommodate medical marijuana patients and possible legalization as a recreational drug.

DUI files are done at taxpayer expense and the data concerning blood-drug levels of alcohol, THC, cocaine and meth — without names of course, should be available to the taxpayers. It is entirely possible to get a group of compassionate PhDs, lawyers and private research companies to convince a judge to order the release raw data from the files so it can be analyzed in statistical form.

Sooner or later, we are going to need to know for sure whether marijuana is more dangerous than beer or not. If professors are too tied down with reputation issues, scientists from private genetic, nutrition and market research companies can provide facilities and expertise to produce valid statistical work. It’s about time to get some real research in front of American’s eyes.

Sincerely,

John Scatchard

Seattle

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COORDINATOR IS GOOD ENOUGH

Editor,

Given the many others who have much to contribute on the subjects of local food and local economy, it was humbling to be included in the conversation hosted by Lucy Neely and Will Parrish. Thanks to both of them for making it happen.

I want to clarify that I was not the chair of the Measure H campaign. My role was that of coordinator, under the direction of the “mother of Measure H,” the erudite Els Cooperrider, and a great hands-on steering committee.

Doug Mosel

Boonville

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NO MORE MINI-MANHATTAN

Dear Mayor and fellow members of our Alameda City Council,

Recently I sent email to you all. Only one of you could manage, at least, to use the Reply: link and say, “Thank you for your interest.” I thank that One, and you know whom you are.

Ron Cowan has been openly buying favors for too long. Elected council members have been prostituting their votes to be purchased by Cowan in his quest for more millions at the expense of us residents.

The golf course is just great as it is. The sand dunes Cowan offers for trade is smaller, in a terrible and inaccessible location surrounded by heavy commercial buildings and served by many vehicles including 18 wheelers.

The idea of having a recreational facility for any age genre in such an inaccessible location is ludicrous. Can’t you sensibly imagine children riding their bicycles from their far-away homes to this location? Well, it seems that there are those of you on our Council who have no imagination, only under-the-table greed.

I will admit this: Some of you have the honesty to openly admit that your vote has been purchased even stating the dollar amounts of Cowan’s purchase price. (No doubt there are other under-the-table benefits left unmentioned. Such are politics.)

If the sand dunes are such a great place then why is the Harbor Bay Business Park not a booming location for business? The remoteness, cold wind and noise from OAK do not make an ideal location for pleasure, and apparently not for business either.

Some of you on the Council claim that the increased traffic on Island Drive and the few feeder streets would not be a problem as the resolve lies in simply synchronizing the existing and future traffic signals. I ask these “experts” to try to synchronize the existing signals on Otis from Island Drive to Grand Street; Broadway from Otis to Blanding; Park Street from the bridge to Otis et al.

Council has allowed our once quaint city to become a miniature Manhattan of traffic made worse by South Shore Center, and now an increase is planned. Let the spin begin (or continue).

The City of Alameda should not be partners with Ron Cowan; and my future votes will attempt to thwart such a romance.

Respectfully,

Carl Flach

Bay Farm Island Resident, Alameda

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HOME INVASION!

Editor,

This Little Town—

I had just gotten done with an oatmeal bath and was lying naked on my bed putting coconut oil all over me when I heard my gate open, then the back door, and then heavy footsteps through the house. I called out my friend’s name who will usually call first or at least announce himself at the door. Into my bedroom bounded a demon: he was a shirtless man in his twenties, very buff with a shaven head.

“Do you have a gun?!” he screamed. “I want a gun to kill myself!

“I don’t have one!” I shouted back. He left the room, I leaped up, and the coconut oil went flying. I went to the bedroom door and saw him in the kitchen.

“ Get out of here! Get out of here!” I yelled.

He grabbed the biggest knife off the counter, went out the door, and started down the road toward my neighbor’s house. I went for the phone, slipped on the coconut oil, and landed hard on my elbow and knee. I called my neighbor.

“There’s a maniac coming your way! Lock your door! Call J, I’ll call P!”

I phoned 911 and described the madman that was on the loose in our neighborhood. I heard shouts from down the hill–he had barged into the neighbor’s house again asking for a gun. I heard shouts back and forth–the demon went on to another neighbor and tried to break her gate down. A pickup truck came down the road and I flagged it down; it was a member of the local volunteer fire department who had heard the call on the scanner. I saw the demon heading back up the hill just as my friend pulled up from the other direction.

He got out of the car and I screamed at him. “ Get over here, now! There’s a maniac coming up the hill! Here! Come here now!” For some reason my friend went back to his car for a moment and then started over when the guy passed by. Now he was waving a hundred dollar bill.

“I’ll give you 100 dollars for a drink!” he said. There were no takers.

The demon maniac continued up the road with C and the fireman walking behind at a cautious distance. The CHP flew down the main road missing the little lane and 911 was called again. When he got up to the main road the CHP was coming back up the hill and another was coming down, they both stopped. The cop got out of his cruiser and commanded the demon maniac madman drugged-out parolee to stop. He reluctantly did then when the cop called out for him to get down on his knees and put his hands on his head. He did that but when the cop told him to get down on his stomach he refused. The cop kept telling him to get down on his stomach as he approached the neighborhood marauder brandishing a gun or a tazer or something; he seemed to be holding a shield of some sort.

“Shoot me! Kill me!” the demon screeched. “Kill me!”

The two CHP approached until they joined up by the guy, still commanding that he get down on his stomach. He still refused and by now two more CHP had pulled up as the call had gone out during a shift change. All four cops went down on him to subdue him and they hog-tied him by the side of the road.

This little town? Yikes!

Paul Modic

Garberville

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AVA-SAUK CITY?

Hi AVA!

Hope you’re doing well these days. I still enjoy reading the AVA.

The reason I’m writing is to see, if in your well-read past, you have ever heard of or read August Derleth, of Sauk City, Wisconsin.

I won’t go into detail, you can read about him in Wikipedia.

You can also read the history section of the Free Congregation of Sauk County at freecongregation.org.

I accidentally became the president of this group a couple of years ago and, in the process of learning local history, learned of local author Derleth.

Reading his works, I am reminded much of you and your life in Boonville, as well as Oregon!

Derleth poked fun at residents as you have done, and his books sold well locally for the same reason the AVA has sold locally, because people were amused to see themselves in print, some of the time.

He served on the Board of Education, protecting teachers from criticism by a reactionary Catholic church in a village that is still today 60% Catholic.

I have only recently learned that it was LeRot Gore, the editor of the Sauk City local paper, who started the “Joe Must Go” campaign in 1954, trying to get enough petition signatures to recall Wisconsin Senator Joe McCarthy. The Free Thinker tradition is still there in Sauk City, though definitely diminished.

If you have time for any additional reading, I think you would enjoy reading some of Derleth’s work, though my memory is so bad, I can’t remember which book most made me think of you as I read it. Right now I have just finished “The Shield of the Valiant” which does not include the humorous anecdotes and amusing descriptions of local characters, but does cover his years on the school board.

If you ever come to Madison, WI you should come and be a speaker at the Free Congregation! We would love you!

Regards to all,

Briana Burns

Black Earth, Wisconsin

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YOO HOO, GIRLS, I’M BACK!

Warm spiritual greetings,

Worshipping the Goddess — After returning from the NYC and Washington D.C. Occupy camps, I have firmly decided to change life direction. After 40 years of being celibate (except for occasionally using spit to deter stress and relax) I wish to

resurrect my social life. I am a devotee of the divine mother Kali, and have cultivated a spiritual life in the vedic-upanishadic tradition, including a spiritual trip to India in 1994. I wish to meet women for a meaningful lasting relationship. This is good!

Craig Louis Stehr (craigstehr@hushmail.com )

Oakland

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ARMED & DANGEROUS

Dear Editor:

As an addendum to last week’s alert re Michael Hardesty of Oakland, who uses the aliases “Al Blue” and “Nathan Branden Jr” to spill his hate-filled bile and has thus been banned from many forums, I should also add that another of his fake names is “Marcy Fleming,” whom he calls his “girlfriend” but who utilizes the same jargon and bigotry as Mr. Hardesty. Hardesty now calls me “Heil Hitler,” and would also like us to know that “Most normal people are homophobic” and that, true to form, he is well armed. He thus issues violent threats. So we are all so warned, not that anybody sane would want to go near this fellow — and which must be why he needs to invent his allies. Of course, if there was any real proof any of these folks existed, some of us might feel compelled to apologize. But I am not holding my breath for Bigfoot to show up either.

Steve Heilig

Marin County

Ed note: I met the pop-eyed psycho once when he cornered me on the stairs of a Bay Area bookstore event to babble breathlessly on, as I recall, about Ayn Rand, the worst fiction writer in the history of our language who used the novel form to advance her fascist “ideas.” They’re only a stutter step ahead of the LaRouchies but there are a lot more of them. Naturally, the Randians are in full support of this country’s worst political instincts as represented by the loons running for president as Republicans. Crush them whenever, wherever you can!

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HOUSING AUCTION APPRECIATION

Dear Editor,

This letter is to express gratitude to the AV Winegrowers Association for designating the AC Housing Association as the beneficiary of the silent auction at the recent Alsace Festival.

The Winegrowers Association was supportive in every possible way from providing physical support (auction tables, portable microphone, for example) as well as practical guidance for some of us who had not participated before in conducting a silent auction.

The Housing Association will use the proceeds from the Alsace Festival silent auction in furtherance of the Housing Association’s work to provide salubrious and safe affordable housing for people who live and work in the Anderson Valley. Our capacity to accomplish our work depends in large measure upon donations. Hence our appreciation for the significant donation from the Winegrowers Association.

Sincerely yours,

William W. Sterling, President

Anderson Valley Housing Association

Boonville

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DEBT, BAD & FUNNY

Dear Ukiah City Council Members:

Honeywell’s $3 Million Dollar Proposal for New Water Meters and Conference Center Renovation:

A review of the Honeywell proposal dated March 7, 2012 shows that they expect an increase of 6.12% in revenues after the installation of more accurate water meters and that this will net the City $276,845 per year. The total cost of the water meter replacement and leak detection project ($2.5 million) would be paid by we the consumers through higher water service charges. Should the smart water users, mostly small homeowners and renters, elect to reduce water consumption through modest conservation measures in the home, then the extra revenue Honeywell predicts would disappear and the City would be faced with paying off these municipal bonds out of general funds.

The companion proposal would cost $592,000 to upgrade the Conference Center with cleaner carpets, more comfortable chairs, and a commercial kitchen that would allow hosting banquets cooked right there on the premises! This taxpayer debt would supposedly be paid back by avoiding the rental of commercial kitchen equipment that costs $62,400 per year. (I have never heard of “rent-a-kitchen” but that’s what Honeywell says and they’re a major Pentagon contractor after all!) What would happen if the kitchen was upgraded and no high rollers elected to have banquets there? What would happen if these happy conventioneers elected to have their banquets catered by Padrona, just a block away, or from the soon-to-be-refurbished MacDonald’s a few blocks down Perkins Street? Again, no revenue stream to pay off the bonds.

The City of Ukiah took on two municipal bonds in 2010 totaling $8.43 million at interest rates that will reach 5.75% to 8.0% at maturity. These high interest rates reflect the City’s poor credit rating and declining property tax revenues as the economy staggers and homes go “financially underwater.” Hundreds of home owners have already experienced or are currently threatened with foreclosure in these dire times. To burden taxpayers with $3 million in new indebtedness for the ephemeral savings predicted in Honeywell’s proposals would be the height of irresponsibility.

I have not heard anything this funny since Robert Preston as the “Music Man” conned River City into buying band uniforms to prevent the youth from falling into sin and corruption at the local pool hall.

Respectfully,

James F. Houle

Redwood Valley

PS. Regarding your Talk of the Town “Lacey Lynn’s loose on North State Street.” Those Deputies were remarkably restrained:

Surely a dagger and dirk

Hidden under her shirt

Warrants a blast of Red Pepper

If that don’t stop her, taser her!

— Jim Houle, President,

— Citizens for Suitable Responses

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APPROPRIATE MUSHROOMS

Dear Editor,

If Jeffrey Walter (re: Bruce McEwen’s article of two weeks ago, ‘Appropriate Is As Appropriate Does’), had offered me a psychedelic mushroom at a concert, I, too would accept it. Instead of adding it to spaghetti sauce, I would follow the traditional native American medicine usage — ingesting the fungi on an empty stomach. I was at home when a young friend’s friend, fresh from the hunt, arrived with his tiny mushrooms. Since it had been years since I had last indulged, my helpers decided that I, then 71 years old, should take only one. The ensuing energy boost motivated me into a cleaning spree, then a walk up the trails looking for wildflowers and lichens to visit the guests and friends.

Apparently neither Ann Moorman, the judge, nor prosecutor Beth Norman, nor our current crop of bought and paid for legislators, have figured out that drugs are synthetic chemicals. Neither wild nor cultivated fungi are laboratory produced synthetic chemicals, aka drugs. Nor can green or woody stemmed herbs, cacti, or other plants, no matter what their medicinal or recreational uses may be, be classified as drugs. A good portion of the war on drugs is therefore a war on plants. This simple step into saner thinking could reduce much of our jail/prison population, lighten the enormous burden on the taxpayers of maintaining these non-productive institutions, and remove some of the profiteering by the legal establishment. Think of the long history into antiquity of the useage of the banned plants, a history which crosses cultural lines and boundaries.

Back to Jeffrey Walter’s case. Mr. Walter drank some beer while giving away some psychoactive mushrooms at a concert? Is that all? Did he cause a row? Start a fight? Behave obstreperously? No mention of anything like that. Our criminal law, not administrative law, requires harm. Please prove, Judge Moorman, Prosecutor Beth Norman, if there is any accountability, that this young man caused harm as grounds for arrest. Was there an outstanding warrant for him? No mention of this. Irresponsibility in the indiscriminate gift giving of psychoactive fungi seems to be the worst thing that Mr. Walter did. Judge Moorman is correct in that some of these recipients may also use legal or illegal drugs. Legal/illegal drugs are the two sides of the same coin. Were there any complaints from the strangers who accepted the mushrooms? If not, how can you prove harm? It seems that Mr. Walter lacked an understanding of the spiritual use of the sacred psysilosibe mushroom.

How is imprisonment or jail going to help this young man? In my opinion, it won’t. What about schooling or community service instead?

What our finest practitioners of alternative medicine pretty much agree on is that taking synthetic chemicals causes harm. There are reams of studies, years upon years of evidence-based studies proving the harm these synthetics cause, including death and its increased likelihood. Imagine enforcing criminal harm penalties against Big Pharma, Monsanto and the biotech corporations. The harm caused by these giants is beyond measurement.

Sincerely,

Dorotheya M Dorman

Redwood Valley

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BRING BACK REEL FISHING

Editor,

Restoring California’s Fishing Communities and Ocean Ecosystem —

Don Sack, a hook-and-line fisherman in the tiny Humboldt County community of Shelter Cove, has a proposal that could restore California’s fishing communities and ocean ecosystem.

“Trawling — the dragging of huge nets through the ocean — should be banned. Federal fishing allotments, which now overwhelmingly favor huge trawlers over shore-based hook-and-line fishermen, should be changed to allow local fishermen to harmoniously harvest ocean food as we have since time immemorial.”

A recent tour of Shelter Cove revealed empty campgrounds and a fishing fleet of only four boats. There used to be hundreds of small fishing boats.

Don Sack and other local fishermen describe schools of rockfish with millions of metric tons, which they are forbidden from catching by federal and state regulations and allotments. Meanwhile, huge trawlers drag nets at every level through the ocean, scooping up everything in the ocean ecosystem.

“I’m a third-generation fisherman,” Don Sack explained. “Now I can barely make a living not because the rockfish are gone, but because of fishing allotments, regulations and fees which make it impossible for shore-based hook-and-line fishermen to operate. The trawlers get virtually all the federal fishing allotments. Trawlers employ few people and operate out of distant ports, often sending their catch to overseas markets. A lot of their ‘bycatch,’ fish too small or of species they don’t want, is tossed overboard. I see it as rotting biomass destroying the natural ocean ecology. Some bycatch they sell as ‘surimi,’ a low-quality fish paste which goes to the corporate food industry.”

The Shelter Cove fishermen call themselves the “Mosquito Fleet,” because they operate with hook-and-line as an intimate and harmonious part of the ocean ecosystem. “There could be hundreds of shore-based fishermen, generating thousands of jobs in local communities, all up and down California, if we were allowed to fish with reasonable regulation.”

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) now has policies which are eliminating shore-based, independent fishermen nationwide, and encouraging giant trawlers, offshore oil drilling, wave energy experiments, and other ocean industrialization. This destroys local livelihood, makes the nation’s nutritional crisis worse; and only the wealthy can afford to eat wild-caught, high-quality ocean food.

We need congressional representation devoted to supporting local shore-based fishermen and their communities, and protecting the ocean ecosystem from drag-net trawling. Local people have a right to harmoniously harvest ocean food without unfair fees, regulations, and denial of access.

John Lewallen, candidate for US Congress

Philo

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TREATMENT, NOT DEATH

Letter to the Editor

Wesley Chesbro, Assembly Member, 311 N. State Street, Ukiah, CA 95482. Open Letter to Wes Chesbro:

In addition to sponsoring AB 1863 to reimburse Mendocino County for $41,000 of the costs of hunting for Aaron Bassler, wouldn’t it be wise to sponsor Laura’s Law/Assisted Outpatient Treatment (LL/AOT) legislation that does not require each County to vote to implement it. California is the only one of 44 states that requires this. If Laura’s Law had been in place, Aaron would have received the Assisted Outpatient Treatment he needed six months before the tragedies began. We tried to get help for him in Mendocino County and there was none and still is none today. Requiring all 58 counties to implement LL/AOT seems to mean, tragic preventable deaths, followed by County Mental Health resistance, constituent-driven petitions and educational programs, and/or wrongful death law suits that require a County to implement LL.

AOT/LL is a national success in increasing public safety, saving money, and helping people with severe mental illness turn their lives around. It is supported by many national and state law enforcement agencies and others.

California can’t afford not to implement this important legislation at the State level. The California Millionaire’s Tax, Full Service Partnerships pay for the needed wrap-around services so County General Fund money is not used. See research and legal information at www.Treatment Advocacy Center.

Why do you keep choosing preventable deaths and exorbitant unnecessary costs, over patient treatment for people with the most severe mental illnesses?

Sincerely,

Sonya Nesch, author of ‘Advocating for Someone with a Mental Illness’

Comptche

I am writing in response to the article regarding the disappearance of Chris Giauque. The article was composed of some facts, some theories, and the ludicrous speculation that I was somehow involved.

A critical fact left out of the article is that I, Scott McKinney, have passed a polygraph examination proving that I had nothing to do with Mr. Chris Giauque’s disappearance, and the results of this polygraph examination have been provided to law enforcement. Let the record be clear: I had nothing to do with this tragedy. I love this community very much, and I have worked hard to earn respect. I have a family of my own, and I empathize with the anguish suffered by all involved. My heart goes out to Mr. Giauque’s family, and I wish the family closure on this issue. Accordingly, I am willing to add to the reward money so that whoever is involved can be brought to justice. I, too, want justice for Chris Giauque and his family.

Again, I have passed a polygraph on this matter, and I am willing to add to the reward money. That should be part of the discussion.

Scott McKinney

Humboldt County

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BEHIND OCCUPY EUREKA

Editor,

It is seeming easy to fall into vilifying another, especially if one appears to be homeless and unkempt and we haven’t bothered to get close enough to understand and appreciate them for who they are (or may even suffer from) before making up our minds. It’s part of our upbringing in America, to avoid close encounters of these kinds with those who seem bizarre, or say, having different appearances. . . not dressed as we are… part of what happens in having our lives daily conditioned by teachings, which form our cultures prejudices and misconceptions.

Two Times Standard reporters several year ago chose to pose and live as homeless for a few days and their whole perspective changed.

As much as we at ‘Occupy support homeless causes and watch out for their welfare at the courthouse, none of the disturbances caused by 1 or 2 on drugs or mentally ill, confronting folks entering or leaving the building have ever been part of our work. We do our utmost to intervene and end these and other conflicts. But this is not what local government and police reports say, even as they know full well who is responsible.

We chose the courthouse for this campaign, because it represents the seat of local control and sits at the crossroads for thousands passing every day. We followed in the Spirit of ‘Occupy Wall Street in doing so 24/7, not knowing what this would mean.

Background helps so much, before making any summaries. We’ve run smack into the workings of human nature here, in that a segment of public perception has been distorted and inflamed by almost total misinformation of What ‘Occupy Eureka is doing, precisely at the moment when the substance of why we’re here has got to be absolutely clear.

Nothing, but more of ‘We The People’ participating and working together now will bring healing we must have in these crucial times.

The Tunisian protests constituted the most dramatic present day nationwide non violent rising up of its people against the corruption, malice and greed of its government, resulting in police use of force against demonstrators, yet the people prevailed and their government was replaced within 28 days. The sordid truth of that regime, supported by this government, was exposed by those same set of official leaks put out by Bradley Manning. But human nature and the immensity of the U.S. government with its variety of military might and tools have been used to undermine ‘Occupy protest here and taken its toll on the movement, while it’s been further thwarted here by those locally who are willing to believe government and its police forces and their public lies, their misrepresentations, which have undermined public perception here.

A recent Northcoast Journal article subtitle states; “Courthouse Camp Crumbles.” What does that mean, for it is almost as undermining, in words, (for those who read such a report) as police who have illegally raided in darkness to destroy our protests, brutalizing some activists, tearing apart these non violent direct action camps, stealing hundreds of pieces of equipment over these past 3 months, despite our numerous arrests and charges being thrown out in court? Why this huge disparity in the truth that continues being reported?

Oft repeated police allegations in press releases vilify our presence, lie about the charges (proven false by numerous videos and pictures (beyond being recently exonerated in court) always intimating that the numerous calls they have had to answer and costs to the department were somehow the fault of peace activists and all of this reporting picked up by local press.

Even their own police cameras, focused on us in the courtyard 24/7 will vindicate who’s been offensive, who’s broken up conflicts, who continuously and daily cleans & maintains this shared public space.

The minute officials knew we were using the courthouse water spigot to wash dishes and daily clean the area, it was turned off. They turned down our immediate requests to allow us to obtain porta potties at our own expense, while simultaneously calling our camp unhygienic and telling us to leave. The prisoner visiting area rest rooms were finally closed to anyone without ID’s, and sometimes are just closed to us altogether; urgently needed prescribed medicines not allowed to one activist jailed after being beaten by police in one raid.

As to the allegations of our danger to the community and the reason for their raids. Where were the explosives and if that was their reason for raiding, why never bothering to search before dumping all personal gear across the street on their first raid Nov. 7th — obviously of no importance to them at all, as was being rid of us. Now we hear of some rocks mentioned, as if they too apply to this movement. Is this kind of scenario to follow us despite the huge urgency of our real concerns?

Why we asked District Attorney Paul Gallegos, did he not elect to simply approach us with search warrants, which would have quickly cleared that matter. Why choosing to use force to eliminate and criminalizing activists unless it was part of governments orchestrated strategies against this protest and peace activists?

Local law enforcement knows quite what’s going on in their own courtyard, knows who is responsible for any of those allegations against protestors, which have brought harsh criticism by a few. . even divisiveness being expressed by some who support work for change yet tend to believe police reports, before the truth can surface. Police chief Merle Harpum knows the truth, even as articles quotes him as saying how ugly this protest has become,…saying he favored it at the beginning, but this is simply not believable by the county correspondence we received right from the beginning, after some outbursts from drunk and mentally ill already directed at people entering and leaving the building.

Such misinformation and exploiting of our efforts are absolutely part of why we protest against local government, as surely as we must its counterparts in DC.

On the other hand despite difficulties with dealing with certain homeless, the goodwill and friendship are intact too, for we understand their problems, understand their outbursts, knowing they’re far removed from the comforts of home, all of what they own of clothes and sleeping gear heaped on benches, many essentially refugees on the front door of this government, as surely as 3rd worlder’s dispossessed by this governments endless wars of exploitations, making immigrants of 5 million alone, in the illegal Iraqi war.

It’s why we continue to urge for real answers by setting aside, at least some space in Eureka for homeless sleeping and camping, without having them face harassment, arrests, ticketing, beatings or worse and destruction of their worldly goods.

It takes so much to unravel the consequences of misinformation, once it’s made public.

In the Journal’s reporting, what is more projected is someone jumping up to gain their attention and “getting it.” But this totally ignores the urgency imposed upon Americans and literally the whole human race, which ‘Occupy is attempting to make clear in bringing millions to their feet behind this great movement. It calls for us to act collectively to avoid these devastating consequences.

As strange, say, as would be a report on a theater performance and coming away with a story of someone in the lobby disrupting, as if being part of what happened on stage, even newsworthy enough to make it appear as if the performance itself was less important and even made more insignificant by such an occurrence.

What do we make of the continued daily encouragement shown by so many who drive by, the hundreds who have signed up to receive our reports, research studies and calls to action, those many who write back and/or wanting to be friends on Facebook.

Virtually thousands seem to “get the message” and know why they bother to support and feel inclusion is sorely needed. They did so as soon as this movement emerged, because they already knew why this corporate run and corrupted government with its fatally flawed policies could no longer be allowed to lead. Those hundreds who have brought home cooked meals, coffee and sweets, loads of other snacks and beverages, equipment, flags and other useful gifts, the thousands who have honked and do so every day, the thumbs up, the Peace signs, the waves, the smiles, the fists pumping, the yells or stopping long enough in their work day to say “keep it up!” the young, so responsive, seeing we mean to stand up to this tyranny.

Of utmost importance is how ‘Occupy Eureka is home to a wide variety of the most opinionated, diverse, committed people, working shifts mounting to hundreds of hours or organizing events, reflecting all kinds of backgrounds, trainings, passions, directions and visions, but inclusive, because “it’s got to be” to meet the urgency of our times! Eureka’s campaign events have all been part of a packaged message, while stressing one crucial issue then moving on to another, because of the heap and grossness of too many to sum quickly.

There’s no time for bickering over differences, as if our chatting and putting particular spins to these times is worthy in face of this military industrial complexes 24/7 incursions into our lives, happy to have us so diverted, while it proceeds with its slow, methodical elimination of everything we hold dear. “Oh’, we say, “Its only a little more,” not remembering the insidiousness of these generations of its gross and accumulated effects!

Berkeley campus in the 60s rising up over the administrations refusal to allow tabling! That’s all it took back then, when thousands surrounded police who were prepared to take away their organizers. “Odious times” they called it as Clark Kerr, then Chancellor spoke naively in wondering why such a fuss when, after all, students were there being prepared to be spokes in the wheels of corporations.

Obama signs the National Defense Authorization Act saying he doesn’t agree with certain parts, but it’s so-called law now, to be used against us, defying and further burying the Constitution.

The most controversial provisions for Use of Military Force (AUMF) and detention provisions is to indefinitely hold U.S. citizens arrested on American soil on suspicion of being terrorists. The FBI has already raided, broken into homes and offices of anti-war and international solidarity activist, taken their equipment, cell phones, computers and paper records.

Our freedoms under the First Amendment and Civil Rights are almost gone, what’s left under attack by further methods in use by government. We’ve got to come to grips with this truth, re; indefinite detention, warrant-less searches, secret evidence, war crimes, assassination of US citizens, secret courts, immunity from judicial review, continual monitoring of citizens, our freedoms being eroded, extraordinary rendition, transfers to torture prisons — all of it!

The noose is tightening in this era of repression!

Our protests have been covering:

• Insidious drain of endless war/trickle down violence into all levels of life.

• Insanity of gov/corp maliciously subjecting us to nuclear energy, our greatest source of cancers!

• Banks outright stealing billions from us

• Millions of our homes being foreclosed upon

• The incredible need of health care for all, thwarted by the ugliness of corporate health insurance making billions off ever higher premiums in buying Senate unwillingness to give us Single Payer Health Care for all, as tragedies unfold and millions needlessly dying yearly lacking care.

• Loss of funding to sustain our many human services and higher education

• Labor unions and joining their workers.

• Prison treatment and police brutality

• Global warming and the death wish of racing to drill for oil OR natural gas in refusal to seriously begin ending use of carbon based sources

• GMO foods and the Monsantos.

• Support of eliminating corporate personhood.

Our list goes on and shouldn’t come as a surprise!

Extremely complex times makes it necessary for the ‘Occupy movement to be savvy about the entire, incomprehensible hell of this death wish of consumption fantasy we have allowed ourselves to be chained with. No matter how absurd it sounds, we’ve run out of options and must deal with the totality of such reality!

Many of us continually ask ourselves how long will it be before all this is self evident to most Americans?

It means changing the whole dynamic in going directly to the sources, the abusers and our deterioration under domination of corrupted, hoarding corporate/ government with their objectives worldwide. The rich robbing and eliminating the poor and “yes” it’s right here in Humboldt too!

It’s a huge “Wake Up Call…” “finally” able to ‘see our huge losses’, see our own diminishing humanity, like as having been drugged, under the influence… and finally resolved to shake the addiction!

Nothing, but a huge collective effort will bring the changes we’re after!

Jack Nounnan for

Communities For Justice and Peace, Humboldt County.

Eureka

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SCHOOL MATH GETS AN F

Editor,

What a surprise. The Independent Coast Observer (ICO) still got it wrong! The one and only reason I wanted to address the board in the first place was to ask why there was a discrepancy in the Christy White (auditors) Report stated on the Measure E Bond Fund to the tune of $233,250. Ms. White the reporter of the ICO informed the public on February 17th that she was told by Dr. Cross, “the money discrepancy Rush is inquiring about went toward improvements to school structures, which have not been paid out yet.” Who would not question this?

Ms. White contacted me on February 22nd and informed me Cross misunderstood the question and the funds are not missing at all. I believe this misunderstanding would have never taken place if Hill would have not violated Brown Act Law in the first place and allowed me to asked my question.

However, Jim Ewert, Staff Counsel for the California Newspaper Publishers Association stated, “Rush did not speak up before the consent agenda was approved by the Board.” “I think in this case, if the woman (sounds a little sexist to me but I will let it pass) wanted to make a comment on the consent agenda, she should have spoken up sooner.”

Unfortunately, the information presented to this man must not have been factual. Yes the Board (with a capital B) did approve the agenda but it was only the meeting agenda and NOT the consent agenda. I not only submitted the proper forms but raised my hand (diligently as per Ewert’s instructions) prior to the consent agenda went to the Board for approval. Unfortunately, the relatively new reporter, Ms. White, does not know the difference between approval of the board agenda and “consent agenda because I was emphatically informed by Hill that I could not ask my question. Again, not one board member corrected him. Thus, Mr. Ewert, the violation of Brown Act Law took place. Am I wrong? Please, next time get the facts straight.

The only reason I pursued to question the difference in monies reported in the audit report was due to the ICO’s article quoting Cross as saying “the money discrepancy Rush is inquiring about went toward improvements to school structures, which have not been paid out yet.” I was informed on 2-23-12 by reporter, White, this was a misunderstanding with Cross regarding the question asked. Did anyone happen to mention that anywhere in the 2-24-12 ICO article?

This is the breakdown presented to both the Bond Oversight (BOC) and the Board (give to the ICO but not published) and what they approved in January 2011: Gualala School Funds — $1,799,131; Undesignated Revenue + $95,119; Bank/Audit — ($12,500); to defease (retire the bond) — ($33,500) (total amounted to $30,095, including wire transfer, per KNN Public Finance); amount taxpayers were to have returned to them was a total of, $1,848,250 per the approval of both BOC/board. The amount given to KNN Public Finance should have been $1,881,750, instead of $1,848,250. Of course, this means amount to retire the bond was deducted twice and this was not what was approved per BOC or the Board. There were two subsequent fees (amounting to $6,500) which I am not sure were included in the $12,500 or not because that was never broken down but for the sake of argument, let’s say they weren’t that still leaves $29,905 unaccounted for. This is the breakdown presented to both the Bond Oversight (BOC) and the Board and what they approved in January 2011: Gualala School Funds — $1,799,131; Undesignated Revenue + $95,119; Bank/Audit — ($12,500); to defease (retire the bond) — ($33,500) (total amounted to $30,095, including wire transfer, per KNN Public Finance); amount taxpayers were to have returned to them was a total of, $1,848,250 per the approval of both BOC/board. The amount given to KNN Public Finance should have been $1,881,750, instead of $1,848,250. Of course, this means amount to retire the bond was deducted twice and this was not what was approved per BOC or the Board. There were two subsequent fees (amounting to $6,500) which I am not sure were included in the $12,500 or not because that was never broken down but for the sake of argument, let’s say they weren’t which would still leave $29,905 unaccounted for and which also means the taxpayers were charged twice not once to defease the bond.

Thank you AVA for getting the real truth out to the public instead of trying to skirt the real truth about real issues the public has a right to know.

Respectfully,

Susan Rush

Manchester

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THE APPEAL TO…

Editor,

The cover story in the March Discover Magazine is about the possibility of a “overturning Einstein,” speculation respectable enough to also receive attention in specialized scientific journals. There is a prospect of modifying “Einstein’s model of space, time and gravity — and send physics off on a bold new course” where “some of the most fundamental things cosmologists think they know (including the existence of ‘dark matter’ and ‘dark energy’) would have to be revised.”

Could such a revolutionary concept lend courage to those who long for exposure of taboos which shelter conservative, liberal and even “progressive” ideologies and myths from change? In what ways do our increasing problems resemble those past collapsing civilizations? How have conditions and knowledge changed since our founding documents were conceived which render untenable accepted truths about rights and liberty, government, religion, the value of and sustainable place in nature of human life, etc.? What distractions deter a useful discussion leading to a fundamental change?

Judging by occasional insightful letters by thoughtful citizens in various magazines and newspapers, there is an informed constituency for leadership willing to place the opportunity to educate above the drive to achieve office.

The AVA, alone among publications with columns open to anonymous comments which protect contributors from charges of “racism,” “bigotry,” Nazism, etc., could open the door to meaningful discussion.

Is anyone “out there” interested enough to respond to this appeal?

Name Withheld

Fort Bragg

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SOULS SEARCHING

Dear Editor:

Now that the population has passed seven billion, the last thing the planet needs is more people who think “personhood” begins at conception. If passed into law it would be as much of a legal fiction as that corporations are “persons.” Neither the conjunction of two cells nor a bunch of paperwork meets the definition because both lack the very thing that makes us human: the presence of a “soul.”

Those who are opposed to abortion under any circumstances might do well to factor studies such as that of Helen Wambach (Life Before Life, 1979) into their moral calculus. A hard-nosed clinical psychologist, the author hypnotized 750 subjects who, to her surprise, were not only able to remember their own births, but “past lives,” and a “between life” state as well. Most were able to pinpoint the time their “souls” entered the fetus. “89% of my subjects,” she writes, “expressed the feeling that their consciousness was something separate from that of the fetus, and they did not experience inside the fetus to any degree until at least the sixth month. A majority of subjects did not experience the fetus until just before birth. Of those who reported joining the fetus from conception to four months, their descriptions indicated that they might also have been experiencing in and out of the fetus.”

As far as the bearing this might have on the morality of abortion the author concludes: “One impression that emerges from these 750 cases is that birth — and indeed living another lifetime — is perceived as a duty and not a pleasure. The soul currently has a choice as to which fetus to enter. If one fetus is aborted, apparently it is possible to choose another. In some cases, the soul who will occupy the fetus is in contact with the soul of the mother and can influence her decision regarding abortion. My data also indicated that souls can elect to leave the fetus or the infant body and return to the between-life state. Perhaps the sudden death syndrome in infants may be the result of a soul decision not to go ahead with a life plan.”

Aloha,

Bill Brundage

Kurtistown, Hawaii

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HELL ON EARTH

AVA:

Thanks very much for publishing that excellent and brave article on the history of solitary confinement and its destructive effect. I have long been aware of the supermax prisons, but did not know when/how this new, pernicious and terrible wave had begun. When I was in prison at McNeil Island in 1969-70 for refusing induction, 90 days in the hole seemed to be the max in the federal system. By any standard I did easy time and little time, but in my case I emerged with my ambition gone, replaced with a tendency to be a recluse and a great fear of ever returning to prison. Despite my academic degrees, I spent 28 years as a school custodian and never does a day pass that I do not remember prison and the damage it does regardless of one’s guilt. Truly, if there is an institutional Hell on this earth, the supermax prison qualifies as one example.

Lloyd Dennis

Lodi

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ABUSED BY FOOD

To the Editor:

I’m currently an inmate in Mendocino County jail. I’m writing about the food here at the jail.

I was arrested in July of 2011 and upon arrest I was 205 pounds, at 6 feet tall. In the 11 months that I’ve been here, I’ve gone down to 155 pounds. That’s 50 pounds. I’m not pleased with this at all.

My strength, mental clarity, and overall emotional health has seemed to decline as my weight does. I face first degree murder and attempted murder charges, of which I did not commit. My ability to focus in court has been affected by the lack of food. Just tonight, the medical staff have begun a health supplement after three weeks of monitoring my weight.

The food here is one of several ways I’ve been abused and mistreated. Twice now, I’ve been put in a maximum security code by classification without reason. Both times there was no write-up for rules infractions. Once, the excuse was because I wouldn’t take mental health medication. The last time I checked, I have a right to refuse medication as long as I don’t become a risk to others or myself. I’m always compliant with deputies and I’ve continuously been completely non-confrontational with other inmates.

Why are jails allowed to mistreat us? Are they above the law?

Simon Thornton

County Jail, Ukiah

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A PROFITABLE DANCE

Editor,

We are sending a great BIG THANKS to the folks that put on the Roadhouse Romancin Dance at the Grange and gave the proceeds to the AV Senior Center. Rod and Judy Bashore were the initiators and coordinators, Judy Nelson and friends provided the wonderful refreshments, Alicia brought her taco and tamale stand which served excellent tacos of all descriptions and Dean Titus and the Coyote Cowboys gave us another wonderful night of dancing following a musical opening by Wild Oats. And, everyone really enjoyed Mike Crutcher’s photo display of Historic Valley pictures. The Lions Club volunteers managed the bar. If I’ve missed anyone that assisted, please know that we know it took a team of wonderful volunteers to accomplish this great evening. In the end, a donation of about $1500 was given the AV Senior Center. THANK YOU!

Sheri Hansen

Boonville

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THANKS FROM THE TUTTLES

To the wonderful people in Anderson Valley:

The daughters of Walter (Shine) Tuttle would like to thank every one who contributed time, flowers, decorations and food to make his reception so special. We also extend our thanks to the men and women of the Anderson Valley American Legion for their touching tribute. The people in Anderson Valley were so important to Shine and their appreciation for him and his contributions to the valley was so evident in the kindness and generosity that was shown at his funeral, grave service and reception.

Our sincere thanks,

The Families of Linda Stewart,

Doris Vaughn and Betty Hiatt

Boonville

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NOT AGAIN?

Editor:

Bigots Amongst Us: Al Blue & Michael Hardesty

I am sorry to have to report that our beloved AVA appears to have some very ignorant bigots among our loyal readers.

After my little piece in the Feb. 22 edition regarding corporate-funded, anti-science “climate cranks” appeared, I received an email from one “Al Blue” asserting that (1) climate change is an “AL GOREAN” (sic) scam; (2) HIV does not cause AIDS; (3) mental illness does not exist; (4) the holocaust was a “business hoax”; (5) Ayn Rand was the ultimate economic and ethical authority.

He even called me a “lib,” but left out the fake moon landing, the 911 Twin Towers conspiracy, and Bigfoot — you get the picture. From his language, this was an uneducated person who feels he knows more and better than everybody else about complex issues far beyond his comprehension. Even without the Rand thing, his email was proof enough that mental illness indeed exists. But then, related to nothing, he called me a “Castro Street clone,” whatever that might be. Never mind that I’m straight, but I blocked this moronic bigot from further rants. He then immediately had a friend named Michael Hardesty forward a response, wherein Blue ranted some more and signed off “Oh, you’ll be reading my response as you whack off to it, ButtBoy.” Hardesty then showed he is of like mind and intellect by addressing me as “Stevie Buttboy.”

I’d not heard or read such bigotry in years. Slinging homophobic words is a sad hallmark of adolescent boys, of course. Most grow out of it, but not all, obviously (and of course there is much to suggest that those most prone to such homophobia are also most troubled by their own repressed feelings). A preoccupation with “whacking off” is likewise a juvenile trait. So I think giving these two the benefit of the doubt, and assuming they are troubled teens, is best. Otherwise there are some pathetic cases of arrested development out there, perhaps frustrated, ignorant, angry, solitary old guys, who have morphed into internet trolls and are desperate for attention, even if the only way they might get that is flinging inane insults. Some of your prisoner correspondents exhibit far higher intelligence and English skills — but may lead more productive lives.

As I expect you are already acquainted with these fine gentlemen, my apologies for bringing their names up. But I just figured other readers should know there are still such Neanderthals among us. I suspect they are well-armed as well.

Steve Heilig

San Francisco

PS: It turns out “Al Blue” and Micheal Hardesty are the same sad fellow (he also uses “Nathan Branden”, after the tragic Ayn Rand acolyte – what a role model).  Multiple online identities are common among internet trolls, who tend to get banished from reasonable adult forums. As is no doubt widely the case with this pathologically lying bigot.

Ed note: He’s one of these guys who should be assaulted on sight, and would be if he popped off in person like he does under his array of aliases. We 86′d him years ago but he slipped back in under a couple of pseudonyms, writing more or less like a sane person until, unable to contain himself within acceptable parameters of adult discourse, he veered off into the kind of juvenile insults you’ve suffered here. He’s also banned by all the Bay Area publications, if it’s any consolation.

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EVIL CONS, IN & OUT

Editor,

Evil Criminals.

Yes Toto, there are some evil crimes locked away here in the Gulag. Every day the “fair and balanced” media, whether it’s the idiot box with “no spin,” the radio, or print journalism will disseminate stories about the evildoers’ activities. but there are many of the same ilk out there in society who are not locked up.

But not all prisoners should be relegated into the evil category. Many years ago a couple of banditos, en route to a federal courthouse to have more dozens of years added on to their already lengthy sentences for depleting various banks of their cash deposits, managed to slip free of their numerous chains and handcuffs and relieve the marshals of their handguns without hurting them. Since the marshals weren’t of the “bully-boy” persuasion, the escapees soon mailed their guns back to them.

After befriending more banker gentlemen — sometimes it’s amazing how friendly some folks can become when you display in your hand your determination to insure their cooperation — their professional combine organized a 500-man task force to stop these depredations.

While doing time before his escape, one of the duo had written a letter to a poor Chicano lady whose brother had been found in his cell with his neck in a noose — hung up dead. She had then sent him $20 even though she had five children, no husband, and had to take a bus to work every day.

The cynical adage has it that no good deed goes unpunished. Nope, not always. In this case the two law breaking desperadoes bought the lady quantities of food, took the two young twin girls out for movies and dinner, purchased new clothes, gave the mother a car and a substantial sum of cash.

Their exploits were dramatized via one of the most pernicious, ridiculous and absurd of the media — a movie. This twisted caricature portrayed the baddies as just one day casually hopping on a truck and driving out of a prison. Then one was pictured as pleading with his partner to let him kill the marshals. Of course nobody whose perception of reality is more advanced than that of a lobotomized three-toed sloth should believe such nonsense — except perhaps certain Bureau of Prisons prisoncrats. After being captured, sentenced to life without parole despite the fact that nobody was injured, nor any shots fired, while working in an assigned prison job near where trucks drove past, when the movie appeared, one of the convicts was cast into the “hole” for three weeks. That wasn’t enough. In an exercise of professional penology, the administrators looked up another unfortunate who just happened to be working on the same job. That will teach him not to be assigned to a job where he had to work alongside a notorious baddie whose exploits were portrayed in a move.

The other member of the dangerous duo was in ADX lockdown forever on unspecified conspiracy suspicions. Just-Us in action.

Ronald Del Raine

Victorville

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IT’S ALL OVER

Dear Editor:

One of my best reads of the week is Off The Record and in particular when you write about the chicanery, fobbish behavior, and self-dealing of the northcoast politicians. All of these unsavory traits are layered over by an incredible level of incompetency. I get the impression that may of these politicians like Chesbro have never had a real job but rather have spent their lives feeding at the public trough. Unfortunately, you are not alone with this problem. In the City of Sacramento we have a mayor who has a towering ego along with a total lack of leadership skills. There are times when council meetings resemble a WW2 battlefield. One keeps hoping that instead of the current bunch of knaves some good citizens will run for office but I am afraid H.L. Mencken had it right when he wrote “It is inaccurate to say I hate everyting. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty, and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible for public office.”

In peace,

James G. Updegraff

Sacramento

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PUT ON A HAPPY FACE!

Editor:

Are you happy? Chances are, if you live here in the United States, you are not. Despite the enshrinement in our Declaration of Independence of the phrase “Pursuit of Happiness” as one of the sovereign rights of mankind, we are way down on the list of the happiest countries in the world. In fact, we are not even in the Top 10.

According to a new study by “24-7 Wall Street” that looked into the OECD’s Better Life Index to determine what the happiest nations on the planet are, it turns out that the happy nations spend far more of their GDP on social programs than we do here in America. The study examined quality of life things such as health, education, housing, the environment, jobs, community, work life, and income to figure out what truly makes a nation happy.

Old, stable nations of northern Europe took five of the top ten spots on the list. These include the “socialist” Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Norway, and Denmark, all way happier than we are down the list at number 19.

Does it surprise you that the happiest nation, Denmark, also has the highest taxes of all?

As we are continually warned and berated by the tiresome scolds in our local opinion columns and letters to the editor to fear those who hold firm on providing a basic social safety net for the least among us, we must ask ourselves what motivates such a steadfast and determined assault on our personal and community happiness.

Dave Smith

Ukiah

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TWO GREAT CONCERTS

Mighty AVA,

For anyone within traveling distance of Fort Bragg, I’d like to recommend a couple local events that have become annual favorites of mine: the Winter and Spring Concerts by the Symphony of the Redwoods. Performed by excellent musicians, the shows are always transporting. And, as an added attraction, it all takes place in the beautiful, stately Cotton Auditorium (a Public Works Administration project, built in 1938). The Winter Concert is this weekend (March 3 and 4); the Spring shows are April 14 and 15. Admission is $20 for adults and children are free. Don’t miss it.

Mike Kalantarian

Beyond the Deep End (Navarro)

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IT’S THE MONEY

Editor,

The problem the Feds had with Mendo wasn’t about regulating cannabis. It was about the revenue the County collected. The County faced seizure and forfeiture of the fees it collected from regulation. The County could have continued the 9.31 regulation but refused to do so unless there was a huge windfall attached. The collection of money was the root of the problem. The Feds weren’t about to let the County make money off cannabis, so the revenue portion of 9.31 was repealed but the non-revenue County code left intact.

The State Health and Safety code allows a patient to grow an amount consistent with their current medical needs and the Kelly Supreme Court decision imposes no numerical limit. The State doesn’t collect fees so the Feds have nothing to seize.

If the County wanted to continue the 9.31 program it could have just dropped the fee collection and zip tie sale sections. The County only wanted regulation if it could financially benefit.

As always just my opinion,

Jim Hill

Potter Valley

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MANSON’S NOVEL

Editor,

Manson in San Diego (1969) when murders took place. True Story. “Charlie Manson Now.”

I watched the (CBS-8am News (world), 2/21/12) with Brie Tate on the Show along with her sidekick, proclaiming her novel about her aunt Sharon Tate and mother Debra Tate. Brie Tate stated on National TV that she was trying to keep Manson and his fellow friends (Tex Watson, Bruce Davis, etc.) who were convicted in 1971 for several murders of Tate, Folger family and so forth. Let me explain something to Brie Tate. And the USA?

I was in Corcoran State Prison, level 4-SNY with Manson from 1992-2010. We both assisted an author in the only authorized novel by Manson titled: ‘Charles Manson Now,’ published on 11-30-2010. Sharon Tate used to hang out at the Spahan Ranch with Manson, Tex Watson, Bruce Davis, Sandra Good (Blue), Lynette Fromme (Red), etc. and they rode horses, partied, hung out all the time. So why does not Brie Tate publicly state this? (She will not do this, as it will cast serious doubt about her aunt, Sharon Tate.) And why doesn’t Brie Tate tell the American news media, public, that the night of the Tate murder Brie Tate called her about Sharon Tate to come pick up her horse saddle? Sharon Tate told her niece to come pick it up in the morning. She came by in the morning only to see (LAPD) homicide cops-news media at her aunt’s house. Now if Brie Tate went over to her aunt’s house that night, she would not have been on CBS News on 2/21/2012. She’d be buried next to her aunt and her mother Debra Tate who passed away in 2010 from cancer.

I’ve personally sat down for years with Manson in Corcoran State Prison (l-4-SNY) and he told me first hand information about Sharon Tate, Folger family, and so forth. They all partied together in the Hollywood scene in the late 60s, partied at the Spahan ranch, also smoked weed, took L-25 (LSD), rode horses and hung out. Manson was in San Diego (1969) when the murders took place. Manson had a court hearing that day. People should read the only authorized novel by Charles Manson titled “Charlie Mason Now” that tells the real story.

Kenny ‘Irish’ Calihan

Ione

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FREE PRISONER ADVICE

Editor,

Regarding the February 15 article, “The Gray Box.” There is a book titled “We’re All Doing Time” by Bolozoff with a forward by the Dalai Lama published by the Human Kindness Foundation. In my humble opinion it could benefit those in confinement. It used to be if a prisoner was to ask, they would receive a free copy.

Best wishes,

Hillary Beckinston

Little River

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SAVINGS? WHAT SAVINGS?

Editor,

Reference your short blurb in Off the Record, 2/8/2012, (and Greg Krouse’s many letters) about the extortion conspiracy between the CPUC and PG&E to charge customers to opt out of the Smart Meter program: We now know what it will cost us to forego Smart Meters (an arm and a leg), but we still DON’T KNOW what savings, if any, will be passed along to customers as a result of eliminating analog meters, meter readers, vehicles, etc., etc. I have been asking that question of both entities for over two years now and have yet to get a meaningful answer. The closest they have come to an answer is along the lines of “some savings should eventually accrue, but we cannot quantify them for individual customers…”

I even escalated the correspondence to Governor Brown, suggesting it was past time to somehow break up this too-cozy marriage between the so-called regulators and the power monopoly. No response. Hell will freeze over first!

Sincerely,

Stewart Bowen

Suisun Valley

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TUMBRIL NOMINATIONS

Dear AVA,

As Alexander Cockburn’s tumbril makes its inexorable way towards the scaffold, I hope room can be made on board for the following shibboleths: 1: Shibboleth, 2: Zero-sum game. 3: Back in the day. 4: It’s all good. 5: Good lookin’ out (?) 6: Inanimate objects that “boast” their attributes. 7: Quixotic. 8: Any comparison of anyone at any time in any fashion to Adolf Hitler. 9: The adjective “manicured” when used to describe anything besides fingernails.

Yours,

D. Bullock, loyal subscriber

Ione

PS. Thank you Carol Pankovits for assuming the standard in the battle for journalistic accuracy. The AVA staff has become justifiably tired of my constant kvetching and will no doubt be glad to learn I have given up.

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MARX WAS NO LIBERAL

Dear AVA,

Lee Simon from Far ‘n Away (Letters: 02/22/12) might have mentioned that the Übermensch, Nietzsche, lived with his mother and died of syphilis. Also, maybe Simon can tell me where Marx wrote anything to support his idea that “Marx held that there is inside of every human being, a moral compass, a conscience, and that people will be good to each other if….” He makes Marx sound like Liberal and as big a crackpot as Nietzsche.

John Wester

San Diego

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DAWN PATROL

Dear AVA,

Charlie Schwarm here. Just saying hello in good spirits and with the highest of hopes that Mendocino is all in all Mendocino. I ran across a paper from 2009 and Kenny Rogers’ waterboard guy, Mr. Peacock, is my cellie. What a mess. Anyway, we send ours. Also I am sending you ideas and poetry. Love your honesty. Keep people informed for us.

Upon a Morning Dawn: Awakening, though the only song we saying is mourning for life and beyond the sun shines, many voices ring upon a morning’s dawn with everything fresh and striving forward leaps and bounds and all the sounds that make us a human herd, a familiar word spoken as the sunlight feeds and warms upon a morning’s dawn, our past, our future, cleansing storms, the land, the sea, the air we breathe, precious and granted another day, upon a morning dawn, a new seed is planted.

Charlie Schwarm

PS. Here are some tax ideas:

At least 5% tax increase on the rich to go toward business and government institution reform inside the United States. The goal would be too uncorrupt and reevaluate our moral business conduct with stronger leadership and discipline by self-government. Large business owners simplify all the dealings to basic services offered. Extra curricular state or federal funded programs that are not necessary or that are not meeting standards or hurting more than helping to be dropped. High schools to try vocation or job skills teaching to better prepare graduates for entry into the workforce out of high school. A two-year watchdog task force assembled to oversee and inform on any area to area police in low-lying government injustice or corrupt practices. Put all ideas online to help in fashioning ways to live within our means.

I am under the impression that the high-class rich are not against pitching in their share, but are leery about the agenda that this extra tax will be going to support. I believe that such a debt as the US has can only be repaid if we become economically stable, profitable and morally aligned in discipline. By strengthening ourselves we will be able to repay our mismanaged funds. From self-knowledge and the ability of knowing that when I am unstable I create an environment that is unstable, but when I am healthy then and only then am I able to help others. We must invest and help regain ourselves so that we can function and then reach to help others around the world. The priority is our home — without a home what do we have?

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OPEN REDEVELOPMENT NOW!

February 28, 2012

To the Board of Supervisors, Mendocino County

Re: Redevelopment Agency Oversight Appointments

Under AB 1-26, just approved by the California Supreme Court, the local Redevelopment Agencies will be dissolved and oversight panels appointed to arrange for the dissolution of the entire Redevelopment program. The panels appointed will include representatives of the Board of Supervisors, the Redevelopment Agency staff, the school districts, other special districts and the general public.

As with most government undertakings and particularly these Redevelopment Agencies, what started out decades ago as an attractive-sounding program to eliminate urban blight and increase low and moderate income housing soon became just another ugly pimple on the administrative corpus, using tax increment financing to pay for an expanded staff, the taking on of high interest bonds at times when these could least be afforded, and channeling an inordinate share of RDA tax revenue funds to pay for commercial development programs far removed from blighted areas and poor folks housing. While our Governor has now thankfully put a lid on this bloated program, we are left with a conundrum: just how do we dispose of the properties acquired, bonds taken on, and unneeded staff. And must we continue the unnecessary subsidization of a CostCo store?

Rather than allow this Oversight task to be handled by the same people who nurtured the RDA pimple, we should let the public and our elected representatives participate in effecting a cure. Do not appoint RDA and other administrative staff to oversee their own demise for they will quite naturally do all they can to hang on to their jobs and perks as long as possible. And do not, as the Board of Supervisors, take the recommendation of staff to dodge responsibility by not personally participating in this messy business. You will find, as I have, that the mechanisms of the local RDAs are byzantine in their unneeded and often deliberate complexity. You will be advised that such things are not suitable for comprehension by normal citizens, and do not merit the attention of our Supervisors with their broader focus on public policy. This is all nonsense of course. Our government administrators have purposely shielded the workings of the RDA program from public view and even from review by the City Council or the County Supervisors since the beginning. Let’s stop all of this right now!

Respectfully

James F. Houle

Redwood Valley

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NO LIE?

Editor & Fellow AVAers,

Even a bird with a long neck cannot see ahead. When one door closes, two open. Nations last as long as their topsoil. Demonstration is the purest form of information. It’s close-up time. As George Washington Carver tells us, “Plow deep while the sluggards sleep.” To burn the fields in the southern states for cotton was like burning the outside bills on a roll of greenbacks; turn the soil under. “Gratitude is the fruit of the great cultivation.” For harmony you must use black and while piano keys. In 1271, Marco Polo made ultramarine blue paint from lapis lazuli he bought in Afghanistan. George Washington Carver produced indigo blue from red Alabama clay. “One bright branch growing against the wall is grace.” Boll weevil where you bn so long? You stole my cotton, now you want my co’n. “No hungry nation can protect its flag.” Beets the stripes. Potatoes the stars. All flesh is grass and the goodness thereof, the flower in the field. When a country becomes dusty it’s time to water. As 1998 was the wettest year in California’s recorded history, the next decade was drought because we used up all the water. Mas bajo, not so loud, i basta! Enough. En boca cerrada no entran moscas, a closed mouth catches no flies, or, Ask me no qeustions and I’ll tell you no lies.

Boll Weevil, let’s larva

Diana Vance

Mendocino

Editor,

Re: “Let Them Eat Yachts” —

That’s a great story, just a few personal details and some historical trivia to add.

I joined my first ship, the APL cargo liner SS President McKinley, at Pier 29 in September, 1969. Your first ship becomes you first love, and she was a magnificent beauty. A C-6 six hatcher, booms and guys and topping lifts and cargo runners from here until the cows come home. We crossed westbound to Yokohama, basing ourselves and that ship to pieces, in what the Second Mate claimed was record time. It was five days and something, as I recall.

The crew was Sailor’s Union of the Pacific on deck, Marine Firemen, Oilers, and Watertenders in the engineroom, Marine Cooks and Stewards in the galley. The officers were Masters, Mates and Pilots for the Deck Officers and Marine Engineers Beneficiary Association for the Engine Officers. At 18, I was steeped in first and second hand stories of the 1934 waterfront strike.

I sailed for 40 years, the last 26 as Master, but there are only two ships I care to recall. President McKinley is the first, and the last ship I took delivery of as Master, USNS Rappahannock, which I was responsible for 11 years, is the other.

As for the yacht “America,” she was a rich man’s toy, but there’s a working class backstory. She was commanded by a Sandy Hook pilot, I forget his name (could google it, but I guess that would be cheating). Sandy Hook was to New York harbor about as the Farallons are to San Francisco … how far out you had to take a sailing ship before she was free and clear to proceed to sea on her own. The pilots raced to get to each incoming ship first, that’s how they made their money, so they were working class racers. That Sandy Hook pilot was hired to take the yacht “America” to Great Britain and see if he could pick up some races. The rest is history. (When Victoria asked “Who is in second?” she was informed, “There is no second.”)

But at the same time, on a far grander scale, a much more significant, heroic, and memorable race was being waged and won. By the summer of 1851, as “America” was headed east to Great Britain, the passage from New York to San Francisco was a voyage to riches, and worth whatever a person could afford. Donald McKay, who’d been building fast ships for some time, was exceeding himself with each new commission. In competition with other East Coast shipbuilders, each new launch set new standards, until that summer of 1851.

From McKay’s yard was launched the clipper “Flying Cloud.” Wait until you hear this story.

Flying Cloud was built on speculation and owned by a fellow who probably never intended to take her to sea. But a spot on McKay’s delivery list was worth gold, so he put up $50,000 for the right to call Flying Cloud his own. A New York shipping company, Minturn & Grinnell, needed a big fast clipper to send to San Francisco, so they paid the original owner $90,00 to buy his ship, before she was even delivered.

So Minturn & Grinnell had the ship they needed, but lacked a Captain who was up to the task. Because on a square rigger (unlike today), the Captain was the difference between success and failure. Ships in those days were owned in “shares,” usually 32 or 64 shares, depending. One of the Minturn & Grinnel principals, holder of 4 shares, nominated Captain Josiah P Creesy to be Master. The other partners agreed, so Captain Creesy was offered the job, on condition of buying 2 shares (to insure his interest in the outcome, and a great bonus for himself).

Captain Creesy was a pretty ordinary, reliable, dependable, hard driving clipper Captain, successful on the China trade through the 1840s. But his wife, Eleanor, was the real prize. Eleanor Creesy proved herself the finest navigator of her age. Which will shortly bring us to San Francisco.

Sailing ships depend on wind and current to make progress, and man’s knowledge of the wind and current patterns in 1851 was only just becoming scientific. A Navy Lieutenant, Matthew Maury, having been injured on duty, was assigned to the Navy’s Hydrographic Office in Washington, where he set out to find useful work. Having the logbooks from thousands of voyages, from the Revolution to the 1840′s, he set out to extract all possible data and plot it. By the time Eleanor Creesy assumed the duties as navigator of the clipper Flying Cloud, this information was available, and Eleanor was one of the few who saw the potential.

On June 2nd, 1851 the clipper Flying Cloud cleared New York harbor, dropped her pilot at Sandy Hook, and set sail for San Francisco via Cape Horn. A brand new ship never runs just right, and on a sailing ship the standing rigging has to stretch and set, but Captain Creesy didn’t have time to wait. Flying Cloud took off from Sandy Hook and immediately began ripping off fantastic “day’s runs.” On the third day out, this all caught up with them.

Everything on the main and mizzen above the topsails came crashing down on deck, and over the side. She had experienced a major partial dismasting, bad news, unbelievable man-killing work (much of which would later be enshrined in the ethic of the Sailor’s Union of the Pacific and other maritime unions). But in 24 hours, Captain Creesy and his crew had Flying Cloud back to work and headed for Cape Horn.

This is where Eleanor comes in, because she was the one who could read the magic charts, and plotted a highly unconventional course for Flying Cloud. Eleanor’s course would take Flying Cloud through the Doldrums (still air, high pressure just above the equator) and across the equator faster than anyone aboard had ever seen before. Working down the coast of South America, weirdness cropped up.

The carpenter reported flooding in the forepeak, lots of water coming in. He consulted with Captain Creesy and they estimated that one of the hawsehole plugs, now underwater due to the ship being driven so hard, had come out. So the Captain brought the ship before the wind and when she stood up, the carpenter replaced the missing hawsehole plug. Put back on course, water continued to pour into Flying Cloud. Finally, a crewmember worked his way aft and reported that he’d seen two fellow crewmembers secreting an auger out of the crew’s quarters in the foc’sle (sleeping in the hole, also enshrined in maritime union culture).

With Flying Cloud running before the wind again, the carpenter found the auger holes and plugged them. Flying Cloud began pounding out astonishing day’s runs toward Cape Horn and San Francisco. I’ve never rounded Cape Horn in a square rigger, but I’ve looked at the charts and I’ve been enough other places (including two trips to Antarctica) that I can see what would be going on. Rounding Cape Horn from East to West is probably the most difficult, treacherous task that any ship, crew, and captain ever faced.

Eleanor Creesy again saw the way, she used the high technology of the day in ways nobody else had ever done before, and she guided Flying Cloud “from 50 to 50″ (50 degrees south to in the Atlantic to 50 degrees south in the Pacific, around Cape Horn at 55 South) in record time. Clear of Cape Horn, Flying Cloud earned her name and began tearing north toward San Francisco.

In the most astonishing display of sustained speed under sail, Flying Cloud ran off the stunning total of 374 miles, noon to noon. To shorten this a bit, Flying Cloud followed Eleanor Creesy’s hand, ran out almost to Hawaii to find good winds, met up with a British packet 200 days out of Liverpool, when they “spoke” Flying Cloud was 83 days out of New York. When the wind picked up, observers on the British packet watched in awe as Flying Cloud tore free for the horizon and disappeared in no time.

Her Main topmast came down one more time, just a couple days out of San Francisco, but captain and crew restepped the mast and Flying Cloud headed for the San Francisco pilot station. Arriving in the late evening, Eleanor told her husband to stand “on and off” until morning. The morning of Aug 31st, 1851, Flying Cloud boarded her San Francisco pilot and proceeded to anchor in five fathoms of water between North Point and Alcatraz. Flying Cloud had made the passage from NY to SF in 89d, 21h with Eleanor Creesy navigating. They had broken the previous record by seven day, a full week.

This story is not as famous as the yacht America, but consider this. Two years later, Josiah and Eleanor did it again, this time NY to SF in 89d and 9h. That record stood for something like 130 years, until finally broken by a special built racing yacht with modern electronics. Having volunteered at the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park since I retired, I can say without regret or rancor that San Francisco has no idea the stories its waterfront could tell … nor much cares.

Chuck Becker

West of the Farallons, San Francisco

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THE BELTWAY BUG

Editor,

Dan Hamburg went to Washington DC as a one term congressman and seems to have been infected with the Beltway greed-bug. By automatically increasing their pay every year, today’s congressperson makes nearly a fifth of a million in salaries, plus a ton of other benefits. For the most part, they no longer are “public” servants: they are the greedy servants of their corporate masters who fill their election wickers with Supreme Court sanctioned, unlimited, corporate largess.

Now that Hamburg got himself elected to the Mendo Board of Supervisors, he believes he’s somehow different from the rest of Mendo’s public servants, and should not be required to bite the economic-bullet along with them. Shame. What type of leadership is that? He, and Smith, are studies in leading from the rear. They seem to feel the old “What’s good for the goose is good for the gander” rule doesn’t apply to them.

Please pass along the message that I will gladly exchange my $9,000 a year from my Social Security pension for his “crappy” $68,000, plus his expense account — I think I can scrape by on that.

Miguel Lanigan

Clearlake Oaks

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WE’RE NUMBER ONE!?

Editor,

A few months ago we had an elderly dinner guest. She was raised in East Germany. She was 17 when neighbors told her Russian troops were about two miles from her farm.

Until that moment she thought Germany was winning the war. Nazi propaganda.

In a like manner, and effective BS machine is at work in North Korea. North Korean citizens know little of the outside world. They think they’re doing fine. Starving, but fine.

Peculiarly, Americans are similarly impaired. It’s astonishing, but most of us think America is tops in the world. We’re told social democracy is bad and countries that practice such are communists.

We are fed this crap by the 1%. And 95% believe it.

The truth is very different — and easily verifiable. But most of us are too indifferent to check. Independent travel would help. But if we travel at all (85-90% don’t) we timidly tour in escorted groups. In foreign countries we are like children, clutching our mother’s hand on the first day of kindergarten. We visit famous sites but we learn nothing.

A recent Newsweek article (Google: the best countries in the world) gives some inkling of the truth. America isn’t even in the top 10.

For income inequality the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development ranks the US 20th. Were barely ahead of Turkey and Mexico.

But, we work our asses off. Americans are the most overworked developed nation in the world. In the best countries workers (by law!) get 4-6 weeks vacation and innumerable holidays. Americans get holidays or vacations at the discretion of their employer — unless a union has bargained for more.

Consider Japan. They’re having their problems. But even during the so-called “lost decade” Japan’s unemployment rate was half ours, longevity is the longest, and infant mortality is the lowest in the world. They, like the rest of the civilized world, have universal health care.

Wake up people. There’s more to life than raised pickups, football and Bud Light.

Best regards,

Bart Boyer

San Diego

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RETURN OUR MONEY

Editor,

A reporter from the Independent Coast Observe (ICO) recently obtained an answer regarding the discrepancy in Point Arena’s Measure E Bond Funds of $233,250. Superintendent Colleen Cross stated, “the money discrepancy Rush is inquiring about went toward improvements to school structures which have not yet been paid out.” Below is a brief synopsis of what transpired in 2011:

January 18, 2011: Bond Oversight Committee (BOC) held their final meeting with Superintendent Cross as chairperson/secretary (per state law it is illegal for any district employee be on this oversight committee). The BOC was presented with a record of bond funds remaining (after deducting the cost of $33,500 to retire bond) of $1,848,250 back to the taxpayers. The committee was “disbanded” by Cross the same day (although the independent audit states it was disbanded June 30, 2011). Ms. Cross informed members’ the only project remaining was building an overhang at Point Arena Elementary ($82,619) in which funds had already been set aside which the BOC approved. I questioned Dr. Cross regarding retiring the BOC because I believed that until the funds were retired the BOC should continue to meet. Of course, this suggestion was ignored by Dr. Cross.

January 20, 2011: The Point Arena Unified school board “agreed to defease $1,848,250 back to taxpayers, and use $82,619 to complete the Arena/Middle School cafeteria’s covered walkway to provide weather protection for students.”

May 19, 2011: Regular Board Meeting, under correspondence: “Superintendent Cross informed the Board that the defeasance of $1,848,250 of the Measure E bonds, as approved by the board on October 21, 2010 and January 20, 2011, is now complete.”

The BOC had no other meetings authorizing the setting aside of $233,250 “toward improvements to school structures” as Cross stated in the ICO. No regular school board meetings were held authorizing this. So, how can bond funds be “set aside” without authorization from BOC (whom are the ones who oversee bond funds being spent in accordance with law and report to the board)? The board gives final authorization on dispersing funds. The school board also had no meetings regarding setting this money aside. So, who gave Dr. Cross the authorization to do this and when?

This item was slipped into the “consent agenda” without allowing any questions from the public when the board approved the inaccurate audit without question. Do any other taxpayers see this as wrong? I believe $1,848,250 should be returned to taxpayers as approved by the BOC and school board. I hope other taxpayers and those in authority join me in this quest.

Also, reported in the ICO, at the Board’s February 15th “Special Meeting,” “Cross described the protocol as follows: each item listed under Discussion/Action portion of the agenda will be assigned to one Trustee who will be responsible for researching and presenting their findings during the regular meeting.” Unfortunately, President Nick Scanlon-Hill never received this protocol because this never happened, at least, not at this meeting. Obviously, this information was given to the reporter prior to the meeting ever taking place. The meeting was a “carryover of items” per Cross from their “Special Meeting: Board/Superintendent Retreat” held on January 18, 2012. Items discussed:

District Goals: Cross led the board in goals for the district, high school and elementary school. However, since no motion could be made to adopt these goals this will be revisited at a Regular School Board Meeting.

Governance: Hill addressed what he wanted (not Cross as stated by the ICO) regarding how the meetings should run. At first, he stated it was the board’s agenda but was quick to change his opinion and stated “really, it is Dr. Cross’s agenda.” Hill informed the board he would allow comment on discussion items on the agenda but, again, insinuated nothing on the consent agenda items could be addressed. Again, this is a violation of Brown Act Law: “the public must be given the opportunity to comment before or during the legislative body’s consideration of the item.” Once again, not one board member corrected Hill. I was told by a person of authority In Mendocino County, items which can be “discussed by a constituent also included the consent agenda items.” They discussed changing the time of the meetings from 6pm to 4 or 5pm. Someone in the audience stated, “What about people who are employed”? It was stated by a member of the board this would have to be taken into consideration. Finally, it was discussed holding the closed door session after the open session of the meeting. I informed the board that would mean those in attendance would have to wait until after closed session, to hear results. A member of the board (whom I had in my notes but vehemently denied this) stated, “We will just report it at the next regular meeting.” Truthfully, it doesn’t matter who made this ridiculous statement but, again, NOT ONE board member corrected him! Brown Act Law: “Once closed door session has been completed, the legislative body must convene in open session.” Mr. Hill stated he would put the items on the next agenda and asked for a vote to do this but quickly remembered no vote could be taken stated, “I guess with the nod of the heads that means, yes”!

Coast Life Support District Measure: A gentleman made a presentation requesting the board to give their support to the upcoming measure. However, Trustee Sandoval informed him that no motion could be made. So, he passed out flyers for everyone to distribute to the community.

With the retreat portion of the Special Meeting finished, the board stated the meeting was adjourned (at 2:55 P.M.) until 3:30 P.M. to hear the final item on the agenda: 2012-2013 Budget Development.

Mind you, nothing was on the agenda indicating this item would not be heard until 3:30pm. I am not sure how the staff found out exactly when it would be held without the proper notification but when I returned at 4:04pm from another meeting I was previously obligated to, the parking lot was full. I walked in and the room was packed with staff, the board, principals of the high school and the elementary school with Cross and the District’s Chief Financial Officer going over the “Budget Development.” After the meeting, I was informed that at each step of this presentation those present could ask questions and the questions were answered.

Respectfully,

Susan Rush

Manchester

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LET NATIVES BE NATIVES

Editor,

There are lots of things that go on when it comes to Indian tribes and the way they run their administration, councils and casinos. One tripe that really makes a point of keeping their tribal members in the dark is the Hopland band of Pomo Indians. The Council who controls the money that the casino makes has no problem funneling this money to feed their own personal need. Embezzlement is not unheard of for the Council of the Hopland tribe. Hiding and misdirecting funds is how the council pays themselves. However, if a tribal member needs some help with housing or a job, that isn’t going to happen. One tribal member asked a question about last year’s graduation. They were a little confused about the party that was given for the graduates and wondered why there wasn’t a party thrown for them last year. Another member of the tribe ventured, “because Pam Espinoza’s (councilmember) daughter didn’t graduate last year.” You see, the point of this is the tribal council in Hopland continues to tell its members there is no money, yet when a council member’s daughter graduates high school there is enough money to have a party estimated to cost around $10,000. If there is “no money” like the council keeps saying, where did the money come from for their Christmas bonuses? According to my source the bonuses came into the tens of thousands of dollars. I know that I’m focusing on the Hopland band but hey, if the shoe fits, right? Well, the truth of the matter is that Hopland is not the only tribe that is doing the types of things I am talking about.

Every tribe that has any kind of money is experiencing illegal activities and there is nothing being done about this. The people who are most affected, “the tribal members,” need to stand up and voice themselves because if they don’t then things happen like what happened on the Robinson Rancheria. “Disenrollment.” You see if those who were disenrolled would have spoken up sooner and gotten involved then maybe they wouldn’t be in the position they are in now. Robinson is not the only tribe that has had members disenrolled. There are more tribes that this is being done to and sooner or later the members need to stand up and make some kind of statement. Otherwise this kind of thing will continue. Recently there was a benefit set up to raise funds for those disenrolled. This fundraiser was to be held on the Mission Rez just outside of Lakeport. Well, the fundraiser was canceled because the tribal council didn’t want to get involved in another round of tribal-band politics. I would think that as Natives themselves they would have been more than willing to show support against the wrong that was being done to their cousins across the lake.

Ever since the white man came they have been trying to do one thing to the Native people of this land — “annihilation” — annihilate the Indian. This was their intention. And they tried it by killing our women, children and then our elders. Kill the women so they can’t have any more children. Kill the children so they can’t grow up and fight us. And then kill the old people so there is no one to guide the rest. But this did not work, so they herded us to these little pieces of land, “the reservations,” where they fed us the most deadliest diseases known to man and yet we are still here. So what did they do? They gave us their most deadly weapon: “Money.” And it’s working just like they, the white men, knew it would. The tribal councils are taking the money with greedy intentions and using it to do the United States government’s dirty work and in return the US government allows the council to embezzle money and act with no regard for state or federal law. The reason the Department of Interior gives for not interfering is that they will not get involved in internal conflicts. So the Department of Interior and the Justice Department are willing to sit back and allow federal law to be violated in the name of financially annihilating the Native people of this land.

I remember the words of rapper 2-Pac Shakur. He said, “They say it’s the white man I should fear when it’s my own time doing all the killing here.” I remember a while back a couple of brothers from Hopland wanted to hold a sweat ceremony. The council freaked out saying that those two brothers were trying to take over. All the brothers wanted was to pray in the old way. Once again I remind the Council of the Hopland band that you are also Natives and it’s okay to be Native.

Signed:

One of many concerned Indians

Hopland

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SUPPER SONG

Editor,

I have been a supporter of public radio for 30 years. It’s one of the best things the government does with its money. For the past 20 years I have had a weekly music show on KZYX. I think public radio does a great job of telling all sides of the story in this increasingly heated political atmosphere. In short, it’s the best thing on the radio and in many rural places the only thing on the radio.

For years I have read your snide comments about KZYX in the AVA. Hardly a week goes by that you don’t have some snotty remark about our local radio station, often grossly misrepresenting the facts. Most of us who work to put KZYX on the air do it for nothing, and those who get paid are definitely not getting rich. Please tell me why you hate us so much. I await your response.

Respectfully

Fred Wooley

Yorkville

Ed reply: Misrepresentations? Maybe if you’d cite one I could un-misrepresent it for you. If I can’t, send it on into the shop for repairs. I wonder, though, is it just me or is cognition a prevalent problem around here, a kind of low-grade contagion? A lot of people don’t seem able to distinguish fact from opinion, and maybe you got bit by one of them. Here’s a test for you, short round: Fact or opinion? KZYX is badly managed. Answer: Both.

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HISTORY NOTES

Dear Editor,

I very much appreciate Michael Bear Carson’s most thoughtful and polite response to my letter a few weeks back. I would like to respond in a similar vein. I do closely share Mr. Carson’s antecedents as Dad was Irish and Mom Russian Jewish. But the charge of warmonger applies much more to FDR than to LBJ as Alex Cockburn’s column brilliantly documented the various steps and lies by which Mr. Roosevelt led an unwilling nation into war. This war dwarfed Vietnam many times over. Hitler was an almost incurable Anglophile. Dunkirk was no “miracle” because he let the Brits escape as a gesture to get them out of the war. He admired the British Empire as a great force for stability in the world. People in India and Ireland strongly disagreed. Hitler had no desire or stomach to conquer Britain. He knew the UK-Franco Pledge to Poland was untenable and thought that they would recognize that.

The USSR evacuated millions of Jews from eastern Poland during the Hitler-Stalin Pact and also millions of Jews both before and after the German invasion of the USSR. All historians are agreed that up till July 1942 Hitler wanted emigration for Jews in Europe, not extermination. The UK-Franco Declaration of war on Germany, after Hitler invaded Poland to get the German populated areas around Danzig returned to Germany, closed off avenues of escape.

About 80% of Germany’s 600,000 Jews had left by 1939. FDR’s true feelings were revealed in 1938 when he turned back a ship carrying European Jews to the US. Both Churchill and Roosevelt could care less about Jews anyplace, their struggle with Germany and Japan was over rival imperialisms just as with the pompous Wilson in WW1.

FDR was not a leftist, his wife was, but he was a consummate pragmatist uninterested in theory and philosophy. Much of his New Deal was inspired by Mussolini’s Corporate State in Italy.

He was an Anglophile like Wilson and shared the popular Japanophobic feelings of the time. There would have been no need for Truman’s interventions in Western Europe and Japan if Roosevelt had not gotten us into the war. Just as in the case of Wilson the US intervention turned a stalemate into a disastrous victory.

WW2 inevitably followed from the disastrous “victory” of WW1 and the Cold War inevitably followed from the “victory” of WW2. By late 1945 Churchill was whining that “we shot the wrong pig.” Typical of his bad judgment.

The US never saved any Jews in Poland or the USSR. 90% of our battle was with Japan. Hitler was never going to be able to fully conquer and hold on to Russia. The tale that 3,000 Einsatzgruppen exterminated two million Russian Jews is now widely discredited and I can give references if people require them.

The benevolence of marijuana is a myth. It should only be legal like all other drugs because people have a right to do themselves in if they so choose.

On Ayn Rand Mr. Carson has a nuanced view. I agree with her endorsement of Austrian economics but she was not a fanatical atheist a la Madalyn Murray O’Hair. Her atheism was derivative of her belief in empirical reason and opposition to apriori idealism (in the philosophical sense.) That label was unfairly stuck on Rand by the Religious Right starting with Buckley in 1957. On sex Rand’s philosophy is beautifully stated on pages 489-493 of Atlas Shrugged, hardbound edition. I don’t know what Mr. Carson means by “sexual mysticism” allegedly of Rand. She made a disastrous mistake ever getting involved at all with the Brandens and not just sexually with Nathaniel. Those who haven’t screwed up here are invited to throw the first rock.

Thanks for your great forum and for a consistently provocative newspaper.

Respectfully,

Marcy Fleming

San Francisco

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LINSANITY!

To the Poetry Editor

His game isn’t beautiful, but…

Palo Alto, local kid

Went to church and Hah-vid

Undrafted won the heart

Of sweet wise Keith Smart

If you root for Golden State

you will have a long wait

management can never win

who let go jeremy lin

Name de names, bro

Mark Jackson had a share

Joe Lacob, the buck stops there

Larry Riley, the kept GM

Jeremy Lin, who needs him?

If you root for Golden State

you will have a lonng wait

management can never win

who let go jeremy lin

Oh you poor Golden fans

every year you make plans

“your” owners wouldn’t draft

kobe bryant they be daft!

If you root for Golden State

you will have a lonnng wait

management can never win

who let go jeremy lin

Every year Joe Barry’s ghost

gets outhustled in the post

grateful deadheads for relief

play McHale to The Chief

If you root for Golden State

you will have a lonnnng wait

management can never win

who let go jeremy lin

Fred Gardner

Alameda

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REALLY BIG DEAL

Editor:

The SF Chronicle “Covered” this in their usual style. “No big deal” according to them. It got better coverage on the web at “Naked Capitalism” and at “Credit Slips.” I’m a Real Estate broker who has been screaming about this for years and who naively thought that proof that hundreds if not thousands of San Franciscans had had their homes stolen would be considered big news. The word is out that Kammie Harris got promised a seat on SCOTUS for going along with the (Not yet signed) “Mortgage Settlement,” if so she will be a worthy peer of Clarence “Long Dong” Thomas.

http://aequitasaudit.com/images/aequitas_sf_report.pdf

Thomas Stone

Sebastopol

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LILACS IN THE COAL MINE

Editor:

This letter is to ask other people of the northcoast to take a moment to observe some of the strange and unusual changes and anomalies taking place in nature. For instance, my neighbor had an iris plant flower in full bloom for Christmas during the frizzing cold. Next door my friend’s lilac bush is showing signs of spring buds? A friend and I went out to Usal beach after the first long awaited rainstorm. We found a patch of daffodils in full bloom near the beach. Then we noticed a patch of wild raspberries had small berries forming, and next to it we discovered a blackberry bush full of white blooms soon to become berries? This is mid-January! What’s up? The spookiest thing of all was the 14-legged large starfish we found while exploring the tide pools. We took a picture, than left the starfish alive and well. Now I feel compelled to ask others to share their sightings or things observed in nature that seem out of synch and just plain strange. I will log your reports and depending on the information I receive, if it’s compelling enough, I will share the data collected with this newspaper.

Please call

Christina Haley, (707) 349-3912

Fort Bragg

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PRIORITIES

Esteemed editors,

Susan Green’s fine essay ‘The Gray Box’ in last week’s AVA has more social/spiritual relevance than all 756 hours (so far)  of broadcast Whitney Houston post mortems. Many thanks.

Bruce Patterson

Boonville

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NO TIMBERLAND CONVERSION

Editor,

We, The Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria in support of the Kashaya Pomo (Stewarts Point Rancheria) oppose the development of the 324 acres purchased by the Artesa Vineyard (Codorniu Napa, Inc.) and the 1,769 acres of the 20,000 acres owned by CalPERS called Preservation Ranch. This land is sacred to us, and we do not want to see it decimated for vineyard production in Sonoma County

Furthermore, we know that vineyard development of these acres will have a dramatic negative impact on the environment, including the destruction of habitat for several species of plants and animals that are sacred and integral to local Indian culture as it has been practiced for thousands of years.

The destruction of this land for timber-to-vineyard conversion will affect the Gualala River and all the flora and fauna associated with it and the associated coastal region — again, all things sacred to us and our culture.

We demand that further plans for development be halted, certainly until the developers, the County and the State have engaged in government-to-government consultation to discuss our concerns as the united tribes of Sonoma County.

Greg Sarris, Tribal Chairman

Graton

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HOPE AND $2…

Friends,

Tell me again why the Nobel Committee gave Pres. Obama a Peace Prize soon after he took office in 2009?

This is of course a rhetorical question. But really, what did Obama do beside give great speeches about hope and lead people to believe he was for peace in the Mideast while campaigning for President in 2008?

If the Nobel Committee can give a politician a prize for promises, why can’t it give a soldier a prize for an act of conscience?

Please sign and forward to your network the attachment below. If you can’t open it, Google: “Give Bradley Manning the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize.”

Bradley Manning is suffering for our sins.

Tom Cahill

Fort Bragg

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HEAAAAAAVY

Editor,

Am I my brother’s keeper? Hell No! said Friedrich Nietzsche in a book by H. L. Mencken titled The Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche. He, Nietzsche, was a product of his time, having bought into Social Darwinism to a fanatical degree. He held that the prime instinct of all mammals, including humans, is the will to survive. He called it the will to power.

Nietzsche makes Ron Paul look like a Socialist. His extreme individualism , which he called intelligent selfishness, included the idea that all communal, communitarian endeavors are solely for the protection they provide that the individual cannot provide for himself. Thus, Nietzsche said that all moral rules, all ideas of good and evil are man-made, as are all religions. He was a total atheist, and said that God is dead.

How could he believe this ? He held to the basic premise that human society is a struggle for the survival of the fittest. There are, said he, three classes of people; the masses, who are too dumb or too lazy to think for themselves, and are there to be exploited by the top class. Thus, in his view, democracy is a really bad idea because it is based on the idea of equality of all citizens, at least in theory. Also, he said, it puts power in the hands of the masses, who do not reason clearly. The masses, the drudge class, are there to serve and obey the top group

The second group, the one in the middle, is made up of those who make and administer the laws; the judges, the lawyers, the teachers, the police, the governmental functionaries, who are there to keep the masses from rebelling. The top group, which is not necessarily based on wealth, is made up of those few people who are smart, courageous, thoughtful, industrious, free-thinking, clear thinking people, the ones who move mankind forward, via science and industry. He called this person the Superman, who will reject all notions of brotherhood. He should let the unfit perish. To not do so is to buy into the mob morality. Sympathy and compassion stand in direct antithesis to the human passions that elevate efficiency and power; it is a depressant. Only oneself and one’s children should matter to a man.

This top group, said Nietzsche, have no obligation of any kind to obey laws, or adhere to social mores, or to exhibit moral consciousness or any sympathy toward their inferiors. They move progress forward. Anyone in the lower two groups can move up into the top group if they have the necessary brains and drive and clear reasoning.. He did not expect very many to be able to do this, and he said that the masses should be left in their mental and emotional sloth and their religions. They are losers, drones, who do nothing to benefit mankind.

I quote Mr. Nietzsche. “Why should any superior man bother about moral rules and regulations? Why should any man conform to laws formulated by a people whose outlook on the universe probably differed diametrically from his own? Why should any man obey a regulation which is denounced by his common-sense as a hodge-podge of absurdities?” Only because, he said, he doesn’t want to pay the penalty if he does not obey it. Thus Nietzsche rejected all fixed codes of morality, and with them all gods, messiahs, prophets, saints, popes, priests, and rulers.

A superior man should obey only his own instinct to survive. He is to be a master, not a slave to the ideas of the weak, the rabble.

Also to be ruled out are the landed aristocracy; they rule by divine right, by inheritance, and thus have no merit. They want only to keep the status quo.

Nietzsche was an anti-Christian, saying that it was a religion of and for the weak; that those who sacrifice themselves for others are going against themselves and their instinct to survive. He said that Christianity orders the strong to give part of their strength to the weak, and so tends to weaken mankind. He called it “the greatest of all imaginable corruptions”. It does not conform to the idea of natural selection, because it teaches disregard of the self. That’s why most Christians, he said, make no effort to be absolute Christians

Nietzsche was a strong believer in the scientific method, saying that is discourages unreasoning faith. It is skeptical and doubts its own truths. His higher man, his “superman” is the man who advances the human race. Not a woman; women are to be property of men, period.

All religions, being man-made, do not teach any ideas that are absolute, because there is no absolute truth; they just think they have the absolute truth, and thus are deluded. Good and evil are relative terms, not absolutes. Times change and truths change, and thus are relative to the culture and the times. The religious person looks toward the past for truth, denigrates the present, and has faith in an eternal future after death. There is no evidence for any of that, and without evidence to support it, he said, the holding of any idea is immoral. Thus he felt that all religion is immoral.

Another thinker in the late 1800’s was Karl Marx, who held exactly the opposite ideas, in which the individual was subsumed to the needs of the State, the collective, the communal. Marx, like Nietzsche, was also an atheist, but came to the exact opposite conclusion about human nature. Marx held that there is, inside of every human being, a moral compass, a conscience, and that people will be good to each other if society is organized in way that does not exploit the masses. Communism, unfortunately, has not been able to produce that “New Socialist Man”, even after resorting to extreme totalitarianism in the attempt to do so. Nietzsche held that there is no such thing as a “natural morality”.

What can we conclude from this? Are the Republicans correct in their basic assumptions and programs? Or, are they Neanderthals? Are the Progressives correct with their contrary assumptions and programs? Is the middle path, moderation in all things, the way to avoid the extremes of both Nietzsche and Marx?

Some of the ideas of Nietzsche are obviously right-on. If you look at the Republican candidates for President you can only conclude that they are not clear reasoning men. Many of them are antithetical to science and are religious crackpots. Do we want to be ruled by their ilk? No way!

Then we look at Obama, who purports to be a Progressive, but who acts unlike one all the time.

What he says and what he does are not in sync. He is simply one of Nietzsche’s second group, a functionary to maintain the present system, with a tweak now and then when its absurdities rise to the surface.

There is always, in human affairs, the tug-of-war between the needs of the individual and the needs of society. There is always a tension between the need for order and the need for progress. The pendulum is swinging back again, moving toward the individual as against social needs. Should it, or was Nietzsche correct? When 50 million people vote for idiots it makes one wonder, does it not?

Lee Simon

Far ‘n Away Farm, Virginia

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Memo Of The Week

Dear Farmers —

This will be the last email from me regarding the program. It is a sad day to see this program go away. I want to extend a heartfelt thanks to all of you for all you have done to make this program work as well as it has. I truly believe that the Feds were concerned about the success of the program. I have a new found respect for what you are doing and have learned more about MJ than I ever thought I would!! As you know I was a bit skeptical when I started the program, but as I learned who you were and what you represented I felt the need to make this program work, for you, for the community and for the Sheriff’s Office You were all very compliant as you were trying to make the program work. For this I thank you. I hope that in the near future there will be another similar alternative for you to work with. I have heard rumors of an initiative process being explored. Please keep in mind the guidelines of 9.31 as this program was widely known here and seemed restrictive enough to have the public support but with enough latitude to allow you to be successful with your work. I honestly don’t see this program coming back to Mendocino County as it was because of the Fed threat to the County. I expect that one of two things will occur for this to move forward in a similar fashion. Either you will be successful with an initiative process or the Feds will legalize MJ. I suggest you work on the first as I don’t expect the second to change anytime soon!

As you move forward please keep the big picture in mind and work towards the common good for your community. Remember to support your community both in time and donations that you can spare, and keep in mind the issue of putting a more medicinal title, name for the various strains to move more in the direction of public support. If you are in it strictly for the money you are at risk. This will not support your cause and will not give you any kind of protection moving forward. The Sheriff and DA are talking to determine a common ground for what their respective in-house policy will be regarding MJ. Keep in mind this will still have no impact on any federal action against a person.

Good Luck, be safe and stay within the laws of the land.

Sgt. Randy Johnson

Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office

Professional Standards Bureau

(707) 463-5416 Direct

(707) 463-4689 FAX

Editor,

Late on February 6th Secretary of State Debra Bowen’s office released her list of candidates for President of the United States who would appear on the primary election ballots of the various parties in the presidential preference section. Breaking the precedent of the previous 36 years, this list for the first time omits many or most of the candidates reported to her by the state chairs of some of the political parties, including two of the four candidates that I reported to her were found by our State Executive Committee to be serious seekers of the Peace and Freedom Party nomination. (While Stewart Alexander and Rocky Anderson were listed, Stephan Durham and Peta Lindsay were omitted.)

Visiting her office yesterday, I found that her staff was determined to keep secret the criteria used by the Secretary of State in selecting her choices for the ballot, refused to tell me who attended the meeting at which the criteria were determined, refused to tell me whether Bowen was present at that meeting, and refused to justify in any way her omission of candidates who are clearly serious about obtaining the Peace and Freedom Party nomination, and generally considered serious candidates by party activists (and by their opponents). I was told, to my astonishment, that Bowen could list any names she pleased without any logical criteria at all. This is not what it says in the elections code.

In fact, the Elections Code (section 6720) states that the Secretary of State shall include the names of candidates recognized throughout California as active candidates for the Peace and Freedom Party nomination for President. All four of the names submitted are in fact those of candidates who are recognized, and have some support, from all areas of California, as well as various other parts of the country. This may not be apparent from reports in the commercial media, but Peace and Freedom Party activists have never depended on the commercial media for their information about presidential candidacies, as the commercial media rarely mention our candidates at all. The publications of various groups on the left, the blogs and websites and e-mail lists used by those on the left to communicate with each other, and communication at meetings and rallies through word-of-mouth and leaflets, are the “media” used by Peace and Freedom members to learn about the various candidates who seek our presidential nomination.

It appears possible that the Secretary of State may have unlawfully developed a list of criteria for selecting recognized candidates that is the same for candidates in all parties. In fact, the criteria in the election code differ for each party. For example, coverage in the news media is a legal criterion in the American Independent Party (EC section 6520), but is purposely omitted in the Peace and Freedom Party section of the code. Qualifying for funding under the Federal Elections Campaign Act is included in the criteria for the Democratic Party (EC section 6041), but is purposely omitted in the Peace and Freedom Party section of the code. The unjustifiable secrecy being maintained around the Secretary of State’s list of criteria may conceal the mistaken and unlawful development of a common list of criteria for all parties, and if this is the case, the Secretary of State should come clean, and admit the mistake, while adding the improperly omitted candidates to the list for the ballot.

The Elections Code (section 6721) provides that the Secretary of State shall ask the State Chair and the County Chairs of the Peace and Freedom Party for information regarding presidential candidates, and states that any information they wish to submit “will be considered by the Secretary of State.” In fact, in 2012, the Secretary of State failed to make this request of the various County Chairs, although their names and contact information are available to her, and obviously failed to consider the information submitted by the State Chair on behalf of the State Executive Committee of the party. This is not a choice available to the Secretary of State under the law, but is a lapse and a failure to follow the law.

While those omitted may circulate petitions among Peace and Freedom Party voters to have their names added, this is a serious burden that is not supposed to be imposed on generally recognized candidates. It is highly unfair to list two of the recognized candidates, but force the other two of them to put in substantial work and money to obtain the primary ballot access the first two have without this work and expenditure.

The Elections Code (section 6722) states that the Secretary of State may add to her announced selections after the announcement is made. I strongly urge Secretary of State Bowen to consider the information now being submitted to her office to demonstrate that all four of the candidates reported to her by our party as serious candidates are indeed serious candidates, and announce at the earliest possible date the addition of the two omitted candidates to the list of those who will appear on the ballot.

I further urge Secretary of State Bowen, who was elected and re-elected as the candidate who would make the functioning of her office more transparent, to release her criteria for selecting candidates for the presidential preference primary, the names of those present when those criteria were developed, and how those criteria were used to select two but omit two others on the list submitted by the Peace and Freedom Party’s elected leadership.

C.T. Weber, California State Chair,

Peace and Freedom Party

Sacramento

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HOLY DOGGEREL

To Diana,

A fellow who is doing time, makes a lousy Valentine.

For surely no girl wants a mate who cannot take her on a date.

Whose promise of connubial bliss, is never vouchsafed with a kiss.

And never rushes, footsteps fleeting, to long anticipated meetings.

So, rather than romantic stuff that only would invite rebuff

I’ll bring my doggerel to an end and dedicate it “to a friend.”

Yours,

D. Bullock

Ione

PS. To my fellow internees: please feel free to plagiarize this little ditty: you’re going to anyway.

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WHO BETTER THAN…?

Editor,

At the Point Arena School Board Meeting held February 8th there were agenda items I wanted clarification on which were given to Board President Nick Scanlon-Hill prior to the meeting. So, when it came to Item C-4: “Accept the Point Arena School Measure E Bond Audit Report for the 2010-2011 School Year” which I wanted clarification on, I was informed by Hill that no comments or questions can be asked once it is on the consent agenda and the board passed the agenda “as is.” Thus, the board approved everything on the consent agenda without questions.

Hopefully, the taxpayers will be able to obtain an answer regarding the above “audit report.” The Measure E Bond was passed by the taxpayers in 2003 with the district receiving $3.7 million. By January, 2011 the Gualala School Bond had dwindled to $1,848,250. Also, January 2011, the board approved returning this stated amount to taxpayers. The above amount was returned, after deducting defeasance costs of $33,500 to retire the bond.

However, an “audit report” performed by Christy White states, “The Citizens’ Oversight Committee has been disbanded, as of June 30, 2011, due to a defeasance of bonds in the fiscal year of 2010-2011 of $1,615,000.” My question was simple — where is the rest of the money, $237,250? Taxpayers deserve an answer and, perhaps, you may have better luck than I.

My next agenda item of concern was under “Discussion with Action” (Item 7.1) stating, “Approval of the MOU between Point Arena Schools and AT Construction to provide Project Management Support for the feasibility study of adding a portable at Arena Union Elementary. (Cost $55 per hour plus mileage at IRS rate).” However, what was actually in the board packet (the public is permitted to go over the board packet prior to the meeting which I do each month) was not a “feasibility study” but actually a “Statement of Agreement” between the district and AT Construction for bringing in a new classroom (modular unit) and setting it up. I explained to the board that I did not understand how it was possible to have a contract in the board packet (again, not a feasibility report) without any prior discussion regarding the need. I went on to state, “Someone had to authorize AT Construction to send them a contract. … They wouldn’t just do it on their own.”

There was no public notice in the local paper for local contractors to bid on this project (a local contractor, Joe Riboli, actually came to a board meeting a few years ago and requested the board consider local contractors when bids are needed on district projects). The one and only bid they received was from AT Construction out of Albion. The owner’s wife actually sits on the Facilities Committee at the district. I told them I believe this to be a conflict of interest because the owner’s wife does receive (at least when ex-superintendent Iacauniello was in office she did) reimbursement expenses and it is not just merely volunteering to serve on a committee.

I believe there had to be “serial meetings” (this is illegal per Brown Act Law 54952.2 b) regarding this contract for it to be in a board packet for approval without first going through the “feasibility study,” prior discussions or public notice for bids. Hill stated, “thank you” and moved on with the meeting. Trustee Sandoval stated that there should be “a cap” on this contract and it should not be “open ended.” Wow, do you think? This will be back on the agenda next month.

Then came a teacher wanting to comment on an action item regarding her employment at South Coast which is about to be eliminated. Hill allowed her to comment but only after stating that he “did not have to take comments or questions” it was his “prerogative” to do so. I’m not sure whatever happened to Brown Act Law 54944.2 (b) which clearly states, “the public must be given the opportunity to comment before or during the legislative body’s consideration of the item.” Yet, not one board member stepped up and said a word. Not even Trustee Susan Sandoval who was very quick to scold a young reporter from the Independent Coast Observer who tried to ask the elementary school principal, Paula Patterson, a question duly informing the reporter it was not the time to ask questions and should do so after the meeting.

This amazes me. Just when I believed there was NO WAY the Point Arena School Board could possibly get any worse, it does. Perhaps, Nick Scanlon Hill was not in attendance at the illegally held “Special Meeting Board Superintendent/Retreat” in January. It was illegal because the board combined a “Special Meeting” with a “Board Retreat.” At this meeting under Section 5 (the retreat part of the meeting), County Superintendent of Schools Paul Tichinin “reviewed Brown Act.” This in and of itself is truly laughable because the County superintendent is at an illegal meeting reviewing Brown Act Law?! Obviously, Tichinin needs to be going to a refresher course himself and not instructing a board in a Law he does not follow or enforce.

First and foremost what this board should have reviewed is they work for the public and not the other way around — Law 54950: ‘The people of this State do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies which serve them.” The board didn’t pass this one! “The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know.” They didn’t pass this one either. “The people insist on remaining informed to retain control over the legislative bodies they have created.” Sorry, they really got this one wrong. It also states in this policy declaration, “It is the intent of the law that their actions be taken openly and that their deliberations be conducted openly.” They blew this one big time! In other words “Serial Meetings” are illegal. The community does have the right to speak on action items. They should welcome open communication with the public.

If a board cannot seem to get the Brown Act Law under control perhaps if they just listened and learned from the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag said prior to each and every board meeting “with liberty and justice for all” they just might be able to conduct themselves accordingly. Now the question is, Do you think they could learn those six small but powerful words and the meaning of them?

Truthfully, I am much better off not being on a board that continually ignores State law and gets away with it. I couldn’t live with myself and, truthfully, I am not sure how they do.

Respectfully,

Susan Rush

Manchester

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PUBLIC PARKS

Editor,

California’s state park system was established in 1926. Ranging from San Onofre State Beach in Southern California to Del Norte Redwoods in the north, California’s 270 state parks include historic treasures such as California’s missions, Fort Ross and our first state Capitol, as well as natural wonders like Lake Tahoe, the redwood forests and Castle Crags. Our parks provide summer vacation sites for families, as well as destinations for tourists from all over the world.

Our parks belong to the people, and the people have loved them and invested time and money in them. While I applaud The Press Democrat’s support for keeping our state parks open (“State parks need allies mot rivalries,” Sunday), I am dismayed that The Press Democrat fails to recognize the real problem: the state is actively undermining ongoing negotiations with local nonprofits.

Nonprofit supporters were in the process of developing operating agreements for several beloved North Coast parks — Hendy Woods, Russian Gulch, Standish-Hickey, Westport Union Landing, Austin Creek and Sugarloaf Ridge. Local citizens were actively engaged in developing these operating agreements to save their local parks. However, the state has delayed its negotiations with these nonprofits, while at the same time developing requests for proposals aimed at private, for-profit companies.

Fortunately, the state backed off its proposal to privatize 11 parks in their entirety after being faced with stiff opposition from myself and others and with increased media scrutiny. However, the state is proceeding to seek bids for concessions from for-profit companies to take over some operations in these parks.

The terms of the state’s requests for proposal are nebulous. The criteria have yet to be made public. What we do know, however, is that the state is seeking only a minimum of 3 percent of the revenues — an alarming and indefensibly low share. Administrating and overseeing the concession agreements will likely cost taxpayers more than 3 percent. On the other hand, non-profits signing operating agreements with the state are required to return 100 percent of their revenues to the parks. Obviously, this undermines the ability of nonprofits to compete with for-profit bids. Nonprofits are rightly concerned that well-financed private concessionaires can carve out the most profitable concessions, making it impossible for the nonprofits to earn enough to sustain their operations.

For years, I have been fighting proposals to close and privatize our parks because we fail all Californians when we sell off our state’s most important, most iconic assets. The purpose of a for-profit company is to maximize profits.

According to the website of the state Department of Parks and Recreation, the mission of our state park system is “to provide for the health, inspiration and education of the people of California by helping to preserve the state’s extraordinary biological diversity, protecting its most valued natural and cultural resources, and creating opportunities for high-quality outdoor recreation.” Privatization raises a host of important issues, including commercialization of natural spaces, as well as transparency and accountability. Privatization challenges the very mission of our state park system.

I am dedicated to the long-term challenge of restoring sufficient funding for our parks. I am working on several pieces of legislation that seek to delay the closure of state parks and find a sustainable source of funding for them.

As a lifelong Californian, I have always enjoyed the magic and majesty of our beautiful parks. Five generations of my family has camped every year for more than 50 years at Standish-Hickey State Park. Never, in the long history of our state have we closed a state park — not even during the Great Depression. We should all work together to prevent closure of these state treasures and to keep them in public hands.

But, when state bureaucrats privatize our public parks without public participation and oversight, they place yet another lock on the gate.

Noreen Evans, California State Senator

Santa Rosa

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I DISAGREE

Editor,

I very much enjoyed Marcy Fleming’s ranting against “old left agitprop,” “blackophilism and political correctness,” and “brain-dead lib-dems who haven’t had a new idea since 1932.”

However, I must disagree with her on a few points.

I don’t think it’s fair to call FDR a war monger. Of course, I am biased, as Hitler clearly planned to enslave my father’s people, the British, and to exterminate my mother’s people, the Russian Jews. But Hitler also planned to build eventually both nuclear bombs and long-range missiles. Hitler ruling Europe and possessing nuclear weapons when we didn’t yet have them could have been a real threat. It also may have been wise for Harry Truman to take steps to keep that other big monster, Stalin, out of Western Europe and Japan. Certainly all our presidents since LBJ have engaged in purely unnecessary war mongering.

I also disagree with Ms. Fleming that though drugs should be legal they are all, including pot, “not good.” Every human culture except the Eskimos at one time abused alcohol (even Muslims and Mormons have widespread cheating), and nearly every culture has used at least one other drug. (The Aztecs used five.) Aside from coffee and tea, pot is the most benevolent.

And finally I can’t agree with Ms. Fleming about Ayn Rand. Rand’s economic views, so deeply loathed by liberals, are more or less right, but she was also a fanatic atheist and hated all forms of religion and she had a weird sort of sexual mysticism. She said who we sleep with reflects our deepest values. I think we’ve made some bad choices in that area.

People who feel sorry for poor Mitt Romney because Newt Gingrich picks on him sound insane to me. I’m only for Newt now because I know he’ll lose to Obama, and the devil we know for another four years may be the lesser evil. I couldn’t bear eight years of Mitt. He’d probably be exactly like all our other presidents for 30 years, chosen by the unholy alliance of Wall Street and our supposedly liberal media, but eight years of that false smile would be torture. And for God’s sake let’s not have a Mormon! Yes, I went there!

Sincerely,

Michael Bear Carson

Ione

PS. “The one state solution” means the death of Israel due to the higher Arab birthrates. I agree with Ron Paul that America doesn’t need to give Israel a penny of money, but to stop criticizing her. Jews three times in 13 years were entirely driven out of our country and three times returned.

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PATCHES OR BADGE?

Editor,

Regarding the Valley People in the Feb. 8 edition of the AVA, I would like to make some clarifications and corrections.

The “fellow called Stringbean,” my son Michael, was using a shared driveway to egress our property in Navarro on January 22, 2012, not on December 24, 2011 as stated in the paper.

The dog called Patches was known in Navarro as Badge.

Shortly after moving to our present location in November-December of 2010 I was attacked and bitten by Badge, treated with a tetanus shot and was bandaged and at the Anderson Valley Health Center. In the interest of neighborly harmony I chose not to report this attack which also occurred while I was using my driveway. Her house is right next to the common driveway.

The people at the Anderson Valley Health Center who treated me after this first bite urged me to report the incidents and have the dog put down.

In the year following Badge attacked my son and his dog on two occasions while he was using our communal driveway.

In September of 2011, the pitbull, Badge, came onto our property and attacked my son’s dog again.

The owner of Badge continued to keep this dangerous animal unrestrained, off-leash and uncaged.

The day of the attack on Michael in February, Badge’s owner, Pam Cartwright, came running over with bandages and hydrogen peroxide. I can only assume she had them readily available. She announced, “I’m taking him to the pound.”

When my son was treated at the Ukiah hospital, the treating physician told him that it was the worst dog bite he had seen.

I was ready to let this pass again in the hopes of neighborly harmony, the same hope which kept me from reporting all previous attacks by this obviously dangerous animal. The very next day after the attack on my son I was in my yard next to my truck when Pam exited her residence accompanied by Badge, off leash again, and he charged at me. I yelled, “That’s it! I’m calling Animal Control!” and I ran for my house.

I do not know the reasons for these attacks. It could be that the dog reacted badly when I was near Pam’s house and called her name before the first attack. Badge is simply an unrestrained dangerous dog which the owner chooses not to deal with.

Animal Control was called on January 22, 2012, the day of the attack on my son. They responded on January 23. The Animal Control officer knocked on the dog owner’s door and received no response besides a barking dog inside. The officer called me the next day and asked me if I would be willing to testify. And I said I would. I assume that sometime after that she was notified by the officer and she turned the dog over to Animal Control.

I am very sorry that she has lost a beloved pet. I feel deeply for her. But I consider her to be an irresponsible pet owner who failed to take responsibility for the danger that this animal obviously represented. Most of the time the dog stayed in her house, but whenever she let it outside, it was unfenced, off leash, unrestrained and dangerous. There are no outdoor restraints.

I have tried to get along with Ms. Cartwright by being courteous and neighborly, but she always reacts coldly toward me.

David Jones

Navarro

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APATHY NOW!

Editor,

I’m getting ready to exercise my right as an American citizen to not vote. You always hear, “If you don’t vote, you can’t complain.” On the contrary, I most certainly can. No one I’ve ever voted for won. Considering the state of politics as it’s been since I came of age, there is no question that I was right. And being right today, along with $2.00 or more, will get me a cup of coffee. The price of coffee has gone up, the quality of politicians has gone down. Otherwise nothing has changed.

Romney is little more than a Ken doll with a string in the back, a Chatty Cathy for the 21st century. Pull the string and he makes the same speech again. Although, he may be emptier than a talking doll. At least it has a mechanism inside.

Peggy Shaw writes:

“I don’t vote because I don’t believe They (whoever They are) really count the votes. It’s an exercise in futility, designed to make people think they have a say about which bozo gets elected.”

She adds: “As Chatty Cathy aged, her record began to wear out and she talked more and more slowly in an ever-deepening voice. Finally, she couldn’t talk at all. Too bad that won’t happen to the politicians.”

We will be called apathetic by some. But there is so much to be apathetic about.

Jeff Costello

Portland

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HATCHET FACTS

Editor,

I read Bruce McEwen’s article with interest on “The Little Ladies of the Hatchet” and felt like I was in the courtroom experiencing another episode of Harry’s Law. To someone not there the apparent injustice done to Maricruz who was only defending her child from the nortenos could be puzzling.

Mr. McEwen’s omission that prosecutor Stoen proved the altercations occurred at least two blocks from the Jeep negating a defense posture plus Mericruz told a coworker at Safeway that she did indeed take a hatchet to Ms. Colter would have better informed your readers and corrected his blatant underreporting of the full trial.

All the facts, all the time.

A juror

Ukiah

Bruce McEwen replies: Yours is a unique reading of the story, which in no way so much as implies that Maricruz is innocent. As you say, and as I said in my piece, Maricruz’s claim that she took a hatchet to “Fort Bragg’s dominant female” to defend her infant son was belied by the fact that Maricruz turned her vehicle around to deliberately confront her enemies, then chased Dom Fem down the street two blocks from where the undefended infant sat out the ensuing mayhem in mom’s car. As our grandmothers might have said, “So sad. They have such pretty faces.”

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RURAL COMMUNITY COLLAPSE

Editor,

The headlines announce another lumber mill closure, idling 200 workers. From San Diego to Sacramento the general consensus is, “so what?” Los Angeles loses three times that many jobs in a normal week. What’s the big deal with a mere 200 jobs?

The “big deal” is that whenever anyone loses a job through no fault of their own it should be news. The crisis created for workers and their families is real and frequently tragic. Numerous studies have documented that unemployment is associated with increased marital problems (including divorce), suicide, substance abuse and crime.

These symptoms occur in Palo Alto as well as in Fort Bragg. When individuals are subject to extreme stresses and economic uncertainty they do not always adopt ideal coping strategies. When an individual’s occupation has been their primary linkage to the community and principal source of social connectedness, it is even more difficult to deal with job loss since more has been lost than economic security.

As difficult as job loss is for any worker it is more difficult when an entire community is disrupted. The scope and scale of economic loss is what differentiates the consequences of 200+ jobs in a timber dependent community from 2000 lost jobs in San Francisco.

When the single largest employer in a timber community shuts down, what is lost is not only the job, but the community’s entire economic reason for existence. When 33% to 75% of a community’s wages are lost, the very future of the community is placed in serious jeopardy. It is not possible for a dislocated woodworker to hop on the number six bus and get a job across town. There are not many jobs across town to get and usually no public transportation system to get them there.

What occurs when rural communities face massive economic dislocation is that every aspect of life in that town is adversely affected. The value of homes in the community drops by about 50% placing many families in extreme debt. The family can either default on their mortgage or, if they’re extremely lucky, sell their home for a price close to what they still owe the bank.

As the economic driven dispersal accelerates the basic infrastructure of the town begins to disintegrate. Usually a grocery store will close, followed by the exodus of the community medical clinic, branch bank offices, and various other retail and service businesses.

Within six months, the largest source of income for the community becomes some combination of unemployment insurance checks, food stamps, and/or Social Security. Funding for local government and schools drops dramatically. In short, the entire community is thrown into crisis.

For many workers their entire vision of the future is abruptly disrupted. No longer can their children expect to graduate from high school, get a job in the mill, knowing that at least in the union mills every year they would get a raise, gain increased job seniority, have fully paid health insurance and be able to raise a family in a wholesome and healthy community environment free from crime, pollution and and congestion as had their parents and grandparents. A way of life and entire communities with traditional social structures cease to exist exactly at the time that the workers and their families need the support these institutions and relationships used to be able to provide.

In urban areas it is rare for such a high percentage of workers, incomes and families to be in crisis at one time. This in no way diminishes the pain or hardship these workers face. It does however help place in perspective the quantitative difference facing rural communities and dislocated workers throughout Northern California.

So the next time the headlines announce another rural mill closure, spend a second or two contemplating the loss, not only for the workers and their families, but for a way of life that once formed the very backbone of this country.

Richard Hargreaves

Willits

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DEFENDING FRISCO

Editor,

I was so pissed off by Pamela Aylen‘s letter (AVA, January 25) calling one of the most magnificent cities in the world the “Big Empty” that I wrote pages and pages praising urban living (San Francisco and nearby cities) and then realized I should just run a list by you of the pros: Baseball; theater, dance, live music and comedy; first run foreign and independent films on big screens (at our local theater you can enjoy wine/beer and pretty good food while you watch); chances to see favorite speakers in person rather than on You Tube, and with wacky Bay Area audiences (in the past few months: Peter Singer, Sam Harris, Richard Wolff (!!!), Thomas Frank, and coming this month, Michio Kaku, and Dave Zirin in March) (Alex C., where are you?) (and we buy our tickets at independent bookstores still doing fine in the Bay Area) ; five (5!) great pools within!) to enjoy: Chinese, S. Asian, Middle Eastern, Latin, Indian (for fresh, cheap spices); easy access to excellent medical care for older folk: Lifelong Medical Care is a Bay Area treasure, especially its Over 60 Clinic in Berkeley; AND, great art IF you know where to look: not museums, but small galleries and neighborhood venues like the Richmond Art Center, Pro Arts where hundreds of studios around the Bay are open to the public twice a year, and First Fridays in Oakland, which are like multi block parties of openings.

“Empty”?? Empty? I’ve lived in the “Country” and in several cities and for me there is no contest. The “City” is minutes from many Bay sites where you can sit (on shore or in a kayak) and contemplate the beauty of the water, the sky, the bridges, and gorgeous San Francisco lit up and floating on the horizon like Oz. Which it is!

People devoid of wonder, curiosity, appreciation for the diversity, the color, the rhythm of city life should never leave their bucolic Big Empties. Stay the hell home and don’t add to our traffic!

Jayne Thomas

San Francisco

PS. We and friends only have cell phones for emergencies; being wired and plugged in is generational, not geographical.)

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FLYING UNDER THE GAYDAR

Editor,

My youtube video SINGING TOILET MAN exposed not only homophobia but deliberate mental anguish against a senior, a misdemeanor in California. My latest experience is a target for the computer dating site justhookup.com.which you can check for yourself the many times I was contacted. singingtoiletman@gmail.com, plunger4u is password for both my emails as well as logging in to justhookup. At age 75, naturally I wasn’t expecting anybody to be physically or romantically interested but hoped to make some new friends locally. As you can see, stiff-meister asked for a photo and then there is the message he liked my photo. This really surprised me that a handsome young man had expressed further interest. Up to that point, jh had not suckered me into buying a membership. But to respond, I had to pay $10.95 for a month’s membership, which I did. I kept getting generic responses from stiff-meister and a couple other “local” guys but NONE of them answered any of my questions. In checking other profiles, one guy said, “This is fake! I’m outta here.” Then I realized he was right and kept doing a jh log-in just to confirm it.

When I googled Gay Dating Scams I learned that generic responses can be generated from anywhere in the world and that computer dating scams is a million and possibly a billion dollar rip off in the straight community as well .I certainly got an education in that respect and encourage all LGBT people to do likewise. If anybody knows of any legitimate ones, I appreciate their feedback. A couple questions asked by jh was what was your most exciting sexual experience and what is your favorite sex toy, both of which I ignored, but could be very embarrassing for those who were very explicit.

My ongoing struggle began a year ago. Lowell D. Houser, D.C., my life partner of 46 years, and I were married July 25, 2008 and tobacco claimed another victim when he left me still gasping for one more breath August 16, 2008. Lowell was a 33rd Degree Mason and received his 50 year pin from them. Both Lowell and his father had contributed financially as well as serving in various capacities with the Masons. Legally I am entitled by my rights as a widow to receive financial assistance from the Masons since that is one of their pledges. If I was a woman, there should have been NO hesitation in coming to my assistance. My letter addressed to the Phoenix Lodge and a copy sent to Joseph Alfano III officially requesting it to be presented to their Board of Directors for financial assistance have been completely ignored! As a result of this neglect, I didn’t even have enough money for a security deposit and was homeless for over three months with my vehicle for shelter. When I met Molly McKay, ex-wife of Davina Kotulski, author of LOVE WARRIORS, she said she felt they could help me with the Masons, but I’ve never had any response from her and don’t have any contact information.

www.bilerico.com has my story in Dr. Kitolski’s BEGGING FOR EQUALITY and still leaves me begging for help.

If I live long enough, which is doubtful, I will tell my life story as a pioneer in the gay movement in FLYING UNDER THE GAYDAR. Brokeback Mountain was no exaggeration and you could easily be arrested for even being in a gay bar when I was 21. I will also be sharing about further discrimination against me in my blog, SINGING FOR MY SUFFER and why I did SINGING TOILET MAN, GLENAKI and GLENAKI SINGS STAR OF THE EAST on youtube.

Glenn Schmoll

Fort Bragg

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WHALE-SIZE GRATITUDE

Editor,

The Whale…

If you read a recent front page story of the San Francisco Chronicle, you would have read about a female humpback whale who had become entangled in a spiderweb of crab traps and lines. She was weighted down by hundreds of pounds of traps that caused her to struggle to stay afloat. She also had hundreds of yards of line rope wrapped around her body, her tail, her torso and a line tugging in her mouth. A fisherman spotted her just east of the Farallon Islands (outside the Golden Gate) and radioed an environmental group for help. Within a few hours, the rescue team arrived and determined that she was so bad off, the only way to save her was to dive in and untangle her. They worked for hours with curved knives and eventually freed her.

When she was free, the divers say she swam in what seemed like joyous circles. She then came back to each and every diver, one at a time, and nudged them, pushed them gently around as she was thanking them. Some said it was the most incredibly beautiful experience of their lives.

The guy who cut the rope out of her mouth said her eyes were following him the whole time, and he will never be the same.

May you, and all those you love, be so blessed and fortunate to be surrounded by people who will help you get untangled from the things that are binding you. And, may you always know the joy of giving and receiving gratitude. I pass this on to you, my friends, in the same spirit.

Nadia Berrigan

Boonville

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FROM BAJA WITH LOVE

Editor,

Neva and Kent arrived in Baja California on December 9, 2011 after a two and one half day trip by car from Anderson Valley. The sun was shining, the ocean was blue but the temperature was lower than usual, especially at night. Almost like the weather we left in the valley. Neva has had a home down here in a gated complex called Las Gaviotas (the Gulls) for over 30 years. It’s located on the Pacific side of Baja a few miles south of Rosarito and about one hour drive from the US/Mexican border. The Baja peninsula extends from the US border south about 800 miles to the tip at Cabo San Lucas with the Pacific on one side and the Sea of Cortez on the east which separates it from the mainland of Mexico.

Mexico is rich in history and the Baja peninsula is no exception. Before the Spanish arrived, the Baja peninsula was inhabited by three major ethnic groups and archaeological artifacts suggest that these tribes inhabited the Baja and Cedros Island as early as 9,000 to 10,000 years ago. Descendants still live in Baja primarily in the northern most part. After the Spanish conquered the Mexican mainland early in the 16th century, they began searching westward for a fabled island of ORA (gold). In 1532 the conquistador Cortes sent two fleets of ships to look for the island, but this venture failed. In 1535 Cortes lead a search and landed north of LaPaz where he found black pearls but no gold. Other expeditions occurred in the 1540′s but didn’t find the sought after gold and so they stopped exploring for some 50 years. Later in the 1650′s the Jesuits and Franciscans established the regions first permanent Spanish settlement and in the next 70 years constructed a total of 23 missions all part of the peninsulas religious administrative capital.

The Mexican-American war (1846-1848) began after Mexico refused the US’s offer to buy California, Nevada, Utah,and parts of Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and Wyoming. In the treaty ending the war, Mexico gave into the US and ceded this territory for $15 million. The original treaty included Baja California in the sale but for some reason the US agreed to omit the peninsula. Good thing because it would probably look like Miami beach with solid high rise condos chocking the coast. Today the states economy consists of agriculture, manufacturing assembly plants, mining and tourism. And, oh yes OIL. Mexico is the second largest supplier of oil to the US, Canada being first. Because of it’s countless beaches and proximity to the US, Baja is well known as a tourist destination. But we all know how tourism has been drastically reduced by the drugs, guns and terrorism tactics of the drug cartels. We haven’t had any reason to think we should not continue to come down to spend winters in Mexico, but that’s another subject for another time.

Las Gaviotas is a community of almost 300 homes in a guarded gated area with guard service 24/7. There are also a dozen or so maintenance workers taking care of the community areas and repairing streets, walls and so forth. The homeowners pay a monthly fee which allows them the use of a computer room with telephone that lets you to call anywhere in the US. They also have a tennis court, shuffle board court, swimming pool, hot tub and a small fitness center with weights, machines and the like to stay in shape. Mail service is thru a PO box in San Diego where mail is picked up and put in your mail box. The ocean is beautiful this time of the year with high tides and big waves crashing against the sea wall. Surfing is very good and holiday weekends brings US folks down to enjoy the surf and the Mexican way of life. There are about 30 US families living down here full time time and most say they can live here for about 70% of the state side costs. Since it’s only about an hours drive from San Diego many come down and rent a house for the weekend. If you’re interested our friend, Carol, handles several rentals here. She can be reached at bajacj@gmail.com .

Check it out. There are also some good home buys here what with the depressed economy.

The many pleasures of Mexico include food and drink. We can’t help but mention two of our favorites and those are Margaritas and fish tacos. I was wondering the other day how the Margarita got it’s name and found the answer in one of the local papers. One of the oldest cantinas in all of the Californias is Hussongs in Ensenada, a beautiful city about 40 miles south of us. In 1880 Johan Hussong and his two brothers immigrated to New York form Fosham, Germany. After ten years of big city life, Johan moved to the west coast and found the fishing village of Ensenada where he changed his name to John and opened a restaurant and stage coach stop in 1892. Today Hussongs is still thriving and very popular with good food and the best people watching on the Pacific Coast. In October 1941 the famous Margarita was invented by, Hussongs bartender, Don Carlos Orozco. His original recipe was tequila, lemon juice and Damiana…..a native Ensenada plant. At that time, the daughter of the German Ambassador lived in Ensenada. Her name was Margarita Henkel and was the first to try Carlos’ new concoction. So, in her honor, he named the drink Margarita. There are many variations for making this famous drink but the recipe we like is 1/3 fresh lime juice, 1/3 tequila, 1/3 Controy & lots of ice. Controy is a Mexican orange liqueur made and sold only in Mexico. Once you’ve tried this truly Mexican Margarita you’ll never use a mix again. But be careful, as one drink is enjoyable, 2 drinks numbing and three drinks are paralyzing.

Searching for the real fish taco! On the elementary level fish plus tortilla equals fish taco. Somewhere in Baja in the last 40 to 50 years, someone concocted this humble delicacy which consists of lightly battered mild white fish that is deep fried or grilled, then served in a corn tortilla with shredded cabbage, a bit of thin sour cream, some salsa and a vital spritz of lime. We’ve made a point of trying several places and found a small open air Mexican restaurant in Rosarito that we think is the best. Two fish tacos for lunch costs about $2.00 and is most satisfying. We can be reached at dyerneva@gmail.com .

Kent Rogers & Neva Dyer

Boonville, Yorkville, Baja

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BON APETIT!

To the Editor,

More and more people are opting toward humanely produced food. They watch what they eat, and they like to be able to watch it grow. That means eating local, and the locavore movement is growing.

There is a good reason for this. With livestock such as cows that become meat there is intensive inbreeding on factory farms (CAFO’s). For example, with hogs they are bred to be so long that the backbone can no longer support their mature body weight; modern turkeys have breasts so large that they can no longer mate naturally and must rely on artificial insemination; dairy cows cannot carry the weight of their udders, and become lame much sooner than unhybridized dairy cows. These hybridized cows are then sold for meat after having, on average, fewer than two calves, whereas traditional-breed pasture cows have ten or more calves during a natural life span.

The pigs raised in huge CAFO’s (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) are born to sows confined in gestation crates. These crates prevent the sow from turning around or moving, other than to stand up or lie down. They cannot see or nuzzle their young. The piglets are taken from the mothers a few days after birth and packed tightly into feeding pens on wire floors until slaughter or of breeding age. Their tails and ears are cut off and their teeth are clipped (to keep them from biting other pigs out of frustration, while standing on concrete floors. They spend their entire lives in a steel crate, unable to move.

The chickens are kept in stacks of cages, each less than a foot square. They cannot turn around or walk, or peck. They peck at the birds in the adjacent cages to relieve their anxiety. To minimize injury they have their beaks and toes cut off. Until their face heals they are unable to eat or drink for several days. They are fed a concentrated diet, including chicken litter. They never touch soil or grass or see sunlight. In factory farms raising chickens for eggs, the male chicks are discarded alive. Hens are kept in constant artificial light and routinely starved to promote “molting” so they think it’s spring and thus produce more eggs. Laying over 250 eggs a year the hens get severely calcium deficient and lame, often with broken bones and few feathers. Turkeys raised on factory farms get the same treatment.

Humanely produced milk, cheese, butter, and other dairy products comes from cows that eat grass, lie down, suckle their young calves, eat enough nutritious food, drink when thirsty, and have access to shelter. Factory farm dairy cows are constantly fed diets which are deficient in calories, vitamins and minerals, so that the cows are effectively starved and must take from their own bones and tissue in order to make quality milk for their calves, which they never see after birth. They are fed diets which contain subtherapeutic doses of antibiotics to try and maintain their productivity despite a deficient diet, immune-suppressing synthetic hormones and overcrowding. They are injected with genetically engineered growth hormones to stimulate excessive milk production, which damage their joints, as does their standing on concrete all day long, without any exercise. All of this decreases the average life expectancy to less than four years, whereas cows living in a humane natural environment can live to be twelve years old or older and have ten calves or more in a life-time, not just two calves.

The seafood is caught by trawling with a net attached to a boat. The net is dragged at a specific depth and catches everything in its path. The fish within the national quota are kept; anything that is over-quota is tossed back, dead. That is as much as 90% of what is caught in the net. Industrial fishing practices have wiped out 90% of the stock of tuna, sea bass, swordfish and cod.

Half of fish eaten world-wide is grown on fish farms. Many countries do not regulate seafood farming practices; they pollute the environment, disease enters the food-chain, and escaped farm fish harm the wild environment.

Last but not least are the sheep. The young calves are not allowed to grow to maturity, since they will not yield quality meat if allowed to do so. The young lambs are given brutally minimal care, taken from their mothers after two days and raised tied in crates on an iron-deficient diet of milk only. They cannot lie down or turn around. The diet causes anemia and produces “white veal” meat which is inferior to the rosy meat that comes from naturally raised lambs.

All in all it’s a dim picture. How did this happen? How did we go from humane, naturally raised food to the above? There are a few reasons that jump out. We have too many people in our population to feed them all naturally. We are now at 308 million people in the U.S., and the optimal sustainable level would be 130 million.

Mass propaganda by the factory farm industry has conditioned the American people to uncritically believe what they are told. Advertising is mass propaganda, and it works. Americans are emotionally plugged into “the good life”, which by most people is defined as eating as high on the food-chain as one can afford. Meat is a staple for most people, and many eat it three times a day. For every vegan restaurant in any good-sized town there are three or four steak houses.

Further, walk into any American supermarket and you will be mesmerized without knowing it. The organization of traffic flow, the packaging of the products, the sheer overwhelm produced by the variety and amount of food, the music; all of these combine to produce a zombie-like trip through the aisles.

But, underlying all of that, is the demonstrable fact that most Americans want food fat, salt, and sugar more than they want good health. They are diseased, over-weight, and depressed in staggering numbers. Could it be that the food we eat is not good for us? Oh god, no way! We are the best country in the world they tell themselves. It just be o.k.; the government protects us from the bad stuff, right?

Sorry if I wrecked your dinner, but reality screams loudly.

Lee Simon

Far ‘n Away Farm, Virginia.

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THE LONELIEST NUMBER

Editor,

We are no longer the giant colossal nation that we were. Simply put, most of our country has eliminated competition, the backbone of our greatness. We are a nation of many monopolies. Why do monopolies create higher prices and poorer services? Because in a monopoly the drive is to make the job or work longer and more expensive, making more wealth for everyone in the monopoly. If new efficient methods come along, they are ignored. It’s the way they advance in a monopoly. Why would anyone do otherwise in a monopoly?

In the private world with competition there is always some other person or company biting at one’s heels with constant pressure to improve price and performance or it’s bankruptcy, which is a very real part of our system. It is necessary to weed out those who do not perform as good. In that process it improves everyone’s standard of living.

The biggest monopoly of course is government. You have only one federal, one state, one county and one local government and if you don’t like something, too bad.

The Smart train from Cloverdale to Sausalito was passed by the voters and since has been cut in half in length, gone way over the promised money, way over time to do it, and has not even been started. The superspeed train from San Francisco to Los Angeles was passed by voters with promises that are also completely wrong.

These and money other contracts with the public are wrongly promised and no one is held accountable. For these broken contracts, in the private sphere they would go bankrupt and those who made promises that were clearly false could face criminal charges as Congress in now doing to some private financial firms that gave misleading information. These are typical examples of government monopolies and there are thousands more.

Take the Bay Bridge approach that never gets complete. Another monopoly is the medical monopoly which is caused by campaign contributions by doctors and hospitals. A procedure that cost a certain amount 40 years ago would cost ten times as much today. Instead, it costs 50 times as much. With today’s technology, computers can store and retrieve so much information it’s unbelievable. But if you ask the hospital to explain your bill you will end up with no answer. Every possible procedure can be put on a computer and should be made available. But no, they keep it a secret. Secret is another word for fraud. That’s the power of a monopoly.

Then we have corporation heads and their boards of directors who give generously to campaign contributions. By law, public corporations must have annual elections by the shareholders (the owners of the corporation) on a few subjects. These subjects are limited and only advisory no matter what the outcome of the election. Result? They give themselves unbelievable amounts of money, even if they ruin the company. That’s the power of monopolies.

Then we have lawyers who give big time to campaign contributions and lo and behold we have 2, 3 and 4 times as many per thousand population as any other country in the world. That’s the power of monopolies.

All these monopolies are allowed by your benevolent government which also has laws against monopolies.

When we have a surplus of anything the price goes down, and when there is a shortage the price goes up — a marvelous system that keeps prices in balance.

Jobs should be the same. If too many people apply the price should go down and the opposite way if not enough people want a certain job. Everyone will justify their job. Too dangerous, bad hours, need education, etc. etc. We have gotten away from this rule in government and many unions, but the world goes by this rule and it’s killing us.

Emil Rossi

Boonville

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TURN OFF, TUNE OUT, OPT OUT

Greetings Editor

Recently the California Public Utility Commission (CPUC) accepted PG&E’s SmartMeter Opt Out proposal verbatim (ignoring 50 counties and cities plus a dozen concerned activist groups.) The proposal allows analog meters, requiring those opting out to pay a $75 initiation fee and $10 a month for each meter (a gas and electric meter equals one meter.) The opponents including Fort Bragg, Willits and the County of Mendocino want the Opt Out to be free, and would really like entire community opt outs. Most complain of double charging. Why should we pay for something that already exists while simultaneously paying for the SmartMeter system in higher electric rates, which citizens Opting Out are not using. Some people self read and report their meters where meters are hidden within houses or hard to get to. Email digital photos of meters allow for rapid and accurate documentation. PG&E has trusted its customers previously. Why not use this non-meter reader approach, removing all costs? The $75 initiation fee appears excessive as Delay List power users already have analog meters.

If you have a SmartMeter, then you should watch for these common problems and symptoms. 1) Health concerns have manifested in sleeping disorders, ringing ears, headaches, nosebleeds, nausea, heart arrhythmia and cognitive problems. Often removing SmartMeters stops the symptoms. 2) Significantly higher bills and report them. 3) Damages to appliances with digital equipment including heaters, AC, kitchen gear and TVs and disruption of GFI outlets (which must be reported to PG&E.) The common band wireless used by SmartMeters can interfere with WiFi and cause slower downloads. Any disruption of 220 appliances should be inspected immediately and a repair call made. This can lead to fires.

What can you do? First, opt out. Be careful to not sign away rights when opting out. Wait until the last day (May 1st) to pay.

Opting Out is cheaper than joining the problematic SmartMeter system. With a SmartMeter your rate cost may be significantly more, as some have experienced rate climbs of 2, 3 and 4 times the pre SmartMeter amount. Opting out protects your privacy, your families health, those with health implants (heart, diabetes and brain,) and eliminates worries that SmartMeters may damage your appliances and computer.

One resident I know lives in a remote large ranch with four meters. Multiple meters allow her to save money by distributing use for pumps and secondary housing/barns. She has self read her meters for years, phoning in readings. Now she must pay four initiation fees and $40 extra for nothing! She is the meter reader. PG&E has not considered this exception, nor has the CPUC.

Anyone can opt out. The SmartMeter system remains seriously challenged by opponents mentioned and the rates may be eliminated with your help. For more detailed information go to: www.emfsafetynetwork.org  or www.stopsmartmeters.org . SmartMeters are unfairly being imposed on citizens. They need not be wireless (Italy has a wired version,) and the Federal request for Smartgrid is not a mandate. Several states avoid them, finding them expensive and inadequate in saving power. Industry reports show that power-saving tips, via mail and news, slightly trail the SmartMeter induced educational power savings.

To protest these extra fees and demand community opt outs, please call PG&E (866-743-0263) and write to the CPUC (RE SmartMeter Opt Out 505 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94102 or complaints online https://ia.cpuc.ca.gov/cimsapp/  .

Dissenting ratepayer response has gotten us the analog meter option.

Protect yourself and avoid extra charges, Opt Out.

Greg Krouse

Philo

Refuse Smartmeters Mendocino

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KUDOS & CONDOLONCES

Kudos to those that produced and attended the Roadhouse Romancin’ Dance last Saturday night. Dean Titus and the Coyote Cowboys along with Wild Oats did it again. Wild Oats played the first set with “Toe Tappin’ music” that pulled some couples to the dance floor and set the mood and sparked memories with their Bluegrass melodies played true to type and style.

Then Dean Titus and the Cowboys took the stage. Their “Boot Stompin’ Country Western Music” seduced even more folks to the dance floor and kept them there for three hours straight. That’s means no breaks in the music, or rest for the wicked. Oh glorious shame! Dean sure knows how to work and pleasure a crowd. The two bands, and all their music, time and talent was donated to the AV Senior Center members to use as a benefit headliner. Ah folks! You should have been there. Thank God for musicians, especially those assisted by a sound engineer like Dave Martin. What an ear that man has for mixing sound.

The Dance Hall was decorated by the AV Senior Center folks under the artistic talents of Sheri Hansen, Gina and Eddie Pardini. They did the set up and clean up plus the table decorations. The local historical pictures Sheri printed and placed on each table were a nice touch along with the typical event bunting of the 50’s that decorated the walls. The billboard used as a backdrop for the band sure worked to complete the frame.

The God of Light, Dennis Hudson, lit the house and the entertainers. Dennis created a romantic atmosphere by the use of warm romantic colors, a mirror ball and gobos that suggested overhead foliage filtering light. Sure appreciate that and the price was right. His time, all donated.

The Slide Show on the east wall was a homespun treat. Michael Crutcher, video computer top hand, put together half-a shoebox of “ole timey” pictures of some of our seniors, the places they built and the machinery they used to build them. Those pictures brought tears to the eyes of some. Judy and I apologized. Sheri Hansen and Wes Smoot let Michael Crutcher poke around in their historical picture files for material to put up on R-Wall to be viewed by all those who paid. Ah, folks! You should have been there!

I feel obliged to bring to your attention the gratitude we owe and give to the technical crews but also to the production crews. These folks too, worked overtime without pay. The ramrod for the donated services of the Lion’s Club was Judy Long along with her sidekick, assistant cork puller, Christine Clark. They volunteered to be the designated bartenders. They brought $450 to the cash box. We “Do Feed The Lions!” with thanks. And where did all that “liquid dance courage” come from? The local winegrowers of course, giving something back to the community. A touch of class, for sure. Merci!

From up-wind of the bar, one was draw to the sweet smells of pastries. Pastries? Nay, thy name be Hussies! And what a cornucopia of sinful temptations they were, spread across the counter top, just waiting to be purchased. All this tasty pleasure was homemade and donated by local women. The Grange Ladies and some of those other fine-tuned ladies at the AV Senior Center brought in treats to sell. Just being neighborly by helping the senior folks that helped shape the valley. Maybe it will help make their life a little more comfortable by putting some money in the kitty for the bus, internet service or a computer. You know, simple stuff like that.

Judy Nelson was the Roadhouse Cook and is the Cowboy’s most loyal fan she even has a picture of Dean above her stove. Judy was assisted by retired cheerleaders Jo Gardener and Debbie Wineteer. All three women teased me with succulent morsels like Coconut Truffles, Twin Lemon Tarts, Cowboy Toffee and that biggest food tease of all, Cookies Galore. But I just said, No To Sweets. Yeah, right. The ladies labors put another $345 in the cash box. Folks you’re too late, I told you to come to the dance.

Tacos, wonderful tacos of beef, chicken and carnitas were sold indoors by Alicia’s Restaurant. She donated 50 cents for each taco sold. That added another $50 dollars to the cash box.

There was a 50-50 split raffle where the pot was split between the event benefit and the winning ticket holder. That lucky winner was Linda Baker. Linda, angel that she is, donated her half of the winnings of $95 back to the AV Senior Center. That put another $190 in the cash box. That little sucker was putting’ on some weight.

Advance publicity was done by the Basehore family with Pearl Basehore designing the Grange billboard. Pearl has her own graphic and web design business and donated her time and talents. Truly, Pearl Handled.

The two promoters ticket takers/ bouncers, Rod and Judy Basehore, turned in a gate receipt of $800. However, they subbed out their house duties to Maureen Hochberg a few times so they could stretch and retrain a leg with the two-step. And folks you missed it, bummer.

The AV Grange graciously donated the use of the Grange #669 for the dance and extended their donation to the Historical Society for their gig the next day. Pure country, everybody helps everybody, that’s why we country folk tend to be happy and content despite a few tender spots on body, mind and purse.

I must comment on the dancers, those that took time for a little quality time, for a little foreplay with their loved one. They came, saw, danced and enjoyed. All together the effort brought satisfaction to many and netted the AV Senior Center a grand total of $1835 dollars.

So kudos to the community and condolences to those that missed it. Ah! Folks you should have been there! It was a hoot. Next time, cowboy up, open the gate and get ’er done while you’re still this side of the dirt.

Thanks to all, Rod and Judy Basehore, seniors but don’t know it.

Editor,

Winner of the Times trivialedad contest: 1st Prize: 36 hours in Birmingham; 2nd prize: 72 hours in Birmingham.

If there is only one icon it is: Barbie Doll, Dismaleyland, Tom Mix, Black Friday, Willits Justice Center.

The answer of course is “The Times” with Peanut Butter a close second.

1. What is a word that “The Times” absolutely will not print?

2. What is a commonly used Spanish word “The Times” will not print, even in a quotation?

3. Who is now the best columnist in the country with the least amount of bullshit?

4. What does Maureen Dowd call candidate Romney?

5. Who is the socialist candidate in the 2012 election?

Why is it called the “Teddy Bear”? After Teddy Roosevelt who went on a bear hunting trip to Mississippi in 1902, but couldn’t find any bears and was ridiculed by cartoonists.

For what was Roosevelt most heavily criticized? For inviting a Negro to the White House.

What is the subject of these three popular books by Malcolm Gladwell? Outliers: When people succeed it has to do with luck and opportunities as well as talent. The Tipping Point: A study of social epidemics, otherwise known as fads. Blink: The importance of hunch and instinct in the working of the mind.

Robert Jouncewell

Willits

Answers: 1. Stink. 2. Maricon. 3. Eugene Robinson. 4. Mittens. 5. Quien sabe.

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THANKS FROM WALL STREET

Editor,

The protesters who tore up Oakland last weekend in the name of Occupy Wall Street are actually Wall Street’s best friends because they enable the financial elite to portray all who legitimately oppose them as scary anarchists and vandals instead of ordinary Americans cheated out of the American dream.

James Holmes

Larkspur

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ANOTHER GREAT FILM FEST

Dear Anderson Valley film fans and local benefactors,

On behalf of the three local organizations that will receive donations from the recent 6th Annual Anderson Valley Festival, I would like to pass on the deepest gratitude for your support. The Festival’s two nights and one day of films held at The Grange a week and a half ago brought in just under $2,000 in profits — all of which will be distributed between the AV Senior Center, the AV Animal Rescue, and the AV High School Film Class. There are many Valley folks who helped make the event such a success, far too many to mention individually, however, a few deserve a special ‘Thank You’ for their efforts.

Needless to say, my fellow Film Festival committee members should certainly be among those, for without them the Festival would not have taken place: Heidi Knott, Maria Goodwin, Charlotte Triplett, Jeanne Eliades, Tim Bates, and Eric Labowitz. And there are others who deserve special mention too: Mike Crutcher, the irreplaceable sound engineer and video and projector maestro; Patty Liddy, for all her work organizing the volunteers and collecting donations from our sponsors; the many (16) wineries who contributed so generously once again with wine for sale at the bar and as raffle prizes; the Anderson Valley Brewery for the draft beer and bar set-up; the AVA newspaper and the two radio stations – KZYX and KOZT, 95.3 The Coast, for all of the plugs and advertising; Mosswood Market and Alicia’s Restaurant for their excellent food and substantial donations; David ‘The Grange Master’ Norfleet and the AV Grange Committee for allowing us to use their excellent venue; The AV Lions Club, particularly Judy Long, for her assistance in acquiring a beer and wine license for the event plus their help in finding volunteers; and last, but far from least, the many volunteers who gave their time to work their shifts on the door, bar and in the kitchen.

In previous years we have always made around $2000 in profits for the local beneficiaries. This amount was almost achieved once again, however on this occasion, given the financial climate, we decided not to ask the local small businesses for a donation this year, an amount that in the past has been approximately $1000. So, with that in the mind, the profits this year were particularly gratifying and entirely due to the generosity and support of our community.

Many thanks, and ‘Well done’ to everyone concerned!

Sincerely,

Steve Sparks

Philo

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MISBEHAVING

Dear Editor,

The report seen on a recent news broadcast was that husband, Shawn Harris is in prison doing six years for sexually assaulting/raping his wife many times (oral copulation). Wife Crystal Harris recorded many of the events which gave police and a court evidence to put this creep behind bars.

In further news, get this: Another judge, another court, has given Shawn an award of $1000 a month alimony from his former victim wife when he is released from prison in 2017 or sooner for good behavior. Obviously he knows how to behave well — behind bars anyway.

Is this Mendocino County? No, it happened in San Diego. By the way, neither the victim nor the perp is Hispanic.

Carl Flach

Alameda

PS. Just want to let you know that I enjoy/appreciate all the Todd Walton articles that you publish, which I read with glee. He certainly has great depth of himself and the world and puts words into a screed that is pure magic. Thank you for having him on your list of contributors.

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NO RESENTENCING

To the Editor:

An Open Letter to Judge Richard Henderson:

I read with great concern in the Ukiah Daily Journal that you are planning to review a sentence, the lowest prescribed for the crime, already lower than the least that have recently been determined for others for similar crimes, with the possibility of reducing it further, in response to pleas from the perpetrators family and friends.

The trend in society in recent times has been to take more seriously the crime of driving drunk, and rightly so. This is an especially egregious case. Here is someone, no longer a child, who drove drunk, killed a friend, and exhibited the most callous disregard by not rendering aid, first having coffee delivered to him, waiting four hours to report the accident, and lying about it, with no care or concern for anyone but himself.

If he does not serve at least the four year prison term, he will continue to drink, and he will continue to drive drunk, and perhaps kill and maim other innocent victims, because your attitude is telling him that what he did was no big deal. It is telling everyone else who drives drunk that it is no big deal.

Your approach to his sentencing shows disregard for the welfare of society. Living in Mendocino County since 1982 has taught me that in small communities, personal relationships take precedence over the rule of law. Some people cannot get arrested no matter what they do, and if they do get arrested, they cannot get the sentences they deserve. This creates disrespect for the law for those who benefit from these decisions, and cynical disrespect for the law for those who are not in a position to benefit from them. It destroys any belief in a just society.

I am asking you to let your original lenient sentence stand. Deliver justice in a fair and responsible manner, for the benefit of society. Driving drunk is a big deal. Driving drunk and killing someone is a very big deal. Compounding the situation as he did is an extremely big deal, and should not be dealt with lightly.

Carol K. Gottfried

Ukiah

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NO NEW JOB KILLERS

To the Editor:

If the Ukiah City Council denies Wal-Mart permission to expand, no one loses a job: Wal-Mart employees keep their jobs, as do the employees at Food-Maxx and Lucky’s. If, however, the City Council grants Wal-Mart permission to expand, employees at Lucky’s and Food-Maxx will lose their jobs because those supermarkets will be forced out of business. Some of those employees, but not all, will get jobs at Wal-Mart.

At a time when unemployment is already high, it makes no sense whatsoever to grant Wal-Mart permission to expand.

Janie Sheppard

Ukiah

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WHY THE DELAY?

Letter to the Editor

Open Letter to BOS

Last October, Supervisor McCowen asked CEO Carmel Angelo for a report on Laura’s Law. She said it would take her until December to report on it, then she said January and now she says April. Why?

The Supervisors can google on Assisted Outpatient Treatment and Laura’s Law (AOT/LL), and find out for themselves how successful it is all over the country in saving money from decreased hospitalizations and incarcerations, and in helping the sickest of the sick begin their recovery. AOT/LL is good public policy, increases public safety, saves money, makes common sense, and your constituents want it.

Why don’t you just do it?

Sonya Nesch, author of

Advocating for Someone with a Mental Illness

Comptche

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TALK TALK TALK

Dear Editor:

The GOP warhawks are beating their war drums for a war with Iran. These are the same fools that got us into a failed war in Iraq and having us engaging in a futile task of nation building in Afghanistan.

At the same time the warhawks in Israel want to bomb the nuclear facilities in Iran. Iran is not Syria or Iraq who didn’t hit back when Israel bombed their purported nuclear facilities. Iran will hit back hard including missile strikes on Israel and Hezbollah with the their reported 25,000 to 30,000 missiles undoubtedly will attack Israel. Our embassy in Iraq with a staff of around 11,000 plus several thousand contractors is particularly vulnerable. Reportedly the Iranian Revolutionary Guard (Qud) already is in Iraq and could take these people hostage. Further our naval ships could come under attack and if their defensive weapons fail they become floating graveyards. Then of course we might have terrorist attacks directed towards Americans overseas as well as at home. If anybody is really serious about resolving this situation you don’t bomb, bomb, bomb but rather talk, talk, talk.

In peace,

James G. Updegraff

Sacramento

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FISHERS, NOT OIL

Editor,

Keep Local Fishermen Fishing and Prevent Offshore Oil Drilling

Whoever is elected to represent California’s Northcoast Second Congressional District will be a key participant in setting ocean and fisheries policy. I am committed to supporting small, independent, local fishers, assuring local fishers a fair share of federal fisheries allotments.

I recommend that everyone support the “Keep Fishermen Fishing Rally” in Washington, D.C. on March 21. These fishermen are true environmentalists, asserting the rights of sustainable, harmonious fishers, bringing people health-giving food in harmony with the ocean environment.

I agree with the organizers of the March 21 rally when they told the truth about the Magnuson Act: “Signed into law in 1976, in recent years the Act has been transformed from its original intent, to conserve our nation’s fish and support our nation’s fishermen, into a weapon employed by a handful of megafoundations and the anti-fishing Environmental Non-Government Organizations they support to drive fishermen off the water.”

For information on the March 21 Keep Fishermen Fishing Rally, see their website <www.keepfishermenfishing.com >.

Awash in the most profits ever made, oil companies keep hammering on many levels to get at the Point Arena Basin, an earthquake-fault-riven unexplored offshore oil leasing area off the Mendocino Coast, believed to contain significant amounts of oil. Relentless opposition to offshore oil drilling here has prevented it so far, yet eternal vigilance is required.

This year, 2012, I recommend that we support Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey’s bill to expand the Gulf of Farallones-Cordell Bank Marine Sanctuary northward, to permanently prohibit offshore hydrocarbon drilling off the Sonoma Coastand Mendocino to Point Arena. This Marine Sanctuary, crafted with leaders of fishing unions and groups, does not regulate fisheries, but prevents pollution and drilling.

I recommend that fishermen push for introduction and enactment of Rep. John Garamendi’s “West Coast Ocean Protection Act,” which would forever protect the offshore federal waters of Washington, Oregon, and California from offshore oil or gas drilling.

Congressman Mike Thompson always has supported these and other efforts to prevent offshore oil and gas drilling.

The ocean upwelling ecosystem of Northern California is a rare and eternally abundant source of essential food for humans. Protecting the ocean and practicing harmonious seaweed harvest for food has been my life.

John Lewallen

Philo

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WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE…

Mr. Anderson:

While there was a lot to admire in Dick Meister’s article, “So, What About The State of The Unions, Mr. President?”, I don’t think his criticism of Obama was strong enough.

Obama made only a half-assed effort to promote the Employee Free Choice Act. And he appointed a venture capitalist, Arnie Duncan, as his Secretary of Education. Duncan’s focus has been on replacing public schools with charter schools and beating up teachers’ unions–and teachers. Race to the Top is No Child Left Behind on steroids as some wit has observed.

Alexander Cockburn’s and Jeffrey St. Clair’s CounterPunch of 16–30 November, 2011, featured an excellent article by DavidMacaray entitled “Obama and Labor–Friends Without Benefits.”

In his article, Macaray is a lot tougher on Obama. He concludes the article by writing, “Because Obama believes America’s labor unions have no place to reside except the Democratic Party, he condescends to them. …The message is clear: if you think the Democrats aren’t doing enough for you, just see how you do with the Republicans.”

The entire article merits perusal.

Louis S. Bedrock

Roselle, NJ 07203

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OBAMA V. CALIFORNIA

Editor,

It is vital that cities throughout California remain defiant like Oakland has been in the face of the Obama administration’s ongoing scare tactics with regard to medical marijuana.

Proposition 215 is the law in California and has been for the past 15 years. I met with US Attorney Melinda Haag this past December about the recent federal crackdown and the tension between state and federal law. Unfortuantely, she is not using the discretion granted her office to discrimate between the bad actors in the industry and the responsible ones.

I fail to understand how marijuana dispensaries throughout Northern California that are in complete compliance with local law are suddenly a threat to public safety after so many years. This is simply bad politics.

What we need now is strong political leadership from our elected officials to defend California state law. San Francisco has been a leader on this issue and the mayor and the Board of Supervisors need to be more prominent in their opposition to the US Attorney’s actions. Clearly, medical marijuana will eventually be decided by the Supreme Court, but in the meantime we cannot allow the wholsesale dismantling of medical marijuana in the state by a rogue Department of Justice.

Tom Ammiano, Assemblyman

San Francisco

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FREE AIR TRAVEL

Editor,

Free airline flights anywhere within the United States (from Maine to Florida, California to Washington — with hundreds of stops in between)

Are you tired of paying those exorbitant fees for airline tickets, for standing in line to prove you are who you say you are, for calculating schedules and frequent flyer discounts, for worrying about whether your plane will be blown up? (As for the safety issue, relax, our airline has reserved departure and landing areas secured by armed professionals. Additionally, armed air marshals accompany all flights. Our proud boast is that we’ve never lost a passenger.)

All meals are free. We even provide a physician’s assistant on all flights.

Hotel reservations? Not to worry. One of our singular claims to fame is that you can step off the plane right into our modern seven-story hotel, centrally located in the heartland of the country, Oklahoma City, where you can catch your connecting flights.

The only requirement for you to enjoy these CON-AIR benefits is that you must enroll as a member of the Gulag. This is not a difficult process. With the end of the Cold War and the imposition of the war on drugs, then the war on terror, the recruiting requirements have been lowered. Almost anyone can join.

If you’re squeamish and can’t commit the necessary deeds, just remember that this country alone has that all-inclusive statue on the books entitled “conspiracy.” Just whisper a few conspiratorial words into the ears of certain gossipy friendly folks near a mosque who will relay the secrets in greatly exaggerated form to one of the many agent provocateurs lurking about and you too can enjoy the benefits of CON-AIR.

Ronald Del Raine

Victorville

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WELL I’LL B

Dear Editor,

The AV B Well program is up and running for this new year 2012! Start this new year on a good foot and give it up for your health! All Welcome! Free or donation-based (suggested donation $5-7)

February/March Schedule: After School Fitness with Kira Brennan in the HS Cafeteria 3:45-4:45 Mon: Active Yoga-All levels Welcome. Bilingual

Wed: Fitness- Weight Training, toning and aerobics. Bilingual

Thurs: Erin’s Boot Camp: Aerobic work-out & Core training. Bilingual

Power Walk class: M-W-F at 8:45 am starting at the Elementary Parking Lot (Begins on Wed. Feb 1st) (2 Miles)

Boot Camp Aerobic Workout :Saturdays at 10am (Begins Feb 4th) AVHS Cafeteria. Join Erin Brown, personal trainer for this one hour aerobic workout.

Easy Stretch Chair Yoga: with Kathy MacDonald Thursdays 11:00-12:00 AV Senior Center.

All donations welcome to support the AV B Well program. Find us on Facebook AV B Well for updated schedules or call Kira Brennan at 877-3479 or kibrenn@yahoo.com

Peace and Health

Kira Brennan

Navarro

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MAKE WINE, NOT NUKES

Editor,

Frey Winery Hosting California Nuclear Initiative (CNI) Event

America’s first Organic Winery has assembled an evening of speakers and discussion around Nuclear Energy in California and the CNI 2012 Ballot Initiative to close the States two Nuclear Power Plants.

Redwood Valley, February 3rd, 2012. This Saturday February 11th in the beautiful Redwood Valley, Frey Vineyards, a leader in organic wine production and sustainable farming practices since 1980, has assembled an evening around ending nuclear energy in California.

Diablo Canyon and San Onofre Nuclear Power Plants operate near some of the largest population centers and most important agricultural lands in the State. The March 2011 triple meltdown and large radiation releases at Fukushima Daichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan have brought the risks and cost of nuclear power to the forefront of public debate.

California’s two Nuclear Power Plants, both built in the 1970s, are approaching the end of their 40-year design life, and have been plagued with problems for many years; both sit on active earthquake faults. San Onofre has the worst safety record of the nation’s 104 nuclear plants, as the recent January, 31st accident and Radiation release attest.

It is time for California, the nation and the world  to begin a rational and fact-based discussion about the costs and dangers of operating old, poorly designed and poorly sited nuclear plants.  Renewable energy alternatives exist and conservation measures could be enacted to make up the small contribution that nuclear power makes to the electrical supply of the State.   The Japanese have made this clear, after shutting down 50 of its 54 plants in response to the Fukushima Disaster.

The CNI event begins at 6pm.  Organic Pizza (made with ingredients grown at Frey Winery) baked in the winery’s beehive outdoor oven will be served along with Frey organic wine.  Speakers to be announced, presentations will be given, petitions and information will be available to sign and take. Local music provided.

To learn more about the event and Frey Winery visit www.freywine.com.

Paul Frey, 707- 485 -5177, paulfrey@freywine.com

Mark House, 707 513 5843, mahouse729@gmail.com

Redwood Valley

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WATERLESS FROST PROTECTION

Editor,

Something I can’t quite understand: French and German grapes, and even Spanish and Italian, grow in climates with much colder winters than occur in Mendocino and Sonoma, including high ground vineyards. We have a few vineyards here in Minnesota and neighboring Ontario has a substantial wine country. How do they manage without frost protection?

Whyte Owen

Rochester, Minnesota

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TAKE THIS, WALL STREET

Editor:

Please chant for the destruction of the plutocracy:

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

Thank you,

Craig Louis Stehr

Oakland

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ANONYMOUS COP GRIPE

Dear Editor,

As a 15-year subscriber, great admirer of your enterprise, and an avid consumer of his reports, I say Bruce McEwen is a good fit in the ambient machismo at the AVA.

His obnoxious fraternity with cops and officers of the court on the prosecution side has crossed a line. In Two Little Trials (AVA, February 1) he declares his impatience with ‘police state talk,’ by ‘people here who don’t get out into the real world much.’ Then he says a jury trial is something a defendant has ‘managed to get himself.’ As though this fundamental feature of any righteous legal system was something bestowed by ‘feeb’ goddesses mollycoddling dirt-hippie skells. Then he quotes some anonymous tough-guy ‘lawyer-friend’ (maybe he has one too many of those) complaining about ‘the myth… that the system is rigged against poor people’!

Two years ago I deposited all the money I could muster into your local economy. Three days later Sheriff’s deputies from a Mid-Western county profiled my rental car with out-of-state plates. They wrote a completely fictional arrest report in which they lied about the reason they pulled me over, invented an odor in my car, under-reported the on-board agricultural specialties, and ripped off the difference. Crooked cops everywhere know they can write whatever bullshit they want about a dope arrest. To a jury, it’s the word of local cops against some stranger who had shit in his car. If a group of friends had not chipped in for the putative best lawyer in the area, I could be doing 5 to 15 down there now instead of my 5-year probation.

By all AVA accounts, the cops and prosecutors in Mendocino County seem very fair and honest. But hey, Bruce, in the ‘real world’ justice and freedom are for sale.

Name Withheld

Ukiah

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NOTES ON A REZ

Greetings to all you out there in Mendoland,

As one year comes to an end, another begins, and like all curious souls we try to remember the events that occurred during the past 12 months. Many of these events are good and some are bad, and which one is which depends on what side you’re on or whose side you’re on. No, I’m not trying to be negative. But sometimes the truth needs to be told. Yes, it may hurt some feelings and those who are caught will deny what they have done. But the truth is just that and, as they say, is the only thing that truly hurts.

So what do we have to talk about that happened in Indian country over the past year? Oh yes, a few months ago the Mendocino County Sheriff’s office reared its racist head once again when they had the Buckhorn Bar shutdown on California Indian Days in Covelo. You know, that little town right next to the Round Valley Indian Reservation? The Valley had way too many cops in it and as one Indian put it, “he knew they weren’t after him.” Mendo’s finest went beyond their usual display of racism. They might as well have hung signs on every bathroom door and water fountain so that Indians knew which ones to use. The Buckhorn was shut down because of Indian Days. The Buckhorn was shut down because more Indians were coming to town. And the Buckhorn was shut down because Mendocino County’s white power said that “We need to control these wild drunken Indians.” I guess they figured if they shut down the Buckhorn, no Indians would come. But surprise, surprise, the Indians showed up anyway. So smoke that Mendocino’s finest. The black man thought that they had it bad. Well, what happened wasn’t good, but are they still going through it? It’s just another day of approved racism by the powers to be Mendoland.

It’s a sad day when law enforcement can openly call Native People “drunken Indians” and be patted on the back for it by their superiors. What’s even sadder is that no Native People stood up to say anything about what happened. It makes me wonder: where have all the Indians gone? Are there any left to keep our people above water? Or will we sink and finally be annihilated by this government whose purpose in the beginning was to do just that to all our Native People across the country.

I do hate to jump on a different subject but I really have no choice because once again the Council of the Hopland Band of Pomo Indians screw their people without a second thought. This is the one thing that the Council of the Hopland Band does for its tribal members: they screw them over every chance they get. This time all but one of the election committee has elected to allow three known drug addicts to run for Council. Drug tests were done on the would-be candidates who want to run for Council and three were positive for drugs. One of those who was tested is a current councilmember and the election committee for the tribe said that “it does not matter that these three individuals are using drugs, they have a right to be on the tribal council.”

Makes one think that the election committee’s shoe-in candidate was one of those who tested dirty so the committee had to do something to make sure that their candidate was not removed from running. According to the current Tribal Council and the election committee these are the kind of people they want in charge of our tribe. Not only that, another one of the would-be candidates is a known thief by his own words who stole money from the Hopland tribe to feed his own gambling addiction. He’s a self admitted thief and yet our current tribal council allows him to run for a council seat. If these are the type of people who are allowed to run our tribe, and for all we know have been running our tribe, it’s no wonder that the Hopland Band of Pomo Indians are so far in debt to the local white man.

I wish I could be on the Council. But we all know that will never happen. Well, maybe if I steal money from the tribe or become a drug user again, because the Tribal Council as well as the election committee sees fit for these types of characters to run are tribe. And these people have the nerve to promote a drug-free and no tolerance environment. What a joke.

Before I close I would like just like to remind the Council of something and I really hope that you listen and take what I have to say to heart because it’s really important and could change the course of the future for the tribe. Remember and never forget that “You are Indians, so start acting like it.” You really need to remember who and how Indians are because I truly believe you have forgotten. Also try to remember you were put in office for the tribal members. You were put there to do something to benefit the future of the tribe, not to build shooting ranges for the cops. Why do the tribal cops need a shooting range? Why? So the next time the tribal council decides to assassinate one of its tribal members you can do it on their own and not involve the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Department.

Signed:

Just one concerned Native

Hopland

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ADOPT-A-HIGHWAY

Open Letter To The Anderson Valley Community

from the Medical Marijuana Patients Union

A very strange thing has happened on Highway 128 outside of Boonville at the 24.84 mile marker — the Medical Marijuana Patients Union Adopt-A-Highway “recognition sign” has disappeared and the mendocino.com sign has replaced it.

Coming out of Boonville going west, there are now two mendocino.com signs, one after the other, and the former Patients Union sign is no longer there.

This has to be an act of vandalism because the sign outside of Philo is still intact. If it were an official CalTrans policy, the sign at the Philo end of the assigned route would have been removed as well. And CalTrans officials would normally be expected to contact us if there was a problem.

For example, we did have a regular problem of sign theft when we were located on Highway 1 at Elk. After three thefts, it was becoming inconvenient, so CalTrans moved us to 128, which has taken place without incident, until now.

I am appealing to the community to help us figure this out and help find out who is responsible for this wrong. It is more than random vandalism, because someone needed access to another mendocino.com sign to replace the one they removed.

Perhaps there is a connection with the recent Laura Hamburg dust-up, where her dispensary was made to feel unwelcome. And even though the purposes are different, this may also be designed to make the Patients Union feel unwelcome and unrecognized.

There is a distinct minority in this valley resistant to the inclusion and recognition of the medical cannabis community as equals, even though we are shrouded in medical rights approved by the voters.

The Patients Union has been picking up large amounts of litter on three highways for nine years (since 2003) in a concerted effort to perform a much needed service for the community and to pay our debt of gratitude to the voters.

Our purpose is to live well by doing good, and that means working for our rights.

According to previous AAH coordinator, Nita Brake, it was announced at one of CalTrans annual conventions that California had added the Medical Marijuana Patients Union to the roster of litter-picker-uppers and that they were out there doing the job. It was a positive topic of conversation. It was the first time the word marijuana had appeared on a permanent public sign anywhere in the country.

The Patients Union was originally told we’d be closely watched since this was a controversial first — no problem, we’re used to that. We’ve always been on our best behavior as we did our work picking up other people’s garbage. We’ve never had a complaint and our relations with CalTrans are positive. We do the job. What else is there to say?

California voters restored cannabis patients’ medical rights, but many people still consider us criminals, or phonies at best.

But actually, we are forerunners of the idea that it’s good for the soul to give back to society and it’s good for society to care about having a soul.

Pebbles Trippet, for MMPU

formed in Navarro, Dec 2000

Fort Bragg

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WILL

Editor,

A Review of the Movie ‘Will’—

Will is a story about a kid who lives in an orphanage, and runs away to Istanbul to see Liverpool play a soccer game. His dad had bought the tickets but then died, so Will’s buddies helped him run away in the night, and he took off across Europe by himself. He got as far as Paris when teenagers took his money. He met a guy from Serbia named Alek who used to play soccer. Together they go to Istanbul, meeting people and having adventures along the way.

I liked the movie because the story was interesting and funny. I liked the settings, too. My favorite character was Will because he was brave and kind.

Sam Douglass-Thomas

Boonville

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DEFENDING AMY

Dear Bruce,

I’ve been waiting years for the mention of AMY GOODMAN in the AVA. A “smug ideologue” he called her. Ya sure.

She comes on at 5am only in Homer, Alaska, the public radio staff there is one hour braver than Kodiak, Alaska, where it comes on at 4am. It stays under the radar cuz the Chambers of Commerce could never let her get prime time, but she’s got closer to it than anyone ever has, and all over the world too. There’s never been anyone like her and that’s hard for some to admit.

This blooper brings to mind Nicholas von Hoffman who I always enjoyed, brought down as I recall by a clever shot from Alex Cockburn on the topic of a national identity card. Years later I think a card would be nice so I could whisk thru airports easier.

Then there was Arthur Winfield Knight, a delightfully whimsical movie reviewer, besmirched in these pages by a shittail who then wrote his own movie reviews, unreadable things, and then sputtered out after a few months. I guess it was enough for him to be the guy that got AWK.

I heard some things about how Amy came to be. My memory is lousy but there’s the impression was she made some people unhappy. But that was then, and now is now. By any fair rating of her daily output of information you can’t get anywhere else, she’s the best there ever was and unfortunately probably ever will be. The writer (whose pieces I’ve always enjoyed) should do penance by faithfully listening to DEMOCRACY NOW for a few weeks, and we should all forgive him, make like it didn’t happen. It could have been any one of us no-account coffee house squabbler that made the slip.

John Finley

Kodiak, Alaska

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MONTH-TO-MONTH

To the Anderson Valley Community and Beyond,

First and foremost, we want to thank you all for all your support for All That Good Stuff. It has been overwhelming and incredibly heart-warming to know that ATGS means so much to you and to the community.

We also would like to make a clarification. Johnny, Roger and Melinda stated that they offered me and Claudia a two-three year lease. We were never given an opportunity to sign such a document. It had been discussed a couple of times and then pulled off the table. The last clear communication we had regarding the state of our tenancy at the Farrer Building was that we were on a month-to-month basis with no increase in the rent and that we would be given time to find a new location.

We want you to know that we are actively looking for a new location and as soon as we have found our new spot in town you will all be the first to know. We are confident that something will come up and that we will continue to serve the community and beyond as we have done here at the Farrer Building for the last 22 years.

So for the time being, please continue to find us at the Farrer Building. We look forward to a fresh new start, whenever and wherever that may be. We are grateful to hear from you all that you will support us wherever we go. Claudia and I are, and will be, forever grateful for your continuing support.

Leslie and Claudia

Boonville

PS. If you do have any ideas for us concerning a good spot for ATGS, please let US know. Thanks!

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WILL

Editor,

A Review of the Movie ‘Will’—

Will is a story about a kid who lives in an orphanage, and runs away to Istanbul to see Liverpool play a soccer game. His dad had bought the tickets but then died, so Will’s buddies helped him run away in the night, and he took off across Europe by himself. He got as far as Paris when teenagers took his money. He met a guy from Serbia named Alek who used to play soccer. Together they go to Istanbul, meeting people and having adventures along the way.

I liked the movie because the story was interesting and funny. I liked the settings, too. My favorite character was Will because he was brave and kind.

Sam Douglass-Thomas

Boonville

Editor,

Something Wicked This Way Comes is, of course, the famous line from the Shakespearean play Macbeth, which forewarns of an impending ominous, dangerous and traitorous entity.

Fast-forward from the seventeenth century, to a real threat we now potentially face in Mendocino County, which is perhaps no less insidious or alarming; with modern day wide-reach and consequence for the entire county.

The proposed Harris Quarry Expansion Project, is the benign-sounding name of a determined push to install a 300 ton per hour asphalt manufacturing plant neighboring the LaVida school, Christ’s Church of the Golden Rule and Golden Rule senior residential park, which are proximate to the famous Seabiscuit Ranch- former home of legendary race horse Seabiscuit. The Bountiful Gardens research garden and cherry orchard are also nearby. Further, this proposal seeks to ambitiously involve the entire County through zoning changes specifically allowing heavy industrial / manufacturing uses on land designated in the General Plan as ” RL-Range lands”; which includes 90 % of the private property in Mendocino County. Everyone’s “back yard” in Mendocino County could potentially be vulnerable if the designers and proponents of this plan get their way. There is legitimate concern the so-called Mineral Processing Combining District Overlay feature of this proposal is an add-on, benefiting special interests. Sooner or later this (ear-mark) may affect unsuspecting citizens County-wide, in a very up-close and personal way.

Many are concerned that this movement which is portrayed ostensibly as a need for a single asphalt plant, is actually a much farther-reaching agenda “opening the door” to manufacturing related development of not only more asphalt plants around the county; but also possibly for the development of oil refineries (to accommodate off-shore drilling), natural gas, geothermal and concrete manufacturing plants, along with a whole host of other activities which could bring adverse and unforeseen consequences heaped upon a surprised, non-informed citizenry.

For those of us appropriately concerned with Mendocino’s economic future, it is important to note, objections are not anti-business in spirit. A careful reading of the Environmental Impact Report’s “fine print” reveals an admission that only 4 local jobs might be generated if the Harris Quarry asphalt plant becomes a reality. Compare this with the real fear of more employment losses due to discouragement of tourism along with plummeting property values which could result from inevitable environmental pollution from the asphalt plant on Ridgewood Summit- the highest point of land along Highway 101. It is arguable that an already struggling tax base could be further compromised. Heavily loaded, polluting, over sized trucks would dominate and slow traffic on Hwy 101 at this dangerous intersection. An unsightly and incongruous, smelly smokestack looming over an otherwise pristine countryside, and night time lights would point the way to the historic Seabiscuit Ranch; and serve as monument and beacon to poor planning and short-sighted subservience to special interests. Is this the template we want to approve county-wide ? This may be a plan bringing an evil wind that blows no good- to a property near you.

The voluminous, complex and expensively produced report called an Environmental Impact Report has been fashioned by all the proper authorities and advocates on the subject. Public outcry had forced the Applicant to withdraw and re-submit as inadequacies and deficiencies were exposed. A continually changing, re-adjusting, and morphing project has strained the patience and resources of a weary public addressing a moving target- but the resolve remains firm.

Recently, it has been announced that Ignacio Gonzales, Planning Director for Mendocino County, and (prior) former Special County Consultant on this same project- has resigned. It has been reported that Director Gonzales left for greater challenges and higher compensation in Santa Clara County. This begs the question: Should the citizens of this County be saddled for generations to come, with what many consider an ill-conceived, complex, poorly explained, far reaching zoning change that would allow industrial expansion throughout the county ? A plan designed, and engineered, if not advocated, by individuals who may not be here to deal with the profound long term adverse consequences !

The Planning Commissioners are scheduled to make recommendations to the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors very soon. The BOS is the ultimate authority representing the citizens of Mendocino County. This board will be asked to vote yes or no, or suggest alternatives. Please voice your concern and let the Board know how you feel by contacting your District Representative, or by reaching the Board collectively by e-mailing: bos@co.mendocino.ca.us

Please help bring this proposal out of the shadows and into the clear light of public scrutiny. Let’s confine “Something Wicked” to the pages of fiction- and out of the back yards of Mendocino County.

Jack Magné

For Keep The Code

Willits

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E-BUSSES?

Letter –

Education in peril without school buses or Internet

No school buses AND insufficient high speed Internet coverage for both kids and adults in their homes is double whammy for rural California. It is a sad AND unacceptable situation for kids whose parents may find it a hardship to get them to and from school. If all residences had high speed Internet, young people could be educated from home and not need to worry about the school bus cuts. The Leggett Valley Unified school district started an online K-12 program last fall as the Lost Coast Virtual Academy as a pilot program for Mendocino County. This might be the wave of the future as the government gets more distant to the realities in the really rural areas. One more reason to demand high speed Internet as a must have in the 21st century and support the Broadband Alliance in their efforts to get all residences connected.

May Peace Prevail on Earth.

Shirley Freriks

Broadband Alliance of Mendocino County

Albion

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NOT AS REPORTED

Editor,

I’m a Philo part-timer; but I live in Berkeley mostly. I am a retired lawyer. For political reference, I was a founder and co-chair of the progressive caucus in the California Democratic Party and a lifelong progressive activist. I am a friend and strong supporter of Norman Solomon in the 2nd CD race. I am also an elected member of the KPFA local station board. I was therefore horrified/amused by the reference to our station in the Off the Record column in early January referring to, and wildly mis-stating, the nature of the struggle at KPFA and Pacifica. The short description of that battle is that it is about several things: local control, and a sound that will attract and keep listener-subscribers.

The majority of the elected local board believes in the quaint notion that those of us elected by the local listener-members should have a modicum of control over our station. The reality is that, in November 2010, the Pacifica Executive Director summarily purged the paid staff, eliminated the most popular and most remunerative program — the Morning Show — and its staff, without so much as consultation with the local station management or board, and has proceeded to run the station high-handedly ever since. The fight is not so much over content, although there is a continuing undercurrent of vilification of Democratic Party activists (of which — see above — I am one) which I see the AVA has repeated. A lot of folks in the Democratic Party consider our progressive politics in no way related to Nancy Pelosi. I was the author, for example, of the resolution censuring Dianne Feinstein for, essentially, being too conservative. It was the progressive caucus that passed a resolution strongly critical of Obama and mentioning the heresy of a possible primary challenge. I subscribe to the belief that the two party system is currently the only game in town (I was a Henry ‘Wallace supporter in 1948 and a Peace and Freedom Party member in the 1960′s) and if you want to fight for social justice now, you can rail from the sidelines, or you can get in and get dirty.

But that is not what the fight at the station is about; the Democratic Party issue is straw man, a subterfuge to cover the far more mundane, local issues involved. The local board majority supporting the recall consists of socialists, independents, Greens, and progressive democrats. No one is trying to turn the station into a mouthpiece for any point of view. The board majority retains the notion that local management should run the station, that it should have a professional format and sound, that it should speak truth to power and that it should not be the mouthpiece of any tendency or faction. Or party.

The recall campaign is related to the two issues mentioned above. Ms. Rosenberg is vulnerable in both categories, and has committed many offenses against local control, as well as others detailed in the campaign. It is true that she is “committed,” but to what, other than her self-aggrandizement? As most of your readers don’t hear or subscribe to the station, I will not bore them with the intimate details. But I thought it important to correct the one-sided diatribe in the AVA earlier this month.

Respectfully,

Malcolm Burnstein

Philo/Berkeley
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CHEAP SHOTS

Dear Editor:

We need the AVA. It is the only media outlet that provides real — read true — political information in Mendocino County. It also provides good writing on a variety of subjects — for example Todd Walton — and it has an excellent “open letters policy” which permits negativity.

It should be more widely read but it is not. Much of what the AVA terms “coast lib” won’t read it although it is the best, often only source of information on issues that concern them.

Why is this the case? I believe it is because of the mean-spirited, cheap shot writing that occurs. This was formerly the bailiwick of the esteemed editor, but now that age has mellowed him it is practiced by Bruce McEwen. I believe lines such as, “He responds to his wife’s hand signals with the alacrity of a well-trained Jack Russell terrier,” whether accurate or not, tends to drive away more readers than his pandering to the desire for distraction that our entertainment oriented population attracts.

Although I rarely have the fortitude to read an entire McEwen story, in spite of my hope that his reporting on the failures of the justice system might help to bring about change, I recognize that crime reporting sells papers.

Since I would like to see the AVA thrive, I suggest that the editor edit with an eye to distinguishing humor from gratuitous cruelty.

Peter Lit

Elk

PS. How can it be a “major fubar” if replacement copies are being sent?

Ed reply: “He responds to his wife’s hand signals with the alacrity of a well-trained Jack Russell terrier.” Mean-spirited? Cheap shot? Are you kidding? Everyone in the courtroom remarked on it. I call it good reporting, and McEwen’s by far the best court reporter around. Crimeny, Pete, we can’t all be Charlie Acker! PS. Combined website and hard copy, the AVA is easily the most read publication in the county which, granted, isn’t saying much in the country where most people get all their information from television. But only us and the PD reach every area of Mendo from Mina to Gualala. This fact distresses lots of people, lockstep libs especially. Always has.

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MEMO TO KENDALL SMITH

Editor,

Let me be clear. Actually, now more than ever, in terms of a level playing field, all options are on the table, if you will. At this point in time, we are cautiously optimistic but must be proactive with a sustainable footprint — on the ground in real time, at the end of the day. Iconic? Not so much.

Jeff Costello

Portland

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NITT & MEWT

Editor,

Mitt and Newt. Newt and Mitt. Do we need any more evidence that the process has been hijacked, that the system is broken? Richie Rich and Baron von Munchausen vying for the opportunity to spend the summer and early fall making Wall Street’s errand boy in the White House look like the sane and reasonable option. Is anybody still not convinced that we’re fast approaching, if not already arrived at, a state of irreparable civic wreckage?

When the media monsters and networks leveraged out the League of Women Voters and took over managing and presenting the debates, it felt as though the adults had left the room and headed for the SuperPac slot machines, leaving the children behind glued to a teevee offering a continuous repeating loop of Fear Factor.

How would you like to have been the Texas businessman who got excited when Rick Perry threw in his hat, donating $50,000 to the campaign in hopes of gaining privileged access once the Governor moved into the White House, only to find out a couple of short weeks later that yes, Virginia, there really is a candidate who can appear so stupid that even the pig people and teabaggers can’t bring themselves to vote for him. Must have felt like that time he met that little gal at the bar of the Convention Center, bought her services for the whole night, only to wake up in the morning and find the bed empty and his wallet gone. Well, don’t take it too hard, Tex, there’s a whole lot of us feeling that way these days.

In fact, I’m thinking that it’s high time to just opt out. Let’s sit this one out and stay at home next November. Let them think that we’re too busy out in the garage sharpening the pitchforks to be bothered with going to the polls.

But if you absolutely must go, be sure to vote outside The Choice. Vote for Pat Paulsen, Leonard Peltier, Stephen Colbert, Barry Commoner, Ralph Nader, Gus Hall, or even Ron Paul if you’re so inclined. It doesn’t really matter what alternative you choose, just as long as you let them know that you’re no longer buying into their game. Because the only vote that means anything now is the vote that refuses to legitimize the farce.

Michael DeLang

Coal Creek Canyon, Colorado

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WOMEN & CHILDREN LAST

Editor:

I just rec’d this via email from an old friend:

The current plight of the Costa Concordia reminds me of a comment made by Winston Churchill. After his retirement, he was cruising the Mediterranean on an Italian cruise liner. Some Italian journalists asked him why an ex-British Prime Minister would choose an Italian ship.

“There are three things I like about being on an Italian cruise ship,” said Churchill. “First, the cuisine is unsurpassed. Second, their service is superb. Then, in time of emergency, there is none of this nonsense about women and children first.”

Best regards,

Bart Boyer

San Diego

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MEDIUM MATTERS

Ye Editor,

The page number mixup and the mere eight pages of the January 11 issue represented but the iceberg’s tip.

I address you as co-author with Mr. McEwen of “The Newspaper Did It.” The newspaper did, indeed. You write here of “exactly one media.” The words “exactly one” definitely sounds like singular to me and, gents, the singular is definitely “medium,” and the plural alone is “media.” Later in the same article you refer to “a single media,” and I cringe to see this egregious error compounded. When are you going to shoot (or hire) the copy editor over there?

Kick this fool out when you dispose of that dumb ass spellchecker which doesn’t know a homonym from a hominy or a homily. I know you had recent ill health and you are terribly busy and you have only one reporter and so on and blah blah. But when stuff like this goes out under the editor’s byline, well… I would hate to imply that you sound like out of the illiterate backwoods, but sometimes, well, really.

Chugging right along, keep up those worthy words.

Carol Pankovits

Fort Bragg

PS. Oh, and Major? The word “ablutions” refers just do the washing part, the cleansing with water. You can look it up, as Casey Stengel said.

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WHAT’S WITH YOU PEOPLE?

Editor,

I love that little All That Good Jazz Stuff in Loonieville.

I always stop on my way home from “civilization” back to Fort Bragg and check out what funky stuff is in there now.

What’s with you people in Anderson Valley? Where are the torches and pitchforks?

You can just bet there will be some uptight overpriced doodad “shoppe” with coordinating organic earthtones taking its place or worse, a tasting room.

You can always get them back where it hurts: their wallets.

The landlords are Johnny Schmitt who owns the Boonville Hotel and the restaurant inside and Roger Scomegna who owns Signal Ridge Winery. Boycott them! Show your outrage. Don’t referr people to the landlords’ own businesses. Don’t buy Signal Ridge wine. Don’t stay or eat at the Boonville Hotel.

Talk to them, e-mail them, write them, and tell them that the evicting All That Good Jazz is a crappy idea.

What the hell are you waiting for? Put down his newspaper and call them!

Paddy Whitcomb

Fort Bragg

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GREEN-UP, UKIAH

Editor,

Greenbelt — Less Wal-Mart

Fifty to 75 years ago, the Ukiah Valley was still a beautiful place. The valley floor would be covered with deep blue lupines and golden poppies. Today you have to search for lupines and poppies for seed saving. Have we lost our appreciation for nature’s paintbrush? So much so that we bulldoze, pave, build and destroy all of the natural world which provides a quality of life beyond the business practices of shopping and earning money? What’s wrong with Wal-Mart’s plan to expand its store? Looks like everything to me.

Why should taxpayers be asked to subsidize the obscenely wealthy Wal-Mart/Walton family through food stamps and the food bank programs to feed poorly paid Wal-Mart employees? The Ukiah co-op and the other stores pay living wages. Why doesn’t the greedy Wal-Mart corporation pay equally fair wages to all its employees?

Wal-Mart wants to expand its paved areas with more asphalt in a floodplain, dumping more automobile pollution into the Russian River — more traffic — more air pollution in a valley which suffers from summer air inversions trapping pollution close to the valley floor — more water usage when climate change challenges us with many unknowns such as alternating drought and flooding.

If Wal-Mart were to demonstrate goodwill towards our community, Wal-Mart would donate anywhere from $1 million-$10 million toward the construction of a greenbelt along the Russian River, a walking park with bicycle paths to include riparian habitat restoration, wildlife protection and wildflower and native plantings. Such a greenbelt would truly benefit Ukiah/Haiku as parks like this have revitalized and restored downtowns and abandoned city areas all over this country. Ukiah could be an example of a progressive community instead of a regressive one choosing predatory capitalism. We need to green our city. The Open Space Council, Audubon Society, Ukiah Trails, Mendocino Land Trust, California Native Plant Society need to join together, organize for local sovereignty, instead of corporate predation of our wealth. Think of Wal-Mart as an invasive species. Look at how the wildly spreading thorn-covered gorse has overtaken our coastal grasslands, pampas grass too. Inland, observe the spreading of toxic star thistle which is so difficult to remove.

All of us joined together can create a powerful coalition for change. Why should citizens have to beg a panel of unaccountable bureaucrats to rule in the best interests of our community? Progressive communities have begun to discharge their planning commissions in favor of citizens’ coalitions and liaisons. Perhaps this will be necessary to accomplish the long-term revitalization of our city.

Occupy!

Dorotheya M. Dorman

Redwood Valley

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GOING TO KUWAIT PARTY

Editor,

Staff Sergeant Steven Alvarez is a May 2005 graduate of Anderson Valley High School, grandson of Harold and Shirley Hulbert, son of Baldimar Alvarez and Melody Perez. He finished boot camp at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, then went on to train in diesel mechanics. He has been to Aberdeen proving grounds in Maryland, Fort Lewis in Washington State, Vilsec, Germany, then in Iraq for 18 months. For the last two years he has made his home in Pleasanton, California, working for Lockheed-Martin. Soon he will leave again for Kuwait as an employee of Lockheed-Martin.

We will have a farewell potluck dinner for him on Saturday, February 11 at 5:30pm at the Senior Center in Boonville. Everyone is welcome to come, eat, say good luck and give him our goodbyes.

Shirley Hulbert

Boonville

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NOT SO PINK SLIPS

Dear Editor,

In January, the Point Arena Unified Board of Trustees went over the 2011-2012 Mid-Year Trigger Cuts during the Point Arena School Board Meeting. Last year, 2011-2012, the district’s ending balance was $1,594,225. This year 2012-2013, if the projection holds up, it looks like the district will have an ending balance of $1,221,153. Of course, this is not how it was reported in the Independent Coast Observer which stated Superintendent Cross told them, “The mid-year cut means the district projects to deficit spend into its reserve as much as $430,000 for 2011-2012.” The trustee “reserve” budget for emergency spending is approximately $2 million. At the meeting when discussing the failing budget, Trustee DeWilder quickly added that “we have the Action Network’s Lawsuit to thank for this.”

Let’s be realistic. Action Network obtained a grant for the students. It was a School Safety & Violence Prevention Grant to the tune of over $362k. This grant started approximately two to three years ago and will end in 2013-14. What did Action Network get from the suit against the district? The ICO reported they received $25K. I am not sure why DeWilder is looking a gift horse in the mouth. This year it allowed the district to use the entire amount to for “Instructional Salaries.” I am sure there are other schools which would greatly appreciate having more funds for instructional use instead of grumbling about it.

The ICO also reported that Cross “was authorized to distribute pink slips to an undetermined number of certificated employees…” I called Dr. Cross and inquired as to what positions are being eliminated from the district and was informed the “pink slips” would not happen until the due date of March 15th. I asked her to keep me informed when it does happen.

I will keep you updated!

Respectfully,

Suzanne L. Rush,

Manchester

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SAME OLD SAME OLD

Editor,

Once again, President Obama talks the talk of equality and fairness, but walks the walk of special privilege for the rich.

Sure, increasing the capital gains tax from 15% to 30% is a great step, but the top rate on ordinary income is still higher at 35%. Plus, those in the middle class pay a higher percentage in sales tax, property tax, payroll tax, etc.

So Obama’s proposal is still a special gift from those whose income is mostly labor to those whose income is mostly investment. Are we going to fall for the Republican good cop, Democrat bad cop routine again? Why not simply have the same tax brackets for any income, regardless of its source? The added revenue would be all that’s needed to put the Federal budget back in the black, just as it was under Clinton, before Bush cut taxes on the rich with the capital gains tax break in the first place.

Fletcher Goldin

Tracy

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ALL IN ONE, ONE FOR ALL

Editor,

We want to thank the Mendocino County Fire Safe Council, the good works of Executive Director Julie Rogers and Colin Wilson of the Anderson Valley Fire Dept. for sending help to trim back our driveway and yard making our home safe from fire and our road access open, safe and available for emergency equipment if either we or our neighbors are ever in need.

The crew run by Aaron Peterson’s All-IN-1 tree service who came for a FULL day was friendly and professional and left our property safe and cleaned-up.

The program funded through MCFSC is much needed and most appreciated.

We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for this amazing gift.

Barbara & John Stephens~Lewallen

Philo

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WELL, SHUCKS, ANYTIME

Editor,

Occupy the Courts: a Phenomenal Success!

Thanks to you and many others, our “Occupy the Courts” events on January 20 turned out better than we ever imagined! Events protesting Citizens United took place at 138 federal courthouses, in parks and plazas, and at the Supreme Court.

Far too numerous to mention here (including over 1200 print/online articles and 450+ TV/radio clips!), please check here for a round-up of the news stories.

We were able to stage protests at federal courthouses in 48 states, and bring thousands upon thousands of our fellow citizens out on a week-day, in the middle of winter.

It was a measure of the great grassroots organizing going on within this coalition.

Amending the Constitution to abolish corporate personhood requires us to work in our own communities to build support for it. “Occupy the Courts” show us that when we all pull together, we succeed. So pat yourself on the back for a job well done!

Going forward, Move to Amend will continue to lead the fight against corporate personhood and “money is speech.” In order to do so, and meet the growing demand for information and resources, we have recently upgraded our database to better serve you.

You’ve probably already noticed that our emails look a little different. Our new system has improved our communications ability tenfold and offers a lot more flexibility — but it does come at an expense.

Help us succeed in all of our efforts — become a sustaining member today!

“Occupy the Courts” taught us that when we are able to focus attention on our mission instead of on raising money, we can accomplish great things.

If every Move to Amend member contributed just $10 a month  (the cost of a movie ticket) we could focus our attention entirely on the Movement to Amend and passing the 28th Amendment.

Please become a Move to Amend monthly sustaining donor!

In solidarity,

Ben Manski, Nancy Price, David Cobb, Leesa “George” Friday, Jerome Scott, Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap, Lisa Graves, Laura Bonham

Move to Amend Executive Committee, Wherever USA

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NOT THE SALOON?

Gentlemen…

Amongst all the turmoil and scandal of the stories featuring J. Schmitt and All that Good Stuff , the High School Fight Club and its accompanying student suspensions, and the P.T.A. financial irregularities, perhaps the most disturbing piece of news I have heard this past few days is that The Boonville Saloon (formerly The Boonville Lodge) is closing and the liquor license being sold to an establishment in Pt. Arena… If this is true we may never get one back here in the Valley… Say it ain’t so.l

Steve Sparks

Philo

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MENDO SOLAR!

Editor,

Mendocino Solar Service has been recognized by SunPower Corporation as a Premier Dealer. The promotion to premier dealership is a recognition of the volume of SunPower systems installed by Mendocino Solar Service (MSS) to date, the excellent record of customer satisfaction, and the advanced training taken by Mendocino Solar Service staff. SunPower Corporation is the market leading solar manufacturer with the highest efficiency panel available. MSS have installed over 600 kilowatt of solar systems in Mendocino county and northern Sonoma county. Mendocino Solar Service staff is thrilled to further their ability to provide the community with renewable energy.

For more information, Please contact

Maggie Watson @ 937-1701

Mendocino

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THINGS FALL APART

AVA,

As staunch and really are carted off to the recycle bin let us bring on erg and joule and let the housewife dwell on the second law of thermodynamics and entropy as she hits the reheat button on her microwave.

Harold Ericsson

Harbor City

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EYES ONLY

To those concerned…

Last Friday the parties actually involved in the lease negotiations of “All That Good Stuff” met to pick up where we left off a few weeks back. Leslie has been offered a two-three-year lease, pretty much the same deal offered prior to the Steve Sparks article. This is with no rent increase or long-term obligation on her part should she decide to find a suitable space sooner. While some would view this as an eviction, others view this as generous notice.

For those who would like to help Leslie and Claudia succeed, what we can do is help them look for a future location for “All That Good Stuff.” If anyone has positive suggestions or has a suitable building they would like to rent, please let us know. If you still have the need to sling mud, please reconsider, as you are only hurting the parties involved as well as the community we love.

Johnny, Roger and Melinda

Boonville

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FOUR YEARS AGO…

Open letter to media:

I’m appalled at the amount of airtime and press coverage devoted to the presidential primaries. It’s just another example of how the corporate media decides what is “news”. Instead of news of important issues or events, we are exposed to corporate candidates who debate the issues that the corporate world frames for us to hear. Those outside the mainstream, who wish to debate real issues, are quickly sidelined as being “unelectable” (anyone not selected by the two main parties).

I have come to expect as much from NPR, but now I have the same complaint about Democracy Now! and Free Speech Radio News. I have depended on these sources to give me REAL news, but they, too, are now featuring hot items from the Dem and Repub “Dog and Pony” shows.

This major distraction occupies the front pages of most print media, as well. It has even crept into the pages of the AVA.

Please – Amy, FSRN and AVA, spare us from the daily updates of these meaningless “news” reports and get back to your real news items.

Thanks,

Bruce Hering,

Boonville

Ed note: We defy anyone to find an unironic reference to any of the candidates of either party in this fine publication.

Editor:

Although I cannot speak to the incident regarding a phone call to John Coate as I was not present, the procedures of the Board of Directors of MCPB follows strict Robert’s rules and public comment on the agenda is limited to just that, public comment. Ms. Dawn was not the only member of the public present, however we would encourage more of the public to attend and voice their comments. I have been on the board for over three years and have yet to meet you. You are invited to attend any meeting of the Board so that you can report first-hand on our meetings.

Point of Fact: (1) Bill Moyers has not been on KZYX for quite sometime and is now both airing his show on radio and TV; (2) We have difficulty finding anyone to run for the Board and, in fact, have had an empty seat since the last election due to the lack of finding anyone willing to run; (3) if you have proof regarding the criminal allegations you list, you have an obligation to report those to the pertinent authorities for investigation; and (4) on the contrary, our members and financial numbers, as reported at every public meeting of the Board, have increased since the current management, staff and board have been working for the station and the station’s debt has significantly been reduced. I personally sign over 100 letters to our members quarterly who continue to donate generously to KZYX and find our programming excellent.

If you wish to attack me as to my personal abilities as a board member, as a programmer at the station, or as to my mental health, I would hope you might attempt to first to meet me. BTW Ms. Dawn and I have many cheery discussions about how to make KZYX a better station, more local, and accessible to the public and press.

You are free to publish this email in the AVA, along with the schedule of our future meetings.

Katharine Cole, Secretary

Mendocino Community Public Broadcasting

Philo

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BETWEEN US BUILDINGS

My Dear Back Office on the Second Floor of the Farrer Building,

Having read the article about All That Good Stuff by Turkey Vulture and the letter from the Farrer Building, I really see no difference in the facts or even the interpretation of the facts between those two pieces.

I suspect that the Farrer Building’s siding may be a little thin in this particular area.

No one can dispute, or has disputed, the Farrer Building’s right to do whatever it wants to do with itself.

But in a small community like this, that building must also realize that other smaller buildings, and even some of the larger buildings, care very deeply about what happens to All That Good Stuff and its involved humans.

So please remodel carefully, Farrer Building, for all of our sakes.

Respectfully,

A Smallish House

down the block from the Boonville Hotel

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RETREATING FROM THE PUBLIC

Dear District Attorney Eyster:

19 January 2012 — I am community member in the school district of Point Arena and have been attending the majority of school board meetings for the past four to five years. On, January 18th, I received an agenda stating “Special Meeting: Board/Superintendent Retreat.”

My concern is that under California Board Bylaw #9320 it is clearly stated, “Public notice shall be given in accordance with law when a quorum of the Board is attending a study session, retreat, public forum, or discussion meeting. All such meetings shall comply with the Brown Act and shall be held in open session and within district boundaries. Action items shall not be included on the agenda for these meetings.” As anyone can see by the agenda the Point Arena School Board clearly is in violation when they added action items to their agenda. The retreat is in Section 5 on the agenda which means they essentially combined a Special Meeting with a retreat.

I emailed Superintendent Dr. Colleen Cross stating: “I, 100% agree with you that the district board can engage in a district/superintendent retreat. However, please feel free to correct me if I am wrong but I believe a Board/Superintendent Retreat does not include district business that should be held at a regular school board meeting or a ‘Special Meeting’ — i.e. expulsion of a student, discussion with action on policies regarding retirement incentive programs, etc.” Yet, they continued to not only hold this meeting but the County Superintendent, County Education Superintendent Paul Tichinin was in attendance.

I believe this meeting should be treated as a violation of Brown Act Law and believe a letter should not only to go to Dr. Colleen Cross, Superintendent of the Point Arena School District but also to County Superintendent Paul Tichinin instructing them to rescind any action taken and bring the action items up at a regular Brown Act Compliant Board of Trustee Board Meeting which will be held on February 8, 2012.

On a personal note, I certainly understand violations by school boards are probably not priority in the DA’s office. However, just because members of the community volunteer to serve on school boards does not alter the fact that they are to represent and be the voice of the community and should have our best interest first and foremost when conducting business. This superintendent/board knowingly violated laws set forth by our State and should be held accountable for their neglect.

Respectfully,

Suzanne L. Rush

Manchester
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49ER BOORS

Editor,

I’ve lived in the Bay Area for 25 years but have remained a staunch Saints fan with close ties to New Orleans. My family still lives in New Orleans and has held our season tickets since 1967. I “get” the emotion of the game, the moment and the enthusiasm of the 49er fans.

Despite the extraordinary setting at the ‘Stick, we were shocked by the hostility, vulgarity and intimidation that rained down on me and my two teenage daughters from the moment we stepped into the parking lots. Yes, we were proudly wearing our Saints colors; that’s what loyal fans do. And yes, we expected some good-natured jeering.

We had vulgarities screamed at us repeatedly in the parking lots and literally nonstop by the hooligans around us in the stands. While walking through the lots we had footballs thrown at us, guys screaming curses in our faces — my daughters asked if I had heard the guy who yelled “your mother’s a whore,” which I had, but couldn’t show a reaction for fear for my daughters’ and my own safety. We finally took to shadowing two cops who were strolling through the lots until we dashed for what we thought would be the relative sanity of the stadium.

The stadium was no better. Every other word from dozens of fans around us was an f-bomb shouted at the top of their lungs. There were seven or eight large 30- to 35-year-old guys directly behind us who cursed and threatened us the entire game. After one string of profanities I turned around to look at them and the most obnoxious and combative of the bunch yelled, “Do not turn around again! Do not ever turn around again” and punctuated it with a profanity. They used gay slurs repeatedly at the husband of a middle-aged couple in front of us, the only other Saints fan in our area, and called his wife a bitch.

One of my daughters asked me, “Why don’t you do something, Daddy?” Do what? Fight ten guys? Call/text security when all those guys behind me would know who would have fingered them? Leave early? We almost did.

The hostility and threats of violence were a constant throughout our experience. It appeared to be ingrained in the fans’ culture, similar to the hooliganism that destroyed the reputation of English soccer. The long wait for the playoffs, the excitement of a big game? No excuse. I’ve been to big games in venues around the world and believe me, I’ve been a Saints fan my whole life so I certainly know about long playoff waits. The Vikings fans in the tailgate parties before the NFC championship game were eating crayfish and dancing along with the Saints fans — they weren’t threatened, they were having a great time.

Every 49ers fan, the team, and its owners should be ashamed and embarrassed to wear the red and gold that day. They won the game but are losers in every other way.

Don Moses

Mill Valley

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BOORS? WHAT BOORS?

Editor,

As a 49ers  season ticket holder, I am taken aback by Saints fans who felt they were poorly treated at Saturday’s game.

I sit in the upper reserved section, visitors’ side, and saw none of the reported behavior, either in the parking lot or the stadium. To the contrary, I thought everyone was very civil with a huge game on the line. Walking through the parking lot, I saw Saints fans tailgating both with 49ers fans and by themselves with no bad behavior or interference. I even observed a dozen Saint fans standing in a circle around a 49ers teddy bear, putting curses on it, to the amusement of 49ers fans.

I have experienced bad behavior — my daughter and I had beer thrown at us when wore our 49ers jerseys at a Seahawks home game — but not here.

As a season ticket holder, I do not tolerate 49ers fans who get out of line. You either call them on it or report it on the anonymous cell line. In our section, we see the ushers and security guards keep a tight rein on behavior, and we invite visitors to come sit with us and enjoy the game.

Ralph Jaeck

Reno

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FROM HERE TO ETERNITY

Dear AVA,

Like, wow. Having just read Wolfgang Rougel’s letter of the 11th, I will say that the way to induce me to write a memoir is just like that. I must say I was flattered — floored, even! — by the suggestion. I will certainly give it a shot and hope my efforts will meet AVA standards. I would be honored to be in the company of such fine writers.

Now, if you’ll excuse a snap segue from humility to smart-assery (my default setting). I too was going to debunk that nonsense about water draining counterclockwise in the antipodes. Thank you, Stan Boule.

Since you beat me to that one, I’ll ask this about the section of the letter concerning Saddam Hussein’s most embarrassing moment: How can you be embarrassed when you’re dead? Even assuming that Saddam was still conscious when he voided, might we reliably assume that the rapidly dwindling supply of oxygen to his brain took precedence over other, less physical imperatives, for example, retaining urine or the resultant feelings attended with having failed to do so?

Besides, I doubt this question was researched very thoroughly. Megalomaniacal types like Hussein surely suffered greatly at the hands of their peers, parents, siblings, etc. in childhood — probably he had his undies run up the flagpole once or twice and I put it to you: is not the shame of being ridiculed by a pack of jeering brats in your formative years demonstrably more embarrassing than doing what, as I understand it, most everyone does at the time of expiration?

Till next time,

Flynn Washburne

San Quentin

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PRISON QUOTE OF THE DAY

Dear Editor,

Just wanted to thank you for the holiday greetings and for the six more months of the AVA.

I’m a few days from graduating a substance abuse program (SAP) here in prison and every day just before class begins we read the news, sports, weather and we will also hear a “personal/interpersonal” story from another student’s path/story/experience or whatever. It’s pretty powerful stuff to get up in front of two other guys to share some very private things. In addition to this, we always have a “Quote of the Day” section with one person bringing a quote before the group. While Jaz-Z lyrics and The Art of War references are many, I have been turning folks on to the seemingly random quotes in each week’s AVA. I’m not sure how you guys choose which ones for any given issue, but they have more often than not been fitting and appropriate for when it is my turn to bring a quote of some substance to the table.

The AVA is pretty great to begin with but who would have thought the quotes that populate every AVA would find their way into the rooms of a substance abuse program or therapeutic community here in California’s bloated prison system? Surely not me, but I’m thankful for it. Thanks, man.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Myers

Soledad

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BIRD DROPPINGS

Editor —

I received a DVD for Christmas. It’s titled, “The Cave of Forgotten Dreams.” It’s a video about a recently discovered cave in France. The cave is remarkable for its limestone formations, but it’s way more remarkable for its prehistoric drawings. People 32,000 years ago were trying to reach us by showing us what was important to them — animals.

The majority of these drawings are of food animals. (After all, these drawing were made by French cavemen.) But some of the drawings are of lions. These drawings were made during a time when humans were not top of the food train.

The art is thus consistent — about eating or being eaten.

The age of the drawings is remarkable. It’s the oldest human history we have. Their quality is high and there’s little deterioration.

Then I got to wondering, how does 32,000 years compare to the age of the earth? (The Earth is estimated to be about 4.5 billion years old.)

I’ve recently read of such a comparison.

The Eiffel Tower is in France. It’s a huge structure. From a distance it looks like it’s sitting on four concrete blocks. Up close, each of these blocks is about the size of a small house.

The tower itself is almost 1000 feet high — close to the height of the Empire State building. It can be seen from all over Paris. It’s topped by a TV antenna. Birds visit the antenna. Their leavings (we’ll call it that) provide evidence of their visit. And, these leavings add a fraction of an inch to the height of the tower. These leavings add to the tower in the same proportion as 32,000 years adds to the age of the earth.

Best regards,

Bart Boyer

San Diego

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THE BIG EMPTY

Dear Editor,

My husband was inspired by your description of your visit to the Museum of Modern Art in the January 4 edition to name San Francisco “The Big Empty.” I often wonder how those folks can stand to live like that, all stacked on top of each other.

Where we live we cannot see any other houses and can only hear, occasionally, a train passing in the distance. Life is work here and I think that’s what makes it unattractive to the general populace. I don’t know.

I work at the tiny neighborhood store. When tourists pass through there is often the incredulous question, “What do you do here?!” They are especially distraught that their cellphones don’t work. It’s humorous to me to see them standing there with the little dead thing, like a fallen bird, lying in their palm, their thumbs twitching, impotently, holding it out to me as if I could save it.

I visit The Big Empty a couple times a year. Usually to visit the DeYoung Museum. While on BART I’m amazed by the number of people who are hooked up to electronics. I wonder, “What are they doing?!” Maybe they look at me, devoid of any pods or wires, and think, “Loser.” Na — nobody looks at anybody down there.

It’s good that there is an “us” and a “them” so that they can live there and we can have our peaceful here.

Pamela Aylen

Twain

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APPALLED

Dear Mr. Schmitt,

My husband and I are appalled by your decision not to renew the lease of Leslie Hummel and that you did not even have the decency to let her know personally — she had to find the news in the AVA.

All That Good Stuff has served the community for 22 years, providing wonderful cards and merchandise, copy machine services, and UPS drop-off. Leslie is the kindest and most gracious neighbor. Not only are you hurting her, but you are doing great damage to Claudia Espinoza, who was going to take over the store. All that for your own financial profit, without regard for their well being, nor the impact this would have on the local community.

We are asking you to rescind your decision. Otherwise, I can assure you that we shall never again patronize your restaurant and whatever business you create in this location, and we will encourage our neighbors to do the same.

Sincerely,

Jan Baughman

Boonville

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CALLING WALLIS WILLIAMS

Dear Wallis Williams,

Are you the same “Wally Williams” whose family moved to Farmington, Connecticut when you were in high school? And had a party where you played Beach Boys records? And was involved with me in a fire alarm incident at the high school? If so, I owe you an apology. That prick Bennett (the principal) tortured a confession out of me, that I did not pull the fire alarm, leaving you the only other suspect. Please contact me through this paper.

Jeff Costello, FHS class of ’64

Portland

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FAIR PLAY FOR LESLIE

Dear AVA and the Farrer Building, aka Johnny Schmitt and Roger Scomegna.

I am writing to give my 2¢ to Johnny Schmitt wrote in this newspaper last week under his corporate name, “The Farrer Building,” without having the balls to sign his own name or his business partner’s name, Roger Scomegna. Johnny Schmitt and Roger Scomegna evicted Leslie Hummel’s All That Good Stuff business without prior warning. And how did they do this to a loyal, 22 year tenant who never missed a rental payment? Leslie found out by reading Johnny’s letter to the editor in the AVA that her business’s “long-term future in all likelihood will not be at the Farrer building. We are happy to give them plenty of time to find another location and get a fresh start.”

Shame on you, Johnny Schmitt!

I don’t have personal knowledge of all that has transpired but I have spoken to Leslie and some people around town and have put together the following facts:

1. As Johnny wrote, Ms. Hummel did request a ten-year lease (Leslie has been there for 22 years. Her former five-year lease expired in 2010, she was anxious to secure another long-term lease because she was on a month-to-month lease, and she is making plans for Claudiu Jimenez to purchase the business and she will retire in three years. She simply didn’t think securing a new long-term lease would be a big deal.) However, what Johnny fails to mention is that after Leslie asked for another long-term lease, Johnny and Roger made a counter-offer of a measly 12-month lease. This was communicated by e-mail, not in person, and I guess that walk from his hotel across the street to his Farrer building was just too far to speak to someone who has consistently paid you rent over many, many years. I can’t think of a less humane way of doing things. (I guess you could have evicted her with 30 days notice, so we should all think she’s “lucky” that you are not that much of a rat.)

Obviously, without further direct communication this would panic any sensible, long-term business owner who previously had five-year leases over her 22 year long tenancy. It seems to me that Johnny cannot complain that “the imagination of the Anderson Valley in wintertime [then] took hold” when he himself caused that speculation. Further, it was a slap in the face for Leslie to hear such news via email without any further comment. I think it was reasonable for Leslie and everyone else to think: Johnny must have some plans of his own for the space that holds All That Good Stuff if he’s only offering a 12-month lease.

2. Johnny continued to deny he had any plans for ATGS’s space to everyone. Johnny, this is a small town. You write you have no plans for a “wine and cheese” shop. Hell, people know you have plans to put in a charcuterie/butcher shop in that space. You should have been honest in the first place with Leslie and Claudia (who will ultimately be ATGS’s new owner in three years, so Leslie can retire.)

3. You finally met in person to discuss a new lease prior to Steve Sparks’s article being published in the AVA. At that time it seemed that Leslie (and all of her friends) had some hope that there would be an agreement for at least a two- or three-year lease. We were all relieved. Disaster averted. But then Steve Sparks’ article came out. That same day the article was published, I was told that Johnny sent an impulsive angry email to Leslie that the lease negotiations were off, there would be no long-term lease, he didn’t want to discuss the subject, and ATGS was on a month-to-month lease. I think it is reprehensible for Johnny to punish Leslie for what I believe was a fairly balanced article in the AVA. The bottom line of the article was confirming that Johnny had the right to evict Leslie and take over her retail space. But, that ATGS is very popular with locals. We who shop at ATGS would have to go to Ukiah or Fort Bragg to get simple gifts, toys, jewelry and cards if it is closed down or couldn’t find alternative space in Anderson Valley. And, as Leslie has been there for 22 years, she is beloved by all. (I can’t tell you how often she let my children play in the back to room over the years.) The gist of the article seemed to be that this was going to be a difficult process and that Johnny should be aware of the likelihood of alienating a great number of people by making the decision to, in effect, evict ATGS.

It seems that this was handled in the most disrespectful way possible. That is why people are so upset. Johnny, you have a right to evict Leslie, but how you’ve done it was so underhanded, so rude, so boorish that you’re standing in the community is taking a well-deserved beating. Is this really how you treat people?! (I’m sure you wouldn’t treat your own employees this way. Oh, I forgot. You fired them all a few years back — also without notice, I recall.) Why in the world wouldn’t you have spoken to Leslie directly and honestly and given a specific timeline, contacted some of your landlord friends for some options for ATGS to move to, and offer some restitution for having to move?

Many hope you at least do the right thing by providing Leslie with some financial restitution for being evicted and having to find a new location — if she finds one locally. She had no idea until very recently that you had no intention of providing her with a long-term lease, and that she had to plan to move her entire business. I’m sure it will cost a bundle in moving her Good Stuff to a new location, getting new phone/fax lines, printing business cards, new deposit money, etc. As you know there is very little (if any) retail space in “downtown” Boonville and she is losing the best location in town. We all know you don’t have to offer anything, but have a little mercy. I’m sure a quick phone call to your millionaire partner asking for $10,000 to help wouldn’t take too much of your time for, as we all know, you seem pretty handy with a computer — just email him.

For all the people who really care, please let us know if you are willing to provide some restitution to Leslie in order for her to move. For God’s sake, man up!

Sincerely,

The Wooden Building on the left side of Highway 128

Schmittville, California

PS. If that court case allows corporations to be individuals and Johnny Schmitt can hide his name under his business name, please extend the same courtesy to me also.

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GUANTANAMO GETS WORSE

Dear Editor:

Another new twist in the war court trials at Guantanamo (Bush’s monument to the American system of justice). Now it turns out that the base commander admitted he has DOD contractors examining the confidential, privileged attorney-client mail for “safety, force protection and good order.” The result is the defense attorneys have stopped sending mail to their clients which effectively shuts down the pending trials.

Additionally, it should be noted that, contrary to our system of justice, the military courts can admit as evidence information obtained by torture which includes waterboarding.

Of course, also holding alleged terrorists for long periods of time without trial is hardly in accordance with the American system of judgment. These military trials increasingly look more like kangaroo court trials. Guantanamo is a disgrace and an embarrassment to to our country and should be closed.

In peace,

James G. Updegraff

Sacramento

PS: Incidentally, several of the Bush people claim waterboarding is not torture. I would point out waterboarding was used during the Spanish Inquistition as a method to extract a confession. I am sure the good friars considered it an effective method of torture. Also, during the Philippine Insurrection American troops were waterboarding prisoners until it was stopped by US Government officials since it was considered torture. These Bush people are either charlatans or woefully ignorant of the history of waterboarding.

Anaheim, California

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COWBOYS & WILD OATS

Dear Editor,

The Valley community is truly fortunate to have the talents and generosity of Dean Titus and the Coyote Cowboys Saturday Feb 11th as the spark plug to ignite the energy of the “fun and romance dance” in our community. Dean and his featured vocalist, Susan Clark, added an opening act to the evening. “Wild Oats” is a favorite local country and bluegrass band composed of some old timers and a few almost old timers. The two bands will bring danceable country music to the Anderson Valley Grange. This year they will donate their time and talents for the benefit of the AV Senior Center, last year they did the same for the Health Center. In fact for years now Dean’s group has been playing benefits for the valley folks and we think they need a little praise and thanks.

Dean sees a group that needs a little financial help and volunteers his band and their talents. Then support people help with the staging, decorations, advertising, door prizes, and sale of the donated concession food wine and beer. The price fits most people’s budget at only $10 per person payable at the door starting at 7:30 pm. The music and opportunity to get away from cabin fever and into some “energy releasing socializing” with friends while enjoying good food and drink is the old timers way to spend a Saturday night.

As a little extra, Dean has arranged for a slide show of these old timers and old places in the valley to be projected on the sidewall during the dance. That way when your feet need a little rest you have something to watch besides the dancing girls. Michael Crutcher has assembled, with the help of Sheri Hansen, a whole fist full of photos. To see them brings to mind some of the people, families and places that made the valley the great place we live in. So thank you Dean Titus and the Coyote Cowboys, Wild Oats plus the entire support group that brings this event to our valley. We hope to see you at the Grange on Saturday, Feb. 11th for some Romancin’ and Dancin’.

Rod and Judy Basehore,

Young senior citizens

Philo

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MY WIFE & I…

Dear Mr. McEwen,

My wife and I enjoyed your recent article regarding our trial with Mr. Stoen, P. v. Alvarez-Carillo. The finger-snapping was particularly humorous and made me wonder who the title might be directed at. One thing though, our last name is spelled “Pekin.” Please be so kind as to make a note of it. Maybe I’ll see you around court tomorrow while I wait for the verdict.

Yours,

Patrick Pekin

Fort Bragg

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THE RANDIAN VIEW

Dear Editor,

I just read your January 18, 2012 issue after a very long hiatus from looking at the AVA.

Here’s my review.

On the positive side, Cockburn’s excellent column on our warmongering Presidents from FDR to Obama was simply superb. Refutes that crappy ‘Good War’ nonsense.

Your New Hampshire primary correspondent was insightful and entertaining.

The Editor’s comments on the redevelopment racket were to the point except that there were never any ‘good intentions’ involved from the start.

The editor’s comments on the appalling extradition to Texas of someone growing pot were very good though the real issue is that the 100 year failed drug wars must come to a complete end and all drugs should be decriminalized as Dr. Thomas Szasz advocated in his book Our Right To Drugs. Not because most drugs are good, they are not, including pot, but it’s none of the government’s business. Decriminalized en toto, not the stupid libtard idea of ‘legalization’ so as to tax and regulate them. Your cover story on the demented female warriors alone was the price of admission.

Your comments on the Stalinesque new courthouse in Ukiah hit the nail on the head.

Now as to the cons, that ditzy hagiographic piece on Norm Solomon was an example of the worst of old Left agit-prop. I’m glad he was against the Iraq war but no more so than millions of us and he seems totally braindead otherwise. My boyfriend in Oakland favorably reviewed two books of his, once in a May 1994 number of the East Bay Express and once in a 1999 issue of Z Magazine.

Norm lived in Oakland and my boyfriend & his longtime wife knew Norm quite well.

Around 1998 Norm left Oakland to move to rural West Marin County. He still kept up his blackophilism and political correctness but it was obvious why he left Oakland. In 2004 Norm launched a vicious attack on Nader whom he claimed to support in 2000.

It was so vicious that Nader wrote that Norm and Medea Benjamin were beyond the pale and that he could never forgive either unless they first apologized to him. Of course, neither weasel ever did. Norm also wrote in 2004 that he would personally join the Green Party after that election to thank them for being so “responsible” as not to nominate Nader and thus hurt Kerry’s chance.

What a load of bullcrap! Norm stayed in the Dems and is now running as one.

Norm has also backed the Bensky Boob wing at KPFA that has misrun that station for 40 years and now has the gall to call themselves Save KPFA! These are the 30 and 40 year oldtime ex-CPUSA hacks and braindead LibDems who haven’t had a new idea since 1932. The pathetic remnants of the US Left or what’s left of it.

Norm’s platform is the same stale old rubbish of total state takeover of medicine as if central planning had ever worked in any area of any economy in any country at any time. The government now controls 60% of US medicine and Norm proposes a full dose of the same poison which is killing it. Norm’s love affair with our ‘public’ employees is not shared by most taxpaying Californians. Go to any government office from Oakland to LA to here in SF to Ukiah and you will see exactly why.

Cops in Oakland start at six figures and they are hardly worth a fraction of that.

Then in an absolutely mind-bending stupidity Norm says that the solution is in DC! The very same folks in the Fed who brought us the current Depression through an easy credit boom which collapsed as it always does.

Norm also clings to the two-state bantustan non-solution in Israel/Palestine. I lived in Tel Aviv as an Irish-American Jew (Mom’s side) for two years and it ain’t going to happen. There are over half a million illegal settlers on the West Bank plus East Jerusalem and the only solution is one state with one vote per person. Only Norm and Noam cling to this two-state nonsense. Hell, Noam is still denying Pol Pot’s genocide in Cambodia! But to be fair Norm doesn’t.

Even at least three contributors to Cockburn’s leftist Counterpunch have written that Ron Paul is our only hope to avoid dictatorship and world war.

Norm Solomon was fool enough to believe Obama’s lying ‘change’ nonsense in 2008 so his judgment is not to be trusted at all.

Read Economic Controversies by Murray Rothbard and buy or rent Atlas Shrugged, Part 1 DVD. It will show you exactly where we are headed if either Obama is reelected or Romney gets in. Replacing Obama with Romney is like changing the safety pin only on the diaper.

You guys are smarter than that and hopefully you can think outside the stale old New Deal-Fair Deal-New Frontier- Great Society box.

Thank you for reading this.

Respectfully,

Marcy Fleming

San Francisco

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MISHANDLING ASBESTOS

Editor,

This was an incident in my neighborhood and the response of my representative Linda Maio who has been my neighbor for many years and who is ostensibly progressive in every way especially concerning gender. But not so much on other things like environmental truth justice and rights when it comes to citizens and constituents. You know, a real good friend of big developers etc., and a good friend of Tom Bates, our newspaper stealing embarassment of a mayor, and of course stalwart of the all mighty all powerful nuclear genesis site, the University of California at Berkeley.

* * *

McKinley Painting CA license # 637631 has scraped and sanded the entire westward outside wall of 1729 Berkeley Way this week. They have been scraping and sanding (for two whole days now) the failing LEAD PAINT (which was tested positive) that was falling off the wall.

Unfortunately the day they started, with the most dust, was a very windy day Tuesday (the wind was whipping around in every direction).

Despite State and Federal standards that this contractor knows and I told him and the owner Monica Thyberg knows and I told her, is that a vertical covering must be provided to prevent environmental contamination when removing lead paint.

But to save a couple thousand dollars they failed on a very windy day to completely contain that side of the building so that toxic lead dust and particles don’t contaminate the surrounding area.

Well it’s done, they cheerfully proceeded with their crime and all they did in response to me was put up a little piece of yellow tape and a warning sign.

I do believe that the contractor and the homeowner should both be held accountable. I informed the homeowner well in advance of her hiring anyone what would be required to safely contain the lead paint and as far as the contractor…he should go to jail.

What can we do now?

Carefully wipe and dust down all sills and flat surfaces in your house without spreading the dust. Spray down outside surfaces with a hose. Make sure to control the dust in your homes and vents as it is sure to contain toxins.

Know that the immediate vicinity is contaminated and take precaution.

Call the authorities and report this criminal contractor.

Talk to your neighbours and ask them to please have more and real consideration for children, plants, animals, the community, the neighborhood, the elderly, etc. Jeez it seems like some people don’t have a heart nowadays.

I have three kids and live within a hundred feet.

Lead can cause serious developmental problems in children.

I am very serious about pursuing this and other environmental toxins and dangers for our community and others.

If anyone has any advice/criticism/words of encouragement please don’t be shy

— Nathan Collins. Professional Citizen, Oakland

Dear Nathan,

I realize you are acting out of concern for your children. As this is about our mutual neighbor, and because you sent me this email as your Councilmember, in that capacity I talked with Monica Thyberg this morning to familiarize myself with her project particularly regarding potential risks. I reviewed the statements in your email message with her (it is now a public record since it came to my office). She described the steps she had taken to involve experts regarding the possible existence of lead paint. She noted that her painting contractor is trained in lead abatement. As none of us are experts in this matter I requested that she contact the County of Alameda Lead Poisoning Prevention Program to acquire information and assistance regarding the level of risk and any remedies that might be taken, and she readily agreed. I await the result of the County’s intervention which I will share.

— Linda Maio, Supervisor, Berkeley City Council

Supervisor Linda,

I am an expert. I was lead certified in the SF local 4 Painters Tapers and Allied Trades Union in the 90s.

Now what Mr. McKinley did with full knowledge was criminally contaminate the area with willfull negligence.

I had discussions with Monica in November and December about how serious the issue was and what it would require.

I should have been consulted futher in the matter or they should have ceased when I told them to.

Mr. McKinley deserves criminal prosecution and he will get it.

Monica deserves the shame she is receiving.

The City of Berkeley should be ashamed because they don’t have the capacity or wherewithal to deal with endemic environmental health hazards present in Berkeley.

How about a task force on the Environment Linda, and all the pollution from Cars, UC Berkeley, Pacific Steel, the Refineries, Mold, Lead, Carbon Monoxide, etc.

Funny your line that I am being passionate but need to step back and let the authorities deal with it is exactly what the police and all these other agencies have said all along….

NO THANKS. Hey Linda, welcome to the new world. The world of post Occupy Wall Street. People won’t be cowed or coerced anymore. The people are taking charge. We’re doing things for ourselves thank you. As you can see most of these agencies have done and do nothing so we can easily go around them. I quickly learned the city could do nothing about it. So I called the EPA in SF. The city is impotent and can do nothing about the matter and your line to me, the same as the county and everyone else, is to sweep it under the rug. Shame!

Nathan Collins. Professional Citizen

Oakland

PS. “To all the wicked ones, when its all said and done, Your conscience will wrap round your neck like a rope and hang you.”

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SPEED KILLS

Editor,

The cremation and burial service plan, to be specific. Cremated remains will be buried along California freeway and highway systems. Since death will get us all sooner or later, your State of California, through the Department of Transportation, known as Caltran, now offers the Cal Tran Plan. This plan is an inexpensive way of getting rid of the cremated ashes of someone you might know. Also the Cal Tran Plan will help keep our roadside environment nice and clean and will be good for the trees and the environment in general.

Dear future customer family,

The following services with the amount for each service, supplies and equipment is offered to you by the state of California, Division of freeways and highways, Cal Tran Plan, as follows:

Cremation by portable microwave oven at burial site, or at your home: $82.50.

Temporary storage of ashes in orange polyethylene bag: $6.25

Burial of cremated remains alongside California freeway or highway system varies, depending on which freeway or highway you prefer and select as follows:

Freeways 1 through 80 ($92.50), Freeway 680 ($132.50, due to this being one of the better areas), Freeways 580, 880, 101, 102 and Highway 4 ($62.50), Interstate Freeway 5 ($18.50 to $112.25). Freeways and highways in the San Diego area ($201 due to sophisticated area), California area of Lake Tahoe, Highways 50 and 89 ($186.50). All other freeways and highways from the Mexico border to the Oregon border depending on the area, type of soil, traffic flow and EPA report ($21.25 to $89.50)

Wooden cross made from California redwood 2′ x 1′ ($6) or 12′ x 6′: $18.25

One gallon size California coastal pine tree: no charge

Labor charge to install wooden cross, either size: $41.75.

Credit to install wooden cross if your family or friends are willing to do it: Credit: $41.75

Labor charge to plant California coastal pine tree over your grave, done by Caltrans road crews. (Note: family and friends cannot plant a tree due to union rules): $20.50

Taped music and graveside freeway service, 30 minute tape: $3.25

Rental charge for portable tape player, 30 minute time limit: $5

Graveside eulogy by local mayor or by a Caltrans supervisor, 30 minutes: $42.50

If the body is cremated at your place of residence, then cremated remains will be your loved ones responsibility to bring the ashes in orange polyethylene bag to burial site because Cal Tran Plan has no means of transportation.

Rental of our microwave oven, to do a do-it-yourself cremation, instructions included: $37.25

Cal Tran Plan cleanup of burial site prior to burial — for example, aluminum cans, refuse, road litter, etc.: $10.50 to $31.75 depending on amount of litter and time required.

Special oleander service (available only in certain areas): $14.75

Portable canvas tarp to attain privacy from passing vehicles and onlookers: $11.50

Burial under freeway overpasses, extra charge: $70

Inclement weather special tarp to protect mourners: $31

Only artificial flowers will be allowed. Burial along any new freeway construction such as burial in a cement pillar or roadway under construction requires prior approval of Cal Tran construction division. Hearses will be available in early 2012. A memorial reception at the nearest freeway off-ramp, overpass or underpass limited to a maximum of 24 people due to obstruction of traffic flow. Remember that time is passing and any of us can go at any moment. To enroll in the State of California Cal Tran Plan send your request to the Cal Tran Plan, California Division of Highways, DMV, PO Box 942885, Sacramento, CA 94285-0885.

For information on our new Cal Tran Plan Layaway Plan please call 925-680-4636 or 925-942-6012.

Sincerely?

Franklin D. Sutherland, “general manager,”

“Cal Tran Plan,” Sacramento

Greetings, Mr. Anderson;

I am pursuing an inquiry to which I hope your knowledgeable readership may be able to contribute.

We’ve all seen many California “vanity” license plates, including a few clever ones, but lately I caught a glimpse of one that employed an “Upraised Hand” image. In California one is allowed to compose a vanity plate using the standard Roman alphabet and the usual Arabic numerals, but there are also four “symbols” available: a Plus Sign, a Heart, a Star (five points, point-up) and this weird Upraised Hand. The Heart and Plus Sign are pretty obvious — I mean, they can only stand for one thing — but what’s with the Star? And the Hand? Their symbolism is rather more plastic, or obscure. Now, I can understand that these symbols were probably chosen mostly because they’re easily recognized by a cop with binoculars, and they don’t have tiresome religious or sexual overtones associated with them, and yet…

One explanation might be that they’re merely lexical contractions. That is, “H” simply means “star” in the sort of cryptic-crossword-puzzle sense that adding a “t” onto it makes “start,” like putting “f” in front of a numeral 8 will make “fate.” I have seen only one or two Upraised Hands, however, and in their peculiar context I couldn’t figure out what the blazes they actually meant: “howdy”?, “craftsmanship”?, “help”?, “create”?, “halt”?, “five”? …

In other words, is it an ideogram? Or a symbol/sign? I have read about one license plate that reads “G [‘hand’] ALF” — “Gandalf,” in other words — the fellow being a big Lord Of The Rings fan. But that’s the only one I have heard of using the image as the compound phoneme “hand.”

The thing is, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen an Upraised Hand symbol like this typically used anywhere, with the possible exception of the Hamsa, the so-called “Hand of Fatima.” Even then it’s only employed by the vaguely religious or by side-show palmists and other bogus Gypsy types. So where did the DMV get it? Hands are typically represented gesturing: pointing in some direction, flashing the “peace sign,” the “V-for-victory,” the reassuring “it’s OK,” the balled fist, the “up yours” third finger, and so on. What a very curious choice, an open palm, compared to something like “ª” that’s such a worn-out cliché you’d think it was the official 27th letter of the American alphabet. Oddly, California doesn’t employ any other symbols of playing card suits (¨, u, or «) which would be very easily recognized, though I could understand some folks not liking the violence suggested by “club” or perhaps the racism implicit in “spade.”

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

JB Reynolds

Graton

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LIBRARY HISTORY

Editor,

My name is Mary Darling and I am Vice President of Unity Club. For the last year, I have been typing up the old minutes for Unity Club. I have typed up the minutes starting in 1934 until 1972 with a few years that are unavailable. My plan is to type up all of the minutes that are available for a complete history of the Unity Club. Yesterday when I was typing, I came across the enclosed article and thought you would be interested in reading it.

— Mary Darling

The following was a newspaper clipping from Oct. 1971

New Books Arrive For AV Library

A donation of more than 100 books has been received by the Anderson Valley Public Lending Library from the public library at Fort Townsend, Wash. The books had been declared surplus by the Port Townsend Library and could be given to a non-profit organization.

Most of the books are popular fiction but the collection also includes classics such as Tolstoy’s “War and Peace,” a non-fiction travel biography and humor, and some children’s books. Mrs. John Williams, librarian and chairman of the Unity Club library board, has asked for volunteers to help in the processing of these and other new books purchased for the library. Help will also be needed in re-shelving books in the new bookcases.

The library has been notified that for the next two months those entering the library must use one of the side entrances to the Home Arts Building at the Fairgrounds. During that period the front part of the building will be used by seventh and eighth grade students of the Anderson Valley Elementary Schools.

The public library is open every Tuesday afternoon from 2 to 4pm. Any residents of Anderson Valley may obtain a borrower’s card. The County Bookmobile stops at the Philo Post Office and in front of the Boonville Fairgrounds on alternate Tuesday afternoons.

Mrs. Austin Hulbert has been appointed to chair a Unity Club committee which will look into the purchase of new drapes for the Apple Hall dining room. At present an extra charge is made when the club or other groups must have the blackout curtains for a film program.

During the time that the Unity Club has been using the dining room for its meeting place, it has contributed to the purchase of the electric dishwasher and has given the use of its piano to the Fair. Club furniture is also used in the library.

There will be a meeting of LaSoNaMe District of the California Federation of Women’s Clubs at Napa on Tuesday, Nov. 16.

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OFF KILTER

Dear AVA:

What happened? The AVA comes in the mail. It’s got one page 1, two page 2s, a page 4, a 5, two 7s and an 8. No Bodds Oskins and the front of Off The Record is absent. What else is missing I don’t know about? It’s like a bulldog Chronicle from the 1960s.

Darryl Skrabak

San Francisco

PS. But it does have two Sara Fowler ads.

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OUT! NOW!

Editor,

So— having failed to secure 007-style immunity from prosecution for the GIs “serving” in Iraq, Obama has been forced to live up to his long-touted promise to leave there by the end of 2011. Well, thank God for small favors, but considering that we are leaving the largest embassy in the world and scores of thousands of American contract workers and mercenaries hired to protect them, in reality, the war there has not ended and all; it has merely transitioned from a roughly 50% privatized war effort to one that is 100% privatized, affording the unwilling American taxpayer the opportunity to pay empire’s hired guns six-figure salaries, rather than in the low fives. Either way, you’ve got to wonder, as a taxpayer, what is in it for me?

It seems that one of the least desirable things that we have gotten for our three or $4 trillion expenditure (when you add up all the miscellany, like the lifetime of caring for the many thousands of gravely injured returning GIs), has been the return to our country of perhaps a million young men who have been systematically inured to the casual taking of the lives of their fellow human beings. The recent execution-style murder by an Iraq war veteran of his stepson, is only the latest of what seems to have become a fairly common occurrence here in the USA, especially in the more hardscrabble, high unemployment parts of the country, where enlistment is one of very few employment options open to many.

Though it is virtually never brought to our attention in the mainstream media, I guess that in the years since we were conned into the disastrous invasion of Iraq by George Bush and his neocon puppeteers, the rate among the veterans of that conflict seems to have held fairly steady at about 18 suicides per day! I think that it now amounts to more than the number actually killed on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan!

What is it that we are supposedly doing there? Protecting us from the latest great bogeyman, terrorism?! And what evidence do we have that the awful threat of “Islamic extremism” actually exists at all? 9/11! has been the war cry for the last decade, citing the strange occurrences of Sept 11, 2001, which were never investigated in any meaningful way, and the official explanation of which makes little or no sense to those who know anything about the agreed-upon facts of the case.

No, there simply is no such threat to this country, which represents the pinnacle of the pyramid of man’s unfortunate tendency, down through history, of arming itself to the teeth with the latest advances in killing technology. How do I know that this threat, so terrible that it supposedly justifies our nation’s spending itself into economic ruin, is entirely fictitious? The evidence is clear; in the last ten years there has not been a single significant act of domestic terrorism. Not a car bomb, not a suicide vest, not any of the million other ways in which, where there actually are such people among us, they could do some significant damage and terrorize the all-too-easily terrorized American people. In what is still a fairly free and open society, staging such an attack would be child’s play for anyone with even modest resources who was willing to give their life in the attack. Think about it; the only “attempted terrorist attacks” supposedly thwarted by the enormous and completely unnecessary Homeland Security bureaucracy, have been, on closer examination, ones that were ginned up by these same utterly unneeded agencies, desperately trying to find something, anything, to justify their vampire-like bloodletting of the nation’s nearly bankrupt treasury. To those who will argue that the tragic attacks have only been prevented by the hard work and competence of the gigantic military/intelligence juggernaut, all I can say is, pulleeeeze!

Most Americans, of whatever political stripe, are aware of the fact that the wars that we are engaged in today (as well as the looming catastrophe of starting yet another war in Iran, prompted by the same fools who led us into these ones) are absurd scams that have nothing at all to do with our national security, and everything to do with a military-industrial complex gone mad. Having already inverted the constitution’s insistence that the military must be ruled over by civilian leadership, the Pentagon now spends billions on “public relations,” aka propaganda, pushing forward its agenda over the timid civilian leadership, from the greenest freshman representative all the way up to the president, almost all cowed by the threat of being tarred, “soft on defense.”

The widespread understanding that this fundamentally undemocratic dynamic is one of the main reasons for the disappointment that many of us who voted for Obama now feel toward him, and also why so many young Republicans are enthused by Ron Paul’s call for a massive withdrawal from the globe-straddling complex of US military bases, whose only possible use is to maintain and expand a US empire in which we can no longer afford, and which the rest of the world is getting fed up with. Despite the Republican establishment’s attempt to marginalize and exclude Dr. Paul, he continues to get big applause at debates and poll better than much better-funded rivals.

It is no wonder that so many people simply tune out politics altogether, when they see that an idea such as bailing out of stupid, pointless, counterproductive wars, no matter how popular among the population, is simply no match for the influence buying power of the permanent war party that has taken over our government. This has become ever more obvious since an evidently insane majority on the Supreme Court came up with that bizarre Citizens United decision a couple of years ago, swinging wide the gates to the hell of unlimited, anonymous, fat-cat and corporate election purchasing.

The only hope that we now have of regaining any kind of real democracy is the Move to Amend.org push to amend the Constitution to do away with corporate personhood, thus overturning that disastrous Supreme Court ruling.

Sincerely,

John Arteaga

Ukiah

PS. Though it’s too late to do anything about it now, permit me one last lament for the passing into history of Ukiah’s beautiful old Post Office. The other day I dropped by the soulless tin can on Orchard, looking for a small padded envelope. I made my inquiry in the few cramped feet of public space inside the door (next Christmas people will be out in the rain with their packages, but I guess that’s not the post office’s problem) they didn’t have the envelope, so I had to go to the old Post Office, which I mistakenly thought was already closed.

My senses were heightened by the thought that this would be my last visit to what may be Ukiah’s most beautiful civic structure. As I waited in line, I was struck by the contrast between the two structures; the generous expanse of public square footage, sufficient for hundreds of people to come in out of the rain if necessary, the exquisite patina of the thick, hard old floor tile, worn to a beautiful smoothness by generations of shoe leather. Looming over it all is the magnificent old WPA art project painting of local productivity.

I know it’s pointless, but I’ve got to say anyway; such a shame, a crying shame, to give up a palace of a public edifice, for what is basically a standard industrial metal warehouse.

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REIN IN MCCOWEN

To the County of Mendocino, Honorable County Officials, Honorable Board of Supervisors:

I request that the January 11, 2012 County of Mendocino 9.31 Press Release from County Counsel and released by County Executive Office be retracted and alternate language substituted.

Supervisor Chairman McCowen, CEO Angelo & County Counsel Nadel appear, perhaps with no fault of their own individually, to be further polarizing the situation with the feds by issuance of the press release without approval of reasonable terminology from the Board of Supervisors.

McCowen’s ending statement in the County of Mendocino 01-11-12 press release provoking a head on collision with the feds is:

“If the Federal government is not going to provide the resources to eradicate all the marijuana that they consider illegal, then they should not interfere with local regulatory efforts to protect public safety and the environment.”

The fallout over the snit with the 99 plant permit cash cow program, could be confrontation with the feds focusing attention on the 25 plant maximum per parcel medical gardens not considered a Public Nuisance by the County.

An informal truce with the feds over the 25 plant maximum per parcel compromise program has been long in effect, possibly brokered by former Supervisor Delbar.

In my opinion, it is reckless for the responsible parties to issue the Press Release to project a sense of sour grapes and confrontation because of a loss of revenue (purported to cover County costs), with inclusion of McCowen’s final statement.

The 99 plant registered non-profit business farm cultivation 9.31 program push back, jeopardizes needy county residents from access to maximum 25 plants per property small scale herbal medication plantings.

Twenty five (25) plant policy maximum per county parcel is also part and parcel of the 9.31 program before McCowen seemingly highjacked the program, with Board colleagues to approve revisions of the 99 plant permit spoof at a deceptively public noticed Board of Supervisors meeting in Boonville that included no real-time broadcast of the meeting.

The meeting item was on the agenda notice on the next page under County Counsel, not on the previous page under General Government, so not even the news media reported the upcoming meeting discussion item. After first approval, the item was brought back on the posted agenda for final approval in Ukiah, this time properly under General Government (if I recall correctly).

The item passed as the principle discussion had already occurred in Boonville, yet the audio and video from the Boonville meeting had not been posted on the Internet so citizens who had not traveled to Boonville for the deceptively noticed agenda item, could not hear audio recording of the Board discussion before the final vote even though the subsequent meeting was two weeks later, so there couldn’t be fully informed public participation.

Keep in mind that McCowen opposes marijuana cultivation, as reported I believe in newspaper articles of January 2012, but only went forward to initiate the 99 plant permit program because cultivation could not be stopped.

Please don’t let John McCowen continue a perception of a hypocritical confrontation performance with the feds under a County seal press release, which could precipitate to bring back the helicopters and now low cost high tech drones to saturate the skies and once again remove almost all visible plantings from Mendocino sunshine, not just the National Forest.

I appreciate a prompt resolution of this matter with retraction and re-issuance of Press Release, and other suitable remedies, perhaps without full censorship of Chairman John McCowen, but please keep him on a diplomatic short leash when it comes to 9.31 so he doesn’t run amuck to further his personal political agenda to the detriment of the County.

Sincerely,

Eric Sunswheat, California Health Security Catalyst

Potter Valley

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DEFINITELY NOT A DADAIST

Greetings;

My copy of vol. 60 No. 2 just arrived, and it’s what I would call the new “challenging” edition of the Mighty AVA, the page order being 1, 2, 7, 4, 5, 2, 7, and 8. In that order. I’ve never regarded our Bruce as a Dadaist, so I’m hoping it must be an inspired printer’s error. Is the office deluged with calls, or am I the lucky dip?

Thanks,

JB Reynolds

Graton

Ed note: We’d call it “uninspired.” We’ll provide replacements to anyone who needs one.

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STRAIGHT DOWN

Editor,

Re: Flushed and Debunked p.2, 1/11: Bully for MIT. But see:

a: http://vimeo.com/10910719

This demonstration comes from the indigenous museum outside Quito, Ecuador — which by the way is 100 yards away from the official French Equatorial Monument.

b: I am so grateful for this contribution to my toilet/sailing knowledge base. I know, I was sucked in (counterclockwise of course) too. I’m so embarrassed!

Diane Campbell

Coos Bay, Oregon

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AFTER WALMART

Editor:

For every two jobs Walmart creates it destroys three (Institute of Local Self-Reliance). Are yours and mine next? Walmart is so desperate to grab every last piece of retail sales it can that, even as it tries to force a huge expansion of its local store on our community, it is downsizing its new stores into “express size” units to kill off even more downtown merchants in urban areas across the US.

A secret behind Wal-Mart’s rapid expansion in the United States has been its extensive use of public money. This includes more than $1.2 billion in tax breaks, free land, infrastructure assistance, low-cost financing and outright grants from state and local governments around the country. In addition, taxpayers indirectly subsidize the company by paying the healthcare costs of Wal-Mart employees who don’t receive coverage on the job and instead turn to public programs such as Medicaid (walmartsubsidywatch.org ).

Not only will we lose many jobs and small businesses when Walmart expands its Ukiah store into a gigantic grocery market featuring extremely cheap “organic” produce and meats from China, but even more will be lost as it eventually contracts. Contracts? The Wall Street Journal reports: “Walmart’s US business … has reported declining sales at stores open at least a year for two consecutive years.”

So once Walmart, and the looming Costco store, have killed off their local competition — our supermarkets, our co-op, our family farmers and farmers markets, our downtown family-owned shops — and destroyed our local community networks of economic exchange, it will face its own demise as Peak Oil’s inevitable rising energy costs destroys the big box business model — and the ship loads of containers from China grind to a halt.

What then?

Dave Smith

Ukiah

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MISERY LOVES COMPANY

Editor,

I just read the letter Jeffrey Blankfort (Ukiah) wrote in the Jan 11th paper. This letter is for him and anyone else who might care.

Jeffrey — your most respectful letter to the Planning Commission would cause me to vote against Walmart’s proposal. However, I am too old to believe that reason and what is right has anything to do with “what is right.”

As a matter of fact, “what is right” has nothing to do with decisions made by elected or appointed officials. Decisions are based upon who has the most money to buy the outcome. As an example: Norman Solomon will not win because what’s-his-name has bought the election. I have concluded that anyone who is elected or appointed belongs to the same club (party). The “Old Boy” network pervades every tiny thread of our society. This network cares nothing about the concerns of the affected. It only cares about maintaining its own power.

I am writing as one sent to Vietnam in 1956, to prepare for a war begun in 1964. I shook hands with Martin Luther King in 1966, only to see him gunned down by those who could not allow him to influence the thinking of those willing to die for the Military Industrial Complex.

If this sounds like a diatribe, it is. I cry for people like you who care about what is right, only to have discovered that “might made right.”

I cry for myself for the year I have spent struggling for justice only to find there is none.

The only beacon of light I can see is in this newspaper that allows us to reach each other in our loneliness.

Ashley Jones

Boonville/Alameda

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FREE CHAMBER MUSIC AD

Editor,

I hope that you will this news with your readers that love classical music. On Saturday, Feb. 4, at 7:30pm, at the First Presbyterian Church, the Deep Valley Chamber Music Series will present a unique group of chamber music classics. The program will include the Sonata for Cello and Piano in D Major by Johannes Brahms. It will be followed by a Serenade for String Trio by Erno von Dohnanyi. Rounding out the program will be The Piano Quintet in A Minor by Edward Elgar, England’s great Romantic composer.

Ukiah cellist Joel Cohen and pianist Elena Casanova will be joined violinist Roy Malan, concertmaster for the San Francisco ballet; violinist Philip Santos, concertmaster for the Fremont Symphony and violist Elizabeth Prior, principal violist for the Santa Rosa Symphony.

The First Presbyterian Church is located in Ukiah, at the corners of Dora and Church St. Tickets for the concert are $25 for adults $10 for students. They can be purchased at Mendocino Book Co, at brownpapertickets.com and at the door. Tickets can be reserved by calling 467-1341.

Best regards,

Linda Malone

Deep Valley Chamber Music Board member

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LIVING ON THE EDGE

Editor,

Living on the Edge Show a Smashing Success!

The North Coast Artists Guild (NCAG) grand opening reception for the “Living on the Edge” exhibit was held on Friday, January 6, 2012, at the Gualala Arts Center with 137 works of art on view created by 58 local artists.

Fifteen categories of art were represented, and Donna Seager of the Seager Gray Gallery in Mill Valley judged the show.

A special Thank you to CE Brown, the curator, working with a team of volunteers including Barbara Kelley, Ling-yen Jones, Ann Berger, Sharon Nickodem, Doric Jemison-Ball, Jim Grenwelge, and Bruce Jones; with special lighting assistance provided by Scott Chieffo. The Gualala Arts Center (GAC) staff was instrumental in bringing the show to fruition and hosting the opening reception.

Walt Rush, NCAG president, was pleased to present cash prizes to each award winner at the reception. Jackie Gardener was honored with the Best of Show award and a spirited round of applause.

Enthusiastic attendance at the opening was estimated at 200 and was greater than any NCAG show in over ten years. Each guest was treated to a glass of champagne compliments of the Gualala Arts Center, a colorful buffet of edibles, and was serenaded by the terrific barbershop quartet which will be appearing in the upcoming “Music Man” production at the GAC in February.

“Living on the Edge” will be on view until January 29, and is sponsored in part by Rams Head Realty. Open hours are 9am-4pm, Monday through Friday, and during the weekend from Noon until 4 pm. All art works in the exhibit are for sale.

Walt Rush

Manchester

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JUST NOT HERE

Dear Editor,

There have been a lot of rumors flying around the community lately surrounding All That Good Stuff and its future in the community. By and large, these rumors have been entirely unsubstantiated and unresearched. Leslie is not being evicted, and there are certainly no plans whatsoever for a wine and cheese shop. These are the facts: Leslie is planning to retire, and sell her business. She requested a ten year lease in a building where most every other tenant is on a month to month lease. This request was politely denied, and from there, the imagination of the Anderson Valley in wintertime took hold.

Leslie and All That Good Stuff has indeed been a local institution for years, and we hope that it will remain so for years to come. However, its long-term future will in all likelihood not be at the Farrer Building. When Leslie retires, Claudia Jimenez plans to take over the business, and run it with the same spirit and dedication that Leslie did for all those years. We are happy to give them plenty of time to find another location and get a fresh start with its new proprietor. All That Good Stuff can still remain an integral part of this community, just in another location in town. Just as Leslie feels that it is time for a change, and time to retire, so too do we feel that it is time for a change at the Farrer Building, which has seen its fair share of changes over the last 20 years.

If you’re upset with our decision, that is your right, and it is a testament to your sense of community that you came out so strongly in support of Leslie and All That Good Stuff. We wish all the best for Leslie and Claudia.

Sincerely,

The Farrer Building

PS. Steve, next time you want to research an article, try talking to the people involved.

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WE WILL SEE

Editor,

I read the The Farrer Building’s clever and self-aggrandizing letter, trying to explain their current self-induced situation, with interest. I found it to be somewhat patronizing to the community and the AVA readership. Nevertheless, yet again I went over my article from last week, looking for anything that is either inappropriate or unfair, and my conclusion is that I do not wish to change anything. Having said that, it has clearly upset one or two people, and The Farrer Building too, and that was certainly not my intention. In fact, the AVA’s editor, Bruce Anderson, commented that the article was ‘a fair and balanced’ piece. He even wrote to Johnny Schmitt of “The Farrer Building,” prior to last week’s publication, and said he thought Johnny would “be pleased with it.”

I originally prepared a detailed reply to the letter above but, in the end, I do not wish to further “fan the flames” and will let the actions of The Farrer Building speak for themselves over time. We shall get to see what happens to “All that Good Stuff” and no doubt we all wish Leslie and/or Claudia every success. If and when they are “asked to leave” (“eviction” is a word not to be used apparently), hopefully they will not have to simply close up shop and walk away with nothing, and, if they have not done so already at that point, they will be able to re-locate somewhere else in town, somewhat comparable to the current excellent location, although I think we all know that may be very difficult and it is likely that the business will be adversely affected wherever they go. However, from a business sense, none of this is the responsibility of The Farrer Building.

Since the newspaper came out, many Valley people have contacted me and expressed their opinion that the article was a fair reflection of their view – which is simply that the loss of the store would be very disappointing to the vast majority of people who live here and shop locally, using Leslie’s store for the wide range of goods and services that it uniquely provides. Such comments continued throughout the weekend and at the Crab Feed benefiting the AV Senior Center on Saturday night, a wonderful Valley-centric event, a wide range of folks from the community were in attendance, many of whom spoke to me expressing similar sentiments.

The article reported that which I had been told by Leslie and Claudia, and others close to the situation on both “sides.” I did try to contact Johnny and went to the Hotel one afternoon but an employee assured me he was not around. I went later and was told that he was in Ukiah. I wanted to get his thoughts out of courtesy rather than any belief that his response would not have affected the gist of the article — that being the indisputable fact that the vast majority of people would be upset at the loss of the store. I regret not seeing him but only because I could have actually written that I had done so, not because the article would have changed in any significant way. I was writing about the possible loss of this landmark store and, without needing to talk to Johnny, already knew very well that the possibility of losing it, to be replaced by something entirely different (which is still by far the most likely outcome), had led to a pervading sense of disappointment and concern amongst the community about the reality of what was being done. There was always going to be a negative response towards The Farrer Building and/or Johnny Schmitt for pursuing that idea, whether this year or at some point in the future, although they are fully within their rights to do so, as I clearly stated in the article, and no doubt from a business point of view it makes sense to them.

The Farrer Building wants what is best for itself and its partners and that is understandable of course. It is obviously not responsible for Leslie’s retirement funds, nor Claudia’s dreams. The story was written because it soon became last week’s “Valley Buzz” everywhere I went. I don’t see “The Farrer Building” at the many Valley social events I attend around the Valley and it soon became very apparent that being viewed in an unfavorable light from the viewpoint of most local folks was surprising and upsetting to The Farrer Building, who quite possibly were the only ones to think their plans would be perceived in any other way. Meanwhile, the community reacted virtually as one and the word was spread quickly in defense of the current store being left alone. Ultimately, however, The Farrer Building can turn itself into whatever it likes, and I imagine it probably will.

Sincerely,

Steve Sparks

Philo

Dear Bruce,

In these tremulous times it is difficult to see the whole picture. We are bombarded with information adnauseam, most of which is either worthless or disinformation or spin, or a cover for a covert agenda. The whole picture gets lost in the fog of those things. I’m taking a step back to view the big picture.

Put in your mind a vertical scale from one to ten, with ten being “to promote the general welfare” and one being “one for me and all for me.” On this indices, we are at about 3, moving toward one. Now put in your mind a scale from one to ten with ten being a political theocracy and one being a science-based secular government. World-wide we are now at about 7 moving rapidly toward ten.

Now, put in your mind a ten to one scale with ten being a full-on holy war, and one being peace on earth. We are now at about five, moving rapidly toward ten. Further, put at ten an oligarchial, plutocratic ruled entire world , and at one a socially and economically egalitarian world. We are now at about 7, moving toward ten. Then, on top of all this, put at ten a world environment totally unsustainable and at one a much diminished population entirely green. We are now at 8 moving toward 10.

Wait! There’s more. At ten put males subjugating women socially, economically, and politically, and at one put equal status and treatment of both sexes. World-wide we are now at 7, moving toward one very slowly. Go on, put at ten a world in which children are free from indoctrination, be it religious or political, and at one put a world in which children are taught to think for themselves and respected for doing so. We are now at 10.

Given all of the above, the key question is multi-faceted. One aspect of it is whether those numbers are reasonably accurate. Another facet is how to move all of them toward one on the scales. Another facet is whether or not it is futile to attempt to do so. It all boils down to a scale of hope versus despair. There isn’t a lot of room for hope these days. The 18th Century Enlightenment is fast disappearing from the minds of mankind, pushed aside by religious fundamentalism, global economic rapaciousness, profit as a rationale for war, and the purposeful dumbing-down of the masses.

In our United States (and that unity is now called into question more and more) the rich get richer, the poor get poorer, the kids get indoctrinated in state schools or home schools, there is virtually no reasonableness left in politics, and the military/industrial/religious/financial complex cabal is well organized, well financed, and hell-bent to move the entire scale to one. There isn’t a single social institution in the USA that is doing well. From the family, to the schools, to the criminal justice system, to the economy, to the medical system, to you name it, each and all of them are so far from what a progressive view would have them be it beggars the mind.

Oh, say some, that’s way too negative a view. Let’s keep a positive point of view, and not get sucked into despair. That, my friends, is so Panglossian, so polyanish, as to border on the insane, if putting one’s head in the sand is insane. My advice, based o the concept that it is going to get much worse, not better, is, “Don’t despair, plan for it!” Existentially do what you can, without any hope of succeeding, and position yourself on the planet as best you can to not go off of the cliff with the lemmings. When there are no answers (and Gertrude Stein said, when asked what is the answer, “There have never been any answers-there are no answers-and there aren’t going to be any answers-that is the answer”) it is easy to delude oneself that either you or somebody has the answer. Forget it. All of the answers that mankind have come up with are just answers. What we need is the right questions.

Lee Simon

Far ‘n Away Farm

Virginia

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UKIAH, NOT WALMART

To the Editor,

Either at its January 11 meeting or one subsequent to that, the Ukiah Planning Commission will be deciding on whether to reject Walmart’s proposed expansion of its present store in the Airport Boulevard shopping complex by 52,000 feet and become a 24/7 full service grocery or approve it with a Statement of Overriding Considerations as required by the California Environmental Quality Act.

In order to approve it in the face of what even the Final Environmental Impact Report acknowledges will be increased traffic at the 101-Talmage-Airport Blvd interchange with no funding in the pipeline to mitigate it, the Commission would have to make a determination that, in effect, says to the people of Ukiah that the benefits of letting Walmart have yet another supermarket in our town outweighs the potential life threatening dangers of a greatly increased traffic flow that will extend traffic jams into Highway 101 (and that will also, consequently, have a negative effect on all the other currently existing businesses in the Airport shopping complex, which is not a negligible economic factor).

Should the project be approved by the Commission under those circumstances and later by the Ukiah City Council, this city would be facing the prospect of major lawsuits occurring in the wake of the fatal or injurious accidents that will surely be caused by the increased traffic on Highway 1091.

Since by its own admission the commission has acknowledged the likelihood of the traffic situation at that interchange getting out of control, the city would have no defense against the charge that it acted with willful negligence in approving the Walmart expansion.

How they will vote on the Walmart application will, I suspect, be the most serious decision they will ever make as a public official and, as I reminded the Commission members in my public comments at its December 14th meeting, their overriding consideration is not the aspirations of a private company, no matter how large and powerful, but the welfare of the people of Ukiah.

I am hoping they will keep that in mind.

Jeffrey Blankfort

Ukiah

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SELF-DEFENSE

To the Editor:

Most of what you’ve heard regarding the Rey Reyes case is inaccurate and untrue.

My husband, Rey, was protecting me and himself from my son Colin. Colin had been shooting up Oxycontin and whatever else he could get. Rey and I did everything we could to help Colin; we loved him. In the end though, we also had to tell Colin to leave our home because of his dangerous, self-destructive behavior.

Instead of moving out, Colin threatened, bullied and abused us; then he brought a gun into our home demanding to stay and give him a place to grow pot. My son was the one with malicious intent, not Rey; I was just trying to keep my child from going to prison. This is the truth. I am not saying mean things about my son, I am telling the truth.

My husband, Rey, has always pleaded not guilty by reason of self-defense, and did not want to plead to manslaughter.

I have a copy of the Sheriff’s Inventory Report and it disputes evidence the prosecution presented, such as where the loaded gun and two fully loaded cartridges were on my son’s person. It also disproves pictures produced at trial and statements made about those pictures. Proof in the form of two journals my son left but were never presented. My son had a voice (a very disturbed, sad and sick voice, but a voice all the same) and it was never heard. The evidence never produced during trial disproves what the prosecution said about all three of us.

Finally, when the so-called “trial” was over, Judge Henderson actually thanked the prosecution and defense for “working together to resolve difficult issues.” That is the judge’s job. Professional courtesy between the two is one thing, but isn’t it unethical for prosecutors and defense attorneys to “”work together” with regard to a defendant?

This is a travesty of justice and Rey and I will fight it to the end.

Rev. Misty Champlin

Laytonville

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FLUSHED & DEBUNKED

Editor,

1. You are sailing south without instruments. How do you know when you have crossed the equator? The answer says the water in a flushing toilet will reverse its circular motion.

a. This has been debunked at MIT.

b. But in the context of the question, circular flow of water in a toilet is irrelevant. Marine toilets work by pumping the contents out, straight down. They might have “conventional” toilets on mega-yachts or cruise liners, but that isn’t “sailing.”

Stan Boule

San Francisco

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NO CENSOR’S MERCY HERE

Editor,

I have an idea for a special feature you could deploy someday if you find you can’t sell all those T-shirts to the large and extra-large leftists of America. (What do you mean, “teensy people can wear it as a nightshirt”? You mean, 90% of the world’s population could wear it as a nightshirt?) Use the T-shirts as prizes for the “connect the outburst” contest. You could have a bunch of names on one side of the page and a bunch of memorable fulminations floating around on the other. Readers attribute them and mail it in to enter a lottery. I say this mostly because I’d like to know how the majority of readers who might have missed the Dec. 28th issue would attribute “Thanks for taking the time to read this piece. Unfortunately I find your characterization — which fades into an ad hominem attack against me — quite off putting, and it makes it hard to respond in a constructive way.”

“Unfortunately!” We all have deadlines, but this passage, and much of what follows, is more worthy of a put-upon, entitled supervisor or councilperson than of Darwin Bond-Graham. It’s disappointing. Unfortunately. But then again, one of my favorite things about the AVA has always been its refusal to save letterwriters from themselves. I’m pleased to see that you have the integrity to withhold the censor’s mercy from your own journalists, when they lash out at their critics, just as you would withhold it from Captain Fathom.

Now. New year, new contributor? How can we induce Flynn Washburne to write a memoir?

Wolfgang Rougle

Cottonwood

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WE NEED SOLOMON

Dear Editor,

The new California Northcoast Second Congressional District covers the entire coast and ocean from the Oregonborder to the Golden Gate Bridge. This poses great opportunity and danger for the future of our wild, clean Northcoast ocean.

We need a congressional representative who will organize fishers, tribal people, environmentalists, and all of us who are an integral part of an ocean and coastal ecosystem of life.

Now the federal National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is heavily influenced by corporations who want to eliminate independent commercial fishers and industrialize the ocean. To stop offshore oil drilling, protect tribal access to coastal areas, support independent ocean food providers, and preserve the ocean and coast for recreation, we need to organize.

We should insist that our congressional representative convene a planning conference of all of us who actually are a sustainable part of the Northcoast ocean and coastal ecosystem. We need fishing policies which encourage small, sustainable, local fishers. We need permanent protection from offshore oil drilling, and from military weapons testing in the local ocean. Tribes and tribal communities deserve full acknowledgment of rights to access coast and ocean.

The new Northcoast Second Congressional District deserves a representative who will stand up for the local coastal and ocean environment, and help local ocean food providers continue to be a harmonious part of the ecosystem.

John Lewallen

Philo

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IT WASN’T ALAN

Dear readers,

I am writing in regards to Alan Kiefer, whom was mentioned in a previous article. A friend brought it to our attention that Alan was falsely accused as being a “local informant.” I would like to inform you of the truth. This is pure speculation from Chris’s parents. Alan is not a narc, nor would he ever have narced on anyone. Alan has lived in Mendocino for about 12 years, and has many friends and acquaintances who know him to be an honest and trustworthy person. It is true that Alan has had problems with Chris and his parents (as many others have), but he would never wish for ANYONE to go to jail over medical marijuana.

Alan’s fiance,

Michelle

Mendocino

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OCCUPY OCCUPY MENDO

Dear Editor:

Please include these announcements on your weekly calendar this week for Occupy Mendocino.

Friday, Jan. 13th, 9-10am, Tim Nonn of Occupy Petaluma and C.J. Holmes, a Santa Rosa real estate expert on keeping people in their homes, will talk on The Foreclosure Prevention Zone on KZYX radio, 90.7FM, on ”The Truth About Money” program. Contact #964-3711

Sunday, Jan. 15th, 10:30 a.m., Evergreen Methodist Church, 200 N. Corry St., Fort Bragg. Tim Nonn, PhD, from Occupy Petaluma, will talk on ”Forgive Us Our Debts.” Contact #964-3711.

Sunday, Jan. 14th, 1pm, Martin Luther King Celebration at Caspar Community Center, 15051 Caspar Road, Caspar. Tim Nonn, PhD will talk on The Injustice of the Foreclosure Crisis.” Contact #964-3711.

AgnesWoolsey, Publicity,

Occupy Mendocino

Mendocino

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THE LIBERAL’S GAS METER

Esteemed Editeur,

A polite old timer from the gas company showed up to replace the gas meter, which routine chore is automatically performed every seven years or so. We got to talking, and when I found out that he originally hailed from Iowa, I asked how he felt about the contempt with which many of his conservative values were frowned upon by Massachusetts liberal Democrats, a breed which wished to wield political power on the national level, but were constantly stymied by hayseeds like our gas man, subtly influenced as people like him are by big companies such as Monsanto, Cargill, et al, and which influence our gas man to espouse a very conservative set of values, many of which drive liberals up the wall.

He answered that he felt sorry for commie-loving traitors to the flag, motherhood and apple pie, and that his ideology had served himself and so many other Iowans well for generations and wasn’t about to change anytime soon, but by then he was done with his chore, no leaks were detected, and it was off to find yet another gas meter to replace, hopefully not at the home of another of those opinionated Massachusetts liberal Democrats.

Ken Ellis

New Bedford, Massachusetts

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ANTI-CORPORATE COBB

Editor,

National Move To Amend Spokesman Talks On Ending Corporate Rule—

“Creating Democracy and Challenging Corporate Rule” will be the topic of David Cobb’s upcoming speaking tour through five Mendocino County communities. Cobb, an attorney, past Green Party presidential candidate and an inspiring speaker, will explain how corporate cash has captured our politics, and what citizens can do to reestablish real democracy.

David Cobb is the chief organizer for MoveToAmend.org — a nationwide coalition focused on abolishing ”Corporate Personhood” and reestablishing a government of, by, and for the people.

The US Supreme Court’s 2010 ruling in Citizens United v. FEC opened the floodgates to unlimited corporate spending on elections. The Court’s five conservative justices declared that corporations are ”persons” and their spending in elections is ”free speech” that can not be limited.

“Corporate Personhood” commonly refers to a court-created precedent that gives corporations constitutional rights intended solely for human beings. Cobb states, ”Corporate personhood is not an inconsequential legal technicality. The Supreme Court ruled that a corporation was a ‘legal person’ with 14th Amendment protections years before they granted full legal personhood to African-Americans, immigrants, natives, or women.”

“We are inspired by historic social movements that recognized the necessity of altering fundamental power relationships,” said Cobb. ”America has progressed when ordinary people joined together — from the Revolutionaries, Abolitionists, Suffragists, Trade Unionists and Civil Rights activists through today’s Occupiers. Move to Amend proudly joins this tradition as it works to make the U.S. Constitution and our nation more democratic.”

Cities, counties and states across the nation are passing resolutions urging a Constitutional amendment to end corporate personhood. David Cobb’s five local talks will provide information about the issue and describe how Mendocino County can join this national campaign to end Corporate Personhood and its corruption of our political system. Part history lesson and part heart-felt call to action, David’s presentation is not to be missed.

David Cobb will speak January 31st at the Boonville Fairgrounds at 6:30 PM; February 1st at the Point Arena Library at 6:30 PM; February 2nd at the Willits Grange at 7 PM; February 3rd at the Caspar Community Center at 7 PM, and February 13th at Ukiah’s Saturday Afternoon Clubhouse at 7 PM.

More information can be obtained from

Tom Wodetzki,

tw@mcn.org  or 937-1113.

Albion

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REDUCTIVE MATERIALISM

Mr. Anderson:

I shudder when I come across obscurantist gobbledygook like Ted Dace’s letter, “All You Need Is Nature.”

1. What the hell is “collective unconsciousness”?

2. Where the hell is Hell, outside of the overstimulated imaginations of theologians and other deranged people?

3. In death, we cease to exist, period. The energy that flowed inside us, in accordance with The Law of the Conservation of Energy and Matter, flows somewhere else:

Dust to the dust! But the pure spirit shall flow

Back to the burning fountain from whence it came,

A portion of the Eternal, which must glow

Through time and change, unquenchably the same…

(— Percy Bysshe Shelley)

4. The trouble with Dace and his ilk is that they always point to the “trouble with science” while ignoring the trouble with their own nebulous, ill-conceived, and often looney ideas.

5. As a reductive materialist, I believe “only the mat-erial world is real. All processes and realities can be explained by breaking them down to their most basic scientific components–atoms, molecules, & other matter.”

Or as Francis Harry Compton Crick observed,

You, your joys and your sorrows, your memories and your ambitions, your sense of personal identity and free will, are in fact no more than the behavior of a vast assembly of nerve cells and their associated molecules

Love? A vague expression for a collection of needs, desires, and delusions. When someone comes up with a coherent definition of what “love” is, science will be able to explain it. Much of what we call “love” or “kindness” has to do with our wiring as mammals.

Carl Sagan said that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Science requires it before it accepts a theory. I demand it when people speak of “spirit,” “soul,” “love,” or “collective unconsciousness.”

Give me a break!

Louis S. Bedrock

Roselle, New Jersey

Ted Dace responds: Contrary to Mr. Bedrock, reductive materialism is not scientific. The laws according to which matter behaves are not themselves made of matter. The actual philosophy of science is physicalism, a dualistic belief that reduces the world to particles, on the one hand, and mathematical laws on the other. These laws are eternal and unchanging, much like the Forms of Plato’s transcendent realm of pure geometry. The difference is that Plato believed every terrestrial form is determined by its ideal counterpart, implying huge numbers of Forms, while modern physics does the same job with only a few transcendent laws. Science is streamlined Platonism. Roger Penrose imparts the real workings of science in his book, The Road to Reality. Alas most scientists aren’t as honest as Penrose and continue to regard themselves as materialists, which goes to show that a PhD is no barrier to cognitive dissonance.

In contrast to the mind, matter cannot disagree with itself. You can hold two contradictory thoughts, but your brain can’t generate a pattern of neurotransmission that cancels itself out. The trouble with the brain is that it never occupies more than a single instant at once. Only over time can there be self-contradiction. A brain is a snapshot of a mind. Mind is not just momentary awareness but the living history of the organism. ____________________________________________________

WAITING FOR YES

Editor,

And loyal AVA fan D. Bullock and fellow AVA readers,

There is pleasure in the pathless woods.

“How strange that nature does not knock and yet does not intrude.” Death is a ferryboat and I’m on my way; I who have sung you many songs. In war, he kills the thief and the owner of the stolen goods. The soldier who has water washes with blood. The landlords and the landladies accept me, but not my subsidy.

Diana Vance awaits a Yes! from her new address.

Cardboard boxes,

Diana Vance

Mendocino

PS. Hooray for 2012 and the AVA! And when there were no forks in London, the Irish didn’t wear shoes.

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STRESSED OUT

Ye Editor,

I found “The Best And Worst Of 2011” fun and spot on as usual.

I happen to be acquainted with Mr. Joel Humecky — “the Stoner of the Year” — as well as with most of his family, known in some circles as “those loudmouth Humeckys” (except for his mother, who is perfectly lovely and seldom raises her voice or ever ingests chemicals for that matter). Admittedly Mr. Humecky does chemicalize to some extent, but a more pleasant fellow does not live, as his picture goes far to illustrate. You know how stress can be.

Let me take this opportunity to thank you for helping out my eyes and making “Odd Bodkins” bigger; thank God, I was about to go blind.

Hope all at the AVA have a great year and the paper proceeds to even more excellent heights. Bonne chance in 2012!

Carol Pankovits

Fort Bragg

PS. And speaking of 2011, “Peanutbutter crank and the Possumbaby” has to be the grossest thing I’ve read since the “Odd Bodkins” strip about Reagan and the Booger. But if you can make it to the end it’s worth it (sort of Joanna’s position as she stiffs them for the room). Darren Delmore certainly is a versatile writer.

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JOHN 3:16

AVA,

Tim Tebow, love him or hate him.

Well what I love is the fact that Tim Tebow has sighted the most mainstream and accepted faith in America and still it confounds so many when he credits his faith. Why is his faith so difficult for Americans to handle? Is it because we live such a materialistic Un-Godly existence? Maybe its because we are all talk and we don’t observe Christian values anymore; we only pay lip service to Christianity while we engage in the worst forms of religious warfare and ethnic genocide.

To me the absolute slide of society is inevitable and good because it will be then and only then when things like faith in Christ will be potent and revolutionary again. The real Christ, the anti-imperialist pacifist who nonetheless flipped over the moneylenders’ tables.

This Christ will have to come because the Anti-Christ is here now in this economic war machine.

When faith in Christ is powerful and revolutionary again…

Much of what is anticipated about, the Christ figure.

The reincarnation of His Kingly character in the flesh.

The day when faith has power again, as a potent revolutionary force that day will come — when we see the wicked man in the fire getting burned.

Go Broncos!!!!!!! Go Tim Tebow!!!!!!!!

Nate Collins

Berkeley/Oakland

Ed note: Next time you see the lame-brained Denver quarterback, which won’t be until next year because he’s about to be knocked out of the playoffs, tell him that God probably didn’t donate His one and only Son so Tebow could eternally miss wide-open receivers. Suggest to him that he tattoo Matthew 6 on the wide-open spaces of his empty skull: “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others…”

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NO MORE MR. NICE CORP.

Dear Editor and Readers;

Many of our neighbors are suffering. Household income in Mendocino County has declined 14% from 2007 to 2010, based on personal income tax filings. That has produced a $227 million loss in our economies, 3,900 jobs lost locally, and a 79% increase in food stamp recipients.

Meanwhile, our Congress members have greatly increased their wealth; nearly half are millionaires. They are the 1%, have their election campaigns funded by the 1%, and serve the 1%.

How can we get Congress to serve the needs of the 99%? We’ve tried to limit corporate spending in elections, but the conservative majority on the Supreme Court declared that we can’t limit corporate spending because corporations are “persons” with full “free speech” rights, and that spending millions on attack ads is “free speech.”

So we’re now seeing obscene amounts of Big Biz dollars thrown at corporate-friendly candidates. That’s not democracy. And that’s why citizens across the nation are working to pass an amendment to the US Constitution that clarifies that corporations are not people and money is not speech. That’s the only way to break money’s hold on politicians.

Locals are now working to pass a countywide initiative urging our representatives to support a similar End Corporate Personhood amendment. If you would like to help gather petition signatures to put this on the November ballot, please contact me (937-1113, tw@mcn.org ).

Tom Wodetzki

Albion

Dear Anderson Valley,

A huge thank you for attending Hendy Woods Community Meeting and remaining so steadfast in your commitment to saving Hendy Woods. We are continuing with our two-pronged strategy of (1) political pressure to keep the park open as it is now and (2) organizing to take over certain park functions and raising money to meet the budget shortfall should it become necessary.

A few follow-ups from the meeting:

Our website hendywoods.org  is now up and running! Please visit the site for more information.

Political Pressure: The letters that were written at the meeting have been compiled and will be on everyone’s desks in the New Year.

The addresses of those politicians and policy makers whom we are targeting will be available shortly on our website under the Take Action page. Fingers crossed, Assemblymember Huffman will be introducing legislation in January which would force the committee to revisit the closure process. That will give us a whole new round of targets for letter writing so for those of you itching to get writing keep your ears out in January.

In-kind Work/Fundraising: Kathy Bailey has submitted a proposal to the Dept. Of Parks and Rec detailing the possible in kind work and fundraising our community is willing to commit to for the next two years as a stop-gap measure to keep the park open. Some docent and interpretive work may continue beyond the two years if the community is interested.

For those of you interested in in-kind work, Linda MacElwee will be having a meeting at the park to brainstorm ideas for nature works, trail crews, etc. Look out for an email from Linda for dates and times.

For everyone who signed up to be involved with fundraising and publicity, we will be calling a meeting in the New Year when people are back from vacation and we know exactly how much money we would be called on to raise.

Thanks again for your support!

Hendy Woods Community Committee

Anderson Valley

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LET PG&E PAY THE TAB

Editor,

Trying desperately to spin charging extortionate monthly fees to customers who don’t want smart meters, PG&E’s corporate CEO says, “Somebody has to pay that cost” but never explains why PG&E itself can’t pay it (“Reversal over new meters by PG&E,” Dec. 20).

Using clever accounting tricks, the company makes hundreds of millions of dollars in extra profits annually simply through operating its smart meter program — by eliminating meter-reader positions and by adding the smart meters’ multibillion-dollar value (paid for completely by ratepayers) to the corporation’s own asset base. Why not disgorge a small amount of those windfall profits, so customers — already forced to pay hundreds of dollars for each smart meter they didn’t want — don’t have to pay still more every month, forever, to avoid having smart gas and electric meters?

For many decades PG&E hasn’t charged even a penny extra for installing or reading the analog meters we have all had. They have no adequate excuse for doing so now. Clearly the fees’ actual primary purpose is to discourage customers from opting out of smart meters and convincing their neighbors to do the same. Secondarily, these fees would bring even more profits to this greedy corporation. We must insist: No fees for opting out!

Alexander Binik

Fairfax

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POP QUIZ

Editor,

1. You are sailing south without instruments. How do you know when you have crossed the equator?

2. King George the Third suggested sending a shipload of convicts to the colonies to see if they can tame them. What was Benjamin Franklin’s reply?

3. What was Saddam Hussein’s most embarrassing moment?

4. Name Benjamin Franklin’s experiment that failed.

5. Who was Gerald Ford’s Vice President? Who was the vice presidential candidate with Henry Wallace? Hubert Humphrey, George McGovern?

Ralph Bostrom

Willits

Answers: 1. Flush the toilet; when the water swirls around clockwise you are south of the equator. 2. Franklin suggested sending a shipload of rattlesnakes to England and see if they can tame them. 3. Saddam pissed in his pants while being hanged. 4. He attempted to find a food additive that would kill the offensive odor of flatulence. He thought lime would work. 5. Ask Mike Sweeney.

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THANKS, PEBS & GANG

Editor,

On Christmas day a few local angels tucked in their wings and donned orange safety vests and picked up crap all along Highway 128. I want to thank them.

Now, maybe we can all stop throwing crap out of our car windows???

Monika Fuchs

Philo

Ed note: That was Pebs Trippet and the Medical Marijuana Patients Union.

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ONE MORE YEAR

Editor,

One more year and I ought to be free or dead. I have a habeas corpus in federal court with two judges on the case.

I’ve been reading, enjoying and learning from the AVA every week: the “Banking For Dummies” letter was needed for those of us who do not have the internet. Whenever one of these derivative investment guys gets on TV he has a vague, incomprehensible explanation which leads one to think those guys are very smart or maybe normal con-men. Now I know for sure they are the latter.

If all goes well and I’m out by the end of 2012 I’ll buy a sub for one of the guys on the AVA line at this joint. I’ll buy one for somebody in ADX too.

Happy holidays! Freedom and health for all,

Paul Jorgensen

Bruceton Mills, West Virginia

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EASY STRETCH

To the AVA and everyone in the Valley:

The Easy Stretch Chair Yoga class continues at the AV Senior Center this Thursday, Jan. 5, 11am-noon.

All are welcome to start off the new year by participating in this class which will bring you both energy and relaxation. If you have any questions, or need a ride to the class, call the Senior Center at 895-3609.

Thanks,

Kathy Macdonald

Philo

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THANKS FROM THE HIATTS

Editor and Community:

On behalf of the Bo Hiatt family, I would like to thank all those who were there to support us during this time of need. The beautiful flowers, the dinners that were sent, the visits from friends and relatives, the cards and letters and phone calls — all helped us get through this difficult time.

The memorial was a great send off for an old time trucker — the convoy was perfect!

We want to thank all our friends, relatives and our community for everything done for us.

Bo Hiatt Family

Boonville

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ALL YOU NEED IS NATURE

Dear AVA,

Glad to see Lee Simon’s honest response to my article on hell as a natural phenomenon, even if he came away with a few misconceptions about what I wrote.

Never said you get no compassion when you die if you showed none during your life. The collective unconscious is open to all. We emerge from it at birth and return to it upon our demise. However, because in death we cease to exist as individuals, we can’t bring along our private delusions, so these must be burned away. For people who never come to grips with the suffering they’ve caused in others, who cling to their self-deceptions to the end, this can be very painful. But it’s only a detour on the way back home.

No one decides if you avoid hell or not. It’s only a concentrated version of the self-investigation we’re supposed to undergo during life. Be honest with yourself, and you’re free.

The stuff we’re made of is ongoing presence, also known as time. With our memory, our ongoing awareness and our future-directed will, we encapsulate time. In no way does this contradict the Dirac equation or any other finding of physics, which has nothing to say about the intrinsic nature of time. There’s no “now” in physics and therefore no possibility of understanding the conscious mind. Physics studies what has happened in order to predict what will happen. Happening itself is of no concern. Irreducible to matter or physical law, time is the one thing that’s natural yet not physical.

Like time, we are also irreducible. And like time, we never stop. As body-mind tips over and spills into species-mind, that which defines us individually comes to an end, but the essential human core carries on.

The trouble with physicalist or “materialist” philosophy is that it can’t account for life or love or understanding or misunderstanding or self-serving delusion or hell. In short, it can’t account for the panoply of human experience. The trouble with religion is that it relies on the supernatural for an explanation. Yet nature provides all the tools we need to understand the world and ourselves.

Ted Dace

Manhattan, Kansas

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NO ANDS OR IFS, JUST BUTTS!

Editor,

Holidays are reserved for litter pick-up. Those are the Medical Marijuana Patients Union high holy garbage detail days. Easter, Xmas, New Year’s, Hallowe’en, Valentine’s Day, Veterans Day.

So on New Year’s Day we went out again with orange bags, siren yellow vests and long sticks, this time focusing on the Boonville end of our stretch on 128,

especially around the Grange.

Every time we go out, something new and different happens. This time we met the locals.

A woman named Mel had previously acknowledged our work and offered to help the next time we came out.

So we gave her a call, and by golly, here she comes and joins us in the Grange parking lot with her five-year old helper.

Right off the bat, a good omen. She found a soaking wet folded up $10 ground score, which she gave to the kid for being her partner. Together, they fished around under the blackberry bushes with the long pick-up sticks and found so many hidden bottles and cans that they got no further than the parking lot. Mel, being a local landscaper, decided to fetch her clippers from the truck and landscape the dense bushes. She cut away dead limbs, enabling her to dig a little deeper into the bushes to retrieve throwaway stuff.

The Grange folks will be surprised to find little cut back areas and pathways in the blackberry bushes on the edge of their parking area, signs of volunteer landscapers helping out.

When the people next door to the east of the Grange came out to see what was going on, they asked why do we do this? Paul answered, “to bring awareness of marijuana patients, who we really are.” The woman realized we were the people with the roadside sign and said, “I’m glad to have met you.” Likewise.

We left ten bags on New Year’s Day for CHP to pick up, on top of the 23 we got on Xmas day. 33 full bags of garbage carelessly strewn about on Mother Earth. One question: How hard is it to not throw your cigarette butts and pop tops on the ground? That’s 1/3 of the total effort, right there. We have a plan to design an eco-conscious container for cigarette butts with an attached sign: no ands or ifs, just butts!

On the way out of town, I stopped in Philo. Wendy Read, the healer and lecturer, was driving by and stopped to say “thanks for picking up our litter.” She mentioned wanting to form a volunteer force for the Grange. She ordered a small bundle of the doctor’s journal “O’Shaughnessy’s,” a balanced chronicling of cannabis science and law.

In that context Wendy mentioned attending a gathering of Boonville high school students in a pro and con frank conversation with Laura Hamburg, herself and others opposed. One of the moderators asked the entire class, “How many of you have family members who either grow or trim as a way to survive?” She said every single student raised their hand.

It’s been brought to my attention that marijuana is a way of life here, and often a lifeline. Let it be.

Pebbles Trippet, co-founder,

Medical Marijuana Patients Union

Elk

Editor,

This week’s letters section is a fine demonstration of why sex, religion and politics are traditionally taboo topics in “polite” company. An observation:

Sex, religion and politics are, aside from the weather, the only things that matter. So it follows that people tend to become crazed and irrational, even violent when practicing or even discussing them. (Right?)

The guy who went off about the come-on at the movie theater? Oh, the irony. “It shoulda been me, it shoulda been me!”

Jeff Costello

Portland

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MY FIRST ORANGE

Dear Editor:

Con air called and I didn’t refuse to respond to my 23rd inter-prison transfer. If I had, I’d still be here in Victorville, California, max, where, lo and behold, they had hot showers and for the first time in 8-10 years I ate an orange. Yum yum. What more could a convict want? With luxuries such as this I’ve decided to stick around and forgo all plots of escape.

Most prison hacks know how to properly chain you up with the black box over the handcuffs, secured with a padlock out of your reach, belly chain with leg irons. One Con air marshall wasn’t satisfied with my left cuff so he undid the chains on the airfield tarmac and clamped the cuff tight, cutting off circulation, telling me, “That’ll teach you to shoot those cops.” C’est la vie.

You’ve printed my letters concerning my time served with Charlie Manson and Muhammad Salameh (first World Trade Center bomber), and perhaps one where I mentioned that Tim McVeigh was supposed to claim that someone took the tag off his car (which caused his arrest).

I met a con here who was on death row with McVeigh for a long time and watched the cops, while taking them off the bus, manage to slam him to the ground. In the death row, they would scrape his face against the wall when taking him some place.

He wouldn’t confide in one informer trying to worm information out of him. He did say that he thought he knew who took the tag off his car. Also, the Oklahoma militia was supposed to declare open war against the United States after … (After 9/11, have the big, bad militias crawled into their holes and remained silent?) He was quite suspicious that the government had been involved. He never informed, nor revealed any details of the plot!

Ronald Del Raine

Victorville

PS: I may be able to get a few more books to buttress my JFK “conspiracy” theory.

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A WILLIE NICE DAY

Editor,

Have a Willie nice day!

There is always more to say when you’ve had a good day.

Not every day is a good day but when it is a good day it can be a very, very good day indeed.

In order to change the public face of marijuana patients as poseurs trying to get over, we are showing with our litter pick-up project at two highway sites, that “we work for our rights.”

Five people, five miles, five hours, non-stop, is what it took to pick up 23 bulging bags of Highway 128 litter on Xmas Day. Medical Marijuana Patients Union members celebrated doing garbage detail for Adopt-A-Highway, as we bemoaned what a stupor the world is in with people treating Mother Earth like their personal garbage pit.

Seven of the 23 bags were recyclables, carefully marked in separate bags for CHP, the others full of everybody’s trash from giant five-foot styrofoam packaging and cardboard slabs to tires and hubcaps, from careless cigarette butts by the thousands to minute pieces of plastic in the process of decomposing into tinier pieces.

Our team of five — Nona, Opa, Terry, Paul and myself — worked well together as we thoroughly cleaned Philo and environs. As we were finishing, a local resident pulled up in her pick-up and thanked us, saying she often picks up litter herself and offered to help in the future. We felt rewarded.

Chris Diaz’ loving folks, Nona and Opa, were there in good spirits because they’d finally heard from Chris, who, inexplicably, is still in solitary confinement in the Mendocino County Jail, as he awaits extradition to Texas and a sentence of 5-99 years for 14 grams of concentrated cannabis. Mendo County Jail does not provide an adequate diet or adequate medical attention. They don’t provide an asthma victim with a simple 25¢ inhaler to breathe with to stave off asthma attacks. He can’t eat white bread due to allergens and peanut butter is not enough.

Terry from Texas had done time in a Texas prison for association with marijuana. He and the Diaz family have much in common.

Paul first read my letter in last week’s AVA (12/21/11) about our Xmas Day litter team, then he saw more about it on Chris Diaz’ facebook page and decided, “Yeah, that’s what I’m going to do on Xmas.”

I gave them all a Cannabis Cards Willie Nelson poster for coming out and then I noticed the Willie Nelson t-shirt Paul was wearing, saying, “Have a Willie nice day.”

That we did!

Pebbles Trippet (pebbles@pacific)

Elk

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IN LIKE FLYNN, OUT LIKE LYNN

Dear AVA,

While I am certainly grateful for this forum and for your paper in general, I must take issue with the omission of a letter in my name in my letter of the 14th headed “Awesome Wordology,” which was attributed to a “Lynn” Washburne.

I know, editor, what you’re thinking. Big deal! You know you wrote it, we know you wrote it, anyone who knows you knows it’s you, and for those who don’t, it doesn’t matter if it says Lynn, Flynn, or Zaphod. Well maybe. But consider this. Suppose one of your faithful readers has noticed my name in the letters column of late and perhaps taken a little pleasure in my small contributions.

I have a name, like Chuck or Eric or Ned. That does not telegraph “typo!” when you drop the first letter. Indeed, you get another name entirely. So maybe faithful reader gets a chuckle out of my letter, looks at the signage and thinks, “Lynn Washburne? Must be related to that Flynn guy. Probably his much clearer sister. I look forward to following her career with great interest.”

Which career naturally fails to develop, “Lynn” being nothing more than editorial oversight.

But Flynn’s letters continue unabated. Faithful reader notes and while he appreciates them, all the while thinking, “That Flynn. He’s okay, but he’s no Lynn Washburne. Now there was a letter writer — cute, too.”

And speaking of authorship, there was a long letter recently from some fellow dragging out that dusty old “controversy” of the true authorship of Shakespeare’s works. Here’s what I think about that.

1. Sometime in the 16th century a number of excellent plays and poems were written.

2. The quality and style were consistent enough that most agree one person wrote them all.

3. Text and folios are signed with the name “William Shakespeare.” Hence, the world in general has accepted that designation for the author.

4. A man named “William Shakespeare” may or may not have existed around the time this literature was produced. If he did, he is almost certainly not the guy with the Monty Burns hairdo and goatee represented as being W.S.

5. “William Shakespeare” may be a pen name of any of several writers.

6. We have this wonderful body of work and “William Shakespeare” is the name that’s been attached to it for 400-odd years. Does make a difference if it were Kit Marlowe or Francis Bacon or Queen Elizabeth or John Freakin’ Grisham who wrote the plays? Who ever did write them is William Shakespeare, regardless of the name he or she used at the time.

Why try to solve this non-mystery anyway?

Historical accuracy? Balderdash. That’s an oxymoron. We only have the vaguest notion of history back then, the broad strokes. Trying to pinpoint minutiae like that is like trying to identify individual flakes in a snowball.

Suppose some literary detective did, against all probability, “prove” authorship by someone without the given name of Shakespeare. What then? 450 years worth of royalties to the heirs? All books reprinted with the correct name? “Marlowe in the Park”? Referring to things as “Baconean”? What about the fishing gear? What about elementary school children planting a foot in a playmate’s butt, saying “Shakespeare, kick in the rear”? I can’t speak for today’s youth, but at Quail Hollow Elementary in Ben Loman circa 1968 it was quite the done thing.

Maybe it’s just me. Probably is. But if I was at a party or bar and someone introduced themselves as a “literary detective” I would take issue, likely mildly violent issue, in the form of a drink in the face or better yet, a swift “Shakespeare, kick in the rear.”

You guys are totally awesome and so am I.

Flynn Nomiddlename Washburne

San Quentin

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SHERIFF’S HOLIDAY MESSAGE

Editor,

As we reach the remaining hours of 2011, I would like to take an opportunity to reflect on the past year and the unique challenges the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office has faced as well as our goals for the upcoming new year.

The financial plight of the County in January 2011 was extremely dire and, for the first time in two decades, mandated painful layoffs of young, skilled and energetic deputies.

I hope and pray that this action will never again be necessary. Reducing employees without reducing necessary services was a very difficult task for our remaining employees to accomplish but they stepped up to the plate and have continued to provide Mendocino County with extraordinary service.

Our deputy sheriffs were among the first to take a significant pay cut in order to maintain the level of service necessary to keep our County safe and secure. The ongoing professionalism of our County law enforcement makes me extremely proud to be their sheriff.

Spring of 2011 saw us planning for the large public lands marijuana enforcement action known as Operation Full Court Press. By July and August, six counties and multiple state and federal agencies had come together to rid our public lands of illegal marijuana growers and the environmental hazards they leave behind.

Halting the damage caused by these growers who have devastated our forests and kept the public from enjoying these public lands is again something I am extremely proud of.

Operation Full Court Press removed over 57,000 pounds of garbage and over 330,000 marijuana plants from the Mendocino National Forest and was a huge step toward reclaiming these vital public lands.

While Full Court Press stressed our resources, staffing and budgets, little did we know that our hardest task was on the horizon. On August 11, 2011, a respected community member, Matthew Coleman, was killed while performing his tasks for the Mendocino Land Trust.

While our Mendocino detectives were were working hard on this case, another horrifying homicide occurred on the Coast when our friend and City Councilman Jere Melo was viciously gunned down while investigating an illegal opium garden east of Fort Bragg.

In just a few days, the entire law enforcement community of Mendocino County was joined together in an unprecedented 36 day search for a double homicide suspect. The logistics and coordination were extraordinary but are dwarfed by the memory of hundreds of brave, skilled law-enforcement who daily walked into the Noyo Basin determined to bring this event to an end and to return the Coast a sense of safety and normalcy.

Our team was assisted by dozens of law enforcement agencies from throughout the United States. No agency was more determined to help us to get this situation resolved than the United States Marshal Service. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to this group of men and women who worked as many long hours toward resolution of this horrific case as did our agency.

I will start 2012 the same way I have for the last five years as your Sheriff, thankful for the hundreds of dedicated public servants who work so tirelessly in the name of public safety.

I want to take this opportunity to publicly thank County CEO Carmel Angelo and the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors for the difficult work they do. While we have had our public displays of emotion and anger, we have also had our handshake deals a result. The public expects us to work together and I pledge to work as closely as possible with these leaders in 2012.

Happy New Year Mendocino County. May 2012 bring us an improved economy, a clear mindset and a continued commitment to work together for the good of our magnificent County.

Tom Allman, Sheriff, Mendocino County

Ukiah

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WHAT A LIFE

AVA,

George Hollister sure missed the boat! If he would grow marijuana he sure would have seen the influx of slave class citizens moving in from out of state to work for the medical and for-profit marijuana masters.

He could then hire hordes of trimmers, pot-hole diggers, cooks, guards and indentured servants taking care of his property like it was their own and providing a harem of young women eager to please the master and sons. All the while he could party in Costa Rica and all points south during the winter.

To quote Malcolm X: If the Master said, “We got a good house here,” the House Negro would say, “Yeah. We got a good house year.” Whenever the Master said, “We,” he said “We.” That’s how you can tell a House Negro.

Old Tom

Emerald Triangle

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RUDOLPH’S RED SOX

Editor,

Rudolph the Red Hosed Reindeer

Rudolph the red-hosed reindeer wore a pair of pantyhose. And if you ever saw him you would even say he blows. All of the other reindeer used to laugh and call him names. They never let poor Rudolph play in any reindeer games. Then one sooty Christmas eve Santa came to say, “Rudolph with your butt so bright, won’t you tail my sleigh tonight?” Then all the other reindeer razzed him as they shouted out with glee, “Rudolph the red-hosed reindeer, you’ll go down in infamy.”

“Holiday Classics from the Emerald Triangle”

Don Morris

Willits

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OUTTA POT?

Editor,

In your recent issues there have been many articles about how the Feds are raiding and hassling state and locally sanctioned medical marijuana outlets. That should come as no surprise to any who know the history of the federal prohibition of pot.

In the early colonial days of our nation alcohol was legal, but was considered a sin if abused. You didn’t get thrown in jail for being a drunk, but you were considered a moral reprobate. When, in 1937, marijuana was made illegal on the federal level, the sin got transferred over to pot.

The then head of the Bureau of Narcotics, now the DEA, was a man named Harry Anslinger. He had a deep and abiding hatred of juju weed, which is what pot was called back then, among other names for it. He lobbied Congress in 1937 to make any connection to pot-grow it, sell it, use it- a serious crime. He sold it to Congress on the basis of two ideas.

The first was to label it “devil weed,” which transferred the sin attached to alcohol over to marijuana. Thus, if you grew it or sold it or used it you were in league with Satan. The second idea was totally racist. Harry Anslinger said, “Refer makes darkies think they’re as good as white men.” He also said, …the primary reason to outlaw marijuana is its effect on the degenerate races.” He also said, “marijuana can arouse in blacks and Hispanics a state of menacing fury or homicidal attack.” He further said, “Marijuana is an addictive drug that produces in its users insanity, criminality, and death.”

Unfortunately these concepts had thirty years to incubate in the mass consciousness, and they are still there to a great extent. In 1970 Congress put marijuana on the Controlled Substance list via the Controlled Substance Act, along with heroin, cocaine, and morphine. Then, in 1968 the then President Richard Nixon, in need of a hot re-election campaign issue, declared a “War on Drugs.” It was not until the hippies started smoking pot that the ideas began to be exposed as totally false.

Research has established that even though about 10% of pot users become habituated to it, the other 90% simply enjoy it. And therein comes the rub, they enjoy it. Even though we have put, since back then, over 20 million Americans in jail for smoking pot, and spent hundreds of billions of dollars trying to stamp out pot, there is more pot use today than ever before. Why is this so , why is it still outlawed?

Part of the reason, even though pot is rather benign compared to alcohol and the hard drugs, and it is enjoyable and has no lasting side effects, it is still the “Devil Weed” in the minds of all regressive people. While the racial component of the opposition to pot has diminished, since white people now use it regularly, the religious opposition is still alive and well.

There is a deep seated idea that in the psyches of the believers that there is one, and only one, morally righteous way to get high. That is by prayer to and contemplation of God. Any and all other means of expanding one’s consciousness are, according to the believers, immoral and contrary to the will of God.

Well, first of all, that idea assumes that we know the will of God, while at the same time the

believers tell us that it is all a big mystery. Obviously then, they are projecting onto their god their own mental idea. Then, and this is the really frightening idea, they assume that they have the right and the self-assigned duty to tell the rest of us exactly what our state of consciousness should be and what it must not be. The audacity of that assumption is based on fear and ignorance. Who gave the believers the right to tell you or me what your or my state of consciousness should or should not be?

Oh, they say, God told them to tell us. Well, that is what every tyrant down through history has said. They all say that they have divine sanction to impose their idea on everybody else. If, as is the case, the idea of god or gods is what Freud called an “infantile delusion,” then it is all about power, not about God.

The religionists have always used the notion of God to impose their will on the masses. They cannot stand it if someone gets his or her psyche outside of their box. They are control freaks, be they in the church or in the government. If they can control the language they can control the thought. Call it “Devil weed” or call it “dangerous” and they then set themselves up to make it immoral and/or illegal. They are, they say, protecting you from yourself. But this presupposes that you are a wicked, immoral person, filled with desires to harm yourself.

That is why the religionists and the governors both make it illegal to commit suicide. You do not have the right to harm yourself or kill yourself, according to them. From this devolves their notion that you also do not have the right to ingest any substance that might be harmful to you. If that is the case, then alcohol would be illegal. We tried that, and it backfired, just as the prohibition of pot has backfired, creating the same crime, gangs, and corruption as did the prohibition of alcohol.

This is a political issue, obviously, but also an existential issue. I hold that nobody, whether an individual or a society, has the right to tell me or you what any individual’s approach to his or her existence should be or not be. We are not here as children of God, since there is no God. Pot is not the devil weed, since there is no Devil. Let’s get real. Hopefully, a little science and a little history can help clear this up.

Recreational use of marijuana is just that, re-creational. It helps a person re-create the state of being that relaxes a person, that offers up some fun, and that just might lead to an expanded view of things. Oh oh! We live in a highly stressed culture. Why would anyone want to prohibit that which reduces stress? As someone said, upon going to a doctor to get a prescription for marijuana, in response to the doctor asking, “Well, why do you need the pot?” His answer was, “I need the pot because I’m really stressed out and full of anxiety.” “Oh,” said the doctor, “and why are you stressed out and full of anxiety?” “Because,” said our guy, “because I’m all out of pot!”

Lee Simon

Far ‘n Away Farm in Virginia

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SAKO’S CHRISTMAS WISH

Dear Family and Friends,

Years ago, when I was a graduate student at the Johns Hokins University, I heard the great writer, Italo Calvino, read. He read at the Humanities Center at Johns Hopkins. The year was 1974. It was late-autumn. November.

Calvino had been invited to Johns Hopkins by Charles Newman. Charlie chaired the Writing Seminars Department at Johns Hopkins at that time. Charlie was a legend in his own right.

Charlie was an important post-modern novelist, and he was also an editor who had a gift for discovering major literary talent. As the former editor of Tri-Quarterly, at the University of Michigan, Charlie discovered, and was the first to publish, several literary greats, including Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Salman Rushdie, and Anne Sexton.

Charlie wasn’t the first to publish Calvino, but he did a lot to popularized him here in the United States.

I’ll never forget that afternoon when Calvino read.

It was late-afternoon. The sun’s rays were slanting through the long windows at Gilman Hall. Outside, leaves were falling and swirling in the November wind. Inside, the light was fading. The air was heavy with smoke from Richard Macksey’s pipe. Dr. Macksey chaired the Humanities Center.

Everyone in that room on that day when Calvino was about to read knew they were lucky to be there. We were happy people.

The Humanities Center at Johns Hopkins is a venerable place. The Humanities Center was started with funding from the Ford Foundation, and organized the influential international literary theory symposium.

“The Languages of Criticism and the Sciences of Man,” which featured prominent post-structuralists Paul de Man, Jacques Derrida, Roland Barthes, Jacques Lacan, all came together to do their important work at the Humanities Cener. It’s also where Derrida presented his theories in the lecture “Structure Sign, and Play in the Human Sciences.”

Waiting to hear Calvino read, I had a sense of history. But I also had an expectation that something historic was about to happen.

Calvino was introduced. He was energetic, but seemed small, thin, and weak. He was pale. A pale yellow. Was he jaundiced? He spoke. His voice was raspsy. Did he have asthma? Calvino is a survivor of WWII, and his body seemed to unite all the destructive forces of that terrible war.

But when Calvino started to read, he was incadescent. He burned. He glowed in the darkening room.

Calvino read from his Invisible Cities.

Invisible Cities is a small, dense, playful. paradoxical, and whimsical book. It has inspired a lot of lingustic analysis and serious literary criticism…some quite pompous. In truth, Invisible Cities is a rather formless disquisition. The cities have themes — the cities representing memory, desire, signs and wonders, fantasies, hallucinations, fears. There are rich cities, poor cities, trading cities, hidden cities, cities of changing faces, cities of the familar, cities of the strange, cities of the dead, cities filled with war orphans, continuous cities — more than 50 of them. The book is short; its 164 chapters keep repeating themes with variations.

The narrator in Invisible Cities is probably a child, a child who is traveling by himself. A war orphan. And, by the end of the book, that child comes to a conclusion that strikes me as the truest thing I have ever read in any book: “Arriving at each new city, the traveler finds again the familiar places of his youth, finds again a past of his that he did not know he had remembered, and comes to this — the forgiveness of what you no longer are or no longer possess, lies in wait for you in foreign, unpossessed places. The child inside the man forgives the man, but it takes a new place to do it. Perhaps the place is real. Perhaps it is an invisible city.”

So then, these are our “Invisible Cities.” We each travel through them.

The map is laid out before us.

And we are each — every one of us — war orphans, in a manner of speaking.

In that spirit, I leave you with a few lines inspired by Calvino way back when he read at the Humanities Center, in Baltimore, on that early November night, in 1974.

I recently read these few lines to my daughter, Arianna Rose Carisella, who graduated, with honors, from the University of New Mexico. last week.

I thought they were good things to say as she enters the world. I want Arianna to be a traveler in life. I want her to find discover many new place and many invisible cities. I want her to travel and loose herself. I want her to love and loose herself.

And, at all times, I want her to be strong, and to be all of herself, and to see only the beginnings and never the end of things, and to celebrate herself, and to not be afraid, never afraid, and, above all else, to be a child and to believe.

This is also my Christmas wish for all of you. And for myself.

Please read the lines below out loud. They are intended to be read as a prayer for you.

I know where I am by the sounds

that play rhythms like raindrops through tin pipes,

moonlight that falls in secret messages, and

echoes of invitations to places unknown.

I am strong here. I am all of me,

the beginning and the celebration,

the promise and the reward.

I am not afraid, not now.

not anymore.

I am a child and I believe.

I am a child and all things are possible.

— Thoughts of a boy before sunrise

Love,

John Sakowicz

Ukiah