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

___________________________________________________

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

___________________________________________________

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

____________________________________________________

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.

____________________________________________________

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

Editor,

Last Spring I was sitting in Fort Bragg’s City Council considering a potential no Smartmeter resolution and listening to a man address the ruthless utility known as PG&E regarding rate tiers and the evolving multi-family home. His children had returned to co-inhabit his home with their families in this banker-destroyed economy. The man wanted a different process that considered multi-family homes. These homes readily move into the highest penalizing tier of power charges. In higher density homes facilities are shared, consumption is at best the same or less for the average. Clearly many shared utilities results in spreading out costs. Yet PG&E applies the highest tier of rate charges. The PG&E representative said she would report back to the base (following PG&E militaristic language, “deploying Smart surveillance devices…” The ratepayer victims point should have been considered by the California Public Utility Commission and Utility support system. However, it will probably take a major Occupy event to distract them from their coffee breaks and utility paid junkets. Silly me thinking that the CPUC was there to protect ratepayers. Note, that at the top of all of the CPUC’s web pages is a photo of Jerry Brown. Also note that it was the Enron disgrace that took down Governor Gray Davis. Wait until the SmartMeters work to rake in the time of use charges.

At this same meeting, the PG&E representative said that PG&E only made a piddling 15% profit and that it was a fair deal. How much return do you get at the bank? PG&E charges us directly for all changes in their grid. I was surprise to hear from several friends who had bid on PG&E projects to extend power to their homes, that the cost was actually double. As a contractor I know what my clients would do with a doubled bill, but what do you do with a monopoly with the utility friendly CPUC? Nothing, just pay up! That is why many in Mendocino, are off the grid. It’s cheaper than hooking up the ICU grid known as PG&E. These same folks scoff at us grid tied residents enjoying continuous power during raging winter storms. I was off the grid at one point and will soon be again as we do not want to have a dangerous SmartMeter or support a corporation with absolutely no moral compunction. Oh my, you’ll have to service batteries. Big deal. Once a month, add water. Sure it cost more, but your home is self-sufficient. Go for it. Stop the monopoly! As power costs go through the limit your home system will quietly pay for itself on the cheap.

Also consider that the San Bruno debacle occurred via PG&E negligence under the tight scrutiny of President Michael Peevey’s PUC. CPUC should be fined as individuals for allowing PG&E to do and continue to do, in terms of the SmartMeter roll-over, which is harming many Californians. If California has 10% electrically sensitive folks (documented,) then PG&E is either torturing them or leaving them literally powerless as these folks can not live with power. In the US, corporate leaders are rewarded for serious fiscal errors rather than penalized. Time to nix that, put them in prison for crimes against the citizens!

The evolving nuclear family is amassing a density that could lead to a melt down even without utilities bilking them. Imagine two or three families in one household?

Pay attention,

Greg Krouse

Philo

PS. Two great seasonal events just occurred. The AV Solar Grange and the Local Food folks put together the annual Holiday feed which was well attended (~200) with great local savory turkey, hams, potatoes and scrumptious potluck and I mean scrumptious. The tables were filled and entertainment was provided by Lynn Archambault playing Christmas tunes on the piano, serving up the AV Chorus and then leading a seasonal sing-along. If you missed it, you missed a great social event.

Last Saturday night, Lynn did her annual Christmas sing-along and filled Lauren’s Café with cheerful singers and Lauren’s mull wine and cider. Families attended and donned the accumulated Christmas head gear and jingled bells. A good time for all!

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ECLIPSED

Editor —

Hitch is dead. Disagreed with 50% of his stated beliefs. In awe of the mind. Recognized his personal evolution and his courage.

What (who) is left for reasoned political expression?

PJ O’Rourke, Paul Johnson, Cockburn when not flacking, (you?) Coulter.

Hideous transgressions of reason:

Maher, Matthews, Maddow, O’Reilly

Robots — Corn, O’Donnell, Olberman, Morning Mika.

Upon reflection on the above, maybe Hitch’s star was so bright because of the darkness at noon that currently exists.

In sadness,

Gene Pietila

Ukiah

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GEORGE HITS THE BOOKS

Editor,

I recommend a book I recently read by Charles Mann, 1493. It presents the dramatic changes the world experienced as a result of the discovery of America. These changes we continue to experience today. One subject I found interesting was the whats and whys of slavery in the Americas.

Adam Smith correctly wrote that there were economic disadvantages to slave economies that made them economically noncompetitive, but slavery was a standard in the Americas regardless of it’s huge economic down side. Slaves escaped, slaves revolted, escaped slaves formed new societies that rampantly fought and looted European colonies and trade routes. The population of escaped slaves and their descendants often out numbered slaves and their European handlers. The remnants of these escaped slave societies exist today, particularly in Latin America. The reason slavery persisted for so long? The marriage of the African slave culture, to Malaria, and Yellow Fever in the Americas. Africans were exposed to Yellow Fever when young, and were immune. They also were genetically more immune to vivax malaria and some, through the sickle cell trait, were immune to falciparum malaria. These escaped slaves had families with American Indians, and the cultural and ethnic result is what we see in much of Latin America today.

In another book, I am currently reading, on the early history of Leavenworth, Kansas written in 1906 by one of its founders, the writer necessarily goes into the details of the pro-slave vs. abolitionist conflict that permeated Eastern Kansas and Western Missouri at this time immediately before the Civil War. The book: ‘Early History Of Leavenworth City and County’ by Henry Miles Moore. If you are interested in the single most important movement that led to the Civil War, this is a good book to read. The author is an abolitionist but was a plantation owner from Louisiana who had slaves before coming to Leavenworth. He goes out of his way to avoid the arguments pro or con regarding slavery in his book. But I found an interesting quote regarding a judge Elmore who moved to Kansas at this time with ten slaves.

“Although Judge Elmore was a Southern man and believed in the institution of slavery and as an earnest believer of his faith, brought his slaves with him to Kansas to the number of at least ten; he told me in the spring of that severe winter here of 1855 and 1856 in canvassing the question of slavery in Kansas, that nature and nature’s God had settled that question to (Elmore’s) entire satisfaction in Kansas; that during the winter Mrs. Elmore and himself had been obliged to work themselves to death to keep their darkies comfortable, they having been accustomed to the mild climate of Alabama, could not endure the rigors of a Kansas winter. That the men could not cut wood enough to keep themselves worm, and the women to cook their food, and that he and Mrs. Elmore had been obliged to nurse and take care of them and do their work to keep them from freezing. If anybody wanted to fight about slavery in Kansas they could count him out.”

George Hollister

Comptche

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UPSIDE-DOWN PRIORITIES

Editor,

Our country allegedly doesn’t have $5 billion to ease the Postal Service transition to the realities of e-communications (“Postal service’s gloom of night,” Editorial, Dec. 13), just like we allegedly didn’t have $2 billion to rebuild Joplin, Mo., after it was struck by an unprecedented tornado. Yet we had billions to spend on disastrous wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and we had billions to spend on the military budget.

This is just another reflection of the terrible priorities that haunt our economy and promise to keep this country mired in recession and decline. The militarization of our foreign policy and economy must be challenged and changed if this country is ever to get back on its feet.

Gary Rose

Los Gatos

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GET CYCKED!

Editor,

Cycked, the Mendocino County group planning a bicycle and walking path known as The Valley Trail, from Boonville to the Coast is moving forward with fund raising. Over $5000.00 has been raised since the group formed in late August of 2011. Cycked’s immediate goal is a Cal-Trans Planning Grant of approximately $130,000.00 which would be used for mapping, engineering, surveying and book keeping.

The Boonville Hotel hosted a pizza feast attended by 60 people with wine donated by local wineries on October 15th. A custom-made bike valued at $900.00 has been donated and it was raffled off at a community pot-luck dinner held at the Anderson Valley Grange on December 11th.. $1400 worth of tickets were sold. There was a yoga night benefit as well as an evening of pumpkin carving at the Boonville General Store. Cycked will sponsor a comedy show benefit at Lauren’s Restaurant in Boonville in early February featuring local comedian Christopher Balson, a student at Anderson Valley High School. A dance with Rockin’ Boogie Joe Blow will follow the comedy. A Cycked T-Shirt has been produced and is being sold at all Cycked events as well as at local stores and the Boonville hotel.

The group will sponsor a 72 mile bike race in the summer of 2012. The course will go 72 miles from the Boonville Fairgrounds to Elk on Highway 128 and the Greenwood Road, down Highway 1 to the Manchester Road and over the Manchester Road to end at Faulkner Park just above Boonville. 200 to 300 participants are expected.

More information can be found at the Cycked website:

www.getcycked.org

Boonville

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NOT GETTING IT

Editor,

“Well, that was something, wasn’t it?” the well-kept woman of middle years steamily exhaled as she lustfully greeted the complete stranger who, she wanted to believe, held the theater door open for her so invitingly and suggestively after the showing of “Shame.” “It’s pretty far from this man’s experience!” huffed He Who Isn’t Getting Any, oblivious to her blatant attempt to pick him up. The wanton slut tried again, subtly directing his gaze to the concession stand where popcorn splutted noisy from the machine’s hot aperture. “I sure could use a man like Fassbinder!” she breathed, dreamily and half-lidded. This sin-drenched hussy could not be more ignorant of her own degradation! “Madam, every encounter of that driven satyr, which we have just witnessed, was utterly joyless, and a reasonable man would rather be celibate than engage in such soulless and self-destructive activity!” She gave up on the old fool, and he turned his attention to the rampant absurdity of young morons attired in funeral wear, covered with stupid tattoos, and capped off with dumb little hip-hop hats.

Clearly, a film that focusses on destructive sexual obsessions is a candidate for Best Picture, while a film that focusses on pleasurable obsessions, such as a well-made porn movie, is a candidate for thunderous condemnation from the Junior Anti-Sex League whose banner you have raised from the dust of cultural indifference. Way back in the Auld Sod of the Priest-Ridden Isle, your ancestors fumbled in the darkness to expose only enough of their naughty bits from the enveloping sleepwear so as to attempt the creation of a new generation of self-hating hell-terrorized moralizing curmudgeons. O that these damnable emissions were not my cross to bear! Save me, Jesus! Then, once forced through the Gate of Satan into this fallen vale of tears, little Bruce IV and his twin Brucella, propped up in their crib in front of the tube, are free to witness 15,000 lurid murders before they are old enough to masturbate.

But this is God’s will, and it is a cultural imperative to immerse the young in the necessity and righteousness of the purifying perforation of their devilish flesh by the penetration of high-velocity shrapnel. And after they have been so blessed, it is well and good that the memory and remains of those now returned to a better world are enshrined in well-manicured marble cemeteries and pristine battlefield parks, and honored by constant parades and bands and flags and fulsome speeches of praise for the glory and greatness of it all. Our God is an Awesome God! It is even a saintly hobby, demanding in time and money, for thousands of death-worshippers to equip themselves in period costumes and weapons, assemble in faux armies on the old killing grounds, and reenact these mass slaughters. Of course, these wars without gore lack the essential element of the original sacraments, that which in fact they were actually all about, yet they are still considered to be wholesome and edifying, in contrast to that unnatural and repulsive sex without “love” the blue-noses would oblige us to condemn. As we lash ourselves along the Path of the Truth that Pain is Most Enobling, there are yet those who are foolish enough to innocently enjoy images of sexual acts, but Ayatollah Anderson has a constitutional amendment to ram up their Asses of Evil, and he won’t be using any lube. It is supposed to hurt, thus sayeth the Lord!

Well, I could go on and on. These rich veins of stupidity are so easily mined that I even bore myself. But what I want you to do, O Mighty and Esteemed Editor, with All Due Respect, is to publish your draft of your model law that will “ban all pornography,” as you have repeatedly called for. Now, you will have to calm down and try very hard to think clearly about this, if possible. Put your lawyer hat on and give us the text of your dream legislation that will define and excise from the First Amendment That Which No One May Hearafter Be Witness To. Make sure that the language is so totally bulletpoof that it will withstand assault from all those criminal pervert ACLU types who dare to openly film and distribute depictions of sexual activity. O Grand Ayatollah, with the help of God, you can do it! And if you cannot do it, then please take your withered old bone home and leave those of us who can still get it up alone.

Yours,

Jay Williamson

Santa Rosa

PS. Keep the Saturn in Saturnalia!

PPS. I look forward to Alexander Cockburn’s eulogy for Christopher Hitchens.

Ed reply: I’ve made the simple and obvious point made most forcefully and convincingly by Susan Brownmiller that the ritual humiliation of half the human population for the titillation of the other half contributes mightily to crimes against women, and is just one more contributing factor in making America the loony bin it has become. BTW, how do you happen to know so much about the appearance and functioning of my repro organ? Really, Jay, and not that I ordinarily give tours, but if you’ll come to Boonville I can probably arrange a private, corrective viewing, suitably chaperoned of course.

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SHERIFF’S LOG, THEN

Editor,

Since I missed your last Sheriff’s report I am submitting this letter for your edification:

Wellington Journal and Shrewsbury News, 21 November 1874

Before the Hon. R.C. Herbert and H. Corbett, Esq.

GAME CASE: Four youths named Andrew Dunning, William Dunning, Joseph Round and John Bailer were charged with trespassing in pursuit of game on lands at Lawley, in the occupation of Mr. James Jones, over which Mr. Parker of the Rock has the right of shooting. Mr. A Marcy appeared to prosecute. Police Constable Greatbanks deposed that about quarter past twelve on the day in question he was on duty at Lawley in company with Police constable Jones. Defendants were sitting on a gate encouraging two whippet dogs to hunt in the field. Police constable Jones gave corroborative evidence.

Fined: 1 pnd, 5 S 10 d each.

31 November 1878 — Chimney on fire John MacDonald of high street Wellington was fined 1s and 7s 6d costs for allowing the chimney of his dwelling house to be on fire on the 9th of November. Police constable Darbyshire proved the case.

Disorderly prostitutes Agnes Rushton and Sarah Fletcher were charged with being drunk and behaving in a disorderly manner in Station Road and Nailers Row Wellington on the 23rd of November. Police constables Owen and Watkins having given evidence the defendants were each committed to gaol for 14 days.

Highway offence: W. C. Calcott farmer Norton was charged by Police constable Tomlinson with allowing a cart to be used upon the highway at Wellington on the 19th of November without his name being painted thereon. Fined 1s and 9s 10d costs.

Submitted by

Fred Martin

Philo

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A MODEST PROPOSAL

TO: AV School Board

Re: Job Description- a tool for effective, respectful, accountable job performance at all levels of employment.

I propose a system of annual revision of each employee, trustee and administrator job description. Base expectations on a careful analysis of actual tasks performed. Individuals need acknowledgement and recognition for work they actually do. Supervisors and administrators need to make clear what is expected.

When used as an evaluation tool an accurate job description can raise morale, avoid duplication of work, assure that needed functions are covered, and contribute to mutual trust among those who serve.

Our goal should be open, cooperative individual and group responsibility for the safety and education of our students.

I propose that the School Board present at the January meeting a job description of each Board members responsibilities. This should include a long-term team goal which reflects vision for the future.

Patricia A. Beverley

Boonville

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HOW TO SAVE HENDY

Dear editor,

Close the state parks because of budgetary insufficiencies? Have any of the politicians or higher echelon bureaucrats offered to cut their own salaries? Do they offer any alternatives other than closing the parks? If they can’t think of any solutions then they aren’t worth their fine salaries. Why not solve more than one problem at once?

No jobs: both college and advanced graduates experience the lack of jobs. We have a shortage of affordable housing. We have a clean energy problem.

So, why not look for a naturalist or field biologist or arborist to become an on-site park caretaker? The estimated cost to the state to keep Hendy Woods open is $500,000 per year. The local community can do better than that. Start with a mobile home or trailer. Planning ahead, local people can build an energy conserving straw bale house or construct an Earthship into a steep hillside. Or possibly an adjoining landowner would donate or sell a couple of acres for a caretaker’s homestead. When the Ukiah Players playhouse was built by member volunteers, building costs were substantially reduced. Traditional Amish people could raise a large barn in one day with the whole community participating. The danger of vandalism, poaching or even tree cutting in an abandoned park would be eliminated. Paying a modest yearly salary plus local contracts for specialized tasks is still an improvement over the state’s estimated figure, according to Jared Huffman, of $500,000 a year to operate the park.

Why are career politicians like Jared Huffman and unaccountable state bureaucrats so bereft of solutions? Choose Norman Solomon for Congress, a man with an impressive activist track record.

A plan for keeping Hendy Woods open could serve as a model for other state parks faced with closure, deterioration, theft of park property and vandalism.

Occupy,

Dorotheya M. Dorman

Redwood Valley

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MY CONSPIRACY BOOK

Editor,

Was Bob Dylan Joan Baez’s son, lover or both? In my new book (still looking for a publisher) I explain that he was not only both, but was, in fact, his own love child. I go on to explain that he is also the author of every song attributed to Lennon/McCartney and quite possibly those of Randy Newman too.

The evidence is irrefutable: Lennon/McCartney were known to actively despise each other and lived miles apart. Also, even if we ignore the fact that Paul was killed in 1968, John was much too preoccupied with bedding half the female population of England after about 1965, and Paul, being “the cute beagle,” to ever have a met amassed such a catalog.

Further, I contend that Dylan’s famous motorcycle “accident” was in reality an assassination attempt perpetrated by none other than Edward De Vere who, as we all know, was responsible for the disappearance of Judge Crater, Jimmy Hoffa, and the kidnap/murder of the Lindbergh baby. (I am still trying to verify his presence on the “Grassy Knoll” in 1963 — and his whereabouts on the day my bike was stolen in 1971.)

The sequel to my book which I hope to start penning soon will also reveal the villain Edward De Vere’s ties to Al Qaeda, the KGB, the ICI, the RNC, and the DAR.

D. Bullock, loyal subscriber

Ione

PS. Where, oh where have you gone, Diana Vance?

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SHAKESKI, RATTLE & ROLL

To the Editor,

Ahem! Regarding the Shakespeare authorship question answered by writer/poet Michael A’dair (Letters to the Editor, 12/7/11) in his recently published book on the subject: Alas, I say it’s much ado about nothing.

Among reputable literary scholars it’s common knowledge that Shakespeare was in fact Wanda Tinasky, an activist writer/poet from an obscure hamlet in Poland who fled the country after her paramour, Willem Shakeski, was sentenced to be drawn and quartered by uptight Polish royalty for the heinous crime of inventing the Polish joke.

Tinasky, as an illegal émigré, was forced underground and used an anglicized version of her lover’s name to publish Shakespeare’s satirical canon. Remember the old greeting, “Shake, spear, kick in the rear”? Shakeski spears royals and commoners alike.

A trio of Willits thesbians presented me with a copy of Mr. A’Dair’s book after my recent poetry reading and I highly recommend it to scholars and dullards alike because it’s well-written, impeccably researched, and contains juicy tidbits about Elizabethan decadence.

I’ll be reading excerpts from the book during my upcoming radio performances.

Yours,

Aubrey Conover, aka Shakespeare man

Fort Bragg

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LETTERS LIKE THESE

To the AVA:

It is true that Chris Diaz made some mistakes and got some bad breaks, but it isn’t true that he is going to Texas because his public defender did not fight for him. I suggest we back up and look at this again.

1. The two deputies did not have to arrest Chris. They oftne decide not to arrest people, like drunk driving cops and friends of friends.

2. The Deputies’ supervisor could have said, Turn them loose.

3. The jail could have said, We don’t have room to hold him; we have to turn him loose.

4. The sheriff could have said, Due to our shrinking budget, we have to turn him loose.

5. The sheriff could have not passed the case to the District Attorney, or,

6. Passed it and asked the district attorney not to proceed.

7. The District Attorney could have taken no action — kind of like they do when cops get drunk and have sex with underage girls at Lake Mendocino. Or like the cops did when that man they thought had been stabbed would not consent to be interviewed so they got the hospital to release him early, arrested him, and threw him in jail where he bled to death.

Now I’m not an attorney but it seems to me that after the District Attorney charges someone, the judge’s options might be limited as are the options for a defense attorney.

I think you might have put the cart before the horse. I know this newspaper is backsliding into becoming just another cheerleader for law enforcement. Pretty soon you might stop printing letters like this.

Sincerely,

Teddy Smith (an obviously fake name)

General Delivery, Ukiah

Ed note: Here we have a person making vague allegations about police misconduct under a phony name from no return address and no verifying telephone number. But we’re printing this one because we get letters like it all the time. “Heh-heh. I want to take a few shots at powerful people and institutions’ but I’d rather do it under your name.” Dude! Please! If you have the names of the cops sampling underage girls at Lake Mendocino, let’s have those names. If you’re alleging that the cops deliberately allowed a jailed man to bleed to death, let’s have the names of the persons responsible. We’ve complained about the Public Defender’s office for years. She was appointed by the Supervisors because the Supes and the CEO knew she could be depended on to stay within her budget, the thinking being they’re all guilty anyway so what the hey. If you can afford a capable private attorney here or any other place in this country your chances of justice are dramatically enhanced. Is that news to anybody? Short of an all-out Occupy movement here, there and everywhere, the present low-down, third-worldish, money-rules functioning of the justice system is not going to change. As for Diaz, we agree. I thought that would have been clear from all the space we devoted to his case. If Diaz was, say, Chris Diaz-Pelosi, he would not have gotten the pro forma fast shuffle he got in the Mendocino County Courthouse. Anybody out there going to argue that one?

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BEWARE OF OLD BUTCH

Editor,

John was in the fertilized egg business.

He had several hundred young layers (hens), called ‘pullets,’ and ten roosters to fertilize the eggs.

He kept records, and any rooster not performing went into the soup pot and was replaced.

This took a lot of time, so he bought some tiny bells and attached them to his roosters.

Each bell had a different tone, so he could tell from a distance, which rooster was performing.

Now, he could sit on the porch and fill out an efficiency report by just listening to the bells.

John’s favorite rooster, old Butch, was a very fine specimen, but this morning he noticed old Butch’s bell hadn’t rung at all!

When he went to investigate, he saw the other roosters were busy chasing pullets, bells-a-ringing, but the pullets, hearing the roosters coming, would run for cover.

To John’s amazement, old Butch had his bell in his beak, so it couldn’t ring.

He’d sneak up on a pullet, do his job and walk on to the next one.

John was so proud of old Butch, he entered him in the Renfrew County Fair and he became an overnight sensation among the judges.

The result was the judges not only awarded old Butch the “No Bell Piece Prize,” but they also awarded him the “Pulletsurprise” as well.

Clearly old Butch was a politician in the making. Who else but a politician could figure out how to win two of the most coveted awards on our planet by being the best at sneaking up on the unsuspecting populace and screwing them when they weren’t paying attention.

Vote carefully next time, the bells are not always audible.

Name Withheld

Ukiah

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THE DEVIL MADE US BORROW IT

Editor,

Who’s in worse shape? Us or Italy?

Italy has a debt of $2.6 trillion and a population of 60 million people. We have a debt of $14.3 trillion and some 300 million people. Since we have five times as many people we should have only $13 trillion dollars to be on par with Italy. But even that wouldn’t be so bad. But Italy is a financial basket case which in the debt ridden housing market are called subprime debts. Therefore we should be a subprime basket case.

Italy is not alone in this category, but major parts of Europe are in this category and can’t or won’t do anything about it. This now includes us since we turned into a socialist government. Yes, I said socialist, since our government doesn’t have a thing called competition anymore.

Our state had a $29 billion debt last year and I never heard what puff of smoke made it disappear. And now there seems to be more money short. How surprising. I just couldn’t believe my ears since they have all this money to tear down perfectly good fire stations all over the state and build new courthouses all over to satisfy the egos of our judiciary. They must have gotten a grant from heaven — or was it from the devil?

Emil Rossi

Boonville

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THE NEW LEE OTIS

Dear Editor,

Can you put in a good word about our Medical Marijuana Patients Union Adopt-A-Highway litter pick-up on Highway 128 Sunday Xmas day?

We are meeting at high noon in Philo at the Grocery Store and will fan out in both directions (toward Boonville and Navarro) with pick-up sticks and orange vests.

Chris Diaz’ family is part of our team, in honor of their son who sits in Mendo County jail awaiting extradition to Texas where he faces 5-99 years prison for half an ounce of cannabis.

A Free Chris Diaz defense committee is forming to involve the public. Beth Bosk is now completing her video, where she interviewed you and others on the steps of the Ukiah Courthouse after the extradition hearing. It’s slated for local TV, Channel 3, etc. within days.

I remember black activist Lee Otis Johnson at a Texas political rally in the 60s. Unbeknownst to him he was standing between two narcs who passed a joint from one to the other and Lee Otis got 40 years for a marijuana cigarette. That’s Texas for you.

Chris Diaz is the new Lee Otis. Marijuana association is the new black. It’s a matter of civil rights in the context of the “drug war.”

Last Easter, the Patients Union had a clean-up day on Highway 101 (our second site) just north of Cloverdale at the Mendo/Sonoma County line. A friend of one of the women on our team drove by and saw her and later asked, “What were you doing out there picking up trash on Easter?”

She answered, “Being unselfish.”

Pebbles Trippet

Elk

Editor,

Thoughts on Potential Health and Safety Issues for Medical Marijuana Dispensaries—

The first marijuana dispensary meeting in Boonville had some speakers who brought a different perspective to the discussion. A young man stated, “Set the standards high. You people that have stores, I don’t trust you. I want to know the who, what, when and where. I don’t trust any of you. If I, or someone, in my family needed marijuana, I would go to someone I knew to make sure that it was organic and good stuff. I don’t want mouse droppings and mold etc. It needs to be medicine, clean and organic. I won’t buy from a store because I don’t trust you guys.”

Well, those remarks set me thinking. Next a young woman explained that she was a third generation grower who had recently given up growing. She had watched the Eel River turn green with effluent and said it looked like something she had seen in a New Jersey river where pig farms emptied into the river. When her cows, dogs and then kids got sick, she gave up growing. She urged that people quit putting junk into the river. She turned to the audience and eloquently held her thumb up and urged them “to clean up and green up.” A third party was discussing a testing process for dealing with “grungy butters” — not very appetizing and certainly not quality “medicine.” It was very inspiring to hear the young woman say that she “wanted a cleaner and greener community.” I could not be sure how many people agreed with her.

One director of a local collective said clearly that there are vendors who do not take proper steps and that the Health Department should be involved. Sanitation is, and should be, of concern. The Environmental Health Department should deal with the sanitation, processing, and storage of food products. The California Conference of Environmental Health Administrators provided excerpts from the CA Health & Safety Code entitled “California Retail Food Code.” It is the bible for all food handlers. In October 2010 OCDEH drafted a position paper about the sanitation of premises dispensing medical marijuana in food products. I think it would be instructive for all involved in this process and issue to read the following position paper and ponder the assorted public health risks.

SSDEH Position on Assuring Sanitation of Premises Dispensing Medical Marijuana in Food Products, Final Draft 10-20-10

• California law (Compassionate Use Act passed by Proposition 215 in 1996) Health and Safety Code 11362.5 et seq. allows the dispensing of medical or “Compassionate” marijuana through membership or cannabis clubs.

• Federal law regulates marijuana as a restricted substance/drug.

• For medical and convenience reasons, medical marijuana is being dispensed to both legal and illegal users by incorporating it into conventional food products, most commonly cookies and brownies.

• There is a public health risk of food borne illnesses from edible products- especially potentially hazardous food- served from dispensaries operating in unsanitary conditions or without infrastructure necessary for proper processing or holding.

• These public health risks are likely to increase as cannabis dispensaries continue to expand and if recreational marijuana use is approved in the future.

• Marijuana is a Federally controlled substance and local health and environmental health departments do not have authority to regulate dosage, quality, efficacy or other medicinal or pharmaceutical provisions that are the purview of the Federal or State government.

• The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) has advised local agencies that edible products containing marijuana may not legally be sold as food pursuant to the Sherman Food, Drug and Cosmetic Law “Sherman Law” (Health and Safety Code Division 104 Part 5) or the California Retail Food Code “CALCODE” (Health and Safety Code Part 7). Edibles that contain marijuana meet the statuary definition of “drugs” under the Sherman law because their intended use is to affect the structure or function of the body and because they are being used in the cure, mitigation, and treatment of disease. The brownie or cookie merely becomes the drug delivery system.

• Manufacturing of drugs is strictly controlled and must be conducted in a licensed facility, subject to the inspection of CDPH. CDPH cannot license marijuana edible manufacturers under current law, as the products do not have an approved new drug application on file with the US Food and Drug Administration, setting forth the safety and efficacy of the products. Additionally, the schedule classification of marijuana would have to be changed from schedule one to schedule two, before FDA could even consider a new drug application.

• There are no current statewide standards or guidelines providing specific sanitation requirements for the dispensing of medical marijuana edibles.

Local health and environmental health officials in California recognize the potential public health risks associated with the unregulated dispensing of medical marijuana in California resulting from:

• Contaminated or adulterated marijuana,

• Contaminated or adulterated delivery systems- food, drinks, pipes, etc.,

• Inconsistent and/or inaccurate measurement of dosage and potency,

• Access to minors, and

• Public nuisance issues associated with growing, processing and handling marijuana

Despite complex conflicting Federal and State laws, most local governments assert their authority to regulate these dispensaries for public health, safety and business purposes. To ensure public health protection, some local environmental health agencies are implementing permitting and inspection programs and/or performing plan reviews, while others are being asked to provide input on the necessary sanitation requirements of these facilities. Many local agencies have instituted bans or moratoriums on new dispensaries pending the adoption of State and local standards for the safe dispensing of his substance.

CCDEH supports the drafting of a statutory amendment to create a new product classification and appropriate sanitary standards for the production of those products or a model local ordinance that comprehensively addresses public health, public safety as well as zoning and business licensing issues.

In order to provide for consistent public protection, CCDEH favors the establishment of statewide standards in statute by which the state or local government would regulate marijuana edibles- and possible future recreational- marijuana. Such standards will need to:

• Treat medical marijuana dispensaries as medical dispensing facilities, not food facilities. Food facilities regulated under CALCODE and marijuana dispensaries or associated dispensary activities should be contained in totally separate facilities.

• Establish marijuana edible sanitation requirements in a new section of the Health and Safety Code, separate from the California Retail Food Code, to avoid conflict with existing federal and state laws, and

• Prescribe sanitation standards equivalent to CALCODE for food preparation, storage and handling and sale of edible marijuana products. Marijuana edible products produced at dispensaries should be limited to non-potentially hazardous food such as tea, cookies, brownies or candy. Provide standards for labeling edible products containing marijuana to ensure products are presented as drugs and cannot be mistaken as food.

• Dispensaries preparing marijuana edible products should be constructed in accordance with applicable building standards and other state laws.

• Ensure that edible products sold at dispensaries are not produced, or stored in private homes.

Bev Dutra

Philo

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WHERE’S THE MONEY?

Letter to the Editor

The Mendocino County Chief Psychiatrist quit with two weeks notice effective December 16, 2011. The County will have a hard time replacing him. Who would take a position where the CEO requires that all psychiatric medications be discontinued for two weeks for jail inmates? Who, after two weeks, would follow the CEO’s instructions to put people on the cheapest medication in a category, instead of the medicine a person’s physician prescribed for his or her patient? This means, you come into the jail on Zyprexa and the County doctor changes you to Thorazine. If you come in on Zoloft, you are changed to Elavil.

Our supervisors need to pay attention to the egregious lack of mental health care they are responsible for in Mendocino County. Where do all those millions of federal and state dollars for mental health services go in this County? It’s a closely held secret. We know it does not go to State mandated crisis care services, or to help the sickest of the sick.

Sonya Nesch, author of

Advocating for Someone with a Mental Illness

Comptche

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THE TRUTH SOLUTION

Dear Editor:

As one reads or watches the media types, particularly the opinionated columnists and talking heads, one would get the impression the Occupy Wall Street and offspring groups are a failure.

One of the charges leveled against them is they don’t have a “solution.” This view totally fails to grasp what the movement is about. They do not understand what they are doing — namely, they are Speaking to the Truth. Further, the movement is nonviolent with the only violence against them by the police. One only has to look at the Arab Awakening and the protests in Russia to understand these movements also Speak to the Truth.

Just as the ocean waves come in everyday the occupy groups or following groups will continue to Speak to the Truth until there are drastic social changes that will take away the power of the 1%, their highly paid lobbyists, their corrupt toadies in Congress, and power is restored to the 99%.

In peace,

James G. Updegraff

Sacramento

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REMEMBER THE ANIMALS

To the Editor,

Our local shelter is overflowing with homeless dogs and cats. Many families have had to surrender their lovable pets because of moving into a place that doesn’t allow animals. Finances at the shelter are stretched to the breaking point. When you do your holiday shopping, remember the animals. While not everyone can adopt one of these furry friends into their lives, we can all contribute to their upkeep. It doesn’t’t have to be a large amount of money. A few cans of dog food, a bag of dry food. If you watch the sales, it’s possible to pick up several cans for $5 or $10. If you’re at a garage sale and see a leash or dog or cat collar for sale, the shelter can use those too.

The trauma that these animals go through is horrendous. Through no fault of their own, they’re homeless and away from their humans where they were secure. At least we can all contribute to feeding their bellies. I have three adopted buddies that I found at the shelter which enrich my life tremendously. Please, remember the animals when you shop this holiday season.

Darline Bergere

Ukiah

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A RIDICULOUS SENTENCE

To: Sheriff Tom Allman

Subject: Medical Asylum vs extradition

Sir,

I am writing from Germany, where I serve as a Department of the Army civilian with the US Army. I am writing because of concern for my grandson, Christopher Diaz, who is a California resident.

Christopher Diaz has a well-documented history of asthma and multiple food and environmental allergies. Several years ago, after a hospital stay in Intensive Care following the collapse of a lung due to use of medically prescribed asthma inhalers, he was advised to move to California to consider alternative treatments and to maintain an organic lifestyle to avoid allergens contributing to his health difficulties. Last year in August he returned to Texas for the funeral of a family member. While driving through Brownwood he was admittedly profiled by the local police and stopped. The claim was he was driving an unregistered vehicle, which wasn’t true. Because he declined, courteously and respectfully according to the trooper, to provide his identification, he was arrested. Of course the police found his medication, with both his prescription and his religious belief documentation wrapped around the bottle.

He subsequently spent 80 days in the Brownwood jail. He had no independent lawyer and the lawyer provided by the court apparently had a heart attack and died. While in the Brownwood jail he was refused visits by pastors, and the organic fruit which was brought to him because of his multiple food allergies were refused. (The car, belonging to his parents, was impounded, even though the parents brought the registration documentation the next day, and it remains there to this date, although the tow trucker offered to give it back for $1500 with no receipt. That was reported to the Texas Attorney General’s office, but is an example of what I feel is the corruption in that community that leads me to write this letter.)

He was finally released and court dates kept changing. He returned to California because it was where he had employment and needed to be able to support his two small children. (I acknowledge that was a bad idea, but I doubt Texas is going to provide support for those two children, and the mother left the children with him, returning to Texas, not providing any child support.)

Subsequently, in this last month he was tracked down and I understand he is sitting in a California jail awaiting extradition to Texas. I am writing to ask that you consider contacting the Governor of California to decline to respect the extradition request on the grounds of medical asylum. I have contacted the Governor’s office, both in Texas and California, and have received no response from Texas, and a refusal by the staff at the phone line to address this with the Governor. I have requested that Texas reduce the charges to a misdemeanor. As a Texas resident I thoroughly understand that possession of marijuana is illegal in Texas. The amount he had was worthy of a misdemeanor, not the threatened 5-99 years.

As I listened to the parents’ discussion last year, read the newspaper articles, I realized this incident has been blown way out of proportion, with charges and allegations that have been fabricated. I can tell you this young man, who was sickly as a child and young adult, and has found a way to manage his health using organic foods and naturally derived medication, is not a threat to society. I firmly believe that there is a “scam” going on in Brownwood, an effort to keep the jails full to support the economy of the town.

That said, it seems that the State of California accepts a driver’s license from Texas, and vice versa. Common law marriage is accepted in Texas, but even though California does not allow common law marriages there, I understand it does give full faith and credit to Texas on this issue and recognizes common law marriage and allows divorce in California. A child support order from Texas is recognized in California. It really seems that the State of Texas should recognize those passing through the state who have legitimately prescribed medicines. But I realize I can’t change the laws of the State of Texas, and for that reason am begging you to request support from the Governor to protect one of your California citizens.

I must tell you how conflicted I am about this whole issue of medical marijuana. I am a Substance Abuse Professional, spending my time dealing with Soldiers who abuse alcohol and smoke pot. So I fully understand those who want to forbid any use of marijuana for recreational purposes and I support that.

But I also understand that it is possible to use marijuana for legitimate medical purposes, which don’t include getting high. I understand that right now the State of Texas does not subscribe to legitimate medical use. But to profile an out of state individual, passing through a town, with no intent to remain in Texas, and the subsequent witch-hunt that went on in Brownwood bore no resemblance to justice. I’ve been serving overseas for a long time, and have not kept totally informed on the changes in the society in Texas, but when I left I still trusted in our justice system. What I’ve seen happen here has me most concerned. I’m sure the parents of this man would provide you copies of his medical records and history, letters from his physician, and anything else you would require to justify leaving him to the State in which he is receiving treatment. His physician recently told his parents and other grandmother that if he is returned to Texas he will die. That is a terrifying prediction: you can certainly understand our need to appeal to your judgment and position to intervene and request from the Governor or Attorney General for a decision to ensure his health.

Thank you for your attention. I respectfully request a response as soon as possible.

Respectfully,

Jan Gunn

Baumholder, Germany

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ROHLOFFIANISM

Yo Editor,

It is funny that Mark Rohloff prefaces his Ukiah Daily Journal, Sunday Voices piece (11/27) with a quote from George Orwell, when his entire article is little but a collection of Orwellia, black is white, war is peace, inversions of reality regarding Israel and its relationship with our country.

Starting off with the whopper that “it is less supported by a US administration then at any time since its creation.” I know that not many Americans realize that we have sent Israel $10 million or so a day for decades, no strings attached, because an ever-vigilant and richly funded Israel lobby makes sure that the subject of this long-standing transfer of US taxpayer money is NEVER discussed in the halls of Congress or the mainstream media. But perhaps Mr. Rohloff deems this support too niggardly for this state which he regards as “in trouble.” Okay, so let’s also throw in the absolute humiliation of the Obama (and most previous) administration at the UN, where it regularly breaks ranks with virtually every other country in the world to use its veto power to do whatever Israel wants, no matter how it may clash with UN mandates or international law. Despite all this, Israel’s leader, Netanyahu, (who French Pres. Nicolas Sarkozy was recently overheard telling Obama was a liar and could not be trusted) never misses an opportunity to insult his indulgent patrons; announcing an expansion of illegal Jews-only ‘settlements’ on stolen Palestinian land just in time for vice president Biden’s diplomatic visit, a pattern that seems to be repeated anytime the US makes the slightest, politely worded suggestions that Israel might want to consider easing up slightly on the boot that Israel has pressed down on the neck of the Palestinian people for the last 50 years.

Another prize canard, a little further on in the article, is that, “Israel has always been asked to concede land… for peace, but… fresh attacks against Israel have been launched from the very territories which they have ceded.” No mention of the fact that Israel maintains Gaza as the world’s largest open air prison; that even after the senseless carnage of “Operation Cast Lead,” where the vital civilian infrastructure was intentionally destroyed along with 30,000 living units and thousands were left dead and maimed, all over the supposed capture of a single Israeli soldier. Now, years later, Israel still has not allowed even benign materials like cement and sheetrock in to rebuild. When international humanitarian boatlifts tried to bring medicines, etc., to the hard-pressed denizens of Gaza, they were met with murderous Israeli piracy on the high seas, killing nine unarmed peace activists on one ship, including an American. Israel still has that ship, years later, seizing it from its owner without any legal justification.

Next we have one of my favorite quotes from this article, “… Israel simply wants to survive within its borders.” That’s the thing about Israel; it apparently has no fixed borders. Just as it can make its own rules about doing whatever it wants in international waters, confident that big daddy USA will always come to its diplomatic, and if necessary, military, aid, it apparently regards its internationally recognized border, from 1967, as a non-binding suggestion; it has been leapfrogging further and further into neighboring land ever since then, building Israelis-only freeways (Palestinians who make a wrong turn onto them lose their vehicles) to access lush-lawned suburbs, amid the parched misery of the indigenous people, always seizing the land that contains each area’s precious aquifers. Is this how one attempts to survive within one’s borders?

The statements that “Israel has continued to represent our best democratic aspirations “ and that “(it) mirrors our institutions and our traditions…” Hmm, maybe, if you consider our best democratic aspirations to be the establishment of an apartheid state, where Israel’s Arab citizens, and those in the lands it colonizes, are oppressed second-class citizens who must spend endless hours waiting in the hot sun to seek the permission of a heavily armed young Israeli to go anywhere or do anything, at the hundreds of checkpoints that Israel imposes on its neighbors.

If Israel feels threatened by its neighbors, perhaps it should consider the fact that such things as blockades, embargoes, and all the other ways that Israel makes normal productive life impossible for those under its domination, are acts of war. It is not reasonable for Israel to expect to live in peace and security amidst those against whom they are prosecuting a war. If only Uncle Sam had cut off the free arms pipeline to them decades ago, they would have found a peaceful way to coexist long ago. Conversely, as long as the US provides unconditional financial, military and diplomatic support to one side of this conflict, the hostilities will never end. No matter how much the Palestinian Authority and its Arab neighbors offer, Israel has no incentive not to hold out for more.

Especially now, with the disastrous economic condition of our country, isn’t it finally time to discuss cutting off its blind support of the extremist regime in Tel Aviv, which buys us only hatred in the eyes of the quarter or so of humanity that subscribes to Islam?

Sincerely,

John Arteaga

Ukiah

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WASH THOSE BAGS

Editor,

I’m a 27-year veteran Safeway employee, and let me say that nothing gives me more displeasure than seeing a bunch of disheveled cloth bags at the beginning of a customer’s order.

I never understood why these types of bags were ever invented in the first place. I, along with my fellow employees, actually have a much harder time using these bags. They simply slow us down considerably.

What’s even worse is that the majority of them stink to high heaven. Most of these so-called eco-friendly bags probably haven’t been washed since the Franco-Prussian War.

If customers are so conscientious about the environment, they should also be equally hygienic about washing their bags frequently. I yearn for the days when San Francisco was using plastic. Bring it back. At least I wouldn’t have to struggle to bag groceries every time I’m in the checkstand.

And don’t worry about the environment: It’ll still be here for many million more years.

Sanders Hum

San Francisco

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STOP POT METERS?

Editor,

I really generally enjoyed Mr. Parrish’s article especially the explanation of the way that corporate wineries squashed local union work to get a fair wage for workers. It’s easy to understand why we need to support housing for workers although I am still amazed that there are no ranch houses on vineyard land. Vineyard owners should take this burden not us valleyites. Further one worries when a wine glut will stall our most recent mono-crop as timber would stop with rain or bad wood prices. Bad planning!

However I do need to respond to Parrish’s notion that it is the pot industry clamoring to stop smart meters. I am not saying that they may not be involved, but frankly I have heard little of it in my involvement against SmartMeters. Without a doubt, even as PG&E and other say they will not release usage information although it was part of marketing by the SmartMeter industry to Utilities per their sites and was clearly and probably still is a great way to get more money out of the utility-ratepayer mining operation. The information will be hacked by the industry. The SmartGrid, which could be called the BilkGrid is designed to allow easy access to anyone willing to hack. Silly though, PG&E loses, but then seems appropriate. Do corporations hack? Do they spy? Question answered.

The time is almost out on the SmartMeter Opt Out. My last note gave folks addresses to the CPUC and model letters have been posted on www.refusesmartmetersmendo.blogspot.com with Commissioner’s names. If you want a fair option, check it out and do something now! Don’t wait or you will lose it.

As we look to the recent issue of park closures and the inept overseeing of overpaid administrators and representatives, who are not clueless, just paying attention to their money sources. It is clear our government is broken and full of graft. Someone suggested not just looking at each problem, but rather looking at their source. The Public Utilities Commission is not regulating for us, nor is it a democracy. It is difficult to talk to some of the commissioners’ assistants on their phones because they do not answer. They do not want to be bothered by concerned ratepayers, it is too much for their busy schedules. Their “circle-the-wagons, but-act-like-nothing-is-happening” approach to the SmartMeter dissatisfaction run on their chambers raised many flags and eyebrows. Not only do we need to evict President Michael Peevey, leader of the Utility pack and the CPUC regulatory facade, but also create a rotating presidency and possibly elect these crucial commissioners directly. Then we will have real regulation.

We should not allow administrators any big power like this. There is too much graft. The Grange movement of 1867 soared because of similar problems where railroad companies after taking obscene amounts of free acreage for tracks, turned the screws on the farmer. In less than 3 years 8000 Granges were created. Americans were angry, no doubt!

That Grange movement resulted in laws that reined in the Railroads and created the Dept. of Agriculture. Part of the prohibition process was a cleverly means to destroy a competitive power source for farmers, alcohol for tractors. Big Oil supported it because they could nix the large farmer stills. Now ethanol is back, run by who? The big industries.

Back to the Parks issue, there is no doubt that our parks in our colorful state are our biggest gem. Although many come to visit Disneyland and other attractions, it is the northern big redwoods, craggy Sierra Nevadas, coastline, desert, large granite areas of Southern California that attract most. So the idiot administrators/politicians wield a huge budgetary knife, cutting most of the good meat with the fat. The problem is our government is clueless and not adapting in any logical manner. We need to act in general on this now as it is clear it is getting worse fast!

Cheers!

Greg Krouse

Philo

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10% — NOW

Editor,

I have been reading the letters from coworkers and I want to scream: are you as frustrated and angry and tired of being lied to as I am? Are you tired of all the animosity and discontent? Are you wondering why the lowest paid workers get stuck with the highest cut? Are you wondering how and why our leaders put us in this position? Yes, we have been lied to and manipulated. But I think it has been by our union leaders, not the Board of Supervisors and the Chief Executive Officer.

The County is broke and hundreds of millions of dollars in debt. They have to balance the budget and that means cutting costs. And the biggest cost is payroll. Everyone else took 10% cuts or more over a year ago. Why think we will be any different?

What does the County really want? We are told nothing less than 12.5%. But last September they adopted a budget based on 10%. And they spent three months on the 36-hour deal. But our leaders never agreed to a version that equaled 10%, never let us vote on the County proposal that did, and let it die without making a response.

One of our press releases quotes Raylene saying, “We know that what the County wants. They want 10% and a new [retirement] tier.” If they want 10% and we know that, why not give it to them? We are at 12.5% now. Nobody wants a cut, but if the real choice is 10% and be done with it, or 12.5% and keep fighting, I can use the extra 2.5% right now. And the new tier will not affect any current worker, only new hires.

We need to demand our leaders put 10% on the table right now and do it openly and publicly. And if the County takes it, I want to know why our leadership has been lying to us instead of making an agreement? Talk to your friends at NCO and ask them why they decertified SEIU. My friends tell me that NCO was willing to reach agreement six months earlier on all terms but SEIU wanted to keep the fight going. What is the hidden agenda here? And who has benefited by not having an agreement?

Name Withheld

Ukiah

PS. One of my coworkers has filed a grievance to stop her supervisor from harassing her after she questioned the union.

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O HELL

Dear Editor,

I read the article by Ted Dace about hell. Yes, each of us have demons. We face them as we live our lives, or we don’t, or we face some of them but not all. He made it seem like you get punished at time of death by having to face them all at once. That’s just more Christianity wrapped in psychological jargon. There’s no room for the idea that each person faces those demons he can emotionally afford to face at that time. He says if you’re not compassionate during your life that you get no compassion at all when you die. He says we have a moral obligation to love, but does not extend compassion to those who don’t, or can’t, or both.

In addition, he offers no evidence at all as to the truth of his belief. The Tibetan Book of the Dead is not evidence. OK, yes, we do have a collective unconscious as Jung said. But that does not mean that is has anything spiritual about it. It is just as credible to say that the collective unconscious is what every person learns as he grows up, but he or she learns it unconsciously. That view posits no spiritual component at all.

In his view you don’t get punished with hell over and over, you get it all at once. At the same time Ted Dace says that those who were good, merge back into the great One at death. This is a cowboy view of death; there’s the good guys and the bad guys. The good guys are those who are compassionate and those who have faced their demons. What if you’ve only faced some of them and the others are still un-faced at the time you die? Who or what decides if you avoid hell or not?

The only way out of that is to say that there are degrees of hell. Those who have faced more of their demons get a lesser degree of hell, and those who avoided facing them get the full measure.

So then, does part of your mind merge with the One and part stays somewhere else? And how can there by a somewhere else outside of the One? And how many angels can dance inside the O in the One?

Ted Dace then goes on to say that while there is no mind without a brain, that doesn’t mean the stuff we’re made of can be found in our heads. Really? So what is this “stuff’ of which we are made. If it is material, then it can be found in the material universe. If it isn’t material, then to posit its existence one would have to toss out the Dirac equation, which is the basis of how electrons behave in the everyday world. This means that you would have to toss out the entirety of modern physics.

Ted Dace then says that those who experience a near-death will experience either darkness or light. Of course, since there are no other options. Darkness is not the opposite of light, it is the absence of light. Thus, one will experience light or one won’t. I don’t see how this has anything to do with the notion of hell. Is this supposed to be tied to actual death in some way?

In short, I think that he has taken the traditional concept of hell and moved it into a small time frame. If he means that we are all our own worst enemy, I would agree. However, his article did not bring all of the interesting things he spoke about together in a cogent articulation. It simply rambled from one very interesting topic to another without really connecting them,.

Lee Simon

Far ‘n Away Farm, Virginia

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THE MEMORY HOLE

Editor,

Pearl Harbor Day — 12-7, 1941 — In 2001 I ventured to Japan with a tour group (the only time I have traveled with a tour) because I found the truth that except for the young, few spoke English. It was a good trip and I won’t go into lots of details. Japan is an extremely clean, beautiful and polite country.

Two details though are This Date and the stop at Peace Park in Hiroshima. Now this park is a most impressive and beautiful large hunk of property — long and comparatively narrow. There is a museum at one end in a large building.

This museum houses a remarkable model about 50 feet square (as I recall) of what the city looked like after being hit with the first atomic bomb ever dropped on a human population. (The second and last was on Nagasaki not long afterwards.)

There were also lots of pictures of the remains of buildings, bare ground, charred bodies et al. Anyone would appreciate the artwork of the modeling and photography but would probably overlook the hidden propaganda: The USA did this, Japan recovered (yea) and rose to power.

What is ignored and hidden is the reason for this, Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor and the USA’s Pacific Naval Fleet resulting in more than 2400 deaths on that day and many more badly injured. In fact, December 8, 1941 is not in the history books in Japan’s schools and is not mentioned because of mandated propaganda spin. (12-7 in Honolulu was 12-8 in Japan at that time.) In other words: fuhgeddaboudit.

So, even tourists can get caught up in this fantasy if visiting Peace Park by not remembering the Pearl Harbor attack and switching ones feelings to sorrow for the people that were in Hiroshima on that day of the bombing. No mistake, these devices should never be used again, but still…

It all makes me think that are we humans as countries, states, cities and individuals overdue when it comes to taking an Anger Management Class? We are one out-of-control, fucked up species of animal when it comes to how we relate to each other on large and small scales and to every other living creature that shares our finite planet. Then there are the minerals (air and water) that are necessary to sustain life. These supplies are being compromised as well.

Happy Holidays,

Carl Flach

Alameda

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LET PRISONERS SAVE PARKS

Editor,

We have a very large workforce housed at great taxpayer expense that could contribute to saving our parks and other savings as well.

Rehabilitation has always been on the talking tour for those convicted of one crime or another.

Yes, there are violent people, those who go in and out of prisons. They are not candidates.

But then there are thousands of nonviolent men and women who want out so that they can rejoin free living on a productive basis. Another chance.

Why not set up training classes, managed and taught by retired or active park rangers?

Pay would be a few dollars per hour plus three days off their sentence for each day worked. Any violations of the rules, including attempts to leave, will be justification to lose all that they have accumulated, dollars and days off.

A portion of their pay would be for their use, the bulk deposited in a bank account to be accessible upon their release.

It might work.

After all, they have no living, medical, dental or vision expenses. Not even home maintenance expenses. We can establish a pilot program for perhaps 20 selected inmates. Candidates’ selection would be based on their crime, prison records, attitude and health.

Nicholas Caputo

Tiburon

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AN IONE XMAS

Dear Editor and readers,

(with apologies to Clement C. Moore)

Twas the day before X-mas and all through the prison, not an inmate was stirring or had even arisen.

The cops had gone through every cell with great care, to make sure no criminal was hidden in there.

The loonies and psychos were all high on their meds, while visions of massacres danced in their heads.

When out in the day room I heard such a clatter, I went to the door to see what was the matter.

I looked out my window and there I saw clear, a state bureaucrat sucking on a cold beer.

He said: “Listen up and stop wasting my time. X-mas is canceled for all guilty of crime.

You killers, you rapists, you robbers and thugs, you chomos and arsonists, abusers of drugs.

You thought maybe Santa might bring your parole? How about this instead? 30 days in the hole?

We’re drafting new laws that’ll keep you in stir, and provide our grandchildren with state sinecures.”

His fat belly shook as he laughed with such glee. “We’ve got you locked up — now we’ll throw ‘way the key!”

And he added this comment as he drove out of sight: “Ten year denials to all — and to all a good night!”

Better days, a loyal subscriber,

D. Bullock

Ione, California

PS. Happy holidays to my compatriots in the southern gulags: Steve C. and Marko G.

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AVOID MULE CREEK

Letter to the Editor,

Mule Creek State Prison — I am writing this short brief letter to anyone who has plans to transfer to Mule Creek State Prison. Due to the recent US Supreme Court decision to reduce the state prison overcrowding (?) — all gyms at MCSP are being shut down — closed. B-gym is 95% empty. C-gym will be closed within six months. And D-gym within 12 months. So the only criteria for MCSP will be Level 3, Level 4! No level 1, level 2. So this place is overrated to the max and totally not what CDCR portrayed to be.

They got the inmate task force who think they’re state prison staff and if you don’t fit in? Then you’re outta MCSP first bus smoking with no breaks.

As for myself? I had two slime jerks put me down as their enemy on a 812(c) 1030 form. They put me up for a non-adverse transfer. So I wanted this anyway as this place is drama-drama, and straight out weirdos, chomos, sickos, not to mention weird staff also.

So no more gyms statewide, no triple bunks, no E-beds, only cell living. And a lot of staff who are pies-newbies will be shown the door also. No level 1 or 2 inmates to supervise? No staff will be hired but only let go. I’ve been told by a lot of staff that CDCR will clearly violate the Supreme Court decision and let the feds sort it out. So to all the motley crew at level 4 in Corcoran, don’t come to MCSP! Stay put at Corcoran. You got it made there. I should have listened to you all along.

Kenny ‘Irish’ Callahan

Ione

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STOP WALMART’S EXPANSION

Editor

• Walmart plans to build a sixth super market in Ukiah in 2012.

• A Walmart expansion will likely drive at least two unionized supermarkets out of business and may force small local stores to close.

If you are opposed to Walmart’s expansion:

• Come to the Ukiah Planning Commission meeting on Wednesday, December 14th, 6:00 pm at City Council Chambers, 300 Seminary Ave., Ukiah.

AND/OR

• Email comments to the Planning Commission: kjordan@cityofukiah.com

• Call Ukiah City Planning Department: (707) 463-6207.

• Join the “Occupy Walmart” demonstration, Saturday December 17th, 11 am at the grassy knoll area bordering the Walmart parking lot. We will not disturb Walmart customers. We will not block entrances or exits.

More About Walmart:

• Walmart is non-union and pays the lowest wages allowed by law.

• Many Walmart workers must apply for food stamps and public assistance to supplement their low wages.

• Two Important Questions to Ask Yourself: Why won’t America’s wealthiest retailer pay a living wage? Must we as taxpayers pay for Walmart workers’ health care and family assistance?

www.occupyukiah.org

Tom Wodetzi

Albion

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ADOPT A MIX

Editor,

Last night on my way home I gathered up a little dog; he had just been hit by a car. I took him to the vet and he is one lucky little dude, only sustained minor injuries. Can you or do you know somebody who would be interested in giving the little guy a home? He spent the night with us and is very well behaved, quiet, friendly and so very cute. He is probably 3-4 years old, looks like Chihuahua-dachshund mix. His coat is short and chocolate brown. Seems to be housebroke.

Please call me at 707-621-0869 or at work 707-895-2940.

Monika Fuchs

Philo

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STILL MY GUITAR

Editor,

When Jeff Costello said, “That’s probably what’s wrong with you,” because you don’t listen to music, made me think of my favorite Costello music exchange.

Back in ’86 I was renting a condo in Kona on the Big Island, and Jeff was hanging out, trying to teach me some guitar licks, even doing a few of my songs. When I decided to return to California he asked if I wanted to buy his Fender Telecaster. Hell, yeah, so I gave him $200 and continued lessons back in Willits with a local musician.

Then a few months later Costello had returned to the Mainland and stopped by on his way down to Sausalito to play a gig. He asked if he could “borrow” his old guitar. I was reluctant, as I was really enjoying learning to play and writing lyrics, but I couldn’t say no to Jeff. I mean, it would be like Frank Shorter wanting to borrow my Nikes. Sure, Frank, no problem.

The next time I saw Jeff I asked him about my guitar. He said, “Oh yeah, I traded it for a Stratocaster, the guitar I always wanted.”

“I’m so happy for you, but it was my guitar,” I replied.

His comeback ended the discussion: “You were no good anyway.”

Jim Gibbons

Hawaii

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ATTRIBUTION FOR DUMMIES

Editor,

I enjoy reading the AVA each week. I particularly enjoyed the letter by Irv Sutley of Glen Ellen in the Dec. 7, 2011 issue, about “Banking For Dummies.” It starts off “Heidi is the proprietor of a bar in Detroit.” It goes on to give an analogy to explain the credit-default-swap mess, etc., that the US economy is going through.

I thought Irv Sutley was a genius! What a great way to explain recent economics in terms we could all understand.

A little internet research, however, reveals that this story, word-for-word, has been floating around the internet since as early as March 2009, and as far as I can tell it is not an original piece written by Mr. Sutley. Even the San Francisco Chronicle had it verbatim, over a year ago.

So, whoever wrote it still is a genius, but that person’s name is as yet a mystery.

Best regards,

Elliot Smith

El Cerrito

Editor,

Recently PG&E initiated two versions of Robo calls to PG&E users, who either do not have a SmartMeter yet or on the SmartMeter Delay list. In the former situation, Willits folks received a call if they did not have a SmartMeter that threatened power interruption if a new Smartmeter was not installed. The PG&E installation phone number was provided. PG&E can not do this for two reasons. One the Opt Out provision is not completed and a Calif. Public Utility Commission (C-PUC) decision based on a family that perished using candles post power termination. Be sure if you do not want a SmartMeter to get on PG&E’s free delay list by calling their 800 number and being adamant about what you want. Ask for a confirmation number.

The second robo-call told delay list ratepayers that C-PUC had a final version of the inflammatory Opt Out proposal PG&E gave to C-PUC President Michael Peevey last Spring. The original version charged Opt Out ratepayer $130 per meter initiation fee (gas and electric) and $40.00 per meter per month and required that all houses had a radio off SmartMeter. The current Option comes after very heated testimony by many counties and cities, anti SmartMeter organizations and even C-PUC’s Division of Rate Payers, all concerned about the charge which most felt should be free. Further most did not want the radio off SmartMeter vying for the old Analog or non digital meters. This new Option cost $90.00 to initiate and $15.00 per month requires the radio off SmartMeter and allows low income families through CARE a no fee version. It costs as much as it does to have trash pickup service 3 visits a month. Most folks do not want the added charge in this economy. Furthermore, PG&E uses their technician to convert the SmartMeters whereas they used modestly trained Wellington to install SmartMeters. It is basically a means to kill the Opt Out option. What was also not addressed in this latest option is that communities could opt out together and sensitive folks would have special boundaries with no charge and no SmartMeters. The latter is crucial in high density situations. Mendocino County and Fort Bragg are against the Opt Out Charge.

A special update meeting on PG&E’s “smart meter” program will be held Friday, December 9, 2011 from 1:30 pm -3:30 pm at the CPUC Building Golden Gate Room (Ground Level) 505 Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco. This is an important place to have a final say.

Aside from the radio (wireless) concern, the digital impact is crucial as many sensitive folks remain ill with SmartMeter off situations. The cause is switching electrical transients from the digital power supply that create Dirty Electricity that pollutes all circuits in a house (resource S. Milham’s book “Dirty Electricity.”) This dirty energy is found in house circuits with any digital component plugged in. Dirty Electricity has been shown to cause cancer, and exhibit all the symptoms of wireless (sleep disorders, headaches, heart arrhythmia, and cognitive problems.) Unlike personal electronics, a SmartMeter can not be turned off.

PG&E is not listening nor is the so-called regulators C_PUC headed by once Executive of Con Edison, Commission President Michael Peevey. Complaints have been heavy regarding overcharges, damage to equipment including meter fires, concerns around privacy, trespass and health issues (over 45,000 in 2009.) Many folks have become Electrically Hyper Sensitive (EHS) and unable to be around AC power of any kind nor wireless. The symptoms can range from those above plus nose bleeds, and seizures. Many victims have left good jobs and homes searching for SmartMeter free and AC safe situation. With PG&E decision and the newness of this situation for the US both situations are difficult to secure. President Peevey has allowed two sick victims certified Analog meters. A Doctor at the Ft Bragg Health Clinic can test and provide victims with EHS assessments that could allow them to get the Analog meter. America has sustained a health blow via a lying industry (wireless) that falsifies scientific data and attempts to intimidate independent researchers (See Devra Davies book “Disconnect”.) That is why only recently the World Health Organization supported the fact that wireless radiation is a carcinogen in the same class as DDT. There are 3 replicated DNA damage studies based on low level radio Frequency (RF) radiation by respect scientists, whose studies were peer reviewed by other scientist in their field and allowed to publish. There are some 4000 independent studies pointing toward problems. Dr. Magda Havas of Trent University, Canada, did an eloquent small double blind study using the common DECT or remote phone as a RF source, and an electro cardiograph (EKG) machine to monitor heart rate. She marked the EKG chart every time she turned on or off the DECT phone with code and noted how subjects felt as well. Only a couple of the 24 subjects noted any changes, however the Cardiologist that received the blind study noted that 70% of the subjects were showing serious differences in their heart rate. One woman’s rate doubled with the DECT phone and she noted uncomfortable sensation. Another study combined epidemiological research that noted the percent of EHS in a variety of countries. Whereas many were between 5-10% now, a significant linear trend was found that points to 50% of the citizens in wireless environments being EHS by as early as 2017.

If this concerns you, you should contact CPUC with your concerns. We feel it is equally important to contact Governor Jerry Brown as he oversees CPUC. With the ongoing problems with Smartmeters and gas lines during the oversight of President Michael Peevey, we feel he should be removed from office. Furthermore CPUC is a very vulnerable and important Commission that should have the greatest democratic process. Continued industry paid junkets for the commissioners underscore a concern. Therefore we feel that C-PUC should have a rotating Presidency amongst its commission every 2-4 years. Your letters and calls will make a difference. If you agree, please take the time out of your busy schedule and insure democracy and safety are allowed. A model letter is available at:

www.refusesmartmetersmendo.blogspot.com .

Phone numbers for CPUC Commissioners: Mike Florio 415-703-1840, Catharine Sandoval 415-703-2593, President Michael Peevey 415-703-3703, Timothy Simon 415-703-1407; Mark Ferron 415-703-2782. public.advisor@cpuc.ca.gov . Postal Service: CPUC Public Advisor, 505 Van Ness Avenue, Room 2103, San Francisco, CA 94102. Governor Jerry Brown

State Capital, Sacramento, CA 95814; 916-445-2841

Refuse Smart Meters Mendocino

Greg Krouse (refusesmartmeters@saber.net )

Philo

PS. Part of the damages caused by Smartmeters has to do with poor installations. Fires have started via arcing connections that have been widened to facilitate installation improperly, (One case at a Fire Chief’s home and more locally at Coddingtown.)

New SmartMeter users should watch for power interruption (indicative of arcing) in 220 volt circuits like electric ovens, stoves and heaters and interruption of GFI outlets (outlets found near sinks or outside for protection from shock.) Check for heat at the meter and shut off power and call PG&E if heat is present. Damage to anything electronic should be noted. Interference with wireless devices is possible. Residents should watch for sleep disorders, nightmares, inability to sleep, headaches, ringing in the ears and nose bleeds. Contact PG&E and EMF Safety Network www.emfsafetynetwork.org  and TURN The Utility Reform Network (www.turn.com .) The health issues can happen adjacent to PG&E access points (antennae on poles.)

In the October Opt Out C-PUC meeting, SmartMeter industry representatives admitted that SmartMeters do “chirp” or communicate with other meters many times a minute. The total operation per day is 45 seconds, but as many as 20,000 pulses could occur. In a recent study using an EHS medical doctor, they discovered that constant RF had no impact, but pulses caused seizures, heart arrhythmia, cognitive problems and discomfort using low level RF. Further, industry reps admitted that the meters could use 2 watts of power whereas they previous said they only used 1. PG&E admission that 16,000 SmartMeters erred to larger charges per overheating in hot weather in Bakersfield is beyond the amount of error documented in PG&E Structure study that re-benched tested the meters at rate payers expense. TURN is pursuing this inaccuracy.

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SECRET SUPPORT

Editor,

Anderson Valley Adult School gives a big, heartfelt thanks to:

• The Boonville Hotel for hosting the lively book release and book signing celebration for the 10th Anniversary Edition of the Secrets of Salsa cookbook. They shared their kitchen for hours before the event with bags of tomatoes, chiles, onions, and more while salsa sisters Cyd Berstein, Linda Brennan, Gail Gester, and Benna Kolinsky worked with Iriana Camacho, mother and daughter, and Emilia Espinoza and daughters Alondra and Esmeralda who volunteered to make the some of the six new recipes for tasting. The Hotel also provided other savories, sweets, and beverages to complement the luscious new salsa recipes.

• Anderson Valley Brewing Company for the beer to warm the wet, chilly day.

• Tim Glidewell for his magical touch on the video camera and the six-minute showpiece on the salsa preparation and the event.

• Linda MacElwee and Benna Kolinsky for capturing the still shots on their cameras, the photos will soon be added to the new salsa website (www.secretsofsalsa.com ).

• All the local merchants who continue to sell the book–now with 31 outstanding, unique salsas.

With State economics as they are, Secrets of Salsa is now playing a greater and greater role in keeping our adult education classes open. Thank you so very much for your part in it. It is much appreciated.

Sincerely,

Barbara Goodell

Boonville

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HALF PAY

To the Editor:

I work for Mendocino County Health and Human Services Agency and it is a sad day for all of Mendocino County.

The majority of the employees of SEIU #1021 work for HHSA. They help provide services to the neediest of the county residents. They help low income residents, they provide services and support for the elderly and they protect the children of this county.

A few years back they voluntarily took Voluntary Time Off (VTO) to help the county out with their budget. They have been recently going through a proposed budget deal with the BOS over the last year and, as most of you know they recently were given a 12.5 percent pay cut. They are the lowest paid of all county employees and this is how the Board of Supervisors (BOS) thanked them.

I know that things got intense between the BOS and the Union; however the BOS needed to act as leading adults in the community and not stoop to such a low level. This is going to affect most of the county businesses as spending will be down; this will happen as most staff will have a hard time making ends meet and some will even lose their homes.

Personally, between paying for part of my insurance and having my spouse on my insurance (as he lost his job 3 years ago), my overall taxes that are taken out, contributions to my retirement fund (yes I do contribute out of my earnings which equals 11.9%) and now the 12.5% pay cut — all this adds up for me personally is 48.5% less that I will take home. Most staff has the same losses as I do, more or less. The strange thing is that most of the pay at Health & Human Services (HHSA) is financed through state and federal monies, not the county. I am not sure how much this 12.5 percent pay cut for HHSA employees is really going to help out the county budget, but I do know it is not going to help the local economy and local businesses.

There are really a lot of folks that don’t realize it yet that they got a pay cut too. I also know that there will be actually some HHSA employees that will be eligible and applying for the very same services that they help provide to the less fortunate citizens of the county.

I state again, this is indeed a sad day for all of Mendocino County. What kind of a world are they creating now? I will continue to go to work and hold my head high and help the less fortunate of this county, as I have personal integrity. I will try my hardest to keep smiling and support those that I supervise and my fellow workers. But I must admit, I have to personally dig deep. I will survive some way and I hope most employees of HHSA can do the same. Keep the faith everyone, because you are the heart and soul of Mendocino County. Remember to take care of yourselves, because you deserve it.

Pam St. Martin

Willits

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BANKING FOR DUMMIES

Editor,

Heidi is the proprietor of a bar in Detroit. She realizes that virtually all of her customers are unemployed alcoholics and, as such, can no longer afford to patronize her bar.

To solve this problem, she comes up with a new marketing plan that allows her customers to drink now, but pay later.

Heidi keeps track of the drinks consumed on a ledger (thereby granting the customers loans).

Word gets around about Heidi’s “drink now, pay later” marketing strategy and, as a result, increasing numbers of customers flood into Heidi’s bar. Soon she has the largest sales volume for any bar in Detroit.

By providing her customers freedom from immediate payment demands, Heidi gets no resistance when, at regular intervals, she substantially increases her prices for wine and beer, the most consumed beverages.

Consequently, Heidi’s gross sales volume increases massively.

A young and dynamic vice-president at the local bank recognizes that these customer debts constitute valuable future assets and increases Heidi’s borrowing limit.

He sees no reason for any undue concern because he has the debts of the unemployed alcoholics as collateral!

At the bank’s corporate headquarters, expert traders figure a way to make huge commissions, and transform these customer loans into DRINKBONDS.

These “securities” then are bundled and traded on international securities markets.

Naive investors don’t really understand that the securities being sold to them as “AAA Secured Bonds” really are debts of unemployed alcoholics. Nevertheless, the bond prices continuously climb — and the securities soon become the hottest-selling items for some of the nation’s leading brokerage houses.

One day, even though the bond prices still are climbing, a risk manager at the original local bank decides that the time has come to demand payment on the debts incurred by the drinkers at Heidi’s bar. He so informs Heidi.

Heidi then demands payment from her alcoholic patrons. But, being unemployed alcoholics — they cannot pay back their drinking debts.

Since Heidi cannot fulfill her loan obligations she is forced into bankruptcy. The bar closes and Heidi’s 11 employees lose their jobs.

Overnight, DRINKBOND prices drop by 90%.

The collapsed bond asset value destroys the bank’s liquidity and prevents it from issuing new loans, thus freezing credit and economic activity in the community.

The suppliers of Heidi’s bar had granted her generous payment extensions and had invested their firms’ pension funds in the BOND securities.

They find they are now faced with having to write off her bad debt and with losing over 90% of the presumed value of the bonds.

Her wine supplier also claims bankruptcy, closing the doors on a family business that had endured for three generations, her beer supplier is taken over by a competitor, who immediately closes the local plant and lays off 150 workers.

Fortunately though, the bank, the brokerage houses and their respective executives are saved and bailed out by a multibillion dollar no-strings attached cash infusion from the government.

The funds required for this bailout are obtained by new taxes levied on employed, middle-class, nondrinkers who have never been in Heidi’s bar.

Now do you understand?

Irv Sutley

Glen Ellen

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MODERN DAY HUGO

Bruce,

RE: Extradition of Chris Diaz.

Where is Victor Hugo when we need him to write the Texas sequel to “Les Miserables”? When casting the part of Inspector Javert, he could use Brown County Sheriff Bobby ‘We’ll find him and he’ll be back in custody’ Grubb.

Miguel Lanigan

Clearlake Oaks

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REFLECTING FOOL

Dear Editor:

I received this via an email from an old friend in New Mexico:

I pointed at two old drunks sitting across from us in a bar and told my friend…

“That’s us in ten years.”

He said : “That’s a mirror…”

Best regards,

Bart Boyer

San Diego

PS. Yesterday, scared Europeans moved massive amounts of cash from euros to dollars. The stock market soared. On public radio somebody asked, “What’s going on? The dollar’s not on a very sound footing.” The reply, “The dollar is the best horse in the glue factory.” Good response, I thought.

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CUT THEIR SALARIES

To the Editor:

Of all the nerve. The county administration blaming people it just cut 12.5% off of their wages for the county’s credit problem? That’s nuts.

How about taking some responsibility yourself? The Union was ready to take a 10% cut months ago, but the county would never bargain in good faith. Their salaries are way more than most and they only took a 10% cut and imposed 12.5% on everyone else. And then to blame employees for their financial problems? How about looking in the mirror?

I agree that the BOS is in trouble and them and the CEO all need to get some real jobs. Why don’t they try working for everyone else’s wages? Am I angry or what?

Harvey Baumoel

Ukiah

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NO, VIRGINIA

Editor,

I’ll never forget the look on my little sister’s face the day I told her that there was no Santa Claus. I can’t remember if I told her because it was time for her to know (I think she was about 5), or if I was just being cruel. I am, after all, a boy. Well, first there was shock, then the look of resignation as the logic became apparent. The quivering lower lip, the tears welling up in her eyes; it is almost exactly what happens when I tell people there is nobody running the asylum we call the United States of America, or for that matter, The World. More precisely, The Generals run this country, just like in most other corrupt and lawless countries in the world. Oh, we have laws all right, but they only apply to the unwashed, unelected, and un-wealthy. Our elected “representatives” couldn’t reign in the War Machine even if they wanted to, and most of them don’t want to.

But The Generals are only one of the cabals, cliques, and mafias that are actors on the world stage. The bankers are another, and many corporations have more power and money than whole nations. Then there’s the Vatican, The Underworld, and a handful of true Plutocrats (the Queen of England makes 37 million dollars an hour, 365 days per year, on “Crown Investments.” Take that, you paltry billionaires!). All of these entities act in their own best interests, sometimes competing, sometimes cooperating; whatever makes the most money. None, I repeat none of these operations have anything at all to do with the welfare of the common person. These entities are motivated entirely by self-interest and operate using belief systems that often are simply superstition. Still, a billion dollars can indeed move mountains, even if the theology if sketchy.

It’s only natural that we look for leaders. But if by “leaders” you mean an intelligent, unbiased, imaginative, creative, and courageous person, then we certainly don’t have any in the U. S. of A presently runing for office. The people currently elected to positions of power and impunity are mostly lawyers, with a sprinkling of “businessmen.” A lawyer is someone who has trained their whole life to argue, not to actually do anything. A businessman is someone who makes money the old-fashioned way; steal it from the suppliers of raw their materials, and perpetrate what can only be called slave or “coolie” labor. That’s how you get rich; not by inventing a “better mousetrap.”

So here it is, Kiddies; Obama ain’t gonna save you. Neither will a “Third Party,” Big Business, The Churches, the United Nations, Angela Merkel, or the myriad NGO’s claiming to Save The World but mostly save their salaries. We are born alone, we die alone. If we are extremely fortunate, we have friends and family to help us through this thing called life. That’s pretty much all we got coming to us, American Idol The Lotto notwithstanding. Or should I say, almost everything you have been told about how The World works is incorrect, and if you believe electing a person like (pick one) is going to improve your life or The World, then you probably believe in Santa Claus. Which is why I killed him.

Joseph Thomas

San Francisco

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UPGRADING KZYX

Hola Editor,

Glad to hear that you’re feeling better and am sending my wooden nickel’s worth for you’re consideration in AVA’s letters to the Editor.

I read with interest Shiela Dawn’s well written coverage of the KZYX November board meeting and was especially drawn to the 4th paragraph dealing with the beginning of the process to develop the station’s, “Strategic Plan,” for the coming next half decade 2012-2017. One of the goals noted and a holdover from the 2001 plan was the need to “increase local support.”

I would like to suggest that the Board consider what will surely help further this goal and that is, simply increase community involvement. This is what KZYX has historically lacked, community involvement and a feeling that this station is by and about the folks who live here. No rocket fuel needed. More community involvement equals more community support and here’s how:

1) Reinstate the very popular “4th Gate Gazette” show by Beth Bosk interviewing locals.

2) Begin a 5-10 minute daily news show in the afternoon interviewing people on the street on topics of interest to us locals.

3) Stop hiring station managers from out of town. We probably don’t need someone from, say, New Jersey calling the shots if we want to be a local by the community run and loved station.

4) Please advise the hosts of Trading Times, a great show and community resource, to cease the divisive, rude behavior of correcting the callers in the use of ‘O’ versus Zeros. We’ve surely heard enough of that.

5) Involve the listening community and seek input on programming changes before they are put in place.

6) Try listening to KMUD for more clues about what great community radio is all about.

Thank you,

Gary T. Moraga

Spring Grove, Albion

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DELAYED CORRECTION

Dear Editor,

We would like to formally apologize to Christopher, Casie, our grandchildren ‘D’ and ‘K’ and to Alan Kiefer and his family for the misrepresentation of Casie’s age and the printing of Alan’s name in our email to the editor. After further inspection of the email that was sent, the errors were found and a correction email was sent out but must not have received before printing. Please forgive us. Thank you for your understanding during this difficult time.

Sincerely

The Parents of Christopher Diaz

Albion

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DON’T BLAME US, BLAME THEM

To The Editor:

I’ve been a County employee for nearly 20 years and I’m astounded at how our CEO and Board of Supervisors can complicate and contort even the very simplest story, encouraging misdirected blame and blatant misperception.

Take the current situation between the County and every one of its employee unions, especially the relationship with Service Employees International Union (SEIU): the real motivation for all staff salary cuts isn’t the ongoing cost of employees at all (and especially not the assertiveness of the SEIU in fighting unfair salary cuts), it’s the county’s mistake with the Teeter plan. According to Carmel Angelo, SEIU is to blame for the county’s BBB- credit rating but, basically (and here’s the take away soundbite), the County got itself into serious debt by making a bad decision about the delinquent property taxes (not high personnel costs) and now the County wants to take money to fix the situation by depriving staff of fair pay for fair work.

That’s really it in a nutshell.

They want to fix the Teeter mistake (a non-personnel related boo-boo) by lowering staff salaries. Here is a description of the Teeter story directly quoted from the County of Mendocino’s 2010-11 recommended budget: “At the time Mendocino County opted into the Teeter plan, the property tax delinquency amounted to $5.4 million. This amount was paid out to all taxing jurisdictions with funds borrowed from the County treasury. The payments on this note were to be made from the collections of the delinquent taxes, along with the penalties and interest thereon. Instead, the delinquent tax revenues were applied to the County’s general fund with periodic payments made when funds were available. This practice caused the balance owing on the Teeter obligation to increase over the years with the addition of each year’s tax delinquency, although the interest on the balance has been paid annually. In recent years, the County has attempted to make accelerating payments on the Teeter obligation but the funds have not always been available to do so. The recent economical downturn also shows in the increased delinquency amounts added each year, especially in 2006-07 and 2007-08. The balance on the Teeter obligation as of June 30, 2009, is $11,243,824.”

Okay, sounds to me like the Board of Supervisors spent money it didn’t have two payout “to all taxing jurisdictions” (the money sure didn’t go towards employee salaries and benefits) and now the County wants to pay that money back by taking money directly from the lowest paid county employees. Sort of like parents taking an expensive spa weekend, paying for it from their grocery budget and leaving their kids to go hungry.

Now SEIU and the County began participating in a mandated dispute resolution on December 1, facilitated by the Public Employees Relations Board. The union and the County had previously agreed to a 10% wage reduction by agreeing to a 36-hour workweek but the County later rescinded their support for this. A 12.5% pay cut (with no cut in work hours) has been unfairly imposed. Ms. Angelo says the union’s lack of cooperation has caused the County’s BBB- credit rating but, if you read the report, the Number 1 reason for the low rating is the Teeter plan.

C’mon Carmel and Board of Supervisors, stop wasting time and agree on the 36-hour workweek for SEIU. Pay us for the hours we work and let us make up our losses with our second jobs. In the private sector, if you work less, you get paid less. The public we serve will adjust to limited program hours, you will get the savings you need, some grant funded staff will lose salary unnecessarily, but that’s the best scenario we’ve got going. Union employees have already agreed to sacrifice. Stop blaming SEIU for your low credit rating. Stop the nonsense. Stop wasting everybody’s time and just do it.

Valerie Lawe Cannon

Ukiah

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WHO WROTE SHAKESPEARE?

Editor:

Was Shakespeare Elizabeth’s son, lover, or both?

There is a new book out on the Shakespeare authorship question that declares that the author of the Shakespearean canon was Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford (1548-1604) and that he was both the son and the lover of Queen Elizabeth I of England.

The slender book is titled “Four Essays on the Shakespeare Authorship Question” and was written by me, Mike A’dair, of Willits.

The battle over who wrote the works of Shakespeare has been going on for 150 years. For a long time, Francis Bacon was thought to have been the author. Since 1920, Edward de Vere has been the favored candidate. My book explains why de Vere was the real author.

One of the main reasons that the Stratford man could not have been a real author is that the plays are always written from the point of view of the nobility. You look at the plays, all the leading characters and most of the supporting characters are always kings and dukes and princes. The people from the lower classes are almost always portrayed as simpletons: Dogberry, Mistress Quickly, Doll Tearsheet, the nurse in Romeo and Juliet, the gravediggers in Hamlet. Why was the author prejudiced against his own class?

It’s not just the idea that the author had to have been from the nobility. There are so many things about Shakespeare, as we know Shakespeare, that don’t add up. For example, it appears that he could barely write his name. And we know that his daughters were illiterate. As adults, they sign their names with an X. So how is it that the greatest poet in the English language never taught his daughters how to read?

Like the recently released movie ‘Anonymous,’ I contend that there was a political conspiracy at the heart of the Shakespeare mystery. Because of the lifelong protection and indulgence that de Vere received from Queen Elizabeth I and because of de Vere’s signature which suggested that he was “Edward VII,” I contend that de Vere was Elizabeth’s son. Like other Oxfordian writers, I believe that Henry Wriothesley, the third Earl of Southampton, was the love child of de Vere and Elizabeth.

Understanding that Southampton was the “Fair Youth” to whom the sonnets were addressed and that Southampton was the son of de Vere and Elizabeth goes a long way toward finally explaining the sonnets. It explains why the poet regarded the young man as being both Royal and his son. He was both. He should have been king of England. Apparently they both should have been.

Henry Wriothesley, the third Earl of Southampton, took part in the Essex Rising, a failed rebellion against Queen Elizabeth and her government that took place on February 8, 1601. As a result of his involvement he was condemned to death and then his sentence was commuted to life in prison. Yet inexplicably he was released from the Tower of London on April 10, 1603,  in very nearly the first royal act of James I of England who became King of England after the March 24, 1603 death of Queen Elizabeth.

“Four Essays on the Shakespeare Authorship Question” is, as the title suggests, comprised of four essays. The first essay poses 46 questions about the Stratford version of Shakespeare which suggest that there is “something rotten in the state of Denmark.” The second essay offers 48 arguments supporting the theory that Edward de Vere was the real Shakespeare. The third essay explores de Vere’s clandestine and sensational relationship to both Queen Elizabeth and Henry Wriothesley, the Third Earl of Southampton. The fourth essay is a brief, comprehensive biography of Shakespeare/de Vere based on 90 years of research and the astounding peeling away of successive layers of falsehood, guesses and disguise.

“Four Essays on the Shakespeare Authorship Question is available at Amazon.com and at the author’s website: shakespeareauthorshipquestion.com. The information packed book retails for the modest price of $10.

Mike A’dair

Willits

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SLINGS & ARROWS

Dear Editor,

I got a good laugh from reading your item defending Tommy Wayne Kramer from the slings and arrows of outrageous liberals. There’s only room for one mouthy crank in Mendo and it should be you. You’re much funnier. Maybe you think little Tommy needs big brother Bruce to defend his hiney. And maybe he does. He really is tiresomely dull. Is the color of a grocery store worth writing about? Or the radical idea of letting his dog walk off-leash? I guess he fits in with all the other county boors. Long may they rave.

Anne Montgomery

Ukiah

PS. Certainly a gentleman must protect a lady from being badgered in public. But considering who she married, maybe she likes it.

Ed reply: Seriously, Anne, if Tommy Wayne and Judy Pruden didn’t care about how things looked in Ukiah, would anyone? As for the inland liberals, surely you’ve noted that it’s always the warm wonderfuls like Jim Mastin and Shalom Mitsu-CarWreck, not the other side, who come running with the censor’s axe. I’m surprised that we don’t have consensus on lunatics stalking the relatives of their perceived enemies, but with more loose than locked up anymore I guess I shouldn’t be.

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ROUNDABOUT ROULETTE

Editor,

We had a great Thanksgiving celebration with family and friends here at Rancho Puerco, home of the Oklahoma Razorbacks on the south slope of Duncan Peak west of Hopland.

Our family wild turkey recipe which has finally evolved to perfection involves soaking the bird in Wild Turkey whiskey for 24 hours then slowly braising it in a wet clay pot.

I wisely stayed ranch-bound for the entire Thanksgrabbing weekend, avoiding the three day “Bleak Friday” greed stampede, and drove to the Mendo Coast on “Blah Monday” for the mushroom walk at the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens. It’s a boom year for wild mushrooms with significant blooms of Amanita phalloides (Death Cap), Amanita ocreata (Death Angel) and boletus satanas (Satan’s boletus) — a very bad omen.

On the way to Fort Bragg after the walk, I played roulette on the new Simpson Lane/Highway 1 roundabout, circling the thing over and over in my 1943 Tatra reaching over 60 mph before I figured out how to exit. It was fun though. The roundabout neighborhood is already selling tickets for a New Year’s Eve party when crowds can watch the local drunks playing demolition derby roundabout roulette.

Fort Bragg seemed abandoned since the SWAT team shopping mobs blew their wads during the Bleak Friday weekend blitz. It’s sad to see so many vacant stores, particularly on North Franklin Street where the city recently spent big bucks on “streetscaping.” Even the primo Fort Bragg Bakery and Restaurant is closed. The bread is now only available in stores. Is it the downer economy or the surging gang activity that’s keeping tourists away?

The only lively place downtown was the Headlands Cafe which caters primarily to the Occupy Fort Bragg dude and dudette travelers who are always in abundance.

At the northwest corner of the Laurel Street/Highway 1 intersection there is a shocking display of seasonal horseplay in the front window of the Skunk Depot Mall where an inflatable Bad Santa is being fondled and lapdanced by a female reindeer. It’s a “dynamic” display, not suitable for children. HO HO HO! indeed.

I planned a wet-my-whistle stop at the North Coast Brewery but it was closed for “remodeling” according to a yellow ABC notice informing the public of a “change in stock ownership.” Has the brewery sold out to corporate Big Booze? I hope not. That’s what killed the Hopland Brewery.

My spirits lifted at the site of Cafe One — my favorite Coast restaurant — which was open as usual with a small crowd of jovial regular customers.

Another ominous coast sellout occurred recently when legendary KMFB radio was sold to some dudes from Houston. Their new robo format is called “adult contemporary greatest hits” which translates to simpy, mellow, stoner friendly Muzak. Appropriately enough, the new station is called “KUNK, The Skunk.” I miss the good old days at KMFB, particularly the Chuck Savage “blast from the past” show. KMFB was the only genuine community radio station in Mendopia. Philo’s KZYX claims the title but it’s a narrowcasting entertainment outlet for a small elite segment of the local population. It’s  audio waterboarding. KMFB R.I.P.

On a positive note, “The Skunk” is keeping the versatile, entertaining Lindy Peters — the last “real” DJ — including his sportscasts. He will eventually have to go though as KUNK morphs into a Clear Channel style robo-radio station with no local involvement.

Heading south on Highway 1 past the now abandoned former Georgia-Pacific mill site I was gloomed out by the possibility that it may eventually be occupied by an oil refinery and shipping facility when offshore oil drilling is allowed after the Republican coup in 2012. The site is currently owned by right-wing wackos from Kansas — the snorting Koch brothers — who are waiting for their chance after the election when the offshore oil drilling moratorium will be lifted.

Even if Obummer is reelected, chances are good that offshore oil drilling will be allowed off the north coast to “assure our energy independence in a hostile world.” It’s a matter of national security.

Happy holidays! It’s going to be a Bad Santa Christmas.

Bottoms up!

Joe Don Mooney

Hopland

PS. The Occupy Hopland movement’s Bleak Friday attempt to disrupt commerce ended in a drunken debauch at the Hopland Brewery.

Editor,

The Occupy Wall Street protest movement that emerged this summer in New York City as a public rebuke of corporate greed, fat-cat government bailouts, and the decimation of social programs is the best thing that’s happened in America since the yippies surrounded and then levitated the Pentagon in the 60s as an awesome display of raw people power that convinced the government to end the Vietnam War — eventually.

Some pious political pundits have dissed the Occupy Wall Street movement as an “herbal tea party of occupational therapists engaged in temper tantrums and primal screams.” … “A kook collective rent-a-monster’s ball.”

It’s all of these and much, much more as a highly diverse critical mass of Americans has risen up and screamed, “We’re mad as hell and we’re not going to take it anymore!”

The biggest impact of the Occupy movement, fueled by angst and resentment, has been to provide a focal point for generalized economic and political discontent by exposing the evil alliance of financial power and political power.

But after several months, what’s the point of continuing to focus on Wall Street as a symbol when the owners and rulers of America Inc. hunkered down in their lofty fortress high-rises in gated mansions are insulated and immune from the effects of the protests?

Why not head from the streets into the Suites and occupy the rulers of Wall Street, starting with the enabler in chief of Wall Street, Barack Obama?

According to Washington Post reporter Zachary A. Goldfarb (November 7, 2011), “during president Obama’s tenure, Wall Street has roared back even as the broader economy has struggled.”

Goldfarb reports that, “The largest banks are larger than they were when Obama took office and are nearing the level of profits they made before the depths of the financial crisis in 2008, according to government data.

“Wall Street firms — independent companies and securities trading arms of banks — are doing even better. They earned more in the first 2.5 years of the Obama administration than they did during the eight years of the George W. Bush administration, industry data show.

“Behind this turnaround in significant measure are government policies that helped the financial sector avert collapse and then gave financial firms huge benefits on the path to recovery.

“For example, the federal government invested hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars in big banks — low cost money that the firms used for high yielding investments on which they made enormous profits.

“Stabilizing the financial system was considered necessary to prevent an even deeper recession. But the Bush administration, which first moved to bail out Wall Street and the Obama administration which ultimately stabilized it, took a far less aggressive approach to helping the American people.

“The bailout was done with a tremendous amount of firepower and focus on saving the largest Wall Street institutions but with very little regard for Main Street.”

While President Obama, in public statements, has called Wall Street manipulators “fat cat bankers,” he has shamelessly pandered to the same fat cats privately, soliciting large “investments,” attracting more money for his campaign and for the Democratic National Committee from Wall Street than all of the GOP candidates combined — a total of nearly $16 million according to campaign finance records compiled by the Washington Post in late October of this year.

Despite his lofty rhetoric, President Obama has demonstrated an aloof unwillingness to address the deeper causes of America’s socio-economic problems including a fatal decision to avoid seeking systemic, fundamental reforms of the financial and banking institutions on Wall Street and beyond.

As Deep Throat said during Watergate, “Follow the money.” President Truman, sitting in the Oval Office said, “the buck stops here.” President Obama says, “The buck talks here.” Obama is the puppet of Wall Street. He’s not a figurehead, he’s a hood ornament.

The first definition of “occupy” in Webster’s Collegiate dictionary is “to engage the attention or energies of.” Since Barack Obama is the de facto president of Wall Street, occupy Obama. Circle the White House with a permanent encampment. Protest at Obama’s speeches, press conferences, campaign appearances, fundraisers (public and private), photo ops — be there then! Levitate the White House.

The fun-loving disciplined few in the Occupy Movement who want to focus on bigger fish should develop witty, humorous, effective ways to hound the owners and rulers of America Inc. in their private enclaves. These people have names and addresses. Remember the Earth First! hot tub party at Harry Merlo’s backyard?

Breach their moats, scale their battlements, invade their country clubs, yacht clubs, swim clubs, tennis clubs, squash clubs, racquetball clubs, gun clubs, fun clubs — crash their cotillion, smash their pumpkins — nonviolently, of course.

Think of Saul Alinsky’s shock troops paralyzing Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport by occupying all the restroom urinals and toilet stalls. Think of a thousand Michael Moores swooping down on America Inc.’s owners and rulers for some primo occupational face time on their own turf.

Cheers,

Don Morris

Willits

PS. As much as I hope that the Occupy “Whatever” movement prevails, my dark pessimistic side argues that a vast majority of Americans will never join a collective occupying movement because they’re already preoccupied — with themselves.

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SAVE STANDISH II

Letter to the Editor:

I just found out that Standish Hickey Park is shutting down. I heard that they will remove the tables and fire pits and close the bathrooms and block the roads. It will cost so much to do this that they may never be able to re-open. I live too far away to get to the special meeting at the Leggett School on Monday, but they can sign me up for the trail maintenance and other work when the family returns to the area this summer. Please help if you can.

Patrese Lovecraft

Orlando, Florida

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THE NEW FACE OF AIDS

Editor,

After 30 years of AIDS, people under 30 face greatest risk.

People who weren’t yet born when AIDS first emerged are today most at risk for becoming HIV positive — an alarming development that underscores how essential awareness is, especially as we approach World AIDS Day, Dec. 1.

From 2006 to 2009, the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the HIV incidence rate for Americans between 13 and 29 years old increased by about 21 percent. In fact, most of the new HIV infections reported in this country involve people under 30.

Americans under 30 have never known a world without AIDS. At the same time, they’ve never really known a time when effective treatment for HIV and AIDS wasn’t available.

This hasn’t always been the case. As this disease turns 30, we need to ensure people — especially younger people — remain aware of AIDS and how to prevent it.

AIDS awareness is one of the biggest challenges we face when trying to prevent it. After 30 years of addressing what was once considered one of America’s most pressing health problems, AIDS is no longer front-page news.

On this World AIDS Day, let’s not forget that about 56,000 Americans become infected with HIV each year, according to the CDC, and that more than 14,000 Americans with AIDS die each year.

Thanks to more effective and more available treatments, more Americans who have HIV and AIDS are able to live. The CDC estimates this number at more than 1 million nationwide.

Regularly testing people most at risk for HIV — and then providing antiretroviral drugs for HIV/AIDS patients — dramatically reduces the number of new infections.

Preventing HIV is not complicated. If you’re sexually active, get tested. Don’t use IV drugs or share needles. Abstain or practice safer sex. With preventive care, patients and their health care providers can fight and manage this disease and slow its spread.

But we can’t allow today’s more effective treatments to make us complacent or ambivalent, or to lessen our resolve to find a cure.

To learn more or to find a place near you to get tested, visit www.actagainstaids.org .

Dr. Sam Ho, MD,

chief medical officer for UnitedHealthcare.

Cypress

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FREEDOM OF THE DRUMS

Editor,

Should drum circles be protected by the constitution? I suppose so, like any bad art or music, or for that matter annoying people. There is no shortage of bad taste or rude behavior in the US.

Jeff Costello

Portland, Oregon

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FATHER ÓLAOIRE!

Editor,

Renegade Priest to Speak

Fr. Seán ÓLaoire, Ph.D., Roman Catholic priest, licensed clinical psychologist, and author of several books, returns once again to speak in Mendocino. His topic this visit is 2012 — Breakdown or Break through: Chaos or Christ-Consciousness?

Fr. ÓLaoire’s eclectic background insures a lively evening characterized by his Irish wit and warmth. This storyteller-priest spent his childhood in Ireland steeped in its mythology, then lived in East Africa for 14 years immersed in that country’s culture. Fr. ÓLaoire’s homilies draw on science, psychology, and history from many spiritual and religious traditions — Buddhist, Hebrew, Hindu, Taoist, and Christian. His unconventional approach to the concept of “God” is refreshing in its commonsense attitude, easily accessible to all. His talks are unique in that they encourage all listeners to develop their own spiritual path without strict adherence to one specific dogma.

Fr. ÓLaoire’s stories, augmented with poetry, passion, and humor have been enthusiastically received. Event is at Saranam, 10401 Nichols Lane, Mendocino, Tuesday, December 13, 7pm, sliding scale $5-$15, seating is limited; call 937-6015 for reservations.

Maria Goodwin

Comptche

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STILL NO GRADING ORDINANCE?

Dear Editor,

Why is there no ordinance regulating the construction of vineyards on the hillsides as there is in the Napa Valley region?

It would seem a prudent measure to follow the lead of one of the most renown wine producing regions in the world. Are we so naive as to think that pumping water out of the Navarro River up to the hillside vineyards is a good thing? Or that more man made ponds preventing water from filling the streams is a sacrifice we’re willing to make for the prestige of a pinot paradise?

William Housley

Boonville

ms notes: See my Grading Ordinance piece for some background on this question.

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HAPPY HOLIDAYS, HOMEYS

Dear Editor:

A very happy holidays to you, your family and staff at the AVA. And to my homeboys here in solidarity with me: Mr. Shannon Henson and Joe Herold. Thank you for the Mendo love when I pulled up. To Flynn “stick’em up” Washburne and my bro Dan Shealor. To Pastor Gerry Burney and his family. To Randy Sherwood and all the fakes, frauds and part-time broads at Low Gap Jail. To CO Waller who I hope gives his wife and my kids my best wishes. And to all the ones in my life who continue to support me in spite of my insanity. I love you all.

Happy holidays,

Alan Crow

San Quentin

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TOO MANY DOTS

Editor,

Thank you for printing my last letter. I forgive you for the crack about my “irrelevant credentials.” You publish possibly the best newspaper left in today’s world (rapidly entering a dark age I believe), and I certainly respect you for it. I’m not a big believer in credentials and only brought up that I am somewhat well educated and have a father who knew some world leaders to persuade you to publish my letter. Harry Truman, the best president of my lifetime I believe, never went to college and was a farmer until age 30, but read a lot on history. Lincoln, as you know, never went to grade school but taught himself law and passed the bar exam.

I am familiar with Norman Mailer’s views on Oswald. He appeared on a PBS “Frontline” program but I thought most of that program supported my views more than his. I’ve heard people who knew Oswald in Russia say he did speak fluent Russian. I’m rather appalled by your references to the FBI following Peter, Paul and Mary and the CIA considering an exploding cigar to kill Castro as if to imply they are bumbling Keystone cops, but not really capable of anything very dangerous. Believing Oswald as a “lone gunman,” some kind of unaffiliated communist in Texas, could kill JFK, but the CIA couldn’t do it (and cover it up) seems bizarre to me.

My old Cornell friend from the 60s, Brian Quig, worked for Louis Stokes who co-chaired with Henry Gonzalez the committee of the House that reopened the JFK case in 1977, told me he believed the actual triggerman was E. Howard Hunt who was seen nearby in Dallas, had known Nixon when he was vice president and had worked on the Bay of Pigs. (Yes, a fiasco.) Hunt, as you know, became famous because of Watergate but never himself made public statements. I myself, in 1974, read in “Esquire” magazine an interview with Frank Sturgis, another ex-CIA person involved in Watergate, in which Sturgis was “full of shit,” then added, “Hunt did kill a lot of people. He was an assassin for The Agency.” Then around 2007 I saw on a US national TV news program that Hunt on his deathbed told his daughter that he killed JFK.

To me, all this is not some arcane historical question like who killed Lincoln. Note that George Bush Sr. was a Nixon crony and head of the CIA under Ford (who co-chaired the Warren Commission), obviously Bush Jr. was elected because of his father and Cheney and Rumsfeld had worked for Nixon and Ford and Obama chose Gates, the elder Bush’s CIA Director, to be his Defense Secretary. Furthermore, despite all the empty rhetoric against Wall Street, Obama reappointed the younger Bush’s Fed chief.

So my point is that a violent coup occurred in 1963 and that the people who lead it — or the proteges they trained — are still our rulers. They no longer have to kill a president. By the time of Jimmy Carter, they had perfected the technique of undermining and peacefully removing a President and now have learned how to control both parties, even how to create a pseudo-radical like Obama so they can please the left, enrage the right, and still make no actual changes. Yes, they are all imperialists and have great amounts of Third World blood on their hands — unfortunately legal and usually popular — but they are also accessories in the murder of our own president, an act not legal or popular and this has, more than any other reason, made the United States no longer a democracy.

Sincerely,

Michael Carson

Ione

PS. You mentioned the “prison library.” Prison libraries now have no funds for new books but I have rich relatives and can have any book I want mailed to me. (Not “old rich” — dirt poor in the 30s on both sides!) I never bring up being in prison. That is an “irrelevant credential,” like the fact that I was disabled and couldn’t walk as a child. People in prison have run the gamut from Hitler to Mandela, just as disabled people have from Richard III to FDR. Thank God in America prisoners are still allowed to read and to write letters. (No doubt because we’re seen as no threat, just as you are.) But I will speak out against the bad guys until my final breath.

I only recently heard that you were sick. I’m glad you’re better now.

And you can choose to dismiss this but one thing my dad learned in DC is the CIA is good. I don’t mean morally good. I mean skilled. They once, as a sort of joke, told him word for word what a Soviet Politburo member said to him in an elevator in Athens. He never found out if they bugged him, the Russian, or the elevator — or if the Russian worked for them. He also was told they have sections that do not report to people who are officially supposed to be director. They also knew before he knew that the Saudi government would offer him a job and knew before he knew that Ted Kennedy — about to run against Carter — would offer him a job.

ms notes: The CIA is “good”? Read “Legacy of Ashes,” by Tim Weiner. (Oh, wait. Never mind; you’ve already read everything.)

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WILL THEY GRILL HUFFMAN?

Editor,

On Friday, December 2, at 9 AM, Assemblyman Jared Huffman, Chair of the State Assembly Committee on Water, Parks, and Wildlife, will be my call-in guest on “The Truth About Money,” on KZYX.

Jared will be speaking on the effort to save Hendy Woods and the six other state parks scheduled for closure in Mendocino County. In particular, he will be speaking about AB 42. Jared will be speaking in the capacity as the parks committee chair, and only in that capacity.

Saving Hendy Woods is a local issue, a timely issue, and an important issue… the three criteria for doing any show. The seven state parks are crucial for the Mendocino County’s $258 million tourism industry and the 5,000 county residents who make their living in the tourism industry.

And folks are concerned. Something like 200 to 300 people showed up for the Occupy Hendy Woods weekend earlier this month, and 75-85 people showed up last weekend in the cold and rain to hear Jared, and other speakers, at the Save Hendy Woods event.

So, we’re doing the show. And we’ll take a few calls from listeners during the show.

Under separate cover, I’ll send you some background materials I have on AB 42.

Happy Thanksgiving,

John Sakowicz

Ukiah

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LIMEY CAR NUTS

Letter to the Editor:

British car obsession! A wonderful article, Dick Meister, and memories of 1982. I committed the most colossal automotive blunder of my life and did so with gusto. I traded a perfectly sound 1970 Ford Falcon for a 1967 Morris Mini with right-hand drive. I did say Morris: everyone knows the Mini as either a Mini-Cooper or Austin. Morris was the body maker for this model. The guys at the used-car place must have laughed for hours. Then I barely got it home. That was the beginning.

I observed the brake master cylinder was low, so I grabbed some Dot 3 or 4 and topped off. Thought nothing of it. Wrong! The brakes failed at about 30 mph. The handbrake slowed me down to a breathless stop. I bought a very good manual, the kind that shows dirt and grease and cut hands working on engines. I studied the brake system thoroughly, rebuilt everything with neoprene seals and the correct brake fluid.

Other problems include the fact that it was rusting out and the metal was so thin you could not do much with it. It had an absolutely mysterious front nitrogen-filled suspension (or whatever) that, when the car hit a bump, would preload the rear shocks. I think that was the idea.

This car was so cute it was naíve. No locks to speak of. Little sliding windows. Yet there was something about that engine, 1275cc, that so many English car guys love. We had some big fun with it in the wet snow of a shopping center parking lot. You could spin the wheel and never flip it over. But it had to go and it did. So here’s a dram to you, Dick, from a fellow recovering (forever) limey car nut.

Neil Williamson

Greenbelt, Maryland

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WINTER READING BARGAINS

Editor,

A genuine reader never has enough books and usually likes to give books to friends and family.

This Saturday the AV Unity Club Library will be selling “gently used” books, including three boxes of new children’s books at the Holiday Bazaar, 10am-4pm, to be held at the Boonville Fairgrounds.

We have had an unusual gift of a broad variety of fiction and non-fiction — lots of them. Prices range from 50¢ to $5 with most hardbacks at $1-$2. Books are very costly purchased new, so do yourself a favor and pick up a few at the Library table. Funds are used for library maintenance and to purchase new books.

You will also find some gently used and new toys, puzzles and games. Recycling is good for the world and your pocketbook. Come early for the best selection.

Beverly Dutra

Philo

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SAVE STANDISH III

Dear Editor,

I love Standish Hickey State Park. My family goes there every year and we love The Peg House, too!

Please come to the meeting to save the park at the Leggett School house on December 5th.  It’s at 6 o’clock.

We’re driving up from the city to volunteer our help.

Thank you,

Laura Kwan

San Francisco

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AWESOME, DUDE!

Editor,

The Awesome-atrons of Austin—

Look, I have nothing against over-using a word until it is rendered meaningless. Ok, I lied, I hate what you did to “Right On!” It used to mean something beyond what it means today: “Ok.”

Yes we have trouble, right here in River City and the trouble is AWESOME! Can one word define a culture, a counterculture? Awesome has lost any of the exultant meaning proportionate to its name, the poor little Awesome-atrons of Austin say awesome for anything — awesome is the new “Right On!”

Here at the Bouldin Creek Coffee Shop (where I observed Jim Hightower last week working on his diatribes) a woman just dropped a couple dice from a children’s game and said awesome as she picked it up. Then her sunglasses slipped to the floor and she said awesome as she picked them up. I couldn’t stand it any longer.

“Awesome? Um, what’s awesome about that?” I asked. I don’t think I even penetrated her Awesome-atron stupor — she just stared at me like I was an alien.

These hip young people in Austin seem to have become like cute little robots, wind-ups whose default word for anything is AWESOME. I’m not sure there’s anything I can do about this epidemic — you might wonder why do I care? I care because I love you Austin and all the sweet servers and clients at this coffee house where I hang out, but please brothers and sisters when you say AWESOME at the drop of a dice or sunglasses I can only think that your brain is slowly melting under the Texas sun.

Last night I hosted a wine and cheese party at my Swiss friend’s house. There were over ten exotic gourmet cheeses from all over the world and a collection of organic wine from Australia to Spain. “Now, this is awesome,” I told my friend.

Don’t break my heart Awesome Austin: if I hear one of your children saying “Awesome,” I know there’s no hope for your fried little culture.

Paul Modic

Austin, Texas

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SAVE STANDISH

Dear Editor,

I hope to see everybody who cares about protecting Standish Hickey Park at the Leggett School on Monday Dec 5th at 6. We have a chance to form a citizen support team to keep the park open if we move quickly. Under the new legislation just signed by the Governor certain non-profits can qualify to operate a limited number of parks, but only if a team of volunteers can be formed to do the work. We have two qualifying non-profits in the county and now we citizens need to come together to save this magnificent park before it is too late.

For more information listen to The Truth About Money and the State Parks with Piercy Fire and Rescue Commissioner Jeff Hedin on KZYX radio December 2, 9am. Please join us!

Bess Bair

Dos Rios

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WILL WALMART WIN AGAIN?

Letter to the Editor:

The Ukiah Valley is about to lose its latest battle against Big Box stores and will soon watch the final destruction of our downtown area. Walmart’s application for a 50% expansion of their Mega-Store will add a sixth super market to a valley already suffering from too many retailers squabbling over a shrinking market. The final Planning Commission vote is December 14th and an ultimate appeal to the City Council should follow by January. “Occupy Ukiah” is planning a “Save Our Downtown” demonstration at Walmart on December 17th.

Meanwhile, CostCo has negotiated to purchase a 15 acre site just 300 yards down the street. This will make seven large food outlets in an area whose population has not grown significantly in 20 years. Besides adding to this seeming abundance of grocery stores, CostCo and Walmart will also threaten the existence of established drug stores, eyeglass shops, clothing shops, small book stores, nurseries, and appliance dealers. Our Ukiah City Council and their Planning Department seem totally happy with what they view simply as just the final wheeze of our downtown area. State Street is already a depressing vista of shuttered stores and vacant business lots as a result of the first Walmart invasion in the late 1990s. Our city officials can see only the increased property tax revenues these new enterprises will instantly provide but fail to consider the equal loss of taxes from those stores they have forced out of business.

The laws of supply and demand that we learned in economics 101 from Paul Samuelson and from Ronnie Reagan’s simplistic lectures no longer apply. Walmart and CostCo are not concerned about too many competitors – for they know that with their predatory pricing practices they can quickly slit the throat of a few competitors like Lucky and Food Maxx. They will also undercut the smaller groceries within walking distance of dense neighborhoods like the Chavez Market on South State. When there are too many hounds after the table scraps, just kill off a few and all will be fine, or so the thinking of our planning officials seems to go. Our city planners even hired CBRE Consultants, a fully-owned subsidiary of Walmart’s in-house real estate agents CBRE to evaluate the impact of a massive Walmart Superstore on local businesses. When called on this obvious conflict of interest by Jeff Blankfort back in August, our city planners quickly got one of the CBRE study team to pose as an independent consultant named Amy Herman and assured us that it all was perfectly legal, even though very smelly. Our always-comatose City Council and their Planning Commission seemed quite startled when the obvious conflict was pointed out. Surely you cannot pose as an independent consultant to the City Planning Dept. while you are actually an arm of the applicant’s real estate agents. CB Richard Ellis boasts on their website that they have sold more than 197 “big boxes” on behalf of Walmart.

The major trouble with this All-American dog-eat-dog scenario is that we the citizens suffer most. Many of the supposed bargains at the Big Boxes prove illusory in the long term. Once the competition has been trimmed back, why bother selling at really low prices? And if the market slumps too far, they can always close down and move on to greener pastures. Walmart has done it hundreds of times before, leaving not only their empty emporiums but also the vacant storefronts of those they forced out of business earlier. Walmart is well known to always pays the lowest wages in town and providing no health coverage for their 34 hour per week employees. Unionized workers in the other local supermarkets fare much better. That may be why you see the same faces behind the cash resisters year after year at Safeway and other union shops. The average Walmart employee is often forced to rely upon Food Stamps and government-subsidized health care for their families and seldom stays a “Walmartian” more than a year. This sort of corporate welfare that Walmart depends upon costs California taxpayers more than $86 million a year. A 34 hour work week at $9.81 per hour works out to less than $17,000 a year and doesn’t put much bread on the table. As soon as he or she can find a better job they get the hell away from Walmart.

If all this leaves you a bit uneasy, then attend the Planning Commission meeting at 6 pm on December 14th and gather at the Walmart parking lot on December 17th at 11am. Make some noise!

Sincerely,

James Houle

Redwood Valley

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DRUMBEATS & HOOFBEATS

Editor,

The natives are getting restless. The young and able are beating the drums. We who are at home hear the message and respond by shunning all things corporate to show our solidarity.

Glen Squire

Rancho Navarro

Editor,

I am sorry to have missed both of the Occupy Wall Street actions that took place recently in Ukiah. This genuinely spontaneous, grassroots movement is truly one of the most exciting and encouraging developments that have taken place in the political arena in several decades.

Just as the self-immolation of a young college grad in Tunisia, trying to eek out a living selling vegetables, only to be busted for not having the proper permit, set off the spectacular cascade of falling dictator dominos across the Middle East this spring, it is beginning to look like a critical mass of Americans, traditionally lulled into political complacency with toys and consumption, have finally had it dawn on them that business as usual is simply not going to cut it anymore; that they, we, have finally been pushed up against the economic wall as a result of the criminal machinations of Wall Street, which were abetted by our degraded state that our supposed representative democracy has been reduced to in this country over the last few decades.

While as recently as Jimmy Carter’s campaign, presidential candidates did NO fundraising (running their presidential bids solely on the monies raised by the several dollar check box that people would check on their tax forms). Today we have a man of the people, Barack Obama, setting a goal for his reelection bid of $1 billion in fund raising! What does this mean for small-d democracy? It means that The People are not even the politician’s constituents anymore; the only constituents that matter to today’s campaign-cash hungry politicos are the well-heeled, those who can hire phalanxes of lobbyists; the oil companies, big Pharma, Wall Street and the banking sector, and above all, a colossal military industrial complex, for whom a state of constant war is a given, and is their bottom-line demand from the rest of us. The wants and needs of actual voting citizens are hardly even an afterthought in today’s demented political realm.

A wealth of graphs lays it out as plain as black and white; how the free-trade globalization mania pursued relentlessly for decades by both parties has resulted in exactly what Ross Perot predicted so many years ago, the giant sucking sound of just about all of our good middle-class manufacturing-type jobs taking flight to places where oppressed and disorganized workers will do those jobs for MUCH less. And who exactly profits from this enormous social/political change? Those few at the very top, of course; the Walton family, for example, who can now drive down the costs of goods they sell at the Wal-Mart stores that they inherited, and pocket the difference. Or the Koch brothers, the cartoonishly evil greedheads who have employed their vast inherited wealth to fund virtually every anti-people, pro-mega-rich project out there.

Hooray for the hardy souls out there in the cold, maintaining their Occupy Wall Street events in big cities and the little towns across the nation. We are the 99%, though in terms of political influence, I suspect that our collective control over the levers of government power is closer to 1%.

I don’t know exactly what sort of accommodations those in power must make in order to end the ongoing (perhaps even growing) OWS protests, but I don’t think that a little tinkering around the edges, a few symbolic gestures, are going to do it. The Great Recession is BIG, devastating the lives of scores of millions of our fellow Americans, and only BIG solutions will be any kind of solution at all to our nation’s problems. I don’t think that the OWSers will settle for less; we just cannot survive as a prosperous, democratic nation with anything less.

Sincerely,

John Arteaga

Ukiah

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BE A FIREFIGHTER

Dear Anderson Valley Residents,

The Anderson Valley Fire Department is now conducting a recruiting drive for Volunteer Firefighters. We have a total of approximately 10 openings for Volunteers at our nine stations located throughout the Valley. We need Volunteers to staff a wide range of positions including; Interior and Wildland Firefighters, Apparatus Engineers and EMTs. In all cases we provide the required training. Recruits must be at least 18 years of age and in reasonable health. All positions are open to both men and women and we are actively recruiting Spanish speakers (all Volunteers must be fluent in English).

We respond to approximately 300 calls each year from our seven stations located throughout the Valley. We currently have about 40 Volunteers and 20 pieces of apparatus ranging from pick-up pumpers to 30,000-pound structure engines. We cover approximately 200 square mile of service area including the communities of Yorkville, Boonville, Philo and Navarro.

Why volunteer? The most commonly given answer to this question is a desire to contribute to your community. Members of the Fire Department are called upon to perform a wide variety of services. We regularly respond to: medical aids (initial care to victims of accident and injury), Traffic Accidents (where we provide scene management, patient care, fire suppression, extrication and traffic control), Hazardous Conditions (power lines down, trees in the roadway, landslides, flooding etc.), Public Assists (helping people with non-emergency events that have the potential to cause harm), Agency Assist (assistance to other agencies such as the Sheriff’s Office, CHP, Air Quality Management etc.) and all types of fires.

If you would like to learn more about becoming a Volunteer Firefighter you can do any of the following; Talk to one of our Volunteers or stop by our main station in Boonville, or call us at 895-2020.

Colin Wilson

Chief, AVFD

Boonville

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OCCUPY DC-STOP THE MACHINE!

Editor,

Warm spiritual greetings, Arriving on a megabus from NYC, I went directly to the Occupy D.C. emcampment at McPherson Square. My friend Jesse Schultz (who was on the DNC2RNC march some years back) greeted me, and showed me around. The encampment is similar to the OWS encampment in NYC, but smaller in size and less intense. Occupy DC has a People’s Library, Medic Tent, Kitchen Working Group, Comfort Zone, Media Group, and nightly general assembly. Small size tents and porto-potties is the basic housing condition. A minimum police presence monitors from across the street.

Occupy DC is primarily focused on social issues, and the marches, demonstrations, and protests at various DC administrative buildings address issues of health, housing, education, and employment plus related other concerns. (A lengthy march yesterday with labor union protesters to the Key Bridge, emphasized the need to strengthen a crumbling infrastructure and demanded union infrastructure repair jobs).

The second encampment in Washington DC was begun by Veterans for Peace, and has a permit through December 30th at Freedom Plaza. This is the Stop the Machine! encampment, and its primary focus is dissent against the military-industrial complex. Together with Occupy D.C., they created a November 2011 report entitled: “The 99% Deficit Proposal: How to Create Jobs, Reduce the Wealth Divide and Control Spending.” The report was presented to the congressional super-committee, which is currently failing to accomplish anything significant. The text may be viewed online at: http://occupywashingtondc.org  In addition, Occupy DC held a public hearing on November 9th, viewable at: CSPAN Coverage of Occupied Super Committee Hearings.

Right now, marchers from OWS/Zuccotti Park/NYC are enroute to join with Occupy DC and Stop the Machine! for a December 5th mega-direct action: OCCUPY THE FED! Buses will leave NYC Dec. 2nd, and both Washington DC encampments are prepared to host arriving participants.

Please understand that you are cordially invited to be with us December 5th, 2011 in Washington DC to OCCUPY THE FED!

For additional information, go to http://occupydc.org  

Craig Louis Stehr, Occupy DC/McPherson Square, Washington DC, November 18, 2011

PS. Yo, I need a good tent and a warmer sleeping bag, because the New York police department bulldozed mine in the police raid at Zuccotti Park in NYC. Please send donations for me to: Craig Louis Stehr, c/o Ali Madigan, 601 W. 113th Street, #5A, New York, NY 10025

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HANDS OFF SOCIAL SECURITY!

Open Letter To Our Congressional Leaders, And The White House:

Subj: Keep your hands off our Social Security.

We gave you a ton of money to run the country; you squandered it. You spent it all, then borrowed even more from the likes of China (thereby incurring huge interest payments that our grandchildren will be paying for decades to come.)

Then, using this borrowed money, you started a war with a country (Iraq) which had done us no harm, nor was it a threat to the USA. (The military/industrial complex smiled hugely since for ten years they have made obscene profits.)

Then, to please the lobbyist — those who lined your pockets — you gave even more of that borrowed money to the banks, Wall Street, and the investment houses.

Now your pockets are turned out. So what is your solution? You want to reach into our pockets to take our money from our Social Security retirement accounts to continue your wild spending.

You folks are worse than a bunch of drunken sailors on shore leave after a nine-month deployment. This is not your money; This is our money, so hands off!

We seniors are watching, and, we seniors are a huge voting block. You can bet your (our) bottom dollar, that if you pickpocket us, our voting will reflect our rage — and, you can take that to the bank.

Onward OWS.

Sincerely,

Miguel Lanigan

Clearlake Oaks

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KEEP YOUR FOCUS, OCCUPIERS

Mighty AVA,

Good description in last week’s paper about the devolution of OWS call-and-response. Initially, the “Human Microphone” probably had excellent purpose and effect (in a vast crowd without electronic amplification) but it has quickly morphed into pale parody.

We endured similar silliness in Ukiah, a couple weeks ago, in a group of about 30. A young fellow (armed with a fully functioning bullhorn, by the way) explained how the Human Microphone worked, with the added proviso that we were supposed to repeat whatever was said, even if we disagreed with it! (Hooray for democracy?) Here we were, a small group who could easily converse in normal speaking voices, yet we were using both a megaphone and shout-and-repeat. It immediately felt like a stupid exercise, and most participants displayed little to no enthusiasm. It was unnecessary, weird, and, frankly, demoralizing.

I think the Occupy Movement is great, a long time coming, and I welcome and support it. But I am also concerned about it veering off in bad directions, and losing momentum and focus. We badly need this movement to develop and prosper. Those of us over fifty saw what happened to the Sixties, and we can help steer the TwentyTeens away from similar temptations, fallacies, and pitfalls. Carefully tended, these small embers can become a great edifying fire.

Mike Kalantarian

Beyond the Deep End (Navarro)

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HOW MANY PENN STATES?

Editor,

Not to detract in any way from the total sleaze at Penn State, but I’ll bet that every football enterprise at every school from regional state schools on up has equally degenerate skeletons in their closets.

Some real life examples: I was an Asst. Prof (prior to getting out of teaching/academia and going to med school) at a branch of a major state university in the Southeast. It was a running joke among the profs that if looked like you were going to give a football jock a D or F (both would foul his “scholarship”) in one of the big 300 person Psych 101 classes (they seemed to only take 101 classes in all subjects), the assistant coaches would send in test taker for the final. We caught this happening on numerous occasions, reported it, and were told to shut the hell up by the dean. The jocks involved were never punished to our knowledge.

On many occasions that I personally know about, the dean or his assistant would actually effect an over-ride grade change after some sort of “paper” was written in lieu of the jock passing an exam (the paper, I’m sure, was written by one of the teams of cute girls that the football team hired as “tutors”).

On a non academic level, the local Chevy dealers competed to “loan” brand new sports cars to the football players. There was evidence that these cars were kept by the players even after they left, in flagrant violation of the supposed SEC “rules.”

Two of the assistant coaches were caught bringing underage high school girls to the jock dorm for sex parties. It all got hushed up and no one was punished. No one! (The cops probably got free tickets to the games for a season or two and thought they were special)

In talking with many other faculty members from schools in all regions and all levels of academic status, it is clear to me that the above goes on everywhere college football is played. Many faculty members, out of cognitive dissonance, attempt to minimize this sort of thing by referencing the need for sports to fund academics, or by writing it all off as young dumb jocks just “sowing their wild oats.” What it really is, is a reflection of a completely debased and degenerate culture and a completely debased and degenerate people with no hope whatsoever of redemption. As a culture, we deserve what’s coming.

Ra Ra, go team!

Name Withheld

Fort Bragg

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WHO WE ARE

Editor,

“We are the huddled masses. We breathe across oceans. We stare across rivers. We peer over mountaintops that range our borders. We are surrounded by natural walls and yet they come. By raft, by run, they sneak as if crossing battlelines in the night, they come. They slip by mule, by horse, from both land and sea. The risk life. They risk limb. There are bullets and billy clubs. There are storms, hunger, disease and death and still they come. For life, for family and for theory, for hope they come. They come because they see lands of gold, hear of prosperity, they come for a sip at the nectar of milk and honey that is freedom. They come. They want a taste. They want what they see and believe. They want what we show and display for the world to see, they come. We don’t remember, but it happened in 1886. We forget to stand by it, as it has been and is still the symbol of what we believe, what we are, and what we have. We have and they see and they come. Slapped in the face they come. Beaten they come. Scorched and disheveled they come, because we asked and told and declared by a Lazarus at the foot of a Colossus. She stands looking far and wide. Not like the great ancient stone, wooden leviathans now past, this great she at our golden gates. Some of us hate and still they come. They come tentative, hopeful and frightened, hiding their faces they come. They come to chase the dream we all face every day. We don’t remember, but we came, by land and by sea. Some forced, some willing, but we came. We believed and we thrived. We don’t remember but we came. We must remember who we are. We must remember we have opened our bosom to the world, for it is what made us. It is what we are. We are the children of the tired and poor. We must remember that we are the children of the huddled masses who once hoped to be free. We are the children of the wretched refuse and today we still speak through silent lips, blessings to God, this land we inherited, your land and mine, from mountains to prairies, from sea to shining sea. We must remember that we say every day, “Send these, the homeless, tempest tossed, to me.” Our representative standing with her lamp raised beside the golden door. Our Lady, Liberty.”

* * *

I am sending this newspaper clipping from years ago anonymously because I’ve had a select group of really great guys, mostly undocumented, who I pay $12.50 to $15 per hour to do what a 68-year-old man cannot do. I’m sending this from my town, Watsonville, which is populated by thousands of Mexican farmworkers. Some Michoacan towns have been responsible for the bounty of strawberries, raspberries, artichokes and apples since the 1940s. Border security racism (read Republicans) have taken the blind idea that this indispensable asset is a drain on our economy. If the expulsion of undocumented (peaceful, hard-working) tillers and pickers should ever succeed, you can say goodbye to the Salinas Valley, the salad bowl of the nation and Watsonville’s strawberries and much more including those precious wine grape fields. I think this sentiment from an old newspaper summed it up pretty good.

Name Withheld

Watsonville

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SO SIMPLE, YET…

Dear Editor,

I keep hearing the same old stuff from Republicans and Tea Partyers: “Cut, cut, cut.” In science we are told to propose a theory and see if the facts or experimental results support the theory or not. If they don’t then change the theory, not the facts.

Well, the theory is that cutting taxes on the rich and the incorporated will lead to a better economy and more jobs. The facts are that the more taxes have been cut the worse our overall American citizens’ lives have become! The more government programs that are cut, the worse the economy gets, the worse off our children’s health and education becomes, and more and more families are living in relatives’ livingrooms, in back of their cars or begging on the streets.

So let’s stop pushing a disproven theory and get back to what works! What works is a fair and progressive equity in taxation, is investing in our children’s educations, is providing the life essential to our society’s most vulnerable citizens: the elderly, single parents and such. What works is providing health care to all citizens — single-payer health care is proven to work better and cost less. That is government for and by the people.

Lastly, the Ukiah newspaper has called for “How has 9/11 affected” me? When I see that I have less civil rights than ever, that corporations have co-opted much of our government’s regulating functions, that I am now subject to search every time I want to fly commercially, that my children’s toys may be taken at airports… I would say that 9/11 has worsened my quality of life. When I see that 9/11 was used as an excuse to go to war — that maybe 10,000 US soldiers have lost their lives and tens of thousands have been maimed physically and/or emotionally for the rest of their lives, that America is responsible for the killing of somewhere close to one million Iraqis and Afghans, that many in the world now consider us war criminals… I feel so much shame for us and hope we can still get to a time where war is truly “never again.”

We are capable of loving each other. All it will take is compassion and truth-telling by our so-called leaders. To follow the Golden Rule and the Ten Commandments seems so simple and so needed. Some will offer this or that excuse for why they “can’t afford” to follow God’s commandments. But they are in denial. Denial leads to abuse. We can no longer afford that abuse.

Sincerely,

Alan Sunbeam

Ukiah

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NAGY SUED

Editor,

Environmental Lawsuit Filed By Friends of Rattlesnake Island —

On November 18, 2011, the Friends of Rattlesnake Island filed a lawsuit in Lake County Superior Court (Case No. CV 410834) that seeks to set aside the Lake County Board of Supervisors’ approval of permits sought by John Nady to build three structures on Rattlesnake Island. The Petition for Writ of Mandamus asks the Court to order that the County Board reconsider the project only after preparing an Environmental Impact Report as required by the California Environmental Quality Act, commonly known as CEQA.

Upon confirmation of the filing, Jim Brown, a traditional Tribal leader of the Elem Pomo, said: “On behalf of Elem Nation, our ancestors and the direct living descendants of Elem-Modun, and the Friends of Rattlesnake Island, I am honored to be a part of this legal case to help preserve and protect the most ancient, sacred Tribal homeland Island village of Elem-Modun, also known as Rattlesnake Island.”

“When the Board of Supervisors overturned the Planning Commission’s unanimous decision to require an EIR for this project, it ignored the significant impacts of grading and construction on the Island, which is eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places and is a designated historic resource,” said Sarah Ryan, Environmental Director of Big Valley Rancheria Band of Pomo Indians. “The County must prepare an EIR to study impacts and consider feasible mitigation measures and alternatives, and it did not.”

The Lake County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 to approve the project without an EIR. Without an analysis of impacts or the scope and quality of the affected historic resources, nor any data recovery plan, the Board approved the project by simply requiring monitoring.

“CEQA is a citizen-enforced statute,” remarked Herb Gura, who runs the local Self Help Law Center and is assisting the Friends. “The law mandates an EIR process, not only for analysis of environmental impacts and mitigations, but so the public can weigh in and offer valuable information to the County. In this case, the Board of Supervisors skipped CEQA’s fundamental safeguards and approved the project prematurely.”

CEQA mandates that the County prepare an EIR if there is any “fair argument” of significant environmental impacts, even if environmental experts disagree. That is because the EIR is CEQA’s preferred method of environmental review. A fair argument of significant environmental impacts was provided by County Planning Commissioners, members of the Elem Pomo Tribe, a local archaeologist familiar with Rattlesnake Island, and even the California Office of Historic Preservation.

In a letter, State Historic Preservation Officer, M. Wayne Donaldson, advised the County that “given the significance of the cultural resources on Rattlesnake Island, we reiterate our recommendation that the County of Lake require an EIR for any projects … the EIR needs to address, in detail, mitigation measures … that avoid any substantial change in the significance of an historical resource.”

Susan Brandt-Hawley

Brandt-Hawley Law Group

For: Friends of Rattlesnake Island, dedicated to preserving cultural and environmental resources in Lake County and elsewhere

Lakeport

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HENDY OCCUPIERS CLARIFY

Dear Editor,

I’d like to correct the assumption made by Bruce McEwen in his article about Occupy Hendy Woods (OHW), that “a great deal of money was spent to ensure that this thing went off without unpleasant hitches.” OHW’s organizers only spent slightly more than $200 on the weekend long event — not a great deal of money in my book.

For one thing, a helicopter landing zone was not created for the weekend. The meadow beyond the day use area is one of the Anderson Valley Fire Department’s permanent landing zones and was mowed by park staff before the event at the request of Fire Chief Colin Wilson.

The use of the Mendocino Environmental Center’s insurance — which was provided to OHW at no cost and is carried by the Environmental Center in order to support events like this — and our willingness to pay camping and day use fees does however raise an interesting question: is it really an occupation, if you occupy something you want to support and work with the people who run it to create an event that you both hope will help achieve your mutual goal?

From the start it was clear to the OHW organizers that what we were doing was different from Occupy Wall Street or Oakland, which were organized to point to the 1%’s control of wealth and power. Whereas OHW was being organized to point to what the 99% is losing as a result of that control of wealth and, specifically, of tax policy.

When Cyd first thought of occupying Hendy, we believed that it was closing when the campground closed at the end of October and we would be occupying a closed park to keep it open. We soon learned that the actual closing of the park would not take place until the end of June 2012. We decided to go ahead with our plans to occupy it to draw the attention of state government to how our community felt about what was happening to Hendy Woods and the other parks slated for closing. From the beginning, we thought of the park staff as our allies and we asked them how we could work together. In the end, we provided an insurance certificate, paid camping and day use fees and camped in the camp ground, not the day use area; they opened the restrooms, let us have a fire in the day use area, and collected fees (which we might have felt differently about if we had realized at the time that they were going to the state’s general fund, not the park).

Personally I hope that what we did — highlighting the impact of the 1% on the services and public spaces that serve the 99% — will be adopted by the larger movement and that in addition to encampments we will see creative occupations of what we are losing — State Parks, Adult Day Care and Child Care Centers, rural post offices, foreclosed homes, etc., until we force a change in the policies that are allowing the 1% to impoverish the rest of us.

Diane Paget

Boonville

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THE CONSPIRACY CONSPIRACY

To the Editor:

AVA recently reprinted a column by Michael Shermer, the editor-in-chief of Skeptic, in which Shermer belittles “Conspiracy Theories,” also a favorite sport of Bruce Anderson’s.

According to professional skeptic Shermer, “Nevertheless, we cannot just dismiss all such theories out of hand, because real conspiracies do sometimes happen.” Alas, he fails to disclose a Shermer approved real world conspiracy along with the supporting evidence he finds convincing. Therefore, it’s impossible for us to judge his standards of proof. But, instead, he lists ten precepts that make, according to Shermer, a “conspiracy theory” unlikely.

In a nutshell, Shermer finds conspiracy theories dubious that are complex, and that involve a lot of people who keep secrets. And he rejects those theories with “world domination” as their goal. His tenth precept is worth quoting in full: “The conspiracy theorist refuses to consider alternative explanations, rejecting all disconfirming evidence and blatantly seeking only confirmatory evidence to support that he or she has a priori determined to be the truth.” Mr. Shermer take a look in the mirror and say hello.

A relevant Michael Shermer fun fact discovered on Wikipedia: Although coming from a family indifferent to religion, Shermer declared himself a born again Christian when he was a high school senior. And for the next seven years he spread the good news of the lord door to door. Although he now considers himself an agnostic or atheist, Shermer certainly had a lot of practice, when he was washed in the blood of the lamb, “rejecting all disconfirming evidence.”

Shermer still seeks orthodoxy but now he’s only left defended a half assed secular faith. After abandoning the purity of Yahweh and Jesus, he’s floundering in the church of Huffingtonpost and NPR. Forget this guy, he’s lost.

Enough. Here’s a recommendation: Family of Secrets by Russ Baker. Gore Vidal says it’s “one of the most important books of the past ten years.” I think it’s more than that. It’s the best book I’ve read about our hidden history since Carl Oglesby’s, The Yankee Cowboy War. If you thought you knew enough about the Bush family, especially Poppy Bush, you’d be wrong.

Jock Penn

Shawano, Wisconsin

Ed reply: I don’t know anybody whose intellectual journey is undeviating, but I think conspiracy thinking is demoralizing in subtle ways because what it says is this: “If these people are so powerful that they can murder presidents and rig whole Manhattan buildings with explosives to blow them up, THEY just might fly a drone over my house and blow me up if I get outta line. Fear Talk, and conspiracy thinking is Fear Talk, scares and discourages people from standing up for themselves.

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ELDERHOME IN THE BLACK

Editor,

The directors of the Anderson Valley Elder Home are proud to announce that we successfully completed a restructuring of our debts. We replaced loans from a commercial bank with financing from community members at a much lower interest rate. At the same time we paid down an additional $100,000 on our loans. Now with the income from our rentals, the Elder Home operates with a positive monthly cash flow of $300 instead of our previous monthly hemorrhage of $2400. The restructure process was complex. It began with an anonymous pledge of $50,000 for them to match in order to pay down our existing mortgages. We used the funds raised at past events such as our Fair booth, Lion’s Club barbecue and silent auction, and the Anderson Valley Brewfest and individual contributions to match the $50,000 pledge. In that process, some community members came forward wanting to support us by recasting our existing three mortgages at a lower interest rate. It took time to accomplish, but we finally did it. We recognize the frustration in the community for what seemingly has been inactivity on our part for the last two years. It took us that long to accomplish this restructuring. “Now that the refinance is complete, we can focus our energies on raising funds to build our assisted living facility,” said Steve Krieg, our Elder Home president. “Every dollar raised from this day forward can go directly to construction, rather than paying interest to the bank.”

Karen Ottoboni

Yorkville

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DANGEROUS TED

Editor:

Mr. Ted Dace attempts to undermine decades of research and work for those suffering from schizophrenia.

He cites M. Scott Peck as a psychiatric authority in the field, while not mentioning Peck became a convert of Catholicism; from that, Peck deduced this devastating illness is caused by demonic possession and can be “cured” by exorcism.

Hopefully, Mr. Dace realizes this “approach” to mental illness is archaic and rife with medieval thinking. In no way does Mr. Dace understand the complexities of the human brain and its myriad influences, including brain chemistry and the remarkable strides in psychopharmacology. I am concerned Dace’s “take” on mental illness will be accepted by those who want to blame these illnesses on lack of religious grace. There is no blame or shame to be had with mental illness; Dace would recreate all the stigma mentally ill people and their supporters have overcome; you are a dangerous man, Ted Dace. Please educate yourself before writing such insidious statements about mental illness, particularly schizophrenia. NAMI is the best source for up-to-date information. Please educate yourself!

Elizabeth Ryan

Fort Bragg

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OCCUPY ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE

Dear Editor,

As I explained to you, Mr. Editor. The systematic suppression of alternative medicine has resulted in the appearance of specialists — specialists in the less controversial practices such as massage, acupuncture, chiropractic, herbology, and nutrition. Dr. Julian Whitaker refused to be inimidated by a Federal Food and Drug Administrator’s commando raid on his offices. He fought back legally. Dr. Richard Schulze has also been targeted. The persecution of Royal Rife by Morris Fishbein, founder of the American Medical Association trade monopoly is one of the saddest stories in medical history. This included the destruction of his lab, his cancer microbe killing frequency generators, even his three crystal microscopes thru which he could observe his frequency generator destroy cancerous cells. One original crystal microscope is reportedly secured in a hidden vault somewhere in England. Also in existence are are video copies of Royal Rife sitting as a yogi before his microscope viewing the RX virus, as he dubbed the cancer virus, being zapped by his frequency generator. This footage still exists.

Today there are innovations in frequency generators, including cheap copies of dubious value, to be used to stop all degenerative diseases by zapping the microscopic parasites responsible for the separately categorized afflictions. There is an enormous amount of documentation available to those who are willing to eliminate outmoded ideas, to search and learn.

For me, it’s been a case of learn or die, as did so many of the other downwinders from the US Government’s plutonium manufacturing Rocky Flats factory. Rocky Flats, with its toxic radioactive emissions was finally closed because of massive public protest. Still the criminal business of nuclear weapons manufacturing continues today at Los Alamos, New Mexico.

As a result of these and many other persecutions, some of the finest alternative practitioners have left the US. In the predictable brain drain. Dr. Huelda Clark, Magna Cum Laude scholar, moved to Mexico, as did Charlotte Gerson and the Gerson Institute. Dr. Tang left California for the less medically oppressive state of Nevada. Others like Dr. Jonathon Wright, Dr. Richard Schulze, and Dr. Julian Whitaker have stayed here to resist and prosper.

Occupy.

Dorotheya M Dorman

Redwood Valley

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CRACKPOT ANALYSIS III

Mr. Anderson:

I am writing to respond to Todd Walton’s gracious and playful repartee that appeared in the letter section of AVA of 16 November 11.

Firstly, I do not disagree with Todd’s revision (or restatement) — “He who believes something is true, does not think his belief is crackpot.”

I have some problems with the statement that “most of the greatest scientific theories that have turned out to be true were initially thought by most members of the scientific establishment to be false.”

My disagreements concern the word “true,” and the identification of “science” with “most members of the scientific community.”

Dealing with the second issue, I will borrow from Malcom X and divide scientists into “house scientists” and “field scientists.” The tobacco industry, pharmaceutical industry, fossil fuel industry, and the religion industry–The Catholic Church is the oldest still extant corporation, never have had problems finding and hiring “house scientists” to attack new ideas that threaten their business practices and their profits. The existence of an ozone hole or anthropic global climate change, or the discovery that earth is not the center of the universe, have implications that can impose mandated changes in the way corporations do business, thus diminishing their profits. So they spend billions of dollars hiring “house scientists” and lawyers to ridicule and suppress these ideas.

The word “true” is not the issue in science. Science cannot prove that Mormonism, Scientology, Astrology, or Islam are untrue, or that prayer and homeopathy don’t work. What it can demonstrate is that there is no proof that the claims of these belief systems have any validity, and that in carefully controlled, double-blind, reproducible experiments, prayer and homeopathy are no more effective than placebos.

Field scientists practice the scientific method and would say of even the most accepted and cherished theories, “This will work until we find something that explains things better.”

Let me expand the citation from Massimo Pigliiucci–a name I too think is pretty cool, although when your name is Louis Simon Bedrock, “Todd Walton” seems pretty cool in comparison.

“What all scientific inquiry has in common… are the fundamental aspects of being an investigation of nature, based on the construction of empirically verifiable theories and hypotheses. These three elements, naturalism, theory, and empiricism, are what make science different from any other human activity.

The presence of coherent conceptual constructs in the form of theories and hypotheses is also a necessary component of science. Science is not just a collection of facts about the world, nor do scientific theories emerge from the accumulation of facts, as Francis Bacon thought. Theories are creative productions of the human mind and reflect our best attempts at making sense of the world as it is.* But theories are not enough, otherwise science would be no different from philosophy. It is the crucial role of empirical information that completes the trinity that underlies all scientific research. Empirical evidence…does not necessarily mean experiment, but more broadly refers to any combination of experimentation and systematic observation that produces not just facts, but data.”

(Nonsense On Stilts, pp303-304)

*My emphasis, not Mr. Pigliucci’s.

I’d like to conclude by observing that although Todd Walton’s moon and sun may be in Libra, his head and heart are always in the right place.

I return his salute.

Siempre adelante,

Louis S. Bedrock

Roselle, New Jersey

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NO PARKS, NO VOTE

Dear Assemblymember Jared Huffman:

After hearing you speak on November 18 at Hendy Woods State Park, I have decided to reserve my support and financial donation to your campaign for Congress. The proposed solution to our Park’s closure crisis — “Elect More Democrats in 2011/2012” — is neither sufficient nor timely.

Show me, now, before 6/30/2012 a non-partisan effort to stop closures of our parks along Highway 128 and Highway 1 in Mendocino County. We don’t need to expand the Lost Coast. Feral Parklands do not equal wilderness which you, as an environmental lawyer, should know. I want you to expose the behind-closed-doors deals which result in the proposed unexplained plans to close Mendocino and California State Parks. Who decided? On what criteria? Who voted in favor or opposition? If they lost the verifying paperwork, they can document a repeated series of meetings. Call for transparent decision-making.

Call for taxes to support public access to public lands. Call for coor4dination of services with State, Federal and locally-funded departments — i.e., Forestry, Education, Employment, transportation, etc. These can all reduce duplication of services via coordination. Reduce funding for administrative salaries in these departments if you need cuts.

Call for employment of the many unemployed in Mendocino County, especially our youth and veterans.

Any solution must include us — the organized voting citizens who occupy your proposed district. We are ready to disrupt business as usual to achieve our goals. These goals include continued public access to our state parks.

There should be no fee hike for park usage until we know why they proposed closures ware being considered. Show us the cost-benefit numbers. Call for a public assembly-wide vote on Park closures and cuts.

I am a registered Democrat who wants some evidence that elected public officials of my party actually stand for something.

Show me.

Patricia Beverly

Boonville

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FAN ON

Dear Editor,

I hope that I have said this before but if I haven’t, thank you for your wonderful paper. Thank you, St. Mary’s Hospital, tambien. I hope that your wife and family are well and happy. Anything I read in the paper serves to educate me. Thank you, Major and Bruce McEwen for reporting truth with wit. Please take care. This is not a letter to the editor, it’s fan mail, fanning the flames of discontent that I wish will burn longer.

Sincerely,

Allyson Provisor

Garberville

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NOT EATING IT

Editor,

Alexander Cockburn in November 2′s column discussing animal rights begs the age-old question: If we are supposed to eat the animals, why are they made of meat?

Gary Durheim

Seaside Oregon

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THE OTHER WAY AROUND

Letter to Editor

Questions for Repugs:

If by feeding the rich you are feeding the poor, why not the other way around? If by serving the few you are serving the many, why not the other way around?

Bruce Patterson

Boonville

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HUFFMAN: BETTER, BUT NOW…

Dear AVA-

Thanks for showing up on a cold Saturday afternoon to the 130 or so people at the Jared Huffman visit to Hendy Woods State Park. Our obviously concerned community asked smart questions and Assembly Member Huffman provided answers, to the extent they were known. Huffman promised to introduce legislation in January that would try to modify the deeply dysfunctional process of designating parks for closure and find ways to enhance revenue. But he was clear that did not mean all is well.

On Wednesday, December 7 at 7pm, the newly formed “Hendy Woods Community” will host a public meeting at the Philo Grange. We will explore ways we can provide volunteer services like trail maintenance and interpretive/docent activities as well as brainstorm about fundraising to help bridge the budget gap for the next two years. We hope to see you there.

Best regards,

Kathy Bailey

Boonville

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ORIGINALITY, PLEASE

Dear AVA,

What does a guy sitting in prison hope for every day besides extremely localized earthquakes and overthrown government? If you are this guy, it’s opportunities to laugh, and the “Found Cat” flyer in “Valley Living” of November 2 like to bust my gut. “Not very friendly,” indeed. I think I laughed for about five minutes straight.

Conversely, somebody sending these idiotic “musings” in for publication that we’ve all heard and read from bad comedians, pennysavers, drive-time DJs, and anyone in need of space to fill with copy and too lazy to come up with anything original, that wasn’t even funny the first time? Coming at this a tad obliquely, allow me to quote the great Ralph Wiggum who so often says what’s in all of our hearts: “Lisa’s bad dancing makes my feet sad.”

Shame, Dennis Jones of Cottage Grove, Minnesota. If that is in fact your real name and residence. “Minnesota”? Sounds made up.

In the immortally stoned words of the great 311: “Come original, you got to come original. All entertainers, come original.”

Yours in captivity,

Flynn Washburn

San Quentin

Letter to Editor,

Why People Support Laura’s Law

The reason law enforcement officers across the country support  Laura’s Law is because they know the people who are candidates to  receive Laura’s Law treatment, since they often have to arrest them  or take them to hospitals in psychiatric crisis. With Laura’s Law in  place, officers can refer many of the people to the Laura’s Law Team  for Assisted Outpatient Treatment before a crisis occurs. With less  of their time spent on people with severe mental illness, they have  more time for the rest of us, and to do the work they were trained to  do and we want them to do.

The reason hospitals, clinics and other medical providers across the  country support Laura’s Law is the same as for law enforcement. They  also know the people and know that with treatment, they are more  likely to get well and stay well.

The reason family members are for Laura’s Law is that the suffering  of our loved ones with severe mental illness is unbearable when they  become suicidal, and or consumed with fear in their paranoia, and  have no way to stop the constant voices in their head from  commanding horrendous things, and preventing them from connecting  with another human being.

The reason most clients are for Laura’s Law is they know first-hand  the support they and people they know need, when in a psychiatric  crisis. They want the support to be there in our communities, instead  of forcing the sick to become sicker and sicker until jail or  hospital is the only option.

The reason most of us feel stabbed in the heart when we see someone  who is homeless, or talking to him or herself, is that we know “There  but for fortune go you or I”; and in some way it seems our personal  failure that there is no help for this person, and we do not know  what to do about it. Signing the Laura’s Law petition is a first step  toward telling our supervisor’s, WE CARE ABOUT THESE PEOPLE AND WANT  YOU TO IMPLEMENT LAURA’S LAW.

Sonya Nesch, author of

Advocating for Someone

with a Mental Illness

Comptche

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SAVING ALBION HEADLANDS

Dear Editor,

Albion Headlands Decision Upheld

The highly-contested development of the Albion Headlands took another turn last month in the decision of the Superior Court to uphold the denial of a Boundary Line Adjustment (BLA) to reconfigure the headlands parcels. The owners/applicants had sued the County for denying the application, but the Superior Court denied their petition to overthrow the Board decision.

Several determinations were made, some of which affect land use planning in the County and in the coastal zone. The State of California regulates subdivision of land. Certain types of lot-line adjustments (BLA in Mendocino County) are exempted from the Subdivision Map Act and the agency review is limited to whether or not the adjustment is incompliance with the General Plan, Specific Plans, Local Coastal Plan, or local zoning and building codes. The eligible number of parcels is limited to four or fewer, and they are required to be “adjoining.”*

Opponents of the BLA proposal, including the Sierra Club Mendocino Group, argued that the proposal would establish parcels that did not touch the original parcels, in effect moving three small parcels away from a county road out onto the open bluffs overlooking the ocean. The court instead focused on the original parcels being “adjoining.” The court was unable to find any precedent defining the word “adjoining” as it is used in this GC Section 66412(d). The legislative history to the amendment in 2001 suggests that adjoining should be interpreted as “physically continuous.” While the opposition argued that while the parcels may be enlarged or diminished, the parcels must remain in basically the same geographic relation to one another. The court disagreed, stating that the only likely restriction is that they remain physically contiguous. Therefore “same geographic relationship” was not used as a determining factor in reviewing the case.

However, the Exemption is not mandatory determination, and may not qualify if it does not conform to the local general plan, specific plan, coastal and any zoning and building ordinances. In this case the Board of Supervisors determined that the application did not conform to the Coastal Act or the local Coastal Plan.

The Board also made a finding that the BLA as presented is not consistent with the purpose and intent of the applicable zoning district and does not conform to the county code. While in the county original non-conforming lots do not have to meet minimum parcel sizes, the Coastal Plan states that any new parcel does have to meet the minimum size requirement, in this case 40 acres.

“Highly scenic” protection afforded by the Local Coastal Plan was discussed by both parties, with each defending their plan is the least impactful. While arguments were deemed reasonable on both sides, the decision of the Board to disallow the proposal did not rise to the level of an “abuse of discretion. To grant or deny an application for a boundary line adjustment is discretionary by the Board.

The environmental review by the Coastal Administrator was determined to have used an inappropriate baseline in review of the environmental impacts. County used the probable development of all five (3 existing, 2 potential) parcels as though those were already permitted, instead of the physical conditions that existed at the time of application. Granting a Negative Declaration of insignificant impact was therefore invalid, and the Board did not abuse its discretion in disallowing the application.

To comply with the Coastal Act and Local Coastal Plan, the County must evaluate the impact in coastal developments by the lot line adjustment. “Buildability” of the current parcels is compared with the potential development of the adjusted parcels.

The current buildability of the smaller parcels was contested by the opponents of the project on the grounds that the parcels were not large enough for septic systems and off-site septic system proposals had not met the requirements. While the applicants argued that the office of Environmental Health had approved “permits,” the court found that no actual permits were issued, just potential approval for permits. Therefore the Board could find that the application had not met the requirements for conformity with the zoning.

The conclusions reached by the Court seem to uphold the opinion of the Sierra Club Mendocino Group that the presence of parcels recognized by Certificates of Compliance cannot be used to break the requirements of the General Plan, Local Coastal Plan or zoning requirements.

Rixanne Wehren,

Coastal Committee Chair

Sierra Club, Mendocino Group

PS. *Specifically, it defines the exemption as: [a] a lot line adjustment between four or fewer existing adjoining parcels, where the land taken from one parcel is added to an adjoining parcel, and where a greater number of parcels is not created, if the lot line adjustment is approved by the local agency, or advisory agency. A local agency or advisory agency shall limit its review and approval to a determination of whether or not the parcels resulting from the lot line adjustment will conform to the local general plan, any applicable specific plan, any applicable coastal plan, and zoning and building ordinances. An advisory agency or local agency shall not impose conditions or exactions on its approval of a lot line adjustment except to conform to the local general plan, any applicable specific plan, and applicable coastal plan, and zoning and building ordinances… (Gov’t Code 66412(d).)

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CATCHING UP

Dear Editor:

Lockdown again and again. Why? I’d have to guess with you.

My record keeping lately is bad. Did I commiserate with you on your misadventure with the hospital? I do. I was in Springfield and had a TURP myself. The “doctor” left and forgot to leave orders to pull the tube out. Perhaps we’re lucky. I’ve read that 30,000 a year die from hospital infections.

I’m reading “Stillwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-1945,” Barbara Tuchman, in reprints. Good.

Just finished “Down by the River,” Charles Bowden, 2002-2004 which took seven years to write. Mexican “drug wars.” It’s a “failed state.” JFK official version number 9/11? Other than that we agree! Did I send you “The Truth”? Or “Events”?

Stay well.

Ronald Del Raine

Florence, Colorado

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SAVE THE PARAMEDIC PROGRAM

Editor,

The Mendocino College paramedic program is in jeopardy. The college has put hundreds of paramedics on the street since the program began in 1998. Between now and April 1, 2012 however, the college administrators will be making decisions that will determine whether or not the program will allowed to continue. I have been a part of the program since before it began — initially as program director and lead instructor. I have continued to be the lead instructor for every class. Although I have given notice that I will not be returning as lead instructor, I still very much want the program to continue. I do not claim objectivity but my experience gives me a unique perspective regarding the program’s history, present state and future.

In my opinion there are two primary factors involved in the college’s decision-making process. The first revolves around national accreditation; the second is staffing.

In 2004 Mendocino College became one of the first paramedic training institutions in the state to become nationally accredited and has maintained that accreditation ever since. Three years ago, due to documentation and administrative issues, the program was placed on probationary status by the accreditation agency. Since that time the program director, Jen Banks, has done a fantastic job of negotiating a path through the challenging process of the return to full accreditation. The final program progress report from the college to the accrediting agency will be submitted on December 1, 2011. I have every confidence that once this report is submitted we will continue to be fully accredited. The administration made the decision to suspend enrollment in the program so that efforts could be focused on meeting the accreditation requirements. There are still paramedic students doing their field internships but no new students were admitted in the fall of 201l. The college administration takes the position that the decision as to whether or not to re-open enrollments in the fall of 2012 depends, in large part, on the result of the accreditation review. As I said, I am confident that the program will continue to be fully accredited.

The second factor is more problematic. Since the beginning, the program has been taught and run by part-time employees. All of us involved have been field paramedics actively employed by fire departments, ground ambulance and air ambulance services. We have viewed our involvement in the program as an extension of our commitment to community service. Most of the program instructors and skills assistants are graduates of the Mendocino College program who have come back to mentor the next generation. This is a very strong and effective interplay between field medics and students. Still, there are no full-time employees connected with the program. Everybody agrees that running this program with part-timers can no longer work. The complexities and size of the program make full-time staffing necessary. Programs of a similar size have between 2 and 5 full-time staff. At the very minimum the program needs a full-time director and full-time lead instructor.

As concerns staffing decisions, the paramedic program finds itself at a disadvantage. Requests for new positions are reviewed by committee and then submitted to the administration for approval. As part-time employees no one from the paramedic program is eligible to serve on these committees. For at least 14 years we have requested full-time support for the paramedic program. Annually we are told that our request is reasonable. Annually the request is turned down. Virtually all the other programs at the college have tenured faculty and full-time directors who attend these meetings, make their staffing requests known and make the case for their particular request. As part-timers we are out of the loop — the orphan program waiting outside the closed door for the results, which are always the same, “Maybe next year.”

At this point, if the program is to continue, the college needs to demonstrate commitment to the program with full-time administrative and instructor positions. If the college has the will to keep this important program, the time has come to demonstrate it by authorizing appropriate staff to support the program. Failure to do so is a statement that this commitment does not exist.

I am extremely proud of the hundreds of paramedics our program has placed with fire departments and ambulance companies both locally and statewide. The reputation enjoyed by the program draws students from all parts of California and, in fact, from all over the country.

If you, or anyone you care about, have ever had the need to call on our local EMS responders you know what it means to have the responding paramedics be professional and committed to your well-being. That is the quality of the medics we have turned out year after year. I would put our graduates up against the best in the field.

Having a local paramedic program at the core of the local EMS system keeps the system vital, progressive and self-sustaining. A vital educational component is integral to the local EMS system. Allowing this program to fade away will have long-term detrimental effects on your local system of emergency medical response. Our local emergency responders will have no local opportunity to become paramedics and the interplay between field providers and the educational component will be lost.

If the paramedic program is important to you I urge you to make this known to the college. As part-timers we have no real voice in the decision making process. As a community, you do. It is, after all, Mendocino Community College.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Bill Webster, On Behalf of the Mendocino College Paramedic Program Citizens Advisory Committee

Willits

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FAMOUS CRACKPOTS

Esteemed AVA editors,

In response to Louis Bedrock’s letter in response to my letter in response to Lee Simon’s letter in response to my article in which I shared my theory, not a crackpot belief (I didn’t mean to suggest I believed my own theory, only that it was a theory I had) of a possible reincarnation scenario, I want to thank Louis for writing. I love a good discussion, and I think this may turn out to be a good one, though I share with Lee a suspicion of the word may.

Louis wrote, “Mr. Walton writes that ‘crackpot beliefs are only crackpot to those who don’t agree with those beliefs.’ Bullshit.” I’ll bet if I rephrase my quoted statement to read, “He who believes something is true does not think his belief is crackpot,” that Louis will not think the statement bullshit.

I was trying to say that much of what we think we know, whether we are western-minded scientists or astrology-believing yurt dwellers, might be true, but it very well might not be true. And just because Masimmo Pigliucci (what a great name!) says something is definitely nonsense or definitely non-nonsense doesn’t make it so. It is historical fact that most of the greatest scientific theories that have turned out to probably be true were initially thought by most members of the scientific establishment to be crackpot beliefs. The very recent story of the British scientist who discovered the hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica is a prime example of someone called a crackpot turning out not to be a crackpot. Virtually the entire scientific community of the world scoffed at his discovery, which wasn’t a theory, but a fact. He was ridiculed, lost his job, and it took years and years of teams of scientists proving over and over again that his discovery was real before the scientific community finally accepted his discovery as fact.

Another amazing bunch of examples of the scientific community calling people crackpots who then turn out to be world-changing geniuses can be found in the excellent book The Body Is The Hero by Dr. Ronald Glasser in which the human immune system is investigated and explained through Glasser’s recounting of the lives of those men and women whose theories and discoveries advanced our knowledge of physiology, biology, bacteria, viruses, etc. With shockingly few exceptions, these heroic pioneers were literally and figuratively murdered by the scientific and medical communities whose fundamental beliefs, which had reigned as facts for centuries, they dared challenge.

I’m grateful to Louis and Lee for taking the time to respond to my writing. With my moon and sun in Libra, I salute them both.

Todd Walton

Nearby in Mendocino

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FATHOM’S WINTER HOME

Editor,

November in Low Gap, 2011

At 72 we’re still in love with a colorful clown and libertarian revolution.

The 99% force of liberation is awake and active. My brothers, my sisters — our marching song has come again.

Chained and in poor but better health due to Tom Allman’s poor man’s health spa, we ready ourselves in body and mind.

For Mendocino and Albion a man must be willing to live.

I can see a better world a’comin’; fools and dreamers never give up.

With stamps and lies and club and gun, they tried to make the system run. They said, “Now hippies don’t be sore, soon will have another war.”

Alan ‘Captain Fathom’ Graham

Ukiah/Albion

PS. I’d love a short sub to the AVA. We just might be in for the winter. We’ll keep you posted.

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SCHOOL BOARD CHALLENGE

Editor,

I would like to sincerely congratulate the three newly elected school board trustees, Ben Anderson, Marti Bradford and Dick Browning.

I would also like to respectfully issue the newly elected board a challenge. I would like to challenge you to base each and every decision you make during the upcoming term solely on what best serves our students and nothing else. I challenge you to put in the time to regularly attend classes and to perform walk-through inspections of the school grounds and buildings to ensure they are properly maintained. To look behind locked doors and into storage areas to see what unneeded supplies, outdated texts, etc. can be purged so that these areas can be used for what they were originally designed. To see first-hand what’s going on at the schools rather than accepting verbatim what you’re told by faculty and administrators at your once-a-month meetings. I challenge you to promote an atmosphere of transparency where school business is concerned and encourage public involvement. I challenge you to attend sporting events and extracurricular activities whenever possible.

Having said this, in the words of our illustrious and most recent ex-governor: I’ll be back!

Respectfully yours,

Ernie Pardini

Philo

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OCCUPY THE FEDERAL BUILDING

AVA,

Sporadic attendance of the Occupy Oakland and San Francisco protests has elicited a mixed response from myself.

I think that on a very primal level the sense that I got was that we as a species do come from a past of radical egalitarianism and communal living. And to continue our evolution, or perhaps reflect the devolution from what we once knew, the Catholic institutional conception of God dictated that every soul was sacred and worth saving. Both of these pasts are superior to the current protestant ethic of radical individualism, hoarding of resources and wars among the tribes. The religion of technology says that we are constantly evolving, whereas the religion of the ancients says that we are moving further and further from the enlightened reality we once had full perception of. If anything the contradiction between third world conditions in the midst of major American cities creates a semi-apocalyptic spectacle, not to mention the specter of storm-troopers launching tear-gas, flash and concussion grenades at random into a crowd of thousands.

From my own thinking and meditation the only message that I could come up with was one framed within the context of the history of our civilization. A message straight to the one percent within perhaps symbolic language but nonetheless language that most of the poor and oppressed can understand and relate. Bear with me, Jesus was the man who catered to the poor, the sick, the oppressed, and the unfortunate. He gave them worth, he gave them value. It is what overwhelmed me with tears when I went to the spot where the young black man was shot down in cold blood by his young black brothers for some unfortunate offense, probably not exceeding a thousand dollars. The realization that everyone counts, every poor and unfortunate soul from those sleeping beneath benches in Jefferson Park to those convicts residing in cement grave boxes, a purgatory between this life and the next, the segregated housing unit of the California State Prison System. Every soul counts and cannot be beaten underfoot by the march of the machine in the everyday rat race. But that is exactly what occurs. One more day of war, one more day of bombing, one more day of business as usual is unacceptable.

Ya Basta! Enough Is Enough!

Christ, as the father of the poor, has one message. Ya basta, enough is enough! The wealthiest have committed great sin in the amassing of their wealth. They must beg the Almighty for forgiveness, give alms from the considerable wealth they have hoarded, and care for the poor, wandering and unfortunate people, as much as our poor and exploited mother earth. The proliferation and creation of bombs and weapons and tools of war must end. This is a blatant misuse of the tools of life that our Creator has endowed us with upon this earth.

These are very basic concepts that we can all understand, not some difficult theory or foreign idea.

What makes most sense to me is that each one can bring and contribute their own part, and what I know, is a relatively safe, moderately middle class upbringing. Safety, manners, conscientiousness, etc. Sadly these are middle class values more easily achieved as life becomes easier, but these are things that all communities need to function in a healthy way.

Perhaps what self congratulatory white progressives have not realized is that the Oakland Police Department routinely shoots black Scott Olsen’s who reside in Oakland, but they shoot black people with live ammunition and they routinely shoot them in the back and almost no one gives a damn. The uproar over this shooting is a callous indication of the scope of institutional racism even in the minds of white progressives.

Jefferson Park is one block away from the Federal Building which is a much better target for demands in my mind. If people have demands of the City Government they are easily contacted. I for one want some recognition from my Federal Government. In 2008, I worked for months calling people in the swing state of New Mexico to ensure their support of Barack Obama. The excitement was palpable even to people who seemed to be convinced by my own exuberance for a few minutes on skype. We elected Barack Obama, of that I am certain, so I believe we have a stake in these things and deserve to be heard. It is Federal policies that need to be challenged, OCCUPY CONGRESS FOR CHRIST’S SAKE!

Jefferson Park is not surrounded on four sides by tall buildings; in fact it gets great sunlight on all sides and there are public restrooms and it is literally one square block not interfering with other activities other than the AC transit stops on 11th street.

And who’s gonna make sure them boys don’t come through and shoot the next person? These white progressives sure aren’t. So what they need to be doing is using their whiteness in the most classic way that white folks do with blacks: the white folks talk to the police. If these kids are too stupid to realize that, well, they have lost their function and purpose within this setting.

Much of what I see down there at Occupy Oakland is feeding of the poor, needy and infirm. If the progressives in charge of this had any heart they would set up to do this on a permanent basis and not just on a temporary basis as long as they, along with the homeless population, are allowed to “occupy.” In the current context, when the ‘occupation’ ends all the services provided will end too. Catholic Worker in Berkeley feeds poor people everyday. Food Not Bombs feeds poor people all of the time all over the Bay Area. Let us empower and expand these excellent existing services.

If people came renewed and refreshed for a People’s Assembly in the Public Commons in a highly visible space every Friday or every other Friday at say 5pm this would be a huge advance in our society. If we set up permanent places for community services, especially real and readily available clinical health care, that were operated by volunteers and not career poverty workers this would be a huge achievement. All of this within the context of mass participation and high visibility with recognition of the greater society that these things are not okay and this suffering must be eliminated from our midst, we would truly be making strides towards a better future, and not just wallowing in the muck.

Nate Collins

Berkeley/Oakland

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BALLOON MAN SPEAKS

Editor,

An Insulted Balloon Guy (now eerily close to middle-aged man) wants to inform you, that he takes offense at you calling his hand-made and carefully planned balloon design—“patchwork.”

Also hoping you’ll give me the opportunity to get the record straight on a few things misrepresented in the “Valley People” Section on November 9:

1. Balloons are required to maintain minimum altitudes “except when necessary for take off or landing.” Although it may seem that I am just flying along without a care in the world, if you see me at “treetop level,” it is because I am using a ground wind to try slipping into or out of a nearby parcel. The rest of the time, you will see me well over 500 feet.

2. I do not fly heedlessly over sheep. I pay very close attention to how they respond to the noise and overhead menace and try to maintain ascents over them so that the noise and fear will be minimal. I have erred in this as I do not have every holding of sheep in the valley accounted for. Once I have encountered an angry rancher or a scared flock I make sincere and successful attempts to avoid future proximity.

3. I don’t have an assistant, but happily allow anyone who is competent and willing to drive my old pickup truck on balloon chases. I should know better than to let a guy with dreadlocks drive my truck, but I thought the people of the valley could handle it. He claims he is not a rasta — too demanding of a religious observance for the faint of heart (or lungs).

4. I haven’t taken off on Gschwend road ever. Though now, thanks to the article last week I may have an invitation to.

5. The only things written on my truck are “F250,” “Louisiana,” and “www.Pro-Creation.US .” The writing, “The Sky Isn’t the Limit” was on a trailer that I have pulled with me in previous years.

6. At the Mendo-A-Go-Go festival, people clustered around to donate $5-10 to go up in the air for 2-4 minutes.

7. And finally to the angry rancher(s): Shooting at an aircraft is a federal crime, and more importantly its really rude and unsportsmanlike to shoot at unarmed people in a giant colorful object. All you have to do is yell unpleasantries and I’ll avoid you in the future. Please don’t try killing me or going to prison over a running sheep.

Thanks for giving me a chance to correct some of your inaccuracies.

Love,

Kevin Herschman, Balloon Guy

Louisiana/Anderson Valley

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CLEAR CHOICE: SOLOMON

Letter to the Editor,

Regarding the race between the two top candidates to become our next Representative in Congress — Norman Solomon vs. Jared Huffman — I think the people’s choice is clear: Norman Solomon knows Congress is thoroughly corrupted by corporate campaign cash and therefore refuses to take any corporate PAC money, while Jared Huffman, as a state assemblyman, has received funding from Gallo, Chevron, Wal-Mart, PG&E and others, and, in this current Congressional race, is already taking in corporate PAC money. Norman Solomon refuses to accept corporate PAC money, and has a long history of working to free Congress from corporate domination.

If you, too, would like to help get money out of our political system and get a Congress that serves the 99% instead of the 1% it now serves, actively support Norman Solomon. Check out his campaign’s website.

Tom Wodetzki

Albion

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THINLY DISGUISED FREE AD

Dear Editor,

I think that the classical music lovers in Anderson Valley will be pleased to learn that the Deep Valley Chamber Music Series will present the acclaimed Michigan-based Merling Piano Trio on Saturday, November 19, for the first concert of the Chamber Series’ fourth season. The performance will feature Las Cuatro Estaciones Portenas (The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires), a major work by classical music’s great tango composer Astor Piazzolla, as well as works by Haydn and Beethoven. The concert will be presented at the First Presbyterian Church of Ukiah, at Church and Dora Streets, beginning at 7:30 pm.

Tickets to the concert are $25 for adults and $10 for students ages 8 to 18 and are available at the Mendocino Book Company, on-line at brownpapertickets.com and at the door. Season tickets with preferred seating are also available by calling 467-1341.

Sincerely,

Linda Malone

Deep Valley Chamber Music Board Member

Ukiah

Blessed event:

Don MacQueen has let slip news of my candidacy for president. I will run (or shamble) if called, but not if called “late for chow.” Negotiations to secure (sic) Supervisor Smith as Catamite General have broken down: perhaps Mr. MacQueen can facilitate.

The “pro-fusion” ticket will combine elements from salient Three Stooges films and the work ethic of Caltrans and the local Edu board with holidays whenever rocks fall from heaven.

We will be proactive, pro-stupid and pro-life.

In other words, business as usual.

Bonzai!

Ignatio Hephalumpe, Fuhrer Emeritus

Bellingham, Washington

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MOVE OVER EATON

Editor,

I’m sick and tired of the AVA continually bashing the local public schools. I moved to Boonville over two years ago, and it took me about five minutes to decide that the schools here are true diamonds among schools today. I’ve spent a lot of my life in public schools in California as a student, employee, volunteer, and school board member*. I’ve never witnessed better education than is happening right here.

No one should utter an opinion unless they know what they are actually talking about. Until you spend time in the classroom trying to teach today’s students according to the current rules and regulations of our state you know very little about schools. And I don’t mean a single visit to a classroom. I mean regular assistance and involvement.

Schools cry for assistance because they need it. My youngest daughter is the teacher of second graders near Sacramento. One of her students has such severe hyperactivity issues that recently, for no reason, he leaped out and over his desk and punched another kid in the face. (During the first week of school he jumped into the bus driver’s seat as the driver walked a little girl across the street and nearly ran the two over.) Another of her students would have been labeled retarded back in the day. Sweet and innocent, three weeks ago she was sexually molested by a third grade boy at lunchtime. The parents’ responses? Pretty much nada.

As a frequent volunteer at both campuses here, I have met and worked with many students. Invariably they are polite, eager learners. The programs our students have available to them are exciting and fun. The recent weather balloon story about the rocketry club is case in point. What could be better learning? Teachers and administrators are bombarded by more and more regulations, testing time-wasters, and required curriculum. To be able to insert any creative activities at all is amazing. And it happens every day here in our schools.

My advice? Quit complaining and go volunteer! Help the teachers and administrators instead of beating them over the head with your paper. Go supervise a game or a dance yourself. Correct papers. Read to a group of children whose parents don’t speak English. Tutor a child who’s struggling with his math facts. Push a broom after lunchtime.

After you’ve spent actual, real time in the shoes of several of our educators, then have an opinion. I have a feeling I know exactly what it will be.

Alice Bonner

Boonville

PS. *Of the eight and a half years I spent on the school board of a medium sized district (4,000 students), two and a half years were productive and six were exasperating and frustrating. Why? Because during the latter period two members were there on account of their egos, professing to know more than professional educators and assuming administrative subterfuge at every turn. We still got good things done for students but progress was excruciatingly slow. Hundreds of hours of discussion and continuous split votes. 5-0 votes don’t necessarily mean unthinking board members. They often mean that the superintendent is following the direction of the board.

ms replies: “…continually bashing”? The occasional complaint about the local school system pails in comparison to the unvarnished high praise for everything school-related in School News that is prepared by a paid school staffer and runs as an uncommented-on free ad for the school system almost every week. (By the way, have you noticed that School News never has anything about academics in it?) Or does only the so-called “bashing” count? Anyway, what’s the difference between “bashing” and ordinary adult skepticism and criticism? If Boonville U. is an example of the best education around, then that explains a lot about the current state of this country. PS. We’d love to correct some papers! Bring us a batch of random (i.e., an entire class) advanced math and English assignments and we’ll immediately review, correct and grade them and provide you with a summary analysis. If they’re as good as you say, we’ll be the first to say so.

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CONSPIRACIES AS THEATER

The Editor,

The discussion on conspiracies has been most informative. While there are other Merriam-Webster definitions somehow involving collusion for evil or unlawful purposes, the one I like is “a conspiracy is a striking concurrence of tendencies, circumstances, or phenomena as though in planned accord.” Cockburn and the far right appear to have concluded that those concerned with global warming and peak oil are so in striking concurrence, each somehow for personal gain. I assume this is true as well for those raising alarms about 9/11 — book sales have surely been profitable. Interestingly though that 9/11 made a fortune for Halliburton and Cheney and he destroyed all his VP papers. It seems judgments always come down to “my expert is right, yours is wrong, and you can’t convince me otherwise.”

A series of psychological experiments have demonstrated that if we believe something to be true, any contrary arguments no matter how valid will only increasingly firm our belief. Of course, these reports may also have been part of a conspiracy in order to publish academic papers, get grants, and get promotions as with global warming research, as Cockburn and friends assert. I’m more and more concluding that commentary columnists of whatever political or economic stripe are probably serving up tripe and I am mostly discounting anything they profess simply because they are certainly seeing only a tiny fraction of what is happening and surely have prefixed beliefs that aren’t in evidence.

Yes, I think Cheney was/is a crook and could have been guilty of almost anything, but that is only my opinion. Surely doubt applies to my commentaries as well. Still, it is all great theater.

Don Sanderson

Hopland

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HOME SWEET HOME

Editor,

“Blutoville” 15 miles

A stinking Cloverdale gas station lavatory

Dented metal door, enameled walls

My favorite “color,” gloss white.

It’s raining and out in the car with all its windows rolled down

A hitchhiker with dice for eyes

A dog with green lips

And a woman dressed in kelp.

Fort Bragg is another two hours out.

Yet I feel somehow I have already arrived.

M.E. Johnson

Fort Bragg

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THE 99% SOLUTION

Editor:

It is obviously true that until money is taken out of the political equation, corporate wealth and power will govern, if not own, the United States. Presently, representative democracy has become an ideological myth used to entice ordinary Americans to falsely believe in their “democratic ideals.”

This has to some extent always been the case, e.g., the “gilded age” of the late 19th century. Nevertheless, for the past three decades we have seen an enormous concentration of wealth and power, which has led to the hardship and suffering of the majority. One Republican/laissez-faire rebuttal to this is that the disadvantaged “reap what they sow,” i.e., it is their own fault. The ideology is that the disadvantaged are inferior and morally to blame for their predicament — they have chosen to be poor, which is absurd.

Another response is that the individual is the primary source of value, not society. This has led to a possessive individualism where empathy for others is blunted. But the contrary is true: Society is the primary source of value. It has taken time, effort and work by all those in the past and present to build together the society we presently have. Without a functional society there can be no individual value. Yet today, society, like our political system, is becoming increasingly dysfunctional due to the exploitation by the few of the many. And in so doing the wealthy few are actually and unwittingly destroying themselves — and the country.

The greatest danger to the United States is us — as reflected in our Congressional representatives and both political parties. Those who are indebted to and/or so ensnared by power, wealth, and greed that any notion of the common good is irrelevant. Over the past 30 years this has caused a precipitous decline. Our prison population has increased to the highest per capita in the world and “reeks of cruelty.” We condone torture and fail to bring those responsible for it to justice. We assassinate and kill American citizens without benefit of due process of law. We clandestinely use drones in foreign lands for targeted, extrajudicial assassinations without any legal justification, knowing full well the probabilities of killing innocent men, women and children. We support dictators who brutalized their own citizens. We employ the barbarism of capital punishment while the civilized world cannot believe what we do and 600,000 people around the world sign petitions to stop us. We have developed an enthusiasm and celebration for killing which is openly and mindlessly expressed by our citizens and congressional representatives — if not by our President. We employ corporate mercenaries which we euphemistically call “contractors” to maintain our “Empire.” We allow a mass media to infantalize us and accept an economic system that dehumanizes and alienates us from each other. We allow Wall Street bankers, financial institutions, corporate lobbyists and special interest groups to dictate to our congressional representatives and President what legislation and laws are to be passed to further their interests. And, at the same time, we have allowed the same institutions to forcibly remove millions of us from our homes due to a financial crisis they fraudulently initiated and which we have been unjustly forced to pay for.

During these same 30 years, corporate wealth and power has steadily increased. We have taken great steps to care for the “corporate person” — a thing. This is in keeping with our commodified society where there is a greater relationship between things than there is between people. In this process we have abandoned ourselves. It is this insidious ideology and ethical failure that is destroying the nation.

Sincerely,

Terence Bresnahan

Berkeley

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TOO MANY CRACKPOTS

Mr. Anderson:

1. Todd Walton is a writer I respect. I read and enjoyed his columns in the AVA. However, as a retired science teacher, I must respond to the obscurantist nonsense of his response to Lee Simon that appeared in the AVA on October 26, 2011 (“Crackpots, an analysis”).

Mr. Walton writes that “crackpot beliefs are only crackpot to those who don’t agree with those beliefs.” Bullshit.

Massimo Pigliucci writes in ‘Nonsense On Stilts,’ on page 304:

“What makes astrology a pseudoscience is that its theoretical structure is hopelessly flawed (e.g., constellations do not exist) and when apparently tested, it repeatedly fails the confrontation with the data.”

We can substitute “crackpot beliefs” for “pseudoscience.” I would include creationism, Scientology, Mormonism — which some wit defined as Scientology plus 150 years, and Christianity in all its incarnations — Scientology plus 2000 years, among the crackpot beliefs that plague us today.

Pigliucci concedes that “even good science is no guarantor of the truth. Science is a complex social activity carried out by limited human beings who are affected by the time and place in which they happen to live, not to mention by having a brain that evolved to solve everyday life problems, not to rationally and impartially pursue cosmic questions about the nature of things. … It is easy enough to trot out a long litany of blunders that self-assured scientists have committed over the centuries, or even very recently.” (Page 305)

However, he adds, “what all scientific inquiry has in common… are the fundamental aspects of being an investigation of nature, based on the construction of empirically verifiable theories and hypotheses. These three elements, naturalism, theory and empiricism, are what make science different from any other human activity.”

Amen. Which comes from the Hebrew word for truth.

Massimo Pigliucci is one of the smartest people in the world and ‘Nonsense On Stilts’ is a must read.

2. Enclosed is a check for $150. Please use it to renew the subscription of my troubled brother, Joseph D’Avey, and two other brothers or sisters in prison. You choose the recipients. You usually do this at your own expense. I would like to share the cost of providing the AVA to people who, due to the fell clutch of circumstance and the bludgeoning of chance, cannot themselves pay for a subscription at this time. Stay strong. Thanks for all you do.

Siempre adelante,

Louis Bedrock

Roselle, New Jersey

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MIDDLE-EASTERN HALLOWEEN

Editor:

The Palestinians and UNESCO—

The UN body for education, science and culture UNESCO, backed the Palestinian request for membership. In the going “107 member countries voted for the Palestinians, rejecting US and Israel pressure. Only 14 countries voted against membership, while 52 abstained. France voted in favor, Germany voted against while Britain decided to abstain, China, India, Russia, and Brazil also backed the Palestinians while Canada sided with the US and Israel.” [FT Nov 1.11:4]

The USA usually funds UNESCO with 80m a year but “will not send a 60 million payment “(WSJ Nov 1: A9) Presumably they sent 20 million already. But there is a 1990 law passed by the freedom loving US Congress “that automatically cuts funding for any agency that grants Palestinian authorities the same standing as member states.”

Now there is a US humanitarian AIPAC funded law that we didn’t know about. I know a number of anti Zionists but they never mentioned that one. No matter this is a great moment for Abbas and the Palestinians.

When interviewed by a reporter, the Marxist geographer David Harvey said: “the Republican Party will do more damage to capitalism than the working class:” A wonderful observation wherein the negative is just as good at puncturing the hubris of the capitalist state as the left faction. The UNESCO vote will be wonderful news in the Arab Countries and a warning to Arab Spring(ers) that the US can’t be trusted. It is one of the better events exposing the Empire.

Hamas gets 1000 prisoners for one captured (military term, kidnapping is wrong — it is captured soldier). Correctly stated 1000 Palestinian resistance fighters for one Israeli soldier. Plus the Abbas Fatah PLO faction that was put in place by Israel-US has bolted.

Why did they go the route of nonviolent diplomatic gaming? The F.T. reports this is nothing new, “The move to obtain recognition in UNESCO sets no new precedent. Other countries such as North and South Korea joined UN agencies when their applications for full membership were in dispute.”[Editorial Nov. 1/2011:8]

Wall St. Journal considered the maneuver an affront to US hegemony and Zionist Israeli — the process that has gotten the Palestinians less territory, fewer and fewer homes and more walled attackable territories. Susan Rice our feminist representative to the UN, said that without direct talks, [that have disguised aggressive apartheid for 40 or was it 35 years] there will be no Palestinian State. The jibe is obvious, the gig is up, the ridiculous argument by the US that negotiations with US as mediator will get anything for the Palestinians but dead bodies after missal and drone attacks is exposed. The US face is not bloodied the Empire will remain but the kids just kicked the shines of the Gargoyles.

Abbas and Hamas have gained the day in different ways — hail to them even if they dispute each other. From out here in Empire-Disney-land it’s a double kick in the shins.

An, additional doublespeak in US foreign policy: Reagan took the US out of UNESCO and Bush put the US back in and revised the educational component. UNESCO operates in Afghanistan and does the educational work for the US. Another US war where billions were spent to kill but now without funding no more education for women.

Bully, Bully, the Mask is off. Halloween is (almost) over!

R.G. Davis

San Francisco

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MORE BILE

Editor,

Too little bile and the food doesn’t break down. Romans used artichokes. It’s in rock but not in stone or bone marrow, but not the bone. He never lifts a leg off the floor so I can get a leg up. I’m not a plane but I’ll lift you. I’m not a river but I’m full of water. I’m not a river but let’s float, nary gloat, nor bloat. I’m not a river but if I swallow you you won’t be able to stir. What do elephants have that no other animal has? Baby elephants. Three legger asks a man for money. He gives each leg a quarter. What time is it? Quarter to three. Why did the girl think the cook was mean? He beat the eggs. Why do birds fly south in the winter? It’s too far to walk. What animal can jump higher than the mountain? Mountains don’t jump. Nibble on dandelion greens for indigestion. Dogs eat grass. Grate the orange peel for a digestive kick in the pants. And serve a side dish of brown rice. Harvard says high fiber foods prevent ulceration. Banish the cough with bananas. Cinnamon contains volatile oils that break down fat. Chew fennel seeds to crush gas. Fennel contains terpenoid anetnole which relieves muscle spasms and encourages production of bile.

Mark Twain calls cauliflower “cabbage with a college education.”

Yours,

Diana Vance in the drizzle

Mendocino

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CRANK IT UP!

AVA Editor,

While never trisecting a triangle or squaring the circle I probably qualify as a crank in the mind of the editor of the AVA because of my subscribing to the AVA, my advanced years, and my belief in Peak Oil. Along with Galileo, Jesus Christ, Copernicus and Karl Marx, we cranks have a role to play: Replacing zinnias in our planters positioned on the rail of our deck with radishes, I discovered that the radish plant has the ability to position its leaves in such a way as to gather the maximum amount of solar radiation much like the sunflower. I’ve attached a photo showing this phenomenon.

Harold Ericsson

Harbor City

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THANKS FROM PETER’S FAMILY

To Our Community of Family & Friends:

A big ‘thank you’ to each and every one of you fine people who took the time to come by, call, bring hugs and food — to cry and remember with us.

All the touching condolences, flowers, cards, and thoughts will be forever remembered.

I will always remember Peter, and the love, joy, and pride he brought to me.

Your remembrances will bring smiles through the tears.

Thank you and love to you all,

Marianne Pardini

Donald & Families

Philo

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KGB IN IONE

Editor,

Here we go again. Mule Creek State prison, SNY, the most unclassy California SNY prison. The scandal machine. But let me explain. And you will agree.

On September 16, 2011, on my way to store (canteen), I was stopped and put in handcuffs and marched to C-yard program office at 9am and I was put in a dummy cage until 11am. I was duly informed that I was being locked up for written threats on staff. The correctional officer told me I was running a Sacramento investigation from what he/she heard. A covert operation at that. Shit. Here we go, CIA-KGB!

I refused to sign the lockup order, CDC 114d, until I saw the “Lt.” He finally came to see me (Lt. G. Murphy) and told me I only wanted to talk to him for ID purposes. Okay. It’s got to be a CIA operation. I refused to sign for my copy of the CDC 114d and off to the ASU-hole I went (Area 51) C-12. No man’s land.

On October 17, 2011, I was fully cleared of any threats on staff by, guess who? Lt. Murphy. But now I can’t go back to the yard. As now all of a sudden I got an “enemy”? It was crazy. A total scam at that. I saw my CIA mole correctional officer who told me that he or she heard via reliable sources that three COs had a meeting on September 16 to see how to lock me up as the captain was not on duty and it was a Friday. So they had 72 hours to get the story straight as the captain would be back first thing Monday. But now I had a so-called “enemy,” courtesy of staff of the sitdown mafia meeting on September 16. Members only. (Ha ha.)

On October 20, 2011, I saw the warden (Warden Knipp) at ICC who told me, Do me a favor, step out while I get to the bottom of this bullshit. In so many words. After ten minutes I went back in and it was quiet as all staff, seven of them, including ISU, said nothing. The warden had the floor. After we talked, just me and Knipp, I could see he was pissed at staff for locking me up. I tried to sign a Barney Chrono, but my captain, Captain Kaplan, said no. We can’t disclose who put you down as an enemy? I told him it was Dino the scumbag, chomo child abuser. So much for any confidential paperwork. (Ha ha.) (My mole CIA told me who it was.)

So the warden told me, Don’t worry, I’ll put you up for a transfer to two places you pick. I made two choices and that was that. Knipp said, I’ll get you to a place you can program, get a job and visit your elderly parents who are in poor health. You got my word. I said, Okay Warden Knipp.

So here I sit, waiting to leave this soulless place! This place is a total shithole. They keep stuff from the warden and he only knows what is told to him. Trust me, I spoke my piece on October 20 and laid it out for the warden to hear! He agreed!

So as I said before in my prior AVA letter of October 19, this place is unclassy. Totally. Drama. Not to mention 90% sick chomos and rapos. So think twice prior to coming here. Also my family offered to hire a former FBI handwriting expert but this place said it was a CDCR rule that I was entitled to. Come on. My family wants to pay the cost and CDCR says no! Okay, whatever. Also, my mole CIA-CO, also told me that if I file a lawsuit he or she will sign a declaration and testify in court on my behalf. As he or she is transferring to another prison that is not shamelessly corrupt.

So now if this is not corrupt, then what is? Bottom line, if they don’t like you or somebody smuts you up with staff, you’re out of here. Also, an investigation on staff? I don’t think so. But now where will be an investigation? Trust me. Let alone a major civil suit at that.

Area 51 out.

Kenny ‘Irish’ Callahan

Ione

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DIVEST THYSELF

Letter to the Editor

I hear a lot of verbal support for the Wall Street and other “Occupy” events.

A further demonstration of support would be to divest oneself of all holdings in corporate stock.

The class lines a being drawn.

Bruce Hering

Boonville

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MID-SPECTRUM PARADOX

Hi Todd,

Your response to my comments about your ideas about spirituality was emotionally generous and well founded. I think it is possible for us to both be correct. There is not knowing and then there is not knowing. The kind of not knowing your ascribe to science is a positive not knowing, the kind that leads to further knowledge. The kind I was thinking of is the kind of not knowing that leads to a closed mind, one that does not want to know.

They are at opposite ends of a spectrum. Most people get stuck in the middle of the spectrum; they accept science as wanting to know and being alright with not knowing any final answers. At the same time they cling to a religion (any of them) that tells them that only the deity can know what’s really going on, so not knowing is o.k.. They have (each of them) a final answer, which means, to them, that they don’t need to know anymore, because they already have the final answer.

The real paradox here is that the middle is good when you speak of moderation in all things, the middle path, and so on. But the middle is not good when it is an excuse for making no further inquiry. There are those who seek the truth and there are those who reek of it.

I enjoy your columns. They always make me want to know more.

Lee Simon

Far ‘n Away Farm in Virginia

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CRIME PAYS FOR THE 1%

Dear Editor,

Caption: Slave in arms. From North Star Shining, a pictorial history of the American slave industry.

* * *

Does this slave drawing look suspiciously like today’s court, jail, prison system? Makes you wonder if modern mass imprisonment isn’t a continuation of slavery.

Occupy, yes! Unfortunately if we occupy the courts we could be in irons to. Those unaccountable, the black robes, seem to own the jails and prisons. $180,000 per year plus perks judging the 99% while very dangerous criminals like Tony Hayward, former CEO of British Petroleum Co., the mortgage fraudsters, greedy bankers, federal reservists all run loose. In fact, the bailouts demonstrate that crime pays. The remedy I’d suggest: give all the prison inmates a bonus so government bailouts are fair and equitable. Remember the official position: crime pays.

Thinking about the ironic reminds me of you, Mr. Anderson, thanking the medical doctors because you didn’t perish from their treatment of your prostate problem. Allopathic medicine: intrusive, dangerous and expensive. Holistic or more natural medicine offers real alternatives that succeed and are even affordable since you have to pay for them yourself. Alternative medicine, including ozone and hyperbaric oxygen treatments, electromedicine — such as Refe machines, Bob Beck blood blood purifiers, vibe machines which harmonize our bodies like ecosystems in time with the earth’s own frequencies, nutritional medicine including dietary change, all can accomplish what allopathic medicine deems uncurable.

There are many alternative healers publishing newsletters and online solutions. Check out health science’s Dr. Robert Rowen’s (phi beta kappa) Second Opinion, Dr. Richard Chilton’s American Botanical Pharmacy, Dr. Julian Whitaker’s Health and Healing. Just a sampling of what’s available.

Glad to see you quote Thomas Szasz. His book, ‘toxic psychiatry,’ is a classic debunking of the mental illness game. An older classic is Orthomolecular Medicine with an introduction by the vitamin C Nobel Prize laureate, Dr. Linus Pauling.

Glad you survived your ordeal. Getting well need not be so risky, nor so expensive. Costs keep rising for our failed medical system. Up, up, up and away — out of reach for so many.

Single-payer, yes.

Occupy.

Dorotheya Dorman

Redwood Valley

Ed reply: When the tumor that grew until it killed Steve Jobs was first discovered, the doctors wanted to take it out before it became too big and lethal. Instead, Jobs went to the quacks, and by the time he returned to proven medical science he was a dead man walking. The cadaverous practitioners of “alternative” medicine, of whom there are of course many here in quackety-quack Mendocino County, and none of whom has ever seemed more fit to me than the many more meat-eating drunks loose in the land, are right about diet and exercise but, heck, me dear old mum smoked Pall Mall non-filters and knocked down many pints of Old Crow right to the end of her days, which numbered 86 years worth, while Jim Fixx, the famous running guru, went out at age 52 with a massive heart attack while he was jogging. The point would seem to be that life hangs by a very thin thread no matter what you’re throwing down your slop chute, and it’s probably healthier not to spend whole hours of it dissecting your bowel movements. As for me, I’ll go to my grave singing the praises of St. Mary’s Hospital, San Francisco. In fact, I’m thinking of faking it so I can get back in for a week or so.

Editor,

I was off a couple weekends back attending the Grangers State Convention at the Palermo Grange just outside of Oroville. Four days of Grangers catching up, talking resolutions, sharing music, jokes and electing officers. Many think of Grangers as those people who run the Grange and have the strange ceremonies. Well those strange ceremonies, and the way the Granges are constructed are deeply connected to a rich history. Grangers formed to help the much damaged Union recover after the civil war. They also dealt with the greedy railroad companies that attempted to lower crop prices and increase transportation costs (aka “being railroaded.”) Grangers as farmers used special handshakes, passwords, gate keepers and buildings with windows up high to keep the railroaders and their goons out. They lobbied hard in our capitol using those handshakes and passwords to insure they were talking to Grangers and it worked. Regulatory laws controlled the greedy railroads and farmers grew stronger. As a fraternal order of a time when ceremony was king, a lot of these crucial methods got incorporate into Grange ritual.

Grangers pass these ceremonies lovingly from generation to generation and now as some of the Granges memberships dwindled with older folks holding fast to their traditions, newcomers wondering about the sashes, staffs and passwords . The old Grangers feared losing tradition and in my opinion, fail to explain what the tradition was about or to adapt. Many Granges and the State Convention continue with the old ceremonies, but a few are updating or simply not doing them. The AV Grange is an experimental Grange and limits its ceremony.

I suppose I am sucker for ceremony having lived in a spiritual community (the Ojai Foundation) that examined the varied spiritual paths of everything from Zen Buddhists, Sufis, Native Americans and more. I can’t actually describe Granger rituals as well. We are sort of a secret group. You got the password. Eh?” Yet I can say that these Grangers honor one another for their actions and center their process in the seasons, farming & animal husbandry and faith. The officers (some 25!~ positions) fill the entire needs of the Grangers from basic business, to speakers, musicians, gate keepers, seasons, and executive committee. I can understand how the ceremony supports Grange function and it takes knowledge of past and attention to the present to make ritualism work and yet I can see ways the traditions could change to be more receptive.

At one point in the convention, the Grange Women Auxiliary (all the woman basically) left the building to be honored for their volunteer efforts and were escorted by staff bearing stewards into the convention center. The pianist played “Whistle while you work” and many whistled along. A special hand clap rhythm emitted from each Granger following this honoring. It was very dramatic and the smiles moved both ways. A real feel good moment! That ceremony stuff. Warm feelings, I am sucker for it. Gosh!

The Grange’s government-lobbying beginnings have stuck and this nonprofit organization continues to this day to impact the needs of its farming and expanded communities at City, County, State and National level. Legislators actually listen up when Granger leaders and lobbyist speak up. Why? Grangers have clout.

Granges often populate Ag communities heavily: 5-10 per county. Local farmers are generally Grangers and they are political about what impacts their profession. Granges are often central locations, places to meet, dance, celebrate and plan. They range from Pancake Granges, to 4H super Ag centers. Yet many like ours have evolved into community centers. A few eroded into derelict abandoned buildings but there is a bit more on that.

A couple years ago the State level struggling along with its local ‘subordinate’ Granges elected a new State leader or State Master (Grange speak}, in this case Robert McFarland. McFarland has been a godsend. A long time Granger, McFarland picked up the lead and created a Grange renaissance amidst a recession. In these past two years, he has stimulated ten communities with abandoned Granges to reopen and attract new members. He has rekindled 20 other Granges to increase their membership by 241 folks in 2010 and 925 in 2011 and Grange total membership for California passed 10,000. He has evoked this with novel ideas bringing us the Sacramento Vegetarian Grange, the Healdsburg Ballet Grange and the Southern California Certified Farmers Market Managers Grange. He is paying attention to the Local Food movement and has created and funded California Grange School of Agriculture and has one Grange developing a Farmers Bill of Rights. Is he doing it all? No! He inspires action. He travels from Grange to Grange, talking the talk, and obviously making a difference. He has taken the Grange out of the red and is growing it fiscal backing. He has tightened up Grange operations and no, you can’t have him for President. With all this,McFarland is modest and knows who has made the difference, other Grangers working shoulder to shoulder. His drive is infectious.

The convention had its moments. Ranging from comical, or endearing to political nastiness, but Grangers look to their core and find ways to rise above it all and reconnect stronger. Long time conservative farmers and progressive back-to-landers can clash, but they find mutual goals and are working to make farming life better, to get regulators off the back of the little farmers and to make things less toxic and our environment cleaner.

One of the current resolution addressed the absurd over response of California’s Food and regulation on small herd dairy operations and meat production. Sure they need some control. but not the same requirements as big dairies. Some of these small contract one cow operations simply milk a co-owned cow and yet they have been told to ‘seize and desist.’ Four county Granges wrote resolutions that got consolidated into one. Grangers are out to set California straight.

One of the new Granges in Scott’s Valley, Lake County is calling itself the Permaculture Grange, with the plan to inspire and connect a struggling local economy with good quality food, using water saving tactics. Grangers are trying to help an ailing economy and leave a stronger fabric. It is part of their core mission commitments. It is why the Grange formed at the end of the civil war and it remains a strong focus.

Another development is that the Willits Little Lake Grange, a fast growing Grange along with the Fort Bragg Grange, announced their desire to hold the 2012 State Convention. They have big plans, and they hope to involve all of the local Granges in a big production. You can benefit even as a non-Granger by going to Fort Bragg or Willits and learn to produce, store and process food. Willits has two large Silos for locally grown grain. Willits and Fort Bragg have relatively new and large commercial kitchens and very active memberships. One would call them phoenix Granges, as these developments are relatively recent from organizations that were working, but small. In fact, Fort Bragg is the fastest growing Grange in the US!

This Granger came away excited with new ideas for the Anderson Valley Solar Grange. You don’t have to join to gain from a Grange, but you could gain from being part of the change. April is free membership month but the cost of annual membership is dirt cheap. Pony up Bruce. See you there.

As the second in command, Overseer, I have to say there is lots to see out there in them thar hills through this great state. These are active people who care about their communities and want them to prosper, to have safe programs for their children and a center to work from. The Granges will provide everything from high quality local food, great theater, ballet and in some cases vegetarian meals. I am thinking hey why not the Accordion Grange? Meanwhile our State Grange Master McFarland is outside of the Grange Hall with a solar flash light plowing new ground.

Greg Krouse, Over Seer Anderson Valley First Solar Grange #669

Philo

PS. Unrelated note: Fukushima Daiichi is still irradiating big time even though the media has dropped the very hot potato clearly from pressure from the nuclear industry. The children and well everything is at risk there and just like the Three Mile Island and Chernobyl disasters are being described as non events when in fact they are very bad events that will continue to pollute. Thousands of impacted families sued in three Miles wake, Chernobyl killed thousands, sent a plume around the world and Fucishima’s plume will send us polluted migratory fish, and dangerously pollutes Tokyo 140 miles south of the accident. The current industry defined safe zone from the power disaster is 12 miles! Russia’s is twice that! The misrepresentation and purposely lowered impacts are hideous as it makes nuclear seem like a safe process allowing errors when in fact there is zero allowance for errors. Also 23 nuclear power plants of the same design as Fucishmia’s 4 meltdowns. Are we safe? I say no.

Today on KZYX Debra Scott interviewed Kevin Camps from Beyond Nuclear organization. Beyond Nuclear’s website is worth the look along with Japan’s www.greenaction.org. Concerned Japanese citizens are here asking Americans to lobby the UN to send a Human Rights inspection team to oversee the serious lack of protection that is going on there. We need to reexamine the safety of nuclear power. Most recently the Atomic energy regulators lowered the height of Tsunami walls. With the damage that the Tsunami caused in Japan, that is yet another irresponsible step by the regulators.

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OCCUPY THIS!

Warm Spiritual Greetings,

Please know that I am camping with the Occupy Wall Street group in a lower Manhattan park, two blocks from Wall Street — in the rain! America’s anti-corruption campaign is in full swing. This is what democracy looks like. I am fund-raising to get a small tent and necessaries My friend Ali is accepting mail for me. Otherwise, I hope that you are happy.

My love to all,

Craig Louis Stehr

c/o Ali Madigan

601 W. 113th St. #5A, NY NY 10025

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PROTECT US, NOT INC.

Dear Governor Brown,

I hear you are looking to get rid of Prop. 13. I don¹t

know the particulars, and it is impossible to get through to your office on the phone to ask you, so I am writing. Please consider my viewpoint.

I moved to Oakland in 1969. By the early Œ70¹s I was aware of elderly neighbors who had lived in their homes for decades, losing their homes because they could not afford the property taxes on the new inflated values of those houses. ŠSteps in Jarvis/Gann, Prop. 13 with a plan to keep those property taxes low. A very excellent idea. My information is that in order to get it passed, a rider was put on at the last minute that gave corporations the right to the same low property taxes. THAT is what is wrong with Prop. 13, and that part should go!

We liked you when you were governor the first time. We loved your radio show. But something seemed to shift in you when you became mayor of Oakland. We voted for you this time, but we¹re not sure about you any more. Are you for The People? Or are you for the fat-cat corporations?

Please retain the portion of Prop. 13 that keeps the property taxes of individual home owners¹ low. If they have more than one home, then keep it low on the primary residence. Change the part about corporations. Make them pay their fair share.

Protect the People, not the corporations.

Sincerely,

Nancy MacLeod

Philo

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HOW CLEAR IS CLEAR?

Dear McEwen,

While I always look forward to and enjoy your court reports, your refusal to name the players in some sort of logical fashion makes them often confusing and sometimes unintelligible. This week’s “Crazy Cases” is aptly titled, as the dog fracas made no sense whatsoever. The names were so jumbled it was impossible to know who did what to whom. Does anyone read your stuff before it is published? Don’t you have an editor?

Perhaps a little less pontificating and a little more proofing is in order. But don’t stop.

Dick Whetstone

Fort Bragg

Ed note: Er, ah, I’m the editor. I, too, found the first draft confusing, but I thought we had it all cleared up by the time it was a go. Some time ago, a very rough draft of a story I wrote, complete with notes that should have totally mystified readers, found its way onto our front page. No one complained; in fact several people told me how much they liked it.

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BEFORE BEFORE PERRY

Dear Editor,

Rick Perry in his ill-fated debate may have been tripped up by the thought that, before Mitt Romney was before he was before, he was a little zygote swimming in his mother’s womb that his mother was commanded by God’s law not to abort.

Ken Ellis

New Bedford

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NO MORE EXCUSES

Open Letter to the Mendocino Board of Supervisors:

Since there was little media coverage of public comment given at the Oct. 25th meeting, I want to clarify and expand on the common sense of Laura’s Law that I was trying to express. It may have been lost when my talk got more emotional than intended.

I was trying to point out that Laura’s Law is all about responsibility. Responsibility for the few in our community who have proven to be dangerous because of a mental illness they themselves don’t recognize they have. Currently in our County the only ones asked to take any responsibility for their care and treatment are the family and law enforcement. From my own experience, the family alone is ill equipped to handle the job on their own. Likewise law enforcement’s treatment is lacking in three ways, it’s too late (two lives), too expensive ($?), and the treatment is likely to be fatal to the patient. Laura’s Law only asks that we as a community take some of the responsibility for care and treatment of these few for our own safety and theirs.

Looking at that simple truth you have to ask why someone didn’t think of it before. In fact they have, nearly all the rest of the Nation has already enacted similar laws that have stood the test of time and study. These laws have proven to be effective in every way including saving money. Why in California has common sense gone out the window? Mostly because California gave the option to the counties to implement Laura’s Law, so nothing has happened. The excuses given by County governments are too long to list but if each is brought into light of intelligent review, they melt away. Please ask County staff to focus on how to bring this civil law to our County and not focus on excuses.

The biggest excuse, the one that scares County employees and tax payers alike is MONEY. But fear not, if staff would just do the paperwork, Nevada County provides the model our County can use. Their program is funded by MHSA (millionaire’s tax) money for full service partnerships, and MediCal. For every $1 of this money, Nevada County saves $1.81 in reduced hospitalizations and incarcerations.

If the public doesn’t have the time to research the studies of how Laura’s Law saves money, just remember it’s an old idea that dates from the Stone Age. If you want to save stones, try to kill two birds with just one stone. That’s what Laura’s Law does by using the same dollar to treat the severely mentally ill and also provide for the public safety.

Sincerely,

Jim Bassler

Fort Bragg

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FREEDOM OR FORCED DRUGS

To: Roanne Withers:

I have a sister who has schizophrenia, and I suspect, but cannot confirm, that you have little experience in the area in which you write. Please let me know if I’m wrong, and let me know what personal experience you’ve had that causes you to be passionate on this important topic. Clearly you feel strongly about this, and I wonder if anger at Big Pharma colors your research of the topic itself.

I have read Richard Whittaker’s books and looked at the research behind his book, and I’d like to discuss that with you in hopes of helping you understand this complex subject, and the goals behind outpatient treatment laws.

About 50% of people who experience psychosis have NO IDEA that their thought process is screwy, and so they can’t imagine taking medication for their condition. So, while psychotic, they operate from their perceptions, which may be simply delusional, or really dangerously paranoid. The current laws result in people who are in this state of mind essentially being hunted like animals and treated in ways that are terribly inhumane. In most cases, if a person responds to modern anti-psychotics, receiving these drugs is life-saving. About 30% of psychotic people can’t find any medications that help them, because what we call mental illness is really a number of fairly poorly understood neurological conditions.

Catherine Mone

San Carlos

Roanne Withers replies: Instead, let me help you understand that it took all of one minute to ascertain that you are a San Francisco NAMI supporter and internet troll who counters web articles that question the use of psychotropic medications as chemical restraints. (Your deceptive stalking behavior is downright creepy.)

Psychopharmacology is not particularly complex for me, Ms. Mone. However, I don’t have to know one thing about neuroleptic medications to know for certain that taking away a person’s freedom to refuse such medication takes mental health treatment back to the dark and gruesome days of surgical lobotomies, ice baths and blood letting.

The Laura’s Law/forced treatment debate is primarily about legal rights and ethics. I am not angry. I am completely appalled though by the opportunist NAMI leaders in Mendocino County who used a very tragic local incident and manipulated a grief stricken father to advance their self-serving, antiquated cause.

I deeply fear that when offered up a Laura’s Law/forced chemical restraint solution to the horrible consequences of not adequately funding voluntary mental health care, that taxpayers and politicians will run roughshod over civil liberties. I am old enough to have experienced the days when a non-mentally ill but otherwise uncooperative wife, or a disobedient son or daughter could be locked away and forcefully sedated for years with just a wink and a nod.

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LAURA’S LAW HELPS

Editor:

Regarding Roanne Withers’ comments (oct 19, 2011) regarding Laura’s Law, I believe Ms. Withers misses a major point in working with mentally ill people. A doctor friend recently made an analogy of Alzheimer’s patients who are medicated without their consent since they are not fully capable of making that decision; the same dynamic occurs with many mentally ill people, who are lost in the big world, attempting to live a life confused by erratic thinking and paranoia.

My son is mentally ill and homeless; can you, Roanne, imagine a loved one with no intervention until a crime has been committed? I’d gladly sign any papers to help Andrew out of his madness. My heart goes to other family members whose loved ones are ill and vulnerable. I belong to NAMI; through their information and support, I have been able to maintain hope for my son.

Please, Mendo County Supes and local law enforcement, incorporate Laura’s Law to help citizens incapacitated by mental illness.

Elizabeth Ryan

Fort Bragg

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SAD BUT TRUE

Dear Editor,

Thank you for printing my letter in the October 5 issue: Power of Attorney Abuse.

My main reason for writing that was to expose the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde personality that Eugene Allen Lincoln Jr., aka “Bear Lincoln” (my brother) displays on practically a daily basis. It is a given that we all have our different moods, but Eugene Jr. takes this to an extreme.

For instance, with his Dr. Jekyll he gets to play the goody two-shoes role, the one where he is the innocent victim, a scapegoat as it were. He (i.e., Bear Lincoln) has and continues to rely on his Dr. Jekyll front whenever he feels it is necessary for those who are gullible enough to fall for his ploy.

On the other hand, my family (myself included) knows all too well about his Mr. Hyde persona, the one in which his display of bizarre and unpredictable behavior keeps us all along our toes. In my previous letter I revealed how he, Bear, had given my brother Carlos two black eyes! Especially when Carlos couldn’t defend himself. Carlos is a diabetic amputee in a wheelchair! Also, pulling a knife on my nephew and his seven-year-old son, Joe. Verbally abusing my nephew’s two daughters who are only 10 and 7 years old. The list goes on and on. Those are just a few of the problems we have to deal with concerning Eugene “Bear” Lincoln.

I am very concerned about the health and well-being of my mother and brother, Lucille and Carlos, because of the restraining orders that Bear has on us. I can’t even go check on them! Is that a caring and concerned son’s actions he’s displaying? Hell no.

If I had the proper resources I would get Lucille and Carlos out of that house for their own safety. Bear always had his sights set on taking over my mother’s house. Bear even started moving his belongings in. My mother told me herself that when Bear moved to the house it seemed like the house doesn’t belong to her anymore! Power and control.

So I guess his plan is all coming into place. First he gets power of attorney over Lucille which is very questionable, then he gets a restraining order against us so we can’t check out check on the condition of Lucille and Carlos. Power and control.

Bear already thinks he is the sole owner of Little Valley, the family property that our father Gene Sr. left for the whole family, not just for Junior — Bear Lincoln. From Junior’s actions it shows that he always wanted to be an only child. And in his mind maybe he believes he really is. That’s why he feels the need to keep us away from his mother since giving Carlos two black eyes over nothing. There is no telling what he would do to own my mother’s house. Power and control.

This all seems like pages out of a suspense novel. But if I hadn’t been there to witness everything first hand I would find it hard to believe. Nevertheless, it is all sad but true.

Ever since Bear came back, he has been a thorn in our side that must be removed in order for the healing process to begin and before he can cause any more damage to my family.

Hopefully when his weed crop comes in and he sells it, Bear will find another town and another family to manipulate and persecute. He wasn’t even supposed to come back to Covelo in the first place! He has been labeled a threat to the community — obviously.

What is he really after? My mother’s birthday is November 1, but we can’t go over to celebrate!

Later,

Eric Lincoln

Ukiah/Covelo

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IRRELEVANT CREDENTIALS

Editor,

I know I write a lot of letters and that you don’t agree with my libertarian views, but I am a former history teacher and have a father who once advised Jimmy Carter. So I must beg you to please print this letter.

The clear proof that Lee Harvey Oswald did not act alone is that of Sherlock Holmes noting that “The dog did not bark” (i.e., the killer was a friend of the dog). Oswald at the height of the Cold War somehow left the Marine Corps early, traveled to Russia, arrived speaking fluent Russian, renounced his US citizenship — later instantly obtaining a new passport — wrote to the US Embassy that he was giving military secrets to Russia, lived in Russia, then suddenly returned to the United States. Can anyone explain why the FBI records show they never questioned or followed him, without assuming the CIA told them to leave him alone? (The CIA admitted they “interviewed him” when he returned, but said “the notes were destroyed.”) Does anyone remember the House Committee in the Carter era said there was a conspiracy but they were not prepared to say by whom or that President Carter chose JFK’s closest living confidant, Ted Sorensen, to head the CIA and the Senate quickly voted to not confirm him? No one would publicly say why.

Michael Carson

Ione

PS. By writing “Oswald acted alone” (replying to Don Sanderson, October 5), I believe you obligated yourself to print the above unless someone else says it better. I do not think Bush or Cheney knew about 9/11 in advance or that FDR knew about Pearl Harbor, but some conspiracies are real. Johnson said on TV before his death that he did not believe the Warren Commission, and would only say that he suspected “a foreign power.” John Connolly said to his dying day that the first shot to hit Kennedy was not the same shot to hit in him, and the end of the film clearly showed the crowd all turn and look to the right. Not one hunter or combat veteran has ever thought the back of JFK’s head was an entrance wound.

Ed reply: At the risk of rousing the conspiracy beast, even I know that Oswald did not speak fluent Russian when he arrived in the Soviet Union, and he still didn’t speaka Russki much when he left. Back then, the middle to late 1950s, when Oswald was on his odd journeys, he was investigated by the FBI and the CIA because at the time Oswald was the only American in the world doing anything suspicious. Other than FBI and CIA personnel of course, as murderously incompetent then as they are now. But back then the FBI was hot on the trail of Peter, Paul and Mary while the CIA was making exploding cigars they hoped Castro would light up. They had nothing else to do but follow Oswald around and go to coffee klatches with a few residual commies. (An estimated third of the American Communist Party was comprised of FBI agents.) And, of course, there was and is literal armies of highly paid federal agents. (A handy local example of the FBI’s work product is the Bari Bombing, pathetic if it was genuine; transparently corrupt if it wasn’t. And we all remember the swell job the FBI did during the run-up to 911, ignoring reports that Saudi fanatics were learning to fly big airplanes without bothering to learn how to land them.) Incidentally, Norman Mailer’s book on Oswald —Oswald’s Tale, based largely on Russian archives released after the Wall came down — is, by far, the best account of ol’ Lee’s unique journey through his abbreviated life that there’s likely to be. You ought to be able to get it through the prison library system.

Dear Lee Simon,

Thanks for your scientific response to my conjecture about possible after-life scenarios. My father was an atheist medical doctor and his religion was Science, so reading your letter was like reading old gospel. I wasn’t going to respond, but then I read the following line and thought I would try arguing with you a little, mostly for fun.

“Secondly, not knowing is the basis of all crackpot beliefs, usually religious.”

Actually, not knowing is the basis of all science. Science is the exploration of what we don’t know and want to know about. Crackpot beliefs are only crackpot to those who don’t agree with those beliefs.

Furthermore, theories are not necessarily testable, nor do they have to be. Nor do theories have to be proven or disproven conclusively to be valid theories. A theory is not a fact. The theory of relativity is constantly being tested in new ways and there are constant ongoing challenges to that theory. This doesn’t mean Einstein’s theory isn’t a good theory. After all it has lasted almost a hundred years. In fact, I’m surprised they, the scientists who believe in his theory, don’t call it Einstein’s Fact of Relativity.

You took offense at my use of the word may. I take offense at it sometimes, too, but the fact is, the word may is fundamental to all hypotheses. Otherwise the hypothesis is not a theory, but either a true or erroneous fact, or a crack-pot belief. Official science, by the way, said the world was flat and that cigarettes were good for you until those “scientific facts” were proven to be incorrect. It is always easy to dismiss an idea that doesn’t fit our notion of reality. You might find it interesting to read detailed and scientifically rigorous comparisons of Chinese medical science and western medical science wherein highly trained doctors of each school of facts determine wholly different causes and cures for the same patients.

There is what you call proof, much of which will be subsequently disproved, and then there is, for me (based on a good deal of personal experience supporting my thinking and believing and knowing) the very real possibility that so-called experts and scientists don’t know what they’re talking about, probably because they try to make wishful theories into possible facts prematurely.

Todd Walton

Mendocino

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NO PARADES YET

Bruce,

Welcome back from the edge. You would have pissed me off if you transitioned to the great parade-ground in the ether.

Sincerely,

Miguel Lanigan

Clearlake Oaks

PS. Here’s a clever quote: “Witnessing the Republicans and the Democrats bicker over the US debt is like watching two drunks argue over a bar bill on the Titanic.”

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GIVE RETIREES A BREAK!

To the Editor:

My husband retired two years ago from the County of Mendocino after working as a groundskeeper for 28 years. When he was hired, and all through his long career, he was told he would be covered by health insurance in retirement. We planned ahead, lived and managed our money responsibly, and looked forward to a secure retirement.

Shortly after he retired the County began to contribute less toward the cost of the premium. His cost went from $171 per month to $531. It was a large increase, but we have been able to pay it. Now the Board of Supervisors has voted to abandon all support, requiring retirees, starting in January, to pay the full cost of $922 per month. That’s almost 40% of my husband’s pension. So much for the promise of health insurance in retirement. For some retirees, the health premium will swallow up their entire pension, and they will have to send a check to the county to pay the balance.

Last year those retirees 65 years and over were taken off the plan and assisted in signing up for Medicare Supplement plans. However, there are about 120 retirees under the age of 65 who will be gravely impacted by this cost increase. I have heard some say they plan to drop out the plan, since they cannot afford it, and go without any insurance at all, risking their health and possibly losing their homes if they have a serious illness. As retirees drop out, the plan will continue its “death spiral” of increasing costs and decreasing number of participants.

The County may even drop the plan altogether if not enough people sign up to continue.

When we heard about the increased costs, we thought we might drop the plan and get a private, individual plan. I began calling insurance companies and brokers, and to my dismay I discovered that my husband may not be insurable due to a “pre-existing condition” that seems minor. In fact, one broker told me that 80% of people over 50 who call him for individual plans are rejected by all insurance companies. I was shocked.

We understand all the financial issues involved, but we strongly believe that the County has a moral obligation to keep the promise it made to these retirees during their working years. The Board ignored a recommendation by its health consultant, Mercer, to combine this small retiree group with the current employees (about 1,000 enrollees). This change would decrease the cost to retirees by 22% while increasing the costs for employees by only 2.3%. Current employees might be willing to accept this increase if they were able to continue on the plan after they retire, which most of them aren’t allowed to do now. This change would also halt the death spiral. There would be an increased cost to the County, but it would be minor compared to the pain they are now inflicting on their retirees.

We plead with the Board of Supervisors to review their decision and put this option into effect.

Donna Salonen

Ukiah

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WAIT A MINUTE!

Advertiser —

I’m curious. Is the welfare to work program now welfare to unemployment? Why can corporations be persons? They can cause cancer but they can’t get cancer themselves?

Confused in

Little River

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OUR TOWN

Editor:

Thanks to The Major for reporting on Supervisor McCowen’s skepticism about the likely success of plans to update the Mendocino Town Plan (MTP). However, a correction is called for regarding The Major’s statement that it was “mostly innkeepers” challenging staff’s 2008 data showing essentially unchanged balance between residential and visitor serving units in the Town.

Staff studies have consistently shown little or no commercial growth in Mendocino, whether measured by video camera, square footage or by counting overnight lodging units. These numbers have been repeatedly challenged by the confirmed anti-change contingent to support increasingly Draconian controls on property owners and prevent phantom growth. Their current objectives include further reducing the dwindling supply of visitor accommodations, annexing additional homes and Inns on North Lansing, and making residential projects subject to Coastal Commission appeal in addition to the existing and generally successful local constraints imposed by the Mendocino Historical Review Board and the BOS.

The original MTP was drafted in 1992 and certified by the California Coastal Commission in 1996. The final sentence of the first paragraph states the over-arching goal of the Plan: “The Town of Mendocino is a ‘special community’ as described in Section 30253 (5) of the Coastal Act, and is recognized as a special community with an existing balance of residential, commercial and visitor serving facilities that is to be generally maintained.”

We need credible land use numbers to maintain this balance. While perfection in such counting will always be an elusive goal, staff achieved a high standard of credibility in 2008 by working with 2005 data secured from code enforcement visits to the Inns and a thorough review of 2008 County business and bed tax records, Mendocino Community Services District files and citizen input. It is time to fine tune and apply that information to update the lists of existing lodging, by type, establish policies for on-going management and then use the update process to address far more dire threats to the Town’s sustainability such as the general constriction of the economy, and our limited and highly variable water supply.

Rather than continuing to deny our inescapable dependence on tourism, we could also use this process to discuss how to meet the needs of visitors while minimizing negative impacts on residents. We could start by determining how to meet their basic needs for toilets, water and trash receptacles and then consider how to make the Historic District more enjoyable, safe, parkable and walkable for residents, nearby locals and visitors alike.

People from Caspar to Comptche, Little River and Elk consider Mendocino “their town.” On any given day, they far outnumber those of us who live here, as do visitors from more distant locations. We’re all impacted by external as well as immediately local factors. Only those who are out of touch with reality can argue seriously that protecting Mendocino’s residential character will be achieved by an exclusive focus on further reductions in overnight lodging that has already diminished, and by placing more burdens on the people who are trying to live and work here. If we stay stuck on these issues and fail to examine other contributing factors, we will neither achieve the goal of “maintaining balance” nor take necessary steps to strengthen our defenses against genuine threats to the Town’s sustainability.

Thomas Thomson, Wendy Roberts, Michael St. John, Jim & Ayla Douglas, Michael & Beth Litton, Roger Martin, Laraine Galloway

Mendocino

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LIBRARIES, YES; DEBT, NO

Editor,

Let me be clear: I am not against public libraries, nor have I been. I feel they are just as important as any other part of County government. This election has nothing to do with saving our Library. It’s about our County government which is a bloated, ineffective governing body, as are many others in our state, including the State of California. We are only small potatoes in the State. But we can make a significant voice by turning down Measure A.

Our debt per capital is the highest in the state, some $1300 per capita, compared to our northern neighbor, Humboldt County, a little over $100 per capita and our Eastern neighbor, Lake County, at about $100 per capita. You notice I did not mention our Southern neighbor, Sonoma County, which is almost as bad as us. Who do you think our officials compare us to? You got it! Sonoma County.

Our County credit rating is BBB and our bond rating is BBB-. For those who don’t know what credit ratings are for, our BBB ratings are the bottom of the barrel and the consequence is that when we borrow, we pay the highest interest which is like throwing money in the ocean. This County in the last decade has gotten huge increases of money. It’s not the income that is the problem, it’s the spending. We have to come to grips with it or we will be in the same pickle as our federal government which also has that over spending problems, as do many many European countries. One can read about them every day.

Recently our County wanted to lower their interest rate on some $23 million borrowed previously at 5% interest. The national average for municipal bonds is 2.5%. Average means there are half higher and half lower. But us at 5% are the king of the hill, and if we were just average we could save about a half a million dollars a year. That’s just on that $23 million of debt. Anything else is kept secret. We don’t have a not-too-good credit rating, we have a lousy credit rating and falling. Our county is like an alcoholic. You don’t keep giving an alcoholic more booze to cure them. Vote No on Measure A. It’s a beginning to sanity.

Emil Rossi

Boonville

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LOVE AT SECOND SIGHT

Dear Mighty Editor:

The re-examined life, after a brush with death, is twice as much worth living. I’m so glad you are still around to let us know what things look like with second sight.

Aloha,

Bill Brundage

Kurtistown, Hawaii

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THE TITANIC CLOWN SHOW

Editor,

These are wacky times! The US Attorneys target small businesses that provide valuable services for our communities and employ people and, unlike, the Bank of America, they pay taxes.

The IRS targets these same businesses, disallowing legitimate expenses, jacking up their taxes by a few million dollars.

Then Jerry Brown vetoes the industrial hemp bill in this economy?

When is the federal clown-show going to end this politics of the absurd and turn this Titanic ship of state around?

Yours,

Trixie Stubbs

Ukiah

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JOY & SORROW

Dear Editor,

Please sign me up for another year of outrage and umbrage. Your newspaper, among other things, highlights the foibles of the left, correctly assuming that your readership already considers the Republicans beyond hope.

Note to Steve Sparks: God doesn’t live in a gated community.

To Todd Walton: I enjoyed your contributions when they were more focused and less frequent. Commenting all the time on everything puts you in danger of becoming the AVA’s Andy Rooney.

Participate joyfully in the sorrows of the world.

Michael Townsend

Port Townsend, Washington

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ABOVE GROUND

Dear AVA,

Sorry to hear about the editor’s health and plumbing problems. Glad he’s better. They say that’s the second thing to go and I’m not looking forward to either.

I’m still sitting in administrative segregation for an assault on staff that truly never happened. It’s just taking time for the truth to rise as I sink. I am deeply indebted to you and the AVA and Northern California for the best of life while I was free and now I’m getting cold chills to think that my subscription is close to expiring.

As I said, I’m an artist/tattoer and mainly receive payment for certain illegal acts in confinement with postal stamps or money received from other inmates families becaise payment for the body art is frowned upon here and a write-up usually follows.

When I’m a free soul I will be in the clear with my tab with both the AVA and Laughing Dog Books.

It sure would help to have you print my name and number so that maybe lost friends will be renewed.

I’m still not sure where I’ll lay my hat this go round but being a veteran helps in some matters. You have always put out the most informational newspaper out there. It makes us all proud on this side of the bars when you make good on your promises.

If you could extend my subscription or take some stamps as payment it sure would alleviate this induced depression.

Hopefully you will print this letter because I’ve lost contact with most friends and family having been gone these last 10 years. Again, thanks, my friends, for giving us this wealth of information and also smiling about it which is truly rare nowadays.

Drink lots of water and make vigorous use of your plumbing. That should keep you up and running stronger.

I’ll see you soon. After all, any day above ground is a very good day indeed.

A brother in arms,

Joseph D’Avey C-62414

PO Box 689 O-W-240 ad-seg

Soledad, CA 93960-0689

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NOT OBAMA’S PAPA

Dear Editor:

Please add my name to the list of those praising Ian Baruma’s fine “Obama’s Mama” article and you for running it in the October 12 edition. Well researched, wide-ranging, fact-packed, well-written and fascinating. Good work. Seems that what Obama got from his father was: cogitate, conform, climb. From his mother: “stick it in their eye!” So far, he’s been pretty much his dad’s son. But it ain’t over yet.

Respectfully,

Don MacQueen

Eugene, Oregon

PS. My concerned wishes for your good health. Not enough of your kind around that we can afford to lose any.

PPS. Hephalumpe for President! Hip Hip, Replacement! He could run on the ProFusion ticket. (The Republicans have long since pre-empted Con.)

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I’LL BE DARNED

Editor:

After Krystallnacht, the smash-up of Jewish shops, an uneasy representative of the German insurance companies appeared before a panel of Nazis chaired by Reichsfuhrer Hermann Goering, hoping to escape liability and payment for the property damage. The appalling transcript begs for dramatic performance, with the high Nazis several times bursting out laughing, and Goering eerily frank with the insurance representative regarding Party motives in respect to the Jews, to which the rep could bring himself to reply only with an uncontentious and ambiguous “Aha!” But the question of payment was settled by Goering, who stated flatly and simply, “You will pay because you are liable.” And that was that.

Correct me, but the only court action I know concerning responsibility for 9/11 was an appeal by the owner of the Towers that his insurance settlement be doubled and paid as two separate acts of terrorism, not one, because there were two planes, not one. Which would seem to imply that one of the two planes was directed by… Lex Luthor? — and the other, it goes without saying, by Osama bin Laden.

Now, there is no parallel between the above cases, none whatsoever, of course. Except that in both cases there was no forensic investigation to determine who perpetrated the crimes. Yet in both cases the insurance companies paid.

Well, uh… aha!

Funny way to do business, eh?

Gordy Black

Mendocino

Dear Editor:

I am often questioned as to why I am so involved in the school district since I have no children or grandchildren in it. I can only say that I am passionate regarding education because these students are our future and deserve to get the best education afforded to them.

I continue to be involved by attending the majority of school board meetings for the past four years, along with the elementary and high school site council meetings. I am fully aware of the happenings within our school district. I will give you the simplified version on the ABC’s of Susan Rush.

Accountability: I want to become an accountable member of a collaborative team which focuses on the educational needs of all our students. Accountability to the parents and community is not only vital in building an open and trusting relationship but, as a member of the school board, we are mandated by California State Educational Code to be accountable.

Budget: My past bookkeeping experience will help during these difficult economic times to assure that funds are being put into areas that will most benefit our students.. It is imperative to provide a clear concise budget reports that any community member can comprehend.

Children: I believe our children come first. Our students’ academic and professional careers are in our hands. If they fail, then we have failed them. I want to be sure that teachers, parents and students are involved in all major decisions made by the school board. I want to state that I have a proven record of independence and will not be rubberstamping items just because it is a popular thing to do. It must benefit the student, parents and community.

I thank all of you for your support and your continued involvement in education.

Suzanne “Susan” Rush

Manchester

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WHY THE SECRECY?

Editor,

What the heck is up with the information system and Aaron Bassler?

Things seem to keep changing.

They always said keeping Jere Melo’s companion’s identity secret was to protect him and his family. If he knew Bassler, then almost certainly Bassler knew him.

Now, without official info, we may be up to three possibilities.

And where did the fact that someone defecated on Matthew Coleman’s body disappear to?

“Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.”

Darn, I hope you are still on the mend.

Jim Armstrong

Potter Valley

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MENDO’S IN THE WAY

To the Editor:

I would like to try and clear up what I believe is misinformation about Laura’s Law and how it might have affected my son Aaron’s life.

County employees have now done exactly what I predicted. They are trying to protect themselves and don’t want to do anything meaningful to protect the public or help people in crisis. They decided to insert their own plan to divert attention and confuse what was intended to be a serious look at Laura’s Law. The fact that Laura’s Law, as implemented in Nevada County and similar laws enacted across the nation, have proven to be effective in every measure including saving money, should be important to the Board of Supervisors. As should the fact that so many respected organizations support LL, such as the National Sheriff’s Association, California Sheriff’s Association, and California Police Chiefs Association.

The thought that county employees could come up with a better plan on their own is improbable. Protecting the public and people’s civil rights by having more of a community focus may be complex, but that complexity is what makes Laura’s Law so successful. Nevada County has provided a model to follow; and why is it assumed this county is incapable?

To give up on public safety because some see it as too complex seems like bad policy, when there are so many intelligent people in the community. One more thing on Aaron’s mental state in February when I wrote that letter to the county psychiatrist and the court; I believe it was dismissed, thinking I was a dumb fisherman, and I very well may be, but I do possess some common sense.

I have enough sense to know when a ship is sinking. I sent out a May Day on the appropriate channels; when no pumps or help came, my family and I abandoned ship. The fact that there is no one listening to the emergency channel and there is no procedure for anyone else to get off the ship, resulted tragically in Matt Coleman and Jere Melo going down with Aaron’s ship. The tragedy is that there is no common sense to the current system, but the real tragedy is that there is so much county government opposition to common sense.

Jim Bassler

Fort Bragg

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WACKAZOIDIA

Editor:

Thank you Alexander Cockburn and Bruce Anderson for being voices of sanity and reason in wackazoidian Mendo County. It is both scary and pathetic how many people buy into these crackpot conspiracy theories.

Add them to the tin foil hat brigade and the anti-vaccination crowd and it seems we’re surrounded by idiots.

Best,

Lisa Walters

Gualala

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THE AMERICAN FALL

Editor,

After months of zero inspiration, like millions of other Americans, I finally “got it.”

The American Fall:

We are the tired / Hungry and poor / Living outside of / Foreclosure’s door

We live in a box / Underneath a bridge / The cold and the rain / Our toxic fridge

We go to the bank / But don’t get money / Yet still say thanks / For old bread and honey

The new occupation / Has finally begun / Out of patience / By the thousands we come

Let us fill the streets / May our voices be loud / We’re here to defeat / The corrupt corporate crowd

As we meet / With cardboard sign / Politicians tweet / The party line

No new taxes / No none at all / They sit on their asses / As America falls.

Chris Pizzitola

Fort Bragg

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QUESTIONS, QUESTIONS

Editor,

Ever Wondered…

Why you don’t ever see the headline: “Psychic Wins Lottery”?

Why “abbreviated” is such a long word?

Why Doctors call what they do “practice”?

Why you have to click on “Start” to stop Windows 98?

Why lemon juice is made with artificial flavor, while dishwashing liquid is made with real lemons?

Why the man who invests all your money is called a “Broker”?

Why there isn’t mouse flavored cat food?

Who tastes dog food when it has a “new & improved” flavor?

Why Noah didn’t swat those two mosquitoes?

Why they don’t make the whole airplane out of the material used for the indestructable black box?

Why they call the airport “the terminal” if flying is so safe?

Why they are called apartments when they are all stuck together?

If con is the opposite of pro, is Congress the opposite of progress?

(Considering what is happening in the economic and political spectrum I’ll end it with that.)

Dennis Jones

Cottage Grove, Minnesota

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THE CIA’S A PEAK-OILER TOO

Editor —

Alexander Cockburn said the US has an oil surplus. He said this surplus is the result of production from fields in North Dakota.

I disagreed with his analysis.

He backed off. He now says the US would be suffering a surplus — a “glut” — if it weren’t for oil exports.

According to the Central Intelligence Agency’s World Fact Book the US uses 19.15 barrels per day.

According to the Central Intelligence Agency’s World Fact Book the US produces 9.688 barrels per day.

According to the Central Intelligence Agency’s World Fact Book the US imports 10.27 barrels per day.

According to the Central Intelligence Agency’s World Fact Book the US exports 1.92 barrels per day.

As I said in my response to Mr. Cockburn, if the US is suffering a glut, the problem is easy to fix.

Mr. Cockburn writes persuasively. His opinions would be even more persuasive if supported by evidence.

Best regards,

Bart Boyer

San Diego

Alexander Cockburn replies: The guy can’t read.

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THINK AGAIN, INMATES

Letter to the Editor,

I am writing this letter to express my opinion about Mule Creek State Prison-SNY, the most unclassy state prison in the United States of America. I came here in December of 2010 from California State Prison, Corcoran, Level 4-SNY due to a hardship transfer to visit my elderly parents who are in poor health.

Since my arrival here it’s nothing but problems! So let me explain.

There are no jobs here — period. They put you on a job waiting list that changes daily. You may be #50 on Monday for a job, but on Friday you may be #75. They start from #1. So good luck. If you transfer on A1A status than your A1A. But the first RVR-115 and you’re put on A2B! And that’s a joke. A2Bs only get program during the week. No weekend program.

Any correctional officer on staff can access your C-file to check you out! No big deal for me. But I think that’s a violation of your family’s address, etc. So for the next of kin, I put down the President. I had everything in my C-file regarding my family removed.

There are a lot of weirdos, sickos, chomos, rapos — scumbags! You don’t know who is who! When certain so-called cool people learned I had access to the internet I was asked by a few people not to access the Megan’s Law website on anyone here. Okay, yeah — sure I won’t! Shit, don’t tell me that. So I did it anyway. God what a trip. Damn, you learn your so-called tattooed homeboy is a chomo. I can’t eat chow with his sick ass anymore.

I’ve already caught a ‘battery’ on my prior cellie. There were three hits! Two on his hard head and one when he hit the cell floor. That’s when he buzzed me. Oh well. That’s Mule Creek State Prison.

Oh, the food. Visiting is cool. But other than that, it’s a drama-filled SNY prison. So anybody thinking of coming to this fake-ass SNY prison, think twice about it! Oh yes, I’m on A2B. status. Oh well, I won’t be here long. My family already told me to transfer out of here.

To my friends at Corcoran Level 4, this is not the place, okay? What’s up CM. JP, MM, JW, CS, DE, DH and the others including SB?

Sincerely,

Kenny ‘Irish’ Callihan

Ione

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SUPPORT APPRECIATED. NOW…

Letter to the Editor

Thank You for Your Support.

I would like to thank the community for all the calls and cards of sympathy my family has received, many from people we don’t even know. It was very comforting and reassuring to know the depth of heart in our community, that people would still have room for sympathy after giving up so much of that to the other families.

Many people offered their help and told me, all I needed to do was ask. I do need some help now! I need help with The Board of Supervisors. I think we learned from these events so we can build a better and safer future. Laura’s Law is the clearest, easiest path to that future. They are your Supervisors and your government. Talk to them, send a letter or go to the BOS meeting on Oct. 25th when Laura’s Law will be on the Agenda.

Jim Bassler

Fort Bragg

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BACK FROM THE DEAD

To the Editor

Alas, it never ends. Bruce Anderson is back from the dead to the joy of his readers including this one. More mean talk about local politicians and bureaucrats; more reports of bus rides and walks among San Francisco’s zombie jamboree; more trips to the Giants games. Good, good stuff. But when will you start editing and blue pencil the shit out of the interminable pieces that glut the “last real newspaper” in America? Start by cutting at least a third from all articles except perhaps Cockburn. Please.

Here’s the “alas” part: You’ve returned to Dealey Plaza and have metaphorically and facetiously placed your wheelchair bound Mother on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository to show how easy it could be for Oswald to fulfill his role as master assassin instead of destiny’s chump. So let’s imagine Mom working the bolt of the Mannlicher Carcano carbine, her eye taking a fix through the optical sight which happens to be quite a bit off true and loose, but this makes no difference because the first shot is a miracle: right through a tree in full bloom blocking JFK. This bullet makes a total of seven wounds shared between JFK and John Connolly and is found later on a hospital stretcher in pristine condition. Mom’s second shot is a miss, a wild miss. The third shot is right on the money. A head shot — but this time instead of the bullet leaving the body as pure as when it went in — it disintegrates in JFK’s brain while his body is thrown back towards the direction of Mom’s final shot. (Warren Commission cultists don’t need no stinking physics).

As Jack Ruby said to Earl Warren when he visited Ruby in the Dallas Jail: “Am I boring you?” Of course, I am.

Capitalism is a conspiracy? Absolutely. JFK’s assassination was part of the conspiracy. Sometimes the club has to get rid of a member who’s going rogue.

Sincerely,

Jock Penn

Shawano, Wisconsin

Ed note: We do go on, don’t we? But 12 pages of 9-point type, and a lot of readers undeterred by leisurely journeys of 5,000 words…

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NO WARNINGS

Editor,

This is a reply to Ken Good’s “SHOOT ON SIGHT” letter published in Oct 12, 2011 AVA Letters to the Editor.

Mr. Good,

Your claims that the Sacramento deputies involved in the shooting of Mr. Bassler were acting as executioners and were violating the due process rights of the constitution are neither accurate nor informative.

The US Supreme Court has established long ago that a law enforcement officer can use lethal force on a fleeing suspect to prevent escape if the officer has probable cause to believe the suspect could seriously injure or kill someone. Examine the facts regarding Mr. Bassler. He had already killed two unarmed people in unprovoked encounters. He had escaped from law enforcement officers and a police dog. He was photographed breaking into a cabin while armed. He had recently fired upon law enforcement officers. He had ignored repeated attempts to persuade him to surrender. He was armed with a rapid-fire assault type rifle, locked and loaded in the ready to engage position. He had been fleeing from law enforcement for some 39 days. I submit the officers had no other choice but to do exactly what they did, and by doing so they not only protected their own lives but the lives of any innocent person Mr. Bassler may have encountered in the future. Mr. Bassler had demonstrated beyond any reasonable doubt that he was not going to surrender. If the officers had “identified themselves or offered him the option of surrender” it is reasonable to believe he would have immediately fired upon the officers. There is no requirement that law enforcement officers have to “take the first bullet” in a life or death encounter as clear-cut as this one.

Use of force policies of major California police departments are even more restrictive than State or Federal law. Use of Deadly Force, Los Angeles Police Department Manual 1/556.10: An officer is authorized the use of deadly force to: To protect himself or others from an immediate threat of death or serious bodily injury; or, to prevent a crime where the suspect’s actions place persons in jeopardy of death or serious bodily injury; or, to apprehend a fleeing felon for a crime involving serious bodily injury or the use of deadly force where there is a substantial risk that the person whose arrest is sought will cause death or serious bodily injury to others if apprehension is delayed. Mr. Bassler’s actions, without any doubt, surpassed even these requirements.

Instead of maligning the brave officers who protected our community you should be thanking them for leaving their families and coming to our county to risk their lives to protect us. Please, by all means, contact the FBI. But also, be sure to publish in this paper the response you receive. I have no doubt you will be told the actions of the officers involved were legal and justified.

Kirk Wilder

Boonville

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YES ON A

Editor,

Schools Boards throughout Mendocino County have endorsed a Yes vote on Measure A. The Ukiah Board joined the Fort Bragg, Anderson Valley, Point Arena, Mendocino, Manchester and Willits School boards who had already expressed their support for the ballot measure’s passage. The importance of libraries for children doing their homework and school projects is well recognized by teachers and all educators.

The importance of libraries to county children was also noted in the resolution passed by First5 Mendocino. It reads in part, “…Mendocino County children and families must have access to public libraries so that young children have the opportunity to develop and continue a lifelong interest in books…”

Vote yes on libraries has also been endorsed by the following political bodies and community organizations: Willits, Ukiah, Point Area, and Fort Bragg City Councils, Mendocino County Board of Education, Associated Students of Mendocino College, American Association of University Women (Ukiah Branch), Comptche Community Services District, Anderson Valley Community Action Coalition, Little Lake Grange No. 670, Mendocino Study Club, Willits Chamber of Commerce, and Mendo-Lake College District Board of Trustees.

Sheriff Tom Allman urges a Yes vote, saying we need Measure A’s passage “…to maintain our Mendocino County quality of life.” Supervisor John Pinches was quoted as saying, “This is something the people of Mendocino County need to put in place for the future of everybody, not just our kids, everybody.”

The revenue raised by Measure A can be used only for library purposes under state law and the ordinance itself. The one-eighth cent increase in the sales tax equals 13 cents for every hundred dollars spent on taxable items, which do not include food or prescription medicines. The average household would pay less than $20 per year.

Complete information about the Measure including answers to “Frequently Asked Questions” and information on voting can be found on the website www.voteyesonlibraries.org

The Vote Yes on Libraries (Measure A) campaign has active groups in Willits and the north county, Fort Bragg and Mendocino, Ukiah and Gualala. Anyone interested in joining the “Vote Yes on Libraries” campaign may contact the organization by calling or emailing Steve Antler at 707-937-5925, santler@mcn.org . “This is an effort by our whole community. The small amount that each of us will contribute adds up to a large investment for our children’s and community’s future. Please vote Yes now. Every yes vote is important.” Antler said.

Steve Antler

Mendocino

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KEIPP LIKES IKE

Dear AVA,

Thanks for printing Eisenhower’s spooky warning farewell address. Most 50-year-olds have never seen it! It should be printed once a month in every paper, but I only see it in the AVA. Keep that cinder burnin’.

For those without access to the web, rent Oliver Stone’s JFK. Eisenhower’s, all but ignored, brave, bold warning to the American public and the world, serves as the opening scene of JFK, the movie. (He a war general, voiced the first warning against the Military Industrial Complex.) It was huge at the time, and lost essentially to generations of Americans since Kennedy’s assassination.

As well as choosing peace over the military industrial complex, Kennedy also attempted progress in taking the US banks back from Britain.

Heads up, Sheeple! the snake is nearly biting its own tail!

Debra Keipp

Point Arena

Ed note: Not only has the Old Golfer’s prescient warning been ignored, I’ve never met a Boomer who knew that FDR’s New Deal enjoyed bi-partisan support. Of course, the Boonville newspaper always provides a learning experience, as Paul Tichinin might put it.

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THE RICH ARE DIFFERENT

Editor,

It is easy for those of us on the Left to project our own compassion onto the super-rich corporate plutocrats. We can easily think that they have some remorse, some guilt or shame about what they are doing.

No, they don’t. They are insatiable in their greed and moral logic is not any part of their psyches. They are a cult; a group of true-believers who are absolutely convinced of the rectitude of their actions.

While most cults have a leader, a charismatic person who becomes the center of all attention, both direct and indirect, their cult does not. There is, this time, no single person leader of their cult. They are ideologues, but not religionists. Most cults have a religious fervor, and theirs does too.

They really get off on having so much more than they physically need that they never have to ask the price of anything. But they do not have the feeling that they have more than they need. They have that thought as something in their minds. Their feelings are starved for more, and more, and more; and there is never enough , which is why they are insatiable in their greed.

They are drunk on money. The cultish aspect of it gives them a feeling of great security. Yet, and this is paradox, in general they live with a giant fear that they will lose it all.

That is not a rational fear, but the insatiable need is not rational either. It is the other side of the coin.

They, the super-rich oligarchy, cannot be talked out of their need for more and more. It is totally emotionally driven, and the only way to drive out that need is to replace it with a stronger, competing need. Well, given the worship of money extant in the American psyche, it would take a personal visit by God, in person, to scare them out of the cult. Don’t hold your breath.

Lee Simon

Far‘n Away Farm in Virginia

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KIDS & CREEKS

Dear Editor,

AV Miracles!

Again the power and magic of Anderson Valley has been demonstrated this weekend at the AV elementary school! A small group of people organized by Linda MacElwee brought the AV Elementary School Nature Trail back to life. Patty Madigan and Linda from the Navarro Watershed Group received a grant from the Community Foundation of Mendocino County to develop the Creek Trail and Nature Classroom located at the west end of the elementary school. Linda invited Patty Madigan and husband Tom Brown, David, Mitzi and Zach Wagner, Bill Taylor, Arturo Bucio, Julie Rumble and two high school students, Ernesto Contreras and David Eligio, to a work day last Saturday; and here is where the miracle happened!

There are now two sets of elegant stairs leading down to the outdoor classroom (to be redesigned this year by Zach Wagner as an Eagle Scout project) and then down to the creek trail, along with the creek trail being opened and cleared of invasive non-native plants. The beauty of this area is striking, and observing the changes in Con Creek and Anderson Creek over a year is a lesson in the power of nature and our watershed.

It is with gratitude and appreciation for all of these wonderful community members who were willing to put in hard work and time to make a wonderful difference and provide an opportunity for our children to learn about the watershed and natural environment.

Gratefully,

Donna Pierson-Pugh

Boonville

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CREEKS & KIDS

Editor,

This past Saturday we had an AVES Creek Trail work-day to build out a new and improved version of the existing trail that was built years ago by Rob Goodell with student helpers. The old trail was getting pretty tired and dangerous with rebar sticking up and boards rotting. This time around we are working with the added help and bonus of funding through a grant of $3000.00 from the Community Foundation being administered through the Mendocino County Resource Conservation District (MCRCD) and the Navarro River Resource Center. Friedman Bros. generously gave us a non-profit discount on our materials and Beth Swehla allowed us to borrow tools from her Ag program, which made all the difference.

Twelve volunteers showed up ready to do the heavy lifting of putting in thirty-four new steps and clearing back the Himalayan blackberries that were swallowing the lower end of the trail. Robert Pinoli’s shop class had already prepared the materials by cutting the pressure treated boards into the proper lengths, drilling holes in the ends to place the rebar, and cutting the ½” rebar into measured lengths. A few good students also helped haul the materials from the High School over to the Elementary School.

Charlie Paget-Seekins was called in at the last minute to pull down a dangling oak limb that was hanging on by a thread right over the trail, just waiting to become a widow maker. Eagle Scout Zach Wagner has been dreaming of making improvements to the AVES Creek Trail for years, so he pulled in with his Dad, David and took on rebuilding the lower staircase. Zach’s Mom Mitzi Wagner, confessed that she isn’t a “shovel and dig” kind of person, so she volunteered to make us a delicious and fortifying lunch to keep us going. Donna Pierson-Pugh, the AVES principal, was there at 9:00 a.m. ready to go to work on the Himalayan blackberry with Patty Madigan and 3rd grade teacher Julie Rumble. 10th grader, Ernesto Contreras, who had previous experience from helping out on the AV Jr./Sr. High School Creek trail came over to help with his friend David Eligio, 7th grader, both whose labors were essential and hugely helpful. Tommy Brown from Comptche, came out and led the charge on the main staircase, with Bill Taylor and Arturo Bucio pulling in to help finish the 24 step, serpentine staircase. It in itself is a fabulous example of artful landscape installation. A large tractor tire was also hauled out of Con Creek and rolled all the way up and out of the Riparian Zone, no small feat given that it is easily a thirty foot incline.

As has been the case with each and every one of these trail building workdays that have taken place over the last few years, it is as if a miracle is taking place in front of our very eyes. Everyone comes together, given the tools and materials are on hand to do the job, and Voila! An incredibly beautiful and utilitarian trail is made. We couldn’t have asked for a nicer day, with nicer people to work with, to accomplish what we set out to do together. It fills me with hope for our kids and their future and deep satisfaction for living in such an amazing place. Thank you!

Sincerely,

Linda MacElwee, Navarro Watershed Coordinator

Mendocino County Resource Conservation District

Boonville

Dear Editor,

If it came down to a choice between a cannabis dispensary and a church next door, I would choose the cannabis dispensary in an instant. Cannabis is much less dangerous. If we tote up the score over the arc of history, it’s abundantly clear which should be banned.

Deaths due to cannabis: 0

Deaths due to religion: countless millions.

Churches should definitely be kept a thousand feet (minimum) from schools, playgrounds and anywhere innocent children tend to congregate. No proselytizing, no propaganda allowed. Keep our children safe from the Jim Joneses, the Osama bin Ladens and the Church of the Holy Pedophile.

Best Regards,

Name withheld

for fear of holy retribution

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FAR OUT SOURCING

Dear Editor,

A mechanism more subtle than fraud or theft is doing more to widen the gap between rich and poor. Better technologies improve productivity, helping labor produce more goods and services within the same time frame. But, labor is not often compensated commensurate with the extra wealth it creates. The extra wealth instead adds to profits, which enhance the income of the rich. Plus, if the market for a particular commodity remains stable, and if fewer workers are required for the same output, then redundant labor can be laid off. Over the next three years, a million assemblers of popular electronic devices in the Far East will be replaced by a million new robots that can work 24/7, do not need lunch breaks or vacations, and can better tolerate toxic environments. As a result, jobs will have to be sought elsewhere (but, where?), and increased competition between job-seekers will make it more likely that lower wages and fewer benefits will be accepted. Where might this process end up? It’s not inconceivable that all repetitive low-skill labor could be mostly abolished by a generation from now, leaving billions of would-be workers with little to do, thereby destabilizing society.

So far, Americans show little inclination to confront this exponentially encroaching phenomenon, and seem lemming-like doomed to keep losing this rat race while competing with one another for the very last opportunity to make the rich richer than their wildest dreams. Sharing what little labor that remains for humans to do would solve that problem, but that solution is hardly ever discussed in the USA due to its negative impact on profits. Will a wise course of action eventually be taken? Will the natural right to participate in the economy and make a living be recognized? Or, will the upper-class politics of exclusion prevail for eternity? Stay tuned, as tech progress eventually makes a political contest inevitable, which could become one of the better shows in town.

Ken Ellis

New Bedford, Massachussetts

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SAVE SNAIL MAIL

Editor,

Save the mail.

How many of you love to receive a personal letter in the mail? When was the last time you got one? How did it make you feel? I’m guessing — good.

I’m going to help the Postal Service. I am going to hand-write, in my best writing, and send 23 personal letters to 23 friends — that’s only $10. If every taxpayer did this, that would amount to $1.4 billion that would go toward keeping a valuable service open.

If we did this every year, think about the fun of actually getting something written by hand and touched by hand. Those letters contain the DNA of the person who sent them. E-mail can’t do that. Surely we can all afford to spend $10 per year on the Postal Service. In fact, I’m going to have my daughter write 23 letters, too.

Louis Warfield

Sacramento

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BANKRUPTCY WAR

Editor,

Tear Down This Wall

While Money’s playing dumb,

Bankruptcy chants, class war;

Bring it on, say some

(The hungry even up the score)

Open gates; tear down the Wall.

John Wester

San Diego

PS. I was first thinking about calling this rhyme “Bankruptcy War.” Then I thought of, “Mr. President, Tear Down This Wall” but figured Obama gets red-baited enough and for a while I settled on Reagan’s exact words to Gorbachev, “Open the gate….Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.” Gorbachev has relevance today, I thought, so I left it with that title for a while. If you read his book, Perestroika, you’ll learn the probable reason he was fired by the Communist Party. It because he wanted to introduce democracy into the workplace as he states in his book. He thought that the workers should have the right to elect the managers of industry by those who worked in it. Some in the Communist Party thought that was a bad idea since they were running the show and liked it that way. The split that developed in the Party further weakened a near-spent system. It kept the soviet system from moving forward but by standing still, it was brought down by the dog-eat-dog world of capitalism. But by leaving “Mr. Gorbachev…” as the title to the rhyme, it might suggest that I support a Soviet type of revolution and I don’t even know what that means. So, the ellipses. The movement to occupy downtown somewhere to bring attention to a terrible situation might change things for now. But it’s not going to change anything in a fundamental way. We are reminded that every time these crises happen again.

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NERVY NIGHTIES

Editor,

Clever of you to list “catholic” on the form during your unplugging trials at the local hospice. You’d be dead meat otherwise… Avé, Avé!

I’m cheered by the Turkey Vulture’s call for school uniforms, since I have designed several and am prepared to help gratis. I suggest fuschia full Zoot for the males, anti-bellum crinolines for the females and thong-with-pasties for the undecided. Superintendent Smith used to wear a little codpiece that could be a contender, too. What fun! The Vulture deserves an award for “right-think” and “good-vibe.” Count on me if you’ve got the nerve. Otherwise, go back to sleep.

Bonzai!

Ignatzio Hephalumpe

Everett, Washington

PS. I’d really like to petition Congress for a writ of marquee and reprisal.

PPS. To err is human, to “Aaaarrrrgh” is pirate.

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WE’RE ALL DRONES?

Not all drones are manufactured.

We have many of them right here in Mendocino County.

We follow orders and seldom ask serious questions.

We accept Pentagon morality — after all, they have all that money.

We never look back — we just fly along day after day.

We never talk back — we don’t want to be grounded or ostracized.

We watch the innocent and the poor suffer without a second thought.

If only we were bionic, then we would never have a sleepless night!

Jim Houle

Redwood Valley

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THE ANSWER GUY

Dear Editor,

Being an “editorial flack from out of town,” I thought I would take a stab at answering Chris “the Questioning Guy” Campbell’s many (easily addressed) questions to Lauren Sinnott, the recently recalled Mayor of Point Arena.

During the summer and fall months of 2009 there sure seemed to be a lot of people curious about rumors of an affair circulated by the new Mayor’s wife. I even had an elderly resident ask me if I knew anything about that! By the time the recall rolled around, I was amazed at how many of the elderly folks who adore Bill Hay were unaware that the then-Mayor was the first city leader in a good 25 years to give Hay an ear. They saw her as a naughty girl, but then managed to forget who she was supposed to be naughty with, since they elected him in the recall.

In any event, Sinnott clearly stated in her letter here that this highly charged rationale for the recall shifted to issues like the remaking of the subdivision ordinance, upgrading the wastewater system, and senior housing. Let’s make this PERFECTLY CLEAR: the Point Arena City Council was recalled because the old back-to-the-landers, engaged in an eternal feud with Hay, freaked out because the Council was in their eyes upgrading the sewers and looking favorably on the affordable senior housing and senior center in order to enrich Bill Hay who they thought the past Council was in secret league with. And in league with his presumed agenda of getting even more rich and importing Republicans to Point Arena. It was an extremely simple matter to collect the signatures needed for the recall. Voters were made to be scared about sewer rates going up despite the fact the council had completed the steps that enabled them to qualify for federal money (I.e., the supposedly unnecessary and wasteful wastewater engineering report/study).

Campbell also “asks” if the former Mayor remembered subverting the electoral process through a technocratic loophole. In fact, the completely legal options were a write-in election or appointments “in-lieu-of-election,” the latter being the less expensive and less silly course suggested by County officials and legal advice. Councils and boards frequently make use of this process when there are as many or fewer candidates than seats in an election. In fact, the Redwood Coast Fire Department just this month appointed three new board members “in-lieu-of-election.”

On another of his topics, Campbell again misunderstands the dismissal of the “valued community member” (the previous city clerk) fired supposedly without cause. The former employee was in fact fired in a legally required closed hearing, following the practice of all public employers of “At Will” staff. The council may have been harming themselves politically in knowingly exposing themselves to wide scale outrage, but they did the right thing here.

Campbell’s last sentence, “Perhaps it’s time to move back to Texas,” is a perfect expression of the dynamics I personally started to see unfold back in 2009, which moved me to become “an editorial flack from out of town.” My ties to the area are to back-to–the-landers who are close to the recallers. I didn’t know Lauren when this started.

It’s also notable that such malicious verbiage has consistently come from the recallers and not from the former Council. Is anyone suggesting that Campbell, a non-Point Arena resident, move back to the Bay Area? Surely political disagreement can take place without trying to run someone out of town.

As far as former Mayor Sinnott “getting over it,” I would say from the amused tone of her reply to the Keipp fantasy, that at this point she’s having fun with it.

So, the latest hallucinations to be described from PA (mind you, only really affecting a small number of people there, coalesced in a little cult-like clique) are that I am a flack for Lauren and, as once suggested on the MCN discussion list, A PAID LOBBYIST for Bill Hay!

Mike Jamieson

1/3 Point Arena / 2/3 Ukiah

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WHO KNEW?

To the good people at the Anderson Valley Advertiser,

I discovered your weekly paper two summers ago when a friend came by for a visit after a visit from his mom’s house in Boonville. He let me read his paper that summer day and I have been hooked ever since! Seriously!

Your paper is as informative, serious and funny as any other national paper. Maybe moreso. It is small but packed full of stuff that boggles even my mind sometimes.

Who knew these small towns that surround me were so full of BIG CITY CRAP!

The problem at the beginning of my addiction to your paper was locating a place to buy it. That was quickly solved when I was told I could get it at the “Natural Food Co-op” right here in Ukiah! I have to have my AVA every single week or I’m just irritated! (Ha ha ha!)

So please keep up your honest good work and know you have a huge fan over here in Ukiah, California, who appreciates you and the staff at your paper.

Wishing you and yours and everyone else out there many blessings and peace.

Donna Vineyard

Ukiah

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CATHETER BLUES

Dear Bruce

I am so sad to hear of your illness. Thank you very much for sharing the experience with us.

You bravely wrote of human feelings and embarrassing situations we all encounter but cannot easily express.

The vulnerabilities felt in a hospital situation trigger such deep universal fears and childlike needs that we dare not speak truthfully of them. You had the courage to give us the words to speak of this scary and ego shattering place within us.

It is another example of your sensitive dedication to community goodwill and overall health.

Your truth telling is so important to this community.

Thanks for you and the AVA.

Bess Bair

Dos Rios

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UNBELIEVABLE

Greetings Mr. Anderson:

Alexander Cockburn has been one of my favorite journalists since he worked as a columnist for the Village Voice when the Village Voice was a real newspaper. But he exasperates me. I recently let my subscription to Counterpunch lapse. However, I weakened eventually and renewed because I was hurting myself more than I was turning Alex.

In the September 7 AVA he reiterates his tedious arguments against what he calls “conspiracy theories.” I would like to offer a brief rebuttal.

1. Global warming: There is overwhelming evidence for global climate change. Evidence that only someone whose head is far up his anus could ignore. This example from the Science News of 13 December 2007 sums things up well, although since then things have worsened:

“The University of East Anglia and the Met Office’s Hadley Centre have released preliminary global temperature figures for 2007 which show the top 11 warmest years all occurring in the last 13 years. The provisional global figure for 2007 using data from January to November currently places the year as the seventh warmest on record dating back to 1850.

“Other remarkable global climactic events recorded so far in 2007 include record low Arctic Sea ice extent which led to first reported opening of the Canadian Northwest passage; the relatively small Antarctic ozone hole; the development of La Nina in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific; and devastating floods, drought and storms in many places around the world.”

2. Contrary to the Warren Commission and Alexander Cockburn, the United States House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) in 1979 concluded that President John F. Kennedy was probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy. The HSCA found both the original FBI investigation and Warren Commission report to be seriously flawed.

I own and use guns. There are two comments based on personal experience I’d like to mention.

First, I own a bolt action .22 caliber rifle. Even when shooting at fixed objects after each shot one has to rearrange and re-aim because the act of ejecting one shell and loading another disrupts the position of a rifle. It is impossible to believe that anyone could have fired three or four shots from a bolt action rifle and hit a moving target, especially from where Oswald was positioned.

I have visited the so-called Book Depository and looked out from the window from which Oswald allegedly fired. A tree, since been removed, had partially his vision. If Oswald fired at all I doubt he hit anyone.

Kennedy’s brain, bone and blood spattered the trunk of the Lincoln Continental limousine and the faces of the motorcycle cops behind the limousine. Jackie Kennedy reached out behind her to the trunk to recover a part of JFK’s head. This wound must have been caused by a shot from the front on the limousine. A bullet makes a small hole going in but leaves a big hole and a lot of debris when it exits. A wound inflicted from behind by Oswald would have left a small entry wound in the back of Kennedy’s head and would have splattered his face all over the car’s interior.

3. There are many things that disturb me about the reporting of the 9/11 attacks. I will limit myself to three points.

First, the three WTC buildings did not “collapse.” They exploded or imploded. Look at the images in this video.

These buildings were pulverized. They did not collapse. And they dissolved from top to bottom at freefall velocity.

Second, I cannot believe that while no fewer than six F-16s intercepted Payne Stewart’s small plane, no jets were able to protect the Pentagon. I cannot believe that anything would be allowed within five miles of this fortress which is reputed to have its own defensive missile system.

Third, I have friends who are pilots. Neither they nor I believe that an amateur pilot could have guided a 767 from Boston to the World Trade Center buildings without extensive training on this type of aircraft.

There is a lot more to talk about — destruction of forensic evidence, vanishing black boxes, and suspicious stories of cellphone calls from planes, but I did say only three points.

Alex’s column is one of the first things I read when I received the AVA. But he can be more dogmatic than the bloody pope. And the Pope will change his opinion on abortion before Alex can see he has ever been wrong about anything.

All the best,

Lewis Bedrock

Roselle, New Jersey

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RECYCLING SABOTAGE?

Dear Editors,

The ICO (Independent Coast Observer newspaper) gave President Gerald W. Ward of Solid Waste of Willits an info commercial last week stating the recycle center in the center of town will be moved to the Fish Rock Transfer Station which is miles from town! EVERYONE wishing to recycle (the vast majority of Californians do in every poll) will have to use a lot of gas and time to recycle! Certainly Mr. Ward knows full well that no one has the time or gas money to get to the Fish Rock Transfer Station and so will have to dump recycle items in the trash, which directly puts even more money in Mr. Ward’s pocket.

Mr. Ward states the current set up makes a mess, yet in 20 years here I have always seen your crew near spotless and better then any other shop here. If the containers staying for Redemption are presumably lockable and do not leak, than doesn’t it make the bins the answer to the “mess” problem? In my mind when your answer is thousands of individuals driving long miles merely to get recycle items to the recycle bins then your reasoning has nothing to do with operations and everything to do with maximizing your profits on the backs of thousands who have voted for a true option of recycling.

I hope our elected official will step in and get us a true recyling program that doesn’t cost time and money for the person trying to do the right thing for all of us. People not profits!

David Pitocco

Gualala

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UTILITARIAN NATION

Dear President Obama:

The recent extrajudicial assassinations of two American citizens is extremely alarming. Never before, to my knowledge, has any American president ordered or condoned this.

You are open to the charge of using utilitarian “ethics” for reelection purposes. But even if a reelection agenda was not in play, your decision was made from the perspective of utilitarian consequences — i.e., the alleged protection of the country. Yet instead of protecting the country you have gravely endangered it. You set in motion a threat to all Americans. No longer will the Constitution be there to protect them when targeted by the government.

The assassinations cannot be morally justified. To assassinate American citizens without the benefit of legal protections granted by the Constitution is not only wrong but as noted above extraordinarily dangerous. You have set a precedent. Even if you do not engage in this activity again, the danger that other presidents will do so (I have in mind those in Dick Cheney’s ilk) by pointing out that even a “liberal” president like Barack Obama did the same is predictable.

Utilitarianism, though the standard measure of moral conduct in the United States, is always subject to the objection that besides being immoral it is irrational. Utilitarianism negates universal principles of justice. It attempts to deduce ethical values from empirical analysis — what is useful, what is practical, what is one’s personal preference, what is of value “to me.” It never rises above the particular. It is the epitome of subjectivity and relativity. For example, it accounted most recently for the United States use of torture. Though rarely thought about, utilitarianism constitutes an ongoing danger to the United States because it is the driving force behind its economic and political ideology. Your decision to assassinate two American citizens is a prime example.

Sincerely,

Terence Bresnahan

Inactive Member, California State Bar

Berkeley

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SCHIZOPHRENIA

Editor,

Why do you say Aaron Bassler was a methamphetamine user? Jim Bassler says Aaron was a sporadic alcohol and drug abuser.

Schizophrenia is a neurobiological brain disorder that can occur at any age. One cannot assume that schizophrenia is caused by meth. Aaron started showing symptoms of schizophrenia 16 years ago. His symptoms were persistent and grew worse over the years.

Please correct the false idea in the AVA about Aaron and meth use.

Sonya Nesch, author of Advocating for Someone with a Mental Illness

Comptche

Ed reply: None of us, including Jim Bassler, know with any certainty which drugs, if any, precipitated the shootings.  Most of Aaron Bassler’s arrests occurred when he was under the influence of one mind-altering substance or another. Mr. Bassler has convinced me that Aaron had been mentally ill for many years, but all any of us can do is speculate as to what it was that made him into a killer. The mental health people I talked to said they assumed that Aaron was bingeing on methamphetamine which, as we all know, often induces psychotic breaks. But then they too are speculating. In a long conversation I had with Jim Bassler on Monday, much of which appears in this week’s paper, it is obvious that Aaron’s mental illness, on or off drugs, was severe. But short of lock-up hospitalization, mostly unavailable in this country to people of ordinary means, but where treatment can be compelled, nothing in the way of help was available to Aaron Bassler.

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DOING THE MOST!

Dear Editor,

My name is Mickey Hill. I am currently locked up in Mendocino County Jail. I am an avid reader of your newspaper and I also have a subscription that is being sent to my home.

Down here at the jail my two friends Jerry Bailey and Roger Branch and I are doing the most. Every day we feed 240 inmates. We work from 9am to 6:30pm seven days a week preparing breakfast, lunch and dinner for the whole jail while maintaining organization and cleanliness of the kitchen. Doing the most is not an easy task. In between work and sleep we have also managed to find time to attend a program called Life Skills which has been very beneficial in readying us for the outside world and our transformation back into the community. Also the three of us have successfully completed the necessary pretest to obtain our GED to the point that we are confident our diplomas will be awarded.

As you can see, doing the most is not an easy task, but a task well worth doing the most for.

I myself have a family waiting for my return. My wife Jessica Hill and my two kids Kylie Hill, 5, and Mickey Hill Jr., 11 months, have been victims for the last three years of a husband-father who has been doing the least. I have no money for phone calls or transportation to communicate with them. But I hope that this letter with my home subscription can relay my message that their Daddy wants them to know he loves them and is doing the most to change his life while in here so he can and will be doing the most for them when he gets home.

On behalf of my two friends we would like the community to know that upon our release and returned home, we also will be doing the most to give back and rebuild our community with these positive changes and rehabilitation we have all gained through doing the most while in jail. Jerry and Roger just hope that doing the most out there will get them a little warmth in return!

The three of us thank you for your time and for doing the most providing the best damned paper in the county!

Sincerely,

Mickey Hill

Mendocino County Jail, Ukiah

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SHOOT ON SIGHT

Editor,

As one of the few conservatives in Mendocino County, I find myself in an odd position. Like everyone, I am glad that the Bassler saga is over. The outcome was probably inevitable. However, I was very disturbed by Sheriff Allman’s account of the incident and don’t feel he was pressed enough.

According to Allman, the Sacramento deputies were in a position of advantage and concealment when they saw Bassler walking down the road. They never identified themselves or offered him the option of surrender. He stated that Bassler raised his weapon as he fell to the ground after being shot.

That by definition is an execution.

It seems Sacramento deputies went into the woods with a license to kill on sight and didn’t even have to purchase a tag. Even the worst of us has the right to a trial should we choose that option. Allowing cops to be jury and executioner in the field is dangerous for us all.

I have never been shy about standing up for right and wrong, even against popular opinion. I did so as a police officer when fellow cops were wrong and I am doing so now. I have contacted the FBI and asked them to look into this use of deadly force as it seems to violate the due process rights in our constitution. While the outcome may have been the same, allowing police to act as “hit men” endangers us all and makes them no better than Bassler.

Ken Good

Ukiah

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PEEK OIL

Editor,

According to petroleum expert Alexander Cockburn we have an oil surplus. This surplus is caused by excessive production from fields in North Dakota.

If we’re suffering such a surplus, how come (according to the CIA website) more than half the oil we use is imported?

Seems like this glut problem is easy to fix.

Best regards,

Bart Boyer

San Diego

Alexander Cockburn replies: Yes, these days the US consumes about 19 million barrels of oil every 24 hours, about half of them imported. At 25%, Canada is the lead supplier. Second comes Saudi Arabia with 12%. Third comes Mexico. But supply of crude oil to the US is only half the story. Saudi Arabia controls OPEC’s oil price and adjusts it carefully with US priorities in the front of their minds. If Alaska oil was not exported to the Far East, contrary to the US Congress’s original mandate for the North Slope oil only to be used in the Lower 48, and if US oil companies weren’t exporting diesel to Europe and Latin America because they can make more money that way, the US would be floating in even more than a glut than it is now. The amazing feature of the subdivision of moronic humanity known as the Peak Oilers is that they dwell in a moral stratosphere so pure that they forget entirely that oil companies, now and always, want to make money, as much as possible, and to this end rig supply, markets and prices to that end. It’s sad that some of the best journalism on this theme ever produced in America, right down to James Blair and Robert Sherrill, is too coarse for the P.O.’s delicate sensibilities.

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MENDOGROWN, NOT SF-GROWN

Editor,

In the September 29 AVA you reported that “Some people privately speculate that if Ms. Hamburg doesn’t operate a dispensary in Boonville, one of the bigger dispensary chains, such as San Francisco-based Northstone Organics, will find a place to open here as soon as the new dispensary ordinance is in place.”

This is the section that is off mark.

1. We are not a chain.

2. We are not San Francisco based.

3. We are not “big.”

In fact we were the pilot for the Sheriff’s Deptartment’s cooperative farm program (Ordinance 9.31) and I personally worked closely with Supervisor McCowen and other community members to draft the ordinance and continue to do so now that we (MendoGrown, a medical trade association for Mendocino County) are on to the dispensary side of things (Ordinance 9.32) which is what Laura was planning to be operating under. We are California’s first farm-direct cooperative cultivating 100% of our medicine. We operate no dispensaries. We have 1500 members.

Thank you,

Matt Cohen, Mendogrown

Ukiah

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A GREAT IDEA

Editor:

Well, here’s a good idea to settle the confusion. Investigate 9/11!   And report it in the AVA.

Yours,

Gordy Black

Mendocino

Ed reply: Right, Gordy. We’ll get all one of our reporters right on it. McEwen! Front and center. I want you to get to the bottom of this 9/11 thing the paranoids are squawking about. And while you’re at it check out the Grassy Knoll and Monsanto.

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THANKS FROM SHORTY & FAMILY

Dear Anderson Valley Community,

The family of Betty Sue Adams — Shorty and family — would like to express much thanks for everyone’s kindness — flowers, cards, food, visits — through the sad time of the loss of our loved one whom so many of you loved as she loved you.

We truly appreciate the kindness — memories shared — of my precious wife for 60 years — and our mother, our grandmother (MaMa), great grandma, aunt and cousin. And a good friend.

We will keep her alive with the wonderful memories of our love for her and for her husband Shorty and her family and friends and older kids.

A special thanks to Jan Wasson-Smith for her kindness and comfort during the night of Betty’s passing. We love her and will miss her.

Shorty Adams & Families

Boonville

Editor,

The headline for Debra Keipp’s letter last week (AVA, 9/21/2011) could more accurately have been “Hallucinatory Bedfellows.” Miss Keipp seems to have a ten-year repeating pattern (like a mental stutter) of public accusation in these pages against my person and her perception of my sexual behavior. Last time, in a massively libelous and equally bizarre and implausible claim, she mentioned particular acts and a specific venue, which — embedded in a longer diatribe — went unnoticed by the editor, who subsequently apologized in print. This time, her mysterious statement of “fact” is so brief that it can’t be overlooked and yet vague enough that the editor is able to present it.

I’m actually glad in a way, because clearly these things are being discussed at that locus of political activity, the Sign of the Whale bar in Point Arena. At least in the pages of the AVA I can have a voice as well. I don’t hang out in the bar — having kids and a happy home life — so I am never present to point out inaccuracies or — gasp — even lies. Here in this venue, at least I have the opportunity to respond and I thank the paper’s management for that.

Let me start with Miss Keipp’s admission that the recall was “nasty” and was indeed based on the personal vendetta of the individual she names. That person’s misunderstanding of what actually happened did in fact lead — as I have stated previously — to countless hours of phone calling on this person’s part, calls made to everyone drawing breath between the Sea Ranch and Elk. Whatever was said was convincing, as we saw in the election results, but exactly what was claimed remains obscure. The people who called me about it revealed that the accusations were accompanied by a vicious yet vague homemade “petition.”

Later, the early assertions of immorality were glossed over by new horrors (the city’s wastewater plan, the subdivision ordinance, senior housing) so that the voter would have time to forget that the agitator’s husband, the person believed to be romantically involved with me, would therefore perhaps be unqualified to gain office himself. Back then, the agitator didn’t want to say something like, “Hey, you need to know that this unmarried Jezebel has lured an unwitting married man, my husband, into a mentally deranged state, convincing him to leave me, turning his head, but at the same time he is innocent and should be elected and even be made Mayor instead of her.” Most people have busy lives and they forgot the particulars before long, simply remembering the “evil woman” part, the Eve and the apple perception, as familiar as it is.

Perhaps now is the time to make available a full list of dates and places that her husband’s advances were rebuffed, exactly what he requested, what and when he was refused and so on. Perhaps this information should be fully released to those who are interested, especially in light of my own email snafu where a message intended for a close family member managed to get sent to a local list instead. Since some have seen that, why not all? Most importantly why not this original recall proponent herself? The list of dates and requests to go apartment hunting, to leave town and live in Sacramento, etc. — all of this is water under the bridge occurring quite a while ago and would normally be inappropriate to publicize, if it were not for Keipp’s new printed accusation.

And now she subjects us to the assertion that something occurred with more than one of the recallers!?

Since it is just as mystifying to me as it is, I am sure, to all of them, which recall candidate and current councilmember Keipp is alleging to have been my second lover, let’s examine all three. First there is Doug Burkey, the only one with whom I have a cordial, working relationship. He and his wife were my bosses when I worked at the Point Arena Bakery briefly in the year 2000. All of our contact since then has occurred within the context of the Point Arena Design Review Board and other city functions, at which no sex was involved, let me assure you. (Chuckles are appropriate.) Then there is Trevor Sandors: a local teacher and bartender with whom I have a non-cordial and limited relationship as a neighbor, the “high” point of which consists of two bizarre and profanity-laced emails he sent to me after a friend of mine complained about his barking dogs. It is both disturbing, but maybe fortunate, that he has my son in class this year and that some civility might flow from that. In the case of the third recaller, Brian Riehl, Miss Keipp’s suggestion is literally unspeakable.

I am quite certain that every one of these three individuals will agree with me, if asked, that sexual congress between us has always been, currently is, and forever will be completely unthinkable.

Sincerely,

Lauren Sinnott

Point Arena

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WHAT’S BEST FOR US

Dear Editor,

The community spoke out last Wednesday at the CSD meeting. Over 30 folks were there to protest the placement of a marijuana dispensary in the middle to downtown Boonville. Laura Hamburg and her partners were there to try and convince us that selling medical marijuana and paraphernalia in the middle of our downtown area was a good thing.

Yes, Ms. Hamburg stated that she was sympathetic to our feelings about the location and has decided to find another location in the valley to sell her marijuana products. She also stated that she plans to keep the dispensary that is located between Lauren’s and the Bible Fellowship open to dispense information and was vague when questioned about selling paraphernalia.

Once again we have the County dragging its feet on developing ordinances to regulate these activities. Last week the Board of Supervisors voted three yes and one no to initiate an “urgency ordinance” to put the breaks on any new dispensaries being opened in the County. Since the vote required 4 yes out of 5 it was not passed. (Mr. Hamburg excused himself from the vote.)

So here we are again being railroaded into yet another enterprise in the Anderson Valley by a group who does not reside here and feels that they know what is best for us.

Sincerely,

Susan Bridge-Mount

Boonville

ms notes: See my Supervisors report this week for what the Board actually did with regard to the proposed moratorium.

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WHY A DOWNTOWN DISPENSARY?

Dear Supervisor:

I have been a resident of Mendocino County for 28 years. I am in favor of medicinal cannabis and think it should be viewed an asset to our community. I think that it should be allowed next to churches, schools, restaurants and any other business. People should be encouraged to learn more about the wonderful benefits of medicinal cannabis and I am looking forward to the new information center, Mendocino Generations in downtown Boonville.

As a child I watched my father, Army Captain R.H. White, go from a standing healthy man to a crippled and blind man who could only lie in bed day after day. My dad was a kind and gentle man. 6’2” tall. He tried every sort of medicine that the doctors we giving him and nothing seemed to work. He had a rare version of Multiple Sclerosis where he experienced excruciating pain daily. He even went to Washington State where there was a pain clinic to see what they had to offer. They started giving him this tonic and after about a week there he finally found out what they were giving him was methadone! He said forget this and insisted on being discharged from the clinic. They urged him to wean himself off the methadone slowly as it is very addictive and they thought it might be fatal if he were to quit all of a sudden.

Where my dad may have been weak physically he made up for it in will power and personality. He quit the methadone cold turkey and it almost did kill him. He got down to 125 pounds. Us kids and my mom were really worried! My dad started smoking marijuana to increase his appetite and slowly gained the weight back but what was even more amazing was whenever he smoked marijuana his vision would come back from about 15 minutes to three hours and we could all visit and he could look us in the eyes and see us. He loved to use that time to play a game of chess with us kids although we would have to move the pieces for him on account of the tremors in his hands. It was sad when it wore off and he got that straight gaze in his eyes and a blank look on his face.

My dad, Army Captain R.H. White, never took addictive drugs again. Whenever we could get some marijuana he could get relief from his pain and agony so we moved to Humboldt County and eventually Mendocino County where the good “kind” grows.

My dad, Army Captain R.H. White, died at age 45 on September 25, 1993. That was ten years longer than the doctors from the Massachusetts General Hospital neurology and psychology departments gave him to live. Maybe he would have died sooner if he stayed on the path of western medicine.

Mr. McCowen, I’m sure you didn’t get to be on the Board of Supervisors by not having a clue to what is in the best interest of your constituents. I hope you see through all of this rhetoric and can see the value of medical cannabis for what it is worth both in a medicinal and fiscal sense for this county and eventually the country.

These people from Mendocino Generations are trying their very best to appease the opposition but now it’s looking like the opposition is on a malicious witchhunt. I personally have friends who feel threatened by the opposition and are afraid to speak their mind in support of Mendocino Generations and this cannabis issue. The opposition is playing dirty and saying that they will have their members boycott any business that supports the cannabis clubs.

At the Boonville Fire Department Tuesday September, 21st, 2011 when asked the for a raise of hands on “who believed that cannabis has medicinal properties” more than half of the opposition raised their hands in agreement that it is beneficial and some even stated that they have used it for their own illnesses. This seems to be very hypocritical to me. The Bible Fellowship Church’s back property line adjoins with a vineyard and you don’t hear anything about that.

As we all know “the genie is out of the bottle” and “medical marijuana is not going away,” so please do not discriminate against it by limiting the locations of the dispensaries thus limiting safe access to patients. We voted for it and we voted for you too.

I am very much looking forward to the meetings and future public forums. Let’s take a lead in this issue and get the tax dollars rolling into Mendocino County before some other county gets smart enough to take them.

This is not meth. It’s medicine!

Sincerely,

Tamara Baxman

Boonville

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WHO STARTED IT?

Editor,

Republicans are calling Obama’s tax plan class warfare. This is a case of the pot calling the kettle black.

Class warfare has been going on over the past decade in this country. Through Republican tax policy, Republican-driven deregulation of the financial markets, Republican efforts to sustain the dominance of Big Oil, Republican changes to bankruptcy law, and Republican wars feeding the gluttony of the defense industry. America’s wealth, once shared more equitably, has been confiscated by a small but voracious class now sitting at the top.

Class warfare? It’s been going on right under our noses for a long time.

Stephen Maffin

Berkeley

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MISSING CHI-TOWN, ET-AL

Dear AVA,

Saw the Aurora for ten glorious minutes from Fairbanks two nights ago. Took a 14 hour round-trip bus ride to the Arctic Circle. Why? Bragging rights?

Miss the AVA. Finished my last issue on the Empire Builder to Seattle. It is tough to live without the humor and insight that you provide. Probably a big part of the reason for starting to get homesick. I also miss my granddaughter.

We are now settled in a cozy cabin just outside Denali National Park which we rented for a week. We will fly back to Chicago on September 21.

Iggy Ignoffo

Chicago

PS. How is your recovery going on your roto-rooter? Is it working? I know it’s gruesome but then is there an alternative? Best wishes.

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THE FACE OF BOONVILLE

Editor,

When Laura Hamburg puts up a marijuana dispensary or “information center,” I will put up a whorehouse on the second floor. (A great stress reliever.) And then we need a military recruiting center nearby. We will make a city of this town yet. I apologize for what I said at the meeting. At first I thought the issue was similar to a witchhunt, but as people spoke at the meeting I realized the issue is different: What do we want to see on Main Street? How do we want to present ourselves to the public? A cheerful, healthy town with movies and ice cream and a hotel and maybe a bank and a gas station and a post office.

What’s next on Main Street? If we are going to have a dispensary or “information center” for sick people to make their pilgrimage to Boonville, it is perhaps appropriate to have it next to a church. All the sick and despondent who come here will find the healing powers of the church right there. And someone can convert that shabby building down the street into a spa with healing waters and massages. Then Boonville will be a magnet for healers. Even rattlesnake venom can be collected and dispensed. It has been reputed to cure arthritis. There’s a place in Texas that does this.

The image of Main Street makes me think of Market Street in San Francisco where we girls wore white gloves, a skirt and a hat when we went downtown. I remember that as if in a fuzzy dream. I still see the white gloves when I clean the drawers. I can’t throw them away. I don’t have much proof those days even existed and my memory is fading.

So the issue is the face of Boonville. We have a bar but we are desensitized to that. Only the locals go there. So it doesn’t draw in barflies from the outer world.

Actually, Laura, you understand image. You were all dressed up real spiffy at the meeting. You did not project the image of a nurse.

You explained why you favor marijuana. It helped your grandmother deal with the stress of dying. But you never said why it needs to be on Main Street. You said you won’t dispense marijuana there but you will still bring in the flies. That is the issue.

By the way, there is a really nice, chatty fellow who rents a place next to the rock shop in Navarro. He has a marijuana “museum.” He’s open on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. He’s not selling anything and needs help with the rent.

Janet Breger

Boonville

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THE BOORS NEXTDOOR

To the Editor:

I called the Ukiah Police Department last Friday night — again. I have neighbors who refuse to adhere to the city ordinance regarding late, loud parties. These parties occurr not just on weekend nights.

Over the last ten years I have frequently reminded my neighbors that, as a nurse, I get up early. How early? 3:45am for one job and 5am at the next. I work weekdays and weekends.

I have received notes from the neighbors telling me their party would go to 9:30, then had it in full swing at 11pm. I’ve had bongo drums at 3am, repeated underage drinking parties hosted by their child when they were gone, screaming girls and techno music until the wee hours. I’ve been offered a white noise maker, an air conditioner to drown out the noise that they make, and mediation so that I could agree to let them party on (and not sleep prior to getting up to go to work for my 12-hour shifts). Talking to them has been fruitless as they both believe they have the “right” to be out late on their patio. I have no objection to that reasoning of course, as long as they follow the rules that everyone in Ukiah is asked to follow.

After the police have talked to them I am subjected to their guests yelling their goodbyes and then for the next 45 minutes I’m kept awake by the sound of yard furniture being dragged over the slate patio, bottles dropped one at a time into the recycle bin, the heavy wooden screen door slammed hard — really hard — a minimum of one or two dozen times, and the slamming of crockery.

I’m not a “mean” person, nor am I “unreasonable.” I believe if you have a party or are at a party you can be ebulliant, but at 10pm show respect for the people around you and take it inside and quiet down. As a guest when it is time to leave be aware that the neighbors are sleeping and say your goodbyes inside or quietly at the door.

The the city ordinance is an important rule for everyone. It allows you to enjoy yourself and after 10pm allows others to sleep in preparation for the business of the next day. It is wrong to excoriate the person who is trying to sleep, labeling them publicly as “mean” and “unreasonable.”

It makes me angry and I deeply resent being put in a situation of needing to call the police over and over again because my neighbors cannot behave in a mature manner. That, coupled with their unwillingness to treat me with thoughtfulness and respect and the childish behavior after their guests have gone (being further disrupted by slamming things around), is a poor reflection on you as neighbors, Mr. Hawkes and Ms. Landis.

Gail Dammuller

Ukiah

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LUCKY READERS & ROOSTERS

Dear Editor,

You have claimed on several occasions that a reader can find more good writing in a single issue of the AVA than in any other newspaper or magazine on the market. I agree. And if you are ever called upon to defend that statement in court I suggest you present Jake Rohrer’s remarkable series “Fortunate Son” as Exhibit A. The fact that I am a big fan of CCR and John Fogerty certainly enhanced my enjoyment of that portion of his story. I am glad to hear that Jake continues to hold the time he spent with John and the band in such high regard. Beyond that, I admire how he was able to describe his subsequent time in the drug trade and prison with such candor, intelligence, humor and — regret? He taught me a great deal about a subject that I knew very little about.

In addition, I have been thoroughly enjoying Larry Livermore’s less frequent but equally engaging “Spy Rock Memories” series. (Well, it looks like rock-n-rollers make the best writers. Who’d have guessed?). His story of how the city punk rocker moves to the country and slowly starts to get along with the weather, the relative isolation and (some of) his neighbors is fascinating. It’s absolutely perfect in its written form but, in the right hands, I think “Spy Rock Memories” would make a great movie too. I have read other articles by Larry on his website and they are all up to this quality. He really needs to write a book or two.

Anyway, my sincere thanks to both Jake and Larry for taking the time to share their stories. And thanks to you, Mr. Anderson, for enabling them to get their work in front of us lucky readers. They are two of the best writers you have ever published.

Regards to all,

Jay Faler

Downers Grove, Illinois

PS. A farmer in financial straits has about 70 hens that he is looking to have “serviced.” To save money he is hoping to find a single rooster with the stamina to handle all of them at once.

The farmer goes to market and explains his predicament. One of the vendors thinks for a minute, snaps his fingers and says, “I think I have just what you’re looking for.” He goes off and returns a minute later carrying a rooster. “This is Randy,” he tells the farmer. “Randy is the most amorous animal I have ever seen. I’m sure he will meet your needs.” Not having any other viable options, the farmer shrugs and says, “Okay. I’ll take him.”

The farmer brings Randy home, takes him out to the barnyard and kneels down beside him to give him a pep-talk. “Okay, Randy. You know what I need you to do, right?” Randy nods. “All right, buddy. Go to it!”

Randy struts across the barnyard and enters the henhouse. There ensues a tremendous cacophony of squawking and beating wings, and a near blizzard of feathers flies out the door and the windows.

Ten minutes later Randy comes charging out of the henhouse and goes straight into the horse stables, slamming the door behind him. A great ruckus follows with all of the horses kicking their stalls and whinnying loudly.

After about five minutes Randy swaggers out of the stables and runs into the pigpen where he proceeds to have his way with the sows.

A few minutes later Randy comes storming out of the pigpen and the astonished farmer tries to restrain him as he runs by. “Randy! For heaven’s sake! Take it easy! You’re going to kill yourself this way!” Randy just brushes the farmer aside, charges out to the meadow and starts jumping on the sheep.

It’s no use. Randy is simply unstoppable. Over the ensuing afternoon and evening he mates with every single animal on the farm.

The next morning the farmer looks out his window and sees Randy lying prostrate on the lawn. There are flies buzzing around him and a buzzard is slowly circling overhead. Distraught, the farmer runs out of the house and goes over to his new rooster. Randy’s eyes are rolled back in his head, his tongue hangs limply out of his beak and he is just barely breathing and clinging to life.

“Randy!” cries the farmer. “What have you done? I begged you to slow down and now look at you! Why didn’t you listen to me?!”

Randy gasps for air, rolls one eye toward the farmer and whispers, “Shhhh. Get lost. I’m trying to get that buzzard to fly in closer.”

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BEAT THE DEVIL

Editor:

Mr. Cockburn, in response to Jim Houle (AVA Sept. 21), writes that “’Truthers,’ by definition, have nailed their colors to a theological commitment — ‘truth’,” and he dismisses these people as religious cultists: “David Ray Griffin, the Truthers’ Aquinas, was raised in Oregon in the Disciples of Christ.”

Aha! And these theologians of 9/11 truth “remain studiously vague about anything other than the most blurry contours of this amazing conspiracy.” In contrast, “JFK conspiracists at least produce fully fledged scenarios, with names spelled out, guilt carefully apportioned.”

Count me with his call for careful apportionment of guilt, except that the burden of proof rests first upon himself and his mainstream colleagues for their own prevailing conspiracy theory. For support, they could refer to the fully-fledged forensic investigation, had there been one.

Diabolism too is an aspect of theology, Mr. Cockburn. Is there a deal with the Devil behind this smell of sulfur?

Gordy Black

Mendocino

Alexander Cockburn replies: There’s plenty of data outside of the government report to support the “Bush didn’t do it” and related Truther speculations, Gordo. Too bad the Truthers aren’t interested in reading it.

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CORRECTION

Dear Editor,

I’m writing to request a correction to the Valley People section in last week’s 9/21/11 edition. The third paragraph about the AVUSD School Board items stated, “An approximately $2 million contract was awarded to Advance Power Inc. in Calpella for the school district’s new solar system. According to the analysis provided by Sage Renewables Consulting who reviewed the bids, the District will save almost $2.5 mil!lion over the next 25 years from the new solar system. Advance Power was selected over three other area solar contractor-bidders, which greatly pleases us because we’ve seen their work and it’s first rate.”

This statement is incorrect on several fronts. First, the Board did not award a contract for the solar photovoltaic project. The board accepted the proposal review panel’s recommendation to enter into negotiations with the preferred proposer. The actual contract for this project will not be awarded until after the 10/10/11 board meeting, at which the Board will vote on a resolution to enter into a contract for the solar PV project, giving the Superintendent the power to enter into the contract on behalf of the board.

Second, the preferred proposal was submitted by Real Goods Solar, with their Suntech option. Advance Power Inc. did not submit a proposal for this project. The total cost of the preferred proposal was $1,712,838 for a combined system size of 277.48 kW, including a 25-year maintenance agreement and electrical panel upgrades at the elementary and high school campuses. We are currently in negotiations with Real Goods on behalf of the District to come to a final system size and cost for the contract.

Third, under terms of the original proposal, the District will save almost $3.8 million in their General Fund due to avoided electricity costs over the first 25 years of the PV systems’ operation. These figures are calculated using very conservative financial assumptions. The $2.5 million figure is considering bond repayment, which is not required since it is a General Obligation Bond.

Thank you, and please don’t hesitate to call if have any questions.

David Williard, LEED AP

Principal, Sage Renewables

Inverness

ms notes: Thanks for this correction. We were initially misled by the Superintendent’s report at the last Oversight Committee meeting that Advance Power had been awarded the contract; then we compounded the error by misreading your lengthy and technical report somewhat in attempting to summarize the result. It’s too bad Advance Power didn’t bid; they would have saved the District some serious money and probably would have delivered a better system.

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ADMIRAL POOBAH’S ORDERS

Editor,

Proclamation: let it hereby be known that from this date henceforward no naval vessel shall sail upon the Mediterranean Sea without the express written authorization of the State of Israel.

Issued this day, September 11, 2011, by the Honorable Admiral Poobah of the United Nations.

Ronald Del Raine

Florence, Colorado

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CHILD ENDANGERMENT

Dear Editor:

A rather interesting exchange in your Off The Record column you have had with Ms. Borcich about her crusade for alternatives to traditional medical vaccinations. Unfortunately, there will always be a group of people who for whatever questionable reasons just do not want their children to undergo safe vaccinations that will protect them from very serious diseases. They’d rather play Russian Roulette with their children’s lives. I totally agree with you that the alternatives discussed in your dialogue with Ms. Borcich— “this stuff is pure quackery.” Also, aren’t the parents who will not have their children vaccinated endangering their lives? If so, shouldn’t the schools report these parents to the Mendocino County Child Protective Services Department?

In peace,

James G. Updegraff

Sacramento

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INTER-COLUMNAL RIVALRY

Editor:

Please tell Darren Delmore, whoever he may be, that he has at least one massive fan here in Humboldt County. That sounds like the AA Bar & Grill that I sort of know.

I’m happy to see that new talent still gravitates toward the AVA. A little jealous, but happy.

In solidarity,

Hank Sims

Eureka

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STILL HERE

Dear AVA & Co.,

Please sign me up for a year.

I went to Santa Rosa last weekend and came home through Clearlake. I stopped in every wide spot in the road and could not find one of your newspapers. In fact, no one had even heard of it!

A friend here — a guy from Ukiah — found the information for me online. I’m so happy you are still out there producing your newspaper. My husband subscribed to your paper for years a while back and has missed your comments and reporting. I’m anxious to surprise him with our first edition.

Sincerely,

Pamela Aylen

Belden

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MISCELLANEOUS COMPLAINTS

Editor,

Thank you, Tom Wodetski for your upfront statements re: Jere Melo. I never understood how an employee of G.P. could also serve as mayor of Fort Bragg; wasn’t that a conflict of interest? Wasn’t the legal system supposed to monitor the forests, not a former mayor?

What’s with the Fort Bragg Police Department and the ava? Assuming schizophrenia is somehow caused by marijuana is nonsense; if the AVA has any insight into this destructive illness, such a blythe claim is unconscionable. Obviously mental illness is not caused by pot; it is exacerbated by use of

A hallucinogenic which distorts one’s ability to organize thoughts, particularly schizophrenia. Please read up on mental illness. Contact National Alliance For Mental Illness (NAMI) for in-depth information, rather than opining about a serious illness. My heart goes out to the Bassler family: my son is mentally ill and homeless in Seattle, (last I heard) yet with HIPPA I am not allowed to know his mental status; rather I have to wait until he is arrested for psychiatric intervention. Our “legal” system is blatantly ignorant and seems to refuse acknowledging a family’s fear and grief over our loved one’s illnesses. What would you do, AVA, if this was someone in your family? Leaving them to the mercy of uninformed cops has obviously not worked. (Let’s all give a great big thanks to Ronald Reagan who closed the mental hospitals in California, stranding thousands of mentally ill people).

Also disturbing is the rush to claim Aaron Bassler as the murderer of Matt Coleman. Based on what proof? Innocent until proven guilty doesn’t apply in Fort Bragg?

As a Conspiracy Truther, I take issue with Alexander Cockburn’s dismissive attitude for those of us who do not accept the Bush/9-11 Commission as truth. The same goes for Cockburn’s assumption that global warming is untrue. Such denial is detrimental to our environment and the quality of our lives.

Lastly, what ever happened to local unsolved cases like Kathy La Madrid, Katelyn Long (her murderer enjoys his freedom as a scion of a Fort Bragg business)? The deliberate persecution of Aaron Vargas, the ignoring the very brave pleas of others who had been damaged by McNeil. Is it a pattern of local cops to ignore those who ask for help, especially if the crime(s) are sexual abuse? I wonder.

Our cops have the duty to protect and serve each and every person in this community, not just those who are wealthy/well connected. I propose all law enforcement be mandated members of NAMI, be educated about the people you serve. At least bring Fort Bragg out of the dark ages and into the present thereby creating a safer environment for all citizens.

Elizabeth Ryan

Fort Bragg

Ed note: Without deconstructing the whole of this errant communique, I suggest Ms. Ryan read Patrick and Henry Cockburn’s harrowing account describing how heavy pot use during his teen years dragged Henry into full blown schizophrenia. The Cockburns make the point that persons born with a predisposition to mental illness can bring it on in their adult years by smoking pot at an early age. Regarding Bassler, you simply haven’t read what we’ve said on the subject of his mental health.

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SMART STUFF

Editor,

Long time no Smart stuff. I took a vacation of sorts from the insanity of it all.

I am still amazed that PG&E in collusion with the so called regulatory Calif. Public Utility Commission, have ignored our county and 24 other cities and counties, not to mention some ten other organizations and rolled over citizens with concerns or health issues. This issue has been heating up for years! The CPUC is more of a cheer leader engager then regulator of disorganized PG&E that loses documents, does dangerous things with gas, uses modestly trained subcontracted installers instead of their skilled staff electrically and somehow is allowed to charge us the rate payers for things that will increase their profit margin while downsizing during an economy where every job counts. Most interesting about their installations is that it has been done by out-of-state contractors. This includes their grid improvements contractors like Hotline. Hotline to their credit is a competent company, but what about Californians? Interesting in that is that PG&E failed to give Hotline contact information to install poles and new transformers behind locked gates. They had to scramble to get the job done. PG&E is running par with big orange (CALTRANS) in terms of organization.

In an interesting development, PG&E admitted four months after the first failures in Bakersfield that Smartmeters were failing to the tune of 1600 found problems. These failed because of hot weather tweaking the so-called well-tested SmartJunk, overcharging ratepayers. Let’s see, four months times say 400% overcharges x 1600 with maybe an average of $100 a month charge equals $1,920,000. That is what I call SmartCompany or SmartExtortion. Then add late charges and lost time to ratepayers, not to mention cosmetic cost to pull-out, replacement ratepayer hair costs! The company, of course, says that is all they’ll find, using a medium borrowed from an out of state carnie group. If you caught the SF CBS news where reporters found a PG&E-claimed good meter failure, you where chuckling as the PR guy writhed in his seat and claimed it was the first problem they found. Post the 40,000 complaints in 2009. Yet more revealing is The Utility Reform Network, (a real watchdog group that you can join and get satisfaction on any utility problem,) found that the numbers of failures rise above the bench test (Structure Report) ratepayers paid for via the CPUC (for reasons I still do not understand). These failures push the errors above the levels in the Structure Study. Looking back, this study was the response to State Senator Dean Flores demand for investigations into real problems. If PG&E had done that then, we would know about many problems that are now left to us ratepayers screaming about and they would have been corrected.

The CPUC is close to clueless even though they receive complaints. Revolving door and ex-Con Edison CEO, President Peevey and Commissioner Simon left town to Sweden on a Utility paid junket. You think we did not pay for that in the end?

Here’s a bit more history. The first SmartMeters were installed in Kern County using a wired system that used PG&E wires double time. It failed thankfully, as the extra signals would add to dirty electricity issues that are causing leukemia in Southland schools. Google “Dirty Electricity” for an eye-opener. The CPUC allowed (get ready and sit down) PG&E to reinstall them with a rate increase to pay for the error (stay seated) and then PG&E discovered they forgot their Human Area Network system (the Surveillance system that violates wire tap laws) and they had to revisit and install the corrected one again with rate increase okayed by the CPUC, or PG&E enabler. Bad enough that PG&E did it wrong, but charge us for their errors per the CPUC? Don’t you see something wrong here? As you can see from the errors above and they can be that significant and are, PG&E gets the significant benefit of errors when they have a consumption track record for most of us. They look at the track record and have the nerve to say that their $%&%^*& IdiotMeter is accurate. We need to bench test PG&E office employees.

Be aware that the meter can cause sleeping disorders, high pitched ghost hearing issues (no external sound or tinnitus), cognitive problems and heart issues. If it does, your recourse is not great. You can try to opt out, but the old meters are already recycled. You can replace the meter with an analog, but document it carefully, send PG&E and the CPUC photos of both meters and get someone skilled to do it as improper replacement can cause a fire. Real Goods, Friedman’s and Hialeah Meters in Florida (google it!) have analogs that keep on working! You can scream at your sleeping representatives Evans, Chesbro and demand Governor Brown do something. Maybe he should fire Peevey? Remember Davis went down on the coattails of the Enron debacle. SmartMeters could be Browns Waterloo. It could be yours too. If you do nothing and have health issues, you can become very electrically sensitive and that is not readily resolved.

Meanwhile, the Opt Out is on the slow tract so the rest of the meters can be installed to support the installation of the Smart infrastructure our county did not want. I am hoping the counties will continue to peck at Profit Grubbing and Extortion company and eventually boot out this unwanted bogus system we never wanted.

Regular Citizen

Greg Krouse

Philo

Dear Bruce,

Empires come and empires go, and ours is over. Who said that? Anyone who has been paying attention. Sometimes the end of an empire is due to environmental factors; others have ended due to overextension; sometimes it was because it got too costly; and others have simply outlived their historical usefulness..

The American empire is over, and is presently in its death throes. It is ill and there is no pill that can cure it. Imperialism, both economic, military, and religious, has built the American empire in a relatively short period of time. This is due to the speed of technological change. That same speed is why the empire is ending so quickly. The globe is now truly global. Communication is instantaneous.

What is at the heart of the matter, however, is the very success of the American empire. We have exported our mastery of our economic system and others have embraced it. We have exported our military weaponry and others have embraced it. We have exported our political idealism and others have embraced it. Thus we have been caught up in a major contradiction created by these exportations.

We have sent religious missionaries to the far corners of the globe preaching that it is the “next” world that really matters, while, at the same time, extolling and practicing consumerism based on the premise of getting all you can get in this life. We have exported a religion that extols the very values that promote economic failure in our economic system; to wit, sharing, kindness, honesty, meekness, etc.

We have exported a gospel of social democracy while warring against those who wish to embrace socialism. As if that were not enough to bring down any empire from within, we have recently, over the last 30 years, failed to practice what we preach, based on our own Constitution, which says that we should promote the general welfare and establish justice, and insure the blessing of liberty.

Either we will, as a nation, come into recognition that our empire is over, and scale back, regroup, and give up the concept of “American Exceptionalism.” We will then take care of ourselves and begin to practice what we preach. OR, we will embrace the impossible task of trying to sustain the empire and end up on the dustbin of history.

The contradictions remain only as long as we allow them to. We now live in a culture filled with so much delusion, illusion, and collusion, that it will take a major mental, social, and economic enema to bring this about. Not likely, not likely.

Lee Simon

Far ‘n Away Farm in Virginia

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HOPE STREAMS ETERNAL

Editor,

It’s too late not to continue subscribing. Finally I have a little job: struggling stonemason, despite the bladderstone surgery and prostate issues and just plain tired. 70 is the next number. “Not dark yet, but getting there.”

Hope dies last,

Leon Van Putten

Meadow Valley

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MORE OF THE SAME, EXCEPT…

Editor,

Ach DuLieber. It is the end of a year of charismatic Dagwood Beaters, quaint marijuana zombies, and unavailable frontal nudity shots of supervisor Smith. Please avail yourself of funding made possible by my keeper (check enclosed) in the amount of $50 (count’em) dollars US for the next vile chronicles. Perhaps you could start a feature dealing with “Entitled Crones of Whine Country,” or send Pebbles Trippet to a Mensa convention, or do more Diana Duck. But more of the same will keep me happier than a drunk alien in Roswell. How about a contest? Best Turkey Vulture Parody? Recipes for Doberman Pie? Best Jim Jones Lookalike? A Lynch the Sniper poll? Charmian Sightings?

Semper Fi,

Ignatio “Devil Dog” Hephalumpe

Bellingham, Washington

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EVIDENCE? WHAT EVIDENCE?

Dear AVA,

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.

And then there’s the bad actor with second billing in this tawdry melodrama: Garrett Matson. It’s common knowledge that this “gentleman” stays armed and is not shy about either 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!

Thank you,

Daniel Shealor

Ukiah

Ed note: Last week in Ten Mile Court in Fort Bragg, Mr. Shealor’s jury trial in this case was set for January 18, 2012.

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DISPENSARY UPDATE

Dear Friends,

This is a head’s up about an important Supervisors meeting this Tuesday at 9am and bit of an wrap-up of what’s been happening with Mendocino Generations — our Anderson Valley medical cannabis dispensary.

This Tuesday at 9am, the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors will be voting on a 45-day moratorium on the opening of cannabis dispensaries in our county.

A moratorium would impact the opening of our dispensary, Mendocino Generations, but far more importantly, it will affect patient access to medical cannabis and color the larger discussion on the future of dispensaries in our county.

We are asking for your support now. Please consider attending this meeting. We feel it is important for our county officials to understand how dispensaries contribute to our community and how our patients rely upon us.

The call for a moratorium was generated by a Grand Jury recommendation released a few months ago. That idea has been recently fueled in part by a strong opposition to the opening of Mendocino Generations.

Often with controversial issues, a time out can be a good thing, and this may be the case for the moratorium, which would last initially for 45 days. If this is the will of the community, we support this action.

We also want to give you a low-down on where Mendocino Generations stands now. Supervisor John McCowen has initiated the process for the creation and drafting of a dispensary ordinance for the county. The first public meeting was held on Friday, September 9 and was an opportunity for the public to weigh in on their feelings regarding what this ordinance should look like. Crafting an ordinance will be an exciting and challenging opportunity for all of us to continue to bring cannabis “up from the underground” and provide codified, legal and safe access for qualified patients. We believe this is an unparalleled opportunity to craft the best possible ordinance possible — the “gold standard” for the nation.

Concurrently, the Valley Bible Fellowship, which is the church housed next door to our current dispensary location, has formally asked the county to deny our business license on the premise that they operate a private school at that location. This issue will not be decided by any of the concerned parties, but by a formal decision by County Building and Planning and County Counsel.

In addition, the Anderson Valley Community Action Coalition (CAC), Anderson Valley School District and the Anderson Valley Community Services District (CSD) have all voiced opposition to our dispensary. They seem to be primarily concerned about our downtown location. Although we may disagree with some of their reasoning, we respect and honor their feedback. We continue to listen and have been invited by the CSD to talk about our dispensary project at their next public meeting: Wednesday, September 21st at 5:30.

Tuesday’s Supervisors meeting will be held at the Low Gap County Administration campus in Ukiah. Our long-term goals will not be impeded, regardless of the county’s decision on a moratorium. We will remain steadfastly focused, as you are, upon our shared commitment — to provide safe, affordable, legal access to cannabis, in Anderson Valley and the rest of our county.

Laura Hamburg

Ukiah

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ANOTHER ‘WELLNESS’ GRANT

Editor,

The Wellness Project: AV B Well. A Community Health Network.

AV B Well is a new initiative that focuses on health outreach in our community, with an emphasis on offering preventative and affordable health care classes and workshops to a broader range of people within the Anderson Valley community.

Over 30 health practitioners and educators were invited to the first meeting in August including a wide representation from the healing arts and health community.

AV B Well classes offered this Fall will include Zumba fitness for all members of the community taught by Cora Hubbert, An Easy Stretch Chair Yoga class at the Senior Center (all welcome) taught by Kathy MacDonald and a Bilingual Yoga class for the community taught by Cyd Bernstein.

Kira Brennan, who is teaching two Health and Fitness classes at AVHS, is the coordinator for the project and will be incorporating the AV B Well classes into her curriculum. The program will include a nutrition component, integrated arts, karate and self-defense, dance, aerobics, yoga and more.

In addition to offering classes, AV B Well intends to serve as a network for building a healthy community: A network that connects educators and practitioners in the health field and then begins to build better communication and outreach capacity in the community.

AV B Well is funded by grants from Community Foundation of Mendocino County and the Network for a Healthy California. Donations to the projects are much appreciated and welcome.

If you are involved in the education and health fields and did not receive an invitation to the first meeting but are interested in AV B Well, please contact Kira Brennan. If you believe that health begins at home and is essential for the well-being of our community consider making a tax deductible donation to the Wellness Project: AV B Well.

For more information contact Kira Brennan at The Wellness Project: AV B Well by phone at 707-877 3479 or 707-321 8644 and by email at kibrenn@yahoo.com .

Kira Brennan

Philo

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NUTTERY?

Dear AVA:

I just finished reading Alexander Cockburn’s lengthy dissection of the 9/11 conspiracy arguments in the September 8th AVA, along with his repetitious name-calling directed at the “conspirators”: cultic persuasion, fundamental idiocy, preposterous, virus, nuttery, bigotry, political infantilism, peripatic (peripatetic?), obsessions, kookery. I would enjoy Mr. Cockburn’s writing more if he left us to make our own conclusions about his subjects’ character flaws.

L.C. Lewis

Willits

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LAURA’S LAW, WITHOUT STAFF

Letter to the Editor

Report from Mendocino County BOS 9-13-11 meeting

1. Two supervisors (McCowan and Hamburg) are co-sponsoring a future Laura’s Law presentation and agenda item. They instructed the Mental Health Director to look into Laura’s Law and report back to them.

2. Stacy Cryer, the Mental Health Director and Health and Human Services Director gave a budget report. She was very proud of balancing the budget for the first time. She did this by:

a. Decreasing staff by 40% to 53 employees

b. Decreasing hospital admissions by 96 patients from the year before

c. Cutting the jail psychiatrist’s hours from 20 to 8 a week. There is a 2 to 3 month wait to see a psychiatrist and the doctor was needed outside the jail.

d. Serving only the mandated population.

e. Losing 20 staff members in Psychiatric Emergency Response

Sonya Nesch

Comptche

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DISSING JERE, POST MORTEM

Dear Editor,

I was glad to read Mitch Clogg’s letter in your paper about the damage Jere Melo helped facilitate for decades as front man for G-P’s timber liquidation. I was glad someone dared to expose the dark side of Mr. Melo. I since learned that the Fort Bragg Advocate-News editor refused to run it, even a shortened version Mitch wrote specifically for it.

Below is my letter to that editor, followed by her reply.

Tom Wodetzki

Albion

Dear Advocate Editor Connie Korbel.

I am very sad to learn that you choose not to allow anything negative to be said about Jere Melo, like Mitch Clogg’s letter to the editor, below. Jere was a very public figure and therefore is subject to criticism. It’s an undeniable fact that for decades Jere fronted very effectively for the timber corporation’s over-harvesting of our forests, arguing against we environmentalists and fisherfolk whenever we testified against GP’s environmental destruction and cut-&-run practices. Jere assured the regulators over and over that no damage was being done and GP was here for the long haul. Ha! Wrong on both accounts, and a disaster to our mill workers, loggers and fishers. Huge pain was inflicted on thousands of locals by the corporate policies Jere vigorously defended. This is not opinion; it’s documentable fact. If you won’t let this be mentioned in your paper, I’m shocked and saddened by your censorship and refusal to let the truth be aired.

Tom Wodetzki,

Albion

Reply from Advocate-News Editor Connie Korbel: “The time to publicly question the work, record and character of Jere Melo was when he was alive and able to personally respond.”

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ELLSBERG SUPPORTS SOLOMON

Editor,

Pentagon Papers Whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg Endorses Norman Solomon for Congress; Will Join the Candidate on Campaign Trail.

Daniel Ellsberg, the renowned advocate for peace and the First Amendment who leaked the historic Pentagon Papers on the Vietnam War, endorsed congressional candidate Norman Solomon on Thursday. Ellsberg will join the independent progressive Democrat on the campaign trail next week.

Once referred to by President Nixon’s adviser Henry Kissinger as “the most dangerous man in America,” Ellsberg is an enthusiastic supporter of Norman Solomon for Congress. The famed whistleblower will speak at a house-party fundraiser for the Solomon campaign in Marin County on Sept. 22, an event bringing together two generations of antiwar leaders.

Solomon is running for Congress in the new coastal district that stretches from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Oregon border.

For details on scheduled campaign events, please click here .

On Thursday, Ellsberg issued the following statement in support of Solomon for Congress:

“For years I’ve trusted and relied on Norman Solomon’s judgments on political action more than my own or others’. No one could better represent ME in Congress: Norman’s values and priorities are virtually identical to mine, and I don’t know anyone who would pursue them in Congress as effectively, energetically and eloquently.

“In Congress, Norman will not be silent when Democratic leaders lose their way or their nerve. He’ll be a strong, independent voice for economic justice, civil liberties and rigorous environmental protection — and a determined foe of the militarism that is depleting our society in countless ways.

“Since he refuses all corporate PAC money, I encourage peace-and-justice-minded citizens across the district — and across the country — to rally behind Norman Solomon’s campaign. I’ve worked with him for years and I’m honored to be joining him on the campaign trail.”

Norman Solomon

Inverness

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PAINLESS TRANSPORTATION

Dear Editor,

I don’t think the Republicans care much about what happens to our transportation infrastructure as long as the elevators and airports are in good shape.

John Wester

San Diego

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STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

Letter to Editor,

Gee, it’s so reassuring to know we’ll get better government in Point Arena as a result of that nasty recall, and to see that only two of the currently elected City Council members have had sex with the previous Mayor Sinnott. Now we know why Patricia Schwindt was so adamant about that recall.

Debra Keipp

Point Arena

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SUPES GET ONE RIGHT

Dear Editor,

A beautiful thing happened at the Board of Supes meeting last week.

A well prepared and articulate citizen firefighter named Jeff Hedin from the Piercy Fire and Rescue Department told the supes that they made a big mistake when they imposed a huge event fee on the volunteer Fire Department last weekend as they were trying to raise enough money to pay for the gas it takes to get to the next fire.

The new fee far exceeded any gas money the fire department could ever raise. The room was full of folks who support our volunteer fire people and who know that our county needs to support these brave men and women who pay to risk their lives for us all.

Supervisors Smith and Pinches were outraged at the mistake that Jeff pointed out and promised to revisit and correct this obvious error. It is great to see our Supervisors respond quickly, take responsibility and move to protect our local volunteer Fire and Rescue angels.

Good move Supervisors.

Bess Bair

Dos Rios

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CONSPIRACISTS, MENDO BRANCH

To the Editor at the AVA:

Your September 7th issue provided us with Alexander Cockburn’s attack upon those of us who do not believe the Bush Administration’s version of what happened on 9-11. It is so full of down right misconceptions of fundamental engineering and physics that it deserves a response. Alex apparently has had no technical education and never bothered to take the time to become even modestly informed before taking off after us conspiracy nuts. I read his columns regularly and watch his blog site Countepunch as well. I seldom have a bone to pick with his views, but I can’t restrain myself after this latest diatribe.

Cockburn states that the conspiracists think that the floors of the World Trade Center towers pancaked because Cheney’s agents planted demolition charges. We members of Architects and Engineers for 911 Truth, against whom he levels most of his attacks, believes precisely the opposite: that the floors did not pancake. Apparently you never bothered to understand that controlled demolition has nothing to do with floors falling on one another and causing them all to drop in turn. The towers were mainly held up by a rigid central core of massive interior box beams and containing the elevators shafts, stairwells and utility corridors. The open office space 60 feet long and 35 feet side is supported on one side by this core and by the relatively light aluminum alloy framing on the outside perimeter. It consists of floor trusses with no interior columns. If pancaking had occurred it would have been confined to these open office areas since pancaking could not possibly have brought down the massive central core. This design is quite different from the conventional design Alex’s adviser, a retired structural engineer named Herman Soifer, was familiar with. In fact Soifer explains to us that the towers were “essentially hollow tubes.” Nothing could be further from the facts. There was nothing hollow about these buildings.

Cockburn’s other expert: “Pierre Sprey, a former plane and weapons designer who knows a great deal about explosions” but apparently has no civil or structural engineering competence, dismisses as “puffs of smoke” the huge explosions about every ten floors that shot heavy box beams from the building’s central core 160 feet horizontally out through the exterior shell and all the way across the street, where many were impaled in the sides of neighboring buildings. Some puffs these!

Alex Cockburn complains that “the conspiracists have never put forward an overall scenario of the alleged conspiracy.” He is right here: we have had to work with only a portion of the data, since the rest is either buried in the debris quickly scooped up and shipped to China and India for recycle, or hidden away in the recesses of the CIA and Pentagon. We have not been able to subpena data, as one would do in a court case, and have carefully avoided expanding the study beyond the question of what made these towers collapse. Does Cockburn really think we should give up on the case because of the government’s reluctance to open up the records ten years later? He also faults the “9-11 conspiracists” for forcing coincidences into logical sequences and treating forensic evidence in a whimsical manner. Yet he does not offer even one example to support these very general charges so we cannot respond.

Finally, Cockburn groups together some of the most zany theories that various loonies have invented, like the idea of a guided missile rather than an airplane hitting the Pentagon, and a bizarre story about President Bush shooting airliner passengers in Nebraska, and uses these to discredit the many years of hard work by logical and cold-eyed analysts. He does not even bother to question why FEMA quickly hauled away the wreckage from the Pentagon, and why the FBI has never released 80 sets of film seized within minutes of the Pentagon crash. He does not stop to wonder at the demolition of WTC-7 nine hours (Cockburn says erroneously that it was 7 hours) after the WTC 1&2 crashes without the assist of flaming jet fuel, nor is he puzzled that the 9/11 Report did not even mention this 47 story building’s free-fall collapse. He summarizes his case by insisting that “Cheney couldn’t even contrive a provocation sufficient to justify a war against Iran” and therefore was certainly not smart enough to pull off the WTC collapse. Surely Alex Cockburn can do better than this.

Jim Houle

Redwood Valley

Alexander Cockburn replies: “Truthers,” by definition, have nailed their colors to a theological commitment — “truth” — but their actual appetite for this commodity is very limited. Their doctrines are rife with implacable certainty — predictably displayed by Houle — though embedded in pitiful credulity, as when assaying such topics as putative NORAD response times. Have they read no military history, had no experience of military or civil screw-up, particularly in large organizations?

Back in 1999 the Mars Climate Orbiter had been speeding through space for nine months, and speaking to NASA in metrics. But the engineers on the ground were replying in non-metric English. The mathematical mismatch that was not caught until after the $125 million spacecraft, a key part of NASA’s Mars exploration program, was sent crashing too low and too fast into the Martian atmosphere. The craft has not been heard from since. “We were on the wrong trajectory and our system of checks and balances did not allow us to recognize that,” Edward Stone, director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said. The NASA center in California was in charge of the Mars mission.

Now, this was not a blunder born of haste and emergency. The contractors and NASA supervisors had what Stone touchingly invokes as “our system of checks and balances,” with plenty of time to review, check, test. The reaction of your average 9/11-er, fresh from arguing that NORAD emergency procedures were foolproof, hence failure was surely born from conspiracy, will surely be that NASA’s metric mismatch MUST have been a conspiracy, with reasons for same progressing on through various stages of nuttiness, depending on the mental stability of the “Truther” reviewing the case. We no doubt would end up with an allegation it was all part of the cover-up of the notorious fake moon landing, or a preparatory stage in the planting of the nuclear devices which, in the view of other conspiracists, provoked recent Indonesian and Japanese earthquakes.

The Truthers can’t all be espousing “truth” in anything other than a posture of religious commitment since they espouse many theories, many of them mutually contradictory. Typically, Houle here lavishes scorn on “various loonies,” who in turn lavish scorn on him, like Arians and Athanasians battling it out in the fourth century at the Council of Nicaea on the nature of the Godhead and the Trinity.

David Ray Griffin, the Truthers’ Aquinas, was raised in Oregon in the Disciples of Christ. He is, by profession, a professor of religious philosophy. According to Wikipedia, “he started to become a process theologian while attending John B. Cobb’s seminar on Whitehead’s philosophy. According to Griffin, process theology, as presented by Cobb, ‘provided a way between the old supernaturalism, according to which God miraculously interrupted the normal causal processes now and then, and a view according to which God is something like a cosmic hydraulic jack, exerting the same pressure always and everywhere (which described rather aptly the position to which I had come)’. Many of Griffin’s writings are devoted to developing postmodern proposals for overcoming the conflicts between religion and modern science. Griffin came to believe that much of the tension between religion and science was not only the result of reactionary supernaturalism, but also the mechanistic worldview associated with the rise of modern science in the seventeenth century.”

JFK conspiracists at least produce fully fledged scenarios, with names spelled out, guilt carefully apportioned. In ten years, beyond ex cathedra mantras about free fall and so forth the Truthers still remain studiously vague about anything other than the most blurry contours of this amazing conspiracy. Houle gestures vaguely to secrets “hidden away in the recesses of the CIA and Pentagon,” and seems to hint to Cheney’s involvement. In ten years Truthers can’t do better than that? I don’t think they can, not because of the prudence of Houle’s “logical and cold-eyed analysts,” but because a detailed scenario would expose the ten thousand obvious questions they decline to address or dismiss as libels on their faith.

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NO SO FAST, TOM

Editor:

The death of books and libraries has been greatly exaggerated (Tom Hine, Ukiah Daily Journal, 9/18/11), just as the death of radio was proclaimed many years ago. “Books and libraries are evolving” would be the correct assessment in my opinion.

What I’m learning from my customers is that some people, mainly younger, are indeed moving completely into personal technology for their book reading; some, mainly older, will have nothing to do with reading books on a computer screen; but most book readers still love having physical books in their hands to read, and to pass around, while they also may use technology sometimes when they travel.

I think that will be the norm for awhile yet, and then, as Peak Oil starts pushing energy prices into the stratosphere, and our energy infrastructure crumbles, as it is already beginning to do, then all bets are off. How affordable will eBooks be then, or even available? Will real books be used as barter currency? Will there be armed guards at the library and Mendocino Book Company to prevent looting? Hmmm. You may want to hang on to those books taking up space in your house for awhile yet, Tom. A local farmer may be quite willing to trade some organic potatoes and kale for your dog-eared copy of War and Peace, when times get really tough and your Kindle is gathering dust in the closet.

Dave Smith, Bookseller

Ukiah

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CANNABINOIDS

Dear Editor,

I’ve been out of town, but returned to find the rhetoric around the new AV dispensary ratcheted up to witch hunt level. “What about the children?” Yet no one can describe a single way a dispensary could possible cause harm to a child. “What about the Church?” The Church sent herbal healing into the dark ages for centuries and burnt all the herbalists at the stake. Between that and their priests’ penchants for truly harming children perhaps they shouldn’t throw stones. “What about the recovering addicts?” Cannabis is being shown as an excellent tool for giving up harder drugs and alcohol. Although I shouldn’t need to say more, I’ve written the following article in hopes of making a dent in the ignorance surrounding Marijuana and its uses. You may all feel free to publish or use it at will if it helps in any way. I will continue to offer classes in this community as well. I believe the current Board of Supes understands the need to protect our rights to healthcare and protect our thriving local economy where all other economies are failing. But they are not the leaders, we are!

“Blessed are those who soften the emotional rigidity of their hearts, for they shall have all the power of nature.” From the teachings of Jesus Christ translated directly form Aramaic to English.

To: The Residents of Mendocino County and their Board of Supervisors:

The medicinal chemicals found in Cannabis are called cannabinoids. There are over 90 of them identified. THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, is a cannabinoid. It is the only psychoactive cannabinoid in the plant. THC is activated by heat, which is why those looking for a high smoke or cook their cannabis. THC is also an analgesic (pain relieving), a nueroprotectant, anti-cancer, and an appetite stimulant. It modulates many systems including the liver, the gastrointestinal system, the cardiovascular system, and it modulates other neurotransmitters in the body. The other non-psychoactive cannabinoids in Marijuana can be accessed through consuming fresh cannabis, taking tinctures, or applying cannabis medicines topically.

Cannabis can be used to treat such a wide range of conditions because cannabinoids are neurotransmitters, or packets of information, passed between cells. They also modulate other neurotransmitters, like seratonin, dopamine, or glutamate. They help many of the systems in the body by turning up or turning down, turning on or turning off, multiple functions.

Cannabis is very good at correcting chronic inflammation, which drives many diseases like asthma, Alzheimer’s, arthritis, and colitis. It is an excellent pain reliever – even for nueropathic pain. It helps tremendously with diseases caused by neural misfiring, like Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, seizures and tremor disorders. It reduces the rate and intensity of Autism outbreaks. Because Marijuana can cross cell membranes and cross the blood brain barrier, its anti-oxidant properties are about 1000 times that of Vitamin C, which is only water-soluble. It is a tissue protectant, a cardioprotectant, a nueroprotectant, an anti-spasmodic and anti-epileptic. Therefore Cannabis is excellent for preventing and treating strokes, heart attacks, Parkinson’s disease and HIV dementia.

Cannabis is anti-cancer. It counters angiogenesis (development of blood vessels) in tumors and shrinks them. It kills cancerous cells, and prevents cancerous cells from proliferating and traveling. Cigarette smokers who also smoke Marijuana get far less lung cancer, and those that smoke Marijuana alone get no more lung cancer than non-smokers. Cannabis acts as an appetite stimulant for those on chemotherapy or suffering from wasting diseases, including infant Failure-to-Thrive disorder.

Cannabinoids operate in the reproductive system by regulating uterine contractions, spermatogenesis, fertilization, zygote transport to womb, implantation, suckling, fetal development, and neuro-chemical communication between mother and fetus.

They regulate our immune systems and control and reverse auto-immune disorders such as arthritis and Lupus. They regulate blood sugar and help with diabetes.

In the skeletal system they down-regulate osteoclasts (cells that break down and reabsorb bone cells) thus allowing osteoblasts (bone builders) to recoup bone loss in osteoporosis and broken bones. They prevent and relieve muscle spasms and act as vasorelaxants and so are useful in controlling high blood pressure. Because they are anti-inflammatory and regulate gastro motility, they help with digestive disorders such as colitis, irritated bowels, and gastritis. They are expectorants and break up lung congestion. They relieve ocular pressure in cases of Glaucoma and eye injury. They are anti-bacterial, and anti-fungal.

Cannabis is a favorite medicine for sleep disorders, PTSD, and non-THC cannabinoids are anti-psychotic.

I am a clinical healer, and in my practice, and through anecdotal stories throughout the Pacific Northwest, I have witnessed the use of cannabis salves and the consumption of fresh cannabis and cannabis tinctures cause tumors, including terminal brain tumors, to disappear, cause Alzheimer’s to reverse itself, and cause chronic inflammation in the back and joints to disappear. I have seen it save women from extremely severe menstrual cramps, and allow the crippled to become more mobile.

In our current society it is only possible for someone to legally purchase a topically applied cannabis salve through a dispensary. Dispensaries can legally make fresh cannabis leaf available to patients. Legally, I can only sell the cannabis tinctures that I make through a dispensary. These simple, non-psychoactive forms of cannabis are saving peoples lives and improving the quality of their lives by correcting compromising conditions. At the moment, it is within the power of the Board of Supervisors to allow me to give or sell these medicines to those who need them. I ask for your cooperation so that I am not criminalized for healing a torn rotator cuff with something as simple as massage oil.

(I hold a BS degree in biochemistry and work as a holistic healer. I operate the Caretaker’s Garden, a natural healing center in the heart of Boonville. I am an herbalist and a medicine maker who teaches the healing arts throughout California.)

Thank you,

Wendy Read

Boonville

Editor,

Do you wish there were more safe places to walk and roll in your community? Share your vision for a trail system to connect communities, expand options to walk and bike and increase economic opportunities! Help plan this multipurpose trail system adjacent to the rail corridor through your community at public workshops in Willits and Ukiah. Both workshops will be from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. with a presentation at 6:00 p.m. Wednesday, September 21: Willits, City Hall Community Room, 111 E. Commercial Street Thursday, September 22: Ukiah, Grace Hudson Museum, 431 South Main Street Come out to the workshops to view maps and photos of the Rails with Trails corridor alternatives and discuss priority trail segments and trail design alternatives that reflect community values. Input from these workshops will help to complete a Rails with Trails Corridor Plan for Mendocino County and determine priority trail segments for implementation. This project is coordinated by the Mendocino Council of Governments (MCOG) and funded by the Caltrans Transportation Planning Grant Program and MCOG.

For more information about the workshops, go to www.mendocinocog.org or call (707) 463-1859.

Loretta Ellard, 463-1859

Mendocino Council of Governments

Ukiah

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HEY CHEZZ!

Hi folks,

I wonder how many of you have heard about the fact that delinquent taxpayers owe California $6.5 billion dollars in back taxes. The worst 250 of them are wealthy individuals and corporations. They owe by themselves more thqn $146 million. Don’t take my word for it. You can access this information at the California State Franchise Tax Board website — http://www.ftb.ca.gov/individuals/txdlnqnt.shtml .

Meanwhile they are closing our parks libraries and cutting school budgets. This is absolutely outrageous. I sent registered letters to Governor Brown, State Senator Noreen Evans and Assembly Member Wes Chesbro. I told them about this situation and said I want to hear about what they are going to do about it.

Please all of you who are outraged by this, send letters, not emails to those officials.

Ed Oberweiser

Mendocino

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NRA 5, SAFETY 0

Dear Editor

“A gunman with AK-47 fatally shot 3 Guard troops, 2 others at an IHOP in Carson City.”

In regard to the above subject:

SCORE: NRA, US Supreme Court, gun manufacturers: 5

Public safety: 0

In peace,

James G. Updegraff

Sacramento

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WHAT WOULD JESUS ABORT?

Editor,

I’ve been following with interest the letters in another Mendo County rag, concerning abortion and Planned Parenthood, I’ve got to comment briefly.

I believe it was the initial letter on the subject, filled with hysterical rants about baby killing and demonizing Planned Parenthood, which make me think, “really? There are people in Mendocino County who think this way?” It sounded more like something one would expect to come across among the barking mad “Christian” extremist element of Kansas, where they shoot abortion doctors in the head at their church, rationalizing cold-blooded murder with their kitschy obsession with the ‘poor, innocent’ fetus.

One of the main things that caused me to bail out of Catholicism as a teen was the absurdity of this supposedly celibate pope, preaching to people all over the world about the evils of contraception and abortion. Even at that young age, the insanity of encouraging people in Haiti and Ethiopia to reproduce prolifically, struck me as inexorably leading directly to famine and mass starvation.

To those who base their bias against women having the right to control their reproductive lives on some set of religious principles, I’ve got to say that, were Jesus (or whatever other central religious figure) alive today, I think that he would smack you in the back of the head and say, “What?! Who cares what I said way back then! Look what is going on in the world right now! You humans are just crushing the planet’s ability to sustain you! Obviously we have to use any and all means to slow and reverse human population growth or it won’t matter what else we do, we will have created Hell on Earth! Are you out of your minds?!”

As for the supposed suffering of the fetus; how much less it must be than the suffering of a child born to a mother who does not want him or her. I remember reading many years ago about a study which showed a dramatic decrease in crime all across the US; 16 or 17 years after Roe V. Wade. Right about the time when young folks who are so inclined start to get arrested, the sudden absence of all those kids who would have been born to unwilling mothers actually resulted in a clear change of crime statistics.

And we are all better off for it.

Sincerely,

John Arteaga

Ukiah

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AN APT PLACE TO MEET

Editor,

Republicans to Meet

The Mendocino County Republican Central Committee will meet September 21, 2011, 7:00 PM — 9:00 PM at Moura Senior Housing, 400 South Street, Fort Bragg, CA 95437. For further information contact:

Stan Anderson, 707-321-2592.

Fort Bragg

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THIS IS NUTS

Hi Bruce,

I hope this finds you well. As you might know I am married to a Mendo county worker and have a “front row seat” to what is happening to particularly the Mental Health Crisis Services. Many of the line workers are developing serious health issues due to the mounting stress in the work place. The local union after fruitless negotiations with Mendocino County has proposed a strike. County workers will stop work and walk out on Monday 9/12/11 at 12:50pm! Primary issues under dispute are a 15% pay decrease to go with a workweek reduction to 36 hours and changing all Social Service employees’ status from full-time to part-time employees. This last part is especially alarming because if workers agree to this, benefit reductions cannot be far behind. Social Services, especially emergency services in Mental Health and child protection have already seen huge staff reductions, furloughed workdays, a previous 10% income reduction, 10-hour-plus work days, employees traveling long distances to provide necessary services, and a constantly increased workload. The safety and well being of citizens of Mendocino County are in serious jeopardy!

Monika Fuchs

Philo

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LET ‘EM SAG

Editor,

School uniforms?

The Turkey Vulture wants to know how anybody can object to forcing school kids to wear uniforms. Since dress is self-expression, here’s H.L. Mencken writing in 1949:

“The whole drift of our law is toward absolute prohibition of all ideas that diverge in the slightest from the accepted platitudes, and behind the drift of law there is a far more potent force of growing custom, and under that custom there is a national philosophy which erects conformity into the noblest of virtues and the free functioning of personality into a capital crime against society.”

Or Voltaire: “Our wretched species is so made that those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road.”

Instead of old folks fixating on how they can rescue the young from youth, they should focus on how they can rescue them from the old.

Bruce Patterson

Boonville

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NOT THERE, PLEASE

Dear Laura Hamburg,

I have not yet received a response to my letter of August 29th. Again, I hope you will reconsider your choice for a marijuana dispensary between a church and a family restaurant. Additionally, have you considered the “less than 1000 feet from a school” prohibition of marijuana? Across from your present choice of dispensary location is the Mendocino County Fairgrounds. They host many school activities there.

Section 9.31.090 of Mendocino County Code Violations, number 3, “prohibits the cultivation of marijuana in any amount within 1,000 feet of a youth oriented facility, school or park.” In my opinion, equal limitations to the location of a pot dispensary would seem to be morally equivalent.”

Again, please reconsider.

Sincerely,

Barbara Scott

Philo

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WHAT’S WRONG HERE?

Editor,

What’s wrong here?

We spend hundreds of billions of dollars bailing out a bunch of crooks on Wall Street and $8 billion a week on a war in Afghanistan. But when the post office loses $8 billion in one whole year we hear talk about a “new direction.”

Think about the millions of dollars saved by our mail persons who take our letters back to their office. We receive our catalogs and shop online, saving us time, money, gas and the environment.

The purpose of government is to protect the citizenry and provide for the general welfare. I don’t mind paying taxes for the Postal Service, Social Security or health care, but I resent our corporate-sponsored representatives in Congress telling me the Postal Service should not lose money. What hypocrisy.

Ashley Jones

Alameda

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Memo of the Week

On September 2, 2011, the County sent SEIU a letter withdrawing the 36-hour revised MOU provided to SEIU on July 21, 2011. Since that time, there have been many questions from County employees regarding the status of SEIU negotiations. This memorandum is intended to clarify and respond to the many questions that have been raised. It is also intended to provide a factual account of events which have transpired since negotiations began in August of 2010 and shall not be construed as an attempt to influence or interfere with the negotiation process.

As you know, we have been negotiating with all of our bargaining units since March 2010, and specifically with SEIU since August 2010. During the 12 months of negotiations, there were 24 meetings, 32 tentative agreements signed off by both parties and 9 detailed SEIU information requests and responses from the County but no resolution of the wage concession request. On May 16, 2011, the County declared impasse.

As required by the Employee-Employer Relations Policy, the parties are required to hold an impasse meeting prior to requesting mediation. It was at this meeting that SEIU proposed a 36-hour workweek concept. After agreeing that consideration of the 36-hour work week concept would not affect the impasse declaration, the County’s negotiating team agreed to take the 36-hour work week concept to the BOS for consideration. On June 7th, the BOS met and gave direction to County staff to pursue and investigate whether the 36-hour workweek concept proposed by SEIU was feasible. The Board did not vote on or agree to any proposal. From June 20 through June 23, 2011, SEIU voted on a “Contract Settlement Proposal Summary” that had not been reviewed by or agreed to by the County, and despite the County requesting that the vote not go forward until the details of the 36-hour work week concept proposal could be discussed and an agreement reached. It is for this reason that the Board of Supervisors authorized CEO Carmel Angelo to send a message dated June 22, 2011, to all employees, stating that the Board had not agreed to many of the proposals that were included in the “Contract Settlement Proposal Summary.” There was no agreement on the specific details of the 36-hour workweek concept proposal when SEIU chose to take their language to the membership for a vote.

Without changing the County’s position on impasse, and despite the SEIU vote on proposals that had not been agreed to, the County continued to diligently explore the 36-hour workweek concept. Consideration of the 36-hour workweek concept was always based on the understanding that it would result in savings that would be the equivalent of a 10% reduction in pay.

On July 21, 2011, after a comprehensive review of the 36-hour workweek concept, the County met with SEIU and provided a complete revised MOU based on the SEIU request for a-36-hour workweek. Each provision was explained to the SEIU bargaining team at that meeting. For a full month, SEIU did not respond with a counter-proposal or acceptance of the revised MOU. On August 22, the County sent SEIU a letter informing them that they had until September 2, 2011 to advise the County as to whether the proposal would be put to a vote by the membership. During this timeframe, SEIU sent three information requests to which the County timely responded. SEIU and the County met on August 31 and remained in contact by email and phone, but no agreement was reached.

SEIU was reminded that the County would withdraw the 36-hour workweek proposal from further consideration if they, SEIU, did not respond by 5pm on September 2, stating that they would recommend the revised MOU be put to the membership for a vote. SEIU did not respond and gave no indication that they were prepared to recommend the revised MOU to the membership for a vote, so the proposal was withdrawn.

Additionally, the County then sent SEIU a second letter making the following proposal which was consistent with discussions that have occurred over the past year:

1. Term — 1 year thru September 30, 2012.

2. Wages — 15% ongoing salary reduction effective upon adoption of a new MOU.

3. Retirement — create a new tier for new hires.

4. On the job injuries — modify current language.

5. Inspection of personnel files — add new language.

6. Disciplinary action definitions — add new language.

7. All Tentative Agreements signed by both parties.

The above offer is valid until September 12, 2011 at 5pm. As of this writing, SEIU has stated via e-mail that neither proposal is acceptable.

We hope this memo answers some of your questions. Thank you all for your ongoing efforts to continue to serve the public with pride and professionalism during these difficult times.

Released by:

Mendocino County Board of Supervisors

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UNFAIR

Editor,

Mendocino County employees launch public campaign for open, accountable government. Protests This Week Call Out Board of Supervisors for Breaking Agreements, Threatening Workers and Bad Faith Bargaining.

The people who provide public services to Mendocino County will hold simultaneous countywide actions on Monday to call the public’s attention to abusive tactics and secret actions by the Board of Supervisors that are harming the critical services county residents rely on. They will also carry their protest to the Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday.

County residents are invited to take part at these times and locations:

WHEN: Monday, September 12 at 12:50pm

WHERE: 1) County Courthouse, Ukiah — Corner of Perkins and State Streets. 2) County Courthouse, Fort Bragg — 700 South Franklin St. 3) Babcock Park, Willits — Hwy 101 near the Frank R. Howard Memorial Hospital.

And Tuesday, September 13, 9am, Board of Supervisors meeting — 501 Low Gap Road, Room 1070

County workers had no choice but to expose the Board publicly when the supervisors unilaterally reneged on their own offer after the workers had already agreed to it.

“We agreed to the supervisors’ proposal with the largest show of support in county history. Employee morale was high and productivity was up. But the Board responded by retaliating against us and backpedaling on their own deal,” said Andrea Longoria, a substance abuse counselor in the Health & Human Services Agency and member of the SEIU Local 1021 bargaining team, which represents more than 700 county workers.

“They’re now threatening to slash our wages by 15% instead of bargaining, and threatening to retaliate against us by imposing these terms if we don’t accept them unconditionally by 5pm on Monday,” she said. “And this is after we had a deal.”

“The kicker is that it’s Mendocino County residents who get hurt the most — by a far lower level of services and by secret, unaccountable government,” she said.

During negotiations this summer, county workers presented the Board of Supervisors with more than $6 million in proposed cost savings for the county, a proposal the supervisors have continued to ignore. In December 2007, the supervisors gave themselves a 43% pay raise while increasing county workers’ health care premiums by 43%.

At the Monday actions and Tuesday board meeting, County workers will circulate a petition calling on the Board of Supervisors to accept the same package they are forcing upon the workers — a 15% pay cut and change to “permanent part-time” status — and to move Board meetings from 9am to 5:30pm so that meetings are more accessible to the public.

Find more information on the public campaign website, Mendocino Forward: www.mendocinoforward.com

Randy Lyman

Ukiah

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HORSE SENSE

Dear community service organizations, schools and health facilities:

Guided Learning and Psychotherapy; Equine Echoes at Mountain View Stables in Boonville.

We invite you to experience a free demonstration of a type of guided learning and psychotherapy called Equine Assisted Learning or Equine Assisted Psychotherapy. This approach incorporates horses for emotional growth and learning. It is a collaborative effort between a mental health professional and a horse professional working with clients and horses to address personal, family or team goals. We find this work gets to the issues quickly in a nonthreatening manner.

Our team includes Brenda Stone, barn manager and equine specialist. Brenda is a professional horse trainer with 25+ years of experience in natural horse training and competition and has taught many clinics over the years — everything from natural horsemanship and massage therapy to kids pony camp.

Lesley Osman is a licensed marriage and family therapist who has been in private practice for over 20 years and has her M.A. in counseling psychology. Leslie has worked extensively with children and adolescents and is currently contracted with Redwood Children’s Services. Lesley incorporates a nature-based approach to her private practice in Boonville where she works with individuals and families.

The equine assisted guidance and learning association (EAGALA) approach has a wide appeal and can be used for teambuilding, improved communication in groups and families, individual therapeutic and counseling purposes. We work outside in an enclosed environment such as an arena with individuals, couples, families, groups and organizations.

We are both certified in this method. www.eagala.com is the organizational website to provide you with more information about this approach.

We will provide one hour of group activity with the horses which have been hand-picked for this kind of work. As it is difficult to explain how beneficial the experience with horses can be, we believe the demonstration will give you a better understanding of the fundamentals first-hand. We want to share this exciting work with you to be considered for your referrals. The next demonstration will be offered on Sunday, September 25.

Please RSVP to 272-3902 or 895-2852 or email Lesley at lesleyosman@aol.com. Plan on up to two hours total, processing time included. Dress comfortably. Horse-riding clothing is not necessary as this is not a riding experience. Please wear closed-toed shoes (no sandals or flip-flops). You will be standing, walking and sitting outdoors. Light refreshments will be provided.

The demonstration will occur at Mountain View Ranch just past the high school and airport on Mountain View Road in Boonville. Although we are offering this experience at no charge, any donations would be used to help offset the cost to disadvantaged clients. We look forward to sharing this with you.

Leslie Osman MFT, and Linda Stone, equine specialist

Boonville

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NUTS

Editor:

Alexander Cockburn’s columns are always fascinating because they are so off the wall. I guess when/if you must turn out such long columns weekly, the search for something significant to say gets difficult, particularly if you live in Eureka so far from the action. As an example, the columns he has written asserting that global warming is all a conspiracy theory designed to get earth scientists grants or whatever are remarkably disjointed. Conspiracies do happen, not by a bunch of shady individuals sitting around in a smoky room, but simply by common interest as Will Parrish has so well documented of the efforts of a few to monopolize northern California water. Is this only a conspiracy theory? Mainstream newspapers, television news, and news magazines both in print and on the web, where most get their information, don’t mention it, only left-wing environ blogs and far out newspapers like the AVA that no one but nuts read.

Roosevelt and WWII come to mind. England was in deep trouble and Churchill was begging Roosevelt for help. Congress resisted, fearing engagements in foreign wars. Pearl Harbor was the solution and the Battleship Arizona was left as a sitting duck just as the Battleship Maine had been in Havana Bay and the USS Maddox in Vietnam. How many military and civilian lives were lost to save England? Of course, you say, looking back it was vital to stop Hitler, but at that point American capital had mixed feelings about him.

Kennedy was in the process of taking control of the money supply from the Fed when he was shot. He was becoming a danger to powerful people in this and other ways as were his brother and MLK Jr. who was coming out strongly against the Viet Nam War. The assassins surly couldn’t be unidentified or linked to power in any way or conspiracy theories would get started. So, somehow or another, unknown nuts were the unquestioned felons in each case. President Johnson was naturally apprised of all investigations associated with his predecessor’s death. He was once asked what had really happened and he replied, “You don’t want to know.” Of course, this is only hearsay. There are many of us who wonder that the persons, places, and times the killings occurred are just too pat in each of these cases. When the dice keep coming up boxcars, one questions.

I come to 9/11. Recently a psychologist reported some interesting experimental results. If someone believes something to be true and is presented contrary evidence, he will refuse to consider it and, instead, become more strongly committed to his belief. I stumbled on an article by a person who had been a doubter of a 9/11 conspiracy several years after the attack. Still, he decided to investigate further. As he considered the evidence, he concluded there was a smoking gun. I subsequently read the books in which he presented his evidence, which really caught my attention. There was a lot of funny business about the trade center collapse that, as far as I can learn, was never investigated. There was no forensic inquiry, because “they” knew who the instigators were apparently by the next day; all the evidence was quickly cleaned up, much of it shipped off to China. Shortly after, the news began to focus on Iraq. All the 9/11 “conspiracy theorists” have ever asked is for an objective forensic investigation, although many believe they know what the answer will be. Anyhow, a lot of top secret documents would have to be exposed to get to the truth and important people required to respond to questions, and that won’t happen.

Now, we are learning about another conspiracy, one in which adjustable-rate mortgages with little down payment were widely made, packaged in mortgage securities with other more solid mortgages, and passed off by the rating agencies as prime investments. As they were doing this, there is evidence that they understood that this boom would bust, but by that time they would have reaped huge profits — which they did — and the traces would have disappeared — which they almost did. Now Fanny Mae/Freddy Mack and the Attorney General of Nevada are after them. It is mostly hearsay that they with afore thought were guilty of fraud and theft. It would appear someone might have to raid their offices, sequester all their records, and filter through them for proof, but think of the work involved. It appears to me that these are high crimes and misdemeanors, racketeering. Think how many have been hurt by the losses of their homes. As usual the mainstream media hasn’t noticed and the other 49 state Attorney Generals and the Attorney General of the US are sitting on their hands. So, this must just be another conspiracy theory.

Do we have to attend Koch Brothers’ gatherings to see that indeed conspiracies do happen, are happening all the time in the “high” places of our economy and government? Rule number two, in my book, after love your brother and sister as yourself is to always question authority and test their answers for veracity.

Don Sanderson

Hopland

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NOT AGAIN?

Dear Editor,

The GOP repeatedly tells us that their primary goal is to defeat Obama. Their solution to the financial crisis remains the same policy that created our problems: no taxes, no regulation, destroy the environment, and more war.

Voters are angry with Obama for not standing up to a GOP devoted to rich monopolies, wealthy individuals, banks, and the insurance industry, all intent on enriching themselves.

The attack on the public must be turned around by a real jobs program:

a new WPA to rebuild our infrastructure;

extend Medicare for everyone;

Social Security for anyone over 60 who has been out of work for 2 years;

a 30-hour workweek for everyone;

fair taxes on the richest ten percent;

taxes on overseas corporate profits, and

an end to part-time work with no benefits.

We tried saving the banks; it didn’t help. Now it’s time to save ordinary working people.

Sincerely,

Don Monkerud

Aptos

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THE SELF EXPRESSION ARGUMENT

Dear Editor,

Why such upset about what the High School kids are wearing? Is it inciting violent behavior on campus? Are the kids’ grades suffering because of it? My understanding is that the answer is no, it is not. So, what, exactly, is the problem?

As the mother of a wonderful, creative and talented high school senior who has gone to AV schools since 4th grade, I don’t understand what the fuss is about. “Choose your battles,” people! Kids drinking alcohol? That’s a battle worth fighting! Kids smoking dope and/or cigarettes? Absolutely worth fighting. Vandalism? Violence? Nip it in the bud. Gang paraphernalia? Not acceptable. But clothes?? Clothes are an excellent way to self-express, and it doesn’t hurt anybody.

Here is some information from the latest Smithsonian magazine: Finland’s students get extremely high scores, ranking 2nd, 3rd and 6th on the standardized exams in science, reading and math taken by students around the world in 57 countries. (US schools come in around 25th — 30th.) The Fins do this without mandated standardized tests apart from one exam at the end of a student’s senior year in high school. The article says, “What’s up in Finland’s schools? These schools are joyful places. The teachers come in jeans and sandals. Some of them wear funny costumes on holidays.” They make learning fun, and well-educated students come out of it.

How about when it’s considered wrong for a girl to cover too much, to wear a head scarf to school? Remember when ladies were frowned upon if they didn’t wear gloves to the city? “Fashion,” what clothing is considered acceptable, is always changing. It’s totally subjective. Why do we get so riled up about it? There are so many truly horrendous things going on to get upset about, like the budget cuts to the state, with our economy 7th or 8th in the world, yet no money for our schools. Let’s put our energy into righting that wrong; Higher education is getting so expensive, only the very wealthy can attend without racking up gigantic debts. There’s something to change. “The transformation of the Finns’ education system began some 40 years ago as the key propellent of the country’s economic recovery plan,” states the Smithsonian. Now there’s a thought! Again, I say: Choose your battles!

Sincerely,

Nancy MacLeod

Philo

PS. Check out the Sept. 2011 Smithsonian article, “A+ For Finland” (or Smithsonian.com/finland)

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LOOKS ARE DECEIVING

Editor:

One thing that Mr. Cockburn and all the wicked and deluded conspiracy theorists can agree on is that it sure does LOOK like controlled demolition.

Gordy Black

Mendocino

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YOU PROMISED!

Editor,

President Obama promised on October 27, 2007: “I will promise you this, that if we have not gotten our troops out by the time I am President, it is the FIRST THING I will do. I will get our troops home. We will bring an end to this war. You can take that to the bank.”

On Peace — President Obama has been in office for 32 months and there are still 45,000 troops in Iraq and 100,000+ troops in Afghanistan. When we voted for Obama we expected our future President to keep his word, not involve us in FOUR MORE WARS! PRESIDENT OBAMA: You’re ON NOTICE. Next election Americans will come out in great numbers to vote for a peace-focused presidential candidate that will keep his word.

On Commercial-scale Renewable Energy — We felt validated that we voted for Obama when early in his presidency our President pledged to begin to develop safe, sustainable and renewable energy. We saw it as an excellent way to put the American workforce ‘back to work’ and begin to build a renewable energy future for America. Since then NOT ONE significant renewable or sustainable energy project has been created nor backed by the federal government. If there is one, please name it! The validation we felt back then has expired long ago into distrust and disrespect.

On the BP Gulf Oil Leak — Mostly based on watching our President minimize and shield his eyes (along with Energy Sec Chu) as the BP Oil Leak continues to leak and spew oil into the Gulf of Mexico, to this day. We are beyond disappointed that no significant or innovative remedial (as in clean up) action has been taken in the Gulf or poisoned coastal areas.

On Fukushima & Nuclear Reactors — Then we were shocked when our President in his address to the nation, moments after Fukushima went into melt-through in March 2011, disbelieving our President’s pledge of allegiance to more, new nuclear development in America. Except for President Obama’s corporate backers, the rest of us DO NOT WANT MORE NUCLEAR ENERGY REACTORS in the U.S. We demand our President begin to close down all U.S. nuclear reactors now, also a position very far from our President’s nuclear energy corporate BFF’s.

The natives are becoming restless mr. President!

Put America back on the right track

1) Immediately BRING ALL TROOPS HOME to be re-deployed in cleaning up the affected areas, as in making whole again, at the on-going BP Oil Leak in the Gulf of Mexico.

1-A. Fire & replace Energy Secretary Chu with a qualified, earth-friendly, safe renewable energy visionary.

2) Segment a significant portion of your new Jobs Bill towards sustainable and renewable energy R&D to create a VISION & PLAN FOR AMERICA to become the world leader in these new, safe technologies.

2-A. Consider and fund Mendocino Energy, a fast-tracked commercial-scale renewal/sustainable energy thinktank to get started TODAY. Learn more about Mendocino Energy. http://bit.ly/t7ov1

Mr. President, let us live in peace on a healthy planet.

JOIN US, JOIN IN at the Peaceful Party: http://on.fb.me/hBvNE3

Laurel Krause

Mendocino Coast

Come meet him at the Caspar Community Center in downtown Caspar on Thursday, September 8 at 7 pm or on Friday September 9 at 4:30 pm at the Ukiah Brewing Company & Restaurant, 102 S. State Street, Ukiah. From stinging critiques of the corporate media in his long-running, nationally-syndicated column Media Beat; to his strong anti-war message in his book and documentary War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death; to his seminal work on a Green New Deal — pointing the way “to a more resilient region guided by principles of environmental sustainability, economic equity and social justice” — Norman Solomon has spent decades preparing himself for Congress.

As Norman says, “The traditional political approaches are dismal failures and really jeopardizing the future for the next generation…. So much is at stake for future generations and for the planet that we need to be willing to organize as if our lives and the lives of those close to us depended on it. Getting involved is essential…. We can turn this around… In moral and electoral terms, the status quo is indefensible. Economic realities include high unemployment, routine home foreclosures, huge tax breaks for large corporations, and widening gaps between the wealthy and the rest of us — in tandem with endless war and runaway military spending…A much better world is possible… The stakes are too high and crises too extreme to accept ‘moderate’ accommodation to unending war, regressive taxation, massive unemployment, routine foreclosures, and environmental destruction…It’s time to go back to the grassroots and organize with renewed, deepened commitment to changing the direction of this country.”

Meet Norman in the new South Room at the Caspar Community Center at 7 pm on September 8, or at the Ukiah Brewing Company & Restaurant at 4:30 pm on Friday September 9.

For more information on his campaign, check out his website at www.solomonforcongress.com. Contact Jim Tarbell at rtp@mcn.org for more information on his visit to Mendocino County.

Jim Tarbell

Caspar

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ELIGIBILITY

To the Editor,

So, it appears that Supervisor Hamburg is not happy with the redistricting “Option E2” that wants to remove the town of Mendocino from his Fifth District. Well of course not, a good amount of votes Hamburg gets undoubtedly come from Mendocino.

I have a good idea. Why not extend the Second District south to say about Retech and west to about the top of the Boonville Grade? Then, Doper Dan’s residence will be in the Second District and he will no longer be eligible to be Fifth District Supervisor.

Thank you

David Anderson

Ukiah

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WHEN IN WILDERNESS…

To the Editor:

Many years ago when Lynn Gravier (the lady that fed the Bears) moved to the “remote mountain cabin,” Lynn made friends with her environment including the wildlife. More recently the people who move to remote places to live, when they see the first mountain lion or bear, they usually call for someone to come shoot it without a thought that they had moved into the territory where the wildlife live.

If a bear had walked through Lynn’s cabin, had she been there, I believe she would have housebroken the bear in a short period of time. It is disturbing to see her blamed for the mess that the Bears left by breaking into her home after she was evicted from it.

Either way, moving to the wilderness has its problems.

Ann Foster

Ukiah

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COME FORTH, FIGURES

Editor,

Below is a copy of a letter and a request for financial figures of our Community Services District which was published last month in this newspaper.

Letter:

How much total debt does the CSD have as of the close of their accounting year which is ?

The total and major categories.

The total income.

Is there a crisis like all other governments are having?

As of today (August 22, 2011) no financial figures have come forth. I will remind the CSD board that there is a law called the California Public Records Act. Basically it means the records of our California government are public records and have to be made available. The exception to that law is preliminary drafts, notes and correspondence. Preliminary means something has not been done yet. That’s okay. But the minute they spend a nickel or pass something by the governing board it is public record. It’s a foregone conclusion that when the budget is kept secret or explained in a not understandable manner there is hanky-panky. Why in the newspaper? Because it’s the law and the US Constitution meant for us to have government that is open to review by all its citizens.

Emil Rossi

Boonville

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EXCESS ACCESS

To: Roger Mobley, chief planner, Mendocino County Planning and Building Services, 501 Low Gap Road, Room 1440, Ukiah, CA 95482.

Dear Mr. Mobley,

This letter is written to object to the issuing of a business license to Mendocino Generations, a medical marijuana dispensary set to open in downtown Boonville.

The primary goal of the Anderson Valley Community Action Coalition is to prevent and reduce youth substance abuse in Anderson Valley. We feel that the presence of the dispensary in such a centrally located area of Boonville will increase access to marijuana and encourage use by youth by normalizing its presence as part of the community culture. Across the country, marijuana use is increasing among youth ages 12-17 and this is parallels the legalization of medical marijuana. The very description of marijuana as “medical” minimizes for youth the perception of harm. We know from research that the adolescent brain is not fully developed and that marijuana affects motivation, memory and learning. We also know that marijuana is a psychoactive drug that affects the brain’s reward system in a similar way to other addicting drugs.

This particular location is next door to a church that hosts a variety of programs and services to children, being used by the public grammar school, part-time private schooling, student tutoring and lessons, community activities and substance abuse counseling. The church facility has a long history of being used for full-time private school purposes. While there is no full-time private school in session this year, the location of a marijuana co-op next door (within 600 feet, per AB-2650) could very well disrupt their plans for this use in the future and prevent issuance of a use permits should the school choose to substantially increase the number of students. On the other side, Lauren’s Restaurant serves families and hosts local school exhibits, dances and teen center events as does the Fairgrounds located across the street. This is a prime location for family and youth activities and the presence of a dispensary is inappropriate.

In addition we are concerned about community safety as it relates to drugged driving, potential crime and the adverse effects on local business. There has been no opportunity for public input from the community. Their business license application seems intentionally misleading as it does not even mention marijuana dispensing. The County grand jury has recommended a moratorium on new dispensaries pending creation of a county ordinance to regulate where and how medical marijuana dispensaries are able to operate. 80 cities in California have implemented moratoriums, 60 have outright banned dispensaries, 11 counties have either banned them or placed a moratorium on them and more follow every day. We fully agree with the recommendation of the Grand Jury and urge your department to withhold the business license for this operation.

Sincerely,

Colleen Schenck

Anderson Valley Community Action Coalition

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POT STORE? WHY NOT?

Editor

I’d like to offer an alternate viewpoint to that of the two preachers who fear that a medicinal marijuana dispensary adjacent to their church might somehow corrupt their youth or get them caught in a crossfire of criminal activity (AVA, 8/24 /11). These are the same people who instruct their flock, assuming they follow the eternal church tenants that I was taught, that failure to conform to church dogma will result in an eternity of torment in a lake of fire. How is that for corruption of youth? I think the preachers need not worry about people next door, but what happens in their own establishment.

Marijuana can be a great relief to people in pain such as cancer victims and others who have run out of options and who don’t care for idiotic politics, but just want to be pain free for a time. Let the advocates of this dispensary provide such a service. Maybe marijuana is so plentiful in this Valley that a dispensary may be unnecessary. Fine, then the business will fail. Let people have a try at making a living by providing an important service to our fellow citizens in need. Seems like a reasonable plan. The beneficial fruits of the number one industry in our county should not be hidden behind closed doors.

In my opinion the potential benefits of medicinal marijuana to people in our community who may be in great pain outweigh the fear that the mere presence of a dispensary might be a risk to young people. In reality, drugs and crime could be anywhere — parents, teachers and preachers need to teach kids to deal with those hazards whether a dispensary is next door or not.

Paul Soderman

Boonville

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TRUE TRUTHERS

Editor,

Looking Back At 9/11 Ten Years Later: Just How Did Those Buildings Collapse?

Our memories of September 11th, 2001 are wrapped around where we were when the airliners hit the World Trade Center towers and the impact of those flames upon our psyches. Our national leaders quickly led us on to attack the alleged terrorists in Afghanistan and eventually to an all-out invasion of Iraq. For many, the recent focus has been on how to get our troops out of these two countries and shut off the enormous drain these wars have upon our very sick economy. Now, ten years after that day when 2606 innocent office workers were deliberately murdered, Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth believes it is time to seriously examine how these people actually died and if their deaths were really necessary. During the past decade, A&E 9/11Truth, an organization of over 1500 Architects and Engineers from all over the United States associated with 12,400 other supporters have signed The 911Truth Petition calling for a new and independent investigation. We have carefully researched all available evidence regarding the destruction of the twin 110-story towers and the 47 story WTC-7 building in lower Manhattan. We find it very disturbing that official investigations have failed to address evidence of explosives and incendiaries that may have contributed to the fall of these buildings. In fact, there has been a total failure to explain how these buildings could have each fallen in less than 12 seconds, essentially in free fall. The 9/11 Commission set up by the Bush Administration never even investigated the collapse of WTC-7 some nine hours later, a building not struck by an airliner. FEMA supervised the wholesale destruction of evidence even prior to the official investigation, completely ignoring the recommendations of the National Fire Protection Association. FEMA quickly loaded 200,000 tons of structural steel on barges and shipped it to India and China for recycling. Only a few hundred pieces are now available as forensic evidence. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) deliberately excluded relevant facts from their report such as the presence of chemical residues, particles of un-ignited incendiaries, nanothermite, and molten metal in the wreckage in their rush to close the books on this disaster.

We at Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth have limited our investigations to the examination of evidence concerning the unexplained free-fall of three Manhattan skyscrapers in seconds. We have not indulged in speculation about who specifically planned and executed the 9/11 attacks in New York, nor have we studied the crash of United Flight 93 into the Pentagon that same day. We will continue to research, compile, and disseminate scientific evidence relative to the destruction of the three New York buildings and call for a truly open and independent investigation. The 9/11 Commission was headed by Governor Thomas Kean and Representative Lee Hamilton, who felt the Commission was “set up to fail” and subsequently wrote a book attempting to disassociate themselves from the final Commission Report. However, that Report still provides the justification for our continuing open-ended wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and many Americans are still bound to the story of a 9/11 Moslem terrorist attack upon our homeland.

We believe that there is now sufficient evidence to conclude that World Trade Center Buildings 1, 2 and 7 were destroyed not by jet impacts and fires but by controlled demolition with explosives. We therefore call upon Congress to initiate a new investigation with full subpoena powers. Our work is dedicated to the victims and to the families of those who died on September 11th 2001 and to all throughout the world who have been affected. If you are interested in learning more, signing our petition, and perhaps joining in this effort, you will find additional materials including DVDs available at: WWW.911Truth.org.

James F. Houle, 911 Truth Volunteer

Redwood Valley

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NEXT TO A CHURCH?

Laura Hamburg:

Your choice of location for your marijuana dispensary is an indecent affront to our community. Next door to a church? Please reconsider.

Sincerely,

Barbara Scott

Philo

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GOT POT? NOT

Dear Boonville business owner,

We feel that the proposed downtown Boonville marijuana dispensary would not only be bad for the youth in our community but also bad for business. We realize that you may or may not agree with agree with this. If you do agree, it would be helpful to have you fill out a copy of the complaint form provided by the Business and Planning Department. We will be happy to pick up and deliver your complaint with those of other Boonville business owners to the Planning Department. Give us a call at 895-2146. We are providing this packet to all downtown Boonville businesses. This is the only tool at our disposal because there is no ordinance; the only way to stop the opening is denying a business license. Please read the letter [printed in last week's AVA] to understand why we are opposed to a dispensary opening in such a central location. There is lots of information online that documents the adverse effects of dispensaries on neighbors. If you can take some time please investigate for yourself the experiences other communities have had.

The Anderson Valley Community Action Coalition

Boonville

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OLD HORSES

Dear Editor:

Our organization receives calls regularly from concerned citizens. “There’s a horse in the pasture near my home that is thin as a rail. The owner says it’s because he’s old, but I’m watching him just waste away.” It is a common misconception that horses become thinner with age and there is nothing we can do about it. Fact is old horses don’t just get thin; they have health problems that make them thin.

All horses benefit from regular veterinary care, which includes an annual dental check. Horses grind their food when they eat and that grinding motion can cause the teeth to become worn unevenly, creating sharp points that make eating difficult, painful, and slow. An older horse may need his teeth checked more frequently – many veterinarians recommend every six months. An older horse’s teeth may be worn all the way down to the gum-line and he can no longer chew hay. Fortunately, there are readily available special feeds, high in digestible calories for geriatric horses. The horse may need to be separated from the rest of the herd while he’s eating so he’s not competing for food with his faster-eating buddies. Not only is this good horse management practice, it’s the law. Mendocino County Sec. 10.20.010B states, “The owner of any large animal shall provide proper and adequate food, water, shelter, care and attention for such animal. No owner of such animal shall allow it to suffer or be left in a filthy, diseased or neglected condition.”

If a horse is being fed and continues to go downhill, a veterinary examination is warranted. Old horses don’t get thin because they are old. They get thin because they have health problems. Humane care requires that those health problems be diagnosed and addressed.

Angie Herman, SAFER

Willits

PS. www.saferhorse.com  — a non-profit organization dedicated to re-homing displaced horses and educating the public concerning horse welfare. SAFER manages a Hay Assistance Program in Sonoma, Lake, and Mendocino counties.

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LEGALIZE THREE POUNDS

Editor,

Mendocino County’s Ad Hoc Dispensary Committee, created by the Board of Supervisors to craft a cannabis dispensary ordinance, was disbanded due to lack of supervisor interest in wading into a hornet’s nest of controversy when it wasn’t necessary. There have been zero law enforcement problems with the 13 dispensaries now operating legally in the county, based on obtaining a business license, becoming a mutual benefit association and paying sales taxes.

Supervisor John McCowen and newly elected Supervisor Dan Hamburg were in charge of the ad hoc committee, along with representatives from each dispensary, when Hamburg suddenly withdrew due to the appearance of a conflict of interest, since his daughter Laura was in the process of obtaining a license to open Mendocino Generations, a new dispensary in Boonville. Despite having no financial or other relevant ties, he honored the sentiment.

Dispensary and patient representatives formed a new group, Mendocino Medical Cannabis Collectives Association (MMCCA), preparing to advance their own draft dispensary ordinance. But the Ad Hoc Commitee collapsed since not one supervisor was willing to join Supervisor McCowen in the long battle vis-a-vis an organized association of collectives.

Since creating local ordinances is a long arduous exercise in futility, generally lacking a comprehensive approach resulting in overly restrictive laws, it has become necessary to go to the California ballot for a fair shake.

The Repeal Cannabis Prohibition Act 2012 is now aiming for a ballot spot in the Presidential election. If passed by the voters it would regulate commercial cannabis in California based on the following language:

“It shall not be a crime or public offense for an adult to use, possess, share, cultivate, transport, process, distribute, sell or otherwise engage in cannabis related activities.”

It would repeal all criminal marijuana statutes, thus legalizing responsible adult use.

It would authorize the Department of Public Health, not law enforcement, to create a broad regulatory system to replace repealed criminal statutes.

It would retain all medical rights in Prop 215/SB420, as well as removing marijuana from California’s Schedule One classification (no medical purposes), thus removing a barrier blocking prescription access.

Amounts under three pounds and 100 square-foot plant canopy per person would remain unregulated. Government agencies could not reduce the quantity that is not subject to regulation; they could only enhance the quantity upward from the three-pound floor.

Getting voter approval in Nov 2012 is our best chance to replace unenforceable prohibition with reasonable regulation. For further info, email sensiblecalifornia@pacific.net .

Pebbles Trippet

RCPAct co-proponent

Elk

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THANKS TO JUDITH DOLAN

Editor,

Thank You, Judith Dolan.

Yes, Anderson Valley owes Judith Dolan a great big THANK YOU for her accomplishments and efforts of the past 11½ years as Executive Director of the Health Center. She came to the valley after many years of experience in a variety of health management situations which ably prepared her for the challenges of directing our Health Center. During this time she wrote more than 25 grants enabling continuity of fiscal integrity of the Health Center. She brought our new addition to fruition as she supervised the process from a community wide fund raising campaign to the actual building of our facility.

She maintained high staff morale through difficult financial times and demonstrated personal fortitude in the face of daunting odds. She persevered in writing one last grant to change our status to a Federally Qualified Health Center but the chances were very slim that this would happen, especially in light of the current political climate. We were recently awarded this grant–the only one in our state of this type. This is the principal legacy which Judith leaves us and it is truly an impressive bequest. Metaphors come to mind but the favorite is one of Judith riding out as champion of the Health Center on a white horse!

At the recent community meeting for the Health Center Mark Apfel, MD, medical director, spoke warmly of his time working with Judith. He said that some could grasp the science of medicine but real healers practiced the ART of medicine and Judith was one of those so inspired. Judith was honored by Heidi Dickerson of Mike Thompson’s office with a certificate of appreciation. She also received an award from her colleagues at Alliance for Rural Community Health. Sandy Parker, chairman of the Board of Directors of the Health Center spoke on behalf of the board and community, expressing admiration, appreciation and gratitude. She is held in high regard by her colleagues and our community. In reply to comments of the speakers, Judith said she loved working at Anderson Valley Health Center and thanked the board and staff for all their support.

We are grateful to you, Judith, for what you have done for our community. The Anderson Valley Health Center will be around for all of us for years to come. Thanks to you, Judith Dolan.

Gaile Wakeman

Boonville