Letters To The Editor

ROBBING THE PAST

Editor,

I'm reading a great must-read book, Griftopia, by Rolling Stone's political correspondent Matt Taibbi that I have to recommend to everyone interested in understanding the giant rip-off that the crooked international banking cartel, associates, henchmen (like Standard and Poors) and hordes of Wall Street criminals pulled off, and is still going on. Here's a passage that really says it all....

“With the $13-plus trillion we are estimated to ultimately spend on the bailouts, we could not only have bought and paid off every single prime mortgage in the country (that would have only cost 1.4 trillion), we could have paid off every remaining mortgage of any kind in the country --- and still have had enough money left over to buy a new house for every American who does not already have one.

But we didn't do that, and we didn't spend the money on anything useful, either. Why? For a very good reason, Because we're no good anymore at building bridges and highways or coming up with brilliant innovations in energy or medicine. we're shit now at finishing massive public works projects or launching brilliant fairy-tale public policy ventures like the moon landing.

What are we good at? Robbing what's left. When it comes to that, we Americans have no peer. And when it came time to design the bailouts, a monster collective project spanning two presidential administrations that was every bit as vast and far-reaching (only not into the future, but the past) as Kennedy's trip to the moon, we showed it. “

The fact is the shit is still going on. So it will continue until the whole fraud explodes again and everyone across the globe gets caught in the ugly aftermath.

If it don't get you angry, you're not paying attention.

Larry Vegilari

Berkeley

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WHERE’S THE BOOK CLUB?

Editor,

Barry Vogel is one of the best people in the county. For many years he has been helpful and tries to do good. On his radio programs he asks guests if they can “tell us about an interesting book they have read recently.” He asked Margie Handley once and I thought, “Uh-oh, this is going to be very interesting. I can't wait to hear how she answerd that question.” She didn't.

If I were the major contributor on a small-town weekly newspaper I would see to it that there was an “interesting book I've read recently” section each week. I would pester the 130 or so people who Steve Sparks interviewed until they coughed up some submissions.

Sparks in a lime juicer, and I don't think he realizes that the people he has interviewed are a really remarkable group of intelligent, talented and interesting people for such a small geographical and thinly populated area. He probably thinks this is normal. It isn't. Try Glenn County. Try Nebraska, Kansas or Oklahoma. Notice who they send to Congress.

If I were writing, I might say something about books receiving the Nobel literature prize for fiction. Who makes the decisions? I don't read much fiction. I have been trying the fiction in the New Yorker for the past 40 years, but only finished reading about one out of 5 or 6.

If the editor was convicted of assault on a school superintendent, for instance, the harshest punishment he could receive would be to take away his New Yorker.

In the past few years I have found only two books which really deserved the Pulitzer Prize — Angela's ashes by Frank Court (of course everybody in the entire world liked that book), and “The Shipping News” by Annie Proulx. A reporter on a small-town weekly first works at the Mockingburg, New York, paper, then goes to Newfoundland where he gets a job at any remotely located weekly. The editor says he wants a picture of a car wreck on the front page each week whether there was one or not. He has a file of car wreck pictures. One reporter is assigned to cover S.A. (Sexual Assaults). There are always plenty of them to report, like stepfathers assaulting their stepdaughters. He runs phony advertising from high-class businesses in the city which encourages local businesses to advertise with him.

At one of the local restaurants a specialty of the house is the “fried baloney dinner.” And when an abandoned house is found on one side of the bay a bunch of guys tie ropes to it and slide it across the bay on the ice to a new location.

I nominate Annie Proulx to be placed near the top of American writers.

With so many intelligent, talented and interesting people in Anderson Valley, shouldn't there be a book club?

Ralph Bostrom

Willits

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RICHARDSON GROVE BENEFIT

Editor,

There will be a benefit for Richardson Grove Legal Fund at Beginnings in Briceland on Sunday, September 4, 2011. Enjoy music featuring the Marjo Wilson Band, Joanne Rand, and local musicians

including Jefferson Parson and his Raspberry Jam Band. Admission is $20/sliding scale. Doors open at 5pm. Dinner at 5:30. Wine/beer for sale. There will be a silent auction, an Invocation by Jene McCovey and an update by Gary Hughes, Executive Director of EPIC. For information contact Kelly at 707 923-0152 or Jefferson

at 707 923-3499.

Barbara Kennedy

Weott

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DOWNSTREAM SEDIMENT

Dear Editor,

I hope you get a chance to come out to the mouth of the Navarro River now at low tide. When the estuary is flushed out you can see that the island and the bridge are both sites of extreme accumulation of sediment. The island is about four times its former size. This seems to be the “slug” of sediment released by the Navarro/Floodgate landslide from several years ago. You may remember that I predicted that this slug would end up in the estuary and may be the cause of increased flooding in the Highway 128 corridor in present and future years. The depth of the estuary also influences the temperature, and therefore salmonid survival. Hope those little steelhead fingerlings can find cool refuges in the tributaries this summer.

Rixanne Wehren

Albion

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GREAT DAY IN ELK

Editor,

The 37th annual “Great Day in Elk” will be held on Saturday, August 20 from noon until dark.

Starting with a parade through the North Coast village of Elk, the day's festivities include carnival games and crafts for children, live entertainment, belly dancing, a watermelon-eating contest and sack races, fortune-telling, cake auction, raffle, a $100 grease pole contest, and much, much more.

Food and drinks will be available all afternoon. Entertainment includes The Sea Oakies and Trilium Tribe Belly Dancing. The dance starts at 8 pm with DJ KNutz from Arcata spinning the tunes. The bar is open all night.

The festivities are a benefit for the Greenwood Community Center. Admission is free. For more information go to www.elkweb.com or call 877-1105.

Rosi Acker

Elk

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KEEP THE P.A. COUNCIL

Editor:

To the Voters of Point Arena please think about this recall. As a visitor to your city, I love the improvements! Please stand up and be proud of your City Council. They have accomplished a great deal. For example:

Improvements to Fisherman’s Park which is now handicap accessible

Picnic tables at the Cove

A new hoist at the Pier

Three new streets instead of 1

Safe Route to Schools grant written by Mayor Lauren Sinnott that was awarded the maximum half a million Dollars

Land purchase at the cove and a donation of land at the North end of town

The list goes on and on, so let's start with the issues:

Senior housing: You mean to tell me the Recallers don't have a Granny, Grandpa, aunt, uncle or cousin who wouldn't benefit from an affordable safe housing unit? Our elders are the ones who provided us with the comforts we now enjoy. Recallers, I think you should be ashamed to not want to help Seniors out and use old wounds to punish them. And what about well paying jobs for the Young people that this project would provide? The economy sucks. Your local folks deserve decent jobs and not just from pot-growing. It's a win/win situation.

Ask the folks who live on Mill Street, Center Street and Scott Place if they want their old roads back! I think they would tell you their lives are better now than before. Originally only 1 road was scheduled to be improved until road bids were re-worked. Which two streets would have been left out? Complain all you want about Councilmember David Ingham, but he did get three street improvements instead of one. Brian Riehl, Lloyd Cross and others, do you know how to write a bid? David saved the City a lot of money because he knows how to do this.

Onto the sewers. Folks, for 30 years you haven’t been saving for sewer maintenance & compliance. You are being given the opportunity for the Federal Government to help you and you want to turn it down? That money won’t be there next time if the conservatives in Congress have their way. It's going to cost you more money not less once the fines start rolling in. So, let me get this straight, the Recallers don't care about the ratepayers or the environment? Wow.

Patricia Schwindt, I only met you 1 time, at way too early in the Morning on a Saturday no less, July 2009 pounding on the door. You were rallying up the troops, spreading gossip the way I understand and remember it. What really bothers me about the incident is you wanted my signature on your petition and I don't even live in Point Arena. Why do you want to punish the Mayor, Lauren Sinnott? It's your husband, Lloyd Cross who apparently was behaving badly. Your personal life should stay personal. Lauren is bright, intelligent and gets things done. Let's keep the focus on her job as Mayor. She has taken the ball and run with it. Others may have started the tasks but she has completed them. In my opinion, Lauren is a very attractive and talented woman whose beauty comes from a genuine love of Community, Family and Self.

Now, Patricia why should the voters vote for your husband, Lloyd Cross? He quit as City treasurer. Didn’t he quit at the Point Arena School District? What makes the Voter think he is going to stick with the job this time? Please explain his unexcused absences when he was last on the city council. Please tell us of his accomplishments. What would make the Voter proud to have him back?

Brian Riehl, why should the voters vote for you? Why should the Voter vote for the person who is the culprit in the Brown Act violation? Why do you want back on the council you resigned from? You were absent a lot. Please explain your absences.

David Ingham, Joe Riboli & Lauren Sinnott work hard for you! These folks spend a lot of time on your behalf. Don't you feel good about where you live?! Your future is looking better, don't you think? Please Vote No under the name on your recall ballot for your Council members Ingham, Riboli & Sinnott, as well as Oropeza.

Thank you for your consideration.

Respectfully submitted,

Flo Flowing

Bayside

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NATIVES IN BOONVILLE

Dear Editor,

As was mentioned a few weeks back in the AVA, the Navarro River Resource Center and the Anderson Valley Land Trust have installed a new native plant garden in front of their shared office in the historic Missouri House. The plants were planted in early June, late for getting natives established in the garden year, but we were able to take advantage of the cool weather and late rains. The plants are doing great, rooting themselves in very nicely.

We would like to give a huge Thank You to Ken Montgomery of Anderson Valley Nursery for generously donating all of the beautiful plants. We have a plant list if anyone is interested to find out more about the selection of plants. Overall, there are more than 20 different species, demonstrating how California native plants, can be used for food, attracting beneficial wildlife, and drought resistance in the landscape.

Joan Burroughs, the owner of the building, was very supportive in allowing us to convert the front garden to natives. All of the plants that were taken out found good homes. Thank you also to Bob Abeles of Checkerboard Solutions (who also has an office in the Missouri House), Herb Ruhs, Alice Bonner, and Joshua Townsend for coming out to volunteer for the hard work of digging up the previously existing plants and transitioning them to their new homes. We look forward to seeing this garden fill in and fill out over the years and showing off the particular beauty, strength, and resilience that native California plants can bring to the landscape.

Sincerely,

Linda MacElwee

for the Navarro River Resource Center and the AV Land Trust

Boonville

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PLEASE BEE SAFER

Editor,

My heartfelt appreciation to Aaron, Antoinette and Jan on-the-spot, ambulance drivers and EMTs for coming to my aid as I waltzed into a yellow jacket hive with my weedeater. It has been ten years since the last big bee attack that sent me to Ukiah in the helicopter. Since then I got bit on hand or arm with local response, but this time it was a minor war. Needless to say folks, be careful, the hives are up and running and the soldier bees are ready for jihad. I am blessed with a systemic reaction; it goes all over my body immediately. That means my throat can constrict in anaphylactic shock. Well, the able knowledge of the AV Ambulance crew and the Fire Dept standing by got me through with a bit of antihistamine.

Lessons learned and used. Make sure you have the local Ambulance/Calstar coverage and Reach coverage too. My first trip cost $8K, half because I had health insurance ($4K.) Any strong response from bee stings requires the ambulance, 911 now! Calm down and lie down. Take antihistamines if you have them. People have died from this. Watch for change in voice, breathing problems, vision changes and hives everywhere instantly on your body and do not hesitate, call 911, it is your life.

Kudos to the best ambulance service anywhere. They even got some antihistamine for me to self-administer.

Greg Krouse

Bee safer in Philo

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WHAT A PCROCK

To The Editor:

I think that there are two or three names that would be better suited for the renaming of Squaw Rock than Frog Woman Rock as the State recently renamed it.

First of all I think “PC Rock” would have been the ideal choice of a name. That’s PC as in Politically Correct because of all the Liberals in this State who like nothing better than to stick their nose in everybody’s business. Think of the advantages of the name “PC Rock.” It’s a much smaller name therefore easier to remember, and, probably cheaper because you could use a smaller sign to display it.

If, in my opinion, you would want a name with a more local connection, I, would submit the name “Wonder Woman Rock” in honor of our cull City of Ukiah Mayor. On second thought, maybe we should name the rock “Five Dullards Rock” after the entire Ukiah city council whose collective IQ is probably about equal to that of the Rock itself.

Thank you

David Anderson

Ukiah

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ANOTHER CASINO?

Dear Editor:

Open letter to First District Supervisor Carre Brown, who represents the proposed tribal casino hotel location, and Alonzo Gonzalez working with the Tribal Environmental Impact Report for the Pinoleville Pomo Nation.

I did not realize there was a noticed public comment period deadline today for the final TEIR.

Keep in mind, that any “up to 15%” mitigation compensation for County impacts is from net profits not net revenue, according to the Tribal Gaming Compact executed by Governor but remains to have other hurdles before it would possibly be in effect, so there may not be mitigation revenue available in the foreseeable future, until the gambling problem has become too severe.

Both Redwood Valley and Hopland tribal gambling casinos are in debt in loans from Bank of America to over 50% of their net worth, in terms of operational revenue flow, according to insiders not authorized to speak on the public record.

If there were a large billboard sign out in front of the proposed casino detailing the gambling odds, this might help deter problem gamblers or being a gambler in the first place. Unlucky gamblers adversely affect their personal health and the well being of the community.

No mitigation can make damaged lives and illnesses compensated. The tribe has significant and historical problems with terminal alcohol abuse which continues and methamphetamine addiction.

Compensation for loss of Transit Occupancy Tax funds for County tourist promotion is needed, as well as replacement of property assessment taxes on the County fee land if the Governor gifts the land to federal trust. Gambling addiction is worse than alcoholism, recent studies and reports have stated.

Perhaps I would have seen the TEIR public comment notice in the TEIR if I had completely read the final TEIR that was verbally noticed by County Counsel Nadel at the agenda presentation by Pinoleville Pomo Nation (PPN) to the Board of Supervisors this past Spring. (Video download available on County website).

During the PPN presentation and public comment, no mention was made that Indian housing was needed with the hotel plan, although PPN documents suggest this as a reason for construction. The comments were mostly about the need to for money revenue (never enough) in order to make gifts for assistance to needy tribal members. Most who spoke at public comment, were clearly employees of the tribal group, and not necessarily tribal members.

County Counsel informed the Board that the Tribal EIR had been uploaded to the County website the previous Friday before the Tuesday meeting PPN presentation, but that was not mentioned prior to the meeting, in the printed Meeting Agenda Item Summary nor in a revised Agenda Item Addendum.

The meeting minutes did reflect that a final TEIR was available on the County website, I recall, but made no mention of a public comment window to respond.

Is County Counsel acting responsibly in the interest of the County, and at what point does this become an unauthorized gift of public resources? Who in their right mind would send comments to Leona Williams as lead agency, and where are the checks and balances? I know where the trashcan is, so to speak.

I see across the nation, examples where tribes are planning casino gambling enterprises, and the tribe is not the lead agency. These are long established tribes with tradition, not a scattering of homeless Indians pasted together with a shuffling of paperwork who had a limited time deadline in a Hardwick Decision to place boundary defined Pinoleville Rancheria lands into federal trust.

That boundary opportunity came and went with the expiration of the settlement legal time frame to place into federal trust — that’s my interpretation.

Otherwise the Secretary of the Interior has to ask the state Governor to execute an agreement to surrender state fee land to federal jurisdiction. Where is the benefit to the State and County? There is no obligation to do this. No hands are tied. There is pending litigation I believe at stopthecasino101.com, although the case may not be posted there. I believe I already forwarded this information to the County and Carre Brown.

This bears further investigation, as well as further questioning under what authority PPN is able to be lead agency for a casino hotel location on County responsibility State fee land, whether this was the result of settlement of a County-Tribal lawsuit, or whether this relied upon the text of the enrolled state bill ratifying the former version of the gambling (gaming compact) agreement with the State, rejected by the US Interior Department.

Also to be redundant, a re-visit as to what is the Pinoleville Rancheria boundaries as of July 17 and or August 8, 2011. The Tillie Hardwick Decision, allowed a limited time frame for land within those boundaries to be transfered from state fee lands to federal trust jurisdiction. That opportunity for a band of homeless indians who were not a historical tribe in a sense of the word, has passed.

The US Supreme Court decision in Carcieri v. Salazar, stated the Secretary of the Interior could only take land into trust for tribes that were federally recognized when the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) was enacted in 1934. HR 1234 was introduced into Congress this year in an attempt to affirm that the Secretary of the Interior has legal authority to accept state land into trust for all federally recognized Indian tribes, irrespective of when that tribe received federal recognition.

US Interior Department cannot take the proposed Pinoleville casino hotel complex flood plain land into federal trust at this time. There is no casino, only a bingo parlor. PPN has no authority.

The Pinoleville Indian group has undergone controversial reorganization in terms of being federally recognized, as have perhaps two dozen tribes in California, for the purposes of receiving California Indian gambling money for non-gambling tribes.

In Pinoleville, tribal members have been disenfranchised even though some continue to occupy private or federal lands within boundaries of the now expired opportunity presented by the Tillie Hardwick Decision for federal land trust transfer.

Privately circulated information suggests that PPN investment properties at the Thatcher Inn in Hopland, and on Orr Springs Road with payments made by an investor, are currently in foreclosure.

Also there is purportedly a tribal election next month to determine who will chair the Pinoleville Pomo Nation, and that there are two out of three families that may be uncomfortable with the current leadership. But as you know, politics is often holding of one's nose.

I anticipate a timely response!

Thank you,

Eric Sunswheat, CA Health Security Catalyst

Potter Valley

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CAN PEEVEY?

Editor,

It’s Fraud, Deception and Lies. That’s what Wiggens and Padilla supported when then made the California Smartgrid law that included Smart-jack-up-the-prices and maim-the-masses meters. As this letter simmers, unlicensed nonelectricians are messing with our electric systems with the understanding that an error that could case a fire, would be “our fault” because everything, but the main wire and the meter is our system. Corporations win because they make the rules.

California Public Utility Commission (C-PUC) Uber President Peevey, has locked down any logic, and any response to thousands of complaints, ignores PG&E errors in installing first a wired untested system in Kern county and now the system that anyone informed, does not want. He ignores 45 counties and cities with the classic concept that once it is installed it will be impossible to remove.

PG&E's SurveillanceMeter will not save money, it will cost you more. PG&E’s SurveillanceMeter will take your rights and trash them. One man said “This is as Big Brother as it gets."

One already impacted Mendocino woman responded, by blockading Wellington Energy Truck, PG&E cheaper installers, in a citizen’s arrest. She was helping her concerned neighbor. The so called sensitive deputy per communication with the Sheriff, who “briefed” his officers, told the EHS woman, who had lived for five years in a Faraday cage (screen surrounded room with screening on the door in her personal electrical prison,) that she had entrapped the criminal scab Wellington installer and that she was fortunate that PG&E and Wellington would not press charges. He did this by phone so he could get back to more important things like running around the forest bagging so called dangerous drugs. I think the priorities are amiss. Who is entrapping who? I believe that a citizen’s arrest does involve holding a criminal. The Deputy is supposed to apply the law, and the courts are supposed to interpret it and judge. Deputies are not supposed to interpret the law. The woman was holding the criminal without force for the Deputy. The woman’s comment to the press…”I wanted to do something while I can.” Meaning, until she has to return to her EMF/RF protective prison. Those Faraday cages do work, they are used to protect sensitive tests and are named after the man who brought us alternating current (AC.) She is so determined to live here after hunting for a safe place, she is willing to pay opt out fees for her neighbors. For her the pain is real. And the big questions mark is how many more Electrical sensitive canaries will the SurveillanceMeters find? According to one researcher this number could grow from 10-15% to 50% by 2017 (Johansson 2011.)

The real complaints to Peevey, currently in Sweden on yet another junket with industry reps, who claims his office has had only 39 comments. Actually there were over 45,000 in 2009, probably double or tripled now. One third of them are about health impacts (pers comm. Sandi Maurer of EMF Safety Network). Another South Coast man threatens to remove the meter with a claw hammer, if it is installed, Why? He has bio-electric implants that cost exorbitant amounts and if tampered with could kill him. He was briefed by his doctor as to what to avoid (microwave of which RF uses to communicate.) The National Institute of Health and the FCC say that these folks should avoid RF, yet Peevey, industry insider and effective plug to democracy ignores this. What happens if Peevey needs a pacemaker? Poetic justice?

PG&E’s SurveillanceMeter is illegal here, thanks to responding Supervisors. The problem is that PG&E, the CPUC and the State are running amok on our rights. Our Sheriff is too busy and underfunded to defend the law to protect concerned citizens. As I said in past letters, our supervisors comment that they got more responses on Smartmeters than any other issue.  Wiretapping is illegal in the US. SurveillanceMeters evade privacy. Corporations are individuals.

Fortunately, some Mendocinians heard about the meters and delayed, but that is all it might be if Peevey and gang succeed in San Francisco in September. If we blocked the illegal installations together, we can send a message to this arrogant undemocratic commission. If we write and ring Governor Brown’s phone off the hook, we could get Peevey canned. Yes We Can! We deserve a CPUC that controls a Utility that does not give a damn about anything. The San Bruno fire alone should be a big wake up call. No plans, no records, blaming inhabitants. The CPUC under Peevey’s lead (if that is what you want to call it) allowed this and allowed PG&E to install a bogus system in Kern county that did not work, then charge for it. Then allowed them to return and install another component of the Surveillance meter that PG&E forgot, and then charge again. To add to this they now allow PG&E to extort us by saying you have to have this, and if you don’t want it, you have to pay to have it anyway except it is definitely turned off, sort of, by our trained licensed staff and not the Wellington hacks. Will leave you alone if you pay up. Sounds like the Mafia to me. A new acronym evolves, Profit Grubbing and Extortion, That’s PG&E. And then there is CPUC.

Two things to remember” uncontrolled SurveillanceMeters are already wreaking havoc. It is not an intellectual complaint is a complaint based on damages! Concerned citizens are not gonna let this go down.

Wanna do it with pen and paper, write or call Gov Brown and ask for Peevey's ouster 916-445-2841 or State Capitol, Sacramento, CA 95814.

Greg Krouse

Refuse Smartmeters Mendocino!

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DUCT TAPE WOULDN’T WORK

Editor,

I wanted to respond to the portion of last week’s “Valley People” in which a “Responder” criticized the protocols dictating how we responded to the tanker rollover on 128 a few weeks ago. The incident involved a truck and trailer loaded with about 8,000 gallons of diesel and gasoline. The load in the overturned trailer was approximately half diesel and half gasoline totaling 4,000 gallons. The “responder” reported that there was a “hole that was about 2 inches wide” and that “someone could have just walked up and put duct tape on it and most of the fuel would not have spilled.”

Apparently, the responder who was quoted didn’t get close enough to see the damage to the tanker. There were a minimum of three openings in the trailer and probably at least one or two more under the tank that couldn’t be seen. There was a mixed stream of gasoline and diesel approximately 12 feet wide streaming into the roadside ditch and flowing approximately 100 feet down the ditch in a westerly direction. I would estimate that something in the area of 1,000 gallons had already escaped when we arrived at scene approximately 15 plus minutes after we received the call. Vehicles were driving around the crash site on the shoulder of the road which presented an ignition hazard and an obvious threat to public safety. Upon arrival, I encouraged vehicles in the area to evacuate the scene and as quickly as possible ordered the road closed on both sides of the crash scene. The next priority was to check the driver of the involved passenger vehicle which was done; it was confirmed that he was deceased and beyond our help. The next action was to request Hwy 128 be closed at Mountain House Road and at Cloverdale to prevent large numbers of vehicles being stopped in the vicinity of the crash. I also requested the Chief of the HazMat Team be dispatched to our incident and ensured that the responsible company had dispatched both a truck to transfer any remaining fuel into, and the cleanup contractor who would be in charge of removing any contaminated material. Cal Fire units at scene were tasked with developing a wildland fire suppression plan in the event the fuel was ignited triggering wildland fires on both sides of the road. The next concern was trying to prevent the spilled fuel from reaching a watercourse and a small dam was constructed in a location that would accomplish that and provide a large enough upstream area to contain the contents of the trailer.

The guiding principle in all emergency response decisions is the concept of “Risk Versus Gain.” This principle is particularly appropriate during HazMat responses when the danger to responders is often great and the potential for quick, significant mitigations is often slight. In this case the idea that a quick application of duct tape would have done anything other than endanger the person attempting to apply it is just not even close to the reality. Anyone who has attempted to adhere tape to a surface covered in gas and diesel will be able to confirm it just wouldn’t stick even if there was not a constant flow coming out of it that was projecting over two feet from the tank.  Before considering the likelihood of success we have to consider the danger to our personnel. In this case I would not seriously consider sending someone into the middle of a large pool of gasoline and diesel fuel without being able to provide a solid dependable layer of type B foam which was not immediately available at scene. Given the size and speed of the fuel stream flowing from the trailer it would not have been initially successful anyway.

In retrospect, I would not make any significant changes to the response plan we developed and executed that day.  Even if we had been able to slow the flow of fuel, the cleanup required would have been substantially the same but with a potentially smaller volume of contaminated soil. On the other hand, if we had attempted to work in the fuel flow in the manner that the “responder” suggested, the potential downside to that might have been one or more badly injured or dead “responders.” Burning to death in a pool of gasoline and diesel would not be a particularly honorable way to die. In short, the potential “gain’ was not worth the “risk.”

Colin Wilson, Chief

Anderson Valley Fire Department

Boonville

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THE POINT

Editor,

We unequivocally support removing marijuana growing operations from the Mendocino National Forest and all other public lands. We consider this a no-brainer. However, it is our obligation as elected officials to do more than simply line up behind what's popular. We also consider it our duty to define solutions to long-standing problems.

The point we made at the Board of Supervisors meeting of August 2 was that illegal growing on public lands will not end until the federal laws are changed. We did not criticize Sheriff Allman's efforts, not did we criticize the other jurisdictions — county, state, and federal — that participated in Full Court Press.

This is a time when government must spend its dollars wisely. It is our shared opinion that the war on drugs is not a wise expenditure. The horrors of the Prohibition era ended shortly after President Roosevelt lifted the ban on alcohol.  Interestingly, that's also when our local alcohol industry began its steady ascent. We believe that ending marijuana prohibition would have a similar beneficial effect.

John Pinches, Supervisor, District Three, Laytonville

Dan Hamburg, Supervisor, District Five, Ukiah

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DON’T GO THERE

Editor,

Comment on Gibbons' to-do list #7 — “Really listen to my wife when she’s talking to me.”

A lifetime of not listening is hard to overcome. While I applaud your intent, let me refer you to the scene in “Planet of the Apes” where Charlton Heston — with his human “wife,” who conveniently doesn't speak — is about to ride a horse into the Forbidden Zone in defiance of the old authoritarian Gorilla-in-Charge, who warns him: “You may not like what you find.”

Jeff Costello

Portland