Letters (September 16, 2020)

• We’ll Find You
• Write In Jo!
• Take A Nap
• Overpaid
• Donald Trump Doesn't Understand
• Entropy
• Replacement Pollinators
• Where’s The Protest?
• Left & Right
• Democrats & Destruction
• Fact Check

WE’LL FIND YOU

To the Editor:

During our recent move from Ukiah, many personal possessions were stolen from our home. Here are just a few of the items that would be easily noticed. First, there was a case of Appleton Estate Rum from Jamaica. It is very doubtful that anyone in all of Mendocino county has a case of this rum, so someone out there has seen this.

There were also two noticeably recognizable watches. One was a Mendocino Sheriff’s Dept. watch that I won at a charity auction, and the other was a Gibson guitar watch in the shape of a Les Paul guitar. This was given to me by an old dear friend. I want this back.

There was also a silver KitchenAid mixer, with all the accessories. This item we had promised to the Ukiah Senior center, so the thieves stole this from seniors in actuality. Also stolen was a bunch of my wife’s sweaters, size medium, including a peach one with sequins that she loved, and whoever the thief is even took four large black planting pots. Someone spent a lot of time shopping through our personal items, as well as taking items from all over the property, including three propane tanks. They also took a large box of assorted small solar lights which were to be a gift to Tom Allman.

I fully intend on catching these criminals and recovering our items, and I do not give up too easily.

We are offering a $500 cash reward for the arrest and prosecution of whomever stole these items. Turn them in, and you can keep the rum, whatever is left, and the $500 if they are arrested and prosecuted, no questions asked. Please contact the Sheriff’s office (Matt Kendall) with any information pertaining to this theft. Just mention Lake Ridge Road Theft.

Or (to the thieves) give the stuff back, and we will waive pressing charges, and not waste our further time and expense in pursuing your apprehension. Drop it off in the Sheriff’s parking lot.

Someone stole from the wrong people and we will make extensive efforts in hunting these thieves down. Someone knows where some of these items are. Turn them in. If they would steal from us, then they would steal from you as well, and I want to know who they are and this is worth $500 to me.

Thanks for your concern.

Johnny Keyes

Ukiah

WRITE IN JO!

Dear AVA Editor and readers; 

If you are underwhelmed by the work product of both the Democratic and the Republican leaders, if you are thinking you'll either be holding your nose while voting or not voting at all, give a thought to writing in Jo Jorgensen, the Presidential candidate offered by the Libertarian Party. Even though the Dems will in all likelihood carry California, they'll do so with or without your vote, and you can send a message with yours… that both the biggest parties need to clean up their acts. 

Voters want something better than they're being given. Washington teeters on it's two-legged stool. Bring in a third leg, a third party that isn't radically left or right, but is focused on liberty for Americans. 

Here's the Libertarian Party platform in brief:

* Government should not censor speech, press, media or internet.

* There should be no draft, Military service should be voluntary.

* There should be no laws regarding sex between consenting adults.

* Repeal laws prohibiting adult possession and use of drugs.

* No national ID card.

* End "corporate welfare" - no government handouts to business.

* End government barriers to free trade.

* Privatize Social Security: let people control their own retirement.

* Replace government welfare with private charity.

* Cut taxes and government spending by 50% or more, and let the free market work.

* Bring our troops home, stop trying to police the world.

* End the war on drugs and stop spying on Americans.

You can learn more at LP.org

Vote for a woman for President - Jo Jorgensen

Think about it!

Pat Smith

Philo

TAKE A NAP

Editor,

Still burning! Let’s here it for good government! And all was quiet.

In the past few days our television has been airing the progress on those peaceful riots raging out there in Seattle and Portland, Washington and Oregon. Let's see, just a few weeks ago that brain trust of both the mayor and their governor very adroitly declared that things were under control. What? I admit I get dates and places a bit mixed up but I'm sure the burning cars and dumpsters and fighting and shooting (one man killed) were in downtown Seattle or Portland or could have been somewhere in Syria. I'm not sure.

How in the hell can those governing be so unconscious to the here and now? They most assuredly are full members in the flat Earth Society. These peaceful (mob) protests carry on and on with no end in sight. The only things new are the shootings.

Someone, anyone, please explain to me how in the hell you could identify out-of-control mobs, burnings and shootings and one man killed as being close to peaceful? Beyond comprehension!

Wait! Just a minute! Is it possible that these wayward “yuts” with sticks and stones and bricks and fire bombs and guns were just requesting permission to enter a government building to see their overdue unemployment and welfare checks? You think? Nah! These are young out of control yuts who should be tried, convicted and put away for a long long time. If that is not on the table then shoot them! Yes, shoot them. Grandma says Oh my, not nice! Again I say, more beans in the pie hole, gram. Take another nap. Or walk the dog. I’ll cook some grits! Love you, Gran.

The word “correctness” surely must be reevaluated, it ain't working!

Stronger letter to follow. God bless America, the Donald, Jerry Philbrick

Getting older and very very angry,

Boonville

OVERPAID

Dear Editor,

I just heard on the radio that there is a movement within the Republican Party to support Biden. Certain senators and congressmen, mostly former politicians, are opposing Trump. I had to ask myself why, and it came to me pretty quickly. They are doing what crooked politicians always do, they are being bought. How much does it cost to buy a crooked politician? It depends on their current position I suppose, like $300,000-$800,000 into their Cayman Islands account. This is not a lot of money to these people, but probably tempting enough to sell one little vote. A few million dollars could go a long way to move an election, especially if some of these people are members of the Electoral College. What? Nobody is that crooked. Just consider Biden's son’s job in the Ukraine that he didn't need to show up for that paid $1 million plus a year for three years. No investigation happened, no laws were broken, but with $30 billion in aid packages going to the Ukraine -- well, the word kickback comes to mind. 

And thank you for your reporting on our own county politicians who get to name their own salary and listen to an unelected boss who is also overpaid.

Your friend,

Tom Madden

Comptche

DONALD TRUMP DOESN'T UNDERSTAND

Editor,

Please put my song in your paper so folks can learn.

Chorus: Donald Trump doesn't understand what it means to be an American, we are a land of immigrants, that's what makes us so grand. Donald Trump just doesn't understand.

He doesn't realize our democracy takes compromise and not someone who’s told 22,000 lies.

We don't take kindly to abuse of presidential power. Donald Trump you are a liar and a coward.

He took his oath of office to uphold our laws and protect our Constitution from enemies near and far

Still,

He breaks our laws and stomps all over our Constitution and when folks call him on it he seeks retribution!

Thousands of days and he’s had nothing to true to say and what he does is detrimental to all of us!

He doesn't know how to do things right, he only knows how to make folks fight!

He's torn all the good things apart and won himself a very small heart!

He wants to separate us from the world because he hasn't the intelligence to make big things work.

To him it's all too complicated. He's torn apart all the good Obama made us.

He’s so poor minded and so poor sighted, he's hollowed out his soul and now he can't find it.

Chorus, over again:

Donald Trump doesn't understand what it means to be an American.

We are a land of immigrants, that's what makes us so grand. 

Donald Trump just doesn't understand!

The end

Krayola Linde (stage name)

Willits

ENTROPY

Editor: 

At midnight on Aug. 31, SB 1120 had passed through both houses of the California Legislature and was subsequently killed.

The bill was held up until 11:30 p.m. but was finally approved by the Assembly, 42-17. To be sent to the governor's desk for signing, the bill had to go back to the state Senate for a final concurrence vote. Given that it had previously passed in the Senate by 39-0, passage was assured. But because the Assembly held back the bill until the very last moment, a concurrence vote could not be held before the Legislature closed at midnight, as prescribed by the state constitution.

SB 1120 would have allowed property owners to convert single-family homes into duplexes or to build two structures on what was once a single-home lot.

You may disagree with this idea. But when our Legislature, notorious for its inability to face our severe housing crisis, finally agrees on a solution but kills it anyhow, we should all be able to agree that any solution looks unlikely at best — and that our state actually appears ungovernable.

Gov. Gavin Newsom campaigned on a pledge of 3.5 million new homes for Californians. Leadership from his office might have prevented this absurdity.

Christopher Dolan

Santa Rosa

REPLACEMENT POLLINATORS

Editor,

Opportune, one might say it is, that at the very historical moment during which bees are increasingly absent from the fields and meadows and gardens, due probably to the genetic tinkering carried out by the megacorporate producers of agricultural ersatz, tens of millions of Americans have become available to hand-pollinate the crops. In addition to peons wages, the demoralized pollinators will be offered all the high-fructose corn syrup slurry then slurp down their swallerpipes.

Every morning as they trudge off to the fields and every evening as they return, they will be treated to a 160-decible rendition of our new national anthem: a duet between a leaf blower and a car alarm.

Malgre tout,

Volt Voort

San Francisco

WHERE’S THE PROTEST?

To the Editor:

I find it interesting, that MRC is getting the flack of being unhealthy for the envirornment. I believe the company should be safe and follow the laws and limit pollution. It sounds like they have. I worked there years ago and truthfully…at that time, from what I saw, MRC goes above and beyond to make certain, they are following the rules and legal.

Cigarettes cause damage to lungs, yet they are legal to sell at a discount of taxes, in some stores? Gambling has destroyed many a households finances, yet it’s legal also? Pot grows are basically being put in all over our forest and natural habitats are being destroyed. Watersheds are being altered and blocked yet no one protests that environmental disgrace? Look at satellite images all over California. Please, I implore you. Grows are destroying what’s left after fires, destroying the beautiful areas of California’s wilderness. Cigarette smoking kills. I know. Yet, citizens voted for that to happen, because of money and addiction. It’s now legal.

It’s amazing how people choose which is a health factor in humans that they want to protest. How do we as citizens prioritize, protesting, pollution?

Wants are prioritized over needs? Survival of our planet has to happen, and its best, when we start, to only, to prioritize needs.

I have a pellet stove. Its emissions are much better, than a wood stove. But a wood stove helps when electricity is out. Do protesters have heat that burns gas or oil or Kerosene? Those plants exist somewhere? And are emissions. A car takes two barrels of oil to build? People drive all over. Is that ok, because it’s somewhere else? We all leave a footprint. We are all responsible.

Pellets supply heat in winter and are the best alternative to wood stoves. And all the dead trees need to be taken out and used if possible, in the best way. By products of fires and drought. That’s called substainable usage of bio fuel and truthfully its wasteful to not use left over wood products. If we are to move forward in a age of pollution issues…we should help good companys that supply…yes, supply the public with the cleanest heat possible. Most pot grows are not monitored…not examined and judging by the fertilizers and tractors in this area. Pot grows damage nature. Pot is a want, not a need. Cause if your sick, you can grow your own. Is anyone protesting that group? Nope. Because it’s legal.

In my opinion, people are prioritizing wants….not needs. Yes. MRC should be monitored. But MRC should be respected for being open and legally responsible as a company providing the public with a CLEANER, way to heat homes.

Catherine Lair

Ukiah

LEFT & RIGHT

Dear Editor,

The right wing sees no problem in concentrating wealth into fewer and fewer hands, while the left favors a more even distribution. This distinction between left and right has pertained for centuries. Wealth tends to flow to the already rich because productivity increases have no mandated or legislated need to equally benefit both boss and worker. When a more efficient piece of machinery is installed, and an increase in productivity thereby results, most workers can get by without needing a greater share of the product of their labor in the form of a wage hike. So, by default, the surplus, augmented by greater efficiency, gets appropriated by the bosses. This automatic favoring of the bosses is nothing more sinister than a mere fact of life. It requires no sinister motives or extraordinary greed for things to work out that way. 

Our mutual awakening to these facts behooves us to take hold of the reins and regulate industry so that the income divide doesn't fly so far out of control that the rich become overly rich, as it is today with the top three enjoying more wealth than the bottom half of Americans, whose wages have stagnated. 

While the left would like to apply reasonable controls over the accumulation of surpluses and profits to keep things more fairly balanced, the right sees no good reason for doing so, hoping instead for the products of labor to increasingly accrue to those who already own them. Anything other than that would be described as waging class struggle, which gets terribly frowned upon when attempted by workers, but never when practiced by bosses. 

This struggle is bound to continue right on up to the abolition of human labor, or full automation, which isn't all that far away as artificial intelligence makes great strides. 

In the meantime, while we wait patiently for our liberation from having to labor, social tensions would be very much reduced if we became smart enough to vote left instead of right. But, with the thinking of so many millions firmly planted in the 1850s, workers might have to wait awhile for meaningful relief.

Ken Ellis

New Bedford, MA

DEMOCRATS & DESTRUCTION

Editor,

Blue states. Blue cities. Democrat governors, Democrat mayors. They allow these filthy, protests, and homeless. San Diego was so filthy people don't want to drive down the streets — Democrat mayor. Los Angeles the same. San Francisco. All the states in trouble have Democratic governors and Democrat mayors. 110 days of riots in Oregon — Democrats. Seattle has blacks and people taking over the town — Democrats. New York has stinking Deblasio and Cuomo — Democrats. Riots. A woman raped in broad daylight with people watching and laughing. That's the Democrats! Very foul. They do not care about American life. They only want power, power! They don't care if we have an economy or not. They only care about getting Mr. Trump out of office. That’s their dream. If Biden wins it will turn your stomach. He will not win, but if he did, you might as well give this country to China because we're done.

I've been very accurate in everything I said for the last four years. I protected the shit would hit the fan and it did.

All these fires are because of Democrat politicians making the laws. Under Reagan the national forests were fine, thinned out, a safe place to have a forest with mills in reach of timber. But they are all gone because of Democrats and the national forests are hornet’s nests of fire and danger because it's so dry and so thick. Climate change? BS! It’s mismanagement! In the 70s the politicians and environmentalists started to get their grip on people and then the whole country turned into a ball of shit. It will get worse before it gets better. You think it's bad now? Wait till next month! Or next year! 

A lot of this is a return of favor to CARB and Mary Nichols and what she did to people and their trucks, ruining lives, taking people's livelihoods, ruining their whole future and whatever they did. She thinks you can just throw away your truck. People made their living with trucks! She is getting paid back now! Every time lightning strikes it’s for a truck she took away from somebody.

I feel sorry for the people being removed and pushed back in their terrible conditions because of the fires. But not for Mary Nichols or the CARB or the Democrat politicians who made this all happen. Democrat politicians are responsible for everything bad that's happening now!

God Bless Donald Trump.

Jerry Philbrick

Comptche

FACT CHECK

Editor: 

Most of us are aware of the hostility and finger-pointing going on in politics these days. Who or what is the enemy?

Let’s remember that one’s media source is highly influential in what we think and how we understand what we hear. If we really want a clearer understanding of the great political divide, consider watching Fox News and PBS News. And please, please, fact-check what you hear. I think we have seen that anyone can say anything with an emphatic tone and it gets repeated as hard fact. (Type into your search engine: “How to fact check.”)

A wise man once told me that people believe what they want to believe and they dismiss or reinterpret everything else. Whether we know it or not, fear is the greatest influencer of all.

Democracy requires personal responsibility, critical thinking and active curiosity. Many people are struggling with despair right now, which is understandable. Perhaps in spite of, if not because of this, we can choose to take a deep breath and act with hope. The children of the world need us to shoulder the responsibility of living in a democracy.

Patricia Stenger

Santa Rosa