GARETT MATSON, Fort Bragg, of the Matson Construction family, has been arrested again, this time for a violation of his probation.
Last month, Matson managed to drive off Highway 20, trapping the woman with him in the wreckage.
That matter is pending. Matson remains the sole suspect in the death of his former girlfriend, Katlyn Long.
MISS LONG, succumbing to a request from her ex-boyfriend Matson for a final visit, was found dead in her Fort Bragg home on May 29th of 2009, from an overdose of methadone, a drug she did not use. Matson had spent the night with her. He has not been arrested or even questioned about Miss Long’s death, having arranged through his attorney, Richard Petersen, to speak only through Petersen or in his company. Matson was 31 at the time of Miss Long’s death, she was 22. He has been in constant trouble since.
SALES of the nation’s most popular prescription painkillers have exploded in parts of the US, including California. DEA figures show dramatic rises between 2000 and 2010 in distribution of oxycodone, the key ingredient in OxyContin, Percocet and Percodan. In the Riverside area of the state, police say methamphetamine users much prefer oxycodone-based drugs if they can get them. Mendo junkies may not be switching, but the oxycodone-based drugs are much in demand here, too.
OUR RESIDENT drug expert, Jeff Costello, explains: “Oxycodone (and other synthetic narcotic analogues) is not a downer to an experienced drug addict. ‘Downer’ is a term misapplied to everything that isn't crank or cocaine. Narcotics, painkillers, do not belong in the category. Sleeping pills, valium and its cousins, tranquilizers, barbiturates, thorazine etc., are downers. Thorazine and Mellaril are supposed to be heavy-duty anti-psychotics, sometimes given to acid freakout cases. They also pretty much paralyze the body. Oxycodone can have a stimulating effect without the over-the-top nuttiness that comes with speed. It has the added value of killing pain, and according to a recent article in one of the major media outlets, ‘releases a sense of well-being.’ Pretty hard to argue with, but for that pesky narcotic-addiction thing with its nightmarish withdrawal experience. The Brits have done the right thing — if they still do it — by just letting junkies have prescriptions, which eliminates the ‘crime’ factor altogether, both illegal sales and robberies to get money to score. Not here in the USA, where we thrive on moral judgment and punishment. Across the board national drug legalization would cause a wholesale reduction in crime and prison population but what fun would that be for the cops, lawyers, judges, etc. Not to mention the rest of the ‘war on drugs’ apparatus and politicians using fear of crime to get votes?”
THE APRIL 10TH Supervisors Agenda packet includes this intriguing item: Ukiah attorney Pano Stephens has filed a claim against Mendocino County for unspecified damages described as “assault, battery, sexual molestation and exploitation, the nature and extent of which are presently undetermined due to the young age of the minor,” caused by an unidentified County social worker “who negligently placed the minor with a known sexual molester in a [foster] home” in Willits.
ACCORDING to the Redding police, Jamal Essayah, described as “a 24 year old transient,” deliberately threw himself into the path of a bus, then a passing van, last Thursday (April 5th). Essayah is well known and highly regarded in the Anderson Valley where he has lived off and on for some ten years. A bright and engaging young man, his sudden disappearance when his family reported him missing a week ago, shocked everyone who knows him, and his apparent suicide attempt in Redding is regarded as inexplicable by his many friends in Mendocino County. Redding police suspected Essayah was on methamphetamine when he threw himself into traffic on one of Redding’s busiest streets, but hospital tests revealed he was not under the influence. He is not known to have used drugs while a resident of Boonville. Essayah remains in intensive care in a Redding hospital but, doctors say, is expected to recover from his nearly fatal injuries sustained in Thursday’s startling event.
KC MEADOWS WRITES: “When is [County Superintendent of Schools Paul] Tichinin, and more importantly the [County] board of trustees, going to realize that he is not worth half the salary they are already paying him. Much of what MCOE does is unnecessary and what is required could be carried out by two or three mid-level managers. This nonsense about having to raise salaries to compare with other counties doesn't hold up when you have a lifetime superintendent who is going nowhere until he retires on his hefty tax paid pension (not that any other county would have him). Shut this move down now is my advice.”
INSIDERS say the County School Board will vote 3-2 against another raise for Tichinin. The board meets Monday morning at Talmage.
OXYCONTIN was the drug that hooked Rush
But it clearly did not make him blush
Because he got off
When the charges were dropped—
Rush paid a fine and went back to mush.
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