Letters (December 9, 2021)

• Good Job!
• Paying For The Diverted Eel
• Remembering…
• Leadership
• Another One
• Stop PG&E’s Parks Clearcuts
• The Fabulous Dyketones
• Give 'Em The Bounce

GOOD JOB!

Re: Redbeard article by Marilyn Davin

Contrary to the opinion of the letter writer critical of your decision to feature Redbeard on the front page of the November 17 edition, I thought the story written by Marilyn Davin was very even-handed.

Mister Beard appears to be a very charming and resourceful fellow, and he makes those of us still living outside of the asylum seem a little less maladjusted. Good job!

Gary Durheim

Seaside

PAYING FOR THE DIVERTED EEL

Editor: 

Scott Dam and Lake Pillsbury, Cape Horn Dam and Van Arsdale Reservoir are past their expiration dates and are major financial and safety liabilities. Over a century old, they are no longer reliable structures, and future water storage and transfers to the Russian River are becoming geometrically more expensive.

Scott Dam suffers from high risks of failure due to seismic vulnerabilities, landslide movement and potential clogging of discharge structures, all of which would be extremely expensive to repair and replace. Due to its height and fluctuating reservoir levels, there is no practicable fish ladder possible, leaving salmon and steelhead deprived of access to their ancient headwaters habitats.

Cape Horn Dam’s fish ladder is outdated, frequently shut down and damaging to threatened fish.

None of the beneficiaries of water on the Russian River side, nor PG&E, have stepped up to pay the hundreds of millions of dollars to improve the Potter Valley Project or to assume the risks of ownership.

Getting PG&E out of the picture, having them pay for decommissioning and dam removals and finding Russian River interests willing to pay for upgrading and managing wintertime water transfers that protect Eel River fisheries and stakeholders are the next steps. Let’s get this done.

David Keller

Bay Area director, Friends of the Eel River

REMEMBERING…

Hey everyone,

I'm Not Sorry.

I have told this story before so please forgive me for repeating. 

Years ago, my late husband and I owned Cultured Affair Cafe in Mendocino. We always had bumper stickers on the fridge that customers could see. One of the bumper stickers supported gay marriage.

One day a party of six came in, saw the bumper sticker, and very loudly said, “We're not eating anywhere that supports gay marriage.” As they walked out, my husband Arthur wondered if they might go next door to The Moose Cafe. They did in fact go there. As many of you know, the restaurant at the time was owned by our friends who are a lesbian couple.

So to the person who will never eat at Meridith's restaurant again, good riddance and good luck. Their experiences on this earth will be limited if they refuse to allow differing opinions. Our community proudly waves their political opinions and know that they will be supported locally.

Laura A. Evans

Mendocino

LEADERSHIP

Editor: 

In another winter of discontent, 2021 will end with almost 800,000 COVID-19 related deaths. What have Americans learned? The lesson of “leadership matters” comes to mind. One leader embraces science and consults with experts who understand the challenges of COVID-19: transmissibility, progeny/offspring and longevity/durability. Vaccines, masks and boosters are examples of science defeating the virus. A second leader embraces willful ignorance, narcissistic buffoonery and the promotion of deranged clinical advice, such as drinking bleach or inserting a light into the body’s cavity to cure COVID-19.

As we enter the third year of the pandemic what do we do? For most of us, we get vaccinated, take our booster shots and follow the scientific advice. Now, an antiviral pill is available for the unvaccinated and breakthrough cases. Hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19 and variants will decrease in frequency. Soon we will settle into a new normal. COVID-19 will lose its deadly grip; after all, previous pandemics ended without a vaccine. Maybe we will have our flu shots twice a year rather than once.

Leadership is healing the division within our country, not exploiting differences. Focusing on climate science, investing in families and infrastructure. Or back to the walking tornado of incompetence and corruption.

Steven J. Garcia

Sebastopol

ANOTHER ONE

Editor,

Thankfully California's gun law was recently confirmed. Not so in the Detroit, Michigan suburban school this week.

On Thursday, Nov. 30th Ethan Crumbley, 15, killed four fellow students and critically wounded one young lady. Once the number of guns didn’t outnumber the total of American citizens as it does today. In 1954 I was twelve, an 8th grader in Jacksonville, Florida. I had a buddy whose father hunted. 

On a Saturday afternoon I found myself walking in a field out in nature carrying what was then called an “over and under” rifle. It was a “30-0(ought)-6” with one barrel — a larger caliber gun. The narrower barrel was a 22. It was just for hunting; not capable of shooting multiple rounds by constantly holding down the trigger. Fortunately, I didn’t shoot John or his father (no pheasants either). 

There have been far too many recent tragedies, like at Oxford High in Michigan, caused by the presence of an assault military weapon, just “out there,” readily accessible to anyone. 

Frank Baumgardner

Santa Rosa

STOP PG&E’S PARKS CLEARCUTS

Editor,

PG&E wants to remove 389 trees within State Parks jurisdiction between Fort Bragg & Point Arena

Consent Item 4X for Tuesday’s BOS meeting is another stunner: “Accept the informational report regarding the issuance of Emergency Coastal Development Permit EM_2021-0008 (PG&E) to remove 389 trees within California Department of Parks and Recreation jurisdiction.” 

The affected areas include: MacKerricher State Park (70 trees) Jug Handle State Natural Reserve (30 trees) Caspar Headlands State Beach (16 trees) Point Cabrillo Light Station State Historic Preserve (51 trees) Russian Gulch State Park (140 trees) Mendocino Headlands State Park (40 trees) Van Damme State Park (46 trees) Navarro River Redwoods State Park (3 trees) Manchester State Park (16 trees) Schooner Gulch State Beach (9 trees). 

“All trees proposed for management [sic] under this permit are within the Coastal Zone as defined by the California Coastal Act and within Mendocino County’s Local Coastal Plan management area. This project is also within PG&E’s Multi-Region Operations and Maintenance Habitat Conservation Plan area (MRHCP).” 

* * *

This “Emergency” Logging Permit was issued back on Sept. 24, 2021 and now two and a half months later staff is getting around to notifying the Supes. Supervisor Williams has been involved in direct negotiations with NorCal PG&E reps over terrible plans to cut a swath through County owned Faulkner Park in Boonville but PG&E’s removal of 389 trees in State Parks has flown right past the Board. 

My comments: Please write, call, and/or comment via ZOOM and ask the Supervisors not to approve this agenda item along with all the other items in the consent calendar, but to discuss this at some later time and list it as an action item. Also add whatever else you think is important to add.

Annemarie Weibel

Albion

THE FABULOUS DYKETONES

Editor,

Tommy Wayne Kramer's diatribe about Ukiah's streets rang true. It reminded me of a night at the Caspar Inn. A band from Portland, The Fabulous Dyketones (pre-wokeness I guess) was playing. Because of the local lesbian community, I booked acts like this, but they always made me a little nervous since some, both entertainers and customers, could be a trifle “testy,” or, as a friend used to say “spring loaded in the pissed-off position.” I couldn't resist booking them: one of the photos in the promo kit showed them “butched out” with their instruments, in another they were all dressed “up” in puffy, frilly prom dresses with bows. 

When they showed up in the afternoon, one woman strode forward, shoved out her hand and said, “Hi, I'm Char, the head dyke.” I thought this could well be a truly fun night. It was.

The point being that later I asked her why it was that so many good bands came from Portland; Robert Cray, Curtis Salgado, Paul Delay, Lloyd Jones to name a few. She answered that all the streets ran parallel, 1st, 2nd, 3rd etc. and the cross streets were A, B, C etc; it was hard to get lost, so the musicians could find their gigs. 

Peter Lit

Elk

GIVE 'EM THE BOUNCE

Editor: 

Several articles have reported that some military personnel refuse to be vaccinated for COVID-19. Military personnel who refuse to be vaccinated should be discharged; they demonstrate an unwillingness to watch each other’s back. Where is the cohesiveness in that? 

I grew up benefiting from vaccinations that protected me, my family and friends from avoidable disease. A crucial factor was that we saw ourselves as part of a community. We were the children of Americans in U.S. government service overseas. We understood that we did not have the right to inflict disease on each other. 

More broadly, to the people who insist on not being vaccinated, I say, fine, don’t get vaccinated, but keep your distance. I’ll wear my mask to protect you. Nonetheless, I don’t want the stress of breathing your exhaled air in the workplace. I don’t want to second-guess whether by doing my job I am unreasonably risking the health of my family. 

Not getting one’s shots is the equivalent of smoking in the vicinity of explosives. Someone might get away with it repeatedly. However, insisting on incurring an unnecessary risk doesn’t confer a right to take the lives of others. 

John Kozlowski

Santa Rosa