GIMME SHELTER (MONEY)
Dear Friends,
The Housing Association seeks your help because it needs your help. Operating costs for the Rays Road farm labor camp in Philo have surged. We have just installed an on-site waste treatment system at Rays Road following failure of the old leach field. Several grants have helped to cover the cost of the new system, but operating it entails increased costs. Rays Road has run for 20 years at a small annual loss and your support will help us sustain this important affordable housing resource.
This summer we began the process of conducting a housing needs survey in Anderson Valley, the first in over 20 years. The survey will help us determine actual housing needs. The Anderson Valley Education Foundation funded two bilingual student interns who worked with us on the first stage of the survey. The interns collected and compiled housing data from farm workers, mill and brewery workers, Valley employers, and people using the Food Bank and WIC program. We surveyed employees of small businesses, the Health Center, and the school district. We also obtained data from self-employed residents. We are now using the collected data to prepare a report. Your support will help us complete the reporting process.
Our mission addresses *all* who are in need of housing in the Anderson Valley. Many low income families live in substandard, overcrowded conditions. Young adults who have grown up here cannot afford to buy or rent here. Teachers have turned down jobs here for the lack of a decent affordable place to rent. The want of affordable housing affects us all. Housing remains a major community concern.
We invite you to join our endeavors to provide affordable housing for all who need it. Donations are tax deductible. Our goal with this letter is to raise at least $18,000 toward this fiscal year's goal of $30,000. If everyone receiving this letter were to make a contribution of $25, the Housing Association would reach its immediate objective. We hope that those who can will give $50 or $100 or more.
Sincerely yours,
William W. Stirling, President, AVHA
PO Box 341, Philo, CA 95466
AVHA@pacific.net 895-3525
GOOD JOB, DDR!
Editor,
We should all send appreciations to the DDR carpetbaggers and their big-time, high-priced, out-of-county consultants for getting out the vote! It was a masterful job!
Every phone call, every mailing! Wow! They made every dollar, and every dumb decision count! Good job!
63% vs 37%! And 50% voted in an off-year election!
Break out the cheers and the cheescake!
Dave Smith
Ukiah
TIM THE GREAT!
Dear AVA,
Sure enjoyed Bruce Anderson’s piece last week on Lincecum! Tim is a *great* kid. This summer I sent him a ballcard I designed (see below). By almost return mail he sent me an autographed baseball! This was right about the time he was experiencing his first All Star game start. He’s truly a special person.
Stay strong,
Fred Sternkopf
Mendocino
HIGH FIVES
Editor,
Our loco weed Big Medicine harvest will be a whopper this year. The horticultural wizardry of our tribal medicine men and women has made Mendopia the healthiest place in America. By converting obsolete allopathic medical installations to pot dispensaries we will be healthy, happy and high forever.
Unfortunately, the rest of America is still gagged by archaic medicine, force-fed through Big Sicko — the corporate pharmaceutical/insurance monopoly combine.
But soon, thanks to the “audacity of hope,” Big Sicko puppeteers through their Democrat and Republican marionettes will pass radical sickness insurance reform legislation that will further benefit Big Sicko’s economic health and happiness.
So there is much to be thankful for this holiday season. Let's all rise and solemnly singing to the tune of Yankee Doodle Dandy,” the Obamacare song: “Howdy Obama went to town grinning like a phony, pulled a health bill out of his hat that he knew was baloney.”
Happy Thanksgiving, America. Let's drink a toast to the Obamacare mantra: “In sickness, and not health, ’til death do us part.” … “For he's a jolly good fellow, he's a jolly good fellow, he's a jolly good fellow, which nobody can deny.”
Cheers,
Don Morris
Skunktown/Willits
(health capital of Mendopia)
POGO’S INSURANCE BILL
Editor,
If it were not for people, there would be no Health Crisis.
The legislation the Senate is discussing now, still HR 3590, (not an “S” bill yet) is quite interesting and telling by what's there, or not.
A convenient computer search tool finds number of times words appear in the legislation:
Nutrition: 29 times; Tobacco: 25; Smoking: 11; Obesity: 9; Exercise: 9; Lifestyle: 5; Behavior: 8; Alcohol: 2
However: Pesticides: 0; Insecticides: 0; Herbicides: 0; Dioxins: 0; Mercury: 0; Chemicals: 0; Carcinogen(s): 0; Chlorine: 0; Radiation: 0; Depleted Uranium 0; Salmonella: 0; Pollutant(s): 0; Pollution: 0; Vehicle exhaust: 0; Toxins: 0; Toxic: 0; Marijuana: 0; Hazardous waste 0; Organic(s): 0.
There seems to be a certain theme here, perhaps aimed at reassuring us that private industries are no threat to health. Nothing to worry about or act on there.
We people are the problem.
John Jonik
Philadelphia
FRAGGING?
Letter to the Editor:
Since I’m a combat veteran who spent four years up to my neck in the anti-Vietnam War movement, reading RG Davis’ letter “fragging” in last week’s issue yanked me back into a time warp.
“Bring the war home?” How warped is that? It’s about as warped as old men blaming young soldiers — their employees — for war. I worked mostly with the Cal Vets Movement and, later, VVAW, and whenever during a meeting somebody got up to advocate “bringing the war home” most of us knew he was either aN FBI agent-provocateur or may as well have been. Nobody did more to discredit the anti-war movement than Jane Fonda and the Radical fringe. And that’s another way of saying that nobody did more to prolong the war than they.
Back then I met some Radicals who were convinced that the Viet Cong and the NVA were sweethearts. But I always forgave them. It just went to show that the Radicals weren’t as smart as they thought they were. Then listening to them go on for hours while trying to distinguish Stalin and Mao from Hitler and each other proved that their moral compasses were stuck on stupid. More than once a Radical lectured me on how our particular war (one of dozens that were being fought then as now) was particularly evil and that rubbed me wrong. Why would I allow a draft-dodging, spoiled brat college kid who has never even gotten a serious ass-whipping tell me anything about war? But, again, words are not sticks and stones, much less bullets and RPGs.
What stuck in my craw was Mr. Davis’ coining of the phrase “Post Murder Stress Syndrome” with regards to today’s returning veterans. That caused me to re-read the letter three times to see if I could find the logic in it. But, alas, I was searching for a function that was alien to the form. The letter wasn’t an essay but an emotional tirade.
And that raises a question: since Mr. Davis signed his name with a Ph.D., what do those letters stand for? Phony, Hateful and Deranged?
B. Patterson
Boonville
AFTER DDR
To the Editor:
Okay, Measure A failed. We still have a need for jobs and taxes to right our local economy. What light industry could we attract to Ukiah?
What would the people vote for or welcome? I know: Pot.
May I suggest we collect a tax on all citizens of Mendocino County of around $100. We use that money to purchase the Masonite property and set up the most advanced pot growing facility anywhere in the world. We also build a processing plant to turn the pot into a medical grade product and supply it to any doctor or licensed pharmacy for use by truly needy patients. This would stop the stuff being sold to kids in other states. All the people working in the industry could come out of the shadows and punch a time clock. We would need to stop all growing by individuals because there would no longer be a need as any resident of Mendocino County would receive free Pot for medical needs. We could lead the way into the future and if this stuff is going to be grown and profit made by it we should all share in the spoils. We could sit back and collect our dividend checks each quarter and we could get rid of this anger between the people who grow and don't work and those who work and over pay their share of taxes. I have not figured out the specifics on cost or production, but if each person was allowed six plants and there are over 80,000 of us, just think of the numbers.
Really, we need to start to move forward, to get a plan to jump start this town and solve some of the problems that have been occurring over the last 20 years or so. We don't seem to make headway using the same old formula so it is time to think outside the box. Our local government seems stumped by the problems, unable or unwilling to come up with new solutions, so let us discuss new ideas. Let's be open to working together, not always fighting.
I am not in favor of pot, in fact just the opposite. What I am in favor of is making a living and thinking I have a future here. I am working harder than ever, trying to keep my job and watching my income dwindle. Let's have a dialogue on where we need to go and the best way to get there. If pot is going to be part of the solution, let's do in a way benefits our community.
Carol Schallert
Redwood Valley
FREE RANGE TURKEYS
Hi.
I know you don't care for KZYX much. Maybe it's a competitive thing, like “This town ain't big enough for two sheriffs.” The Anderson Valley is a small place, after all.
Maybe is a personality clash between you and KZYX management. Or a difference of journalistic style. Or approach. Or philosophic differences. Or creative differences.
Maybe it's just that pissing all over KZYX helps you sell newspapers. Tempest in a teapot. A little drama. That sort of thing. No big deal, really. Nothing to take personally. Just business. Whatever.
I've come to live with your pissing all over KZYX as a sort of background noise. Like static on the radio. Or a few channels of white noise on the television set.
Having said that, I'll say three more things.
One, I read the AVA without fail. Every single edition.
Two, I respect you. And I suspect that if I got to know you, I'd like you. I already like a few things about you, i.e., the bar in your office. I also liked the obituary you wrote about your brother. Damn fine piece of writing. It made me wonder: Would my brother write anything as truthful or beautiful about me, if I died?
And three, there really is a place for community radio in the world.
Really. There is a place. Community radio is indispensable. Especially in times of crisis. And, not to sound too apocalyptic, we are fast approaching that time.
With “number three” in mind, I share the following email exchange with you.
Happy Thanksgiving,
John Sakowicz
Ukiah
DEGUEULASSE!
Editor,
Cockburn's correspondents report on the subject of obesity. It's a good idea to know what sort of sludge is disguised by the secret sauce at McFuhrer's. Remember the Meat Shortage, when road pirates were hijacking truckloads of beef? One trailer was found abandoned on a remote highway, rear doors hanging open, the load intact. It contained 40,000 pounds of assholes. Degueulasse indeed!
Another mentions that on KPFA the Commissariat of Dehumorization was petitioned to refer henceforth to fat people as being “persons of size.” KPFA is full of such gems.
One day the Dalai Lama was in town, and was being interviewed by persons who, not wishing to risk reincarnation as insects, sought His Blessing for their sexual practices.
“Your Holiness, is oral sex okay?” “Oh yes, ha ha! Have fun! Ha ha!” The Dalai Lama is usually funny and self-effacing.
“Divine One, what about anal sex?”
“And what is that?”
“That is sexual intercourse with the anus of another person.”
“What? The other hole? No! No! Not the other hole! No!”
Viva Pacifica! Much more interesting than 24/7 Lush Limpbone and Michael Pinochet Jr. Savage on KSFO, and that horrible soprano sax winery jazz on KJZY. Degueulasse!
Yrs, Jay Williamson
Santa Rosa
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