Letters To The Editor

WE DISAGREE

Editor:

Your response to my letter (January 16, 2013) re: Aaron Bassler's mental health: 1. “…it's clear to us that much of his behavior seemed inspired by methamphetamine.” 2..”....his jailers noted zero indication of mental illness” 3. “ I trust their judgement a lot more than... 4. ."the crackpots who, against all the evidence, are still whining about Laura's Law,” .”.....5. “ignore the awful fact that he murdered two people in cold blood. 6. “From letters like yours you'd think Bassler was the victim.”

1. The AVA offers no proof Aaron was under the influence of meth.

2. Was the AVA directly involved in assessing “his jailer's” notes?

3. “I trust their judgment" — are the jailers mental health specialists?

4. “crackpots”…“still whining about Laura's Law”; advocating for mentally ill loved ones behavior of “crackpots”? As printed in the AVA, letters advocating implementation of Laura's Law were coherent, patient, respectful and always hopeful. Until any one AVA of staff struggles to help those they love (who have mental illness) may I suggest you live the frustration, despair, fear of we “crackpots.”

5. “ignore the awful fact that he murdered two people in cold blood” : your statement concludes the murders were those of a sane person; who in their “right” mind would commit murder?

6. At no time did I state Aaron “Bassler was the victim.” It's obvious many victims resulted from this tragedy: Bassler, Melo, Coleman, their immediate and extended families, friends and communities.

Out of curiosity I went to Amazon.com and read parts of Out There in the Woods written by Steve Sparks (of the AVA) and Sheriff Tom Allman, (reviewed by Mark Scaramella and Bruce Anderson of the AVA). More telling than the “book” are reviews by Aaron Bassler's family members and other residents of Fort Bragg. Inaccuracies and lies are mentioned by those “outsiders,” none of whom were contacted for verification. Before rushing to print, it would have been wise for the authors to check facts rather than their biased, one-sided “account.”

Lastly the AVA (January 16, 2013) page 6 bottom column 4, quoting from Out There in the Woods:

“Aaron Bassler's mother remains something of a mystery.”…“having been regularly spotted in downtown Fort Bragg bars as the massive hunt for her son was underway in the forests north of town.”

Exactly what does Ms. Brickey's behavior have to do with such an immense tragedy? Other than denigrating a mother whose son was caught in the crossfire of society's ignorance/fear of mental illness and your sensational “reporting”?

Elizabeth Ryan

Fort Bragg

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A FEW COMMENTS

To the Editor of the Ukiah Daily Journal,

A few quick comments on last Sunday's Forum page; first, I'm glad to see that it has finally dawned on your editorial staff that this woman who purports to own the Palace Hotel, is a flake, who has apparently wasted a fortune on an obviously too-far-gone dilapidated structure which, this writer has predicted for years, will eventually need to be razed. How absurd was that, holding a fundraiser for her quixotic reconstruction campaign? I mean, it would be like holding a bake sale to build the Willits bypass. What she really needed was an intervention, such as one might give a problem gambler who squanders his family's rent money.

On to the letters; those who make direct comparisons between the US budget and one's family budget demonstrate ignorance about economics. Unlike a family, the federal government can print money, or simply call it into existence with a few keystrokes. It may run counter to one's conservative nature, but time and again the history of modern economies demonstrates that the Keynesian idea of the government borrowing or printing and spending money during an economic downturn helps spark renewed growth of the economy. Conversely, as has been recently demonstrated in Europe, cutting government expenditures during a recession only serves to deepen the recession. Nobel laureate Paul Krugman has been explaining this for years, with all the charts and data in the world to back up his argument, but as with many things, hard-core conservatives (who seem to have a disproportionate influence with our government) have their minds made up on this and don't want to be confused with facts.

The other letter in Sunday's paper is a classic of paranoid gun nut hysteria; promoting an indiscriminate acceptance of all guns in order to protect ourselves from; Hitler, the Japanese, “radical Islamist jihad as camps all over America” (I haven't read about a single one myself, did the writer hear about them on Fox news?). The idea that one person with an assault rifle is going to take on the federal government, should he decide to somehow go terribly wrong, is an absurd daydream straight out of a Rambo movie. Standing up with Wayne LaPierre for one's unfettered right to own any assault weapon one chooses, along with any size magazine one can find is not brave; Gabby Gifford, tottering unsteadily to the microphone to haltingly address the Congress on the need for better gun regulation, after being shot through the head by a heavily armed madman, is brave.

Hopefully, in the wake of the Sandy Hook elementary school massacre, Congress can be moved to buck the NRA enough to push through some rational regulation of these high-efficiency killing machines.

Sincerely,

John Arteaga

Ukiah

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WHY WE’RE PROTESTING

To the Editor:

As most of us know, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) propose to construct a new segment of Route 101 that will bypass the City of Willits. According to Caltrans, the intention is to relieve congestion, reduce delays, and improve safety for interregional traffic. The project begins about 0.8 miles south of Haehl Creek Overhead and ends about 1.8 miles south of Reynolds Highway, a distance of approximately 5.9 miles.

Even if the bypass would, indeed, “relieve congestion, reduce delays, and improve safety,” I'm not sure it would be worth it. But the more I learn about what will actually occur, the clearer it is to me that the price we'll pay is not worth the benefits we might receive.

On Wednesday, January 23, I joined 18 other people who took a tour of the bypass boot print sponsored by a new group, “Save Our Little Lake Valley” (SOLLV.) For the first time I got to see and feel the devastation that would be caused if the bypass, as planned, occurs. We stopped at several spots along the proposed route beginning with Stop No. 1, the Southern Interchange of the proposed bypass. I'm glad we had a guide to find the spot which was described in the handout as “just south of Haehl overpass on Highway 101 (where railroad tracks go under Hwy 101).”

We learned that “the bypass would be at one of its widest points here. It would be a four lane highway, two lanes running north and two lanes running south with on and off ramps leading to and from the existing Hwy 101.” It's one thing to read about what will be lost. It's another to actually see and feel it. The hillsides are full of oak and madrone. It's a beautiful spot and it's painful to realize that all the vegetation in the area would be removed.

We were told that Caltrans might begin cutting trees on Monday, January 2. I decided I couldn't stand by passively and let it happen. I joined with other friends, neighbors, and community supporters to be a presence for all the life in our Valley.

I was very energized by the commitment of so many people who came out in support of the trees, streams, salmon, and the people who live and work here. Seeing a 25 year-old young woman “occupying” one of the large trees was heartening and moving.

I know there are many people who believe the bypass would benefit Willits and many who feel it would not. And many, I'm sure, who just don't have an idea of the impact this would have on our Valley. I know I had a very different experience when I actually walked on the land, looked at the trees, plants, animals, and streams that would be immediately impacted if Cal Trans begins cutting. There are times I've felt “what's the use. We can't stop this juggernaut anyway.”

But seeing a group of 75 citizens joining together gives me hope. It's never too late to change course if enough people are committed to a more sustainable direction. I remember local inventor Ed Burton and his admonition: “There's a better way. Find it!”

People will continue having a presence at the proposed Southern Interchange site. For more information and to get involved, contact: Save our Little Lake Valley (SOLLV), Carol Orton 707 972-6333 or Sara Grusky 707 216-5549. You can also learn about the ongoing tours to see where the proposed bypass would be and how it would impact our area.

Jed Diamond

Willits

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WHERE NOW?

Letter to the Editor

Sheriff Allman did an excellent job in Out There in the Woods of making clear the issue of Aaron Bassler’s untreated severe mental illness in the tragic deaths. Deaths that may not have happened had his schizophrenia been treated. People with common sense understand that someone living in a world of bizarre delusions about alien and Chinese weapons systems, extreme paranoia, and more, suffers from a severe mental illness and needs treatment.

The biggest surprise to me was how much Jere Melo, Ian Chaney, and Robert Pinoli knew about Aaron prior to the tragedies, but there was no place to gather all that information together so anyone could intervene.

If Laura’s Law/Assisted Outpatient Treatment had been in place in 2011, this information, along with the clear and detailed letters about Aaron’s mental illness symptoms from family members would have gone to a Review Team (Judge, County Counsel, Mental Health Director and Mental Health Case Manager). They also could have received the Fish & Game reports about Aaron in the woods with a rifle, and the FBPD reports of Aaron’s drinking, reckless driving, combativeness, need for tasering, etc. The Review Team would have realized with Aaron’s numerous arrests and apparently 5150s, he was a candidate for Assisted Outpatient Treatment/Laura’s Law.

We still have no place to take this kind of information about someone with untreated mental illness who may be dangerous. Law enforcement gets involved AFTER a crime. Mental Health is not looking for more patients so there is no access to medical care for people with untreated severe mental illness and anosognosia (40% of people with schizophrenia don’t know they are sick).

It’s extremely difficult to get local governments to address the problem, or even acknowledge it. The hope lies in California becoming the 45th state to adopt Assisted Outpatient Treatment laws. We should still keep trying at the Board of Supervisor level. Supervisor Hamburg already understands the AOT solution is needed, saves the County money and increases public safety. It’s very likely our new Supervisor Dan Gjerde also understands. That means we need a third vote for AOT/LL. The other supervisor’s constituents need to talk with their supervisors about why everybody wins with AOT/LL. See www.treatmentadvocacycenter.org for information about this.

Sonya Nesch, author of Advocating for Someone with a Mental Illness

Comptche

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FACING FORECLOSURE

Dear Editor:

100,000 Californian Home owners are facing foreclosure of their property loans, 80%of them are securitized loans with a lost chain of title, therefore fraud is the only means of claiming the right to foreclose. In Mendocino County 154 property owners are facing imminent foreclosure and home auction by the mega-banks. There is a way to fight this.

Go to C.J.s radio show for Jan. 29th to hear in the second half her Battle Plan for homeowners and activists.

http://new.livestream.com/accounts/2292674 1/29/13

Here's a short summary of the Action Plan to inform interested Mendocino county homeowners who are in danger of immediate foreclosure as seen on www.foreclosure.radar.com, and is available to subscribing Realtors. Occupy Mendocino has received the names 154 Mendocino county property owners who will be notified by postcards of pending Auctions and foreclosures. 100,000 homes are facing foreclosure in CA. and we need county property owners to rally together, to come to the County Recorder's Office 2/13/13 at 2:00 pm to strengthen the movement to fight fraud and corrupt judges who rule in favor of banks in spite of rampant fraud and the 5 laws in the Homeowners Bill of Rights.

Mega-Banks are still using robosigners even though they signed a consent Decree with the Attorney General agreeing to stop.This is a violation of Federal Law. They've been getting away with it in court. All securitized loans have fraud because they've lost who owns the note in the electronic mortgage registration system- MERS-in the belly of the beast. So people have to prove robosigned documments are fraud. This is how to fight back:

1) Fill out an OCC (Office of the Comptroller of the Currency) Complaint form downloading it from left margin of page on CJs website-www.hofj.org. This is your best chance to stall foreclosure, while CJ searches your documents for fraud on her data base. In return mail from the OCC office you will receive a file number. Send a copy of this to the legal department of your foreclosing Mega-bank. As long as a complaint is in process the bank will not foreclose. The bank must honor the OCCC file number and stand aside.You may choose from the list of complaints one that is relevent to your situation.

2) Also file a Notary Complaint from same site.CJ has a list of known robosigner notaries. On your documents find the notary's name and if it's a known robosigner, send a complaint form with a request for a journal entry copy, and a money order for $1.00 for the copy, include a self addressed stamped envelope and ask the postal worker to stamp the date when it comes back. You will then have a copy of the notary's signature and driver's license number. Send the complaint on the Notary to the Secretary of State, then take her response, make a copy of her response to the legal dept of the Foreclosure Trustee.

If the notarization is false those are void documents on the property they cannot foreclose.

Nothing is recorded until the Notice of Default is sent, but before it is sent the bank has filed an assignment, a trustee substitution, and a notice of default to give the veneer of legality. All documents are fake on securitized loans.

3)Go to the Recorder's Office and get certified copies of your list of documents,for the Sheriff, copies for the DA,for the Recorder,for the State Attorney General, Kamala Harris and for the Supervisors.

Please do not print the names of home owners to be foreclosed. Occupy is sending postcards to 154 in Mendocino County.For further in formation contact Jed Davis at jedasiah@gmail.com or cjholmes@cjholmes.com.

Please join us, bring copies of your property records to the County Recorder's Office, on Low Gap Rd., Ukiah on Wednesday 2/13/13 at 2:00 pm.to strengthen our fight for 100,000 CA home owners under threat of theft by the mega-banks.It's been their conscious intent to rob of us of our property and land.

Respectfully,

Agnes Woolsey

Mendocino

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HONOR AARON

Editor,

On January 11, 2013, facing decades in prison on trumped up charges, my partner, Aaron Swartz, made the tragic choice to take his own life. He was only 26.

Aaron's supposed crime? He was accused of checking out too many articles (4.8 million), too fast, from an online academic library called JSTOR, to which he had authorized access. He never used or distributed the articles and later returned them. For that, he faced 35 years behind bars and endured two years of relentless persecution.

The outdated Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) made this tragedy possible by giving absurdly broad powers to corporations and prosecutors to criminalize an array of online activity. That includes breaching a website's terms of service — that long blast of fine print you “agree to” but never read.

All of us who knew and loved Aaron never want to see anyone suffer this kind of abuse of power again. So, we're urgently calling on Congress to reform the CFAA. Please join us.

Tell Congress: “Reform the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act to remove the dangerously broad criminalization of online activity and protect us all from the abuse of corporate and prosecutorial power."

Aaron was an innovator, entrepreneur, and social justice advocate who co-authored RSS 1.0 (the web's format for sharing and distributing content) at the age of 14, co-founded the social news website Reddit, and led the fight to stop SOPA and PIPA — the internet censorship bills.

His fight to stop SOPA and PIPA started with a petition just like this one, so we know this can work. In fact, there's already been a strong, bipartisan reaction to Aaron's death and legislation is in the works to reform the CFAA right now. But it won't happen without a big public push.

We can't get Aaron back, but can you help us honor his memory by signing this petition and sharing it with everyone you know?

Yes, I can.

Thank you for listening.

Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman

New York

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BETTER BAGS

Editor,

The Rest of the Story —

At the Willits City Council meeting on January 23, the Council voted 2-3 not to follow the county’s ban on disposable plastic bags. The Board of Supervisors had also voted to support a temporary exemption to the county’s plastic bag ordinance in order to provide a grocery store in Laytonville with “a level playing field,” because it was claimed that the requirement that they charge 10¢ for a paper bag would cause shoppers to drive to Willits to do their food shopping.

An article in The Willits News reported that I “voiced strong opposition to the proposed ordinance, stating that it did not go far enough and would only substitute one pollutant for another.” Many people who read this article were scratching their collective heads, wondering what I meant, and while it was essentially what I had said, it is merely a sound bite, taken out of context, from the comments that I had made in opposing the proposed ordinance.

Here then, is the Rest of the Story, condensed version:

The ordinance that we were considering was originally written for a city in Southern California, the exact place escapes me, and it was soon adopted by many other cities and counties in the state, including Mendocino County, Ukiah and Fort Bragg. These ordinances were then submitted to Willits to be used as its ordinance. The ordinance was first brought to the Willits City Council in February 2012, but rather than simply accept it as is, I felt it was important to review it to see if it would work for Willits. I have a natural aversion to signing on for something simply because everyone else did! Apparently, there wasn’t a strong urge from anyone, either on the City Council or the public, to bring this matter forward, which is why it took a year for it to make its way back to the City Council!

After some amount of research into the whole issue of plastic bags, I discovered that while plastic bags do create environmental problems, often referred to as “urban tumbleweed,” the manufacture of paper bags creates its own set of environmental problems. Both types of bags use toxic chemicals in their manufacturing processes, and contrary to popular belief, paper bags don’t degrade so well in modern landfills. Making paper bags requires huge amounts of water and energy, and recycling of both paper and plastic requires complicated, expensive procedures. In fact, processing and recycling plastic costs about $4,000 a ton, selling on the commodities market for about $32 a ton.

It’s generally accepted that the best substitute for single use bags, paper or plastic, are sturdy, washable, reusable bags made from canvas or other cloth or heavy plastic. Many of us already have several of these reusable bags that we bring to the store on a regular basis. The stated purpose of the plastic bag ordinance, aside from protecting the environment, is to wean people from using single use bags, getting them in the habit of bringing reusable bags to the store when they shop. But using “the carrot and the stick” approach to behavior modification, the ordinance chooses to use the “stick” rather than the “carrot.” The “stick,” of course, is the 10¢ charge per bag, because the customer will be compelled to spend the money every time they don’t bring a bag to the store. Of course, the bag they will be paying for will probably be put in the recycling bin anyway, when they get home.

I, however, believe that behavior modification in this case can be better achieved by using the “carrot” approach. Since the purpose of the ordinance is to get people to bring their own bags to the store, if a truly reusable bag is available at the store, the customer would at least have something of value for the cost, even if they pay more than 10¢ cents for it. Charging, say, 75¢ or $1 for a sturdy bag that could be used more than 100 times is certainly less expensive then paying for a one time bag that costs 10¢. And the customer would now have a good bag that they can use again and again!

Behavior modification! If we’re going to spend the effort to do something good, let’s do it right, or not do it at all!

Interestingly, I recently was given a copy of Assembly Bill 158 that was introduced in the State Assembly, that pretty much duplicates my proposal for banning all single use bags, and replacing them with reusable bags that would be sold at the store, and that were required to be “capable of carrying a minimum of 22 pounds 125 times over a distance of at least 175 feet.”

The overriding problem as I see it is the tendency for many of us to quickly embrace causes that resonate with us, and the environment is certainly one of the more powerful ones around. But focusing on a quick fix by banning only plastic bags is, in my opinion, narrow and shortsighted, designed to provide instant gratification, making us feel good about doing something for the environment. In truth, however, we will have only scratched the surface, leaving the bigger problem unresolved.

The fact is, the ordinances that the county and the other cities have adopted apply only to the large plastic bags used at large stores to carry the goods out of the store. You know, the bags that many of us take home to use as trash can liners. By no longer having these bags to use in our trash cans, we will be forced to buy new plastic trash bags, thereby increasing the total plastic bag population. On top of that, the ordinance doesn’t include banning smaller plastic bags, the ones you use to put your meat, fish and wet produce in, and it also doesn’t include take-out food bags and containers because of health and safety considerations that are included in California law. So banning the large plastic bags doesn’t begin to address the overall bag problem.

Let’s use this as a cautionary tale; before getting excited about something that looks appealing, maybe we should look under the surface to see what the something is really all about!

Ron Orenstein

Vice Mayor, City of Willits

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MUDO ES TAN MUDO HACE

Dear Editor:

In watching the Hagel confirmation hearing and the antics of Senator Ted Cruz, the Texas clown, and John McCain and his lapdog Lindsey Graham as well as other GOP senators I was reminded of an old saying: “STUPID IS AS STUPID DOES.”

In peace,

James G Updegraff

Sacramento

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HOPPITY-GO-KICK DOGGEREL

Editor,

California cannot find enough electricity to execute its inmates. It's cheaper to FedEx yourself across town than to drive there. Pluto is no longer a planet. The past two years have seen more layoffs than the Reagan Renaissance. You want to talk to a real human being in “customer service"? Ha ha ha. Press “4.” Now you are working two jobs, so is your wife. And you sent little Jimmy to work at McDonald's too so you can afford a new home on a tree-lined avenue with trimmed lawns. Look! Here comes Spot to greet Grandpa as he pulls into the driveway. Hey, when you go to Tijuana reapply for your old job where all the “associates” are given their own outhouse and a free breakfast burrito.

Tata America,

Diana Wood Duck Vance

Mendocino, where the real art galleries are.

PS. Clancy of the Overflow has gone a droving. Hoppity-go-kick doggerel. Aussie dust and Aussie flies. No more bullockies, but the wonderous glory of everlasting stars. Hoity-toity. A battered old sulky stay-put in the Drogheda outback, America.

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MOD v. MOD

Dear editor,

I have addressed a few subjects with you before. May I now address a new one?

My beloved girlfriend lives with my family and her ex-husband lives down the street. He is delusional in thinking he can be above the law. Why does he think this? His sister works as a dispatcher for the Willits Police Department. I know this woman is telling them employee business and may even be tracking my girlfriend via a GPS device through her cellphone which she bought for him.

Let me say and ask directly, police are somewhat above the law in a way. But does that include their families? I know about a basic domestic violence case of harassment — someone named Jeff who is a very cocky individual has stalked my girlfriend who is his ex-wife and his son and me. My grandfather has almost fought the man. My brothers have almost fought him as well. Let me ask, is this right? Jeff is getting away with this. You decide.

Avid reader

James Ninja Morris

Ukiah

PS. Today proves about my first letter regarding D-Mod inmates who bring their problems upon themselves for ethnic differences from the looks of it.

Let me explain what happened. I was about asleep when I heard a deputy yelling, “Get on the ground.” Curiosity took hold of me. I walked out of my cell in A-mod and witnessed a D-mod inmate fighting another D-mod inmate. Let me say they had ethnic differences. When the two were fighting another inmate joined in making it a two on one. Then three more jumped in making it four on two. This fight took what looked like two canisters of pepper spray and a pepper spray gun to break it up. Inmates were taken and the fight was logged. Now we all have to lock down just because a bunch of Neanderthal monkeys got in a pissing contest. Thank you D-mod. You are why I wrote the AVA and I think you just proved my point.

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PUNISH ONE, PUNISH ALL

AVA

You know me very well. I write a lot and I try very hard to read your paper every week. But we don't always get one here in jail. I know you send one to most of the dorms here, but the deputies can't seem to pass them out correctly. I love reading your paper and I only wish I had one on my own. I write to you a lot because what someone sees and thinks from out there is not always what's real. I have heard that you yourself had change of heart after your visit here. As of today I am subject to cell searches in lockups because of my letters to you and my grievances. The sheriff punishes us every day while they break the law every day. Punish one, punish all. Officers with tobacco, black mold on the jail walls, mice, ants… They mishandle our mail and they say you are a lying piece of shit (really). But they say the same about me for speaking the truth. I very much wish you would send me my own AVA. I also wonder if you received my two letters on the inhumane justless center. I believe the deputies are throwing our mail away.

James Gator Lawson

Ukiah

PS. You can lock me up and take all I have but you'll never stop me from writing to the AVA and the courts. The same officer that said you were a liar is also the one who said last week he needed to go over there and shoot you for printing my stories. Check out facebook on me. People are talking. James Gator Lawson or JamesLawson904@yahoo.com.

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CITIZENS WITH GUNS

Editor,

Last week’s missive on “cops and guns” requires a brief reply. Contrary to popular belief, the law enforcement community is not a monolithic entity. Rather, a wide range of opinion exists on such topics as drug legalization, alternate modes of incarceration and gun control.

I spent ten years in urban law enforcement. While certain luminaries such as former San Jose Police Chief Joseph McNamara would argue otherwise, I know very few working police officers who believe in gun bans or that, “only the cops should have guns.” The vast majority of peace officers, rural and urban, would be happy if those arrested for gun crimes simply spent more than a few hours in jail.

As President of the Mendocino County Deputy Sheriff’s Association, I applaud Sheriff Allman’s approach to gun control. While we may not always agree, the Sheriff’s support, both real and symbolic, for gun ownership is appropriate and correct. Gun ownership by responsible, law-abiding individuals is a right of citizenship. Whether one lives in a small town or a big city is irrelevant.

Craig Walker, President, MCDSA

Philo

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THE TIN HAT HYPOTHESIS

Editor,

I am sitting in my office working on the wrong side of the Internet divide; watching dial up bytes slowly roll in and thinking about stuff I have recently heard about and witnessed.

First the Calfire charge which hits all of us rural folks, who ponied up for local fire protection with a second charge. The first charge is a good investment but why a new charge now? Why no notice and why the strong arm pay or be levied on approach from our sweethearts that run the State? What are we paying for? The new Calfire gulag down on RTE 128? At a recent regional grange meeting, many grumbled about this “pay-or-be-fined” strategy that California government is pushing on us. I wonder if some of the money that would have gone to the fairgrounds went to these upgrade reconstructions. The Gulag looks like bunkers. Why is that necessary, when our fair ground serves on so many levels for emergencies. Why not support this local key location?

Then there is the tax levied on wood products that contractors are hearing about at local hardware stores. What that means is California has found yet another way to tax us. As a small business owner, I am constantly seeing new fees and licensing from the state. California is what is known in ecological terms as a bad parasite. Good ones tax the host but allow it to live. The bad ones kill the little business owners with fee after fee.

Then there is the pressure on the small farmer to disclose every single item by species name of flower and vegetable they plan to sale at the Farmers market. Let’s paper the small farmer to death. The State Grange battled the state on local food production and raw milk and is making headway. The recent bill that allows small producers to sell face to face eliminates the need to track when illness follows a sale. Commercial kitchens still have to be clean but not to the level of big producers. Raw milk small herders will soon have relief to continue small town life. There have been only a few small dairy raw milk issues, if any recently. The real concern there is the large dairies, which can pay the oversight licensing and need it because of the huge dairy herds and operations they run. Applying this to small dairies is silly.

Why do some folks think that tightened gun laws will remove their rights to have guns? People are asking for real laws that control who gets them and restricts automatic war weapons. When a person can go to a gun show and skirt around checks that keep the guns out of the hands of criminals, it is clear the system is broken. If Americans need to use semi-automatics for sport fun, why not check them out at a rifle range and then check them back in. They can bring their own bullets. Anyone who thinks we little guys could win with a small weapon against an overzealous government is fooling themselves. They have microwave weapons, gases, and all sorts of devices to contain and uprising.

Meanwhile I witnessed the recent Smartmeter Option Regional meetings. They were scheduled right before Christmas, one of five on the busiest lane in Santa Rosa. Still 200 plus concerned citizens appeared. Of those 35 from Santa Cruz hired a bus to attend. More than 50% of the speakers of which all spoke, had direct health issues. The gist of their complaints very from stabbing headaches and chest pains to can’t live in their homes or continue their businesses. One person had lost her home because she could not work. It is more than a health issue when a simple supposed safe upgrade drives people off their property. There was an ex-meter reader talking about how he has seen fires and how they are a serious issue. Finally, one rural person spoke to the fact that in her small residential area where the signal for so called Smart monitoring does not reach, the company has a meter reader checking the Smartmeters. Her question: “Who pays for that?” My question, what happened to democracy? How can a regulatory agency of the state ignore 57 cities and counties and ignore requests by the same for no Opt Out charges and the ability to opt out as a city or county? My second question had to do with self reading power consumption, something common to our county and surprisingly common in San Francisco. Our county members self read because they live in difficult places to read and SF ratepayers often had meters in their locked garages. It worked. Many self read with no complaints, but now the Utilities claim that they were a hassle. Actually one local resident noted he had accidentally covered his meter with a cloth and it had not been removed for months. The meter guy supposedly read his meter, or did he just guess and approximate?

I think the California PUC is seriously broken. I interviewed a woman living in the West Virginia no wireless zone (a survival solution.) This is a place where many electrically hypersensitive folks now are forced to live. I interviewed her for my show because she was suing, the State, the CPUC, the Utility and the meter company from making her home and business inaccessible to her and harming her. She wants the whole system yanked as the Opt Out is an idiotic notion. Her meter is opted out, but her house is adjacent to an apartment building with 30 plus meters. Neither she nor her cat can live there. Her cat went from a napping happy creature to a fidgety feisty one who left home. She noted that President of the CPUC recently made a new organization that he has joined that fuses two large cellular conglomerates. According to CPUC rules that is illegal but he is the president and should regulate himself. What a folly. Who reprimands a berserk utility commission President? Only the Governor. The issue is rising all over the nation, in Canada and Australia, where smartfires from Dangerousmeters are also prevalent.

Incidentally, the tin hat concept you guys like to point to imply no noticeable impacts. At this meeting at least 50% of those who could be there had serious impacts and as I have said Sweden documents 10% of a fairly large population with EMF/RF impacts. The only difference is you are the ones with the problems. A good way to test the tin hat hypotheses is to make one and put it on during a thunder storm and stand on a tall building.

Thanks for the place to comment,

Greg Krouse

Philo

PS. More power to local activist fighting big orange in Willits. Caltrans administrators are close to clueless. We now are protected by new metal railing and anti-weed plastic yet they did not replace the reflective Bot Dots where the old signal was at the perpetual road rebuilding on top of 253, and the railing isn't where a miss would send you down into a deep canyon just before the descent to Ukiah. Caltrans has successfully kill all the roadside planting programs that local groups have carried out by not watering, mowing it down or just ignoring it. These are the same guys who said that they could not maintain our highways without herbicides and yet worry about toxic storm runoff. The highways are working fine except if you drive over 253 in the fog, you could drive off it at the top. Maybe a nighttime administrator (probably an impossible concept) should drive the highways in the fog and make some notes.

Why should we expect them to have any logic about putting a bypass in a good location in Willits? What is sad is that as usual the judicial body seems to agree that this dull behemoth is doing anything that favors our environment. Wait until Willits sees what a bypass does to their commerce. Cloverdale is just recently recovering from their open commerce double bypass.

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NO PREFERENCE

Editor,

The Plumas County Board of Supervisors is to be commended for dropping the long standing practice of christian prayers at the beginning of their meetings. These “invocations” are an insult and an affront to those of us who are atheists as well as to the other non-religious portion of the population which is conservatively estimated to be over 20 percent of the population of the United States.

It is not just a federal First Amendment issue, because the California State Constitution has further guarantees against government favoritism to certain religions. Article I, Section 4 is the “no preference clause” and Article XVI, Section 5 is our right to be free of government support of religion. All California government entities should be absolutely neutral about religion. The boards and other government commissions and departments should never again engage in practices like invocations which by their very nature discriminate against so many of us. Government sponsored prayers create a privileged group of clergy who are allocated resources that so many others would never be able to avail themselves of.

As a Marine from 1962 to 1970, I fought and won the right not to be forced to participate in military sponsored religious activities. I am heartened to know the people of Plumas County will now be free from government discrimination in this matter.

Irv Sutley

Glen Ellen

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SOAKING THE FEEPAYERS

Editor,

Our governor Jerry Brown says California has a balanced budget. I say it’s not so. There is constant talk by all state agencies about being in big trouble because the state is taking away big funds. Only thing I see is almost all just talk. Jerry Brown says he has a balanced budget. But only his word, very few facts of where and what he cut, and his word is not worth a can of beans.

As I recall he said no new taxes without voter approval so he calls all these raises “fees.” Why not call California income taxes income fees? And sales taxes, sales fees? How about property taxes, property fees? Most government budgets are not understandable by anyone which is why they do it. Anyone trying to understand a budget will finally give up and then government can do as they damn well please.

When someone comes in our store with one of our bills they don’t understand, we don’t want them to leave until they have total understanding and if it’s our mistake we want to know about it. I am happy to say we don’t make many.

This is true of most businesses, but not government.

What Jerry Brown wants is a legacy that he built the high-speed train. The most important fact is that the reason that banks are paying practically no interest on deposits is that there is a huge amount of money in banks with no place to invest it and if this train had any possible chance of not being a complete financial failure, there would be all kinds of money to invest. Can you imagine the cost of constructing some 400 miles of some kind of track and upkeeping it for just the high-speed train? The train can’t make many stops or it will lose its ability to transport people quickly from the two big cities which will already be half as fast as flying. Now, one can take off from several places in San Francisco, San Jose, Sacramento and land in several places in the Los Angeles area. Plus there are all kinds of times and flights leaving from both the LA and San Francisco area.

The initial amount passed by the voters was $50 billion which should have killed the proposition passed by the voters right there. Now the government says it will cost only $68 billion to make it sound more doable. We all know from past experience that in reality most government projects run two to three times more and no one is held responsible except the taxpayers. Oops, that’s the feepayers.

By the way we have at last 22 of these fees and surcharges on everything except a fee for going to the bathroom. Who is the culprit in all this? It’s us, the voters, who keep passing our never-ending government beggars and by not solving anything, only making it worse.

Emil Rossi

Boonville

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AT MY EARLIEST CONVENIENCE

Editor,

Warmest spiritual greetings. My exit date at the Berkeley, men's shelter is February 19th. That means that I have to leave there, and go outside. As you know, I returned to California from Washington DC because I could not get a place to sleep indoors in order to remain in DC long term, and continue frontline protesting, marching, demonstrating, doing direct action, and writing about it all, in the name of radical environmentalism and global peace and justice.

What really bothers me is having to send messages like this out, because I am NOT being paid any money to participate, nor am I receiving anything whatsoever socially from the postmodern American society, and I am not even being thanked for contributing to a livable earth plane that the rest of you may enjoy. Frankly, I am not getting anything worth shit from the postmodern American society!

I am interested in returning to Washington DC at my earliest convenience. I need transportation to get there, and I need a place to sleep/socialize indoors which I am not going to pay for. Unless we are agreeing that this is all insane, I am counting on your solidarity and cooperation, and appreciation for my participation. Please note that the Washington DC Independent Media Center does not allow me to put messages such as this one on the newswire, because they say that I am "advertising". Aside from the fact that they are being ridiculous in determining that I am attempting to sell myself, I have no choice but to send out emails like this one, and I want you to forward this to your listserves, so that I get cooperation to return to the district and have basic living necessities for myself, such as indoor accommodations. On the other hand, if this is all insane, then go ahead and get me back to D.C., and we will move me in somewhere by force. I am doing obvious spiritual work on the earth plane, and if it is not appreciated by anybody, you may take your complaint up with the spiritual source of all.

I regret having to be so straightforward in my language, but what else can I do? My present social circumstances are a mistake, my social life in postmodern America is generally non-existent, I have $160 in the bank, my association with the left wing in Washington DC has been a complete joke lately, and I have a spiritual consciousness which doesn't give a goddam about materialism. So I ask you, just what can I do besides continuing to send out messages such as this one?

Craig Louis Stehr, c/o NOSCW,

PO Box 11406, Berkeley, CA 94712-2406

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THE RESURFACE PROJECT

To Whom It May Concern

My name is Scott Johnston. I am sixth generation, born and raised in Anderson Valley, and am currently a senior at AV High.

I am writing this letter with regard to my senior project. The project I chose is to raise the necessary funds and to organize and oversee the resurfacing of our high school outdoor basketball court. For years this much-needed athletic court has remained unusable with deep cracks, uneven surface and many holes. As an athlete, I would love to see this basketball court in the condition that it should be. Exercise should be a big part in children’s lives. With childhood obesity and Type 2 diabetes on the rise, our community needs to provide as many places for exercise as we can. Our elementary through high school basketball teams desperately need another functioning basketball court to practice when our only gym is being used.

There were many skeptics and attempts to talk me out of doing this project. I was told this project was too big. It was suggested that I choose a different project. I have thought long and hard about this due to the fact that it is going to take a tremendous amount of fundraising, scheduling and coordinating to accomplish this project. My family and I have already begun contacting local community members and businesses who are eager to see this project succeed. I am very passionate about this and know with the community’s help we can finally have the basketball court resurfaced and available for everyone to use.

We would love your help. I you would like to contribute to the resurfacing of the basketball courts, please send your checks to: AVUSD PO Box 457, Boonville CA 95415 / Attn: Resurfacing Project. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Scott Johnston

Boonville