- Not Right
- Tesla Man Is Road Rude. Or Drunk. Or Stoned. Or…
- Mendo's Mental Health Disparities
- Audio Blues
- It Works
- Putting The Coast At Risk
- Support The Boys And Girls Club
- The Debt Limit Chicken Game
- Bud Light & Republicans
- Braxton Bragg Report
NOT RIGHT
Editor-
There's a little house for sale in Boonville, asking price $650,000. No one in AV makes enough to buy it. That means it has to go to a super rich outsider who will either visit it a few times a year, or else rent it out as an AirBnB rather than allowing someone who actually wants to live here full time have it. I know, they have to get an outrageous amount to buy an over-priced place somewhere else. But that doesn't make it right!
Nancy McCleod
Philo
TESLA MAN IS ROAD RUDE. OR DRUNK. OR STONED. OR…
Editor,
Scary trip on 128 this morning (Friday)
An ever-increasing group of us got stuck behind a white Tesla (CA plate 9EHJ938) with (I think he was a white male, with long hair and a passenger) a driver who was one or more of the following:
a) scared
1. of shadows
2. of moisture on the road
3. of dirt on the road
4. of speeding tickets
5. of curves
6. of redwood trees
7. of appearing “woke”
8. of appearing to be awake
b) thoughtless/selfish
c) deaf (to horns)
d) blindered (to flashing headlights and other visual evidence that he was not in sync with the rest of us.)
I had the misfortune to be, eventually, second in line in this parade, after several others, including a fully loaded hay truck, let me pass (they were giving him room, which I just didn’t have in my heart). He was going between 27 and 32 mph most of the time, with occasional spurts of near-the-limit energy (on the straightaways, so it would be harder to pass), and rolling slowly right past the signage, the turnouts, the pullouts.
After what seemed like hours of this, someone from way back in the line, driving a large, dark-silver comet of a car with a boxy back end (couldn’t get the make; they were moving so fast), couldn’t bear it anymore, and on a very short straightaway, crossed the double yellow and SHOT past everyone in line, including the hay truck(!), almost winding up in a head-on with someone rightfully coming the other way.
As we neared Navarro, not the last turnout, but the shorter one before that, he GOT A CLUE and pulled over. I bet he waited a very long time for all those angry people to get past him.
I’m subjecting all of you to this screed because you might recognize this guy -- maybe he was visiting you -- and you could explain the speed limit and other rules of the road, and that people actually use 128 to get to jobs, doctors’ appts., and the like. You could tell him what all that signage means, and what a turnout is, and why there are all these sweet, flat, paved places on the roadside. In fact, it would be awesome if everyone tried to give instructions to visitors before them come up here, especially if they’re from flat states or countries! My latest theory is that these people run across that first reduce-speed, curve ahead sign, and then think that’s the limit for the entire stretch.
Drivers like him are never in wrecks, but he could have caused a massive pileup had that (overly) daring driver not had some kind of angel on one shoulder and an afterburner at the rear of his/her/their vehicle.
(Name withheld)
MENDO'S MENTAL HEALTH DISPARITIES
Editor
I would like to address the issue of disparity in Mendocino County’s response to families experiencing a serious mental illness crisis. First by stating that when an individual is experiencing such an episode, it is not an individual experience, first and foremost it is a family one! Secondly a community crisis that requires appropriate & quick action! Thirdly, education and response should be cohesive and compassionate. I have had the unfortunate experience of having to ask for help and intervention on many occasions through RCS crisis line & UPD, at that time there was not a working understanding of who was responsible for field crisis calls. RCS refused, UPD claimed they are not mental health workers and we did not have a mobile crisis unit.
You soon learn that nobody wants to take on the responsibility of mitigating a mental illness crisis. That does not fly with SMI! Serious Mental Illness is a very cruel disease that is downplayed & seen as an individuals responsibility. Every day families are discriminated against as they try to navigate the system and get help as their loved one deteriorates into their illness! It is simply unacceptable.
As I witness the response by MCSO & Search and rescue to locate and aid Riley Hsieh as he had walked away from home while having a Serious Mental Illness Crisis, I am terribly sad and disturbed. So sad for Riley and his family because I understand this on a deep personal level, it is painful and scary. I pray he is found safe and given the appropriate care and help.
That is where disparity comes in, unfair treatment in a time of a Serious Illness Crisis. The response and aid to Mr. Hsieh is not the norm in a Mental Illness Crisis in Mendocino County. The answer I received to aid my son during many crisis was none, until he committed a crime. If I were standing on the corner having a heart attack people would rush to my aid ASAP and call 911 for a medical intervention no questions asked! If it is a person experiencing severe psychosis and paranoia which is a medical crisis we ignore it as if it is not our problem. The call for aid does not come if you are the mother, discrimination? The very ill street people we allow to remain sick without intervention and treatment is a disgusting lack of care for our community as a whole. Laws aside intervention is necessary Change is inevitable and unification of protocol is what we must strive for!
It’s really shameful to see how quickly help arrives no questions asked if you have some sort of clout. But for families like mine we mostly get discarded like trash, like were the problem, being poor is the problem, we somehow don’t deserve equitable responses. Let’s delve into compassionate unified educated response. Our community would thrive in so many meaningful ways if we cared enough to appropriately address the needs of those battling Serious Mental Illness.
Sincerely,
Mazie Malone
Ukiah
AUDIO BLUES
Dear Editor,
While I don’t disagree with your evaluation of Scott Simon’s pretenses, I wonder if you’ve listened to Ayesha Rascoe on Sunday’s Weekend Edition. I don’t find her pretentious and she seems a capable reporter, but I think her abrasive voice, wild tonal shifts, and mispronunciations (e.g., Goggle is not “Goo-Goo”) do not meet the high standards of a national network. She’s not the only one: yesterday I heard another well-educated newscaster refer to Putin as “Pu’in”). There are plenty of other southern-born people whom I hear on the air who could better represent NPR or any other network.
Name Withheld
Boonville
ED REPLY: When I first heard Ayesha Rascoe on her first Sunday as an NPR host, I rejoiced, and am still rejoicing. A real person on NPR? A real person who talks like a real person, doesn't fake emotions? I'm amazed that NPR would take the risk of its listener's wrath, the same listeners contented with the massive audio fraud of Scott Simon all these years. Truth to tell, I don't listen to NPR but for an hour in the morning while I exercise my bone bag. On Simon Saturdays, when he goes too far in the emotional fraud he specializes in, well, it has the one benefit of forcing me to work him out of my system by doing more push-ups, more curls, more minutes in the Chinese Thinker, longer walks. Every Saturday, it takes me an average of thirty more minutes to make sure I've exorcised him, and Ayesha Rascoe, bless her all her days, coming on the very next day after the toxic dose of Simon? She is enormously helpful in my weekly recovery process.
IT WORKS
Editor:
I am a retired forest firefighter. I have seen firsthand and up close how aerial fire retardant can stop the spread of a forest fire, particularly one that is just getting started. The group that calls itself Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics — which is not a U.S. Forest Service employee organization but a collection of concerned citizens — claims that there is “no scientific evidence that retardant changes wildfire outcomes.” (“Battling fires from sky takes toll on aquatic life,” Sunday's Press Democrat). These people have obviously not been on a real fire or taken any classes about this extraordinarily valuable firefighting method. Of all the damaging lawsuits people feel the need to file, this has got to be one of the worst.
B.B. Kamoroff
Laytonville
* * *
BETSY CAWN COMMENTS: “IT WORKS” — you bet it does. Several years ago, CalFire changed its approach to stopping wildfires before they grow, giving full authority to the regional Emergency Command Centers to immediately deploy aircraft and other resources to the smallest of fires responded to by local firefighter agencies. If you watch “Flightradar24” when a call goes out (several local Facebook pages report every call that is issued, and of course “Watchduty” picks up those calls — and monitor the live real-time communications between pilots and the dispatch center, and each other), within minutes spotter planes, water-bearing helicopters, and Very Large Aircraft (as big as former airline jets) are in the air and on their way to the location. As soon as local containment efforts are successful, they return to their bases, but if they arrive and the incident is not yet contained they begin their orchestrated intervention efforts, not letting up until the area is deemed safe for repopulation or other remedial actions are initiated.
2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022 wildfire starts in Lake County, including a highly threatening conflagration that occurred on the east-facing Point Lakeview cluster of denizens in an area with 4-inch ancient hydrants, narrow roads, one-way ingress and egress from the Point Lakeview Road, hazardous winds, and thickly vegetated steep slopes descending to the lake — which was documented by people on the opposite side in spontaneous video posts on Facebook — was squelched by the audacious and highly skilled pilot of the new Sikorsky water-bearing chopper stationed at the Boggs Mountain CalFire facility, as monitoring aircraft and ground support teams wrestled with conditions including the Sheriff’s mandated evacuation of the entire area including Jago Bay and a large portion of the Kelseyville Riviera subdivision (before quickly halving the designated “zone” identified in the Zonehaven map by the local OES) and chaotic transmission of that information to residents.
While we also had the peripheral impacts of the mostly-Napa/Sonoma County “Lightning” fire, and some of the subsequent “Glass” — both in the southern-most territories of vast wildland tracts and out-back occupants — our county fire protection districts, law enforcement and public service responders are so well coordinated that their actions, combined with the high levels of suppression resources, demonstrated the benefits of that new approach.
We also look closely at the impacts of unavoidable side effects, such as the addition of phosphorus-based dry retardant materials in already nutrient-rich Clear Lake and vital water resources generated by deeply forested watersheds, serving six surrounding counties and critical for their industries and domestic populations. The benefits clearly outweigh the negative impacts and are well worth the downsides.
PUTTING THE COAST AT RISK
Editor,
I am very concerned that Sonoma County Supervisor Lynda Hopkins has advocated to eliminate parcel specific protections on the coast. For those of us who have advocated tirelessly over the past 40 years for coastal protection, this has come as a complete shock. Regardless of which parcels have been targeted for elimination of protection, it is unacceptable.
The seminal group COAAST was instrumental in protecting the coast and keeping access for the public, and this could not be further away from what they worked for. Coastwalk California and other groups carried on the work of coastal protection and public access.
Bill Kortum must be turning over in his grave with this move advocated by Hopkins and supported by the Board of Supervisors.
Brenda Nichols
Sebastopol
SUPPORT THE BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB
To the Editor:
The Ukiah Daily Journal today kicked off its 2023 annual Boys and Girls Club Spring Fund Drive. The Ukiah Police Department is donating $2,000 from its asset forfeiture funding and is proud to join others as sponsors of the Club this year. This is the community’s opportunity to join the fund drive and contribute to an organization that has served our youth for many years.
Juveniles are most vulnerable during the hours immediately following the school day, when they are most likely to commit or be the victim of a crime. The Ukiah Boys and Girls Club currently sees about 200 school-aged children a day during this time in the afternoons. Volunteers and employees of the Club provide these kids with an after-school snack, an opportunity to participate in organized activities, and assistance with their homework as well as research projects. And these services are offered all day during the summer and holidays when kids are out of school.
But the Club offers even more through partnerships with local businesses and community organizations. Kids at the Club have an opportunity to learn important job skills through on-site mentoring programs, learn healthy lifestyle habits, and even work together in a vegetable garden. It is these opportunities and experiences that provide our children with improved academic performance and behavioral benefits, which reduces their potential to become involved in criminal activity in both the short and long term. I believe it also provides an equally valuable attribute by instilling a sense of community and of belonging, and many Club attendees return as adult volunteers. It is experiences like this, I think, that help develop adults who are happy and productive, and involved and engaged in their community.
The Club strives to be affordable and accessible for everyone with membership fees of $50 per year and nominal daily charges. A large portion of funding to keep the Club up and running is derived from fundraisers and donations. Supporting the Boys and Girls Club not only keeps these kids “off the street” and out of trouble, but provides an opportunity to invest in the future of our community.
You can join the Ukiah Police Department and other community members and organizations supporting the Club by sending donations to Boys and Girls Club of Ukiah, P.O. Box 67, Ukiah CA. 95482.
Cedric Crook, Ukiah Police Chief
THE DEBT LIMIT CHICKEN GAME
Editor,
Here again the nation faces another national game of “chicken:” extending the debt ceiling between President Biden and Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy. With the country’s national debt somewhere in the realm of $31 trillion, time is already pretty short to settle the matter before the US dollar runs out of time.
Unfortunately for Speaker McCarthy, a number of Republican House members are not in support of his latest proposed measure. Thanks to right-wingers like Marjorie Taylor Greene and Jim Jordan, for example, Speaker McCarthy might well lose his position as Speaker before the time runs out. The debt ceiling time in early June runs out. The result would spell trouble for all Americans. Like before the Civil War, the divided nation will be disastrous.
Like two teenage boys in hotrods unable to stop in time, our full faith and credit may not survive.
Frank H. Baumgardner, III
Santa Rosa
BUD LIGHT & REPUBLICANS
Editor:
I guess by now everyone has heard that Bud Light has a new spokesperson. It’s Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender TikTok star. And the right went crazy. Kid Rock is shooting up cases of beer. Sales of Anheuser-Busch bottled products dropped 30% in a week.
It made no sense to me. Then I heard the following, “In Bud Light’s effort to be inclusive, they excluded almost everybody else, including their traditional audience.” How is anyone excluded because someone else is included? The statement sounds crazy, but it explains so much about efforts on the right to exclude anyone who is not like them: If a gay person is included, I am excluded. If they marry, my marriage is less special. If a Black person is included, I am excluded. If minorities get to vote, my vote won’t count.
I know, that sounds ridiculous. But so do many positions the right has staked out. Who thought that a Bud Light promotion could do so much to explain today’s Republican Party? If you don’t look like me, don’t pray like me, don’t sound like me or don’t love like me, you are a problem for me. Sad.
Lew Larson
Sebastopol
BRAXTON BRAGG REPORT
Editor,
My eyes have seen the glory!
Every time I read about General Bragg and the Fort Bragg name change it compels me to pick up a pen. How about Viva 13 or Trienta. There were 13 colonies that started the "first" American Revolution and 13 states that allegedly started a second rebellion commonly known as the American Civil War. To my knowledge there has been no statue bashing (by imbecilic mobsters) or name changing concerning the Revolutionary war (not to mention the French and "Indian" war). But the imbeciles really went gonzo over the Civil War, screaming Racist about every other city and every white southern citizen and their uncle! Slavery ended in the United States in the 1860s, so why is it still a super "violent issue"?
I don't care about the answer, all I want to do is vote for Trump, Nikki Haley and the Huckabee governor gal or native home boy Leonard Peltier if he appears on the ballot again. But I have no clue if I can still vote and my one stuffed ballot isn't going to win the "selection."
What galls me is the last AVA reference to our heroic General Bragg. He helped tremendously free Texas from Mexico. That's why there's also a Fort Bragg, Texas. So how does some wannabe journalist state that the Confederate States of America (CSA) lost the Civil War due to General Bragg's blunders? To the contrary. Due to the genius of Braxton Bragg and his West Point classmate and fellow professor (at the Point) General Robert E. Lee, the Confederacy nearly won that war when those two great generals had Washington DC surrounded on three sides in 1863. The only Yankee escape route was through the Potomac and out to the Atlantic Ocean.
Unfortunately, the Confederate Navy was its weakness, except for the battleship Alabama (that my great-granddad sailed on). The Alabama was busy in the Pacific at that most vital time or our present-day flag would be the Stars and Bars! Viva La Revolution!
After basically "double handedly" annexing what? California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas into the United States, General's Bragg's and Lee's names are now subject to constant "statue bashing." Only in this nowadays America. A place where criminals like Faulder and Eyster can frame me and where Alvin "Bragg" can an attempt to frame President Donald Trump. Get real Alan. Trump has been fine tooth combed investigated for years before he was President, while he was president, and now. Why does Trump always come away clean? Because he's an honest (odd for a President) patriotic American who maybe has rocks in his head to even want that pinko job for four more years!
Yours Truly,
Detective David Youngcault Giusti, a Crow native considering a run for the House of Representatives on the Republican ticket!
California Men's Colony East
San Luis Obispo
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