Letters (December 26, 2023)

• Still Looking For Kathy LaMadrid
• The Sheriff & James Marmon Remember New Year’s Eve, 1999
• Fake Mental Health Services
• A Shoestring
• Dirty Local Politics
• Hoping For Dollars
• Viva John Brown!
• Sheriff’s December Report
• Life Vests
• Big Pay For Gouging Us
• The Blueprint For Belief
• Ukraine On The Chopping Block
• PD Runs Scared
• Mass Murder
• Suddenly, A Deficit
• Back At Ya, Marshall

STILL LOOKING FOR KATHY LAMADRID

To the Editor: 

My name is Shelli LaMadrid. I have been searching for ex-girlfriend Kathy LaMadrid since Dec 17, 2004. I am needing some answers from the public on her, still missing 19 years later. We are still asking for anyone who knows where Kathy’s remains can be found to call me directly so we can bring her home. Also something else that’s very important is a woodchipper that’s gone off a property on Pudding Creek Road . We want to find out if someone bought a woodchipper between the years of Oct 2013 — November 2014. If so I want them to call me direct at 707-969-7737. All tips will be kept confidential. We are still searching for her and have narrowed the area quite a bit with K9 searches over the years to just one area we are still looking at. 

Thank you so much. 

Shelli LaMadrid

Fort Bragg 

ED NOTE: At the time of her disappearance on December 17, 2004, Ms. LaMadrid was described as 5-8, 165 pounds, green eyes, blondish hair, with a tattoo of a “ring” in blue and red ink on her left ring finger. She was last seen crossing the Noyo Bridge in Fort Bragg. Besides contacting Shelli LaMadrid, interested parties can call the Fort Bragg sheriff’s substation at 707 961-2421. 

THE SHERIFF & JAMES MARMON REMEMBER NEW YEAR’S EVE, 1999

Sheriff Kendall:

I remember New Year’s Eve 1999, but not because it was noteworthy.

I was working the night shift. I was a young Sergeant. Sheriff Tony Craver had promoted me in May of that year. I had a full complement of deputies that evening and we set out loaded for bear fully expecting shenanigans would keep us busy. 

I was young, my eyes and ears still worked well and I wasn’t long out of Covelo; therefore I felt completely equipped to quell whatever issues may come.

I listened to Prince and the New Revolution singing “1999” in my patrol car and kept a close eye anticipating the circus that we normally see on New Year’s. Deputy Sheriffs often describe New Year’s Eve as “Amateur night in the grown up world.”

I was hoping the world wouldn’t end in the first year of my 30s however I was single with no children and generally had the feeling that if the far fetched predictions did come true, perhaps it would be an exciting battle trying to stop it. Also, when boredom sets in a little anarchy makes the shift go by faster. Quelling the anarchy seemed like a worthy endeavor in my younger years and, hell, that’s what we had prepared for.

We wound up at Taylor’s Tavern, Hopper’s Corner Saloon, the old Water Trough and a few other local honky tonks during the shift. Almost everyone who was out that night were in good spirits and mostly we wound up shaking hands and visiting with old friends out for the evening. Honestly, I was a little jealous I couldn’t celebrate with them. The shift turned out to be much quieter than expected. My recollection is, many folks were concerned the world could end, therefore many stayed home to watch it happening on their televisions.

The shift ended at 7 AM with nothing much more noteworthy than a standard Saturday Night in Mendocino County. We all went home no worse for wear. Perhaps a little relieved and a little disappointed at the same time.

That night doesn’t seem all that long ago, until I realize the changes in my views. I now realize the real wins in my profession are when complete and total boredom falls over our communities like a warm blanket on a cold night. When old men sit in the coffee shops with nothing of note to talk about except the weather and the high school sports teams. That is a good place to be and an indication something is going well.

My hope for New Year’s Eve evolved from that point to something completely different. I began to look forward to time spent with my family, trying to stay awake until midnight so I could watch the kids bang pots and pans in the pasture behind the house. The kids are all grown now and I find myself looking forward to the grandchildren making noise in the pasture.

I think I know why old soldiers check out and join the Peace Corps. It’s because they’ve earned it. With age comes wisdom.

* * *

James Marmon:

My on-call duty started a 5 o’clock on the 31st of December. Before my first call, I stopped at Safeway in Lakeport and witnessed the craziness. People were going nuts stocking up for the end of the world. I thought to myself, “this is going to be one messed up night.” Folks had their carts overflowing with supplies. Some had more than one cart. A good portion of the night was spent driving back and forth from Clearlake and Lakeport. Lake County Sheriff’s Office, Lakeport PD, and Clearlake PD kept me busy. I was the only crisis worker for the entire county. My response time varied anywhere from good to bad.

FAKE MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES

Editor,

The act of keeping something preserved in its original state or as close to it is a very useful technique for food preparation and historical or personal documents. Saving the innate qualities & flavor of food before it rots, making delicious jams, pickles and sauces. As for the historical documents, keeping them in tact allows us to reference past occurrences & incidents. A valuable look back at where we were, evaluating where we are now and what direction we are heading toward.

Our thought processes that are controlled through the brain can get stuck in a repetitive loop. An ongoing belief & dialogue that maintains our sense of identity and personal convictions. A tactic to preserve life & sustain our beliefs, regardless if they are wrong or ineffective. To sever that loop and form new neural connections and pathways we need a reflective entity. A mirror in human form to highlight the dark ineffective crevices. Bring light to what does not serve humanity, and one of the most influential ways I do that is through writing. So I write, I do it out of pain and suffering, to rid myself of it and expose what is true and meaningful. The Last thing we want to do is hold on to any hurt and conditioning because it is a thief of joy and seriously destructive.

I have unfortunately learned with a lot of anguish and heartache that systems such as our “Mental Health System” are an ineffective pretentious attempt to keep wrong thinking intact to preserve the fake infrastructure of services. One of the phenomenons around this aspect is continued narratives, i.e., no thinking required, just repeat what the guy in the blue suit said. And on and on it travels like Covid from one person to the next. Until everybody believes it, without any thought or action it continues and becomes a systemic identity that protects “them” while not serving families as required. The moral obligation does not exist as long as wrong thinking persists.

I was reminded again today of how incredibly difficult it is to be human in a world of false narratives and reiterations of delusional thinking. There is no place at the table for me, that is ok I knew that! I am solution-oriented; the system is not. It is self preserving and non negotiable.

A foul and ominous stench lingers, because we can not preserve what has already decayed. It has rotted from the inside out leaving only itself to gorge upon its very own existence.

Does anyone else wonder about the $700,000 dollars of Mental Health Services Act funds given to the Non-Profit National Association for the Mentall Ill (NAMI)

Where are they ? What are they doing?

I am dying to know!

Mazie Malone

Ukiah

PS. Homeless for the Holidays… 

I ran into Jake Kooy this morning, walking my dog, Happy. 

I noticed him up ahead of me talking to someone in a car who handed him some cash and drove away. His pants were falling down, too big and baggy, he was carrying his tennis shoes, thankfully he did have socks on. I spent about 10 minutes speaking to him, it was that long because he has extremely slow thought processing. I encouraged him to put the 5 bucks in his pocket and put his shoes on. What would take any one of us a matter of seconds, took him multiple minutes to accomplish. He needs so much help, it’s very sad. I was going to take a photo with him; however unfortunately he smells so bad, I refrained. 

My point is we can argue all day long about the philosophical question of what came first, the chicken or the egg, it does not provide the solution. Mental Illness, addiction, homelessness are all tied together; it is useless to blame one or the other when the solutions for each are the same. Action, Housing, Treatment, Medication and support! Now all I can think about is how police must hate arresting him because of the smell and what do they do to disinfect the squad car after transporting him to jail? And then the image of throwing him naked in a shower and hosing him down with cold water, must be frightening to a guy with very bad mental comprehension. That's my vivid imagination running wild, I hope it’s not actually what happens in lockup. Maybe I watched too many jail flicks when I was young, remember, ‘Bad Boys,’ with Sean Penn? I loved that movie!! 

A SHOESTRING

Editor,

Marco here. Re: Marty Durlin's letter titled ‘Inside KZYX’: “On a shoestring budget, KZYX operates...”

That shoestring budget includes paying Marty Durlin $60,000 a year plus full medical, dental, and vision. Just the money she sucks out of KZYX for herself in three months would fully fund every aspect of KNYO for a year, you know, speaking of shoelaces. Just two people in the management suite of KZYX, Marty and the next one in line, personally swallow every penny of all KZYX membership dues. 2000 members at $50 each is $100,000. Last time I checked, the station was burning through $600,000 a year, provided by a six-figure government grant and large, controlling donations from rich people whose class and stripe and financial interests you will consequently never hear a discouraging word about. And then there are underwriters.

About the underwriting. On the KZYX underwriting info page, three points are stressed to potential underwriters:

1. Eighty percent of public radio listeners say they have a positive impression of a company that supports public radio. 2. Seventy percent of listeners say that underwriting messages have a positive impact on purchase decisions. 3. Eighty-six percent of listeners considered NPR personally important to them./

Underwriters are encouraged to buy time for their message on the air expecting a return in brand attraction and sales. How is that not advertising? And when programming decisions, like the decision to soak the broadcast day with NPR shows, are made with potential underwriting money in mind, how is that different from commercial radio, that similarly plays what pays.

The reason the low end of the FM dial was set aside for noncommercial radio was so radio could be done by people not concerned with whether it made money or not. Radio is only expensive to do when the folks who run the station like money. And who doesn't like money? So the expense of acquiring the plant and the license naturally ratchets to absurd heights, pricing everyone not mainly concerned with money entirely out of having a reasonably high-power radio station. So real noncommercial radio needs those specially allocated slots, and can do fine there, because doing radio is cheap. Transmitters last decades without maintenance; they're as reliable as a refrigerator. Once you've got the transmitter and you've got permission to plug it in and switch it on, your main expense of broadcasting is electricity. If the transmitter uses 4,000 watts, and electricity is 40c per kWh, which it is now, that's $1.60 an hour. That's two medium-size bites off the end of a burrito. A decent mixing board can be had used for just a few hundred dollars. Computers and microphones are practically free anymore. Internet access for phones and web is $100 a month, say $200 a month with all the bells and whistles. You get better equipment for more money, but you can't hear the difference.

The people who make KZYX's shows from distant places (for NPR and etc.) are often paid bogglingly well. Ira Glass, for example, just pre-Covid got divorced and sold his million-dollar apartment in New York. It's the local Mendocino County airpeople on KZYX who are not paid for their shows, though they're the ones who do all the actual work the radio station is there for in the first place, and also they have to periodically beg for money, “to keep the great shows on the air,” as they used to put it, money that instead, see above, goes to a handful of people in the office. All of KZYX's transmitters and studio-to-transmitter links and all the studio lights and computers and microwave popcorn ovens comes to well less than $20,000 per year in electricity. So if the folks in the management suite, including the CEO, the bookkeeper, the microphone-cable mender guy, the underwriting salesperson, the program director and the newslady, are getting a total among them of, say, $200,000, and rent on the various places, and the tower fees, and replacement lightbulbs, and Henry's roof patch and a shingle every once in awhile, and so on, come to another $50,000 a year, that all adds up to less than $300,000. But it's $600,000, isn't it? Where's the extra $300,000 going? That's three million dollars every ten years. That's a mystery. Unless my math is way off, KZYX is /swimming/ in mystery money. And if it isn't, where did it vanish to?

The main item on the job desciption for a CEO for KZYX has always been: the candidate must be able and committed to raise money. Hence the periodic pep talk and poor-mouthing from the CEO. And yet the first job of the manager of any business, for-profit or nonprofit, bar or gas station or pet grooming salon or grammar school, is to see that the workers are paid before she pays herself. No manager at KZYX has ever done that, despite all the copious available money. I'd start with a $1000-a-year stipend for regular weekly airpeople, which is only $20 per show, but it would be a step. If the airperson is independently wealthy and $1000 for him is a bottle of fancy alcohol and a Japanese beefburger with gold flakes in the pickles, and he doesn't need it, he can tear up the check. People who need it can get a fresh set of tires and a year's worth of car insurance, or pay rent for January, or have a few teeth fixed right instead of having to keep gluing the caps back on in the bathroom mirror.

I was at KMFB for almost 15 years. That was a commercial station, that didn't get government grants to keep going, and had plenty of expenses a noncommercial station doesn't have, and was in a depressed radio market, and the string of owners always took their profit, and manager Bob Woelfel every once in awhile could not pay himself. Yet he paid us every time, both for our airtime and a cut of the advertising money our shows brought in. And he didn't dick around with our shows. Everyone at KMFB had more leeway and freedom than anyone at any NPR station I have ever heard of has ever had. That's my model for managerial integrity. Bob Young at KNYO, same thing. I don't mind not being paid at KNYO, because nobody is being paid. Bob manages the station so there'll be a station to do his show on. To paraphrase Kurt Vonnegut, Marty Durlin could volunteer to manage KZYX, like the airpeople volunteer, but she doesn't have to if she doesn't want to, and I guess she doesn't want to, so.

With some of poor shoestring KZYX' mystery riches lately MCPB has bought prime real estate in downtown Ukiah with existing suitable buildings intact and ready to paint. When they move the office in, meaning some final paperwork, a dish antenna on a mast on the roof, a new studio-to-transmitter box, and a lazy afternoon plugging in the mixing board, phone and internet connections, a couple of microphones and a wingback chair, that'll be nice, but what will change on the air, where it counts? Will shows finally be allowed on KZYX that push the envelope out a little farther than chortling about sports or playing genre music and reading the liner notes in a genially stoned drawl or Terry Gross interviewing the granddaughter of the inventor of the windshield wiper, besides Ralph Nader at 5am Saturday morning? Will anything change at all? I'm aware I'm harping on the pay issue, but if the local shows are valuable (I say even the most banal of them is) and radio work is worth being paid for, then pay the airpeople. If you value them, Marty, pay them. Not paying them is not valuing them; it's slapping them in the face. Of /course/ it's nice to be on the air and it feels good to have a show, and it's a rare opportunity in the world, and that softens the blow somewhat. That's no excuse. You can pay them, so pay them. If I were in your shoes, and if there was any hint of the station being embarrassed for funds, I'd take a substantial pay cut and pay them some more. I'd pay the token LGBT talk-show people a lot more. They clearly take the responsibility seriously. It's the best show you've got. That is a driveway show, called that because you get where you're going and sit in the car to hear the rest of it. Their work, and all the other local airpeople's work, brings in all that money that you pay yourself with. So pay them.

To compare, KNYO will be moving into another building soon, too, as its main studio and performance space of ten happy years of very fair rent, downtown in the city it serves, is being sold, which was expected, and no hard feelings. KNYO had some trouble this year; the tower-tree blew down in a storm, money was raised and that was dealt with, and there's money left over, saved, toward moving the tower and transmitter to a much better place early this coming year. All the problems, obligations, technical considerations, paperwork, and real expenses of KNYO are remarkably similar to KZYX's. And KNYO is constantly changing and adapting and continues to provide a platform for people to do radio from wherever they are, with cheap personal studios all over the county, including welcoming problematical people like me, and that's saying something. The difference comes from, I think, the level of money corruption. KZYX, $600,000 (one year it was $750,000!). KNYO, $15,000. /KNYO, at least forty times less corrupt./ That's a good slogan. I'll have to write that down.

Oh, also the difference is, KNYO's broadcast radius is limited by law to just a few miles. KZYX's signal can blanket the entire country 24 hours a day with a sometimes hourly pitch for ever more money, beyond the CPB grant that they get because they can blanket the county. Does that seem fair to you?

Shoestring, tch.

Marco McClean

Fort Bragg

DIRTY LOCAL POLITICS

Dear Editor,

As the final 90 days before the election is upon us, campaign signs are going up. I find it interesting that my signs are disappearing. Is someone that threatened that they feel the need to remove mine? 

Carrie Shattuck

Redwood Valley

votecarrie2024.com

HOPING FOR DOLLARS

To the Advertising Department of National Geographic,

This letter concerns your November 2023 issue, specifically page 5 marked: “HOPE.”

About a week ago, CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell presented an in-depth report on the MARS Corporation. According to the report, Mars had a $45 billion dollar profit last year. They use children to pick the cocoa pods, children who should be in school instead. When Mars was confronted with this child labor atrocity, they sent backpacks with paper and pencils inside and said they were encouraging children to go to school. But they never enforced those feelings.

The children are still working and Mars is raking in the profits of their unethical business practices. Your ad provides Mars with the pretext that they are doing good in the world.

And about Sheba, an affiliate of Mars… Science does not exist unless it can provide someone/something with a profit. In this case, yeah! We’ll create coral reefs to help the fish, and then take those fish and put them into a can for cats.

I encourage National Geographic’s advertising department to look more closely at those companies that want to advertise in National Geographic and obtain respectability despite their dishonorable activities.

I hope I receive a response to my concerns.

Thank you,

Louise Mariana

Mendocino

VIVA JOHN BROWN!

Editor:

Your squib about the Du Bois book on John Brown reminded me that we recently finished a very funny and sad fictional novel about Brown of whom we knew hardly anything. The Good Lord Bird, by James McBride gives a great sense of the man himself; his insanity/passion and humanity.

It's set just prior to the Civil War and although we knew his end, it's still very painful. But McBride sees the world with compassionate humor and has a great sense of the black patois (he's half black himself).

What is so disturbing is that it takes place more than 150 years ago yet we seem to be fighting many of the same battles now.

Another we would recommend is Deborah Johnson's The Secret of Magic. She too uses historical characters, Thurgood Marshal in this case, in a fictional but representative story. We do go through books which we read out loud to each other each evening, two at a time, one in front of the fire the other in bed.

We hope you have a wonderful holiday season and that you keep up your hikes and pushups so we can continue to read your highly entertaining (tooth grinding at times!) newspaper.

Yours, Ms. A

ED NOTE: I'll always remember his grace before he was hanged. They had trouble with the rope and the scaffolding, but JB didn't flinch, chatting amiably with his executioners for a couple of hours while adjustments were made.

SHERIFF’S DECEMBER REPORT

Editor,

Here we are in December and this is the time of year we receive updates regarding legislation as well as predictions on new laws which will be effecting us in California as well as the United States. 

Sadly we are seeing crime continue while more legislation is handed down which seems to miss the focus of public safety.

Each year at the end of the fiscal year cycle, the Attorney General releases the annual crime report for our state. If the report is good news, it is often released with a large press release with many government leaders enjoying accolades for a job well done. 

When the news is less than favorable, it will often be released on a Friday afternoon with minimal media coverage. This year the Department of Justice quietly, released its annual report on crime. This report was released the Friday preceding the 4th of July weekend. This report revealed violence and property crimes spiked in 2022.

For every action there is a reaction. When fire danger is at an all-time high, we ask our residents to prepare their homes have defendable space and take steps in home hardening. This allows our first responders and fire service partners better odds of saving lives and homes. This is simply common sense and it is truly a “help us help you” tactic. 

When crime spikes we see we need to see our residents take the same approach and work hard to remain diligent in protection of themselves and their property. This is simply the way things have to work. I want to encourage all of our residents to help us help you and be prepared. The massive increase in drug related incidents has also lead to large increases in property crimes and crimes against persons.

Thefts from mail boxes and thefts of packages from front porches are always an issue around the holidays. Please get your mail every day. If you have a rural mail box please install a locking mail box this helps deter mail thieves who are looking for the easiest targets. When shopping please don’t leave large amounts of merchandise in your vehicles. That type of activity will make your vehicle a target. 

Remember the items you purchase are never worth your life or the life of another person. Last week we saw the Oakland 7-Eleven security guard who was shot and killed while trying to stop someone from stealing from the store. This is truly a concerning time and I remain hopeful things will change.

Having Security systems and cameras has been very helpful in solving crimes in Mendocino County. 

Please stay connected with your family friends and neighbors. Being good neighbors and looking out for our fellow residents will never go out of style. Lets all work hard to support each other and keep each other safe. 

Thank you

Sheriff Matt Kendall

LIFE VESTS

Editor,

Have I ever mentioned to you and your readers that one day I was so very pissed off I wore a life jacket to town to protest the never ending construction insanity we have to endure. But hey, today on my walk across town what did I find? A life jacket, a child’s of course. So sometimes paths of the past come again to remind us that BS has got to go. Lol. 

I hope your day is filled with monster drinks and sprinkles donuts. 

Sincerely yours, 

Greg Crawford 

Fort Bragg

BIG PAY FOR GOUGING US

Editor: 

John S. Moore wrote that PG&E’s senior management is “overcompensated.” That may be the understatement of the year. Look it up on Google: PG&E’s top nine executives are paid salaries and compensations between $1.5 million and $14 million a year. Nine multimillionaires. And how many hundreds and hundreds of millions has PG&E paid over the decades to their army of lawyers to fight every piece of legislation or court order that compels them to upgrade or repair equipment? How much has been spent to fight lawsuits while payouts to victims are withheld? And they can face the public with a straight face and announce another rate increase, this time 13%? The temerity and lack of conscience is mind-boggling. Where is the outrage? Instead, the California Public Utilities Commission gives a wink and a nod, and PG&E continues to gouge consumers while the execs live the high life.

Steve O’Rourke

Santa Rosa

THE BLUEPRINT FOR BELIEF

Editor,

I've come to understand why religion sees science as an existential threat. Consider that science mimics the blueprint for a religion in almost every way: 

The FAITH. Every religion must have magical elements that appear impossible to anyone outside the religion, but are firmly believed true by the adherents of-the religion. So an adherent must substitute belief — called truth — in lieu of actual factual reality. It is important for non-believers to to understand that from the perspective of a believer facts change frequently. Beliefs don't. 

The BOOK. There must be a book (except in illiterate societies — there is no book in Voodoo, in American Indian religions, etc.). The Torah, the Koran, the Bible, the Bahagavad gita, the Analects of Confucious, the Book of Mormon, the Tibetan Book of the Dead, etc. 

The LANGUAGE. The religion and its book must use a language that nobody speaks in regular life. Usually it is an archaic (Latin, Pali) or AN incomprehensible version of the current or former language spoken in the religion's source area. 

The INTERPRETER. Someone conveys the teachings from on high to the common people who aren't equipped to fully understand the Mysteries of the religion. 

The ICONIC PERSONAGES. Saints, seers, divine or semi-devine. Abraham, Mohammad, Jesus, Budda, Joseph Smith, and also lesser, but still exalted, beings like Ali, Saint Paul, King David, Joshu, etc. 

The STORY. How it came to be, always a miraculous birth, maybe a long search, a vision, a revelation, an encounter, a struggle, persecution, ultimate triumph. Every religion has the tale of its existence. 

The BUREAUCRATS. Someone has to instruct the young, keep the buildings in repair, proselytize the faith, have incense burning, the money collected, the teachings taught, the customs observed. The priests, rabbis, pastors, gurus, monks, teachers. 

So here is science: 

The FAITH. The Big Bang. Anti-matter. Multiple universes. Light-years. Quantum Mechanics. Recombinent DNA. Evolution. Climate Change. Artificial Intelligence. 

The BOOKS. So many in this highly literate era— on physics (written in math) , on biology (der. Latin), on chemistry (der. Greek, Latin). 

All written in a LANGUAGE that nobody speaks in regular life. 1 GHz A20/T2 dual-core processor, ardea herodias, salmeterol xinafoate. 

Someone must INTERPRET the faith, its books and its language so science has its Issac Asimov, Carl Sagan, Stephen Hawking, etc. 

The ICONIC PERSONS like Einstein, Newton, Galileo, and Darwin. 

The STORY of the rise of scientific thought, of the experimental methodology to determine fact, of the rejections, the objections, the persecutions, the wrong guesses, but the ultimate triumph of the FAITH. 

And finally, the universities, the laboratories, the technicians, the grant writers, the engineers, the venture capitalists— the whole machinery and BUREAUCRACY of science in action and in daily life. What to believe about cholesterol, climate change, genetics, bacteria, the far future, the deep past? And so I believe, no better informed than a peasant in 15th Century Italy or a metalsmith in Shang China. I have faith that what some confident scientist is telling me about the reality that I live in is true. That the language that I try to read in Scientific American has meaning. That Stephen Hawking actually understands what he is translating for me and has figured out how to present it to me in a way that is useful for my life. How else to try to make sense of the situation I find myself in? 

I am awed by their shiny huge machines which can see the past from mountain tops and the complex mazes of symbols on blackboards, and the atom smashers and the test tubes and the scholars and seekers bent before screens making measurements and calculations; like a tribesman come out of the desert to Thebes, I see it all and believe in its power and glory without understanding very much about it at all. 

Michael Nolan

Comptche

PS. (I wish this was mine, but I just copied it.) “A friend of mine has two tickets for Super Bowl LVI on February 13th, in Los Angeles. Both are Box seats. He paid $2500 each but he didn't realize last year when he bought them, it was going to be on the same day as his wedding. If you're interested, he's looking for someone to take his place. It's at the Church of the Good Shepard, at 3pm. The bride's name is Mary, she's 5'5", about 120Ibs, very cute, and a good cook too. She'll be the one in the white dress.”

UKRAINE ON THE CHOPPING BLOCK

Dear Editor,

Republicans in the House are bringing on a Europe-wide war the US would have to fight. Putin is cheering as the right wing prevents funding for Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan, other friendly Asian states and a new southern border policy.

What is happening is unbelieveably stupid. Congress may leave the capital with its job undone. So far, the US has only spent defense money for Ukrainian defense here; employing American workers building weapons of war. A tiny amount compared to our total defense budget. Pres. Zelensky warned today: if the US retracts its aid, Ukaine may fall soon.

Putin will rejoice; attack another country in Europe. NATO will have to act and US boots will be sent to aid our allies.

Frank H. Baumgardner, III

Santa Rosa

PD RUNS SCARED 

Editor: 

As a loyal subscriber to The Press Democrat, I’m troubled by the lack of reporting on local protests in support of a cease-fire in Gaza. Aside from coverage of the first protest in Old Courthouse Square in October, the paper has remained suspiciously silent on the growing local cease-fire and Palestinian solidarity movement. This movement includes Jewish and Palestinian voices. It is peaceful and focused on human rights. It is not antisemitic.

Every Sunday, Jewish, Palestinian and other peace protesters gather in Old Courthouse Square. Nothing is reported in the paper. In November, protesters gathered at Rep. Jared Huffman’s office in Petaluma and marched downtown. Nothing was reported. On Black Friday, entire families marched in Santa Rosa Plaza to raise awareness. A reporter was there. Nothing was reported. On Dec. 3, a car caravan in support of the Palestinian people traveled from Franklin Park to Old Courthouse Square. Again, nothing was reported.

Everywhere, voices calling for a cease-fire and a just political solution for Palestinians are being ignored, censored and punished, while thousands are dying in Gaza. These are scary times for anyone who cares about human rights and free speech. Press Democrat, please do better.

Nini Kroll

Santa Rosa

MASS MURDER

Editor: 

I think any country that deliberately kills civilians in a war should be condemned by the rest of the world and pressured to stop. Taking sides is pointless.

Karen Cooper

Hilo, Hawaii

SUDDENLY, A DEFICIT

Editor: 

California’s $68 billion shortfall reminds me of an observation often attributed to the late Sen. Everett Dirksen: “A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking real money.” It’s no surprise how we got here. An irresponsible Legislature showers our taxes on innumerable boondoggles, and an irresponsible governor signs the bills. One example is paying reparations called equity grants to people who broke the law by growing marijuana when it was still illegal. A responsible state government would claw back such funds before the checks are issued, but a fool and his money are soon parted.

Craig S. Harrison

Santa Rosa

BACK AT YA, MARSHALL

Response to Marshall Newman from Dec.13

Editor,

Marshall Newman began his reply to my pointed critique of his comments in the December 6 AVA regarding Israel’s ongoing war on the Palestinian inhabitants of Gaza and its intentional destruction of every building required for their existence, from homes to hospitals, saying, “Lots of semantics” in my response, and accusing me of “name calling, versus a discussion of our differing opinions…”

Since it appears he and I don’t speak the same language, I turned to Google for an update on the meaning of semantics and its response confirmed my understanding of the term:

"'It's just semantics' is a common retort people use when arguing their point. What they mean is that their argument or opinion is more valid than the other person's. It's a way to be dismissive of language itself as carrier for ideas.”

Clearly, that’s what Newman meant, beginning with my suggestion that he was a “sayan” for Israel, a unique word, existing only in Hebrew and only since Israel became a state, that assumes that every Jew not living in Israel can be called upon to do any service for Israel that would be less effective or even illegal if done by an official of Israel. I would suggest that Newman’s correspondence with the AVA defending Israel’s unprecedented criminal actions, condemned by the entire world, with the exception of the US and Israel, is prima facie evidence that he is indeed doing the work of a sayan (which is invariably done out of allegiance to Israel and has no financial rewards).

To emphasize my point I would challenge him or anyone else to find a letter or letters in the American media from any non-Jewish US citizen defending the actions of any country, other than Israel, to which they have or believe they have family connections. So much for the issue of “name calling.”

I have some years behind me as a journalist, particularly on this issue, and am more interested in facts, including those observed from my own experiences in the Middle East, than opinions from those who respect neither. And as for using semantics, what does it tell us about Newman when he sums up as “antagonism,” the ethnic cleansing of Palestine by European Jews 75 years ago and the continuing expropriation of Palestinian land and, in the case of Gaza, whose inhabitants have been confined in what has been widely described as both “the world’s largest prison” and “the world’s largest concentration camp?” When the overall relationship between Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs has been depicted by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, the world’s most respected human rights organizations, as one of apartheid, which Israeli critics of their own racist society were saying in the Israeli press and to me when I was first in Israel in 1983.

In the fall of that year, I interviewed a number of Israeli reservists who either had been part of Israel’s 80,000 man invasion of Lebanon a year earlier or had refused to go to that war in the first place and who had formed an organization, Yesh G’vul, (“There is a border” and “there is a line” in Hebrew) opposing the war which eventually drew 2600 members, a number of whom were sentenced to short terms in prison. The former described in moving detail the Israeli army’s shelling for hours of Palestinian refugee camps on the outskirts of Beirut and of Beirut itself in terms that could have been applied to what the IDF has been doing in Gaza since the first week of October, only the latter has been far, far worse.

It should be pointed out that is only due to the power of the Israel Lobby (Let’s call it the Sayanim Establishment) that the Biden White House, the House and Senate, and both US political parties are eagerly and unapologetically continuing to resupply the weapons for Israel’s killing fields. I suspect the world will not soon forget that.

The Gazans will probably not be the last victims of the same criminal state that forced the Palestinians into Lebanon in 1948 — that’s the connection, Mr. Newman — it’s happening in a different manner at a different pace at this moment in the West Bank.

What is required but sadly, unlikely, is that the countries of the world unite to punish Israel’s unapologetic sadism with sanctions so devastating that its Jewish citizens, individually and collectively, in increasing numbers, will choose to abandon the land that wasn’t theirs for grassier fields. When they find themselves unwelcome wherever they travel abroad, as they surely will, their eventual goal may be the United States, which, as noted above, is already under their control. Some might say, it is what, with our silence all these years of funding Israel's crimes and silencing its critics, what we deserve.

Jeff Blankfort 

Ukiah