- Update On Jim Shields, Publisher & Editor Of Laytonville’s Mendocino Observer
- Anica Williams Steps Down
- It Is So
- Walking Away
- Executive Inaction; Executive Inaccuracies
- When Sweetness Fades
- Prop 1 Could Help
- Three Awkward Truths
- Stronger Because…
- Maga Helps Putin In Ukraine
- Reason Vs Emotions
- Sunny Disposition
- Opposed To Negative Campaigning
- Circling The Drain
CORRECTION: Of course, Alan Crow writing from Vacaville prison in last week’s paper DID NOT SAY “kill her,” in his letter about Kelli Johnson’s arrest. He said, “Nonetheless, good luck to her. May she find some peace.” The Major apologizes for the unfortunate and embarrassing transcription error.
UPDATE ON JIM SHIELDS, PUBLISHER & EDITOR OF LAYTONVILLE’S MENDOCINO OBSERVER
Editor,
On behalf of our family, I would like to thank all of our friends, family, acquaintances, readers, fans and community members for the outpouring of love and kindness and check-ins about my dad, Jim Shields.
As many of you know, my dad was recently hospitalized due to a serious lung infection that required drainage at St. Helena hospital in the beautiful Napa Valley. Post-procedure, he is doing well, although the recovery is much slower than any of us anticipated. We wanted to let you know if you have reached out directly to him via phone, text or email, he is receiving your correspondence (and reads/listens to it all!) but is unable to respond at this time. Simply because the guy is wiped out!
He wants everyone to know he appreciates your messages, well-wishes and support and says “thank you!” In the meantime, my husband Rolo and I are taking on some additional duties to help while he recovers. If you have any urgent messages or matters that need attending to, please reach out to me. I can be reached at (707) 984-6223 or jayma@laytonville.org
If you have any items for the Observer, please also send my way. We appreciate all the caring and kind staff who helped facilitate care for my dad, from the great ER team at Howard Memorial Hospital in Willits, to the support and advice we received from Doctor Gary and Nurse Cindy to the amazing team at St. Helena, we got lucky to have you all in our circle.
Living in a small town proves to be wonderful at times like these and for that, we are grateful for your love and kindness. Thank you!
Jayma Shields Spence
Laytonville
ANICA WILLIAMS STEPS DOWN
Hello all -
I am sad to report that I am stepping down as the AV Village Coordinator - I have decided to go back to working at CA State Parks as an educator. I have really enjoyed meeting all the wonderful Valley folks and seeing all the great things you are doing here! I know the board will select a great person and things will run smoothly with new energy and insight!
Please help spread the news about the job opening: We are hiring a new Anderson Valley Village Coordinator! The coordinator job is great with a wonderful group of people (board members, members, volunteers, etc)!
Deadline for applications is Thursday, March 28, 2024. For more information and the application go to our website - it's on the Homepage: https://www.andersonvalleyvillage.org/
Job Opening: Anderson Valley Village Coordinator 8-10 Hours per week: pay range $22.-$25.00 DOE
The Anderson Valley Village is looking for new Coordinator.
We are looking for someone who:
1. Is passionate about and skilled in building community
2. Has strong interpersonal skills with all age groups including volunteers
3. Has the ability to solve problems creatively
4. Demonstrates proficiency in digital communications and database skills
Application and full job description are available on the Homepage of our website:
www.andersonvalleyvillage.org
Anica Williams
Elk
IT IS SO
Editor,
Say it ain't so.
Had to happen and you hung in longer than any sane editor/publisher would dare, but it still smarts to know the paper of record in my small world will be no more. Wipe the ink from your fingers, toss your green visor to the wind, lift a glass and blink teary-eyed congratulations all around the press room.
Good job, Bruce and Major Mark. Had you been lucky and had careers in the 1920s and ‘30s all your kids would have the middle name Pulitzer.
Glory days!
Tom Hine
Ukiah
WALKING AWAY
Editor,
My March 6 AVA arrived today and I read the news about suspension of publication. As I've subscribed for what must be over 30 years, it's been one hell of a run, one that I'll look forward to until the end of April. To borrow an often used term: Thank You for your service!
I"m already an online subscriber which has many positive points, but there's still something about a newspaper between my fingers. That might explain why I still receive a hard copy of the Sunday New York Times, although the quality and quantity has gone down over time and I read most of the general and political news online anyway.
Long ago, my Wife Gayle was a reporter and editor for the old Contra Costa Times under Dean Lesher and except for some old newsroom friends, that world is complete gone, except for maybe a very modest pension check.
Hopefully, you'll run a special last issue and maybe later a “best of” book. Or you do a Life Magazine thing and publish something now and then. But at 84, maybe walking completely away might be a better idea.
I also think you or one of your friends should host a goodbye event: happy hour, hike, an evening reading, etc. It's a bit of a schlep from Genoa, Nevada to Booneville, but I might make the trip. I think you wrote that you're 84 and yes we all grow old. I'd still like to meet the Man, the Legend as a bucket list item.
Best Wishes and to Better Health!
Gratefully –
Eric Brink
Genoa, Nevada
EXECUTIVE INACTION; EXECUTIVE INACCURACIES
Editor,
Recently I wrote about the excessive time and energy it takes to get records from Mendocino County (“Transparency or Secrecy,” AVA, March 6, 2024).
I called County Counsel again on Thursday about my unfilled request for the Executive Office positions and salaries for 2023-24, as well as the $25,000 Health Benefit, listed for one employee, that was on the report for 2022-23 version that I received December 7, 2023.
I was informed that the 2022-23 report that was provided previously in my records request is “inaccurate.”
And a new report for 2022-23 was uploaded in the Nextrequest (Records Request) system as well as the 2023-24 one.
“Inaccurate”? I proceeded to question how the County could give me records three months ago that were not accurate and now being called such, since I've been pushing the issue of obtaining a explanation about the $25,000 Health Benefit on this report. Seems fishy.
The new report is an Excel spreadsheet, with no dates and no details, such as overtime, etc. Whereas the “inaccurate” looks like it was produced by the actual accounting software versus a spreadsheet I could make myself. Also, the 2023-24 report has been delayed for months as I was told:
“The report that had been used to create the list, for prior years, cannot be used to create that list for the current year. Once fiscal year 2022-23 completes the closing process in our ERP system, Munis, we can run that report to get you the current information.”
Yet Thursday I received this information in a spreadsheet, which was not produced by Munis and was told the 2022-23 year was closed a month ago. A month ago? Why then is my request just being completed today, conveniently when I am calling yet again to complain?
I spent 10 minutes going back and forth with Deputy County Counsel Matthew Keidrowski about how badly this reflects on a County that is supposed to be transparent and give accurate information to the public. This seriously calls into question the records I've previously received. Are those inaccurate as well? How can they expect me to believe the accuracy of what I am receiving today when the CEO's salary goes from $184,615.51 in the initial 2022-23 report to $230,646.22 in the new report to $143,796.22 in the 2023-24 report.
Seriously, I may be blonde but I am not stupid. I ended the conversation by requesting that interim County Counsel Ross please call me.
I received a return phone call from Mr. Ross and related my frustration of the now “inaccurate” report, Excel spreadsheets and the continued evasion of explanation of the $25,000 Health Benefit for an employee. Mr. Ross stated how he hasn't been here very long and is catching up to what is happening and was not up to date as to the requests I have open. We proceeded to go back and forth about how absurd this explanation is. I had to explain over and over exactly what I am requesting. I asked him to please read the actual request for clarification. I was also told that it “could be” a privacy issue as to why I haven't gotten an explanation about the Health Benefit. I requested that this please be related in my records request then. Also, I asked that he please talk to Deputy County Counsel Keidrowski, as these delays in my requests have been happening for over three years.
This whole fiasco screams of secrecy and corruption. And yet the Executive Office is running the Auditor/Controller/Treasurer/Tax Collector's office which has no independent oversight whatsoever of the County coffers since Ms. Cubbison was removed from her office that we voted her into. Us taxpayers are being deprived of our vote. Sounds pretty familiar with the election dysfunction currently taking place.
As I asked the Board of Supervisors recently, “Who's leading this train wreck?”
Carrie Shattuck
Ukiah
WHEN SWEETNESS FADES
To: Philip Zwerling,
“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.”
Your Shakespeare quote has lost its sweetness. Anyone who has smelled a rose lately knows that the sweetness has been bred out of them. I haven’t smelled a sweet rose since my grandmother’s rose bush.
Maybe you could be designated Offensive History Monitor and given a great big eraser. You could go back in history and erase anything that offends you. You must be very careful though. You might accidentally erase yourself.
Ernie Branscomb
Willits
PROP 1 COULD HELP
Editor,
Proposition 1. Could do great good! I say could because it probably won’t. Talk is cheap and politicians are so often full of bullshit. The truth is there is no doubt we need treatment beds, and to get people the help they need for homelessness, addiction and mental illness. And some people are completely in need of mandatory forced treatment, Jake Kooy and Jahlan Travis both would benefit, our families and community could thrive. We must stop believing that allowing mentally ill people to suffer homelessness, addiction & hunger is freedom! Is it freedom to allow your demented grandma to drive to the store, take her pills or even go for a walk outside? No!!! It is Dangerous!!! We offer care and supervision at a high cost for our high risk cognitively impaired sweet and salty old folks to protect them from the dangers of neurocognitive decline ! The freedom to choose is not a choice when your brain is playing tricks on you and you are completely unaware of reality. We have to step in and prevent the danger and help people get a handle on their condition! For the last 50 years we have witnessed the increase in these issues with no real help, psych institutions were closed and communities became responsible for directing and providing help to this population of people. But what happened LE became in charge.! Those advocacy groups against prop 1 are not taking into account the serious issues of those who literally cannot help themselves! They make the assumption we are all the same and should be treated as such! That everyone has a well functioning brain and can make rational choices. However the truth is without the proper intervention and support structure it will not matter! It can take months even years to get to a stable place. It takes one moment one action one instant of proper intervention to change a persons trajectory. We do it for our elders for our kids for our animals, just not for those in most desperate need!
Mazie Malone
Ukiah
THREE AWKWARD TRUTHS
Editor,
1. Jack Speer, the guy with the speech impediment who reads the news squibs for NPR, is perhaps suffering from the early stages of idioglossia or drinks too much muscatel.
2. The spork. There has been an uneasy silence for generations about the fact that the “fork” part doesn't work.
3. Gaza. The number of Palestinian civilians killed by the Israel military, 30,000, is steadily approaching the death toll of British civilians killed by the Nazis during Blitz. Ordinarily, those who run Israel and those who support them get touchy whenver their barbarisms are compared with those of the Nazis.
Malgré tout.
Volt-Voort
Rome, New York
STRONGER BECAUSE…
Editor:
It’s time to cut through the noise and tell the truth about immigration: Our economy and community is stronger because of it. Some leaders would have us think it’s a zero-sum game when our country takes in immigrants, but that’s not true at all.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates the U.S. economy will grow by an extra $7 trillion over the next 10 years thanks to immigrants. But we don’t have to wait for the future to see how immigrants are strengthening the economy. In 2021, immigrants paid $524.7 billion in taxes. That’s money that helps fuel our nation’s K-12 schools, Medicaid and Social Security. Immigrants help support our communities as consumers and taxpayers.
Don’t believe it? Even Donald Trump’s appointed Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell, recognized the massive contributions immigrants make in a recent national interview, saying, “A big part of the story of the labor market coming back into better balance is immigration returning to levels that were more typical of the pre-pandemic era.”
So let’s give credit where credit is due, stop the anti-immigrant rhetoric and end the zero-sum mindset. Immigration truly is essential for our economic growth and our communities’ prosperity.
Laura Elizares
Kelseyville
MAGA HELPS PUTIN IN UKRAINE
Dear Editor,
In all likelihood once Russia has forced the surrender of Ukraine, due in part to MAGA Republicans' opposition in Congress, Vladimir Putin and his henchmen in the Russian military will invade another less powerful European country. If that nation happens to be a NATO member, and a signatory to Article 5, the US will be brought in to the war.
American military members will become involved and shall be sent to defend whichever nation Russia has invaded. This is why these Republicans must stop playing this dangerous game of Russian roulette and approve the president’s full military aid request for Ukraine immediately. Our NATO allies have already contributed $50 billion to Ukraine.
Frank H. Baumgardner, III
Santa Rosa
REASON VS EMOTIONS
Editor,
Our brains have two huge lobes, two hemispheres capable of conjuring ideas and developing them into realities. Our ability to formulate thoughts can accomplish astonishing benefits or cause incredible harm. Unfortunately, the interpretive portion of our brain is underdeveloped.
These talents can accomplish astonishing benefits or incredible harm. Unfortunately, only a tiny portion of our brain governs our conscience. Plato once said, “There is a difference between how we perceive things and how they are;” As Western culture emerged from the Dark Ages, two giant intellects, Francis Bacon and Rene Descartes, finally codified the Scientific Method. “Aristotle was the first to realize the importance of empirical measurement, believing that knowledge could only begained by building upon what is already known. (Stanford science website). He realized it was dangerous not to distinguish fact from fallacy. Many sixteenth- and seventeenth-century intellectuals felt that the Dark Ages were a perfect example of superstition and irrational thinking that caused harm. We usually learn from experience, except if untrustworthy information diverts our attention from critical examination. How we behave depends on the hypothalamus, the smallest part of our brain. In my mind, the seat belt controversy was one of the many irrational American attacks on reason.
The point is FACTS should initiate change. Denial causes needless harm. Some governments dictate their opinions. Our system of government does not mandate unless it must. And when it does, it states a reason for its actions. Unfortunately, we do not realize fairness and public safety are part of its obligation.
For years, eloquent orators like Frederick Douglas and MLK expressed the harm of unfairness. The fact no one responded to a valid complaint is a problem. Reason is powerless if the populace avoids the responsibility of responding.
Part of our problem is who we believe. What is a credible source? An expert, an eyewitness, or a researcher. The conflict on our nation's seat belt policy displayed how Americans receive facts that cause change. Columnist Jane Brody's article for the New York Times presented a convincing argument for seat belts. But a response by Daniel Goldbeck drew more public support. “Unless the Constitution has been replaced with actuary tables, the governing principles of this nation are still based on basic rights of individual freedom.”
While freedom of speech applies to everyone, its primary purpose is to promote reasonable debate—actual evidence produced by controlled testing. Ignorance is not a defense (S v De Blom S A 513 1977). Failure of proof is one thing, but denial of credible evidence is even worse.
We know a jury cannot convict a felon by opinion. Facts are the foundation for a panel's decisions. If Americans want to be good democratic citizens, they should start acting like jurists. Plato once said, “There is a difference between how we perceive things and how they are;” consequently, Western culture devised a of verifying reality. “Aristotle, regarded as the father of science, was the first to realize the importance of empirical measurement, believing that knowledge could only be gained by building upon what is already known.” Socrates was one of the many prominent thinkers who opined that we must distinguish fact from fallacy.
We usually learn from experience, except if untrustworthy information diverts our attention from critical examination. How we behave depends on the hypothalamus, the smallest part of our brain. In my mind, the seat belt controversy was one of the recent irrational American attacks on reason.
If Americans want to be good democratic citizens, they should start acting like them.
Tom Fantulin & Vincent Poturica
Ukiah
SUNNY DISPOSITION
Editor,
On Biden's State of the Union public speaking, I'll have what Biden is taking. The murder of Joan LeFeat is a symptom of the village not having, and/or, not taking the effort to help the parents and those parent's children with some modicum of civility and respect for one's fellow citizens.
Editor, all of your attendant causalities are applicable and ingrained in modern US society. The best we can do is set a good example for ourselves and others.
Take care,
Jeff Goll
Willits
OPPOSED TO NEGATIVE CAMPAIGNING
To the Editor:
There was an inordinate amount of advertising — some very negative — in the race for 2nd Assembly district.
By the time this letter is read, the election will be over, but we want to register that 1) it disturbs us how much money (and resources) have been spent on these multiple glossy mailers; and 2) in particular we are appalled by the mean-spirited, often overblown negative ‘hit pieces’.
It is low to try to knock out your opponents instead of running on your own merits.
We will usually choose to NOT vote for those engaging in this type of campaigning.
Madge Strong, Mary Zellachild, Kimbal Dodge
Willits
CIRCLING THE DRAIN
Dear Editor
I've started a petition and I'm hoping you'll share it with AVA readers and contributors, who may talk in circles from time to time but probably don't wish to drive, walk or bike in them all over Ukiah.
Thank you for reading,
Andrew Lutsky
Ukiah
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