- Goodbye AVA In Print
- From Yountville To Philo
- Don't Mess With The Regs
- Why Not Both?
- PG&E At It Again
- AVA: The Incomparable Mother
- Observer Observations
- PG&E: Above The Law?
- Commons Knowledge
- Incineration & Preservation
- Potter Valley Roads
- Ukraine Lies
- Still Relevant
- Tribal Abuse
GOODBYE AVA IN PRINT
Editor,
This is the end, the paper edition of the Mighty AVA is going down, and with a thousand subscribers and casual buyers of the paper here and there, a whole lot of people might have read my essays and stories here over the years. (What really got me going was when I begged the Editor to put me on the masthead in 2020, which then compelled me to send in one a week for about a year, my dream gig.)
The first one was in 2003 called “Butterfly Bombs at Reggae,” for which I received a check for $25, the photocopy of which is still pinned to my wall proving I am a professional writer. (Although the publication of that story here in Southern Humboldt’s environmental hotbed pretty much ensured I’d never get laid in this town again.)
I could say thank you readers, you could also say thank you Paul, though I’m pretty sure my actual impact on your life was zero. Who are you people? (I have a subpoena wending its way through the courts attempting to get your names and addresses from the AVA so I can thank you personally, but Bruce sent Mark to fight it as once again the Major does the dirty work.)
Locally a few friends and neighbors gave me the thumbs up over the years, including JD, a naturalist with flying squirrels gliding around his parking lot, who misses Jerry Philbrick’s rants most of all. (He distinguished himself by inviting me to dinner one night to meet an amazing goddess with big issues, disproving my theory that people will give you anything, except their home-canned goods or a woman. Thanks again JD, and I’m still waiting for round two, buddy.)
Proud, remembered for his exuberant and joyous smile while dancing at the hippie boogies back in the day, is another local subscriber who told me he liked a story once, as well as Richard Geinger, the resolute environmentalist known as a “hard core hippie” in the seventies for refusing to receive any government assistance, not even food stamps.
And then there is Rod, another avid reader of the AVA, who saw my SSI advice column and started to apply and I hope he’s getting his well-deserved alternative retirement pay by now. (I guess I won’t see Dave as much, proprietor at Redway Liquors with that skeptical grin, where I picked up three extras whenever I got a story in, and have collated a hundred into a couple copies of a homemade book.)
I did get a few reactions on the website over the years: there was one semi-embarrassing comment from a woman, who I had mentioned meeting at “The Farm” in Tennessee in 1977, in one of my favorite stories called “The Hundred Dollar Car.” (I had referred to her as “slightly obnoxious,” and her daughter Persephone, still living in Mendo, spotted the reference and notified Mama Rita, who called me out on that callous comment.)
Soon after that an ex-lover from Texas, circa 1993, found me at theava.com, made a few poignant comments, and then disappeared. (Bonnie was my genius girlfriend who had looked at me in annoyance whenever I tried to offer my non-genius suggestions about how to construct the straw bale house we were planning to build on her hundred acres of scrublands outside Lockhart. That rundown town, her house had holes in the floor, as well as others in Central Texas, has since been invaded and gentrified by young refugees who can’t afford nearby Austin anymore.)
So the paper edition of the AVA is leaving us, as well as the beloved eighty-four year old SoHum icon Ed Denson, who died with his boots on at home last week in Alderpoint.
On the plus side it was actually some work to get through the whole thing before the next issue arrived the following week, especially when already engrossed by a good book, which was most of the time so the pressure’s off now. (If there’s a long story I want to read on the website I’ll do what I already do with interesting-looking online articles: print it off and read it at my leisure.)
The AVA will finally catch up with the 21st century, go completely online, and leave us old-timers behind. Well, I still have a sub till the end of the year, the AVA will keep chugging along, but if Major Mark Scaramella ever stops covering Mendocino government does that mean it’s no longer dysfunctional?
I’m waiting for the tears, what, not even one? (And I was in what I called “The Crying Cult,” for a while back in ‘73 when I was nineteen and that was a story: I had met Pam in Cambridge, we hitchhiked to “The Center For The Living Force” in upstate New York, when we got there a game of naked volleyball was going on in the front yard, and we joined right in.)
Congratulations Editor Bruce Anderson: I just re-read your mission statement from the first issue 40 years ago and, by God, you kept to it all the way. (Maybe something interesting and unexpected will happen.)
Paul Modic
Redway
FROM YOUNTVILLE TO PHILO
Letter to the Editor,
I want to share our relationship with the AVA (hopefully before the last paper edition comes out (maybe already too late)). So, back to 1983 when Karen and I convinced her parents to look at property in Anderson Valley, (they needed to do something more creative with their tax money than send it to the Reagan Administration) they took our advice and made an offer on the apple farm property in September. Then…
Don Schmitt (Karen’s Dad) and I started several trips to Philo to check out the property and noticed the local rag at Jacks Valley Store or Bahl Gorms or… Don decided we should subscribe and get a feel for the local scene (Unity Club events, etc.). September turned into December and no deal settled on the property (another story). January 1984 (prophetic?) and the AVA arrives in Yountville. Whoa! Something’s going on in Boonville, to put it mildly.
40 years and change later here we are at the end of paper newspaper---Damn, sure gonna miss that rustly, crinkly sound. Didn’t keep that first issue, but if my memory serves me, there was a new logo and “A newspaper should have no friends” at the top. Intriguing for sure. By the end of January we were moving to Philo and boy were Letters to the Editor pouring in. Seems sometimes more than half the pages were these letters, with heated and fantastic dialogues unleashed for our amusement and astonishment. Sprinkled with quotes from rabble rousers---deceased and current rousers---always entertaining and food for thought.
HIGHLIGHTS? I’ll try to keep it to a few. Eyesore of the Week, including Greenwood Ridge tasting room and curvy road arrows. During the Iron John era (where men could be men again) a circle jerk session at…Shenoa? Wellspring? Bruce getting in a little push and shove with a supervisor…and a little jail time? The Wanda Tinasky letters and speculations…maybe still unresolved? My good friend Jeff going off to Sac State to study law and finding the AVA in the library there (to show there was another way to do a newspaper and probably how would you keep Bruce from litigation?). Jeff eventually sent a letter to the Tinasky fray (Jeff a big Pynchon fan). The time I sent in a letter and was castigated for extolling the virtues of composting by fellow readers---OUCH. Eric chuckled and told me later “Write letters to the editor but don’t send them.” Todd Walton’s homespun articles of scrounging ingredients for his garden and love of basketball. And Scaramella! First encountered tinkling ivories at the New Boonville Hotel, then his byline in the AVA. How he could sit through those endless Supe’s and School Board meetings and keep his cool (well, most of the time) only Mark can know. Off the Record and Valley People. Honoring local sports for 40 years. Alexander Cockburn. And on and on…
So, sorry to hear about your latest bout with getting on in years and wish you the best to keep carrying on…or not. It’s been an extreme pleasure to have the AVA in our lives. Thank you. Thank you.
Tim and Karen Bates
The Apple Farm, Philo
Mark Scaramella replies: One of my favorite memories of Tim & Karen Bates was that time in the mid-1990s when I wrote a Valley People item about the bureaucratic difficulties they were having maintaining their “organic” designation for their Apple Farm. Tim was amazed at how much I seemed to know about the process. When he asked me how I knew so much about it, I admitted that I got most of the info from his wife Karen while shopping at the Farmers Market. My “source” was right under Tim’s nose.
DON'T MESS WITH THE REGS
Editor:
I’m a physician getting recertified to perform examinations on pilots for the Federal Aviation Administration. This training made me appreciate the benefits of a functional government. The presenters were rightfully proud of their safety record, given the task of keeping airways safe and efficient. From certifying pilots and aircraft to maintaining a functional and compliant matrix of airfields and airports working in synchronicity, the FAA does a great job, and (despite recent high-profile Boeing incidents) the safety record for air travel is nothing short of amazing.
Then I began thinking of the many ways we are protected by regulations. When was the last time you questioned the safety of eating a product bought at a grocery store? When is the last time you ate at a restaurant and worried about getting sick? Regulation is rarely convenient, often inefficient and never cheap, but it keeps us safe, and I believe we have started taking it for granted.
The MAGA movement is working to destroy regulatory agencies for higher profits. They want to take us back to the days of back alley abortions and hepatitis outbreaks. Don’t fool yourselves — democracy is often messy, but we will miss it if it goes away.
Gerry Lazzareschi
Healdsburg
WHY NOT BOTH?
Editor:
Why not make the Great Redwood Trail rail and trail? How come there’s been no serious discussion about including a rail line with the Great Redwood Trail?
Work continues on connecting the Bay Area and Southern California via high-speed rail. Los Angeles and Las Vegas could soon be linked by a high-speed train. The ACE train is expanding into the Central Valley. There are plans for overnight train service between San Francisco and Los Angeles and electrification of Caltrain, on the Peninsula, is finally complete.
Meanwhile, SMART and an adjacent pedestrian path marches northward. I think we’re missing the boat when it comes to California’s transit future. Renovating the old rail line would take trucks and cars off the road and boost North Coast commerce on both ends.
Larry Chiaroni
Sebastopol
PG&E AT IT AGAIN
Editor,
Hello, my name is Tina Moody I live in Hopland. The reason for this letter is a tree service has come on our property and cut multiple trees down to the ground in the past two days and they say they are coming back to cut more in the name of PG&E.
In the 35 years I’ve lived in Mendocino County. The tree service contractors have always come through and trimmed and topped the trees, never have they ever cut them to the ground until now.
Our home is on a steep hillside. They have taken trees out directly beneath our home, with no other tree above it, whose roots can sustain the hillside. Now we have to fear erosion and our home slipping.
An employee of the tree service ignored my cries for him to stop cutting, told me it was state mandated. As chainsaws are decimating these trees, the tree service puts you through the voicemail, PGand E takes note of it, and Jim Woods office laughed.
This is an extreme violation and we cannot be the only people going through this.
Our supervisor Ted Williams basically said only the courts would have any chance of stopping this. So, so is it time for us to organize a class action lawsuit?
We have always appreciated the respectful care that the private tree companies have shown our properties.
Now it is just rape without any contact or warning.
Tina Moody
Hopland
AVA: THE INCOMPARABLE MOTHER
Editor,
Paper of today & yesterday
But not tomorrow
I say with sorrow
Yet I give cheers
For enlightenment for years
Smart, all heart
Stories & science & art
Exposing corruption
Preventing eruption
Bruce & the Maj will go down
Producing the best weekly to be found
We know we'll never see another
To match the incomparable Mother.
Pebbles Trippet
Laytonville
OBSERVER OBSERVATIONS
Hello Observer Readers,
Thank you to Bruce and Mark of the AVA for letting their readers know the Observer will remain printing a paper-paper and for directing lovers of their newspaper to us.
Our costs are $30/year for in-county subscription and $32 for out of county and $35 for out of state. $2/year discount for senior citizens. $15/year to receive the PDF version of the paper.
Dad is still doing well and improving. He appeared at the LAMAC meeting this Wednesday and a meeting I held last night at Healthy Start on economic development opportunities. There's some good news coming down the pike for potential business development in Laytonville. I'm sure he will keep the public up to date.
For now, check out the recent developments on Geiger's Market below.
Take care & Happy Friday!
Jayma Shields
* * *
Hello Folks,
There’s a reason why Grandma used to warn us, “Don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched.”
I believe that saying comes from an Aesop’s fable, so Grandma must have known what she was talking about.
Anyway, my update on the anticipated re-opening of the former Geiger’s Long Valley Market evidently is not quite hatched yet.
The day after I wrote my column, I called Haji Alam, the CEO of Faizan Corp., to follow up on my letter inviting him to appear at an upcoming Laytonville Municipal Advisory Council meeting to share his re-opening plans with us.
He told me that he certainly would like do so but it will be delayed because a legal dispute has arisen over the former owner(s) allegedly defaulting on the store’s 10-year operating lease. For those of you who listen to my Saturday show on KPFN 105.1, are aware that I have long been wary of that operating lease and suspect it’s the main reason the former owner(s) closed the store on November 1, 2023.
Realistically, at this juncture, none of us know whether the former owner(s) failed to comply with any of the terms or conditions of the sales agreement. The fault could all be on the buyer and not the seller. Evidently, who’s right and who’s wrong is going to be a job for the courts to sort out.
One of the things I learned when I was negotiating contracts in my union days, is that sometimes you end up with a really bad agreement when you have too many clever people making the deal.
I’ll keep you advised on any developments.
Jim Shields/ The Observer
PO Box 490
Laytonville, CA 95454
(707) 984-6223
PG&E: ABOVE THE LAW?
Editor,
Tina Moody’s letter reflects my own concerns with PGE cutting down trees on private property. It seems to me this is a violation of private property rights. In other words, our Constitutional rights are being violated. Also, it cannot be overlooked that PG&E has a conflict of interest in cutting down trees, as less tree shade causes homes to be hotter, as well as the environment to further get hotter. That means more air conditioning and therefore more business for PG&E, even if solar is used, since people so far are still being unfairly compensated for their contribution of power back to PG&E. A rogue company, for sure. Remember the price gouging and Enron? Again, PG&E. Maybe our California government officials in charge of overseeing this sort of thing need to be called out on this, and an investigation initiated. I think PG&E better watch out because compensation for all these mature trees could be pretty ruinous, as well as the legal fees and penalties. I can see trimming trees but there is also the question of why the lines can’t go underground. Other states have done it but PG&E seems immune. Why is that, especially in a fire prone state? Also, more fire danger causes insurance to go up or even become unavailable. This could be another problem further exacerbated by removing trees. Not only does it cause problems for homeowners, it also affects the economy by majung real estate unattainable due to insurance troubles. Cutting down trees and causing further warming will make it worse. Where is the regulation? Are we back to square one, i.e. the bad old days of Enron?
Sarah Kennedy Owen
Ukiah
COMMONS KNOWLEDGE
Editor,
Before the economist and sociologist John R. Commons settled in at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the early 1900s, in the 1890s he was a professor at Syracuse University. Local Protestants organized a campaign to outlaw Sunday baseball in the city of Syracuse and the President of the university tasked Commons to research the issue and present his findings at a public meeting.
Commons visited the local parks in Syracuse where the Sunday baseball games took place. He reported to the assembly convened to debate the topic that most of the participants in the baseball games were local factory workers whose only day off from the assembly lines was Sunday. Commons suggested that as long as money was not charged to attend the games, they should be allowed to proceed.
In response to Commons's testimony, enraged Protestants threatened to withdraw their children from Syracuse University. The President was informed that money would no longer be forthcoming from the school's wealthy alumni and benefactors. When Commons's professorship came up for review at the end of the school year, it was not renewed.
The French have a saying: Plus ca change, plus la meme chose -- the more things change, the more they remain the same.
Doug Loranger
Walnut Creek
INCINERATION & PRESERVATION
Dear Editor,
Many thanks for many years of illuminating and inflammatory journalism. No newspaper started a fire more readily than your fuel-sodden rag.
Though nothing can replace the living publication, I was relieved to see in WorldCat that the esteemed editor's papers, including a run of the paper itself, are in the UC Davis library, and many other libraries archive it as well. I hope it will always be possible to show those who missed it how newspapering was done in its glory days.
Sincerely,
Dave Schweisguth
San Francisco
POTTER VALLEY ROADS
Editor,
In 1989, when we moved to Potter Valley, The Mill was closing. The mill had paid taxes for many years earmarked for repair of the Potter Valley Road. In 2000, the work began a surveyor was hired and land purchased for expansion.
Then everything stopped. Our supervisor at that time was convinced by her fellow supervisors to ok the use of the money, specifically earmarked for the Potter Valley Road to use on the coast on Hwy 1. to put in a roundabout by the Arc. She did not represent her constituents when she ok'd this use of funds for our rural roads to be used for the HWY roundabout.
For years, the residents of Potter Valley have cried out for repairs, only to be constantly put off. We were told 2008, 2018 and now 2028 the roads would be addressed. Obviously, it is not happening.
We the people of Potter Valley demand that the supervisors find the funds to replace the funds they took from our earmarked coffer. The same supervisors at that time found not only funds to raise their retirement pay but also their wages.
We will not be put off any longer and we want the money replaced at the current monetary value after inflation.
Sincerely,
MJ Wilson Scott
Potter Valley
UKRAINE LIES
Editor,
The letters the AVA published from Mr. Baumgarner of Santa Rosa have been filled with CIA talking points. The proxy war with Ukraine could never have happened without Russiagate and the hatred of Trump. This hatred of Trump has made it very easy for the CIA to dupe the stupid trolls of the "left" who think Putin is the aggressor and the bad guy when in fact the U.S. overthrew the government of Ukraine in 2014. For the next 8 years Ukraine prepared for war and killed at least 14,000 ethnic Russians. Putin has every right to de-Nazify Ukraine and isn't it hilarious that the dumbshits of the "left" are supporting Ukrainian Nazi's? Democracy Now, Pacifica radio have played a role in propagandizing for the Ukrainian war. When I called KPFA and asked their news director how many anti-Ukraine war protests have occurred in the Bay Area, he said there had been a "few." Trump is hated because he told the truth about our war in Iraq, that we are in Syria to steal their oil, and he didn't get us into another war like the vile despicable Biden. And speaking of Russia I find it very disturbing that our rapist president Joe Biden is not allowing his rape victim Tara Reade back into the U.S. from Russia where she is now. Biden is a million times more vile than Trump. I hate both of them but have enough brain cells to figure out the difference between the two scumbags. We also blew up the Nordstream pipeline, a vile act of terrorism and industrial sabotage if there ever was one. No environmental groups complained about the environmental disaster we caused by our terrorism. I am going to miss the print edition of the AVA very much. I saw the very sad video on Youtube where they dismantled Press Democrat's printing press. Newspapers have been replaced by Facebook and other outlets that are run by the CIA, AIPAC and all the other warmongering liars. Thanks for all the years of newspapers!
Sincerely,
Andrew Metrogen
San Luis Obispo
STILL RELEVANT
Editor,
So much to say, so little time to say it.
The esteemed editor said ...“it (the Smart Train) doesn’t run through the population centers of Sonoma County...” News to me.
Also, his constant ridicule of Biden as being senile. Body language aside, the Prez sez the right things if you listen. I’m almost 82 and I know the editor is a couple of years older. We’re still relevant. What choice do we have and… What choice DO we have?
As to 420, My good friend Crispie (Cris Birnt), San Rafael canal pirate, was one of the seven, or 6, or nine, who met at the “wall,” just outside the SR High school property at 4:20 to get ripped. The reason for that particular time was, according to Crispie, that particular group were the “fuck ups,” and therefore were required to stay after the normal time, being 3:20, for an extra hour.
Richey Wasserman
Point Arena
TRIBAL ABUSE
Editor:
Re: Gas Station developer’s recently reduced traffic numbers and his threat to sell his Redwood Valley property to the Coyote Valley Tribe.
Well – this looks fishy to me.
First: Because the applicant/developer has suddenly come up with a new, lower volume, traffic study after running into local opposition. The lower number also would seem to make an expensive 101 right turn lane lane unnecessary. Why, suddenly, would the numbers change?
Second and more important: The applicant/developer has reportedly threatened to sell the location to the Indians – making local control or objections useless – if the developer does not get his way. I do not know that this proposed sale is possible, or if it will have the effect that the applicant threatens, but this looks to me like blackmail.
I also see this as yet another attempt by a developer trying to use, in the worst sense of the term, America’s Native peoples to advance the developer’s interests. I am thinking that developers are trying to use the Guidiville tribe in their Palace Hotel scheme in this same way.
I am white, my ancestors are European, and to my dismay my people have taken everything that the Native People had. I do not want the Native People to be further used.
Thirdly; This developer wants a County Supervisor to recuse himself because he has expressed an opinion on this matter – what a crock! We elect our Supervisors largely based on their opinions and we expect them to speak up.
Tom McFadden
Boonville
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