Letters 9/28/2024

• Correction: Wrong Brian Carter
• The Economic Benefits Of Care
• Dark Money In Fort Bragg Politics?
• The Myth That Won't Die
• It’s Clear What They’re Going
• Outta ‘This’ World
• Save Community Clinics
• Anything Goes

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CORRECTION: WRONG BRIAN CARTER

Dear AVA,

It has come to my attention that in your [on-line] paper dated Saturday, September 14, 2024, you wrote and published the following: “Former Ukiah Attorney Brian Carter, son of the legendary Republican fixer-attorney Jared Carter, and former Attorney for infamous Pacific Lumber CEO… Charles Hurwitz, who now lists his residence as ‘Manchester,’ is running for an appointed seat on the Redwood Coast Fire District board.”

Please be advised that I am not a “former Ukiah attorney,” as I still reside and am still practicing law in Ukiah.

Please also be advised that I am not running for a seat, appointed or otherwise, on the Redwood Coast Fire District Board.

Thank you.

Brian C. Carter

Ukiah

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THE ECONOMIC BENEFITS OF CARE

To the general public,

During the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors meeting on September 10 a department head was asked if they supported The City of Fort Bragg’s CRU program or if they have ever considered bringing the idea to the County. The department head responded with, “I don’t have their data in front of me but what I have heard is, their arrests of homeless are up 250%, so no, I am not interested in arresting our way out of this.”

On one hand I would agree that arresting our way out of this problem is not the answer, and that is why we have taken the opposite approach. You can see some of our outcomes in the data below. It is important to me, the CRU program and its staff, that the correct information is provided to the public and not data provided by “hearsay.”

Please review the data below and reach out if you have any questions.

The below summary includes six clients the CRU program has worked with extensively. These clients were selected because they demonstrated the diverse level of services CRU provides to find effective solutions.

The savings presented are just an estimate of police staff savings. The estimated staff cost is $400 per contact and $1800 per arrest. These cost estimates are conservative and do not include costs to other agencies such as the courts or jail. These costs also do not include savings to the healthcare system. Every one of the presented clients had multiple emergency room visits during the timeframes reviewed. The assumption is that these emergency room visits would have declined as well following CRU intervention. We have had difficulty tracking these statistics due to the emergency room being unable to provide data due to HIPPA (the federal Health Information Protection and Privacy Act).

Respectfully,

Mayor Bernie Norvell

Fort Bragg

Bnorvell2@fortbragg.com

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DARK MONEY IN FORT BRAGG POLITICS?

Editor,

So, who is this Alliance for a Better Fort Bragg? Why is their contact person located in Sacramento and what do they have to do with conservative Sacramento PR firm Kabateck Strategies? More important for Fort Bragg voters, who funded Kabateck’s services and the Alliance’s fancy website?

Last Wednesday, I learned by chance of a community meeting of the Alliance for a Better Fort Bragg at a Dijon Seafood and Grill in the Company Store. Curious, I decided to check it out. Without counting, I would guess that 30 people were there, many of the “usual suspects” in Fort Bragg politics. Train guys Chris Hart and Robert Pinoli were circulating in the background. Hors d'oeuvres were coming out of the kitchen and wine was being poured.

MC Michelle Roberts gave a short introduction to the Alliance and invited several others to give testimonials. She then shifted into announcing that the Alliance was endorsing Scott Hockett and Ryan Bushnell for Fort Bragg City Council, chosen for their answers to a questionnaire sent out by the Alliance and vetted by an Alliance subcommittee. Scott and Ryan spoke briefly, taking no significant positions other than “putting the swords down.”

After the formal part broke for socializing and individual conversation, I asked Roberts whether the other candidates had returned their questionnaires. Her response was oddly phrased. “I think I can tell you that they didn’t.”

I had a short and pleasant conversation with Ryan, hung out for a while longer with people I knew, grabbed some literature and headed home, planning on digging deeper the next morning.

My first move was to look at the Alliance’s website, https://afabfb.com/, graphically sophisticated with some artful branding. “Cost some money,” was my first thought. A Whois query on the domain name revealed the owner as DomainsByProxy.com, an anonymizer service with the same Tempe, Arizona address as GoDaddy.com, the web host for the website. First red flag: somebody wants to hide who is behind the website.

Second red flag went up when I started looking at the flier I picked up. The contact listed, Nate Haderlie, has a Sacramento phone number. A LinkedIn search for Haderlie listed him as a principal in Kabateck Strategies in Sacramento, a Republican aligned political PR firm whose founder, John Kabateck, worked for Governors Pete Wilson and Arnold Schwarzenegger, fought raising the minimum wage, and wrote an opinion piece for the Hoover Institute.

Kabatech’s website, https://kabateckstrategies.com/, touts their “…more than three decades of leadership with developing, organizing and mobilizing key grassroots organizations and coalitions.” Given their profile, they cannot have come cheap either.

It’s looking more and more like the Alliance is an “astroturf” group, similar to the Tea Party funded by the Koch Brothers, I asked Michelle Roberts at the League of Women Voters forum on Thursday who Kabateck Strategies was. She seemed taken aback that I knew about them. She denied knowing who was paying for their services or that she was working for them.

So, the questions remain:

Who is paying for the Alliance/Kabateck effort?

Are Hockett and Bushnell aware of the sophistication of this effort supporting their candidacies and its source?

Both have denied taking any money from anyone, but campaign signs cost money. If their campaigns have somehow coordinated with the Alliance, are they required to declare the costs of the Kabateck/Alliance effort as campaign contributions?

Fort Bragg voters would like to know.

Jade Tippett

Fort Bragg

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THE MYTH THAT WON'T DIE

Re: Lembcke, Spit, Veterans, & The Women

Dear Bruce Anderson:

This is regarding your “How Democrats Captured the Northcoast, Forever” with its reference to spat-on Vietnam veterans, and my book (thank you).

Many AVA readers will have read or at least heard about Kristin Hannah's novel ‘The Women,’ now in its 32nd week and currently #4 on the NY Times bestseller list. Hearing from readers dismayed that Hannah’s lead character, an army nurse home from Vietnam, is spat on multiple times, I shared some of their messages with Marybeth Jarrad, the blog editor at NYU Press. Jarrad replied, “It's stunning that this myth is so firmly entrenched in the collective consciousness! We need to keep doing our part to overwrite it!” With that, I wrote the review linked below.

The reappearance of this myth in best-selling fiction marketed to women — and destined for Hollywood, says one of my readers — is a reminder that the importance of debunking the betrayal narrative for the loss of the war in Vietnam has not only not diminished but expanded into new cultural terrain.

Please let me know of your interest in reposting the review. The link: https://nyupress.org/blog/2024/08/20/veterans-and-victims-in-kristin-hannahs-the-women-by-jerry-lembcke

PS. I would love to hear from AVA readers with thoughts about ‘The Women’ and my review. For that, feel free to share my email address: jlembcke@holycross.edu

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IT’S CLEAR WHAT THEY’RE GOING

Editor,

What the Trump-Vance campaign is doing with its focus on Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, is exactly what the George H.W. Bush campaign did in 1988 with its relentless ads in the media about Willie Horton, a Black man furloughed from prison during Michael Dukakis’s time as governor of Massachusetts. Mr. Horton committed violent crimes when released, the blame for which could not fairly be placed at Mr. Dukakis’s doorstep.

For those voters too young to remember that race-driven tactic, or for those whose memories don’t go that far back, it’s worth looking up. Unfortunately, it was a winning strategy.

John Loughery

Berlin, Conn.

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OUTTA ‘THIS’ WORLD

Editor:

Thank you everyone for your beautiful birthday wishes; they were all wonderful, and my heart received each one! So I’m 62, which is really amazing, considering I barely made it out of my 50s. I was 55 on June 2018 when I had my stroke. But am now reborn, post stroke, and have had to learn how to walk, talk, eat, and take care of my bodily needs all over again. It has been an illuminating experience, since this is so late in life!

And as you may know I’ve had a couple of potentially fatal events since. I had a blood clot through an entire vein in my left leg which got me airlifted to Chico. I then got pneumonia in the hospital, and had a couple of seizures upon my return. Rather than being scared, I mostly have the amusing thought, “Maybe I can’t be killed.” During my near death experience I travelled through the realms of light and love, but also the dark underworld of evil. So maybe it’s true; maybe I can’t be killed! Just kidding, I’m sure I will give up the ghost someday, but until then I’m REALLY excited to keep having more earthly experiences. This is a wonderful dimension, and I enjoy it very much, and I’m discovering that I enjoy persisting!

I’m very excited about my projects and participation in our community, I’ve started a youtube children's channel called “Mr. Skyhawk’s Nest.” It doesn’t have as much content as I would like yet, but we are working on it. I’ve given a few talks about my stroke and NDE experience, where through poetry and anecdote, I open up that drawer. Two of them are posted on youtube. Covid knocked that back, but I’m considering doing some again soon to community spiritual groups and I’m once again programming for KZYX with Universal Perspectives.

Considering the dire times we are facing I’ve been doing a series called “Exploring Late Stage Capitalism; What’s Next?” I explore paradigms where we might co evolve with the earth, as it seems quite apparent that our current political and social structures are unequipped to handle what looms in front of us!

On the local political front, I’ve made no secret of my abject contempt for my former opponent for the 5th District Supervisor Seat, Ted Williams, who I believe is really harming our County. Before I entered the race, I was formerly allied with him in our local fire protection district. He has a very calculating hidden side, which I SERIOUSLY underestimated! Now that he has the job, he seems quite apathetic about the affairs of the county under his supposed “supervision.” There is a very dark, intelligent and cunning sub-personality inside this man. He can read a room, know exactly the images people want to see, show them those pictures with the deepest of sincerity, and then securely return to his apathy! He knows most of his supporters don't bother themselves with the granular details of good governance. I don't think any objective observer would call our County a properly functioning entity, and yet Ted carries on.

A while back in an letter to the Editor I said “beware this man.” While that was admittedly cryptic, this is what I meant. And I’ve since been ostracized and cancelled by his enabling, willingly gaslit apologists who can’t be troubled with the granular details of good governance.

The good news is that I don't miss them. Even though he has a couple of years left on his term, it’s not too early for voters to start considering a plausible electoral alternative, should he decide he wants to continue enjoying the status and salary of his seat.

On the personal front, my 16 year-old twin daughters are doing great, very well in school. They are loved in our community, and are aerial arts rock stars in Circus Mecca. The post stroke collapse of my marriage is another story, but as I said:I enjoy persisting!

On the physical front. my left hand has been in permanent contracture for the last six years, and I have no voluntary control of it. My walking is really a sort of hobbling shuffle, and while I would certainly love to play my guitar again or take a decent day hike with my sweetheart, I’m also enjoying my newfound abilities, The internal landscape is an incredible wilderness to explore!

My life has acquired a very spiritual dimension to it, I was always inclined in that direction, but what I experienced during the stroke and my return to “this” world has taught me a LOT! Maybe it’s because I have so much brain damage, but I’ve learned our hearts actually think! (And they travel through space and time.) There is a thin membrane between the physical and non-physical realms, and I have lots of time to reflect and meditate and dream on these subjects. A while back I was gifted an electric wheelchair that gets me, literally, all over town. I can also cruise the coast trail. It wasn’t a life goal to become a local colorful character, but…

I have various prayer spots for specific intentions I have time to sit, and just watch, I learn a lot in the quiet, and sometimes random strangers come along, and they tell me the most extraordinary things about themselves!

I’m getting increasingly adept at being conscious as I travel inside and across those dimensions, to the point that magical/mystical experiences are quite common for me. My belief is that I’m learning the true meaning and poignancy of what it is to be human! I know people will likely think I’m just a brain damaged nutter; there is certainly ample evidence for that position. But I don't really care, I’m not trying to prove anything!

I love and appreciate support in all its many forms, and I’m comfortable living a Spartan lifestyle. But I do have a Patreon page if anyone wishes to lend their financial support. It’s configured to allow $5, $9 and $20 per month, but I have been told by some Patrons they have been able to customize the amount. Again, obviously I’ve had a pretty rough go, but the level of support, care and love that I’ve received has been nothing short of astounding!

https://www.patreon.com/chrisskyhawk?fan_landing=true

OK thanks again and much love to you all.

Chris Skyhawk

Fort Bragg

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SAVE COMMUNITY CLINICS

Editor,

Regarding this editorial from the Chronicle, “Endorsement: Prop 35 is a complicated maze of a measure that doesn’t belong on the ballot." In fact, Proposition 35 is essential for making sure community clinics like our 12 members, which serve over 110,000 patients per year, can keep their doors open, hire more staff and care for the Medi-Cal patients who overwhelmingly rely on clinics for health care.

Community clinics see more than one-third of the state’s Medi-Cal patients, but for 15 years, the state has redirected funding toward non-health-care purposes, leaving providers and clinics who treat the most vulnerable patients struggling.

Prop 35 provides a solution by funding primary and specialty care, along with dental, mental health and emergency care. For too long, we’ve let those who need care the most wait months for appointments or be forced to drive hours for care — just because they have Medi-Cal.

It’s time that we do better for patients. Vote yes on Prop 35.

Johanna Liu, president and CEO, San Francisco Community Clinic Consortium

San Francisco

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ANYTHING GOES

Editor:

Is it not as morally reprehensible to put explosives in pagers that can be exploded by remote control so as to maim and kill civilians as it is to plant land mines in order to maim and kill civilians? What is happening to the morality of Homo Sapiens?

J.D. Thompson

Santa Rosa