Letters 1/14/2025

• Mendo Law Enforcement 2025
• In Fact…
• Why Trump Won
• It’s The Pits
• Not Hardly…
• Locals Sue Federal Reps Over Funding Genocide In Palestine
• Magic Of Winter Or White Albatross
• Then & Now
• Get Emotional, Dems

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MENDO LAW ENFORCEMENT 2025

Editor,

As we come into 2025 the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office is continuing to work on several issues which continue to affect our communities. I think we are coming into a very exciting time and I truly believe we will see some drastic improvements for public safety in Mendocino County.

Violence, Addiction, Homelessness, and property crimes are the largest problems which we continue to face. Addictions are not victimless crimes, they are and have been the root cause of many crimes including our type 1 felonies. We see horrific events coming from addictions including murder, child abuse and neglect, not to mention violence such as robbery and burglaries driven by the influence or need for narcotics. Without a new model of education and accountability in equal doses we will never get in front of these issues. We are currently working towards the new model in our state and I think it is high time.

Rural areas of California are often forgotten because many times state representatives are looking for numbers in voting and can easily dismiss rural counties which have small populations. Many times communities have completely different needs and one size will never fit all counties or communities.

This year California voters in all 58 counties overwhelmingly passed Proposition 36, the tough-on-crime ballot measure that will reform parts of Proposition 47 which had hamstrung law enforcement and our courts for an entire decade. This was a clear message our victims of crime have had enough. Benjamin Franklin was once quoted saying, “Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.”

The recent vote on Prop 36 clearly shows we have reached that point. Law enforcement leaders and District Attorneys across the state are working to apply these new laws. I am certain that we will see better outcomes than we have seen over the past decade. Let’s be very clear there is a portion of the population which will not comply with the law until they are forced to do so.

We are continuing to hire Deputy Sheriffs and Corrections Deputies. Recent legislative changes in California allowed us to hire immigrants recognized under DACA who can legally work in California. These young men and women have been a valuable addition to our ranks and are community members who mostly came here as children and were raised in our communities.

There is a new discussion we are hearing from our Nation’s Capitol. This discussion is regarding the H1B visa program for migrants working in specialty fields. This may be a pathway for these deputies and a road to their United States Citizenship. I have began discussions with our federal partners in hopes that peace officers in the State of California can be recognized and considered for this visa program. These folks are providing a valuable service to our communities, and they should be recognized for this service.

The construction of the behavioral health wing of the Mendocino County Jail is on track and will help with many of the state mandates for services which have become legislated for jail populations. This will improve outcomes and partnerships that will also create positive outcomes for our residents.

As we move forward into 2025 I hope we can all work together to create safe and productive communities. I hope we can look out for our families friends and neighbors. I am always impressed with our communities during times of need because we all see how similar we are. Many folks try to divide us based on our differences; it’s time for that to stop.

Our strength will always come from the sense of community we share here in Mendocino County.

As always, thank you for the constant support you show to our men and women serving at the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office.

Sheriff Matt Kendall

Ukiah

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IN FACT…

Editor:

Vaccine controversy…

Many of your readers, along with many in the media, are claiming that Donald Trump wants to ban polio vaccines, despite the fact that Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have both protested that they don’t want to ban any vaccines. Since background coverage in the media has been scant, let me present some facts.

Aaron Siri, a legal adviser to Kennedy, filed three petitions with the Food and Drug Administration before Kennedy was a client (“Lawyer files petition to revoke polio vaccine,” Dec. 14). The petition dealing with polio vaccine was concerning IPOL, one of the six polio vaccines approved by the FDA. The other five vaccines were not affected. Siri’s petition, one of thousands filed with the FDA every year, said the trial period for IPOL was faulty, with no control group and only three days of safety review after injection. The petition asks that IPOL be recertified with a trial period more appropriate for a drug administered to children.

Kennedy has made a healthy America his raison d’être as secretary of health and human services, but no one, except the media, is talking about banning polio vaccines.

Joe Gaffney

Rohnert Park

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WHY TRUMP WON

Editor:

Instead of endlessly grumbling about Donald Trump’s policies and depraved character, why not ask the question, “What is it about the American political and economic systems that allowed him to rise to the top — twice?” What could persuade half of U.S. voters to vote for a man who refuses to operate by the traditional and constitutional rules of government?

For 50 years both political parties have promised the poor and powerless that they would receive help — only to ignore them after each election. Inequality is now at its highest since before the Great Depression, according to Pew Center research, and getting worse. The poor are now at the point of desperation; some may resort to violence. What do you do if you are suffering and no one pays any attention?

If we want a peaceful, orderly society, we must reduce inequality — which means we must all make sacrifices, especially the billionaire elite. We are witnessing the consequences of a hyper-individualist, capitalist society. Are we willing to accept less so the working poor can have more? Doesn’t every adult worker deserve a living wage? We must somehow change the system to operate for the common good — or watch it spiral into chaos.

Gene A. Hottel

Santa Rosa

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IT’S THE PITS

Editor,

Happy New Year AVA’ers.

PIT Count… Do you suppose the outcome will be up or down? LOL. We have more and more homeless by the day. My personal opinion is we have around 30 mental health/homeless service providers including the jail, who on the daily provide services to our unhoused people, the numbers are right there except a few that are strewn about staying out of sight. I understand the need to provide numbers for funding but honestly is going out at weird hours to find people necessary? All you really have to do is set up a central location. Might I suggest the middle of the rail trail with food and provisions, the homeless will come, they are cold and hungry?! Plus one location will prevent the problem of over/under counting people.

Pro-Publica is a very cool sight check it out.

I think 2025 is going go be a great year!

Mazie Malone

Ukiah

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NOT HARDLY…

Editor:

Donald Trump will be inaugurated president because he won the majority of votes in the Electoral College, where each state gets votes under specific rules including population. I have seen writers claiming that Trump won the majority of the popular vote as well, with Trump himself calling it an “unprecedented mandate.” Examining the numbers, however, one finds this is not the case. Recent vote totals show that, out of approximately 156.3 million votes cast, Trump received 49.8% while Kamala Harris got 48.3%, a difference of a mere 1.5%. Records reveal this is the fifth-smallest such margin among the 32 elections held since 1900.

These results reveal two things. First, Trump received a plurality, but not a majority, i.e., he got more votes than anyone else but failed to get over half.

Second, although Trump called this an “unprecedented mandate,” his relatively small margin in the popular vote as well as small GOP margins in Congress would dictate otherwise. If one wanted to put a label on the election, one might be generous and call it a “mini-mandate,” but certainly nothing close to the unprecedented one Trump declared.

Sherman Schapiro

Eureka

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LOCALS SUE FEDERAL REPS OVER FUNDING GENOCIDE IN PALESTINE

Dear Editor and Readers;

I and 600 other North Coast citizens have filed a suit against our two congressmembers in a class action https://www.commondreams.org/news/us-israel-military-aid accusing them of arming the Israeli military in violation of “international and federal law that prohibits complicity in genocide.”

We’ve done this to convey our anger about the ongoing civilian carnage in Gaza https://www.commondreams.org/tag/gaza that we taxpayers have continued to fund in part because our House Representative Jared Huffman and US Senator Mike Thompson continue to vote for ever more guns, jets and bombs for Netanyahu’s extermination machine.

It was a crime for Hamas to murder 1,200 Israelis. What do we call it now that Israel has killed 46,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children? The UN, Amnesty International and even Pope Francis all call it genocide. Even Israeli historian Amos Goldberg, a Holocaust expert at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, has also said that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

I can not stand it that my country and my tax money is supporting this crime. If you also oppose US funds massacring of Palestinian civilians, please tell Huffman and Thompson to oppose it, too.

Tom Wodetzki,

Albion

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MAGIC OF WINTER OR WHITE ALBATROSS

To the Editor:

“Ukiah on Ice” — at what price?

Once again the City has erected its holiday ice rink on School Street near Alex Thomas Plaza. But the “magic of winter” comes with costs and consequences.

One consequence is that the Saturday Farmers Market is being displaced and deprived of its shelter under the pavilion during inclement weather. As a result, the market was canceled one Saturday, leaving vendors without an outlet — and without income — for the produce they had prepared. When rains threaten, many vendors don’t show because of reduced customer traffic.

The Farmers’ Market is a year-long Saturday event that is a great asset to downtown business, drawing customers and visitors to School Street and Alex Thomas Plaza.

The City claims in its General Plan that it supports agriculture. However, the Market is being delegated to a side street not only for the ice rink but also for the Pumpkin Fest and Car Show.

Then there are the costs of running such an energy-intensive facility. It is doubtful that the City recovers the costs with entrance fees and sponsors.

Now that the season is winding down, it’s time to rethink this White Albatross.

Patrons should wonder whether skating on slushy artificial ice in our climate is really fun. Parents should also wonder what they are teaching their kids in this age of global warming.

The City —and its partner, the Greater Business and Tourism Alliance — need to reconsider whether the ice skating rink is a cost-effective endeavor to attract visitors to downtown during the holiday season— or whether there is not a cheaper way, such as closing off 2 blocks of School Street for ROLLER skating; it could be entry-free, guilt-free fun.*

Bruni Kobbe

Ukiah

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THEN & NOW

Editor:

We should note the Great Pyramid at Giza was built in an estimated 20 years. The number of stones moved by hand is over 2.3 million, and they weighed on average more than a ton. The footprint is 13 acres, rising to over 480 feet. It’s still standing firm after 4,500 years. On Dec. 23, The Press Democrat noted, “After two decades of construction, widening of Highway 101 between Marin and Sonoma counties is set to substantially wrap in mid-2025” (“As Highway 101 widening nears end, focus shifts to transit”). The cost was $767 million. Thankfully in modern times we have all the heavy equipment we need to add a single lane, rivers of concrete and, more important, a bottomless pit of taxpayer money to match the ancients’ time frame.

I wonder if it will last 30 years.

Tim McFarlin

Santa Rosa

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GET EMOTIONAL, DEMS

Editor,

Democrats need to emphasize something emotional, like fear, to garner votes, but I don’t think climate change is the issue.

First, climate change isn’t immediate to individuals in the way that the loss of a job (or a pet) is. Even people whose lives are uprooted by wildfires, floods and other natural effects of climate change don’t feel that any government is responsible.

Second, climate change is a global issue, and no single government or country can effect meaningful change.

Third, any change that is possible won’t produce effects until years or decades from now — far beyond current voters’ perception.

Better issues for Democrats to inspire fear are the real and immediate prospects of the failure of Social Security, the dismantling of Medicare and Medicaid, and the erosion of consumer protections we unconsciously rely on — like food safety and fair lending practices.

Alice Spears

San Francisco