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Letters 2/17/2025

By AVA News Service on February 17, 2025

ADDRESSING ILLEGAL CULTIVATION

The following is a letter from a Round Valley community member to the Round Valley Municipal Advisory Council (RVAMAC). This letter, a few others from community members, and the issues and concerns expressed were discussed at length in the meeting on February 5, 2025. The RVAMAC forwarded this, and another similar letter, plus one of their own, to just about every regulatory authority with possible jurisdiction.

Lew Chichester

Round Valley

MAC

Feb 5, 2025

I recently submitted a letter to voice my concern about the lack of knowledge locally about the mechanisms created at the County and State levels that should/could be used to address the many unregulated cultivation sites on private property in Covelo/Round Valley.

It is my view that many of the issues we see here have been caused by the scaling up of cannabis cultivation with the passing of Prop 64. Unfortunately, in our community the use of “the abatement” mechanism I described in that letter has not been wide spread and the local community has become overrun with unregulated cultivation operations. What’s more local people seem to have different interpretations of the regulations—like for example there is a misconception that the rules under Prop 215 or “medical marijuana” still exist and that you are still allowed to cultivate 25 plant gardens without penalty. This is erroneous and Prop 64 eliminated Prop 215 (which was its intention). Furthermore, many local people argue this point but also have expanded their operation to commercial scale, light dep operations, which is not legal without myriad legal items being proven over the course of years. I still do not have my permanent licensing from the state despite being in good standing for nearly 8 years.

The issue I have, as a regulated cultivator, is why do we continually have to prove that we are not impacting the environment though self-reporting and paid agreements with agencies like the Water Board or CDFW, while our neighbors cultivate without agreements and without paying taxes and often are never contacted by the Planning and Building Department or the DCC (Department of Cannabis Control)?

We have heard the Sheriff say at the MAC meeting that the DCC has some oversight on the use of “abatement” or the tactic whereby the agency sends a property owner a letter telling them to remediate the unregulated cultivation on the property immediately either by joining a permitting program or ceasing all cultivation operations and brining the property back to its original state OR face a 10k/day fine and having a lien placed on the property. However, the suggestion is that either the Planning and Building Department or the DCC or both are not following through with this tool in many cases and my question is why?

Why does our community continually have to accept the narrative that the County and the Sheriff don’t have enough resources to address unregulated cultivation, when the CA cannabis industry is worth Billions a year, and local regulated cultivators are being taxed and regulated out of existence, while just a stone’s throw away an unregulated cultivator is allowed to profit, sometimes for years without any issue? Our community deserves answers, and it also has to accept that some of our friends and neighbors are perpetuating this problem by leasing their properties to people to run unregulated cannabis operations. At some point we need to address the reality that unregulated cultivations are bringing too many problems to the community and that the environmental and social justice issues they bring are not acceptable any more.

The community also deserves to understand the regulatory mechanisms that are available and when a citizen reports an unregulated cultivation the regulatory agencies need to react in a reasonable time and use the only mechanism that works, abatement. We have heard too many excuses from our BoS rep and the Sheriff in my opinion. The town needs a reporting mechanism that will get results from Planning and Building and or the DCC.

Proposition 64 was hailed as a way end the “War on Drugs” mentality toward cannabis cultivation and use. In our community, this Proposition has caused significantly more harm to the environment and the community than Proposition 215 did. One reason is the scale of cannabis cultivation has skyrocketed in comparison to the medical days of cultivation, where plant counts were the main regulatory consideration. Now canopy size is the measurement de jour and what I can see is that if a regulated person can cultivate a 10k sf garden and also have 12k sf of “nursery” space (legally) the unregulated operators basically mirror these operations and hope that they will fly under the radar by acting as if they are regulated farms. Since the County and State are not communicating with us in a meaningful way, many people are left believing that any of these cultivations could be “legal.” As a legal operator, this has led to negative feelings toward ALL cultivators (in my opinion).

For the 8 years that I have participated in this regulatory form of cannabis cultivation. I have heard many local people claim to be in the regulated cannabis community as well, but are not actually. Also, over this time, many, many, local cultivators who tried to participate in regulated cannabis, but because the regulations were being invented while people were trying to follow the guidelines, it became clear to many that the plane was being build while it was in the air, which is to say the system was faulty and it has caused unbelievable damage to the people who tried to follow the regulated path. Mainly the loss of livelihood has led to a mass migration and a mass sale of now unusable properties, which has led to a massive devaluation of our local lands and is also ripe for reintroduction of unregulated cannabis.

I would like to see the MAC support educating the community on regulated cannabis and why it’s important. If the community is introduced to farmers who are following the numerous guidelines while also paying taxes and generally being good citizens, this could lead to a more supportive narrative when discussing regulated cannabis operators. Regulated cultivators are expected to reduce their impact on their neighbors, the community and the environment (all good thigs), but are continually told that there is little to be done about an unregulated cultivation that may be just over the fence from them. This type of double standard by the entire regulatory community has destroyed the mom and pop cultivators in this region while simultaneously promoting the growth of the unregulated industry, which is leading to incredible destruction not ever seen in this industry. Some people will try and claim otherwise but since Prop 64 the growth of multi-crop operations (aka Deps) the unregulated canopy in this region has grown by 100’s of times and the environmental issues have become all too common.

I believe the most important issue to tackle is that of the Tribal and heirship lands, which have no known answers for solving the issues we are seeing. The pollution, that is not limited to the cultivation area, has to be addressed by all the Regulatory Agencies involved. The argument that there is some sovereign law that supersedes the general public’s right to exist in a healthy environment free of anti-social behavior such as dumping, trafficking in humans and dangerous drugs, of violence, of dumping animals or impacting the life cycles of wild animals are all issues that bleed over these imaginary lines and harm everyone in the community.

Finally, the public continues to blame “the Cartel,” a euphemism for Latin American people, we are actually being exploited by numerous other undocumented or foreign interlopers, who have both regulated cultivations and businesses as well as covert operations all over this town. We have to be less biased in our assessment of who we accept as unregulated operators in this community and simply draw the line where we need to expect anyone and everyone who operates in cannabis be expected to be following the same rules for operating.

Covelo needs a vital, regulated cannabis industry to help get the economy back on track. Expecting the regulators to do their jobs and support our community is the first step.

SCORE

Editor:

(My unpublished ICO letter. A different take on the recent city council meeting than Mr. Wasserman, whose letter defending Mr. Hansen and congratulating reporter Cuesta was published instead? Not enough space for differing views, I guess.)

It seems that reporter Anthony Cuesta and I were at two very different Point Arena City Councils on January 28. I was in the physical location of the meeting, and Cuesta was, where? On line or on Zoom, I guess, because his headline about SCORE's rejection on the consent calendar was barely mentioned in passing during the 2 hour plus meeting.

Two items were actually important. First, Peggy Ducey's excellent powerpoint presentation thoroughly explaining how the city has come from $40K in the bank a year ago to $400+K today. How could that be overlooked? And secondly, a series of important public comments during the agenda item about enforcing current health and safety ordinances in the city.

Maybe your reporter was confused by the dysfunctional media process with three platforms running - in person, on Zoom, and simultaneous text/chat. It's like two sources talking at the same time. How crazy is that?

I realize that SCORE seems to be flypaper for media attention, but please balance your coverage with at least one foot in the real world.

Carol Wilder

Point Arena

ILLEGAL POT BIZ TAKING MENDO DOWN WITH IT

Most of us can agree that as the cannabis cultivation economy has devolved in the last decade or so our community, our environment, and our land base have all been negatively affected. Many of us have participated in numerous discussions regarding the present situation and we all want some resolution and a positive outcome.

Findings:

1) Illegal, non-permitted cannabis cultivation sites are in plain view all over Round Valley and in the near hills. Permitted cannabis cultivation has any number of costs, requirements and inspections associated with the legal permitting process. Illegal, non-permitted grows do not have similar production expenses and are operating at an unfair advantage. Enforcement of the existing regulations are consistently exercised on the permitted grows, while the illegal grows are often disregarded by the authorities with jurisdiction.

2) There are many seemingly abandoned former grow sites all over the valley. These abandoned sites have fallen down fences, broken down vehicles, household garbage, old plastic hoop houses, derelict house trailers, and left over equipment from cultivation and processing.

Both of the above findings cannot be realistically denied and most of us would want to have these two related issues abated.

Proposal:

1) Determine if there are existing ordinances, policies and procedures at the county and/or state level which address the impacts of these findings and have in place an abatement program.

2) If yes, start initiating the procedure to require the land owner of record of a site not in compliance with these ordinances and policies to within a reasonable time frame cease and desist.

3) If existing ordinances, policies and procedures do not presently exist at the county and/or state level we must encourage/demand that the legal framework be established to allow for abatement of the illegal grows and derelict properties.

4) Put in place the method, the equipment, the personnel, the contractors, and the staff to begin a comprehensive program to physically remove all the debris from properties which are not in compliance with the ordinances intending to regulate cannabis cultivation and responsible property management.

5) Bill the property for the entire expense to abate the hazards and clean up the property

6) If within a reasonable time frame the county is not compensated begin the legal process to lien the title, with the intent to deprive the scofflaw owner any remaining rights to the property.

7) Put the property up for auction, with the lowest acceptable bid the cumulative and entire cost of cleanup.

Considerations:

This proposal will only begin to solve some of the related illegal cannabis cultivation problems on properties within the county/state jurisdiction. Tribal properties would not be affected.

— Lew Chichester, February 7, 2025, Covelo

SWEENEY AT STANFORD IN THE 60s

Hello AVA,

I read Bruce Anderson’s Michael Sweeney article (“I Bombed Judi Bari” Mike Sweeney as told to Bruce Anderson) with much interest, not realizing it was a parody. But I understand your motivation.

Michael Sweeney’s ties to Venceremos go back to Stanford in 1969. He “took over” the ‘Stanford Chaparral’ in the Fall of 1969, turning the magazine into an “underground press” style tabloid.

He is on a very short list of people that I think must have known “Dick Geikie.” I put that name in quotes because I believe it is a fake name for Richard Gaikowski, who wrote for the SF Good Times as Dick Gaik. There is some overlap between Good Times and the Chaparral, using some of the same photos and cartoonists. Sweeney wrote an article for Good Times.

I also suspect Sweeney was involved in the stealing of professor salaries out of Stanford’s Encina Hall in May 1969, and then turned it into a media prank in October 1969.

As for Zodiac, I have found Zodiac-Mikado items in the Stanford Daily in October 1969 that are either incredible coincidences, or the work of the perpetrator. If so, this individual not only was hanging around Stanford student publications, but worked on the night crew at the printers—placing marks on the print blanket. There are additional marks on an article about the stolen salaries, I believe intentionally placed there, and further tying the theft of the salary to this story.

As for Paul Stine, I think people incorrectly categorize him as “cab driver,” when he should be viewed as PhD candidate, a grad student. My theory of the Zodiac case is that he wanted to befriend grad students to gain access to computer time. Paul Stine also lived 2 doors from the Haight Switchboard, which was working closely with Good Times during the summer and fall of 1969.

Other researchers allege Gaikowski went to the funeral of Paul Stine, but I have not verified this point.

In addition to finding several bylines for Dick Geikie in the Stanford Daily, I have found one in the Stanford Chaparral, but that issue is indeed a fake issue, placed into the Chaparral’s archives, as well as Stanford’s Green Library. The issue could be a “prank” or message document, I conjecture, having to do with the murder of Lynda Kanes in 1971 near Lake Berryessaa.

If my information is confirmed, I can place Sweeney in close contact to a Zodiac suspect and at precisely the time Zodiac starts talking about making bombs, in late October and early November 1969.

Some people who were on the scene in the early 70s told me that Venceremos used the Chaparral office as a base through the summer of 1974.

I would be most interested to hear what you think of all this.

Many regards,

James Bigtwin

New York, New York

WE BE BACK

Editor:

While watching the Ten O'clock News with Dennis Richmond and Elaine Corral back in the blurry halcyon days of changing diapers and working the night shift Dennis was doing a brief story on "Ebonics", which I guess was a thing for ten minutes back in the day. After finishing the Ebonics bit he starts the teaser they do so the viewer stays tuned: “Coming up, sports, weather and more… All that, WHEN WE BE BACK,” as deadpan as humanly possible, except instead of looking into the camera he's staring down at his desk shuffling papers and whatnot, no doubt in an extreme effort not to bust out laughing at his own joke. If Elaine had done that she would have been fired posthaste. I still laugh when I think about it.

Thanks Dennis, Godspeed.

Richard Reeves

Oakland

OVERDRAFTING MENDOCINO

AVA,

This is part of the appeal to the coastal commission on this groundwater act and a great increase in the volume of the school districts water project. The full appeal is available Through county planning. Had several years where my shallow hand dug well has been compromised and buying water from private businesses. Thanks for your consideration and we’re just trying to get the situation out to the public

Rich Jung

Mendocino

Why Are Your Neighbors Appealing The Planning Commission Decision To Permit The Extraction Of 600,000 Gallons Of Groundwater From A Critically Over-Drafted Groundwater Basin?

The appeal is submitted to the California Coastal Commission to prevent the Mendocino Unified School District from expanding its present water system five-fold, extracting 600,000 gallons of groundwater from County designated “Critical Groundwater Area” and within the State designated “Critically Overdrafted Basin” without adequate groundwater testing.

The best way to explain why ten protestants have appealed the school district’s project is to invoke the “tragedy of the commons.” The proposed 9-well well-field and two four-story tall holding tanks threaten to reenact what has happened so often in the past to free and open exploitation of common, communally held resources. In England, three or four hundred years ago when every village had a common grazing ground, the most powerful people – those with more cattle – over-grazed the commons and permanently ruined them for everyone else. The appeal is an attempt to prevent that from happening in Mendocino.

All well owners in this aquifer, all water users in this community, share in the very scarce groundwater.

Because we want that natural resource preserved, not ruined, everyone’s right of use must be tempered by reasonable sharing. For over a century, California common law has repeatedly established in court cases a reasonable way to protect groundwater. If you own land, you can use as much groundwater as you need to enjoy the fruits of that land, but unless there is extra water underground, you cannot use the extracted water off your property for other purposes. Water stays with the property in times of scarcity.

Think of what that means in Mendocino, where wells go dry regularly. Do we have extra, surplus water in the ground? We think it is the county’s duty to require the school district to show that there is extra water, but neither the county and nor the school district has done that in spite of the seven years spent on planning, project revisions, and permitting.

Following common law, both the state and the county have passed regulations and codes to protect our groundwater, especially on the coast, to guard against a tragedy of the commons. Normally, CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act), the Coastal Act, the Coastal Element of the county Plan, county development codes, and even Mendocino City Community Service District ordinances require any development which depends on groundwater to establish a test well and use the test well to demonstrate the sufficiency of water (that the planned project will not debase the area’s groundwater levels) and to produce a hydrological study showing the impacts of the project on the aquifer. Only after this “proof of water” process can the project be considered as a whole for permitting.

However, the County has, for a second time, approved the school district’s project without prior demonstration of surplus water in the ground. In addition, it has approved a well as a production well without any proof of water. The County has given up the whole idea of proof of water and with it protecting our common right to water.

As a result, the project threatens all neighborhood wells because the 9 wells are located on about 6 acres of land in the middle of a residential area where groundwater is so critical that lot sizes allow one residential well every 5 acres. It threatens all wells downstream, west of the K-8 school, because the well-field may intercept groundwater flowing to the wells in the village west of Highway 1. It threatens the designated environmentally sensitive habitat area wetlands which form the headwaters of Slaughterhouse Gulch and Creek since the wells are all inside the normal 100 feet buffer that supposedly protects the wetlands. And, because it impacts the Slaughterhouse watershed, it threatens the water source for Hills Ranch.

The project simply makes no sense. The school district says that it will draw water from the aquifer during drought to give to well owners whose wells have gone dry because that same aquifer has gone dry. We would like to see some evidence, even a reasonable argument, that this is not magical thinking.

Along with lack of adequate testing, the appeal states other serious concerns. The school district has not demonstrated a need for the number of wells or the size of the storage facilities; it violates the mandatory height limits for structures in a designated highly scenic area next to a historic hiking trail; it has not established criteria and costs for distributing drought relief water (to those from whom it has taken the water?); it has repeatedly violated public participation and notification laws; it relies on demonstrably false declarations and claims; it refuses to acknowledge cumulative impacts from its many related projects. As in many classic cases of water grabs, the project avoided the required process of public, open scrutiny provided in the California Brown Act.

Hence, the appellants asked the Coastal Commission to consider the substance of the Appeal and either to send the matter back to the County with a mandate to comply with the state Constitution as well as with local and state laws or to hear and to judge itself the school district’s application.

In its closing statement, the appellants wrote:

Groundwater availability is crucial if not paramount to the balance which the Coastal Act tries to maintain between preservation and development. Lack of water has stymied development and population growth, but it has also protected the area’s open spaces and large parcels as well as the forests and streams that characterize the area’s landscape. More groundwater dependent development will result in a harmful imbalance. Thus, serious and competent scrutiny of all water projects is necessary for preserving the life we know and enjoy.

This is especially true today under the threat of global warming, uncertain and altered climatic conditions, and the pressure of migration to the Coast. Ill conceived water projects are, possibly, the single greatest threat to the Coastal balance. The violation of the requirement for proof of water may seem like a small matter, but its consequences can substantially impact both humans (the overlying water rights holders of the whole Mendocino community) and the natural environment (the wetlands and the scenic beauties)--as well as ultimately injuring the tourist industry upon which so much of our local economy depends.

Decisions about water projects affect not just local lives but the public at large. We appeal to the Coastal Commission to ensure that the public will of Californians, expressed in the referendum that created the Coastal Act, is not thwarted by misconstruction of the law, misinformation, or nonfeasance and inadequate discussion.

For a full list of allegations, please read the appeal itself. You can request a copy of the appeal (Appeal of UM_2024-0008) from the staff of the North Coast office of the California Coastal Commission: NorthCoast@coastal.ca.gov.

Claudia Boudreau. Mary Falkenrath, Marc Laventurier, Rich Jung, Maggie O’Rourke, Norman de Vall, Monica Steinisch, Todd Walton, Max Yeh, Appellants.

SOCIAL SECURITY & CUTS

Editor,

I had need to call Social Security recently for something that couldn't be handled online. The recording said the wait time would be over two hours, and offered to call back when my place in line was reached, noting that it could be late at night(!). FIVE hours later, they called back, by which time I'd reached our local Ukiah office and had the problem solved.

This morning I read that cuts are in the offing at Social Security which should make it even more efficient.

My unsolicited advice is that if you have ANY business with the federal government., do it now, or prepare to pretend you're living in the old USSR.

(Side story: An elementary-school friend of mine got a job working at a Jewish resettlement nonprofit in Manhattan. A major problem for them was office space, because the people in line for services wouldn't leave -- they didn't believe it when told to come back next week for the keys to your apartment (or similar).)

Jean Arnold

Fort Bragg

ELIMINATING USAID

Editor:

My father was city manager in Richmond, Los Altos, Fontana and Lake Elsinore. In 1967, he joined the U.S. Agency for International Development. He learned Vietnamese and worked in Vietnam for seven years, instructing people on how to organize roads, create sewage plants and other projects. He disseminated information on how to store, sanitize and use water efficiently. How is that evil?

He also worked in Indonesia, Upper Volta (Burkina Faso) and Mauritania. To be nearby, we lived in the Philippines, Taiwan, Sumatra (Indonesia), Singapore, Upper Volta and Morocco. We gained understanding of ethnic and cultural differences, learned foreign languages and ate exotic food. I’m grateful for that opportunity.

My heart breaks for career foreign service officers and their families who have dedicated themselves to helping others live better lives. Now, they have been uprooted and told to go back to the U.S. Elon Musk has said they are evil. Not only the families of the U.S. foreign service but all the people in these countries have lost a connection to a better life.

Musk has all the money in the world. Why isn’t he doing something to make the world a better place? Selfishness. There is no honor in not helping others.

Megan Hope

Guerneville

CUT DRUG COSTS

Editor:

Medicare is a substantial portion of the federal budget, and drug costs are a substantial portion of the Medicare budget. Drug costs in America are substantially higher than those paid by the rest of the world and contribute to bankruptcy in America caused by medical bills. If Donald Trump and Elon Musk truly want to make an impact on government spending, they should mandate by executive order that the United States will only pay the price for drugs that is paid on average by the rest of the world. Put people first.

Joe Clendenin

Santa Rosa

WASTING WATER

Editor:

Since it takes only “common sense” to manage the water supply for 39 million people and farms that supply over half the nation’s produce, the president has appointed himself chief water engineer and ordered the Army Corps of Engineers to release billions of gallons of water to help fight wildfires in Southern California.

The facts that the fires are mostly out, that the released water is on the other side of a mountain range and has no way to reach the areas endangered by fire, and that the water in the opened dams was mostly intended for agriculture later in the year are irrelevant details important only to so-called “experts.”

Please don’t think for a minute that wasting billions of gallons of water in California is the work of a narcissistic fool. Rest assured you can count on the president for more such “common sense” governance. And if there’s a water shortage for agriculture this summer, I’m sure the president will explain how DEI is responsible.

Jack Ziegler

Santa Rosa

WHY FAITHFULL’S FORGOTTEN FILM HAS A PLACE IN HISTORY

Editor:

I was disappointed in the recent obituary for the pop culture personality Marianne Faithfull (“Pop ingenue who became the epitome of a rock survivor,” Obituaries, February 1) that you did not write more about her brief career in the cinema industry.

While few recall her film works today, The Girl on a Motorcycle, released in the “revolutionary year” 1968 as my old colleague Christopher Hitchens always described it, has an obscure but significant place in artistic and literary history.

The film was based on the novel La Motocyclette, published in French in 1963, by Andre Pieyre de Mandiargues.

Mandiargues was the most important prose author included in the second generation of adherents of the Paris Surrealist Group. The novel represented a recognition by the Surrealists of the new sense of eroticism in western culture.

The author’s works were distinguished by a highly charged sexual imagination featuring sadomasochist and related themes. Given that Faithfull was the great-great niece of Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, from whose name the term masochism was derived, the coincidence of her participation in the film was notable.

Stephen Schwartz, Emeritus Director, Centre for Islamic Pluralism

San Francisco

NO ON HIPCAMP ZONING

To: Mendocino County Planning Commission & Board of Supervisors

I am writing again to OPPOSE proposed changes to the Mendocino County General Plan to allow Transient Habitation — Low Intensity Camping in all zones of Mendocino County without even a minor use permit to address the multitude of concerns addressed in over 100 written negative responses to this inane proposal. I oppose this code amendment for all the obvious issues well addressed by others. I am not surprised that the Board of Supervisors completely ignored both the vocal and written input of hundreds of opposed constituents as well as ignoring our own Mendocino County Planning Staff precautions and hurdles to this proposed amendment. The BOS slipped in the back door their “Ratification of a Letter of Support for Senate Bill 620 (McGuire) Low Impact Camping” in a regular meeting back on September 10, 2024. This deceitful move is reminiscent of the CEO and Supervisors speedy 2024 eviction of the Veteran Service Office on Observatory Ave in Ukiah. Regarding this eviction former Supervisor McGourty told me to my face, “It’s a done deal Don but appreciate your comments.” How did that work out Mr. McGourty and Supervisor Haschak?

Here we go again! “Low Impact Camping”? Really?! This “Low Impact Camping” is AIRBNB cubed. My wife and I along with neighbors in November 2019 opposed a use permit (U-2017-0032) for an AIRBNB on a private road through our respective properties. The Planning Commission voted 5-0 to OPPOSE and denied the use permit. I strongly urge the Planning Commission and BOS review our presentation (a 25 page document) containing attachments addressing neighborhood safety, County enforcement and County/community legal liability issues. All of these concerns apply significantly more to what is now euphemistically so-called “Low Impact Camping.”

Why is the County even devoting time and resources to this issue? Was McGuire’s campaign given pledges? Is a cadre of out of work weed entrepreneurs grasping for a low ticket item to keep their gates open and pocket some loose-change for the laundromat? Or, is the County government now a shill for a Silicon Valley venture capital start-up, “HIPCAMP” with a present market cap of over 300 million dollars with investor’s self-stated goal to “monetize open space”? Investors and their declared company focus is to “Scale globally” (at present over 7 million registered HipCampers) and urge “Hosts” to upgrade their properties with “rentable structures,” “A-Frames & Cabins” offered as “add-ons.” HIPCAMP CEO on her way to an IPO states: “We will save the wilderness by disrupting it…” — as obscene as “we had to destroy the village in order to save it.” HIPCAMP’s goal is the commodification of “amazing outdoor, magical experiences.” The poster above the HIPCAMP CEO’s desk is a Walt Whitman line, “Resist Much. Obey Little.” Oh pleeze! Dear Walt turns in his grave as Joni Mitchell’s 1970 lyrics resonate, “Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone? They paved paradise and put up a parking lot…”

Thank you for your serious consideration to oppose this amendment to protect the “amazing outdoor, magical experiences” of living in Mendocino County — my experience for the past 55 years.

Don Shanley

Philo

HIP CAMPS

Editor,

From someone who had such a camp nearby on Cameron Rd in Elk, here are some additional concerns:

  • unattended burn piles between guests (I had to call CALFIRE)
  • accessing the camps off private driveways
  • trespassing on neighbors’ property
  • no running water; only water that’s is brought in
  • poor sanitation
  • visitors ignoring quiet hours
  • visitors allowing pets to relieve themselves on the private driveway and not cleaning it up
  • camp owners not onsite and cellphone service spotty
  • campfires built by naive city visitors
  • visitors getting lost and needing help from neighbors

Questions:

  • who monitors and enforces these camps?
  • what might the impact be on neighbors’ homeowners insurance?

Cindy Johnson

Elk

RE-NAMING FORT BRAGG

Edutor,

Maybe those who want to re-name the city of Fort Bragg can follow the example of US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth set when he brought back the name Fort Bragg using a different namesake.

"Hegseth says Fort Bragg is coming back, but with a twist…"

https://www.foxnews.com/us/hegseth-says-fort-bragg-coming-back-twist

Scott Ward

Redwood Valley

TRUMP & AI CONVERGE

Editor:

The rise of artificial intelligence and the election of Donald Trump have an interesting convergence. A friend who works in tech describes the tone of things written by AI programs as “confidently wrong.” That sounds like a good description of the next four years.

Frederick Weisel

Santa Rosa

ANOTHER CATASTROPHE IN GAZA?

Editor:

Is another Nakba — catastrophe — about to happen to Palestinians in Gaza? Is deranged power about to ethnically cleanse my people again? After 16 months of indiscriminate death and destruction by Israel on Gaza, will those poor people, whose unbelievable bravery and endurance and faith we have witnessed on our screens pulling their family members from under their bombed homes, some collecting their loved ones’ body parts in plastic bags, will they be starved out again until they leave Gaza for God knows where?

My family and over half the Palestinian population was driven out or fled massacres in 1948, and hundreds of thousands more were displaced in 1967 when Israel seized all of historical Palestine. And it’s never stopped since then. How long, O Lord? Have we not learned that stealing people’s land is not a solution and that oppressed people will always resist oppression?

Is Hamas the excuse? Violence against any human being anywhere is morally wrong and cannot be condoned. Yet violence must be analyzed and understood. Otherwise, the deadly cycle continues. Thirst for power and wealth and personal security will devour the poor and wretched until we come to our senses and rise up to stop it. There is another way, and coexistence can be possible.

Therese Mughannam-Walrath

Santa Rosa

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