- Mazie Malone’s Kind Hearts Initiative
- Mendo’s Old Water Tower Is Not Salvageable As Is, Where Is
- No Sleight Of Hand
- Crumb Clarifies
- Enforce Fireworks Laws
- Skyhawk’s Doing Okay
- Scary Consequences
- The Great Wheel Of Life
- Sanders & Crockett
- Fascism At Home & South America
- Not As It Seems
- The Diff
MAZIE MALONE’S KIND HEARTS INITIATIVE:
I am excited to share this update with AVA readers. After years of advocacy and direct community support, I’ve launched a grassroots project called Kind Hearts Initiative. It’s now live and accepting support.
Full details: https://givebutter.com/kindheartsinitiative
Kind Hearts Initiative: A Community Wellness Project
Kind Hearts Initiative is a grassroots community wellness project offering person-to-person care—no conditions, no judgment.
Our services include:
- A family support group for loved ones navigating the system around serious mental illness
- System navigation filling out forms (housing, benefits, ID, medical)
- Making important phone calls/family reconnections/check-ins
- Appointment assistance/management & reminders
- Giving directions & information for community resources
- Access to a power outlet to charge a phone or device
- Street outreach
- Offering water & light snacks
- Aid with communication/including written correspondence
- Providing a calm, caring space
- If someone scrapes their knee or cuts their hand, they can come get washed up and bandaged—no need for an ER visit
- When possible, people asking for support are encouraged to offer something back as a task or contribution of their choosing-honoring mutual care, not charity.
- Working toward a more connected and responsive system of care
We do this because so many people are falling through the cracks—especially those facing homelessness, serious mental illness and executive function challenges.
“This is care without conditions”
Kind hearts Initiative is not a non-profit. We are an independent, community powered project providing essential care and support without the red tape or barriers that prevent people from accessing services and interventions.
Your donation helps support the ongoing work, including coordination, administrative time, and outreach efforts.
Looking Ahead
This is just the beginning. In time, we hope to grow into a wellness center with offerings shaped by the community—volunteer-led, trauma-aware, and rooted in kindness.
Our Fundraising Goal
Our initial goal of $2,500 will fund the first three months of supplies, materials, and basic support items so we can open our doors, respond to needs, and build community trust right away.
We’re also seeking a small donated or low-cost space in Ukiah where people can drop in, sit down, and receive support. A room with chairs, a table, and a welcoming atmosphere would make it possible for us to offer care in a safe, steady environment—off the streets and out of survival mode.
If you have a space to offer or want to help us open the doors, please reach out to [email protected].
MENDO’S OLD WATER TOWER IS NOT SALVAGEABLE AS IS, WHERE IS
Letter to the Editor,
As one of the owners of the water tower located at 45040 Main Street in Mendocino, I can appreciate the feelings of those who are opposing its removal. My brothers and I, who acquired the property after our parents’ deaths, are as emotionally attached to this water tower as any Mendocino resident. We lived here when the water tower was located behind Mendosa’s Market, and we watched as it was disassembled, moved and rebuilt in its current location by Barry Cusick and Jim Coupe.
Quite honestly, we never dreamed that we would be requesting to remove this water tower. However, shortly after we acquired the property, we became aware of serious safety issues, including substantial decay in the main structural supports. We consulted licensed contractors about possible repairs and were told that the structure was beyond repair due to the extent of deterioration in its main supports. Hoping for another option, we hired a structural engineer to conduct a thorough inspection and make recommendations. His report concluded that the water tower could not be repaired and would need to be completely rebuilt.
Rebuilding the tower would necessitate bringing it up to current building codes, and would likely include a new concrete foundation, changes to the structure of the tower, and changes to the stairway. A project of this magnitude would also trigger ADA compliance, meaning that a lift would need to be added to provide accessibility to the upstairs restaurant. Because a lift cannot be incorporated into the open design of the water tower, we developed and submitted plans for alternate structures that would accommodate a lift. All of our proposals were rejected by the Mendocino Historical Review Board, leaving us with a structure that poses a significant threat to public safety.
Opponents of our attempts to rectify this situation have made accusations that the current condition of the tower is due to neglect by the owners. This is simply untrue. The previous owners made substantial repairs to the tower through the years, including increasing the size of the foundation and replacement and repairs to structural members and metal braces.
The current condition of the tower is not due to neglect, but to the continual exposure to moisture, which eventually causes decay, even in old-growth redwood. Three of the main support members have substantial decay at their bases, just as they did in the 70’s, fifty years after the tower was first built. At that time, it was purchased for $1.00 and relocated to its present location. The main supports were shortened to remove the rotted portions, and it was rebuilt in its current configuration. In this way, the water tower was preserved. Fifty years later, it is time to repeat the process.
We would be thrilled to have the water tower restored, however, as explained above, this cannot be accommodated in its present location. If an individual or group is interested in taking on this project, and willing to reconstruct the tower within Zone A of the Mendocino Historic District, we will have the tower dismantled and the wood delivered to that location. In this way, its legacy will be continued, and it will remain a part of the Mendocino community and viewscape.
Jennifer Raymond
Ferndale
LEE EDMUNDSON
Regarding Ms. Raymond’s offer to deconstruct the Main Street historic water tower and relocate its elements to another site: If you’re willing to spend that much money to underwrite such a proposed project — the cost of which would be considerable, I have no doubt — why not simply spend that money to repair, rehabilitate and restore the tower in its current location?
Doing so would avoid any Americans with Disabilities Act requirements, rehabilitate this historic iconic landmark, while satisfying both your needs as a property owner and the Mendocino community’s desire to preserve the tower in its current location.
Or are you just blowing smoke?
KATHY BAILEY
Lee, they explained that. To reconstruct and use it for the restaurant entrance, it would have to be ADA compliant, which means an elevator or some such that just can’t be worked into it. Now that we realize the water tower is not even in its original location, the offer of giving it away is reasonable. Heck of a climbing structure for a park?
SUPERVISORS VOTE 4-1 (Williams dissenting) to overturn the Mendocino Historical Review Board and let the Mendocino Tower owners take down the Tower/stairs, May 20, 2025 (Video of the Tower item starts at around 3:37… Concluding Board discussion is around 4:38.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrRqnK_Sp5I
Agenda Item 4g and extensive background information and attachments can be found at:
(Mark Scaramella)
NO SLEIGHT OF HAND
To the Editor (of Jim Shields’ Mendocino County Observer):
At risk of breaking the Observer’s Rule #1 (“Never get into an argument with people who buy their ink by the barrel.” —Mark Twain), here is a response to Mark Scaramella’s article that was reprinted in your Political Type article of Jun 19. There seems to be some misunderstandings. Referred to as a “budget-balancing shell game,” the author states that the $6 million carryover from this current year will be used to balance the budget, which just happens to be the amount of proposed savings from the strategic hiring freeze.”
The author must have heard some other meeting than the one I was in.
I appreciate Jim’s acknowledgement that the Supervisors would take issue with the comments.
- There was no amount attached to what the carry forward might be.
- It was proposed by the Executive Office to use any carry forward money for one time only capital projects such as repairing roofs.
- The Auditor Controller Treasurer Tax Collector suggested we use any carry forward to cover any gap in the strategic hiring plan’s proposed savings of $6 million which I thought was a reasonable idea. Staff clarified that the carry forward, which is unknown and won’t be realized until the books close, can be used as needed.
I believe that the strategic hiring freeze will be difficult to implement requiring cut backs to services and very tight departmental budgets.
Just to wrap this up, the carry forward will most likely not be anywhere near $6 million and is not being used as some sleight of hand. The Board is going to have to make ongoing hard decisions. If we make these hard budgetary decisions, we will reduce the budget by $6 million. There won’t be a need for the carry forward as back-up and we can use that money for much needed capital projects.
First up is cutting the Supervisors’ own budget. I proposed in April that we cut all out of state travel. Supervisors have spent over 100% over budget this year for travel expenses. Some was expected with two new Supervisors to on board and receive appropriate training. Yet three Supervisors went back to Washington in February and now two Supervisors are wanting to go to Philadelphia in July. If the Board is serious about cutting the budget, the first act is to say no to these requests and start cutting its own budget.
John Hachak, District 3 Supervisor
Willits
Mark Scaramella replies:
Apart from his obsolete cliché, Haschak undermines his own case by saying: “The Auditor Controller Treasurer Tax Collector suggested we use any carry forward to cover any gap in the strategic hiring plan’s proposed savings of $6 million which I thought was a reasonable idea. Staff clarified that the carry forward, which is unknown and won’t be realized until the books close, can be used as needed.”
Since we agree that the “strategic hiring plan’s proposed savings” is probably not going to be realized, I think it’s fair to say that, although the amounts may not be fully known, the carry forward, whatever it may amount to, will have to be used to backfill the vacancy gap to some degree, probably in the millions. That sounds like a shell game to me. Haschak is admitting they probably won’t make their vacancy targets and the carry forward will have to be used.
As I’ve said before, this method of budget balancing (on paper) with an essentially random hiring freeze (no matter what Haschak & Co. call it) is a bad idea. Instead, the Board should be 1. Paying a lot more attention to inceasing revenues, and 2. Looking at previous boards’ expense reduction methods (which included but did not depend entirely on hiring freezes). I applaud Haschak’s attempt to reduce Board expenses. But, 1. those proposals are basically symbolic because they are microscopic in size, and 2. even those minor proposals have not been picked up on by any of his cuts-for-thee-but-not-for-me colleagues.
CRUMB CLARIFIES
Editor,
I have read Dan Piependring’s review of Dan Nadel’s biography of me in the April 2025 edition of Harper’s magazine. Just to set the record straight, the “victim” who said, “You don’t cop a feel. You cop a ride,” Was a big strong woman who INVITED me to hop on her back and then danced around humming a tune just to show how easy it was for her. I was thrilled, of course, “pervert” that I am. She worked for the Parks Department in San Francisco and boasted of how part of her job involved carrying 90 pound sacks of manure which she said was no big deal for her! Wow! Oh, I love, big strong ladies.
In case you are unaware of it, there are many such women who actually enjoy being very strong and seem happy to show off their prowess to an appreciative male. Many of these strong women have told me that it was refreshing for them to finally meet a man who was so attracted to them for their powerful physiques, and they would often eagerly volunteer to show what they could do. Of course, I had to no end of ideas and suggestions for them to do!
A lot of men who are sexually attracted to strong women (most, perhaps) desire to be dominated by them. But I am the opposite. I like to sexually dominate them! I love it when they let me “conquer” them, when I know full well that there’s no way that I, a skinny weakling of a male, could overpower them against their will. And yes, many strong women are sexually submissive, and want to be “objectified”and ordered about in sex play. Many times they would say things like “Don’t hold back,” or “Do your worst.” They knew they could stop me if they wanted to.
Just so you know, I never, ever physically “abused” any woman in real life – only in the comics – except for this one time I broke a chair over Kathy Goodell’s back. But she was undaunted while I caused a bloody gash on my own head in the act. She and I had some fierce fights in those days. She was a ho-tempered woman, but also extremely passionate sexually. Aline, too, was very strong and once gave me a black eye for something flippant that I said. I wouldn’t think of hitting her back. In fact, I cried. She was a bit drunk at the time.
Robert Crumb.
Suave, France.
RE CRUMB, A READER NOTES:
One of the first people we met in Ukiah when Michael Miller and I arrived here was Susan Bell. At the time, she was installed in what now is the BBQ joint on Perkins Street where she was heading the formation of the first Ukiah Community Center in an old, decrepit, dark and beer-smelling bar. She was, in my mind a fabulous Amazon — tall, and made taller by wearing heeled boots. I remember looking at a photo of her carrying a man in her arms — said man being R. Crumb. She was friendly with Crumb and his then wife, Dana. There’s no way any guy would have been carried around by Susan unless she was in on the joke. So, maybe Crumb is being truthful in his letter to the editor.
ENFORCE FIREWORKS LAWS
Editor:
A startling explosion near my home reminded me that the Fourth of July is around the corner. I used to enjoy the holiday, but in recent years I have come to dread it. Not only have the explosions begun earlier every year the number of households setting off illegal explosives seems to have grown.
The excessive noise affects humans, pets and other animals. Dogs can sustain damage to their hearing organs. The noise causes fear and anxiety in some humans and animals. The frightening noise has caused animals to be injured or killed when fleeing.
Like many pet owners, I try everything possible to reduce the frightening effects of these explosions on my pets. It is impossible to drown out the loud cracking sounds that replicate gun shots. Many pet owners purchase prescription drugs for their pets to reduce the anxiety produced by the explosions. The need to drug our pets to protect them from illegal activity is absurd. This should not be the norm.
Relatively few households create this annual, weeks long, excessive noise that affects many households. The law on the purchase and use of illegal explosives needs to be enforced.
Barbara Gay
Santa Rosa
SKYHAWK’S DOING OKAY
Editor:
June 18 was the 7 years anniversary of my nearly fatal stroke. I’m pleased to say that it WAS the anniversary, didn’t occur to me until several hours into my day, I’m pleased because maybe, over time, it will just become something that happened to me. I have learned a lot from the experience, and although I hope my body recovers more fully (I still don't have use of my left hand, and my “walking” is a shuffling hobble, and I often use a walking stick), but the excitement of still being here after such a close call, is still strong, but the strange humor of this realm, is something I’m still navigating.
The Universe is a very loving place, but it also inherently has a strange, dark humor to it, for example my stroke hit me on June 18, 2018, local political nerds will recall it was during my runoff campaign for the 5th District Supervisor seat) they flew me to SF to place a drain in my head. That surgery saved my life, but in the weeks after I was not conscious and was experiencing a NDE (near death experience). The first thing I “remember” I open my eyes but I do not know where I am. There is a man to my left, I manage to ask:” Where am I?”
Man: “You are in the hospital.”
Me: “What am I doing here?”
Man: “You had a stroke.”
Me: “You’re kidding me?”
Man: “No”
This interaction was in Late August, more than 2 months after the “event”
But I was later told I had been able to speak before that. Part of my NDE, I was in a cave in Montana, Many things happened there, but when people visited me or Doctors asked me where I was I would answer “Montana.” I don't remember that at all, I can only remember, the man telling me I was in the hospital! Strange humor, indeed!
I certainly did not wake up that morning thinking ”Gee, maybe I will die today.” And I certainly did not think the stroke would be the end of my marriage. But as the country song says, “If you want to hear someone laugh, tell God your plans.” In Native American lore, Coyote is the great trickster.
But I am doing well. If someone had told me years ago where my life was headed, I would not have wanted to hear it! But, here I am, the most important thing are my teen twin daughters Inyo and Kiara. They are both doing well. They are good students, and absolute aerial rock stars with Circus Mecca, and Flynn Creek circus, heading into their senior year, and considering what their adult lives might be !
I have several projects I’m excited about, I started a children's youtube channel called “Mr. Skyhawk’s Nest.” It is intended to be a safe educational online space for kids, although we only have a few episodes up so far. More are coming, and county people are likely aware that until recently I was a 30-plus year Public Affairs programer with KZYX, most recently doing “Universal Perspectives.” But I recently resigned, My ethics could not tolerate the current regime, in which a passive BOD allows an unqualified and tyrannical Station Manager, to run roughshod over the station. So I’m thinking of going podcast.
If anyone would like to support me in these or other projects, I’ve set up a Patreon page.
Click this link: https://www.patreon.com/chrisskyhawk?fan_landing=true and click membership options.
My life has become very mystical and contemplative, people who monitor local affairs are quite familiar that I will often raise my voice about things that bother me, but this quote has become my guiding principle: “Wisdom is knowing I am nothing, Love is knowing I am everything, and between the two my life moves.” — Nisargadatta Maharaj
Thank you, everybody.
Chris Skyhawk
Fort Bragg
SCARY CONSEQUENCES
Editor:
Most Americans, including members of Congress, haven’t read the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” but they should — because beyond its headline promises lies a fundamental threat to our constitutional balance. Modeled in part on the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, this bill shifts unprecedented power to the executive branch, effectively sidelining Congress and the courts.
It would allow the president to remove civil servants at will, overhaul federal agencies without oversight and control how laws are interpreted and enforced. This would undermine the vital separation of powers that protect our democracy from authoritarian drift.
Such consolidation of power risks more than politics. It jeopardizes Social Security, Medicaid and health care access by gutting Affordable Care Act protections. It threatens environmental conservation by stripping regulations. And it could cripple scientific research by replacing expertise with ideology.
This isn’t just another partisan tax bill — it’s a framework to permanently reshape our government’s structure and mission. Before it becomes law, we owe it to ourselves and future generations to at least read a condensed version and think critically about its consequences.
Bill Mashek
Forestville
THE GREAT WHEEL OF LIFE
Editor:
More than meets the eye…
Recently my husband and I witnessed an older woman with a walker suffer a mishap that ended with her sitting on a curb, unhurt but unable to get up. We rushed over to help, but the task was too much for us. Then I heard from behind me, “I can help,” and another, “I can help.” In an instant, we were surrounded by helpers. Seconds later she was up and on her way.
The experience made me feel good about people. We were going our separate ways when a car came up. After maneuvering around us, the driver called out, “Get out of the f---ing road!” Well, there went that good feeling. I wished I could have told him, “You don’t have the whole story. This group of complete strangers spontaneously came together to help someone.” Maybe if he knew what happened, he would have been nicer. Then it hit me. Maybe there was more to his story. Maybe he was dealing with his own emergency, and we were in his way. Maybe he is usually a very kind person. Or not. I’ll never know. There’s always more than meets the eye, and we do well to withhold judgment.
Susan Barich
Santa Rosa
SANDERS & CROCKETT
AVA,
The quote from Bernie Sanders in the June 29 edition sounds like an excerpt from his appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast.
Here is a link to the podcast on YouTube
https://youtu.be/mYVzme2fybU?si=Oid1A374NVIYBC_s
While listening to the Sanders interview, I noticed that Charlie Crockett was on the previous episode of the podcast. Charlie is a musician from Texas whose popularity really took off while he was living in Mendocino County. I was fortunate to have seen him perform at tiny local venues while he was on his way up. Crockett is now a superstar. Here’s a link to the Charlie Crockett episode.
https://youtu.be/9nK4g6vgRDg?si=UftRj3ew0Boouq6-
Hope you’re doing well Bruce.
Monica Huettl
Redwood Valley
FASCISM AT HOME & SOUTH AMERICA
Editor,
“The rule of law.” Donald Trump and Pam Bundi voiced that phrase to validate their deportation policies. Yes, they follow laws enacted by Trump’s executive orders, but Congress and the judicial system should determine whether those statutes are fair and just.
On June 27, 2025, the Supreme Court allowed Trump to circumvent Congress and the Judicial Branch with his Executive Orders. Judges can no longer stall his mandates with injunctions. Donald Trump can sign an Executive Order, implement its policies, and get away with them until a court determines their legality. Once a ruling comes about, Trump’s Justice Department can appeal,
Trump’s Judicial Department is using accusations as convictions, and deporting immigrants to jails in countries they are not citizens of. I assume they are doing this to avoid Due Process here and abroad. The Trump administration is treating refugees from South American countries like political prisoners of this country. Why?
Though this country has never been an ideal example of its constitution, we are getting further from our base. Instead of examining the problem, the Trump administration is implementing policies to squash a reaction to corrupt South American regimes. The difference between a concentration camp and a prison is due process. Trump is sending our immigrants to concentration camps. Why?
Tom Fantulin
Fort Bragg
NOT AS IT SEEMS
Editor,
Wild ideas out of Sacramento aren’t new. But I’m deeply concerned by a bill that hurts a little-known segment of Californians. AB 928 is being sold as a crackdown on cockfighting and associated activities, which have been illegal under federal and state law since 2003 (“To protect poultry, end bird fighting,” May 29). Cockfighting is terrible, and it’s admirable that Assemblyman Chris Rogers agrees that it needs to stop. But in reality, AB 928 will force law-abiding farmers and hobbyists to prove they aren’t cockfighters to avoid punishment.
His bill seeks to circumvent our fundamental constitutional right of innocent until proven guilty. It assumes you are guilty and gives no clear path for how a legal rooster owner could prove they were not participating in illegal activities. It also deprives an accused of the right to a public defender.
The un-American premise of being branded guilty without proof is as off base as saying anyone who owns a pit bull is guilty of dog fighting. That’s what AB 928 seeks to do for those who own roosters. If you have more than 25 roosters, you must be a cockfighter simply because of the number of birds you own.
Instead of strengthening existing penalties or increasing the crime from a misdemeanor to a felony, AB 928 will put small poultry operators out of business.
Stacy Lane
Eureka
THE DIFF
To the Editor:
In the 1960s, we disagreed about whether the Vietnam War was worth the casualties. But we agreed that there were many casualties. We accepted facts.
Now, we disagree about facts. People reject election results, vaccine efficacy and other things that are well documented to be true.
It is the dispute over reality that makes today much worse than the 1960s.
Alan Rutkin
Great Neck, New York
Kathy Bailey entirely misses my point.
There is a world of difference between completely Replacing the water tower and simply repairing, restoring and rehabilitating the existing historic structure.
Move the tower across the street onto public land. I’ve sat through these meetings — if they are moving it, it is because that option IS cheaper. Just think about the fact that the loudest critics for this are realtors, not historic district property owners who know how much this shit costs.