- BENEFIT RECAP & THANKS
- THANKS & REDEDICATION
- SLIPPERY WHEN WET
- SEEMS WRONG
- FIND YOUR BLISS
- EMPTY THE BINS
- VULTURE v. CROW
- TURKEY’S THREAT TO BREAK THE BLOCKADE
- RICHARDSON GROVE DISCONNECT
- KRAUTHAMMER’S LIES
- ANOTHER MIRACLE CANCER CURE
- FROM PARNUM TO IONE
- MEMO OF THE WEEK
BENEFIT RECAP & THANKS
Dear Valleyites,
Here's the almost final update on the benefit for Charley and Mark: It's taken this long to sort out and add up all the contributions to these guys. The total money (cash and checks), receivable for the evening of the benefit is between $40,000 and $41,000, WOW, and it was a fun night too! To see all our faces together in support of these guys is a reaffirmation of who we are as people in this place. The benefit idea began as an offhand remark that snowballed into the usual anarchy that seems to be the way we get things done around here. Folks just took the idea and ran with it.
Everyone, and we mean EVERYONE, said yes of course I'll do that.
A few folks should get mentioned here though everybody ought to feel good whether you contributed time, donations or showed up and participated.
Dawn Ballantine kept the whole thing on track, spending, and still spending hours and hours organizing and accounting for all the donations and cash and checks flying around. By the way, there's still a couple thousand bucks out there from people who need to send their donations to Dawn, tax deductible checks made out to AV Ambulance Service, with the notation "We Care For Our Own" in the memo place, Box 915 Boonville 95415. We guarantee that ALL the money goes to these 2 guys.
Here's another special thanks, All the food servers contributed ALL their money to the benefit, tips, labor and expenses.
Another WOW, Alicia, Unity Club, Aquarelle, Bill Harper, and Paysanne (sp?). Taunia Green the Raffle Queen did much more than that, and it was great the way all the organizations contributed, the Fire Dept., Ambulance Service, Lions Club, Unity Club, and this newspaper too, Bruce ran all ads for free!
David Norfleet along with Greg and Andy went above and beyond making the Grange free and looking great. Bill Meyer, the Carnival King, added that certain wacky valley flair, especially the chicken poop Keno, oh yeah. Mark and Charley continue to improve. It's great to see Charley out and about. Mark is still in Sacramento getting lots of physical therapy.
Each guy has a long road ahead — we are not done. The money we raised won't begin to pay for all of their needs. For sure you can contribute money through the AVAS fund. In addition, if you have time and skills to offer over the coming months (this mostly for Mark), carpentry, OT or PT expertise, home care, legal or medical advocacy knowledge etc. please get in touch with: for Charley, Misha, 530/320-0960, or for Mark, Scarlet Newman 895-2541. Well done Anderson Valley, carry on as if it matters, it does. As ever and never before,
Captain Rainbow and the rest of the The Benefit crew
Anderson Valley
THANKS & REDEDICATION
Dear Editor,
I am writing to thank the people of Anderson Valley for their love and support in the aftermath of my recent accident. I am so moved and amazed by the generosity of this community.
I have seen our community come together for others when they have been sick or injured, but it feels different to be on the receiving end of it. So many people have told me that they have been thinking of me, praying for me, pulling for me. So many people have given me money to help pay my medical bills or offered to help in any way they could. Thank you.
I also want to thank everyone who came to the benefit for Mark Pitner and myself last Sunday. I especially want to thank everyone who organized it, helped run it, and donated to the auction.
Enough money has been raised for me to cover my medical and dental expenses, and it will not be very long until I will be able to work again.
I hear that Mark is doing well considering the severity of his stroke but he has a long road to recovery. Please continue to support him and give him your love in the months to come. Mark is a wonderful and gentle man. I had the pleasure of volunteering with him, staffing the ambulance on Sundays. Working with Mark is an honor I hope to have again before too long.
I have tried to give generously of my time and energy here in this community and elsewhere. To receive the generosity of others is a hard and wonderful gift. I will try to be worthy.
Yours,
Charlie Paget-Seekins
Boonville
SLIPPERY WHEN WET
To The Editor:
With the active Lodge Lightning Complex Fire in the Laytonville area and the ensuing massive firefighter response, the Willits Police Department responded to two reports over the weekend of water being taken from fire hydrants within city limits by water haulers.
In both cases, the water operators falsely claimed to be authorized to haul water for the Lightning Complex Fire. However, there is no standing right for any water truck to ever fill from any hydrant system unless there is an agreement with the water supplier.
One of the water operators reported by a witness was not located; the second operator was given a verbal warning and required to return the water to our plant. Fire officials were promptly notified and have removed the operators from the response team.
Further, fire officials have reported that some rather unscrupulous operators of water trucks are dummying up paperwork and painting numbers on their cabs to look like a hired resource in order to fill their trucks up without gathering much attention.
As well, water trucks that are “off the incident” (i.e., rest period) have been seen pulling water from the established water sources for incidents and are then selling the water for cash.
The City of Willits would again like to thank our community for being diligently watchful for water theft. Any suspicious activity should promptly be reported to the Willis Police Department by calling 459-6122.
Adrienne Moore, City Manager,
Willits
SEEMS WRONG
Dear Editor,
I am totally puzzled by the Health Center debacle. I have used its services since it was a hole in the wall next to Pearl’s; to the present awesome center it is today. Dr. Mark has always been the common denominator throughout all these years. There is so much that I don’t understand. So, I’ll stick to what I know. Through the years, Dr Apfel has been my family’s doctor. He has saved us countless trips over the hill. He’s done home visits, met us at the center on weekends to treat my wife, and saw my child late at night at his house to ease our worries. Dr. Mark is one fine country doctor, going far beyond the call of duty. Cutting back his hours doesn’t seem like a prudent idea. It doesn’t seem hardly right. Unless that is what he wants.
Perplexed,
Mike Brock
Boonville
FIND YOUR BLISS
Dear Editor,
I've asked my friend, who is a lawyer, about the problems we're facing at Yokayo Veterinary Clinic in Ukiah, and he said that the legal definition of the problem is "out of classification." Basically I told him that the manager, Bliss Fisher, is never around and that because so many people call in late all the time that we end up working what my lawyer friend calls "Out of classification" responsibilities and also hours that aren't being logged by Bliss.
I work up front as just a basic receptionist and then always do extra time in "back." I have repeatedly asked her to recognize hours that I worked through lunch or after hours because so many people have called in sick all the time. Her response is always "Okay sure, I'll take care of it." Yet, I never see those hours reflected on my paycheck even though I have asked her over and over to log these hours. I think the root problem is that she is NEVER around to address these issues of employee absences. So …? I don't know. How can a problem be solved if the manager is never around?
Anyways, thank you for listening. I hope something is done about this. I plan on looking up some unions and reporting this to them. I wouldn't mind joining one and rallying my fellow colleagues to do the same.
Name Withheld (employee at Yokayo Veterinary Center)
Ukiah
EMPTY THE BINS
To the manager/owner of Solid Waste of Willits, 351 Franklin Avenue, Willits, CA 95490
Dear Manager/Owner:
I am writing to inform you that on Sunday, June 15, I found the gate to the Boonville transfer station closed at 3pm in the afternoon with a sign saying that the facility was closed because the bins were full and could not accommodate any more refuse — and that on Sunday, August 3, at about 1pm in the afternoon, the attendant informed me that I could not leave my trash because the bins were again full. He did relent and let me drop off my refuse after I told him that I make a 30 mile round-trip from past Philo to bring my refuse to the transfer station.
The attendant informed me that he does notify your company on Saturdays that the bins are full but that haul trucks are not sent over to collect the refuse because of the cost. The operating hours for the transfer station are from 9am to 4pm on Sunday and I believe that it is not unreasonable to expect the bins to be emptied on Saturday to accommodate homeowners who travel from afar and who bring in refuse on Sundays. I would be grateful if you could attend to this problem.
Sincerely,
François and Ann Christen
Philo
VULTURE v. CROW
Editor,
Mr. T. Vulture is annoyed to the point of physically abusing and ejecting from his waterhole an innocent motorist who risked his life by swerving around vultures feeding on a dead animal in the road. Would Mr. Vulture be happier if the man had simply plowed into the birds? Are vultures, like yellow jackets and ground squirrels, cannibals?
Years ago a friend who worked in Kenya was eating lunch at a roadside cafe in the countryside. On the pavement, twenty or so vultures were busy gobbling up a large dead animal. The man knew that the custom of big-rig drivers in Kenya was not to steer around or brake for any obstruction that could be reasonably run over. So he waited a few minutes and sure enough a big truck smashed into the carcass, scattering flesh, bones, and vultures alive and dead, into the air and down the road. The surviving vultures immediately landed and resumed feeding. Another truck soon blasted into them and my friend surmised that the chain reaction continues to this day.
Vultures have a tough enough job to do without having their alleged defenders and namesakes harangue motorists who try not to kill them. Has Mr. Vulture ever so much as handled an injured relative? I picked one up recently that had been run over by a speeding moron, a probable graduate of the Vulture Driving Academy. The wheels had missed the bird and other than being ruffled and upset it had no visible injuries. It glared at me, panting through its open beak, as I moved it well off the road to recuperate. It would have thanked me, if its brain had been larger than a poppy seed. By contrast, my relatives the crows are also busy clearing the pavement of smaller gobbets, but you never see a dead crow on the road. Nimble and quick-witted rather than slow and dumb, they are always alert to hazards and leap into the air at the sight of vehicles, just in time to deftly crap on the windshield.
I hope that in the future Mr. Vulture will look more kindly on those of us who strive mightily and at great personal hazard to avoid injuring his dimwit relations.
Yrs,
Jay Williamson
Santa Rosa
TURKEY’S THREAT TO BREAK THE BLOCKADE
Dear Editor:
At some point Israel will withdraw its troops from Gaza and Hamas will stop firing rockets. Prime Minister Erdogan has been very harsh in his criticism and a couple of days ago he called Israel's action Hitler-like fascism. He has said that the next time Turkey sent an aid ship to Gaza it would be accompanied by Turkish warships. If he makes good on his threat that will break the blockade. The IDF is good at killing women and children but they would take a terrific beating if they try to take on the Turkish armed forces.
In peace,
James G. Updegraff
Sacramento
RICHARDSON GROVE DISCONNECT
Editor,
Richardson Grove disconnect due to lingo—
The disconnect between the public and Caltrans' Richardson Grove project largely stems from mischaracterizations of the potential benefits and risks. For example, local proponents have used the term "industry-standard trucks" for years, whereas everywhere else where allowing Surface Transportation Assistance Act truck access has been considered, the rigs are simple described as "oversize trucks" or more accurately, the largest trucks allowed on the Federal Highway System. These trucks are more prone to off-tracking (the rear wheels cross over the median line on turns), which will increase the risk of accidents on other windy sections of 101 and our local access roads.
Potential economic gains have been largely anecdotal. We do know that major national retailers favor STAA trucks, but there will be no additional hiring because those chains are already here. The local lily industry will save transportation costs, but they already dominate their market, so again, there will be no additional hiring. Unfortunately, there will be job losses in local trucking services.
Better safe than sorry.
Dave Spreen
Kneeland
KRAUTHAMMER’S LIES
Editor:
Our local paper has a letters’ editor, Dora Scardina, who is very open to informed letters on Israel/Palestine, although she has to run idiot ones, too. She ran this one from me yesterday which I thought would interest you.
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Editor,
Columnist Charles Krauthammer's column is a collection of lies.
Readers who contribute letters supporting Israel are woefully uninformed about the history and current issues of the area. But there's no excuse for you to print a collection of lies by syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer.
Let's take one "blindingly clear" truth (Krauthammer's words): Destruction of the greenhouses in Gaza when the Israeli settlements were removed.
The Israeli settlers had always receive benefits that touched every area of their lives: subsidized land and water, day care, lower taxes, and cheap Arab labor. When the settlers left Gaza they expected Israel to compensate them for leaving behind the greenhouses. Israel refused and rather than turn them over to the Palestinians, the settlers destroyed over half of them (New York Times, July 15, 2005).
It's doubtful the remaining greenhouses could have been turned into a viable business. In any case, the Palestinian Authority lacked the manpower to oversee the greenhouses which ultimately were looted by the Palestinians for scarce building materials to use in their own neighborhoods.
Truthful sources abound. Start with the book, "The Case Against Israel," by Jewish professor of philosophy Michael Neumann.
Jayne Thomas
Richmond
ANOTHER MIRACLE CANCER CURE
Dear Editor,
To all concerned about cancer:
Three years or so ago I coughed up a streak of blood in the mucus. Sure enough, I had lung cancer. At first nearly undetectable, it was the size of a quarter in six months. I went through chemo and radiation treatment with no results. I was given a couple of months and was scheduled to do it again. In the meantime I caught the first paragraph of the last page of Harper's and learned that the University of Alberta Medical Center gave dichloroacetate to animals afflicted with human cancers and were amazed to see brain, lung and liver cancers completely disappear. With help from an Internet savvy friend, I obtained some of it which has not been approved for human use due to safety concerns. Well I've got nothing to lose so "Experiment on me!" 2.5 months after a round of "treatment" I declined the second round and went to visit friends maybe for the last time. I had a bottle of powdered DCA and put a quarter of a teaspoon in my morning cereal for a week and soon experienced some of those unwanted side effects. Among them a wobble in my walk maybe three or so times a day. I read the dosages again as outlined on the Internet and it said it has a half-life of 48 hours. I cut back a bit to allow it to clear out before I did another dose. Hardly troubling and it did assure me that I had the real thing.
I was in Canada on Salt Spring Island exactly 27 days after I started taking it. Looking at the garden, I had the strangest sensation of movement just for a few moments exactly where the tumor had been blocking the whole upper lobe of my right lung. An hour later I realized I was breathing free and was exhilarated. It had done what it had with those lab animals! For a month I thought I was becoming a schizoid. "It worked!" "No, it's not possible," a cure for cancer? We have always been told "some day."
Within a month I got back to the cancer clinic and underwent another PET scan. "Congratulations," my oncologist told me, "your tumor has disappeared!" — obviously pleased that for once their "treatment" worked. "I hate to disappoint you but this is the work of dicloroacetate." They refused to believe it. I don't blame them. I could hardly believe it myself. This was an underground thing and pages and testimonials were increasing. I expected it would make headlines any day. But it has not, apart from a few medical journals and one highly technical article in the Economist. I wrote letters to papers etc. and didn't even get published. I finally realized besides being so hard to believe, they don't even want to hear about it.
The cancer treatment industry — pharmaceutical corporations, specialist hospitals and countless others — makes very good money "treating" cancer and prolonging your life and cleaning out your wealth through your insurance company and family. The very last thing they want to hear about is a cure for cancer. I didn't want to believe they could be that cold-blooded, but they are.
Well, the last I heard, it's effective with some but not all cancers. All I know with certainty is what I tell you here. My knowledge is old, but certain. I'm sure a lot more is known. But until all cancer patients are given pharmaceutically purified DCA in appropriate doses we will only get some answers. In the meantime countless patients are dying unnecessarily.
I understand it is now available from many sources. But one must be careful. It has been used industrially but that has deadly impurities like toluene and other nasty stuff. It must be purified and have sodium added (due to its acidity) but there is nothing to prevent some evil bastards from making a quick buck passing off the industrial stuff for the medicinal. One must be careful, perhaps even getting it tested by a private lab company.
Sooner or later this will make headlines and a great scandal will ensue. It causes no damage to healthy cells and thankfully will destroy all metastasized cells throughout the body. I have no more lung cancer and I have the PET scans to prove it. "Try it on me, I have nothing to lose," that was my attitude and it saved my life. Don't take my word for it, it's all on the Internet. Google DCA for info and places to buy. It's inexpensive.
‘Woody Rose’
Fort Bragg
FROM PARNUM TO IONE
Hello There in Wonderful Boonville!
I love the AV Advertiser. It's a beautiful paper and I can and do very much appreciate the papers. Honest briefings. Not many papers these days will call all shots as they are. Honest, ugly or true. I feel that the AVA is a worthy paper with honest calls, call-it-as-it-is reporting. Thank you and all of the AVA contributors for your quality reports resulting in a weekly collection of simple and accurate briefings. People like myself can and do respect the integrity of the AVA!
I was in High Desert State Prison from 2007-2012 and I got here in 2013. Since I've been here Mr. Gromo has given me the pleasure of sharing his copy of the AVA subscription. I have now come into a little money and I want to pay for my own AVA subscription. I mailed my father in West Virginia the subscription form. He has my power of attorney to do what I need done and he told me on the phone today that the check will be going out to the AVA tomorrow.
I worked for Parnum Paving in Ukiah in 2004. I didn't like the heat over there so I found Boonville and I loved the Buckhorn. After work I stayed at the campground at the Navarro River under the bridge on the other side of the town of Philo up until some jealous lesbian tried to butcher me there at the campground on the Fourth of July weekend. But even with that bad experience I'm tickled and very glad to have been in you guys's community for a while. It was great. I'm in prison now due to a vindictive girlfriend who is two years older than myself.
Many respects,
Jim Tignor
Ione
MEMO OF THE WEEK
Mendo’s Professional Helpers At Work —
for $120,000 taxpayer dollars a year.
(From an otherwise routine collection of contractual and legal provisions in a proposed $120k contract with Redwood Children’s Services of Ukiah)
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Definition Of Services
Contractor shall provide the following services:
Provide services as described to Transitional Housing Program – Plus (THP-Plus) clients.
1. Assist each THP-Plus participant, in coordination with Independent Living Skills Program (ILSP) staff, to complete a Transitional Independent Living Plan (TILP) outlining their educational, employment, and housing goals.
a) Educational advocacy and support, including linkages to Foster Youth Services with the goal of each youth obtaining a high school diploma, GED of High School Proficiency prior to graduation from the program.
b) Encouragement to seek college or other post-high-school training to better prepare for the future. The program will actively assist in helping participants apply for college or trade school admission, and for scholarships and grants for which they may be eligible.
c) Job readiness training and support including linkages to Mendocino County Private Industry Council (MPIC) resources, MPIC Work Readiness Certification, Mendocino Works and other appropriate employment resources.
d) Assistance to youth, at the completion of the program, in finding or maintaining affordable housing at costs no more than 30% of the youth’s gross income if the housing model selected is transitional.
2. Provide each participant with a monthly supplement for basic living expenses.
3. Provide all basic household furnishings.
4. Provide each participant with case management services and assistance in completion of their TILP goals.
5. Provide 24-hour crisis intervention and support which will include providing each youth with:
a) On-call professional assistance.
b) Resource referral to County Mental Health Services.
c) 24-hour Staff Mental Health Professional.
d) Individual and group therapy. Should participants have a need for counseling, therapy, or medical treatment, they will be assisted in pursuing these services through either public or private providers who accept Medi-Cal. In such events, the program will be responsible to assure that youth get to all medical appointments.
6. Assist each THP-Plus participant in accessing comprehensive health care, and helping to link them to appropriate health insurance as a result of participation in the program.
7. Connect pregnant THP-Plus participants to regular pre-natal care.
a) Assist parenting THP-Plus participants to identify a pediatrician through Medi-Cal or through other health coverage to provide required immunizations and recommend well-child visits.
b) Encourage parenting THP-Plus participants to enroll in a parenting class. Assist with enrollment.
8. Provide services to build and support relationships with family and community.
9. Provide aftercare services including support groups and referrals to community resources.
a) Provide adult mentors who will commit to following youth for a minimum of six months following graduation from the program.
b) Provide outcome and evaluation continuing for 2 years following graduation from the program.
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