- Seniors Say Thanks!
- Comedic Escapes
- How to Curtsy
- Remembering Raven
- After Grapes & Pot
- Corruption, Defined
- Jim's Big Adventure
- The Stop King Movement
SENIORS SAY THANKS!
Editor,
The Anderson Valley Senior Center sends a very big THANK YOU to everyone that made our 9th Annual Crab Feed the best yet! Thanks to our wine donors: Navarro Vineyards, Handley Cellars, Brutacao, Seebass, Ferrari-Carano, Signal Ridge, Toulouse, Bink, Philo Ridge, Greenwood Ridge, Pacini Wines, Drew, Meyers Family Cellars, Knez Vineyards, Harmonique, Roederer, Scharffenberger Cellars and Phillips Hill. Thanks to our Beer donor: Anderson Valley Brewing. Thanks to Chris Rossi & Mike Crutcher for their wonderful Daiquiris. Our bar was a popular spot — everyone enjoying our local Wines and Brews! And, our wine, beer and liquor offerings in the Silent Auction, also came from these donors. That category was our largest money maker in the auction. Thanks to our other Silent Auction donors: Kirk Wilder, Sierra Nevada World Music Festival, Boonville Hotel, Buckhorn, General Store, Lauren’s, Fish Rock Farm Girls, Valley Woodworks, Architectural Elements, ER Energy, Franks Firewood, Sheri & Joe Hansen, Mendo Mill, CA Shingle & Shake, Rossi Hardware, Rainbow Hill, Judy Nelson, Amanda Hiatt, Thanksgiving Coffee, Navarro Vineyards, Denise Morse, Collette Hanns, Gina & Eddie Pardini. What wonderful variety and special items we offered. And, the bidders let us know they enjoyed it — Our best money year yet. Thanks to the donors and bidders!Thanks to our raffle donors: Kelly Hiatt, Judy Nelson, Nancy McLeod, Rancheria Realty, Rookie To, Boonville Chocolate Shop, Boont Berry Farm, ER Energy, AV Brewery, Jacks Valley Store, Lemons Market, Mendocino County Fair, AV Market, Frosted Owl, AV Farm Supply, Judy Basehore, All That Good Stuff, Valley Woodworks, Collette Hann, Mercantile. With separate ticket buckets for each item, everyone took home something they wanted!Thanks to all the volunteers that make this happen: Gina and Eddie Pardini, Chris Rossi, Lamiece Dawson, Beryl Thomassen, JJ Schlafer, Sheri Hansen, Fal Allen, Cory Morse, Mike Crutcher, Dan and Loretta Houck, Kirk and Ali Morse, Marcia Martinez, Rainbow Hill, Linda Baker, Mark and Ellen Fontaine, Judy Kooyers (and granddaughter), Rhett Pardini, Margarita Diaz, Neil and Mary Darling, Shirley Hulbert, Maryann Kinion, Matt & Taylor Schlafer, Collette Hann. And, a special thanks to the Anderson Valley sports team students. Their attentiveness and professionalism was perfect and appreciated by all.Thanks to our Food Donors: Frito Lay, Fort Bragg Bakery, Cousteaux Bakery, Morris Distributors, General Produce.Last, but not least — THANKS to all who attended! Your support allows the AV Senior Center to provide our seniors with services that make those “Elder Years" more enjoyable!
AV Senior Center
Boonville
COMEDIC ESCAPES
Editor,
Nothing new to report, the prison business is still booming.
I'm very busy teaching Microsoft Office 2010 in a piss poor environment.
A guy came to me with a manuscript of a book he wrote and wants published. I haven't time to read it right now. I don't know if it's any good. He says it's a comedy about escaped convicts. Having been an escaped convict a couple times and knowing the experience to be full of comedy, maybe he has something there. Notwithstanding the mainline news always trying to scare everybody whenever a prisoner runs off, the majority of escapees don't hurt anyone and bounce from one thing to another like they are in an old pinball machine.
Anyway the "author" is going to write you and send an excerpt. (Many men read my issue of the AVA here). I forgot his name as he is not one of my students and it is all those names I'm trying to remember.
Charlie Hebdo has nothing on the AVA as I admire your cartoon on page 11 of the January 14, 2015 issue.
I think that is my last issue on my latest freebie. I'm a bum but my out-date is June 2020. These 38 years I have been in is not quite enough for crimes which are mild compared with today's for the US Parole Commission. However, all this time in jail has been my Yale and I'll do well with what I know upon release. It should be like that for everybody, even if one thinks he or she is never going to be released. I was in that never-to-be-released boat and then somebody decided to give me a parole date. State prisoners should petition their governor for a sentence reduction. Provide rehabilitative reasons.
Freedom and health,
Paul Jorgensen
Bruceton Mills, West Virginia
HOW TO CURTSY
Dear Editor,
"We are all sentenced to capital punishment for the crime of living."
"Send my roots rain." "Each day dies with sleep." Eloquence sets "fire to reason." As America nears triumph over poverty, I've been knocked to the ground and I'm still kicking. When mom and dad came home from dinner with the Queen they said, "Diana, the Queen would like to meet you, but first you must take a class for 14 days at Buckingham Palace to learn how to curtsy; the Queen does not shake hands."
Tata for now,
Diana NATO Vance
Mendocino
REMEMBERING RAVEN
Editor,
In Debra Keipp's column, she mentioned Mayor Earlygrow. It's really Raven Earlygrow who also wrote a column in the Mendocino Commentary, Other Words-Other Worlds. In addition to a wonderful writer, Raven was also my very best friend who died after a long, painful fight with cancer. I think of him often and our times together, trying to solve the world’s many problems.
Harry Blythe
Portland, Oregon
AFTER GRAPES & POT
Dear Editor,
I am happy to read that you are following through with a lawsuit to obligate the County to enforce its noise ordinance. The way you have framed the argument seems to make the case exclusively reasonable. There are ways to use frost fan technology that comply with the limits of the current noise ordinance; it is the responsibility of grape growers to respect those laws just like very other citizen.
When I talked to other people around the Valley, they generally frame the argument as though it is an issue of grapes vs. people. The wine industry is considered to be the major driver of the local economy and if a few people suffer, so be it. The alternative would be that the grape industry would suffer and then everybody would suffer. This would be the negative perspective of the “trickle down” economy.
Job creation is not the result of benevolence on behalf of wealthy individuals engaging in large-scale business ventures. Job creation is an inevitable part of the process of humans engaging in large-scale endeavors. Large-scale projects require large amounts of financial capital/wealth to be invested in order to begin. Currently, capital is in the hands of very few people. These people mostly engage in large-scale projects that will ensure that it remains in their hand (for profit, environmental extractive processes).
Wine grape and marijuana cultivation are the two major drivers of the local economy. They are both symptomatic of the capitalist pathology. Both make a non-essential product (as compared to food or water, etc.) to generate profits for relatively few at great cost to the environment. Marijuana cultivation is unique in that it enables the same extractive capitalist cycle to sustain at a household scale and with greater risk. Their only justification for continued existence is that they already exist and are supported by the larger scale economy, even unto exemption from common laws.
It is beyond time that we recognize the necessity to engage in a conversation to come up with something better than grapes and marijuana to drive our economy. It seems apparent to me that part of this process will involve organizing in a way that does not reflect conventional capitalism, but must interface with it. Terms like “social capital” and “localized economy” come to mind.
In terms of “social capital,” I have noticed that this County has a large number of creative people who are already engaged in numerous projects that seek to provide alternative possibilities. How do we help these projects? How do we obtain “capital” investment to help them grow to a scale that could become a sustaining infrastructure for our community?
Sincerely,
Kent Clark
Boonville
PS. I noticed some very strange “lights” the other night (Thursday?) just north of Highway 128, while driving past Philo. Not to sound crazy, I will avoid a detailed description here. But they were large enough that I would guess other people saw them. If you did, please call me. (895-3362) Thanks
CORRUPTION, DEFINED
Editor:
Dennis O'Brien and Doug McKenty are running for the KZYX Board with the endorsement of John Sakowicz, so voters need answers to this question: Should Sakowicz, himself a Board trustee, have written to the FCC as he did, demanding refusal to renew the station license?
Doug McKenty remains under suspension as a programmer, for allowing an on-air FCC violation and ignoring a directive to correct it. Until he acknowledges his responsibility with an apology, I can't see him asking for trust.
Gordon Black
Philo
PS: Marco McClean has chosen to make some of our private correspondence public, so perhaps he'll release the rest. Meanwhile, I'm trying to figure out the difference between "corrupt" and "utterly corrupt."
ED REPLY: I think I can make your distinction for you, Gordy: You're corrupt when you're asleep, utterly corrupt when you're awake. You're welcome.
JIM'S BIG ADVENTURE
Editor,
To Cuba With Love
I will be part of an official delegation visiting Cuba next week at the invitation of the Cuban Government and coordinated by CODE PINK, the political activist group often seen demonstrating at Congressional Hearings for human rights, woman's rights, and world peace. The delegation will have high level meetings with Cuban government officials in Havana and will travel to the cities of Santa Clara and Las Terrazas. We are planning a Valentine's Day Cubano love-in in downtown Havana.
Upon our return I will publish a diary of our travels with particular focus upon the economic and social plight of the working class and the prospects for improvements in living conditions when the pointless 54 year economic blockade imposed by the United States is finally lifted. Will a tourist tsunami of Americans flood this poor but peaceful island with fast food emporiums, casinos, and carpet baggers? Will this tsunami destroy the newly developing Cuban private sector now replacing the old Communist straightjacket? How can their government protect this unique culture? Send me any questions you have that I might bring up in Havana.
Email: jameshoule@wildblue.net
Hasta luego,
Jim Houle,
Redwood Valley
Memo of the Week
THE STOP KING MOVEMENT
Dear Friends,
KZYX is looking for someone to serve on its board of directors from the Ukiah area. Time is running short, as all applications need to be in by this Friday at 5 PM. My apologies if you don't live in Ukiah--I don't have my email list sorted by town.
Right now, no one is running for the Ukiah seat, but it is very possible that King Collins could file at the last minute and be slam-dunk elected because the seat is uncontested. As you may know, King has been thrown out of (or not re-elected to) almost every organization he has ever been a a part of in Mendocino County. He has a knee-jerk habit of disrupting the functioning of organizations by opposing or trying to discredit the people who have decision-making power (usually the ones who are doing the bulk of the work). King has filed as a last-minute candidate in all recent KZYX elections and it is very likely he will do it again. If he does it will be a disaster for the board (in the opinion of many).
Bob Page, one of the board members, told me he welcomes inquiries from anyone who might be interested in making sure that King (or someone similarly disruptive) doesn't get elected. He implied that your duties as a board member could be minimal if that is your preference. To be eligible, you need to reside in the 2nd supervisorial district (meaning that John McCowan is your elected supervisor), and you need to be a member of the station.
So, if you appreciate KZYX, please do toss your hat in the ring. KZYX is an important community resource and we need to keep it moving forward. You can get more information on the website: www.kzyx.org or call the station at 895-2324. Stuart Campbell, the elections coordinator and current inland board members Bob Page, Ed Keller and Eliane Herring would be happy to talk to you and answer any questions you may have.
Kate Marianchild
Ukiah
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