- Drones Over the Valley
- Waltzing at the Apple Hall
- Another Unwinnable War
- Sky Lights
- Wrong Location
- Bad Site
- That Mystery Number
- Not Validated
- Wrong Building
- Calling All Crackpots
- Memo of the Week
DRONES OVER THE VALLEY
Dear Editor,
These strange lights in the sky keep happening. I noticed the letter in the paper last week with the picture of a light over the clinic from John Kendall. On Valentine's night at Lauren's someone noticed a light in the sky, so lots of people went outside and saw it. We were all speculating what it might be. Some thought it could be a drone, some thought it could be a UFO. It was moving pretty strangely, so I don't think it could have been a drone. What's going on here, people?
Tim Glidewell
Boonville
WALTZING AT THE APPLE HALL
Dear Editor,
I want to thank all the people that took part in the Waltz Project. It was thrilling to see the looks on their faces as they gained confidence in the steps. Improvement really blossomed on the last night of practice as we dipped and twirled on the dance floor at the Anderson Valley Solar Grange. How fortunate we are to have such a fine building available for community events. Can’t thank the Grange enough.
Everyone should keep practicing at home. Listen for that 1-2-3 beat on KZYX because you can hear some waltz music on Humble Pie, Lunch on the Back Porch and the Audible Feast. I even heard a waltz on the Tree House last Thursday night.
Keep your toes ready for the weekend of the Wildflower Show and Goat Fest on April 25th because that is when Dean Titus and Susan Clark will put on the big dance featuring some waltzes in the Apple Hall.
Happy Trails,
Judy Basehore,
Philo
ANOTHER UNWINNABLE WAR
Editor,
Here we go again with an unwinnable war against an enemy who we don't know who they are. Since World War II it seems that's the kind of war we're in.
There are two sects of Islam, Sunni and Shiite. But it doesn't end there, like any religion. Just a couple of examples in the Catholic religion. Divorce is not allowed, but we have millions of devoted divorced Catholics; or other devoted Catholics who believe that priests should be allowed to marry, etc. etc.
The same is true of all religions including Islam. Fortunately here in the United States we have some very smart men who started this country and among other brilliant things they made it plain to separate religion and government. When our president a short time ago said we were only going to use airstrikes I knew that was the beginning of a full-fledged ground war as he is now asking Congress for.
In World War II I arrived in Europe in January of 1945 as an infantry replacement for the terrible casualties in the Battle of the Bulge. With absolute superiority in men and material including complete control of the skies the Germans were able to fight a defensive war for some four months more.
Air attacks are effective, but there has to be infantrymen on the ground. What I don't understand, all these Islamic countries in the Islamic world probably a half 1 billion people and billions of oil dollars to fight against the Islamic state, why are we there? I don't see European countries or Russia or the Asian countries or Japan or China or India or South American countries getting involved in this religious war, if there is such a threat to the world. What I want to know is, what the hell are we doing there?
Emil Rossi
Boonville
SKY LIGHTS
Dear Valleyites,
I'm a new convert to believing in UFO's. Why? Because last Saturday night I was driving home on 128 heading North. On the straightaway near Monte Bloyd road I saw some very distinct lights low in the Western sky. I pulled over and had quite a show for at least 2 or 3 minutes. The lights were green flashing in a tight circle, the classic UFO shape. As I watched, the lights zig zagged around, dipping below the ridgeline. I could still see them as they hovered for a few moments and then they, (or it) shot off at an incredible rate of speed up the valley towards Philo. It was so low I could hear a deep humming and a whoosh as it disappeared.
I am curious if anyone else witnessed anything like this on Saturday night. Apparently there have been other sightings around the valley recently.
New Convert,
Mary Reilly
Philo
WRONG LOCATION
Dear Editor,
I am a small business owner; my business is across the street from the Old Coast Hotel. I do not want the Hotel to be used as a service center for homeless/mental health clients. Councilmen Peters canvassed all the businesses within three blocks of the hotel and no one wanted the use of the hotel to be changed.
There are 3121 voters registered in the city limits, 1854 voted in the last city council election. We presented a petition with 1220 signatures that we gathered in a week to city council and asked that they vote down this location for this project. City Council ignored us.
Why isn’t City Council representing the business owners in our community? I understand that this site is also inappropriate because it is such a busy public corner in town. Doesn’t this violate the privacy rights of mental health clients? Parking is already difficult on this block. This will only make it worse as I understand that they have 18 staff people and 50 clients a day who go there for services.
Why is City Council representing the interests of the Board of Directors of the Hospitality Center when 8 of the 11 are wealthy people who live in Mendocino, Little River, Albion and Elk. Why are they ignoring the business owners and making a decision that will damage the growth of tourism?
I really hope that City Council votes again and the Hospitality Center Board realizes they need to find another place for this project.
Sincerely,
Jean Stubenrauch
Fort Bragg
BAD SITE
Dear Editor,
I am writing to advocate for the clients who will be served by the program they want to put in the Old Coast Hotel. The site does not provide the privacy that is mandated by the HIPPA laws for homeless and especially Mental Health clients. It is in the Central Business District, the corner is a fishbowl, the traffic flow and parking will be impacted negatively by the number of people working there, living there and getting services there.
Where will we park when we go to the bank, post office, Down Home Foods and the movies? The second floor is not accessible to people with disabilities. We need to find a more discreet and accessible site for this project.
I don’t understand why the Fort Bragg City Council has aligned itself with the Board of Directors of the Hospitality Center. This Board has 11 members. Only 3 members live in Fort Bragg. Eight members live in Mendocino, Albion, Elk, and the hills of Little River. I guess this is why they are not worried about privacy, parking or using the place to build tourism. They don’t know the community; they don’t live here.
The Ebb Tide or the “old social services” building are better sites for this project; better for the clients, better for the community. The City Council needs to listen to the people who live in Fort Bragg, pay the taxes and vote.
Sincerely,
Carolyn Petersen, OTR/L
Fort Bragg
THAT MYSTERY NUMBER
Dear Editor,
So, why isn’t someone looking for answers for the strange lights we’re all seeing lately? Many of us saw them the other week outside of Lauren’s. That telephone number mentioned in the AV Advertiser a few weeks ago (895 3362) hasn’t been working, even though they wanted to be called. Whose number is that anyhow? An 895 number from Oregon? Someone from the government who wants to control the information about the drones or UFOs we’ve been seeing? Drones chasing UFO’s? And what’s happened to investigative reporting these days??? This has been going on for at least 2 or 3 weeks now.
Concerned citizen,
Bobby Daniels
Yorkville
NOT VALIDATED
Dear Editor,
My respects and salutations as always to you and all those loyal readers out there. I've got some stuff to put on blast and get off my chest.
My attorney Patricia Littlefield of the alternate public defender's office just declared a conflict of interest on my case a week before trial. District Attorney Hopkins wasn't in the courtroom when he was the one who scheduled the pretrial. Patricia defended me valiantly and got the charge lowered. But at the end of the day I was thrown under the bus by her.
My case proves my innocence. I know I'm innocent but I'm still in county jail coming onto a year in county jail being labeled a high profile inmate on lockdown. Carly Dolan of the public defender's office declared conflict of interest on me a week before the preliminary also. Shit's starting to get really fishy. I don't believe in coincidence. This is obviously a district attorney tactic. Who else would benefit from more delays in my court process and eventual release? Maybe DA Hopkins is fabricating evidence and paying and coaching witnesses. Doesn't matter. Strength always prevails and my defense is still very very strong.
Now I have a private lawyer which even makes my case better represented. The district attorney only has things that make my defense look stronger. It's frustrating because I have children to go home to. I have a good family that loves me and I should not have spent more than a few months in jail. These worthless public defenders beg for more time to study my case only to pull this BS. When did this county become so crooked and corrupt?
These two dirty cops on my case were not even disciplined after they were impeached off of my case. Those pieces of crap tried to frame me. They even manufactured evidence and wrote bad reports and all their BS got tossed out of the courtroom.
Example: the woman's cellphone messages. Both detectives stated there were messages that sounded like something out of a movie. Both of the woman's phones were checked for these alleged messages that never existed. One of the women who allegedly the message was sent from told my investigator that she had never met me or even heard of me and she does not let anyone use her phone but she knows someone named Carley and doesn't get along with her. The Carley the cops allegedly spoke told my investigator that she never had any messages from me. That's why she let the cops look at her phone. That's why these dirty cops never took photos of these so-called messages. So the dirty cops got caught in their own web of lies. The bad thing is they're not dirty cops in the sense of pocketing a few dollars, they are dirty like shoot your kids down in the street and plant a gun on your kid and cry victim. Watch out folks and don't trust law enforcement. They burned these bridges down a long time ago.
Anyway, my lawyer told me the district attorney has no witnesses, no evidence and a very crazy outlandish story that at best is very unreliable. Why am I still in this county jail? That tells me that the district attorney thinks he can just have the jail break people to take deals so he makes himself look good. I wouldn't piss on this district attorney even if he was on fire. Conflict of interest my ass, more like backdoor shady politics. They called the California Department of Corrections and talked to the institutional investigations unit and that unit told the detectives and the district attorney that I'm an integral part of the white power movement in prison and all this other BS. So now I'm a danger to the jail population. Anyone who has been to prison in and around on level 4 180 yards or has been anywhere near those a-holes in squad were all somebody. So WTF! First off, I never got validated. I'm just me at the end of the day. So these amateur ass cops here in Mendocino County jail are keeping me locked down for a year straight with a new excuse every time I file a grievance. I don't give a bleep about that TV. I just know I'm right and I won't tolerate the BS here. The cops cater to child molesters and rapists in this jail. So people remember that next time you read “protect and serve.”
I honestly enjoyed my cell to myself. I don't have to smell anyone's ass nor do I have to clean up after anyone. I've paroled from Kern Valley State Prison A yard 2 block and after my time on Level 4 and numerous SHU programs having all lifer cellies I really came to appreciate my freedom. Seeing what prison really does to people including myself. I listened to all those lifers who would literally kill to get my release date. The time and experience made me vow to get out and straighten out and be a full-time father to all my kids. Not just for them but for myself because a cell and a prison yard is no life for any man especially a man with good values and a good family such as myself. The California system is designed to keep people in prison forever. So I paroled and got two jobs and started on the third and stayed clean and motivated, even though the parole system is a giant scam and a waste of good time. I toughed it out until my ass got framed and scapegoated by the Mendocino County Sheriff's office. Now here I am doing a county jail isolation term in the hole. I got word from a cop here that has never lied to me or done me wrong. I was told the district attorney called the jail commander and told him to keep me in lockdown. So they can try to manipulate me to their games. Like I'm just going to roll over and take it in the ass from the district attorney.
This county jail is a joke and is nothing to what I've already been through in prison. It's like walking into a level 4 180 block. It's so quiet the smallest pin drop can be heard. The tension is so thick you could cut it like cheese. People smile and shake your hand but they are thinking, Do I have to kill this dude if it cracks off? So this time here is smooth sailing compared to where I've been. And all you homeboys in prison, my advice is don't come back here to this corrupt county. They might frame you and succeed for no better reason than to just piss all over your life and your hard-won freedom. I send my love and respect to all those who matter.
Yours Truly, The scapegoat of the County of Corruption.
Michael France
Ukiah
WRONG BUILDING
Editor,
I have been an LCSW (Licensed Clinical Social Worker) in our community for 28 years and have been working in the community here and in Chicago as a social worker and therapist for 42 years. I have worked directly with the homeless and with severely mentally ill patients throughout my career. I have also worked extensively with children and families as a family and play therapist.
The Old Coast Hotel building, which the city council and the Hospitality House would like to use for this purpose is not an appropriate site. I have deep concerns about the population we are serving here. There is a privacy issue for mental health patients to walk into this very public building in the middle of the busy business district, and I am concerned that it will deter some clients from getting services they need. It is difficult enough for some mental health patients to have the courage to go for the services , but to be seen by anyone walking or driving by can cause people humiliation and shame. The entrances are in plain view of the public on both streets that it faces and there is a 4 way stop sign at this intersection so that every car that stops there will look around. I am concerned that many people who need mental health services will not be served because of the privacy issue. Inside the building itself, there is very little privacy as well. The walls are thin, it is an old building and partitions will create a visual barrier but not a sound barrier. There has been extreme controversy in our community regarding the use of this building for this purpose and I am concerned that there may be hostility from the public towards clients entering the building for services. Also, because of the nature of some diagnoses, such as paranoid disorders, paranoid schizophrenia, severe bipolar disorder, etc., mixing the homeless population who often have chronic mental illness with the general mental health population can result in a very volatile situation. People can easily become triggered by each other. Children may be living in the building and witnessing this situation as well which can be quite unhealthy frightening in some situations.
Our community does want to serve both populations but most people feel that this is not the appropriate building because of its location and because of its age and floor plan. There are other appropriate sites for sale in this community.
Thank you for your attention.
Sincerely,
Roslyn Satten LCSW
Fort Bragg
CALLING ALL CRACKPOTS
Dear Editor,
I would like to invite all to visit the newly created Anderson Valley Vaccine Information Center website at AVVI.info.
There you will find current information on vaccines as well as manufactures ingredients contained in each vaccine prescribed by the Center for Disease Control. Currently, the CDC recommends 14 vaccines of 49 doses for children to age six and 69 doses by age 18.
The website includes current news around the country, both mainstream and alternative, so parents and families can educate themselves to make informed decisions on this most important subject.
In the past month alone there have been bills introduced in state legislatures in Texas, Oregon and California to make mandatory vaccination laws for all children come next fall if they wish attend public or private schools. Additionally, last week, the Federal government has opened a public comment period as to their proposing new law(s) making mandatory vaccination for adults as well.
Jamie Lee
Philo
Ed note: Please, for the sake of your children and everyone else's, talk to a credentialed medical doctor before you enter the lunatic morass of thoroughly discredited cyber “experts.” What's next? Midnight drums and the rattling of chickenbones as the cure for cancer? PS. Here's a faster way for you non-vaccinators and other borderline smoosh heads to run a reality check on yourselves: All of you who passed high school chemistry raise your hands. Hmmm. That's what I thought.
MEMO OF THE WEEK
My name is Rusty Faust and I was the manager at the Old Coast Hotel for the Carines for the last year it was open ... I was also the one who attempted the crowdfunding initiative to help get it open again (which raised a little more than $400, enough for advertising ... sad) after working for more than a year with the West company on a business plan. I know a thing or three about that place. There are 15 guest rooms as it stood, not 12 — 6 upstairs in the main building (no handicap access, inadequate fire escapes) and 9 out around the courtyard ... 4 of those upstairs ... and only ONE of the lower units is handicap accessible with four others that could be converted (except two of those may be taken for office space on the Oak Street side). As it stands, there would be NO privacy in the main part of the building ... it is all one large open space! Putting up partitions in that space would not provide anything but a visual barrier. The full liquor license and one of the largest and best equipped kitchens on the coast would continue to be wasted. We cannot afford to lose ANY more hotels ... our town sells out frequently with nowhere to accommodate all the visitors that want to come. I know we could have used those 15 rooms last weekend! People in general are not opposed to helping the homeless ... that is the thing I hear over and over ... but everyone that I have talked to are with you and I — the Old Coast Hotel is the wrong venue!
Good luck!
Rusty Faust, Fort Bragg
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