- Thank You, Calstar
- Charles & Douglas
- Put It On The Ballot
- Youth Wants To Know
- Stop Complaining & Help
- Going Fast
- The Mighty Hunter
- Profit & Loss
- Not Too Harsh
- Confusion
- How To Handle Wavers
THANK YOU, CALSTAR
Editor,
A recent letter to the editor gave thanks to neighbors and friends and firefighters for help after an injury. So many times emergency workers appear only to have patients injured and dying to deal with. Our encounter with CALSTAR had a happy ending. Twenty months ago our daughter delivered our grandson at home in Comptche and had birth complications justifying a flight to Ukiah’s hospital. CALSTAR was great. This year at the Comptche Volunteer Fire Department’s Fathers Day Chicken BBQ we saw that CALSTAR crew and took grandson over to meet the folks who gave him a copter ride the day he was born. Those folks were so touched to meet the little man and see the results of a transport that had a happy ending. We thanked that CALSTAR crew again and our family suggests that when you do see emergency personnel that had aided your family thank them again.
Katy Tahja
Comptche
CHARLES & DOUGLAS
Hi Dave (Turner, Mayor of Fort Bragg),
Just finished at county and no valid signatures in the 83 (a few not registered mostly wrong addresses). We bought the new voter list on a disk and spoke in depth about timing. There is no way we can get this on the November ballot and the next election that we will have signatures for will be June far past the date that it can be held, this will have to be a special election if left to being a people's initiative. You folks under Ca.gov code 9222 can adopt the initiative to go through and then have it on the November ballot but this must be done by August 8. Sue Ranochak at county told us a special election will cost $20-50k! Please call for a special emergency city council meeting and put it on the ballot. I am sending this letter to all council members and Linda [Ruffing, Fort Bragg city manager] and the various local media concerns. Hope you’re having a great day, too hot in Ukiah!
Charles Brandenburg, of Fort Bragg
* * *
A response from City Council Member Doug Hammerstrom
Charles,
I don't know if you engage in self reflection, or would at my behest. I hear you at our meetings profess clear thinking, but then you puzzle me by some things that you say that seem anything but. The reflection I would suggest is that, I believe that the City Council views work of the Hospitality Center as a benefit to our community and that work is directed at solving the behavior problems that your group objects to. Also, I believe the Council is generally supportive of social service organizations in our community. Your proposed initiative demonizes all social service agencies by suggesting they need to find their place in the shadows, and should not proudly show their face in a place they can be seen; that you consider them an embarrassment to our community. Because of the above two areas of support, I find it surprising that you think the Council would take an action supporting your initiative. I ask you to reflect on what you are doing.
Doug Hammerstrom,
Fort Bragg City Councilman
* * *
Really Doug,
You are so out of touch with the reality of our town. Services are needed but not there [at the Old Coast Hotel] for a hundred reasons from thousands of people. Your reason for moving ahead is "because it’s good.” Doug, whereas I think Dave Turner is a good mayor I think you are the weakest and most benign member of the council. My recent statements aren't to get you to support what we are doing they are to get you to save $$$ by having this scheduled instead of a special election. Seems like you don't understand that.
Charles Brandenburg
Tired of crappy politicians in Fort Bragg
PUT IT ON THE BALLOT
Anne Marie Cesario
c/oMendolitho
100 Franklin Street, Fort Bragg, CA 95437
Fort Bragg City Councilmember
c/o City of Fort Bragg City Hall
Franklin Street, Fort Bragg, CA 95437
Dear Councilmember:
In our review of the California Elections Code it has come to our attention that City Council has the ability to put the Initiative Prohibiting Social Service Organizations in the Central Business District on the November ballot by Resolution.
You are empowered to do this under the California Elections Code:
Section 9222 reads: The legislative body of the city may submit to the voters, without a petition therefor, a proposition for the repeal, amendment, Or enactment of any ordinance, to be voted upon at any succeeding regular or special city election, and if the proposition submitted receives a majority of the votes cast on it at the election, the ordinance shall be repealed, amended, or enacted accordingly. A proposition may be submitted, or a special election may be called for the purpose of voting on a proposition, by ordinance or resolution. The election shall be held not less than 88 days after the date of the order of election.
Please act on this now and put this measure on the November 2016 ballot.
The petition, which contains 312 valid signatures (many of the disallowed signatures were registered voters who have forgotten to reregister when they moved to another in town address) that were collected in less than 3 weeks, was declared insufficient due to a .4 discrepancy with the “no less than 10%” of 3124 rule. Rather than argue the fairness of this determination based on rules of mathematics taught to children in elementary school that state that a .4 or less decimal is rounded down and a .5 or more decimal is rounded up, we believe it is in the best interests of the community to appeal to you to put an end to this struggle and bring this measure to the voters now. The insufficiency is mainly due to our commitment to submit the measure before the deadline for the November election and not cost the city extra money for this to go to the electorate for a vote in a special election.
We could have continued to collect signatures but chose to submit them in time for the August 7 deadline.
It is not fair to the community to delay the democratic process due to one signature (four tenths of a voter). We hope you agree that the best thing to do for the community is to put this issue to rest as soon as possible. We have submitted the paperwork and fee to start the initiative process again; however, do you really want Fort Bragg to have to spend $20-50,000 on a special election to repeat this process? It appears that this waste of resources is not necessary and that you, as the “legislative body of the city” are empowered by the law to make this right.
It is our hope that your commitment to your constituents and the democratic process will lead you to arrange for a special council meeting and order this measure be put on the ballot by the August 7 deadline for the November election as soon as possible. We are presenting you with the opportunity to be reasonable and do the right thing; unite the community and support the People’s Right to Vote.
Sincerely,
Anne Marie Cesario, Fort Bragg
Initiative Measure Proponent
YOUTH WANTS TO KNOW
Subject: Well Permit Applications & Permits
Dear Director Jensen and Mendocino County Environmental Health Dept., I am a Ukiah resident and freelance journalist. I contribute to the Anderson Valley Advertiser, East Bay Express, North Bay Bohemian, and other publications. Pursuant to the California Public Records Act, I'm interested in receiving information on how many well permit applications Mendocino County has received, by year, from August 1st, 2005 to July 30th, 2015, how many permits (again, by year) have been granted, and the locations of each of these wells. With respect to the location, I would like to know the GPS coordinates of each well to the extent that you have that information. I would like to know the most exact information you have available on each well's location, including watershed information. If it is possible for me to come to the Environmental Health office and personally review this information, I'd be happy to do so. As you can see, I am performing a study on trends in groundwater use in Mendocino County, as have journalists in several other California counties recently. I greatly appreciate any assistance you provide. Thank you in advance.
Best wishes,
Will Parrish, Ukiah (707) 513-8070
STOP COMPLAINING & HELP
To the Editor:
In response to John Artega:
I am afraid I was taken aback by Mr. Artega’s piece published in the UDJ on July 10 entitled “KZYX Listeners Should Oust Disruptors,” and feel compelled to write a response as, frankly, I am tired of the consistent, outrageous personal attacks hoisted upon the large minority of the KZYX membership who seek control over the station’s “programming and operational philosophy” as required by the Mission Statement of MCPB. He calls us “followers” of Mr. Sakowicz and makes the claim that the 37% of the membership who voted for me were “low information voters.” Low information?
I ask Mr. Arteaga if he has spent the time to read the by-laws of KZYX? Has he read the Financial Policy Paper? The Station Handbook? The Elections Policy and Procedures? Has he read the board policy paper concerning how programming choices are supposed to be made at KZYX? Has he spent the thousands of hours at the radio station that John Sakowicz and myself have observing staff and comparing their actions to the job descriptions outlined by the board in this documentation? Has he spent the hundreds of hours that I, King Collins and John Sakowicz have volunteering as a board member for MCPB, learning the intricacies of how a membership based non-profit is supposed to work and comparing that to the realities of the way KZYX has operated for the last ten years? Has he studied the station’s financial documents going back to 2006 and wondered, as I have, why the station received $100,000 less from our community last year than it did nine years ago? Has he wondered, as I have, why the station has lost nearly 20% of its membership in that time? Has he noted, as I have, that what he calls “meager grants our miserly government sometimes gives to support local radio stations” amounted in the last five years to an extra $180,000 above historic levels. The CPB grant represented over 30% of the station’s total budget during this time period. Did he notice, as I have, that without this influx of extra federal dollars KZYX would have gone out of business, leaving the board of directors personally liable for the leftover debt? Did Mr. Arteaga notice, as I did, that the Community Advisory Board which the CPB requires to hold two public meetings a year in order to qualify for the “meager grant” that saved the station financially, only held one meeting in 2012, putting the station’s very existence at risk?
Perhaps if he did, he would be as concerned about the precarious state of affairs at KZYX as I, and many others are. If he loves the station as much as he claims, you would think he would be helping the current board bring about the much needed change required to get MCPB back into good standing with this community and the FCC. Instead, he chooses to live in denial of reality, and calls those of us who have dedicated hundreds of hours attempting to improve the situation, “liars and slanderers.”
Rather than publishing yet another hit piece designed to avoid the real issues and oust minority voices at KZYX, Mr. Arteaga, maybe you should think about volunteering along with us to help the current board clean up this mess.
Doug McKenty, MCPB Volunteer 2006-2013
Elk
GOING FAST
Dear Editor:
Re: The Greenland Ice sheet
A recent study published in Nature Geoscience did not receive much attention except in the Guardian. Dr. Samuel Doyle and an international team reported on the effects of a week of warm of warm, wet weather in late summer of 2011 on the Greenland sheet. This combination of ice melt and rain resulted in an increase flow over the entire western sector of the ice sheet. Dr. Doyle said "It wasn't just rainfall. We saw 10 to 15% of the total annual surface melt occur in this event in late summer 2011. When this water reached the bed, the ice sheet lifted up and moved faster towards the sea." Dr. Doyle told the Guardian reporter "The late summer timing was critical.. The event occurred after the end of the melt season and the ice-sheet's drainage system had started to close down. In this state the ice-sheet's drainage system just couldn't cope" Professor Alan Hubbard added comments about how it is like an urban sewerage system that has been temporarily overwhelmed by an intense rain-storm which results in flooding and high water pressures which lifts the ice sheet up off its bed and sends it i on its way. He pointed out how difficult it is to determine if this will be a continuing event. Professor Jason Box summed it up "We're seeing that warm wet weather that is increasing with climate change is driving more melt of the Greenland ice-sheet than we thought. And worryingly, this melt is reaching higher elevations on the ice sheet." If this melting continues it will have an effect on sea levels and future forecasts may will be underestimated. Future research may confirm that global warming is causing rain to melt the Greenland ice sheet.
In peace and love,
Jim Updegraff
Sacramento
THE MIGHTY HUNTER
Editor,
We should all take heart that so many people are signing the petition to extradite that low-life scum, Walter Palmer, to Zimbabwe. As a trophy hunter (I use the word hunter loosely) he had to know what was being done to lure a famous protected lion, in the dead of night, out of his protected preserve. When the lion came out, he shot it with an arrow, tracked the suffering beast for 40 hours, beheaded it, skinned it, and left the carcass to rot. He was scheduled to shoot an elephant the next day. This is a rabid killing machine — if it is endangered kill it, mount it on a wall, and brag about how macho he is.
Well, we should all take note that we have poachers of our own, right here in Northern California, some nearly the scale of Palmer's debauchery. Think of those who take too many abalone, thus threatening the total collapse of the species here. Think urchin harvesting that devastates the marine environment. Think of deer poachers. Think of those who kill anything that walks, crawls, or flies in what is left of our forests. Think of lumber companies that kill "unwanted" trees by the million, just to increase profit, while leaving in place of a healthy forest a dead zone, upon which few wildlife can exist. Think of premium wineries sucking our rivers dry in the dead of night, at the quiscence of our elected politicians. Such rapists of the natural environment should be held accountable. Enough.
Frank Graham,
from beyond the deep end.
PROFIT & LOSS
Editor,
Profit Is A Requirement.
Todd Walton in the July 22 issue quotes Jennifer Hinton, “The Greek government should encourage not-for-profit enterprise in every sector to prevent the extraction of profits from the real economy and encourage social entrepreneurs and innovators to start up their own not-for-profits.” A nonprofit based economy is a common theme with some, because profit is viewed as the fundamental cause of “societal injustice.” I am not sure being anti-profit is exactly the intent, but will comment on the basis that it is.
All successful living organisms are required to make a profit. Successful reproduction requires it. Profit merely means the amount of energy gained exceeds the amount of energy expended in the enterprise of life. Biologically, profit is measured in energy units. This concept is about as fundamental to biology as it gets, and is what drives evolution.
With people there are other relevant factors. We use money to measure profit, and money is a proxy that can and is easily corrupted. We are also unique among mammals in being specialists. We have a “division of labor.” Our social model is unique and reflects this. There are no true “lone wolves” among us. Unique and inherent to us as well is slavery and war.
George Hollister
Comptche
NOT TOO HARSH
Editor,
Here is another quotation from Marilynne Robinson that I found intriguing. It is the conclusion of "The Strange History of Altruism," one of the essays in The Absence of Mind: "It has been true in fact that the renunciation of religion in the name of reason and progress has been strongly associated with a curtailment of the assumed capacities of the mind."
Also, I sometimes wondered whether the AVA criticisms of KZYX were too harsh, but I tuned into a call-in show while driving in Mendocino and it was appalling. The intense self-seriousness was really sad, and so was the assumption that KZYX was important and special. My theory about a lot of these people is they have just enough money not to work, but not enough money to do much of anything else.
Writing about Tennessee Williams' rough last years, Gore Vidal described people like this as "remittance men," people who were paid off by their families to keep their distance.
Richard Russell
San Jose
CONFUSION
Editor,
I am confused. (The usual state of affairs.) I am also two weeks behind on the AVA. (Better than the usual state of affairs.) I refer to the piece by Clay Geerdes in the July 22 issue, "The Big Be-In."
As I may have told the Esteemed Editor several decades ago, Clay Geerdes is one of my all-time favorite contributors to the AVA. It's a delight to find him in those pages again. But I am puzzled by the opening paragraph: "January 14, 2007 was the 40th anniversary of the great Gathering of all Tribes for a Human Be-In…" Did someone else write that? I thought Mr. Geerdes departed this mortal plane in 1997.
I also can't help observing that if he taught at Fresno State while living at 903 Ashbury (second paragraph), he had a helluva a commute! Perhaps he was just in SF for the Summer of Love. (But he is talking about January.)
I know the Mighty Editor has considerable power and influence. If he can bring back Clay Geerdes from the great beyond one way or another, I'm all for it.
Respectfully,
Stewart Bowen
Suisun Valley
ED NOTE: Geerdes was one of our faves too. And The Major did indeed note the 40th anniversary but didn't explain that he'd made the change, not Geerdes reaching down from the great be-in the sky. I think Geerdes, a cutting edge guy, did indeed live at 903 at least part-time.
HOW TO HANDLE WAVERS
Editor,
Regarding Bill Bradd’s piece “Busy Socially in A Rural Setting,” (AVA, July 12), there remains another option, aside from impersonally flashing the headlights.
When I meet particularly odious people, ignorant in their determination to curry my approval with a friendly wave, I hold my nose as I pass. This sends them an unmistakable signal and puts a quick end to their unwanted overtures. Midge Crossaunt will soon avert her eyes.
I spend hours and hours in solitude and rather enjoy it.
G. Durheim
Cannon Beach, Oregon
“The armpit of Clatsop County”
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