Letters (Oct 14, 2015)

• We'll Take It In The Mauve, Please
• Still Crazy After All These Years, Oh…!
• Where Was Linda?
• Due Deference
• Arf! Arf! Another One, Please!
• Fair Play For Oaky Joe
• Mendocino Charter County
• TPP Doesn’t Work

WE'LL TAKE IT IN THE MAUVE, PLEASE

Editor:

It would be better discussing KZYX with you, Bruce, if you knew what you're talking about. You could open an interior decorating business without going anywhere to have a look. Just take a fee upfront and finesse the rest. Remember to say, "mauve, mauve." It sounds classy and nobody's quite sure what it is.

Gordon Black

Mendocino

Ed reply: I try, Gordy, god knows I try. But on your end, and please don't report me to Beth Bosk for ageism, your communiques grow ever more opaque, one of several early Alzheimer's clues I've noticed in you, the others being that greasy cravat you've worn lo these many years, the occasional on-air quaver in your mellifluously molesto baritone, the indignant wattle rolls of your chin sag. We all get there, old boy, and you have my sympathy. But, really, whoever your in-home care person is you might, in a lucid moment, remind her to keep you away from your keyboard when you suddenly exclaim, in that Wascally Wabbit voice you entertain in at the Senior Center, “That Bwuce. I'll get him yet!”

STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS, OH…!

Editor,

The Big Surprise.

The terminal cancer. The word leaks out. The "goys" bring the Irish whiskey. The Jews smoke and pain pills. All in all it has been a wasted life. I flew off the handle too much. Never felt comfortable in my own skin. My business just making ends meet. In my heart — tried to be a good Jew and a patriotic American.

In fact, I have not done shit with my life. I tried to do right by the people who worked for me. I loved and took care of my dog.

So there I was, sitting on the pity pot when who should walk in but the Chairman of the Board of the family. The surprise of my life. After he dropped a tear in reference to my condition, we went to the roof for a private chat. This is the deal: It's $1 million for a hit on a very bad guy. A man all America hates. Although not stated — the potential victim has a lot of information that has to die with him. As the cancer will kill me anyhow, I will die a hero. In fact, the sign I saw from the jail cell that first night was: "God bless you, Jack Ruby."

Alan "Captain Fathom" Graham

Mendocino

WHERE WAS LINDA?

Dear Editor:

I saw in the media today that Talen Barton, a disturbed and callow 19 year old boy, was sentenced to 71 years to life in prison today, an outcome he may ultimately deserve, but I cannot see how he could possibly have received due process of law under the circumstances that prevail.

Let's see, he allegedly committed the crime on July 19, pleaded guilty on September 4 and then was sentenced to life on October 4 in the midst of a lynch mob atmosphere in which both the District Attorney and the judge made statements about doing everything they could to keep him in jail forever. Not a word was heard from the defendant's lawyer, the Mendocino County Public Defender, about his troubled upbringing or any other issue.

Honestly, I am completely dumbfounded as to how the Public Defender could have possibly done her due diligence and adequately investigated the factual circumstances of this case and more importantly the background and mental state of her client including how that might interact with any toxicology results indicating drug and alcohol use in a mere six weeks. Diligent attorneys often spend more time sizing up misdemeanor DUI cases!

Yes, tabloid journalists and a segment of the public are quick to take contrived cheap shots as a way of getting cheap laughs from using our hard-working public defenders, who toil in a thankless job, as a punching bag, but in a capital case there is simply no way that justice could have been served in such a rushed and harried basis, particularly given the youth and immaturity of the defendant.

More to the point, there is simply no way that an adequate consideration of whether Mr. Barton lacked the specific intent to support a conviction of first or second degree murder due to intoxication or whether he was not guilty by reason of insanity could have even begun to have been broached in such a short period of time. On this basis a writ of habeas corpus to vacate this plea and conviction will lie based on his having received ineffective assistance of counsel.

We all recoil when we read horror stories about people being railroaded in the deep south under circumstances of hysteria and incompetence, but we are reluctant to recognize it when it occurs in our own midst.

Yet this is a terrible tragedy and the victims deserve justice and closure, but that is not served by a lynch mob-like process, "politically correct" or not.

Sincerely,

Joseph Hansen

Redwood Valley

DUE DEFERENCE

To the Editor:

It is no wonder that they all people think of the phrase "petty bureaucrat" like it was one word. This fracas over Third District Supervisor Tom Woodhouse having the audacity to speak with county employees is one of the silliest things I have heard lately.

Apparently, he received a "confidential letter" from Board Chair Carre Brown calling him to heel for potentially distracting people from their work.

Well, I'll tell you, if I had sent such a letter I would want it kept confidential too. I wouldn't want anybody to know.

Before I came to Mendocino County in the mid-80s I worked in design and manufacture of specialized equipment for stress testing new types of microchips. One thing all levels of management knew was, If you want to understand and solve problems, talk to the people who are actually doing the work. They know what is really going on. It is pretty obvious.

Why then would anyone object to one of our elected Supervisors talking to the people who may have an idea what's really going on? It reminds me of the old saying: "Treat ’em like mushrooms — keep them in the dark and feed them heifer dust."

Brown grudgingly admitted in her "confidential letter" that Supervisors could "speak directly with department heads," but they thought that they really ought to go through the CEO. It is "very important all board members provide the CEO with the level of deference appropriate under Ordinance 4140."

So come on, Tom. Show a little deference here.

When you run into the CEO take off your hat and say, "Yes ’um."

Tom Fristoe

Willits

ARF! ARF! ANOTHER ONE, PLEASE!

Dear Editor:

Our local paper has an article about some regional brewpubs and wineries catering to pooch loving folks. In general, the dogs are not allowed into the tasting room but have to stay in the outside garden. There are exceptions and some brewpubs and wineries do allow dogs into the tasting room. One of our local TV stations ran a news story on tap dogs showing a lady talking baby talk to a small dog she was holding and feeding it pub food. There are problems when you allow dogs — some dogs may fight with each — others may mistake a table leg for a fire hydrant — some patrons may not like a dog at the next table slobbering over some food — not all people like someone next to them talking baby talk to a dog. In the tasting room some folks with a flight of beer might not appreciate some dog lover sitting next to them giving the mutt a glass of beer and listen to the dog slobbering as it drinks the beer. Hopefully, there will be brewpubs and wineries who will continue not to allow dogs on their premises. If I was an unkind person I might mention how dogs in China are very popular in restaurants.

In peace and love,

Jim Updegraff

Sacramento

FAIR PLAY FOR OAKY JOE

Editor,

Sounds to me like Oaky Joe was mostly in the right. The problem is that sometimes all of our best assumptions about medical marijuana regulations are rebuked by one swift action. The Sonoma County sheriff seem to be a bit conservative in their decision to prioritize this raid when it was not a criminal grow in any genuine sense of the term. Why did the sheriff not visit the farm and keep it on the up and up with Joe? I know in Butte county this year they radically limited the permitted amount to cultivate by close to 90 percent. This came down when conservative initiatives to limit pot were successful with voters. Honestly speaking the big clamp usually comes down in the summer leading up to a presidential election meaning 2016 is gonna be a hot one!

Why wasn't Joe given any heads up when that is the general precedent of law enforcement for most of northern California? In the case of Oaky Joe's collective (which appears to be a true one thus far) it is especially disrespectful to take everyones medicine right at the time of harvest. This medicine was maturing to be harvested and prepared for a lot of people and I am sure that a lot of people put a lot of hard work and dedication over the past six months. I could feel the anguish like a lump of dough in my chest when I first read the story. One could gather from experience or even from the accounts printed in this superior newspaper, that the level of depravity and crime present at thousands of existing grows across California absolutely negate any legitimacy of a raid on Joe Munsons collective. As Joe stated, "There was no trespassing, no environmental damage, no diverting of water, no trees cut, no neighbors complained." So what's the deal?

I heard Steve DeAngelo the other day on KCBS and I liked when he said whatever ends up being written into law in 2017 to legalize marijuana it WILL INSIST on the expungement of ALL PAST MARIJUANA CHARGES as patently unfair. A truth and reconciliation if you will.

My advice to law enforcement is to chill out on the good guys especially so close to full legalization. Sheriff Tom Allman on the other hand seems like a good dude, he makes friends with the good guys. I really liked when he said, "It's not always size but if you have 200 plants instead of 25 you're a flat out crook and you won't have the luxury of removing your 175 crappiest plants while police politely watch". We'll dub that one 'law enforcement straight dope statement of the year for 2015'. Oh well one last note, the fact that the raid stemmed from guards at the Bohemian Grove is a clear indication that the Trilateral Commission has their paws all over this thing.

Global economic planning for elite world domination.

This is some pretty psychedelic shit, man.

Happy harvest smoking!!! And don't forget to give to those poor or in need!

Nate Collins in the fields

Oakland

MENDOCINO CHARTER COUNTY

Dear Editor,

There is an effort to make Mendocino a Charter County, with more autonomy to put laws into the Charter. These laws have the force and effect as laws made by the State Legislature, as long as they don't conflict with the California Constitution. However, it would give us the freedom to choose the laws we want included in the Charter. Fourteen other counties have charters that are designed by them to give their counties unique laws to fit their needs. We could have instant runoff voting, which would save the county money. Also we could protect environmental and financial resources from exploitation by Wall Street. A Charter is a form of Home Rule authority which would gives us greater control over county finances. The initiative goes on the ballot In June, 2016. Be sure to vote YES on the Mendocino County Charter. Go to www.mendocinocountycharter.org

Susie de Castro

Fort Bragg

TPP DOESN’T WORK

Editor,

The Trans-Pacific Partnership is the greatest gift to corporations ever, like all free-trade bills, it will eliminate trade tariffs on imports, thereby making it more profitable to employ foreign laborers, forced to work for slave wages under horrible working conditions, to produce manufactured goods whose prices U.S. companies and factories that employ American workers can’t match. It will also create a cause of action for corporations to sue for lost “potential” profits that are prevented by laws of other countries, including laws requiring healthy working conditions for workers as well as laws seeking to address global warming or other environmental problems. And those causes of action won’t be litigated in American courts of law, but rather before arbitration panels, whose members are bought and paid for by their corporate masters, all supposedly to prevent China from setting trade rules, which actually ensures the survival of our oligarchic tyranny. The TPP is yet another triumph for our economic tyrants, plutocrats who get corrupt politicians and corporately controlled newspapers like The Chronicle to ignore its full impact while singing hymnal praises for how it will benefit all of us, especially those of us who live on the West Coast.

Michael Marowitz

San Rafael