Letters (Jun 8, 2016)

• New Coast Transfer Station: Bad Idea
• Who’s Responsible?
• Where It's At (Marijuana)
• Terrorist Trivia
• Punctuation Correction
• No On Measure V
• Bring Back The Forest
• Not A Good Place To Be Mentally Ill

NEW COAST TRANSFER STATION: BAD IDEA

Dear Mendonesians,

Keep Russian Gulch State Park intact!

A part of the Russian Gulch State Park is imperiled by plans for a new waste transfer station. The Revised Environmental Impact Report for the Central Coast Solid Waste Transfer Station is based on a land swap between the County, Jackson Demonstration State Forest (JDSF) and Russian Gulch State Park. Readers will recall that this project involves removing 12 acres of old trees from their protected status in State Parks and swapping them to JDSF to enable a new transfer site. These trees have been in protected status in Russian Gulch State Park since the early 20th century. These old trees are a public legacy. Under JDSF control they can be cut. The area contains Marbled Murrelet habitat and the famed Mushroom Corners. The third leg of the swap will have JDSF transfer 17 acres of pristine Pygmy Cypress Woodland to the City and County to build the Transfer Station upon. Pristine means never disturbed. Pristine Pygmy is regarded in the same light as Old Growth Forest because it as been around for a long, long time. It has protected status under the JDSF Management Plan, but not under the County/City plan. Again, this is part of our legacy and that of our children, and our children’s children. State Parks does not want to swap away those old trees. Letters are needed to the offices of State Parks in Duncans Mills and Sacramento urging them to send a letter to the City and County and MSWA declining the swap by the 24th of June. Your letters must be sent ASAP. Please write to :

• Liz McGuirk, Chief Deputy Director, CA Dept. of Parks & Recreation
PO Box 942896
Sacramento, CA 94296-0001

• District Superintendent, Sonoma-Mendocino Coast District
PO Box 123
Duncans Mills, CA 95430-0123

• Jay Chamberlin, Chief of Natural Resources
PO Box 942896
Sacramento, CA 94296-0001

A public hearing on this and other questions about the Transfer Station will be held on June 16th at Town Hall. For more information, contact Mary Walsh 937-0572

Mary Walsh, Chair
Rixanne Wehren, Coastal Committee
Linda Perkins, Conservation Chair
Mendocino Group, Sierra Club

WHO’S RESPONSIBLE?

Editor:

I have lived on Mountain View Road for 25 years. It has been absolutely quiet at night this whole time. For the past six months a generator/machine with a high-p-itch frequency and rumble has penetrated our living environment from midnight to past sunrise every night without fail.

To say the least, it has ruined my possibility of good sleep. We are constantly awakened and never get deep sleep.

I have contacted all the neighbors from the four-mile marker to the Piper Ranch. No one is running a generator during those hours.

Does anyone have any information about this horrible sound? Please contact me if you do.

We love our community and we would very much appreciate any information concerning this issue.

Charles DeFay

Manchester

707/350-0394

WHERE IT'S AT (MARIJUANA)

Re: Marijuana Legalization

AVA:

I caught some of your chat on KZYX today and I thought that it was a valuable contribution to the discussion. You might also consider printing the following article (with permission) by Beau Kilmer of the RAND Corporation to further promote the discussion of the issues and of the alternatives:

http://www.rand.org/blog/2015/06/the-10-ps-of-marijuana-legalization.html

Best regards

Francois Christen

Philo

TERRORIST TRIVIA

AVA:

In the year 1462 Europe was threatened by a wave of muslim terrorists and asylum seekers. When they reached Wallachia they found:

a. Hundreds of Catholic priests ready to convert them.

b. A 50-mile long wall with armed guards.

c. Well-ordered camps to receive them.

d. Cheering peasants.

e. The rotting cadavers of 20,000 Turkish captives impaled on stakes in the forest.

Name withheld

Watsonville

PS. (Answer: e.)

PUNCTUATION CORRECTION

Editor:

There are usually several typos in the AVA (America's Last Newspaper needs a proofread) so ordinarily I wouldn't mind that much but it looks like somebody tried to correct the latter half of my letter so that it says something I wouldn't say. In the May 25 Letters open “doublecrossed” (double crossed is right, I looked it up) you've got me saying “I should say there are no real statesman," except for the type "statesman" that's tolerable — it's my fault for not punctuating it much, whereupon you tried to fix it.

Here's what I said, more readably punctuated: "…and there are not many, I should say, rather than 'there are no,' real statesmen to put some real effort into reasoning out constructive agreements."

I don't feel right about it the other way, in California or the nation, because I don't really know. A lot of good people are mired in traditional political roles that don't allow them much integrity because it's such a cult and nobody can get through. I think it's going to take something like the Magna Charta, combined with the moral clarity of the civil rights movement, to get this monster turned more towards a functionally provisional civilization that people can have a natural part in as Americans, or in the world as human beings. It's not something that candidates should drop in the garbage once they get elected.

Scott Croghan

Mendocino

PS. If you want to see a worthwhile film, try Josh Fox's "Gasland." It's over six years old, so maybe I'm late, but it's one of the most important I've ever seen. If Obama, the Clintons, Trump, Congress were to see it, I wonder how they could continue to let it slide.

NO ON MEASURE V

To the Editor:

I have lived in Anderson Valley for more than 30 years and have been active in forest issues, from policy to management, including lots of conservation projects as well as the fights for local forest rules, Headwaters protection and against aerial spraying of herbicides.

Because of Measure V I have reflected on the bad old days and on how far we have come. I never actually thought I would see the day when much of the redwood region is owned and managed by entities that are committed to high standards of forest stewardship and the public interest. But the effects of clearcutting and depletion are still with us, including a shift in redwood forest composition to an unnaturally high level of tan oak, the direct result of clearcutting.

I urge my neighbors to vote no on Measure V. It is certainly well intentioned, but it is poorly framed and will limit all of us as we seek to steward our properties to adapt to drought and be more resilient. Intentionally using a small amount of herbicide can be an important tool to restore natural forest composition. This measure creates a needless layer of bureaucracy and expense for all of us — not just large landowners. Whether one agrees or disagrees with the scale of Mendocino Redwood’s efforts, approving Measure V won’t solve any problem.

Instead, I support the process already approved by the Board of Supervisors. Let’s investigate and work together to make decisions based on data, not on scare tactics.

Connie Best

Anderson Valley

BRING BACK THE FOREST

Letter to the Editor:

Snow White found refuge in the forest.

All the little wild animals who lived there came to her aid; Disney's forests were beautiful, natural and held mystery and freedom in their depths.

The Mendocino Redwood Company has killed more than 500,000 trees on 91,000 acres (per activist Ellen Faulkner) using the highly toxic poison imazapyr in this hack-n-squirt practice. These standing dead trees are like giant fuses which if ignited would create an apocalyptic forest fire endangering the lives of neighbors and firemen. All of this as a cost saving device to increase MRC profits.

These outcast trees — tanoak and Oh! also madrones and Douglas fir — are guilty of being unprofitable.

Tanoaks have grown in number from past clearcutting practices and are the natural step to restore the balance to the forest.

In their election mailings MRC says they are bringing balance to the forest. Ironically, the picture is of the FOREST!

What is never considered is what this practice does to the animals — nut loving squirrels, the rabbits, chipmunks, raccoons, foxes, and the fish in the streams of this poisoned watershed. Also, the birds, the soil microorganisms, etc., etc. Their habitat and food sources are compromised.

What about all that wood as firewood? Is it safe to burn it? Would it release its toxins? Is it even safe to handle it? Breathe it?

Where is the balance? Where is the forest?

In this era of climate change we need more then ever to add tree-giving oxygen to offset carbon pollution of our atmosphere.

What we have left after all this destruction is — Voila! a redwood tree farm! (Which should be managed under the Department of Agriculture).

So why are our Supervisors tiptoeing around this issue? The rapacious destruction of a natural resource?

The Supervisors have failed us by not even raising their voices in opposition to this practice in support of the people and also in the following examples:

The asphalt plant in Willits in the neighbors' creekside community gathering spot, picnic area and swimming hole.

Destruction of the wetlands, former destination of migratory birds and its underlying aquifer drought reserve. (North of Willits bypass)

Also at this site, destruction of Native American artifacts (against the law).

Changing their mind about the General Dollar Store in Redwood Valley after being threatened with lawsuits by this big box operation.

The continued use of profit driven corporations to "manage" our mental health needs. So how has the $47 million spent on the Ortner Healthcare Corporation benefited their clients and the community?

What's a citizen to do? The election on June 7 has valid choices that offer a change for the better.

Regarding candidate for Supervisor in the First District only, I urge you to consider Montana James Podva whom I heard at the candidates forum in Ukiah. He offered a differing opinion on the hack-n-squirt practice. He is a constitutional lawyer and has worked for Justice Douglas Douglas for one. I think he would be a strong voice for the people and their rights.

Measure V. Although not addressing the imazapyr issue, it does declare standing dead trees "a public nuisance," asserts the rights of residents and minimizes hazards to firefighters."

Measure W allows greater democratic input and authority to implement the wishes of the people, by the people, and for the people.

These times require a change in direction. Vote June 7, 2016 for change. Let's bring back the forest!

Susan Wertheimer

Willits

PS. Feel the Bern!

NOT A GOOD PLACE TO BE MENTALLY ILL

Editor,

I have mental illness. I cannot see a psychiatrist in Mendocino County when I feel know and think I need to. A lot of pharmaceutical medications have horrible side-effects. I have neuropathy in my feet and with the added psychiatric medication which gives me a physical imbalance I’m a wreck. The psychiatrist cannot see me for two months and won’t take five minutes to talk to me on the phone. Psychiatrists don’t come to Mendocino County and open a private practice. I definitely know that it is not OK to have mental illness with the general public. It’s far more easier for most people to live with a street drug dependency or an alcohol addiction embarrassment than a “mentally ill” stamp on themselves. I do feel however that all of us have one major thing in common we have been severely hurt in our lives. For most of us it’s called being or having been traumatized. I do thank the psychiatrists that are here in Mendocino County. But I ask, who is instigating the fact that we don’t have enough psychiatrists working for Mendocino County? I for one despise psychiatric hospitals. They are locked wards that make me feel like a criminal when I am not. I get very angry at this situation and then I get some pretentious crisis worker on the phone who tells me it’s my mental illness that causes me to be angry. Psychiatry is still in it’s infantcy some say. It is basically only a 100-year-old science. It’s hard for me to tell anyone whether or not psychiatrists are helping patients with the pharmaceutical scientists/chemists, who make these medications with drastic side-effects. If a person is having difficult times in their life my first suggestion is to go see a psychotherapist, or go get help to stay clean and sober. If you feel you need more help see a psychiatrist even though you’ll have to wait in line in our county and please be cautious. Some psychiatric medications can have you upset because of their negative side-effects. I lastly and to me most importantly I want to suggest to people with psychiatric problems/ mental illness/ traumatized to try to always see a counselor. A counselor who invests in you. Who really cares about you because some broken minds and hearts can heal. There is a good joke but I don’t remember how to tell it but the gist of the joke is: If you are not ready or willing to heal, you won’t heal until you are ready. And it takes effort and time

Leslie Jo Feldman

Ukiah