- Class Act
- Thank You Wee Boont!
- Durant To The Warriors?
- ‘Well Meaning Efforts’
- Come To My House Instead
- My Experience At Hospitality House
- Beyond Gasland
- Bad Advice
- Getting Smarter
- United States Of Bananas
- What The Heck Is Going On?
CLASS ACT
Editor,
Since I don’t know how to reach Lauren Sinnott in Point Arena, I would like to publically tell you, Lauren, that I fully appreciated your letter to the Editor in the June 22 AVA.
I am the father of four daughters and I could only hope that in similar circumstances they could show as much class as you.
After re-reading your letter I am left with two conclusions: Dan Hamburg has a serious problem (not you) and you have nowhere to go but up. I hear no “Oh, woe is me” or blaming; I hear an artist who is now free to soar. Congratulations.
As an aside, I’m sorry that you felt it necessary to write your letter in the first place.
Ashley Jones
Boonville
THANK YOU WEE BOONT!
Dear Editor;
The Anderson Valley Lions Club would like to thank everyone at Wee Boont for the generous donation to us. This of course gets put back into the Valley. It helps us help the Elderhome, Senior Centor, Fairgrounds, FFA, scholarships, sports and arts at the schools, animal rescue, fire victims, Fire Department, AV Housing Association, Education Foundation, eyecare and others.
Bill Harper
Philo
DURANT TO THE WARRIORS?
Editor:
I love the Warriors and will enjoy the next few seasons as much as anyone. We were able to attend a game this year and loved every minute of it.
But! A couple of things. The Sherman Antitrust Act states: “The purpose of the [Sherman] Act is not to protect businesses from the working of the market; it is to protect the public from the failure of the market. The law directs itself not against conduct which is competitive, even severely so, but against conduct which unfairly tends to destroy competition itself.” This is yet another bunch of rich white guys cornering the market.
And, they are also colluding with religion. Durant, Curry, and several other Golden State players are also Warriors for God, pointing skyward for every basket made, and huddling for prayer off-court in supplication to their very angry and vengeful lightening-thrower.
Praise Jesus! This is a match made in heaven…
Dave Smith
Redwood Valley
‘WELL MEANING EFFORTS’
Editor,
Homelessness is society's fault. We are to blame. It is our "bad choices" over the last 40 years that have institutionalized homelessness and made it into a lifestyle.
We give the homeless cash and vouchers which are easily converted to drugs and alcohol. We allow them to camp on public and private property. We shower them with free clothing, tents and sleeping bags, which they discard in our parks and along our roadsides. This is just as much enabling as allowing your 40-year-old son to live in your basement, smoke dope and play video games all day.
In four decades this has never worked and is not working now but we keep doing it, expecting a different outcome. Our co-dependent behavior makes us feel good about ourselves. We get a warm feeling inside judging ourselves as "compassionate" and "giving." We feel even better condemning "government" and "others" for "not doing enough." Unfortunately our well-meaning efforts to help the homeless have, in fact, harmed them.
We have created a permanent underclass of people who will never know the dignity of work or the satisfaction of living an organized life. No amount of "affordable housing" is going to fix this. And are the homeless grateful for our public and private policies toward them? It does not appear so.
John Eells
Salem, Oregon
COME TO MY HOUSE INSTEAD
Subject: Bad News: Cannabis Country Fair Cancelled
Chad couldn't get enough backing.
Dear Cannabis Community
I found out late last night that due to a lack of ticket sales and substantial sponsorship our producer Chad Rea is cancelling the Cannabis Country Fair. We apologize for the late notice, but he continued the effort until the last possible moment only to reach an impasse.
You all know how much energy, devotion and commitment Chad has dedicated to this event and it has been my job to assist him in organizing the panels/workshops and speakers. It is heartbreaking for me and I know Chad invested his whole life in making this dream become a reality. Unfortunately it was just a pipe dream. Some doubted the success from the beginning, but one thing I can tell you, He tried. He had the Black oak Ranch, The bands, the vendors, the volunteers, the speakers,the blessing of the Sheriff. He just couldn't raise enough money or get enough advance tickets sold.
Personally, I was extremely excited about all of the panels, workshops and speakers because we are at a pivotal moment in this movement and we have so much to share, learn through our history/herstory expertise and knowledge.
So I am inviting anyone who would like to still get together this weekend Sat/Sun for a unique camping/fire circle - conference experience on my 5 acre property in Albion. CA
I think it would be epic to get together. I’m happy to do my comedy and I can set up a nice bud tasting experience. I’ve got a huge kitchen and outdoor space for workshops, panels, music, and hopefully some good company.
Anyway, Let me know if you want to get together next Fri/Sat or both and you are welcome here. Otherwise...see you round the triangle....
Sherry Glaser <sheandshe2@gmail.com>
Mendocino
MY EXPERIENCE AT HOSPITALITY HOUSE
Editor,
I went to the Hospitality House Sept. 3 2013 and received a bed and was told to check in at the Hospitality Center on Franklin St. in the alley to sign up for “services” with in 5 days and to go to the clinic for a TB test (did).
I went to the Hospitality Center to sign up for “services”.
As they where just opening and I believe people need assistance sometimes (you too are eligible) I started ‘being of assistance” as in supporting their programs, sharing Green and Sober Inc. morning check in, I ran the emergency winter shelter December 2013 to April 2014, volunteered for various “public service” activities.
I moved out of the house February 2014 to re-start Green and Sober Inc.
Having a lot of troubles I still needed services and have been denied housing because I will not lie about Cannabis use as my only medication, I still tried to turn to the Hospitality Center for assistance and to complain about the fact they where allowing other people to lie and cheat making what I am doing look wrong when in fact they are the ones who are wrong.
A few of us that openly use Cannabis as a medication started having Green and Sober meetings (peer to peer support) at Dragonfly wellness center.
At our first meeting a client of the Hospitality Center thought it would be funny to go to Dragonfly Wellness Center to get his Cannabis and wait for the meeting to end to rub my nose in the fact that he is allowed to use Cannabis and he is housed, “how’s that honesty working for you?”
As this became an on going pattern, I reported this behavior to the Hospitality Center staff including Anna Shaw and asked them to tell their client not to stalk and harass me at the Cannabis club.
They told me they can’t tell their clients what to do, as a matter of fact they leave what they believe clients can do up to the clients.
As what I see as a slap in the face, this client that I have been making formal complaints about was used as a hospitality center success story on the front page of the Advocate News, (July 24 2014).
Finally after talking with a local police officer about what was going on, the harassment stopped.
I started re-filing formal complaints with patient’s rights which at first seemed to be disregarded.
When my formal complaints where finally responded to I was blown away at their response which stated:
“Dear Mr. Mack,
“This letter is to follow-up on the grievance you submitted on June15 and 17, 2015, regarding your report that you were denied services and you concerns about your medication. Mendocino County Mental Health Improvement did investigate your grievance.
“Per conversations with the Patients Rights Advocate and Connie Drago, compliance manager from Ortner Management Group (OMG), who spoke with your case manager at MCHC as well as yourself, we learned more about your concerns. Your case manager corroborated your statements, and you won’t compromise your ethics. You are not being denied services. Your case manager, ***** ******, will continue to work with you on overcoming your housing barriers. OMG and Mendocino County will also continue to support you in your efforts.”
This letter was dated June 25th 2015 and I still have the things to deal with that I have been asking for help on for over 2 years.
I even put in an application for employment on 2 occasions which must get buried also.
So I just want to let the people and agencies that refuse to help me know that since I can not get help to get housing from Mendocino Coast Hospitality Center, Patients Rights, Disability Rights, ACLU, local Board of Supervisor, Fort Bragg City council, various attorneys and the ones I do not want to mention due to fear of retaliation.
I am being forced lie & cheat (as many do), quit Cannabis (risk seizures) or get back on prescription medication to get housing.
All of this is completely wrong! Cannabis is my ONLY medication.
This is what I have been sending and saying to the various agencies.
I am missing part of my frontal lobe and was on many prescription drugs (2 being anti-seizure).
I have been able to successfully replace ALL of the prescription drugs with Cannabis (no seizures).
Using Cannabis and not prescription medication has kept me locked out of many mental health services such as housing (Mendocino Coast Hospitality Center).
In order to receive the most important component of homeless services, housing, I would have to lie & cheat, quit Cannabis (risk seizures) or get back on prescription medications, (seems wrong to me). This is a blatant violation of my civil rights!
All of this is completely hypocritical considering the Department of Health and Human Services holds the patent on Cannabinoids (6630507). I am really disturbed by all of this.
The mental health system on the coast has given me more mental health issues then I have ever had.
Thank you
Richard E. Mack
Fort Bragg
BEYOND GASLAND
Editor:
If you found "Gasland" informative and worth it, you might want to see Part 2. That HBO would show it at all is a surprise considering the worldview we get from so many writers, but maybe it's just a long leash. Both films are pretty grim news for the clueless, but Part 2 is more intense as if Josh Smith took the challenge from the jaunty, rather careless "Fracknation," which attempts to trivialize what Gasland reveals so painfully. If the traveling salesman for fracking had followed the same route Smith did, drinking heartily from the same poisoned streams and wells, breathing the same toxic mists with joyous enthusiasm, what he came up with might have been more credible, but he didn't.
Is Smith correct that no one is allowed to fly over the Gulf of Mexico (no journalist) under 3000 feet? He found a ride in close enough to film a vast expanse of water so lifeless you have to see it to believe it. The condor's-eye view of the fracking takeover is a shock when you thought it was something that they might do in the Arctic. The evidence, both on-site and investigative, cannot be negated by the opinions of bought officeholders and university professors. When you are looking right at people who are basically dying, they and their children have brain damage, nosebleeds, can't taste anything, they're ruined, the gas company told them there will be one well and there's forty, they have to pull out with a nondisclosure agreement to avoid going broke, they're targeted with psychological operations with military advisors if they resist, as if it's a Homeland Security issue, when the once-significant EPA is forced, ordered, to reassure people the water's fine and can only tell them off the record not to drink it, it isn't time to find a couple of single wells that look okay (so far) and call it all clear.
I've heard the line, "It's just a few ranchers and farmers," that the Gulf fishing communities lawsuit against British Petroleum is a "shakedown." I remembered Bush Sr. like to say, "You have to look at the big picture" or, "If you go after the big guy, you hurt the little guy." But that's just how they set it up and the big picture is made of all the little pictures. You have to look at them to know what's really going on, the reality on earth in people's lives.
Scott Croghan
Mendocino
BAD ADVICE
Editor:
Modern civilization in general and Marin County more particularly is screwed up with drugs, legal, illegal, semi-legal. In a recent cover story in the San Francisco Chronicle called "Healing Minds: Recognition of MDMA's Therapeutic Value Grows," we have some stoned "therapists" and some 25-year-old Internet multimillionaires supporting the proposition that psychedelics are a valid treatment for depression, PTSD, or any other mental illness. No science at all. Who needs science when we have the babblings of a bunch of dopers, right? Coolness supplants science?
Forthcoming FDA approvals? Big deal! Keep in mind that every drug taken off the market for injuring and killing thousands, every drug you see in the malpractice lawyer ads on TV, was once approved by the FDA. One of the most memorable lines I remember from chiropractic college? "The wonder drug of today will be the blunder drug up tomorrow."
It's now estimated that one in eight Americans are on selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) (antidepressants like Prozac, Paxil, Lexapro), and one in four among women in their 40s and 50s. Suicides are way up, especially in young people taking these SSRIs. Marijuana, on the verge of becoming totally legal, is far stronger than the weed of the 60s causing all kinds of problems up to and including psychotic breakdowns. SSRIs, even antipsychotics, are being given to very young children. Madness!
Some time ago my wife was in a consignment shop in Mill Valley ("Pill Valley?"). A woman came in and asked aloud if anyone had a Xanax. Every woman in the shop except for my wife dove into her bag searching for the magic pill. We need more? Psychedelics? How many people had already been badly damaged by psychedelics, from magic mushrooms on?
Head problems? Adding drugs to your delicate complicated brain with its dozens of neurotransmitters, innumerable reactions and connections unknown, cannot fix mental illness. Your mind is in your brain. Your brain is contiguous with the rest of the nervous system. An interference/distortion of the nervous system due to spinal injuries, healed wrong, may impact the brain and indeed the mind. Correction of these interferences should be first!
In the early part of the 20th century there were chiropractic sanatoriums. Adjustments were given instead of drugs, lobotomies, straitjackets and all the other weird medical things. 63% came out functional versus 5% from the medical facilities. Over my years of practice I've seen so many who have been able to dump their psychotic drugs under chiropractic care and lead drug-free, happier, healthier lives.
Don Harte, Doctor of Chiropractic
Marin
GETTING SMARTER
To the Editor:
With age comes wisdom. Well, for a lot of us it's just prisons and more time wasted. I will be the first to tell you that! I'm 31 years old with four terms in prison but about to be released with no supervision for the first time in my life. So now that I have this chance to go, be, and do what I want with nobody to tell me otherwise, I find myself scared shitless!
With five months to go I feel the best plan would be to surround myself with positive, pro-social, loving and supportive people, and to avoid old ways and people who might steer me in the wrong direction. Well, only one person fits that description and she's the most loyal, loving, beautiful woman whom I adore. Her daughter Serenity is my little princess. These two are my angels and my motivation. The Kelly Rowland to my L'il Wayne.
The problem is me, not the person I am now and still working to become, but the person of the past. The issue at hand is all the things I put her through. It seems like I take two steps forward and fall three back. We sometimes don't realize who cares and loves us because we are so wrapped up in ourselves that ultimately we push those closest to us away and hurt them. Who's there to pick us up and dust us off? in my case, she is.
So here it is, time to grow up, man up, and be the man and father they deserve. Change and allowing myself to be happy obviously is my fear. Truth be told, "Your worst day in the free world is far better than your best day in prison." A motto convicts share on the yard while working out is "Getting stronger." But it should be, Getting smarter." With each trip we usually bring more time. This trip is my last, my first discharge, and my first attempt with no excuses. I'm giving it everything I've got. Time to show her, show her daughter, but most importantly show myself that I'm worth it. I can love and be loved. I can change and be someone those close to me are proud of.
What I've learned is that rehabilitation doesn't come from prison, it comes from our family, our kids, our wives, and most importantly from within. I was released on Proposition 47, 17 months early. I have dragged my loved ones through the same shit. People may say that's why we should "keep ’em locked up," but that doesn't help either. We should be trying to meet the needs of each individual by drug programs, anger management classes, teaching social skills, and help with housing upon release. Without certain tools we fall back into our old destructive ways as before, not intentionally, but for survival. Hence, not only hurting ourselves, but also those closest to us. For all the people who stand by us, thank you, you are appreciated. To my Christy: Thank you for always being there. I'm going to get right before I get left.
Sincerely
Thomas Mark Nordahl
Lakeport
UNITED STATES OF BANANAS
To the Editor:
The system is rigged. First, Crooked Hillary Clinton rigs the system against Bernie Sanders. And now, Crooked Hillary compromised our national security. But the FBI recommends no criminal charges be filed against her. Wow!
In the case of former CIA
Director David Petraeus, FBI investigators recommended felony charges against the former general for allegedly providing classified information to his biographer and mistress, Paula Broadwell -- a far lesser crime than Crooked Hillary. Petraeus eventually pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor charge of mishandling classified information. The allegations against Crooked Hillary were far more serious. Even while announcing no charges would be recommended, FBI Director James Comey did, indeed, appear extremely concerned that Clinton had exposed state secrets to hackers, including those working for foreign governments.
Comey said, “The FBI does assess that hostile actors did, in fact, gain access to the private commercial email accounts of people with whom secretary Clinton was in regular contact from her personal account.”
Comey announced Tuesday morning that although there was evidence the former secretary of state potentially violated the laws regarding the handling of classified information, the bureau was not recommending the Justice Department file charges because there was “no clear evidence” Clinton or her colleagues intended to break the law.
No clear evidence that Crooked Hillary or her colleagues intended to break the law? Really?
Former federal prosecutor Andrew C. McCarthy accused Comey of essentially rewriting the law to clear Clinton because the statute does not mention intent. “The lack of intent to harm our country is irrelevant. People never intend the bad things that happen due to gross negligence,” wrote the legal scholar.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, echoed McCarthy’s assessment, in a statement issued late Tuesday afternoon, charging that “Director Comey has rewritten a clearly worded federal criminal statute.”
“In so doing,” Cruz warned, “Director Comey has come dangerously close to saying that grossly negligent handling of classified information should not result in serious consequences for high-level officials. In a nation where the rule of law is supposed to matter, this is troubling.”
McCarthy also took issue with Comey’s assertion that no reasonable prosecutor would bring a case based on the evidence uncovered by the FBI because the director himself had conceded Clinton committed gross negligence.
Bottom line? Crooked Hillary had emails marked Special Access Program (beyond Top Secret). Hostile foreign agents hacked her private email server. She put national security at risk. Quite simply, Crooked Hillary is unfit to be President.
And just as clearly, as Wall Street Journal editor James Taranto tweeted, “Laws are for little people. Comey delivers an indictment but won’t seek one."
Laws are for little people. The system is rigged by the power elites. Everything is a rich man's trick. Crooked Hillary's email exoneration, and the FBI and James Comey, have turned America into a Banana Republic.
John Sakowicz
Ukiah
WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON?
To the Editor:
There are some things that really bother me as I get older and as I go along through life I have a hard time understanding what causes all of us to do the things we do and why certain things are the way they are.
Why is it that when I get ready to park in any parking lot in Mendocino County there are always several selfish drivers that can’t seem to park between the lines of the spaces? I understand that the designers of parking lots are for the most part idiots and apparently these same designers all drive Subaru’s or Priuses that don’t need much room. But honestly how hard is it to park between the lines? Are we so self-adsorbed with our lives we can’t think about the other people that are sharing this living space with us?
Why is it that when we are driving and in a hurry to get somewhere, everyone in front of us is an idiot and must be a Sunday driver with nothing better to do than to hold us up? But when someone is crowding our rear bumper they are automatically maniacs, unsafe and shouldn’t be on the road.
Why can’t there be a standard to things we do, such as where the fuel filling cap is located on an automobile. Let’s make a decision and either put them all on the left side or all on the right side. It is incomprehensible to me that every auto manufacturer has a different idea of where to locate the filling spout.
Why is it when the communist, socialist, granola crowd in our county all got together and decided that it would be best for the rest of us to no longer use plastic bags because of the damage they were doing to the environment (which I agreed with, by the way). They decided to dispense with all bags unless one is willing to cough up an additional fee? Why is it all right to buy a paper bag to cause harm to the environment but it’s not all right for businesses to give away a paper bag (which is biodegradable by the way) to cause harm to the environment?
Have you had a chance to send a package to parts unknown from Ukiah? Apparently Fed-Ex doesn’t open until 9:30 in the morning, there are no time schedules on the door to their depot at the airport so who really knows what their hours are, I’m not sure they even know, it seems to be when the plane arrives. Big Brown (UPS) doesn’t open until 11 a.m. and closes at 1 p.m. then opens again at 3 p.m., the counter is manned from 1 to 3 p.m. but the gentleman behind the counter is not allowed to take money or help in any way during this time, but one can drop off packages if you don’t need help. I swear to you that is the truth, it doesn’t have to make sense, it’s just our policy. USPS is open from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. and seems to the least expensive, but if your package doesn’t fit in your mail box, you have to do your own pickup. If the package is too heavy for the mail carrier to handle, well then you will find yourself “out-of-luck.” We don’t even want to talk about DHL which doesn’t even have a depot let alone an agent, you might be lucky to get a mechanic if you were to beat on the building walls long enough. What happened to customer service? We have finally arrived at a time when the “bean countering bureaucrats” are running the world…. But there is an alternative, I found that Staples will handle your packages from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. or later, I’m not sure how much later and they may even open earlier than 8 a.m. They will give you the option to ship it with any carrier you desire, so one has some price options. One can also insure the package at Staples if one so desires. Apparently the management of Staples wants to do as much business as possible, what a novel idea. Customer service….who would have thought.
Then there are cell phones…..How did we ever get along without them? I can remember a time when there were no cell phones and as I recall we did pretty darn well without them. When someone was late we just assumed that they got held up and would be along soon. We didn’t have to put up with telemarketers, missed dialed numbers, annoying texts etc. etc.
What about the new Ukiah COSTCO, the one that’s supposedly coming to the Airport Boulevard Shopping Center, the same one that’s coming any day….or maybe not. I am all for a Costco closer than Santa Rosa, Eureka or Woodland but if I were the CEO of Costco and I had to deal with the brain trust of the Ukiah City Council and staff, I sure wouldn’t move to Ukiah, I would drag my feet until any contract obligations where over. Then I would open talks with the City of Lakeport or the County of Lake who I bet would welcome Costco with open arms. I’m sure Lake County or the City of Lakeport would love to have those jobs and especially those tax dollars that a Costco store would generate and Costco wouldn’t have to pave half the town to set up business.
Clyde Blundell
Potter Valley
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