Letters (Dec. 13, 2017)

• They Stayed & Fought
• Proud Hospital Defender
• The Flag And The Cross
• Ditto For Mendo
• Recreational Mashers
• No Advance Warning
• Boundaries
• Too Many Liberals
• Fan Note

THEY STAYED & FOUGHT

Editor,

Here is another story of saving houses from the Redwood Valley fires. My artist friend Judy Geer-Linney and her husband Dennis Linney and 22 year old daughter Kaitlyn “Dell” Linney decided to fight the fire. Dennis is a newly retired firefighter, having just finished working with Silver Tips, a private helicopter fire fighting unit. It was 1am in the morning.  Dell looked out her bedroom window to see the branches of the big eucalyptus trees whipping in the wind. Everything was glowing red, the moon, the sky, and even the trees were red. Dell and Judy rushed to wake the neighbors, while Dennis laid out garden hoses and started a generator, flood lighting the yard.

All three, Dennis, Judy and Dell decided to stay and fight the fire.

Under Dennis’s instructions Judy and Dell dressed in wildland fire protective jackets, hats, gloves and masks. Using their slow flowing but continuous water from Redwood Valley Water, Judy and Dell protected their home from starter fires on all sides while Dennis repeatedly hauled five gallon buckets of water to fires starting at neighbors’ homes. As the next door neighbors’ RV parked on the other side of the wooden fence adjoining their house burst into flame, all they could do was keep the fire from spreading to trees and the house. The RV burned to a crisp. Judy and Dell were surrounded by fires on all sides.

By the time they had secured their home, they had saved the two houses closest to their home as well as two garages. One house had already begun to burn. Dennis, finding a shovel, ripped off the siding to prevent the fire from spreading from the eves to the attic. By the time the fire had swept through, the three of them had saved their own home, their renter’s house and all their animals.

Perhaps others, with preparations, could have saved their own homes as well — assuming they had water. Unfortunately, houses with well water lose their ability to use it to fight fire when the electricity fails. Maybe we will need fire fighting classes for the future, even certifications or emergency deputy status.

It sure is comforting to sleep in your own bed.

Sincerely,

Dorotheya Dorman & Judy Geer

Redwood Valley

PROUD HOSPITAL DEFENDER

To the Editor:

I am an employee of Mendocino Coast District Hospital. I have chosen to work at MCDH because it is the best opportunity I have to contribute to the health and wellbeing of my follow citizens in this community that I love so much.

I am amazed, and frankly appalled, that a small number of people in this community are attempting to create such an aura of negativity surrounding MCDH. It is even more appalling that one of these people happens to be a member of the MCDH Board of Directors. It is ironic and insulting that some of these people wage their attacks under the banner of being “Friends of the Hospital.” What’s that old cliché? “With ‘friends’ like these…?”

What is the rationale behind this campaign of negativity? There is absolutely nothing constructive about it. Does MCDH have problems that need to be fixed? Of course we do. Name one organization that doesn’t! I’ve been in the workforce for over 40 years, and I’ve yet to see one. I can guarantee you one thing though: organizational issues have never been solved from a platform of negativity and blame.

The people I work with day in and day out are among the most caring and dedicated people I have ever known. Their commitment to the health and safety of our patients is inspiring, and they maintain that dedication and commitment in the face of these hurtful attacks from members of the very community they serve.

One of the issues brought up by the attackers is that of low employee morale. Personally, in the year that I have worked at MCDH, I have seen an increase in morale. But, do you want to know what sticks a knife in the heart of employee morale? The thought that the community we strive so hard to serve, the community that we care about so deeply, thinks we are unworthy of their support.

I challenge my fellow citizens to remember that the negativity you may be hearing comes from a very small number of people, who apparently have their own personal agenda to pursue. As is so often the case, a small but very vocal minority can successfully manipulate things to make themselves sound like a majority. They are not. Please don’t allow their misdirected personal agenda to become your agenda.

MCDH is vital to the health and welfare of the Mendocino Coast. Imagine for a moment what it would be like to have to drive to Willits at 2:00 a.m. on a rainy winter night if your child was sick or injured. MCDH is also vital to the economy of this region. It employs and does business with local companies that employ your neighbors, your friends and your family members.

We are your hospital, and you are our community. We need each other to be the best we can be. I am happy to be a member of this community, and I am proud to be an employee of Mendocino Coast District Hospital.

Lore McLaren

Fort Bragg

THE FLAG AND THE CROSS

To the Editor

Jerry Philbrick as finally done it. He has lifted the lid from racism, bigotry, xenophobia, and intolerance and let them fly around in his head.

Absent any insight, any intelligence, any tolerance, any love in any of his utterances he is perfect tool for the alt-right.

He will welcome fascism into his home with open arms, and then wonder where his freedom went. He will openly carry a gun in case someone disagrees with him and shoot them in the name of law and order.

If he were the only one who thinks as he thinks it would be laughable. But

there are millions.

They have been unleashed by his hero in the White House and they will welcome martial law and then wonder where their freedom went.

It is sad that we have come down so far on the path to fascism. It will come, as someone said, with the flag draped around the cross.

Lee Simon

Round Hill Farm, Virginia

Ed Note: I’ve known Philbrick for many years, and I know for a fact he is not a racist.

DITTO FOR MENDO

Editor,

Slow Down — After the fires, the wine industry needs to change

Since the October fires, I have read periodicals and listened to the news regarding accounts of the catastrophic fires and the tragic aftermath, but nowhere has there been any mention of water use by the wine industry.

Vineyard owners sink wells hundreds of feet into aquifers, divert water from rivers, streams, creeks, and seem not to care about how their practices affect the environment. If wineries keep extracting ground water and diverting water from natural sources, the environment will become drier leading to more extensive, catastrophic fires than the North Bay fire.

Sonomacounty.com states, “Sonoma County stretches from the Pacific Coast in the west to the Mayacamas Mountains in the east, and is home to almost 60,000 acres of vineyards and more than 425 wineries.” In 2016, 62,136 acres of grapes were irrigated.

Since so many people have to start over, it is time for people involved in the wine industry to become introspective, to take a long, hard look at their practices and change them in a way that respects people, animals and the natural world.

It is time for the wine industry to be accountable to the people who live in Sonoma County and to stop catering to tourists. While I understand that the county needs the revenue generated by the wine industry, too much is too much. Too many vineyards, wineries, tasting rooms, event centers. Too many mountains, hills, woodlands, meadows and fields destroyed in order to plant grapes. Too many animals dead on our roads because what once was their habitat is fenced off to protect vineyards. Too much traffic and inebriated people driving county roads that they do not know.

Due to the catastrophic fires, thousands of people have lost homes, belongings, businesses and animals, so I say to the people in the wine industry, “Slow down.” People in this county are suffering and will be in shock for a while. Nothing is normal in Sonoma County, and no one will ever be the same. We are a changed people. Please change your winery practices to something that involves the whole, not just the few.

Pamela Singer

Occidental

RECREATIONAL MASHERS

Editor,

The widening campaign to out power males for past inappropriate sexual behavior has gone ballistic. I mean, Garrison Keillor fired for a cop-a-feel condolence? Who's next, Pope Francis? Scott Simon? Charlie Brown? Elmer Fudd? Porky Pig? The Seven Dwarves?

In the past, most mashers were chastised by a slap on the face. Persistent ones were dealt with more creatively. Back in the day, I was assigned the big brother task of teaching my three attractive, athletic, younger sisters the fine points of self defense: If harassed, emit a blood-curdling scream, then assure that your oppressor takes a knee — to the groin (the "Nut Cracker Sweet"). My sisters never had trouble from recreational mashers.

Of course, archaic techniques may be ineffective in these torrid days of turbocharged sexual harassment. At a minimum, women should by encouraged to carry cattle-prods or tasers. These are ugly times. Comic Senator Al Franken will be thrown under the bus by his craven, anal liberal Congressional colleagues forcing Big Al to run for president in 2020 as the "Green For All Party" candidate with running mate, Jill Stein.

FRANKEN/STEIN 2020!

It must be true, I heard it on the Internet.

Tweet, Tweet

Don Morris

Ghost town, Willits

NO ADVANCE WARNING

Editor:

Waking to the roar of fire whirling around our home, the ringing from a landline telephone at 1:30 a.m. saved our lives. Our mobile devices depended upon our in-house Wi-Fi to receive calls. No power, no cell reception.

Ours is one of many stories that surfaced from the raging firestorm that devastated the North Coast in October. We had no advance warning, no one knocking upon our door to alert us of the impending danger that ultimately devastated thousands of acres and homes.

Through the grace of God, and the distant phone ringing in our home, we survived this life-altering event. We never found out who was calling. It may well have been a reverse 911 call. We will never know for sure. However, in retrospect, isn’t it about time that the great state of California devised an advance-warning system similar to that in other high-risk regions, e.g., Hawaii?

When all is said and done, we are glad to be alive, facing a daunting task of rebuilding our future and ready to be part of the new, state-of-the-art Sonoma County Strong!

M.J. Girard

Santa Rosa

BOUNDARIES

To the Editor:

Every woman alive — although some of us are more fragile and sensitive than others — knows the difference between an advance from a man that threatens our career and livelihood unless we comply, and a sloppy, silly come-on that is just stupid bad judgment on the part of the guy. We also understand when the advance goes from sloppy and stupid to the use of physical force. Many of us have experienced rape, an entirely different order of violation.

There are degrees and degrees of male sexual malfeasance. The continuum is radically different from one end to the other. This has to be acknowledged, or we are on a path to moral chaos in the area of relationships between the sexes.

I don’t know exactly where the line is, but I know that there is a line. I suspect that the lines most women draw are very similar one to another. Is it possible to define them?

Anne Breckenridge Dorsey

Sausalito

TOO MANY LIBERALS

Editor,

We have 5,300 college in the US, from community colleges all the way up to Harvard. About 4,000 of them are four year schools. And those four year schools are full to capacity of liberal professors. So is it any wonder that our younger people are coming out of college as liberals? The colleges are just beehives or anthills for liberals. It’s a dirty rotten shame. These people are coming out of there anti-President Trump who is trying to do the right thing, but they nag at him every step of the way. Unbelievable.

Jerry Brown just said on the radio the other day that global warming/climate change is responsible for the fires in Southern California. Can you believe that? Can you believe the hypocrisy of him? It’s beyond belief. Jerry Brown is actually responsible for all those fires in Santa Rosa and Napa and all those other ones because he vetoed the bill that was passed to let PG&E clean up all around the power lines to keep them from sparking. That bill passed and Jerry Brown vetoed it. What do you think about that?

All you people who read my letters, Have a Merry Christmas, NOT Happy Holidays!

God Bless Donald Trump.

Jerry Philbrick

Comptche

FAN NOTE

Dear AVA,

Thank you for another year of excellent reading. I miss the 12 pages but I understand the reasons. I'm glad that the two of you are still able to do this media printing of the news that’s real. The ability to read local news that is relevant to my existence gives me the feeling that I have at least checked in to Mendocino and Humboldt counties. I hope all is well with you and your loved ones. Thank you for your dedication, devotion and determination to be America's last newspaper.

Take care.

Sincerely,

Allyson Provisor

Garberville