Letters (Jan. 24, 2018)

• Re-Build Smarter
• I Bring 'Em Back
• Trev Mans Up
• Corporatization, Not Legalization
• No Offshore Drilling
• Nest Feathering
• Be Sensible About It
• Misdirected Frustration
• My Country, Right Or Wrong
• Shut Down

RE-BUILD SMARTER

Editor:

A few years ago, I bought a home in Willits. There were problems getting home insurance. This area is considered a forested, at-risk fire area, I was told.

Understanding this, I am puzzled by the conversation of and the mass effort for rebuilding in what is clearly a flash-fire zone around Santa Rosa. This recent fire devastation isn’t the first burn out in this area. I have heard no insurance company saying there will be new requirements to protect the redevelopment of these areas. I have heard no building code improvements coming that would require a hold on rebuilding until improved safe code construction and area development designs are in place to protect the rebuild effort and guarantee insurance for home owners.

The wind clearly blew cinders a long way. Surely a development needs a fire-halting green zone protection of some sort. Water sprinklers? Fire-resistant roofing and building materials? Roof top sprinklers?

Life cannot just move on the same as it was the last two times this area has burned.

David Pollin

Willits

I BRING 'EM BACK

To the Editor:

I read in paper about the shopping carts issue. May I say, I am one of few homeless who gathers shopping carts and brings them back to the store owner’s property.

As I’ve only gathered and pushed maybe 8 to 12 carts at a time and roped them together for return to pay back the society as well. I do not ask for anything in return. Some increased amount of carts have been either vandalized or wheels removed from certain carts made it hard for me continue to help society. I am guilty myself for taking one cart to move recyclables to recycle centers but often I push back a long train 8 to 12 carts to the store owner — “Lucky,” “Walmart,” and “Home Deport.” I only wish more homeless folks who have nothing better to do than getting into trouble would take the time and give back to society by helping shopping centers out. If they do maybe they would see how much more appreciative the society would be and perhaps give the benefit of doubt to everyone in society that something good would come from the person or homeless person trying to fit within society.

I also want to add that this community may need to think or consider the San Francisco shopping cart law: if a person has it more than 8 to 12 hours he would be fined or incarcerated. As for those locked wheels at Safeway, it’s a good idea, but sorry to say many people removed those locked wheels and put regular cart wheels on it so really it’s not any different. I strongly think if community and society come up with utility garden tool wagons or carts for homeless then maybe the chances are homeless society would leave the shopping carts in parking lots. Don’t just blame homeless, kids and neighbors have abandoned carts near their homes or in creek beds.

James D. Hoffman, Sr.

Mendocino County Jail

TREV MANS UP

Editor,

I wish for one baby hug.

This is to the community of Mendocino County and local law enforcement officers to whom I owe an apology. I am currently housed in San Quentin State Prison and I am sorry for my poor leadership in taking the young men who helped me in this stupid robbery that landed us all in jail. To Alex Nunes and your babies I am sorry to you the most. I wish I could take back my decision and could put you back with your babies. To Matt Sturges and Daniel Hernandez I am sorry. Thank you for being the strong minded friends who drove me to liking you. Truly I am sorry. I am to blame for the bad guidance.

That said, take this all in an learn and grow as people and don't get used to this life. Please go to school and get some education while you are in custody. Be good.

To the victims of my childish crimes I am sorry. I would like to tell everyone how much my heart hurts. I sit in my cell with 25 years in front of me wishing I could undo this nightmare that I am to blame for. My actions. I'm sorry to the people I've wronged. I am not sorry just because I am behind bars.

I'm truly sorry for two people I hurt and most assuredly let down. I cry writing this letter. I cry every time I think about my wife and my child. I left them to fend for themselves in the community. I was given a fair chance at being a positive member of the community and I failed to achieve anything other than being a bad dad and a liar and a cheat. I am a good guy at heart and I hope that the community will forgive me for the wrongs I have done. I have no room to ask for any favors from you but if you could please find it in your hearts to help my wife raise my best part of me into becoming a lady I would forever be in debt. I am not asking for money or anything other than help or guidance to my wife Alexandra Long just look in on her through your prayers and if you see them in their struggles please, I beg you, to help my family. They are the most beautiful things I ever did have a role in creating. I am a fool who can't tell you how I hurt and deserve this pain for not being a man and taking the time to work for my own like the rest of my beloved Mendocino County.

I don't know what I can say or what I can do for the pain I feel in my heart to stop. So I guess I just have to hurt. I am sorry Taylin Grace Jackson, you are the most beautiful girl in the whole world wide world to your dad, next or your mother of course. I hope that one day I can hold you before you get too big. I never got the time to teach you to ride a bike and I want to be there to pick you up or guide you through the trials and tribulations of this unfair life. I left you without a father. I am sorry, child, to you, for this wasn't something you signed up for. But I can trust in our beloved community to help you. I hope for the world to open up for you and provide a happy life and a chance for you to be that Princess with really long hair. I hope you get to bounce balls till your heart tires and you find a place in this world that makes you happy. Please, little one, be okay and listen to your mom and go to school and be a lady. I am so so sorry to you. I am never going to forgive myself. Never. I am sorry for my shortcomings and I am begging for a chance for one more baby hug or a chance to have you forgive me. They say time heals pain but the more time I spend away from you the more pain I will have to deal with. That's my punishment. Good God, world, I am begging for a second chance. Please help me be a father. I guess we just don't get second chances.

Don't forget there is a baby and a mother and a father. Please check out Alexandra Long on facebook and Trevor Jackson on facebook and Taylin Jackson on Reeves Canyon Road in Redwood Valley.

Trevor “Brush Pimp” Jackson BE 9877, San Quentin State Prison, San Quentin, CA 94974

PS. Pathetic Hanover. I am writing this note to set something right. First and foremost I would like to say thank you to Josh Hanover. I never wrote the AVA, but thanks for having my back, Bro. I'm still trying to read all the paperwork that I have on you but you know what? Nobody cares. And I will just say good luck in protective custody. Do the whole world a favor and embrace your surroundings. Most appropriate for you. How did the district attorney put it? Pathetic criminal caliber. You think anyone believes you or cares? Well, they don't. I am still on the main line with my head held high. About you, The response David Eyster wrote to your letter said all that needed to be said. You tried everything to lie your way out, instead you got 12 years protective custody. You should man up and get one of the child molesters or rapists you’re housed with. Man up, Wimp.

CORPORATIZATION, NOT LEGALIZATION

Editors,

A fine little paper, Greenfuse out of Humboldt County, is available at the Ukiah Co-op and the Mariposa Market in Willits, also by subscription. Maybe your Boonville market will carry it. The publishers give it away free. However, it's worth paying for.

The pot thing: these excessive regulations are corporatization rather than legalization. I think all marijuana is medicinal. It's an invaluable herb to help with the insomnia brought to us by the United States government's Lyme and co-infection epidemic. I plan to write more extensively on this.

Dorotheya Dorman

Redwood Valley

NO OFFSHORE DRILLING

Editor:

A headline on Sunday’s front page of the Press Democrat said, “Half-century oil battle rekindled by Trump.” There are good facts in the article, but there is no mention that, in 2000, the off-shore rocks and islands from Oregon to Mexico were named the California Coastal National Monument. Protection extends out 12 nautical miles from the shoreline. This monument is managed by the Bureau of Land Management, which is part of the U.S. Interior Department — yes, the same agency proposing to open the coast to off-shore oil drilling. We cannot let this happen.

Ruth Sparks

Fort Bragg

NEST FEATHERING

To the Editor:

It is not a mystery that our supervisors have voted to raise their own salaries. With three set to retire, this guarantees them a nice retirement package. We can at least feel safe knowing that there was one supervisor with the integrity to vote against this raise. The same supervisors have easily forgotten the many, many broken campaign promises to their constituents. However, they are not forgetting to pad their own pockets. However, all that “glad handing” is exhausting. Of course, we know, this raise is only to guarantee new and better candidates for the job.

MJ Wilson

Potter Valley

BE SENSIBLE ABOUT IT

To the Editor:

As a physician, I have dedicated my career to helping people live healthier lives. Many factors contribute to health—diet, exercise, heredity, stress levels, environment, and more.

Throughout my decades of practice, people have sought quick, easy remedies to feel better. While modern medicine offers some amazing cures, we still haven’t found the perfect cure for everything.

With the legalization of recreational marijuana going into effect this month, I see people turning to cannabis as a miracle cure for everything and this concerns me.

While there are legitimate uses for cannabis, it is not a cure-all. Cannabis can help reduce pain and nausea, and it’s proven especially effective for some patients undergoing chemotherapy or receiving palliative treatment for terminal illnesses. However, marijuana is not the wonder drug some people would have you believe.

There is a sense that because cannabis is a plant, because it is natural and not derived in a lab, that it must be healthy. Not so! Nature creates some potent toxins, and man has modified these plants to make their effects even stronger.

Unlike alcohol, which does not contain any chemicals produced by our brains, cannabis contains THC, a chemical that mirrors a naturally occurring substance in the brain. This allows THC to alter brain activity profoundly.

This effect on the brain is what leads to a decrease in productivity and ambition. Used sparingly as a distraction by adults, cannabis does not appear to do long-term damage. Used regularly by adolescents or pregnant women, the effects can be disastrous and irreversible.

Unfortunately, recent studies have shown that the use of marijuana among pregnant women is increasing. In California, among pregnant women 24 years of age and younger, the rate of marijuana usage is about 14 percent. Among pregnant women of all ages, marijuana usage is about 7 percent.

My concern that legalizing marijuana makes people believe it is safe when it isn’t. I have other concerns about the effects of marijuana on our community—the increased violence and crime, the pollution of our forests and streams, and the hard feelings between neighbors. But my biggest concern is for the welfare of our children, including the unborn.

If you choose to use marijuana, please protect your children from the negative effects of this drug. The brain only develops once. If that development is impeded by cannabis, there is no fixing it.

Dale Morrison, M.D., Ukiah

MISDIRECTED FRUSTRATION

To the Editor:

Farm worker housing unfair.

In Friday’s (Jan. 5) Ukiah Daily Journal on the front page it says “Housing is being built on Brush Street for agricultural workers.” 72 units, will feature efficient appliances, solar energy and low flow water fixtures. What the heck is happening here! Governor Brown makes our state a Sanctuary State and now we are going to house mostly undocumented workers, give them appliances and all the works and Ukiah approved this? Why may I ask is there not being housing being built for the seniors and the veterans? I know that people will say that there is senior housing built for seniors, but who could pay those prices? Yes I know there is Autumn Leaves, no one wants to live there. There are some senior manufactured parks, but rarely is any of them available and you cannot rent there, you must buy one. As a senior, I am deeply upset that Ukiah does nothing to help the seniors or the veterans that have fought to keep us safe, or the seniors who helped build Ukiah in so many ways, and have worked here for many years and now we are just pushed into a corner and we are not even thought of, no housing for us, not even a thought of building decent housing for us. Ukiah should push this housing for the seniors and veterans and show the rest of California how proud they are to have the best housing for such special people as we are, set an example. As for this 72 unit housing for agricultural workers, I am against it 100 percent and I hope there are other people that are against this and write letters also. Right now I am deeply ashamed that Ukiah is letting this happen, that it was approved and is going to happen and that nobody knew this until it was posted on Jan. 5. This really irritates me to no end, I cannot believe Ukiah has let this pass. Again, shame on you Ukiah, you have no idea who needs the help the most, the seniors and the veterans.

Linda Warden, Ukiah

ED NOTE: This letter appeared recently in the Ukiah Daily Journal. It raised the contradictions, as we used to say when there was still more or less a "left." But like a lot of Mendo white people the anger of the letter writer is mis-directed. County policy, for years now, has been implicitly aimed at subsidizing the wine industry, not that any County official would admit it even if he or she were aware of the net effect of much local social policy. The fundamental problem at all levels of government is economic assumptions untethered to economic realities. At the state and federal levels of elected government race demagogues of all ethnicities keep Americans at each other's throats while the owners of the country, the One Percent, grow wealthier than ever. 

MY COUNTRY, RIGHT OR WRONG

Editor;

“It’s no secret that the billions of dollars demanded by the Pentagon for the armaments industry are necessary not for ‘national security’ but for keeping the economy from collapsing.” — Hanna Arendt

Proof. I’d like to see Jerry Philbrick prove his false claim that Japan started WWII when it bombed Pearl Harbor. Most historians agree that WWII began with Germany’s invasion of Czechoslovakia in March of ’39. Over two years before Pearl Harbor. Japanese Imperial aggression in China and the Pacific also helped begin WWII. The US declared war on Japan on 12-8-1941. I guess one could imagine the war starting only when the US finally got involved, that is if Eastern European and Chinese lives don’t matter much.

America did in fact start the so-called wars in Korea and Vietnam. They weren’t wars in any typical sense. Those countries posed no threat to our national security. Both conflicts became “wars” when the US belligerently invaded them with spies, propaganda, economic mayhem, ruthless dictators, and finally troops to quell the violence we fomented. Both invasions were illegal, immoral, and ill-advised to put it mildly. Premier Diem was at the time one of the most brutal dictators in the world. For some never-explained reason the US is always installing the worst kind of butchers to spread its twisted version of “democracy.” Never explained by official or mainstream media sources, that is. A person has to work at it to find the truth of what our government actually does out there in the real world in our name, and fortunately there are many fine scholars who devote their lives to doing just that.

Every US president from McKinley on have been expansionist imperialist. They have all put America on a course of permanent militarism. Our thriving military-industrial complex now threatens peace in the world and has all but bankrupted our economy and trashed our precious Constitution. The Imperial Presidents, especially since 9/11, have shredded the parts of the constitution that protect us from autocratic tyrannies.

If seeing through our government’s lies and propaganda makes me un-American, then there must be two Americas. I was born here from European descendants and will not be driven out by liars, criminals, national supremacist, racial supremacist, religious supremacist, or any other kind of self aggrandizing haters of the real America built on freedom, liberty and justice.

I couldn’t agree with Mr. Philbrick more, all the bastards in high office and board rooms who are the real anti-Americans, who’ve ruined our economy and our reputation in the world, who’ve lowered our standards of living and education and health; they should all be sent to some destitute dustbowl where the glories of their perverse version of Democracy have been exported, and left to rot in what they sowed!

Some more quotes from some others who are most likely also full of shit as Jerry Philbrick concludes I am.

“Overgrown military establishments are under any form of government inauspicious to liberty, and are to be regarded as particularly hostile to Republican liberty.”— George Washington, farewell address 9-17-1796

“This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience… In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted.” — Dwight D. Eisenhower, farewell address, 1-17-1961

“Although tyranny, because it needs no consent, may successfully rule over foreign peoples, it can stay in power only if it destroys first of all the national institutions of its own people.” — Hanna Arendt

“Of all the enemies of true liberty, war is, perhaps the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments of bringing the many under the domination of the few. In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended; its influence in dealing with our offices, honors and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force of the people. The same malignant aspect in republicanism may be traced in the inequality of fortunes and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war, and in the degeneracy of manner and of morals, engendered in both. No nation can preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare…. War is in fact the true nurse of executive aggrandizement. In war a physical force is to be created; and it is the executive will, which is to direct it. In war, the public treasuries are to be unlocked; and it is the executive hand which is to dispense them. In war, the honors and emoluments are to be multiplied; and it is the executive patronage under which they are to be enjoyed; and it is the executive brow they are to encircle. The strongest passions and most dangerous weaknesses of the human breast; ambition, avarice, vanity, the honorable or the venal love of fame, are all in conspiracy against the desire and duty of peace.” — James Madison, chief author of the US Constitution

Remember, never believe anything that comes out of the mouths of politicians or the vested interests for which they all work. The corporate media is not liberal in any sense except for its liberal use of official sources, hand-picked “experts” and celebrity shills. Turn of your TV and go to the library.

Thanks,

Ross Dendy

Elk

SHUT DOWN

Editor,

The shutdown. The Democrats are so jealous of what Donald Trump has done in the first year they can't stand it. The only way they can get even is to create some kind of leverage on him by shutting down the government. That’s Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi for you. Those people are rotten to the core. President Trump has done more in one year than any other sitting president we ever had in the history of the United States. That's not that hard to do because our other presidents had things so screwed up that probably you or I could have done it. Then we have Mr. Moonbeam Brown threatening to arrest our own citizens if they don't agree with his rules and defy the federal government from doing their work with the illegal immigrants. Isn't that something? He's going to arrest our own citizens over illegal immigrants. This is going to start a shooting war probably between the federals and the state people because the government is not going to give up. Most of the citizens are going to be on the side of the federal government. Jerry Brown is a rotten son of a bitch; his whole administration is. At some point he should be impeached. Actually no, he should be coated with honey and staked to an anthill. That would be better.

Somebody should write something telling us how come we would be wrong to defend ourselves against our own state for coming to try to arrest us over the fact that if we don't turn over illegal aliens. Explain that to me. If somebody comes around to arrest us there's going to be shots fired, believe me. Somebody tell me where I'm wrong. What's wrong with defending ourselves against these communist sons of bitches?

God bless Donald Trump

Jerry Philbrick

Comptche