Letters (April 4, 2018)

• Willis & Ronnie
• Does Anyone Else Remember These Fires?
• An Execution Or Two
• A Crying Shame
• Ditto For Mendo
• Happy Easter!
• Were But It True

WILLIS & RONNIE

Editor,

I was out to sea when Willis Tucker died at age 92 in a life well lived. Ronnie Vaughan was about 73 years old when he died after a life of beauty with some moments of tragedy.

Willis was from Arkansas. He fought valiantly in World War II. He was a sailor who fought with the Marines. He was shot by a Japanese soldier in Saipan. After two weeks in the hospital he caught up with his Marine buddies and he was even blown up on the beach of Iwo Jima. The Veterans Administration occasionally took shrapnel out of his body for the rest of his life.

He joined the Navy but at the first island of the Pacific campaign the Navy and the Marines thought they would have a practice battle to be better trained for the rest of the campaign. But the island turned out to be a hornet’s nest of enemy soldiers. The Marines lost so many men they needed Navy men to help them in the savage battle. Willis Tucker fought so well with the Marines that the Marines asked him to stay with them. Tucker told me he really liked those guys in the Marines, so he agreed to fight with them for the rest of his tour in the Pacific campaign. He was given a Purple Heart for his wounds.

I first met Willis Tucker at the end of the first flat plane on Mountain View Road where he showed up at dusk and said he needed a place to sleep. My father said, "We’ll will have to build you a small place because we have plenty of lumber free for the workers." Tucker said, "I ain't ever built a house before." My dad said, "Ken will hold the flashlight! Tucker said the next morning when they could see the cabin that there wasn't a square corner on the house. Tucker lived in that cabin for six or eight years.

He eventually became a successful logger and a beloved member of the Anderson Valley community. He brightened any day that you talked to Willis Tucker. He had a wonderful family.

Ronnie Vaughan was my wonderful boyhood friend. We lived close to each other at Browne’s Mill. We hiked the hills together and followed streams together to their source. We would play catch together for hours with a football or a baseball.

During cherry season we would save up a few dimes and quarters to buy a bag of cherries from a truck vendor and climb the big oak tree at Browne’s Mill and eat the cherries and spit out the seeds. We would compete at spitting out the seeds at a made up target.

Ronnie became the best pure passer at Anderson Valley High as quarterback for the Panthers. Then the best passer ever at Santa Rosa Junior College, especially when his receiver went deep. I remember listening to game announcer on my car radio who said, This Santa Rosa JC Bear Cub team is reaching receivers that are so deep the southern California defensive backs think they are out of the play. Santa Rosa JC lost that high scoring game in the "Prune Bowl," but Ronnie was a revelation as a pure passer. He was offered a full ride athletic scholarship to the University of Oklahoma, but Ronnie quit going to class and Troy Aikman took his place. Ronnie never got over losing that opportunity.

He carried joy with him for it 60 years. He was a lineman for PG&E. Then he suffered a vicious cancer which he fought with a fury of chemo and radiation treatments. After he had beat that horrendous enemy, his Santa Rosa home burned down in the recent fires. He was living in Cloverdale with his wonderful loving wife Doris (Tuttle) Vaughan. He was walking in the house when he suddenly fell over dead before he hit the floor. His memorial will be at a later time in Anderson Valley. I think he was 73 years old.

Ronnie and Doris’s fine son Toby had a fine son named Andrew who is now the best player on the UC Berkeley baseball team. Andrew Vaughan is a power hitting first baseman on the Cal team. He is a sophomore now. The bigs have him on their radar. More than once in his freshman year he has hit two homers in a game.

Tony Summit, Gail Waggoner and I are going to go and watch them play. When we see Andrew light we will think of Ronnie and Doris as well, and we will smile with the memories. We will probably have Bruce Anderson meet us at the game.

Sincerely,

Ken Hurst

Philo

DOES ANYONE ELSE REMEMBER THESE FIRES?

Editor,

I lived at 234 N.McPherson St., a rental which was owned at the time by Calamity (Elizabeth) Paul, a beautiful Craftsman home.

My car was an old maroon Honda, little 4 door, if I remember right. It was my uncle's car since brand new; he bought himself a truck, but was still very attached to his little car. When he let it go, he sold it to me because I was in great need of a car. My kids and I had been gratefully taking MTA, but with my 3 jobs and full college schedule, taking the bus was incresingly difficult. I took the Greyhound to San Jose to purchase it and drove it back to Fort Bragg.

I only had the car since January that year.

Pretty sure it happened May 19, 1999 as it had been CR's graduation night. (I graduated the following year).

Bernillo's Pizza was one victim but I cannot recall details of their arson. Purity was also victimized. I recently spoke with Marsha there, who recalls just having enough insurance coverage to handle the arson of the store's dumpster which in turn ignited part of the building.

My poor little Honda....Suddenly, late that night, the bedroom was lit up. My b/f at the time jumped up and yells, "fire!" I looked out the window and there were fire trucks out in the street, extinguishing a fire. It was the car. It was set from inside. Paper items were apparently pulled from its glove box to help advance the flames.

I had to pay to have my car towed away! I was advised to do it quickly so as not to upset people in the morning, especially children on their way to school. Which of course, I did. I was unable to be reimbursed for anything otherthan part of the tow. I was carless, again.

After reading your books, I was reminded of that night and the disruption of my and my kids' lives. I am familiar with someone you mention in the stories, and still know her. Being older and a tiny bit less naiive, I am shocked at what I know now.

Anyway, just curious.

Lynda Banks

Portland

AN EXECUTION OR TWO

Editor,

In a recent London Review of Books article Max Hastings cited a number of atrocities committed by the American military in various wars. In modern times when American troops are sent into combat their first order contains rules of engagement. When American soldiers landed in North Africa in Operation Torch in 1942, their orders stated in part, “The sultan’s palace, houses of worship, mosques, cemeteries and private homes will not be disturbed or entered unless they are used as defensive works,” and “Women, both European and native, will be treated with the utmost respect. Soldiers guilty of looting or assault on women will be shot.” I don’t know if this punishment was ever carried out. General Order Number 1 issued to troops invading Iraq had no such provision. It simply said they should avoid offending Muslim sensitivities and not, for example, take pornography into the country. One wonders if an execution or two would have maintained discipline in the ranks.

Gary Leiser

Sisters, Oregon

A CRYING SHAME

Editor,

It’s a crying shame that many liberals often resort to puerile, crass and utterly sophomoric tactics to get their points across. By wearing pussy hats and holding signs with such slogans as “Guns Have More Rights than my Vagina,” they really make themselves look as bad, if not worse, than the MAGA rednecks. I’m ashamed of the left (who I mostly agree and identify with, for the record) as well as the GOP. Pity we can’t all act like adults.

Tony Good

Cloverdale

DITTO FOR MENDO

Editor:

Since we posted a map of proposed pot grows in Sonoma County, we’ve been getting calls from growers to remove them for safety reasons.

Let that sink in for a moment.

If there ever was a testimonial for our position — that commercial grows should not be allowed in residential areas — that is it.

Afraid for their own safety, growers see no problem using our neighborhoods as shields. Rules regulate their security but do nothing for neighbors. Nine of the last 11 murders in Sonoma County were at pot grows. Four local families were recently invaded. Women and children were beaten, and a man was fatally shot by out-of-area criminals searching for pot and cash. Prior home invasions occurred in Cloverdale and Ukiah.

Does commercial pot growing enhance what makes Sonoma County special, the rural character of our unincorporated areas? Most of these permit applicants are out-of-area speculators.

Other reasons you don’t want them in your residential area include environmental damage, traffic, noise, smell, crime, load on infrastructure, unsightly security, 24-hour operations.

The Sonoma County cannabis ordinance left huge loopholes allowing this to happen. A meeting of the Board of Supervisors on April 10 will address that.

Jim Bracco

Save Our Sonoma Neighborhoods

Santa Rosa

HAPPY EASTER!

Happy Easter,

About this stupid gun control bull crap. Half of those people going on those marches don't even know what they are marching for. They are just idiots! They see something and they say, Oh, we will go for that. Free food and whatever.

They're just anti-gun, anti-gun anti-gun. Guns have been an American tradition for 250 years or longer. People use them to shoot game, to survive on food, they use them for self-defense and in the military, and law enforcement uses them. It's not the gun's fault. If a drunk driver gets in a car and kills somebody they blame the guy, not the car.

Here are some statistics. In 2016 there were 16,000 people killed by gunfire, including suicides. There were 67,000 people died of overdose on drugs and other illegal stuff. You don't see that comparison on the national media, those liberal bastards.

These people are going to keep trying to stop the Second Amendment. They never will. But if they even come close they are going to start a civil war. And they will lose. They are damn sure going to lose.

God bless Donald Trump.

Jerry Philbrick

Comptche

WERE BUT IT TRUE

Dear AVA:

I only just now thought of becoming a member of KZYX to vote for you in the election. As a program direction for a station much more like KMUD, I think some of your ideas could be great for bringing in energy and fresh perspectives — more community radio and less public radio! Two things: combining the Program Director and the Station Manager job is a terrible idea. Programming needs to be independent of money concerns. The Station Manager is looking at the big picture, raising the money, coming up with ideas for community engagement, fundraising, and listening to all the people. (Reminder to the staff of KZYX that you can learn a lot from those who disagree with you and think you're full of shit, but still care enough to be involved.) As a program director, your primary job is to work with on air staff and volunteers. If KZYX is going to have a robust and exiting team of volunteers for music, public affairs, and news programming, volunteers need to be trained, and given consistent feedback. Program evaluations take a very long time. It also builds relationships. There is also recruiting new volunteers and constant outreach to increase the kinds of voices that are on the public airwaves — volunteers, guests, etc. Especially if you are interested in programmer term limits. The jobs require different skills, and should be done by different people.

Best of luck –

Erin Yanke,

Portland, Oregon

PS. Jerry Philbrick is so reminiscent of Ed Anger from the Weekly World News that I wonder — how many people get together once a week to write these letters as an exercise in xenophobic satire?