Letters to the Editor

DEFENDING WALLIS

Editor,

This is my rebuttal to Bruce McEwen. I asked Mark Scaramella if he were going to publish it, he thought 'yes.' It was emailed it late Sunday August 23rd. The following week I asked you why you did not publish it. You said you never received it. So, here it is again with minor revisions, also coming by snail mail.

Reporter Bruce McEwen in his article three weeks ago, “Arf Arf, Who Owns Nutmeg?” wrote NOT AS A REPORTER BUT AS AN ADVOCATE for Angela Hooper and Aeryn Richmonde. Thus, the onesidedness of his editorial piece contradicting the evidence I had rigorously pursued on the wrongful $1 million bail and subsequent conviction of Wallis Williams to Chowchilla women’s prison for the past 26 months. Much of these writings were published in the AVA.

* * *

Arf! Arf! Who owns Nutmeg? Wallis Williams owns Nutmeg.

The true question is does the dogsitter get to keep the dog she agreed to keep in trust for Wallis in exchange for splitting any income from breeding the Shih Tzu? Or is Angela Hooper obligated to honor her agreement with Wallis Williams to return her dog upon her release from Chowchilla Women’s Prison? If parents are forced to work in a foreign country for a period of time to support their family, are the childsitters permitted to file in court for custody of the children rather than return them to their rightful parents? Custody battles are a lucrative source of income for lawyers as mothers argue for their right to keep their own children. Are dogs and cats, horses, armadillos and now Sulcata turtles in addition going to be subjects for court custody battles? No won­der the court calendars are clogged.

What I showed in my last letter to the editor is how each judge assigned to this case refused to permit either Gino Jacomella or Wallis Williams to file or honor her receipt for the $1,000 she paid Aeryn Richmonde, signed by said Richmonde, or any of her supporting documents. Wallis has recorded and kept her receipts for everything concerning her dog, like some people document every­thing about their car. In each case concerning the ruined relationship between Ms. Williams, hired as a compan­ion for Aeryn, indoor marijuana grower and Shih Tzu dog breeder, Judge Basner, twice, refused to accept Wallis's proof of ownership. Judge Behnke, though accepting Wallis's proof of ownership, did not return Wallis's dog to her, therefore giving impetus to this cus­tody battle. Judge Cindy Mayfield followed suit by refusing to accept the pertinent documentation.

Many years ago, my now deceased advising attorney Helen Shapiro explained to me how cases can be decided, or manipulated, by the exclusion of evidence. Mrs. Shapiro believed that ALL THE EVIDENCE SURROUNDING AN ISSUE SHOULD BE EXAMINED. As time consuming a task as this may seem, all this ongoing, time wasting, taxpayer court time/money squandered on these three cases concerning Nutmeg could have been avoided by including and studying all the meticulous records kept by Wallis Wil­liams. Wallis owns her dog. An honorable court judge would have returned her pet to her promptly.

Regarding the hit piece by AVA reporter Bruce McEwen, it seems that Mr. McEwen failed to do his homework, by reading the AVA's printed and online publication of Wallis's letters from Chowchilla as she figures out how she was set up by the delivery of a pack­age of cocaine delivered to her street mailbox, right next to Aeron Richmond's mailbox. Wallis doesn't know any­one from Peru. Aeryn Richmonde has an inlaw who is a pharmacist in Lima, Peru.

“The suddenly orphaned Nutmeg had no one to look after him. Nutmeg himself was headed for the County's dog orphanage on South State Street…” Reporter McEwen continues in his cutsey, yellow press style of repeating Angela Hooper's lies. Gino Jacomella would NEVER have permitted anyone to take Nutmeg to the pound. Judge Mayfield refused and AVA reporter McEwen failed to read Gino Jacomella's notarized statement of the sequence of events leading to Angela's Hooper's request to caretake Nutmeg and her subsequent refusal to return him to Wallis.

More inaccurate McEwen “reporting.” (1) Wallis did not return to her “Ukiah home.” Once Wallis was jailed, she could no longer pay rent for her house. Gino Jacamella and his mother stored her belongings for her. (2) “A clerical error postponed Nutmeg's return to Ms. Williams.” Clerical error, har de har! Judge Behnke in his written order REWARDED ANGELA'S VIOLATION OF HIS ORDER TO RETURN NUTMEG BY PERMITTING ANGELA TO KEEP THE DOG IN HER POSSESSION, until the so-called “Appeal” by Angela. Possession is 90% of the law, is common knowledge. (3) Wallis Williams has not lived in Pacific Palisades for 37 years. Except for occasional visits to her mother in Pacific Palisades, Wallis lived mostly in Spain for the intervening years, returning to California after completing a two year course in the Kent Institute of Art and Design, Kent, England in 2005. (4) “Dr.” Rich­monde opened her home and her heart to Ms. Williams and (5) the two women began growing marijuana together.” When Wallis asked Aeryn about her alleged doctorate, Aeryn claimed to be a UC Berkeley graduate in chemistry. Why don't you try to corroborate Aeryn Richmonde's alleged doctorate, Reporter McEwen? (5) Aeryn Richmonde had grown indoor marijuana in her rental home in Brooktrails from where she had Wallis move her growing supplies. She also grew indoor mari­juana in a rented house at Russian Gulch outside Mendo­cino where Wallis first met Aeron. (6) “She (Angela Hooper) said Ms. Williams and her boyfriend, Gino Jacomella, had been following her…” Gino did not need to follow Angela. He was captain of a pool team, prac­ticed daily at Angela's Club 711 and the performer/MC of her Monday night Open Music Mic. Angela also claimed that others stalked her including Wallis's friend Bob Bodjack. (7) Wallis's unpublished letter to the Ukiah Daily Journal stated that both the Ukiah police captain and the sheriff's office, not, “Sheriff Allman” had explained that they could not help her claim Nutmeg unless a microchip had been inserted in the animal. The police officer said she could just go get her dog back. (8) “On one occasion another dog had bumped into Nutmeg, dislocating Nutmeg's eye.” Nutmeg is permanently blinded now in his left eye. He was attacked by another dog when the old man walking him was unable to protect him. Yokayo Vetinary Hospital and Judge Behnke have this documentation. (9) The surprise testimony of “Doc­tor?” Aeryn Richmonde is discussed in my August 13th Letter to the Editor. Why was this heard instead of the docketed “Appeal” by Angela Hooper? Aeryn claims that she “entered into an agreement to sell the puppy to Ms. Williams?” “Yes” “But she never paid?” inquires Cindee Mayfield. Aeryn: “No.” Why did Cindee Mayfield refuse to accept Wallis's receipt for $1,000 for the little dog, signed by Aeryn Richmonde? (10) “She (Wallis) said she was living with Dr.(?) Richmonde on Snob Hill, Ukiah, growing marijuana and selling it to her friends in Pacific Palisades.” Is this reportage or R.Crumb cartoon material? After 37 years away, Wallis no longer has any friends in Pacific Palisades. (11) “Shortly thereafter, Ms. Williams was busted with 365 grams of cocaine. This bust is described in minute detail in the letters I edited and sent to Editor Bruce Anderson which can be read by anyone wanting to understand how the setup/frameup was planned and executed so as to convict Wallis for Aeryn's cocaine habit and possible business. Why was Wallis's money stolen by assets forfeiture before any trial had taken place, leaving her unable to hire a private lawyer, unable to pay bail? Why was her public “defender” switched to Bert Schlosser, a neighbor of Aeryn's, who threw Wallis's defense, earning the common title, Public Pretender. Where did Debra Schlosser obtain the 162 pounds of primo, trimmed marijuana , exonerated in one of the worse states, Utah, for criminalizing any amount of marijuana? Surely the Schlossers did not grow this substantial amount in their own “Snob Hill” backyard. (12) “The cocaine bust was a set-up, Ms.Williams insists…” “I caught a whiff of big time humbug just as it knocked me on the floor.” Perhaps, Reporter McEwen you wouldn't have been “knocked on the floor” had you prepared yourself by reading all that the AVA has published previously on this case, or perhaps if you hadn't been drinking until you smelled of booze. (13) My sun hat has a straight brim, not floppy. Perhaps you were too drunk to distinguish straight from floppy. (14) “After advising me to quit smoking…” After you, Reporter McEwen bent over from fits of coughing so severe that you couldn't speak, I suggested a nicotine patch. (15) “Wallis doesn't use drugs, Wallis doesn't smoke marijuana…” That is all I said, nothing about drinking, which you added. Wallis enjoys a glass or two of wine with the dinners she shares with friends. I have never seen or suspected Wallis, Gino or any of their friends of using any drugs at all. As for the herb, Wallis isn't a smoker. (16) “Officer Hoyle is frequently cited as an all purpose bad boy by those he arrests.” You might have familiarized yourself, with the history of the court case against Wallis Williams and Peter Hoyle's role in the investigation before you write a slandersheet. (17) ” Angela Hooper had mentioned to me that Mrs. Williams had been jailed in Spain, England and Canada for drug trafficking but that she'd somehow gotten these impressive priors suppressed.” Why did judge Ron Brown acknowledge that this was a first “offence”? That Wallis has no previous criminal record anywhere? Is Angela suggesting that Wallis is a legal Ms. Houdini? Where would Ms. Hooper discover or verify such claims? Documentation, please.

A reporter must be truthful, accurate, and diligent in the effort to discover the answer to the old Chinese riddle, Who is the liar? Who is the truth teller?

Sincerely,

Dorotheya M Dorman

Redwood Valley

Bruce McEwen replies: Woof! woof! And Arf! arf! I was reporting on the court case not the whole history of Nut­meg's custody. Myself, I think Nutmeg belongs at the 7-11 Club where I hope to buy him a drink the next time I see him.

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GROWING UP BOONT

Editor,

My fondest memories of living in the Anderson Val­ley are when I was a boy and my parents lived in Yorkville. I was bused to Boonville to attend kindergar­ten by Shorty the bus driver. I attended kindergarten at the little red school house, what is now the Anderson Valley Historical Society’s museum. Every day at noon a chosen student was called to pull the rope and ring the school bell. This was to alert Shorty the bus driver to come pick us up.

My summers were spent at the Lawson Ranch were I would spend time with my best friend, Jeff Lawson. My father worked for the Hollow Tree Lumber Company out on Fish Rock Road as a catskinner. When a mobile home became available — “company owned” — my parents moved us to the mill. Since the closest school was Point Arena, all the mill kids were bused over what seemed to be the worst road in the County to Point Arena. The mill was pretty much self-contained except for a grocery store.

At times my father would load me up in his pickup and we would sneak away to the nearest place my father could get a cold one. Well, on the county road not too far from the mill was a ranch that had a makeshift bar, and if the loggers were in between checks, they would just sign their names on the wall until payday. I remember sitting at the end of the bar sipping grape Ne-Hi and looking at all the names on the wall.

In 1973 the mill sold out and my family moved back to Yorkville. My mother went to work at the Clearwater Ranch to make ends meet.

Summers were my favorite time. My brother Jim would take me crawdad fishing on Prather’s pond or carry me on his shoulders up to Maggie’s Store for some candy. Some days I would visit with Leo who ran the Yorkville Store. He was a practical joker! But with my father not working my parents decided to move us to Humboldt County where the timber industry was thriv­ing.

Many years have past. My children live in Mendo­cino County now. I visit Boonville as much as I can. My fondest memories will always be of the Anderson Valley area.

Ron Scaife #P-64732

San Quentin State Prison

San Quentin, CA 94974

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STAY AWAY FROM MY KILTIES

Dear Colonel:

You put Lee and me in the Amen Corner on the moaner’s bench of the 9/1/10 issue. Appropriate. I think he pretty much nailed our country’s predicament. (Wall Street does create jobs, just not the kinds that add any­thing to the national wealth. What goes around — for the past 300 years — comes around, eventually.)

Please thank my transcriber.

As for you, well, like my dad used to say while rais­ing a glass of the best, “Here's Peekin’ up your kilties.”

Respectfully,

Don MacQueen

Eugene, Oregon

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SICK & TIRED

Dear Editor:

My name is Mickey Hill. I am currently residing in the Mendocino County Jail for minor violations of pro­bation 11550(a) under the influence charge. I am in C-Tank which is now the minimum security area. It is the most minimal security of the whole jail. I am waiting for rehab to pick me up to start bettering my young life because I am only 23 years old.

What I'm getting at here is for the last three weeks I've been here in minimum security we have been locked down every weekend and most weekdays after 6:30pm when our normal schedule is 8:30am to 6:30pm and then from 7:30pm to 10:30pm as written in the jail handbook. Due to “staff calling in sick” they say — which we all know that a lot of them are down at Applebee's getting drunk, playing hooky, for many times mostly weeknights after 6:3o on most weekends because I and many others have seen them there as we sit, locked in our cages like dogs in the kennel.

Mind you, I'm 23. But there are many good old men ranging from 50-70 years old in here who do not deserve this inhumane treatment. Last year I watched two old-timers die coming down off of alcohol due to “lack of staff.” Because they have a bad they can call in sick because of a hangover? People are dying in here due to real problems and are locked down as we are now in a minimum security section of the jail so staff can not do their job but do as they please.

I guess I'm asking what ever happened to “protect and serve”? I mean, when you have a job you have a job to do, right?

Respectfully on behalf of C-Tank,

Mickey Hill

Ukiah

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OUTTA THE WAY, GROUNDPOUNDERS

Editor:

Today one of my worst fears nearly happened.

As the owner of a private, single-owner airstrip, I am frequently intercepting and reminding people that they are not permitted to walk or drive on-road/off-road vehi­cles on the airstrip.

It is an active airstrip for use by private aircraft (with permission) and emergency aircraft only.

The primary reason is, of course, for safety.

In addition, quite simply, it is private property.

In fact, according to the state Division of Aeronau­tics, any aircraft using a single owner private airstrip must have owner permission before landing.

Getting back to the safety issue: today two people were walking on the airstrip at the precise moment I was landing — at the exact landing spot.

Fortunately, they moved off the active strip — not far enough away in my estimation.

Should any mishap have occurred in an effort to avoid them (say for example if a wing caught a tree) there quite possibly could have been three fatalities.

I need also point out that when landing into the wind with no power it is virtually impossible to hear a landing airplane on the ground.

Bottom line: Please, please stay off any airstrip or air­field — walking or driving (and please don't let your animals run loose there as well).

Richard Henriksen, RN

Gualala

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HOW TO SERVE COUNTY TIME

To the Editor:

I am replying to inmates who are unhappy with their condition.

Specifically to Andre Belion who wrote to the Ukiah Daily Journal recently. I am also an inmate at the Men­docino County Jail.

Anyway Andre, getting up at 4:30 to 5am is a regular thing. Must get those cleaning supplies out. Breakfast at 5:30am is usual and no, you won't ever taste a warm breakfast here. Corrections officers check daily for con­traband and they will go through your stuff at any given time. I do get my meds regularly and my husband brings them here so they can dispense them. They only missed two pills the whole time I've been here.

Okay lunch? I happen to be lactose intolerant so my meals have no milk in them. If they serve cake or mashed potatoes I don't get them. Pudding too. I have seen girls who are vegan get their no meat trays.

You are so right about the corrections officers being cool and caring. Then you have a few who make you cringe upon entrance to the unit.

I am 6 feet tall and even I would not fit the 3X large size. So you wait for one of the cool ones and ask nicely. How did you get that 3X to go over your shoulders? I can't even do that. Now, to ask a corrections officer before dinner for a request slip is the wrong time to ask. They are really busy right then.

So my advice as someone who has been here for going on 100 days: avoid the mean corrections officers and quit going against the flow. This is how things are and the sooner you accept this the sooner you could get a job here. Go to the school. Go to life skills. Take advan­tage of the positive programs here.

Oh yes, about the grievances: who cares what the cor­rections officers call them? Snitch slips or not, it is the only way to communicate with the Sergeant. Me, myself, I have filed five or six with positive results. I wish I could commend the great corrections officers here but I think they know who they are. As do the not so compassionate ones — they know who they are too.

So hang in there, don't cause waves and it will get bet­ter.

Susan Mitchum Brackett

Mendocino County Jail

Ukiah

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THE JIMMY RICKEL SHOW?

Editor,

I am outraged. At 8pm on Thursday Sept 2 on Chan­nel 3 in Ukiah I was at a friend’s house with my eight-year old and we were flipping through the TV channels when our jaws dropped while seeing a completely naked woman with people eating sushi off her private parts in close up. Someone should be fired since they are trying to save money. I'd like to know how much taxpayer money is being giving to someone to violate the law? And if you are not managing this channel you are breaking the law implicitly.

Linda Hope

Lowerlake

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WHAT AN OBAMANATION!

Editor:

“Your Subscription Expires This Month”? Well, maybe, but I sent my cheque in last month so I hope it continues.

I sent the cheque via snail mail from my civilian account so the donor’s name is different but the benefits accrue to the Hephalumpe. You printed the accompany­ing letter (my personal lament over the veiled charms of Supervisor Smith). So I know you got it. Credit my account.

Tell that officious animal (sic) control (sic) officer (sic, sic sic!) that if I catch him/her/it in a vehicle with an unmuzzled Republican I’ll pour for him/her/it on the ground and apply open-faced marmalade sandwiches to his/her/its armpits. Resist organized idiocy now!

Banzai!

Ignatzio Hephalumpe

Bellingham, Washington

PS. Champagne for my real friends; real pain for my sham friends.

PPS. Don MacQueen has at last seen the Obamanation. Corporate shills love the comic innocent since their meaningful (sic) compromises seldom hamper the fascist timetable. The lesser of two evils is manifestly evil. Race is simply camouflage.

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REMEMBERING SKIP

Editor,

I was deeply saddened to learn about the recent death of Fort Bragg resident Skip Wollenberg. I realize that many of you might not know him. Skip was a geologist by trade. He often would lend his expertise to forest defenders throughout the north coast, often in opposition to his corporate colleagues. I will never forget how he came to the aid of the Albion Nation many times when we felt that the harvest practices were endangering our ecosystem. Skip often lent his geological expertise to back our claims.

When Pacific Lumber was devastating the forests in Humboldt County and creating unprecedented flash flooding due to rapid runoff and slides from clearcuts and the people of Elk River and Stafford were losing their homes to flooding, Skip was there with a lengthy, considered geological opinion that bolstered their claims against the company.

He often worked without pay.

Throughout his life he involved himself in environ­mental and social justice issues. The wealth of informa­tion that he possessed made him, always, a pleasure to speak with.

Through my radio work with KZYX I recently had interaction with him since he was on the Regional Stakeholders Group advising the Marine Life Protection Act. His extensive knowledge about the nature of the geology of our North Coast made him invaluable in pre­venting any array proposal that could eventually allow for some loophole for oil development.

While I can hardly say that I observed him in all of life's circumstances, I would venture that he was a war­rior in the finest sense of the word. His principled stands often lead him to the epicenter of controversy, yet I never once saw him be anything less than a complete gentleman. A man of deep conviction, he rarely grabbed the headlines; yet the North Coast has lost one of its fin­est defenders and advocates. I admired him deeply.

Chris Skyhawk

Albion

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REPORT FROM DONEGAL

Editor,

Well, it's been just over a year since I landed back here without a pot to piss in or a window to through it out of. But bit by bit with the help of family, friends, comrades and yes what's left of the welfare state here in the Irish Republic, I have managed to stay afloat. It took me six months to get a car and six months driving on a provisional license, since my US driving license was confiscated by Homeland Security (lest I use it to re-enter the US) and I had to go through the whole thing from the get-go. But not not to bitch too much I now have my driving test next week. And to be fair I did need that time to reacquaint myself to the rigors of driving on the other side of the road again after 33 years. Plus the fact that the roads here are small by comparison to what I had been used to these past 25 years. And oftimes when you are driving these little country roads there are only inches between you and oncoming traffic. Head on colli­sions are the leading cause of death on the roads here. I have fucking nightmares about it sometimes.

Just recently here in Donegal eight people were killed in a single head on crash. Seven young lads driving home after watching a game at a club, (with a designated driver no less) were traveling too fast down a country road and killed the driver of the other car, an elderly gentleman in his early 70s, as well as themselves. It was the the single most deaths in a vehicular accident in Irish road history.

But the real story here is the economy and it's teeter­ing. Bad bank bailouts along with all the other govern­ment, finance, developer mismanagement have left the Celtic Tiger days long gone not to return for a very long time indeed. The Brits also are hurting bad and their coming budget is slash and burn also which impacts the North here in a big way as they are still dependent on their block grant from the British Exchecker to survive and that as you may well imagine will affect things in the rest of the Irish economy.

At present I am not working but plan to start a course at a local government-run training facility later this month. I'm looking forward to it. My wife Joanna and I are in weekly contact and we plan to see each other soon in a third country for a holiday. It'll be nearly three years since we have seen one and other without glass barriers.

I have recently found the AVA online and that's a comfort to read many of the usual suspects again and find out what's going on there. Keep up the good work Bruce. Best to Ling and the Major. Keep in touch.

Yours,

Pol Brennan

Donegal, Ireland

PS. I have recently moved house and am just now getting round to informing everybody. Here is me new change of address: Pol Brennan Lower Mcgee, Magheraclogher, Derrybeg, Donegal, Ireland.

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TIMBER, FISH, JOBS — GONE

Dear Dan Hamburg,

Take it from a bred and born Clatsopian — Mendo will never recover its lost thousands of good local timber and fishing jobs until we all go back to crosscut saws and handlines. Never.

Gary Durheim

Cannon Beach, Oregon

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BESIEGED IN SAN DIEGO

To Mike Koepf, re: Besieged in Elk,

I worked for a printer in Elk, and for a short while lived there back in 86/7. My son colored comics for Steve Oliff. We rented a place from Parker Mills off Greenwood Ridge. I didn't know anybody but my girl­friend new everyone. I remember her introducing me to Charlie and Steve Acker. Didn't they head up the Elk Navy — building and selling sea-kayaks?

The first letter I ever wrote to the AVA was in response to an article you wrote. Your article was above the fold and about the rape of the Redwoods. My letter was overly long and preachy, and I even took umbrage with your editor's Off the Record where he called the anti-war activists (El Salvador) the flabby, used-Volvo set. In his response to my letter Bruce essentially told me I was preaching to the choir and I could have kept the sermon shorter. He likewise challenged me to fist-fight and cliché swap in response to a silly dare I'd made. He said I'd probably win at both.

Your article in the 9/8/10 AVA about the Berlin­courts’ sad struggle to build their retirement dream home on the Elk coast brings up the same thoughts I had about your article on saving the redwoods. Back then I thought you were ignoring the fact that a logger had been killed that week because of unsafe working conditions and you should have written about that. But my point was that as long as there's capitalism, no one is going to save the redwoods — or the workers for that matter.

No one's going to save the coast either. Sure, Berlin­court is brilliant, helped develop the MRI and was richly rewarded and can afford to build a home on the coast, on how many acres? Personally, I don't think anyone should be able to build on the coast. Every time a house is built, another access route to the beach is taken away.

One time driving back home from Mendocino where my girlfriend worked as a housekeeper, she wanted to show me a beautiful spot — cliffs that jutted out into the ocean that gave access to the beach. She told me the property was owned by Kris Kristofferson and we might get run off. I scoffed, Me and Bobby McGee was my favorite song. But sure enough, one of Kristofferson's running dogs came driving up and, climbed out of his Jeep to yell at us to get off the property. We hadn't been there more than 10 minutes.

Issue politics regarding property have done nothing except slow capitalism down. Pick your issue, it doesn't matter. There's only one issue in my mind and that's capitalism. Cut that Gordian Knot and the issues will fade away. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

John Wester

San Diego

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FRAUDULENT PARTY CHANGES

Dear Editor,

Voter fraud is alive and well in California!

I am writing to warn others that my party affiliation per my voter registration was recently changed without my permission to the Republican Party. On July 12th I was in Sacramento visiting my mother and we agreed to sign a petition outside a discount store which purported to sponsor legislation to crack down on child molesters. Both my mother and I are long time registered voters, but we recently received new registration cards which show our party as Republican as of July 12th. We have to re-register to correct this fraud.

I went online and found that this same scam is being investigated in Orange County, where as of April 10th they had received at least 99 written complaints from voters whose party had been changed without their per­mission, and an investigation had found another 74 vot­ers who had been duped. The Orange County Register article says the Republican Party will pay signature gath­erers as much as $8 apiece for sending in new GOP reg­istrations.

So if you receive a new voter registration card in the mail, look it over very carefully, especially if you did not initiate a change in registration.

Sara Fowler

Navarro

PS. From prwatchdog.org: GOP Voter Registration Fraud Reported in California (Orange County Register, April 16, 2010)

The Orange County Register reports that since mid-March, California election officials have received at least 99 written complaints from people who say they were registered to vote as Republicans without their consent. The Register found another 74 voters who said that they were duped or coerced into registering to vote as Repub­licans. The complaints were filed after paid petitioners canvassed discount store parking lots and community college campuses in March asking passers-by to sign petitions for causes like legalizing marijuana, fighting cancer or cleaning up beaches. The Register called 348 registered Republicans in Orange County and reached 90 of them. Of those, only 16 said they wanted to be Republicans. The rest said they were coerced into sign­ing by fast-talking petitioners, some of whom offered people free sunglasses if they signed. The California Republican party has a controversial policy of paying signature gatherers up to $8.00 apiece for sending in new GOP voter registration cards in that district. The signers in the current case all lived in the 34th State Senate Dis­trict in Central Orange County, where Republicans are hoping to oust a Democratic incumbent in the 2010 elec­tion. In 2006, the Register uncovered a similar pattern of fraud in the county that was attributed in part to the bounty the GOP pays to signature gatherers. In that inci­dent, 167 voters complained that they were switched to Republican affiliation without their permission, and the Register found another 112 voters who claimed they were tricked. Eleven signature-gatherers in that case were eventually convicted of falsifying voter registra­tions and other charges. Of the eleven, eight went to jail.

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WHEREVER YOU ARE

Hello AVAistas,

Please know that I have received a letter from a Cali­fornia State Prison inmate, in response to my recently published AVA letter, in which I encouraged everybody to show up and participate at the October 7-11 Interna­tional Monetary Fund days of dissent in Washington DC; http://www.imfresistance.org/. In addition to offering me suggestions on how to intervene in history, and pointing out that one may do so wherever one is, not just at large political venues in DC, he also correctly notes that the IMF will provide money as long as it is “within the scope of IMF interests.” The gentleman requests that he be contacted, and he needs writer supplies (i.e. station­ary, stamps, etc.). Please know of his whereabouts: Ken­neth Johnson, CDC#K05791, P.O. Box 290066, Facil­ity/Bed C-2-132, 100 Prison Road, Represa, CA 95671.

Craig Louis Stehr

Oakland

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WHO DID IT?

Editor,

I am asking for help solving the tragic hit-and-run accident that killed my son, Kody Williams, on Feb. 19, 2009 on Citrus Fair Drive in Cloverdale.

My family has had a challenging 17 months with grief since his death. We believe that someone knows something and has yet to come forward. Our concern is that the driver, having avoided any consequence, could harm another individual, thinking he or she can get away with it. We would not want another family to have to deal with what we have, and that’s why we are asking anyone with information that might help solve the case to come forward.

We would like to sincerely thank the people who have spoken up with information. I realize the great strength it can take to do the right thing in life.

We all miss Kody so much, and we know he would want us to keep the faith that this case will be closed. As a mother, it is the worst thing in the world to have to deal with – not only the loss of your child but also knowing this individual is still roaming the streets. Please help find Kody’s killer.

Forward any information to Mike Campbell of the Cloverdale Police Department.

Kim Sandate

Orland