Letters (Oct. 31, 2018)

• The Worst Day Of My Life
• Albatross
• Those Were The Days
• Mariposa Memories
• I Told You
• Ed Anger Personified
• Coast Hospital’s Overpaid Execs
• Second Unit Workshop
• Mad Dog & Tweety Bird
• A Freemartin Is Not “An Issue”

THE WORST DAY OF MY LIFE

CHP Press Release: 

On the clear, dry evening of Oct. 7, 2018, at approximately 7:20 p.m., Misty Lee Hawkins, 36, of Covelo, and a companion were walking southbound on Highway 162, just west of Biggar Lane, in Covelo. At the same time, Judith Maxine Jamison, 74, of Covelo, was driving her 2006 Scion XB southbound on Highway 162, west of Biggar Lane. For reasons still under investigation, Jamison’s vehicle struck Hawkins. Jamison was placed under arrest for suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol causing injury, and hit and run causing injury, and booked into the Mendocino County Jail.

Hawkins was flown via helicopter to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital with major injuries but passed away due to her injuries on Oct. 10. Since Hawkins’ death, Jamison’s charge has been upgraded to hit and run causing death.

This incident remains under investigation by the California Highway Patrol Garberville Area.

* * *

Shereen Rosales writes:

Misty Hawkins is my sister. She was killed by a drunk driver named Judith Jamison of Covelo. My sister Misty and Eric were walking to the store in Covelo when Judith struck my sister throwing her body 40-some feet. My sister was on life support from October 7, 2018 to October 10, 2018 when doctors told us she wouldn’t recover from her injuries. My sister’s respirator was turned off. My sister leaves behind 3 sisters, 8 children, and 2 granddaughters, and our grandmother. We want justice for my sister Misty Hawkins. She didn’t deserve this. Judith Jamison knew right from wrong when she decided to get behind the wheel of her car under the influence, the night she hit my sister that changed my family’s lives forever. 

Sincerely, Shareen Rosales

* * *

Editor,

My name is Eric Lincoln. On October 7, 2018 something really tragic happened here in Covelo, again.

A good friend of mine stopped by my place to visit. After a while we both started to get hungry. So we decided to walk to town to get some hamburger meat to make some bomb-ass spaghetti for our supper.

Out of my gate on the road I asked Misty Hawkins which way did she want to go. She said, Let's take the long way. So we did. She was pulling her little black shopping basket thing. On the way we were talking and laughing, just enjoying each other's company as we always seem to do.

It was just barely getting twilight so we were clearly visible to any cars coming or going either way.

We came to the end of Bigger Lane. So we flipped a right towards town on Highway 162. Misty had me walk ahead of her while she pulled her little cart basket.

We were making pretty good time. We were walking on the white painted line on the right side of the road and any cars that came from behind us veered well enough away from us as we continued our journey to town.

We were a little past the Calfire complex on our left. Then all of a sudden out of nowhere came this huge explosion sound. It scared the living hell out of me. It was so loud! I quickly turned around to ask Misty, "What the f--- was that?" As I turned around I saw her little black cart basket was all smashed up and there were pieces of broken glass all around. The few things she had in it were laying in the ditch!

I was wondering, "Where the f--- is Misty? At that time I began to panic when I realized that she had been hit! I looked around in the road but she wasn't there! Then I looked down the road and no car had stopped or even tried to slow down! So I started hollering at the top of my lungs, "Misty!,” and said to her that everything would be okay. I hope she recognized me.

With that I went back to the road and tried to flag a car down. The first three cars just zoomed by. But the next one stopped. It was a lady who said she had been over at the Calfire building and heard the loud impact when Misty was hit. I thought it must have been pretty loud for her to hear it from that distance! Dang! She then called 911.

I decided to flag down another car. This one stopped right away. It was a friend of Misty and mine named Colleen Downey. She asked what happened. I explained to her that Misty had been seriously hit by a car that didn't even bother to stop! Colleen also called 911.

Just then came a couple firetrucks from the Calfire place. About seven or eight people got out and checked Misty's vitals and put an oxygen mask on her while strapping her down to put her in the ambulance. Oh yes, the ambulance people came too. I overheard an EMT guy calling dispatch for helicopter to transport! I suddenly thought to myself, "Son of a bitch, this is not looking good!”

Before they put Misty in the ambulance Geno Jamison* came up to them and told them that it was his sister Judy who "accidentally" plowed down Misty! "Plowed down" is my words because that's what it looked like to me. But honestly, I didn't see what had happened. All I saw was a black truck leaving the area. Her truck must have been further up the road. But still, why didn't the black truck stop if they had seen that something bad happened?

Anyway, Geno told the EMT crew that his sister Judy was in shock and very devastated from what had just happened.

Whoa! I mean give me a frigging break! How in the living hell does she think that Misty isn't feeling the same emotion — but much worse! Misty was lying in a damn ditch after being plowed down and flung 85 feet lying there unable to move, unable to talk, and bleeding all over the place! Huh?

God damn the nerve of some people!

Where was I? Oh yes, so on their way to the emergency room they had lost Misty a couple of times. It's a small wonder from all that horror she had been through!

At the hospital the doctors put her on life support because the initial impact she had suffered when she was hit was so severe. The damage done to her head as well as the internal damage had been too extensive.

A friend of mine who had been at the hospital told me that the doctors let the family know that the injuries were irreversible! That's basically saying she was too far gone. In other words, there was nothing that could be done for her..

On October 7, 2018 my best friend was on life support with no sign of improvement.

On October 10 2018 Misty Hawkins had to be disconnected from the life support machine.

But get this crazy stuff! Honestly, for the life of me I don't know why or how this came about. October 10, 2018 was the exact same day that my niece Deborah found that Tina had passed away at some time during the early morning. I could not believe all this shit was happening!

Tina was Deborah’s mom and Tina was also my sister. This is something I will never ever really understand.

So the same day the plug had to be pulled on my best friend Misty Hawkins had to be the exact same day my sister Tina died.

October 10, 2018 — I hate that day!

Even though all this heartache and confusion has happened, I started thinking about how Misty's death could have somehow been avoided. Maybe the Mendocino County Road Commission or whatever the hell they call themselves would kindly get their thumbs out of their asses and make the time and money available that it takes to make this road safe. Especially take the effort to add a much-needed bicycle lane in Covelo on this small stretch of Highway 162.

But I have come to understand that this discussion about adding a bike lane on Highway 162 has been an ongoing problem for years with no positive outcome!

Damn it! For the love of Christ! How many more people walking on this small part of Highway 162 here in Covelo face the possibility of being struck by an uncaring driver? Maybe even killed before this need is answered or even addressed?

I know the Mendocino County Highway Commission could care less about us here in Covelo. But this serious road hazard needs to be responsibly dealt with. Now, DAMN IT!

Eric Lincoln

Covelo

PS. I hope this letter reaches someone who could make a much-needed positive change because this problem is serious. 

PPS. Tina & Misty, miss you guys and luv you always. 

ALBATROSS

To the Editor:

The Palace Hotel is, and has been a huge long-term downer. The Palace Hotel is a drain. Indeed, a societal leech. It sits in the center of town as the largest billboard saying that someone here (or someones) care nothing about Ukiah. It appears like the first picture on Google of a ghost town, a town in ruins. I am sorry, but Ukiah deserves better. My intention is to not point any fingers. There is quite enough blame to go around. But really, enough is enough. I just read in the UDJ, that it is still being shopped around, and there is some interest, and the fishing expedition goes on and on,…blablabla. I think that Ukiah and its local businesses have suffered enough because of this property. 

Here is my suggestion. Sell it for one dollar. Yep, one dollar. Find a good accountant and try to find some legit way to absorb the loss. But, its sale would come with conditions. A guarantee. A guarantee that “X” amount of money would be put into the project of turning the worst thing in town into the best. And that the improvement “project” would be completed within a defined time frame. No extensions. 

It would appear that certain people still insist on grasping for financial straws to sell a turd. I apologize for my language. This property stinks, and has stunk for far too long. Dump it. Turn it over to someone that really cares about Ukiah, as opposed to the opposite. Sure, the powers that be can continue to fish for a sucker. Good luck. The inevitable is being protracted, just like the owner did. This property is a blight. Just the earthquake remediation is valued at $6 million, and it is just not worth $6 million. Do the math. The Palace Hotel sits at the center of town. It can be a crowning symbol of successful progress, or it can stay as the symbol it is currently … the “Albatross of Ukiah.”

I think that Ukiah deserves better. Just my opinion.

Johnny Keyes

Ukiah

THOSE WERE THE DAYS

Dear Mr. Anderson:

Thank you so much for the continual effort in putting out a local paper that is entertaining, informative and keeps alive the “old voices” of the coast. It was a delight to see Crawdad Nelson in print. I knew him well for a number of years. The last news I had of him was that he was living with a teacher in Sacramento, a suitable profession for a poet. 

I was also close to Leonard Cirino, Theresa Whitehill, and the great poetry wars of HSU. Like the sexual revolution, I never got off a shot. I was introduced to Beth Bosk and subscribed to her New Settler Interview until the interview with Sharon Doubiago, “The Blond Arcane.” Then the world went to hell and I cried when Alexander Cockburn died. Crawdad started a novel under the name of Dale Nelson. Leonard died and the only poetry written these days is digital nightmares of on and off switches and the disassociations of adolescent minds. More people write it than read it. 

Keep shining the lantern in the dark to find that “honest man.” Hopefully he will not be armed.

Dave McCain

Richmond

MARIPOSA MEMORIES

Dear Editor,

I no longer live in Mendocino County, but I did during high school in the early 1970s. I have seen in various places that my former school, the now closed Mariposa School, seems to maintain a shining reputation as being a place of groundbreaking alternative K-12 education in its day. As a student there in grades nine, 10, and 11, I have a different perspective.

I arrived at Mariposa in the fall of 1972 when my family was in crisis and we moved to Mendocino County to live with my grandmother. She knew about Mariposa and enrolled me there because I had had significant problems in public school before this: difficulty making friends, bad grades, and trouble keeping up with the class; issues now identifiable as a mild autism spectrum condition, although no such diagnosis existed at that time.

Mariposa was a perfect place for me in some ways. I was bright but socially below average and there were only about 15 students in the high school and 50 or so in the total school, reducing social pressures. The school soon moved to a large piece of property outside of Ukiah and I enjoyed the outdoors and low population density and had many interests. I still have journals that I kept while at Mariposa where I wrote about my interests in politics, biology, history, poetry and music. I also loved writing and had a collection of poems, stories, and essays I had written. However, not one interest I had then was ever developed during my time at Mariposa School.

Classes were casual. Those I recall attending were "sensitivity" groups where people discussed feelings, something I had found intriguing but impossible. In the first year there was a photography class I liked, but it was not continued. There were some Spanish lessons, a trip to Mexico and other trips to the coast and the redwoods. However, I cannot recall being asked to write a single essay during the three years at Mariposa high school and although I did read and there were occasional book discussions, there was no meaningful English language or literature program.

There was virtually no science. In fact, my mother, who was a scientist, conducted the few science classes I recall. There may have been elementary math for younger students but I remember none beyond what was needed for carpentry projects.

One consistent class was an improvisation class for all ages organized by an energetic young man. I enjoyed his class because it had little structure and it was a comfortable way to blow off steam.

The main activity I was involved in at Mariposa was carpentry, building classrooms, kitchens, bathhouses, and cabins for those living on the property, my family now among them. As a result, the one thing I learned was carpentry and this caused me to make this a central part of my livelihood later, something I now regret, as I wanted to pursue a profession as my parents and grandparents had done.

While the lack of academics at Mariposa was bad enough, the real damage was from being sexually abused by the drama teacher. Right around my 17th birthday this man started sexually abusing me. It was so devastating

I completely shut down most of the memories. What I do recall is typical of people who experience trauma: substantial blank spots interspersed with vivid recollections, bringing back raw emotions to this day.

I left the school and the county forever at the end of 11th grade and tried going to college upstate, although I was not ready to do so and soon returned to my family now living in the Bay Area. I almost completely blocked out the memories of what this teacher did to me until an unexpected phone call from him brought the memories to consciousness in 2009. But I lived with the damage every day until the end and beyond.

When I finally faced the truth I developed full-blown PTSD. It took a long time to find the right help because it is only now becoming known that PTSD is a brain injury on a microscopic level. Sexual abuse damages the brain through the massive doses of cortisol that the body releases during trauma and its recollection. This is one fact I had to understand and treat in order to recover as much as possible.

In 2009 when these memories resurfaced I contacted teachers I had felt close to at Mariposa. This does not include the abuser. I had one communication with each of about eight other former Mariposa teachers, including the Hamburgs, to whom I sent a letter, to which they never replied. Each of those I did speak to was outwardly sympathetic and recalled me as the bright shy person I remember myself to have been and all claimed no memory of anything sexual between the drama teacher and me, although I did tell one of them what was happening at the time of those events. None of them ever contacted me afterward and none of them expressed any concern about this man going on to become a state credentialed teacher of developmentally disabled students in public schools.

I could not live with this. In 2014, after much difficulty given my mental health at the time, I managed to file a complaint with the California Teacher Credentialing Commission. They opened an investigation and then repealed his credentials. He appealed and finally the state Attorney General's office got him to relinquish his credential voluntarily and sign a statement that he would never apply to be a teacher in California again. He could have faced me before a judge. He chose not to. He has now moved to another state.

Needless to say I do not have a positive opinion of Mariposa school as a place that fostered the academic or personal development of students or cared about them beyond their tuition payments. In my experience the former teachers of Mariposa were not people who should ever have run a school or had the care of young people in their charge. For me as a former student Mariposa was not really a school and the people who ran it were ultimately destructive to my development, academically and as a person.

Mine is not the only case of sexual abuse by a teacher at Mariposa school. Another incident around 1989 by a different man in the same cabin in the woods was reported to police and the Ukiah Daily Journal at the time.

It is never too late to file a police report about a crime. Doing so was part of my own healing. To file a complaint against a teacher with the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing visit their website at:

www.ctc.ca.gov/educator-discipline

Or contact them at 1900 Capitol Ave., Sacramento, CA 95811. Phone: 916-322-4974.

For further assistance with teacher/student abuse or to support an organization doing something about this problem contact Stopped Educator Sexual Abuse Misconduct and Exploitation (SESAME) at:

www.seasmenet.org.

Mary Innes

Tuolomne County, California

I TOLD YOU

Editor,

I heard about the bombs. I was surprised that it happened. I told you people it would happen. Keep up the anti-Americanism and sooner or later it will bite you in the ass. The things I read about me and president Trump make me sick. You are just a bunch of jealous anti-American bastards. Antifa sucks. And so do the people who love them. The people who think they are right are rotten, and that is my answer to all you liberals, especially Rob Mahon of Covelo and Ashley Jones of Alameda -- get a grip you people. You are making 100% of the conservatives in this country sick. If you liberals keep disrespecting our president, the Constitution, the flag, open borders, sanctuary cities, no respect for law enforcement, trying to ruin the Constitution, no respect for the military and a lot of other rotten things you people do, there is going to be more trouble. The American people are fed up with your anti-American ways. And you, Rob Mahon are the worst one yet. And you Betsy Cawn, you need to clean your mouth out. Judge Kavanaugh is one of the finest men in the country and all the rest of the stuff you said is pure, unadulterated bullshit. If all you people really think and believe what you say then you are a bunch of sorry bastards. Antifa are a bunch of sick anti-American cowards, but they might be heroes do you Rob Mahon.

Elect John Pinches.  

Congratulations to South Dakota for killing a rotten criminal that killed one of our guys. I'm proud of them for doing it. It's not like California and the other states that actually treat people who kill people like heroes and put them in jail for maybe life where they live or high on the hog and better than most citizens do. And we pay for it. We pay for everything. We pay for our local level in California and we pay for it in our other taxes that go to the government. It's sorry. It's sad. People who kill officers of the law and other people should be killed in a month. Please, people out there, vote for John Cox. We don't need Gavin Newsom as a governor. We need John Cox. People are fed up with liberal governors like Jerry Brown by now. God bless Donald Trump and the conservative people.

Jerry Philbrick 

Comptche  

ED ANGER PERSONIFIED

Dear Editor,

Is Jerry Philbrick of Comptche really ED Anger of the Weekly World News? Anger, also the author of “Let’s Pave the Stupid Rainforest and Give Schoolteachers Stun Guns,” was actually a pseudonym used by several seminal supermarket tabloid journalists including Rafael Klinger, Eddie Clontz and Justin Mitchell and brilliantly utilized the old black-and-white presses of the National Enquirer to create the News. In his letters to the AVA Philbrick seems so pig-biting mad he’s got to be Anger and he's no doubt from The Left. NPR, KZYX and Philbrick? I wish they'd all shut the f--- up.

Ralph Coon

Los Angeles

COAST HOSPITAL’S OVERPAID EXECS

Editor,

Greetings --

Go to Transparent California for a listing of the top 30 or so employees from management and supervisory staff at Mendocino Coast District Hospital. 

Still no “movement" with union negotiations. Should have had a new ratified MOU on July 1 and here it is near November and still nothing!

Vote Redding, Grinberg, Arnold and MaColley

Louise Mariana

Mendocino

PS. The real cost of health care at Coast Hospital according to TransparentCalifornia.com.

Since 2012 CEO salary rose from $237k to $363k, a 53% increase. Since 2012 CFO salary rose from $181k to $294k, a 62% increase.

Coast Hospital has also added 13 administrators since 2012.

In 2012 there was no listing for a Chief Clinical Officer or “chief nurse.” But in 2016 the Chief Clinical Officer made $197k.

In 2017 the CEO got a 5% bonus ($18k). In 2018 additional management increases in compensation and or benefits are unknown management increases. 

During the same period Coast Hospital workers have suffered wage step freezes, loss of vacations, reduction in health care coverage and had periodic cost of living increases, plus reduction in hours due to use of temporary workers who are often not part of our community.

SECOND UNIT WORKSHOP

Editor,

The Second Unit Workshop in Fort Bragg on Oct. 25 presented several truly wonderful opportunities for current home owners in Fort Bragg to responsibly construct additional housing on their lots for extended family and/or income purposes. Obviously, Supervisor Dan Gjerde, Fort Bragg Development Director Marie Jones and County Planner Mike Oliphant have listened seriously to the citizenry and acted accordingly for the benefit of their hard working, middle class constituents. This writer felt better about the possibility of these same considerations being extended to the Coastal Zone where many landowners are struggling with large acreage and punishing regulations for building living space.

I am talking about living space for the people who work along our coastline. Those of us who work daily to support families and community who have to battle for a decent and affordable place to live. It is difficult to see great people come to work and live here only to find that the living part is punitive due to the lack of and high cost of that absolutely necessary place to live.

The eight units that have just recently begun construction in Point Arena are one drop in the bucket which needs to be filled for this area to sustain its economy. The millionaire homes are rented out to folks who can afford to vacation on our beautiful coast — or they are empty. 

I understand that the lion’s share of those million and multi-million-dollar homes on the Coast are mostly in Sonoma county – specifically: The Sea Ranch. The housing there seems to be more and more “For Rent” and “For Sale.”  Real estate ads in the Independent Coast Observer are mainly showing Sea Ranch homes and lots that are absolutely out of reach for most of the people who live in or near the Coastal Zone. The Sea Ranch Lodge and Post Office are shutting down. What does this tell us? All of this should be a “Red Flag” for Mendocino County in terms of how the future needs to look and be.  

Mendocino County needs to allow the affordable living advantages that are in the “Go” position for Fort Bragg to Trickle Down the coast through Caspar, Manchester, Point Arena and Gualala which are all located right on our beautiful coast in the Coastal Zone. 

Homes (notice – plural) can positively aide the local economy on those coastal plots larger than 40 acres by allowing more than one dwelling. Maybe that would be for Land Partnerships (multiple owners) and/or affordable rental units to aide in housing others: aging parents, children who want their own children, young people who are working to grow their own families and strive for their dream of living in this area and to eventually own their own property and home without being dependent on “the system” for housing. Opportunity is the key to Success and Longevity and Sustainability for all of us.

Note: Close to half of the audience were folks from the Point Arena area … Ted Williams was not in attendance … would bet that I was not the only one who noticed.

Name Withheld

Fort Bragg

MAD DOG & TWEETY BIRD

To the Editor,

Saddle-up pardners, the "midterms" are comin'. Mad Dog Kavanaugh is still blazin' away with his six-guns. Tweety Bird Trump is sweepin' the streets with double-ought buckshot. 

Tweety's latest victim is North Dakota Democratic Senator, Heidi Heitkamp, whose Czech heritage was ridiculed by Tweety Bird when he called her "Polkahauntus." Red meat to his base. 

Are we ready for even more "Shock and Awe"? The BLUE WAVE is an ebbtide ; the RED WAVE is a tsunami. You ain't seen nothin' yet! 

Cheers,

Don Morris

Ghost Town/Willits

A FREEMARTIN IS NOT “AN ISSUE”

Editor of the Anderson Valley Advertiser:

Have your cojones gone retractile? No stomach for a fact-based investigation of the issues? A sniper knows when to keep his head down. Yellow journalists?

Milan Hopkins, M.D.

Upper Lake

ED REPLY: Doctor! Doctor! Calm yourself, please. What were the issues? Something about polymorphous cows, was it? State your case plainly, sir. Snipers? Where? Cojones? A most unscientific metaphor coming from a medical man, if you don't mind my saying so. I'll need you to explain things much more fully than your cryptic communiques. We seem to be corresponding at cross purposes, and you seem angry about something apparently having to do with flexible sexuality, about which I know nothing beyond what I read in the San Francisco Chronicle. PS. For the record, I'm more pinkish than yellow.