- Introducing Elizabeth Jensen
- Community Stain
- ‘On Tyranny’ (corrected)
- Sympathy For The Devil
- Help For Joe
- Keep Scott Dam
- Beyond Beyond
- Enough Lies
INTRODUCING ELIZABETH JENSEN
Dear Community,
My name is Elizabeth Jensen and my family and I recently moved to Yorkville from the Bay Area. Many of you may know my name from my efforts to improve our local community park and playground in Boonville or from my sharing of local family friendly events and activities. As a mother of a young child just starting preschool, I see a long relationship ahead for my family and our public schools in Anderson Valley. I have heard a little about the successes and challenges of our school district and am eager to engage with our community to learn more about what you value in your child's education and personal growth as well as what you see as priorities for our district. Throughout my life, I have attended both public and private academic institutions. As a student, I always thought of school as a place of academic learning. As an adult and especially a parent, I recognize also the importance of school as a place to grow community, provide opportunity, and foster learning and growth in all aspects of life. It is my understanding that the school board should seek input from and work to be responsive to the community it serves in setting direction and developing policies for the schools. I also recognize it is the responsibility of the school board to establish the structure and ensure accountability to deliver on those goals. I have volunteered to serve on our School Board to advocate for our community's interests. I welcome the opportunity to hear from you. Thank you.
Elizabeth Jensen
Yorkville
PS. CONTACT INFORMATION
Elizabeth Jensen
emjensen@avpanthers.org
District Office: 12300 AV Way, Boonville, CA 95415
Mailing Address: PO Box 457
Phone: (707) 895-3774
Fax: (707) 895-2665
COMMUNITY STAIN
Dear Neighbors:
It is a stain upon our community that our citizen elected Board of MCDH Directors, led by Steve Lunde, allowed CEO Bob Edwards to remain on the job while he, and his appointed CFO, Wade Sturgeon, chronically intimidated and harassed hospital employees.
In our small town we do not require a law suit to tell us what is going on at the hospital for a few brief interviews tell all. However, it is to Ellen Hardin's credit that she finally blew the whistle on these scoundrels and brought a Federal Law Suit against them. Remember, Edwards brought Sturgeon here after he was fired from his last 2 jobs for harassing employees (see the internet for validation)
That MCDH Board Chair Lunde, and company, extended Edward's contract, thereby costing, we the public, an additional million dollars, is an act we should be sueing Lunde for in a private class action.
MCDH now requires a CEO who is a specialist in "turning around" failing businesses. Without this specialist MCDH will get more of what our community has had for over 40 years....hospital bureaucrats who feather their own nests at the expense of the locals.
Richard Louis Miller, M.A., Ph.D.
Clinical Psychology
Fort Bragg
‘ON TYRANNY’ (Corrected)
Letter to the Editor,
Does current political and social news distress you? Do you feel "there is nothing I can do"?
You might try reading "On Tyranny — Twenty lessons from the 20th Century" by Tim Snyder. It's small at 4x6, only 126 pages. Following are the first 11 chapter titles:
Do not obey in advance. Defend institutions. Beware the one-party state. Take responsibility for the face of the world. Remember professional ethics. Be wary of paramilitaries. Be reflective if you must be armed. Stand out. Be kind to our language. Believe in truth. Investigate.
Buy a copy for only $8.95 and after reading it think about what your lifetime has taught you about war and power. If you are old enough share with a young person what you know about World War II and the consequences in Europe and the Far East. Talk about where and how citizenship skills are useful and needed.
Next, read more. Support our fourth estate by subscribing to publications that discuss beyond entertainment. Avoid the fast and false news of digital media. Talk with friends and strangers. Think about long-term consequences. Give the book to someone else. Keep engaging young people.
You could also write a letter to the AVA discussing your reactions to the book. What does "we the people" mean? Is there an endangerment to free speech especially with those with whom we disagree? What is civil discourse?
Beverly Dutra
Philo
SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL
Editor,
The Mueller Investigation report has finally been released and it affirms that there is insignificant criminal evidence to convict President Trump of collusion and obstruction of justice.
After being beaten about the head and shoulders for over two years, Trump is now free to trample the Constitution and advance his Great America agenda.
The anal liberal wolfpack has no intention of backing off, though. Its attacks on Trump, Inc. will continue at a greater pace with more investigations, congressional hearings, lawsuits, media attacks and impeachment bluster as major issues get short shrift.
Trump will become more isolated and angry — a short-fuse powder keg — surviving on junk food and television, adding to his 240+ pound girth which has ballooned to obese proportions.
An AVA letter writer, Holly J. Pierce of Santa Rosa (3/14/18) has a creative solution to de-fuse the situation: "What Trump needs is an emotional support animal — a clean, quiet friend who would offer unquestioned obedience and steadfast love, who would be there for him in the dark hours of the night to settle his restless and tormented soul."
Trump's emotional support animal should be a miniature Mexican short-haired Chihuahua that he keeps in his suit pocket.
As a caddy at a gangster-owned golf course north of Kansas City, Missouri, during my middle school years in the mid/late 50's, I interacted with a character named Jocko Messina who had a pet Chihuahua that accompanied him on his golf rounds. Jocko was half-blind and wore aviator goggles with coke bottle lenses which gave him a sinister look.
Jocko's mutt, Foo Foo, was allowed on course as a "special favor" and returned the favor by shagging golf balls and marking territory on golfers' legs.
Needless to say, Foo Foo had all the charm of a sewer rat and nearly caused some interfamily shoot-outs.
Trump's support mutt, "Doo Doo," can be similarly trained to shag golf balls and piss on people's legs. How would Putin and Kim Dung Heap react?
In these dire times we need some comic relief in the White House. As nimble fingers Garrison Keillor said, "To avoid insanity we should play it for laughs."
I look back fondly on my days as a caddy when I learned more about the real world than I ever did in school. Bill Murray's hilarious movie "Caddy Shack" isn't fiction, it's a documentary.
Cheers,
Don Morris
Ghost Town/Willits
HELP FOR JOE
To the Editor:
I am writing today to ask for your help. On March 12, 2019 a local EMT was in a horrible traffic collision in Lake County. Joe Stanisloo has been active in Mendocino County EMS for the last several years both as a volunteer and paid employee. Joe began his career as a volunteer with the Redwood Valley Calpella Fire Department and has most recently worked as an EMT at Medstar. Joe sustained major injuries and is currently in an out of county hospital for an undetermined amount of time. Joe has had three surgeries and has a very long recovery ahead of him. Joe recently bought his first home and has a small child, he can use all the help that he can get. A gofundme account has been established by Theresa Gowan of Medstar, it is titled “Let’s Help Joe.”
Also, on April 2,2019 Slam Dunk Pizza will be hosting a fundraiser for Joe. The event will include a silent auction, a raffle, and 25% of all sales will be donated directly to Joe.
Megan Turner Brown
Redwood Valley
KEEP SCOTT DAM
Editor:
Every year for the past 35, our family has looked forward to our annual camping trip at Lake Pillsbury. This lake is a hidden jewel in the Mendocino National Forest.
I now see many environmental groups want to remove Scott Dam (“Scott Dam’s fate debated,” Press Democrat, March 17). I was shocked!
They are citing environmental damage to endangered species. Your article sounded ominous, so I did a quick Google search.
In 1964, the Christmas storm flooded the entire Eel River drainage and washed half a mountain into the river, destroying the fish habitat (The Press Democrat covered that story). The fishery has never recovered. It was not the dam that did the damage. The dam maintains water flow year round to help the fish.
There are not 230 miles of fish habitat upstream from the dam. Maybe 30? There is a waterfall in Marble Canyon/Bloody Rock Trail, 5 miles up the Eel from the lake. Impassable for the fish. Rice Fork is not suitable for salmon and steelhead except in a small area.
For Rep. Jared Huffman to limit his advisory board to environmental lawyers indicates he’s only concerned with getting re-elected (taking the safe road), not finding solutions to a controversial, sensitive problem that would benefit all involved.
Bob Seyms
Santa Rosa
BEYOND BEYOND
Editor,
How do people like the Governor now? I hate the new governor for what he did for the death row inmates. It is very ugly. That man will keep doing things to this state that you have never seen before because he has a dictatorship that's as open and shut as a door. He will do whatever he pleases. No matter what we vote for he will change it to suit himself. I’ve never seen anything like this. It’s beyond the beyond.
He's going along with open borders, sanctuary cities, and taking away our guns. Now they want to smash our trucks if they are not 2010 models or later. People work all their lives for a truck and then have it taken away from them for no reason, especially here in Northern California. It's a dirty, rotten, stinking Democrat liberal crime. Naturally, there will be smog and pollution in the smaller areas of the cities where the air can't dissipate very fast. But after that it all goes into space and goes away.
I hope Donald Trump changes more things, especially this stupid Air Quality Resource Board thing about our trucks. I know for sure he will build the wall and he will sue the state over the water plan which is another democratic dictatorship move. Oh man. It will get worse before it gets better.
People don't know that Newsom is a nephew of one of our senators, Pelosi. He was caught in adultery with his best friend's wife when he was first married. But Pelosi covered this up and swept it under the rug so now he’s our governor. He hopes to be President someday. I don't think so.
God bless Donald Trump.
Jerry Philbrick
Comptche
ENOUGH LIES
Editor,
Someone posted this to Facebook and I wanted to share it with readers.
“First we were told that we should approve the lotto because that money would help fix our public education system and roads. Then we were told that we should raise the sales tax from 4% to 6% because we needed that money for education and fixing the roads. Then we were told that we should approve casino gambling because that money would, you guessed it, go to education and fixing our roads. And then we raised the gas tax and vehicle registration to fix the roads. Then we were told that we should legalize marijuana and use the tax revenue for education and fixing the roads. And now after all of this, the fact is that our education system is one of the worst in the nation and our roads are even worse than that, our politicians have decided that we need to raise our gas tax even more again to fix the roads. Enough with the lies and BS already.”
Coleman Smith
Gualala
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