On February 26, 2016, I was arrested for gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated for a fatal DUI crash where a man's life was taken and his wife badly injured. I presently await my sentencing and punishment for my choices that night which most likely will include multiple years of incarceration. My actions that not that night cannot be "undone" and I cannot rectify the damage that I caused to the family or the community. It was a terrible decision and a selfish choice with irreparable and tragic results.
Posts published in “Letters to the Editor”
Measure AF, the "Agricultural Fraud Act", on the November 2016 ballot is a blatant, well-financed attempt by the pot industry to subvert the County planning and zoning process by permitting commercial pot production on virtually the entire Mendocino County land base.
I am wondering why there has been no more information about Blackbird Farms and their permit application.
Anderson Valley has a not-so-great history with negative experiences for children and youth in “caring-for-you” facilities. As a community, we need to clearly understand who is doing what and why. This kind of operation absoltuely needs community endorsement before it expands.
Back in the days when the Philo radio station began its day with the NPR news program, a lady came in each morning to open the door and put the station on in the air. Usually she came in 30-45 minutes early, played classical music until her shift began. Her name was Loretta Houck.
The Fort Bragg City Council needs to adopt a completely new approach to the city's development and create a livable city with a positive future for its citizens and their children. The Council isn't serving our community by encouraging strip malls and fast food restaurants that provide low-paying service jobs. The Council is helping wealthy developers who don't live here and who only care about short term profits, not Fort Bragg's future.
The big battle at the ballot in November is between two local cannabis measures -- the Mendocino Heritage Initiative (AF) sponsored by the cannabis community, and the Cannabis Tax Initiative (AI), presented by the Mendocino Board of Supervisors. They are competing initiatives with clear conflicts. Whichever gets the most votes will prevail in its entirety, leaving the rival with nothing.
Just over two months ago, a lifelong resident of Navarro had moved back after almost 7 years of leaving the state. He left as a single father of three minor children. When he returned he returned with a child that is now 18, two 16-year-olds, a 14-year-old and a wife. His family has grown up and there have been a couple of additions.
Currently, Mendocino County does not have facilities for inpatient treatment of psychiatric and substance use disorders. People who need these services either don’t get them, or wind up in jail, or must be sent to hospitals several hours away - an ineffective system that is enormously costly to Mendocino County.
This letter is about the half cent sales tax proposed to be put on the ballot in November to create a new bureaucracy for the homeless and mentally impaired people. I am certainly not against taking care of our problem people, but what concerns me a lot more is where we are headed.
Blake Morrison's short item, ‘Dad’ last week caused me to be again humbled by the remembrance of mine, Jack Witherell. He was the most loving and accessible father I could imagine having and a man of complete integrity. He was born in Fort Bragg in 1931 and raised on the bluff above Indian Creek in Philo.
I want to thank all the residents on Mountain View Road and across the county who supported us in our quest to discover the menacing generator which has robbed us of sleep for six months. I have also had calls from across the county — Mendocino, Fort Bragg, Elk, Boonville and Ukiah.