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Posts published in November 2009

Speaking of Art in Fort Bragg…

There's an excellent new gallery in town with an open house this Friday (December 4).  The gallery, Odd Hours, is perfect for the kids--by which I mean anyone whose brain hasn't turned to Gerber from years…

Pillsbury Dough Boy Opposes Booze Regulation

This is not the Pillsbury Doughboy. His name is Glen McGourty and he'sMendo's UC Extension Farm Advisor. (I use the term "farm" loosely.) Taxpayers pay Mr. McGourty to give free technical advice to grape growers/booze…

Clarence Carter & The Golden West

I first heard Clarence Carter a couple weeks back, while at the Gee-dub, as that fine Fort Bragg drinking establishment is known.

Weed Whackers Win One

The whisper came from behind me. “How might one have an opinion on the facts witout having heard the facts?” I looked up from jotting down Judge Henderson’s opinion to see the defense lawyer smiling.…

First, a welcome note.

Welcome to Flypaper--a blog of observations.

Here's what you can expect in the coming months: a mix of reflections on culture and politics—both local and elsewhere—and reporter's-notebook style pieces derived from larger projects I'm reporting for the newspaper.

It’s Show Trial Time!

You can’t please all of the people all of the time, but President Obama and his Attorney General, Eric Holder, have got nearer than most to pulling it off. A week ago Holder announced that…

Letters to the Editor 11/24/2009

GIMME SHELTER (MONEY) Dear Friends, The Housing Association seeks your help because it needs your help. Operating costs for the Rays Road farm labor camp in Philo have surged. We have just installed an on-site…

Valley People 11/24/2009

THE BOONVILLE LODGE and its 13 jobs are being killed by an absentee landlord, a Sebastopol man named Johnson. The Lodge will be dead by January the first. Johnson has more than doubled the lease…

Stuck in Soledad

Dear AVA:

My name is Glenn Scott. I am serving time in Soledad’s Level 1 South Yard prison largely for crimes which I did not commit. My wife and three children live in Carmel Valley California and I am stuck in prison. With the bad economy, my wife is having a hard time out there raising our three beautiful children alone. Needless to say, I have no money on my books and my family can't afford to send me quarterly packages.

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