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Posts published in December 2010

Farm to Farm

"Jabbering away all night," my friend Crystal had said methamphetamine does. This would be my first and essentially last experience with the powerful stimulant. Fly and I were unintentional guests in the Kincaid kitchen, haphazard…

Lives & Times of Valley Folks: Maria Goodwin

Maria was born in 1941, a third-generation San Franciscan on her father’s side, the only child of Daniel Goodwin and Mary Fragulia. “I used to joke that I was conceived by osmosis; I’m sure my…

Bird’s Eye View

Greetings one and all. If you are sitting comfortably then I shall begin. How about a few birthday greetings, no doubt belated in some cases, for those celebrating a December birthday? Here we go, ‘Many…

The Truth Will Always Win

In 1958 a young Rupert Murdoch, then owner and editor of Adelaide's The News, wrote: “In the race between secrecy and truth, it seems inevitable that truth will always win.” His observation perhaps reflected his…

Robert Stamps at Kent State

In 1980 I was living in San Diego and I got a phone call from Andy Brody who was down in Mexico City with his girlfriend, Estrella. They were supporting themselves by teaching English. He…

The Summer of Smoke?

“The Summer of Love, protests to be civil and a rainbow of counterculture. Whether you started here or put flowers in your hair, grabbed a drum and hitched a ride on a painted minibus, Camel…

Slow Going

Five years ago, a few weeks before I made my move from Berkeley to Mendocino, I came within a few inches of being killed by a young man who was driving his pickup truck very fast while simultaneously using his mobile phone.

Who’ll Get “Sacrificed?” “Legalizers” Look to 2012

A week after the election, pro-cannabis reform activists held a get-together in Denver that some modestly referred to as a "summit meeting." They defined the yes vote for Prop 19 (46%) as a victory and…

Operation Full Court Press

A reliable source comments on Sheriff Allman's $1.5 million estimated budget ("which does not include costs of restoration or contingencies") for the Mendocino County National Forest "Full Court Press" campaign:  "This has all grown out…

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