Sonoma County Water Rationing Mandates - 30 - 50%

North Bay Water Storage Hits Unchartered Territory,
New Projection Prompts 30-50% Mandatory Rationing

The Sonoma County Water Agency (SCWA) is about to alert 750,000 residents in portions of Marin, Sonoma and Mendocino counties that their water storage is projected to hit new historical low levels. Residents should expect a call for a minimum of 30 to 50 percent mandatory rationing within weeks.

“The projection will show that we have entered unchartered territory,” said Pam Jeane, deputy chief engineer of operations. “A 30 percent mandatory rationing order is just the beginning – further decline in reservoir levels could necessitate 50 percent cutbacks.”

Impacts of the low water storage levels will be addressed, including Russian River flow levels, salmon fishery concerns and possible economic impacts including loss of jobs. The storage projection is based on past and projected rainfall patterns, Russian River flow requirements, and recent agricultural and municipal water demands in the Russian River above Healdsburg.

Stay tuned for more information...

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Business Tips to Handle Uncertain Economic Times

“Fear of failure is the flipside of fear of success; you have nothing to loose,” says SSU Business Professor Nick Gurney who has his own top ten tips for axiomatic success to keep a business going during uncertain economic times. Repetition of these axiomatic 10 points is proven to deliver results.

TOP TEN IDEAS CAN HELP MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN A SMALL BUSINESS’S FUTURE

The ten ideas he says can help regain momentum in achieving goals, hopes and dreams.

By Nicholas Gurney

Get Your Self Back on Track

An international business writer once said ”The more things change the more they remains the same.” Is there anything really new under the sun? Not really; though, we are definitely coping with more vertiginous progress since the beginning of time. And most of us are striving to
better manage ourselves and help others to do the same.

1. Don’t allow fear to overcome your optimistic desire for a compelling future. Your brain is programmable to go towards the rewards of success rather than the penalties of failure. Thinking in pessimistic terms validates what some call the law of negative attraction; it dates to the Bible ”What you fear most will come to pass.” Focus on short term goals and projects that are achievable and measurable. Action feeds optimism.

2. Make a daily action plan, remembering to stay focused on what is doable now! Revisit this plan at day’s end checking off what you have achieved and focus on a punch list of items that warrant further action tomorrow or within the week. The past is prelude to the future. Derive strength and satisfaction from your accomplishments. Nothing motivates better than short term goal gains.

3. "If you fail to plan, you can plan to fail." Be systematic and establish a plan and follow it as rigorously as possible. If you work with others include everyone in the planning or at least the implementation of it. Keep the people around you informed.

4. Resilience is a key component to emotional health, according to K. Sulowitz, MD. Be emotionally resilient; this is also a key to building optimism. When you are optimistic it is catching and will help others around you to build resilience.

This enables everyone to move over the current challenges and build a stronger organization with stronger people. Building on it is a critical factor in how we all respond to change and tough times. Practice thinking optimistically, with small steps and raise the bar when you sense you are ready.

5. Did it start in Hollywood by exiled New Yorkers or not? “Fake it til you make it” has been a proven practice which gains it’s own momentum. Keep in mind your ethics, tolerance for ambiguity and ones’ sense of self.

Make it a fun game to keep you keeping on. Look at successful retailers, wholesalers, the competition, inspiring individuals and model what you believe sets them apart. Japan, Taiwan, China, India and others, used to copy western goods, services and are now becoming world leaders; it didn’t happen overnight. So it is for individuals, it takes focus and work. John Wooden, famed sports coach stated; “if it’s easy everyone would be star athletes.”

6. Be adaptable: Take your cues from world class athletes, astronauts, JPL… Find what works for you and then remember; practice makes perfect. As Sonoma based Dr. David Clancy, says, “the human mind and capacity for renewed imagination differentiates us from animals and provides the wherewithal to improve.”

7. Another senior staff member of a global operations and financial consulting firm, DCG, LLC, explains simply and accurately “Communication is the base for success in everyway, everywhere.” Countless tomes, books web sites, classes, self help programs deal
with this cornerstone skill for any relationship; a book, course or training seminar on presentations or negotiation is a great way to dissipate anxiety.

8. Invest in your people – and yourself. What can everyone one do a little more of to build an incredible future now? Can everyone sell? Can everyone find savings? Each day do one more little action.

9. Leverage the knowledge of everyone. Can everyone contribute 1% more of what they know to build a future of which we can all be proud?

10. Extraordinary times calls for extraordinary people: using your doable daily action plan consider working Saturdays and or Sundays

Nicholas Gurney
International Business Professor
Sonoma State University


WANT TO THRIVE IN UNCERTAIN ECONOMIC TIMES?
- Course Offers Student Mentors to Aid Small Biz Owners
- Top Ten Ideas to Handle Uncertain Economic Times


SSU COURSE HELPS SMALL BUSINESSES THRIVE WITH AID OF STUDENT MENTORS. DEADLINE IS JAN. 30

It is possible to thrive in this recession says Business Professor Nick Gurney who is again offering the chance for small businesses to be mentored by his students this spring semester.

The popular course brings business students together with local companies to develop strategies to success. Four to six companies are chosen every year and a donation of $500 is asked to cover
student scholarships.

Under the guidance of SSU faculty, business students meet with small-business owners in the North Bay to develop a scope of work and confer with proprietors on a weekly basis. Students participate in intensive real-life studies of active businesses, and take dynamic roles
in shaping the future of an enterprise.

At the conclusion of the spring semester, the student consultants present a final analysis, including findings and proposals for future operations. These include performance audits, strategic and financial planning, market research, financial forecasting, personnel policies, and customer acquisition and retention programs.

Businesses that have employed this service include Feed This Pet Foods,Kim Manley Herbals, the SSU Costume Shop, Rohnert Park Gymnastics, Montessori Services and The Housing Company.

Other companies that have also employed SSU's business consultation services include Copperfield's Books, Mrs. Grossman's Paper Products and Oliver's Markets.

For more information or to apply, contact Nicholas Gurney at
(707) 824-4418 or e-mail: nicholas.gurney@gmail.com
Inquiries are welcomed now through January 30, 2009.

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Armstrong Redwoods Celebrates 75 Years – Old Photos Needed

California State Parks and Stewards of the Coast and Redwoods are honored to announce that Armstrong Redwoods is turning 75 years old this year.

Special thanks to John De Salvio for generously donating a new logo for the year’s festivities. A number of celebration days are in the planning stages, the first being on Saturday, April 18th to launch the historic event. The planning committee is asking the community’s help in acquiring old photos of activities that took place in the park during the past 75 years. Many families have fond memories of weddings and other gatherings in the park that are needed to develop a commemorative display. Please contact Michele Luna, Executive Director of Stewards with any information that you may be able to provide. mluna@mcn.org or (707) 869-9177 x4#.

Michele Luna, Executive Director
Stewards of the Coast and Redwoods
PO Box 2, Duncans Mills, CA 95430
(707) 869-9177 x4#
(707) 869-8252 Fax
mluna@mcn.org
www.stewardsofthecoastandredwoods.org

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Red Cross Looking for Sonoma County Heroes to Honor

RED CROSS LOOKING FOR HEROIC COMMUNITY MEMBERS
6th Annual Real Heroes Breakfast to highlight acts of extraordinary
compassion

They were a college student who donated a kidney to her mentor, a woman who created debriefing teams to relieve stress in those who serve at emergencies, and an Army Specialist who survived a bomb explosion in Afghanistan and helped the other ambushed Rangers. The
American Red Cross, Sonoma & Mendocino Counties, honored those heroic community members, and many others, at last year’s Real Heroes Breakfast.

Now the Red Cross is seeking new heroes to honor at their sixth annual breakfast on April 29, 2009. The breakfast benefits the local disaster relief fund and supports other essential, local Red Cross services. It will be held in Rohnert Park at the Doubletree Hotel.

The Red Cross wants to know about anyone in either Sonoma or Mendocino County who has shown an extraordinary gift for human compassion since January 2008. Nomination forms, which must be received by February 27, are available on www.arcsm.org/heroes or from the Red Cross by calling 577-7600.

Major sponsors for the Real Heroes Breakfast to date include Medtronic and Eileen Adams.

A panel of community leaders will review nominations. The categories are Animal, Education, Environmental, Good Samaritan (Youth, Adult, and Senior), Law Enforcement, Medical, Military, and Professional Rescue.

Heroic acts must be ongoing or have occurred between 1/1/08 and 2/27/09. Heroes for all categories must live in, or heroic acts must have taken place in, Sonoma or Mendocino County.

There is no admission fee, however guests will be encouraged to support the efforts of our local chapter.

The full breakfast begins at 7:30 a.m. and the event is done by 8:45 a.m. To attend or to find out more about sponsorship, call (707)577-7600.

ABOUT THE AMERICAN RED CROSS, SONOMA & MENDOCINO COUNTIES

American Red Cross is a neutral, humanitarian organization that provides relief to victims of disasters, and prepares people to prevent and respond to emergencies. Our chapter, like all Red Cross chapters, is self-sustaining and receives no funding from the national organization. All disaster assistance provided by the Chapter is free and is made possible by voluntary donations of time and money by the people of Sonoma and Mendocino Counties. Donations can be made online at www.arcsm.org, via mail to 5297 Aero Drive, Santa Rosa, CA 95403, or by phone at 707-577-7600. Mendocino residents can call locally, (707) 463-0112.

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What is an American?

OK - I like this one enough to pass it along. My contention is that our current president - Barrack Obama - is the embodiment of what is American. Many of us are very proud of being the Melting Pot of the planet. Mixed races, nationalities, religions, etc. I have a firm belief that when our blood is sufficiently mixed, when we are all related…war will end. It's simply not easy to kill family and friends. So this little essay that came over the internet speaks volumes about our mixed blood. Thank you for reading - Vesta

Written by an Australian Dentist

To Kill an American

You probably missed this in the rush of news, but there was actually a report that someone in Pakistan had published in a newspaper, an offer of a reward to anyone who killed an American, any American.

So an Australian dentist wrote an editorial the following day to let everyone know what an American is. So they would know when they found one. (Good one, mate!!!!)

'An American is English, or French, or Italian, Irish, German, Spanish , Polish, Russian or Greek. An American may also be Canadian, Mexican, African, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Australian, Iranian, Asian, or Arab, or Pakistani or Afghan.

An American may also be a Comanche, Cherokee, Osage, Blackfoot, Navaho, Apache, Seminole or one of the many other tribes known as native Americans.

An American is Christian, or he could be Jewish, or Buddhist, or Muslim. In fact, there are more Muslims in America than in Afghanistan.The only difference is that in America they are free to worship as each of them chooses.

An American is also free to believe in no religion. For that he will answer only to God, not to the government, or to armed thugs claiming to speak for the government and for God.

An American lives in the most prosperous land in the history of the world.

The root of that prosperity can be found in the Declaration of Independence , which recognizes the right of each person to the pursuit of happiness.

An American is generous. Americans have helped out just about every other nation in the world in their time of need, never asking a thing in return.

When Afghanistan was over-run by the Soviet army 20 years ago, Americans came with arms and supplies to enable the people to win back their country!

As of the morning of September 11, Americans had given more than any other nation to the poor in Afghanistan .

The national symbol of America , The Statue of Liberty , welcomes your tired and your poor, the wretched refuse of your teeming shores, the homeless, tempest tossed. These in fact are the people who built America .

Some of them were working in the Twin Towers the morning of September 11, 2001 earning a better life for their families. It's been told that the World Trade Center victims were from at least 30 different countries, cultures, and first languages, including those that aided and abetted the terrorists.

So you can try to kill an American if you must. Hitler did. So did General Tojo, and Stalin, and Mao Tse-Tung, and other blood-thirsty tyrants in the world. But, in doing so you would just be killing yourself. Because Americans are not a particular people from a particular place. They are the embodiment of the human spirit of freedom. Everyone who holds to that spirit, everywhere, is an American.

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AB 885 Onsite Wastewater Treatment Systems in California

Possible Re-Schedule of Workshop/Hearing and Extension of deadline - stay tuned!

The Workshop/meeting on Tuesday, January 27th ended abruptly because fire marshals assessed the overflow crowd as being more than the space could hold and therefore unsafe. People had come from many miles and hours away to attend. Many were angry. Deadline for comments is February 9th - read on! - Vesta

I guess the State Water Resources Control Board had no idea how many people would show up for this workshop. The Merlot Theater at Wells Fargo Center in Santa Rosa was packed from wall-to-wall and out into the halls. Standing room only doesn't quite describe the throngs who are interested - and angry - about this proposed legislation.

As the room spilled out into the foyer, I spent some time with a couple from Clear Lake. One year ago they had completed construction on a brand new house 17 feet above the water. “Over our dead bodies,” was their reaction to the concept that they would have to have their septic system inspected every five years, upgrade, or have their property condemned if it didn't meet non-polluting standards. So in addition to being angry that the state is proposing strict regulations for waste disposal systems near bodies of water, they were also angry that the meeting was shut down after they had driven so far to attend.

From an environmentalists view, I understand completely why the state wants - and needs - to protect our water systems. From a homeowners perspective, I understand how people feel alarmed that they may not be able to do anything but move. Until California legalizes and regulates alternative waste systems, we are stuck with septics and sewers. For many areas, sewer systems are out of the range of possibility and septic systems that meet modern regulations are impossible. Either there is too little land near the home or the home owners have insufficient funds to deal with an upgrade.

Many people are proposing that homeowners get financing/funding available through the state if they have to upgrade. Along the Russian River, many homes are former summer cabins and are considered existing Affordable Housing in our communities. If these properties are condemend because the septic systems no longer function efficiently, then the people living in the homes will be dispalced.

At prevoious meetings over the last few years we have brought up the conept of composting toilets and other alternative systems that are not currently approved by the state and county. These systems have been proven as efficient and function well for decades, but have yet to be considered as alternatives to septics. One of the reasons brought up at a previous meeting is that they would open up currently un-buildable lots to building. Perhaps it's time to consider that these systems could solve problems efficiently and relatively inexpensively.

Condiser that a to-code septic system can cost between $10,000 to$60,000 to install. That a sewer system costs millions and costs homeowners thousands to hook into, then includes annual fees. Composting toilets look mighty cheap by comparison. There are still issues of waste disposal, however, so it's not a perfect solution.

There's much to learn - and read.

Please read below to learn more and if you have comments that you want put on record, please submit them on the DEIR so that the state will consider your thoughts.

State Water Resources Control Board
Division of Water Quality
1001 I Street • Sacramento, California 95814 • (916) 341-5455
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 100 • Sacramento, California • 95812-0100
FAX (916) 341-5463 • http://www.waterboards.ca.gov

To: All Interested Parties
PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO THE CALIFORNIA CODE OF REGULATIONS, TITLE 27, DIVISION 5. STATE WATER RESOURCES CONTROL BOARD, RULES GOVERNING ONSITE WASTEWATER TREATMENT SYSTEMS; PROPOSED STATEWIDE WAIVER OF WASTE DISCHARGE REQUIREMENTS; AND DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT

Available for review and comment are the Assembly Bill 885 (AB 885) Onsite Wastewater Treatment Systems (OWTS) proposed regulations, proposed statewide conditional waiver of waste discharge requirements (proposed waiver), and draft environmental impact report (DEIR). We are sending you this notice because of your potential interest in this important subject.

The full texts of the proposed regulations, the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, and the Initial Statement of Reasons are posted on the State Water Resources Control Board’s (State Water Board’s) website at http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/septic_tanks/. The proposed waiver and DEIR are posted and are also available for review with the proposed regulations at the libraries listed on Enclosure 1 in this notice. You may also contact the person listed below for a copy. The documents are described below:

Proposed Regulations: The proposed regulations are intended for all OWTS statewide and contain differing requirements for new and existing OWTS. They are written to satisfy the requirements of sections 13290 through 13291.7 of the California Water Code. The proposed regulations will be included in Title 27, Division 5 of the California Code of Regulations and consist of the following four articles:
Article 1: Definitions, applicability of the regulations, and general requirements;
Article 2: Groundwater level determinations for new OWTS;
Article 3: Requirements for supplemental treatment and OWTS dispersal systems;
Article 4: Requirements for protecting impaired surface waters.

Proposed Waiver: The proposed waiver is independent of the proposed regulations but contains the same requirements. The proposed waiver will allow owners of OWTS to avoid filing a report of waste discharge to a Regional Water Quality Control Board (Regional Water Board) as long as the provisions of the proposed waiver are complied with. Regional Water Boards would retain the authority to issue individual waste discharge requirements or region-wide waivers as long as they are no less stringent than the waiver proposed for adoption by the State Water Board.

DEIR: Adoption of the proposed regulations and proposed waiver is a discretionary action by the State Water Board and is therefore subject to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), California Public Resources Code section 21000 et seq. In compliance with CEQA requirements, a DEIR has been prepared for the proposed regulations and proposed waiver.

WORKSHOPS: State Water Board staff is also conducting eleven (11) public workshops and a hearing (see Enclosure 2) to receive oral and written comments regarding the State Water Board’s proposed regulatory actions. We encourage attendance at any or all of these workshops regarding the proposed regulations, the proposed waiver, and DEIR.

COMMENTS: Comments on the proposed regulations, proposed waiver, and DEIR must be received or postmarked on or before February 9, 2009. Please submit comments regarding these documents to AB885@waterboards.ca.gov or to the address below:
State Water Resources Control Board Division of Water Quality
Attn: Todd Thompson, P.E.
1001 I Street, 15th Floor,
P.O. Box 2231
Sacramento, CA 95812
I
f you have any questions, please contact Mr. Todd Thompson (primary) at (916) 341-5518 or tthompson@waterboards.ca.gov.

The following is a list of public libraries where the State Water Board’s Draft Programmatic EIR for the Statewide Onsite Wastewater Treatment Regulations is available for public review.

San Diego Public Library
820 E Street
San Diego, CA 92101-6416

Kern County Library
701 Truxton Avenue
Bakersfield, CA 93301

Orange County Public Library
1501 E. St Andrew Place
Santa Ana, CA 92705

Riverside Central Library
3581 Mission Inn Avenue
Riverside, CA 92501

Los Angeles Public Library
630 West 5th Street
Los Angeles, CA 90071

Riverside County Library
Palm Desert Branch
73-300 Fred Waring Drive
Palm Desert, CA 92260

Fresno County Public Library
2420 Mariposa Street
Fresno, CA 93721

Palmdale City Library
700 East Palmdale Boulevard
Palmdale, CA 93550

Norman Feldheym Central Library
555 West 6th Street
San Bernardino, CA 92410

Modesto-Stanislaus Central Library
1500 I Street
Modesto, CA 95354

San Francisco Public Library
Stegner Environmental Center
Civic Center
100 Larkin St.
San Francisco, CA 94102

Sacramento Central Library
828 I Street
Sacramento, CA 95814

Fairfield-Suisun Community Library
1150 Kentucky Street
Fairfield, CA 94533

Central Sonoma County Library
211 E Street
Santa Rosa, CA 95404

Shasta County Library
1100 Parkview Ave.
Redding, CA 96001

Humboldt County Library
1313 Third Street
Eureka, CA 95501

Salinas Public Library
350 Lincoln Ave.
Salinas, CA 93901

San Luis Obispo City-County Library
P.O. Box 8107
San Luis Obispo, CA 93403


WORKSHOPS AND HEARINGS - coming up (they have been having these since early December)

Workshop
January 27, 2009; 7 p.m.
Wells Fargo Center for the Arts
Merlot Theater
50 Mark West Springs Road
Santa Rosa, CA

Eureka
Workshop
January 28, 2009; 7 p.m.
Eureka High School Auditorium
1915 J Street
Eureka, CA

Sacramento - LAST OPPORTUNITY FOR COMMENT ON THE DEIR
Hearing
February 9, 2009; 1:30 p.m.
Byron Sher Auditorium
Cal EPA Building
1001 I Street
Sacramento, CA

Here are some comments that will be presented on February 9th in Sacramento - maybe these will help you draft your comments:

The Water Board knows the level of hardship they will be imposing, and their Draft EIR fails to do two simple arithmetic exercises to "connect the dots" and make the point clearly:

1. The Water Board adoped a "Small Community Wastewater Strategy" in SWB Resolution 2008-0048 which adopted the USDA's affordability criteria of 1.5% of median household income for wastewater outlays. 1.5% is $900 per the 2007 Calif MHI of $60,000. If the State Revolving Fund loaned the entire $45,000 cost (per the DEIR estimate) of a replacement septic, at its lowest 2.5% interest and maximum 20 year loan, the payments would be $2861/yr, plus $2000/yr estimated maintenance, totalling $4861/yr which is 8.1% of MHI, or 5.4 times the "affordability criteria." This is a significant economic impact under the best of circumstances.

2. In Section 13291.5 of the AB885 text, it state the intent of the Legislature to lend financial assistance to Owners whose cost of compliance exceeds 1/2 of 1% of the current assessed value of their property. With a Calif median home value of $350,000 (July, 08), 1/2 of 1% is $1,750, obviously it was less when AB885 was passed in 2000. Clearly, the Legislature intended the compliance costs to be modest, or backstopped with State assistance. The regs are not modest and there is no State assistance. The estimated septic replacement cost to comply is $45,000, and with no State assistance, the homeowner is facing a cost 25 times the Legislature's intent. Surely the Water Board is aware that this costly regulation oversteps the Legislature's intent. There is no mention of this economic impact or any discussion of this intent in the circulated docs.

How could the Water Board fulfill its AB885 mandate with less economic impact?

Several suggestions:

1. Delay compliance until grants are available to fund that portion of costs exceeding a reasonable baseline of affordability.
2. Adopt a lesser standard. AB885 doesn't mandate the that the Water Board adopt the toughest new standard in the nation, just that it adopt uniform minimum standards. They could adopt Statewide a pre-existing Basin Plan's standards with far less upset and strife.
3. Provide for "readily achieveable" compliance to a lesser standard based on baseline affordability costs and an engineer's recommendation on the best measure for the dollars available and the site in question.
4. Embrace new technologies.

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Ask EcoGirl: Happy Traveling on Public Transit

Dear EcoGirl: I want to use public transit, both for the planet’s well-being and my convenience, but I’m not sure how to start. Any advice? Signed, Stuck in Traffic

Dear Stuck: Thank you for your question. Yes, using public transit is a wonderful way for us to help decrease car pollution, reverse global climate change, embody a greener lifestyle, and trim our wealth transfer to oil-rich nations. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, transportation is the largest source of U.S. air pollution and accounts for over 25% of our greenhouse gas emissions.

Shifting to public transit can also bring personal benefits, reducing driving hassles and cutting costs for gas, insurance, repairs, and parking. I see it as a “chauffeur for the rest of us,” transforming tense travel time into a chance to read, write, ponder, savor the scenery, connect with new folks, and experience our community in richer detail. Plus, our patronage brings vital support to the system, especially important with today’s government cutbacks.

Getting Started
• Begin with something easy, such as planning one trip. Consider how you’d take transit to work, school, shopping, the airport, a park, or an event. Look first for journeys that don’t require transfers and where timing isn’t critical, to help keep things relaxed. Use the resources below to identify appropriate routes, stop locations, schedules, costs, and parking options. (Note: Sports fans might be interested in Golden Gate Transit’s express bus from Santa Rosa to 49ers games.)

• Explore bus routes that stop near your house, visiting recreational destinations along their paths. (This idea comes from transit advocate Alice Linn.)

• Play with others. For instance, journey with friends to San Francisco or the coast. (For the latter, columnist Tish Levee recommends Sonoma County Transit’s summer route 29.) Also, Sebastopol Walks (info@sebastopol.org, 823-3032) offers bus-walk trips that combine exercise and camaraderie.

• Experiment with various types of trips, to learn what works best for you. Note: Some workplaces offer free transit passes to employees!

Key Resources
• Peruse information about area transit systems at www.511.org or call 511 (toll-free). Here you’ll find route maps, schedules, and fares, plus information on discount passes, bringing bikes on transit, and accessibility.

Another useful resource is Getting There on Transit, with overview maps of Bay Area systems. Download it at (www.mtc.ca.gov/library/getting_there/Getting_There_On_Transit-07.pdf) or request a free print copy from 510-817-5836 or (library@mtc.ca.gov). It’s from 2007, so confirm any route specifics.

• Learn the local options. Start with Sonoma County Transit (www.sctransit.com, 576-7433, 800-345-7433), which links to various city systems. Also look at Golden Gate Transit (www.goldengate.org, 415-455-2000), which goes to San Francisco via both bus and ferry. Download their New Rider’s Guide at (http://goldengatetransit.org/services/publications.php). These two transit agencies can link you to other area systems and points beyond.

Traveling Tips
• Prepare for your comfort. Dress for expected temperatures, ideally in layers, and with comfortable shoes. Bring water, maybe a snack, plus items to amuse yourself, such as reading or knitting.

• Make the connection. To ensure that you catch your bus, confirm that your schedule is current and arrive a little early. Bring exact change, a timepiece with the correct time, and the schedule in case your plans shift. Check that you’re at the right transit agency’s stop, on the correct side of the street, and boarding the desired bus.

• Enjoy the adventure. Your travel time can be an opportunity to get work done, find new perspectives, share engaging conversations, and discover new places.

Riders often experience memorable interactions. For example, Novato’s Lionel Gambill recalls meeting a Mongolian woman grateful that here she’s allowed to travel without her husband. Alice Tucker fondly remembers singing Motown on Route 20 to the River one night and meeting an Internet bride from the Ukraine. “Driving in a car can isolate you from people,” Alice comments. “It’s good to know your species.”

Santa Rosa’s Marsha Vas Dupre loves riding the MTA route from Santa Rosa to Sea Ranch. “Most riders are regulars,” she says, who chat with each other and welcome new passengers into conversations. Plus, she adds, “It’s soooo great not to have to drive and to be able to look at the incredibly beautiful scenery!”

And, of course, to feel part of creating a healthier world and future for all.

Thank you to the riders who shared their perspectives with me.

“EcoGirl: Encouraging the eco-hero in everyone.”

© Copyright Patricia Dines, 2008. All rights reserved.

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Artist Profile – Hester Zoutendijk

Hester Zoutendijk is clearly a master of drawing animals – horses, dogs, cats, sheep, cows ….

The list goes on. Her sketches are created with graphite or water soluble color pencils on 23 x 29 inch sheets of 100% rag vellum white paper with exact detail to the personality of the subject. I was introduced to Hester through a friend who owns horses. My friend gave me a beautiful note card with a high quality reproduction of a horse portrait. She mentioned that the horse was her gelding, Paragon. Little did I know the specialness of this gesture until I met Hester in her studio nestled in a field off of Starr Road outside of Windsor.

Horse enthusiasts have known Hester as a horse trainer and teacher of dressage since her arrival in Sonoma County in 1990. Her home is on a two acre horse ranch and her professional life was totally consumed with horses. In 2000, Hester was kicked by a horse in the forearm while training. The injury was serious and the trauma was a wakeup call for Hester. She began experiencing fear while working with the horses which, of course, they could sense. She had a six year old daughter and a wonderful husband and she needed to pursue a less physically demanding profession.

Hester has drawn creatures throughout her life. She liked to create fantasy animals and funny sketches to amuse herself and her large family during her childhood. She also has an affinity for the animal world and early in her life found that she was a natural vegetarian. She remembers as a child saving her money to purchase caged birds at the pet store, sketching them and then releasing them into freedom. She attended an art school in South America as a teenager and eventually graduated from the Royal Academy of Art in Amsterdam. Her deep connection with animals allows her to portray the personality of the animal and not just the superficial exterior appearance.

She drew her first animal portrait of a Jack Russell in 1992 as a gift for a friend. The response was delight. Hester’s ability to capture the essence of an animal created a loyal following of pet and livestock owners who wished to have their companions memorialized in a work of fine art. Although Hester has always exercised her artist skills, the efforts were for her personal pleasure and not something that she considered a professional activity. That all changed within six months of the accident.

As always, I wanted to know the story of Hester’s journey to Sonoma County. With the surname of Zoutendijk, there is little doubt that Hester is Dutch. But according to Hester, “Holland was not large enough to handle” her, her adventurous parents and her seven siblings. Shortly after she was born, Hester’s parents moved their eight children to the Dutch Colony of New Guinea where her father was a school principal. They remained there until New Guinea reverted back to Indonesia. The Zoutendijks returned to Holland for a few years and then ventured to Suriname, a Dutch Colony located on the northern edge of South America where Hester’s father started a center for performing arts.

At age 17, Hester left her family to attend the Royal Academy of Art in Holland. After school, Hester sailed, traveled and recorded her adventures through sketching. She eventually returned to Holland and began working with horses. On vacation, she visited one of her sisters who lived on Mark West Spring Road. Recognizing that Sonoma County offered one of the best year round climates in the world, she moved here in 1990 bringing her horse, dog and parrot. She finally had found a place where she could settle down and grow real roots.

Seeing Hester’s work is a special treat. I learned while visiting her that with each original portrait, she provides an 8.5 x 11 print and two note cards with smaller prints. I now hold one of those small prints of Paragon. Hester has ventured into Sonoma County landscapes that always include some creature, baby portraits and other observations. You will find her work at the St. Helena Hometown Harvest Faire, Windsor Town Green events (check out the Windsor Official Website 2008 Fine Art Gallery) and various horse shows. Hauck Cellars has graced their Sauvignon Blanc with a portrait of winery dog Margaux by Hester. Two venues in Windsor, Lupe’s Restaurant and Copperstone Coffee Shop currently have exhibits of Hester’s work. Check out www.portraitsbyhester.com for prints for sale, price lists for custom portraits and to learn more about Hester.

You can email your comments to bshula@comcast.net

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CINEMA CHATTER: Man on Wire, Benjamin Button, The Duchess

A good movie is comprised of many elements. First is the story, then acting, next editing, if a period piece the set decoration and costume are important. Controlling all these is the director’s vision and decisions.

Director David Fincher whose vision gave us Seven & Fight Club have gone in a whole new direction in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Starring Brad Pitt in the title role, his curious case is he is born old and ages backward, toward youth, childhood and eventually becomes an infant. The story begins on Armistice Day World War 1 1918 in New Orleans and moves through the 20th century and beyond when Hurricane Katrina is about to slam the birthplace of Jazz. Oddly enough these events are both the beginning of this fascinating and well done movie.

The extraordinary Cate Blanchett is the love of his life and since she ages the usual way they manage to meet in the middle. This movie does run long (2hours and 45 minutes), and my experience is people either run hot or cold on the experience. I however found this a thought provoking film examining ageing, love, and parental responsibility. Screen writers Eric Roth and Robin Swicord have done a wonderful job weaving a story going in two directions at once with humor, suspense and lots of loving emotion.

The Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival is going to be happening from March 6th until March 8th .They will be screening 44 films at five different venues. These films have a wide range of diverse subjects. For more information contact www.SebastopolFilmFestival.org or call 707-829-4797

My documentary pick this month Man on Wire reminds me of an old Electric Light Orchestra song “Hold on Tight to Your Dream.” This is exactly what Philippe Petit, French high wire artist did. While waiting for a dentist appointment in 1966 this man saw a drawing of the still to be built World Trade Towers. He promptly tore the page out of the magazine and left the dentist office taking his toothache and stolen article with him. Mr. Petit knew at that moment he HAD TO string a wire between these two towers and walk 1,350 feet above New York City! He planned and trained and waited until August 7, 1974 to achieve his dream. This fascinating documentary chronicles his quest from that day in 1966 until he lives the dream eight years later. This outrageous story is told with suspense The wonderfully French music soundtrack fits each situation to perfection.

My home viewing pick this month is The Duchess. A delightful frothy confection of a film about a long past era. The story is about Georgiana Spencer who was Princess Dianna’s 18th Century ancestor. Both were thrust into an arranged marriage while in their teens. Georgiana (played be Keira Knightly) was married to the Duke of Devonshire (played by Ralph Fiennes) at the age of seventeen. Both husbands had a roving eye and enjoyed a dalliance outside of the marriage, finally both women were icons of the fashion world.

In Georgiana’s case it was mile high hair festooned with feathers. This chapter in history is told with perfect pitch by cinematographer Gyula Pados who with the help of costume designer Michael O’Connor and set decorator Rebecca Alleway have created an environment so authentic you are pulled into the film as if you are witnessing the story in person. The strict social code of behavior and mandated political attitudes are on display and fascinatingly told with an eye towards the lack of power or influence of women then.

Mr. Fiennes performance as the Duke is nuanced, multi layered and quietly powerful. Director Saul Dibb has assembled all the factors in making a great film and presented it to us with such an ease and fluidity that you are barely aware of the complexity of knowledge being presented.

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CHINESE MEDICINE: Foot Pain

The foot is primarily associated with walking, movement toward the outside world, from yin to yang, and constitutes one of our modes of communication. In supporting the principle of the body in the walking mode, the foot is not only the symbol of grounding, but also of our inner strength in the sense that it supports the upright position and also our vulnerability. The feet our first stage of development is standing and walking and the foot establishes contact with the earth. The footsteps we leave on the ground bear witness to the path we are on, either good or bad.

In my practice I have worked with so many different types of foot problems such as tendonitis, cold feet, neuropathy, bone spur and plantar fascitis. These are just several of the many aside from toe pain that is sometimes involved. All of these disorders are diagnosed in accordance with the Qi. Most often plantar heel pain indicates a yin access and can be eliminated by needling certain kidney points. It can also be an excess problem in some cases and that would involve draining certain points around the foot. Tendonitis can be an athletic injury and can range in its severity, however, when untreated a minor injury can quickly turn into a severe injury. There are three places that tendonitis can occur along the heel. This pain needs to be distinguished from bone spur and rheumatoid arthritis.

Bone spurs are treatable with acupuncture and herbs. Since this has to do with the bone, in Chinese medicine it is related to the Kidney energy, which is in charge of building bone. Bone spur is a common problem on the foot and is an overgrowth of bone most commonly seen at a joint, the place where the two bones meet and allow for movement. Abnormal motion at the level of the joint over the course of time will cause the spur to form. You can also have spurring of the joint as a result of excessive tension on the bone from where the tendon attaches. Normal aging will also cause bone spurs to form. The most famous bone spur occurs on the heel. I have had good luck combing acupuncture and also I use a Chinese formula, which has worked wonders on many patients. Personally I have seen too many botched surgeries and I am not one to condone cortisone shots.

Neuropathy is another peripheral vascular disease that can be a very serious problem. This is also called the diabetic foot and is sometimes overlooked until it accelerates to a total loss of sensation. As diabetes progresses many diabetics lose sensation in their feet but it can also present as relentless burning, tingling or numbness. I have treated many patients over the last ten years and they have all experienced a difference with the combination of acupuncture and herbs. This is also related to the kidney but I have seen the liver and spleen meridians involves as well. In the foot in Chinese medicine there are the Liver, Gall Bladder, Kidney and Spleen meridians that all run through different parts of the foot. So many times through a diagnosis I can decipher the problems as an organ problem it the presentation goes right down a specific channel. Also I have noticed that many patients can present the same problem but it will demand a different diagnosis depending on the patient.

The last common complaint is Cold feet. In addition to cold weather, a poor functioning thyroid, blood deficiency, Raynauds disease, rheumatoid arthritis and high blood pressure, many people need to change their diet and stay away form cold foods, caffeine and smoking in order to allow their Qi to move through their body into their feet. Cold damp weather with further restricts the blood flow that goes to the toes. I also have many patients who work outdoors and need to protect themselves better from the cold. Circulation and blood flow are the main things to increase with cold feet. Chinese medicine does not usually refer to western terms but rather the patient comes in and presents their symptoms and the acupuncture treats them according to what they see, their pulses and their tongue are the diagnostic tools.

Through its transport points, the foot is a place of exchange between human Qi and universal Qi. It is one of the branches of the body. I believe rehabilitation can take place without surgery and there are many different approaches through the use of acupuncture and herbs that are extremely effective.

Marcy Basel is currently in private practice in Sebastopol and has been using Herbs and Acupuncture for over seventeen years. She has an extensive pharmacy on location and also does Nutrition and Cranial Sacral Therapy. To make an appointment or to get information please call 707-824-8747. Marcy also offers a free fifteen-minute consultation for free on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday.

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GAIL'S GARDEN: Learning about Sustainable Gardening

New Years Resolutions

Happy New Year West County Gardeners! I hope you had a joyful Holiday Season and are ready to dive into a productive year in the garden with me. I thought I would share with you some of my hopes for my garden in 2009: perhaps you may be inspired to try some of the same.

First, I want to continue to learn more about soils, plants, climates, and techniques to improve my garden. There are so many great educational opportunities for gardeners here in Sonoma county that it is a shame not to take advantage of at least a few. Try the free educational programs at local nurseries that are announced here in the Gazette: I will be teaching a class at Bassignani’s Nursery on January 10 on Rose Pruning, and Tony Bassignani teaches about Fruit Tree Care on January 24.

If you want to learn more about caring for your plants, don’t miss my Hands-On Pruning Intensive on January 17th: for only $20 you will receive a morning’s instruction and practice in pruning for roses, shrubs, perennials, and even small trees! (e-mail bluehilldesign9@aol.com to register: class size is limited, so please register soon). I will also be teaching a 6 week class ‘Designing Sustainable Gardens’ with my friend and fellow garden designer Ruth Bracken beginning in February (see SRJC Community Education website for registration http://www.santarosa.edu/).

There are great classes for a reasonable price at the Santa Rosa Junior College (http://www.santarosa.edu/): I hope to take Dave Fazio’s class ’Unique Shrubs, Vines and Groundcovers for Nothern California’ this spring. Try a weekend seminar offered by Horticulture Magazine (www.hortmag.com), or the Garden Conservancy Open Days (www.gardenconservancy.org) for exciting learning opportunities. And for those of you who are really ambitious, consider the Master Gardener program (camastergardeners.ucdavis.edu) for a really in-depth learning experience.

No time for classes? Why not subscribe to a new magazine this year? Sunset (http://www.sunset.com/) is an old standby, of course, but I also enjoy Horticulture Magazine (http://www.hortmag.com/GeneralMenu/), Organic Gardening http://www.organicgardening.com/, and Fine Gardening (http://www.taunton.com/finegardening/). This is an easy way to learn and be inspired in your gardening.

Second, I want to make my garden as sustainable and earth-friendly as possible. I will continue to work to make my irrigation systems as efficient as possible to avoid wasting water, and I will decrease the size of my lawn (the most water intensive part of any garden).

I plan to increase my composting of kitchen wastes, which will improve the health of my garden and soil. There are so many ways to compost that each of us should be able to find a simple and relatively easy way to make our own great ‘brown gold’ to nourish our plants. And if you can’t make your own compost, you can buy from Sonoma Compost (http://www.sonomacompost.com/) wonderful products made from local household green waste (Improved Mallard Mulch is my favorite for both soil amendment and mulching).

I will use only natural methods of pest and weed control, even if it means a little more work: I hope that you will all join me in this resolution to improve the health of our planet, our families and our fellow creatures on this earth.

I plan to contribute to the larger garden community this year: there are so many ways that we can help others! Community gardens like Harvest for the Hungry (http://www.harvestgarden.org/organicproduce.html) in Santa Rosa always need help, and every school in the county has a garden which can use volunteers. Or perhaps you have an elderly neighbor or family member who would appreciate your help in making their garden more beautiful.

On a more national level you should consider becoming a member of the Garden Conservancy (http://www.gardenconservancy.org/) or Royal Oak Society (http://www.royal-oak.org/): both excellent organizations dedicated to preserving some truly spectacular gardens for the future.

I will spend time in my garden each day: even on a rainy and cloudy day, it is invigorating for my spirit to be outside in the fresh air, exercising and enjoying my plants. Eat outside, sit outside, enjoy your garden with your family and friends.

I resolve to have fun in my garden and try something new this year. I hope you will join me!

Blue Hill Garden Design
Gail Fanning
Sebastopol, CA 95472
(707) 829-2455
www.bluehilldesign.shorturl.com
e-mail: bluehilldesign9@aol.com

Bassignani Nursery
‎1841 Gravenstein Hwy S
Sebastopol, CA 95472
(707) 823-3984

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LISTENING 2 CHILDREN: of ALL ages!

I am reminded time and time again about the importance of the act of LISTENING!

After I wrote the last article for the Gazette I pondered, “What should the focus be for my column in the New Year”? Ideas came and went! Then as December came to a close and the New Year rolled around, I continued my thought process. I wanted something NEW… something DIFFERENT… something to catch everyone’s attention. Several subject entered my mind but no decision was made! My considerations continued.

Life continued! Day after day, situations arose where the absolute necessity for “LISTENING 2 CHILDREN” arose. I was reminded time and time again about the importance of the act of LISTENING!

• Listening to the infant as her eyes focus on the first rain!
• Listening to the four-year old feeling snow for the first time!
• Listening to the child who just learned to ride her bike!
• Listening to the crying toddler who just had his ice cream fall!
• Listening to the young women who has just fallen in love!
• Listening to the teen that just lost his job!

Opportunities arise around us all the time where listening is needed! However, in this busy busy world, sometimes, the act of listening is not given the importance that it deserves.

Listening deepens the connection between two people greatly! Listening bonds people together in miraculous ways. When two people take the time to be in conversation, sharing and talking, a synergy develops that is so special. Conversations cannot be hurried. Well, they can be hurried, but if one wants the delight and pleasure and closeness that comes from listening, then conversations should be given the time they deserve!

When listening doesn’t take place, the person not listened to may end up holding on to un-processed thoughts and feelings. When such thoughts build up time after time, they can cause emotional upsets. I’ve seen this happen time and time again in classrooms. Teachers wonder WHY is this child acting out? Nine times out of ten when I see an incident that has happened where a child is upset, I’ve been able to trace the ‘cause’ back to something that happened that was not addressed. The importance of listening begins at birth and continues into adulthood and beyond!

Over the past months I’ve had the marvelous experience of having one of my children ‘fall in love’! She’s over 30 and has been SO patient in dating and finding Mr. Right. And now everything is falling into place! Although she’s known him for 3 years, they were not serious until recently. Then they became a couple! Almost immediately he was offered a fabulous work promotion but it entailed a move to another state! A BIG decision had to be made! It was amazing to listen to her talk about all the conversations they were having about the move. At one point, I had MORE questions than she had answers so I had to sit quietly and wait!

This reminded me that sometimes, the process of listening requires SILENCE! So, silence it was for about 10 days! But tonight, we spent over 90 minutes on the phone discussing their trip next week out of state to locate housing and their upcoming move. The timing wasn’t great for me, but if I had said no to the call tonight, what I would have lost out on would be irreplaceable! I would have missed listening to her talk about what furniture to take, how she found a matching piece to her wild purple flowered luggage and the huge significance of this time in her life! Yes, listening is crucial to close relationships when our children are 3 months or 30 years.

It’s never too late to begin listening again! And the very act of listening can change lives! It can bring people together! And it can create a connection so strong, so beautiful, so special!
AND it can all begin with just 10 minutes of listening! I call this the 10 Minute Miracle. JUST listen to a loved one for 10 minutes. Have no agenda other than listening! Listening is a miracle that can last a lifetime!

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ASK THE LOAN MAN: Your Loan…Refinance or Modify?

Your Loan…Refinance or Modify?

OK, let’s start with my area of expertise – refinancing. With almost 2 decades in the real estate and mortgage business, I have helped thousands of people get into a home or refinance the home they are in. I have traveled the country and spent thousands of dollars to further my education and I am most definitely an expert and I am going to give you the exact same advice that I give to every one of my clients when they ask – Should I refinance?......

My answer is I DON’T KNOW!

Well there you go, you now have free expert advice. Here is the deal, I honestly don’t know until I run the numbers. If the answer is yes then I don’t know exactly what loan program or features you should get until we compare options on a spreadsheet. These days, most people are getting a 30 year fixed rate because they are so low (Yes, rates are 4.5% to 5.5% right now). There are a lot of choices when getting a 30 year fixed rate mortgage: Points or no points? - Pay the costs out of pocket or roll them in? – Should I pay off debts? – Should I take some cash? etc. etc.

The hardest part about refinancing today is that we have much different questions that we have to ask and some of the answers are making it impossible for people to refinance. Some people who would have qualified 2 years ago won’t qualify today. The house that I live in and the duplex I rent out have both lost equity to the point that I simply don’t have enough equity to refinance and so I can’t even get a loan for myself.

So, what happens when you can’t refinance? Well, in my case, I wait. I can’t get a better interest rate and selling doesn’t make sense so I wait. Luckily for me, that was my plan anyway. Some people will want to take a look at a loan modification and this is a completely different animal from a refinance.

A loan modification is when you contact your current mortgage holder and you ask them to modify the terms of your mortgage. The bank can lower the interest rate, take past due amounts and tack them on to the back of the loan, lower the principal balance, let you skip a couple of payments… Why would the bank do this you say? That is a good question and you need a really good answer or they won’t. If you are behind on payments and your mortgage has just adjusted from a low rate to a higher rate then you may be a good candidate for a loan modification. If you just don’t have enough equity to fit into a refinance and you want a better rate then you are not a good candidate for a modification.

You entered into a contract for a mortgage and the bank wants to get paid. If they feel you are in danger of losing the house to foreclosure then they will want to work with you to keep you in the home and save their loan. The bottom line is that you need to prove to the bank that you can’t continue on the path that you are on and then you need to show them what you can do and strike a bargain. A couple of things to consider….. Getting them to lower your principal is almost out of the question and getting them to even speak with you if you are current with your payments probably won’t happen either. I am not a loan modification expert and I do not do them for my clients. There are a lot of new companies out there and many of them are predatory companies looking to make a quick buck. I have been offering advice to clients and referrals to reputable companies and helping clients prepare to tackle these on their own.

I welcome questions about home loans and the real estate market in general. Please let me know what you want to hear about in future articles.


Hans Bruhner, CMPS is licensed in CA & HI. If you have a question, please contact Hans at (707) 887-1275 or hans@hansblog.com . First Priority Financial, Inc. is licensed by the CA DRE #00654852. www.asktheloanman.com

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MITZVAH MOMENTS - Easy New Year Resolutions

Have trouble keeping New Year’s Resolutions?
Here are some easy ones with great rewards.

• Click daily at www.thehungersite.com and access five other charities. When joined with other people clicking daily, you can make a real difference in less than a minute. Last year clicking––and shopping––provided 72 million cups of food for the hungry, nearly 7600 mammograms for needy women, health care for nearly 1,000,000 children worldwide, over 500,000 books for underprivileged children, nearly 78 million bowls of food for needy animals, and preserved nearly 15,000 acres of land.

• Donate blood regularly. Every three seconds, someone needs blood. Although 5 million Americans need blood annually, less than 10% of those eligible donate. Now while helping save a life, you can improve your own health. A recent long-term study of more than 1,0000,0000 Scandinavian blood donors showed a possible link between donation and a lower risk of certain cancers (liver, lung, stomach, and throat) and a possible reduction in heart disease in men. While there aren’t yet results for women, donating can’t hurt their health––you get a mini-checkup including a blood pressure test each time you donate. Now you can schedule a donation online at either the blood bank or at a mobile blood drive; go to http://www.bbr.org/ or call 707-545-1222.

• When you’re grocery shopping, buy something extra for the Redwood Empire Food Bank’s Winter Food Drive. With the economy in serious trouble, and unemployment rising, more people need the Food Bank’s help. REFB serves 60,000 people monthly, including 22,000 children and 9,000 seniors. Of the 18,8000 households they serve, 7,300 are working families. Drop foods in barrels at G&G Supermarkets, Longs, Lucky, Safeway, and Whole Foods or call 707-523-7900 for other locations. www.refb.org

You can’t separate one from the other. Global warming, water, fuel use, and electricity are all interwoven.

• Save water. We are now into our third drought year. Last spring was the driest in recorded history. From July 1st to January 1st, Sonoma County rainfall was only about 50% of normal. We appear to be in a “la Niña” weather pattern, with another dry spring on the way. Measurements of the water content in the Sierra snow pack are 83% of normal; unseasonably warm weather, an affect of global warming, could evaporate much of that. Drought isn’t the only factor affecting our water supplies. A growing population––partly from people moving here, but mostly from people born here who choose to stay here, new and expanding industries and agriculture, and protecting the salmon and steelhead runs, all mean we’ll need to conserve more water, all year around. With so little rain this winter, gardens still needs watering. Save water when you turn on the hot water tap in the shower or kitchen sink by capturing the cold water and using it to water plants. Start planning ahead for a dry summer––go to http://www.sonoma.watersavingplants.com/ to view the Sonoma County Water Agency’s water saving CD.

• Save gas. The less gas we use, the less global warming, which also means we’ll have more water. Last year gas prices soared to nearly $5/gallon, and Americans responded by driving 100 billion less miles; gas consumption was down 3.2% in 2008. Prices dropped dramatically during the fall, but now they’ve bottomed out. The situation in the Middle East, OPEC reducing its output, a dispute between Russia and the Ukraine, and reduced refinery capacity all contributed to gas prices rising steadily since December. Also, Congress may increase the gasoline tax by 10 cents/gallon to offset the loss of funds for roads. So all the things we learned when gas prices were soaring still apply. And while we’re saving money and fossil fuels, we’re helping to reduce global warming. One idea––take public transit once a week. (See Patricia Dines’ column Ask EcoGirl on public transit experiences in this issue.)

• Save electricity. PGE has to purchase power from non-renewable sources in dry winters and when water supplies are low, because there’s not enough water for hydroelectric generation, so saving electricity means less fossil fuel will have to be burned. Unplug electronics and battery chargers when they’re not in use. If all Californians did this, it would be like taking 120,000 cars off the road. For other energy saving ideas go to www.pge.com/myhome/saveenergymoney.

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Soonoma County Restaurant - Humble Pie, Penngrove, CA

THE HUMBLE PIE RESTAURANT

West Sonoma is such a wonderful and unique place that I have no trouble finding interesting places for eating out. But I wandered into Penngrove with friends one night in November to go to a restaurant that I want to share with you.

First off, Penngrove reflects the charm of many West County small communities. As you drive east on Old Redwood Highway turn right on Main Street and after you cross the railroad tracks there is an old building that is itself “pie shaped” and houses the Black Cat Bar and the Humble Pie Restaurant as well as hotel rooms on the second floor. When you visit the restaurant be sure to check out the memorabilia in the bathroom that takes up the “pointy end” of the pie shaped building. The address is 10056 Main Street, Penngrove, and the phone number is 664-8779. HUMBLE PIE is open Wednesday and Thursday from 5 P.M. to 11 P.M. and Friday and Saturday 5 P.M. to 12 A.M. I am one of those night time people who love to find a place you can get a really fine dinner at 10:00 at night. Starting this month Humble Pie is also serving Sunday Brunch from 10 A.M. to 3 P.M.

You will be greeted by Joshua Norwitt who owns this restaurant with Miriam Donaldson and partners Dan Mccann and Brook Mccann. Dan is the one on the right in the picture and the Chef for the Restaurant. Miriam also does much of the cooking and Josh takes care of the front of the house. The restaurant has six tables and holds twenty five to thirty people. Music is played on a turntable on the counter by the kitchen and you are encouraged to look over the LP vinyl records and play what you like. Perhaps you might want to bring your own LP and share it with the rest of the diners for the evening. There is a door between the restaurant and the bar so you can always order whatever you want from the bar in this friendly and cozy atmosphere. Miriam tells me the customers are mostly local and range in age from a more mature crowd (usually the early diners) to a younger crowd (often later diners) and those in between.

Miriam and Joshua are independent survivors. They met in San Diego but moved up here to live with other family members on a 165 acre ranch toward the coast. Various family members share the interest in gardening and ranch life. The first step in preparation for the restaurant business was to plant a huge garden and experiment with as many varieties of vegetables and fruits as seemed practical. Canning and preserving the food they grow is high on their list. They are now adding 3 or 4 goats and are considering raising a pig. The ranch had been a sheep ranch in the past and still is home for two old cows living out their golden years.

As you would expect, the food at the Humble Pie reflects all the fresh and seasonally local produce that is available. They change the menu every week but there are a couple things that the customers insist they keep on the menu.

One is ‘BLUE BALLS & HANDMADE KETCHUP – beef and pork meatballs stuffed with Point Reyes Blue Cheese’ which is one of the “small plate” offerings for $8. But since most everything changes I am going to give you the menu from the first week in January. Two other small plates include ‘Winter Salad – buttery croutons’, roasted butternut squash, green apple, black currants, cabbage and bacon” for $8 and Cheese Ball – goat cheese and green onion rolled in sweet red pepper and walnut served with cucumber slices and sliced baguette for $7.

For the supper section you have 4 choices: MUSHROOM KINGDOM – parmesan polenta cakes, slathered in vegetable ragout, served cheesy with a green salad for $15; PORK CHOPS – two center cut pork chops with apple & black currant compote on mashed potatoes served with a salad for $17; GREEN ON GREEN – handmade spinach fettucine with avocado cream sauce topped with rosemary tomatoes and bacon served with a salad for $15; and GLORIOUS GRAVY AND ROSEMARY BISCUITS along with local sausage served with a big ol’ green salad for $13. For dessert you can have a piece of pie ( there may be more than one choice) and topped with vanilla ice cream, if you like, for $5. (by the way – you’ll love the prices on the wine list.)

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YOUR WATERSHED - Isn't Clean Water Worth It?

You don’t have to travel far in this part of Northern California to see what protecting our water quality means: a sparkling coastline, rivers we depend on for drinking water, irrigation and recreation. Local governments’ business is to work for the public interest. As long as clean water is vitally connected to our economy, public health, the environment and our quality of life, then cities, counties, and utility districts must to do what they can to keep the water clean. Yet there is another reason that local governments strive for clean water: It’s the law.

The Clean Water Act is the primary federal law that governs water quality. Prior to its passage in 1972, water pollution across the country was widespread. Raw sewage was commonly piped directly to lakes, rivers and bays. Pressed by an alarmed public, Congress passed the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1972 (a.k.a the Clean Water Act) and set out to achieve two national goals: eliminate the discharge of untreated wastewater from municipal and industrial sources into the nation’s waterways, and improve water quality to protect fishing and swimming.

To jumpstart the effort, the federal government provided billions of dollars for construction of wastewater treatment plants across the nation. It also established the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop water quality standards and enforce the reduction of pollutants into waterways by industries and municipalities.

Over the past 30 years, a myriad of regulating agencies at all levels have worked to implement the Clean Water Act as well as each state’s own clean water laws. The California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal-EPA) develops and enforces the state's environmental protection laws, including those linked to clean water. The State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) regulates wastewater discharges to both surface water (rivers, ocean, etc.) and to groundwater (via land). Along with the SWRCB, each of the nine Regional Water Boards also regulate storm water discharges from construction, industrial, and municipal activities; discharges from irrigated agriculture; dredge and fill activities; and other activities that could degrade water quality.

At the receiving end of the regulations are local governments that must comply with the law to meet clean water goals. The regulators develop standards and provide guidance on such things as how clean drinking water is; how pure recycled water must be for use on crops, parks and landscaping; or how much water to release from dams during fish spawning season. This regulation greatly affects the way that municipalities operate their water, wastewater and storm drain systems. As water quality standards become more rigorous, local governments and utilities are compelled to look at increased public outreach and education, more legal authority, comprehensive land use controls, newer technologies and updated infrastructure. And this all costs money.

Who pays for all these water quality efforts?
While the majority of clean water regulations come from the federal and State government, most funding for drinking water and wastewater treatment comes from local ratepayers and taxpayers. The constant challenge for local governments and utilities is that they are under pressure to keep rates as low as possible, but need to collect enough revenue to operate and maintain the systems to ever-stringent water quality standards. Additionally, since the pumps, pipes and plants that make up our water and wastewater systems are aging, financial reserves must be built to eventually replace vital infrastructure. Complying with the law and providing clean water aren’t free.

Regulating agencies, local governments and utilities, and ratepayers often seem at constant tension. For the regulators who must enforce the law, more work remains to be done: 40% of the nation’s waterways still have an unacceptable level of pollutants. For local governments and utilities, meeting increasingly strict water quality standards strains already-lean resources. For ratepayers, paying even more for water and sewer is hard to do in these tough financial times.

Ultimately, we all want the same thing – clean water. The environmental progress achieved since the 1970’s is due to the guidance and enforcement of regulatory agencies, the demands of citizen and watchdog groups, and the constant efforts of local governments and utility districts to protect the public interest and comply with the Clean Water Act. Isn’t clean water worth it?

This article was authored by Eydie Tacata, a Management Analyst with the City of Rohnert Park on behalf of RRWA. RRWA (www.rrwatershed.org) is an association of local public agencies in the Russian River Watershed that have come together to coordinate regional programs for clean water, fisheries restoration, and watershed enhancement.

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SHARK BAIT: Answers to Legal Questions: REDUCE YOUR RISK OF BEING SUED

Dear Readers:
As a New Year gift to YOU--the outstanding and altruistic neighbors of Sonoma County—I offer my three “top picks” of painless legally-related steps you can take to reduce the chance of being sued and to protect your assets. (My typical “Dear-Abby-Q&A-styled-column” will resume next time). Forget the resolutions to lose weight, exercise, or clean out your closets—they fade in six weeks. Act on some or hopefully all of my free tips--they will last a lifetime:


Tip #1: Don’t let strangers plan your wake.
OK...can we talk? We will die…eventually. If you do not have a will or trust, you do in fact have an “estate plan”. Strangers, not you, will decide the fate of EVERYTHING you own—the home, the bank and stock accounts, and that one-of-a-kind 1920’s chandelier that graced your Aunt’s Shangri-La. Those “strangers” are our State Legislature, as under California law, when you die without a will or trust (legally termed “intestate”) your “stuff” will likely go through probate court. Probate proceedings may take up to 1½ years. If the delay isn’t enough to bring you down a few clouds from your angelic state, think about the costs….probate costs can consume 5-10% of your estate. Even more moola will go to other fees and our Golden State (55% of your estate can go to Uncle Sam).

If your final wishes are not clearly defined in a Will and Trust, find a lawyer that specializes in estate planning. Ask a trustworthy friend or neighbor if they can recommend a reputable estate planning attorney or you can email me and I’ll reply with the contact information of local estate planning attorneys whom I trust.

Tip #2: Save a life—your teenagers, your grandparents, or an innocent driver.
If your teenager is learning to drive, consider a defensive driving class as a prerequisite to their permit or license. The California Highway Patrol (CHP) offers an outstanding classroom program called “Start Smart” for 15-19 year-olds. Check out the CHP website or contact your local CHP office. Also, take the time to enter a contract with your teenager which outlines terms such as hours of driving, geographical limits, and responsibilities of passengers. Sample contracts are available on-line. Be cautious—some sites will try to sell you a contract—freebies are available. Just remember, the contract is a written promise between you and your teen. You can and should add any terms that you and the teen agree to. Talk it out and put it on paper.

Do you know any senior drivers? Classes to sharpen and refresh driving skills are also regularly offered to seniors (and may also reduce your automobile insurance premium). As Ralph Waldo Emerson observed, “the secret of education is respecting the pupil”. Rephrased, love your I-pod-tooting teenager and your Uncle George—send them to driving safety class.

Tip#3: Spend a few extra bucks for certain types of insurance and save ten-fold.
Many of my potential clients come into my law office and are sure they have “full coverage” to help pay the bills from a car crash. Their belief is sometimes not the reality. Insurance is tricky—there are so many types of coverage. California law requires that only “liability insurance” be purchased. Liability coverage “kicks in” if the insured is found to be at fault, and the minimum required in California is only $15,000.

If the at-fault person has no insurance, you may have little recourse unless you have UM/UIM coverage and Med Pay on YOUR policy. An “umbrella policy” also offers additional protection. UM/UIM, Med Pay, and an umbrella policy will provide additional protection and peace of mind, at a fraction of the cost of your required liability coverage. Call your automobile insurance company or your insurance agent now to update your policy so that you are indeed “fully” protected.

Be Safe. Be Healthy. Laugh often and embrace every day of the New Year!

Got a legal question? Email Debra –debra@newbylawoffice.com. This column is designed as community service to address general legal principles and does not create an attorney-client relationship.

Debra A. Newby is a resident of West County and has practiced law for 26 years. She maintains an active law office in Santa Rosa and emphasizes personal injury law (bicycle/motorcycle/motor vehicle accidents and fatalities, dog bites, trip and falls, etc.) and expungements (clearing criminal records). Debra can be reached via email (debra@newbylawoffice.com), phone (707-526-7200), fax (526-7202) or pony express (930 Mendocino Avenue, Suite 101, Santa Rosa, 95401).

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WINE BANTER - Celebrity Wine Wizards

Dick Starr explores the realm of celebrities in the California wine industry.

California’s Political Wine Patron

I would like to extend a note of appreciation to State Senator Pat Wiggins who chairs the Senate Select Committee on California Wine Industry and has initiated and supported legislation to assist California wine growers and producers. Pat, an enthusiastic supporter of California’s wine industry, is a product of an audaciously intrepid family; her father was the stuntman for the wing walking maneuvers in The Great Waldo Pepper and her mother, like Pat, was an accomplished parachutist. In rare but prized respites, Pat enjoys a dollop of her favorite varietal, Pinot Noir.

Celebrity Wine Wizards

In addition to Dan Aykroyd’s varietals that I reviewed last month, wine world is expanding exponentially with celebrity bon vivants who want to broadcast an urbane lifestyle. Up 20% in grocery store sales since last year and accounting for 1% of total wine sales, it has become an increasing challenge to identify a celebrity gourmand that hasn’t sanctioned a tailored grape. Many have actually cultivated an authentic master’s tasting palate. Just to dash off a few of these famed wine pundits and wanna-be oenophiles– living and posthumously – who have had one or more grape-tinged body parts:

The Rolling Stones, Kiss, Celine Dion, Pink Floyd, Barbara Streisand, Madonna, Jerry Garcia, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Joe Montana, Santana, British Soccer Star David Beckham, Porn Star Savanna Samson, Vince Neil (Vince Vineyards), Fred Mac Murray (Mac Murray Ranch), former NFL coach Mike Ditka (Mendocino Wine Co.), director Francis Ford Coppola (wineries in Napa County and Geyserville – pass on daughter Sofia’s canned sparkling wine), pro-golfer Greg Norman (Greg Norman Estates), former inmate Martha Stewart (E. & J. Gallo), Paul Newman (Trinchero Family Estates), French actor Gerard Depardieu (Gerard Depardieu Winery), Elvis Presley (Blue Suede Shoes Chardonnay by Graceland Cellars), Marilyn Monroe (Flagship is Marilyn Merlot by Nova Wines), auto racing icon Mario Andretti (Mario Andretti Winery), Olympic skating gold medalist Peggy Fleming (Fleming Jenkins Vineyards & Winery), Sopranos’ psychiatrist Lorraine Bracco (Bracco Wines), Raymond Burr (Raymond Burr Vineyards in Dry Creek), Kenwood resident Tommy Smothers (Remick Ridge Vineyards – take a pass if your looking for potable wine), Fleetwood Mac founding member Mick Fleetwood (Mick Fleetwood Private Cellar), Olivia Newton John (Koala Blue Wines), Sting (II Talagio’s Vineyards in the Chianti region to be released about 2010), and Bob Dylan (Planet Waves by Fattoria Le Terrazze).

Ledson’s anachronistic winery – an architecturally Gothic nightmare that defies any amicable appropriateness to Sonoma Valley – offered a Jeff Bridges meritage to sell for somewhere in the low three figures. The buyer was expected to purchase for the celeb name only since no tasting was offered. This is a good example of no pretense to quality or lack of it, just another luminary name.

Cheers!

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ASTROLOGY - Wheel of Light - February 2009

What's in the Stars & Planets for us in February 2009

Jupiter is the archetype of expansion. It can expand attitudinally, being positive, enthusiastic and joyful. It can suggest expansion in terms of opportunities. And it can bring expansion to the mind through academic as well as spiritual learning. Jupiter transits through each sign in about 12 months. Last month, on January 5, Jupiter entered Aquarius, where it will remain until January 2010.

Aquarius has been called the sign of humanity. It represents the desire to reach out to everyone and perceive all of us as part of the human family. It is inventive and inspiring and prefers to be on the cutting edge of change. Yet, for all of its tendency to be inclusive, it is also one of the most independent of the signs. The Aquarian paradox is the challenge to be open and friendly while maintaining a sense of individuality.

Another paradox is that Aquarius is co-ruled by Saturn and Uranus. In its lower octave influence, the Saturnine influence indicates a tendency to be controlling. The Uranian influence can be detached and aloof. The combination can cause Aquarius to have an “above it all” attitude.

In a more centered way, Uranus can provide a big picture, conceptual understanding to what is, and an inspiration of what could be. Saturn provides the discipline and structure to actually embody what could be a revolutionary concept.

The influence of Jupiter in Aquarius, therefore, could have the following manifestations. If we are centered, we could feel ourselves inspired to break out of old patterns of thinking and behaving. We could change by being open to different kinds of people and experiences than we ever have been. We could relate more readily to new forms of technology and be ready for new techniques of consciousness development.

If we are off-center, we could get carried away with too much enthusiasm for new ideas or social situations and get overextended. We could relate to others so idealistically that our potential for fulfillment or satisfaction in those situations is minimized. Alternatively, we could get carried away with our concept of the way things are or should be and relate to anyone with a different mind set in a demeaning or reductive way.

Any of the patterns come into very high and clear focus in mid-month, as Mars moves into a conjunction with Jupiter from approximately the 11th -24th. This aspect will provide more drive, energy and a sense of independence to the enthusiasm of Jupiter. It could also bring more courage or willingness to take risks and make changes that are oriented to new, liberating states of consciousness and patterns of behavior. One of the challenges at that time is to not get carried away with too much theory or idealism. This aspect could also bring a sense and attitude of entitlement that actually limits, rather than liberates.

Meanwhile, the co-rulers of Aquarius, Saturn and Uranus, remain in opposition to each other all month. This aspect began in September and will continue until March and returning again from late August through mid October. As mentioned in previous columns, this aspect represents the classic conflict between the traditional, conservative, authoritarian elements of life with those that are more progressive and innovative. Saturn is the box of rules and regulations we are supposed to follow. Aquarius is always outside that box, looking at life through the lens of the outsider, the rebel. This month, with this aspect complimented by Jupiter and Mars, these forces could become more contentious or even bombastic. Some older astrology books refer to the Mars-Jupiter conjunction as productive of tremendous anger or rage.

A way to avoid the downside potential of these influences is by integrating their various energies in a cohesive way in which neither the old nor the new elements of your life dominate at the expense of the other. Certainly the forces of change have the upper hand here. But it is not time to forget about the old and time honored just to start something unencumbered by our past. In fact, by including the wisdom of experience in the equation of strategic change, we are more likely to be successful in whatever changes we make.

In the chart of the United States, Jupiter is transiting the second house. Among other things, this area of life experience deals with resources and assets and the way in which we use them to create material security. Jupiter in this area can create a positive, even abundant flow of resources. In the face of numerable aspects that suggest a very dark time for us economically, this is one transit that suggests otherwise. It provides energy to utilize our collective resources in ways that coincide with our traditional values of thrift and financial self-reliance. It also offers the possibility of expanding the flow of income throughout the country. This could come from expanding our investment in technology (Aquarius) and specifically, technology that is oriented to things such as clean energy and environmental health. However, the sense of entitlement referred to above could also expand our recent history of greed and continue the economic downturn both for families and the government. It will be interesting to see how this energy will be utilized as the year unfolds.

Aries: The planet that rules Aries is Mars. It enters Aquarius on the 4th and conjuncts Jupiter on the 11th. This offers the potential to expand your life socially. This is a good time to initiate either new relationships or new elements in pre-existing ones. Your confidence, enthusiasm and willingness to take risks are very strong this month. Growth comes from integrating these qualities into your life in ways that enhance the relationships, not your own sense of self.

Taurus: This is a time to focus on harmony. This could be through relationships, the arts or even spending time on personal appearance. Growth comes from avoiding emotional extremes. Becoming obsessively attached to a person, feelings about that person, or to the state or nature of a relationship limits the potential for harmony. Similarly, seeking to avoid closeness altogether prevents any opportunity to connect in a deep, meaningful way.

Gemini: This is a good time to undertake a new study, take a trip or share what you know with others. The sharing could take the form of writing as well as speaking. Teaching could also prove exciting to you, inspiring to others. Your mind is ultra inventive, but the challenge is to not get so carried away with the ideas that they don‚t manifest in practical ways.

Cancer: The full Moon on the 9th will be a lunar eclipse. The bad news about this is that we usually feel a peak of energy and clarity at the time of the full Moon which is often minimized with the eclipse. The good news is that there could be insights and inspiration that manifest spontaneously and that pertain to consciousness development, compassion relating to others or creative expression.

Leo: Early month could bring the desire for increased alone time. This could be spent in creative expression or pursuing a spiritual discipline. Mid-month brings physical and social energy and lots of joyful enthusiasm about your life both now and in the future. Growth comes from using these influences in ways that both enhance your own sense of individuality as well as provide support and encouragement to others.

Virgo: This is a good time to learn new work-related skills or to refine and improve old ones. Learning more about health maintenance or actually implementing a new health care regimen is also supported. It could also be a good time to hire new employees. Growth comes from avoiding worry that comes from having either idealistic expectations about a situation or getting over extended and fearing you can‚t honor commitments.

Libra: Relationship is in very high focus for you this month. This is a good time to either start a new relationship or to initiate an element or behavior into a pre-existing one. Growth comes from maintaining your sense of self, and equanimity. When the emotions get intense, which they could in early month. This is a good time to work on being more emotionally open and honest in your primary relationship.

Scorpio: A month of extremes. One influence involves social activities, especially with family, neighbors or good friends. Growth comes from relating in thoughtful, harmonious ways even when the energies get intense. Simultaneously you may feel more expansive toward your family in new ways. You could be open to making, even initiating, domestic changes that enable everyone in the family to feel more seen and accepted.

Sagittarius: Jupiter is your ruling planet and its transit through Aquarius should feel comfortable to you. Like Aquarius, Sagittarius is highly independent. They are also similar in their embrace of the big picture. Growth for you this year comes from being more outgoing socially, even willing to take certain risks in that area. At the same time, learn to be more accepting and inclusive of others, especially with different points of view.

Capricorn: The energy this month could pull you inward. You could focus either on creating a more pleasant relationship with yourself or a more harmonious interaction with your family. Or both. The challenges are not being too self-critical or trying to run the show by being excessively critical of others. Growth comes from being self-accepting even as you strive to change elements of yourself that you don‚t like.

Aquarius: Jupiter‚s transit through Aquarius this year should increase your self-confidence as well as producing a positive outlook on your life both now and into the future. This transit could also impel you to new experiences, some social and some pertaining to consciousness development. Taking some classes, writing or committing more time to spiritual pursuits are realistic ways of taking advantage of Jupiter in Aquarius.

Pisces: The new Moon in Pisces on the 24th provides a significant opportunity to focus inward. This could help enhance your spiritual path or even enable you to work through and release old emotional baggage left over from past relationships. Pay attention to your dreams and any profound intuitive insights you have just prior to the new Moon. The information contained therein could prove enlightening.

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Rio Olesky has been studying astrology since 1967 and been a practicing professional since 1976. The author of Astrology and Consciousness, Rio offers classes in beginning astrology through SRJC and ongoing classes through Crystal Channels in Santa Rosa. CDs of his Perspectives 2009 lecture are still available. To contact him about purchasing them, or to talk with him about classes or to make an appointment call Rio at 707-887-1820. Check out his website:
www.starwatcher.com

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Sonoma County - School Garden Network

Teaching children to grow their own food gives them an appreciation of where their food comes from and inspires a healthy relationship with food that benefits their health.

School Garden Network Supports Local Programs
By Nicole Zimmerman

At Career Academy of Piner Olivet High School in Santa Rosa, students grow food in the garden, cook in the classroom, and sell produce at their own farm stand. Adam Napoleon, who teaches Organic Gardening, says cooking has become one of the most popular activities. “Once the kids try something they’ve grown themselves but have never eaten before, like Swiss Chard,” Adam says, “they never let me forget it in the next stir fry! And they often come back for seconds.”

Ashourina Woods, garden coordinator at Geyserville Elementary, understands the pressures today’s classroom teachers face. To help them address state educational standards, she integrates math, science, reading and writing into her part-time K-5 garden curriculum. “I never had a child who didn’t want to go to the garden,” she admits proudly.

During the Great Backyard Bird Count at Dunbar Elementary in Glen Ellen, children identify Sharp-shinned Hawks, Lesser Goldfinches, and Acorn Woodpeckers. Another garden activity favorite is peeling the flavorful fava bean, which school kids eat by the handful. “The beans are perfect for discussing the anatomy of a seed,” says veteran garden coordinator Tracy Salcedo-Chourre.

Aside from connecting children with nature through project-based learning, what do these school garden programs have in common? Much of their success is based on support from the School Garden Network of Sonoma County, mainly in the form of grant funding and mentorship.

About the School Garden Network
The School Garden Network (SGN) is a non-profit organization including garden program coordinators, teachers, parent volunteers and community partners. SGN supports and promotes sustainable garden- and nutrition-based learning programs in Sonoma County schools, connects school communities with fresh, locally grown foods, and provides a forum for exchanging information and resources. They empower youth to embrace healthy eating habits and to develop respect for and stewardship of all living things. A chapter of the California School Garden Network, SGN has steadily grown its membership base since 2003.

Why is school garden education important?
School gardens address national concerns about food security, resource consumption, environmental degradation and health epidemics like childhood obesity and Type II Diabetes. Cooking from the garden encourages healthier eating, as kids are more willing to taste and eat foods they’ve planted, harvested and prepared. Farm to school connections support local farmers, sustain healthy food systems and increase biodiversity while exposing kids to food that is nutritious, fresh, seasonal and local. Children learn important life skills and social values by connecting to the natural world through environmental stewardship.

Garden education also promotes academic achievement by incorporating state standards through experiential and place-based learning. Recognizing these beneficial outcomes, the State of California Department of Education mandated the creation of a garden on every elementary school campus. Unfortunately, the “Garden in Every School” initiative has largely been unfunded, leaving most schools struggling to make it a reality.

What does SGN do?
The School Garden Network raises community awareness of the need for, and success of, school garden programs, and seeks continued funding for these programs. They offer workshops, distribute free seeds and plants donated by nurseries, and coordinate fundraising plant sales.

Communicating through the website and listserve of SGN, members share best practices, resources, grant information and curricular ideas like the garden “theme boxes” donated to the Sonoma County Office of Education (SCOE). Immediate goals of SGN are to continue to help fund and mentor more garden projects through the following grants. (All new grant announcements will be posted on the website in early 2009.)

School Garden Education Coordinator Grant
SGN believes the best way to ensure the long-term viability of school gardens is to provide financial support for the education coordinators who maintain gardens, develop and teach curriculum, organize parent volunteers and liaise with school staff. This award offers partial funding for salaries, and includes tuition for the teacher training at Occidental Arts and Ecology Center. An SGN mentor is assigned to each grantee for additional guidance and support. Grant recipients have included: McNear Elementary and La Tercera Elementary in Petaluma, Dunbar Elementary in Glen Ellen, Cloverdale High School and Geyserville Elementary.

Salad Bar Grant
The Salad Bar Grant offers funding and mentoring to increase access to healthy and fresh produce through school cafeteria salad bars, supported by contributions from the school’s garden and a local farm-to-school connection. Grant recipient: Oak Grove Elementary in Graton.

Cooking from the Garden Grant
This award supports nutrition education by funding cooking equipment, supplies and educational materials. Grant recipients: Career Academy at Piner Olivet High School (CAPO) and Valley of the Moon Children’s Community School in Santa Rosa.

Community Partners
SGN recognizes the necessity for collaboration between educational, health, agricultural and business sectors of the community. SGN appreciates the support of the Occidental Arts & Ecology Center, Kendall-Jackson Wine Estates, Dempsey’s Restaurant & Brewery, Whole Foods, Sonoma Jail Industries Nursery, Sweetwater Nursery, Home Depot, School Garden Company, Exchange Bank and more!

How to get Involved:
• Become a member or sponsor a grant.
• Join a committee: Help is needed with educational workshops, fund raising, community outreach, website development, grant management and more.
• Volunteer at your local school garden!
• Table at events or farmers markets to inform the community.
• Donate garden materials, time or funds.
• Share information and resources on the yahoo group listserve: “schoolgardennetwork”

For more information:
www.schoolgardens.org
info@schoolgardens.org
707-874-1557 x223

(Nicole Zimmerman serves on the Board of the School Garden Network.)





West County School Garden & Nutrition Programs Teach Children Vital Life Skills

By Nicole Zimmerman

At Harmony Elementary (also home to Salmon Creek Middle School) in Occidental, nine Kindergartners march in single file to an empty garden patch. Laurel Anderson, the outdoor education coordinator, demonstrates how to dig in and “chop up” the dirt. “We want to loosen up the soil,” she explains to the children.

With spading forks almost as tall as they are, the children work eagerly. “We’ll keep our tools low with the pointy side down,” Laurel gently reminds them when they’re easily distracted by a hummingbird or a worm. “Not over your shoulder!” one six year-old adds.

Just before winter, the garden is an array of rich hues. Green gourds hang from an archway past the garden gate. Magenta stalks of flowering amaranth droop above calendula and calliopsis as golden as the autumn sun.

Tangled branches form a nest of shade above sculpted cob benches where students sometimes gather for their lessons. Once a week, with the help of classroom teachers, assistants and volunteers, Laurel teaches Kindergarten through 5th grade students in this outdoor classroom. The kids learn important skills, study science lessons and create habitats for butterflies and other wildlife to flourish.

The kindergartners sprinkle handfuls of seeds from a pail. Bell beans, cowpeas and vetch will form a cover crop of nutrients over the winter months, when the garden classes cease until spring.

While this group plants seeds, another is saving them. At long tables they shake feathery amaranth over sifters, catching their tiny, almost-black seeds in bowls. A third group cracks walnuts with mortar and pestle. “Walnuts are really good for our bodies,” their teacher tells them. Outside the straw bale kitchen the kids later sit with cupped hands, filling their “bowls” with the walnuts and popcorn a fourth group has popped.


To teach young children about nutrition in a fun way, Laurel shows them how to “eat from the rainbow” by using color to associate certain foods with healthy body parts. Green foods are good for the heart, orange helps the eyes and purple foods aide the brain.

While these young students get a comprehensive introduction to all that gardens provide, Salmon Creek’s older students consider greater questions like what food is in season, and why it’s important to support family farmers. In addition to their garden harvests, the school offers a weekly “local lunch” supplemented by food from local farmers.

Like agrarian societies throughout the world, celebrating the harvest through the enjoyment of eating together is an important community experience, one often lost on today’s youth in an era of “convenient” packaged foods. Topping the list of Laurel’s educational goals is to get kids excited about growing their own fruits and vegetables, experiencing the full cycle of life from planting to harvest to compost. She also wants them to experience how delicious it is to eat the foods they’ve grown. “When they ask their parents for rainbow chard or sautéed kale,” Laurel says, she tastes success.

At Guerneville School, a group of 6th-8th graders pulls the last of the lettuce from a garden bed of dark, crumbly soil. They send weeds to the compost pile, fill a wheelbarrow with woodchips for mulching, and plant seeds of winter greens into six-packs.
“The garden needs somebody to take care of it,” explains Kahsa Sabanathan, a 6th grade boy who chose gardening as his elective over art, field sports or band. Ruth Roberson, the school’s garden education coordinator, says there is always a waiting list for her garden elective for middle school students. All other grades receive one hour of gardening and nutrition education every week.

“I grew up shelling beans on the porch with my grandmother,” Ruth reminisces. “These kids are learning what it’s like to open up a fresh bean pod, take the seed out and cook with it. It is vital we rediscover growing our own food.” This year they planted Cascade shell beans: lovely lavender beans inside magenta-streaked pods. “We threw them into the soup and it was fantastic!”

Eighth grader Jazzmine Britt-Russell has been working in the garden for years. “I love the garden and I love nature!” she declares. Because she’s a vegetarian, she especially loves cooking from “a wealth of veggies” she doesn’t necessarily get at home.

The students will try almost everything in the garden’s outdoor kitchen, from cooking to canning to making chutney. Next to the shed, the propane stove rests atop a stand Ruth found at a yard sale. The stainless steel countertop and wood base she rescued from a salvage yard. Even the plates are second hand, reflecting the resourcefulness of garden teachers with limited funding.

This year the school introduced the GEO project: Guerneville Education Outdoors. With almost six acres of undeveloped land, including a seasonal stream in a beautiful Redwood grove, the project would extend beyond the garden fence -- ridding the area of invasive weeds and replacing them with native plants. Ruth pictures native grasses and colorful flowers like California Fuchsia that attract beneficial insects and dragonflies to eat mosquito larvae.

Now enormous, moss-covered redwood stumps, hidden among the blackberry brambles and poison oak, are vestiges of the land’s history. Along the periphery antique apple, pear and prune trees remain from the century-old experimental orchard with historic ties to Luther Burbank. Last year the students made applesauce and dried fruit for the winter.

For now, planting the winter garden is the priority. “Sometimes it’s tricky to figure out how deep to plant the seeds,” admits Katie May, a 7th grader, as she examines a handful of Mustard Red Giant seeds. She and her friends read the seed packets for Chinese cabbage and rhubarb chard to learn how long the seeds take to germinate.

Ruth buys seed for Asian greens from Kitazawa Seed Co. in the Bay Area. They specialize in heirloom Japanese vegetables and Asian greens -- easy to grow, full of vitamins and frost hardy. “The students get excited about different varieties they’ve never seen in the grocery store,” she says. After harvesting, they’ll cook the greens in a wok.

“Parents ask, ‘How do you do it? I couldn’t get my child to eat broccoli at home and now he asks me to buy it.’” The students all agree that they are more inclined to taste or eat what they’ve planted.

Like most garden educators she feels concerned about what is happening to the earth, and sees her role as helping children to connect with nature. Her passion is rewarded each time a child discovers how one seed makes a plant that creates hundreds of new seeds.

“To watch the kids try to fathom that,” Ruth says, “inspires me to keep teaching them.”

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Defending Our Turf: Water Ski Lake in Graton/Sebastopol

Water Ski Lake Back yet Again
Water Ski Lake Update - URGENT - January 18, 2009 UPDATE - see below

By Anna Ransome

It’s been a few years since we heard from these people – and now they are taking a new approach toward their goal of a water ski lake in our back yard.

I oppose the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) granting a Section 404 permit and the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board (NCRWQCB) granting a 401 Permit for the Vineyard Lake Project, aka the water ski lake off Mill Station Rd. in Sebastopol. This infamous project had widespread opposition to the building of the lake and then to a use permit application which would have legalized a water-skiing business. That use permit application was unanimously denied by the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors. Now the applicants are attempting to retroactively get permits for the "stock pond."

The lake was constructed with a cheap grading permit and no environmental review, destroying wetlands and irreversibly altering the hydrology of the Atascadero Creek watershed. We have our own studies that refute the studies presented with the 401 and 404 application. This project is within a quarter mile of both the recent wetlands trenching incident (O'Brien) at 9170 Occidental Rd. and the wetlands destruction several years ago on Mill Station Rd. (Tomich) in which the USACE was involved. Atascadero Creek is an anadromous fish bearing stream and all these projects have had a deleterious effect on the creek and surrounding wetlands.

Many of us on this list have worked for years to find ways to reverse the effects of the building of this lake in U.S. jurisdictional wetlands. There is a practice in Sonoma County of building projects without permits and then retroactively applying for permits for a project which would most likely have been denied on application. I'm sure we do not want to encourage such unethical tactics to circumvent federal, state and local laws and regulations.

If you would like to make detailed comment by reading both applications, please call the NCRWQCB by phoning the main desk at 576-2220 to get the address and file viewing hours. The applicant is Gerald Bybee of Vineyard Lake Associates, LLC and the project address is 9499 Mill Station Road, Sebastopol. I am attempting to get electronic copies of the applications and will send them to this list if I do.

There is no deadline yet for comments to NCRWQCB. The date for comments to USACE is January 23, 2009. If you oppose the applications, a general letter is sufficient. Addresses are below:

Katerina Galacatos
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
1455 Market Street - Floor 17
San Francisco CA 94103 -1398
Refer to 404 Application 28994N

Steven Bargsten
NCRWQCB
5550 Skylane Blvd. - Suite A
Santa Rosa CA 95403
Refer to 401 Application for Vineyard Lake Associates, LLC

Water Ski Lake Update - URGENT - January 18, 2009 UPDATE

If you wish to make comment on the ski lake to the Army Corps, you have ONE WEEK. The deadline is Friday, January 23. The 401 application to the Regional Water Quality Control Board is incomplete, so a deadline for comments has not been set for that. Comments to the Corps can be as simple as:

I do not support the granting of a Section 404 permit for after-the-fact legalization of the water ski lake at 9499 Mill Station Road, Sebastopol CA, otherwise known as the Vineyard Lake Project (#28994N). I object to the destruction of wetlands on the property without the proper and prior analysis of a thorough study of the environmental impacts such a project would have. I do not agree that what are described as "wetlands" in the application are of equal value to the historic wetlands which were destroyed. I also object to the practice of initiating projects in environmentally sensitive areas and then applying to legalize them retroactively.

Please hold a public hearing on this project so that interested parties will be able to make comment.

If there is time to get a snail mail letter in before the deadline, address comments to:

Katerina Galacatos
Permit Manager - Regulatory Division
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
1455 Market Street, Floor 17
San Francisco, CA 94103-1398

I would suggest FedEx or Overnight mail to go out no later than Wed. 1/21.

Or email to:

katerina.galacatos@usace.army.mil

Feel free to add whatever else you would like to say about the lake and/or your experience opposing it. The applicant, Gerald Bybee, is claiming that:

• the lake is an ag retention pond and that it was built for that purpose and for flood control
• that all the wetlands that were destroyed by the building of the lake have been replaced by wetlands that were created
• that no endangered or threatened species were present
• that there is no alternative project that would have had less impact, including no lake
• that the volume of the lake is necessary to support 40 acres of Pinot Noir grapes and the growth of the agricultural enterprise ( A winery with processing is mentioned.)
• that the lake creates flood control capacity
• that the lake construction improved water quality because old dairy ponds and debris were cleaned up

This is a short list of the claims. If you would like a copy of the studies, I now have the application in a pdf file which I can email to you on request. ransome@sonic.net

The next likely step in this process, if the 401 and 404 permits are granted, would be a Use Permit application for a winery.

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Sonoma County Clean Water Disappearing

Clean Water
Rapidly Disappearing

By Brenda Adelman
In a national survey on planet biodiversity, it was determined that seven out of ten biologists believe that we are in the midst of a mass extinction of living beings.

They rated biodiversity loss as a more serious environmental problem than the depletion of the ozone layer, global warming, and pollution, although these three together may contribute significantly to the crisis, which is occurring because of great damage to the natural systems that purify our air and water. Unlike five previous mass extinctions attributed to natural phenomena, it is believed to be caused by human activity.

In the Russian River area we are being required to immediately deal with the precipitous disappearance of Coho and Chinook salmon and Steelhead Trout, with the first on the verge of total collapse. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is overseeing Endangered Species Act implementation. They developed the Biological Opinion, which directs the Sonoma County Water Agency (SCWA) to make critical changes to our waterway, which NMFS believes is necessary to save the fish.

These proposed changes include a possible permanent lowering of flows, closing the river mouth at Jenner in summer (even though it would have a dire effect on harbor seals, an animal protected under the Marine Mammal Act, and also under the oversight of NMFS), and making significant habitat alterations to Dry Creek (or requiring the construction of a very expensive pipeline to get the water from Lake Sonoma down to the Russian River).

Everything is Connected
Everything in our environment is interconnected and all the environmental problems we have ignored in the past are coming to haunt us now. We can’t divorce ourselves from them by denying they exist. We are in the midst of a major economic downturn, which is limiting our ability to access the funds needed to address the problem. For example, as a result of our failing State budget, all our local habitat restoration groups had most of their funding stopped while only partway through their projects.

The Water Agency is being asked by NMFS to make very expensive changes to their water supply system in order to protect the endangered fish. Some people may say “to heck with the fish”, but it is important to realize that the fish are the “canary in the mine”, whose loss emblemizes great damage to the ecosystem, which affects us all. Human beings derive great health benefits from the fish we eat, fisherman and restaurants and grocery stores derive economic benefit from the fishing industry, and there are many other important reasons to save these species.

At a recent meeting, water contractors representing City water users recoiled at the prospect of as much as a 30% increase in water rates needed to address this problem. Where will they get this money at a time when local economies are starting to feel the brunt of fiscal cutbacks? We have now arrived at the point between the rock and the hard place. This coming year will see a great deal of conflict over this issue.

Water is our Gold Standard
And there is another major concern. In order to protect our gradually diminishing clean water supplies we need to show more care and appreciation for the supplies we’ve got. We need to think of our water as gold and treat it accordingly. It is absolutely essential that we address the burgeoning pollution issue because there are 80,000 chemicals on the market that are turned into a chemical soup by every sewage treatment plant, including all the prescribed and over the counter drugs we ingest and all the personal care and cleaning products we use. We really don’t know how all of that is affecting aquatic life and our drinking water supply. If our clean water supplies get polluted, what will we drink? We can’t make new water.

It is true that current wastewater technology takes out many of the chemical pollutants. But of the 80,000 or so on the market, only 126 are regulated. So when the North Coast Regional Board tells us that current wastewater technology is safe and beneficial uses are protected, it is based on a dearth of information. We are especially concerned about this, because the State Water Board and the North Coast Regional Board are currently promoting new policy that will allow “low threat discharges” and “incidental runoff” of irrigated wastewater, at the time summer flows will be greatly diminished and impacts can be exacerbated by cumulative runoff incidents.

Russian River Watershed Protection Committee believes this runoff proposal is being pushed through with inadequate anti-degradation analysis. We believe that they need to have much more information on the polluted contents of this treated wastewater before the City of Santa Rosa and other places are allowed to spread it around our environment with impunity. The Laguna de Santa Rosa is one of the most impaired water bodies on the North Coast, and irrigated and discharged wastewater is at least partially responsible. To loosen regulations even further before more is known about this chemical soup is a travesty.

It is much harder (and more expensive) to get rid of pollution once it’s done its damage, than to stop it in the first place. The focus should be on conservation and fixing leaky pipes, not allowing summer discharge.

Russian River Watershed Protection Committee is in the process of developing a letter to send the Regional Board about this issue.

The deadline for comments is Jan. 29th.

Please contact Brenda Adelman soon at rrwpc@comcast.net for more information.

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Willing to Work, Sonoma County Labor Centers

What’s wrong with this picture?
Willing to Work

By Vesta Copestakes
I was recently approached by an irate business owner in one of our small communities. Latin day laborers are hanging out on the street, milling about waiting to be picked up for work. This goes on from early morning to mid-day or even into the afternoon. Downtown merchants get people complaining that they feel uncomfortable walking the streets. Business is down. People are discouraged and wondering what to do.


What’s wrong with this picture?
The laborers tend to look dirty. Their clothes are work clothes and they are prepared to get dirty all day. They are all men. Some times their behavior is less than desirable, like when they whistle and leer at women. Some times they drink. Some times they come in vans and even sleep in those vans on the street. They come in from Santa Rosa on buses to stand on these corners and wait for work. Fulton, Healdsburg, Graton, Guerneville all share the same problem.

Three of these towns have attempted to do something about it. Two of the towns have succeeded on some levels and failed on others. Healdsburg and Graton have refined, organized and sophisticated hiring halls and systems in place that support both the laborers and the people who hire them. Fulton has started the process but has a long way to go before they graduate past the hiring table in the parking lot. The centers with buildings provide services, language lessons, health care and a full range of opportunities. They contribute to their respective communities. In Graton laborers from the center regularly work to keep the town clean, groom the walking trail, and volunteer to help local citizens.

The centers welcome anyone willing to work; men, women, any nationality and race. Educated college students show up to fill in their income between classes. Women come seeking work where they feel protected and safe. Skilled workers know they will find labor using their knowledge and experience. Ones who don’t speak English, take lessons. It goes on. The benefits are many for both the laborers as well as the people who hire them.

Then with all of these benefits, why do laborers continue to mill about on the streets, get in people’s way and offend businesses trying to survive?

Two reasons, really.

One is that people continue to hire laborers from the street. As long as “employers” show up, why not stand there and take advantage of the non-system where the most aggressive get the job? It works.

Two is because many of these people are not citizens and are not documented. Getting into any system brings fear to their hearts that they will get caught and shipped out of the country – or worse, put in jail. They have families back home depending upon them.

Add to the problem that getting in and out of our country has become more difficult. It used to be that winter came and we’d have our street corners back. Now if the laborers go home for the winter, they may not make it back in spring. The risk is too great to try.

Finding a Solution

Ultimately, the Day Labor Centers are the solution. The hard part is getting people to use them – both the workers and the people who hire workers. The other day I was in Fulton and literally ran into a man who regularly picks up laborers for a variety of tasks. He extolled their virtues of hard work, strength, their willingness to do just about anything, and their ability to handle hot sun all day. “White people can’t do that – and won’t!” For this man it was all about the ease of picking up workers in his truck. When I suggested he use the labor table in Fulton, he looked surprised. I explained that it’s hard for local businesses to deal with people milling about.
In this case, in the parking lot across from the post office. I watched a woman get out of her truck and get whistled at because she was attractive. As she crossed the street to the post office, her body language betrayed how uncomfortable she felt.

In Graton the labor center is remarkably effective for both “employers” as well as laborers. You can literally call up a day or so in advance and order up the kind of labor you want. Each person has a record of their skills, their language, their credibility, etc.

So why do people still hire off the street? Because the laborers are easy to see and they don’t need to fill out forms? Because they can cheat the laborer out of income? Because they don’t want to be bothered? Because the labor center wants them to pay decent wages for the work performed?

Supply & Demand
A goal of organized labor centers is to provide a respectful environment for both laborers as well as employers. When people feel respected they act respectful. One of the merchants in Graton solved his problem of loitering laborers by talking to them with respect. They moved across the street and don’t stand in front of his store any more. Too simple a solution to respect someone?
Ultimately it’s up to the people who hire the laborers off the street to stop doing it. It’s like any supply & demand situation. As long as the demand is there, the supply is plentiful. Even with all the bright yellow signs in downtown Graton pointing to the labor center, people still hire off the street.

So the next time you see someone pull up in front of laborers on the street to hire someone, if you don’t want it to happen any more, go up to them and talk them out of it. Tell the “employers” that you need them to respect your downtown, your business, your community. That it’s your home they are using for their purposes and you need their cooperation.

Your target is not the laborers, it’s the “employers.” You need them to respect you and your home town. When they stop hiring off the street, the laborers will stop standing there. Sound too simple? Try it. It might work. But like taking candy from a child, make sure you offer an alternative. Give them a list of labor centers in the area where they can hire workers.

Sonoma County labor centers:
Sonoma County Job Link
2245 Challenger Way # 104
Santa Rosa, CA
(707) 565-5550
socojoblink.org

Healdsburg Day Labor Center
California Human Development
Martha Nunez
405 Grove St
Healdsburg, CA 95448
(707) 433-6652

Graton Day Labor Center
www.Gratondaylabor.org
(707) 829-1864
2981 Bowen, Graton, CA 95444
Open every day, from 6:30 a.m.
until 11:30 am.

Fulton Day Labor Center
Leticia Romero
Community Organizer
St. Joseph Health System
(707) 525-5300 X3213
Table in parking lot on Fulton Road
at River Road – please use the table!


Spread the Organizing
By Davin Cardenas

The Graton Day Labor Center, open since September 2007, supports the expansion of other day labor centers and day labor organizing across the county and state. The benefits are broad based, supporting workers, employers, and the outlying community. Some of those benefits have to be felt to be truly appreciated but we’ll try to convey it here.

We have discovered that through the process of organizing we have all found family. Places are few in our society where one is welcomed daily, where one has their voice respected personally as well as through democratic avenues, and where the means and opportunity to progress is directly in front of them. The Center walks a fine line between providing necessary services (such as on-site health consultations, daily English classes, occupational health and safety training, job training, and wage claims), and organizing around common needs (such as promoting health, human rights education, leadership development, civic participation and volunteerism).

Though times and circumstances are challenging, we keep our mental health playing sports, music and chess, promoting culture, and of course, with frequent celebrating. What we have accomplished has taken patience, understanding and even conflict, but without a doubt, beautiful things happen on a daily basis within the center.

Employers who hire from our center have given us overwhelmingly positive feedback regarding the benefits we offer. A large part of how we gauge the work ethic of our members is by the feedback cards that are voluntarily turned in by the employers at the end of the job. Employers aren’t even required to come to the Center; they may call in advance to establish their on-the-job needs (certain skills, English, etc.), and reserve workers or ask them to show up at the job site.
Employers who hire from the center, support a community process that has been developed over several years by local residents and merchants, county officials, and the workers themselves. Workers understand their responsibility when they make the choice to come to the center, and they take pride in being part of a greater community vision.

We hope that day labor centers can also function as “spaces” where communities sit down to dialogue differences and similarities, instead of engaging in the incoherent barking which seems to be more and more the norm in mainstream media.

As you can see that the day labor center has become much more than a hiring hall; it is a place where we collectively become active, taking responsibility for the betterment of our lives, and our communities.


Graton Day Labor Center
www.Gratondaylabor.org
(707) 829-1864
2981 Bowen, Graton, CA 95444
Open every day, from 6:30 a.m.
until 11:30 am.

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Local Heroes, Sebastopol, Sonoma County

Local HEROES
Little Red Hen Prevents Crisis at Sebastopol Pantry

By Cecile Lusby
While winter food supplies are uncertain, Fall, 2008 brought a temporary bailout for Sebastopol’s Pantry. September and October presented stark challenges to its operations. Not only were there more people needing help with food, but the amount of cash in the treasury dropped along with the economy. Fortunately a new philanthropic agency reversed that trend.

The Kiwanis Club and local Real Estate agencies held food drives dedicated to helping the Pantry. The Kiwanis began a new effort to gather food on November 22, the Saturday before Thanksgiving in order to help West County households celebrate. A few days later the Sebastopol Realtors held their annual food drive on November 26th to stock up the food supplies for the rest of the season.

On November 19th this writer worked with one other volunteer to give groceries to households representing a total of 69 people in two hours. Then the Treasurer, Diana Godwin, walked in with the good news.

The Little Red Hen Foundation, had just donated $15, 000 at a time when the Pantry’s coffers were nearly empty. The secretary’s duties involve sending thank you notes for all donations, and so we sent one to an address in Sebastopol. A Google search produced some tracks and traces of this heretofore-unknown group. ‘Little Red Hen’ has a history of mysterious good works and the Internet produced very little specific history; in the last few years The Little Red Hen Foundation has donated to the Sebastopol Center for the Arts and Social Advocated for Youth in our County.

It takes several thousands of dollars each month for the Sebastopol Interchurch Pantry
to serve all our clients. We used to help about five hundred people monthly, and now it is more much more (see November 19). The mortgage crisis and inflated prices of groceries have produced record numbers of local people unable to feed their families through the second half of the month. By the end of December, the Pantry stores were depleted again.

The Interchurch Pantry of Sebastopol would like to publicly thank and acknowledge the Kiwanis Club, Sebastopol Realtors Thanksgiving Food Drive and The Little Red Hen Foundation. We function with the cooperation of several Sebastopol Churches: St. Stephens Episcopal Church, Community Church of Sebastopol, Sebastopol United Methodist, First Church of Christ, Scientist, Mt. Olive Lutheran Church, and Sebastopol Christian Church.

We hope that the good people of West Sonoma County will remember their neighbors this season and in the coming year, 2009 and send donations as they are able to The Sebastopol Interchurch Pantry, c/o Diana Godwin, Treasurer, 500 Robinson Road, Sebastopol, CA, 95473.

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Choosing Optimism - Stay Light on Your Feet

There’s no question that at least some of the Gloom and Doom in the news is very, very real. But rather than get depressed about it, we can take a simpler, and more pleasurable, path toward turning this tide around. - By Vesta Copestakes

KISS – Keep it Simple Stupid
We’ve all heard this one and it usually means that simpler is better. It doesn’t matter what subject you apply this principle to, it all comes out to the simpler we live, the easier life is.

Food: If you eat heavy, processed food, not only is your body heavy, but your heart and soul feel heavy as well. Whatever is in that stuff, it weighs you down, physically as well as emotionally. Simpler food, fresh vegetables for example, simply makes you feel better. Light chicken instead of heavy beef. Fresh food instead of packaged food. Not only do they make us feel better, they cost less as well. And if you take it one step further and make sure your food comes from local sources, you even support your local economy while making your life – well – lighter!

Decisions: You can apply KISS to just about any decision you make. Will it make your life more complicated – or less complicated? Go simple. Will it make you happy? Go that way. Will it cost more than you have? Forget it. “If in doubt – don’t” applies here as well. Doing nothing is simpler than doing something when it comes to adding burdens to your life.
Even dating. My mantra – before I met Alan – was “I will only date if the relationship is an enhancement to my already happy life.” Well, Alan passed the test and I have to say, loving someone who contributes on every level, is a LOT lighter than a person who weighs you down mentally & emotionally.

Going GREEN
This is also a simpler approach to life. If you look at just about everything you do through GREEN lenses, you can find ways that take some of the weight out of your life. For one thing, most people who are conscious of the environment feel pretty guilty when they know they are doing something that is un-GREEN. Throw that bottle away and feel the weight of guilt! Recycle it – either in the bin or if you need cash – collect all that you use and take it to the cash-back recycling stations everywhere. They make it easy – 24 hours – no people – slip the container through the slot and BINGO! A receipt for cash at the nearby store.

There are so many ways you can go green, it’s amazing. Rather than go into them, I’ll refer you to WCG columnist Patricia Dines and her AskEcoGirl column. Find her in these pages and if you have internet, look her up on our web site, www.westcountygazette.com at WCG Extra! for past columns with links to her resources. And yes, she also has her own web site – so check it out for the FULL STORY! Patricia is an amazing resource of Eco-information!

Making a Living
Yes, there’s a way to do this simple as well. Make a living at something you enjoy. Really. You work many hours out of your day and life. If you enjoy what you are doing, your heart will be lighter. And for all those people who depend upon jobs that businesses create, think again. Out of a job? You can create your own job! I did it and have since I was 19. When graphic design work was light, I put up a poster to clean houses. Then I looked around my collection of tools and knowledge and decided to add garden services. Within three days I was in business. That gave me three ways to make a living and the variety kept my sanity. It also allowed me to spend time with my daughter as she grew up. I could volunteer at her school, catch her soccer games, you name it. For a single mother, this was golden!

My daughter is doing that now as well. The receptionist job she had wasn’t any fun so she went back to cleaning houses like she did when she was in high school and college. The pay is better and it allows her flexibility to be with her daughter! Now I’m sending data-entry work her way, something she can do at home. Where there’s a will…there’s a way!

Go Local
This is a mantra I chant over and over in these pages and support with my Shopping, Nursery and Summer Tours. We live in paradise! If we want to keep having products and services for our lives, we need to look at where we shop and do business. The more LOCAL it is, the more we will have what we need into the future. Every dollar we spend locally supports our local economy through tax dollars. Those taxes pay for our roads and services from fire protection to street lights.

Another benefit to staying local is the one I remind readers of all the time. These are our neighbors running businesses and hiring employees. The stronger they are, the stronger we are. You want all the facts and figures about why supporting where you live works better for everyone? Log on to www.GoLocal.coop for details. It simply makes sense.

State of Mind
This one is harder to control because it involves how you think. Optimists have it easy. For pessimists it’s a struggle. I don’t know how you turn the light on in your heart if it’s not there to begin with. But I will advise you to think YES instead of NO. Think OPPORTUNIY instead of OBSTACLE. Think LIGHT instead of HEAVY.

The easiest way I know to boost your self-esteem and therefore state of mind is to accomplish something, then blow your own horn. No one has to be listening. This is something you do for yourself and with yourself. Accomplish anything – even washing the dishes. Look at what you did and pat yourself on the back. Clean a room then sit in that clean chair and look around at how much more pleasant your environment has become.

Walk out the door and tour the streets where you live. Look up instead of down. Look out and away to distances. Turn the corners of your mouth up even if they feel like turning down. Try it. Even that simple act can change the way you feel. My Dad always said “Attitude is everything.” I believe that to be true.

There IS a Better Way
So much of life is what we make it. When we stop blaming others or looking to others for support or even confirmation that we’re good people, we are taking charge of our own lives. This simple effort means the WE are in control – not someone else. Being dependent on others for anything is a weight on both them as well as ourselves. The more independent we can be, the lighter on our feet we are. Life starts looking like something we can do something about! That makes us feel positive, optimistic, hopeful – and well – light on our feet! Remember that old advertising headline? Try it – you’ll like it!

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Three Poems by Elizabeth Carothers Herron

Feel free to send poetry, fiction, non-fiction to vesta@sonic.net.
Every now and then I publish the print edition of the
West County ReaderTM.
In the mean time, the internet is a lovely resource for us all.

Taking the Christmas lights down

On the ottoman the wire coiled
around itself becomes a crown,
the tiny glass lights caught
in a slat of winter sun
are sudden thorns. Christmas
and crucifixion collide.

To think that your Jesus, the one
you call to in the dark, hung
opened and alone, his solitude
as deep as deep in his parting
from beloved flesh
as you are riven in it -- Jesus

you whisper and he is there
saying it’s good. Sweet Jesus
comes back from what he lost
on that cold cross, comes
into the dark warmth that with all
your calling cannot get close enough.


© elizabeth carothers herron


*****


Angel


My salt my sea my reel my ring
my fish my wind my wing my moon my mood
my stranger --

smallest smooth pebble
in my pocket, whisper in the spin
of my ear -- my maze my thread my minotaur
my shelter my hope my endless emptiness --

my coin my candle, my corner my quilt --
Open the window -- where are you?
Where can I find you in the bright bright
light of day? Little one

playing marbles on the playground --
you’ve got the cat’s eye, you’ve got the aggie.


© elizabeth carothers herron


*******

Sweet They Say


but she’s salty as the white block
in the pasture, salty

as the sea you take her to
with its tides and tsunami’s.

Press your hand to her throat
where the bees find their hum.

Listen
and you’ll learn secrets

without words -- the blessing
broken stars bestow

through leaves of black walnut,
the way her hands

weave seasons, the dream
her wedding gown is made of scars,

what the moon imagines
yearning toward full.


© elizabeth carothers herron

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IMAGES of Sonoma County

Enjoy images of the beauty and broad diversity of our culture in Sonoma County. Please feel free to submit your own: e-mail high resolution jpegs to vesta@sonic.net

Sonoma Coast North of Bodega Bay at sunset

Unusually frosty mornings in Forestville

Now retired - Freestone House & Gardens - historic archiecture

Classic Victorian in downtown Occidental

Mike & Roger basking in the afternoon sun, downtown Forestville

Daddy Mike shares quality time with Destiny for potty training

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Sonoma County - Don't Trash the 'Hood!

How often do you see mattresses, beer cans and plastic bags of garbage thrown on the side of the road or, worse yet, in the creeks in your neighborhood? There's something we can do about it!


Don’t Trash the ‘Hood
By Bob Burke

How often do you see mattresses, beer cans and plastic bags of garbage thrown on the side of the road or, worse yet, in the creeks in your neighborhood? Probably often. And, if you’re like me, such a sight causes depressed feelings about the state of the human condition. And you’ve probably felt helpless to do much about it.

Well, things have recently improved in terms of what you can do about this problem. There is a new website http://www.keepsonomaclean.org/where you can report illegal dumping. It’s user-friendly, and I have used it with great results.


Four Sonoma County agencies got together and obtained a grant from the State Integrated Waste Management Board to establish a program to reduce and hopefully eliminate illegal dumping in the County. The agencies are the Environmental Health Division of the Department of Health Services, and the Department of Transportation and Public Works, Roads and Integrated Waste. In addition, the County’s Information Services Department and the Community Oriented Policing and Problem Solving Unit (COPPS) of the Sheriff’s Department complete the line-up of agencies. As part of the new program, the agencies have created this web site as a means of identifying illegally dumped trash so it can be collected before it does greater harm to our environment. Because collection of dumped trash is not a long-term solution to the problem, the program includes education and public outreach intended to reduce illegal dumping.

It is regrettable that our tax dollars have to be used for this purpose but, given the scope of the problem, I believe it is an appropriate use of our tax dollars being put to good use. But to go around cleaning up after violators is not a long-term solution. The only sustainable solution is to make illegal dumping socially unacceptable. The best way to reach this goal is for each of us to let our friends and acquaintances know that roadside dumping is harmful and incompatible with the rules of society.

While we strive toward that goal, I believe we should clean up trash that has found its way, willfully or inadvertently, onto our roads, into our creeks and across our countyside. Until we reach that goal we should do our best to clean up after those whose social consciousness is deficient. Many watershed councils, schools and other civic-minded organizations organize clean-up efforts regularly. The Atascadero / Green Valley Watershed Council (AGVWC), for which I volunteer, recently completed its annual clean-up of the creeks and roads in Graton and along Green Valley Road between the Atascadero and Bones Road. If you’d like to be a part of future AGVWC clean-up projects, visit www.atascaderogreenvalleywatershed.net

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American Red Cross Web-based Classes in Santa Rosa

RED CROSS OFFERS A NEW WEB-BASED LEARNING PROGRAM FOR STUDENTS IN SONOMA & MENDOCINO COUNTIES (JANUARY)

American Red Cross, Sonoma & Mendocino Counties, is now offering a web-based CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) with AED (automated external defibrillator) and first aid class.
Web-based blended learning is a new program allowing students in Sonoma and Mendocino Counties to take CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) with AED (automated external defibrillator) and first aid, incorporating the convenience of online with practical, hands-on skills in the classroom. The blended learning approach allows students to learn at their own pace and still practice the physical CPR and first aid skills in a classroom setting with one of our certified instructors. Students complete the first portion online at their own convenience, and finish the second portion in the classroom at the American Red Cross, 5297 Aero Drive in Santa Rosa. The hands-on portion of the class takes place twice in January: Wednesday, January 21 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. or Saturday, January 31 from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Students must bring proof of completion of the online portion when they attend the class on these dates.

These classes are offered frequently January thru June 2009. Participants can register in any one of five ways:
• go online at www.arcsm.org (click on “Course Registration”)
• call (707) 463-0112 (have credit card ready)
• fax registration information to (707)543-8523 (include date and time of class desired, VISA/Mastercard information, phone and all contact information)
• mail check or credit card information (include same information as for fax)
• visit the Chapter (5297 Aero Drive, Santa Rosa) from Monday through Friday, 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

ABOUT THE AMERICAN RED CROSS, SONOMA & MENDOCINO COUNTIES
American Red Cross is a neutral, humanitarian organization that provides relief to victims of disasters, and prepares people to prevent and respond to emergencies. The Sonoma & Mendocino counties chapter, like all Red Cross chapters, is self-sustaining and receives no funding from the national organization. All disaster assistance provided by the Chapter is free and is made possible by voluntary donations of time and money by the people of Sonoma and Mendocino counties. Donations can be made online at www.arcsm.org, via mail to, 5297 Aero Drive, Santa Rosa, CA 95403, or by phone at 707-577-7600. Mendocino residents can call (707)463-0112.

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The Blesséd Misanthrope and the Damméd Poor

Lloyd Guccione write an Open Letter to the Community

To: Misters Mike Kerns, Tim Smith, Paul Kelly, Mike Reilly, and Ms. Valerie Brown,
Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, Ms. Shirlee Zane (3rd District) Member-Elect Sonoma County Board of Supervisors Mr. Efren Carrillo (5th District) Member-Elect Sonoma County Board of Supervisors Russian River Redevelopment Oversight Committee

and

The youth, poor, and homeless of our communities; whose patience and forbearance of our collective selfishness, narrowness of mind and action, ineptitude, and social and bureaucratic sloth is a constant wonder…

and

To the community; an open letter.

The Blesséd Misanthrope
and
the Damméd Poor

Upon the Irish lands and people our goodly Edmund Spencer wrote long ago of their plight under the yoke of the English and the travail of circumstance. He described how these poor; in their rags, emaciated, and with animalized mien would creep forth from the forests on all fours in search of food and wood fuel to stave off starvation and death. Fellow man compelled and allegorized to Human wolves. He contrasted this with the position and houses of the English overlords. He called these circumstances to the attention of Court and Parliament. His piece is known as “A Vewe of the present state of Irelande” and was written circa 1598 and published 1633. The Irish for their part called it to the attention of the English by another means: Rebellion.

Perhaps what would be appreciated now is a similar writing upon a view of the present state of matters in Sonoma County with emphasis on the River communities; or in the least an emphatic compassionate essay. An essay that will unveil the righteous and clothe the naked. I am not that writer. But I will attempt to respond and address the current responses to the Interfaith Coalition’s efforts; and the letters and statements that have dealt with the topic of homelessness and shelter.

While those opposed to a homeless evening shelter (either in Rio Nido, Guerneville, or Monte Rio-Villa Grande) are not in reality misanthropic they are for the most part definitely blesséd for they have food, shelter, warmth, paper to write, intelligence to compose and act, and the religious blessing of their pocketbooks and coins. The Poor, likewise, are not really damméd for they shall inherit the earth. However, the Poor and Homeless are rightly less interested in whether they shall inherit the earth (which when we are each and all interred therein we too can so claim to have inherited), than in a more pragmatic and day-to-day Weltsicht.

Their worldview is close at hand; white and numb hands and feet from cold, dampness from morning dew and the wet-soak from rain. Closer still is their flesh to the earth; aided by lying down to it and the meagerness of covering. And for food and nourishment if they have little, and if they should toast their meagerness with the waste upon drink, they only follow the example of their more well-to-do cousins.

The worldview of that other portion is also evident; characterized in this context by admixtures of guilt, failure of practical emplaced compassion, and a self-cultivated fear, trembling, and loathing. Their very distance and separateness from a more earthly world; the immediate, urgent, and unavoidable brings us to

Consideration of Failure and Fear

Nearly eight years ago Mr. Mike Reilly brought to us (imposed upon us) the Russian River Redevelopment Project. Among the early works of the Oversight Committee (RRROC) was the conduct of a community survey. The results showed an interest or concern for many things; among them were our youth and homelessness. Eight years later, millions of dollars later, countless meetings later all the king’s horses and all the king’s men still cannot address and emplace practical and pragmatic solutions for these elementary issues. The roadblocks are the typical; bureaucratic turf wars and labyrinthine processes and procedures; narrow business interests and manipulations of opinion by a small and conservative coterie; vain-glory and political strivings by the want-to-be’s leading to endless ‘accommodations’ and ineffective (and sometimes destructive) approaches; and a community that is sold the “fear” factor instead of the community “spirit” antidote.

The failure of the county to be actively supportive and innovative in addressing the homeless and poor issue here along the lower river has many who will jump and rally to defend past weak-kneed efforts and the battle against “insurmountable” obstacles. Hmmf! What is so “insurmountable” when emergency services has army tents, kitchens, palletized floors, sanitary facilities readily available, and public service land and facilities go empty, unused, or under utilized? The failure is one of “will.” The will to provide for the poor, the homeless, and even the ‘youth’ of our communities is at best mild lip service, good ideas that die on the vine, or coupled with inefficient, money squandering bureaucratization of process. The benefactor in the last example is a well-fed, insured, and compassionate county employee. First among all the rest; the Fifth District Supervisor. These are followed in good order by the rest and then such sorts as head the various departments, commissions, and other sinecures.

That the county’s Fifth District Supervisor (with the help of the Board) cannot see it through to facilitate the care of 2-20 people on the lower river is a measure of a larger problem. That larger problem is an unsustainable inefficiency and near lack of competence on the part of agencies and departments in general, and of directors and procedural processes in particular. What is so difficult or controversial in taking care of these 2-20 citizens for four months in the year by providing them with a mild roof, a warm meal, and a straw mattress and coverlet (if a better provision cannot be found)? The situation illustrates well the capacity of the county to accomplish the simple; or not. In fact, the county and its officialdom are often welcomed ancillary obstacles by those who cannot deal with the fear of strangers in their midst.

A person needs only to read some of the letters submitted to the Russian River Fire Protection Board of Directors to have a clear appreciation of the fear that the homeless and a shelter can engender. It is a childish fear for the most part; a fear of the unknown and the unfamiliar... a fear of the boogey-man and things that go ‘clunk’ in the night. That fear however is not to be pooh-hawed lightly. For many it is as real, unpalatable and debilitating as it gets. And in some ways it is analogous to a similar fear that infected many in connection with housing integration. How so? I can still recall the upset, controversy, and ostracism, which fell upon one landlord (Hagerstown, Maryland, ~1962) and one developer, a Mr. Day (Columbus, Georgia, ~1966), when they allowed and promoted mixed color housing. Understanding and change take time; often that time is measured not in years but in generational changes. So too is the current miss-understanding, stereo-typing, and irrationality that is so often associated with homelessness and poverty.

By example, home break-ins are more likely to come from (or result from) an individual that the homeowner knows or has somehow displayed his or her desirable things to; or by a second-hand communication of such. Drug dealers, the ostentatious, and others such are often the victims of their own activities and proclivities attributable to their own advertisement than from random acts. As for the random act, often (but not always) an act of momentary false bravado, a miss-placed act of desperation, or act of youthful rebellion; such random acts are by their nature and the culture more intractable and un-assignable. A community and neighbors who know themselves are a better assurance of security, tranquility, and peace of mind than one where individuals are envious, bigoted, or ignorant and/or callous of their neighbor’s sensitivities and anxieties.

And as for the homeless being a more significant danger for potential drunkenness or drug use that is a popular myth but a false one. More real danger derives from the working and middle-class member driving home after having a “few” (often in a powerful $20,000 truck, or a daily-washed and weekly-waxed middle-class Volvo or other such icon of “respectability” and/or prowess) than from any foot-bound imbiber. But such thoughts and reflections are of no use or value to those who have already formed their opinion; their Weltsicht. Once such views are formed there is the; can’t teach an old dog new tricks catechism; the closed and righteous mind.

At the RRFPD Board meeting of November the Board agreed to give consideration to the request of the Interfaith Coalition. An on-site visit was arranged and considerations were laid out. These considerations included the approval of the Postmaster (who leases a portion of the building from RRFPD) and the pro-active outreach of the Coalition to the Rio Nido Homeowners Association. The Postmaster was amenable; the Homeowners Association not so.

At the RRFPD Board meeting of December the pragmatic situation became exquisitely clear; the Homeowners Association came out clearly and strongly against the location and the Board was made keenly aware that the support of the Association was essential to its considered new tax measure (even if such was not said overtly it was clear, obvious, and undeniable). Such is the outcome of political realities. It did not matter (and does not matter) if the opposition was knee-jerk, irrational, selfish, uncharitable, or just plain know-nothingness. The Board had no choice but to put the consideration to rest with a denial of the request. Realpolitik!

After all “Rio Nido is struggling to keep ahead of the curve as far as blithe” is concerned, as Ms. Kristin Hawley wrote to the RRFPD Board in her letter. I am glad to hear that Rio Nido is so struggling for “blithe” means; 1. Carefree and lighthearted. 2. Lacking or showing a lack of due concern: spoke with blithe ignorance of the true situation. Of course I must believe that Ms. Hawley meant “blight” which means; 1a. Any of numerous plant diseases resulting in sudden conspicuous wilting and dying of affected parts, especially young, growing tissues. b. The condition or causative agent, such as a bacterium, fungus, or virus, that results in blight. 2. An extremely adverse environmental condition, such as air pollution. 3. Something that impairs growth, withers hopes and ambitions, or impedes progress and prosperity.

And if “blight” was intended it too is a curious and apropos use of word. For such use of the word blight evidences a selfish and irrational fear and is certainly an analogous social disease; a disease to be transmitted to the young. It can and will wither their hopes and ambitions and impede their ‘progress’ toward reasoned social compassion and the understanding that prosperity can be measured in ways other that wealth and material well-being.

There are as many saints and sinners among the homeless as there are by comparison such among the housed and courageous struggling ‘blithe’ filled. Who will blithely throw the first stone?

I do not wish to unfairly pick on Ms. Hawley or her unfortunate (accidental) choice of word (a forgivable slip, even if it is perhaps a social Freudian one). Her expressed concerns; sadly, poorly informed and exhibiting extreme biases or bigotry, are understandable and can even be sympathized with. [bigot n. One who is strongly partial to one’s own group, religion, or politics and is intolerant of those who differ.] Ms. Hawley is correct when she suggests opening the Guerneville Veteran’s Hall for the purpose of providing for the homeless and poor this winter. Ms. Hawley intends well but has allowed her fear to trump her natural compassion and reason. Under the right circumstances each and every one of us is susceptible to a similar or same reaction and path. Vigilance knows no rest.

Among the letters received by the RRFPD Board that of Mr. Richard Grace and Ms. Elisabeth Parker also deserves a commentary. In general the letter contains such ill-feeling, poorly considered remarks and conclusions, and negativity that one is reminded of Donald Sutherland’s character’s remark to the tank mechanic “Moriarty”… ‘…such negativity man, …you’re ruining my vibes with your negativity.’ [film: Kelly’s Hero’s]

Mr. Grace and Ms. Parker write of chronic homelessness, using the two words in a clinical and formalistic way; illustrating in the process their sagacity and thoroughness. They write that the Rio Nido Station would prove unsuitable for the purpose. They are quick to define what they mean by “unsuitable.” They spend few words on the actual physical accommodations and considerations. Their considerations of unsuitability are “crime, noise, vandalism, drugs, alcohol, violence, and litter.” Given the prevalence of these attributes of our culture, throughout the culture, irregardless of social class, I do not think the poor and the homeless are going to have any significant impact on the already existing condition.

Crime is not the homeless alternative to loss of hope or desperate circumstances. And further; homelessness is not a crime. Some do consider it a “sin.” Noise derives more from those who “have” than those who “have-naught.” It is a simple matter of economics. They do not have loud vehicles, TV’s and CD players to crank up, nor are their vocal disagreements any louder than the typical domestic type. Vandalism is not the mark of the homeless or the poor. More typically it is the work of the bored and restless; of youth and rebellion. Drugs are more prevalent in the domesticated and housed populace than in those not so. Again…economics. And what of these supposed drugs… what are they; marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin? Probabilities are that there is more use of at least the first in the honest working and middle-class residents of Rio Nido than there is among the few homeless. It is a social consideration nearly equivalent to another group’s ‘can I get you something to drink’ when having a close guest over. And as for alcohol use more is consumed and more dangerously by the median of society than a busload of homeless could even dream of. One just need look at our communities plethora of bars, eateries serving beer and wine, and the sales log of Safeway and the Liquor and ‘convenience’ stores to put the thought (picture) into perspective. As for Violence there is probably more domestic violence (reported and unreported) to justify the dissolution of the community as a whole on that account alone; the community in that instance being Rio Nido itself. Of course the same can be said of any community, and in fact of the nation, the state, the country, and nearly the whole of human-kind itself. This does not lead us into irrational fears. It also does not warrant irrational opposition to community and Christian, Islamic, Buddhist, Anabaptist, Monrovian Brotherhood, or any other religious or atheistic compassionate charity and goodwill. And as for the litter it is nearly a fashion statement of the conspicuous consumer culture. The careless ‘me first’ is present in every aspect of society [from youth and candy wrappers, adolescents and adults and cigarette butts, and pure adults]. Come…! Travel the highways and decorate the shoulders with blithe abandon. The contribution of the many is of more issue than what a few poor (with means to consume and discard) contribute to the general pile.

After all the homeless and poor have a very, very, small carbon and social footprint. It comes with the territory. If one wants real heavy social impact try a Wall-St. heart attack bailout. I didn’t see too many local letters on that issue of account. The ‘talk’ was more like a gentle whisper; ‘…Oh, you don’t say! Well, got to go…shopping, get a drink; whatever! See-ya!’
But the letter of Mr. Grace and Ms. Parker is another matter entirely. Their letter must not be judged or read with a straight ruler of rationality, but with a sympathetic insight into the underlying fears and biases. They, just as Ms. Hawley, given opportunity to view the matter (at first sitting), in another light, would have (I believe) responded with paladins of Christian charity, brotherly love, community spirit and ‘pull together’. Unfortunately their first exposure to the potential of a winter night shelter wrongly elicited a negative response, because it appears that is what was offered to them to consider. In other words; the negative response was most likely not their first response, but rather one that was fed by preconceptions and too quickly inflamed emotions. And with that set of givens it proved to not be an even ‘fair’ fight. The violence, noise, litter of vile words and thoughts, the drugs of anxiety and fear, came from the affronted (Grace and Parker) not from the petitioners.

Ms. Dawnlea Bucey’s letter is a mixed bag. It mixes her reaction with a host of other problems/concerns of hers that exist for her in Rio Nido; the Rio Nido Inn and its owner, trash dumping, foreclosed homes, etc. In Ms. Bucey’s letter it does not seem to matter that neither the homeless, nor the shelter proponents, are responsible or accountable for any of those other problems/concerns. But as so often happens the forwarding of a proposal for the homeless and poor gives opportunity to showcase, vent, and otherwise illustrate frustration with a host of local shortcomings and issues. Some of those “issues” are more about miss-conceptions and miss-understandings of the ‘facts’ than formed from basis in factual realities. Of course that does not lessen the importance and insightful emotional realities of such perceptions. Every bag of concerns has more than just some possibility of merit.

With regards to the Rio Nido Inn situation such are in most cases passing events or circumstances. The loud arguers eventually move on. With trash and the usurpation of communal/community land for private uses the approach is to activate and motivate the Rio Nido Homeowners Association to conduct and facilitate regular bi-annual ‘clean-ups’. They certainly have the experience and practiced individuals to put such program together. A continuing, patient, and compassionate approach to community problems by the community itself is the only practical approach. To ask county government to take interest in the detail of such relatively local and small circumstances is to not understand county government or local politics. To ask much of them is to invite red tape, bureaucratization, and a snail’s pace of inadequate and inappropriate response. Self-reliance by the community is a better road and a more fruitful and sustainable one. I believe Ms. Bucey also appreciates this. Her letter in one vein shows her active interest and efforts. Such is a beginning and hers is noteworthy.

Mr. J. Bauer is a man I know and much respect. His reaction, in this instance, however, I see as being too quickly offered and without his normal deliberative reflection. But it can be said that sometimes it is emphatically necessary to respond and react quickly. I think, and hope, that his as well as Mr. Matt Malik and J. Mullineaux’s letter responses would have been more rounded and less stereo-typically myth based had they had the opportunity for reflection. Property values, home break-ins, and other such considerations and events are not to be laid at the feet of the homeless or the poor. That is a wrong and poorly spirited analysis. I know Mr. Bauer is a thoughtful and good spirited individual. I hope his address of a letter to the Board of Supervisors asking their immediate, pro-active, and red-tape cutting scissors help in locating a shelter in the river area will be shortly forthcoming. The potential locations are numerous; a short list would include the parking lot of the Sheriff’s Substation (tent and field kitchen type), the Veterans Hall, the grounds of the county Roads Department (Armstrong Woods Road, for either a trailer or tent and field kitchen type facility). I am assured that there are also a host of other sites. Also, I am assured there are an accompanying host of objections waiting in the wings.

I ask Mr. Bauer, Mr. Malik, and J. Mullineaux to remember that the efforts of the Interfaith Coalition (to seek the approval of RRFPD for the Rio Nido Firehouse) were an emergency outreach. The Coalition has no intention of trying to establish a yearly shelter at that site. It was a move taken out of desperation as the winter and cold set in and the other counted upon location(s) fizzled out one after the other. Also, all three should have the utmost confidence in the proven abilities, follow-through, and exemplary consideration and professionalism that is Ms. Elizabeth Middleberg, and the other members of the Coalition. I ask that all give them the ‘time of day’ to be heard without prejudice. I feel that together the communities and the coalition can get the sluggish snail of county government off its duff to facilitate a rapid resolution and accommodation. One that does not alienate a community or locale and yet compassionately addresses the need locally.

Ms. Mary Bauer Corsetti writes in her short letter that there are other larger fire houses, larger facilities available. Certainly she is right. The generosity of her observation is however lessened when she installs ‘police protection’ into her consideration. I reiterate the homeless and poor are not some evil, vile, lawless, murder and rapine group. They are, in the main, more ethical and moderate in their conduct than the society at large and certainly more so by far than the nation. Witness, please, the past twelve years of war, slaughter, mutilation, destruction, and vandalism, all for the vain-glory of miss-placed values and over-wrought fears. Perhaps this last is a far jump from the issue at hand, but a necessary search for perspective on weighting the matters before us all is due. Perspective, ladies and gentlemen brings us to,

Accommodation and Rebirth

It is the oft cited appropriateness of this time of year that is evoked when thoughts and needs go to consideration of those less well provided for than we. The charities are at the store fronts; the ‘army’ is on point and station.

Two millennium ago an anonymous man made himself immortally known and heralded by his act of accommodation. He gave what he had available, his stable, for two traveling homeless individuals; the temporarily homeless and poor working class artisan-carpenter and his wife. While some may disparage this allusion as a ‘hackneyed’ folk aphorism I still feel it has its power to evoke and poignantly illustrate. Immortality is not easily gained, and it is shown it is not a commodity purchasable in the shops or the churches.

Our culture and fall to decadence, in all aspects and all classes (working, middle, and high), was recently so immediately and graphically given us in the trampling death of the employee at the Wall-Mart store. This event gave new meaning to the bumper sticker; “Shop till you drop.” Material ‘gifts’ for oneself and others, the vain-glory search for fulfillment through materialism and consumerism, evidences the poverty and heartless homelessness of the mass, the mob. I have personally witnessed greater feeling, compassion, love, and selflessness from the poor and the homeless than I currently see exampled in my own middle-class environs. Not to say there are not individual acts of charity and fellow-ness; there are many such, but rather to say that those who give when they have but little are nobler that those who give little when they have much.

There is an honor and nobility of character and ethics among the poor and homeless that could well enhance and better the lives of many who view themselves either ‘above’ or ‘better’ than that group. And “yes” there are also examples of lowliness among the poor and low just as there are such examples among the high and rich. Aren’t each still human; even if some would confer to the poor a “second-class” possibility of life and respect.

I am not a bleeding heart liberal, an idealist of human nature, an “eutopian” , or a ‘goody two-shoes’. I am a rational, compassionate mind encased in a physical animal body of nature. I am human.

This time of year is also iconic for the birth, and in the following cultural remembrance and celebration; ‘rebirth.’ I hope that this minor drama of the Rio Nido Fire station, and the homeless, and the perspectives of the Homeowner’s Association membership, and the travail of the RRFPD Board, and the nobility of the Interfaith Coalition allows for and brings forth an unexpected but longed for fruit. That ‘fruit’ that is longed for is the rebirth of community ethos and individual selflessness. A birth of working together to accommodate need and thereby allow for rebirth. Our collective capacity, including the letter writers, has positive potential to provide leadership and example to a reluctant, staid, labyrinthine, and verily deaf county government. We have the right to expect and demand that our facilities, our contributions, our monies, be returned and efficiently, effectively, and immediately applied to our issues, our problems, and our locale.

If we are all in the same boat of life together; if it is women and children first; if it is blesséd are the poor and helpless; and if it is better to forgive than not then so be it. If it is not so then I want no part of any of it or of any.

When Tolstoy can forgo his birthright, his title, his wealth, his position, his fame, and literary immortality, and take to wearing the cloth of his peasants and live under the same hovelled roof then so in that at least there is “hope” and example. Who will provide us with “hope” and ‘example’ here? Mr. Efren Carrillo? Perhaps…! Hopefully...! If he dares. Without which all aspirations will remain sterile, and shallow political, social, and cultural realities and habits will prevail. I hope he can accommodate a change in how things are done and that he can re-birth the best in all of us.

Sincerely yours,
Lloyd Guccione
Quynh Nhu Le

Note: Copies of the application and letters of the Interfaith Coalition to the RRFPD Board (including the letter of Jan DeWald to Ms. Patty Roland-James, Rio Nido Postmaster), and letters of respondents; Mr. Richard Grace, Ms. Elisabeth Parker, Ms. DawnLea Bucey, Mr. John Bauer, Mr. Matt Malik, J. Mullineaux, Ms. Kristin Hawley, Ms. Sandra & Mr. Robert O’Balle, Mrs. Mary Bauer Corsetti, “STROSE66”, Ms. Susan Lowe, Mr. Steve LaRose, and Ms. Linda Hyndman may be viewed at the Russian River Fire Protection District Offices on Armstrong Woods Road. For additional assistance interested parties are also referred to Ms. Debbie Miller, Board Clerk of RRFPD, and to Ms. Jan DeWald of Russian River Interfaith Coalition, 15013 Leasowe Lane, Guerneville, Ca. 707-604-7328, as well as Ms. Elizabeth Middleberg.

Complimentary Copy Addressees:

Mr. George Klineman, News Editor, Russian River Monthly
Ms. Johanna Lynch, Publisher, Russian River Times
Ms. Vesta Copestakes, Publisher, West County Gazette
Mr. Bleys W. Rose, The Press Democrat
Ms. Brenda Adelman Mr. and Mrs. Trini Amador
Mr. Peter Andrews, KGGV-FM Guerneville Ms. Doreen Atkinson
Ms. Amanda Atkinson Mr. John Bauer
J. Beach Mr. Edward Berger
Mr. Chuck Berger Community Micro Bulletin Board
Mr. Jon Box Ms. Kyla Brooke
Mr. Michael Brown, Community Development Commission Mr. Efren Carrillo
Mr. John Chapman Bernard and Cheryl
Ms. Marlene Collins Ms. Carol Cowley
Ms. Lynn Crescione Mr. Tom Cruckshank
Ms. Barbara DeCarly Mr. Daniel Demers
Ms. Maren Derum J. Dillman
Mr. Rene Di Monche RRROC Document Archives
Mr. Dan Fein Ms. Rue Furch
Mr. Gary Getchell Mr. David Grabill
Mr. Sean Grinnell, RRFPD Chief G. Hamilton
Mr. Herman Hernandez Ms. Maddy Hirshfield
Mr. Rich and Ms. Wanda Holmer Ms. Linda Homen
Mr. Dan Kahane Mr. Vatru Kahn
Ms. Kathleen Kane, Executive Director CDC
Mr. Vu Le Mr. Tom Lynch
Mr. Bruce St. John Maher Mr. Jim Maresca
Ms. Kim Menary Ms. Susi Menary
Ms. Song Nguyen Mr. Dennis O’Rorke
Mr. Cary Ostrofe Ms. Susi Schaffert
Ms. Linda Schmidt Mr. James Severdia
Mr. Guy Smith Mr. Preston Smith
Mr. Boris Sztorch, Redevelopment Project Manager Mr. John Uniack
Mr. Ken White Mr. Ken Wikle
Mr. Randal Saxe Mr. John Molnar
Mr. Marcus Gracia Mr. Donald Wade
Mr. Gaylord Schaap Mr. Norman E. Wilcox
Mr. Richard Grace & Ms.Elisabeth Parker Ms. Dawnlea Bucey
Mr. Matt Malik & J. Mullineaux Ms. Kristin Hawley
Mrs Sandra and Mr. Robert O’Balle Mr. Don Corsetti
“STROSE66” Ms. Susan Lowe
Mr. Steve LaRosa Ms. Linda Hyndman


Fin

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Endangered Coho Salmon - Water Institute Web Video

Brock Dolman from the OAEC Water Institute offers this video link for us to watch, learn and pass along.

Hi all,
I just wanted to let you all know about the latest WATER Institute web video collaboration with filmmaker Ben Zolno and underwater videographer Corby Hines called: Your Salmon Creek!
www.oaecwater.org/your-salmon-creek-video

We are blessed to have some amazing underwater footage to give you a below-the-scenes look at the historic reintroduction of endangered Coho Salmon to the Salmon Creek Watershed in Sonoma County, CA, where experts reveal why Coho are disappearing, and why you should care...

Watch to see how protecting your home, your land and your family can improve your environment and the endangered species in your area.

Have a look! If you like it - watch it a bunch of times!

And tell your friends to watch it today as well so that we can get a lot of hits in one day to rank high on YouTube!!!

Forward widely to all your friends and lists!!
Mostly Water,
Brock

Brock Dolman
WATER Institute Director
Occidental Arts and Ecology Center
www.oaec.org
www.oaecwater.org

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Sonoma County Housing Element & AB 885

The Housing Element part of Sonoma County's General Plan needs to address how AB 885 impacts Affordable Housing that already exists along our Russian River communities.

The Board of Supervisors' Agendas are packed with interesting items. Many of them are in the Consent Calendar and/or the Closed Session. On Tuesday, January 13th, in addition to the morning Agenda, they discussed the Housing Element of the General Plan.

As a Planning Commissioner I sat on the Housing Ordinance several years ago, and more recently on the Draft 2009 Housing Element. One thing I hope will be maintained is the language I put in to allow/encourage the county to support existing affordable housing by being proactive regarding AB 885 (septic tanks rules for homes adjacent to the Russian River). I hope it will serve to help us all advocate for our "unofficial" affordable housing.

I made the point that if we loose housing that is functionally affordable (albeit not any the county is "credited" with) - it will result in more people who need housing that the county will have to supply elsewhere. The language does not spell out how this will be done (it can't do that yet) but allows advocates and the county to look for solutions and funding as part of the General Plan.

The language may not be perfect - please look for ways to improve it if you can. As you likely know, AB 885 was written to deal with a situation in Santa Barbara County and is creating huge problems here (and in other counties).

NOTE: from the Environmental Protection Agency (and on the heels of the Housing Element:

In case you folks haven't seen these items on septic tanks....

California Water News has a link to a California Farm Bureau article on the Septic Tank controls proposed by the CA SWRCB. The article seems to be a good summary.
Here is the link:
http://www.cfbf.com/agalert/AgAlertStory.cfm?ID=1205&ck=B571ECEA16A9824023EE1AF16897A582

Note that the article has a link to the SWRCB site that is full of information,
http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/septic_tanks/

There is a public workshop scheduled for Santa Rosa (Wells Fargo Center) on January 27 at 7 pm.

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Harbor Seals vs. Endangered Coho Salmon at Jenner, CA

Sonoma County's Biological Opinion will change the Russian River Estuary in profound ways as biologists work to save endangered Coho Salmon. Harbor Seals will pay a price at the mouth of the Russian River where it meets the Sea at Jenner.

The Biological Opinion and the Russian River Estuary
By Norma Jellison

Recently, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) released its Biological Opinion (BO). The result of 10+ years of studies, the BO proposes a number of actions intended to lead to the recovery of the three salmonid species of the Russian River – coho, Chinook and steelhead. Because certain of the water supply and flood control operations of the Corps of Engineers and Sonoma County Water Agency threaten to jeopardize steelhead and coho, the NMFS has identified actions including reduced river flows and estuary adaptive management. Details of the proposed actions can be found on the SCWA website by clicking on the RRIFR - Russian River Instream Flow Report symbol in the upper left hand corner of the home page.

While the BO is to be implemented over a 15 year period to allow for environmental impact studies of the impacts of the proposals, a key concern is with plans to implement main stem flow reductions and estuary management = discontinuing breaching the sandbar that forms at the river mouth in the immediate future – as early as 2009 and definitely by 2010. While “some form of environmental review” is suggested, the SCWA and NMFS have not committed to a full and robust EIR for the proposed interim or temporary urgency changes.

Unfortunately, the BO does not consider the effects of the proposed actions on any species other than the salmonids. A number of people and organizations are seeking an integrated wholistic approach to the restoration plan which takes into account the rich and varied environment of the Russian River estuary and Goat Rock Beach. Both the estuary and the beach spits at the rivers mouth provide a rich habitat for many endangered, threatened and protected species in addition to the emblematic salmonids.

For 34 years, Harbor Seals have hauled out on the spits of Goat Rock Beach in Jenner, including pupping in the spring. The Jenner haulout is the largest Harbor Seal haulout in Sonoma County. It is also the largest north of Drakes Estero in Marin County to the mouth of the Eel River in Mendocino County. Harbor Seals are protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act, also administered by NOAA/NMFS.

This Harbor Seal haulout is one of the most intensively studied haulouts in northern California, with a daily census conducted since 1989 by the intrepid Elinor Twohy of Jenner. The site has also census monthly since 1987 by Dr Joe Mortenson who also has included it as part of the regional Harbor Seal census conducted since 1998 in association with Pt Reyes National Seashore. Finally, the site has been part of the state Harbor Seal survey and census effort (1982-1995 and 2004) by NOAA’s NMFS and Southwest Fisheries Science Center et al.

The Harbor Seals were the basis for the formation in 1985 of the Seal Watch program and thus Stewards of Slavianka, the Russian name for the Russian River and the original name for Stewards of the Coast and Redwoods. Stewards is the non profit organization that supports the Russian River Division of California State Parks. Annually, Stewards brings hundreds of school children to the Sonoma Coast to experience the ocean environment. Perhaps most importantly, the Harbor Seals serve as ambassadors to the ocean. Thousands of Sonomans and tourists stop at the Route 1 overlook north of Jenner specifically to see the Harbor Seals. For many, the seals provide a link to the otherwise inaccessible marine environment.

The Goat Rock Beach at Jenner is an also an important resting place for local and migratory birds. At times, hundreds of gulls, terns, cormorants and pelicans cover the beach. Some, like the Brown Pelican, are species of special concern. The Brown Pelican was recently removed from the endangered species list, the Endangered Species Act. The Brown Pelican is also a migratory bird, along with other migratory birds such as Heermans gulls, that rest on this beach. Migratory birds are protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Research is beginning to highlight the importance physiologically of resting for birds, just as hauling out is for marine mammals.

Data collected over the years shows that when the river mouth is closed by the sandbar the Harbor Seal numbers decrease substantially. As soon as the mouth is breached, the Harbor Seals return in numbers commensurate to pre sand bar levels. The Harbor Seals haulout on the spit edges along the river near the mouth. This low profile spit habitat provides easy access to the river. This habitat and easy access is especially important when pups are born and taken immediately into the river by the mother, later for pup swimming lessons, and in general for occasional swims when the seals are active during their daytime haulout period. Harbor Seals are nocturnal – feeding in the deep, cold ocean waters at night. Thus, daytime haulout habitat is critical for the species. The low profile beach at Goat Rock also provides ease of access to the ocean, either from haulout locations on the ocean side of the beach or by entering the river and surfing or swimming out into the ocean.

That this Harbor Seal colony is easily disrupted was observed during the five-year period when a maturing male Elephant Seal hauled out on the beach – in the winter/early spring (Dec-Feb) and the late summer/early fall (July-Sept) molt periods. In the final year of his presence – 2007, when he lingered into the breeding season, the haulout population was severely reduced. At that time, the only period when the Harbor Seal numbers were more in the normal range for the site was when the Elephant Seal was not present. That year, he did not return for the molt period, a time when the sandbar tends to consistently form, or in the winter. It is likely that if the sandbar is not breached, given their historic propensity to for the most part abandon the site when the sandbar forms, it highly likely that this historic and significant Harbor Seal colony could disappear.

Prolonged closure of the mouth contributes to disruption of the seals and birds as people walk down the beach and flush the birds and seals. Studies in the mid nineties documented this phenomenon. Signs posted on the beach and the Seal Watch volunteers assist in keeping disruption of the seals to a minimum. Flushing the seals is considered harassment under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. As noted previously, daytime resting is important to both birds and seals.

The estuary also provides important habitat for a number of fish, in addition to salmonids, such as flounder and sculpin. It is also an important habitat for juvenile Dungeness crab. The vibrant estuary contributes to the many birds that feed in the estuary and the ocean off the mouth – Osprey, diving ducks, pelagic birds and those listed previously.

Finally, but no less importantly, there is the concern for water quality in the estuary. Lowered flows and the proposed lagoon associated with no breaching of the sandbar are sure to concentrate pollutants known to be in the river from upstream outflows and land uses. The river side of Goat Rock Beach is used by many visitors to the coast as a safe place to enter the water to wade and swim. Further, the water quality impacts of low flows and pollutant concentration in the lagoon on the fish and other animals and birds that use the river are also of concern. And, while there is a commitment not to allow flooding of homes and businesses in Jenner during the early implementation of the estuary management plan (to begin in 2009 or 2010), the BO does say that if this plan proves successful in aiding the salmonids, commencing in 2014 flood proofing by raising structures or otherwise eliminating flooding impacts are part of the long term plan.

The numerous significant adverse impacts associated with the proposed estuary management plan are such that everyone who lives, recreates, or just plain cares about the Russian River, its estuary and Goat Rock Beach should be closely watching this process. This is not about salmon versus seals and birds. It is a call to take an integrative wholistic approach to salmon recovery that doesn’t sacrifice an incredibly rich diverse environment that is a connection for many people to the otherwise mysterious and inaccessible ocean.

Send your comments to NMFS (William.Hearn@noaa.gov ), and SCWA (Randy.Poole@scwa.ca.gov). The Sonoma County Supervisors also serve as the Board of the SCWA. The State Water Resources Board is the final arbiter for the interim proposal as well as for the long term plan. Hearings at the SWRCB should be scheduled for the interim proposals in the spring. Updates on hearings and ways to forward comments for consideration before the State Water Resources Control Board will be forthcoming.

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FORUM: The Myths of Monotheism

Got a Point of View? An Opinion on a subject? Feel like getting on your Soap Box? This is the place. Please send your thoughts to vesta@sonic.net. This FORUM submission is on Monotheism from the perspective of an Atheist. Enjoy!

The Myths of Monotheism

By Tony Adler

Friday, December 26, 2008 Boxing Day

From my point of view as an Atheist and somewhat of a historian, I feel it incumbent upon my self to offer others a modicum of truth and thereby give them the opportunity to understand and see religious myth for what it is. Those of the faith often ask with astonishment, “Don’t you believe in God?” The question is an oxymoron, since in reality there is not a god to believe in or not.

As an historian I much prefer polytheism to monotheism. It has been shown that Gods and Goddesses do not have to exist in reality in order to do good or perpetrate murder and mayhem, for that matter. My own favorite deities were the Egyptian, Greek and Roman in that order. Of course to understand the Judea Christian story one must journey deep into the mists of time to Mesopotamia and Babylon and look at the myth of Gilgamesh which gave birth to the book of Geneses. Of course Abraham came from this area and brought with him the worship of Shamech, the Sun God and the story of the great flood from the Babylonian history. There is Archeological evidence that in Neolithic times the area between the two rivers did suffer a devastating flood that changed the topography and eliminated two other rivers.

Since the Israelites Came out of Egypt and spent generations in Babylon one has to look at how they and their religion grew out of these influences. The Babylonian God of the sun Shamech was the name given to the eternal light, Nur Tamid which burned in the Jewish temple. The Egyptian name for this God was Aton Re, and in past cultures was part of Isis the Mother Deity of Egypt known to the Greeks as Aphrodite and the Romans as Venus.

Venus is the morning star known astrologically as Virgo or Lucifer the bringer of enlightenment i.e. knowledge. In Neolithic Mesopotamia she was Inanna the snake god of love and fertility, or Enki the god of earth and water Enlightenment was anathema to the early Christians consequently knowledge was of the Devil. It still is.

Ancient Hebrews known as Hyksos or Haribari meaning Shepard Kings frequently attacked Egypt around the Delta and eventually took over that era and ruled Lower Egypt for 108 years, their 15th dynasty having six kings. They introduced Egypt to the horse and chariot and the compound bow. These people were monotheists, practiced circumcision and eschewed pork. They were eventually defeated and driven out, though many were egyptianized and remained keeping their own god.

If we can jump ahead to the 18th Dynasty in 1353 and to the Pharaoh Amenophis III and his correspondences with Tushratta, the king of Mitanni We must look at the preserved Amarna letters, which are available to read to this day in cuneiform on clay tablets. These are in the Berlin Museum of Egyptology together with the bust of Nefertiri who looms largely in this history and as you will see she became the actual founder of the present day Christian monotheism.

King Tushratta had a fifteen year-old daughter of great beauty whose name was Tadu Heba. King Tushratta proposed this girl for wife to the 43 year-old Pharaoh Amenophis III. She was accepted and journeyed into Egypt taking with her great wealth and servants, and her sun god Shamesh. Her marriage to the Pharaoh lasted until his death eleven years later after which she married his son Amenophis IV aged eleven. Because of her great beauty the Egyptians gave the Queen the name Nefertiri which means, “She who walks in beauty.” Nefertiri introduced her religion of the Sun God Shamesh who in Egypt was a minor god Aton to her young husband, and upon adulthood and under her influence the young Pharaoh changed his name to Akhenaton and decreed that this was to be the one god of Egypt and that Amun and all other gods were to be deposed. He created a capitol city dedicated to Aton and plunged Egypt into a bloody civil war to enforce his new religion.

As history shows this monotheism brought on a plague of intolerance and violence under which our planet suffers to this very day. The remaining Hyksos and Haribari took to this religion, but went underground when it was stamped out by Horemheb after the death of Akhenaton and his follower Tutankhamen

Monotheism festered in Egypt until in the 19th. Dynasty in 1269 when their mobs robbed the Egyptians and set off into the desert crossing the sea of reeds into Canaan. They had changed the name of their god from Aton to Adon meaning Lord or in Hebrew Adonoi meaning our lord. The followers of Adon under Moses became violent killers and sacked the land of Canaan murdering men, women, and children and all their animals. From this religion spread out a long history of war and bloodshed until the Romans lead by Pompeii conquered the land in 63 BCE. In Roman times the legend of Jesus arose, though there is no historical proof that he ever existed. He is not mentioned by Josephus in his history of the period.

Christianism became a cult that flourished in Rome, and became violently opposed to Roman Mithraism, smashing their temples and destroying their artifacts. Purges were instituted against this violent monotheistic cult, but it survived, later to be imposed on Rome by Constantine who actually founded the Catholic Church and laid down its dogma in the fourth century C.E. in Nicia.

In the 6th century Islam also sprang from this root. From this time on these two monotheistic religions have split into various cults and continued brutal warfare against all and sundry and especially against the Jews who were their founders, The first Crusade was instigated in the 12th century by Pope Urban II when he ordered his armies to wipe out the Cathars an intellectual and advanced religious group in the South of France. They were all burned alive, and their goddess was Isis. Later the Knights Templar were also murdered for their treasure The Crusades and the inquisition made the whole world run with blood and permanently drove a wedge between Islam and Christianity.

Freemasonry sprang from the Templars, and in fact founded our constitution remaining true to Isis or Virgo if you like and trying to keep religious influences out of our politics. However the Monotheistic religions are still to this day murdering millions in the name of their various cults. These cults are responsible for the overpopulating of our planet, for the subjugation of women today and throughout the ages, for slavery, pedophilia in the Catholic Church, and Protestant puritanical attitudes toward sex contraception abortion and even stem cell research. In my estimation dogmatic religion is a curse on the world which thrives in ignorance and darkness, and in my view the only way to survive it is through a diligent search for knowledge through free and comprehensive education based on historical truth with the goal of total enlightenment. Lucifer i.e. Knowledge can never be evil.

Tony Adler
Cotati

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ViewPoint Inspired - Advice on Eating Habits

Mitch Darnell offers advice on personal matters to readers. Contact Mitch with your questions via e-mail at foreverinspired@surewest.net.

Dear Mitch,

Recently I've been spending way too much time thinking about my eating habits. I would say that, in general, I'm a pretty healthy eater. I don't eat fast food, drink soda, or consume sugar or (much) artificial sweetener. I keep my portions under control and try to stay away from any fried or processed food while sticking mostly to fish, salads, sushi, etc. The only negative things I can pinpoint about my diet are that I often have to pass on breakfast (I'm ALWAYS running late) and I often work till midnight or later at my job so I either don't eat dinner or eat really late.

Lately, I've been feeling really guilty every time I eat. I know that I'm trying to eat as healthy as I can, but I just get this unexplainable guilt that's telling me that I'm eating too much even when I know I'm not. I start to feel like I'm going to gain weight, and at times feel like I have gained weight (when in reality I haven't). I live a very active lifestyle, work out pretty regularly, and am in good shape so WHY am I feeling like this all the time? Is this normal and or healthy, and if not how can I change my attitude?

Good ‘N Guilty
Granite Bay
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

Hey Good,

“Don't let love interfere with your appetite. It never does with mine!” – Anthony Trollope

The fact that you’re reaching out to get information says to me you’re a pretty healthy person! Meanwhile, MANY of us have conflicting relationships with food!!

I’m not a food issues specialist. Meanwhile, I certainly can relate to the many stories we all hear and repeat about food, like: “eating too much” or “too little”… “dieting”… and, well, about 10,000 other narratives…

To be honest, your story sounds like a pretty “normal” person dealing with life’s stress and challenges. In the meantime…

º If’s there’s any possibility of this being a serious, health and/or life-threatening issue, definitely contact your doctor immediately. For examples, if…

∙ Those who love you have expressed relevant genuine concern - the key being “genuine
concern”. Many people declare “concerns” which are really fear-based thoughts that may have
no bearing on your own reality and/or are truly expressions of other agendas (such as a need to
criticize others, or to be a caretaker, or….).

∙ Your weight “yo-yos” or has taken an extreme loss or increase – Note: A doctor can tell you what is “extreme” – of concern.

∙ You have eating-related habits which concern you or loving family or friends.

These are all situations which should be brought to your doctor’s attention. If she/he sees a need to provide you with direction and/or resources for “help”, perhaps you’re on track to gain some control over something that’s not working well for you.

Meanwhile, your doctor is a trained professional with his/her own subjective opinion. He/she can be a good resource, but you’re best advocate is your own self. Research is very easy today via the internet. Just know that no two persons’ experiences are the same. What may sound like “my situation” may really be a projection of another’s challenges!

Your question is about guilt feelings “every time (you) eat”. That’s a bummer… And your answer(s) may come from a variety of areas…

º Some people experience symptoms of childhood-based messages. These messages may
subside in our subconscious for years, suddenly revealing themselves in response to unknown
triggers. Common “triggers” may include:

¤ Reaching a certain age – such as the age at which a parent experienced something
apparently relevant to food, eating, lifestyle habits…

¤ Entering a specific life stage – such as the age at which a parent experienced… (like the
age item, above)…

¤ Experiencing a “normal” biological or psychological activity or challenge – you know,
like a child moving, job change, aging, injury, someone’s pregnancy, winning a
drawing… It’s amazing how many otherwise innocuous, or seemingly unrelated
experiences can be psychosomatically connected to eating symptoms.

¤ Experiencing life’s increasing stressors! Your lifestyle sounds like almost everyone
nowadays… Trying to “keep up” just to “maintain”. Our hyper data-overload lives
(24/7 bombardment from the internet & cellphones) are commanding our resources,
leaving most of us with little or no feelings of control over our lifestyle behaviors and
choices.

∞ SPECIAL NOTE: The fact that, “…almost 70% of our corn, 90% of our soy and 75% of our processed food now contain neurotoxins, novel proteins and allergens” can mean psycho-emotional responses could result from these facts! What we eat dramatically affects our entire being!
(Quote source: www.americanchronicle.com/articles/57824)

You sound like someone who strives to be responsible… probably are handling an ever-increasing load of responsibilities… and might be a bit overwhelmed?!... Possibly even feeling a bit “out of touch” with your own self! Mix in a dose of guilt for being imperfect, and the myriad of conflicting stories about what’s “good” and “bad” to eat…

Anyone out there who never feels inadequate and ineffective sometimes?! If so, you are a guru!

◊ Your life is a marathon. Consider the possibility that you can maintain an awareness
which allows you to define your current lifestyle as a “stage” … And that you can set goals
for your next stage(s) which honor how you’d like to live your life overall during this
marathon!

◊ Some good habits (like daily deep breathing and drinking lots of water) can reduce some
of the consequences of stress and/or poor life habits.

◊ How would you feel if one of your friends or family members were saying exactly what
you’re declaring. What might you tell him or her… particularly about their value as a
human being?

◊ As Mr. Trollope said, “ Don't let love interfere with your appetite”. While that’s a
humorous proclamation, there is a nugget there. How does your search for love
and/or acceptance relate to food? Any connection with your deeper desires and needs?

¤ Perhaps it’s time to develop a new relationship with eating and food. Some options…

◊ www.americanchronicle.com/articles/57824 - “Our Intimate Relationship With
Food” – great articles.

◊ Dr. Jim Donoghue, a uniquely integrous, empowering Chiropractor here in
Sacramento is always a great resource! Contact him: 916/486.2663. His Clinic
(“Advantage Chirocare”) is at: 2410 Fair Oaks Blvd., #226, Sacto., 95825!

◊ Summit Eating Disorders & Outreach Program: http://www.sedop.org/

Using any illicit drugs is almost a sure ticket to mind-body-spirit problems. Concurrently, over-the-counter or prescription drugs can trigger uncomfortable or even dangerous emotions and/or physical symptoms .

As I noted earlier, do your research and know that no one will care for yourself as well as you can... As long as you allow yourself to be imperfect, appreciate the stress load you’re carrying in life, and love yourself for being one of God’s children… as you are.

Namasté ~
Mitch

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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Movie Reviews: Milk and Frost/Nixon

History repeats itself 30 years later and two films, Milk & Frost/Nixon, capture the lessons we should be learning. This time, we need to get it right.

Movie Reviews: Milk & Frost/Nixon

By Vesta Copestakes

It’s not common for me to watch movies, but two films drew me to the theater this holiday season because they both received reviews that made me believe they were bringing important parts of our history to film: Milk & Frost/Nixon. I didn’t put the 2 & 2s together until I saw both films that these movies are about the same era in history, 30 years ago, and that they are also both about history repeating itself.

Even though I was young and aware in the mid to late seventies, I don’t think I was as aware as I believed I was at the time. In the case of Milk, I can see that being straight and middle class white, my awareness of profound discrimination against homosexuals was more an abstract injustice. I had experienced racial prejudice and it’s negative impact, but hadn’t seen too much homophobia, mostly because I lived in a very straight world.

Discrimination of any kind has always offended me, but this kind didn’t touch my life. Now that I am older and have many gay friends, I know from experience the profound impact of homophobia. What knocks me over is how the worst offenders are people of Christian faith. I am convinced that Jesus would never approve. My impression of the teachings of Jesus is that he taught us not to judge, but to love all people the way his father had taught Him. How can these righteous people stray so far from the path they insist they are following?

What I saw in Milk was the same battle we just fought over Proposition 8, but then it was Proposition 6 and far more reaching in its discrimination. It was a hate movement designed to segregate a huge part of our population using the tools of fear.

Our Prop 8 is about marriage. That Prop 6 was about every aspect of life where a homosexual would come into contact with the heterosexual world. Ultimately, Prop 6 failed. It was a huge celebration of life and acceptance for so many that lead us to believe much of the battle was over, especially here in Northern California where we thrive on acceptance and tolerance.

Try to imagine a world without homosexuals and you lose huge contributions from the work force, from our economy and from the benefits of their participation in our mutual life. What blew me away the most was the massive support from black churches. I simply have yet to understand how a huge part of our population which has suffered immensely from discrimination, could support discrimination toward another group. Hypocrisy is not strong enough a word. I can’t make sense of that one.

So we became complacent as we grew to see that there are no differences in the love between a man and a woman from the love between a man and a man or a woman and a woman. The Gay Rights movement had become so used to a higher level of acceptance, they didn’t seem to see the battle raging as strongly as it really was. We have much work to do. This one needs to go to the Supreme Court and be challenged as a basic human right in our country. We are the land of equality and justice for all. There are no exceptions to the word ALL

And in the case of Frost/Nixon I was simply elated at the time that Nixon was out of office, bummed that he got off Scott free, but the bottom line was that the war in Vietnam came to an end over time and the draft that so plagued my generation was put to rest. It was the Draft that brought us to the streets in protest of the wrong war. Not that there ever really is a right war. But our war took every young man and pulled him into service whether he believed in the cause or not. Females were free to live. Males were prisoners of the system.

The Gulf and Afghanistan/Iraq wars distinguish themselves as being fought by all volunteer forces, so it’s hard to complain. These young men and women believe in what they are doing and volunteer to do it. But these modern wars are still as wrong as the Vietnam War, and clearly illustrated in the movie, the bombing of Cambodia by Nixon was just as power hungry and based upon a lie as the invasion of Iraq. The very same abuse of power we have witnessed in the Bush administration was the violation of our power structure and government system of which the Nixon administration was guilty.

Nixon got to retire in wealth and comfort rather than die in prison where he belonged. He betrayed our trust, he broke our laws and he was guilty of crimes against humanity. The Bush administration is just as guilty and they, too, will play golf, lecture, live in luxury, etc. until the day they die. At least with Nixon, he had his moment of truth in the famous interview with David Frost. We can only hope the same will be true with Bush, Cheney and the gang. The future will become the present and we’ll find out.

Ultimately, I was impressed with both the quality of these two films and how they portrayed the repetition of history. Sometimes we need to re-live a lesson to learn it. Hopefully, we’ll get it right this time. Two steps forward, one step back, but forward movement none-the-less.

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Images of Sonoma County Coast

Here are a few images to inspire you to take a drive out to our stunning Sonoma County Coast. I have the privilege of visiting the Coast every month when I deliver newspapers to our coastal communities. - Enjoy!

Kayakers in Jenner heading toward the mouth of the Russian River

Lucas Wharf fishing boats & “watchbird”

Biologist coming to shore in Bodega Bay

All Photos © Vesta Copestakes 2008

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