Letters

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Letters

Thanks for the Lit

Extra appreciation for your recent issue (“Spring Lit,” April 1), given the sad state of journalism/newspapers in general, but especially during a global crisis affecting everyone, everywhere. 

Such a joy to discover new author Edward Campagnola, whose book I just ordered thanks to your giving equal space to writers, sheltered or not. And, to add a new-to-me poet, Ulalume González de León, to my reading list, courtesy of the three hardworking local writers and translators who diligently collaborated on the new translation of her work.

Irene Barnard

Santa Rosa

PETA Says

Californian public health officials are speaking with urgency: “If you have enough supplies in your home, this would be the week to skip shopping altogether.”

This is not an invitation to take one last trip to the store. Rather, it is an opportunity to look into the back of the larder and cook nutritious meals out of the foods you had been saving for a rainy day: shelf staples. This sort of cooking—predominantly consisting of dried or canned beans, grains, nuts, seeds and canned vegetables—is delicious, healthy and simple.

If baking cakes helps ease stress, bind them with ground seeds, mashed banana or applesauce, instead of cholesterol-heavy eggs.

Jessica Bellamy

The PETA Foundation

Department of Corrections

The print and initial web version of the cover story in last week’s paper (“Brighter Futures,” April 8) failed to disclose that the story’s subject, Kary Hess, is in a relationship with Daedalus Howell, the editor of the Bohemian and Pacific Sun. It is the policy of these publications for editorial personnel to recuse themselves from stories in which they have a material conflict of interest, which was not done in this case. We apologize for the error.

Sonoma Sheriff’s media management sparks controversy

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Sonoma Sheriff’s media management sparks controversy

On Saturday, April 4, a Forestville man called 911 to report that 35-year-old Graton resident  Jason Anglero-Wyrick had threatened him and his family members with a gun in multiple incidents throughout the day.

Approximately 20 minutes later, around 5pm, Sonoma County Sheriff’s deputies arrived at Anglero-Wyrick’s home, according to a Monday, April 6 Sheriff’s Office press release. 

The deputies were told that Anglero-Wyrick is on parole for assault with a deadly weapon, the release said.

Relatives told officers that Anglero-Wyrick was sleeping inside the house. Eventually, Anglero-Wyrick and Naustachia Green, a 35-year-old woman, walked out of the house and approached the officers. Green, with her arms outstretched, stood between Anglero-Wyrick and the deputies, who had their guns drawn and repeatedly ordered Anglero-Wyrick, an African-American man, to crawl towards them.

What happened next has become the subject of disagreement online. The account included in the Sheriff’s press release differs drastically in tone and chronology from an 18-minute video filmed by Anglero-Wyrick’s 15-year-old relative. 

The differences have led many online commenters to openly criticize the Sheriff’s account.

“Lies. The video says different,” one man wrote below the Sheriff’s online press release days after it was released.

Crisis Management

In the years since smartphone videos of officer-involved shootings sparked a nationwide civil-rights conversation about policing in the 2010s, law-enforcement agencies have sought to counter bystanders’ videos with their own digital-communication efforts. 

In the case of the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office and other California law-enforcement agencies, reputation-management efforts involve hiring outside consultants to advise agencies on their Facebook and crisis-communications strategies. 

Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Misti Wood confirmed that Vacaville-based Cole Pro Media and Critical Incident Videos, LLC, a company which produces videos for law enforcement agencies, both worked on the agency’s response to the April 4 incident. 

Laura Cole, a former television journalist who founded both companies hired by the Sheriff’s Office, explained the need for her services in an August 2016 blog post.

“Once the media puts its spin on a story, it can be hard to break the cycle and get the facts out to the public,” Cole wrote in part.  

But the opposite is also true. Once a video which contradicts law enforcement’s account emerges, the genie is difficult to put back in the bottle. In the case of the April 4 incident, two distinctive storylines have emerged.

The Sheriff’s story is laid out in an April 6 press release titled “Two people arrested in Graton with help from K9 Vader.”

Another story is shown in an April 6 YouTube video titled “Explicit Police Brutality: Police Dog Attack.”

Timeline

On Monday, April 6, the same day the Sheriff’s Office released its press release, an 18-minute cell-phone video shot by Anglero-Wyrick’s 15-year-old relative was published on YouTube. The video quickly went viral. 

Shaun King, a journalist and civil-rights activist with a large national following, shared a portion of the video on Facebook with the caption “Jim Crow never ended. It hardly even changed. This is illegal.” 

King’s Facebook video had 2.8 million views by Wednesday, April 15. The original 18-minute video had approximately 30,000 views on Youtube on the same day. A video released by the Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday, April 7 had 43,000 views by Wednesday, April 15.

Had the 18-minute video not existed, the press release might have ended all public questions about the case. Patch.com, Sonoma West Time and News and CBS Local all published lightly-edited versions of the Sheriff’s account, which states near the top that Anglero-Wyrick “has a history of violent felonies … and is on parole for assault with a deadly weapon.”

But, the family member’s video does not match the string of events described in the press release, many online commenters say.

The bystander’s video shows the deputies firing a Taser and releasing a dog on Anglero-Wyrick at the same moment. Another deputy runs forward and pulls Green, who was standing in front of Anglero-Wyrick, to the ground.

Vader, a jet-black K9 dog, latches onto Anglero-Wyrick’s right calf for more than a minute while a deputy appears to struggle to remove the dog from Anglero-Wyrick’s leg. Meanwhile, another deputy secures handcuffs on Anglero-Wyrick, who is lying face down on the ground. The deputy then stands and points his Taser at a small crowd of people watching the scene unfold.

But, after the camera shut off, the deputies’ original reason for arresting Anglero-Wyrick fell apart, at least according to details found within the Sheriff’s April 6 press release. 

The deputies did not find a gun and “the [complainants] became uncooperative,” the release states. “[The] deputies did not include charges for the threats or gun brandishing.” 

Instead, they arrested Anglero-Wyrick for violation of parole and felony resisting arrest. After being hospitalized for his wound, he posted $5,000 bail, according to the release.

Green was arrested for “misdemeanor battery on a peace officer and misdemeanor resisting arrest” but was immediately released with a citation and an order to appear in court.

Facebook Feedback

At 10:30pm on Tuesday, April 7, hours after the Press Democrat reported on online comments noting the differences between the 18-minute video clip and the Sheriff’s press release, the Sheriff’s Office released its own video. 

The Sheriff’s eight-minute video begins with text, an audio recording of the 911 call which ultimately led officers to confront Anglero-Wyrick, a clip from a Sheriff Deputy’s chest-mounted camera and a section of the family member’s video showing Vader biting Anglero-Wyrick.

In a stream of comments about the Sheriff’s video, a divisive discussion unfolded. Some residents praised the deputies and Vader’s behavior. Others criticized the deputies’ decision making and their seeming lack of control over the dog.

Throughout the discussion, the agency’s official Facebook account jumped into the conversation, often thanking residents who praised the deputies’ conduct. 

In one since-removed comment, the Sheriff’s account wrote “Vader did a great job[.] time for a treat” in response to a woman who commented “Good dog, Vader!”

Other comments by the Sheriff’s office appear to assume Anglero-Wyrick was guilty of the original allegations—though deputies never found a gun and did not arrest him on gun-related charges.

“No gun was even found when the search was finished,” a woman commented on the Sheriff’s Facebook video. 

“We did not find a gun but they had time to dispose of it,” the Sheriff’s Office responded.

The Facebook posts sparked outrage among some county residents. Indivisible Petaluma urged members to contact the Sheriff’s Office. Many of the Sheriff’s offending posts have since been removed or edited.

In response to questions about the Sheriff’s social media policies, Wood said that “Law enforcement social media programs are still new and we’re on the leading edge. Like all new programs, there’s opportunity to adjust and improve as we go.” 

“We will make some adjustments moving forward,” Wood added.

Wood did not directly respond to a question about whether the agency has rules about commenting on on-going investigations and presumptions of guilt in social media posts. 

Open Mic: Let’s Shake on It

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Open Mic: Let’s Shake on It

By Bruce Stengl

We must, we must, we must

We must flatten the curve.

It’ll be better, better, better

So much better if we don’t swerve—

Into the Apocalypso faster,

That would be a global disaster.

There, can you see it, feel it?

There, on the ocean breeze?

Catch it, hold it, embrace it.

It’s a brand new disease!

Borne in open markets,

Exotic animals stacked in cages,

Freshly cut meats arrayed on tables.

Feces, urine—all the rages!

“Social distance,”

Watchwords of the day.

Six feet it is—

To avoid the spray.

So slow down, slow down, slow down

Don’t be a global disgrace.

Wash your hands—

And don’t touch your face!

And hoarding TP?

How completely un-PC.

So, while you’re wiping the crap from your ass?

You forgot the shit-eating grin on your face.

Gun sales have spiked,

Ammo’s disappearing,

The populace is psyched,

End Times are nearing.

Don’t rush, don’t push, don’t crush

Everyone form a line.

The President has promised a test.

“So beautiful, it’s sublime.”

So really, truly, stay at home,

Don’t go out, do not roam,

Do not run, don’t be so quick!

Please, don’t be an Apocal-dick.

Bruce Stengl lives in Sonoma County.

Verdant Veritas

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Verdant Veritas

For some, the story of cannabis in California begins with the passage of Proposition 64 in 2016. For author Frances Rivetti, however, the narrative goes well “beyond the Redwood Curtain” and into a “shrouded underbelly” larded with criminality.

Big Green Country is Rivetti’s “journalistic reconstruction into fiction of what’s really going on in this part of the world, today.” A British expat-turned-local-journalist and now-novelist, Rivetti’s first two books are the nonfiction Fog Valley Crush and Fog Valley Winter, which record the region’s farm-to-table movement and immigrant agricultural history. Though Big Green Country is a marked departure for Rivetti, at least in genre, her creative process mirrors that of her journalistic work.

“I spent the first year researching, talking to many people on both sides of the fence, growers and folks who’d grown up in Mendocino and Humboldt as well as young people, especially women who had experiences as trimmers,” Rivetti says. “I read crime reports and government reports and firsthand accounts of women who have been sex trafficked.”

Initially, she thought this process would yield a local version of A Year in Provence. Instead, she uncovered a culture of lawlessness, rural poverty, addiction and alternative medicine, a broken health care system—and the stark reality of human trafficking, all within the region known as the Emerald Triangle.

By using a reality-based backdrop, Rivetti hoped to shine a spotlight on aspects of our region that have often gone unseen.

“Every time I’ve read to a group, one or two people in attendance confessed that they had absolutely no idea any of this was happening in our region,” says Rivetti, whose characters and their experiences are fictional departures from real people and events.

In the meantime, Rivetti is considering the options for promoting Big Green Country during the shelter-in-place mandate. She was fortunate to speak to local book groups prior to the quarantine but is now considering virtual book events via apps like Zoom. 

“It’s not easy to get the word out as an indie author and I believe that now is the time for us to look at the books being written by those in our communities,” Rivetti says. “I actually think this is a revolutionary time to write and publish and I am glad that I am able to utilize my reporting skills to share important stories, via nonfiction and fiction.”

‘Big Green Country’, Fog Valley Press, 358 pages. Available locally from CopperfieldsBooks.com as well as Amazon.com. More info at FrancesRivetti.com.

Pot Pilgrimage

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Pot Pilgrimage

On a wild and crazy three-month sabbatical in Israel—before the coronavirus put a dent in international travel—Dr. Jeffrey Hergenrather, who calls himself “a cannabis-friendly physician,” kept his eyes peeled and ears open and learned Biblical-sized mountains about Israelis and weed.

Yes, the good doctor got stoned in “the Holy Land,” and yes, he caught the unmistakable whiff of weed in nifty neighborhoods. Still, he concluded there’s nothing like homegrown.

“Cannabis in California is the best in the world,” he tells me.

Once upon a time, Hergenrather’s medical colleagues thought he’d fallen off the marijuana map and down a rabbit hole. Now, most of them regard him as a medical-pot pioneer and world-renowned expert.

In 2008, when I first met him in his Sebastopol office, I’d been smoking joints and getting stoned for a couple of decades, but I had no idea how cannabis actually worked in my mind and body. Hergenrather persuaded me, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that human beings and the cannabis plant co-evolved over thousands of years and are now, chemically and biologically speaking, made for one another.

In Israel, in the laboratory of his colleague, Dedi Meiri—a world-renowned pot researcher—Hergenrather learned that some strains of cannabis kill some cancer cells, while other strains of cannabis don’t kill the same cancer cells. It’s complicated.

“I discovered that every cannabis strain is different from the next one,” Hergenrather says. “Even with identical clones, the terpenes are not identical.”

Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

For years, Israelis bought cannabis directly from farmers. Now, increasingly, Hergenrather says, they buy it at pharmacies, though like California, a black market exists.

“The government is screwing up a good thing because they see big money,” Hergenrather says. “In Israel, flower is hard to find, poor quality and overpriced at $70 a gram. Nearly everyone smokes cannabis mixed with tobacco. There are no edibles and no topicals.”

What surprised Hergenrather about Israel most of all was not the legendary cannabis research, but the country’s curious politics.

“Overall, the society seems to be working,” he says. “There’s no homelessness, no beggars and public transportation is inexpensive, but there’s something of a caste system for non-Jews.”

Did he miss Sebastopol? Yeah, but he also enjoyed the beautiful beach at Bat Galim, a community on the Mediterranean that reminded him of home. No wonder he says that, once life returns to normal, “I’d go back.”

I’ll tag along.

Jonah Raskin is the author of “Dark Day, Dark Night: A Marijuana Murder Mystery.”

Marin County Fair Canceled, Grounds Reserved for Virus Response

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Marin County Fair Canceled, Grounds Reserved for Virus Response

The 2020 Marin County Fair, scheduled for the first five days of July, is the latest summer event in Marin to cancel in the face of public health concerns over coronavirus.

County of Marin has closed the Marin Center campus and Fairgrounds since March 13 due to the shelter-in-place orders and the campus remains reserved to serve as a vital resource in its response to the COVID-19 emergency.​

While the fair is still two months out, the long-term strategy of social distancing to curb the spread of coronavirus has convinced fair staff to cancel the event in order to keep the public safe. “We understand the value of the Fair to our community, but this year we have a larger responsibility to support the County’s efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic,” said the County of Marin in a statement.

Other Marin events this summer already cancelled by the coronavirus include Mountain Play, Mill Valley Wine, Beer & Gourmet Food Tasting, Marinscapes and Marin Open Studios. The Marin County Fair will return July 1-5, 2021.

Cycling Is the Latest Activity to Go Virtual

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Cycling Is the Latest Activity to Go Virtual

North Bay bicycle coalitions have canceled classes, rides and other events through April due to the coronavirus outbreak, but several group continue to inspire and engage cyclists online.

First, the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition is holding a new weekly online Bike Chat get-together via Zoom, Wednesdays at noon. The series covers new topics of conversation each week, with a talk about “Cycling During the Pandemic” on April 15, a discussion of “Women & Cycling” on April 22 and a conversation on “Electric Bikes” scheduled for April 29.

Families can also participate in Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition’s month-long Green Sneaker Challenge, incorporating a variety of activities you can do at home, with prizes and more at bikesonoma.org.

Marin County Bicycle Coalition is kicking off its own series of virtual roundtable discussions, letting the public connect to fellow cycling enthusiasts to talk about making bicycling safer in the North Bay.

The roundtable series begins on Thursday, April 16, at 4pm via Zoom. The first virtual event will cover bicycling projects and advocacy campaigns in San Rafael, with following weeks covering topics pertaining to Southern Marin, Novato, Corte Madera and Larkspur, and Fairfax and San Anselmo. Register for the roundtable events at marinbike.org.

Napa County Bicycle Coalition is also going online, and encouraging cycling fans to participate in their #BikeNapa Photo Contest. Entries should show how cycling can be safe in the shelter-in-place situation, demonstrating social distancing on the Vine trail or elsewhere in Napa Valley. Enter the contest at napabike.org.

Our Better Nature

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The other day I awoke with a brilliant idea. I would arrive at Trader Joe’s when it opened and find newly stocked cans of fish protein on the shelves that were bare the afternoon before. Maybe there’d even be hand sanitizer that had come in during the night. I’m pretty sure had it been there, my first thought wouldn’t have been to share. Thank God I could laugh at myself when I got to the parking lot and it was busier than the day before Thanksgiving. Who was I to think I had an idea that hadn’t occurred to anyone else?

Waiting in the serpentine ‘quick’ check-out line, I struck up a conversation with the man in back of me. We agreed that personal connection is what’s helping us in present times—more of a boost to our immune systems than all the flu remedies long gone from the shelves. A friend put it more succinctly: the crazy I get if I isolate is more deadly than any flu. I remembered to thank the checker for coming in to work and got a surprised-but-pleased smile back.

Nineteen years ago on 9/11 I lay in bed terrified, sure that the planes I thought I heard in the dark were attacking us. Several times over subsequent years, I’ve startled awake to rumbling from deep in the earth and a shaking bed. Each time I’ve convinced myself the next morning that things are back to normal because everything around me looked the same. 

Not this time. This time shelves are empty, schools are closed, we’ve become a community of people peering at one another from 6 feet away over thick, white masks.  This time it affects all of us. We have to cooperate if we’re to survive. We’ve known for a long time that viral outbreaks will become more frequent and widespread. If a flu doesn’t get us, climate change will. This time we are being forced to confront not only our own vulnerability, but that of the whole planet. At least I am.

When I heard that 15 percent of people over 65 are likely to die from the virus, I felt relieved! My mind had been focused on how to get hand sanitizer, what herbs would boost my immunity and would I be the first in line at Trader Joe’s. But if I’m going to die—and at 73 that’s coming sooner rather than later—the more important question is: How do I want my living to be?

I don’t want to go back to sleep this time. I want to practice the values of kindness and connection, especially when those qualities seem puny in relation to the scale of the threat confronting us.  I know what makes living not only bearable but worthwhile, and it is my choice moment to moment whether I act accordingly.

Laura Bachman lives in San Anselmo and is a retired body worker and Sandplay therapist.

Artist-writer ignites SparkTarot

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Artist-writer ignites SparkTarot

Petaluma-native Kary Hess’ new endeavor, the SparkTarot deck, could not have come at a better time. As the world seemingly unwinds minute by the minute and navigating the phantasmagoria of coronavirus, climate change and social unrest becomes ever more chaotic amidst the town criers and unhinged madmen, our days are harrowing at best. 

“Some have asked me if the tarot can predict the outcome of the current pandemic,” says Hess, a regular Pacific Sun contributor and life partner of its editor Daedalus Howell. “Tarot can show you how you can approach the situation, creating an outcome for you. And as I always say, it’s not set in stone—if you don’t see a desirable outcome, you can always consider what you can do differently now to evoke a different outcome later.”

Hess’ new deck just might help with navigating the path in the days that lie ahead. Included in the box set she created are a deck of 78 luminous, hand-painted cards and a 178-page guidebook, which she wrote to help people interpret the cards on their own. Tarot cards are designed to help focus the seeker’s intentions; to provide a little cosmic perspective about what is and what may be; and to help meaning reveal itself through seemingly random assemblages of figures, objects and animals. 

Often dismissed as New Age or occult, the tarot is not as old as one might think. Tarot first appeared as a deck of playing cards in 15th-century Europe, becoming trendier in later centuries when used for divination. The suits associated with contemporary playing cards—spades, clubs, hearts and diamonds—varied significantly by region. The modern tarot includes five suits: triumphs, cups, wands, swords and pentacles. The SparkTarot replaces swords with serpents, and pentacles with stones.

Hess’ figures are mostly female, and intentionally represent racial diversity, making the deck not only more inclusive but opening up new possibilities for interpretations.

“Traditional tarot decks are pretty medieval; white and male oriented,” Hess says. “I wanted this deck to be diverse and feminine, so most of the cards are women, even those that are traditionally male. That said, there are a couple of potentially male characters in the deck.”

Hess has a degree in fine arts and has worked as a website and graphic designer as well as a journalist. She first became interested in creating cards as a child. 

“I’ve always loved card decks,” she says. “When I was a kid, I made a deck of playing cards with different art than the usual plain hearts, diamonds, clubs and spades. I remember thinking that the simple imagery on the playing card deck was a missed opportunity for art.”

Over the years she began creating several tarot decks but never painted more than a few cards each time.

“With this one I accidentally tricked myself into creating it,” Hess says. “My partner and I had just made a feature-length art film and one night we were watching an Agnès Varda movie, Cléo from 5 to 7, to get inspiration for the next film. The opening sequence was a tarot reading. I said, ‘We need a tarot scene in the next film.’” 

As the film’s production designer, she very practically decided she only needed to make nine cards for the shot. 

“After creating the nine cards, I was on a roll,” she says. “After seven months, I’d painted the entire tarot deck, posted the cards on Instagram as I went, wrote a corresponding guidebook and started a business around it.”

Hence, the “Spark.”

Her art supplies all fit into a portable bag, so she was able to paint most of the cards at cafés around the Bay Area.

“I painted each card very deliberately and with absolute focus on the meaning behind it,” Hess says. “I considered older decks, looked at the imagery, decided what the core experience needed to be and began sketching. After one to three sketches, I’d have my image. Then I drew it into a watercolor sketchbook and painted it. I’d listen to inspiring music or podcasts while painting.”

In the conception phase of SparkTarot, Hess sought to create a deck that leaned towards life’s potential and away from ominous foreboding.

“The imagery on the SparkTarot deck isn’t created to be scary, so it doesn’t cause troubling readings visually, which some decks can do,” Hess says, addressing doubters and those afraid of what a reading will reveal. “As far as the readings themselves, when I read tarot I help guide people to see how they can approach an issue based on their current situation, so they are always in control of how they choose to react.”

Hess’ cards connect phantom threads that stitch together imagery, intention and the latest theories in physics.

“The Tarot has long been considered ‘woo-woo’ or ‘magic,’ but it might also be a perfect example of the quantum concept of collapse,” she writes in her blog. “Wave function collapse—known as the ‘Copenhagen interpretation’—was discovered by Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg, and is the proposal that all outcomes of a situation exist simultaneously—also called ‘superposition’—until an observer takes action by observing, which then collapses the possibilities into one state or another.”

Hess, who radiates a youthful glow in her late 40s, believes learning how to take spiritual guidance into one’s own hands is needed now more than ever. 

“It has been so fulfilling to use my skills of painting, writing and graphic design with a spiritual project that is also really helpful to people looking for their next steps in life,” she says.

Hess believes tarot can both deepen and heal one’s broken connections to others and the natural world by simply helping them tune into their own process, using imagery with the universe as a guide. 

“What is great about tarot is that it is a simple, personal way to see your next step,” Hess says. “Sometimes life can be overwhelming or confusing, and it’s great to have the path illuminated, even just a little bit.”

Hess explains how when one reads tarot, intentions infuse the cards, which informs how their imagery is interpreted. Because the cards represent aspects of life, it’s as if the universe participates in making sense of them—and by extension, one’s own life.

“Maybe someday science will really explain what seems like magic to us now,” Hess says. “Malleable time, possibilities manifested with intention. But for now, we have tarot.” 

And what better way to re-enchant the psychic forest in these trying times, than with a little magic? 

To learn more, visit SparkTarot.com.

DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS: The print and initial web version of this story failed to disclose that the story’s subject, Kary Hess, is in a relationship with editor Daedalus Howell. It is this publication’s policy for editorial personnel to recuse themselves from stories in which they have a material conflict of interest, which was not done in this case. The Pacific Sun apologizes for this error.

Reporters Win Awards

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Reporters Win Awards

The California News Publishers Association (CNPA) honored the Bohemian last week with two awards for articles published last year.

The Bohemian won first place in Investigative Reporting for a Weekly Newspaper and fifth place for Arts & Entertainment Coverage.

Bohemian-contributor Peter Byrne and Bohemian news reporter Will Carruthers won first place in the Investigative Reporting category for “Charity Case,” their November article about the Rebuild North Bay Foundation.

“Charity Case,” part of the “Power Brokers” series, scrutinized the actions of the Rebuild North Bay Foundation, a PG&E-funded nonprofit founded by Darius Anderson, a lobbyist and an owner of the Press Democrat and other North Bay newspapers.

The Fund for Investigative Journalism supports “The Power Brokers” series, which receives pro-bono legal assistance from attorneys at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

Bohemian Arts Editor Charlie Swanson won a fifth-place award in the Arts & Entertainment category for “Welcome to Lumaville,” his article about Pill Head, a 2019 film featuring Petaluma (the film was directed by Bohemian Editor Daedalus Howell prior to his tenure at the paper).

Judicial Council Halts Evictions, Foreclosures

The board which oversees California’s state court system has ordered an end to most eviction and foreclosure proceedings until 90 days after the state declares an end to the coronavirus pandemic emergency declaration.

At a meeting on Monday, April 6, the Judicial Council of California passed an emergency order demanding courts halt almost all eviction and foreclosure proceedings during the crisis whether or not they are directly related to lost income due to the coronavirus. The order follows a number of actions taken by local and state lawmakers meant to slow evictions and foreclosures during the crisis.

The Judicial Council’s eviction protections are broader than most previous statewide protections, but still leave a few questions unanswered, according to an analysis by the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation.

For instance, although the order removes the burden from tenants to respond to eviction cases filed during the crisis, tenants will still owe back-rent after the crisis is over. 

The order also prohibits courts from issuing decisions in foreclosure cases during the crisis. Eviction and foreclosure cases that are deemed necessary for public health and safety reasons will be allowed to continue.

However, there are still unanswered questions. Citing concerns that renters and mortgage holders will be burdened with thousands of dollars in back-payments once they return to work, housing advocates are still pushing for rent and mortgage forgiveness paired with assistance from government agencies.

Letters

Thanks for the Lit Extra appreciation for your recent issue (“Spring Lit,” April 1), given the sad state of journalism/newspapers in general, but especially during a global crisis affecting everyone, everywhere.  Such a joy to discover new author Edward Campagnola, whose book I just ordered thanks to your giving equal space to writers, sheltered or not. And, to add a new-to-me...
Read more

Sonoma Sheriff’s media management sparks controversy

On Saturday, April 4, a Forestville man called 911 to report that 35-year-old Graton resident  Jason Anglero-Wyrick had threatened him and his family members with a gun in multiple incidents throughout the day. Approximately 20 minutes later, around 5pm, Sonoma County Sheriff’s deputies arrived at Anglero-Wyrick’s home, according to a Monday, April 6 Sheriff’s Office press release.  The deputies were told...
Read more

Open Mic: Let’s Shake on It

By Bruce Stengl We must, we must, we must We must flatten the curve. It’ll be better, better, better So much better if we don’t swerve— Into the Apocalypso faster, That would be a global disaster. There, can you see it, feel it? There, on the ocean breeze? Catch it, hold it, embrace it. It’s a brand new disease! Borne in open markets, Exotic animals stacked in cages, Freshly cut meats arrayed...
Read more

Verdant Veritas

For some, the story of cannabis in California begins with the passage of Proposition 64 in 2016. For author Frances Rivetti, however, the narrative goes well “beyond the Redwood Curtain” and into a “shrouded underbelly” larded with criminality. Big Green Country is Rivetti’s “journalistic reconstruction into fiction of what’s really going on in this part of the world, today.” A...
Read more

Pot Pilgrimage

On a wild and crazy three-month sabbatical in Israel—before the coronavirus put a dent in international travel—Dr. Jeffrey Hergenrather, who calls himself “a cannabis-friendly physician,” kept his eyes peeled and ears open and learned Biblical-sized mountains about Israelis and weed. Yes, the good doctor got stoned in “the Holy Land,” and yes, he caught the unmistakable whiff of weed in...
Read more

Marin County Fair Canceled, Grounds Reserved for Virus Response

The 2020 Marin County Fair, scheduled for the first five days of July, is the latest summer event in Marin to cancel in the face of public health concerns over coronavirus. County of Marin has closed the Marin Center campus and Fairgrounds since March 13 due to the shelter-in-place orders and the campus remains reserved to serve as a...
Read more

Cycling Is the Latest Activity to Go Virtual

North Bay bicycle coalitions have canceled classes, rides and other events through April due to the coronavirus outbreak, but several group continue to inspire and engage cyclists online. First, the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition is holding a new weekly online Bike Chat get-together via Zoom, Wednesdays at noon. The series covers new topics of conversation each week, with...
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Our Better Nature

The other day I awoke with a brilliant idea. I would arrive at Trader Joe’s when it opened and find newly stocked cans of fish protein on the shelves that were bare the afternoon before. Maybe there’d even be hand sanitizer that had come in during the night. I’m pretty sure had it been there, my first thought wouldn’t...
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Artist-writer ignites SparkTarot

Petaluma-native Kary Hess’ new endeavor, the SparkTarot deck, could not have come at a better time. As the world seemingly unwinds minute by the minute and navigating the phantasmagoria of coronavirus, climate change and social unrest becomes ever more chaotic amidst the town criers and unhinged madmen, our days are harrowing at best.  “Some have asked me if the tarot...
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Reporters Win Awards

The California News Publishers Association (CNPA) honored the Bohemian last week with two awards for articles published last year. The Bohemian won first place in Investigative Reporting for a Weekly Newspaper and fifth place for Arts & Entertainment Coverage. Bohemian-contributor Peter Byrne and Bohemian news reporter Will Carruthers won first place in the Investigative Reporting category for “Charity Case,” their November...
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