These are interesting times we live in without a doubt.
Wherever you look in our nation, whether it be Washington D.C. or this county’s seat, people are not being represented by the very people who are supposed to be looking out for our best interests. That’s clearly not occurring.
This paper’s role has always been to act as an advocate for good government. Not perfect government but a government that understands, believes, and acts that their primary role is to solve problems not create them.
As I’m always saying, “Problems just don’t happen, people make them happen.”
And there are far too many people in government creating problems instead of solving them.
And in all levels of government there are way too many people who think and act as if they’re the only ones who truly know what is best for the people they are elected to serve. That situation could be rectified overnight if elected officials would shut up, cease speaking down to people, and actually listen to those they are supposed to represent. There’s a reason why the Great Spirit In The Sky gave everybody two ears but just one mouth. Our elected officials haven’t figured that out yet. And they never will unless we teach them.
Now in the post-legalization era with the collapse and failure of both the state and Mendocino County Cannabis programs, what do we have?
Last week I said we have the situation where two-thirds of the citizens who live in the unincorporated areas have seen their once stable local economies devastated and undermined by this county’s failed Cannabis Ordinance.
In the Laytonville area alone we have experienced the closure of the historic Boomers Bar and restaurant, the Wheels Cafe and Bar, the Weathertop Nursery, the Long Valley Building Supply and Lumber Yard, and the one-year closure of the town’s Long Valley Market. School enrollment is down.
And just this week, Jesse “Fuzzy” Louth, owner of the Game Portal, announced he is closing his business
The Laytonville Food Bank has more than doubled in providing services to the families and individuals who are now reliant on it for basic food needs.
The Laytonville County Water District is all but insolvent due to the loss of one-third of our revenues directly linked to the failed Cannabis Ordinance.
Sheriff Matt Kendall said recently some areas of this County have become a hotbed of illicit cannabis activity with cartel activity and murders.
You know the old saying about “God helps those who help themselves.” Well, hats off to the folks who staged the Inaugural Mendo Cup, hosted by the Mendocino Producers Guild and held in Willits at the Little Lake Grange last weekend.
Three people I know quite well and consider friends, Nikki Lastreto, Swami Chaitanya, and Traci Pellar were instrumental in helping pull off the successful event. The trio has been in the vanguard of those trying to overcome this county’s failed experiment with weed legalization. Even my daughter Jayma and son-in-law Roland pitched in and helped out at the Cup, even though neither one smokes or grows weed. I don’t grow or smoke the stuff either, but I sure as hell have profited from pot, given my ownership of a private sector business, the Mendocino County Observer, and as the General Manager of the public sector Laytonville Water District. The same is true for every person who resides in Mendocino County.
So the Cup is an example of people getting together and engaging in creative problem-solving trying to resuscitate our wrecked local economies.
They all were there because we’ve learned the hard way that most county officials don’t solve problems, they just create them.
A goose with a straw nest filled with golden eggs was a main attraction at the Mendo Cup. For anyone not familiar with the history of cannabis legalization in this county, ponder for a moment Aesop’s Fable of “The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs.” The Golden Goose story teaches us that greed can lead to great loss. Ring any bells?
After I received Nikki Lastreto’s report on the Cup event, I sent her an email: “Thoroughly enjoyed your report along with the photos. As I scrolled through the photos, the Numero Uno standout was the Golden Goose. Literally, it is the picture worth a thousand words. It captured the whole miserable history of the dysfunction and ineptitude surrounding the general chaos and socio destabilization and economic ruination that is the result of this damnable cannabis ordinance.”
Here’s Nikki’s report:
Inaugural Mendo Cup Big Hit, Draws Big Crowd
By Nikki Lasteto
The Inaugural Mendo Cup, hosted by the Mendocino Producers Guild and held in Willits at the LIttle Lake Grange on Sunday, May 4, was a huge hit!. The sold out event featured 34 licensed cannabis farmers from our beloved County vying for the coveted Top 5 awards for their sun-grown flowers.
It was not an easy decision for the 12 amazingly skilled Judges who gathered the day before at AREA 101 for eight solid hours of precise appraisals based on the appearance, aroma, taste and, of course, effects of the entries. But they did it!
Sunday’s gathering at The Grange was a HIGHly anticipated event attended by 400 people from near and far. The main hall was transformed into a colorful melange of vendors offering food, drinks and crafts, historical offerings from Richard Jergenson’s Cannabis Archives, and several of the farmers displaying their best flowers. No sales were conducted but guests were invited to smell and see possibly the best and purest cannabis in the world. On the stage was a subtle comment about the state of cannabis politics in Mendocino County — a goose with golden eggs. Hopefully, an event like the Mendo Cup will remind the powers that be of the true potential in this County offered by its very talented cannabis farmers.
Outside was the very lively comfortable smoking lounge area that literally was smokin’ all day! OG growers mingled with interested consumers, the Press and Dispensary owners. Some of the real originals came out of the woodwork along with younger 2nd and 3rd generation Mendo growers.
Our favorite Laytonvillian performer and emcee, the amazing Mademoiselle Michelle, introduced Tribal Elder Ron Lincoln who called everyone together for a traditional Wailaki opening to the awards ceremony on the inside stage. John Hascchak was the only supervisor to show up or even answer the invitation for that matter. Local cannabis luminaries followed, such a poet Kirk Lupkin, Comedienne Ma Sherry Glaser, cannabis attorney and advocate Omar Figueroa and Traci Pellar who represented MPG. At just about 4:20, naturally, Cup Producer Nikki Lasteto and Swami Chaitanya came on stage to finally announce the 5 Top Flower cultivators plus the Best Breeder in the County: #1 Sarah, David & Flynn O’DonnellLower Eastside Comptche; #2 Jesse Robertson, Willits; #3 Susan & Phil Crews, Cherrycreek; #4 Marty Clein, Round Valley; #5 Joseph Haggard Noyo Watershed; and Best Breeder: Jesse Robertson, Willits.
It was an emotional moment for them as their many years of devotion to the plant came to fruition.
The party went on until 8:00 when the very mellow crowd faded away back into the peace of a perfect Mendocino night.
Jim Shields is the Mendocino County Observer’s editor and publisher, observer@pacific.net, the long-time district manager of the Laytonville County Water District, and is also chairman of the Laytonville Area Municipal Advisory Council. Listen to his radio program “This and That” every Saturday at noon on KPFN 105.1 FM, also streamed live: www.kpfn.org
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