“Widespread publicity may create an environment where prosecutors feel they have to charge Burrell “to be supportive of the police.”
UKIAH RESIDENT LATEST VICTIM OF MENDOCINO COUNTIES VERSION OF “TRIED IN THE PRESS”!
UKIAH POLICE USE MEDIA SMEAR CAMPAIGN TO DISCREDIT LOCAL TEACHER FALSELY ACCUSED OF MARIJUANA CULTIVATION!
POLICE AND PROSECUTORS KNEW WITHIN 48 HOURS THAT TEACHER JEFF BURRELL WAS INNOCENT, AND EVEN HAD A SIGNED STATEMENT BY CO-DEFENDANT CLEARING BURRELL OF ANY KNOWLEDGE OF ILLEGAL ACTIVITY.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT MENDOCINO’S STYLE OF “TRIED IN THE PRESS’ STYLE OF PERSECUTION READ:
By M. GENIELLA
as appeared in THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
UKIAH - Attorneys for a veteran Ukiah High School teacher facing felony marijuana cultivation charges lashed local police Monday for unfairly creating a “media blitz” surrounding the high-profile case.
David Eyster, an attorney for teacher Jeff Burrell, said police and prosecutors were aware within 48 hours of the arrest that a co-defendant had signed a statement clearing Burrell of any involvement.
“Mr. Burrell is a respected member of the community, as is his wife, and frankly, it is hurtful for them, their children and their friends to read what so far is unsubstantiated attacks on Mr. Burrell’s character,” said Eyster.
Burrell is scheduled to be arraigned on May 21. In the meantime, Eyster said he fears widespread publicity may create an environment where prosecutors feel they have to charge Burrell “to be supportive of the police.”
Burrell, 50, and friend Steven Laino, 46, were arrested last week after Ukiah police and members of the county’s Major Crimes Task Force raided a commercial-style marijuana growing operation inside a rented warehouse.
Burrell, a Ukiah teacher since 1986, was immediately placed on leave pending outcome of the criminal case. Both men were released from Mendocino County Jail on $30,000 bail each.
Police said Laino told investigators that he and Burrell were in “deep financial debt,” and that they had agreed to set up the indoor pot operation, sell the crops and split any proceeds “50-50.”
But in a signed statement provided by Burrell’s attorneys, Laino said the teacher was not involved in the marijuana operation and did not have any financial interest in it. The two men shared the warehouse space and the rent, he said.
“Jeff was aware that I was trying to grow marijuana in my part of the warehouse, but he was not part of it at all,” wrote Laino.
Laino said he alone hired two men to construct what police described as self-contained marijuana growing rooms, and a processing area.
Eyster said Burrell is outraged that police have portrayed him as a partner in the operation.
Laino couldn’t be reached for comment Monday. Deputy District Attorney Scott McMenomy did not return calls. Police Chief Chris Dewey was out of the office Monday and in training, said a spokeswoman.
Burrell’s most recent teaching assignment was working with students who needed extra academic help. A Humboldt State University graduate, Burrell is a former girls’ basketball coach at the high school. Burrell, a former standout athlete at Mendocino College and Humboldt, was inducted into the Mendocino College Hall of Fame in 2006.
ASK ANY OLD TIMER IN MENDOCINO “WHO RUNS THE COUNTY?”, MANY WHO WERE ALIVE IN THE TWENTIES WILL TELL YOU “IT’S THE FREEMASONS”, HERE IS A LITTLE INSIGHT ON THE FREEMASONS AND WHAT THEIR ORDER REPRESENTS, PLENTY OF JUDGES, POLICE AND SHERIFFS AS WELL AS MOST PAST COMMUNITY DECISION MAKERS AND MEN OF LOCAL POLITICAL POWER HAVE BEEN MEMBERS OF THE MASONIC ORDER IN MENDOCINO COUNTY, OUR CURRENT SHERIFF, TOM ALLMAN IS SELF DESCRIBED AS A “PAST GRANDMASTER” OF THE WILLITS MASONIC LODGE, WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR MENDOCINO? HOW MANY LOCAL OFFICIALS ARE PART OF THESE ANCIENT “SECRET ORDERS”?
This statue sits atop of the Masonic Lodge (now the American Savings Bank) in the town of Mendocino Carved out of a single Redwood log on the beach below Mendocino, is a Masonic emblem, the broken pillar the maiden beside it, with the sprig in her hand, and old father Time toying with her tresses.”
“The different styles of architecture are handsomely represented by pillars on the sides of the wall which seem to be sustaining the dome of the “starry heavens,” in which are represented two of the great lights of the Order. On the pinnacle of the dome there is a beautiful piece of sculpture carved from a block of the indigenous redwood. It represents the beautiful Masonic emblem, the broken pillar the maiden beside it, with the sprig in her hand, and old father Time toying with her tresses. The execution of the design is very perfect, and speaks volumes for the skill and ability of the workman who produced it. There it ever stands, visible to all who enter the town or pass through its streets, proclaiming in silent majesty, that grandest of all lessons which the teachings of this worthy fraternity seek to inculcate.” from,
History of Mendocino County California - Alley, Bowen & Co., San Francisco, 1880
The Mendocino Masonic Temple
The secret order of the Freemasons has been around since the Knights Templar. Their main focus is on brotherhood and finding ways to help and better one another personally as well as in the community. Many communities in Mendocino County had their first court of law inside the local Masonic Temple. The Masonic Hall in Mendocino Town was built over a century ago in 1866, by Erik Albertson and John Gschwend. Eric Albertson is also responsible for sculpting the statue on top of the hall out of a giant Redwood trunk which he sculpted on Big River beach where he lived and died shortly after.On July 3, 1865, Eleven Mason’s assembled to formulate plans for organizing a lodge and on November 4,1865, they held their first meeting. Eric Albertson was named Worshipful master.
On December 30, 1865, they voted to take steps in the building of the hall on a piece of land that was transferred to them by William Hesser and on January 27, 1866, they elected trustees to oversee the construction of the hall that had been proposed. On February 24, 1866, Eric Albertson was awarded a $1000 contract to build the lodge. So the lodge was built and on November 27, 1866, the lodge held its first chartered meeting.
The statue above the Masonic hall is the best known landmark in Mendocino and people come form all over to see it. To this day the true meaning of the statue is held secret by the Mason’s and give only this explanation:”The figures depicted are used by the Masons’ in their ritual work and thereby unknown to persons except Mason’s,” stated Wilber Wade (lodge master) in a LA Times article (3 Dec. 1989). Each part of the statue holds a certain meaning, for example, the broken column shown with father time and the weeping virgin standing over a book is symbolic of mourning. The statue consists of many elements which as one Mason put it, all he could say was that all parts of the statue together mean “time, patience, and perseverance will accomplish all things.”
“That statue really should not be there”, said Fran Lewis (an assistant grand secretary of the Grand Masonic Lodge of California) in the same LA Times article. “It should never have been done. Technically, according to our beliefs, it is something that should not be publicly displayed”
Free and Accepted Masons. — Mendocino Lodge, No. 179, was organized under dispensation October, 1865, and the charter was granted in October, 1866. The officers under dispensation were : E. J. Albertson, W. M.; William Heeser, S. W. ; George R. Lowell, J. W.; R. G. Coombs, Treasurer ; G. Canning Smith, Secretary. The charter members were : E. J. Albertson, William Heeserer, George R. Lowell, F. B. Lowell, G. Canning Smith, J. Gschwind, S. Coombs, R. G. Coombs, I. Stevens, and William Booth. The first officers under the charter were: E. J. Albertson, W. M.; G. R. Lowell, S. W.; Alfred Nelson, Jr., J. W.; G. Hegenmeyer, Treasurer; and A. Chalfant, Secretary. The following named members have filled the position of W. M.: E. J. Albertson, George R. Lowell, A. Chalfant, Alfred Nelson Jr., B. A. Paddleford, Frank E. Warren, F. Hailing, and J. P. Lindberg. The present officers are : J. P. Lindberg, W. M.; C. O. Packard, S. W.; J. Grindle, J. W.; G. Hegenmeyer, Treasurer ; Frank E. Warren, Secretary.* The present membership is fifty-nine, and they have made one hundred and three members since the organization of the lodge. In 1866 an enterprise was put on foot by the members of this lodge by which they were enabled to build a fine hall for their use. A stock company was organized, and the shares of stock were sold for $100 each, which were readily disposed of to the required amount. These shares of stock were bought in from time to time by the lodge as money accumulated in the treasury, until at the present time it is all in the hands of the Order. The building cost $6,000 and is not fully completed yet. When all the projected plans for the building are fully carried to a successful issue, it will be one of the handsomest lodge”
The story of the broken column was first illustrated by Amos Doolittle in the “true Masonic Chart” by Jeremy Cross, published in 1819.
Other symbols in the Masonic system are more recent. Perhaps they are not the less important for that, even without the sanctity of age which surrounds many others.
Among the newer symbols is that usually referred to as the broken column. A marble monument is respectably ancient - the broken column seems a more recent addition. There seems to be no doubt that the first pictured broken column appeared in Jeremy Cross’s True Masonic Chart, published in 1819, and that the illustration was the work of Amos Doolittle, an engraver, of Connecticut.
o invented printing from movable type? We give the credit to Gutenberg, but there are other claimants, among them the Chinese at an earlier date. Who invented the airplane? The Wrights first flew a “mechanical bird” but a thousand inventors have added to, altered, changed their original design, until the very principle which first enabled the Wrights to fly, the “warping wing”, is now discarded and never used. Therefore, if authorities argue and contend about the marble monument and broken column it is not to make objection or take credit from Jeremy Cross; the thought is that almost any invention or discovery is improved, changed, added to and perfected by many men. Edison is credited with the first incandescent lamp, but there is small kinship between his carbon filament and a modern tungsten filament bulb. Roentgen was first to bring the “x-ray” to public notice-the discoverer would not know what a modern physician’s x-ray apparatus was if he saw it! In the library of the Grand Lodge of Iowa in Cedar Rapids, is a book published in 1784; “A BRIEF HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY” by Thomas Johnson, at that time the Tiler of the Grand Lodge of England (the “Moderns”). In this book the author states that he was “taken the liberty to introduce a Design for a Monument in Honor of a Great Artist.” He then admits that there is no historical account of any such memorial but cites many precedents of “sumptuous Piles” which perpetuate the memories and preserve the merits of the historic dead, although such may have been buried in lands far from the monument or “perhaps in the depth of the Sea”. In this somewhat fanciful and poetic description of this monument, the author mentions an urn, a laurel branch, a sun, a moon, a Bible, square and compasses, letter G. The book was first published in 1782, which seems proof that there was
at that time at least the idea of a monument erected to the Master Builder.
There is little historical material upon which to draw to form any accurate conclusions. Men write of what has happened long after the happenings. Even when faithful to their memories, these may be, and often are, inaccurate. It is with this thought in mind that a curious statement in the Masonic newspaper, published in New York seventy-fiveyears ago, must be considered. In the issue of May 10, 1879, a Robert B. Folger purports to give Cross’ account of his invention, or discovery, an inclusion, of the broken column into the marble monument emblem.
The account is long, rambling and at times not too clear. Abstracted, the salient parts are as follows. Cross found or sensed what he considered a deficiency in the Third Degree which had to be filled in order to effect his purposes. He consulted a former Mayor of New Haven, who at the time was one of his most intimate friends. Even after working together for a week, they did not hit upon any symbol which would be sufficiently simple and yet answer the purpose. Then a Copper-plate engraver, also a brother, was called in. The number of hieroglyphics which had be this time accumulated was immense. Some were too large, some too small, some too complicated, requiring too much explanation and many were not adapted to the subject.
Finally, the copper-plate engraver said, “Brother Cross, when great men die, they generally have a monument.” “That’s right!” cried Cross; “I never thought of that!” He visited the burying-ground in New Haven. At last he got an idea and told his friends that he had the foundation of what he wanted. He said that while in New York City he had seen a monument in the southwest corner of Trinity Church yard erected over Commodore Lawrence, a great man who fell in battle. It was a large marble pillar, broken off. The broken part had been taken away, but the capital was lying at the base. He wanted that pillar for the foundation of his new emblem, but intended to bring in the other part, leaving it resting against the base. This his friends assented to, but more was wanted. They felt that some inscription should be on the column. after a length discussion they decided upon an open book to be placed upon the broken pillar. There should of course be some reader of the book! Hence the emblem of innocence-a beautiful virgin-who should weep over the memory of the deceased while she read of his heroic deeds from the book before her.
The monument erected to the memory of Commodore Lawrence was placed in the southwest corner of Trinity Churchyard in 1813, after the fight between the frigates
Chesapeake and Shannon, in which battle Lawrence fell. As described, it was a beautiful marble pillar, broken off, with a part of the capital laid at its base. lt remained until 1844-5 at which time Trinity Church was rebuilt. When finished, the corporation of the Church took away the old and dilapidated Lawrence monument and erected a new one in a different form, placing it in the front of the yard on Broadway, at the lower entrance of the Church. When Cross visited the new monument, he expressed great disappointment at the change, saying “it was not half as good as the one they took away!”
These claims of Cross-perhaps made for Cross-to having originated the emblem are disputed. Oliver speaks of a monument but fails to assign an American origin. In the Barney ritual of 1817, formerly in the possession of Samuel Wilson of Vermont, there is the marble column, the beautiful virgin weeping, the open book, the sprig of acacia, the urn, and Time standing behind. What is here lacking is the broken column. Thus it appears that the present emblem, except the broken column, was in use prior to the publication of Cross’ work (1819).
The emblem in somewhat different form is frequently found in ancient symbolism. Mackey states that with the Jews a column was often used to symbolize princes, rulers or nobles. A broken column denoted that a pillar of the state had fallen. In Egyptian mythology, Isis is sometimes pictured weeping over the broken column which conceals the body of her husband Osiris, while behind her stands Horus or Time pouring ambrosia on her hair. In Hasting’s ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGION AND ETHICS, Isis is said sometimes to be represented standing; in her right hand is a sistrum, in her left hand a small ewer and on her forehead is a lotus, emblem of resurrection. In the Dionysaic Mysteries, Dionysius is represented as slain; Rhea goes in search of the body. She finds it and causes it to be buried. She is sometimes represented as standing by a column holding in her hand a sprig of wheat, emblem of immortality; since, though it be placed in the ground and die, it springs up again into newness of life. She was the wife of Kronus or Time, who may fittingly be represented as standing behind her.
Whoever invented the emblem or symbol of the marble monument, the broken column, the beautiful virgin, the book, the urn, the acacia, Father Time counting the ringlets of hair, could not have thought through all the implications of this attempt-doubtless made in all reverence-to add to the dignity and impressiveness of the story of the Master Builder.
The urn in which “ashes were safely deposited” is pure invention. Cremation was not practiced by the Twelve Tribes; it was not the method of disposing of the dead in the land and at the time of the building of the Temple. rather was the burning of the dead body reserved as a dreadful fate for the corpses of criminals and evil doers. That so great a man as “the widow’s son, of the tribe of Naphtali” should have been cremated is unthinkable. The Bible is silent on the subject; it does not mention Hiram the Builder’s death, still less the disposal of the body, but the whole tone of the Old Testament in description of funerals and mournings, make it impossible to believe that his body was burned, or that his ashes might have been preserved.
The Israelites did not embalm their dead; burial was accomplished on the day of death or, at the longest wait, on the day following. According to the legend, the Master Builder was disinterred from the first or temporary grave and reinterred with honor. That is indeed, a supposable happening; that his body was raised only to be cremated is wholly out of keeping with everything known of deaths, funeral ceremonies, disposal of the dead of the Israelites.
In the ritual which describes the broken column monument, before the figure of the virgin is “a book, open before her.” Here again invention and knowledge did not go hand in hand. There were no books at the time of the building of the Temple, as moderns understand the word. there were rolls of skins, but a bound book of leaves made of any substance-vellum, papyrus, skins-was an unknown object. Therefore there could have been no such volume in which the virtues of the Master Builder were recorded.
No logical reason has been advanced why the woman who mourned and read in the book was a “beautiful virgin.” No scriptural account tells of the Master Builder having wife or daughter or any female relative except his mother. The Israelites reverenced womanhood and appreciated virginity, but they were just as reverent over mother and
child. Indeed, the bearing of children, the increase of the tribe, the desire for sons, was strong in the Twelve Tribes; why, then, the accent upon the virginity of the woman in the monument? “Time standing behind her, unfolding and counting the ringlets of her hair” is dramatic, but also out of character for the times. “Father Time” with his scythe is probably a descendant of the Greek Chromos, who carried a sickle or reaping hook, but the Israelites had no contact with Greece. It may have been natural for whoever invented the marble monument emblem to conclude that Time was both a world-wide and a time immemorial symbolic figure, but it could not have been so at the era in which Solomon’s Temple was built.
It evidently did not occur to the originators of this emblem that it was historically impossible. Yet the Israelites did not erect monuments to their dead. In the singular, the word “monument” does not occur in the Bible; as “monuments” it is mentioned once, in Isaiah 65 - “A people…which remain among the graves and lodge in the monuments.” In the Revised Version this is translated “who sit in tombs and spend the night in secret places.” The emphasis is apparently upon some form of worship of the dead (necromancy). The Standard Bible Dictionary says that the word “monument” in the general sense of a simple memorial does not appear in Biblical usage. Oliver Day Street in “SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES” says that the urn was an ancient sign of mourning, carried in funeral processions to catch the tears of those who grieved. But the word “urn” does not occur in the Old Testament nor the New.
Freemasonry is old. It came to us as a slow, gradual evolution of the thoughts, ideas, beliefs, teachings, idealism of many men through many years. It tells a simple story-a story profound in its meaning, which therefore must be simple, as all great truths in the last analysis are simple.
The marble monument and the broken column have many parts. Many of these have the aroma of age. Their weaving together into one symbol may be-probably is-a modernism, if that term can cover a period of nearly two hundred years. but the importance of a great life, his skill and knowledge; his untimely and pitiful death is not a modernism.
Mendo is a great place to live with beautiful nature, good people, healthy communities, and progressive ideas. We love life here and know you do too. Part of what makes this county so great are the grassroots groups working voluntarily to benefit our local and global communities. They can only do this with your support.
Mendo Grow Fund is an innovative new community program to support local all-volunteer organizations through a mix of donor designated funds and grassroots grants. The funds will help nurture local projects into financially sustainable organizations by providing vital seed money for groups getting started and workable budgets for project-based initiatives. Like Mother Nature, the fund reflects a healthy balance of cooperation and competition.
Mendo Grow Fund intends to increase philanthropy and civic participation and grassroots community organizing throughout Mendocino County. Through a democratic online grant distribution process, the community controlled initiative is intended to help fund the future and put us further along the path to bioregional sustainability.
Let’s work together to help Mendo grow sustainably the way the community envisions.
Fair share. Fair say. Fair day! All donations are shared equally 3 ways.
30% goes to the organization(s) of the donor’s choice from the list participating local all-volunteer groups;
30% gets divided equally between all participating groups;
30% goes into the a community grant fund. Groups apply for grants through a donor guided grantwiki and are awarded funds through a donor decided distribution vote;
10% goes to cover costs, stuff like bookkeeping, accounting, legal, promotion, web expenses, etc.
The People of the County of Mendocino ordain as follows:
“THE REPEAL OF (MEASURE G) MENDOCINO COUNTY CODE CHAPTER 9.36 CANNABIS PERSONAL USE ORDINANCE FOR MENDOCINO COUNTY, AND ADOPTION OF NEW GUIDELINES FOR MAINTENANCE AND POSSESSION OF MEDICAL MARIJUANA THAT DO NOT EXCEED THE MINIMUM STATE LIMITS:
Section I: Purpose.
The purpose of this ordinance is to eliminate the abuses created by the increased and uncontrolled production of recreational and medical marijuana while protecting the rights of legitimate medical marijuana patients and primary caregivers. It does so by repealing Measure G and establishing guidelines for possession of medical marijuana for medical purposes that are consistent with state law.
Section 2: Findings.
1. On November 6, 1996 the people of the State of California enacted the Compassionate Use Act of 1996 known as Proposition 215, which permits seriously ill residents of the state, who have a doctor’s recommendation, to use or possess marijuana for medical purposes without fear of criminal liability. Proposition 215 is codified in Health and Safety Code section 11362.5
2. On November 7, 2000, the voters of Mendocino County approved an initiative known as Measure G (administratively codified as Mendocino County Code Chapter 9.36), the stated purposed of which was to establish a maximum limit of plants and weight for cultivation and possession of marijuana for personal medical and recreational use in Mendocino County, and prohibit the expenditure of public funds for the enforcement of marijuana laws against cultivators and users in possession of quantities below that limit, which was identified by the Measure as twenty-five (25) adult flowering female marijuana plants or the equivalent in dried marijuana.
3. On October 12, 2003, the Governor of the State of California signed SB 420. Codified in sections 11362.7 through 11362.83 of the Health and Safety Code, SB 4320 was adopted to address implementation of Proposition 215 and to facilitate the prompt identification of qualified patients and their designated primary caregivers in order to avoid unnecessary arrests and prosecution of these individuals.
4. SB 420 establishes minimum guidelines for the maintenance and possession of medical marijuana. Health and Safety Code section 11362.77(a)-(f) provides that a qualified patient or primary caregiver may possess no more than eight ( ounces of dried marijuana per qualified patient and that a qualified patient or primary caregiver may also maintain no more than six (6) mature or twelve (12) immature plants per qualified patient. If a qualified patient or primary caregiver has a doctor’s recommendation that this quantity does not meet the qualified patient’s needs, the qualified patient or primary caregiver may possess an amount that is consistent with the qualified patient’s needs.
5. Health and Safety Code section 11362.7 ( c ) allows counties and cities to retain or enact medical marijuana guidelines allowing qualified patients or primary caregivers to exceed the state limits.
6. On August 7, 2007, the Board of Supervisors, in accordance with Health and Safety Code section 11362.77( c) and recognizing the stated purpose of Measure G as it related to medical use only, adopted a policy, which allowed qualified patients or primary caregivers to maintain twenty-five (25) plants and to possess nor more than two (2) pounds dried marijuana per qualified patient.
7. The effect of Measure G has been to increase public safety issues surrounding the uncontrolled production of marijuana either for medical or recreational use, and has jeopardized the health, safety and welfare of the people of Mendocino County.
Section 3: Repeal of Mendocino County Code Chapter 9.36.
Mendocino County Code Chapter 9.36, Cannabis Personal Use Ordinance for Mendocino County, is hereby repealed.
Section 4: Limits for Possession of Marijuana for Medical Purposes.
A qualified patient or primary caregiver may possess or maintain for medical purposes only those amounts as set forth in Health and Safety Code section 11362.77 and as amended by State or Federal legislation.
Section 5: Severability.
If any section, subsection, sentence, clause or phrase of this ordinance is for any reason held by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid or unconstitutional, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of the ordinance.
Measure B is drawing widespread concern from Mendocino County citizens who believe it wrongly targets small-time, personal use growers instead of the large-scale, criminal operators it is supposedly meant to control.
“Measure B does nothing to stop commercial growers. Instead it makes criminals out of residents with small, personal use gardens,” said Laura Hamburg, campaign coordinator for the No On Measure B campaign. “It would make it a felony for legitimate medical marijuana patients to grow more than six plants in their own homes.”
Opponents have organized a campaign committee, No on Measure B, www.nomeasureb.org to tell the voters why “B is Bad” for Mendocino County.
Measure B, which is slated for the June ballot, would divert law enforcement resources from the real problems in the community – domestic violence and other types of violent crimes and hard drugs such as methamphetamine, Hamburg argued.
Sheriff Tom Allman has said that enforcing B would be a burden on law enforcement. He has also proposed a new program to raise funds from medical marijuana cultivation, funds that will expand enforcement efforts against those who abuse the law. “Let’s give it a chance to work,” Hamburg said.
Measure B would also overturn Measure G, the Personal Use of Marijuana Initiative, which was passed overwhelmingly by the voters in 2000. Measure G allows for the cultivation of 25 or fewer plants for personal use only and leaves commercial cultivation and sales illegal.
“We need to enforce Measure G, the law the voters passed,” Hamburg said, “not go backwards and criminalize our friends and neighbors.”
In response to Measure B, a coalition of residents including patients, doctors, and citizens from across the County have launched a campaign to uphold and enforce the current law. County residents who oppose B and have signed the ballot argument against the measure include: Peter Keegan, MD; Kate Magruder, cancer survivor; Keith Faulder, former Assistant District Attorney; Lynda McClure, union representative and William Courtney, MD.
“The citizens of Mendocino County deserve clarity with respect to marijuana cultivation limits and enforcement against abuses,” Hamburg said. “But Measure B is a bogus diversion that does neither.”
IN ANOTHER NAZI ATTEMPT TO CONTROL PEOPLES RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS, THE STORMTROOPERS OF THE YES ON B COALITION HAVE MARSHA WHARFF’S NAME REMOVED FROM ELECTION BALLOT!
SUPEVISOR DAVID COLFAX ALSO CHALLENGED AND WILL HAVE HIS TITLE STRIPPED FROM THE ELECTIONS PAMPHLET
At the urging of the Yes on B campaign, Marsha Wharff, Mendocino County’s retired Registrar of Voters and a vocal opponent of Measure B, has had her name stripped from the election ballot pamphlet.
A second challenge was mounted to Supervisor David Colfax, who also opposes B. Colfax’s signature will be allowed to remain on the ballot statement opposing B, but he will have to delete his supervisorial title. The pamphlet is mailed to all registered voters before the June 3 election to inform residents of the pros and cons of each local measure.
After the Yes on B campaign mounted a challenge to Marsha Wharff’s signature, Wharff chose not to legally challenge the issue in court, which would have been the only option for keeping her name on the ballot statement opposing B. Instead Wharff withdrew her name out of professional respect for the office she ran for decades, saying she did not wish to impede the current Registrar’s deadline to get the ballots printed in time for the June 3 election.
“It’s unfortunate the Yes on B campaign demanded that Marsha Wharff’s name be removed from the ballot,” said Laura Hamburg, spokesperson for the No on Measure B campaign. “Marsha Wharff served Mendocino County as Clerk, Recorder, Registrar and Assessor for three decades. It’s sad that the Yes On B campaign should find it necessary to remove her name from the ballot on a technicality.” Even though Wharff’s name has been deleted from the voter ballot statement, she vowed to continue to voice her steadfast opposition to Measure B.
“I will continue to oppose Measure B,” Wharff said. “I am interested in the medical part of marijuana. If you’ve never had to care for another person, you don’t have a clue about what this medicine can do for pain management, calming anxiety and promoting wellness of mind,” said Wharff, who cares for her husband who has cancer.
Measure B would repeal Measure G – the voter-approved Personal Use of Marijuana Initiative, which allows for the cultivation of 25 or fewer plants for personal use only and leaves commercial cultivation and sales illegal. Measure B would roll back the County’s cultivation limits to 6 plants for medical use, zero plants for personal use and would only allow medical patients to possess 8 ounces or less of dried marijuana.
“Almost no medical patient can get by on eight ounces of marijuana a year,” Wharff said.
After retiring from public service, Wharff moved to Lake County and now sits on the board of directors of the Mendocino Medical Marijuana Advisory Board (MMMAB) a community-based, non-partisan education group that works with law enforcement, physicians, patients and public officials to recommend solutions and policy guidelines for medical marijuana.
Wharff said that as Registrar, her interpretation of elections code law would have allowed her to remain on the ballot because, although she is no longer registered in Mendocino County, she remains a director of a bona fide Mendocino County organization. Wharff signed her name to the ballot statement against B and identified herself as a “caregiver.” She was not given the option to remain on the ballot even if she added her affiliation with MMMAB.
A separate challenge was mounted to the No on B ballot statement concerning Fifth District Supervisor David Colfax. Registrar Sue Ranochak agreed to allow Colfax’s signature to stay on the ballot — without his title.
“They wanted to strip my name entirely due to some obscure elections code law I never knew existed,” Colfax said. “I disagree with the four other supervisors on Measure B and then I am told I cannot be identified as the one supervisor who opposes this measure and furthermore that my name would be taken off entirely due to a technicality?” Colfax said. “This strikes me as ludicrous.”
Colfax said he opposes Measure B because it is a false solution that bypasses the kind of citizen input that resulted in the approval of Measure G seven years ago. Measure B would repeal Measure G — the voter-approved marijuana initiative which was codified as county law last year. Measure G was placed on the ballot after more than 3,500 citizens signed a petition to put the issue before the voters, Colfax said.
“In contrast, Measure B was placed on the ballot by the board of supervisors, which should have been taken out of the equation,” Colfax said. “It short-circuits the entire process of involving the citizenry and getting the appropriate number of signatures to legally place it on the ballot. If the voters are being asked to reject the personal use limits of 25 plants, that’s one thing. But there should be a separate informed discussion of what the new limits should be. Maybe it’s 20 plants, or some other number,” he said. “The problem is commercial marijuana plantations. Measure B just muddies the water and gives people the impression something good is going to happen if it passes. It’s a false solution and should not be on the ballot without the appropriate public input.”
Wharff and Colfax have joined a wide-range of community leaders who have expressed concern that Measure B targets the wrong people – law-abiding residents – and does nothing to attack the large-scale, commercial growers who are abusing the law. They believe Measure B is a step backwards that turns legitimate medical patients into felons for growing more than six plants in their own homes and makes criminals out of neighbors who wish to grow even a single plant for personal use.
In addition to Marsha Wharff and Supervisor Colfax, the following citizens signed on to ballot statements opposing Measure B: Susan B. Jordan, attorney and civil rights educator; Carrie Hamburg, cancer survivor; Dr. Peter Keegan; Lynda McClure, union representative; Ronnie Gilbert, singer and cultural artist; Keith Faulder, former Assistant District Attorney, Kate Babcock-Magruder, cancer survivor; and Dr. William L. Courtney.
IN ANOTHER ATTEMPT BY LOCAL NEWSPAPERS COOPERATING WITH LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT, IN A COORDINATED STATE WIDE EFFORT TO PUT FEAR IN THE PUBLIC, JUST BEFORE MEASURE B THE ANTI-MEDICAL MARIJUANA MEASURE COMES UP FOR VOTE IN MENDO COUNTY, THE LOCAL PRESS HAS STEPPED UP A RACIST FEAR CAMPAIGN ABOUT ASIAN AND SPANISH STREET GANGS “TAKING OVER”. IN RECENT MONTHS THE PUBLIC HAS BEEN HIT WITH A BOMBARDMENT OF “ASIAN GANGS” AND MEXICAN “CARTELS” ARTICLES. ACCORDING TO THE LOCAL PRESS EVERY PERSON OF COLOR IS A “GANG MEMBER” IN MENDOCINO COUNTY. LAW ENFORCEMENT CONTINUES TO PORTRAY ANY AND ALL SPANISH OR ASIAN MARIJUANA CULTIVATORS AS BEING “CARTEL” OR “MEXICAN MAFIA” ACCORDING TO THE BELOW ARTICLE THE PINE MOUNTAIN BUST WAS“linked to Asian organized crime groups operating out of Fresno,” says Nishiyama. “The groups are apparently moving into Mendocino County from the Bay Area and Stockton areas.”
THESE TALES ARE REMINISCENT OF A TIME WHEN THE CHINESE IN EUREKA AND HUMBOLDT COU
ounces of dried marijuana per qualified patient and that a qualified patient or primary caregiver may also maintain no more than six (6) mature or twelve (12) immature plants per qualified patient. If a qualified patient or primary caregiver has a doctor’s recommendation that this quantity does not meet the qualified patient’s needs, the qualified patient or primary caregiver may possess an amount that is consistent with the qualified patient’s needs.
