Serving
the Public
I was curious what Sonoma County’s former planner Pete Parkinson was referring to when he opened his letter to the editor in the March 13 edition of the Bohemian with the “once again” reference: “I am once again disappointed with Will Carruthers’ lazy reporting on the fire-debris-removal scandal.”
Had he previously expressed his disappointment with Will Carruthers’ reporting in the Bohemian and I’d missed it?
I’m not real clear what Carruthers was reporting either, not yet, but I certainly wouldn’t conclude it was a result of laziness. It appears more like he presented Bohemian readers with an interesting collection of characters, relationships and perhaps a revolving door—enough intriguing information to require further examination to be sure, but not much of a story. Yet.
I’m OK with taking Pete Parkinson’s word. Perhaps Chris Godley’s a swell guy. Perhaps his buddy Darius Anderson is as well. Apparently we all agree, as he stated, that our “community deserves better reporting on these issues.”
But here’s the big problem that Pete is well aware of and ignores anyway: if he were really interested in airing all this out, as his letter suggests, he’d be addressing his letter to the Press Democrat. If that publication were doing its job, and adequately reporting in the public interest on the lobbying activities of one of its owners (Anderson) on behalf of AshBritt, PG&E and others, the Bohemian would not need to piece together all these little tidbits of intriguing information for us to gnaw on.
Pete would better serve the public by asking the region’s daily newspaper monopoly—which actually has resources (commonly referred to as “staff”) and helps determine what is and is not news for much of Northern California—to get off its ass and spend more than a couple sentences on its boss’ business affairs.
I am grateful to the Bohemian for its coverage.
Petaluma
No Janis, No Plane, No Dead
I picked up the March 13 edition of the Bohemian while in Sonoma County visiting old friends, and I read Richard von Busack’s article “Double Down.” I lived in Cotati when the Inn of the Beginning opened in 1968, and later was on the staff of the Sonoma County Bugle, which featured an extensive calendar of music events happening at the Inn and other local venues.
Janis Joplin and the Jefferson Airplane never played the Inn of the Beginning. Another myth out there is that the Grateful Dead played at the Inn frequently. Not true. The New Riders played there with Jerry Garcia, but not the Dead.
There were some well-known folks who played the Inn: Lighning Hopkins, Mose Allison, Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks, Joy of Cooking, Van Morrison, and Neil Young among them. But not Janis, not the Airplane and not the Dead.
Please say hi to Scott Goree for me. Accordions rock!
Bend, Ore.
