The Buzz 10.17.19

WHO’S IN TOWN?

What started almost 40 years ago as two frustrated moms of schizophrenic sons talking around a kitchen table is now a movement named the National Alliance on Mental Illness, or NAMI. NAMI has 1,000 chapters in all 50 states, advocating on behalf of families grappling with mental illness. NAMI’s annual California conference, called United Voices, a Stronger California, is in town this week with speakers and workshops on advocacy, public policy and scientific topics. One keynote speaker is Chamique Holdsclaw, a former Olympic and WNBA basketball player, and author of Breaking Through: Beating the Odds Shot After Shot, which details how she battled depression and survived a suicide attempt.

Fri-Sat June 1-2. Hyatt Regency, 1 Old Golf Course Road, Monterey. $180-$235/both days; $140-$210/single day. namica.org.

FREE SPEECH

The Weekly is an advocate for free speech. But just because you can express something doesn’t mean you should, and the Weekly joins in the chorus of news organizations denouncing a violent, disturbing video meme released the week of Oct. 7 at President Donald Trump’s Miami resort. The video, created by the group American Priority, uses a scene from the 2014 film Kingsman of a bloody massacre in a church – here, “The Church of Fake News” – set to Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird.” The heads of the dozens of victims are covered with logos of media organizations or faces of elected officials and Trump critics, and the attacker’s face is covered with Trump’s, showing him slaughtering the characters with a gun and a knife. It’s a violent representation of the president’s rhetoric that the media is an “enemy of the people.” The White House Correspondents’ Association said, “All Americans should condemn this depiction of violence directed toward journalists.” According to reports, Trump has also condemned it.

GOOD WEEK / BAD WEEK

GOOD:

Del Rey Oaks has a regal name – translation: The King’s Oaks – but in the last few years the city’s oaks have been looking more like paupers than royalty due to drought, disease and old age. Resident Scott Donaldson, also a member of the Del Rey Oaks Planning Commission, decided to help. Along with the Del Rey Oaks Citizen Action Group, theDel Rey Oaks Garden Center and the city, Donaldson created a free oak tree voucher program for residents to plant California coastal live oaks in their yards. Vouchers for up to three trees per household are available at City Hall. The garden center exchanges the vouchers for 5-gallon trees, charging the action group $15 for trees that normally retail for $40. The goal was to distribute and pay for 100 trees, but the program proved so successful organizers are now eyeing another 100. Donaldson hopes to one day make the program permanent.

BAD:

There was excitement when restaurateur/caterer Terry Teplitzky announced plans to relocate Wild Thyme from Marina to Salinas, but the new location had barely been open when it abruptly shuttered in April. And according to a lawsuit filed in June by Main Street landlord T&T Enterprises, Wild Thyme hadn’t paid rent since January, and even after closing its doors, failed to vacate the building. T&T sued the business and Teplitzky for $154,292 in unpaid rent (on a 10-year lease) plus 10-percent interest and other costs; a default judgement was entered against Teplitzky on Aug. 6. On top of that suit came a newer one on Oct. 4, filed by Sara Edwards who sued Teplitzky in Monterey County Superior Court alleging he defaulted on a $150,000 bridge loan, plus interest. Teplitzky is still in business at two locations (in Salinas and Monterey) running Boardwalk Subs.