6 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY MAY 4-10, 2023 www.montereycountyweekly.com THE BUZZ FREE SPEECH The annual White House correspondents dinner, held on April 29, included a lot of the requisite roasting, but also some serious notes. Comedian Roy Wood Jr. of The Daily Show offered a few zingers directed both at President Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump. As Biden left the podium, Wood referenced a scandal regarding hundreds of pages of classified documents: “Real quick, Mr. President. I think you left some of your classified documents up here.” As to Trump, Wood said: “Keeping up with Trump scandals is like watching Star Wars movies. You got to watch the third one to understand the first one, then you can’t miss the second one because it’s got Easter eggs for the fifth one.” Wood also had some quips about colleagues in the media, including Tucker Carlson, who was recently fired from Fox News: “To Tucker’s staff, I want you to note that I know what you’re feeling. I work at The Daily Show, so I too have been blindsided by the sudden departure of the host of a fake news program.” Besides a few jokes of his own, Biden also remarked on the role of a free press, calling it “the pillar of a free society, not the enemy.” Good: Global conquest has probably never been on the mind of Steven Wales and his team at Fog’s End Distillery in Gonzales. But last week they learned that the recently released 17 Mile Gin indeed stood at the pinnacle. The gin earned a gold medal at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2023, one of the largest such events in the world and also one of the most respected, due to its strict judging protocols and sheer number of entries (more than 5,000 in this year’s contest). Wales received the news with due humility, thanking the community of gin drinkers and the staff of the small distillery. “We wanted to make something that tasted good to us,” he says. The gin is crafted from nine botanicals, with Buddha’s hand citrus giving it a unique pop. Fog’s End produces its gin and other spirits in small batches with an emphasis on technique and local ingredients. GREAT: New research by the American Medical Association points to what many already knew: Children and teens are experiencing mental health crises at much higher rates. One solution is better access to care at schools, which is why it’s a great week for local students because CSU Monterey Bay’s colleges of Education and Health Sciences and Human Services are the recipients of a five-year, $6 million grant to train school psychologists and social workers for grades K-12. The colleges will work with Monterey County Behavioral Health and AIM Youth Mental Health to implement the grant. In addition to training counselors, the colleges plan on offering training to teachers and community members, said Cathi Draper Rodriguez, chair of the Department of Education and Leadership. “With youth suicide on the rise, it could be life or death,” Draper Rodriguez said. GOOD WEEK / GREAT WEEK THE WEEKLY TALLY The projected amount in credit card merchant fees the city of Monterey could spend in fiscal year 2023-2024. The city is contemplating how to reduce that expense—passing on the fee to customers or capping how much can be charged to a card. Source: April 26 city budget report $806,174 QUOTE OF THE WEEK “It’s kind of like a family feud.” -Elena Loomis, of the Monterey County Democratic Central Committee, speaking about a divided membership. Opponents of the current chair exited a meeting rather than vote to remove the chair, whose position was unanimously upheld on April 25 (see story, posted at mcweekly.com).
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