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</head><body><p class="default-style" style="font-size:12pt;font-family:helvetica,arial,sans-serif;color:#333333;"><br></p><p class="ox-c9d3ffe110-default-style" style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica,arial,sans-serif; color: #333333;"><br> July 20, 2019 </p><p style="color: #333333; font-family: helvetica,arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br>JAMES FOSTER HOULE</p><p style="color: #333333; font-family: helvetica,arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br>James Foster Houle, age 85, died on June 24, 2019, at the home he loved in Redwood Valley, California. I just learned of his passing.</p><p style="color: #333333; font-family: helvetica,arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br></p><p style="color: #333333; font-family: helvetica,arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">In his career, Jim was one of the top chemical engineers in the world, and worked Aramco in Saudi Arabia. Later, he joined Bechtel Corporation, a major defense contractor for the United States and allied governments.</p><p style="color: #333333; font-family: helvetica,arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br></p><p style="color: #333333; font-family: helvetica,arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Bechtel handles many classified projects, including disassembling and destroying some of the world's most dangerous chemical weapons, building and maintaining mission-critical sites for the U.S. Armed Forces, safely restoring and developing locations and critical infrastructure, and designing and delivering complete operational systems and infrastructure. Jim was a senior project manager, and although he never talked about it, I'm sure he had a top secret security clearance.</p><p style="color: #333333; font-family: helvetica,arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br></p><p style="color: #333333; font-family: helvetica,arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Given that Jim was a political progressive and pacifist, I like to think that Jim "infiltrated" Bechtel. In truth, Jim did no military work for Bechtel. Jim was a project manager who oversaw civil engineering projects, such as building dams and power plants, and planning cities, primarily in the Middle East and Africa. He worked on State Department and USAID contracts, not Department of Defense contracts.</p><p style="color: #333333; font-family: helvetica,arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br></p><p style="color: #333333; font-family: helvetica,arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">I first met Jim Houle years ago when we served on the Mendocino County Grand Jury together. The foreperson of our grand jury hated Jim because she couldn’t bully him, and because he was a lot smarter than she was. Jim also wanted to investigate the really dark places in county government, while the foreperson wanted to play it safe.</p><p style="color: #333333; font-family: helvetica,arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br>“A grand jury’s first order is to do no harm,” she would extoll, and Jim would derisively snort back in disgust. That made her crazy.</p><p style="color: #333333; font-family: helvetica,arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br>The foreperson  eventually got the presiding judge to remove Jim from the grand jury. Jim took it as a badge of honor.</p><p style="color: #333333; font-family: helvetica,arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br>Jim and stayed friends over the years. He was often critical of my own foolishness. Time and again, he pointed out my ignorance. But that was a good thing. Jim was a fan of my public affairs radio show, "Heroes and Patriots"  on KZYX, KMEC, and now, KMUD. And Jim made my show better. Audiences comprised of listeners like Jim keep me doing what I do. My show's focus is national security, intelligence, and foreign policy, and feedback from informed listeners like Jim is so important to the show's success.</p><p style="color: #333333; font-family: helvetica,arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br>I miss Jim Houle, already. Jim was brilliant, quirky, difficult, and highly opinionated…like almost every other person I respect and love.</p><p style="color: #333333; font-family: helvetica,arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br>Good-bye, Jim. I’ll miss you, brother.</p><p style="color: #333333; font-family: helvetica,arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br>— John Sakowicz, Ukiah CA</p><p style="color: #333333; font-family: helvetica,arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br></p><p style="color: #333333; font-family: helvetica,arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br></p><p class="ox-c9d3ffe110-ox-1dd61bfae1-default-style" style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica,arial,sans-serif; color: #333333;"> </p><p class="ox-c9d3ffe110-default-style" style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica,arial,sans-serif; color: #333333;"><br><br></p><p class="default-style" style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica,arial,sans-serif; color: #333333;"> </p></body></html>