Smith: She’d wish Jan’s death upon no one

Jeanette Lebell of Sebastopol knows we’d prefer not to speak about death.

But she has a powerful and personal cause to plead that now’s the time for Californians to allow terminally ill people to ask doctors for help to end their suffering.

Her husband, Jan (pronounced Yon) Zlotnick succumbed New Year’s Eve to a long siege of cancer.

“I offer how he died as Exhibit A for why the law is long overdue,” Lebell said.

In the final stage of his life, the man she loved, an RN and nursing instructor, still had a strong heart and lungs. But his existence, Lebell said, was reduced to agony and agitation.

“He would wake up and say, ‘Why am I not dead yet?’ And I didn’t have an answer.”

Lebell’s main question: “How can forcing life on someone for whom there is only pain be justified?”

She’s right. It’s only humane that we seize the current chance to legalize MD-assisted, self-administered suicide in this state for the fairly few terminally ill people who would seriously consider it as an option.

FRESH FLOWERS DON’T very often get delivered to the Santa Rosa laboratory operated by the Sonoma County Public Health Department.

In fact, the lab’s director, Mike Ferris, is pretty sure this is the first time in 35 years that a florist brought him and his staff a bouquet.

It came from a woman in Mendocino County whose young grandson handled a dead bat that he and other kids found in a toy chest. Grandma evidently held her breath while awaiting results of lab tests to determine if the bat was rabid.

Can you imagine her relief upon hearing from Ferris’ staff that the bat tested negative for rabies? Her floral thank-you positively charmed everyone at the county lab.

VINNIE CAPONE is off the streets and back on stage.

More than 100 people turned out Saturday for a comeback performance by the trumpet and piano player who tells of hitting hard times after training at Berklee College of Music and playing for a time with the Count Basie Orchestra.

For years, Capone self-medicated beneath bridges in Santa Rosa. He discovered the free Saturday breakfasts downtown at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation, then summoned the courage to go inside Sundays for services.

Rev. Christopher Bell befriended Capone and invited him to see what he could still do at a piano. Quite a bit, it turns out.

An entire band joined Capone on the stage of the congregation’s Glaser Center Auditorium on Saturday evening. His proud mom made everyone a pasta supper.

I couldn’t be there. Communications pro and former newsman Andrew Hidas was front and center, and digging it.

He shares, “Vinnie glowed ... He took too long and rambled a bit much in various song introductions, but the stage and the spotlight were his, and damn if he wasn’t going to bask in it all.

“He looked resplendent in white shirt, black pants and just the grooviest jazzy shades, playing some Coltrane, Miles Davis, and lovely standards such as ‘All of Me,’ and ‘Days of Wine and Roses.’ When not involved with his trumpet, he paced the front of his band keeping the beat with all the verve of a young Harry James.”

We’ll be watching for Vinnie Capone’s next show.

Chris Smith is at 707-521-5211 and chris.smith@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @CJSPD