MCT: Friday, April 26, 2019

• Warm Temps
• Where's Duane
• Plowshares Fundraiser
• Meatloaf Music
• Bern 2020
• Gasman Grunwald
• Candidate Comparison
• Farmers' Market
• Farmer Tim
• Ed Notes
• Boxcar Bodywork
• Cannabiz
• Student Discipline
• Film Screening
• Tax Base
• Greatest Liberal
• Free Huey
• Opioid Antidote
• Unwanted Valet
• Many Questions
• Yesterday's Catch
• Hopeless Joe
• Elvis
• Autosaurus Destructus
• Gender Surcharge
• Women's Choir
• America's Demise
• Immigration Numbers
• Tiny Houses
• Common Good
• Scaramella Lookalike
• Clockwork Sequel
• HUD Proposal
• Triple Redundancy
• Community Foundation
• Work Day
• Museum Events

WARM TEMPERATURES can be expected across interior areas through the weekend, with windy conditions at the coast. High pressure will keep northwest California rain-free through the week ahead, with a gradual cooling trend through the early part of the week over the interior. (National Weather Service)

WHERE’S DUANE?

The Fort Bragg Police Department is requesting the public’s assistance in locating Duane Lawrence.

Duane was last heard from on January 29, 2019 when he called family from the Fort Bragg area. Lawrence was considered to be transient, and he is suspected to have been camping in the Fort Bragg area prior to his disappearance. Lawrence is described as approximately 5 feet, 9 inches tall and approximately 180 pounds. When Lawrence was last contacted he had short brown thinning hair and a full grey beard. Lawrence may or may not be wearing glasses. Please see the photos below for further reference.

Anyone with any information related to where Lawrence may have been camping, or any information as to Lawrence’s whereabouts should contact Sergeant O’Neal at (707) 961- 2800 ext. 120 or by e-mail at toneal@fortbragg.com. Anonymous tips may be left at anonymous Crime Tip Hotline at (707) 961-3049.

LIVE AT THE BOONVILLE SENIOR CENTER!

Meatloaf and music at senior lunch on Thursday, May 2. Bootjack 5 (Dean Titus, Chris Rossi, Susan Clark, Rod Dewitt & Sue Marcott) will be performing during lunchtime. Soups on at 12 sharp!

SALT & FOAM

by Bruce McEwen

Surprising things happen at the courthouse. You may leave a crowded courtroom, to make room for a jury being picked in the morning, and come back in the afternoon, expecting the trial of “The One and Only” (as he styles himself in his Letters to the Editor) Michael France to have finally gotten underway, only to find your neighbor in the dock, and a waiter from Denny’s on the stand. Later, you learn that One-and-Only’s lawyer, a public defender, has declared a “conflict of interest” at the last moment, ending the trial, and the case devolved on down to the Alternate Public Defender, Lewis Finch, who will need several more months to prepare the case for trial.

Having just witnessed another jury trial evaporate at the last moment (the tragic and appalling case of “The Cardiologist Who Gunned Down His Neighbor’s Sleeping Dogs”), you (again, I’m referring to myself, for the sake of modesty, in the second-person, as a lowly hack should) resolve to be content with whatever you can get.

In this case, it was Michael Grunwald, a salty old Boatswain’s (pronounced Bosun’s) Mate, fighting cancer from extended exposure to Agent Orange. His ship, a fuel tanker, resupplied aircraft carriers in the Tonkin Gulf and Cam Ranh Bay with JP-4 and the carcinogenic defoliant Agent Orange during the Vietnam War.

Mr. Grunwald has an obstreperous manner, to put it mildly, as we shall soon see, and I often have overheard him berating people I don’t know for transgressions, real or imagined, that I am equally ignorant of. But his voice is of that somewhat shockingly loud and harsh nautical kind that can be heard from the sally port of a refueling tanker to the bridge of an aircraft carrier in a gale-force wind.

By way of disclosure, I admit that Grunwald has, once or twice, come over to my place for an evening of Texas Hold ‘Em, Seven Card Stud and Five Card Draw. On one occasion we saw in the rosy-fingered dawn, as the chips fell back and forth, fore and aft, Lady Luck being as impartial as the tides.

On another memorable occasion we won a round of drinks in a game of pool against a couple of Russian gents at the Forest Club. That is the extent of my acquaintanceship with him.

When I entered the courtroom, the first witness, a Mr. Helm, was just finishing up. Grunwald was standing and pacing about, using a cane, an indulgence the court had granted that had to do with Grunwald’s health. His lawyer, Daniel Moss of the Office of the Public Defender, had just said he had no further questions, when Grunwald stamped the floor with his cane and shouted, “I do! I want to ask him about…”

Judge Keith Faulder runs a pretty tight ship. His Honor has pretty much abandoned his former jocularity, his penchant for puns, and the all around good-humor he was so noted for as a highly successful lawyer. His court clerk is none other than Bonnie Miller, the Sergeant Major of Clerks, and his bailiff is Deputy Mark McNelly, a meticulously squared-away officer whose martial bearing reinforces his polite manner. As Judge Faulder cut Grunwald off in mid-sentence, Bailiff McNelly came to his feet and advanced a few paces into the balliwick.

“Mr. Grunwald,” Faulder said, “You will address the court only through your lawyer, Mr. Moss. If you need more time to consult with your lawyer, you can have it. But you cannot and will not ask the witness any questions yourself. Understood?”

If you can believe Grunwald’s sea stories about his adventures in places like Subic Bay and Olongapo City (in the Philippines, where my older brother, incidentally, was stationed with the Armed Forces Police), then he almost certainly would have had some experience with what, in the Navy, is called “Captain’s Mast,” under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which is somewhat similar to a preliminary hearing, though conducted with more discipline than a civilian would think appropriate.

Once Grunwald grasped how Faulder’s court was run (a USN Captain would have looked on approvingly, and I speak from the authority of having attended courts-martial for marines accused of murdering their officers), he behaved himself accordingly.

Mr. Helm left the stand, cautiously skirting around the cantankerous old seadog Grunwald, and Officer Brett Chapman of the Ukiah PD was called.

Officer Chapman stated that he’d been dispatched to Denny’s to investigate a disturbance at about 1:05 in the morning of February 23rd. On arrival, Chapman was told by Helm that Grunwald had become rude and confrontational over a cup of coffee. Helm had said he thought Grunwald was going to assault him with the cup or throw the coffee on him. Other customers told a similar story. When Chapman tried to speak with Grunwald “he was very confrontational. He told me – excuse the language – ‘shut the fuck up’.”

Meanwhile, Officer Kevin Murray had procured a signed citizen’s arrest warrant from Mr. Helm. When given this, Officer Chapman then arrested Grunwald and placed him in the back of the patrol car. As Chapman was finishing up his paperwork, Grunwald yelled, “You’re going to die tomorrow – I’m going to see to it.”

When Chapman turned to ask if that was a threat, Grunwald said it was not only a threat, it was “a promise.”

This brutally stupid remark was the basis of count one, PC 69, attempting to prevent an officer from the performance of his duties.

But on cross-examination, we learned that Grunwald had been what you might call egalitarian in his insults, abusing the other officers with equal venom, and flicking verbal acid on one and all. To his meager reserves of credit, Grunwald hung his head and contemplated what a fool he’d been.

Had this happened while he was in the Navy, his Captain would have busted him down to E-1 and turned him ashore at Da Nang to burn barrels of shit for the Marines.

Mr. Moss argued that Grunwald was at the time incapable of carrying out the threat. “He was just an angry person acting out, as he has been doing all day. As to the charges in count two, calling someone gay is not fighting words now, like it used to be, society has progressed, and to punish Mr. Grunwald for calling Mr. Helm a faggot would do more harm to free speech than it would do any good for gay rights. Looking at count three, I don’t believe Mr. Grunwald actually challenged anyone to a fight. And as to count four, I don’t believe my client used force or a threat of force to ur, uh, uh, prevent Mr. Helm from exercising his civil right [to be gay]. He may have said some offensive things but I don’t think that proves anything.”

Judge Faulder said, “I do find sufficient evidence to hold the defendant to answer on count one. The statement he made to the officer is unequivocal. And when asked if it’s a threat he says it’s not only a threat but a promise. As to count two, I find sufficient evidence that he intended it [calling Helm a “faggot”] to cause a violent reaction, and he said it for that purpose. As for count three, I find insufficient evidence to support the charge. Count four: It was clear Mr. Grunwald was bullying Mr. Helm, but the requirements are that he use force or threat of force, and I don’t see that he has.”

Moss then argued to have the two felonies reduced to misdemeanors and Faulder denied the 17-b. motion to do that, although Moss may renew it at a later time.

The other case against Grunwald was called; but Grunwald wanted a smoke break, and this was granted. On the way back to the courtroom I mentioned to Grunwald, “You sure got yourself into a lot of trouble in a hurry.”

“Yeah,” he answered glumly. “Didn’t I though…”

The next charge was “Gassing An Officer” and I had to ask Deputy Will Robison what that even meant. Robison showed me a line in his report: “The throwing of urine or feces, or any mixture thereof, onto an officer or any other person.” I’m rarely at a loss for words, but could think of nothing to say.

Deputy DA Tom Geddes called his first witness, the victim of the, well, gassing, Corrections Officer Isaac Sanchez, who said he knew Grunwald as someone who had been in custody at the jail multiple times. On this occasion, he had come to the cell where Grunwald was being held while awaiting booking to give him a drink of Gatorade. Grunwald passed his cup through the slot in the door, and after Sanchez filled it, Grunwald reached out through the slot with his other hand and “threw something on me,” Sanchez said. “On my uniform pants from the belt down. “He [Grunwald] made the statement, ‘It’s piss’.”

Geddes: “Was he laughing?”

Sanchez: “He smiled [somewhat triumphantly, no doubt] about it.”

Geddes: “Have you known Mr. Grunwald to use excrement?”

Sanchez: “Yes, he uses toilet paper to draw on the walls with it.”

Moss: “Mr. Grunwald was in a ‘safety’ cell?”

Geddes: “Objection. Relevance.”

Faulder: “Overruled.”

Sanchez: “Yes.”

Moss: “And he was there because he is psychologically disturbed?”

Sanchez: “Yes.”

Moss: “And within a day or two he’d been doing artwork with his feces?”

Sanchez: “Yes.”

Moss: “And he’d done the same or similar artwork during previous incarcerations?”

Sanchez: “Yes.”

At this point I resolved to be more discriminating in the people I invited over for poker games. And the same for those I picked for a pool partner.

Moss: “What did you do with your clothing [the pants soiled with urine]?”

Sanchez: “I threw them out.”

Moss: “Were any chemical tests done on the clothing?”

Sanchez: “No.”

Moss: “Did you smell it?”

Sanchez: “I did not.”

Moss: “Nothing further.”

DDA Geddes called Deputy Robison who had been summoned to the jail to investigate the March 3rd gassing incident. Grunwald told Robison he threw the piss on Sanchez because Sanchez didn’t bring the Gatorade in a timely manner.

On cross-examination, there was a long back-and-forth as to whether the substance thrown on the officer could have been Gatorade, rather than urine, and whether Grunwald’s later claim that the puddle of urine on the floor outside the cell was there because he’d peed there. But the standard flavor of Gatorade served at the jail was shown to be orange, and it had an orange color, so that angle of defense faded away.

Faulder: “There’s sufficient evidence to find that a felony gassing occurred" and arraignment on the information was set for May 7th at 9:00.

Lee Van Zant of the Veteran’s Administration gave Grunwald a ride back to the trailer park, and he hailed me in his nautical voice as they drove by, but I don’t think I’ll have him over for a poker game any time soon. Agent Orange appears to have completely unhinged the salty old seadog.

COMPARING Beto O'Rourke, Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders.

THE MARKET IS BACK!

Reminder! The Boonville Farmers’ Market is back and will open with festivities on Friday, May 3rd from 4:00-7:00 p.m. in the parking lot of the new Disco Ranch, formerly Aquarelle (14025 Highway 128). Come for local food, dinner, music and other local products! Cal Fresh’s EBT Market Match program will be available. More info? Call Lama at 489-5034 or check for updates at www.avfoodshed.com.

LOCAL FARMER SAYS GOODBYE

Hello (and Good bye!), from Anderson Valley Community Farm.

It is fast approaching 8 years to the day since I moved into the farm and began this endeavor. While I can not say it has been a total failure of the goal to produce high quality local food for the local community, it has not proven profitable enough to sustain. It has been bumpy, wild, and maybe a bit out of control… but I truly don't regret the insane commitment that has been required.

I want to thank everyone who helped and supported me and to the few people totally dedicated to supporting local farmers. (Wilders and Goodells especially…and certainly in remembrance of Regine and her serious support of my project.)

I'm also calling out for help:

Outgoing Clean-up Work Party

This Sunday, April 28. 10AM-4PM.

Lunch and refreshments provided.

Come say goodbye bye to Tim (moving to the far away land of Willits), and help him leave the place cleaner than he found it.

Call or email with questions:

(831)332-5131

Andersonvalleycommunityfarm@gmail.com

I am going to sincerely miss this quirky community. I will almost certainly resume farming soon on the ranch I am moving to. Adios, it's been real, love ya, stay in touch.

Farmer Tim Ward

AV Community Farm

ED NOTES

JAMES MARMON reminds me of myself in the obsession department. Mine is the unresolved Bari Bombing case. DA Eyster waves me away like I'm some kind of giant mosquito when I try to talk him into looking into it. "Hah! Are you kidding?" he says. No, I'm not. If I were a cop I'd be deeply interested in it if for no other reason than professional curiosity. And almost all the site prep has been done. Note to all you high end crooks out there: If you're going to commit a complicated crime like car bombing your ex-wife, do it here and you not only won't be caught, nobody will be interested. (Even the vaunted FBI managed not to see the obvious in this one. Of course they couldn't see the obvious because…. Well, I see I've cleared the room again, but interested persons are directed to the Bari file on the ava website for the particulars.

MARMON undoubtedly knows more welfare law than anybody running Mendo's Helping Pro bureaucracies, not that we're ever talking Rhodes Scholar material when we're talking Mendo. But it's his obsessiveness that puts people off. Except me because I understand, James, I do. If you pay attention to Marmon he's mostly correct. For instance, among today's communiques the big guy says, "Last fiscal year only 18 out of 2081 mental health crisis assessments were conducted in the jail, which resulted in overwhelming the local hospital ERs. The handful of Laura's Law and mental health court participants are only a fraction of those needing services… Allman [Sheriff Allman] claims that up to 80% of inmates incarcerated are prescribed psychotropic medications. By law, services in jails have to be at the same level given in the community. A bunch of Department Heads sitting around ‘ain't gettin er done.’ Had the same bunch actually talked solutions, people would be doing a lot better. Listen to your Behavioral Health Advisory Board (BHAB)."

I EDITED out the personal attacks, amusing as they are, and I don't think Allman put the figure of mentally ill inmates at 80 percent. The figure is lower than that but still high enough that we should all be troubled by it because all these people get out and live among us. (80 percent probably have drug probs, but aren't 5150 sober.) If Marmon would take it down a couple of notches and tone down the abuse, the donut drones (hah!) would still ignore him, but the more responsible Supervisors might begin to pay attention. One of his basic points is irrefutable: Our privatized mental health system, which we pay over $20 million (million!) a year for (over $20 million a year!) is not only NOT getting the job done, but Mr. and Mrs. Schrader, the private owners of the system, are unaccountable to anyone, least of all the enabling County CEO Carmel Angelo and, so far, the Supervisors.

MARMON, on the money, literally, right here: "The Adult ASO mental health contract comes up for renewal next month, the third. year without an RFP going out for those services. McCowen suggested that this year they just roll out one contract for both Adult and Children’s care in one package in order to bypass any fair bidding process. I wonder if the new supervisors are going to put their blinders on and not ask the big question: WHERE’S THE MONEY? before they push the “YES” button. If anyone cares to remember, Kemper recommended that both Adult and Children contracts go out to bid. It never happened "

Previous Board Actions. (June 7, 2016)

“March 1, 2016: The Board of Supervisors discussed the Summary of Recommendations Implementation Plan associated with the Kemper Consulting Group mental health services review and the County’s proposed Request for Proposals (RFP) process and timelines”

“March 15, 2016: The Board of Supervisors accepted the update regarding the Kemper Consulting Group mental health services review and update on the activities regarding mental health services, which included finalizing a contract with Redwood Quality Management Company (RQMC) for transitional mental health services to be presented to the Board review and approval on April 5, 2016; additionally, the Board approved proceeding with Kemper Consulting on developing the adult mental health services transition plan and processes and timelines for the RFP for adult mental health services, with the target implementation of a new contract for related services no earlier than July 1, 2017.”

PS: Please, someone explain to Gjerde [Supervisor Gjerde] that just because RQMC/RCS are doing more crisis assessments then ever before it doesn't mean they’re doing a wonderful job; in fact it means quite the opposite. Those are bad numbers Dan, you don't want those going up, it indicates that pre-crisis services are insufficient.

---

MYSTERY BANNER spotted in Ukiah: "Big Picture Ukiah." It's near city hall, so…. And your virtue signal of the day, posted on the window of the preferred transportation of the virtuous, a Subaru, "I hope something good happens to you today."

---

JIM DUNBAR has died at age 89.

Not all that long ago he was NorCal's premier radio talk show man. Dunbar and Ted Weigand moved the daily morning chat briskly along, combining informed discussion with real wit. Compared to the screamers these days — with the exception of the wonderful and always listenable Pat Thurston — AM radio went radically downhill post-Dunbar.

(HISTORICAL ASIDE, re Ms. Thurston: When she was at KSRO out of Sonoma County, hers was the area's most listened to show north of Frisco, but when she dared host the beast of Boonville a few times to discuss, among other things, the Bari Bombing case, she was fired. The presumed bomber's father, a Santa Barbara oil man name of Sweeney, who'd also worked in the Nixon administration — the apple didn't fall far from that tree — was a close friend of KSRO's owner, and Pat was history. But not for long. KGO, recognizing talent when they heard it, signed her up and she's been lighting up their airwaves ever since. I've always felt bad about Ms. Thurston's unfortunate KSRO interlude because it was my presence on her show that got her sacked. With only a few audio exceptions, the Bari case could not be discussed any place dominated by the Bari Cult, and the great speakers of truth dominated KMUD, KZYX (of course) and KPFA, except for the latter station's true free speech stalwart, Larry Bensky. My experience, lo these many years, has been that the true danger to open expression has always come from the pseudo-left, not the political right, at least in NorCal. The political right media dominate around here because what passes for a left only rolls for their speech, and their speech is more mantra-like when it's true and seldom interesting even when it is true. Trump is president because of the lib-left, not in spite of it.

THE INLAND MENDO pseudo-left appeared at last week's meeting of the Supervisors to lobby the board for a full-time job for one of them, probably Alicia Little Tree. Miss Tree and her dreary posse are going to save us from Global Warming! And get paid to do it, thanks to their sponsor, John McCowen, who also gives them free rent at their 106 Standley Street headquarters. If this bold scam gets more than McCowen's vote, even by Mendo's subterranean standards, the county will have achieved a new low. The fact that it's even being considered while the county's line workers continue without their promised raises is disgraceful.

---

"AIRBNB MOVES IN. Is the startup killing its destination cities?" That's the title over a story in the current New Yorker.

Although it's about tourism strangling Barcelona it would also apply to Mendocino County where a large number of houses are put aside for tourists, thus causing rent inflation in every community. My old homestead, for example, has gone B&B but used to be home to an average of ten local persons.

---

THE BAR at Lizzby's is open this weekend just in time for our annual BeerFest. Located at the site of the legendary Boonville Lodge, at one time among the most exciting watering holes in the Western United States, post-Lodge the bar was upgraded by Tom Towey with the installation of an art piece plank and kindred up-market accoutrements, all of which have been inherited by the current proprietors of Lizzby's Restaurant. Adding a beautiful bar to fine Mexican food enhances The Boonville Experience, Mendocino County's most happening community.

---

DUDES AND DUDETTES GALORE! Boonville's annual Beer Fest kicks off Saturday at the Boonville Fairgrounds. Mostly young people, for the price of admission, can pound down as much beer as they can hold from an array of micro-breweries, staggering off in late afternoon to their camp sites spread throughout the Anderson Valley. Considering the pure number of drunks — between 5 and 7 thousand of them — the Fest has always been a peaceful event, primarily because a big hunk of the dudes and dudettes camp right on the Fairgrounds where there is also an array of food available.

---

WATCHING the Russians goose step a welcome to North Korea's portly Rocket Man on the television news, I threw my eyes heavenward and silently begged the deities to permanently shelve it. Any place you see it bad things are built in. And just prior to Rocket Man waddling off his specially secure train, an advance guard of frenetic attendants frantically cleansed the train's exit ramps. Most pathetic of all was one attendant running full bore down the street with a folding chair in case Rocket Man needed to plunk his bulk down. Prediction of the obvious type: Putin and Rocket Man will sign an agreement obligating Russia to defend North Korea as North Korea de-nukes, outflanking our President Bluster, although Orange Man deserves credit for putting the de-nuke process in motion.

---

OF COURSE you've noted that the mainstream media and the lib-lab talking heads are virtually orgasmic that the "moderate" Biden has stepped forward to save the Republic from Bernie and Ocasio-Cortez. Some of you old, old timers may recall that Red Skelton bit where the comedian took off on politicians of the Biden type. "My friends, and you are my friends…"

I'M CONSISTENTLY SURPRISED at how many otherwise seemingly intelligent people consider Biden a plausible character. Biden's so transparently phony, so obviously wears the face of a man capable of anything that… Well, again, look who's president.

---

THE MOUTH of the Navarro has nearly closed. Already. And we're still in April. Meaning it won't blast open until the winter rains.

BOONVILLE'S BOXCAR BOARDWALK features AbraKaDebra Bodywork

One hour sessions in the fragrant surroundings of Boxcar Bodywork. Call for your appointment today: 707/357-3068

Website: abrakadebra.vistaprintdigital.com

Flexible hours. Are you injured? Chronic pain?

DOPE, Laz of Willits comments:

Let me be blunt here, many of the growers who are crying foul now are the same people who never paid a dime of tax on ‘the product’ for years if not decades. Lots of new pickups were bought, expensive vacations, fancy girls with all the trimmings. Not all of them, but a good percentage. The gravy train is over, now it’s a job with responsibilities, fees, taxes and lots of hard work. No longer can a grower afford to pay upwards of $300 bucks a pound to a trimmer, or buy the $10k trimmer machine. The big money has ended for the little guy…

And then you have this Flow Kana bunch, giving fancy pants tours and mixers to all the county big shots…buying up the small growers, buying out ‘Real Goods,’ etc. etc, etc. Very impressive to the county elites I’m sure.

Then there’s this ‘Archway Properties’ group, they’re building one of the biggest indoor grows in this part of the state. Refurbished to suit by the son of millionaires, who two years ago raged against the whole idea of marijuana in the county, let alone the old Remco site in his downtown Willits.

But all this said, it still doesn’t make what the county is doing right. The county’s part in this thing is stupid, uninformed, illiterate, and incompetent. And now they raise the price of poker, not to bring in revenue for them, this is about getting those troublesome little growers out of the way for the big money boys to roll in and take over.

---

Permit increases

This increase, in my opinion, is to “weed”… out the troublesome independent growers. The guy presenting this, a county man, said it all, it’s hard to drive up those dirt roads and to know all the landmarks, it’s hard on the vehicles, etc. etc. Total bullshit, it’s the job and they knew going in what this was going to be. It’s no different than building inspectors who drive up those lonely dirt roads looking to inspect a modest home or a millionaire’s retreat. Back in the day, there was a good chance a county car driving around unannounced could stumble into something they didn’t want, with less than friendly armed people to deal with. Legalization may have helped that issue a bit unless you hit a tweaker camp, then all bets are off…

No, this about less work for the county, more presentable people to deal with, well-funded operations and hopefully more revenue, $2.5mil in the hole and counting, what a crew.

The big money is already here, Google Flow Kana, I got 111,000 hits in 0.36 seconds. What’s that tell you? The Canadians are here, SoCal is here, New York is here. A few boutique types may hang on, but the majority are toast. In today’s markets, you have to be a true entrepreneur with heavy sugar backing you. Sorry folks, those seats are all taken…

As always,

Laz

50 YEARS AGO In Berkeley

A SCREENING OF WINDOWS ON THE WORLD

with writer/producer Robert Mailer Anderson

Tuesday, May 7, 2019 7:30pm Vogue Theatre (3290 Sacramento Street, SF)

RSVP: https://sffilm.org/event/windows-on-the-world/ using promo code AAB526

Winner 2019 Sedona Film Festival: “Best Humanitarian Film”

Winner 2019 Method Fest: "Best Screenplay,” “Best Supporting Actor” (Edward James Olmos), “Best Director” (Michael Olmos)

Official Selection: Phoenix Film Festival, Boston International Film Festival, Cine Las Americas, Mendocino Film Festival.

REDEMPTION IS OURS

Dear Editor,

In your April 17th issue on page 3 there was full page Christian screed that was not shown to be advertisement. I did not know that the AVA is a religious periodical. I take issue with you on three counts: First, that Jesus is not even the real name of that man.

Second, that it is disputed by modern historians as to whether that man even lived at all.

Thirdly the belief that any human being can die and come back to life is nothing but a shared delusion. There were about 500 of his friends and followers at his death and not one of them was a witness to his coming out of that cave.

Further, the resurrection is a borrowed concept, since there were a number of religions around before Christianity that had as a article of faith the concept of resurrection The word Lord was used by the Canaanites to refer to Ba'al; used by the Buddhists to refer to Buddha; used by the Jains to refer to Mahavira; and by the Aztecs to refer to their deities.'

Also, the screed ends with "Redemption is Beautiful."' This assumes that there is a being from whom redemption is offered. That would be a god, and since all of the gods believed in prior to Yahweh we now see as ;myths, it is totally reasonable to see the Currently believed in god as just that, a myth.

I have subscribed to your paper for over 20 years and, as an atheist, was sorely troubled to see that on page 3. Was it an omission to not label it an advertisement or is it now the editorial policy of your paper to proselytize for a particular religion?

Lee Simon In Virginia, the cradle of religious freedom

---

ED REPLY: Lee, Lee, Lee. I must say I'm shocked you've objected to our tribute to THE GREATEST LIBERAL WHO EVER LIVED! Did Mohammed throw the money changers out of the temple? Buddha? Krishna? No! They threw the money changers INTO the temple. No, sir, you can put this newspaper down, four-square, for the Prince of Peace!

WE GOT NARCAN

The Mendocino County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) is pleased to announce that it has begun to issue NARCAN® (Naloxone HCI) nasal spray dosage units to its employees as part of their assigned personal protective equipment. MCSO's goal is in protecting the public and officers from opioid overdoses. Access to naloxone is now considered vital in the U.S. The Center for Disease Control. The California Opioid Overdose Surveillance Dashboard reports Mendocino County ranking, per capita, 3rd in all opioid overdose deaths.

(https://discovery.cdph.ca.gov/CDIC/ODdash/)

Narcan nasal spray units are widely known to reverse opioid overdose situations in adults and children. Each nasal spray device contains a four milligram dose, according to the manufacturer. Naloxone Hydrochloride, more commonly known by the brand name NARCAN®, blocks the life-threatening effects of opioid overdose (both medications and narcotics) including extreme drowsiness, slowed breathing, or loss of consciousness. The antidote can reverse the effects of an overdose for up to an hour, but anyone who administers the overdose reversal medication in a non-medical setting is advised to seek emergency medical help right away. The spray units can also be used by Public Safety Professionals who are unknowingly or accidentally exposed to potentially fatal amounts of fentanyl from skin absorption or inhalation. The issuance of the Narcan nasal units, thus far, have been to employees assigned to the Field Services Division and the Mendocino County Jail medical staff. Employees are required to attend a user training prior to being issued the medication. Sheriff Thomas D. Allman would like to thank the Mendocino County HHSA Public Health for providing the Narcan nasal units to the Sheriff's Office free of charge as part of the Free Narcan Grant from the California Department of Public Health.

HEY, THAT’S MY FRIENDS CAR!

On 04-24-2019 at approximately 7:54 PM Mendocino County Deputies were dispatched to suspicious circumstances at a fast food restaurant in the town of Laytonville, California. Witnesses on scene reported a male subject, later identified as Billy Nelson, 38, of Vacaville was seen attempting to open vehicle doors at the location.

While Deputies were responding to the location, they received a “Be On The Lookout” (BOLO) for a stolen 2014 white colored Toyota Tacoma pickup truck which had been broadcast by the California Highway Patrol (CHP). The listed vehicle was reported stolen from a parking lot approximately 100 yards north of the fast food restaurant where the suspicious circumstance call for service originated. Deputies spoke to witnesses at the restaurant and viewed a cellular phone video obtained by a witness of Nelson attempting to open vehicle doors at the restaurant. Nelson was last seen walking in the direction where CHP had reported the listed stolen vehicle. Deputies contacted the CHP and learned a friend of the victim had borrowed the listed vehicle to drive to the fast food restaurant to pick up dinner for himself and the victim. The victim’s friend left the vehicle parked just outside the restaurant with the engine running. While waiting to pick up his food order, he observed Nelson get into the listed vehicle and drive away. Deputies searched the area for the stolen vehicle and eventually located it parked unoccupied at the intersection of Cahto Drive and Reservation Road in Laytonville. Deputies received information that Nelson was at a local bar at the 44900 block of North Highway 101 in Laytonville. Deputies responded to the location and contacted Nelson. Deputies noted Nelson was the same subject they had seen in the cellular phone video showing him attempting to open vehicle doors. Deputies developed probable cause during the contact to establish Nelson had stolen the reported stolen vehicle and drove it to the location where it was located/recovered. The stolen vehicle was returned to the owner and CHP turned over the investigation to the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Deputies. Nelson was placed under arrest for theft of motor vehicle and transported to the Mendocino County Jail for listed charge where he was booked and to be held in lieu of $15,000 bail.

DRAMA AT THE FORT BRAGG SENIOR CENTER

MSP was forwarded this letter that was sent to the local newspaper (doubt it will ever appear though), the Redwood Coast Senior Center Board of Directors, Area Agency on Aging, Adult Protective Services & the Mendocino County District Attorney:

“Dear Sirs/Madame,

It was suggested to me by officers of the Fort Bragg Police Department that I write you to inquire why Jill Rexroad had me placed under citizen’s arrest by the Fort Bragg Police Department. As I was not in violation of any posted guidelines for the Senior Center, nor did I ever threaten, use violence or vulgarity or steal anything, I would like to know the LEGAL reason for my arrest.

I am also curious that as the Senior Center operates on government funding, as does the Caspar Community Center, why a defibrillator and a CPR kit has not been provided for - especially after one man there dropped dead of a coronary.

The Caspar Community Center has a defibrillator they obtained with their government grants. But it appears that new furniture for the office takes precedence for government grant money over the purchase of a defibrillator.

I am also curious why there is a person there employed for computer support but the computer room has been closed for months.

As there are many seniors who do not have a computer and rely on the Senior Center computers for business and family communication why the computer room has been closed for months.”

Felix Von Steiner, somewhere in cyberspace

CATCH OF THE DAY, April 25, 2019

EDWARD AGUIRRE, Ukiah. Drugs or alcohol in jail.

JAIRO ALVARADO-CRUZ, Ukiah. Pot cultivation of more than 25 plants, alteration of firearm ID, pot possession for sale, controlled substance for sale, armed with firearm in commission of felony.

JONATHAN GARCIA-CRUZ, Ukiah. Marijuana activity-employment of minor.

SAMUEL HARRIS, Santa Rosa/Ukiah. Failure to appear.

JAMES HERRIOT JR., Fort Bragg. Domestic abuse, robbery, false imprisonment, county parole violation.

STANISLAUS LODARSKI, Fort Bragg. Failure to appear.

BILLY NELSON, Vacaville/Laytonville. Taking vehicle without owner’s consent.

WILLIAM OWENS, Ukiah. Paraphernalia, probation revocation.

JOHN PALACIOS, Redwood Valley. Probation revocation.

ANDRES REY, Santa Rosa/Ukiah. Suspended license, failure to appear.

JENNIFER YONKERS, Fort Bragg. Trespassing, vandalism.

CHANGE? HOPE? OBAMA MUST HAVE BEEN TALKING ABOUT JOE BIDEN!

by Alexander Cockburn (August 2008)

“Change” and “hope” are not words one associates with Senator Joe Biden, a man so ripely symbolic of everything that is unchanging and hopeless about our political system that a computer simulation of the corporate-political paradigm senator in Congress would turn out “Biden” in a nano-second.

The first duty of any senator from Delaware is to do the bidding of the banks and large corporations which use the tiny state as a drop box and legal sanctuary. Biden has never failed his masters in this primary task. Find any bill that sticks it to the ordinary folk on behalf of the Money Power and you’ll likely detect Biden’s hand at work. The bankruptcy act of 2005 was just one sample. In concert with his fellow corporate serf, Senator Tom Carper, Biden blocked all efforts to hinder bankrupt corporations from fleeing from their real locations to the legal sanctuary of Delaware. Since Obama is himself a corporate serf and from day one in the US senate has been attentive to the same masters that employ Biden, the ticket is well balanced, the seesaw with Obama at one end and Biden at the other dead-level on the fulcrum of corporate capital.

Another shining moment in Biden’s progress in the current presidential term was his conduct in the hearings on Judge Alito’s nomination to the US Supreme Court. From the opening moments of the Judiciary Committee’s sessions in January, 2006, it became clear that Alito faced no serious opposition. On that first ludicrous morning Senator Pat Leahy sank his head into his hands, shaking it in unbelieving despair as Biden blathered out a self-serving and inane monologue lasting a full twenty minutes before he even asked Alito one question. In his allotted half hour Biden managed to pose only five questions, all of them ineptly phrased. He did pose two questions about Alito’s membership of a racist society at Princeton, but had already undercut them in his monologue by calling Alito “a man of integrity”, not once but twice, and further trivialized the interrogation by reaching under the dais to pull out a Princeton cap and put it on.

In all, Biden rambled for 4,000 words, leaving Alito time only to put together less than 1,000. A Delaware newspaper made deadly fun of him for his awful performance, eliciting the revealing confession from Biden that “I made a mistake. I should have gone straight to my question. I was trying to put him at ease.”

Biden is a notorious flapjaw. His vanity deludes him into believing that every word that drops from his mouth is minted in the golden currency of Pericles. Vanity is the most conspicuous characteristic of US Senators en bloc, nourished by deferential acolytes and often expressed in loutish sexual advances to staffers, interns and the like. On more than one occasion CounterPunch’s editors have listened to vivid accounts by the recipient of just such advances, this staffer of another senator being accosted by Biden in the well of the senate in the week immediately following his first wife’s fatal car accident.

His “experience” in foreign affairs consists in absolute fidelity to the conventions of cold war liberalism, the efficient elder brother of raffish “neo-conservatism.” Here again the ticket is well balanced, since Senator Obama has, within a very brief time-frame, exhibited great fidelity to the same creed.

Obama opposed the launching of the US attack on Iraq in 2003. He was not yet in the US Senate, but having arrived there in 2005 he has since voted unhesitatingly for all appropriations of the vast sums required for the war’s prosecution. Biden himself voted enthusiastically for the attack, declaring in the Senate debate in October, 2002, in a speech excavated and sent to us by Sam Husseini:

“I do not believe this is a rush to war. I believe it is a march to peace and security. I believe that failure to overwhelmingly support this resolution is likely to enhance the prospects that war will occur. … [Saddam Hussein] possesses chemical and biological weapons and is seeking nuclear weapons. … For four years now, he has prevented United Nations inspectors from uncovering those weapons…

“The terms of surrender dictated by the United Nations require him to declare and destroy his weapons of mass destruction programs. He has not done so. …

“Many predicted the administration would refuse to give the weapons inspectors one last chance to disarm. …

“Mr. President, President Bush did not lash out precipitously after 9/11. He did not snub the U.N. or our allies. He did not dismiss a new inspection regime. He did not ignore the Congress. At each pivotal moment, he has chosen a course of moderation and deliberation. …

“For two decades, Saddam Hussein has relentlessly pursued weapons of mass destruction. There is a broad agreement that he retains chemical and biological weapons, the means to manufacture those weapons and modified Scud missiles, and that he is actively seeking a nuclear capability. …

“We must be clear with the American people that we are committing to Iraq for the long haul; not just the day after, but the decade after…. [Biden confided to his colleagues that this would be a long fight, but was still for it.] I am absolutely confident the President will not take us to war alone. I am absolutely confident we will enhance his ability to get the world to be with us by us voting for this resolution.”

In step with his futile bid for the Democratic nomination, Biden changed his mind on the war, and part of his mandate will be to shore up the credentials of the Democratic ticket as being composed of “responsible” helmsmen of Empire, stressing that any diminution of the US presence in Iraq will be measured and thus extremely slow, balanced by all the usual imperial ventures elsewhere around the globe.

Why did Obama choose Biden? One important constituency pressing for Biden was no doubt the Israel lobby inside the Democratic Party. Obama, no matter how fervent his proclamations of support for Israel, has always been viewed with some suspicion by the lobby. For half the lifespan of the state of Israel, Biden has proved himself its unswerving acolyte in the senate.

And Obama picked Biden for the same reason Michael Dukakis chose Senator Lloyd Bentsen in 1988: the marriage of youth and experience, so reassuring to uncertain voters but most of all to the elites, that nothing dangerous or unusual will discommode business as usual. Another parallel would be Kennedy’s pick of Lyndon Johnson in 1960, LBJ being a political rival and a seasoned senator. Kennedy and Johnson didn’t like each other, and surely after Biden’s racist remarks about “clean” blacks, Obama cannot greatly care for Biden. It seems he would have preferred Chris Dodd but the latter was disqualified because of his VIP loans from Countrywide.

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Should we call this time the days of unhappy motoring? The wheels may be falling off the nation, but they remain on the automobile.

It is the age of Autosaurus Destructus:

The beasts began to multiply, and soon there were more of them than the buffalo and the horses, and they spread far and wide. They were faster than the deer and the mountain lion, and people recklessly used them to kill others.

People enjoyed riding the docile creatures and went to many distant places in great comfort with hardly a complaint from the beast. Often they would race the beasts for their own pleasure and profit.

In great numbers, they cut many well worn paths across continents with their endless roaming and herd instinct. At times, people became their slaves, and at other times They were corralled into camps and sold as beasts of burden themselves.

But they didn’t mind much since the people dug the ground and they were always fed. And sometimes the people went about their own business in the belly of the beast, under its tough outer skin.

Then one day the food ran out, and the people stampeded in chaos and confusion, unable to feed the beasts and the beasts began to starve. Some could no longer fly. The beasts were abandoned and the people could not move about and would soon die. Some people chose death inside the beast, their skeletons now encaged, partners ’till the bitter end.

It was a fabulous, fleeting, foolish age, a wonderful, woe begetting, wanton age.

But it wasn’t really an age, it was more like a moment. It was the Moment that Dinocars Ruined the Earth.

TICKETS FOR MENDOCINO WOMEN'S CHOIR are available at Silver & Stone in Mendo or Harvest Market in Ft. Bragg. Performances are Thursday May 2, Friday May 3, Saturday May 4, each at 7:30 pm. Sunday matinee at 2:30 pm.

TO THE CONTRARY

Editor,

Contrary to what David Roderick argued in his letter, we have reached a limit to immigration where any further mass influx will simply be ecologically, economically, socially and culturally unsustainable.

We have perhaps hundreds of thousands of American citizens who are homeless, unemployed and underemployed, as we clearly see every day on the streets of Sonoma County and throughout the nation.

The duty of our federal, state and local governments and elected officials is to ensure and protect the interests of such people, which they have failed to do consistently over several decades.

Advances in science and technology are rapidly eliminating the need for human labor in many industries and occupations across the board, and this process is expected to accelerate in the decades ahead.

Chris Donnellan

Santa Rosa

LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE TINY HOUSE MOVEMENT

by Tracey Harris

What is the most surprising thing I’ve learned about the tiny house movement? My answer might surprise folks who get a daily dose of tiny houses through social media and reality television.

These representations often convey aspects of the movement that are individualistic, such as people building a house by themselves or hankering to live off grid in the middle of the woods. Such stories are consistent with neoliberal ideals of self-sufficiency and isolating oneself from the larger world.

While these may be some people’s experiences with tiny house building and living, they are not the only, or the most important ones. Instead, what I’ve learned from tiny house residents, builders, advocates and leaders, as well as trying out tiny house living with my family, is that what really matters is what a tiny house can help facilitate.

On an individual level, that can mean downsizing (moving from a larger space to a much smaller one), debt reduction, increased savings, downshifting (the ability to work fewer hours in unfulfilling work in order to take part in meaningful work and activities), and creating meaning outside of shopping and consuming. But, on a more collective and structure-challenging level, tiny houses can champion community-building, counter poverty and housing insecurity, and even offer a challenge to capitalist industries that threaten peoples communities and way of life.

Community building

Tiny houses necessitate interdependence with others and champion novel community building exercises. A tiny house cannot be all things to its inhabitants. And this, I would argue, is actually a good thing! Big houses with only a few inhabitants often have all sorts of bells and whistles— home gyms, home theatres, extensive libraries—so there is no need to be out in community.

We have a culture that celebrates independence and likens needing others to a personal flaw or weakness. But going to our local YMCA, cinema, or public library, means that we are out in our communities, breaking down walls and building relationships with others. This is an important way to counter feelings of isolation, alienation, fear of strangers, and all sorts of other feelings common as people retreat deeper into their own private dwellings.

Countering poverty and housing insecurity

Tiny houses are also countering poverty and housing insecurity. Just look at Detroit, Michigan and what executive director Reverend Faith Fowler and the folks at CASS Community Social Services have achieved in a city with major issues with poverty and a lack of decent affordable housing. They are building tiny houses and offering them to people with low incomes and those who were formerly homeless.

More than building houses, they are creating community as they offer residents an important way out of housing insecurity and poverty. The CASS Tiny Homes Program builds small houses on foundations.

The decision to build the tiny houses on foundations rather than wheels was deliberate. Many of the residents have faced severe housing insecurity and may have had themselves and all their belongings thrown from a home they’ve lost. A foundation speaks to permanence and the chance to be a part of a community. After seven years of paying the bills associated with the house (at a rate $1 per square foot per month), the resident owns their home outright. Imagine the power of home ownership for people who have lived with housing insecurity, sometimes for their entire lives. This program, and the tiny homes in it, are providing the possibility of a pathway out of poverty.

Tiny houses as social protest

The Secwepemc Nation in British Columbia has taken the idea of tiny houses built on wheels and are using them to create a peaceful and physical barrier to the proposed Trans Mountain Expansion pipeline through their territory. The pipeline is to carry crude oil from Edmonton, Alberta, to Burnaby, British Columbia and threatens the waterways, fish and animals, as well as the land that is the ancestral home of the Secwepemc peoples.

Thinking about necessities of life, such as safe drinking water, a clean environment, and decent housing should take priority over building more pipelines that will simply continue to fuel overproduction, overconsumption, and waste. More than simply a physical barrier, the tiny houses and the solar panels that power them demonstrate that we need to create opportunities for living sustainably.

For the Secwepemc people, clean water and protecting home, in the broadest sense possible, takes precedent over unsustainable energy production and transportation and clearly relates to reimaging community in its broadest sense.

Tiny Homes = Big Changes

We have a myriad of social problems that we currently face: alienation, housing insecurity and homelessness, extractive industries threatening indigenous communities, and climate change threatening our very existence on the planet. I’m not suggesting that tiny houses are going to fix all of the problems we face, but rather that we need to be searching for and be open to creative ways to challenge these problems.

The “tiny” solutions outlined above challenge us to live lives that are rich in meaning and experiences, and help promote community-building and the very survival of our planet. Ultimately, they are demonstrating how we can champion home in its broadest and most significant sense.

(Tracey Harris is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Cape Breton University in Nova Scotia, Canada. She is the author of The Tiny House Movement: Challenging Our Consumer Culture (Lexington Books: 2018).)

FUTURE ECONOMY OF MENDOCINO MEETING

Creating Co-ops, Collectives & Community Organizations to build the economy for our common good. Special guests Emily Kawano, Founder US Solidarity Economy Network, Co-director of Wellspring Cooperatives, & Keith Taylor, UC Davis Cooperative Extension Specialist, Community Cooperative Organizations. With a grand opening presentation of The Economy for the Common Good of Mendocino County Map. Presented by the Grassroots Institute. For more info contact Carrie Durkee

cdurkee@mcn.org

---

Dear Friend for the Common Good

Please help us create a vibrant, equitable and sustainable future for Mendocino County. On April 29 at 6 PM at the Caspar Community Center, we will publicly launch our map of the Economy for the Common Good of Mendocino County. This is the culmination of a two-year effort by many people from all parts of Mendocino County to identify, research and interview the institutions of Mendocino County that work to solve seemingly intractable, systemic problems in our world.

We are excited that our mentor on this project, Emily Kawano, the founder of the U.S Solidarity Economy Network and the co-director of the Wellspring Cooperatives in Western Massachusetts, will be here. She will join UC Davis Community Development Advisor Keith Taylor, who headlined the recent Mendocino County Economic Summit, for a round-table discussion on creating co-ops, collectives & community organizations. We would love to have your participation in this discussion to expand our Economy for the Common Good.

After that discussion we will present our initial digital map of the Economy for the Common Good of Mendocino County with information centers for the over fifty organizations that are presently on the map. We have another 150 organizations that have been nominated to be on the map and know that there are many more that would be a welcome addition. This endeavor will be an ongoing project with many possibilities for networking, additions and expansions.

Let us now if you have any questions or need any more information on this event. You can also go to grassroots-institute.org http://grassroots-institute.org/.

We look forward to an informative and creative evening for the future of Mendocino County and beyond.

Thanks for your participation

The Grassroots Institute Team

Lillian Cartwright

Carrie Durkee

Margaret Koster

Michael St. John

Jim Tarbell

ADD LOOK ALIKES. Mark Scaramella and this guy:

CLOCKWORK ORANGE, THE LOST SEQUEL

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/apr/25/the-clockwork-condition-lost-sequel-to-a-clockwork-orange-discovered

HUD PROPOSAL TO BAN IMMIGRANTS from Receiving Housing

affordablehousingonline.com/blog/hud-proposal-ban-undocumented-immigrants-housing/

via Jake Lanza

Resources Manager

affordablehousingonline.com

an ApartmentSmart website

THE TRIPLE REDUNDANCY

LAST NIGHT'S EVENT hosted by the Community Foundation of Mendocino County was so inspiring and warming.

So much good work being done by so many great organizations making a difference in the lives of many on the coast. Thank you!! It was an honor for the Mendocino Coast Hospitality Center and Street Medicine to be acknowledged.

GRACE HUDSON EVENTS
The Grace Hudson Museum will be gearing up for spring with two special events for its next First Friday event to be held 5 to 8 p.m. on May 3rd. First, Cathy Monroe will lead a family-friendly solar printing workshop in which visitors will learn how to create a photograph using the power of the sun. This event concludes at 7 p.m. The photo theme continues with the opening of a new pop-up exhibition featuring the photography of Ukiah's own Jeff Trouette. Trouette specializes in imagery of nature and adventure, with subjects spanning Mendocino County to locations around the world. Both programs are tied to the Museum's current exhibit, Gathering Light: The Photographic Visions of Aryan Chappell, Amy Melious, and Robert Taylor. This exhibit, along with the Museum's other exhibit galleries and the Wild Gardens, which are blooming with spring wildflowers, will all be open for viewing this evening. Gathering Light as well as Trouette's exhibit are on view through May 26. As always on First Fridays, all events are free.

The Grace Hudson Museum is at 431 S. Main St. in Ukiah. For more information please go to

www.gracehudsonmuseum.org

or call (707) 467-2836.