MCT: Monday, June 24, 2019

• Cooler Temps
• Power Outages
• Owl
• Quake Seismogram
• Pets
• Mayan Virgins
• Grand Jury on B
• Builders Convention
• King Arthur
• Destinations
• Ed Notes
• Kitty Wells
• Wind Trains
• Pink Day
• Sanitation Meeting
• Angels Flight
• No CAAC
• Auto Glass
• Yesterday's Catch
• Weegee Bio
• Reparations
• Anti-Busing Joe
• Crazy Donnie
• Found Object

CLEAR SKIES along the coast should finally be replaced by marine stratus late this afternoon into tomorrow. Otherwise, a seasonably cold upper-level storm system is forecast to move east across the region during the upcoming work week. Cooler temperatures will be likely across the interior by mid week, along with a few showers over Del Norte County. (National Weather Service)

PG&E HATES YOU

“Go ahead and hate us,” was the message from a PG&E spokesperson last week as the company appeared before the Ukiah City Council to explain their plan to shut off our electricity regularly all summer. The company has told the city these “safety” shut-offs could last as many as five days at a time and there may be as many as 80 days this summer when electricity is off.

PG&E says these shut offs are necessary to avoid the repeat of devastating wildfires caused by downed live power lines.

Never mind that the technology exists that taps ultrafast synchrophasor sensors to detect and turn off broken power lines before they hit the ground. It is used by San Diego’s power company and communities in Europe, but PG&E thinks that’s too expensive. It’s easier to simply shut us all down over and over to cover their own liability.

PG&E wants us all to be ready to be without power for five days at a time. They want us to help our neighbors, store water, stock up on non-perishable food, keep our gas tanks full, find someplace else to keep cool, buy generators, and so on. They say it’ll be good for us anyway to be prepared for long power outages because gosh, there might be an earthquake some day.

Oh yes, this will be good for us. Tell that to the local restaurant or grocery store that has to throw away hundreds of pounds of perfectly good food over and over again. Tell that to the gas station whose pumps are off for days at a time during the busiest tourist season. Tell that to the people who depend on oxygen tanks or dialysis.

PG&E is punishing the citizens of California for making them take the responsibility for the wildfires their badly maintained equipment caused. This is the company saying “See? You want to blame us, OK here’s what we’re going to do about it.”

We applaud the City of Ukiah for being proactive in getting the word out and at least trying to plan some remedies for local citizens, including setting up cooling stations, making sure water and sewer still operates and even perhaps trying to get some power generated from the city’s tiny hydroelectric plant.

We think the state of California needs to do more to keep PG&E accountable for the economic havoc they could cause this summer up and down the state. PG&E needs to be watched carefully throughout this process to ensure that after these “safety” shutoffs power is restored as quickly as possible, and not whenever PG&E believes it can afford to. The company should be required to inform the public exactly how long a power outage will last, not just an estimate of “between 8 hours and five days.” If they have to buy more helicopters to inspect lines, or hire hundreds more line workers to carry out those post-outage inspections as fast as possible, so be it. We unfortunately see a company that will be sending excuses out to the public about why an outage that should take hours, stretches to days.

We hope that the dire warnings PG&E is giving turn out to be hyperbole. But we don’t trust them to do what’s best for the consumers, only what’s best for their own bottom line. We’ll all be watching.

(K.C. Meadows, Editor, Ukiah Daily Journal. Courtesy, the Ukiah Daily Journal)

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PUBLIC SAFETY POWER SHUT-OFF

What do you need to know about planned power outages during this fire season? We’re here to help! Visit the Ukiah’s website for tips on how to prepare, what you can expect from City services, and more: http://www.cityofukiah.com/psps/

Also, starting Monday, June 24th, follow this page for a Tip of the Day—real, practical advice that you can implement one day at a time.

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SUPERVISOR WILLIAMS ON PG&E PLANNED OUTAGES

Ola, Supervisor:

Are the odds strongly in favor of AV suffering power shut-offs in the coming months? PG&E charts seem to indicate outages would be inland. Any way to tell? Should people invest in generators? We'd like your input.

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Supervisor Williams:

I’m glad you asked. In the name of fire safety, PG&E will be encouraging thousands of portable generators to be run against dry grass on gusty days during the peak of fire season. What could go wrong? They’ve warned outages could last five days and they’ll be walking the lines for visual inspection prior to re-energizing, because they haven’t installed equipment capable of detecting shorts. They’ll “probably” give us a little notice, the type that’ll encourage bank runs, but no promises. Given that the transmission lines between Lake and Mendocino counties are in a high fire severity zone, all county residents should anticipate losing power.

At the 51 minute mark of the video presentation by PG&E at Ukiah City last week, one of their experts explained that they are not spraying Roundup on private property before going on to explain their use of Glysophate (the active ingredient in Roundup) on private property. She said those wishing to opt-out should call 800-743-5000.

SATURDAY NIGHT’S M5.6 EARTHQUAKE recorded by the seismograph on campus at Humboldt State University. The earthquake was located near Petrolia on Cape Mendocino and originated at a depth of about 10 km. Some merchandise was shaken off of store shelves, but otherwise no significant damage or injuries were reported. This seismogram shows the beginning of the event as the seismic waves arrived at the seismograph location.

(Redwood Coast Tsunami Work Group)

UKIAH SHELTER PETS OF THE WEEK

Arlo arrived at the shelter with several other similarly-colored dogs, who we named the "A" dogs. They all appear to have missed out on training, and they're all a little bit shy and getting to know lots of people and learning that the leash = fun! We took Arlo out for his photo session, and he was easy to leash up, but he pulls, and he is strong! He's a happy dog and likes to be involved in any action going on around him. We think he's housetrained. Arlo is a fan of getting butt scratches, and he's a loving dog. He's 6 years old, neutered, and mixed breed (we think there's some Boxer in there!) and weighs 61 pounds.

Sheila is a 3 month old, spayed female tabby kitten. You would think they don't get much cuter than this, but we have the whole litter of five and each one is beyond adorable! Sheila and her siblings are all very social kittens. These little charmers just came back from their foster home where they received a ton of love and attention. The Ukiah Animal Shelter is located at 298 Plant Road in Ukiah; adoption hours are Tuesday, Thursday, Friday & Saturday from 10 am to 4:30 pm and Wednesday from 10 am to 6:30 pm.

To see photos and bios of the shelter's adoptable animals, and the shelter's programs, services and events, please visit us online at http://www.mendoanimalshelter.com

For more information about adoptions please call 707-467-6453.

MEASURE B: MENTAL HEALTH TREATMENT ACT—WHERE ARE WE?

Mendocino County Grand Jury, June 19, 2019

Mental illness is a crisis in our county and our country. Measure B, a sales tax initiative, was an attempt by Mendocino County to address this crisis. It passed by more than two-thirds of the electorate in November 2017 and reflected the concerns of County residents. The voters agreed people suffering mental illness and/or drug addiction need treatment, not jail or confinement in facilities in other counties. At this time, Mendocino County does not have a dedicated Crisis Stabilization Unit (CSU), Crisis Residential Treatment Center (CRT) or Psychiatric Health Facility (PHF). (PHF: 16-bed Psychiatric Health Facility aka the “PUFF.”)

Measure B funds are intended to construct and supplement the operations and treatment services of psychiatric behavioral health facilities. Voters are concerned that, after eighteen months, a site has not been selected, delaying construction.

Measure B, in part, states:

“Provide for assistance in the diagnosis, treatment and recovery from mental illness and addiction by developing:

1) A psychiatric facility and other behavioral health facilities; and a regional behavioral health training facility to be used by behavioral health professionals, public safety and other first responders.

2) Provide for the necessary infrastructure to support and stabilize individuals with behavioral health conditions, including addiction and neurological disorders.

3) Create a Mental Health Treatment Fund entirely dedicated to fund improved services, treatment and facilities for persons with mental health conditions into which 100% of the revenue from this measure shall be deposited.

4) Create a politically independent “Mental Health Treatment Act” Citizen’s Oversight Committee which shall review the independent annual audit of expenditures and the performance management plan for compliance with the Specific Purpose of this ordinance.”

In 2018, Mendocino County contracted with the Kemper Consulting Group to provide a recommended plan of action for allocation of Measure B revenues. The Kemper Report recommended a continuum of care including:

A Crisis Stabilization Unit

A Crisis Residential Treatment Center

A Psychiatric Health Facility

Per the Measure B Oversight Committee 2019-2020 chair:

“The CSU would be a locked facility and provide a location in which sheriff’s deputies, hospital emergency personnel, and mental health workers could transport people in need of a safe, secure place for up to 24 hours.

“The CRT would provide a place for people to remain voluntarily for up to a month while receiving mental health and/or addiction treatment.

“The PHF would be a long-term psychiatric facility for people with more intense mental health issues where they could receive the treatment they need over the course of several weeks.” Ukiah Daily Journal April 2, 2019

These three interconnected programs would supplement existing mental health services in Mendocino County to help provide a continuum of care. This mental health system of care is effective for the client and reduces costs to the County.

The eleven-member Measure B Mental Health Act Citizens Oversight Committee (Committee) meets for two hours once a month. The Committee should act with a sense of urgency to meet the expectations of the voters and the needs of the mentally ill. The critical issue is to focus on choosing a site and then building the facility(s). The GJ believes the eleven-member committee is an unwieldy body. Utilizing ad hoc committees, meeting on a regular basis, to report back would be more effective. Forming two ad hocs, one focusing on site location/construction and the other on operations/treatment, could accelerate the process.

The Grand Jury (GJ) is concerned about the length of time it has taken the Committee to make just three recommendations. After eighteen months of meetings, the public has no clear view of the progress of Measure B facilities and programs. The CEO report would be an ideal vehicle to report status and timelines of Measure B projects.

The Board of Supervisors’ (BOS) responsibility is to prepare and publicize a plan with goals and timelines for the completion of the facility(s). The Committee has identified three potential sites in Willits and Ukiah for the facilities; however, the project cannot move forward without a decision on site location(s). The BOS has directed staff to research and recommend a site(s) for the CSU, CRT and PHF. The Committee’s authority is limited to making recommendations to the BOS which authorizes spending and implementation.

The Committee recommended two additional Mobile Outreach & Prevention Services (MOPS) to augment existing MOPS serving North County, South Coast and Anderson Valley. The MOPS have reduced law enforcement officers’ time spent on persons who are in crisis.

At the Committee’s recommendation, the BOS approved the hiring of an Administrative Project Manager. The County is currently in the process of interviewing candidates. This position would provide project management assistance for Measure B including budget and timeline compliance.

The Measure B Mental Health Treatment Fund account was established April 2018 with revenues derived from sales tax allocations and interest. As of May 2019 there is a balance of $7,321,506 in the account.

Continuum of Care: Services offered for mental health and substance use disorder treatment

BACKGROUND

The BOS closed the County’s PHF in 2000. Since the closure, those whom law enforcement deemed to be 5150 are taken to an emergency room (ER). The rooms allotted for psychiatric patients are limited. Law enforcement maintains custody of the patient in the ER until released to a qualified mental health employee. The patient is then assessed and a course of treatment is determined.

METHODOLOGY

The GJ attended or viewed meetings, including the following:

Board of Supervisors

Measure B Oversight Committee

Mendocino County Mental Health Board

Redwood Community Services

The GJ interviewed Law Enforcement, Auditor, Mental Health staff, and representatives of non- profits dealing with mental health issues. The GJ examined the Measure B fiscal account including all income and expenses, the Kemper Report on Mental Health, and other relevant documents.

DISCUSSION

Measure B was placed on the November 2017 ballot to secure funds to build mental health facilities and to supplement mental health services. The cost to put Measure B on the ballot was $161,578.

The Measure B account paid $37,470 for the Kemper Report which detailed the condition of County mental health services and recommended better use of County revenue and expenses.

The Measure B Oversight Committee is comprised of:

Mendocino County CEO

Mendocino County Behavioral Health Director

Mendocino County Mental Health Director

Mendocino County Sheriff

Mendocino County Auditor

NAMI representative (National Alliance on Mental Illness)

Five appointees, one from each of the five supervisorial districts

The Committee’s responsibility is to research and make recommendations to the BOS.

The public passed Measure B in November 2017, expecting the Committee to act with a sense of urgency. After more than 18 months, meeting only two hours a month, a recommendation to the BOS was finally made to consider three locations. The BOS has directed staff to research and evaluate the three options. At this pace, the design and construction process will delay completion far into the future.

The Committee recommended hiring an Administrative Project Manager. The BOS approved this at the March 2019 meeting and applicants are currently being interviewed.

The Committee also recommended two additional MOPS to augment existing MOPS serving North County, South Coast and Anderson Valley. BOS’ approval cannot be given until the 2019- 2020 budget is established in July 2019.

Measure B, a half-cent sales tax for five years, is projected to bring in approximately $7 million annually. Upon sunset, a one-eighth cent sales tax will continue unless or until the tax is repealed by a majority vote in a general election.

75% is to be allocated for facilities for five years

25% is to be allocated for services for five years, with 100% for services thereafter

FINDINGS

F1. Mendocino County does not have a dedicated CSU, CRT or PHF at this time.

F2. The Committee meets for two hours each month.

F3. The Committee has identified three potential sites for the CSU, CRT and PHF; however, no site has been chosen by the BOS.

F4. All recommendations by the Committee must be approved by the BOS.

F5. The Committee recommended, and the BOS approved, hiring a project manager.

F6. Two additional MOPS were recommended by the Committee.

F7. The eleven-member committee can be unwieldy with its variety of perspectives, opinions and expertise.

RECOMMENDATIONS

The GJ recommends that:

R1. the Committee form two ad hoc committees, one focusing on site location and construction and the other on operations and treatment,

R2. the Committee can address policies, procedures and job descriptions during construction,

R3. the BOS prepare and publicize a plan with goals and timelines for the completion of the CSU, CRT and PHF, e.g. Mendocino County website and local news media, R4. the BOS’ priority should be planning and construction of the three facilities.

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MARK SCARAMELLA COMMENTS:

It’s good that the Grand Jury is looking at and highlighting the lack of serious progress on Measure B. However, we found several questionable statements and a few omissions in the Grand Jury’s report on Measure B:

“PHF: 16-bed Psychiatric Health Facility.”

Who says it has to have 16 beds?

“The Committee meets for two hours each month.”

Not every month — they’ve skipped at least two months that we know of which has contributed to the lack of progress on Measure B.

“The Committee has identified three potential sites for the CSU, CRT and PHF; however, no site has been chosen by the BOS.”

Which three sites? We only know of two sites: Old Howard Hospital and Orchard Avenue. They have also discussed (but not “identified”) using the now abandoned old Emergency Room at Ukiah Adventist Hospital which might have been at least at least considered for short-term PHF.

The Recommendation that “the BOS prepare and publicize a plan with goals and timelines for the completion of the CSU, CRT and PHF” will never happen. Not only is the Board incapable of producing such a plan, but the Supervisors have said several times that they won’t do anything related to Measure B without a recommendation from the Measure B Advisory Committee and that Committee has shown no interest in anything like a plan for anything. Such a plan would also require integration with the County’s other mental health services and facilities which is way beyond the capabilities of the present County administration. (And which should be prepared by the so-called Behavioral Health Advisory Board — another entity which has brought nothing to the table and which somehow escaped the Grand Jury’s attention.)

Several things are conspicuously missing:

With all the talk about “crisis” this and “crisis” that and 5150s, and the specific mention of “addiction” in the Measure B language, we see nothing about identifying and dealing with the rather small number of chronic “dual diagnosis” street offenders with drug/alcohol problems combined with mental health problems. They do not qualify for MediCal service reimbursements and should at least be addressed in the planning. Doing something about this small set of people was a primary reason Measure B passed, yet there’s been no focus on them and there’s no indication that the Measure B people care about it. In spite of the annual $7 million in new Mental Health money being added to the $25 million already being spent annually. The Sheriff knows who they are — he recently told us that over 100 of his inmates at any given time are on one kind of psych med or another. (PS. Assume that 80% of the $25 million that Mendo unaccountably shells out ever year for mental health “services” pay for people making around $100k per year (with benefits). That translates to around $20 million pays for 200 people. Has anybody ever asked what all those well-paid people are doing?)

There’s no mention of an interim modular PHF unit as we and the local National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) have proposed. Without even consideration for this short-term option, the grand jury’s “concern” about the “the length of time it has taken the [Measure B] Committee to make just three recommendations,” is empty rhetoric.

KING ARTHUR’S LONG GOODBYE

by Tommy Wayne Kramer

“Arturo Reyes, Mendocino College’s president, says he’s leaving town for a better job but it’s too early to celebrate. He’s not gone yet”. … Referring to Mr. Reyes, Kramer adds, “It takes something special for anyone around here to make more enemies than Phil Baldwin, Patty Berg, Duncan James, Jane Chambers, Bruce Anderson and Dave Eyster combined.”

ukiahdailyjournal.com/2019/06/23/king-arthurs-long-goodbye/

ED NOTE: Quick quiz! Who is Patty Berg? And why would anybody hate her?

ED NOTES

A LOCAL FACEBOOKER ASKS: "Anybody else noticing the lack of honeybees this year? Last year, I'd sit outside with my eyes closed and the hum was constant. This year, there's nothing there to hum. A handful of the native, bumblebees but, that's it. Alarming and very, very sad."

I'VE NOTICED that absence, too, and have also noted that the bumblebees are going strong. Nothing against the bumbles, but the absence of the honeybees' work product, honey, and the loss of their essential pollinating duties is downright alarming. I daresay that part of the honeybee absence in the Boonville area seems attributable to the simultaneous withdrawal of the commercial hives belonging to Patrick Kalfsbeek, the Arbuckle farmer who, for the past several years, maintained a string of hives through Boonville and Philo. We had a stack of Patrick's hives here in the center of town which, from our inexpert perspective, seemed highly successful. We miss the bees, and we miss visiting with Patrick on his visits to Boonville. The honey he gave us from his Boonville hives was right up there with the nectar of the gods, which we've only heard about, but Patrick's honey just might be it.

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FROM THE UKIAH DISPATCH-DEMOCRAT, 29 JANUARY, 1904: "The Ukiah Orphanage. Perhaps a majority of our readers are unaware of the fact that a complete change has been made in the character and management of what was the Sacred Heart convent in this city. It is no longer a school in the sense in which it was conducted for so many years, but is now an orphanage under the management of the Dominican Sisters and has been named 'The Albertinium Orphanage.' Already there have been admitted within its benevolent walls twenty-four full orphans, thirteen half-orphans and one abandoned child."

BEGINNING about 1960, orphanages were either phased out altogether or converted to secular group facilities for "troubled youth." And ever since orphanges were phased out and the dependent child industry phased in, the children of the poor have been big business, supporting an army of handsomely compensated social workers and therapists, in my experience with only a few exceptions, a badly educated and staggeringly irresponsible group, presiding over a system that provides the child victim the opposite of what he or she needs — stability, predictability, safety. Orphanages raised children from infancy to adulthood in stable, predictable, safe, humane conditions, and there's a whole oeuvre of fond memoirs by orphanage-raised people to verify the claim.

HERE IN MENDOCINO COUNTY, the foster system has been privatized, the dependent monetized big time. Do the children consigned to the system get the stability they need? No telling because, "in the best interests of the child" what actually happens to the kid is top secret, but having seen the system in action, criminal neglect and instability best describes it.

SPEAKING as a former foster parent of many years duration, I can tell you the kid is bounced from home to home, never really plugged in anywhere, moved hither-thither at the whim of… well, rather than string out the insults I can say with all the objectivity I can muster, that if my children or grandchildren had been captured by the system I'd have immediately resorted to ultra-vi of the stealth and cunning variety. Of all the evils engendered by our class system, the crimes committed against the children of the poor are the most egregious.

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ROBERT DOYLE is Marin's sheriff-coroner. "Recently Alex Easton-Brown wrote a letter to the editor claiming that profits from inmate telephones and commissary were being used to purchase drones and surveillance equipment for the Marin County Sheriff’s Office. It is true that profit is derived from inmate telephones and commissary. However, those profits are deposited in an inmate welfare account and by law can only be used to benefit Marin County Jail inmates. So I say to you Alex Easton-Brown: Next time, get the facts straight.”

NOT EXACTLY: Families of inmates are charged exorbitant rates for the necessarily collect calls placed by prisoners. The private company providing the "service" takes a big whack of the of the big profits generated by the "service," while a small portion is indeed placed in beneficial inmate services. The last time I put a small amount of money on an inmate's books, the service charge for the automated process was five bucks for twenty bucks, which is an extortionate amount charged, I'd say.

JUNE 23, 1952: Decca releases Kitty Wells' "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels."

DUTCH TRAINS running on wind, as noted by Nancy McCleod:

Train passengers in The Netherlands are the first in the world to travel entirely on wind energy. Since Jan. 2017, 100% of the electricity powering the Dutch railway network has come from wind power. A project started four years ago, which set Jan. 2018 as the date by which all trains should be running on wind energy, did in fact reach that goal a year earlier than planned. This was made possible by an increase in the number of wind farms throughout the country and off the coast. Three turns of a wind turbine will drive a train for one kilometer; a turbine running for an hour will power a train for about 200 kilometres, or 125 miles. Additional planned increases in efficiency aim to further reduce energy use by about one third.

(Source: The Guardian, U.K.; groenetrein.ns.nl)

TODAY is National Pink Day! You know how Mooch is celebrating.

KATHY WYLIE VIA JUSTINE FREDERICKSON of the Ukiah Daily Journal:

The Ukiah Valley Sanitation District’s board of directors will be holding a special meeting Monday that includes a request to take over billing of its own customers and discussion of a recent Mendocino County Grand Jury Report that urges the board to be more transparent with its ratepayers and to negotiate with the city on its proposed Joint Powers Agreement.

According to the agenda for the special meeting June 24, the board is scheduled to first consider “the city’s request for the district to assume one-half of the increased cost (of a rate study to determine new sewer rates.)

According to a Mendocino County Grand Jury report titled “Ukiah Valley Sanitation District: Change and Transparency Needed” that was released on June 19, “the city of Ukiah and the Sanitation District are initiating a joint rate study to determine new sewer rates (that) must account for the costs of the $9 million combined legal and administrative fees and almost $5 million of payments from the city to the district resulting from the lawsuit.”

On Monday, the district’s board is also scheduled to discuss and possibly take action on a “Notice to the city of Ukiah of intent to transfer responsibility for district billing and collection and/or operations and maintenance functions for district.”

The Grand Jury report notes that “in addition to rate increases caused by the lawsuit and settlement, if the district chooses to take responsibility for billing, maintenance and construction of a new treatment plant, district rates would increase even more.”

Also on the Monday agenda is a “discussion and possible direction to staff regarding a response” to the Grand Jury report, which lists several findings and recommendations, including that: “there is only one sewage collection and treatment system which serves both the city and the district, and that (those two agencies) being jointly responsible for the single sanitation system has led to significant needless expense.”

Also, that “due to limited staffing and high turnover, the district has not demonstrated the capability to responsibly manage its business and financial affairs, (and) in the absence of staffing continuity with technical and financial expertise, the district has used expensive attorneys and consultants to conduct day-to-day business and negotiations with the city.”

The Grand Jury also notes that “the district’s claim that it can save over $1.5 million per year by assuming responsibility for the billing, maintenance and sewage treatment for its ratepayers is not supported by any documentation, (and) that the (Memorandum of Understanding/Joint Powers Agreement) proposed by the city is intended to provide a cost-effective solution to the ongoing disputes between the city and the district by operating as a single system with the same rate structure applying to all customers.”

The Grand Jury also notes that “the District has violated the intent of the Brown Act, which has reduced transparency for District ratepayers.”

The Grand Jury recommends that: “the city and district work together to find a way to manage the overall sewer system as a single entity equitably and efficiently for all ratepayers, (that) the District enter into negotiations with the city regarding the proposed MOU/JPA, (that) the district provide specific details to ratepayers for its claims that it can save over $1.5 million per year by assuming billing, maintenance and sewage treatment responsibilities with a detailed feasibility and cost analysis, and (that) the district board must act in accordance with the Brown Act which promotes transparency and public participation.”

The district board meeting is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. June 24 in the district’s office at 151 Laws Ave."

THIRD & HILL, Los Angeles, 1965. All of the structures around Angels Flight have been cleared.

LESS CAAC, MORE HELP

To the Editor:

I do not see the need to establish another expensive bureaucracy (CAAC) in the name of Climate Change, when we already know what to do. We all know that Man-made Climate Change is caused by Carbon emissions. We know that human activity creates Carbon emissions by using Carbon based fuels. We therefore know how to reduce, if not eliminate Carbon emissions.

Here is a suggested list of things each of us individually can do right now to save the planet: — Get rid of your fossil fuel powered car and get an electric vehicle, a bicycle, and a good pair of walking shoes. Just about everything anyone could ever need is available right here in Ukiah.

If you heat your home and water with natural gas, LPG, or wood pellets, convert to electric and/or solar heating and wear a sweater.

Stop consuming beef, pork, and poultry products. These animals emit carbon dioxide and methane. Their waste products also decompose into ammonia and nitrates.

Reduce your eating habits to the bare nutritional minimum. The fewer calories consumed means fewer diesel powered 18 wheelers will be required to bring food to our grocery stores and restaurants.

Reduce consumerism in general. If you need something, chances are you will be able to find it in a yard sale or a thrift shop. This further reduces the Carbon emissions from the trucking industry.

If you must purchase something new, select items with little or no packaging. The production of all of that cardboard and plastic causes additional Carbon emissions.

I just do not understand why we need taxpayer funded agencies to mandate behavior, when each of us could voluntarily change our own on our own. To combat Man-made Climate Change, each of us will have to change our lifestyles anyway. We may as well use the power of our freedom to come up with our ideas on how to adapt, experiment with them, and share with our communities the lessons we have learned and successful practices we have developed. Unlike most government solutions, these would likely be sustainable.

Since the County seems to have some excess cash they don’t know what to do with, I suggest it be deployed to take care of a human crisis we see every day: Homelessness. We could use a large European-style youth hostel where people could sleep out of the elements, take care of their personal hygiene and laundry needs, and receive counseling to get off their addiction, regain dignity and self-esteem and reintegrate into society. For the community as a whole, it would reduce delinquency and crime, trash and hazardous waste, and restore Ukiah as one of the best and safest small towns to live in America.

D. E. Johnson

Ukiah

IMPROVING YOUR VIEW SINCE 1947.

CATCH OF THE DAY, JUNE 23, 2019

WILLIAM BRACKETT JR., Potter Valley. Assault with deadly weapon not a gun, felon with weapon, criminal threats.

JAMES BROWN SR., Redwood Valley. Probation revocation. (Frequent flyer.)

ERIC CROUCH, Ukiah. Parole violation.

SCOTT FABER, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol. (Frequent flyer.)

HAZEL FILLION, Lakeport/Ukiah. Resisting.

HECTOR GONZALEZ-ZAZUETA, Talmage. DUI.

JOHN GRAHAM, Willits. Controlled substance, disobeying court order, failure to appear, probation revocation.

TODD GUPTON JR., Eureka/Leggett. DUI.

SHAWN LANE, Ukiah. Assault with deadly weapon not a gun, probation revocation.

DEBORAH LAWRENCE, Ukiah. Failure to appear.

KYLE MCARTNEY, Willits. DUI-alcohol&drugs, suspended license.

LARISSA NOBLE, Willits. Under influence, paraphernalia, probation revocation.

JONATHAN RUSHING-GROSZ, Lodi/Kelseyville/Ukiah. DUI.

DANIEL SALZMAN, Willits. DUI, probation revocation.

BRANDON THORNSBERRY, Willits. Conspiracy, false ID, resisting.

THOMAS TICE, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol. (Frequent flyer.)

WINNER of the National Book Critics Circle Award, Flash by Christopher Bonanos is the first comprehensive biography of Weegee—photographer, “psychic,” and ultimate New Yorker.

read.macmillan.com/lp/flash-picador/

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Given that all the Democrats do is TALK about their voting constituencies like Blacks and Hispanics without doing anything to improve their material condition but rather the opposite, then it’s reasonable to expect that the politics would change.

Hence the goodie-bag. But since the goodies would come at somebody’s expense, ie wealthy white voters that are all for affirmative measures as long as they don’t have to pay and as long as Blacks and Hispanics don’t sully their neighborhoods and schools with their presence, I expect that somehow the goodie-bag legislation gets inexplicably bogged with its sponsors blaming Republicans for their intransigence or maybe the devilry in the details when the enormity of the cost becomes apparent.

But let’s suppose it passes through the congressional hoops and surmounts Presidential vetoes. What of other interested parties? One of our commenters said that one of the Gettysburg war graves has his family name on it. So what of the families descended from the hundreds of thousands dead and wounded in the 1861-1865 dust-up? What about them?

And what about the Indians? They got screwed out of a whole continent. What about reparations for them? And if you do that for American Blacks and maybe Indians, what about the millions in South America descended from slaves and Indians? Shouldn’t it be the successors to Muslim slave traders and Black African tribes that captured these slaves having to cough up also?

Hell, it’s a good bet my own distant ancestors were slaves on Roman estates. Or maybe medieval estates. Serfdom was maybe better than slavery but by how much? Not by much I’ll wager. So do I get reparations? Do you?

THROWBACK to when Joe Biden was fighting against Civil Rights and wrote a white supremacist Senator a letter thanking him for his help in fighting for his anti-busing legislation.

(Patricia Dowling)

SO IF WHAT TRUMP WANTED was no Iranian nuke, he had that when he was sworn into office in 2017. By breaching the treaty and refusing to reward Iran’s good behavior by ceasing sanctions, Trump put the US on a war footing with Iran. He has stopped Iran from selling its oil, a form of blockade that probably amounts to an act of war. He is also stopping European concerns from investing in Iran. It is frustrating that Trump is dancing on the brink of a war for a purpose that had already been attained. This is why it is bad to elect people to high office who have mental health problems.

— Juan Cole

FOUND OBJECT