MCT: Saturday, July 6, 2019

• Hot Inland
• Sunblock Truck
• Newton Memorial
• Carnival Evening
• Another Quake
• Mendo Parade
• Next War
• Branscomb Fatality
• Yorkville Competition
• Sweet Ride
• Gas Tax
• Olive Alcorn
• Whereas Trail
• Pacheco Filibuster
• Yesterday's Catch
• Mural Destruction
• Carhop
• Battenkill Ghosts
• Plastic Straws
• Brave Stand
• Mad Magazine
• Georgia O'Keeffe

HOT TEMPERATURES will continue inland Saturday, while overnight and morning coastal clouds with a northwest breeze keep coastal areas seasonably cooler. A trough will bring somewhat cooler temperatures to inland areas Sunday through the middle of the upcoming week. (National Weather Service)

LINDA NEWTON

A Memorial Service for Linda Newton will be held on Saturday July 13th, 1:00pm at the Evergreen Cemetery which is located outside of Boonville off Anderson Valley Way. After the service we will have a Celebration of her Life at her home. Pot Luck. BOB. If you would like to read or share at the service contact

Jenny Pfurr (Newton), text (908) 303-3689

MAGNITUDE 7.1 EARTHQUAKE ROCKS SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA A DAY AFTER MAGNITUDE 6.4 QUAKE STRUCK AS EXPERTS WARN TREMORS COULD CONTINUE FOR YEARS

A magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck Southern California Friday night, the second major temblor in less than two days and one that rocked buildings across Southern California, adding more jitters to an already nervous region.

The quake was centered near Ridgecrest, the location of the July 4th 6.2 magnitude temblor that was the largest in nearly 20 years.

There were reports of Friday night’s quake causing some fires and other damage in Ridgecrest, said emergency officials on the scene.

In Trona and Ridgecrest, two Mojave towns shaken by this quake and the previous one, residents answered their phones frantically and in fear.

“They’re saying the ground split,” said Winter Wilson, who was driving home to Trina from Bakersfield, her voice shaking. “They made me promise not to come.”

“I can’t talk right now,” Heather Rush said as she rushed to get in touch with her sister.

The shaking was less intense in the Los Angeles metro area, and there were no immediate reports of major damage or injuries.

When Thursday’s quake hit, scientists had warned that it could lead to an even larger quake. Ridgecrest has been rattled by more than 17 magnitude 4 quakes and at least 1,200 aftershocks since Thursday. A magnitude 5.4 aftershock occurred earlier this morning— strong enough to awaken some residents of Los Angeles about 125 miles away.

Seismologists said Friday evening’s temblor appeared to to be part of the same sequence. Thursday’s large earthquake could’ve actually been the foreshock to today’s magnitude 7.1, said Lucy Jones.

Friday’s quake was larger in magnitude than the destructive 1994 Northridge quake, which measured 6.7 magnitude. But that temblor occurred in an urban area, while this week’s huge quakes occurred 100 miles from L.A.

A 7.1 quake in 1999 hit the Hector Mines area of the Mojave Desert. Because of its distance from Los Angeles, it did not cause major damage or injuries.

The July 4 earthquake had ruptured along a length of fault 10 miles long, from a remote point northeast of Ridgecrest, Calif., a city of 29,000 people, and continued southwest almost all the way to the city limits, scientists said.

The aftershocks will probably “go on for months, if not years,” Caltech seismologist Egill Hauksson said earlier today.

The odds, he told the Times, were decent that there could be another aftershock of magnitude 5 or greater at some point.

The magnitude 7.1 earthquake hit about 11 miles from Ridgecrest, the town in Kern County which was very close to the epicenter of the magnitude 6.4 quake that was felt on Thursday.

The tremor late Friday was felt as far as Las Vegas, where the NBA canceled its Summer League game between the New York Knicks and the New Orleans Pelicans.

Communities in the Mojave Desert tallied damage and made emergency repairs to cracked roads and broken pipes earlier on Friday as aftershocks from Thursday's earthquake in Southern California kept rumbling.

The town of Ridgecrest, close to the epicenter, assessed damage after several fires and multiple injuries that were blamed on the magnitude 6.4 quake on Thursday.

A shelter drew 28 people overnight but not all of them slept inside amid the shaking.

“Some people slept outside in tents because they were so nervous,” said Marium Mohiuddin of the American Red Cross.

Damage appeared limited to desert areas, although the quake was felt widely, including in the Los Angeles region 150 miles away.

The largest aftershock thus far - magnitude 5.4 - was also felt in LA before dawn Friday.

The odds of a quake of similar size happening in the next few days continued to dwindle and was only 6 percent on Friday, seismologists said.

There had been about 1,700 aftershocks since the Thursday quake, which was a bit higher than average, said Zachary Ross of the California Institute of Technology.

“An event of this size is going to keep producing aftershocks for years but the rates are going to decay with time,” Ross said.

The quake involved two perpendicular faults in the area but it was unlikely to affect any fault lines away from the immediate area, seismologists said.

(LA Times)

FRANK HARTZELL:

Mendocino 4th of July parade is advertised to tourists as "wacky," but it hasn't seemed like that to me for several years. Lots of firetrucks this year leading the parade. (Who doesn't love to cheer firefighters on the 4th?). Flags, kids and funny stuff. Lots of mystery floats! A friend and I were trying to figure out what floats were about and who sponsored them. One I termed "long haired guys playing cool music" and others seemed to be just showing off an old car or a bunch of flags and patriotic imagery. There was a sizeable Native American group marching to get out the word about a missing person. Flynn Creek Circus had some fearless acrobats, as usual. There was a radio station (89.3) lots of young people were excited about. We saw old neighbors and friends. Babe the Blue Ox but politics was muted. There was a troop carrying hand held baby Trump balloons and a lone dog with the name of the guy turning the 4th into a political rally in DC. Concern for children in the detention camps was there, but not as much as I had thought. People are tired of the daily yuck and scapegoating I think.

THE LATE, GREAT JONATHAN SHEPARD. A past July 4th Mendocino parade.

ON JULY 4, 2019 at approximately 7:25pm hours, [an unnamed 35 year old man] was driving a 1993 Ford Ranger westbound on Branscomb Road west of Laytonville at an unknown speed. At the same time, Shideewum Martinez, 22, of Laytonville was driving a 2003 GMC Sierra eastbound on Branscomb Road at an unknown speed approaching [the 1993 Ford Ranger].

For reasons still under investigation, both vehicles collided head on in the center of the roadway. The 35-year old driver of the Ford Ranger succumbed to his injuries at the scene, his name is being withheld, pending next of kin notification by the Mendocino County Coroner. Both passengers — William Michael Retzloff, 26 of Redwood Valley, who sustained moderate injuries, and Corey James, 23, sustained major injuries — in [the 2003 GMC Sierra] were transported by a private citizen to Mendocino Coast Hospital for treatment of their injuries. Martinez was evaluated and placed under arrest for suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol. This incident remains under investigation by the California Highway Patrol Garberville Area. Retzloff was also arrested, but his charges have not yet been posted.

ED NOTE: SHIDEEWUM MARTINEZ, was arrested in Laytonville in 2018 for driving under the influence and possession of nitrous oxide. And before that in July of 2017 for driving under the influence. Passenger Retzloff also has a number of prior arrests, mainly for alcohol related offenses, two having to do with contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

THE YORKVILLE MARKET is taking sign-ups for their big BBQ competition on July 20th. Contact Lisa at the Market for more information or if you are interested. 894-9456. Trophy and Monetary prizes awarded to winners.

COUNTY WORKERS PLEASE NOTE:

A Reader Writes: Seen at the four-way stop next to the Library on Friday: A shiny brand new large green Tesla Model S Sedan (list price around $90k) driven by CEO Carmel Angelo.

SPARE THE ALBION BRIDGE

Editor:

Regarding your headline (Press Democrat) about the new gas tax on Monday’s front page, I don’t understand what the fuss is all about. Six cents on a dollar comes to 96 cents on 16 gallons of gasoline with a bill of more than $60. If the money goes to upgrade our crumbling roads and bridges and is spent wisely, it sounds like a good deal to me.

Of course, that means trusting Caltrans to use the money wisely, and that is hard to do sometimes.

Presently Caltrans is making plans to replace the safe and sound historic and beautiful wooden Albion River bridge on Highway 1 with a concrete structure that just doesn’t go with the rural nature of Albion. The Hare Creek bridge at the south entrance to Fort Bragg is in need of replacement, and that would be of far greater benefit to our North Coast community.

P.S. On Tuesday, gasoline in Fort Bragg was 2 cents cheaper than last week.

Bill Heil

Albion

THE SPECTRAL BEAUTY that is Olive Ann Alcorn, who played lead ballerina La Sorelli in the 1925 silent horror film “Phantom of the Opera’ (although her scenes were cut in some versions). Alcorn flitted between the worlds of silent film and professional modeling throughout the 1910s and 1920s.

HASCHAK & MCCOWEN PROPOSE THAT MENDO “SUPPORTS” THE RAIL-TRAIL SCAM

Resolution Of The Mendocino County Board Of Supervisors Supporting The Creation Of The Great Redwood Trail

WHEREAS, the North Coast Railroad Authority (NCRA) was formed pursuant to the North Coast Railroad Authority Act of 1989 and subsequently acquired the railroad right-of-way from the San Francisco Bay Area to Humboldt Bay but was unable to continue operations after 1998 due to extensive storm damage; and

WHEREAS, NCRA resumed operations on a portion of the right-of-way in 2011 but in the absence of further progress the rail corridor continues to deteriorate and raises the risk of abandonment of the right-of-way; and

WHEREAS, the state legislature enacted Senate Bill 1029 (Senator McGuire) to dissolve NCRA; preserve rail service where it currently exists; and preserve the right-of-way for public purposes, including trails; and

WHEREAS, the state legislature enacted Senate Bill 356 (Senator McGuire) to further the objectives of SB 1029; and

WHEREAS, the Great Redwood Trail, as envisioned by Senator Mike McGuire and an ever expanding list of trail supporters, will permanently protect an existing intact public right-of-way that traverses over 300 miles of stunning vistas from San Francisco to and around Humboldt Bay for public benefit; and

WHEREAS, the Great Redwood Trail envisions a world-class regional trail experience through redwood groves, stunning oak valleys, remote river canyons and other unique California environments as well as offering improved mobility and outdoor physical activity within local communities; and

WHEREAS, protecting the existing corridor for trail use will provide multiple benefits to local communities by expanding connections to California’s $92 billion per year outdoor recreation economy, providing increased active transportation opportunities, improving public health and mobility, improving access for emergencies and maintenance, reducing fire fuels, and improving water quality and environmental protection; and

WHEREAS, key segments of the Great Redwood Trail have been constructed or awarded funding, including within the communities of Healdsburg, Ukiah, Willits, Eureka and Arcata; and

WHEREAS, SB 1029 and SB 356 require state agencies to assess options for railbanking to preserve the right-of-way for public use, including trails, and perform a preliminary assessment of which portions of the rail corridor are suitable for trails; and

WHEREAS, the vision for the Great Redwood Trail reflects the values of Mendocino County residents by protecting public access and open space, supporting environmental restoration, connecting communities, and providing opportunities for active transportation, outdoor recreation, and enjoyment of the natural beauty of the north coast.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors supports the creation of the Great Redwood Trail in partnership with state and local governments, local communities, organizations, and residents; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors congratulates Senator Mike McGuire for his tireless efforts to make the Great Redwood Trail a reality for the benefit of the people and communities of Mendocino County.

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WHAT’S MOST AMAZING about this resolution is the “whereas” that says that “the Great Redwood Trail envisions a world-class regional trail experience through redwood groves, stunning oak valleys, remote river canyons and other unique California environments as well as offering improved mobility and outdoor physical activity within local communities.”

THIS IS THE SAME KIND OF PREPOSTEROUS FANTASY LANGUAGE that McCowen and his fellow NCRA Board members used when they insisted for years and years that there would be a train running on the northern half of the track from Willits to Eureka — and there never was and never would be and all of them knew it and now it’s being converted to a “Grand” trail. Nevertheless, the NCRA continued to borrow money from the Bosco-Williams-owned Northwest Pacific (NWP) Railroad Company at high interest rates which was then spent on paying NWP do track upgrades and maintenance (for a train that never ran) and which NCRA then turned around and billed the state/taxpayers for which created the upwards of $12 million now owed Bosco-Williams. Brilliant!

AND NOW they’ll pretend there will be a Grand trail from Willits to Eureka through some of the most remote and impassable areas of the North Coast, someday. And the money will flow from Sacramento to the same Democrats, or their progeny.

COMING SOON: THE NCTA — North Coast Trail Authority, the Reboot.

(Mark Scaramella)

ANOTHER ARMED ROBBER ON THE BUS TO SAN QUENTIN.

Following a two-hour defense presentation that was more akin to a filibuster than a sentencing argument, defendant Mateo David Pacheco's bid for probation was denied and he was sentenced to 128 months in state prison, the maximum sentence allowed by law.

Pending sentencing in the Mendocino County Superior Court on two separate cases on Wednesday afternoon, defendant Pacheco, age 41, of Ukiah, had first been convicted by plea on January 19th of knowingly receiving a stolen motor vehicle, a felony. He was also convicted by plea at the same time of knowingly bringing drugs into the county jail, also a felony.

While the January convictions were pending sentencing, the defendant then perpetrated on a graveyard shift clerk -- working at the AM PM store on Talmage Road -- an armed robbery just after 3 o'clock on the morning on February 23rd. The defendant was convicted of this crime and sentencing enhancements by plea in early April.

Because the principal case -- the armed robbery -- is classified in the Penal Code as a violent felony, the defendant will be required to serve 85% of his total state prison sentence before being eligible for parole.

The prosecutor who argued on behalf of the People of the State of California for the maximum sentence was Assistant District Attorney Dale P. Trigg.

The law enforcement agencies responsible for gathering the evidence supporting the convictions and further supporting a state prison commitment were the Ukiah Police Department, the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office, the California Highway Patrol, and the District Attorney's own investigators.

Mendocino County Superior Court Judge Cindee Mayfield was sentencing judge on Wednesday.

(District Attorney’s Office Presser)

CATCH OF THE DAY, JULY 5, 2019

YECENIA BUENROSTRO, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

DANIELLE COMPA, Mendocino. Domestic battery.

ANTONIO DELOSSANTOS-ROJAS, Ukiah. Vehicle theft, controlled substance for sale, controlled substance while armed with loaded firearm, ammo possession by prohibited person, leaded cane or similar, prior misdemeanors.

JAVIER GARIBAY, Lancaster/Ukiah. Paraphernalia, false ID.

ANTONIA GONZALEZ, Redwood Valley. Under influence.

DAVID HALL, Willits. Domestic battery, criminal threats.

CRYSTAL HERNANDEZ, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

DANIEL KISLIUK, Fort Bragg. Battery with serious injury, outstanding felony warrant, resisting.

VERONICA LEWIS, Ukiah. False ID, probation revocation.

MIGUEL LOPEZ-CEJA, Ukiah. DUI-alcohol&drugs.

SHIDEEWUM MARTINEZ, Laytonville. DUI, suspended license (for DUI), prior DUIs within ten years, probation revocation.

KATHLEEN NELSON, Willits. DUI-alcohol&drugs, under influence, controlled substance for sale and transportation.

ALEXANDER POULIDES, Willits. Failure to appear, probation revocation.

JUAN QUINTERO-BOLANOS, Philo. Stalking and threatening bodily injry, disorderly conduct-alcohol, contempt of court.

NOE REYNOSO, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

SIOBHAN RODGERS, Mendocino. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

EDUARDO TORALES-LOPEZ, Philo. Disorderly conduct-alcohol, probation revocation.

SAN FRANCISCO SCHOOL DISTRICT TO PAINT OVER DEBATED GEORGE WASHINGTON MURAL

by Samantha Maldonado

In this photo taken April 3, 2019, a pair of students walk past a historic mural that includes slaves and a dead Native American at George Washington High School in San Francisco. The San Fransisco school board unanimously voted Tuesday, June 25, 2019, to destroy a controversial mural displayed in a public high school. This is the latest move in recent times to remove New Deal-era art, now considered offensive.

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San Francisco will spend up to $600,000 to paint over historical artwork at a public school depicting the life of George Washington, a mural once seen as educational and innovative but now criticized as racist and degrading for its depiction of black and Native American people.

The “Life of Washington” was painted by Victor Arnautoff, one of the foremost muralists in the San Francisco area during the Depression. The San Francisco School Board’s decision to paint over the 83-year-old mural is prompting some to worry that other artwork from the so-called New Deal era could face a similar fate because of changing sensitivities.

In addition to depicting Washington as a soldier, surveyor, statesman and signer of the Declaration of Independence, the 13-panel, 1,600-square foot mural at George Washington High School contains images of white pioneers standing over the body of a Native American and slaves working at Washington’s Mount Vernon estate in Virginia.

The board’s decision last week comes at a time when the legacies of Washington and other historical figures who owned slaves are being re-examined. Some cities have changed the names of streets and buildings named after slave owners.

Richard Walker, a professor emeritus of geography at the University of California, Berkeley and director of the history project, Living New Deal, said the Washington mural is meant to show the “uncomfortable facts” about America’s first president. For that, it was among many New Deal works of art considered radical when created.

“We on the left ought to welcome the honest portrayal,” Walker said, adding that destroying a piece of art “is the worst way we can deal with historic malfeasance, historic evils.”

Mark Sanchez, vice president of the school board and a third-grade teacher, said students who must walk past the mural during the school day don’t have a choice about seeing the harmful images. “Painting it over represents not only a symbolic fresh start, but a real fresh start,” he said.

Lope Yap, Jr., vice president of the Washington High School Alumni Association and a 1970 graduates, disagreed, saying when he was a student and saw the mural he was “awed by the subtle ways Arnautoff was able to critique American history.” He said the depictions are “treasures, priceless art” and painting it over is tantamount to pretending the history depicted never happened.

“I’m not into censorship,” Yap said. “I would want to deal with history so we can prevent this from ever happening again.”

The mural is a fresco, which means it’s painted on the wall and can’t easily be removed. Painting it over won’t happen immediately. Should a lawsuit or other delay arise, it will be covered up until the issues are resolved. The board plans to digitally archive the mural.

Most of the $600,000 earmarked for the project will go toward a required environmental review and to cover expected legal challenges.

George Washington High School has about 2,000 students. Nearly all are people of color and many come from low-income families. As early as the 1960s, some students argued the mural’s imagery is offensive and racist. Renewed opposition emerged in recent years amid protests in the South and elsewhere over statues honoring Confederate heroes.

Arnautoff, a Russian-born communist and social critic, was hired with Federal Art Project funds as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, a series of government programs meant to help lift the country out of the Great Depression of the 1930s.

GHOSTS OF THE FOURTH

by James Kunstler

Here in the Battenkill Valley in far upstate New York, the bones of the small towns are still visible while the flesh of the economy that built the towns is now long gone. The Battenkill River runs from the other side of the Vermont line across Washington County to the Hudson River. It’s a swift, clear stream, and back-in-the-day it powered dozens of little factories along its winding way. They made men’s shirts, women’s lingerie, tea trays, ploughs, rye thrashers, boots, paper, and lots more. In a few places you can still find the ruins of these once-grand buildings.

We heard there was a good parade up in Salem, NY, ten miles northeast of here. Salem was a railroad town after 1852. It changed everything for a while. Farmers could send their potatoes and milk all the way to Boston. Slate was abundant nearby and there was a lively commerce in it for roofing and other things. Marble came over from Vermont and was dressed into tombstone blanks, which were sent as far as the Midwest. The railroad itself employed scores of hands in the roundhouse where its locomotives were repaired. This rail connection to distant places and markets must have seemed wondrous.

The system held together for less than 100 years and now it, too, is a ghost presence, along with the factories. History has treated this corner of the country with something that feels like swift injustice. Today, we remain hostages to the automobile, with its geography-negating banality, but you can see the end of that road from here, too, and it is already subject to a very public nostalgia.

The Fourth of July parade up in Salem was mostly a parade of motor vehicles: fire engines, EMT trucks, tractors, vintage 1920s flivvers, 1960s muscle cars, one classic hot-rod, and one weird Avanti, a mid-60s product of the then-floundering Studebaker Company — which, ironically, had run a wagon and carriage assembly factory in Salem around 1910, just as cars were being introduced.

The economic history of this place looks like a sequence of great works performed at enormous capital investment, and then quickly trashed for the next new thing. It must have been intoxicating at the time. I’d put the high-tide of it all at about 1900, when all the systems of manufacturing and transport were humming in synchrony. Turns out it was an economy with a surprising purpose: to get rid of itself! And it’s stunning how gone it all is now. What replaced it is not only happening far, far away, but many items made far, far away can’t even be bought within a twenty-mile journey of any town in the county.

I pass through Salem about six or seven times a year for one reason or another. The rather grand old Main Street is usually empty of pedestrians. Only a few of the remaining shopfronts sell useful merchandise so there is no reason to walk down the street. There are several impressive old buildings — skeletons of that ghost economy — clearly falling into terminal disrepair. Yet, on the Fourth of July, the streets were full of life, for a change. Many (like us) had come from far-and-wide. We turned out to show love and respect (and curiosity) for whatever it is this enterprise called the USA is supposed to be now. Mostly, our national situation seems a matter of waiting for various shoes to drop.

There’s one big advantage to living in this flyover corner of America: it has received next-to-zero of the destructive suburban development overlay that has obliterated the landscape in those parts of the country that can pretend to still be booming. It is a blessing that I’m keenly aware of. We’re just too far away from the cities, and even from the Interstate Highway network. So, when I behold the economic desolation in these little towns of the Battenkill Valley, I’m aware that, at least, we will not have to dig out from under the burden of the Big Box hell imposed on just about every other place from sea to shining sea, when that economy turns over — a process actually underway now. The K-Mart in my town, Greenwich, NY, shut down in March. When enough of those predatory outfits are gone, someone may get a notion to sell stuff out of our empty main streets shops again. Of course, nobody’s thinking about making stuff that might be sold in those storefronts, but a sense of opportunity may arise quickly as the wind-down of Globalism — and all it implies for local places — becomes self-evident.

(Support Kunstler’s writing by visiting his Patreon Page.)

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

It would help if people would be less hysterical and look at the reason why things are banned. The ban on plastic straws is for a particular reason, as follows: youtube.com/watch?v=4wH878t78bw

Now, nobody’s saying you need to care about the pain of turtles or any other of what you consider God’s creatures suffering pain because people can’t drink out of a glass like adults (kids can do it from about two, without a training cup – let’s see training cups for adults if they can’t cope with a glass), but please stop confusing the reason with climate change or peak oil or some other spurious reason.

And for the fans of removing plastics from the oceans, which I’m all for, obviously, think about the microfibres that go into the drainage system and thence to the rivers and seas every time you wash some synthetic clothing – fleece being up there with the prizewinners.

BYE-BYE MAD MAGAZINE

beta.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2019/07/04/mad-magazine-pioneer-modern-satire-will-soon-cease-publishing-new-content/

HOW GEORGIA O’KEEFFE LEFT HER CHEATING HUSBAND FOR A MOUNTAIN: "God Told Me If I Painted It Enough, I Could Have It.”

"In 1929, aged 41, Georgia O’Keeffe took a trip to New Mexico. By then, with the help of her husband, Alfred Stieglitz – an influential photographer and manager of the first modern art gallery in the United States – she had long outgrown her roots as a Wisconsin dairy farmer’s daughter, and established herself as America’s pre-eminent modernist painter.

"In the years leading up to her trip, O’Keeffe had been living in the Shelton Hotel on Lexington Avenue in New York City, painting the skyscrapers she could see from her window rather than the brightly colored (and slyly erotic) flowers for which she would later become best known. During this period, Stieglitz, 23 years senior and increasingly overbearing, had started an affair with Dorothy Norman, the beautiful young wife of an heir to the Sears, Roebuck & Co department store fortune – and O’Keeffe had found out.

"Appalled at the prospect of spending the summer as usual surrounded by her husband’s family in upstate New York, O’Keeffe instead set off by train for Santa Fe."

telegraph.co.uk/art/what-to-see/how-georgia-okeeffe-left-her-cheating-husband-for-a-mountain-god/