MCT: Monday, August 26, 2019

• Hot Inland
• Measuring V
• Philo-Greenwood Bridge
• CAAC Applicants
• Monthly Reporting
• Housing Emergency
• Cop Mugshots
• NYC
• Neighborhood Watch
• Distance Runners
• Fault Lines
• Hiding Pedophiles
• Tariff Mania
• Mendo Economics
• Old Hippie
• County Fair
• Health Warning
• Rail Trails
• First Apple
• Great Stuff
• Yesterday's Catch
• Old Forests
• Whale Tails
• Save Pillsbury
• LSD
• IOPG&E
• Your Candidate
• Last Shooting
• Alone
• Imagination
• With Eggplant
• Bedtime
• Politics

HOT INLAND conditions can be expected through Wednesday, particularly today and Tuesday, with warmer than normal temperatures on the coast as well. Shallow coastal clouds will be more patchy and localized than recent days, before becoming more widespread again by Wednesday and Thursday. Isolated but mostly dry thunderstorms will be possible Wednesday. (National Weather Service)

MEASURE V & EXEMPTION

by Jim Shields

Before getting down to business, I want to commend 3rd District Supervisor John Haschak for keeping a campaign promise to establish a scholarship fund for Round Valley, Willits, and Laytonville high school seniors.

Haschak seeded the fund with an unpopular and ill-advised salary raise the Board of Supervisors — a year prior to his election — bestowed upon themselves in 2018.

Recently Haschak handed out three $4,000 scholarships to seniors from high schools in Covelo, Willits, and Laytonville. The scholarships are administered in partnership with the Community Foundation of Mendocino County, the county’s premier donor foundation.

Haschak’s scholarships specifically support students who attend vocational school, community college, or four-year college or university with a priority to students who desire to pursue careers in public service.

Redirecting the salary raise to the scholarship fund easily qualifies as the most productive use of Supes’ pay in recent times.

Once again kudos to Haschak for keeping his word by creating an opportunity for students to find a career in public service.

As Haschak explained it, “Whether it be local government, education, first responders, or social work, I want to encourage and support young adults aspiring to these careers.”

Measure V

Measure V was a voter-approved 2016 local ballot measure that mandated that trees killed by herbicides left standing for 90 days were a public nuisance. The measure was aimed at entities such as Mendocino Redwood Company (MRC) that use the “hack and squirt” process of injecting hardwoods, mostly tanoaks, with herbicides like Imazapyr, to kill them over time. The main objective of Measure V was to stop MRC from using the herbicide through the public nuisance enforcement mechanism.

In a recent letter-to-the-editor, John Andersen, Director of Forest Policy, for MRC and its sister company, Humboldt Redwood Company, explained his company’s position on Measure V.

“The treatment of tanoak to restore the natural balance of conifer to hardwood is a tool used for decades across the county, the country, and around the world. Small private landowners, industrial landowners, and state landowners all use this tool to achieve this goal in a careful and controlled manner according to state regulations. Mendocino Redwood Company additionally seeks Forest Stewardship Council certification for its forest management activities. This third party certification, born out of standards established in the 1990s by environmental groups, has been achieved by MRC for 19 consecutive years … After reviewing state and local laws regarding public nuisance, Mendocino Redwood Company determined it was exempt from public nuisance determinations in regards to standing dead trees.”

Given MRC’s exemption claim, the county sought a legal opinion from the State Attorney General’s Office. After months of dead silence from the AG, two weeks ago the AG’s office announced it would not be rendering an opinion because it was determined it had a conflict of interest in the matter. The nature of the conflict has not been revealed.

So what’s going on here?

Well, it doesn’t take a real close reading of the law to discern that Measure V as it relates to forest products companies, most likely has no application or effect. However, the new ordinance almost certainly applies to private property owners not engaged in forestry or agriculture.

At minimum, Measure V conflicts with two state laws, the Right To Farm Act and the state Forest Practices Act, on their face, seemingly pre-empt a locally enacted ballot measure. Simply stated, Mendocino County apparently lacks jurisdiction to over-ride state law.

And, there’s a lot more in play with this issue, such as politics writ large.

MRC claims its operations are exempt from local ordinances because of the California’s Right To Farm Act that specifically designates its forestry activities as “agriculture.” According to the act, “the term ‘agricultural activity, operation, or facility, or appurtenances thereof’ shall include, but not be limited to, the cultivation and tillage of the soil, dairying, the production, cultivation, growing, and harvesting of any agricultural commodity including timber …”

Historically, the right-to-farm law seeks to protect qualifying farmers, ranchers, timber operators, etc. from nuisance lawsuits filed under local ordinances. That was the specific intent and purpose of the Right To Farm Act.

Also it’s MRC’s position that the county lacks general jurisdiction on the public nuisance issue because the Public Resource Code and California Forest Practices Act trumps local ordinances. Again it’s the argument that state law pre-empts and supercedes local ordinances.

Finally, you can’t ever eliminate the role that politics plays in these matters.

The Fisher family, which owns MRC, are influential Democrats with Bay Area ties to Gov. Gavin Newsom. The Fishers are among Newsom’s oldest and most loyal supporters and campaign contributors. Wouldn’t be surprised at all if their problem here in Mendocino County with Measure V hasn’t come up in some fashion over cocktails and dinner at the Governor’s Mansion.

(Jim Shields is the Mendocino County Observer’s editor and publisher, and is also the long-time district manager of the Laytonville County Water District. Listen to his radio program “This and That” every Saturday at 12 noon on KPFN 105.1 FM, also streamed live: http://www.kpfn.org.)

---

MEASURE V IS LAW

Mighty AVA,

On June 7, 2016, Mendocino County voters approved Measure V, declaring intentionally-killed and left-standing trees a public nuisance. At issue was the local timber industry practice of poisoning millions of trees and then leaving them to die in our forests. The Measure's intent was to address the additional fire (and firefighter) hazard that results from this practice. It did not prohibit the practice of poisoning trees (aka hack-and-squirt) but merely asked practitioners to clean up the mess and not leave an ever-expanding fire hazard in their wake. Measure V passed by overwhelming majority, the will and desire of the people was clear.

One month later (July 6, 2016), Dennis Thibeault (Mendocino Redwood Company VP) sent a letter to Carmel Angelo (Mendocino County CEO) claiming that timber operators were "exempt from a public nuisance determination" and the county lacked "authority to adopt any ordinance restricting its practice." This little bit of corporate saber-rattling was all it took to frighten the County into inaction on the newly passed Measure.

Nine months later (March 2017), after residents continued to complain to county officials about their inaction on V, Mendocino County Counsel Katherine Elliot came up with the buck-passing tactic of soliciting the state Attorney General's office for an opinion on the matter, asking: "Does state law preempt the enforcement of a county ordinance that declares 'intentionally killed and left standing trees' to be a public nuisance?"

Two-and-a-half years went by before the AG's office finally responded: "With regret, we must cancel your request for an opinion on the following question: ‘A county ordinance declares certain intentionally killed trees that are left standing to be a public nuisance. Is such an ordinance preempted by state forestry law governing the conduct of timber operations — specifically the Z'berg-Nejedly Fprest Practic [sic] Act of 1973 or the California Timberland Productivity Act of 1982?’ Unfortunately, we discovered late in our internal vetting process that we should withdraw from the matter in order to avoid a risk of a conflict of interest arising. We are sorry that we are not able to produce an official opinion on your question. Thank you for your interest and understanding."

More than three years have passed since voters declared this practice a public nuisance. The timber industry says they can ignore our law, and continue to leave dead trees in their wake. During the two full years (2017, 2018) since Measure V became law, the timber industry distributed 1,984 gallons of imazapyr (the herbicide used for hack-and-squirt) over 14,082 acres in Mendocino County. That's enough poison to kill 2,503,146 nine-inch diameter trees. Meanwhile, Mendocino County officials continue to cower and do nothing.

This is a complete failure of democracy. These entities, business and government, have no respect for the will of the people. We're going to have to insist.

Mike Kalantarian

Navarro

PS/Legal note: Countering MRC’s claim of exemption is this passage from CA Government Code, Sec. 51115.5: "Notwithstanding any other provision of law, timber operations conducted within a timber production zone pursuant to the provisions of the Zberg-Nejedly Forest Practice Act of 1973 (Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 4511) of Division 4 of the Public Resources Code) shall not constitute a nuisance, private or public."

MORE ENGINEERING FOR PHILO-GREENWOOD BRIDGE

The following letter from Mendocino County Transportation Director Howard Dashiell was included in the Board of Supervisors agenda packet for August 27:

Honorable Board of Supervisors:

On August 14, 2012, the Board approved an agreement with Quincy Engineering (Sacramento) for professional design services for the replacement of the Philo-Greenwood bridge over the Navarro River.

The local public has been very adamant that we retain the arched structure of the bridge. Arches are very complex and this has required extra design effort and conferring with experts on arch structures since they are very specialized. It also requires another route to access the river channel that will be more impactful than originally surmised.

New environmental studies are needed for bats roosting in the existing structure and the newly listed Foothil Yellow-legged frogs. The environmental resources of the Navarro River are expansive and must be treated with great care.

Also, Caltrans is requiring an extended Phase 1 investigation to further study the area for archaeological resources which was an optional task in the original Quincy contract.

This additional work is further detailed in Quincy’s scope of work increasing the original scope of work for an additional $418,580 and increasing the total contract amount to $1.464 million.

Quincy needs to continue this work to avoid any delays to the timeline of the project. All project related studies are 100% reimbursable by the Federal Highway Administration as the project sponsor.

I therefore recommend and request that the Board authorize and direct the Director of Ttransportation to authorize this agreement for additional design and studies for the Philo-Greenwood Bridge replacement over the Navarro River.

Howard Dashiell, Director of Transportation

THREE MORE applicants for Mendo’s Great Climate Change Committee from the Third District:

Ellen Drell — 3rd Supervisorial District Committee Member. See Attached Supporting Document. (Not attached)

---

Javier Silva — I have worked for my Tribe in environmental issues and effects of climate change to Tribal lands for over 25 years. I have been working with Tribes on adaptation plans to address climate change. I bring experience and connections to Tribes throughout the county and the north coast.

---

Walter Smith — Third District, technical expert, 1 year term for committee start up staggered terms. Technical expertise in: - sustainable forestry and agriculture, -policy development, -voluntary sustainability certification schemes, -corporate environmental and social responsibility commitments

JOHN SAKOWICZ WRITES: “Mendocino County Today” reports, “[BOS Chair] Brown continued trying her best to swat down the radical idea of monthly departmental reporting.”

What is the county hiding? It’s clear the county is hiding something. Both Chair Brown and County CEO Angelo fight like hell in opposing the idea of monthly departmental reporting.

Any theories?

My theory is that the county is already in a deficit mode. Only a high job vacancy rate, privatizing mental health services, shifting pension liabilities to MCERA, and other accounting maneuvers, make it appear that the county has a balanced budget.

---

Mark Scaramella replies: Occam’s razor applies here: Monthly reporting would lead to pesky questions from the Supes and the horrific possibility that something would have to be done about budget and staffing problems before they arise — like every organization outside of Mendo does, as McCowen noted. The CEO wants to carefully control what the Board sees and does not want the Board to have any information which might require her to do anything she does not already want to do. It’s common for senior staff to run organizations and keep elected officials in the dark, despite the supposedly oversight positions that their elected officials may have, especially when the elected officials are unpaid such as most smaller local organizations. But when the elected officials are as well paid as our Supes now are, they should be expected to demand and get management reports and take an active role in managing the organization and seeing that systems are in place to ensure that policies and directives are carried out. The high vacancy rate might help balance the budget in the general fund departments, but shouldn’t be much of a factor in the state and federally funded departments. Therefore vacancy rates should be tracked along with workload, backlog and output especially in general fund departments. Once the reporting is in place and ongoing the departments will run better simply by the fact that they know they have to produce reports that management (and the public) will be looking at.

OUTSIDE THE HOUSE

Editor:

The Independent Coast Observer's recent article about the Point Arena housing element draft did not mention the nearly completed housing project on north end of Point Arena. I consider this development to be a missed opportunity and something of an eyesore.

For whatever reason, instead of moderate or low income housing or senior housing or co-housing, with imaginative architecture, more density, passive or active solar, there is little to distinguish this development from a caricature of tract housing. Rather than design and build structures with local labor, the developer trucked in single modular units, each placed on its minimal lot with fencing to simulate privacy.

I had read that they were to be offered at market pricing and now a new sign says that they are available for lease rather than sale. I know this unfortunate outcome is a result of a long history of negotiations with elected and hired city and county officials. The story that led to this rather mediocre development should be told.

We are facing a slow-moving housing emergency seemingly without solution. The California Coastal Commission was mentioned as an impediment to progress in that direction. The Coastal Commission depends on the counties and cities to enforce its rules and regulations. Given the housing crisis in Mendocino County, it is time for those same counties and cities to resist the ridiculous overreach and demand that they perceive as their duty to render on the public.

Bureaucracy has become an encumbrance to such a degree that most of us cannot afford to build or purchase a home. The elected and hired officials and planners should be cooperating to streamline the process, cut out unnecessary aspects and promote creative solutions. If ever thinking outside the box was needed and necessary, it is now.

Nicholas Pinette

Point Arena

MSP HEARS FROM SHERIFF ALLMAN ON BOOKING LOG & SEARCH/RESCUE

Say what you will about Mendocino County Sheriff Allman, but he is the most "aware" individual in the county - if not northern California.

MSP heard from Sheriff Allman Sunday (yes, supposedly a "day of rest") regarding a post we made Saturday night about the lack of a Ukiah Police officer's booking information/photo on the Mendocino County Jail web site after an arrest for domestic violence. MSP wondered where the fairness was as a regular "citizen" appears online with booking info — but law enforcement does not?

---

(Previously) — UKIAH POLICEMAN ARRESTED - BUT JAIL BOOKING INFO ‘MISSING’ FROM JAIL WEB SITE - HUH?

(via MendocinoSportsPlus)

Fair is fair - if a “normal” citizen is arrested and booked at the Mendocino County Jail (especially for domestic violence) their information is public.

It seems like there is a double standard working here when law enforcement is arrested & booked - MSP checked the Mendocino Jail site Wednesday, August 21st - Saturday, August 24th (see screen-grab below) and NO booking photo/info appears for this Mr. Ross Lunceford.

And yes, as always, people arrested should be presumed innocent unless/until proven guilty in a court of law - but WHERE someone is employed should not determine whether or not their booking information appears at the jail web site.

Here is the story as it was posted Saturday by the Ukiah Daily Journal:

“Ross C. Lunceford, who is employed as a Ukiah police officer, was arrested Thursday by the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office on suspicion of misdemeanor domestic violence and violating his probation.

MCSO spokesman Capt. Greg Van Patten said deputies responded to a residence on Zinfandel Drive around 7 p.m. Aug. 22 after being notified by the UPD of an incident involving one of its officers and the suspect’s girlfriend. Van Patten said Lunceford was booked into Mendocino County Jail and later released on bail.

UPD Chief Justin Wyatt said Friday that Lunceford has been placed on administrative leave while the incident is investigated. Wyatt confirmed that Lunceford had been placed on probation following a DUI arrest in July of 2017, and that being on probation does not automatically preclude an individual from serving as a police officer.”

One would think the Mendocino County Sheriff Jail web site would be the LAST place to extend a "professional courtesy."

You'll note from the Jail web site screen-grab - the names listed in the log begins with "K" and goes through "M." There is no " Lunceford" listed two days after the incident.

---

Sheriff Allman informed us in a message, "Several years ago when I had a correctional deputy arrested, I was informed that posting his picture was a violation of the law known as the peace officer bill of rights. I requested an opinion from the state attorney general on if they would allow me to post a picture yet my question was never answered. I will be asking again this week."

In regard to the "Search & Rescue," Sheriff Allman said, "The vehicle was found on an old logging road. I think it was Friday evening. We have several search and rescue teams looking for the missing elderly gentleman but at this point we have no signs of where he’s been. I’ll try to have someone get some press information out as soon as possible but I don’t know if it will happen today."

So that is that - we hope Sheriff Allman enjoys the rest of his Sunday - we certainly aren't going to bother him anymore…

AMERICAN POP

SHOTS FIRED FORT BRAGG, AN ON-LINE COMMENT

Gunshots - Yes, heard 'em too.

From Derek <helios@saber.net>

Yes, I was awake, they were quite LOUD, and I also have heard them before from your area.

I'm near the Library, and it was clear they were out of town, North, so I didn't call the FBPD, figuring someone closer with perhaps more details, would call the Sheriff.

The hour was unusual, a bit late for the "after-bar" crowd to be acting out, but it was Saturday night, so I accounted for that.

Since this appears to be an ongoing, but random issue, I'm hoping some neighbor will speak out complaining, so you all have an idea where the hazardous miscreant is located.

Please come to our next Neighborhood Watch meeting, we have a representative from the FBPD at our meetings, they may have some ideas for you as well, and may even know who it is, as they do stay on-top of who the most repeat offense criminals are, around here.

To stop people like this takes time, and a coordinated effort by several neighbors (it's much easier with help) gathering information as it happens (who, what, when, where, times, descriptions of people, cars, etc.), and after a critical amount of information is gathered about the trouble person/house/regular visiting car/etc., then Law Enforcement will be able to get a search warrant or otherwise Legally investigate the situation without trampling anyones "rights" (yeah…).

Besides helping to build a positive community through public activities, the Fort Bragg Neighborhood Watch has also assisted the FBPD close down quite a few drug dealers (meth, coke, heroin) and evict vacant grow houses, and clean up whole neighborhoods.

We meet every month on the 3rd Tuesday, at 6 pm, in Fort Bragg Town Hall, 363 N. Main Street (at Laurel Street), everyone is welcome, even if you don't live in town.

Derek

JEREMY HONTOU WINS BIG RIVER MARATHON IN 3:37:37. Congrats, Jer, but that's a pretty slow winning time. Hell, even I did a 3:40 in the Frisco marathon many years ago. Lucky for you Jim Gibbons and Jerry Drew, Mendo's best ever distance runners are on the inactive roster. Stan Miklose of Down Home Foods, in his prime, woulda done that race in about three hours. Ditto for Amber Trotter out of Ukiah High School. That kid could run and run.

MYTH? When a magnitude 5 quake hit the Southern California desert one day last week it reminded me, as all reports of quakes remind me, of something I read years ago that said the globe's fault lines, big and small, are all connected, however tenuously, that the globe is like a giant cracked egged with all its fractures connected.

THE TRUMP ADMIN is becoming downright thrilling, so thrilling, and you read it here first, an intervention may drag Trump off stage. When you seriously mess with the International Order of Money, as Trump is doing, your days are numbered.

AND THE MONEY BOYS are nervous. Trump's impulsiveness, best exhibited in his tariff war with the Chinese, whacked the stock market Friday 650 points. Trump joked about it, apparently oblivious that the big boys of high finance aren't laughing, that the last thing they want in an already precarious global ponzi is a guy running America with the impulse control of a child, a very young child.

IN A BLIZZARD of tweets blasting the Federal Reserve and China, Trump wondered, “Who is our bigger enemy, Jay Powell or Chairman Xi?” Powell was appointed chair of the Federal Reserve — a collection of private banks in whose interests our economy is organized. Powell was appointed by Trump in February 2018 on the apparent assumption that Powell would do Trump's bidding.

ON HIS PART, speaking from Big Capital's annual rendezvous at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Powell said that "uncertain trade environments" have created a “new challenge” for policymakers and vowed to “act as appropriate to sustain the expansion” in the US economy — meaning more stuff for more people forever.

Trump came back with an unsupported claim that, “Our Country has lost, stupidly, trillions of dollars with China over many years,” and that the Federal Reserve failed to act. “As usual, the Fed did NOTHING! It is incredible that they can ‘speak’ without knowing or asking what I am doing, which will be announced shortly,” Trump tweeted in a neat statement of his megalomania. How could Powell and his banker employers act or not act without checking in with Big Mac?

Then Trump leaped clear over the top. "American companies are hereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China, including bringing… your companies HOME and making your products in the USA.” He then slapped more tariffs on the tariffs he'd already slapped on China.

FROM KATHY WYLIE:

Mendocino County 2018-2019 Economic Assessment

edfc.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/FINAL-2018-2019-Mendocino-County-Economic-Assessment.pdf

THE SQUEEZE IS ON, a reader writes: "It's my birthday on Sunday and it's got me flustered. Yay, I am old(er) and it's getting harder to live in the woods like an Old Hippie. I live very ruff and tuff. 'Rustic' does not describe it. Can't move. too poor. stuck here. My homeowner’s insurance went up so high that I am priced out of having any, a tragedy akin in these dangerous fire times. More of the war on the poor. We (all of us!) should have low cost homeowner’s (and also earthquake) insurance! Why not? Why do only The Rich get to save their homes? I am freaking out to not have Fire Insurance. Scary! Very. I will be homeless. Just what we need: More Homeless People."

THE FAIR is only a little over three weeks away!

There is still time to register online at http://mendocountyfair.com/entry-forms/ until August 30 for flowers, home arts, animals and agriculture entries!

The newest Fair Booster Parade Poster art was done by Saffron Fraser with Rebecca Goldie creating the poster and is attached below. The parade starts at noon on Sunday 9/15 and it's loads of fun to watch along Hwy 128 from Mt. View down to the Fairground stadium, but it's even better to be in the parade!!! Talk to your co-workers, people in your exercise class, your neighbors or organization about participating in the parade to promote your activity or just have fun and get free admission to the fair!

The Parade entries will be accepted until Sept. 12th and the entry form is available at the same web page listed above.

A GREAT RAIL TRAIL

Editor;

I am writing to let you know that I very much wish the you would take a less negative view of the proposed multi use path along the route of the abandoned Northwestern Pacific rail line between Ukiah and Eureka. I know that this project looks huge, expensive and nearly impossible, but similar projects have been undertaken and completed all over America and they have proven to be both a boon to the communities they connect and a source of enjoyment and healthful exercise for the folks using them.

Thousands of miles of abandoned rail lines criss cross our country, and their linear nature combined with the easy grade they were built on and their usual separation from highways make them wonderful corridors for trail development. Kathleen and I have traveled to and ridden our bikes on such trails in California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, New York, Montana, Iowa, Illinois and Colorado. We meet people from all over America and beyond when we do that; people who are spending significant amounts of money on bikes, travel, food, hotels, restaurants, clothing and gift items. The people who we have met who live on and near the trails we have ridden on tell us how wonderful it is to have the trail there and how beneficial it has been for their community.

I think that the Northwestern Pacific proposal is possible and that it will benefit the entire North Coast area, and I am asking for your support for it in the Advertiser. If you want to know more about trails like this please check out the Rails-To-Trails-Conservancy, at railstotrails.com.

Thanks for listening,

Tom McFadden

Boonville

---

ED NOTE: Not opposed in theory, but somehow former Congressman Bosco owns a chunk of the line and he'll have to be paid off first, paid royally, I'm sure. So far, the rails to trails project is a cynical scheme orchestrated by the Democrat claque inflicted on the Northcoast to get Bosco and friends paid out of public money. BTW, I've hiked around in the Eel River Canyon. It's impassible, and would cost literal billions to build a trail through because in many areas the rail bed has slid into the Eel. The rail line through there was punched through its sixty miles at a time of combined know-how, cheap labor and without the political cynicism prevalent today.

PETER LIT: "As an adult, where else can you loosen up by drinking a margarita and buy a homemade cake for several hundred dollars (tax deductible) and simultaneously be contributing to a Great Day in Elk?"

CATCH OF THE DAY, AUGUST 25, 2019

KELIE ADAMS-PENROD, Caspar. Disobeying court order, failure to appear.

ABDON ANDRADE-PABLO, Boonville. DUI, no license.

JUANA ESPINOZA, Ukiah. DUI, suspended license (for reckless driving), no license, probation revocation.

DANIEL HAMLIN, Florence, Oregon/Ukiah. Concealed weapon in vehicle.

FEATHER HARVILLE, Windsor/Ukiah. Probation revocation.

JONATHAN HOPPNER, Willits. Parole violation.

NOAH LAUGHTON, Ukiah. Controlled substances sale, contributing, child endangerment, conspiracy.

SHELDON LUND, Wilits. Misdemeanor hit&run with injury or fatality, and property damage. No license.

JORGE MARTINEZ, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

KAYLA MCFARLANE, Guerneville/Leggett. Domestic battery.

JUAN NARANJO-RODRIGUEZ, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

JAMES NEWCOMB, Willits. Stolen property, disorderly conduct-alcohol.

THOMAS SANDERS, Ukiah. Trespassing/refusing to leave, disorderly conduct-alcohol, probation revocation. (Frequent flyer.)

DANIEL THOMPSON, Elk. Assault, battery, fighting.

ERIC WRIGHT, Ukiah. Failure to appear.

DAVID ZAKEDIS, Willits. Petty theft with prior.

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

I was flicking through the AM radio channels and landed on Rush Limbaugh and thought hmm I have not listened to this guy in years.

What was he pontificating at length about????

Obama reportedly bought a house on the beach.

If climate change was such a problem why is he spending millions to live on a beach he believes will be under water in less than a decade?

With that said burning up rain forests and not replanting them is a huge human blunder!

Replant all the forests of old!

I love forests and national parks!

As I get older I find them to be some of the few places one can still find peace from the insanity of humanity.

There is a campground called Cibbet flats on I-8 with zero cell reception. It only has thirty or so campsites and is almost so quiet you can hear the blood rushing through your head and your own heart beat.

That silence is only broken by some birds and the wind rushing through the oak trees.

NO CHANGES, PLEASE

Editor:

The Russian River benefits from water that is collected and stored in Lake Pillsbury and diverted into the Russian River via the Potter Valley Project. In January 2019, PG&E orphaned the Potter Valley Project. Some groups see this as an opportunity to promote decommissioning and removal of Scott Dam to allow fish passage. They also want to stop the water diversions.

The diverted water from Lake Pillsbury represents an average of 2% of the entire Eel River watershed. This water supports agricultural needs in Potter Valley and fills Lake Mendocino. Water released from Lake Mendocino, supports agricultural and domestic needs for Mendocino and Sonoma counties, and northern Marin County. This water flows downstream to supply the Russian River aquifer from Ukiah to Jenner.

It is time for Russian River residents to be aware of the potential impact to the Russian River. If the Potter Valley Project ends, flows will be reduced and portions of the river will intermittently go dry. Water quality will diminish, endangered salmonids will be affected and tourism revenues will decline as recreation along the river is impacted.

We need more water, not less. For more information, visit savelakepillsbury.org.

George Cinquini

Santa Rosa

LSD: May it serve you well (1951 vintage)

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY #2

A few noble souls have been agitating for truly publicly-owned power for years, some of them even sitting on the Public Utilities Commission, but PG&E continues as a profit-driven private business whose first loyalty is to its shareholders. Personal note, which I’ll keep at less than Sunswheatian length: Just the other day I got a call from a lawyer in Cleveland who said I owed PG&E $1300 for my previous Boonville address. I thought the call, and an e-mail, were scams and ignored them. Turns out the Cleveland collection shyster was correct, at least in representing PG&E’s claim that I owe the money. I thought PG&E simply shut down power or denied it the next time a captive customer applied for new service, which I did three years ago when I moved three-quarters of a mile down the street. But PG&E signed me right up at my new address, no problemo. Then, suddenly, this bill for 1300. As one of millions of Americans who doesn’t have 1300 bucks for emergencies, and I consider paying PG&E such a low priority emergency I will only pay them in increments of ten bucks or so a month, if I pay them at all, which I will probably have to do because my Missus…. well, she’s a much more….. well, she tends to take corporate thieves at their word. A second consideration here is PG&E’s recent policy of murdering whole neighborhoods of their customers, all of whom presumably not in arrears, and then there’s PG&E's even more recent policy of cutting off power to whole areas of neighborhoods to avoid, the mammoth monopoly claims, the murders of even more of their customers. I guess I’d better pay up.

‘MY LAST SHOOTING’

A short story by Edward Dick (with thanks to Jean Kline)

Jeeze! I hit the floor, just as the three shots from the AR-15 pointed at me, went overhead. The air was already smoky, acidic, and foul with the smell of blood and excrement from the bodies of classmates, those not so quick, or more targeted than I was. An expectant lull within the room sustained, while whimpering, and from a distance, emergency vehicles could be heard after the explosive sounds of Merle’s rifle. I was now out of “line of sight,” lying behind overturned desks and bodies.

I had not gotten to know Merle, a new student this year, moved from a family, school, and activities in LA to our small County Seat, light years from the culture of Merle’s previous life. He had not joined into the “Machimach” preoccupation that had inserted itself into the peer pursuance of our classmates, but then neither had I, because of the initial cost, but also the seemingly addictive involvement of our peers—something I didn’t really care for.

“Hey Merle”, I found myself calling out. “What’s happenin’? You think this bad story is about over?”

“Not on your life! There’ll be no happy endings here; you ready to die? I am!”

“I guess if that’s going to happen, I won’t have much choice. Want to kill me?”

“Yeah, I want everyone to die along with me.”

“You want to kill me, or just that I die?”

“You Fu---- I want to kill you. This has been the best thing that has happened to me!”

“Well, if you want to kill me, why not come over here and do it directly. I’m not going anywhere.”

“What do you mean?”

“Just come over here. If you want to shoot me, you can, but if you want to really feel my death, maybe you could do it with my Leatherman, or a scissors, or just strangle me.”

Coming over, Merle soon loomed over me, now lying on my back. “What you say?”, his rifle pointing in my general direction.

“I know a lot of this town and school suck, but I think you’ve gone a little overboard with your hostility.”

“No way man! These jerks deserve everything they got. I’m done with this place. Why are you talking to me anyway?”

“I just thought it’s a shame what it came to. Those jerks were mistaken to think that their whole lives centered on the “Machimach.” That will be a passing fad like all the rest, and we will still be facing lousy job and school prospects when we graduate.”

“Ain’t that the truth! That why you never joined in on the quest?”

“What quest? Seemed to me more like a rabbit hole. Come here and help me up. I’m sorry for the way you felt, being excluded like that, I’m sorrier that I let you down when you came here.”

“Give me your hand. There.”

The bullet that was shot from the doorway killed us both. Merle and I held each other’s hand as we rose above the situation, never to have to worry about being excluded again.

“AS A CHILD I felt myself to be alone, and I am still, because I know things and must hint at things which others apparently know nothing of, and for the most part do not want to know.”

― C.G.Jung

AT THE MO…

Am this moment in the kitchen at Robert Eggplant's in Pinole typing this up. We got a ride back last night from 924 Gilman Street, following an evening of hardcore band performances (which was preceeded by attending the 50th anniversary of the Berkeley Free Clinic in Live Oak Park). I am eager to get a place to stay so that I may contribute socially and write prolifically, particularly working with others impelled spiritually. I ask cooperation to be able to do this. Otherwise, have a good Sunday, and a good every day.

Craig Louis Stehr

Email: craiglouisstehr@gmail.com

POLITICS

by William Butler Yeats

'In our time the destiny of man presents its meanings in political terms.' — Thomas Mann

How can I, that girl standing there,

My attention fix

On Roman or on Russian

Or on Spanish politics,

Yet here's a travelled man that knows

What he talks about,

And there's a politician

That has both read and thought,

And maybe what they say is true

Of war and war's alarms,

But O that I were young again

And held her in my arms.