MCT: Tuesday, August 27, 2019

• Hotter Today
• Find John
• Fair Entries
• Flea Market
• Chamber Mixer
• County Carnies
• Awaiting Apology
• Tule Fog
• Ed Notes
• Bridge Jumpers
• Stripper Proof
• Rogue-Cop Story
• Eastbound Elliot
• Mexico 1994
• Big Snake
• Deforesting Redwoods
• Adios Amigos
• County Budget
• Punta Gorda
• Yesterday's Catch
• G7 Blues
• Art Walk
• Remaining Ignorant
• Common Good
• Abalone Point
• TV Antennas
• Candidates Favorability
• Trade Spat
• Human Tragedy
• Cyber Insecurity
• Union Doublethink
• Found Object

HOT INLAND CONDITIONS PEAK TODAY and continue through Wednesday, while building stratus should regulate temperatures on the coast somewhat. Shallow coastal clouds are expected to surge north of Cape Mendocino this morning, possibly reaching Del Norte by this afternoon. Isolated but mostly dry thunderstorms will be possible Wednesday. (National Weather Service)

HIGHS YESTERDAY: Boonville 100, Yorkville 103

JOHN ALAN BAKER suffers from Alzheimer’s Disease and was reported missing from his residence in Southern California. His vehicle, a 2017 burgundy Lincoln MKZ, was located, stuck, in a remote location, on a dirt road east of Fort Bragg, off of Little Valley Road.

Mr. Baker is a white male, 81 years old, 6' 3", 190 lbs, gray short hair, blue eyes and has a missing front tooth. He was last seen wearing a button-up shirt and jeans. Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD) is the lead agency on this case and if you have information that would help find Mr. Baker, please contact the LASD Missing Person Unit, Matthew Pereida at (323) 574-4506. However, if you have any information on Mr. Baker's whereabouts in Mendocino County that would help our Detectives and Search and Rescue Teams find him, please call the Mendocino County Dispatch Center at (707) 463-4086.

THIS FRIDAY 8/30 IS THE LAST CHANCE for people to sign up online for their entries in the fair!

THE FAIR is a weekend earlier than usual. It commences Friday the 13th of September, meaning if you haven’t entered something, do it today. Or, more thoroughly from Donna Pierson-Pugh, “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.“

SPEAKING of the Fair, its poster this year is the work of two talented local women, Saffron Fraser and Rebecca Goldie.

LOTTA great deals coming up this Labor Day Weekend’s flea market at the Veteran’s Building parking lot in SoBo (south Boonville) perhaps none better than Sharon Abbott’s plus-size women’s clothing along with costume jewelry, some of it, the jewelry, vintage.

AV CHAMBER ROCKS

by Debra Eloise

The Anderson Valley Chamber of Commerce held their first Member Mixer this past week at one of our newest businesses in the Valley, The Disco Ranch! A new market and deli where one can browse and sample their international collection of wine, beer and tasty meats and cheeses. They also offer catering services, and provided all the yummy appetizers for this gathering.

It was a wonderful social event with the perfect turnout of Members and their guests from Yorkville to the Deep End. There were some non-member guests too, who had questions for the Board Members, which was exactly what they were there for. People interacting, sharing business ideas, seeking marketing support and browsing through the new Visitors Guide!

Arline Bloom, President of the AV Chamber announced that out of the 5000 printed copies of the brochure (aka Visitors Guide), there are only 800 left after a strong distribution drive this summer that put the brochures as far south as Los Angeles, east to Sacramento, north to Willits and west to locations all along the coast from Point Arena to Westport! The Visitor Guides also went to the Sonoma Airport. And the distribution drive will continue!

It's important to keep locations well supplied and during the last of the tourist season here in the Valley, the AV Chamber wants to promote Valley businesses as much as possible. In fact, if all goes well at the Beer Booth this year at the Mendocino County Fair (Sept 13-15, come out and support and enjoy some Anderson Valley Brewery on tap!), the AV Chamber will be able to print more! So what's in the future for AV Chamber activities? More Member Mixers! More Membership campaigns! More fundraising events! Get involved and support your local businesses!

Interested in helping out and participating? They need volunteers for the Beer Booth at the Mendocino County Fair (Sept 13-15). Contact The AV Chamber at 707.895.2379, or Arline Bloom direct at 415.308.3575, or email the Chamber at andersonvalleychamber@gmail.com or use the “Contact Us” page on their website: visitandersonvalley.com.

I DESERVE AN APOLOGY!

by Eric Lincoln

On Wednesday, August 14 I was coming from the Senior Center in Covelo with my senior lunch. At about 11:45am I sat down by the tribal building to let my coffee cool. While sitting there minding my own business a tribal cop who I haven't met before came up and asked me, "Are you okay?" I said, What? "Are you okay?" Yeah, I said, I'm sitting here waiting for my coffee to cool down. So he asked my name and my birthdate. I asked him if there was a problem. He said that someone in a meeting inside and noticed me walking by from the window and had come to him to see what I was doing there. This person also told the tribal cop that I was a registered sex offender! I thought, what the hell?!

This statement really threw me for a spin! I told the tribal cop I had to confront the person who is accusing me of this horrible lie. As I walked into the meeting room, a few of the people in the meeting said, Hi Eric!, upon seeing me. With the tribal cop at my side I said someone here at this meeting is accusing me of being a sex offender! An old woman who I've never met before turned in her chair to face me and said, "I was just worried about the children over there," meaning the tribal Head Start building across the field.

I could not believe what this old woman who I don't even know was implying! Of course, I was shocked and very offended! I told the tribal cop that I wanted to put this woman under citizen's arrest and pointed at her. The tribal cop said nothing. The lying accuser's lame reply was, "We are in a private meeting right now and you are not even supposed to be in here."

I went out with the tribal cop behind me. I was at a loss for words, totally confused by all this insane crazy crap. That senile old bitch may as well have just spit in my face!

Soon the crap really started to hit the fan on full blast. The tribal cop was on his cell phone in the backyard of the building. He came to where I was drinking my cooled-down coffee and said according to his cellphone I was a registered sex offender! I told him, "What the fuck? Are you talking sure?" Then I told him to call the Mendocino County Jail and ask for a list of all my arrests and convictions which he did not do.

I said I had to talk to Laura Betts who is the tribal police receptionist and dispatch lady who knows me well. So he called her. Then he came up to me and later after speaking to her on his cell phone and said, "Eric, you don't like look like you weigh 200 pounds." I thought, "What the hell is he talking about now for Chrisssakes?"

Anyway, he said Laura contacted Washington DC and they faxed paperwork about this whole screwed up deal.

I hitched a ride to the tribal cop shop and there Laura showed me page after page of why this was happening to me. A guy named Vincent Ceci had somehow got hold of my name and birthdate. I'm not sure if he got my Social Security Number or not but according to the DC fax this Ceci guy has numerous indecent exposure charges, domestic violence charges and has done some state prison time. But get this crazy stuff: This guy is 5’11”, 200 pounds and white! I mean come on! I'm 5-2 and 130 pounds and Native American and any idiot and their dog could see that these are two totally different people!

I was asked to come back the following day. The tribal cop suggested that Laura take my fingerprints to be sent to Washington DC so I did.

Afterword I thought why would my fingerprints be needed? The proof is right there in black and white about this Vincent Ceci guy. It just seemed unnecessary. Maybe even questionable about me getting fingerprinted to prove who I was.

Thinking about it further that afternoon when that senile old woman falsely insinuated that I was a sex offender, it just hit me so hard. If it made me feel so damn low that someone could even think that I would do something that disgusting. And my personal information getting run through the crapper like it was. All that day and into the night I just started crying over my any little thing which I never had done before.

This whole so stressful situation really screwed me up. This is the main reason I'm getting a restraining order against this malicious bitch.

While going through the process of getting a restraining order I found out that her name is Patricia Henry and this falsely accusing hater is actually a Native American! (I'm sorry for her tribe.) And she has even somehow got her foot in the door to get accepted as a business administrator at the tribal building here in Covelo.

But get this Jerry Springer crap: I just about shit my pants when finding out the tribal cop who appeared out of nowhere just so happens to be "Michael Henry" — her husband!

Do these two work as a team when they are planning something shady? What is their main objective in Covelo? I really don't see Pocahontas Henry's vision or main ambition growing up as a kid. Was it to finish school and try to be the best damn tribal business administrator with a screwed up attitude this world has ever seen? Only to end up here in Covelo?

Oh let's not forget, she wanted a husband who is a tribal cop to have her back. Seems like I've seen this Michael Henry dude somewhere before, maybe in jail, I don't know.

Anyhow from the get-go Laura Betts intended on writing a statement for me dealing with the cho-mo scandal. While at the restraining order office we called Laura who said that her supervisor denied her from writing one! What the hell?

As it turns out Laura Betts’s supervisor just so happens to be this same bitch Patricia Henry who I am seeking a restraining order against! Doesn't that beat all?

Pocahontas Henry must have taken a cue from Shannon Barney who used to be a resident cop in Covelo a few years ago. He's not a tribal cop, he's a real cop. While doing his residency here in Covelo, Shannon Barney was as crooked as Covelo Road. Some names come to mind in the in regards to this — Robert Want and Ivan Tillotson (Bodean). Also other deaths that are questionable like deputies Eric Gore and Brett White.

Both of those last two were deputies out the sheriff's office in Ukiah.

Now Shannon Barney is the County Coroner! How convenient is that? Covering mistakes.

I compare this to Patricia Henry's refusal to allow my friend Laura Betts to write a statement to help with my false accusation.

Also, this Pocahontas lowlife refuses to allow the paperwork from Washington DC to be used for whatever reason because the information is “highly confidential." What a pathetic delusional psycho bitch!

Those DC papers are the proof of how my name is being dragged through the worst mud.

It seems like this Patricia Henry Pocahontas is more concerned about that guy Vincent Ceci’s right than she is of the victim — me! Why is this woman in Covelo anyway? How many other names are on her shit list to trash?

If Michael Henry is her mate that makes Patricia Henry the pri-mate which suits her to a tee. Some say silence is more powerful than noise. But definitely not in this case. Don't be afraid to face your accuser. If they take the time out of their "precious" lives to condemn people who don't fit their view of what is right or what is not right, screw them! They are just self appreciating losers just like all the other haters in the world.

I ask for nothing more and will accept nothing less than a formal apology from this woman who calls herself Patricia Henry.

As such,

Eric Lincoln

Covelo

PS. Never let this happen to you.

NIGHT LIGHT OF THE NORTH COAST: Tule Fog on Humboldt Bay

by David Wilson

Apparently the term “tule fog” is specific to a particular seasonal low fog in the Central Valley, but we sometimes see a similar blanket of ground fog around the lowlands and bottoms of coastal northern Humboldt County. Low and mysterious, the veil of mist hugs the contours, it pools in pockets and reduces visibility to nil as wispy strands slide silklike across the landscape. It’s the kind of fog that makes you throw a backward glance over the shoulder for the Baskerville hound.

Our version of tule fog always brings to mind the sharp features and long nose of Basil Rathbone’s 1939 Sherlock Holmes stalking his foe across the grey, misty moor. The night that I made this photograph I had set out to capture an image that might evoke a similar feeling of foreboding mystery.

But I didn’t find myself on the moors of 19th Century England that night. Instead I landed in an alien landscape that was veiled in fog, yes, but aglow with intense pools of otherworldly light. My vision of Rathbone gave way to thoughts of Close Encounters (“We Are Not Alone”… it was movie night in my head). I have no idea whether we’re actually alone, but the Universe is really large, unimaginably large, so I can imagine the possibility on a night like this.

I settled on a spot on the Bayside Cutoff, looking down its length toward Highway 101 where it ran along the bay shore. An insanely bright yellow sign at the intersection warning of two-way traffic cast an intense glow around it. Cars passing along 101 made connecting streaks between blobs of light. It would be an alien landscape indeed to Sherlock Holmes.

I waited for the Mother Ship, but she never showed.

Low fog hugging the ground along the Bayside Cutoff on Humboldt Bay. US 101 passes from left to right in the distance. The insanely bright light on the right is a bright yellow LED road sign warning of two-way traffic on Highway 101 at the end of the Cutoff. The planet Mars is the brightest point in the sky.

To read previous entries of “Night Light of the North Coast,” click on my name above the article. To keep abreast of my most current photography or peer into its past, visit and contact me at my website mindscapefx.com or follow me on Instagram at @david_wilson_mfx .

ED NOTES

THE SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT has sworn in five new deputies, one of whom, according to Under-Sheriff Matt Kendall will be assigned to the Anderson Valley.

CHANGES: Julie Liebenbaum and Darius Richmond have sold the General Store and moved to Sacramento to enroll their precocious daughter in an accelerated learning program, having rented their Philo home and sold their business to… we don’t know yet but by golly we’re on the case!

DRIVE-BY? WHERE? BOONVILLE? From the Sheriff’s presser on the event: “On Wednesday, August 7, Mendocino County Sheriff's deputies were asked to respond to a reported shooting which had occurred at about 10:30 pm that evening in the 14400 block of Highway 128 in downtown Boonville… Deputies spoke to the victim who reported a silver Ford Mustang had followed him to a store in Boonville where he observed the suspects inside the store. The victim was in fear for his safety based on the vehicle following him and he waited for the suspects to leave before continuing on his travels.

Upon entering the roadway, the victim reported the same suspect vehicle began to follow him for a second time. The victim then parked in a well-lit area in the 14400 block of Highway 128 in hopes the vehicle would continue past him. It did not, and instead parked next to the victim a short distance away. While the victim was seated in his vehicle, the suspect vehicle sped up and began to pass the victim's parked vehicle. As the suspect vehicle passed, the victim reported a single gunshot was heard and the rear window of his vehicle had evidence of a bullet passing through which was later determined to have narrowly missed striking the victim's head. The victim contacted 911 and reported the incident. A check of surveillance footage was done and two suspects were tentatively identified as Marshall Stillday, age 19 of Hopland and Alfredo Asher Knight age 18, also of Hopland, and both known to local police as gang-affiliated.

The two have been arrested and are being held to answer to multiple charges on bail of more than a quarter of a million dollars.

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:

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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 Foothill 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 Transportation to authorize this agreement for additional design and studies for the Philo-Greenwood Bridge replacement over the Navarro River.

Howard Dashiell, Director of Transportation

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DOUBT HOWARD would approve, but we heard the other day that the more active of our youth, all males (of course), are jumping off the Greenwood Bridge into the deep, inviting pool below. Which is nothing new. Kids have been making the leap for years. What’s new about these leapers is that some of them, not content with a simple plunge from the rail, are doing it from the back of a moving pick-up! Not sure I believe it, but a local said he saw one kid carry it off without a hitch.

YEARS AGO Deputy Squires was called out to the Greenwood Bridge where he found a couple dozen deaf kids doing the bridge jump. As I recall, the deputy had a heckuva time communicating his order to cease and desist.

ON THE SUBJECT of deep and inviting pools, we’re also informed that the magnificent pool at Maple Basin is perhaps the deepest it’s ever been at thirty feet.

THIS STUNNING PHOTO may look like it shows a woman disrespecting a judge, but in reality it’s an exotic dancer pleading her case. After a group of exotic dancers were arrested for exposing their bits at a Florida club, this woman testified that it would have been impossible for anyone to see what was under her dance bottoms because of their size.

Photographer Jim Damaske explained how he caught the image to the Tampa Bay Times: “I was shooting freelance for the Clearwater Sun and UPI when the Sun got a tip what was going to happen. I got the call. Exotic dancers said that their shorts were too big to show what the undercover officers said they saw. The judge agreed with the dancers after they bent over. The photo went out on the UPI wire, which is how it got picked up everywhere. The photo was later run in Playboy and it was selected as a “Magazine Pictures of the Year” by the National Press Photographers Association.

THE OUTSIDE MEDIA and the Press Democrat will never give her the credit, but it was HumCo's intrepid Kym Kemp of Redheaded Blackbelt who not only broke the story about Rohnert Part's rogue cops, but kept after it until the story couldn't be ignored by RP’s suspiciously unaware civic apparatus. Operating under their own fake auspices as "interdiction" officers, two of Rohnert Park's finest lurked around the Mendo-SoCo county line where they pulled over southbound marijuana transporters to rob them of dope and, in some cases, large amounts of cash money. And they carried out these highway robberies while driving clearly marked Rohnert Park police cars. How the two beyond brazen bandidos managed these crimes without Mendo authorities being aware of their presence is not yet known. Also not known? How did they know who to interdict? Were they tipped off by a HumCo source that dope and cash were headed south on 101? Surely they weren’t stopping people at random….

KIT ELLIOT, Mendo County Counsel, has taken a position as Nevada County’s County Counsel. “The Board is excited to announce Ms. Elliott as our next County Counsel,” said Board of Supervisors Chair and District V Supervisor Richard Anderson. “We had a successful interview process during our closed meeting earlier this month and believe she will be a great fit for the organization.”

RECOMMENDED VIEWING: Most people in the U.S. don’t realize how violent and tumultuous the year 1994 was for Mexico. And most people, including this people, don’t know much at all about the big country on our south border. But the excellent Netflix documentary called 1994 after that pivotal year for Mexico, is an important crash course that helps us understand why and how Mexico has lurched into near chaos. In ’94, the leading party’s candidate for president, Colossio, was assassinated in Tijuana, NAFTA was being protested by rebels in Chiapas, and the entire political system that had run the country for decades was thrown into crisis. Fascinating stuff.

SOME SOUR COMMENTS ON THP 1-19-00083-MEN

Paul Encimer

Special to the AVA

Many years ago, 1974 I believe, the Redwood Peanut mounted on a flatbed led a caravan of logging trucks around and around the headquarters in Sacramento of the then boy Governor, Jerry Brown. His administration was shifting from the previous all out deforestation system where people were charged a tax on standing trees, mandating cutting, and shifting instead to a system requiring an Environmental Impact Statement. This was just too much too soon. The environmental movement on the Northcoast hardly existed. Isolated, the Governor crumpled before the pressure.

The bizarre Timber Harvest Plan was born. It never saw a tree it couldn’t cut. Sometimes the plans are to be “mitigated,” sometimes by a court, and then everything was cut pretty much the same way afterwards. Occasionally one of the gyppo chiefs might do a little time for skipping the “mitigation” altogether but by then the clearcutting was finished and the duff was blowing in the wind.

Times have changed. We can’t get away any longer with pointing in horror at Brazil as it deforests the Amazon while we in the US smirkingly pretend we are merely “harvesting timber.” It is time to return to the idea of demanding an EIS for anyone in the “harvesting” business. With climate catastrophe a daily occurrence, the Environmental Impact of THP 1-19-00083-MEN is unacceptable. Period. Use your head.

“Harvesting” trees is planetary suicide.

Already we have had a series of THPs by Soper Wheeler, an outfit from the Sierras so lame that they had Nancy Reagan planting their millionth tree. They have seized a remarkable piece of our coast from just south of the Sinkyone Wilderness State Park all the way down to the Rockport beach where the Cottoneva ends its 9 mile journey to the ocean. Anyone can see their work by dipping in at Google Earth, 2014 and then again 2019. Are you kidding me? It looks like North Korea. And so far CalFire has let it happen.

Let’s get real with your name. It is seriously inappropriate. CalFire, aka CDF, needs to do its job and start saving the vast young redwood forest that is still here on the Northcoast, a forest that is our best defense against the inevitable forest fires which will rack this region.

No more cutting of Redwoods. This recovering forest is more important than the bank account of Soper Wheeler. Worse, letting them get away with this disastrous plan sets us up for the extremely heavy damage MRC will eventually be doing on its “holdings” along the Cottonenva.

However, with cable logging above the banks of the Cottoneva as these guys are planning, MRC couldn’t do worse! You are letting this happen?

Soper Wheeler has been running its turf as a “hunting preserve” of some sort. Or whatever. I pass by their gate monthly and one time I did see a humongous water tanker parked inside their gate. This is the gate that they hung their “Intent to Harvest” on. It was full of false information, directing the reader to the Fresno office of CalFire aka CDF with a reference number to the plan that did not exist. After all, who needs to know?

Let Soper Wheeler return to the Sierras. They are not the foresters needed in our community, but corporate interlopers. They have been banking, so to speak, on the lack of neighbors to call for a halt. The philosophical conundrum here is that if a lot of trees fall in the woods and there are no neighbors to protect it, does that mean we’re not deforesting the planet?

What’s good about this plan? The archeologist is on vacation. No tribal observer has apparently reviewed the plan. Who knows then what sites exist, undisrupted, or maybe only partially destroyed thanks to Soper Wheeler’s previous THPs. The forest above the Cottoneva Valley should be seen as the obvious extension of the Sinyone Tribal Wilderness State Park. Stopping this THP will buy time until the entire Usal Road from Four Corners down to the Rockport Beach can be adequately protected.

CalFire has already allowed Soper Wheeler to hack away at a very delicate ecosystem, one of great beauty as it skirts the steep cliffs of the Lost Coast. This must be stopped. I mean who’s kidding who? Four clearcuts on the cliff side of the Usal Road, utilizing cable/tractor logging right on the edge of an abyss that a good spitter could probably drop a wad down to the water’s edge without hitting the sheer sides. Really? This is a serious plan?

Meanwhile, huge chunks of forest are to be taken out on both sides of the Usal Road. This road is itself a public treasure, offering continual breathtaking views of the blue sea. This area needs to be protected for the people of California who will still be here long after the corporate depredators have changed their names and their games in search of easy money elsewhere. Let us skip the logging and send them packing now. As public servants, CalFire has an obligation to put the people’s future first, last and always.

The Usal is a road that already cuts through publically owned land of the Sinkyone Wilderness. This contiguous forest, threatened by Soper Wheeler, cries out for re-evaluation. We should be adding this to our public land, securing the historic ridge that looks down into the Cottoneva on one side and on the other onto the spanless blue sea. We boast that most of the old growth Redwood was eradicated for high class tickytack but the redwood forest has not been completely destroyed. It remains right here, a huge one with trees that aren’t much older than me, short of a hundred perhaps.

The Redwoods are a self-restoring forest and one that could shield us in the age of forest fires, don’t you think, CalFire fighters? Meanwhile, every inch of this Lost Coast is precious — a heritage that if not assaulted will assure us of a future.

Imagining the forest without Soper Wheeler, or MRC, is to bet on Planet Earth. By allowing the Redwood forest to return to itself, to revert to its vastness, to continue to flourish, we are betting on the return to a survivable Green Age. While what the logging company offers instead is that — as long as we all shall live — it will make sure that the forest will never be a real forest. It is time to stop them “bleeding” the planet. We cannot survive the loss of the Redwood forest. It is a dynamic field that has, will, would provide the very atmosphere that our human culture has thrived within. There is no safe amount of timber removed from this forest, or any other. The planet needs a decent Environmental Impact Report for the Cottoneva. The impact of course is the climate crisis itself. Duh.

The re-assertion of a de facto EIR standard is a demand I make of you, forest practices program manager, until the real thing comes along. “Harvesting” is being clearly revealed as inoperable in the age of Climate Crisis. ”Logging” itself has becomes an obscene word, a euphemism for what’s taking place, here, there and everywhere — “Deforestation.” We can spare the forest for the trees we aren’t cutting. CalFire must be prompting stewardship not entrepreneurship.

Paul Encimer, Box 493, Redway, Ca. 95560, 707 683 5772. Whole-Watershed Assessment

Addenum

The people at KRIS, a locally active “think tank” who do watershed assessments have a succinct analysis of the inadequacies of the THP. For one, it was a fake from the beginning and in 1975 the courts held that these state-approved harvests were “projects” and thus required by CEQA to provide an environmental impact report (EIR). The state, under intense pressure from the logging industry at its most truculent, caved quickly and amended CEQA to create the “functional equivalent process.” Meaning the timber operators can get away with murder, covered by a pious litany of “concerns” for soil, water, plant, fish, and wildlife.

CEQA was being mangled with precision because otherwise it “required consideration, in the approval of any project, of adverse environmental effects which might not, in and of themselves, be significant but which, when taken together with additional, similar effects in the same project area, might then cause significant adverse environmental effects.” Timber harvests, like virtually any other watershed management activity, have effects on the environment. How to measure, assess, prevent or mitigate these "cumulative watershed effects", in order to assure compliance with CEQA and other environmental statutes, is a subject where we can look to the 2001 study by T.J. Dunne et al: A scientific basis for the prediction of cumulative watershed effects. (The University of California Committee on Cumulative Watershed Effects. University of California Wildland Resource Center Report No. 46. June 2001. 107 pp. )

There is also the 1981 study of R.N. Coates and T.O. Miller: “Cumulative silvicultural impacts on watersheds: A hydrologic and regulatory dilemma.” Environmental Management. Volume 5, No. 2, pp. 147-160. They noted that timber harvest over large portions of a watershed were likely to have negative impact on streams and fish. The National Marine Fisheries Service (2000) made recommendations for changing California Forest Practice Rules to better protect aquatic habitat and anadromous salmonids, but “suggestions have not been incorporated” into the rules.

This despite the conclusion of F.A.Ligon and his co-authors (1999)(1) who formed a scientific review panel precisely to study the California Forest Practice Rules and salmonid habitat in particular. They found that “these forest practices were not protecting salmon and steelhead resources” from cumulative watershed effects. Dunne and his colleagues made a recommendation no less radical than my proposal just submitted. These scholars recommended that "responsibility for the assessments be taken out of Timber Harvest Applications and given to a new unit of a State agency, which would make whole-watershed assessments of how land use alters the risk of damage to ecosystem values."

RELATIVES AND FRIENDS wave goodbye to a train carrying 1,500 people being expelled from Los Angeles to Mexico on Aug. 20, 1931. (Photo: N.Y. Daily News archive/Getty Images)

WHERE ARE THE BUDGET NUMBERS?

In response to Mark Scaramella and the CEO reporting out.

I agree with Mr Scaramella and Mr Sakowicz: The CEO of our county government should report out where the budget is to date and not "snow" the BOS in guesstimates. Too many positions are vacant and the money that would be utilized for those vacancies needs to be explained to the BOS, who after all, are supposed to be running the county--not the other way around. The BOS is paid to be responsible for all income and expenditures. The CEO should do their bidding--not the other way around.

Many individuals have said to me: The county is run by Angelo NOT the BOS. The CEO's position is an 'at will' employee, meaning that person can be fired at the discretion by the BOS. How many top executives in the real world are excused from reporting out current budget status and/or report the state of employee vacancies? These are two key features and responsibilities of any senior management's role. Does anyone in upper management or the BOS poke their noise outside their own back yard? It isn't done this way in the real world.

The BOS needs to take a No Confidence vote just on the fact that Angelo doesn't feel compelled to inform and appraise not only the BOS, but we as citizens of Mendocino County, what the month-to-month status of the county's budget? Along with how and where the funds from the many vacant positions are being spent.

For Angelo to ride out her tenure until retirement is completely unacceptable, self-serving and irresponsible. She's had 12 + years with the county. Do the math on what that has cost the county.

A complete accounting of where the budget stands in real time each month is paramount for understanding where there are financial concerns and for budget forecasting. The numbers are there. Why are those figures being kept from the community? Where would this practice be acceptable other than Mendo's County government with Boss Angelo calling the shots?

Mary Massey

Ukiah

THE PUNTA GORDA LIGHTHOUSE is a remote, decommissioned beacon on a grassy hillside above the shore.

Leaving the Lost Coast northbound saves one of the best adventure drives for last when, past Petrolia, two-lane Mattole Road links to the coast again and follows an undeveloped stretch. Bushy wild radish plants crowded the road as it climbed inland and, 90 minutes later, abruptly disgorged us in Ferndale, a manicured Victorian-era Mayberry. There, a ukulele ensemble was jamming in a bank parking lot, a comparatively found spot — with cellular service restored — at the border of the lost wilds.

(Alexandra Hootnick)

CATCH OF THE DAY, AUGUST 26, 2019

BRITTANY ADKINS, San Francisco/Ukiah. Petty theft with priors, disorderly conduct-lodging without owner’s consent, resisting.

ANDREW ANTHONY, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol, contempt of court.

SHAWN BIAS, Fort Bragg. Battery with serious bodily injury, brandishing, criminal threats.

ETHAN CRAMER, Redwood Valley. DUI.

FREDRICK FITCH, Ukiah. Petty theft with priors.

PAUL HANNAH, Nice/Calpella. Pot possession for sale, entering a closed disaster area.

SPENCER HERMAN, Hopland. Domestic battery.

CHRISTOPHER IAKOVKIN, Santa Rosa/Ukiah. Paraphernalia, evidence tampering.

ANDREW MARTINEZ, Willits. County parole violation, probation violation.

ERIK PRESLEY, Laytonville. Domestic abuse, hit&run with property damage, suspended license (for DUI), probation revocation.

KEVIN RAY, Redwood Valley. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

ANASTASIO RUIZ-RAMIREZ, Salinas/Redwood Valley. DUI.

LYDIA WILCOX, Redwood Valley. DUI-drugs&alcohol.

G-7 BLUES

by James Kunstler

What’s at stake in all these international confabs like the G-7 are the tenuous supply lines that keep the global game going. The critical ones deliver oil around the world. China imports about 10 million barrels a day to keep its operations going. It produces less than 4 million barrels a day. Only about 15 percent of its imports come from next door in Russia. The rest comes from the Middle East, Africa, and South America. Think: long lines of tanker ships traveling vast distances across the seas, navigating through narrow straits. The Chinese formula is simple: oil in, exports out. It has worked nicely for them in recent decades. Things go on until they don’t.

That game is lubricated by a fabulous stream of debt generated by Chinese banks that ultimately answer to the Communist Party. The party is the Chinese buffer between banking and reality. If the party doesn’t like the distress signals that the banks give off, it just pretends the signals are not coming through, while it does the hokey-pokey with its digital accounting, and things appear sound a while longer.

The US produces just over 12 million barrels of oil a day. About 6.5 million of our production is shale oil. We use nearly 20 million barrels a day. (We’re not “energy independent.”) The shale oil industry is wobbling under the onerous debt load that it has racked up since 2005. About 90 percent of the companies involved in shale oil lose money. The capital costs for drilling, hauling a gazillion truckloads of water and fracking sand to the rig pads, and sucking the oil out, exceed the profit from doing all that. It’s simply all we can do to keep the game going in our corner of the planet, but it’s not a good business model. After you’ve proved conclusively that you can’t make a buck at this using borrowed money, the lenders will quit lending you more money. That’s about where we are now.

Europe is near the end of its North Sea oil bonanza and there’s nothing in the on-deck circle for them. Germany tried to prove that they could run the country on “renewables” and that experiment has flopped. They have no idea what they’re going to do to keep the game going in their patch of nations. They must be freaking out in their charming capital cities.

The next economic bust is going to amount to the crack-up of the oil age, and the “global economy” that emerged in its late stage. It was all about moving fantastic quantities of things around the planet. The movements were exquisitely tuned, along with the money flows that circulated freely, like blood carrying oxygen to each organ.

All of that is coming to an end. The nations of the world must be feeling desperate, despite the appearance of good manners at meetings like the G-7. What’s at stake for everybody in the dark background is the ability to maintain high standards of living only recently attained. And the fear behind that is not knowing just how far backward these high standards of living may have to slide.

A lot of people still alive in China must remember a daily existence on par with the 12th century. In the USA, where democracy is mostly represented by low-order thinking skills, the memory of life before electricity and running water is long gone. We’ve been living in Futurama since the end of the last world war. That war, by the way, is not entirely forgotten in Europe, despite all the charm currently on display and the tourists swarming with their selfie sticks. The place was a charnel house for centuries and the Euro folk will do about anything to suppress conflict. Lately, it looks like they’re willing to give up on Western Civilization itself to keep the peace.

Lord knows what Mr. Trump’s strategy is with these so-called “trade talks.” He has explicitly enough pushed for the re-industrialization of America, and that implies — among other things — decoupling from the China’s torrential merchandise supply lines, cutting off its revenues.

Closing off China’s access to US markets itself might be enough to finally blow up China’s deeply fraudulent banking system. Maybe the aim is to just disable China, derail it from its seeming aim of becoming the next world hegemon. Does Mr. Trump think he can do that without blowing up the rest of the world’s financial arrangements? The stock markets haven’t been digesting that story very well lately. Could the US government be collectively dumb enough to think that shale oil will permit this country to re-industrialize while the rest of the world stumbles back into a dark age?

More likely, all the advanced nations will make that downward journey together. The US is well on its way, despite all the MAGA bravado. The country is reeling in bad faith, delusion, official corruption, porno-pharmaceutical vice, and ethnic rancor. The people who live in FlyoverLand style themselves like Visigoths, all tatted up and armed to the teeth, moiling angrily at the edge of the Rome-like coastal enclaves. The elites want to stuff themselves inside their phones and live there. Guess what: that won’t be a “safe space.”

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

ART WALK UKIAH

On Friday, September 6th from 5:00-7:00 pm, the Ukiah Branch of the Mendocino County Library is hosting Art Walk Ukiah, Hand in Hand: A Photo Exhibit Celebrating Forty Years of Instilling Goodness and Developing Virtue Schools.

Ukiah Library is proud to present a historic photo review from Instilling Goodness & Developing Virtue Schools that celebrates forty years of education, cherishing families, friends and community.

Visitors to the library for the Art Walk exhibit can stay to create Butterfly Pop-Up Cards, browse the Friends of the Ukiah Valley Library’s book sale, and enjoy the soothing harp music of Suni Smith. Refreshments will be provided.

This event is for all ages, is free to the public and sponsored by the Mendocino county Library and the Friends of the Ukiah Valley Library. For more information, please contact the Ukiah Library at 707-463-4490 or email lyonj@mendocinocounty.org

ON LINE COMMENT: PG&E should be nationalized immediately; experimentation with privatized critical services has proven a classic failure in this case. Private enterprise = profit = minimization of expenses = cut public safety investment = failure to serve the common good. Privatization is fine for selling bicycles and golf clubs.

THE VIEW FROM ABALONE POINT, near Shelter Cove

THE MENDO MAN OF THE HOUR!

Just installed a TV antenna bought from Walmart for around $50. We get around 17 free TV stations forever with no more Comcast or Xfinity bills!! Some people pay $200/month for TV. That's over $2000 a year.

Let me install an antenna for you.

I'm not licensed but I know what I'm doing. $35/hour is my rate. Usually takes a few hours to save you $$$$!!! Especially in the Ukiah area. You'll get the channels guaranteed.

I'm a retired state supervisor. Trained in college and hands on for electrical, plumbing, carpentry and solar.

707-380-9129, Nicked Bob

ON LINE COMMENT RE: G-7

This recent trade spat reminds me of the traumas of teenage social life. Donald and China had a messy break-up with lots of shouting, accusations, and recriminations. Now Donald says China called twice last night and wants to make up.

China denies calling and says she’s still mad as hell at Donald. She says he’s a cheap date who expects her to pay and no way is she returning his factories. She also accuses him of improperly touching her down low in her Hong Kong.

Donald’s friend, the Mayor of Munchkin City, remarked, “There were discussions that went back and forth, and let’s just leave it at that.”

Donald’s other friend, John with the creepy mustache, is believed to have fomented the break-up because he has long desired to violently defile China under the bleachers.

WORSE AND WORSE

Human Tragedy in San Francisco

rt.com/shows/keiser-report/467032-sanfrancisco-human-tragedy-homeless/

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE WEEK

Ten years ago, the internet salesmen sold us that the future of data storage was going to be the cloud, that we were going to go paperless and cashless. Just use your cards.

The reality is if you put something on line or work it on your PC, you better figure that it is open to the public. If you put it in the cloud, figure it is public knowledge eventually.

Confidential information will need to go back to paper. The Hi tech snobs will fight it, but a few lawsuits over confidential materials will stop it.

There is no cure for cyber insecurity, someone will eventually hack into it. Maybe when Target gets hacked enough, they will stop putting customer information on their data base, or Capital One. Yes, the facilitators will be clobbered by their users.

Seriously, I wonder with all the cyber problems if the computer has actually saved us any money in the workplace.

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Maybe somebody here can explain something to me. I am a city employee, and I was gassing up my vehicle the other day, when another city employee showed up to refuel. He is a police officer, and I get along well with those guys. Anyway, we were talking, and I happened to make a joke about unions. The officer said “Yeah, me and a lot of my friends don’t like unions.” Now I know that most cops are conservative, and tend to be Republicans, so I wasn’t that surprised by what he said.

I said “Well you guys have a peace officers union right?” He said “Yeah, we have to, if we didn’t have one the city would fuck us over on pay and benefits, but we don’t like the fact that we have to have one.”

I drove away somewhat confused. I know most cops are conservative and generally Republican. I also know that that most Republicans don’t like unions. So it seemed to me that this guy wanted to have his cake and eat it too. On the one hand, him and his friends understood that the only protection they had from the city, was their union. So they wanted a union. On the other hand, they were conservative Republicans, and so they wanted to be able to hate unions at the same time. Now, it seems to me that this is doublethink, so they could have the best of both worlds. This is cognitive dissonance at it’s finest, and thinking like this is alive and well in this country, and it has a lot to do with why we have the wages we do, and why the wages never keep up with the cost of living. I remain confused about how my fellow Americans can try to play both sides of the same coin.

FOUND OBJECT