MCT: Sunday, September 15, 2019

• Light Rain
• Pet
• Fair Photos
• Drug Lair
• Sailing Yarns
• Noyo River
• Chief Admonished
• Mendo Sunset
• Big Wine
• Ukiah Streetscape
• Haschak Junket
• Poison Hemlock
• Ed Notes
• Dear Mom
• Yesterday's Catch
• SMART Overruns
• Thinking Tree
• '87 Crash
• Ronnie Winchester
• Tired/Ready
• Lake Cameawait
• 9/12
• Despair
• Fur Trade
• Addams Couple
• Dim Bulb
• Nonparticipation
• Another Universe
• Tracking Trending
• Dance Project
• Art Career
• WD Skunks
• Found Object

THE AREA'S FIRST FALL-LIKE WEATHER SYSTEM of the season is expected to bring precipitation to the northern half of CA and NV in the Sun-Mon time frame.

The image shows expected amounts. Additional light precip is possible in far northern CA/NV through midweek.

UKIAH SHELTER PET OF THE WEEK - VANILLA

Delicious Vanilla is just the right size, at 31 pounds, to join you on any adventure you might be planning. This low-to-the-ground darling is just 2 years old. Vanilla is spayed and ready to go home with you ASAP. Check out Vanilla's webpage: http://www.mendoanimalshelter.com/dogblog/vanilla

The Ukiah Animal Shelter is located at 298 Plant Road in Ukiah. Our dog and cat kennel hours have changed. Please visit our website for the new hours, and information about our guests, services, programs and events: For more information about adoptions please call 707-467-6453.

SATURDAY AT THE BOONVILLE FAIR (photos by Marilyn Davin — click to enlarge)

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BERNIE AT BOONVILLE FAIR

FORT BRAGG DRUG HOUSE

A Coast Reader Writes:

I was unable to share what I posted to Supervisor Dan Gjerde this morning on his page so I am re posting here and sharing:

Dan, for several years now a neighborhood south of Fort Bragg on Boice Lane has had to suffer the effects of a drug house that no one seems to know what to do about. There have been neighborhood meetings, the sheriff has been called numerous times for a variety of reasons, but still no one can deal with this drug house/homeless camp in the middle of this otherwise good neighborhood. As a last resort I am posting this along with a picture of what it looks like from the street.

The address is 32900 Boice Lane. Can you help us? Please?

SAILING VESSEL FRI, A TALK BY NORMAN DEVALL

Voyage of the FRI

Join the discussion. 50 years ago the Sailing Cargo Vessel FRI (free) arrived in San Francisco. On Sunday, September 15, Norman de Vall discusses the outfitting and voyage of the Last Sailing Cargo Ship from North Europe to California. Please join us at the Kelley House Museum at 4:30.

SOUTH SIDE OF NOYO

DA ADMONISHES CHIEF WARNOCK

TO: Chief Scott Warnock, Willits Police Department, 125 East Commercial Street, Suite 150, Willits, CA 95490

Re: Willits police officer Jacob Jones

September 6, 2019 – Dear Chief Warnock:

Words cannot adequately express how disappointed I am that you failed to notify me or, for that matter, anybody in my office of the peace officer hiring of Jacob Jones despite Mr. Jones obvious Brady background. Having personally reviewed the Brady materials provided to you by the Eureka Police Department (EPD), you surprisingly overlooked what was important therein and approved the hiring of this badly tainted former EPD officer as a Willits police officer.

First, I would never have thought in a million years that it would be necessary for me to remind you that honesty and credibility have always been essential traits for a police officer. Under the United States Supreme Court's Brady decision, an officer's credibility can determine whether he or she may face testimonial impeachment during court proceedings or even be subject to termination of employment.

As background, the US Supreme Court held in 1963 in the case of Brady v. Maryland that the prosecution in criminal proceedings has a duty to disclose to the defense — upon request — material information that is exculpatory of a defendant. The court ruled in Brady that the suppression by the prosecution of evidence favorable to an accused violates due process where the evidence is material either to guilt or to punishment “irrespective of the good faith of bad faith of the prosecution."

In a subsequent case, United States v. Agurs, the Supreme Court held that Brady disclosures are required even if the defense has not specifically made an inquiry whether such information exists, and later in 1995 in Kyles v. Whitley, the Supreme Court further held that the prosecution has an affirmative duty to learn of and disclose any favorable evidence known to "others acting on the government's behalf in the case including the police." Further, the prosecution disclosure obligations include not only evidence directly related to the crime alleged, but also to information that would affect the credibility of a prosecution witness in the case. Thus, the prosecution is required not only to disclose what is already known to prosecutors, but also to learn of any such information that is known to law enforcement, including matters related to witness credibility — particularly the credibility of a police officer witness in our immediate context — and make that information available to the defense. Under Brady, there is no distinction between evidence that could serve to impeach a government witness (in the context of this letter, read "police officer" in place of government witness) and evidence that could be material to the guilt or punishment of a defendant.

Although the original Brady case referred only to the duty of the prosecution to disclose evidence that could serve to impeach a government witness, subsequent cases which have flowed from the 1963 Brady decision have held that law enforcement agencies are required to inform the prosecution of any evidence known to them that could require the prosecution to make Brady disclosures to a defendant. This places a necessary burden of disclosure on officers and their departments due to the risk that a criminal conviction will be dismissed or reversed if a Brady violation by the police is found. There is also the risk of civil liability associated with a failure to disclose, not to mention the difficulty in determining the scope of what must be disclosed.

So that there is no ambiguity in this letter, I intend to be very blunt. You as the Chief of Willits Police Department withheld and failed to inform the District Attorney, the chief law enforcement official in Mendocino County, of Mr. Jones’s Brady background.

Likewise, you withheld and failed to inform any of my deputy prosecutors or my peace officer investigators of this necessary and required information. Neither the Willits Police Department (as a law-enforcement agency) nor you as the managing law enforcement chief (and hiring authority) complied with long-standing departmental Brady obligations. Again for emphasis, Mr. Jones was sworn in as a Willits police officer on June 12, 2019 and you have literally sat silent about Mr. Jones’s Brady background since then. We likely still would not have known about Mr. Jones’s Brady background had my staff not inadvertently discovered same which caused us to start asking questions. So how is it, you may ask, that your secret slipped out and I became aware of the problem? One of my employees came across troubling information regarding Mr. Jones on the morning of August 29, the same day he had been subpoenaed to testify in a criminal matter and was in my office on that felony case, a case I was personally prosecuting. The defendant in that case admitted criminal liability in lieu of an evidentiary hearing so it was unnecessary to call Mr. Jones to the witness stand that morning, thank goodness. When I returned to my office, I was handed a North Coast Journal (NCJ) article that had become available on the Internet that very morning, an article relating to Mr. Jones and his troubles in Eureka. I have attached that article for your records.

After reading the NCJ August 29 article entitled “Light into Dark Places,” I immediately assigned chief investigator Bailey to investigate and obtain original source information for my personal legal review. Chief Bailey spoke with you and arranged to obtain the documentation that you had reviewed before making your hiring decision. Candidly, I was not surprised to learn that you left your office and you were not present at the police department to personally provide this information to Chief Bailey when he arrived as scheduled. Chief Bailey also spoke with officials at the Eureka Police Department and obtained documents from their end. He then spoke with Humboldt County District Attorney Chief Investigator Wayne Cox. I, in turn, spoke with Humboldt County District Attorney Maggie Fleming.

With the above background outlined and summarized here, here is what I have legally and factually determined in my role as Mendocino County’s District Attorney:

The Eureka Police Department did a thorough investigation of allegations raised against Jacob Jones. Without going into specific detail, the EPD investigators made the following recommendations (relevant to any Brady inquiry) to EPD Chief Watson:

Allegation #1 — EPD policy number 339.5.8 Standards of Conduct, Performance. The allegation of knowingly being untruthful in providing a false statement against Officer Jacob Jones to be Sustained.

Allegation #2 — EPD policy number 339.5 7 Standards of Conduct, Efficiency. The allegation of attempting to conceal defective or incompetent work against Officer Jacob Jones to be Sustained.

Allegation #6 — EPD policy number 300.5 Reporting Use of Force. The allegation of failing to accurately document a use of force against Officer Jacob Jones to be Sustained.

Allegation #10 — EPD policy number 339.5 7 Standards of Conduct, Efficiency. The allegation of attempting to conceal defective or incompetent work against Officer Jacob Jones to be Sustained.

The EPD followed Skelly hearing protocol thereafter and at the conclusion of said hearing he upheld findings and recommendations of his managers, and imposed employment sanctions on Mr. Jones.

Mr. Jones sought to appeal his adverse outcome but then abandoned that appeal.

Separately, the Humboldt County District Attorney determined that at least some of the information developed in the overall EPD investigation constituted Brady misconduct mandating discoverable Brady disclosures at the very least and requiring the elected prosecutor to further determine whether Mr. Jones could still be characterized as a reliable and trustworthy witness in pending and future criminal proceedings; and

The Humboldt County District Attorney confirmed to me during a telephone conversation on August 30 that she had affirmatively determined — prior to Mr. Jones being hired by WPD — that there was Brady impeachment materials within the EPD investigation documentation. Humboldt County District Attorney Fleming further confirmed to me that she had affirmatively determined that the adverse findings against Mr. Jones had "rendered him unable to serve as a witness in criminal prosecutions," necessitating the dismissal of cases in Humboldt County that are dependent on Mr. Jones testimony. DA Fleming finally informed me that neither you nor anybody else on behalf of the WPD attempted to speak with her prior to your hiring decision. Since you knew or should have known that the District Attorney determines whether specific conduct creates an actionable Brady situation with at least mandatory disclosures, this failure by you and your agency to interact with District Attorney Fleming before hiring Mr. Jones demonstrates a lack of due diligence in the way the WPD conducts employment background checks as well as manifests multi-step failures thereafter to even attempt to comply with Brady legal obligations required of you and the WPD.

Based on my own personal review of all the EPD materials, I strongly agree with District Attorney Fleming’s conclusions. I further find that it is literally impossible for any informed law enforcement manager to read the EPD materials and not conclude that Mr. Jones is a Brady cop. Yet that is precisely what you did which in turn calls your legal judgment into question.

Given your failure to communicate the necessary Brady information since June 12 or before, where does that leave my office and our Brady obligation?

I have begun to reject WPD cases submitted for my charging review that are dependent on Mr. Jones’s testimony. As the District Attorney concluded in her Humboldt County jurisdiction, I also conclude Mr. Jones’s Brady employment background has rendered him unable to serve as a witness in any criminal prosecution in Mendocino County. Moving forward, I will not approve any WPD cases for criminal prosecution wherein I determine that Mr. Jones is a necessary and material witness.

To that end, I have also begun distributing the North Coast Journal article to defense attorneys who are handling pending criminal cases in which Mr. Jones was the investigating officer or a necessary witness. The NCJ article provides a defense attorney enough information to decide whether or not he or she needs to pursue a Pitchess motion on behalf of his or her client to obtain a court order ordering the WPD to release to the defendant the personnel records in question.

My already busy staff has been asked by me to identify and pull every criminal prosecution case already approved and filed since June 12, 2019 in which Mr. Jones was the investigating officer or a necessary witness.

I am in the process of personally reviewing every one of the cases I just mentioned being pulled for further review. I intend to promptly move to dismiss every pending criminal case in which I determine that Mr. Jones is a necessary and material prosecution witness. I will do this to protect the integrity of our local criminal justice system and to follow the mandates of the US Supreme Court. In short, it is called being fair and following the law.

If there are victims, family members or others who have been harmed through criminal misconduct and subsequently become upset that a case must be dismissed due to the Brady implications that you ignored, my office will refer them back to the Willits government entities including but not limited to the WPD for you or someone else to explain to them what went wrong and why the dismissal became necessary as soon as the information you withheld came to light.

While I accept as obvious your Thursday telephone admission that you "screwed up," that admission seems to me to be too little too late. You have placed local law enforcement in a compromised position, your actions have diminished the reputation of the WPD, you created potential liability for Willits and its citizens, you have squandered WPD and DA resources, and you have placed the Bar cards of my deputy prosecutors and I at risk. Recognizing multiple errors in judgment is only the beginning of changes that must be undertaken within the Willits Police Department if it is to remain viable and law-abiding. I cannot help but note that such a failure to follow the law never once occurred while Chief Gonzalez was at the helm of the WPD.

I now must wonder what other Brady information you may be aware of and have in your records that you have failed to share with my deputy prosecutors, investigators and with me. So that there remains no residual doubt please update Chief DA Investigator Bailey in writing of any previously undisclosed to the District Attorney any Brady information known to you or anybody in your police agency regarding peace officers still working for the WPD with criminal cases pending in local courts. I need to have your disclosures if any in my office by the close of business September 25, 2019 if not sooner. If there is nothing further to be disclosed, please say so in writing and confirm in writing under penalty of perjury that you have made a diligent search of records available to you and your department. Thereafter, I will expect in the future that you and your agency shall update Chief Bailey immediately upon the discovery of actual or even possible Brady information relating to any one or more of your peace officers. It will not be well received if there is a repeat of my having to learn about problems within your shop through newspaper articles or Internet posts.

Finally, in closing, I call your attention to and to ask that you reflect on the leadership statement made by EPD Chief Watson as quoted in the North Coast Journal article:

"I care very deeply about the members of our agency and I understand their sacrifices and I care about their futures greatly but, as I as a chief, I also care very much about the reputation of the Eureka Police Department and the trust the public holds in the institution of policing. These types of investigations are necessary because we recognize how absolutely vital the public trust is and how easy it can be broken."

Sincerely,

C. David Eyster, District Attorney, Mendocino County

THERE ARE A LOT OF MAIN STREETS in the world, but the Village of Mendocino's certainly seems a little extra special sometimes. Thanks to @davidhcollier for the beautiful sunset shot.

HOW BIG WINE AVOIDS ENVIRONMENTAL RULES

kcet.org/shows/earth-focus/heres-how-big-wine-gets-to-avoid-environmental-rules-in-napa

Ukiah Streetscape Project set to start in January

SUPERVISOR HASCHAK’S LATEST JUNKET

Board of Supervisors Agenda for Tuesday, September 17, 2019:

Item 6e — Discussion and Possible Action Including Approval of Long Distance Travel from October 28-31, 2019 for Supervisor John Haschak to Attend Meetings in Washington, D.C. with Federal Representatives to Advocate for Additional Disaster Recovery Funds for Mendocino County (Sponsor: Supervisor Haschak)

LOTS OF POISON HEMLOCK along the trails to Mendo beaches.

Although made famous by Shakespeare and other literary giants as a murder weapon, cases of human poisoning are rare in California; however, poison hemlock is a serious concern to the livestock industry. Cattle, goats and horses are most sensitive to the plant’s toxic alkaloids but pigs, sheep, elk, turkeys and wild animals may also be poisoned.

ED NOTES

SO, I had this nightmare……wait! please, don't run, it's not going to be all that boring. It was in the middle of the day when I awakened with a start to find myself punching at the air above my bed because a large, hostile lizard was poised to drop onto my chest! Which brought me back to a memory from 1964. I was in a remote Borneo village called Mukah on the South China Sea, playing basketball with descendants of headhunters, wowing them with Hoop Moves, Americano, when, out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of a giant lizard running upright towards a patch of nearby jungle. I instinctively sprinted in the opposite direction, to the great amusement of my playmates. "Monitor Lizard, sir. Not dangerous."

A six-foot lizard as fast afoot as a deer was not dangerous? The sight of the thing alone could stop an inexperienced heart. I'd seen my first Monitor, a creature I'd never heard of. Turns out they were a common pest in the area but had never been known to attack humans, unlike the array of other jungle and river predators in the neighborhood, one of which, a crocodile, had recently carried off a child bathing in a village stream. And snakes galore, and of all sizes, and monkeys, one of which, a gibbon, was given to me and my bride as a wedding present, or perhaps a curse as the thing was totally out of control, his specialty being to climb into the rafters of our tiny house and poop down on us. A Dyak whose hornbill followed the man wherever he went, perching close by as his master conducted his affairs, was delighted to take Gib off our hands.

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PLEASE EXCUSE the vulgarity of the following, but it's another memory I might be able to expurgate if I relay it. I was 7 or 8 and already captivated by sports, especially baseball, the reigning sport of the time. I had just begun reading the sports pages and can still recite the roster of the San Francisco Seals. The daily newspaper accounts of ball games inevitably featured an infielder leaping high into the air over second base, suspended in air as he made the throw to first. As a little kid, I assumed from the photos you had to jump into the air to make that throw. I didn't know you made the throw then jumped to avoid the runner sliding into second.

One day I'm practicing jumping up and simultaneously throwing a tennis ball against a wall, thinking to myself, "Darn, it's hard to jump and throw at the same time." An older kid walks by and says something like, "What the hell are you doing?" I tell him I'm practicing the double play throw. He says, "You know what, kid? You're gonna be the man with the paper asshole," and he sauntered off before I could get a clarification. What a fate! What were the mechanics, the anatomical adjustments involved? Could it happen to me? I definitely did not want to be that man, a freak. Of course it was extremely risky to ask an adult any question wherein an obscenity was necessary to it. I soon learned from the unsupervised streets, where small boys absorbed much forbidden knowledge in those days, that it was just a more emphatic way of telling me I was stupid.

MAMA’S BOY

AVA:

My name is Gabriel James Schoonmaker and this is for my mother Gwen McCluskey.

I know you've had a rough time raising this crazy and wild boy of yours and you didn't have much help in it. When I was growing up the only influence I looked for was negative influence. But mom, you did a hell of a job and even though I have acquired three prison terms and two local prison terms here in Mendocino County in the last 19 years, I know you tried your best and for that I will always love you. You have never let me down (too bad — smiling). You put money on my books, packages in the mail and letters in the wind for me. I will always love you. You've never called the cops on me. You have never denied me visits and you always accepted my girlfriends right or wrong or indifferent. And for that I will always love you.

I have two beautiful girls out there, Zoe Anne Schoonmaker who is 17 and absolutely one of the best things I've managed to bring into this world and Macie Jean Schoonmaker who’s four years old and the other best thing I've managed to bring into the world. Those girls wouldn't be who they are if they didn't have you in their lives, mom. I will always love you. Don't ever think you didn't do enough for me or those girls because somehow you continue to give us your unwavering love no matter what. And for that we will always love you.

Loving you still and always your son,

Gabriel ‘Gooby Doo’ Schoonmaker

Ukiah

PS. People might remember my mother and father “Bobo” McCluskey. We lived north of Willits in Acorn Park back in 92-96. Ray “Buck” Buckley and Jainie. The AVA did a story on us when the task force was hasassing us a lot.

CATCH OF THE DAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2019

DEBORAH ANDERSON, Ukiah. Controlled substance, paraphernalia, disobeying court order, failure to appear, probation revocation.

BERNARDO AVALOS, Talmage. DUI, domestic abuse.

WILLIAM BARRY, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol. (Frequent flyer.)

GERALD BRITTON, Covelo. Domestic abuse.

CYNTHIA DISS, Ukiah. Under influence.

VINCENT GALVAN, Fort Bragg. Disorderley conduct-alcohol.

COLE HARBOUR, Fort Bragg. Under influence, controlled substance, probation revocation.

SHAWN HORN, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

NICHOLAS HUNTER, Ukiah. Possession/sale of narcotic/controlled substance, probation revocation.

GERARDO MAGDALENO, Boonville. Suspended license, county parole violation.

JAIME RIVERA, Stockton/Redwood Valley. County parole violation.

JESUS VERDUGO-SANTOS, Ukiah. DUI.

ALEJANDRO VILLALPANDO, Fort Bragg. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

SMART: DO THE NUMBERS

Editor:

I am not opposed to the SMART train in concept. What I am opposed to are the cost overruns above the original cost that was presented to the voters. These costs were either not anticipated, the result of incompetent planning or presented at a lower amount to sell it to the public, a misrepresentation.

SMART claims 1.4 million riders in two years. At five days a week, or 525 days in the two years of service, that means that 2,615 trips were taken per day. Assuming that the people who went one way came back, only 1,325 people benefitted from the train, while everyone pays for it.

SMART only generates between 12% and 22% of operating revenue and will never pay for itself. SMART needs to demonstrate in the next few years that it is being fiscally responsible, then ask for an extension of the sales tax.

This rush to extend the sales tax without such accountability would give the SMART board no incentive to do a better job.

Frank Treanor

Windsor

THE THINKING TREE - An ancient olive tree in Puglia, Italy

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

An anecdote: In the Fall of 1987 I was working as a stockbroker, when the SHTF in the stock market there was no surprise amongst the brokers in our office or company, there was a fatalistic sense of “Yep, we knew it was coming,” (not that they knew WHEN it was coming).

Another anecdote: A month or two before Black Monday, when the market was acting very “toppy,” the chief investment strategist of our very large company appeared on CNBC on a Friday to assure the world that everything was rosy and not to worry. The following Monday we were all hauled into the conference room and told that what “Joe” had said on TV was BS and we needed to sell as much as we could as fast as we could because pretty soon it was going to be hard to sell anything.

THE MILITARY is mostly filled with people who genuinely desire to do the right thing. More Marines receive the Medal of Honor for jumping on grenades than any other action. It’s a culture where officers eat last and everyone shares their water. These people grew up as boy scouts and girl scouts. The whole reason they volunteered was because they wanted to do the right thing. But the right thing is never clear in war. If you shoot too early, an innocent person gets killed. If you shoot too late, you lose a buddy. So a lot of our injuries are moral ones. Most of us come home feeling like we did something wrong. Or we didn’t give enough. Or that our friends gave too much. My best friend in the Marines was a guy named Ronnie Winchester. He was the nicest guy you can imagine. My 22nd birthday was during our officer training course. None of us had slept. We were all starving. We were only getting one ration per day. But Ronnie wanted to give me a memorable birthday. So he put a candle in his brownie and gave it to me. That’s how nice of a guy he was. Ronnie ended up getting killed in Iraq. And if a guy like Ronnie got killed, you can’t help but wonder why you deserve to be alive. Ronnie was 25 years old when he died. He is always going to be 25 years old. I have a wife and kids now. I get to grow old. But Ronnie Winchester is always going to be 25.”

YOU SEE, as you live many years, things take on a repeat…. You understand? You keep seeing the same thing over and over again… so you get a little bit tired of life. So as death comes, you almost say, okay, baby, it’s time, it’s good.

— Bukowski

OWL CREEK MOUNTAINS (L), Wind River Canyon (C), and Copper Mountain (R) from Lake Cameawait

IT WAS JUST AFTER DAWN in Woody Creek, Colo., when the first plane hit the World Trade Center in New York City on Tuesday morning, and as usual I was writing about sports. But not for long. Football suddenly seemed irrelevant, compared to the scenes of destruction and utter devastation coming out of New York on TV.

Even ESPN was broadcasting war news. It was the worst disaster in the history of the United States, including Pearl Harbor, the San Francisco earthquake and probably the Battle of Antietam in 1862, when 23,000 were slaughtered in one day.

The Battle of the World Trade Center lasted about 99 minutes and cost 20,000 lives in two hours (according to unofficial estimates as of midnight Tuesday). The final numbers, including those from the supposedly impregnable Pentagon, across the Potomac River from Washington, likely will be higher. Anything that kills 300 trained firefighters in two hours is a world-class disaster.

And it was not even Bombs that caused this massive damage. No nuclear missiles were launched from any foreign soil, no enemy bombers flew over New York and Washington to rain death on innocent Americans. No. It was four commercial jetliners.

They were the first flights of the day from American and United Airlines, piloted by skilled and loyal U.S. citizens, and there was nothing suspicious about them when they took off from Newark, N.J., and Dulles in D.C. and Logan in Boston on routine cross-country flights to the West Coast with fully-loaded fuel tanks — which would soon explode on impact and utterly destroy the world-famous Twin Towers of downtown Manhattan’s World Trade Center. Boom! Boom! Just like that.

The towers are gone now, reduced to bloody rubble, along with all hopes for Peace in Our Time, in the United States or any other country. Make no mistake about it: We are At War now — with somebody — and we will stay At War with that mysterious Enemy for the rest of our lives.

It will be a Religious War, a sort of Christian Jihad, fueled by religious hatred and led by merciless fanatics on both sides. It will be guerilla warfare on a global scale, with no front lines and no identifiable enemy. Osama bin Laden may be a primitive “figurehead” — or even dead, for all we know — but whoever put those All-American jet planes loaded with All-American fuel into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon did it with chilling precision and accuracy. The second one was a dead-on bullseye. Straight into the middle of the skyscraper.

Nothing — even George Bush’s $350 billion “Star Wars” missile defense system — could have prevented Tuesday’s attack, and it cost next to nothing to pull off. Fewer than 20 unarmed Suicide soldiers from some apparently primitive country somewhere on the other side of the world took out the World Trade Center and half the Pentagon with three quick and costless strikes on one day. The efficiency of it was terrifying.

We are going to punish somebody for this attack, but just who or what will be blown to smithereens for it is hard to say. Maybe Afghanistan, maybe Pakistan or Iraq, or possibly all three at once. Who knows? Not even the Generals in what remains of the Pentagon or the New York papers calling for WAR seem to know who did it or where to look for them.

This is going to be a very expensive war, and Victory is not guaranteed — for anyone, and certainly not for anyone as baffled as George W. Bush. All he knows is that his father started the war a long time ago, and that he, the goofy child-President, has been chosen by Fate and the global Oil industry to finish it Now. He will declare a National Security Emergency and clamp down Hard on Everybody, no matter where they live or why. If the guilty won’t hold up their hands and confess, he and the Generals will ferret them out by force.

Good luck. He is in for a profoundly difficult job — armed as he is with no credible Military Intelligence, no witnesses and only the ghost of Bin Laden to blame for the tragedy.

OK. It is 24 hours later now, and we are not getting much information about the Five Ws of this thing.

The numbers out of the Pentagon are baffling, as if Military Censorship has already been imposed on the media. It is ominous. The only news on TV comes from weeping victims and ignorant speculators.

The lid is on. Loose Lips Sink Ships. Don’t say anything that might give aid to The Enemy.

— Hunter S. Thompson, for ESPN, September 12, 2001

IMPORTANT ANIMAL PROTECTION BILL

Editor:

California Senators will soon vote on a historic measure that would solidify our reputation as a true leader in animal welfare. If passed, Assembly Bill 44 would make California the first state in the nation to ban the cruel and unnecessary fur trade within its borders.

Over 100 million wild animals are killed every year for the fur industry. Nearly 85 percent of the animals killed are raised on factory fur farms where wild animals are confined to barren metal cages and are forced to endure unimaginable suffering before they are brutally killed. Common slaughter practices include crude gassing, anal/genital electrocution and neck breaking.

Four major California cities passed ordinances in recent years banning the sale of fur within city limits. The time has come for California to take its rightful place as a leader on this issue and end the sales of a product that causes unspeakable misery, all for the sake of unnecessary fashion items. Please join me in contacting our Senator Mike McGuire at (916) 651-4002 and kindly urge him to vote yes AB 44.

Mary Misseldine

Ukiah

CHARLES ADDAMS AND HIS FIRST WIFE - Barbara Addams (Barbara Jean Day)… the inspiration for Morticia Addams, at their house in Long Island, New York

PRESIDENT TRUMP: “The light bulb. People said what’s with the light bulb. I said here’s the story, and I looked at it. The bulb that we’re being forced to use. Number one, to me, most importantly, the light’s no good. I always look orange. And so do you. The light is the worst.”

AND a young stud at the next table typing on his laptop, both ears stopped with earphones…. I'm just five feet from the guy. Finally I say in a friendly voice, "You from around here? Haven't seen you before in the neighborhood." No answer. He continues typing, staring at the laptop. He heard nothing? Is this body alive? I'm alarmed. I call 911. After some time a cop car arrives and he's arrested for "nonparticipation in humanity." They haul the corpse away.

— Lawrence Ferlinghetti

MERRIAM-WEBSTER: A 200-year-old dictionary offers hot political takes on Twitter

thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/uncategorized/461285-merriam-webster-a-200-year-old-dictionary-offers-hot

DANCING WITH THE REDWOODS - Saturday, October 19th

Mendocino Dance Project and Flockworks are joining together to bring you this unique and exciting fundraiser event. Come and be enchanted by aerial dancing in the redwood trees and moved by works of art on display in a silent auction. Enjoy the wonderful atmosphere of this beautiful private property while you eat and drink and support the arts in our local community. Both showings are on Saturday, October 19th and located on Gurley Lane in Mendocino, address on tickets.

Daytime Event 12pm-2pm Tickets $25 (kids under 12 free)

The daytime event will include short performances throughout the property with refreshments and a silent auction. Tickets are limited so buy them early.

Evening Gala Fundraiser 5:30pm-8pm Tickets $75.

The evening fundraiser will include short performances, live music by Steven Bates, paella dinner, local beer and wine, and a silent auction. Tickets are limited and must be purchased in advance for the evening gala. All proceeds will support upcoming projects by Mendocino Dance Project and Flockworks. Visit www.mendocinodanceproject.com for more information and to purchase tickets.

Mendocino Dance Project brings inspired and original dance to rural communities in Northern California, offering a chance to engage with community and the arts. Mendocino Dance Project teaches creative movement in schools, offers workshops and ongoing classes, and collaborates with other arts organizations. https://www.mendocinodanceproject.com/

MARCO ON SKUNK HANDLING

Skunk living under deck

Whatever you do, don't drill a hole in the floor and shoot three cans of WD-40 under the house. It doesn't make skunks go away, it just gets them high anymore, and then everything smells like skunks and WD-40, which is actually a little better but not much.

And don't put all the leftover tweeters from your Radio Free Earth p.a. speakers project down the hole with over-amplified synthesized supersonic sirens going through, because you'll just burn the parts out from the inside, and then all your clothes and pet birds smell like skunks and WD-40 and too bad about those expensive electronic parts, which for the next thirty-three years, every time you need one for something you remember and wish you didn't have to buy one, because you had plenty right there and you screwed it up because you were frustrated and in a hurry.

It's not a failed experiment just because it doesn't work. It's useful data. I still hear people say, "WD-40. They don't like it. That'll chase 'em out." It won't, and you're welcome.

Marco McClean

memo@mcn.org

https://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com

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