MCT: Friday, November 1, 2019

• Sunny Skies
• Donnal Nichols
• L'il Witch
• Ukiah Costumes
• Poodle Skirt
• Correction
• Data Reporting
• Upmkin CPA
• Mendo Meeting
• Mental Shame
• Barn Sale
• Korean Pig
• Fair Meeting
• Yorkville Market
• Raven
• Chestnut Festival
• Court Outage
• Sheriff BOLO
• Firetruck Fund
• Ed Notes
• Deep Eel
• PG&E Good
• Abe Warning
• PG&E Bad
• AV Ambulance
• Hospital Report
• Power Plants
• Super Decision
• Public Utilities
• Previous Catches
• Nuke Bailout
• Crosseyed Cowboy
• Mural Update
• Sustainable Living
• Schiffless
• Jacko
• Trumped
• Slick 80
• American Dream
• Latest Technology
• California Burns
• Common Mistake
• Far Left
• Welcome Katie
• Conservative Politics
• Local Author
• Hemcat
• Vacancies
• Little Dog
• Improv Theater
• Found Object

MOSTLY SUNNY SKIES with lighter winds are expected through the weekend...and beyond. No rain is expected for at least the next week. (National Weather Service)

DONNAL HULBERT NICHOLS

Donnal Nichols, 85, of Cromberg, passed away peacefully at Renown Regional Medical Center in Reno, Nevada, on Oct. 5, 2019.

Donnal was born in Boonville to parents Perry & Dorothy ‘Dot’ Hulbert on July 11, 1934. She married John Calvin Nichols on December 21, 1957. Two children were born to this union, John Jr., and Cynthia. Donnal pursued a career as a Registered Nurse, graduating from Santa Rosa Junior College.

Donnal was preceded in death by her husband, John Nichols Sr.; her parents, Perry and Dorothy Hulbert; sister, Ann Brons; brother, John Hulbert; and grandson Jedidiah Lusk.

Donnal is survived by her sister, Judy Smith; daughter, Cynthia Lusk; son, John Nichols Jr.; granddaughter, Jessica Ritchey; grandson, Justin Lusk; and great-granddaughter, Ellie Ritchey.

A Memorial Service will be held Saturday, November 9, at 3:00 PM, at the Apple Hall, Mendocino County Fairgrounds, in Boonville.

In lieu of flowers or food, memorial contributions may be sent to Horses Unlimited, Inc. Donnal was a founding member of this therapeutic horseback riding non-profit. Checks can be mailed to the contact info found on horsesunlimited.org.

HALLOWEEN IN UKIAH

The most original and at the same time most horrifying costume I saw was a little maid made up as Jon Benét Ramsey; the most inspiring was two tall, white-stemmed “death cap” mushrooms walking the streets of Ukiah. (Amanita muscaria, commonly known as the fly agaric or fly amanita, is a basidiomycete of the genus Amanita. It is also a muscimol mushroom. Wikipedia.) Other notables were a tamer version of such political luminaries as are running for president, some angels, lots of devils, rabbits, kittens, a pit-bull in a Sheriff's uniform with a Stetson, a badge, and a gun, a pair of twin girls, one as a G.I. Joe; the other as a Barbie; lots of witches, oodles and scads of 'em, really; a sober working stiff or two, and one Tyrannosaurus Rex. Notable costumes at the courthouse included Mary Poppins in her starched white blouse, scarlet bow tie, billowing black skirt, and celestial eyes; then there was Salome in aqua pantaloons, bangles, sandals and a truly arresting decoletté.

(Bruce McEwen)

CORRECTION

Your Oct. 27th article on Judge Shanahan notes that she replaces Judge
Riemenschneider. I am running for Judge Behnke's vacated seat.  So far,
no opponents.

Yours,

Patrick Pekin

LET THERE BE DATA

Board Of Supervisors Agenda

Off Site Regular Meeting

November 5, 2019 - 9:00 AM

St. Anthony's Church Parish Hall 10700 Lansing Street Mendocino, Ca 95460

6d) Discussion and Possible Action Including Direction to Staff to Establish Data Reporting and Charting Website. (Sponsor: IT Ad Hoc Committee: Supervisors Williams and Gjerde)

Recommended Action: Direct staff to continue collaboration with IT Ad Hoc Committee to establish a data reporting and charting website with automated publication of key data, taking requests from department heads, Supervisors and the Executive Office.

Summary Of Request: Good data results in better decision making, but only when the data is accurate, timely and properly presented. The IT Ad Hoc envisions web accessible charts of key indicators, with recommendations sourced from Department Heads, Supervisors and the Executive Office, prioritized by least cost to implement, avoiding chart formulas subject to criteria bias. Initial charts in various time periods should include spending year to date (YTD), business licenses issued, cannabis tax revenue, cannabis permits issued, cannabis permits blocked waiting for state approval, employee count by department, unfilled Heath and Human Services Agency position count, building permit count, kilowatt hours of electricity by facility, natural gas / propane by facility, fleet diesel / gasoline gallonage by department, transient occupancy tax collected by district, vacation rental count, vacation rental Transit Occupancy Tax, ambulances in service, homeless housed in shelters, mental health patients transported out of county, children housed in juvenile hall and patients treated by our Behavior and Mental Health partners

SEE 'EM IN ACTION

BOARD OF SUPERVISORS AGENDA

OFF SITE REGULAR MEETING

November 5, 2019 - 9:00 AM

ST. ANTHONY'S CHURCH PARISH HALL 10700 LANSING STREET MENDOCINO, CA 95460

5f) Discussion and Possible Action Including an Update Regarding the County’s Response to the October 9, 23, 26, and 29, 2019 Public Safety Power Shut Off Events and Approval of Transmission of Letter to Pacific Gas and Electric (Sponsor: Executive Office)

Recommended Action:

Accept update regarding the County's response to the October 9, 23, 26, and 29, 2019 public safety shut off events; approve transmission of letter to Pacific Gas and Electric; and authorize Chair to sign same.

RICHARD MACK COMMENTS:

"The privatized mental health system should be completely ashamed of themselves.

In times when people with mental health issues really need them open, they close.

Just another example of how it is not about helping their clients, it is about medication management and billing.

I personally have tried desperately to get proper assistance through every one of them.

I have run the emergency weather shelter for one and a half seasons trying to work my way through the PASS program and ticket to work, while MCHC (Mendocino Coast Hospitality Center) kept me homeless on the payroll, housing people who came through the emergency weather shelter, but, not me.

I had a mental health breakdown over it in mental health after calling the crisis line and got fired.

I was the first client for RCS for adult mental health services.

I saw the first supervisor for adult mental health services come in and do her job well, as did her team, I was able to move forward, making MCHC look like they where not doing their jobs.

Then, March 2018 the supervisor was demoted, the team broke up and “altered services” at RCS.

Which means, schedule your issues, if in crisis go to the ER and get out.

The Sheriff ran Measure B on the fact that mental health is not doing their jobs, the jail is turning into mental health overflow, as are other places around town. MCHC has double gates to keep people out of the garden. Wasn’t one of the reasons given for them to get the hotel through was that clients would have a place to go?

So, why do we have three mental health agencies in this small town of about 7,000, that can’t seem to do their jobs?"

BARN SALE, 12761 AV Way, Boonville

Saturday and Sunday, November 2 & 3, 10 AM to 3 PM

Toys, clothing, lamps, housewares, electronics, CD’s, books, furniture and much more. Look for signs and banners. Proceeds benefit St. Elizabeth Seton Church.

A READER WRITES: At a recent screening of Pig Hunt at our local cinema. Robert Mailer Anderson's 3000 lb pig was hauled out of mothballs. I dont think this thing weighs 3000 pounds, but the giant pig in the movie is supposed to be that big and it's fun to play pretend. There is room inside for two people, called puppeteers. It came in its own trailer. Robert rented it to a Korean movie production and they changed the head and never replaced it with the original, which was scarier. The original head was capable of doing 165 different functions (not sure that number is exactly right or even very close), I don’t know what this Korean Replacement Head can do but it looks like not very much.

The movie is still as funny as ever, available on DVD, and is of special interest to aficionados of juvenile humor.

FAIR FANS: Don't forget to put the Annual Dinner and Meeting for the AV Apple Show and Fair Association, Monday, November 11, 2019 at the fairgrounds dining room at 6:00 on your calendar! The AV Senior Center is providing a ham dinner this year and dessert is a potluck. The meeting starts at 7:00 and there will be two directors elected this year. There will be information on how the fair fared this year, so we are hoping you can make it! In order to vote, you need to have signed the "fair book" in the fair office prior to the meeting.

Donna Pierson-Pugh, for The Fair Boosters

NOVEMBER AT THE YORKVILLE MARKET

Hello Neighbors and Friends,

The Market has been closed these last few days with the power outage, but we will be open again Friday.

We had been planning on hosting our annual Thanksgiving Feast this Friday, however with the power being out for so many days we have decided to push the dinner back to next Friday, November 8th. We will serve all the traditional Thanksgiving favorites, including a vegetarian option (please RSVP so we can have an accurate count). This will be a great evening to join others in the community to give thanks for the beautiful place that we call home. We have so much to be thankful for in our wonderful community. Join your neighbors and friends in celebrating another amazing year here in Yorkville. We will be serving a traditional holiday feast with some fun surprises. Vegetarian option available. Happy Hour begins @ 5:30, Food served @ 6:00ish

If the power is back on this Friday, November 1st, we will stay open until 7:00, serving our regular deli menu and offering our happy hour prices on Wine and Beer.

Friday, November 15th will be our next Fiesta Night. We will be serving delicious homemade Posole, with all the fixings. There is a possibility of live music to spice up the evening as well.

Mark your calendar for our Christmas Party on December 20th - This is a fun evening of carols, crafts and delicious food.

Thank you all for your support, looking forward to seeing you all soon.

Happy Halloween!!!

For more details on these events please contact the Market at (707) 894-9456.

Best,

Lisa at the Yorkville Market

SOUTH NOYO HEADLANDS

LOCAL FOOD AND POWER

In a way the summer garden, our fruit and nut trees/vines, and our preserved foods are like batteries as they use the sun to produce their leaves and blossoms and store energy and seed in the fruit. Some local farm stands still have their bounty for these last few days of October and AV Foodshed’s C’mon Home To Eat—especially important when the electrical grid is out. You can plan ahead this winter to charge your own garden batteries next spring, summer, and fall.

The Chestnut Gathering will be happening at the Zeni Ranch on November 2nd rain or shine, P. G. & E. power or not. More details are on the AV Foodshed website at www.avfoodshed.com.

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Zeni Chestnut Festival on Saturday!

Saturday November 2 from 10-4 is the 36th annual Zeni Chestnut Festival, with music, chestnuts roasting on an open fire, you-pick chestnuts, ranch tour, poltuck, conversation and sharing with fellow gardeners and permaculturists. We dry then peel the chestnuts and make flour which is wonderfully sweet for for gluten-free cakes or breads.

Please bring cuttings of fruit plants to share: this is the beginning of the season to start cuttings of the easy-to-root hardwood plants. Starting cuttings so early gives them plenty of time to root with no inputs needed except the rain.

Labeled, de-leafed cuttings (you can leave the leaf stem on) of these plants: olive, grape, fig, mulberry, pomegranate, quince, kiwi, goji, currant, gooseberry, berries, cherry plum, roses. Also bring any unusual fruits, nuts or roots/tubers to share!

Directions: The Zeni Ranch is at 30995 Fish Rock Road at mile marker 15.6 (County Highway 122). From the Coast Highway 1 junction of Fish Rock (5 miles north of Gualala) go 15.5 miles east. From Highway 128 the Fish Rock Road junction is at Hwy 128 marker 36.56, about 7.7 miles east of the Highway 256/128 junction, or 4.7 miles west of Yorkville. Take Fish Rock Road about 13 miles to marker 15.6. Using odometer and mile markers, it's an easy and enjoyable slow drive through a most beautiful and very remote part of the county.

For information call Zeni Ranch 684-6892, Barbara/Rob Goodell 895-3897, or Mark Albert 463-8672. For more information about the Zeni Ranch, see their Facebook website: https://m.facebook.com/zeniranch/

(Barbara Goodell)

COURT OUTAGE ORDERS

The Mendocino County Courthouse was up and running again Thursday with Judge Keith Faulder handling all the criminal cases at the courthouse while Judge John Behnke was dispatched to the jail to triage some of the time-sensitive cases that were interrupted by the recent power outage crisis. (Dare we call it Conspiracy?) The judges had been given the following General Order: “Exercising the authority under Govt. Code 68115 and the October 29, 2019 Order (“Order”) of Chief Justice Tani G. Casntil-Sakauye, Chair of Judicial Council of California, issued in response to the October 29, 2019, request for an emergency order made by the Superior Court of County of Mendocino (“Court”), this Court Hereby Finds And Orders As Follows: 1. For purposes of computing time for filing papers with the court under Code of Civil Procedure sections 12 and 12a. October 28, 2019, through October 30, 2019, inclusive, are deemed holidays (Gov. Code § 68115(a)(4); 2. For purposes of computing time under Penal Code section 825 (time to bring criminal defendants before magistrate after arrest), and Welfare and Institutions Code section 313 (detention of minor pending dependency proceedings), 315 (detention hearing for minor in custody pending dependency hearings), 334 (time to hold hearing on dependency petition)… [more of the same, patient reader, more of the minutia of holding minors] … et cetera; 3. Any judge of the court may extend by not more than seven (7) days the time periods provided for in sections in Civil Procedure… etc. 4. Any judge of the court may extend by not more than 7 (seven) days [one (1) week] the duration of any temporary restraining order that would otherwise expire on October 28, [29th or the 30th] inclusive, because of the emergency conditions described in the … etc. 5. Any judge …. May extend the time for any … preliminary hearing… 7. …any judge may extend the time (48 hours) {for arraignment of felony charges] … 8. [Any minor arraignments] … 9. […more on minors] 10. […yet more on minors] 11. […same considerations given for juveniles] 12. [and the same for wardships]. This order effective immediately, signed and dated 10/31/19 by Ann C. Moorman, Presiding Judge.

(Bruce McEwen)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

THE FUNDRAISING for a new fire engine on Signal Ridge outside of Philo has been a smashing success. As of yesterday, they had over $8,000 from the gofundme page (“new fire truck anderson valley volunteer FD”) and more than $24k from the big fundraiser/BBQ on Outage Day (Saturday, October 26). The success of the campaign can be attributed to co-organizers Anne Fashauer and Olie Smith, and maybe a bit to the general heightened awareness of fire dangers these days. AV Fire Chief Andres Avila will leverage these funds with a combination of fire department reserves, strike team revenues, and donations from the local volunteer firefighters association to cover the approximately $90k for Signal Ridge. Then he’ll rejuggle his local assets to make good use of the older engine that the new one will replace.

ED NOTES

ELECTION NOTES: The primary is in distant March of 2020, which is shaping up at the national level as The Year of Living Dangerously. But here in Intoxicants County we will also be watching three elections for Supervisor. A word: At each meeting of the Supes, an average of perhaps 15 people watch the Supervisors live, and that's a combined audience of people physically attending meetings AND watching them via YouTube [not counting the occasional special interest crowds]. By default, Boonville's beloved weekly is the only media to closely monitor our five reps, meaning only a relatively small minority of County residents has any idea of the functioning of County government. The typical local knows much more about national government and its lead figures than they do about local government because most of us are force fed national politics by media. Be this as it undoubtedly is, the following force-fed opinions are our preliminary take on the candidates for Mendocino County Supervisor.

THERE are three candidates for 1st District Supervisor as long time incumbent, Carre Brown, retires. She is the most recent Supervisor from Potter Valley in a long line of them to hold the position, and only the latest to take her cues from the local branch of the Farm Bureau, whose primary mission in Mendocino County is to guarantee cheap, very cheap, water via the Potter Valley Diversion of Humboldt County's Eel River. (And to ensure frost fans disrupt the sleep of most of Anderson Valley.) There are three candidates vying to succeed Mrs. Brown: Jon Kennedy, John Sakowicz and James Green.

JON KENNEDY has functioned as a supervisor in Plumas County where he seems to have enjoyed a broad base of support; his departure from Plumas for Mendocino County was widely lamented. (How many officeholders can say that they're missed?) A former resident of Mendocino County where he was also popular, Kennedy, a contractor, served as a volunteer firefighter here and in Plumas County. And now he's back in Mendo. To give us some idea of his political perspective, Kennedy supported Frank Riggs for Congress when Kennedy lived in Mendocino County. Since Riggs was opposed by Dan Hamburg, give Kennedy credit for prescience in that one.

SUPERVISOR seats are supposed to be non-partisan, but in Mendo, dominated in the Second, Fourth and Fifth districts by conservative, organized Democrats. Maverick lib John Sakowicz, to whom Demo herd bulls are likely hostile, will be Kennedy's primary opposition. The third candidate, James Green, doesn't seem ready for prime time given his brief and irrelevant appearances before the Supervisors. Sakowicz has managed to amass an impressive roster of critics left and right but, and say what you will about him, Sako's smart, articulate and better informed about County affairs than at least two of the sitting Supervisors. Green and Kennedy belong to the Farm Bureau, meaning they will be competing for the district's majority conservative vote. Whether or not 1st District libs will rally for Sako remains to be seen, but the peripatetic Kennedy already seems to be the man to beat.

IN DISTRICT TWO — mostly Ukiah, areas of Hopland and scattered neighborhoods of Hill Muffs — the declared candidates are Ukiah mayor Maureen Mulheren and Joel Soinila. Mulheren is the front runner, at least until incumbent Supervisor John McCowen declares whether or not he will run again. We think McCowen should retire, and would finish a humiliating third in a three-person race if he runs for re-election. His primary deficiency is his deep love for the sound of his own sonorous voice, and his unyielding confidence in his often flawed opinions. Worse, lately McCowen, after singlehandedly making the County's pot licensing program unworkable, tried to create, then wire, an absurd Climate Change Committee job for his personal friend and tenant, Alicia Little-Tree Bales, an "activist" associated with the somnolent Mendocino Environment Center whose premises are owned by McCowen, a Ukiah rentier. Minor league corruption is nevertheless corruption, and McCowen, despite his many valiant hours of cleaning up after Ukiah's ever larger homeless population, has earned his way outta office.

DEPENDING on your view of Ukiah's civic functioning, and we think its management is laughably over-large and wildly over-compensated, you are for or against Mulheren for 2nd District Supervisor. She can hardly point to Ukiah as a model of small town functioning while Willits and Fort Bragg, by way of contrast, although smaller towns than Ukiah, both boast competent, modestly compensated managers and viably capable city councils. Uh, Ukiah doesn't. And Mulheren, as mayor, is ringleader for the mess the County seat has become. For us one telltale issue for 2nd District candidates is where they stand on the new County Courthouse. If they're for that massive boondoggle cum mistake, we hope you vote accordingly.

CANDIDATE SOINILA is an intriguing newcomer. Old (very old) timers will remember the last Finn to hold local office, he being the late great rabble rousing Oscar Klee. Descended from the Mendo branch of the great turn of the twentieth century Finnish diaspora, colonies of Finns settled in Mendocino County, and this guy, an ag graduate of Cal Poly, comes from a Redwood Valley farm family descended from the County's original Finn settlements. The dude has roots! Soinila, natch, belongs to the Farm Bureau and a host of inland groups, including the Mendocino County Historical Society. Assuming McCowen decides not to run again, the race for 2nd District seat will be between the Flying Finn and Mayor Mulheren.

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POWER returned to the Anderson Valley at the convenient hour of 3:15am, the time of night even the tweakers tend to take a break.

IN FAIRFAX Tuesday, the Good Earth grocery store gave away all their perishables. An orderly line two blocks long formed minutes after the market's "Free Food" sign was posted. Contrary to myth, Marin's demographic is much like Mendo's — some wealthy people, lots of well-to-do people, more strugglers and poor than comfortable.

ABOUT a dozen looters were arrested during the week much of Sonoma County was evacuated, some of them wearing fireman's garb.

A FEW LOCALS wondered why Boonville High School was closed during the outage given the large array of solar panels ordinarily powering its buildings. Answer: Sun power is routed through lines owned by PG&E. When they're de-juiced, solar or not you're cursing the dark. (The ava's stark compound is solar powered but we, too, fumble for our Rice Krispies in the Stygian gloom until the hostage-takers allow us to again turn to merry King Sol for energy.)

THE ENTERPRISING Fort Bragg attorney who forced Fort Bragg to jigger that unsuspecting town into electoral districts to achieve purely fanciful ethnic proportionality, might want to take on Marin, where several hundred recent Latin immigrants line the streets of east San Rafael every morning in the hope of a day's labor. San Rafael is perfectly balkanized, with its Hispanic population housed almost entirely in decaying apartment complexes southeast of the center of town. Of course Marin has the dough to resist, so the Fort Bragg hero would have a much tougher fight before he collected that big sweet check extorted from FB.

LISTENING to the impeachment process hearings this morning, it occurred to me that if you searched the entire country could you come up with a less impressive group of people than this Congress?

ROBERT 'BOB' VAUGHAN has lived in the Anderson Valley for many years where he's worn many hats, from restaurant cook to KZYX music programmer. Bob has colon cancer, and Bob is being evicted from his long-time Philo home. I know the landlady is ordinarily a kindly person of liberal disposition, and can only hope she re-considers Bob's looming homelessness.

THANKS to the Lemons family for keeping the Philo Market open during the power shut down. This helped many valley residents and this was greatly appreciated. [They even had a number of Coasties coming over for hard-to-get supplies — ms]. There were other businesses open too, I just live in Philo close to the Market. So thanks to the other LOCALS who kept their stores open. Hardware, gas stations, coffee shops and restaurants! You all make it Great to live here. (Morgan Baynham)

IN BOONVILLE, Pic&Pay, AV Market, Lizzby's, Boontberry for a while initially, and the Redwood Drive-In, all did yeoman's work keeping Boonville re-supplied. Not sure about the redoubtable Dave Evans at the Navarro Store but he was surely on duty. All-in-all, the Anderson Valley looked after our own, checking on elders and universally doing the right thing throughout the emergency.

LOOK AT HOW DEEP THE EEL USED TO RUN! (Kym Kemp)

"The Great Maria was known to run up the Eel River as far as Camp Grant and McCann. She wrecked in 1901 during high waters carrying 200 boxes of apples from Camp Grant to Scotia."

RETIRED AV FIRE CHIEF ON PG&E & OUTAGES

Dear Editor,

I’ve had some thoughts and concerns regarding the recent power outages and public perception of PG&E in general.

Beginning with the Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) that have been greatly criticized and questioned in some circles. I think some critics are failing to recognize some of the ugly realities that have to be dealt with in this situation. In my opinion, the PSPSs are really the only way to immediately mitigate this most recent threat from mega fires in Northern California. The option of undergrounding all powerlines would take an extremely long time, probably many decades to accomplish and would cost us, the rate payers, an unimaginable amount of money. In addition, I understand there may well be significant technical issues with undergrounding the main high voltage transmission lines which have sometimes been the ignition source for these fires.

I think most people are unaware of the limited control PG&E has over their powerline right-of-ways. In most cases they are relatively narrow, between 10 and 20 feet from centerline. They have no authority to mitigate hazards such as dead, dying or just heavily leaning trees outside of that distance. In Northern California trees in forested areas routinely exceed 100 feet in height. It also routinely occurs that when one tree falls it falls into and knocks other trees down. Tree tops and limbs also routinely are blown out of standing trees and may travel from outside of the right-of-way into the lines causing a fire. While PG&E can and should be held accountable for how they maintain their equipment and trees in the right-of-way, I really don’t think it’s reasonable or fair to fault them for things they have no control over.

Our governor has unfavorably compared PG&E’s failure to invest in better infrastructure that permits faster, more narrowly targeted power shutdowns with one of their Southern California competitors who has done so to good effect. While this may well be a fair criticism, it should also be recognized that these late season mega-fires burning through major populated areas in Northern California have largely been a very recent phenomenon while Southern California has had a much longer experience with major fires resulting from the famous Santa Ana winds.

In the 30 plus years that I have been involved with the fire service, the Oakland Hills fire in 1991 was the only comparable event and that was started by a small wildland fire that was controlled but not completely extinguished the preceding day.

My point is that while PG&E may be fairly criticized for failure to upgrade, it should be done with the perspective that we are largely dealing with a new set of circumstances that have created a much greater threat to large populated areas than previously existed in Northern California. PG&E is struggling to rapidly put measures in place to provide reduced risk and, in my opinion, it is understandable that they are not getting it exactly right there first time out. I would expect that they will refine both the shut downs and the process of reenergizing to be faster and more efficient in the future.

Regardless of one’s opinion of PG&E’s management decisions and action or inaction in the recent past, it is wholly unfair and counterproductive to hold PG&E field workers responsible for the problem in any way. I’m reasonably sure they played no part in the decision making process but they are doing everything they can to reduce the risk and inconvenience to us by working long hours sometimes in hazardous conditions. They are caught in the middle and we should appreciate their position. At a minimum they should not be verbally personally attacked and the reported physical attacks on them are absolutely counterproductive and unfair. For myself, I have made a point of telling the PG&E workers I’ve encountered that I appreciate their long hours and extraordinary efforts to keep us safe and minimize the inconvenience of power outages.

Colin Wilson

Yorkville

THE LURCH & GAVIN SHOW

by Michael Koepf

The power’s finally on. It was a long, dark journey into night for folks in my neck of the woods. What’s the worst that’s happened to me? I’ve been unwrapping soggy, fetid fish, discarding milk and meat, casting vegetables on my compost pile for the buzzards, crows and skunks that come hungry in the dark. When it comes to PG&E, that’s the worst that happened to me. Many had it worse: those too poor for a generator even if one could be found, medical devices that wouldn’t work, lack of gas for their cars, scant food on the shelves of stores, are much worse than that when PG&E turned off the juice. People were forced from their homes. Homes were burned to the ground.

I was fortunate. I was out of town; out of California with the most expensive energy of any state. I was in Virginia where gasoline is $2.16 a gallon as opposed to four dollars and ten when I took off from SFO. While I was eating shrimp and grits, people in Mendocino were eating spam from a can.

Three thousand miles away, my foremost concern was this: I couldn’t get through to a neighbor stricken with cancer and living alone to see if she was okay. No internet, of course. But her telephone wasn’t working either. The batteries maintained by AT&T to make our land lines work were dead, and a company valued at $550 billion didn’t own a generator to charge them up. However, thanks to a different neighbor’s generator and satellite connection to the internet, I was able to inform them of my concern, and that neighbor kindly checked things out. My friend was doing fine. Better than most, because she’s a spunky, forest gal. When the power goes out, the sick and elderly are most at risk. And, when an electric company lets us down, neighborhood is our only recourse.

As soon as I returned to California, I turned on a television set. Governor Newsom was talking to the press. He was dressed in tailored, safari clothes—bush jacket and matching pants, both in olive-green. The only thing missing was an elephant gun slung across his back. He was blasting PG&E, accusing them of “terrible management going back decades…they’ve created these conditions…this is not a climate change story [why did he toss that in?] as much as a story about greed…” Newsom continued in an aggressive, raspy voice beneath his slicked back hair.

Greed. Greed indeed. Enough to go around.

Standing behind Newsom, amidst a row of solemn officials, I spotted Lurch. Lurch is my congressman, Jared Huffman. He represents California’s Second Congressional District. This district was gerrymandered into existence to ensure that the enlightened and monied elites of Marin County will have full control of rural hicks like me dispersed in the coast and forests to their north. Yes, I lack political reverence here. I’m sure Huffman’s a wonderful guy and plays a fabulous game of volleyball, but to me he looks like Lurch. Lurch, that tall, long-faced, dour butler, portrayed by Ted Cassidy in the 60s sitcom known as the Addams Family. Recall, Lurch spoke with grunts and groans that were impossible to understand. When it comes to most elected officials is there any meaning in their blather of generalities where specificity goes to dies?

But back to Gavin and Lurch standing at Gavin’s back. Back to PG&E. Back to Gavin’s rant on greed.

Did you know that Gavin Newsom takes money from PG&E? Did you know that Lurch takes money from PG&E? Quite a lot when it’s added up. In his last election, Newsom took $208,000 dollars from PG&E. According to Open Secrets and campaign contribution reports while Lurch scooped up $12,000 in 2014, and another $6,000 from “electrical utilities” to date. We’re talking serious juice. While our power is out, they’re banking money to keep their jobs. They’re not alone. Ninety-eight state politicians in California are on the PG&E dole. In the last re-election cycle, our very own state senator, Mike McGuire, took a $1000-dollar taste. Assemblyman Jim Woods took a $2000-dollar bite. Next time you write a letter to the governor, or to Lurch, or to a state politician complaining about your PG&E bill, ask yourself how effective will your letter be? Let me say it for you: worthless, because PG&E recently raised their rates.

But here’s where things get serious. Here’s where hypocrisy slaps your face. PG&E is a felonious corporation. As a result of the 2010 San Bruno, gas line fire, PG&E was convicted of six, federal felonies. Six. Al Capone was convicted of one. And Ted Bundy murdered 30 but Ted was only convicted of four.

In 2017, more than a hundred people lost their lives from wildfires in California. Hundreds of homes were destroyed. In 2018, 85 people went up in smoke, plus the town of Paradise. In some of these fires, PG&E admitted fault. Nonetheless, despite these admissions and the felonies that proved their guilt, Lurch and Newsom, and most of our political class, have been gladly taking money from a corporation they’re about to roundly condemn. What kind of people are these? Do they read the news?

At what point should facts and prudence and even compassion cause our politicians to back away from PG&E? If our legislators didn’t take the money would they have been more effective in representing us against the mistakes of PG&E? These questions go unanswered, and I presume they always will in a state controlled by a single party. Turn out the lights the party’s over; democracy here is dead.

Watch what happens next. Lurch will sound irate; Gavin will be talking tough. He’ll be blaming climate change, and if he’s sneaky clever as he really is, he’ll be blaming Donald Trump. But, I think it’s safe to say that in the future your lights are going out. Again.

AV AMBULANCE OUTAGE REPORT

We are currently running at very low staffing levels for this month with several of our main responders out of town. We’ve had a few folks jump in to take extra shifts including our new EMT Laurie Starr from Albion and Tamera Beale from Elk.

During the PSPS A7420 has been at the Fire Department and some of the crew stayed there. The freezer was moved over as well. The Health Clninc transferred some vaccines to the freezer in the FD bay inorder to preserve them.

Overall I was told we had one walk-in for an oxygen refill, but other than that the outage was uneventful for the Anderson Valley Ambulance.

(Clay Eubanks, AV Ambulance Manager)

COAST HOSPITAL DURING THE OUTAGE

(John Redding, Coast Hospital Board Member)

October 30, 2019 — Update on Mendocino Coast District Hospital Response to Power Outage (pre-power restoration).

The current incident affecting the Coast, as most people know, is the combined effect of the Kincade Fire and the power shut down for high winds. On Saturday morning, before the shutdown of power, we activated our emergency response plan here at the hospital. During this incident, we have maintained communication and coordination with the City of Ft Bragg, Sherwood Oaks Nursing Facility, County Emergency Services, PG&E and our local ambulance. Any widespread situation like this places a strain on emergency response and medical care systems. While this incident has not reached a level of being a true disaster, it has provided us with opportunities to test our plans for meeting the challenges of an actual disaster should one occur. It is a good time to see what worked well, what didn’t work as well, and learn from the entire experience.

Our hospital electric generators are performing well and all essential medical equipment is on emergency backup power. Our fuel tanks are being topped off every other day and we have sufficient fuel at any one time to last several days. Our staff has been wonderful and the care that we are providing has not been impacted. As is standard operating procedure in emergencies, we have canceled elective surgeries and procedures during the power outage. Our OR is open for emergency surgeries. Our ER is fully staffed and functioning well, despite a higher than usual volume of patients. We have added extra staff to accommodate this. While our clinic at North Coast is closed during the outage, we have maintained our Immediate Care from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, plus 8:00 to noon on Friday.

The evacuation of a large number of people from Sonoma County, including the closure of three hospitals in that area, has not significantly impacted our hospital other than affecting our ability to transfer patients to those hospitals. We have seen a few patients who came to us from the evacuation. We have also seen a small increase in the number of people presenting with respiratory problems due to smoke from the fire.

The biggest challenges have been the large number of people in our area who are on home oxygen and other medical devices that require electricity. We have had several admissions to the hospital of people who had medical equipment requiring medical attention. We have been coordinating closely with both of the oxygen suppliers, Apria and Lincare, who have been making commendable efforts to ensure that everyone has extra oxygen tanks who need them. We ask that if you are on oxygen and running low, please contact your supplier first to get extra tanks delivered and use our emergency room only as a backup if you are unable to do this.

Other challenges that the community is experiencing is the loss of heat in homes, some people are without fresh drinking water and the availability of Internet access. Currently, the following is available. (1) an Community Resource Center has been opened by PG&E at the CV Star Center providing warmth, charging devices, Wi-Fi, drinking water, ice, and snacks from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM. They report that they have already been servicing about 800 people per day. (2) Ft Bragg City Hall is open from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM for charging devices and filling water bottles. They are having about 300 visits per day. (4) The Police Department lobby is open 24 hours a day to provide a place to warm up and charge devices, however, that space is small and cannot serve as a long term shelter. (5) The Ft Bragg Senior Center is open from 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM for warmth, bathrooms, charging and Wi-Fi.

Unfortunately, as much as we would like to, the hospital cannot act as a shelter for people to escape the cold. In an emergency situation like this, medical resources such as hospitals and ambulances will always experience increased demands to take care of people who are ill or injured and therefore cannot be tied up providing shelter. We are a 25 bed facility and as described above, we are experiencing a higher number of patients than usual, both in the ER and the rest of the hospital.

We all recognize that these power shut downs are likely to be a recurring event moving into the foreseeable future. As a community, we need to come together to establish an emergency shelter that can provide warmth, food, device charging, bathrooms and drinking water. There is already been some talk about how to raise funds to do this and potential locations are being discussed. Moving forward, the hospital and emergency services leadership will be meeting with oxygen suppliers and PG&E to come up with a solid plan on how to address the needs of people on medical devices and home oxygen before the next event.

Contact: Wayne Allen, Interim CEO

William Miller, MD, Chief of Medical Staff

For questions call 707-961-4610

ON-LINE COMMENT: "Do you honestly think that PG&E shut down all their power generation plants statewide? They didn’t. They cranked up the turbines and sold that electricity out of state. For profit. While we sat and shivered in the fucking dark."

PUBLIC UTILITIES

Editor:

Utilities such as gas, electricity and water should be publicly owned and managed the same way as police and fire departments. Public ownership and maintenance would eliminate or minimize massive power outages and fires resulting from electric sparks or gas leaks. PG&E should be owned and managed by the people, just like our excellent fire departments are.

C.B. Lista

Santa Rosa

CATCH OF THE DAY, (UP TO) OCTOBER 26, 2019

MORGAN AMMERMAN, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol, controlled substance, paraphernalia, probation revocation. (Frequent Flyer)

BRADLEY BOYD, Ukiah. DUI (BA over 0.15%)

JENAYE CALDWELL, Willits. DUI, child endangerment.

DION EAGAN, Fort Bragg. Protective order violation.

ZENON EGUILUZ, Talmage. Felon with firearm, loaded firearm, ammo possession by prohibited person, controlled substance while armed, failure to appear.

ELIAS ENGLISH, Ukiah. Petty theft with priors, disobeying court order.

JOSE ESCARENO, Covelo. “Proceedings.”

MIGUEL ESPINOZA-MIRELES, Ukiah. DUI.

RICKEY ESTRADA IV, Redwood Valley. County parole violation, failure to appear.

DAVID FITCH, Fort Bragg Trespassing, contempt of court, failure to appear, probation revocation.

JAMES GIBSON, Redwood Valley. DUI.

ROBERT GRAY, Ukiah. Camping in Ukiah.

MARIBEL GUTIERREZ-ZUNIGA, Sacramento/Ukiah. DUI, suspended license.

CHRISTOPHER HAMPTON, Redwood Valley. DUI.

ZENITH HILLARD, Fort Bragg. DUI-alcohol&drugs.

MELISSA HOPLOCK, Willits. Disorderly conduct-alcohol, probation revocation.

JEFFREY KOSTICK, Disorderly conduct-alcohol, probation revocation. (Frequent Flyer)

ISAIAH LAWRENCE, San Francisco. Resisting.

ASHLEY LEAL, Santa Cruz/Willits. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

RAMON MACIEL, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol, failure to appear. (Frequent flyer.)

SANTIAGO MANZO, Ukiah. DUI, probation revocation.

SEAN MCCLENAHAN, Santa Rosa/Ukiah. DUI-drugs&alcohol, controlled substance, paraphernalia.

MICHAEL MCGEE, Ukiah. Disobeying court order, failure to appear.

GABRIEL MONDAY, Fort Bragg. Domestic abuse, witness intimidation.

PATRCIA MOORE, Santa Rosa. Conspiracy.

JOHN NOLAND, Santa Rosa/Redwood Valley. No license, county parole violation, false personation of another.

WILLIAM OWENS, Ukiah. Contempt of court, probation revocation.

SOPHIA PICENO, Talmage. Failure to appear.

WESLEY REDD, Willits. Failure to appear.

SAMUEL SANCHEZ, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol, parole violation. (Frequent Flyer)

JUSTIN SCHAEFER, Ukiah. Petty theft with priors, failure to appear, probation revocation.

BRANDON SMITH, Willits. DUI, resisting, probation revocation.

DANIEL SMITH, Ukiah. DUI, reckless driving, probation revocation.

ORION STRONG, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

CHERYL TURNER, Ukiah. Under influence.

CODY WARD, Fort Bragg. DUI with priors, hit&run with property damage, no license, probation revocation.

FAILING NUCLEAR INDUSTRY PUSHING FOR $23-$39+ BILLION FEDERAL BAILOUT

A bailout proposed by the nuclear industry would cost tax and ratepayers billions, while starving demand for wind and solar.

commondreams.org/newswire/2019/10/24/failing-nuclear-industry-pushing-23-billion-federal-bailout

“I GREW UP on a farm in the panhandle of Texas. One day I was driving my father’s tractor, feeling sorry for myself, and trying to figure out what I was going to do with my life. I’d flunked out of law school. I couldn’t play football or tennis. The only thing I’d ever been good at was performing. In high school, I’d played the lead role in both the junior and senior plays. So I saved up enough money during the harvest season to buy a little red Yamaha motorcycle. Then I drove to Dallas so I could go into show business! I did some plays in Dallas, then I got a touring role in Fiddler on The Roof, then I rode my motorcycle to Hollywood to be a movie star! I got my first big role two months after I arrived. They paid me $500 a week for six weeks. I thought, “Man! This is Hollywood!’ My character was a cowboy outlaw in a motorcycle gang. He ended up getting killed by a pitchfork while trying to rescue the leader’s girlfriend from a hippie commune. You know how I got the part? I walked into the audition and told them I’d do the whole part cross-eyed. Just like this. You know how hard it is to ride a motorcycle cross-eyed? Almost impossible. But I did it! Unfortunately it ended up being the worst reviewed movie ever made.”

(Humans of New York)

POINT ARENA ARTIST LAUREN SINNOTT is almost at the end of her second year in fleshing out our local history and features. The Ukiah project is three-quarters done and work will resume next spring. Most of the animals and people were from historical photos or live models.

THE END OF CALIFORNIA AS WE KNOW IT

"The fires and the blackouts aren’t like the earthquakes, a natural threat we’ve all chosen to ignore. They are more like California’s other problems, like housing affordability and homelessness and traffic — human-made catastrophes we’ve all chosen to ignore, connected to the larger dysfunction at the heart of our state’s rot: a failure to live sustainably."

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/30/opinion/california-fires.html

ADAM SCHIFF IS NO FRIEND OF PROGRESSIVES

by Norman Solomon

A huge national spotlight is now on Adam Schiff, the member of Congress leading the impeachment inquiry. In his tenth term, Schiff is really going places. But where is he coming from?

This year, as chair of the House Intelligence Committee, he has relentlessly built a case against a horrendous president. For progressives eager to see Donald Trump impeached, Schiff is an enemy of their enemy. But whether he’s a friend is another matter.

“Schiff’s record on foreign policy, civil liberties, human rights and other key issues has often put him more in line with Republicans than with liberal Democrats,” international affairs scholar Stephen Zunes told me. “It is ironic, therefore, that Trump and the Republicans are portraying him as some kind of left-winger.”

For a backstory perspective on Schiff, I contacted a progressive activist who has been closely tracking his political career for two decades. Howie Klein, the publisher and editor of DownWithTyranny.com, lives in Schiff’s congressional district in the Los Angeles area. They met when Schiff was a state senator running for Congress in 1990 against a Republican incumbent.

“I was all gung-ho and raised a lot of money for him from my music industry colleagues,” Klein told me. “I didn’t understand at the time that although he was a Democrat, he was a conservative Democrat. There were a couple of hints during the campaign, but it wasn’t until he was elected and joined the Blue Dogs and started voting that I realized that we had traded a right-wing Republican for a GOP-light Democrat.”

Schiff wasn’t merely playing it safe with his constituents. “It was a rapidly changing district that in just a few years went from red to swing to blue to deep blue,” Klein recalled. “The most Schiff was willing to move was from the Blue Dogs to slightly less odious New Democrats.”

As for the dynamics that have elevated Schiff to star on the House impeachment stage, Klein commented: “Most of Nancy Pelosi’s committee chairs do exactly what she tells them to do, but Schiff seems to be even more exact than most of the others. He’s her guy and she has given him a perfect opportunity to transform himself into a political celebrity.”

Alignment with the most powerful Democrat on Capitol Hill has paid off for Schiff. This month, Speaker Pelosi skipped over Jerrold Nadler — who, as Judiciary Committee chair would have ordinarily taken the lead — instead choosing to appoint Schiff to drive the impeachment train.

Schiff is tenaciously challenging a despicable president who should be impeached. At the same time, while Schiff has emerged as a marquee foe of Trumpism, we should be aware that he remains deeply enmeshed with corporatism and militarism.

Schiff is significantly more hawkish than Nadler. While Nadler was one of the 59 House Democrats who voted against the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2019, Schiff voted yes on that landmark measure — which abetted Trump’s push for a massive two-year 11 percent boost in military spending. Pelosi, who also voted for the bill, proudly wrote to Democratic colleagues: “In our negotiations, Congressional Democrats have been fighting for increases in funding for defense.”

The Pentagon has been able to rely on Schiff to vote for military spending increases throughout his career. And he has rarely done anything contrary to the interests of the military-industrial complex.

In March 2015, when Saudi Arabia launched air strikes against Yemen that began the ongoing murderous intervention, Schiff went out of his way to voice support. The Obama administration, he declared, “made the right decision” to support the Saudi bombing. Said Schiff: “The military action by Saudi Arabia and its partners was necessitated by the illegal action of the Houthi rebels and their Iranian backers.”

After more than four years of vast suffering and death among Yemini people, Schiff recently played a positive role as he co-sponsored an amendment (accepted by the House) that could end U.S. participation in the Saudi-led war in Yemen.

Aside from his reflexive support for military spending hikes, Congressman Schiff’s most egregious roles have involved policies in the Middle East. He voted to greenlight the U.S. invasion of Iraq that began in March 2003. “Schiff was among the right-wing minority of House Democrats who sided with Bush and Cheney over the broad consensus of Middle East experts, international legal scholars, independent arms control analysts and others who warned that an invasion of Iraq was unnecessary, illegal, and would be utterly disastrous,” said Zunes, a professor of politics at the University of San Francisco.

Zunes added: “Contrary to the wishes of the majority of his liberal California constituents, Schiff effectively renounced the UN Charter and the Nuremberg Principles by voting to authorize it and lied about Iraq having ‘weapons of mass destruction.’ In doing so, he contributed to the deaths of 4,500 young Americans and close to 1 million Iraqis and others, wasted $2 trillion of our tax dollars, helped destabilized the region, and helped inflict enormous environmental damage, including a huge carbon footprint.”

Notably unconcerned about the human rights of Palestinian people, Schiff has consistently run interference for the Israeli government. “One of the great ironies of Schiff being accused of having a liberal bias in leading the impeachment investigation is that he was one of the leading critics of a 2009 United Nations investigation of violations of international law by both Israel and Hamas,” Zunes said. “He co-sponsored a resolution claiming that the 585-page report, which confirmed earlier assessments by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch and criticized both sides, was somehow ‘irredeemably biased’ against Israel and that its well-documented findings were ‘sweeping and unsubstantiated’ and therefore ‘unworthy of further consideration or legitimacy.’ Like Republican critics of his impeachment hearings, Schiff has shown himself unwilling to consider the actual facts uncovered through a meticulously detailed investigation and instead simply attacks those doing the investigating.”

In December 2016, as President Obama was preparing to leave office, Schiff urged him to veto UN Security Council Resolution 2334. Schiff was among the lawmakers who couldn’t stand the idea that Israel would be censured for violating international law with its settlement building in the occupied Palestinian territories.

With Schiff’s historic role in the impeachment process gearing up this week, I contacted Marcy Winograd, who mounted a strong primary challenge as a peace candidate 10 years ago in the LA area, throwing a scare into hawkish Congresswoman Jane Harman. Winograd said: “I would ask House Speaker Pelosi and Congressman Schiff, a skilled prosecutor undaunted in the face of Trump’s relentless tirades, to broaden the laser-like impeachment focus on Trump’s demagogic extortion of Ukraine to include abuses of executive power that might resonate more with the American people while not provoking a new Cold War nuclear arms race with Russia.”

Schiff’s front-seat presence on the Russiagate bandwagon has done wonders for his mega-media profile. He’s well-positioned to run for California’s Senate seat now held by 86-year-old Dianne Feinstein, while big money has been pouring in faster than ever.

Schiff brought in $6.25 million for his campaign committee during the last two-year election cycle, and he ended 2018 with $4.7 million in cash on hand. This year, as the intelligence committee chair, Schiff has picked up the fundraising pace, raising $4.37 million in just nine months; he now has close to $7 million in the bank. Schiff certainly doesn’t need the money to get re-elected in his heavily Democratic district, where he has received more than three-quarters of the votes in every one of this decade’s elections. His interest in higher office seems clear.

Right now, right-wing media are teaming up with the White House and congressional Republicans to vilify Adam Schiff while he leads impeachment efforts in the House. Under the circumstances, progressives might view him as an ally. But any alliance with the likes of Schiff should be understood as tactical and temporary.

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Trump winning huh? Other than a wife he disgusts, stupid kids, zero personal friends, a stadium full of white people who boo him, a litany of incompetent foreign policy moves, a revolving door of appointees spinning so fast they have to dive through to make it out without cracking their skulls, and even the man-who-deserves-to-be-in-a-straight-jacket Bolton poised to claw the face off the fat bastard. On the bright side for Trump is that his ignorance is so profound he has very little notion of how badly he stacks up against even the worst of previous Presidents. If a man like Theodore Roosevelt was able to observe the mockery Trump has made of the role, he’d be puking.

LONG TIME BAY AREA FAVORITE, singer Grace Slick, best known for performing numerous hit recordings which include White Rabbit and Somebody to Love with the band Jefferson Airplane, and We Built This City and Nothing's Going to Stop Us Now with Jefferson Starship, turns 80 today.

KILLING AMERICAN DREAMS LIKE MINE

by Joe Helberg

In the early 1980s, I bought my first truck and became an independent owner-operator.

I have been working since my early teenage years, first as a paper boy, then a dish washer and, by the time I was 20, as a journeyman welder at a relatively large trailer manufacturing company.

Having reached top-scale earnings, I took a look around at my opportunities for advancement within the company. I calculated how many years until the foreman would retire and I could get that position. It was then that I decided to go out on my own, and at 21, I became a trucker. I was self-employed, and I no longer had any limits on how high I could climb the ladder of success or the money I could make.

Assembly Bill 5, the recently enacted law restricting independent contractors, including truckers, would have killed my American Dream 35 years ago.

At the same time I started my business, I got married and started a family. We did well enough to have the privilege of my then-wife being a stay-at-home mom, and within two years of starting our business, we were able to buy our first home. Although the hours far exceeded an 8-5 job, I had the freedom to juggle my schedule so as not to miss important child-rearing events such as soccer games, school plays or an occasional field trip.

As the years went by, we grew the business to five trucks. We were afforded the opportunity to send our kids to college and see the first generation in our family obtain a degree.

In looking back over the past 35 years and the benefits I received from being an owner-operator trucker, it was the smartest move I could have made. The taste of independence, the pride of doing it on my own and the fulfillment of achievement is my definition of living the American Dream.

The experience I gained led me to start another successful business, now running for over 20 years.

My message for Gov. Gavin Newsom and other supporters of AB 5: There are a lot of us who don’t want to be coddled by the government and make just make enough money to put food on the table. Some of us are chasing a carrot. I would think they would be quite pleased with the tax revenue the state has received from me over the course of 35 years in business.

Please don’t take away our American Dream — not from me, not from my kids and not from my grandkids.

(Joe Helberg is the founder and president of ADTS, Inc. in Rohnert Park.)

CALIFORNIA BURNS; IT HAS ALWAYS

by Scott Silver

As California burns, the press is offering all number of explanations for why this is so; naming everything from drought and climate change, to lack of sufficient acres of prescribed burns and forest thinning, to the failure of PG&E to properly maintain the electrical grid. The ‘problems’, or so the press would have the public believe, are fixable things (assuming climate change is actually fixable). I’ve yet to see it written anywhere that the problem is none of the above and that there isn’t, in fact, ‘a problem’ although that’s not to say, we aren’t in deep shit!

California burns. It has historically burned. It will burn in the future. It is supposed to burn. For almost all of time there was nothing wrong with the fact that California burned and indeed there was no one to think it was wrong. Fire was natural.

Fifty million Californians with their permanent domiciles and supporting infrastructure that cannot be moved and which no one wants to see burned to a crisp isn’t natural. It is an economic outcome. It is an artifact of modernity — if not modernity itself. The problem, to my way of thinking, is that those fifty million humans find themselves at odds with a land that will burn in spite of every effort to prevent it from so doing.

It strikes me that the story of fire in California today is a parable for something more universal. These days whenever human populations come into conflict with the natural world, ‘problems’ will be identified as such. Proffered solutions, however, will rarely be actual solutions. The problem of modernity is that Man has pitted itself against nature and believes he can fix the problems of his creation by taking control of nature: John McPhee’s Control of Nature, be damned, Paul Ehrlich’s Population Bomb, be damned, every warning ever issued by those conservationists who came before today’s crop of corporate conservationist/apologists, be damned.

The World is burning and while climate change isn’t making things any better, it isn’t the all-consuming threat conservationists, Democrats and progressives make it out to be. Modernity, something against which few dare speak, has come up against nature. Seven and a half billion humans have come up against natural limits. We have consumed all of the natural resiliency we enjoyed when Earth’s population was small. We adapted to changing conditions when we possessed such resiliency, but no longer are capable of doing so. We have become prisoners of our numbers, our systems and our possessions. Those who now determine humanity’s agenda have concluded that mankind and its technology must dominate nature and must take control of the Earth’s systems and resources to supposedly “save the world” — but actually to save ourselves, our institutions and our artifacts. They, through their efforts and their ultimate failures (failures because nature cannot be beaten), risk leaving billions of humans and countless other species dangling in mid-air, Wiley E. Coyote-style.

The fires of California offer a learning opportunity, a chance to reevaluate our definitions of problems and an opportunity to rethink our choice of solutions. Is there any chance anyone will learn a damned thing? I kinda doubt it.

(Scott Silver co-founded Wild Wilderness in 1991, an organization that for twenty years endeavored to shed light upon and halt a trend he dubbed “The Corporate Takeover of Nature and the Disneyfication of the Wild.” He was spectacularly unsuccessful in that effort. Scott lives in Bend, Oregon where he has witnessed a five-fold increase in population driven by Bend’s much-touted recreation economy.)

FAR LEFT

To the Editor:

I am really growing weary of listening to the dunces who make up the far left wing of the democratic party constantly proclaiming the virtues of Socialism, and I’ll tell you why I feel that way.

During the last three years of the 1960s I worked at Masonite Corporation here in Ukiah. During the time I worked there, a large part of the workforce was made up of members of a so called church in Redwood Valley known as the Peoples Temple which was run by a so called preacher named Jim Jones who would tell his followers that socialism was just like heaven.

Now, I must admit that a certain amount of the temple work force appeared to be as crazy as bedbugs, but a portion of them also came across as nice normal people. But no matter how these people were wired, they are now long dead courtesy of their maniacal leader Jim Jones who made them drink poisoned grape Kool-Aid in a dump of a country called Guyana.

So, what I am wondering is if the far left Democrats ever gain power, heaven forbid, I wonder what flavor of poisoned Kool-Aid they will want to those of us who aren’t far lefters to drink?

David Anderson

Ukiah

MCHC HEALTH CENTERS WELCOMES KATIE FAIRBAIRN TO MCHC BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Ukiah, CA — MCHC Health Centers is pleased to announce the addition of Katie Fairbairn to its board of directors. Fairbairn is the executive director of the Mendocino College Foundation and the driving force behind 100+ Women Strong Inland Mendocino County, an organization dedicated to magnifying the impact of local philanthropy by pooling funds to support worthy causes.

Fairbairn was invited to join the MCHC board in part because of her dedication to community-building, but also because of her interest and experience involving health insurance benefits. Fairbairn has spent years advocating for people’s right to have health coverage, initially as an SEIU field representative and more recently by participating on the Mendocino College Employee Benefits committee.

“I like getting into the minutiae, figuring out what services people need, whether the formulary is being used versus the name brand, that sort of thing,” Fairbairn said.

Although Fairbairn has only attended a few MCHC board meetings, she said she is impressed by MCHC’s passionate, smart and thoughtful leaders and by the organization’s dedication to providing “the most needed healthcare to the neediest populations.” She continued, “I like to be involved in systems that work well. So far, it seems to me that patients get good care in a streamlined fashion and that MCHC’s leadership is focused on finding and filling gaps in community healthcare while remaining fiscally solvent.”

Fairbairn explained how difficult it must be for the leadership to find a balance between keeping costs down while providing excellent care. She is working quickly to come up to speed on the laws governing healthcare reimbursement for federally qualified health centers like MCHC and says she looks forward to being an ambassador and an advocate for MCHC.

“I’m just learning, so I’m not an authority by any means, but I think it’s important for people to understand what a resource MCHC is for local people, and to help our elected officials understand how they can support health and wellness in rural communities,” she said. She admitted that before she became a board member, she was unaware of all the services offered by MCHC.

“I liked reading the articles in the paper, but I didn’t realize what an incredible service MCHC provides,” she said. “Without MCHC, the hospital emergency room would be overrun. Patients would suffer more and get a lot sicker; they also wouldn’t get connected with other community resources like they do now. MCHC focuses on helping the whole person, not just improving someone’s medical condition.”

MCHC CEO Carole Press said, “We are very pleased Katie joined our board. She is such a dynamic addition. It’s also great to strengthen the partnership between Mendocino College and MCHC since we have so many of the same goals, like helping community members reach their potential, encouraging health and wellness, and supporting education.”

Fairbairn stated that Mendocino College Interim Superintendent and President Eileen Cichocki wholeheartedly supports Fairbairn’s participation on the board, echoing Press’s sentiments about the benefits of a closer partnership for both organizations.

Fairbairn is also excited to find more ways for the college and MCHC to work together. Currently, the Mendocino College Nursing program trains many of the nurses employed at MCHC, and many Mendocino College students benefit from the healthcare provided at MCHC. Fairbairn says she will continue to raise funds to expand Mendocino College’s allied health programs and noted that in 2020, the college will add a physical therapy assistant program.

Fairbairn also raises money for students in need through the Student Emergency Fund, some of whom get their healthcare at MCHC. “When people get the support they need, they can overcome really tough challenges. For example, in recent years a student who is a mother of two left an abusive relationship and we were able to use the Student Emergency Fund and partner with Project Sanctuary to keep her in school and moving forward towards her educational goal,” she said.

Fairbairn said it is stories like these that confirm she is doing the work she is meant to do. “I believe in giving back to my community and I believe that providing wrap-around services are essential.”

MCHC Health Centers is a local non-profit organization providing access to comprehensive healthcare for people in Ukiah, Willits and Lakeport. All MCHC health centers accept Medi-Cal, Medicare, Covered California insurance and other insurance. Learn more at www.mchcinc.org.

UKIAH LIBRARY TO HOST LOCAL AUTHOR READING & DISCUSSION

Featuring Ron Riekki

Thursday, November 7th, from 5:30-6:30 pm — Celebrate NaNoWriMo and for a reading and book discussion with local author Ron Riekki.

Ron Riekki wrote My Ancestors are Reindeer Herders and I Am Melting in Extinction, U.P.: a novel, and Post-traumatic: A Memoir. He edited Undocumented: Great Lakes Poets Laureate on Social Justice, Here: 100 Years of Upper Peninsula Writing, 1917-2017, Here: Women Writing on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, The Way North: Collected Upper Peninsula New Works, and The Many Lives of The Evil Dead: Essays on the Cult Film Franchise.

Light refreshments will be served. For more information please contact Melissa at the Ukiah Library: 234-2862 or carrm@mendocinocounty.org

TIME WASTERS ANONYMOUS

Vacancies on the following Board(s) and/or Commission(s):

In-Home Supportive Services Advisory Council: (2) Member

Covelo Public Cemetery District: (1) Trustee

Westport Ten-Mile Cemetery District: (1) Trustee

Policy Council on Children and Youth: (1) A Representative of a Local Planning Agency for Early Intervention

Child Care Planning Council: (1) Community Representative

Mendocino County Tourism Commission: (1) Arts Organization/Attractions Member

Anticipated vacancies include expiring terms: the incumbent of the expiring term may apply for reappointment and/or may continue to serve in their capacity until replaced. California Government Code requires public noticing for all expiring terms regardless of the incumbent’s intention to apply for reappointment.

If you are interested in serving on this Board, contact your Supervisor, or the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors, at 501 Low Gap Road, Room 1010, Ukiah, CA 95482 or (707) 463-4441.

LAST DATE FOR FILING: November 19th, 2019, or until filled.

CARMEL J. ANGELO

Clerk of the Board of Supervisors

HIT&RUN

Hit & Run Theater returns Friday & Saturday, November 15 & 16

On the weekend of Friday and Saturday, November 15 & 16, Hit & Run Theater will present two nights of improvisational comedy and music at the Matheson Performing Arts Center at 45096 Cahto St., near Mendocino High School in Mendocino. Both shows are at 7:30pm, with the doors open at 7:00pm. The cast includes Jill Jahelka, Ken Krauss, Doug Nunn, Kathy O’Grady, Dan Sullivan and Steve Weingarten, with some surprise guests. San Francisco keyboardist, Joshua Raoul Brody will supply improvised music and sound effects. General Admission is $20, with tickets for seniors at $15, and kids at $12. All ages are welcome! For reservations or further information, call Doug Nunn at 707-937-0360 or 415-613-4416, write him an email at dnunn@mcn.org, or write Doug Nunn or Hit and Run Theater on Facebook. We look forward to having you with us!

FOUND OBJECT