MCT: Sunday, April 12, 2020

• Isolated Showers
• Crime Stats
• Solitary Stroller
• Young Kendall
• Softball King
• Nightly Meetings
• Covid Updates
• Female Hitch
• Remote Doohan
• Nerd Hell
• Noyo Center
• Dogfaced
• Inmate Saved
• Trailertopia
• Ed Notes
• Mogul Scofflaw
• Yesterday's Catch
• City Lights
• Global Reset
• Ocean House
• Tomfool Carnival
• Strikebreakers
• Liberal Fever
• Mother Jones
• Quarantined Frustrations
• Forced Vaccinations
• Skeleton Love
• Marco Radio
• Found Object

ISOLATED SHOWERS will be possible over eastern Mendocino and Lake counties this afternoon. Otherwise, dry weather is expected to hold through Tuesday. (National Weather Service)

CRIME STATS ON QUARANTINE

by K.C. Meadows

Domestic violence and child abuse is way up in Mendocino County during the shelter-in-place orders due to the nationwide coronavirus crisis.

According to Mendocino County Sheriff Matt Kendall, in the month of March, compared to March 2019, physical domestic violence is up 25 percent, child abuse cases are up 36 percent and general assaults are up 20 percent. Suicides are up but Kendall did not have a specific figure for that. Verbal domestic abuse, however, appears to be down about 14 percent.

Calls for service in general are also down. Kendall says that in March of 2019 the sheriff’s office had 5,894 calls compared to 4,878 calls in March of this year, a drop of about 18 percent.

Kendall says he thinks that’s largely due to the fact that deputies are out on the streets more nowadays as they are not allowed to be gathered in numbers at the sheriff’s office. They are writing reports in their cars, and staggering times when they absolutely have to be in the office. As a result deputies are seeing more citizens out on the street and are able to answer questions in person that they might have gotten a call about in the past.

“We’re only getting the calls that are really important,” Kendall theorized. Also helping the deputy presence is the fact that with courts closed and video arraignments in place, court bailiffs can serve in areas deputies might have had to be used, like the county compliance task force.

Kendall says that deputies on Monday began wearing masks to go about their duties when interacting with the public. Dispatchers are adding coronavirus questions to their phone interactions with citizens in an attempt to prepare deputies for what to expect when they arrive at the call location.

Deputy protocols also include disinfecting and wiping down their own patrol cars at the beginning of each shift as cars are traded off from one deputy to another.

At the jail, there have been no coronavirus cases or scares, Kendall said, largely because no one sentenced to jail is allowed in the building before being medically examined for symptoms. If symptoms are present the person is sent immediately to the hospital. Also, anyone who goes to the jail for a routine misdemeanor citation and release does it in the parking lot and never enters the building.

Kendall says that local judges, the District Attorney and Public Defender are all cooperating in trying to keep the jail population down — it is currently about 30 percent down. They do that by adjusting jail terms for non-violent offenders, moving them to summer or sometime later in the year when it is hoped the crisis will have eased.

Kendall notes that so far most Mendocino County citizens have been really good about obeying the stay-at-home order, for which he is very grateful. But he notes that there have been cases of surreptitious gatherings like groups of Bay Area people renting local Air B&Bs and hanging out here in Mendocino County, which disturbs him.

Kendall noted that his department started preparing for the coming of the virus back in January and he says the extra time our county has had with only four cases and no reported community spread, has “allowed us to get procedures and orders in place” that he believes have helped contain things.

“People are making a lot of sacrifices,” he said, and he appreciates it. He also wanted to quash one rumor he’s seen in social media where it is claimed that there are Mendocino County residents with coronavirus who were tested in Sonoma County and therefore we don’t have a record of them. That is absolutely untrue, Kendall said. It is the CDC that reports all the test results, not individual counties. Our health officer gets those results directly.

Kendall discussed the efforts of so many older people in this county helping others, even when there’s no crisis and said “the work ethic of retired people” really continues to help keep things moving, even though they are especially vulnerable.

His own deputies and sheriff’s office staff are “hanging in there,” he said, noting that so many sheriff’s office staff are from this area and “we took on this job to help our friends and neighbors.” He himself admits he thought that at this point in his career he’d be dreaming up ways to better solve crime, not dealing with a pandemic emergency.

While he’s hoping a sunny and warm Easter Sunday won’t drive people to gather, his department has not thus far had to issue any tickets to people gathering against the orders.

Kendall said as soon as a deputy sees too many people in one place and asks them to break up and move on, they get immediate and cooperative compliance.

“My advice to everyone is do everything you can to abide by health orders,” Kendall said. “And think about it before you go outside.”

(Courtesy, The Ukiah Daily Journal)

PUDDING CREEK

THE REST OF THE SHERIFF’S STORY

by Bob Dempel

I read with great interest Chris Calder’s two great articles back to back on Sheriff Kendall in the Anderson Valley Advertiser. What spiked my interest was that the Sheriff came to Santa Rosa when he was a young man to study marketing at the Junior College. That really interested me, as some years ago I taught marketing at Santa Rosa Junior College. I tried to put the date together to see if Sheriff Kendall had been one of my students. Especially when I read that he indicated that marketing sucks. The dates he was there did not match when I taught. I was an adjunct teacher for one year, then the college hired a full-time instructor, so my job was eliminated.

Sheriff Kendall also mentioned that while he was in Santa Rosa, he got a job in a feed store in Fulton. The owners of that feed store are lifetime friends of my wife and I. Coincidentally, my wife had lunch with the lady owner, Lynn, just a few days after the articles were published. Lynn was telling my wife the story of how she got to know Sheriff Kendall many years ago. As she remembers it, she got a phone call from Steve Olsen, then Dean of the Agriculture Department at the College. He told her about a promising student that needed a job so he could continue his studies at the college.

As fate would play out, Lynn and her late husband could use some help. An interview was held and Sheriff Kendall went to work in his spare hours at the feed store in Fulton. After a few days’ work, there was a discussion about where Sheriff Kendall was living. He indicated that he was really looking for a place. It turned out that Lynn had a room in the back of the feed store that had a bed and facilities. So, Sheriff Kendall soon took up residence in the back of the feed store temporarily, until he could find something more permanent.

As spring approached business picked up and Lynn needed more help. Sheriff Kendall had some relatives from Covelo who also needed work, so they were hired. Lynn said, “Kendall and his relatives were the best damn workers I had ever seen.” They waited on customers, unloaded trucks of feed and hay, moved it into the store and then carted all of the merchandise out to customers vehicles. To this day Lynn refers to all of them as the “boys.”

When Lynn recently learned that Kendall was the new Sheriff, she found a picture of both of them that was taken at her fiftieth birthday party held at the feed store. She put the picture along with a note and mailed it to the new Sheriff. To no surprise, Sheriff Kendall sent a thank you note back to her. A note I am sure she will treasure for years to come.

I hope to meet the new Sheriff. I probably met him when he was a Junior College student some 30 years ago at that birthday party.

NIGHTLY BROWN ACT VIOLATIONS?

We were mildly shocked to hear County CEO Carmel Angelo make the following declaration on KZYX Friday morning:

“The role of the Board of Supervisors in this event continues to be as policy makers. So I actually do a phone call with the Board of Supervisors every evening at 6pm. I have County Counsel and I have our County Health Officer, Dr. Doohan. So we apprise the Board of Supervisors every night at 6pm as to what the progress has been for the day, how many cases, if there’s any new clusters, circumstances, issues within the County system and obviously within the County. So I think of the Board as it sits right now as the policy makers, the legislative body and with the event that is still their role.”

On the face of it, that sounds like an ongoing Brown Act violation.

So we re-read the Governor’s Executive Order suspending certain aspects of the Brown Act during the virus crisis as well as an on-line interpretation of it from one of the County’s regular go-to outside law firms, Liebert-Cassidy-Whitman (LCW), a white shoe outfit in San Francisco.

Our conclusion is that the Supervisors are certainly entitled to hold these “emergency” meetings with somewhat relaxed notice and record-keeping rules to receive updates, but there are still some rules they have to follow.

So we asked County Counsel Christian Curtis if these meetings are compliant with the Brown Act and the Governor’s executive order.

Mr. Curtis wrote back to us: “Per your inquiry, please see the attached Executive Order N-35-20 from Governor Newsom. Paragraph 2 of that order addresses the scenario you're asking about.”

Paragraph 2 says (at some unnecessary length) that the Board can receive such updates to stay up to date on the emergency but they cannot take any action or discuss anything among themselves without complying with otherwise applicable requirements of the Brown Act.

Then we looked up what that means as a practical matter and found the LCW interpretation which says:

“On March 12, 2020, Governor Gavin Newsom issued Executive Order N-35-20. In addition to other provisions, the Order conditionally suspends certain provisions of the Brown Act, which applies to local agencies. … The Executive Order and questions from our clients have prompted us to explore several issues about emergency meeting and special meetings for local agencies under the Brown Act.

“A legislative body may hold an emergency meeting without complying with either the 72-hour notice and agenda requirement of regular meetings or the 24-hour notice and agenda requirement of special meetings. (Gov. Code, § 54956.5 subd. (b)(1).)

“Although the 72 hours’ or 24 hours’ notice is not necessary, the legislative body President or designee should notify each local newspaper of general circulation and radio or television station that has requested notice of special meetings one hour prior to the emergency meeting. In the case of a dire emergency, the legislative body President or designee should provide this notice at or near the time they notify the legislative body members of the emergency meeting. (Gov. Code, § 54956.5 subd. (b)(2).)

”The legislative body President or designee should provide this notice by telephone and attempt to provide notice using all telephone numbers provided in the media’s written request. If telephones are not working, the notice requirements do not apply. However, the agency must notify the news media as soon as possible of the holding of the meeting, the purpose of the meeting, and any action taken. (Gov. Code, § 54956.5 subd. (b)(2).)

“If news media does not have a written request on file for notification of special or emergency meetings, a legislative body has no legal obligation to notify news media of special or emergency meetings, but consider providing that notice anyway to promote communication and trust in your agency.

“As soon as possible after the emergency meeting, the legislative body must post the minutes of the meeting, a list of persons whom the body notified or attempted to notify, a copy of the roll call vote, and any actions taken at the meeting. This information must remain posted for at least 10 days in a public place. (Gov. Code, § 54956.5 subd. (e).)

It concludes, correctly:

"In addition, in his Executive Order, Governor Newsom urges local legislative bodies to use sound discretion and to adhere as closely as reasonably possible to the Brown Act and other local laws regarding the conduct of public meetings in order to provide the maximum access to the body’s meetings."

These are clearly NOT closed sessions, and are therefore open to the public. In addition, how does the public know that the admonition to not discuss matters among themselves or take action is being followed?

So we asked Mr. Curtis for copies of any agendas, materials, minutes, recordings and records of these nightly meetings as well as advance notice and an access code to listen in (on mute, of course) in the future. We concluded, “These are important public matters being considered by an elected body with significant possible public impact with, as Ms. Angelo said, policy implications. I hope I'm not the only one interested in this.”

So far we have not heard back from Mr. Curtis regarding this request.

WATCHED MENDOCINO COUNTY LIVE STREAM update on covid-19 yesterday, Dr. Doohan, Carmel Angelo, and Sheriff Kendell participating. Still 4 confirmed cases, but people tested hasn’t changed that much—371. Mendocino County Public Health Director spoke from her home in San Diego, where she continues to shelter in place. She misspoke when she said the quarantine has been extended to April 10. County CEO Angelo corrected. It has been extended to May 10th for Mendocino County. In a prior appearance, Dr. Doohan said that she would be returning to the county this coming Sunday, but no further assurance of her return was given. Mendocino County may be the only county in California during this pandemic crisis with its chief public health officer remaining out of county. Dr. Doohan is a doctor, and undoubtedly knows what’s best for herself, her family and us. She said that we are “holding the line” in Mendocino County and that her assistant in charge was doing a fine job. Face masks in public are now “required” by all in the county. Dr. Doohan also decreed that 10 people can now be present at a funeral, and that 4 people can be present in a place of worship (6-foot distance of course) to facilitate video feeds for services. Sheriff Kendell said they were checking inmates in the jail for signs of the virus. No testing. Some prisoners have been released. CEO Angelo assured that Dr. Doohan is doing a good job, while also complimenting Dr. Doohan’s second in command. Angelo spoke on testing the homeless for which she has had ongoing, deep concerns. They are being tested at Plowshares, and money is being procured from the state to house them at 131 Whitmore Lane in Ukiah, which appears to be a quiet, residential neighborhood. Whitmore Lane, prepare to welcome your new neighbors. In a related matter, I was fortunate enough to have an email exchange with Ted Williams, my supervisor, expressing my concerns about testing nursing homes and assisted living facilities in Mendocino county for covid-19. At the very least, the wonderful caring people who work at these facilities must be tested. It’s crucial. A singled a-systematic carrier of covid-19 entering one of these establishments could prove disastrous. Williams assured that he will take this up with the board as soon as possible. He’s a caring guy; one of our best new faces on the Board of Supervisors.

Happy Easter, joyous Passover, stay safe.

- Sarky Fish, Mendocino County Covid-19 Updates and Information

A FEMALE HITCH in Finley today, about 13"-14" (photos by Philip Murphy)

CHRIS CALDER WRITES: Danilla Sands is moderator of the Redwood Valley/Potter Valley emergency info Facebook hub, which unfortunately has had a whole lot of experience dealing with life and death chaotic situations (fires), government response, the whole thing, in the last few years. She gave her thoughts today on the overall situation with COVID-19 in Mendocino County. As she says, she is immersed in this stuff morning to night, and she is a level headed person:

Here’s my thoughts, seeing that I read about COVID-19 from morning to night every day for months now. I believe Dr. Doohan (public health officer) has been very kind in her mannerisms. She informed us she talks to other PH Officers, and knows days ahead what they are deciding. She said she will follow Bay Area as an example not because she can not come up with orders her self but because they are leading in numbers. She also said she modified our orders to allow construction due to our rural area and fire survivors. Orginally parks were allowed but due to visitors and large crowds they were closed. At this time there is NO proof that this virus was here in December. Every winter there is the flu and the flu changes every year. Most were not in ICU with their chest feeling like it's being pressed on and coughing. The symtoms are different. But if they decide to test and have the ability to test for COVID19 antibodies here in Mendocino County and someone comes out positive it could also mean they had COVID19 after January. There is still a lot to learn there. I know that many people are scared and worried about their businesses not making it, and if not working, worried about rent and food. I'm sure with WW1 and WW2 and the Spanish Flu all those families were worried too.

Today, We have a lot more resources, social media, and advanced science. We are more lucky here in California or the US than other countries right now that are not allowed to work and depend each day on pay for each days meals. Our numbers are low, with this pending peak. At this time we have had NO deaths. Most have done their part to protect themselves, their family and others do to the advisements of others. I'm personally thankful we had this guidance and information to work with. My family has not caught this virus. I also know this virus is not going away, it will hit more people in our county over time. It will he scary times when we get a cough and have to worry if it's this new virus. Or if we feel like we have the flu and lay down but can’t get back up. Yes, many recover. The four here did. But many die too, and I'm not going to ignore that. And attacking Dr. Doohan for being honest about her travel then discrediting everything else? I don’t think that is wise right now.

DAYS NUMBERED FOR NOYO CENTER CABAL?

by Rex Gresset:

That ominous cracking sound you hear is the Noyo Center For Marine Science cabal falling through the ice. Can't hear it? Maybe you're not in the club.

The Noyo Center, Fort Bragg’s ocean-oriented, not-for-profit whalebone museum has always been a monument to failure. Run by old guard politicians and administrators who ran the Fort Bragg City Council for the better part of two decades, racked up a series of blunders and scandals that would have disgusted any city on earth and eventually scandalized Fort Bragg.

Millions of dollars in financial misallocations, more millions down the drain on endless mill site planning debacles, pension-padding bloat at City Hall, almost ZERO in infrastructure investment and eventually a flat out confession of impending insolvency over government pension payments all basically imploded Dave Turner's City Council and a dirty real estate deal involving the Old Coast Hotel - and a scheme for social services expansion put a fork in it.

The whole happy group got kicked out of office and the City Manager was subsequently fired.

But the roots of power had grown deep over two decades - and even out of office, the behind the scenes influence of the Fort Bragg power elite was still enough to cobble together a scheme for continuing participation in the city's cash flow.

They called it the Noyo Center For Marine Science. Reluctantly, and against their better judgment, the new City Council signed on to temporarily support the project. Note that “Temporary.” No one could quite define what the project was, which was the essence of its of its charm. A “Great New World Center” for the study and protection of the ocean they told us. Something that can bring massive grants to the city and a whole new industry of oceanographers, biologists and deep thinkers of every kind. The Noyo Center was born out of a sense that somebody HAD TO do something.

Since powerful people that had failed to invest in infrastructure, failed to develop the mill site, failed to overcome our economically disadvantaged city status, failed to balance the budget for 10 years and were now out of a job - the new City Council, in a gesture of sympathetic collegial compassion, entrusted them to do out-of-office what they had signally failed to do in office. Something.

They got 12.5% from the TOT (transit occupancy tax), one of the two sources of funds on which the city fundamentally depends. So far, they have siphoned off roughly $145,000. Like many addictions, it was originally supposed to be just a short term thing. The big grants were supposed to come rolling in.

So far no grants, but the city has been privileged to pay for a keen whale skeleton. We are told that the people that have been coming to Fort Bragg for years now come just to see the skeleton. It really is very nice. How big a tourist draw it is, is a matter of opinion but what is not disputed is that the city of Fort Bragg has been quietly pushed to the extremities of insolvency by the Noyo Center. Fort Bragg has been hovering at right-next-to-broke ever since the project started sucking money.

It is one of the more endearing characteristics of our “everybody likes each other” philosophy of local government that no one ever really takes the blame - certainly not in any sense that would involve real consequences.

When the old guard let the former City Manager misallocate $3 million dollars out of the water enterprise, our loveable Finance Director declared that it was a bookkeeping error. He made the pronouncement from the same desk he occupies to this day. Nobody got mad and nobody went before the Grand Jury (I consider myself to blame for that). Part of the sensibility of forgiveness and overlooking is that - matters too painful to be openly discussed, are not discussed even when the matter is under formal discussion. But an attentive observer of the city budget process would have observed that the payback of the misallocated cash has dogged and burdened the city finances ever since.

Funding in perpetuity for the Noyo Center has been tolerated with similar forbearance and grace.

When the City Council finally got dragged into the reality last month that we would face a budget deficit in an election year, there was understandably considerable dismay. And Councilman Lindy Peters (of all people) mentioned, almost under his breath, that when all was said and done, the TOT money could be reallocated - and after all, the Noyo Center was originally supposed to be a temporary thing.

City manager Tabatha Miller instantly threw oil on the water and assured the council that juggling the books to cover small change like $78 thousand bucks was nothing to sweat. No doubt they thanked her in their prayers. That was THEN.

In the staff report prepared for the second post coronavirus virtual City Council meeting, the staff report from the Finance Director stated with an admirable absence of outright panic.

"In previous years the City has collected upwards of $700,000 in TOT in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year. Staff is assuming a loss of more than half of that amount or approximately $360,000. Staff is further assuming a loss of approximately $200,000 in Sales & Use tax. In total, staff is now assuming fourth quarter revenue losses of $560,000. Once actual fourth quarter results have been tallied, this assumption very well may appear overly optimistic. … staff is now projecting a likely operating deficit of approximately $640,000."

In terms of life lost - it is beginning to look like Fort Bragg, nestled in our wilderness, might have ducked the CCP virus altogether.

There have only been four (4) cases in the County, all recovered and no cases in Fort Bragg.

We missed the cataclysm and all of us are profoundly grateful. However, the financial tsunami is impending and City Manager Tabatha Miller, for all of her subtlety, cannot stand in the breach this time. The old guard almost sank the city with their pretensions and promises for a Noyo Center and no one had the bad manners to mention its destructive impact on city finances.

It’s gone now baby. You read it here first.

COUNTY JAIL SAVES A LIFE

On April 9, 2020, at about 5:45 AM, Corrections Deputy Hanna Fox was working in our female housing area. An inmate got her attention by banging on the door. Deputy Fox went into the housing area where an inmate said someone was choking and directed her attention to a cell. Deputy Fox went to the cell and saw an inmate holding her throat giving the international sign for choking. Deputy Fox summoned medical assistance and additional staff. Deputy Fox opened the cell door, had the inmate turn around, and began performing the Heimlich maneuver. After about five tries, the food was dislodged from the inmate’s throat. The inmate was evaluated by medical staff after the incident and was able to return to the housing unit.

The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office is proud to have professionals of this caliber ensuring the safety of the inmates under our charge!

(Sheriff’s Presser)

ED NOTES

HOWLING has spread to the Westside Ukiah. At 8pm sharp the Westies step outside and let 'er rip in feral choruses of support for the people facing down the plague. So far as I know, I'm the only regular howler in Boonville, but there's a bunch in Philo along Rays Road, and Albion, given that youtube post, is out-howling the whole county!

A CALLER asks, "How come Anderson Valley doesn't sue the frost fan businesses? Hell, I'll chip in a couple hundred bucks myself and I live far enough up in the hills not to hear them. And while you're at it, sue them for sucking up all the water, too!"

FOR ALL OUR bluster, we're a pretty tame people. At a minimum, the things ought to be muffled which, I'm told, they can be. And they're proliferating. More of them all the time. The booze industry argues that fans are environmentally better than sucking up river and stream water, which is your basic invidious comparison. Life with three legs is better than life with no legs, right? The riparian access the wine people bought when they took over the water-light old ranches of the Anderson Valley, gives them free access to public agua through April, even in a low water year like this one. And those "fish friendly" signs you see on vineyards are a cruel joke, especially on the fish. If the golden horde were growing potatoes it would be easier to live with their many crimes because you can almost live on spuds and make vodka out of them.

HISTORY NOTES, a reader writes: “The assertion that ‘Albion Lumber was gobbled up by the Northwestern Pacific Railroad’ is incorrect. The Albion Lumber Company and the railroad that ran along the Albion River then out to Navarro/Wendling and on to Christine Landing were two different entities, under different ownerships.”

WHICH REMINDS ME of the once-upon-a-time scheme to run a rail line off the Northwestern Pacific rail at Cloverdale west through Yorkville, Boonville, Philo to Navarro to hook up with the train that ran from Christine to Albion. An old old timer told me that there was a rush to buy up land along the proposed line that never came to be.

ANOTHER READER WRITES about Hop Flats: “I don't know for an absolute fact, but George H. is onto the right location. I believe the 4.5 or 5.4 mile marker George referenced meant how many miles east from the junction of 128 and Highway One Hop Flats was located, mostly on the south side of the Navarro River but also a bit on the north side as well. That hop flat was big enough that at times dances were held there in the late 1800s, possibly early 1900s. Thus Hop Flats isn't really a part of Anderson Valley per se. What is confusing about the hop subject is that there was an extensive series of hop plants on the river side of what is now 128 from just east of where the road turned off to the Boy Scout camp then going eastward almost to the town of Navarro/Wendling. There were homes interspersed between the hop plants on the river side of what is now 128 and at least one on the other side of the old road.”

I REMEMBER READING somewhere that Hop Flat was a large enough community to have a telephone exchange and a small hotel. Hop Flatters used to have reunions, so it must have been a merry little community that people loved. It’s surprising and sad that so many towns around the county have disappeared with barely a trace.

AND WE’RE NOT QUITE A MONTH IN: Food banks across America are warning that they cannot cope with the huge surge in demand caused by mass unemployment during the coronavirus.

With tens of millions of Americans unemployed, cities across the nation are struggling to meet the demand for food as long lines form outside the nonprofits who are feeding those hardest hit by the pandemic. Food banks from Maine to Washington have warned that donations have plummeted while demand has surged by many multiples etc

FROM KAREN RIFKIN’S story in Saturday’s Ukiah Daily Journal called, ‘Coronavirus: Ukiah Natural Foods Co-op continuing to serve the community’: “I never imagined, in all my 34 years with the Co-op, that I and my staff would be considered essential service workers, putting our health at risk, serving the community while performing our grocery jobs,” says Lori Rosenberg, general manager of the Ukiah Natural Foods Co-op.

Weeks ago, prior to the news of the outbreak, with the onset of a potential pandemic, there was an onslaught of purchasing. People were buying vast amounts of food; sales were tripling. In preparation and in an attempt to stay ahead of the curve, the store purchased a pallet of bulk bags of dried goods available for pickup and purchase. They were gone within days.

“Our clientele was purchasing in such huge quantities—canned food, bulk food, toilet paper—that our suppliers were not able to keep up. Their trucks have weight limitations; there are only so many workers available,” she says. “The supply chain has been seriously impacted for us and for stores throughout the nation.”

LEAVING FOUND KITTENS ALONE--information from Mendocino County Animal Care Services. What should you do if you find unattended kittens? During high kitten season in the spring and summer, it’s not unusual to discover a nest of unattended kittens or a single kitten seemingly abandoned by its mother. You want to help, right? Before jumping to the rescue, please visit our website to read advice about how to proceed if you find yourself in this situation: mendoanimalshelter.com/programs-events/information-about-feral-kittens

While you're visiting, check out our dog and cat guests who are available to adopt and foster, shelter covid-19 info and updates, and the shelter's programs and services. Stay safe! Our main website address is mendoanimalshelter.com

ATTORNEY OMAR FIGUEROA WRITES FROM SONOMA COUNTY:

It's been months and months since our slow-moving District Attorney Jill Ravitch was asked to enforce the law by prosecuting flagrant environmental violator Hugh Reimers, a wine mogul who destroyed 140 acres of forest, meadow, and stream partly to make way for new vineyards here in Sonoma County. So far, no case has been filed, and no public action has been taken by our elected DA. What a terrible message to send to polluters and other environmental violators, as well as to law-abiding citizens who follow the law without regard to whether it is convenient.

npr.org/sections/thesalt/2019/11/18/774859696/wine-moguls-destroy-land-and-pay-small-fines-as-cost-of-business-say-activists

CATCH OF THE DAY, April 11, 2020

VICTOR CORNEJO, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-lodging without owner’s consent.

BRANDON FREITAS, Fort Bragg. Assault with deadly weapon not a gun, domestic abuse, criminal threats, paraphernalia, damaging wireless communications device.

JUAN GARIBAY, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

VICENTE GONZALEZ, Redwood Valley. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

SHAWN HORN, Ukiah. Felon-addict with firearm, ammo possession by prohibited person, controlled substance while armed with loaded firearm, large capacity magazine, alteration of serial number of tear gas weapon, probation revocation.

LUIS HUERTA-MERINO, Ukiah. Domestic abuse.

TYLER HURN, Potter Valley. Protective order violation.

TIMOTHY LARSON, Sacramento/Potter Valley. DUI.

FESSTINE WAKELAND, Willits. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

ON VERGE OF CLOSING, CITY LIGHTS RECEIVES $365,000 IN DONATIONS IN SINGLE NIGHT

sfgate.com/books/article/Literature-lovers-respond-to-City-Lights-15192362.php

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

With all the garbage haulers and truckers declared “critical essential” and the high and mighty deemed officially worthless stuck at home in their foyered McMansions, I’ve been thinking it’s weird how “the first are last,” and the meek (low-caste people) have temporarily inherited the whole pile of shit. It’s pretty interesting. What I haven’t done is find pithy value in old Woody Allen quotes. He’s probably one of the former-first who should be way at the back of the Value Line right about now. It would be nice if when this is all over (hahaha) the “global reset” would actually remain in the sense that down-to-earth people, grocery store clerks are respectable, and not hedge fund rapists, and that (as long as I’m wishful-thinking) we’d revert to a societal state where people are judged by their behavior and character and not the values posted on the Daily Intersectional Human Value Evening News Report. But of course I’m a fool and none of that will happen. Even this last 48 hours or so we can see a re-assertion of the same old battle forces getting back to their same old rhetoric.

ODD, OLD NEWS: PETROLIA’S OCEAN HOUSE HOTEL IS DELIGHTFULLY DESCRIBED

kymkemp.com/2020/04/09/odd-old-news-petrolias-ocean-house-hotel-is-delightfully-described/

THREE WEEKS AGO this city had been reveling in its tomfool carnival: bands barging through the streets in clownish costumes, squads of zealous drummers and ear-splitting trumpeters, characters on stilts, others with oakum hair a yard long, beak-nosed witches and bedouins on camels, carts carrying merry-go-rounds, shops, dead giants, cannons shooting soot, tubes spitting confetti—how many thousands of idlers had sat up nights preparing for this, making costumes, rehearsing, what an abundance of well-nourished manpower, released from the threat of war, they had squandered on it. If only half as much manpower could be thrown into a general strike!

— Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Lenin in Zurich

PAINT CREEK STRIKEBREAKERS

TRUMP’LL PULL US THROUGH

Editor,

Our wonderful Marxist Dictator left wing anti-American son of a bitch Governor Gavin Newsom is trying to make himself a hero to the American people of California by throwing a few cans of oxygen to some other states supposedly to help with the virus. In the mean time he has California locked up tighter than a drum, no golf, no baseball, no basketball, no football, no church, no gathering of any kind, and all of us wearing a facemask at all times while in public except him. No visiting beaches, no parks, no going to restaurants, no bars, etc. etc. This is how the rotten liberal governors of the blue states are doing their best to downplay and ruin the economy just to try and ruin President Trump. Did you hear the liberal democrats are trying to blame President Trump when all he did was shut down the traffic to and from Wuhan, China where the virus began in January to try and stem the flow of people coming into the United States that may have been infected or carriers of the virus?

In the mean time the rotten filthy liberal democrats Chuck (the tumor) Shumer, Nancy (Wharf Rat) Pelosi, Adam (Shit Face) Shiff and all their liberal cronies were trying to impeach President Trump, which failed miserably. Remember the Mueller investigation with the Russians accusing President Trump of interfering with the election that went on for two years, which failed miserably and cost the American tax payers $50 million and then they attacked Supreme Court nominee Kavanaugh and that failed and the ridiculous impeachment that cost the taxpayers yet again another $50 million? The democrats should be ashamed of themselves for our President having to defend himself and deal with the virus at the same time while the democrats did nothing to help America.

So you people out there with your heads buried in the sand that can’t see what is going on I feel sorry for and the outcome of which you’re going to face. I hope all the blue states especially California get this whole charade shoved back at them. And I hope President Trump squashes them like a ripe tomato.

God Bless Donald Trump

Jerry Philbrick

Comptche

P.S. If the liberal democrats would stop trying to interfere, which they have been doing for three years with President Trump and how he is trying to run the country, we would be a lot better off as American citizens.

MOTHER JONES

QUARANTINE, ONE DAD'S EXPERIENCE

by Nate Collins

My wife is part of the “essential services” grouping as she works for a bakery so she’s been working extra hours due to the uptick in people ordering food by delivery. My work got hit early so I’ve been sheltering in place for more than a month now, and I take it seriously, I barely leave the house, not to exercise or enjoy the outdoors, only to hit the store or the bank a few times early on in the lockdown. When I do go out I social distance, wear a mask the whole time, hurry where I’m going and back, don’t dillydally and I wash and change clothes when I get home, leave shoes at the door, etc. As the days and weeks have ticked by I have gradually increased the intensity of my warnings and reminders to my wife and family about the impending doom of the coronavirus.

As a part of the trade show industry we had early warning and knowledge of the impending doom. For the past five weeks I have watched the Johns Hopkins University Covid 19 Map and the Worldometer Coronavirus tally online day by day. The seriousness of the warnings have increased by scientists and authorities and I have reflected that message to my family with mostly continued resistance and disbelief from them. This has created a continuing dismay in myself, and I have continually asked myself if I’m being too harsh.

I’ve tried all methods of educating and warning on all levels of the scale, to no avail. I started to drink at the beginning of the quarantine but after polishing off the storage of Pliny the Elder and Woodford Reserve Bourbon Whiskey, I realized that shit could easily be the death of me, with enough time and quality affordable booze to kill myself, especially in a time like this.

With this vividly in mind I quickly jumped back on the proverbial wagon. Close call.

Drinking, I’m over it.

What I can’t get over is my consistent and ongoing disappointment with other people, specifically these people called my “family.” I guess I've worked too many hours over the years because when I started ordering my kids around on quarantine they were like “Who the hell are you?”

I said, “I’m the guy that pays the rent and buys the food and clothes; didn’t your mom tell you about me?”

“I bought that device you’re on and I pay the internet bill.”

Their response is basically “Who cares?”

The greatest thing I see in this quarantine is that my debit card has stopped smoking because these people can’t empty my account as my employer fills it.

So this morning I woke up and unplugged the router box and hid it. My 10 year old son, who is a very big boy, got up and came to ask me for the router. I said “No, I took it away, go do something else.” He started bowing up at me telling me I better give it to him, then he started pulling my books off the shelf. I asked his mother to intervene and she just continued on her iPhone. I wanted to put hands on the kid but they will lock my ass up if I even come close.

I’m scared of this cancel culture, I feel like I’m under an insurrection by the members of my family who are challenging the legitimacy of my manhood. Shit’s gonna change after this quarantine, not sure what exactly, but it’s gonna change!!!

Probably my beliefs. Is it the legacy of my leftism that has left people discarding all traditional values and embracing the authority of the computer over the authority of the father? Is it?

My stepdaughter came back from UC Santa Cruz almost three weeks ago because they ended classes. Then she’s between here and her boyfriend’s house (who lives with his grandma), and I keep telling her and her mom to stop that shit and they have not listened. They have acted for weeks like I’m mansplaining things to them, and that this whole thing is all about my need to tell other people what to do. Totally bullheaded and irresponsible, I’m in disbelief.

Finally the other day my step-daughter brought her boyfriend over and I came out of the back and yelled, “Get the hell out of here both of you, the Government has ordered social distancing. Thanks for the groceries but there is no mixing of households!”

So of course this is a huge fucking deal to her mother (my wife), who commiserates with her daughter on how they can crown me the world’s biggest hypocrite when she gets home from performing “essential services.” They laid it on thick that evening. I had already politely asked many times for her to please pick a household and stay there. To no avail.

My attitude which I have come to after a month of frustration now is if you get sick, then "thank you" for endangering everyone else and “good luck.”

Also, what’s this “essential services” nonsense? I can think of some “essential services” that have been completely neglected for some time now.

My wife had the audacity to yell at me this morning, tell me that I’m like an 80 year old, and I need to get out and go on a walk. What a ridiculous person.

I find people completely crippled by screen time and inaction, incapable of carrying on any militancy or consistency, people are just wavering and self-centered to the point of delusion.

The ladies in my house have completely bought into this ambition for consumerist, online-centered liberation which has completely usurped any power I have as a man to tell the people in my house what to do. My voice is for naught.

My last resort would be to physically lay down the law in my house as a strong and capable man, but if my wife and kids are ready to physically challenge me I have absolutely no recourse. They called my bluff of me puffing up my chest and being like “That’s it, you guys are gonna listen!!!” They just laugh, in unison; they say “Go back to your man cave, Dad!"

I guess I have to ask myself the question, "Did I work too many hours over the years?" And, "Who the hell are these people?"

IT WAS UTTERLY PREDICTABLE that antivaxxers would find a way to incorporate COVID-19 into their conspiracy theories about vaccines. Obviously, antivaccine websites and social media accounts everywhere are promoting the idea that the government will use the COVID-19 pandemic as a pretext to institute forced vaccination once a coronavirus vaccine is finally developed:

On Friday, just after Governor Greg Abbott declared a statewide emergency in response to the coronavirus, Sarah posted a worried plea on a local anti-vaccine Facebook group. She worried that the declaration gives the government the right to “force vaccinations” on unwilling Texans.

“If they fast-track some vaccine for coronavirus, how are all of us going to defend ourselves?” she asked. “I’ll let them vaccinate my daughter over my dead body.”

Other members of the group, Tarrant County Crunchy Mamas, chimed in.

“Hide in the floors like they hid the Jews from the Nazis,” one suggested. “Hide them in our gun safe (yes, it’s a big safe and yes, we love our guns),” said another.

Yes, antivaxxers sure do love their Nazi analogies!

None of this is particularly surprising, as antivaxxers recycle this very same conspiracy theory every time there is an outbreak or pandemic. They did it during the 2009-2010 H1N1 pandemic, and they did it again during the Ebola outbreaks of 2014. I wasn’t paying attention as much at the time, but I’m almost certain they trotted out this conspiracy theory during the 2002-2003 SARS epidemic too. Even the conspiracy theory that Bill Gates created SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus strain that causes COVID-19 has been circulating at least since January, because, you know, Bill Gates created H1N1 and Ebola, too. (That’s sarcasm, of course.)

— Dr. Gorski

TELL ME ABOUT THE ORANGES, LILLY.

"This is the wort that with wyrm fought, she that prevails against venom, she that prevails against that which flies, she prevails against the loathsome that yond the land fareth. Put thou now to flight." –from The Nine Herbs Charm to Cure Infection (10th century)

The recording of last night's (2020-04-10) Memo of the Air: Good Night Radio show on KNYO-LP Fort Bragg and KMEC-LP Ukiah is right here:

https://tinyurl.com/KNYO-MOTA-0380

Furthermore, at https://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com you'll find a fresh batch of dozens of links to not necessarily radio-useful but nonetheless worthwhile educational items I set aside for you while gathering the show together. Such as:

Many helpful food tricks and tips for being shut in. "Then you’ll take some Parmesan cheese, get that grated into smithereens." "And we’ll put this on auto-chop, which doesn't work well if your knife isn’t haunted." misscellania.blogspot.com/2020/04/41-quick-food-tricks.html

Rock balancing. laughingsquid.com/mike-grab-balanced-rock-structures/

Why not take off your shirt, pull your pants halfway down and attack police vans with two swords, one in each hand? (Short answer: They outnumber you ten to one, they have the equipment and authority, and they just trap you and wear you down and beat at you and still somehow make it look like you're the bad guy. You can't win.) I love the sound of the narrators' voices all the way to the end, but I don't understand Spanish. To get English subtitles, click on the CC icon (Closed Caption), click on the gear icon (Settings), click on Subtitles/CC, then Auto-Translate, then English. It's not very accurate and a lot is left out, but you get a sense of their cute relationship. I did know what sangria means. It means blood or bleeding, something like that. tinyurl.com/SwordsAgainstCOVIDCaptivity

And the fair of the future. No sangria. (But robot-squeezed orange juice.) misscellania.blogspot.com/2020/04/alls-fair-at-fair.html

Marco McClean, memo@mcn.org, MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com

FOUND OBJECT