MCT: Friday, April 24, 2020

• Weak Fronts
• Ethel Meeks
• 3 New Cases
• $500 Billion
• Relaxing Restrictions
• Small Biz
• Covid Testimonials
• Boonville Tower
• Coed Militia
• B Theft
• Fancy Mask
• Ed Notes
• Bearded Iris
• Week Six
• Batter Marichal
• Mystery Publication
• Lincoln Brigade
• Postal Service
• Panoche Valley
• Sparrow
• CBD Coffee
• Cavalry Practice
• Manchester Farmstand
• Peony
• Ag Students
• Fishermen Wives
• Yesterday's Catch
• Reorganizing
• Oil Glut
• Hannity Kills
• Goldfinch
• Guv Gav
• Dog & Boy
• Divine Intervention
• Rusty Tank
• Earth Day
• Republican Militia
• Neo Fascism
• Found Object

WHILE A FEW WEAK FRONTS will clip northwest California over the next several days, only limited shower activity will result, mainly around Del Norte County. Coastal areas will continue to see areas of clouds and fog through the weekend, while the interior will turn out mostly sunny and warm. (NWS)

ETHEL MEEKS, AGE 93

Passed April 18, 2020 Ukiah. Ethel was preceded in death by her husband Jim and her son John, son-in-law and three great grand children. Ethel is survived by her daughter Helen (Rick), daughter Carol, son James, 9 grandkids, 17 great grandkids, and 6 great great grandchildren. Due to the pandemic, there won’t be any services.

THREE NEW POSITIVE CASES OF COVID-19 IN ROUND VALLEY

Post Date: 04/23/2020 9:29 PM

Today, April 23, 2020, three Round Valley residents within the same household tested positive for COVID-19. The testing was performed at Round Valley Indian Health Center and the health care workers used proper Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). Following protocol the Round Valley Indian Health Center reported the positive cases to Mendocino County Public Health. Public Health has initiated a contact tracing investigation and is working with Round Valley Indian Health Center on additional testing of individuals potentially exposed to the individuals that have tested positive. All three individuals are in stable condition, in isolation at home with active public health monitoring and did not require hospitalization. Asymptomatic close contacts of the cases are in quarantine. 

Mendocino County Health Officer Dr. Noemi Doohan stated, “I am grateful for the opportunity to collaboratively work with the Round Valley Indian Tribes and the Round Valley Indian Health Center and applaud the clinic staff for the exemplary manner in which these cases were cared for. Thank you to Congressman Jared Huffman, Senator Mike McGuire, Assemblyman Jim Wood and California Department of Public health Director Dr. Sonia Angell for their rapid response and assistance in mobilizing additional resources. I deeply care about our tribal communities and we are here to respond and provide support to contain the spread of COVID-19.”

Please understand that those who test positive have a right to remain anonymous and have their privacy respected. If you are a resident of Round Valley and have concerns about exposure or have COVID-19 symptoms such as cough, fever or flu-like symptoms please contact the Round Valley Indian Health Center Triage Nurse at (707) 983-6181 ext. 142. Please call the clinic prior to arriving.

The Mendocino County Health Officer, Round Valley Indian Health Center and Round Valley Indian Tribal Council urge residents to follow the Health Officer’s Shelter in Place order and stay home unless essential travel is required for groceries, medicine or other necessary items.

Every person has a role to play to lessen the spread of this virus and to help prevent exposure to others. You can protect yourself and your family by following these simple measures: 

• Washing hands with soap and water.
• Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces daily. If surfaces are dirty, clean them using detergent or soap and water prior to disinfection.
• Avoiding touching eyes, nose or mouth with unwashed hands.
• Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue or your inner elbow.
• Avoiding close contact with people who are sick.
• Do not go to work if you become sick with respiratory symptoms like fever and cough.
• Wear facial coverings when you leave your home. 
• Following guidance from public health officials.

An update regarding the new cases will be provided tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. during the Health Officer’s Friday Update which will be streamed live on the Mendocino County YouTube Channel and Facebook page.

The new cases brings the total number of positive cases in Mendocino County to eight. Of the eight cases, four have recovered. 

For more on COVID-19: www.mendocinocounty.org

Call Center: (707) 234-6052 or email callcenter@mendocinocounty.org

The call center is open Monday – Friday from 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

JUST IN: CONGRESS has delivered a nearly $500 billion infusion of coronavirus spending Thursday, rushing new relief to employers and hospitals buckling under the strain of a pandemic that has claimed almost 50,000 American lives and one in six U.S. jobs. The measure passed almost unanimously, but the lopsided tally belies a potentially bumpier path ahead as battle lines are being formed for much more ambitious future legislation that may prove far more difficult to maneuver through Congress. (AP)

TED WILLIAMS: On Tuesday, BOS to partake in frank discussion about safe economic reopening

My commentary: 

Public input is desired. bos@mendocinocounty.org referencing item 6a (ideally in the subject) will be attached as received. Rather than simply being in favor of against “reopening” try to steer your comments toward ideas for safe reopening or concerns about unsafe conditions needing solutions. The goal should be to find ways for our (almost entirely small) businesses to remain financially viable while maintaining safety through modified operations. For example, this might mean allowing restaurants greater ability for outdoor seating during COVID-19.

Mendocino County BOS Agenda item # 6a Tuesday, April 28, 2020—

Discuss with Dr. Doohan phases and timelines for relaxing COVID-19 restrictions on business activity and give direction to staff on economic recovery related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The local economy has been severely impacted as a result of the Shelter-in-Place (SIP) Orders which were imposed to save lives and limit the potential that local health care facilities would be overwhelmed. The local orders of the Public Health Officer, including the SIP Order, may be more restrictive than those imposed by the Governor, but not less restrictive. Significant re-opening will depend on action by the Governor who has indicated that re-opening will be gradual and will occur in stages. Most businesses understand the necessity for the initial orders but find it very difficult to make plans for an eventual re-opening without an understanding of how long their sector of the economy will be effectively shuttered or the restrictions that may be imposed once re-opening is allowed.

This discussion will provide an opportunity for the Board; County staff and the public to more fully understand the challenges ahead; anticipated State and Bay Area trends; anticipated phases of loosening of restrictions including business sectors the phases may apply to; best practices for local business sectors to propose Social Distancing protocols specific to their business type that will promote a safe-reopening; the outlook for recovery of various categories of business; the possibility of reinstating restrictions if a surge in COVID-19 cases occurs; COVID-19 modeling and related topics. A frank discussion of which businesses are likely to be allowed to re-open, when, and under what conditions will best position business owners, employees and suppliers to plan for the future. The Board may also discuss possible direction to staff that will assist with economic recovery for local businesses and how best to position the County to maintain fiscal stability and continue to provide critical services to the public.

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COVID-19 business survey

Business owners, please participate in this survey ASAP. Participation will have a direct impact on the disaster funding for post-COVID-19 economic recovery and resources for the Mendocino County business community.

mendocinocountysurvey.questionpro.com/

TWO MENDO COVID EXPERIENCES

(via Supervisor Williams)

[Williams:] The moment we concluded the KZYX radio show Wednesday night, a woman phoned, having heard the hour and my cell number offered. Provoked by discussion about balancing our economic and health needs, she picked up the phone to share her story about surviving COVID-19, but insisted on remaining anonymous (no name, contact details, caller ID). After weeks of unsubstantiated claims and rumors, I was skeptical, but the 85 minute discussion left me without questions of credibility. She did approve of sharing her testimonial. She lives inland and shops in the Ukiah area. No flights, cruises or other travel outside of Mendocino County for months before becoming ill. She became ill in our county with initial symptoms experienced around March 16. The onset was gradual and she didn’t initially believe it could be COVID-19. Visiting her son in the bay area, he became infected and several of his friends became infected. All tested positive to official COVID-19 tests. She learned of her results just five days ago, towards the tail end of illness. Because the test was not performed here, we can’t count it and we don’t have access to the data. This is important to note, because it’s one more way our count under-represents. One of the (young) friends died as a result, in a hospital, connected to equipment for respiratory distress. The caller said they all had different symptoms with only persistent fever in common and noted the CDC symptoms list did not match her personal experience. She did not seek medical help and did not want to be intubated. She described excruciating pain as the worst component, noting she had to force herself to endure the pain of every breath for days. She was told by medical professionals in a bay area county to self isolate and that is what she is doing, the same as our county would direct. She reported being otherwise very healthy without pre-existing conditions and “not old.” She stated that two days ago she would have been unable to make it across the room to engage in the call. Inability to walk and pain were cited as the two greatest challenges of the journey. When we documented our first case on March 18, there was heated discussion about how much location information to share. CEO Carmel Angelo insisted that making specific locations public would encourage some people to not come forward, impeding our ability to contact trace. I’m at the opposite end of the privacy spectrum in that if I test positive, I’ll be on youtube and the radio sharing it with you, but we all have different preferences in regard to privacy. Angelo was right. The distastes for public eyes peering created desire for anonymity, ultimately resulting in reduced public health tracking. Assuming the facts are true as presented, and I have no reason to doubt, this case might qualify as our first community spread. To avert a flurry of questions, I must say, I don’t have more answers than this post includes. She ended by asserting her belief that if we experienced the pain she endured, described repeatedly as “not another flu,” we wouldn’t be focused on re-opening, but instead would be grateful to awaken for another day.

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[Williams:] With permission, I'm posting another anonymous COVID-19 testimonial from a brave Mendocino County resident. It offers an invaluable glimpse into the accuracy of local monitoring and tracking to date:

Second Testimonial: You know - reading your post on Facebook about Public Health and “real numbers” is so accurate. My significant other got really sick 2 days after I did. Different symptoms than me - but all Covid-19 symptoms. Burning fever, fatigue, hacking dry cough etc. We both went to Public Health for testing, but they chose to only test me since I’d traveled and been exposed. The test was more than a week after I’d returned home from my trip, so of course I’d exposed him during that time. It was clear that we were both equally sick. What’s ironic is that although I was the only “confirmed” case, Public Health monitored both of us daily for symptoms and ordered us both quarantined until they declared us recovered on April 1.

Also - So you can get a good picture of how this is being handled in our community - I received a letter via email from the CDC on March 18th saying I’d been exposed. It took over 8 phone calls to Adventist Health, Public Health and the Laws Avenue clinic over the course of 3 days to finally get tested, although they knew that I had both been exposed and was currently experiencing ALL the symptoms.

After being declared “recovered” and free from Quarantine April 1 by Public Health (via having been symptom free for 3 days - NOT BY BEING RE-TESTED) I started coughing badly again about 4 days later. On April 5th I visited the ER. We discussed that I’d recently had Covid-19. They did a chest and rib X-ray and discovered that I’d fractured 2 ribs from coughing so hard. I asked if perhaps this was still Covid-19 and they said no - my chest x-ray was clear, I was getting good Oxygen, and it was a “post-virus” cough that would resolve soon. They sent me home with Percocet.

The doctor there said to follow up with my regular doctor at Adventist. I called Adventist the next day. They said they’d call back with an appt. the next day. Over the course of the next 10+ days I received three calls from the Practice Manager at Adventist acknowledging that I needed an appt, and that they were “working on it.” Over the course of that week I mostly stayed home because my chest and ribs hurt.

On April 16th I was still coughing so hard that I passed out at home, so we returned to the ER. The ER doctor took another chest x-ray and said that my lungs showed a little residual damage from the Covid and I just needed to give it a little more time. He said that my Oxygen was great, so nothing to worry about. They sent me home with Norco.

On April 21 I finally got to see a FNP at Adventist. She prescribed Advair, cough syrup with codeine and a huge increase in my Albuterol inhaler. But here’s the kicker..... she said that the ER doctor from April 16th believed I could have either still been sick from Covid or I got it again - and that I was to self-isolate for another 14 days. NOBODY told me that then. AT ALL. In my package of paperwork to take home it talked about Corona virus in general and also proper use of child safety seats. (I don’t even have small children…) I wasn’t feeling great, so I didn’t go out much, but I did go to the grocery store once, to my mailbox, etc.

Anyway - bottom line. Public Health numbers locally are skewed. Significant other clearly had Corona virus, and they knew it. I don’t know if I still have it or not since even though I’m “coughing” they aren’t going to retest me. It may be a post-virus cough and it may be a return of Corona virus. Flip of a coin? Who knows.....

If there’s community spread you can see why. So much confusion and lack of communication. If this is my experience I have to wonder what the other “positive” cases have encountered.

CELL TOWER IN BOONVILLE

A Boonville Reader Writes: 

I was just informed that Jan Wasson Smith is putting in a cell tower across the hwy from the Elementary School. I talked to the building dept. And they said that it has been approved and the building permit is in, but not approved at the moment. But it is too late to do anything about it most likely. The building/planning office said that we were informed in the Newspaper. But I never heard a thing. Not that I am combing through the newspaper regularly. Was this posted in our local newspaper? I feel like there are plenty of families that would consider this a dangerous location for a cell tower, looming over the elementary school. (I know that they get away with this in city, etc. But I have some strong concerns with what damages it can cause. EMF is not something to keep pushing under the rug). Can you please let me know how Boonville was informed of this proposal, and passed without so many people knowing? Shouldn’t parents be informed with children in the school? 

ED NOTE: The cell tower was legally advertised some time ago. What might kill the project is the current economic situation but otherwise it's a go. mendocinocounty.org/home/showdocument?id=28031

SHORT FOLLOW UP to Wednesday’s dubious Measure B committee decision to recommend that $1 million in Measure B sales tax revenues be diverted to subsidize existing mental health services.

Of the seven yes-votes, six of them are connected to the existing mental health system in one way or another and the seventh is a personal friend of CEO Carmel Angelo.

The Angelo faction is:

• CEO Angelo herself.
• Committee Chair Donna Moschetti, chair of the local chapter of the alliance for the mentally ill.
• Dr. Jenine Miller, County Mental Health Director
• Meeka Ferretta, newly appointed director of the Behavioral Health Advisory Board
• Dr. Ace Barash, a Willits-based emergency room physician with an interest in mental health.
• Dr. Jed Diamond, Willits-based social worker with a PhD in “International Health.”
• Ross Liberty, whom CEO Angelo views as the second coming of Andrew Carnegie; Liberty himself is a fan of Angelo for helping him get some County help when he bought the old Masonite plant site north of Ukiah.

ON THE OTHER HAND, the four no votes, Former Sheriff Tom Allman, Fort Bragg electrical contractor Mark Myrtle, County Auditor Lloyd Weer and Ukiah Deputy City Manager Shannon Riley have no mental health system connections.

ANGELO’S SIMPLISTIC ARGUMENT that $1 million dollars of Measure B’s declining mental health services money be diverted for no other reason than that Covid-19 is making people nervous and existing mental health funds are likely to be reduced in the future is all the Angelo faction needed to hear to go along with it.

WHATEVER ONE THINKS about Measure B, the primary purpose of the Measure was to fund new facilities for mental health purposes and to provide some funding to help staff those new facilities; it was not to be a slush fund for the county's privatized mental health business. Given the state of the economy and the plummeting sales tax funding much of county business, there are obviously going to be huge local deficits, including in the Measure B money itself.

SUPERVISOR WILLIAMS’ QUESTION about how the “services fraction” of the Measure B money is going to be spent was conspicuously avoided several times prior to the virus crisis. But CEO Angelo still feels free to lead her majority faction of the Measure B committee to take $1 million without any idea what they may need to operate the new Measure B facilities?

ANGELO’S PROPOSAL to route the diverted $1 million to “service providers” through the Community Foundation is an obvious attempt to launder the subsidy through an organization that is generally approved of locally, but who, in the end, can be counted on to hand out the money to same insiders who already know how to play the application and funding game.

(Mark Scaramella)

A READER WRITES: It is irresponsible for the AVA to editorialize about the million dollars the Measure B committee voted to "support and expand mental health services" without doing any research of their own as to the specific places that money will end up. The AVA seems intent on making "the Schraeders" their current target. While RQMC and its subcontractors should be subject to the same sort of monetary auditing as any other entity that receives county money, the AVA has assumed (and usually assumptions turn out to show the assumers to be the asinine ones) that the majority of this Measure B million is going to end up in the hands of RQMC or its immediate subcontractors. It is far more likely that the Community Foundation Fund will dole out the majority of the million to programs like Project Sanctuary, food banks, clinics, and resource centers. I do not know that for a fact, but it is a more likely scenario than the assumption made by the AVA, which seems to be nothing more than a "out of left field" corollary derived from a sideways interpretation of Supervisor Ted Williams' agenda item of a couple months back.

In this uncharted time and territory we need to gather all the real doers and thinkers in a room to find a way to minimize the fallout of Covid-19 for Mendocino County. Leveraging and strategic thinking are important skill sets. Let's support those who are trying to minimize the impact for our communities. 

At this juncture, during the Covid-19 crisis, it might behoove the AVA to take a step back from editorializing about a subject they clearly are not fully informed on.

Perhaps they should actually sit down with the Schraeders and do a real interview rather than taking ill-informed potshots. Maybe a teleconference with one of the Schraeders, Carmel Angelo, Jason Wells from Adventist Health, and Supervisor Williams along with one or two of the boys from the AVA would prove valuable in sorting things out. 

In the meantime, sniping from a platform of ignorance, partial truths, and assumptions does no good for the real citizens of this county. The AVA is read by a lot of people in positions of influence in this county. Mr. Anderson and his cohorts can take some pride in that. Don't throw away that credibility by guessing at what is happening with Measure B or the overall system of mental health in this county. There is a lot to learn on the subject of mental health services as it is currently operating in Mendocino County. Go out and learn more about it then editorialize. In the meantime, show some discretion and learn when it's time to keep one's yap shut. 

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ED REPLY: We watch the entire meetings and read all the attachments generated therewith and therefrom, never failing to notice the info-free Behavorial Health Board minutes in particular. The Schraeders are welcome to as much space as they think they need to explain our eternal questions, which are basically these: How many people do they pay to "serve" how many people out of the twenty mil they ge annually from the county? They might also condescend to tell us — rough guess — how many people get their psychological ships righted? The reader is awfully hazy on his/her own specifics, ignoring the obvious fact that the Measure B Committee's majority is drawn from the same helping professional axis as the Schraeders, the so-called Continuum of Care, the directors of the Mendocino Community Foundation, and so on. 

Our CEO and the five supes, alone, cost us a mil a year in salaries and benefits. Add all the salaries of the helping pros and non-profit buccaneers, nevermind social services and the county apparatus dedicated to serving the walking wounded and… and there’s at least a million that could go to mental health services right there. It’s insulting, truly, that these constant draws on the public purse are always wrapped in altruism, as if the entire apparatus weren’t comfortably secure themselves, drawing three times (and above) the annual salaries of the average Mendo resident unaffiliated with government. Funny, we don’t hear any calls for their lush compensation to be reduced to finance the organizations you seem to think are under-funded.

Tom Allman breathed Measure B into life and, as he said, is “vehemently” opposed to diverting its funding which, of course, would also betray the people who voted for it. Note that the people opposed include County auditor Lloyd Weer, the city of Ukiah's rep Shannon Riley and Mark Mertle, an independent Coast business owner. 

Pompous lectures on the nature of assumptions aside, Anon's faith in county leadership is quite touching but, we think, unfounded. (The truly dire period we’ve entered does indeed require honest, intelligent leadership, which we think is missing at that level here in Mendo. One would think they’d at least offer to slash their own lush take as an example of the belt-tightening they’ll soon be demanding from their line employees and the rest of us.) That leadership for now has made a series of indefensible economic decisions sure to be exacerbated by the implosion of the wider economy. Maybe you'd like to sit down with the Schraeders so they can tell you what a swell job they're doing. BTW, how much do they pay themselves to do all that good? Oops. Sorry. That's proprietary info because their business is their private business, although every nickel of it derives from public money. Tell you what: We'll write the questions to the Schraders for you and they can answer at their leisure: 

What are the combined annual salaries and benefits of the three top people at RQMS?

How many unduplicated people do they serve and how many of those served have been successfully returned to the community according to post-release plans?

How many people are turned down for service because their problems are not “severe” enough or they are not “reimbursable” from state or federal programs?

How many of the obviously mentally ill “frequent flyers” we see in the Sheriff’s booking log have received services from RQMS?

How many of the people receiving psychiatric medications or services at the jail were previously seen by RQMS?

Surely the Reader has noticed the recent Fort Bragg letter to the County and the Schraeders asking for meaningful reporting on mental health services that has been dithered to death by the Supes and the CEO; and the Schraeders continue to insist that the meaningless info they already provide is all anyone could possibly want.

We certainly wouldn’t oppose some funding for Project Sanctuary, or the local clinics, or even some targeted funding to reduce the mental health load on local emergency rooms. But given the near total lack of accountability and oversight of these funds so far, what are the odds that the people who get most of the funding now (i.e., the Schraeders) won’t continue to get most of the additional funding siphoned away from Measure B?

PS. FROM MARK SCARAMELLA: Remember Measures D&E? Measure D was advertised as an important new funding source for local emergency services. The Measure was approved comfortably and imposes a 10% “bed tax” on private campgrounds. It was estimated to raise over $1 million for cash-strapped local fire departments. There was an accompanying “advisory measure,” Measure E, which “advised” the Supervisors to spend the new money on emergency services, but Measure D itself does not specifically require it. Now we find that private campgrounds are essentially closed and the new revenue will mostly dry up and will never get anywhere near the original estimate. Then we see that CEO Angelo has no hestitation in suggesting that some Measure B mental health money which was specifically approved for new facilities and services is now fair game (“just sitting there”) for, oh, she doesn’t know, hey! Why not snag a cool million outta Measure B to sort of backfill declining mental health revenues? 

IN THE RUN UP to the Measure D vote in February we wrote about the County’s “credibility problems” regarding the advisory measure which called for fire service help. With nothing but an advisory measure in place, what does anyone think will happen to whatever minimal campground bed taxes may come in when the county is facing a budget crunch?

IF THE BOARD ignores the voters on this recent blatant raid on Measure B, they will be declaring again that when it comes to local tax measures their stated purposes can be set aside if the County’s own priorities prevail.

LAUREN SINNOTT WRITES:

THE FANCY MASK has arrived! It’s my master pattern developed over the past weeks, but using some pretty sumptuous fabrics w/extra decorative flourishes. A friend Vicki Ann Albiston asked me to make her a mask with “bling,” and this is what happened. And I have to say, they flew off the shelf. I think the point is that while we have to cover our faces with this functional object, we don’t have to abandon style. :)

(For more information go to Lauren Sinnott’s or Vicki Albiston’s facebook pages)

ED NOTES

THIS MESSAGE turned up in our in-mail: "Wondering if anyone out there has any historical stories they would like to share about The 1970's Albion People's Fair and/or the Albion Azalea Acres property with us. Good or bad. We, the new owners, are very interested in the property's history. You can email us at melaburgess@gmail.com"

YES, I retain a rather vivid memory of that sordid event billed of course, as a “people’s fair,” at which some hirsute hustler was collecting admissions. My take away image was of naked hippies wallowing in a mudhole billed as a pond. Ringing the mud pit were crude booths selling macrame and dope gear. A mob of voyeurs wandered the dilapidated grounds, among them criminals and hard drug salesmen. It was grim event and unrelievedly awful, and I made the mistake of hauling a van load of delinquents out there from Boonville. They loved it, of course.

4.4 MILLION MORE Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week, according the latest figures from the Labor Department. That means some 26 million people have applied for aid since the novel coronavirus lockdown began five weeks ago. It’s by far the largest and most sudden surge in jobless claims since the Department of Labor started tracking the data in the 1960s. 26 million people are suddenly unemployed over the last month.

ACCORDING to Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel laureate in economics, Trump's handling of the Covid-19 crisis has left the US "looking like a third world country and on course for a second Great Depression." Stiglitz said millions of people were turning to food banks, turning up for work due to a lack of sick pay and dying because of health inequalities. “The numbers turning to food banks are just enormous and beyond the capacity of them to supply. It is like a third world country. The public social safety net is not working.” Stiglitz pointed out that 14% of the population was already dependent on food stamps and predicted the social infrastructure could not cope with an unemployment rate that could hit 30% in the coming months. “We have a safety net that is inadequate. The inequality in the US is so large. This disease has targeted those with the poorest health. In the advanced world, the US is one of the countries with the poorest health overall and the greatest health inequality.” Stiglitz said Republicans had opposed proposals to give those affected by coronavirus 10 days’ sick leave, meaning many employees were going to work even while infected. “The Republicans said no because they said it would set a bad precedent. It is literally unbelievable. The safety net is not adequate and is propagating the disease. There is very weak unemployment insurance and people don’t think they can rely on it.”

TRUMP ON MONDAY: “In light of the attack from the Invisible Enemy, as well as the need to protect the jobs of our GREAT American Citizens, I will be signing an Executive Order to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States!” At least 26 million Americans are now out of work. Trump announced last month a drastic ban on foreigners traveling to the United States from Europe. He had already banned travel from China as the COVID-19 outbreak was spreading from the city of Wuhan. And he had already closed the U.S.-Canada border and shut down the nation's asylum system last month. The US death toll from the virus has topped 41,000 and rising.

MORE THAN HALF of Los Angeles residents are now unemployed. The Understanding Coronavirus in America Study, led by the USC Dornsife Center for Economic and Social Research (CESR), showed a continuing loss of jobs nationally and especially in Los Angeles County, where 495 people have died from the virus and more than 11,000 have been infected. Only 45 per cent of Los Angeles residents still have a job, according to the survey that was conducted from April 1 to 14. In mid-March at least 61 per cent of workers were still employed. 

FROM THE PD: The Press Democrat and our affiliated papers, including the Sonoma Index-Tribune, the Petaluma Argus-Courier and the North Bay Business Journal, aren’t immune to the economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. We have reduced pages, and most employees outside the newsrooms are working fewer hours or for reduced wages. Some papers, including ours, qualified for Small Business Administration loans under the coronavirus relief bill passed by Congress. More federal funding is needed to assist small businesses of every kind.”

MORE FEDERAL FUNDING for every darn thing is going to be needed to stave off serious civil disorder. Food banks (not in Mendo yet) are beginning to run out of food and supply lines are breaking down.

ANON CALLER: "Can't you say anything good about McCowen?" Well, sure, he took good care of his elderly father, and he spends much of his free time cleaning up after the homeless. He may have other virtues I'm unaware of.

MONTMARTRE (Bearded Iris)

WEEK SIX OF COVID-19 LIFE

by Anne Fashauer

I last sat down to write on the 30th of March. Not too much has changed in my immediate world since that time. The days pass and I often don’t know the date, though I have kept track of the day of the week (so far). Things are starting to change in the outside world and it will be interesting to see how that may change my day to day reality.

We have done a lot of work on the Philo property. The vineyard fence line was becoming overgrown with brush and now we have cleared about 85% of that. We have done burn pile after burn pile. We have done a lot of mowing as well. My front yard has never looked so good. The vegetable starts are many and thriving and will soon be moved from the greenhouse to the actual garden beds, which have been prepped.

Our daily routine of meals is different now than before. We have a breakfast of a healthy smoothie, then I make large salads for our lunch. Dinner is often a vegetarian minestrone but sometimes it’s a steak out of the freezer with veggies on the side. We eat later now, as well; breakfast is often at 9 or 10am, lunch at 2 and dinner at 7:30 or 8. The three of us, my mom, my husband and I, often sit down for two or more meals a day together, something we didn’t always do.

I spend a lot less time on my computer, for better or for worse. I find when I do sit down I have several hours of work to do because I have put it off for a week. I do make time to do the New York Times crossword every day and I have completed two jigsaw puzzles and am working on a third. 

Real Estate is now considered “essential” but it comes with strings attached. We can do showings, but only for land or for vacant houses; we all have to wear masks and I must disinfect anything I or the clients touch. It feels weird, but everyone seems to understand. The number of calls and emails I get is way down, understandably. But the actual online viewing of listings is way, way up.

As always, I hope you and yours are doing well. I look forward to the day when we can all see each other again.

JUAN MARICHAL CLUBS JOHN ROSEBORO (1965)

Background: espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/13463881/juan-marichal-hit-john-roseboro-bat-ugly-baseball-brawl-50-years-ago

MYSTERY NEWSPAPER PUBLICATION

by Katy Tahja

There is nothing more frustrating to a local historian than finding an artifact and not being able to figure where the heck it came from, or when! The Held-Poage Library of the Mendocino County Historical Society is locked up tight as we all shelter in place so I did some internet searching. The object in question is a 10 page newspaper supplement from the late 1960s and what in journalism is referred to as a “puff piece.”

“You’re Invited” — big headline — “to a world of fun and relaxation — Lake Mendocino View Estates offers you the ultimate in leisure living.”

Who published this and when? Nowhere in the publication does it say. Did the realtor pay for it? My best guess is a 1969 publication date as a “new” book is reviewed that did indeed come out that year.

If I was a Ukiah old-timer I might be able to date it by the fact a “Jade World” store existed at 347 N. Main St. or that the Palace Hotel Coffee Shop was open. They both advertised in this paper along with Medico Drug at 200 N. State St. A Willits old-timer knew when the “House of Good Spirits” was open in the Van Hotel. The Willits Frontier Museum was at 23e Monroe St. and I assume that collection may now be part of the County Museum. The Rock Inn in Covelo bought space in the newspaper, as did the Boy’s Ranch of Emandal and Emandal River Resort.

 Like previous history books on the county there wasn’t a better place in the world to live. Ukiah valley had only a “mild” climate, with summers only “warm” and 40” to 60” of rain a year. Cow Mountain to the east of the lake was “towering.” The front page said Lake Mendocino View Estates would cover 850 acres and if you clipped the convenient coupon and mailed it to the realtor in Willits you’d get facts on 20 and 40 acre parcels. It was located on the north side of Highway 20 to the east of the boat ramps.

 The newspaper feature stories discussed bridges on the Mendocino Coast, state parks, Willits with Black Bart and the Frontier Museum and fishing. The Jackson State Forest maps showed Frazier Plantation south of the Camp 20 rest area on Highway 20. It had 30 acres of Monterey Pine planted in 1951 and in 1964 the trees were 12” in diameter and 75’ tall. I wonder if it’s been logged by now?

 Covelo was promoted in a story titled “Come Play and Stay in the Natives Hideaway” and a full page was given to year-round activities, golf courses, fishing streams, and maps. “Mendocino County Pleasure Map” had all text in lower case cursive script, was almost illegible, and I’d bet was drawn/composed by someone who had never been here. All images were of fat things, fat deer, sheep, hops, steers, golfers, swimmers, surf fisherman…everyone was chunky.Tipi’s were used to designate Indian Reservations and all lighthouses had barber shop pole stripes on them.

 In the story”Mountain Wilderness Awaits You” text on Round Valley promised “working cattle ranches, redskins and mountain lions” while praising activities in the Mendocino National Forest. Covelo was a “movie set for a frontier village.” An article called “Actinolite to Zussmanite” took you rockhounding to 66 localities, but was very vague. Leech Lake Mountain (which you can’t drive to any more because it is in a wilderness area) has Vesuvianite, Rodingite, Prehnite, Pectolite, and Hydrogrossular , but it does not say where…just that it is there.

 So all of this “puff” was to convince you to buy leisure property. Lake Mendocino View Estates had 20 and 40 acre plots and the 40 would cost you $17,500 in 1970. Property owners immediately began subdividing and it took until 1974 for actions by the Board of Supervisors to halt this. Around the same time Brooktrails Vacation Village west of Willits was offering 6,000 lots and Irish Beach parcels were $5,950 for a 1/3 acre plot.

This newspaper supplement is an interesting little chunk of mid-century county history and I’ll donate it to the Held-Poage Library when the doors open again so others can enjoy it too. It will be difficult for archivist Alyssa Ballard to categorize it in a file cabinet…Is it a newspaper? An advertisement? General county information? That’s her choice.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN BRIGADE, SPANISH CIVIL WAR

SUPPORT THE P.O.

Editor,

Support our post offices. Please buy stamps there. Send letters. Write. They are a value, a community resource, information, packages, and so much more.

When we have fires, no power, no Internet -- we need them! Always!

Concerned Neighbor

Boonville

A TRIP TO PANOCHE VALLEY

Editor:

For those AVA readers interested in California geography looking for a brief respite from coronavirus news:

I'm not sure if Bay Nature magazine (baynature.org) is sold up in Mendocino County, but in the current Spring 2020 issue there is an interesting article about one of California's lesser known mountain ranges, the Diablo Range, stretching 150 miles from Mount Diablo to the Antelope Valley in Kern County and rising to more than 5200 feet.

About 20 years ago a friend and I took a drive one Saturday through the Panoche Valley southwest of Hollister and then south by the New Idria (quicksilver or asbestos?) mines, long since abandoned. Then while heading west over the ridge toward our destination of King City we got stuck in mud on an unpaved road. But fortunately my friend had decided at the last minute before we left to bring tire chains so we got unstuck with time to spare before sundown.

The terrain around the Panoche Valley and New Idria is not exactly pretty, but kind of fascinating with rugged, dry, golden hills with some chaparral and occasional oaks and pines as we headed west over the ridge to King city.

There is an excellent two-page color map of the Diablo Range in the article.

Keith Bramstedt

San Anselmo

GOLDEN CROWNED SPARROW

I'LL HAVE A CUP!

Introducing: CBD-Infused Coffee

From Thanksgiving Coffee Company 

Turn your morning CBD into a cup of morning gold.

 A Fusion of Goodness

On this day of cannabis culture appreciation, we are pleased to introduce you to Mendocino Morning Gold, CBD Infused whole bean coffee: Mendocino Morning Gold

An amazingly well-balanced blend, rich & full bodied with lively undertones.

We have fine-tuned this unique fusion of exceptional CBD with our specialty coffee to perfection.

With 200mg of full spectrum CBD per package, you’ll get 5-6 mg of CBD in every 6 oz cup of coffee.

We are not experts in cannabis, (other than living in the heart of the Emerald Triangle for the last 47 years), so we enlisted the help of medical experts, award winning Cannabis Cup growers, and three testing labs to assist us in our CBD work, the goal being to match great coffee with great CBD.

MANCHESTER? MANCHESTER.

New Farm Stand in Manchester

Wavelength Farm has a Super cozy new road side farm stand at "My Sisters Marketplace" in Manchester located at 19850 CA-1, Manchester, CA 95459. 10 am - 5pm everyday. Support your local farmers.

Kelan Daniel <kelanilyadaniel@gmail.com>

PEONY

TODAY we start shining the light on 2020 SENIORS graduating from the AVHS Agriculture Dept. Some seniors have completed the Agriscience Pathway. Some have only taken one year of agriculture. They are all important to us!

Trivia - There are 11 seniors in the AVHS Agriculture program. Eight of those seniors have completed the Agriscience Pathway. One of those seniors also earned the California State FFA Degree. The highest degree the California FFA can award.

Question?

1. Who are the 11 seniors in the AVHS Agriculture Program?

2. Who are the 8 seniors completing the Agriscience Pathway?

3. Which senior earned the CA State FFA Degree?

Today's AVHS Ag. Dept Spotlight Senior is TSY QUINTANILLA! 

CONGRATULATIONS!

(Beth Swehla)

CHRIS CALDER NOTES: Everybody's in the Noyo Harbor docks because nobody's buying fish. SF restaurants and rich overseas folk are who buy a big part of the fresh/live catch from Noyo Harbor. Did you know a good part of California's crab catch gets flown to China...alive??? That ain't happenin now. Nothing reminds you about people knowing how to make it, no matter what, than talking to fishermen. Their wives take things to a whole other level.

CATCH OF THE DAY, April 23, 2020

ALFREDO CHI, Fort Bragg. Mandatory supervision sentencing.

FEERNANDO MACIAS, Fort Bragg. Attempted murder, two use-of-weapon enhancements, witness intimidation, DUI, probation revocation.

BRANDON WIARD, Ukiah. Burglary tools, probation revocation.

THERE ARE MANY DIMENSIONS to the ways that we are going to need to reorganize life on the ground in America. We’re just not willing to think about these things or take that step. There is the whole question of the cities and the suburbs. As I have already said, the suburbs are future-less. They are going to fail. It is a living arrangement that is over with. And by the way, I might as well mention, my new theory of history, which states that things happen because they seem like a good idea at the time. Building suburbia seemed like a good idea at the time. Now times have changed, it’s not such a good idea anymore, and we’re stuck with it.

The cities are a whole other matter. Their failures will come from rather different reasons. They simply are not scaled to the capital and resource realities of the future. We’re not going to be able to pay for their services and their maintenance. We have problems with mega-structures and skyscrapers. There are buildings that are going to turn overnight from assets to liabilities. And that, by the way, is already happening with the latest generation of super-gigantic residential skyscrapers in Manhattan. They have already instantly become liabilities, not assets.

So the cities are going to contract, the process is going to be unappetizing, and probably will involve conflict over who gets to inhabit the parts of the cities that retain their value, like the waterfronts and the old cores, and a lot of parts of the cities won’t have any value anymore, so they will get smaller. And where are people going to go? Well, I think a lot of the action is going to have to return to the smaller towns, the smaller cities, and in particular, the places that have a meaningful relationship with agriculture and food production. And these are ideas that are so off the charts and so off the reservation in the normal discourse of American economics that we don’t even hear about it, and we’re going to have to start thinking about these things. 

— James Kunstler

LESS THAN ZERO

HANNITY KILLS

Sean Hannity's Fox News show helped spread of coronavirus, study suggests

The authors concluded that Fox News viewers who watched Hannity's show were less likely to follow social distancing guidelines, and that areas where Hannity viewership was higher tended to correlate to higher rates of infection and death.

independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/coronavirus-sean-hannity-fox-news-tucker-carlson-study-university-chicago-covid-19-a9479026.html

GOLDFINCH

STEP IT UP, GAV

Editor,

An open letter to our governor Gavin Newsom:

You gave a pass to the known baby killers on death row to keep on living, watching TV, getting fed, etc., when they should hang now.

Then you let prisoners out infected with the virus who were supposed to go somewhere and ended up going somewhere else, possibly infecting towns with no cases.

Are you nuts? Why are you Governor? Because you are related to Nancy Pelosi or Diane Feinstein? Not because you have any common sense.

Our cops deserve better. Can you please do a better job?

Tom Madden

County/Ukiah

THE WAR ON US

AVA,

I remember the ‘War of the Worlds’ when the Earth's virus defeated the invading army from Mars. We are now experiencing the reverse — the virus is kicking our earth's population collectively and so it goes.

Join us in vigorous prayer for divine intervention to save us from our medical and political current disaster. God bless our front-line workers. Shelter, wash your hands, don your face masks and howl, quake or whatever — hopefully this too shall pass.

Alan ‘Captain Fathom’ Graham

Albion

STOPPING TRUMP’S DEMONIC REVERSALS OF THE LONG-TERM BENEFITS OF THE FIRST EARTH DAY

by Ralph Nader

Earth Day, April 22, 1970 was the most consequential demonstration of civic energy in modern American history. Engaging nearly 20 million Americans participating in about 13,000 local events, this first Earth Day changed corporate and government policies through popular demands for clean air, water, soil and food.

Senator Gaylord Nelson launched Earth Day, having tired of Congressional inaction and the power of the corporate pollution lobby. Earth Day quickly became a grassroots educational and action-driven week of activities that aroused the country.

Even reactionary President Nixon quickly planted a tree on the White House South lawn in recognition of the public support for environmentalism after he saw the huge turnouts at rallies and marches.

Imagine the environmental threats fifty years ago. Cities were choking with motor vehicle and factory pollution. Los Angeles was smog-land. Air pollution caused respiratory disease and stung your eyes. The Cuyahoga river near Cleveland, slick with oil, would catch on fire. Birmingham, Alabama’s steel mills turned the air into a brownish haze.

I spoke at several large rallies on the first Earth Day and during “Earth Week” alongside environmental leaders, including the great David Brower and dynamic Professor Barry Commoner. The energy at the gatherings made indentured politicians nervous. Eleven thousand schools, colleges, and universities hosted events focusing on local deadly poison hotspots and challenging state capitols and the Congress.

Mass media coverage was spectacular. All the TV networks, the covers of Time and Newsweek (a big deal then) and the popular daytime TV talk shows (Phil Donahue, Merv Griffin and Mike Douglas) – national and local media provided saturation coverage coast to coast.

There was a huge rally on the Mall in Washington, DC, which was very visible to a wary Nixon in the White House and lawmakers in Congress. Hearing the rumble of the people supported by scientists and health specialists, Nixon and members of Congress knew they had to enact environmental protections.

Within three years Congress produced sweeping, unsurpassed, landmark laws such as the Clean Air Act, Clear Water Act, and the Endangered Species Act. New laws also created the EPA, OSHA, and the White House Council on Environmental Quality. New environmental groups (Greenpeace, Public Citizen, Friends of the Earth, NRDC, and EDF) joined the earlier organizations such as the Sierra Club to strengthen the civic bedrock for environmental advocacy and watchdogging.

Out of Earth Day came many of the young authors, filmmakers, and leaders of the next half century of environmental action. They included Denis Hayes, lead coordinator of Earth Day 1970, David Zwick of Clean Water Action, Professor Paul Erlich, Selma Rubin, and Dr. Brent Blackwelder. Later the environmental justice movement stressed that poor communities are exposed to the most lethal dumping grounds and deadly emissions.

Although, constantly obstructed by corporate polluters, the air and water did become cleaner. There is far less lead in most, not all human bodies (note Flint, Michigan), and far less asbestos in your lungs. Both substances are banned from most consumer product uses.

Adam Rome, a University of Buffalo environmental historian, documented what happened on and after the first Earth Day in his book The Genius of Earth Day. He said the intensity of local organizers is largely missing from climate and environmental activism today.

Anybody doubting this observation should take note of how dangerous Donald and a supine Congress are failing to protect our environment. Trump is viciously unraveling the established protections to flood your families with more mercury, soot, coal ash, cancerous pesticides, dirtier drinking water and toxic workplaces. What Trump calls “deregulation” is increasing death, disease, and property damage in America by taking the federal cops off the corporate poison beat.

Dumb, disgraceful Donald still sneers at the oncoming climate catastrophe, calling it a hoax. His arrogant ignorance is scuttling federal programs and scientific research on climate, destroying restrictions on greenhouse gases produced by the fossil fuel giants, and inviting them to further exploit federal wilderness lands and offshore areas. Despite the massive oil flooding of the Gulf by B.P Oil company 10 years ago, disgraceful Trump is loosening restrictions on drillers imposed after the Deep Water Horizon disaster. The consequences for the fishing and tourist industry once again could be devastating.

The omnicidal Republican’s controlling the Senate support Trump’s reckless agenda regardless of the environmental harm done to their own families. The Democrats, controlling the House complain about gridlock. Unfortunately, with few exceptions, they are not racing to again impeach Trump, or demand his resignation, if only to rid the nation of his chaotic scapegoating, and the ego-maniacal, self-contradicting, colossal mismanagement regarding the corona-virus crisis. It is time to stop the further preventable loss of life caused by Trump’s fibbing, flailing and daily failures to process reliable information and lead.

Trump’s resignation should be the grassroots focus of today’s Earth Day and become every day’s popular demand for the sake of American lives and health.

(Ralph Nader is a consumer advocate, lawyer and author of Only the Super-Rich Can Save Us!)

SOME PROGRESSIVES ARE IN DENIAL ABOUT TRUMP’S FASCIST MOMENTUM

by Norman Solomon

Two years after Donald Trump won the presidency, the author of “How Fascism Works” assessed him in a video. “It might seem like an exaggeration to call Trump a fascist,” Yale professor Jason Stanley said. “I mean, he’s not calling for a genocide or imprisoning his own people without due process. But… if you use history and philosophy as a guide, it’s easy to see parallels between Trump’s words and those of the most reviled fascists in history. That scares me, and it should scare you too.”

Drawing on his decade of studying fascist propaganda, Stanley concluded: “If you’re not worried about encroaching fascism in America, before long it will start to feel normal. And when that happens, we’re all in trouble.”

We’re all in trouble.

Trumpism has started to feel normal. Trump stands a good chance of winning re-election in November. And his odds have improved because the Democratic Party is expected to nominate an abysmal candidate.

For ample good reasons, many progressives disdain Joe Biden. He has a long record as a corporate servant, ally of racial injustice and avid supporter of the military-industrial complex. Now, in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, he scarcely seems able to articulate anything worthwhile.

In short, as the two contenders with a chance to win the presidential race, Biden and Trump are offering a choice between neo-liberalism and neo-fascism.

To hear a small but significant portion of the U.S. left tell it these days, that’s not a meaningful choice. Some say preventing the re-election of Trump isn’t important. That amounts to ignoring political reality, an evasion with potentially vast consequences.

“We should make no mistake,” longtime progressive journalist Juan González said days ago, “that this country is edging closer and closer to neo-fascist authoritarianism.”

That reality doesn’t stop some on the left from evading it -- preferring to conflate the two major parties to a degree akin to denial.

Earlier this month, I listened to a discussion that included an eminent left author who flatly declared that on “all major issues” there is “no real difference between the Democratic and Republican parties.” A preposterous claim.

Soon afterward, I read an article by an editor at a high-quality left magazine that displayed odd complacency about whether or not Trump gets a second term: “The most likely outcome if he wins re-election is not a crude dictatorship, but further erosion of civil liberties within the existing political framework. Opposition parties and media will still be able to function. The people who suffer the worst forms of oppression under Trump will be the immigrants and ethnic minorities whose rights are routinely violated under Republican and Democratic presidencies alike.”

Really? It won’t matter to “immigrants and ethnic minorities” whether Trump is president for another four years?

When there’s a genuine threat of sliding into fascism, the left has an overarching responsibility to fight against the momentum of the extreme right. Sometimes that requires a broad coalition.

The left in France was correct when, in 2017, it united with a corporate centrist to defeat neo-fascist National Front candidate Marine Le Pen in the runoff election for president. In 2020, for the United States, the dangers are no less grave.

It’s true that leading “moderate” Democrats and even some self-described “progressives” have routinely functioned as enablers for the rightward tilt of national politics -- a bad dynamic that has continued on Capitol Hill in the midst of the pandemic under leadership from Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer. Not wanting to seem obstructionist often ends up being helpful to right-wing agendas.

But here’s a key point: People who deny or downplay the real threat of neo-fascism consolidating itself via Trump’s re-election are, in effect, serving as enablers for the forces of the virulent extreme right that already controls so much of the U.S. government.

“It’s important to remember that right now, the issue of greatest urgency is to get rid of the malignancy in the White House,” Noam Chomsky said in an interview last week. “If we don’t do that, everything else pales into insignificance. To keep this for another four years means racing to the abyss on global warming, possibly reaching irreversible tipping points, sharply increasing the threat of nuclear war, stuffing the judiciary with young, ultra-right, mostly unqualified lawyers who will guarantee that anything to the left of Attila the Hun can’t survive for a generation, and on and on. This is top priority.”

In that video interview with The Intercept, Chomsky added: “There’s a thing called arithmetic. You can debate a lot of things, but not arithmetic. Failure to vote for Biden in this election in a swing state amounts to voting for Trump. Takes one vote away from the opposition, same as adding one vote to Trump. So, if you decide you want to vote for the destruction of organized human life on Earth… then do it openly… But that’s the meaning of ‘Never Biden’.”

In “How Fascism Works,” Professor Stanley addressed “fascist politics” -- and repeatedly used that term when describing the Trump-led Republican Party.

For those in the USA who recoil at applying such a phrase to today, preferring to call it hyperbole, Stanley’s book sheds clear light on an insidious process that normalizes and obscures: “Normalization of fascist ideology, by definition, would make charges of ‘fascism’ seem like an overreaction, even in societies whose norms are transforming along these worrisome lines. Normalization means precisely that encroaching ideologically extreme conditions are not recognized as such because they have come to seem normal. The charge of fascism will always seem extreme; normalization means that the goalposts for the legitimate use of ‘extreme’ terminology continually move.”

Meanwhile, Stanley wrote, “Fascist politics exchanges reality for the pronouncements of a single individual, or perhaps a political party. Regular and repeated obvious lying is part of the process by which fascist politics destroys the information space. A fascist leader can replace truth with power, ultimately lying without consequence. By replacing the world with a person, fascist politics makes us unable to assess arguments by a common standard. The fascist politician possesses specific techniques to destroy information spaces and break down reality.”

Sound familiar?

(Norman Solomon is co-founder and national director of RootsAction.org. He was a Bernie Sanders delegate from California to the 2016 Democratic National Convention. Solomon is the author of a dozen books including “War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death.”)

FOUND OBJECT