MCT: Sunday, June 21, 2020

• Above Normal
• Trump Rally
• Oklacovid
• Poetry Broadcast
• Jail Courtroom
• Mendocino Harbor
• Police Oversight
• Pet Jack
• Educational Resources
• Petition Numbers
• White Iris
• Burgeoning Plantations
• Old Willits
• Financial Audits
• Laytonville Cowboys
• Safeway Unmasked
• Grange Drive-In
• Ed Notes
• Ridgewood Summit
• Incline Railways
• Walter Fritsch
• Mask Mandate
• Yesterday's Catch
• Ethel's Diary
• X Notice
• PV High
• Expendable People
• Young Fox
• Stressful Life
• Early Covelo
• Sex Talk
• Covelo Stage
• Talkers Talking
• Fake People
• Connecting Dots
• Just Kidding
• Confederate Boor
• Marco Radio
• Found Object

ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES across the interior will trend even hotter for much of the coming week. More seasonable conditions can be expected at the coast. (National Weather Service)

‘SAVING OUR COUNTRY’: TRUMP'S MOST LOYAL SUPPORTERS TURN OUT AT TULSA RALLY

The arena was half full, but those in attendance didn’t socially distance and were unfazed by the lack of masks

by Oliver Laughland

Tulsa, Oklahoma — The arena may have only been half full. The queues relatively small. But Donald Trump’s return rally, held in the midst of a pandemic and against local public health advice, still drew thousands of the president’s most loyal followers.

Unperturbed by the spread of a virus that has no cure, mostly uninterested by gentle guidance to wear protective face masks, and unfazed by the complete lack of social distancing inside the BOK Center in downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma – many Trump supporters drew their faith in protection from the virus from other forces.

“When we charged the beaches in Normandy it was dangerous also,” said Christopher Miller, 50. “And right now I believe we’re trying to save our country for my children.”

Miller, who was not wearing a face mask as he walked towards the center, was accompanied by his wife and young son. Asked if he was concerned about local health officials cautioning the event could lead to unmitigated spread of the virus, which has so far claimed 119,000 lives, he said he was not. Why?

“The Lord Jesus Christ. He gives us not fear but the spirit of power and love.”

For Sherrill Sellman, a naturopathic doctor and self-described health writer, it was faith in her own immune system and a belief that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had inflated the number of Covid-19 deaths in the country.

“We’re not getting the full story, so I don’t buy these statistics. And I’m educated,” she said, confirming she would not wear a mask unless it was “absolutely mandated”.

Outside the BOK center a mixture of armed militia groups, conspiracy theorists and vendors – one selling a four volume collection that was simply reprints of Donald Trump’s tweets – meant that journalists were occasionally confronted for wearing masks and other protective gear and trying to social distance.

The InfoWars host and internet troll Owen Shroyer, declined to speak to the Guardian unless face masks were removed during the interview. “Enjoy your slavery,” he said, when his request was refused.

Josh Cupps, 34 and a member of the Bikers For Trump group, had arrived on a motorcycle with his wife, Cupid, and around 50 other members of the group. Most were armed and Cupps and his wife both displayed their holstered Glock pistols as they spoke. None had plans to go inside the arena.

“I’m here to keep the protesters at bay,” he said. “If they start destroying and raising hell, we’re going to go and stop them.”

Although counter protests remained almost entirely peaceful, on Saturday night after the president spoke a small group were pepper balled by police who also fired bean bag rounds, according to witnesses.

Large swathes of police in riot gear and armored vehicles patrolled throughout the day. National guard troops holding long rifles were situated at perimeter lines around the arena.

Inside the half packed arena, many people queued for popcorn and hotdogs, none observing social distancing. Despite the fact the venue was nowhere near capacity, attendees still sat next to each other.

Outwardly, however, members of Trump’s inner circle had been saying on Saturday morning that they hoped attendees would socially distance and wear masks. Trump’s former lawyer, Pam Bondi, who represented the president during his impeachment trial in the senate, told the Guardian in a brief exchange at a nearby hotel.

“We hope that people are going to stay socially distanced, are going to wear a mask, [use] hand sanitizer and be respectful of each other,” Bondi said but conceded: “It’s not a legal requirement, it’s people’s own free choice. But we hope everyone will be peaceful and happy and have a great rally and social distance”

Less than a mile away at the John Hope Franklin Reconciliation park, the site of a memorial to the 1921 Tulsa race massacre, one of the worst episodes of racist violence in American history, a group of around 250 Black Lives Matter protesters held quiet vigil.

“The real Tulsa is right here,” said Mark Whited, a leader of the Black Lives Matter chapter of Tulsa. “Tulsa is a city of love… Tulsa is a community that comes together, a lot of us stand up for what is right.”

He pointed towards the arena: “Our event today was about nothing other than unity and inclusion. Not of separation and division over there.”

(Guardian.com)

MENDOCINO SPRING POETRY * SUNDAY JUNE 21 * 3-5 PM

Mendocino Spring Poetry Celebration 2020

35th Anniversary * 15th consecutive revival

That shot is not crisp but there’s Dan, looking like a saint in a cathedral niche. At latest, he has completed 14 hours editing of audio files, recorded by smartphone, and emailed to 2020 Mendocino Spring Poetry Celebration for broadcast on his KZYX radio program RhythmRunningRiver — more than 100 poems, contributed by 49 poets. That matches last year’s all-time high number of poets who gathered at the Hill House, for the 14th revival.

Proceedings continue on this solstice Sunday, June 21, 3:00-5:00 pm Pacific at kzyx.org, Mendocino County Public Broadcasting, 89.1 FM Fort Bragg, 90.7 FM Philo, 91.5 FM Willits & Ukiah. Shows will be archived for a time and available at jukebox.kzyx.org.

As producer of the annual Celebration, it was my hope to speak of next Sunday’s June 21 broadcast as the Main Event, but happily the Main Event now includes Dan’s broadcasts of poetry and music from his preceding program of June 7, until about August 8, when all contributing poets will have been heard, in balanced combination of vets and new voices with music. 

Thankfully, the Spring harvest is bountiful. Here are the poets who managed to leap the distancing: Blake More, Bobb Dobb, Chris Olander, Clare Bercot, Dan Barth, Dan Essman, Dan Hess, David Duret, Devreaux Baker, Jabez Churchill, Janferie Stone, Janice Marcell, Jay Frankston, Joe Smith, John Perrill, Joy LaClaire, Karen Lewis, Karin Uphoff, Kate Dougherty, Kirk Lumpkin, Martin Hickel, Mary Buckley, Mary Rose Kaczorowski, Melissa Eleftherion Carr, Oasis, Michael Riedell, Mary Norbert Korte, Penny Walker, Gretchen Meyer-Hoffman, Lydia Rand, Richard Alcott, Roberta Werdinger, Robin Rule, Steve Derwinski, Tara Sufiana, TS Casey, Thomas Roberdeau, Theresa Whitehill, Virginia Sharkey, William Allen, Gordon Black, Dan Roberts, Marilyn Motherbear Scott, WJ Ray, Jephthah Ikeh, Armand Brint, Bill Bruneau, JoeyD, and Mark McGovern. 

The 15th consecutive Mendocino Spring Poetry Celebration seems to be docking smartly! Here follows a note from Dan Roberts to his email list (which you can join to get playlists and download links). Dan Roberts has 30 years of experience broadcasting poetry, and his approach to segues of poems with music is singular. 

Gordon Black

---

Dear All,

46 poets sent me their smartphone poems, many sent 2 or 3 poems. Amazing variety, all well done. I edited (fixed beginnings and ends, took out pops, and applied noise reduction) only to improve broadcast quality, and I have over 100 poems ready to be aired in the next few months of RhythmRunningRiver. (first and third Sunday of each month) 

The number of poems made me think, where do I start? So I decided to pick 25 poems, some of every level of the art, and tried to match them with a musical piece in between. I like how the first hour sounds, you will as well. I need to get the whole show done by Friday afternoon because I am not going into town yet. I ended up with 11 poems in the first hour, think there will be 9 or 10 in the second hour. 

I did not choose any poets whose work was used in the previous show (June 7). I know we used the term “main event" in promotion. I do not believe that this is a selection of only the very best. Please do not feel slighted if yours is not in this particular show. The succeeding shows will be of equal quality. I promise that I will air at least one of every poet's work in the next 4 shows, as I always have. I really try to be democratic about the whole thing. 

So tune in this Sunday from 3-5, I will send you the playlist by Saturday and put you on my mailing list for future shows. Thank you for being part of yet another experiment in 2020. 

Dan Roberts

www.outfarpress.com 

outfarpress@saber.net 

SHERIFF KENDALL’S COURTROOM AT THE JAIL

Item 5h: Discussion and Possible Action Regarding the Repurpose of the Sheriff’s Office Training Room (Building II, Donovan Room) into a New Courtroom; Development of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Mendocino County Superior Court for the Use of the Proposed Courtroom for Inmate Judicial Hearings; and Direction to MCSO Staff to Pursue Potential Non-General Fund Alternatives for the New Courtroom 

(Sponsor: Sheriff-Coroner) 

Recommended Action: Approve the repurpose of the Sheriff's Office Training Room (Building II, Donovan Room) into a new courtroom; subject to the development of a five year (minimum) MOU with the Mendocino County Superior Court for their use of the proposed courtroom for inmate judicial hearings; subject to the development of a favorable cost/benefit analysis that includes impacts to the District Attorney, Probation, and Public Defender and relocation costs; subject to MCSO staff successfully securing non-General Fund to pay for the costs associated with constructing and setting up this new courtroom. 

SS ROMULUS, MENDO HARBOR

A GLANCE at the Agenda package for next Tuesday’s Supervisors meeting shows eight or ten letters in support of the Haschack/Williams Police Review Commission proposal and no letters in opposition. Three or four of the pro-commission letters, however, are form letters indicating that the “support” is bordering on robotic. Neither the Haschak/Williams axis nor the letter writers offer anything remotely like an explanation for why such a commission is necessary in Mendocino County. 

When he was running for Supervisor, Supervisor Williams declared that he “supported data-driven decision making.” Yet here’s this off-the-wall proposal without a bit of data, much less any evidence of preparation or analysis or rationale. How much would this commission cost? What information would they review and who would provide it to them and at what cost? What are the legal implications? Is a lawyer required on the commission and at what cost? What would be the timing and deadlines of such “oversight”? What potential good could come from it — besides the purely symbolic existence of the committee? What have other similar counties done? What is the documented benefit in those counties? Mendo has the benefit of three home-grown, highly accessible top cops and, in Willits, a black police chief. Is there a problem with, cough, “systemic racism” in Mendocino County? If so, describe it. 

WE MIGHT BE OPEN to the idea of a police review or oversight commission in the abstract, but the proposers of the idea, including the “supervisors” who put it on the agenda in an obvious knee-jerk manner, seem to have cart way before the horse, in fact we don’t even see a horse. 

IF WILLIAMS/HASCHAK are so enamored of the idea of (unnecessary and cumbersome and ineffectual) law enforcement oversight, why not apply the same blunderbus to Mental Health? Oh wait — Supervisor Williams and the rest of the Board have been asking for useful reporting about Mental Health for literally years now and have yet to get a single response. Are mental health services — especially emergency mental health services where cops are called — being provided in a color-blind manner? We doubt it, but nobody has proposed an oversight board of them. And even if they did, it’s guaranteed to end up looking like the Measure B Committee or the Climate Change Committee — and we all know how well those operations are working.

Mark Scaramella

UKIAH SHELTER PET OF THE WEEK

Jack is a happy, enthusiastic and high energy dog who would love a home with lots of outdoor space where he can bound about and explore. Jack is friendly with dogs and has had some exposure to cats, and it’s reported he did well with them. Jack enjoys car rides, running, and doesn't mind grooming, except when it comes to bath time! Jack is housebroken. This handsome dude will need some basic training. If you’re looking for a running partner and have plenty of outdoor space, Jack could be the perfect match. Jack is 4 years old, 74 pounds and neutered—so he’s ready to amble out the shelter door with you today! 

To see our canine and feline guests, and for information about our services, programs, events, and updates about the county covid-19 closure and the shelter, visit: mendoanimalshelter.com We're on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/mendoanimalshelter/ For information about adoptions please call 707-467-6453. There’s more about Jack on his webpage: http://www.mendoanimalshelter.com/dogblog/jack 

IN DOWNTOWN BOONVILLE ON HWY 128 ON FRIDAY ACROSS FROM POST OFFICE

A LOOK AT HOW FORT BRAGG 'PETITIONS' ARE GOING

KEEPING THE NAME STILL AHEAD 1,904 TO 1,181

MSP thought we'd look how the "Battle of the Petitions" was going Saturday @ 11:30 am and found those that want the City Council to keep a "hands-off" policy to a name change was still leading - but narrowly.

Last time we checked, the "hands-off" petition (by Ryan Bushnell) had 1,400 signatures.

The first name change petition (by Bob Bushansky) last we checked, had 540 signatures - it jumped to 1,181 by today.

The third petition (by MendoCoast BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) had 219 signatures, it now has 633.

Of course, these petitions don't mean anything. Ony residents of the City of Fort Bragg (read: voters) will have any say if it comes down to the ballot box..

(MendocinoSportsPlus)

TOO MANY GROWS IN NAVARRO

Dear Mr. Williams and other Supervisors, 

I am a resident of the Rancho Navarro subdivision near Navarro. I have lived there for about ten years. I am a staff engineer at SHN Consulting Engineers and Geologists. My wife is a winemaker and manager at an Anderson Valley winery. We have two young daughters. 

I am writing to you to bring your attention to the damages caused by some (not all) of the commercial-scale marijuana grows in my neighborhood. 

Specifically, the level of activity and traffic due to permitted and unpermitted grows is antithetical to the rural residential purpose of our community and homeowners association. 

There is an outlandish level of water truck traffic that is damaging our fragile road network. Laborers and out-of-town workers constantly cycle in and out of the community and, at times, speed through the neighborhood. 

The level of growing activity is above and beyond the typical activity of years ago. Most of the large-scale grows are not owner-occupied and are just plantations for business operations. 

I respectfully request that the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors does not allow for the increase in sizes of growing operations nor extend permit timelines. 

It seems as though, as predicted by many at the start of the County permit program, that the County will eventually just fade out of their permit program and default to State regulations. It is my sincere hope that this does not result in larger operations with even heavier impacts on my residential community. 

I know that growing marijuana for business purposes has been a livelihood in my neighborhood long before I moved in, but the trends keep getting worse and worse. It would be helpful if the County could recognize our desire to maintain a residential-first priority and assist with creating a system that doesn't treat our neighborhood just as a place to make a dollar. 

Thank you,

Kirk Vodopals

Navarro

WILLITS, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s

SUPERVISOR WILLIAMS:

Mendocino County departments could all use financial audits. Before I can support the Sheriff's budget proposal including $570k for 10 new vehicles (6 patrol, 2 K9, 1 command and 1 truck) next year at a cost of cuts to other departments, I want assurance that the timing is absolutely necessary. Our budgeting process makes ranking needs across departments difficult to gauge. These vehicles might in fact be necessary due to condition of existing fleet, but from the available reports and discussions, there is no way for me to be certain. We've talked about strategic planning. I'm now of the mind that audits are the first step. An audit sounds accusatory, but this is not the intent at all. The intent is to determine if we can structure contracts and purchases to facilitate a more robust local government, including public safety. Raw transparency: there isn't enough information on the table to make responsible decisions. All departments need audit.

LAYTONVILLE COYBOYS, 1890s

UNMASKED AT SAFEWAY

To The Editor:

Today was the second time I have shopped at the Ukiah Safeway and seen customers not wearing masks. Although there is a sign at the entrance saying facial covering is required, there is no store employee there to enforce the rule.

I told the fellow ringing up my purchases that I didn’t like standing behind the unmasked woman ahead of me in line. I also asked him to notify the management of the violations of the county rules. He said they already knew, but can’t stop it. I have recently been to Walmart and Costco; both stores have employees at the door to refuse entry to unmasked shoppers.

The Ukiah Valley is experiencing a surge in Covid-19 transmissions right now. I would think local businesses would be aware not only of the rules and penalties, but the danger to loyal customers and their employees of not enforcing those rules consistently. Is this the policy of Safeway stores everywhere, or just a problem with our local one?

Katherine J. Houston, 

Ukiah

DRIVE IN MOVIE AT THE AV GRANGE

ED NOTES

I'M HARDLY the only person in our crumbling land having a hard time keeping up with events, the headliner today being the Trump rally in Tulsa where a Trumper dressed in a Wall suit, as in Build The Wall, is standing next to a guy who, with a straight face says to the tv reporter, "I'm proud to have a stable genius as my president," adding, "look what he's accomplished." Maybe these two guys are a comedy team infiltrating the grand comedy that's a Trump rally, but nobody around them was laughing.

SPEAKING of laff riots, try this proposal from Mendocino County's Climate Change Committee, a subcommittee thereof: List of proposed actions: "Identify and resolve other regulatory barriers to local climate-positive action, for example, the County could allow two parking spaces to be turned into one EV charging station even if it results in the loss of one code required parking space. Explore the zoning code for other similar limitations."

MENDO'S ELECTION PECULIARITIES present candidates for supervisor almost a full year before they take office, and in that long interim? Silence on Mendo-specific current issues from the candidates, Mo Mulheren and Mari Rodin of the 2nd District (mostly Ukiah) and Jon Kennedy and Glenn McGourty of the 1st District (mostly greater Ukiah, Redwood Valley and Potter Valley). Of course they all have issue-vague, facebook pages but we'd like to hear from them on what the supervisors are doing in real time and whether or not they agree with the supes on this or that issue. Police oversight board? The proposed budget? Opinions on how the county is handling the covid crisis? The proposed county courthouse? How to house the shelter-challenged?

JEEZ, this blunder from a math professor at Laney College to his Vietnamese student: "Your name in English sounds like Fuck. If I lived in Vietnam and my name in your language sounded like Eat a Dick, I would change it to avoid embarrassment both on my part and on the part of the people who had to say it. I understand you are offended, but you need to understand your name is an offensive sound in my language. I repeat my request."

THE ENSUING SWOON at the pure incorrectness of this statement from everywhere in the Bay Area and, by now, the United States, could be heard all the way up to Boonville. The nutty prof has been put on leave. (Hell, in the current context he could be killed if he said something like this in the wrong place.)

I UNDERSTAND standards have slipped (plummeted) but an old man talking like this to a young female student? Natch, there soon followed this whining statement of the obvious from the school's tongue-tied administration: "On the surface this incident is obviously disturbing and comes after decades of discussing and working to combat structural racism, xenophobia, and violence in both the Black and Asian Pacific Islander community. While our mission has been bold and unrelenting, we also recognize that our college and its community is a reflection of broader society and we must actively fight ignorance with education. We do not tolerate racism, discrimination or oppression of any kind."

MANY YEARS AGO, in a place where time had stood still, I was teaching a class of Malay students from a strict and very tough Brit-drafted colonial curriculum when the lesson got around to the founding of Pakistan and mention of the then-prime minister of that country, Bhutto, which means “penis” in Malay. General hilarity was rare in the grim cramming that was the run-up to rigorous examinations didn't permit much in the way of funnsies, because passing those exams determined who went on for more school and probably a cush government job and who went to work on the sago plantations. But Prime Minister Penis brought down the house. (BTW, the only discipline "problem" in that outback school on the South China Sea? As exams approached students would try to stay up to study after lights out!)

IF I WERE Ms. Phuc's instructor I'd work around the pronunciation dilemma presented by her surname by pronouncing it 'Fook.' Or maybe 'Huck,' slurring the pronunciation into a mild throat-clearing sound. 'Hook' might do the trick while at the same time passing yourself off as a native speaker.

RIDGEWOOD SUMMIT

NORTH COAST INCLINE RAILWAYS

by Katy M. Tahja

One of my favorite discoveries studying history is how creativity and ingenuity solved problems, like moving really BIG things. Incline railways were one such invention. These rail lines had nicknames for their many parts—they were “sidehill railroads” using “gravity systems” to run “log slide engines” and “dropping machines.” Basically what the systems accomplished was moving logs or lumber in really steep terrain.

When logging started on the North Coast oxen and horses pulled logs on skid roads to sawmills, or rivers where logs could be floated to the mill. Next came Donkey Engines, stationary steam engines on skids with rotary gears and cable attachments. Logs could then be mechanically pulled to one spot next to a railroad where they were loaded to go to a mill.

Railroads were great, when they arrived, if land was flat and the grade gentle, but the North Coast was full of mountains. Raising costs, and rising terrains, led timber barons to consider a new sort of railroad. It was expensive to blast tunnels or design switchback tracks to gain elevation and darned if those redwoods didn’t like to grow on ridge tops. So to save miles of track building engineers figured out that they could lay out tracks that just went straight up hill for miles. Inspired by tramways designed for mining underground they adapted the idea for logging. By the 1890’s strong wire cable rope was available for the job.

Engineers imagined a system to lower flat cars loaded with logs down a very steep railroad grade while empty cars were pulled back to the top, where logs were waiting. Put a special Donkey Engine or a stationary locomotive on top of the ridge, invent a good braking system, and find a crew unafraid of heights. Workers joked it was a rare sensation to find oneself standing up while lying down hanging on for dear life as they rode the empty flatcars up the hill.

The mightiest incline ever built in the West was near Yosemite. The starting point was the Merced River and the end was 3,100’ up hill. It took 8,300’ of spooled cable and a 76% grade to get there. In later years there were inclines longer in length but never that steep. Grades of 60% and 70% were not unusual on inclines in Oregon and Washington. Can you imagine how big a spool of wire needed to be to wind up 1,300’ of steel cable? They were massive.

Loma Prieta Lumber Company south by Aptos had an incline with a 600’ gain in elevation in one mile. Know that ski resort in the Sierra at Incline Village? Sierra Nevada Lumber Company started there an incline railway there to lift cars of finished lumber 1,800’ to the Sierra crest so they could be slid down to Nevada in the east.

Humboldt County had 28 inclines for eight different logging companies and one became a tourist attraction. California Barrel Company had a 5,400’ incline that crossed what is now Highway 299 on a trestle. Cars could pull off the road near Lord Ellis Summit to watch loaded flatcars flashing by overhead in the 1930’s. There were eight inclines south of Scotia from 3,200’ to 6,700’ long. Bear Harbor had one 1,900’ long that rose 600’ at a grade of 31%. With a complicated design rails separated to four tracks at midpoint to allow ascending and descending cars to pass one another.

Here on the Mendocino Coast Caspar Lumber Company had four inclines. Called Bouten’s Tramway two were on the north fork of Caspar Creek and near Berry Gulch. A third was on the north side of Big River near McGuire’s Hill near Highway 20 and a fourth incline was near Parlin Fork on Three Chop Ridge.

As a concession to the laws of physics if a grade was steeper than 35% the crews chained the logs down so they didn’t fall off the rail cars head first. There were bumpers on each end of the flat car beds. This was a high maintenance operation as there was a lot of friction on the wire cables. A broken line sent logs and men flying through the air. Incline railways were used from the 1890’s to the 1940’s. Their routes to are invisible to us today as timber has regrown and covered the incline track beds.

If readers would like to know more about incline railways try reading (if you can find the out-of-print jewels) “Logging Railroads of the West” by Kramer Adams, “Redwood Lumber Industry” by Lynwood Carranco, and “Mallets on the Redwood Coast: Caspar Lumber Company” by Ted Wurm.

REMEMBERING WALTER FRITSCH

by Paul Modic

I never imagined I would shed a tear for that gruff old guy yet here I am sobbing as I write this thinking about how they wouldn't let him take a walk down the hall with his walker his last time in the hospital. (I had called him “my seventy-five-year-old yard boy” behind his back, never took him for that beer I talked about, and had casually replaced him as my weed whacker engineer with someone younger.)

I first met Walter when I moved into town to a place where he had been hauling away the recycling and garbage for the residents. I had left a fan for the new heater out there near the garbage and when I remembered to go get it found it was gone. When I asked Walter he wasn't having any of it.

After a while I hired him to do the weed whacking and we got a little friendly. Once I asked him what he did before he came to Garberville. “Well, I used to be a carpenter,” he said with a tiny grin, “but I wasn't a very good one.”

The only time I ever went to his house, a little three acre piece up a short driveway past the airport, was when I hadn't noticed him around for awhile. I asked Pam Hanson, the owner of the Woodrose Cafe where Walter had worked, and she said she hadn't seen him either. I called his landline but it went unanswered. Being a curious busybody I decided to do a welfare check and got the directions from Pam. I drove up the dirt road into the clearing and he came out of the house.

I said hello to him a few time when he was mopping the floor at Sylvandale's and the post office, waved to him when we passed by in our trucks, but we never talked again. He is still a mystery to me. 

When his home burned down Doug Bliss, his employer at Sylvandale's, went the extra mile as usual and pulled a trailer up onto Walter's land. He did some light cat work and set up a septic system for him. 

According to his emergency contact person, when his car was down for repairs he rode his e-bike five miles to his last job cleaning the Garberville post office before business hours. He cycled through the foggy darkness up the hill to town, plowing through piles of whippets and empty twist-off wine bottles tossed by twenty-something garbage heads. (He walked it up the really steep parts.)

Walter was spotted on his 90^th birthday taking one of his last bike rides but soon after that when he didn't make it in to work for three days the postmaster went out to his house to do a welfare check and called the ambulance. It was a pretty bad flu but he made it back home. 

By December he was back in the hospital, permanently, with a fatal heart condition. 

Walter Mecham Fritsch: November 25, 1928--March 31, 2019

— Paul Modic

SHOW ME THE ORDER!

Editor

If this is true the info should be made known. I know I’m slow but I can’t find the actual order and imagine others are in the same boat.

According to the Ukiah Daily Journal:

Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a new order Thursday mandating that Californians wear masks in most public settings as the state sees an uptick in new coronavirus cases and businesses reopen.

The mandate calls for Californians to cover up while waiting in lines or indoors in public places, in various work settings and while in healthcare facilities. Here are the details:

You must wear a mask when …

You’re inside any public space or waiting in line to enter one

You’re in any healthcare setting, like a hospital, pharmacy, medical clinic, laboratory, physician or dental office, veterinary clinic or blood bank

You’re waiting for or riding on public transportation or while in a taxi or ride-sharing vehicle

You’re interacting with a member of the public at work, or working in any space visited by the public, even if you’re alone inside the workplace

You’re working in a setting where food is prepared or packaged for sale or distribution

You’re working in — or walking through — common areas like hallways, stairways, elevators, and parking lots

You’re in any room or enclosed area where other people, except for members of your own household, are present — and physical distancing is difficult

You’re driving or operating any public transportation or paratransit vehicle, taxi, private car service or ride-sharing vehicle and other passengers are present

You’re outside in a public space and physical distancing isn’t possible

You don’t have to wear a mask if …

You’re a child under the age of 2

You have a medical, mental health, or developmental disability that prevents wearing a mask

You’re hard of hearing or communicating with someone hard of hearing who needs to see your face

Wearing a face covering would create a risk related to your work — as determined by local, state, or federal regulators or workplace safety guidelines

You’re obtaining a service involving the nose or face and need to take off the mask to do so

You’re eating at a restaurant, provided you’re at least six feet away from the nearest table

You’re swimming, walking, hiking, bicycling, or running outside and able to maintain social distance

You’re incarcerated. Prisons and jails will have their own specific guidance on face masks, according to the state

CATCH OF THE DAY, June 20, 2020

BLUE ABREU, Lakeport/Ukiah. Parole violation, resisting/threatening officer.

MYQ ATTANASIO, Fort Bragg. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

THOMAS GALINDO JR., Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol. (Frequent flyer.)

NARCISO HERNANDEZ-LOPEZ, Ukiah. Domestic battery, damaging wireless communications device.

ANDREA KIDD, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol, resisting.

JENNY MALAGON, Fort Bragg. Under influence.

MAURO MARTINEZ, Ukiah. DUI.

COLE PARKIN, Ukiah. Vandalism, probation revocation.

ARNALDO RAMIREZ, Ukiah. DUI causing bodily injury, child endangerment, no license, controlled substance, probation revocation.

KAMRIN ROBINSON, Yuba City/Willits. Taking vehicle without owner’s consent.

DAVID SIMPSON, Yuba City/Willits. Taking vehicle without owner’s consent, suspended license.

DANIEL YEOMANS, Fort Bragg. Disorderly conduct-alcohol. (Frequent flyer.)

ODD OLD NEWS: SCHOOL MA’AM LETTERS

Today, we will share some of Ethel Tracy’s earlier diary entries from 1903 that show her process of adjusting to rural living once she started boarding with the head of the local school board J.B. Foss and family at Stone Lagoon.

kymkemp.com/2020/06/19/odd-old-news-school-maam-letters/

THIS IS TO WARN YOU that I am no longer held in check from fighting white supremacists by Elijah Muhammad’s separatist Black Muslim movement, and that if your present racist agitation against our people there in Alabama causes physical harm to Reverend King or any other black Americans who are only attempting to enjoy their rights as free human beings, that you and your Ku Klux Klan friends will be met with maximum physical retaliation from those of us who are not handcuffed by the disarming philosophy of nonviolence, and who believe in asserting our right of self-defense — by any means necessary. 

— Malcolm X, telegram to George Lincoln Rockwell, head of the American Nazi Party

POTTER VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL

THE EXPENDABLE

Editor,

It is difficult to understand the decision to reopen businesses and institutions at the same time that COVID-19 cases are increasing.

Yes, the shutdown is having serious economic consequences for this region, especially given its dependence on the tourist trade. We shouldn’t neglect the fact that tourism increases the number of people coming into the county from various areas around the country and world, thus increasing the possibility of contamination and negating the efforts of locals to shutter in place.

I can’t help but wonder if on some semi-conscious level, this policy change isn’t being justified with the reasoning that the vast majority of deaths from the disease are the elderly and the poor, whose lives might be considered expendable from an economic perspective.

Tom Glynn

Santa Rosa

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

I think everyone who has ever seriously worked has experienced a hostile work environment; either from the customers or the staff or the boss…or all three! Unfriendliness is a common feature working with the general public and that is why work (and the commutes even more so) are STRESSFUL. If everything was great and our jobs were not threatened by a few complaints from this or that person then what is to worry about because we know we are doing good work? Our lives are no longer about REAL work but some sort of delusional future utopia of a life based on personalities (to be liked) and cartoons (wishing upon a star) and incessant flight responses (happy motoring) to the STRESS of everyday life in the USA by getting in your personal vehicle and leaving the scene. Everyone’s stress is building up because they can not leave behind the converging disasters of our very unfriendly way of life. They can not un-see what has been seen. The brutality of life. The dehumanizing aspects of life. It is wherever you go…even at home where people can not agree on anything anymore. Divorce is commonplace. Broken families are common to all races. So, where are you going to work and live without hostility? Tell me, I want to work there.

EARLY COVELO

SEX TALK, MENDOCINO (Coast Listserve)

1.

Hello,

There was recently a thread regarding a racist restaurant-owner in our area; I thought now might be a good time to talk about another restaurant-owner who has, to my direct knowledge, sexually harassed several young women on his staff. I know this because I worked at this restaurant and heard their stories directly. It’s heartbreaking because when these women spoke up, they were silenced by the owners. This restaurant is popular, beloved, and a major tourist destination in the village. There’s a lot money can do. Families take care of themselves rather than exercising justice. Some call it “Business as Usual.” I call it way too passe for 2020. It won’t be hard to guess which restaurant I’m talking about, and I won’t hold my breath waiting for a substantial boycott. People want fresh bread more than they want to support vulnerable demographics. Nobody is untouchable. No matter how much money or popularity you generate. No matter how many tourists clamor for your tables. We see you. We know what you did last summer. And to the survivors: we see you as well. You held and heard and your stories matter.

Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can’t Lose. Easy L.

* * *

2.

Dear Easy L,

I am sorry you & others suffered the violations you mention. I applaud you for seizing the time to bring yet another form of injustice/inequality to light. If you are still in the Mendoworld workforce, I can understand why you're using an alias to report unacceptable behavior by this boss. I urge you to name the restaurant. Surely I'm not alone in valuing standards of basic human decency over fresh bread or whatever else this establishment is dishing out. Thank you, Liz

* * *

3.

Anyone smell a smokescreen? Hmmm after a discussion of why Fiddleheads should be boycotted all of a sudden two anonymous posters claim sexual harassment at Cafe B—last summer. Sexual harassment should be reported to the POLICE (immediately), not to a listserve a year later by a person “named” Easy Lemons who wasn’t even a victim. If Easy is so determined to right a wrong why didn’t Easy post this on the listserve last summer when it happened? Have “Easy Lemons” or “Dale Pinecone” ever posted here before? If not I wonder if Herr Castleman is trying to get attention away from his law breaking restaurant.

Bob Vance

* * *

4.

Mr. Bob Vance, sexual harassment victims do not have a timeline for when or how they seek healing or justice. Often times victims DO NOT report EVER for a myriad of reasons, including fear of retaliation and the public not believing them. This is a small town, if Easy is telling the truth and used their real name, there would still be a large chance that they would be exposing themselves to harassment by nonbelievers and may also suffer consequences of public backlash because the person who allegedly caused harm is well known and liked within the community. People often experience a freeze reaction when they experience or hear of an experience of sexual harassment or violence. Waiting over a year (or way longer) to talk about it or take action is COMMON. Easy, I believe you. I'm sorry sexual violence continues to happen in our community. If you or the other survivors would like to talk, please don't hesitate to contact Project Sanctuary. 707-961-1507

Alexandra Corzano

Prevention Educator

pronouns: she/her/they/them

alexandra@projectsanctuary.org

Project Sanctuary

461 North Franklin St.

Fort Bragg, CA 95437

(707) 961-1507-*phone*

* * *

5.

If anyone knows who this anonymous poster is, please out them so that the accused has the ability to subpoena them in a libel lawsuit. Neither if these lists should be used to cast spurious accusations. If you have proof, take it to the authorities rather than try to ruin a business anonymously. This story could just as well be total BS coming from another local business hoping to distract attention. Your post is meaningless, of doubtful integrity, when you can’t/won’t put your name to it, or go through proper means to address your supposed issue.

Randy Lutge

6.

The late Dennis Ryan alleged that he filed a sexual discrimination complaint against the late Udo Knittner (I am clueless if I spelled that correctly) who owned the cafe below Brannon's in the 70s & 80s. He alleged that he was upset because a new hire was getting a dollar an hour more than him for the same job. She didn't perform the job any better or differently, and the only thing that he could see that was different was that she allowed Udo to pat her ass. He alleges that he told Udo "you can pat my ass too for another dollar an hour", and filed a complaint. However, the complaint never went anywhere because he moved to Berkely and failed to follow up, but he relished the thought of Udo's reaction when he was served. That much I can attest to; years later he clearly relished the thought of Udo's reaction.

COVELO-DOS RIOS STAGE, 1920s

HE ARRIVED promptly at 3:30, talking, talked his way across the grass and up the steps and into a chair and continued talking from that position without pause, break, breath, or gulp until 4:50. At 4:50 he departed to go to Mass (Ascension Thursday) but declared he would like to return after it so I thereupon invited him to supper with us. 5:50 brings him back, still talking, and bearing a sack of ice cream and cake to the meal. He then talked until supper but at that point he met a little head wind in the form of my mother, who is also a talker. Her stories have a non-stop quality, but every now and then she does have to refuel and every time she came down, he went up. 

— Flannery O'Connor

FAKE PEOPLE! NOT GOOD!

#TulsaTrumpRally

— Travis Allen

INDIGESTION

Editor,

Sorry, folks, but I feel a rant coming on. Possibly it’s because I spent so much of my working life connecting various dots, but I find it both amazing and annoying when people don’t do that. There’s a passage from one of my favorite books by David Eddings. It’s a conversation between two young apprentice knights, friends, but one of noble birth and one a commoner. The noble has commented that somehow his friend always seems to know what’s going on or even what’s going to happen before anyone else. His friend responds, “It’s called “paying attention,” my Lord. The world around you is screaming at you all the time, but most people can’t seem to hear it. That really baffles me. I can’t understand how you can miss so many things.” Lately I’ve been feeling his pain—a lot!

In this case, it’s the failure to connect the dots between those twin concepts, responsibility and authority. It’s pretty basic throughout human society. If you want things to work, those two have to be concurrent. Trying to hold people responsible for outcomes when they have no authority to control the outcome is pointless. Giving people authority without holding them responsible for the outcome is always, always, disastrous. I’ve worked for someone who felt that he could delegate responsibility without delegating authority. Let’s just say it was not a happy place to work.

Let’s examine the whole mess over what, so far, appears to be the malicious killing, if not outright murder, of George Floyd by Derek Chauvin. We’ll disregard for the moment that Floyd was certainly no angel, though that does figure into the matter. Instead, let’s see where the chain of responsibility leads.

Derek Chauvin was a 19-year veteran officer with the Minneapolis Police Department. During those 19 years he had several commendations and awards, and he also had 18 official complaints, two of which resulted in letters of reprimand. I would consider it significant that after 19 years he was still a patrolman. This, plus the number of complaints, would lead me to believe that his superiors considered him something of a loose cannon at best. He appears to have been, in police parlance, “badge-heavy,” a term that can mean a lot of things, none of them good and some of them very bad. It’s a term for someone who’s gotten a bit too far into the role, a bit too quick to resort to force, and often someone who’s come to consider himself judge and jury, empowered to go outside the lines.

Now consider this: Derek Chauvin didn’t hire himself, and he remained a Minneapolis Police Department employee for 19 years, with almost certainly annual performance evaluations and after investigation of 18 separate citizen complaints. I’ve been through the evaluations required for hiring by several police departments, and “rigorous” is a weak word for the physical, professional and psychological testing involved in that process. It doesn’t end with hiring, either. Every state has a board that sets minimum education requirements for officers. These are generally referred to as Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) requirements, and Minnesota has them. Someone made the decision to hire him, someone made the decision to let him graduate from a police academy, and someone made the decision, every year, that his job performance met the department’s performance standards. Each time one of those complaints was closed, someone made the decision to allow him to continue as a police officer.

Amazingly, not only was Chauvin retained as an officer, but he was assigned to train new officers, which is why he had two trainee officers in addition to his partner with him when things went bad with George Floyd. So who had the authority to place Derek Chauvin in the community with the job of keeping the peace? In theory, that would be the then-chief, Medaria Arradondo. He is the chief officer of the police department and while he may not directly hire and fire officers in the general course of business, he hires and fires the people who do the hiring and firing. Arradondo blames the police union, pointing out that they have succeeded in winning reinstatement for nearly half the officers fired for cause in recent years.

I’ve been in that position, working for a city government where most employees were represented by what amounted to a union. I’ll just say that there are rules (always; after all, it’s a bureaucracy), and that good managers and supervisors who work by those rules can fire people, and they generally stay fired. Bad managers and supervisors who don’t follow the rules or are too lazy to go through the necessary steps (coincidentally, these are generally the same ones who think they can separate authority and responsibility) have trouble firing people, and their actions are frequently overturned. I’ll let you draw your own conclusions.

So who put a bad manager in charge of the police department of a major city? That’s usually the mayor, who sometimes works through a city manager, though it’s a rare city where the city manager has control over appointment of a police chief. In this case, it was Mayor Betsy Hodges, a long-time member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. To give Hodges her due, there had apparently been a long history of racial discrimination in the Minnesota P. D., and she may have thought appointing a black police chief would solve the problem, or at least send a message. She got an undergraduate degree from Bryn Mawr and a masters in sociology from University of Wisconsin-Madison. Sociologists are big on “sending messages.”

Mayor Hodges is mayor no longer, something she probably is thoroughly enjoying at the moment. She fell victim to one of those experiments being touted as a cure for our election system, ranked-choice voting. In 2017, she was defeated by another member of her own party, Jacob Frey, finishing third in the top group of five. Minneapolis municipal races are, in theory, non-partisan, but candidates are allowed to identify their party affiliation on the ballot. Every mayor of Minneapolis since 1974 has identified as Democratic or as Democratic-Farmer-Labor. The DFL currently owns 12 of the 13 city council seats, with one being held by a member of the Green Party. Jacob Frey has been active and vocal in promoting police reform since taking office in January of 2018, but Chief Arradondo remained in charge and at the far end of the chain, Derek Chauvin still wore the badge.

Now we’ve built a chain of, if you will, authority and responsibility. It leads from Derek Chauvin’s supervisor to the Minneapolis chief of police and from there on to the mayor and city council who retained the chief. That brings us to the next dot, the one people hate to connect, probably because it requires standing up and facing a mirror. Betsy Hodges, Jacob Frey and the rest of the people who have run Minneapolis didn’t just stroll into City Hall one day and announce they were going to be running the place from now on. 104,522 people showed up at the polls on election day, and of the 46,718 votes that actually counted when the poll workers got through doing their magic, Frey had 57.2%. In the 2009 election when Hodges became councilwoman for Ward 13, the Minnesota DFL won 92.31 percent, with the rest going to the Green Party. Turnout for the elections was under 46,000 out of 234,028 registered. Population of the city is actually a bit over 425,000, though not all of them are eligible to vote.

Let’s be clear about this. Assuming, based on the published demographics, a quarter of the Minneapolis population is disqualified from voting because of age or other factors, fewer than two-thirds of those who can vote can be bothered to register. This is in Minnesota, a state that allows online voter registration and election-day registration. Of those who did register, fewer than one in five bothered to show up and cast a ballot. Of those who did vote, over 90% chose to vote for the same group who’d been running things for half a century.

So there are the dots, perhaps not neatly lined up, but each one leading to the next, until we get to the dot at the end. That’s the one under all the people marching, waving signs and demanding to know who’s responsible for this outrage.

Sorry to be so long-winded, but I made the mistake of watching some of the news and glancing at social media today and it affected my digestion.

James Rickett

Ukiah

RETRO INCIDENT (Coast Listserve)

From one of our local people from their facebook page?

A man with confederate flags taped on his truck flipped off the gathered people at City Hall making the simple statement that Black Lives Matter last Sunday. He flipped off kids, he spat and blew his nose at my family, and someone with him mimed choking them. In our town named after general Bragg.

FYI: confederate flag

Sakina Bush

---

That's technically a death threat. Not sure, but I think spitting might be assault. I worked with an anti-hate group many years ago in Ukiah. Next time, if you see something that overt, you can take down the license plate and call the FBI. If you do, try and speak with someone in the FBI who works locally. They were actively watching hate groups in Mendo county and collecting information. They probably still do. Many of them are defined as terrorist groups. This is in the FBI's jurisdiction.  It may not do any good in the short run, but in the long run the information could come in handy to them.  It's also slightly possible the FBI would have a "talk" with them, even though you would never hear of it. A talk can sometimes prevent things.  

Lynn

JUNETEENTH.

"The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found difficult and left untried... What are the Christian ideals? Charity. Hope. Faith. The poor. The mourning. The meek. Those who hunger and thirst. The merciful. The pure. Peacemakers. The persecuted. To lay your life down for another. These are all extremely tough. It will take a miraculous transformation of my desires. I will have to lose even the smallest desire left in me to save my life." -G.K. Chesterton

The recording of last night's (2020-06-19) 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-0389  

For various fiddly I.T. reasons KMEC's automation switched away from this particular show an hour in, at 10pm, and there was nothing I could do to fix it from my remote location, even if I weren't busy doing the show. KNYO was consistent. There are just extra steps and extra links in the chain to have MOTA on KMEC, and so there's more that can go wrong. I contacted Sid; he offered to do what he can to get this set right by next week, though he's not really responsible for operations at KMEC anymore; he's just a dedicated radioman. And then things will go fine for a few weeks or months and something will break or get sabotaged again, or merely absentmindedly unplugged by someone sweeping, or who wants to plug in a phone charger there or something, and we'll deal with it again, and that's okay. That's the way the world is. My back is, I'd say, about 95 percent now and that's cause for good spirits. You'll remember my declaration that I'm never picking up a heavy thing again, that heaviness is God and Isaac Newton saying that's where that belongs. We'll see how long I remember, this time.  

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:  Andra Day sings Strange Fruit. https://youtu.be/aMqB5V-UqOg

That will teach teach them. http://static.existentialcomics.com/comics/AnarchistOrganizing.png

And that'll learn ya. Nina Simone sings Pirate Jenny. (My internal Pirate Jenny story is a combination of the particularly well-realized one in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen graphic novel and a sort of kaleidoscopic montage of Sandy Glickfeld's stage career, including her Audrey in Gloriana Opera Company’s production of Little Shop of Horrors, and of course her Pirate Jenny.) Nina Simone first appeared on a big stage at twelve years old. Her parents were there, in the front row. They moved her parents farther back so some white people could sit there, and Nina Simone said she wasn't playing another damn note until her mother and father were back in their damn seats in the damn front row, and there was immediate compliance. Some performers spring full-blown from the brow of Zeus; they're who they are from the beginning. Nina Simone sometimes joked that she was a queen, but she really was. Every performance was a brave adventure, a flight into the unknown. She'd trail off in the middle of a song, in front of thousands of people, and have a conversation with someone in the audience who caught her eye, about something that just occurred to her to wonder about, or she'd get tired of a song and just start making things up, puzzling over whether this was working or not. Her eyebrow would twitch and she'd abruptly change direction and be singing about the song from before, which all sounds like Biff Rose, too, doesn't it, except the queen part. I’m tired of talking about Nina Simone. Where was I? Oh, yes, thanks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7awW5nrDHk  

Marco McClean, memo@mcn.org, https://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com

FOUND OBJECT