Today In Mendocino County: January 20, 2012

ORWELLIAN statement of the week goes to the Ukiah Valley Medical Center as it summarily terminated the employment of five persons: “To protect the employee from any potential liability related to security of proprietary information, standard procedure is that the last day of work is the day the employee is informed of the elimination.” Got that? The five were fired to protect them. The for-profit, Adventist-owned hospital still hasn’t explained how a 34-year-old man pronounced dead last month suddenly returned to life as he was being driven down 101 to Stanford where his organs were going to be “harvested.” The poor fellow remains hospitalized with major trauma to his head.

JOHNNY OTIS, the “godfather of rhythm and blues” and a long-time resident of Sebastopol, has died in Los Angeles at age 90. Otis was a fixture at KPFA for many years. Probably his best known song was “Willie and the Hand Jive.” His given name was John Veliotes. He said he adopted a black affect because “As a kid, I decided that if our society dictated that one had to be black or white, I would be black.”

WITH ONLY PHIL BALDWIN having the cojones to vote NO, the Ukiah City Council late Wednesday night upheld the Ukiah Planning Commission's certification of the Environmental Impact Report for the proposed Walmart expansion. The EIR for the project was certified by the Ukiah Planning Commission but earlier this month, attorney William Kopper of Davis filed an appeal on behalf of Citizens for Sustainable Commerce, Steve Scalmanini, Allen Nicholson and Jeff Blankfort. Walmart wants to expand to include a full grocery supermarket, alcohol sales and operate 24 hours a day. The store doesn’t need the city's approval to be open 24 hours and sell liquor or even more groceries, but it does need approval to expand. The Ukiah City Council chambers were packed to overflowing for the meeting.

FORT BRAGG Police Chief Scott Mayberry has presented the Dana Gray Elementary School, the town’s only elementary school, with a check for $5,000 to support the Gang Resistance is Paramount (GRIP) program. Fort Bragg, Willits, Ukiah, and even Point Arena suffer gang infestations.

BORIS George Boris Doubiago has died at age 74. He was best known locally as the former husband of poet Sharon Doubiago and the father Dan Doubiago and Shawn Colleen Doubiago. Dan Doubiago graduated from Mendocino High School from where he went on to play big time college and then professional football.

THE WILLITS SCHOOL BOARD Wednesday night approved a policy to protect the rights of “transgender and gender non-conforming students.” The policy is believed to be the first in Mendocino County.

UKIAH HIGH’S boys basketball team nearly upset top-ranked Cardinal Newman of Santa Rosa last night, losing in the last seconds by two points.