Mendocino County Today: January 2, 2021

Brief Break | Rainfall Totals | No Bonanno | Albion Mill | Just Sayin' | Big Logs | Roy Retires | Bud & Harwood | Get Tested | Naked Ladies | NPR Trap | Beach Scene | Agenda Highlights | ODs & Suicides | Russian Gulch Pier | Ed Notes | New Identity | AV Village | Yesterday's Catch | Nonagenarian Drivers | America 2020 | Big River | 20 Democrats | Newsom Recallers | Coast Vista | Rogue Regimes | Hello 1919 | Goodbye 2020 | Quarantine Dating | 74 Million | Final Swim | 2021 Predictions | Efficient Death | Marco Radio | Pelosi Vandalization

A BRIEF BREAK in the weather is expected this morning with lingering showers across Del Norte and northern Humboldt counties. Precipitation will increase once again later this afternoon and tonight, mainly north of Mendocino County. Breezy southerly winds and more widespread rainfall is forecast for Monday, with locally heavy rainfall possible across mainly Del Norte County. (NWS)

RAINFALL TOTALS

We're off to a very slow start this rain season (October 1 through September 30 of the following year). The monthly figures for the 2020-21 wet season (thus far):

Boonville (total 5.5")

• 3.5" Dec
• 1.9" Nov
• 0.1" Oct

Yorkville (total 7.6")

• 5.4" Dec
• 2.2" Nov
• 0.0" Oct

SHERIFF’S SEARCH/RESCUE UPDATE, Dec. 31, 2020

The search efforts on 12-30-20 & 12-31-20 to locate Kerry Ann Bonanno have been unsuccessful. The Sheriff's Office is planning to resume search efforts again January 1 2021 with Search & Rescue resources.

Anyone that has information on Kerry Ann Bonanno's current whereabouts is urged to contact the Sheriff's Office by calling 707-463-4086.

Previously:

On 12-30-2020 at about 5:30 PM, Mendocino County Sheriff's Deputies were dispatched to a missing person situation in the 37000 block of Old Stage Road in Gualala, California.

Upon arrival Deputies learned several members of the community, family and South Coast Fire Department personnel were searching the area for Kerry Bonanno.

During their investigation, Deputies learned Bonanno had telephoned family/friend and said she was walking away from her home into the woods as she was despondent. 

Deputies searched the area during the night but were unable to find Bonanno.

Bonanno is described as being a white female adult, standing 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighing 130 pounds. Bonanno has blonde hair, blue eyes and it is unknown what clothing Bonanno was wearing when she walked away from her residence.

This investigation is ongoing at this time and anyone with information about Bonanno's current whereabouts is urged to contact the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office by calling 707-463-4086.

The Sheriff's Office will be deploying Mendocino County Search & Rescue resources for a further search during the morning of 12-31-2020 to include a bloodhound tracking dog to aid in the search.

Further updates will be posted via press release and on the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/MendocinoSheriff) as they become available.

Sheriff Matthew C. Kendall would like to thank the Mendocino County Search & Rescue volunteers for their continued support and dedication to life saving missions of this nature.

NOTES FROM HERE, THERE & NOWHERE

by Tommy Wayne Kramer

Ukiah is a city of 16,000 with a median household income of $47,000. 

This is what some city employees earn in a year, including benefits, overtime pay, “extra” pay and whatever coins they find under sofa cushions in the coffee break room:

• JUSTIN WYATT, Police Chief: $329,000

• SAGE SANGIACOMO, City Manager: $320,000

• MEL GRANDI, Electric Utilities: $294,000

• TIM ERIKSEN, Public Works Director: $289,000

• SEAN WHITE, Water Utilities $263,000

• CEDRIC COOK, Lieutenant, UPD: $266,000

• SHANNON RILEY, Deputy City Mgr: $258,000

• DOUG CRANE, Mayor: $5,879

(Source: Transparent California, 2019)

More than 100 city employees bring in compensation packages in excess of $100,000. Retired, they’ll be lushly compensated for many decades.

Just sayin’ is all.

THAT NIGHTLY HOWL 

An uplifting nightly concert comes our way at 8 o’clock sharp via distant chants and howls in support of front-liners in the Valley.

These west side shrieks and “ow-ow-owooos!” begin promptly at 8 and run 60 or so seconds. Whoever is responsible please step forward, take a bow and accept a warm embrace from a weary town. We are surprised and amazed that after all these many months, some cold and rainy, you few still carry the torch.

We salute and appreciate the lusty shout-outs for hospital workers, supermarket cashiers, nursing home staff, motel cleaners, and anyone else in harm’s way.

MAIL FAIL 

At the rate mail is delivered to my house and those of friends, I expect Christmas catalogues to start rolling in around mid-January.

ROBO-CALLS MUST DIE

One random morning a couple weeks ago, after I’d answered the phone three times in five minutes and all were Robocalls, I started keeping track. We had a dozen fake calls regarding computer alerts, funding for retired cops, free roundtrip vacations and other audio junk mail that I presume you also get until, finally, the day’s first telephone call came from someone we know.

Twelve Robocalls, one legitimate call.

Why are we subjected to this abuse and harassment? My theory is that people in power who could address the problem don’t care about Robocalls because they’ve never had one. Do you think Nancy Pelosi has answered a single call in the last 20 years and heard a recording offering 50% off to replace windows in her home?

Has Jairhead Huffman been given a chance to increase his credit card limit? Has Gavin Newsom picked up a phone to learn he’s eligible for an extended warranty on household appliances? 

No, never. Not once has a hotshot official heard from sad charities (cancer survivors, abandoned dogs, underpaid columnists) seeking modest donations at 6 a.m. on a Sunday.

Politicians have teams monitoring their incoming calls and have no idea what the peasants are even complaining about. I don’t know how it will get fixed, but don’t wait for elected representatives to do it.

I’LL NEVER LEARN

It’s a few days before Christmas and I’m in line at the Post Office, chewing my teeth and closing my eyes for 60 seconds at a stretch wondering what in the world the two customers at the head of the line are trying to accomplish that, to this point, has consumed no less than 15 minutes. Each.

If everyone took 15 minutes at the Post Office counter I’d still be there. What are they doing? Applying for jobs? Asking if the tuna special includes a salad? Asking Vickie if she’s a Sagittarius and offering to do an astrology chart?

The queue is 75 feet of package-laden mules standing six feet apart. The guy who just squandered 17 minutes of Vickie’s life departs, having mailed a Christmas card to Hopland. Steve patiently endures the woman with a thousand questions who has now been at the counter 20 minutes. No, 21.

Boy do I want to roll on the floor and have a tantrum. Man am I tired of one person asking about the complete history of glaciers while dozens are trapped in line exchanging warm breath with each other.

She leaves! I mutter dark unpleasantries to myself about inconsiderate selfish people as the line shuffles ahead.

She comes back! Arrrgh I cry silently as she goes to the counter. “I found these in the parking lot,” she says, waving a pair of glasses.

I slap my (empty) shirt pocket, see the familiar spectacles she’s holding up, claim them meekly and thank her profusely. What a nice lady, I marvel.

Dear reader, there are many, many lessons to learn from this and I have spent a long, lonely lifetime not learning them. You can do better.

(Tom Hine has written his “Assignment: Ukiah” column in the Daily Journal since 2006, using TWK as camouflage.)

ROY LAIRD RETIRES

Tomorrow begins a new year, and after 37 years of being on-call for his friends and neighbors, AVFD Battalion Chief Roy Laird will be off-duty when 2021 rings in. 

"I've been on-call 24/7 for almost 40 years. Part of me will be relieved to not wear the pager but part of me says, 'shoot, in another three years you'll be 70, might as well make it an even 40!" 

Roy got started with AVFD in 1984 when he took over the saw shop at the Floodgate. The Elliots across the street had an AVFD water tender quartered in their garage and Captain Butch Paula recruited Roy to drive the tender. 

That was the extent of his involvement for a couple of years until a fire on a neighboring property made a run toward Roy's home in Rancho Navarro. He learned about it from dispatcher Bev Hand (dispatch was by phone tree at the time), who told him, "there's a fire heading toward your house!" He hurried home and stood there watching the fire come up the hill with a garden hose from a 2 GPM well and thought, "If I'm going to be involved, I should learn more about this."

At about this time a change was happening in the fire service, on a national and local level. Roy described it as being the cusp between good-old-boy, on-the-job training and classroom training. Chief Dave Hutchison was a proponent of classroom training, and around 1986 AVFD spent a year getting everyone CA Volunteer Firefighter certifications. 

22 years later, in June 2008, Roy had just accepted a promotion to Battalion Chief and was looking forward to heading out to the National Fire Academy training in Maryland. What he got instead was on-the-job command training when the Lighting Complex popped off that month. 

"I've seen a lot of people come and go over the years. I never expected to be in it this long, to be honest. The average is what, 6 years? One thing we do all have in common is wanting to help other people, and we're concerned about safety but willing to put ourselves in harm's way when it's required. You find out really quickly if you're cut out for it or not. Everyone should give it a try. You might like it!"

Roy said he's most proud that the people he's spent the last few years mentoring are leaders. "When I see a successful scene, even when I'm not running it, it just makes me proud to see people I've mentored be successful." 

We'll be seeing Roy around. He plans to help out with training, fireground support, and maybe even a CSD committee. "It's time to, not move on, but pull back."

(Anderson Valley Fire Department)

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Previously: AV Firefighters: Roy Laird and Roy Laird’s Shop Burns Down

GET TESTED EVERY OTHER WEEK

Until we can all get vaccinated, testing for COVID-19 is crucial to keep track of community spread. We have weekly testing here in Fort Bragg, but we won't if we don't use it. To keep it, we need 165 tests every Tuesday.

Tuesday Testing: Veteran's Hall, 360 N. Harrison, 9am-5pm.

Register online at www.LHLcare. No appointment needed. Just show up.

City Manager Tabatha Miller says the testing site is busy at 9 am. and around closing time, but eases up in the middle of the day. She says it's fast (10 minutes) and painless (a nose swab, not a deep dive).

Get tested every other week.

Norma Watkins

PS. When you go on the site to register for COVID testing (and it's LMIcare, not LMH. Blame my eyes), the site is down for maintenance. I will call City Hall when they open and see what's what. I'm betting we can just show up on a given Tuesday.

LEW CHICHESTER COMMENTS:

Thoroughly enjoyed Marco’s expose of KZYX and why do they always need money. In Round Valley we have had an all volunteer FM station for almost ten years now, broadcasting to our limited area community announcements, high school basketball games, an eclectic mix of various music types, many of the Mendocino County produced programming options, an intentionally limited amount of national syndicated public affairs presentations, and live on air interviews and disaster reporting. We have received awards for outstanding public service during the August Complex fires here. We can do this for about $800/month. Power, phone, royalties, repairs and equipment upgrades. No program director, no station manager, no business manager. If a station has a news department with reporters daily digging up information and putting a program together I can understand a budget to pay them, but the overhead to run a station is really very minimal. When we were originally figuring out how to do this we received some good advice. “Don’t talk to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting or get involved with NPR. It’s a trap!” Thankfully we took the hint, and we can serve our community without excessive expense and the never-ending need for more money.

SUPES AGENDA HIGHLIGHTS (Board of Supervisors Agenda, January 5, 2021)

by Mark Scaramella

TEN MORE DEPUTIES

Item 5j: Discussion and Possible Action Regarding the Operation, Staffing, and Fiscal Plan for Additional Ten (10) Deputies to the Sheriff's Operations to Address Organized Crime and Illegal Marijuana Grows in Mendocino County (Sponsor: Sheriff-Coroner)

“The Sheriff’s Office desires to hire ten (10) additional Deputies over a three-year period—4 in year 1 and 3 additional deputies in year 2 and 3—to address the increase in organized crime and illegal marijuana grows. The crime statistics connected to the increase in organized crime and illegal marijuana grows are fluid and rapidly changing. 

Since the October 6, 2020 discussion with the Board of Supervisors, additional kidnappings and crimes of violence have occurred and are under investigation while more crimes associated continue to be reported. 

It is thus imperative that the County address this ongoing crisis so that all Mendocino County residents can have a better quality of life and live in a safer community. MCSO staff projects that the ongoing dollar amount needed for 10 Deputies is $901,869 in year 1, $1,357,541 in year 2, and $1,783,482 in year 3. The total projected cost of all 3 years is $4,042,892.”

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THE “NUCLEAR” OPTION to allow pot growers to apply for permits directly to the State is being made official:

Item 6b: “Discussion and Possible Action Including Direction to Staff to Develop a Framework for Approving Third Party Planning Consultants to Avail Phase 1 Cannabis Cultivation Applicants with the Option to Directly Hire for Summarization of County Performed Review as Necessary to Meet Site Specific Environmental Review Under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) for Purposes of Seeking a State Annual License (Sponsor: Cannabis Ad Hoc Committee of Supervisors Williams and Haschak)”

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GURR-BORGES LAWSUIT CONTINUES

Item 9a (Closed Session): “Pursuant to Government Code Section 54956.9(d)(1) - Conference with Legal Counsel - Existing Litigation: Ann Marie Borges & Chris Gurr v. County of Mendocino et al. - United States District Court-Northern District of California Case No. 3:20-cv-04537-SI”

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MORE OFFICES NEXT DOOR TO THE SCHRADERS’ Orchard Ave. Operation.

Item 9c (Closed Session): Pursuant to Government Code Section 54956.8 - Conference with Real Property Negotiator - Property: APN 002-340-38, and Physical Address: 551 South Orchard Avenue, Ukiah, CA 95482. Agency Negotiators: Carmel J. Angelo, Janelle Rau, and Darcie Antle. Under negotiation: Property Acquisition, Price and Terms.

ms notes: The Schraeders’ Redwood Community Services office is at is at 631 So. Orchard Ave where soon there will be a Rolls-Royce of a Crisis Residential Treatment Center. The Newly purchased $11 million Best Western motel being remodeled into a homeless shelter is a 555 Orchard Ave. 551 Orchard Ave. appears to be an office buildling next door to the Best Western.

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THE DOCTOR WHO WON’T GO AWAY

Item 4k (Consent Calendar): Approval of Retroactive Agreement with Noemi Doohan, M.D., Ph.D., in the Amount of $100,000 for County Deputy Public Health Officer Services, Effective January 1, 2021 through December 31, 2021

Sponsor: Health and Human Services Agency

ED NOTE: O hell yes. Give her another hundred thou for a job she did mostly without leaving her San Diego house and was mostly boilerplate statements of the obvious. Give us an honest bank robber any day.

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BIG NEW PER-PLANT PENALTIES for non-permitted pot growers

Item 4o (Consent Calendar): New Proposed Cannabis Penalties

Penalties for Certain Cannabis Related Violations. 

The penalties in this subsection, 1.08.060(H), may be used in addition to or as an alternative to any other penalties or remedies that may be applicable or available. 

Cultivation of cannabis in the absence of a required County permit, or authorization, and a required State License is a violation of this Code that shall be subject to an administrative penalty of up to one hundred dollars ($100.00) per cannabis plant. 

a. For the purpose of this subsection, 1.08.060(H)(2), a cannabis plant includes each mature or immature plant of Cannabis sativa L., Cannabis indica, or Cannabis ruderalis, which has breached the surface of the soil or other media in which it is growing. 

b. If a per plant penalty is imposed pursuant to this subsection, 1.08.060(H)(2), the per plant penalty may be increased by the amounts specified below for each circumstance that applies: 

By up to an additional one hundred dollars ($100.00) for each plant that is occupying space on graded land for which the required grading permit has not been obtained and finalized; 

By up to an additional one hundred dollars ($100.00) for each plant that is occupying space in a structure for which the required building permit has not been obtained and finalized. 

By up to an additional one hundred dollars ($100.00) for each plant if the plant is grown on a parcel on which any tree species identified in MCC section 10A.17.040(K) was removed for the purpose of growing cannabis. It shall be prima facie evidence of purpose if cannabis is being grown on or near the location at which the identified tree species were removed. 

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GOTTA GET GLENN IN THERE QUICK to replace Potter Valley Grape/Water Don Carre Brown right away!

Item 4q (Consent Calendar, of course): “Adoption of Resolution Appointing Supervisor Glenn McGourty as Director and Supervisor Maureen Mulheren as Alternate Director to Serve on the Ukiah Valley Basin Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA) Board of Directors (Sponsor: Water Agency)”

OVERDOSES AND SUICIDES Outpace COVID-19 Deaths in Mendocino County and Throughout the Emerald Triangle

Mendocino, Humboldt, and Trinity Counties have been in the grips of the coronavirus pandemic since March, and the three have lost a total of 52 residents to COVID-19. Compounding the tragedy, 99 residents of the Emerald Counties have also succumbed to overdoses, and 63 have committed suicide.

mendofever.com/2021/01/01/overdoses-and-suicides-outpace-covid-19-deaths-in-mendocino-county-and-throughout-the-emerald-triangle/

ED NOTES

AVA COLUMNIST Katy Tahja reports she was driving to Point Arena when she saw a rancher south of Elk out on the headlands feeding cattle from the back of his pick-up truck. Trotting in the middle of, and towering over, the cows was a bull elk with a huge rack. The elk obviously knows where to find a free meal, and who's to stop him? There are elk back in the environs of Elk (township). Tahja believes this bull may be part of a herd she hears has been slowly moving south from the Lost Coast over recent years. Gotta be. These big boys don't travel alone, and they're not known to cross-specie miscegenate with mere cows.

THE LAST TIME I hiked the Lost Coast with my late friend, Alexander Cockburn, we rounded a bend where a big bull was munching away at the overstory. Nothing we could do until he moved on. It's heartening that these magnificent creatures are thriving, but weren't they relocated from Potter Valley a few years ago when PV's sons of the soil complained they had become a nuisance?

HERE'S ONE DOOMER prediction from Kunstler I hope comes true: “Professional sports collapse as business model fails. Impoverished Americans start-up low-cost, local baseball and football leagues.” 

YES. Some good things could come from the Great Re-Set. A Northcoast league comprised only of locals would pack 'em in. I think. No pros, or maybe two per team depending on the sport. It would be a kind of back-to-the-future when weekend baseball and high school football were dominant everywhere in the land up through the early 1950s. Fort Bragg's baseball team, circa 1950, wouldn't have embarrassed itself against pro teams, although FB always had a few ringers hired by the mill to primarily play ball on weekends, among them Vince DiMaggio. The whole town used to turn out, at least the sports population of the town, which was then considerable and still is for Friday night high school football. I think in these socially collapsed times, even with all its distractions, a semi-pro football league would draw sports fans as Jerry Philbrick's teams did when they played at the Boonville Fairgrounds not all that long ago. 

SOMETHING BIG seems to be brewing in Washington. Trump wants Trumpers to show up on January 6th when an estimated 140 Republicans are planning to vote against Joe Biden's election certification. The Republicans don't have the numbers to re-wind the election result, but Mitch McConnell, who always seems so unflappable, is worried. He told fellow Senate Republicans that his vote to certify Joe Biden's election victory will be the "most consequential" of his political career. And with all those Trumpers massed outside the White House....

EVERY YEAR we lose people. I mean “we” here at the AVA lose people. Suzie DeCastro disappeared on us as did Bruce Patterson, Louis Bedrock, Chris Calder, Rex Gressett, Jonathan Middlebrook, and Flynn Washburne without so much as a sayanora, unless you count Washburne’s report that he fell in love in Eureka as a sayonara. 

SO MENDOCINO COUNTY votes in a measure banning chemical methods of thinning forests, esp MRC forests of non-commercial tree species. And County Counsel clearly and firmly says MRC is not exempt from the nuisance law as they claim. And MRC just keeps on.

SO MENDOCINO COUNTY overwhelmingly votes to get the walking wounded off the streets and into treatment. And the numbers of walking wounded increase while the sales tax increase devoted to their care accumulates. And nothing is done.

SO JACKSON STATE FOREST announces a major timber harvest without the required timber harvest plan. And will proceed apparently without one, meaning the public who owns the forest has no opportunity to review the plan.

STATE SENATOR McGuire “has reintroduced SB 98, which will extend crucial protections to members of the press as they enter and report on events protected by the First Amendment…”

THE HEALDSBURG HUSTLER reintroduced his bill because Newsom vetoed the first try, saying it didn’t have a way to certify people as journalists. Even Newsom recognized that anybody can do it and, unfortunately, anybody does do journalism.

THE LITTLE FELLA'S presser rambles on with the usual pro forma platitudes about how "freedom of the press is foundational to our country, strengthens our democracy by providing transparency, keeps a check on government, and informs our everyday decisions. But this freedom is under assault here in the United States."

NOT REALLY. A few faux journalists got roughed up by the cops and their fellow demonstrators at riotous events they were also participating in, but in many countries of the world mere reporting on events is a life-threatening business. We're not there yet.

McGUIRE (and Wood and Huffman) issue press releases in lieu of actual actuality, so to speak. McGuire has at least twice rounded up Ukiah pols for photo ops announcing the great redwood trail that will never link the Bay Area with Humboldt Bay. The grinning group of them pose on Ukiah's squalid two-mile stretch of the "trail" (which cost several million tax dollars) on the pretense that that trash-strewn track along Ukiah's industrial backyards will run up and down the old railroad tracks from Marin to Eureka. Those abandoned tracks, incidentally, somehow now belong to the Democratic Party, with former congressman Bosco chief engineer on its ghost trains, duped taxpayers chasing the caboose. "Toot-toot. All aboard." Well, anyway, this is our State Senator. He is what he is. He might even be serious about protecting journalists, although I wouldn't expect him to go to the wall for the ava, sob sniffle.

THE ONLY interesting thing about McGuire, ever, is the comment he inspires from his dragooned constituents whenever he gets off one of his false flag pressers, and this presser launched a lot of interesting comment on both Kym Kemp's Redheaded Blackbelt site and the Lost Coast Outpost site about contemporary media, with a lot of unhappy comment about how biased and non-objective media are.

IN OTHER COUNTRIES, England for instance, people are more sophisticated about their media, at least the newspaper media. They know which are conservative, which are lib-left, meaning they know who own them and whose perspectives they are presenting.

US AMERICANOS seem surprised that our media don't reflect our views, which is naive in the extreme. The savvy way to get your info is to always know who you are reading or listening to. Surprised that the Press Democrat is uncritical of the wine industry? Shame on you, a grown-up person still this naive. The PD makes literal millions promoting wine and wine-related tourism. The New York Times hates Trump? Of course it does because its readers are the lib-lab establishment of this country, in government and out.

HOW ABOUT the AVA? We are objectively un-objective, fully recognizing our many biases, but we don't shut out opinions we disagree with, and we always welcome dissenting feedback, revel in it in fact. All-in-all, the Northcoast offers an array of opinion, much of it now expressed electronically, but there's more now than ever, and in no danger at all of it going away as per State Senator McGuire's faked alarm over reporter safety.

ANDERSON VALLEY VILLAGE UPDATE JANUARY 2021

Welcome to Anderson Valley Village. We are a locally inspired and managed non-profit organization. Our mission is to help older adults remain active, connected, and independent in the place they call home while enhancing the quality of life in our community. — AV Village Update

Happy New Year!

We currently have 59 members and 57 trained volunteers ready to lend a hand as Pandemic safety concerns allow! Please reach out if you need a friendly volunteer to call you for a chat, shop for you, do outside chores or errands, tech support, etc.

Meet your fellow Anderson Valley Village Members:

• Sandhya Abee
• Jane Ayres & Dennis Hudson
• Jillene Barr
• Judy Basehore
• Alice Bonner & Richard Bonner
• Susan Bridge-Mount
• Victoria Center
• Ann Christen & Francois Christen
• David Colfax & Micki Colfax
• Kathy Cox
• Anjes De Ryck
• Elizabeth Dusenberry
• Ellen Fontaine
• Gail Gester & Ron Gester
• Stephanie Gold & Gerald Karp
• Cherry Green
• Henry Gundling & Heidi Knott-Gundling
• Stephen Hall & Pippa Thomas
• Charles Hochberg & Maureen Hochberg
• Michael Holland & Ronnie Holland
• David Jackness
• Glynnis Jones
• Lauren Keating
• Benna Kolinsky & Daniel Mandelbaum
• Barbara Lamb
• Gwyn Leeman Smith
• Tom McFadden & Kathleen McKenna
• Cynthia McMath
• Mary Moore Gaines
• Val Muchowski
• Sandra Nimmons
• Mary O'Brien
• Sophie Otis
• MaryAnne Payne
• Donna Pierson-Pugh & Jeffrey Pugh
• F. Kathryn Porter
• Paul Soderman
• Elizabeth Summers & Wallen Summers
• Kristina Teplin
• Evette Thomas & Philip Thomas
• Ann Wakeman
• Cindy Wilder
• Nancy Wood & Steven Wood

Membership Assistance Program

The Anderson Valley Village has been given some money for a trial Membership Fee assistance program. It is a limited amount of money and the Board of Directors has decided to offer a reduced fee program for as long as the money lasts. If you are interested in joining the Village at the reduced rate, please contact Anica Williams, 707-684-9829 or Philip Thomas, 707-895-3595.

 Who we are Since the pandemic has made gathering in groups impossible, we’ve struggled with how to continue to build community and relationships without the traditional social interactions we were used to. One idea, starting this month, is to introduce members of our community to each other, by sharing a photo and a few words about each person. We plan on highlighting 4 Village Members per month and the questions are set for the most part, so for members who will be interviewed in the future this is a sneak peek and a chance to think about your possible answers.

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Lauren Keating, Board Member, Village Member and Volunteer Extraordinaire

1. How long have you been in the Valley? 

35 years

2. Where did you grow up and where were you coming from when you moved to the Valley? Fairfax, CA (Marin Co) Moved from Oakland CA

3. Have you had a career or a passion project so far in your life that you would like to tell us about? 

Long career in the food world, but it became a passion project when I got to open a restaurant/gathering place in Boonville and run it for 24 & 1/2 years.

4. Luckiest thing that has happened to you? 

Being born into a good family in a good time and place. A very helpful start in life. 

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Sandra Nimmons, Board Member, Village Member and Volunteer Extraordinaire

1. How long have you been in the Valley? 

My husband and I moved to the Valley 2000. Unfortunately, he is deceased but I am very glad to be here.

2. Where did you grow up and where were you coming from when you moved to the Valley? 

I was born in Omaha Nebr. but was brought to the Bay Area as a child, grew up in El Cerrito and subsequently lived many places in the Bay Area. The last one being Martinez. Seems as tho we were inching our way to the Valley.

3. Have you had a career or a passion project so far in your life that you would like to tell us about? 

My whole career was involved with telephones. There were a lot of changes over the years. For example, I started as a telephone operator on a switch board; went on to install the first automated system at Cutter Labs. in Berkeley. Cutter was bought out by Bayer of Germany. My last position was with Lucky Stores where I oversaw the design, and installation of telephones in their stores. I took early retirement from there and we then escaped to the Valley.

4. Luckiest thing that has happened to you? 

There are two Lucky things in my life: I met Robert, my husband at a Football game. We were both on dates with another person. He plied me with Coffee Royals and the rest was history. We moved to the Valley. 

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Gwyn Leeman Smith, Acting Board President, Village Member and Volunteer Extraordinaire

1. How long have you been in the Valley? 

I’ve lived in the Valley for (wow) 42 years.

2. Where did you grow up and where were you coming from when you moved to the Valley? 

I grew up in the East Bay, lived and worked in SF for ten years; spent some time traveling before settling here.

3. Luckiest thing that has happened to you? 

ONE of the luckiest things in my life was finding Anderson Valley, no question. 

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Elizabeth Summers, Board Member, Village Member and Volunteer Extraordinaire And Wallen Summers, Village Member

1. How long have you been in the Valley? 

Elizabeth - I moved here in 2004 but started spending all my schoolteacher vacations here in 1995. 

Wallen — I bought property here in 1977, then spent years having roads & fences built & eventually a home. I then spent years living in Santa Rosa (where I own a trucking company) during the week & here on weekends. I have lived here full time since I retired in 2000.

2. Where did you grow up and where were you coming from when you moved to the Valley? 

Elizabeth - I grew up in Sparks, Nevada & lived there & at Lake Tahoe (briefly) until I moved here. I have traveled, but never lived anywhere else. 

Wallen — I was born in Shanghai. We later moved to Hong Kong & were there when the Japanese invaded in 1941. My mother, sister & I were in an internment camp for 4 years. My stepfather, who had been traveling for business, was sent to a different internment camp. Life in the camp was hard, but the adults insisted the children must have school. When I started high school in San Francisco At the age of 14, I was ahead of my class. During my career in the Army, I lived at West Point as a student & later as a teacher. I also lived in Massachusetts when the army sent me to Harvard & for 3 years in Hawaii. I was later stationed at the Presidio in SF & have been in CA ever since.

3. Have you had a career or a passion project so far in your life that you would like to tell us about? 

Elizabeth - My career as an elementary school teacher & reading specialist was one I loved, & it gave me a great sense of purpose. I have done some volunteering here, but I am still looking for a new passion. I was going to start volunteering at an animal shelter when Covid happened, so that might have been it because I love animals, especially dogs. I also love to travel & had a trip planned to Africa, but that has been postponed until 2022. 

Wallen — My career in the Army was the most rewarding time for me professionally.

4. What are you most proud of? 

Elizabeth - I am most proud of raising two children who are productive members of society & wonderful people! We are a very close family, & I love spending time with them.

5. Luckiest thing that has happened to you? 

Wallen — The luckiest thing for me was finding the Anderson Valley & that Elizabeth loves it here too.

---

Upcoming AV Village Events See these local events and more listed on our Events Calendar: https://andersonvalley.helpfulvillage.com/events

CATCH OF THE DAY, January 1, 2021

KATHLEEN BIGGIE, Fort Bragg. Embezzlement.

MARIO DIAZ, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

JOSEPH MCKEE, Ukiah. Lewd/lascivious act upon child under 14.

RODNEY PROCTOR, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol, failure to appear, probation revocation.

DRIVE ON, MARTINA

Editor,

My driver’s license expired on the day I turned 90. During the coronavirus pandemic, the Department of Motor Vehicles has made changes to expedite the renewal of licenses. While this is a good idea, and I was pleased to learn I didn’t have to spend time and angst taking a test, I was surprised and dismayed to learn that by just filling out a form, having a thumb print taken, passing an eye-chart test and having my picture taken, my license was renewed for five years. I will be 95 when my license next expires.

I think that after age 90, licenses should be renewed for only a couple years, and a driving test should be required. In addition to reflexes declining, so does the ability to keep traffic moving, because driving well under the speed limit can be just as dangerous as speeding.

Right now I would welcome taking a driving test. But when I’m 95? Will I still be safe on the road? Should I have demonstrated that I am still a safe driver at 92 and beyond? I think so.

Martina Lewis

Santa Rosa

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Evangelical, fundamentalist, Baptist FAKE Christians put Trump in power believing his drain the swamp build the wall ad nauseum lies. The majority kicked him out of office for being a self serving, golfing, “don’t need to read even a single page intelligent briefing” incessant liar. That’s what happened to America in 2020. Try telling the 346,000 folks who lost family to Covid “symptoms” the stats were overblown. BTW that’s 2.6 times as many per/capita deaths as any other G7 country.

JEFF BLANKFORT: “Here are the 20 Democrats who voted against overriding Trump's NDAA veto: Reps. Earl Blumenauer (Ore.), Suzanne Bonamici (Ore.), Yvette Clarke (N.Y.), Mark DeSaulnier (Calif.), Adriano Espaillat (N.Y.), Tulsi Gabbard (Hawaii), Jesús García (Ill.), Jimmy Gomez (Calif.), Jared Huffman (Calif.), Pramila Jayapal (Wash.), Joe Kennedy (Mass.), Ro Khanna (Calif.), Barbara Lee (Calif.), Jim McGovern (Mass.), Grace Meng (N.Y.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (Minn.), Mark Pocan (Wis.), Ayanna Pressley (Mass.), and Rashida Tlaib (Mich.)." (HUFFMAN? HUFFMAN)

BEHIND THE NEWSOM RECALL: So far, two political committees behind the recall effort, Rescue California and California Patriot Coalition, have raised more than $1.3 million combined. More than 1,000 people have contributed, though most of the money has come in the form of five- and six-figure checks.

Here are five of the largest sources bankrolling the effort:

Prov 3:9 LLC

Amount: $500,000

What we know: Corporate filings indicate the company is a “consulting services” firm in Irvine formed in 2018. The firm’s manager, Thomas Liu, did not respond to requests from The Chronicle for comment. He told Politico, “We have our beliefs in terms of the direction the state needs to go, and we felt that this effort was worthy of our contribution.”

The firm’s name appears to be a reference to the biblical verse Proverbs 3:9:“Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops.”

No further details about the firm are publicly available. “I don’t know much about them other than they contacted us and wanted to help,” the recall campaign’s Dunsmore said.

Doug Leone and Patricia Perkins-Leone

Amount: $99,800

What we know: The couple live in Los Altos Hills, and Doug Leone is a partner at Sequoia Capital, a venture capital firm that invests in tech startups. His net worth is estimated at over $5 billion, according to Forbes. Patricia Perkins-Leone is a homemaker, finance reports state.

The couple have contributed about $3 million to state and federal candidates over the last 20 years, according to the Federal Election Commission and state records. Their contributions have primarily gone to Republican candidates and conservative groups across the country, including President Trump’s re-election campaign and Republicans in the Georgia runoff elections for U.S. Senate. The couple did not respond to requests for comment.

Susan and Howard Groff

Amount: $75,000

What we know: The couple are retirees from Northridge (Los Angeles County), according to finance reports. They appear to be the same Susan and Howard Groff who own Northwest Excavating, a Southern California company that digs utility lines and rents out large construction equipment.

They have given heavily to Republican candidates for state and federal office. The Groffs have contributed more than $12 million to federal and state campaigns, including ballot initiatives, finance records show. They did not respond to requests for comment.

California Revival PAC

Amount: $60,000

What we know: The committee was formed this year by GOP operatives, including Tom Del Beccaro of Walnut Creek, former chairman of the California Republican Party and a conservative commentator. Revival California’s website says the group’s mission is to recall Newsom and support “common sense, pro-growth policies and candidates.” Del Beccaro is also chair of Rescue California.

According to finance records, the committee received a $30,000 contribution from International Petroleum Products and Additives Co. and $25,000 from businessperson William Timken Jr.

John Cox

Amount: $50,000

What we know: Cox, whom Newsom defeated handily in the 2018 governor’s race, is considering running for governor again and has formed an exploratory committee. Cox is a tax attorney, financial adviser and real-estate investor in the San Diego area.

“This state right now is in crisis,” Cox said in September. “The response out of Sacramento (to the pandemic) has been inconsistent.” 

(Dustin Gardiner, SFgate.com)

THE REALITY IS that the United States and Israel will stop at nothing to denigrate what they conveniently describe as "rogue regimes” when the only real rogues are in Washington and Jerusalem. Trump and Netanyahu have been wanting to start a war with Iran for the past four years and have been seeking to provoke the Iranians into a response that could be used to justify a massive counter-attack. Why all the tip-toeing around is taking place is because Americans and Israelis are seeking to establish a fig leaf to hide behind while they commit a war crime, i.e. initiating a war of aggression where there is no threat coming from the other side. Instead, they are engaging in what they refer to as “maximum pressure” using economic sanctions and assassinations, hoping to have Iran strike back hard against them so they can plausibly claim that they are the victims and are engaging in “deterrence” or “defense.”

— Philip Giraldi

GOODBYE 2020

1. The dumbest thing I ever bought was a 2020 planner.

2. I was so bored I called Jake from State Farm just to talk to someone. He asked me what I was wearing.

3. 2019: Stay away from negative people. 2020: Stay away from positive people.

4. The world has turned upside down. Old folks are sneaking out of the house & their kids are yelling at them to stay indoors!

5. This morning I saw a neighbor talking to her dog. It was obvious she thought her dog understood her. I came into my house and told my cat. We laughed a lot.

6. Every few days try your jeans on just to make sure they fit. Pajamas will have you believe all is well in the kingdom.

7. Does anyone know if we can take showers yet or should we just keep washing our hands?

8. This virus has done what no woman has been able to do. Cancel sports, shut down all bars & keep men at home!

9. I never thought the comment, “I wouldn’t touch him/her with a 6-foot pole”, would become a national policy, but here we are!

10. Never in a million years could I have imagined I would go up to a bank teller wearing a mask and ask for money.

Ushering in 2021?

ATTENTION, LIBS

To the Editor:

I am writing this op ed on behalf of the 74 million plus American citizens that voted legally, and mostly in person, for Donald Trump for President. I wanted to clarify to those who have the Biden/Harris or Bernie signs in their front yard and promoted the “Stop Racism” We Can Do Better signs, or the “United not Divided” signs.

First, as a prior law enforcement officer and firefighter paramedic, there is not systemic racism in law enforcement. That is a left wing Democratic and news media propaganda campaign used to divide our country and it is doing a great job of it. There is systemic criminal behavior and a total lack of respect for law and order. When mayors and governors allow left wing, criminals to take over blocks of their cities or state, allow wanton burning and looting, and put a collar on the ability of law enforcement to protect people and property it pretty much guarantees the loss of interest or concern in any of their complaints. When domestic terrorists’ groups like BLM and ANTIFA are raised up on media platforms and applauded, you lose credibility. Not only do black lives matter, ALL lives matter. To raise one racial group above others, is racism.

I watched the recent Presidential campaign and voting with absolute disbelief. The left-wing news media covered for Joe Biden, protected him as if he were their favorite Grandfather, while willingly broadcasting lies and misinformation about President Trump, used social media platforms to present blatant misinformation, and on the other end, muted the voice of the right. Joe Biden cannot get through a press conference without some blatant loss of memory or outburst that makes no sense. He is mentally and physically incapable of being President of the United States, he was never tested by the media, in fact he was protected by them. On the other hand, Trump was subjected to vicious cross examinations in town halls and press briefings. He sustained 5 years of false charges, expensive and empty investigations, and a media that ensured nothing he accomplished ever made the air waves.

So here we sit, several weeks out from election day. The left-wing press has hailed Joe Biden as our next President and so the 74 million of us should shut up and move on. We are now “United not Divided”. Everything is now hunky dory?

Unfortunately, 74 million of us, are not buying it. 80 percent of all GOP members believe the election was a total fraud and stolen. Now, 30 percent of Democrats, who apparently watch something other than CNN and MSNBC, also believe there was fraud in the Presidential election.

I just wanted to prepare you. You may wake up one morning and your favorite one-sided news outlet might have “Breaking News” SCOTUS gives Trump all four or five fraud filled state’s electors. Then will see how “united and not divided” we will be.

If that does not happen, at least you can rest assured that we won’t run downtown, shoot some cops, burn buildings, or loot stores for the latest big screen TV’s. We will not take over a few city blocks and call it “social justice”. No, we will go back to work and work through our law makers to make sure you must have ID to vote and mail in ballots are for the sick and elderly and hope that the corrupt left doesn’t totally gut the US Constitution in their climb for absolute power.

Joe Biden said it best himself, “I have the best voter fraud team.” He was right. At least that day he remembered he was running for President and not the Senate.

Dave Oncale

Willits

FORECAST 2021: CHINESE FIRE DRILLS WITH A SIDE OF FRENCH FRIES (JACOBIN STYLE) & RUSSIAN DRESSING

by James Kunstler

As I write, the presidential election is still not resolved, with dramatic events potentially unfolding in the first days of the New Year. I’m not convinced that Mr. Trump is in as weak a position as the news media has made him out to be in these post-election months of political fog and noise. The January 6 meet-up of the Senate and House to confirm the electoral college votes may yet propel matters into a constitutional Lost World of political monsterdom. The tension is building. This week’s public demonstration by one Jovan Hutton Pulitzer of the easy real-time hackability of Dominion Voting Systems sure threw the Georgia lawmakers for a loop, and that demo may send reverberations into next Wednesday’s DC showdown.

There may be some other eleventh-hour surprises coming from the Trump side of the playing field. As I averred Monday, we still haven’t heard anything from DNI Ratcliffe, and you can be sure he’s sitting on something, perhaps something explosive, say, evidence of CIA meddling in the election. There have been ominous hints of something screwy in Langley for weeks. The Defense Dept., under Secretary Miller, took over all the CIA’s field operational functions before Christmas — “No more black ops for you!” That was a big deal. There were rumors of CIA Director Gina Haspel being in some manner detained, deposed and…talking of dark deeds. She was, after all, the CIA’s London station-chief during the time that some of the worst RussiaGate shenanigans took place there involving the international men-of-mystery, Stefan Halper, Josepf Mifsud, and Christopher Steele. Mr. Ratcliffe seemed to be fighting with the CIA in the weeks following the election over their slow-walking documents he had demanded.

What else does Mr. Trump know about this rumored inter-agency feud? Or a number of other fraught matters surrounding the election, and also questions concerning the harassment he suffered from the four-year rolling coup run by his Deep State antagonists (many of them CIA). What does he know of China’s infiltration into our national affairs, of which the Biden Family’s business deals with CCP-connected companies is only one piece? Or of China’s relationship with Dominion systems — China is rumored to have acquired a 75-percent interest in the company as recently as October.

In any case, the president cut short his holiday break in Florida before New Years Eve to fly back to Washington. The company line is that he wants to exhaust all the prescribed legal procedures to contest the November 3 vote tally. And if none of it avails to correct the outcome, he might move on to… something else. If even the so-far publicly revealed evidence of the Biden family’s influence-peddling schemes overseas is true — and the emails and corporate memoranda from Hunter’s laptop seem genuine — then it would be Mr. Trump’s duty to prevent Joe Biden from becoming president. And outside the constitutionally-mandated process in the national legislature, that would leave him some sort of other emergency executive action.

Mr. Trump has called for a gigantic assembly of his supporters on January 6 in Washington. He didn’t call them there to watch him get humiliated. Something is up. You can feel it in the air. I’ll give it a fair chance that Donald Trump is the one with his hand on the bible come January 20. One caveat to all that: 2021 is going to be very rough sledding, with many discomforts, traumas, and things left behind for America. Whoever occupies the Oval Office is going to be buried in trouble. In theory, I would have preferred to see a Democrat left holding that awful bag, if only as payback for all their bad faith and dirty fighting of the past four years. But Mr. Trump is apparently willing to shoulder that burden, and, in such an existential emergency, he’s likely to be a better leader than the corrupt and feckless Ol’ White Joe.

Okay, I’m going to just come right out and splatter a bunch of individual forecast predictions up-front in this lead chapter, and if you’re interested, you can continue on to the finer points and arguments below. I’m grateful for all of you interested readers coming here twice a week, and for those of you who keep this outfit afloat with your Patreon support. A healthy, sane, purposeful, and upright 2021 to you!

A Bill of Particulars for 2021

• The election is re-adjudicated, fraud subtracted from the tally, and President Trump is declared the winner.
• The mail-in vote for the Georgia Senate seat runoff is disqualified as systematic fraud is revealed. Stacy Abrams is indicted for organizing the fraud.
• A number of political celebrities, DC swamp rats, K-Street hustlers, media figures, and tech company executives are arrested and charged with serious crimes around election fraud.
• The CIA is purged and reduced to a strictly analytical role for advising the executive.
• The FBI is likewise purged; Director Wray is charged with obstruction of Justice.
• Following the reversal of the news media’s election narrative (and the actual election results), Black Lives Matter and Antifa are loosed upon a number of cities and wreak considerable destruction, but eventually get their asses kicked by federal troops. City mayors who allowed the havoc to proceed are arrested, charged with abetting insurrection, and removed from office pending trial.
• Nancy Pelosi replaced as Speaker of the House. Mitch McConnell replaced as Majority Leader.
• US Attorney John Durham brings charges against lawyers involved in the Mueller Investigation, including Andrew Weissmann, Aaron Zebly, Brandon Van Grack and Jeanie Rhee. Mr. Mueller is named as an unindicted co-conspirator due to mental incompetence.
• A special Prosecutor is named to investigate the Biden family business operations; indictments follow late 2021.
• Stock market enters long, deep asset value deflation through first and second quarters and bottom-bounces the rest of the year. S & P falls to 550 range; DJI under 10,000; Nasdaq under 3000.
• The dollar DXY index falls under 80 by 2nd quarter, 60 at year end.
• US GDP down by 40-percent year end 2021.
• US oil production (minus natural gas liquids) down by 40-percent, year-end 2021.
• Banking system thrown into disarray due to non-payment of rents and mortgages. Federal government intervenes with direct renter relief payments. Home owners in default are allowed to remain in their houses on provisional basis (which is never reconciled).
• Bubonic plague outbreak among homeless of Los Angeles as rats proliferate in their encampments.
• Pension funds collapse as broken chain of rent-and-mortgage payments destroy Real Estate Investment Trusts.
• Federal government forced to organize massive food giveaway programs.
• Millions enrolled in make-work projects a la the New Deal (some of them of value).
• New York City forced to curtail subway service to bare minimum as money runs out.
• California Governor Gavin Newsom recalled out of office.
• George Soros and several directors of Soros-funded NGOs charged with racketeering and election campaign finance crimes.
• General Motors, Chrysler, and Ford are back seeking bankruptcy protection. This time, their assets are sold and reorganized into smaller companies. No bailouts.
• Covid virus fades from the scene by 3rd quarter, but economic carnage remains. Huge amount of restaurant equipment sold for dimes on the dollar.
• Bitcoin “Hodlers” becoming Bitcoin “Sodlers” as cryptos tank.
• “Woke” hysteria evaporates as Americans struggle with desperate reality-based problems of everyday life.
• Collapse of higher education begins in earnest as college loan racket implodes. Scores of colleges and even some universities shutter; others shrink drastically in desperate effort to carry on.
• Hollywood celebrities apologize en masse for past “Woke” behavior, beg forgiveness from cancel victims and fans. Nevertheless, collapse of the movie industry continues as, post-Covid, Americans desperately seek the company of other people instead of canned entertainments, which they have grown sick of.
• Professional sports collapse as business model fails. Impoverished Americans start-up low-cost, local baseball and football leagues.
• Twitter and Faceback become public utilities.

(Support Kunstler’s writing by visiting his Patreon Page.)

MEMO OF THE AIR: Good Night Radio all night tonight!

Hi. Marco here. Deadline to email your writing for Friday night's MOTA show is a little earlier than usual, around 6pm. After that, send it whenever it's ready, up to 6pm Friday next week, and I'll take care of it then. There's always another time. There's no pressure.

I'll be in the Franklin Street studio for tonight's show. If you want to call and read your work in your own voice, the number is (707) 962-3022.

Memo of the Air: Good Night Radio is every Friday, 9pm to 5am on 107.7fm KNYO-LP Fort Bragg as well as anywhere else via http://airtime.knyo.org:8040/128 (That's the regular link to hear what's on KNYO in real time, any time.)

Any time of any day or night you can go to https://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com and hear last week's MOTA show and a few shows before that. By Saturday night the recording of tonight's show will also be there, in the latest post, right on top.

Also, at https://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com there's a kaleidoscopic assortment of links to odd things to amuse yourself with until showtime, not to mention between shows, such as:

POV: Toy train. It's neat when it goes inside the world. I like the inside part as much as the outside part. https://theawesomer.com/model-railroad-pov/605083/

This guy's friends think he went a bit overboard with the toy trains, but he has the time and money and love of the medium, so why not? It's not just his project; he and his wife work as a team. https://27thstreet.me/2020/12/28/worlds-largest-model-railroad/

And a giant ethereal projected Van Gogh exhibit in a giant ethereal space. https://www.bitsandpieces.us/2020/12/26/atelier-des-lumieres-van-gogh-starry-night/

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

A POLITICAL MESSAGE ON PELOSI'S GARAGE IN SF

https://twitter.com/fogcitymidge/status/1345084099447328768?s=10