Mendocino County Today: March 17, 2012

SEAN WHITE, manager of the Russian River Flood Control and Water Conservation Improvement District, said Thursday, “We have put over 4,000 acre feet into storage just with this one storm. I expect to get twice that with the next storm.” Prior to the recent rains, Lake Mendocino had 63,323 acre-feet of storage. At 1pm Thursday, there was 67,262 acre-feet. White said Lake Pillsbury in Lake County hit “56,685 acre-feet of cumulative inflow today,” meaning that on April 1, “the water year will be reclassified from ‘critically dry’ to ‘dry.’ He also said the “low minimum flow will allow us to maximize storage in Lake Mendocino.”

FLIP OUT of the week: A 23-year-old Ukiah woman identified as Shanoa Ann Mitchell, 23, was in a drunken dispute Tuesday with her significant other during which she allegedly tried to puncture him with a cork screw. Sig Other took shelter in the bathroom but Ms. Mitchell tried to uncork him the instant he emerged. Ms. Mitchell also attempted to rip a wall-mounted television set from its perch but, failing that, hurled a chair at it, destroying the essential household device. All of this, uh, multi-tasking, occurred as Ms. Mitchell held her two-year-old child. She was booked into the County Jail on an array of domestic abuse and child endangerment charges.

DR. GRANT COLFAX, San Francisco's top HIV public health administrator, has been appointed to head the Office of National AIDS Policy. President Obama made the announcement on Wednesday. Colfax, the eldest son of David and Micki Colfax of Boonville, will be responsible for carrying out President Obama's National AIDS Strategy, announced last year, which is focused on reducing new HIV infections, increasing access and adherence to treatment, and addressing HIV-related health disparities, especially among minority groups. “Grant's expertise will be key as we continue to face serious challenges and take bold steps to meet them,” Obama said. “I look forward to his leadership in the months and years to come.” Colfax was director of HIV prevention and research with the San Francisco Public Health Department, and for the past several years he worked in the outpatient HIV/AIDS clinic at San Francisco General Hospital. He did much of his clinical training caring for HIV/AIDS patients in San Francisco General's Ward 5A, the first inpatient HIV program in the country. In recent years, Colfax, home schooled with his three brothers, has been leading a local and national push toward early treatment of HIV patients, both to improve the health of infected individuals and to help prevent infections.

WE’LL PROBABLY never know much about

what prompted Ms. Mitchell’s flip out

Was it the dork

who got screwed like a cork?

Or was there too much wine in her snout?