RARELY do we celebrate County appointments, but we're pleased to see Karen Wandrei appointed to the second-in-command position at the Welfare (aka Health & Human Services) Department. We very much admired Ms. Wandrei for her firm stance against dope in her old position as boss at the Youth Project. We remember one event where she alone in a room stuffed with the usual wafflers and closet stoners was clear that marijuana use among the young should be steadfastly discouraged. Around here, that kind of clarity is Profiles In Courage material.
HOW BAD is the economy? A reader writes: “The workers at the Willits Senior Center Thrift Store have been trained to spot shoplifters, and the try-on booth has been closed due to ‘layering’.”
THE CORPSE washed up on the rocks
north of Westport earlier in the week
has been identified as
Daniel Gregory Kolb, 34, of Colorado.
The Mendocino County Sheriff's Department describes Kolb as a transient.
THE PRELIMINARY HEARING for Billy Norbury, accused murderer of Jamal Andrews, drew so many people to the County Courthouse Tuesday afternoon, the 150-seat courtroom was unable to accommodate the overflow crowd, most of it comprising friends of the victim, a popular local reggae musician. Many of Andrews supporters are convinced that the shooting death of Andrews occurred solely because Andrews was black, Norbury a racist. Norbury lives not far from the Andrews home. He shot Andrews to death as Andrews stood in his own front yard. Tuesday's preliminary hearing was anti-climactic because Norbury's defense attorney, Al Kubanis, said it wouldn't be necessary, and waived the proceedings. It is rumored that Norbury will plead out on the basis that he is mentally ill. Andrews was raised in the Laytonville area. A fundraiser for his son is being held April 18th at the Mateel Community Center in Redway.
THE MENDOCINO County Board of Supervisors, at its Tuesday meeting, voted to amend the County's zoning ordinance to allow an asphalt plant at the Harris quarry, and also voted to allow the quarry to substantially expand extraction. The quarry, doing business as Northern Aggregates, is on the west side of the Willits Grade just off Highway 101. The hearing was long and contentious because there is much opposition to expansion of the quarry, and just as much to allowing asphalt plants at other County quarries.
GOVERNOR BROWN reappoints Jim Kellogg to Fish and Game Commission (by Dan Bacher) — James Kellogg, 68, of Discovery Bay, has been reappointed by Governor Jerry Brown to the California Fish and Game Commission, where he has served since 2002 after being appointed by then Governor Gray Davis. Kellogg has been an international representative for the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Industry since 1992, according to a news release from the Governor’s Office. Fishing groups reacted positively to his reappointment. “Jim has exercised a steady hand in implementing good Fish and Game policies for the state for the past 10 years,” said Dick Pool, president of Water for Fish. “We look forward to his continued leadership.” “It’s been great news that he’s been reappointed, “ said Jim Martin, West Coast Regional Director of the Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA). “He has always been a good friend of fishermen and his long experience as a Commissioner will provide continuity for decision making and institutional memory.” Kellogg was instrumental in convincing the Fish and Game Commission in February to reject the Department of Fish and Game’s controversial proposed changes to striped bass regulations that anglers said amounted to a “striped bass eradication proposal.” Kellogg made the motion to reject the proposal after speaking passionately about his eyewitness experience with the results of export pumping when he worked from 1966 to 1969 on installing the first pumping station on the South Delta for the State Water Project. Kellogg noted that the striped bass and listed Central Valley chinook salmon and Delta smelt had coexisted for 130 years. He also declared that striped bass are a “native species” in California, since they have been here for so long. “Nobody’s got an answer on how this is done, or who declares it, so I’m going to declare the striped bass a native species of the state of California,” he said, in his last act as the Commission President. Kellogg has also acquired a reputation for being a voice of reason, common sense and environmental and economic justice regarding the implementation of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s controversial Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative to create “marine protected areas” on the California coast. He has consistently spoken up for working people, fishermen and Tribal communities in hearings and meetings regarding the adoption of marine protected areas. On April 11, Kellogg and the other Commissioners will meet in Eureka to discuss proposed changes to marine protected areas for the MLPA North Coast Study Region and receive public comment on the draft environmental document for the North Coast marine protected areas. For more information, go to: http://www.fgc.ca.gov/meetings/2012/041112agd.pdf. According to the Commission website, “Jim has devoted his entire adult life to helping people and doing whatever possible to provide the best working environment and conditions that the particular times would bear for the people he represents. He has been recognized many times over for his leadership abilities and has gained the respect and admiration of everyone who has had the opportunity to interface with him.” “He is a strong supporter of education and heavily promotes union apprenticeship and journeyman training programs and has been rewarded for those efforts by having two schools in Northern California named after him. He is the founder of the California Native American Apprenticeship Initiative,” the website stated. Besides serving as Fish and Game Commissioner, Kellogg served as commissioner for the California Transportation Commission from 1999 to 2002. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Kellogg is a Democrat.
ON POT local lib-labs will waffle
Even though for kids pot’s especially awful
So we’ll take Ms. Wandrei
In hopes that she’ll try
To make pot both unblissful and unlawful.
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