Mendocino County Today: Thursday, May 20, 2021

Windy Cool | 10 New Cases | Land Dealing | Columbines | Aqua Dither | Totally Woke | Ed Notes | River Wagons | Mulheren Report | Botanical Gardens | HHSA Concerns | Yesterday's Catch | SS Ford | Seagull Dreams | Photoshopping | Desal Debunk | Posse Formation | Mutating Microbes | Cargo Truck | Oaxaca Walk | Freud Standup | Amazon Ring | @*!!@ Liberals | Fish Kill | Blue Frogs | Sadism USA | Arakawa River

UNSEASONABLY COOL WEATHER is expected through Friday with brisk northwesterly winds each afternoon another locally frosty night ahead for some interior valleys. Some spotty showers pop up across some of the higher interior mountains the next couple of afternoons, otherwise mainly dry weather will continue through the weekend for the majority of our region. (NWS)

10 NEW COVID CASES reported in Mendocino County yesterday afternoon.

THE SKUNK TRAIN & THE GEORGIA-PACIFIC MILL SITE

by Malcolm Macdonald

Here is the headline: Sierra Railroad, the parent company of the Skunk Train, is in negotiations to purchase more than 200 acres of the old Georgia-Pacific mill site in Fort Bragg. These negotiations have been ongoing throughout 2021. The City of Fort Bragg has also entered the real estate fray.

Sierra Railroad has gone public about its desires for the mill site property since the summer of 2019. In a phone interview on May 18, Sierra Railroad Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mike Hart stated that the company has been considering such a purchase as far back as 2004. 

The devil is in the details. On Monday, May 17, the Fort Bragg City Council held three separate budget meetings. The final one was a closed session affair with a heading about negotiations between the City of Fort Bragg and Georgia-Pacific regarding the acquisition of mill site land. Assessor parcel numbers attached seem to indicate the amount of property involved is in the neighborhood of 215 acres, located within the southern portion of the mill site. Official parties to the negotiation were Fort Bragg's City Manager, Tabatha Miller, and Georgia-Pacific's official in charge of environmental affairs, Dave Massengill. The closed session obviously also included the members of Fort Bragg's City Council.

The only public correspondence concerning this matter was an email authored that morning by Mike Hart, CEO of the Sierra Railroad Company, owners of the Skunk Train. After opening salutations, Hart stated, “We are obviously concerned that all of our work to finalize our agreement with GP for the purchase of the remaining portions of the mill site appears suddenly to have been derailed by the city. Candidly, and the reason for my message, is that I am dismayed by what seems to have happened to our relationship with the city.”

If one goes back through city agenda packets, you can trace a history of Sierra Railroad's proposals to expand the Skunk Train line across the mill site back to the summer of 2019. At that point, Sierra Railroad Company's plan included seventy-seven acres north of Redwood Avenue. Since then Sierra Railroad has acquired fifteen acres previously purchased from Georgia-Pacific (G-P) by a group affiliated with Harvest Market's owners.

Mr. Hart's email claims that Sierra Railroad has communicated in good faith, including disclosing to city officials their ongoing negotiations with G-P. Hart asserts that his company is now shocked and surprised to see the city negotiating with G-P for purchase of the 215 acre southern portion of the mill site. From a devil's advocate position one has to wonder how Mr. Hart has gone this far in business without hearing of one party's interest in a piece of real estate prompting interest by other potential buyers.

The purchase of the additional fifteen acres, roughly west across Highway One from Cypress and Hazel Streets, was supposedly for a new train station to link to the existing Skunk rail line in the northern portion of Fort Bragg. That railroad currently extends its tracks alongside Pudding Creek, terminating near the collapsed tunnel that once joined the rail line to tracks running east up the Noyo River watershed. In the phone interview, Mr. Hart stated that Sierra Railroad had expended about five million dollars on repairs and that the tunnel would be ready to re-open in a few months. 

In his email, Mr. Hart says that Sierra Railroad would only proceed with development of the fifteen acre parcel if the use was acceptable to the city. According to the Hart email, the fifteen acre lot, which contains a bevy of trees and possible riparian lands, would have housed not only a train station but a restaurant and restrooms, and served as a jumping off point to the city's coastal trail as well. 

Hart's correspondence cites the value of the fifteen acre parcel providing vehicle parking that would potentially free up parking spaces in the city's downtown. He does not mention the potential environmental degradation that constructing a parking lot might cause. One letter, reacting to the 2019 plan, cited Joni Mitchell's lyric, “Pave paradise and put up a parking lot.”

Hart's email conveys surprise that the city did not give prior indication to his company of its objections to the fifteen acre purchase or objection to Sierra Railroad negotiating with G-P for purchase of the balance of the mill site property. Given that Sierra Railroad notified the city in December, 2020 of their intent to purchase the fifteen acre parcel and that Sierra Railroad apparently began negotiating for the larger G-P parcels (215 acres) in February, and given the relative slowness that government wheels often grind, it is more of a surprise to this observer that the city has acted so quickly.

A close reading of Mr. Hart's email seems to show us his main concern. From the outset, meaning at least as far back as 2019, any proposed deals with developers have been predicated upon Sierra Railroad not only buying the fifteen acres first purchased by the Harvest Market group, but the bulk of the mill site as well.

Of course, the development of the mill site by Sierra Railroad Company and its privately contracted developers might be an entirely different look than that envisioned by a majority of the public. Hart's email claims that the city's intervention in this possible development deal undermines an agreement with the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC). There are individuals who might beg to differ, claiming that such a deal might let Georgia-Pacific off the environmental hook with the least costly methods of clean up. It would appear that city officials and much of the public who have weighed in on toxic cleanup favor a plan that is more comprehensive.

Mr. Hart cites “the need for rail in planning for industrial zoning on the southern portion of the mill site.” He goes on to say, “we only build what is essential. In this case, that only means tracks to reach our proposed Cypress station and any spur as needed to reach any industrial customers who wish to avoid trucking.”

Of course, the viability of displacing truck trips over Highway 20 means that the Skunk rail line must be able to run at least to Willits. Questioned about this on the phone, Mr. Hart maintained that the rest of the track would be good to go when the Pudding Creek tunnel is re-opened. He also referenced the possibility of connecting the railroad to Cloverdale and, thus, points south. In this regard one has to wonder how edible Mr. Hart considers “pie in the sky.” 

Hart's email continues in a vein that alludes to the city “stealing” his company's plan for the mill site. He goes on at some length about Sierra Railroad being a continuum of a business that has been in Fort Bragg since the 1880s and that as a public utility it may not be subject to local jurisdiction, rather to federal rules and regulations as a public utility.

Sierra Railroad's dismay at the City of Fort Bragg entering into negotiations with G-P is made clear multiple times in Mr. Hart's email. 

Here is one sample. “[L]ook at our actions since we purchased the northern portion of the mill site in July: we have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to prepare a development plan mirroring the city’s plans, making a public presentation of our plans as soon as they were completed in September 2019; we were told in that meeting that our plan was excellent and met all of the city’s desires for the property; when we then sought to start the formal (and normal) development process with the city and the Coastal Commission, the city declined to respond and instead formed an “ad hoc committee” that failed to respond to us until February of 2021; when the ad hoc committee finally responded to us and ignored every comment and document we had provided to them, it struck the Pomo Indian project from our plans and told us that they wanted us to start over with our entire plan, in one stroke invalidating years of work by us and the city. If either of us has grounds to doubt the good faith of the other in the development process, it would be us, not the city. We have at all times done exactly what the city has asked of us; doing our best to meet all of the city’s stated goals for the property. That the city does not want the railroad to ‘run the full length of the trail.’ This concern frankly stumps me. We have embraced the ‘City of Trails’ plans and are spending millions of dollars to develop a trail that will connect the city’s trails all the way to Willits.”

Mr. Hart makes note of his company's construction work to create a walking/biking trail alongside the railroad, including pedestrian bridges. He concludes this section by asking, “How this in any way harms the community escapes me.”

On the phone, Mr. Hart can be an engaging fellow. He cited his family roots in Mendocino County, mentioning ancestors who served as early postmasters in Anderson Valley. On the other hand, at the outset of the phone conversation he sounded peeved that his email was published along with the agenda for the City Council meeting. I explained that it was a public meeting about which he had sent a correspondence; thus, the city was obligated to publish that correspondence lest they get in trouble down the line for withholding pertinent information from the public. So, one has to wonder how public-minded Mr. Hart and his company are about their intentions in negotiating with Georgia-Pacific. How much is community-minded and how much is it simply a multi-million dollar development deal?

(*Mike Hart's full email, containing an image of Sierra Railroad's plan for the mill site, can be found on the City of Fort Bragg's website: https://city.fortbragg.com. Under the City Council heading, check the 5/17/2021 meeting, click on agenda then the public comment section.)

ANGELA DEWITT: "The Columbine at Van Damme are utterly at their most flower-ness right now. Like right now, at this very moment. How lucky are we that we get to live with flowers? The burden and blessing of being alive is knowing in our souls that we’re co-creatures with everything."

AND NOW FOR THE WATER WE CAN'T SEE

by Mark Scaramella

We have learned over the years not to expect much from local officials on most issues. After all, this is the County that seems unable to produce even ordinary departmental budget reports, even though they’ve been promising them for years. 

Not that many years ago the Grand Jury recommended that the Board of Supervisors, which also sits as the County Water Agency, require all water districts in the Ukiah Valley to install gages on all wells. 

In their response, the Supervisors agreed that that would be a good idea and that they would enact the Grand Jury's suggestion. 

But that key action which would have paid info-dividends to today and beyond didn’t happen. When, two years later, we asked then County Water Agency Manager Roland Sanford (since fired due to supposed budget constraints) to send us a copy of the order to the water districts. Sanford replied that the Supes had never ordered him to do it. And that was the end of that. (And he hadn’t asked them to.)

In the aftermath of the 2013-2015 drought, the State declared the Ukiah Valley to be a high-risk water area and ordered that a super-joint powers agency be created to “manage groundwater basins, enhance local management of groundwater, establish minimum standards for sustainable groundwater management, and provide local groundwater agencies with the authority and technical and financial assistance necessary to sustainably manage groundwater.” They are also supposed to develop a “groundwater sustainability plan.”

In seven years, they have done exactly none of those things, but they have apparently produced some maps, a highly speculative water model for the Ukiah Valley and a draft of one chapter of the GSP.

It took the new Agency two years just to appoint its members and get their processes in order. Since then they’ve continued to dither, working mostly on that irrelevant computer modeling (still described as “a guess” by their expensive UC Davis consultant). The model is still years away and they don’t have any way to test the model. That’ll probably take another decade or two because they still don’t require gages.

Now Mendo and especially the Ukiah Valley, finds itself in an unprecedented drought, and despite having wasted those seven years doing absolutely nothing about sustainable water, the agency — currently chaired by former UC Davis grape advisor Supervisor Glenn McGourty who most of inland Mendocino County defers to as a water expert — has finally advanced to the subject of sustainability — of their own funding, not water.

On May 13 the grandly titled “Ukiah Valley Basin Groundwater Sustainability Agency” met again. It would be more accurate to call it the Groundwater Agency Sustainability Agency.

Item 4b on their May 13 meeting was “Discussion and possible direction for the implementation of the Groundwater Sustainability Plan and Annual Groundwater Sustainability Agency Administration Costs.”

One way to fund the agency (it’s been funded by Water Board Grants so far) under consideration is a flat fee for each well which would be imposed on all Ukiah Valley wells. But the flat fee would be on the well, not on the amount of water pumped. (Because they still don’t require gages — duh.)

The other way staff suggested was to impose a usage fee on wells. But again since they don’t have any gages, they can only guesstimate the rate and the revenue — not to mention that during a drought basing their revenue on “usage” is flawed if not useless.

The only person in the Agency’s May (zoom) meeting who showed any sense of urgency was a Sacramento consultant named James Bliss who said he wasn’t there to “consult” at all, but to “evangelize, and promote and urge and cajole” the group to get their straws into the stream of drought money that the state is now allocating. But even Mr. Bliss’s funding enthusiasm was lost on his lackadaiscal small audience. The discussion then drifted back into the status of the groundwater model and we couldn’t follow what, if anything, was decided on pursuing the agency’s funding.

Agenda Item 4e sounded closer to reality: “Hear reports on water supplies in the Ukiah Valley Basin and drought mitigation measures in development.”

Nobody had any data about “water supplies” of course. They all “hoped” that the oxymoronic “voluntary restrictions” currently in place might help. They also bemoaned the lack of water everywhere in the county, the apparent lack of public interest in the lack of water — nevermind the lack of leadership on the subject — and an anticipated “notice of water non-availability” from the state. Apparently, despite having some sense of the depth of the problem, they can’t bring themselves to do anything until the state tells them they have to. And the state is dragging its feet too — probably for political reasons.

Local Farm Bureau honcho Devon Jones said it’s likely that when the state finally gets around to issuing formal restrictions, they will only allow a minimal amount of water over public health needs to agriculture, adding, “but a minimal amount is better than zero.” Jones also said that she thinks Anderson Valley ag (i.e., AV grapes growers) is even worse off than Ukiah Valley grape growers because the Ukiah Valley has the federally funded recycled City wastewater “purple pipe” welfare water for grape growers to tap into. Whereas Anderson Valley has no water reservoirs of any kind besides nearly empty vineyard ponds.

No one mentioned imposing restrictions on any water district or town, nor asking the County’s many water districts and towns what their drought plans are or what their present situation is.

Toward the end of the meeting, McGourty announced that he is on the County’s similarly inactive drought ad hoc committee and plans to meet with CEO Carmel Angelo about how to assemble a “drought taskforce.” (The county-wide drought task force idea was brought up a month ago at the April 21 Supervisor meeting when the drought emergency was declared and the ad hoc committee was formed. Despite the declared “emergency,” it has yet to confer with the CEO.)

As Friends of the Eel River Director (and former Petaluma City Councilman) David Keller said recently regarding the continuing delays and avoidance of mandated water restrictions, “We’re starting way too late, and it’s just going to get a lot worse.” 

TOTALLY WOKE, BOONVILLE 1975

ED NOTES

THE FOLLOWING is an edited version of a presser from the Ukiah Police Department: 

On the morning of Monday, May 17, about 9:30, UPD officers were dispatched to a reported assault that occurred at Wal-Mart. Dispatch advised the suspect was a female pushing a shopping cart being followed by a witness. A second caller reported that the suspect had stolen merchandise from Wal-Mart, and that an employee had been assaulted by the suspect as well. A UPD officer located Racheal Seivertson, 32, of Ukiah, in the 1300 block of S. State Street. Ms. Seivertson is, as they say, “known to law enforcement.” 

The officer attempted to detain Seivertson, but she kept walking away. When the officer attempted to physically detain her she punched the officer in the face with a closed fist. Seivertson was “placed on the ground” and detained without further incident. (“Placed on the ground.” There's a nice euphemism right there.)

Seivertson had gathered a shopping cart full of miscellaneous merchandise and had attempted to exit the store after passing all points of sale. A female Wal-Mart loss prevention employee tried to stop her from leaving the store with the stolen merchandise. Seivertson punched the employee, and when a second, “elderly” female Wal-Mart employee also attempted to prevent Seivertson from exiting the store, Seivertson punched the elderly female in the face as well. Seivertson then exited the store with the stolen merchandise. 

The loss prevention lady complained of pain and later sought medical treatment at the Ukiah Hospital. The elderly female victim suffered a visible injury to her face as a result of being punched by Seivertson but did not seek medical treatment. Seivertson was placed under arrest for robbery, elder abuse, battery on a peace officer and resisting arrest. The estimated total value of the stolen merchandise was $161. The merchandise was returned to China, er, Wal-Mart, and Ms. Seivertson was booked at the County Jail where she is being held on $150,000 bail. 

A NOVEL could be written about this event and its cast of characters. As you can see from her contrasting booking photos, Ms. Seivertson has been steadily deteriorating, mentally and physically, going from what appears to be a demure, more or less normally functioning young woman to a grinning, skinhead, homeless lunatic in less than five years. I hope she or someone who knows her will provide us with her back story, although it's probably the usual one that begins with premature, and heavy, marijuana use as a 12-year-old and on into crank, which I'd guess accounts for Miss Seivertson's unrepentant, slightly maniacal booking photo. (I'm assuming Miss Seivertson is a “Miss,” but surely a Miss with plenty of suitors from among Ukiah's permanent population of outdoorsmen.)

IT'S INTERESTING that the store's loss prevention lady checked in with the for-profit Mendo medical monopoly vegetarian Christ cult, but the WalMart lady described as “elderly,” although she'd been struck in the face hard enough for it to show, did not, and there we have another story, common throughout the United States, about a society that forces millions of the elderly to work until they drop. Of course if you get to be elderly in this country you're probably a lot tougher than Miss Seivertson's generation of phone-addicted, non-verbal, dope-soaked softies.

MISS SEIVERTSON is obviously deranged so there won't be a prosecution, or if there is a prosecution for the sake of appearances, Miss Seivertson will be shunted off to one or another of Ukiah's 5,000 helping professionals to be checked out for reimbursable potential. Assuming she's not “reimbursable” because the violently crazed aren't ordinarly the docile reimbursables the helping pros prefer, Miss Seivertson, if she is indeed violently insane, will wind up in jail or prison. The cops do ALL the mental health heavy lifting in this county, which is a good thing because the cops tend to be smarter, kinder and, generally speaking, are persons of understanding deriving from their wide experience with aberrant behavior and, of course, their citizenship in a country where much public (and private) behavior is aberrant. This county's helping pros are dramatically not persons of understanding, and god help you if you or members of your family fall into their cold, unfeeling hands. Besides which, if it comes to it, the cops can gently place the mentally ill on the ground. My guess is that Miss Seivertson will come down from the drugs she's on in jail and be back at WalMart no later than the first week in June.

THE “DEEP STATE.” Now there's a tiresome concept preferred by the conspiracy minded. The deep state is really just the career, upper-echelon government bureaucrats who stay on no matter who's prexy, but Trump upset enough of them, especially the generals and the “intelligence” people, that they went after him from the git, to Trump's credit, the only credit he deserves. I see Biden-Harris as not exactly a lateral move from the orange fat man but of course they are much more acceptable to the deep state whose false assumptions they share. As Brecht put it in 1936 or thereabouts, “He who laughs has not heard the terrible news.”

A FORTHCOMING BOOK by Edward Dovere is called, “Battle for the Soul: Inside the Democrats' Campaigns to Defeat Trump,” which sounds pretty dull other than a quote from Obama accurately describing Trump as a 'madman,' a 'racist, sexist pig,' 'that fucking lunatic' and a 'corrupt motherfucker.' Dovere writes that Obama, like a number of Democrats, liked the idea of Trump being the Republican Party's 2016 presidential nominee, believing he would be easier to knock off in the general election than Ted Cruz, a Princeton and Harvard Law School graduate. Trump got the last laugh on that one. As for Cruz's credentials? Simply more evidence that both Princeton and Harvard are over-rated.

IN HER LATEST SUPERVISORS UPDATE, Supervisor Maureen Mulheren reported:

The MTA (Mendoino Transportation Agency) board approved a plan to connect transit routes through the City of Ukiah from East at Oak Manor Park to West at Todd Grove Park. This is something that has been called for since I was on the City Council. I am hopefully that this will be a better connector for the community. The route starts on July 1st so stay tuned for updates! http://mendocinotransit.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/D.4-East-West-Circular-05-12-21.pdf

* * *

Every Thursday I start my day with Coffee and Conversation. I was only joined by one guest Heidi, we had the usual cannabis conversations as well as talking about my first almost six months in office. Want to hear more? Join me next Thursday!

* * *

A major topic for the Mendocino Business and Government Leaders meeting was the extended unemployment. With people receiving an additional $300 per week in Federal Funds there aren't a lot of incentives to get back in to the workforce. Also the rise in cases is very concerning as people begin to hear from the CDC that they can be maskless if they are vaccinated. This is increasing the challenges to businesses that are trying to keep up with the regulations.

* * *

I also attended the EDFC [Economic Development and Financing Corporation] meeting. They are trying to find applicants for the new team style leadership. One person has been hired and is attending meetings. One big challenge is making sure that everyone pays their loans. They have been getting at least the minimum amount from the applicants.

(Ed note: Has anyone considered auditing the tax funded EDFC? Last we heard they loan over $1 million a year to small businesses and claim they have “plentiful loan funds.”)

* * *

There was very exciting Cannabis news in the Governor's May Revise, including Mendocino County getting $18 million dollars. There will be more to come about how this money can be used but it will be helpful. That wasn't the only good thing for Mendo we are going to keep our eyes on funding for drought projects, homeless housing and green energy. I also spent time to review the Planning Commission meeting and Ellen Drell interview on KZYX Corporations and Democracy of course both of these were about cannabis.

* * *

I'm sure that you all saw the Measure B letter from Sheriff Allman. I am looking forward to the BHAB [Behavioral Health Advisory Board], Measure B and BOS meeting on May 24th. It’s really important that we are all on the same page if we are going to move our community through the Mental Health crisis.

* * *

The Ad-hoc for the Move 2030 project had a meeting to discuss the current proposal and the expectations before the Board meeting. We also had a Covid Update meeting with [Health Officer] Dr. Coren. Case numbers are on the rise and we need to get more people vaccinated.

HHSA EMPLOYEES CONCERNED ABOUT CHANGES, SUPER AGENCY

In 1999, discussions were initiated with the Mendocino County Public Health Advisory Board in regards to merging the Social Services, Public Health and Mental Health/Behavioral Health departments under one super agency—to save money and integrate services. Planning began in 2005 and in 2007 an integrated agency of the three departments, a super agency, was formed with present-day CEO Carmel Angelo as the first Health and Human Services Agency Director.

willitsnews.com/2021/05/16/hhsa-employees-concerned-about-changes/

CATCH OF THE DAY, MAY 19, 2021

LENNON BATTISTELLI, Santa Rosa/Ukiah. Domestic battery.

OSCAR CABEZAS-TAFOYA, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

MIGUEL FLORES, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol, paraphernalia.

TRACI HERNANDEZ, Ukiah. Failure to appear.

NICHOLAS HUNTER, Ukiah. Domestic battery, witness intimidation, controlled substance for sale, probation revocation.

KAMARA PAGE, Ukiah. Controlled substance for sale.

ANTONIO THOMAS, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol, probation revocation.

SONG TO A SEAGULL

Fly silly seabird
No dreams can possess you
No voices can blame you
For sun on your wings
My gentle relations
Have names they must call me
For loving the freedom
Of all flying things
My dreams with the seagulls fly
Out of reach
Out of cry

I came to the city
And lived like old Crusoe
On an island of noise
In a cobblestone sea
And the beaches were concrete
And the stars paid a light bill
And the blossoms hung false
On their store window trees
My dreams with the seagulls fly
Out of reach
Out of cry

Out of the city
And down to the seaside
To sun on my shoulders
And wind in my hair
But sandcastles crumble
And hunger is human
And humans are hungry
For worlds they can't share
My dreams with the seagulls fly
Out of reach
Out of cry

I call to the seagull
Who dives to the waters
And catches his silver-fine
Dinner alone
Crying where are the footprints
That danced on these beaches
And the hands that cast wishes
That sunk like a stone
My dreams with the seagulls fly
Out of reach 
Out of cry

— Joni Mitchell

DESAL NOT A MAGIC…

Editor:

For readers who think that desalination is a good solution to the water emergency we are facing, I have to say they are not thinking about process and waste products from this so-called great idea. Where will all the salt and minerals and other waste products go? Back in the ocean, thereby creating an uninhabitable environment for the creatures who live there? And what about the energy needed to desalinate? Oh, and how about those 25,000 barrels of DDT-laden sludge off the coast of Los Angeles that are most probably leaking?

Desalination is not the answer. Reducing use, and smarter use, is. There is no way around that. And the time to begin is long past.

Martha Johnson

Santa Rosa

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

From what I’ve seen this covid thing is real and spreads much like the common cold. Unless you’re superman or you live in a plastic bubble, it’s not a question of IF you catch a cold but WHEN. Same with covid. From what I’ve seen it can kill. It can make you damn sick even if you’re young and otherwise healthy. If you’re old it’s lethal. 

From what little I know of biology and the branch of biology dealing with evolution, when a lifeform finds a new ecological niche, be it a new land-mass, a new food source or, like the covid virus, a new host species, they have a tendency to mutate, ie evolve pretty fast.

One well known example is whales, for which fossil records of evolution are pretty darned good. About 50 million years ago there was a fully terrestrial shore-line dwelling creature on what was the edge of a stretch of water between Asia and the then island continent of India. That shore-line critter was something that looked like a wolf except it had hooves. And after about a million years it had evolved into an unmistakably aquatic animal. That’s the thumbnail sketch. The point is that evolution in the case of whales was fast.

Faster even is it for microbes. Those fuckers multiply quick and mutate quick. Now that covid found a new food source in humans look for it to change quick. And we’ve actually seen that happen, with new and apparently more contagious and deadly varieties. Nothing happening IOW that you wouldn’t expect.

Am I parroting the party line? Make up your own mind. Use your own eyes and ears and wits. If you want this to be a contest between the rock-ribbed, gun totin’, rootin-tootin, granite-jawed, freedom lovin’ American and the useless-as-tits-on-a bull, bi-coastal, gender confused, college miseducated pussy be my guest. 

Do you trust drug companies? Do they deserve trust? Remember those non-addicting opioids? You have a choice between possibly or probably catching covid and the vaccines. Take your pick. Nobody said life is fair.

TRAVELS IN MEXICO

by Paul Theroux

Lessons in Mexican -- For weeks, my daily walk in Oaxaca took me from my posada, along Pino Suarez and Avenido Benito Juarez to the perimeter road of the Child Heroes of Chapultapec -- the coffee shops, the areas of broken pavement, the antagonistic graffiti, violating the facades and soaked into the old stonework:

Hoy Barricadas, manana Lucha. Today barricades, tomorrow the struggle.

And: Se Alistan Las Bombas, Se Afila El Punal. The bombs are ready, the dagger is sharpened.

And: Zapata Viva!

The newspaper kiosks displayed lurid headlines, always of mayhem, car crashes or cartel murders and photographs of bullet riddled or dismembered corpses. The lampposts and scrawled-upon walls were pasted with advertisements for snake oil remedies or quack doctors. Farther along the avenue the Teatro Juarez, with nightly performances of music and dancing and across the avenue, the El Llano -- the Plain -- families picnicking on the grass, lovers embracing on benches, children climbing on the bandstand. El Llano’s weekly market with its many stalls, sold T-shirts and fried grasshoppers, flying ants and maguey worms, and all of the varieties of street food from the simple tacos and tlacoyos you could hold in one hand to gorditas that took two hands.

I knew that walk, because at the intersection of those two major roads, the Instituto Cultural Oaxaca lay in shady gardens behind a high wall. The Instituto resembled a monastery as old Mexican school compounds often do, and its scalloped arches, pitted colonnades, and cool verandas made it seem even more cloistered with an air of muted contemplation in a garden of royal palm's and bougainvillea and plumeria in bloom.

I walked that way every day for the next three weeks, school books in my damp hands.

AMAZON’S RING is the largest civilian surveillance network the US has ever seen.

In a 2020 letter to management, Max Eliaser, an Amazon software engineer, said Ring is “simply not compatible with a free society.” We should take his claim seriously.

Ring video doorbells, Amazon’s signature home security product, pose a serious threat to a free and democratic society. Not only is Ring’s surveillance network spreading rapidly, it is extending the reach of law enforcement into private property and expanding the surveillance of everyday life.

theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/may/18/amazon-ring-largest-civilian-surveillance-network-us

CATASTROPHIC JUVENILE FISH KILL UNFOLDS ON KLAMATH RIVER

by Dan Bacher

Today (May 13), the Yurok Tribe reported that a widespread and catastrophic juvenile fish kill is taking place on the Klamath River, a day after the US Bureau of Reclamation announced that it would not release water to prevent a juvenile salmon kill on the river, as requested by the Tribe, and would not open the Klamath Project’s “A Canal” that supplies irrigation water to Klamath Basin growers.

“While historic drought is the primary cause of the lack of water, previous BOR water allocation decisions led to the widespread fish kill, which could have been prevented with a flow increase,” according to the Yurok Tribe, the largest Tribe in California with more than 6,300 members, in a news release.

“Right now, the Klamath River is full of dead and dying fish on the Yurok Reservation,” said Frankie Myers, the Yurok Tribe’s Vice Chairman. “This disease will kill most of the baby salmon in the Klamath, which will impact fish runs for many years to come. For salmon people, a juvenile fish kill is an absolute worst-case scenario.”

On Monday, I reported on the increasing deaths of juvenile salmon on the main stem of the Klamath River in my article about Governor Gavin Newsom’s expanded drought emergency declaration. The fish kill has only become worse since then: www.dailykos.com/…

The Yurok Fisheries Department every year monitors the Klamath River for the deadly pathogen, Ceratonova shasta (C. Shasta), according to the Tribe. The monitoring crew uses a rotary screw trap to collect live fish for the annual disease assessment.

“During the last two weeks, more than 70 percent of the juvenile Chinook salmon in the trap were dead, which is extremely abnormal. Available scientific information leads to the conclusion that these fish died from C. shasta. Large numbers of dead fish were also encountered at upriver monitoring sites,” the Tribe stated.

On May 4, 2021, the most recent date for which data is available, 97 percent of the juvenile salmon captured between the Shasta River and Scott River stretch of the Klamath were infected with C. Shasta and will be dead within days, according to the Tribe.

“We are watching a massive fish kill unfold in real-time,” said Yurok Fisheries Department Director Barry McCovey Jr, a Yurok citizen who has studied fish disease on the Klamath for more than two decades. “The juvenile fish kill will limit salmon production for many years to come. It will also negatively impact many other native species, ranging from orcas to osprey, because salmon play such an essential role in the overall ecosystem.”

The Tribe stated, “Since time immemorial, the Yurok lifeway has revolved around the Klamath River salmon runs. This invaluable species is integral to the Tribe’s traditions and ceremonies. Prior to the fisheries collapse, salmon were an important source of sustenance for thousands of Yurok citizens. During the last five years, the Klamath fish runs have been some of the lowest on record and the Yurok Tribe has not been able to harvest enough fish to meet its subsistence or ceremonial needs, let alone implement a commercial catch.”

The Tribe said this year’s adult salmon forecast is also very low and the Yurok Tribe cancelled its commercial fishery for a fifth time to protect struggling fish stocks. The median income is $11,000 on the Yurok Reservation and many tribal families rely on the fishery to pay basic bills.

The Klamath River fall Chinook ocean abundance forecast of 181,500 adult salmon is slightly higher than the 2020 forecast, but still significantly lower than the long-term average, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) reported in February.

“Communities throughout the Klamath Basin are facing serious hardships as a result of the drought,” the Tribe pointed out. “Farm communities and our upstream neighbors the Klamath Tribes are also feeling the pinch this year.”

“In addition to the hardship brought by low flows on the mainstem Klamath, the fish in the Shasta and Scott Rivers are also facing dire conditions and loss of year class. In the Scott River, unless groundwater extraction is moderated, it is a virtual certainty that Chinook and Coho salmon will not be able to reach their spawning grounds due to insufficient flows for migration,” the Tribe said.

“What Klamath Basin communities are facing right now is the definition of a disaster. It is also the new normal,” concluded Vice Chair Frankie Myers. “Substantial water shortages are a long-predicted symptom of climate change. There is an urgent need for an equitable federal disaster relief bill that addresses the immediate needs of our communities and establishes a foundation from which to build a more resilient ecology and economy in the Klamath Basin. We owe it to future generations to never let another juvenile fish kill like this happen again. We need to act now before it is too late for the Klamath salmon.”

On May 12, the Bureau of Reclamation announced that it would not release a Klamath River flushing flow, as requested by the Yurok Tribe, nor open the Klamath Project’s “A Canal” that supplies irrigation water to Klamath Basin growers, stating that increasing extreme drought conditions in combination with operations for threatened and endangered species “will further reduce Klamath Project water supplies to historically low volumes in 2021.”

“Given the insufficiency of the expected water supply, the Bureau of Reclamation announced today that Klamath Project’s ‘A’ Canal will remain closed for the 2021 irrigation season,” Reclamation announced. “In coordination with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA Fisheries, Reclamation also announced that a Klamath River surface flushing flow for salmon will not be implemented this year.”

“This year’s drought conditions are bringing unprecedented hardship to the communities of the Klamath Basin,” stated Reclamation Deputy Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton. “We have closely monitored the water conditions in the area and the unfortunate deterioration of the forecasted hydrology, This has resulted in the historic consequence of not being able to operate a majority of the Klamath Project this year. Reclamation is dedicated to working with our water users, tribes, and partners to get through this difficult year and developing long-term solutions for the basin.”

The Klamath Water Users Association expressed “grave disappointment” with the announcement by the Bureau of Reclamation that no water is to be diverted at A Canal for irrigation in 2021.

“The first water delivery from the A Canal was in 1907,” said Paul Simmons, Executive Director and Counsel for KWUA in a brief statement. “This is the first year ever it will deliver zero water.”

In Monday’s article on Newsom’s expanded drought declaration, l reported that a May 7 email from CDFW environmental scientist Dan Troxel revealed the mainstem Klamath is at its highest level “RED,” indicating an imminent or active fish kill.

“Well it seems the unfortunate potential outcomes are already manifesting themselves on the mainstem Klamath. Our partners at USFWS and Yurok Tribal Fisheries are seeing some very distressing signs in the 0+ out-migrating Chinook salmon; a substantial portion of fish showing clinical signs of disease (C. shasta) and even dead fish being caught in outmigrant traps,” he wrote.

“Due to this, the mainstem Klamath is at its highest Readiness Level “RED”, indicating an imminent or active fish kill. Unfortunately these few inch long salmon mortalities don’t draw the same attention as adult fish, but it is just as important to actively monitor the situation and implement KFHAT’s Fish Kill Response plan if deemed necessary,” Troxell stated.

According to the KFHAT report, “The Mid and Lower Klamath are showing signs of diseased and dead Chinook salmon noted by partners at Yurok Tribe. Active juvenile fish kill currently happening. Will continue to monitor situation and re-evaluate within the next few days.”

In regards to the Trinity River, the main tributary of the Klamath River, the Hoopa Valley Tribe on May 13 slammed subordinate officials in the Biden Administration’s Justice and Interior Departments for announcing that they will “defend the Trump administration’s water policies that imperil the rights of the Hoopa Valley Tribe in California’s Trinity River basin and ignore overwhelming evidence of financial misconduct that will cost the Federal Taxpayers at least $400 million.”

“The cruel indifference of the Trump Administration’s corruption has reached our homeland,” said Hoopa Valley Tribal Chairman Byron Nelson, Jr. in a statement. “Left unchecked, it will destroy the fishery on which our people have relied as the foundation of our culture, religion and economy since time immemorial.”

“We are calling on Secretary Haaland to fulfill the federal trust responsibility to our people and rein in the reckless and destructive practices that still afflict the Department of the Interior,” said Hoopa Tribal Fisheries Director, Michael Orcutt.

On the Sacramento River and its tributaries, the situation is so dire that all of the juvenile chinook salmon (smolts) from state fish hatcheries are getting truck rides to saltwater this spring to increase their survival, triggered by projected poor conditions in the Sacramento River and other Central Valley rivers this year.

(Dan Bacher is an environmental journalist in Sacramento. He can be reached at: Dan Bacher danielbacher@fishsniffer.com)

DON’T BE FOOLED BY JOE BIDEN

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