Mendocino County Today: Wednesday, May 26, 2021

Seasonable Temps | 13 New Cases | Red Beard ID | Lunar Eclipse | FB Gunshots | Phone Exchange | Laytonville Drone | Adolescent Pfizer | Herd Immunity | First Cats | Desal & Waste | Mendo Wildlife | Emergency Test | Poisoned Cicadas | JDSF Ritual | Beach Trip | Vaughn Homers | Molina Sentenced | Jonah Returns | Supervisors Briefs | Wise Doc | Ed Notes | Yesterday's Catch | Slow Train | Oh Sixties | Seal DiMaggio | Big Girl | Water Pipeline | Stocked Biker | Literary Racism | Planning Cancelled | Last Brigader | Brontesaurus | Fact Checking

SEASONABLE TEMPERATURES are expected across interior portions of northwest California today and tomorrow, while cool and humid marine air persists along the coast. In addition, light showers will be probable Thursday morning and afternoon across portions of Humboldt and Del Norte Counties. Thereafter, dry weather is expected across the region through the weekend into early next week. In addition, temperatures will trend warmer, with highs near 100 possible across the valleys of Trinity, Mendocino, and Lake Counties next Tuesday. (NWS)

13 NEW COVID CASES reported in Mendocino County yesterday afternoon.

RED BEARD IDENTIFIED as William Allan Evers

40 year-old white male adult, 6 feet 1 inch tall, weighing 180 pounds with brown eyes, brown hair and reddish facial hair.

Skull or skulls tattoo on his right upper arm, “Demon face” tattoo on his upper left arm and unknown prominent tattoo on his chest.

Currently wanted for an active No Bail arrest warrant by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation for Criminal Threats and should be considered Armed And Dangerous.

On 05-25-2021 the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office Investigations Bureau, identified the suspect involved in the series of burglaries in remote areas of Mendocino County and the attempted murder of a Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office Deputy on 05-12-2021.

The suspect has been identified as being William Allan Evers (DOB: 03-06-1981).

Evers can be described as a white male adult, 6 feet 1 inch tall, weighing 180 pounds with brown eyes, brown hair and reddish facial hair.

Evers has a skull or skulls tattoo on his right upper arm, “Demon face” tattoo on his upper left arm and unknown prominent tattoo on his chest. It is possible the suspect has changed his appearance and shaved his beard or head to prevent being located.

William Allan Evers is currently wanted for an active No Bail arrest warrant by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation for Criminal Threats (422 PC) and should be considered ARMED AND DANGEROUS.

Evers last confirmed sighting was in the area of Elk, California on Cameron Road on 05-12-2021 at the time of the attempted murder of the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Deputy.

However, two recent unoccupied residential burglaries were reported in the Pacific Reef Road area of Albion, California which were suspected of occurring sometime around 05-18-2021. Evers is suspected of being involved in those recent burglaries.

Evers is known to be comfortable in wooded areas and is suspected of using rural roads and logging roads to transit the county.

Any citizen who observes someone matching Evers’ description is asked to contact the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office by calling 9-1-1. Do Not Approach or Attempt to Contact Evers if located.

If you have any information concerning the whereabouts, or had any recent contacts with Evers, we request you to contact the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office Dispatch Center at 707-463-4086 and ask to speak to an available detective or patrol deputy.

MATT LEFEVER'S EYES ON THE SKIES

Early Wednesday Morning, Emerald Triangle Residents Can Glimpse The Super Flower Blood Moon

A rare convergence of three separate lunar phenomena will shine down on the West Coast early Wednesday morning bathing residents in the reddish-hued light of the Super Flower Blood Moon.

mendofever.com/2021/05/25/early-tomorrow-morning-emerald-county-residents-can-glimpse-the-super-flower-blood-moon/

WHO SHOT UP THE HOUSE ON NORTH SANDERSON WAY?

On Tuesday, May 25th, 2021, at approximately 12:38 a.m., Officers of the Fort Bragg Police Department were dispatched to the 200 Block of N. Sanderson Way for the report of possible gun shots. On scene, Officers identified an inhabited residence which had been struck by bullets multiple times. Officers located physical evidence at the location and identified a potential suspect. 

At approximately 2:00 p.m., Officers served a search warrant in the 100 Block of Dick Williams Way and located potential evidence related to this investigation. All evidence is currently being processed to be forwarded to the Department of Justice while the investigation remains active. 

The Fort Bragg Police Department is requesting residents of Cedar Street and the surrounding area to review all exterior surveillance video for any vehicles or pedestrians in the area around the time of the shooting. The Police Department is also looking for additional witnesses related to a physical altercation which may have occurred the day prior, on May 24th, at approximately 4:00 p.m., near the intersection of N. Sanderson Way and Cedar Street. 

Any information related to the above incidents may be forwarded to Sergeant McLaughlin at 707-961-2800 ext. 123 or at jmclaughlin@fortbragg.com. Questions regarding this press release may be directed to Captain O’Neal at 707-961-2800 ext. 120 or at toneal@fortbragg.com 

LAYTONVILLE RESIDENTS ON ALERT AFTER GUERRILLA DRONE PILOT SEEN FLYING OVER RURAL PROPERTIES

This weekend, Laytonville resident Tiffany Bruce felt compelled to warn her Long Valley neighbors of a suspicious circumstance witnessed by her employee outside of her property. On Saturday, May 22, 2021, her employee was driving at 7:45 a.m. near the 46800 block of Highway 101 when they saw a man outside a minivan piloting a drone. When the drone pilot noticed he had been seen, he grabbed the unmanned aerial vehicle out of the air and quickly drove away.

mendofever.com/2021/05/25/laytonville-residents-on-alert-after-guerrilla-drone-pilot-seen-flying-over-rural-properties/

* * *

DRONES DISCUSSED ON-LINE: 

(1) Just a reminder that it is a violation of federal law to shoot at a drone. Unless they’ve changed the law recently, it’s treated the same as if you were shooting at an airplane and can bring serious charges. Local sheriffs might not mind you shooting at them much but the FAA takes it seriously.

That’s assuming someone at the federal level is willing to bring charges of course, which is more likely if you shoot at a drone that has a legitimate purpose to be over your property than someone trying to rip you off.

(2) Load your own with rock salt and sand. It’s very effective against drones. They have to be relatively low but the rock salt causes enough damage to make the person that owns it think twice. If they are low enough the sand gets in all the little crevices and destroys the electrical circuits, disabling it almost instantly. Don’t have to worry about any metal bb’s landing on neighboring property if you have neighbors close by and don’t have to worry about exploding batteries causing fires.

Tried and true method. Had to deal with some annoying neighbor kids always flying my property with their drones. Needless to say, I think the parents quit buying them drones or they have learned to hassle easier targets. 

Only use an older shotgun you don’t really care about, the sand will ruin the barrel. I basically have a dedicated “drone hunter” now.

(3) Taking a chance on shooting them down and causing a major wildfire, stop and think twice before becoming that Special Person who makes that devastating mistake, Drones have battery packs that can burst into fire if shot down!! Remember People what Wildfire Damage impact will have.

(4) Isn’t all this technology making life better and better?

(5) Well since I live off the grid where power lines don’t exist, I will definitely shoot any drone down flying anywhere over my property. Far as the legality of it, it’s trespassing. Far as it lighting a fire, I’ll be right there when it hits the ground to pump a few rounds into what’s left of it with my shovel handy to give the scraps a proper burial. We’re in California, they don’t arrest you for 20 pounds of heroin or robbing houses, I’ll take my chances lol

PFIZER VACCINE AVAILABLE FOR 12 AND UP

Good Afternoon Mendocino Media Partners,

On May 12, 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) adopted a recommendation to use Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine in adolescents age 12 through 15-year-olds. With this recommendation, Mendocino County Public Health has announced that COVID vaccines are available for all adults and anyone over the age of 12 (two doses required). 

To protect our community and loved ones, we all must do our part and get vaccinated. This means vaccinating as many people as possible who are eligible, as quickly as possible. This official CDC action opens vaccination to approximately 17 million adolescents in the United States and strengthens our nation's efforts to protect even more people from the effects of COVID-19. Getting adolescents vaccinated means faster return to social activities and can provide parents and caregivers peace of mind knowing their family is protected. 

Mendocino County Health Officer Andrew Coren, M.D., agrees this is another important step to getting out of the COVID-19 pandemic and closer to normalcy, “This vaccine has been proven safe and effective and providing it to the 12-15 year olds in our community will help protect them, their friends, families, and all of our community from this Pandemic". 

Mendocino County Public Health vaccine clinics are held nearly every day at different locations throughout the county. Parents can find parental consent forms, pharmacies offering vaccines in Mendocino County, and upcoming vaccine clinic locations on the Mendocino County website, www.mendocinocounty.org, or by calling Mendocino County’s COVID Call Center at (707) 472-2759. Parents can also contact their local health clinic for information on vaccine availability. Appointments are recommended at all Public Health vaccine clinic locations, but are not required; walk-ins are always welcome. 

Trevor Mockel, Media Relations

Mendocino County Department Operations Center, COVID-19

(County Presser)

THE IMPORTANCE OF VACCINATING ADOLESCENTS

by William Miller, MD; Chief of Staff at Adventist Health – Mendocino Coast Hospital

The San Francisco Chronical reported this week that California has the lowest COVID case rates in the US. This is remarkable given that it has some of the largest metropolitan areas in the US and that the state had the highest case rates in the nation during this past winter. These low COVID rates speak to the effectiveness of two important public health strategies. The first was the color-coded Tier System which placed restrictions on sizes and types of gatherings along with mandating mask wearing. The second has been the role out of vaccinations. In California, 41% of the adult population is now fully vaccinated and an additional 20% are partially vaccinated.

As the pandemic continues over the next year, we should expect further ebbs and flows in case rates. The key to avoiding another horrific winter like this past one is to get more people vaccinated. Vaccination not only halts transmission and keeps people who get the infection from becoming seriously ill, it also stops the virus from mutating. This is because mutations occur during the period of infection when viral replication is the highest. Vaccines keep the virus in check by giving the immune system a head start against the infection so that it can’t replicate at such a high rate that leads to more mutations.

There are different projections of what percentage of the population needs to have immunity, either by previous infection or vaccine, to give so called “herd immunity”. For viruses that have low mutation rates, this is probably around 60%, but for COVID it is more likely around 80%. Herd immunity does not eradicate the virus, but it does bring the pandemic to a halt. Complete eradication, like we accomplished with smallpox, requires something closer to 100% and must be worldwide.

While we have mostly focused on older adults during this pandemic, because they are the ones who are at highest risk of dying, the ability to harbor and spread the virus extends all the way down to the early teenage years. This is because the SARS-2 virus, which causes the disease COVID, uses a particular receptor on our cells’ surfaces to gain entry and start the infection. This receptor, called the ACE receptor, starts appearing on our cells as we go through puberty. Thus, the goal of 80% vaccination to achieve the benefit of herd immunity needs to include members of society all the way down to age 12 when puberty begins for most of us.

This is also the reason that children below age 12 are much less likely to get the infection or effectively spread it. Hence, the initial reopening of schools that was up through sixth grade when students are around age 11 or 12.

Here on the Mendocino Coast, vaccination of adolescents age 12-16 with the Pfizer vaccine is available through Mendocino Coast Clinics (MCC) by calling 707-964-1251 for an appointment. You don’t have to be a patient of the clinic. MCC gave 200 shots to adolescents last week. They are also providing the Johnson & Johnson vaccine for adults who prefer one shot and the Moderna vaccine as well. The local chain pharmacies Rite Aid, CVS and Safeway are also providing vaccination for both adults and adolescents. To get the shot through them, you must sign up on the state website myturn.ca.gov. 

This pandemic has had so many negative impacts upon all of us. The two most obvious being the loss of life and the damage to our economy. By bringing the pandemic to an early conclusion through vaccination, we can save lives and safely bring our economy back. It seems that participating in these national goals are what define each of us as responsible citizens. So, please, get vaccinated and have your teenagers vaccinated, too. 

(The views shared in this weekly column are those of the author, Dr. William Miller, and do not necessarily represent those of the publisher or of Adventist Health.)

FORT BRAGG CITY COUNCILMAN BERNIE NORVELL WRITES:

Desal and wastewater not related

The desal plant public works is talking about is a small unit most likely mounted on a skid. What it WILL allow us to do is to pump water on a high tide out of the noyo. Something we cannot currently do because we don’t have the ability to treat brackish or saltwater. The water would be pumped to the treatment plant into a settling pond then transferred via the desal plant to another settling pond where it then could be treated by the city, it has nothing to do with combatting the wastewater smell.

The smell is a result of the new treatment plant being far more efficient than expected. Producing more solids than the old system. These solids need to be spread out on concrete and routinely turned over to dry. This is the smell. What the city IS doing to remedy the situation is to buy a drying shed that will house all of the solids and presumably the smell that goes with it. The cost is roughly $600K for the shed. The much drier solids the shed will produce will drastically reduce our tonage of solids being trucked out of town to the tune of roughly $180K a year Thus paying for itself in close to four years and relieving the community of the smell.

MENDO WILDLIFE

THIS IS ONLY A TEST

Mendocino County’s Sheriff’s Office and the Office of Emergency Services will be testing Mass Notification Systems from 12:00 pm until 1:00 pm on Wednesday, May 26th, 2021. Testing will focus on the Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) activation protocols, new online resources, and new predefined evacuation zones.

During actual emergencies these systems will be used to provide information to residents and visitors. Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office and the Mendocino County Office of Emergency Services want to ensure these procedures are tested and encourage the public to learn about the new online resources and evacuation zones before the next emergency. This way if we experience any challenges, we can adjust. These systems are used in response to all hazards or emergencies where immediate action from the public is necessary.

The Wireless Emergency Alert system is similar to the Amber Alert system in which you will hear a special tone and vibration on your mobile device, which will repeat twice. Participants will also receive a short text message directing them to online resources.

For more information on Wireless Emergency Alerts go to:

FCC website: https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/wireless-emergency-alerts-wea

COMMUNITY RITUAL In Jackson Demonstration State Forest

As an expression of community solidarity for the protection of forests in Jackson Demonstration State Forest there will be a community ritual near the tree sit in East Caspar for those who wish to express solidarity with the tree sitters

WHEN:Sunday May 30, 11am

WHERE: near the tree sit in east Caspar.

We will gather at the kiosk along rd.500 near the tree sit. as a community we will recognize the inter-connectedness of life and the importance that our great forests of the Pacific Northwest play in the web of life and state our intention that Jackson State be protected. Participants are encouraged to bring to the forest biodegradable, non-toxic items to offer as their expression that these goals will be achieved. Participants who wish will be offered a guided hike to “mama tree”, the site of the tree sit. Afterwards we will assemble at Fortunate Farm, Caspar, to socialize, strategize, and prioritize. Through song, prayer intention and action we will “make it so.” Coffee, tea and pastries will be provided by local donors.

DIRECTIONS to ritual site: From Highway 1 go East on Fern Creek Road (at the duck pond) and turn right at the, Caspar Orchard Road. This heads South and turns into a dirt road in about 1 mile on the right is the kiosk - this is the ritual site there is a parking lot,

Sponsored by: The coalition to protect Jackson Demonstration State Forest.

Contact Chris Skyhawk 707-409-4789; hawkwork@mcn.org

EARTHING

by Chris Skyhawk

Saturday, my day started with a text from my good friend Reagan Hansbury wondering what I was up to for the day. He has been into the concept of earthing, and has been certain that it will help me. I have not sat on the earth since my stroke in June 2018. Anyway, he wants to get me to the beach on THAT day to sit in the sand!

I turn into a whiny little bitch. I have all kinds of reasons why this can't happen, but he is having none of it. Eventually he comes over and picks me up, and we head north. Near Westport there is a nice beach where Chadburn Gulch meets the ocean (Blues Beach). We park there. There is a steep (for me!) path down to the sand.

Reagan has packed my wheelchair and wants to use it to wheel me down, but I am certain and insistent that I want to get to the sand by my own power; my stubborn will has kicked in! 

Eventually I make it to a nice little spot, and Reagan gets a sheet from his van for me to sit on and puts the chair next to me. With my functional right arm holding the wheelchair stable, I lower myself to my knees, then carefully let myself roll into a prone position. For the 1st time in 29 months I am lying on the earth! 

Reagan goes back to the van and pulls out a little pillow. I lay there for a long time, digging my toes into the sand. At one point Reagan tells me I need some ocean connection, so he fills a water bottle with ocean water and pours it on my feet!! 

Eventually, the sun slides to the west and it starts getting cool. I need to move, but of course my fear is realized, and even using my strong arm on my chair i can not get up. Reagan insists he can lift me. I do not quite believe him and am concerned he might blow his back out trying. But he insists I get into a sitting position and he comes behind me and wraps me into a bear hug, literally, as if I were a child (I weigh 190) and lifts me into the air and gently sets me down.

I am astounded! I am certain no one has lifted me like that since I was a child! Eventually, we make it back up that little trail to his van. Now he is determined to wait for a great sunset, so we drive a bit north to where Highway One turns inland just a bit because of those mountains. We are parked just above the ocean. Pelicans are hunting so close to us we can hear their bodies splash as they knife into the water. We pull out some weed and have a good smoke, and we tell stories of our childhood and weep some tears over times that were hard. We sing each other songs that we had written. We laugh so hard i am sometimes praying for my next breath. 

The sun sinks into the ocean and color explodes across the sky. We are silent now. There are no more stories to tell, laughs to share, songs to sing, tears to shed. I am standing there thinking to myself that I must be the luckiest man on earth to have such a friend as this! And yes, I do think that I am the luckiest man on earth.

BOONVILLE BOY IN THE BIGS

White Sox 5, Cardinals 1: Andrew Vaughn’s Homer Gets the South Siders Back on Track

ALDERPOINT HOME INVADER GETS NINE YEARS

One of two men who invaded and robbed a Southern Humboldt home, terrorizing a father and his daughter, was sentenced this morning to nine years in state prison. Franklin Antonio Molina received the sentence as part of a negotiated deal, with Judge Kaleb Cockrum imposing six years for robbery and three years for a special weapons allegation. Molina also was sentenced for false imprisonment, assault with a firearm and making criminal threats, but those terms will run concurrently with the nine years.

In December 2018 shortly before Christmas, Molina and another man showed up at Adam Owen’s rural residence about an hour’s drive from Garberville. They wore ski masks, brandished guns and demanded money. 

Before the terrifying episode was over for Owen and his 23-year-old daughter, Owen had been robbed of numerous guns and $30,000 in cash. He had been tied up, hit repeatedly on the head with a gun, pushed down a flight of stairs and locked in a closet with his daughter. 

Molina’s alleged accomplice then took off in the vehicle they came in, and Molina stole Owen’s GMC Denali truck and fled. He was arrested during a standoff with law enforcement in Mendocino County. 

The other man escaped with the stolen property and was never caught. 

Molina, a 23-year-old native of El Salvador, waived all custody credits up to April 16, meaning a total of 846 days. He received credit for 42 actual days and six days “good-time” days served since April 16. He also waived his right to appeal. 

Deputy Public Defender Casey Russo represented Molina, with Deputy District Attorney Trent Timm in court for the prosecution. 

Spanish interpreter Ariana Rayburn interpreted the hearing today for Molina.

(Rhonda Parker, Lost Coast Outpost)

SUPERVISORS BRIEFS

SUPERVISOR TED WILLIAMS’ SHERIFF’S AUDIT agenda item was a non-starter Tuesday afternoon. After some meandering discussion about budgeting and staffing and other marginally related topics, the Supervisors decided (if you can call it a “decision”) to form an ad hoc committee of Supervisors McGourty and Williams to “look into” setting up a Sheriff’s department workshop someday to get a better understanding of the Sheriff’s budget.

A tiny group of coasties represented by a righteous woman from Gualala who nobody has ever heard of before named Miquette Thompson ran through her pro forma presentation alleging inadquate transparency in and overbudgeting for the Sheriff’s Department. Ms. Thompson said she represented an array of self-alleged racial justice groups headquartered on the Mendocino Coast. None of these vague entities had interviewed the Sheriff who goes out of his way to make himself accessible to anybody who wants to talk with him. 

Sheriff Matt Kendall did his best to contain his umbrage at the implication that his Office needs some kind of independent audit and/or improvements, saying the presentation was ok, but that some of the information in it was “just flat wrong,” adding later that it seemed like a witch hunt, a lack of support for his dedicated deputies, and an end run around him to go directly to the Board of Supervisors by a small group of coastal residents with an anti-law enforcement agenda.

Supervisor Gjerde noted the audit advocates should have at least approached the Sheriff before coming to the Board. Gjerde, a prominent Coast Democrat of long-standing, said he wasn't invited by the Coast Democrats to discuss an audit either.

At no time did Ms. Thompson or her unnamed Coastal collaborators offer to actually review the Sheriff’s budget or approach the Sheriff with questions or input.

Although McGourty said he hadn’t heard from any of his First District constituents about the audit or anything else related to the Sheriff, both Williams and McGourty both seemed to think that the Coastal audit advocates somehow represented “the public,” even though neither of them offered any evidence that “the public” wants an audit or even has any questions about the Sheriff’s Office. In fact, as far as we can tell “the public” simply wants the Sheriff to be adequately funded, if not better funded, especially in Covelo. Even Williams agreed that the likely outcome of an audit (whatever it might have entailed) would be that the Sheriff needs more funding, not less.

PS. According to the County’s fancy “budget portal” the Sheriff has spent about $30 million through the end of April against an original $36.1 million budget. (We have no idea what goes into the $36 million or whether it includes the jail; there’s no breakdown on the “budget portal.”) But that $30 million represents 83% of the $36.1 with two months to go. Since July through April is 10 months, assuming there are no big one-time expenses coming in before June 30, the Sheriff should be at 10/12ths of $36.1 or about on budget.

* * *

On Monday the Board met with the Measure B Committee and the Behavioral Health Advisory Board to do exactly what we predicted they’d do regarding the gold-plated Psychiatric Health Facility to be built at the site of the old Whitmore Lane Nursing facility:

“The next step will probably be to ask the County’s expensive Sacramento architectural consultants to design an overpriced, gold-plated (OSHPD) remodel of Whitmore Lane, along the lines of the overpriced, gold-plated Crisis Residential four-bedroom house on Orchard Avenue. (We need spare no remodel expense because, as CEO Angelo frequently points out, the building “was not purchased with general funds dollars.”) And if the price tag turns out to be millions and millions more than anyone expected… Too late, too bad — we’re stuck with Whitmore Lane now and everybody is signed on.”

https://www.theava.com/archives/154650#10

The only significant new bit of info was that Mental Health Director Dr. Jenine Miller said she guessed that demolition of most of the old nursing home and rebuilding a gold-plated 16-bed PHF out of the rubble would cost between $20 and $25 million, not counting services (and probably not counting several million in architectural fees). Which is perfectly in line with the palatial $5 million Crisis Residential four bedroom house being built on Orchard Avenue in Ukiah which shouldn’t cost more than $2 million.

(Mark Scaramella)

ED NOTES

JAMES BROWNEAGLE WRITES: Re: “The Klan in Mendocino County by Katy Tahja.” Good historical article, unfortunately there are no names of the KKK members and I hope people realize why. Because they were the local Judges, law enforcement, business owners, and ranchers, school teachers in each county; they also were lifelong members of their local Masonic Lodges, Granges and Freemason societies. They had the perfect “Jim Crow” townships operating as the only people of color were the local tribes, who were already segregated on the Indian Reservations and it was illegal for Indian children to attend the local public schools. The others Native families were slave laborers of the local ranchers and businessmen. (James Browneagle is Tribal Historian, Lake County. Every Tuesday 5-6 PM, he hosts a live radio program on KPFZ.org 88.1 FM called Tribal Voices Radio where "I discuss past and present tribal affairs and history.")

MR. BROWNEAGLE nails it. When Ms. Tahja's article on the Klan in this county floated down out of the ethers and into our Boonville office, we were joking that we would probably recognize most of the surnames among the membership. Not surprising that the local papers didn't print the names of the white sheets and pointy hat boys; their editors were probably members, and if they weren't actual card carriers, they were heavily dependent on the good will of the Mendo establishment for the ads that kept them in business. Yesterday's Mendo Klan would be militant Trumpers today.

ON THE SUBJECT of local history, a fellow named Dave Giusti, presently awaiting trial on murder charges at the County Jail, regularly writes to the Boonville weekly. He's a good, clear writer, and obviously a smart guy, a smart guy who, unfortunately, has been in and out of the Mendo jail for many years, apparently all the way back to Reno Bartlomei's reign as Sheriff when the jail was located on the top floor of the County Courthouse.

OUR SOCIETY'S implosion since the 1960s — when the jail was a barred aerie overlooking State Street, and law enforcement was simply a matter of rounding up the usual suspects — now requires the sequestration, you might say, of more and more people unable to function in the free enterprise fun house. Mr. Giusti usually has an interesting historical tidbit or two scattered among his severe (and often very funny) denunciations of local authorities. 

FOR INSTANCE: "Before bogus Sheriff Tuso, there was a fairly comfortable jail to contend with. There were less C.O.'s (correctional officers) and a lot less unnecessary rules, and less inconvenience for both staff and prisoners. Before the reign of Leone (now retired) there weren't limits on what a prisoner could buy on commissary. We all filled out orders and they were sent to the Walberger's corner store at Standley and School streets. You could order nearly everything they had in stock except the alcoholic beverages…"

AND: "When Reno Bartlomei was Sheriff and ran the jail, we'd nearly always get seconds at meals. Reno would even share his own cigarettes with poor prisoners, and we had a prisoner road crew that got a dollar a day…"

I WOULDN'T presume to describe the context of the murder Mr. Giusti is accused of committing, but from the scant accounts I've read and heard it sounded to me like a bum fight that went terribly wrong when several homeless men, all drunk, including Mr. G, got into fight over a sleeping spot behind a Ukiah market. Anything the accused might say about it would undoubtedly "be used against him in a court of law," and from the temper of Mr. G's remarks about the local courts, they're already coming after him hard.

CATCH OF THE DAY, May 25, 2021

ALESANDRA BERRO, Concord/Ukiah. DUI.

MATTHEW FAUST, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

SHAYLA GUERRERO, Ukiah. Harboring wanted felon.

SHANE JONES, Kelseyville/Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol, contempt of court, probation revocation.

RICHARD OLSTAD, Fort Bragg. Burglary, failure to appear.

BRIAN REID, San Francisco/Ukiah. Taking vehicle without owner’s permission, stolen property, probation revocation.

SLOW TRAIN

Sometimes I feel so low-down and disgusted
Can't help but wonder what's happenin' to my companions
Are they lost or are they found?
Have they counted the cost it'll take to bring down
All their earthly principles they're gonna have to abandon?
There's a slow, slow train comin' up around the bend

I had a woman down in Alabama
She was a backwoods girl, but she sure was realistic
She said, "Boy, without a doubt, have to quit your mess and straighten out
You could die down here, be just another accident statistic"
There's a slow, slow train comin' up around the bend

All that foreign oil controlling American soil
Look around you, it's just bound to make you embarrassed
Sheiks walkin' around like kings, wearing fancy jewels and nose rings
Deciding America's future from Amsterdam and to Paris
And there's a slow, slow train comin' up around the bend

Man's ego is inflated, his laws are outdated, they don't apply no more
You can't rely no more to be standin' around waitin'
In the home of the brave, Jefferson turnin' over in his grave
Fools glorifying themselves, trying to manipulate Satan
And there's a slow, slow train comin' up around the bend

Big-time negotiators, false healers and woman haters
Masters of the bluff and masters of the proposition
But the enemy I see wears a cloak of decency
All non-believers and men-stealers talkin' in the name of religion
And there's a slow, slow train comin' up around the bend

People starving and thirsting, grain elevators are bursting
Oh, you know it costs more to store the food than it do to give it
They say lose your inhibitions, follow your own ambitions
They talk about a life of brotherly love
Show me someone who knows how to live it
There's a slow, slow train comin' up around the bend

Well, my baby went to Illinois with some bad-talkin' boy she could destroy
A real suicide case, but there was nothin' I could do to stop it
I don't care about economy, I don't care about astronomy
But it sure do bother me to see my loved ones turning into puppets
There's a slow, slow train comin' up around the bend

Bob Dylan

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

What kind of a World is in store for the youth and all the yet-unborn generations when all the future Bob-Dylans’ of the World have been gaslighted, weaned out of, sidelined, shamed, shut down, silenced, discouraged, ‘Cancelled’, threatened, and otherwise prevented from Seeking Their Bliss and fulfilling their destiny to walk their own path and stray off the One And Only Authorized Road and to express that freedom in song and words.

The Sixties were a time (maybe the LAST in all human history) when rebellion and creativity were not seen as being the horrible acts at worst… or simply bad taste and Cancel-Culture worthy… like rebellion and creativity and being an individual are viewed today. We are entering lock-step into the World of the One Path… the One Choice… the One Way To Think and Live… the ‘SAFE’… the ‘Inoffensive’… The ‘Un-TRIGGER-able’.

In such a World, there is no room or place for a Bob Dylan or anyone like him who would dare to think for himself and express ideas that might run afoul of THE HOLY GROUP OF MASS CONFORMITY that the World has currently constructed and seems to relish in.

Why does Sixties music still sound so good? Because so much of it WAS good. It carries timeless lessons about love and longing and pain and sadness and rebellion and great victories and social concern for the well-being of others. It had/has… SOUL about it. It came from the Heart. It came from the Mind. It had passion. It SAID something worth saying. It was not just bunch of mumbled words set to an overloud drum-beat-track that are not uttered to inspire people to greatness but to hypnotize and degrade them. It was not some Corporate Construction of synthetic people and empty mindless lyrics to keep people anesthesized consumers.

Younger generations today like to dismiss Baby Boomers as old, out-of-touch fogeys who have nothing to say to them or to teach them. Only ‘The Youth’ now can possess the wisdom of the Ages. But in throwing out the Baby Boomer generation, they are also throwing out the Bob Dylans’ and all those like him (then as now) who have much timeless wisdom to share with the World… if the World would only listen.

Is their a chance that Bob Dylan’s spirit will ever find a place in the World again? I’m afraid that The answer – my friend — is what he already told us… it’s just Blowin’ In The Wind.

MEANWHILE, IN THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF SPORTS.....

Maybe this guy will think twice before his next court-side outburst. The head coach of the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun has been suspended and fined $10,000 after he tried to body-shame an opposing player. Liz Cambage of the Las Vegas Aces called out Curt Miller after he made his disparaging comment about her during Sunday’s Aces and Sun game. According to the player, when Miller was berating an official for a call, he shouted out: “Come on, she’s 300 pounds!” In an Instagram story, Cambage pointed out that she’s 6 feet, 8 inches tall, and weighs 235 pounds, and said she’s “very proud of being a big bitch.” She went on to tell Miller: “I will never let a man disrespect me, ever, ever, ever, especially a little white one... Don’t ever try to disrespect me or another woman in the league.” In a statement before his suspension and fine was confirmed, Miller apologized for his remark, saying it was made “in the heat of the moment.”

SHIP IT WEST

Editor: 

Water, water everywhere and not a drop… 

California is in drought while large parts of the East and Midwest have more water than they know what to do with. It makes no sense that water from the East isn’t moved to California. Oil is moved from Canada to the Gulf, far more distant than (for example) the Great Lakes to California. The technology for moving liquids over great distances is known. Why is it not being discussed as a solution to California’s water shortages? 

Michael Burwen

Petaluma

LIT CRIT

Editor,

Best Selling Authors Wanton, Deliberate, Literary Racism

Steven King’s story “Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption”, and “Love Story” by Erich Segal, two bestselling authors have perpetuated anti-black racism. Below are the specific examples from each author.

Love Story is a romance novel by American writer Erich Segal released on February 14, 1970. Love Story became the top-selling work of fiction for all of 1970 in the United States, and was translated into more than 30 languages. The novel stayed for 41 weeks in The New York Times Best Seller list. A film adaptation was released on December 16, 1970.

In Love Story, the ONLY mention of a black person in the ENTIRE story is in one sentence: “a colored guy approached me and inquired if I was in need of a fix.”

Blatant promotion of the racist stereotype that Blacks are drug dealers is presented and reinforced as the book is read by millions around the world after being translated into over 30 languages. The movie version had its fiftieth anniversary celebration, and still no comment on the racism in the book. https://www.npr.org/2020/12/22/948655542/successful-sentimental-and-satirized-love-story-celebrates-50th-anniversary

Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, is a novella by Stephen King from his 1982 collection Different Seasons, It was adapted for the screen in 1994 as The Shawshank Redemmption, which was nominated for seven Academy Awards in 1994.

In Steven King’s story “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption”, there are ONLY TWO sentences in the ENTIRE story dealing with black people: 

“In prison every con’s a n***er and you have to get used to the idea…”

“He was a good n***er.”

King reproduces the racist stereotype that black people belong on the bottom of the social ladder, less valued and unequal.

One of the world’s bestselling authors is spreading, promoting and perpetuating this stereotype around the planet.

Publishing companies have no qualms making money publishing racism, and they do not even bother to add annotations.

 Book reviews generally say nothing about the stereotyping.

This needs to change now.

Dr. Nayvin Gordon, Oakland, who writes about health and politics. He can be reached at gordonnayvin@yahoo.com

INTERESTED PARTIES

Cancellation of June 3, 2021 PC Meeting

 Dear Interested Parties,

The Planning Commission meeting cancellation notice for June 3, 2021 is posted on the department website at:

mendocinocounty.org/government/planning-building-services/meeting-agendas/planning-commission

Please contact staff with any questions.

James F. Feenan

Commission Services Supervisor

Mendocino County Planning & Building Services

860 North Bush Street, Ukiah CA 95482

My Direct Line: (707) 234-6664

Main Line: (707) 234-6650

LAST INTERNATIONAL BRIGADER, survivor of Spanish civil war, dies aged 101

The man believed to be the last surviving member of the 35,000 International Brigades volunteers who travelled to Spain to fight against Franco’s fascist rebellion has died in France at the age of 101.

theguardian.com/world/2021/may/25/last-international-brigader-survivor-of-spanish-civil-war-dies-aged-101

‘FACT-CHECKING’ TAKES ANOTHER BEATING

by Matt Taibbi

The news business just can’t stop clowning itself. The latest indignity is an international fact-checking debacle originating, of all places, at a “festival of fact-checking.”

The Poynter Institute is perhaps the most respected think tank in our business, an organization seeking to “fortify journalism’s role in a free society,” among other things through its sponsorship of the fact-checking outlet PolitiFact. A few weeks back, it held a virtual convention called the “United Facts of America: A Festival of Fact-Checking.”

The three-day event featured special guests Christiane Amanpour, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Brian Stelter, and Senator Mark Warner — a lineup of fact “stars” whose ironic energy recalled the USO’s telethon-execution of Terrance and Phillip before the invasion of Canada in South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut. Tickets were $50, but if you wanted a “private virtual happy hour” with Stelter, you needed to pay $100 for the “VIP Experience.”

During the confab, PolitiFact’s Katie Sanders asked Fauci, “Are you still confident that [Covid-19] developed naturally?” To which the convivial doctor answered, “No, I’m not convinced of that,” going on to say “we” should continue to investigate all hypotheses about how the pandemic began.”

Conservatives in particular were quick to point out that Fauci last year said, “Everything about the stepwise evolution over time strongly indicates that [this virus] evolved in nature and then jumped species.” At that time last May, of course, the issue of the pandemic’s origin had already long since been politicized, with Donald Trump’s administration anxious to point a finger at China for causing the disaster. Mike Pompeo went so far as to say there was “enormous evidence” the disease had been created at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Fauci was touted as a hero for pushing back on this and many other things. 

Fauci’s new quote about not being “convinced” that Covid-19 has natural origins, however, is part of what’s becoming a rather ostentatious change of heart within officialdom about the viability of the so-called “lab origin” hypothesis. Through 2020, officials and mainstream press shut down most every discussion on that score. Reporters were heavily influenced by a group letter signed by 27 eminent virologists in the Lancet last February in which the authors said they “strongly condemn conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin,” and also by a Nature Medicine letter last March saying, “Our analyses clearly show that SARS-CoV-2 is not a laboratory construct.”

The consensus was so strong that some well-known voices saw social media accounts suspended or closed for speculating about Covid-19 having a “lab origin.” One of those was University of Hong Kong virologist Dr. Li-Meng Yan, who went on Tucker Carlson’s show last September 15th to say “[Covid-19] is a man-made virus created in the lab.” After that appearance, PolitiFact — Poynter’s PolitiFact — gave the statement its dreaded “Pants on Fire” rating. 

About a half-year later, in February, 2021, the WHO made a visit to China. Apparently some of the delegation left with a few doubts about the natural origin of the virus, even though the WHO’s report declared a lab-origin theory “extremely unlikely.” From there came a procession of scientists demanding that the lab origin possibility be taken seriously, including a letter signed by 18 experts in Science. When the Wall Street Journal came out with a story that a previously undisclosed U.S. intelligence report detailed how three Wuhan researchers became sick enough to be hospitalized in November of 2019, the toothpaste was fully out of the tube: there was no longer any way to say the “lab origin” hypothesis was too silly to be reported upon. 

That’s not to say the “lab origin” theory is correct, at all. However, that’s irrelevant to issue at hand. Despite what you might have been led to believe, fact-checkers don’t exist to get things right 100% of the time. They’re there as a threadbare, last-ditch safety mechanism, which news organizations employ as a means of preventing public face-plants. 

In any case, by May 17, just days after its “Festival of Fact-Checking,” Poynter/PolitiFact had to issue a correction to its September, 2020 “Pants on Fire” ruling on the “lab origin” story, writing:

“When this fact-check was first published in September 2020, PolitiFact’s sources included researchers who asserted the SARS-CoV-2 virus could not have been manipulated. That assertion is now more widely disputed. For that reason, we are removing this fact-check from our database pending a more thorough review.”

Fact-checkers probably saved my career on at least a dozen occasions. When I was just starting to report on Wall Street, Rolling Stone often had to assign multiple people to to go through every line of my articles to make sure I didn’t make a complete ass of myself. I joked once that an RS fact-checker nearly flunked the infamous line about Goldman, Sachs being “a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood-funnel into anything that smells like money” by correctly pointing out that squids don’t have blood-funnels. That happened, but the bulk of the work those poor checkers did for me was a lot less humorous and more thankless. The person who had to review my pathetic explanation of a Structured Investment Vehicle (SIV) in this article probably deserved hardship pay and a lifetime supply of Thorazine. Like all writers I complain about fact-checkers, but I’d be the last one to say their jobs aren’t important.

However, the public is regularly misinformed about what fact-checkers do. In most settings — especially at daily newspapers — fact-checking, if used at all, is the equivalent of the bare-minimum collision insurance your average penny-pinching car renter buys. There’s usually just enough time to flag a few potential dangers for litigation and/or major, obvious mistakes about things like dates, spellings of names, wording of quotes, whether a certain event a reporter describes even happened, etc.

For anything more involved than that, which is most things, fact-checkers have to scramble to make tough judgment calls. The best ones tend to vote for killing anything that might blow up in the face of the organization later on. Good checkers are there to help perpetuate the illusion of competence. They’re professional ass-coverers, whose job is to keep it from being obvious that Wolf Blitzer or Matt Taibbi or whoever else you’re following on the critical story of the day only just learned the term hanging chad or spike protein or herd immunity. In my experience they’re usually pretty great at it, but their jobs are less about determining fact than about preventing the vast seas of ignorance underlying most professional news operations from seeping into public view. 

Unfortunately, over the course of the last five years in particular, as the commercial media has experienced a precipitous drop in the public trust levels, many organizations have chosen to trumpet fact-checking programs as a way of advertising a dedication to “truth.” Fact-checking has furthermore become part of the “moral clarity” argument, which claims a phony objectivity standard once forced news companies to always include gestures to a perpetually wrong other side, making “truth” a casualty to false “fairness.”

Here’s how Amanpour put it at the Poynter Festival:

“[Objectivity] is not about taking any issue, whether it be about genocide, or the climate, or U.S. elections, or anything else happening around the globe — Covid, for instance — and saying, ‘Well, on the one hand, and on the other hand,’ and pretending there is an equal amount of fact and truth in each basket…”

Amanpour went on to note her career took off reporting in Bosnia, where one side was being “aggressed” and another side was not, and it would have been an offense against decency to say otherwise. This is a nod to the “objectivity doesn’t mean giving equal time to Republicans” bit that has become so popular in the industry of late. (Fox institutionalized the same argument in reverse three decades ago.)

But objectivity was never about giving equal time and weight to “both sides.” It’s just an admission that the news business is a high-speed operation whose top decision-makers are working from a knowledge level of near-zero about most things, at best just making an honest effort at hitting the moving target of truth. 

Like fact-checking itself, the “on the one hand and on the other hand” format is just a defense mechanism. These people say X, these people say Y, and because the jabbering mannequins we have reading off our teleprompters actually know jack, we’ll let the passage of time sort out the difficult bits.

The public used to appreciate the humility of that approach, but what they get from us more often now are sanctimonious speeches about how reporters are intrepid seekers of truth who sleep next to God and gobble amphetamines so they can stay awake all night defending democracy from “misinformation.” But once you get past names, dates, and whether the sky that day was blue or cloudy, the worst kind of misinformation in journalism is to be too sure about anything. That’s especially when dealing with complex technical issues, and even more especially when official sources seem invested in eliminating discussion of alternative scenarios of those issues. 

From the start, the press mostly mishandled Covid-19 reporting. Part of this was because nearly all of the critical issues — mask use, lockdowns, viability of vaccine programs, and so on — were marketed by news companies as culture-war narratives. A related problem had to do with news companies using the misguided notion that the news is an exact science to promote the worse misconception that science is an exact science. This led to absurd spectacles like news agencies trying to cover up or denounce as falsehood the natural reality that officials had evolving views on things like the efficacy of ventilators or mask use.

When CNN did a fact-check on the question, “Did Fauci change his mind on the effectiveness of masks?” they seemed worried about the glee Trump followers would feel if they simply wrote yes, so the answer instead became, “Yes, but Trump is also an asshole” (because he implied the need to wear masks is still up for debate). By labeling whatever the current scientific consensus happened to be an immutable “fact,” media outlets made the normal evolution of scientific debates look dishonest, and pointlessly heightened mistrust of both scientists and media. 

Fact-checking was a huge boon when it was an out-of-sight process quietly polishing the turd of industrial reportage. When companies dragged it out in public and made it a beast of burden for use in impressing audiences, they defamed the tradition.

We know only a few things absolutely for sure, like the spelling of “femur” or Blaine Gabbert’s career interception total. The public knows pretty much everything else is up for argument, so we only look like jerks pretending we can fact-check the universe. We’d do better admitting what we don’t know.

(https://taibbi.substack.com)