Mendocino County Today: Sunday, July 11, 2021

Cool Coast | Pallini Fire | Pet Baby | AV Village | Mailbox Lasagna | Pot Walloper | Czech Lodge | Criminal Stupidity | Barn Cleanup | FB Survey | Unpleasant History | Bad Names | Spock Massage | Retiring Chiefs | No Hands | Paramedic Testimonial | Face Rearranger | Gallery Reopening | Fort Blunder | Weed Biz | Sharkey Exhibition | Meth Transport | Breakfast Duo | Mendocino Woodlands | Walking Tours | Watertower Quilt | County Notes | Tax Havens | Sue FK | Yesterday's Catch | Bridger Cutoff | Big Pockets | Columbian Chaos | Indian Squared | Lost Comments

TRIPLE DIGIT TEMPERATURES and dry weather persist across interior valleys this afternoon while a marine airmass keeps coastal areas seasonably cool, with periods of afternoon sunshine possibly moderating coastal temperatures through this week. (NWS)

YESTERDAY'S HIGHS: Ukiah 110°, Yorkville 104°, Boonville 99°, Fort Bragg 60°

VEGETATION BURNS ALONG RAILROAD TRACKS ON THE NORTH END OF UKIAH

At approximately 4:50 p.m. [Saturday] firefighters were dispatched to a vegetation fire burning along Ukiah’s North State Street near the Thurston’s Auto car dealership. Initial reports described the fire as one acre in size and burning along a railroad track. The Incident Commander reported the fire had the potential to spread 10-15 acres.

kymkemp.com/2021/07/10/vegetation-burns-along-railroad-tracks-on-the-north-end-of-ukiah/

---

KENT PORTER: Ukiah hit a record breaking 111 degrees, greeting firefighters with extreme heat as the #PalliniFire broke out next to a lumber mill, spotted in to chip piles and timber slash making a scorching day that much worse.

• 

• 

UKIAH SHELTER PET OF THE WEEK

We’ve found Baby to be a smart and engaging girl. She’s a dog who will need and enjoy lots of physical and mental activity. Once she works out her excess energy, she focuses well and is ready to learn. Baby might be a great dog for someone who enjoys canine training and fun activities, like obedience, fly ball or agility. 

You can learn more about Baby at mendoanimalshelter.com

While you’re there, check out all of our canine and feline guests, our services, programs, events, and updates.

Visit us on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/mendoanimalshelter/

For information about adoptions, please call 707-467-6453.

AV VILLAGE MONTHLY GATHERING: Introducing the Redwood Caregivers Resource Center and “Bring a Friend”

Due to the heatwave we will be having our gathering INSIDE the Senior Center with the A/C on, not outside like we had planned. Please remember, unvaccinated guests must wear masks, thank you!

Don't miss this great opportunity to learn about the valuable resources available to Caregivers! Or just come and learn more about the AV Village. See some old friends, make some new ones! See you this Sunday July 11th, 4 to 5:30 PM, AV Senior Center - INSIDE

Join us for a conversation with Nancy Power Stone, Program Director at the Redwood Caregivers Resource Center. They provide services, including possible respite, to assist caregivers of older, frail individuals, or to assist older caregivers of people of any age who have disabilities and more. Helpful fact sheets and links at website: www.redwoodcrc.org.

As we are opening back up we invite you to bring a friend that would like to learn more about the AV Village. If you would like to bring finger food (no dips please) let us know - thank you! Our gatherings are open to everyone, but we ask that you are vaccinated and “marinated” so you can attend. Masks are REQUIRED if you are not vaccinated.

Please RSVP with the coordinator, thank you!

Anica Williams, Anderson Valley Village Coordinator, Cell: 707-684-9829, Email: andersonvalleyvillage@gmail.com

HELP WANTED — $20 AN HOUR PLUS BENNIES FOR POT WALLOPING, WAGE PACKET RECORD FOR THIS POSITION IN MENDOCINO COUNTY

Dishwasher wanted! The Stanford Inn Eco-resort (Mendocino village) is now hiring:

$20/hour + health insurance & retirement plan! 25-40 hours per week.

Looking for positive, hard-working people!

Opportunities for growth. Beautiful location... year round employment -must be available weekends and holidays -fun work, great food!

Please apply in person. Questions? 

Email sid@stanfordinn.com or call (707) 937-5615.

Stanford Inn is located on the corner of Highway 1 and Comptche Ukiah Rd., just south of Mendocino Village

www.stanfordinn.com

THE BROILER FIRE

To my community and Flow Cannabis Company (Flow Kana),

My name is Adam Gaska. I am a husband, father of two young children, farmer, volunteer firefighter for RVCFD, and a lifelong resident of Redwood Valley. Most of the 42 years of my life have been spent living on Lennix Drive where I was raised and where I am now raising my own children in the same house I grew up in. On July 7th, that house came close to being destroyed by the Broiler Fire which was caused by a Flow Kana employee mowing in the worst possible conditions-high heat, extremely low relative humidity, late afternoon as the wind starts to pick up. 

I was one of the first responders to the fire after being toned out at 2:45 for a fire near the Broiler steakhouse described as “1/2 acre in the grass.” I was at home working and spending time with my family. I told them I was responding to a fire on Uva Drive, that it didn’t sound big but be ready. I was in my truck and on my way to the fire station within 2 minutes. As I drove over the Forsythe Creek bridge, I realized the fire was much larger and had already grown to 5-10 acres. I called my wife to prepare to evacuate. Since before the October 2017 fire, we have been prepared to go-bags packed with clothes for a few days, paperwork in a fire safe box, a checklist of things to grab, pet carriers/leashes, etc. After arriving back to the fire to fight it, I called my wife to tell her to leave which she already had. The engine I was on, we positioned ourselves to defend Oak Park trailer park. The fire came in fast, driven by the late afternoon wind. While I am crouched down attacking the fire, spot fires were popping up across the road behind me. Luckily, I was able to put them out and hold my line. Unfortunately, within minutes, I saw the house on Uva and School Way burst into flames. In all, I spent 18 hours on the fire line defending my neighborhood. The fire burned to Smith Lane, which is only a few houses away from my own. Fortunately, due to the efforts of all our first responders, my family was able to return home and sleep soundly in their beds while I continued to extinguish the remaining embers from the fire in Forsythe Creek where I played and swam as a child.

I have a lot of words to describe my feelings. Anxiety. Sadness. Disappointment. Anger.

Since Flow Kana came to my quiet neighborhood, I have had trepidation. Having any kind of industrial processing facility in a small neighborhood is going to have a large impact. I remember the impacts of traffic and noise when it was the Fetzer family winery. I wasn’t over joyed to learn that again my neighborhood would be impacted. We were told over and over again that Flow Kana wanted to be a good neighbor, that they wanted to have a positive impact on our community. All that was shattered on July 7th.

It is incredulous that a company whose Vice President of Community Development is a board member of the Mendocino Fire Safe Council, a company that seemingly didn’t have an employee fire safety plan or training. The acts of their employee border on criminal stupidity. As the person who runs the fire safety trainings on the farm I help manage, I can’t wrap my head around how they could have been directed to be mowing during the conditions present. I also find it very disappointing that Flow Kana had canceled their grazing contract with my friend, local grazier Ruthie King who is also a local firefighter for Ridgewood Ranch. We know the importance of fuel load abatement. As a company that hangs their hat on sustainability and “The California Way,” one would think they would know the importance of grazing animals in managing our fuel loads because California becomes a tinder box waiting to explode during the summer. 

I applaud the public statements made, admitting responsibility and claiming they will accept liability. It remains to be seen if they will actually follow through with reparations. I wait with bated breath.

Because of this, I am asking that Flow Kana’s Vice President step down, relinquish her seat on the Mendocino County Fire Safe Council board of directors. After the incident a few days ago, it is obvious that the purpose and mission of the Fire Safe Council isn’t carried through into the culture of the company that she works for. As financial amends are made for the damages due to the fire, it is a conflict of interest to continue to use her position as an attempt to portray Flow Kana in a positive light, “at the forefront of wildfire prevention.” They should step back and take this moment to learn from and atone for their mistake. Let those with more experience continue to educate the importance of wildfire safety and how that is achieved. It is also clear that Flow Kana should have more onsite equipment, infrastructure, employee training for fire prevention/suppression, especially in these severe drought situations.

Adam Gaska

Redwood Valley

AV HIGH SCHOOL BARN & CHICKEN COOP PROJECT. AV high school Ag Students, present, past and future!

Community members! Help get the school farm barn & chicken coop cleaned up, organized and painted! The plan is to get this project completed before school starts. Contact Ms. Swehla to get details. 895-3496 (High School phone number) or bswehla@avpanthers.org.

HELLO HISTORY? GET ME REWRITE!

Fort Bragg Name Change Community Questionnaire

In 2020, in response to requests to change the name of the town, the City of Fort Bragg formed a Citizens’ Commission to evaluate options and recommend a way forward. The Commission has been meeting regularly and has created a forum for public input through this questionnaire. The questionnaire is designed to offer residents a way to share their thoughts with the Commission. The answers collected will not be used to make statistical conclusions and will be archived. 

We welcome all input from residents within the 95437 zip code. To have your input considered, please respond by July 31st. If you prefer to hand-write your response look for a paper copy in your July utility bill, print this form, or pick one up at City Hall. Paper forms can be dropped off at City Hall (416 N. Franklin Street).

Survey Questions:

[1] Do you live in the 95437 ZIP code?

[2] What do you think about changing Fort Bragg's name? (Support — oppose, 1-5)

[3] What do you think about keeping the name Fort Bragg but rededicating it to a different historic figure with the same last name? (Support — oppose, 1-5)

[4] When asked about why they want to KEEP the name Fort Bragg, people mention (check all that you agree with)

• The town's history
• The cultural identity of intergenerational residents
• The brand name recognition
• The divisive debate
• Other:

[5] When asked why they want to CHANGE the name, people mention (check all that you agree with)

• The racist legacy of Braxton Bragg
• A desire to honor Indigenous history
• The possibility of a name that reflects the town's values
• An opportunity for a dynamic rebranding

[6] When asked about potential concerns, people mention (check all that you agree with)

• The cost of a name change
• The burden to businesses
• The difficulty of rebranding
• Negative media attention

[7] If you are a business owner, what effects on your business do you expect if Fort Bragg changes its name?

[8] Is there anything else you want to tell the Citizens' Commission?

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

If Fort Bragg is to be wiped off the map because of racist roots of the General, let's not stop there.

Mendocino … was named by a Spanish explorer for/in honor of Antonio de Mendoza, Viceroy of New Spain which was basically Panama north to include what is now the southwestern US. The Spanish were conquerers of this region, why honor them? 

Noyo … was originally the name of what is now called Pudding Creek. What is now Noyo River was bigger so the white folk decided that must be Noyo. I have no idea what Native Americans called (what is now) the Noyo River. 

There is more I'm sure. 

Anyone read 1984 lately? 

UKIAH POLICE CHIEF JUSTIN WYATT TO RETIRE

by Mark Scaramella

Ukiah Police Chief Justin Wyatt told the Ukiah dudes who host the weekly “Like It or Not” podcast last week that police are not in the “property recovery” business. Referring to an apparent increase in retail theft associated with California’s recent decriminalizing of smaller quantities of drugs, Wyatt said that store owners who are robbed nowadays typically just want their stuff back; they do not get involved in the time-consuming criminal justice system. But, Wyatt said, police can’t just go take stuff from people because somebody else said it was stolen. In addition, the stuff could be evidence in a criminal case. Wyatt said it puts cops in an uncomfortable position of telling store owners that they have to file a criminal complaint for cops to pursue the theft as a crime when the store owner is reluctant to do it.

Wyatt also cautiously said, “We haven’t made much progress in following the Marbut report.” 

Actually, there’s no evidence that any progress has been made on the Marbut Report, despite a few minor claims to the contrary by the “Continuum of Care” and its large cadre of helpers. The County’s “homeless plan” — as they say so openly — is primarily to make sure that money keeps coming in to fund the 30-some agencies and non-profits who are paid to deal with homelessness.

“We spend a lot of time going to mental illness calls, like somebody yelling at cars,” said Wyatt, adding that there aren’t very many “tools” for police to help people who are being annoying but not committing a crime. “We are talking mobile crisis response,” Wyatt continued, “but it’s moving very slow.”

“Very slow,” is an understatement, since the Measure B funded crisis van is not on anyone’s priority list to follow-up on, much less get it staffed. Measure B funds were authorized last June for three such mobile crisis units and in the year that has followed the Mental Health Department has managed to hire one (1) person and there’s no one else in the pipeline.

Wyatt said that while there are dedicated, professional people in the “supportive services area,” “the system they are working in is broken and it’s been broken for a long time and it has not evolved to where it needs to be. So law enforcement is stuck holding the bag. We get calls for homeless and mentally ill and we’re not trained to deal with that. In fact, there’s a lot of pressure for law enforcement to stay in their lane. They don’t want us dealing with mentally ill when it’s not a crime.”

Yet such calls still make up a huge percentage of cops’ time, as even a casual glance at the call logs shows.

Wyatt also noted that more and more younger cops, while decent young cops, just don’t have the kind of “life experience” that allows them to deal with some of the older people they frequently have to deal with. Wyatt asked rhetorically, What is a young cop supposed to do when he’s faced with an older person who’s been involved in domestic disputes for all their lives? Sometimes, they’re put in difficult situations but they just haven’t been around long enough to de-escalate effectively even if they’ve been trained.

Wyatt said he’s retiring in September at the age of 54 after being Ukiah’s Police Chief for about three years. He said that Police Chiefs don’t last as long as they used to and that three years is about the average these days.

With Fort Bragg “interim” Police Chief John Naulty expected to step down in the next few months as well, that will leave Mendo with newish police chiefs in the three towns with police forces — although former Fort Bragg Chief and current Willits Chief Fabian Lizarraga has a couple of years of Fort Bragg experience. But we assume Lizarraga, who is also 54, will be up for retirement soon as well.

TOM ALLMAN’S PARAMEDIC TESTIMONIAL

Embedded in next Tuesday’s Emergency Medical Services presentation to the Supervisors for a series of EMS-related projects to be considered for funding with the $22.6 million PG&E settlement money is this testimonial from former Sheriff Tom Allman:

“A paramedic made ‘a suggestion’ that I get into the ambulance and allow her to assist me with what was the onset of a cardiac event. Let there be no mistake, this paramedic saved my life. As I was in the ambulance, the ‘big one’ happened and she was completely prepared to use her skills. I was not a good patient, mainly because of the extreme pain. I’m anxious to see her again and apologize for my inability to follow her requests, but her professionalism saw past my obnoxiousness, and she did her job. I’m very appreciative. I learned a life lesson. Within 90 minutes of the attack, a cardiologist had performed the necessary surgery and I was treated and saved.”

MENDO ART CENTER GALLERY STORE HAS REOPENED!

The Mendocino Art Center reopens the Gallery Store to the public beginning Saturday, July 10, after being closed due to COVID-19.

We are now open Wednesdays through Sundays, 11am to 4pm.

The Gallery Store features one-of-a-kind, handcrafted artwork created by accomplished Northern California artists, including a diverse selection of functional and sculptural ceramics, jewelry, paintings, textiles, glass works, legacy artist artwork, art books, and an expanded photography collection with images by Rita Crane, Natalie Knott, Jonathan Pazer and Larry Wagner.

For the reopening, the Mendocino Art Center has also curated pieces from its archives by renowned artists, including Howard Wheatley Allen, Larry Bencich, Dorr Bothwell, Judith Hale, Ellen Howard, Ryan Jensen, Bill Martin, Mark Monsarrat, Emmy Lou Packard, Olaf Palm, Charles Reid, Robert Rhoades, Kiyoshi Saito, Jan Stussy, Maxine Stussy Frankel, Janet Turner, Anthony Wolking, Henry Yan, Toshi Yoshida and William Zimmer.

Mendocino Art Center

45200 Little Lake Street at Kasten Street, Mendocino

707.937.5818

<marketing@mendocinoartcenter.org>

https://www.MendocinoArtCenter.org

COMMENTS from the Emerald Triangle:

(1) Why whine about corporate takeover of the regulated weed market if you’re an outlaw grower who never wanted to play by the rules? You never wanted to be part of the system. You created an industry free of regulations and taxes and government and consultant involvement. You set up your own markets and distribution channels. All of it was on the down-low, but it was profitable and relatively risk free. Big buds and lotsa cash with a few months of hard labor and ample vacation and outdoors time. Sounds idyllic. Now the system is running roughshod over the industry. But why should you care? You never wanted to be part of the system. You created your own economy. So why all the complaining? Oh, wait. Cuz it’s affecting your prices. That’s why. The cat’s been out of the bag for years. Maybe 20 years from now we’ll have congressional hearings about how the joints people inhaled may have had some unanticipated side effects. Smoke screens everywhere!

(2) It affects people we love as they were forced to become legal. Prices are set by us illicit growers who are dominating this industry. Corporate is screwing my friends over who work all year long (if you were a real grower you would know this plant requires a lot of care.) to be told after they give the distributor the product what the price will be which is a bunch of bullshit!!! As a matter of fact us illicit growers get the cash then we send the product. Don’t know who the fuck would ever give a product to someone and wait a few weeks to a month to get paid. Now for the paid part is another bunch of bullshit on the legal side, lol, $500 a pound is what my friend got. I am not seeing dispensaries selling weed for 30 an ounce or even 60 or even 100. Guess it’s better to force legal growers to sell their stuff for pennies to make sure it doesn’t end up in the traditional market. In reality what is happening is the illicit market is growing due to corporate setting the price too low when long time customers are paying 3 to 4 times more. It’s a war and the legals are literally gettin their asses kicked on main Street U.S.A in every state, especially California.

(3) Waiting to get paid is part of a normal business. It’s called net terms billing. Usually you extend those terms to entities you trust, with stipulations of penalties for delayed or non-payment. On the flip side, it’s also why businesses are so hesitant to work with the weed bros. Cuz most don’t pay or pay on their own terms. Anyways, all this business talk don’t mean much in the weed industry since you can’t even set up a banking system for it. Long ways to go. In the meantime, they’re blowing it up in Oklahoma!

(4) Normal business, lol. Guess setting prices and receiving that agreed upon price before receiving product is abnormal. Weird world, no wonder legalization is failing if that is Normal. PS. If I need a plumber, the estimates are about $10k. Would love to find a business who I can pay a month after the job is done. Oh, then decide well maybe I should only pay $3500. I don’t think a business like that will be in business for long. Or is that the master plan?

COAST ARTIST Virginia Sharkey of Mendocino has been accepted into a juried exhibition which opened today (July 10) at the Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition (BWAC). Go to their website for more details. https://bwac.org/exhibitions_visit/art-over-time/

• 

• 

• 

2:39AM, 1300 BLOCK OF NORTH STATE. 'NUFF SAID

On Tuesday, July 6, 2021 at 2:39 A.M. Mendocino County Sheriff Deputies were on routine patrol when they observed a vehicle pull into a business located in the 1300 block of North State Street in Ukiah.

The Deputies made consensual contact with the occupants of the vehicle and identified the driver as Edgar Vazquez, 32, of Ukiah and the passenger as Ivette Mendoza, 21, of Ukiah.

A records check revealed Vazquez was on Pre-Trial Release with terms to include fourth amendment waiver search.

The Deputies performed a search of Vazquez's person and located a clear plastic bag containing a commercial quantity of suspected methamphetamine in his clothing. The Deputies searched the vehicle and located drug paraphernalia and two additional packages containing commercial quantities of suspected methamphetamine.

Through their investigation, the Deputies developed probable cause to believe both Vazquez and Mendoza engaged in conspiracy to possess and transport methamphetamine for sale.

Vazquez was arrested for Felony Possession of Controlled Substance for Sale, Felony Transportation of a Controlled Substance For Sale, Felony Conspiracy To Commit a Crime, and Felony Commission of a Crime While On Bail or OR.

Mendoza was arrested for Felony Possession Of a Controlled Substance For Sale, Felony Transportation of a Controlled Substance For Sale, and Felony Conspiracy To Commit Crime.

Vazquez was booked into the Mendocino County Jail where he was to be held in lieu of $50,000 bail.

Mendoza was booked into the Mendocino County Jail, to be released after the booking process on zero bail pursuant to COVID-19 bail schedule set forth by the State of California Judicial Council.

ON THIS DAY IN MENDOCINO HISTORY…

July 7, 1945 - The three camps at Mendocino Woodlands were filled to capacity with 375 young people from the Bay Area enjoying outdoor life on Big River to the fullest extent. Each of the camps offered their campers unique opportunities to swim in the river, fish, or hike miles of trails.

Built in 1935 by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), this group camping facility is located east of Mendocino on Little Lake Road. It was one of forty-six campgrounds created across the U. S. around that time to introduce the public to the wonders of nature.

In 1947, the National Park Service transferred the Woodlands to the State of California, and the facility became a California State Park in 1976. The Mendocino Woodlands became a National Historic Landmark in 1997, due to the exceptional architectural value of its structures and the site’s significance to the history of the United States.

Photo: Cabin at Mendocino Woodlands Camp One built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). Camp One is located on the former site of Boyle's logging camp near the mouth of the Northfork. (Kelley House Collection, Kelley House Photographs)

WALKING TOURS OF HISTORIC MENDOCINO. Join our expert docents for a strole and lively commentary. You’ll pass by early pioneer homes, historic meeting places, and buildings that make up the Mendocino Historic District.

https://tinyurl.com/KHMAirbnb

COUNTY NOTES

by Mark Scaramella

Your Gas Tax Dollars At Work (in Mendocino County)

The state of California recently gave some $700k to Caltrans District 1, which includes Mendocino, Lake and Humboldt counties, “to tribes, agencies and local governments for transit and active transportation projects that include: Humboldt Bay Trail Planning Study: Eureka to College of the Redwoods, Lake County Transit Development Plan Update, and Feasibility Study — Mobility Solutions for Rural Communities of Inland Mendocino County.” 

Mendocino County was awarded $177,060 for a study “to research mobility solutions/transit alternatives existent in the marketplace that have been implemented in similar locations, for applicability in our region. The study will look at developing innovative solutions (including pilot projects) to meet mobility needs of these remote communities. Communities to be studied are Covelo, Laytonville, Brooktrails, Hopland, and Potter Valley. Parties involved include MCOG, Mendocino Transit Authority, consultant, Caltrans, and community members.”

Translation: Another $700k casually down the drain that could have gone to actual road repair.

* * *

In a similar vein, here are some — not all — of the “retroactive” items on next Tuesday’s Board Agenda — the kind of high dollar value items the Board has complained about in the past as being both retroactive and on the consent calendar, making the Board of Supervisors irrelevant and removing the possibility that other options or costs could be discussed:

Item 4m. “Approval of Retroactive Agreement with National Alliance on Mental Illness Mendocino in the Amount of $57,000 to Provide Mental Health Services Act, Prevention and Early Intervention Funded Programs, Effective July 1, 2021 through June 30, 2022.”

Did anyone else bid? They don’t say. What budget item is covering this? They don’t say. What does “Provide Mental Health Services Act, Prevention and Early Intervention Funded Programs” really mean? They don’t say. 

* * *

Item 4o. “Approval of Retroactive Amendment to Agreement No. BOS 21-011 with Redwood Quality Management Company in the Amount of $451,750 for a New Total of $1,191,750 to Provide Direct Service, Facilitation, Administration, and Participant-Specific Data for the County of Mendocino, Whole Person Care Pilot Project, Effective January 1, 2021 Through and New End Date of December 31, 2021 (Original End Date June 30, 2021)

From the State’s Department of Health Services website: 

“Whole Person Care (WPC) is a pilot program within Medi-Cal 2020, California’s Section 1115 Medicaid Waiver. WPC is designed to improve the health of high-risk, high-utilizing patients through the coordinated delivery of physical health, behavioral health, housing support, food stability, and other critical community services. … Estimated Total Population [in Mendocino County]: 600 individuals over the pilot period. … Each WPC enrollee is assigned to a wellness coach that is housed at all Redwood Quality Management Corporation subcontractor sites. Coaches support participants in accessing a wide spectrum of medical, behavioral, and social services needs, including family-finding as appropriate.”

Again, that’s a “pilot program” for 600 “individuals” for six months for $1.2 million (up from $740k) for a huge (by Mendo standards) major test/pilot program (a $1.2 million “pilot” program?) being approved on the consent calendar retroactively without discussion, without explanation of why it’s gone up so much, why it had to be approved prior to Board approval, nor any mention of what kind of post-“pilot program” review will take place or when.

* * *

Item 4v. “Approval of Retroactive Agreement with In-Custody Transportation, Inc. in the Amount of $450,000 to Provide Prisoner Transportation Services for the Mendocino County Jail for the Period of July 1, 2021 through June 30, 2026.” 

That’s five years of “transportation services” which has already been awarded to In-Custody Transportation Inc. (an international service outfit out of LA County). No explanation for why this had to be awarded prior to Board approval.

From the RFP: “As a result of the number of court ordered transports to CDCR, State Mental Health Facilities and warrant pick-ups throughout the State and the shortage of staff to perform this duty, it is necessary that MCSO contracts with a licensed and experienced vendor to provide inmate transportation services. The vendor must also be able and licensed to provide transport for out-of-state extraditions.”

* * *

And then there’s this very fishy Consent Calendar Item 4ab). “Adoption of Resolution Authorizing a Title Change and Salary Revision of General Services Agency Director, Salary No. D46B to Director General Services Agency, Salary No. 6298; Re-Establishment of the Classification of Director Social Services, Salary No. 6214 and Amending Position Allocation Table as Follows: Budget Unit 5010 - Add 1.0 FTE Director Social Services.”

Check that again: “Title Change and Salary Revision” of the General Services Agency Director. The title is being changed from “General Services Agency Director, Salary No. D46B” to “Director General Services Agency Salary No. 6298…” And no salary change numbers in the item’s title or description.

Back in March, based on credible info from a source at Low Gap, we wrote that an agenda item at that time proposed to create a Department Head position for Information Services. Item 5C on that agenda would create a Director of Information Services (Chief Information Officer) at a mere $278,678 (almost the cost of two deputies with patrol vehicles). The staff report for this items is a masterpiece of double talk including this gem: “The creation of the stand-alone department will not require the addition of any staffing resources at this time. With the Executive Office’s formation of a Fiscal and Administrative unit, this stand-alone department would be utilizing this unit to support the common departmental and administrative tasks, thereby reducing the common administrative overhead required of a stand-alone department.” Adding a highly paid Department Head apparently doesn’t count as additional staff resources. It’s just another unnecessary use of funds to reward a loyal insider. 

CEO Angelo has announced her departure for the fall of 2022 but speculation is building that she may be preparing to leave earlier. But on the way out she would like to create a soft landing for her loyal lieutenants, in this case Janelle Rau who serves as the CEO’s right hand. Ms. Rau may be capable in administrative tasks but lacks the basic qualifications to be CEO or CAO. And any incoming CEO would naturally want to pick their own second in command which would leave Ms. Rau out in the cold. Spinning Information Services off into it’s own department would provide the perfect landing spot for Ms. Rau. The entire item, including formation of a “Fiscal and Administrative Unit” within the Executive Office raises more questions than it answers.

* * *

That was last March. Now on to next Tuesday…

As far as we know no such “Director of Information Services” position was created back in March. Ms. Rau retains her present Deputy CEO title. But now CEO Angelo wants to make a meaningless change to the title of a director of an agency which is not even listed on the County’s website. (There’s a reference to “central services” but no department called “General Services” anymore.) According to an attachment to the “resolution” item near the end of the consent calendar “changing” the title (and there’s no other change in duties or organizational responsibility mentioned), the salary is being upgraded from a low base salary of $95-$105k per year to a much bigger base salary with a high of up to $157k per year. There’s no mention of who will fill the newly re-titled position with the much higher salary or why the change is being made nor why the job should now pay much more.

This one obviously ought to be pulled for Board discussion. But if history is any guide, it’ll get quietly approved just as the CEO presented it: Buried deep, deep down in a misleadingly titled item in an attachment near the end of the crowded consent calendar.

THE BROILER FIRE & FLOW CANNABIS

To the Editor:

To My Neighbors in Redwood Valley:

According to Cal Fire, the Broiler Fire broke out Wednesday, July 7, at 2:44 p.m. in the area of Uva Drive and Finne Road southwest of Redwood Valley at the company campus of Flow Cannabis (Flow Kana). 

Within two hours, it had burned about 50 acres with no containment. 

An evacuation order was issued south of Uva Place from Highway 101 to Linnex Drive and south on Uva Drive and Uva Drive south to Central Avenue to the Highway 101 off-ramp. An evacuation shelter was initially set up at the Mendocino College Gymnasium at 1000 Hensley Creek Road, but was later moved to the dance studio on the college campus.

The Ukiah Animal Shelter was also evacuated.

Ultimately, several structures were destroyed, as the fire burned at least 80 acres. 

Flow Cannabis admitted to causing the fire. But here's the thing: Was the fire outright negligence? Who mows the lawn of a corporate campus at 2 pm during fire season and a drought. 

To those who suffered damages, and who are thinking about suing, call a lawyer. Do it now. 

I'm not a lawyer, but here's what I've found in public sources. 

In tort law, negligence is a distinct cause of action. The Restatement (Second) of Torts defines negligence as “conduct that falls below the standard established by law for the protection of others against unreasonable risk of harm.”

Negligence generally consists of five elements, including the following: (1) a duty of care owed by the defendant to the plaintiff; (2) a breach of that duty; (3) an actual causal connection between the defendant’s conduct and the resulting harm; (4) proximate cause, which relates to whether the harm was foreseeable; and (5) damages resulting from the defendant’s conduct.

Who do you sue? Start with the company's officers:

Michael Steinmetz, Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer,

Jarom Fawson, President,

Mitch Wortzman, Chief Financial Officer,

John Striff, Co-Chief Operating Officer,

Kevin Haslebacher, Co-Chief Operating Officer, and

Brooke Carpenter, Chief Revenue Officer & Vice President, Sales

The company's lead outside director?

Michael Henderson-Cohen, Board Member, representing Gotham Green Partners.

If you're planning to sue, do it now. The company raised tons of cash in its early years, but not so much recently.

On 14-Feb-2019, Flow Kana closed on $125 million (Series B) Early Stage VC.

This followed $22.5 million Early Stage VC (Series A) on 01-May-2018.

However, investors are getting wise to the company's negative cash flow and burn rate of cash.

Later Stage VC for $175M was canceled on 13-Mar-2020.

As I said, if you're going to sue, do it now. If your lawsuit doesn't settle and Flow Cannabis (Flow Kana) is sold in an M&A deal, your lawsuit may be carried as an existing liability on the books of the acquiring company.

A final word about premises liability. One of the more complex areas of law related to negligence focuses on the standard of care that a landowner owes to other property owners. In some jurisdictions, the law requires the possessor of the land to act reasonably in the maintenance of his or her land.

Call a lawyer. Flow Cannabis (Flow Kana) is trying desperately to get ahead of the story by reaching out to victims, but you won't know your rights until you speak to a lawyer.

John Sakowicz

Ukiah

CATCH OF THE DAY, July 10, 2021

DENNIS ANDERSON, Willits. DUI, no license, probation revocation.

TODD BOHANNON, Carrollton, Georgia/Willits. DUI w/Blood-alcohol over 0.15%, resisting, failure to appear,

JASPER CLARK, Ukiah. DUI, suspended license for DUI, probation revocation.

BHAKTI DILLENBECK, Albion. Trespassing/entering and occupying property/structure without permission, resisting.

MARISSA FRENIER, San Jose. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

KEVIN GUERRERO-SAHAGUN, Ukiah. DUI.

ANTHONY HIDALGO, Ukiah. Ammo possession by prohibited person, paraphernalia, failure to appear, probation revocation.

CHRISTOPHER LOPEZ, Ukiah. Vandalism. 

JOSE LUCERO, Ukiah. Criminal threats, paraphernalia, hiding or destroying evidence.

CHARLES PAPKE, Ukiah. Failure to appear.

JEREMIAH RAPP, Ukiah. Domestic battery, criminal threats, resisting.

TADD SCHADECK, Willits. DUI.

DAVID SHIPMAN JR., Willits. Forgery/false checks, defrauding by acquiring a persons identifying information.

EDWARD STEELE, Ukiah. County parole violation.

JULY 8, 1864 JIM BRIDGER led his first wagon train bound for Virginia City. 

The Bridger cutoff as the trail was called was longer than the trail promoted by John Bozeman to the Montana goldfields. Although the Bozeman Trail was a bit shorter, it was soon abandoned due to the constant Indian raids on the wagon trains. Indian attacks, lost livestock, no feed or water for stock, river crossings, breakdowns and overturned wagons made travel difficult on any route to the goldfields. 

COLOMBIA IN CHAOS

by Matt Taibbi

Any American correspondent working abroad will tell you: coverage of in-country upheavals are dictated by the nature of the government’s relationship to the United States. If they’re technically allies, protests tend to be portrayed as illegitimate. Hence the dilemma in Colombia.

Colombia for some time now has been considered America’s key strategic ally in South America — “think of it as similar to Israel in the Middle East,” says correspondent Maranie R. Staab. Colombia is the top recipient in the region of American aid, collecting $800 million in 2020 alone, being central to multiple American objectives, from drug interdiction to opposition to the left-wing government of Nicolas Maduro. The State Department last year issued a fact sheet explaining the relationship:

”Colombia is a key U.S. partner in ongoing efforts to help Venezuela in its return to democracy and economic prosperity. Colombia’s leadership has been essential in coordinating regional support for Interim President Juan Guaido, as well as condemning Maduro’s misrule and adopting policies to isolate his regime…”

The usual “Democracy Promotion” script involves the U.S. backing this or that politician with money, weapons, and sometimes even military manpower, turning a blind eye to corruption or other excesses connected to that politician, then ultimately being forced to double down on the money and weapons when anti-American protest movements rise in response. 

This isn’t exactly that situation, but close: a government in America’s good graces largely thanks to its role as a launching pad for the dubious effort to install Guaido in Venezuela, under pressure from a frustrated and impoverished population reacting in this case to a proposed tax hike on basic goods. Foreign news outlets like Al Jazeera have openly described the Colombian protests as a “class war,” while groups like Amnesty International have tried to bring attention to the fact that the Colombian police suspected in the disappearances of some of the protesters may be armed with American weapons. 

Outlets like the Washington Post, meanwhile, have used more neutral language in describing “anti-government protests,” almost describing the Duque administration as a bystander to the chaos: The White House has taken notice. 

Spokeswoman Jen Psaki urged authorities last month to “continue to work to locate all missing persons as quickly as possible.” The government of President Ivan Duque has said it’s doing all it can.

The Colombian attorney general’s office says it received 572 reports of people “not located.”

In most cases, the office told The Post, the reports “correspond to the normal dynamics of people who voluntarily left their ‘family circle’.” The footage gathered by Staab, Ford Fischer, and News2Share shows a different picture: the Colombian protests as a serious foreign policy dilemma for the Biden administration, which finds itself caught between its strategic sponsorship of the Colombian government and pressure to respond to wide-scale accusations of human rights violations.

When the U.S. doesn’t have a clear horse to back in these standoffs, coverage tends to be muted. Here we at least get a long look at the scene on the ground, where over 1,000 have been injured and at least 50 have been killed.

THE LOST COMMENTS OF JULY 7 & 8

Earlier this week our website server failed. The AVA website was down for a spell and needed to be recovered from backup files. In that process a couple days of comments disappeared, which we have since managed to recover in text form. For your reading pleasure (in reverse chronological order)...

---

Rye N Flint

https://mendofever.com/2021/07/08/this-ordinance-is-a-recipe-for-success-cannabis-researcher-on-supporting-proposed-ordinance/

I have worked in cannabis for twenty years, not as a commercial cultivator, but as a social sciences PhD with the goal of understanding how localities can address cannabis to reduce community harm and increase its public health, environmental, and economic benefits.

That work led to appointments as the first Chairwoman of the Berkeley Medical Cannabis Commission, and a Commissioner for the Oakland Cannabis Regulatory Commission. Although these communities are very different from Mendocino, there are aspects of good cannabis policy that should be universal:

1 Give residents a clear voice on any new proposed cultivation site, through public notice and through public hearings.
2 Create opportunities for good actors. The legal market is still new and good actors need our support to compete with a strong unregulated market.
3 Protect the environment. Unlike the old ordnance, this ordinance addresses impacts of any new farm before a shovel ever touches the soil.
4 Place reasonable limits on specific activities that an individual community deems important. In this case, no new projects during the drought, restrictions on hoop houses, and an end to water hauling,

Despite what you may have heard from proponents of the refereda, the new ordinance does each of these things. Representing months of hard work by our elected leaders, and mountains of community input, this ordinance is a recipe for success.

Amanda Reiman PhD MSW

Ukiah

Chairwoman, Medical Cannabis Commission City of Berkeley (Fmr.)

Commissioner, Cannabis Regulatory Commission City of Oakland (Fmr.)

Letters (July 7, 2021)
2021/07/08 at 3:56 pm

---

Rye N Flint
In reply to Kirk Vodopals

“small” is sometimes 10000 sq ft of greenhouses… just saying

Letters (July 7, 2021)
2021/07/08 at 3:28 pm

---

Rye N Flint
In reply to Kirk Vodopals

Good call! I wonder if the permit shell game is going to ever come back to bite the BOS? They’ll probably just end up giving themselves another raise and the controversy will allow them to sweep the whole “millions of hoop house” permits under the proverbial rug. I bet they won’t even tell the workers at the front intake desk at PnB, so that the public can continue to pay for permits they aren’t allowed to get.

Mendocino County Today: Thursday, July 8, 2021
2021/07/08 at 3:26 pm

---

Rye N Flint
In reply to Stephen Rosenthal

I’ll raise and call, Humans created the great Poobah in the sky… and “civilization” at the same place and time… Gobekli Tepe.

http://greatdiscoveries.leadr.msu.edu/gobeklitepe/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6bekli_Tepe

Mendocino County Today: Thursday, July 8, 2021
2021/07/08 at 3:20 pm

---

Marshall Newman

RE: 1912 Climate Warning. Here is one slightly more recent, from the June, 1949 “Sierra Club Bulletin”, page 57. “Climatologists, meteorologists, and glacierologists are finding increasing evidence that the Pacific Coast, along with a large part of the world, is in a period of rising temperatures and decreasing precipitation which has lasted for nearly a century.”

Mendocino County Today: Thursday, July 8, 2021
2021/07/08 at 2:54 pm

---

Mark Scaramella
In reply to Marshall Newman

I like apoproximately. Has an hint of apoplexy with a bouquet of apocalyptic.

Mendocino County Today: Thursday, July 8, 2021
2021/07/08 at 2:35 pm

---

Kirk Vodopals
In reply to Kathy

apparently small is not beautiful, according to the MCA. Makes sense for those who have hands in the big weed scene, right? Just don’t ever call their joint ventures CORPORATE!

Letters (July 7, 2021)
2021/07/08 at 1:03 pm

---

Harvey Reading

WAR CRIME JEOPARDY

This game brings back a memory of something I saw on CNN during Gulf War I, our war to end “Vietnam Syndrome”, according to idiotic Bush I.

Fox Blitzkrieg was interviewing Fatty Schwarzkopf. An aerial video clip, with no sound, was playing. The video showed a small car racing across a bridge, in Baghdad. Just as it reached the other side of the river, a bomb, or missile, exploded, obltlerating any sign of the bridge.

Fatty laughed and said, “That’s the luckiest guy in Baghdad,” followed by some shared yuk-yukking from him and Blitzkrieg.

It was shortly thereafter that I stopped watching CNN and the like, or reading noozepapers.

I wonder who Fox will be interviewing after we show our “manhood” and get tough with China, or Russia, before nuclear winter sets in… Or, has ol’ Fox already died? I don’t keep track.

Mendocino County Today: Thursday, July 8, 2021
2021/07/08 at 12:06 pm

---

Stephen Rosenthal
In reply to Rye N Flint

I’ll raise you and say it’s the best thing to happen to Civilization since the great Poobah in the sky created humans.

Mendocino County Today: Thursday, July 8, 2021
2021/07/08 at 9:55 am

---

Lazarus

” there’s NEVER going to be enough money.”
CEO Angelo

” There will be a giant sucking sound going south.”
Ross Perot

Perfect…
Laz

County Notes: Privatized Misery Contract Renewed
2021/07/08 at 9:47 am

---

chuck dunbar

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY
A good one–A fun time at the in-laws for sure. And the absurd, low-brow quality of TV these days leads the writer straight to the last line: “I turned the damn thing off and read the Holy Bible for a while.” Amen.

Mendocino County Today: Thursday, July 8, 2021
2021/07/08 at 9:44 am

---

Marshall Newman
In reply to Marshall Newman

Or “approximately.” Apparently my computer cannot spell.

Mendocino County Today: Thursday, July 8, 2021
2021/07/08 at 9:34 am

---

Marshall Newman

RE: Booneville and Boonville postcards. For a brief period, the name was “Booneville.” However that period ended apoproximately 90+ years before that first postcard.

Mendocino County Today: Thursday, July 8, 2021
2021/07/08 at 8:57 am

---

Kirk Vodopals
In reply to Rye N Flint

To reiterate from my previous comments: the regulatory system cannot accommodate every “mom-and-pop” in Mendo, even when they try to shuffle permitted operations from one steep, backwoods, transitional pygmy grow to a less steep area that might have more water and few trees to mow down. The permit game is a front anyways… on both sides… Mendo County says please try to get one and we’ll do our best to process it, wink, wink… then the grower says yes, I’ll do my best to get one and pay all the fees and taxes, wink, wink… then they start shuffling plants in grow bags to their friends properties or start up a little indoor scene…and now prices are in the tank! again! how does this happen!??

Mendocino County Today: Thursday, July 8, 2021
2021/07/08 at 8:52 am

---

Kathy

MCA agrees with Cliff: https://drive.google.com/file/d/12iM3ia_Eazw6hEXj4_iRDJGZIT7_r8VL/view

Letters (July 7, 2021)
2021/07/08 at 8:39 am

---

Rye N Flint
In reply to Rye N Flint

I kind of like my First Frist mess up.

Mendocino County Today: Thursday, July 8, 2021
2021/07/08 at 8:28 am

---

Rye N Flint

RE: REwild

“CALIFORNIA IS BETTING $61 MILLION that new highway crossings will keep wildlife safe”

This is the best thing to happen to Civilization since sliced bread.

Mendocino County Today: Thursday, July 8, 2021
2021/07/08 at 8:18 am

---

Rye N Flint

RE: “I think we will be able to see our way out of the mess and get farmers through to licensure.”

So, let me get this straight… The supervisors created the Frist Phase 1 to help legacy farmers keep their farms, but it locked their permit to that parcel of land. Many farmers wanted to move to a more environmentally friendly location, with easier access, as there was no real value to remote locations anymore. I mean, the Sherriff and code enforcement kept coming anyway, permit or not. So maybe it took a few years for folks to realize the devaluation of steep remote grow spots, but now that people want to move… they can’t! They loose their permit!

What a pickle.

Mendocino County Today: Thursday, July 8, 2021
2021/07/08 at 8:17 am

---

Rye N Flint

I’m glad Americans can still read. If only they could understand.

from Wikipedia:
“Critical race theory (CRT) is a body of legal scholarship and an academic movement of civil-rights scholars and activists in the United States that seeks to critically examine U.S. law as it intersects with issues of race in the U.S. and to challenge mainstream American liberal approaches to racial justice.[1][2][3][4] CRT examines social, cultural and legal issues primarily as they relate to race and racism in the United States.[5][6]

CRT originated in the mid 1970s in the writings of several American legal scholars, including Derrick Bell, Alan Freeman, Kimberlé Crenshaw, Richard Delgado, Cheryl Harris, Charles R. Lawrence III, Mari Matsuda, and Patricia J. Williams.[1] It emerged as a movement by the 1980s, reworking theories of critical legal studies (CLS) with more focus on race.[1][7] CRT is grounded in critical theory[8] and draws from thinkers such as Antonio Gramsci, Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, and W. E. B. DuBois, as well as the Black Power, Chicano, and radical feminist movements from the 1960s and 1970s.[1]

While critical race theorists do not all share the same beliefs,[2] the basic tenets of CRT include that racism and disparate racial outcomes are the result of complex, changing and often subtle social and institutional dynamics rather than explicit and intentional prejudices on the part of individuals.[9][10] CRT scholars also view race and white supremacy as an intersectional social construction[9] which serves to uphold the interests of white people[11] against those of marginalized communities at large.[12][13][14] In the field of legal studies, CRT emphasizes that merely making laws colorblind on paper may not be enough to make the application of the laws colorblind; ostensibly colorblind laws can be applied in racially discriminatory ways.[15] A key CRT concept is intersectionality, which emphasizes that race can intersect with other identities (such as gender and class) to produce complex combinations of power and disadvantage.[16]

Academic critics of CRT argue that it relies on social constructionism, elevates storytelling over evidence and reason, rejects the concepts of truth and merit, and opposes liberalism.[17][18][19] Since 2020, conservative lawmakers in the United States have sought to ban or restrict critical race theory instruction along with other anti-racism programs.[10][20] Critics of these efforts say the lawmakers have poorly defined or misrepresented the tenets and importance of CRT and that the goal of the laws is to silence broader discussions of racism, equality, social justice, and the history of race.”

Letters (July 7, 2021)
2021/07/08 at 8:04 am

---

Mark Wilkinson Laszlo

5 years ago, i found smoking gun proof that Donald Trump read “My New Order”, the book of Adolf Hitler’s speeches and lied to cover it up. You may still find Marie Brenner’s article “After The Gold Rush” in the Conde’ Nast, Vanity Fair article i widely shared. She wrote it to a professional, non-leading journalism standard in the 1990s. Well worth reading in it’s unabridged form. Easier to find that smoking gun in the “7 Takeaways” form, as “Takeaway #4. It really proved it, since both his ex-wife Ivana and the friend who gave Trump the book said he had it and Ivana saw him reading it at bedtimes. They are the witnesses who would know. When Trump told an artful, layered, obvious lie with wiggle room that he didn’t, it was just good confirmation. The story was mostly ignored. I don’t know where the democrats heads were at. Too busy supporting the pro-nuclear war Goldwater Girl turned leftist student agitator, who later, as Sec. of State, went literally from the arms of Henry Kissinger to demolish Libya for initiating a gold currency for Africa. We should have gold currency too.

I guess to rip off the People’s mandate from the good, democratic socialist populist Bernie Sanders, who would have been President, because the People, sick of both gangs of oligarchs, wanted a populist for us instead, Hillary needed lots of bots to say the propaganda they were told to, so they did not have time to pay attention that a popular candidate was using the greatest demagogue’s playbook, on how to induce mass psychosis, for his ticket to the White House.
Fortunately the American Hitler was elected. I already loathed him, but breathed a great sigh of relief, because i predicted Trump would take the time to profit from nuclear proliferation and bumble his way to war, instead of following PNAC’s plan that would provoke Russia existentially, with a no-fly zone in Syria and so start a nuclear war with Russia directly in her 1st months. When the Ds and R’s compete for the Presidency, by the last laps, the main selling point of both nominees is being “the least evil”. Trump is unspeakably bad, but in no hurry to destroy the world, like the amoral, seizure- prone pill head who followed the nuclear warlords’ plan for world hegemony. No president can resist the subverted, secret govt in the military industrial complex, but they had to make new deals to get Trump to go along. It’s been non-stop horror with Trump, but we’re still here. Now we have the best president our warlords will ever allow in Biden, although he is a creature of the system, of course.
I believe God gave us the true least evils twice in a row. Nuclear war with micronukes continues in West Asia since 2003, escalating, but not full blown yet. There are unmistakable videos of sub-kiloton neutron bombs and one Hiroshima scale A-bomb used on W. Asian cities at youtube. CNN scooped and buried the video of two neutron bombs closest to the brave crew’s rooftop perch, but A Female Faust put it back up, where it has stayed for years and other videos of 21st century nuclear war stay at youtube, although they are not allowed to keep “fake news” up, so Google must believe they are nuclear explosions used on people. Google “nuke yemen” and click on compilations from the score of videos of a neutron bomb attack in Saana, Yemen, at youtube. Supporting evidence is at Quora, with Jeff Prager’s saavy essay on how nanotech developments made micronukes possible. And Chris Busby et al’s finding of weapons grade uranium in a crater and hair of parents of deformed children at Falluja, in a peer-reviewed journal of the National Institutes of Health. To keep a nuclear war secret also takes a Western aligned major media in the fewest hands ever, that own most of everything else. And nuclear watchdogs at the mercy of lords of the nuclear weapons and power industry, who get physicists sacked and blacklisted for blowing that whistle.
Thomas Jefferson said “…i tremble for my country when i consider God is just”. And i am sure WWIII
is coming home soon, because it is worse than all the sins of Israel He chastised us for in ancient times. Now everyone needs a Geiger counter and a fallout shelter!

I screamed, fit to be heard for blocks, at Trumpers
in 2015 because they would not look up Marie Brenner’s article, or photos of Donald and teenage Ivanka posing like lovers, by the 4th time i talked with them. The latter were all over the web. Since then i found a video of DJT literally bragging on having sex with his daughter on the Wendy Williams’ show, and more. He was never qualified, but the narcissist’s mental slaves seem to like him because he is so bad! Dr. Bandi Lee, who should be heeded, at the top of her profession, at identifying sociopaths, Dr. Mary L. Trump, his niece who knew him, and 40,000 other mental health professionals, do their duty to warn of DJT’s serious mental and neurological illnesses and how dangerous he is. They explain narcissists and their mental slaves better than i could figure.

Now John Kelly has added more proof that Trump is a closet nazi. So profound a hypocrite can give his daughter to a Jew and favors to the Israeli right who inflict genocide on Palestinians, so few would believe Trump is a follower of Hitler. The nazis’ method can use any scapegoats vulnerable at a time and place, like Mexicans and brown skinned refugees from death, instead of Jews this time, because we have much more power now than in
the 1920s and ’30s, but genocide is genocide and no fascist hypocrite can tell me fascism is of the left.

After most of Trump’s damage is done (i hope!)
John Kelly is saying Trump praised Hitler to him,
another clue that Hitler is Trump’s role model.

That, after stars and bars and swastikas ran amok in the People’s temple of democracy, dysfunctional, but still serving us sometimes. A group led by an
atomwaffen accelerationist neonazi stole a laptop to sell to Russia, but were they really antifa? See the cute way she does the Hitler/Trump salute!

Now, Alfred Kubanis’s Trump/Pence sign still insults lovers of liberty in the heart of Ukiah. And it is not free speech, but an abuse of it, to advocate fascist rule, that would deny free speech to anyone but them, just as Hitler used democracy as his stepping stone to power before he killed democracy in Germany. Then we had to level cities and 317 thousand Americans laid down their lives to make the People of 3 countries repudiate fascism. There is no excuse for saying fascists should rule America,
as Alfred Kubanis insists with his sign. What’s the difference between an American displaying a campaign sign for an American Hitler in WWII and now? He could get mobbed then, as his fellows mobbed the Capitol this year, but i am not for mobocracy like Trump and Kubanis. The police should take that sign down and put Kubanis in jail! Nazi Kubanis, take your fascist sign down now!

Only now, when it’s been plain for years that Trump is a Hitler follower, and John Kelly adds more proof,
youtube has lots of videos saying so.
And now some idiot punk has defaced murals, with swastikas, murals that describe our local history beautifully, even before they are finished! This
should not be viewed as an isolated incident. With the rise of fascism, even in our fair county, it is
a hate crime that should be investigated and prosecuted until the nazi is jailed. Fascism is dangerous to everyone. It is a barbarity inimical to civilization. Civilization makes us more than mere animals and should always be improved and not defaced!

Letters (July 7, 2021)
2021/07/08 at 7:51 am

---

Alethea Patton
In reply to Alethea Patton

Apologies for the typo. I meant Lew, not Lee.

Mendocino County Today: Wednesday, July 7, 2021
2021/07/07 at 7:19 pm

---

Alethea Patton
In reply to Lew Chichester

Lee, I agree with you 100%. Litter has such a demoralizing effect. How can we come together as citizens of Mendocino to demand this of our local government? Let’s do it.

Mendocino County Today: Wednesday, July 7, 2021
2021/07/07 at 6:14 pm

---

Rye N Flint
In reply to Rye N Flint

Update: Confirmed by a good friend who formerly worked in the Planning dept.

Mendocino’s actual “General Plan”, is to keep Mendocino “a small sleepy place for rich Bay area retirees”. Which finally makes sense as to why they can’t build a sewer for Boonville or Laytonville, and won’t expand the system in Ukiah. NIMBY rules it all, and It keeps the properties expensive! Can anyone remember the last time the planning commission approved a subdivision for more housing? Same goes for the newly revealed Cannabis ordinance. All part of the real plan. All jobs and education are geared towards service jobs. Shouldn’t we all be happy making $20/hr and renting one of their houses? (eye roll)

Mendocino County Today: Wednesday, July 7, 2021
2021/07/07 at 3:19 pm

---

Bruce Anderson
In reply to Jim Armstrong

Prior to Sweeney’s attempt to recycle his ex-wife via a car bomb — you may have heard about it, Jim — he persuaded the supervisors, led by his pal Shoemaker, to create the county’s garbage agency with himself in a well-paid, light duty sinecure as its boss. The garbage business is wholly privatized in this county as local government gradually raffles off government functions, which you also may have noticed. I think the county should subsidize trash rates without making them free but cheap enough to prevent the wholesale trashing of our highways and biways we see now, which is what Idaho does, I believe.

Mendocino County Today: Wednesday, July 7, 2021
2021/07/07 at 2:25 pm

---

Bruce Anderson
In reply to Rye N Flint

A more knowledgeable historian than me might know, but I do know that Humboldt State precedes Mendo College by many years, and also precedes EIRs. Mendo could have gotten the old state hospital at Talmage for a song, but the Supes at the time feared maintenance costs. Talmage would have made a beautiful college campus, which is what the Buddhists have done with the site while Mendo College was erected brand new, the gym going up several years before the library in a clear statement of local priorities.

Mendocino County Today: Wednesday, July 7, 2021
2021/07/07 at 2:14 pm

---

Rye N Flint
In reply to Douglas Coulter

Waste MisManagement inc. is the reason we have no CRV buyback in Ukiah. They make double the money when you have to give them all your recycling for free.

Mendocino County Today: Wednesday, July 7, 2021
2021/07/07 at 1:40 pm

---

Rye N Flint
In reply to Steve Heilig

I’m still laughing about that one!

Mendocino County Today: Wednesday, July 7, 2021
2021/07/07 at 1:38 pm

---

Rye N Flint

Theoretical question:

What do you all think will happen if all the absentee landlords had to sell their properties, because it was no longer economically viable to rent to illegal trailer trash growers from the east coast?

You think maybe some of us locals could finally afford to buy a place of our own?

Asking for a friend.

Mendocino County Today: Wednesday, July 7, 2021
2021/07/07 at 1:36 pm

---

Jim Armstrong
In reply to Lew Chichester

It’s not really funny, but Mendocino County does provide free trash pickup and hauling.
We just do it haphazardly and in the most expensive way possible: After it is thrown on public land somewhere.
People might abuse free dumpsters by using them. Oh right that’s the idea.
Most businesses lock their dumpsters to thwart freeloaders.
Bruce: I’ll bet you can figure out and let us know how Mike Sweeny is probably at fault.

Mendocino County Today: Wednesday, July 7, 2021
2021/07/07 at 12:27 pm

---

Bruce Anderson
In reply to Douglas Coulter

A little restraint, dude, is all we ask. You don’t have to post your every thought.

Mendocino County Today: Wednesday, July 7, 2021
2021/07/07 at 11:36 am

---

Harvey Reading
In reply to Harvey Reading

https://consortiumnews.com/2021/07/07/sweeping-it-under-the-carpet/

And here I thought I was alone in my view of this messed-up excuse of a “free” country.

Mendocino County Today: Wednesday, July 7, 2021
2021/07/07 at 11:31 am

---

Douglas Coulter

The blue pencil of AVA did not like my (Flintstones) mental health parody
Also deleted a Tolstoy quote
About 50% of my comments are moderated into the circular file without any mention as to offending words.
Truth is often offensive to those who cling to dogma

Mendocino County Today: Wednesday, July 7, 2021
2021/07/07 at 11:25 am

---

Rye N Flint

RE: “Wine plants are exempt from conservation. This must stop immediately.”

Why isn’t the county running “Convert your vineyard to dry farming” workshops led by the few folks in this county that have actually made the transition on their own, and thrived?

Mendocino County Today: Wednesday, July 7, 2021
2021/07/07 at 11:22 am

---

Rye N Flint

Just found out today, why Ukiah has never expanded development in the North end of town. From Ernie Wipf himself, “LAFCO is supposed to do a growth study every 5 years, but haven’t for 15 years.”

https://calafco.org/lafco-law/faq/what-lafcos-history

More of the Mendo No growth policy…

Mendocino County Today: Wednesday, July 7, 2021
2021/07/07 at 11:17 am

---

Rye N Flint

RE: Mendo county lawsuits

Did they county think all the Phase 1 small grows were going to go along with Mendo County’s communist plan to support illegal greenhouse grows to get a little more permit money while the green rush was still happening?

Well… by allowing people to apply for 10 to 14 “ag exempt hoophouses”, the illegal black market hoopsters have outgrown the already over supplied equation of the local cannabis market. (That the supervisors have no say in controlling or influencing in any way) Now none of the small legal white market growers can sell their product. I know of a dozen people that aren’t even going to grow this year because they could sell their product from 2020. They are doneski… This is going to get really interesting, once Mendo county makes a decision on how to regulate all these hoophouses they allowed. Hey, now they finally have everyone’s addresses.

Mendocino County Today: Wednesday, July 7, 2021
2021/07/07 at 11:06 am

---

Douglas Coulter
In reply to Lew Chichester

All rural counties should supply free dumps. Also free hazardous household disposal. Sierra County does, part of property tax.
You cannot produce and sell disposable products and not provide a place to dispose of them. You cannot police the back roads of a rural county. Waste Management would lose income, (that poor poverty stricken corporation) but the environment and public would win.

Mendocino County Today: Wednesday, July 7, 2021
2021/07/07 at 11:05 am

---

Rye N Flint
In reply to Lew Chichester

What about that beautiful trash pile on Hwy 20 from Willits to FtBragg? The one with all the kids toys and toy barbie jeep? Or how about the north end of Tomki road? The local dumping ground and abandon car in the creek? Super awesome, right? Keep it classy, Mendo.

Mendocino County Today: Wednesday, July 7, 2021
2021/07/07 at 10:38 am

---

Rye N Flint

Mendo College denied

Does anyone know why Mendocino turned down a State University, when Humboldt got one? I can’t find a single story about it online. I heard a rumor that it was to avoid having to do an EIR for north Ukiah, which would triggger a sewer expansion, which would have allowed growth (which we all know is the dirty “G” word in Mendo).

In 1974 the school had its final name change to Humboldt State University

Mendocino County Today: Wednesday, July 7, 2021
2021/07/07 at 10:35 am

---

Lazarus
In reply to Lew Chichester

“Top of 7 Mile Hill.” Willits…

That pile of garbage and trash has been there for months. I know for a fact that County trucks of all Kinds, pickup, and dump drive Hwy 20 weekly, if not more. If they gave a shit someone would deal with it from the county, or enlist someone who will clean it up.
But the Sups and others would rather get a cool mil that they can scam 80% of, and call it good…
As always,
Laz

Mendocino County Today: Wednesday, July 7, 2021
2021/07/07 at 10:32 am

---

Harvey Reading
In reply to John Sakowicz

The US would do well to mind its own effen business. Now we support a goof in Venezuela who lost the election and continue to hold on to their funds. Enough of the flag-waving BS. Venzuela is NO THREAT to US “national security”. Half-witted “patriots” who celebrate US intervention are.

Mendocino County Today: Wednesday, July 7, 2021
2021/07/07 at 9:46 am

---

Harvey Reading

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Duh?

Mendocino County Today: Wednesday, July 7, 2021
2021/07/07 at 9:40 am

---

Steve Heilig

“CRYSTAL METHodist” church made me guffaw, so thanks for that nice start to the day….

Mendocino County Today: Wednesday, July 7, 2021
2021/07/07 at 9:06 am

---

Craig Stehr
In reply to Cotdbigun

Thank you for your ridiculous comment. ;-)) P.S. My mind is stable.

Mendocino County Today: Wednesday, July 7, 2021
2021/07/07 at 9:02 am

---

Lew Chichester

Regarding trash, the writer who is aware that Idaho had dumpsters on the side of the road and very low fees, a movie I’ve seen with dumpsters scattered about in a residential area and available for residents to dispose of household garbage for free, and a visit to Hawaii as a tourist and remarking that every time I needed to dispose of some packaging there was a dumpster, right there! What would it take to at least do a coherent feasibility study in Mendocino County to get a grip on the trash all over the place? it is really bad here, getting worse. John Haschak and the Tribe have applied through the County of Mendocino for a big ($1 million) grant to clean up the abandoned cars and a few unauthorized dumps on the Rez, but this needs to be done all over the place. Something like what is mentioned in Idaho or Hawaii would help a lot. Free dumpsters, everywhere. What would that really cost? The present alternative is not working very well.

Mendocino County Today: Wednesday, July 7, 2021
2021/07/07 at 8:20 am

---

Cotdbigun
In reply to Craig Stehr

Stehr crazy ! adjective
Psychologically disturbed , especially as a result of pretend spiritual enlightenment, lack of useful activity

Mendocino County Today: Wednesday, July 7, 2021
2021/07/07 at 7:59 am

---

John Sakowicz

Operation Just Cause was a quick, decisive mission to remove Manuel Noriega from power in 1989. The operation was opened by the largest airborne operation since World War II and is often cited as an example of using overwhelming force to achieve mission objectives. The operation also saw many firsts for the U.S. military.

Why remove Manuel Noriega from power? Why extradite him back to the U.S. where on July 10, 1992, he was sentenced to 40 years in prison? Why was he such a threat? An enemy? Why indeed?

Convicted on charges of drug trafficking, racketeering, and money laundering, Manuel Noriega knew too much. He was key to understanding how Panama became the “Switzerland of the West”…the secret bankers and money launderers of the West.

Manuel Noriega is at the heart of the “Panama Papers”, the giant leak of more than 11.5 million financial and legal records that exposed a system that enabled crime, corruption, tax evasion, and fraud, hidden by secretive offshore companies, including power elites, and their bankers, lawyers, and lobbyists.

The documents contained personal financial information about multi-billionaires and public officials alike. Manuel Noriega was their “boy”…until he wasn’t.

Mendocino County Today: Wednesday, July 7, 2021
2021/07/07 at 7:00 am

---

Douglas Coulter

Just Cause (havoc)
Panama and Noriaga
Remember Olie North?
Iran Contra?
Bush senior needed to show America we did not like drugs
CIA and OSS have been using foreign crime syndicates at least since we invaded Italy in WW2
They make a deal with the devil and then break it.
Oswald, Osama, Saddam, Jim Jones, and the beat goes on

Mendocino County Today: Wednesday, July 7, 2021
2021/07/07 at 6:42 am

---

Douglas Coulter

Bankster
The Lenders Prayer

Our banker who art in Manhattan
Corporate be thy name
Thy credit come
With interest sum
On paper or cyber heaven
Give us this day our daily debt
And forgive us our wages
As we forget our freedom
Lead us into greater mortgage
And deliver us from our lands
For thine is the system
With the power
To squeeze us forever

Douglas Wayne Coulter
2020

Mendocino County Today: Wednesday, July 7, 2021
2021/07/07 at 6:30 am

---

Craig Stehr

Just having a fun morning sending emails of complaint to the Southern Humboldt Medical Clinic in Garberville. In 2019, while encouched at Andy Caffrey’s, I developed a fungal infection on my rear end. Andy suggested going to the people’s clinic nearby, assuring me that they were cool, you know, like the Berkeley Free Clinic. So I walked over. Told the front desk that I had the problem, plus a slight soreness in one shoulder from sleeping on one side on the couch. They charged me $20 for the visit which I paid using Medicare, which I had signed up for in Hawaii; [later, it was discovered that Medicare would not pay the bill for a California clinic visit].
The doctor (now head of the clinic) saw me for roughly 20 minutes, suggested I sleep on the other side to ease the shoulder ache, and wrote me a prescription for an ointment which I purchased at Ray’s Market. The end of the story, right? Or you would think so. After many months went by, I received a bill for over $350 from the doctor’s billing service located in Washington state. So I wrote back to them saying that the doctor ought to be brought up on ethics charges. Didn’t hear from them for awhile. Last week I received a bill from a collection agency in Los Angeles. So, I wrote to them explaining the entire sickening situation. I also contacted SOHUM medical clinic via email. I received a response, telling me that the Medicare from Hawaii did not cover the $20 fee in California. And also, the additional charge from the doctor is appropriate, because I am considered a “multiple issue” drop in. I sent an email back to their billing department, complaining that I was not advised about the exorbitant additional amount either at the front desk nor by the doctor, and that I am happy to pay the $20 if they would send me a bill to my post office box in Redwood Valley. Of course I will never pay the over $350 the doctor tacked on later. I am getting really deeply sick and tired of this kind of shit!>>>And this is after more or less settling the crazy problem of “misreporting” to the State of California Franchise Tax Board, which resulted in my paying a garnished $50 plus a $100 service fee from my Savings Bank of Mendocino County checking account, thereby making it a fact that I have paid taxes for somebody else!!! I.E. For the individual who actually executed the trades which BNY Mellon-PershingLLC misreported in 2015 on a 1099B form as being my trades!!!<<< You know, aside from the previous American presidential administration identifying itself as being insane, I don’t think that I’d trade a pitcher of warm spit right now for what passes for the American social system. I WANT MY $150 PUT BACK INTO MY SAVINGS BANK OF MENDOCINO COUNTY CHECKING ACCOUNT! I WANT THE SOUTHERN HUMBOLDT MEDICAL CLINIC IN GARBERVILLE TO SEND ME A RATIONAL BILL FOR $20, WHICH I WILL PAY. I WANT THE TOTALLY CONFUSED OFF THE RAILS AMERICAN SOCIETY TO GET SANE, AND I AM ACCEPTING MONEY FOR DIRECT ACTION IN RESPONSE TO GLOBAL CLIMATE DESTABILIZATION (AND ANYTHING ELSE THAT I DEEM APPROPRIATE INSOFAR AS PEACE & JUSTICE IS CONCERNED). Craig Louis Stehr July 7, 2021 Email: craiglouisstehr@gmail.com P.O. Box 938, Redwood Valley, CA 95470-0938 Dig the blog: http://craiglstehr.blogspot.com P.S. I’m not going to put PayPal on here, because I don’t want to freak out anybody. After all, putting PayPal on here would make total sense, be intelligent, sane and spiritual.

Mendocino County Today: Wednesday, July 7, 2021
2021/07/07 at 2:05 am