Slight Cooling | Ukiah Cloudscape | Overnight Camping | AV BBQ | Water Systems | Cakebread Cleanup | Alto Dena | Youth Soccer | Sheriff Showdown | Plant Sale | Stargazing Season | Republican Candidates | 1912 Stables | Stress Test | Buggy Wash | Combat Graffiti | 1922 Camper | Coal Fields | Safe Smoking | Yesterday's Catch | Little Buddy | Personal Responsibility | Hawaii Burning | Dear Abby | Chronic Disease | Discovering Stoicism | Nuclear Test | Munch Urchin | No Problems | Small Kindnesses | Roy & Trigger | Lawn Bowling
A FEW SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS are expected across northern Trinity and eastern Del Norte counties through early this evening. Otherwise, expect dry weather through the upcoming week. It will be seasonably hot and sunny inland, with temperatures cooling slightly through mid to late week. Fairly persistent marine layer clouds and limited afternoon sunshine will continue for the coast. (NWS)
DUSK IN UKIAH
INDIAN CREEK PARK is the only park in the County Parks system that allows overnight camping. It is a popular retreat for many – visitors from all over the country have enjoyed this quiet “getaway” spot only 20 miles from the Pacific Ocean. Besides the roomy campsites, Indian Creek Park offers running water, picnic tables, clean restrooms, camp fire pits, and BBQ grills.
Indian Creek Campground's 10 sites are open on a "first-come first-serve" basis beginning the first weekend in April until the last weekend in October.
Campground rates are $25 per night, this fee includes 1 vehicle. For additional vehicles there is a $2 fee.
EYES ONLY, Anderson Valley: Anderson Valley Water Systems, aka Charlie Seekins, likely can find you some water when no one else can. According to the Gualala weekly, Charlie's a whole system, and can be found at 19650 Gschwend Road at the Deepend (Navarro). 895-2814. Highly recommended. Charlie got our water system flowing a few years ago, and it's flowed ever since.
LOOKING up water-related matters, I found the below registered water systems, the oldest of which is the Floodgate water system, dating back to early in the 20th century when Chinese labor hand dug a cistern straight back about sixty feet into the ridge rock not far from the Navarro Store, into which the sweetest water imaginable constantly drips from the rock ceiling, collecting on the floor of the cistern-cave. The water thus captured originally powered the steam engines driving the big saws at the long gone Navarro mill, and today provides water for many of the homes in central Navarro. The late Alvie Price of Navarro led me up there one warm afternoon. Alvie was in his 80's but I had to hustle to keep up with him. The cistern's ceiling, as I recall, was about six feet. Whoever maintains the Navarro system these days undoubtedly has more precise information. Airport Estates in Boonville also maintains a water system. The Anderson Valley has many water systems drawn from wells. Hill dwellers often depend on springs. It's truth time for AV's water, as both wells and springs go dry.
Blackbird Farm, Philo. Transient/noncommunity system, serves 25 people/3 facilities.
Floodgate Water System, Philo. Transient/noncommunity system, serves 120 people/3 facilities.
I&E Lath Mill, Philo. Non-Transient noncommunity system. Serves 25 people/3 facilities.
ms notes: The High School water system serves 300 people and uses three active wells. The Elementary School system serves 350 people and uses one well. The Meadow Estates system near the Airport serves 100 people and uses three active wells. There are also water systems at the Fairgrounds (serves 500, 2 wells), the Health Center (one well, serves 25), and several businesses have formally registered water systems served by wells. The AV Brewing Company has ten active wells serving 165 people. The Boonville Hotel has one well serving 25 people. Etc.
CAKEBREAD CLEANS UP
Cakebread’s deserted nursery on Anderson Valley Way two weeks ago, and now:
59-YEAR OLD DENA MORRIS arrested in Ukiah for arson during state of emergency
Dena Morris has a history of alcohol related charges, but most recently arrested for the following charges:
Arson During A State Of Emergency - Felony
Arson Of Structure Or Forest Land - Felony
Violation Of Parole: Felony - Remain Under Legal Custody To Return To Prison
JOHN McCOWEN: We cannot claim to be a compassionate society when troubled people like Dena are recycled back onto the streets to fend for themselves until premature death overtakes them or they commit an offense so great we lock them away, still without any treatment for what afflicts them. There are people so mentally disturbed, so alcohol or drug impaired, or so violent, that for their protection and ours they should be confined for treatment, and unless and until they can conform to basic standards should not be thrown back on the streets to continue their downward spiral. Yes, the courts and the legislatures have made "institutionalization" a bad word, but for some of the most unfortunate among us a controlled environment with treatment and all basic needs met would be a blessing.
SHOWDOWN WITH THE SHERIFF
AVA News Service
Sheriff Matt Kendall was in court last Friday represented by Ukiah Attorney Duncan James. The Sheriff was seeking approval to hire Duncan James as his legal counsel due to a conflict of interest. County Counsel Christian Curtis, arguably the cause of the conflict, was present to explain why Duncan James should not be appointed. One of Curtis’s concerns — that James would run up a bill — seems to be supported by the 52 page (!) brief that was filed on behalf of the Sheriff’s request for independent counsel.
Only page one of the brief was available online at print time. The AVA has the full brief on order at a mere 50¢ per page, a handsome price that the courts extract in order to make public documents available to the public.
The brief begins with a statement from the Sheriff that following his appointment he began having difficulties with CEO Carmel Angelo and Fifth District Supervisor Ted Williams. The “difficulties” culminated with threats to hold the Sheriff personally accountable if he goes over his structurally underfunded budget, which he is certain to do. And the Board’s stated intent to merge the Sheriff’s IT department with the rest of the County’s computers.
This is a fight the Board of Supervisors should not be in and one the Board can’t win. The law seems clear to everyone except County Counsel that the Sheriff can’t be billed for overtime or other necessary expenses needed to fulfill his constitutionally and statutorily mandated public safety duties — including maintaining his own IT department, something that is understandable, especially in light of confidentiality requirements and the current Grand Jury report taking County IT to task for a long list of ongoing deficiencies.
On Friday, Presiding Judge Ann Moorman wanted proof that a conflict existed. County Counsel Curtis, Duncan James and Sheriff Kendall all agreed a conflict existed. But Judge Moorman wasn’t satisfied. Had the Board of Supervisors voted to acknowledge the conflict? No, they had not. Judge Moorman stated that her reading of the law required a vote by the Board of Supervisors affirming a conflict existed. Knowing the Board was scheduled to meet August 3, Moorman told Curtis she wanted him back in court on Wednesday, August 4 with the results of such a vote. Curtis demurred that the agenda for August 3 had already been published. Not one to entertain lame excuses, Moorman said she was making it a court order that the Board vote to decide if a conflict exists or not.
Which explains why an amended agenda was hastily issued late Friday afternoon with a closed session item for existing litigation, the dispute between the Sheriff and the Board, with the newly assigned case number.
In addition, a second closed session item was added to allow the Board to decide which of four out-of-county law firm alternatives to Duncan James ought to be selected instead.
County Counsel appears to be under the naïve assumption that Kendall can somehow be persuaded to accept someone other than Duncan James as his attorney. That won’t happen. Kendall was clear on that point at the last Board meeting.
What is to be hoped is that cooler heads will prevail and the Board of Supervisors will emerge from Closed Session to say that no conflict exists, that they are rescinding the threat to bill the Sheriff for budget overruns or to merge his IT department with that of the County. At the Board’s last meeting on July 20 three Supervisors signaled a clear interest in extricating themselves from the mess County Counsel and CEO Angelo has led them into. Only Supervisor Williams persisted in badgering the Sheriff in an attempt to shame him into accepting a structurally unbalanced budget imposed by CEO Angelo.
It’s clear that a conflict exists, something County Counsel acknowledged on July 20, finally advising the Board that the Sheriff was entitled to legal counsel even to respond to the questions being posed by the Board.
In light of that, it seems likely at this point that even if the Board backs away from its previous threats, Sheriff Kendall will insist on independent legal representation prior to even considering any agreement to let bygones be bygones.
FLOWERS FOR SALE, $20 a pot. Downtown Boonville
NIGHT LIGHT OF THE NORTH COAST
Stargazing Season: Milky Way & Perseid Meteors
by David Wilson
Stargazing season is upon us, when the spectacular Milky Way is visible immediately after dark, soaring from horizon to horizon. Of course, one can watch the stars on any clear night and feel the immensity of space around us, but during the summer months, the Milky Way will make it worth the extra waiting for darkness to fall. At this time of year, the most dramatic portion of that misty belt is visible above the southern horizon.
The Milky Way is both the name of our galaxy as well as the name of the band of lighter milkiness we see stretching across the night sky. It is lighter than the rest of the night sky because when we look toward it, we are looking through our spiral, or pinwheel-shaped galaxy edge-on, right through the densest number of stars, glowing nebulae, etc. In our edge-on view, all of this blends together into indistinct milkiness in the vast interstellar distances involved. The Galactic Core is the center of the galaxy, and it is that densest region, the part with the greatest visible detail from Earth, that can be seen low on the southern horizon after dark at this time of year.
Looking to either side of the Milky Way’s band is to look above and below the plane of our flattened spiral galaxy, out where the stars are fewer and less closely packed. If your mind is boggled, don’t worry, it’s probably a good thing; it keeps it from being blown. You’re extremely tiny in all this, not really important at all, helplessly adrift in O u t e r S p a c e.
We begin to lose the best of this incredible galactic feature as fall progresses and the Milky Way’s core sinks beneath the horizon. We won’t see it back in the sky again until February, when you can only see it in the very wee hours of the morning. Now is when it’s available before bed time.
Perseid Meteor Shower
In August we have the Perseid meteor shower. It is an annual astronomical show of falling stars, which will peak the nights of August 11 and 12. The peak could see 40 to 60 meteors per hour. Perseid meteors are composed of debris (meteoroids) from the tail of comet Swift-Tuttle that pelt Earth’s atmosphere. They strike the atmosphere at around 130,000 miles per hour and burn up as they streak across the sky — producing what we call meteors or shooting stars.
The annual display occurs when Earth glides through the remnants of comet Swift-Tuttle’s tail each year in our orbit around the sun. Swift-Tuttle’s orbit takes it from the outer reaches of the Solar System down to the sun and back out again in a 133-year orbit. While the comet last visited our neighborhood in 1992, the trail of particles it leaves behind persists.
The Perseid meteors are so named because they radiate from an area of the sky near the constellation Perseus, which, during the peak, will be rising in the northeast sky after about 10:00 p.m. The best of the show will be between midnight and dawn.
The point where the Perseid meteors strike the atmosphere is called the radiant, for they appear to radiate outward from that point as the meteors strike the atmosphere and streak across the sky. Thus, their tails will be shorter looking toward the constellation Perseus than they will be if one looks to the side. In my experience, many of them streak along parallel to the Milky Way, which will be out in all its glory that night, barring sky cover.
While the Perseids do peak around August 11 and 12, some of the shower’s meteors begin falling weeks before the peak, and will continue in lesser numbers for around ten days after the peak.
When you go out:
You must give your eyes time to adjust to the darkness. Avoid using bright lights. Over the course of twenty minutes or so, your eyes will be fully adjusted to the dark, and you may be amazed at how much you can see both on the ground and in the heavens.
Bring warm, comfortable clothing and a camp chair or lawn chair to sit on; bring water.
Bring a headlamp or flashlight with red light ability. Avoid using a normal flashlight if you can, as its harsh light will destroy your night vision and that of anyone around you; instead, use a red light to you see your surroundings without hurting your night vision much. Some flashlights and many headlamps have a red light capability. You’ll be glad you have it for night sky viewing.
Your phone: looking at your phone will set your night vision back for minutes. Avoid it if you can. Sometimes I refer to my phone’s stopwatch to help me time a really long exposure, and for this purpose I turn its brightness way down.
May you enjoy many hours of night sky viewing.
(To keep abreast of David Wilson’s most current photography or purchase a print, visit or contact him at his website mindscapefx.com or follow him on Instagram at @david_wilson_mfx and on Twitter @davidwilson_mfx . David teaches Art 35 Digital Photography at College of the Redwoods.)
REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES FOR CALIFORNIA STATE GOVERNOR Talk Cannabis, Water, And Rural Life At Ukiah Truck Stop
Two candidates vying to replace Governor Gavin Gavin Newsom – Doug Ose and Diego Martinez – spoke to members of the Mendocino County Republicans at Ukiah’s Jensen’s Restaurant on Saturday.
IRV SUTLEY WRITES:
The Anderson Valley Advertiser's Youtube post of Steve Talbot's 1991 KQED Documentary “Who Bombed Judi Bari?” followed by Talbot’s Belva Davis interview can be viewed by going to youtu.be/62So3fylW5k
In the six days since this was posted there have been over 70 views but no comments yet. I think you have to have a Youtube subscription to be able to comment or rate a post.
I look forward to being able to attach Cherney's chump version on the end of this. It is my intention to get Voice Stress Analysis for the statements made by Pam Davis and some of those made by Bari herself. Back in the day, Pam Davis refused to take a polygraph but with the newer, even extremely reliable technology of VSA only an audio is needed to test, not a hook up to a machine.
ED NOTE: Cherney's chump version can be viewed online here: tubitv.com/movies/513743/who-bombed-judi-bari
ASSIGNMENT: UKIAH - TODAY’S OUT-OF-TUNE MEDLEY OF HITS
by Tommy Wayne Kramer
Graffiti is mildly annoying in small doses, but no city can risk allowing it to spread.
Defacing public or private property is a test, and a town that ignores it will soon be visited by more troublesome crimes. Shrug those crimes off and the downward spiral begins.
In recent weeks, perhaps months, Ukiah has seen a big surge in the low art of trashing walls and buildings. In the minds of vandals it marks captured territory, and if allowed, encourages them to conquer bigger, more conspicuous targets.
The base of the Ukiah Theater marquee recently suffered semi-coherent messaging that remained in public view far too long. A north-facing wall near the Social Services Department is right now obliterated with sloppy scrawls.
These offenses are not isolated, and if left unchecked will lead to worse behavior. The city needs to combat graffiti aggressively and relentlessly. How about crews of workers armed with buckets of paint (white, light green, beige, gray) and rollers dispatched twice weekly to eliminate the ugliness?
Retired county supervisor John McCowan has fought graffiti for many years and is the go-to consultant to fight the battle. He’s been a lone hero forever in need of reinforcements.
ALWAYS IN TOUCH: Way cool to get a birthday card from Snappy Joe Biden, sharpest light bulb the White House vegetable bin has seen in many years, except it was my wife’s birthday not mine, the card said “Happy Easter” and he included a coupon for $5 off on a purchase of Depends Adult Diapers.
BOOK REVIEW: ‘Incredible Doom,’ by Jesse Holden and Matthew Bogart (Harper Collins, 2021) is probably not a book you’ll to want to read, but it’s precisely the book your teenage nephew, niece or friend would like to get hold of, especially if the kid needs a little prodding to read more.
Set in the ‘90s, ‘Incredible Doom’ is a graphic novel (thick comic book) which makes it a quick read, even at a hefty 280 pages. It’s all cartoon pix with a few dozen, or sometimes zero, words per page. I went cover-to-cover in 40 minutes.
It’s familiar, reliable teenage stuff: Allison’s sensitive with an aggressive violent dad, burdened by loneliness and school bullies, a nonconformist nerd ’til she finds some nerds to conform with. Sprinkled throughout: the brand new internet, graffiti, gayness, faithful friends, social justicisms and a long search for trousers.
It’s a brisk, fun read by Jesse Holden, a kid straight outta Ukiah now staked in Portland along with every other talented youngster in the country. Incredible Doom is co-authored by Matthew Bogart. You can get a copy, or six, at the Mendocino Book Company, and we recommend you do just that.
SLICK MOVE: The redemption fee charged when you buy a 6-pack of Shasta soda or Olympia beer is meant to fund recycling centers, a nifty way to encourage bottles and cans get recycled. Good for the ol’ environment and all that.
The city still accepts the redemption fee but closed the glass / aluminum recycling centers. More $$$ for Ukiah; feel free to toss empties anywhere you want.
HOMELESS UPDATE: A recent report said a lone female was the subject of 230 phone calls (!) to the Fort Bragg Police Department. In one month.
We don’t know what the question is, but I’ll bet the answer is more money.
WHO STOLE MY TEAM? They tore down Municipal Stadium, lynched Chief Wahoo from a downtown lamppost, and changed the team name to Guardians. It’s clear I no longer fit the proper profile of a Cleveland baseball fan. They put me on waivers.
A week or two ago the Tribe was on TV vs. Oakland and I tuned in to watch. Prior years I’d go down for two or three games at the Coliseum, but that was then.
Watching the telecast while still saddled by 65-plus years as a devout Indians fan made it difficult to root for my newly adopted A’s. I was conflicted by old, not yet extinguished loyalties, habits and nostalgia.
I guarantee those emotional ties will not afflict me in coming years. The Team Formerly Known as the Indians has suffered a disastrous corporate takeover makeover, and Guardians is the dumbest name in all of sports.
From here on I’m a true blue old school diehard Oakland A’s fan who bleeds green & gold but won’t mind much when the team moves to Omaha or Las Vegas or the North Pole in a few years.
What’s a Guardian anyway? A chaperone? An officer from the Internal Security Division?
Guardians! The adult diaper for active men on the go who sometimes really have to go! Extra absorbency, double-reinforced for heavy loads, plus patented special Stink-Stoppers in mint, pine or bacon scent!
Guardians: Perfect for someone like you.
(Tom Hine notes that Jesse Holden’s dad, the notorious j holden, can often be spotted lurking about Ukiah and also has a home on the coast overlooking the waters. TWK keeps track of how seldom he’s been invited over to catch and BBQ dolphins and whales.)
THE ROUND VALLEY COAL FIELDS
Nuggets of old news served up by David Heller, one of our Humboldt County’s local historians…
Having previously reported on Coal in Humboldt County, Odd Old News returns to the topic of North Coast coal. This week we will take a look at some glowing 1890 news reports of the seeming enormous potential of the Round Valley coal fields. Initially these deposits were thought to be extensive enough to supply enough coal to take care of the heating needs of San Francisco. At this time California had virtually no coal mining, the state’s need for coal was supplied by train from out of state, and sometimes shipped from Australia, highlighting the importance of developing the Round Valley deposits.
As we have shared, the 1890’s were an era where railroad companies studied and surveyed a number of possible routes for track construction that would allow access to the coastal old growth redwood forest belt. Plans to develop the coal finds in Round Valley also spurred calls to have a railway to “where a mountain of coal lies undeveloped.”
Mendocino County map circa 1900 showing railroad route plans and the Round Valley coal fields, courtesy of the Mendocino Historical Society
One of the first plans for such a railroad line came from the Fort Bragg Railroad Company which was about to start digging the Glen Bair tunnel, and laying track up the Noyo River with intentions to continue on to Willits and Round Valley. Ft. Bragg eagerly anticipated this new development:
“New Coal Beds
Humboldt Times
May 14, 1890
Rich coal beds have been discovered between Sherwood Valley and Round Valley of Eel River, which are claimed to be as rich as any in the world. An expert was up from San Francisco last week and Mr. Markle took him to them without any trouble, although he had not been there since ’68. Mr. Markle says the expert examined the coal found very carefully, and pronounced it to be as good as any he had ever seen, and from its formation and the quantity exposed on the surface of the ground, said the supply was inexhaustible.
After some calculations the expert said to Mr. Markle: “This small piece of country between these two hills contains enough coal to supply the whole of the Pacific Coast for ten years.”
Mr. Markle says in one place a wide ledge of coal extends across the river which rises up perpendicular from the banks fifty feet high. A fine specimen was brought in which can be seen at the Fort Bragg company’s store. Those coal beds can be tapped by the Fort Bragg railroad and are about 35 miles from this place. The coal can be shipped from this port cheaper than any other way of transit. It is not likely that these coal fields will be allowed to remain long in their present undeveloped state, and we would not be surprised to see capitalists step in at an early day and work this vast mine of wealth. Fort Bragg, it is likely to presume, will be the shipping point of these coal beds, which means more business for our town—Fort Bragg Advocate.”
The Ukiah press reported that four gentlemen had passed through enroute to the coal fields, where the men would be investigating the 23,640 acres of coal lands that were owned by the Flood estate and John W Mackay. The quality of the coal led to the prediction of a coming “veritable mine of wealth to our county.” Humboldt County took note, spurring talk of extending their railway further south, or a possible direct track to the Shelter Cove port from Round Valley. Enthusiasm grew, and a railroad line from Willits to Sherwood Valley and west to the coal fields was proposed:
“The Coal Mines
Humboldt Times, September 24, 1890
There is much excitement in Round Valley over the coal mines. The Bank of Nevada owns 100,000 acres of coal lands near the junction of the two forks of Eel River. They have let it lay for years untouched, but are now spending $1,500 in prospecting it. A tunnel was run into the bed where there were some croppings close to the Middle Fork. At first the bed lay at an incline of 45 degrees, but as the tunnel ran in the slant decreased to 20 degrees. The bed varies in thickness from 8 to 14 feet, and has improved in quality as the tunnel went down.
At 140 feet water stopped the work. Pumps have been sent for. In the meantime work is being prosecuted on another tunnel across the river. The coal is pronounced an excellent article for use on railroads and steamboats. Mr. Flood, of the Nevada Bank, states that the Fort Bragg RR Co will build into Sherwood Valley, where they will be met by the owners of the mines. It is the nearest outlet, and would greatly help the people of the Northern valleys. We sincerely hope it will prove to be more than an empty promise. The people of Round Valley are greatly elated over the prospects. Coal croppings are found along the range west of Round Valley for twenty or thirty miles to the north of the property of the Nevada Bank.— Republican-Press.”
Large amounts of capital were needed to develop the coal fields and while there were wealthy backers, the path to development seemed strewn with legal complexities and complications:
“Eel River Coal; The Vast Field In Mendocino
Humboldt Times
October 30, 1890
Arrival of a Quantity Yesterday — Obstacles to the Way of Its Development — What the Owners Will Undertake.
[From the Examiner]
Winter is coming on, and that means more coal; manufactories ought to be encouraged in San Francisco, and that meant the same thing. It is useless to review the subject of coal famines in San Francisco, for it is familiar to everybody who is a householder.
Yesterday there arrived in San Francisco ten tons of coal from Mendocino County. It cost $20 a ton to bring, but then that sum covered the cost of teaming sixty miles over a rough road to Ukiah, and thence by the railway. Someday, perhaps, these figures will be mentioned as one refers to the price of potatoes in 1849.
The coal was brought down by Jas L Flood from the middle fork of the Eel River. He owns three quarters of the property, and has been contemplating for some time past a development of the coal measures.
As may be seen in the accompanying map, the coal field is situated near and in Round Valley. It extends six miles south and six miles north of the middle fork of the Eel river, and perhaps much farther. The coal is a lignite —that is, it is what is known as the latest formation of coal.
Beyond Man’s Memory
Long ago, thousands and tens of thousands of years, the glaciers swept down the eastern slope of the Coast range in Mendocino, carrying with them trees which were three and four times the size of the giant redwoods which now tower above the valleys. Stumps, with a vast acreage of roots, may be found nowadays hidden in the forest depths, denoting the mammoth growth in primeval days.
These were the forests that made the coal on the Eel river. The country shows signs of tremendous transitions. Volcanic action threw up ridges, out of which the coal seams crop. Extraordinary landslides must have occurred. In fact the surface of the earth has undergone all sorts of changes.
The Coal Vein
The middle fork of the Eel river is a lamb in summer and a lion in winter. At a certain point where two cliffs rise high on either bank may be seen the great coal vein, which it has cut in two. On either side the coal rises almost to the top of the cliff, and, according to the experts, there are 18,000 tons in sight.
In the beginning of the seventies Isaac Friedlander bought land, which extended for twelve miles, to the extent of seventy-two hundred acres. It consisted mainly of what is called “offered” lands. Prior to 1860, when the Government surveyed a tract of land, it offered the lands included in the survey at $1.25 an acre at public auction. If the land was not purchased at the time it was offered it continued to remain in the market. All these offered lands were “called in” by the Government by the law of 1888.
The coal seam included in the present tract goes north to the Round Valley Indian Reservation and probably goes much further into Trinity county. It crops out occasionally on the surface, but according to the geologists it is full of “faults.” In other words, when the surface of the earth was forced up by volcanic action in ages past the stratum of coal was broken grievously, so that if a mine should be begun at the north bank of the fork of Eel river it might easily happen that after the progress of a few hundred yards the vein might come to an end, and the strata lie a hundred yards above, or below, as the case may be.
This is where the uncertainty lies, and it is just this that leaves the trail of speculation across the field.
When Isaac Friedlander failed in 1875, he handed five-eighths of the property over to the Nevada Bank; of the remainder, Walker of redwood fame owned an eighth, the estate of Edmund Janssen another eighth, and the late Captain RS Floyd the remaining eighth. Walker sold his share to the Nevada Bank later on, and whom Messrs. Hellman, Sloss and Gerstle bought a large share in the bank this coal property was one of the items reserved by Messrs. Flood and Mackey. These gentlemen realized the enormous expense required to open up the coal fields, but made a proposition, however, to Mr. Janssen that he should join in forming a stock company.
Captain Floyd, It is said, was ready to enter into the enterprise with his accustomed public spirit. The Janssen estate objected, however, to the expense, which for a company of 100,000 shares would involve assessments of $45 or $50 a share. Then an offer was made the Janssens of $21,000 for their share, but this was rejected.
Experts’ Reports
So now the matter hangs on the hooks waiting for the consultation with Mr. Mackay, who will arrive in a few weeks. There have been many experts on the property, and they say that the vein may average twenty feet in depth along its extent. At the river it is 600 feet wide on one side, and 350 feet wide at the other.
A rough guess gives 10,000,000 tons to the square mile, and there are about forty square miles in the present tract.
It will take nearly $5,000.000 to put the coal on the market—$2,500,000 for a railway to Ukiah, and $2,500,000 to develop the mine.
From Ukiah the route would be sixty miles and practicable. There is another route discussed, namely, to Fort Bragg, on the sea coast. But this latter involves the question of loading schooners on an exposed sea coast. Lumber men know that this means a cessation of work during winter months, so that such a line seems hardly feasible.
There is, on the whole, a good chance for San Francisco to have a large and cheap coal supply—that is, if the promoters succeed in overcoming the obstacles.
The North Pacific Railway would join the proposed line at Ukiah, but this corporation cannot go farther, even at the inducement of the coal fields. When the Donahues mortgaged the road to the Seligmans for $6,000,000, it was expressly stipulated on the issuance of the bonds that the road should not be extended beyond Ukiah in any direction. However, there is no doubt the Donahue road would enter into a very reasonable contract, should an extension be constructed by Messrs Flood and Mackay.”
* * *
By early 1891, the tunnel at the mine was 600 feet deep, and the fifteen foot coal ledge that was visible led experts to estimate an output of 1,000 tons a day once mining commenced in earnest. Though large deposits of coal had been found, work continued in order to find the main deposit. What happened to this coal mining dream is a story for another day, a Round Valley Coal Fields, Part Two.
(Courtesy, KymKemp.com/The RedHeaded Blackbelt)
CATCH OF THE DAY, August 1, 2021
SHAWN BETSCHART, Hanford/Willits. Assault with deadly weapon with great bodily injury.
JAI CASE, Laytonville. DUI.
JOSE FLORES-CASTRO, Fort Bragg. Vehicle theft, bad check, getting credit with someone else’s ID, controlled substance, failure to appear, probation revocation.
ALEJANDRO GARCIA-GUZMAN, North Larkspur/Ukiah. DUI.
GALVIN LEWIS, Redwood Valley. DUI, probation revocation.
ARTEMO ORTEGA-REYES, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.
ESTEBAN PABLO-GONZALEZ, San Bernardino/Ukiah. DUI, suspended license for DUI, false ID, forgery of state official seal, forged driver’s license.
KENNETH PARTRIDGE, Fort Bragg. Controlled substance, paraphernalia, probation revocation.
SHAWN POTE, Willits. Battery on peace officer.
AUSTIN SHEALOR, Ukiah. Ex-felon with stun-gun, county parole violation.
RANDOLPH WILKINS, Emeryville/Ukiah. DUI-drugs.
JENNIFER WILKINSON, Laytonville. Failure to appear.
ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY
Still don’t want be taxed for the $50,000 to $80,000 average cost of hospital stay or the increased premiums because of those costs, for those, who while they didn’t trust the government enough to get a $20 vaccine, surely will call on those they didn’t trust when they get sick enough to want to go to the hospital. Don’t want to fund life long government support payment those who won’t get vaccinated but who don’t die, just got really sick, or to their children if they do die until they finish school. Don’t want to be put at constant risk by those who think they should not wear a face mask in public places because they will not be inconvenienced out of concern for those, who even when vaccinated, stand a sizeable chance of getting sick. Nope if you’re old or diabled, this poster expects you to do all the risk management. Marie Antoinette would have thoroughly gone along with that “let them eat cake” idea. No one is asking you to lock yourself up in your house, like you are demanding others do. Just wear a mask in public.
But mostly, don’t want anti vaxxers spreading lies, ignorance and misunderstandings to scare about vaccines and flick off worry about the disease.
EVEN HAWAII IS BURNING
DEAR ABBY
Dear Abby, dear Abby
My feet are too long
My hair's falling out and my rights are all wrong
My friends they all tell me that I've no friends at all
Won't you write me a letter, won't you give me a call
Signed bewildered
Bewildered, bewildered
You have no complaint
You are what your are and you ain't what you ain't
So listen up buster, and listen up good
Stop wishing for bad luck and knocking on wood
Dear Abby, dear Abby
My fountain pen leaks
My wife hollers at me and my kids are all freaks
Every side I get up on is the wrong side of bed
If it weren't so expensive I'd wish I were dead
Signed unhappy
Unhappy, unhappy
You have no complaint
You are what your are and you ain't what you ain't
So listen up buster, and listen up good
Stop wishing for bad luck and knocking on wood
Dear Abby, dear Abby
Dear Abby, dear Abby
Dear Abby, dear Abby
You won't believe this
But my stomach makes noises whenever I kiss
My girlfriend tells me it's all in my head
But my stomach tells me to write you instead
Signed noise-maker
Noise-maker, noise-maker
You have no complaint
You are what your are and you ain't what you ain't
So listen up buster, and listen up good
Stop wishing for bad luck and knocking on wood
Dear Abby, dear Abby
Well I never thought
That me and my girlfriend would ever get caught
We were sitting in the back seat just shooting the breeze
With her hair up in curlers and her pants to her knees
Signed just married
Just married just married
You have no complaint
You are what your are and you ain't what you ain't
So listen up buster, and listen up good
Stop wishing for bad luck and knocking on wood
Signed dear Abby
— John Prine
ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY #2
I, in the past year as I hit 59 and working 40 years now as a front line hospital guy in the emergency department, death was closer to me. Even though I went to a Christian school, and was told as long I go to church weekly and contribute Jesus will save me, but I still had anxiety about it. Then by accident I found the book, “Mediations” by a 2000 year old Roman Emperor named Marcus Aurelius and the philosophy he studied called Stoicism and how it helps you organize your life and see that these worries we all have are ancient. The best part, you can be a Stoic and still practice and follow the teachings of Jesus. Read some of the stoics and see how they face our morality, the corruption and fall of the Greek and Roman civilizations.
THE SOLUTION to California’s rampant sea urchin problem is to eat them. I gave it a try
Biologists and chefs are urging people to chow down on the purple sea urchins that are destroying California’s vital kelp forests. Could I catch and cook my own?
theguardian.com/us-news/2021/apr/11/california-purple-sea-urchin-uni-kelp-forest
SMALL KINDNESSES
I’ve been thinking about the way, when you walk down a crowded aisle, people pull in their legs to let you by. Or how strangers still say “bless you” when someone sneezes, a leftover from the Bubonic plague. “Don’t die,” we are saying. And sometimes, when you spill lemons from your grocery bag, someone else will help you pick them up. Mostly, we don’t want to harm each other. We want to be handed our cup of coffee hot, and to say thank you to the person handing it. To smile at them and for them to smile back. For the waitress to call us honey when she sets down the bowl of clam chowder, and for the driver in the red pick-up truck to let us pass. We know so little of each other, now. So far from tribe and fire. Only these brief moments of exchange. What if they are the true dwelling of the holy, these fleeting temples we make together when we say, “Here, have my seat,” “Go ahead — you first,” “I like your hat.”
— Danusha Laméris
LAWN BOWLING
by Daniel Johnson
What started as an average day soon transpired into a gauntlet of challenges. The wind was blowing, humidity was high, and difficult conditions gave way to an unpredictable outcome.
The Rossmoor Lawn Bowling Club held their annual Men’s Singles Championship Tournament this last week. Ten players took to the greens eyeing the prize to be named this year’s hotshot. The group of players was diverse ranging from novice bowlers such as Kirk Werner to experienced contenders like Bob Hanson, each having strong performances.
Group play consisted of 4 games over the course of 2 days, afterwhich the top 4 players entered a semi-final playoff against each other. The semi-finals included some familiar names, such as Dave Peters who has won 2 tournaments thus far during the 2021 season. Dave Peters matched up against Larry Collaço, the 4th and 1st seeds, respectively. This was the second time in which they played each other during this tournament. Peters was searching for redemption during this semi-final rematch, but Collaço was able to hold off a strong comeback with a final score of 18-15, thus continuing into the finals.
In route to the finals, some legendary players fell to the wayside only to be replaced by the novice bowlers they have coached along the way. This evolution has led to growing groups of newer and veteran talent in the club. Yet, much as the apprentice becomes the master, the club’s novices and new bowlers have continued to outperform expectations.
Daniel Johnson has been doing exactly that, capturing the enthusiasm of the crowd with a semi-final matchup against the ultra-experienced veteran Michael Clancy. The previous matchup between these two was during last month’s Men’s Handicap Singles Tournament, which Clancy won by just a single point. This matchup soon proved to be different though, once Johnson took a 13-8 lead over Clancy through 11 ends. But, despite Johnson’s all-white attire blinding his opponent, he still lost to Clancy’s experience, allowing 10 unanswered points in the final 3 ends and succumbing to Clancy’s successful change in strategy. Although Johnson lost the game, he didn’t lose his dignity and continues to be one of the winningest novices in club history.
The Finals were then set: Clancy vs Collaço with over 60 years of combined experience in the sport. Both were graduates from Saint Ignatius High School in San Francisco in 1959 and 1964, respectively. A battle of the two turquoise shirts. The tension was palpable.
Clancy took an early lead, up 5-0 after 3 ends. Collaço quickly responded to gain the lead 6-5 by the 5th end. This was shaping up to be a heavyweight battle and a high caliber shootout. Larry Collaço, with a lawn bowling delivery reminiscent of the late David Bryant, continued to chip away at the scorecard by consistently winning 1-point ends. Clancy held true to his form and responded with several high-quality shots and multi-point ends, however, it was not enough to stave off Collaço who won the finals with a score of 18-10 and became this year’s Men’s Singles Tournament champion.
When asked about the match afterwards, Collaço said, “Every match was competitive. The scores tell the battle that took place. And, I’m so thankful for my inspiration from [my wife] Gloria.”
Special thanks to our volunteers for scorekeeping and marking during the tournament! We encourage anyone interested in learning this great game to join us on Wednesdays and Fridays at 9:45 AM at Hillside in the Lawn Bowling Mat House for free lessons! All equipment provided.
Hey, how y’all doin’? It’s another Monday morning in what’s left of postmodernism in the American “experiment in freedom and democracy”. Just watched the major media network news…lots and lots of lots and lots. If you haven’t gotten the J&J one jab yet, what are you waiting for? How about the scorching weather globally. What exactly are the nuclear superpowers going to do about that? They fry just like everybody else! The sun isn’t afraid of anything. Pretty good Olympics in Tokyo, in spite of all. Exciting finishes. Big smiles. The economy appears to have dropped off of the radar. I mean, either you have money or you don’t. The 80s are over. Otherwise, everybody now is saying that everybody else counts. Short, tall, dark, light, fat, skinny, whatever. Now what?? And last but not least, nobody cares about your mental health. That leaves liberating yourself from the quagmire of samsara altogether.
Spent the last three days chanting the Mahamantram. Money is now incoming because it’s the first week of the month. Previous financial confusions have been fully resolved, as the local congressman’s staff is presently working on finding my last three government stimulus checks, and getting them into my checking account.
I’m not saying that we can form a super group to finance the global revolutionary ecological movement. But you tell me, if not us then who? If not now, then when? Meanwhile, I am ready to roll out of The Magic Ranch in California at any time. I mean, like, I can pack up and be outta here in 20 minutes. AHOY…ANYBODY OUT THERE LISTENING TO THIS? ;-))
Craig Louis Stehr
Email: craiglouisstehr@gmail.com
Blog: http://craiglstehr.blogspot.com
Snail Mail: P.O. Box 938, Redwood Valley, CA 95470
Gave the Phone Away–Too Much Trouble ;-((
August 2nd, 2021 A.D.
“ Only Supervisor Williams persisted in badgering the Sheriff in an attempt to shame him into accepting a structurally unbalanced budget imposed by CEO Angelo. ”
Bow tie Ted, smug and arrogant looking down on all us simple County folk. Paired up in corruption for the long run. Using us as a spring board for his bigger designs.
Why would he alone push for the 10% expansion?
What has he done to help our counties dysfunctional homeless and health care services?
What help has he brought to the ridiculous bud permitting scene?
What has he done for the fifth district?
He hangs around the village of Mendocino, lording over us peasants, unapproachable. Sound bites and snippets offered as if his time is so very important. Yet he’s getting nothing accomplished!
Your a fake, Ted. A fraudster. Do you really think Matt Kendall is a bad person with Ill intent or design? Or, perhaps you think your smarter or more educated and therefore have some right to make these decisions that cause conflict and disruption. No, your talking marching orders from Angelo.
Your not helping this County, Ted. Why do you think you don’t have to listen to your constituents? Have you got it all figured out already, Ted?
RECALL bow tie Ted Williams and FIRE Carmel Angelo
The cute little name branding, and dramatic wailing, etc isn’t helping establish credibility to what you say. In reading the GJ findings, otoh, I hear a voice that seems credible at least, the findings seemingly sensible.
Your recall effort would be a bit pointless, given how we’re months away from the election season for his seat.
And, Angelo is retiring soon.
Recalls take a tremendous amount of time and effort. Most who talk the talk don’t walk the walk.
It’s usually an emotional response to a personal problem with the elected official. I suspect marijuana is at issue here.
The Newsom recall is another matter. They walked the walk. But it is unlikely anything will come of it on election day.
That said, at the least, Newsom’s Presidental aspirations are in ruin at The French Laundry…
As always,
Laz
“fulfill his constitutionally and statutorily mandated public safety duties — including maintaining his own IT department, something that is understandable, especially in light of confidentiality requirements and the current Grand Jury report taking County IT to task for a long list of ongoing deficiencies. ”
Page 10 of the Grand Jury report:
“The SO has its own separate IS organization with one manager, one systems administrator, one developer/analyst and one personal computer technician. The IS Department supports the local area network and Sophos malware protection and provides systems administrative assistance as needed to the SO.
According to the California State Association of Counties description of the Sheriff-Coroner Office, Information Services is not one of its typical six office responsibilities which all focus on law enforcement related duties.
Mendocino County can benefit from a consolidated IT shared services model that allows for greater flexibility in staffing assignments, systems equipment and focus on the IT Initiatives of Mendocino County. Background investigations would continue to be required of IS Staff that support the SO systems if they must access DOJ or FBI provided systems. A dotted line responsibility would exist between the Sheriff or Undersheriff and the CIO.”
Finding F6. “If the IT staff with access to DOJ systems have received clearance to maintain equipment of the SO, there is no legal obstacle that would prevent reporting to a central IT Department headed by a CIO.”
https://www.mendocinocounty.org/home/showpublisheddocument/44457/637622856148400000
Since when the the Board start paying attention of Grand Jury reports?
Marmon
My thoughts exactly. You beat me to it. They only cite Grand Jury findings when it suits them.
Yeah, what about the grand Jury report about the dire straits of our Housing. No accountability, no change, no solutions.
Smells like our local sewer problems…
“ According to the California State Association of Counties description of the Sheriff-Coroner Office, Information Services is not one of its typical six office responsibilities which all focus on law enforcement related duties.”
So Ted, this is what your using to explain your position ?
What a joke! Just because we are doesn’t mean you should- treat us as simple folk.
That paragraph is a generalized outdated statement used by CSAC as a placeholder. Referred to by our GJ-obviously without fully understanding it’s ramifications when taken out of context.
Our county is in fact quite modern in its LE apparatus, and if you do just a tad bit of research you’d find having its own separate IT is standard for counties throughout the entire US having similar optics.
I for one fully support our current sheriff and the past sheriffs who had the foresight to keep their IT department separate.
Your CEO is corrupt! This current and several past Boards of Supervisors have shown to be ineffective in doing what is best, honestly nuts and bolt simply best for this county. The majority of you all seem to get elected on promises then once in the seat focus on yourselves and loose sight of the reason you are there. As an example, again I ask you to explain what do you feel like you’ve accomplished thus far?
Your creating arguments and disrupting departments. Your allowing the CEO to run roughshod over this county with her petty power struggles and money grabs to feather her own nest. Doohan-really?
Each year our roads get worse. Our budget gets larger.
Our homeless population grows. The HHS cabal gets more money.
Things like sewage and wells are neglected, while money is redirected.
Pot has been legalized many years ago yet nothing about it has been standardized here in Mendocino County. Resulting in violent dysfunction.
Our OES gutted. Our Lab closed. Ever hear of the Marbut report, Ted?
I’m starting a petition. Fire Angelo! Recall Williams! Take note of your 10% expansion rule. Your going to make this easy going after our sheriff.
Where do I sign?
RE: Marie Antoinette would have thoroughly gone along with that “let them eat cake” idea.
->. August is the ideal month to forget about work, get outside, and take a vacation. Yet in America, even during the waning days of summer, we struggle to find time to take off from the job.
On average, US workers have just ten days off per year, and America is the only developed country with no mandated paid time off, allowing employers to control much of our lives, especially for those lower paid.
Fewer than 40 percent of low-wage workers in the private sector receive any paid time off, and they work more total weeks than higher-income earners, making it difficult to take any blocks of time off at all, even unpaid…
Today, paid vacation time is mandatory across the European Union, with a minimum of four weeks off…
There’s a reason the longstanding practice of taking this vacation time in long blocks has produced what’s known as Europe’s “August shutdown.”…
You might think that taking such long vacations would result in far less productivity, but even pro-capitalist outlets like the Economist explain that the opposite is true: “Despite, or perhaps because of, their leisure-seeking ways, Europeans are the most productive workers in the world.”
https://jacobinmag.com/2021/07/vacation-europe-leisure-time-united-states
“Campground rates are $25 per night.”
That’s about five bucks less than I used to pay for a room at Best Western in Fortuna in the late 90s. They allowed pets, too, which pleased Diamond3.
“59-YEAR OLD DENA MORRIS”
The photo reminds me of a lot of the old timers in Calaveras County when I was a kid.
I knew of Dena Morris when she was young. Knew her family better.
They tried, but in those days, there were few services for the mentals, kind of like now…But with this, she’s likely a goner.
Be well,
Laz
Oh, Mr. Williams, it’s so obvious that the sheriff’s IT successful system must be merged with the county’s malfunctioning one, regardless of public safety. Thanks for enlightening those of us suffering from common sense.
RE: “At the Board’s last meeting on July 20 three Supervisors signaled a clear interest in extricating themselves from the mess County Counsel and CEO Angelo has led them into. Only Supervisor Williams persisted in badgering the Sheriff in an attempt to shame him into accepting a structurally unbalanced budget imposed by CEO Angelo. ”
What the hell is wrong with this county? Maybe the good people can’t afford to live here anymore…
“…and Guardians is the dumbest name in all of sports.”
Not quite. Giants beats them hands down. And Dodgers. Gimme a break.
I’ll venture to wager that if it comes to a showdown between the Sheriff and the Supervisors, my money will be on the Sheriff. Countywide, Matt Kendall is a hell of a lot more popular than Teddy Bow Tie and his cohorts.
Word!
RE: Steve Talbot documentary on Youtube. I went and left a comment although it still says zero comments.
What did you think?
[Okay, this is an uncharacteristic comment from Harry Earth Krishna First! in Redwood Valley.] I was born in East Cleveland in 1949, and teethed on the rubber tomahawk of the Cleveland Indians souvenir item my dad got me when he and his friends (all Canadian Club drinkers of course) went to the baseball game. Seriously, nobody hated anybody in a tribe anywhere. The idea would have been beyond absurd. And then, after my dad graduated from Cleveland Marshall law school, we returned to Wisconsin. And of course we rooted for the Milwaukee Braves. Yep, Eddie Matthews, Hank, down in Chicago Ernie Banks, the old NFL central division, went to wrestling events featuring The Sheik, Haystack Calhoun, Gorgeous George, and so on and so on. Nobody hated the Chippewa, Menomonee, Oneida, as we all rooted for the Wisconsin teams. Nobody hated the Indians when my friend Dave Uihlein (one of the Schlitz heirs) opened Chief Oshkosh brewing company. Nobody hated the Indians when Leinenkugel’s Brewing in Chippewa Falls came out with their Summer Shandy. Being Earth First! identified, I was once invited into a Chippewa canoe which went up the river to expose a bogus copper mining operation. The Oneida invited me to the Pow Wow which surrounded the capitol building in Madison on a certain Columbus Day protest (Tommy Thompson, state governor and Bush’s political pit bull, suddenly had to leave town for an Hawaiian vacation). I even went back to Wisconsin once, exchanged my California driver’s license for a Wisconsin one so that I could vote for Ada Deer, a Menomonee tribeswoman running for congress. The SF Mime Troupe made a special trip there and performed in support of her candidacy. Well, she lost to Republican Scott Klug in the Madison capitol district (in spite of UW student support). You have to understand that the farmers who always vote conservative take a little longer to get educated. It’s not about hating Indians. Thanks for listening. Craig Louis Stehr August 2, 2021
Congratulations, Craig, on your first-ever interesting statement.
Thank you, Bruce. It was the cherry ghose beer from Anderson Valley Brewing Company, consumed just prior to posting it, which deserves most of the credit! ;-))
A lot of folks I know think that the Sheriff’s office is historically and systemically corrupt and that Kendall doesn’t deserve a pass. Things are happening behind the scenes. A real transformation is coming to a theater near you.
Marmon