Mendocino County Today: Tuesday, August 3, 2021

August Weather | 89 New Cases | Diversion Halt | Heat Dome | Ripe Tomatoes | 45 Minutes | Sheriff Showdown | Can Talk | Blackberry Festival | Navarromobile | Endless Planning | First Fatality | Urchin Festival | Redwood Light | Forest Bath | Housing Solution | Kidpost | Yesterday's Catch | North Beach | Running Strong | Lighthouse 1885 | Gender Cryptic | Gualala Loggers | AMA Sex | Hands Up | For All | Wrong God | Untold Suffering | Lunch Break | Wealthy Interest | Olympic Dueling | Can't Happen | Hendy 1963 | Comments | Skelechair | Postcard Party | Boonville | Don Con | Remembering Reagan | AV Village

MAINLY DRY AND SEASONABLE AUGUST WEATHER will last through the weekend. Today will be hotter inland, followed by some cooling mid to late week. Fairly persistent marine layer clouds with limited afternoon sunshine will continue at the coast. (NWS)

89 NEW COVID CASES (since last Friday) reported in Mendocino County yesterday afternoon.

STATE CUTS OFF HUNDREDS OF RUSSIAN RIVER GROWERS, ranchers and others in drastic bid to save water

by Mary Callahan

A day long dreaded by hundreds of ranchers, grape growers, farmers, water providers and towns arrived Monday as the state ordered them to stop diverting water from the Russian River watershed or be fined $1,000 a day.

State regulators issued orders effective Tuesday prohibiting about 1,500 water rights holders in the upper river — including the cities of Cloverdale and Healdsburg — from diverting water in an effort to preserve rapidly diminishing supplies in Lake Mendocino.

The State Water Resources Control Board also announced plans to curtail another 310 claims in the lower river watershed as early as Aug. 9 to try to slow the drawdown of Lake Sonoma. Another 500 or so rights in the lower river region between Healdsburg and Jenner remain subject to curtailment as conditions deteriorate.

The order is enforceable by fines up to $1,000 a day or $2,500 for each acre foot diverted. Violations also could draw cease-and-desist demands that could result in fines of up to $10,000 per day, according to the State Water Board.

The restrictions are part of a sweeping, unprecedented attempt to confront a historic drought that water managers fear could extend into a third dry winter.

That would leave the region to struggle through another year using only the water already captured in the two reservoirs. That water is not just for basic human health and safety. It also must be used to keep the river flowing for fish and other wildlife and provide for water rights holders along the way.

The Sonoma County Water Agency, which supplies water to more than 600,000 people in Sonoma County and northern Marin County, also relies on reservoir stores for its consumers.

Under a state emergency regulation approved in June, water rights holders are entitled to 55 gallons per person, per day for domestic water use.

But staffers for both Healdsburg and Cloverdale, which have the right to petition the state for waivers to draw enough water for the health and safety needs of their 20,000 residents, said they plan to negotiate with the state for extra wiggle room based on specific municipal issues.

Cloverdale residents nonetheless face substantial reductions, with the council expected to take up stricter conservation mandates at its Aug. 11 meeting, City Manager David Kelley said.

The city, currently under a 25% reduction mandate, could see its target raised to as high as 50%. Even that wouldn’t be enough to get residents below the 55-gallon threshold, he said.

But he said calculating city water use is challenging because the water diversion data includes water used to treat the water so that it’s potable, a matter that will be subject to consultations with the State Water Board, Kelley said.

Healdsburg already has imposed a 40% mandatory conservation rate on residents, limiting domestic water use to 74 gallons per capita per day.

Utilities Director Terry Crowley said the city also plans to apply to the state for permission to use enough water to support medical services, grocery stores, food services and others uses that would be considered “essential.”

He and other city leaders also think some watering of nonornamental vegetation and landscaping might be permitted in the interest of fire safety, as well as sports fields, if it can be negotiated within the state.

“For the time being, we’re going to continue to ask them (residents) to continue what they’ve already achieved, which is more than a 50% reduction,” he said.

The upper river curtailments were triggered by shrinking storage in Lake Mendocino, which by the end of the day July 26 had fallen below a designated threshold of 26,109 — reaching 26,097 acre feet.

An acre foot is equal to 325,851 gallons, or about the volume of water needed to flood most of a football field one foot deep.

Supplies in the reservoir had diminished 24,814 acre feet by Monday morning — a difference of 1,456 over the previous week, for an average loss of 208 acre feet each day.

Water managers are trying to ensure the lake does not fall below 20,000 acre feet before Oct. 1 — two months away — in order to reserve enough storage to limp through next year if another critically dry winter lies ahead.

At the rate the level has fallen over the past week, it would take about 23 days to reach the Oct. 1 target.

Among those most immediately impacted by the upper river curtailment will be those who depend on water diversions for irrigation and watering livestock.

Many around the region already have made painful decisions through the past several months as storage reservoirs have emptied, wells have run dry, forage for animals has diminished and feed skyrocketed in price. Some sold livestock, others dropped fruit from the vines to lower their crop load this year.

Now, those with water rights in the upper watershed north of Healdsburg can’t access that source, either, meaning grape growers and farmers will have to eke along without water to irrigate.

Bret Munselle, who farms 300 acres of wine grapes in the Alexander Valley with his father, Bill, and another 400 acres for different clients, said he’s still not entirely sure what that will look like.

He said he still has access to some low-capacity groundwater wells, though they are highly inefficient, but already has cut his harvest goals and water use enough to cut his water use by 50% this year. He added that he hopes to get the grapes for white varietals harvested by early Sept. without a lot of trouble, since the fruit is generally watered little in its final weeks. The reds may be trickier, since they mature later.

“This is like trial by error — just doing your best,” Munselle said.

But he said he thinks everyone knew the curtailments were coming and had taken whatever measure they thought were necessary. Some, for example, did extra irrigating in advance to try to build up the soil moisture before “it all gets cut off.”

Water “is all we talk about out here,” he said.

“I think most growers are pretty proactive and took steps a month ago to start getting themselves prepared,” Munselle said.

Additional curtailment orders are expected to be issued as early as Aug. 9, affecting about 310 water claims in the lower river watershed, between Healdsburg and Jenner, water board staff members said.

Several hundred users in the river’s lower reaches appear on course to be spared that round of suspensions, based on complex calculations and analyses related to hydrologic modeling, sub-basin boundaries, percolation and water flows.

(Santa Rosa Press Democrat)

ANOTHER HEAT DOME COMING - This Time Centered in the Midwest

Forecast for quite the heat dome over Nebraska in a little over a week (chart is for Aug 8th)

THIS WEEK AT BLUE MEADOW FARM

One thing the heat was good for - ripening heirloom tomatoes!

Heirloom, Early Girl, Roma & Cherry Tomatoes

Padrons, Jalapenos & Sweet Peppers

Italian & Asian Eggplant, Zucchini, Walla Walla Onions, Cucumbers, Basil, Parsley

Sunflowers & Zinnias

— Blue Meadow Farm, 3301 Holmes Ranch Road, Philo, (707) 895-2071

SHOWDOWN WITH THE SHERIFF (Part Two)

The 52 page court filing on behalf Sheriff Kendall’s request for appointment of Ukiah Senior Attorney Duncan James as his legal counsel turned out to be only 8 pages of legal argument with a lot of attachments, some of them duplicated. The three part response from County Counsel Christian Curtis was a 4 page declaration from County Counsel with 72 more pages of attachments opposing the Sheriff’s request; a 9 page argument from County Counsel requesting a continuance and/or denial; and a Request for Judicial Notice that was too large to be obtained on-line. 

County Counsel Curtis, who has expressed concern over Duncan James’ ability to generate billable hours seems determined to show that he’s no slouch in the billable hours department himself. Except in his case it merely takes away from other vital county business that languishes on his desk.

Although Kendall’s opening comments referenced “difficulties” with CEO Angelo and Fifth District Supervisor Williams, there was no further mention of the Supervisor. Nor was there direct mention of CEO Angelo who accomplishes most of her maneuverings through her trusted lieutenants with Deputy CEO Janelle Rau foremost among them. The Sheriff declared that in 2019 Ms. Rau accosted the Sheriff’s Office (SO) IT Manager in the Admin center parking lot on Low Gap Road and told him “she was moving to take over the SO IT and it was only a matter of when.” 

Later in 2019 the SO IT Manager was contacted by Tom Jacobson from Client First, a County computer software vendor, who told him “the Board of Supervisors was moving to take over the SO IT.” Except for the previous encounter in the Admin center parking lot, this was the first the Sheriff heard of it. (Which certainly raises the question of when did the Board consider this and make this decision? Or is it one of many made behind closed doors with no public notice or discussion? And often no notice to the Board who can be counted on to passively consent to anything the CEO puts in front of them.)

The Sheriff also recounted how Ms. Rau had directed Human Resources not to go forward with recruitment to fill a Sheriff’s Office IT position because “she was going in a different direction.” When confronted, Ms. Rau denied pulling the item. When provided with the evidence, she said she had forgotten. (Inconvenient facts are routinely forgotten in the Executive Office.)

Fast forward to March 23 of this year when the Board was presented with an agenda item to restructure County IT, create a Chief Information Officer (CIO) position and takeover the Sheriff’s Office IT. Sheriff Kendall balked, expressing concern that this could jeopardize his secure connections with State and Federal computer law enforcement systems that aid in the detection and investigation of crimes. 

The Sheriff also related that he had been moving to separate the Sheriff’s Office email from the County system to maintain confidentiality for criminal investigations and informant communications. This concern was driven by past lapses in security. (And perhaps by the fact that Ms. Rau’s romantic partner is on felony probation for theft of generators in Sonoma County.) The SO had prepared an RFP for the project of securing an independent email system but it was blocked from ever going to the BOS.

During the 2021-22 Budget Hearings on June 8 & 9, the Sheriff’s Office, represented by Undersheriff Darren Brewster and Budget Officer Juanita Drieling explained how the CEO’s recommended budget was more than $1.5 million out of balance, primarily due to the CEO’s underfunding of overtime, vehicle replacement and court bailiffs. (The underfunding tops $2 million with the addition of $600,000 in revenue shortfalls the CEO projects but the SO does not.) 

The Executive Office and County Counsel also advised the Board that department heads, including the Sheriff, could be held personally liable for going over budget. 

Kendall did not mention it in his recent declaration, but Supervisor Williams strongly advocated for holding department heads, especially the Sheriff, accountable for any budget overruns. Immediately after the Undersheriff and Budget Officer described exactly how the SO budget was structurally underfunded Williams asked “Can I get a handshake agreement that the Sheriff will stay within budget?” 

Undersheriff Brewster replied that he’d love to but couldn’t because the budget was structurally underfunded. 

Following the usual rambling circular discussion the Board is known for, they gave direction for the Sheriff’s Office to meet with Assistant CEO Darcie Antle (the Executive Office Budget Officer) and report back at the next meeting on June 22. And with that the Board gave tentative approval to the budget as presented, shorting the Sheriff by a large amount.

In his declaration Kendall reported he and his budget team met with Antle who gave vague instructions and either didn’t seem to understand County budgeting or was “attempting to control expenditures through misguided direction.” (It’s likely that Ms. Antle, a certified nice person, was simply carrying out the illogical orders dictated to her by CEO Angelo and Ms. Rau.) 

Not surprisingly, there was no meeting of the minds and the underfunded budget amount remained at over $2 million.

Curiously, although the BOS directed the Sheriff to meet with Executive Office staff to resolve the discrepancy over the structurally underfunded budget, on June 22, as predicted by the AVA, the Board approved the budget without bothering to ask the Sheriff or CEO the outcome of the meeting they had directed. Nor did they ask for any details on the Cannabis Program Budget which was still being developed on June 9. 

This means the budget will be whatever the CEO says it is. 

On June 23, the day after the Board rubberstamped the CEO’s structurally underfunded budget for the Sheriff, Kendall sent a memo to the Board declaring a conflict existed and that he needed to have independent outside legal counsel appointed to represent him. The Sheriff and County Council both admit there is a conflict that prevents County Counsel from representing the Sheriff and the Board. But, curiously, County Counsel met with the Sheriff to advise him on what his memo should say. After Kendall drafted the memo Curtis reviewed it and suggested changes. Kendall says he made the changes requested but Curtis complains in his recent opposition that the Sheriff didn’t make the right changes. But why is County Counsel providing legal advice to the Sheriff after they both admit there is a conflict of interest?

The Sheriff says he got a call from County Counsel Curtis shortly after sending off the June 23 memo. Curtis explained he “had to calm the CEO down and explain how the legal process works” after she read the memo. (CEO Angelo is known for her epic flip outs where she goes off on anyone within earshot, a contributing factor in the high turnover rate in the Executive Office.) Curtis explained the CEO had concerns over how the item was being presented and requested Kendall pull back the memo, which Kendall did. 

After not hearing back from County Counsel (who sometimes appears to live in hope that if you ignore a problem long enough it will go away) Kendall wrote a followup meeting on July 16 requesting to go before the Board. 

In his memos the Sheriff disputes the opinion that department heads can be held civilly liable and questions “why the Board of Supervisors was not advised of the Government Code Sections and case law in relation to expenditures incurred by the Sheriff’s Office regarding the detection and investigation of crime, even though those expenditures may exceed the budgeted amounts.”

In his response County Counsel Curtis admits there is a conflict of interest but opposed the appointment of the Law Offices of Duncan James based on concern that James’ office would run up the bill, plus the fact that James’ law office is suing the County on behalf of former Ag Commissioner Harinder Grewal who alleges he was wrongfully fired. 

Speaking of high costs, the Board has authorized $350,000 and counting to outside (San Francisco) counsel for defense of the Grewal case. So County Counsel does not object to spending tax payer funds on pricy lawyers of his choice, he just doesn’t want the Sheriff to be able to do the same. 

Incredulously, County Counsel Curtis alleges in his opposition declaration that the first time he heard of the Sheriff's claims of a structurally underfunded budget was on July 20. He further declared that when asked, the Sheriff refused to provide any details of the underfunding. Which ignores that the Sheriff's Office documented the structural underfunding of the budget during budget hearings on June 8th & 9th and demanded to retain control over his computer system. And the Board directed the Sheriff to meet with the Executive Office precisely to reconcile the alleged budget underfunding. And the Sheriff also brought up the issues in his memos to the Board that were sent prior to the July 20 meeting. Was County Counsel Curtis in the meeting? Or was that a body double? 

The AVA remains hopeful that this petty but potentially costly dispute can be resolved without wasting massive amounts of public funds. But at some point the Board of Supervisors needs to realistically examine why and how they were led into this mess and by whom.

Judge Moorman cut things short on Friday by pointing out the County had skipped the first step, telling Curtis, “You may have determined a conflict exists, but the Board of Supervisors has not.” As previously reported here, Moorman ordered Curtis to return to court on August 4 with the results of a vote by the Board on August 3 declaring if a conflict exists or not. We know that at least three Supervisors want out of this unnecessary controversy, so the odds are good that cooler heads will prevail and a majority of the Board will declare no conflict exists and back away from threats to bill the Sheriff for budget overruns or combine his IT department with the County’s. 

Supervisor Williams seems to be the driving force in attempting to bill the Sheriff for budget overruns and consolidate his IT department with the County’s, but how well is County IT positioned to take on new and confidential responsibilities even if they were to prevail? The current Grand Jury report says implementation of the County IT Master Plan has suffered from deficiencies in project planning, project management, leadership, inadequate staffing and inattention of the Board in setting priorities and providing funding and oversight.

The Grand Jury report goes into great technicality detail about County IT projects but is silent on the systemic mismanagement that has occurred under the oversight of Deputy CEO Rau, the Executive Office liaison to County IT. 

Stay tuned for the continuing saga of the Sheriff’s request for independent legal counsel and the internal turmoil at County IT attributable to Executive Office mismanagement. 

Tuesday’s closed session discussion could be a hot one. Lots of people will be watching to see how long it will be and what they’ll announce when they return to open session.

THE ROUND VALLEY BLACKBERRY FESTIVAL Committee is busy planning our 39th festival which will be held on August 21st and 22nd. This not-for-profit event is sponsored by the Friends of the Round Valley Public Library.

The Round Valley Blackberry Festival Committee is busy planning a fun filled weekend for August 21^st & 22^nd. The 39^th annual festival will take place on the festival grounds in downtown Covelo. Admission is free. No pets are allowed on the festival grounds.

Our Master of Ceremonies Mickey will kick things off at 10am both days. Be sure to check out the arts and craft vendors as well as community organizations while enjoying a blackberry slush. We are excited to feature a new T-shirt logo designed by Jen Harness. Sip a glass of Mendocino County wine as you listen to the various musical groups playing throughout the weekend. On Sunday there will be a car and motorcycle show.

The festival runs from 10am -6pm on Saturday and 10am – 5pm on Sunday. Hope to see you there.

Sharon Durall, Round Valley Blackberry Festival Committee

MENDO STRATEGIC PLANNING, A BRIEF HISTORY

by Mark Scaramella

In the run-up to Mendocino County officially “adopting” its new “General Plan” in the summer of 2009, the then Board of Supervisors and CEO — almost all now long gone — decided to hold a Strategic Planning session at their last meeting of 2008.

After all the “General Plan” which took years for a consultant to prepare and cost millions of dollars didn’t actually have any “plans,” it was nothing but hundreds of pages of boilerplate of nice things like “collaborate,” “develop,” “enhance,” “strive,” “align,” “consider,” “seek funding for,” “continue to,” “encourage,” etc. There’s not one specific “plan” to do anything. 

In fact, that’s what “strategic plans” are: non-specific, big picture. And that’s why paying a Sonoma County consultant well north of $75k like the current Board of Supervisors has done is a giant waste of money. Even if Dr. SoCo WhatsHerName produces something labeled a “strategic plan,” it will be like the General Plan, devoid of any specific plans and deadlines. 

Time traveling back to December of 2008…

It was the last Board meeting of the year. The CEO was Tom ‘I’ll Get Back To You’ Mitchell and the Supervisors were Mike Delbar, Jim Wattenberger, John Pinches, Kendall Smith and David Colfax. It was Delbar’s and Wattenberger’s last Board meeting, the rest would be gone soon after. 

They spent half a day on the subject of a “strategic plan,” but never even got anywhere near any kind of plan, strategic or otherwise. Instead they used the occasion to congratulate themselves.

They began by recapping their “accomplishments,” at the end of which the Board decided that they were doing so well and had “accomplished” so much that they didn’t really need a strategic plan.

What accomplishments?

Oh, they were grand! 

Then-DA Meredith Lintott claimed credit for “prosecuting murder cases.” 

Health and Human Services Director Carmel Angelo — in a foreshadowing of things to come — claimed credit for, among other minor things, “on-line dog licenses.”

General Services Administrator Kristin McMenomey claimed credit for conducting an evacuation drill.

Chief Probation officer Wes Forman claimed credit for “improved on-time reports” and increased security at his reception desk. 

Undersheriff Gary Hudson joked about all the money the Sheriff got from pot “criminals” who had had their assets seized. 

County Clerk Recorder Susan Ranochak complimented her elections staff for holding elections.

Human Resources Director Linda Clouser claimed credit for having “successfully negotiated bargaining unit contracts” for some county employees, the so-called “Confidential Unit,” the Management Association, and the Department Head Association.

Supervisor David Colfax, as usual focused on himself, gallantly acknowledged that he'd been “on the short side of many 3-2 votes,” then complimented local firefighters for taking his Boonville home off the fire evacuation list during the 2008 lightning fires. “You have done a fantastic job of providing services to this Supervisor,” Colfax declared.

The closest thing to a negative word came when Supervisor Pinches objected to Assistant CEO Alison Glassey’s proposal to hold “educational workshops” for the Supervisors in 2009 saying, “It’s the responsibility of individual board members to be informed.”

Which is an important point to make in a County that devotes endless public hours to absolutely pointless blah-blah sessions which no public employee or any other more or less sane person would even think of attending unless he or she was paid to be there, and paid well to be there.

At the end of the meeting during public comment, then-Supervisor-Elect John McCowen asked the group, “Do you have any insights on what didn't work so well and what additional improvements could possibly be made? Any room for improvement?”

The only response was from Supervisor Pinches. 

“We have to straighten the budget out first,” said Pinches. 

Nobody else could think of a single thing needing improvement.

In 2010 the Board promoted Carmel Angelo to the position of CEO and she in fact “straightened out the budget,” after a fashion anyway.

Which reminds us of that famous Chris Rock quote from a few years ago:

A homeboy friend of Rock’s had complained that Rock wasn’t giving enough credit to fellow homeboys for raising their kids and staying out of jail. “You’re supposed to do that, you dumb (so-and-so)! You don’t get credit for doing what you’re supposed to do!” 

In Mendo’s case, the question of what various managers are “supposed to do” is never explored, so even that low bar is left up to the staff to pick and choose what they do from among things like on line dog licenses. 

Fast forward to 2021. They still don’t know what they’re supposed to do, so they simply muddle their way through multiple ongoing disasters and problems as they arise. They can’t even plan what they’re going to do after CEO Angelo retires. 

FORT BRAGG URCHIN FESTIVAL - FIRST WEEKEND IN NOVEMBER

In an effort to aid kelp forests, and help the under-the-waves ecosystem, purple urchins will pop up on plates aplenty in November 2021.

nbcbayarea.com/news/national-international/the-purple-urchin-fest-will-debut-on-the-mendocino-coast/2615339/

$HIN$HIN (take a bath on the coast)

Originating in Japan, the practice of shinrin-yoku (or forest bathing) has become a cornerstone of preventive health care and healing in Japanese medicine. As a result, a robust body of scientific literature now exists on the health benefits of spending time under the canopy of a living forest. Brewery Gulch Inn was among the first lodging properties in California to begin offering a Shinrin-yoku option to its guests.

brewerygulchinn.com/shinshin

AFFORDABLE HOUSING?

Editor;

I got my dander up a bit writing a comment for the New York Times and thought I might share it, with some editing:

Well, if the pandemic has shown us anything what it has shown us is that we CAN house the homeless. So let's get going on that...It is time for Americans to stand up and say, "enough.”

We need to provide housing, and by this I mean housing in houses, not in dormitories or shelters. We also need to change the rules so that people can build their own houses, and by this I mean that we should eliminate and streamline the permit process, and the permit requirements, so that Americans will again be able to build for themselves.

All of this talk about "affordable housing" is, in my opinion, just so much hogwash. What is "affordable housing" anyway? I bought 20 acres in Northern Ca. in 1973 and when that was all said and done I had $5000 left and I tore down an old mill cabin and built a house with that and the $5000. I also put in a well and septic system - the money stretched that far. No way today, baby, the septic permit and fees will cost at least $15,000. The permit process for a house will likely be that much or more… I think of what I did as affordable housing, and it was all permitted and all inspected and up to code.

If we want to house the homeless, and we should want to do that because we are all just a breath or an accident or a banker away from that ourselves, we had better make it possible for a person to build himself or herself a home. We had better erase the contractors and the permit guys from the process and teach people how to use tools.

We had also better find some land for folks to build on...and give them that land. I would suppose that there is a lot of land around that is really public property…

The homeless are not the problem, the problem is the system!

Respectfully, 

Tom McFadden

Boonville

IN 1913, TWO CHILDREN were mailed by post and rail. Someone put a stamp on their kids and sent them to another location. 

Soon after, this practice was outlawed.

CATCH OF THE DAY, August 2, 2021

JULIE DIAZ, Oroville/Fort Bragg. Domestic battery.

SUMALEE FOLGER, Ukiah. Failure to appear.

ADAM FULLER, Ukiah. Protective order violation, failure to appear.

CARLA GARCIA-RUIZ, Ukiah. Domestic battery.

VINCENT HERNANDEZ JR., Ukiah. Failure to appear.

EDWARD JOHNSON, Ukiah. Narcotic/controlled substance for sale while armed with loaded firearm, felon-addict with firearm. (Frequent Flyer)

ALEXANDRO LOPEZ-NUNEZ, Ukiah. DUI.

SHANE MILLER, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

MANDY NELSON, Ukiah. Felony warrant.

ARIELLE WRIGHT, Ukiah. Domestic battery.

BILLY MILLS was born on June 30, 1938 in Pine Ridge, South Dakota. He is Oglala Lakota (Sioux) and grew up on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Billy did not have an easy childhood. Surrounded by poverty and orphaned at the age of 12, he started running to channel his energy into something positive. In high school, his gift for running become more apparent as he set records in numerous track events. He went on to earn a track scholarship from the University of Kansas and then served as an Officer in the United States Marine Corps.

At the 1964 Olympics, he shocked the world and came from behind to win the gold medal in the 10,000 meters race. At the time, he set a world record of 28 minutes, 24.4 seconds and is still the only American to ever win a gold medal in the 10K event. His win was an upset that has been called the second greatest moment in Olympic history.

In Lakota culture, someone who achieves great success has a ‘giveaway’ to thank the support system of family and friends who helped him achieve his goal. As part of his effort to give back to his community, Billy helped found Running Strong for American Indian Youth and became the organization’s National Spokesperson. Today Billy travels over 300 days every year. He visits Native American communities throughout the U.S. and speaks to youth about healthy lifestyles and taking pride in their heritage.

IT WAS ONLY A WEEK AGO that the American Medical Association (AMA) declared that the category formerly known as “sex” must be removed from US birth certificates — replaced, one supposes, by a tacit “to-be-determined” status in the great Progressive rush to extract the human race from the animal kingdom. Of course, that’s only one skirmish in the great Woke Jacobin war on the moiling masses who clutter up planet Earth, cramping the style of its transhuman-seeking ubermanagers, Bill Gates, Bezos, Daszak, Zuck, Jack, Elon, Klaus & Company, et. al.

But this was the old redoubtable, white-coated AMA, you understand, not some claque of screeching, size-16, “body-positive,” gender-cryptic freshman hopping up and down outside the Yale faculty lounge at the sherry-sipping toffs within. Amateur diagnosticians out there might recognize it as another symptom of the hebephrenic toxicosis infecting America’s elites, especially those who work in realms supposedly based on facts, figures, and the general effort to make sense of life in our mysterious universe. 

— James Kunstler

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

I’ve never understood why doctors have so cowardly left unchallenged the Woke assertion that there’s no such thing as biological sex — XX or XY and in rare cases, some mutations but these are very rare. So the AMA’s gutless capitulation is no surprise. Yet we’re told to “trust” these very scientists! 

The best thing I ever read about lying is that it not only destroys trust in others but you end up questioning yourself — what if what someone is saying is really true and your own judgement is wrong despite evidence? In other words, you can no longer trust yourself to discern the truth in common sense, observation and prior knowledge.

This insanity about “sex is assigned, not born” is a perfect example of a lie to undermine personal judgement. That the AMA is playing along with it is a shameful example of their moral collapse.

OUR NATION’S FUTURE

MEDICARE FOR ALL

Editor: 

On July 30, 1965, Congress enacted legislation that saves and improves millions of lives each year: the Medicare program for seniors. It was considered a first step toward a program that would cover all Americans. But due to a lack of political will in the face of intense lobbying from those who profit from the status quo, that promise hasn’t been fulfilled.

Proposed legislation — the federal Medicare for All Act of 2021 and the state CalCare bill — would create single-payer systems guaranteeing quality care without any out-of-pocket costs. No one would be denied care because they lack coverage or funds or be pushed into poverty by a health crisis.

Think we can’t afford it? By removing the administrative costs and profit motive insurance companies insert into the equation, single-payer would cost less than our current system.

Urge your representatives to fulfill Medicare’s promise by improving and expanding it into universal health care. Ask your representatives in D.C. to support H.R. 1976 and use the budget bill to expand benefits and lower the eligibility age. Press Gov. Gavin Newsom to make good on his campaign promise to create a single-payer system in California, and urge your Assembly representative to support AB 1400. For more information, email HeatlhcareForAllSonoma@gmail.com.

Maria Behan

Healdsburg

IGNORING CLIMATE CHANGE will yield “'untold suffering,” panel of 14,000 scientists warns

Nearly 14,000 scientists have signed a new climate emergency paper, warning that "untold suffering" awaits the human race if we don't start tackling global warming head-on, effective immediately.

”The updated planetary vital signs we present reflect the consequences of unrelenting business as usual,” the authors wrote in the study. “A major lesson from COVID-19 is that even colossally decreased transportation and consumption are not nearly enough and that, instead, transformational system changes are required, and they must rise above politics.”

livescience.com/earth-vital-signs-climate-change-suffering.html

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY #2

You might not like Newsom, but he was brought to you through a process of on-the-job training, by some very wealthy individuals, who groomed him for decades, so he could protect their interests, just like every other elected person… Power can’t simply be won, it has to be bought by somebody who can afford it…

IT CAN'T HAPPEN HERE

It can't happen here
It can't happen here
I'm telling you, my dear
That it can't happen here
Because I been checkin' it out, baby
I checked it out a couple a times

But I'm telling you
It can't happen here
Oh darling, it's important that you believe me
(Bop bop bop bop)
That it can't happen here

Who could imagine that they would freak out somewhere
in Kansas...
(Kansas... Kansas... Kansas... Kansas...)
(Kansas, Kansas, do-do-dun to-to
Kansas, Kansas, la la la)
(Kansas, Kansas, do-do-dun to-to
Kansas, Kansas)
Who could imagine that they would freak out in Minnesota...
(Mi-mi-mi-mi-mi-mi-mi-mi-mi-mi-mi-mi-mi
Mi-mi-mi-mi-mi-mi-mi-mi-mi-mi-mi-mi...)
(Mama Minnesota, Mama Minnesota, Mama Minnesota,
Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma Mama Minnesota,
Mama Minnesota, Mama Minnesota,
Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma Mama Minnesota)
Who could imagine...

Who could imagine
That they would freak out in Washington, D.C.
(AC/DC bop-bop-bop)
(AC/DC do-do-do-dun, AC/DC
Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma, AC/DC)
But it can't happen here
Oh baby, it can't happen here
(AC/DC bop-bop-bop)
Oh baby, it can't happen here
(AC/DC bop-bop-bop)
It can't happen here
Everybody's safe and it can't happen here
(AC/DC bop-bop-bop)
No freaks for us
(AC/DC bop-bop-bop)
It can't happen here
(AC/DC bop-bop-bop)
Everybody's clean and it can't happen here
No, no, it won't happen here
(No, no, it won't happen here)
(AC/DC bop-bop-bop)
I'm telling you it can't
(AC/DC bop-bop-bop)
It won't happen here
Bop-bop-ditty-bop
(I'm not worried at all, I'm not worried at all)
Ditty-bop-bop-bop
Plastic folks, you know
It won't happen here
You're safe, mama
(No no no)
You're safe, baby
(No no no)
You just cook a tv dinner
(No no no)
And you make it
Bop bop bop
(No no no)
Oh, we're gonna get a tv dinner and cook it up
(No no no no no no no!)
Oh, get a tv dinner and cook it up
Cook it up
Oh, and it won't happen here
Who could imagine
That they would freak out in the suburbs!
(No no no no no no no no no no
Man you guys are really safe
Everything's cool)

I remember (tu-tu)
I remember (tu-tu)
I remember (tu-tu)
They had a swimming pool
I remember (tu-tu)
I remember (tu-tu)
They had a swimming pool
I remember (tu-tu)
I remember (tu-tu)
They had a swimming pool

And they thought it couldn't happen here
(duh duh duh)
They knew it couldn't happen here
They were so sure it couldn't happen here
But...

Suzy...
Yes yes, oh yes-I've always felt that
Yes, I agree man, it really makes it... yeah...
It's a real THING, man, it really makes it

[FZ:] Suzy, you just got to town, and we've been... we've been very interested in your development
[Suzy:] Forget it!

Hmmmmmmmmm
(It can't happen here)

— Frank Zappa

OLD PHOTO, HENDY WOODS, 1963

A campsite before the park opened. Notice the food storage box hasn't been installed - only the cement pad is in place.

(Marshall Newman)

ON LINE COMMENTS OF THE WEEK

[1] The great Fort Bragg name change debate. I would prefer that the name not be changed. Not because I think Braxton Bragg or the Confederacy should be honored, but because I think it is much ado about nothing. I've been aware of Fort Bragg all my life, but it was only this name change controversy that caused me to become aware of the origin of the name. When I hear “Fort Bragg,” I think of the wonderful community in which I live, not some low-life Confederate General that died 150 years ago. That being said, if the name does need to be changed, at least change it to something short and easy to write. As far as I am concerned, “Pomo Palisades” dramatically fails this test. Another Suggestion: What about: Pomo Palisades?

[2] Remember the Bear Woman of Laytonville, an on-line comment: “The bear woman a Laytonville was not harmless she was dumping 6000 pounds of dog food around her house every month. She not only fed bears but fed everything including hundreds of other wild animals. she threatened to kill the fish and game biologist, game wardens and the government trapper. She also threatened to kill and burn down her neighbors houses who complain to fish and game about chronic bear problems . Because of this lady over 150 bears died during about a 20 year time. She didn’t help bears by feeding them she created bears that were chronically imprinted on humans for a food source and caused hundreds of incidences with her neighbors of bears destroying their property, killing their poultry and livestock and destroying their veggie gardens and fruit trees . This lady owned the only gas station in Laytonville and her daughter and son in law would defend her because it was all about their inheritance . She was worth a lot of money and didn’t care about her neighbors . This was not an old lady feeding Tweety birds! That’s the truth.. There's an old saying, A fed bear is a dead bear, if you feed bears human food you’re condemning them. This woman had no common sense.”

[3] I hear there's a big stir in the town of Mendocino about the porta potty. My first thought about this that the only people that don't find it is a good idea are the new people who have crawled out of the sludge called the East Coast or parts of Southern California. These people think they are residents of this county but they're transplants that have no say and should not ever talk about what's good and what's bad in a community. They were chased out of their own community either because of bad manners or they couldn't afford it anymore, but why come to our community Mendocino County and stir up the pot because you don't like what's going on? Crawl back into that cave that you came from and leave us alone. Sure, the drought is a big deal. The history of this town, distant as it may be, has always survived. Mendocino County survived all kinds of things — drought, storms even a few earthquakes but we're still here no thanks to the city people that have trashed our neighborhood, brought drugs and bad habits and even worse attitudes, because they think they're better and they're not, they are just part of that primeval slides that has slithered in looking to make money by stealing from long time local individuals by paying them not what they're worth in their time or for their property. There are people who come here to take advantage; much like the termites that eat your house the city people come to the community not to contribute, but take advantage of the locals. How dare they say things that are bad when what's being done is good and the simple fact that we have learned how to survive. Could they do the same with no electricity or sewer or no water? They would go skulking back to the caves called the cities where they belong. As to the problem of no water in Mendocino they were offered many years ago land with water but they turned it down and would rather put in a sewer system. It all had to do with the city people moving to the country and bringing their bad habits. Most of these people are anti-logging anti-ranching and anti-growth unless it means them. They need to all leave town. We need a stronger border. What would help many of these small towns is fixing it so only longtime locals people who were born here many generations ago and could be the only ones that could hold public office. That would change things greatly, and it would eliminate the city people from taking hold of our communities, yes Mendocino needs a city government but no one need apply that has not been here at least a couple of generations. To even the playing field we should even do that with County government and things would change greatly. — RD Beacon

[4] Back when prize fighting was a big thing, many TV shows and movies had scenes with a badly beaten and bruised and exhausted fighter barely standing upright and straining to keep his eyes open and arms still extended in at least a pose of self-defense. The American people (and much of the World) today ARE that badly beaten and bruised and exhausted fighter barely standing upright and straining to keep eyes open and arms still extended in at least an almost pathetic pose of self-defense.

We have been softened up and pummeled and taken beatings coming at us from various directions that have hit us repeatedly above and below the belt and even into those once-private bodily regions that were considered sacred and off-limits to outsiders. But even those limitations are now obliterated as the ongoing violation of the human body and spirit goes on without letup. We have been completely softened up for… what? The final massive right-cross that lays us out half-lifeless on the cold dirty ring canvas for the Final Count? How do we summon the strength to deal with our pain and the heaviness in our limbs and in our human spirits? Where do we find the strength to summon and call upon our God-given right of self-defense in the face of such an onslaught? We beg for time to heal and get our wits back. But there is no time. The body blows keep coming and our arms and eyes get heavier and the need to find strength has never been greater. Hollywood has already given us two possible outcomes. The badly-beaten fighter summons impossible strength to mount a furious defense and somehow prevails against all odds. Or, the massive right-cross comes from The Opponent and the tired heap of a broken fighter is laid out on the canvas for the Final Count in a pathetic heap of wasted effort and broken dreams. And the Opponent gets a wicked sick smile on his face and revels in his abusive punishing final blow and desecration of a human being. What’s that we’re now all hearing?… “SEVEN… EIGHT… NINE!”

[5] I have Real Bad anecdotal evidence to share. My hairdresser gf’s long-time client just told of her neighbor (Pediatrician Surgeon at Regina General Hospital) saying that RGH’s ICU is full of unvaxxed Covids.

If this is True, my analysis leads to: the Delta is Real and it is part of their repertoire. They will knock off the clean while “breakthrough” the poisoned.

I’ve no word on the compromisedness of these cases or how many beds are in ICU there. Regina has 200,000 people and 2 major hospitals. Regina is very, very highly vaxxed. Us unjabbed are a small minority.

Survival of the fittest. I take zinc & Vitamin D and remain hermitose but my gf (unjabbed) could bring me the Delta every time we play Yahtzee together.

These rotten scumbags! It reminds me of The Far-Side cartoon where 2 men are talking in the foreground with all manner of literal Hell surrounding them. The one guy, putting down his mug, says, “Oh man! Even the coffee’s cold! They’ve thought of everything.”

[6] Generally people are not very friendly or very loving in the Triangle! And the way people treat each other is horrible and reprehensible, people are constantly competing instead of helping and cooperating! Having grown up in the Heart of Mendo I can tell you that the biggest source of trauma for most kids are the other kids who attend these schools. Lots of people teach their kids to be bullies, to be dominant and teach them the discrimination that they are better than everyone else. Men teach their sons to be players and “get laid.” Kids are traumatized with scars that last a lifetime by teachers and classrooms. Not to mention being treated the way you get treated by strangers, clerks, acquaintances, friends and family in the Emerald Triangle is what affects you the most. People hate their jobs and hate their lives. Not to mention many people are completely bored to death, there is nothing to do for recreation on a daily basis. No daily tailgate gatherings, can’t even drink a beer in the park with your buddies on your tailgate; so people become isolated! Most people just get a loan to buy a car to drive to work, work every day for a pittance salary that barely pays for their home, car loan, or puts food on their table… For many it is a struggle between paying electric bill or buying groceries. Not to mention the high suicide rate among cannabis farmers and families who could not jump through the hoops McCowen and the BOARD OF Supes created that spelled nearly certain death or suicide for many rural cannabis farmers and their workers. Each grow we see that gets busted represents 10-30 workers livelihoods. The trickle down economic effect of cannabis affects everyone who lives and works in the Triangle. But nobody is doing anything to make the area fun. People are bored and isolated to death. People look like they are in the ozarks and many are on serious psych meds. Expressionless zombies everywhere! What kind of life is: work home work home work home….. for eternity?! It’s modern day slave living just enough food to eat and no extra money for many people and the county wants to take that away and make life even harder in their hatred and pursuit for dominance and control and power. Seniors used to be able to supplement their SSI checks with cannabis and young couples and young families used to buy their kids Christmas presents and school clothes with that extra few bucks the few plants brought in. But the people who hate, along with the Board of Supervisors, even took that little extra away from our working families and senior citizens! People are hate filled, envious and jealous; there is little community. Get out while you’re still alive!

[7] I have gardened for decades. Used to be that the only concern for the season was the first freeze. In Phoenix, there are two seasons, January to June and Sept to Jan. The temp extremes stop plant growth in the winter and for four months of the summer. Last year the temp. Was in the 110 to 118 range for most of August. August is normally much cooler, 100 -105 in August, but there was no monsoon to cool us down. Everything, even cactus and other desert plants suffered, sun burned, died, citrus trees dropped 2/3 of their leaves, Roses dried up, everything stopped growing and died back.

I found through the years here that:

Tomatoes stop flowering above 95 deg.

Squash of all types stop flowering above 105 degrees.

Corn is stunted above 110 degrees. Peppers are okay up to 110, then they stop growing.

The only thing I have found that consistently grows here is okra. We had a few seasons of jambalaya around here. 

The low humidity, 0-15% does not help.

When the soil is above 105 consistently, nothing germinates.

[8] 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 lifelong 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 disabled, you are expected 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.

[9] 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.

CALLING ALL MARSHMALLOWS!

Fight The Recall With The Coast Democratic Club's Progressive

Postcard Party 8-10-21

www.coastdemocraticclub.org

Calling All Postcard Volunteers

Resist The Republican Recall 

Tuesday, August 10, 5 – 7 PM

Jughandle Farm - Directions Below

 Indoors with Doors Open

Social Distancing

Covid Vaccination Verification Must be Presented 

Please Wear Masks at Entry

You May Pick-up a Packet to Take with You

Food and Drink Provided

We will Write Postcards to Local Voters to “VOTE NO” on the September 14 Recall of Governor Newsom

Postcards, Addresses, Script and Postage Provided

Other Volunteer Opportunities From Team Newsom

Add your name to say Gavin Newsom can count on you to send text messages or make calls using our online tool. Check it out right now by clicking the orange volunteer.

Please RSVP to Lee Finney at leefinney43@gmail.com 

(To be Most Effective, we will send you the voter list for your area for you to identify voters you know to send postcards on 8-10)

Directions to Jughandle Farm: From the South on Highway 1, first right driveway after Fortunate Farm, from North, left turn into driveway opposite North Caspar exit - there is a white sign saying Jughandle Farm; turn left at the Stop sign/kiosk and go to green building @ 100 feet; park in the field

TRUMP FOR PRISON 2024

Editor,

“I just want to find 11,780 votes...” — defeated ex-President Donald Trump

Remember when aliens stole Spock’s brain? What is Trump’s excuse for being insane? Is Trump’s toxic orange spray tan the cause? For why Trump hates America and our laws? Trump loves Russia and North Korea too. It goes without saying that Trump is a fool. Who in the Hell voted for this racist idiot? Trump ordered “the code red”. Yes, he did it! The failed coup d’etat attempt of January 6 Was not planned by some troglodyte hicks. Trump sent his goons to kill Pence & Pelosi. Because Trump’s the Biggest Loser of 2020. Give up your con, Don. Your whiny lies failed. You can’t run again, Trump. You’ll be in jail! For Trump’s many crimes, there’s no excuse. So what if King Trump can’t handle the truth. 

Sincerely,

Jake Pickering 

Arcata

AV VILLAGE CHECKS IN: ALL HANDS ON DECK

Let’s take a look at our toddler years; can you believe the AV Village has officially been around for two and a half years already? We have grown a lot in numbers, insight and need in these early stages of our development. None of which would be possible without the unwavering support of our incredibly generous volunteers, committed members and our wonderful community at large. Our membership numbers have grown to the high 50s/ low 60s and have stayed there for about the last year and a half with the vast majority of our members renewing and new members joining to replace ones that move away.

What seems to be on the increase is our member’s needs. Volunteer requests are increasing in numbers with the average number of completed requests per month growing from about 2 per month in 2019, 8 in 2020 and 11 for the first half of 2021. For the most part our volunteers have been able to fill those requests but there were some unfulfilled requests (i.e. we were unable to find a volunteer for this service) with 3 in 2020 and 6 this year already - this happens, we know that we can’t fill all our member’s requests with volunteer help. When we aren’t able to provide volunteer help, we give the member a list of providers for hire for that task, like drivers for hire. And of course, for the more extensive and professional services our volunteers do not provide, like plumbing, caregiving, electrical, landscaping, regular gardening and housekeeping those people are on our list as well. We are always looking to add more providers for hire, if you know any please let us know. Looking at the data above, the spikes in requests (like 45 requests in March 2020) are usually where a particular member had increased needs, like during a hospital stay, post op, an illness, or decreased mobility issues. Or increased volunteer help was available and we did some outreach like in June 2020 we had an increase in younger volunteers (home from college due to COVID) available to help with COVID safe outdoor projects and members where happy to take the extra help. What are the main needs of our members? As you would guess — rides to medical appointments account for about half of our requests for volunteers — tech support, shopping trips, and help with physical tasks like light gardening and housekeeping are big ones as well: Currently, about ten of our members no longer drive, either permanently or temporarily and of our 52 volunteers 14 are drivers, i.e., they have completed the paperwork to be official AV Village drivers. These volunteers are in high demand and are usually able to fill the driving requests; however, as demand increases, we don’t want to overtax their generosity and time. That being said we would love to get more volunteer drivers (and tech support) on board - many hands make light work, as they say! Please join our team of much needed volunteers to support our elders as they age in place! There is some paperwork and a short training but your contribution is much needed and greatly appreciated! Hours are flexible and dependent on your availability; every little bit helps. Because we are working with a venerable population, we do require our volunteers to be vaccinated - thank you again for the support! Join us at our volunteer reception on Sunday August 8^th at 4 pm at the AV Senior Center! Contact the coordinator for more info or click below for the application and handbook - thank you!

Upcoming AV Village Events See these events and more listed on our Events Calendar 

Again, the Zoom link is the same for all the AV Village Events - it is under each event on our calendar and will be emailed to our mailing list beforehand.

AV Village Weekly Walking Group Every Tuesday 10 AM Meet at the Community Park (near the AV Health Center). For more info contact: Kathy Cox kcox@mcn.org

AV Village Monthly Gathering: Volunteer Reception and “Bring a Friend”

Sunday August 8th 4 to 5:30 PM AV Senior Center - Outside if possible Join us for a celebration of the dedicated volunteers that selflessly support our members, allowing them to age in place with dignity and respect. Our wonderful volunteers continue to donate countless hours to our members by giving them rides to doctor’s appointments, daily check-in calls, helping around the house, friendly visits and more. Come celebrate our amazing community and we invite you to bring a friend who would like to learn more about volunteering with the AV Village. It takes a Village! Refreshments served! Our gatherings are open to everyone, but COVID Vaccinations are now REQUIRED - please bring your vaccination card as proof or be prepared to wear a mask - thank you in advance for your understanding. Please RSVP with the coordinator at andersonvalleyvillage@gmail.com or call 707 684-9829. Thank you! 

For our next Monthly Gathering, Sunday September 12th, will be how to avoid scams targeting seniors with Angelica M. Millan at Legal Services of Northern California in Ukiah.

AV Village Book Conversation: Tuesday August 10th 2 to 3 PM Meeting place TBD The book is still “The Righteous Mind - Why Good people Are Divided by Politics and Religion” by Jonathan Haidt and we will cover Part 3 and Conclusion. If you are interested, please contact Lauren for location and more details laurenk@pacific.net or (707) 895-2606. 

Who we are, Continued...

Since the pandemic has made gathering in groups challenging, we’ve struggled with how to continue to build community and relationships without the traditional social interactions we were used to. This is one idea - to introduce members of our community to each other, by sharing a photo and a few words about each person. Enjoy! (Please do not reprint these interviews without the permission of the AV Village or the interviewees — thank you)

Jillene Barr, Village Member

1. How long have you been in the Valley? The Spring of 2018, one of my Marin County Doctors, A “Head”, surgeon, prescribed a place, that would be ideal for me to live, which was, quiet, peaceful, beautiful, in a Loving community, (if, I couldn't, find a mountain top home, overlooking the ocean), for maximum healing, from a Traumatic Brain Injury, that occurred in December of 2012, at, my then Texas, home, plus a secondary concussion, at my apartment, in Petaluma, CA, in April of 2016.

I found the place my Doctor had prescribed, Boonville, California. I arrived, in Boonville, on June 5, 2018, at my new home, “The front of the Orange House”, behind the ice cream shop. Where luck would have it, two of my four Granddaughters, Cozette and Anika, worked, during their “Summer Break”, from the Boonville High School and Junior High

2. Where did you grow up and where were you coming from when you moved to the Valley? The 6th of March, 1938, I was born in Minnesota, to Louise M Alexander; She was from the Northern most part of Minnesota Territories and Melvin McGiffin, Cheney, born and initially raised, in a logged cabin with 4 younger siblings, in the Judith Basin, of Montana. I come from very hardy stock. So my parents, didn’t see a problem in sending, me, with my Uncle, at the age of 3, on my first airplane fight, a DC tail dragged, and my solo return home flight, from visiting my Aunt and Uncle, while my parents, awaited the birth of my sister. I’m the oldest of 3 girls.

3. Did you have a career or a passion project so far in your life that you would like to tell us about? My life is broken up in about 24 years segments. The Jillene Ann Cheney segment; The Jillene Ann Warshaw segment; Jillene Ann Barr segment. I lived such different lives between my Birth and now, at 83 and 1/2 years and in my 4th segment, that, to choose what you want to include, in a brief, but condensed overview, just won’t work for me. So, I decided to share the major events of my first twenty four years and will write a book about the rest of a very full life of many successful careers.

I’ve done life, by cramming as much out of the life as the opportunities I was given, in finding out who I am and what the possibilities were, that I could do, accomplish, create, and contribute too within the community, I was born into and choose.

My life has been full of “Miracles”, and I’m very grateful for the guidance that I have by my diligent, tough, Loving Guardian Angels. And a little luck from my Scottish Irish Grandparents.

One of the best things, that happen to me, was from my parent’s, and their parents. My Mother’s, Mother, and her Sisters rode horses to school as soon as the snow melted in the Northern Minnesota Territories, by, going, from farm to farm; being protected on their way by the men owners of the farms, from the Indians that would chase them.

My Father’s, Father, Melvin Cheney, was a cowboy, turn rancher, who started his career at the age of 14; rode the unfenced ranges, to herd large, cattle drives to market; was part of the occasional Sheriffs Posses, chasing after famous bank and train robbers. He was quoted as saying, “Thank God, we never found them.”. He died back in the 1960’s. In the year, 2018, I and my sister and cousins, were present when He was inducted into the “Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame”, in Great Falls, Montana. It was a big event!

His wife, Grace, Junkin, Cheney, raised 5 children, in a log cabin, with dirt floors, until it was time for her oldest son, my Dad, too go to High School, in Stanford, Montana. Where, later, my parents met. My Mom, taught 4th, 5th, 6th, grades, in a 2-room school house and lived in a boarding house. She said, she lived in, “The Real Wild West”, when on the weekends, the Cowboys came to town, for baths, food, alcohol; when the gun fights started, everyone would hit the floor.

I started school in Chicago, and by the age of 10 years, had been to school or not, in 6 different States, before, moving to South Gate, in Los Angeles County, CA, where I started the 5th grade, in 1948.

In 1948, there were no, LA freeways; “Knott's Berry Farm”, was a real farm and “Tin Can Beach”, is now called Huntington Beach. My goodness the changes I’ve seen.

I continue my schooling through the LA school system, in South Gate until I graduated from High School, the summer Class of 56, (a class of between 300-500 students). I was honored with the, “Outstanding Leadership, Award” (Not given out in the previous 20 years.); as the retiring Student Body, Vice President, and with another award, of being the “go-for”, to the TV producers, televising the opening of Disneyland.

In my Senior Year of High School, I also, became, the, Worthy Advisor of the Masonic organization, known as the “Rainbow Girls”. I Worked, from the age of 16 years at the, South Gate branch of the LA Library. My love of libraries has never diminished. And I worked at one of my Great Uncle’s William McGiffin’s smalltown newspapers, the South Gate Press, back in the “Linotype”, days; doing odd jobs. He in turn, bought me my first car, a used English, Ford, converted Consul.

Then, the day after I graduated from South Gate High, my Mom moved us to Burbank, CA, where she had purchased a women’s dress shop. I had planned on entering UCLA, but when she said she needed help for the first year. I agreed to help her with the dress store and attend jr. college for my first year of school, and in turn, she would pay for my Dorm fees to live on the UCLA Campus, my second year of school. And together or by myself I worked multiple jobs, such as the UCLA Experimental Elementary School Library part-time, to finish, my 3rd and 4th year, with a Major of Merchandising in the Business School, Dress Design, in the School of Art, and Social Sciences in the School of Social Sciences. I had 3 majors. I went to school and work year-round. I had and still have the thirst of knowledge, that is yet to be filled.

4. What is the luckiest thing that ever happened to you? Went through graduation ceremony the Summer of 1960 and by the end of the following week, was on a UNITED AIRLINES, DC6, along with Pam, a new friend, I had met while waiting to board the 4-engine propeller driven plane. We were taking off from the “Old Los Angeles Airport”, for Cheyenne Wyoming, to attend 6 weeks at the United Airlines Stewardess Training School. Pam and I had dreams of being based in New York, Boston, Denver, anything, anywhere, but LAX. Wouldn’t you know, we ended up being based in LAX, along with 6 other new Stewardesses. About a month later, Jets, DC8s, joined the United Airlines fleet, and all of the stewardess, that arrived with me at LAX, were assigned to their flight crews, but me. I was assigned to an assortment of propeller driven plans mainly, as the single flight stewardess and seldom flew outside of California.

My friend Pam, flew in the exciting new jets between LA and N.Y., while I flew between LA to San Diego, 6 times a day in a DC6 or Bakersfield to Fresno, to Visalia to Monterey, ending up in San Francisco. In a 2 engine, propelled plane that was older than I was, called the “Flying Cow”, because it was so hard to land, according to the pilots. Serving the dinner meal to the Fresno, 44 passengers, in 45 minutes; usually sitting down and bucking in the jump-seat in the tail of the plane, just before the landing wheels hit the SFO payment; immediately extending my left leg to prevent and hopefully stop the food cabinets from opening up, and having the dinner trays coming out and sliding down the aisle, or, my favorite memory, spilling out the casserole dishes, with leftover uneaten peas popping out and emptying all the way to the cockpit door.

So, too breakup, my routine I tried to find someone, who was working as a stewardess on one of the jets going to Boston or NY, who needed to trade and would trade for my schedule for a couple of days. It did happen a couple of times and I did get a chance to fly to both Boston and New York.

One day at check-in at the flight crew office, I ran into my friend Pam, she excitably told me of her engagement to a man in New York and suggested there might be one of the stewardesses on her flight crew that would trade flights with me, because she wanted me to meet him. She reminded me, since it was December, I might have an opportunity to do some Christmas shopping, too. It really sounded like a good opportunity.

I went about contacting all five of the remaining stewardess flight crew, multiple times and none of them would trade flights with me and my unexciting, plane’s flight schedule.

So, on the morning, Pam and her flight crew were about to land in NY, I was driving, with the radio on, to my Mother’s home in Burbank, to make Christmas cookies, when an announcement was made over the radio of a midair collision between two jet aircraft passenger planes, over Brooklynn NY, — between a United Airlines plane, and another plane, and ...... tears swelled up in my eyes — and I had to pull off the road and park, I never heard the name of the other plane, at that time, because, the next thing I heard was, there were no survivors of either plane, and I instantly knew, that was the flight that my friend Pam was on, and I knew the name of every one of the women I had talked too on that flight crew, who had the unknowing opportunity, to not be on that plane and at the same time, I realized how Blessed I was, to be denied by the hand of Fate, (God), the opportunity not to be on the United flight to New York.

A major Life Lesson learned about the fear of death, it was learned. I don’t fear it, because after that experience, I realized I would live my Life to the fullest measure, whatever that was to be. There was something greater than I in control. I just had to listen to an inner voice. I also learned that took practice and I can declare today, I gotten a lot better at listening to it.

What had happened to cause the plane to run in to each other in the air were as follows: The two planes were circling over NY City, and they ran into each other on a clear sunny morning. 

This accident, I later in life learned from my Naval Avaitor Marine Corp husband, he had studied in flight school, the reason for this crash, was the lights on the wing tips of each plane were white, the passenger planes pilots could not distinguish whether each other, were going away or coming towards, them. Because of this accident the lights on the tips of the wings on all passenger plans were changed to the same as what a boat or ship has, of one wing has a red light the other wing has a green light.

I flew for about 6 months more as a single stewardess on DC6, prop planes going up and down the west coast. The fun of flying, just was not there anymore. I took a job offer by the LA based May Co., a Federated Department Store of their buyer training program, February of 1961. Started by working in the downtown LA department store’s display department, trimming their street floor windows and dressing the interior manikins for about 6 months and then became the associate buyer for the women’s sportswear, of the 7 May Co. based stores, out of LA.

About this time I started dating Mike Warshaw. He had lived in the same apartment house in west LA that I had lived in, when I shared an apartment with my United stewardess roommates. He was an aerospace/missile engineer at the Santa Monica Douglass Plant; he was from the south side of Chicago; he was into singing in a Barbershop Chorus and Quartets: teaching advance math at UCLA night school: he hung out with the same large group I did; He had a great smile; and he offer to teach me how to ski: my first ski lesson, I broke my left ankle; and that lead to our marriage, in front of our friends and family, February 2, 1963, at my Mother’s home in Woodland Hills, California. I was just a month’s away of my 24th birthday.

Our first Daughter arrived February 18, 1964, just a few weeks before my 25th Birthday. 

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Help Wanted! Bus Driver & Volunteer Drivers Needed at the AV Senior Center The AV Senior Center is looking for a new Bus Driver - Please help spread the word! In the meantime, they are in great need of volunteer drivers to help with meal deliveries (Tuesday and/or Thursday to homebound seniors) and trips to Dr appointments. Reimbursement for gas is available to volunteer drivers for rides to medical appointment. 

The AV Village has volunteer drivers for our members but many of the seniors that frequent the Senior Center are not currently Village members... Thank you for the support! Contact Renee for more updated info, if you are interested in volunteering or the job: 

Renee Lee, Executive Director, Anderson Valley Senior Center, 707.895.3609, avseniorcenter@pacific.net, website

Support for Caregivers 

July’s monthly gathering was very informative — Nancy Power Stone, Program Director at the Redwood Caregivers Resource Center was a wealth of knowledge! The mission of Redwood CRC is to help families and communities master the challenges of caring for adults with cognitive disorders through programs and services that address the emotional, physical, and financial needs of family caregivers. They provide vital services to unpaid family caregivers — including possible funding (up to $3,600 a year) for respite care (i.e., funds to pay someone to take over so the family caregiver can take a break and you don’t have to be low-income to qualify!), counseling, consultation, support groups, legal consultation, education, training and more; all free or at very low cost. Contact: 800-834-1636 or 542-0282 

For Help in Spanish, contact: Roberto Aviles, MD, Family Consultant II, Redwood Caregiver Resource Center; Cell phone: 707-367-9598; Email: rxa@redwoodcrc.org 

The Redwood Caregivers Resource Center Caregiver support group for Mendocino County is currently on Zoom (we may try and create one in the valley, stay tuned) on the 2nd & 4th Monday, 10am-12pm. ZOOM Video Teleconferencing or Call-In Please contact Marsha at rcrc@redwoodcrc.org or 707-542-0282 x100 to receive ZOOM link or phone number to join. Monika Rosicka, Family Consultant, Facilitator For more information, please contact Marsha: 707-542-0282 x100 or mxm@redwoodcrc.org Monika: 707-326-8962 or mxr@redwoodcrc.org (mailto:mxr@redwoodcrc.org) 

This group is funded in part by our partnership: Lake & Mendocino Counties Area Agency on Aging/Family Caregiver Support Program PSA-26

California Caregiver Resource Centers: There are some great online educational programs for caregivers and beyond - Virtual Educational Events hosted by local Caregiver Resource Centers, see the calendar of events (I have add the July events to our calendar)

You may want to check this out: August 13, 2021, Friday: 12:30 pm — 2:30 pm (also listed on our calendar) - Second Friday Monthly training opportunities for family members and professionals: Video: A Thousand Tomorrows: Intimacy, Sexuality, and Alzheimer’s: ”This film follows couples dealing with the issue of changes in intimacy as dementia causes changes in roles. These changes are often left unaddressed by professionals, family, and friends. Couples discuss from their experiences, how they learned to adapt. Discussion: Grief and loss, learning to redefine intimacy when sexual attraction and desire is diminished due to the caregiver’s blurred roles and the care-receiver’s ever-increasing dependency for care. Presented by Kaiser Permanente, Department of Geriatric Medicine and Redwood Caregiver Resource Center, A Program of North Coast Opportunities Call or Email to Register and get the Zoom Link Contact Marsha at Redwood Caregiver Resource Center 707-542-0282 or mxm@redwoodcrc.org (mailto:mxm@redwoodcrc.org) 

Facilitator: Alexis Glidewell, LCSW --- Department of Geriatric Medicine

Fellow Village member Lucinda Walker (MSW: Family Therapist) — highly recommends Leslie Kernisan, MD MPH - Better Health While Aging. She has created an evidence-based Course and approach to dealing with your aging parents, including those with difficult relationships, tricky items like getting the parent to actually accept a caregiver, and so much more. She also just published a book, for those who want to read about it all. I and others from across the United States cannot say anything negative about our time spent with her and others associated with her work. Pilot Membership Assistance Program With some generously donated money, AV Villages will begin a Membership Assistance program offering a reduced Membership fee to those who might not otherwise be able to join. If you or your family is interested, please contact. If you are interested in joining the Village at the reduced rate, please contact Anica Williams, 707-684-9829 or Philip Thomas, 707-895-3595.

— Anderson Valley Village, P.O. Box 576 Boonville, CA 95415, 707-684-9829, andersonvalleyvillage@gmail.com