Mendocino County Today: Tuesday, August 31, 2021

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SEASONABLE TEMPERATURES are expected today through Thursday followed by a gradual warmup this weekend into early next week. Smoke from wildfires will continue to impact visibility and air quality across portions of the region. (NWS)

100 NEW COVID CASES and 3 more deaths (since last Friday) reported in Mendocino County yesterday afternoon. This pushes this month's totals (thus far) to 1317 new Covid cases and 12 deaths.

ANOTHER UNVAXED COVID DEATH

Mendocino County Public Health has been notified of another Mendocino County resident who has been lost to the COVID-19 Virus. We send our condolences to her family and friends. 

A 68 year old Covelo woman has been confirmed as Mendocino County's 63rd death. At this time Public Health asks all Mendocino County residents to exercise caution when placing themselves in situations that could expose them to COVID-19, especially considering the new more infectious Delta variant. Mendocino County Public Health asks that you follow all CDC and CDPH guidance’s at this time. Vaccination, masking and social distancing remain the best options for combating the Covid-19 Virus. 

The individual in question was not vaccinated. 

WILDFIRE EVACUEES FLOOD LAKE TAHOE ROADS IN RUSH TO FLEE

by Sam Metz & Janie Har

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. (AP) — A popular vacation haven normally filled with tens of thousands of summer tourists was clogged with fleeing vehicles Monday after the entire resort city of South Lake Tahoe was ordered to leave as a ferocious wildfire raced toward Lake Tahoe, a sparkling gem on the California-Nevada border.

Vehicles loaded with bikes and camping gear and hauling boats were in gridlock traffic in the city of 22,000, stalled in hazy, brown air that smelled like a campfire. Police and other emergency vehicles whizzed by.

Ken Breslin was stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic less than a mile (1.6 kilometers) from his home, with only a quarter-tank of gas in his Ford Escape. His son begged him to leave Sunday night, but he shrugged him off, certain that if an evacuation order came, it would be later in the week.

“Before, it was, ‘No worries. It’s not gonna, it’s not going to crest. It’s not gonna come down the hill. There’s 3,500 firefighters, all those bulldozers and all the air support,’” he said. “Until this morning, I didn’t think there was a chance it could come into this area. Now, it’s very real.”

Monday's fresh evacuation orders, unheard of in the city, came a day after communities several miles south of the lake were abruptly ordered to evacuate as the Caldor Fire raged nearby. South Lake Tahoe’s main medical facility, Barton Memorial Hospital, proactively evacuated dozens of patients, and the El Dorado Sheriff’s Office transferred inmates to a neighboring jail.

“There is fire activity happening in California that we have never seen before. The critical thing for the public to know is evacuate early,” said Chief Thom Porter, director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire. “For the rest of you in California: Every acre can and will burn someday in this state."

Overnight, the already massive Caldor Fire grew 7 miles (11 kilometers) in direction in one area northeast of Highway 50 and more than 8 miles (13 miles) in another, Cal Fire officials said.

More than 15,000 firefighters were battling dozens of California blazes, including crews from Utah, Washington, Wisconsin and West Virginia, said Mark Ghilarducci, director of California’s Office of Emergency Services. About 250 active-duty soldiers were being trained in Washington state to help with the arduous work of clearing forest debris by hand.

Crews from Louisiana, however, had to return to that state because of Hurricane Ida, “another major catastrophic event taking place in the country and is a pull on resources throughout the United States,” he said.

Porter said that only twice in California history have fires burned from one side of the Sierra Nevada to the other, both this month, with the Caldor and Dixie fires. The Dixie, the second-largest wildfire in state history at 1,205 square miles (3,121 square kilometers) about 65 miles (105 kilometers) north of the Lake Tahoe-area blaze, prompted new evacuation orders and warnings Monday.

The Lake Tahoe area in the Sierra Nevada mountains is usually a year-round recreational paradise offering beaches, water sports, hiking, ski resorts and golfing. South Lake Tahoe, at the lake’s southern end, bustles with outdoor activities, and with casinos available in bordering Stateline, Nevada.

On weekends, the city’s population can easily triple and on holiday weekends, like the upcoming Labor Day weekend, up to 100,000 people will visit for fun and sun. But South Lake Tahoe City Mayor Tamara Wallace said they've been telling people for days to stay away due to poor air from wildfires.

She said she thought the Caldor Fire would stay farther away. Fires in the past did not spread so rapidly near the tourist city.

“It’s just yet another example of how wildfires have changed over the years,” she said as she gathered treasures passed from her deceased parent and her husband's while they prepared to leave.

The last two wildfires that ripped through populated areas near Tahoe were the Angora Fire that destroyed more than 200 homes in 2007 and the Gondola Fire in 2002 that ignited near a chairlift at Heavenly Mountain Resort.

Since then, the dead trees have accumulated and the region has coped with serious droughts, Wallace said. Climate change has made the West much warmer and drier in the past 30 years and will continue to make weather more extreme and wildfires more frequent and destructive, scientists say.

Wallace said traffic was crawling Monday, but praised the evacuation as orderly because residents heeded officials’ orders. Authorities have also been more aggressive in recent years, issuing warnings and orders sooner so people have more time to flee.

Not everyone agreed as fierce winds kicked up dust and debris and drivers sat in gridlock. The California Highway Patrol added “quite a bit of additional personnel” to help guide a chaotic evacuation from South Lake Tahoe, as huge traffic jams slowed the evacuation of vehicles, said CHP Assistant Commissioner Ryan Okashima. Congestion had eased by Monday afternoon.

The fire destroyed multiple homes Sunday along Highway 50, one of the main routes to the lake’s south end. It also roared through the Sierra-at-Tahoe ski resort, demolishing some buildings but leaving the main buildings at the base intact. Crews used snow-making machines to douse the ground.

There were reports of cabins burned in the unincorporated community of Echo Lake, where Tom Fashinell has operated Echo Chalet with his wife since 1984. The summer-only resort offers cabin rentals, but was ordered to close early for the season by the U.S. Forest Service due to ongoing wildfires.

Fashinell said he was glued to the local TV news. “We’re watching to see whether the building survives,” he said.

The Caldor Fire has scorched 277 square miles (717 square kilometers) since breaking out Aug. 14. After the weekend’s fierce burning, containment dropped from 19% to 14%. More than 600 structures have been destroyed, and at least 20,000 more were threatened. Gov. Steve Sisolak on Monday declared a state of emergency in Nevada, citing “the anticipation” that the wildfire in the Lake Tahoe area in California would burn across the state line into the Silver State.

The National Weather Service warned of dangerous fire conditions and winds through Wednesday.

Diane Kinney, who has lived in the city since the 1970s, said this is the first time her neighborhood has been ordered to evacuate. She and her husband were packing up keepsakes, jewelry and insurance papers shortly after noon. They had to leave their 1964 Chevelle, but she hopes it stays safe.

“Everybody wants to live in Lake Tahoe. There are definitely advantages of being in the mountains, being with these beautiful pine trees," she said. “But we definitely have to get out now.”

(Associated Press/Report For America)

DEAR MENDOCINO COUNTY COMMUNITY,

We are a group of doctors and medical providers living and working in Mendocino County. We need your help. Like all of you, we are heartbroken at the number of lives and livelihoods the COVID-19 pandemic has taken. COVID-19 has proven difficult to control, and this pandemic feels unrelenting to all of us, as healthcare providers and as members of the community. 

We work in the emergency departments at Ukiah Valley, Howard Memorial and Mendocino Coast Hospitals, in the inpatient units, the intensive care units, and the clinics in the community. Every day, we take care of more and more patients who are sick with COVID-19. The great majority of hospitalized patients are unvaccinated. Our emergency departments are overflowing. Our hospitals are full. Our ICUs are full. We struggle to find hospital beds even for the patients who are coming to the emergency department with strokes, heart attacks, or appendicitis. When patients need services that our hospitals cannot provide, we struggle to transfer them, and have become used to hearing the phrase “there are no hospital beds in all of Northern California.” We repeat this sentence to our patients, to their worried family members. Never before have we seen such a surge of sick, young patients with COVID-19, and never before has our medical system faced such a challenge. We can all do our part in this dire situation by getting vaccinated.

We will keep coming to work every day and taking care of everyone who walks through our doors -- taking care of those in need is what we do and we can’t imagine working anywhere else. But we need your help to prevent hospitalizations and deaths. 

Rumors and misinformation are circulating about the vaccine. Please talk with us, or your primary care provider, about the COVID-19 vaccine. The data and the science are clear: the vaccine is safe and highly effective in preventing severe COVID-19 illness and COVID-related deaths. We are vaccinated. Getting vaccinated will not only protect you, but will also keep your loved ones and your community safe and out of the hospital.

If you would like to get vaccinated for FREE, please visit: mendocinocounty.org/community/novel-coronavirus/covid-19-vaccinations/vaccination-clinics 

• Erica Valdovinos, MD
• Georgina Calderon, MD MPH
• J. Drew Colfax, MD JD
• Mike Hausberger, DO 
• Martha Montgomery, MD MS
• Gigi Lee, MD
• Carolyn Boley, NP
• Debbie Marks, MD 
• Gary Fausone, MD
• Jennifer Zernec, DO
• Katie Hatch, MD
• Jorge A Allende, MD
• Lisa Gamble, PA-C
• Mark Luoto, MD
• Duncan Johnston, MD
• Tod Imperato, FNP
• Jodi Parungao, MD
• Brian Gould, DO
• Hayley Rousek, MD
• Charles Baugh, MD
• Gerry V. Lazzareschi, MD
• Angela Mapanao, DO
• Gretchen Duran, PA
• Noah Chutz, PA-C
• Marvin Trotter, MD
• Mary Newkirk, MD
• Sara Martin, MD
• Brandon Begley, DO
• Cindy Novella, FNP
• Barry Sheppard, MD 
• James Dolan, MD
• Chloe Nicolaisen, MD 
• John Rochat MD
• Meghan McCurry, DO
• Elaine Yang, MD 
• Timothy Burger, MD
• Andrea McCullough MD
• E. Xavier Ortiz, MD
• Michael Mian, MD
• Cameron MacInnis, MD
• Cara Eberhardt, MD
• Mark Apfel, MD
• Casey Johnston, MD
• David Streeter, MD 
• Robin Serrahn, MD
• Kirsten Q. Juliet, MD
• Anne Martin-Ko, MD
• Ilan Kolkowitz, MD
• Paul Hupp, PA-C
• Linda K James, MD
• Sharon Paltin, MD
• Snehal Raisoni, MD
• Hengbing Wang, MD
• Lawrence Goldyn, MD
• Elizabeth Whipkey-Olson, DO
• Angus Matheson, MD
• D. Mills Matheson, MD
• Ziad Hanna, DO
• Zoe Berna, MD
• Scott Gherini, MD
• Jason Ullyott, PA
• John Lee, MD
• Marisa Zuluaga, MD
• Faith Simon, FNP
• Jeremy Clay, MD MPH
• Cynthia Mockel, FNP
• Scott Loeliger, MD, MS

DR. JOHN GLYER SPEAKING about current conditions at Howard Hospital in Willits:

Our hospital is under siege from unvaccinated people under 65. Designed to hold 25 patients, we now have 37 with our Covid overflow plan. We have 14 Covid patients including all 4 filling our ICU. This includes 4 patients in their 40's, 6 patients in their 50's, and 4 above 60. The Delta Covid variant is unbelievably contagious and also deadly. Before July 31 we had 1 death in our county in almost 2 months. Now in less than a month we have had 11 dead. 

Those of you who are unvaccinated, it is not too late and it is very easy and very safe. I personally verify that your vaccination will be safe. If you want me to personally provide your vaccine, I have Moderna and Johnson and Johnson available. This is no time to hold back based on easily disproved fears or beliefs. 

Protect yourself, your family, your friends, your community.

John Glyer MD

LIONS CLUB WITHDRAWS FROM FAIR

The AV Lions Club has made a decision to not open our beer booth at the Mendocino County Fair. The Club believes it is the responsible direction to take in light of the increased COVID exposure to our members and the public attending the fair. Although this event is where we generate our scholarship funds for the upcoming year, the Lions Club feels it is the right decision to take at this time. Lions look forward to seeing you in 2022 at our annual community fundraisers.

— Christine Clark, AV Lions Club Board member

SPEAK UP FOR VAX

Editor,

Happening now are unconscionable politicking acts by two GOP governors, DeSantis of Florida and Abbott of Texas, preventing masking and vaccinations within their states. The death rate nationally is about 1,300 deaths daily from Covid-19, most of these, are from the delta variant. Mortuaries cannot keep pace. 

Meanwhile two leading panemiic doctors, Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Peter Hotez, are quoted today calling for the use of the Pfizer booster as quickly as possible to save lives. 

The insanity of the anti-vaccine advocates and QAnon talking heads continues. Today many diseases, like mumps, polio, covella and measles, are all prevented by early vaccines. The same could be true for Covid-19 if public-spirited citizens would only speak up to reverse these two deadly decisions. 

Frank Baumgardner

Santa Rosa

RAIL AND TRESTLE OVER MILL CREEK, Foodgate Near Navarro

SUPERVISOR WILLIAMS: 

Residents and businesses of Mendocino (town) should consider securing additional water storage capacity. Although it's foreseeable that the Community Services District could one day install a water system (with extraction, treatment, storage and distribution) funded by beneficiaries and grants, this will not help next year. It's quite plausible that next year will be dry. Individual storage is the quickest and least expensive option. Purchasing hauled water is not a sustainable model. The county has waived permit requirements for storage tanks up to 5,000 gallons. To reduce future compliance costs, consider following Mendocino Town Zoning Code Section 20.760.040 Exemptions: 

"The following activities shall be exempt from the provisions of this Chapter = (O) "Rain water, groundwater and/or potable water storage tanks located behind existing buildings, substantially below grade, and effectively screened from public view, or clad in unpainted wood materials located behind existing buildings. Mendocino Historical Review Board (MHRB) approval is required for rain water, groundwater, and/or potable water storage tanks when total combined lot coverage on the site exceeds fifty (50) percent. Rain water, groundwater and/or potable water storage tanks shall not count against lot coverage, except where total combined lot coverage exceeds fifty percent."

Ryan Rhoades at the Mendocino City Community Services District recently enumerated possibilities:

* Increased water storage, individual and community based.

* Feasibility studies to price options.

* Renewed search for a water source.

* Upgrade recycled water system.

* hopefully expanded uses for recycled water.

* Increase fire protection water in town.

* Identify additional dependable Coastal Water sources where truckers can fill during emergencies.

Please try to support Ryan as he addresses short and long term planning. He's doing a good job under crisis pressure and with insufficient resources.

Rural residents are also encouraged to increase storage capacity.

PROMINENT UKIAH REALTOR ARRESTED for Charges Including Cruelty to a Child and Violent Sexual Crimes

As per a listing in the Mendocino County Sheriff Booking Logs, 56-year-old Ukiah man David Charles Ryan was booked into the county jail on Saturday, August 28, 2021, for several charges of a sexual nature. Those charges include “touching of intimates parts of another against their will,” “anal or genital penetration by a foreign object,” cruelty to a child, and burglary. 

mendofever.com/2021/08/30/prominent-local-realtor-arrested-for-charges-including-cruelty-to-a-child-and-violent-sexual-crimes/

I SPY... A WILD RIDE! 

by Debra Eloise (photos by Debra Eloise)

It's 7am on this exciting Saturday in Anderson Valley. The sky is clear, but the sun is intensely red from the smoke of the distant fires. Will it get smoky in the valley today for the Fish Rock Bike Race? Yep, that treacherous but oh, so exciting and insane 72+ mile annual race is happening again!

According to their website (https://www.ridefishrock.com/) the elevation gain is 9,670 feet and they provide a detailed logistical "map" (check it out on their website!) so there are no surprises along the course. The record for tackling this bugger is just under FOUR HOURS! That's unbelievable when you think how long it takes to drive Fish Rock Road and Mtn View Rd over to the coast. WHEW! I get tired just thinking about it! And in this record breaking 106+ degree heat today? I hope everyone makes it okay.

The race starts at 9am. The lighting is getting hazy already, but that's perfect for where I have positioned myself to capture some choice moments during the race. How appropriate to hear "Life's Been Good" by Joe Walsh playing as the pack of close to 400 participants head up Mtn View Rd.

Who does these crazy rides anyway? As I drive past AV High School, the evidence is clear: There's some really nice cars in the parking lot with some serious bike hauling equipment. And the spandex! Wowzers! Promoting every biz in the industry, even internationally. Yep, this year, there was a gal from Berlin, Germany participating. In addition, there were riders from all over the country (counted 11 States with multiple riders from CA, OR, NV). You can see the full roster of 397 entries on the website (https://www.ridefishrock.com/).

It's 12:22pm and I'm setting up on Fish Rock Rd now. I snagged a primo location to capture several moments along the last flat spot on Fish Rock Road before they get back on Hwy 128. The heat is bearing down now so hot it's actually hard to breathe after getting out of an AC car. Good thing this is a flat area and not very long, so the riders don't suffer. Standing here waiting is tough, but there's a slight breeze picking up, which will save me from the sweltering heat.

At 12:33pm And the first rider appears. He's one of the guys who started in the lead! Amazing feat of endurance and strength. He only has another 20-30 min of roadway to deal with and I excitedly applaud him, but I'm sure he is concentrating and doesn't hear me. Wearing black spandex in this heat?!? Oh my! And the sound of those tires in the dead heat quiet of this valley... The whirring of the wheels as they whip by.

The 2nd rider breaks out of the forest at the edge of the valley at 12:35pm. The silence of the heat is broken by the whirring and pumping sounds of the pulsating rider. His head is down as he bears down and pushes his body to finish this race.

12:39pm A silent running of the 3rd rider, who I might not have seen if it hadn't been for the car passing him on the straight away. The sound really carries in this valley and as they emerge from the forest and into the valley one can hear the cyclists pumping and spinning those wheels, shifting gears and taking advantage of a flat moment to pour water over themselves or manage to take a quick drink without stopping and race past my post.

I love this! Found a "crowd cheering" sound effect on my phone, so every time they go past me, I can cheer them on! I don't want to distract them, but at this point, any encouragement must be appreciated. Occasionally one glances up briefly or I can see them smile in my zoom lens, so I hope the sound traveled to them as well as their bike noise traveled up to me!

1:17pm finally seeing more than a lone rider at a time toughing out the heat. It appears the clusters of riders this morning have resorted to "every man/woman for himself" and gone into survival mode with this challenging course. They went off in a wave of color and laughter, but in the end, it was every human for themselves and survival of the fittest fully kicked in.

Alas, I must leave this comfortable post and move on to the finish line. But wait! More unique opportunities to follow the riders and get a back side view! AND I ended up protecting them from general traffic on Hwy 128, by following them with my flashers on. When they saw me with my camera, they quit looking back at me and a few even smiled and waved! Most everyone loves the attention and capturing a moment in this grueling race is most likely appreciated.

What a relief as they cross that finish line and keep right on going into the Brewery or back to the High School to get their rigs and head over to the Brewery for this evening's celebrations, grabbing a super cold brew. and getting a good hosing down to cool off! What a ride! It takes courage, determination, and a passion for the sport to endure this blistering, hellacious ride!

BRAVO BIKE RIDERS!

FLYNN CREEK CIRCUS ROUNDS THE TURN

by Andrew Scully, AVA Special Correspondent

She is high off the ground, far higher than is comfortable for most people, as she begins to let go. Her hands are chalked to soak up any perspiration and trace of wetness. Those hands have to be dry. Both sets of hands in fact, must be very very strong and sure of grip and confident for this transfer to work. There is a leap of faith, to willingly release her safe and iron tight grip on the bar, and to trust that her partner's hands and forearms will lock onto hers and she will be safe swinging high above the crowd, the cheering crowd in the circus tent. Even with the best planning and preparation, the best physical readiness, there is room for error. And any error at that height would be a major error. In the world of a trapeze artist there's always room for doubt.

What must it be like for Blaze Birge in the moment, in the millisecond before she lets go? What kind of exhilaration? How much thrill is it possible for a person to experience? We can only imagine. But it is possible, indeed likely that the very things that enable her to let go the bar in that moment are precisely the qualities that she brings to lead Flynn Creek Circus into the long final stretch run of the 2021 season: Fierce determination, indomitable courage, fantastic physical conditioning, and a ton of muscle memory.

As the 16 members of the FCC begin the Big Top "tent-build" in Gualala this week, to build their performance hall for the six shows they will present between Friday night and Monday afternoon, each of them must call upon their last reserves of energy, now considerably expended by two grueling months on the road. This year, Flynn Creek ventured far beyond its native Northern California habitat, bringing the magic all the way to Colorado. They come to Gualala direct from Snowmass Village CO.

Ms. Birge is considerably occupied these days, along with her partner, David Jones with every part of the mechanism that is Flynn Creek Circus on tour. And so time is tight to talk to reporters. But we were able to speak with two members of the cast, catching up on a travel day between Avon and Snowmass.

Kellin Hentoff-Killian is a Juggler. That is his day job, along with huffing and puffing shoulder to shoulder with the other 15 cast members that build the Big Tent in a new spot every week, and then perform six or seven shows on the weekend. So he is, like all the other FCC cast - in very good shape. Kellin is 24 years old and comes from a circus family. Both his parents are Circus folk, so he is 2nd generation. To hear Kellin tell it, that is a mere blink of an eye in a world where some performers have Circus pedigrees that extend 6 to 7 generations back. “I know people whose family have been in circus more than a century,” he says.

Kellin performed professionally for the first time at age 4, training with Circus Harmony in his native St. Louis. At 17 he moved to Montreal to attend the renowned Ecole National de Cirque, where he graduated in 2018 along with about 100 of his fellow students.

Nicole Lamb came to the circus life a little differently. 36 years old, she has 7 years of circus experience behind her, but began her life in show business began as a stand up comic in college. That is a tough proving ground, and turned out to be a good preparation for Flynn Creek, which is famous for weaving a dramatic and humorous narrative into the shows. A the “MC” of the show, Nicole is the one who helps transition the knife throwers and jugglers, the contortionists and the sword swallowers – all the separate acts into one seamless whole. Nicole said that she was attracted to Flynn Creek for the innovative approach to circus that still defines the troupe - “pushing traditions to the edge”. Lamb said it is “hugely empowering to have a woman in charge of the Circus. And Blaze is a Bad Ass”.

No doubt.

* * *

The Flynn Creek Circus performs in Gualala Sept. 3-6.

FROM SUPERVISOR MULHEREN’S August 24 Update:

I attended my first Department Head Meeting. We talked about ways to make the Agenda more user friendly. Unfortunately the way that the Granicus system on the website that Agenda Summary does not show easily on the agenda. A lot of the pertinent information for an agenda item is in the Agenda Summary such as the history of the item and the budget implications. The Clerk of the Board Staff is working with Granicus to get a new tab labeled “Agenda packet” that will put the whole agenda in sequential order and make it much easier to read all of the documents while still having tabs that folks interested in a specific item could review. 

We are also looking at ways to increase recruitment and retention of County employees. I’m working on a slideshow that can be played on the TVs in the hallway at 501 as well as during breaks of the Supe meetings. 

I also had a meeting about possible mental health outcome data. A lot of community members want to learn more about the progress of mental health services in our community. You can see some things on the County website for Measure B but there is more to do. 

THE BRIDGE OVER INDIAN CREEK, 1910

ED NOTES

DUAL REALITIES or the onset of schizophrenia? Half the country assumes Biden is out of it, a half-step from ga-ga. The other half, as represented by the shiny-toothed weasels at CNN, MSNBC and the MSM, mags, won't even, in their on the one hand but on the other weasel way, discuss the possibility that Biden is incapacitated, a hollowed-out hollow man from the get anyway. So, a coupla nights ago there he was half live at five to tell the South to prepare for the storm about to hit them, nevermind they've lived with these disasters since they were born. Biden slurs through statements of the obvious then, as he turns to totter off, he pauses, apparently stopped by a shouted question: “I'm not supposed to take questions, but go ahead.” The lady reporter went ahead. Biden snapped, “I'm not going to answer Afghanistan now.”

I'M NOT supposed to answer questions? So, who's in charge here? Something sinister is afoot. Biden's anon handlers obviously know their faux president is in no condition to leave the White House unattended, let alone run the country in a time as fraught as this time, but they keep shoving the old guy out there in lieu of. In lieu of whom? Kamala? Not ready for the big leagues, and wildly unpopular even with millions of Democrats, not to mention the frothing Maga millions. With no leadership of the adult, capable type anywhere prominently out there… Well, we can't say we don't live in interesting times.

SO, who are you Mr. 82-year-old editor to be talking mean about poor old Joe? I'm confident I could handle the media jackals he can't be trusted to back and forth with, but I'll admit to occasional tottering, especially after long seated sessions in front of the magic box, and I also have to look up the spelling of words I used to know how to spell. And I have trouble with short term memory stuff like remembering the diff between the supervisors and the last five eggs in the carton, but all-in-all I'm available to replace poor old Joe if the Democrats need hurry-up help from the bush league.

NO PARADES OR YELLOW RIBBONS but most Americans, including this one, held the view heavy on the basic feeling that the people who fought and died there were sent by the lying, cynical leadership of the country at the time. And please don't trot out that disproven canard that Vietnam vets were spat on and called baby killers when they came home. "The Spitting Image: Myth, Memory and the Legacy of Vietnam is a 1998 book by Vietnam veteran and sociology professor Jerry Lembcke that definitively slam dunks that one. Lembcke could not verify a single instance of spitting or insults ever happening. How did the myth start? With the political right, of course, to discredit the millions of people who knew that, Vietnam was a lie, and to discredit the lib-left generally in furtherance of the interests of the rancid legions who profit from wars, as they have just recently in Afghanistan.

YOU KNOW how bad Hurricane Ida was? David Muir came in on Sunday to report it for ABC!

ATTN CASPAR: If you’re living in or around Caspar, make sure to note that the Department of Forestry has locked two gates across your emergency evacuation route during peak fire season. This is just another example of the Department of Forestries incompetence and lack of public safety awareness. 

Road 500 runs the north border of the Caspar 500 Timber Harvest Plan (THP). To keep the community out of the area, the Department of Forestry installed a logging gate on the West and East ends of the THP. Because this road is an emergency evacuation route, the gates were closed, but left unlocked with 24/7 “security” guards on site to open the gates as necessary. This meant that in an emergency, anyone could open the gate and drive through. NOW, the security guards have been dismissed leaving bags of trash scattered by wildlife, and the gates shut and locked. There has already been one fire close to Caspar this summer and another could happen any time. This is NOT safe. 

George Gonzalez (CalFire Chief of the Mendocino Unit) made the decision to lock this community in during fire season. To voice your concerns, call his office: (707) 459-7414.

Please remember to be polite to support staff as they do not make the decisions. 

Go to savejackson.org to learn about other ways the Department puts the community at risk. 

FEDERAL JUDGE RULES FOR CALTRANS in Lawsuit Over Road-Widening Project Through Richardson Grove

A federal judge on Monday granted summary judgement in favor of Caltrans, dealing a significant blow to environmental interests in their 11-year legal battle over a proposed road-widening project along Hwy. 101 through scenic Richardson Grove.

lostcoastoutpost.com/2021/aug/30/federal-judge-rules-favor-caltrans-lawsuit-over-ri/

3:30AM IN REDWOOD VALLEY AND…

On Saturday, August 28, 2021 at approximately 3:30 AM a Mendocino County Sheriff's Deputy conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle at the intersection of West Road and School Way in Redwood Valley.

The Deputy contacted the driver and sole occupant identified as being Kody Idica, 20, of Redwood Valley.

The Deputy noticed loose marijuana debris on the floorboard of the vehicle and requested Idica to exit the vehicle. The Deputy conducted a search of Idica's person and found a large quantity of suspected cocaine in his pants pocket.

Upon further search of the vehicle, the Deputy found other evidence associated with the transportation and sale of illicit drugs.

Kody was arrested and booked into the Mendocino County Jail on charges of Possession of Controlled Substance for Sales and Transportation/Sales of Organic Drug, and was to be held in lieu of $25,000 bail.

========================

BUT OFFICER.....

On Sunday, August 22, 2021 at 10:31 P.M., Mendocino County Sheriff's Deputies responded to a motel located in the 1700 block of North State Street in Ukiah.

The call for service was in regards to unwanted subjects at the business. On arrival, the Deputies contacted an employee of the business and two male subjects. The males subjects were identified as Leartis Caradine, 30, of Ukiah and Rocky Duman, 29, of Ukiah.

The employee requested that Caradine and Duman be removed from the business.

The Deputies observed a vehicle, they believed was driven by Duman, parked in the parking lot of the business. The Deputies observed a methamphetamine pipe and a personal use quantity of methamphetamine inside the vehicle, in plain sight.

Both Caradine and Duman advised they had several personal items at the location and requested permission to get their property before leaving.

The Deputies collected Caradine's property from the area where it was stored and observed a commercial quantity of methamphetamine among the items.

The Deputies continued their investigation and developed probable cause to believe Caradine was in possession of methamphetamine for sale. A records check revealed Caradine was on active parole. Parole was contacted and issued a Parole Hold for Caradine.

As the Deputies were investigating the incident, the Deputies were able to confirm Duman was driving the vehicle containing the observed methamphetamine pipe and methamphetamine.

Caradine was arrested for Felony - Possession of Controlled Substance For Sale and Felony - Violation of Parole. Caradine was booked into the Mendocino County Jail where he was to be held in lieu of No Bail.

Duman was cited to appear in the Ukiah Superior Court for violations of Misdemeanor Possession of Controlled Substance and Misdemeanor - Possession of Drug Paraphernalia.

========================

AGAIN & AGAIN

On Friday, August 27, 2021 at about 9:58 PM Mendocino County Sheriff's Deputies went to a residence located at the 29000 block of North Highway 101 in Willits.

The Deputies were attempting to locate and arrest Wesley Silva, 53, of Willits, for an outstanding felony arrest warrant.

Deputies observed Silva walking his dog near the residence and Silva attempted to evade Deputies by fleeing on foot behind a residence.

Deputies quickly located Silva and took him into custody without further incident.

Silva was arrested for the outstanding arrest warrant and booked into the Mendocino County Jail where was to be held in lieu of $35,000 bail.

========================

ROUNDING UP THE USUAL SUSPECTS

On Saturday, August 28, 2021 at approximately midnight (12:00 AM) Mendocino County Deputies were dispatched to an adult male causing a disturbance in the 200 block of Pinoleville Drive in Ukiah.

Deputies located the adult male nearby in the 100 block of Orr Springs Road and identified him as being Mark Ray, 42, of Ukiah.

Deputies discovered Ray had an outstanding Mendocino County Felony Warrant for his arrest.

Ray was arrested on the probation violation warrant and booked into the Mendocino County Jail where he was to be held in lieu of $50,000 bail.

CATCH OF THE DAY, August 30, 2021

HUNTER CASEY, Fort Bragg. Controlled substance, paraphernalia, false personation of another, county parole violation.

ARTHUR COLLER, McKinleyville/Willits. Disorderly conduct-loitering, trespassing on posted land, county parole violation, probation revocation.

SETH COSTA, Ukiah. Taking vehicle without owner’s consent.

TROY JACK, Covelo. Arson causing bodily injury, arson of property.

REXFORD KEMP II, Santa Rosa/Ukiah. Failure to appear.

JACOB PARMELY, Ukiah. Parole violation.

WILLIAM VAUGHAN III, Ukiah. DUI-alcohol&drugs, probation revocation.

CASEY WOIDA, Vancouver/Ukiah. Stalking in violation of restraining order. 

ON LINE COMMENTS OF THE WEEK

[1] I am recalling my childhood years. I was born in Nov 1940 so for the first 10 years or so there wasn’t even television. Thus there was no Sesame Street to teach me the alphabet, numbers, colors, animals, days of the week, months of the year (30 days has September, April June and November etc.) and the unintuitive analog clock face. Why does the “day” begin in the black of night? Why at 12 and not at 1?Why isn’t Monday the first day of the week? Kids want to know. And when TV did arrive in the average home about 1950 there was only Howdy Doody.

So it wasn’t till around age 5 or 6 that I began to get some formal education. Grades K thru 3 happened at Stoy School which was just down the road from Crystal Lake Pool where I caught polio in the summer of 1949, or so my mother firmly believed. From what I’ve read about the polio virus and its causes and sources, Crystal Lake was a likely culprit. Actually, after a week or two in Kindergarten they pushed me ahead into 1st grade. 

It was one of those deals where because of my birth month I would always be one of the oldest kids in my class or, if pushed ahead into 1st grade, I would forever be among the youngest kids in my class.

I think what the school authorities did was to observe a kid for awhile to see if he/she/it was socially advanced enough and “played well in sandbox” to fit in with children who were nominally one year older. Thus, as time rolled forward, I entered college at the tender age of 17 when nearly all my classmates were 18 or even 19. If I had it to do over I’d prefer being older than my typical classmate. One year means a lot when it comprises almost 6% of your life to date.

If memory serves, each classroom in grades 1 thru 3 had the letters of the alphabet displayed horizontally above the blackboard with uppercase letters above the corresponding lowercase letters. The teacher would write on the blackboard with white chalk and clear away “her” writing with an “eraser.” (Note: never had a male teacher until 8th grade.) By day’s end the erasers were loaded with chalk powder and needed to be taken outside and “clapped.” This chore would be done by very willing child volunteers known as brown nosers. Today, I’d guess, blackboards and chalk have totally given way to whiteboards and marking pens.

The alphabet letters were all in some common font as might be used in a child’s book such as “See Spot Run.” Slowly but surely we children learned to “print” on lined paper where “capitals” (another name for uppercase) took up two line spaces and the lowercase “small” letters took up one space. One of the skills that kids were graded on was “penmanship” which, to tell the truth, was generally pretty dismal until maybe 3rd grade. 

At some point they began to teach writing in “cursive” which in those days was called “longhand.” The alphabet letters displayed above the blackboard were now in perfectly formed longhand. Some of the more obsessive compulsive pedants like me would practice their writing diligently. By the time my own kids came along there was less and less emphasis on what some called “writtin’ writin’ and so, by my standards, their penmanship was and still is pretty awful. Conversely, my mother’s hand writing is amazingly perfect. Born in 1911, she grew up in a very different era. It’s my understanding that many schools have done away entirely with teaching cursive.

Simultaneous with learning the formation of upper and lower case letters, both printed and longhand, we were made aware of when “capitals” should be used, such as the first letter of the first word of a sentence or the title of a book or a headline in a newspaper. The only capitalization rule that seems universal and inviolable is the first letter of a sentence although there might possibly be some obscure exception. The motto of the NYT which appears in the upper left corner of the front page reads “All the News That’s Fit to Print”. I have no idea why ‘the’ and ‘to’ do not begin with capitals.

Along about 30 years ago when computers and email had become ubiquitous a fad developed where a writer of an email would completely do away with capitals, even for the first word of a sentence. This has always annoyed the shit out of me. The higher the rank of the writer in an organization the more prevalent was the adoption of this fad. As lower ranking employees began to notice this THEY began to start sentences with lower case letters as well.

I have a theory as to what drives this no-caps fad. Email which, by the way, was spelled e-mail in its early years of existence, became a great burden particularly to executives who were drowning in a tsunami of the shit. Just reading all of it much less replying to it became a nightmare. A high-ranking engineer I used to carpool with went to an off site class to learn how to deal with the flood of email. Rule number one was to ignore email you recognized as having come from low-ranking nobodies.

So, some higher ranked employees started to write entirely in lower case. The message in doing this was “I am a very very busy man!! Who’s got the fucking time to depress the goddam shift key to make capitals!?” Before you knew it emails from “joe” in the maintenance dept contained no caps…a poor man’s grasp for greater stature. This forum had a number of no-caps commenters over the years, but I can happily report that this fad has largely petered out except for a few remaining die-hard assholes.

[2] One of the largest examples of human futility is the constant “need” to characterize God. It is a waste of time. Especially the desire to humanize Him. 

One thing, if God created the star field, the universe I see at night, He is so beyond omnipotent it is incredible. People try to humanize Him with Jesus. He can do anything He wants, the limits humans try to attach to Him make me laugh. If He wanted to put on a Jesus suit to directly interface with humanity, non issue. If He wants to create another universe, a mirror one, non issue. If His reason for the Messiah was to show He was more powerful than human death, He succeeded. If the sacrifice of His Son, so to speak, was, in Jewish terms, to demonstrate atonement for sins and to give grace to all people of faith, it worked.

People with egos that prevent them from acknowledging there are things much bigger than themselves are missing a very basic part of their spirituality. Atheists are people that believe that humanity is the biggest item in the universe. When I lay back and reflect on the star field, I just laugh at these people.

Trouble is, they are growing in number, just as predicted long ago.

[3] Interesting take on the future of education and the rise of homeschools. After other “careers”, I got a teaching certificate. During student teaching, I had to observe other teachers. While there are many, many excellent teachers out there, I was shocked to see that even when an “outsider” was sitting in their classrooms, Two out of three teachers achieved almost NOTHING during the hour I observed. One (ironically, a teacher I had in school) literally read the paper during the entire class with me sitting the back taking notes. Can’t say I entirely blame him….at the time, many years ago, things were already going south and I can’t imagine his clientele were interested in biology.

Even in good schools/classrooms there is much wasted time but let’s face it how many homeschools will do better? How many parents are able to provide adequate instruction in science or math beyond fourth grade? There is a skill to teaching and even folks with the knowledge can’t always explain it in an understandable way.

I do believe you’re right that there will be new models of home schooling and the network idea will fill in some holes like the science/math thing.

There are no easy answers but it’s clear to me that we’ve got to do something to improve education for all or we’re going to keep losing ground on almost every front. Democracy will thrive only among an enlightened populace.

HOUDINI ATTEMPTS TO ESCAPE from a straightjacket while hanging upside down over the intersection of Broadway and 46th Street, 1926.

Harry Houdini (born Erik Weisz; March 24, 1874 – October 31, 1926) was a Hungarian-born American escape artist, illusionist, stunt performer and mysteriarch, noted for his escape acts.

MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES ACT 2020 - 2023 Three-Year Plan Annual Update for Fiscal Year 2021-2022

30–Day Public Comment Period & Public Hearing Announcement

Mendocino County Behavioral Health and Recovery Services is excited to announce that the Mental Health Services Act 2020 - 2023 Three-Year Plan will be available for a 30-day public comment period from Thursday, August 26 to September 27, 2021.

The document can be viewed on the Mental Health Services Act Website at https://www.mendocinocounty.org/.../mental-health... or by appointment at a Mendocino County Behavioral Health and Recovery Services office: 1120 S. Dora St. Ukiah and 790-B South Franklin Street, Fort Bragg. There will also be a public hearing during the Behavioral Health Advisory Board meeting on September 22, 2021, which will take place online via Zoom at: https://mendocinocounty.zoom.us/j/98557737710 from 10 am – 12 pm. 

The 30-day public comment period and the public hearing are opportunities for you to ask questions and provide comments on the MHSA 20 - 23 Three-Year Plan and the programs therein. Comments and questions are collected via email, mail, phone, and verbally during the public hearing. These comments and questions are added to the final draft of the MHSA 20 – 23 Three-Year Plan and responded to formally in the document.

To request a copy of the plan or to submit questions and comments, contact Rena Ford, the MHSA Program Coordinator, at FordRe@mendocinocounty.org, or 707-472-2724, or by sending them to 1120 South Dora Street, Ukiah, CA 95482 Attn: Mental Health Services Act.

Thank you for your interest, and we look forward to seeing you there!

SUPERVISOR WILLIAMS: 

In light of the mid-term retirement of our County Auditor, should the board consider establishing the office of director of finance? 

CA Govt Code § 26980 (2020), 26980. 

The board of supervisors of any county may establish the office of director of finance.

(a) The board of supervisors shall submit to the electors of the county the question of whether the office of director of finance shall be established. If a majority of the voters voting on the question at that election favor the establishment of the office, the board of supervisors shall, by ordinance, create the office.

(b) The board of supervisors at that election may also submit to the voters the question of whether the office, if so established, shall be elective, or appointed by the board of supervisors. If a majority of the voters voting on the question favor making the office elective, the board of supervisors shall, in the ordinance creating the office, make it an elective one.

(c) Any person may be appointed by the board of supervisors, or be a candidate for election, to the office of director of finance, consolidated from other offices pursuant to this chapter, if he or she meets the qualifications set forth in Section 26945 or Section 27000.7.

(Amended by Stats. 1995, Ch. 784, Sec. 2. Effective January 1, 1996.)

A READER WONDERS,

How you gonna keep ’em

Down in the madrassa

After they’ve seen Kabul?

THE MCN CHATLINE TRIES TO UNTIE THE NEWSOM ETHICAL KNOT: 

1. Aide quits as newsom's affair with his wife is revealed. Campaign manager confronts mayor, who is 'in shock' (SFgate)

2. You have to ask yourself one question. What kind of a human being is Gavin Newsom to have an affair with his best friend’s wife? Read the article then vote the masculine pig out of office. 

3. What kind of a man is Donald Trump to have sex with a 14 year old, numerous prostitutes and other women he was not married to, while married?

4. Show us legitimate proof DT had sex with a 14-year-old. I am not a fan of DT but show us the evidence.

5. Sex between consenting adults is acceptable. Prostitutes included.

6. It's all about the character. What would you think of GN if he was screwing your partner? Behind your back, all the while, you’re working as his campaign manager and not having a clue of what's going on. And then you only find out when your partner spits it out while in a rehabilitation program. But worse, you find out after the press releases it in the news. If GN treats his best friend like that, why would he care about you and not his self-interest? 

7. He was charged with having sex with a 14 year old. It's public record.

FOR ALL THE SEEMING POWER of the Deep State — a.k.a. the “Intel Community” — one really has to be impressed by its stupidity and desperation. It can’t keep secrets or cover its tracks. Anyone who was paying attention to the RussiaGate operation has seen the published evidence of all the lawless behavior it spawned and knows the names of all the players. Ditto, the effort to engineer the 2020 election and install an obviously senile puppet-stooge in the White House. And ditto the effort to manufacture the Covid-19 crisis by hijacking the public health apparatus of the federal government.

Yet, this Deep State rogue menace is stumbling badly now because it didn’t figure out the basic dynamic of the long emergency: that over-investments in complexity inexorably produce disorder and collapse. This includes the complexity of the Deep State itself, a sprawling enterprise choking on the immense stream of data it feeds on and the fumbling efforts of its all-too-human agents to weaponize all that. The question now is whether the Deep State will collapse — even perhaps get forcefully defeated by Americans who oppose it — before the entire country and all its support systems collapse.

Events are on the loose well beyond the Deep State’s control now. Its front man, “Joe Biden,” sealed his fate last week with the bungled exit from Afghanistan. Thirteen dead US soldiers may only be the preview of a Grand-Guignol to come as the victorious Islamic maniacs get to stage atrocities starring the thousands of Americans and other Westerners left behind. Why wouldn’t they? For decades, they’ve promised to defeat and humiliate their “infidel” enemies. Remember the video-recorded beheadings of Nicholas Berg, Daniel Pearl and many others? The roasting of the captured Syrian pilot in a steel cage?

There’s no need to even ask the rhetorical question: who planned and executed the buggered-up evacuation of Kabul. It is self-evident: the entire chain-of-command. This is finally galvanizing half the country not in thrall to the Deep State to move against it, and that’s what you’ll see in the weeks to come. They will get rid of this imposter “Joe Biden” — if the Deep State doesn’t try do it first — and then they will “cancel” the Deep State’s attempt to manage any succession to the vacancy at the top.

Half the country is also paying attention to the invasion of border-jumpers coming in from Mexico with the assistance of the Deep State. They’re also noticing “Joe Biden’s” failure to comply with the recent US Supreme Court decision that he must enforce the standing procedure to return “asylum-seekers” to Mexico to await any decision on their eligibility. Many of these migrants come from the farthest corners of the world, including places full of people who don’t like us or our country. How many of them are coming here to blow things up and shoot American citizens? Nobody knows. The Deep State doesn’t want to know and they don’t want you to find out.

Finally, there is the question of the financial system which, lately, has become the proxy for what used to be the productive US economy, its Potemkin false front. The various plans to spend about $8-trillion in non-existent money on more social experiments such as paying citizens to be idle, would have been enough to sink American money, the US dollar. Now that the world has witnessed the humiliating withdrawal of the US from our 20-year-long war in Afghanistan, the process will accelerate. The world sees that we can’t be depended on in any foreign crisis. They know we no longer produce things of value. What are we good for, exactly? Absurd ventures in gender confusion and race hustling? Drugs and pornography? Is that what stands behind the dollar?

Former (as of yesterday) Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller returned to YouTube yesterday. He represents exactly how pissed off that better half of the nation is, the half that refuses to bend over for the Deep State, the half that is looking to run it down and call it to account for attempting to destroy the country six ways to Sunday.

(James Kunstler)

REMEMBERING JOHN CHAMBERLIN

John Chamberlin Tribute due out on September 5 on SnapSessions!

Please tune in to our SnapSessions podcast on Sunday, September 5 and from then on as we salute one of the great cultural heroes of Mendo County history--John "JC” Chamberlin, who would have turned 80 in September! SnapSessions! interviewed musicians, artists, and friends for this salute, including Ellen Callas, Greg Hillman, Kathy O’Grady, Judy Frank, Nick Wilson, Lee Larsen White, Richard Fienburgh, Claudia Paige, Louis Callas, Frannie Leopold, Steve Weingarten, and Bob Ross. They discuss his work with Cat Mother, Horse Badorties, The Mark Levine Review and other groups, and reminisce about his amazing artwork. This will be a potpourri of reflections and laughs from friends who knew and loved John. The episode includes excepts from some of Chamberlin’s musical performances, such as Cat Mother’s “Love Until Your Heart Breaks’, Horse Badorties’s “Jump”, The Mark Levine Revue’s “Navarro by the Sea,” Lenny Laks’s “Ring Around the Sun”, and many more surprises. 

The Tribute to JC will be available on thesnapsessions.com on September 5. Stay tuned!

"OUR HOSPITALS ARE FULL": Mendocino County doctors urge residents to get vaccinated amid crush of new COVID cases

by Shwanika Narayan

More than 65 Mendocino County doctors and medical workers released a stark public letter Monday urging residents to get vaccinated amid a crush of new, and often serious, COVID-19 cases.

“Every day, we take care of more and more patients who are sick with COVID-19. Our emergency departments are overflowing. Our hospitals are full. Our ICUs are full,” the letter said.

As the highly contagious delta variant spreads, COVID-19 hospitalizations in rural Northern California counties are rapidly increasing, severely straining already limited resources. Doctors and nurses are at the brink of exhaustion eighteen months into the pandemic. Patients are waiting for beds. ICU units are full.

Many of those who are hospitalized are unvaccinated, the doctors said. The current, fourth, COVID surge is also seeing more younger patients. Unvaccinated people in California are more than six times as likely to contract the coronavirus than those who are vaccinated, according to recent state data.

The letter said transferring patients to nearby hospitals has been difficult as neighboring counties contend with their own COVID surges. Medical staff said they have become used to hearing the phrase “there are no hospital beds in all of Northern California.”

“Never before has our medical system faced such a challenge. We can all do our part in this dire situation by getting vaccinated,” the Mendocino doctors and medical wrote in the letter.

The issue is compounded for rural areas as it simultaneously deals with fast-moving wildfires, which degrade air quality and can cause health complications for people with underlying health conditions.

The overflow of patients at hospitals impact non-COVID patients too — those who are dealing with strokes and heart attacks, and other medical issues, are struggling to find beds, the letter said.

Doctors in Del Norte County, far up north in California bordering Oregon, released a similar letter pleading with the public to get vaccinated, earlier this month. Many of those doctors also work in Humboldt County.

Despite rumors and misinformation circulating about the vaccine, the letter emphasized that vaccines are safe and effective:

“Please talk with us, or your primary care provider, about the COVID-19 vaccine. The data and the science are clear: the vaccine is safe and highly effective in preventing severe COVID-19 illness and COVID-related deaths. We are vaccinated. Getting vaccinated will not only protect you, but will also keep your loved ones and your community safe and out of the hospital.”

(San Francisco Chronicle)

TOP COVID HOST NATIONS & HUNTING GROUNDS

country — cases — deaths

United States — 38,796,746 — 637,531

India — 32,737,939 — 438,210

Brazil — 20,741,815 — 579,308

(Johns Hopkins University & Medicine)