Mendocino County Today: Sunday, Sept. 5, 2021

Warm Smoky | Twin Quake | Pet Clifford | Comptche Firetruck | LR Museum | Placid Navarro | Watercolor Class | Video Magazine | Gualala Matters | Rigged Election | Water Haulers | Hit & Run | Define Corruption | Restaurant Mandate | Larry Spring | Flamingo Hotel | Ed Notes | Silver Spurs | Redwood Preservation | Homeless Arsonists | Yesterday's Catch | Real Enemy | First Class | Flirting Disaster | Little Red | Systemic Dishonesty | Noble Word | Collapsing | Ed Asner | Town Citizen | Texas Hanger | Substance/Style | Vegas Cowgirl | Fire Bills | Dem Picnic | Cherished Beliefs

ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES are expected across the interior through Monday. Smoke will remain a concern over the the northern half of the area. A low moving north of the area Tuesday will bring increased moisture and some weak instability. (NWS)

YESTERDAY'S HIGHS: Ukiah 99°, Yorkville 98°, Boonville 98°, Fort Bragg 61°

ANOTHER EARTHQUAKE in the same spot (a couple miles east of Talmage) with similar magnitude (3.7) and depth (6 miles) as the one a couple nights ago.

September 4 at 10:27pm: earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/nc73620341/executive

September 2 at 10:44pm: earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/nc73619336/executive

UKIAH SHELTER PET OF THE WEEK

Clifford is a big, strong dog who needs an active guardian and a home with plenty of space. Daily exercise will be important for this guy. Clifford appears friendly with other dogs and came to the shelter with a small-breed dog we believe was his housemate. Clifford, the Big Red Dog, is 2 years old and a very handsome 64 pounds.

For more about Clifford, visit mendoanimalshelter.com 

While you’re there, check out all of our canine and feline guests, our services, programs, events, and updates. Visit us on Facebook at: facebook.com/mendoanimalshelter/

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

WATER TENDER REPLACEMENT

The Comptche Volunteer Fire Department is the first-responding agency for all non-law enforcement emergencies occurring within the approximately 100 square miles of our fire district in Comptche.

We are raising money to replace our 1989 water tender that has irreparable mechanical problems with a Tactical Tender that has the capability of pumping water up steep inclines, which is imperative to fighting wildland fires in the Comptche area. The water tenders currently utilized by CVFD are built with the mechanics to transport water but not fully support firefighting as the practice has evolved over the last 30 years, as well as being significantly out of date with National Fire Protection Association safety standards.

The Comptche Volunteer Fire Department thanks you in advance for any contribution you can offer: https://gofund.me/583a348d

LITTLE RIVER MUSEUM FINAL SUMMER WEEKEND 

Can you believe it's Labor Day weekend already? Where has this year gone? And that can only mean one thing for The Little River Improvement Club and Museum - summer hours are over. If you want to visit the museum after this weekend, we're still open, but by appointment only.

We want to thank our community for its support this summer and are astonished at the record number of local visitors! A big shout out to Janet Eklund-Cook for the loan of historical photos of Albion.

Visit us Saturday and Sunday this weekend from Noon to 3PM. Call 707-734-3596 for more information or to make an appointment.

Wendy Meyer, wbmeyer56@gmail.com

PLEIN AIR Water Color Class

Learn to paint with watercolor in a beautiful outdoor garden setting! About this event Come join us for an evening of outdoor painting in the Cafe Beaujolais garden area. Grab a beverage from the waiting room, or come a little early to get in on their wood fired pizza.

Class starts at 5pm with a brief intro on how to paint with watercolors. All materials will be provided. The instructor will help you individually throughout the evening as you catch up with friends and tap into the right side of your brain.

No experience necessary!

Date and time Wed, September 8, 2021, 5-7pm

Location: Cafe Beaujolais

961 Ukiah Street

Mendocino, CA 95460

mlemos@mcn.org

THE GUALALA MUNICIPAL ADVISORY COUNCIL (GMAC) met for 4-1/2 hours on Sept. 2, 2021, with an agenda that included a 1-3/4 hour hearing about PG&E's plans to cut trees and spray pesticides along a 28-mile section of its 60kV power line right of way from Elk to Gualala in a fire prevention project. The hearing included several South Coast residents who supported vegetation management while raising additional safety questions and right-of-way concerns. 

The council then heard a 1-plus hour report about a proposal for a new AT&T mobile antenna in Gualala before considering five more applications for houses and other along the coast. As usual, the meeting also included a report on local crime by Sheriff Matt Kendall and brief discussions of other routine council matters.

Here are the estimated timestamps for the key discussions:

15:00: Sheriff Matt Kendall

23:30 - 2:15:00: PG&E Application for Vegetation Management, Elk-Gualala

2:15:30 - 3:19:00: Plans for new AT&T tower in Gualala

3:19:30 - 4:35:00: 5 applications for projects and routine Council Business 

Tom Murphy

WATER HAULING URGENCY & VAX RIGHTS

by Jim Shields

The topic on most folk’s minds was front-and-center at last Tuesday’s (August 31) Board of Supervisors meeting where they unanimously approved two agenda items dealing with this monumental drought. 

Overall, I think they probably did the best they could concerning circumstances surrounding one of the items we’ll discuss.

The Supes approved a motion directing county staff “to Draft an Urgency Ordinance Regarding the Prohibition of Water Hauling from One Source to Another Except for Health and Human Safety or Permitted Businesses.”

Due to Pandemic restrictions meetings are still closed to the public, so I addressed the Board on conference call regarding this issue and here’s what I said:

The Laytonville County Water District disagrees with the County’s approach regarding the proposed Urgency Ordinance because it is overbroad and reaches into areas of legitimate governing authority of local government-municipal water utilities.

We believe that entities currently providing water for trucked delivery should be divided or bifurcated into two separate categories providing such services: 1. Public Water Agencies, and 2. Private Parties.

The former are all permitted and regulated under the authority of the State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board and other governmental agencies), while the latter are not under the control or regulated by any governmental entity.

As a matter of public policy and good government, the determination of whether or not to impose prohibitions on ‘Water Hauling from One Source to Another Except for Health and Human Safety or Permitted Businesses,’ is best left to the discretion of municipal water agencies with their elected boards that are responsible to their respective electorates.

I have some familiarity with the ordinances, rules and regulations of the primary water agencies in this County that provide water for delivery by truck. Some of the common provisions found in these ordinances, rules and regulations that are similar to those of this District, would include: water quality control measures, metered usage, the authority to restrict or prohibit deliveries to certain areas, the authority to prohibit water deliveries on specified roads or over specified bridges, truck operator codes of conduct, truck operator discipline procedures, truck operator revocation procedures, and public complaint investigation procedures.

Public Agency water sources and operations are by law approved, permitted and regularly inspected by the State Water Board and other governmental agencies.

Needless to say, so-called Private Party water sources, operations, and water truck deliveries are under few if any government controls, rules or regulations. 

It is commonly known that Private Party water truck deliveries have for some time been problematical and the cause of legitimate concern by County residents because of the nearly total lack of governmental oversight. 

It’s also an established fact, according to reports from resource agencies and law enforcement, that water for these deliveries sometimes are illegally taken from sources throughout our County. 

It is also a fact that numerous owners of private wells are selling/providing, and have been selling/providing water to Private Party water haulers. Neighbors of the owners of these private wells have alleged that these operations have adversely impacted their wells.

The Laytonville County Water District recommends that the Board of Supervisors:

1. Continue to allow Public Water Agencies to determine the scope of water hauling operations, including any prohibitions on water hauling.

2. Prepare an ordinance that would address a private well permitting process for the commercial sale of water for truck deliveries. This permitting process should include required hydrological testing for impacts on nearby water sources and wells.

3. Prepare an ordinance addressing rules and regulations governing Private Party water haulers who do not obtain their water from a Public Agency Water Utility.

Third District Supe John Haschak formulated the motion approved by his colleagues that calls for the Board’s Drought Ad Hoc Committee, comprised of Haschak and 1st District Supe Glenn McGourty to work with the County Counsel’s Office, the Sheriff, and Planning & Building to come up with a proposal that would require tighter regulations for water deliveries by truck that would include such things as driver logs or manifests that detail who is receiving the water, how many gallons, restrict operations to daylight hours, etc.

By the way, these are all rules and regulations my water district has had in place for years.

They also agreed to look at what I recommended regarding regulating property owners who sell/provide water from their private wells without regard to adverse impacts on neighbor’s wells. I proposed that the new ordinance situation should require hydrological testing be performed as part of the permit process to determine the reliability of the water well’s source and any adverse impacts on neighbor’s wells and water sources.

My Rights, Your Rights

Since we are in serious trouble in this County with COVID surging once again, I’ve been recommending on my KPFN radio show and in my newspaper, the Mendocino County Observer, that the unvaccinated get the jab.

Dr. John Glyer, of Willits, recently issued this statement that helped spur my comments:

“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.”

A reader responded, taking exception to my vaccination callout.

Dear Jim:

I am writing in response to your endorsement of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s comment “…screw your freedom” when it comes to Covid19. The reason Freedom of the Press was so important to our founding fathers was that the press was supposed to be the quasi-4th Branch of Government. They were supposed to be the eyes and ears of the people to keep us informed of our government and elected officials who try to erode our rights under the Constitution and Bill of Rights. The press is on the side of the people, not the government. Benjamin Franklin stated: “Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety” (1706-1790). To validate a former government official’s comment to “…screw your freedom…” is not doing your job, Jim. We are a free society, and anyone who says contrary should be called out.

I agree with Arnold when he said “…with freedom comes obligations and responsibilities….” As citizens we do have responsibilities to help everyone stay safe and feel safe. But, Jim, to validate the thinking that we should relinquish our freedom, encourage the bullying and name calling of others, disregarding each person’s right to personal medical decisions and privacy, and discount an individual’s ability to think for themselves as they weigh the risks and benefits of vaccinations when there are other documented and proven treatments, is shameful on your part.

I would like to encourage a little compassion and patience for everyone as we move through this time of uncertainty. Contempt, name calling, belittling, and arguing will never get us anywhere. Let’s talk to each other, listen to each other, and do the best each of us can. We are all in this together. I’d like to remind us of a verse from a sacred writing: “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

I have faith that we will get through this. I hope we will be considerate of each other as we move forward. I read somewhere else that “…love never fails.” Let’s try a little love.

Laytonville Resident

My thoughts? When the exercise of your “individual freedom” affects the health, safety and well-being of other folks, you’ve crossed the line. As the old saying goes, “Your right to swing your arms ends just where my nose begins.”

(Jim Shields is the Mendocino County Observer’s editor and publisher, observer@pacific.net, the long-time district manager of the Laytonville County Water District, and is also chairman of the Laytonville Area Municipal Advisory Council. Listen to his radio program “This and That” every Saturday at 12 noon on KPFN 105.1 FM, also streamed live: http://www.kpfn.org)

DRIVER FLEES SCENE AFTER PEDESTRIAN STRUCK AND KILLED IN COVELO

At approximately 1:40 a.m. scanner traffic indicated that law enforcement and medical personnel had been dispatched to the intersection of Henderson Road and Crawford Road in Covelo after a male pedestrian had been struck and killed by a vehicle which subsequently fled the scene.

kymkemp.com/2021/09/04/driver-flees-scene-after-pedestrian-struck-and-killed-in-covelo/

COUNTY PREPARES FOR VACCINE MANDATE

by Justine Frederiksen

In a move he described as designed to protect both employees and customers, Mendocino County Public Health Officer Dr. Andy Coren announced this week that he is preparing a new health order requiring Covid-19 vaccinations for restaurant employees, and for customers who want to dine indoors.

“We continue to see many high-risk exposure events, especially in restaurants and bars, and in response I’m preparing a new order to require employers in those businesses (to require) employees to vaccinate or … show proof of testing,” Coren said, adding that customers who want to dine indoors will have to show that they have been vaccinated. “If not, they may pick up food to go, or eat outside. I believe this will protect the employees and the patrons without harming the businesses, or the community’s access to food.”

John Strangio, who operates the Ukiah Valley Athletic Club with his family, said he and other local business owners are very concerned about the negative impact the proposed new vaccine mandate will have on local businesses, which he described as already suffering.

Strangio said he recently took his family to a local pizza parlor for one of his son’s birthdays and “we were the only people inside.” He said he believes the vaccine mandates will “destroy” local businesses that are already struggling to survive, and he plans to host an outdoor gathering at his health club, located at 3101 S. State St., at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 4.

“This is not a protest, and not for finger pointing,” said Strangio, explaining that he wanted to allow community members, including his fellow business owners to be able to express their concerns and frustrations, particularly those surrounding how the rules will be enforced. He said he invited Dr. Coren to the discussion, but as of Wednesday the doctor had not responded.

Coren announced his plan for new vaccine mandates, which he said would allow some exemptions, to the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors during the board’s Aug. 31 meeting, in which he also said that a recent leveling off of Covid-19 cases might not reflect reality.

Coren said he wanted to be “cautiously optimistic” about the apparent “plateau or even possible down swing in the last week” in the amount of Covid-19 cases reported in the county, however, he added that the reduction might actually be due to “problematic reporting at the state level.”

Also, Coren said “hospital rates are still very high, which may be a better indicator of the high transmissibility rates, because hospitalizations follow the case rates in the community,” describing the rates of hospitalization currently for Covid-19 patients in Mendocino County as higher than it was during the surge in cases last winter.

“We have had several days recently with no (Intensive Care Unit) beds available,” continued Coren, adding that the county is not only seeing more Covid-19 patients, but they are also “younger and sicker.” The county is also seeing more deaths, with six in the past week and 12 total in August, which is the highest number of deaths in one month during the pandemic. Previously the month with the most was January of 2021, when there were 11 deaths and 876 new cases reported.

August 2021 is also now the month with the most new Covid-19 cases by far with 1,365, which is 401 more cases than December of 2020, when 964 new cases were reported.

(Courtesy, the Ukiah Daily Journal)

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DR. ANDY COREN ADDRESSES UKIAH CROWD frustrated with proposed vaccine mandates

by Justine Frederiksen

In a rapidly warming parking lot Saturday morning, Mendocino County Public Health Officer Dr. Andy Coren addressed a large and mildly hostile crowd gathered outside the Ukiah Valley Athletic Club to discuss his proposed vaccine mandates for employees and customers of local restaurants and bars.

“What I want to hear is another alternative – how do we keep our restaurants safe and open?” said Coren, reminding the crowd that he had listened politely to many of them for at least an hour-and-a-half as they described the effect the last 18 months of the pandemic has had on their businesses, and how much more damage they worried a vaccine mandate would cause.

“A third of my employees told me they will quit (if a vaccine mandate is imposed), said Alex Ibrahim, who owns Star’s restaurant in Ukiah, adding that he believed “we need to educate, not mandate.”

One woman named Carol who works at Taste Buds in Ukiah said that perhaps businesses could put up signs declaring their approach to vaccines, such as alerting customers that, “If you are comfortable being around people who aren’t vaccinated, please come inside.”

Coren said that such signage was a good suggestion, that perhaps businesses could alert customers to the vaccine status of its employees by putting up a “green star,” or some other indicator.

“I’m honored to be here and listen to what you have to say, and I’m here because I still trust my community – let’s work together,” said Coren, explaining to the crowd that sometimes their actions in the name of personal freedom adversely affect others in the community, particularly those who cannot safely take the vaccine due to age or medical conditions.

John Strangio, who hosted the event with his wife, Lauren, and fellow business owner Stephanie Dunken, said he was impressed that Coren accepted his invitation and went “into the lion’s den” to meet face-to-face with what he knew could be a hostile crowd, especially given that the event was not strictly controlled by county officials.

“I think it showed a lot of trust, courage and respect on his part,” said Strangio, describing Coren as staying for another half hour after his public comments to talk with members of the crowd and hear their suggestions.

To help ensure the event was constructive and civil, Strangio said he had asked six people he knew planned to be disruptive not to attend, and asked Mendocino County Sheriff Matt Kendall to be on hand.

“Dr. Coren was on the phone with me at 10 p.m. last night because he was reading every single email that came in and taking every single suggestion,” Kendall told the crowd after a man shouting “Let my people go” at Coren was asked to leave. “Let’s listen, let’s have a good dialogue, and let’s work together.”

Coren did not announce Saturday when he expected to release vaccine guidelines for restaurants and bars.

(Courtesy, the Ukiah Daily Journal)

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SUPERVISOR MULHEREN:

This is my statement from the 42 minute mark of the meeting:

"I realize that Dr Coren is the Public Health advisor I just want to be clear that businesses should not be the public health police. If you are choosing to move forward with this order it should be made very clear to the businesses what their expectations are for verification and which businesses are affected. Our small businesses are specifically targeted because they are honest and trying to support public health and the economy. This doesn't take in to consideration the people that refuse to cooperate with the contact tracing. Instead of placing this restriction on businesses public health should be encouraging testing and masking while indoors at restaurants and bars. I realize that large cities have been able to implement this policy but placing Mendocino County businesses in this position while surrounding counties have not adopted this policy puts our local residents and their businesses at risk of not being able to survive this roller coaster. I'm not in favor of deviating from the CDPH and CDC guidelines, it creates confusion amongst the public. "

JOHN MCCOWEN:

What's missing is any data that says people are getting sick BECAUSE they went to a restaurant. Can Dr. Coren point to a single case where a customer became ill at a restaurant through contact with an employee? Or that a single restaurant employee became ill through contact at work with a customer?

The virus is spread mainly through "close contact" with an infected person. Close contact is defined as being within 6 feet of someone for 10 minutes or longer. Restaurant patrons are not at risk from their server but from their dining companions. The likely effect of this order will be to drive some restaurants out of business while doing nothing to slow the transmission of covid.

This is a repeat of earlier orders that unfairly targeted businesses. Remember when gym patrons were forced to exercise outside in smoky 100 degree heat instead of socially distanced in a well ventilated building?

CHRIS CALDER ON THE LATE LARRY SPRING:

A new mural of an old sign at the great and mysterious Larry Spring's store on Redwood Ave., now an antique shop and museum (that blows the doors off the Bigfoot Museum in Willow Creek btw). 

Fort Bragg's first television dealer/installer/repairman (TV didn't come to FB til the mid-1950s, signal from SF was too weak til then); logger/fisherman; WWII pilot in North Africa; deviser of bizarrely sensible diets*; local real estate mogul and "Explorer of Radiant Energy". Let's face it. The guy was a wizard.

I got to write two articles about him when he was still around in the 1990s. I saw the fish glop (see below) first hand, plus him out in fields here and there with his electronic equipment that he customized from various old tv repairment devices.

"What are you doing Larry?"

Big smile: "Measuring!"

He wrote volumes. He had a theory of the atom. They weren't particles, like marbles, he said. They were just energy fields, spinning. That was about 30 years ago.

Aside from the war, I don't think he ever lived away from Fort Bragg. His TV store morphed into a showplace for his rockhounding and giant chain saws. And plenty of books about the Larry Spring Atom, just in case you were interested.

*Salmon heads, pressure cooked to gray glop, spread on toast. Mmmmm! He was an old bachelor when I knew him, lived past 90. 

BILL KIMBERLIN RECOMMENDS: If you are driving through Santa Rosa you might want to consider stopping at the newly updated Flamingo Hotel and Spa. Not a bad lunch or brunch stop. If you work it right you can get a pool side table in the shade. 

ED NOTES

TOMORROW is the first Sunday morning in eleven (count 'em) years that Pilar Echeverria will not be at the counter of her essential Mosswood Market. No sir, Pilar will be enjoying her first day off in all that time. In her irreplaceable place every Sunday thereafter will be Scott Baird, a local man who will be offering pop-up breakfasts and lunches, a departure from Pilar's baked goods, which will resume Monday morning as always. Early Sunday mornings in the Anderson Valley won't be the same without Pilar at her old stand, but we'll be among the first crack-of-dawn customers to try Mr. Baird's breakfasts, return for lunch, and report back right here Sunday night. We wish Mr. B well as he embarks on his busy Sunday mornings.

THE ABOVE GRAPHIC wafted out of cyber-space and on into the magic box of the Boonville weekly. It's a common trope among the Magas that liberals are interchangeable with communists and Marxists who, in the Magas vague understanding are behind everything the Magas think has gone haywire in the land. 

NOT to be too pointy-headed about it, and on the off chance some one among these hysterics is amenable to reason of the fact-based type, the New York Times, on its best days, is a conservative liberal newspaper pretty much reflective of the views held by the conservative liberals of the Democratic Party all the way down to Mendolib and their conservative liberal elected stalwarts, Huffman, McGuire and Wood. There very few communists in America, maybe a half-million, and many of them holed up in faculty lounges rattling their teacups with the other castrati. General Milley, of all people, got it right. Paraphrasing, “Well, gee, knowing something about Marxism should be part of my general knowledge since the subject does come up. But knowing something about communism doesn't make me a communist just like knowing something about Islam doesn't make me a Muslim.”

KIM KARDASHIAN has millions of followers, and she's a lot more dangerous in her unrelenting advocacy for decadence than a handful of crackpots who think North Korea is the way to go. But there are millions of libs, me among them, who want to see, at last, Fair Play for Cuba, which doesn't mean we're uncritical of the Cuban government or want to see more than two — Cuba and North Korea — pseudo-Leninist dictatorships.

THE RIGHTWINGERS who deliberately conflate communism and liberalism do it on behalf of their billionaire paymasters, people like the Koch Bros and Elon Musk and Bezos who want to prevent fair taxation and a fair distribution of wealth that might give us saps a few of the civilized amenities enjoyed in the rest of the first world and much of the second world. (Malaysia and Indonesia offer a form of single payer medical care for all their citizens, as does Cuba and, I believe, Mexico.)

THE NYT as a communist newspaper also misunderstands contemporary China where The Great Helmsman is in almost total eclipse in favor of “to grow rich is glorious” but with socialist programs for its techno-captive population. China is more of a fascist state of the type dreamed of by Hitler and Mussolini than an imperial communist state of the old Russian type. China is not a communist country, you Fox-saturated morons, can you at least understand that much?

PLEASE EXCUSE the pontification coming out of Boonville today, but libs-as-communists annoys hell outta me. Me! You hear me, Magas? You want me to come over and drag you out of your naugahyde recliner and kick those iron-haired fat bastards on Fox in their TV pusses until you're able to make a few basic distinctions? 

“INCREASING hospitalizations and ICU admissions are stressing our hospital, and now we are seeing an increase in the number of deaths, mainly younger people, those who are unvaccinated,” Dr. Andy Coren told county supervisors on Aug. 31. (Press Democrat)

SO WHAT DOES COREN DO? He slaps masks on restaurants and bars without calling off the Boonville Fair or making masks mandatory at the big box stores, several of which, like CostCo, have the sense to require masks on their own. Does it even have to be said that singling out some venues while ignoring others is very unfair to the moms and pops of Mendocino County?

JOHN MCCOWEN RESPONDS: "The mask mandate is already in place. What Coren proposes to do is slap a vax mandate on restaurants and bars. More restrictive than any I have seen, it would require employers to require vax proof of every employee unless they have a verifiable medical reason not to, in which case proof of recent testing would be required. Other vax orders have allowed proof of testing for anyone who didn't want to be vaxed."

FROM MENDO'S post-modern Hindu, Craig Stehr: "On my way back to the room with the food, two women dressed to the nines in black leather offered to handcuff and flog me in the middle of Fremont Street, but before they got to the price, I started chanting the Hare Krishna Mahamantram, which caused great laughter all around, and we parted company smiling."

TO WHICH MIKE KALANTARIAN NOTED, "Interesting that the ladies’ initial impulse was to whip Craig."

FRAUD OF THE WEEK, and typical of the three amigos, Huffman, McGuire and Wood, and their stenographers at the Press Democrat where, over the past coupla days, the stenos have re-written breathless press releases from our "lawmakers" titled, "Secretive plan seeks approval to ship coal from Wyoming and Montana to Humboldt Bay on SMART tracks and abandoned North Coast rail line" and "Lawmakers gearing up to battle toxic coal train proposed for North Coast line."

FIRST OFF, if these guys ever gear up for anything it's free meals from lobbyists and their own re-elections. Second, to claim that coal or anything else will ever be shipped by rail to the port in Eureka along the abandoned Northwest Pacific rail lines is pure fantasy or, coming from these three characters, pure cynicism of the type they routinely trot out for us saps in lieu of anything useful. This coal shipping scare story is from the same fake genre as McGuire's Great Redwood Trail. It will never happen. The old rail line will probably never even get a train to Cloverdale, let alone through the Eel River Canyon. Both this conjured coal hysteria and The Great Redwood Trail are insulting, and one more example of the low esteem our elected officials hold us in.

REDWOODS, AN ON-LINE EXCHANGE:

(1) It saddens me that someone who buys a property with beautiful redwoods upon it would then not feel responsible for the guardianship of those trees. Wanting to trim them is understandable but removing them seems selfish. They were there long before your ownership of the property which, in the greater scheme of things, is a mere blip in the life of a redwood. Enjoy them!

(2) It has been my experience that most of what is made by the sale of the logs is spent paying the people who do the logging. It is largely a wash. There is very little "money" in it. The only thing that does happen is that one essentially gives someone permission to log one's property, one gets a bit of a "tip"...& one's property looses significant value. Healthy redwood trees on property generally increases the value of that property. It is almost always best to leave them alone...other than keeping them trimmed if close to structures.

ARSONISTS GET PRISON TIME

Two defendants convicted of slightly different fire-related felonies — both involving the setting of fires which created the potential for harm to the community — received the same outcome Friday morning in the Mendocino County Superior Court. Both were ultimately sentenced to state prison for 60 months.

Defendant Tasha Marie Ornelas, age 35, an unsheltered individual generally living in and around Ukiah, stands convicted by plea of felony arson of grasslands, as well as a sentencing enhancement that her fire activities occurred during a statewide state of emergency as declared by the Governor. The maximum state prison sentence the defendant could have received was nine years.

Defendant Ornelas misconduct involved setting and attempting to set multiple fires back on June 23rd at approximately 2:30 p.m. in a lot located at the corner of South State Street and Observatory Avenue.

Ornelas claimed she had slept in the lot and, while doing so, lost a belly button ring. With the dry grass as an obstacle to her visual search, she decided to burn the dry grass away. A concerned citizen, smelling smoke and seeing suspicious activity by the defendant, called in for the fire and police authorities to quickly come to investigate.

While Ornelas reported during the investigation that she had consumed only a half a beer on the day in question, she blew a blood alcohol result of .117.

Defendant Michelle Stephanie Perry, age 28, another unsheltered individual generally living in and around Ukiah, stands convicted by plea of recklessly causing a fire of inhabited property, a felony, as well as a sentencing enhancement that her fire activities occurred during a statewide state of emergency as declared by the Governor. The maximum state prison sentence the defendant could have received was seven years.

Defendant Perry’s misconduct involved the defendant using hand sanitizer as an accelerant to ignite a fire at Unity Hall on Seminary Avenue. A planter box was set afire and, as the flames grew, the fire scorched the steps and charred the door frame before the fire was extinguished by concerned citizens with fire extinguishers.

The defendant told a Ukiah Police officer that she was upset with the people at one of five commercial spaces, along with two rooftop apartments, located in a single property located near Unity Hall.

The defendant, in part, also told the Court Friday morning that she had smoked some methamphetamine prior to setting the fire and the small quantity of meth “just set me off.”

The law enforcement and fire agencies involved in both of the above cases were the Ukiah Police Department and the Ukiah Valley Fire Authority.

Special thanks is extended to Battalion Chief Justin Buckingham for his specialized cause-of-fire investigation work.

The prosecutor who handled both cases from arraignment through sentencing was District Attorney David Eyster.

Mendocino County Superior Court Judge Carly Dolan presided over the judicial proceedings held on both cases.

(District Attorney Presser)

CATCH OF THE DAY, September 4, 2021

JAVIER ACEVES-LIZARRAGA, Willits. Protective order violation, probation revocation.

JEFFERY FELKINS, Fort Bragg. DUI.

JUAN GARIBAY-VAZQUEZ, Ukiah. Petty theft-merchandise with priors, tampering with vehicle, obtaining another’s ID without authorization, suspended license.

DEVLEN GENTRY-MCCULLAR, Ukiah. Vandalism.

LUIZ GONZALEZ JR., Covelo. Assault with deadly weapon not a gun.

ANGELA RIVERA, Ukiah. Stolen vehicle.

SHAUN WAY, Ukiah. DUI-alcohol&drugs, possession/purchase for sale narcotic/controlled substance, under influence, probation revocation.

THE NEW VIETNAM

Editor,

The one we just lost. I mean we the little people just lost, the taxpayers.

There are of course winners who won't admit “mission accomplished” who are now billionaires who used to be just millionaires. Military contractors and their political stooges. They may appear to be dumb leaving our highly expensive equipment behind, but they are dumb all the way to the bank.

President Eisenhower warned us about the parasites in 1960 then in 1963 our president was murdered because he was changing his mind about the Vietnam scam. We have since then had a foreign policy designed to enrich the special interests at our expense. Being the police of the world is big business for parasites. The banana republics should be allowed to stew in their own juices. Then if they want to actually attack America, "Won't happen." They can easily be neutralized.

Who is the real enemy?

Tom Madden

Comptche

PS. Yes on the recall. I definitely want to get rid of our present governor because he gives passes to child killers and serial killers who now live on taxpayers for life. He does not understand justice and the weak message this sends to the world.

To our enemies we must look like idiots to allow mass murderers to live in protected comfort. Can we take any of the basketcase candidates seriously? Yes. There are a few men, women, who appeared to know right from wrong. The others were paid to run to cloud the issue and make their boy look good by comparison.

Someone who does not understand justice should not be a representative of America or a state.

THE LAST DAYS

Editor: 

An Aug. 20 news report about the state’s mandate to construct 14,500 housing units (about 40,000 new residents) in Sonoma County, with assurances of “sustainability” (so long as we locals make sufficient sacrifices on their behalf), followed by a long Aug. 21 column headlined “An urgent call for essential climate action,” reveals a not-uncommon testimony to our collective hypocrisy.

As Rome burns, we want to have our cake and eat it too, as we squander precious time. We want to continue our perpetual growth, and we want global warming problems to go away. Our tragic inability, even unwillingness, to fully grasp the problem, let alone reach agreement on effective strategy and, finally, take action, expands daily. So far, our best response is dumbfounded indifference as we pitifully await the needed quality of enlightened leadership that we would never elect to office.

The sweeping hopelessness here, as it slowly emerges into view, is overwhelming. The prospect of the utter collapse of all that we have stood for over the few centuries of our history is almost incomprehensible. This I do believe, however, is what we are currently and recklessly flirting with. God help us all.

Rorbert Beauchamp

Sebastopol

I SERVED IN AFGHANISTAN AS A US MARINE. Here’s the truth in two sentences.

by Lucas Kunce

(Originally published in the Kansas City Star)

What we are seeing in Afghanistan right now shouldn’t shock you. It only seems that way because our institutions are steeped in systematic dishonesty. It doesn’t require a dissertation to explain what you’re seeing. Just two sentences. 

One: For 20 years, politicians, elites and D.C. military leaders lied to us about Afghanistan.

Two: What happened last week was inevitable, and anyone saying differently is still lying to you.

I know because I was there. Twice. On special operations task forces. I learned Pashto as a U.S. Marine captain and spoke to everyone I could there: everyday people, elites, allies and yes, even the Taliban.

The truth is that the Afghan National Security Forces was a jobs program for Afghans, propped up by U.S. taxpayer dollars — a military jobs program populated by nonmilitary people or “paper” forces (that didn’t really exist) and a bevy of elites grabbing what they could when they could.

You probably didn’t know that. That’s the point. 

And it wasn’t just in Afghanistan. They also lied about Iraq.

I led a team of Marines training Iraqi security forces to defend their country. When I arrived I received a “stoplight” chart on their supposed capabilities in dozens of missions and responsibilities. Green meant they were good. Yellow was needed improvement; red said they couldn’t do it at all. 

I was delighted to see how far along they were on paper — until I actually began working with them. I attempted to adjust the charts to reflect reality and was quickly shut down. The ratings could not go down. That was the deal. It was the kind of lie that kept the war going. 

So when people ask me if we made the right call getting out of Afghanistan in 2021, I answer truthfully: Absolutely not. The right call was getting out in 2002. 2003. Every year we didn’t get out was another year the Taliban used to refine their skills and tactics against us — the best fighting force in the world. After two decades, $2 trillion and nearly 2,500 American lives lost, 2021 was way too late to make the right call.

You’d think when it all came crumbling down around them, they’d accept the truth. Think again.

War-hungry hawks are suggesting our soldiers weren’t in harm’s way. Well, when I was there, two incredible Marines in my unit were killed. 

Elitist hacks are even blaming the American people for what happened last week. The same American people that they spent years lying to about Afghanistan. Are you kidding me?

We deserve better. Instead of politicians spending $6.4 trillion to “nation build” in the Middle East, we should start nation building right here at home.

I can’t believe that would be a controversial proposal, but already in Washington, we see some of the same architects of these Middle Eastern disasters balking at the idea of investing a fraction of that amount to build up our own country.

The lies about Afghanistan matter not just because of the money spent or the lives lost, but because they are representative of a systematic dishonesty that is destroying our country from the inside out.

Remember when they told us the economy was back? Another lie. 

Our state of Missouri was home to the worst economic recovery from the Great Recession in this part of the country. I see the boarded-up stores and the vacant lots — one of which used to be my family’s home. When our country’s elites were preaching about how they had solved the financial crisis and the housing market was booming, I watched the house I joined the Marine Corps out of sit on the market for two years. My dad finally got $43,000 for it. He owed $78,000. 

The only way out is to level with the American people. I’ll start. With the two-sentence truth about what we are seeing in Afghanistan right now:

For 20 years, politicians, elites and D.C. military leaders lied to us about Afghanistan.

What happened last week was inevitable, and anyone saying differently is still lying to you.

(Cole County, Kansas native Lucas Kunce is a Marine veteran and antitrust advocate. He is a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate.)

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Time is never on your side. Something comes up that needs doing and you think, well, I have time. Except that no you don’t have time because as sure as can be, something else happens and the time you thought you had dissipates like early morning mist.

As for pulling the rug out, in wide areas of the country, and other countries too, it’s already been done, collapse isn’t something to deal with in the murky future, it’s here and now and has been for years. In my hometown and the towns nearby, once full of factories, all gone. Fifty years ago on Friday and Saturday nights the downtowns were full of people. No more. I walk from the bus station to my mother’s place and in that 20 minute walk – half of it down Main Street – I see some cars going by but not a single soul on the sidewalk.

My sister and I moved away a long time ago. Had to. My mother is moving in a couple of months a few minutes from my sister. Only things left are graves, my dad’s and grandparents’, some friends and a few other relatives. Graves, that’s it.

WHEN I WAS MAKING MY FIRST FILM, Roger & Me, I was broke, so I wrote to some famous people to ask for help. Only one responded: Ed Asner. 

“I don’t know you, kid, but here’s 500 bucks,” said the note attached to the check. “Sounds like it’ll be a great film. I was an autoworker once.” 

He also eventually became a union president (SAG), the star of one of the best TV dramas ever (“The Lou Grant Show”) and one of the best animated films of all time (“Up”). He always showed up, supporting progressive/left movements across the country. He took on Reagan and fought against American support of Latin American dictators. Kimberly-Clark (Kleenex) and Vidal Sassoon, sponsors of his CBS drama, told the network that if they couldn’t get Ed to end his political activism, they’d pull their ads from his “Lou Grant” show. CBS told Ed to tamp it down. He wouldn’t, so the sponsors pulled their ads and the award-winning Lou Grant came to an end. He once told me, “Look, it’s never been easy in this country to speak out against the status quo. I’m not going to stop now.” He never did and I loved him for it. It still isn’t easy, Ed, and we will miss you. You once told Mary Tyler Moore on her show, “You know what? You’ve got spunk! (pause) I HATE spunk.” Hahaha. The funniest thing about that line was that you were nothing BUT spunk! 

R.I.P. Ed Asner.

Solidarity forever.

PEOPLE ASK ME if I'm “an eccentric.” No one called Michael Jordan an eccentric because all of his life he's been trying to get a ball through a hoop. 130 years ago if some guy spent all his life trying to get a ball through some hoop they'd have stuck him in some cave. I once knew a man in the town were I grew up named Mr. Franz. He was the one who spoke in town meetings, asking questions of the auditors and so on. People would look at him as if he were some kind of freak. The guy who took his citizen's duties seriously was a freak. You've got your town fool, your town drunk and your town citizen. 

— Ralph Nader

GAVIN NEWSOM IS MUCH MORE THAN THE LESSER OF TWO EVILS

The torrent of policy the governor and the legislature are passing amounts to nothing less than a Green New Deal for the Golden State.

nytimes.com/2021/09/02/opinion/newsom-elder-california-recall.html

GOOD NEWS

Support SB 332 & AB 642 for Prescribed Fire Empowerment 

Hi everyone,

Exciting news! SB332 (Dodd; limiting liability for prescribed fire) and AB642 (Friedman; prescribed fire training, cultural burning liaison and tribal sovereignty, improving and updating fire severity maps, etc.) have both made it out of the legislature and are on their way to Governor Newsom’s desk. If these two bills are signed into law, they will mean HUGE leaps for prescribed fire and cultural burning in California. You’ll recall that when SB332 was first introduced earlier this year, people told me it wouldn’t stand a chance. And here we are, months later, with full bipartisan support, no opposition from anyone, and only one more critical step before we finally have some liability protections for prescribed burners in CA. It’s really, really cool. I am so grateful to all of you for writing letters and showing your support—it made all the difference.

 At this point, we need to make a one more showing of support for these bills so that Newsom signs them into law. Many impactful, well-supported bills have died on the Governor’s desk, and I would be crushed if that happened to either of these.

 Attached are template letters for both bills. Will you please consider sending Governor Newsom letters to request his signatures on these bills? You can use the templates or (even better!) pull out the key points and write your own letters. The bills should each have their own letter/email to make things as clear as possible for Newsom. As before, letters can come from organizations and/or individuals. This is a public process and every bit of support matters!

 Letters should be emailed individually ASAP to leg.unit@gov.ca.gov 

The subject lines should read: RE: SB 332 (Dodd); Request for signature RE: AB642 (Friedman); Request for signature

Please let me know if you have any questions or need more information. Please share this information widely! Thank you!!!

Lenya N Quinn-Davidson, lquinndavidson@ucanr.edu

P.S. We are still waiting to hear whether or not the Rx Fire Claims Fund made it through the state budget process. I am optimistic, and I will definitely update you as soon as I hear something definitive. Fingers crossed!

A DAY OF DELUSION WITH CORPORATE DEMOCRATS

THE FACTS OF LIFE do not penetrate to the sphere in which our beliefs are cherished; as it was not they that engendered those beliefs, so they are powerless to destroy them; they can aim at them continual blows of contradiction and disproof without weakening them; and an avalanche of miseries and maladies coming, one after another, without interruption into the bosom of a family, will not make it lose faith in either the clemency of its God or the capacity of its physician.

—Marcel Proust, 1913; from "In Search of Lost Time"