COUNTY GOVERNMENT, always abreast of breaking news, distributed this unsigned announcement Monday: “Dear County Employees, The County flags will be flown at half mast as a mark of respect for the victims of the senseless act of violence perpetrated shortly after midnight on July 20th, 2012 in Aurora, Colorado. The flags will remain at half-mast until sunset on July 25, 2012. Thank you, Executive Office.”
IT'S A GIVEN THAT OLD GLORY has been mis-invoked and abused many times over our long and occasionally glorious history, but that's no excuse for CEO Carmel Angelo to totally trivialize the national symbol based on berserk episodes. The Aurora slaughter was a bad one but hardly shocking in a country where a million senseless acts of violence, and even thousands of sensible ones, are a daily fact of life. Ultra-vi is as American as cherry pie, Mr. Brown famously commented 50 years ago. Rather than insincere flag-brandishings by outback governments, how about an admission, or at least a Big Think discussion, of how it is that a very young man can become so isolated, so crazed that he opens fire on a theater packed with his fellow citizens? Think there might be something fundamentally wrong with the way we're organized? Think it might have something to do with the rightwing's constant lie that there's no money for public services because cops, firemen and CalTrans workers' pensions are too big? Think it might have something to do with the fact that the country is being systematically looted by the One Percent? Think it might have something to do with the fact that a society couldn't be better organized to drive its people murderously nuts?
SUPERVISORS PLACE DEFEND DEMOCRACY Proposition on November Ballot The Mendocino County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously yesterday to place a Citizens Advisory Measure to End Corporate Rule and Defend Democracy on the November 2012 ballot for Mendocino County. The measure asks voters if their elected representatives should be instructed to enact resolutions and legislation calling for an amendment to the United States Constitution to establish that only human beings and not corporations are endowed with constitutional rights, and money does not constitute speech and political spending can be regulated. The Board of Supervisors action was sponsored by Fifth District Supervisor Dan Hamburg. Beginning in March and finishing in June, about eighty volunteers from the Move to Amend Coalition of Mendocino County collected 5661 signatures from county voters to put the measure on the ballot. Elections official, County Clerk Sue Ranochak, certified that the group had collected enough valid signatures to qualify the measure for the ballot. “I applaud the work the organization has done going out to the shopping centers and gathering places and educating people one to one,” said Hamburg. To date, eleven other towns and counties nationwide have passed ballot measures calling for a Constitutional Amendment and twenty more are in progress. More than 128 town and county councils have passed resolutions calling for a Constitutional Amendment to End Corporate Personhood including Mendocino County towns Pt. Arena and Ft. Bragg as well as major cities such as Los Angeles and New York. “Corporate personhood “ commonly refers to Supreme Court rulings that a corporation, a fictional “person” for legal purposes, has the same inherent Constitutional rights as a human being. The most recent example is the ruling in the Citizens United vs. Fair Elections Commission case of January 2010 in which the Court held that campaign contributions constitute free speech and cannot be regulated, thus overturning the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law. That ruling has proved to be controversial and has spurred a number of calls to reverse it by amending the Constitution. Previous Supreme Court rulings have overturned food labeling laws and worker and consumer safety laws, among others. Move to Amend is a national grassroots organization formed to raise awareness of the problem of “corporate personhood” and mobilize a political movement to bring about a Constitutional Amendment firmly establishing that a corporation or other artificial entity is not a person with constitutional rights, and political spending is not free speech and can be regulated. The organization has grown to include over 100 local affiliates since its formation in January 2010. Move to Amend Ukiah and Move to Amend Ft. Bragg have formed the Move to Amend Coalition of Mendocino County to campaign for the Citizens Advisory to End Corporate Rule and Defend Democracy which will be on the November Mendocino County ballot. The Coalition is actively supported by residents throughout the county, including in Willits, Ukiah, Laytonville, Booneville, Potter Valley, Point Arena, Mendocino and Round Valley. “This has been an all volunteer effort of ordinary citizens and the volunteers found that most people were eager to sign the petition. Many people were happy to take our flyers to learn more about the issue,” said Margaret Koster, inland Co-Chair of the effort. For more information about the Move to Amend Coalition of Mendocino County contact Tom Wodetzki at 937-1113 or tw@mcn.org or Margaret Koster at 459-5970 or mkoster@pacific.net. For more information about the national organization Move to Amend go to www.movetoamend.org
ON MONDAY, JULY 23, 2012, at about 5:50 PM, a clerk at the Herban Legend Medical Cannabis Dispensary reported that a person had just stolen marijuana along with marijuana-based products (valued in excess of $5,000) and a diamond ring from the store. The clerk was able to provide the name of the suspect and a description of the suspect's vehicle. While Mendocino County Sheriff's Deputies were contacting the clerk, another deputy located the Suspect Linda Little and the previously described vehicle in the City of Fort Bragg. Further investigation revealed that Little possessed the items reported stolen, with the exception of the diamond ring. The ring was later determined not to have been stolen. All of the stolen property was recovered and Little was booked into the Mendocino County Jail for violations of 459 PC-burglary, 496(A) PC-possession of stolen property, and 487(a) PC-grand theft, with bail set at $15,000. (Sheriff’s Office Press Release)
POINT ARENA REORGANIZES. NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the City Council of the City of Point Arena reorganized at its Regular Meeting held on the 24th day of July 2012, following the appointment of Jim Koogle (appointed by majority vote of City Council July 24, 2012 to serve remainder of four year term ending this November 2012), as follows: Mayor: Doug Burkey, Vice Mayor: Terry Hughey, Councilmember: Jim Koogle, Councilmember: Brian Riehl, Councilmember: Trevor Sanders. NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Planning Commission of the City of Point Arena reorganized at its Regular Meeting held on the 24th day of July 2012, to reflect the appointment of Barry DuCharme (appointed by City Council June 26, 2012 to serve remainder of two year term ending November 2013), as follows: Chair: Commissioner Richard Wasserman, Vice Chair: Commissioner Susan Moon, Commissioner: Patricia Schwindt, Commissioner: Barry DuCharme, Commissioner: Eric Dahlhoff. Please contact City Hall for additional information. Thank you, Hunter M. Alexander, Administrator/City Clerk
WE ARE EXTREMELY SADDENED at the news of the passing of Alexander Cockburn, what an enormous political pillar he has been over the years. It does not look like Counterpunch will stop without Alex and that is the mark of his work, that it continues on. I remember discovering the AVA and him on the same day. That fateful Thursday following September 11, 2001 when his cover story for the AVA was “Who Saw It Coming?” Now that story should be re-printed in his honor. I also saw him at Mission High School in SF a day after the US began bombing Baghdad in 2003. Alex was a sight and a voice of comfort in turbulent and confusing times, always. His indictments of the status quo always reverberated. He was a true iconoclast, and thus we will not be sentimental about a thing. If it means anything for you, Alex we love you. I am personally sorry for cursing you out a couple times for not printing my shit. Small shit that the ego is prone to do, eh? Down with the ego. I'm not going to be sad though, Alex would say do something happy in his memory. I'm going to do a bunch of happy things in his memory. ALEXANDER CLAUD COCKBURN. (June 6,1941 — July 21 2012). — Nate Collins, Berkeley.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: In the leading machine, the Head of the Air Force was sitting beside the pilot. He had a world atlas on his knees and he kept staring first at the atlas, then at the ground below, trying to figure out where they were going. Frantically he turned the pages of the atlas. “Where the devil are we going?” he cried. “I haven't the foggiest idea,” the pilot answered. “The Queen's orders were to follow the giant and that's exactly what I'm doing.” The pilot was a young Air Force officer with a bushy moustache. He was very proud of his moustache. He was also quite fearless and he loved adventure. He thought this was a super adventure. “It's fun going to new places,” he said. “New places!” shouted the Head of the Air Force. “What the blazes d'you mean by new places?” “This place we're flying over now isn't in the atlas, is it?” the pilot said, grinning. “You're darn right it isn't in the atlas!” cried the Head of the Air Force. “We've flown clear off the last page!” I expect that old giant knows where he's going,” the young pilot said. “He's leading us to disaster!” cried the Head of the Air Force. He was shaking with fear. In the seat behind him sat the Head of the Army who was even more terrified. “You don't mean to tell me we've gone right out of the atlas?” he cried, leaning forward to look. “That's exactly what I am telling you!” cried the Air Force man. “Look for yourself. Here's the very last map in the whole flaming atlas! We went off that, over an hour ago!” He turned the page. As in all atlases, there were two completely blank pages at the very end. “So now we must be somewhere here,” he said, putting a finger on one of the blank pages. “Where's here?” cried the Head of the Army. The young pilot was still grinning broadly. He said to them, “That's why they always put two blank pages at the back of the atlas. They're for new countries. You're meant to fill them in yourself.” — Roald Dahl, 1982; from “The BFG”
HARRIS QUARRY EXPANSION PROJECT LAWSUIT UPDATE: Friday, July 27at 2pm, Judge Cindee Mayfield will preside over a Status Conference, at the Ukiah Court House. These are preliminary proceedings and will include lawsuit management, and initial discussion of settlement, and are open to the public. Keep The Code was compelled to file an environmental lawsuit against the County Board of Supervisors for approving the proposed Harris Quarry Expansion Project. It is regrettable that this action has been necessary. The proposed industrial project is for a permanent, 300-ton-per-hour asphalt plant, industrial zoning that would also allow a concrete plant, and permits a tripling of rock extraction from the adjacent rock quarry. After the asphalt plant project was turned down multiple times at other more urban locations, primarily due to public outcry, the county directed the applicant back in 2005 to apply for the current site, with the new industrial zoning on rangeland. Approval of this project through the permitting process, without even an Environmental Impact Report (EIR), was the original intent of the County and the applicant. The Mendocino County Board of Supervisors has failed to protect public health, safety, and the natural environment in its haste to approve this ill-conceived idea. Here are just a few of the many issues: • Other sites were not given serious consideration, as is legally required. • Thorough countywide mitigation standards were not considered for the new zoning ordinance that allows industrial development on rangeland. • The County’s adopted Precautionary Principle to consider health and other impacts on citizens was completely ignored. • A properly sited asphalt plant must be compatible with neighboring land uses. The Ridgewood Summit location adjacent to rural residential subdivisions, a school, church and senior mobile home park fails this test. • Traffic safety at this ridgetop intersection with Highway 101 is already very poor. This proposed project could add up to 50 trucks per hour to this intersection, seriously increasing traffic congestion and accident potential. • Air pollution has been improperly assessed. The expensive, 442-page Revised Draft EIR didn't even get the wind direction correct, because the study used a weather monitoring facility at the REMCO plant in Willits, 4.7 miles away from the project site. It stated the predominant winds were up canyon, (away from the Ridgewood Ranch), when they are actually down canyon (toward the Ranch). This directly affects where the asphalt, rock dust and diesel emissions will settle. The adjacent population of hundreds of elderly citizens and children on the Ranch has a significantly higher health risk from the flawed air pollution dispersion “modeling.” The Board of Supervisors approved a Statement of Overriding Considerations allowing significant, unavoidable air pollution of far greater magnitude than is allowed by current health standards. It seems that the perceived need for cheaper asphalt trumps the health and safety of the people. Fortunately, this process is governed by law that is known as the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Keep The Code has hired the prominent environmental law firm Remy Moose Manley, LLP. We believe there are multiple issues of non-compliance with this law. The legal petition has been filed with the Superior Court of Mendocino County. A local group of private citizens organized as the non-profit Keep The Code — along with enthusiastic support throughout Mendocino County — has held off the expansion for seven years and counting. Keep The Code urges the County to encourage prosperity based on wise management and conscientious stewardship of our most valuable assets in Mendocino County, our people, our clean air, and our natural environment. Please visit Keep The Code's web site, www.keepthecode.info, for periodic updates, and to learn how you can help. Keep The Code: www.keepthecode.info
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