THE SUPERVISORS had to endure about ten minutes of very nutty, angry anti-vaxxers during public expression on Tuesday morning. About four of them ranted in sequence insulting the Supervisors and demanding that they all resign, etc. because of mask and vaccine mandates. The Board invoked their ten-minutes-on-one subject rule and cut the nuts off after ten minutes. We’re generally not inclined to sympathize with the Supervisors, after all they are well-paid to sit through these meetings, but they should not have listen to such crazy wastes of time.
[1] Carrie Shattuck, Ukiah — Demands open, in-person meetings. Says some “citizens of our county” want face to face Board meetings. Complains about the cumbersome process of participating on line via zoom: Reads a list of people who don’t like the process. The list included former Ukiah area supervisor Frank McMichael; we didn’t recognize any other names.
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[2] Paul Spandenburg (Redwood Valley) said he was “totally against mandates.” Said the Supes were hiding. They were “guilty of ritual satanic ritual abuse against citizens,” because of mask and social distancing. Said that “the mandatory jab is the sacrifice part. You are jabbing children with experimental gene therapy and turning them into trans-humans,” which he explained was “from humans to cyborgs.” “To our kids! You are guilty of some type of Nuremburg trials. Just like Germany in the 30s. Eventually you will be like rats on a sinking ship. You have to open the doors eventually and face the public for what you’ve done. You are all criminals and child abusers. In red states like Florida, no problem, no masks. You are using our children for political pawns. You can’t hide! You know what you’re doing. Maybe some of these dumb hippie liberals don’t because they are all brainwashed by all the propaganda, but the rest of us with common sense know exactly what you’re doing! We’re sick and tired of it! Now you want to bring in these mandatory jabs that’s going to kill a lot people and children! There are so many side effects. Blood clots, periodiditis (?), the list goes on and on! Obviously, none of you have done any research. You should not be where you are. You should be doing something else. You should resign. We are going to recall you. You are going along with deep state, new world order nonsense, the great re-set. It’s not going to work!”
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(3) John Rarick, an attorney in Ukiah who specializes in employment, intellectual property and public law.)
Rarick— Agrees with Ms. Shattuck. “You have to end this techno hell to get on board here.” (Mr. Rarick adopted a very aggrieved tone, punctuated with lots of “OK?”s.) “There’s no way to interact with people who rule our lives. (Refers to a letter to Dr. Coren he supposedly sent.) (Reads Board mission statement.) “You have failed.” “I am against your approach. We are not ready to shoot little kids. I don’t have kids so fortunately I don’t have to make that choice. You are completely biased against anyone who doesn’t comply with your mandates. That’s a fact! I have a life to live. I have other clients that need representation in order to be protected or advance. … Do your homework, do your research, listen to the public, engage people so we can get a rational policy in place so that you’re not infringing on people’s constitutional rights. Hopefully these crimes against humanity being put forth by Dr. Pimlich (sic) will have traction and you guys are not part of that because it is a crime against humanity what you’re doing.”
(Note: According to a June 26, 2019 letter from John Sakowicz: “Ms. Howe’s lawyer is John C. Rarick at 107 West Perkins Street, Ste 16, Ukiah, CA, 95482-4855. Very capable guy. Georgetown University. He will win reinstatement for Barbara Howe.”)
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(4) Danielle Brassfield: “You are making decisions based on a virus that has a 99% survival rate for most people.” And on unsubstantiated fears. Says masks decrease oxygen in lungs and that the virus works better with less oxygen. Says masks can cause upper respiratory infections. “So stop wearing masks immediately, and stop forcing children to wear masks in school which I consider to be a form of child abuse. The shot gives you no protection from infections. They only react if something gets into you. They don’t keep anything out. Etc. The shot enhances your chances of getting sick. This will continue to get worse if you keep trying to jab people while a virus that is trying to spread.” Says vaxed people get the virus and that variants are emerging from the vaccinated population. Says the vaccine is experimental and emergency use only, not FDA approved. “You can’t force people without adequate trials. You are in violation of the Constitution and the Nuremberg code. You will be held accountable. Please rescind the mandates and open the Board to the public.”
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The Board Clerk then ended public expression on that topic as the ten minute maximum on one topic had elapsed.
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CEO CARMEL ANGELO went to great lengths toward the end of Tuesday’s board meeting to extol the virtues of her newly expanded CEO report which now includes more filler pages than it used to. She told the Supervisors that members of the public or new supervisors can now see what’s going on at the County at a glance, adding, pointlessly, that “it’s hard to believe this is the last meeting in October,” and that her staff is working really really hard to finish up this year’s activities so that they can start with “new business” next year.
Unfortunately, this rosy, info free and self-serving description of the CEO report is undermined by its actual contents.
For example, in July the CEO Report reported that “One Mental Health Rehabilitation Specialist has been hired, trained, and has been responding to crises in partnership with Mendocino County Sheriff's Office. We are recruiting for two additional Mental Health Rehabilitation Specialists.” That “news” was only three months after the first hire.
Then in August CEO Report reported that “One Mental Health Rehabilitation Specialist has been hired, trained, and has been responding to crises in partnership with Mendocino County Sheriff's Office. We are recruiting for two additional Mental Health Rehabilitation Specialists and are exploring ways to maximize utilization of the existing employee until these Rehabilitation Specialists are hired.” This particular priority recruitment remained at one. Remember, the Board and Measure B committee funded three of these rehab specialist positions back in July of 2020, about 16 months ago, and all we hear is that one person has been hired and they’re trying hard to recruit a couple more.
The September CEO Report reported that “One Mental Health Rehabilitation Specialist has been hired, trained, and responds to crises in partnership with Mendocino County Sheriff's Office. One new Mental Health Rehabilitation Specialist is being transferred to the team, and the Sheriff's Office and BHRS are working together on innovative ways to recruit additional staff.”
And this month’s CEO report reported that “One Mental Health Rehabilitation Specialist has been hired, trained, and responds to crises in partnership with Mendocino County Sheriff's Office. One new Mental Health Rehabilitation Specialist is being transferred to the team, and the Sheriff's Office and BHRS are working together on innovative ways to recruit additional staff.” The transfer process apparently takes as long as a new recruitment.
Seeing as how these positions are part of an urgent attempt to backfill the Sheriff’s recently stated position that staff shortages have resulted in no responses to non-emergency mental health calls, the lack of attention to these positions should be a matter of priority for the CEO and the Board. But no, nobody seems to care that after well over a year all they’ve been able to do on this important services is hire and train one person.
THE BOARD expressed exactly zero interest in the CEO report.
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THE SOCIAL SERVICES SECTION of the CEO reports that Social Services staff “have continued to maintain public assistance benefits for 39,657 Mendocino County residents, and “Mendocino County’s Medi-Cal caseload has grown by 11% since February 1, 2020, from 20,071 cases to 22,475 cases (39,245 persons).” Nearly half of Mendocino qualifies for public benefits of one kind or another, mostly welfare (or whatever it’s called these days) and Medi-Cal. And we’re pretty sure that there are more who simply don’t apply or don’t know they’re eligible,
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AT THE INITIATION of Supervisor Ted Williams, the Board pulled the $3.5 million contract extension with Naphcare, the jail’s medical service contractor, off the consent calendar where the huge value contract (now totaling about $19 million with the latest extension) was oddly placed. Williams and the rest of the Board asked for a presentation in an upcoming meeting addressing Naphcare’s performance and cost, including input from Mental Health staff.
AT ABOUT 10:20 Tuesday morning, Chair Gjerde announced that the Board would be going into “a very short closed session.” At around 1:30, some three hours later, they emerged to announce that “no reportable actions were taken.”
BOARD CHAIR DAN GJERDE made a point of asking County Counsel about the status of consolidating the Treasurer and Auditor’s office and changing those positions from independently elected officers to hired tools of the CEO and the Board. County Counsel Christian Curtis said he had drafted a memo — which of course will report that it’s not only legal but a great idea — and it is nearly ready to be submitted and will be available at the November 9 meeting. The quaint old idea that the Auditor should be reasonably independent and somewhat distant from the people he/she is supposed to “audit” is now just one small step away from coming to an end.
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