Mendocino County Today: Saturday, March 12, 2022

Chance Showers | 6 New Cases | Mariupol | Unspeakable River | Indoor Masking | Grandma's Kitchen | Bark Wagon | Cafe Reopening | Ukiah Ambulance | Trillium | Water Conference | AV Village | Rising Prices | Mendo Housing | FB Church | County Notes | Magdaleno Settlement | Skunk Cleanup | Prather's Store | Narcan Save | Oil Lamp | Shower Bandit | Yesterday's Catch | Odessa | LAPD | Nat/Eartha | Connecting Trails | Runaway Scrape | Convoy Video | Putin Putin | Gas Prices | American Soul | Goring's Wine | Better Off | Underground Comics | Flow Kana | Clock | EVs | Wind Execution | Gas Prices | March Days | Ritterview | Division Street | Dog's World | Kleptocracies | Kilted | Change | Bunkermen | Building Bridges | 1975 | Marco Radio | Clean Air | Fukushima Deaths

SOME LOCALLY DENSE FOG will linger along the coast through some of the morning hours before light rainfall arrives. Gusty southerly winds will continue to increase today through the afternoon. Light showers will linger into Sunday before another round of beneficial rainfall with better coverage of higher totals moves in for Monday into Tuesday. (NWS)

6 NEW COVID CASES reported in Mendocino County yesterday afternoon.

UKRAINE AGAINST ALL THE ODDS: In hellish scenes not witnessed in Europe since WWII, Mariupol’s residents fight one another for food and bodies are buried in mass graves as more than 1,500 people have now died in the city. But a defiant President Volodymyr Zelensky insisted vital supplies must be delivered to the besieged port city tomorrow after more than a week of being surrounded by Russian troops. The Ukrainian premier accused Russia of refusing to allow evacuees to escape the city of Mariupol, which has been cut off from food, water and electricity, and defiantly insisted vital supplies would be delivered there tomorrow despite it being surrounded by Russian troops. “Russian troops have not let our aid into the city and continue to torture our people… Tomorrow [Saturday] we will try again, try again to send food, water and medicine,” Zelensky said. The Kremlin-owned Tass news agency painted a damning picture for those stuck in the city after quoting Russian Colonel Mikhail Mizintsev as saying all bridges into the city were destroyed and roads had been laid with mines. It comes as Putin turned his attention to civilian strongholds some hundreds of miles from Kyiv in central and western Ukraine as huge explosions illuminated the night sky in Dnipro and Lutsk as residents experienced Russian artillery attacks for the first time. (Daily Mail)

INDOOR MASKING WILL NO LONGER BE MANDATORY at K-12 schools and child care facilities after midnight tonight. While masking will no longer be required in California schools, public health officials continue to “strongly recommend” masking in indoor public settings.

BROOKS SCHMITT:

In the orchestral movements of my life, my Grandma Sally was the oboe, the reedy and powerful note to which everyone around me tuned their instruments. Though proud, and almost unflappably sure of the right way of doing things, she was incredibly humble for such a public figure. It always surprised me growing up as I discovered the profound effect that she had on so many people’s lives outside of our family. Over the years I became increasingly aware of a larger family who had heard the song that my grandmother played and joined along in the chorus, composed their own variations and etudes, sonatas and symphonies.

Perhaps music isn’t the right metaphor to remember my grandmother, given that the Schmitt family is most profoundly not a musically gifted family. Though we all appreciate and love music, almost none of us can sing, and only one or two of us can even play an instrument. When I think of my Grandma Sally, perhaps rather obviously, I think of the wonderful smells that surrounded her. Vanilla bean pods snapping between her fingers, notes of star anise drifting from a boiling copper vat of apricot chutney, duck legs sizzling in the oven, toasted peppercorns cracking in a mortar and pestle, the smell of her lotion and her shampoo, and the faint aroma of jasmine around her neck.

These smells were so intoxicating that her kitchen was always a gravity well, and every day that she was in the kitchen there was this vague feeling that her kitchen was the center of the universe. It always felt strange to see my grandmother in the outside world, where she couldn’t control the balance of light, the temperature, the allocation of tasks. I would watch her eyes dart around and her mouth hang slightly open in the way that it always did when she was assessing a room and about to give orders, and then see her close her eyes and accept that this was not her domain. That even though she knew exactly where those chairs should go, and that the curtains blocking the morning light should be thrown open and were “just awful” as she would say, that this was not her world, her orchestra pit, her little gravity well in an unvarnished little pocket of Northern California.

And maybe that was why she spent so much time in her kitchens. In a world where women do most of the cooking but male chefs get most of the accolades, my grandmother steadily and assuredly transformed every kitchen she inhabited into a living breathing work of art. In her kitchen, I never once saw anyone tell my grandmother what to do. She was a beloved and trusted queen, a culinary Alexander the Great riding bareback at the front of her army, for there were always more worlds to conquer and more apples left to peel in her powerful fingers. Her opinions were unwavering, and everyone fell into line, and most of us have continued to do things the way she told us to for the rest of our lives because, usually, she was right. The world is more beautiful and more fragrant due to all of the wonderful every day tricks that she taught us and that all of us continue to do.

Over the course of my life, I watched my Grandmother slow down, and dismount from her horse. She did it gracefully, albeit reluctantly, and there were times when I would see her basking on her chair in the sun on her porch when I almost believed that leisure came naturally to her. But I knew that wasn’t the case. If her body had allowed it, my grandmother would have continued to cook and garden and reshape the world until long past each of her grandchildren had folded up their aprons and retired.

I see her now in the New York Times, and I can’t help but think of my Grandpa Don, a famously fastidious reader of newspapers, and how proud he was of her. I picture him in his chair, his glasses perched on the tip of his nose, smiling faintly as he reads the story of their lives printed in ink and sipping his morning coffee. My grandmother drops a large spoonful of duck fat into an iron pan and cooks their morning eggs, perfectly runny, and waits for him to finish the article to ask him what he thinks. And I know that they were so proud of each other, and that our entire family and extended family of friends, chefs, and guests at the table felt so proud to have had them in our lives, and I find myself so grateful for the life that Sally Schmitt lived.

GOODLIFE CAFE IN MENDOCINO REOPENS

We will be OPEN for service tomorrow (Friday) regular hours (8-3). We have missed you so much and we are so excited to serve you again! PS you may have seen in our stories—indoor dining is back! Swing by tomorrow to check out our new setup.

UKIAH DOESN’T NEED ANOTHER AMBULANCE SERVICE

Editor,

I read an ad in the February 9 edition of the Ukiah Daily Journal featuring employment opportunities and seeking applications with the City of Ukiah for ambulance personnel. The first question one might have is: Is this money coming from the City of Ukiah's general fund under the premise that they will soon begin receiving $1 million in new parcel tax revenue each year from the recently approved LAFCo parcel tax annexation (a tax implemented without voter approval)?

I remember the Ukiah city attorney writing a letter to the editor in November 2021 stating that the annexation had nothing to do with ambulance service and everything to do with adequately funding fire protection services and would not harm MedStar ambulance. These recent employment ads contradict the city attorney's statement at that time and seem like a very obvious attempt to begin City ambulance service again.

MedStar Ukiah Ambulance of Mendocino County is the longest continuously running ambulance provider in Mendocino County and is operating as a 501(c)3 nonprofit. MedStar has been a safety net service in the community for many years and provides this service at no cost to the taxpayers. Our business is just the latest example of an industrywide shortage of ambulance personnel, not just here in Mendocino County, but throughout the region, state and country. Those familiar with the ambulance business are undeniably aware of this critical shortage. The city of Ukiah's move to hire ambulance personnel has led them to interview and attempt to hire MedStar employees. This is not increasing the number of EMTs and paramedics in our region, but creating a ping-ponging of employees and resources that will only cause two local agencies to fight for business in the same area. This will not enhance emergency response times but only cause one ambulance service to grow while the other suffers.

With more than 80 years of continuous ambulance services here in Mendocino County, it is both unfortunate and disheartening that a taxpayer-funded agency is seeking to hinder the ability of a local nonprofit which supports numerous fire departments and other community non-profits.

There can and should be a better, more sustainable opportunity for both the fire district and MedStar to coexist. The city's recent moves are not encouraging and I hope we can work together and forge a better path forward.

Leonard Winter, Chief Executive Officer

MedStar Ukiah Ambulance of Mendocino County

LAUREL KRAUSE SPOTS THE FIRST TRILLIUM

WATER RESILIENCE CONFERENCE - UPDATED TIME

March 22nd is World Water Day and we are proud to host another Water Resilience Conference. Regina Hirsch is the owner/founder of Watershed Progressive and her team designed and installed our rain catchment system. Regina will be here for two days to discuss rain catchment, greywater and stormwater management. Come and see how rain catchment works and discover how downspouts can be turned into a water company. Tuesday March 22, 12pm-3pm - Bring a bag lunch and lawn chair, water provided. Street parking. Open to the public. 

Wednesday March 23, 1pm-3pm - Resilience Design Clinic (walk around Mendo Village). Come take a stroll through Mendocino where Regina will point out current water features and opportunities to improve our rain catchment, storm water and groundwater management by making small changes. 

Location for conference: 44800 Little Lake Road (Joshua Grindle Inn). Hope to see you there!

ANDERSON VALLEY VILLAGE VOLUNTEER TRAINING

Sunday, March 13th 1:30 to 2:30 PM Anderson Valley Senior Center

Join us for a short volunteer training and learn more about the Anderson Valley Village and how you can give back to the elders of our community. The work of volunteers is vital to our mission of supporting seniors as they age in place, providing all manner of help, from basic chores, transportation, tech support and errands to check-in calls and visits to skilled services. It’s up to you how, and how often, to volunteer. Because we are working with a vulnerable population, we require our volunteers to have the COVID vaccine, thank you (please bring your card). And if you would like to be a volunteer driver, please bring your Driver’s License and proof of insurance card. Volunteer applications are available at the training, Senior Center, Health Center.

Please RSVP with the coordinator - Hope to see you there, thank you!

* * *

AV Village Monthly in-person Gathering: Responding to Climate Change 

Sunday, March 13th 3 to 4:30 PM Anderson Valley Senior Center, Refreshments served outside For many people, those four words trigger a variety of negative emotions: sadness, despair, guilt, anger, fear, hopelessness, apathy, uncertainty, insecurity, confusion. Why would anyone want to spend time exploring or discussing such a topic? Discussing our aches and pains actually sounds more pleasant. However, there are numerous things we can do to respond to climate change and our fears about the future. First and foremost, we need to break the silence. Our fears are invariably diminished when shared. So too, is climate change. Second, we need to take meaningful actions. These range from personal commitments to political engagement. Both require becoming well informed about the causes, likely consequences, and mitigation of climate change. If you are interested in such work, we hope you will join us.

Please RSVP with the coordinator. Thank you!

Anica Williams 

Cell: 707-684-9829 

Email: andersonvalleyvillage@gmail.com 

SUPERVISOR WILLIAMS replies to a coast resident asking for action on the housing shortage with a silly and windy opinion saying, essentially (and totally wrongly), that nothing is being done and nothing can be done.

* * *

Vacation rentals

Elizabeth Swenson <eswenson@mcn.org> wrote:

It is horrible that we haven’t made any progress in doing something about short term rentals. HAT on the coast has been focused on short term vacation rentals issues for several months, and late last year. . .

Myself and Johanna Jensen presented a plan to supervisors Ad hoc committee (Dan Gjerde and Ted Williams) a couple of months ago. We laid out the basic elements of an ordinance after researching ordinances of other counties - Sonoma county is especially useful. At the meeting with Ted and Dan, there seemed to be basic agreement about the urgency of an ordinance and what it would involve. Ted had ideas for restrictions that he wanted to check with county counsel. Now, much to our dismay, more than two months have gone by, Ted does not reply to our calls or messages, and the ad hoc has not reported to the board. While we have contact with Dan, he is only half of the AdHoc committee. And there is no indication that anything is happening.

As I understand it, even if the supervisors agreed with our plan in general, the planning department will have to draw up an ordinance (or just use HAT’s), and the board will vote to accept and then it goes to coastal commission before it can be enacted.

It is urgent that the county begin to deal with vacation rentals. So HAT is getting pushy - we are starting a petition campaign to be announced very soon. The petition demanding the board of supervisors to pass a short term vacation ordinance NOW.

The petition will be on line, as well as in person. if you want to help with this petition drive please email your contact information. We will be getting in touch closer to petition drive start date - later in March.

— Elizabeth Swenson

* * *

Supervisor Williams Replies:

On Nov 16, I co-sponsored formation of a committee with Dan Gjerde to re-examine vacation rental policy and draft amendments. It gained board support:

Discussion and Possible Action Including Formation of an Ad Hoc Committee that Would Explore Creation of a Balanced Short-Term Rental Policy for Business Licensees and Others, Consisting of Supervisor Williams and another Supervisor (Sponsor: Supervisor Williams)

We've met with various groups to gain input and we've had counsel research options. Rough ideas will come back for full board review before we're granted staff resources to continue. The flow will be BOS, Planning Commission, Coastal Commission, BOS. It's a long land use modification process and we want to be reasonably certain the proposal will pass each group to minimize lost time in starting over.

The California-voter passed Coastal Act places visitor serving facilities as the number one priority. Local does not have authority to override this and we need Coastal Commission approval. Historically, they've signaled an unwillingness to simply outlaw vacation rentals, but more recently, there's been indication that some level of restriction can be supported.

I've proposed allowing vacation rental at the primary residence (not to regulate what you do where you live), but phase out the scenario of whole house rental (often from people or businesses who don't even live here).

There isn't a quick legally supported solution. Imagine 1-2 years for all of the review, then a 3 year phase out. It needs to move forward, but this cannot be our only answer to housing. Of the 500-some vacation rentals, it appears a good many will remain empty (because the owners use throughout the year, currently rent during the unused portion, limiting long term rental ability). Some have asked for a higher tax. We're already taxing at the maximum rate allowed under voter-passed Proposition 13. When I offered a survey, I included a question about increasing the Transient Occupancy Tax on full-house vacation rentals above the current 10% to reduce the financial incentive of short term stay. About a third were against. This isn't something the Board of Supervisors could legally enact, but we could put it on the ballot. Is there support?

On March 15, I introduced and the full board passed:

Discussion and Possible Action Including Approval of Direction to Staff to 1) Determine Public Interest in Increased Housing, 2) Determine Where They Want It, 3) Determine Whether They Will Accept High-Density Multi-family Structures, and 4) Propose General Plan Updates Necessary to Realize Private Industry Development 5) identify prime locations for infrastructure deployment and collaborate with grant division on potential funding solutions (Sponsor: Supervisor Williams)

Limiting vacation rentals will add some long-term rental stock, but it's a finite count and won't come close to what we need. Why isn't there new development approaching the demand for housing? Wages are too low throughout the county to afford the modern cost of new housing units. How can we progress on wages commensurate with new housing? We're fighting over the uses of 1980s era houses, but if the intention is to grow, what's stopping developers from building housing units in 2022? Wages. In the unincorporated, take a $300k parcel, add a 1200 square foot modest home at $400/sf, add septic and well (capable of meeting state's sprinkler requirement), that's $840k. Even the "accessory dwelling unit" on existing parcel doesn't pencil out to break even.

In the 3/15 item, I offered commentary:

"The lack of new housing in Mendocino County is a recurring theme. Housing starts are primarily influenced by the cost of land, labor, materials and regulatory compliance. The County of Mendocino does not control the price of labor, materials or regulatory compliance. The free market establishes the cost of labor and materials. The State of California dictates building code. The one variable Mendocino County can control is land use. Greater density and allowance of multi-family buildings would lower the per-unit price of new housing. A recent survey by Supervisor Williams collected input from 327 residents, with 95% believing Mendocino County needs more housing and 78% favoring “Re-envision / facilitate housing needs” over “Re-envision / facilitate housing needs”.

Water infrastructure development and short-term vacation rental regulation will help but will not be enough to address the existing housing demand.

Action speaks louder than words. The people deserve the benefits an update to our General Plan would provide."

Where there is infrastructure (sewer, water, electricity at lot, etcetera) the cost per housing unit is lower. Can we find grants to bring infrastructure to areas outside our four cities?

Scale plays a factor. One off custom homes are more expensive than planned development units. Does the public support housing developments if it means bringing down the per unit cost? What size development and where (outside of Ukiah)? Where on the coast?

WILL LEE: Our beautiful House of God in Fort Bragg.

COUNTY NOTES

by Mark Scaramella

MENDO’S $310k WATER AGENCY CONSULTANT (GEI Consultants out of Rancho Cordova, Sacto area) to present “urgent” workplan for creation of County water agency amidst "unprecedented" drought conditions — sometime in July or August when he'll be consulting some more. Maybe.

The consulting contract was awarded in October of 2021 and now only five months later they’ve come up with this.

And why does it take so long? (We’re sorry we asked.)

What are the agency’s “challenges”?

(Note: In Mendo, a “challenge” is something that will never be addressed.)

What will the Water Agency Do?

(But the item entitled “Plan, construct, operate and maintain water supply facilities” is noted as only having a “Support role”

The consultant also lists “assist in grant preparation,” but even that “activity” is listed as “Support Role.”

Translation: Neither the consultant nor the Water Agency that may ensue months and months from now if not longer will do a damn thing about the actual water shortage or the drought. No mention of actual grant application preparation. No mention of requiring metering for ag wells, no mention of water project development. Nada, zilch, nothing.

* * *

SUPERVISOR HASCHAK’S PET PROJECT

Agenda Item 5c: “Discussion and Possible Action Including Direction to Staff Regarding Regulation of Water Extraction/Mining and Water Hauling (Sponsors: Supervisors Haschak and McGourty)

Recommended Action: Direct staff to implement proposals 4) Ban commercial water hauling to any destination at which the end user will be using the water for non-permitted commercial activities, 5) utilize existing law to require use permits for water extraction and amend the code to provide clarification of this existing requirement, and 6) Develop standard conditions and guidelines respecting use permits for water extraction with the input and assistance of the Planning Commission, and update the code accordingly, listed within the summary of request; bring back the remaining proposals for Board consideration in 6-12months, once there is more information regarding the anticipated staffing levels of the Mendocino County Water Agency and its capacity to take on new programs; and affirm that the Ad Hoc will continue to take public input on the matter.”

* * *

Yes, you read that right: the proposals are number 4-6. No mention of 1, 2, or 3. And since Haschak thinks this problem needs urgent attention he wants the Planning Commission to “bring back the remaining proposals for Board consideration in 6-12 months” whatever those may be.

* * *

‘CARMEL’ SETS ALL-TIME MENDO WHEREAS RECORD

Consent Calendar Item 3f:

Adoption of Proclamation Recognizing and Honoring Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Carmel J. Angelo For Her Years of Service Upon Her Retirement from the County of Mendocino 

(Sponsors: Supervisor Williams and Executive Office)

PROCLAMATION Of The Mendocino County Board Of Supervisors Recognizing And Honoring Chief Executive Officer Carmel J. Angelo For Her Years Of Service To The County Of Mendocino Upon Her Retirement, March 19, 2022

WHEREAS, Chief Executive Officer Carmel J. Angelo began her career with Mendocino County Health and Human Services in June, 2007 after serving San Diego County for twelve years; and

WHEREAS, Carmel later became Assistant Chief Executive Officer in September 2007 where she worked to reorganize the Executive Office and provide fiscal stability while functioning as Chief Financial Officer; and

WHEREAS, Carmel was appointed the first female Chief Executive Officer in March, 2010 and has served in that capacity for the past twelve years; and

WHEREAS, Carmel spent her nearly fifteen year tenure serving the rural and rustic county that is Mendocino spanning 3,510 square miles with 90,000 residents; and

WHEREAS, Carmel was active in statewide associations including the California Association of County Executives (CACE), where she served as the organization’s President. Also, she served on the Executive Committee of California Association of Counties’ (CSAC) Woman’s Leadership Forum, and is a credentialed County Senior Executive and Fellow from the CSAC Institute for Excellence in County Government, as well as a graduate of the University of Virginia’s Senior Executive Institute; and

WHEREAS, Carmel is a strong collaborator and unifier when dealing with controversial and difficult policy decisions. In 2017, she received the Distinguished Service Award from CACE. The following year, she received the 2018 President’s Award from Rural County Representatives of California (RCRC) due to her rural advocacy. For her years in leadership roles at CSAC, she received the 2019 CSAC Circle of Service Award and most recently received the 2021 CACE President’s Award; and

WHEREAS, While immersed in County administration and budgeting issues, Carmel remains a vocal advocate for small, rural communities. Public service is always Carmel’s first priority. Carmel attended the Senior Executive Institute at the University of Virginia in 2012; immediately following her return discussions began regarding the development of a Leadership Philosophy with Executive Leadership. With her leadership a philosophy was developed and adopted by the Board of Supervisors on September 9, 2013. Following came a High Performance Organization curriculum and training, and to date over 400 employees have actively been participating in a variety of activities including Leadership Work Teams, Book Club, Joint Leadership trainings with Humboldt County and quarterly expanded leadership meetings. Carmel has always strived for Leadership at all Levels and Leadership with Heart, and the County is proud and committed to keep moving forward; and Carmel was instrumental in working with CSAC and Lake County to host the CSAC Institute for Excellence In County Government program in our County. This has been an exceptional opportunity for staff to participate, learn, develop valuable skills, and network; and

WHEREAS, Carmel’s leadership, dedication, and commitment to the County of Mendocino is to be admired and is truly appreciated by those that have had the opportunity to work with her; and

WHEREAS, long time retired Mendocino County District 1 Supervisor, Carre Brown, remembers “In 2010, as Chair of the Board of Supervisors, I began a close working relationship with Carmel as the new CEO. I credit her strong leadership in the guidance she gave to get the County on strong financial ground throughout the great recession. I thank her for her knowledge and steadfast effort, working non-stop from one disaster to the next for Mendocino County in the past decade. Carmel Angelo gained a distinguished reputation statewide on many issues facing Counties, not only from colleagues, but also State officials. She has earned a well deserved rest and I wish her the very best in retirement.”

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Board of Supervisors of the County of Mendocino hereby recognize and honor Carmel J. Angelo for her many years of service and dedication to the County of Mendocino.

* * *

This proclamation has shorted out County bullshit detectors from Gualala to Covelo.

As usual with Mendo’s whereas-laden golden send-offs, there’s not one actual accomplishment mentioned — unless, of course, you count “the first female Chief Executive Officer” as an accomplishment.

* * *

SURPRISE! Camille Schraeder gets sole-source $1.8 million contract (with options for four more sole-source years) to operate the Crisis Residential Treatment house (a $1 million four-bedroom house next door to Ms. Schraeder that the County paid $5 million of Measure B money for) for two years. Oddly, the County plans to “lease” the $5 million crisis house to Ms. Schraeder for $12 [sic] a year.

Essentially, $5.5 million awarded on the consent agenda!

Consent Agenda Item: 3r) Approval of Agreement with Redwood Community Services, Inc. in the Amount of $911,058 per Year, with a Total of $1,822,116 for a Two-Year Period, to Provide Residential Treatment Facility Operations and Crisis Residential Services on a Transitional Basis to Mendocino County Adults, Age 18and Older, Who Are Experiencing a Mental Health Crisis, Effective Upon Full Execution and for Two Years Thereafter, With the Option to Extend for Up to Two Additional Two-Year Periods for a Total of Six Years.

GERARDO MAGDALENO Awarded Over $200K in Ukiah Police Use of Force Case Even as an Independent Investigation Found Officers Did Not Violate Policies

Court documents indicate that Magdaleno was awarded a $211,000 settlement just five days ago for the pain and injuries endured during the circumstance.

mendofever.com/2022/03/11/man-awarded-over-200k-in-ukiah-police-use-of-force-case-even-as-an-independent-investigation-found-officers-did-not-violate-policies/

ON NOVEMBER 4, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control sent Mendocino Railway a letter giving them 60 days to produce data needed for a cleanup plan of the rail yard at the end of Laurel Street, data originally requested in 2013. In 2013, Mendocino Railway said their finances could not afford the additional work. In 2018, with the purchase of the north end of the mill site, and now clearly with the acquisition of the remainder and the Pudding Creek properties, their finances have improved enough to afford the work.

The deadline to produce that data was January 4, 2022. Instead of producing it, Mendocino Railway requested another 5 month extension. The letter below gives them 90 days, and indicates a stepped up level of supervision and enforcement ongoing into the future.

In the email accompanying the link to this letter, in the DTSC Envirostore document repository, the letter's author wrote, "...they [Mendocino Railway] are committed to meeting the new deadline as well as starting the CEQA process for the Operable Unit E Remedial Action Plan at the former mill site." DTSC says they will have "monthly project manager meetings to discuss both the Railroad RCRA Facility Investigation, but also the work on the mill site" Fact sheets for both sites will be prepared this spring, and look for community meetings early this summer.

Looks like the beginnings of accountability to me. Time will tell.

JEFF BURROUGHS ASKS: Prathers Store, Philo, California. Norm Clow, where exactly was this photo taken from? Where would the photographer be standing?

A DRAMATIC NARCAN SAVE

On Sunday, March 6, 2022 at approximately 4:20 PM, Mendocino County Sheriff's Deputies were dispatched to a 66 year old adult female suffering from a mental health crisis at a rural residence north of Fort Bragg.

Deputies were advised the adult female had attempted to commit suicide by a cutting instrument.

Deputies responded to the location along with a California State Parks peace officer. While traveling toward the residence, Deputies were flagged down by a family member of the adult female who had begun to drive her toward Fort Bragg for immediate medical treatment.

Deputies observed the adult female, with superficial cutting injuries, was beginning to lose consciousness while in the passenger seat of the vehicle.

While treating the adult female, her condition deteriorated to the point where she become unresponsive. Deputies were informed that she may have intentionally ingested prescription medications in an attempt to overdose.

The adult female was removed from the vehicle and Deputies administered two dosage units of Narcan and she appeared to respond to the antidote.

Shortly thereafter, an ambulance arrived and provided further treatment to the adult female. The adult female was subsequently transported to a local hospital from further medical treatment and mental health assessment.

In April 2019 the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) began to issue NARCAN® (Naloxone HCI) nasal spray dosage units to its employees as part of their assigned personal protective equipment. MCSO's goal is in protecting the public and officers from opioid overdoses. Access to naloxone is now considered vital in the U.S. The Center for Disease Control. At that time, the California Opioid Overdose Surveillance Dashboard reported Mendocino County ranking, per capita, 3rd in all opioid overdose deaths.). 

Narcan nasal spray units are widely known to reverse opioid overdose situations in adults and children. Each nasal spray device contains a four milligram dose, according to the manufacturer. Naloxone Hydrochloride, more commonly known by the brand name NARCAN®, blocks the life-threatening effects of opioid overdose (both medications and narcotics) including extreme drowsiness, slowed breathing, or loss of consciousness.

The antidote can reverse the effects of an overdose for up to an hour, but anyone who administers the overdose reversal medication in a non-medical setting is advised to seek emergency medical help right away. The spray units can also be used by Public Safety Professionals who are unknowingly or accidentally exposed to potentially fatal amounts of fentanyl from skin absorption or inhalation.

The issuance of the Narcan nasal units, thus far, have been to employees assigned to the Field Services Division and the Mendocino County Jail medical staff. Employees are required to attend user training prior to being issued the medication.

Sheriff Matthew C. Kendall would like to thank Mendocino County HHSA Public Health for providing the Narcan nasal units to the Sheriff's Office free of charge as part of the Free Narcan Grant from the California Department of Public Health.

Since the April 2019 issuance, there have now been (10) ten separate situations wherein Mendocino County Sheriff's Office Patrol Sergeants/Deputies have administered NARCAN and saved the lives of (10) ten people in need of the life saving antidote medication.

In October 2021 the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office received a grant from the California Naloxone Distribution Project through the Department of Health Care Services to help maintain an inventory of the live saving antidote.

The 192 dosage units will be distributed to the Field Services Division and Corrections Division as current inventories from Mendocino County HHSA Public Health are being exhausted.

Sheriff Matthew C. Kendall would like to thank the California Naloxone Distribution Project through the Department of Health Care Services for awarding the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office with the Naloxone grant to better help protect his employees and the public.

SHOWER BANDIT

On Friday, March 4, 2022, at approximately 9:38 AM Deputies from the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office were dispatched to a reported burglary in the 700 block of Watson Road in Ukiah.

Deputies contacted the homeowner who discovered someone had broken into his home.

The homeowner came home and observed several miscellaneous items scattered outside of his residence. The homeowner entered his residence and found additional items scattered inside. Fearing someone might still be inside the residence, the homeowner called the Sheriff's Office.

When Deputies arrived, they entered the residence to check if anyone was still inside and located Shannah Griffith, 30, of Ukiah, trying to flee the residence. Griffith was immediately detained outside of the residence and found to be in possession of items belonging to the homeowner.

Sheriff's Office Dispatch advised Griffith had an active misdemeanor warrant for her arrest for Possession of a Controlled Substance.

Inside the residence it was apparent someone had bathed and left a pile of trash behind. Griffith was placed under arrest for First Degree Burglary and the misdemeanor arrest warrant.

Griffith was subsequently booked into the Mendocino County Jail where she was to be held in lieu of $20,000 bail.

CATCH OF THE DAY, March 11, 2022

JAMES ANDEREGG, Ukiah. Trespassing.

CURTIS BETTEGA, Covelo. Felon-addict with firearm, offenses while on bail, failure to appear.

BENJAMIN BLOMGREN, Ukiah. Domestic battery.

DAVID BROWN, Ukiah. Domestic battery.

EZRA CRABTREE SR., Willits. Evasion, suspended license, resisting.

BHAKTI DILLENBECK, Albion. Disorderly conduct-alcohol. (Frequent flyer.)

JOHN HAYDON, Willits. Protective order violation.

ELOY MERINO-LOPEZ, Santa Rosa/Ukiah. DUI, no license.

JUSTIN MICHELS, Ukiah. Domestic battery, controlled substance.

BRENDA POINDEXTER, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

ANTHONY TOLBERT, Laytonville. Contact with intent to commit lewd act with minor, probation revocation.

ODESSA ON THE EDGE

by Stella Ghervas

Odessa, the palace-city perched on a rocky outcrop overlooking the Black Sea, is staring down a naval flotilla. The ships are not English and French men-of-war, as during the Crimean War; they belong to Russia, the nation that founded the city after defeating the Ottoman Empire in the Russo-Turkish War of 1787-92. My friends in Odessa fear their home is at imminent risk of invasion or, worse, severe bombardment like Kharkiv or Kyiv. Women and children are being evacuated.

The main square was recently repaved. No one imagined the Spetsnaz might soon be tramping over it, their boots still covered in Donbas mud. The Neo-Baroque opera house is surrounded by anti-tank hedgehogs fashioned out of dismembered tram tracks. The statue of Armand-Emmanuel de Richelieu, governor from 1803 to 1814, stands watch over the bay, above the Potemkin Steps that Eisenstein made famous. It’s said that Odessites only learn Russian because French has gone out of fashion. They tend to look down on Muscovites, an attitude that seven decades of Bolshevism failed to cure.

The loftiness is shared by the less well-off inhabitants of the Moldavanka neighborhood, described in Isaac Babel’s stories. Satirizing the Russian central government has been second nature since Odessa’s earliest days under Empress Catherine. The tsarist regime used to send the most restless of its intelligentsia to the city, far enough from the imperial capital not to cause mischief, but still close enough at hand in case they wrote something brilliant.

Under Soviet totalitarianism, Odessites taunted the Communist censors by cultivating a special brand of double-entendre unintelligible in Moscow. Satire and sophistication will not be enough to repel Putin’s aggression. Still, Odessites can put the Kremlin in a tight spot, by pointing out that language and country are entirely distinct matters. Their city has been through war and revolution before. Odessa and its people will endure. But at what cost?

(London Review of Books)

THE COMBINED BUDGETS of the LA police and sheriff’s departments are larger than the entire Ukrainian military, which gives you an idea how much firepower American police have. 

— Jeff St. Clair

NAT KING COLE AND EARTHA KITT

STITCHING THE BAY AREA’S 2,600 MILES OF TRAILS TOGETHER IS GOAL OF NEW COLLABORATIVE

by Gregory Thomas

If you’ve ever trekked or biked the pathway attached to the Bay Bridge that stretches westward from Oakland, you’ve probably hit the abrupt end at Yerba Buena Island and wondered, why doesn’t this trail go all the way to the city?

Thousands of miles of trails and bikeways thread the Bay Area, but many of them exist in piecemeal form, with gaps and dead ends, rather than as segments of one flowing, cohesive system. Such a network linking the bay to the ridgetops, and city streets to dirt hiking paths, has long been a dream shared by forward-thinking trail developers, urban planners and transportation advocates — not to mention outdoor enthusiasts.

The Bay Area Trails Collaborative hopes to pull all those interests together and make it happen.

The collaborative is a partnership of about 50 public agencies, land managers, bicycle coalitions and parks districts pursuing regional pedestrian and bicycle corridors that would not only provide quick escapes to open spaces, but also function as transportation alternatives for urban commuters.

It was formed 5 years ago as a program of the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, the national nonprofit devoted to transforming unused rail lines into trail corridors. But only in January did the conservancy release its master blueprint for the Bay Area: an ambitious 2,604-mile trail network extending across the region’s nine counties.

“The vision is simple: Wherever you live, you can go out your front door and spend all day on trails,” said Jeff Knowles, volunteer co-chair of the collaborative’s Communications and Partnerships Team. “People need to be able to get from their homes to parks, schools, retail, their jobs, BART — without being reliant on cars.”

The Bay Area blueprint shows a sprawling web with tendrils reaching as far as Gualala and Cloverdale to the north and Davis and the San Joaquin River to the east, and wrapping the hilltops around Gilroy to the south. It hugs the entire bay, crosses seven bridges, traces several of the region’s highways and skirts the forested ridgelines of the Santa Cruz Mountains and Diablo Range.

About 1,410 miles — 54% of the total system — already exist, thanks to the Bay Area’s myriad parks departments, land trusts and open space districts.

The remaining 1,194 miles weave together proposals put forward by various local, regional and state entities. For example, the 500-mile Bay Trail route (64% complete), the 550-mile Bay Area Ridge Trail concept (70% complete) and the 1,200-mile California Coastal Trail figure prominently in the proposal.

Traditionally, the scope of many trail or bikeway projects ends at the county line, the city border or the park boundary. But members of the collaborative say those limits don’t reflect people’s needs to move around — especially in the Bay Area, where long commutes are common.

Further, neighboring public agencies often vie for the same limited resources, putting trail advocates in competition with one another. It’s time for a macro, inclusive approach to pedestrian and bicycle transit planning, members of the collaborative say.

“We’ve been in our silos for way too long,” Knowles said.

Seven years ago, Rails-to-Trails embarked on its regional planning approach, asserting that pedestrian-friendly pathways are a critical and under-developed transit option in metropolitan areas whose communities are starved for alternatives to traffic-choked thoroughfares.

“We want to create a new transit model that can be adopted around the country,” said Laura Cohen, director of the conservancy’s western regional office. “Let’s use trails to help us get to our climate goals and move beyond our reliance on automobiles.”

The conservancy has launched similar programs in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Baltimore, Miami, the Lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas, and a slice of the midwest between New York and Ohio. In each location, it has helped broker public-private partnerships to fund and support regional trail systems.

Each effort is guided by a long-term “vision” that typically calls for hundreds of miles of new trails and bikeways and may take years — even decades — to bring to fruition. For example, the conservancy’s 878-mile vision for D.C. spans the capital, Maryland and Virginia, is estimated to cost $1 billion and is just over halfway complete after seven years.

The Bay Area represents the conservancy’s largest objective yet: the 2,604 miles of pathways cross 7,000 square miles of land.

Getting the remaining segments on the ground is going to take a concerted effort, cooperation and lots of money. There’s no overall cost estimate, but it would almost certainly cost billions of dollars, Cohen says.

“The number of obstacles you need to work through to build a linear trail through different parcels and jurisdictions is very challenging,” said Simone Nageon de Lestang, senior trail planner at the Bay Area Ridge Trail Association, a member of the collaborative. “If we can all collectively advocate for more funding for all of our trails with one vision, we’ll all be better off.”

Some of the proposed pieces are short trail-to-trail nodes, others are more radical in scope. For instance, installing a bikeway across the 4.3-mile San Mateo-Hayward Bridge — part of the collaborative’s vision — would likely require major planning and buy-in from government officials on both sides of the bay.

But trail advocates feel freshly optimistic.

The pandemic has driven Bay Area residents outdoors in record numbers, invigorated bike use, laid the foundation for carless urban corridors and permanent neighborhood “slow streets,” and prompted politicians to take up the cause of pedestrian transit anew.

In the fall of 2020, for example, six state representatives from the Bay Area sent a letter to Caltrans, the San Francisco Metropolitan Transportation Commission and Bay Area Toll Authority urging the agencies to study the feasibility of a “quick-build” bikeway along the west span of the Bay Bridge. In the letter, they extolled the benefits of reducing car traffic and opening new pathways for walkers and bicyclists: “Air quality, neighborhood quality of life, and street safety, have all been the best in decades,” since the pandemic.

Building a bikeway across the bridge’s west span is under consideration, but could cost hundreds of millions of dollars and has no source of funding, according to the commission.

However, projects like that could get a boost if state lawmakers approve a request for $2 billion from the state’s budget surplus for Caltrans’ Active Transportation Program, which is California’s largest funding program for trails and bikeways. Gov. Gavin Newsom included $500 million for the program in his Jan. 10 budget proposal.

Last month, the collaborative sent the state a letter lobbying for the full $2 billion allocation.

“That could really go a long way to bringing (the Bay Area trail) vision to reality,” Cohen said.

(San Francisco Chronicle)

THE MÉXICANS ARE COMING!

Today in Texas History - On today’s date 186 years ago, Friday, March 11, 1836, the Runaway Scrape began. 

From the Texas State Historical Association: “When Sam Houston arrived in Gonzales on March 11 & was informed of the fall of the Alamo, he decided upon retreat to the Colorado River & ordered all inhabitants to accompany him. Couriers were dispatched from Gonzales to carry the news of the fall of the Alamo, & when they received that news, people all over Texas began to leave everything & make their way to safety. Houston’s retreat marked the beginning of the Runaway Scrape on a really large scale.”

The photograph depicts an illustration from the book “Texas History Movies,” which was published by the Dallas Morning News in 1928.

THE PEOPLE’S CONVOY

by Matt Taibbi

In a terrific piece of coast-to-coast video journalism, culminating in a story that’s still live — the “Freedom Convoy,” an American version of Canadian trucker protests, is still engaged in daily circling of the Beltway — TKpartners News2Sharechronicles the convoy’s journey from Adelanto, California to Washington, D.C. Ford Fischer and his crew also shoot a counterprotest in Washington, as well as a meeting held between the truckers and three oft-maligned Republican members of congress: Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz, and Thomas Massie. 

This extended video captures enough of the atmosphere around the protests to make it accessible, without covering up any warts. You’ll see anti-China sentiment, an ugly fight on a D.C. overpass, and a trucker suggesting everyone in the White House needs “a short piece of rope and a tall tree.” There are also FREE HUGS signs, a bluetick coonhound who concludes prayers on command, and a man showing his belief that the protests are a “crusade” by dressing in a chainmail knight costume and pledging to “fight the evil in the world, man.”

Beyond the journey with the truckers, News2Sharecaptures multiple sides of national news stories. When an MMA fighter named Kyle Sefcik scheduled a protest for truckers in Washington that he initially estimated would contain 3,000 people, only a handful showed up. This led to mockery by Stephen Colbert (“You could have driven a truck through the place if any had shown up”) and a spate of news stories with headlines like “Much-hyped D.C. trucker rally turns out to be a joke,” and “Trucker convoy protest in Washington DC flops as no one shows up.” 

Sefcik’s protest was a dud, looking like the Themeland Jazz Odyssey in Spinal Tap, but it wasn’t the actual “trucker convoy protest,” which by then had gathered hundreds of vehicles but only made it as far as Monrovia, Indiana. Already there was a counter-protest awaiting them in Washington that was remarkable on a number of levels, beginning with a speaker offering the Freudian tidbit, “But after the unprecedented invasion of Ir— of Ukraine…” The left/socialist protesters were insistent that the truckers are not workers but members of the exploiting class. “Do not be fooled,” says one masked counter-protester. “These people are small business owners. They are capitalists!”

As to that: the Truckers eventually set up a base camp of sorts in Hagerstown, Maryland, and have elected to circle the capital daily until somewhat amorphous demands against mask and vaccine mandates are met. A delegation went to Washington to meet with the three Twitter-infamous members of congress. In that meeting, a trucker veered from mandates to talk about prices. 

“In 2012, I went through this with Obama. When fuel prices hit $5 a gallon, I had a truck that was paid for, I was profitable,” he said (reportedly the national average never made it to $5 a gallon then, though it did hit that number in spots). He went on: “Then, I lost everything. I had to sell my truck, even though it was paid for, go to the oil fields of North Dakota, and get a job as a company driver, and it’s taken me ten years to work my way back up.” 

Referring to current skyrocketing gas prices, and offering a preview of potential future disputes, he added: “We are right now on the precipice of losing our collective asses… You cannot run a truck on six dollars a gallon.”

Overall, News2Sharedoes a great job giving a nuanced portrayal of all sides of the current culture war, showing a complex dispute from multiple angles.

SPEAKING OF RUSSIA AND AGIT-PROP, that’s all we hear on the air-waves, the cable channels, and the webstreams. “Russia, Russia, Russia.” And “Putin, Putin, Putin.” American news reporters must be living in Vladimir Putin’s head because they are so adept at reading his thoughts. Putin thinks this, Putin thinks that, they declare so brashly. They are all so sure of Mr. Putin’s every thought that Mr. Putin must have to check-in with American news media to find out exactly what he’s thinking. Lately, according to CNN, The New York Times, and the rest of the gang, Mr. Putin — or maybe it’s The Putin, as in The Science — is thinking of gobbling up all the other quaint little countries at Russia’s border like so many tater tots. 

— James Kunstler

ALL THE OTHER STUFF, the love, the democracy, the floundering into lust, is a sort of by-play. The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer. It has never yet melted.

— D.H. Lawrence

THIS IS CAPTAIN LEWIS NIXON of Easy Company, the morning after celebrating V-E Day (Victory in Europe Day) in 1945. You can see that he is terribly hungover. 

In Berchtesgaden (southeastern Germany), Nixon had first dibs on an extensive wine collection that was assembled by Hermann Göring who was a veteran World War I fighter pilot ace and one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party. The booze you see in the photo was stolen by the Nazis from wineries across France.

MUCH BETTER WITHOUT HIM

Editor: 

David Korte asked if things are better since Donald Trump left office (“Are things better,” Letter, March 3). Emphatically, yes. We do not have senseless tweets coming out of the White House that are boorish and divisive. We are not building a stupid wall that was breached 3,272 times in the past three years. We do not have the politicization of every governmental office at the behest of a president with no sense of norms or national history. And we are focusing again on climate change, the Iran nuclear deal and NATO. We have a leader who is concerned about everyday people. The county is far better off now.

Noel J. O’Neill

Willits

THE “ORIGINAL” UNDERGROUND COMIC HEROS! 

FLOW KANA'S BETRAYAL

Editor,

For the last six months, Michael Steinmetz has been locked out of Flow Kana. 

There has been a hostile takeover by Flow Kana's big investor, Gotham Green Partners, which has $145 million locked up in the failing company.

Gotham Green Partners is headed by hedge fund billionaire, Jason Adler.

This takeover has had horrible consequences for all the farmers who contracted with Flow Kana. Flow Kana is not picking up the cannabis the farmers contractually grew for them. 

We are left holding the bag. We're not getting paid. And we have trimmed and processed cannabis that's getting too dry and too old to be rehydrated and sold...even at rock-bottom prices.

Cannabis also loses two things over time – its terpenes and psychoactive potency. 

Terpenes evaporate into the air and are the first to go. Your once skunky, citrusy, meaty bag of weed will have little or no scent the older it gets. Smoking it with no terpenes is like drinking cheap, watered-down orange juice.

The next thing to decrease is potency. Weed is filled with cannabinoids; the most notable one which gets you high is THC. When THC is exposed to excessive light, heat and oxygen over time, in a process known as decarboxylation, the THC converts into CBN which is less psychoactive than THC (but more psychoactive than CBD). Over time, even the CBN loses its potency.

What's happening now? Flow Kana's farmers are selling to black market brokers or they're destroying their beautiful, sun grown, small batch, heirloom cannabis. 

Boycott Flow Kana.

John Sakowicz

Ukiah

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

The average Electric Vehicle (EV) has the following:

• 400 pounds plastic and steel
• 90 pounds copper
• 60 pounds nickel
• 30 pounds cobalt
• 25 pounds lithium
• an ounce of silver

All this dug out of the ground with solar powered excavators I’m sure. 

There’s no way we’re all going EV, even if we want to. There are already issues NOW with nickel and cobalt.

STATE LAWMAKERS WANT TO HELP CALIFORNIANS WITH HIGH GAS PRICES

There’s a collective groan, rippling across California, as drivers pull into gas stations and see prices above $5.…

lostcoastoutpost.com/2022/mar/11/heres-how-state-lawmakers-want-to-help-californian/

IT WAS ONE OF THOSE MARCH DAYS when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold, when it is summer in the light and winter in the shade.

— Charles Dickens

FORMER UN INSPECTOR SCOTT RITTER on What The Hell Is Happening - YouTube

A Reader Writes: Despite the first few minutes (by the host, Lee Camp) the statement by Scott Ritter is chilling and seriously thought-provoking. Haven't heard anything close to this in the other media reports.

DIVISION STREET

A story of lives lived on hard streets, amongst staggering wealth and empty promises, told through photos, found text and first-person narratives.

In 2016, when the Super Bowl came to San Francisco, the unhoused were 'urged' to move to the ironically named Division Street where, city officers hoped, they would be 'invisible'. Amid the unlimited wealth and consumption of that 'super' week, the unhoused went about their lives, crowded together in their tents or sleeping rough on the ground. There were no facilities, no promises of permanent housing were given. 

Division Street is where this project began and from which it gets its name. The voices of the unhoused are integral to the work. First-person storytelling, messages left on the street, media headlines and politicians' characterizations make Division Street a collaboration between many communities.

Division Street, through photographs and words, becomes a metaphor for the 'division' of communities, between the wealth of the few and the expendability of the many, in San Francisco, in the USA and across the World.

Name: Mr. Greg Smith, 67

Without a home: 5 years in his truck and paying for parking

Place: A parking lot on Merlin Street, San Francisco

Date: 23 April 2021

(I’ve been here) all together about 5 years. Like I said, I can’t afford a (house), I would have to win the Power Ball to be able to afford a house here. But I have a place. l’ve always had mobile homes before. A “camper”, you know. They’ve gotten towed, a couple of them, so I’m down to this (a box truck). But I’ve always had my own place where I rent or parked. I’ve rented here (a spot in a parking lot) for about 5 years until they declared bankruptcy and gave the place (the parking lot) up. I’m just looking for another place to rent space for my vehicles, a place I could put a small trailer.”

“That’s how I live. I’d rather live this way than in an SRO and not be as happy and secure. I like to have my own place. I can come in when I want, have my stuff, don’t have to look anybody in the eye when I come in and out, you know. And be me, just like you, you know what I’m saying.“ 

Update: 27 April 2021: The lot is owned by Caltrans and with the bankruptcy of the original lot operator Caltrans has found a new parking lot operator and wants the lot cleared by May 18th.

Excerpts:

https://www.all-about-photo.com/photo-articles/photo-article/1138/division-street-by-robert-gumpert

https://robertgumpert.com/division-street

Harper’s Article

https://harpers.org/archive/2016/10/division-street/

ATTACK ON UKRAINE & HYPOCRITES

by John Arteaga

I heard an interview the other day with a writer for the Financial Times of London, who had written a book called Kleptopia, about the ever increasing power of kleptocrats worldwide. Kleptocracy, from the Greek for stealing, is defined as a government led by corrupt officials who use their offices to advance their own wealth at the expense of their people.

One could hardly cite better examples of this than Vladimir Putin (believed to be the world’s richest man) and Donald Trump (who makes a great show of being wealthy). Apparently the world is rife with other, less well-known thieving oligarchs fattening their bank accounts on their people’s riches.

While we are fortunate enough to live in a land wealthy enough that Donald Trump’s four year campaign of corrupt self-dealing, much of it in blatant violation of the law, causes little protest. His giant former postal building in Washington, converted into a luxury hotel, has a lease which clearly states that it is not to be held by any government employee. Of course, every foreign delegate who came to the capitol knew perfectly well that if they wanted to have their calls answered, they had to pay whatever exorbitant rent Trump decided to charge for the rooms there. Apparently there were Middle Eastern governments who would rent whole floors of rooms and not even use them, just to pay into the protection racket being run out of the White House.

How this gross violation of clear law continued through Trump’s entire term is exactly the kind of kleptocracy that we are talking about. The richest, with their phalanxes of lawyers, enjoy an entirely different legal system than the rest of us; two New York lawsuits seemed to be slowly tightening the legal noose around Trump’s flabby neck, but I was dismayed to read yesterday that the newly appointed Manhattan DA had decided not to proceed with the open and shut case of The Donald’s serial criminality; outrageously over and under-stating the value of his properties depending upon whether filings were applying for loans or given to taxing authorities.

These two superstar lawyers who had come out of retirement to help their city and state finally bring this career scam artist to some kind of accountability were so disheartened by the weak kneed buckling of the new DA that they both quit rather than sign on to this surrender to kleptocratic wealth.

My heart goes out to the people of the Ukraine, now suffering so horribly under Putin’s assault. It beggars the imagination to see what possible benefit Vlad thinks that he can wring from this wanton destruction.

As awful as this nightmare for the people of Ukraine is, it’s hard not to remember not so long ago when W and his handlers were so determined to do something very similar to the nation of Iraq, a nation who had no hand in the mysterious events of 9/11, but who paid an incredible price for the obsession of our reigning plutocrat at the time, along with the rich and powerful who had undermined our democracy to get a shameless Supreme Court to install him in office.

I’ll never forget thinking, before the premeditated invasion; no, you can’t just destroy an entire modern city, cutting off drinking water, sewage, power etc. for all those innocent people who had nothing to do with 911! All over the world the largest protests in human history tried their best to get the hell-bent leadership of the US to reconsider this unjustifiable crime against humanity. All in vain.

This is why the high dudgeon we now have to Russia’s war crimes seems so hypocritical; it is WE who kneecapped the UN, blowing them off when they wouldn’t go along with our pointless destruction of Iraq. We were the ones who ignored the counsel of virtually all of our NATO ‘allies’ when the Bush family and its fellow travelers in the ‘national security’ bureaucracy decided that the glory of being a victorious war president outweighed any death, destruction and misery we might be causing halfway around the world.

Should we now be so shocked by Putin’s acts, a man handpicked by his drunken fool predecessor, Yeltsin, for being a dependable supporter of the same kind of kleptocratic regime there in supposedly ‘communist’ Russia?

I wish everyone could hear last week’s This American Life program (Sunday mornings that 11 on KZYX 91.5FM). It was about Putin’s rise to power in Russia, which coincided with four enormous apartment blocks being leveled with explosives blamed on Chechen terrorists, even though Chechnya had just basically won a war with Russia, getting basically everything they wanted. I always thought that it was a curious coincidence that this bombing spree came so close on the heels of 911 here. There was an attempted fifth building explosion, which was found and defused; a high tech explosive available only to the military.

The would-be perpetrators were KGB agents. Of course there was a ‘study’ that denied everything, and the fact that Putin had distributed some breadcrumbs from the oligarchs who had hoovered up Russia’s considerable wealth during Yeltsin’s ‘shock therapy’ conversion to capitalism won the hearts of enough Russians for him to attain ‘he can do no wrong’ adoration from a solid majority of Russians; so similar to the Trumper community on this side of the same kleptocratic coin.

CHANGE IS THE ONLY CONSTANT IN LIFE

by Michelle Hutchins, County Superintendent of Schools

We’ve all heard the saying that change is the only constant in life from the Greek philosopher Heraclitus. Sometimes change can leave us reeling, because instead of happening slowly and incrementally at a comfortable pace, it happens rapidly, constantly, and chaotically at all scales of our lives – personal, organizational, and community. The work we do at the Mendocino County Office of Education (MCOE) sits at the intersection of all these scales of change, and how we manage change influences whether we and those we serve will be resilient and successful or whether there’s a rough road ahead. 

Personal

On the personal side, I manage the daily joys and challenges of my own family dynamics by maintaining a mindfulness practice. This helps me remain grounded and allows me to calm my thoughts, especially my reactivity to life’s curveballs. I enjoy the benefits of a gratitude practice to inspire my own joy and share it with others, most importantly with my husband and our two children. 

Our family’s small farm cycles through annual changes, and we revel in our connection with Mendocino County’s abundant nature. Milking goats, gathering eggs, and appreciating longer sunlight in spring are grounding chores. We welcome this seasonal predictability amidst so much outside change. 

Professional

At the organizational scale, my leadership team and I are responsible for change management. We ground ourselves in MCOE’s values of service, excellence, innovation, and teamwork as we work strategically to meet our goals. MCOE must manage both the change that happens in our organization, as well as helping our county’s twelve school districts adjust to changing conditions. 

Because of the pandemic, changes in education have come at lightning speed. Like everyone, we moved our interactions online and depended on electronic communication to share the constant updates to State and local policy. Happily, our strategic planning, organizational stability, and resourceful staff allowed us to innovate and offer pandemic guidance and resources in-step with the never-ending revisions to school guidelines, helping educators deal with everything from vaccination clinics, testing, mask and test distribution, remote learning modules, and more. 

As we adjust to the newest set of changes, those that come with opening back up, we are excited to begin our return to normal. To that end, we are about to host the 36th Annual Mendocino County Science and Engineering Fair, the first in-person fair since 2019. 

Whatever comes, we will continue to do our best to strike a balance–to support educators in a nimble and responsive fashion during the pandemic, while remaining a cornerstone of stability for the local education agencies we serve.

Community

At the community scale, MCOE continues to work in concert with Mendocino County Public Health to share the latest COVID safety information. Public Health Officer Dr. Coren and I have tried to interpret state-level changes that impact local schools and residents as quickly as possible, but that interpretation isn’t always easy. At the moment, here’s where we are. Indoor mask mandates have been lifted, but the California Department of Public Health strongly recommends continuing to mask indoors in school settings. 

A lot of change is on the horizon, and it is coming fast. For most people, including educators and students, COVID-19 has heightened concerns related to personal safety and protection. For many, the pandemic activated new grief and stressors. For some, these concerns are piled on top of preexisting trauma, adversity, or inequities experienced in daily life. 

As we all make adjustments according to our personal needs, I hope we can remember that schools are doing the best they can under difficult, ever-evolving circumstances. There are vulnerable people in our community who we can all work together to protect. Removing masks and other safety measures may cause anxiety for individuals with complicated medical histories or vulnerable family members. 

I hope we can find shared values and respectful communication that honors all voices and identities whether we are at home, at work, or in the community. We know vaccination reduces the risk of hospitalization and death from COVID. We know wearing masks reduces transmission. We all have choices to make. I hope we all make the choice to listen to each other with compassion, to be thoughtful as we grapple with the discomfort of uncertainty and change. 

ANOTHER DAY IN UKIAH

“Reality”

Another day in Ukiah, California. Awoke in my assigned bed at the Building Bridges homeless shelter, got up and shaved & showered, and then went back to sleep. Got up again to walk up the road to Plowshares for the daily free meal. Returned to the shelter to take a nap. Up again to go to the Co-Op to purchase food for my locker, to ensure that there is food if necessary tonight. Will remain inside of the shelter until the next morning. Meanwhile, I am sending out email networking messages far and wide, which are receiving no significant response. The welcome exception is responses from friends who are offering solidarity and support. Thank you to everybody for your messages of solidarity and support!!

Otherwise, it is most important to be spiritually identified. Identify with that "which is prior to consciousness". Not identifying with the body nor the mind frees one from the hell ride of life in this world. This is difficult, precisely because one's own body is a reflection of the Divine Absolute, or God. Nevertheless, identify with that which is prior to consciousness. Repeat: This is difficult.

I am available to perform spiritually focused work on the planet earth. I am presently doing nothing of service, while surviving within the Mendocino California County Social Service System. You may call the Building Bridges telephone number at (707) 234-3270 for clarification with staff persons. You may come by and pick me up and move me outta here. Let's be spiritually centered and do something. Thank you for understanding. P.S. Please forward this message out to a wider audience. 

Craig Louis Stehr

Email: craiglouisstehr@gmail.com

PayPal.me/craiglouisstehr

MEMO OF THE AIR: Good Night Radio live from Franklin St. all night Friday night!

Marco here. Deadline to email your writing for tonight's (Friday night's) MOTA show is about 5:30pm. Or send it whenever it's done and I'll read it on the radio next week. Text-only, in the body of an email, please; I'm on dialup today. Also I'll try to remember to check email sometime during the show, so if something occurs to you and you wanta squirt it in, it couldn't hoit, as the old Jews say, though I suppose if I'm saying hoit I should be consistent, go back in time and say squoit.*

Plus you can call during the show and read your work in your own voice. I'll be in the clean, well-lighted back room of KNYO's storefront studio at 325 N. Franklin, where the number is 1-(707) 962-3022. If you swear like a sailor, please wait until after 10pm, so not to agitate the weasels.

Memo of the Air: Good Night Radio is every Friday, 9pm to 5am on 107.7fm KNYO-LP Fort Bragg as well as anywhere else via http://airtime.knyo.org:8040/128 (That's the regular link to listen to KNYO in real time.)

Any day or night you can go to https://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com and hear last week's MOTA show. By Saturday night the recording of tonight's show will also be there.

Besides all that, there you'll find a fascinating agglomeration of valuable tips and treats to mull over until showtime, or use anytime, such as:

In any version of Windows, if someone barges in and you'd be embarrassed for them to see what you're looking at, you naughty person, press the Windows key and the L key together to instantly switch to the lock screen. How about that? If you'd known that years ago it could have saved your job and/or your marriage. But look where your life is now. Not so bad. You thought it was the end of the world, but it wasn't.

Speaking of which, a little Ukrainian girl in a basement shelter sings Let It Go:

https://boingboing.net/2022/03/07/watch-little-girl-in-ukrainian-shelter-sing-let-it-go.html

Dig a hole in the ground. (via b3ta)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ed8EGs9bh6o

And how to make images look engraved, to varying degrees of smeary trippiness.

https://theawesomer.com/how-to-make-images-look-engraved/620262/

Walt Kelly in Pogo: Stepmother Goose: "The Keen and the Quing were quirling at quoits in the meadow behind of the mere. Though mainly the meadow was middled with mow and heretical, hitherto, here. The Prince and the Princess were plaiting the plates and prating quite primly the Peer. And that's why the Duchess stuck ducks on the Duke when no-one was over to seer."

Marco McClean, memo@mcn.org, https://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com

THE FUKUSHIMA DISASTER RUINED THEIR LIVES

Kenichi Hasegawa was a dairy farmer in Fukushima Prefecture at the time of the March 11, 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, living in a family of eight in Itate village with his parents, wife, children and grandchildren.

Iitate is approximately 50 kilometers away from the nuclear site, but quickly became one of the most radioactively contaminated places as a result of the Fukushima disaster. Yet, residents were told little and it took more than a month for an evacuation order to be issued for Itate. Many did not leave until late June. 

Mr. Hasegawa himself stayed on in Itate for five months after the disaster, tending to his cows until all of them were put down. Meanwhile, he kept a visual record of conditions there, taking more than ten thousand photos and 180 videos (in Japanese).

On October 22, 2021 Hasegawa died of thyroid cancer at just 68, almost certainly caused by his prolonged exposure to radioactive iodine released by the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear catastrophe.…

beyondnuclearinternational.org/2022/03/06/the-fukushima-disaster-ruined-their-lives/