Mendocino County Today: Saturday, March 19, 2022

Wet Cold | 9 New Cases | Ukraine Update | Fundraiser | In Kyiv | Willits 1907 | Shoddy Contractor | Kitchen Hiring | Schools Update | Diamond D | EMS Funding | Pomo Land | Folk Songs | Dog Poop | Northwestern Mill | Ed Notes | Police Reports | Gang Bench | Yesterday's Catch | Thrown Money | Tom Mix | Brown Act | Billionaire Yacht | CAO Retiring | Bernhardt's Room | Rip Van Stehr | Ukiah Riflemen | Percolating Variables | Sidewalk Ends | Every Birdwatcher | Weak Evidence | New Dick | Sporting Couple | Peewee Peedee | Spinning Wheels | Salad U | Marco Radio | Pomeroy | San Bruno Mt | Night Watchman | Undergrounding | Medicine Man | Museum Boogaloo | iNaturalist Walk | Ukiah Couple | War Crimes | DST Bad

RAIN AND HIGH ELEVATION SNOW will spread across the area early this morning. Showers are expected to linger in the afternoon, especially across the interior areas. Behind the front a chilly morning is expected to produce widespread frost and freeze conditions Sunday morning. That will be followed by above normal afternoon temperatures during early to middle portions of next week. (NWS)

9 NEW COVID CASES reported in Mendocino County yesterday afternoon.

RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR: WHAT WE KNOW ON DAY 24 OF THE INVASION

Zelenskiy calls for meaningful talks with Moscow; Biden warns Xi on ‘consequences’ of backing Moscow; fighting reaches center of Mariupol 

by Rebecca Ratcliffe & Abene Clayton

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy says the time has come for peace talks, warning that it will otherwise take generations for Russia to recover from losses suffered during the war. He released a video address saying Ukraine wanted meaningful and honest negotiations with Moscow on peace and security without delay, Reuters reported. “The time has come for a meeting – it is time to talk.” Zelenskiy said Russian forces were deliberately blocking humanitarian supplies to cities under attack. 

Ukraine’s position is unchanged in talks with Russia, Ukrainian negotiator Mykhailo Podolyak said. Earlier today, a member of Russia’s negotiating team said Moscow and Kyiv were most aligned on Ukraine’s neutrality and giving up on joining NATO. Podolyak accused Russian statements of attempting “to provoke tension in the media”.

Ukraine’s interior minister told Associated Press it would take years to find and defuse all of the unexploded ordnance from the country. Denys Monastyrsky said: “A huge number of shells and mines have been fired at Ukraine and a large part haven’t exploded. They remain under the rubble and pose a real threat. It will take years, not months, to defuse them.”

Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, praised Fox News for its coverage of the war in Ukraine during an in-studio interview with the Russian state-controlled RT network. “We know the manners and the tricks that are being used by the western countries to manipulate media ... If you take the United States, only Fox News is trying to present some alternative point of view,” he said.

Fighting has reached the center of the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol, where 350,000 civilians have been stranded with little food or water. The Russian defense ministry said its forces were “tightening the noose” around the city, and that “fighting against nationalists” was taking place in the city center. Mariupol’s mayor, Vadym Boichenko, said fighting was “very active”. Hundreds of people remain buried under the rubble of a theatre that was hit by a Russian airstrike on Wednesday, Zelenskiy said. In a video address, he said more than 130 people had been rescued so far.

The Kyiv city administration said on Saturday that 222 people had been killed in Kyiv since Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February, including 60 civilians and four children. It said in a statement that a further 889 people had been wounded, including 241 civilians and 18 children, in the capital. The Guardian has not been able to verify these figures.

The US president, Joe Biden, described to China’s president, Xi Jinping, in a phone call today “implications and consequences” if Beijing provides material support to Russia as it attacks Ukrainian cities and civilians, the White House said. “The Ukraine crisis is something that we don’t want to see,” Xi was quoted by Chinese media as saying to Biden.

The European Union is considering creating a solidarity fund for Ukraine. The plan was announced on Friday and is meant to be used for people’s basic necessities. An EU official told Reuters the creation of the fund would be discussed at a summit of EU leaders next week.

Russian forces are “holding captive” a Ukrainian journalist, Victoria Roshchyna, according to the Ukrainian media outlet Hromadske. In a statement, Hromadske said it believed Roshchyna was detained by the Russian FSB around 15 March.

Six and a half million people are currently displaced within Ukraine, the UN said on Saturday, nearly twice as many as have managed to flee the country. The new figure, which dwarfs the 3.3 million refugees who have entered mainly EU territory, is a big jump on the UN’s last estimate of 1.85 million.

Vladimir Putin praised Russian “unity” over what the Kremlin is calling its special operation in Ukraine during a rare public speech at the national stadium in Moscow. As Putin was finishing his speech, the broadcast was suddenly cut off and state television showed patriotic songs. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov blamed a “technical failure”.

A World Food Program (WFP) official said on Friday that food supply chains in Ukraine were collapsing, with a portion of infrastructure destroyed and many grocery stores and warehouses now empty. Jakob Kern, WFP emergency coordinator for the Ukraine crisis, also expressed concern about the situation in “encircled cities” such as Mariupol.

Pope Francis has denounced the “perverse abuse of power” on display in Russia’s war in Ukraine and called for aid to Ukrainians, whom he said had been attacked in their “identity, history and tradition” and were “defending their land”. Francis’ comments were some of his strongest yet.

(theguardian.com)

FUNDRAISER FOR UKRAINE, April 10, 4:00pm, First Baptist Church, 302 W. Henry St., Ukiah

IN KYIV

by Artem Chekh

I wouldn’t say I didn’t believe it. I just didn’t want to believe. First of all, I didn’t want to break the order of my quiet everyday life. A workout in the morning, a book and a glass of wine in the evening. Talking to my wife. Friends coming round for dinner. And then this world collapsed like a house of cards.

The first days were very difficult. I felt only numbness. The hardest thing was my son’s panic attacks, when he heard another siren, hastily put on his shoes, forgot about socks, trembled with fear and shouted at us: ‘Quick! Hurry to the shelter!’

I spent three days on the road to join my old military unit but when I got there I couldn’t register, there were too many contenders. So I met my comrades, spent the night in an empty barracks and came back to Kyiv. I felt terrible. It seemed that everyone around was already fighting and I still didn’t have a weapon in my hands. My apartment was also empty – my wife and son had left the city safely.

How much time has passed since then? It seems a lifetime. Now I’m armed and alongside people who are ready to defend the capital of Ukraine. We spend all day strengthening our positions, preparing for possible attacks. Civilians help us with food, equipment, medicine, transport.

A man named Victor is sleeping next to me. He is over sixty, a worker from the Kyiv suburbs. He has a moustache, calluses, grey hair. In the late 1980s he had some military experience, so he knows something about weapons and fortifications. In his downtime, however, Victor is constantly watching news on YouTube, which I find really annoying. When I ask him to use headphones he smiles good-naturedly: thank you, I’m fine.

As well as Victor, there are a music producer, an owner of a household chemicals store, a teacher, an artist, a bank clerk, a former investigator, a doctor. The ability to write, paint, act, play a musical instrument or dance doesn’t matter now. What counts is military experience, the fact that you’ve been in similar circumstances and can act quickly if needed. And not only quickly, but precisely.

Nobody knows what will happen next. But we are here. Thousands of us. Or even millions of us. The shock of the first weeks of the war is over. There is no other way back. We will resist and fight for our right to live in a free Ukraine, to bring our children up and let them sleep in their beds, not bomb shelters, to rebuild our cities, to have some time for writing, a workout in the morning, a book and a glass of wine in the evening.

(London Review of Books)

GAME OF THRONES ACTOR Ordered To Pay Nearly $75,000 In Restitution To Willits Homeowners For Unlawful And ‘Shoddy’ Contracting

by Matt LaFever

In the strange happenstance way Mendocino County seems to attract the unexpected, yesterday, a Game of Thrones villain was ordered to pay restitution for faulty contracting work he did almost four years ago. In 2018, 59-year-old Dan Hildebrand (AKA Kraznys mo Nakloz, a rich slave-trader) was charged with a series of misdemeanors associated with unlicensed contracting work he conducted on two Willits homes.

Yesterday, as per Mendocino County District Attorney’s announcement on Facebook, those charges resulted in the “longest criminal restitution hearing” in the county’s history in which Hildebrand was ordered to pay $74,961.79 for “faulty work he and his hand-picked associates attempted to undertake in 2018 for two Willits area homeowners.”

Back in August 2018, Hildebrand was found to be “without a required state contractor’s license, unlawfully advertising as a contractor without a required state contractor’s license, unlawfully charging an excessive down payment for contracting work, and unlawfully failing to carry workers compensation insurance.”

kymkemp.com/2022/03/19/game-of-thrones-actor-ordered-to-pay-nearly-75000-in-restitution-to-willits-homeowners-for-unlawful-and-shoddy-contracting/

NOW HIRING, COUNTRY KITCHEN, PHILO

AV UNIFED UPDATE

Dear Anderson Valley Community,

I hope you had a terrific week! Thank you to all of the elementary and family members for attending the outdoor assembly today. It is starting to feel a little bit like normal with special events like that and sports at the Jr./Sr. High!

We appreciate the attendance at the LCAP meetings too! A list of priorities from both meetings has been created in a brief survey, so we can determine a little information about rankings from the full community. 

English Survey <https://forms.gle/bNrovB5hjJhD5aFs9>

The Wellness Committee Meeting is Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. in the Career Center at the High School. Come join us!

The Measure M committee is meeting TUESDAY at 4:30 p.m. at the high school. Please join this community committee led by Philip Thomas if you would like to learn more about the plans that Philip and the committee have developed. A video link is also available: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85704685416?pwd=d1RHUEtqUnFFRzJMcEZUVEdUMDJIdz09

All of our testing pools were NEGATIVE!

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Sincerely yours,

Louise Simson, Superintendent

AV AMBULANCE UNDER STRESS

EMS Funding Request Denied

by AV Fire Chief Andres Avila

Anderson Valley Fire Department’s recent request to the county for an additional $66,000 was denied when it was introduced at the Mendocino Emergency Medical Care Committee (EMCC), an advisory committee to the Board of Supervisors. The request would have provided our ambulance service the needed funding to fill the staffing gaps we are currently facing. Clay Eubanks (Ambulance Service Manager) has been acting as the “Dutch Boy” for all the unstaffed ambulance shifts in recent months and beyond. Our attempt to provide the ambulance manager six days off in a month and prevent burnout was primarily denied because it was perceived as a monetary grab that other ambulance agencies also wanted a portion of. The EMCC did not discuss possible solutions for the county’s worsening ambulance system but instead primarily discussed, and ultimately opposed, our funding request because other ambulance services were not also named as recipients. MEDSTAR Ambulance spoke in favor of supporting AVFD’s request at the meeting and has since been working with us in an attempt to find solutions to our staffing needs.

Our Fifth District Supervisor [Ted Williams] proposed that we try to levy a local tax to support the ambulance services in AVFD paid by the property owners. I do not like the idea of taxing the public unless it is absolutely necessary. The concept of adding taxes due to shortfalls should only be done if all possible options have been exhausted, including reducing unneeded existing expenditures within AVFD and County government. The state has mandated that counties have the responsibilities to ensure EMS services are provided to the county’s residents and visitors. The 2014 Fitch and Associates report acknowledged this shortfall and prompted the BOS to support rural ambulances with the ALS Enhancement Grant. Until the county can implement a solution for our county wide EMS system, Covelo, Laytonville, and Anderson Valley have all received equal annual portions of this $200k grant to sustain these existing rural EMS services. 

Starting in 2014 Coastal Valleys EMS Agency pursued the county’s Exclusive Operating Area (EOA) model which failed in 2017. The newest plan is to form an inland ambulance service Joint Powers Authority (JPA) which has many rollout questions yet to be answered and the JPA is expected to be years out if it comes to fruition at all. 

During the last decade county ambulance staffing levels have continued to worsen and have been even further burdened with Faulk Ambulance service leaving the county in 2019. If Anderson Valley’s Ambulance service was also to go out-of-service in the future, countywide ambulances, fire districts, and even hospitals would feel the impact since the system is running at such a bare minimum. The benefit to keeping our ambulance service running is not just a local benefit as county officials would like to think, but rather a local service that could have major impacts on an overstressed county EMS system. 

Even if the public supported an EMS tax to Anderson Valley, this would leave the fire branch of AVFD lacking. Our current benefit assessment for fire services is over 20 years old and has no inflationary adjustment making that funding less and less impactful each year. The Fire and EMS branches of the Fire Department both need increased funding sources to remain providers of reliable services over the next decade. The amount of local tax monies required would greatly depend on whether or not the county also contributed to sustaining rural EMS services under their state mandate or whether we pay for it all by local taxes. 

(From Chief Avila’s report to the CSD Board Wednesday night.)

* * *

MARK SCARAMELLA COMMENTS

Oh, so Supervisor Williams suggested an ambulance tax, did he?

The same Supervisor who used to be a fire chief on the Coast and whom one might expect would be aware of the demands placed on understaffed emergency services and volunteers can’t find $60k or so in Mendo’s more than $300 million budget for a key piece of the local emergency first-response system? But he can hand out giant raises to County Counsel and the new CEO and approve expensive out of county attoneys for wrongful termination suites that should have been settled for less than the lawyers cost years ago, and approve sole-source no-bid contracts to Redwood Quality Management Company, and more and more? The County’s Executive Office budget plus the Supervisors budget plus the County Counsel’s office, all of which are overrunning their budgets by significant amounts at mid-year, is well over $3 million a year. $60k would be about 2% of those three budgets. Anderson Valley residents are already paying a benefit assessment, many pay for ambulance membership (a percentage of whom would withdraw if a tax was imposed), and the fire department covers all the ambulance administrative overhead. A tax that would be accompanied by a decrease in memberships would not help the ambulance service. 

SYMPHONY of the REDWOODS - OPUS CHAMBER MUSIC SERIES

Satisfy your pandemic wanderlust with Postcards, a program of regional folk songs from Greece, Argentina, France, Mexico and Spain arranged for voice and piano. Mezzo soprano Melinda Martinez Becker and pianist Margaret Halbig will perform a unique collection of art songs and piano works by Maurice Ravel, Manuel de Falla, Maria Grever, and others. 

Sunday, March 20 at 3 pm at the Mendocino Presbyterian Church

Coffee and cookies will be served in the courtyard before the concert and at the intermission!

Tickets may be purchased at brownpapertickets.com, Out of this World in Mendocino, and at Harvest Market in Fort Bragg.

DOG ETIQUETTE, a Boonville reader writes: For those of us who enjoy walking our pets around Airport/Meadow/Estates Drive. I walk most every day with my pup and the amount of feces left by other pet owners is insane. Not only is it gross to look at, it spreads disease and can negatively affect animals and humans in the long run. I get that we live in the country but that doesn't mean you get to leave your dog turds in mine or my neighbors yards. Please be respectful and pick it up. If anyone needs poop bags I have plenty. I'm more than happy to give some out. I will add a photo of what my pup and I use for poop collection. Take time to read this article on the negative effects of not cleaning up after your pet. Thank you!

ED NOTES

THE DAILY MAIL, a rightwing Brit tabloid, described the following reforms as "far left": AOC wants Biden to take executive action to raise wages, combat climate change, cancel student debt, and lower health care costs.

THE SIGNIFICANCE of Hunter Biden's famous laptop has finally been acknowledged by the NYT: The lib media have given the Bidens a year-long pass on the contents of Hunter's abandoned laptop containing slam dunk evidence that the Bidens benefitted mightily from their relationships with Ukraine. If Hunter Biden was Hunter Trump CNN, MSNBC et al would have been all over it from the get. Obvious enough, right? The lib media also covers up the obvious fact that Joe Biden is physically, mentally unfit to function in the big office.

GIVEN the daily deluge of distractions — gosh, I sure hope Kim and Kanye get back together — I try to sort out truth from untruth by kicking the day off with the audio version of the NYT, NPR, deriving the national Democrat party line from NPR before moving on-line to CounterPunch for a quick scan of left perspectives long familiar to me. I check the on-line Chronicle and Substack, and then look for Mendo-specific news on Facebook. For long-form truth I've been dependent on the London Review of Books for many years. I've also read the New York Review of Books since its inception although it's gone Democrat-flabby, imo. I read The New Yorker where there’s maybe one piece a week of particular interest to me. In the evening, I watch ABC News with David Muir, which never fails to make me laugh, then BBC America whose reporting is dependably good, objective even, especially for television. Then it's on to documentary films. When I'm not putting together America's last newspaper, or dashing off my own prose sominex, I read novels and poetry. I'm re-reading Alan Brien's truly great novelized life of Lenin, ‘Spoon River Anthology,’ which I haven't read since high school and had forgotten how good it is. And ‘George Orwell's Collected Essays’ in the Everyman's edition; some short stories by Jack London collected under the title, ‘Chinago,’ plus ‘Orwell's Roses’ by Rebecca Solnit, and a collection of really good poetry titled Links by Jeff Brainard, an old friend. I don't watch or read any conservative media because it's so goddam dumb although I'll read an occasional essay from The Wall Street Journal. 

THE FIRST FROST FANS of the Spring roared into life this morning about 5am as I stood gaping at the full moon to the west before setting out for an hour's walk in the dark, but seldom early enough to beat Jan Wasson-Smith and Alicia Perez as we inevitably pass somewhere between the Elementary School and Bud Johnson's place. (I've mentioned this before, but walking in the dark has its hazards. One morning I brushed past a guy standing in the roadbed so close I jumped to the side and took up a pugil-stick fighting stance with my walking stick. Startled hell right outta me, and I wonder to this day if that guy, who had to have heard me coming, deliberately tried to scare me. Which he did, for sure. Another dark morning I walked straight into the side of a sheep. Dark is really dark without a moon, but walks in the dark on a full moon are transporting, heavenly even.

1300 NORTH STATE (Why don't the cops establish a sub-station at 1300 where it seems every other passerby is either wanted for a crime or is in the act of committing one)

On Monday, March 14, 2022 at 12:12 A.M., Mendocino County Sheriff's Deputies were on routine patrol when they observed a vehicle traveling southbound in the 1300 block of North State Street in Ukiah.

The Deputies observed a lighting violation and as they followed the vehicle as it displayed erratic driving maneuvers. The Deputies initiated a traffic stop and contacted the driver and sole occupant of the vehicle. The driver was later identified as Elezar Cavero-Martinez, 24, of Santa Rosa.

As the Deputies were talking to Cavero-Martinez, they observed a strong odor of alcohol emitting from his person.

Cavero-Martinez provided his brother's name and date of birth. The Deputies observed empty alcohol containers on the floorboard of the vehicle; which prompted them to initiate a DUI investigation.

The Deputies administered field sobriety tests with Cavero-Martinez and the results provided probable cause to believe he was impaired while driving. The Deputies arrested Cavero-Martinez and transported him to the Mendocino County Jail. While at the jail, Corrections Deputies recognized Cavero-Martinez and identified him by his correct name and date of birth.

The Deputies performed a records check on Cavero-Martinez and developed probable cause to believe he falsely provided the name of a different real person to avoid prosecution.

Cavero-Martinez' driver's license was suspended for DUI, he was on pre-trial release for DUI and he had two outstanding arrest warrants out of Mendocino County.

Cavero-Martinez was booked for Felony False Impersonation of Another, Misdemeanor Driving Under Influence Of Alcohol Above 0.08 BAC), Misdemeanor Driving Under Influence of Alcohol), Misdemeanor Driving on Suspended License, Misdemeanor Disobeying Court Order and the two Mendocino County arrest warrants.

Cavero-Martinez was to be held in lieu of $15,000 bail.

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

2:30AM, NICHOLE AND HER ARSENAL ON THE MOVE IN REDWOOD VALLEY

On Tuesday, March 15, 2022 at 2:30 A.M., Mendocino County Sheriff's Deputies were on routine patrol when they observed the vehicle in front of them abruptly pull over into a turn out in the 7000 block of North State Street in Ukiah.

The Deputies pulled over and observed the vehicle's registration was expired.

The Deputies contacted the occupants of the vehicle. The passenger was identified as Nichole Sotillekonevitch, 42, of Laytonville, and the driver was found to be on Post Release Community Supervision (PRCS).

The Deputies performed a search of the vehicle, per the driver's PRCS terms. The Deputies located the following items: A loaded shotgun, a short barreled assault rifle and a loaded high capacity magazine. Upon further inspection the assault rifle did not contain a serial number.

The Deputies continued their investigation and developed probable cause to believe Sotillekonevitch was in possession of both firearms and the high capacity magazine.

Sotillekonevitch was arrested for Felony Possession of Short Barreled Rifle, Felony Possession of Undetectable Firearm, Felony Possession of Large Capacity Magazine, Possession of Assault Weapon, Misdemeanor Carrying Loaded Firearm In Vehicle.

Nichole was booked into the Mendocino County Jail where she was to be held in lieu of $15,000 bail.

FORT BRAGG GANG-BANGER CONVICTED FOR ATTACKING AN INNOCENT PARK BENCH Because The Bench Was Wearing Rival Gang Colors

A Mendocino County Superior Court jury completed what appears to have been very efficient deliberations by returning a guilty verdict against the trial defendant Tuesday afternoon in less than an hour.

Defendant Fabian Sanchez, age 21, of the Fort Bragg area, was convicted of felony vandalism of the red-colored “Buddy Bench” on the playground at Redwood Elementary School, causing damage and expense to the school district greater than $1,000.

Admittedly not the sole bad actor on the night in question, the defendant under cover of darkness acted in concert with at least two others in committing the crime. The other vandals, however, could not be identified beyond a reasonable doubt from the surveillance footage.

Defendant Sanchez is a documented Sureno gang member who has the street gang moniker of “Playboy.”

Sureno gang members identify with the color blue and have been known to engage in random acts of violence when they come across the color red, the color identified with the rival Norteno criminal street gang.

After the jury was excused, the defendant’s case was referred to the Adult Probation Department for a social study and sentencing recommendation, as required by law.

The defendant was ordered to return to court on April 28, 2022 at 9 o’clock in the morning in Department A of the Ukiah courthouse for imposition of sentence.

The law enforcement agency that investigated the crime was the Fort Bragg Police Department.

The attorney who presented the People’s evidence to the jury was Josh Rosenfeld, the senior of DA Eyster’s two coastal prosecutors assigned to the DA’s Fort Bragg office.

Mendocino County Superior Court Judge Keith Faulder presided over the two-day trial, and will be the sentencing judge on April 28th.

(DA Presser)

CATCH OF THE DAY, March 18, 2022

AURUELIO BARRAGAN, Ukiah. Failure to appear.

IVY BODWIN, Ukiah. Under influence, trespassing, probation revocation.

IZIK CABRERA, Fort Bragg. DUI while on probation, suspended license, probation revocation.

DEVANTA DERBIGNY, Ukiah. Domestic battery.

BRETT HAYES, Covelo. Domestic battery.

JESUS HERRERA, Willits. Domestic battery, vandalism.

RITA LAVENDUSKEY, Fort Bragg. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

MICHAEL NEWBOLDS, Ukiah. County parole violation.

ARTEMO ORTEGA-REYES, Ukiah. Under influence, paraphernalia, contempt of court, probation revocation.

JULIE PETITT, Fort Bragg. Controlled substance/narcotic for sale, saps and similar weapons.

DANIEL REBOCA, Ukiah. DUI, solicitation of another to blow into interlock device to start vehicle, child endangerment, failure to appear, probation revocation.

TIMOTHY RICKON, Mendocino. Protective order violation, failure to appear.

JAKE SCHULER, Ukiah. Parole violation, failure to appear.

FUTILITY IS EXPENSIVE

Editor: 

On March 9, The Press Democrat published the amount of money Sonoma County and the city of Santa Rosa spent on homelessness services over two fiscal years (“Agency on homeless crisis hits reshuffle”). That number is $92.4 million. If there are, as reported, 2,700 homeless people in the area, that equates to $1,426 per individual for each month during that 24-month period.

If you factor in that half of the 2,700 don’t want to go indoors and abide by the rules, the number balloons to $2,853 per month per individual for people who wanted help. Where is this money going? What have we, the citizens, received in return?

Some people just want to party, some want help, and some cannot be helped. I am all for helping people who want to be helped. However, it seems that all the community received in return is more people camped out on sidewalks and more trash, with no end in sight.

Santa Rosa used to be a fine city. Now it looks like a war zone. I don’t know what the answer is, but throwing more money at this is not going to solve the problem.

R. Michael Abazia

Santa Rosa

AT LAST…

Sunshine Week! On Tuesday, March 15, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat published an opinion piece (below) describing possible abuses of the Ralph M. Brown Act by the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors. I was surprised to learn that their District Attorney, Jill Ravitch, took the trouble to look into improprieties about which one of the supervisors complained.

After nearly 20 years of closely observing the processes of Lake County governance by its elected and duly appointed officials, which appears to have increasingly (of late) chosen to keep the people's business a kind of secret -- first by bringing all of the local department heads (who are “at will” employees with no union representation) into alignment with the party line as they did on March 11 in a special “annual governance” meeting, and second by adding several more “ad hoc” committees to aid them in manipulating the direction to staff without any public accountability whatsoever. My gratitude for your piercing examinations of Mendocino's official organizational ineptitude is almost inexpressible, but without your shining example I might not even know that it's possible to challenge the freakish misdirection and abuses of authority that are evidently the status quo here. 

Heaps of thanks, gentlemen.

* * *

PD Editorial

A lesson in open meeting law for county supervisors The first paragraph of the Ralph M. Brown Act plainly states the purpose of California’s landmark open-meeting law: “In enacting this chapter, the Legislature finds and declares that the public commissions, boards and councils and the other public agencies in this State exist to aid in the conduct of the people’s business. It is the intent of the law that their actions be taken openly and that their deliberations be conducted openly.” There are three exceptions: litigation, personnel matters and real estate negotiations can be discussed behind closed doors.

There isn’t an exception for politics.

Few things are as overtly political — or as intensely personal for politicians — as reapportionment, the decennial adjustment of district boundaries to reflect population and demographic changes. The outcome can make or break careers. Nonetheless, deliberations must, as the Brown Act says, “be conducted openly.”

Sonoma County supervisors violated the law at least twice last fall while debating their new districts. District Attorney Jill Ravitch concluded that the supervisors didn’t properly disclose their reasons for convening a closed-door session on Nov. 19, and they improperly withheld a Nov. 29 staff memo that summarized board members’ comments on district boundaries.

Supervisor Lynda Hopkins, then the board chair, cited anticipated litigation as the rationale for the closed session, which Supervisor Chris Coursey later called “bogus.”

At the time, the board was divided over whether to adopt a redistricting plan submitted by an advisory committee, and Coursey says Hopkins used the private meeting to accuse him of trying to harm her politically. Hopkins denied making any accusations.

Ravitch didn’t rule on the supervisors’ justification for the meeting, which, it was later revealed, included social media posts alleging gerrymandering and suggestions about raising money for a lawsuit. However, the district attorney reprimanded the board for failing to provide a full accounting so the public could assess the actual risk of a lawsuit.

Our assessment: The county had practically no legal exposure, and any notes or minutes detailing what the supervisors said in private should be made public. The Nov. 29 staff memo violated the “serial meeting” provision of the Brown Act, which bars officials from communicating with one another through third parties on matters that by law are supposed to be discussed in public. The memo was labeled “attorney-client privileged communication,” but Ravitch found no evidence it was prepared by an attorney or contained legal advice.

Ravitch concluded that the Brown Act violations didn’t alter the outcome of the redistricting process. Her findings are important just the same, because open meeting laws are meaningless if elected and appointed officials aren’t held accountable.

The district attorney’s findings also are timely, coming as we in the media mark Sunshine Week, a national initiative of the News Leaders Association to spotlight the dangers of excessive and unnecessary government secrecy.

There are plenty of reasons here for county officials to be embarrassed, not least of which is Ravitch’s recommendation for additional Brown Act training for the supervisors, who include two former news reporters and a past president of the local League of Women Voters.

We started with some words from the Brown Act, and we’ll finish the same way: “The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know.”

BILL KIMBERLIN: This is the $600 million dollar yacht belonging to Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov a steel and iron ore investor. 

The crew, which could no longer be paid due to the sanctions, got laid off on March 7th. By tonnage (16,000 tons) it is the largest private yacht in the world. It's called the Dilbar and is 512 feet long and can carry up to 120 people in comfort. It has the largest swimming pool ever installed on a yacht and was custom built for Usmanov. I like the outboard deck seen in the second photo near the stern, but with only two helipads I'm sensing there could be crowding.

CARMEL ANGELO’S LAKE COUNTY GAL PAL 

To the Editor:

Lake County's County Administrative Officer (CAO) Carol Huchingson is unexpectedly retiring.

“I have now made the difficult decision to retire, as of the end of April," Huchingson said on Friday, March 18, in an interview with the Lake County News.

lakeconews.com/news/72010-lake-county-administrative-officer-stepping-down

Huchingson did not specifically explain why she is retiring.

Huchingson’s gal pal, Carmel Angelo, the chief executive officer of Mendocino County for the past 12 years, announced her own retirement in January. Her last day is March 19.

It is interesting to note it has been six months since Huchingson pushed through her two waves of county raises, including very big raises for herself. The raises included up to $5 million approved in October 2020 — in which Huchingson received a 30% raise — and another $16 million in September, when Huchingson's raises totaled 54.5%, plus a 2.5% longevity increase.

Mendocino County observers will note that at the March 15 meeting of the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors, Agenda Item 5b, "Approval of Employment Agreement Between the County of Mendocino and Mendocino County Interim Chief Executive Officer Darcie Antle," Ms. Antle's own salary was raised to $200,000, with compensation including benefits totaling $338,000.

But why? 

The Counties of Lake and Mendocino are the two poorest counties among California's 58 counties. In fact, our poverty statics can be compared to those in Appalachia or the Deep South.

Here in the Counties of Lake and Mendocino, one half of our residents are eligible for Food Stamps and one third are eligible for Medi-Cal. 

The raises are inexplicable, unjustified, and shocking.

Yet, Carol Huchingson and Carmel Angelo will have comfortable retirements. Very comfortable. 

Also, we learned at the March 15 meeting of the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors that, instead of having a big financial surplus, as we were led to believe by Ms. Angelo, the county is actually running a $12.1 million projected deficit.

Also, our county's cannabis program is running $3 million in the red.

Where are our leaders? And why don't more of us speak out?

When I objected to the Board's proclamation for Ms. Angelo at the March 15 meeting -- a proclamation that said nary a word about how Ms. Angelo made Mendocino County better, but instead focused on how well Ms. Angelo networked and managed her career -- I was accused by Board Chair Ted Williams of making "unfounded personal attacks".

It's interesting to note only political bigshots and county executive management spoke at the presentation of Ms. Angelo's proclamation. It was an orgy of mutual backslapping and self-congratulation.

No SEIU union reps spoke at the presentation. Nor reps from any of the county's other unions and collective bargaining units. 

Not one member of the county's rank and file spoke. The people who do the real work. 

No department heads spoke. 

None of the county's constitutionally elected officers spoke. Not the Sheriff. Nor the District Attorney. Nor the Treasurer-Tax Collector. Nor the Auditor-Controller. Nor the Accessor-County Clerk.

Not even our county's contractors spoke, including Redwood Community Services. They get tens of millions of dollars every year as the sole provider in no-bid contracts.

They were all notable by their absence. 

I ask again: Where are our leaders? And why don't more of us speak out?

John Sakowicz

Ukiah

BRAHMIC VRITTIS TAKE OVER

Good afternoon postmodern America, Awoke from a deep sleep at the Building Bridges homeless shelter in Ukiah, California. Made a dental appointment to have my teeth cleaned in April in nearby Willits. Then, shaved/showered/got dressed and walked up to Plowshares for a sumptuous lunch provided by Catholic Workers. Walked back slowly to the homeless shelter. Took a nap. That's it for today...nothing else to do...the Brahmic Vrittis have taken over...nothing planned in the future. If anybody would like to move me outta my present situation and do something, go ahead!! Call the Building Bridges staff at (707) 234-3270 to discuss the situation, if you like. Email me at craiglouisstehr@gmail.com. Of course I am accepting money: PayPal.me/craiglouisstehr Please forward this message out as far and wide as possible. Thank you very much! 

Craig Louis Stehr

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

These are the U.S. “percolating variables” AT or EXCEEDED critical point, under the law of self-organized criticality:

• Borders – Unsecured
• Civil Unrest
• Consumer – Credit
• Crime – Urban
• Earthquakes
• Education
• Electric Grid-Eastern
• Electric Grid-Texas
• Electric Grid-Western
• Floods
• Food Availability
• Healthcare System
• Homelessness
• Hurricanes
• Hydrocarbon Transports
• Hydrocarbons – Production
• Inflation
• Interstate Highway System – Urban Centers
• Market – Debt
• Market – Housing
• Market- Credit
• Market- Equity
• Military Rank and File Defection
• Pandemic
• Political Gridlock
• Potable Water – Urban
• Poverty
• Public – Debt
• Public – Emergency Services
• Qualified Labor – Professional Services
• Qualified Labor – Trade
• Student Load – Debt
• Supply Chain – Critical Infrastructure Material
• Supply Chain – Non-Critical Infrastructure Material
• Telecommunications
• Terrorism
• Unvetted Immigration
• War-Civil
• War-Worldwide
• Wastewater Treatment – Urban
• Western Drought
• Western Food Production
• Western Shipping Container Cargo Ports
• Western Water Reservoirs/Reserves
• Western Wildfires

The rolling waves of collapse are underway, across multiple realms, and not being disclosed by those employed in the service of public health and safety.

Here is an effective introduction to the law of self-organized criticality, as it pertains to California wildfires: youtube.com/watch?v=S83u_y3ZRYg&t=0s

"THE CONSERVATION MOVEMENT is a breeding ground of Communists and other subversives. We intend to clean them out, even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.” 

— John Mitchell, Nixon's Attorney General

ATTEMPTED DEATH BY A THOUSAND BLOWS

Editor,

Let's peek at the District Attorney's evidence against me.

District Attorney David Eyster has me charged with attempted murder. The evidence he has is pathetic. However, the hobbit Judge Keith Faulder bound me over for trial after my pretrial at $300,000 bail. (I think it was originally $500,000!) Of course, Faulder has been obsessed with locking me up for over 20 years. Eyster is just obsessed with railroading anybody to prison at huge taxpayer expense.

Anyway, here's a bit of prosecutor Eyster's evidence at the pretrial held way back in June of 2020. They have been stalling my right to speedy trial ever since. Eyster only has a photo in exhibit of a weapon he contends I used. It is a photo of a stick, maybe a bit over 2 feet long, that a Ukiah police officer referred to as a dowel. I only caught a glimpse of the photo and it looks to me like a Miracle "scrub brush" handle. How can you attempt to murder somebody with something of that length and weight? Would you have to deliver 1000 blows? I'm 67 years old, I would have a heart attack first. This alleged victim is a notorious woman beater, drug dealer and sneak thief named William Barry. 

He had no strangle wounds on his neck, nor did I have any assault wounds on my fists. Barry on the other hand had photos of his hands taken. They look very swollen as it he had been beating on something or somebody. Barry is about 55 years old and robbed me once in July of 2003, and attempted to do it again in August of 2003.

After his failed attempt he told Ukiah police officer Peter Hoyle that I had hit him with a beer bottle and I was arrested. This Barry villain has been stalking me ever since and he gets police protection from the Ukiah police as he is a known street informant.

However, I think Ukiah police have finally figured out that nearly all his information is false. It still it keeps him out of jail and more of a burden on taxpayers. Taxpayers pay police to keep the peace, not having to listen to perjurers all day!

As for this dowel, scrub brush weapon, nobody knows where it disappeared to! They had a photo of it, but no physical weapon in exhibits. Also, three Ukiah police officers told three different stories of where this dowel was found. My statement to them that night is the same as today: William Barry has been following me around for 20 years! I was arrested at my homeless camp, not his. Barry's original statement to the Ukiah police was: "I'll get revenge on Giusti. I'll get Giusti on my own." Sounds like a stocking type of terrorist threat to me. Later he told police a very tall tale and I attacked him with a baseball bat and tire iron. Neither was found on me, nor in my property, nor anywhere at the "crime scene."

Summation: Barry and Eyster are liars and will have to answer to God.

A couple more little tidbits of Eyster's weak evidence: he is allegedly threatening to present at trial a letter I wrote to Deputy District Attorney Kitty Houston in 2003 and a probation report on me done in 2004. Eyster is evidently going to try to twist the documents into evidence of motive for murder. He can't. How could anything written by me to authorities 18 years ago did locate me in an attempted murder alleged to have happened in March of 2020? If my letter to Ms. Houston was illegal, why wasn't I charged with a terrorist threat?

Eyster should crawl back into his oyster.

Sincerely David Youngcault River Crow Scout Giusti

Mendocino County Jail

Ukiah

I’M NOT ONE for comparing the crimes of autocrats. But purely for variety’s sake I’ll nominate for a Gellhorn Prize the first talking head on MSDNC or CNN who, instead of calling Putin the new Hitler, refers to him as Russia’s Dick Cheney… 

— Jeffrey St. Clair

HOMELESS CRISIS POLITICS

Dear Constituent,

Save the Date for Tuesday, April 5 @ 6:30pm: Join us for our Town Hall focused on solutions to the Homelessness Crisis.

We’re working day and night to get permanent housing built and to get folks off the street and connected to addiction and mental health services.

Hundreds of new units have been built or will be built here on the North Coast in the coming months. Obviously, there’s a lot of work ahead.

Join us for a region-wide progress report – from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Oregon Border – on what what’s been accomplished working with local cities and counties and what you can expect in the months to come.

We’re bringing together some of the top experts for the conversation!

Here are the details: 

What: Town Hall on Homeless Housing & Services

Who: Senator Mike McGuire, Victor Duron with the State of California’s Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council, and Geoffrey Ross with the California Department of Housing & Community Development.

When: Tuesday, April 5, at 6:30 pm 

How to attend: Watch live here: http://sd02.senate.ca.gov/video. RSVP and ask a question for the roundtable presenters by clicking here!

We look forward to talking with you on April 5. Have a great weekend!

Warmest regards,

Mike Mcguire, Senator

---

IRV SUTLEY REPLIES:

Another virtual Town Hall where you won't be able to ask live questions of the "Governor", instead you will be listening to a panel of pre-selected democratic toadies' praise Little Mikey and jockey for funding to construct "Housing for the Unhoused". "Units" which may serve only about one tenth of one percent of those who actually need safe shelter.

In the state senator's elongated coastal district where future transportation needs will only be met by the Smart Train and the Vaunted Redwood Trail. 

Left unsaid in this presser, is how Doug Bosco, the retired congressman looks down so favorably on McGuire's efforts from Fortress Pee Dee at 425 Mendocino Avenue in the Rose City.

EATING AND & GROWING WILD: “SALAD UNIVERSITY” 

Hi folks,

Jaye and I are teaching a virtual class through the School of Adaptive Agriculture. The link just above the photo will take you to their website to register. Although we are in Massachusetts we are happy to reconnect with you by offering this workshop.

--Bill Taylor and Jaye Alison Moscariello

https://schoolofadaptiveagriculture.org/product/saladuniversity/

MOTA: 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.

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 an Arkansas muleteer, 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 lot of useful info to occupy your brains with before showtime, or anytime, such as:

Bill Wurtz' latest.

https://nagonthelake.blogspot.com/2022/03/happy-saturday.html

Citizens of Kyiv.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/03/18/magazine/ukraine-war-kyiv.html

And Andy Friedman's physics/math/astronomy cheat sheets

http://web.mit.edu/asf/www/CheatSheetsIndex.html

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

SAVING SAN BRUNO MOUNTAIN: SAINTS, SINNERS, SAVIORS & THE SAVED

by Jonah Raskin

To understand San Bruno Mountain today it helps to know some of its history. After all, it’s probably the last frontier in the San Francisco Bay Area. Nearly 300 years after Christopher Columbus arrived in the so-called “New World”—which was promptly plundered— Spanish seekers after gold landed on the west coast of a vast and “unknown” continent. Unknown to them, that is. The Viceroy of New Spain, Antonio María Bucareli y Ursúa dispatched Bruno de Heceta—a Spanish/Basque explorer and an agent of the Spanish crown—to explore Alta California.

When de Heceta saw a mountain on the horizon, he named it “Saint Bruno,” though he did not consult with any of the Ohlone, the original inhabitants, who lived in the villages they created and who roamed about the bay. Perhaps Bruno de Heceta was an egotist and named the mountain after himself. Maybe, like most colonialists, he wanted to leave his mark on the place he thought he had discovered. Or maybe he was a child of the Catholic Church into which he was born and raised and whose saints he revered. In any case, genocide and destruction, not saintliness or godliness, followed in Bruno de Heceta’s footsteps.

Today, sprawling, hulking San Bruno Mountain—whose slopes touch several Northern California counties—is one of the last largely undeveloped and untamed areas of any size in the San Francisco Bay Area. Granted, there are some houses and some neighborhoods, but they are largely invisible to drivers and passengers going north and south on highway 101. The forests and the wildlife are also invisible from 101. Indeed, San Bruno Mountain is a secret that’s hiding in plain sight.

No one seems to know the exact square miles it occupies, though it’s thought to be three miles long. At its highest elevation, it’s 1,319 feet above sea level. Radio towers dot the summit and look down on the cities of South San Francisco, Brisbane and the city of San Bruno, home to a naval base in World War II.

The wilder parts of the mountain are a reminder of what Alta California looked like (no suburbs and freeways), smelled like (myrtle, oak and wild cherry) and sounded like (running streams and the cries of birds) when the Ohlone lived there.

For Indians, San Bruno was sacred ground. For many northern California lovers of nature, it’s a magical mountain and right in their own backyard. Harvard Professor E. O. Wilson, a biologist known as the “father of biodiversity,” called San Bruno “a global treasure” and a “‘hot spot’ in need of immediate protection.” Sections of the mountain have indeed been protected. Concerned citizens have exerted pressure on local, state and the federal governments. Together they’ve created San Bruno Mountain State Park and the San Bruno Mountain Ecological Reserve.

Those same concerned citizens, who are on near constant alert, have blocked developers who have wanted to oversee huge housing projects, pave roads and bring the so-called amenities of civilization to the wild mountain. Protecting San Bruno, as David Nelson—the author of the forthcoming book, The Natural History of San Bruno Mountain— says, is a constant struggle.

David Schooley, a long time Bay Area environmentalist, and a poet and an artist, learned about the mountain by exploring it on foot, sometimes alone, and later in the battle he waged with others against the Crocker Land Company and the Rockefellers who wanted to create a city they called “New Manhattan.” 

Schooley didn’t like that idea one bit. He didn’t like bombs, or the nuclear age, either. San Bruno struck him as an antidote to all that was deadly in the 20^th century.

Dubbed by Bay Nature magazine, “the guardian of San Bruno Mountain,” Schooley sometimes seems proud that he has been called “worse than Earth First!” Still, that phrase belongs to the war of words that has been raged against him. In fact, the gentleness of the mountain has rubbed off on him. He’s a Quaker and has gone to jail to defend it..

In his profusely illustrated 14-page pamphlet, “San Bruno Mountain: The Endangered”—and in his book, Earth’s Own Animal that includes an essay titled “The People’s Battle to Save San Bruno Mountain”—Schooley thinks like a mountain. Signs that he and others have posted read “Save Me,” as though the mountain can speak for itself. At the start of his pamphlet Schooley explains, “It should be said the Mountain wrote these words.”

The phrase and the concept of “thinking like a mountain” was first coined by the famed ecologist, Aldo Leopold, a Yalie who taught at the University of Wisconsin and revered frontier ways and frontiersmen like Daniel Boone, perhaps too eagerly. The words “thinking like a mountain” show up in Leopold’s classic of nature writing, A Sand County Almanac, which was first published in 1949. Over the last eight decades, it has never been out of print and it has appealed to generation after generation, including the present generation of ecologists.

The Ohlone, who lived on the mountain and all around the bay, probably didn’t have a string of words that added up to Leopold’s phrase. But they were of the mountain and in the very heart of the mountain, and the mountain was in them and of them. The Ohlone didn’t believe in private property, but they created villages, which they named “Siscsstac” and “Siplichiquin.” They thrived on the bounty of the bay, traded with other tribes and left massive shell mounds which Schooley discovered when he wandered across the mountain. He was blown away by nearly everything he saw and heard.

By 1800, which was more than 150 years before Schooley first saw the peak of the mountain outlined against the sky, nearly all the Ohlone had been enslaved at Mission Dolores in San Francisco. They were worked to death as mercilessly as the Jews in any Nazi concentration camp. It has been estimated that only 15 Ohlone were alive when California became the 50^th state in 1850.

How many Ohlone are alive today no one seems to know, though at public events in the Bay Area, speakers remind audiences that they are on “unceded Ohlone land.” Malcolm Margolin has written about the Ohlone in his book The Ohlone Way. Deborah Miranda, an enrolled member of the Ohlone-Costanoan-Esselen, has written about herself, her family, her tribe and California history in her ironical titled memoir, Bad Indians.

As a young man, Schooley fell in love with the history of the Ohlone, and with the fragile beauty, the gentle wildness of the land and the fog that swirled around the mountain. He founded the San Bruno Mountain Watch, which morphed into the San Bruno Mountain Watch Conservancy and joined with others, who were like-minded, to protect a mountain they thought of as magical.

By the time that modern day environmental groups were formed and laws passed to protect endangered species, parts of San Bruno Mountain had already been trashed—literally. Beginning in 1895, the city of San Francisco began to dump its garbage in the murky waters at the foot of the mountain. The place stank, decade after decade.

Also, large chunks of the mountain had been scooped up, transported downhill and dumped into the Bay to extend the coastline and expand the possibilities for commercial development. The “Garbage Wars” began. Also, a movement called “Save the Bay,” led by three feisty women—Ester Gulick, Kay Kem and Sylvia McLaughlin— sprang up and did exactly what it was meant to do. Saving the bay helped to save the mountain.

Over the years, dozens of environmentalists, homeowners, professionals and teenagers joined with Schooley to protect the mountain’s endangered flora and fauna, including the rare Mission Blue Butterfly. In 2010 two filmmakers, Ann Dunsky and Steve Dunsky, made a 62-minute documentary and a cinematic masterpiece poetically titled Butterflies and Bulldozers. It has been described as “a story about the rights of nature and the rights of people, one of compromise and commitment, and one about the difficult choices we all have to make.” Ann Dunsky directed and edited the film. Steve Dunsky was one of the producers.

At a recent event for the mountain that took place in San Francisco, Schooley said that one of the main things now was to educate the public about San Bruno. “We’re doing that in communities and in schools,” he explained. “And we’re bringing people to the mountain to walk, hike, look, see and learn.” He invited me to join him. I might do that.

At the end of his pamphlet about San Bruno Mountain, Schooley expresses a hope that it “become not just a place we need to save, but a place that may save us.” Indeed, it helped to save him, his mental and physical health after a near-fatal accident in a place where he was working. Now, when he looks back at the environmental work he and others have done he suggests that San Bruno Mountain is a kind of role model for what might be done with and for other magical mountains.

“It’s not a place to get away from it all,” Schooley says, “but a place to get into; not a place to look at, but a place to see from.” These days, volunteers are helping restore Colma Creek, which cuts across San Bruno. On weekends, they circumnavigate the summit, look down at the Bay and wonder how the mountain looked to the Ohlone before the arrival of Bruno de Heceta, the emissary of the Spanish throne.

FROM STATE SENATOR PRESS RELEASE.....

For far too long, America’s largest utility – PG&E – has failed its customers and made California unsafe. For years, the utility underfunded modernization and wildfire safety efforts, which has had devastating impacts here in the Golden State.

PG&E has been charged with nearly 100 felonies in the deaths of California residents in wildfires they caused over the past 4 years. Californians have literally run for their lives while their homes burned to escape flames from PG&E-caused wildfires. Californians have sat in the dark with food spoiling in their warm refrigerators for days on end during wind-driven public safety power shutoffs, and they’ve been left without access to critical lifeline services when power lines go down.

This has been our reality for long enough.

Today, Senate Majority Leader Mike McGuire introduced a bill that will finally advance what should have been done years ago, undergrounding PG&E transmission and distribution lines in the most fire-prone zones.

SB 884 will provide a path to expedite undergrounding of 10,000 miles of PG&E utility lines in the highest fire risk zones, save ratepayers money, and hold PG&E accountable to their timelines. Currently, PG&E undergrounds less than 100 miles of their electrical lines annually.

Here’s what the bill will do:

Mandated performance metrics would be implemented by the California Public Utilities Commission on undergrounding projects, including timelines for completion, financial penalties for not hitting timelines, and the utility would have to prove safety protocols are met prior to receiving a rate of return.

Develops a pathway to expedite undergrounding construction by establishing a shot clock for local government permit approval/denial to just 150 days.

The legislation would save ratepayers money by forcing PG&E to first use available federal infrastructure funds to construct the undergrounding project before using ratepayer funds and it would mandate telecommunication companies underground their utilities in the same trench as the electrical undergrounding. This dig-once policy will help as a cost share and help make our state telecommunication system more resilient, especially in the highest risk zones.

Guarantees a 270 day judicial review in California courts if an undergrounding project faces a California Environmental Quality Act Lawsuit.

“Every single time a wildfire has ripped through our communities, PG&E apologizes, pays a fine and claims to harden their lines in the areas that might burn next, and then moves on,” Senator Mike McGuire said. “I have great respect for the women and men who work every day to keep our lights on, but I don’t trust the lip service from those at the top. For years, PG&E has known the way to fix this – it’s burying their damn lines. With this legislation, we can get PG&E to finally underground the lines most at risk to start a wildfire and it would hold them accountable with strict performance metrics. This bill will save ratepayers money and save lives. If PG&E doesn’t hit their performance metrics, the utility would be held accountable.”

This legislation will further reduce the devastating climate impact wildfires have in our state. In 2020, more than 4 million acres – 4 percent of land in California – burned across the state in just one record-setting year. The smoke from these fires generated the equivalent emissions of 28 million vehicles and blanketed many parts of the state with unhealthy smoke for weeks

“The Western United States is getting hotter and drier, and the threat of wildfires is only getting worse. Everyone knows the only path forward is for PG&E to speed up the pace of moving power lines underground. Lives are literally at risk. This legislation will safeguard our communities and save ratepayers money.” 

* * *

ON LINE RESPONSE: This will take 100 years, and cost more than the gross financial product of the state…

In 1978-80, the City of Davis and PG&E undergrounded all lines, electric, cable, etc, as a “beautification project”…

Study how long it took, and what it cost.

Mike McGuire is not a real smart guy, and a lot of the subjects he speaks on and dreams about will just never happen…

Then there is the super-fast train to nowhere that somebody started up…

I suggest that the State of California start on the Magnetic-induction highways, to go with the Electric Cars that nobody can afford…

Probably would be better to just distribute the people of California into other states, by the busload daily, because the resources, the water, the homes and the cities, will all be uninhabitable in 2-300 years…

When every tree in the state is dead, when every drop of water is gone to feed Almonds, Grapes and fucking “Cannabis”, remember these words…

California was heaven on earth, and soon it will be just one big abandoned area, with no industry but burying the dead in the areas that are not flooded with seawater…

Come on Mike! Obviously you put a lot of time and thought into this, NOT! The first thing that should be done is a private/public (PG&E) partnership to undergound service lines. There is about a 1/2 mile of overhead line on our place. PG&E and their subcontractors spend at least 100 man/woman hours a year on inspections, vegetation clearing and follow-up inspections. I have to believe their burdened hourly rates have to be close to $100 an hour. That’s about $10,000 a year!

I contacted PG&E and asked if they had a partnership program to bury the lines. They said “what a great idea, but no we don’t”. That was almost 10 years ago, when we got a bid of $20,000+/-. I have to believe the cost has likely doubled. 

MIke, a limit of 150 days to issue a Permit? That would be quick in Humboldt County, but come on. You consider that an expedited process? How about 30 days if a Permit is required. I would guess 90% of the time a Permit would not be required. Does anyone know when PG&E ever got a permit to install a transmission line?

In regards to CEQA, Section 15302(d) of the CEQA Guidelines exempts the replacements of overhead lines with underground lines. See below:

15302(d) Conversion of overhead electric utility distribution system facilities to underground including connection to existing overhead electric utility distribution lines where the surface is restored to the condition existing prior to the undergrounding.

Mike, you admit this legislation should have been done years ago. Didn’t you assume office in 2014?

DANCING AT LAR'S

Live Music at the Larry Spring Museum! Sunday, March 20th, 7 PM $10-20 at the door sliding scale

We are excited to announce that bands Bed Bits, Petit Garason, and Cody & Max are making a tour stop at the Larry Spring Museum. Bed Bits is a clonky-ponky pop band that someone once called "classical caveman". Their influences are 80's art rock and Switched-On Bach. Petite Garason is a twee freak band in the style of Beat Happening, with occasional flute. Together, they *may* be performing a few theatrical skits within their sets. Both bands are gentle but danceable.

No one will be turned away for lack of funds.

Anne Maureen McKeating <director@larryspringmuseum.org>

AT THE BOTANICAL GARDENS....

iNaturalist Walk with Christian Schwarz on Saturday! 

Calling all citizen scientists. Join special guest Christian Schwarz this Saturday (3/19/22) on a walk around the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens to learn the basics of iNaturalist What is this tool? How does it interact with the online platform? We'll practice the physical mechanics of using the app in the field, as well as work out the kinks in the upload process once we get back to a WiFi connection in the classroom. Get all your questions answered and get a head start on your journey of observing, documenting, and sharing your encounters with biodiversity!

There is a $20 registration fee to attend this class, this includes admission to Gardens for the day ($15 discounted rate for MCBG Members).

This class is limited to 10 participants, only a couple spots left! Reservations are required. SIGN UP at https://www.gardenbythesea.org/calendar/inaturalist-walk/

The class will include indoor instruction and a guided field walk with Christian. Please be prepared for the weather with appropriate layers.

Materials: Please bring a Smartphone with iNaturalist installed and a user account set up (free). Also come prepared with drinking water, a notebook, pen, and a camera if desired.

Masks are required during this hands-on workshop. Please come prepared to wear your mask indoors and please wear it outdoors when social distancing is not possible.

About The Instructor Christian Schwarz is a naturalist based in California, the land of milk (caps) and honey (mushrooms). He teaches Natural History of Fungi at UC Santa Cruz, and co-authored "Mushrooms of the Redwood Coast”. He now spends his time photographing, teaching about, collecting, and researching macrofungi. Fungi satisfy his curiosity with their seemingly endless forms; from the grotesque to the bizarre to the sublime. Besides dabbling in mushroom taxonomy, he loves fish, plants, nudibranchs, moths, and dragonflies. He is passionate about community science, especially iNaturalist. He is a Research Associate at the Norris Center for Natural History at UCSC as well as the Santa Barbara Botanical Garden.

LEARN MORE and sign up to join the walk at https://www.gardenbythesea.org/calendar/inaturalist-walk/ Only a few spots left!

Roxanne Perkins <marketing@gardenbythesea.org>

HEADLINE OF THE DAY: Putin accuses Ukraine of ‘numerous war crimes committed daily’ (The Times of Israel)

DAYLIGHT SAVING IS A TRAP

by Heather Turgeon and Julie Wright

This week, the “Sunshine Protection Act” passed the Senate. The bill, which would make daylight saving time permanent, is popular with the public; people hate switching their clocks back and forth. And who doesn’t like sunlight?

But daylight saving time isn’t good for us. It’s an artificial jump forward from standard time, which is more aligned with the path of the sun. (At noon during standard time, the sun is actually at its highest point in the sky.) Our bodies evolved, over millions of years, to be exquisitely attuned to the sun’s rhythm. When we wake and see sunlight in the morning, it trips off a cascade of chemicals in our brains that coordinate mental and physical health. Morning sunlight (even through the clouds on a winter day) is vital.

Shifting our clocks every March so that many of us have to wake up before sunrise takes a toll. We can move the hands on a clock, but we can’t fool the body. The shift raises stress levels and inflammation, shortens our sleep, and increases depression. In the week after daylight saving time begins, the incidence of heart attacks and strokes goes up significantly. A recent study found a 6 percent rise in fatal car crashes in that same period.

Daylight saving time is particularly dangerous for teenagers, who are already struggling to stay in sync with the sun. Teens have a natural delay in their biological clock. This phenomenon is seen across cultures—and even across species—and may be evolution’s way of giving teenagers more independence. Their melatonin—the drowsiness hormone—rises later in the evening, prompting them to go to sleep later and wake up later than the rest of us. Too-early high-school start times already make healthy sleep difficult for teens, given this natural delay. The darker it is in the morning and the sunnier it is later in the day, the harder it is for them to get to bed on time. The result is shortened sleep, an increase in accidents, and a higher risk of depression.

Modern-day adolescents are already the most sleep-deprived population in human history. By their senior year, high-school kids on average are getting six and a half hours a night, when they should be getting eight to 10. Teen sleep has been on the decline for decades, and now, one in five teens sleeps five or fewer hours a night. There is a notion that teenagers can get by skimping on sleep, but it turns out the opposite is true: Sleep becomes more vital in the teen years as kids go through drastic developmental changes in the brain and body.

A sleep-deprived brain is slower to react and makes more mistakes. It also skews toward sadness and anger. Recently, the surgeon general outlined his concerns over a growing mental-health crisis, citing higher levels of depression and anxiety among young people: “In 2019, one in three high school students and half of female students reported persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness”—an increase of 40 percent from 2009. The reasons for deteriorating mental health are complex, but sleep loss and a chronic struggle to stay in sync with daytime schedules are big factors. One study found that kids who were sleep-deprived were three times as likely to have symptoms of depression. A new study in the Journal of Adolescent Health finds that for kids ages 11 to 14, sleep was one of the top predictors of positive mood and protectors against anxiety and depression during the pandemic.

Daylight saving time is already unhealthy. You might have the sense that just adapting to it permanently would be better, because we would soon get over that immediate sense of jet lag, but that’s not the case. We’re unaligned with the sun all season long, even if most of us aren’t consciously bothered by it. The big reason daylight saving time never seems so bad is that the shift happens when the days are getting longer. When people say they like it, what they really mean is that they like summer.

But daylight saving does not actually add sunlight to the equation (despite what politicians are saying). If the House passes this bill and it becomes law, we’ll face very long, very dark mornings every winter. In some areas of the country—especially those in the westernmost part of each time zone—the sun won’t rise until 9. Teenagers will feel like they’re waking up for school in the middle of the night and will take calculus exams under fluorescent lights without ever seeing morning sun. They’ll miss most of their REM sleep, or dream sleep, which happens in the early-morning hours and is essential to mental health.

This is clearly a bad idea. So why is it happening, besides the appeal of the bill’s sunny name? Maybe influential business groups like the idea that, with an extra hour of evening sunlight, people will drive more and spend more. But what we actually need to do is sleep more.

If the bill does pass, we’ll need to protect teenagers. We could, for instance, move school-start times to 10—but just try bringing that up at your next school-board meeting. Fortunately, a much better solution exists, one that preserves morning sunlight in the winter without forcing us all to fiddle with our clocks twice a year. We could just do that once more this November, and then stick with standard time.

Standard time is nothing fancy; it’s just the natural way. Why not make it permanent instead? Our bodies already want to follow the sun. Our clocks should do the same.

(theatlantic.com)