Mendocino County Today: Thursday, March 24, 2022

Dry Days | Trillium | Ukraine Headlines | Juan Creek | Les Tarr | Albion 1909 | Mega Events | Need Proof | Medicare Answers | Remembering Ricky | Suicide Net | Bostrom Cycling | Low Bridge | Boonless Doggle | Harvest Funds | Tiny Homes | Afghan Flag | Hospital Positions | Boy Soldiers | Ed Notes | Billionaire Bloat | Suspected Murder | Another Sonnet | Questioning Ortner | Yesterday's Catch | Noyo Ship | Horrific Militarism | Striking Teamsters | Fighting Times | Republican Party | Hibachi House | Dem Club | Mermaids

ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES occurring across interior valleys today and tomorrow will trend toward more seasonable values by Sunday. Otherwise, periods of low clouds, fog, and drizzle are expected on a nightly basis near the coast. In addition, dry weather occurring across northwest California through Saturday will transition to showery conditions Sunday into early next week. (NWS)

UKRAINE HEADLINES

• US Says Russia Committed War Crimes in Ukraine
• Russia to switch gas invoicing to roubles for European buyers
• NATO to discuss extending Stoltenberg’s term as secretary-general
• US says Russian forces have been pushed back in some areas around Kyiv
• German Prime Minister Scholz cites economic risks as he holds firm against Russian energy embargo
• Moscow stock exchange to reopen partially
• Russian Foreign Secretary Lavrov says scale of western sanctions took Moscow by surprise

LES TARR

Les Tarr of Eight To the Bar With Tarr died. I got email from Bob Woelfel, from KTDE in Gualala, who said, "I'm sorry to relay that Les died of pancreatic cancer this past Sunday. I saw him on 2/15 in Willits and he was starting to feel poorly. Kathy admitted him about 10 days before he passed but it was more than a week before it was diagnosed. He last did his show on 3/4. We've been running repeats the last two Friday nights. Tonight, Wednesday, we're doing a tribute to him with anecdotes and a partial replay of his show that included an interview with an old blues man from San Francisco where they remember early times in San Francisco."

One time when Bob was still running KMFB I was in on a not-my-show night to keep things rolling while everyone else was out. This was far enough back when hardly anyone had decent internet service, and I had put an MP3-playing DVD player in the studio so people could do four-hour-or-more-long shows from the other end of the county if they wanted to and just mail an MP3 CD or DVD. I had disks for all the shows Saturday night, and I was reading and working on my show and napping (this was a Saturday and I'd been up all Friday night, as usual, and I got the order of the show wrong. I put Lilia Albuquerque's One Ocean show on instead of Les Tarr's.

Les roared in half an hour later, having driven like a rocket in his truck from Willits, steaming mad. He said his relatives were over for dinner and he turned on the radio and his show didn't come on. He told me, "I'm Italian, baby! I express myself!" I apologized, told him I can't go back in time but I can be sure to never do it again. Nothing helped. I told him to calm down; I'd heard he had heart trouble and I didn't wanta be responsible for him having a heart attack. He showed me a silver screw-top bullet on a chain around his neck with nitroglycerine pills in it in case of that. "I'm covered!" he boomed. "I'm prepared!"

His real name, I'm told was Les Hjulmand. That's a good Italian name. He played bass in hot roadhouse bands, and he had a voice like a pipe organ.

All kinds of people around here were fans of his show on KMFB and KLLK and KTDE and others. If you remember something about him or something he did that struck you, please pass it on to me; I'd like to put them all in one place and of course read them on KNYO.

(Marco McClean)

ON FRIDAY, APRIL 1, 2022, the statewide requirement for vaccine verification or proof of negative tests for attendees at Indoor Mega Events will be lifted and will move to a strong recommendation. This shift acknowledges that case rates and hospitalizations are declining statewide from their peak during the Omicron surge, but also that Indoor Mega Events continue to involve several factors that increase the risk of transmission of COVID-19. (Mendocino Public Health)

SPECIAL MEDICARE QUESTIONS & ANSWERS, Today, Thursday, at 10 am on Zoom

With a complicated topic like Medicare, you likely have questions. HICAP has the answers as the truly unbiased source for technical help and advocacy. Join us and become more educated about your healthcare.

Register: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAtd-2qrj0iE9OrrtHSLEfBD5QwOhMmkOtZ

By: Senior Advocacy Services (https://senioradvocacyservices.org/calendar/) - HICAP (the Health Insurance Counseling & Advocacy Program)

— AV Village

REMEMBERING DEPUTY DEL FIORENTINO

Editor,

I wanted to reach out to Mendocino County in hopes we can all remember the loss of Deputy Sheriff Ricky Del Fiorentino. 

On March 19th, 2014 we lost Ricky when he fell victim to murder while protecting Mendocino County's Coastal community during his scheduled patrol shift in Fort Bragg. 

We often think of how a person dies while forgetting how they lived.

Ricky was an amazing man, a gentle giant, a father, son, husband and brother. We at the Sheriff’s Office miss him every day. Ricky never had a bad day. He truly cared about the people he served as well as his partners. Ricky was the embodiment of a Mendocino County Deputy Sheriff.

Ricky had an infectious laugh that would change the mood in one second. Working with Ricky never felt like work. I feel so very fortunate to have known and worked with him, I am also fortunate to have reminders of him still.

Ricky’s son Tim Del Fiorentino chose to serve our county as a Deputy Sheriff following his father’s death. 

Tim has been a much needed addition to our office. Tim was chosen as our recent Field Services Division Sworn Employee of the Year based on not only his work and service to our community, however because of his superior attitude, constant remembrance of his duty to serve and his truly caring nature. 

The apple didn’t fall far from the tree there. It reminds me how blessed we are to have people like him working here.

This past year we saw a 58% increase in the murders of police officers across our nation. 

All of the folks who are serving our residents and visitors arrive to work each day knowing this is a dangerous job and currently the danger is increasing. They also know there are much worse things in this life than an honorable death. 

Without knowing this and embracing this we would be powerless and unable to serve. It does take bravery to successfully serve the public.

I am asking our resident’s to take a moment to remember not only Ricky however all of the deputies and police officers serving on patrol, custody, and investigations who have chosen to serve you. 

Again I wanted to thank all of the folks who have called, sent cards and emails supporting the Sheriff’s Office during this time and throughout the entire year. You are the reason we are here and we appreciate you.

Sheriff Matt Kendall

DAYNA WHITMER walks beneath a suicide deterrent system net at the Richmond Yard in Richmond, Calif., on Thursday, May 16, 2019. 

Her son, Mattie, who at the age of 20, jumped from the Golden Gate Bridge on November 15, 2017. Advocates have long called for a suicide net beneath the bridge. After years of delays, the project appears back on track.

THE INIMITABLE RALPH BOSTROM: Long time AVA reader and senior care home resident Ralph Bostrom is 93 and is pen-pals with AVA contributor Katy Tahja. She recently sent him a collection of Jack London’s early writings about his travels and Ralph wrote this back…

“My experience riding the rails is very short. There was a second hand shop at the foot of Mission Street and the Embacadero in San Francisco. I bought an old bicycle for $5 and decided to ride from ’Frisco to Seattle. I rode up through the Napa Valley, then over Mt. St. Helena, where Robert Louis Stevenson lived for a while, then up the west side of Clear Lake. I went through the middle of the national forest. I asked for a job at a sawmill but was told I’d have to go to Ukiah to apply. Along with a sleeping bag and some cooking stuff tied on the bike I had a sign ‘Need Some Work!’ I emerged from the forest into Glenn County where I found some work loading hay bales. I think I received $2 and this was the only work I found except picking strawberries north of Eugene. I continued up the highway which was a narrow two lane road. When I got to Dunsmuir I saw a freight train headed north with some empty box cars, so I climbed aboard. When I woke up we were in Medford and I had avoided the mountain range. I continued up the road to Portland and decided I’d had enough bicycle riding.” 

THE GREAT REDWOOD WHAT?

Editor,

Recently, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill transferring much of the Northwestern Pacific Railroad right-of-way to a nonprofit determined to convert that defunct rail line to a bike-hike pathway from the edge of San Francisco Bay in Marin to the North Coast in Humboldt County. It will be called the Great Redwood Trail.

I am concerned about what that means for the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit District’s grand notion of providing freight service on their tracks, especially since they have hired a six-figure manager tasked with selling that business. From my perspective, there is no boon in this boondoggle.

Hobart Bartshire

Fairfax

HARVEST MARKET: 

A huge THANK YOU to our wonderful community. In just 5 days we raised $8,196.36 plus our $5,000 contribution for a total of $13,196.36 to help refugees from Ukraine. The money will be sent this week and provide much needed medical aid. We thank you all for your generosity!

WEDNESDAY NIGHT The Fort Bragg Planning Commission held a public hearing on renting to Tiny Homes on Wheels. HAT supports the idea as a fast and affordable way to add more housing. If the City adopts it, we can work on the unincorporated areas of the County.

FROM CICI AYCOCHO WINIGER at the Fort Bragg branch of Adventist Hospital:

We have about 60 open positions at the hospital at this time.

We could really use your help with spreading the word! We will have a Job Fair on Thursday, from Noon to 5:00 p.m. Apply for a job and get a taco from Los Gallitos Mexican Restaurant.

While you're at it! Our team will be there to answer questions about joining our family, help you with applications and more. Not an RN or clinical? No worries! We have many other non-clinical support roles such as helping with registration and more. See some of the open positions available:

• Access Coordinator
• Billing Follow Up
• Billing Associate
• Benefit Navigator
• Customer Care
• Housekeeping
• HIM Technician (Medical Records)
• Food Services
• Imaging Scheduling
• Philanthropy Manager
• Marketing Manager
• Referral Associate
• Senior Facilities Associate
• Staffing Coordinator

https://www.facebook.com/events/4917050891

TOWARDS THE END OF THE WAR in March 1945, young German soldiers were used to defend the homeland. Huge numbers of Hitler Youth soldiers were removed from school in early 1945 and sent to war. In the Ruhr area of Germany, young boys practiced guerrilla warfare against American troops. In the forests, the boys stayed hidden until the tanks had passed, waiting for the foot soldiers. They would then spring up, shoot at them and throw grenades, inflicting heavy causalities, then dash away and disappear back into the forest. The Americans retaliated with furious air-attacks and leveled several villages in the surrounding area.

Source: Hitler's Boy Soldiers 1939 - 1945.

ED NOTES

KEVIN MURRAY, the former Ukiah policeman, has been bound over for a jury trial in the Mendocino County courtroom of Judge Carly Dolan on a laundry list of alleged felonies ranging from burglary to rape. A lesser charge, possession of methamphetamine, the crazy-making drug, is also alleged against Murray. Meth is known to cause male priapism. Murray may not have strayed from the path of righteousness if he hadn’t used the drug, a speculation his lawyers will undoubtedly introduce during their group-defense. Photos of Murray’s penis have been subpoenaed.

HEIDI LARSON will bring the case against Murray when the trial commences on May 16th. Murray is represented by four (count ‘em) criminal defense attorneys out of Sonoma County.

A FORMER Ukiah Police detective, Isabel Siderakis, has filed a civil suit against the City of Ukiah for an alleged a sexual assault she suffered by Murray last year. 

FISCAL AUSTERITY returns to the Mendocino County's CEO office. A woman named “Tammy,” speaking in the dulcet, little girl voice unpleasant women adopt when they're enjoying the delivery of a teensy hatchet job, directed me to cancel the office's AVA subscription, which I was unaware they had but which, I soon learned, is paid for out of public funds. “Tammy” scampered off before I could tell her the good news, that we will keep her office sub going as a comp because the AVA is like the Hell's Angels — once you're in, you're in for life, life I tell you! Nobody cancels on us!

NANCY GALBREATH JOHNSON has died. She was 92 and had lived most of her life in San Rafael. Mrs. Johnson was the daughter of Fred Galbreath who bequeathed 3500 acres of his Yorkville property to Sonoma State University. Mrs. Johnson and her family spent many happy hours in the Anderson Valley where they were good friends with the Mailliards and Duane Ornbaun of Yorkville.

A READER WRITES: “Another problem with a new courthouse on Perkins street, other than the area already having traffic backed up for blocks at certain times of the day, court staff having to either walk back and forth from downtown to the new site (yea, i’m so sure people will walk), or get in their cars and drive for three blocks, and the general uglification of Ukiah.....Just imagine a typical summer day in ukiah with a 110 degree sun bouncing off a glass structure. Imagine the cost of cooling that behemoth, and we all know its gonna get hotter every year. I don’t understand why we citizens have not had a say in any decision-making. Cause when the first accidents start happening, and we know they will, and the as yet unknown and unforeseen expenses become a reality… I can only imagine the annoyed and bewildered staff. Ooops, forgot that piece of paper, gotta jump in my car and drive three blocks and back. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat."

LISTENING to a morning hour of the Senate confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson, I was relieved it wasn’t mandatory. These people are the leadership? Stumbling rhetoric, dumb questions, especially from the Republicans where dumb is a given, and on and on and on as the nominee, seemingly the only intelligent, dignified person in the room besides her parents, confirmed her obvious fitness for the job. Most of us would have jumped the table for a shot at the throat of the morons quizzing her.

I AGREE with the dumbkopfs that the libs’ viciousness during the Kavanaugh hearings was simply more evidence that these hearings have descended into pure schoolyard, pointless in any true sense of honest attempts at assessing the candidates.

FOR PURE CRETINISM, not to say stated mental illness, it would be hard to beat Senator Josh Hawley’s psycho statement that he “lives in fear of my children being exposed to child pornography,” the implication being that Ms. Jackson, like all Democrats, is somehow in favor of child pornography. The whole show, front to back, has been an embarrassing farce.

CLAY ROMERO has filed to run against incumbent Supervisor John Haschak in the June 2022 Third District Supervisors race. Romero describes himself as a self-employed machinist, conservative Christian with “a work ethic, honesty and honor of traditional values.” He is also “passionate about gun rights and homeschooling.” He previously ran for Third District Supervisor in 2014 in the race in which Tom Woodhouse narrowly defeated Holly Madrigal. 

IN THE FIFTH DISTRICT John Redding has filed to run against incumbent Ted Williams. According to Redding’s campaign website: "For the last three years I have been the Treasurer of the Mendocino Coast Health Care District, an elected position. During that time, the Board secured the future of the hospital by entering into an affiliation with Adventist Health to operate our facilities, launching plans to build a new health care facility and formulating a plan that will both retire all term debt and set aside money for the new facility. But the sustainability of any healthcare facility depends upon a thriving, prosperous community with new jobs and new housing. I was prompted to run for the Board because of the lack of urgency for addressing these needs throughout the County." (jredding4district5.com/about)

GIVEN THE POLITICAL DEMOGRAPHICS in these two districts we doubt the incumbents have much to worry about.

JOHN McCOWEN: Increased wealth and income inequality has been the inevitable and predictable result of placing arbitrary and unreasonable restrictions on local small businesses, while exempting mega-corporations. This shift would have occurred to some degree anyway, but the imposition of arbitrary restrictions that were not validated by data or science made the human toll infinitely worse by forcing many thousands of small businesses to shut down. State and local governmental and health authorities share complicity for this tragedy. One of the biggest disappointments I experienced while in office was the refusal of the Board of Supervisors to take a stand in support of local business owners.

SUSPECTED MURDER IN UKIAH

On 03-22-2022 at approximately 1:09 PM, EMS was summoned to an apartment located at 237 E. Gobbi St., regarding a reported possible overdose. EMS’ dispatch contacted UPD and advised the reporting party’s description of the subject’s condition sounded suspicious and requested UPD respond as well. UVFA arrived at the location prior to UPD and entered the apartment, with the assistance of the on-site apartment complex manager. UVFA personnel found a 55-year-old female, the resident, on the floor in the bathroom and determined she was deceased. UPD arrived on-scene and also entered the apartment.

Officers observed obvious signs of a struggle inside the apartment, as well as what appeared to be trauma to the face of the decedent, as well as other indications the subject had been killed. This was deemed to be a suspicious death and an investigation commenced. A crime scene was established and the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office Investigators were summoned to assist. The California Department of Justice (DOJ) was also contacted and were requested to respond to assist with processing of the apartment for evidence.

Throughout the initial investigation it was learned Drew Price, 39, of Ukiah, who was familiar to the apartment complex staff, was contacted inside the decedent’s apartment earlier that morning. Price and the decedent were friends and it was not uncommon to find them associating with one another. Both Price and the decedent were in good condition at that time.

At approximately 12:30 PM, staff associated with the decedent arrived at the apartment to contact her. As they arrived at the apartment, Price was seen walking eastbound on E. Gobbi St. near the entrance to the complex. The staff received no answer from the decedent at her apartment door. They contacted the manager, who in turn met them at the apartment. Both attempted to contact the decedent via a rear door of the apartment. It was at this time that the manager found the decedent inside the apartment and the call was placed to 911.

Video surveillance was reviewed, as well as witnesses interviewed. This revealed Price was the only person seen leaving the apartment between the time the manager contacted him and the decedent in the morning and the time that the staff located her deceased and then called 911. Price was seen exiting the decedent’s apartment minutes prior to being seen by the staff walking on E. Gobbi Street.

Based on the investigative leads, it was determined Price needed to be located as there was probable cause to believed he was responsible for the death of the victim. Throughout the next hours, UPD personnel actively attempted to locate Price. At approximately 4:11 PM, UPD personnel were searching the Riverside Park, located at 1281 E. Gobbi Street. Price was located in the far southeast portion of the park, near the river and was taken into custody without incident. Price was subsequently booked at the MCSO Jail for Murder, where he is held without bail.

UPD personnel maintained the crime scene overnight and DOJ personnel arrived on the morning of 03- 23-2022. At the time of this press release, the scene is still being processed and a motive for the murder is unknown. Identification of the decedent is pending notification of next of kin.

Anyone with information regarding this incident is urged to contact UPD’s Detective Bureau.

‘WHY ARE WE HERE TODAY?’ — Supervisor Gjerde

Ortner Says They Have Nothing Else To Offer

by Mark Scaramella

One would expect that after all the time and effort put into subpoena-ing Orter Management Group’s top officials about missing documentation stemming from their unfortunate 2013-2016 tenure as Adult Mental Health Services Contractor that Mendocino County would at least have a copy of the Ortner contract in-hand before deposing them about whether they met the requirements of that contract.

But the Ortner contract barely arose during the four hours of mostly nit-picky questioning of Tom Ortner and his chief finance officer Melissa Lance on Monday. 

Instead, most of the four hours was taken up by a halting and stumbling questioning of the Ortner reps by County Counsel Christian Curtis. We counted at least ten instances where Mr. Curtis said “Sorry, let me back up,” or words to that effect and we know we didn’t catch them all. 

We will skip over Curtis’s tediously mundane and time-wasting questions about email addresses and the definition of a general ledger and who had what title at what time and who had access to which computer and who signed papers and subcontracts and on and on, complete with lengthy awkward pauses as Curtis collected himself for the next tedious question. The meat of the deposition appears to be an attempt to get Ortner on record saying that they simply don’t have any more documentation about their time as ASO (Administrative Services Organization) for adult mental health services besides what they submitted when the county declined to renew their contract back in 2016 after County staff assured the Supervisors that Ortner was being cooperative and had submitted everything required.

Supervisors Dan Gjerde and Ted Williams were the only Supervisors who participated in the follow-up questions after Curtis finally stopped. Supervisors John Haschak, Maureen Mulheren and Glenn McGourty didn’t say a word during the entire four hours.

Supervisor Gjerde pointed out that he was the only current supervisor who was on the Board when Ortner was awarded the contract in 2013, a few months after he took his seat on the Board. Gjerde noted that “One of the principle reasons Ortner was hired” was because in prior years, the County suffered “painfully undertaken audits and the state found millions of dollars in audit exceptions and not sufficient documentation. One of the principal reasons for contracting was to make sure billing, mostly MediCal eligible billing, was fixed. I was surprised to hear that you and your team did not have expertise in MediCal billing but relied on one or two county employees. One of the principal reasons was for greater assurance in billing and not to have so many audit exceptions. Any response?”

Ortner’s attorney said Gjerde’s question was “argumentative,” but that Ms. Lance could answer.

Lance: “We reported all billing information to the county’s fiscal clerk accurately and completely and the county’s fiscal staff billed MediCal. We had no control over what they billed.”

Ms. Lance named several county employees she says she worked with during the three years of the contract. One of them was former Ortner executive Tom Pinizzotto who was hired by former CEO Carmel Angelo to a consulting contract with Mendocino County, then for a short term as County Mental Health Director where he oversaw the contracting and contract with his former employer.

There are several conclusions to be drawn from this exchange:

• If Gjerde is correct that Ortner was required to have expertise in Medical billing but didn’t, how did they get the contract?

• If the Ortner was supposed to bill MediCal, why didn’t the County complain about it during the Ortner contract?

• If the billing question was the principle reason for contracting out the work, why didn’t Gjerde or Curtis quote from the Ortner contract requirements and cite where they believed Ortner had not met them?

We have an unofficial bootleg copy of that Ortner contract from back in 2013. We cannot confirm if our version is the final version Ortner signed, but we assume it is because it is complete and detailed in all other respects. 

“CONTRACTOR acknowledges, and understands all current requirements of the California State Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) for the provision of mental health services. Such requirements include the following agreements, but are not limited to:

a. The County Mental Health Plan Performance Agreement,

b. The Medi-Cal Services Agreement,

c. The Managed Care Services Agreement,

d. The Mental Health Services Act Agreement.

CONTRACTOR will meet the standards of said agreements as well as all successor agreements between the County and DHCS during the term of this Agreement.”

And elsewhere, “CONTRACTOR agrees to be subject to, and accept responsibility for audits provided by COUNTY, State or Federal agencies and will accept responsibility for receiving, replying to and/or complying with any audit exceptions by appropriate COUNTY, State or Federal audit agencies occurring as a result of its performance of this Agreement. CONTRACTOR also agrees to be financially liable for audit exceptions due to inadequate documentation as per medical necessity documentation requirements. CONTRACTOR also agrees to pay, or make arrangements to pay, to the COUNTY within sixty (60) days of demand by COUNTY the full amount of the COUNTY'S obligation, including penalties, if any, to the State and/or Federal government resulting from any audit exceptions, to the extent such are attributable to the CONTRACTOR'S failure to perform properly any of its objectives under this Agreement. If CONTRACTOR fails to reimburse the COUNTY within the COUNTY approved time period, the COUNTY may offset the unpaid amount against any sums due from the COUNTY to CONTRACTOR pursuant to this Agreement or obligation.”

And, “The CONTRACTOR shall maintain full and adequate records in accordance with County requirements to show the actual costs incurred by the CONTRACTOR in the performance of this Agreement. If such books and records are not kept and maintained by CONTRACTOR within the County of Mendocino, California, CONTRACTOR shall, upon request of the COUNTY, make such books and records available to the COUNTY for inspection at a location within County or CONTRACTOR shall pay to the COUNTY the reasonable, and necessary costs incurred by the COUNTY in inspecting CONTRACTOR’s books and records, including, but not limited to, travel, lodging and subsistence costs. CONTRACTOR shall provide such assistance as may be reasonably required in the course of such inspection. The COUNTY further reserves the right to examine and reexamine said books, records and data during the four (4) year period following termination of this Agreement or completion of all work hereunder, as evidenced in writing by the COUNTY, and the CONTRACTOR shall in no event dispose of, destroy, alter, or mutilate said books, records, accounts, and data in any manner whatsoever for four (4) years after the COUNTY makes the final or last payment or within four (4) years after any pending issues between the COUNTY and CONTRACTOR with respect to this Agreement are closed, whichever is later.”

Trouble is, this rather stringent language is undermined by the fact that it is now more than four years after the Ortner contract was terminated and the County apparently accepted whatever Ortner provided during and after their contract period, including giving them a $464k add-on contract to make sure they provided required billing information.

When it was Tom Ortner’s turn in the cyber-dock, again after some tediously routine questions from Curtis, Gjerde asked, “Mr. Ortner, do you recall that in 1996 when a majority of the board including myself voted to put the ASO [Administrative Services Organization] contract out to bid for adult [mental health] services? Do you recall that at that time the ASO for the children's services had electronic billing in place with all their subcontractors?”

[We have no idea why Gjerde said 1996 when he probably meant 2013.]

Ortner: “No I don't recall that.”

Gjerde: “Are you aware that it was required in your contract that you have some electronic billing setup for all of your subcontractors?”

Ortner: “I am not aware of that. That was not true.”

Gjerde: “Given the fact that the county wanted electronic billing and what we heard today from your testimony is that everything, all business is conducted internally in your organization appears to be in paper documents, why did you not turn over documents in paper form to the county if you lacked it in electronic format?”

Ortner: “I'm not sure if the question –“

Ortner attorney Dominic Signorotti: “I'm going to object and say that that statement is argumentative. You can go ahead and answer, Tom.”

Ortner: “Would you restate the question please?”

Gjerde: “Given the fact that the county wanted electronic form of documentation, patient records, billing, etc. and what I've heard today from testimony from you and your chief financial officer is that your organization relied almost entirely on paper documents, why would the county at this point be still looking for documents in written form from your organization?”

Ortner: “I don't know the answer to that.”

Gjerde: “To your knowledge has the county requested information from your organization that it has not received?”

Ortner: “No.”

Gjerde: "So we are here today because the county has received everything the county asked for from your organization?”

Ortner: “100%.”

Gjerde: “So you do not know why we are here today?”

Signorotti: “That's an argumentative question. You can answer if you understand it, Tom.”

Gjerde: “Why are we here today?”

Signorotti: “Argumentative.”

Ortner: “Because we were subpoenaed.”

Gjerde: “Okay. That's my question.”

Then Supervisor Williams took a shot.

Williams: “Let me make sure I understand correctly what I heard today. The only financial records that OMG maintained were electronic in QuickBooks. And you decided to terminate that service. Is that correct?”

Ortner: “You mean by terminated the electronic service –”

Williams: “Did you terminate the electronic Quickbooks service online and precipitate the destruction of electronic records?”

Ortner: “Yes.”

Williams: “And before doing that you printed a paper copy in order to retain the records, is that correct.”

Ortner: “That's correct.”

Williams: “And at some point you decided to destroy the remaining copy of the records?”

Ortner: “After we had met the contractual obligation, yes.”

Williams: “Did you check with the county to see if the county needed those records prior to destruction?”

Ortner: “No.”

Williams: “Who disposed of the records? How were those, how was that final paper copy destroyed?”

Ortner: “The person who did that was me, and I took it to a shredding company.”

Williams then shifted to an irrelevant attempt to portray Mr. Ortner as a greedy capitalist.

Williams: “You are the managing member of the Ortner Management Group LLC?”

Ortner: “Correct.”

Williams: “As the managing member, you did for work on special projects and routine projects related to the needs of the county?”

Ortner: “That's correct.”

Williams: “But you receive zero compensation for that as an employee. You simply received a K-1 distribution for your share of the profit?”

Ortner: “I think I described that earlier. It was a guaranteed income distribution.”

Williams: “Did you get a W-2?”

Ortner: “I did not.”

Williams: “Did you get a 1099?”

Ortner: “I believe everything was wrapped into a K-1.”

Williams: “The K-1 would be wrapped into your share of the profit of the entity. What about commensurate with industry standards for the work provided?”

Ortner: “I don't recall the answer to that.”

Williams: “Did members of the LLC perform work for the K-1 as well?”

Ortner: “Yes.”

Williams: “Did they also receive a W-2 or a 1099?”

Ortner: “I know for me I didn't. I don't know for them.”

Williams: “If the IRS were to have questions about this method of accounting and distribution of wages for work performed, would you be able to provide any records other than what you've described today? Do you have records to back up your personal income taxes that would shed light on OMG?”

Ortner: “Are you talking about me personally? Or the company?”

Williams: “You. Personally. I understand you received profit for work performed but you did not receive wages. It looks like receiving zero wages was a way to avoid payroll taxes and simply get paid through a larger distribution from the LLC. Is that correct?”

Signorotti: “Objection. It’s argumentative. Go ahead, Tom.”

Williams: “Let me rephrase. Why did you receive zero pay for work performed?”

Ortner: “I never said that that's what happened.”

Signorotti: “Misstates his testimony.”

Williams: “Did you receive a salary and a W-2 for work you performed?”

Ortner: “I did not.”

Williams: “How did you receive pay?”

Ortner: “It was called guaranteed income.”

Williams: “Were their payroll taxes on that form of compensation?”

Ortner: “I don't know the answer to that, I am not a tax expert.”

Williams: “Who determined, who in OMG decided how to compensate the staff for work performed?”

Ortner: “I did.”

Williams: “Did you have a tax expert assist you?”

Ortner: “Yes.”

Williams: “Who was that?”

Ortner: “Melissa Lance.”

Williams: “I have no further questions.”

And with that, Williams ended the deposition.

If this exercise was supposed to be some kind of gotcha against Ortner, Mendo failed miserably. 

If this was instead an attempt to make it clear to the state auditors that there’s nothing more to get from Ortner, it may have succeeded. 

If Mendo wants to try to hold Ortner, who terminated their business called Ortner Management Group (OMG) back in 2018, accountable or liable for expected state audit exceptions, they can expect some serious push back from Ortner during which Ortner will allege that Mendo staff is the problem, not them, via a long drawn out and expensive court case during which the biggest winner will be the lawyers involved. 

But if Mendo was simply trying to establish that there’s no documentation to be had from Ortner so they can go hat in hand to the state and ask for forgiveness for failing to enforce their own contract provisions, they might, just maybe, have a chance to ask the state to have Mercy on Mendo and not take back millions of unsubstantiated service claims.

PS. Long-time readers will recall that one of the key people in charge of enforcing the Ortner contract was Mr. Tom Pinizzotto, the former Ortner executive who helped Ortner get the Mendo contract and was later alleged by the Grand Jury to have “an appearance” of a conflict of interest via his involvement in the contract award and oversight. 

The Supervisors angrily replied to the Grand Jury saying that no laws were broken, and let Pinizzotto continue in his role as enforcer of Ortner’s contract compliance.

But now that entire contracting process orchestrated by CEO Carmel Angelo to privatize mental health services and, in the process, reduce the high rate of “audit exceptions” has been exposed as one of several time bombs that are set to blow up Mendo’s already fragile budget. 

CATCH OF THE DAY, March 23, 2022

JAMES BELDEN III, Ukiah. Controlled substance, paraphernalia, probation revocation.

KYLE BOUGHTON, Ukiah. Domestic battery, suspended license for reckless driving.

ALEXANDER BRITTAIN, Point Arena. DUI. 

JAMES COLYAR, Willits. Failure to appear.

MELODY FALLIS, Hopland. Under influence, paraphernalia, vandalism, battery on peace officer.

MIKE MCGOUGH, Novato/Ukiah. Reckless evasion.

MICHAEL PARKER, Ukiah. Controlled substance, concealed dirk-dagger, unauthorized removal or possession of shopping cart, county parole violation.

DREW PRICE, Ukiah. Murder. 

FROM MOSCOW TO WASHINGTON, THE BARBARISM AND HYPOCRISY DON'T JUSTIFY EACH OTHER

While apologists for the governments of Russia or the United States want to focus on some truths to the exclusion of others, the horrific militarism of both countries deserves only opposition.

by Norman Solomon

Russia's war in Ukraine—like the USA's wars in Afghanistan and Iraq—should be understood as barbaric mass slaughter. For all their mutual hostility, the Kremlin and the White House are willing to rely on similar precepts: Might makes right. International law is what you extol when you aren't violating it. And at home, rev up the nationalism to go with the militarism.

While the world desperately needs adherence to a single standard of nonaggression and human rights, some convoluted rationales are always available in a quest to justify the unjustifiable. Ideologies get more twisted than pretzels when some people can't resist the temptation to choose up sides between rival forces of terrible violence.

In the United States, with elected officials and mass media intensely condemning Russia's killing spree, the hypocrisy can stick in the craw of people mindful that the Afghanistan and Iraq invasions started massive protracted carnage. But U.S. hypocrisy in no way excuses the murderous rampage of Russia's war on Ukraine.

At the same time, hopping on a bandwagon of the U.S. government as a force for peace is a fantasy journey. The USA is now in its twenty-first year of crossing borders with missiles and bombers as well as boots on the ground in the name of the "war on terror." Meanwhile, the United States spends more than 10 times what Russia does for its military.

It's important to shed light on the U.S. government's broken promises that NATO would not expand "one inch eastward" after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Expanding NATO to Russia's border was a methodical betrayal of prospects for peaceful cooperation in Europe. What's more, NATO became a far-flung apparatus for waging war, from Yugoslavia in 1999 to Afghanistan a few years later to Libya in 2011.

The grim history of NATO since the disappearance of the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact military alliance more than 30 years ago is a saga of slick leaders in business suits bent on facilitating vast quantities of arms sales—not only to longtime NATO members but also to countries in Eastern Europe that gained membership. The U.S. mass media are on a nonstop detour around mentioning, much less illuminating, how NATO's dedication to avid militarism keeps fattening the profit margins of weapons dealers. By the time this decade began, the combined annual military spending of NATO countries had hit $1 trillion, about 20 times Russia's.

After Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, denunciations of the attack came from one U.S. antiwar group after another after another that has long opposed NATO's expansion and war activities. Veterans For Peace issued a cogent statement condemning the invasion while saying that "as veterans we know increased violence only fuels extremism." The organization said that "the only sane course of action now is a commitment to genuine diplomacy with serious negotiations—without which, conflict could easily spiral out of control to the point of further pushing the world toward nuclear war."

The statement added that "Veterans For Peace recognizes that this current crisis did not just happen in the last few days, but represents decades of policy decisions and government actions that have only contributed to the building of antagonisms and aggressions between countries."

While we should be clear and unequivocal that Russia's war in Ukraine is an ongoing, massive, inexcusable crime against humanity for which the Russian government is solely responsible, we should be under no illusions about the U.S. role in normalizing large-scale invasions while flouting international security. And the geopolitical approach of the U.S. government in Europe has been a precursor to conflict and foreseeable calamities.

Consider a prophetic letter to then-President Bill Clinton that was released 25 years ago, with NATO expansion on the near horizon. Signed by 50 prominent figures in the foreign-policy establishment—including a half-dozen former senators, former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, and such mainstream luminaries as Susan Eisenhower, Townsend Hoopes, Fred Ikle, Edward Luttwak, Paul Nitze, Richard Pipes, Stansfield Turner, and Paul Warnke—the letter makes for chilling reading today. It warned that "the current U.S.-led effort to expand NATO" was "a policy error of historic proportions. We believe that NATO expansion will decrease allied security and unsettle European stability."

The letter went on to emphasize: "In Russia, NATO expansion, which continues to be opposed across the entire political spectrum, will strengthen the nondemocratic opposition, undercut those who favor reform and cooperation with the West, bring the Russians to question the entire post-Cold War settlement, and galvanize resistance in the Duma to the START II and III treaties. In Europe, NATO expansion will draw a new line of division between the 'ins' and the 'outs,' foster instability, and ultimately diminish the sense of security of those countries which are not included."

That such prescient warnings were ignored was not happenstance. The bipartisan juggernaut of militarism headquartered in Washington was not interested in "European stability" or a "sense of security" for all countries in Europe. At the time, in 1997, the most powerful ears were deaf to such concerns at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue. And they still are.

While apologists for the governments of Russia or the United States want to focus on some truths to the exclusion of others, the horrific militarism of both countries deserves only opposition. Our real enemy is war.

WHAT ABOUT THE WORKERS? Notes on Class and Class Consciousness 

by Jonah Raskin

All leftwing groups are divided by factions. Not right away but before long. The seeds of division are usually sowed early. Think of the French, Russian and American revolutionaries. Maybe rightwing groups are also riven by factions. My own experience is with left groups in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980. Jon Melrod, a lawyer who lives in northern California, has just written and published a memoir titled Fighting Times (PM Press) which focuses on his life as a union organizer in the midwest mostly in the 1980s.

More recently, Melrod has been a lawyer for people messed up by the police. The murder, in 2013, by a Sonoma County sheriff of a 13-year-old Latino named Andy Lopez—who was carrying a toy gun—was the catalyst that brought Melrod back to the courtroom after a long absence. He has also helped political asylum seekers.

Like me, Melrod belonged to Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), the organization that opposed the war in Vietnam, and that came apart in 1969, with one faction going into factories to organize workers, and the other faction going underground to make bombs, or to lend support to the bomb makers. For a time, I supported the bomb makers, who were known as the Weather Underground. I used to say “I’m married to the underground.”

My wife, who had also been in SDS, was underground in the underground. That is, she was there, but not widely known. If I could go back in time, I’m not sure what I would do: perhaps avoid all the factions and do what I knew best how to do: write. In the Weather Underground, factions multiplied year after year. I did write about life underground, but I romanticized it. That was a big mistake. If I could rewrite what I have written I would do so.

In 1969, Jon Melrod and I were in opposing camps. We might have traded punches. I remember SDS members battling PL members, broken glass and bloody noses.

Today, Melrod and I are on the same side of history, two aging radicals with memories. Reading Melrod’s book, Fighting Times, I came to appreciate his drive and dedication to the working class which nearly cost him his life. Jobs in toxic environments led to pancreatic cancer. He beat it, but it was a big struggle that took all his grit and gumption, plus chemotherapy, radiation, herbs, diet and exercise.

Born into a middle class family, Melrod attended the University of Wisconsin at Madison, a hotbed of radicalism, where he opposed ROTC and the war in Vietnam and supported the Black Panthers, and the Black student strike of 1969. Then he dove into the working class in places like Racine, Wisconsin, and joined the United Auto Workers (UAW).

In Fighting Times, Melrod describes the jobs he held, the workers he encountered, some of whom were anti-Semitic, racist, sexist and anti-communist. Melrod took shit from no one. He handed out leaflets, spoke at meetings and talked to everyone. Also, he was one of the editors of the newsletter “Fighting Times,” published by Local 72 of the UAW and that targeted scabs and finks and corrupt union leaders. Not all white workers were racists and sexists, he learned.

He and two other members of the editorial board of “Fighting Times” were sued for libel and defamation of character. The dominant courtroom issue was freedom of speech in the workplace. While the judge was biased in favor of the company, the members of the jury, who were mostly working class, were on the side of Melrod and his comrades and voted to acquit.

After that verdict, Melrod continued to organize for his UAW local. Then, following a drastic reduction in the workforce, he stepped back from union activity, attended Hastings Law School in San Francisco and graduated with a JD.

Anyone who wants to become a union organizer would learn from his book. To place a preorder for Fighting Times from PM Press, or to read excerpts before the book is released: jonathanmelrod.com

Reading Melrod’s memoir, reminded me that as a teenager I read all the books I could get my hands on that were by and about American labor leaders: Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Joe Hill, Eugene Victor Debs, Mother Bloor and Sacco and Vanzietti, two Italian anarchists who were framed for murder and executed. When I lived in England in the 1960s I saw English class society in ways that I never saw American class society, which often hides behind the veneer of the middle class. The English were and still are intensely class conscious. I remember that at many meetings no matter what the topic, someone would stand up and ask in a working class accent, “What about the workers?” Many of those same people supported the crown and royalty. Contradictions are everywhere.

I wonder now why in the late 1960s I didn’t aspire to be like Joe Hill and Debs, who was a hero to my maternal, socialist grandfather Aaron. Part of the answer is the War in Vietnam and the movements of national liberation that were taking place around the world and that seemed to promise a planet without imperialism. That turned out to be a pipe dream. The other answer has to do with my marriage and my attempts to save it which went nowhere.

These days, I’ve often noticed—I’m not the only one—that Americans have a difficult time talking around class and ethnicity at the same time, though they are inextricably connected. Throw in gender and sex and Americans are often at a total loss. Melrod’s Fighting Times shows that unions can effectively rally workers against corporations, workers of all stripes, whether they’re men or women, Black, brown or white, native born or refugees born beyond US borders. Solidarity is difficult to achieve, but it’s well worth fighting for as Jon Melrod’s moving memoir makes abundantly clear.

ON THIS DAY IN U.S. HISTORY: The Republican Party is formed on March 20, 1854 when members of the Whig Party meet in Ripon, Wisconsin to form a new party to oppose the expansion of slavery in United States territories.

The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 dissolved the Missouri Compromise and allowed for U.S. territories to decide on their own if they wanted slavery or be of free status. The Whig Party as a whole was unable to prevent slavery in U.S. territories.

Following the formation of the party, southern states threatened to secede from the Union if a Republican was elected U.S. president.

The Republican Party selected its first presidential candidate, John C. Freemont, in the 1856 election. Freemont lost to Democrat James Buchanan.

But in November 1860, Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln was elected president.

Six weeks later, South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union.

COAST DEMOCRATIC CLUB IN-PERSON MEETING

June 7 County Election

Participate in Club Endorsements of Local Candidates

In-Person Meeting At Jughandle Meeting Room

15501 Highway 1, Caspar

Wednesday, ApriL 6, 5:30 - 7:30

Social Time: 5:30 - 6 (Refreshments Provided)

Program: 6 - 7:30

Club members in good standing may vote on Leadership Team recommendations for endorsement of candidates for these offices:

County Supervisor, District 5

County Superintendent Of Schools

Also on the agenda: Discussion of upcoming Club Political Activities: 

Local Elections and Hold the House, California

In-Person Covid - 19 Protocol:

Membership by 3/15/22

Proof of Vaccination and Booster required

Ventilation and Social Distance

Masks Optional