Mendocino County Today: Monday, April 25, 2022

Cold Fronts | Wildflower Show | Angelo Sendoff | Redding Endorsement | Candidates Night | Keep Dams | Modest Mosel | County Notes | Hopland BBQ | Emal Memories | Dance Project | Record Collection | Footbridge | Unsavory Hobos | Boy Sweeps | Royal Macdonalds | Neoliberalism | Ed Notes | Gualala Boaters | Ukraine | Russian Roulette | Mendo History | Yesterday's Catch | Fentanyl | Dandy Lion | Sacto Rally | Zebras | Blood Drive | Mariposa | Building Sotoyome | Unconscionable Housing | Soaring | Poetry Celebration | Pyewacket Menu | Land Lines | Climate Immolation

AN APPROACHING COLD FRONT will bring increasing clouds today, but only a couple spotty showers or drizzle to northern portions of northwest California are expected through Tuesday. Another front with similar weather will follow for Thursday. Otherwise it will be mainly dry week with temperatures near or slightly cooler than normal. (NWS)

SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE IN MENDO — Carmel Angelo, Tom Allman, and Dave Eyster

The three heavyweights of Mendocino County government in recent times gathered Saturday night in front of 125 people who turned out to bid Angelo a formal goodbye as the CEO of a County not easily governed. The occasion was a retirement party for Angelo at Rivino Winery. Angelo is heading back to her native San Diego after a 12-year run as the County’s chief executive, preceded by three years as boss of the Health and Human Services Agency. Allman retired a couple of years before Angelo, so now only “DA Dave” remains in one of the three most powerful posts in local government. Remarks were all in good fun, and laudatory, and sometimes funny. Angelo was given a couple of standing ovations by a crowd representing a cross-section of the who’s who in local politics and business. There were a number of County supervisors on hand, past, and present: John Mayfield, Dan Hamburg, Richard Shoemaker, Glenn McCourty, John Haschack, Ted Williams. Noticeably absent was Supervisor John McCowen, once a close political ally of Angelo. Their falling out underscored the last few tumultuous years of Angelo’s tenure. But no matter. Angelo, said Allman, is a “tough old broad.”

SKYHAWK CAN’T SUPPORT WILLIAMS

Editor:

I wish to weigh in with my thoughts on the upcoming 5th District Supervisor’s race. I will do this in part by reflecting back to my 2018 experience before my stroke took me out of the running. As many of you know Ted Williams and I were in the November run off, after surviving a primary which had 5 candidates. Ted and I had been strong allies in the past, both of us with the Albion Little River Fire Protection District; he as Chief and me as Board President, when we found ourselves as opponents for this seat. Many in our small coastal community were quite conflicted as we had been effective allies, and were both generally viewed positively in our community. I had, at first, assumed that it would be a friendly competition. I was completely mistaken about that.

During the campaign I was deeply, deeply shocked by Ted’s lack of ethics, his lowblow campaign tactics were Machiavellian in every sense of the word. Even though some might call me Chicken Sh%!#! I am not going to list them here as I am eager to not relive 2018, as part of my recovery is moving my life forward not backwards. But the tactics were quite shocking to me, as they revealed a side of the man’s character that I had not seen before.

But also having had first hand experience of what Ted the candidate said during the campaign, I think secures me a unique perspective into commentary.

I find myself deeply disappointed with his performance in the office. Many of the things that Ted campaigned on Ted has never spent the political capital to initiate. For example, during the campaign Williams advocated to Legacy Mom and pop Cannabis growers that he would simplify the permitting process. If my memory serves me, he actually called for a one page application and a $25 fee. I have spoken with several legacy growers while considering my endorsement, and all of them are suffering, and many have just quit. These growers have been the social and economic backbone of many of our communities for decades. None of them feel served by our County, and certainly while Williams seemed friendly towards small growers when he was seeking their vote, has not expended any political capital for them since. I am universally informed.

During the 2018 campaign at a candidate forum in Elk, Ted called for using recycled plastic in the road base to alleviate costs. Leaving aside the issue of putting plastics in a roadbed alongside an ocean that already suffers from a toxic load of micro-plastics, I am not aware of any revolutionary initiative on Ted’s part to improve our suffering county roads.

Housing: During the 2018 campaign Williams called for using 3D printers to make places for the unhoused. It might have gotten him a few votes at the time and helped cultivate and cement his image as the smart, youthful energetic guy who was gonna get things done. But, yet again I am unaware of any significant initiative on his part in this area for four years. During the campaign Ted made an interesting and funny video decrying County incompetence and lethargy. He now appears willing to settle into the Lethargy he once decried — and promised to change.

My experience is Williams is more interested in getting your vote than working on your issue.

If we are to to come together as a community we need people with integrity to be our leaders, and that’s why I am endorsing candidate John Redding for 5th District County Supervisor. John has extensive personal and professional experience that will benefit our county. I very much appreciate his call for the County to actively engage in Economic Development. His call to appoint an Economic Development Coordinator is an exemplary and clearly overdue proposal. And he pledges to work with Community Trusts to help alleviate our housing crisis, which is growing worse with each passing day.

As I have gotten to know John I find him to be a smart, sensitive, and responsive person, and I believe the people of the 5th will find him the same. There is much to recommend John for the position. Learn more about him at: https://www.jredding4district5.com/

Whatever your position is on this race, I look forward to working with you all as we pull together to make our County a wonderful place to live work, and play. Thank you

Chris Skyhawk

Fort Bragg

WILL LAKE MENDOCINO EVER BE FULL AGAIN?

by Don Moir (4ReelFishing)

Hello my fellow anglers. 

Say, last week I was all about things being 1/2 full… I said things like, “ It’s just a wonderful day in the neighborhood… – ” – It’s all “ Sunshine and Buttercups! ” – “If things were any better, I couldn’t stand It!” – & “I’m livin’ the dream! “ 

Well, this week, I’m gonna do it! I am going to go half empty?

You see, I feel that I must reply to last Saturday’s Ukiah Daily Journal’s front page article titled PG&E’s Potter Valley Project License expires. Yup, PG&E did allow their license to expire for the hydroelectric project. Sad, although it was expected. The thing that just blows my mind is that there are those who think that removing Scott and Cape Horn dams is a grand idea. Who are these people anyway? From what I can tell, most of these people don’t even live in our community.

Now, I am just a regular common sense guy. I don’t have a stack of PHDs and all that. I am blessed to have this opportunity to write my column in the Ukiah Daily Journal. I realize that the words that I write will not change the results of what is coming down the road. We have been seeing for years now that common sense just does make not make sense anymore. My reason for giving my opinion is to tell folks of the other side of the coin. So that when this whole thing falls flat on its face we will at-least know. And there will be no going back.

There are those who firmly think to have the Scott and Cape Horn dams are a bad thing. And that they should have never been put in place. There are those who say that these dams are the cause for the decline in numbers of salmon that come up the Eel River to spawn. 

Hmm.

I think there could be some truth to this thought process. Fish Ladders. My opinion is that fish ladders are the answer. There already is a really good fish ladder at Van Arsdale. One more needs to be installed at the Lake Pillsbury Dam. This will fix the salmon from not being able to get up past Lake Pillsbury to spawn. Does this make any sense?

Many believe that the ball is in motion and cannot be stopped from removing these two dams. All in the name of preserving the salmon fishery. 

Well, folks, I don’t know if you have noticed but, we just don’t seem to get the rain fall amounts we used to get. Let alone what we received back in the day before Lake Pillsbury existed. Now a days, we have way more people. More people means the need for more water. If Lake Pillsbury was not here we would have little water for more people. The water would all go out to the ocean.

I have often asked myself this question. Who is going to benefit from this? Not the salmon. The Eel and Russian Rivers will dry up. Besides, if this was really about the salmon why doesn’t anyone talk about the over population of seals and sea lions? These cute animals have a devastating affect on the amount of salmon that actual make it past them to spawn?

Another issue being told to us is that the cost to upgrade the Scott and Cape Horn dams is too expensive. Ok, let’s chew on this…What is the price that will be paid for not having enough water? So, what will the co$t be to remove these two dams? In my snooping around, I could not find what the estimated cost would be. The only thing I could that find that was similar to this was that in 1999 when the Edwards Dam was removed…The Edwards Dam was removed from the Kennebec River, and also there was the removal of a hydropower project. The cost for removal of this dam was $2,223,000 (Price levels were adjusted to reflect 2001 dollars.) These costs do not include the cost of permits, easements, design, or monitoring. FYI – $2,223,000 in 2001 is worth $3,608,816.44 in today’s dollars. WOW !

Here is food for thought. How about those who want to remove the Scott and Cape Horn dams came together with those who value having water and fix the problem. The money that will be spent to remove these huge assets could be used for the good of all. Man and fish.

Here is a list of the Advantages of Dams

1. Dams provide us with a source of clean energy.

Hydroelectricity is responsible for 19 percent of the world’s energy supply, offering over 3,000 terawatts each year. We can produce power from dams because of the kinetic energy of the water movements as it causes turbines to spin. That’s what allows us to generate electricity that is clean and renewable. Once the dam gets entirely constructed, we no longer have a dependence on fossil fuels to be responsible for the energy we need to maintain a modern lifestyle. It is truly clean energy!

2. Dams help us to retain our water supply.

When we take an opportunity to dam a river, then the water will pool to form a reservoir behind the structure. This outcome allows the population centers in that region to collect fresh water during periods of heavy precipitation for use during a dry spell or drought. We also use this engineering marvel to control floodwaters or to supply a fixed amount of water to the surrounding areas for agricultural irrigation. That means a dam can provide a buffer to an entire region against extreme weather events or irregular precipitation patterns.

3. This technology provides us with critical recreational opportunities.

Dams can provide us with a wide range of economic, environmental, and social benefits. Numerous reservoirs around the United States offer opportunities to go camping, boating, and waterskiing. It gives regions that generally wouldn’t have water access a place to have a boat launch that supports commercial fishing activities. These destinations can be the perfect place to have a picnic, go hiking, and spend time with your family.

4. A well-constructed dam provides several flood-control benefits.

Dams help to prevent property loss while reducing the risk to human life from annual flooding events. These structures can impound the floodwaters into the reservoir behind the dam, allowing us to release them under control or to store it for future use. We can divert excessive precipitation toward municipalities for fresh drinking water, create more irrigation opportunities, and meet a variety of energy-related needs.

5. Dams give us a way to irrigate croplands that may not receive enough moisture.

About 10 percent of the croplands in the United States are currently irrigated using water that is stored in reservoirs behind a dam. Tens of thousands of jobs are directly tied to crop production and other agricultural activities that happen because of this benefit. Our food distribution networks remain active and consistent because of this advantage, and it allows us to do more with our growing efforts than if we relied on seasonal precipitation patterns alone.

6. Reservoirs can serve as a source of drinking water.

Because the water stored behind a dam in a reservoir is fresh, we can use it as a source of drinking water for nearby towns and cities. It is not unusual for communities in the United States to obtain their entire supply from streams or rivers that are close.

“Seeing the glass as half empty is more positive than seeing it as half full. Through such a lens the only choice is to pour more. That is righteous pessimism.” – Criss Jami

Once again, Thank you so much for reading.

And, remember to keep it reel. – Don = 4REEL Fishin’

(Courtesy, the Ukiah Daily Journal.)

A QUALITY WHISKEY produced here in Mendocino County from grains also grown here in Mendocino County by Doug Mosel, a modest man who has shown this area that we can be more food independent than we thought. That's Doug on the left.

RANDOM COUNTY NOTES

by Mark Scaramella

In last Tuesday’s preliminary budget preview for 2022-2023, where we were looking for a simple departmental budget summary we instead got, under a headling entitled, “Budget units requesting greater than Base Net County Cost (NCC) Assignments.” And in that list we saw that the Parks department (Part of the Cultural Services Agency) wants $1.6 million more than their current budget. The Sheriff wants $1.4 million more, Buildings and Grounds wants $1 million more. The Assessor wants $660k. Probation $540k more. Animal Care wants $370k. And about a dozen other departments wants smaller amounts, with it all adding up to $7 million. 

(Nobody noted that the local ambulance services want some stop gap funding of less than $100k because they are not a privileged County Department.) 

And that was it. No budget versus actual. No list of things that the departments want more money for. No priority list. No indication of where the money might come from. No indication of any departments which might be under-running due to staff shortages and vacancies… In other words, the usual incompetent presentation from the County’s much-ballyhooed “finance team.”

* * *

SUPERVISOR MULHEREN REPORTS (annotated):

“We had a meeting with Jared Huffman about Potter Valley Project, there were members from the water districts, the Supervisor Ad Hoc as well as the City of Ukiah Ad Hoc. There is still a lot in the air with the PG&E property, the needs of the Russian and Eel Rivers. Congressman Huffman stressed the need to collaborate with all of the parties. There were many questions about the studies to support restoration of Salmon and whether or not they would be successful in the water. I know you guys hate it when I say this but there will be more to come.” 

Note: No, Supervisor, we do not hate it when you say “more to come.” We hate it when you say dumb things like “whether or not [the studies] would be successful in the water.”

* * *

On the Preliminary Budget Review for next year:

Mulheren: “My concerns: Notify partners in advance if we might need to reduce their budget and to have departments review all of their positions to potentially remove difficult to fill or unnecessary positions.”

Other concerns:

Mulheren: “Is there a reserve (answer yes, but it’s $12 million and our monthly budget is $18 million)”

Note: (What happened to the $20 million reserve former CEO Angelo reported?) PS. The General Fund is around $84 million. $84 million divided by 12 = $7.25 million per month. How are they spending $18 million per month (or $216 million per year, well below the total budget including state and federal grant money)? As usual, the numbers don’t add up. And the Supervisor doesn't seem to have noticed that even her own written numbers don’t add up.

Mulheren: “Focus on positions that bring in revenue; TOT and Property Taxes likely underpaid.”

Note: The Supervisor did not ask for a list of “positions that bring in revenue” to focus on. Nor did she ask for a plan to recover underpaid taxes.

“Encourage more positions funded by sources other than General Fund.”

Note: We think she means encourge the filling of positions funded by sources other than the General Fund. Most of which is in Social Services where, at last report, more than twice as many people left that department than were hired since last July. Maybe the Supervisor should consider asking why so many people are leaving that department creating more vacant positions to fill.

“Re-envision the budget process and how we can optimize the public needs.”

Note: An entirely meaningless sentence.

“4-1 Mulheren dissenting [on two cannabis permit appeal denials], I believe that the existing cannabis business should be able to continue. The concerns that I heard stated the same nimbyism around cannabis that we have heard for the last 18 months: crime, traffic, water use, odor. I visited the site and don’t believe that based on its location and the facility that those issues accurately reflect the projects impact on the neighborhood.”

“County Counsel to bring an item back for the Board on May 3rd, the Board directs County Counsel to lower the cannabis taxes and bring back a plan to the Board with costs of how much that would decrease the budget.”

Note: County Counsel?

* * *

The following is what passes for an “update” from the Mental Health Department…

“Mental Health Services Act - MHSA received our audit preliminary report from the Department of Health Care Services. We had four findings with recommendations to add additional information and data to our Annual Updates.”

Note: What were the findings? What were the recommendatiions? What information will be added?

“Mental Health - The Department of Health Care Services Triennial Audit will be held in early April. This is a complete system review. Mental Health is also preparing for the implementation of CalAIM changes.” 

* * *

Heather Meyer to Supervisor Wiliams; “What percentage of allocations from the budget go towards mental health services?”

Supervisor Williams replied: “The county has a ~$348M budget, but only $94M of this is discretionary (including prop 172 funds). Mental Health Services are paid through realignment, reimbursement and other means. In other words, the county provides the service as an agent of the state. Although the money flows through the county, it is earmarked for a mandated purpose based on clients served.

Note: Budget Unit 1000 (the General Fund) is budgeted at $84 million, not $94 million. Not all Mental Health Services are covered by pass-through funding, nor is it timely reimbursement, taking years for the County to be repaid for services provided and funds disbursed, if they are considered legitimate services, nor is it one-for-one reimbursement. Measure B money and Prop 63 Mental Health funds are not pass-through funds. Yet nobody monitors that money, even though it is supposedly earmarked for special mental health services. Also, at least 13% of pot tax revenues are supposed to go to Mental Health, but nobody’s ever done the calculation nor the allocation.

RUSS EMAL: I’m really not at all sure why we ever moved to Anderson Valley. I had a great job in Sacramento working at EDD (Employment Development Department) paying out unemployment insurance. Wendy had just graduated from Sac State as a social worker. (Little did she know she would spend her working life as our high school librarian. Talk about social work!) 

Yet one day we decided to sell our home, give up my job, and move to the valley. The plan was simple. Build and operate a shingle and shake mill. If you do not know what that is, neither did I. My milling experience to that point was a tour I had in a lumber mill back east. But hey! I’m a fast learner.

In the Valley today the action is centered around Lauren’s restaurant. But back in the late seventies when something was happening, it happened at the Floodgate. Butch Paula and his family had purchased the store from a lady called Margarete. I do not recall her last name. Butch’s mom Molly/Bobbie/Barbara (we all called her a different name) pretty much ran the store while Butch ran the saw shop. At the beginning Butch knew about as much about fixing a saw as I did about running a mill. But he too was a fast learner.

Back then logging was still happening big time in the valley. Masonite was still in operation. Loggers said they used the Floodgate to get saw work done. But really the store sold beer. A lot of beer. I guess they also sold food. They made a great sandwich and sold dozens upon dozens of $1 pickled eggs. The eggs were displayed in a tall, thin glass jar containing a pickling brine. That jar of brine may have pickled over a thousand eggs. Molly, as I called her, raised chickens. The brine jar was always full. I think profit wise, pickled eggs kept them in the black.

When you needed a hair cut back then you went to the Floodgate. About once a week, not on any schedule, Marilyn Pronsolino, I think her name then was M. Bonnie, showed up to cut hair in the parking lot. Men would sit in the bar drinking beer until their turn came to get cut. She did a good job. I think…I mean I too had been drinking. Think she even cut the hair of a few passing tourists.

We lived and still live up Nash-Mill Road about 4 miles. We had no phone, no TV, and really no road. When we needed to make a phone call we used the pay phone at the Floodgate. Wendy, my wife, remembers a time just after dusk when she went to the store to make a call. The Gate was a-jumpin’! Wendy says the place was so rowdy, she didn’t enter the store. I understand her fear. You now know most of these men today as gentle souls. But, give them a few beers and see what happens!

Now my mill is gone. Floodgate is a memory, and wineries fill the valley. 

What’s your story?

PLAYING THIRD BASS GUITAR, JIM RAY HART

by Tommy Wayne Kramer

What remains of a once fine (and big) record collection sits upstairs, and even in its current emaciated state will leave dents in the floor when I remove it. Vinyl is heavy. 

I’d like to be done with all those albums but have been thwarted through the years by various challenges, inertia being number one. Also, Daughter Dearest Emily has always voiced a desire to inherit the entire million-record mess, although that voice has been reduced to a whisper as she’s gotten older. 

Hopes of owning her own copy of “I Ain’t a-Marchin’ Anymore” by Phil Ochs eventually dimmed, along with dreams to some day have the biggest collection of Cabbage Patch Dolls in the world. 

Another big reason I’ve held on to my dusty album collection can be explained in two words: Baseball cards. 

The logic is clear, the calculations simple, the conclusions obvious. A Mickey Mantle baseball card that sold for a penny in 1952 was worth $75,000 by the 1980s. To me that meant, ex-post ipso facto and ergo, that Bob Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde ($3.99 in ‘65) would be worth as much as a Cadillac convertible by the 1990s. An early Elvis Presley record? More than your portfolio. 

By the 1970s baseball cards had gone the way of the Dodo and Disco, but once most cards vanished their value increased. Diminished supply was coupled with increased demand from Boomers, whose mothers had thrown out their card collections a long time ago. 

Twenty years later the savvy among us were clinging to our Amboy Dukes records the way we wished we’d clung to our Willie Mays cards. We had history on our side and anyone who didn’t learn from history when it came to a 1957 Ted Williams card was doomed to repeat it by throwing out an Iron Butterfly album. 

A vintage Honus Wagner baseball card sold for more than $3 million in the 1980s, and I harbored private dreams that a copy of the Rolling Stones’ “Her Majesty’s Satanic Request” with its refracting, shifting cover image was my ticket to a first class retirement. (You, of course, left that album and a hundred more behind when you moved out of your Ohio apartment in 1973.) 

Top end cards of the best players were worth the most but even at the bottom there was a lot of value. Cards featuring Elmer Valo, Gus Zernial, Earl Battey and George Strickland were displayed under glass counters in sports card shops, a la Tiffany jewelry. Marginal players carried price tags of 50 cents or a dollar apiece. Up the ladder a rung or three were Al Kaline and Eddie Mathews cards, $25 each. Who would say a Sex Pistols record might not fetch $250 some day soon? 

(NOTE: Those who collected neither baseball cards nor record albums are free to abandon the remaining paragraphs and head straight for the crosswords and horoscopes; we’ll be with you in a moment.) 

And why risk making the same mistake twice in half a century, especially since this time we won’t have Mumsy to blame? How would you feel to wake up and discover collectors paying top dollar for Three Dog Night’s fourth album? Answer: you wouldn’t want to wake up, period. 

Spotting a copy of a Johnny Rivers album selling for $900 would be as disturbing as a Bubba Phillips card fetching $175 in 1990. Wasn’t it obvious by around 1980 that record albums would soon become as collectible as baseball cards? Of course it was obvious, it just wasn’t true. 

I couldn’t part with my MC5 collection recalling the pangs at having lost my complete set of 1961 Cleveland Indian cards. Why risk the same hollow feeling when a copy of The Who’s “Live at Leeds” might soon be worth more than my car? 

So my record albums have managed to survive, year after decade, in part because I don’t want to get burned again, this time by collectors seized by a mad desire to own an original 13th Floor Elevators album or the only record Nick Drake released before committing suicide. 

Ahh, but really now. Do any of us think there are morons out there yearning for a copy of Janis Ian’s first release on Vanguard records? Does the fact Bob Dylan plays harmonica on a single track of a Doug Sahm record make it valuable? 

Until recently I couldn’t take the chance. I had to hedge my bets. I knew that if I donated my albums to Goodwill and later learned “Music From Big Pink” was selling for $1200 I’d have to steal them all back. 

In the meantime there they sit, all that inert vinyl weight sagging across my exhausted bookshelves while failing quarterly to outperform the S&P 500, no change in sight. Warren Spahn cards continue to trend steady at $44; Country Joe & the Fish albums, even in mint condition, show indications of further erosion. 

Gift Suggestions: What child wouldn’t be delighted if Santa dropped a few kilos of vintage record albums in the driveway next Christmas? 

Or get some gift paper with cakes and balloons on it, wrap up a bunch of boxes full of record albums, throw in a Harmon-Kardon turntable with Panasonic speakers and make it the happiest birthday ever! Or at least very memorable.

The entire collection, minus a few records Tom Hine cannot part with, is all yours! Negotiate price with Emily, then bring over a truck. TWK says he’d like to keep his bootleg copy of “Annette’s Beach Blanket Bingo Twist Party!” album.

HOBOS

Editor,

I was reading a while back about several citizens concerned about a serial killer in the Ukiah area. I have suspected this for over 20 years. There possibly were two or three of them and fortunately they are all basically out of commission at least in Ukiah. One died at the beginning of covid. His pal (tag team serials) has hopefully fled Mendocino County. The third one was only part time in California. I last saw him in Nevada in a wheelchair with only one leg. It's possible that he ran into one pissed off hobo with an ax or chainsaw!

Living mostly on the streets now for nearly 35 years, half my life, a person runs into some unsavory people. When the Nevada serial killer was still able to walk he used trained tracking dogs to sniff out sleeping hobos and I was one of them. This dude's parents are evidently very rich and bought him the dogs. The first one liked me, a thoroughbred boxer named Louie. So she wouldn't track me. The last one was a pit bull. I caught them tracking me in Nevada in the middle of the night. Of course in Nevada you can duck into a casino all night and the dog gets confused.

On April 7 I was convicted of all charges against me. I had nearly no chance. Judge Keith Faulder and District Attorney David Eyster finally got what they've been obsessed with for at least 25 years: to get me facing a life sentence. And I was denied several constitutional rights along the way these last two years. Now with much legal work ahead of me for my appeal I doubt if I will ever be submitting many letters in the near future. But I will still subscribe to the AVA and appreciate all your readers and writers in Mendocino County.

Sincerely,

David Giusti -- Detective Youngcault, Crow prison scout

Mendocino County Jail

Ukiah

MENDO STORY FAN

Editor,

Greetings to the fanners of the flames.

If I could just fire up this old truck I would drive over and discuss my inquiry on finally getting a subscription to the Advertiser. But things are a bit frozen around here. I'm usually in the area at this time of year, “helping a friend.” But things have changed and I'm hunkered down here in Fairbanks, Alaska, watching the snow slowly melt away. (Sigh) So I am not able to read fresh copies of the paper. My friend will occasionally send me copies that were not used to start a fire in the snow. I pulled out an old paper to get an address and on page 4 it stated that the cost is $50 per year and $100 per year of state. Why the $50 additional cost when the cost of postage is the same to send an issue in-state and out-of-state? The extra $50 makes me cringe. 

I really enjoy your paper especially the stories of the history of Anderson Valley. I read the February 9 Vinegar Ridge Part 2 story. That's the last issue that has come my way. Besides the stories behind the history, the coverage of unique individuals and then the quirky ones from "off the record" are so entertaining. One of my favorites is the story of Bob Deines — November 18, 2020. I am trying to rally and scrape up the additional $50. On page 12 of the February 9 issue of the ad with subscriber rates shows a cost to be $50. What's up? Maybe I can get a family discount because one of your writers is Malcolm Macdonald. Please pass this story on to Malcolm.

Back in 1989 I was hitchhiking in New Zealand one-day because of some bad luck. I finally got a ride and it was the best ride I ever got. An old timer pulled over and asked me, "Do you know why I picked you up?" I froze for a second and then he quickly replied, "Because I could see that you are a Scot." His name was Islay McClean and he came over from Scotland as a young man to work on a sheep farm. He came to love New Zealand, especially the Maoris. Islay was fluent in their language and immersed in their culture. I got into his car and was asked my full name. When I said Macdonald, Islay commented that he heard me strongly pronounce "Mac" and he wondered to me if the spelling of my last name was with an upper or lower case letter d. I informed him it was lower case and he exclaimed, "I am in the presence of royalty." Islay was so full of joy and the love of life. It was getting late and I was invited to stay the night. Islay cooked dinner and told tales late into the night. Next morning was more stories over breakfast and then a ride to a good place on the road. His last words were, "Farewell, your highness."

So, Malcolm, we are both from the royal clan of Macdonald, and you too have probably dealt with a life of misspellings and misplacements of your name and filings.

Ok, folks. Thanks for your efforts in putting out some great writings and reporting. I don't use a computer so be patient and understanding and write to me as soon as possible.

Kevin Macdonald

Fairbanks, Alaska

ED NOTE: We don't pay first class postage to mail the AVA because the AVA is not a letter it's a newspaper. According to our second class/periodicals postal permit (025-340) we, like all periodicals, pay basically by zip code of the subscriber, out of county and out of state rates are pretty high. Each week we have to tote up the subscribers by “zone” and fill out a detailed six page form which groups the mailing by zip code and weight. The cost of mailing to Mendocino County addresses is reasonably economical at around 20¢ a copy. But out of county and out of state mailing costs more proportionately by distance and runs up to 80¢ each for out out of state deliveries like Alaska or Hawaii (not counting pre-sort bag rates which also increase by distance). The rates have been going up twice a year lately. With the rising cost of fuel we expect they'll go up again soon. PS. For fun, take an average AVA and put it in an envelope and try mailing it from Alaska to California at the lower-cost “media” rate, and see what they charge. You might be surprised. If anyone is really interested in periodicals mailing rates they can, download the Postal Service’s “Postage Statement-Periodicals” form (PS3541) from the USPS website, usps.gov.

ED NOTES

THERE was a line out the door at the General Store this morning as Beer Fest's early risers roamed Boonville in search of coffee and pastries equal to the quality brews they'd knocked down Saturday night. They'd come to the right place. The General Store is one of many can't miss eating places in the Anderson Valley. Meanwhile, at the Senior Center, the indefatigable Renee Lee and her crew were also serving up terrific fund-raising breakfasts that also drew a crowd of hungry beer people. Often overlooked but another quality food emporium is the Redwood Drive-in, especially for Mexican food. I'm in there often, and not only because I live next door. The Boonville Brewery has always been good for Boonville, both as an employer and a magnet for well-managed weekend events, and giving the Anderson Valley an alternative to the bureaucratically-burdensome, and expensive, Boonville Fairgrounds.

CHRIS SKYHAWK'S letter today suggests old grievances that Chris is too nice a guy to spell out, but serious enough to send Chris all the way to an endorsement of John Redding, incumbent supervisor Ted Williams' opponent in the June election.

WILLIAMS, predictably, is endorsed by the organized Democrats, none of whom, like a majority of the people in his district, have the faintest idea of Williams' actual performance as a supervisor which, in the opinion of the Boonville weekly, has been deficient and, on occasion, malicious. And consistently craven at the feet of the imperious, vindictive CEO Carmel Angelo. We don't think he's earned another four years on this disastrous board of supervisors.

WHICH isn't to say we endorse John Redding, a man we know little about beyond his obvious virtue of infuriating Mendocino County's softy-wofty libs. We're working up a list of questions for Redding, bearing in mind that a person can be a goose-stepping Trump fascist but a responsible supervisor in a theoretically non-partisan job focused solely on local matters. 

THE BEST SUPERVISORS over the past fifty years have been conservatives while the libs have been a disaster and even crooked in a chiseling, petty way. With the exception of Norman deVall and the best lib ever around here, Liz Henry, besieged and undermined by libs and yobbos alike. We often pounded on deVall, the kinda sorta liberal 5th District supervisor of yesteryear at a time when the county's libs were electorally confined to the 5th District, but he was always accessible, always amiable with detractors. The rest of them have been a parade of cry babies and hustlers — Smith; Colfax; Hamburg; Shoemaker; Campbell; Wagenet. 

AND then there's Gjerde. He seems to have checked out years ago, an opinion recently confirmed when he posted as his supervisor's report an irrelevant item from 2017. A capable guy who was positively inspirational as a Fort Bragg City councilman when he took on the criminals then dominating the town, Gjerde mails it in as a supervisor, contributing little to the dependably confused proceedings.

I GUESS you could say the local dysfunction reflects the dysfunction at the national level, where we see an obviously incapacitated president shaking hands with invisible people as he's minded by someone dressed as the Easter Bunny.

AND THAT'S a second uniquely Mendo problem. People get elected to Mendo public office totally unequipped for adult give and take. Criticism is met with a wounded withdrawal. Rather than argue with criticism, criticism is simply and conveniently dismissed as “negativity.” We might as well just select representatives randomly off the street given the quality of the people we have now. 

UKRAINE YESTERDAY

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and defense chief Lloyd Austin meet Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv, says Ukrainian presidential adviser.

Ukraine will try to establish humanitarian routes out of the besieged port city Mariupol on Monday, says Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk.

Zelenskyy meets senior US delegation: Ukraine official. An adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the US secretaries of state and defense were meeting with the Ukrainian leader, in the highest-level visit to Kyiv by a US delegation since the start of Russia’s invasion.

Oleksiy Arestovych said in an interview on Ukrainian TV that the talks with Antony Blinken and Lloyd Austin were taking place late on Sunday. There was no immediate comment from the US.

The meeting comes as Ukraine presses the West for more powerful weapons in its fight against the Russian invasion.

Orthodox Easter celebration marred by war and division in Ukraine

WILL THE REAL RUSSIAN SWIM CHAMP IDENTIFY HERSELF?

AVA,

All due respect, I think you're incorrect about this domestic violence suspect is a Russian Olympic swimmer.

Allow me to present my evidence:

Here's the booking log: 

Here is the woman who was the Olympic Swimmer:

More of her Instagram if you're curious: https://www.instagram.com/swimsiberia/

Completely different bone structure.

Here is the actual woman arrested by MCSO. It looks like she is/was a photographer in the Bay Area:

Here is the Ekaterina, whom I am 99.9% positive is the actual woman arrested by MCSO: https://www.facebook.com/ekaterina.alyabyeva.3

For my final piece of evidence, here is the booking log photo compared to the Olympic swimmer's.

Compare that to the following...

Lips, eyebrows, forehead, cheekbones, chin structure. All there. 

I'm always looking for evidence of my thesis that all things strange circle back to Mendocino County, and this Russian swimmer narrative would be another arrow in my quiver, but alas.

Matt LaFever

Reporter for KMUD, Redheaded Blackbelt, and Founder of MendoFever

Phone:(707) 267-1799

WHAT DOES MOBY-DICK have to do with Mendocino County? Find out in Chapter One of my new book, Mendocino History Exposed. That chapter's title is "Moby-Dick and the Reservation," creating a bit more intrigue.

Mendocino History Exposed is available at Gallery Bookshop in Mendocino. If you are too bashful for in person shopping try their easy to order site at gallerybookshop.com. You can also call: 707-937-2665

Mendocino History Exposed is also available at The Bookstore at 137 East Laurel St. in Fort Bragg 707-964-6559. They have sold out of Mendocino History Exposed once already, so don't hesitate to ask them to procure more copies.

This collection of twenty-two tales centered on our county, but with universal appeal, can also be had at Windsong at 324 N. Main St. in Fort Bragg. 707-964-2050.

— Malcolm Macdonald

CATCH OF THE DAY, April 24, 2022

JOSUE ELDER, Woodland/Covelo. Assault weapon, loaded firearm in public.

JONATHON FRED SR., Lucerne/Ukiah. Domestic battery, failure to appear.

SHANNAH GRIFFITH, Ukiah. Taking vehicle without owner’s consent.

JOSE HERNANDEZ, Yuba City/Covelo. Assault weapon, loaded firearm while prohibite with priors.

ROBERT SACCOCCIO, Borden, Indiana/Ukiah. Fugitive from justice (facing drug and forgery charges in Indiana). 

AARON THEISEN, Castro Valley/Ukiah. DUI.

TIMOTHY TOLOY, Ukiah. Trespassing.

MALLORY WILKINSON, Willits. DUI.

JOSE ZUNIGA, Philo. Domestic battery, false imprisonment.

WHAT FENTANYL DOES, an on-line comment: "Fentanyl and most other opioids actually have minimal direct effects on the heart. Fentanyl is used extensively in anesthesia for patients with heart problems because it is safer for the heart than other types of drugs. The problem with fentanyl is that it can slow or stop breathing, causing the body to run out of oxygen. This lack of oxygen is what damages organs and can eventually cause the heart to stop. If a person has their breathing artificially maintained by a ventilator, for example, they could be given fairly large doses of fentanyl quite safely."

TRUCKERS FOR FANTASY FREEDOM 

by Steve Heilig

“Do you oppose infanticide?”

I had to admit that I do. And I took one of the nice lady’s brochures, detailing all the current proposed legislative bills she and her colleagues opposed, on the grounds that they would allow the murder of infants (“Kill the Bill, Not the Babies”), forcing of vaccinations COVID or otherwise, teaching of perversion, and even more liberal atrocities. I thanked her and kept moving through the loud crowd, seeking to prevent any further detailed interaction.

It was the grand “People’s Convoy for Freedom” rally at the State Capitol. I was there by an accident of timing, having come to help represent California physicians in advocating various medical and public health goals - expanded access to medical care, for one, and yes, gulp, increasing COVID and other vaccination rates. Who knew our visit coincided with this rally? Not I. But one couldn’t avoid it now. Walking from a meeting over to the Capitol building, the volume of honking horns increased with every step closer. A line of large and small trucks and cars, from big semis to funky antique pickups, inched around the big Capitol building block, honking away. Lots of folks with signs and flags were yelling and giving the trucks the thumbs-up. Caught up in the spirit, I waved at some of them too.

At the West edge of the Capitol, the lead trucks had come to a halt, where polite police were helping them park, then putting up barriers at each end of the block. A band was setting up on the broad white Capitol steps. Clearly today’s festivities were fully permitted - no January 6 “legitimate political discourse” here. But damn was it loud. All the parked and parking trucks now had their horns on constant play. It was like a big blaring ambient assaultive wall of sound, like Lou Reed’s infamous “Metal Machine Music” cranked to eleven. We strolled on, seeking a bit less volume. My colleague asked one of the young musicians setting up who they were, and he replied simply “Christians.” Further attempts at questioning indicated he really didn’t want to chat, so we on we ambled.

Some “merch” booths were being installed on the sidewalk across from all the parked vehicles. A t-shirt vendor appeared particularly well-organized. His display featured shirts implying Fauci is a Nazi, people who get vaccines have been “sheepinated,” and that Jesus votes for Donald Trump (which still strikes me as the biggest stretch of all). Around the corner he had some shirts and stickers urging “Stop the Steal.” My colleague, succumbing to an ill-advised urge, asked the vendor what was being stolen. “The election!” Was the loud retort. Further gently pressed with the news that even Republican officials and judges had turned back every one of Trump’s attempts to overturn the Constitution, that each forced recount had turned up even more votes for Biden, and that the leaders of Trump’s “stolen election” campaign had just confessed and pled guilty to the whole thing being a money-milking scam, the patriot began to yell at us. “You’re an ignorant moron!” he shouted. He kept on, loudly, for quite some time as we walked away. We didn’t get any shirts.

We went to meet a legislator, after passing through all the metal detectors, for a polite, informed chat about some the health issues of the day. The only allusion to the rally outside was a lament about the failures of education. I walked back with a different colleague, a pediatrician who grew up poor, on Medi-Cal, and persevered to dedicate her career to healing and helping kids. Drifting a bit behind, I accepted a brochure from a smiling rallier, who sweetly asked if I was “pro-poison shots.” No, just vaccines, I mumbled, but not quietly enough, for he exploded, yelling that I and my “fascist friend” were killers and idiots. And we aren’t even abortion providers.

One graffiti’d SUV had not only “Stop child vax” written on the side but also “CH 37 - LED ZEP.” Well now I was intrigued. Did the legendary Led Zeppelin have something illuminating to say or sing about vaccines or abortion? Was leader Jimmy Page, long ago a collector and acolyte of infamous British occultist Aleister Crowley, sending coded messages favoring Trump? It was all so mysterious, but the only guy standing nearby just laughed at my questions. Meanwhile the Christian rockers were cranking it out up on the stairs. Alas, while they could play, they were no Led Zep.

Back at the hotel meeting room I read the handouts I’d gathered. The problem of the day and focus of the rally, it seemed, was a “tyrannical ten” roster of proposed bills focused on immunization mandates, consent, information, and misinformation “censorship.” The “infanticide” bill was not on this list but a little sleuthing showed it’s a proposed heightening of medical privacy surrounding fetal death, arising from abortions or not, to protect women from the type of profiteering vigilante anti-choice snooping and prosecution now being proposed and enacted in more conservative states. It’s likely at least in part a preventive and preparatory policy change in anticipation of ever more anti-choice changes, right up to the repeal of Roe vs. Wade. It seems that some peoples’ interpretation of “freedom” from state intrusions into private lives can be quite selective. Especially those who can’t get pregnant. 

We did not see a single non-white person at the rally, whatever that might mean. It looked a lot like a bikers’ convention, with a smattering of Sunday church BBQ and tons of fading tattoos. And almost all involved seemed quite polite, at least until questioned, and very happy to be there. We’d been urged not to wear white lab coats outside, just to be safe, but that probably wasn’t necessary after all. 

Humans get their meaning in life wherever they might. The original truckers’ rally, in Canada, was opposed by their own union, funded by outside right-wing interests, and very unclear about exactly they were so upset about. This one seemed at least slightly more focused, maybe. Their website - which begins with a donation button and states they’ve raised almost $1.8 million as of mid-April, and then photos of a rogue’s gallery of obscure fringe characters - states that “Our core principals (sic) of FREEDOM AND LIBERTY give rise to the convoy’s request to end the State of Emergency that led to overreaching mandates” (elsewhere it’s stated not as a request but a demand). They apparently kicked off the convoy with an address from one of the “frontline doctors” who have been discredited for continuing to advocate disproven COVID “treatments,” besides disparaging vaccines. But, one might ask, how many of the rally participants had multiple vaccinations as kids, in order to attend public (ie, socialized) schools, and how many of their own kids have had such shots - without any uproar? Why so much divisiveness and anti-science rhetoric now? Those questions are for the hundreds of books about our times. But Barack Obama, likely none too popular among this “nonpartisan” crowd and speaking at Stanford the next day, observed that “Our new information ecosystem is turbo-charging some of humanity’s worst impulses.” The wonders of the internet are certainly at least part of the pathology and diagnosis. These used to be purely fringe cranks hardly anybody knew of; Richard Nixon called the rabid John Birch Society “kooks.”

Inside, at our well-guarded medical gathering, the state attorney general got numerous ovations from medical students and doctors favoring whatever has actually been shown to work to improve health. Outside, they didn’t seem to care about that little detail - what actually works - favoring policies that would actually increase unwanted pregnancies and abortions, spread dangerous diseases, and undermine the very Constitution their brochure urged us all to “Protect.” As big and tough and fanatical as some of them appeared, they weren’t particularly scary. The frightening ones wear suits, run for office or pay for those who do, and convince others that science doesn’t matter and neither do fair elections. If only there were vaccinations against those sort of pathogens.

LOCAL BLOOD DRIVE: Two-day blood drive in Fort Bragg at Town Hall located at 363 N. Main St. in Fort Bragg. We have appointments available on Thursday 4/28/22 between 10 am and 2:30 pm. Click on link to check and schedule an appointment https://donors.vitalant.org/.../guest/phl/timeSlotsExtr...

MARIPOSA

Butterflies are white and blue
In this field we wander through.
Suffer me to take your hand.
Death comes in a day or two.

All the things we ever knew
Will be ashes in that hour,
Mark the transient butterfly,
How he hangs upon the flower.

Suffer me to take your hand.
Suffer me to cherish you
Till the dawn is in the sky.
Whether I be false or true,
Death comes in a day or two.

— Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950)

CALIFORNIA’S HOUSING SHORTAGE

Dear Governor Newsom,

I know you're aware of the shortage of affordable housing in Calif — but all I hear as a solution is "build more affordable housing!" I never hear anything about the questionable way our real estate agents and landowners behave — they are following that horrible mandate of US Corporations to "make as much money as you possibly can, regardless of who it hurts, whether the environment or people."

Something HAS to be done about housing prices in Calif.! Investors, many foreign, rarely local, are bidding up houses and apartments so high that it is impossible for "normal" people to buy or even rent! Tripling rents is common now. I lived in Oakland for 34 years, been in Mendocino Co. now 18 years, and have family in L.A. and Redlands — so I know: it's happening up and down the state! The daughter of friends was out-bid on 70 houses in the East-Bay — she and her husband, in their early 30's are both doctors with good jobs. They've been looking for a year and a half, and can find nothing! The house I lived in for 30 years just sold for almost 3 million dollars — more than a million over asking price — and it's a medium sized house on a teeny lot in the flats of north Oakland- it's absolutely obscene!

Bidding wars should be made ILLEGAL! The first person who qualifies for the asking price should be the one to get it — and part of qualifying needs to be that the buyer is going to live in the house, or rent it out for a fair price, to someone who will be living in it! Not Air B'n'B-ing it!

L.A. is so expensive, a lot of people are moving to Redlands, a very lovely town less than an hour away, that until recently was fairly affordable. My daughter has a friend there whose apartment building was recently bought by a foreign investor, and they are tripling the rents! My sister, who has lived there for more than 30 years, says there is no way her two kids will ever be able to live there, buying or renting. My daughter, in her 20's, lives in a house owned by a Taiwanese corporation that has never seen the house, they just bought up houses in the LA area. She pays $1,000 month for one small room, her 2 roommates pay more for their rooms as they are a trifle bigger. And corporations are buying up trailer parks all over and jacking up the rents so even that previously inexpensive way to live is becoming difficult to afford! (my niece and her boyfriend live in a trailer, all they can afford in the "Inland Empire" area. They grew up in Redlands, have to live half an hour away by freeway in Mentone, and the cost to rent a space for the trailer keeps going up!!) Landlords and sellers in Anderson Valley are no better. They must think people who live here are wealthy!

Really, the only solution is not just to build more "low income housing”! How "low" will it be? Building materials are at an all time high! We need to manage the housing we already have better! Pass legislation not allowing investors to raise rents past a certain point/sit on houses/turn them into air B n B's... I'm sure you know about all the empty houses in Oakland. If we have to, we should nationalize all the housing! Or the state could take over empty houses...there HAS to be something you can do!

Don’t be in a panic to solve this problem and let developers destroy neighborhoods! There is no reason to throw out aesthetic or historical guidelines. With you signing into law SB9 and SB10, an investor can tear out the existing house on a property and put in a 4 unit (or even more!) building, filling up the entire lot so there is no room for any sort of garden.

This is not at all ecologically sound — our landfill is already a huge problem! — much better to use the existing house — make it 2 stories if it's only one, one unit upstairs, one down; and build a new little 2-unit granny flat in back, and have it be sensitively done, and of true quality so that the neighborhood is still a lovely place to live. Planting trees must be mandated, and saving large trees a priority. Do we have to lose all sense of grace and beauty, and destroy the history of a neighborhood, just because we need more low income housing? I lived in Oakland in the late '60's/early '70's when investors were buying up beautiful old super well made houses, selling them to the City for a huge profit, who tore them down, then built poor quality "low income housing", filling the entire lot with a hideous structure, paving over the front yard for parking. Within a matter of months those places looked like crap because they were so poorly designed and constructed with cheap materials. 

I know because I lived in one of those beautiful old houses, and was evicted so they could tear it down and build their wretched units. I had 2 friends the same thing happened to. All of those original houses were high quality craftsmen homes, and could easily have been turned into 2 or 3 gracious units. Then RCPC [Rockridge Community Planning Council] got going and stopped it. 

That's how I got my house in Rockridge. The landlord/investor had bought up all these houses in the N. Oakland area, now he could no longer tear them out and put in the high rise he planned, so he basically dumped this little house in my lap. (He knew me from my having lived in 2 of his other tear-downs.) RCPC studied neighborhoods all over the country and put together guidelines for what makes a neighborhood a nice place to live. It's no accident that Rockridge is such a coveted neighborhood. Other neighborhoods by BART stations don't command the [ridiculously high] prices that RR does. When I moved in, College Ave was a dump, as was the flat-lands around it. When Hwy 24 was built, everyone who could afford to, left Oakland. Even by the time I moved there, after the fwy was built, College Ave. had many vacant lots. (I remember 2 of them had boats being built on them!) 

The storefronts that were left were grubby and trashy, with broken venetian blinds in them, paint peeling, very run-down, just like most all neighborhoods in Oakland then. (I was a student at Calif College of Arts & Crafts at that time, and lived in neighborhoods all around the school.) The houses above College Ave. were still pretty nice, and RCPC was born to ameliorate the decay. In the flats, we fixed up our gardens- cheap to do- and started making the neighborhood look nice again. I was one of the first to do it. Later, when I had some money, I added a 2nd story to the house, and made it really nice. I lived there 30 years. [The people who bought our house nearly 20 years ago recently turned a portion of the downstairs into an ADU, and the next-door neighbors added a 2nd unit as a 2nd floor. Both of them look beautiful, keeping the lovely integrity of the neighborhood in tact. A couple of additional units could even still be worked into them, and not detract from the quality of living in them. Adding units does NOT have to done in a way that destroys the beauty of a home or neighborhood! Good design is essential!

Building more houses is something the building industry wants. The reality is, DO WE HAVE THE WATER? Many places are already on water restriction, yet they are building new houses near by! Is this sensible, let alone fair?? The census says we have less people; we lost at least one seat in the House! But we have more homeless than ever! All the "affordable" housing in Oakland and Berkeley is a joke!! What rich legislators think is affordable, is NOT affordable to the people who are couch surfing or having to live in shelters, let alone those relegated to the streets!! It used to be that 1/4 of your income was considered fair. (Even Donald Trump, in the '80's said "the only criteria for renters is that the rent not exceed 1/4 of their income.") Anything higher was considered usury!! Now it is 1/3 to 1/2 of one's income! Try living on even $15.00 an hour, which is tossed around as if it's so much money! How can a single person live on that, let alone a family?

This whole housing situation certainly contributes to the high rate of depression we have in this country, and is absolutely unconscionable!

Sincerely, 

Nancy MacLeod 

Philo

MENDOCINO SPRING POETRY SUBMISSIONS

47th Anniversary * 17th consecutive Revival Mendocino Spring Poetry Celebration 2022

Friends of the lively word,

For the third extraordinary year of cautions, the Mendocino Spring Poetry Celebration will airwave on public radio rather than at the Hill House. Last year, 2021, sixty-three poets sent smartphone recordings, and everyone was heard at least once, in five broadcasts from June to August.

Again this year, for 2022, the submission window will be May 1 to May 20, for broadcast beginning June 5, on Dan Roberts’ RhythmRunningRiver, KZYX, Mendocino County Public Broadcasting.

Record your clip of up to four minutes, titles and poems, and email the file to OutFarPress@Saber.Net during the submission period of May 1st - 20th.

It’s as easy as taking a photo and emailing it, really! And smartphone mics are good. Here’s kindly competent tech advice: OutFarPress.Com/Poetry. Or ensorcel a friend with a phone.

Dan Roberts has been arranging segues of poetry among the rhythms of world music for decades, and is likely to be unmatched in this format and experience. Following is a sample hour of Dan’s broadcast of the 2021 Mendocino Spring Poetry Celebration - Stream: https://www.dropbox.com/s/d277bypxr2pdks8/RRR071821B.mp3?dl=0

The poems below are bolded in italics among the music cuts. Sample the sequences, record your own good lines, and email your file to Dan Roberts (after May 1). The 2022 broadcasts of the Mendocino Spring Poetry Celebration will begin on Sunday June 5 at 3pm, on KZYX radio waves and kzyx.org.

RhythmRunningRiver July 18, 2021 2nd hour

1. Jabez Churchill (Ukiah)_No Less, 01:24

2. Dalinda (Hungary)_Uj eztendo, 02:43

3. Jupiter & Okwess (DRC)_Jim Kata, 04:06

4. Kate Dougherty (Fort Bragg) Fire Threatens Olema Retreat, 00:48

5. Rising Appalachia (US)_Tempest0, 5:29

6. Dobet Gnahore (Ivory Coast)_Zaliguehi, 02:40

7. Gordon Black (Albion)_Glass Jewel, 00:42

8. Namgar Yaboo (Mongolia)-Aidoo, 05:30

9. Lynn The Poetician (Ukiah)_Accumulation Stress, 03:59

10. Nour Fretiekh- Jaffa (Palestine)_Everything has changed, 03:08

11. Rich Alcott (Vermont)_Truth About the Ubermensch, 03:55

12. Fools on a hill (Cobb Mountain)_Ball and Chain, 05:26

13. Mary Norbert Korte (Willits)_Death and Resurrection, 02:27

14. Dobet Gnahore (Ivory Coast)_Redemption, 03:20

15. Dan Roberts (Willits)_Holy Card for Greta #3, 05:42

Total 52:51

Further info? Email me: gblack@mcn.org. And pursue your Muse!

Gordon Black

Mendocino

AT&T

Editor,

Once again I had had it with robo and scam calls from disconnected and etc. phone numbers. 

As you have no doubt noticed, being on a DNC list is not effective, so I filed another complaint with the CPUC, officially. 

I indicated that these calls were negative to my health, having to get up and answer the phone and indicated my belief that they were destroying democracy by breaking connections between people since so many no longer answered their phones, isolating us, which coupled with the pandemic was very destructive to our mental and physical health. I also pointed out that commercial services are available to protect us from calls from disconnected numbers and that, no matter how little, they make money on EVERY call that comes through their monopoly protected land lines.

A few days later I got a call from the "CEO's" office acknowledging my complaint, telling me that they "felt my pain", but there was nothing they could do. I said if you can tell me when I use the return call feature that the line is disconnected; you can tell me that the call is coming from a "non-working" displayed phone number. She said, they always hire women to do the dirty work, oh, no we can't. It went back and forth and when I got tired of it; she was being paid, I wasn't, I said we are both repeating ourselves and the call was ended.

Teed off, I went on line and quickly learned that AT&T pays out over 8 BILLION dollars a year to its stockholders, less than 1/2 of what it earns, and over 100 million (hard to use caps after billions) to its NEOs.

In theory, AT&T is a regulated monopoly and the CPUC is supposed to protect us against their abuses. Here in nowheresville, we have no AT&T mobile service and old f**ts like me are dependent upon our land lines. If we don't have computers and satellite service, we are totally isolated when s**t hits the fan.

I believe if everyone affected by phone calls from scammers of any type, whether simple interruptions or fear creation, were to write to the CPUC that eventually they would take action. I firmly believe, regardless of what the CEO's hack might say, that AT&T could and would find a way to stop these calls. They do have over a BILLION a month in profit to throw at the problem. They certainly are not using it to maintain, upgrade or repair our land lines.

Peter Lit

Elk

PS. This would require a "time out" from facebook, twitter, etc etc etc and our (including mine) self-centered activity.

CLIMATE ACTIVIST DIES AFTER SETTING HIMSELF ON FIRE AT SUPREME COURT

A Colorado man who set himself on fire in front of the Supreme Court on Friday in an apparent Earth Day protest against climate change has died, police said.

The Metropolitan Police Department of Washington, D.C., said that Wynn Bruce, 50, of Boulder, Colo., had died on Saturday from his injuries after being airlifted to a hospital following the incident.…

nytimes.com/2022/04/24/us/politics/climate-activist-self-immolation-supreme-court.html