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Mendocino County Today: Thursday, June 16, 2022

Weak Front | Mendosa's Hours | Thomas Jondahl | Mail Stage | Waidelich Affair | Senior Hoagies | Lighthouse Tours | Angel Sought | Housing Workshop | Caspar Boogie | Firesafe Grants | Jazz Swing | Angelo Time-Bomb | Mendocino Main | Sought Found | Metalworking Classes | Krebs House | Seaweed Cows | Albion Boys | Medical Ordeal | Genderbucks | First 5 | Yesterday's Catch | Lunch Break | Ukraine | Russians Coming | Big Con | Gun Deaths | John Dietz | Cruel Summer | Shelf Life | White Supremacy | Slug Rally | Abacus Awakening | Aunt Epiphany | CA Budget | Eureka Videomag

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A WEAK FRONT is bringing spotty light rain and drizzle to the North Coast this morning. A strong upper low will bring showers, some thunderstorms and much cooler temperatures Friday and Saturday. Warmer and dry weather will return thereafter. (NWS)

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THOMAS EDWARD JONDAHL (1964-2022)

Thomas Edward Jondahl, 57, passed away on Thursday May 12, 2022 at his home in Colorado Springs, Colorado, following complex liver disease progression.

Born on November 11, 1964 in Ukiah, California to retired Mendocino County Sheriff Thomas W. Jondahl and Rebecca Jondahl, Thomas is predeceased by both parents. He is survived by his wife Sandra Pierce Jondahl of Colorado Springs, son Thomas Blake Jondahl of San Antonio, Texas and his sisters, Terri Jondahl (Richard Drye) of Buford, Georgia and Tammi Jondahl Weselsky (Bruce Weselsky), along with niece Alisa Weselsky-Arrington (Bryan Arrington and their two children) of Ukiah, California.

Tom graduated from Ukiah High School and then spent much of his adult life in Texas where he spent many years helping to develop unique pizza based restaurant concepts and then in later years worked in sales of food products to restaurants. 

He was taught to hunt and fish by his father and one of his favorite recent memories was teaching his wife to fly fish in crisp rocky mountain creeks in Colorado. He told stories many times of his trip to Alaska with his father, and brother in laws, where many fish were caught and laughter was nonstop.

He adored his family and was exceptionally proud of his son's straight A performance at the University of Texas. He was a loyal friend to many over the years.

Tom is survived by his cherished cat Trin and predeceased by many beloved dogs, including his best pal, Buddy. 

The family will hold a graveside service on Tuesday June 21, at 3pm at Russian River Cemetery, Ukiah, followed by a celebration of life for family and friends at the home of Tammi Weselsky.

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U.S. Mail Stage on Sherwood Road, 1896

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ED NOTES

UKIAH POLICE CHIEF NOBLE WAIDELICH has not been heard from as his name is casually bandied about as a presumed domestic abuser, even in the LA Times, and how a Ukiah domestic drama drew the attention of Los Angeles is perhaps accounted for by the fact that the Chief's former wife and accuser, is now a resident of Fontana and her lawyer, undoubtedly au courant with contemporary portrayals of cops as badged psychopaths, rang up the paper and said, “Check this Waidelich guy out up the behind the green curtain. And look how the cops up there, all the way up to the DA, conspired against her.” Ordinarily, the LA Times sticks to show biz domestic dramas.

Noble Waidelich

THE CHIEF is probably silent on the advice of his attorney, James King, of Willits, a former Mendo County Superior Court judge. (We have more former superior court judges than any population our size in the nation because we have more active judges for a population our size in the nation, a swindle pulled off years ago which we won't explain here because it's been explained here many times prior, but it was pulled off by the lawyer-dominated California legislature with a big assist from Mendolib of the time who thought it was funny that dopeheads like them got themselves elected to life times sinecures as judges. (cf Richard Kossow) 

AND, as of late last night [Tuesday, June 14] when Shannon Riley, assistant to Ukiah's seldom seen city manager, Sage Sangiacomo, and the person always shoved up front by that phantom Ukiah administrator when it's time to deliver bad news, issued a press release announcing that Chief Waidelich had been sent home with pay while he's criminally investigated by the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department, the referral to SoCo having been made by the Mendocino County Sheriff Matt Kendall to avoid accusations of a “conflict of interest,” translated as accusations that a Mendo police investigation into one of their own would be prone to cover-up if Waidelich was found innocent of wrongdoing.

GIVEN that his record as a cop is unblemished, and given that there hasn't been a peep out of the guy in his own defense as he's pilloried in the media and vilified in social media, Chief Waidelich's in deep before all this gets anywhere near a courtroom.

MENDO'S DEFENSE ATTORNEYS tend heavily to wuss-ism. They ought to be out there shouting to anybody who will listen that their client is being maligned, but they don't because in Mendo there seems to be a silent agreement that we don't fight our cases in public even as our clients are being lynched by public opinion.

I THINK, though, that DA Eyster's destruction of Amanda Carley's career in law enforcement was way out of proportion to Ms. Carley's alleged lies about her life with Waidelich, which ended almost a decade ago. She and Waidelich had a lot to lose if she reported their domestic combat, assuming it had happened, and her girl friends told the LA Times that Carley had showed them bruises and had even appeared in public with a black eye, attributing her injuries to Waidelich. But the couple shared ownership in property, and their jobs were in play if their difficulties became public. It's easy to understand why a woman in her position went back and forth on her claim that she was a victim of domestic abuse.

Amanda Carley and Daughter Madisyn

SO THE DA, claiming Carley had lied, placed Carley on the Brady List, a roster of cops suspected of lying, which precludes them from testifying in criminal prosecutions. And just like that, Carley was finished as any kind of cop or probation officer, which is how she'd earned her way most of her adult life. Seems unfair. Perceived untruths in the context of marital turmoil aren't at all the same as professional untruths told on the job. 

AND NOW WAIDELICH, who has since remarried, is facing some kind of new criminal allegation on top of the pending Carley matter, as Ukiah sends him home with pay, while Sonoma County investigates him for… another domestic?

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MARK SCARAMELLA ADDS:

Ms. Carley is suing Mendocino County for damages as well. According to that LA Times article the County was quick to investigate her and take her gun away (as a probation officer) when it learned of Eyster putting Carley on the Brady list.

The LA Times: “The county then opened another investigation — this one into Carley — for allegedly lying about whether she was abused. At that point, Carley was working at the Probation Department as a deputy probation officer. Her supervisor immediately took her firearm away and reassigned her caseload. She was interrogated and threatened with criminal charges by the county for withholding the truth. Waidelich was promoted to sergeant. Taking away her gun seems partisan and premature, said George Kirkham, a criminologist at Florida State University and consultant to more than 50 law enforcement agencies. The investigation leading up to the disciplinary action appeared cherry-picked, he said. ‘This was not an objective and thorough investigation in terms of basic elements of interviewing all parties, looking at all evidence physical or otherwise, then rendering an objective report,’ Kirkham said.‘The county had an obligation to take action, and it certainly would not involve promoting him.’

[The County had nothing to do with promoting Waidelich who worked for the Ukiah Police Department, not the County.]

The LA Times continued: “After the investigation concluded that Carley ‘did not fully disclose information about the domestic violence — that occurred — in her relationship with Waidelich on three occasions,’ she was served with a written reprimand for ‘providing false or misleading information to a law enforcement officer’.”

Carley’s civil case against Mendocino County was originally filed in 2017, but it’s only now been reactivated. She originally sued the DA’s office, the Probation Department, DA Eyster, then-Probation Chief Albert Ganter and Weidelich. But DA Eyster has since been dropped from that suit on grounds that Carley’s claim constitutes a SLAPP suit (i.e., that Eyster’s statements and actions are protected within the scope of his official duties and barred from civil liability). That trial is set to begin on September 26 — unless it is postponed.

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UKIAH POLICE CHIEF PLACED ON ADMINISTRATIVE LEAVE PENDING CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION

by Justine Frederiksen

Wednesday, June 14 — Ukiah Police Chief Noble Waidelich has been placed on administrative while a criminal investigation is conducted by the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office, the city of Ukiah announced late Tuesday.

In a press release emailed at 10:45 p.m. Tuesday, Deputy City Manager Shannon Riley wrote: “Police Chief Noble Waidelich was placed on administrative leave as of June 14, 2022, pending an ongoing criminal investigation led by (the) Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office. The city is cooperating with investigating authorities while completing the appropriate personnel investigation. Because this is both a pending personnel and criminal matter, no further information may be disclosed by the city at this time.”

When contacted Wednesday morning for more information regarding the case, Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Sgt. Juan Valencia released this statement: “On June 13, 2022, an allegation of criminal conduct involving Ukiah Police Chief Noble Waidelich was reported to the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office. Due to the close working relationship between the MCSO and the UPD, Mendocino County Sheriff (Matt) Kendall requested the SCSO conduct the investigation for transparency purposes.”

The statement continues: “The criminal investigation has been assigned to the SCSO Investigations Bureau and is actively being investigated. Upon completion of the investigation, the case will be submitted to the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office for review. We understand this case will have increased public interest. The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office cannot release additional information due to the active status of this investigation and to protect the integrity of this case.”

Waidelich has served as UPD chief for less than a year, officially becoming chief last fall during one of the most turbulent two-year periods in the department’s past that includes the arrest of a former sergeant for sexual assaults, the violent arrest of a naked Ukiah man in the street and multiple lawsuits.

In late November of 2020, former UPD Sgt. Kevin Murray allegedly broke into a woman’s hotel room and sexually assaulted her. Soon after the incident he was placed on administrative leave and fired in January of 2021. Since that time more women have come forward alleging sexual assaults by Murray, and a criminal trial stemming from the allegations is pending.

One of the women alleging she was assaulted by Murray is former UPD officer Isabel Siderakis, who filed a lawsuit in August of 2021 alleging that while in training in 2013 she was sexually assaulted by Murray, who is named as a defendant in the lawsuit along with the city of Ukiah.

In April of 2021, UPD officers encountered a naked Gerardo Magdaleno in the street, and video footage of the controversial arrest showed a violent struggle to subdue him with multiple punches and kicks.

In December of 2021, a lawsuit was filed on behalf of Magdaleno, who was described by his family as mentally ill, alleging that Ukiah Police officers used excessive force and violated their department’s policies during his “unlawful and discriminatory” arrest.

In March of 2022, the city of Ukiah announced that a firm it hired to perform an “independent investigation” of Magdaleno’s arrest had found “no sustained finding that Ukiah PD actions violated the department’s use of force policy.”

However, also in March of 2022, in actions not reported in a press release, the city of Ukiah paid $212,000 to settle the lawsuit filed on behalf of Magdaleno.

Less than two months later, the city agreed to pay one of the women who accused Murray of sexual assault $250,000 to settle a lawsuit she filed. In early May of 2022, Deputy City Manager Riley said that “a conditional settlement has been reached pending approval. The settlement admits no liability for the city or its employees. Due to pending litigation, we cannot comment further.”

On June 10, 2022, a Mendocino County Superior Court judge ruled that a civil case alleging domestic violence filed against UPD Chief Waidelich in December of 2021 by a former fiance could move forward.

When asked Wednesday if the criminal charges being investigated by Sonoma County were related to the domestic violence allegations against Waidelich, Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office PIO Capt. Greg Van Patten said he could not provide any details on another agency’s investigation, but that he could confirm the June 13 criminal complaint stems from “new allegations not connected to the previous allegations of domestic violence.”

(courtesy, the Ukiah Daily Journal)

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SHERIFF KENDALL RECOMMENDS SONOMA COUNTY INVESTIGATE Criminal Case Involving Ukiah Police Chief Noble Waidelich

mendofever.com/2022/06/15/sonoma-county-investigating-ukiah-police-chief-noble-waidelich-at-request-of-sheriff-kendall/

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CLIMB TO THE TOP OF THE POINT CABRILLO LIGHTHOUSE

The Point Cabrillo Lightkeepers Association celebrated the 113th anniversary of the Lighthouse with tours to the top of the tower for the first time since March of 2020.

This past weekend, volunteers for the Point Cabrillo Lightkeepers Association and the Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla 87 led visitors to the top of Mendocino’s historic 1909 Lighthouse. This was a very special occasion, because these were the first lens tours held since March of 2020, when COVID-19 shut down indoor activities at the park. 

Point Cabrillo Lighthouse Tower & Lens

On June 11, 825 days after the last lens tours, eighty-seven tourists and locals got the opportunity to stand next to Point Cabrillo’s working Fresnel lens, the same one that was first lit at midnight on June 10 of 1909. That lens continues to serve an Active Federal Aid to Navigation, owned and operated by the United States Coast Guard and outfitted with a 1000 watt halogen bulb. 

Visitors to the Lighthouse on Saturday were able to learn the history of Point Cabrillo, from the keepers that took care of the light to the intricate design of the Fresnel lens, and its 150 prisms.

Close-up of Fresnel Lens

The Fresnel lens was invented in the early 1800s by French engineer Augustin-Jean Fresnel. The lens at Point Cabrillo was made in England by the Chance Brothers manufacturing company. It was shipped off to Mendocino in the early 1900s, sailing around the horn of South America before being assembled at the Point Cabrillo Lighthouse.

In 1972, the lens at Point Cabrillo was replaced by an automatic beacon, but thanks to the heroic efforts of the Mendocino Coast community, it was kept at the Lighthouse and put back into active service in 1999, just in time for the centennial celebration. Since then, there hasn’t been a day when the light hasn’t shined at Point Cabrillo. The lens is maintained by members of the local Coast Guard Auxiliary, a group of volunteers that also cleans and cares for the Fresnel lens in the museum at Point Arena Lighthouse. 

View of Mendocino Headlands from Lighthouse Tower

The Point Cabrillo Lightkeepers Association is planning at least four more Lens Tours before the end of 2022, and potentially even more if the weather holds in later months. You can join PCLK volunteers on the first Saturday of the next few months: July 2, August 6, September 3 and October 1 for a chance to climb to the top of the Point Cabrillo tower and stand next to its historic Fresnel lens. You can find more information about these tours at www.pointcabrillo.org. Tours will be canceled in extreme weather, or according to county guidelines regarding COVID-19. 

Point Cabrillo Lightkeepers Association would like to thank Samantha, Mikael, Tanya, Richard, Tom, Debbie, Chris, Al and Jen for their time spent volunteering on June 11th. And one more thank you to the people of Northern California, who have kept Point Cabrillo Lighthouse shining for so many years. 

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77-YEAR-OLD MOTORCYCLIST SEEKS WOMAN WHO COMFORTED HIM After He Crashed Exactly a Month Ago Near Laytonville

77-year-old Dave Glade is looking for the woman who held his hand after a serious motorcycle crash north of the small Mendocino County town of Laytonville on May 15 of this year. “I don’t have any recollection of her saying anything, but she took my hand and it was almost as if she was an angel that was in the form of a lady,” he told us by phone from his Southern California home where he is still recovering from six fractures in left shoulder and a broken rib. “The feeling was just so comforting–so genuine, and I felt better. I think she said more to me from her hand holding my hand than she could have said with any words. I will never forget her.”…

mendofever.com/2022/06/15/77-year-old-motorcyclist-seeks-woman-who-comforted-him-after-he-crashed-exactly-a-month-ago-near-laytonville/

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POINT ARENA HOUSING COMMUNITY WORKSHOP 6/21/2022

The City of Point Arena has begun the process to improve local housing opportunities, consulting with North Coast Community Planning to amend the General Plan Local Coastal Program which governs land use in the city limits.

The first public meeting of this effort will be an online workshop on June 21 at 6pm at https://cityofpointarena.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c164a8c82a2a5af8db4de85b1&id=2140bed78e&e=d0e3cdc057.

This is the first opportunity to meet the City’s housing team, learn about the process timeline, and make your comments, suggestions and ideas heard!

For more information, please contact Linda Ruffing at North Coast Community Planning (linda@nccplanning.com).

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MENDOCINO FIRE SAFE COUNCIL FUNDED FOR SAFETY WORK

Multiple CAL FIRE grants will create safer access, evacuation, and more

The Mendocino County Fire Safe Council (MCFSC) has been awarded three new CAL FIRE grants totaling over $3.5 million over the next three years, for several projects reinforcing wildfire safety in key locations around the county. MCFSC and CAL FIRE have been working together to identify the highest priorities for safety treatments.

Nearly 90% of Mendocino County is in a high or very high fire-hazard severity zone, and MCFSC’s mission is to help county residents survive and thrive in our wildfire-prone environment. These grant projects address that mission through several strategies.

The largest of the CAL FIRE grants, received through a competitive application process, provides $2.5 million for safer evacuation and firefighter access in selected areas near Yorkville (Elkhorn Road), Laytonville (Cherry Creek), Lake Mendocino (Vista Del Lago), and Willits (Ridgewood). Roadside clearing will remove branches and brush that encroach on key access roads, making those roads safer in an emergency for both residents and responders, and also creating a fuel break to stop advancing fires.

Nearly two thousand residents and daytime workers will receive enhanced protection from this particular fuel-reduction project. Planning will be done in coordination with residents, Neighborhood Fire Safe Councils, and local fire departments in each area, to be sure that local risks and needs are appropriately addressed. Environmental clearance from the State of California will also be obtained before work is begun.

Roadside clearing makes high-risk rural roads safer in a wildfire for both responding firefighters and evacuating residents, as seen in the above before-and-after photos.

This grant also involves an educational outreach component in which interested community members will be invited to witness 300 home inspections (with landowner permission) for real-life demonstrations of what home conditions are the most dangerous, and what can be done to make them safer. Attendees of these “field trips” will learn about the basic principles of hardening a home against wildfire and creating defensible spaces around their own residences. A recent study demonstrated that a home is up to 75% more likely to survive a wildfire if it has been adequately prepared in advance. 

The other two CAL FIRE grants were direct, non-competitive awards, reflecting the confidence CAL FIRE places in MCFSC’s ability to help them achieve their mutual goals in severely high-risk areas. One of these grants provides $600,000 mainly for scientific studies to obtain environmental clearance for future prescribed-burn and road-clearing projects CAL FIRE plans to implement covering over 10,000 acres in the county. 

The third award, for $435,000, will focus on the Ukiah Valley and Orr Springs Road east of Comptche. Environmental clearance and fuel breaks, as well as environmental studies to prepare for prescribed burns, will be done in the very high-risk areas of both the East and West Hills of the Ukiah Valley. These will help protect the entire valley’s population of 13,000, as well as critical infrastructure and essential services, by slowing or preventing wildfires that might otherwise reach into the city itself. 

This third project also includes roadside clearing along a portion of Orr Springs Road, a primary access route serving several population centers. Orr Springs Road is one of the few available options for a significant east-west fire break across Mendocino County without creating a substantially more expensive and environmentally disruptive off-road fuel break.

This multifaceted cooperative support from CAL FIRE will help make thousands of residents in many Mendocino County locations safer from potential future wildfires. For more information about the work and services of the Mendocino County Fire Safe Council, visit firesafemendocino.org or contact MCFSC at 707-462-3662 or firesafe@pacific.net.

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ANOTHER ANGELO TIME-BOMB?

by Mark Scaramella

Former Supervisor Norman de Vall told us Tuesday that he is very suspicious of the County’s plan to hire a bond consultant/attorney for $90k to advise various County officials on how to float a bond for up to maybe $6 million, supposedly to replenish reserves after the County covers up to $6 million in jail expansion local match overruns and perhaps other capital projects. 

Last week’s consent calendar had the following item:

“Approval of Agreement with Hawkins Delafield & Wood, LLP in the Amount of Up To $90,000, to Provide Legal Services to Mendocino County Staff, County Board, County Counsel, Financial Advisor, Underwriter(s), and Other Consultants, As Requested, Effective Upon Full Execution Through December 31, 2022”

The services to be provided by HD&W include consulting with County staff, County Counsel, a financial advisor, an underwriter(s) and other consultants to assist with structuring a legal bond issuance. They will also prepare all legal documents, including an “Official statement” and a “preliminary official statement.” They will also advise the County on the use of bond proceeds, attend meetings, issue opinions and prepare transcripts.

When originally proposed the County’s match for the state jail expansion grant was supposed to be around $1 million. It has now ballooned up to $6 million and ground has yet to be broken on the project. In fact, the project is not expected to go out to bid until this summer when it’s possible that bids could be more than the consultants estimate.

In 2017 the County obtained $25 million in “state lease revenue bond financing” for its proposed jail expansion project (Essentially state bond proceeds for local Corrections projects. Along with that “grant,” the County is responsible for certain local costs [our emphasis] and originally set aside $2.5 million budgeted. The project design was handed over to the expensive Sacramento-based Architecural consulting firm Nacht & Lewis. The design has been scaled back several times, but not Nacht & Lewis’s contract or the other administrative and management contracts. The design in nearly complete. The expansion will include a “Special Needs Housing Unit,” with 60 new beds, new program rooms, recreational yards, and medical and mental health treatment spaces and contact visitation space for families as well as attorneys.

From our previous coverage in March:

“Projected costs for the new jail building (set to go out to bid in June of 2022) continue to escalate. The initial county match of $1 million quickly became $2 million, then $3 million, then $4 million, despite repeated downsizings by the County’s expensive Sacramento based design consultant, the same one which designed the $1 million house (Crisis Residential Treatment Center) for the Schraeders which ended up costling almost $5 million. Or maybe the jai expansion overrun will be $6 million since the original cost of $25 million is now pegged at $31 million. The budget presentation was unclear on the currently unfunded county share of the overrun which might be $3 million, or maybe $4 million. The current plan is to use reserves to cover the overrun and restore the reserves by incurring long term debt in the form of bonds (plus interest).Which sounds a lot like robbing Piper to pay Pauline. Instead of making debt payments on bonds with interest, why not use the same money to repay the reserves?”

The current County budget for 2022-2023 indicates that those “certain local costs” are now budgeted at $6 million to be funded out of the County’s general fund.

Last Tuesday former Supervisor John McCowen tried to warn the Supervisors on Tuesday about the dangers of long-term borrowing large sums of money.

McCowen: “From 1996 to 2002 the people sitting in your chairs at that time went on a borrowing binge. They borrowed vast sums of money for Pension Obligation Bonds and Certificates of Participation, a real estate financing scheme. That's what remodeled this building [the County admin center on Low Gap Road in Ukiah] and constructed other county buildings. It all looked like easy money at the time. We are still paying down that debt at the rate of approximately $10 million a year. If you stay on track to pay that off it will be paid off entirely by 2030, not so far off at the present time… 

“It's important to keep the focus on not incurring long-term debt that your successors will have to deal with. Yet on your consent calendar you have Item 3i to commit $90,000 for legal services for a bond financing scheme that you have discussed. You say you have not made a commitment to go forward. But when you vote approval for this $90,000 for the bond counsel, I guarantee you will go forward with borrowing the $6 million which will further extend the county's long-term debt to around 2042. It's the first step down a slippery slope to borrow further sums of money. It's a very easy way to acquire gobs of money in the present day without thought to the long-term payoff.

Supervisor Ted Williams replied that inflation may play into the decision:

Williams: “If we wait until the county can save up rather than borrow now, with the rate of inflation we are going to pay far more. Will we look back and say that that was a financial mistake?”

But McCowen insisted that the County should not impose long term debt on future boards. 

McCowen: “You should pay the increased match of the new jail building out of current and ongoing revenues. Every year the county does have a balance remaining at closeout. The board needs to tighten up its commitment to fiscal responsibility. You burned through most of $22.6 million in PG&E disaster relief funds with no strategic discussion about what the long-term implications of these funds would be. It was like, Oh we can fund this, we can fund that. You have to live within your available means otherwise you are setting the county up for future failure.”

Interim CEO Darcie Antle later said that there would be no fund balance remaining because the budget is allegedly tight.

We’re not sure to this day if the cost overrun is due to what McCowen called the County’s “increased match” or just escalating costs for the locally funded aspects of the project over and above the original $25 million. We think it’s the latter, which means it could easily grow to well over $6 million.

Discounting the effect of inflation, a bond scheme or bond measure would typically double the cost of the money being borrowed, depending on the length (term) of the bond. If they were to borrow $6 million, that would mean something like $12 million in debt paid to be paid back over at least ten years (which would mean $1 million a year out of the General Fund). Alternatively, if they just used the reserves directly and then allocated future fund balance carryovers to replenish the reserves, the interest cost would be much less. Either way it comes out of the General Fund, but with a bond it’s twice as much.

But Tuesday’s $90k consent item was rubberstamped along with dozens of other consent items, despite its apparent commitment to a costly long term borrowing scheme to replenish the reserves, the same reserves that CEO Carmel Angelo said were around $20 million when retired to San Diego County in March. Since then reserve numbers being batted around have gone down, however, as the budget picture remains murky. County employee union reps say the County should not be in deficit since most tax revenues (except pot revenues) are up. McCowen said the County over-committed the PG&E funds too soon, and they should have realized that they had unfunded capital projects that needed funding.

After former Supervisor de Vall’s call, we looked a little further into the bond counsel’s $90k contract and found that one of the “services” the County wants the bond attorneys to provide is preparation of a “preliminary official statement.” This particular phrase is a term of art for bond measures which as far as we can tell are intended to be put on the ballot. De Vall said that back in the 1990s when the County borrowed over $90 million (which McCowen referred to in his comments to the Board) they did it without putting it on the ballot and the County is still paying that off with interest. De Vall said he asked then-County Counsel Peter Kliein at the time why that bond (which was intended to finance a large pension deficit) didn’t go to the ballot for a vote and Klein refused to answer. 

Is the County trying to avoid a future ballot measure? Can they incur major long-term debt for the County without a public vote? As long as the County isn’t proposing a new tax to pay off the bond, maybe they can. But given the contract’s reference to a “prelminary official statement,” it appears that a ballot measure is under consideration. If so, it would be in addition to whatever sales tax measures may appear on November’s ballot — if they are approved. 

Is the County trying to avoid putting a bond measure on the ballot to cover the jail expansion project overruns knowing that the voters probably wouldn’t approve it? 

Just like the gold-plated Crisis Residential Treatment Facility and the still-pending gold-plated Psychiatric Health Facility on Whitmore Lane, the County (i.e., former CEO Carmel Angelo) hired the very expensive Sacto consultants Nacht and Lewis to design and manage the jail expansion project, then Nacht & Lewis larded on all kinds of administration and construction management contract overhead costs, ballooning the cost even further. Nobody said a peep about the waste of Measure B money on Nacht & Lewis’s gold-plated services and proposals and nobody has said anything about their services and proposals regarding the jail expansion either. 

As far as we’re concerned everything that CEO Angelo turned over to Nacht and Lewis (without competitive bids) is costing a lot more than it should and now it’s looking more and more like Mendo’s former CEO’s spendthrift construction contracts may end up forcing the County into a long-term debt obligation that will put more pressure on the County’s general fund in the long term.

Speaking of jail expansion, the jail expansion project itself is about to go out to bid. We have not heard a forecast completion date for that project. Nor have we heard any discussion of how that expanded jail will be staffed and the associated cost of that additional staff. It’s supposed to be 60 more beds, presumably meaning more inmates. Will any existing beds/wings be closed and shifted? Nobody has said.

This all bears close scrutiny from a Board of Supervisors which has shown itself singularly disinteresed with the particulars of their accumulating debts and budget details as they waste hundreds of thousands of dollars on strategic planning consultants and water agency consultants and so forth while bemoaning their supposedly “tight” and “austere” budget with no tangible taxpayer benefits.

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1934

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BOLO JOEL FOUND

On 5/31/2022 at about 7:30 P.M., MCSO Deputies were dispatched to a residence in the 29000 block of North Highway 101 in Willits regarding a domestic dispute. The Deputies arrived and found the victim who advised that she and suspect Joel Neely, 38, of Willits, were in a dating relationship and lived together. The Deputies were advised Neely had left the location prior to their arrival. 

Deputies learned the couple was involved in an argument about how dinner was prepared. During the argument it was alleged Neely punched the victim in the face causing an injury.

Deputies checked the area for Neely but were unable to locate him. A be-on-the-look-out (BOLO) was issued for Neely related to the domestic dispute. 

On 6/1/2022, an MCSO Deputy located Neely and ultimately arrested him for domestic battery (273.5 PC). Neely was transported to the Mendocino County Jail to be held in lieu of $25,000.00 bail.

Joel Neely

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METAL WORKING

Outlaw Studios Presents, Beginning Metal Smithing, July 15th & 16th ~ Friday and Saturday ~ 10:00 - 4:30 ~ $250.00. Lunch included!

This two day workshop will cover the basic skills needed to begin working in metal - copper and/or silver - sawing, filling, sanding and finishing/polishing, cold connections and introduction to soldering. We will start with an over view of the various ways to work with, and the properties of, precious metals. I have titled this beginning Metal Smithing and not beginning jewelry making as jewelry is a very big word that can represent a wide variety of materials and techniques. That being said I am a jeweler and the skills taught in this workshop are the foundation of precious metal jewelry making!

All tools and copper sheet will be available in class. Students are encouraged to bring any tools and materials they have and would like to use. I will have sterling silver stock in a number of forms available for purchase. At the end of class we will look at various tool and material suppliers and go over how to identify your needs and how to order things efficiently. We can also place a group order and will receive applicable discounts.

Please email at me at outlawstudio@mcn.org to register for the class. Enrollment limited to 5 students.

Looking forward to seeing you in the studio!


Fabricate Your Dream Piece! Focus on Metal Construction & Soldering

July 29th & 30th ~ Friday and Saturday ~ 10:00 ~ 4:30 ~ $275. Lunch included!

Students are encouraged to bring their design of a piece or a series of pieces that they want to construct in copper, silver or gold. Together we will lay out the various steps and plan the most efficient way to build your design. If you do not have a particular piece already in mind we will come up with a project that will challenge your soldering skills and exercise your your technical layout abilities. Choice of metal is yours and appropriate solders will be available for purchase. In preparation for this workshop I will have one on one consultations with each student to be sure you are prepared to accomplish you’re individual goals.

Nancy Gardner gardner@mcn.org

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THE KREBS HOUSE

“This is a big house designed to accommodate the lifestyles of newer Sea Ranch residents and renters who love to watch TV and drink wine. The structure is built parallel to the bluff trail so that passers-by can observe the Krebs on their couch, watching TV and drinking wine. The structure is a gray utilitarian box with a roof that slopes away from NW wind to capture as much of it as possible. White gypsum interior walls reflect light from nearly 400 recessed LED lights (and the TV) into outdoor space, blinding neighbors and any potential security threats. The interior is finished with black and white photographs of The Sea Ranch.” 

– Janet Farmer, Professor of Architecture at Point Arena High School

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FEEDING COWS SEAWEED REDUCES THEIR METHANE EMISSIONS, but California Farms Are a Long Way From Scaling Up the Practice

The Straus Family Creamery, an organic dairy producer in Marin County, California, made headlines last fall after receiving approval from regulatory agencies to conduct a trial of a new seaweed-derived feed additive called Brominata. 

Brominata is made of a red seaweed, Asparagopsis taxiformis, and is one of a class of feed additives that, when given to dairy cows, helps to reduce the amount of methane—a powerful greenhouse gas—they release when they burp, called enteric methane. One cow belches out 220 pounds of methane each year, the greenhouse gas equivalent of burning over 900 gallons of gasoline. 

The addition of the seaweed to the cows’ diets on the Straus dairy farm proved effective, showing an average of a 52 percent reduction in enteric methane emissions, with one cow’s emissions reduction as high as 92 percent.…

insideclimatenews.org/news/14062022/cow-seaweed-methane/

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Harlan and Lawrence, Spring Grove School, Albion

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ONE MAN'S MEDICAL ORDEAL

by Alan Haack

I don't need a tutorial on the American healthcare system. I have been intimately involved in it nearly all year. In January, at the behest of my PCP (Primary Care Provider), I was taken to a large medical center and given an angiogram where I was sufficiently medicated that I remember none of it except waiting in a large lobby with my friend, my medical advocate, a retired doctor who speaks “Doctor.”

I don't speak Doctor, don't know the terms, don't know the meds. I studied literature and history as an undergraduate and architecture and landscape architecture in grad school.

Barbara knows all the jargon and kept the movie going. Approximately two days of my life are lost to me. What I know now is that the cardiologists at the medical center were sufficiently freaked out about what the angiogram showed that they said “We can't do this, we need one of the big guns” and called UCSF, UC Davis and Stanford. Stanford had a helicopter in the air in 5 minutes that flew me to the Stanford Medical Center, where their surgeon worked on my heart for 7 hours, from midnight to 7 am, repairing the aorta and one of the chambers of the heart.

I woke up the next afternoon thinking I was home. As I came into full consciousness, it became apparent that was not remotely true. I had 16 wires stitched into my chest monitoring my heart, 4 large tubes stitched into my chest draining it and a series of nurses and several machines monitoring me in the ICU at Stanford. Two days later, I was moved upstairs to their Cardiac Recovery Floor for 5 weeks.

After that, I went to a rehab hospital for 5 weeks where they get you up and lead you through exercises to regain your strength. During that time, I had two more surgeries to install stents in two cardiac arteries. My sternum is wired together with wires, around which the bone will grow again. It feels like a built-in metallic breast plate.

I came home in April, having lost about 30 pounds and barely able to walk. My brother and two other angels have been taking care of me since then. I have been readmitted to hospitals three times and released again. During this last 6 weeks, I got pneumonia which turned into covid which turned back to pneumonia. I was successfully given the covid pill and three courses of the strongest antibiotics available.

Today I am weaker than when I left Stanford because of covid and pneumonia. I have looked into Death with Dignity, as my recovery has gone backward and I see no sense in living, if this is life. My best event is lying down. I am on 24 hour oxygen and still panting. I take 10 pills morning and night: blood thinners to protect the stents from clogging, heart pills to regulate my heart, blood pressure meds to keep my blood pressure in mid-range and thyroid pills because all the other pills make you hypothyroid.

I have ditched assisted dying as a bad idea for my friends and family. My current plan is to buy an exercise bike to get stronger, since walking doesn't work well. I have fallen hard once and don't want that to happen again.

I am on a train where I don't understand how it runs nor even the words that are used to make it go. However, I do know that you can't jump off a moving train, so I stay with it. Frankly, had I any idea about this, were I not anesthetized during and after the angiogram, I may have said no. The surgeon at Stanford told me I was 50-50, when I arrived there. I asked what that meant and he said you had a 50% chance of living and a 50% chance of dying.

I have zero fear of death now, although the process itself may be uncomfortable. I am entirely convinced that the afterlife will be lovely. No body to drag around.

(My three certainties are that the creating energy I call God is good, the Universe runs on love and we are eternal souls temporarily occupying bodies that wear out while we go on.)

Thanks to Medicare, I have no worry about the cost of all this, which was enormous. Thanks to several lovely people along the way, I have some jolly memories, thanks to my brother and my two friends I am taken care of and assured I am getting better, thanks to some remarkable doctors my body has been repaired and thanks to my kitties, I have great companions at home.

It's a plus and minus world always. I have had and continue to have really dark days, wishing I'd never gotten on this train, then realizing again that you don't jump off a moving train. I constantly have to move it up, keep my attitude as proactive and positive as possible. The fine body from years of athletic training has apparently vanished but I hear about muscle memory and plan recovery. I am 81 and have enjoyed a really full life, so it's okay however it goes, whatever comes next. I may be through the worst, so why not plan for better days. 🙂

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FIRST 5 MENDOCINO Publishes New Resource for Mendocino County Families and Service Providers 

To improve the lives of children from their first moment of development to the time they start kindergarten, FIRST 5 Mendocino provides access to information and resources for young families, the providers who serve them, and the allies who support them. In service of this effort, FIRST 5 Mendocino just published a new website: www.first5mendocino.org.

The first five years of human development lay the groundwork for a person’s future physical, mental, and emotional wellness. There are many skills and experiences that can nurture optimal growth and development and just as many obstacles and opportunities to disrupt it.

Executive Director Julie Fetherston explained, “It used to be that children were raised by a community of extended family and friends. Now, many parents and caregivers are isolated without the support they need. That’s where First 5 Mendocino comes in. We work on multiple levels to address the negative impacts of poverty; parental substance use; parental depression, anxiety and other mental health challenges; and any lack of parenting knowledge or skills. We know that all these factors can influence both the trajectory of a child’s life and potentially the trajectory of generations thereafter.”

FIRST 5 Mendocino is organized around four broad goals: optimize children’s health and development, improve access to quality early learning and care, increase family resilience, and strengthen integrated and equitable systems.

Fetherston said, “We achieve these goals through direct support to parents and families of children ages 0-5, through capacity-building and funding for community partners who support these families, and through advocacy with decision-makers who can fund the systemic changes needed to help young children thrive.”

FIRST 5 Mendocino provides direct support to families through its family resource center, The Pearl, where families can access information and support. It also offers professional development opportunities and funding for local service providers.

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CATCH OF THE DAY, June 15, 2022

THOMAS COOK, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

DONALD DELLETT, Ukiah. Parole violation.

THOMAS GALINDO JR., Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol. (Frequent flyer.)

Garcia, Lopez, McDaniel

MARTIN GARCIA-ZETINA, Des Plains, Illinois/Ukiah. DUI.

JOHN LOPEZ, Ukiah. Controlled substance, paraphernalia, probation revocation.

MICHELLE MCDANIEL, Eureka/Ukiah. Robbery, shoplifting.

Rogers, Sanchez, Schneider

SHAWN ROGERS, Willits. Controlled substance/narcotics for sale, parole violation.

LUIS SANCHEZ, Ukiah. Domestic battery.

MICHAEL SCHNEIDER, Indio/Willits. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

Smith, Stone, Stover

DEBORAH SMITH-GINGELL, Caspar. Domestic battery.

SCOTT STONE, Conway, South Carolina/Willits. Controlled substance, failure to appear.

ROBERT STOVER, Fort Bragg. Probation revocation.

Travis, Valencia, Vigil

KENDALL TRAVIS, Ukiah. Failure to appear, probation revocation.

RAUL VALENCIA JR., Ukiah. Resisting.

ARMANDO VIGIL-LOPEZ, Rohnert Park/Ukiah. Evasion, resisting, battery on peace officer.

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Lunch Break during Sheep Shearing Season, Westport, 1940s

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UKRAINE, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15

As Wednesday, 15 June, draws to a close in Kyiv and in Moscow, here are the key developments of the day:

The Biden administration has committed an additional $1 billion in security assistance to Ukraine, though the aid falls short of Ukrainian leaders' recent demands as they warn their fighters remain outgunned by Russia. The new U.S. military package is expected to include more howitzers and artillery rounds as well as two ground-based Harpoon anti-ship missile launchers. Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley also said some 60 Ukrainian troops have completed training on long-range rocket systems, which will be on the battlefield "in a few weeks."

Planned evacuations of civilians from the besieged Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetskappear to have been disrupted, as Russia continues to make slow gains around the city. Russia had said it would open a humanitarian corridorfrom the city on Wednesday. Hundreds of civilians and Ukrainian soldiers are believed to be sheltering at a chemical plant. Russian-backed separatists in the region blamed Ukrainian fighters for disrupting the evacuations, a claim NPR has not been able to independently verify. Sievierodonetsk is the last major city in the eastern Luhansk region still partially under Ukrainian control.

Six million acres of winter cropswill not be harvestedthis year, including wheat and barley planted in the fall, Ukraine's agriculture ministry said. The government said the unharvested food could be worth as much as $1.4 billion. Ukraine has more than 23 million tons of grain in the country, stuck in storage because Russian warships in the Black Sea are blocking exports. Farmers are expected to begin the wheat and barley harvest in the coming weeks. But without extra storage, many fear the food will go to rot.

In a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, China's leader Xi Jinping reiterated his country's support for Russia. "China is willing to continue mutual support with Russia on issues related to sovereignty, security and issues of major concern," Xi said, according to China's state broadcaster. China has refrained from condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine. This was the second call between Xi and Putin since February, when the two countries agreed to a strategic partnership.

The State Department saysit is awareof unconfirmed reports that Russian forces have captured two U.S. citizens fighting in Ukraine, and is in touch with Ukrainian authorities about the reports. At the White House, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said, "We discourage Americans from going to Ukraine and fighting in Ukraine."

— NPR

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Filming The Russians are Coming, Mendocino, 1966

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JAMES LUTHER presents…

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THIRTY-FIVE PEOPLE WERE KILLED in mass shootings in Buffalo, Uvalde and Tulsa over the past few weeks, focusing national attention on America’s unique gun problem. In that same time, around 1,800 people were killed and almost 500 wounded in nearly 1,600 other shootings in the U.S., including at a Los Angeles warehouse party over the weekend. Mass shootings account for less than 4 percent of gun homicides in a typical year…

— German Lopez

* * *

John Dietz Riding through Redwoods, 1923

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‘SO MUCH BAD STUFF’: California and the West could see the cruelest summer ever

by Kurtis Alexander

Summer officially begins next week — and in California, it may be a cruel one.

Even with the upheaval of the pandemic mostly behind us, the menace of drought and rising temperatures is threatening to derail the return to normal.

This year’s extraordinarily dry, warm weather, which is expected to continue in the coming months, is stoking fears of a multitude of problems: increasing water restrictions, extreme heat, power outages, wildfire and smoke — potentially all of the above in one vicious swoop.

“There are just all these things when it comes to climate and weather that Californians are having to think more about,” Mark Ghilarducci, director of the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, recently told The Chronicle. “We know scientifically that the climate is changing. It’s the cascading impact of that change that is hitting all of us.”

The Union of Concerned Scientists, a nationwide advocacy group led by scientists and policy experts, went as far as using the term “danger season” this month to characterize the summer that may lie ahead for parts of the United States.

Already in California, climate volatility, as palpable as it’s been, has joined the list of reasons people cite for wanting to move away, after soaring home prices, high taxes and traffic. The state’s population, which had grown for decades, dropped in each of the past two years.

“We have people say they’re concerned about drought, they’re concerned about wildfire,” said Scott Fuller, founder of LeavingTheBayArea.com, a 7-year-old real estate company that helps people relocate. “We’ve had clients say this is literally the final straw.”

Historic drought changes how we use water

Recent climate twists have helped propel California into a third straight year of drought. Seven of the past 10 years have been dry. Some scientists say the state is in a megadrought not seen in 1,200 years.

With reservoirs approaching historic lows, exposing telltale bathtub rings and cracked earth, and with aquifers emptying amid heavy pumping, several water agencies have begun restricting water use by customers. These include some of the state’s biggest municipal suppliers.

The East Bay Municipal Utility District, which serves Oakland and Berkeley, passed an “excessive use” ordinance this spring, establishing fines for customers whose water consumption exceeds a certain threshold, which is generous to begin with but could tighten.

Water agencies in the South Bay this month began enforcing a twice-a-week outdoor watering policy, with penalties of $500 and possibly more, and the giant Metropolitan Water District in Southern California started limiting watering to just one day a week in certain spots.

While bright green lawns will be the next sacrifice made by millions of Californians, Gov. Gavin Newsom is also already asking residents to limit showers to five minutes as well as swap out baths for these shorter showers. Earlier this year, state regulators also banned many outdoor watering activities, such as hosing down driveways and filling up ornamental fountains.

“We’re going to have to change our lifestyles,” said Richard Frank, professor of environmental practice at the UC Davis School of Law and director of the school’s California Environmental Law & Policy Center. “We’re seeing some of that (change) already, but more is needed. I don’t think abandoning thirsty lawns and swimming pools in the backyards of middle- and upper-class neighborhoods is too much to ask.”

The public’s tepid response to calls for voluntary conservation over the past year, Frank said, means future water restrictions will have to be that much more stringent to protect supplies.

Another terrifying wildfire season possible

The drought also leaves California’s hills and valleys primed for burning, yet again.

While recent rains may help take the edge off the fire season initially, the benefit won’t last. The first three months of the year, when California typically gets a good portion of its rain, marked the driest start to a calendar year on record for most of the state. And that’s following two dry years that also sapped forests, grasslands and chaparral of moisture and fire resiliency.

The National Interagency Fire Center has pegged Northern California, including the Bay Area, for above-average fire potential in July and August, with the exception of some coastal spots. By September, all of the north state is projected to be at high risk.

“It’s impossible to predict numbers but I can tell you with the drought conditions that persist, we expect to see fire behavior similar to what we’ve seen the past few years,” said Chris Amestoy, a staff chief for the state’s Cal Fire agency.

The 2020 and 2021 fire seasons were the biggest in modern California history. Last year, more than 2.5 million acres burned, an extraordinary run of flames that included destruction of the Gold Rush-era town of Greenville in the northern Sierra and the gutting of the community of Grizzly Flats west of Lake Tahoe.

Just a year earlier, more than 4 million acres were charred. That fire season yielded such giants as the SCU, LNU and CZU lightning complexes in and around the Bay Area as well as the unprecedented 1 million-acre-plus August Complex in the coastal mountains to the north. At times, fire, and smoke, seemed to be everywhere in 2020.

The recent surge in wildfire is due not only to the changing climate, fire experts say, but to the buildup of vegetation that’s resulted from decades of misguided fire suppression.

Amestoy said Californians shouldn’t necessarily panic about what might come this year but simply recognize the dangerous conditions that exist and be prepared.

“It’s just a change in mindset,” he said. “We have to have a realization of the environment we’re in now.”

Extreme heat can be lethal

Part of this new reality is extreme heat.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is projecting a summer of higher-than-average temperatures for California and most of the West while the warming climate leaves the region more susceptible to longer, more brutal heat waves.

Last July, the Pacific Northwest, including California’s far north, was baked by an unparalleled bout of heat that shattered temperature records, pushing Portland to an astonishing high of 116 degrees and resulting in hundreds of deaths along the West Coast. A year earlier, Southern California saw a similar period of lethal temperatures in August, with Death Valley reaching 130 degrees, likely the highest temperature ever recorded on Earth.

“The climate is capable of generating heat waves that are really much stronger than people can imagine,” said Park Williams, a climate scientist at the University of California at Los Angeles. “There’s really no reason a heat wave like (what we’ve seen the past few summers) couldn’t occur in the Bay Area.”

Acknowledging limited awareness about the dangers of heat, Gov. Newsom this spring launched an “extreme heat action plan” that lays out a strategy of educating people about the risks, planning cooling centers and readying emergency assistance.

Extreme heat, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, has been the leading cause of weather-related deaths in the United States over the past 30 years.

“The human body is only so good at cooling itself off,” Williams said. “If a record-shattering heat wave were to occur in the Bay Area, you would find a lot of people in trouble quickly.”

The drought, Williams added, makes life-threatening scorchers even more likely because there’s less water evaporating into the atmosphere to keep things cool.

How our energy supply could be sapped

The combination of heat and drought is also a problem for the power grid, potentially leaving California’s energy production short of what’s needed to keep the lights on.

With less water in reservoirs, less hydropower can be expected this year. The largest state-managed reservoir, Lake Oroville, last year stopped producing power entirely, for the first time, because there just wasn’t enough water to spin the electrical turbines.

A recent report published by the U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that California’s hydroelectricity supply could fall by nearly half during the depths of the current drought, from 15% of the state’s total generation to 8%.

California energy officials are already bracing for a possible shortage. The electric grid, they say, could see a time when supply lags demand by 1,700 megawatts in coming months, about the amount needed for up to 1.7 million homes.

Such a lag would likely come during hot weather, when demand for power tends to be higher as people ratchet up their air conditioners, and during early-evening hours, when solar electricity is also in short supply. If it’s really hot, state officials project the power deficit could be as great as 5,000 megawatts.

While California would ask people to conserve and try to buy power from out of state if supplies here drop, the fear is that a large heat wave could affect much of the West and hamper sources of electricity elsewhere, too. That could leave no choice but for some Californians to go without.

Amid the August scorcher two years ago, which caused the grid to run low, state energy regulators ordered utilities to halt power to hundreds of thousands of people over the course of two days.

(SFgate.com)

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AS A BLACK MAN WHO REFUSES TO BE A VICTIM, I Have A Very Different Definition Of Who The White Supremacists Are

by Adam B. Coleman

Black Americans are not victims of “white supremacy” as progressives claim.

What exactly is “white supremacy”? People these days seem to have their own definition for this ever-present phrase, molding it into whatever suits their particular agenda. Since it appears to be fluid, I’d like to present another definition.

White supremacy is a belief system that holds black people as continuous victims in a white-majority society, deeming them incapable without the benevolence of white people or the government and constantly portraying them as impoverished, weak-willed, overly emotional, mentally fragile and without fortitude.

It fuels the idea that black people constantly need a helping hand because they will always be marginalized and incapable of doing for themselves otherwise. 

This type of white supremacy is hard to recognize because it is masked by benevolent ideological saviorism. This saviorism pretends that rare, racially charged, heavily publicized incidents are commonplace to reinforce fear narratives that legitimize the need for black people’s saviors to exist.

It’s a belief system, so the complexion of those holding it doesn’t matter as long as they’re willing to put their beliefs into action. If we are to play by the rules of progressives who claim black people can be the “black faces of white supremacy” — which a Los Angeles Times columnist called radio host Larry Elder — then I’d like to add to the list.

Washington Post columnist Jonathan Capehart’s piece last week, “Why Black people are afraid of ‘crazy’ White people,” insinuated blacks live in constant fear of being attacked by “crazy” white supremacists. His evidence was in part a Washington Post-Ipsos poll that asked a small sample size of 806 black adults about their perceived threat of “white supremacy” in America. Mind you, this poll was conducted seven days after the racially motivated Buffalo supermarket shooting — easily an emotional timeframe.

When considering the idea of black people protecting themselves with a gun, Capehart highlights the unfortunate 2016 death of Philando Castile. See, if Philando, a black man, can’t legally possess a gun without getting shot by the police, neither can I, right?

The column’s purpose is to present life for black Americans as riddled with fear as we are constantly scared to do mundane activities, incapable of legally protecting ourselves and even prepared to give up — Capehart suggests more black people are considering leaving America permanently.

Black people being fearful is a palatable message to present in the media, especially by other black people. I can’t help but notice, however, that the black people who constantly present “black fear” narratives and portray black people as weak are … among the economic elite.

They are the ivory-tower black elites who highlight their race for oppression points when it conveniently benefits them while living a life of luxury among all races.

They enjoy claiming they’re aligned with “marginalized” blacks because it gets them points from their “woke white supremacist” urbanite acquaintances. They’ll cry on command on live TV when an underclass black dies inauspiciously to receive a pat on the back for someone else’s misfortune. 

These black faces of white supremacy consistently repeat black-victim narratives because they believe we, the black middle class and poor (a k a the underclass), should be beggars for white people’s economic and governmental support. Actually, to them, there is no black middle class, just a temporary class that at any moment we can drop below with the poor because the system is rigged against us.

But if it’s rigged, how did the black elite achieve their wealth? The underclass blacks aren’t supposed to ask this question.

Jonathan Capehart is the black face of white supremacy. To be fair, he’s one of many black faces of white supremacy — one of many famous black media figures who whimper for white progressive sympathy while enjoying the lavish life of a 1 percenter.

As someone who’s been poor, homeless multiple times and lived check-to-check, I don’t appreciate it when the world’s most fortunate black people bastardize my existence and expect me to live in fear while being applauded for selling me out.

They are the bigots of low expectations, and we should always remind them of our present-day and historical fortitude.

Adam B. Coleman is the author of “Black Victim To Black Victor” and founder of Wrong Speak Publishing.

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ABACUS AWAKENING

by Roger Schoenahl

To yodel, to yell or to yawn?
In one's dreams why not rock on?
Far below there is the shroud
An abacus of cloud
There's pillows below and it's dawn

Slumber still unbroken and deep
And clouds below grazing like sheep
Progression to bless
No more and no less
The hermit he had enough sleep

Wake up, wail out, and wish to fly
At daybreak hail abacus sky!
High peaks and cloud tide
Zen's rock garden pride
Merrygorounds mist doth whiz by

All eagles to laugh schadenfreude
Sun missing the moon doth feel void
The sun he to cry
Art not the moon shy
And yet her brightness visage enjoyed?

Cherry blossom pink the full moon
Didst not she dip and thus drop too soon
To share sky with sun
See surprises spun
Sea serpents of silkworm cocoon?

Feeling much, much more than okay
The falcons and the eagles at play
The clouds their dance floor
They dance more and more
Their skys a cash register gray

Ka-ching! Ka-ching! Why, yes indeed
With mightiest thunder godspeed
Much more than a lark
Love's lightning doth mark
Abacus cash register freed!

Storm greeted with a friendly nod
While weather one must applaud
Entirely his
Cloud abacus is
the hermit humming hymns to God

(Roger Schoenahl is a poet who was born and raised in Boonville and now lives in Ukiah.)

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* * *

CALIFORNIA BUDGET: BIG SURPLUS, BIG DIFFERENCES

California lawmakers approved a $300 billion state budget yesterday, but it is far from final as legislative leaders continue to negotiate with Gov. Gavin Newsom over items including a proposed multibillion-dollar rebate to taxpayers.

The Legislature adopted the record spending plan anyway, to meet a constitutional requirement that members pass a balanced budget by Wednesday or forgo their pay. The bill will be sent this week to Newsom, who then has 12 days to sign or veto it — another critical deadline that should propel the two sides toward a deal.…

lostcoastoutpost.com/2022/jun/14/california-budget-big-surplus-big-differences/

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16 Comments

  1. Lee Edmundson June 16, 2022

    Not to be too nit-picky, but his name is Norman de Vall, not De Vall. And kudos to him and the Major for uncovering (yet) another misguided exercise of the BoS, spending money like drunken sailors (meaning no aspersion to real drunken sailors).
    Supervisor Williams’ reported remark that borrowing money (the proposed bond) now will be less expensive than borrowing money later — given the current and projected future rate of inflation — is specious. The point is to avoid going into more debt at all, no matter what the rate of inflation/interest rates might be.. I cannot agree with former Supervisor McCowen more on this.
    On another point, the entire jail project ought to be brought back to square one. Re-thought, redesigned, and brought in at a cost much, much closer to the original estimate. Cost overruns are anathema to good governance.
    As for any possible bond issue, it ought to go on the ballot for a vote of the people. After all, it’s their (our) money that’s at stake.

    • Marmon June 16, 2022

      Glad to see that you survived the 5th District’s “Big Red Scare” Mr. Edmundson.

      Marmon

  2. Bruce McEwen June 16, 2022

    Two great poems by two great locals!

    • Chuck Dunbar June 16, 2022

      ABACUS AWAKENING

      Like Bruce McEwen, I admired the poem, “Abacus Awakening,”
      by Roger Schoenahl. I pondered over, though, the use of “abacus” and its meaning in the context of the many references to the natural world. First thought was that it referred to the counting of nature’s blessings, as noted especially in the ending stanza:

      Storm greeted with a friendly nod
      While weather one must applaud
      Entirely his
      Cloud abacus is
      the hermit humming hymns to God

      While that thought may have some merit, I found the following comment as to the physical structure of an abacus, which perhaps was known to the poet:

      “One of the earliest counting instruments. Similar devices predate the Greek and Roman days. It uses sliding beads in columns that are divided in two by a center bar. The top is ‘heaven,’ where each of two beads is worth 5 when moved to the center bar. The bottom is ‘earth,’ where each of five beads is worth 1 when moved toward the center.” (YOURDICTIONARY)

      No matter, it’s a darn fine poem, worth reading and contemplating. Bruce, any comments as to the above?

      • Bruce McEwen June 16, 2022

        When I first met Roger on the bus to Boonville years ago the sores on his face and his enthusiasm to chat me up made me think he was a tweaker and I kept getting up to move away from him until the driver stopped and put the poor man out on the street. I have long been ashamed of my ill judgement and will take this chance to apologize to the great poet: sorry Roger.

        • Bruce McEwen June 16, 2022

          But more importantly to your point of criticism, I find some influence here of Gerard Manly Hopkins —“l met this morning morning’s minion, dapple dawn-drawn falcon in his riding…” (if memory serves) and the first verse also sounds like “at dawn I yawn and carry on” from Cool Water but art has not to do w/ plagiarists because in art it is called “echoing” not “borrowing” nor “stealing” like it would be in an essay or some other form of writing where attribution is expected.

          This is a poem that stands on its own and I expect Roger’s book —if he ever got it published — is full of ‘em.

  3. George Hollister June 16, 2022

    Adam B. Coleman’s definition of white supremacy defines the attitude of white slave owners before, and after the Civil War: Whites are superior, blacks are inferior, and helpless. It is also important to note that the political party that exemplifies Coleman’s definition of white supremacy today is the same political that exemplified it 170 years ago.

  4. Chuck Dunbar June 16, 2022

    “An Angel That Was in the Form of a Lady”

    The short piece today on the caring lady who, at the scene of a motorcyclist’s recent accident, held the man’s hand until medical help arrived, is a striking tale of human kindness. And to hear from the victim how much this act meant to him is illuminating: “I think she said more to me from her hand holding my hand than she could have said with any words. I will never forget her.” Simple acts of kindness and comfort— one of the graces still found in our all-to-often hard world.

  5. Betsy Cawn June 16, 2022

    Re: “Another Angelo Time-Bomb?”

    Lake County’s Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, June 14, learned that their prior assumptions of milk and honey dripping from the proceeds of sales, property, and magical cannabis fees was a chimerical pipe-dream about to disintegrate into the mists, leaving everyone once again holding the empty bag of inadequate health and safety services, especially in the critical area of law enforcement — but also in promised reductions of back-logged code enforcement (especially in the eradication of “blighted” private properties that have become danger zones in vulnerable neighborhoods, and high-risk wildfire interface areas — i.e., most of the county).

    Dismissing concerns voiced by District 2 Supervisor Sabatier and echoed mildly by District 5 Supervisor Pyska, Supervisors Scott (who is resigning her elected position at the end of this month) and Simon (the irrepressible champion of phantasmagorical “economic development” plans — ever elusively churned out by the county’s reliable government funding collaborators — and internal employee “investment” programs including a 2% increase promised to all employees for the next several years, after a substantial hike in nearly all of their pay rates and categories that will suck about $16M out of the believed-to-be-flush General Fund in a very short time), urged passage of the “place-holder” package. No one is even sure what the management of flippable “budget units,” “funds,” and “allocations” is actually based on — Supervisor Sabatier asked if it would be possible to add a column to the already hard to read stack of “requested,” “approved,” and “actual” allocations so that the Board could see what had actually been spent, and the Chief Administrative Officer’s ever helpful staff said it would be possible but would make the tables even more difficult to read.

    Assurances that the budget is “structurally balanced” — after partially explaining the maze of “operating transfers” (in and out) — were insufficient to garner a vote in favor of the budget’s passage by Supervisor Sabatier, who was the only one of the five uncomfortable with agreeing to it after the four short days they had been given to read the draft.

    The recently retired former Chief Administrative Officer’s protege, who had been given her blessing and ultimately granted ascension to her tower of power, blithely assured the Supervisors that the real work would be done in September, when the Board must “adopt” a final budget for the upcoming fiscal year — but after hearing from the Sheriff about his inability to fulfill the Supervisors’ promised dedication of staff to a million-dollar cleanup of the town of Clearlake Oaks (as a “pilot” project for transforming Lake County’s poverty-stricken communities into real estate investment attractions), and portentous allusions to future regulatory demands on his department in pending or anticipated state legislation, there was little to be said and, like a rudderless kayak in the white waters of Cache Creek, the subject of the budget was swept away by a vote of four to one.

    Meanwhile, the county’s Community Development Department’s senior staff is dedicated to creating yet another misshapen ordinance for the management of “commercial cannabis” — having spent several years already on creating the existing flawed systems — this time with an eye (but only one, of course) to protecting finite groundwater resources and fragile ecosystems smack dab in the middle of the county’s “Wildland-Urban Interface,” which is the focus of more millions of state (public) dollars for last-ditch wildfire prevention funding. Conducting public “workshops” for “industry” advocates and practitioners with a smattering of non-industrial private land owners trying to prevent the destruction of natural resources (most importantly, water supplies, and secondarily oak woodlands and “neighborhood” tranquility), and consuming the efforts of key CDD staff whose “revenue generating” positions are instead funded by further use of General Fund discretionary spending sources (the rapidly disappearing bonus of cannabis fees and assessments), the rest of the residents awaiting resolution of five to ten-year backlogged eradication of wildfire and health hazards are once again left in the dust.

    Believe me, Major, we feel your pain.

  6. Dave Smith June 16, 2022

    Seldom Seen Smith of the Monkey Wrench Gang book has been replaced in notoriety by the Ukiah City Manager Seldom Seen Sage.

  7. Bruce McEwen June 16, 2022

    Harvey the Heavy must be undergoing one of his seasonal mopes — or maybe he got tangled in some grease brush and barbed wire briar out in some alkalis sinkhole where the irascible old misanthrope went to escape his own humanity— and Trump’s loyal old spaniel James seems uncharacteristically morose and quiet as well today… probably thinking despondently how he misspent his political capital…not to mention the silence coming from the usually voluminous Rye&Flint, nor yet a peep out of the fellow from Ferndale (I shall never forget old what’hisname if I should live to a hundred…

    • Kirk Vodopals June 16, 2022

      I’m from Ferndale… But not too old

  8. Bruce McEwen June 16, 2022

    x q z typo plz and I happen to be the proud recipient of an official jury summons — details to follow …!

  9. George Dorner June 16, 2022

    Well, of course there’s no problem with the costs of the new jail. The Board of Stupes will pay for it out of the new bond. They’ll just slide it through the consent calendar to hide it from the public, as usual.

  10. Marmon June 16, 2022

    RE: TEACHER’S UNIONS.

    Education is an issue with little, if any, down side for the Republicans, because the teachers’ unions are the single biggest obstacle to black youngsters getting a decent education — and among the biggest donors to the Democrats.

    -Thomas Sowell

    Marmon

  11. Marmon June 16, 2022

    RE: WAIDELICH

    I’m waiting for all the Mendocino County law enforcement corruption situalation to go virial. The L.A. times is on it. We have needed a cleansing from the start. Too bad Mendo’s top cop D.A. Eyster enjoys his immunity, God save us.

    Marmon

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