OUR NEW COUNTY COUNSEL, Tom Parker, told the Ukiah Daily Journal, when he arrived a few months ago, that he was abreast of marijuana court decisions, suggesting that he could handle pot-related litigation. So far, about all Parker can handle is “No comment.” And now the Supervisors have gone to San Francisco for a very expensive criminal defense guy to defend Mendocino County against the federal subpoena for the County's marijuana-related records. The taxpayers, then, will be essentially double-billed for this particular fiasco because we already pay No Comment Parker, and now we're paying this other guy for work Parker suggested he could do. And ought to be able to do, and should be directed to do by the people who hired him, the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors.
SEEMS TO US that the Supes are getting jacked around by Parker, their own lawyer. Of course all this has gone down in the usual “closed session,” so we'll never know for sure how or why these decisions were made. But I'm surprised the Supes didn't simply tell Parker to respond to the feds himself. But they didn't, and here comes some big wind out of Frisco to run up a big bill on the Mendocino County rubes who, of course, keep telling us there's no money for this, that and the other thing while there's plenty of money for outside lawyers and a high-paid assistant to CEO Carmel Angelo, a resident of Marin County.
THE COUNTY will take another big hit when the family of the infant murdered last week in Fort Bragg brings its wrongful death suit. CPS turned the child over to a man who can't keep himself off the tweek let alone care for a baby. And it's not the first time this kind of thing has happened. CPS has been dominated by incompetents for years, a fact of local life the Supervisors, and the Superior Court of Mendocino County, should have remedied, and would have remedied if CPS was regularly interfering in the lives of the families on Ukiah's Westside.
COASTIES might want to slip into their high waders tomorrow when a 9-foot tide rolls in about 10:30am, the highest tide of 2012.
POINT ARENA City Administrator/City Clerk Hunter M. Alexander writes: Please join us in welcoming Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman to Point Arena – for Coffee & Conversation – next Wednesday December 19th from 4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m., at the Veteran’s Building/City Hall at 451 School Street (24000 Hwy 1) Point Arena. Stop in for refreshments and friendly conversation. All ages encouraged to attend.
HOUSE CONCERT with Paul McCandless - Elizabeth MacDougall Jaye Alison Moscariello - Bill Taylor Saturday January 19, 8 PM. Music by Chopin, Grieg, McCandless, and Taylor Tickets at Mendocino Book Company, Ukiah or call 707-272-1688 or 463-0349 Spend the evening Saturday January 19 starting at 8 PM listening to music by a great lineup of musicians. Much of the music will be by composer Bill Taylor, and there will also be works by Paul McCandless, Chopin. Grieg, and Priscilla Rowe. The concert begins at 8 PM and tickets for $20 are available at Mendocino Book Company or from the musicians. Purchasers of the tickets will be given the concert location in Ukiah near the center of town. Because this is a house concert, seating is limited so if interested please act promptly to ensure you get a seat (Bill will have tickets at the Boonville Winter market on Sat Dec 13 between 10 and 12:30). To order tickets you may call Bill or Jaye at 272-1688. Ukiah pianist Elizabeth MacDougall, Grammy-award-winning reed player Paul McCandless, vocalist Jaye Alison Moscariello, and pianist and composer Bill Taylor will perform in various combinations. There will be piano and reed duets, songs accompanied by piano or piano and sax, solo and two-piano pieces, and ensemble pieces with all 4 musicians. CD's featuring each of the performers will be available for sale. For more on the performers, Paul McCandless is at www.paulmccandless.com, Elizabeth MacDougall's piano teaching at www.sfcv.org/music-teachers/elizabeth-macdougall, Jaye Alison Moscariello's artwork at www.chasethemonkey.org, and Bill Taylor's music and farming at www.touchtheearthmusic.com.
So County Counsel Parker is apparently following in the footsteps of Retirement Administrator Rich White, farming out at considerable extra expense the work we all thought they were hired to do. And then there is the CEO’s assistant, the $21,000 “Far Out – Nearby” given to someone in Walnut Creek, eight Superior Court Judges to do the work two used to handle, and a proposed fancy new courthouse where our railroad station ought to be. The list could easily be extended. Local government has gotten so top-heavy and clumsy it can no longer stand up straight.
As above, so below?
I heard County Counsel Parker’s voice for the first time at the Board of Supervisors meeting recently, broadcast on KMEC radio which does some streaming on the Internet of Board meetings now and then on Tuesdays. Radio host Louis Bigfoot summarizes as a volunteer with Supervisor matters weekly at 1 PM on many Tuesdays, and sometimes earlier in the morning.
I thought Mr. Parker’s voice weak for a coherent authoritative County official. Suspect that he was hired, more for what was on his resume, and less for who he currently manifests, with age and time marching on.
As to the federal action, instead of Parker spending the day on his salary traveling to federal court in SF, I can understand it does seem practical to have some one take on the leg work, who isn’t overwhelmed with the issues and has a familiar presence in that courthouse arena.
Below is a copy of an email I sent today. I believe it would be in the County’s best interest to contact Karin Wandrei and beg her to come in and clean this mess up. In my social work studies at the University they teach Karin Wandrei and her Person in Environment modality and assessment tools. She is world renown and I had the pleasure to work for at Mendocino County Youth Project after I graduated from the Master’s program in Sacramento In 1989 .
From: james marmon [jamesmarmon@mchsi.com]
Sent: Thursday, December 13, 2012 10:53 AM
To: ‘angeloc@co.mendocino.ca.us’; ‘bos@co.mendocino.ca.us’
Cc: ‘parkert@co.mendocino.ca.us’; ‘apples@co.mendocino.ca.us’; ‘loweryb@co.mendocino.ca.us’
Subject: Bryan Lowery and the dead baby.
Carmel, I hope you have someone keeping an eye on Bryan Lowery regarding this child’s death. He is known to alter official records when there is a screw up. You need to get someone in there that knows what they are doing. Bryan Lowery is not qualified to handle this much responsibility. I plan on taking the county to task over all this and, just like me, it will not go away quietly. For years I attempted to warn you about the mess CPS was in and you and the Board of Supervisors ignored me, ridiculed me, and discredited me. I am going to make sure that the Grand Jury reviews the “Social Worker recommends” vs. the “Agency recommends” paradigm shift, the staffing ratio, and the entire decision making process at CPS. I want a complete make over of that Department with qualified staff and management. When the public sees all the correspondence I attempted to have with you all over the years they will be amazed. Becky Wilson explanation for the paradigm shift was that it was to “protect social workers from being torn apart on the witness stand by the attorneys” is absurd; Social Workers should be held responsible, accountable, and liable for the job the do, otherwise you get dead babies. I don’t take this lightly; I lost two of my children before they were a year old and know the pain one suffers when a child dies all too well.
Sincerely
James Marmon MSW