Mendocino County Today: January 9, 2013

SHIELA DAWN TRACY puts a lot of time and effort into her reporting on pseudo-public radio KZYX, a mostly tax-supported non-profit radio station run by incompetents, nasty incompetents, who run the institution as if they owned it. The way ersatz public radio is organized in Mendocino County, the public is left out. In theory, the station has a board of directors, but since KZYX's fraudulent beginnings the board has simply been an extension of management. (KMUD, by contrast, was democratically organized and continues to be fully accountable to the public it serves, and that public now includes several thousand Mendocino County residents who've given up on KZYX.)

FROM SHEILA'S REPORT: “At this point, with 20 minutes left in the meeting, it was time for the public to speak. (As always there was no “public” present.) Board member Herring attempted to limit my time to five minutes, which prompted Kisslinger to make a rather intimidating speech, his voice booming across the three feet that separated us. He stated that I had a ‘bully pulpit’, being defined by him as being able to talk as much as I wanted. He continued, speaking for himself, that he didn’t want to hear about my problems with the Board. He didn’t want to hear about my problems with John. In fact, he didn’t want to hear about my problems at all and if I persisted, he would leave. What he would like to hear was any comments that would improve the way the station operates."

THIS MICHAEL KISSLINGER character is obviously a bullying jerk. Surely, he couldn't have been paid to “facilitate” a meeting with a half-dozen people present, and what kind of “facilitator” does all the talking?

IF YOU SEE SHIELA around, tell her you appreciate her persistence in the face of this kind of thing, because she gets it from Coate and Aigner, too.

MENDO SUPERVISORS Insert Clarifying Language into Zip Tie Ordinance. Kym Kemp (Courtesy LostCoastOutpost.com.)

On Tuesday, Jan 8, the Mendocino Board of Supervisors has inserted an amendment into the 9.31 Ordinance (the medical marijuana Zip Tie program.) The new language, according to an email sent out several days ago by Supervisor John McCowen, “is intended to clarify that it has always been the legislative intent of the Board” that information gathered or created because of the Ordinance was intended from the beginning to be regarded as confidential medical information. (See below for the exact language inserted into the ordinance.) Last January, the U.S. Attorney’s office warned that the groundbreaking program which allowed participants to pay a fee and undergo a permitting process to grow marijuana violated federal law. Then, last fall, a federal grand jury subpoenaed “any and all” the records relating to the program. In mid December, the county of Mendocino filed a motion to quash the request. Americans for Safe Access (ASA) and the Emerald Growers Association supported this motion with a joint amicus ‘friend of the court’ brief.  According to ASA, “Despite telling Americans that medical marijuana patients are not being targeted, the Obama Administration’s contempt for them and its intent to undermine California’s medical marijuana law has been laid bare with this subpoena,” said ASA Chief Counsel Joe Elford, who co-authored the amicus brief filed today. “Mendocino County is completely justified in its refusal to cooperate with the grand jury subpoena and we’re proud to support the county officials in that effort.” The amicus brief called the subpoena “needlessly broad” and argued it would have “serious and longstanding repercussions” by “reveal[ing] privileged and confidential medical information…[and] undermin[ing] the County’s considered and thoughtful attempts to regulate medical marijuana pursuant to state law.”
 The Zip Tie program has been the subject of multiple instances of federal scrutiny and intervention. In particular, the first farmer to register, Joy Greenfield, was arrested and her medical marijuana destroyed in 2010. Then, in 2011, 99 plants belonging to Northstone Organics and Matt Cohen were raided by the DEA.  A hearing regarding the motion to quash the federal subpoena was postponed and is scheduled for January 29th. –––- Language inserted into the 9.31 Ordinance Sec. 9.31.015

Confidential Nature of Medical Marijuana Information
Legislative Intent.

Pursuant to the California Compassionate Use Act of 1996, enacted by the
voters of the State of California on November 5, 1996 and implementation
statutes such as California Health & Safety Code section 11362.71, the County
of Mendocino Board of Supervisors hereby finds and declares that all medical
marijuana use information received by and/or generated by the operation of
 Chapter 9.31 has always been intended to be treated and held by the County of
Mendocino as confidential medical information to the fullest extent authorized by
California and Federal law from 2008 to the present as well as prospectively.
This is a declaration of past, current and prospective legislative intent for all
versions of Chapter 9.31 dating back to 2008. (Hat tip to Tiffany Revelle of the Ukiah Daily Journal, who tweeted this morning about the Supervisors’ meeting.)

A FEW YEARS AGO, a Hastings Law School student called to ask me if her law school was named after an Indian killer. She said she was one of about a dozen Indians studying law at Hastings. “Is it true? Did he get the State of California to offer bounty payments for all the Indians that could killed in Northern California?” Not all the Indians in the state, I qualified, just the Indians in the Eel River drainage where the Judge's ranch was located near Covelo at a place called Eden Valley; the Judge himself spend most of his time in Sacramento and Benicia. As California's first State Supreme Justice, Hastings was a connected guy. He said 'Jump' the state legislature jumped.

JUDGE HASTING'S Mendocino County ranch was run by a 6'7” psychopath called Texan Boy Hall, a man considered an extremist even by the other first-wave Mendo killers. Hall, on behalf of Hastings, had hired Indians displaced from Eden Valley by Hastings to carry Hastings' furniture from Mendocino where it had been off-loaded after arriving by ship. The Indians said they'd do it in return for a kind of shirt they coveted, and duly humped all Hastings' stuff from Mendocino almost to Eden Valley, a very tough gig in those days. Hall failed to produce the shirts and gunned down the Indians who complained that they'd been stiffed. In retaliation for not getting the promised shirts, the surviving foot-teamsters killed an expensive stallion with which Hastings had hoped to start a marketable herd. Hastings went to the state legislature to complain that the Indians of inland Mendocino County and Southern Humboldt were seriously in the way of progress, i.e., his horse breeding operation in the hills between Willits and Covelo. The state legislature duly hired a man named Jarboe and told Jarboe the state would pay him and his crew a nice fee for every Indian scalp they produced. Jarboe set about an ethnic cleansing of the vastness lying between Hull Mountain to the south and what is now Highway 36 to the north. For a year Jarboe's Rangers murdered every Indian they could find. Jarboe's work so impressed Ukiah's founding fathers they appointed him the town's first lawman. Judge Hastings died in 1893, leaving a million dollars to the University of California whose grateful trustees named their law school after him.

I HEARD from a lawyer friend that he'd met a young guy named Hastings and, when the kid confirmed he was indeed a descendent of old Serranus, lawyer-friend told this kid that his illustrious great grandfather had not been a very nice person, proceeding to tell the boy the above story. The kid was shocked. He said his family didn't know anything about any of this. The Native American law students did some woofing about getting the name of the law school changed but never did anything specific to that end, so far as I know.

CASTING CALL - B of A Commercial Shoot, Fort Bragg Young, old, and middle-aged Occupy protestors WANTED! - to brings signs, wacky clothing, and Bullhorns to the Bank of America commercial shoot. (It helps to add an air of authenticity if you've recently been foreclosed upon, or if your home is “underwater” from a shady loan, from the unseen corporate hucksters and financial frauds at the good ol' B of A). The shoot is Thursday and Friday. Come both days! But we expect all you Occupiers out there in full force in front of the Bank of America, corner of Main Street and Alder, on Friday afternoon from 3-5 pm, at the corner, just as you have been for the past year and a half. March loudly from there to the location! B of A is paying $200 a day for you to please shut up! If not - you are guaranteed a free weekend, room and board, at the luxurious Low Gap Hilton, courtesy the Mendocino Film Office! Have a Nice Day :-)

FROM: Patricia Casting <norcalcasting@gmail.com

Date: January 6, 2013 8:39:02 PM PST

To: Patricia Casting <norcalcasting@gmail.com

Subject: BofA Commercial Extras - More Men 30-50's

Hello, Thank you so much for coming to the casting for the BofA commercial looking for extras. We are in the process of looking over the casting and many of you will be chosen. Production has requested to see more men ages 30-50's.

Please pass along this information:

Men Ages 30-50's

BofA Extras for Commercial in Fort Bragg

Must be available this Thursday and Friday Jan. 10 & 11th

Shoots in Fort Bragg

If chosen it will pay $200. a day

If you are interested please send a recent photo (prefer jpg format) along with your phone number and email address.

EMAIL to : norcalcastin@gmail.com

We will send it to production and they will choose extras. They need a lot of people for the scenes. Please tell your friends about this opportunity! Thank you,

A FEDERAL MAGISTRATE decreed Monday that Oakland and San Jose landlords could not stop a medical marijuana dispensary with locations in each city from selling cannabis. But both landlords face federal seizure of their properties for renting to Harborside Health Center, the nation's largest marijuana dispensary with 108,000 registered and certified patients. The two landlords have gone to federal court to stop the dispensary from “any unlawful activity,” which, under federal law, includes selling cannabis. In other words, the federal government won't let the owners evict the tenant, but if the tenant continues to sell marijuana the government will take the property!

NORTH CENTRAL LEAGUE III all-league football team, 2012

OFFENSIVE MVP

Reed Carter, Mendocino, junior

DEFENSIVE MVPs

Cody Lewis, Mendocino, senior
Brandon Sutherland, Laytonville, senior

FIRST TEAM OFFENSE

Dustin Woolley, Potter Valley, senior, QB
Reed Carter, Mendocino, junior, back/WR
Scott Johnston, Anderson Valley, senior, back/WR
Cody Lewis, Mendocino, senior, back/WR
Preston Salmans, Mendocino, sophomore, back/WR
Evan Steel, Laytonville, senior, back/WR
Brandon Sutherland, Laytonville, senior, back/WR
Andrew Espinoza, Anderson Valley, junior, OL
Max Hanna, Mendocino, senior, OL
River Jackson, Mendocino, senior, OL
Jaime Ochoa, Laytonville, senior, OL

SECOND TEAM OFFENSE

Russel Kaser, Laytonville, senior, QB
Anthony Adkisson, Laytonville, senior, back/WR
Echo Courtney, Mendocino, senior, back/WR
Cavin Hawkins, Rincon Valley Christian, senior, back/WR
Daniel Maples, Rincon Valley Christian, sophomore, back/WR
Willie Kile, Potter Valley, junior, back/WR
Jake Morris, Potter Valley, senior, back/WR
Rhydon Call, Mendocino, senior, OL
Taylor Delbar, Potter Valley, senior, OL
Kyle Moore, Mendocino, sophomore, OL
Casey Pickering, Potter Valley, senior, OL

FIRST TEAM DEFENSE

Echo Courtney, Mendocino, senior, DL
Max Hanna, Mendocino, senior, DL
River Jackson, Mendocino, senior, DL
Jaime Ochoa, Laytonville, senior, DL
Reed Carter, Mendocino, junior, LB
Kyle Moore, Mendocino, sophomore, LB
Casey Pickering, Potter Valley, senior, LB
Dylan Rosenthal, Laytonville, senior, LB
Cody Lewis, Mendocino, senior, S
Brandon Sutherland, Laytonville, senior, S
Dustin Woolley, Potter Valley, senior, S

SECOND TEAM DEFENSE

Rhydon Call, Mendocino, senior, DL
Taylor Delbar, Potter Valley, senior, DL
Andrew Espinoza, Anderson Valley, junior, DL
John McCosker, Potter Valley, senior, DL
Brandon Douglas, Rincon Valley Christian, senior, LB
Colton Hendricks, Mendocino, senior, LB
Jesus Hernandez, Anderson Valley, junior, LB
Jake Morris, Potter Valley, senior, LB
Anthony Adkisson, Laytonville, senior, S
Scott Johnston, Anderson Valley, senior, S
Preston Salmans, Mendocino, sophomore, S

THE ART CLASSES taught by Linn Bottorf at the C.V. Starr Center are an absolute bargain and a major gift to the Coast community given Bottorf's knowledge and gifts as a teacher. We're not surprised by this comment by one of his students, Tyler Pirro: “I took Linn's art class last semester at the CV Starr Center. I found Linn to be encouraging (much needed for the “I-can't-even- draw-a-straight-line” artist that I am...), supportive with a good sense of humor. Art has always been stressful and I found myself looking forward to going to class! While each of us were at a different level of experience, I was made to feel like I was contributing to the class and learning something! I have never taken art classes before because I didn't feel worthy of spending a lot of money on something I never felt I could do.” Classes meet every Tuesday/Thursday beginning Tuesday, January 8 to Thursday, February 14. 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Ages: 18 + Cost $50.00 ($4.16 per class)

21ST ANNUAL Professional Pianists Concert Scheduled for January 12 & 13. On Saturday, January 12th at 7 p.m and Sunday, January 13 at 2 p.m., the 21st annual Professional Pianist Concert will be held at the Mendocino College Center Theatre. Featured performers are Spencer Brewer, Elena Casanova, Tom Ganoung, Elizabeth MacDougall, Chris James and Ed Reinhart. Tickets are on sale at Mendocino Book Co. in Ukiah, Mazahar in Willits and Watershed Books in Lakeport. Tickets are the same they have been for 15 years, $10/students and seniors; $15 general and $25 “I ‘Wanna’ See the Hands” limited seating. For more information call (707) 468-8910. This concert features all six pianists on stage in a living room environment throughout the concert trading stories and songs with two pianos on stage to accommodate impromptu collaborations. This popular event is an annual sellout because of the diversity and quality of all the diverse music and humor that takes place throughout the evening. The musical selections can range from classical to jazz, boogie woogie to Cuban and.....who knows till that evening! The Ukiah concert benefits the Ukiah Educational Foundation and the Allegro Scholarship Program. Sponsors are Sparetime Supply in Willits, Savings Bank of Mendocino, Ukiah Valley Medical Center, Ukiah Civic Light Opera, Willits Furniture Center, Waterman Plants, K-WINE/MAX, KOZT-The Coast and KZYX/Z. There will be autographed CD's by the artists for sale in lobby. Refreshments will be provided by Ukiah Civic Light Opera.