Mendocino County Today: Saturday, August 27, 2022

Cooler Breeze | Witness Ignored | Elk Day | Museum Hit | Villarreal Portraits | Bad Accident | MCHCD Meeting | Bainbridge BBQ | Boonville Water | Navarro Hotel | River Restoration | Thirsty Grapes | Women/Children | Hendry Investigation | Calfire Deception | Schools Update | Skunk Lawsuit | Sundry Shop | Inland Water | Lemos Family | Art Nominations | Flowers | Rainbird | Hauling Timber | Love Story | Acorn Festival | Wild Batsman | Yesterday's Catch | Angry Post | To Die | Ukraine | Nuclear Waste | World Domination | Overcome Fear | Hitchhikers | Legacy Media | Planted Documents | This Week | Seabee History | Ill Wind | Auto Polo | Women Fishing | August Forage | Marco Radio | Crime/Punishment

COOLER TEMPERATURES and breezy winds are forecast this weekend as a dry cold front sweeps across the area. This will clear out most of the coastal stratus by this afternoon and continuing through Sunday, with nighttime and morning stratus returning next week. (NWS)

SHE WANTED TO TESTIFY: THE DA SAID HE COULDN’T FIND HER, BUT…

by Mike Geniella

Mendocino County prosecutors are privately claiming a key witness’s unwillingness to testify and an inability to locate her led to dismissal of the most serious sex charges against Ukiah Police Sgt. Kevin Murray.

But the woman’s Oakland attorney says that is false.

“My client was hesitant but prepared to testify,” said Panos Lagos, a noted civil attorney who is experienced in police misconduct cases across Northern California. 

Lagos said, “She hasn’t gone anywhere. She is in Sacramento where she has always been.”

District Attorney David Eyster and his deputy prosecutor Heidi Larson have repeatedly declined to comment on the reasoning behind the sweetheart plea bargain they struck with Murray and his lawyers. Privately, they have been telling people the case collapsed after the city agreed to pay the victim a settlement. They have been saying the victim since was unable to be located and relied upon for trial.

Lagos said he is in a state of disbelief. “I thought the District Attorney and his investigators had this case dialed in.”

“The DA had the evidence to win this case decisively,” said Lagos.

Lagos said he inquired about the status of the case but did not receive any call back from the DA’s Office. “That’s not typical,” he said.

“My client received a call, but she was under the impression Murray would be forever barred from being a police officer again, and that he would have to register as a sex offender. She had no idea until now that it was being suggested she was the reason prosecution efforts collapsed.”

Eyster and Larson did not respond Friday to questions about Lagos’ assertions. In the month, they have not responded to two separate letters asking specific questions about the plea deal.

Lagos said prosecutors were provided with supporting statements, video tapes and text messages involving Murray, and the Sacramento woman who first encountered each other at a routine traffic stop in Ukiah. The woman was a passenger in the car and provided her identification and where she was staying. Later she discovered the officer took the key card to her room at the Super 8 Motel on Orchard Street. At around 6 a.m. the next morning, he showed up and forced his way into her room. She had barricaded the door with a chest because she feared he might show up. When he did, Murray exposed himself, and demanded she sexually stimulate him, according to the original charges.

Murray’s case has become embroiled in controversy since District Attorney David Eyster’s decision to drop three felony charges and a misdemeanor possession of methamphetamine charge against the Ukiah cop and agree to a plea deal. Murray is being represented by a high-powered team of defense lawyers from Sonoma County, led by Chris Andrian and Stephen Gallenson.

The deal the Santa Rosa lawyers reached with Eyster calls for no further jail time, and probation in return for no contest pleas to a felony charge of intimidating a witness and a misdemeanor false imprisonment charge relating to a second woman who accused the cop of sexual assault.

The felony conviction by plea might prevent Murray from being a cop again, but the deal apparently allows him to avoid having to register as a sex offender.

In the Sacramento woman’s case, attorney Lagos described the available evidence as “decisive.”

Known only as “S.Y.” in court documents, Lagos said she has a corroborating witness to her story: an aunt whom she called following her encounter with Murray after the traffic stop in Ukiah. The family member advised the woman to barricade the door to her Orchard Street motel because she was fearful Murray would show up after he told her he was coming back. She woman moved furniture to block the motel door from the inside. Investigators found that Murray, however, had obtained the key card to the room, and when he returned about 6 a.m. the next morning he in fact forced his way into the room and demanded sex.

“My client feared this man,” said Lagos. “He was a police sergeant, a man in a position of authority.”

A second woman, after reading of the motel encounter following Murray’s firing, called investigators, and told them that the officer had twice forced her to perform oral sex on him in 2014. She was a friend of a former wife of Murray’s.

A third woman, a former Ukiah police officer who is now a Mendocino County sheriff’s deputy, contends in a pending civil lawsuit that Murray sexually accosted her in an out-of-town motel room while both were attending a training session in 2012. The officer said she locked herself in the bathroom of her room after Murray fondled her breasts, stripped, and confronted her with his erect penis. Her lawsuit contends her superiors at the police department later ignored her formal complaints to them.

At one point, she said Murray whispered in her ear in front of other officers: “Nothing happened. No one will believe you.”

Later, when the woman officer went to work in the department’s detective unit, she said she learned of Murray’s past history, including internal affairs probes, his pulling a gun at a party, other sexual escapades, and reported drug use. When investigators confronted Murray at the police station when first looking into the Sacramento woman’s complaint, they found two packs of meth in his police locker.

That officer alleges that while she worked with Murray at the police department, she was “repeatedly subjected to harassment, discrimination, hostile work environment, and retaliatory adverse actions in response to reporting the unlawful conduct.”

Her civil lawsuit is still pending.

In the Sacramento woman’s case, attorney Lagos said she eventually received a $250,000 settlement from the city of Ukiah.

“We didn’t even have to formally file a lawsuit. The city’s attorney understood the gravity of the situation,” said Lagos.

Lagos said at the time he found the city police command staff, and its legal representatives “very responsive” to what was presented to them about Murray.

“He was summarily dismissed, and he didn’t appeal,” said Lagos.

Lagos acknowledged his client has been subject of whispers about her past sexual conduct.

“But her sexual practices are not the issue here. What is at play is a police sergeant breaking into a room and forcing the occupant to sexually gratify him. That’s the crime,” said Lagos.

Lagos, a veteran law graduate from University of California, Berkeley, specializes in police misconduct. He has for three decades or more assisted victims of police brutality and civil rights violations in winning settlement in state and federal courts in the Bay Area and the Central Valley.

“My client was prepared to testify. She is aghast to learn that she is being blamed for the lack of prosecution of Murray,” said Lagos.

Murray’s rescheduled sentencing is now set for 3 p.m. Tuesday, August 30, 2022, in front of Superior Court Judge Ann Moorman. 

GREAT DAY IN ELK IS TODAY

Bring the family and come celebrate the Great Day in Elk with us. The parade starts at noon.

LITTLE RIVER MUSEUM is open 11-4 this weekend

We've got some interesting things to see: Janet's old west exhibit, Stella's bird houses for sale in the gift shop, our Little River Pioneer Cemetery map and photos, free Pomo trail map to local trails, native wildlife hands-on exhibit, new library, and our little white cottage just north of Van Damme beach actually hides an amazing arched hall where the Good Templars used to hold their secret meetings. 

You can also see last week's drama where a truck or camper hit and took out the corner of our historic building revealing its ancient old growth planks.

Take a look at Susan's great postings on our Facebook page, it's a public page so you don't have to sign up or be on Facebook to see it: facebook.com/littlerivermuseum/

BAD ACCIDENT last night about 10pm on 128 near the Philo Grange. Three persons were badly injured and transported to the Ukiah hospital. No more information has been released.

HEALTH CARE DISTRICT MEETING: AUG. 28

Sunday, August 28 at 1 pm, we’re meeting to consider suggested changes to our Bylaws. This will be the first of several Special Meetings to discuss these changes.  Please join us.

Zoom address: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/3453214116

Please call with any questions: Norman de Vall <ndevall@mcn.org> 357.5555

REGULAR MEETING OF THE WATER PROJECTS COMMITTEE

Anderson Valley Community Services District

To be held via teleconference Phone # 669 900 6833 Zoom Meeting ID 845 5084 3330 Password 048078

Public comments must be submitted by 10:00am on Sept. 1st, 2022 electronically to water.avcsd@gmail.com

 Thursday September 1st, 2022 at 10:30am

• Call To Order And Roll Call:
• Recognition Of Guests And Hearing Of Public:
• Consent Calendar: Minutes From August 4th, 2022
• Changes Or Modification To This Agenda: 
• Report On Drinking Water Project:
• Report On Wastewater Project:
• Public Outreach:
• Concerns Of Members:
• Adjournment:

‘WE CAN SEE THE LIGHT at the End of the Dam Removal Tunnel’: FERC Staff Recommend Removal of Lower Klamath Dams in Final Environmental Document

After nearly two decades of painstaking negotiations and political turbulence, the largest river restoration project in American history is set to begin early next year.…

lostcoastoutpost.com/2022/aug/26/klamath-final-eis/

CASEY HARTLIP: As the to water use/needs for grapevines: the figure of 450 vines/acre is SO 1970! Most vineyards planted in the last 25 years have a vine population of 1000-1500 vines per acre. Frost: the REAL water consumer. To frost protect with modern frost systems it’s takes 55 gallons/acre/MINUTE. On a 100 acre vineyard that’s 5,000/gallons/minute. I’d say that the average water consumption of a vine in Anderson Valley per season could be in a range of 50-150 gallons/vine/season.

FORMER WILLITS POLICE LIEUTENANT DEREK HENDRY UNDER CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION

Derek Hendry, a former Lieutenant of the Willits Police Department, is under investigation by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office which served a search warrant on his Ukiah home.…

mendofever.com/2022/08/26/former-willits-police-lieutenant-becomes-target-of-criminal-investigation/

SHAME CAL FIRE'S DECEPTION & Stop Logging in Jackson Demonstration State Forest 

In response to protests, CALFIRE agreed in fall 2021 to stop logging on Pomo homelands in Jackson Demonstration State Forest (JDSF) while discussing Co-Management Agreements with local tribes and rewriting its Management Plan. However, CALFIRE announced yesterday, without notifying or reaching any agreement with local tribes or writing a new Management Plan, that it will resume logging in JDSF, which raises doubts about the entire collaboration effort.

Please join us in supporting the Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians, demanding a moratorium on logging operations in JDSF, and shaming CAL FIRE for its deception.

AV UNIFIED UPDATE

Dear Anderson Valley Community,

It has been a great week. At the elementary site, new students are making friends! Students are playing safely on the playground and enjoying the new ball cart and designated playground balls! Kinders are settling into the routines - Ms. Soto has a wonderful classroom environment. I am grateful for the leadership of Principal Cymbre Thomas-Swett, as she works with the committed and hardworking staff into creating all that they can become.

The high school had a landmark day today with thefirst pep rally in three years. Check out the picture. A huge shout out to Marcella Mendoza, emcee John Toohey, and retiree Robert Pinoli who infused the air of authority with his presence. It was good. It was really, really good…

At the Jr./Senior High School, please be aware that Coach Toohey has implemented a scheduling app on your phone for all sports. Please read and install this app, so you are up to the minute on schedule changes:

If you have a smartphone: Student athletes are required and parents are encouraged to download the team reach app https://www.teamreach.com/ and enter the code for the team you are a part of:

• Girls Soccer: 899422
• Boys Soccer: 00281
• Football: 5335
• Volleyball: 231125

Parents/guardians: 

We need help. The high school can’t field four sports without parent participation. We need van drivers. You need to pass a fingerprint clearance to go and fill out the volunteer paperwork. I will not pull staff from classrooms to drive. I will cancel an event. Education is more important than sports.

Education is our first mission. If you want a sports program for your student, you need to help us, help them by volunteering your time for driving and gate work.

Other reminders from the high school staff: Do not stop in the drive lane to drop off your student. Pull all the way forward so we don’t block the bus lane.

All students must have a parking permit to park in the lot. If you are allowing your student to drive to school unlicensed, you are incurring huge personal liability in the event of an accident. Have your student come and register for a parking permit when they are fully licensed. I know driver training is a huge obstacle. I am working on it for a summer school program. Hang in there, but until then, have your kid take the bus. Don’t put your family at risk for a liability claim.

From the elementary school: We are hiring! The Elementary School has a 4 hour position working with our youngest learners. Hours are 8am to noon.

We have had great response to our drug education program with the parents/guardians and also with the students. Drug use and sales on our campuses will not be tolerated. Counsel your student now to avoid any issues moving forward. Our campuses are clean and drug free moving forward. Zero tolerance.

I just have to say, I am feeling the normal Anderson Valley is back.

So grateful to be in partnership with our amazing students, staff, and parent/guardians.

Sincerely yours,

Louise Simson

Superintendent

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MENDOCINO RAILWAY FILES LAWSUIT AGAINST FORT BRAGG AND THE CALIFORNIA COASTAL COMMISSION

by Megan Wutzke

On August 9, Mendocino Railway filed a declaratory order request against the City of Fort Bragg and the California Coastal Commission. This lawsuit seeks a declaration that Mendocino Railway’s railroad activities are only subject to the jurisdiction of the Surface Transportation Board.

According to MR’s recent press release, MR President Robert Jason Pinoli said, “It is increasingly difficult to operate a railroad in California when both state and local agencies attempt to expand their regulatory powers into areas clearly reserved for federal authorities.”

This most recent lawsuit follows a year of clashing between Fort Bragg and MR regarding the former Georgia Pacific mill site.

On August 11, 2021, MR sued GP for eminent domain of the mill site. However, Fort Bragg had also expressed interest in the mill site, and on October 28, the city filed a lawsuit in Mendocino County Superior Court. This lawsuit argues that the railway should no longer be considered a public utility, as it is only an excursion train.

In November, GP ceded the 272-acre mill site to MR for $1.23 million. This triggered Fort Bragg to request the Department of Transportation to deny MR’s application for a Railroad Rehabilitation & Improvement Financing loan. Other local groups, such as the Coastal Commission, the Friends of the Eel River, and the Humboldt Trails Council, also sent letters to the DOT.

In January, Mendocino Railway requested a dismissal of Fort Bragg’s lawsuit, claiming Fort Bragg didn’t have jurisdiction to file a complaint. However, in April, the Mendocino County Superior Court rejected this request. After this rejection, MR announced it was suspending plans to redevelop the mill site. In the meantime, MR appealed the decision.

In July, Mendocino Railway submitted a coastal development permit application to implement the mill site remediation plan required by the Department of Toxic Substance Control. Fort Bragg will seek proposals for an Environmental Impact Review from qualified environmental consulting firms.

Also in July, the Coastal Commission visited Fort Bragg for a series of meetings with the city officials, the public, and MR. During their visit, Coastal Commission representatives questioned MR on their plans for the acreage. However, the Mendocino Railway representatives declined to comment on anything specific.

During the CC meetings, Commissioner Mike Wilson asked Pinoli if MR had a permit for the building they were constructing. Pinoli responded that there was no Coastal Development Permit for that building, but MR followed the rules and regulations. According to Pinoli, the site was monitored internally and by an outside safety officer.

On August 10, the Coastal Commission sent a letter to MR requesting a description of all unpermitted development on the mill site and to cease all unpermitted development. The letter warns of litigation and penalties if MR doesn’t respond by August 26.

MR has also clashed with the Great Redwood Trail Agency this past year concerning a 13-mile section of old rail lines north of Willits. The GRTA is working to railbank over 300 miles of rails into a trail extending from San Francisco Bay to Humboldt. However, Mendocino Railway wants to use a 13-mile section of the trail for freight purposes and has objected to the GRTA’s proposal to formally abandon that section.

MR had given its notice of intent to file an Offer of Financial Assistance, with the deadline of August 18. The STB will decide on this OFA by the end of August.

(Courtesy, the Ukiah Daily Journal)

INLAND WATER DÉJÀ VU

by Mark Scaramella

BACK IN 2006 the Mendocino Grand Jury wrote a report about the multiple water districts in the Ukiah/Redwood Valley area entitled: “WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE, But... MENDOCINO COUNTY WATER DISTRICTS REPORT.”

mendocinocounty.org/home/showpublisheddocument/4546/636240566598570000

In that report the Grand Jury wrote:

“Historically, instead of using a unified consensual approach, various County Water Districts have been embroiled in continual squabbles and infighting, petty territorial and philosophical conflicts, and competition, typically without accomplishing any meaningful results except to generate extraordinarily high legal costs for all involved. 

Strategic planning must be done now rather than waiting until a crisis develops. The process of developing new supplies in the face of ever increasing demand will be difficult and time-consuming, especially if there is a material decrease in imports from the Eel River Diversion. Additionally, the potential impact of a typical multi-year drought, as well as outside restrictions on Russian River water use, requires immediate and serious attention to both short and long range strategies.…

A properly organized, single entity dealing with UV/PV area water issues can provide the appropriate direction and leadership for smaller independent agencies and special districts to follow in addressing and solving mutual water problems. 

There must be a top-down political will to accomplish any multi-agency unification among the various agencies and special districts, with the assistance of LAFCO. The agencies and special districts must be committed to the benefits of unification and consensus. Agencies and special districts should retain their individual water rights even as they work together. The BOS needs to play a pivotal role in the development of this political will and consensus among the diverse independent water entities within UV/PV. Beyond that, citizen involvement and engagement in development of this political will is equally essential. 

Because water development, improvement and infrastructure require large financial resources, a unified entity can better provide the financial leadership needed to negotiate with financial institutions about bond issues, as well as to negotiate with political groups and elected officials concerning revenues. 

Outside entities such as several State and Federal agencies, ACE and SCWA require an effective County negotiator. A single unified entity would provide a coherent and knowledgeable negotiating force.” 

The County provided responses from the Water Agency (Roland Sanford at the time), the Board of Supervisors and the Interimin CEO:

Response [Water Agency]: The Water Agency agrees with this finding. Finding 12. Unification or consolidation of water districts, a complex process, requires that all parties or districts concerned must approve such action. 

Response [Board of Supervisors]: The Board of Supervisors agrees with this finding. 

Response [Interim CEO, Al Beltrami at the time]: The Interim Chief Executive Officer agrees with this finding.

So did the Russian River Flood Control District (RRFCD): Partially agree. Consolidation would have to be brought before the voters.

The other water district responses did not address the question of consolidation or unification and two of them didn’t respond at all.

* * *

FAST FORWARD TO 2022…

FROM MONICAL HUETTL’S RECENT REPORT of the meeting of the Redwood Valley Water County Water District (from Mendofever.com): Consolidation with Other Water Districts — Jared Walker reported on his meetings with Sean White, City of Ukiah Director of Water and Sewer, and Michelle Frederick, with the State. They are in talks to consolidate the districts in the Upper Russian River Water Agency (URRWA) with the City of Ukiah. Walker and White will hold a workshop meeting on September 6 with two representatives from each district and Frederick from the State. The purpose of the workshop is to hammer out the details of which entity will be the lead agency in the consolidated group. There is some urgency to get the consolidation done while the State is offering money for this. Building out the infrastructure will take longer. Redwood Valley’s $7 million debt is a complicating factor. The debt is a federal debt with the Bureau of Reclamation; the State of California doesn’t have the power to forgive or refinance a federal debt. Once the parties involved determine the structure of the consolidation, there will be meetings open to the public to discuss.

SEEKING NOMINATIONS FOR THE 19th ANNUAL MENDOCINO COUNTY ART CHAMPION AWARDS

The Arts Council of Mendocino County is now seeking nominations from the community for the 19th Annual Mendocino County Art Champion Awards. Art Champion Awards will be made in the following four categories: Business Champion for the Arts; Individual Champion for the Arts; Artist Champion; and Educational Champion. Nominations are due by September 16th. The awards will be presented before the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors in October. A public reception to honor the Art Champions will immediately follow the awards presentation.

The Art Champion awards are annually presented in October to coincide with National Arts and Humanities Month. National Arts and Humanities Month is a coast-to-coast collective celebration of culture in America, dedicated to giving millions of Americans the opportunity to explore new facets of the arts and humanities in their lives and encourage them to begin a lifelong habit of active participation.

To learn more about National Arts and Humanities Month, visit the website for Americans for the Arts at http://www.americansforthearts.org/ or the website for the California Arts Council at https://arts.ca.gov/. To link to a Mendocino County Art Champion nomination form, to review the award criteria, or to see a list of past winners, go to the website of the Arts Council of Mendocino County at http://www.artsmendocino.org/ and click on the Program in the Spotlight.

RAINBIRD [Coast Chatline]

David Gurney:

This news makes me cry. I knew Rainbird back in the day, 1974 or so. She was a fiery, redheaded radical hitch-hiking punk from Minnesota then, before she hitchhiked into a ride with a couple of DUI Cloverdale drunks. Their car-wreck robbed her of her legs for the rest of her life. That she was able to rise up from that tragedy is the embodiment of the Phoenix - the Rainbird. And it’s no wonder she refused wheelchair help — especially from men.

She was an avid musician, played bass and saxophone from her chair, with powerful grace, pride and exuberance.

Arising from her personal tragedy, she taught herself the Chinese language, and managed to make a living at it. She translated many movies, books, and texts into the Chinese language for millions of souls on the other side of the sea. We probably have no idea. And maybe could have used her abilities in the current crises we find ourselves in.

A great, big old, gol-darn loss. G-bye Rainbird. Hope to see you on the other side.

* * *

Marco McClean:

Zattu told me Rainbird died August 3. She said Rainbird was her good friend, her soulmate, the first person she met when she came here in 1976. Rainbird died after a long respiratory illness.

I remember Rainbird played saxophone in the Bob Ayres Big Band. One time they played an event in a damp thick-grass field of uneven ground. On a break between sets she ran one of her wheels into a hole on the side of the hill, tipped over, spilled out of the chair. I ran there with my arms out to help, but she shouted fiercely, "/NO HELP!/", righted the chair, and struggled back up into it by herself. I was the only one she had to tell that to. Everyone else knew not to help. I wondered if that's a thing all wheelchair people do, and still wonder. That was the only time anything like that ever happened around me, ever since.

She spent a lot of time in China and could speak Chinese like a native. Somewhere I have two CDs by a heavy metal Chinese rock band whose lead guitarist, a thin, very Chinese-elf-looking man, was Rainbird's boyfriend in the middle 2000s. I met the band when they came to America on a tour. They're aloofly angry and confident-sounding; that's all I remember about them, not even their band name, though they came to KMFB a couple of times. I liked the music. They sang in Chinese, and that made the songs better, for me. All Western popular music is better sung in Far Eastern or Slavic languages. Mongolian throat-singing rock-and-roll just floors you!

I went to a special Asian food store in Santa Rosa once for an exact list of things she wanted. I found about half of them and faked the rest with near-misses. I was afraid she was going to be mad, but she wasn't. "This is fine," she said, "This is great."

Whenever I hear the name Rainbird I think of two things: 1. When I was in sixth grade all the kids in the neighborhood were running around in the dark playing and fighting and hiding and seeking and being wild, the way kids used to do, and the boy who lived cattycorner across the street from me forgot there was a Rainbird sprinkler head on a pipe in that shrub there, leaped through it and ripped his leg open. A year after that he was the one riding a bike pulling a motorless, brakeless go-cart downhill by an extension cord to bring it up to speed, and I, in the go-cart, crashed into a terrified Corvair front wheel and ripped /my/ leg open on the broken-off go-cart steering wheel. Forty stitches. Number-7-shaped scar. And 2. In a collection of short stories called /Strange Doings/, by R.A. Lafferty, the first story is /Rainbird/, about Higgston Rainbird, the greatest inventor ever, and how he gave mankind the stars by the year 1800, but that wasn't enough, so he invented a time machine and went back in time to persuade his young self to go a slightly different, better, direction, but he was so old and out-of-control and bossy, and he talked too fast, and his young self politely declined to take him seriously, and so went a /third/ direction and invented nothing but a slight improvement in the horse harness, and a novelty device that made sparks when you cranked it, no space travel, no medical miracles, no electro-psychic teevee...

Three things, now, it'll be: 3. I'll think of Rainbird dying of pneumonia, then the falling out of the chair thing, and then whatever comes after that.

If you would, please tell us all a few of your recollections of Rainbird up and about and doing things in her life. I'd like to read them on the radio Friday night. I don't even know what was wrong with her back, that she had to use a wheelchair, if it was lifelong, or what.

CHRIS SKYHAWK: Around the year 2002 I was traveling back east to Rochester NY quite a bit to see my mother who was dying from Lou Gehrig’s disease. I would often connect at the airport in Atlanta, because I flew Delta, at that time the Delta had a federal contact to fly soldiers back-and-forth from the Iraq war. So there I am in the lobby waiting to make my connecting flight with a whole bunch of 18 and 19-year-olds looking scared as fuck, while l there I met a soldier he was probably in his 20s was certainly older than the other young people he was in charge of, he was a corporal/sergeant or something like that. Well we got to talking and he told me he had been stationed in Iraq for several months and just got some time off to go see his wife he opened up to me about how scared he was to see her after not seeing her for several months. He was greatly relieved when they had a loving experience together if after their being apart for so long. I’m not sure why am telling you all this it just a little vignette of love it touched me very deeply how much this man love that woman his story has stayed with me for all these years, this man was in charge of soldiers, and had seen much combat, and yet what he was most afraid of was the possibility that the woman he loved would not understand him or be able to relate to him after all he’d been through….

A RELATIVE WITH A BASEBALL BAT

On Saturday, August 20, 2022 at about 1:43am, Willits Police Department (WPD) Officers were dispatched to the 500 Block of South Main Street for a reported assault where the victim was struck in the head with a baseball bat. The victim was reported to be actively bleeding from wounds caused by the assault. 

A passing Sergeant with the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO), arrived at the scene with the responding WPD Officers and contacted the victim and five witnesses. The victim and witnesses immediately identified the suspect as Damian Villegas, 30, of Willits, a relative of the victim and many of the witnesses. 

The victim and witnesses related that Villegas had been consuming alcohol at a local bar before being kicked out for starting fights. The victim and witnesses were at the bar at the same time as Villegas, and all parties ended up going to another local bar on Main Street. While at the second bar, Villegas attempted to fight the victim and witnesses in the parking lot. The victim and witnesses tried to leave on foot to go home, but Villegas pulled up to them in his vehicle, took a baseball bat from the trunk of his car, and assaulted the victim before fleeing the scene. 

WPD, knowing Villegas due to past interactions, proceeded to his last listed address. The MCSO Sergeant and another WPD unit attempted to locate Villegas at his home while the victim and witnesses were interviewed on scene. During the interviews, the victims and witnesses pointed out a passing vehicle traveling northbound on South Main Street as the suspect’s vehicle. 

WPD and MCSO units ultimately located the vehicle, unoccupied, parked on East Valley Street. Almost immediately, WPD received a call of a suspicious person angrily striking a sign post with a baseball bat in the same general area. 

While Officers and the MCSO Sergeant searched the area for Villegas, they contacted a woman later identified as Mercedez Abel, who was gaining access into the unoccupied vehicle and refused to assist the officers. It was later determined Abel is in a dating relationship with Villegas. 

WPD Officers continued searching the area for Villegas who was ultimately contacted, and arrested without incident, as he exited Abel’s residence a short time later. Villegas denied any knowledge or connection to any altercation(s). Villegas also denied knowing Abel before later admitting they were dating and requested WPD Officers speak to Abel so she could claim he was not involved in any altercations. 

Villegas was arrested and booked into the county jail for Assault with a Deadly Weapon. The charges of Aiding and Abetting and Accessory After the Fact against Abel were to be forwarded to the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office for review and filing. The victim was self-transported to the local hospital where he received necessary medical care for serious injuries. 

The Willits Police Department would like to thank the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office and the community members who provided information, with their assistance in this case. 

CATCH OF THE DAY, August 26, 2022

FERMIN BARRALES, Ukiah. DUI.

ERIK BURGESS, Ukiah. Appropriation of lost property, failure to register.

LETICIA CASTILLO, Fort Bragg. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

ASHLEIGH ESTES, Seattle/Willits. Under influence, paraphernalia.

ANDREW FABELA, Philo. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

VICENTE GONZALEZ, Redwood Valley. Domestic battery, controlled substance, resisting, probation revocation.

RAY HOPKINS, Willits. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

KEVIN KINCAID, Laytonville. County parole violation.

ABEL LANDA-CASTANEDA, Ukiah. DUI-alcohol&drugs, saps or similar weapons, suspended license, probation revocation.

TYLER MCCARTNEY, Willits. Under influence.

SHAWN MCNEELY, Branscomb. DUI.

FRANKLIN PATTY, Ukiah. County parole violation.

SHAYNE WREDE, Sacramento/Fort Bragg. Murder*, use of weapon in commission of crime (20 year enhancement), offenses while on bail, failure to appear.*

TYSON YOUNG, Fortuna/Ukiah. DUI causing bodily injury.

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* Original Arrest Information

NORTH COAST, Calif. – The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office said it has arrested a Fort Bragg man who investigators believe used his pickup to intentionally hit and kill a motorcyclist.

Det. Sgt. Luis Espinoza said Shayne Tyler Wrede, 35, was arrested on Christmas Eve for killing 48-year-old Mark Jason Hutchinson of Willits.

Espinoza reported that shortly after 5:40 a.m. Thursday, officers with the California Highway Patrol were dispatched to a reported traffic collision causing injury in the 15000 block of Caspar Road near the Pacifica Drive intersection in Caspar.

DECEMBER 26, 2020

ARREST MADE IN FORT BRAGG MURDER

Shayne Wrede of Fort Bragg appeared Friday in the Booking log after being booked for murder on the day before Christmas. We assume it was for the apparent fatality mentioned in Thursday’s brief press release (below). We await the follow-up press release. Wrede was convicted and spent time in prison previously for his participation in a 2008 home invasion robbery at the home of Paula Deeter, former Fort Bragg medical marijuana dispensary owner and former candidate for Fourth District Supervisor.

EARLIER: On Thursday, December 24, 2020 at approximately 6:30 AM Sheriff’s Deputies were dispatched to a reported traffic collision with a fatality in Caspar. During the initial scene investigation it was determined a shooting had occurred in the city of Fort Bragg which soon thereafter resulted in the traffic collision fatality in Caspar. Sheriff’s Detectives were summoned to the scene and are conducting follow-up investigations, which are still ongoing at this time. Sheriff’s Detectives are working with the Fort Bragg Police Department, California Highway Patrol, Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office, California Department of Fish & Wildlife and California Department of Justice Criminalist Division. A press release will made public when more information becomes available at the conclusion of the investigation.

THE BASIC PROBLEM…has always been getting other people to die for you. What’s worth enough for a man to give up his life? That’s where religion had the edge, for centuries. Religion was always about death. It was used not as an opiate so much as a technique—it got people to die for one particular set of beliefs about death. Perverse, natürlich, but who are you to judge? It was a good pitch while it worked. But ever since it became impossible to die for death, we have had a secular version—yours. Die to help History grow to its predestined shape. Die knowing your act will bring a good end a bit closer. Revolutionary suicide, fine. But look: if History’s changes are inevitable, why not not die? Vaslav? If it’s going to happen anyway, what does it matter?

— Thomas Pynchon, Gravity’s Rainbow

UKRAINE, Friday, August 26

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday said the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant remains “very risky” after two of its six reactors were reconnected to the grid following shelling. The Ukrainian president urged the world to act much faster to force Russian troops to vacate Europe’s largest nuclear power plant after the site was disconnected from electricity for hours in an incident he said risked an international radiation disaster.

Russia has probably stepped up attacks along the Donetsk sector of the Donbas region over the last five days in a move that could be aimed at sucking in Ukrainian troops and foiling a counterattack, according to Britain’s defence ministry. There has been intense fighting near the towns of Siversk and Bakhmut which are located north of the Russian-occupied city of Donetsk, the ministry said on its daily intelligence bulletin on Twitter.

THE WEST'S DANGEROUSLY SIMPLE-MINDED NARRATIVE ABOUT RUSSIA AND CHINA

by Jeffrey Sachs

The world is on the edge of nuclear catastrophe in no small part because of the failure of Western political leaders and media to be forthright about the causes of the escalating global conflicts. The relentless Western narrative that the West is noble while Russia and China are evil is simple-minded and extraordinarily dangerous. It is an attempt to manipulate public opinion, not to deal with very real and pressing diplomacy....

At the core of all of this is the US attempt to remain the world's hegemonic power, by augmenting military alliances around the world to contain or defeat China and Russia. It's a dangerous, delusional, and outmoded idea....

There is only one country whose self-declared fantasy is to be the world's dominant power: the US. It's past time that the US recognized the true sources of security: internal social cohesion and responsible cooperation with the rest of the world, rather than the illusion of hegemony.…

commondreams.org/views/2022/08/23/wests-dangerously-simple-minded-narrative-about-russia-and-china

THE BEST WAY is to strip the people you fear of the last bit of prestige you're still inclined to give them. Learn to consider them as they are, worse than they are in fact and from every point of view. That will release you, set you free, protect you more than you can possibly imagine. 

— Celine

ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

When and how will the legacy media (print and television news) finally die and when will the people who actively follow the “beltway political narratives” finally lose faith in those institutions? As long as those folks addicted to the “red vs blue” sport of national politics (on both “sides”) continue to feed on a diet of bullshit from these institutions the slow demise of the nation and the west will continue to rattle on like the ghost of grandpa dragging chains around in the attic or like Joe Biden’s slow rolling decline into dementia as wanders around the white house looking for???… a dog he lost when he was in high school…?

When old Joe gets caught whipping it out and peeing in a potted plant the legacy media will just tell us its part of his green new deal to take a hands on approach to watering the white house plants and escort him back to “Doctor Jill” to give him his milk toddy and tuck him back in, making sure to lock the door this time.

The destruction of said legacy media via legal accountability is the only way forward. Unfortunately before Fauci, Walensky, Nancy, Joe, Hunter and (don’t forget) Mitch can be held accountable for destruction of America, we have to pop that festering boil that is the media. I see Kirsch is suing Media Matters and Malone is suing WaPo. When those cases move and shift the Overton window toward the truth we will see the class actions of the injured making headway and the accountability train will start rolling.

Let us only pray that in our zeal for vindication we do not become the Robespierres of our generation. My wife says no one will ever be held accountable for this poison death shot disgrace. She lives by traditional American Christian values. I think her general optimism blinds her to what is coming.

We have watched this decline of American values and institutions our whole life watching our country “Slouching Towards Gomorrah”. When the pendulum swings back the other way we must remember we are seeking justice not revenge. Get ready. Plant a fruit tree. God bless.

AMERICA THIS WEEK

Fauci goes down, student loans forgiven, Zuckerberg wilds out on Rogan, a U.S.-sponsored "covert influence campaign" is outed, Powell plays the heavy, finance headlines and more

by Matt Taibbi

The Big Stories In America This Week:

Fauci Exits: Dr. Anthony Fauci, the chief medical adviser to both Donald Trump and Joe Biden and the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), resigned this week after roughly 50 years in government service. Fauci came to be an incredibly divisive figure both during the AIDS crisis (for slowness of government response) and during the Covid-19 years (when he became a symbol of imperious elites, of mask mandates and shutdowns, and of the unresolved questions surrounding Covid’s origin). On the Democratic side, Fauci remains a lionized, almost saintly figure, whose legacy is that of a martyr to “science” in an age of an increasingly conspiracy-minded, mistrusting populace. Republicans meanwhile were not so appreciative of Fauci’s predilection for confusing himself with “science,” a la this infamous reply to critics: “They’re really criticizing science because I represent science.” Some pundits believe the polarizing doctor’s exit will help Democrats in the midterms, while Republicans are seething that Fauci is “conveniently” stepping down before a possible congressional investigation. Goodbye quotes: Georgetown law professor Lawrence Gostin, who specializes in health and calls himself a friend, said Fauci “got caught in the rabid politicization of American culture, and he has got caught right in the crosshairs of the COVID culture wars.” Probable Republican Presidential candidate Ron DeSantis, meanwhile, said, “Someone needs to grab that little elf and chuck him across the Potomac.” Wherever the octogenarian goes in the “next chapter” of his career, Fauci will likely forever be defined by his seeming embrace of the idea that a post-Covid return to normal “might not ever happen,” because “the threat is there.” Are we happy with the “new normal”?

Biden Seemingly Fulfills Student Debt Promise: President Joe Biden announced a plan for “targeted student debt cancellation” that would allow holders of education loans to cancel “up to” $10,000 in debt, $20,000 if they’re “low-income” borrowers. An independent analysis by University of Pennsylvania economists put the potential price tag of the program at $300 billion, others say less: CNBC estimated the cost at $2000 per person nationally. Biden’s student loan move reportedly fulfills a promise to former rival Bernie Sanders, and significantly, it extended for a “final” time the pause on student loan payments begun under the Trump administration. This will allow Biden to elude the political fallout that might have come from ending the pause before midterms. The debt cancelation plan got favorable reviews from many, though far from all, mainstream analysts (“Is this the best use of $200 billion?” mused Paul Krugman) and some student debt activists worried that language like “up to $10,000” along with an array of means-testing procedures could make it difficult for student debt holders to take advantage. The federal government doesn’t have the best record on debt repayment plans. For instance, the Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) program had several million enrollees, but as of 2021, only 32 beneficiaries. Still, this was a “day of joy and relief” for people like Massachusetts Democrat Elizabeth Warren, while Texas Republican Ted Cruz denounced it as “Insane — and illegal!” It’s difficult to judge the plan until we see how it works in the end, and it doesn’t address the key issue of education costs skyrocketing thanks in large part to basically unlimited federal lending, but the government extending any multibillion-dollar relief gesture to anyone but Wall Street banks is at least a little bit notable.

Facebook, Twitter Move Against U.S. “Influence Campaign”: A report by the analytics firm Graphika and Stanford University produced an extremely unusual disclosure: Twitter and Facebook “disrupted a web of accounts” linked to a “covert influence campaign” of social media messaging sponsored by the United States. We’ve known for a while that the biggest American Internet platforms have been active in rooting out what they call “misinformation” from countries like Russia and Iran, but there’s been little public evidence of similar pushback against United States messaging. The Washington Post quoted a Meta spokesperson saying that this marked “the first time the company has removed a foreign-focused influence network promoting the United States’ position.” The paper added, cryptically, “the campaigns promoted the narrative that Russia was responsible for the deaths of innocent civilians and other atrocities just so it could pursue its ‘imperial ambitions.’” It remains unclear who funded/organized these campaigns, although the Post sought comment from the Pentagon. Twitter declined to comment. It’s increasingly obvious — see the FBI entry below — that the U.S. government views the digital landscape as the logical next place to fulfill its manifest destiny.

Keep An Eye On

California Bans Gas Cars: California’s Air Resources Board announced this week that only cars “free of greenhouse gas emissions like carbon dioxide” will be permitted going forward. Eulogizing gas cars, a proud Governor Gavin Newsom boasted, “Our kids are going to act like it’s a rotary phone.” Set to go into effect in 2035, Newsom’s ban will almost surely speed the overall elimination of gas vehicles.

FBI in Zuck Rog Flap: In a story that was a bombshell for conservatives and a back-pager elsewhere, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg told podcaster Joe Rogan his company reduced distribution of an expose about Hunter Biden at the behest of the FBI. “If they come to us and tell us that we need to be on guard,” he said, “then I’m going to take that seriously.”

New SEC Comp Rule: The SEC announced a new rule requiring companies to disclose information “reflecting the relationship between executive compensation… and the registrant’s financial performance.” The measure is designed to give shareholders more insight into what exactly corporate boards are paying for, when they pay high executive salaries. Seven years out, this fulfills a mandate from the Dodd-Frank Act.

And Finally, Two Finance Headlines From Eric Salzman

Powell Gets Medieval on Markets: The elites of central banking convene their annual symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and the message recalled Mr. T’s warning to Rocky: Pain! Fed Chair Jay Powell delivered the keynote Friday, doubling down on a tightening strategy. “Our responsibility to deliver price stability,” he said, “is unconditional.” Signaling more hikes, he added, “We must keep at it until the job is done.” The markets were looking for any clues as to how much the Fed will raise rates in September, and perhaps more importantly how far is the Fed willing to go past September to slay inflation. Unfortunately for Powell, just about every talking head out there, from Larry Summers to Mohamed El-Erian, has been shredding him for botching monetary policy by leaving rates too low for too long. On Thursday morning El-Erian, the former head of investment management giant PIMCO, said, “The Fed has been asleep at the wheel.” For comfort Powell of course can always commiserate with former Chair Ben Bernanke, who had a similarly bad run of Jackson “Holes,” particularly in 2006-2008, when he first appeared oblivious to the coming crisis, then belatedly conceded the Fed mishandled the mess.

Don’t Mess with Texas: On Wednesday, Texas State Comptroller Glenn Hegar issued a list of financial firms he will prohibit from doing business with the state, due to what Hegar described as a “boycott of the fossil fuel sector,” i.e. due to their heavy involvement in Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) investment products. “The environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) movement has produced an opaque and perverse system,” he said, in which some financial companies “use their financial clout to push a social and political agenda shrouded in secrecy.” Investment giant BlackRock leads the banished 10. No major U.S. banks made the list. BlackRock should let Texas in on a little secret: ESG actually helps the companies it’s supposed to shun, and shuns the companies it’s supposed to help! BlackRock’s biggest ESG ETF contains 20 infamous oil and gas producers, while it has just one renewable energy company. They also have climate friendly companies like Dow and Raytheon, along with 36 financial companies that read like a who’s who of corporate malfeasance. Maybe Texas shouldn’t mess with ESG.

SEABEE HISTORY - 22 August 1954:

Seabees from Amphibious Construction Battalion One (ACB-1) arrived in Haiphong, to take part in Operation Passage to Freedom, an effort to transport 310K Vietnamese civilians, soldiers, and non-Vietnamese members of the French Army from Communist North Vietnam to non-Communist South Vietnam. The Seabees discovered shortly after arriving that the Geneva Accords of 1954 between Viet Minh and the colonial French Union forces prohibited the landing of foreign military units in Vietnam. In order to complete their mission, the Seabees removed all military insignia from their uniforms and equipment and some of them donned nondescript clothing. Then they returned to their mission. The Seabees not only contributed to the movement of several hundred thousand Vietnamese and their possessions, but the camps they built contributed to the comfort of the refugees. While assisting the Vietnamese in their mass migration, the Seabees also helped the French troops evacuate the country.

AN ILL WIND

by James Kunstler

Something ominously foul rides the late summer breeze as our country, and Western Civ with it, tilts into the season of growing darkness. Can you sense it? Death is in the air, and not in the usual Halloween vaudeville mode, either, with the cackling lawn zombies and top-hatted, tap-dancing skeletons. This ain’t no foolin’ around.

We have never been so unprepared for a calamity in plain sight and that is because the people who run things have made it happen in combined acts of wickedness and stupidity. After decades of mere racketeering, arranging things so as to bankrupt anyone who gets seriously ill, corporatized health care now presides over a harvest of medically-induced death, pretending dumbly that there is nothing to see.

Get this: the people are seeing it now, and talking about it, and there will be no stopping their discovery of exactly what has gone on, or their wrath in the afterwash. The chief architect of this epic debacle, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Captain Queeg of American Public Health, has announced his exit from the scene “to pursue the next chapter of my career.” He was coy about what that might be. I think the job title is: defendant. It will be a milestone in human history to witness The Science itself go on trial, should it live long enough. What awaits to take its place? Viziers with wands and pointed hats? Crones riding broomsticks against a cold, lifeless moon? A principality of dark magic? Descent into the underworld?

The medically-induced termination of life at large scale accompanies the current effort to provoke the suicide of culture and nationhood — more orchestrated depravity and folly. Institutions are turned against us like flame-throwers. The FBI might break down your door next in its quest to suppress dissent. The composers of official mind-fuckery never sleep, assuring that you will not know which end of anything is up. Your purblind legislators just set 87,000 new IRS agents on your asses, as if that was any sort of a good idea. The courts exist to protect The Party, but which party? (What does it matter, at this point? quoth Hillary Clinton.) Take your pissant complaints about those alleged constitutional rights someplace else, like Twitter and Facebook, where they can be expunged as soon as you hit the “post” button. You’ll be dead soon, anyway.

We’ve heard ad nauseam that the Washington DC insiders, the denizens of that demi-mythic Deep State in the wealthiest metro area of all the land, look down on the rest of America. Why is that? I’ll tell you. Because the DC confederacy of grifters has gotten fat off your suffering as they have systematically wrecked and looted that rest of America, the sinking middle-class. They are living in fabulous comfort off your bamboozlement and ruin. Their contempt for you grows on your tragic breakdown like fungus on a once-mighty fallen tree. They prevailed in this world and you didn’t. You chumps are in Palookaville on your way to the bone orchard, and therefore they are better than you, ha ha ha.

There is another side of this life, in case all that has got you demoralized. That is the side where human beings say things that comport with reality, where people mean what they say and use language as if it evolved to describe things and doings with some exactitude — as in this is this and that is that… and not the inverse or opposite. That is the side of life where pretending is not the highest-and-best use of human intelligence. I know, these days it’s hard to imagine that side of life, but it’s actually still there, waiting to be reanimated.

The regime that has turned our world inside out in its Satanic pursuit of comfort and power will be stripped naked and judged, if not by official judges, then by an unstoppable consensus. The sore-beset public will take an inventory of what has been lost and begin reconstructing a scaffold of shared life that rewards fidelity to the way things actually work. It will be a rough passage out of what amounts to a hostage crisis. There will be friction and heat. You will not be comfortable, but you will be dauntless. You will certainly not have nothing or be happy about that. You will have, at least, a restored memory of what it was like to strive honorably for a life worth living.

We’re in the crucible of all that just now, where everything is white hot. Do not bend or melt. Soldier through. Be men and be women (there is truly nothing in-between, and do not fall for faithless inducements to doubt that). You are brothers and sisters in an enterprise worth saving and you have a history worth defending. Believe it.

(Support Kunstler’s writing by visiting his Patreon Page.)

GOLDEN STATE SALMON ASSOCIATION HOSTS 'FISH LIKE A GIRL' IN SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA

by Dan Bacher

The superb salmon fishing available off the coast of the San Francisco Bay Area this season was exemplified by the second “Fish Like a Girl” trip hosted by the Golden State Salmon Association (GSSA) on Aug. 18.

“Twenty fun, beautiful women on a fishing boat with a hard working crew went out into the Pacific Ocean to go salmon fishing in perfect weather,” said Cat Kaiser, events director for the GSSA. “It started with a dance party and mimosas, and then the girls caught full limits of incredible salmon up to 32 pounds.”

The fishing began with a bite by smaller salmon around the 20-inch minimum range off the San Mateo County Coast near Pedro Point.

“We joked that we were kokanee fishing,” Kaiser said. “Then like a light switch, the bite for big fish turned on when Tricia Nesler caught the first real fish of the day at 26 pounds. She ended up catching her personal best six times. Pretty much all of the fish caught after that catch were between 18 and 32 pounds. Lorinne Otte won the day’s jackpot with a 32-pound king.”

“This trip featured the most new gals of any all ladies fishing trip that we have sponsored,” said Kaiser. “One was celebrating her birthday. Girls who had never been on our trips or on a fishing boat before caught salmon. We ended up with 40 salmon for the girls, along with 8 fish for crew, including three deckhands and Captain Jared Davis.”

Kaiser said she was very happy to have caught three salmon, ranging from 8 to 16 pounds, and educate the gals on the work the GSSA is doing for the salmon fishery.

The fishing continued to be good on Saturday, with the Salty Lady returning with 36 salmon up to 24 pounds for 20 guys. On Sunday, the boat returned with 27 salmon up to 32 pounds for 24 anglers, and a handful of rockfish, while trolling anchovies in less-than-ideal weather, said Capt.Jared Davis.

Some may be wondering why we’re seeing great ocean salmon action in the midst of a drought. John McManus, GSSA President, believes the improved overall fishing this year is a combination of a better juvenile salmon (smolt) release strategy and good ocean forage and water conditions.

“Survival of hatchery fish is much higher than it’s ever been,” McManus said. “This is in large measure because of the work of the Golden State Salmon Association that has pushed state hatchery managers to move the releases of these fish into friendlier waters near the Golden Gate Bridge.”

He said baby salmon released near the Golden Gate survive at two to four times higher than those released at the traditional state release site in Vallejo.

“In both 2021 and 2022, when authorities resisted increasing releases at Ft. Baker in Sausalito (one of the best release sites), GSSA used its connections with Congress to get releases doubled there the last two years in a row. This is already paying off big time in the ocean with more good fishing to come,” he stated. Information: https://goldenstatesalmon.org.

In contrast with the hatchery fish, naturally spawning salmon, including endangered Sacramento winter-run Chinook salmon and spring-run Chinook salmon, have fared very poorly during the drought.

Only 2.6 percent of juvenile winter Chinook salmon below Keswick Dam made it as far downstream as Red Bluff last year in low, warm water conditions resulting from the Bureau of Reclamation’s temperature management plan, according to fish advocates. Ninety-one percent of a record run of spring Chinooks on Butte Creek perished before spawning last year, due to the failure of PG&E to release cold water in time.

Marin Coast Rockfish and Lingcod : As salmon continue on their bite, the Marin County coast is yielding excellent lingcod and rockfish action.

On Aug. 20, the California Dawn 2 reported 22 limits of rockfish (220) and 22 limits of lingcod (44) to 22 pounds, while the California Dawn 1 checked in with 12 limits of rockfish (plus crew 150) and 12 lingcod to 25 pounds. On Aug. 21, the California Dawn 2 returned with 23 limits of rockfish (230) and 40 lingcod. Information: (510) 417-5557.

San Francisco Bay Halibut: Fishing remains surprisingly good for anglers drifting live anchovies in the central bay. “Flash one and Flash two did very well on the halibut today on half day trips,” said Captain Steve Talmadge of Flash Sportfishing. on August 20. “We averaged 2 fish per rod — the fish went up to 26 inches.” Information: (510) 851-2500.

MEMO OF THE AIR: GOOD NIGHT RADIO LIVE FROM FRANKLIN ST. ALL NIGHT FRIDAY NIGHT!

Deadline to email your writing for tonight's (Friday night's) MOTA show is about 5:30pm. Or send it whenever it's done and I'll read it on the radio next week.

Plus you can phone during the show and read your work in your own voice. I'll be in the cluttered but clean well-lighted back room of KNYO's storefront studio at 325 N. Franklin, where the number is 1-(707) 962-3022. If you can't or won't control yourself from swearing, wait until after 10pm, so not to agitate the weasels.

Memo of the Air: Good Night Radio is every Friday, 9pm to 5am on 107.7fm KNYO-LP Fort Bragg as well as anywhere else via http://airtime.knyo.org:8040/128 (That's the regular link to listen to KNYO in real time.) (Or just go to KNYO.org and click /Listen/. And the schedule is there for KNYO's many other terrific shows.)

Any day or night you can go to https://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com and hear last week's MOTA show. By Saturday night the recording of tonight's show will also be there.

Besides all that, there you'll find a kaleidoscope of sparkling educational shards to turn and turn before your wondering senses until showtime, or anytime, such as:

Free movies, all genres, pretty good selection. (via NagOnTheLake)

https://cinetimes.org/en/

…including: "Celia, we have to follow our passions. You wanta do your robotics and I wanta be awesome in space!" "RRRGH! Why don't you just admit that you are freaked out by my robot hand!"

https://cinetimes.org/en/t/tears-of-steel_xxtb

And A.I. illustrates Styx - Renegade:

https://laughingsquid.com/styx-renegade-ai-generated-images/

— Marco McClean, memo@mcn.org, https://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com