STOP FISH POACHING!
Editor,
Illegal poaching on the Garcia River / Feds asleep at the wheel.
I’d like to share with you a heartbreaking story of federal inaction and mismanagement in the hope that you will bring it to the public eye through the AVA. I think you will appreciate the tangled web of state and federal jurisdiction leading to nobody taking responsibility while an incredible natural resource is devastated. One local resident, sadly the son of a prominent coastside family, has already been arrested with a freezer full of endangered fish, but there are a number of other active poachers who have been seen within the last few days, and state authorities claim they are helpless to act in this case without federal participation. You wouldn’t think this could happen in California in 2013, but it is.
Please refer to the message below, which is written by John Hooper, a long-time resident on the river. Note that he is writing to federal officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, who have so far been asleep at the wheel while more than twenty years of restoration efforts — a rare success story for our state’s last wild fish — are being wiped out. I’m sure John would be willing to speak with you.
Please help!
Regards,
Ernie Gundling
Gualala
From: John C. Hooper [hooparb@aol.com]
Sent: Monday, February 11, 2013 10:40 PM Eastern Standard Time
To: Charlotte.A.Ambrose@noaa.gov; joshua.fuller@noaa.gov
Subject: Garcia River illegal gill netting — federal help needed
Dear Charlotte and Joshua:
You may recall that we have discussed illegal fishing on the Garcia River before. I invited you both to an Advisory Committee meeting of The Conservation Fund held at OZ Farm last fall. By way of background, I have been involved in helping restore the fishery in this river since serving as Cal Trout's representative on a Coastal Conservancy Advisory Committee from 1990 to 1992 which developed the first comprehensive plan to restore the fishery of this river. I am currently on the Board of Friends of the Garcia River (FROG) and on the Advisory Committee for the Conservation Fund's Garcia Forest which is managed in partnership with The Nature Conservancy.
Yesterday I ran into four people walking up the river through my property (OZ Farm; 41601 Mountain View Rd; 707-882-3046) carrying large gill nets and spinning reels and heading for a deep fishing hole locally known as “Upper OZ Hole.”
I reported the incident to CA DFW (formerly DFG) today. I was informed by a DFW warden that the wardens have actually come upon gill nets set across the river this very winter season on rancheria (federal) lands along the Garcia. However, even though an entire fishing run could be destroyed, DFW does not have authority to remove nets or make arrests on these lands unless accompanied by a federal representative. It appears that the illegal netting may be confined primarily to rancheria lands during higher flows and then, during lower flows (such as now),the gill netters spread out up and down the river to the deep pools where the fish are trapped. I think that is what I observed yesterday. I am not suggesting the problem of illegal fishing is confined to any particular places or groups of people.
I am aware that your agencies have done some educational outreach in the local area, but the kind of people who are willing to wipe out entire fish runs are not going to be deterred by a power point presentation. We desperately need the active help of your agencies to enforce appropriate laws (federal ESA) or twenty-five years of hard work on the part of local citizens and groups will be wiped out. To be blunt, that means arresting the illegal gill-netters!
As you may know, one prominent local fishing guide has recently given up his drift boat business on the Garcia, saying he can no longer justify asking clients to pay for fishing on a river so badly damaged by illegal fishing and gill netting.
This is becoming a tragedy and, though hate to say it, it's occurring on your watch. Only 3 or 4 years ago, we were encouraged to see 40 or more redds along the lower river; now we are lucky to see 3 or 4. Obviously, we can debate the complex reasons for this decline, but we cannot ignore the conspicuous role of illegal fishing and gill-netting. And that is something your agencies can influence!
We need three specific actions from NOAA and NMFS:
1. Immediate “on the river” federal enforcement coordinated with local DFW wardens.
2. Clarification that the rancheria lands on the Garcia do not have any special fishing rights and are subject to the same laws and restrictions we all are. This may be politically sensitive but it's the case!
3. Your active support convicting Kyle Stornetta of illegal coho salmon and steelhead takes at his trial set for March 20. The prosecuting attorney is Assistant Mendocino DA Tim Stoen. Convicting Stornetta with some real jail time and a big fine will be the most immediate step we can all encourage to send a signal to the bad guys that we want to give this fishery a(nother) chance to recover.
I would appreciate your feedback. If I can help in any way — including access to the river through our property — please let me know. This is a very important issue for the health of the river and, more broadly, for the economic health of our entire area!
I would be more than happy to meet with you in person at any time.
Best wishes and hope to hear from you soon,
John Hooper
415-626-8880 — SF office
707-882-3046 — answering machine at OZ Farm
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TIL DEATH DO US PART
Fellow AVAers —
My February 6 issue arrived on February 8 — not bad — with the dreaded red stamp signaling impending expiration. Well, I'm not letting it expire until Bruce Anderson expires or I expire, whichever comes first. Here's my check for another two years.
Bruce Johnson
San Francisco
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BUSHWHACK NATION
Editor,
Effective gun control will never happen in America because guns (weapons) are an integral part of the American way of life.
As Wyoming chicken hawk, Deadeye Dick Cheney — Vice President emeritus — said, “the American way of life is not negotiable.”
Mass slaughter of innocent people — including children — is collateral damage from our way of life. We are a Bushwhack Nation. “Shoot first, ask questions later.” In the poker game of American life, a Smith and Wesson beats five of a kind.
It's time to adopt a new national anthem. I suggest “Cold, Dead Fingers” written and sung by early Earth First! Montana cowboy troubadour Greg Keeler in his 1987 album, “Songs of Fishing, Sheep and Guns in Montana.” It goes like this:
“When they pry it out of my cold, dead fingers
I give up my gun
Lord it's heaven rolled into one barrel
and one barrel's better than none.
When I find something that bugs me
hell I know I'm in for some fun
because I can head for the Chevy
and I can whip out the gun
and I can sight her in gently
and when that thing starts to run
Don't ya know that I can put a little hole there
where there didn't used to be none
Cause when they pry it out of my cold, dead fingers
Lord it's heaven rolled into one barrel
and one barrel's better than none…
Supposin' I'm at home asleep
the kids and honey sleepin' too
and all of a sudden there's this
great big shadow on my window
talkin' Russian to some other shadows
What the hell am I going to do?
If I can't reach down beneath the bed
and grab that cold and shiny steel
and fill that shadow up with lead
and keep America strong
Cause when they pry it out of my cold, dead fingers
Lord it's heaven rolled into one barrel
and one barrel's better than none…
Had my 264 Magnum
the other day around dawn
When I spied me a gopher
just crossin' my lawn
so I adjusted the crosshairs
and it weren't very long
before I put a little bitty hole on one side
and the other side was all gone
Yes when they pry it out of my cold, dead fingers
Lord it's heaven rolled into one barrel
and one barrel's better than none…
* * *
We'll have to accept “Cold Dead Fingers” as our national anthem until we evolve beyond our current state of moral depravity. Until then the survivors will be those who build effective firewalls between themselves and the American way of life.
Cheers,
Don Morris
Skunktown/Willits
PS. “There is no happier animal than a gun dog and bird season. — Patrick Taylor, “An Irish Country Christmas”
"Chaos is the law of Nature. Order is the dream of man.” — Henry Adams
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SHE TOOK MY MEDS
Dear Editor,
Another complaint from the Mendocino County jail here in Ukiah.
This Tuesday morning while the majority of us inmates were asleep, over the intercom came the announcement, “mandatory yard.”
So everyone was forced to get out of their warm beds and stand outside in the morning chill.
This was enough to snap anyone wide-awake!
At the same time we were freezing our asses off outside, inside, “Commando” Sergeant Spears and her henchmen were tearing our rooms apart, looking for “contraband,” the highlight of their day.
Yes, I admit that I had an orange and two slices of bread to eat later.
But for the life of me I can't understand why Commando Sergeant Spears and her henchmen would consider a couple of extra bars of wafer thin soap and an extra bottle of shampoo to be “contraband"! It would seem she has something against hygiene. Well, I guess I'm lucky she left me one bar of wafer thin soap and a bottle of shampoo, baby size.
What really got me concerned about her intentions was realizing that this woman even took my packet of antibiotics which the nurse had given me for my infected finger!
I mean, taking the bread and orange is understandable, but taking my meditation? Well. What kind of Nazi does she think she is?
In the future when she has these god-awful days she should call in sick. Instead she comes to work and brings everyone down to her level of crankiness and misery. Oh well, they say misery loves company.
Concerned,
Eric Lincoln
Ukiah
PS. Commando Sergeant Spears: leave people's medications alone. Damn, you're not a doctor.
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JUST A MENTION
Editor,
I just read this today — not blinking on the sides of a dirigible, or as “smoke” from a sky-writer, or as the light-bulb headlines crawling by over Times Square or from the saddle of Paul Revere's sweating horse or on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter or NY Times Online or a screed by Noam Chomsky or Rachel Maddow. This is taken from the Feb. 9-15 issue of “The Economist” (American edition), p.8, “The world this week,” a page that holds 21 brief news items, this one number 16.
“China's government approved an income-distribution plan to tackle the growing wealth gap. The plan includes boosting minimum wages, loosening controls on interest rates and increasing spending on education and affordable housing. State-owned companies would also be required to hand over more of their profits to the government to help pay for the changes.”
Mitch Clogg
Mendocino
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WHAT A MESS
Mr. Anderson:
1. I am once again receiving the AVA within a week or less of its publication. I don’t know whom you threatened, but keep his phone number handy in case things regress.
2. I’ve loved Odd Bodkins since it appeared in the old, now defunct, National Lampoon. Does O’Neill also write the letters to the editor signed by Diana Vance?
3. I know we disagree on the source of the attacks on the WTC, so I appreciate your publication of the article about WTC 7.
My doubts about the government’s explanations of the WTC attacks are effectively summarized in two excellent DVDs: 911 Mysteries, Part 1: Demolitions, and Zero: 911.
The way the buildings collapse at freefall velocity into their own footprints, inconsistencies in reports on the identities of the hijackers, the ludicrous claim of the recovery of a passport, the hasty elimination of forensic evidence, the PNAC’s call for a “new Pearl Harbor” a year before the attacks, and the transformation of the United States into a virtual police state that is perpetually waging warfare across the planet — these are among the principal reasons I believe the whole mess was a false flag operation.
The United States government has been fabricating reasons for going to war at least since the War of 1812 — which despite all claims by US history books, the US lost. And I’m suspicious about the real reasons for the Revolutionary War. The wars with Mexico and Spain, the US involvement in the two “world wars,” Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq have all been facilitated by lies and by manipulated or bogus incidents.
Patriotism is as insidious as religion when it comes to blinding people.
Respectfully,
Louis S. Bedrock
Roselle, New Jersey
ms replies: Dan O’Neill is not Diana Vance. The WTC article wasn’t very convincing. Maybe I’ll explain why in an upcoming AVA. (But the official NTSC report has holes too.) We probably won’t know what really happened until after we’re dead. Of course, there have been pretenses for war in the past. The best book we’ve read lately on the run-up to the Revolutionary War (basically a “tempest” in a teapot tax protest that got out of hand) is “American Tempest” by Harlow Giles Unger. Written in very accessible language, Unger makes a decent case that we might have been better off staying part of England, not that it matters at this point.
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HURT FEELINGS
Editor,
So, I wonder if Pope Benedict's abdication was actually due to the scrutiny that may have well been coming his way since the recent report about Archbishop Mahoney (LA) being overruled by the Council of the Doctrine of the Faith, headed at the time by the man then known as Ratzinger, when he tried to bust pedophile priests?
Or maybe he saw that clever cartoon about him in the Ukiah Daily Journal and it hurt his feelings so much that he quit.
Sincerely,
John Arteaga
Ukiah
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OCCUPY LOCAL FORECLOSURES
Letter to the Editor;
Two recipients of Occupy Mendocino's letter campaign to 154 property owners in foreclosure showed up in front of the County offices and connected with Jed and C.J.on February 13, 2013. Also three Occupy Ukiah members and three of us from Occupy Mendocino as well as the AVA reporter, Bruce McEwen showed up, took notes and photos while we were outside the building. Two passersby, curious to know why we were standing there outside the County Offices. C.J. explained we were going to present forged documents to the Recorder. Interestedly, they accompanied us to the offices of Susan Ranochak when she came back about 2:45pm. Also the two homeowners in foreclosure, one from Mendocino and one from Ukiah accompanied us. They will bring their documents on their next trip.
As Jed offered his documents Susan gave her usual response with all nine of us as witnesses, which was that she is required to file the foreclosure document, regardless of the possibility it contained fraud. Jed said to her “By filing these documents you would be implicated in aiding and abetting fraud.” She said “it's not fraud until after it is filed, besides you should take your documents to the DA’s Office for an investigation of fraud.” Nevertheless the Recorder is filing foreclosures on mortgages that have known robosigners' signatures.
C.J asked Susan if there was money to do an audit how would the Recorder feel about that? Susan Ranochak said she would oversee the audit process and volunteers and they would be welcome to use the computers in her office. C.J. thanked her and we were off to the Court House to the DA's Office.
Although this was not a public meeting, the DA's three assistants took us Jed, C.J., Dan, Ann and me into the law library and listened to Jed who did a wonderful job explaining each document and evidence of robosigned signatures. He said he had filed a complaint to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (found on www.hofj.org) which put the foreclosure on delay. He also filed a Notary Complaint requesting a copy of his notarized document and sent the return mail as evidence of signature and Driver's ID to the CA Attorney General.
Jed explained the fraudulent/robosigned notarary signatures in each of his documents and that he did send copies of the Notary response to the State Attorney General who is interested in a Grand Jury Investigation.
The day before, Jed had received an encouraging email from District Attorney Eyster in which Eyster displayed a keen interest in fighting this foreclosure crisis, and hoped Jed's documents would give him the platform to take action.
C.J. wanted “An injunction against any further foreclosures.”
Jed explained that MERS is an electronic method of foreclosure and millions of dollars have not been paid to the county.This should be of importance to a Grand Jury investigation, but would not be revealed until an audit was done. The Home Owners Bill of Rights and the Consent Judgment of April 2012 has provisions for the Sheriff's Office, the District Attorney and the Recorder to investigate as well as money for an audit.
In Solidarity,
Agnes Woolsey and Jed Davis
Mendocino/Potter Valley
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SHE'S AVAILABLE
Editor,
I'm sure most of the population of the world, including the majority of Catholics, are unaware that the college of cardinals may elect anyone the next pope, and not necessarily one of their own members. Therefore, I would like to nominate my wife. As a woman with strong religious convictions, she is also a progressive who would bring the church into the 21st century. With unconditional love for people of all races, creeds and lifestyles, she would do more than just pray for peace in the world. And besides, she's married to an Italian American, which wouldn't hurt. Pope Judith the First has a nice ring. Are you listening, Rome?
Nick Daddio
San Francisco
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ELECTED BY US, NOT THEM
Dear Editor,
For far too long our school district has been run by the administration and teachers and not by the school board. We finally have a board that was mostly elected by its citizens, instead of a board appointed by the administration and (or) teachers. As a taxpayer who pays more taxes than the vast majority of people in this valley, I want the school board to be elected and to make decisions based on what they think is best for the school district. I have been disgusted by how administrators and tenured (aka can’t be fired) teachers decide how this school district is run, as well as other community matters. The board is there to represent the community and not to be bullied. In fact, if anyone starts disrupting school board meetings or talking out of order, they should be thrown out of the meeting. If we don’t have process and democracy, we are finished as a country.
Nick Rossi
Boonville
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HYPERBOLE
Editor,
Re: Bill Harper's excellent piece, The Ballerat Bandid—
“The western US may be the most liberal place on the planet to get guns.” Ha ha! Come on, bro, ever heard of Mogadishu or Peshawar? Seriously. Can you say “hyperbole”? I knew you could.
Christopher Marks
Birmingham
Bill Harper replies: Hyperbole n. an exaggerated statement used for effect and not meant to be taken literally. Note the suggestive nature of the verb “may.” As in “You may use your dictionary.” Also in using “liberal” I meant easy. Perhaps you could go to those places without a passport, kick down doors, steal guns and cars for 12 months and write and tell us how easy it was. I know you won’t.
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MEADOW CONVERGENCE
Editor,
An anonymous donor has offered Friends of Enchanted Meadow (FOEM) a matching grant of $15,000.00. This will help FOEM to purchase a 10 acre riparian corridor of forested land, located on the north side of the Albion canyon, and will connect two already established land trusts. The two trusts were deeded into preservation in 2008. Our intent in purchasing the additional 10 acres is to create a continuous green zone of approximately 125 acres, creating safe habitat for trees and fauna, and an area for scientific and educational study.
We would like to clarify some details in the “River Views” column of 2-6-13. The photo on our recent poster shows the lower portion of the ten acre parcel FOEM is fundraising for, as seen from the Half Moon Trestle. It shows the convergence of the Enchanted Meadow Wetlands Sanctuary with the proposed Albert Cattalini Conservancy. The name bestowed upon the meadow areas along the river by the Pomo is Tobah Teyah, “The Land of the Crooked River.” The name Enchanted Meadow was approved by the Board of Supervisors in 2008 in response to community efforts to preserve river and forest habitat.
FOEM has until the end of this year to raise the matching funds. We are reaching out to the community to help us attain our goal as soon as possible. All donations are tax deductible and will be doubled by the matching grant. For more information , including maps, check out our web site at www.friendsofenchantedmeadow.org. Please send donations large or small to Friends of Enchanted Meadow at P.O.B. 271, Little River, CA, 95456.
Many thanks,
Ellen Athens, Friends Of Enchanted Meadow
Albion
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ERMA'S GOING STRONG
Letter to the Editor:
Concerning the January 9, 2013 article “The Missing Baseball Pennant” by Zack Anderson:
I once officiated JV basketball games when Anderson Valley played Round Valley at Covelo during their three year undefeated Northwest League seasons from 1980-1983. I stayed as a fan and marveled at the varsity's unbelievable fast-break, scoring around 100 points in the smallest gym in Mendocino County (and maybe in California).
Zack describes Elma Crabtree perfectly as a kind, generous person. She has attended more sporting events than anybody in the history of Ukiah. On February 5, I went to see my granddaughter, Julia Vedolla, a Ukiah high school freshman, when Erma arrived to watch her granddaughter, Haley Higgens (varsity). Erma, at over 90 years of age, drove herself to the game and greeted everybody wonderfully with her beautiful smile.
Ray Whitaker
Hopland
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WAS IT KENDALL SMITH?
Editor,
On my way back from a Half Moon Bay road trip to play piano on the beach (via SF gate), I stopped at Starbucks for a quick caffeine fix for the last stretch to Fort Bragg. Parked next to me in Cloverdale was a Mendocino County staff car with a woman and her teenagers at two in the afternoon on February 6, 2013. I didn't know Cloverdale is now part of Mendocino County, did you? Must be nice to have the County pay to run your own trip errands.
All the best,
Will Street, “Performance Artist”
Ukiah
PS. Stopped at the Boonville Hotel for Boonville Bite Hard cider — great drink!
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IF IT RAINS
Editor and fellow AVAers,
“It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives.
Marriage has many pains, but celibacy has no pleasures.
Sir, a woman's preaching is like a dog walking on his hind legs.”
I don't smoke. And I don't drink. And I don't watch TV. When I was two it was Howdy Doody time. Now it's racial malarkey. And if I don't have a ROCKSTAR once a day, there's something wrong with me. Ha. I shall contact energy drink ROCKSTAR manufactured for ROCKSTAR Inc. in Las Vegas, Nevada to see if they will buy my commercial.
There was a robin sitting on the powerline today, it's spring, when the daffodils bloom.
Diana Vance, if it would rain,
Mendocino
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