Mendocino County Today: March 31, 2013

TOWN HALL MEETING: The Aurora Natural Gas Company has purchased the mineral rights for a large number of parcels in Anderson Valley, and will soon begin fracking operations. Fracking is a much misunderstood process whereby the underground rock formation is loosened to allow natural gas deposits to be collected and used to light our cities, heat our homes, and cook our food. Fracking is similar to a gardener using a spade to loosen the soil prior to planting. In general, fracking on one parcel does not affect the surrounding parcels. It should be noted that the product being collected is 100% natural gas. No artificial or genetically modified gases will be collected. Aurora will be hosting a town hall meeting at noon on Monday, April l at the Mendocino County Fairgrounds to discuss the details of this project. Please come and voice your support for this worthwhile project. Refreshments will be served. — Jay Eldee, Operations Director, Aurora Natural Gas

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IT'S BEEN MANY YEARS since I've read On The Road but take it from me the movie bears only a tangential resemblance to the book, and you've got to pay real close attention to even catch the tangent. It's a worse than terrible treatment of a seminal American novel which, as I recall it, conveyed the excitement of a country so various, so open to possibility that young people who read it, young people like me, wanted to jump into a car and drive off to see it all. I was so inspired I answered an ad to drive a car from San Francisco to Seattle and took off in a 1960 Buick with twenty bucks, if that. Some other time for that adventure, but On The Road was a big jolt to the imagination, an inspiration to get out there and see it at a time when you still went from distinct place to distinct place, not from one WalMart to the next in an unchanging vastness where the only thing that changes anymore is the weather. The movie version depicts vaguely estranged degenerates hugging each other every few minutes as if they'd been somewhere since the last hug. The only way you know they're a step up from morons is the occasional line from the book or, of all people, Proust. (I don't remember a Proust ref in On The Road but, as I said, it's been a long time since I read it.) The movie is by people who don't get it about a time they wouldn't have understood even if they'd been there. Hollywood doesn't do intellectuals well and, like it or not, the early beatniks were intellectuals, and On The Road is a great book. The film is a kind of blasphemy.

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INTERESTING how overt racism is making a kind of comeback. This ad has appeared on the side of SF Muni buses: “In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel. Defeat Jihad.”

THE IMPLICATION is, of course and obviously, that all Muslims are jihadis bent on flying airplanes into infidel high rises, or whatever they can get away with.

A WOMAN NAMED Pamela Geller representing a nutball Israeli group is the front person for the ads which, apparently, also run on New York City buses.

I WONDER if, say, someone or a group of someones paid Muni to run an ad saying “The Chinese are coming” with that quote from Mao tse Tung about political power emanating from a gun barrel. Or, “Jews are stealing Arab land in the settlements.” Pick an ethnic group and add a slam. And watch how fast the ad comes down, if it ever goes up.

THE WAY THE CITY handled Crazy Geller's ad? First the City said nothing can be done, then the City donated $5 thousand to its own phony Human Rights Commission to puzzle out if Geller's ad amounts to defamation.

THERE AREN'T MANY Muslims in SF, not enough anyway to stop blood libel, but the ad is a tiny example of how this kind of thing is tolerated, so long as the people libeled aren't numerous enough or organized well enough to effectively complain.

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AS IN the cretinous and, needless to say, a popular movie called End of Watch, which purports to be about LA cops and seems to have the approval of the LAPD. It's about two young cops, former Marines (as a former Marine I don't remember us being so witty, so all-round cool), who patrol a tough area of LA, encountering improbably evil Mexicans and a cartoon black thug and his “crew.” Black people are so relentlessly depicted as thugs and criminals black groups only get around to the most egregious depictions. Mexicans are coming on strong as all-purpose villains, all for the entertainment, I guess, of white viewers.

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PLEASE JOIN Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman and Steve Sparks on Sunday April 7th at the Mad Dog in the Fog. The event starts at 3 pm with the Book Signing and Q&A discussion following at 5:30 PM. The Q&A discussion will cover such topics as Mental Health, Gun Control and the Marijuana culture of Northern California and promises to be a thought provoking event. To view this invite, copy and paste this link into your browser: http://new.evite.com/l/IVZZA2HZYY

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NEED FOR SPEED CLOSURES — Mendocino County (Caltrans Press Release)

• Route 1 (19.0/19.5) – NFS Productions of Universal City has been issued a Caltrans Encroachment permit for filming near Windly Hollow Road beginning Thursday, April 4. Work hours are 7AM to 3PM. One-way traffic control will be in effect. Motorists should anticipate 15-minute delays. LC#P1EA

• Route 1 (33.4/33.9) – Replacement of the Greenwood Creek Bridge will continue. One-way traffic control with a temporary signal will be in effect 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. Motorists should anticipate 5-minute delays. Contractor – Golden State Bridge, Incorporated, of Martinez. LC#C1AA

• Route 1 (35.0/38.4) – NFS Productions of Universal City has been issued a Caltrans Encroachment permit for filming from Elk to 0.5 mile south of Navarro Bluff Road on Wednesday, April 3. Work hours are 9AM to 5PM. One-way traffic control will be in effect. Motorists should anticipate 30-minute delays. LC#P1EA

• Route 1 (37.3) – Slipout repairs 1.6 miles south of Navarro Bluff Road will continue. One-way traffic control with a temporary signal will be in effect 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. Motorists should anticipate 5-minute delays. Contractor – Green Right O'Way Constructors of Willits. LC#C1DA

• Route 1 (42.5/44.4) – Bridge painting at the Salmon Creek Bridge and the Albion River Bridge will continue. Work hours are 7AM to 4PM, weekdays. One-way traffic control with a temporary signal will be in effect 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. Motorists should anticipate 5-minute delays. Contractor – Jeffco Painting and Coating of Vallejo. LC#C1EA

• Route 1 (43.8) – NFS Productions of Universal City has been issued a Caltrans Encroachment permit for filming near the Albion River Bridge on Wednesday, April 3. Work hours are 6AM to 9AM. One-way traffic control will be in effect. Motorists should anticipate 15-minute delays. LC#P1EA

• Route 1 (47.5/54.9) – Metal beam guardrail repair at various locations from Little River Airport Road to Casper Vista Point will continue. Work hours are 7AM to 5PM, weekdays. One-way traffic control will be in effect. Motorists should anticipate 5-minute delays. Contractor – Coral Construction of Wilsonville. LC#C1EA

• Route 1 (71.3/83.8) – Metal beam guardrail repair at various locations from the Abalobadia Creek Bridge to the Hardy Creek Bridge will continue. Work hours are 7AM to 5PM, weekdays. One-way traffic control will be in effect. Motorists should anticipate 5-minute delays. Contractor – Coral Construction of Wilsonville. LC#C1EA

• Route 20 (33.2/40.9) – Metal beam guardrail repair at various locations from the south junction of Routes 20/101 to the Cold Creek Bridge #5 will continue. Work hours are 7AM to 5PM, weekdays. One-way traffic control will be in effect. Motorists should anticipate 5-minute delays. Contractor – Coral Construction of Wilsonville. LC#C20EA

• Route 101 (4.5/5.0) – Caltrans will perform slide repairs near the Korean War Veterans Memorial Bridge (near Frog Woman Rock). Northbound traffic will be restricted to one lane 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. Motorists may experience minor traffic slowdowns. LC#M101GA

• Route 101 (9.2/10.7) – Caltrans will perform routine maintenance from East Side Road to the Feliz Creek Bridge on Friday, March 29. Work hours are 8AM to 3PM. One-way traffic control will be in effect. Motorists should anticipate 10-minute delays. LC#M101GA

• Route 128 (0.0) – NFS Productions of Universal City has been issued a Caltrans Encroachment permit for filming near the junction of Route 1/128 on Wednesday, April 3. Work hours are 6AM to 9AM. One-way traffic control will be in effect. Motorists should anticipate 15-minute delays. LC#P128EA

• Route 128 (10.0/12.0) – NFS Productions of Universal City has been issued a Caltrans Encroachment permit for filming from 0.6 mile west of Navarro Ridge Road to Flynn Creek Road on Tuesday, April 2. Work hours are 11AM to 5PM. One-way traffic control will be in effect. Motorists should anticipate 15-minute delays. LC#P128CA

• Route 128 (16.9/20.2) – NFS Productions of Universal City has been issued a Caltrans Encroachment permit for filming from 0.5 mile east of Gschwend Road to Philo Greenwood Road on Tuesday, April 2. Work hours are 9AM to 11AM. One-way traffic control will be in effect. Motorists should anticipate 15-minute delays. LC#P128CA

• Route 128 (29.7/30.6) – NFS Productions of Universal City has been issued a Caltrans Encroachment permit for filming from 0.2 mile east of the junction of Routes 128/253 to the Robinson Creek Bridge on Tuesday, April 2. Work hours are 7AM to 9AM. One-way traffic control will be in effect. Motorists should anticipate 15-minute delays. LC#P128CA

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EDITOR: As a neighbor and opponent of the proposed Grist Creek Aggregates concrete batch plant proposed for 37342 Covelo Road, adjacent to Outlet Creek and two miles northeast of Highway 101, I was heartened to learn that the county has postponed until April 8 its decision on the company's environmental document.

If the county accepts Grist Creek's environmental document, the building of the plant, which endangers Outlet Creek, is virtually assured, provided no one appeals the decision before April 18.

Why did the county postpone its decision? More than 65 comment letters from the public, organizations and agencies have poured in to complain of the environmental hazards the concrete plant poses. The county planning department has given Grist Creek Aggregates, LLC, 60 days "to respond to comments on the draft environmental document."

Among the groups urging the county to reject the plan and its environmental document are the Sierra Club Mendocino Group, the Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC), Willits Environmental Center, and Friends of the Eel River.

"There are too many unanswered questions," the Sierra Club's Mary Walsh wrote the planning department in January. "In the light of climate change and other threats to the environment, every care must be taken to secure habitat for endangered salmon and other aquatic creatures. Outlet Creek does provide the longest remaining run for the endangered Coho salmon of any river tributary in the state of California."

The Sierra Club urged the county to demand a full environmental impact report on the project. Unless the county insists, the company doesn't have to provide an EIR because of a little-noticed 2010 rezoning decision that changed the old Northern Aggregates gravel pit site zoning from rangeland to industrial. Amazingly, sites in "industrial" zones don't have to conduct EIRs.

Do you want lumbering concrete and gravel trucks making an additional 48 trips a day down the dangerously narrow and twisty Covelo Road? Would you welcome the noise of a plant operating from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. seven days per week in a narrow canyon along a precious creek? Will the creation of few jobs offset the huge environmental risks the concrete bath plant poses to steelhead and Chinook salmon breeding grounds? I don't think so.

Adding insult to injury, without a permit, in 2011 the Grist Creek, which runs a gravel pit at the site and apparently considered the concrete plant a done deal, dug three gravel and cement truck cleaning ponds dangerously close to Outlet Creek. The ponds nearly spilled into the creek during December 2012 rains and would have overflowed if water had not seeped away through the berms into the creek. In January 2013, to make room for more rainwater, the Grist Creek emptied the ponds directly into the creek, threatening salmon spawning grounds. What if those ponds had been full of toxic filings, which they will be if the plant ever opens? This nonchalance about a delicate ecosystem comes from the same company that is precipitously close to persuading the planning department that their plant will have no serious impact on fish, wildlife, traffic, noise levels, creek water and air quality.

The problems keep on coming.

"Given the recent road collapse [of Highway 162]," Sierra Club's Walsh noted, "it must be considered that the infrastructure is aged, and that closer, proactive monitoring must be adopted. We cannot wait until infrastructure collapse forces the issue."

It's not too late to tell the planning department how you feel about the Grist Creek Aggregates concrete batch plant proposal. Public comment period is now over. But letting officials know where you stand may make them think twice. Together, we can protect one of Mendocino County's most precious natural resources. — Jane Futcher, Longvale

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KOOLADE!

DANIEL MACIAS is a Junior at Menlo College where he got a “free” ride based on his academics. His father Jose is the vineyard manager at Handley Vineyards. His sister Letitia is a Junior at AVHS. Daniel's GPA and entrance to Alpha Kai is a result of the strong educational foundation he received at AVHA and stands in direct contradiction to all of your mindless “rantings” about the lousy quality of learning and teaching AVHS. — Jerry Cox

Enclosed: Dear Mr. Cox, We are proud to invite you to Daniel Macias’ ceremony. Daniel currently stands among the top ten percent of students with a 3.8 or better GPA. For Daniel’s hard work and dedication, we have admitted him into the Alpha Chi Society. If you wish to attend, the ceremony will be taking place at Menlo College, April 17^th at 4:30pm. Ask for the building “Russell Center.” Please dress formally and enjoy the meal and refreshments. For more information and directions you may visit our webpage at Menlo College.edu or call Cindy McGrew at (650)-543-3940. Sincerely, Menlo College.

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RED CROSS TO HONOR UKIAH RESIDENT AUSTIN MORRIS and others. (Red Cross Press Release)

Annual Real Heroes Breakfast celebrates a decade of dedicated heroes —A young man risks his own life to save residents of a local apartment fire, a member of our armed forces inspires his community despite his injuries, and a social justice advocate's passion for education has made a great impact on prison inmates. These are just a few of the powerful stories that will be presented at the 10th Annual Real Heroes Breakfast. The American Red Cross, Sonoma, Mendocino and Lake Counties, is presenting this invitation-only event on Thursday, April 18. Registration begins at 7:00 a.m., and the program runs 7:30 to 8:45 a.m. The breakfast benefits the local Red Cross chapter and supports essential Red Cross services in three counties. It will be held at the Doubletree Hotel in Rohnert Park. More than 60 individuals from the three counties were nominated as heroes this year. More than 350 business and community members are expected to attend to honor the heroes. Those wishing to attend the fundraiser may call the Red Cross at (707) 577-7627. There is no set ticket price, but guests are encouraged to contribute the suggested minimum donation of $132, which represents $1 for every year the American Red Cross has been serving the American people. Emcee for the Real Heroes Breakfast is Debbie Abrams, radio personality at KZST 100.1. Honorary Chair is Steve Freitas, Sonoma County Sheriff. Platinum Sponsor for the Real Heroes Breakfast is Pacific Gas and Electric. Gold Sponsors are Jackson Family Wines, St. Joseph Health, and Wells Fargo. Silver Sponsors are American AgCredit and Amy's Kitchen. Bronze Sponsors are Eileen Adams, Kaiser Permanente, Medtronic, Merrill Lynch, Sonoma Raceway, and Sutter Medical Center of Santa Rosa.

Media Sponsors are KZST Radio, The North Bay Business Journal, The Press Democrat and The Ukiah Daily Journal.

A committee of community leaders chose the winners. Selection Committee members were: Frank Chong, PhD., President, Santa Rosa Junior College, Selection Committee Chair; Vince Albano, Chief Executive Officer, Mary's Pizza Shack; Travis Collier, Lieutenant Commander, United States Coast Guard; Tom Eakin, General Manager, Peter Michael Winery; Jitu Ishwar, Owner, Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriot (Ukiah, Mendocino County); Siri Nelson, Chief Administrative Officer, Sutter Lakeside Hospital (Lakeport, Lake County); Chris Smith, Columnist/Reporter, The Press Democrat; Maria Sundeen, Marketing & Communications Manager, American AgCredit; Significant in-kind donations have been contributed by Star Shots Photography, Roaring Mouse Productions and graphic designer Pat Delaplane.

Award-winning heroes and their stories:

Humanitarian Youth: Austin Morris, Ukiah

Then 17-year-old Austin Morris joined an environmental study with Project Kaisei on the 151-foot brigantine Kaisei. Standing night watch, he risked his own life to save the life of another student crew-member who had fallen overboard into the icy waters. The vessel was moving along in more than 30 knots of wind, and in heavy seas with 10-12 foot swells, and both could have been swept overboard to their deaths.

Law Enforcement: CHP Officer Adam Garcia, Lake County

CHP Officer Adam Garcia was the first to respond to a collision between Lower Lake and Hidden Valley. Upon arrival, he found one passenger outside of the smoldering car with two others trapped inside. He approached the vehicle as it became engulfed in flames, and proceeded to risk his own safety as he pulled each of the two victims to safety.

Medical: Dr. Paula Dhanda, Kelseyville, Lake County

As a young girl in Bombay, Dr. Paula Dhanda watched her father, a surgeon, serve the city's large indigent population, providing free medical care to those who could not pay. She now follows in his footsteps by providing women's health services to women in impoverished countries, and also trains and educates their local health providers to be able to serve their own communities better.

Military: Army Private First Class Stefan LeRoy, Santa Rosa

While in Afghanistan, Pfc. Stefan LeRoy risked his life while running to the aid of a wounded soldier. As he approached, he stepped on an improvised explosive device, which resulted in partial loss of both legs, and multiple other injuries. After the incident, his enthusiasm for life have led him to ski, compete in marathons, and swim with sea turtles in the Virgin Islands. His positive attitude is a true inspiration to others.

Rescue Professional: California Peace Officer/Lifeguard Tim Murphy, Bodega Bay

Lifeguard Tim Murphy saved the lives of three people struggling in rough surf at Wright's Beach. He first swam to a female having difficulty staying afloat, and secured her to a life tube. He then swam to a man and a young boy, secured them to the tube, and then while encouraging the three victims to stay alert, he towed them about 200 yards out to calmer waters until a Coast Guard boat arrived.

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MORE COMMENTS at last Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting discussing a letter of support for the Willits bypass.

SUPERVISOR JOHN PINCHES OPENING REMARKS: First of all, how many of you out there in the audience have actually read my letter? [Most hands appear to go up.] Okay, probably less than half of you. I'm going to read a letter so everybody knows where we are starting from here. This is addressed to Mr. Dougherty, the Director of Caltrans. “The reason for this letter is the continuous support for the Willits bypass project. Despite 14 years of environmental studies and six years to obtain the necessary permits from resource agencies the US 101 bypass of Willis remains a controversial project within a small segment of the local community. This letter is intended to remind you of the local need and commitment to the conclusion of this project. Since the first studies were underway in the Mendocino Council of Governments, the Willits City Council and the County boards of supervisors have each consistently endorses the Willits bypass. Additional backing has come from counties to the north. Furthermore, the California Transportation Commission unanimously supports the funding for this project. At this time the public process for the Willits bypass has concluded and the construction phase has begun. Please work with the appropriate agencies and take the necessary actions to allow the contractor and their employees to move forward without further delays and additional unnecessary cost to the taxpayers.” This letter was originally, basically, proposed in response to a letter by Senator Noreen Evans, basically having questions about the scope and the need of the project. I find it ironic that Noreen Evans' staff members through, we call them the deal meetings, which is transportation projects done by Caltrans in both Lake and Mendocino counties, has always had a staff person at these meetings. These meetings are hosted by district director Charlie Fielder which happen every other month, going on for years, I've been sitting in them for over six years, and their staff people has been there, and this meeting is hosted by director Charlie Fielder and that's what they're all about. It's to talk about issues and concerns with construction projects within Mendocino and Lake counties. Even as late as, I believe the last meeting was March 6, there was no questions about the Willits bypass by Ms. Evans' representatives at those deal meetings and also they've always been attending those meetings for years and years going back! It's hard to include everything I want to say safely, but let's talk about Fortuna, Garberville, Piercy, Leggett, Cummings, Ukiah, Calpella, Cloverdale, Geyserville, Healdsburg, Santa Rosa, Petaluma — those are all towns that have been bypassed in my lifetime. The Willits bypass is probably the last one because it's complicated and it's the largest, a larger project. There was land bought for the Willits bypass back in the 60s! It's been sitting there. But this letter from Noreen Evans, another thing I find ironic about this letter, the same week that she proposed letter asking these questions to Caltrans, she voted for $8.6 billion for high-speed rail funding and she never had a question. It's a project that's never even going to come to her senatorial district, but yet she has all these questions about the Willits bypass. This bypass has gone through several state senators, she never even called the district or me or anybody else, or boards of supervisors, city council members, or MCOG executives, Director Phil Dow, I mean it's a little bit too late for this. We are in the construction phase of the project. I know it's tough for a lot of you folks, you don't want to hear that but that's the fact. We are in the construction phase of the project. Another point I'd like to bring out is the all the properties acquired for the Willits bypass project went through negotiated agreements with the real estate, there was no eminent domain process used in this whole project. So all the costs for the project from the landowners was taken, they had a negotiated sale, there was no eminent domain, nobody took anybody's property, in this whole process. I could go on and on and on. I've been a strong supporter of this project. All the councils, all the Boards of Supervisors, going back to at least 1995 when I actually got first involved with this project, have supported this project. The arguments wasn't about getting the project going, the arguments were about committing all of our STIP money to the funding and everything. Point Arena had questions years ago about how come we are taking our county STIP money and putting it all towards the Willits bypass? But cumulatively that was a decision that we all made in California with all of your elected representatives to move forward with Willits bypass project because it was such an important project. We had some problems with the funding gap with CTC, the funding was pulled and then went back and forth, I have a newspaper article here, this is the January 6, 1998 edition of the Willits News. It says '1998, funding clinched for the Willits bypass.' We all know funding came and went, there have been a lot of problems, but it was never about the scope and the need of the project, it was always about the funding. As recently as a year and a half ago we committed $2.1 million of our STIP funding to the Willits bypass. Everybody, including your reps from Willits voted for it! That was as recently as a year and a half ago. One year ago. Now that the project has started, we are in the construction phase. To say that — we started out with 17 routes which were studied and discussed at the community center in Willits, 17 different routes that were studied. Actually it's 18 because underneath CEQA, the no-build option has to be proposed. But no-build wasn't an option. So we started out with 17 different routes to go. They were all basically thrown out. Then we got to this last one and we had to deal with the Corps of Engineers, we got the permits from them, and that was the last permit to obtain. But we are in the construction phase. There is a project going on right today. So my point is that after about 14 years, the public process has to come to a close and we are building it.

JUDY BURDIS: I'm an occupational therapist and a resident of Willits. I'm a photographer and painter. I came here in 1990 from the bucolic area of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, full of big trees and canoeable rivers. I want to talk about asthetics and tourism and I want to ask a question about my water well. Last Thursday I was at milemarker 49.39 at the north end of Willits at the 40 acre interchange area photographing tule elk that come down from the Brooktrails-Sherwood Road area to graze on the fresh spring grass at the wetlands at the north end of Little Lake Valley, which actually used to be a little lake. I want to talk about the lack of wildlife corridors. They are going to be building the six-mile bypass on 20 foot high earthen berms that they are taking from Oilwell Hill and piling up berms and putting the freeway on top of it except for a mile or so of viaduct over Commercial Street and Valley Street. While I was out there photographing the tule elk their were deer skeletons laying near the road and I asked one of the people I was with, Eeek! what is that? And they said that's a deer skeleton because all the deer come down here and get hit because there is a little turn in the road on 101 there. They just leave the skeletons there. There is a lot of wildlife coming down from the hills to the wetlands. The wetlands feed a lot of wildlife, and a lot of birds, a lot of amphibians, and a lot of us, spiritually. I'm a painter, I'm a photographer, I paint those old barns. I take pictures of those old trees in the snow. I urge you to consider two options: one is that there is an option for routing truck traffic around Willits by going down the railroad 150-foot corridor or which will accommodate a road and the railroad, and by connecting Railroad Avenue, Baechtel Road and Shell Avenue as a through-town option for north-south traffic. We don't need a behemoth in our valley. It will ruin the aesthetics. There is a better way. It's not a done deal. There is still money that Caltrans needs to get for their mitigations, to not build the project.

LINNEA DUE: I've lived in Laytonville since 2001. I've seen how many people in Laytonville and Willits support our supervisor. I voted for John Pinches myself. Most of the opposition to this bypass comes from the people of Laytonville and Willits. To me this bypass is truly ill-planned and unnecessary. I want to respond to one thing you said, Supervisor Pinches, in your opening remarks which is that there was nearly unanimous support in these meetings. I went to a number of meetings about the bypass, probably 1.5 to 2 years ago when there were public hearings. I found unanimous support against the bypass. There were a lot of environmental issues brought up. Frankly, I felt that after all the studies were made and it showed a great majority of the traffic was going to Brooktrails and would not even be impacted by the bypass, that the whole thing was dead in the water. So I think there were a lot of people like me who were really shocked when it suddenly started up again and when this money was found. To me you have abandoned your own constituents. I think this project is completely cynical and it's all about federal highway money and temporary jobs. It's a disaster to Little Like Valley and to Willits itself and it's going to create environmental and economic devastation. You should be standing with the people who have supported you for decades.

LISA ASWELL: I'm speaking on behalf of the earth who cannot speak for herself. I'm speaking from my heart. This planet is a living, breathing, intricate system that we are all privileged to be part of. She provides everything we need, but we have simply taken too much without giving it up back. She is sick. She is dying. How would we treat a human in a similar state? Would we disregard, harm, and exploit them in their darkest hour, or would we land our hand in a gesture of selfless love, service and respect? Where is our compassion for Mother Earth? The stewards of this land would be horrified by what we have done. They respected the delicate web that bonds all living things together in the tree of life. The cutting of one branch affects every individual in the entire system because we are all interconnected, interwoven. We must look beyond the illusion of separation and realize that there is no I, only we. Now is the time for humanity to nurture this great tree instead of cutting it down and treating it like a lifeless resource to exploit. Now is the time to be mindful and taking only what you need of its fruit, no more, no less. Every action that we take as a species must consider this truth: when you drop a stone into waters, you create ripples on the service that reach out unknowingly affecting many lives and those ripples eventually come back to you in time. The Willits bypass is a microcosm of the ecological destruction taking place globally. If the bypass is constructed it will essentially act as one more nail in our collective coffin. Other alternatives are available and we must consider these alternatives for the sake of the earth, ourselves, our children and all living things linked together in the tree of life.

MICHAEL HACKELMAN: I'm a Willits resident. I'm a Vietnam veteran, I did three tours of duty in Vietnam. While I was there, I studied nuclear engineering and my talk is along that line. Question: Are you aware that the Caltrans bypass of Willits, even as two lanes, will illuminate the last obstacle to the inclusion of a Highway 101 corridor to Eureka as a connector feed too STRAHNET. That's an acronym, STRAHNET. The Strategic Defense highway system, 61,000 miles long. This enables shell loads, basically oversized, long or heavy loads of all types including toxic materials, nuclear waste, and military equipment to pass through Willits virtually unabated. Second question: are you aware that Caltrans estimates that 1500 truckloads of nuclear waste per year are arriving by sea at Humboldt Bay for transport to Yucca Mountain and other nuclear waste facilities? This is 4.5 truckloads per day. What percentage of this is going to come this way? Caltrans has just announced that it plans to fix the bottleneck at Highway 20 west intersection — gosh it's amazing that they didn't say this before — on 101 and west on Highway 20. Once the Caltrans bypass — they will do that, once the Caltrans bypass is approved and funded. Why is a $100,000 solution trumped in favor of a $250 million project claiming to mitigate the same traffic issues?

LISA VON SCHLEGEL: I live in the Willits Valley. I lived near Willits for almost 20 years. I've raised two children there. I'm a software developer. I work in Willits. The scale of this project is so disproportionate to the actual problem as to be almost laughable. The ecological, the economic, and the agricultural damage it is going to do is just simply not worth it. Other people have and will speak more specifically to that. Since I live outside of the town of Willits, you are my representatives in this. I'd like you to imagine that when you decide not to send this letter that you live in Willits. I know people on both sides of the issue. Many, many people do not support it. The idea that there's only a few people, a few vocal people, who, unlike myself, are brave enough to go up in a tree, or stand by the road with a sign, I'm not going to do that. But it's a very important issue to me and I asked that you listen to them.

NANCY HORACHS: When I first moved to Willits in 1988 there was a man standing on the roadside with a sign that said Stop the bypass. True. In the 1990s I went to all these Caltrans meetings. Representatives came to Willits and basically sneered at the community groups who presented carefully considered options and who asked for more reasonable alternatives to the destructive mega-bypass. I read Mr. Pinches letter. I think if the majority of the people knew the truth about this dangerous, two-lane, elevated mega-bypass and could actually see the devastation that it could cause, they would all demand a more reasonable alternative. But right now if you ask people in Willits, a lot of them don't know that there will be no exits in Willits. A lot of them don't know that it starts far south and ends far north of Willits and both of those entrances and exits are dangerous. It would be as if Ukiah had access on Boonville Road and on Lake Mendocino and nothing in between — that's how Willits will be. I am not going to address the environmental issues which are dear to my heart because there are lots of people who can. But I do know that the people of Willits have been ill-informed. There will be very few jobs for a few men for a few years, that's it. Big corporations bring in their own people and the demostrators from Santa Rosa proved that. Yes, there may be a boom, but when this boom is over we will be left with a horribly devastated valley, destroyed wetlands created by years of noise, pollution, heavy truck construction traffic and for what!? Destruction. A dead town. And an unfinished mega-bypass. Millions of public transportation dollars will be lost that could have been put to better use. I don't believe that that's what the people of the Willits area want. And I can't bear to see it. I depend on you not to send that letter.

JAMIE CHEVALIER: I work for a local Willits business and I live in the Willits Valley. You are my representatives. So I beg that you would hear me and my fellow citizens in our need. People in Mendocino County expect that we all want a certain independence. I guess I'm shocked to find this letter supporting a huge outside bureaucracy in its fight against our local people. And our local economy. They make decisions, we reap the damage. We will be reaping that damage for decades. Whether it's the de-watering of our aquifer, which is the word they use, whether it's the 20-some jobs that Caltrans itself estimates we will lose, whether it's the huge loss of land to be ranch and thus the number of people who can be ranchers, whether it's the loss of tax revenue for our city, because of jobs going down and costs of maintaining the streets going up, or whether it's the damage to local contractors who even already have been used as fall guys trapped in contracts that force then into having to pay regulatory fines. They make the decisions, we reap the damage. I beg you: put a stop to it.

PAUL ROGERS: I'm from the Willits Valley. Just the first sentence in this letter, 14 years of environmental studies and 6 years of obtaining the necessary permits — but there's been no safety study done on the two-lane bypass. There is a safety study on the four-lane bypass not — hey! — it's taken us over 50 years to get the money for a two-lane bypass, so who says we are going to get it to build a four lane one? You can support that? A non-safe highway? And to say it's a small minority, please! When Mr. Pinches asked how many people read this letter, the majority of the people raised their hands and yet he said it was less than half. So I'm sorry, do not support this.

WILLIAM WHITE: Thank you for this opportunity to be here. I came to the community Willits 25 years ago. One of the reasons was that I heard it was the last pristine agcultural valley in California. I live in the valley. There's a farm next to us raising cattle across the way, and sheep down the road. It's paradise to me. So I took it upon myself to help, to be a soldier in this anti-Caltrans bypass effort. So I have been doing tabling. I would like to tell you some of my experiences. I have tabled outside stores and the post office and, including online signatures, we have almost 3000. The people that come out to the table often are not so advised about what she really an going on. I have a table and I have a map, a colored map of the Caltrans bypass, and when I show them — they want to know what the alternative would be and I sort of sketch it out with my finger. So there is the proposed bypass by Caltrans, and I point out to them that it's six miles long, it will take six years to build, it's about two stories high, about 20 feet, and it stretches out into the valley, disturbing about 1200 acres of agricultural land. And it has no offramp to Highway 20. And they say, what?! No what? Excuse me? No Highway 20 connection? And that really stops them. And I tell them that 70% of the traffic is local. A lot of it goes to the coast on Highway 20. So it's going to have to come down to Main Street, from 101, to the Highway 20 intersection exit regardless, because the proposed bypass has no offramp for Highway 20. So it's not about Willits. It's not about traffic. It's just getting through. I also tell them that the 30% of the traffic that does come out of the north side of the town, those numbers have actually diminished in the last five years. So those are the statistics and I'm telling you jaws drop. And people sign. And we have almost 3000 signatures now including online.

CAROL ORTON: I live in Willits. I've been there for over 35 years. I have pictures and a map for you to look at. There is no dispute that an alternate truck route must be developed around and through Willits. There are a lot of small towns if you drive around the state of California you will see "alternate truck route" signs in lots of lovely places. I want one of those signs north and south. The picture I just handed out shows a highway that was built in San Francisco in the 1950s that turned out to be the wrong one. Some of you may have been around for that. That freeway was supposed to connect the Bay Bridge with the Golden Gate Bridge running along the waterfront. It was built around 8 feet away from the majestic Ferry Building. It was so horrific to the people of San Francisco that they staged what is now known as the freeway revolt. Petitions was signed, marches were held. And so forth. And in 1991 it was torn down to again reveal the Ferry Building. I say this to encourage you to realize that it is not too late to pause and examine alternatives. Some of the alternatives could be implemented virtually overnight such as restriping the Highway 101/20 intersection. I didn't give you a map of that, you can come to Willits and see for yourself. A roundabout at this location could certainly be built in a shorter time than it would take to complete the massive current projected bypass. Roundabouts make traffic flow continuous and relieve the emissions from stop and go traffic. The little map I gave you modeling the Baechtel Road alternate route is actually not that map, that map shows a half mile of roadway at the railroad crossing which would give us two lanes for an alternate truck route right through Willits. In Willits a railroad easement is 150 feet wide and wider in some places and there is plenty of room for both a two-lane truck route and two sets of trails, plus the rails, we can probably get some trails in there too. This alternate truck route will not require the removal of any buildings. It will take a bit of time to construct, but meanwhile we can relieve an enormous amount of traffic by doing the restriping. Willits has waited long enough for good leadership and relief can come sooner with good alternatives. Think alternative truck route. Vote alternative truck route. Build an alternative truck route.

PHIL DOW, Mendocino Council of Governments. The US 101 bypass at Willits has been the number one highway improvement priority for the Mendocino Council of Governments for over three decades. It has been supported consistently by the MCOG board, the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors, the Brooktrails board, and the City of Willits. There is also a long-standing support from Humboldt County Association of Governments, the city of Eureka, the city of Arcata, the city of Fortuna and former Congressman Thompson. Controversy over this project continues because opponents of the project continue to circulate legitimate concerns regarding this project, but fail to acknowledge that these concerns have been addressed. In many cases years ago. These concerns have been addressed to the extent that the three permitting agencies responsible for resource protection, the North Coast Water Quality Control Board, the California Department of Fish and Game, and the US Army Corps of Engineers are satisfied and have issued necessary construction permits. The public process for the project was long and grueling, but it is complete. The environmental documents were certified in 2006. Permits and construction funding were secured one year ago. And construction is now underway. I respectfully caution the Board of Supervisors from engaging in debate on the merits of the project when the appropriate period for debate has long since expired. Applicable procedures had been followed and construction is now underway. Just one other word, I know that there are petitions going around. In 2007, then commissioner of the California Transportation Commission, Jim Giometti, said he received 30 or 40 letters regarding this particular bypass project and he was concerned about it and he asked if there was any local support and in just a two-week period I called some people up, supporters of the project, and they delivered almost 600 letters and I still keep these copies right here. So there is widespread support for the project as well.

KIM BANCROFT: I'm a former teacher. I have had property in Willits for 25 years. Finally, two years ago I decided to move to lovely Willits to enjoy a different way of life. Since then, I have become one of the informed people who understand now why we are against the bypass. For 20 years, I asked people, what's happening with the bypass? Oh, it's never going to happen. It's tied up in court cases. There is a lot of controversy. They'll never get funding, it's too expensive. So people thought it wasn't going to happen. And that's one reason why it has come to this point when we are finally learning what is happening. And I was one of the ignorant ones until I found out six weeks ago, or eight weeks ago, when Warbler got up in that tree very bravely to say to the world, we must stop an injustice that is going to happen to this town. I had no idea what the bypass was about. You have heard from all the people in this room about the scientific impact, the environmental impacts, the economic impact, the 55,000 drilling holes or wick drains was the one that really got to me and the emptying of the water table in what was Little Lake Valley. But aside from that, all these people have spoken to those points so I don't need to reiterate them. There is a lot of anger here about the trees coming down, the lives that are impacted. When you say it's a done deal, that feels too many of us like the Nazis marching through with the tanks. Seriously, looking at what's going to happen to the hillsides, to the water table comedy cement trucks, I stood up once a week holding signs on the freeway under Warbler's tree. And people would either flip me off or support. People flipping me off and giving me the thumbs down was one out of six. That's a very unscientific response. But I saw a lot of support for the people who were protesting the bypass. I don't think we've even begun to hear all of the voices of the people in Willits who are just beginning to learn, as people here have said, about what this bypass means. We certainly didn't know. This is just the beginning of an opportunity for a new period to have public comments and a new hearing to develop an understanding of what's going to happen once we see the actual trucks come through, the chainsaws take the tree down and lives that are impacted. Thank you.

ROSE JEAVONS: I am 13 years old. To prepare for this meeting today I read the mission statement for the Board of Supervisors. Some in the audience may not know it. So I will share it with you now. “The Mendocino County Board of Supervisors mission is to create and maintain a responsive and responsible government that enhances the quality of life of the people of Mendocino County. The county's mission is to deliver services that meet public safety, health, social, culture, education, transportation, economic and environmental needs of our communities.” I've also studied the precautionary principle which is Mendocino County policy number 43, part E. It says that you are supposed to look at all the available options, assess the long and short-term costs and benefits to the health and the natural environment and ask, Is the potentially harmful activity necessary? What less harmful options are there? How little damage is possible? The current bypass design is the worst possible option for the people and the environment of Mendocino County. Anyone truly studying the facts can see that it is an environmental disaster of catastrophic proportions. Caltrans admits that it will cause the failure of about 20% of the businesses in Willits which means the loss of jobs, tax revenue and quality of life. Caltrans even says that the bypass will not solve the traffic problem for which it is designed because Highway 101 and Highway 20 intersection will be a disaster. And that is a great part of what is causing the problem. I have read the letter to the Caltrans director that you would like to gather support for today. If you support that letter you will be voting against the precautionary principle that is supposed to guide your decisions. If you support the letter you will be voting for great harm to the Willits economy and you'll be voting to destroy the environment of the Willits Valley. This bypass is Darth Vader and Lord Valdemort, ready to destroy all in its path. I believe this is your last chance to stand up for what is right. I urge you to take this last opportunity to do what is right for the people and the environment that you have been voted in to represent and protect. Do not approve this letter to the Caltrans director. Let your Jedi knight do what is right. Revoke your support for the bypass. And as you pass your vote please remember this: no matter how far down the wrong path you have traveled it is never a too late to turn back.

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RESOURCES SECRETARY USES SNOW SURVEY TO RUSH CORPORATE WATER GRAB

by Dan Bacher

Secretary for Natural Resources John Laird cynically used the release of the latest Sierra Nevada snow survey on March 28 to campaign for the construction of the peripheral tunnels through the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, just as he has done every spring since being appointed by Governor Jerry Brown.

Snow surveyors reported Thursday that water content in California’s snowpack is only 52 percent of normal, with the spring melt season already under way, according to the Department of Water Resources. After a record dry January and February in much of the state, DWR has decreased its water delivery estimate from 40 to 35 percent of requested amounts from the State Water Project (SWP).

With today’s snow survey, the table has been set for yet another very dry year,” gushed Laird, who presided over record water exports and a record fish kill at the Delta pumps in 2011. “Add to that pumping restrictions imposed this winter because of vulnerable smelt and salmon populations, and it is clear that the security of California’s water supply is threatened.”

“The realities of nature point to the urgent need to continue work on the Bay Delta Conservation Plan, the Brown administration’s effort to secure the water supply for 25 million Californians and reverse over a century of environmental degradation in the Delta,” Laird claimed. “Advancing this large-scale public investment will provide long-term security for our economy and environment.”

Without a hint of irony, Laird said, “We also ask that every Californian do their part by conserving water every day. Take a shorter shower, be mindful of how long your sprinklers run, and fix that leaky faucet!”

While asking Californians to “fix that leaky faucet,” Laird failed to acknowledge the millions of acre feet of water that the peripheral tunnels will waste on irrigating drainage-impaired corporate agribusiness operations on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley and on fracking for oil and natural gas in Kern County and coastal areas.

Laird and Governor Jerry Brown are fast tracking the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) to drain the Delta in spite of massive opposition by fishermen, family farmers, tribal leaders, grassroots enviromentalists, elected officials and the vast majority of Californians. The peripheral tunnel plan is proceeding forward without any approval by the voters because the Brown administration knows that the project would be overwhelming defeated by the voters just like the peripheral canal was in 1982.

The tunnel plan is simply a corporate water grab by agribusiness, oil companies and Southern California water agencies. The “habitat restoration” in the plan is added as an afterthought by state officials to green wash the destruction of the largest estuary on the West Coast of the Americas.

The construction of the North Delta intakes for the tunnels will spread the carnage of Central Valley Chinook salmon, steelhead and other fish species north to the Sacramento River while the massive fish kills at the state and federal water pumping facilities will continue.

How can we trust the state and federal governments to construct state- of-the-art fish screens on the new intakes, as they have claimed they will do, when they have failed to install them, as required under the CalFed process, at the existing pumps in the South Delta?

And how can we possibly trust an administration that presided over record exports and massive fish kills at the Delta pumps to suddenly transform itself into a “green” administration that cares about fish, the Delta and the public trust?

Between 2000 and 2011, more than 130,000,000 fish were “salvaged” in the massive state and federal pumps diverting water south, according to a white paper written by Bill Jennings, Executive Director of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA). Considering that recent studies point out that 5 to 10 times more fish are lost than salvaged, the actual number of fish lost could be 1.3 billion or higher.

Record water amounts of water were exported from the Delta under the Brown administration in 2011 — 6,520,000 acre-feet, 217,000 acre feet more than the previous record of 6,303,000 acre feet set in 2005 under the Schwarzenegger administration. The massive diversion of water resulted in the record “salvage” of nearly 9 million splittail, a fish formerly listed under the Endangered Species Act and delisted during a political scandal under the Bush administration, and over 2 million other fish.

As Laird advises us to “take a shorter shower, be mindful of how long your sprinklers run, and fix that leaky faucet,” he and Governor Jerry Brown are fast-tracking a pork barrel boondoggle that will deliver millions of acre feet of water to corporate agribusiness, southern California water agencies and oil and gas companies while pushing Central Valley chinook salmon, steelhead and Delta fish populations over the abyss of extinction.

While Laird and other state officials are promoting the threat of “drought” as justification to build the peripheral tunnels just as Schwarzenegger administration officials did every spring from 2008 to 2010, most key storage reservoirs are above or near historic levels for the date despite the dwindling snowpack.

“Thanks to November and December storms, Lake Oroville in Butte County, the State Water Project’s principal storage reservoir, is at 108 percent of its average level for the date (83 percent of its 3.5 million acre-foot capacity),” according to DWR. “Shasta Lake north of Redding, the federal Central Valley Project’s largest reservoir with a capacity of 4.5 million acre-feet, is at 102 percent of its normal storage level for the date (82% of capacity).”

It must be understood that the peripheral canal or twin tunnels won't create any new water - they will only take more water from senior water rights holders on the Delta, Sacramento Valley and Trinity River, at a tremendous cost to fish, fishermen, Indian Tribes and family farmers.

“If I took a cup of snow from Washington, DC back home with me and dumped it in the Delta, it would create more new water than the peripheral canal,” Congressman John Garamendi (D-Walnut Grove) recently quipped on his facebook page.

Rather than promoting a tunnel project that could cost Californians up $60 billion while driving salmon and other fish to extinction, Laird should take a hard look at the “Reduced Exports Plan,” an alternative plan to the tunnels developed by the Environmental Water Caucus. This plan demonstrates how water supply reliability can be improved while reducing exports from the Bay Delta Estuary. This plan includes a unique combination of actions that will open the discussion for alternatives to the currently failed policies that continuously attempt to use water as though it were a limitless resource.