Mendocino County Today: Saturday, April 29, 2023

Mostly Sunny | Rhododendron | AVUSD Update | Scholarship Winner | Dog Attack | Lost Drone | Domestic Violence | Abbondanza | Mendocino Meeting | Elk Coast | Skunk Not | Red Carpet | Dem Club | Roofers | AVCSD Teleconference | Wagner Show | Variety Show | Lady Walking | Mandingo Band | Ed Notes | Eagle Stable | Yesterday's Catch | Human Suffering | Glass Beach | Marco Radio | Blackberry Festival | Kings Win | Bob Kaufman | Farmed Salmon | Damn Muskets | Woman's Right | Wayward Sons | Pursuing Tucker | Old Dog | Ukraine | Force Himself | Coronado's Quest | Harper Lee | Nuclear Advocacy | Phones Down | Civil War | Mirror Image | We Earthlings | Tree Huggers | Kennedy Interview | Circus Kids

DRY CONDITIONS and above normal temperatures will persist across interior areas of Northwest California today. Elsewhere, coastal areas will experience low clouds as well as drizzle tonight. After Saturday, a cooling trend will take place Sunday through the middle of next week, with showers and possible thunderstorms developing across the region during the period of cooler weather. (NWS)

AVUSD WEEKLY UPDATE

With all of the wonderful rain and vegetation, we are mindful of a potential fire season.  The District has been refining plans for an evacuation.  Bus drivers have been assigned to service sites.  Buses are equipped with water, emergency toilets, cell phone battery chargers, and district contact lists.  Bus drivers are instructed to go THE OPPOSITE direction of the fire. If the fire is heading from Navarro towards Yorkville, students will be evacuated first to the “gravel pits” and then to Cloverdale if required.  If the fire is coming from Yorkville towards Navarro, then buses will head to the Navarro Store and continue towards the coast if necessary.   This is, of course, situational depending on the details of the emergency event.

In the event of a site evacuation related to a localized fire or gas leak at a school site, the  evacuation location would be at the fairgrounds.

For all evacuations, it is important that your emergency cards note those individuals designated to pick up your child in an emergency.  Your taking the time to do that in advance IS VERY HELPFUL.

The other unlikely event is a security event such as a lockdown. IN THE EVENT OF A LOCKDOWN, THERE ARE TWO IMPORTANT THINGS YOU CAN DO.  Most importantly, please do not come to school.  EMS are going to need the roads.  Go to the fairgrounds which is the designated reunification point.  Secondly, please don’t call the school.  School personnel are going to be working hard to secure students and the site, not answering the phones.  A staff member will start messaging instructions, as soon as we possibly can.  Help everyone respond by following these guidelines and the outcome will be the best it can be in the event of an unlikely situation.

I want to congratulate the elementary site on a wonderful open house.  It was great to see families celebrating their student’s achievements.  Ms. Michael’s beautiful student art projects and books were also on display.  Three more family members trained for the Panther Volunteer Squad that night too.  That brings our total to five and growing!

We have numerous positions open in the district.  Stop by the District Office or check out Edjoin!

Many staff members participated in Narcan training this week, as we seek to be ready in the event we have a student that needs support.  Please join us for our Parent/Guardian Drug and Bullying Task force on May 11 at 6:00 at the high school gym. Please let the offices know you will be coming, so we have enough food.  Students are welcome.  Robbie Lane is also presenting two assemblies on May 12 in the afternoon that families are welcome to attend.

The District received two big grants this week. Hats off to Melanie Pardini and Leigh Kreienhop for the kitchen equipment  grant that we hope will support the elementary school cafeteria reconfiguration.  We also received a high school after school grant in the amount of $111,000 to create academic support and enrichment.

Thank you to the parents that attended the Dual Enrollment night.  Good information was shared about creating opportunities for students. If you have a student interested in our summer program for Mendo College have them see Chris Howard.

Our summer school deadline is TODAY for transportation.  Please contact the office.  We will accept later reservations, but the bus routes won’t be revised after today’s reservations, so please RSVP.

Our new website, featuring an auto translate button, attendance reporting, and one touch hot topic buttons will debut soon!

Have a wonderful week!

Yours truly,

Louise Simson, Superintendent

BOONVILLE ANDERSON VALLEY FUTURE FARMERS OF AMERICA

Congratulations to Carmen Malfavon! She has won a National FFA Scholarship in the amount of $5000 sponsored by TSC!

Carmen plans to become a large animal veterinarian!

We are so proud of her!

TWO WOMEN ATTACKED BY DOGS IN FORT BRAGG

On Saturday, April 22, 2023, at approximately 11:33 AM, officers responded to the report of a dog bite. When the first officer arrived, he located an adult female with a severe wound to her forearm and a bite wound to her face. He immediately began first aid in an effort to control the bleeding. 

A bystander approached and informed the officer a second victim was still in the backyard. The officer went to back of the house and located a second adult female sitting on top of a large container indicating she felt like she was going to pass out. The second victim had visible, severe injuries to her hands and arms. She told the officer the dogs were all inside the additional dwelling unit (ADU) she was in front of, but the door was still open. The officer looked in and saw two large dogs attacking a third large dog. He closed the door, trapping the dogs inside. The officer then assisted the second victim to the front, where a second officer and Community Service Officer began rendering first aid to control the bleeding until a second ambulance arrived. 

The first victim was transported to a local hospital, where she has since been released after treatment. The second victim, who had three of her fingers and arm mutilated was airlifted to an out-of-area hospital in an effort to save her arm and fingers. At the most recent update as of today, doctors were successful at reattaching her fingers and were able to save her arm. 

During the investigation it was learned the second victim, who was related to the dogs’ owner and very familiar with the dogs, entered the backyard through a gate. Two of the dogs immediately attacked her. While being bitten and trying to flee, she began screaming. The first victim, who was in the house, heard the screams and tried to intervene. She, too, was bitten repeatedly. The second victim told the other victim to go get help, which is when she ran out to the street and got the attention of passerby’s. 

The two attacking dogs were taken into custody by FBPD. They have been euthanized with the owner’s acknowledgement. By doing so, an immediate rabies test could be conducted instead of waiting ten days and subjecting the victims to painful preventive rabies vaccine. Both dogs tested negative for rabies. The third dog, who was not aggressive and not involved in the attack, suffered severe puncture wounds to the neck and is being treated. 

Officers confirmed there was a sign on the gate with a warning about the presence of the dogs. Based on the circumstances, FBPD will not be pursuing criminal charges against the owner, who was not home at the time of the attack. 

Chief Neil Cervenka said, “This is a tragedy on many levels. Two women will suffer the physical and mental pain of this attack for decades and two dogs had to be euthanized as a result of their aggressive behavior. The owner of the dogs is heartbroken over the attack on his family member and friend.” 

“The courage shown by the first responding officer is commendable. Coming into a chaotic scene with no information, two severely wounded people, while facing very large, very aggressive dogs is challenging to say the least. Officer McHugh, without hesitation, put the life and safety of a community member over his own.” 

Anyone with information on this incident is encouraged to contact CSO Word of the Fort Bragg Police Department at (707)961-2800 ext 128. 

This information is being released by Fort Bragg Police Chief Neil Cervenka. All media inquiries should contact him at ncervenka@fortbragg.com. 

HEADS UP, UKIAH

MUY MALO ON RAY'S ROAD

On Tuesday, April 25, 2023 at 7:57 A.M., Mendocino County Sheriff's Deputies were contacted by medical staff at the Adventist Health Ukiah Valley Hospital.

Deputies learned there was a 30 year old adult female being treated in the emergency room who was suffering from injuries sustained during a domestic violence incident.

During the investigation, Deputies learned the adult female was at home with her boyfriend, Arcadio Mateo Diego, 35, of Philo, the evening prior. The two of them began arguing and eventually the argument escalated.

At one point Diego grabbed the adult female's cell phone, then pushed and slapped her several times. At one point the adult female attempted to leave, however Diego took her wallet from her, in an attempt to keep her from leaving and also told her that she could not leave.

The physical assault continued and Diego would not let the adult female leave the residence until the next morning. The Deputies observed injuries on the adult female's body, which were consistent with statement(s) collected during the investigation.

The Deputies responded to the town of Philo where they contacted Diego. The Deputies interviewed Diego, collected evidence and developed probable cause to arrest him for Felony Domestic Violence Battery, Felony Kidnapping, Felony False Imprisonment and Felony Robbery.

Diego was arrested and booked into the Mendocino County Jail where he was held in lieu of $100,000 bail.

MENDO VILLAGE GOVERNMENT

The Mendocino Community Services District’s board’s April meeting was held on the 19th due to scheduling conflicts on the last Monday of April. The district removed the Stage 1 drought designation after noting that Mendocino has received 98 percent of the rainfall for the year.

District staff had nine paid holidays as of the 19th of April. To bring the district in line with state employees, the board voted to increase the number of paid holidays to thirteen. No analysis was provided that compared the district’s holiday schedule with other local government entities. However, the district secretary Katie Bates said she believes Fort Bragg staff also get thirteen days. Board president Dennak Murphy supported the holiday increase to make the district more competitive in retaining and hiring staff. Board member Matthew Miksak felt they should err on the side of generosity to uphold morals and address the competitive concerns the district has faced in the past. Board member Ishvi Aum requested information about the cost. Superintendent Ryan Rhoades indicated it would be a negligible increase as operators only work two hours on weekends and holidays and are paid their standard rate. The increased number of holidays would only increase payroll by a total of sixteen hours. Aum also asked about reduced productivity as the new holiday schedule effectively eliminates sixteen work days. That’s four employees times four days. In the end, the measure was passed. Board Member Donna Feiner was not present at the meeting.

In a press release dated April 10th, MCCSD announced that it has prevailed in a lawsuit brought by district resident Steven L. Gomes. It is the second time Gomes has sued MCCSD over groundwater management. In the first lawsuit, Gomes succeeded in forcing the district to readopt their groundwater management plan as a previous board had only held a single hearing when two hearings were required. This time the district followed all the public notification rules, and Gomes lost the case. The only exception was the judge’s determination that a revised attorney fee clause could not stand. The Gomes cases cost the district over two hundred thousand dollars from 2015 to 2023, during which time the wastewater plant and collections system deteriorated due to deferred maintenance. The recently approved rate increases were designed to provide the district with the funding they need to address the maintenance concerns over time.

The MCCSD board approved a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Mendocino Unified School District (MUSD) without changes. A letter of objection was sent to the board from former board member Christina Aranguren. In her letter, Aranguren stated, “We protest the terms of this agreement which give the school district priority to “all water on MUSD property.” Section 3 of the MOU states that water access will be determined between the two districts once MUSD water needs are met. Dennak refused to comment on Aranguren’s letter. However, he stated that there will be additional negotiations and MOUs with MUSD in the future. Rhoades pointed out that the MOU was not legally binding. Aranguren also expressed concerns about the costs shared by MCCSD customers of maintaining a water storage system that first benefits MUSD. Rhoades said the plan was only to access the emergency water if constituents were unable to purchase water from other entities. Aum questioned the MOU’s lack of reference to this water being the start of a public water system. Dennak instructed Rhoades to add a cover memo stating that the district is currently studying the feasibility of a public water system.

A suspected sewer overflow of fifteen gallons that was reported on April 11th in the Heeser addition was below the threshold that would initiate fines from state regulators. District staff responded to the report and found a partially blocked pipe which they cleared. A small pile of wet toilet paper was cleaned up at the scene.

The cumulative rainfall numbers as of April 13 were 38.90 inches. The average cumulative rainfall through April is 36.98 inches. The average depth of Mendocino’s water table on April 13, 2023, measured at 9.92’ compared to 14.21’ in April of 2022. The depth is the average distance from the surface of the earth to the water from 24 monitoring wells. A higher number indicates less water.

(Mendocino Beacon)

JUDGE REJECTS SKUNK TRAIN OWNER’S CLAIM IT IS A PUBLIC UTILITY WITH RIGHT OF EMINENT DOMAIN

A judge rejected Mendocino Railway’s claim it is a public utility with power to condemn land through eminent domain.

by Mary Callahan

A Mendocino County man who spurned the owners of the Skunk Train when they tried to force him to sell them his land has prevailed in a grueling three-year legal brawl that left him saddled with debt.

At issue was whether Mendocino Railway, operator of the popular excursion train, is a public utility with the right to take property through eminent domain and whether, in its effort to buy 20 acres from a man named John Meyer, it attempted to do so in order to serve the public good or it own private interests.

In deciding the case in Meyer’s favor, Mendocino County Superior Court Presiding Judge Jeanine Nadel delivered a punishing blow to Mendocino Railway, chipping away at its claims to hold power above and beyond most private companies and potentially undermining its position in several unsettled cases.

The closely watched court case has potential implications for other controversies in which the company is embroiled.

For Meyer, whose victory has put him on the receiving end of congratulations, it remains difficult to feel the fight is over after a grueling, three-year legal brawl that left him in substantial debt.

The plans for his 21 acres on the outskirts of Willits have been on hold for three years, and his partners have moved on. Construction costs, meanwhile, have risen so dramatically that development costs have doubled, he said.

“It’s been a nightmare,” said Meyer, 50.

“It’s been worse than limbo,” he said. “I guess limbo is between Heaven and Hell. I’d be closer to the Hell side.”

Though he expects a final judgment will include reimbursement of attorneys’ fees — now “in the neighborhood of $250,000” — he doesn’t know when that might come or how an appeal might affect it. In the meantime, the fact that action is still pending against his land blocks him from borrowing money for development. He’s behind on his mortgage, as well.

“I have literally put everything I own on it,“ Meyer said. ”I’m still in a horrible position.“

Judge questions CEO’s credibility

In her ruling, the judge directly questioned the credibility of Mendocino Railway President and Chief Executive Officer Robert Pinoli, the only witness. She noted that initial plans for the property included a train station, as well as a campground and long-term RV rental park that did not satisfy the three-part test for use of eminent domain, which allows its exercise only in the public interest and when the land is required for a given project “compatible with the greatest public good with the least private injury.”

Mendocino Railway has become entangled in several high-stakes issues in recent years, including the future of the Great Redwood Trail planned for former North Coast Railroad tracks from Cloverdale to Humboldt Bay.

The railway also is in litigation with Fort Bragg and the California Coastal Commission over its rejection of their attempts at land-use regulation, pursuing relief along two tracks in U.S. District Court, in hopes of securing a declaration it does in fact hold public utility status.

The railway claims it stands apart from most business interests — exempt from many common land-use permit requirements and able to acquire land through eminent domain — despite statements from the California Public Utilities Commission as recently as August saying that the commission’s regulation of the Skunk Train for safety reasons doesn’t make it a public utility.

The railway also over the past five years has acquired about 375 acres of mostly undeveloped coastal property in Fort Bragg with the potential to transform the seaside town, once anchored by a defunct Georgia-Pacific lumber mill, which sprawled across the same site.

Much of the mill site was purchased under the threat of eminent domain, an authority Nadel’s ruling has now brought into question. In it, she cited insufficient evidence to demonstrate the railway was a “public utility” with the power to condemn land — “the central issue in this case,” according to her April 19 ruling.

West Sonoma County resident Caryl Hart, chair of the Great Redwood Trail Agency Board of Directors and vice chair of the California Coastal Commission, has followed the Meyer case, given multiple points of common interest. She also has a law degree.

The ruling against Mendocino Railway “is very damaging,” Hart said.

Nadel still has to deliver a final judgment in the case. Mendocino Railway also may appeal the ruling.

Pinoli, the president and CEO, said the railway was “in the process of determining our next steps.”

Nadel’s decision, he said, “seems to not take evidence and facts into account.”

Thought it was junk mail

Meyer, who lives in Branscomb with his wife and 5-year-old daughter, had purchased the 20 acres at issue in 2014 with plans to rebuild a soil business he had operated a few years earlier.

He said he has a contract with Caltrans through which he accepts earth recovered from landslides at the Highway 20 property a mile or so west of town, where he screens and separates the materials with equipment bought for the purpose so it can be resold as fill for construction sites.

He also planned to build two rental homes and in early 2020 was negotiating to buy an adjoining acre so he could get a lot line adjustment and build four houses total, plus a few workshop buildings.

Then what he thought was a piece of junk mail arrived in June 2020.

It turned out to be a letter from Pinoli inquiring about his interest in selling the property, bordered by the curving highway and the railroad to the south.

Meyer did not reject the proposal outright. There was some initial back and forth about prices and plans, and maybe a trade. He also says he offered to sell the railway several acres — enough to offload people and goods and put parking — but that offer was rejected.

Meyer already had invested about $350,000 in the two properties. He had plans for the site, and well and septic permits, plus the equipment and profit potential for the soil business. He also very quickly realized he needed to retain a land-use attorney at some heavy initial cost.

But Mendocino Railway was only prepared to pay $450,000 or $500,000 for the 20 acres, Meyer said, and he wanted more than twice that because of what he had invested and had planned. And he didn’t really want to sell.

But he said he would have settled closer to what the railway offered, but Mike Hart, head of Sierra Railroad Company, Mendocino Railway’s parent company, said he could get the property appraised at $350,000, which would force Meyer to accept that price.

Railway’s growing footprint

At the time, the railway had been exploring ways to grow its footprint and expand its business potential. In 2019, it acquired 77 acres of the old mill site around its Fort Bragg depot site, as well as 15 acres once intended for a new Harvest Market store.

The next year it acquired a residential property on the opposite side of town through eminent domain for “maintenance and safety of rail operations,” paying $155,000 to an elderly woman through her daughter, according to the condemnation order.

A year after that, in 2021, Mendocino Railway sued Georgia-Pacific under eminent domain, demanding it relinquish the remaining 210 acres from the mill site and another 62 acres along Pudding Creek to the north. The case was settled before trial, with Georgia-Pacific agreeing to accept $1.23 million for the land, which came along with substantial liability for toxic remediation. Nadel was also the judge in that case.

The mill site acquisition was an infuriating surprise for city officials, who thought they had been close to a deal for the land themselves after working most of 20 years to chart a path for the city’s future based on a new, “blue economy” around aquaculture, ocean resources and climate resilience.

The mill site settlement stated the property was “necessary for construction and maintenance of rail facilities related to Mendocino Railway’s ongoing and future freight and passenger rail operations … a public use.”

Right away, questions were raised about the railway’s need for so much land — about a fifth of the city’s real estate — after it had been operating on just four acres.

There also were worries about ambitious plans for development near the coast, in the jurisdiction of the California Coastal Commission, and whether the railroad planned to abide by city and state permitting standards in fulfilling its vision for housing, commercial and tourism-serving uses like hotels, restaurants, a gazebo and viewing area on the coast.

Pinoli had already rejected city efforts to enforce permit requirements on improvements on the northern part of the mill site and said plans to run the Skunk Train line out to Glass Beach and along the coast would not be subject to environmental review, despite the extra layer of oversight required by the California Coastal Commission.

After several warnings, the commission’s enforcement arm filed a notice of violation against the railway last summer related to some mill site work that could cost the railway up to $11,500 a day in civil penalties. Collection is on hold pending resolution of three court cases involving the commission and the railway, Enforcement Director Lisa Haage said.

Mendocino Railway has been trying to have all the cases heard in federal court, and there’s been a delay while a federal judge decides.

But Alex Helperin, chief deputy counsel for the Coastal Commission, said he thinks “we will prevail on this.”

“I think this court (and Judge Nadel) has vindicated what we’ve been saying all along,” Helperin said. “This entity, or whatever you want to call it, is not actually functioning as a common carrier and is not eligible for the kinds of exemptions it is claiming.”

Excursions into the woods

A still-unresolved tunnel collapse three miles outside Fort Bragg prevents running trains between the coast and Willits, 40 miles to the east, but the railway has been running excursions into the woods from both ends, as well as rail bike trips.

It also has been looking for opportunities to haul freight, which would aid efforts to acquire grant funds for tunnel repair and bolster its standing as something more than an excursion train. Pinoli testified in the Meyer case that 90% of its revenue comes from excursions.

Last year, though discussions were dominated by a mysterious proposal to take over the north-south railroad line from Willits to Eureka for coal transport out of Humboldt Bay, Mendocino Railway also pitched a proposal to rehabilitate 13 miles of rail line from Willits to Outlet Creek so it could haul gravel.

The move would have interfered with the Great Redwood Trail Agency’s plans to “bank” the rail, or take it out of commission, and convert it to a 320-mile multiuse hiking, biking and equestrian trail running from San Francisco Bay to Arcata in Humboldt County.

The federal Surface Transportation Board rejected the bid, saying the railway couldn’t demonstrate sufficient funds or plans to raise revenue for millions of dollars in repairs needed in an area likely subject to future landslides and continued storm damage.

The Great Redwood Trail is now embarking on the next stage of rail banking from Willits south to Cloverdale, which would sever Mendocino Railway’s link with any interstate rail lines, Caryl Hart said.

“They’ve been trying very hard to do everything they possibly can, in every case, in every angle, and so far they have not succeeded. And this is very latest round,” she said.

Pinoli said the Trail effort “really is a shot to put the California Western Railroad/Skunk Train out of business,” depriving residents of a cleaner alternative to moving all freight by truck.

State Senate Majority Leader Mike McGuire, D-Healdsburg, a champion of the Great Redwood Trail, said Nadel’s ruling “was as clear as a bright spring day here on the North Coast: The Skunk Train is not a freight train. The Skunk Train is not a public utility. They are a beloved North Coast excursion train that whisks locals and visitors alike through the gorgeous redwoods on the Mendocino Coast.”

(pressdemocrat.com)

HERE'S ME practicing my red-carpet pose for tomorrow. You may recognize the local celebrity next to me. #independentbookstoreday Gallery Bookshop in Mendocino

BIDENISTAS GATHER IN CASPAR

Monday May 1 Caspar Community @ 5:30-7 - Postcard Party and Talk with Ted Williams

Agenda

Social Time - Drinks provided. Please bring light snacks to share.

Postcard Party To Take Back The House In 2024: Pick up postcard packets. Write or take home. We are writing to infrequent voters in CA. Congressional District 27. Targeted to win back...won by Biden in 2020. Mail cards by May 21.

Supervisor Ted Williams: What’s Up With The County Budget? Discussion re: process, priorities and politics

Please Join Or Renew Your Club Membership, If you have not already... Memberships and donations pay for postcard stamps!!! Go to: www.coastdemocraticclub.org

See you Monday,

Karen Bowers, Coast Democratic Club Chair, karenbowersu2@gmail.com

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 April 6^th, 2023 electronically to water.avcsd@gmail.com

 Thursday May 4^th, 2023 at 10:30am

Call To Order And Roll Call:

Recognition Of Guests And Hearing Of Public:

Consent Calendar: Minutes From April 6th & April 24th, 2023

Changes Or Modification To This Agenda: 

Report On Drinking Water Project:

Report On Wastewater Project:

Public Outreach:

Concerns Of Members:

Adjournment:

COMMUNITY INTERUPTUS…

Back in 2020 just as the pandemic was beginning to shut down the country, county, and valley we had planned the 29th annual Variety Show. Could we pull it off? There was so many unknowns, we consulted with doctors and health workers, added masks at the door and borrowed a bunch of air purifiers from the school. We cancelled some acts that may have been exposed to the virus. No one was was excluded, but we encouraged people to be safe. Some folks didn't come and we totally understood. We, and this means the whole community, pulled it off! We heard of no one getting the virus from attending, but the next week California shut down. WHEW, dat wuz close!

Now 3 years later we are at the far end of a very weird period of time don't ya think? The not being able to gather together and enjoy each others’ company sucks. After all, that's what the Variety Show is all about. Well, boy howdy it's finally time for the show, BUT with some considerations. We want everyone to feel safe, if you wish, bring a mask, (hopefully colorful), but its not a requirement, and masks will be available at the door, as well as hand sanitizers in the bathrooms, windows open, air purifiers will be in the hall. OK?

Darn, we can't call it the ANNUAL Variety Show anymore! To put this together has been like reinventing the wheel, however, pieces are falling into place and the buzz is building. Its now your very last chance to confirm your act! So where IS that Llama act anyway?

Here's a rundown on the ticket situation:

Pre-sale tickets will be on sale at AV Market in Boonville and Lemons Market in Philo beginning Monday, May 1st. Tickets will also be available at the door each night as we hold back 100 each night for the door. The show won"t be sold out until every ticket is sold, so come early. We've kept them cheap $10.00 adults, under 12 only $5.00. We Hope that those who can afford it will donate more. (Checks can be made to AV Grange) Of course all the performers get in free, and to guarantee their families and friends can get in - at the tech rehearsals Fri and Sat, May 5th & 6th, performers will be able to buy tickets, so bring cash or check. We only print enough tickets for the capacity of the building and we account for the staff working there as well. If you got a ticket your gonna get in.

Plan on it people, be there, It's a show for everyone!

— Captain Rainbow

LOCAL 5150: Be careful with a lady walking on Hwy 128. Slow down because she runs to get in front of the cars. Or report her to 911. She may cause an accident or get run over.

ED NOTE: Saw her Thursday at several locations on 128 between Philo and Boonville. Last spotted lying in the brush near the elementary school.

ED NOTES

EVERY YEAR the Anderson Valley is discovered. And rediscovered. I lost count years ago, but just in the fifty-five years I've lived here, we've been discovered around ten times a year, unleashing annual human wave invasions by small armies of gastro-maniacs. Often, the discovery is sub-titled “The Unspoiled Napa Valley,” which must annoy the padrones of Napa's conversion to booze-fueled cash registers pegged to industrial grape production. We'd be Napa by now if we had the infrastructure, and thank the goddess that the roads in here deter some of the less intrepid invaders who fear the great wilderness north of Geyserville. Spoiled or not, the battered Napa Valley packs 'em in, probably because people under the age of 60 have grown up being herded around and standing in lines. To a Bay Area person trapped in a suburb, I'm sure the Anderson Valley looks like one of those unspoiled little valleys deep in the Himalayas. 

I'M STILL WAITING for one of these intrepid explorers to write an interesting take on The Valley, but the stories are all the same, beginning, “There's so much to love about the Anderson Valley” as the Magellans of the roadside booze boutiques set out to cash in their lame promos for free meals and bottles of wine. 

THE TRUE FACT of the Anderson Valley wine experience is a battered, pest and herbicide-soaked landscape bereft of natural life — seen a frog lately on the Valley floor? — bisected by dead streams, once lush with fish, siphoned off by grape ponds.

GRAPE LABOR? Provided by underpaid, under-housed Mexican immigrants.

HOW MANY WINERIES are there in the Anderson Valley? Every time I read one of these discovery pufferoos, I see names and wineries I've never heard of. Note to self: Get out more. Second note to self: Why? Wine memory: The time my brother and I, as a righteous experiment to demonstrate the hazards of wine tasting and driving 128, but with Pilar Duran as our DD, we started out in Yorkville — this was when wine tastes were still free, and called it an afternoon by the time we got to Husch where we were slurping direct from a bottle of whatever it was that Pilar had brought along. There are many more wineries today, more than 90 at last count, but so far only an occasional stretch limo.

IN THE travel section of the Pacific Sun, a free weekly outta Marin, under “new wineries and wine experiences,” I learned about Fathers & Daughters Cellars, a pleasing family values kinda joint, and there was Brashley Vineyard, “offering a fun and casual experience and environment, including unique features such as a giant chess board and corn hole.” Uh, excuse me, Miss, did you say corn hole? Corn hole used to have rather unwholesome associations when I was a kid, so I'll stick to the giant chess board. Also at Brashley, they've got a “CIA-trained chef” making pizzas. Yo, pizza man. Hold the cyanide. 

1910 PHOTO OF THE EAGLE LIVERY STABLES located on 406 N State St. in Ukiah.

Standing second from the right is my 3rd-Great-grandfather Horace Eldred, with my 2nd Great-granduncle Willard to his rights and 2nd Great-granduncle John to his left. To the far left is Short Bradley who worked at Charlton’s Blacksmith shop across the street. Horace was originally from Michigan and came to California in 1859. At one point he was the largest rancher in Butte County and known for breeding exceptional racehorses. He raced in Oroville as early as 1878, Sacramento’s Union Park Track in 1887, and Round Valley through the 1880’s. In 1880 he moved to Covelo where he purchased a large horse ranch. In 1898 he bought a second home and the Eagle Stables in Ukiah. When he purchased the stables, they were run down and by the time he retired it was one of the best businesses in the County. It was known throughout the state for carrying the finest carriages, harnesses, and horses around. His obituary the Ukiah Republican Press credited him with being an early pioneer that helped make Mendocino County famous.

(Historical Society of Mendocino County, Robert J. Lee Photographic collection)

CATCH OF THE DAY, Friday, April 28, 2023

MICHAEL DEATON, Willits. Paraphernalia, disobeying court order.

OSCAR LERMA, Fort Bragg. Failure to appear.

JAKE LEWISKOOY, Ukiah. Petty theft with priors. 

JADE MCGINNIS, Fort Bragg. Controlled substance, false ID, probation revocation.

JUAN MONTALVO-CARRILLO, Covelo. Intimate touching against the will of the victim, sexual penetration by foreign object, minor victim-14.

NATHAN MORALES-SALDANA, Covelo. Stolen property, disorderly conduct-alcohol.

PETER QUINONES, Fort Bragg. Failure to appear.

DANIEL REBOCA, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

ELIZABETH REYNOSO, Ukiah. Parole violation.

LYNELLE SUTHERLAND, Leggett. DUI, child endangerment.

JALAHN TRAVIS, Ukiah. Petty theft with priors, probation revocation.

SARA YOUNGGREN, Mendocino. DUI, suspended license for DUI.

GOING, GOING....

Editor: 

My wife and I recently returned home from a day in San Francisco in which we had attended the production of the Broadway play “Come From Away.” We parked near City Hall and walked down Golden Gate Avenue to the theater district near Market Street. The walk to and from our car was in painful contrast with the matinee.

“Come From Away” tells a true story of openness, hospitality and generosity between strangers which leaves the theatergoer with an optimistic sense of what human nature can be and how we are capable of treating one another.

In contrast, the walk up and down Golden Gate Avenue requires pedestrians to step over or around bodies slumped in a doorway or passed out across the sidewalk. Too many to count.

Alcohol, fentanyl or heroin, I do not know. But I do know, or at least firmly believe, that by continuing to ignore the poor, the homeless, the addicted, all of those less fortunate than ourselves, we will in time lose our own sense of humanity. We will become the victims of our own indifference.

Jim Pedgrift

Santa Rosa

MEMO OF THE AIR: Live on KNYO from Franklin St. all night Friday night!

Deadline to email your writing for tonight's (Friday night's) MOTA show is about 6pm. Or send it whenever it's done and I'll read it on the radio next week.

I'll be in the clean, well-lighted back room of KNYO's 325 N. Franklin studio. To call and read your work in your own voice, the number is 707-962-3022. If you want to come in and perform in person, that's okay, I guess, but bring a real mask to put on.

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 KNYO.org. Also the schedule is there for KNYO's many other terrific shows. Bob Young is starting up movie nights again, I see. Info about those will be on KNYO.org as possibilities coalesce.

As always, at https://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com you'll find various mind-expanding items to mull over, and expand or not; there's no pressure to expand that you don't pump in yourself. You have to want to expand:

A.I.-generated stereoscopic (3D) art. Scroll down and down. These are mainly right-eye-view-on-the-right and left-eye-view-on-the-left, so crossing your eyes to see the effect results in near planes of an image appearing farther away than far planes, which is cool but not right. Here's what to do: change the view zoom to make the left and right images' centers be slightly closer together than the pupils of your eyes are (measure with your fingers for this), then stare straight ahead through the screen until focus occurs. There's always something new here. It's a community.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1050291398698971/

Closeup of just one small region of Jupiter's cloud surface, so small it could only swallow a few dozen Earths. Or swaller, as they say in the South: Jupiter, Jupiter, swaller these Earths.

https://twitter.com/pickover/status/1650261641177571329/photo/1

And a clever mechanical integrator.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-y_lnzWQjk

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

WARRIORS FACE A DYNASTIC THREAT FROM KINGS IN A GAME 7 SHOWDOWN

by Ann Killion

After the Golden State Warriors' stirring Game 5 victory in Sacramento on Wednesday night, Klay Thompson declared it the best win of the season.

“This,” Thompson said Friday after the Warriors' dreadful Game 6 performance, “is probably the worst loss of the season.

“But there’s no time to hang our heads.”

No, no time at all. By the time the Warriors iced and showered and ate and straggled out of Chase Center after their 118-99 loss to the bouncy and resilient Kings, they had only about 36 hours until they would have to be back on the court at Golden 1 Center for warmups.

A dynasty hangs in the balance in a Game 7 on Sunday in Sacramento. The Warriors, for only the second time under Steve Kerr, will play a Game 7 on the road.

“We put ourselves in a situation where we have to be the team that’s playing with desperation,” Stephen Curry said. “Obviously, on the road in a Game 7, there’s a belief that we can do that.”

The Warriors have a wealth of playoff experience. But they find themselves in this desperate situation because they have done so many things that have run counter to most of their dynasty’s track record. Beginning with being so, so terrible on the road this year that they ended up a No. 6 seed and don’t have home-court advantage.

Friday’s loss was only their second playoff loss ever at Chase; the first was Game 1 of the NBA Finals last year. It was only the fourth time they failed to win a close-out game on their home court. The other times were Game 5 of a first-round playoff series against the Clippers in 2019 and the historic Games 5 and 7 Finals losses to Cleveland in 2019.

So, this is relatively uncharted territory.

“Everybody is down right now,” Kerr said. “The game just ended. This is all part of it. We’ve been through everything. We’ve won a Game 7 on the road before. We know we can do it, but we’ve got to regroup and kind of fill up the cup and get our energy ready for Sunday afternoon.”

The Game 7 Kerr referenced was against Houston in 2018, when Curry and Kevin Durant combined for 61 points and the Rockets infamously missed 27 straight three-pointers.

What can these Warriors take from that long-ago game?

“There’s only a few guys on this team that were in that scenario,” Curry said. “Every possession is important, how you start, how you think your way through the game, staying locked in but it’s more so just the competitive spirit. You don’t overthink it.”

The Kings were the ones who brought the competitive spirit to Chase on Friday. They were loose but they were also composed. They were, as Kerr said, the aggressors.

Maybe it was because of the tip time — a strange 5 p.m. start due to ESPN wanting the game in its primary slot across the country — or because of the quick turnaround between Games 5 and 6, but the overall energy was low. The energy in the building was depressed and the Warriors' miscues never allowed it to build, never got their fans fully involved.

“We just had a lot of mental errors, and they took advantage of them and grabbed momentum early,” Curry said. “I don’t know if that was an energy or a focus thing or whatever it is. But you have to learn those lessons quick.”

The Warriors committed the two sins Kerr has been emphasizing avoiding: they were outrebounded, and they turned the ball over way too much — their 18 turnovers led to 23 Kings points.

They had a bad shooting night — hitting just 10 of 32 three-pointers and shooting 37.2 percent from the field. They missed ten free throws. Mike Brown’s tactical countermoves rendered Kevon Looney far less effective.

The dynastic trio that carried the team to victory in Game 5 did not play well on Friday night. Game 6 Klay didn’t show up: Thompson was minus-28 and finished with 22 points. Curry missed seven three-pointers and turned the ball over five times. Green, who had been so effective off the bench in Games 4 and 5, was far less so in Game 6 with just four points and four rebounds, and in early foul trouble.

And Jordan Poole’s insertion into the starting lineup in Green’s place backfired badly on Friday. Poole had a particularly rough night, shooting just 2-of-11 from the floor.

By the end of the game, you could hear chants of “Light the Beam” in the emptying Chase Center.

The aging Lakers blew out the brash Grizzlies — the Warriors seemed amused by the score of that game as it played in their locker room — and will be waiting to head somewhere in Northern California for a Tuesday night series start.

The Warriors, in contrast, missed their chance to take care of business at home. Now they will have to go into a crazed, hostile road environment, on a quick turnaround and try to stave off all the questions about their future with a win.

“It’s up to us to go to Sacramento and do everything we did tonight, but opposite,” Thompson said. “I know we will respond. I know these guys. I’ve played at the highest level with them, and I know what we are capable of.

“We will respond like the champions we are, come Sunday.”

We know it’s possible. We’ve seen it before.

(srchronicle.com)

(SO MUCH LAUGHTER, concealed by blood and faith;

Life is a saxophone played by death.)

Greedy to please, we learned to cry;

Hungry to live, we learned to die.

The heart is a sad musician,

Forever playing the blues

— Bob Kaufman

(Published in 1965, Solitudes Crowded with Loneliness assembles ten years' work of Bob Kaufman, celebrated in San Francisco as the original Beat and in France as "the American Rimbaud")

ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

As few as I have I vote with my dollars. I only once tried farmed salmon that tastes nothing like fish to research a bit. The overcrowded fish are fed shrimp flavored corn and their flesh is jaundiced and tasteless. READ: COLOR ADDED. If there’s no profit these bassturds dissolve. Of course, not even my cat will eat it.

2ND AMENDMENT GUN RIGHTS

Strict Constructionists,
Go on, keep your damn muskets.
But that’s all you get.

– Jim Luther

HONESTLY, Hunter Biden is the only Biden I can relate to. His father is much more of a moral monster than he is and one of Joe’s few redeeming qualities is that he seems to love his fuck-up (aren’t we all?) of a son, even as the exposure of his transgressions threatens the thing Biden cares about the most in his life: his political career. If having sex, getting high and trading on the position of your powerful father is “corrupt,” then that’s been the default position of wayward sons in almost every dynastic family since the Emperor Augustus…. 

— Jeffrey St. Clair

NEWSMAX HAS DECIDED to pull out all the stops in its efforts to land Tucker Carlson, going so far as to offer him not just his own show but also the power to program the whole channel, according to TMZ. Right-wing outlets are clamoring to sign the man who was Fox News’ biggest star right up until the moment he was unceremoniously yanked off the air Monday. According to unnamed sources cited by TMZ, Newsmax hasn’t formally offered Carlson a job yet as he’s still under contract at Fox, but the right-wing upstart has let people around him know he would have a “big say in rebranding their channel” in addition to his own show if he did decide to make the switch. In the wake of his departure, Fox News’ ratings have nosedived as millions of viewers have followed Carlson out the door.

UKRAINE, FRIDAY, 28 APRIL

The death toll from Russia's strikes across Ukraine on Friday morning has risen to 16 after two more bodies were found in Uman, with the total of those killed in the city now standing at 14, with two 10-year-old children among the dead. 

Two other deaths were reported earlier in the city of Dnipro - a 31-year-old woman and her 2-year-old child. 

Fragments from a missile intercepted over the Kyiv region hit a multi-story residential building and injured two people, including a 13-year-old girl, the Kyiv region police chief Andrii Nebytov said.

Missiles and drones were also shot down over the capital Kyiv, in what authorities called the first missile attack on the Ukrainian capital in 51 days.

Latest developments:

Ukraine intercepts most missiles: Most missiles launched at Ukraine in the early hours of Friday morning were intercepted, the country’s air force said in a Telegram post, with 21 of 23 cruise missiles intercepted and two drones destroyed.

Officials react to night of Russian destruction: Russia's missile attacks on Ukrainian cities overnight is Moscow's “response to all peace initiatives," Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said, adding: "The way to peace is to arm Ukraine with F-16s and protect children from Russian terror.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sent condolences to the victims of the attack and warned: "This Russian terror must face a fair response from Ukraine and the world. And it will.”

Iranian drones powered by stolen Western technology: New research has revealed the extent to which Iran has built a powerful weapons industry based on Western technology, and how that technology is being used by Russia against Ukrainian cities. Conflict Armament Research, a UK-based organization which investigates weapons’ components, has established that the Shahed-136 drones sold to Russia by Iran are powered by an engine based on German technology – technology illicitly acquired by Iran almost 20 years ago.

Ukrainian preparations for counteroffensive “coming to an end”: Ukraine’s armed forces are finishing their preparations for a counteroffensive against Russian troops, defense minister Oleksii Reznikov has said. Reznikov said his country had received Leopard 2 and Challenger tanks and was expecting Leopard 1 tanks “a little later,” though US-made Abrams tanks would not arrive in time to participate in the counteroffensive.

Putin's war museums: Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered museums dedicated to commemorating the events of the war in Ukraine to be built, the Kremlin said Friday, as it continues its attempts to control the narrative around Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The museums, which will be built across the country, will showcase “the events of the special military operation and the heroic deeds of its participants,” a Kremlin statement added.

CORONADO CRESTFALLEN

by Marc Reisner

The American West was explored by white men half a century before the first colonists set foot on Virginia’s beaches, but it went virtually uninhabited by whites for another three hundred years. 

In 1539, Don Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, a nobleman who had married rich and been appointed governor of Guadalajara by the Spanish king, set out on horseback from Mexico with a couple of hundred men, driving into the uncharted north. Coronado was a far kinder conquistador than his ruthless contemporaries Cortes and Pizarro and De Soto, but he was equally obsessed with gold. His objective was a place called Cibola, seven cities, where, legend had it, houses and streets were veneered with gold and silver. All he found, somewhere in northwestern Arizona, were some savage people living in earthen hovels, perhaps descendants of the great Hohokam culture, which had thrived in central Arizona until about 1400, when it mysteriously disappeared. 

Crestfallen, but afraid of disgracing the Spanish crown, Coronado pushed on. Tusayan, Cicuye, Tiguex, Quivira—no gold. His fruitless expedition took him from the baking desert canyons of south-central Arizona up to the cool ponderosa highlands of the Mogollon Rim, then down again into the vast, flat, treeless plains of West Texas and Oklahoma and Kansas. He returned, miraculously, a couple of years later, having lost half his men and some of his sanity when his horse stepped on his skull as he was exercising it. 

Since the climate of the American West is often compared, by those who don’t know better, with that of Spain, it is instructive to quote part of the letter Coronado wrote to Viceroy Mendoza as he was recovering along the Rio Grande:

“After traveling 77 days from Tiguex over these barren lands, our Lord willed that I should arrive in the province called Quivira [Kansas], to which the guides El Turco and the other savage were taking me. They had pictured it as having stone houses many stories high; not only are there none of stone, but, on the contrary, they are of grass, and the people are savage like all I have seen and passed up to that place. They have no woven fabrics, nor cotton with which to make them. All they have is tanned skins of the cattle they kill, for the herds are near the place where they live, a fair-sized river. [The Indian guides’ reward for their misleading travelogue was to be garroted to death.]…

“The natives gave me a piece of copper which an Indian chief wore suspended from his neck. I am sending it to the viceroy of New Spain, for I have not seen any other metal… I have done everything within my power to serve you, as your faithful sergeant and vassal, and to discover some country where God our Lord might be served by extending your royal patrimony… The best country I have discovered is this Tiguex River [the Rio Grande] and the settlement where I am now camping. But they are not suitable for colonizing, for, besides being 400 leagues from the North Sea and more than 200 from the South Sea, thus prohibiting all intercourse, the land is so cold, as I have informed Your Majesty, that it seems impossible for anyone to spend the winter here, since there is no firewood, nor any clothing with which the men may keep themselves warm, except the skins which the natives wear…”

The greatest irony of Coronado’s adventure was that he must have passed within a few miles of the gold and silver lodes at Tombstone and Tubac, Arizona. A few of his party, on a side excursion, discovered the Grand Canyon, but they were unimpressed by its beauty, and guessed the width of the Colorado River far below them at eight feet or so. The Rio Grande, which would later sustain the only appreciable Spanish settlements outside of California, didn’t impress them, either. When he returned to Guadalajara, Coronado was put on trial for inept leadership, which, though an utterly unfounded charge, was enough to discourage would-be successors who might have discovered the precious metals that would have induced Spain to lay a far stronger claim on the New World. 

His expedition also lost a few horses, which found their way into the hands of the native Americans. The two dominant tribes of the Southwest, the Apache and Comanche, soon evolved into the best horsemen who ever lived, and their ferocity toward incursionists made them formidable adversaries of the Spaniards who tried to settle the region later.

The Spanish did make a more than desultory try at establishing a civilization in California, which was more to their liking than the remainder of the West. (And, in fact, the huge California land grants doled out by the king established a pattern of giant fiefdoms that persists there to this day.) But they never found gold in California, so the territory didn’t seem worth a fight. Challenged by the first American expeditionary force in 1842, the Spanish ceded the entire territory six years later—just a few months before a man named James Marshall was to discover a malleable yellow rock in the tailrace of Sutter’s Mill on the American River above Sacramento.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO HARPER LEE (1926-2016), whose first novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, about racial injustice in a small Alabama town, sold more than 40 million copies and became one of the most beloved and most taught works of fiction ever written by an American. 

"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it."

"Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing."

"I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what."

"People generally see what they look for, and hear what they listen for."

"Atticus told me to delete the adjectives and I'd have the facts."

NUCLEAR WASTE IS MISUNDERSTOOD

by Madison Hilly

On a visit to the site of the Fukushima nuclear plant meltdown in Japan in February, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York did something refreshing: She discussed radiation exposure and nuclear waste without fanning fear. The radiation she got from her visit — about two chest X-rays’ worth — was worth the education she received on the tour, she told her 8.6 million Instagram followers. She then spoke admiringly of France, which, she said, “recycles their waste, increasing the efficiency of their system and reducing the overall amount of radioactive waste to deal with.”

Progressive lawmakers, along with environmental groups like the Sierra Club and Natural Resources Defense Council, have historically been against nuclear power — often focusing on the danger, longevity and storage requirements of the radioactive waste. During the 2020 presidential campaign, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont said, “It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me to add more dangerous waste to this country and to the world when we don’t know how to get rid of what we have right now.” Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts echoed these concerns and pledged not to build any new nuclear plants if elected president.

So it’s no surprise that many Americans believe nuclear waste poses an enormous and terrifying threat. But after talking to engineers, radiation specialists and waste managers, I’ve come to see this misunderstanding is holding us back from embracing a powerful, clean energy source we need to tackle climate change. We must stop seeing nuclear waste as a dangerous problem and instead recognize it as a safe byproduct of carbon-free power.

Why is nuclear so important for reducing carbon emissions? The countries that have cleaned up their electricity production the fastest have generally done so with hydroelectric power, nuclear, or a combination of the two. The distinct advantage of nuclear is that it requires little land and can reliably produce lots of power regardless of weather, time of day or season. Unlike wind and solar, it can substitute directly for fossil fuels without backup or storage. The International Energy Agency believes it’s so crucial that global nuclear capacity must double by 2050 to reach net-zero emissions targets.

For this reason some U.S. investors, policymakers and even the movie director Oliver Stone are calling for greatly expanding our nuclear capabilities. The Inflation Reduction Act is now rolling out credits for the 54 plants currently in operation and incentives for new ones worth tens of billions of dollars. States across the country are overturning decades-old bans on nuclear construction and exploring investment opportunities. A demonstration project in Wyoming is underway to replace a retiring coal plant with a nuclear reactor.

There are many legitimate questions about the future of nuclear — How will we finance new plants? Can we build them on-time and under-budget? — but “what about the waste?” should not be one of them.

One of our few cultural references to nuclear waste is “The Simpsons,” where it appeared as a glowing green liquid stored in leaky oil drums. In reality, nuclear fuel is made up of shiny metal tubes containing small pellets of uranium oxide. These tubes are gathered into bundles and loaded into the reactor. After five years of making energy, the bundles come out, containing radioactive particles left over from the energy-making reactions.

The bundles cool off in a pool of water for another five to 10 years or so. After that, they are placed in steel and concrete containers for storage at the plant. These casks are designed to last 100 years and to withstand nearly anything — hurricanes, severe floods, extreme temperatures, even missile attacks.

To date, there have been no deaths, injuries or serious environmental releases of nuclear waste in casks anywhere. And the waste can be transferred to another cask, extending storage one century at a time.

With this kind of nuclear waste, I’m not referring to water containing the radioisotope tritium that nuclear plants regularly release. Anti-nuclear activist groups like to scaremonger about this, despite the fact that you’d need to drink over a gallon of the treated water being released from Fukushima to get the equivalent radiation exposure of eating a banana.

But what about the spent nuclear fuel — isn’t it radioactive for hundreds of thousands of years? The way radiation works, the waste products that are the most radioactive are the shortest-lived, and those that last a long time are far less dangerous. About 40 years after the fuel becomes waste, the heat and radioactivity of the pellets have fallen by over 99 percent. After around 500 years, the waste would have to be broken down and inhaled or ingested to cause significant harm.

Compare this to other hazardous industrial materials we store in less secure ways that don’t become less toxic over time. Take ammonia: It is highly toxic, corrosive, explosive and prone to leaking. Hundreds of ammonia-related injuries and even some fatalities have been reported since 2010, and we continue to produce and transport millions of tons of it annually by pipelines, ships and trains for fertilizer and other uses.

Yet because nuclear waste seems to pose an outsize risk in the imaginations of many — especially those who lived through the Cold War — the conversation veers toward permanent solutions, like burying it deep underground in a facility like the proposed Yucca Mountain project in Nevada. There may be other benefits to consolidating spent fuel in a central facility, but safety is not the primary concern.

By failing to construct such a facility, some worry that we’re saddling the next generation with the burden of waste management. But as a young person in my 20s expecting a child this year, I feel very comfortable with the way we manage nuclear waste, with making more of it and with passing this responsibility onto our kids. I hope my daughter’s generation will inherit many new nuclear plants making clean power — and the waste that comes with them.

The waste should really be a chief selling point for nuclear energy, particularly for those who care about the environment: There’s not very much of it, it’s easily contained, it becomes safer with time and it can be recycled. And every cask of spent nuclear fuel represents about 2.2 million tons of carbon, according to one estimate, that weren’t emitted into the atmosphere from fossil fuels. For me, each cask represents hope for a safer, better future.

(Ms. Hilly is the founder of the Campaign for a Green Nuclear Deal, a nuclear advocacy group.)

ON WAR & WARS

by James Kunstler

When we see the few truth-tellers who are the stars of their organizations jettisoned – Tucker Carlson from Fox News, Matt Taibbi from Rolling Stone, Glenn Greenwald from The Intercept, James O’Keefe from Project Veritas… we must face the fact that there is an organized conspiracy to suppress truth.

— Paul Craig Roberts

The weird part the news media isn’t telling you about World War Three is that America’s main enemy in this struggle is… the US Government itself! America is looking like that crazy person on the street, punching himself in the head. How else do you explain this epic act of national self-destruction?

The “Joe Biden” regime is “standing up for our democracy” by trying to silence all and any public speech about what it does in the world and how it treats its own citizens. Meanwhile, the entire scaffold of American life crumbles and you are supposed to not notice it’s happening. The funny part is that the Democratic Party thinks this is an election strategy. The funniest part of the funny part is that we bother holding elections at all.

You understand, “Joe Biden” is only pretending to run for president again, in the same way that he only pretended to be president the past two years. Are we to believe, for instance, that the old zombie has become a fervent Maoist? Or that he follows any known structured political philosophy at all, other than cashing checks that favor-seekers from all nations send his way? “Joe Biden” is pretending to run — no matter how preposterous it seems — because his handlers know that only a titanic pretense of political strength can stave off the reveal of his family’s awesome criminality and the fall of everyone hitched to that wagon.

So much for the funny stuff. Things are getting to the point where we stop laughing. It’s only a question now of how the calamity rolls out. There are so many more parts to it and they are all out-of-hand in the most disastrous way. The Ukraine project is a big part. It was prodigiously stupid to provoke a war there and the side we backed, the Nazi-ish Zelensky regime, has already lost. You just don’t know it because the American news business is a joke on the American public. It reports nothing honestly.

Ukraine is the last in a string of hapless military adventures that has exhausted America’s credibility in the world, especially as regards our military superiority. (Think: Russia’s Kinzhal hypersonic missile.) There will be many unexpected consequences of that failure. One will be the crack-up of NATO, which has only been a false front for American military power. Germany couldn’t fight its way out of a duffle bag with what it’s got, and it is supposedly Europe’s leading economic power. The sad truth is that it will stop being any kind of power without the cheap Russian Natgas it was running on, and later this year Germany will be in a panic to try and restore its horribly damaged trade relations with Russia to get that natgas. Since NATO’s essential mission is to oppose Russia on everything, that will be the end of NATO. Europe will return to what it has always been: a region of squabbling national interests. Let’s hope Europe does not become again the slaughterhouse it was in the last century.

The failure of the Ukraine project could easily stimulate a collapse in Europe’s banking system, which would instantly spread to America’s banking system as obligations dissolve and payments stop. The net effect of all that will be the vanishing of a whole lot of capital, including the money in bank accounts, the money invested in stocks and bonds, the money lodged in pension plans, and the money controlled by insurance companies. As I’ve mentioned before — it’s worth repeating — you can go broke two ways: you can have no money, or you can have money that’s worthless. We’ve been steadily following the latter path through the “Joe Biden” years, but we’re close to simply not having money at all. Being broke will get Americans’ attention. And the first place they’ll look is the party in power.

Multiple scandals have finally caught up to “Joe Biden” and are escaping the formidable suppression apparatus erected by the Deep State’s legal department. Attorney General Merrick Garland himself is now directly implicated in obstruction of justice by an IRS whistleblower. The allegation is that Mr. Garland interfered in the case against Hunter Biden in the Delaware US attorney’s office and lied about it to Congress. On top of that comes a new allegation, with hard documentary evidence (testimony by former Acting CIA Director Mike Morell), that Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan arranged, as “Biden” campaign officials in 2020, for fifty-one intel officers, including five retired CIA directors, to sign a phony letter denouncing the Hunter laptop as a Russian disinfo project, knowing it to be untrue. A case can be made for that amounting to election interference.

All that is fairly fresh news. For many months, it’s been known that Rep. James Comer (R-KY), Chair of the House Oversight Committee, has possession of bank records that show more than a hundred instances of the decanting of millions of dollars from foreign lands into various Biden family accounts. Doesn’t look good. Looks impeachable.

On top of all that, observers are reporting that more than ten thousand illegal immigrants a day will be crossing into the USA from Mexico in the weeks ahead. Alejandro Mayorkas’s Dept. of Homeland Security and Mr. Blinken’s State Department have made arrangements with international NGOs working through the UN, to systematically conduct these immigrants across the border, furnishing them with pre-cooked phony asylum documents. This week, Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) introduced legislation to allow unrestricted immigration to any person claiming to be LBGTQ. Co-sponsors of the bill include Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. How is any of this a re-election strategy?

It’s not. If these matters are not adjudicated, it will be a civil war strategy.

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

STARDUST KNOWING

by Ann Morley

We are all made of stardust. All of the earth is stardust, and we are all stardust together — animals, oceans, fungi, trees, and bees.

But we humans are living in a vortex of fear and grievance. We seem caught in an obsessive need to dominate — Nature by capitalists, workers by bosses, women by men, one religion over another or over non-believers. Domination implies exploitation and deprivation of who or what is dominated. The guys on top are poisoned by hubris.

The paradox is that Nature repairs herself. Extraction pollution and environmental destruction have wounded our planet home and brought on the Climate Crisis. If we would only step back from our frantic effort to master Nature and realize that we are not apart from the web of life, but entangled in its benevolence, at one with its seasons.

We earthlings seem to be at a tipping point, facing judgment for our selfish greed. The gods are angry with us, sending us furious winds, elemental drought, then wide flooding, huge wildfires, and fierce earthquakes, with worldwide pestilence. We are stressed by war and the killing of children in their classrooms. Pernicious plots and paranoias mislead us and divide us into angry tribes of smug sureness. The world seems to be falling apart.

Can we regain a hopeful reality? Can we regain some gratitude for our place on this lovely blue planet? Can we stop battling Nature to allow her to cure her hurts and devastations? It will take some major re-structuring of social institutions and attitudes. We must replace Martin Luther with Martin Luther King, and nail our 95 Theses to the door of the Stock Exchange, post them on Twitter. We must send modern day Amazons out to take back their good name and fierce integrity from the behemoth capitalist corporations. We must ban Bayer’s neonicotinoids so that bees can fly free to pollinate our foods. We must learn again to help each other. And we can learn much from the Indigenous peoples of the world, for they have kept the ancient wisdom alive and know the ancient lifeways of dwelling in Nature’s embrace.

Recently I heard a song: “Hope comes from the place where the hurt comes.” Let us rise up from the chaos, pain, and confusion of the present moment and seize hope from the bursting forth of Springtime around us, claim our innate kinship with all that is, being made of the stuff of the universe, star beings.

THE ORIGIN OF THE TERM "TREE HUGGER"

The first tree huggers were 294 men and 69 women belonging to the Bishnois branch of Hinduism, who, in 1730, died while trying to protect the trees in their village from being turned into the raw material for building a palace. They literally clung to the trees, while being slaughtered by the foresters. But their action led to a royal decree prohibiting the cutting of trees in any Bishnoi village. And now those villages are virtual wooded oases amidst an otherwise desert landscape.

Not only that, the Bishnois inspired the Chipko movement (chipko means “to cling” in Hindi) that started in the 1970s, when a group of peasant women in the Himalayan hills of northern India threw their arms around trees designated to be cut down. Within a few years, this tactic, also known as tree satyagraha, had spread across India, ultimately forcing reforms in forestry and a moratorium on tree felling in Himalayan regions.

Photo: The village women of the Chipko movement in the early 70's in the Garhwal Hills of India, protecting the trees from being cut down. - Avantgardens

WHY SHOULD WE PAY ATTENTION TO ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.?

by Blake Fleetwood

Last week Robert F. Kennedy Jr. launched his campaign for President 2024. His main campaign theme is to end the corrupt alliance of big business and government. He blames this alliance for the rigging of the system that has destroyed the middle class over the last 40 years. He points to the nefarious collusion between big government and big corporations and the transfer of enormous wealth and power over the last 40 years to an American oligarchy, an elite that does not take the needs of the majority into account. 

Kennedy has been marginalized by the mainstream media for 18 years due to his skepticism of vaccines and for questioning the collusion between pharmaceutical companies and the CDC and FDA. His views on the Ukraine war — “we are driving Russia and China into an alliance” and sucking money from urgent domestic needs — have also served to ostracize him. 

He’s an environmental activist, author, law school professor, and Time Magazine Hero For the Planet for his environmental advocacy.

I first met Bobby some years ago and have followed his career closely. I have not always agreed with him, especially about the dangers of the mRNA vaccines, but I know him to be deeply honest, totally dedicated to his beliefs and willing to back them up with personal courage and scientific evidence. Kennedy is a powerful speaker, with a message for change that may be eagerly received by the majority of voters who believe everything is rigged against them. Kennedy says their government has been lying to Americans, and that this is inexcusable. He promises to never lie, a nearly Sisyphean task.

No doubt the Kennedy campaign is a long shot. It may all depend on the primary vote in New Hampshire. Granite state voters are quirky. The huge vote for Gene McCarthy in 1968 drove President Lyndon Johnson to withdraw from running again. Today, NH voters are furious at President Biden for moving the first primary date to South Carolina. New Hampshire is a state filled with disgruntled white voters who are looking for a change.

When John F. Kennedy narrowly won the presidency in 1960, he won white voters without a college degree by 60%, but lost college graduates by a two-to-one margin. In 2020 the numbers were almost exactly reversed for President Biden, who lost white voters without a degree by a two-to-one margin while winning white college graduates by a similar margin.

Robert Kennedy Jr. aims to reverse this drift away from the Democrats since the 1970s by appealing to angry middle and working class white Independents, Republicans and Democrats. These are the voters to whom his father Robert F. Kennedy appealed in 1968 and later voted for staunch segregationist George Wallace.

Robert Kennedy Jr. hopes to take on his father’s cloak as the activist champion of the country’s disinherited middle class. He is outraged that “America has systematically wiped out the middle class.”

A key component will be the Independent vote, maybe as high as 40%. 

New Hampshire’s election laws allow Independents to vote in either party’s primary. Past voting in the Granite State suggests a strong relationship between the Independent voter and non establishment candidates. Examples are strong showings by Trump and Sanders in past primaries

Dennis Kucinich, a populist former mayor of Cleveland, and an eight-term congressman from Ohio, introduced Kennedy at his announcement last Wednesday. He is expected to play a large role in the campaign.

“We have a rendezvous with history and destiny, “ Kucinich said. “Under the leadership of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., we will restore the Democratic Party.”

I like what President Biden has done. He has outperformed expectations, maybe more than Barack Obama. But he is deeply distrusted by Democrats, Independents, and Republicans. Perhaps the underlying issue is age. Biden, who announced this week, is running on the ominous sounding slogan of “finish the job,” The reality is that Democrats, and many Republicans, don’t like the job that he is doing. Biden is saddled with a 54% disapproval rating, while 62% of Democrats don’t want him to run again. Many feel that the system is rigged against them and that now they are stuck with an 80-year-old president who is not going to change much. Polls show that most Americans think the country is moving in the wrong direction by 62.5%. Many Americans, 38%, feel “exhaustion” about a potential rematch between President Biden and former President Trump. According to a recent poll, 40.2% say the United States is currently in a recession, 17% in a general state of stagnation, and 10.4% think the country is in a depression. Things might get worse quickly. In the first quarter of 2023 the U.S. economy growth slowed dramatically to 1.1%, much less than in the last two quarters. 

In the end, Biden’s age and his shakiness will definitely be an issue.

Biden’s age is probably the reason why his advisers had him announcing his re-election in a Rose Garden video, where he didn’t have to face questions. President Biden has granted the fewest interviews since Ronald Reagan was president. His aides want to protect him from unscripted exchanges during which he has been prone to gaffes throughout most of his political life.

Most recent polls show Trump beating Biden in 2024. Kennedy Jr. says he has a better chance of beating Trump than Biden. In 2020, Biden came in fifth in the NH primary. Tellingly, Kennedy did not mention the word “vaccine” in the long speech. 

Below is a conversation I had last week with Robert Kennedy Jr.: 

Question: I will start off with a softball question but it’s not so simple. A rambling answer derailed your uncle Ted Kennedy’s aborted campaign for the presidency in 1979. What inspires you to run for president now?

RFK Jr.: My top priority will be to end the corrupt merger between state and corporate power that has ruined our economy, shattered the middle class, polluted our landscapes and waters, poisoned our children, robbed us of our values and freedoms and destroyed the American dream that we all grew up with. I believe that this country is desperate for change, for a new kind of leadership, one that is not beholden to special interests or corporate donors, but that truly represents the people of this country. I want to run as an FDR president. It is a crime that 62% of American workers (those without a college degree) are making less money than they made 40 years ago.The fact that most Americans can’t afford to buy a house or pay for a college education is an outrage, as is the reality that people can’t afford their healthcare anymore. Why, you ask? For one simple reason: because of the tremendous influence of money; the people’s voice is no longer reflected in politics. Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower nailed it more than 60 years ago when he warned that the military-industrial complex will devastate our Democracy, impoverish our middle class, spread chaos across the globe and obliterate our moral authority. Today, both political parties are the war party.

Question: Despite your well-known work on environmental issues, particularly your advocacy for clean energy and water and opposition to fossil fuels–and your success creating over 350 River Keepers all over the globe, we cannot ignore the elephant in the room: most of the mainstream media considers you Anti-Vax and dangerous.

RFK Jr.: I am anti a lot of things…I am anti-Monsanto for putting cancer causing chemicals in pesticides that ordinary gardeners use. I won a $290 million judgment against them. I am anti-outsourcing our good jobs overseas, anti-government censorship in the media, anti-government mandates, anti-crony capitalism, anti-the war against the middle and working class, anti-the CIA hiding files about JFK and RFK assassinations 50 years later, anti-hiding information about drug testing, anti-government censorship of Covid origins in Wuhan. 

And yes, I am skeptical of new drugs. And shouldn’t we all be skeptical when the pharmaceutical industry colludes with its captive regulators at the FDA to promote unproven drugs so they can make money? We don’t know what the long term effects of many of these MRNA vaccines will be. Unlike all other medicines, vaccines do not have to be safety tested with placebos. If something goes wrong, the pharmaceutical companies, by law, will not have any liability. If you end up with a stroke or heart attack or other long-Covid complications because of a vaccine, you have no recourse. I am appalled by the notion that drug companies, by federal statute, are not liable for injuries they may cause down the line. However, I’m not anti-vaccine, I just want to assure that vaccines are adequately tested for safety and efficacy. I want safe vaccines. All of my seven children have been vaccinated. I support safe vaccines. When we were growing up, there were only three vaccines, now kids have to get 72 shots–not all of them are necessary. 16 of these vaccines are for many diseases that are not even casually contagious. This pandemic is ending, our priority now should be to prepare for the next pandemic and start testing drugs and treatments now. I believe in science. 

Question: I know that with other scientists, you have called for double blind, placebo vaccine testing by the FDA, as is done with all other drugs, and you are alarmed by the close financial ties and kickbacks that powerful pharmaceutical companies have with the FDA and the CDC, as documented by Science Magazine. The revolving door is pervasive. Out of 107 FDA researchers, 40 received from $10,000 to $1 million in post hoc earnings, according to Science magazine. AstraZeneca paid the government $520 million to settle lawsuits involving alleged improprieties. For example Scott Gottlieb went from being a drug company lobbyist to commissioner of the FDA and now is a board member of Pfizer to the FDA. Is this what you are talking about when you say that the FDA and CDC have been taken over by the pharmaceutical industry?

RFK Jr.: Such cozy relationships are not tolerated in Europe and other developed nations which have strict limits on the participation of drug panel advisors. In the U.S, doctors and scientists ricochet back and forth between government regulation gigs and the industries they are supposed to be monitoring. Why is it that children in the U.S. get more vaccines than in other developed nations and yet, our children’s health ranks 34th in the world, despite the fact that the U.S. spends twice as much as any other nation? American drugs cost more in this country than they do in Canada. There is something profoundly wrong here, and nobody wants to fix it. 

Question: I know that you have been especially concerned with the erosion of free speech and censorship. The recent revelations that Twitter and Facebook had been taking orders from the White House over what speech is permitted and what speech should be censored has been especially disturbing to many people. Another example of free speech suppression is when your book, “The Real Anthony Fauci,” was the best selling book in the country, according to the Wall Street Journal, USA Today and other literary sources. The New York Times didn’t even list it among their top 20 bestsellers. Moreover, your book did not get any reviews in the mainstream media.

RFK Jr.: I was very surprised that no one reviewed it. I had hoped that reviewers would try and tear it apart, so I could answer them with scientific facts. But it didn’t happen. The First Amendment, freedom of speech, is the capstone of all other rights and freedoms. It is the most important amendment because without freedom of speech you cannot have a democracy. The first act of any tyrant is to clamp down on dissent and the easiest way to do that is to censor the opposition. The government tried to silence Daniel Ellsberg and the New York Times about the Vietnam War. More recently, when Edward Snowden revealed that the CIA was listening to our phone calls, they caused him to flee to Moscow under threat of a lifetime jail sentence. And Julian Assange is still in jail facing a life sentence for telling the truth about the Iraq War. It’s crazy. It’s as if the government doesn’t trust Americans to know about these things. It’s a sign of my campaign’s strength that all week the elite of DC’s establishment media simultaneously and shamelessly published misrepresentations of my positions even before I announced my presidential campaign. Steve Bannon has nothing to do with my presidential campaign. Zero. I have never discussed a presidential run with Mr. Bannon. The national press are beholden to a deep corporate power structure that doesn’t want change. I’m not surprised. 

Question: You bring to the campaign some considerable liabilities. Voters will be concerned about your lack of political experience. How do you respond to these concerns, and why do you believe that you are qualified to be president of the United States?

RFK Jr.: The current political system is broken. The American Dream has turned into a Nightmare for many, and to free us from this nightmare, we need a new kind of leadership that is not at the mercy of special interests and corporate donors. I have spent my life fighting for justice and equality. I believe that my experience as an attorney and environmental activist has prepared me to tackle the challenges we face. My family’s legacy of public service has instilled in me a passion for justice. Both my father, Robert F Kennedy, and my uncles, President John Kennedy, and Senator Edward Kennedy, were champions of the underdog, fighters for what’s right, and tireless advocates for the voiceless. Their legacy inspires me every day, and it’s a great honor to carry on their work. We need to come together as a nation to tackle these challenges and to build a future that is fair and just for all. No democracy can survive without a thriving middle class. 

Question: One of your issues is environmental justice. How will you deal with the disproportionate impact of pollution on low-income communities and communities of color, and what specific policies would you implement to address this issue?

RFK Jr.: As president, I would work to address the root causes of environmental injustice, including systemic racism and economic inequality. I would prioritize investments in clean energy and sustainable infrastructure in low-income communities and work to eliminate toxic pollutants in these communities. I would also ensure environmental regulations are enforced fairly and that polluters are held accountable for the harm they cause. COVID-19 pandemic was mishandled in many ways, from failing to provide adequate testing and protective gear for front-line workers, to not prioritizing treatments instead of vaccines. As President, I would look to the future and take a science-based approach to the next pandemic, that will ensure that all Americans have access to medical care regardless of their socioeconomic status. I will also work to rebuild trust in public health institutions.

Question: Income inequality has been a disgrace and many economists think it’s going to get worse soon with crippling inflation, high interest rates, economic turmoil and a looming recession. 15 million people are slated to lose their pandemic medicaid healthcare eligibility in the coming year. A “hunger cliff” is looming for 30 million Americans, set to lose their food-stamp benefits beginning this Wednesday. How can this be dealt with in our deeply divided partisan politics?

 RFK Jr.: As president, I would work to raise the minimum wage to a living wage, invest in affordable housing, and ensure that all Americans have access to quality healthcare and education. I would also work to reform our tax system to ensure that the wealthy pay their fair share, and to close corporate tax loopholes that allow corporations to evade taxes. America’s public spending on health care, housing, and education, has been woefully inadequate. To reach the level of Canadian or European basic living standards, America needs to more than double its level of spending. As a result, Americans are much sicker, less educated, poorer and more unhappy than citizens of most other industrialized countries. There has been enormous new wealth created, but these new riches from the “Third Industrial Revolution” have produced a dystopian nightmare for the majority. The money has not “trickled down.” Inequality has broken the Golden Age promise of universal progress and dreams of middle class upward mobility. This latest re-engineering of America is not working for the majority.

RFK Jr.: Inequality has gotten exponentially worse over the last 40 years. Powerful elites have rigged the system. The top one percent has ripped off a staggering $50 trillion from the bottom 90% during the last four decades, according to a study by the highly respected, non-partisan Rand Corp. The Rand Corp found that, if the income distribution in the three decades from 1945 to 1974–a glorious period of prosperity–had remained constant over the next four decades, the annual income of the bottom 90% would have been $2.5 trillion higher in just the year 2018, according to a paper by Carter C. Price and Katheryn Edwards.

Question: Do you have other liabilities in your past?

RFK Jr.: When I was young I did foolish and stupid things that I apologize for. There are skeletons in my closet. I am not the perfect Presidential candidate. But our politics needs to change and I can bring that about. My past has made me more compassionate and empathetic toward so many who are suffering. These struggles inform who I am today and how I move about in the world. I’m proud of where I’ve landed. 

(Scheerpost.com)