Mendocino County Today: May 21, 2013

LAST AUGUST, a 79-year-old retired contractor from Fort Bragg named Harold Moore was arrested by a Mackerricher State Park ranger for (allegedly) arguing with State Parks rangers over a drainage pipe that apparently served Moore's home near the park. Its installation had been approved by the County, but for some reason Parks staff removed it even though it was not on Parks property. A few hours after Moore complained to a ranger about the pipe's removal, Moore went to the Parks office at Mackerricher to explain his objections. At the office, Moore says, he was ordered out of his truck, manhandled to the ground by three rangers, arrested for disturbing the peace and resisting arrest, taken to the County Jail, held overnight, booked, paid his $10,000 bail which his wife raised in cash, given his bail money back and released.

No charges were filed against him. Moore has formally complained to State Parks. We hope to have a full account of the Moore Affair soon, but we can say preliminarily that we don't think force is necessary on a guy that old.

========================================================

ON THURSDAY, May 16, Presiding Juvenile Court Judge David Nelson officially announced the selection of Jail Division (and Juvenile Hall) Manager, Buck Ganter, as the new Chief Probation Officer. Chief Ganter succeeds former Chief Probation Officer Jim Brown, who retired this year after more than 30 years of service to the County. Judge David Nelson stated, “The judges chose to appoint Buck Ganter due to his strong leadership skills and his ability to carry on the good work of former Chief Probation Officer Jim Brown. We were lucky to have a highly qualified candidate within the office who we can trust to meet the difficult challenges facing Probation in these times when they are taking on new duties due to realignment.” The Executive Office congratulates Buck on this new professional opportunity. — CEO Carmel Angelo report to the Board of Supervisors, 5/21/2013

========================================================

CRAIG AT THE CROSSROADS

Warm greetings of bliss and transcendental joy, Please know that I sent out over 300 email invitations asking others to join with me, to form a caravan to go around the Washington D.C. beltway, to deliver a strong spiritual message in response to the bogus political atmosphere in DC which is permeating the earth plane with its stench. Invitations were sent to the entire Earth First! international directory, the east coast Rising Tide groups, two spiritual groupings: Amma centers on the east coast, and the entire national directory of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. I have thus far received no replies from anyone. One friend in Oakland suggests that my peeps are now retired with family obligations, and that I need to get a job.  Maybe she is correct about this.  The Harrison House shelter that I am at in Berkeley believes so too.  What do you think?  Am I all done in postmodern America in terms of radical activism/organizing, and writin' about it?      Give it to me straight. I want you to send me an email response, because if it's over for me in postmodern America, I need to know.  Otherwise, I get my social security retirement check on Wednesday, and I will have enough money to travel; do you want to get anything more from me or not?  The shelter in Berkeley wants to know what my "future plans" are.  What do I tell them?I am game to return to the New York City/Washington D.C. region, and will consider other possibilities as well, but you've gotta give me indoor space; you know, to sleep and shower.  That's sane, right? I am thanking you in advance for your taking the time to consider this, and for giving me the courtesy of your reply.  I look forward to hearing from you soon, Craig Louis Stehr  P.S. Please do not send me something stupid like suggesting that I be an activist part-time; I am not interested in doing anything that ridiculous. After all, I could concentrate on getting more money and returning to spiritual India, which would be a lot more intelligent than some sort of jackass effort on my part here.

Craig Louis Stehr, Email: craigstehr@hushmail.com. Mailing address: c/o NOSCW, P.O. Box 11406, Berkeley, CA 94712-2406. Blog: http://craiglstehr.blogspot.com

========================================================

SMOKING MARIJUANA can help ease the pain of social exclusion and low self-esteem but it won't fix your problems, claims new research Tests by researchers at the University of Kentucky found cannabis can act as a buffer against feelings of  negative self-worth and poor mental health

* * *

Newly published research suggests that one of the main reasons people enjoy smoking marijuana is because it helps them combat intense feelings of social exclusion. Rather than simply getting high for the heck of it, a research team led by University of Kentucky psychologist Timothy Deckman has found that cannabis relieves not only physical pain but also emotional pain. As their starting point, Deckman and his team used two recent pieces of research. One that found the pain of social exclusion is more intense than previously thought, and another that revealed physical and emotional pain travel similar pathways in the brain.

New research has found that cannabis relieves not only physical pain but also emotional pain This second piece of research was uncovered after tests found the pain killer Tylenol had helped reduce the pain of social rejection and existential angst in test studies. Since marijuana works through similar brain receptors, Deckman's researchers wondered whether pot could similarly soften the pain of exclusion, reports Pacific Standard.

More... Forget coffee, now you can get caffeine in your Toothbrush Gymnophobics: The real-life 'never-nudes' who live in fear of being seen naked (even in private) Pictured: Moment singer George Michael is airlifted to hospital following rush-hour crash on the M1 One experiment that helped prove their theory involved surveying more than 5,000 Americans about their level of loneliness, their marijuana usage (if any), and assessed their mental health and feelings of self-worth. Unsurprisingly the researchers found a relationship between loneliness and feelings of self-worth, but that it was significantly weaker for those people that regularly smoked pot.

Tests found that people who regularly smoked pot didn't suffer as much from feelings of social exclusion as those who didn't smoke or did so only very rarely ‘Marijuana use buffered the lonely from both negative self-worth and poor mental health,’ the researchers wrote in the Social Psychological and Personality Science journal. Another experiment found people who were experiencing social pain were less likely to have suffered a major depression in the past year if they were regular pot smokers. A third experiment was based around the Cyberball computer game, half the participants in the three-person game received the ball twice early on, and then never again during for the remainder. Afterwards they were asked to react to a series of statements designed to assess whether their need for self-esteem and belonging felt threatened using statements such as, 'I had the feeling that the other players did not like me.'

Smoking pot can help temporarily alleviate feelings of insecurity, low self-esteem and social awkwardness, but the real cure is learning and dealing with the underlying issues that make someone feel like that The results found that those who frequently smoked marijuana felt less threatened than the others. Deckman and his colleagues have concluded that these studies show 'marijuana use consistently buffered people from the negative consequences associated with loneliness and social exclusion'. They also warned that while marijuana isn't an adequate cure to solving these problems. 'Humans have a fundamental need to belong,' the researchers noted. 'Hurt feelings motivate us to fix our relationships and re-establish social connection.' So while smoking pot can help temporarily alleviate feelings of insecurity, low self-esteem and social awkwardness, the real cure is learning and dealing with the underlying issues that make someone feel like that. (Courtesy, the London Daily Mail.)

========================================================

FISHING GROUPS OPPOSE FINAL DELTA PLAN

By Dan Bacher

Representatives of fishing groups united with family farmers, environmentalists and elected officials on May 16 to oppose the Final Delta Plan adopted by the Delta Stewardship Council because of the big threat the plan poses to Central Valley Chinook salmon and Delta fish populations.

In spite of overwhelming opposition to the plan, the Council voted 7-0 to approve the plan and the accompanying environmental impact report and regulations.

“State law told us to develop a legally enforceable Delta Plan that will guide state and local agency actions on water use and the Delta environment,” said Delta Stewardship Council Chair Phil Isenberg.

“We will now be able to focus on implementing the policies and recommendations that will help achieve the State’s coequal goals of providing a more reliable water supply for California and protecting, restoring, and enhancing the Delta ecosystem while protecting the unique values of the Delta as an evolving place.”

A press release from the DSC revealed how the Delta Plan is intimately tied to the Bay Delta Conservation Plan to build the peripheral tunnels. “The Plan will eventually include the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) when the BDCP is completed and successfully permitted,” the release stated.

Delta advocates, who held a protest before the meeting in West Sacramento, disagreed strongly with Isenberg's contention that the plan would protect, restore and enhance the Delta ecosystem. They said the flawed plan would instead "drain the Delta and doom salmon and other Pacific fisheries."

Bill Jennings, executive director of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance and board member of the California Water Impact Network (C-WIN), began his address to the Council by saying, "Good morning, welcome to the resumption of California's water wars."

"The Delta Plan fails to comply with the law, and perpetuates an unsustainable status quo that enriches a few powerful water brokers at the expense of reliable water supplies and healthy fisheries," said Jennings. "It is a classic shell game to benefit special interests and, if implemented, would represent a death sentence for one of the world's great estuaries."

"The Council has squandered a marvelous and unique opportunity," emphasized Jennings. "Because the Council failed to identify and analyze the root causes of California’s water crisis – over-appropriation, unreasonable use, failure to balance the public trust – the Delta Plan and EIR largely recommends that agencies should continue to do the same things that created the crisis in the first place. The Plan and EIR ignore history and are predicated on an artificial reality. They’re little more than omelets of half-truth and distortion to justify predetermined conclusions."

The peripheral tunnel opponents said the real purpose of the Delta Plan is to get around the court "biological opinions" that restrict water exports in order to protect Sacramento River Chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead, Delta smelt, green sturgeon and the southern resident population of killer whales (orcas) from extinction.

"The courts have found that water exporters have threatened the very survival of several fish species,” said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, executive director of Restore the Delta. “Now, instead of reducing water exports, the Delta Plan endorses simply moving the point of export to a different spot in the Delta.”

Independent scientists have found that the diversion of more Delta flows through the peripheral tunnels would hasten the extinction of Sacramento River winter Chinook salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt and other fish species. "Yet, that is what the Delta Plan endorses," said Jennings.

"We have urged the Council to analyze and incorporate the findings of the legislatively mandated flow reports by the Water Board and Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Delta Protection Commission’s Economic Sustainability Plan,” said Jennings. “Following an extensive proceeding involving agencies, academia and non-governmental organizations, the Water Board concluded that a substantial increase in Delta outflow and a return to a more natural hydrograph were necessary to protect public trust resources. The Delta Plan EIR didn’t even consider that report as a major source of information.”

Dick Pool, Secretary of the Golden Gate Salmon Association, criticized the failure of the plan to address the recovery needs of Central Valley salmon.

"The salmon cannot be restored with only habitat changes in the Delta," said Pool. "There is a large body of science including the state and federal agencies that recognize that only a combination of both upriver habitat and Delta actions can restore the salmon populations. Delta operations, specifically the pumps in the South Delta, with their strong impact on upstream water movements and reservoir operations, severely impact the survival of juvenile salmon above the Delta. The Delta Plan fails to address these issues."

Nicky Suard, owner of Snug Harbor Resorts on Steamboat Slough in the Delta, summed up the lack of credible science in the Delta Plan when she described it as "Salad Bowl Science," where the plan officials "pick and choose" the science to justify their pre-determined goals.

"Don't pass this plan," Suard urged the Council. "It will destroy the Delta and everything in it."