Mendocino County Today: Tuesday, July 25, 2023

Seasonable Temps | Jughandle Beach | Jorge Medina | Truck Thief | AV Fundraiser | Dusky Sky | Should Mo | Food Bank | Candidate Cline | Elk BBQ | Headlands History | River Log | Festival Photos | Night Out | Ed Notes | Village Board | Homeless Funding | Wandering Peacocks | Angioplasty Drama | Bunyan Days | Winery Settlement | Yesterday's Catch | Chef'Store | Public Notice | Tried That | London Park | Panther News | NYT Hate | Road Fork | Working Stiff | Robert Gottlieb | Purple Hour | Try This | Mainstream Extreme | Gary Webb | Ukraine | Phone Boothing

SEASONABLE WEATHER conditions will occur across Northwest California during the next seven days. Interior temperatures will be near late July normals. Coastal areas will continue to have periods of low clouds and fog, and perhaps a bit of early morning drizzle, but no rain. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): A foggy 55F this Tuesday morning on the coast. A slight change in our forecast is now calling for morning fog into Thursday. I expect morning clearing as usual.

HEAT RELEATED DROWNING IN RUSSIAN RIVER

On 07/22/2023, at 3:46 P.M., MCSO personnel were dispatched to the east fork of the Russian River off of East Side Potter Valley Road near Potter Valley, CA for a report of a possible drowning.

MCSO initiated an emergency response, arrived on scene, and began checking the area for the victim when they were flagged down in the 7040 block of East Side Potter Valley Road by citizens. Deputies swam across the river to the location of the victim, later identified as Jorge Medina (47), and observed a citizen performing CPR. Deputies took over administering CPR until the arrival of medical personnel.

Paramedics attempted advanced lifesaving measures, but they were unsuccessful. Medina was pronounced deceased at 4:24 P.M. on 07/22/2023. Deputies learned Medina had been wading in chest-deep water attempting to find relief from the sweltering heat. Medina was momentarily out of sight of his longtime girlfriend and their daughters while wading in the water. A short time later Medina, who knew how to swim, was found floating face down in the river. Medina was pulled to shore and CPR was performed. MCSO personnel were informed Medina was complaining of a bad headache prior to being found face down in the river.

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AN ON-LINE COMMENT: "Fortunately, he did not drown. I was there as the first responders were extracting the man, he was unconscious but he was breathing."

DOES ANYONE KNOW THESE PEOPLE OR TRUCK?

Trying to identify these thieves that stole our truck and tools. (Redwood Valley.) They took it right out of our driveway, we found the truck but they got over $10k in tools plus used credit/debit cards from his wallet. Please help us find. CHP has the video and shots and are also looking. 

AV VOLUNTEER FIRE & AMBULANCE BBQ

The First Responders of Anderson Valley gathered together last Sunday to eat hearty and be celebrated by the community they serve. The Lion’s Club prepared and served the Tri-tip, chicken, coleslaw, baked beans, watermelon and deserts. It was a big job on a very hot day. A tempting silent auction and a tireless swinging band kept things interesting. Early on it looked like it was going to be a disappointing turnout but as time rolled on a very respectable crowd showed up. I mean who would not want to support the Fire Dept./Ambulance? Too early to know how much money raised but we all hope it was a lot. (Terry Sites)

MARY O'BRIEN: 8:54 pm Saturday night traveling west on CA 128 between Boonville and Philo.

SUPERVISOR MAUREEN MULHEREN:

I saw a presentation today by Joan Lunden about press and politics and have attended several media related sessions at NACo one of the things that we struggle with is getting the information out about the County, we don’t have a PIO so sometimes departments work independently, sometimes the Executive Office issues press releases and you have several BOS members that actively use media (Haschak does a letter to the editor, Ted uses social media, Gjerde has a radio show and I use Instagram and Facebook). One of the things that Joan emphasized was that local electeds have a role in dispelling myths and this is something I’ve thought about quiet a bit. I’ve even considered creating a podcast or doing a true v false post on social media and I’ve recently tried creating infographics with bullet points from meetings. Sometimes I will see people post something on social media and they speak as though it’s a fact and I try not to argue with people on other pages but I wonder if putting out the correct information on my page would find the right people. It also seems like I might just be talking to myself so I’m not sure how valuable a use of time that is. 

Should I do a “True, False, Kinda” post series?

Edited to add: I went to a Ukiah Women in Business meeting on social media and we introduced ourselves and then shared one thing we love about social media. What I said is when I see people posting info I know that I posted. I’m so proud of you guys when you share the correct information. But what do I do about people that are spreading misinformation for instance I saw someone post that the BOS gave themselves two raises this year. Well that’s false. All County employees got ARPA funds of $3,000 or $1,500 depending on hours and all employees got a 2% COLA, which includes the Board. Back when they made the controversial decision to raise the BOS wage (well before I was on the Board 2017? 2019?) they also put themselves in the Department Head bargaining unit so the salaries are linked to County wide COLAs (could say just DH salaries but I don’t see just DH getting a COLA and not everyone). We don’t get everything DH gets though we have no vacation time, personal time or sick time. I see people and actually received an email from someone appalled that I was taking August off. Well I’m not. I’m only one person but I am working whenever my phone is in my hand (usually 4:30a-9:30p, 7 days a week) the August recess is a governmental recess from Board meetings to give the Clerk of the Board time to catch up on projects and to create a time where Board members could chose to take a break without missing meetings. Of course I will still be working but do I need a post that says hey guys, I’m still working or do you just know that. (I guess not if I would get an email like that?)

FORT BRAGG FOOD BANK: Come by 11-4 for delicious produce. 901 N Franklin street. Say hello to our friendly staff and volunteers

MADELINE CLINE

Transparency and accountability are core values of government that our elected officials must work vigorously to uphold. In Mendocino County, we are faced with a test of that value, as critical public reports outlining county finances are months behind schedule. Annual Comprehensive Financial Reports (ACRF) are essential documents that show members of the public and elected leaders the current state of an agency’s finances. State law requires counties, cities, and school districts to release these reports in the six months following the close of the fiscal year in June.

The last ACFR released for Mendocino County covered the fiscal year running from July 2020 to June 2021, which means we have no audited reporting of county finances covering the last two years of operations. This delay in reporting not only makes accountability and governance incredibly difficult, it is also likely illegal. 

Up the coast, our neighbors in Humboldt County faced a similar financial reporting delinquency issue just last year. Their former Auditor-Controller, Karen Paz Dominguez, failed to file different financial reports, resulting in the California Attorney General sending a demand letter threatening litigation and financial penalties. Paz Dominguez took an adversarial position, shifting blame onto other elected officials and county staff.

The difference between the situation in Humboldt and our situation here in Mendocino is that Paz Dominguez faced a Board of Supervisors committed to ensuring accountability and demanding a resolution to the issue. The Board passed votes of no-confidence, approved third-party investigations, and eventually approved a settlement deal to get the Auditor-Controller out of office and bring someone in who could actually do the job. Here in Mendocino County, there has been a lackadaisical attitude from the Board, enabling these serious issues to go unanswered and fly under the radar.

Adding to this issue is action by the Board in 2021 to merge the Auditor-Controller and Treasurer-Tax Collector positions, creating a chaotic situation in which the duties of both offices have suffered as the attention is divided amongst competing obligations.

The Mendocino County Board of Supervisors must make fiscal transparency, accountability, and responsibility a core value of county government. They have a responsibility to constituents to demand accurate, independent financial reporting from our Auditor-Controller. Mendocino County residents deserve no less.

(Ms. Cline's candidate presser)

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On Line Comments

[1] She has impressive and relevant work experience considering how young she is.

I like that she was a leader in 4H and raised animals.

I like that she is a hunter.

I like that she competed in swimming and water polo. Competitive swimming is very tough and water polo is brutal. (I competed in both).

I admire that she (like the vast majority of Humboldt voters) recognized what an incompetent, politicized cancer Paz was.

She recognizes that centralizing too much govt financial power in one person is disastrous. Obvious, but most of you don’t get it.

She emphasizes prudent, intense monitoring of govt spending and will do her utmost to not waste our money.

She understands that social programs require taxes, that taxes are most plentiful when the business climate is good.

* * *

[2] Anyone who still talks about their high school accomplishments in a professional space, is a red flag for immaturity and lack of real world experience. High school sports and 4-H or FFA type things are meant to be used to help with college applications. Once you have graduated college and entered the workforce those highschool accomplishments mean nothing. You start fresh and stop using your childhood activities to boost your resume. That’s one of the things that irks me most about the people of this county…. They continue to talk about their high school stuff… 20 years after high school.

I graduated high school a year early. Guess what you will never see on any application of mine? The fact that I graduated a year early. Because it no longer matters it only mattered for college entry purposes.

Additionally, her about me talks of the things her family has done. But we aren’t voting for her family to take office, only for her. It just shows her inability to act on her own and rely on her family status to boost her supposed accomplishments in life.

I’ve never met the girl, I’m sure she’s great. But the only thing she showed me was why she isn’t ready for the job.

MENDOCINO HEADLANDS HISTORY

Dear AVA,

I read with interest both Beth Bosk's and Nicholas Wilson's perspectives on the eventual acquisition of the Mendocino Headlands.

If I may, I'd like to shed some other light on the process.

The first record I have is a letter from C. Russell Johnson, President of the Union Lumber Company, based in San Francisco, which owned the Mendocino Headlands, dated October 10, 1960, addressed to Emmy Lou Packard. She had written him inquiring about her interest in Union Lumber's transferring their holdings of the Mendocino Headlands to State Parks He acknowledged that he was "cognizant of the merit of the suggestion which you are advocating", but concludes, "Until need for the use of the land arises it is our intention to retain the ownership and leave the property in essentially its present natural condition." This is in 1960.

The second record is a letter from C. Malcolm Watkins, Chairman of the Department of Civil History of the Smithsonian Institution to Emmy Lou Packard, in which he writes, "I have received your letter of December 17th requesting support of your group's plan to establish a state park comprising the headlands which surround Mendocino. My initial response to your plan is an emphatic "Amen.". This letter is dated December 24, 1968. Eight years after her initial inquiry to the Union Lumber Company.

The third letter is dated March 21, 1969 from Timothy J. Conlon of Business Week magazine to Mrs. Hugo Benioff, in which he writes, "The situation looks like it has come to an "either-or" arrangement. Either the Park committee persuades the state to trade state property to Boise for the headlands, or Boise, in two years or more, will begin their building plans.". "I'm not optimistic about progress through the state legislature -- it's a singularly ponderous process what with all the fiefdoms and lobby groups that are entrenched in Sacramento. My only hope is that in 25 years the headlands will be as they are today. Thank you for including me in the town's struggle.".

All these documents are available from the Kelly House Museum in Mendocino, as are many others which cover the process which secured the Mendocino Headlands preservation as a state park.

My understanding is that a land swap was eventually agreed to between Boise Cascade and the State of California: the Mendocino Headlands traded for timberland the State owned in the Sierra Nevada mountains.

Emmy Lou Packard and Mildred Benioff were the drivers of this action. Along with many, many unnamed others.

I hope this sheds some additional light on what Beth and Nick wrote.

Another story that needs telling is how Steve Antler convened a group to begin the process to acquire the Big River estuary from Louisiana Pacific, which eventually resulted in the creation of the Big River State Park just west of the Town.

— Lee Edmundson

NICK WILSON:

I've just posted the first album of Mendocino Music Festival photos at: facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10161093328203944&type=3

Anyone with the above link can view the album without need to have an account or sign in to Facebook. Just follow the link and ignore any requests to sign in or open an account.

I've been the official photographer for the festival for nearly 20 years.

This album includes most of the programs of the first week of the two-week festival. Not all concerts could be included.

I welcome feedback off-list. Thank you.

Nicholas Wilson <nwilson@mcn.org>

FIRE SAFE POINT ARENA EVENT

You don't have to live in Point Arena to come swing on the swings!

When someone says you can't do it, do it twice and take pictures.

— Jennifer Smallwood

ED NOTES

PROMINENT COAST REALTOR, PAM HUDSON, lost big recently in the superior courtroom of Judge Nadel. Not a complicated case but confirmed in the usual mound of legal paperwork confirming that Ms. Hudson looted the family trust in both senses as its trustee, signing over mom's house to herself and also routing a big slug of mom's assets to herself. “Respondent (Pam Hudson) intentionally and in bad faith breached her fiduciary duties as trustee of the trust…” etc. and so on to the tune of a little over a cool mil, which she has now been ordered to pay her two ripped-off siblings.

SO A READER ASKS ME: “Why bother with those Ukraine blurbs every day?” Because, taken together, they represent a slow march to catastrophe for all of us, already so large a catastrophe for Ukraine that all the money in the world won't be able to build it back, not to mention all the young men on both sides fed into the machinery of slaughter. There should be a negotiated settlement, but when I watch the State Department lightweights on our side coughing up stuttering cliches on tv news blips, I know in my bones they're not up to it. Almost makes a guy nostalgic for Kissinger. Biden, insofar as some people seem to believe he's functioning on any cognitive level, is dispatching long range missiles to Ukraine, meaning they'll inevitably be launched at Russia, and then Vlad will break out the “tactical” nukes, and on some soft summer evening as we watch the setting sun turn Mendo's summer hills a rich, priceless gold, there will be a flash and… Cormac McCarthy's ‘The Road’ spells out the last consequences of all this.

I ASKED my granddaughter how her championship softball game went. “We got mercy-ed,” she said. Mercy-ed? She clarified. “They scored ten runs in the fourth inning, and they were already ahead by ten so the umpire mercy-ed us. That was the end of the game.”

PERHAPS the only two encouraging developments over the past fifty years in our doomed country have been the radical improvement in race relations and the onset at all age levels, women's sports. Oh, and a third — bread. Real bread has been available now for many years. People of my vintage spent our formative years on a diet of milk and Wonder Bread chokers (peanut butter and jelly sandwiches), women didn't play sports, and every area of the country was rigidly ghetto-ized.

I READ an on-line blurb the other day from a Bay Area journalist talking about crime in Oakland. The responses fell into one of three categories:

1: There is no crime in Oakland!

2: There has always been crime in Oakland. 

3: You're a racist for reporting about crime in Oakland. 

Everyone who gave one of the above three responses seemed to be a white “progressive” who have the luxury of not caring about crime because they will rarely be affected directly. It doesn't seem to bother them what happens to crime victims, who are primarily poor people of color. The virtue signaling claim of “I am so progressive, I live in Oakland and don't worry about crime” is more important to them than reducing crime itself.

THEN there was this comment: “I live in a white middle-class neighborhood in Oakland. Moved here 30 years ago. Most of us want to stay here, we love our neighborhoods. Oakland is a great neighborhood city. We hunker down and hope we won't be shot when we go out to eat or shop or exercise. We have little faith in the police because, well-staffed or not, they've done little to protect us when we travel outside the neighborhood. The city council seems to have few resources and the mayors suck up to the police as often as not. So we hunker down.”

MEET THE AV VILLAGE BOARD MEMBERS!

JOIN THE CLUB: YOU TOO CAN HELP THE OTHER 33 OR SO MEMBERS CONTINUE TO COLLECT HOMELESS FUNDING

(Our Motto: More money for more homeless.)

Mendocino County Homeless Services Continuum Of Care

Rescheduled: 2023 Annual Membership Invitation

Come join local residents with lived experiences of homelessness, community service providers, members of the public, and other stakeholders of the local homeless community in making a difference in the lives of our neighbors experiencing homelessness in Mendocino County. The Mendocino County Homeless Services Continuum of Care (MCHSCoC) rescheduled its Annual Membership Invitation Event for Monday, August 21, 2023, as part of the next meeting of the Full Membership of MCHSCoC.

What is a HUD Continuum of Care? The Continuum of Care is a collaboration of individuals, and agencies committed to the goal of ending homelessness in our community. This group is instrumental in bringing federal Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funding into the county to assist families and individuals experiencing, or at risk of homelessness, to gain access to stable housing. MCHSCoC focuses on developing solutions to homelessness that also positively impact the larger community. Community members and agency staff interested in understanding some of the issues of homelessness in Mendocino County, and working on solutions to end homelessness, are welcome to attend the public meetings.

For more information on this event or to receive future meeting invitations, resource information, and progress updates on the goal of making homelessness rare and brief in Mendocino County, please contact Veronica Wilson at wilsonv@mendocinocounty.org or (707) 468-7071.

MITCH CLOGG:

Probably gonna lose this pump, this wound vacuum, its super-tough fabric pouch and shoulder strap, its charger and its heaps of resupplies. Its tubing.

Neither the object nor this period shall I miss.

“Angioplasty” is made up of a pair of old Greek words that meant, basically, “angioplasty”: “forming a new vessel”. I’m not certain its time has come. It’s among the stupidest things I ever did. The standard prediction for “The Procedure” is a day or two, maybe three. I got to hospital April 29 last. Maybe I’ll lose this pump—rhymes with trump—tomorrow, July 24th. I’ll turn it over to the home-health agency or 3M or the Veterans Administration. If they told me I must throw it off the Big River Bridge, I’d zombie on down.

I don’t know what will be the last act in my FOUR-PROCEDURE angioplasty drama. I may be expected to have a face-to-face with the surgeon. That will be interesting. Of the things that sent me there, my grotesquely swollen left foot is only a little puffy, most of the time, and its color is not the stormy purple it was, just a little pink. The sores that were transforming from insignificant to scary, pre-angio, are fading. 

The discomfort in my legs, the painful accumulations of acid in my muscles, beginning immediately that I start anything requiring standing or walking, is unchanged, probably worse. That’s the condition that took me there, to the esteemed Vascular Surgery.

With this pump off me I can get serious about rehabbing myself. My legs, especially at night, are weak. Doctors, nurses and nurses' aides constantly ask how do you feel, what’s your pain level, one to ten, have you had a bowel movement, have you fallen since l last saw you? I used to smile at the falling question. Now it’s a constant concern when I’m upright. My legs are unreliable. Angioplasty, what I was told was the specific modern approach to that, so far shows no signs of addressing those complaints.

But I can exercise. If you don’t fall or break your bones, get your long hair caught in the jogging machine or suffer a heart attack, it’s pretty much a win-win kind of thing, exercising. I hate it until I get started doing it, then it’s like turning the clock back—if I keep on doing it forever.

In the hospital, they kept telling me to get exercise. All the doctors said to and most of the nurses. The physical therapists and the occupational therapists, usually prone to slight paunches, told me to get out of bed and walk the halls.

But nobody in authority would put the note in my chart, so the nurses and the NAs wouldn’t let me walk unaccompanied. They live in fear of their old charges falling. Somebody, when I’m inclined to walk the halls at 3 A.M., has to go with me. I have to press the call button, as if I’m dying or soiling the bed. 

I didn’t call for a nurse. Toward the end of my confinement, somebody wrote something in my chart and afforded me the melancholy sight of the modern hospital nursing staff at 0430 hours, seated at their mobile work-stations, straining to stay awake or, just as inconceivable, straining to get all the charting done before quitting time. Most glance as I slip by on canes or walker, all of us feeling bad for each other, gimpy old men and trapped medical people, puttin’ in their time…

Tomorrow discard the pump and commence focused training to conceivably reduce arterial plaque and quite likely halt its spread; become a beast.

MAURITSON FARMS IN HEALDSBURG to pay over $328,000 in lost wages to settle retaliation complaint

by Jennifer Sawhney

A Sonoma County winery has reached a settlement with more than a dozen employees who said they were retaliated against after speaking out about working conditions.

Mauritson Farms, based in Healdsburg, has agreed to pay $328,077 in lost wages to 21 farmworkers, the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board said Monday.

The workers were hired through the H-2A program that allows foreign nationals to work in the U.S. temporarily with a visa. To hire H-2A workers, an employer must initially attempt to find U.S. workers for those jobs.

If unable to do so and the employer decides to hire an H-2A worker, they must provide certain provisions to workers:

• Pay for all visa and recruitment costs.

• Provide adequate and safe housing at no cost.

• Pay the promised wages.

• Pay for free and safe daily transportation.

• Give a written contract; pay for the return trip home.

• Pay for meals or a kitchen to prepare food.

• Allow workers to file complaints without any threats.

This work program has roots in the Bracero Program, founded in 1942, which allowed workers to migrate from Mexico to work temporarily.

The H-2A agricultural workers hired at Mauritson were retained throughout the 2019, 2020 and 2021 seasons.

In 2021, however, several workers sought assistance and support from Santa Rosa-based nonprofit North Bay Jobs with Justice, a grassroots coalition of over 30 community and labor organizations.

The nonprofit helped workers communicate complaints to Mauritson Farms about dirty restrooms, denials of meal and rest breaks and mistreatment.

The workers were not rehired in the 2022 season, and the company opted instead for a different cohort of H-2A workers.

North Bay Jobs with Justice then filed a complaint with the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board, the state agency that enforces collective bargaining rights and protects agricultural employees under California’s Agricultural Labor Relations Act.

The state agency’s subsequent investigation resulted in a complaint against Mauritson Farms, which reached a settlement agreement June 28. It was not publicly announced until Monday.

As part of the agreement, agents with the Agricultural Labor Relations Board will visit Mauritson Farms’ work sites to read a notice to farmworkers about their rights.

That notice will be posted for 75 days and also mailed to current and former employees, according to the agency.

(pressdemocrat.com)

CATCH OF THE DAY, Monday, July 24, 2023

RAQUEL ARNOLD, Ukiah. Assault with firearm on person, armed with firearm in commission of felony.

AURUELIO BARRAGAN, Ukiah. Battery, vandalism, probation revocation.

ETHAN BAUER, Clearlake/Ukiah. Theft by use of access card information.

DUSTIN BLAKESLEY, Ukiah. Stolen vehicle, assault on public safety officer with deadly weapon not a gun with likely great bodily injury, evasion, suspended license.

KENNETH DEWITT JR., Ukiah. Domestic abuse, parole violation.

JEVON EAGLESMITH, Ukiah. Conspiracy.

CHESHIRE MAIAVA, Fort Bragg. Controlled substance, paraphernalia, probation revocation.

ALVARO MENDOZA-MENDOZA, Willits. Suspended license for DUI.

JESUS PEREZ-RODRIGUEZ, Ukiah. Assault weapon, large capacity magazine.

TOMMY RHODES, Ukiah. DUI.

SEAN RUYS, Ukiah. Domestic abuse, “restr use of fire.”

BENJAMIN SALDANA, Clearlake/Willits. Rape by force, violence duress, menace or fear of bodily injury, false imprisonment, lewd/lascivious with child under 14 years old.

MARCOS SANCHEZ, Toppensih, Washington/Ukiah. DUI-alcohol&drugs, open container of marijuana in vehicle.

JOHNNY SHIELDS, Ukiah. Failure to appear.

MICHAEL TEMPLETON, Danville/Ukiah. DUI-alcohol&drugs.

CYNTHIA VEGA-AYALA, Ukiah. DUI-alcohol&drugs, controlled substance. 

RD BEACON: I found a place in Santa Rosa just off the Santa Rosa Ave. near the Napa auto store you take the stoplight that goes East Drive down the block and on the north side of the road with a little shopping mall is there's a place called chef’s supply, have bulk amounts of everything way cheaper than going to Cisco foods, or even Costco's virtual warehouse products for restaurants and bars, here's the address: 565 Barham Avenue Santa Rosa, CA 95404 (707-543-5844)

They are open every day, most days 6 AM to 7 PM except on Sunday, 8 AM to 5 PM, they have a local online ad and link up to other stores throughout the state.

You will be pleasantly surprised; they have bulk meat, and other products, produce, dry goods, and so very much more.

PUBLIC NOTICE of Draft NPDES Permit and WDR Order R1-2023-0026, Nordic Aquafarms California LLC and Humboldt Bay Harbor Recreation and Conservation District, WDID No. 1B20161NHUM, NPDES Permit No. CA1000003

North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board

On the basis of preliminary staff review and application of lawful standards and regulations, the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board (Regional Water Board) proposes to adopt National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES), Waste Discharge Requirements Order No. R1-2023-0019 for Nordic Aquafarms California, LLC (Facility) which will be a new NPDES permit. Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District (HBHRCD) is proposed to be a co-permittee in the NPDES permit in respect to the intake system and ocean outfall, which HBHRCD owns and operates.

This item will be open for public comment between July 24, 2023 and August 23, 2023. Comments and questions regarding the draft Order should be directed to Justin McSmith at Justin.McSmith@Waterboards.ca.gov.

In order for the Regional Water Board to consider any written evidentiary material concerning this hearing, any documents, including written technical reports and other evidentiary material, must be submitted to the Regional Water Board email at NorthCoast@waterboards.ca.gov attention: Justin McSmith, no later than 5:00 pm, on August 23, 2023.

North Coast Region Tentative Orders

https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/northcoast/

JACK WOULD NOT HAVE APPROVED

Editor: 

I have been a docent at Jack London State Historic Park since 2009 and have volunteered for Transcendence Theatre since 2011. What the California State Park Rangers Association has done by suing the state is contrary to supporting the park and Transcendence. The case has been trapped in an elongated environmental study under the California Environmental Quality Act since 2022.

Jack London loved people and, as one of his ancestors told me in viewing the crowd at a performance, if he were alive, he would be proud and happy people enjoying his land.

In 2011, when state parks faced a $22 million deficit, Jack London park faced closure, but it is now self-supporting with a foundation. Without the money received from Transcendence, the park is facing financial hardship, and so is Transcendence.

I am disgusted with the rangers association and the state park system. I agree with Gov. Gov. Gavin Newsom that change is needed for environmental review. He recently said one case took up to nine years to resolve. This is not good government at work. Saving the park from closure and preserving the heritage and history of Jack London in Sonoma County is.

Robert Reuther

Sonoma

DID THE PANTHERS KNOW WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN AT JONESTOWN?

Steve Heilig: Found old paper: Panthers allege CIA conspiracy to kill everybody at Jonestown. 

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Speaking of a debauched news media, however much we may hate the NYT and by extension everyone who works there, it isn’t enough.

I’m referring to an op-ed and smear against RFK Jr. by one Sheryl Gay Stolberg, who actually said this:

“Despite the theater, the hearing raised thorny questions about free speech in a democratic society: Is misinformation protected by the First Amendment? When is it appropriate for the federal government to seek to tamp down the spread of falsehoods?”

Anybody who works for that rag has got to by now know they are working as a propagandist for a corrupt regime, or they are too stupid to even BE a reporter.

Is there nothing these people won’t do for money?

The slanted article also tried to give the impression that the hearings were about RFK Jr. being a racist.

https://twitter.com/SherylNYT/status/1682081481781379073?s=20

I ALWAYS RESENTED all the years, the hours, the minutes I gave them as a working stiff, it actually hurt my head, my insides, it made me dizzy and a bit crazy — I couldn’t understand the murdering of my years yet my fellow workers gave no signs of agony, many of them even seemed satisfied, and seeing them that way drove me almost as crazy as the dull and senseless work.

— Charles Bukowski

IN A PARIS REVIEW INTERVIEW, Robert Caro said, “In all the hours of working on ‘The Power Broker,’ Bob [Gottlieb] never said one nice thing to me—never a single complimentary word, either about the book as a whole or about a single portion of the book. That was also true of my second book, ‘The Path to Power,’ the first volume of the Johnson biography. But then he got soft. When we finished the last page of the last book we worked on, ‘Means of Ascent,’ he held up the manuscript for a moment and said, slowly, as if he didn’t want to say it, ‘Not bad.’ ” (The New Yorker)

THE PURPLE HOUR

by James Kunstler

“I have a dream that the people we elect to run the government will be the ones who actually run the government.” — Vivek Ramaswamy

The hour is late for “Joe Biden.” His sojourn in America’s highest office was one long twilight of pretending to be effectual, or merely present, and now even that abject pantomime slips into a place of nullity, where all is still and dark. What does he do these languorous weekends at the fabled Delaware beach house? Stare out at the empty Atlantic horizon over an uneaten egg salad sandwich with the crusts cut off? Does he even suspect that the world is already turning without him?

The pressure is mounting for some group of somebodies to arrange his exit from the scene. Of course, there is no public discussion of that among the somebodies because everything they have been doing for years happens sub rosa, in addition to being of dubious legality. Despite the most formidable praetorian protections — a depraved justice department, a Gestapo-caliber FBI, a debauched news media — the arrows of culpability are flying clean through the beach house windows at that immobilized figure sitting in the crepuscular gloom.

Forgive me for bringing this up, but remember the first impeachment of Mr. Trump on the grounds of a phone call to freshly-minted President Z in Ukraine pertaining to some fishy matters around the Burisma gas company? Yes, Mr. T was impeached over a mere inquiry into possible misconduct by a former high US official (being one “Joe Biden,” ex-veep) and his bag-man son. The setup was patently obvious even to us bloggers who enjoy no intimate correspondence with organelles of the DC Blob. A CIA spook “whistleblower” named Eric Ciaramella (sssshhhh) was injected into the scene with help from the devious Col. Vindman at NSA and an assist from Intel Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson… and voila! Recall the solemn pageantry of Nancy Pelosi’s march across the Capitol rotunda with the hallowed bill of impeachment on a satin pillow….

And now, more than three years later, the nation is informed of all the particulars around those Burisma Company’s doings with the Biden family in granular detail ($5-million plus $5-million), laying out just one instance of treasonous moneygrubbing by this family among many grifts in other nations. And in case of any lingering questions — if the news media were not a pseudopod of the Blob — a long roster of bank transfer records has been assembled by Rep. Comer of the House Oversight Committee to validate the deal memos, emails and audio recordings already available for inspection in the alt.news.

You realize, don’t you, that the DOJ and the FBI had all of this info (a.k.a evidence) in its possession even before Trump impeachment number one? AG William Barr and FBI Director Wray could have stepped up at any time after October, 2019, and said, “Oh, here’s what that phone call to Z was about.” That they didn’t is arguably the most blatant crime among scores of crimes committed by the Blob in the Trump and post-Trump years.

Federal Justice Manual 9-5.000, Section B: Constitutional obligation to ensure a fair trial and disclose material exculpatory and impeachment evidence. Government disclosure of material exculpatory and impeachment evidence is part of the constitutional guarantee to a fair trial. Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 87 (1963). The law requires the disclosure of exculpatory and impeachment evidence when such evidence is material to guilt or punishment.”

So now the Blob is desperate to jettison this embodiment of its corruption and lawlessness, “Joe Biden,” before the Trump-deranged masses start paying attention to the distant yelling from the asteroid belt of actual news beyond noisy Planet MSNBC. The Blob will be fighting for its very life anyway. The Ukraine operation is not proceeding according to plan. Do you know why? Answer: because it was a stupid plan concocted by purblind Neocon idiots. Russia has been insulted to the degree that it deems America unworthy of negotiation — meaning Russia will bring the Ukraine mess to a conclusion on its terms. They will take care to do it gingerly, so as not to further inflame the psychosis afflicting America and tempt us into even grosser stupidities. Namely, they will insist on a neutral Ukraine with no foreign operators in it and some rearrangement of Ukraine’s borders. America will have to lump it. The Blob Neocon faction will blame the whole lamentable affair on “Joe Biden,” who, by then, will be gone from the White House.

How does that happen? The 25th Amendment, since we are now at the point where his infirmity is as hard to ignore as the evidence of his crimes. How the Blob deals with his successor, the distressing Ms. Harris, is another bridge to cross. The switcheroo itself may be enough to tank the financial markets, which will give the restive nation something else to think about: the personal ruin of every household in the land. Then, things get really interesting.

(kunstler.com)

THE MODERATE POSITION on Ukraine is to hold both Russia and the US empire responsible for their respective roles in starting and continuing this war. That’s the middle ground. But this position is regarded as freakish fringe extremism in the western mainstream and you’ll be accused of literally conducting psyops for a foreign government if you voice it, because the western mainstream is just that freakishly extremist.

The mainstream position in the west is that Putin invaded Ukraine solely because he is evil and hates freedom, and that Moscow is 100% responsible for this conflict in every way while the US is just an innocent little flower who just wants to protect freedom and democracy. When you actually spell out what the mainstream position on Ukraine is it sounds like a silly fairy tale for children, but that’s what all the most influential western pundits, politicians and government officials are actually saying. That’s how bat shit insane things are.

The Overton window has been shifted so far in support of NATO warmongering that this middle-ground position is now regarded as fringe extremism, so they just debate things like whether or not cluster bombs should be used to fight this war that is obviously 10000% Russia’s fault. As is often the case this dynamic has already been well-described by the elderly scholar who we all love to share our opinions about:

The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum — even encourage the more critical and dissident views. That gives people the sense that there’s free thinking going on, while all the time the presuppositions of the system are being reinforced by the limits put on the range of the debate.

— Noam Chomsky

— Caitlin Johnstone

UKRAINE, MONDAY, 24TH JULY

A Russian air attack on the Ukrainian port city of Odesa killed two people and severely damaged a historic Orthodox cathedral. UNESCO condemned the “brazen” attack as an “escalation of violence against the cultural heritage of Ukraine”.

The missile attacks wounded 22 people, including four children, and destroyed six houses and apartment buildings, according to Ukrainian officials.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pledged to retaliate for the attack, saying “they [Russia] will definitely feel this”.

Russia, however, blamed the cathedral damage on Ukrainian air defence. It said it had hit all its intended targets in the Odesa strike, claiming the sites were being used to prepare “terrorist acts” against Russia.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CNN that Ukraine has recaptured half the territory Russia seized in its invasion but said Kyiv faced a very hard fight to win back more.

In Ukraine’s eastern Kharkiv, Governor Oleh Synyehubov reported that two people were killed in Russian strikes on the northeastern province on Saturday when Russia attacked populated areas of the Kharkiv, Chuhuiv, Kupiansk and Izium districts.

In front-line Donetsk, the Russian army shelled the city of Chasiv Yar with cluster munitions, destroying the Palace of Culture, which had been used as a humanitarian headquarters, according to Ukrainian media reports.