Mendocino County Today: July 11, 2013

ASSAULT WITH DEADLY WEAPON CHARGE ADDED TO DUI CASE

by Tiffany Revelle

The Mendocino County District Attorney's Office is taking a novel approach in a misdemeanor DUI case where the defendant also faces a felony charge of assault with a deadly weapon after allegedly crashing through a neighbor's fence and into the wall of a bedroom where an 8-year-old boy was sleeping.

The alleged weapon is a 2008 Toyota Camry driven by Joan E. Rainville, 53, the night of May 26, when she was arrested shortly before 9 p.m. on suspicion of driving under the influence, driving with a suspended license and driving without an ignition-interlock device.

“I'm not aware of a case where (the prosecution) has charged a DUI driver with assault with a vehicle — not where it's just a DUI,” Rainville's Ukiah defense attorney, Justin Petersen, said outside the courtroom where her preliminary hearing was postponed Tuesday.

The District Attorney's Office opted to add the assault charge because, in part, the incident was her fifth known DUI in about 16 years, prosecutor Matt Hubley of the District Attorney's Office said previously.

“An assault is an intent to commit battery,” Petersen said, “like when someone used a car to try to hurt someone else.”

District Attorney David Eyster, who approved the legal approach Hubley is taking in the case, said the prosecution doesn't have to prove that Rainville meant to hurt anyone, just that she knew drinking and driving was dangerous when she chose to do it.

A DUI is a misdemeanor crime unless the incident injured someone, or the driver was convicted of three or more DUIs in the last ten years. No one was injured in the May incident, but Hubley elevated the whole case to the level of a felony by adding the assault charge.

He did so, according to Eyster, on the premise that Rainville was given the Watson advisement, a legal warning the court gives anyone convicted of a DUI. The advisement essentially says driving under the influence is “extremely dangerous to human life,” and that the driver could be convicted of murder if someone dies as a result.

Because Rainville was given the advisement, according to Eyster, she knew the danger of getting behind the wheel drunk. That, he said, indicates that she had “general intent,” meaning she chose to do something she knew could hurt someone.

In an assault with a deadly weapon case, the prosecution only needs to show that the defendant employed that willfulness, not that the defendant had a “specific intent” to commit assault, according to Eyster. He said the fact that Rainville had been given the Watson advisement several times shows the kind of intent needed to prove the charge.

“It's a real stretch,” Petersen said of the prosecution's approach, which was unusual enough that a representative of the Lake County District Attorney's Office attended the Tuesday court hearing to see whether the strategy would fly in court.

“I applaud Matt and the other attorneys for seeing the danger she caused and dealing with this as more than a DUI,” Eyster said.

Rainville was due in court for a preliminary hearing, which is the district attorney's chance to show a judge enough evidence to bind the defendant over for trial. The hearing was rescheduled for Aug. 6. (Courtesy, the Ukiah Daily Journal)

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BOARD OF SUPERVISORS TO TALK BUDGET IN FORT BRAGG — The Mendocino County Board of Supervisors has announced it will host a budget presentation from 10:30am to noon Friday at the Fort Bragg Town Hall. The presentation is the first in a series of five presentations to be given in each of the county's five supervisorial districts before the annual county budget hearings begin Sept. 9, according to the Mendocino County Executive Office. The League of Women Voters of Mendocino County President Jane Person offered to sponsor the event, according to the Executive Office. “The League of Women voters of Mendocino County is happy to host this budget presentation as part of its educational outreach to help inform county voters,” she said. Fourth District Supervisor Dan Gjerde, whose district includes Fort Bragg, volunteered to have his district receive the first of the budget presentations. “In times when revenues are stagnant, the balanced budget represents an organization that is constantly looking for new ways to achieve its goals at lower costs,” Gjerde said. The presentation will include highlights of the county's 2013-14 recommended budget, a “State of the County” update and items of interest in the 4th District.

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ANDERSON VALLEY FIRE CHIEF COLIN WILSON updates us on recent lightning, fires and major emergencies.

As I’m sure everyone noticed we had some major thunderstorm activity Monday night and Tuesday morning.

We established a command post at our Boonville station and contacted our volunteer lookouts (we now have 16) and began getting smoke reports a little before 10am Tuesday morning. The first fire was south of Highway 128 near the base of Haehl’s Grade about six miles east of Yorkville. It was a strike in a large fir tree which spread into the surrounding vegetation about 50 feet around the tree. Both CalFire Boonville engines and both of our Anderson Valley Yorkville units responded to the scene and with the help of our newest volunteer lookout, Ramone Avila on Ward Mountain, they were able to locate and access the fire relatively quickly. They laid hose and extinguished the ground fire in short order but had to remain on scene for several hours waiting for a timber faller provided by CalFire to arrive and put the tree on the ground where they could fully extinguish it.

Kyle Clark, AV firefighter/EMT and volunteer lookout reported our next fire in the Navarro drainage near Floodgate creek. The Howard Forest Hele-tac crew was the first on scene. They got a line around the quarter-acre fire and pretty well extinguished it with bucket drops from the copter. It took quite a while for our engine company from Boonville to gain access over the Mouse Pass Road and about an hour longer for the CalFire engine company to arrive since they came in through the Perry Gulch Ranch. They did some final mop up and departed around 8pm after ensuring there was no extension or rekindle.

We also chased a few smoke reports from Cold Springs Lookout which was staffed for several days by George Castagnola of Signal Ridge. There was a considerable amount of haze east and south of the tower for the first two days making it difficult to determine whether we had new fires in the area or not.

Surprisingly we have had no additional fires to date yet reported in the District but there’s still the very real possibility of “sleeper fires” smoldering in shady and or damp areas that may still be discovered in the next few days.

On Monday we were dispatched to a Medical Aid call for a person buried in a trench. This occurred at 2171 Hwy 128 just east of Floodgate at about noon. A construction crew was building a pond for a vineyard at that location and were in the process of constructing the “keyway” which is a deep wide trench cut under the levee and then filled with compacted dirt to seal the dam to the underlying soil. The uphill side of the cut gave way and slid into the trench burying a worker up to the top of his head. Fortunately a coworker saw the accident and was quickly able to expose the victim’s head enabling him to breath A small excavator and a backhoe were used by the construction crew to carefully free the victim who was then packaged by fire department personnel and carried to a helicopter landing zone that had been established nearby. The victim was transported by Reach medevac helicopter to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital where he was treated and released later in the evening apparently without having sustained significant injury, which was quite surprising given the fact that he was partially buried for about 30 minutes.

The latest weather report is calling for more lightning activity tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon and evening. This event is supposed to have significant rain associated with it. As usual, it could miss us entirely or put us in the bull’s eye and the rainfall may or may not occur. In any event we should all be prepared and we will follow the normal protocols for lightning fire response. It’s helpful to have all our spotters reporting in to the our Boonville station with the available manpower and staffing for your stations if this event materializes.

Our volunteer lookouts have become a critical resource for these types of events and we will depend on them tomorrow to locate and direct us to any potential fires.

Keep your fingers crossed

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BAY AREA SERVICE WORKERS UP IN ARMS

Photoessay by David Bacon

Concession Workers Get Arrested at SF Giants Ballpark

Twelve AT&T Park concession workers were arrested, and another 50 were forcibly removed by police, in an act of civil disobedience on June 18, 2013. They sat down in front of one of the park's most profitable concessions, Gilroy Garlic Fries, and prevented anyone from ordering food, while hundreds of supporters picketed outside the stadium. Concessions workers voted on May 13 to authorize a strike and a boycott of food and beverage concessions at the park. “We sent a clear message today to Centerplate and the Giants - that we have the power we need to win a fair contract,” said Billie Feliciano, a concessions worker at Giants games since 1978. Negotiations are at a standstill between Centerplate - the Giants' subcontracted concessionaire - and the concession workers' union, UNITE HERE Local 2. Workers are seeking job security through a successorship clause, along with fair wage increases and improved health care. Centerplate is proposing to severely limit access to healthcare, and to maintain a wage freeze for the last three years with a 25 cent raise for 2013 as well as another 25 cent raise for 2014. “Job security is really important to me and my family. I travel two hours to come and serve Giants fans,” said worker Anthony Wendlberger. Without successorship language, if the concession contract changes hands all the workers employed at the stands could lose their jobs.

Workers picket outside the ballpark.

Giants fans applaud when they see the workers sitting in.

Police warn the workers they'll be arrested.

And then they arrest them.

UNITE HERE Local 2 President Mike Casey is taken to be booked.

Security Guards Fight for a Contract in SF, and Against Bad

Conditions at Google

In San Francisco, marches, civil disobedience and a threatened strike won a new contract for 5000 northern California security guards at the beginning of June. On June 6, nine officers and supporters were arrested after they sat in and blocked an intersection in downtown San Francisco at the height of the afternoon rush hour. One guard, Jerry Longoria, said, “I live in a single room occupancy place. I have no kitchen, no bathroom, and the neighborhood is so bad I can't even go out at night. People like me who work for a living should be able to afford at least a one-bedroom apartment in a decent neighborhood.” The union, Stand for Security, the security division of United Service Workers West, SEIU, said the new agreement made gains in wages, healthcare, paid sick days and job protections. Meanwhile, in Mountain View, that same day security officers and supporters marched to the auditorium where the annual stockholders meeting of Google was being held. Two weeks later, the guards were back, this time with two busloads of participants from the Netroots Nation 2013 conference then taking place in San Jose. The security union protested the fact that Google uses a non-union contractor, Security Industry Specialists (SIS), which maintains conditions that make it hard for its employees to survive. One common complaint is that the company won't give each guard enough hours to survive, and calls its system “flex time.” Lack of hours keeps the guards from qualifying for benefits and sick days.

Guards march through downtown San Francisco past the buildings where they work.

Police get ready to arrest demonstrators in the intersection at rush hour.

Guards cheer while their friends get arrested.

At Google guards demand more hours and treatment with respect.

They question why Google doesn't take seriously its own slogan, “Don't be evil.”

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CRAIG'S UNENDING JOURNEY

Warm spiritual greetings, Following my recent email detailing last Sunday in San Francisco, in which I spent a lot of the day in deep meditation in the older cavernous Catholic churches, I received thoughtful email responses from some of you. First off, I have no idea what the future holds, but I do know that we are all living on a spiritual battlefield in this world. I am seeking others for spiritual direct action, as opposed to just giving up in the face of a downwardly spiraling world in crisis. For the record, I do have a satisfactory spiritual life. I am NOT looking to realize that; I already have it. What I've been trying to do is find ways to respond to the stupidity and insanity of materialism, and the apparent failure of contemporary society to save itself from its own destruction. Therefore, I have been recommending “spiritual direct action", because I have no other realistic answer to the global crisis. This includes prayer, which I asked others to do. This also includes going forth and performing effective rituals, street theater, silent group meditations, and particularly going to places such as Washington DC and engaging in these practices. Political protesting is not enough! I continue to seek others for effective spiritual direct action on the battlefield which we are all on. I appreciate an email which I received, urging me to “just do it", and also some frank criticism in regard to my general behavior, straightforward advice suggesting that I take more individual responsibility for my well-being, and other messages urging me to to keep doing what I am doing. I am in my last week staying at the Berkeley downtown men's shelter. I have enough money to travel. I have food stamps. What I do not have is others to do spiritual direct action with. If you understand that we are all living on a spiritual battleground right this moment, then please contact me. What do you want to do, beyond standard political protesting, signing petitions, and letter writing? I am ready to leave California, where the general population is focused on the success of animated movies, the financial flop of the remake of The Lone Ranger, a recent minor heat wave, and the future legal entanglements that same sex married couples will have if they get divorced. I'd love to return to the Washington D.C. area for spiritual direct action, but have nowhere to go to there. That's where it hangs at the moment. Peace and love, Craig Louis Stehr Craig Louis Stehr Email: craigstehr@hushmail.com Mailing address: c/o NOSCW, P.O. Box 11406, Berkeley, CA 94712-2406

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EDITOR,

Maybe Bruce Bochy is short-tempered from all the flak over the Giant's poor record recently, and maybe that's why he yanked Matt Cain after only 2/3 of an inning on Wednesday. And maybe Cain is tired after years of quality pitching into the post-season or maybe he's developing some physical anomalies that affect his control. But I don't hear Kruk & Kuip or Rich Aurelia or the other pundits mention another possibility that I call the Zito Syndrome.

The Zito Syndrome occurs when an excellent pitcher who has proved himself early in his career receives a monster contract. Suddenly he is being paid ten times what he earned before, but he can't pitch ten times better, because he is already at the top of his game. But he feels obliged to pitch ten times better, to justify the new pay, and because this is impossible, a mental dissonance is set up that interferes with his control. As his game degrades he feels even more unworthy of his salary and a vicious circle ensues.

Barry Zito was given a monster contract by the Giants and pitched badly for years afterwards. Only last season did he regain his natural abilities. Tim Lincecum was given a monster contract and immediately fell apart to the extent that he was demoted to middle relief. Only recently has he shown some return to his old form, striking out 10 against the Mets in Monday night's endless snorathon I could not leave because the ferry would not leave. Now Cain, pitching poorly all season after receiving a monster contract, has hopefully hit bottom, but history shows that recovery from Zito Syndrome can be long and difficult.

We all hope that the Giants will snap out of their funk, that their pitchers will shake off their affliction with Zito Syndrome, and that they will give us a second half to remember! Go Giants!!!

Yours, J. Biro

ED NOTE: I was up in View for today's bummer. There are signs of panic in the Giants camp. Signing a number one pick from yesteryear (Jeff Francoeur) on the hope that he'll somehow hit again, bring in an aged singles hitter from Japan (Tanaka), keeping Brandon Belt in the lineup, the pitching in a state of collapse, Brandon Crawford with a sudden case of the bumbles, although he did drive in a run today. Two great plays by the Mets shortstop. It's always major league baseball no matter who wins, and I'd pay at least ten bucks just to sit up top looking out at the water. Poor Cain. I've never seen him as bad as he was Wednesday, but I think Bochy was right in getting him outtathere. I thought it was a bad omen when I saw that Zack Wheeler was pitching for the Mets. Wasn't he the guy the Giants traded away for a few months of Carlos Beltran? Wheeler duly mowed down his former comrades. Nice day though, east of VanNess. To the west the fog in all day Wednesday. I wonder if you saw Larry Ellison's lego catamaran go by out on the Bay? On Tuesday New Zealand raced itself and won. Frisco's been had big time by this so-called America’s cup, with major giveaways to Ellison and an event no one gives a hoot about. I say the boats should be wood and canvas, and the race out to the Farallones and back.

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SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS PITCHER CHAD GAUDIN has been charged with lewdness after allegedly groping a woman on a gurney in a Las Vegas hospital, the Las Vegas Review Journal reported Wednesday. Police arrested Gaudin on Jan. 27 at Desert Spring Hospital after a 4:30am incident. Police say Gaudin, who was drunk, approached a 23-year-old woman lying on a gurney in the emergency room lobby. According to the report, Gaudin touched the woman’s breast and face and told her she was “gorgeous.” A witness then heard Gaudin say to the woman, “I will take care of you, don’t worry about them.” A paramedic was unable to stop Gaudin and hospital security held down Gaudin until the police arrived. “I asked Gaudin several times how he ended up at the hospital and each time he told me that he didn’t know,” the officer wrote in the police report. “Gaudin appeared to be intoxicated. He had slurred speech, bloodshot eyes, trouble standing still, obeying commands, an odor of alcoholic beverages and couldn’t repeat his house number, where he lives, the same way twice in a row.” The Clark County District Attorney Office’s has charged Gaudin with open and gross lewdness, a misdemeanor, the paper said. The arrest was not publicized at the time. According to the San Francisco Giants media guide, Gaudin has been married since 2011 and has a young son. He lives in Henderson, Nevada.

UPDATE: Gaudin’s attorney, Dominic Gentile, has issued this statement on his client’s behalf: On January 27, 2013, Chad Gaudin was examined in the emergency room of a local hospital while experiencing symptoms believed to be related to acute renal failure due to a condition known as rhabdomyolysis. The symptoms included confusion, dehydration and loss of orientation and/or consciousness. Although he has been accused of improperly touching another hospital patient while on the premises that night, there are differing and exonerating versions of what occurred that have been reported by eyewitnesses. Mr. Gaudin denies any unlawful conduct and has been cooperating with the authorities. I am confident that this matter will be resolved in his favor and because it is pending in court there will be no further comment.

WIKIPEDIA: Rhabdomyolysis is a condition in which damaged skeletal muscle tissue breaks down rapidly. Breakdown products of damaged muscle cells are released into the bloodstream; some of these, such as the protein myoglobin, are harmful to the kidneys and may lead to kidney failure. The severity of the symptoms, which may include muscle pains, vomiting and confusion, depends on the extent of muscle damage and whether kidney failure develops. The muscle damage may be caused by physical factors (e.g. crush injury, strenuous exercise), medications, drug abuse, and infections. Some people have a hereditary muscle condition that increases the risk of rhabdomyolysis. The diagnosis is usually made with blood tests and urinalysis. The mainstay of treatment is generous quantities of intravenous fluids, but may include dialysis or hemofiltration in more severe cases.

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IT NOW COSTS $35 to camp at most state parks and the Department of Fish and Wildlife charges upwards of $45 for a fishing license, meaning a truly low cost rural adventure for persons of ordinary means is getting so expensive young families especially can’t afford it.

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ON JULY 5 WE WROTE: Long-time internet stalker Michael Hardesty, has been sending his nasty opinions to our website under the name Martin Zemitis, a successful Berkeley entrepreneur. For years, Hardesty wrote to us under various pseudonyms. At first, he's more or less rational, insofar as your generic Randian nutball can be said to be rational. But soon, unable to contain himself, Hardesty's racist and homophobic rants betray him and we cut him off. The Zemitis cover means that Hardesty, banned from newspaper websites throughout the Bay Area, in his desperation to vilify whole populations of people, has moved into identity theft. We apologize to Mr. Zemitis for any embarrassment he's suffered from this lunatic appropriating his name.

LAST SATURDAY JULY 6 we received this letter from Mr. Hardesty:

Editor,

A friend just forwarded your latest libel.

First, I have never been banned from any newspaper or publication in the Bay Area. You printed this falsehood before with no specifics and I refuted it at the time. I have never had a problem getting my letters published in any venue in the Bay Area or elsewhere. In fact, I was never banned from the AVA. The last time I sent you a letter for publication in 2010 on the state elections it was published.

Second, nor have I ever written you under any other name. I know several people who have written you and you accuse them of being me! You are obviously off your rocker.

Third, I haven't read the AVA for years for reasons that are apparent. You are a liar, a cheat, a thief and a libeler. I have absolutely no interest in you or the AVA. Period.

Fourth, I haven't seen Martin Zemitis for several years. I broke off my friendship with him for entirely personal reasons, not political ones. He's probably the sixth or seventh person you have falsely accused me of writing under his name. I will copy him here to set the record straight.

Fifth, when the national writers Union in 1996 forwarded my complaint about not being paid $300 for 12 lengthy op-eds written for the AVA, you lied and wrote them that I had only written letters to the editor! That I had, only a few dozen, but they were separate from my op-eds. I never expected to get paid for letters but did expect to get paid $25 a piece for the op-eds which was the standard fee at the time. (1992-93, 1994-5.) The NWU forwarded all 12 of my op-eds to you and you wisely chose not to respond.

Sixth, I don't know what “racism” even means anymore. It appears to be a code word for brainless libs who which to evade the fact of growing black sociopathology. Some black conservatives like Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams have documented this almost ad infinitum. See LewRockwell.com.

Seventh, “homophobic” apparently means any person who does not subscribe to the misnamed “gay” agenda. That probably covers 98% of the people on this planet.

I have less than zero interest in the AVA or the cur­rent political scene.

You're [sic] a_hole opinions on Ayn Rand mean nothing. Her 60 page speech, “This Is John Galt Speaking” in “Atlas Shrugged,” is more of an intellectual achievement than 99.99% of all the persons who have ever lived on our planet. Maybe the entire universe if there are other inhabited planets.

Now goodbye forever and I do not want to hear anything about you in the future. Nada. Zilch. Nothing. — Mike Hardesty, Berkeley

THE AVA REPLIED: Knock-knock. Who's there? Hardesty. Hardesty who? Hardesty-Zemitis. PS. Op-eds? The AVA? From you? PPS. Your obsessions betray you every time, HZ. Give it up.