Rain Begins | Willits Airport | Vets Relocation | Fridge Note | Mo Radio | Red Caboose | River Watch | Joe's Ark | Lake Cleone | Ed Notes | Supe Candidates | Palace Love | Yesterday's Catch | Campus Cops | Police Detective | Pointlessly Existing | Destroy Learning | Top Seed | Safety Net | White Christians | Sam Wo | Left Foot | Ground-Floor Hippie | Public Enterprise | Mass Movement | NY Fairytale | Drinking Issues
CURRENTLY MUGGY weather will continue today with building southeast flow. Light rain will begin as early as this afternoon with more consistent rain building in Saturday focused in Mendocino and Lake Counties. Unsettled weather is expected into early next week. (NWS)
STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): Rain should arrive later this morning on the coast. I have a cloudy 52F at 5am. A series of storms are in the que into Monday, then showers to follow for mid next week. The Sunday night - Monday morning system looks to be the largest.
FLOOD WATCH in effect from late tonight through Saturday evening. (NWS)
VETS RELOCATION & THE BROWN ACT
by Jim Shields
Now’s the time to talk about the great Veterans Office Relocation/Eviction fiasco in its simplest terms, for the simple reason that there’s nothing complicated or difficult about understanding it.
It’s that simple.
So taking it by the numbers, this is what we have.
1. Last June, prodded by a just barely balanced budget, a special team of staffers mostly from the Executive Office, were tasked to find additional cost-savings and/or revenue enhancements and report their findings back to the Board. In early December, the team, designated as the Golden Gate Bridge Initiative (similar to the ongoing task of painting and maintaining San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge from end to end continuously), reportedly produced a package of 70-plus items totaling approximately $10 million in mostly cost reductions. Included in those savings was the cancellation of an increased rent-lease agreement for the Ukiah building (that housed the Mendocino County Air Quality Management District (AQMD). It should be noted that the County has yet to publicly release the $10 million list of cost-savings/revenue enhancements.
2. A few days ago, Supes John Haschak and Glenn McGourty, who serve on the Board’s General Government Committee, sent out a letter providing background and activities surrounding the Vets relocation decision. Here are excerpts from their statement:
“The move was precipitated by the Board’s directive to staff to downsize the number of county buildings and reduce costs. The Veterans Services house on Observatory Ave. in Ukiah had a homey feel. Veterans and staff felt comfortable in that setting. Yet there were some issues such as parking, public safety and space.
“Recently, the rent being paid for Air Quality’s present building increased dramatically. The decision by staff was to get out from under the high rents. There existed unutilized space in the Public Health building which was sufficient for the Veterans Services staff but not enough for Air Quality. On that basis, the decision was made to move Air Quality and its employees to the Observatory Ave. space and move Veterans’ Services to a wing of the Public Health building.
“Supervisors learned about this from constituent outrage. Concerns have been raised about the move and we are trying to address these concerns as best we can. Some will say that we should just move the Veterans’ Services Office back to the house on Observatory. With the domino effect of the moves and considering that the new facility has some advantages, our perspective is that let’s make this new space the best it can be and that it be a space welcoming to veterans while fulfilling the needs of staff and veterans alike.
“Supervisors and staff have been in communication since. Supervisor Haschak led a tour of veterans and staff of the new facilities. Veterans did not like the sterile feel of the reception area and office space. They had suggestions for ‘owning’ the area.
“Working with staff, we have come up with accommodations to make a more comfortable and welcoming Veterans’ space. The entry will have a Veterans sign to replace the Public Health sign. Dedicated Purple Heart and Veterans only parking spaces will be assigned. The doorway will have automatic entry feature for wheelchairs. The glass enclosure for the receptionist desk will be removed. A couch and coffee machine will be installed in and a mural and/or artwork will adorn the waiting area. Doorways and privacy screens are being installed in the hallway. We will be asking veterans about what they want in the outdoor quad area to make it a social environment. The planter boxes that were at Observatory will be moved to the quad.
“Again, we express our apologies for how this move was communicated to veterans but also feel that working together, we can make this a better place for our veterans and staff.”
3. As the Supervisors readily admit, their constituents are outraged over this issue. Easily, 80 percent of county residents are opposed to evicting the Vets from their long-time location, and relinquishing it to the Mendocino County Air Quality Management District. The optics of the reality of evicting the Vets Services Office from its long-time headquarters to makeshift space in the old Public Health Building was completely lost on the staffers who didn’t bother to provide the Vets or the Supes with any advance notice of their decision.
Staffers are bureaucrats who, among other things, are suppose to provide their bosses, i.e., the Board of Supervisors, with the information needed to make decisions. Staffers work for the Supervisors, and not the other way around. There’s not supposed to be any tail wagging the dog.
The Supervisors have yet to make a decision on what is currently merely a staff recommendation regarding the relocation of the Vets Services Office, yet many people are acting as if this is a done deal. It is not.
4. To the best of my knowledge, the $10 million package of budgetary cost-savings, which incudes the Vets relocation, has never been made public or approved by the Board of Supervisors. There very well may be other items in that document that are of public interest and concern.
This issue is purported to be a $10 million budgetary matter with unknown details and related consequences. Under state law, the public has the right to know about such things. Under state law the Board of Supervisors, as fiduciaries, have legal obligations to know about such things. Yet, the Supervisors admit the document detailing the $10 million package has never been made public.
The Brown Act requires at minimum for this matter to be agendized at a public meeting for discussion, public comment, and possible action by the Supervisors.
The public needs to be officially heard on the subject in a public meeting, where their elected representatives can make a decision instead of the unelected staffers who took action behind the scenes.
Not only is this the legal thing to do, it is also the right thing to do.
(Jim Shields is the Mendocino County Observer’s editor and publisher, observer@pacific.net, the long-time district manager of the Laytonville County Water District, and is also chairman of the Laytonville Area Municipal Advisory Council. Listen to his radio program “This and That” every Saturday at 12 noon on KPFN 105.1 FM, also streamed live: http://www.kpfn.org)
WHAT WAS INTERESTING about Supervisor Maureen Mulheren’s nearly hour-long appearance on KZYX last Wednesday was that not one person, from KZYX reporter Sarah Reith, to all of the reasonable callers, had anything good to say about Mulheren or the Supervisors. Reith asked good questions about various problems the Board finds itself facing, all of which are familiar to anyone following County affairs these days. (This was before the latest Vets Office relocation fiasco which hadn’t arisen at the time of the show.) Even the usually upbeat, rose-colored KZYX callers added some well-informed complaints of their own. Mulheren’s responses were generic and defensive. She basically said that she expects things to get better, without explaining why, other than having faith in various senior county staffers. When asked about the controversial decision to consolidate the Auditor’s office with the Treasurer’s office and the desirability of an appointed Director of Finance, Mulheren said only that a few other Counties had done it, but she didn’t offer any alleged or actual benefits. As far as a Director of Finance in the future, Mulheren said she was on the fence, and hadn’t yet decided what she thought.
(Mark Scaramella)
RAIN AND NAVARRO FLOOD FORECAST
Lots of rain, about 3.5", is forecast over the next 3 days, Friday through Sunday, according to the Wunderground site at https://www.wunderground.com/forecast/us/ca/little-river/KCALITTL10 (you may need to click on the 10-Day Weather Forecast tab)
The National Weather Service Navarro River gauge forecast shows a crest Saturday night at 15.7 ft. and another crest of 22.8 ft. Monday around noon. The official flood stage is 23 ft., at which water flows over Hwy. 128 at the gauge located 5 mi. inland from Hwy. 1. https://water.weather.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=eka&gage=nvrc1
Besides flooding there will slides, slip outs and trees down across roads.
At about 6:30 PM last Tuesday Jan. 16, while traveling back to the coast on 128 I came upon highway flares and then stopped traffic at the 1.10 mile marker. A double trunk redwood had toppled over across both lanes. Emergency responders sawed the downed trees into logs and rolled/dragged them off the roadway. After a delay they allowed a single lane of traffic to proceed. It appeared to me that the tree(s) toppled over due to saturated soil alone. The stump was laying on its side toward the highway. There was no high wind event. The rain storm of the previous weekend dropped 3.6" of rain in just over 24 hours, mainly on Saturday, Jan. 13.
With another 3.5" forecast over the next 3 days, it's not going to be a good weekend to travel, so don't travel if you don't have to.
If you do have to travel, please check the Caltrans Division of Traffic Operations website at https://roads.dot.ca.gov/?roadnumber=128&submit=Search
Or phone 1-800-GAS-ROAD and key in the road number for information about road closures and delays.
It often happens that the forecasts are more dire than reality turns out to be, but the opposite can happen too. Forecasts are more accurate the shorter the time between the forecast and the date.
As of this writing, I would guess that 128 will be closed Monday morning, and probably Sunday night. However I'll watch the forecasts and see how they trend.
I've been driving back and forth to Ukiah on 128 most days over the past two weeks to be with my wife, who is recovering in a skilled nursing facility there. She is expected to be released to come home sometime next week if all goes well.
Nick Wilson
A READER NOTES: Lake Cleone has become a giant sink hole as the road to Laguna Point washes into the sea.
ED NOTES
SEEING THE NETFLIX ads for ‘American Nightmare’ I wondered, Which one? Two genocidal wars funded by US? Biden? Trump? Adam Schiff? The Mendocino County Board of Supervisors? Nope, this nightmare was the unique one suffered by an innocent young couple from Vallejo falsely accused of staging their own kidnapping. The woman kidnapped was also raped, also disbelieved by the Vallejo police and more egregiously by the FBI agent assigned to the case.
IT ALL MAKES for riveting viewing, so riveting that me and the missus watched all three episodes in a single go. Although the Vallejo cops look like complete horseshit, as we used to say in baseball to describe falsity, it is a female officer from the Bay Area city of Dublin who solves the case and redeems, at least partially, the reputation of NorCal law enforcement. The perp, as many of us will recall, turned out to be a deranged ex-Marine and graduate of Harvard Law.
ODD as the circumstances were, the mere fact that the young couple's story was so detailed in its implausibility, should have alerted the cops that they should have at least considered the possibility that it was true before they insulted and demeaned the two victims.
PRODUCTION of this week's beloved Boonville weekly was complicated by a prolonged (and unexplained) power outage in Navarro where the steadfast Mike Kalantarian processes our on-line daily post, and prior to that anxiety pill, Renee Lee's page layout program crashed, a recurring problem causing her and us even more anxiety and Renee loss of sleep. (She works three jobs that I know of, accomplishing all of them efficiently with an impressive calm.) And to think, the Boonville newspaper used to be done in-house and by hand. Then came the cyber-takeover, and didn't you just know in your bones when all these sleek, confident techies welcomed us into the global village that life was for certain going to become a lot more complicated and hectic? The cyber-miracle has made our weekly processes much more dependent on mysterious forces, a whole series of them, and many of them unreliable.
DO THE DEMOCRATS have an issue besides Trump? Every time I see or hear some Democrat claiming that Trump will end “our democracy,” I think to myself that the people saying this have certainly done their share of damaging democratic practices, more than the Orange Grifter has done so far. It's not Trump keeping candidates off the ballot, it's Democrats, as Ralph Nader, Bernie, RFK Jr. can attest.
TRUMP for sure is a lowdown character, but every disaster all the way back to Truman has been a bipartisan disaster, and here come the Democrats and their surrogates at CNN, MSNBC, Politico etc. pretending that all that stands between US and fascism is an incapacitated old man.
I READ THE CHRONICLE on-line, probably out of habit, having read the sports page religiously since 1948; the Chron has the best sports writers left in conventional journalism, although I've got to confess the PD's sports pages are also pretty good. BUT THE REST of the Chron is feebler by the day. I used to get a kick out of their comment lines but the Chron cancelled them, vaguely claiming that they required too much babysitting, the true reason being the candor and force with which un-Woke opinions were expressed.
SO I SUMMONED the Chron to my magic screen the other morning to read, “The Bay Area's best journalism to start your day,” beneath which appeared, “Warriors Assistant Coach Dies of a Heart Attack.”
THE GALLUP POLL claimed earlier this year that “96% of Americans say they believe in God.” Seems high to me even given the willingness of most people to say whatever they think will please the pollster. Myself, I loved the defiant remarks of Charlie Orr, 85, at the recent national convention of American Atheists Inc. at the San Francisco Airport Hotel in Millbrae: “I’ll show ‘em how a real atheist dies,” Orr said. “I’ll look the Grim Reaper in the eye and spit in his face. I’m not going to hell, because there is no hell.”
AMERICAN ATHEISTS INC. aren't against other people practicing whatever religion they like, the Atheists just don’t want to pay for it.
CHURCHES are already tax exempt, schools are beginning to teach the wildly implausible myths of creationism, the Ten Commandments are going up on the wall of schools all over the place, and the federal government is funneling public money to alleged church charities, portions of which are used to proselytize.
FAITH in the efficacy of the Ten Commandments is especially baffling, given the social and economic organization of this country. If killing were outlawed the Pentagon would be out of business, and if usury were banned business would be out of business.
THE REST of the biblical strictures are mostly practiced by most of us anyway because if we didn’t practice them we’d all have to do our grocery shopping in Humvees.
GENERALLY CONSIDERED, though, I think atheists lack imagination, too quick to dismiss the miracle of life. Cosmic accident? Maybe, but maybe not.
THE THING pot propagandists never tell you is that pot makes you stupid and lazy, but then so do Big Macs, television, the Press Democrat, and prolonged exposure to formal education. Nothing personal, puffers, but by and large you're not the best advertisements for the drug, what with your slo-mo synapses, deficient info data banks and your general lack of vigor.
MARIJUANA is also bad for young people because of its sloth-inducing habits. Myself, I think official sanction for another stupifying substance was the last thing this stupified country needed. The only reason I signed the initiative to make it more or less legal, was to do my part to decriminalize pot so that it isn't used by the prison industry as that industry's primary growth strategy.
HAS JANELLE RAU got the special Mendo perp walk? A commenter: “I just heard Janelle Rau, County General Services Director, got escorted out of her office this past Tuesday morning. True?”
ADAM GASKA REPLIES: That’s what I heard. So probably.
A PALACE LOVE STORY
by Karen Rifkin
“My story of the Palace Hotel is a love story — the first love of my life.”
Born in Ukiah, on her mother’s side, Wendy Mae Thomas (née McCallum) goes back four generations in Ukiah and, on her father’s side, five generations in the county.
Her great grandpa Gustav “Gus” Wolf (1876-1954) owned the first bakery in Ukiah on North State Street. They homesteaded on Robinson Creek Road and Gus walked into town, stayed over during the week to run the bakery and, on the weekends, returned to his family carrying all their needed supplies on his back.
Later, when they moved into town, they farmed a large piece of land on what is today Yokayo Elementary School.
Her grandfather Irvin Ball showed her photos from the Palace Hotel with horses hitched up outside in front.
“He swore, and I’ve heard it many times, that there were tunnels that went from the Palace to the courthouse to the brothel on Church Street (Irene’s Place) , used by those who, of course, did not want to be seen. But those tunnels have never been found; they may have been filled.”
Still on her mother’s side, her great, great, grandfather Jefferson Davis Ball (1827-1900) came out from New York with the Andersons to settle that valley.
“He brought the first apple seeds to Anderson Valley. So, yeah, I mean, I got roots here; I got roots.”
On her dad’s side, on the coast there’s the McCallum house in Mendocino and inland the plaque in Montgomery Woods showing the McCallum Grove.
In 1980, she cleaned rooms at the Palace Hotel and ate lunch with her grandfather Donald McCallum at the bar on a regular basis. She remembers the poem written on the left side wall attributed to Black Bart:
“Yea, though I walk through
the valley of the shadow of death,
I shall fear no evil.
For I am the meanest
son __ _ _____in the valley.”
“You want to know why I go by Wendy Mae?” She asks.
Named after her Grandmother Elsie Mae Wolf, she had, at this point gone by the singular moniker of Wendy.
In the summer of 1980, she and her date attended a Maynard Ferguson concert at the newly-built Ukiah High School. During the break, she went outside for a cigarette and, finding herself standing next to Ralph Penta, asked him if he wanted to go smoke a joint. They drove up Low Gap Road about a mile — leaving her date behind — where they had a smoke, talked, returned to the high school and parted ways.
“There was an immediate connection.”
About a month later, she went to the Palace to apply for a job cleaning rooms.
“I was standing in the lobby filling out my application, getting ready to hand it in, and Ralph came around the corner, took my application and said, ‘You’re hired.’ That’s when our love story began.”
Ralph had hired on early with Pat Kuleto during the early renovation in 1977 and worked himself up to managing the everyday construction work. “He always kept the fire going; it was part of his big beef because it was a big fireplace and it took a lot of wood; but it was important.”
While cleaning a room on the third floor, not yet totally renovated, she saw a leak coming from the ceiling.
“With my big heart crush on Ralph, I wrote him a note telling him the ceiling was leaking in room 1983 and signed it, ‘And by the way, I love you, Wendy Mae.’”
“From then on, he called me Wendy Mae. He introduced me as Wendy Mae. It’s because of him I’m Wendy Mae.”
About a month later, when 17-year-old Wendy Mae told her parents she was moving into the Palace Hotel with 34-year-old Ralph, the news was not well-received.
“My father told me if I was going to leave, I needed to go out the front door, not sneak out the back, as I had done in the past.”
She packed a Safeway bag with all her worldly possessions, walked out the front door down to the Circle K at Perkins and Oak Manor, called Ralph on the pay phone and took up residence with him on the second floor in room 194.
She remembers the bands that played at the the Back Door, that they stayed in four rooms with a shared bathroom down the hall.
“In each of the regular guest rooms we would always leave a bottle of Parducci wine and other complimentary things but not for the band. I knew them, though, and always made sure they had lots of those little bottles of wine.”
Although there was the Otis elevator — the original three-story cable installed in 1929 with currently-painted murals by Catherine Woscow — she preferred carrying the laundry up the back stairs that came down into the kitchen, not exactly spiral but kind of crooked, not furnished in any way.
“I was strong and young, right? And it was faster.
“I knew there were ghosts, not towards the front or up by the elevators because that area was too busy but back by the honeymoon suite. I always felt their presence there.
“And there were always ghosts on those back stairs. Mostly, I sensed men, just flashes, like, following me or just letting me know they were still there. Yeah, I definitely felt them.
“I never went into the kitchen because I was afraid of whoever was running it. I was told she didn’t like Ralph and to just avoid her like the plague; so, I did.
“I was young and naïve but thought I was extremely worldly because of my older boyfriend Ralph, who was a big kahuna.”
On Sunday mornings, she would have breakfast with 16-year-old David Post, the singing bell boy in the tailor-made Philip Morris suit and hat.
“I would never ask the kitchen for food; I was too afraid but he wasn’t. He would get an order of eggs Benedict for us to share at a table on the roof of the building.”
During Christmas she and Ralph traveled to New Jersey to meet his parents and then returned to a third-floor room at the Palace.
In late spring they moved to Jersey, married and lived together for 17 years until Ralph’s death in 1997. Then she returned to Ukiah
“As we’ve been talking, I can feel the whole presence of the Palace; I can smell it. I drove by before I came here to talk with you. When Ralph and I came back after Christmas, we lived on the third floor and our room was next to the fire escape on the Smith Street side. When I drove by, I looked up and remembered that I’d hang out there — on my fire escape. I’d watch people as they walked by. You know, people never look up.
“I love the Palace and the thought of it being torn down tears at my heart. Since we’ve been reminiscing these past couple of weeks, however, I’ve come full circle and realize she can’t be restored.”
With tears in her eyes, Wendy Mae says, “Let her rest in peace; she’s lived a good life; hasn’t she?”
If you have a story about the Palace Hotel that you would like to share, please contact Karen Rifkin at: palacehotelfever@gmail.com.
(Ukiah Daily Journal)
CATCH OF THE DAY, Thursday, January 18, 2024
JOHN BOSTICK, Ukiah. Misdemeanor hit&run, resisting.
CAYTLIN COLLICOTT, Eureka/Ukiah. Controlled substance in jail, county parole violation.
JOEL COWAN, Willits. County parole violation.
CHYNA HARVEY, Willits. Domestic battery.
JOSEPH LOPEZ, Ukiah. Protective order violation.
STEPHANIE LYLE, Ukiah. Domestic battery.
MATEO PACHECO JR., Ukiah. DUI, child endangerment.
JAMES PELLEGRINE, Ukiah. More than an ounce of pot, controlled substance, suspended license, failure to appear.
ADRIAN PHILLIPS, Covelo. DUI with blood-alcohol over 0.15% causing bodily injury, hit&run causing death or injury, no license.
ERICK RUIZ-PABLO, Rohnert Park/Ukiah. Trespassing-cutting down, destroying, injuring any kind of wood or timer, vandalism.
KAYLA SALLIS, Ukiah. DUI.
CODIIN TUTTLE, Willits. Probation revocation.
TIME FOR CAMPUS COPS
Editor,
Tuesday evening on KPIX TV there was another story of violence at Montgomery High School. There was a student, a young lady who was trapped by other femail students in one of the ladies rooms. She was beaten up, kicked apparenly several times and had her hair pulled so hard that some came out at the roots.
It is obvious there must be on-campus police officers, at least one on duty, on all days and hours that the school is in session. Student safety must be a first priority at every school in the district. A parent made an eloquent statement on camera yesterday.
The principal and superintendent have known of the dangerous crisis going on since a student died by knife wound. There is now no acceptable reason for not getting the proper resource officer employee on campus. Cost must be met, even if all the well paid administrators of the district have to kick in a small portion of their salaries.
As a former teacher, now retired, the teachers might also voluntarily to contribute. I would be happy to contribute if asked.
Students are our future.
Frank H. Baumgardner, III
Santa Rosa
CRAIG'S TURBULENT GOLDEN YEARS
Listening to Swami Sivananda Chant Hare Krishna...Does Anybody Want to Do Anything?
Sitting here on a public computer at the Ukiah, California library listening to the great guru Swami Sivananda on YouTube chant the maha mantram. I am ready to focus on destroying the demonic on the earth plane and returning this world to righteousness. Other than pointlessly existing here in Mendocino County, I could actually leave and either hook up with others, or form a new group. I do not at all see the point of just being on earth until one is no longer here. Let's get serious, shall we? If you understand your purpose to be similar to mine, I'd like to move on this.
Craig Louis Stehr
KATHY BRIGHAM
Reading “The Trial of the Century” about the Scopes Monkey Trial. Here's a bit of Clarence Darrow's argument:
“There is not a single line of any constitution that can withstand bigotry and ignorance when it seeks to destroy the right of the individual; and bigotry and ignorance are ever active. Here, we find today as brazen and as bold an attempt to destroy learning as was ever made in the Middle Ages, and the only difference is we have not provided that they shall be burned at the stake. But there is time for that, Your Honor; we have to approach things gradually.”
A LONG-AWAITED REAL SAFETY NET
Editor,
I have been waiting nearly 16 years for a headline like the one that appeared in a recent Bay Area paper: “Suicide netting in place on the Golden Gate Bridge.”
On January 29, 2008, my 17-year old daughter, Casey, took our car, drove to the Golden Gate Bridge and jumped. Like another jumper, Matthew Whitmer, who was mention in the article, she was never found.
My life went up in a fireball that day, but it also led me to connect with the Hines family, the Whitmer family and others dedicated to putting a stop to suicides from the bridge. I am forever grateful to the politicians, Golden Gate Bridge District directors, families, Bridge Rail Foundation activists and construction crews for coming together against the barrage of naysayers.
Our efforts will never bring the likes of Casey and Matthew back, but we can at least feel some satisfaction that we accomplished what many times felt like the impossible.
John Brooks
Fairfax
ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY
So, Joy Reid has now claimed, after the Iowa Caucus, that “White Christians are the enemy of America”.
As all branches of the US military fail to meet their recruiting goals, it might surprise Ms. Reid that maybe White Christians in flyover country – historically the strength of our military – are having second thoughts about endangering their lives to protect her right to continue spouting such bullshit.
And Ms. Reid, if keeping it real is your goal, blacks with bleached-blonde hair ain’t real. She should be first in line for some serious mental health care.
ALL CAL STUDENTS went at least once to Sam Wo’s for Chinese food and to experience service by Edsel! I did! He was legendary!
ED NOTE: I thought Edsel was tiresome and disruptive of the few meals I tried to enjoy there. You want comedy of the insulting type or dumplings? I was a regular at Woy Loy Goey on Jackson, and often at the hole in the wall place across the street where you got a plateful of pork chops, cabbage, rice and gravy for under a dollar.
MITCH CLOGG:
I take my news in small portions these days. My health is delicate. At least the health of my left foot is. The gummint wants to cut it off. Ellie and I are not complying. I exited my last hospital Against Medical Advice.
So. Today’s news. Later for Trump and Iowa.
Since I am sucking at the news sources less than usual, I don’t know the answer to this: Are the media mentioning that Hamas is Sunni Muslim and Hezbollah is Shia? You may as well not mention that supposed allies in a conflict happen to be Jews and Nazis, Irish Catholics and Irish Protestants, Black Africans and White South Africans, cats and rats (and on and on). The apparent support Hamas is getting from Hezbollah is the best example I could give about strange bedfellows or partnering in wartime. Hezbollah first criticized Hamas for the latter’s impetuousness, last October. Hamas doesn’t limit its suicide attacks against (mainly) Israel just to men and women, boys and girls with roomy clothing and lots of explosives strapped on. In the case of this recent war, Hamas put its whole self on the chopping block, and Netanyahu is the perfect headman. Anybody who watched him on October 7 would have wisely sold their Hamas stocks in a hurry.
That the world’s media fail to mention or mostly fail to mention that Hamas and Hezbollah are sworn enemies—except sort-of for now—is an example of lying by omission. I detest lying and liars and engage in such behavior only rarely (like not telling a dying friend s(he) looks like they’re not long for this world). Both organizations are of nineteen-eighties vintage, Hezbollah ‘82 and Hamas ‘87. Hezbollah is vastly bigger and richer and a scintilla less foaming at the mouth. Both are devoted to Israel’s disappearance from the map and mind of the world, which is stupid. Israel is the home to lots of Jews, and Jews, as a group, in my experience, are the smartest people in the world. They call themselves The People of the Book—not the people of the sword or people of the nuke. They have plenty of both and daunting skills at using them, but Learning comes first. Try converting, if you’re not Jewish and wanna be.
So keep this in mind while Hezbollah (in Lebanon) and Hamas (Gaza, Palestine and Iran) are, the media would have you believe, joining forces to bring down civilization. Ain’t likely. As for Netanyahu grinding everything living and non-living to foul-smelling dust, that’s what Netanyahus do. He was raised in Philadelphia and went to MIT. Apparently his long sojourn in America dumbed him down. Far as I’m concerned, he’s not a person of the book. He’s a person of the sword. Netanyahu’s a killer, period.
Netanyahu’s excuse and Israel’s complicity with the extravagant violence in Gaza, the mini-genocide there, is the true and very legitimate concern with having Arab neighbors that are sworn, by solemn religious oaths, to erase Israel and the world’s Jewry completely. My complaint with that now-tiresome coverall excuse is that the smartest people in the world might have figured out some way to co-exist in seventy-six years. (They’re presently making nice with Saudi Arabia, which is schmoozing with the Devil.) Don’t look to militant Islamists to do it. They’re flat crazy.
A pox on all their houses! Also, I don’t really want to write about the Iowa caucuses. Too embarrassing.
GROUND FLOOR HIPPIE LOOKS BACK
WHEN PRIVATE ENTERPRISE FAILS, PUBLIC ENTERPRISE MUST STEP UP
by Jim Hightower
In cities all across America, an infiltration of wealthy investors, developers, and bankers is driving poor and middle-class families out of their own towns.
What’s at work here is the relentless financial shove of high-dollar gentrification. House by house, block by block, moneyed interests suddenly (and often secretly) buy up properties, bulldozing modest family homes to erect sprawling edifices for the rich. It’s a profiteering money grab that intentionally prices out regular homebuyers. Worse, it also artificially skyrockets property taxes for the area’s longtime homeowners, forcing them to sell out and leave town.
This financial whirligig is enormously destructive to a community’s crucial sense of fairness and… well, community. For one glaring example, look at who likely does NOT live in your city: School teachers, fire fighters, police, nurses, utility crews, and others who’re essential to making any city work.
If the so-called “free-market” can’t (or won’t) provide affordable spaces so these families can “come home,” where they belong, then the community itself must step up to meet the need with creative *public* initiatives.
The good news is that many cities are doing just that, including where I live. Fed up with losing teachers who endure spirit-sucking hour-long commutes from distant suburbs, Austin’s school board recently created its own affordable housing arm. It’s starting to build hundreds of rental homes affordable to teachers, cafeteria workers, bus drivers, and other school employees. In addition, the district has formed a “public facility corporation” that partners with local developers and groups like Habitat for Humanity to build and sell family homes at prices within reach of the city’s school employees.
Housing is not only a basic human need, but also a community *essential* that can’t be left to the whims and greed of developers.
Do something
Fighting gentrification requires collaboration across many sectors and issues.
FAIRYTALE OF NEW YORK
It was Christmas Eve babe
In the drunk tank
An old man said to me, won’t see another one
And then he sang a song
‘The Rare Old Mountain Dew’
And I turned my face away
And dreamed about you
Got on a lucky one
Came in eighteen to one
I’ve got a feeling
This year’s for me and you
So happy Christmas
I love you baby
I can see a better time
When all our dreams come true
They’ve got cars
Big as bars
They’ve got rivers of gold
But the wind goes
Right through you
It’s no place for the old
When you first took my hand
On a cold Christmas Eve
You promised me
Broadway was waiting for me
You were handsome
You were pretty
Queen of New York City
When the band finished playing
They howled out for more
Sinatra was swinging,
All the drunks they were singing
We kissed on a corner
Then danced through the night
The boys of the NYPD choir
Were singing ‘Galway Bay’
And the bells were ringing
Out for Christmas Day
You’re a bum
You’re a punk
You’re an old slut on junk
Lying there almost dead on a drip
In that bed
You scum bag
You maggot
You cheap lousy faggot*
Happy Christmas your arse
I pray God
It’s our last
The boys of the NYPD choir
Were singing ‘Galway Bay’
And the bells were ringing
Out for Christmas Day
I could have been someone
Well so could anyone
You took my dreams
From me when I first found you
I kept them with me babe
I put them with my own
Can’t make it all alone
I’ve built my dreams around you
The boys of the NYPD choir
Were singing ‘Galway Bay’
And the bells were ringing
Out for Christmas Day
— Jem Finer & Shane MacGowan
Re……. Pot….
“Nothing personal, puffers,” 😂😂😂😂
With the advent of commercialized cannabis production and hybrid high potency THC…. there is a direct correlation to the onset of psychosis spectrum disorders. …… we are going to pay for it dearly… more young people very mentally ill…..guess in that sense the new mental health wing of the jail will be well put to use…..
My dog became very unwell from ingesting some sort of cannabis infused snack he gobbled up at the park, probably a cookie. He was high as a kite. so stoned he could not move, could not get up and walk and he would flinch if I tried to put my hand near him to pet him. I had no clue what was wrong, I thought he had a stroke, I had to pick him up and carry him to my car. Apparently a common occurence around these parts, dogs getting fried from people getting high, lol. Seriously though many dogs have died from ingesting marijuana it is very toxic to them and infortunately people are careless.
mm 💕
This is becoming terrible and it gets worse. Assembly Bill 2188 and Senate Bill 700 are bills which won’t allow employers to ask about marijuana use while hiring and specifically marijuana use while off the job.
We asked for a carve out specifically allowing police agencies to be exempt from these laws for several reasons however the legislature didn’t listen. They thought it was discriminatory and a violation of FEHA.
This makes no sense because legislation mandates my deputies to list their gender and racial identity every day when they come to work which IS a violation of FEHA.
With the new studies showing marijuana use being directly linked to some pretty serious mental health issues combined with the stressful nature of law enforcement I think we will have a disaster coming.
Like Mazzie says Nothing personal, but I don’t want deputies using marijuana and I want our people healthy enough to serve.
How do these things happen???
Sheriff Kendall,
What is FEHA?
Not looking forward to the fall out…
Mendo County is so Cannabis friendly in next 5 years 1/2 of our 20 year olds are going to be a statistic…
mm 💕
California Fair Employment and Housing Act It’s covered under the government code sections 12900-12996.
Thank you….💕
mm 💕
It’s been cannabis friendly for probably over 40 years, just because it’s sort of legal now isn’t making it worse. The hard drugs are making it worse. Kids being prescribed Adderall because they fidget in a classroom, that’s a real problem that anyone who is concerned for our youth should be addressing. Wringing our hands over cannabis seems like we’re simply falling back into the old timey reefer madness delusions.
ok wrong term yes always been cannabis friendly
more properly stated the uptick in ease of purchase at the multitude of dispensaries…
mm 💕
It’s actually one of the least easy ways to purchase cannabis. There is a lot of umm let’s call it red tape , when one tries to buy from a dispensary. Teens are not buying at dispensaries and dispensaries are not where the majority of teens get their cannabis. For however many decades the plant has been grown in this county, the teens have been getting it very easily, and in large quantities. Usually because their parents or their friend’s parents were growers. And the kids dipped into the huge bins of buds, with parents unaware or sort of aware. This idea that there is an uptick in teens getting their hands on cannabis because we have dispensaries now is wildly inaccurate.
I’m requesting a ride along. I don’t believe it.
I will go too!! … lol…
mm 💕
What is it you don’t believe? The legislation or the requirements under RIPA reporting?
I don’t believe that mental disturbances are happening caused by cannabis. I believe this is from meth, fentanyl, alcohol. Also i don’t believe that bringing up cannabis during an interview is productive. They brought up my name and farm when my brother in law worked for San Jose police and also Santa Rosa police. Not sure what they were getting at.
well you do not have to believe it, it is a fact. A cold hard fact.!
unfortunately …..
mm 💕
I’ll meet you down by cvs so we can interview those people by the walking bridge. None are going to say weed made their life fall apart. None
I am totally down for that, of course they won’t say that… but they may ask for some, ya gonna be prepared to offer up? 😂😂😂
mm 💕
Is it though? Could you provide links to credible, non-biased sources?
Surely you realize meth causes all kinds of mental health issues. Maybe you’re going back to the old school idea that as a teen, someone smoked weed, then they started doing meth….and thus weed caused the inevitable step towards meth. Gateway drug idea. Or is it the new improved gateway drug theory that weed is so strong now that it literally creates the mental health issues exhibited by the vast majority of homeless people?
Of course I can….. but Im not here to provide links.
I am here speaking on my knowledge and experience!
Of course I realize the problem meth is … I’m not an idiot… lol
No gateway BS … please
I said high potency THC can cause psychosis
Did not say was cause of MH conditions
However there are studies linking Schizophrenia to early use of cannabis
None that I know of linking Cannabis use to homelessness….
Unfortunately these things are multi tiered issues
mm 💕
Where have I said that you said cannabis use causes homelessness? You’ve repeated this statement in several replies to me.
I agree with you on this, I hope people here aren’t actually trying to deny meth’s role in the mental health crisis among the homeless .
As for law enforcement officers possibly using cannabis on their off hours, I mean, they could be using much worse things than cannabis to self medicate, alcohol being one of them. Vets with PTSD get a lot of relief from their symptoms when using cannabis. I’d assume many law enforcement officers, as well as emergency first responders have PTSD,. Feeling mellow and relaxed during your off hours is beneficial for people who have high stress jobs,
no one is denying the role of meth
Most are unaware of Cannabis induced psychosis..
Even in adults whom are long time tokers
Its not your uncles backyard grow….
not the same anymore
mm 💕
Oh come on, Mazie. You’re more intelligent than this, surely. There are far bigger, more dangerous boogie men in this world affecting the homeless population than cannabis, and there is no way that you’ do not recognize this. Obsessing over cannabis seems a bit misdirected, as far as your efforts to help people are concerned.
😂😂😂😂
I have no obsession with cannabis ..
And never said it caused homelessness
only that it can cause Psychosis
mm 💕
This “not your uncle’s backyard grow” argument is fallacious. If the weed is stronger I smoke less, simple. People smoke weed seeking a desired effect. When that effect is reached, they stop smoking. Does someone who likes to drink two 12 oz. beers drink 24 oz. of tequila when he can get it?
Sure…. some people can do that….
others have what they call “Addiction” and can not regulate in that way, especially our younger people…
All you people coming at me cause you pro pot let’s get it straight ….
I am not against marijuana use by mature adults recreationally or medically . I do not give a shit how much weed you smoke or how often, have at it.
I care about what it is doing to our young people.
I am no prude nor judge-mental …. only here to share what I know … take it or leave it…
no skin off my nose…
Happy Saturday…..
mm 💕
AMEN! I’ve never heard of someone being high enough on weed to purposely hurt or kill someone. I know for a fact that alcohol has made people purposely hurt and/or kill someone.
Reistically speaking, how many domestic violence related 811 casks are made where alcohol is involved vs. when marijuana is involved.
Are you certain it was a “cannabis infused snack”? Chocolate is highly toxic to dogs (and cats). It should be common knowledge that a small amount of chocolate, much less than contained in a chocolate chip cookie, can cause a serious medical emergency or even death. Clinical signs depend on the amount and type of chocolate ingested. For many dogs, the most common clinical signs are vomiting, diarrhea, increased thirst, panting or restlessness, excessive urination, and racing heart rate. In severe cases, symptoms can include muscle tremors, seizures, and heart failure.
I’m glad your dog is okay; the symptoms make it likelier that chocolate caused his behavior. Not defending cannabis usage, but let’s not be so quick to point the finger.
I took him to the Vet…… the Veterinarian pointed the finger….lol…
I had no idea, unfortunately it happens often..
mm 💕
You did the right thing, but no way of knowing for sure, even for a veterinarian, without examining the snack.
Actually there is they have a THC test kit for dogs ….
mm 💕
Uh, no.
Confirmatory tests are largely unavailable for suspected marijuana intoxication in dogs. Some clinicians utilize an over-the-counter (OTC) human urine drug screen that most commonly measures 11-nor-9-carboxy-Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC-COOH); however, the canine marijuana metabolite profile is unknown. Most of the information available regarding these tests are based on literature from humans. One study with dogs did show that at least one type of urine drug screen correctly identified barbiturates, opiates, benzodiazepines and amphetamines/methamphetamines. This study also found that neither the OTC test nor gas chromatography mass spectrometry at standard settings identified methadone or marijuana in dogs known to have been exposed.
interesting……
mm 💕
“I’ll show ‘em how a real atheist dies,” Orr said. “I’ll look the Grim Reaper in the eye and spit in his face. I’m not going to hell, because there is no hell.”
What/who is the Grim Reaper Orr plans to confront?
Great question… The Reaper must be a subcontractor…
As for atheism, count me in. I’m still pissed that the Calvarists took over the Fort Bragg bowling alley. Gutter ball for the Lord
Blame the city, not the church. Noyo Bowl’s owner came to the Council, looking for any help they might have to keep it open. They said nope. So now no business, sales, or property taxes coming in – and the no weekly league for the developmentally disabled residents.
Then the Council did it again with the Old Coast Hotel, helping the nonprofit Hospitality Center take it over. While closed for a few years, there was at least the potential for it to reopen, especially since it’s now two blocks from the popular Coastal Trail. But gone now, along with any chance of tax revenue.
The Lord should have intervened to keep my balls rolling
Hulu has a new special “Jonestown: The Women Behind the Massacre”. Just watched the first episode and it is indeed fascinating and barbaric. A few things really struck me. First off the 1970’s were a time of massive domestic surveillance and infiltration of social movements. Was the Peoples Temple ever infiltrated? If not, why? Why were there not agents active in the Temple at the time of the move to Guyana and in Guyana to head off the mass murder?
Also, I could not help but draw some moral conclusions, the biggest one being that Congressman Leo Ryan and the US Govt. were the good guys in this equation, hands down. Is it the “moral” failures of the counterculture that ultimately destroyed the “movement”? I don’t know but it is fascinating to contemplate.
The agency that would be in charge of infiltrating Jim Jones would be the FBI. During the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s the FBI is widely known to have been “compromised” in Boston by the drug dealer, extortionist and contract killer James Bulger. The story is (as many know from the somewhat skewed movies that have come out) that Bulger was an informant for the FBI and in return was protected by the FBI in his criminal enterprises. It is possible there was a similar deal with Jones, who then went completely demoniacal (as Bulger did, BTW, though not to the tragic extent of the Jonestown horror). The FBI, in the case of Bulger, covered up (or tried to cover up) the mischief that occurred due to FBI malfeasance, and therefore it makes sense that their involvement with Jones would be kept secret, as well. This is the tragedy of our so-called “well-meaning” secret agencies, that the poor and vulnerable are often NOT protected as victims, while extremely wealthy and/or powerful culprits prosper, all in the name of the “common good”. The FBI has probably succeeded in some life-saving actions, or at least justice-providing, but they also have a history of fiddling unconstitutionally and making a mess of things. Such is the blowback of arrogantly believing you can control psychopaths. A very dangerous and ultimately tragic mistake.
I understand that the FBI have been bad actors in many scenarios. My fascination with this case is here they are the good guys or had the potential to do some good (unless of course Jim Jones himself worked for them which I doubt). I think you are right and their involvement is at this point still a secret due to embarrassment and possibly state secrets. Thank you for the response Sarah!
“Fire in the Sky” was just a movie, not a documentary.
“A forthcoming investigational report from an office of the Pentagon has found no evidence of aliens, only allegations circulated repeatedly by UFO claim advocates.”
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/heres-what-i-learned-as-the-u-s-governments-ufo-hunter/
The movie was based on an event that the protagonists portrayed in the movie later admitted they made up. I read that quite a few years ago.
Veterans Service Office:
Once again the Board of. Supervisors dangled the carrot out in front of the public that there was an agenda item coming back to the Board regarding the eviction of the Veterans from their house. There is no such item on the agenda for Tuesday.
What do the Supervisors do at the Low Gap Admin Center besides show up for their meetings that are prepared by the Clerk of the Board/CEO? Do they come to their offices and work? Well considering Supervisor Williams and Mulheren no longer have offices in the Admin Center I would said no. Recently both Supervisors bragged about giving up their offices so that others in the Executive Office would have space. You really can’t make this stuff up.
I toured the new small cramped room that is now the VSO. If this isn’t an obvious blatant lack of respect for our veterans I don’t know what is. Michelle, the VSO representative will have to remove the visitor chairs into the hallway to accommodate someone in a wheelchair and be able to close the door. The bins holding homeless Veterans supplies, clothing, toiletries, , etc. is stacked to the ceiling. This hospital setting will not invite most of the Veterans seeking services.
Entering through double doors, past the WIC office (Women, Infants, Children), to a glassed off reception area, that had no receptionist when I was there, just a sign to go to room 310 for services, down a hallway where privacy screens are staggered, such as you’d find with gurneys behind them, to the VSO door.
Anyone with any decency could see that this new office doesn’t even compare to the house. It still smells like a hospital. I inquired to Michelle about parking. There are no handicapped spaces near the entrance or any that I saw for that matter.
This whole thing stinks! Again, what happened to integrity?
“What happened to integrity?”
Yesterday, David posted this comment to you:
JANUARY 18, 2024
“Did you participate in the mask protest at the Ukiah Co-op? I appreciate how you’ve been very vocal at calling out our supervisors for their absolute failures when it comes to actually doing their jobs, but that protest was unseemly to say the least.
Has a simple apology even been extended? Or acknowledging that it was wrong, how it was anti small, local business? I have never had a Facebook account, so if you’ve addressed any of this on that platform, I have not seen it and I’d guess many others haven’t either.”
No response from you. Yeah, what happened to integrity?
Thank you Stephen for pointing that out. I missed it, as it was under the thank you to the AVA.
Thank you for your effort and the information. I went on Google maps and looked at the parking at the hospital and it looks pretty crowded, too, more so than the Observatory location by far! You are correct, this does not smell right.
Any one know if the rumored JANELLE RAU perp walk had anything to do with the Veterans building fiasco?
It’s all a little too close. If history is any guide, someone always takes the fall for a BOS f**k up…
Be careful,
Laz
Rau was in charge of facilities and has been making the list of facilities that could be eliminated. I seriously doubt it was just the CEO and Dr. Miller that brought forward this move. It is interesting the timing of Rau’s departure.
Thank you for the reply.
Best of luck with the election. If you can win, you will be a formidable Supervisor.
Be well,
Laz
Most Provocative MCT Thought of the Day—Clarence Darrow in his most famous trial:
“Here, we find today as brazen and as bold an attempt to destroy learning as was ever made in the Middle Ages, and the only difference is we have not provided that they shall be burned at the stake. But there is time for that, Your Honor; we have to approach things gradually.”
A sly one with words he was…..
Sam Wo. Boy, that brings back memories.
County Mobile Crisis Response Team launches
“LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Lake County Behavioral Health reported that its Mobile Crisis Response Team is now active.
The agency said this new crisis response team will be able to respond to where a crisis is happening, throughout Lake County, 24 hours a day.
At the September town hall Lakeport officials held on addressing the homeless crisis, Behavioral Health Director Elise Jones called the team “a whole new paradigm” that will go into the community in real time and help people in their homes…”
https://lakeconews.com/news/77568-county-mobile-crisis-response-team-launches
Marmon.
James, logistically speaking how do you think that’s going to ride out? I am always skeptical, haha. I know someone whom just was hired to work as part of this team.
mm 💕
I have no faith in the people putting this together. I worked for Lake County Behavioral Health for several years back at the turn of the Century. Hopefully I will be wrong and things go well, that would be great.
Marmon
Most of Lake County’s Mental Health homeless issues are solved by Mendocino County, thanks to the Schraeders.
Marmon
I am with you, always hopeful but we both know truthfully it’s just another cog in the system looks like it might do something meaningful but in actuality it just keeps the system moving…… people suffering..
mm 💕