Letters (January 30, 2024)

• Bad Looking Board
• Looking For Cost Savings In All The Wrong Places
• To Covelo, In A Handbasket
• Planning Improvements
• Be The Match
• A Long-Awaited Safety Net
• Middle Ages These Days
• Huffing & Puffing
• More Than Three Cheers
• Huffman’s Dam Destruction
• Palestinian Self-Determination, Truce

BAD LOOKING BOARD

To Jim Shields:

I was surprised when Mulheren made that statement about sending it [the Cubbison suspension question] to the Grand Jury as she has related to me that the GJ is a joke/laughable and that their responses to the most recent GJ reports were ” boilerplate” responses (I have our text exchanges). This exchange took place since the Board of Supervisors were going to put their name on the insulting response, to the recent GJ report about Human Resources, done by the Ad Hoc committee, which was Gjerde and Williams, that stated:

“GJ finding 25 The County as an employer has suffered due to the workplace culture, which makes the County less attractive to potential applicants.”

Response: “Partially disagree. The County’s workplace culture may look less attractive to potential applicants if the culture is known by the applicants and is as bad or worse than the current workplace culture the applicant is enduring.”

Seriously? I reached out to Mulheren and Haschak about them having their name on this ridiculous response and that it makes the Board look REALLY BAD. Mulheren’s response was, ”Agree, but it doesn’t do me any good to pull it because they likely won’t change it.”

Subsequently, at the next meeting, that was on the coast, Haschak pulled the item (consent calendar) and it was reworded and brought back at the end of the meeting. Mulheren didn’t/doesn’t even try to go above and beyond let alone, speak up.

Haschak had just had surgery and hadn’t read through it all but was surprised at the wording of the response when I called him and pointed it out. He had enough ethics to pull the item and have it reworded.

Carrie Shattuck

Ukiah

PS. 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 say 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?

LOOKING FOR COST SAVINGS IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES

Editor,

Re: Vets office….

Seriously do you not consider effect before acting? This letter does nothing but point out the “bad behavior” on behalf of our leadership. How do you not take into account the needs of the people? A very bad explanation. ugghh

Besides the parking remark is utterly ridiculous and stupid. I walk my dog over there all the time, you can park 8 regular sized cars doubled up in front of the garage, 4 in a single line so people can get out and at least 4 in front of the VSO office. Besides it is very unlikely that there are more than 4 Vets at a time in that office, also there are many public health parking spots right next to VSO!

If the county is looking to cut costs one way would be to stop running lights and electricity on unoccupied buildings at night, weekends, summer and holidays! There are multiple locations of a waste of energy and money. One being the DSS building …and the building at Observatory Park for Transitional Education who runs the air conditioner all summer long 24 hours a day.

People are stressed enough in this war torn economy don’t add to it, cut costs starting at the top!!

ugghhh!!

FYI. I used to be the Volunteer Outreach Coordinator for Vet Connect. I was working to get Vet Connect a reality in Mendo unfortunately was not much interest.

Mazie Malone

Ukiah

MARK SCARAMELLA NOTES: We have now found out that the Vets were unceremoniously ousted because the cost of the Air Quality building lease went up. (aka “lost their lease”). This is new information. But we don’t know how much it was or would be or by whom or why. Did the County give up on keeping it just to save a few bucks a month? Or was it a larger number? How much notice did they have? Was Ms. Rau acting within her authority? What other options were considered? Why didn’t any Board members ask those questions instead of how the old Public Health building might be altered? Etc.? The more the Supervisors attempt to explain, after the fact and still without consultation with the Vets and their reps, the more questions arise.

ED NOTE: Worse, Air Quality is your basic do nothing agency. I recall a choking hot summer afternoon in Ukiah when AQ couldn’t be bothered to issue a danger warning. They haven’t been heard from for years upon years.

BETSY CAWN: About the Veterans Service Office, the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors (including Mau Mau Mulheren, Bow-Tie (Gluten-Free) Williams, Narcoleptic Dan Gjerde, Half-baked Haschak, and Goody-Goody-Gumdrops McGourdy) this is one of the ugliest decisions you all have made, and that’s on top of the insidious malfeasance of former CAO Angelo, the bombastic spewing of the egregious Eyster, and the blithering stooges in charge of your Mental Health services and Measure B oversight committee. I’m tempted to unleash an old salt’s gutter-sniping projectile vomiting invective vocabulary, but I won’t. You ought to be ashamed of yourselves. (Come to think of it, have any of you ever served your country in the U.S. Military? I’m guessing you’re all kissing cousins of President Bone Spurs and Badass Baby Bush.) Talk about of “basket of deplorables” — at least Hillary was good enough to come up with that jargon to add to our Post/Pre Trump Stress Syndrome PTSD lexicon.).

TO COVELO, IN A HANDBASKET

Editor,

I’m a longtime friend of Bruce Anderson and greatly admire his writings, but was perplexed by his recent paragraphs suggesting readers visit and enjoy the beauty and wonder of northeast Mendocino County.

This seems foolhardy and reckless, and if I were even mildly in favor of censorship I’d recommend a Superior Court gag order. Or intervention by health officials.

I’ve been to northeast MendoCo. His descriptions and accounts of the land are in stark, direct contrast to my experiences, and man-oh-man I’ve had a few. If you read Mr. Anderson’s sunny account of time spent not far from Covelo, and if you expect visiting the area will be a pleasant day among nature’s bounty, let me be first to suggest you read a little further, or else prepare for the worst 10 hours of your life.

There is no “nature” in northeast Mendocino County, not if you imagine the word describes sunny skies, cooling breezes, butterflies, shady spots for picnicking, well-marked trails and burbling streams, friendly fellow hikers with small children and Golden Retrievers.

True dis: There is nothing within 30 miles of Covelo that has a single one of the above attractions. Northeast Mendopia is instead home to choking heat, no water unless you brought a canteen, hidden pot grows guarded by well-armed criminals, stinky sagebrush, oleander and corpse flower trees, plus snakes, spiders and a lot of people wondering, and asking, about what the hell you think you’re doing on the sacred lands of my ancestors from whom you stole. More or less.

The esteemed editor has fond memories and positive accounts of Mina Road where, says he, there remain marks of a lost civilization, including a post office. Alas all is vanished. Trust me, it’s not like the ruins of Pompeii.

If an opera house and library opened on Mina Road just north of the new Disneyland park I would feel not a twinge of interest. Been to Mina Road, and during my one nervous hour I experienced the largest swarms of mosquitoes and gnats I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been to Mississippi swamps. I’ve also been to Disneyland. Fooey on it, and Mina Road.

My advice, as always, is to avoid leaving the pavement no matter where you travel. God and western civilization have given us air conditioning, motels, baseball games on the radio and TV dinners. Cherish them and give thanks.

To wander off into nature so you can sleep on stony ground, fight with a tent, sing cowboy songs and eat dead meat around a measly campfire, then try to identify constellations while bears push your car over a cliff and a helicopter picks you and the only other survivor up next Thursday would be an adventure of a lifetime, if you lived to have one.

Stay home. You can probably find a Rick Steves 30-minute video of his travels to Covelo and beyond. 

Tom Hine

Ukiah

PLANNING IMPROVEMENTS

Editor,

Regarding the Planning and Building Permitting Process meeting.

I plan on attending this meeting. Some of the topics I would like to discuss are:

Failure to use an independent consultant to do a time study with regards to the recent fee increases. The new fees are exorbitant and not in accordance with state law which requires that Planning and Building cannot charge more that it costs the agency to provide the service. Having staff do the time study for permit applications and process was wrong. Staff knew that when they were proposing the fee increases that the increased revenue would help them get well deserved raises. This process was hardly objective and the result of which are fee increases from 50% to 400%. Exorbitant fees will result in less permit activity and will have the opposite effect and will result in less revenue because folks will not pay ridiculously high permit fees. A fair and objective time study conducted by an experienced consultant should have been done before presenting the fee increases to the BOS for approval.

If an applicant submits multiple Ag Exempt applications for the exact same building ( i.e. shipping containers, hoop houses, greenhouses) and the plans are exactly the same, why is PBS charging a plan review fee for each application when staff only conducts one plan review? In my experience as a building official, the industry standard for multiple applications for the same structure, is to create a “Master Plan” that is plan reviewed and the standard plan review fee is charged to one application, then a “Master Plan” administrative fee is charged for handling the paper for the remaining applications. State law requires that Planning and Building cannot charge more that it costs the agency to provide the service. PBS is not in compliance with state law under these circumstances.

Why does it take 6 months or more to review discretionary permits? A 10-page Administrative Permit review should take no longer than it did to prepare the application. (With the exception of the 30-day referral response for review for outside agencies)

The building permit reinstatement process used to be over the counter. Now a permit reinstatement request takes 2 – 3 days as the new policy implemented by the building official requires that the request is routed to a planner and a building inspector for review. Currently there is no way for the applicant or staff to track the reinstatement request when it is submitted and routed. PBS staff spent a bunch of money on a permit tracking software program called eTrakit. Why is this software not being used for permit reinstatement requests ?

PBS used to have a One Stop Permit process where applicants with simple permit applications such as garages, decks, carports, AG Exempt could make an appointment come in and EH, Planning and Building Staff were available to review the application, with the hopeful result in getting the permit issued the same day. The 2023 permit activity was substantially less than 2022, yet the staffing levels remained the same. Recommend offering this service again as there seems to be adequate staff availability.

In my experience, the permit fees assigned by staff are all over the map and very inconsistent. Recommend simplifying the fee schedule to reduce inconsistencies and to allow additional staff to fee out permits for issuance.

Changes to the Planning and Building Permit Process are possible if the deoartment head has the backing of the County Executive office and the Board of Supervisors coupled with clear direction, follow up and accountability for not following Board direction. If there is no accountability, then this Permit Peocessing meeting will be a waste of time

Scott Ward

Redwood Valley

BE THE MATCH

Editor: 

I am a fit 77-year-old retired teacher and grandmother of five young kids. I was diagnosed with leukemia in May 2022. I was about to head out on a 100-mile walk across Scotland, but my doctor didn’t like the way I looked, and we soon discovered that I had leukemia. It is now 15 months since my stem cell transplant at UC San Francisco. My donor is a young German woman who I hope to meet one day. She wrote me, “I’d do it again, people need to help each other.”

Please go to the Be the Match website and sign up for a simple test kit. It’s a cheek swab you mail in; then you’re entered in the registry. If a match is found, you may choose to be the donor, but registering does not commit you to being a donor. People between 18 and 40 may sign up. You may ask to be removed from the registry at any time. At 61, you are automatically removed.

We are all connected. Here’s a simple act of generosity that contributes to good in our world. I thank you. I’m sure all recipients thank you.

Jane Corey

Elk

A LONG-AWAITED 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

MIDDLE AGES THESE DAYS

Editor,

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.”

Kathy Brigham

Ukiah

HUFFING & PUFFING

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 occurrence 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 unfortunately people are careless.

Mazie Malone

Ukiah

SHERIFF KENDALL REPLIES: 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. [Fair Employment & Housing Act]

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 Mazie 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?

MORE THAN THREE CHEERS

Editor, 

Three cheers for TWK’s snap-filled takeapart of Pickleball! Also Yearsley’s account of sneaking into a suburban Seattle Disaster Movie as a child of the early 70s! I had a similar experience, just sub Chicago and Towering Inferno (1974) in for Poseidon Adventure! (When OJ came on screen some people in the audience yelled “JUICE! JUICE!…”) OMG Angelo Pronsolino (1922- 2024): What a GORGEOUS Man! Greatest Generation indeed! Thanks for continuing to rankle the Grape People and their rapacious thirst! Guy Fieri is NOT Alice Waters! LOL ... Distressing that the AVA already congealing with the upcoming elections, wherever and everywhere! 

Namaste, Dude! 

David Svehla

San Francisco

HUFFMAN’S DAM DESTRUCTION 

Dear Editor-

Somebody should ask San Rafael’s Congressional Representative, Jared Huffman. 

A group led by Huffman is promoting the destruction of our regional water infrastructure. Their aim is to substantially reduce our regional water storage by removing Scott Dam and Lake Pillsbury. Estimated cost: $500 million. 

Huffman’s plan goes against the interests of the North Coast’s nearly 1 million residents, and runs counter to the Biden-Harris administration’s White House Global Action Plan on Water Security. The report makes clear that the US continues to suffer from inadequate water infrastructure. From the report: 

“Here at home, water crises are becoming more frequent and intense. Historic droughts threaten our supply of water, and failing infrastructure and chronic underinvestment deprive our most vulnerable communities of safe drinking the source of both life and livelihoods, water security is central to human and national security.” 

We in the North Coast can relate. 

The White House report adds that its 2021 $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill “will invest in water infrastructure…that includes billions of dollars in funding for projects across the country to build new water reuse, efficiency, storage, and conveyance facilities that secure and grow our water supplies.” 

The law directs $550 billion towards projects that will specifically increase water security, storage capacity, and modernization of water infrastructure. We can surmise from Huffman’s stated position that he is not advocating for the North Coast to receive the benefits of these already approved historic federal funds.

When the federal government is spending hundreds of billions of dollars to provide Americans with more water, why would we pay $500 million to have less?

Over the last decade, the North Coast has faced a prolonged regional water crisis. In addition to the nearly $1 billion California has received to date from the Biden infrastructure bill to improve water infrastructure, the state sat on $2.7 billion specifically allocated for water storage development for almost a decade. 

Yet, Representative Huffman intends for us to spend upwards of $500 million to reduce the North Coast’s freshwater storage by 26.2 billion gallons (80,650 Acre Feet) — equal to 9 months and 12 days of water for all 714,420 humans in the district. 

Three key consequences that Huffman’s dam destruction plan does not address: 1) The increased fire risk our residents and firefighters will face due to reduced water availability. 2) The impact on agricultural producers from starving our land of water and aquifer recharge. 3) The economic and environmental costs and health impacts on residents from increasing water and food costs and worsening water scarcity. 

Also missing from Huffman’s project: who will pay the $500 million to fund his destruction of Scott Dam? Taxpayers or ratepayers, it is still us. How does he plan to replace the year-round water supplied by Lake Pillsbury to residents and the new diversion facility – particularly in drought years? Why is he completely disregarding the stated wishes of Lake County, where the lake resides? 

Further, as a result of Sacramento’s housing mandates to all California cities and counties, our region’s demand for water is only going up. How does Jared Huffman square this reality with his plan? How does he square it with the potential $90 million project Marin Municipal Water District (MMWD) wants for an emergency water pipeline to the East Bay after Marin “almost ran out of water in 2021”?

Huffman’s group does not have a plan to address our region’s water insecurity. So far, he is only offering his constituents another government entity to manage the reduction of our water resources and, in all likelihood, more taxes. This sounds an awful lot like the failed SMART train, of which Huffman was the campaign co-chair. 

When it becomes evident that this was a grave mistake for Mendocino and Sonoma Counties, who will be held accountable for such a decision? How will the economic, physical, and mental suffering of Mendocino and Sonoma County’s citizens be compensated for? How will we bring back the lost businesses and how many decades will it take for new storage to be approved, funded, and built? 

Prudence dictates that we build a new water source before we remove our current water source. 

Most can agree that California needs more water storage, even China. So why is Huffman pushing a $500 million plan to reduce our water storage without a solution for our water needs? 

He owes all of us an explanation and a plan. We have the land and historic funding for more water storage. All we are missing is leadership. 

Chris Coulombe, a Veteran running for Congress in California’s 2nd Congressional District. 

christocongress.com or @christocongress on social media platforms.

PALESTINIAN SELF-DETERMINATION, TRUCE

Dear Editor,

As October 7, 2023 happened, no one could believe the number of Israeli civilians killed, raped, and taken by Hamas terrorists to Gaza. Because he knew that an attack could happen, Beebe Nitanaho suddenly felt anger and guilt. Because he was head of state and because he’d been through such crises before, he knew he had a green light to retaliate brutally.

Peace loving Jews everywhere, including many in the U.S., had no idea the Israeli military would become such a killing machine. Not since the WWII Allied bombing in Bresden, or the Hiroshima bombing would civilians die in such numbers. Barely three months later, over 23,000 now lie dead, over 60,000 have been injured, maimed so badly in many cases they would be better off dead. Using 2,000 lb. bombs Israel has been bombing indiscriminately.

While our government blocks a cease fire, as Israel’s ally Pres. Biden backs their right to self-defense, while children starve. Doesn’t Palestine have an equal right to self-determination? There should be an immediate truce to allow food, water, medicine, nurses and doctors into Gaza.

Frank H. Baumgardner, III

Santa Rosa