Mendocino County Today: Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024

Showers | Landers Chat | Judge Challenged | Saint Valentin | Ed Notes | Iceman | Teeter Remark | Forest Volunteers | P Money | 1909 Hotel | Palace Pending | SNWMF 2024 | Urban Planning | Chester Burnett | PG&E Shadow | Crow | Book Sale | Tax Preparer | Gas Stations | Eyeglass | Candidate Ariel | Noyo Consort | Dylan/Ali | Grape Harvest | Yesterday's Catch | Mapper Joe | Non Attached | Bonner Family | Niner Loss | Wilks Sacked | Psyche Evals | Busy Girl | Two Lessers | Israel Problem | Dem Scenarios | Duopoly

SHOWERS will linger today along the North Coast. More unsettled, wet, and gusty weather is expected throughout the area this weekend into early next week. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): 1.07" more rainfall this Thursday morning on the coast, 50F with partly cloudy skies. A slight chance for a shower today & tomorrow then another system is poised for Saturday. After a mostly dry Friday a BIG one is forecast for Monday - Tuesday.

To get you into the spirit check out the KZYX Promise of Paradise, Back to the Land Oral Histories of Mendocino County recordings: https://www.kzyx.org/show/promise-of-paradise

DEFENDANT MOVES TO DISQUALIFY JUDGE FAULDER FROM CUBBISON CASE

by Mike Geniella

Paula June Kennedy, the former Payroll Manager for the County of Mendocino, unexpectedly moved Wednesday to disqualify presiding Superior Court Judge Keith Faulder from overseeing the criminal case District Attorney David Eyster has filed against her and suspended Auditor Chamise Cubbison.

The bid to recuse Faulder came in the form of a peremptory challenge afforded criminal defendants.

In a formal filing, Kennedy’s attorney Mary LeClair, a public defender, declared that she believes Faulder is “biased against the defendant or the defendant’s interest such that I believe that the defendant cannot have a fair or impartial hearing.”

Faulder, who has generally presided over the high profile criminal case since it was filed on Oct. 13 last year, has the opportunity to review the bid to disqualify him from Kennedy’s case, and in effect both defendants, for “timeliness.” Other than that, a criminal defendant’s right to file a peremptory challenge against a judge is guaranteed under California Civil Code 170.6. The code allows a defendant one opportunity to recuse a judge they fear “may be biased” for any reason or no reason.

Public Defender Mary LeClair, who made the move on behalf of Kennedy, declined Wednesday to discuss specifics behind her challenge of Faulder on behalf of her client. 

“Every party has the right to disqualify with no questions asked,” said LeClair.

To be disqualified means a judge is removed from a court case, and an alternate judge assigned to the proceedings.

Cubbison’s lawyer Chris Andrian of Santa Rosa declined to comment on LeClair’s move to disqualify Faulder. 

Cubbison appeared Wednesday before Judge Victoria Shanahan, who accepted a not guilty plea from the elected county Auditor as expected. Co-defendant Kennedy in December entered a not guilty plea to the single felony charge of misappropriation of public funds that Eyster filed against the two women. Shanahan set April 15 as the date of a preliminary hearing for both veteran county employees.

Preliminary hearings offer the opportunity for the public to learn the core evidence against defendants, but the real challenge for prosecutors if a case goes to trial is proving criminal allegations beyond a reasonable doubt.

Andrian said after Wednesday’s hearing that, “What I have seen during the discovery process so far provides no hard evidence of any criminal wrongdoing on the part of my client.”

Andrian in January sought to have Eyster removed as prosecutor from the case, citing the DA’s long running conflicts with Cubbison over the Auditor questioning his office’s spending habits. Eyster’s move was seen as retaliatory and in concert with the county Board of Supervisors, who have sought to blame the Auditor’s office for the current state of county finances. The state Attorney General’s Office sided with Eyster, contending that the DA’s past troubles with Cubbison, a fellow elected public official, did not prevent her from receiving a fair trial.

Faulder presided over that hearing, and in the end, he ruled that there was insufficient evidence to remove the DA from criminally prosecuting Cubbison.

In a court document filed in December, Eyster outlined his case against Cubbison and Kennedy, contending that they used an “obscure earnings code” on regular payroll reports that allowed Kennedy to collect “unauthorized monies” totaling about $68,000 over a three-year-period. Eyster claims that Cubbison told Kennedy to keep the code-authorized amounts under $1,000 so they wouldn’t be flagged by the County Executive Office.

Cubbison claims the extra pay to Kennedy was authorized by former Auditor Lloyd Weer during the Covid pandemic, and that records show it was for work actually done. The extra payments started when Weer was still in office, and before Cubbison, his assistant, was appointed and later elected to take over a combined Auditor/Controller and Treasurer/Tax Collector that the county Board of Supervisors forced through. 

Cubbison has filed a civil lawsuit against the Board of Supervisors for denying her due process. The board acted within days of Eyster filing the criminal case, without granting Cubbison, an elected official, an opportunity for a hearing to defend herself before they voted to suspend her without pay or benefits.

(Mike Geniella is a veteran North Coast journalist and former DA spokesman who worked part-time under contract until he terminated the arrangement in November 2021.)

ED NOTES

WHAT DO KING CHARLES and the editor of an outback newspaper have in common? Both have cancer. His majesty's is prostate, mine is thyroid, and has expressed itself as a cancerous tumor pressing against my vocal and breathing apparatuses. 

THURSDAY MORNING I had a hole punched in my throat to make breathing easier. That operation required a five day stay at UCSF's new Mission Bay site. I'll eventually have one of those mechanical voice boxes to speak with. In the meantime, I'm mute with only a modern etch a sketch to communicate with.

I HAVEN'T been in Boonville for a long month because of tests and related medical consultations in the city. I like the doctors and have every confidence in them. They tell me my affliction is not the more complicated cancer of the thyroid type and don't anticipate difficulties removing it, which they will do in the middle of March in a second, more prolonged stay in the hospital at Mission Bay for me.

I HAD the option of surgical removal or a year-long chemotherapy via oral medications during which patients feel as depleted and all round lousy as the old methods of chemo. As mentioned, I've opted for surgery.

MY FAMILY — I'm truly blessed with a strong one — has bundled me back and forth to and from medical appointments and has helped enormously steering me through the labyrinthian processes of modern medicine. Without my family urging me on, I would have let nature take its course, grateful I've lived as long as I have. Post surgeries, I fully expect to stumble on for a few more years.

I FEEL GOOD except for reduced walking stamina caused by constricted breathing. But I've been able to exercise every day and work long distance while my estimable colleague, The Major, holds down the AVA's Boonville headquarters. Mike Kalantarian has also offered continuing practical support. I expect to be fully restored by the end of March and again spending most of each week in the Anderson Valley, my heart's true home since 1970.

Onward!

RECOMMENDED READING: In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick. You think you've got a tough job? You think you work hard? For historical perspective on the wonderful world of labor, read this enthralling book, the true story of the whaling expedition upon which Melville based his classic ‘Moby Dick.’ Philbrick's account of the voyage of the Essex is also a history of the village of Nantucket, a history of whaling, a detailed look at how it was done and the amazing people who did it, and the chilling story of the mammoth real life fish that ferociously attacked the Essex with fatal consequences for most of its crew.

UNRECOMMENDED READING. Anything by Rick Moody, author of the aptly titled ‘Purple America’ which begins with our hero giving his mommy a five-page sponge bath. Proust probably could have pulled it off but not anybody else, and certainly not this guy. Needless to say, Moody's very big these days because there are literal armies of sobbing readers out there who confuse novels with prozac. 

SO, THE OTHER DAY I was flipping through a copy of ‘Men's Journal’ — one of those same-same publications aimed at dudes of all ages, of which I am not one, but it was the only thing to read where I happened to be. Men's Journal is heavy on articles about how to attract the dudettes — advice that wouldn't work if you were the only male in a lock-up institution for a thousand real dumb females, and would get you arrested if you tried it in the real world. 

MOSTLY THOUGH, there were illustrated articles on how to get your abs, your pecs, your lats, slats, flats, flips, and flabs in shape. Pan fry 'em in a light egg batter, I kept saying to myself, until I realized the subject was stomach muscles, not mollusks.

ANYWAY, in the peculiar world inhabited by the presumed readers of Men's Journal, Mr. Ab Dude eventually emerges from the gym for a night with the babes. But some babes, it seems, might actually prefer an Ab Dude who can talk, hence the mag's one-page book review section where none other than the arch-twit himself, Moody, gets a rave send-off. Apparently the purple prose eater finally got his mom out of the tub and into her bathrobe, freeing him up to assemble ‘Demonology,’ a collection of short stories.

THE REVIEWER advises Ab Dude to nudge the babe on the bar stool next door and drop a Moody riff or two on her, and next thing you know she'll be throwing her clothes off.

THE REVIEWER says Moody's “high-octane displays of edginess and verbal acrobatics” is real exciting stuff. As evidence of Moody's thrillingly energetic fictional handstands the reviewer gives Ab Dude this sentence: “We were in the business of paring away the calluses of woe and grief to reveal the bright light of commitment.” 

BE CAREFUL, GIRLS. If some dude sidles up to you at a Dudes and Babes Cool Bar and recites that line, shoot him dead and do the time gladly, martyr to American lit.

THE ICEMAN COMETH

AT A RECENT Potter Valley project group meeting Supervisor Glenn McGourty told participants that Mendocino County had “suspended” the Teeter Plan. McGourty said it was a done deal. Nobody knew what McGourty was talking about. There have been no agendized discussions of the Teeter Plan in years. Speculation was that perhaps McGourty was talking about a temporary pause in payments to schools and special districts or maybe a county decision to opt-out of the Teeter Plan. (The Teeter Plan is where the County distributes a fixed amount of property taxes based on tax bills according to a distribution formula to local schools and special districts (about 70% of tax bills), then, when the taxes are received (or not) the County keeps the penalties and interest on late payments so that over time the County makes some money and the districts get a reasonably reliable and budgetable amount of property taxes. The actual status of the fund has not been reviewed by the Supervisors for years. The last time it came up was when Supervisors Pinches and McCowen (with a firm prod from Willits News reporter Linda Williams and the Grand Jury) took up the Teeter Plan deficit stemming from a number of unbuildable (and therefore tax-defaulted) and abandoned Brooktrails lots which caused the County to pay out to districts, but never collect the taxes or the penalties and interest. Lately, there’s been some unofficial talk that with the collapse of the pot industry a number of properties (mostly in the north County) are in similar uncollectable shape and should no longer be counted in the disbursement formula. All these funds are in the millions of dollars and require active and frequent oversight and management. But, as with a number of other large funds the County maintains (road fund, Measure B fund, Measure P fund, Mental health fund, etc.) the Supervisors pay no attention to them at all. They don’t even appear in the County’s recent Financial Report. Another example of failed county management leading to financial surprises when they eventually spring up and bite the Board. 

Meanwhile, several participants at the Potter Valley meeting where McGourty made his odd Teeter Plan remarks have since checked into McGourty’s “suspended” remarks to see if there was any basis for them. There was not. Nobody knows what McGourty was talking about.

(Mark Scaramella)

ALICIA ‘LITTLE TREE’ BALES: The Redwood Forest Foundation Inc. (RFFI) is hosting a series of community Volunteer Work Days in February and March at the Usal Redwood Forest. Contact alicia@rffi.org for more information or to rsvp.

MENDO PREPARES (AGAIN) TO HAND OVER THE LONG DELAYED MEASURE P MONEY

Good Afternoon,

First, with 2022-23 Measure P allocations now in process, the planned next step is to develop a contract templates covering 2023-24 Proposition 172, Measure D TOT and Measure P revenue streams. In concept, these will be similar to the "evergreen" version but will be separate quarterly contracts. These will facilitate the Executive Office's ability to process and distribute funds without requiring as many separate contract approvals.

County Counsel will be turning to this shortly. With bigger dollars involved, distributing 2023-24 monies via new contracts is higher priority than creating contracts the 2022-23 Measure D TOT true-up funds.

Second, other than conceptual discussions, actual development of a contract with the Chiefs Association hasn't begun yet. Potentially using a modified version of the Fire Safe Council's contract was suggested and seemed a good place to begin. Clarification that the contract with the Chiefs Association is to enable that group to conduct a number of activities like communication/coordination among Districts, liaison functions between Fire Districts and County offices including the BOS, etc. It is not simply to "hire and individual" as County Council has perceived and found problematic. Tim Hallman will be communicating this info to County Counsel.

Third, given the significant response to the Feb 4-5 storm event, Elk and other Departments no doubt relied heavily on firefighter's personal vehicles and equipment. Reimbursement rates at $0.67 per mile are pretty common knowledge, however standardized reimbursement rates for equipment like chainsaws are not well known. 

Cheers,

Ben McMillan

Elk

MIKE GENIELLA: The Palace’s pending sale is contingent upon buyers receiving $6.6 million in taxpayer money to demolish the Palace under the guise of a study for possible ground contamination and clean-up. The core issue is whether the public should pay for the demolition of a structure listed on the National Register of Historic Places so private developers can proceed with their undisclosed plans, or the property owner who has not invested any money in protecting the building from further decline since 2019.

PETER GOOD: I would think the federal funding source is governed by legislation that determines what is a legal fundable environmental project. You have identified an issue that the funding agency is likely aware of. As a subscriber of Mendovoice I would look forward to a news piece by a respected, intelligent and skilled journalist such as yourself to report the facts on this issue. If you disagree with funding private projects environmental problems, that is a political issue to take up on the oped page.

GENIELLA: The funding source is the state of California’s Department of Toxic Substance Control. The $6.6 million grant is sought from a special program for non-profits, tribes, and municipalities in poor areas. The grant money is not available to private investors in general. Whether there is actual contamination at the Palace Hotel site is in dispute. A 2017 study found no evidence. Guidiville Rancheria and its investors claim a 2023 study did but they have not publicly provided a copy to support their contentions. A state spokesman has said the agency also has not received a copy of that reported study, which is the basis for the grant application. You can read more about the program here: https://dtsc.ca.gov/ecrg/

LEW CHICHESTER

As a person with some experience with and appreciation of the benefits of coherent and attractive urban planning and landscapes, today’s article of the proposed “complete streets” project for Ukiah incorporating six roundabouts and the destruction of even a few old, large trees was depressing. Poor Ukiah, the place gets beat up and wrecked over and over again. Did you know that State Street, old 101, used to be a two lane tree lined thoroughfare? The trees were cut down, the street widened, and then the state built the freeway bypass. Many years later the city is attempting to rectify the error, but way too late, I’m sorry. The trees being proposed to remove to construct the traffic circulation roundabouts are more valuable than the BS boondoggle construction project as represented in the article. If these “planners” were at all sensitive or aware they would certainly know that shaded pedestrian sidewalks and bikeways are desirable, especially in a summertime hell hole like downtown Ukiah. This place might just be a lost cause. And the city thinks they need six roundabouts? This is nuts. Somebody intends to make a bunch of money, that’s all. I guess just go ahead, make the streets there even worse.

CHESTER BURNETT aka Howlin' Wolf had a bigger-than-life style all his own, with a huge rough voice and his signature howl, half yodel, half call-of-the-wild. 

He grew up in Mississippi and Arkansas and soaked up the music directly from Charley Patton, Blind Lemon and Jimmie Rodgers, The Singing Brakeman. 

He was a farmer, then a soldier in WWII and then a radio announcer before recording at Sun in Memphis, then moving to Chicago in 1952. 

His songs are unforgettable: "Smokestack Lighting," "Meet Me in the Bottom," which he played slide guitar on, "Howlin' for my Darlin'," "300 Pounds of Heavenly Joy," and more. 

Love the Wolf!

PG&E’S HESITATION CASTS SHADOW ON EEL-RUSSIAN RIVER DIVERSION PLAN

The plan to continue a diversion from the Eel River into the Russian after the Potter Valley dams are removed hit a snag last week, when PG&E balked at the proposed permitting strategy. PG&E owns and operates the hydropower facility, and is eager to get rid of it in the wake of mechanical failures and a report of earthquake hazards at Scott Dam, which impounds Lake Pillsbury. But a regional coalition of local governments, CDFW, and conservation organizations is planning for life after dam removal by designing a method to continue diverting water when the Eel River is high.…

https://mendofever.com/2024/02/14/pges-hesitation-casts-shadow-on-eel-russian-river-diversion-plan/

FANTASTIC BOOK SALE this coming Saturday, February 17th, 11:00 AM till 3:00 PM at the Mendocino Community Library on the corner of William and Little Lake Streets in beautiful downtown Mendocino. 

Fiction, nonfiction, mysteries, children’s books, coffee table books, jigsaw puzzles, and more. Rain predicted so it’ll be indoors.

Come and see what you can find! Something for everyone!

mclib@mcn.org

LAURA CANNON

Several people have contacted me about recommendations for tax preparation/bookkeepers. Dad had begun referring clients to Sandi Stolich at Balanced Figures Bookkeeping in Ukiah. I believe that she used to be with Liberty Taxes until starting her own business. Like James Dean, she is an Enrolled Agent and so is able to do both tax preparation and bookkeeping. I don’t know her rates or availability, but i figured I’d publish this for anyone who wanted to know who he was recommending. I wish you all very happy (tax) returns in honor of our first tax day without him, and what would be his 86th birthday day after tomorrow

NO NEW GAS STATIONS

Editor,

The Mendocino County Democratic Party last weekend released a resolution calling for a prohibition on the construction of new gasoline stations in Mendocino County. The resolution, which it justifies with factual statements regarding Climate Change and the actions already taken by State and Local authorities, supports the campaign launched by the Climate Crisis Working Group of The GrassRoots Institute late last year.

The resolution references Climate Emergency Declarations passed by the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors in 2020 and in 2023 as well as the ambitious goals set by the State of California to transition away from a dependency on fossil fuels for transportation. Furthermore, the resolution cites the potential health risks gas stations pose when it comes to hazardous materials as well as the fact that fossil fuel infrastructure facilities are typically located in low-income neighborhoods that are disproportionally impacted.

“Fossil fuel use imposes deep and long-standing racial injustice. In every drop that comes out of a gasoline dispenser, there is a trail of devastation for communities of color and the environment around the world that leads all the way back to the point of extraction of crude oil from the ground in places like Nigeria, Ecuador, and Kern County California. Low-income communities of color in the US and around the world, “frontline communities” are poisoned and/or displaced by effluent and emissions from these operations; low-income communities along rail and roadways are threatened by the hazard of oil and gas transportation; similar historically disadvantaged communities of color near refineries and gas processing facilities, “fenceline communities,” face respiratory disorders, cancer, and death rates much higher than the national average. Indigenous communities around the world are severely impacted by pumping and pipelines;”

Furthermore, with the ongoing transition to zero or low-emission vehicles, studies have shown that there will be a declining need for gas stations over time and some will likely struggle to remain viable businesses. And, when a gas station goes out of business and the owner declares bankruptcy or otherwise refuses to clean up the site, the public often gets stuck with the costs of remediation.

Lynne Atkins, Chair of the Mendocino County Democratic Party Central Committee, released the following statement: “The climate science is clear and has been for many years – we need to phase out the use of fossil fuels. Continuing to build fossil fuel infrastructure or gas stations makes no sense, especially when Mendocino County already has a sufficient number of gas stations to meet our needs. Mendocino County Democrats therefore support the GrassRoots Institute’s campaign to prohibit the construction of new gas stations, a campaign that is consistent with the two Climate Emergency Declarations that the County has already passed.”

Last month, the Climate Crisis Working Group of The GrassRoots Institute (GRI), working collaboratively with local residents, successfully lobbied the Planning Commission to deny a use permit for a proposed new gas station in Redwood Valley. GRI will be pursuing its campaign to prohibit the construction of new gas stations county-wide in the coming weeks and months. For more information, please visit our web page at: www.GrassRoots-Institute.org/nonewgasstations

Contact: Donald Hess, MendocinoNewGasBan@gmail.com

* * *

On Line Comments

• Oh now cars and pickups are racist it’s not for the environment it’s for disadvantaged people of color.the fact is the number one reason people of color are disadvantaged is they vote Democrat and live in Democrat run cities. The only thing getting rid of gas and diesel will do is make everyone equally disadvantaged under the guise of IT’S FOR THE GREATER GOOD

• Can someone PLEASE shoot Mendocino County and put it out of it’s misery. It will be a mercy killing. How can one place be so screwed up??? in so many ways??

• People form SF have moved there and infested the county government. Check close, your elections office, school boards, DA, and BOS.

• Screw you Mendo. I buy gas in other counties. Oregon, Nevada, and Utah too. Looks like the rez is the only place that will add stations.

• Either resurrect the state of ‘Jefferson’ or join the movement for ‘Greater Idaho’… Those look pretty good right now.

• India just put in 50 new stations this month , crack me up. They’ll control the climate like they controlled the flu.

• Only in California … again.

• A simple solution- just ban registered Democraats from using gas stations. No new gas stations needed.

• Morons

• Aww…you beat me to it!

• This is just white people filling their need to control everything. They have endless energy for controlling their immediate neighbors. China, India, etc get a free pass to pollute as much as they’d like. So, this is just people who need to control others, and group-think, rather than try to find inner quietude. Guessing they will continue to be typical white people and shut down all reservation gas stations as well? When do they go after the Native Americans again, and their filling stations? like next week, maybe?

• Lots of the usual bellyaching so far in the comment section

but not one comment yet explaining what is actually wrong with the idea.

• The whiners all have one thing in common: denial of climate catastrophe. The will not “get it” until the diaster completely overcomes us….and then they will blame Biden.

• Oh yeah, the climate crisis. Of course! Chainsaws, generators, gas stations….yet we still hear not a peep about indoor weed growing under lights which suck up massive amounts of energy- for a plant that can be grown in the sun!!! Their Governor Greasy Gavin allows permits to be issued for massive warehouse grows….disconnect much?

• EV charger in Laytonville…never full. Chevron is packed many times..go figure.

• Racial injustice? These morons need to look at the Congo’s cobalt mines where their EVs battery materials are shoveled out of the earth by 6 year olds

A READER WRITES: I know you are not happy with the direction that Healdsburg is going. However, a friend mentioned her connection to this org Corazon down there so I looked it up and this is what I found. Considering some of our other choices for Assemblymember, she might not be a bad choice. No endorsement per se, but…

Ariel Kelley

Ariel has been a member of the Healdsburg City Council since 2020 and is the current mayor. In the aftermath of the 2017 Tubbs fire, Ariel founded the Healdsburg Free Store, providing much-needed items to individuals and families. In recognition of this work, Ariel and other community leaders were awarded a $1 million prize from the Ellen show, which they used to create the Kinder2College Fund. She previously served as a Sonoma County Planning Commissioner and Healdsburg Parks and Recreation Commissioner. An attorney by training, Ariel holds both a law degree and MBA. Ariel was the founding board chair of Corazon Healdsburg and previously served as the organization's interim CEO.

OPUS CONCERT THIS SUNDAY!

Noyo Consort is pianist Jason Kirkman and trombonist Don Benham together with various guest musicians. This season Don and Jason are joined by Scott Macomber, trumpet, Meredith Brown, horn, and Sharon Lee Kim, piano, for a brass and piano extravaganza. Pieces for various combinations of the four instruments will complete what promises to be a captivating program. Sunday, February 18th at 3 PM in Preston Hall, Mendocino. Tickets online at Symphonyoftheredwoods.org Coffee, tea and cookies available before the concert and at intermission. Doors open at 2:30 PM. Program presented by Opus Chamber Music Concerts, which is one of several programs presented by the Symphony of the Redwoods.

MENDOCINO 2023 GRAPE HARVEST TOPS THE BOOKS

USDA Preliminary Grape Crush Report

Mendocino County realized near-record crop values from the recently completed 2023 harvest, according to data released by the US Department of Agriculture in the annual Crush Report. Winegrape growers in mendocino booked $130 million in crop revenue, a 19% increase from the 2022 harvest.

Strong pricing and good yield both contributed to the surprising value. The average price per ton, which is a blended average across all winegrape varietals, measured $1827 per ton. This is the highest value on record. Tonnage was also strong from the 2023 crop, coming in at 71,400 tons across all Mendocino vineyards. The highest tonnage on record is 81,900 from 2018.

Pinot Noir and Chardonnay were the most valuable crops in the County. Pinot produced 11,100 tons valued at $38 million whereas chardonnay yielded 26,600 tons with a value of $37 million. Most of the County Pinot Noir is grown in the prestigious Anderson Valley whereas Chardonnay is planted equally in the County’s 12 grape growing appellations.

Winemaker Hoss Milone from Hopland’s Brutocao Cellars sees 2023 as a unique harvest. “The grapes were delayed by 2-3 weeks due to a slow start and a cooler than usual spring and summer. We saw a mix of reds and whites being harvested simultaneously. Longer hang time was needed, and cooler temperatures produced one of the best vintages seen in the last 20 years. Grape quality was at premium levels."

 Redwood Valley is another key grape-growing region in Mendocino. Frey Vineyards, a nationwide leader in organic winemaking, reported yields in Redwood Valley were close to average. Nice acidity in the grapes and the absence of undesirable sugar spikes led to “one of the best vintages we've seen in a long time.”

 Mendocino growers who specialize in Sauvignon Blanc had a great harvest, with total tonnage increasing 56% from last year’s disappointing harvest. Pinot Noir also saw a large year-over-year jump: 45%.

 Statewide the winegrape crop grew to 3.65 million tons, slightly above average. However, the North Coast, which includes Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino, and Lake grew to 549,000 tons, nearly 25% above the average tonnage for this super-region.

CATCH OF THE DAY, Wednesday, February 14, 2024

JOSE BUENROSTRO, Ukiah. Concealed dirk-dagger, metal knuckles, failure to appear, probation revocation.

STEVEN GARRETT, Ukiah. Controlled substance, paraphernalia, suspended license, no license.

HERMAN GONZALEZ, Boonville. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

ABEL LANDA-CASTANEDA, Ukiah. Failure to appear, probation revocation.

ELOY LOPEZ-RUBIO, Ukiah. Illegal camping, campfire without permit, dumping commercial quantities into state waters.

JARED THOMASON, Covelo. Probation revocation.

JUAN TOVAR-SEVILLA, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

NEIL WALDRON, Ukiah. Controlled substance, parole violation, resisting.

MANAGER'S SPECIAL

Here Now! 

Warmest spiritual greetings, Having finished reading the Anderson Valley Advertiser online edition to get all of the prescient Mendocino County news, then checked email, the bank account balance, and visited major news media websites. Briefly visited YouTube for channel surfing, ending up at spiritual websites before I fell off of the surf board.

Will skip reading the NY Times today, since yesterday's edition ought to tide me over until another worldly blast is required.

Time to exit the library, and walk to Safeway for the 50% off manager's specials, and anything else for tonight's nutrition and late night noshing. And then, amble on back in the light rain, non-attached to anything at all.

Craig Louis Stehr

GEORGIA, 1909...

Mrs. S.J. Bonner and 2 boys. Work in Bibb Mill No. 1, Macon, Ga. She earns $3.50 a week. Boys together earn $4.90 a week. Husband died when they lived on a farm. She couldn't get any heavy work there to do so moved to Macon. Hopes to send the boys to school when they get a better start. Spends $2 a month for 2 rooms in this house. Does her own cooking and housekeeping, except sewing and washing. Location: Macon, Georgia. Source: National Child Labor Committee Lewis Hine photographer

49ERS’ PATH BACK TO SUPER BOWL AFTER LATEST TITLE LOSS WILL BE HARDER

by Michael Silver

They picked themselves up after a painful double-QB KO, went all in and got to the brink of salvation, so close that the San Francisco 49ers could practically touch the Lombardi Trophy and envision the accompanying parade down Market Street.

Then, in an instant, Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs sent them careening toward catastrophe like an out-of-control skateboarder on Filbert Street.

Now, yet again, Kyle Shanahan and the 49ers have to get up, refuel and resume their increasingly perilous drive for the franchise’s sixth Super Bowl championship.

This time it’s going to be even harder.

There was a sobering finality in the Niners’ locker room Sunday night in Las Vegas following their 25-22 overtime defeat to the Chiefs in Super Bowl LVIII, with many of the team’s proudest and most accomplished players barely able to put their devastation into words.

It was a stark contrast to the scene four years ago in Miami Gardens, when the 49ers held a 10-point lead midway through the fourth quarter before Mahomes and the Chiefs came back to beat them in Super Bowl LIV. That loss hurt, but after the game, most Niners players were defiant and convinced that they’d soon capture a championship.

George Kittle predicted “The Legendary Revenge Tour of 2020.” Said star defensive tackle DeForest Buckner: “We’re gonna make another run.”

Instead, they face-planted. Six weeks later, the 49ers traded Buckner to the Colts, a decision that still provokes regret. Nick Bosa tore his ACL in Week 2, among other significant injuries, and S.F. muddled through a miserable 2020 campaign.

To the credit of both Shanahan and his players, they regrouped and rejoined the NFL elite. They rallied to reach the 2021 NFC Championship Game before suffering another fourth-quarter collapse and losing to the rival Rams. A year later they took a 12-game winning streak into Philly and lost after Brock Purdy’s elbow injury.

Fighting their way back to the NFC title game for a third consecutive year wasn’t easy. The 49ers survived a messy divisional-round performance against the Packers to get there, then overcame a 24-7 halftime deficit to beat the Lions and return to the Super Bowl.

As great as Mahomes is, and as inevitable as he seems to be, the 49ers had their chances to beat him. In the fourth quarter, had the Niners converted that 3rd-and-5 from the K.C. 35 just after the two-minute warning (when a blitzing Trent McDuffie forced a Purdy incompletion), they might have drained the clock and set up a game-winning field goal.

The 49ers even had a match point: After going down 22-19 in overtime, the Chiefs faced a convert-or-else 4th-and-1 from their own 34, but Mahomes ran for eight yards to extend the game. Nine plays later, confetti fell, and not the shade of red that Niners fans craved.

Shanahan and his players would love to get another chance to be in that position, but earning that opportunity will be a daunting task.

“Without a doubt, the hardest part is right now — thinking about all you have to do to get there,” eight-time Pro Bowl fullback Kyle Juszczyk told me Tuesday. “Guess what? I want to flip a f—ing switch and get right back, and it’s so not f—ing like that. It’s the same story every year.”

If the 32-year-old Juszczyk sounds weary, well, there are reasons for that. Like many of his fellow high-performing teammates, he’s getting older and knows his opportunities may be fleeting. Further, as that Buckner trade four years ago underscored, the 2024 49ers won’t look the same as the team that took the field at Allegiant Stadium on Super Sunday, and there’s no guarantee that it will have a similar chemistry.

“People just don’t understand what a locker room is,” Kittle said.

The subtext of that statement is not something a lot of 49ers fans want to hear right now.

Though the salary cap can be manipulated, and Shanahan and general manager John Lynch will strive to field a championship-caliber roster next season, tough decisions loom. Just as the decision-making duo decided four years ago that having a pair of high-priced defensive tackles (Buckner and Arik Armstead) was a poor allocation of cap resources, they may be reluctant to pay premium dollars to three pass-catchers in Kittle and wide receivers Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk.

Kittle, after a long and contentious fight, landed a massive contract extension in 2020. Samuel, following a trade request, got paid big money two years later. With Aiyuk heading into the fifth and final year of his rookie deal and almost certainly intent on securing a lucrative deal over the offseason, there are many ways this could play out.

One possibility: The 49ers could choose to pay Aiyuk and part with either Kittle or Samuel. Each plays a highly physical brand of football and has missed time with various injuries. However, in addition to being highly productive, both Kittle and Samuel are tone-setting leaders whose absence would be felt in the locker room.

There are other areas of concern, too. Armstead, who just finished his ninth season, revealed Tuesday that he suffered a torn right knee meniscus early in the Niners’ Dec. 3 victory over the Eagles; he completed that game, sat out the next five and returned for the postseason. He’ll soon have surgery that could knock him out until the start of training camp or longer. Standout linebacker Dre Greenlaw, who suffered a torn Achilles in the Super Bowl, may not be back for the start of the regular season. Safety Talanoa Hufanga, an All-Pro in 2022, is coming off a torn ACL suffered Nov. 19 against the Bucs.

With the 49ers getting older and more banged up, roster tweaking is inevitable. Even if the decisions made by Shanahan and Lynch turn out to be the right ones, there are a lot of things out of their control. Tipped balls, bad calls and unfavorable matchups can end a team’s season, even when it makes little sense. Just ask the Lions, who saw their NFC Championship Game edge disappear after Aiyuk’s catch off a Detroit cornerback’s helmet, then heard head coach Dan Campbell tell them, “This might have been our only shot.”

Shanahan would never say something that defeatist, but he’s hurting right now, and so are his most important players.

“What sucks is you have to go back to ground zero and start all over again,” All-Pro linebacker Fred Warner said. “It’s not easy, I’ll say that. … It stays with you.”

Shanahan observed, “You don’t just pick up right where you left off. You’ve got to go through some stuff. … We’ve got to grieve this a little bit and then come back stronger from it.”

In time, the 49ers will summon the strength to give it another go. This may have been their last, best chance — or perhaps the impetus for an inspirational march to the organization’s first championship in three decades.

No one is saying it’s impossible, but internally, in the current moment, the notion of making another run feels overwhelming.

“No team is the same, and (the 2024 team) won’t be,” veteran long snapper Taybor Pepper said. “We put so much into it; guys put everything on the line. To do that and come so close, three years in a row, and have it right there and not get it … it’s a lot.”

A Legendary Revenge Tour of 2024 feels like a stretch. First, let’s see whether Shanahan and Lynch decide to keep the band together.

SAN FRANCISCO 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan announced Wednesday on an impromptu conference call that he has fired defensive coordinator Steve Wilks. 

Irony is that it was Shanahan's Super Bowl offense that lost the game. Wilks defense played well.

PSYCHE EVALS FOR CANDIDATES

Editor,

Given many are running on the next On the Presidency ballot. I send a wishful idea that the hopefuls be required to get a psych-evaluation as part of the requirements. To win has been ignored, this is because these times are messy and dirty and would make it more interesting.

Sincerely yours,

Greg Crawford

Fort Bragg

HOBSON'S CHOICE

Editor,

Regarding “‘At least he’s not Trump’ might not be the rousing campaign pitch Dems think it is” (Joe Garofoli, SFChronicle.com, Feb. 11) It won’t work this time. We are presented with the evil of the two lessers: the absent-minded vs. the egocentric. 

To “protect democracy,” the Democrats threw out democracy by eliminating the primaries in several states and making the remaining ones pointless by anointing President Joe Biden. 

When the “softer pitch” fails to work, Democrats will again fall back on trying to shame and blame voters who look to a third-party candidate and ignore the larger number of people who, in apathy, choose not to vote at all.

Biden offers little positive in foreign or domestic affairs. He rightly, but haphazardly, got us out of Afghanistan, only to now teeter on getting us into a wider Middle East war. 

Current economic metrics are good on paper, but people don’t feel them because more than ever, they’re up to their eyeballs in higher rents, food costs and consumer debt.

Thank you, Mr. Biden, for your service. But the Democrats are flirting with disaster without a more visible, vigorous, affirmative candidate and program to offer.

Brian Klein

San Francisco

KAMALA HARRIS’ VOW THAT SHE’S ‘READY TO SERVE’ IS A REMINDER OF HOW MUCH WORSE SHE’D BE OVER BIDEN

by Michael Goodwin

You would think that after three years of Joe Biden’s misbegotten presidency, Americans would have suffered enough and fate would cut us a break. 

But Kamala Harris has other ideas.

As a reminder that things can always get worse, the veep from hell said the four most terrifying words in the English language: “I’m ready to serve.” 

Oh, God, please not that! 

If she gets control of the Oval Office, the last three tumultuous years will be fondly recalled as the good old days.

References to a Harris tenure would be spat out as a curse.

No doubt she raised her hand in hopes of reassuring the party faithful by reminding them of her presence when the White House is reeling from the special counsel’s finding that Biden is basically bonkers.

But nobody was reassured and beyond revealing how out of touch Harris is about her own standing, her offer to help perfectly captured the Democrats’ dilemma.

Their leader is ailing and failing, their backup is a punchline and their bench is untested and unimpressive. 

Meanwhile, Americans are at each others’ throats and the world is on the verge of an apocalypse. 

Four more years?

No, no and hell no. 

I believed for some time that Biden would get the message and announce he would not seek a second term.

In addition to his decline and performance, I was convinced the evidence of his corruption in connection with his family influence-peddling scheme would make his re-election impossible and he would look for an exit.

One potential avenue of escape was that he would say he was not running for a second term and then, before he left office, pardon his son, Hunter Biden, and brother Jim. 

Harris, if she were president for even a day or two, would in turn pardon him while making history as the first female president, however briefly.

Although that gambit would not solve the problem of this year’s ticket, some version of it remains a possibility because the evidence of Joe’s direct involvement in the corrupt schemes continues to grow.

The pattern was illustrated once again Tuesday by more closed-door testimony to the House, this time by Tony Bobulinski. 

He is probably the most important witness of all because, as a former Biden family partner and a straight shooter who met with Joe Biden about the schemes, Bobulinski knows where the foreign money came from and how Joe helped. 

He is able to show through documents and eyewitness testimony that the president was indeed the “big guy” slated to get a secret 10% of profits for work his family did when Joe was vice president.

Although Republicans have not been able to break through the media’s protection racket to reach the larger public about the president’s complicity, impeachment is no longer required to prove that Joe is unfit to be president.

His record and public appearances are more than enough.

All of which persuades me that, even absent impeachment, it is increasingly less likely that Dems will soldier on with Biden at the top of the ticket.

The finding by special counsel Robert Hur that the president has a muddled memory of even major events looks and feels like a game changer.

It is especially powerful in part because nobody saw it coming.

The White House’s continuing fury, including denunciations of Hur as a Republican hack and snide attacks on Attorney General Merrick Garland for not protecting the president who appointed him, all point to a code red alarm. 

The desperation underscores how insiders fear a Biden-Harris ticket could lead to mass defections among nearly every demographic group Dems count on and hand the election to Donald Trump. 

Biden is already one of the least popular presidents ever, and not just because of his age and infirmities. His policies are such breathtaking disasters that there is no reason for voters to believe he’ll improve with time.

Quite the opposite.

Every time he opens his mouth and gibberish emerges or he stumbles and stares into the void like he’s lost in space, the message is clear: He’s beyond the point of no return.

The examples of his incompetence are numerous, but the latest one is especially revealing.

Handed a golden opportunity to shut down the border, which is what the majority of Americans desperately want, Biden whiffed. 

Instead of seizing the moment when House Republicans offered a deal, he got too cute by half and revealed that his motive wasn’t to fix what he broke, but rather merely to shift the blame to the GOP. 

As a result, he got nothing and still owns the invasion of up to 9 million people that is destroying American cities, nearly all run by Democrats.

Depressed turnout in swing state urban areas would sink him in November.

Between now and then, it’s hard to see what he can do to change voters’ minds. 

Once they’ve decided you’re over the hill and your own Department of Justice sticks a fork in you by saying you’re too pathetic to indict, there are no magic buttons left to push.

Of course, Trump, who unites Democrats and divides Republicans, could snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

But for Dems to base their hopes on that shows how the script has flipped. 

Biden, for now at least, looks like a clear underdog.

And his claim that he is the only one who can defeat Trump is losing its punch, with the latest polls putting the Republican on top nationally and winning nearly all the swing states.

Happily, the Democratic Party’s shameful scam of trying to knock Trump off numerous state ballots is almost certain to be rejected by the Supreme Court. 

Another alternative is for Biden to win the primary delegates needed for the nomination, then announce at the August convention he’s dropping out.

That would set off a scramble where party bosses and delegates anoint the nominee.

It would be the most backroom and least democratic maneuver since the primary system became paramount, but it would override a Harris claim of being next in line because she wouldn’t have a prayer of getting a majority of delegates. 

In addition, my colleague, the inestimable Cindy Adams, has been hearing talk about a Michelle Obama candidacy, and her name has popped up elsewhere, too. 

Obama’s obvious advantage is her husband.

If she won the nomination at the convention — which will be in Chicago — he could barnstorm the country as if he were the candidate and her victory would give him a third term in the White House. 

Instead of calling Biden’s team from the family mansions in Hawaii and Martha’s Vineyard, Barack Obama could deliver his instructions to Cabinet secretaries in person. 

It all seems rather fanciful, but no more so than imagining Joe Biden taking the oath for a second term.

That’s shaping up as the least likely scenario of all.