Mendocino County Today: Friday 3/15/24

Sunny & Warm | Tyler Neil | House Shot | Calla Lillies | Counting Ballots | Sky Show | Narcan Save | FB Bulbouts | Agenda Items | White Apprehended | GJ Recognition | Navarro Mouth | Guilty Verdict | Seed Exchange | Public Hubs | Norvell/Williams | Tiny Homes | Good Fire | Senility Prayer | Emergency Exercise | Remembering Ricky | Yesterday's Catch | Insulin Cost | Strong Enough | Sufficient Entertainment | Happy Guy | Hugh Duggins | Special Offer | Retail Closures | Reflection Test | Jack London | Alaskan History | USA/Israel | Dictator Recognition | Criminal Profit | Cool Duo | That Tone | Great Paine | Seek Beauty | Desperate Character

BREEZY, easterly to northeasterly winds will continue through this evening. Dry conditions and above normal temperatures will persist across Northwest California through early next week. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): 46F under clear skies this Friday morning on the coast. A lovely day is forecast as the weekend. Looks like some light rain returns about next Thursday, we'll see? Do take care near the ocean next couple days as a large swell & sneaker waves are forecast.

TYLER NEIL of Yorkville died this week of complications from pneumonia after falling ill in January. The Benefit on April 6 at the Fairgrounds in Boonville is still on to raise money to help is surviving widow and their three kids. Neil was a well-liked road crew member at the Boonville Yard and will be hard to replace. Donations can also be sent directly to the family at PO Box 53, Yorkville, 95494. 

RENEE LEE: You never know when a moment is going to become a cherished memory. RIP, Tyler. Prayers to Megan and family.

SHOOTING INTO UKIAH RESIDENCE

On Wednesday, March 13, 2024 at approximately 8:51 P.M., the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office received a call of shots being fired in the 1700 block of Tanya Lane in Ukiah. The caller advised a projectile struck their residence and almost struck their 11-month-old child who was located within the living room area of the residence.

Upon the arrival of Sheriff's Deputies, they conducted an investigation into the shooting. Through evidence located at the scene and statements provided by members of the community, Deputies learned multiple shots were fired from a vehicle toward residences in the area.

One residence stuck by the gunfire contained a 38-year-old adult female, a 41-year-old adult male, and their 11-month-old child. The gunfire resulted in a projectile penetrating the residence, which became embedded in an interior wall. The projectile was found to be within inches of striking both the adult male and the juvenile when it entered the residence. Deputies checked the wellbeing of the occupants of the residences which may have also been struck by gunfire and the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office did not locate any additional victims or evidence to suggest anyone was injured during this incident.

This investigation is still on-going and anyone with information regarding this incident is urged to contact the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office Dispatch Center at 707-463-4086. Information can also be provided anonymously by calling the non-emergency tip line at 707-234-2100.

THOUSANDS OF BALLOTS YET TO BE COUNTED, Mendocino County officials reports

There are still more than 15,000 ballots to be processed in Mendocino County, local Elections officials reported Friday.

In a press release posted to Facebook, Registrar of Voters Katrina Bartolomie reported the afternoon of March 8 that her office still had “14,733 Vote By Mail ballots to process, and 588 Conditional Provisional/Provisional ballots to review and process.” 

As for the outstanding ballots remaining in the “hot contests,” Bartolomie said there are 3,155 ballots left to count in the 1st District Mendocino County Supervisor race; 2,414 ballots left to count in the 2nd District supervisor race, and 3,194 in the 4th District Supervisor race. 

According to the latest results posted Wednesday morning, Madeline Cline had a solid lead over the other three candidates hoping to win the First District Mendocino County Supervisor seat currently held by Glenn McGourty: Cline with 871 votes (58.93 percent), Gaska with 377 votes (23.27 percent), Mockel with 142 votes (9.61 percent) and Shattuck with 121 votes (8.19 percent). 

If Cline maintains her lead and claims more than 50 percent of the votes, she will earn the supervisor seat and there will be no need for a runoff race. 

Also in early results, Second District Mendocino County Supervisor Maureen Mulheren had a slight lead over challenger Jacob Brown, with the latest report showing Mulheren with 541 votes (51.09 percent), and Brown with 518 (48.91 percent). 

If Mulheren hangs onto her lead and earns at least 50 percent of the votes, there will not be a runoff race for her seat and she will earn another term. 

As for the 4th District seat, which incumbent Dan Gjerde opted not to run for again, the latest results had Bernie Novell taking a commanding lead with 1,559 votes (81.20 percent) to the 361 votes cast for Georgina Avila-Gorman. 

As for when more results will be reported, Bartolomie notes that “for the past six years, we have update our count (Unofficial Results) approximately two weeks after Election Day. Per state law, we have 30 days to complete the canvass.” 

As for ballots that may have be mailed on or before Election Day, Bartolomie said they “need to be mailed by Election Day (March 5) and received in our office within seven days after the Election (March 12). We would like them all postmarked, but not all mail is postmarked. What we’ve done in the past is, as long as we receive the ballot by March 12 we count it, unless it has a postmark after March 5. If there is no postmark, we consider it mailed by Election Day, since there is no way to determine when exactly it was mailed.”

(Ukiah Daily Journal)

ANOTHER NARCAN SAVE

On Monday, March 11, 2024 at approximately 2:14 P.M., a Mendocino County Sheriff's Deputy was dispatched to an unknown problem at a business located in the 8500 block of East Road in Redwood Valley. Upon the Deputy's arrival he learned a subject had been in the restroom for an extended amount of time and was not responding to employees of the business. The Deputy gained entry into the restroom and observed an adult male unresponsive. The Deputy also noticed the adult male appeared to have very slow and labored breathing.

Fearing the adult male was suffering the beginning stages of a potential lethal drug overdose, the Deputy administered multiple doses of Narcan. The adult male responded to the administered Narcan, and medical personnel arrived shortly thereafter and began providing additional medical treatment.

In April 2019 the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) began to issue NARCAN® (Naloxone HCI) nasal spray dosage units to its employees as part of their assigned personal protective equipment. MCSO's goal is in protecting the public and officers from opioid overdoses. Access to naloxone is now considered vital in the U.S. The Center for Disease Control. At that time, the California Opioid Overdose Surveillance Dashboard reported Mendocino County ranking, per capita, 3rd in all opioid overdose deaths.) 

The issuance of the Narcan nasal units, thus far, have been to employees assigned to the Field Services Division, Corrections Division and the Mendocino County Jail medical staff. Employees are required to attend user training prior to being issued the medication.

Sheriff Matthew C. Kendall would like to thank Mendocino County Public Health for providing the Narcan nasal units to the Sheriff's Office free of charge as part of the Free Narcan Grant from the California Department of Public Health.

Since the April 2019 issuance, there have now been (19) nineteen separate situations wherein Mendocino County Sheriff's Office Patrol Staff have administered NARCAN and saved the lives of (19) nineteen overdosing individuals in need of the lifesaving antidote medication.

In October 2021 the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office received a grant from the California Naloxone Distribution Project through the Department of Health Care Services to help maintain an inventory of the live saving antidote. This grant was renewed in 2023 where the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office received additional NARCAN dosage units for the Field Services Division and Corrections Division.

Sheriff Matthew C. Kendall would like to thank the California Naloxone Distribution Project through the Department of Health Care Services for awarding the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office with the Naloxone grants to better help protect his employees and the public.

MORE ABOUT THOSE STRANGE FORT BRAGG BULBOUTS

I spoke with a foreman from Argonaut Engineering & Construction. They are in the process of removing enough asphalt from the intersection to make rainwater flow to storm drains. The foreman said there will be a noticeable dip in the roadway, coming into the intersection from each direction. The curb cut shown in the photo below (lower left) is most problematic. There may be a flooding issues there.

— Rob Somerton

CARRIE SHATTUCK: Raises: Before Tuesday’s meeting I contacted three Supervisors, Mulheren, Williams and Haschak expressing my disbelief about these raises being on the Agenda. Seriously, we can’t balance our budget but are going to give raises to some of the highest paid in the County? These two agenda items were subsequently pulled/withdrawn at the beginning of the meeting. Also, take note that on the same agenda the In home Support Services workers are still fighting (for over a year now) to get $20 per hour, which they didn’t get. What a slap in the face. I’m certain these raises for the CEO/Elected will be back before the budget hearings in June. I suggest our Supervisors get some training on how to balance a budget.

WHITE KNUCKLES?

On Sunday, March 10, 2024 at approximately 7:46 P.M. Deputies with the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office were dispatched to an unknown 911 call in the 1000 block of McNab Ranch Road in Ukiah. Deputies arrived in the area and contacted a 37-year-old female who advised she called law enforcement due to being involved in an argument with her boyfriend (Russell White, 47 of Ukiah). 

Deputies conducted an investigation and observed no indication of a physical altercation. Deputies left the location after the parties agreed to separate for the evening.

A short time later, Deputies were summoned back to the area due to a physical altercation taking place. Deputies conducted an investigation and learned the 37-year-old female was physically assaulted by White after Deputies left the location previously. Deputies observed injuries to the female's person consistent with an assault. Deputies also learned White was on probation in Mendocino County. Deputies were advised White had fled the scene in the female's vehicle prior to their arrival.

Deputies searched the large rural property on foot and ultimately located the female's vehicle and later located White attempting to conceal himself under a building. White was ultimately placed under arrest for Felony Domestic Violence Battery and Violation of Probation.

White was subsequently booked into the Mendocino County Jail where he was to be held in lieu of $27,500.00 bail.

A GRAND JURY SUCCESS STORY

Editor,

My first service as a Grand Juror had just begun when a Supervisor, encountered at a political gathering, remarked that it was too bad the Grand Juries didn’t get their facts straight. Fair warning I guess.

We issued a report pointing out that, contrary to State law, policy and procedure, the County was siphoning funds into the General Fund from the Library’s meager coffers.

(At this time the Library’s sole finding source was its special district property allotment.) The BOS response was headlined in a bold banner headline: “Library report ‘mostly untrue’.”

Fortunately, many of the same jurors served the following year. So we re-did the report. Because Grand Jury proceedings are secret all information garnered from interviews must be discarded at the term’s end; documents may be retained. 

We re-interviewed. This time, the BOS had to accept our facts and repaid the Library thousands of dollars. No banner headline in the UDJ this time, but the Grand Jury did receive the Robert Geiss Excellence in Reporting Award from the California Grand Juror’s Association for “special achievement in investigating and reporting.” The Award “recognizes grand jury reports that bring to the public’s attention matters of vital importance and thereby leads positive changes within their communities.” No headline in UDJ this time either.

It’s not only the County which doesn’t respond positively. Years ago, a Grand Jury noted that the City parking lot across the street from the Ukiah Library was never full, and respectfully requested that the few spots designated for Library patrons be moved close to the street. No change to date and it is such a simple improvement.

Linda Bailey

Ukiah

BRITISH CITIZEN FOUND GUILTY OF COASTAL DOMESTIC ABUSE

A Mendocino County Superior Court jury returned from its deliberations near the end of the business day on Wednesday to announce it had found the trial defendant guilty.

Defendant Scott Arran Brown, age 50, of Fort Bragg, was found guilty of inflicting corporal injury on a domestic partner, a felony.

The jury did not find true, however, the special allegation that the six-stitches required to repair the victim’s lip as a result of the attack constituted “great bodily injury,” within the meaning of California law as alleged by the District Attorney. 

Defendant Brown’s case has now been referred to the Mendocino County Adult Probation Department for a background study and sentencing recommendation. 

The defendant was ordered to return to the Ten Mile Division of the Mendocino County Superior Court in Fort Bragg on June 26th at 9 o’clock in the morning for consideration of the probation report and for formal sentencing. 

While the prosecutor's motion to have the defendant remanded into custody in light of the guilty verdict was denied, he was ordered to immediately surrender to court staff his British passport for “safekeeping,” and, apparently, to help ensure he will be personally present in the Ten Mile court in June.

The law enforcement agencies that investigated the case to develop the evidence used at trial were the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office and the District Attorney’s Bureau of Investigations.

Special thanks are extended to civilian witnesses – medical and otherwise – who dutifully appeared when asked and testified during the course of the trial.

The prosecutor who presented the People's evidence to the jury was Deputy District Attorney Eloise Kelsey.

Mendocino County Superior Court Judge Clayton Brennan ordered the trial moved from Fort Bragg to Ukiah in early February, and then presided over the seven-day trial that ultimately spanned from February 13th through March 13th in Department E of the Ukiah courthouse.

(DA Presser)

HUBS AND ROUTES OPENS ‘Ten Mile Isle’ on the Mendocino Coast

Can you picture the beautiful stretch of coast between Pudding Creek and Ten Mile River? Perhaps you have stopped by Cleone Market to get snacks for your work crew, taken tourists up the beach on horseback, crossed a sand dune to find a sand dollar, or bought vegetables at Nye Ranch Farmstand.

At Hubs & Routes, we think about what happens when Highway One is not driveable, so we call this land “Ten Mile Isle.” Hubs & Routes is a grassroots, nonprofit disaster-preparedness project of the Social Good Fund, local to the 21 “Islands” of the Mendocino Coast. You can learn more about us at hubsandroutes.net. 

If you live, work, or drop off your kids on Ten Mile Isle, please bring your family and check out your nearest Public Hub on Saturday, March 16 (yes, between Whale Festival events if you like.) 

What is a Public Hub? It’s a place where you can get information that helps you—and helps you help others— when the power is out, when there’s flooding, or during other kinds of disasters. 

What kind of information? Messages from your friends and family when they cannot text, call, or email you. Every Public Hub puts up a message board where you can leave notes. “Hi, Son! Yes, my house flooded, but I’m OK. I’ll check back here (Tuesday, 1/15) at noon to look for you. Sam G.” 

Maps of your “island” will also be posted showing alternate routes that could possibly get you to another “island” if Highway One is not open. They will also show the best trails out of the nearest tsunami high-risk zones and more. 

When Public Hub leaders are available, they can look up information about who has which nearby resources to share with you, and about who’s likely to welcome your help. For example, you might be looking for a place to cook the spinach thawing in your freezer before it spoils. If enough neighbors have put data into the database by signing up as Private Hubs, the Public Hub Leaders might be able to find you a place where you can cook up your favorite spinach recipe, some folks to help you eat it, and someone to lend you their solar charger for a few hours. 

Some Hubs provide other kinds of information as well. For example, Meadow Farm has a ham radio. When its operator is there, all kinds of news from around Ten Mile Isle can pour in, and the highlights can be posted on the message board. 

Does this sound like a handy place to get to know before the next crisis? Then, save some time for the Grand Opening of Meadow Farm’s emergency operations trailer, newly refurbished with a grant from the Community Foundation of Mendocino County. The Opening will be from 1 to 2:30 PM on Saturday, March 16, 2024, at 31271 Country Road, which is the road you are on if you keep going east when Pudding Creek Road turns left. 

Meet your neighbors, take a tour, nibble on a locally grown snack, explore the map, and consider which of your skills or surpluses you’d be willing to add to Ten Mile Isle’s exchange network.

TINY HOMES IN FORT BRAGG?

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Fort Bragg Planning Commission will conduct two public hearings on ILUDC Zoning Amendments and LCP Zoning Amendments at a Special Meeting on Wednesday, March 27, 2024 at 6:00 PM or as soon thereafter as the matter may be heard at Town Hall, at the corner of Main and Laurel Streets (363 North Main Street), Fort Bragg, California. The public hearings and ISMND will concern the following items: 

1. ILUDC Zoning Amendment 4-23 (ILUDC 4-23), LCP Amendment: Zoning Amendments to the Inland and Coastal Land Use and Development Codes to amend regulations regarding Tiny Homes. See full details here.

2. ILUDC Zoning Amendment 5-23 (ILUDC 5-23), LCP Amendment 5-23 (LCP 5-23): Zoning Amendments to the Inland and Coastal Land Use and Development Codes to repeal regulations for Mobile Home Parks and replace them with regulations for Tiny Homes Communities. See full details here.

GOOD FIRE SERIES 2024

Are you interested in learning more about good fire, prescribed and cultural fire, and its use on your land? The Center for Environmental Inquiry at Sonoma State University is producing a series of public education events sponsored by the Mendocino County Fire Safe Council. Join us to learn more about good fire.

The first in the series is a virtual Zoom meeting on Thursday, March 28, from 5:00 – 6:30 pm. Entitled “Is Fire the Right Tool for Your Job?,” this event will help you understand the reasons to burn and then envision the impact prescribed fire could have on your land to help you decide if you want to consider it.

The second event, “How to Prepare Your Land for Good Fire,” will be in person at the Galbreath Wildlands Preserve in Yorkville, southern Mendocino County, on Saturday, April 13 from 2:00 - 4:00 pm. The focus will be on how to prepare for using good fire to achieve your management objectives. Registration for this one is very limited.

The last of the series will deal with documentation requirements and other prerequisites needed to get good fire on your land. The date and time are to be determined.

Expert presentations will be provided by Andres Avila, fire chief of the Anderson Valley Fire Department; Sasha Berleman, director of Audubon Canyon Ranch’s Fire Forward program; and Mike Jones, forestry advisor for Mendocino, Lake and Sonoma counties at the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources, and chair of the Mendocino County Prescribed Burn Association.

For more information and to register, go to cei.sonoma.edu/Rx-burn.

The events are all free of charge and registration is required.

CITY OF FORT BRAGG TO CONDUCT EMERGENCY OPERATIONS CENTER EXERCISE 

On April 3, 2024, the City of Fort Bragg will be conducting an Emergency Operations Center Exercise at the Fort Bragg Middle School. The exercise will not disrupt normal school activities and will be contained to the Middle School Library after classes are normally released. 

This exercise will involve the majority of the City’s Administrative and Management staff participating in a simulation where they are required to activate the City’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) following a major disaster in accordance with the City of Fort Bragg’s Emergency Operations Plan. Participating staff will be provided a scenario, assigned to their EOC roles, and then participate in a two-hour simulation where they will receive approximately 100 pieces of simulated information. The simulation is intended to be as realistic as possible to allow city staff to react and apply their knowledge during stressful conditions. The attached Exercise Plan contains additional information. 

This functional exercise will be conducted in accordance with Homeland Security Exercise Evaluation Protocols and will confirm the City of Fort Bragg’s ability to meet desired Core Capabilities outlined in the Federal Government’s National Preparedness Goals. Any deficiencies identified during the exercise will be forwarded to the City’s senior leaders and the Fort Bragg City Council. The city staff and City Council may use the provided information to guide future financial allocations and to develop a multi-year exercise plan as required by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Data collected during this and future exercises will additionally increase the City’s eligibility for Federal and State emergency preparedness funding. 

Additional information regarding this exercise and an update to the City’s Emergency Operations Plan will be discussed at the Special Public Safety Committee on March 19, 2024, and at the City Council Meeting on March 25, 2024. 

The City of Fort Bragg would like to thank the Fort Bragg Unified School District for the use of their facility. 

Questions regarding this exercise may be directed to the City’s Emergency Manager, Captain Thomas O’Neal at toneal@fortbragg.com. 

This information is being released by Chief Neil Cervenka. Media organizations requesting to attend the event should contact him at ncervenka@fortbragg.com. 

REMEMBERING DEPUTY SHERIFF RICKY DEL FIORENTINO

by Mary Benjamin

Ten years ago, on March 19, 2014, Mendocino County Deputy Sheriff Ricky Del Fiorentino, a 26-year law enforcement veteran, died in the line of duty on a dirt side road behind the Cleone grocery store on Highway 1 north of Fort Bragg. The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office annually holds an in-house luncheon in Del Fiorentino’s honor.

Every year, except for a time given to a failing parent, Beth Del Fiorentino and her daughter Lexie make the journey from Oregon to Fort Bragg to attend the luncheon and visit the place where her husband and Lexie’s father died. They lay down roses and then walk along McKerricher’s beach, something the three of them used to do a few times weekly. 

Del Fiorentino’s death resulted from one man’s crime spree that day, which began in Eugene, Oregon. Ricardo Antonio Chaney fled from Eugene after he shot and killed anthropology professor and family friend George Bundy Wasson in his home, which Chaney then set on fire. 

Intent on avoiding arrest, Chaney carjacked a BMW, forced the young occupants into the trunk, and headed south. Using the car’s trunk release latch from the inside, the two young people soon escaped at an intersection. 

Chaney’s third action occurred in Mendocino County near Leggett at the Confusion Hill tourist site on US 101. His encounter with the store’s owner, John Mills, resulted in shots fired by both men before Chaney drove off heading south. Mills’ call to the Sheriff’s Office brought armed law enforcement from many agencies out for a search. 

Chaney was spotted but evaded officers when he diverted at high speed off the freeway onto Highway 1, leading west to the coast 

north of Fort Bragg. Deputy Sheriff Ricky Del Fiorentino routinely patrolled the Mendocino coast, but the sheriff’s office assumed he had first headed to Leggett. 

Lt. Sheriff Clint Wyant usually patrolled the North sector of the county but had a planned trip to the county jail in Ukiah to deliver a previously arrested person. Del Fiorentino, who had made the arrest, met Wyant halfway to Ukiah on S.R.20 to turn over his arrested passenger for the final leg of the trip to the jail. 

Two hours later, law enforcement was searching Highway 1 and all sideroads. Del Fiorentino was the first to come upon the unoccupied, stolen vehicle on a dirt lane behind the Cleone grocery store. As far as could be determined, Del Fiorentino was ambushed and killed before he could exit his patrol car. 

Patrolling nearby, Fort Bragg Police Lt. John Naulty heard gunshots and drove directly to the location. He found Chaney rifling through Del Fiorentino’s patrol car. Shots were exchanged, and Chaney died. Wyant then heard Naulty’s radioed call of “1199”, meaning “Officer Down.” 

Wyant, along with about 100 other officers, sped to the scene. His close friend had died in the patrol car, but Wyant had to make two mental adjustments. He assumed his role as a SWAT team member and began the work of securing the scene by searching for other possible suspects and protecting any evidence of the crime at the scene. 

County Sheriff Tom Allman bore the burden of informing Del Fiorentino’s next of kin. In her role as Co-Coach of the Girls’ High School Cheerleading team, Beth Del Fiorentino recalled that she was waiting on Main Street in Fort Bragg to pick up trophies for a Fort Bragg High School awards night. 

“I saw all the vehicles driving past,” she said, “and I couldn’t get ahold of Ricky.” She went home and later opened her door to the County Sheriff, who gave her news of something rare in the county sheriff’s department history— death in the line of duty. 

Tim Del Fiorentino, who was 19 years old when his father died and is now a sergeant in the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office, said that from that devastating moment through all the days prior to the memorial service, the Sheriff’s Office never left the family alone. An officer was always available to secure any need, and the generous community kept them supplied with food. 

The memorial service held a week later at the Cotton Auditorium in Fort Bragg, brought hundreds of law enforcement officers from nearby, within the state, within the country, and outside the country. Community members thronged the streets during the motorcade procession. 

The crowds were so massive that outdoor tents housed television monitors so those unable to sit in the auditorium could view the service. Inside, even side hallways were full of mourners. 

The word most people used that day to describe the memorial service is “overwhelming.” Beth Del Fiorentino does not recall much of that day, let alone what she said during the service. Tim Del Fiorentino spoke to thank everyone for coming. Afterward, besieged by the media, Beth elected to go home. 

Ten years later, she commented, “It definitely never gets easier. Ricky was my best friend. It was an immensely hard loss.” She lives now in La Pine, Oregon, south of Bend, where Ricky had wanted to retire. She and her daughter Lexie, now 16, left Fort Bragg in June 2015, although they had no social connections in Oregon to greet them. 

Although she was only six years old when her father died, Beth describes Lexie’s memories of her father as “very vivid.” She added that Lexie viewed him as “her best friend” and that “we talk about him often.” 

Lexie’s favorite memories are of weekly walks at McKerricher Beach with her parents and family camping trips to Hat Creek. “I miss having him around to do the things we used to do together,” she said. “He made a lot of time to spend with us.” 

Beth, who responded to the question about Del Fiorentino’s commitment to his job, supports Lexie’s comments. “100% to job and family,” she said. Yet other people also stressed how much time he gave to community sports activities. 

Over the years, he coached his children’s sports teams, became the wrestling coach for Fort Bragg High School, and revived the Police Athletics League (PAL) sponsored by the county’s police and sheriff’s units. Youth projects, including an annual fishing camp, became Del Fiorentino’s hallmark as president of PAL. 

Ask anyone who knew Del Fiorentino well about what they remember of him, and grief just beneath the surface wells up as fresh as it was ten years ago. Independent descriptions of Del Fiorentino’s characteristics and personality are remarkably similar. 

Julie Whipple, a technician at the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office, recalls a man with a blended family who “treated everybody like his own.” She added, “He was all heart. Anybody needed help, he was there to help them.” Whipple had long been a co-worker with Del Fiorentino and remembers a man who was “very involved in the community” who had also revived PAL. 

What Whipple recalled most about Del Fiorentino was his laugh, and she added, “I never talked to anyone who didn’t like him. Even the people he arrested would do anything he asked.” Whipple is still stunned by the number of people who came to the memorial service. 

Sgt. Tim Del Fiorentino also stated that he has never heard a negative story about this father. “I am always approached in public when people recognize my last name,” said Fiorentino. “They always tell me a story about him.” 

He remembers a father with an “infectious belly laugh” who was “very committed to his job and his family and was respected in the community.” Del Fiorentino recalls a father “very involved in our lives who loved outdoor sports. He held his kids to a high moral standard,” said Del Fiorentino, “and wanted us to be successful.” 

Del Fiorentino credits former County Sheriff Tom Allman with the personal care the family received after his father’s death and honors him for the efforts Allman made to help a kid partly raised in a sheriff’s office earn his own place there. 

Sheriff’s Lt. Clint Wyant was a close friend of Del Fiorentino, a relationship forged during the long manhunt for Aaron Bassler in 2011. “We worked hand-in-hand together for years,” said Wyant. “Then there were shifts together of fifteen hours for thirty days straight during the search for Bassler.” 

Wyant said about his friend and co-worker, “He was a larger-than-life kind of guy. I can honestly say that I never saw Ricky in a bad mood or ever a time when he didn’t have a smile on his face. He was a very happy, positive guy. “ He added, “It was a privilege to know him.” 

Wyant also recalled Del Fiorentino’s “very distinct laugh” and stressed, “He was a genuine guy; he wasn’t fake. He would give you the shirt off his back and the last five dollars in his wallet if you needed it.” 

Wyant said he thinks about the service call from Confusion Hill every day. He said, “His legacy still lives on. There are still Ricky stories even ten years later. I feel bad for the younger generation who never knew Ricky.” He added, “If you had the pleasure of knowing him, he touched everybody’s lives.” 

Wyant supervised Tim Del Fiorentino when he was hired at the sheriff’s department. He remembered watching the young man grow up over the years. “I still re-live some memories through his son,” he said. “There are so many things about Tim that remind me of his dad.” 

He continued, “His laugh, the way he walks—there are so many characteristics. Working with his son, seeing that he’s following his dad’s footsteps, and seeing him all the time almost makes it seem that Ricky is still here.” 

Beth Fiorentino said, “There wasn’t anything not to love about him, his laugh and his smile and his huge heart.” She then described the national support group, Concerns of Police Survivors (C.O.P.S.), that still helps her deal with her loss. “They’re an amazing organization,” she said. In her world, ten years ago often does feel like yesterday.

(Ukiah Daily Journal)

CATCH OF THE DAY, Thursday, March 14, 2024

ROBERT AVERY II, Nice. Mandatory supervision violation.

LORENA CALDERONE-ALDANA, Fort Bragg. Failure to appear, probation revocation.

ROBERT GALLETTI, Ukiah. Embezzlement, grand theft.

DANIEL HUNT, Fairfield/Ukiah. Failure to appear.

BRANDON LANGENDERFER, Laytonville. Battery, concealed dirk-dagger.

BROOK LEWIS, Willits. Failure to appear.

FRANKLIN OLIVER, Covelo. Carjacking, use of weapon during crime.

KARL PETERS, Desert Hot Springs/Fort Bragg. Forgery, controlled substance for sale, paraphernalia, marijuana for sale, suspended license.

MELODY SCROGGINS, Ukiah. Paraphernalia, disobeying court order, failure to appear.

ROBERT VARGAS JR, Fort Bragg. Probation violation.

DROP IN THE COST OF INSULIN

Dear Editor,

Diabetes is awful. During my career as a staff nurse in long term care hospitals, I cared for a few diabetic patients. I administered their meds, did their treatments, and otherwise supervise their care. Most of us depend on our livers to keep the blood sugar level at the right point daily, but for patients with diabetes their livers are unable to do this naturally. This is where the drug Insulin is so important. Diabetic patients must often get an infusion of Insulin daily usually by means of an injection or “shot.”

Getting the correct amount of Insulin daily has not been cheap; until last year the drug has directly been paid for just by patients themselves, a majority of whom in the U.S. are African Americans. During the last year or so this high cost of Insulin has been reduced by the Biden Administration. Now the cost is no more than $15 thanks to the work of the Biden Administration and the support mostly of the Democrats in Congress. It is an improvement we should remember in choosing whom to vote for this November. I will be voting for Joe Biden.

Frank H. Baumgardner, III 

Santa Rosa

BUDDHIST PINTS, A SHOT & FREE FOOD

Sittin’ here at computer #1 at the Ukiah Public Library, following an excellent visit yesterday to Sports Attic 2 for pints of Henhouse and a shot o’ Glenfiddich. Dropped by SBMC this morning to get a fresh $50 bill for the wallet, prior to the weekend. Also just filled up on the free food at Plowshares this morning. Will move off of the computer (after enjoying a rousing medley of chants from India on YouTube), to read today’s New York Times. As ever, it will be “all the news that’s fit to print”. Not a bad way to spend the day on planet earth, really. Identifying with the Bliss Divine that permeates all, (and not the body nor the mind), it’s all good. Cheers! Be here now, and may the force be with you. ;-))

PS. AFTER DARK AT BUILDING BRIDGES

Warmest spiritual greetings, 

Spent an interesting evening watching others being helped into the men's dorm, compromised by too much alcohol and drugs, and being placed on their beds to take rest. The usual argument in regard to the window being open to provide fresh air, versus it being kept closed to keep the indoor air temperature warmer, ensued. Somebody using some sort of vape gadget sent up a plume of smoke. Maybe it is okay. Not sure. A bottle of Captain Morgan rum appeared. The debate continues about the Building Bridges Homeless Resource Center being a "low barrier" facility, or whether it is in actuality a no barrier open drug bazaar. (Shall we count the number of deaths due to overdosing since March 1st of 2022, when yours truly moved in?)

Meanwhile, I am waiting for the dentist to call in regard to attempting to get Partnership of California to approve a root canal, before she saves a small tooth and re-crowns it. 

I am available for spiritually sourced direct action and relative spiritual rituals in response to global climate destabilization and general peace & justice concerns. Am presently doing nothing whatsoever of any importance in Ukiah, California. A daily reading of the New York Times while being detached from the spectacle that America has become, plus keeping up with the implosion of this global civilization, provides sufficient entertainment. To those who are Self-realized, may you continue to understand the samsaric disaster, as we await the arrival of avatars and the scriptural promise of the destruction of the demonic at the end of Kali Yuga. 

Feel free to contact me at any time.

Craig Louis Stehr, craiglouisstehr@gmail.com

REMEMBERING HUGH DUGGINS

by Paul Modic

Hugh was telling this story about when his brother, Buddy Brown, went down to the city and some friend of his completely dissed him. (He knew he was visiting but didn’t contact him.) A few months later the disser asked Hugh if he had a job for his nephew and Hugh said no.

“Did you have a job?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said.

“Well why didn’t you just tell him the truth? That he dissed your brother and so, sorry dude, no favors for you?”

Hugh took a thoughtful pause and said, “Some people don’t deserve the truth.”

---

Once a guy came by and paid Hugh and he put the money aside and didn’t count it. A few weeks later the same guy came back, gave Hugh the money, and Hugh started counting it.

“But you didn’t count it last time!” the middleman whined. (Yup, it was about a grand short.)

---

When Mark was bartender at the Benbow Inn, Hugh would stop by often. One day a friend showed up and said, “You’re here a lot, Hugh.”

“That’s because he gives me free drinks!” Hugh said.

Mark came around the counter, grabbed Hugh by the scruff of his shirt, and said, “Shut the hell up!”

---

One time Hugh was getting ready to climb down into my septic tank to try to fix it. He was going to try to push the bulge out with a piece of two by four and a hydraulic jack.

“Want some gloves Hugh?” Nah…

---

Sometimes after a Scrabble game I’d say, “Lets go uptown for a coffee at Flavors and look at the weirdos.” He never said no, though he could get fixated on some cute girl, and once I said, “Glance Hugh, don’t stare.”

---

One day my neighbor wanted to borrow my truck to haul a bunch of pot plants, and I broke the bro code and said no. Later I was talking with him up at the farmers market when Hugh walked up and said, “You can borrow my truck anytime!”

Hugh came by later that day and I said, “Why’d you have to say that Hugh? It had all blown over. You have no boundaries!”

“Yeah, I guess,” he said.

“You guess?” I said. “”Okay then let’s play a game of Scrabble.”

---

Hugh was working on a project with his best friend Mark when he got a call from his girlfriend. She was breaking up with him. After work they went back to Mark’s place and found his girlfriend packing and moving out. That solidified their friendship, which lasted for decades, with just one falling-out.

---

Once Hugh was working underneath his truck when a guy came by with a pound of weed to sell.

“Just put it on the front seat,” Hugh said.

Later the buyer came by and looked at the weed. “Just leave the money on the seat,” Hugh said.

Another friend came by later and said, “So how’d that weed look?”

“I don’t know,” Hugh said. “I never saw it!”

---

Hugh was pretty cool. Once I was filling out an application for a show on KMUD and said, “Look, they want me to say what I can do for the station: carpentry, electrical, plumbing, and I can’t do that!”

“Just put ’em all down,” Hugh said. “I’ll do it. I like KMUD.”

---

Hugh thought people he knew spent too much time making money and not enough spending it. “If I had as much money as you all do I’d be having way more fun,” he said.

“What would you do Hugh, if you had a lot of money again?” I said

Hugh thought about it, then said, “Get an old convertible and drive down Main Street with the top down.”

(Hugh Duggins: 9/6/44 to 1/20/16)

BYE, BYE BIG BOXES

Banana Republic and its parent company, Gap, said about 350 stores would close in 2023 and that it would end the year with about 866 stores.

Foot Locker said it would shutter 545 stores nationwide, including 125 of its Champs Sports locations by 2026, as part of a “reset” that includes opening about 300 “new concept” stores, according to Business Insider.

The discount home goods retailer Tuesday Morning Corp. filed for bankruptcy in February and announced it would close 31 of its 37 California stores in February.

In the Feb. 14 bankruptcy filing, Chief Executive Andrew Berger cited “exceedingly burdensome debt.” In a statement, Tuesday Morning said it had secured a $51.5 million debtor-in-possession commitment from Invictus Global Management to support operations during the bankruptcy proceedings.

Home goods and design retailer Z Gallerie offered store-closing sales in October following its parent company, DirectBuy Home Improvement, Inc., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Z Gallerie had a total of five stores in California including Sherman Oaks, Costa Mesa, Encinitas, Corona and Roseville near Sacramento.

A last-ditch effort to save Buy Buy Baby fell apart, and the company announced it would close all its stores in California and across the U.S. as part of its bankrupt parent company’s ongoing liquidation.

CNBC reported that the owner of children’s apparel company Janie and Jack was “eager” to buy the Bed Bath & Beyond chain and keep it running, but could not reach a deal on its value.

The 15 remaining stores in California were scheduled to close as of July, according to the retailer.

Weight loss and management business Jenny Craig announced it would close its doors in May “due to its inability to secure additional funding,” according to internal documents obtained by NBC News.

Jenny Craig had roughly 500 company-owned and franchised locations across the country, including 68 locations in California.

Party City filed for bankruptcy at the beginning of 2023, prompting the go-to party goods retailer to close almost 40 stores nationwide. California is home to the largest number of Party City store locations in the country, and four of its 108 stores in the state are closing.

Downey: 7171 Firestone Blvd.

Lodi: Southwest Plaza, 2350 W. Kettleman Lane

Marina: The Dune on Monterey Bay, 125 General Stillwell Drive

Palmdale: Amargosa Commons, 39451 10 St. W.

“As we take this important step to put our business on stronger financial footing for the future, we are as committed as ever to inspiring joy by making it easy for our customers to create unforgettable memories,” Party City CEO Brad Weston said.

ED NOTE: Not to beat a dead horse, but remember Jimbo wrote about the demise of the big boxes and shopping malls in general back in the early 90’s in “Geography of Nowhere.” Now, more than 30 years later, many suburban shopping malls look like glorified indoor flea markets. The big box/shopping mall as a business model is rapidly dying.

JACK LONDON: NOT THAT BAD

by Richard Etulain

There is something about Jack London that fascinates readers around the world. Even during his lifetime (1876-1916) journalists, biographers, and literary critics capitalized on his life and writings for their commentaries. 

That interest, so pronounced in the first two decades of the twentieth century, continues today; since 1970 more than ten book-length studies in English have been published. While most of these previous accounts have at least admitted London’s limitations as man and writer, none has been as negative as the volume under review. 

Some of this criticism is justified; London often betrayed his egotism, racism, materialism, selfishness, and sometimes his untruthfulness. More London buffs should admit these flaws in their hero’s character if they are to understand his complex personality. 

Still, in ‘Jack London: An Ameri­can Myth,’ (1981) John Perry is too critical. He finds almost no positive qualities, when, in fact, London could be exceptionally generous, loyal, sympathetic; and he was a talented storyteller who produced several notable books and numerous worthwhile shorter works.

If Perry’s point-of-view is too negative, some of his research methods are also questionable. While he makes extensive use of obscure newspaper, magazine, and secondary' sources, he seems not to have researched the two largest London collections, those at the Huntington and Utah State Uni­versity libraries. Perhaps he was denied access to the former, but he could have utilized the large collection at Logan. 

He also makes limited use of most of the important books and essays on London appearing in the last decade. Generally, his research is not nearly as broad and deep as it could have been. Nor is he always balanced in his use of sources. He accepts several stories from sources particularly critical of London — Joseph Noel, Kevin Starr, Andrew Sinclair — and he utilizes negative evidence from those whose works are primarily sympathetic in their treatment of London — Charmian and Joan London. 

Perry has read widely in London’s voluminous works, but he is too quick to read autobiographical significances into London’s writings, and little of his commentary on London’s fiction contains sustained and penetrating analysis. 

Several other problems detract from the value of Perry’s book. He quotes far too much from secondary sources— not only from contemporary reviews but also from books and essays pertinent to subjects tangential to his subject’s life and works. 

For example, Perry gets sidetracked on minor details in his chapter on London in Japan and Korea; the same is true in his discussions of George Sterling, where he is inclined to emphasize Sterling’s unorthodox activities. 

More extensive copyediting could have eliminated some jerky narration and culled out the author’s tendency to use too many questions. One wonders too why the book contains no introduction, conclu­sion, or illustrative material. 

On other topics, Perry is just mistaken. His treatment of London’s tramp activities is muddled, and had he made more extensive use of printed and manuscript correspondence, his account of the breakup of London’s first marriage to Bess Maddern, his love affair with Charmian Kittredge, and his subsequent marriage to her could have been less sketchy and jumbled. 

In short, Perry’s biography is disappointing. Less satisfactory than the earlier accounts by Joan London, Kevin Starr, Richard O’Connor, and Andrew Sinclair that reveal the darker and less positive side of London, it also lacks the careful literary commentary of Earle Labor and James I. McClintock, and it is much less useful than Russ Kingman’s sympathetic but fact-filled pictorial biography. 

While Jack London was not the god-like paragon that some London aficionados have made of him, neither was he the hardened, insensitive rascal that John Perry portrays in his biography. London and his readers deserve a more balanced portrait than this vol­ume provides. 

Richard Etulain a history professor at the University of New Mexico and the author of ‘Jack London On The Road: The Tramp Diary and Other Hobo Writings.’

ALL OF OUR MISSILES, the ammunition, the precision-guided bombs, all the airplanes and bombs, it’s all from the US. The minute they turn off the tap, you can’t keep fighting. You have no capability… Everyone understands that we can’t fight this war without the United States. Period.

— retired IDF Maj. General Yitzhak Brick

NO PEOPLE ever recognize their dictator in advance. He never stands for election on the platform of dictatorship. He always represents himself as the instrument of the incorporated national will. When Americans think of dictators they always think of some foreign model. If anyone turned up here in a fur hat, boots, and a grim look he would be recognized and shunned. Likewise anyone resembling six Roman Emperors, or someone you must greet with a stiff arm and a “Heil!.” But when our dictator turns up you can depend on it that he will be one of the boys, and he will stand for everything traditionally American. Since the great American tradition is freedom and democracy, you can bet that our dictator — God help us! — will be a great democrat, through whose leadership alone democracy can be realized. And nobody will ever say “Heil” to him or “Hail Caesar,” nor will they call him “Fuhrer” or “Duce.” But they will greet him with one great big, universal, democratic, sheeplike bleat of “O.K., Chief! Fix it like you wanna, Chief! Oh Kaaaay!”

— Dorothy Thompson, February, 1937

I THINK THE AMERICAN PEOPLE should see that the corporations abandoned them long ago. That people will have to build their own economies and rebuild democracy as a living democracy. The corporations belong to no land, no country, no people. They have no loyalty to anything apart from the base-line — their profits. And the profits today are on an unimaginable scale; it has become illegitimate, criminal profit — profits extracted at the cost of life.

— Vandana Shiva

DON'T LOOK AT ME in that tone of voice.

― Dorothy Parker

TOM PAINE: WHAT A GUY!

by Jim Hightower

In my view, the greatest of America’s “Founding Fathers” was not Washington or Jefferson – nor, technically, he wasn’t even an American. Rather, he was a British immigrant and itinerate agitator for real democracy, enlightenment, and universal human rights.

He was Thomas Paine, a prolific, profound, persuasive, and widely popular pamphleteer in the movement for American Independence. With plain language and genuine passion for the cause, Paine’s 47-page pamphlet, ‘Common Sense,’ was so compelling in its support of the Revolution that it was passed around from person to person – and even read aloud in taverns! But Paine wasn’t content with democratic rhetoric – he actually believed in an egalitarian society, and his post-revolution writings (including ‘Age of Reason,’ and ‘Agrarian Justice’) unabashedly demanded that the new hierarchy of US leaders fulfill the promise of democracy.

Even before the War for Independence, Paine called for slaves to be freed and slavery prohibited. After the war, he terrified most of the gentlemen of means who’d signed the Declaration of Independence by insisting that non-landowners be eligible to vote and hold office (John Adams was so appalled by this that he decried ‘Common Sense’ as a “crapulous mess”). But Paine just kept pushing, calling for women’s suffrage, progressive taxation, state-funded childcare, a guaranteed minimum income, universal public education, strict separation of church and state, universal healthcare, and adoption of some of the democratic principles of the Iroquois Nation.

Don’t tell small-minded, right-wing demagogues like Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott – but Thomas Paine was WOKE! Some 250 years before their push to impose autocracy, plutocracy, and theocracy over us, this revolutionary founder championed social justice and economic fairness. As one historian noted, “we are today all Paine’s children,” for he imbued America’s destiny with democratic impulse and aspiration.

ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Remember, you are part of the Universe, and the Universe is a part of you. Get to a dark sky site, see the majesty of the heavens. Get to the forest, get back to nature as much as you can. There is much more to this world than the corruption of politics.

It’s not all gone. Beauty and good still abound. Seek it out, shouldn’t be hard to find.