Mendocino County Today: Saturday 4/20/24

Partly Sunny | Lake Mendocino | Fight School | Wood Rat | MHRB Meeting | Turkey Vultures | AVUSD News | Art? | Shields Update | Ukiah Construction | Earth Day | Gymnastics Class | Drum Circle | Conflict of Interest | Spa Music | Bradd Archive | Wildflower Show | Henri Matisse | Eel Diversion | Dragon Burger | CNN-heimers | Driving Through | Yesterday's Catch | Pitiful Customers | Mt. Tamalpais | Marco Radio | Natural State | Insane Asshole | Be Open | Wildlife Finals | Red Flag | Hubby Indicted | Batshit Crazy | Statue Update | No-State Solution | Lynch Mob | Male Credit | Woman

A WEAK COLD FRONT will bring few light showers and drizzle to the North Coast this afternoon, followed by breezy northerly winds on Sunday. Generally dry weather will continue through early next week. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): A foggy 49F on the coast this 4-20 morning..................where was I? Oh, here we go again, the NWS says clearing by midday, but as always, we'll see. Our forecast is generally clear with the usual patchy fog thru next week, although later week showers are now back in the forecast. Another we'll see.

NOON HOUR MAYHEM

At approximately 12:00 pm, Ukiah Police Department (UPD) Officers were dispatched to the Ukiah High School at 1000 Low Gap Road for a report of a fight in the parking lot. The initial dispatch indicated that one of the involved juveniles was possibly in possession of a knife.

As UPD Officers arrived at the campus they were informed by UPD Dispatch that a Ukiah High School staff member had detained one of the involved students, and two others, described as males wearing blue clothing had left on foot and were believed to be headed northbound on Despina Drive.

The lead investigating UPD Officer responded to the Ukiah High School office to meet with the school’s administration, while other UPD Officers began checking the surrounding neighborhood for the other juveniles. A short time later, a UPD Officer located two male juveniles matching the description in the 1500 block of Despina Drive. The juveniles initially tried to maintain a low profile to avoid detection, but once they were approached the juveniles submitted to detention.

The involved juveniles were identified and questioned, before being released pending further investigation. No knife was located at this time. Ukiah High School administrators initially believed that the incident could be handled internally, however approximately two hours later a video of the fight surfaced, and the true severity of the altercation was learned.

In the video, two juveniles, both Ukiah High School students, could be seen fighting against one male that was initially unknown to authorities and not believed to be a Ukiah High School student. As the three juveniles engaged in a fistfight, another male could clearly be seen drawing a folding knife from his pocket, opening the blade, and confronting a juvenile with the knife lowered at his side.

Campus officials conducted a sweep of the parking lot to ensure that the knife or any other weapons had not been left behind. While checking the parking lot a black satchel was found hidden in a trashcan in the immediate vicinity of the fight. Inside the satchel, campus officials found a loaded .40 caliber handgun and what they believed to be crystal methamphetamine.

In concert with the Ukiah High School administration, the Ukiah Police Department dedicated multiple Officers and UPD Detectives to open an investigation into the black satchel, its possessor, and how and why it had been brought on to school grounds.

The two juveniles that had been fighting against the solo male were immediately suspended, and one of them was placed under arrest for fighting on school grounds. The other juvenile refused to turn himself in, and the case will be reviewed by the Mendocino County Juvenile Probation Department for charges against him. Both juveniles, who were students at Ukiah High School are believed by UPD gang experts to be active gang members based on prior knowledge of the juveniles, their clothing, and gang signs being exhibited during the fight.

The male that was seen brandishing the knife in a threatening manner was identified as Braiden Marshall, 18, of Ukiah. 

Based on the video evidence and the victim’s statement, Marshall was placed under arrest for threatening with the intent to terrorize, bringing a weapon onto school grounds, and brandishing a weapon other than a firearm.

During the investigation, UPD learned that the third male involved in the fight had brought the satchel and firearm on to campus, and the bag had been discarded after the fight. The juvenile, a 17-Year-Old male resident of Ukiah but not a Ukiah High School student was identified based on witness statements and past school records, and was subsequently placed under arrest for being in possession of a loaded firearm and a controlled substance, being a minor in possession of a handgun, possession of a firearm on school grounds, and possessing a weapon on school grounds.

On 04/17/2024, at approximately 11:45 am, UPD Officers responded to the Ukiah High School regarding a physical fight between three juveniles. While investigating this fight, a second fight occurred involving two other male juveniles. While investigating the second fight, a third fight broke out between two other female juveniles. These three fights were not associated or connected to the above incident in any way.

As a result of these three fights, six (6) juveniles were taken into custody for violations of battery on school grounds. One of these six, a female juvenile had an additional charge of possession of a box cutter on school grounds. All six juveniles were booked at the Mendocino County Juvenile Hall.

As always, UPD’s mission is to make Ukiah as safe a place as possible, and we are grateful for the help and service that we receive from the Ukiah High School administration and staff in assisting in this goal. If you would like to know more about crime in your neighborhood, you can sign up for telephone, cellphone, and email notifications by clicking the Nixle button on our website; www.ukiahpolice.com.

MENDOCINO HISTORICAL REVIEW BOARD REJECTS PROPOSED CHANGES

by Dan Potash

The Mendocino Historical Review Board met recently to discuss changes to its Rules and By-laws recommended by staff. 

The proposed changes were in response to the County Board of Supervisors’ direction to streamline and lower administrative costs to run the MHRB, which Planning and Building Services Director Julia Krog later qualified “without reducing the service the review board provides.” The very well-attended meeting began with the Board nominating the two absent members, Madrigal and Saunders, to be the new chair and vice chair, respectively, of the MHRB. 

Over 30 public members attended the meeting to voice their concerns about the policy and procedural changes proposed by the staff. The staff also received ten written comments expressing similar concerns. The changes include easing strict historical review standards, moving meeting times to regular work hours and consequently the location of the meetings, eliminating project site visits and minutes, and replacing staff preparation of policy issues with Board members providing that information for review by staff and the full Board. 

Many people questioned the foresight of reigning in costs for one of the primary sources of revenue to the County, namely the town of Mendocino, and the historic preservation for which it is renowned. Board member Kapler doubted that the relatively minuscule potential cost savings would be worth the costs to the community and the County budget. Former Board Chair Deirdre Lamb objected to cutting staff resources for the Board since the significant costs borne by applicants should cover staff time. 

Proposed change #1 would amend the review of projects to balance “the historical style of architecture with modern building practices and supporting the local community with sensible regulation.” Public members were particularly opposed to this amendment as it is perceived as compromising the purpose of the MHRB and is so vague and ambiguous that it leads to confusion. Former Board Chair Kathleen Cameron also stressed in her written comments, “Relaxing Code Standards by amending MHRB Rules and By-Laws could have serious consequences, resulting in negative impacts on the integrity of the Historic District. Placement on the National Register is a valued achievement which past Review Boards have helped retain by upholding strict Code Standards — the very Standards that past County Supervisors have mandated.” Current Board member Kapler added, “I resent the implication that we are not already supporting the local community with sensible regulation.” 

Some attendees also questioned how this proposed change would respond to the Board of Directors’ direction to streamline costs given to staff. 

Another common sentiment was the importance of maintaining the MHRB as the most accessible venue for community participation. Several speakers argued that holding meetings during work hours, not to mention if they are in Fort Bragg, would seriously reduce the vital role of the MHRB. Christina Aranguren argued in her written comments, “With all due respect to resource management and staff schedules, meeting times should align with those of the MHRB Board members — the community’s volunteers — who provide an invaluable, uncompensated public service. This is true for the personal schedules of members of the public they are appointed to represent. A 2 p.m. meeting time is neither sensible nor balanced as it eliminates most working people. It also makes volunteering for the MHRB Board impractical or impossible for many capable, interested residents considering a position on the Board.” 

Director Krog sought a compromise to the meeting time so that it is early enough for staff to go home at a reasonable hour at night. Board members agreed that the timing should be discussed when a full Board is present at the next meeting. 

Changing meeting times would also necessitate a change in location since the community center is not available earlier in the day. Alternative locations were suggested, including Fort Bragg, which was categorically rejected, and the Catholic Church in Mendocino, which is available. 

The recommendation to eliminate project site visits drew strong opposition, particularly from current and former Board members. The general feeling was that site visits are an invaluable opportunity for Board members to visualize potential issues. It is unrealistic for applicants and their architects to be present whenever individual Board members visit the project location. Former Board Chair Lamb stated, “As a former MHRB Board member for six years, the final year as Chair, I attended many site visits. I always looked forward to having the architects, builders, and property owners present to answer questions regarding their applications. This cannot be done by driving by, first, as questions on site cannot be asked; secondly, some applications address changes in the backyard, which may be seen from some walking or driving viewpoints. However, they need to be accessed in person.” Krog asked for “guardrails” as to the projects that still require site visits. The Board agreed that signs do not need organized tours, but new construction or remodels still benefit from project site visits. 

Former Board Chair John Simonich succinctly addressed the problem of requiring volunteer Board members to answer policy questions that staff currently provides. “MHRB members are not trained to understand county policies. That is the job of professional county employees. Staff has the resources to ask and receive answers from other county staff members.” 

Board members Kapler and Lopez asked if each of the proposed changes has quantifiable cost reductions. Planning Director Krog did not provide those figures but responded that they were addressing the additional work on behalf of MHRB that is not typically provided to other bodies with whom the Department works. 

A recurring observation among speakers and at least one board member was that costs could be more effectively reduced if fewer staff attended the meetings than the 2-3 regularly participating. Longtime resident and business sign craftsman Rick Saks, who has been before the Board countless times, provided an impassioned historical perspective of the MHRB, including a reminder that only one staff member once attended the meetings. Director Krog responded that reducing the number of staff attending meetings is gradually being implemented. 

There are some questions that County Counsel is exploring, such as whether these changes would require MHRB approval to change their by-laws or whether the Board of Supervisors could make these changes regardless. 

In the end, the proposals were largely rejected. The Board will further discuss at the next meeting an earlier meeting time and the acceptance of action minutes rather than full narratives, with staff providing the Board with meeting material online rather than printed and mailed. The Board further agreed to eliminate site visits for proposed signs, with input from the Chair to determine if such visits are necessary for other less visible projects. 

Finally, the Board approved on the Consent Calendar a modification to the heaters on the MacCallum House porch so they would be raised closer to the ceiling and effectively screened from the site.

(Ukiah Daily Journal)

AV UNIFIED NEWS

Dear Anderson Valley Community,

We had a big day today!

The Track and Field was submitted to DSA today! We received the grant award on October 9 and had to go through the paperwork process with CalTrans before we could incur design costs. This was an extraordinarily quick turnaround from December to April submission. Kudos to Architect Don and Civil Engineer Pete! We still have a long way to go, but this is the first step.

I also wanted to let you know that the District phone system is being replaced on May 6. This is a huge lift that Wynne Crisman is handling, but our current phone system is not functioning with often only one or two lines available. We will also be upgrading with a bilingual phone prompt and an easy to use absence reporting line. The phone company is very rigid about the time of day that turnover can happen; and unfortunately, that is first thing in the morning. Please keep in mind, May 6 may be a bit of a slog as we get everything up and running. Please bear with us. If it is an Emergency and you need to reach someone, my cell number is 707-684-1017. Please make sure you send a paper note with any students needing a bus change that day as the phone may not be back up and running by the bus note cut off time. Absence form or a contact us form can be accessed at www.avpanthers.org an email works wonderfully at:

If you are interested in attending a Narcan training, please contact the school office. It is scheduled for May 14 at the elementary site and is open to the community. Narcan is easy to use and can save a life, so a training of less than an hour could save someone you love. Join us!

The fence at the elementary school will be finished mid-next week. We apologize for the inconvenience but look forward to having a safe and aesthetically pleasing replacement.

The elementary parking lot is scheduled for repair/reseal June 10 through June 21. At the same time, the interior hallway flooring will be replaced. The site is looking fresh! The big excitement of the week at elementary was the huge, and I do mean huge, birthday cake that students presented to celebrate Ms. Cruz’s birthday. It was beautiful and tasty too! The book vending machine at the elementary site is also a really big deal! Students will be able to redeem their reward coins for brand new books to take home and keep.

On a final note, a shout out to the Education Foundation fundraising dinner last Sunday at the Boonville Hotel. This community does amazing things for students and we are grateful.

If you have a senior, don’t miss the Senior Awards dinner on Monday at the high school gym at 5:30!

Have a happy and safe weekend!

Take care,

Louise Simson, Superintendent 

AV Unified School District

JAYMA SHIELDS WRITES:

Dad is out walking the town on what appears to be his new daily exercise regimen excellent news! We thank everyone who continues to write/text/call in your well-wishes to him, it's making his recovery go more positively. Enjoy this beautiful weekend. I got my first annual spring sunburn working Laytonville Food Bank today. Yowza!

Take care,

Jayma on behalf of Jim Shields

UKIAH CONSTRUCTION UPDATES FOR THE WEEK OF APRIL 22 

Important update regarding other projects: Beginning the week of April 22, some construction activity will begin on Main Street as well. This is the beginning of the Urban Core Rehabilitation and Transportation Project, which will reconstruct Main, Perkins, and Gobbi Streets. There will definitely be some overlap between this project and the completion of the streetscape project (anticipated mid-June), but we will do everything we can to mitigate impacts. We’re working to maximize this construction season and improve as many streets as we can, so thank you in advance for your patience! Visit our webpage for more info and to sign up for email updates: www.cityofukiah.com/ucrt Additionally, Low Gap Road between State and Bush will be repaved in June, once school is out.

Back to streetscape…on the south side of the project, concrete crews are working the complete the formation of new curbs and gutters. Once those are done, they will begin pouring sidewalks on the west side, moving from the north to the south. Electric and landscaping crews will also be onsite working on electric infrastructure and irrigation lines for new landscaping. There will be temporary impacts to some driveways, but crews will provide advance notification and mitigate impacts to the best of our ability.

On the north side (Norton to Henry), installation of the brick band along the edge of the sidewalks will continue. All traffic signals in the construction area will remain on flash until the new pavement is in and the lane striping has occurred, likely late May/early June.

Work on curbs and gutters between Mill and Gobbi continues, along with electric infrastructure and irrigation; on the north side, installation of the brick band in the sidewalk.

Construction hours will be Monday-Friday, 7 a.m. - 6 p.m., depending on the weather.

There will be some noise associated with the south section; not much dust.

On the south side, on-street parking in the construction zone will be closed; however, on-street parking on the north side of the project is open in most areas. Pedestrian access to businesses will be maintained at all times. Through traffic on State Street will be allowed in both directions. Traffic signals at Gobbi/State and Mill/State will remain on flash.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Shannon Riley, Deputy City Manager

NOYO FOOD FOREST’S 15TH ANNUAL EARTH DAY FESTIVAL

Saturday, April 20 from 12-4 pm, Fort Bragg High School campus - 300 Dana Street

This year’s festival features live entertainment and events, (see schedule below), a Spring seedling sale, hands-on environmental activities, earth-friendly artisan crafts, local nonprofit booths, delicious food, upcycled T-shirt press, and our famous bicycle-powered smoothies — all with a focus on regenerative gardening and community farming.

This FREE event is open to all (adult donations encouraged).

Please observe school campus rules: no dogs, no alcohol or drugs, and no smoking.

Event Schedule:

12pm-Welcome by Edwina Lincoln, Tribal Elder/Cultural Advisor/Activist/Advocate

12:15-Seaside String Sisters Folk Americana from Mendocino County - guitars, fiddle, banjo, and mandolin

12:30-Boomdrums

12:50-Gwyneth Moreland & Morgan Daniel (of Foxglove)

1:00-Biochar workshop with Redwood Forest Foundation, Inc. (near the Propagation House)

1:00-Creative Banner making with Artist Janet Self - All ages welcome - (in the Shade House)

1:35-Mendocino Center for Circus Arts (CircusMecca). High-level circus acts featuring ten professional-level aerialists, eight instructors, and over 100 students.

2:05-2nd Hand Grass. Daniel Couldson, Sam Arintok, Brian Urban, Lee Rider, Morgan Daniel, (featuring) Gene Parsons

3:35-Mendocino Center for Circus Arts (CircusMecca)

Questions?

NoyoFoodForest@gmail.com

THE APRIL FULL MOON DRUM CIRCLE is happening at Pudding Creek Beach next week. It will be on Tuesday, April 23 beginning at about 4:30 PM.

Bring drums, shakers, bells, tambourines, washboards, pots and pans, etc.

Also, bring a friend and perhaps bring a chair.

It is FREE and everyone is welcome. Bienvenidos!

For more details, email to transitionmendocoast@gmail.com or call or text Sandy at 707 235-9080 

We sometimes have extra drums.

ON-LINE COMMENT

This Tuesday the Supervisors are going to vote on Dr. Theron Chan to be the Public Health Officer? Does anyone care that this is CEO Antle’s significant other? Doesn’t this smell of a conflict of interest? Most everyone has a conflict of interest and nepotism policy. I don’t think our amazing and put together county would be any different. I see Supervisor Maureen Mulheren is up to her kiss babies and shake hands proclamations. She seems to have the Dilbert syndrome, look busy and no one asks any questions. Mr. Teddy Williams, I can hear it now, shaking his fist and wagging his finger, I’ve been asking for this report for months and I can’t seem to get it. Well, Mr. Ted, you are the top of the food chain in the county, EVERYTHING starts and stops with the BOS. How about holding people accountable for once? That’s your job as a board, isn’t it? In your words, you are the stewards of the county. All I see and hear EVERY meeting is, it is someone else’s fault. If we are in such dire straits, how about having meetings weekly until this gets cleaned up? If I did my job once every two weeks, I would have been fired a long time ago. I know you can do better. You hold all your employees at a higher standard than you hold yourself. How about leading from the front instead of the rear?

MIKE TURNER MD (retired) responded:

Dr. Chan ranks with Hugh Curtis, Gene Lapkiss, and Sid Maurer as the most dedicated, selfless and competent physician Ukiah Valley has seen over the past forty years. $45,000 is a pittance.

Ed note: Sarah grew up in Philo, and is now in the big time with The New Yorker

POET LAUREATE OF TEN MILE RIVER PASSES ON

Greetings, 

I am writing to inform those of Bill's email contacts that he passed on April 9th, 2024 of cancer complications. Below is a link to his obituary from the Anderson Valley Advertiser and published on his website: theava.com/archives/242131#2

My sincere condolences to all in our loss. As his tech person I am tasked with maintaining https://billbradd.com which hopefully will stay up for the foreseeable future (5yrs). I am also tasked with posting to the site some works he designated to be posted over time and anything else I thought of interest found in his digital archive (written and spoken) now in my possession.

Feel free to reach out to me if you have questions or requests about his work and I will do my best to accommodate you. You may respond to this address or mine as I will check on this address periodically in case other of his friends contact through this address.

Humbly yours,

Jim Gibson (for Bill Bradd)

jgibson@mcn.org

AV WILDFLOWER SHOW COMING ON SATURDAY, APRIL 27, 2024

The Unity Club's Annual Wildflower Show is scheduled to open at 10 a.m. in June Hall on the 27th of April. The show will go from 10 to 4 on the 27th and 28th of April. Admission is FREE!

When you enter the Hall you will be greeted by friendly faces, surrounded by excellent Silent Auctions items donated by the membership and local artisans and merchants. To your left you will see plants for sale, including many pollinator-friendly host plants. To your right you will see the Tea Room, with beautiful photographs of Anderson Valley Wildflowers, and yummy snacks and beverages. Looking straight ahead you will see the stars of the show, our exceptional specimens of Northern California Wildflowers.

Anderson Valley has many different ecological environments surrounding it. The Coastal Mountains separate it from the inland valleys. The Sequoia Sempervirens (Coast Redwoods) march through the Valley, all the way to the Pacific Ocean, where the environment changes again. Throughout we have mixed forests and pasture land that host their own unique communities of plants. Thanks to the foresight of early conservationists and present day farmers and ranchers who set aside blocks of green belts, we have a most diverse selection of Wildflowers. Proceeds from the plant sales and silent auction go to support our many scholarships, youth development grants, support of many community agencies, the Lending Library, beautification, and public safety.

Plant Identification experts will be on your left, just past the plant sales. They will have magnifying glasses and resources to help you identify any plant you bring in. Plant ID classes have been ongoing for 5 weeks, now. On April 23rd the teams will go out into the various environments to begin the collection process. Meanwhile other members will be busy filling specimen bottles with water, and making up name cards for each plant collected. These are grouped by families, so you can see similarities and differences.

The AVHS students' Art Show will be featured. We will have information on Lyme Disease and the California Native Plants Society. I hope they have some of those big beautiful posters of shrubs and flowers.

Special Treat! The AV Lending Library will be open from 10 to 4 Saturday, April 27th, and they're holding their Spring Book Sale. For $5 you can fill a grocery bag full of books. Don't miss out on the Sale of the Year. Come to the Home Arts Building and snag a bag of books.

A.V. Unity Club's Wildflower Show 10 to 4 on April 27th and 28th, in June Hall, Fairgrounds. Free Admission. Bring your Granny and the babies to the Wildflower Show and Silent Auction. Winning bids will be announced both days before 4 p.m.

STOP EEL RIVER DIVERSIONS

Editor,

Regarding the two dams which are coming down on California's Eel River. Will it threaten water supplies? Of course, as described in an SF Chronicle article from March 30. It is true that Potter Valley must make adjustments if water is no longer diverted out of the Eel River watershed.

However, the Chronicle story didn't fully described the great damage that has been done to the Eel River, the fish, the indigenous tribes and small communities whose lives were upended and whose economy was depressed by the loss of a vibrant, healthy wild river.

The Eel River was the lifeblood of local tribes and provided economic opportunities for many.

When the colder headwaters were diverted, the vineyards and farms to the south prospered while the salmon lost their spawning grounds and the tribes and small communities lost a healthy river.

Diversion of water such as what happened on the Eel river should be stopped.

It is damaging to the ecology and to the lives of people who are robbed of their natural resources.

Sandra Mullen

Covelo

CHERRISSA JOHNSON: If you have an opportunity I highly recommend checking out the dragon burger from Lauren’s in Boonville. My husband had it last night and said it was so delicious! He added bacon to his. I ordered the same but substituted the beef for a turkey burger and no bacon….. It was amazing! They also have added buffalo wings to their menu and they are VERY spicy! I gave them to my neighbor because I couldn’t handle the heat.

HOW OTHERS SEE US

In Spite Of All The Damage

On hunger, boyfriends, hospitals and that New York Times article.

by Dronme

Five days ago I met a ghost.

My boyfriend and I were driving through Booneville, heading home from a long day of doctors appointments and furniture shopping. Booneville is less of a town and more a miniscule gathering of toppled storefronts and empty clearings that frequently host right-wing rallies and methy state fairs. Last summer fair they had to shut down three of the rides two days in because the employees tasked with operating the machines had overdosed under the bleachers the night prior. The candy-colored spinning bowls were fenced off with a collection of haphazardly stacked plastic chairs. The bleachers were still at full capacity, the bodies had been hauled away long before the benches filled with rodeo fans. I chewed a stale churro and watched a teenage boy in a cartoonishly oversized belt buckle get violently sloshed off a freckled gray horse. 

We passed the post office and the abandoned taco truck that’s been living in the neighboring parking lot for six months, collecting graffitied initials and losing tires. We passed the single-room church with its fractured slab of stained glass above the door, doing nothing to alleviate the building's already menacing aura. The rusted shopping cart and heap of crushed Budweiser cans piled beneath the splintered staircase placed the holy structure somewhere between a tailgate party and a scene from an apocalypse film. The faded decal on the side of the cart says that it once belonged to a cheap department store, normal enough except for the fact that the nearest mall is over two hours away. 

The settlement continued to shrink in our rearview mirror, I assumed, since our view outside the back window was entirely obstructed. The green velvet loveseat I insisted we transport home turned out to be slightly larger than expected. Eyeballing measurements has never been my strong suit, so Steed had to push his seat forward in a way that wasn’t ideal for his 6’5” frame. We pulled over a lot to stretch and smoke. Well, he smoked while I gazed longingly at the lit cigarette and cursed out my lungs for not keeping up their end of the bargain and allowing me this one self-destructive luxury...

[ED NOTE: From here the story is a long account of the writer's hospitalization]

dronme.substack.com/p/in-spite-of-all-the-damage

CATCH OF THE DAY, Friday, April 19, 2024

MONICA DEAN, Elk. DUI.

VANESSA ELIZABETH, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol, probation revocation. (Frequent flyer.)

WILLIAM GREEN, Ukiah. Controlled substance, false ID, failure to appear, probation revocation.

CHRISTOPHER KEYES, Ukiah. Public nuisance, failure to appear.

MATEO PACHECO JR., Ukiah. Failure to appear.

DAVID PONCE, Santa Rosa/Ukiah. Failure to appear.

BOBBY ROSTON, Ukiah. Controlled substance, concealed dirk-dagger, parole violation.

P&GE'S OVERPAID EXECUTIVES

Editor,

It boggles the mind why the public is not furious at the executive and stockholder compensation at Pacific Gas and Electric Co. Their rising executive pay arrives at a time of soaring customer bills and fast rising company profits.

I have written before to bemoan the way PG&E officials take advantage of their customers. Now I am writing with true disgust about the most recent news stating that CEO Patricia Poppe was "awarded" nearly $17 million from the fiscal year 2023 PG&E budget. This woman is rolling in money while we pitiful customers are paying for her, plus the high compensation for other executives. There are also dividends for stockholders which are way too high.

Boy, are we a bunch of chumps. We have no alternative unless we want to live by candlelight.

Sally Seymour

Larkspur

MEMO OF THE AIR: Good Night Radio show all night tonight!

Soft deadline to email your writing for tonight's (Friday night's) MOTA show is 6:30 or so. If you can't make that, that's okay, send it whenever it's done and I'll read it on the radio next week.

Memo of the Air: Good Night Radio is every Friday, 9pm to 5am PST on 107.7fm KNYO-LP Fort Bragg and KNYO.org. The first hour of the show is simulcast on KAKX 89.3fm Mendocino. I've been having some problems with the computer I use to stream the show to the transmitter when I'm doing it from Juanita's place, and I left my emergency spare streaming computer in Albion, so I have to use this one again as-is and trust it. 

Every once in awhile during the show, maybe an hour or two apart, my voice will cut out and be replaced by the radio station's fall-back automation, a part of some random music that would be playing if I weren't on the air. I'll notice something's gone wrong on my screen, reset things, and I'll be back in a moment, apologize to the writer of whatever story I was in the middle of, and carry on from there. The recording of the show is made on my end, so that will be seamless.

Speaking of which, you can always go to https://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com and hear last week's MOTA show. By Saturday night I'll put up the recording of tonight's show. Also there you'll find an assortment of educational amusements to occupy you until showtime, or any time, such as:

Galactic South Seas real estate. Another plausible explanation for the Fermi paradox. https://laughingsquid.com/aliens-oceania-temporary-terraform

Ways to use ChatGPT for your music. https://blog.discmakers.com/2023/06/ways-to-use-chatgpt-for-music

And Hot Chocolate - You Sexy Thing (1976). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3fX2_bxEkg

Marco McClean, memo@mcn.org, www.MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com

A DAY IN THE LIFE

Awoke at noon, and following morning ablutions, went outside of the Building Bridges Homeless Resource Center and picked up all of the litter. Proceeding to the trash & recycling containment area, tidied that up, separating all of the trash and recycling into the appropriate containers, and left it suitable to get through the weekend. Proceeded to the Ukiah Co-op for a nosh and revivifying kombucha beverage. Later, MTA bussed to School Street, briefly visiting the Mendocino Book Company before heading to the Ukiah Public Library. Here now on computer #5, not identifying with the body nor the mind, but with ParaBrahman or the fourth dimension. I am available for just about anything worthwhile on the planet earth. I actually could be doing something of value in postmodern America, if you see what I mean.

— Craig Louis Stehr

Addendum: Returned to Building Bridges Homeless Resource Center at 8PM after a brief stop at Safeway.  Discovered that the insane asshole had dumped a half waste basket of trash on the bed.  The staff took note and have shared the information with supervisorial employees.  Then, all of the bedding was laundered.  Have remade the bed and will take rest now.  We hope that the perpetrator stops doing this; so far there is no positive identification. We are not for now, contacting law enforcement.

Eat at a local restaurant tonight. Get the cream sauce. Have a cold pint at 4 o’clock in a mostly empty bar. Go somewhere you’ve never been. Listen to someone you think may have nothing in common with you. Order the steak rare. Eat an oyster. Have a negroni. Have two. Be open to a world where you may not understand or agree with the person next to you, but have a drink with them anyways. Eat slowly. Tip your server. Check in on your friends. Check in on yourself. Enjoy the ride.

— Anthony Bourdain

THE SPORTS FAN'S TAKE ON THE TRUMP TRIALS

by Matt Taibbi

There’s no worse feeling in media than being the next guest after Stephen A. Smith. Whatever you have to say, you’ll say it worse. Right, wrong, whatever, the man was born to be on television. The upside is listening to his segments. Last night, while waiting to talk about NPR, I listened as Chris Cuomo told a story about an unnamed hip-hop artist complaining that it took a rich white man like Trump being abused, for people to see the “maladministration of justice” black people have always known. What did his guest, Stephen A. Smith, think?

Stephen A. Smith: No question, that hip hop artist who called you, he’s right on the money. Here’s the sad part. It gives credence to the argument Trump made during a speech weeks ago where he talked about black folks relating to him... Now, what the hell would black folks have in common with a guy that was born on third base thinking he hit a home run? Born with the proverbial spoon in his mouth? It’s the legal system/ I can say this because 95% of the time I voted Democrat. I’m looking at a Democratic party that looks at the black community that says, “We are there for you. We are there for you.”

But when it’s time to vote, you want to talk to black people about what you’re doing for them. and how you are on our side. But this man right here, who’s the presumptive GOP nominee, is in a position to literally get back into the White House because what you’re doing to him, we find fairly relatable to things that have been done to folks in our community, and it’s happened for decades. There’s no escaping that fact and Trump pointing it out, and being accurate in doing so, is perhaps the height of embarrassment for the Democratic party, in my estimation.

This exchange was preceded by a classic Stephen A-ism:

When you got four indictments and 91 counts and two impeachments and civil suits in excess of $454 million, but he still keeps marching forward, marching forward, gaining momentum. The only way to get him is to beat him, and they don’t seem to be able to do that either. And I’m quite disgusted by it, to be quite honest with you.

If you watch ESPN you’ve heard that speech a hundred times: “You got Karl-Anthony Towns and the Stifle Tower Rudy Gobert and the high-flying new face of the league in Anthony Edwards and Naz Reid and Slo-Mo Anderson and all those boys, and you can’t even beat the eighth seed in your conference one time in the regular season — one damn time, J.J. Redick! — frankly, I find that disgusting.”

The Trump rant was no sports take, nor particularly novel, as Stephen A’s been branching into politics and appearing as a guest on Fox News, which can’t get enough of him for obvious reasons. The hit pieces haven’t come yet, but if he keeps this up, they will, and we can guess what form they’ll take. It’ll be ugly. But any Democrat watching should immediately recognize the red flag Stephen A. is raising, and I don’t mean the one that has to do with race.…

racket.news/p/the-sports-fans-take-on-the-trump

BATSHIT CRAZY AMERICANS

by James Kunstler

“Look at what all these white patriarchs built. Without pay. In their spare time. Anonymously” — Jordan Peterson on “X”

Before the saints come marching in, the human archetypes strut down the avenue in their revealing regalia. Do you know why the archetypal batshit crazy women of the Democratic Party adore “Joe Biden?” I’ll tell you: because he represents perfectly and exactly the “patriarchy” they revile in his floridly comic senescence. “Joe Biden” is the patriarchy disabled, feeble, feckless, impotent, and reduced to inanity. He would be pitiful if the patriarchy itself were not so contemptible. This is exactly how the batshit crazy women want it to look.

Do you wonder why “progressive” (i.e. batshit crazy) elite class women seem so unperturbed about the conspicuous number of rapes committed by “newcomers,” as they style illegal border-jumpers these days, who are by an overwhelming percentage “military-age men”? Because, having functionally transformed the ranks of American men into eunuchs, they relish the arrival of so many wild and lustful fellows on the scene, as long as — post the imagined bodice-ripping exploits — they can be dominated and domesticated and turned into so many swimming pool cleaners and busboys to be ordered around.

Of course, much of that archetypal psychodrama is only played out in the batshit crazy mind of batshit crazy women; for the sake of decorum it is never acted-out. The lurid, shameful fantasies are instead displaced onto Donald Trump, the archetypal “Big Daddy” who so insolently evaded the castration shears of Hillary Clinton — with the help of Russian arch-rapist “Putin” — and keeps on coming at the batshit-crazy women like Jason Voorhees, the psycho-killer in the Friday the 13th horror series (Qu’est-ce que c’est, ladies?)

Proof of Mr. Trump’s rapey-ness has been finally and formally declared in the E. Jean Carroll defamation trial. It’s certified, you see, though the trial itself was a joke of performative pretense. All you really need is a cast of characters, including the judge, Lewis Kaplan, who are sufficiently deranged and degenerate to carry out the performance.

New York State Attorney General Letitia James was up next to attempt the financial castration of Mr. Trump with an artfully concocted civil case that magically transformed a normal real estate transaction into a victimless fraud (say, what?), prompting the Rumpelstiltskin-like Judge Arthur Engoron to declare an unprecedented cash penalty of $354-million, designed to enable the confiscation and forced sale of Mr. Trump’s buildings.

That hasn’t quite worked yet, and may never work, given how appeals courts up to SCOTUS might view the malicious prosecution based on Ms. James’s repeated campaign promise to. . . pin something on Trump. Batshit crazy “progressives” have managed to not notice how inconsistent with American legal precedent this case was — because they held all the levers of power in New York State: governorship, legislature, and AG’s office, and their power to do whatever they liked was all that mattered.

For the moment Judge Juan Merchan presides over Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s fake case of 34 clerical misdemeanors (past the statute of limitations on them), repurposed as felonies committed for the intention of breaking some federal election law (unspecified). Last time I checked, county courts have no jurisdiction over federal law, most particularly unspecified federal law, which is to say no law at all. The question nobody has asked or answered is: what is the flaw in our system of jurisprudence that allows such an insane and preposterous case to play out so harmfully? I can only suppose that this is what happens when ethics and moral codes are brutally excised from the larger culture that law is but one part of.

It is the way of Homo sapiens that moral codes derive generally from the supervision of fathers in the upbringing of human young and, later on, as children develop into adults, these codes are archetypally re-enacted and enforced by men in the greater social matrix. Why? Because it requires a strong sense of boundaries. Boundaries are the essence of the “patriarchy.” Remove men from the scene, or castrate them politically, and you are sure to end up with a problem knowing right from wrong. We’re apparently subject now to the misrule of women with boundary problems who, for one reason or another, rebelled against Daddy and never got over it. It’s a peculiar irony — so far unexplicated by the hierophants of social theory — that the more affluent and successful Daddy was, the more he was hated for it by his female offspring.

The result of all that is the Democratic Party of our time as run by the batshit crazy women, fearful of sex and its consequence (babies), paradoxically subject to biological promptings and unable to find suitable mates among the men they’ve turned into eunuchs of one sort or another; resentful of the dull managerial jobs that have replaced the anathematized “jobs” of motherhood; filled with rage and revenge fantasies which, because of their boundary problems, have now extended to willing the destruction of our country. It’s an uninviting view of what’s happened to us, but there it is, like so much meat on the table.

CAITLIN JOHNSTONE:

The US doesn't support a two-state solution, the US only supports SAYING the US supports a two-state solution. We know this because the US just vetoed Palestine's bid to become a full UN member state, after lobbying other countries to vote against the resolution, despite continually saying it supports the foundation of a Palestinian state. Washington's words say one thing, but its actions say the opposite.

This is because if the US admitted its actual position, it would greatly damage its reputation on the world stage. What the US actually wants is the same thing the Israelis want: for the Palestinians to go away, or lie down and submit completely, or otherwise stop being an inconvenience until they're a forgotten footnote in the dustbin of history. But the US can't come right out and say this, so it pretends to support a two-state solution that Israel has spent years doing everything it can to ensure never happens. It's a completely fictional resolution to a very real problem, but the alternative to supporting it is to admit you support continued apartheid, oppression, ethnic cleansing and genocide.

So the US maintains this ridiculous charade where it keeps pretending to support this fake non-solution, even while taking concrete actions which make it clear that it does not. Immediately after vetoing the Palestinian bid for UN membership, Deputy US Ambassador to the UN Robert Wood declared, "The United States continues to strongly support a two-state solution. This vote does not reflect opposition to Palestinian statehood," saying the emergence of a Palestinian state can only come about through direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. We can see right now how things are going on that front.

As always, the only way to understand the US-centralized global power structure is to ignore what its officials say and watch what they actually do instead. This is good advice for understanding geopolitics and government dynamics in general, and it's good advice for sorting out fact from fiction when dealing with any manipulator in your personal life. Ignore their words, and watch their actions.

CAMILLE PAGLIA: 

If men are obsolete, then women will soon be extinct — unless we rush down that ominous Brave New World path where women clone themselves by parthenogenesis, as famously do Komodo dragons, hammerhead sharks and pit vipers.

A peevish, grudging rancor against men has been one of the most unpalatable and unjust features of second- and third-wave feminism. Men’s faults, failings and foibles have been seized on and magnified into gruesome bills of indictment. Ideologue professors at our leading universities indoctrinate impressionable undergraduates with carelessly fact-free theories alleging that gender is an arbitrary, oppressive fiction with no basis in biology.

Is it any wonder that so many high-achieving young women, despite all the happy talk about their academic success, find themselves in the early stages of their careers in chronic uncertainty or anxiety about their prospects for an emotionally fulfilled private life? When an educated culture routinely denigrates masculinity and manhood, then women will be perpetually stuck with boys, who have no incentive to mature or to honor their commitments. And without strong men as models to either embrace or (for dissident lesbians) to resist, women will never attain a centered and profound sense of themselves as women.

From my long observation, which predates the sexual revolution, this remains a serious problem afflicting Anglo-American society, with its Puritan residue. In France, Italy, Spain, Latin America and Brazil, in contrast, many ambitious professional women seem to have found a formula for asserting power and authority in the workplace while still projecting sexual allure and even glamour. This is the true feminine mystique, which cannot be taught but flows from an instinctive recognition of sexual differences. In today’s punitive atmosphere of sentimental propaganda about gender, the sexual imagination has understandably fled into the alternate world of online pornography, where the rude but exhilarating forces of primitive nature rollick unconstrained by religious or feminist moralism.

It was always the proper mission of feminism to attack and reconstruct the ossified social practices that had led to wide-ranging discrimination against women. But surely it was and is possible for a progressive reform movement to achieve that without stereotyping, belittling or demonizing men. History must be seen clearly and fairly: obstructive traditions arose not from men’s hatred or enslavement of women but from the natural division of labor that had developed over thousands of years during the agrarian period and that once immensely benefited and protected women, permitting them to remain at the hearth to care for helpless infants and children. Over the past century, it was labor-saving appliances, invented by men and spread by capitalism, that liberated women from daily drudgery.

What is troubling in too many books and articles by feminist journalists in the U.S. is, despite their putative leftism, an implicit privileging of bourgeois values and culture. The particular focused, clerical and managerial skills of the upper-middle-class elite are presented as the highest desideratum, the ultimate evolutionary point of humanity. Yes, there has been a gradual transition from an industrial to a service-sector economy in which women, who generally prefer a safe, clean, quiet work environment thrive.

But the triumphalism among some — like Hanna Rosin in her book, The End of Men, about women’s gains — seems startlingly premature. For instance, Rosin says of the sagging fortunes of today’s working-class couples that they and we had “reached the end of a hundred thousand years of human history and the beginning of a new era, and there was no going back.” This sweeping appeal to history somehow overlooks history’s far darker lessons about the cyclic rise and fall of civilizations, which as they become more complex and interconnected also become more vulnerable to collapse. The earth is littered with the ruins of empires that believed they were eternal.

After the next inevitable apocalypse, men will be desperately needed again! Oh, sure, there will be the odd gun-toting Amazonian survivalist gal, who can rustle game out of the bush and feed her flock, but most women and children will be expecting men to scrounge for food and water and to defend the home turf. Indeed, men are absolutely indispensable right now, invisible as it is to most feminists, who seem blind to the infrastructure that makes their own work lives possible. It is overwhelmingly men who do the dirty, dangerous work of building roads, pouring concrete, laying bricks, tarring roofs, hanging electric wires, excavating natural gas and sewage lines, cutting and clearing trees, and bulldozing the landscape for housing developments. It is men who heft and weld the giant steel beams that frame our office buildings, and it is men who do the hair-raising work of insetting and sealing the finely tempered plate-glass windows of skyscrapers 50 stories tall.

Every day along the Delaware River in Philadelphia, one can watch the passage of vast oil tankers and towering cargo ships arriving from all over the world. These stately colossi are loaded, steered and off-loaded by men. The modern economy, with its vast production and distribution network, is a male epic, in which women have found a productive role — but women were not its author. Surely, modern women are strong enough now to give credit where credit is due!