Mendocino County Today: Thursday 5/2/24

Spring Weather | Lamb Time | Firetruck Restoration | Rainfall Totals | Petunias | AVUSD News | Speedboating | May Suggestions | Strawberries | Listserv Project | Homebody | Firesafe Grants | Grounded | Budget Tracking | Amish Rage | Beer Fest | FFA Benefit | HREC Fundraiser | Park Concerts | SF Demonstration | Not Complicit | Student Solidarity | Workers Unite | Ed Notes | Yesterday's Catch | Woodstock Vendor | Online Transition | Simple Explanation | Swami Blessing | Workers March | What Piazzolla | Rich/Poor | Incarcerated Pandas | Psycho/Rapist | New Pledge | Hated Brunch | Butterfly Effect | Appalachia Melungeons | Hot Fires | Smoke Signals | SF Sea Lions | Derby UK

A FRONTAL SYSTEM will bring light rain to Del Norte and northern Humboldt Counties today. Otherwise, dry weather with gusty northwest winds are expected for Mendocino, Lake and eastern Trinity Counties. A colder storm with greater moisture will generate moderate to heavy rain Friday night through Saturday morning. Drastically colder temperatures and light snow are expected for the mountains above 3500 feet on Saturday. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): A foggy 50F this Thursday morning on the coast. Our forecast calls for some wind today but not like the past few days. Morning fog then clearing today & tomorrow then rain this weekend, maybe an inch? Some scattered sprinkles are in the forecast for next week, we'll see.

FROST PARANOIA AND HEEDLESSNESS leads to another spring of audio assaults on Anderson Valley. 

For the last few mornings, the window rattling wind fans of the local wine grape growers have again come on around midnight and continued into the daylight hours, disturbing the sleep of the entire valley because many grape growers turn on their noise machines when it isn’t even close to 32 degrees in mortal fear of a little bud damage. The level of disturbance varies depending on how close you are to the machines and what kind of machine is used. (Three bladed fans are not as rumbling as the standard old-fashioned two-bladed machines that most grape growers use.) But everyone is affected. The old time Italian grape growers grew their grapes in the hills where the temps don’t get as low, and when it did they simply pruned off the damage and accepted the product as it was. Not now. Today’s grape growers plant their grapes in the coldest areas of the Valley thinking they produce tastier grapes. Not only must every single grape be coddled like a newborn baby, but the infernal machines must be turned on when there’s nothing but a nip in the air. And who cares what they do to the public at large? As Ted Bennett famously said when the wind-fans were first installed, “My grapes are more important than your sleep.” The County of Mendocino could at least do what the industry itself said was being done at the time (but wasn’t) by requiring permits for wind fans that address “noise, placement and need.” But Official Mendo is joined at the hip with the wine industry so they would never bring that up, much less enforce their own noise restrictions. We sued the County and our neighboring nuisances back in 2015. At the one and only court hearing we had, Judge Henderson opened the hearing by announcing that he assumed that most of the audience was on hand because they were bothered by the noise. Then-Supervisor and wine industry representative Carre Brown was in the courtroom with several dozen members of her wine mob and they all shouted “NOOOOOOOOO” in unison like cows in heat in response. (Mark Scaramella)

MONTHLY RAINFALL TOTALS for the 2023-24 rain season (Oct-Sep):

Boonville (45.52" total)

2023
0.76" Oct
3.28" Nov
10.02" Dec

2024
10.50" Jan
11.41" Feb
8.08" Mar
1.47" Apr

Yorkville (55.64" total)

2023
1.32" Oct
4.84" Nov
12.48" Dec

2024
13.32" Jan
12.80" Feb
9.20" Mar
1.68" Apr

AVUSD NEWS

Congratulations to our students of the month!  Well done!

Mariluna Ramirez
Dulce Moreno-Lua
Josiah Padilla
Touya Schroder
Aster Arbanovella
Marcos Estrada
Leidy Lopez
Daniela Martinez
Alex Manzo
Alexis Valencia
Jaqueline Huerta
Jaime Benavides
Jareth Guzman
Alan Mendoza Espinoza
Cesar Benitez
Emilia Bennett
Link McDonald
Allen Ford
Saul Mejia

---

THERE IS A COMMUNITY NALOXONE TRAINING at the elementary school on Tuesday, May 14 at 4:00 p.m.  This is in partnership with Public Health and is open to the public. This training will prepare you to support someone in the event of a Fentanyl overdose.  Please join us! 

— Louise Simson, Superintendent, 707-684-1017

THE LOVELY MONTH OF MAY

May feels like the month where the year shifts into a higher gear. The sun shows up a little earlier and sticks around later, increasing the day’s productivity potential. There’s garden prepping to do and thistle removal, not to mention making a legitimately earned fuss over your mom and gearing up for impending graduations. 

It helps to balance out all the work with some play. Maybe you need restorative experiences, like looking at art, attending a self-care day, or walking through an amazing botanical garden. Or perhaps you want something more vigorous, like a 5k footrace or a 75 mile bike ride from Ukiah toward the coast and back. Or maybe you just want to take a break and savor some of the lovely things Mendocino County has to eat and imbibe. May offers all of these opportunities and more! Don’t let it pass by without enjoying at least a few.

See you out there ~

Torrey, Holly, Dawn, & Lisa

Word of Mouth Magazine

COAST CHAT LINE NEWS

Dear Announce and Discussion list members,

We want to inform you that starting in early May 2024, the Announce and Discussion list will be administered by the Mendocino Listserv Project (MLP). This decision was made by the Mendocino Unified School District (MUSD) board meeting held on February 15, 2024.

As part of this transition, both the administration and moderation of the announce and discussion lists will be turned over to the MLP. They will operate under their own Acceptable Use Policy (AUP).

Please take a moment to read and agree to the new AUP by googling: Mendocino Listserv Project AUP.

If you find that the terms of this AUP are not acceptable to you, you have the option to unsubscribe from the list(s). Simply send an email from the address you used to sign up to the following addresses:

For the Announce list: anounce-leave@lists.mcn.org

For the Discussion list: discuss-leave@lists.mcn.org

Do not forget to reply to the email you get back to confirm or the un-subscribe process will not complete. If you do not see the email please check your spam folder.

As always, our friendly MCN staff is here to assist you if you get stuck. Feel free to reach out via phone or email: 707-937-1444, (800)-796-3896, support@mcn.org

Or, as always, contact me directly: manager@mcn.org

Thank you.

Rob Buch

MCN Business Manager

Mendocino Community Network

* * *

Greetings Announce and Discussion List Members,

With thanks to MCN for helping us in this transition, MLP is happy to announce that we will be moderating these two lists starting May 7, 2024. By continuing to use the Lists after this date, you agree to follow the terms in the new Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) at https://mcn.org/support/Listserv/atos

Thank you for responding to the survey to help us create this document. It contains our shared rules for productive community Listserv use going forward. It describes how to flag content for moderation and the mirror of it at http://mlist.org contains a supplemental link to a running record of any moderation actions taken. We hope that none will be needed.

Everyone gets a clean slate when we start. If you are concerned that you will be unable to communicate without harassing one or more fellow list members, you may choose to leave the Lists at this time. Here is how: From the email address you used to sign up, send an email to each list:

For the Announce list: anounce-leave@lists.mcn.org

For the Discussion list: discuss-leave@lists.mcn.org

Then check your incoming email and reply to each confirmation request that you receive. Check your junk mail or spam folder if you do not get it.

Getting this far has been an interesting, educational and supportive group experience. We look forward to serving and building our vital local community. If you would like to join us in service as a moderator, or in some other capacity, please reply to this message.

The Mendocino Listserv Project (MLP)

mlp@mcn.org / modrequest@proton.me

MENDOCINO COUNTY FIRE PREVENTION PROJECTS FUNDED

Mendocino County Fire Safe Council Empowers Local Fire Safety Projects With Micro-Grant Awards

The Mendocino County Fire Safe Council (MCFSC) is pleased to announce the recipients of this year's Micro-Grant awards. Seventeen deserving local Fire Departments and affiliated Neighborhood Fire Safe Councils have been selected to spearhead vital fire-safety projects in their respective communities.

Local organizing and action are cornerstones of identifying and mitigating hazards that threaten our neighborhoods. Micro-Grant funding gives communities momentum for pivotal projects, transforming apprehension into preparedness and action. Recognizing this significance, the PG&E Corporation Foundation has generously contributed $50,000 funding, nearly doubling the resources available for MCFSC’s 2024 grants.

Ranging from $4,500 to $10,000, these Micro-Grants will make a tangible impact throughout the county. This year, a total of $130,622 (significantly more than last year, thanks to PG&E’s continued support and Measure P funding) has been allocated to implement the 17 selected projects, which include:

1. Albion Little River Fire Safe Council (FSC) will hire help to organize residents into neighborhood groups to enhance wildfire preparedness and response.
2. Brooktrails Township Community Service District will acquire a portable, collapsible water tank and associated equipment for wildfire incidents. 
3. Comptche Preparedness FSC will establish a Neighborhood Captains Emergency Radio Network for community-wide communication. 
4. Covelo Fire Protection District (FPD) will procure a water bladder and equipment to increase the capacity and functionality of their water tender. 
5. Fox Rock and Woodman Creek FSC will complete fuel-reduction projects and roadside work to improve emergency access and open up alternative evacuation routes. 
6. Hopland FPD will purchase two water tanks to place on McNab Ranch, to drastically reduce response time when its trucks need refilling.
7. Long Valley FPD will continue implementing its Defensible Space Program to provide free defensible-space assessments and education to residents. 
8. Mariposa Neighborhood FSC will host a queer chainsaw workshop to train county residents on reducing fuel loads near their homes. 
9. Navarro Area FSC will add to their Fire Hydrant Project, trenching and installing pipes and hydrants for the community as well as necessary signage. 
10. Piercy FPD will install potable gravity-fed spring water to their Emergency Shelter. 
11. Redwood Valley-Calpella Fire Department will educate the public using One Less Spark literature as well as distributing McLeod and other fire-suppression tools to class attendees. 
12. South Coast FPD will purchase equipment to support planned prescribed-burn projects.
13. Spy Rock Ready FSC will purchase used water tanks to increase firefighter capacity in rugged terrain without needing to travel long distances for water. 
14. Vista Del Lago FSC will purchase used water tanks and place them on strategically located properties with easy access for fire trucks. 
15. Westport FSC will focus on roadside fuel reduction and native plant vegetation management to encourage long-term fire resiliency. 
16. Whale Gulch FSC/ Volunteer Fire Department will hire a coordinator to work on qualifying as Firewise, apply for various grants, buy bulk reflective address signs, and coordinate community projects. 
17. Yorkville FSC will focus on fuel reduction on Pomo Tierra Road to improve safety on a one-way, one-way out road. 

Most Micro-Grant proposals include local in-kind contributions in the form of volunteer hours, donations, or supplies, amplifying the impact through collaborative efforts. The evaluation process favored projects that demonstrated matching contributions, partnerships, and thorough planning.

The Mendocino County Fire Safe Council will continue to support groups whose proposals were not funded, offering assistance to strengthen their future applications or explore alternative avenues for achieving their objectives. All motivated local organizers are encouraged to reach out and inquire about projects needing additional support or funding.

If your neighborhood was not prepared to participate in this round of funding, now is a good time to start planning for future projects and ideas! MCFSC is committed to helping neighborhoods throughout Mendocino County to become as prepared for wildfire as possible.

Learn how to join or organize a Fire Safe Council in your area by visiting the MCFSC website at https://firesafemendocino.org/ and look in the “Prepare Your Neighborhood” menu tab. Or, if you become an MCFSC member (using the “Join Us” tab), you will receive important updates, alerts and information in MCFSC’s monthly email newsletters, as well as contractor discounts and other benefits. 

Funding for MCFSC’s 2024 Micro-Grant Program was supplied in parts by a grant from PG&E Corporation Foundation funds and from Mendocino County Measure P and other Mendocino County Fire Safe Council funds.

For information on Micro-Grant funding parameters, visit https://firesafemendocino.org/2024-micro-grant/, or contact the Mendocino County Fire Safe Council at king@firesafemendocino.org. 

IS BUDGET TRACKING TOO MUCH WORK FOR MENDO? An exchange…

NORM THURSTON:

Reporting budget vs. actual revenues for a particular month (or for year-to-date periods) can be misleading. As noted, revenues are often not received evenly throughout the year. Budgets for revenues are developed on an annual basis, but budgets for a given month simply use one-twelfth of the annual amount. For example, the property tax revenue for the month of July will show a budgeted amount equaling one-twelfth of the annual budget, while actual collections will equal only a small fraction of that amount. The budget vs. actual projection is not useful, because it may mislead some to think property tax collections are tanking. It is possible to develop realistic budget projections for each month of the year, but that would require considerable additional work, and the County simply does not have enough accountants to perform that work. It is far more efficient to use budget projections that estimate the total revenue that will be received or accrued by the end of the year based on the most recent information, and compare that amount to the annual budgeted amount. In this way, you can inform interested parties of changes in anticipated revenues that became known after the adoption of the annual budget. Explanation of significant changes from original estimates should be provided (e.g. changes in economic conditions, addition of new revenues or cuts to existing revenues, and other unexpected differences).

There are also expenses for which these timing differences exist, and the benefit of using updated projections applies to those, as well.

MARK SCARAMELLA:

It’s disappointing to read Norm Thurston say that reporting actual revenue to budgeted revenue is “misleading.” 

The County knows when to expect revenue and they should be tracking it based on when it’s expected, not month over month. If it’s late, that should be followed up on and explained and corrective action taken if applicable. Same if it’s below projections. Revenue is not and should not be projected based on monthly averages because that would indeed be misleading. It should be budgeted and tracked based on when it’s due.

On the expense side, actual expenses should be tracked monthly (because most of the expenses are for staffing which is very predictable). And in that case variations should be explained whenever they differ from budget by a significant amount. 

I’m pretty sure the departments already do monthly expense tracking as is. The Auditor-Controller should be doing revenue budgeting, tracking and reporting. 

At mid-year there should be a budget adjustment with explanations and spending plans should be adjusted by department as needed.

Mendo also needs to track the various major special funds on at least a quarterly basis: Teeter Plan, Road Fund, Mental Health, Cannabis, and any other funds where Mendo has to pay out first and then request reimbursement later. Major projects should have their own budgets and tracking as well. The PHF and the Jail Expansion, for example. 

Mendo should not need “additional accountants,” they need to do ordinary budgeting and reporting like every other government organization does. 

THURSTON: 

I don’t think we’re that far apart on the goal: accurate and timely budget analyses. If you move to looking at each month as its own sub-budget that reflects the timing of revenues and expenditures, it will create a tremendous amount of additional work. It’s hard to find the personnel that are skilled in that work, and even if you find them the extra cost will be an issue. It’s a question every entity wrestles with: at what point does the cost of producing complete and timely information outweigh the benefits derived? During my time with the County, that threshold was pretty low. But if that has changed, I will be among those in support of hiring more accountants. And not just in the ACTTC Office, but in other departments where is a significant amount of budgeting and other fiscal work. My comments on budgeting reflect the actual practice I used in submitting quarterly budget reports which were compiled by the CEO and presented to the Board. I started with the actual revenues and expenditures as of the last day of the quarter, then computed the anticipated amounts for the remainder of the year based on the most current information. Those two amounts were added together to project the year-end totals, and that total was compared to the annual budget. Material variances were analyzed, and explained. So, basically, I was addressing your areas of concern following the first 3 fiscal quarters in comprehensive way, and at times that allowed for adjustments to be made, using a process that was much more efficient than your proposal. If I had to provide the same information every month without additional help, well I would not have stayed long. And no system will work well if you don’t have personnel that understand budgeting and accounting, and who do not have a very good understanding of their department’s major revenues and expenditures. And finally I will say that I think your proposal would significantly increase the workload for departmental fiscal personnel, and I can tell you that most of those folks already have a full plate. Significant increases in workloads on an ongoing basis should not be done without consideration for the possible need of additional staffing. What if the AVA were to go from a weekly print edition, to a schedule of producing a daily paper, without additional personnel and resources? (Yes, I know the print edition is ending.)

SCARAMELLA:

I find it hard to believe that Mendo doesn’t know when its general fund revenues are expected to come in and whether they do, nor that it would take “a tremendous amount of work” to see that it does. There are three main sources of those revenues: property taxes, sales taxes, and bed taxes. History should say what revenues should come in when. Keeping tabs on quarterly totals is straightforward. Not to mention that it’s important to know if you are getting the revenues that you’re supposed to get. As far as departments keeping track of their expenditures: Let’s start with what they’re doing now (Ms. Antle says they keep their own spreadsheets) and work from there. The “too much work” excuse doesn’t fly. If you aren’t keeping track of your budgeted revenues and expenses why budget at all? You seem to be saying that Mendo has to fly blind because they don’t have anybody to clean the windshield.

PS. Need I remind you that CEO Angelo produced a budget to actual expense budget report once a couple of years ago proving they can do it, but then quit doing it because a few ordinary questions were asked? She didn’t say it would be too much work then. Of course they can.

THURSTON:

The quarterly projections required a deep dive and reporting out to the Board and public through the CEO in Oct, Jan, and April. Going through that process 11 times instead of 3 takes a lot more time. It is repetition that takes time and is not necessary. I can’t speak for others, but I was responsible for a lot more than just the budget.

SCARAMELLA:

I’ll settle for quarterly. Thanks for the exchange.

THURSTON: Ditto.

* * *

“LAZARUS” of Willits:

A Budget…Ha!!!

At this point, what difference does it make? When the United States creates nearly a Trillion dollars of debt every hundred days (CNBC Mar 1, 2024), how long does the Republic have?

Mental health has failed, homelessness is uncontrollable, the county roads are crumbling, the weed has completely tanked for the small licensed growers, and the County BOS Chair is line dancing. What a County!

The wages are low, and the prices are high.

The money loans for 7 to 8 percent, which makes owning a home impossible for most.

Just another day at the office for the BOS, CEO, and their likes.

They’ll drink from the trough until it’s gone. And if you think the State or Federal Government will be here to save you, think again.

BOONVILLE BEER FEST INSIDER INFO

Lodging, food, tips, and more. Are you ready?

The legendary Boonville Beer fest: May 4, 2024

Red Leader, standing by.

The Legendary Boonville Beer Festival is just a few short days away! Ready to start planning? All sorts of helpful info can be found on the BBF homepage (not on your old R2 unit, though). See the brewery list, festival map and more at avbc.com.

Music & Vendors

We’ve got a killer line-up of live musical acts, food vendors, and wares vendors. Here’s a quick guide to the bands:

Grass Stage:

Hella Mendocino : 1:30 — 3:00

The Deadlies : 3:30 — 5:00

Main Stage:

Buckridge Racket Club : 2:00 — 3:30

Blue Luke : 4:00 — 5:30

Where to stay

Don’t cut open your Tauntaun if you need a place to sleep! There are great local options for camping, such as the Mendocino County Fairgrounds and Hendy Woods State Park

Or, find a hotel or B&B on the Visit Mendocino site: visitmendocino.com.

https://avbc.com/boonville-beer-fest

CELEBRATE SCIENCE AND NATURE AT THE UC HOPLAND RESEARCH AND EXTENSION CENTER FUNDRAISER MAY 19

Wildflowers are still blooming across the rolling hills of the 5,358-acre UC Hopland Research and Extension Center (HREC), a perfect time to celebrate all the learning that takes place across this beautiful landscape. Celebrate Science and Nature, the annual fundraiser for HREC, will build scholarship funds for all programs for youth and adults at the Center.

On Sunday, May 19, members of the public are invited to join scientists and staff for field tours, a farm-to-table luncheon from Black Dog Catering and a live auction of unique experiences. The event offers the community a chance to learn about the research being conducted, support HREC’s programs and enjoy the best in local produce. 

“From 10 a.m. to noon, there will be optional field tours of some of our key research and education projects, where visitors can meet the scientists, see what tools they use and what they are learning about our environment, followed by a delicious lunch and a chance to meet our Hopland Scholars Fund recipients” said Hannah Bird, Community Educator at HREC.

Participants can choose from eight field experiences, including drones for research, oak woodland regeneration, a research safari, a visit with the sheep, museum tour, and hiking with the Blue Zones walking moai. A three-course lunch runs from 12 to 3 p.m. and includes presentations from a variety of researchers and educators about the work happening at HREC now and into the future.

“Since we created the Hopland Scholars Fund, we’ve been able to welcome so many more students, researchers, and community members to the site,” said John Bailey, HREC Director. “The fund supports access to educational programs from our school field trips to adult programs like the California Naturalist program”.

“Hopland Scholars also supports scientific scholars in their quest to understand, interpret and learn from our natural world,” Bailey said. “Both discovery and education are necessary to form valuable and impactful programs.”

Auction items are unique experiences including a catered picnic lunch at one of the most beautiful areas of the site with an accompanying tour, a stay at a Lake Tahoe vacation home and a guided Mendocino wine tasting with a winemaker.

“We welcome everyone to celebrate science and nature with us on May 19th and to help build our funds to support scholars of all ages,” Bailey said.

Tickets cost $80 for adults and $25 for children. Register online by visiting the HREC website https://bit.ly/celebratehrec24 or by calling Hannah Bird at (707) 744-1424, Ext. 1642. The registration deadline is May 12. The event will be held at the Rod Shippey Hall, 4070 University Road, Hopland. 

HUNDREDS OF PROTESTERS SHUT DOWN S.F. STREETS IN ROVING MAY DAY GAZA DEMONSTRATION

by Nora Mishanec, Erin Allday & Rachel Swan

Hundreds of May Day protesters marched through San Francisco city streets and dozens more rallied outside a closed Port of Oakland Wednesday, both groups chanting for workers’ rights — a cause made more urgent than ever by the war in Gaza, participants said.

The San Francisco protest, inspired by the May Day Vietnam War protests of 1971 that resulted in the largest mass arrest in U.S. history, is an annual pro-labor rally. This year’s event mingled with ongoing pro-Palestinian movements, including boisterous protests that have swept over American college campuses.

Hundreds of students have been arrested nationwide, and a violent attack at a pro-Palestinian encampment at UCLA early Wednesday raised concerns of similar unrest at UC Berkeley, Stanford and other Bay Area campuses.

Across the Bay Area, blended May Day and Gaza demonstrations took place throughout the morning and afternoon. Around 4 p.m., dozens of people gathered for a rally outside West Oakland BART station, many waving Palestinian flags, wearing keffiyehs or holding signs that denounced Israel’s military invasion of Gaza. Speakers told the crowd that they’d shut down the Port of Oakland, and participants clapped and cheered; four months earlier, pro-Palestinian groups calling for a ceasefire had similarly disrupted operations.

“The goal of today was to shut down the Port of Oakland, which we achieved,” said Reverend Allison Tanner, a pastor at Lakeshore Avenue Baptist Church in Oakland and organizer of an interfaith contingent that shows up to actions throughout the Bay Area to push for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Tanner wore a stoll stitched in the colors of the Palestinian flag, with the slogan “Apartheid free Palestine” and an embroidered picture of the separation wall that runs along the West Bank, adorned with red poppies — Palestine’s flower.

The rally ended peacefully around 5 p.m.

Mary Cook, leaning against a “student workers united for Palestine” sign at the edge of the BART parking lot, said she had devoted much of the day to demonstrating, starting with a rally in downtown Oakland. “I’m just here to support the students and workers,” Cook said, as people packed up signs all around her.

In San Francisco, the May Day events began around 10 a.m. when labor groups from across the Bay Area met outside the 24th Street BART station, where they briefly stopped traffic. Protesters holding signs in support of Palestinians shut down the intersection and handed out flyers about the war in Gaza before marching toward Civic Center.

Under the hot midday sun, they walked for two hours toward City Hall, chanting pro-Palestinian slogans. One protester riding along in a white pickup shouted over a microphone, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”

Protesters blared horns and smacked drums. As they passed beneath a Highway 101 overpass heading downtown, dozens of police officers stood guard preventing protesters from entering the freeway.

Claire Lau of the Chinese Progressive Association, a nonprofit that works with immigrant workers in San Francisco’s Chinatown and across the city, said the organization hosts an annual May Day march to highlight the contributions of laborers. But this year was especially important given the ongoing crisis in Gaza, Lau said.

“We are here to celebrate workers’ rights and the legacy of fighting for workers’ rights, including the eight-hour work day,” Lau said. And the organization hoped to see American tax dollars currently spent on the war in Gaza diverted to local projects supporting working class immigrants.

(SF Chronicle)

FROM 1968 TO 2024, THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES

by Bob Stein

Yesterday Columbia University started suspending the students who refused to leave the encampment they built to protest Columbia’s support of Israel’s war against Palestinians. And shortly after midnight, the students responded by occupying Hamilton Hall, mirroring the action that initiated the 1968 protests which ended a week later on 30 April when 1000 students were arrested in a bloody confrontation with NY police.

I was one of the people arrested in the Math Building that night. And today I am cheering on the students who are calling Columbia to account for its support of the US/Israeli war machine. Sadly, I’ve heard a lot of people distance themselves from today’s actions by focusing on differences between then and now.

Duh . . . the world is vastly changed. . . and many books and PhD theses will be written to explore and understand those differences . . . but for me, there is something fundamental that connects our actions in 1968 and those of the students today — Taking a Stand Against Injustice, in solidarity with oppressed people on the other side of the world and in our own backyard.

The important dividing line isn’t between 1968 and 2024. Rather it’s between those who refuse to “take sides” and those who understand that in times of war, there is no defensible “middle ground.” At the end of the day, the “liberal” position which finds fault with both the Zionist and Palestinian positions is a function of privilege and fundamentally ends up supporting the status quo.

To the students in Hamilton Hall at Columbia and to the young people all over the world who are taking action . . . THANK YOU. I promise to do everything I can to marshall support for your courageous efforts on behalf of the Palestinian people.

ED NOTES

MORNING TELEVISION is exhausting. All that forced hilarity, all those Ken Doll-looking dudes perfectly matched with brittle-looking young blondes and their big white perfect teeth flashing behind their nasal whinnies. It all strikes me as a kind of human piranha tank.

WHATEVER happened to voice modulation? My mother was on my sisters constantly. "Shoulders back! Speak from the diaphragm, girls, the diaphragm!

OVER ON FOX this morning things got positively weird, weirder than usual. I tune in mornings to check on the opposition, although Fox's hosts are a seemingly identical collection of doll-like automatons with the same fake bonhomie and compulsive, tweaker-like chatter I get on the "liberal" morning shows. For another fifty grand a year they run over to MSNBC.

THIS MORNING, Fox featured a lot of hysterical fulminating about "outside agitators corrupting our nation's youth." I guess there's an uncorrupted youth somewhere, maybe a retro-hippie kid raised way the hell up Spy Rock, off the grid and far, far from computer and television set, but then even the Amish seem to have slipped lately.

'OUTSIDE AGITATORS.' Kinda got nostalgic hearing that one. It was outside agitators who caused all that trouble back in the sixties. Without them, I for one never would have looked up from the sports page.

ODD that Fox would think that young people, yet to have the idealism stomped outta them by adult life, would need an outside agitator to hip them to the eternally screwed status of Palestinians and the monstrous slaughter of Gazans. Something need clarifying there?

AND then Fox got downright surreal, cutting live to about a twenty-person panel featuring the mayor of New York and his police department's top brass, all of them lamenting the corruption of our nation's youth by outside agitators and preening at how efficiently they'd arrested a hundred or so unresisting Columbia demonstrators, a few of them apparently outside agitators, or at least non-students. (Yeah, yeah, a barricade is resistance, but once past the barricades the barricados went like lambs.) To hear the mayor and the police brass tell it you'd have thought the NYPD had just vanquished a battalion of Taliban.

ONE OF THE HAIRCUTS congratulated the mayor for standing "against violent anti-Israel protests" when the mayor declared, "We are not surrendering our way of life to anyone."

WHOA! These demonstrations are 'anti-Israel' and a threat to 'our way of life'?

SURE, a lot of these kids are a little hazy on the particulars of what's involved here, but I'll bet a large majority is simply shocked at the grotesquely disproportionate Israeli response to the Hamas atrocities of October 7th.

OUR WAY OF LIFE? As defined by who, and isn't the mayor of New York a liberal? (Scratch a lib and you get a Fox, a fact of American political life forever.)

WHEW! THE OUTSIDE AGITATORS seem to have bypassed Mendocino College, zipping on up 101 to the redwood north to roil the college at Arcata. Mendo youth remain uncorrupted!YOU READ it here first: That riot on the UCLA campus last night is being falsely reported as simply a "clash between pro-and anti-Palestinian demonstrators." Really? A large group of young anti's, all young men, show up at the pro-Palestinian tent camp at 11pm and attack the entrenched pros? The few cops on hand were too few to break up two hours of subsequent hand to hand combat, and it took two hours for the LAPD to arrive with enough personnel to break it up. Prediction: The aggressors will be revealed as one of the many rightwing LA-area militias who used student defense of the Palestinians as the pretext for assaulting people they perceive as liberals.

CATCH OF THE DAY, Wednesday, May 1, 2024

JAMIE COLLINS, Lakeport/Ukiah. Parole violation.

CESAR DELCAMPO-VELAZQUEZ, Ukiah. Shoplifting, paraphernalia, resisting. (Frequent flyer.)

COREY HEINE, Ukiah. Failure to appear.

MARVIN JOHNSON JR., Ukiah. Paraphernalia, parole violation.

JUSTIN LOUDERMILK, Ukiah. Vandalism, resisiting.

ALEXANDRIA MINGO-BOWMAN, Ukiah. Domestic battery.

WILLIAM POWELL, II, Ukiah. Failure to appear, probation revocation.

ERNEST SALO, Ukiah. False personation of another.

MORE FOR LESS

Editor,

Just got done w/ the 4-24 AVA. I understand the final print issue is datelined today, May 1! Soon I’ll be subscribing to the online version, admittedly more info dense and daily to boot! Onward and upward on this apocalyptically beautiful day in the City!

Be well! 

David Svehla

San Francisco

THE LIBERATED LIFE

Calling All Jivan Muktas

Warmest spiritual greetings,

Identified with the Immortal Atman, or spiritual absolute, as realized in nirvikalpa samadhi at San Francisco's Ocean Beach in the spring of 1993, and verified again in the tapasya hut of Sri Swami Sivananda at the ashram in Muni-ki-Reti, India during guru purnima in July of 1994, with the blessings of Swami Krishnananda, it is fearlessly that I respond to the present situation of my mundane circumstances. It is true that I have no immediate opportunity on earth regarding environmental nor peace & justice activism. It is also true that my exit date from the Building Bridges Homeless Resource Center is June 9th at noon. I wouldn't kid you! It is a fact that the mind occasionally worries about being indigent in the big outside. And so, I give it a mantra to recite, unless it already has started Catholic prayers from my youth. And then, the fact of being Brahman or "the eternal witness" is obvious; the nervous mind relaxes, since it is apparent that I will not be eaten by mountain lions in the hills of Ukiah, California nor murdered by roving bands of stoner crazies. 

I wish everyone to know that just because you are Self Realized, or "enlightened", does not mean that you no longer have a body nor a mind. Indeed, as Swami Satchidananda (the guru who gave the opening address at Woodstock) observed: "You have to have an ego. Otherwise, you would not be able to do anything." A woman in the audience at Yogaville in Virginia spontaneously asked: "What did you do with your ego?" The swami responded: "I gave my ego to God." 

Now, aside from one last dental appointment to save a small upper left tooth, (awaiting Partnership of California to decide if the root canal will be covered, as well as the replacement crown), I've no reason nor need to be anywhere in particular nor do anything at all. I am free. But I do not wish to just ride out this last incarnation and go up (id est: in Hindu/Advaita Vedanta/Yoga terminology: "go back to Godhead", or in Christian terminology: "go to "heaven", and in Buddhists terminology: "go to the "Pure Land of the West", and for other traditions, call our disappearance whatever you prefer, and for atheists: "die". Regardless, I'll take care of that at the appropriate time. Thank you for listening.

STRAWBERRY WORKERS MAY DAY MARCH

photographs by David Bacon

SANTA MARIA, CA - 28APRIL24 - Strawberry workers march through Santa Maria demanding a living wage. Most are indigenous Mixtec migrants from Oaxaca and southern Mexico, but who now live in the U.S. The march was organized by the Mixteco Indigenous Community Organizing Project and the Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy.

Workers and supporters walked from the center of town to the Fairgrounds, where the annual Strawberry Festival takes place every year at the beginning of the strawberry season. Marchers walked along the sidewalk, looking through the bars of the fence surrounding the festival's carnival rides, some shaped like giant strawberries. Most workers' children had never been to the festival or ridden on one of the rides, because they are too expensive for workers making $16 an hour, the minimum wage. Yet they and their parents pick the strawberries that the festival supposedly celebrates, and create the wealth that all of Santa Maria depends on.

Full set of photos here: https://t.co/chWzJTUrVg

WHAT PIAZZOLLA MIGHT MEAN

Shouldn’t we admit
That we’re simple animals,
All part of the realm.

Other animals
Don’t argue with their instinct.
They just go with it.

Why don’t we see through
Our “enlightened self-interest,”
That great contraption,

That cool conception,
So awfully intellectual,
And so deflective,

And so roundabout,
Indirect and downright weak,
And yes, so human.

Just a mask at first
To cover up our instinct.
Now it’s part of it.

— Jim Luther

PANDA PANDERING

Editor,

Regarding the recent report about the San Francisco Zoo getting “coveted” giant pandas from China and how it’s reported to be a “big win for the City of San Francisco”…

I was saddened to read about pandas arriving at the San Francisco Zoo from China. I cannot think of a more wretched fate for these beautiful animals.

And the idea that Beijing is loaning the animals to San Francisco as a tool for diplomacy and wildlife conservation is insulting and, well, pandering. I am sure the San Francisco Zoo will design displays with facts and figures about pandas to convince the gawking public that this is true.

I defy anyone to prove that putting wild animals in enclosures has made a difference in conserving wild populations. Conservation of natural habitats promotes wildlife conservation, not a parade of people who will look up from their cellphones long enough to take a photo or a selfie before buying an ice cream cone. 

Let’s call the exchange what it is: diplomacy, perhaps a revenue source for the city and gratuitous entertainment, for sure. 

But please don’t pretend that bringing these animals to a godforsaken, small enclosure in a large city is for the good of their species.

Naomi Travers

Poway (San Diego County)

ALTERNATE PLEDGE

Editor: 

The recent letter in the Press Democrat about rewriting the Pledge of Allegiance implied we should all be progressive and value individual characteristics over individual contributions. Without the poetic brilliance and pithy wording of the current pledge, I offer a concept that excludes no one, betters everyone, and eliminates the self-serving rhetoric many use to justify their dependence on society simply because they were born here. Consider if you will:

'In payment for the freedoms granted me by the United States of America and for the continual betterment of these United States of America, I make these commitments: to be honest and self-reliant, to individually care for myself and my family so as not to be a burden on the country. I pledge collectively with all citizens and welcomed residents to protect this country from any and all parties, foreign and domestic, that would undermine the country by demanding more than they have earned. I vow my compassion for those who need my help in the short run and to defend society against those who would take advantage of the generosity of the American public. I am a proud member of this society who realizes belonging is earned every day and pledge that I will strive to make my contributions reflect credit on the entire nation every day.'

B.C. Adams

Petaluma

“I hated brunch. No matter how badly I screwed up in my life or how unemployable I was, I could always get a job as a brunch cook because nobody wants to do brunch. Few people are good at it. I would find myself cooking these massive brunches on weekends, often for cash off the books, often under another name. So for me the smell of eggs cooking and French toast and home fries in the oven was always the smell of shame and defeat and humiliation.”

– Anthony Bourdain

ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

I see the same Trump argument disappear for a brief while and then reappear, part of a wider argument that there is absolutely no difference between the two parties. In a general way, I agree that the difference is minuscule. I’ve also pointed out more than once that Trump did something that made the greatest imaginable difference in my own life, as I know it did for others. That single thing was to remove the penalty for not having health insurance, which was about to make my husband and I bankrupt and possibly homeless after he’d had a serious stroke and been dismissed from his job. For us, it was a matter of survival, and that single thing made our survival possible. I know we weren’t the only ones.

I’m a fundamentally optimistic person, so I do think these small things make a difference – as in the Butterfly Effect. No one can know what will be the end result of voting for someone who may be only a tiny bit better than the other “choice”. I think it’s reasonable to choose the lesser of the evils, even if “lesser” is barely measurable. You never know upon what small matter larger events may turn.

THE MELUNGEONS OF APPALACHIA:

While the Jamestown settlers and Pilgrims seem to get all the headlines, they may not have been the only revolutionary pioneers to settle early America. History tells that as colonies formed and explorers made their way inland from the coastal settlements of Virginia, communities were discovered already living in the wilderness of Appalachia where modern day Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee meet. These people, marked by distinct physical characteristics, called themselves the Melungeons. Neither black, nor white, nor Native American, they appeared to be a mix of all three and spoke broken English, Elizabethan English, and mixed Indian dialects. While many had dark skin and hair, others had blue or green eyes, red hair, and beards. Who these people were was never revealed and their ancestral roots have long been shrouded in mystery as the racial segregation of the early south kept them secluded and hidden from recorded history.

THE FORT MCMURRAY FIRE burned in Alberta, Canada in 2016 for fifteen months and spread to nearly a million and a half acres until it was finally extinguished in August 2017. In its first days of life (In his book “Fire Weather”), John Vaillant repeatedly attributes organic, almost sentient qualities to fire) it was so hot and destructive that entire houses were rendered into ash heaps in five minutes, “like milk cartons in a bonfire.” In an aside on the 2018 Carr Fire in and around Redding, California, Vaillant describes another fire tornado with wind speeds reaching 165 miles per hour and temperatures likely close to 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit—about three times as hot as the ambient temperature on Venus. Fire-flecked Category 5 hurricane-level winds with "metal-melting heat,” Vaillant writes, “seemed gratuitously biblical.” Even seemingly impermeable enamel toilets and cast-iron pots were practically disintegrated by the flames. “Natural fire never did this,” said one fire expert surveying the damage. “It shouldn’t moonscape." But it did. 

— John Washington

THE ROAD TO RICKWOOD: Who are the SF Sea Lions? Giants to wear their uniforms in showcase.

by John Shea

John Walton was a pitcher on the 1946 San Francisco Sea Lions, who played in a one-of-a-kind Negro League on the West Coast.

“I know that he had movement,” said his son, Billy Walton, 70, a Lafayette resident, “because when I was a kid and my mom told my dad to play catch with me, I saw how he could make that ball move down to the right, down to the left — oh, man, I didn’t have to move my glove. He had a lot of movement on the ball, but placement was the main thing for him.”

With Major League Baseball and the Pacific Coast League still white men’s leagues in 1946, the West Coast Baseball Association was formed a year after the end of World War II, a progressive move, considering it was the best attempt in the West at creating a Negro League during the summer months.

Seventy-eight years after the Sea Lions suited up, the San Francisco Giants will honor them by wearing Sea Lions uniforms in Birmingham, Ala., on June 20 when they play the St. Louis Cardinals in a game showcased as “MLB at Rickwood Field: A Tribute to the Negro Leagues.”

Rickwood Field is the nation’s oldest professional ballpark, the home turf for Willie Mays when he played for the Birmingham Black Barons. Mays debuted with the Black Barons in 1948, the year after Jackie Robinson broke MLB’s color line and two years after the Sea Lions’ one and only WCBA season.

“Jackie Robinson was a year older than my dad,” Billy Walton said. “The time was such that he couldn’t play in certain leagues. I never saw my dad play, but I was always proud of him for what he did. He always used to say they played for the love of the game, not the money. They made enough money to buy lunch.”

The WCBA had Bay Area roots, founded by members of the prominent all-Black High Marine Social Club in the East Bay including Eddie Harris, who went on to run the other Bay Area team, the Oakland Larks, and David Portlock, who became league secretary. After months of dialogue, plans were laid out at a March 1946 meeting in Oakland.

The Sea Lions and the Larks played most home games at the local PCL parks, Seals Stadium and Oaks Park in Emeryville, when the PCL’s San Francisco Seals and Oakland Oaks were out of town. Others in the six-team league were the Los Angeles White Sox, Portland Rosebuds, Seattle Steelheads and Fresno Tigers, who morphed into the San Diego Tigers — basically every PCL market except Sacramento and Hollywood.

Big names from the first half of the 1900s were recruited to serve as president (Abe Saperstein, founder of the Harlem Globetrotters) and vice president (Jesse Owens, 1936 Olympic track star), and players joined from various semi-pro and winter-ball leagues. Some were older players from established Negro Leagues in the East, and others were locals seeking an opportunity.

“I was excited about it,” Oakland Larks infielder Johnny Allen, out of Berkeley High School, said in a 1993 Chronicle interview. “It was the only place Black ballplayers could play. It was a beautiful idea.”

The Sea Lions opened the season May 12, 1946, with a doubleheader against Los Angeles at Seals Stadium. The Sea Lions’ manager was former Negro Leagues catcher Cleo “Baldy” Benson, and one of their owners was Harold “Yellowhorse” Morris, who had pitched in the Negro Leagues.

A look at the Chronicle archives showed how different a time it was in 1946. One Chronicle headline: “Colored League In Debut Today.” Sportswriter Will Connolly began his story, “Professional baseball as played by American citizens of Negro antecedents will be put on for inspection by whites and blacks alike this afternoon.” 

On an extremely chilly San Francisco day, 5,216 fans (predominantly Black) braved the weather to attend the Sea Lions’ opener at Seals Stadium. Then-Gov. Earl Warren, a lefty, threw out the ceremonial first pitch, and the home team swept L.A. 3-1 and 6-1 behind the pitching of Art “Smokey” Demery (five hits, 11 strikeouts) and Jim Brown (three-hitter in the seven-inning nightcap).

The Sea Lions had a shortstop, Jim Hamilton, who later played for the renowned Kansas City Monarchs, Robinson’s team before he signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Jesse Alexander was an impressive outfielder though he had just one arm. He hit an RBI single in the opener and said in a 1993 Chronicle interview that he was somewhat of a drawing card because “everybody wanted to come see the one-armed wonder.”

Baseball author and historian Rob Neyer, who is doing extensive research on the WCBA, said the league was formed with good intentions and brought a new level of excitement to West Coast baseball.

“After the war, there was a pent-up demand for baseball all around the country, not to mention a huge supply of good players who’d spent years in the service.” Neyer said. “Combine that with the explosion of the Black population on the West Coast during the war, and the people behind the league saw a great opportunity.”

Sea Lions stories in the Chronicle were overshadowed by stories of the more established Seals. In a Chronicle column a couple of days after the Sea Lions’ opener, Connolly attempted to illustrate the talent level of the Sea Lions while drawing a comparison to the white Seals of the PCL:

“Our opinion, based on the sight of two games only, is that it is not the equal of Pacific Coast League ball this year. We cannot recall that its sponsors claimed it was. The new circuit does not represent the best in Negro ball. It is modeled after the faster colored leagues in the East and Midwest and is poorer in manpower just as the Pacific Coast League admittedly lags behind the majors in talent.”

Trying to differentiate the styles of white and Black players, Connolly wrote, “Colored pros are less ferocious than white pros,” reaching his conclusion based on the Sea Lions fraternizing with their opponents during games, “joshing or jockeying their rivals in an amiable mood.”

Connolly continued, “The whites are disciplined to affect a scowling attitude of truculence, which is part of the show. The colored men retain a bit more joviality in their baseball playing, though we don’t mean to suggest they are buffoons clowning their way through nine innings. They bear down, yet by their behavior give a hint that professional enterprise is a game, after all, and a game should allow a little fun to sneak in as a byproduct.”

The Black newspapers of the day, including the Los Angeles Sentinel, took a different slant. They were instrumental in promoting the Negro Leagues and pushing MLB to accept African Americans, starting with Robinson, who played for the Dodgers’ Triple-A team in Montreal by the time the WCBA got underway.

Largely because of financial instability, the league folded in early July. What was planned for an 18-week, 110-game season with two halves ended in less than two months. One issue was travel; the long haul between the two teams in the Northwest, two in the Bay Area and two in Southern California created costs that became overwhelming. With the league over, some teams continued playing as barnstormers, an opportunity for better paydays.

“Financially speaking, it was always kind of a long shot. I think the real story is that the league was able to survive as long as it did, playing half the summer,” Neyer said. “The quality of play was not tremendous. There weren’t a lot of top talents we know of, with very few well-regarded, pre-war Negro Leagues players. There were plans to play nearly all the games in PCL stadiums, but for whatever reasons, that didn’t really work out.

“Also, while the Black populations in the league’s cities had certainly burgeoned during the war, they still might not have been big enough to support a league.”

The Larks were the class of the league, both on and off the field. They drew relatively healthy crowds and posted the best record by far, 24-7, according to up-to-date research by Neyer, who shows the Sea Lions with a 13-19 record, scuffling at the end after a fast start. He’s still in the process of seeking coverage of more games.

The Larks featured Allen, the local player, and prolific pitcher Marion “Sugar” Cain, who tossed a three-hitter in Oakland’s opener. The pitching staff included a young Sam Jones, who went on to pitch for 12 MLB seasons, three with the Giants, and a lefty out of Oakland’s McClymonds High School who later became the city’s first Black mayor. Lionel Wilson served three terms after hanging up his spikes and recalled once in a Chronicle interview that he made $400 monthly as one of the WCBA’s highest-paid players.

“The league was trying to grow. We just didn’t have the money. … We just quit,” Wilson said, adding he got an opportunity afterward to join a barnstorming team. “My family said, ‘To hell with that. You’re going to college.’ ” That meant law school and eventually a successful political career.

The Sea Lions had a man named Willie Mays — neither the Hall of Famer nor his father, who also went by Willie and was nicknamed Cat. This one was Willie “Tat” Mays, a utilityman on the Sea Lions who was from Oklahoma and settled in the East Bay.

Toni Stone is known as the first woman to play in the Negro Leagues, including with the Sea Lions. But not in 1946. Her time with the Sea Lions came later in the 1940s when they barnstormed. She left the Sea Lions over a pay dispute and joined a Negro Leagues farm team in New Orleans, according to Martha Ackmann, who wrote a 2017 book on Stone called “Curveball, the Remarkable Story of Toni Stone, the First Woman to Play Professional Baseball in the Negro League.”

Another barnstorming team was the San Francisco Cubs, whose uniforms the Sea Lions at some point inherited. Which explains why a bear cub was pictured on the front of the Sea Lions’ jerseys and also will be seen on the Giants’ jerseys when they play at Rickwood Field.

The WCBA was not among the higher-caliber leagues that are being included in the MLB register, per the 2020 announcement. It didn’t last long but played a role in further popularizing Black baseball in the West and is said to have helped create momentum for the PCL to integrate two years later.

The PCL officially introduced its first African American player in 1948, John Ritchie of the San Diego Padres, though in the early 1900s, teams brought in Black players while claiming they were Native Americans. One was Jimmy Claxton, who pitched for the PCL’s Oaks in 1916 before it was discovered he had African American ancestors, and he was released.

Shortstop Artie Wilson, who was Mays’ teammate on the Black Barons and played briefly for the New York Giants in 1951 until Mays was called up and took his roster spot, had the distinction of integrating two PCL teams, the Oaks in 1949 and Seattle Rainiers in 1952. The Seals integrated in 1951 with the signing of Frank Barnes, who later pitched parts of three MLB seasons for the Cardinals.

Back in 1946, because Black players weren’t yet allowed in either MLB or the PCL, the WCBA gave them the chance to live their dreams of playing professional baseball while entertaining fans up and down the coast. It’s Bay Area and American history, and part of what MLB will honor in Birmingham.

(SF Chronicle)

RANDY BURKE (Gualala) in England