Mendocino County Today: October 25, 2013

A FACEBOOK PAGE dedicated to the two young brothers, 8 and 6, who were tragically killed in an ATV accident on Tuesday outside of Fort Bragg when the 8-year-old driver lost control of the ATV he and his brother were riding. Both boys were thrown from the vehicle and killed. The facebook page is raising money to help pay the family’s funeral expenses.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Carter-and-Silas-Memorial/720307897997394

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KNOW YOUR NEIGHBORS:

ELIANE HERRING, president of KZYX's somnolent board of directors, is a former staff counsel at Lockheed, where she met her husband, Jim Goltz. Herring and Goltz now own Retech at Hopland, a Defense Department sub-contractor. Station manager John Coate, we understand, is a former Tennessee communard, truck driver, odd job man. His dad was a big shot Democrat in the Edmund "Pat" Brown era. Reading between Coate's biographical lines he looks like many latter day Mendo remittance men — successful parents, Coate the dropped out scion, and on into self-reinvention in Mendocino County, where everyone is whatever they say they are, and history starts all over again every morning.

THE LATEST kerfuffle at Mendocino County Public Radio is emblematic of years of low-down management practices. The latest trouble began when, for no reason other than Coate and station hatchet lady Mary Aigner didn't like his associations, Coate and Aigner fired long-time volunteer and station loyalist, Doug McKenty. McKenty's crime? Affiliating himself with station reformers. Not surprising that Coate and Aigner would play lo-ball, but one would think Ms. Herring would know better since, unlike most of the personalities in play here, she's been out in the big wide world where she's functioned in high level positions of trust.

TRUSTEE John Sakowicz is now in the Coate-Aigner crosshairs for the same reason McKenty was — demanding managerial transparency. The rest of the station trustees are being told that Sakowicz is this, that and the other thing, none of the slurs pertinent to the issues he's raising. Sako's board colleagues seem to think it's reasonable that anyone who criticizes station management can be written off as "crazy." This kind of grotesque ostracism has been going on for years at KZYX, all the way back to Mitch Clogg and Marco McClean, offed by station founder Sean Donovan who saw the talented pair as a threat to his untalented self. Aigner is the constant in all of these bannings since the day she abandoned her Fed Ex delivery route and climbed on into an executive position at the Philo radio station. Coate's predecessor, Laura Miller tried to fire Aig but, with the backing of the usual drearies, the station's programmers, but it was Brenda who hit the road. Aig's enemies list is as long and as forever as Nixon's. PS. The station's programmers have been typically spineless this time, too. McKenty, a programmer, is non-personed for no reason, but the same dreary thumbsuckers who have played the same music for 20 dreary years don't even look up from their turntables. Pathetic all the way round.

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DEBBIE HOLMER culls local history from the pages of ancient Mendocino Beacon-Advocates, and has unearthed this one from October 24th, 1911 in the wake of women getting the vote in California: “The ladies are taking advantage of their recent victory at the polls and are availing themselves of the chance to take a hand in politics. Mrs. Eleanor Maud French of this place was the first to register, closely followed by Mrs. W.T. Saxon of Willits, Mrs. T.P. Hopkins of Potter Valley and Mrs. T. Hutsell of Boonville.” (Anderson Valley locals may recall that there’s a Hutsell Lane just south of downtown Boonville which leads out to the Bradford Ranch.)

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THE DOUBLE MURDER of the Bay Area Chinese couple found murdered at the bark dump off Highway 20 near Fort Bragg, is also being investigated by the Fort Bragg Advocate's ace sleuth, Tony Reed. Reed, we will recall, led the Sheriff's Department to the remains of Mr. Guzman, the 70-year-old Fort Bragg man whose remains were belatedly discovered, thanks to Reed, halfway down an ocean bluff north of Westport. Guzman had suffered a gunshot wound to his side, and one round from his handgun had been expended. Reed, looking around the area of Guzman's peculiar death — was it from a gunshot, a fall, murder, or all three? — located items belonging to Guzman which led to the dead man's corpse a week after he died.

REED, reporting in this week's Advocate, has been poking around the site where Cindy Bao Feng Chen, 38, and Jim Tat Kong, 51, were found dead last week from “wounds to the head in Ms. Bao's gray Toyota minivan.” “It's unknown,” Reed writes, “if paper and other garbage found in the area is related to the investigation, but some of it raises questions. The wooded area near the former bark dump, which is now owned by the Mendocino Coast Recreation and Park District, is barricaded with rocks and stumps to prevent off-road vehicle access. However, several trails cut through the trees and allow access to the property from Highway 20 and Summers Lane. The site has been used as an illegal dumping area for many years. Commonly found garbage includes beer cans and packaging, vehicle parts, clothing and tires. Among items found Monday within 100 yards of the scene by this reporter were a computer printout of directions from Market Avenue [sic] in San Francisco to Leisure Time RV Park, just west of the location. [Market Street?] Also found and photographed among nearby trash was a five-inch folding-blade knife with a Masonic emblem and the words, ‘Virtus ionxut mors non separabit,’ which translates to, ‘Whom virtue has united, death will not separate.’

“In and around bags of garbage in the trees next to the location was a great deal of mail, credit cards and personal information belonging to Steven Claus, of Fort Bragg. Claus has been arrested four times this year by Mendocino County Sheriff's deputies…”

AT A MINIMUM, Claus is guilty of illegal dumping. At the max, as Reed puts it, “It is not yet known if any details are connected.” Anyone with information is asked to contact the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office tip line at 234-2100.

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CRITICAL MASS COMES TO WILLITS. Inspired by Frisco's monthly commute hour traffic disruptions and the mass Piss Off they inspire, unnamed persons are organizing a group bike ride for Willits this Friday night, 7pm.

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YESTERDAY IN MENDOCINO, A READER WRITES:

(from www.theava.com, Mendocino County Today, October 23, 2013): “The Supes were in town today for the hearing on the Mendocino Town Plan. The dreaded SCRA designation went down in flaming glory thanks to our three inland supervisors. It is the first time I have seen Hamburg throw one of his full fledged tantrums. In fact, he threw two of them. The first was directed at the hapless Planning and Building Staff, none of whom were accountable for the fact that their predecessors failed to implement the SCRA designation when David Colfax pressed through the directive to explore it in 2006.  Later on, after his motion failed on a 3/2 vote, he berated his colleagues for not seeing eye-to-eye with him and the bedraggled souls he'd assembled to speak on behalf of the action.  Being the functional souls they are, they just waited for the tirade to end and then went on about the business of the day. It was hard to watch. My hat is off to them.”

HAMBURG RESPONDED on the Coast Listserve:

“ ‘bedragged souls’?  let's see…Maggie O'Rourke, Ed O'Brien (fire chief), Sue Smith, Rachel Binah, Grail Dawson, Lee Edmundson, Steve Antler, not to mention scores of others in the Town who have supported the Sensitive Coastal Resource Area (SCRA) designation for the Town going back decades  it also needs to be pointed out that the 2006 action by the BoS was not to "explore" the SCRA for the Town of Mendocino but to implement it…the vote was 3-1 with Delbar in dissent and Wattenberger abstaining…the board's authority to place this designation on the Town was upheld at the time by deputy county counsel Frank Zotter [!] and later confirmed by current county counsel Tom Parker  I'm certain that current county planning and executive office staff understands that my frustration is not directed at them but at a county bureaucracy that failed to implement a clear board directive over a 7 year period…this failure, I believe was, and is, to the detriment of the Town  I won't apologize for being passionate about the Town of Mendocino…I am certainly not alone in that passion  btw, I won the Mendocino precincts 2-1 in 2010 (with this very Town Plan update looming) and believe that I would win them again today by a similar count.”

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BACK IN AUGUST the dim and paranoid Point Arena School Board refused to provide the public and the public’s local watchdog, Susan Rush, with a copy of a school produced draft of a document called “Systems Analysis — Point Arena Schools District — Technology Task Force — Technology Insertion Program” which was discussed, on tape, at a Point Arena School Board meeting — a clear violation of the California Public Records Act, an act which is supposed to be enforced by the County District Attorney’s office. So, after the refusal Ms. Rush filed a Public Records Act request for the document. The Board, on advice of their captive legal rep in Santa Rosa, cited an obscure and dubious court case to declare that the Board didn’t have to release it because it was a draft. But it wasn’t just a draft it was a draft which was also discussed at an open Board meeting. And why would the Board want to hide a technology report anyway? Even the California Newspaper Association’s lawyer agreed  that the document is public and should be released upon request.

ON SEPTEMBER 9, 2013, Point Arena Schools watchdog (and Board candidate) Susan Rush submitted what the District Attorney’s Chief Investigator Tim Kiely said was a “thoroughly documented” complaint concerning the blatant violations of the California Public Records Act (6253(b) and Government Code 54954.7 by Point Arena School Superintendent Colleen Cross and the Point Arena Board of Trustees. Essentially, the complaint was based on Dr. Cross and the Board's refusal to relinquish to the public a 52-page draft document concerning technology in the District’s schools which is obviously public record since the board discussed the document in open session at the August board meeting. On October 4, 2013, Mr. Kiely told Ms. Rush that the complaint was on the District Attorney's desk awaiting his signature so it could be sent to the Point Arena School District for response and correction. To date, however, the complaint and whatever material Investigator Kiely assembled has not made it any further than the DA’s desk.

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STATEMENT OF THE DAY: A civilization which for any reason puts a human life at a disadvantage; or a civilization which can exist only by putting human life at a disadvantage; is worthy neither of the name nor of continuance. And a human being whose life is nurtured in an advantage which has accrued from the disadvantage of other human beings, and who prefers that this should remain as it is, is a human being by definition only, having much more in common with the bedbug, the tapeworm, the cancer, and the scavengers of the deep sea. — James Agee

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A READER WRITES: Please consider letting Moishe Garson know that sodomy is not confined to same sexers.  According to reliable reports, it is popular among Christian Fundamentalist teen girls who consider it good morals to marry with at least their hymens intact.  Is Garson on drugs?  He reads like a comic grotesque character in a Philip Roth book.

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HAGGIS!

AVA: Several months ago one of your readers wrote asking about haggis. I want to assure you that this great Scottish delicacy can be wholesome and delicious. Like all great foods, the quality of the ingredients often will govern the outcome. Haggis is normally made from lamb, oatmeal, stock and seasoning. It is traditionally served with neeps and tatties (turnips and potatoes). Many experts consider horse haggis to be the finest of all, but most people today prefer the lamb-based product. In 1786 Robert Burns immortalized haggis in poetry calling it the “great chieftain o’ the pudding-race.” — Yours truly, Charles MacLeod, Aptos

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HUMBOLDT COUNTY 2ND DISTRICT SUPERVISOR ESTELLE FENNELL 'RECOVERING WELL'

by Thadeus Greenson

Humboldt County Second District Supervisor Estelle Fennell has been hospitalized for more than a week dealing with an undisclosed illness, but is reportedly on the mend.

”Estelle caught an extremely nasty bug but is recovering well,” 1st District Supervisor Rex Bohn said.

Reading a statement prepared with Fennell, Bohn said his colleague wants to convey her deepest thanks for all the well-wishes and support she's received, saying the response has been overwhelming.

”With that being said, she wants everyone to know she's going to be back at work as soon as possible,” Bohn said.

Fennell -- who took office in January -- missed the last two Tuesday board meetings, as well as a General Plan Update meeting Monday. Bohn said it's unclear when Fennell will be able to return.

Third District Supervisor Mark Lovelace declined to discuss her illness other than to say he and his fellow supervisors wish her well and will do their best to “pick up the slack” in her absence.

Responding to an inquiry from the Times-Standard, county spokesman Sean Quincey issued a brief statement, but declined to provide more information, citing privacy concerns.

”We understand that our community is concerned about Supervisor Fennell's health and well-being,” Quincey said. “We at the county are as well.”

Bohn said he and 5th District Supervisor Ryan Sundberg will be covering for Fennell until she rejoins the board, fielding calls from her constituents and picking up her assignments.

”She'll be back soon because she's a tough old Irish gal,” he said.

(Courtesy, the Eureka Times-Standard.)

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OUR BOY, SIR, & THE DOORS

by Sean Marks

Worthin, that's my name. Lord Worthin is what my grandfather named me. People at my work: service, gas, cigarettes, Pepsis, iced teas; gas, mostly: they call me Worth. Not Lord.

I don't sell gas. People ask, sometimes, that the gas I sell them makes their car knock. "I'm sorry, sir," I said umpt-over times, "I just work here. I don't make the gas. Do you want a receipt? Matches? Have a good day."

That's what I get paid for: service. Have a good day. Take it easy. Have a nice day. See you later. Or, Fuckin'-A Right -- depending on their shirt.

Lock the door at midnight.

Walk to my keep, a hooch I built 13 months ago when I was 18, employable, with the desire to see on my own. To rely. I've been employed for three months.

The manager, O'Tim, seemed to regard me a little more than my other five coworkers. I'm not saying his supervision is quite disregarded because he can't make change. I have no opinion of him. But I heard him say, as I was listening, to a customer say, "All tiger mouth," and my hearing, bells, distance, gathered quick, like a flock of every bird, and I heard everything. It was like I knew everything. When the moment was gone, I thought I'd be disturbed but I don't have an opinion on that.

I walked home that night. Not exactly.

What is bug chi?

I've told friends to listen. Bug chi: that's just what I call it. But I can't really say it: the abstract: but for example: I just listen to the bell: and for example: I breathe.

What if I see gnats, flies, bees, grasshoppers, dragonflies, water bugs, centipedes, butterflies; spiders, blind ones, even; gnats? I see them. And I just listen.

And what happens is, I, because their supervision is not quite disregarded, breathe for them; and I can direct them to take flight and land where I want them to. Centipedes can't fly. But they can fall. It's really love, that is why I can do this. That's my opinion.

I store the doors next to a telephone pole that looks like Mother Mary at a distance. Ornate ones, even, deadbolt and 100 pounds of walnut root. If I should stare out the peephole what shall I see but another door, horizontal, a stack up to my neck. I count 13.

One I had to throw into the creek. Another I left in the middle of Cyprus Street as I ran, feeling the heat of an unidentified police officer. I felt the heat of him, his fingertips, as I was sprinting lug lug lug with a door over my head. Then I abandoned it with a percussive bang! Scuff as it slid, and four boots pounded the pavement afterwards for four minutes until I flew like a moth to an undisclosed distance and sat, still, slow in breath, wondering how I was going to save that door; or if to save it was sentiment; and realizing, close to failure, that, indeed, I succeeded. It was close (the door), on Cypress Street, not floating into creek.

Earlier tonight I went back after a two day stay. Cuss. The door was back on its hinges, 1301 Cypress, with roses fertilized lawn, and an SUV that rides only one.

Mr. Grant Pleasant -- that is the name on his mail. He has aloe next to his front steps, next to the doorbell which I ring, calmly, and lift myself to his roof, the eaves, look down.

He says, "Fuckin', nigger, nigger, nigger. Ain't got nothing better. But my fingers on the trigger. Next time." Slams the door.

He's overweight, in debt, alimony, gas. A good man who sells ink to newspapers in every county. Subscribes to nothing. At least -- a success story. His bumper sticker reads, "Vote No On --" something. His SUV is black, devoid of rearview mirror rosary beads. And his wife was pretty.

I ease down like a larvae, bristly, and crawling all over my skin with adrenaline. Try the door and it is locked. Sentiment, I think, looking at its scuffed edges.

I ring the doorbell and walk west, ring the neighbor's bell and walk west, and ring and, walk; and ring and walk, all the way down Cypress, 2:51am, counting 49 bells and not one cuss, or whisper, or invitation to dinner. ¥¥

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GOVERNOR JERRY BROWN’S 10 WORST ENVIRONMENTAL POLICIES

by Dan Bacher

On October 17, Governor Brown failed to show up to receive a “Right Stuff” environmental award from the BlueGreen Alliance at a gala dinner at Le Parc Hotel in San Francisco as over 60 people protested outside.

Every year, the Apollo Alliance Project of the BlueGreen Alliance Foundation recognizes business, community, environmental and labor leaders for their “outstanding work in advocating for family-sustaining jobs, clean energy, stronger infrastructure, and a better future for all of us.” This year, they selected Governor Jerry Brown as a winner in the government category. (http://www.bluegreenalliance.org/news/latest/the-right-stuff-awards-honor-governor-brown-and-labor-environmental-and-industry-leaders-for-accelerating-clean-energy-growth-creating-family-sustaining-jobs)

Outraged over the selection of Brown for the award after he has advanced so many bad environmental policies such as promoting fracking, a coalition of environmentalists, indigenous leaders and labor activists organized the protest to expose the real, abysmal environmental record of Governor Brown. (http://www.sfbg.com/politics/2013/10/21/brown-takes-heat-fracking, http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/10/18/18745051.php)

At the protest, Michael Preston from the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, blasted Jerry Brown's Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) to build the peripheral tunnels and the federal Shasta Dam raise plan that will cause massive fish extinction and destroy the Delta.

“I am here as a Winnemem Wintu Tribe warrior to speak for the salmon and for our cultural beliefs and sacred sites,” said Preston. "We have to speak out against the peripheral tunnels and Shasta dam raises because they could make the fish extinct and destroy the whole Bay Delta Estuary. These plans will affect all of life more than we know.”

Brown's ten worst environmental policies were outlined in an alternative program that protesters handed out to attendees of the dinner. These policies include the following:

• Twin Tunnel Plan: Brown is fast-tracking the $54.1 billion Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) that would divert massive quantities of water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to corporate agribusiness, developers and oil companies. The construction of the peripheral tunnels will hasten the extinction of Sacramento River Chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead, Delta and longfin smelt and green sturgeon, as well as imperil salmon and steelhead populations on the Trinity and Klamath rivers.

• Senate Bill 4: Not only did Brown sign SB4— Senator Fran Pavley’s “greenlight to fracking” bill—he gutted it at the 11th hour, adding poison pill amendments, which make CEQA review of fracking permits optional, and prevent imposing a moratorium on fracking for 15 months. He signed the bill after receiving at least $2.49 million over several years from oil and natural gas interests. Mark Nechodom, head of the state Conservation Department, recently said definitively, “Gov. Brown supports hydraulic fracturing.”

• REDD: The REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation+) allows Northern Hemisphere polluters to buy forest carbon offset credits from the global South. Brown is trying to link an agreement among Chiapas, Mexico; Acre, Brazil; and California, to AB32 (which commits to a 25% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions for 2020, and an 80% reduction for 2050).

• Record Water Exports: The Brown administration authorized the export of record water amounts of water from the Delta in 2011 – 6,520,000 acre-feet, 217,000 acre feet more than the previous record of 6,303,000 acre feet set in 2005 under Schwarzenegger. Most of this went to corporate agribusiness, including mega-growers irrigating unsustainable, selenium-laced land on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley.

• Record Delta Fish Kills: The Brown administration “salvaged” a record 9 million Sacramento splittail and 2 million salmon, steelhead, striped bass, largemouth bass, threadfin shad, white catfish and sturgeon in the Delta export pumping facilities in 2011. Since the actual number of fish killed in the pumps is at least 5 to 10 times those reported, the actual number of fish killed is probably 55 million to 110 million.

• Central Valley Project Improvement Act: The act mandated the doubling of Central Valley anadromous fish populations, including Chinook salmon, steelhead, green sturgeon, white sturgeon, striped bass, and American shad, by 2002. Under Brown in recent years, rather than doubling, these fish populations have continued to decline. The Chinook salmon runs on the Sacramento River last year were only 20% of the level mandated by federal law and the endangered Sacramento River winter run Chinook population is threatened with extinction, due to massive water exports out of the Delta.

• California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA): Brown is trying to weaken or even eliminate CEQA, one of California's greatest environmental laws, to fast-track big developments for giant corporations like Walmart, Berkshire Hathaway, General Electric, Valero and Chevron.

• Department of Conservation Appointments: After Brown fired Acting Director Chernow and Oil and Gas Supervisor Miller and appointed oil industry-friendly Mark Nechodom, risky injection oil drilling permits increased by 18 percent.

• Clear cutting in the Sierra Nevada: Brown is doing nothing to stop Sierra Pacific Industries from clear cutting forests, destroying wildlife habitat, and contributing to climate change.

• “Theme Park” Wetlands: The Department of Fish and Wildlife under the Jerry Brown administration is letting the Annenberg Foundation bulldoze a section of the Ballona Wetlands to build an interpretive center and help with the “restoration” of the land around the center.

For more information about Brown’s abysmal environmental policies, go to: http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/06/12/jerry-brown-worse-than-schwarzenegger-on-environment/

Of course, any discussion of Brown's worst environmental policies must include his implementation of the privately-funded Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative started by Governor Schwarzenegger in 2004.

The conflicts of interest, failure to comprehensively protect the ocean, shadowy private funding, incomplete and terminally flawed science and violation of the Yurok Tribe’s traditional harvesting rights have made the MLPA Initiative to create so-called “marine protected areas into one of the worst examples of corporate greenwashing in California history. These so-called “Yosemites of the Sea” fail to protect the ocean from oil spills and drilling, fracking, pollution, wind and wave energy projects, military testing and all human impacts on the ocean other than fishing and gathering.

In an egregious environmental conflict of interest, Catherine Reheis-Boyd, President of the Western States Petroleum Association, chaired the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force to create “marine protected areas” in Southern California. Reheis-Boyd, who lobbies relentlessly to expand fracking, build the Keystone Pipeline and eviscerate environmental laws, also served on the task forces for the Central, North Central and North Coast.

For more information about the MLPA Initiative, go to:

http://intercontinentalcry.org/the-five-inconvenient-truths-about-the-mlpa-initiative/

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MENDOCINO STORIES & MUSIC SERIES PRESENTS HIT AND RUN THEATER IN NOVEMBER

Mendocino Stories and Music Series welcomes back Hit and Run Theater & Friends for two nights of improvised fun, games and skits. They will play at the Hill House of Mendocino on Friday & Saturday, November 8 & 9. The players are Jill Jahelka, Ken Krauss, Doug Nunn, Kathy O’Grady, Christine Samas, Dan Sullivan, and Steve Weingarten. Joshua Brody, “just maybe the greatest improv comedy keyboard accompanist”, will join the gang for this weekend.  The shows will start at 7:30PM.

Special feature for this weekend’s engagement is a Song Improvisation Workshop for beginners … and the terrified!” led by Joshua Brody, music director for San Francisco's BATS Improv. The workshop will be held Saturday afternoon at the Hill House from 1 – 4PM. Says Joshua, “Starting with the very basics — breathing, ear training, vocal production — students are led gradually and painlessly through all the elements that go into making a song.” Joshua has been teaching song improvisation for over thirty years. $30 in advance for a 3-hour workshop.

All comedy weekend shows, doors open at 6:00 PM for dinner menu and drinks. Premier reserved seating at $20, $15 at the door. For more information about the shows and the workshop call Pattie at 707-937-1732 or www.mendocinostories.com/events_info.html

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THE ARTS COUNCIL OF MENDOCINO COUNTY ANNOUNCES 2013 ARTS CHAMPIONS

The Board of Directors of the Arts Council of Mendocino County is pleased to announce the 11th Annual Mendocino County Art Champion Award recipients:  Bryan Arnold in the category of Artist; Jill Schmuckley in the category of Individual Patron; John Chan Plumbing in the category of Business; and Tom Johnsen in the category of Education.

Each year, nominations for Art Champion Awards are received from the community. The winners are selected by the Arts Council of Mendocino County’s Board of Directors, and recognized by the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors.

The 2013 Mendocino County Art Champion Awards will be presented by the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors at its meeting on Tuesday, November 5th at 9:00 a.m. An official proclamation will be issued in the Supervisors’ Chambers at the County Administration Center, 501 Low Gap Road in Ukiah, followed by a public reception to honor the winners, hosted by the Arts Council of Mendocino County in Conference Room B.

 Artist Champion Bryan Arnold’s love affair with art began at the Willits Shakespeare Company during A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 2000. Acting quickly became a passion, and writing, directing, producing and teaching soon followed. A 2005 graduate of San Francisco State University, Bryan has taught and directed theatre arts at Mendocino College, The Willits Charter School, Willits Shakespeare Company, Ukiah Players Theatre and the Young Actors Theatre; he has worked or collaborated with every inland theatre organization in the county. He served on the Willits Cultural Arts Commission for three years, and on the Willits Shakespeare Company Board of Directors since 2003. His business, Fractured Femur Productions, provides professional artistic productions as part of his ardent commitment to promoting, teaching, and unifying the arts in our rural community.

Jill Schmuckley, recipient of this year’s Individual Patron Art Champion award, relocated to Ukiah in 2001 from Portland, Oregon. She has been inland representative for the Mendocino Art Center’s Mendocino Arts Magazine, and joined the newly formed Art Center Ukiah Board of Directors in 2009. Jill lent her skills from a background in marketing to local art exhibits and activities for the First Friday Art Walk Ukiah, Corner Gallery, and Art Center Ukiah, as well as many other new businesses and galleries, providing press coverage, photographs, poster design, recruitment, and grantwriting. She took the lead in creating new exhibits for Art Center Ukiah, developing relationships with other nonprofits and helping create many local events. She spearheaded “The Chair Affair” as a fundraiser to help cover expenses for Art Center Ukiah. In her spare time, Jill enjoys photography, writing children’s stories, and last year attempted to relearn knitting.

John Chan Plumbing is honored as the 2013 Business Champion for the Arts. John’s generosity to the arts community began when he and his wife Jan went to see the play Urinetown at the Ukiah Players Theatre. The restrooms were out of order, and the audience had to use porta-potties. Seeing the need and a way that he could help, John offered his plumbing services to the theatre after the performance. It was a big job, but he donated all the plumbing, and has been doing so ever since. John is also a continuing supporter of Mendocino Ballet, Art Center Ukiah, Mendocino College, Plowshares, SPACE, and the Senior Center. A lifelong resident of Ukiah, he is a first-generation son of Chinese immigrants. A community member writes:  “Beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder, as it is in the soul of man. John Chan knows and supports the beauty of his fellow man, and all that is positive in our cultural world.”

Tom Johnsen, Education Arts Champion, is a painter and photographer. Born in Alameda in 1941, Tom has been a painter, an art teacher at Potter Valley High School, and curator of the Ukiah Players Theatre’s lobby gallery since 1993. He has also acted in plays since 1977, and has created sets for UPT productions. Tom teaches art to developmentally disabled adults at the Redwood Coast Regional Center’s TAPS (The Arts & Performance Studio) program, and he says it gives their clients a sense of pride and capacity. “I love seeing people wake up to themselves as artists,” he says, “and I believe anyone can do it. Sometimes all that is needed is to point out what they’ve done.” He also makes display cases and arranges art shows featuring his students’ work.

The Mendocino County Art Champion Awards are annually announced in October to coincide with National Arts and Humanities Month, a coast-to-coast celebration of culture in America. To learn more about National Arts and Humanities Month, visit the Americans for the Arts website at www.americansforthearts.org or the California Arts Council website at www.cac.ca.gov.

Please join the Arts Council of Mendocino County and the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors at 9:00 a.m. on November 5th at the Mendocino County Administration Center, 501 Low Gap Road in Ukiah, to recognize and celebrate the 2013 Mendocino County Art Champions. A reception will follow in Conference Room B.

For more information on the Mendocino County Art Champion Awards and other Arts Council of Mendocino County programs and services, go to www.artsmendocino.org or call 707 463 2727.