Mendocino County Today: October 30th, 2013

 

DIANE ZUCKER has died. A long time resident of Ukiah, and before Ukiah, Fort Bragg, Diane was perhaps best known as a member of the Mendocino County School Board, serving for many years as a trustee. She passed away on Monday morning, the 28th of October, in San Francisco. Diane had been hospitalized at the California Pacific Medical Center for nearly a month, and had never recovered from a complicated surgery to remove a stomach tumor. Diane was placed in intensive care Sunday after developing breathing difficulties. She lapsed into a coma, her heart stopped and doctors were unable to revive her.

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A 12-YEAR EMPLOYEE of the Ukiah Natural Foods Co-op has been fired for “insubordination,” but neither he nor the vague entities who canned him can say precisely what his “insubordination” consisted of. The now unemployed married father of a young daughter was also subjected to a denial of his unemployment benefits claim by the store, but he appealed and won his appeal. At least one member of the co-op's board of directors, a founding member, is fighting mad and will make the young man's dismissal number one on the next meeting agenda.

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LIFE WITH THE HUMP: “On October 14th at about 7:00pm,” the press release begins, “Ukiah Police responded to the WalMart parking lot at 1155 Airport Park Boulevard…” where TravisHumphrey, aka The Hump, and several of his leisure class comrades had gathered for

cocktails and loud group discussion, so loud it alarmed WalMart shoppers. The Hump, noting the officer's arrival, raised his beer can in greeting. The Hump had been prohibited from being on WalMart property but that ban had expired along with The Hump's previous probation. The Hump triumphantly informed the officer he could not be arrested for being on the WalMart property and commenced yah-yahing the cop, who immediately deduced that Hump was so drunk he was unable to care for himself. “That's all for you today, Mr. Humphrey,” the officer said taking out his cuffs. Hump, natch, began fighting the cop “but was taken into custody after a brief struggle” and charged with public intoxication and resisting arrest. Six days later, on October 20th at 12:55pm, the Ukiah police were summoned to the Tractor Supply Company at 1248 Airport Park Boulevard where The Hump had slipped on a new pair of boots valued at $180, urinated on the floor, and sauntered on out the door. He was soon spotted in the 700 block of Talmage Road and arrested for shoplifting and indecent exposure. The Hump is 23 years old. Ukiah can look forward to another 30 years with this guy.

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ANDERSON VALLEY'S latest legal crop? “boonville piment d'ville, a sweet, spicy, basque red chile, sown, grown & harvested by locals, Mendocino County, fall 2013 crop.” The peppers, not grown anywhere else in the United States, as Johnny Schmitt tells me, were planted at the old Stella Cadente property not even a mile from the Farrer Building, central Boonville. And just to the rear of the Farrer Building early Tuesday afternoon, in a very busy tin shed, a three person crew was grinding and packaging chili powder, ten tons of it from a bonanza second year crop. The ever-enterprising Schmitt now faces the formidable task of marketing the stuff which, of course, shouldn't be too difficult because this magically enhancing substance is much sought after by knowledgeable cooks.

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WHO IS ERICK GELHAUS?

Dear Editor:

Enclosed, please find my research from an "Intelius Background Check" on Sonoma County deputy, Erick Gelhaus, who shot 13-year old Andy Lopez seven times, killing him, on October 22, 2013. Gelhaus was deliberate. He fired eight times in 26 seconds. Twenty-six seconds — that's an eternity in the split-second world of law enforcement.

Trigger-happy?

You decide. The kid was holding a toy replica of a gun.

Did Gelhaus know better? Was Gelhaus an experienced cop?

You decide. Gelhaus was a 23-year veteran of Sonoma County Sheriff's Office, and he was a SWAT team leader, a senior firearms instructor, and a bunch of other things. He was also a combat war vet. He served in Iraq as an infantry squad leader.

The FBI is now investigating the shooting, because neither the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office nor the Sonoma County District Attorney's Office can be trusted by many members of the public to conduct an impartial investigation.

The family of Andy Lopez and much of the local Latino community have cried out for justice.

If guilty, Erick Gelhaus should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. As a law enforcement officer sworn to uphold the Constitution of the United States, this is a greater demand for justice put upon Erick Gelhaus than for ordinary citizens.

Adding the facts that Gelhaus was also a SWAT team member and wrote for SWAT Magazine, was also training instructor at the Gunsite Academy in Sonoma County, and that he demonstrated products for Aimpoint Red Dot Sights, Blue Force Gear, and other vendors of the deadly tools of the trade for law enforcement, there may no excuse for this killing. Gelhaus was not just an ordinary citizen, he was not just an ordinary cop… He was a lot more. He should have known better.

No Justice. No Peace.

John Sakowicz, Ukiah

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A CROWD ESTIMATED at upwards of 2000 people marched peacefully through downtown Santa Rosa Tuesday to protest the shooting death of 13-year-old Andy Lopez by a sheriff's deputy. Security was tight around the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department offices on Ventura Avenue not far from Santa Rosa Junior College. Metal barricades were manned by police from several jurisdictions. The Sheriff has said Erik Gelhaus, the deputy who shot the youngster, has received death threats. The rally in front of the Sheriff's office lasted into the evening as demonstrators came and went. Lopez was shot and killed a week ago today (Tuesday) as he walked along Moorland Avenue in southwest Santa Rosa carrying a BB gun

designed to look like a high-powered assault rifle.

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DOUBLE HOMICIDE INVESTIGATION UPDATE

ON OCTOBER 17, 2013 at 2:35pm, Mendocino County Sheriff's deputies were dispatched to the 31000 block of Highway 20, Fort Bragg, for a report of a suspicious vehicle parked in the area. Upon their arrival, Sheriff's deputies located a mini-van parked near the area of the “bark dump". The van was parked in a manner which prevented it from being seen from Highway 20. Deputies checked the interior of the van and discovered a deceased female in the front driver seat and a deceased male in the front passenger seat. Both victims appeared to have suffered wounds to the head. The exact cause of death is pending the results of an autopsy. Preliminary investigation indicates that the victims may not be Mendocino County residents. The female victim has been identified, but sheriff's detectives are still attempting to locate her next of kin. The male victim has yet to be positively identified. Anyone with information pertaining to this investigation is asked to contact the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office “tip line” at (707) 234-2100.

ON OCTOBER 19, 2013 Sheriff's Detectives identified the female victim as being Cindy Bao Feng Chen (38-years-old) from San Francisco, California. Sheriff's Detectives are still in the process of attempting to identify the male victim and the case is still being actively investigated. Anyone with information pertaining to this investigation is asked to contact the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office “tip line” at (707) 234-2100.

ON OCTOBER 22, 2013 Sheriff's Detectives identified the male victim as being Jim Tat Kong (51-years-old) from San Pablo, California. The case is still being actively investigated by Sheriff's Detectives and anyone with information pertaining to the investigation is asked to contact the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office “tip line” at (707) 234-2100.

ON OCTOBER 18, 2013 forensic autopsies were performed on Jim Tat Kong and Cindy Bao Feng Chen in connection with the active homicide investigation. The preliminary results of the autopsies showed both died as a result of a single gunshot wound to the head. At this time toxicology and blood alcohol analysis is pending. The case is still being actively investigated by Sheriff's Detectives and anyone with information pertaining to the investigation is asked to contact the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office “tip line” at (707) 234-2100. (Sheriff’s Press Releases)

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GERMINATION OF A DREAM

by Andy Balestracci

A long lost envelope of tomato seeds received from relatives in Italy haunts me to this day. My memory of it was of two varieties of saved local tomato varieties neatly folded and labeled from the home garden of my grandfather’s cousin in northern Italy. They sat in a file drawer in my father’s office for many years, long after their viability to germinate had waned and before my seed saving addiction had become my opiate of choice. But the ghost of those lost varieties — their sun ripened flavor, fresh from the summer gardens in the town of Barbarasco — and that those farmers valued them enough to grow and save for perhaps generations are lost now. Unfortunately similar stories are being repeated now at an alarming rate. This ten thousand year human experi­ment of agriculture and its subsequent proliferation of genetic food plant diversity have, in the last hundred years of industrialization, seen a rapid decline. There are a multitude of factors. One of the primary causes is due to narrow global commercial interests feeding the grow­ing urban centers being populated by more of the human family moving off rural lands. The saving of seed varie­ties is a tenuous thread that can be lost within a decade — the outside viability of most food seeds.

The idea for Diaspora Seeds as a local producer and seller of heirloom vegetable, herb, and flower seeds is to provide a bulwark against that shortsighted and heedless loss. I think everyone can appreciate the spontaneous smile that you get when eating a freshly harvested tomato, kale, or beans out of your garden — the taste, the nutrition, and the primal satisfaction of growing your own food. Linda and I have, for the last twenty years, been searching out seeds that are perhaps a bit obscure or in a precarious situation as only a few older farmers are growing a variety out. Obscurity and fragility are not reasons to think that these heritage seed gems are worthless. Rather the opposite — many times the only fact that these seed varieties are still hanging on is that they are incredibly drought hardy, delicious, highly produc­tive, or disease and pest resistant. The idea that all of us are part of the human diaspora — from the Greek meaning a scattering of seeds — and the plant seed heritage we carry is cause for great optimism. In the midst of this massive movement of peoples and seed there has never been a more productive time worldwide for all of us to find and grow these varieties that are suited to our cli­mate, dietary needs, and local food security issues.

Twenty four years ago while living in Nepal, a sojourn that started as an academic year in Tibetan Studies and morphed into three years of observing and traveling the myriad bioregions and communities from the lowland jungle of the Terai, the 6,000 ft. high rice paddies of the Kathmandu valley to the hardy 11,000 ft. barley fields of the high Himalaya of Dolpo. My eyes were opened to the power of seed diversity. Such an assortment of climates and food existed all within the fifty-mile width of the country. For all of the challenges that exist there — high population growth pushing at environmental limits — it was heavy reinforcement for the idea that the best place to look for food sustainability is in the relatively intact rural communities of the world. The collective trial and error of 1,000 summers of decisions by farmers’ intimate eco-literacy of place, based on nutrition, production, or resiliency — not patentability nor the ability to ship a tomato a continent away.

A few years later, back in the States and living in Tucson, I walked into a demonstration garden run by Native Seeds/SEARCH, a non-profit involved in the preservation of Native Southwestern food crops. The garden curator was a young woman with an easy smile and a passionate seed saving, uber hipster. We planted a small plot of Gila River Sweet Corn that day. I was hooked — for heirloom seeds and Linda. We’re celebrat­ing twenty years together this year. I went on to work for the organization restoring an old adobe building, the Sylvester House, that became their new seed storage and processing site. Some folks might be impressed by monumental architecture or great art, but for me it was the awe I felt walking the rows of floor to ceiling shelves of labeled heirloom seed jars in their seed bank. Potluck lunches there were legendary, like Tepary bean stews homeopathically spiced with native perennial chiltepin hot peppers and baked Tohono O’odham H:al Squash. Linda and I were gratefully invited to a number of Native American and Hispanic farmers’ fields and homes that really stretched our conceptions about what agriculture is supposed to look like. Healthy abundant crops of tepary beans grow from the isolated summer monsoon rain runoff channeled off seasonally dry arroyos in Mayo Indian communities near Sonora, Mexico. The improbable dry-farmed corn and squash fields grow in what looks like infertile and parched southwestern desert sand at Hotevilla and Oraibi on the Hopi Reservation with a variety of corn, Hopi Pink, that is seeded 10 inches below the surface to make optimal use of subsurface soil moisture.

In 1997 we made it out to a very different climate as farm apprentices at Green Gulch Farm in foggy Muir Beach, California. If an apprenticeship was ever a cruci­ble for a steep learning curve, Green Gulch was it for us. Besides being one of the oldest certified organic farms in California it is also a Japanese Zen Buddhist Practice Center. What this translated into as a daily schedule was rise and shine at 4:30am for the start of two 40-minute zazen sitting meditations, then out to the fields at 6:30 a.m. for harvest of the six acres planted in cool weather annual crops like lettuce, chard, potatoes, garlic, and beets for market. Then the rest of the workday, evening zazen and … gratefully bed. Something resonated and we stayed 4 years between Green Gulch Farm and a sister community, Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, in the Ventana Wilderness Area in Monterrey County, which included a stint as a baker for me and kitchen manager for Linda.

In the spring of 2000 we got an itch to get back out in the world to carry forward what we had learned. Through an acquaintance at San Francisco Zen Center we heard of an opportunity at a property newly purchased by Melody and Paul Haller in Philo. In April we were hired as Landscape and Garden Managers and moved onto the 160-acre Shenoa Resort property outside of Philo. Little did we know at the time what a blessing it was to be transplanted into that Eden. Linda and I had been fairly nomadic up until that time but it was that first year we realized we had found a valley and community to call home.

The intervening years saw us move on from Shenoa to produce food at the Boonville Hotel garden. I then became the cheesemaker at the Elk Creamery, the first certified organic goat dairy in California and a few years later the Director of Operations at Thanksgiving Coffee.

After so many years of seed saving efforts overtaking shelves and the rooms of our home, we felt besides hosting the annual seed exchange at the Mendocino Permaculture Seed & Scion Exchange, we needed to reach a larger audience to carry forward these seeds. We started Diaspora Seeds this past winter, which began with a modest selection of approximately 30 varieties of seed, 95% of which we grew ourselves with organic methods and all produced locally in Mendocino County. All our seeds are open pollinated which means you can grow the plant let it go to seed, and then plant that seed the following year. Many are rare heirloom varieties from around the world. This summer’s harvest will nearly double our offerings and we’re busy harvesting, cleaning seed, and making the new labels. The seeds are available on our website at www.diasporaseeds.com and a number of local businesses now carry our seeds. We’re excited about the response we have received from the community and beyond and are looking to expand our acreage this winter and spring. We have also been in conversation with other farmers interested in growing seed for us as well — all towards a strong effort to strengthen our food choices and abilities. Happy growing! ¥¥

(This article is #9 in the Connecting With Local Food series brought to you by AV Foodshed Group. To read past articles, go to www.mendocinolocalfood.org. Next week the Zeni Ranch will be featured as a prelude to the 32nd annual Chestnut Gathering and local food potluck on November 2, 2013.)

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SALMON FILM FESTIVAL, Nov. 8 — Nov. 10th in

Portuguese Hall, Ft. Bragg. Here's what we're doing new this year:

• Cartoon hour on Saturday and Sunday from 10-11 am (vintage Disney, ocean acidification, farmed fish...)

• Free showing of Salmon on the Yemen on Friday at 8pm

• Chief Caleen Sisk of the Winnemem Wintu on Saturday at 5pm

• Theatre Troupe on Sunday at 3 pm

Plus a ton of other things. Check out our website at www.salmonfilmfestival.org

Any questions? Call me!

Jeanine Pfeiffer, Festival Coordinator: 707.969.7490

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THE CORPORATE STATE OF SURVEILLANCE

By Ralph Nader

America was founded on the ideals of personal liberty, freedom and democracy. Unfortunately, mass spying, surveillance and the unending collection of personal data threaten to undermine civil liberties and our privacy rights. What started as a necessary means of reconnaissance and intelligence gathering during World War II has escalated into an out-of-control snoop state where entities both governmental and commercial are desperate for as much data as they can grab. We find ourselves in the midst of an all-out invasion on what’s-none-of-their-business and its coming from both government and corporate sources. Snooping and data collection have become big business. Nothing is out of their bounds anymore.

The Patriot Act-enabled National Security Agency (NSA) certainly blazed one trail. The disclosures provided by Edward Snowden has brought into light the worst fears that critics of the overwrought Patriot Act expressed back in 2001. The national security state has given a blank check to the paranoid intelligence community to gather data on nearly everyone. Internet and telephone communications of millions of American citizens and millions more citizens and leaders of other countries. Even friendly ones such as Germany, France and Brazil have been surveillance targets –over 30 foreign leaders such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff have reportedly been targeted by this dragnet style data-collecting. More blatantly, covert devices were reportedly placed in European Union offices and earlier by Hillary Clinton’s State Department on the United Nations to eavesdrop on diplomats. World leaders are not pleased, to put it mildly.

Many Americans are not pleased either. And while most of the recent public outrage in the U.S. has been directed at instances of government snooping, giant private corporations are equally as guilty of the troubling invasion of peoples’ selves. Companies such as Google, Apple, Microsoft and Facebook blatantly collect and commercialize personal data — often covering their tracks with complicated fine-print user agreement contracts that most people, whose property it is, “agree” to without any consideration. Clicking “I agree” on an expansive, non-negotiable user agreement for a website or a software program is, to most people, just another mindless click of the mouse in the signup process.

These “take-it-or-leave-it” contracts leave the consumer with little power to protect their own interest. (See here for our extensive work on this issue. Also, visit “Terms of Service; Didn’t Read” for a valuable resource that summarizes and reviews online contracts so that users can have a better understanding of what they are agreeing to.)

Just last week, news broke that Google plans to roll out a new advertising feature called “Shared Endorsements.” This policy allows Google the right to create user endorsements in online advertisements. So, if a Googler happens to share their preference for a particular product online, his or her endorsement might end up featured in an ad without any notice or compensation. Of course, users are welcome to “opt-out” of this program — but how many millions will remain ignorant of the fact that they unwillingly opted-in by clicking their consent to contract terms they did not bother to read out of habit. (Google’s official statement claims the move is to “ensure that your recommendations reach the people you care about.”)

Opting-out should be the default option for all these types of agreements.

School children are also being targeted by mass data collectors. InBloom, a nonprofit organization based in Atlanta, offers a database solution for student records between grades K-12. In theory, this service is supposed to make it easier for teachers to utilize emerging educational products and tools. But in practice, many parents are concerned about how this data will be used — in one instance, for example, student social security numbers were uploaded to the service. One parent told the New York Times:

It’s a new experiment in centralizing massive metadata on children to share with vendors… and then the vendors will profit by marketing their learning products, their apps, their curriculum materials, their video games, back to our kids.

Facebook poses another data mining risk for young children. Although Facebook does not currently allow children younger than 13 to join — the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act prevents the online collection of data of children without parental permission — reportedly more than five million underage children use the social media website anyway. This exposes them (and their personal information) to thousands of advertisers that use Facebook to collect marketing data and promote their products. See the Center for Digital Democracy’s recent report “Five Reasons Why Facebook is Not Suitable For Children Under 13.” Notably, Facebook recently changed their privacy policy to allow teenagers between the ages of 13 and 17 to opt-in to sharing their postings with the entire world, as opposed to just their “friend network.”

The insatiable appetite for data is reaching beyond the digital realm, as well.

The Washington Post recently reported that Mondelez International, the company behind snack brands like Chips Ahoy and Ritz, has plans to deploy electronic camera sensors in snack food shelves to collect shopper data. These “smart shelves” can scan and save a customer’s facial structure, age, weight and even detect if they picked something up off the shelf. The device can then use that gathered data to target the consumers with “personalized ads.” For example, at the checkout line, a video screen might offer you 10 percent off the box of cookies you picked up but ultimately chose not to purchase. The Post reports: “The company expects the shelf to help funnel more of the right products to the right consumers, and even convince undecideds to commit to an impulse buy.”

The smart shelf builds on the Microsoft “Kinect” camera technology, which has the ability to scan and remember faces, detect movement and even read heart beats. Microsoft developed the Kinect camera as a video game control device for the home. In light of Microsoft’s reported connection to the NSA PRISM data gathering program, why would anyone willingly bring such a sophisticated spy cam into their living room?

Along the same lines, certain retailers are using smart phones to track the movement of customers in their store to gather information on what products they look at and for how long — similar to how Amazon tracks online shopper habits so it can direct them to other products that algorithms determine they might be interested in. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has called on the Federal Trade Commission to regulate this disturbing practice. He recently announced a deal with eight analytic companies to institute a “code of conduct” for utilizing this seemingly Orwellian technology. Sen. Schumer told the Associated Press: “When you go into your store for your Christmas shopping, there’ll be a sign out there that says that you’re being tracked and if you don’t want to be, you can very simply opt out.” The details on how exactly one opts-out of this invasive technology, short of leaving their cell phone at home, is not yet clear.

With all these instances of Big Brother encroachment, one might want to opt out of the digital world entirely, and avoid supermarkets and retail chains that spy on customers. Unfortunately, that is becoming more and more difficult in an increasingly technology-obsessed world.

It’s time for citizens to stand up and demand their right to privacy, which is a personal property. Mass surveillance and rampant data collection are not acceptable and should not be the status quo. Recall that there was once a time when the federal government could defend our nation without limitless access to computer records, emails, online search histories and wiretapping phone calls without open judicial authorization. Businesses could be successful without tracking and saving your shopping habits and student records were not commodities to be traded away. Why do they now do what they do? Because they can.

Remember, what you allow to be taken from you by the private companies can also end up in the files of government agencies.

This Saturday, a coalition of groups including the ACLU, Public Citizen, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), the Libertarian Party and many more are gathering on the National Mall to protest mass surveillance by the National Security Agency. This is a positive first step in letting our elected officials know that ceasing the collection of private personal information about you is important and mass surveillance should be prohibited. Visit here for more information about this weekend’s rally. Join the movement to end these burgeoning, tyranny-building abuses by runaway federal agencies.

(Ralph Nader is a consumer advocate, lawyer and author of Only the Super-Rich Can Save Us! He is a contributor to Hopeless: Barack Obama and the Politics of Illusion, published by AK Press. Hopeless is also available in a Kindle edition.)

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BAY DELTA CONSERVATION PLAN DOCUMENT RELEASE DELAYED TO DEC. 13

by Dan Bacher

It's official now — Bay Delta Conservation Plan officials announced yesterday that the release of the peripheral tunnel plan documents have been postponed until December 13, 2013.

The announcement takes place as state officials are amping up their campaign to convince the public of the “need” to build the twin tunnels by spending taxpayer dollars on high powered public relations firms and setting up Astroturf organization.

According to yesterday's announcement, “As a joint effort of state and federal agencies preparing the BDCP, the recent shutdown of the federal government and associated staff furloughs have delayed the development, review, and ultimately the release of the Public Draft Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) and Environmental Impact Report/ Environmental Impact Statement (EIR/EIS). The Public Draft BDCP and EIR/EIS are now scheduled for release on December 13, 2013 for 120 days of formal review.”

During the formal public review period running from December 13, 2013 to April 14, 2014, the public, agencies, and other interested parties will be able to access copies of the document online, in repositories throughout the state, and request copies for review.

“The State and Federal lead agencies also will hold a series of public meetings during January and February 2014 to provide information about the project and accept formal comments. Formal written comments on the Public Review Draft BDCP and EIR/EIS will be accepted during the official comment period and all significant environmental issues raised in comments received during the public review period will be addressed in the Final EIR/EIS. Details on how to provide comments will be available in December,” according to BDCP officials.

The end of the announcement claims, “No final decisions have been made regarding going forward with the BDCP or in selecting an alternative; those decisions will only occur after completion of the EIR/EIS processes.”

Actually, this is a false statement since BDCP officials, since the beginning of the process, have decided that a peripheral canal or tunnels is the “solution” to the “coequal goals” of “water supply reliability” and “ecosystem restoration,” instead of evaluating other alternatives, including the Environmental Water Caucus Reduced Exports Plan.

On the same day the delay was announced, Restore the Delta called upon the State of California to cease funding multiple public relations firms around the state to sell the Governor Jerry Brown's peripheral tunnels to export massive quantities of Delta water to corporate agribusiness interests.

“It is outrageous that taxpayers are paying for a statewide propaganda campaign for these unnecessary tunnels,” said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Executive Director of Restore the Delta. “These front groups have not disclosed that funding when pumping the tunnels. It’s unacceptable, especially since the State has said it has not yet chosen a preferred alternative.”

She asked, “How many firms and groups are being paid to pump this project? Has the Southern California Water Committee disclosed that the State is paying it to promote this project?”

The State has not disclosed its contracts with “community groups,” including the Southern California Water Committee, nor disclosed that PR firms, including Katz & Associates (San Diego) and Milagro Strategy Group (LA), are being paid to push the tunnels, according to Barrigan-Parrilla.

The Metropolitan Water District (MWD) reported to its BDCP committee on October 22 that they are working with a statewide network of State- paid Public Relations firms to sell the tunnels.

“The governor stacked the Resources Agency, and Department of Water Resources with dozens of flacks. Now they’re spending our tax funds to spread disinformation throughout the state through paid front groups and PR firms,” she said.

The tunnel plan is a badly-conceived Nineteenth Century “solution” to Twenty-First Century problems that will cost Californians an estimated $54.1 billion.

The construction of Governor Jerry Brown's peripheral tunnels would 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. It will take vast quantities of fertile Delta farmland out of agricultural production, under the guise of “habitat restoration,” to facilitate the diversion of massive quantities of water to irrigate corporate mega-farms on toxic, drainage impaired land on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley.

The report on the statewide propaganda campaign and the named firms can be viewed here (minute 34): http://mwdh2o.granicus.com/ MediaPlayer.php?view_id=12&clip_id=3325

For more information about Restore the Delta, go to http:// www.restorethedelta.org

For more information about the BDCP and the Environmental Review process, please visit: http://www.BayDeltaConservationPlan.com