Mendocino County Today: Friday 6/14/24

By AVA News Service on June 14, 2024

DRY WEATHER is expected through the weekend. Interior temperatures continue to trend down today, and are forecast to drop below seasonal normals this weekend. Much stronger westerly to northwesterly winds are expected this afternoon and Sunday afternoon. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): A cooler 46F with mostly clear skies this Friday morning on the coast. Clear skies & windy conditions are forecast for the next 3 days.

JIM SHIELDS:

The new owner of the Laytonville Long Valley Market, Haji Alam, said on my radio show last Saturday that the store should be re-opened by June 24th. He also said that the Market will not carry hardware and tool items as was the case with Geiger’s Market. Instead, the new Market will offer camping, picnicking, hunting and fishing items. He explained it didn’t make any sense to him to compete with the existing Building Supply and Nursery operated by Lurane Dalton, selling hardware and tool items. I’ve been able to verify that most, if not all, former Market employees have been contacted regarding job offers. Alam also said he plans to apply for a County permit to open and operate a gas station on the Market property. He already owns the former Strider Real Estate property, located next door (immediately to the south) of the Market. He plans to demolish the old building and expand the Market’s parking lot. The gas station will be sited on the northwest corner of the parking lot. Of course, this proposed project will have to go through the County’s Planning and Building process for final approvals.

Another quick note: It appears that Caltrans will not require a center turn lane for the proposed Big Daddy’s Garden Supply at the north end of town.

JOHN H. PERRILL, poet: June 15, 1938 - June 11, 2024

CHAY PETERSON (facebook): I just got word that our wonderful valley elder Barbara Lamb will be undergoing surgery tomorrow morning in Pasadena and her family is hoping for some prayers and loving well wishes. PM me if you’d like her # to call or text.

HOSPICE OF UKIAH WEB HELP!

The Hospice of Ukiah Website is sadly out of date and needs a facelift. There has been no time, with all the transitions to take care of this. Carole and I are extremely busy taking care of immediate problems.

Do any of you have experience, or are willing to go online and learn, WordPress. It's a simple program, but has had many updates since I last used it. Or, do you know anyone willing to volunteer to help with this.

Carole Brodsky
Executive Director, Hospice of Ukiah
(707) 462-4038

AV SKATEPARK PROJECT

First week of summer break and… there's not much to do. AV teens are wishing we had a skatepark!!

Luckily we're getting closer and closer to making it happen. Right now:

The wonderful folks over at Frontier Skateparks are finishing up the technical construction documents.
Our wonderful civil engineer Tyler Pearson at Cornerstone Civil Design is completing the final drainage plan design to fix the park's drainage problems and also deal with skatepark runoff.
And our wonderful architect Alex Korn will be updating our site plan and submitting our permitting application in August (!).

We have $370,000 raised towards our goal and are working with folks in the community to hone the scope and budget for our project. Thanks for staying tuned.

LOCAL EVENTS (this weekend)

EL NIÑO IS OVER —LA NIÑA EXPECTED SOON

by Jack Lee

El Niño is officially over.

The Climate Prediction Center announced Thursday that waters in the eastern equatorial Pacific, which are warmer-than-average during El Niño, have cooled to “neutral,” or near-normal temperatures. Sea surface temperatures are expected to continue to drop in the coming months, with a 65% chance of La Niña developing by the period from July to September and lasting through the winter.

Warmer-than-average sea surface temperatures associated with El Niños can produce rising air that has big effects on global weather. El Niño winters typically bring wetter-than-normal conditions to Central and Southern California.

This was the case for much of the state in 2024, with more than 6 inches of rain falling in both January and February in San Francisco, well above 1991-2020 averages closer to 4 inches.

El Niño has been fading in recent months as waters in the equatorial Pacific have cooled.

“There may be some lingering heat in the global atmosphere,” said Michelle L’Heureux, a climate scientist with the Climate Prediction Center. “But, past that, the impacts that we normally see associated with El Niño are pretty much gone.”

The cycle of warming and cooling eastern equatorial Pacific waters makes up the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, also known as ENSO. The climate pattern swings back and forth between El Niño and La Niña, with intervening periods of near-normal sea surface temperatures described as “ENSO neutral.”

During this phase, “there is very little or no pushing on the global atmosphere from the tropical Pacific,” explained L’Heureux. “That means the atmosphere-ocean system can vary more freely and in a way that isn’t necessarily predictable.”

Transition to La Niña

A 2020 study reported that from 1950 to 2014, the swing from El Niño to La Niña was associated with warmer-than-average summer temperatures east of the Rocky Mountains, especially over the Midwest.

That’s despite a weaker influence from El Niño and La Niña on weather in the summer, said Bor-Ting Jong, a climate scientist at Princeton University and lead author of the study.

Atmospheric perturbations from both a fading El Niño and developing La Niña can produce a stronger combined effect that influences temperatures, Jong explained. Though for California, the data “didn’t really consistently show a warming or cooling pattern,” Jong said.

Forecasters are expecting La Niña to develop during the period from July to September, with an over 80% chance of continuing through the winter. There is also a 27% chance that this La Niña could be strong from November to January, with sea surface temperatures in the eastern equatorial Pacific more than 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit below average.

La Niña is associated with drier-than-average winter weather across the lower tier of the United States, including Central and Southern California, especially during stronger events. The phenomenon typically brings wetter-than-normal conditions to the Pacific Northwest, which can bleed down into the northern reaches of California.

While this is still many months out, the Climate Prediction Center forecast for this winter calls for drier-than-average conditions for California, south of around the Bay Area.

(SF Chronicle)

Mother and Baby at East Fork of the Russian River (Jeff Goll)

SUPERVISOR MULHEREN on the benefits of the Tax Sharing Agreement:

Benefits:

Improved Service Delivery: Efficiently aligns tax revenue with service obligations, enhancing municipal services and reducing unsustainable budget pressures on the County.
Economic and Housing Development: Facilitates planned growth, expanding housing and business opportunities, and driving economic resilience.
Equity for Underserved Communities: Targets investments in infrastructure for disadvantaged areas, promoting equitable development.
Regional Fairness: Establishes consistent tax sharing provisions across all cities, preventing competition for tax revenue and ensuring fair treatment for all residents.

KEN MCCORMICK

Read Second district Supervisor for Ukiah Maureen Mulheren’s facebook post (I have tagged her personal account because she has blocked this group from her Supes account) to undersatnd how she treats businesses and those who question failed policy. I refuse to accept the excuses and invite all who want to join me to formally request action or step aside and resign. Ukiah is becoming a wasteland of vacant buildings and growing vagrancy. We will no longer allow these civil servants to ignore it, claim they cannot change it, and make excuses for the bad behavior that is impacting the public in Ukiah:

This is all a complete wasted effort the streets and sidewalks will end up filled with skid marks from our increasing vagrant population.

Maureen "Mo" Mulheren - Mendocino Second District Supervisor

Since we spoke about your business I’ve been taking the time to check in and make sure there’s not loitering occurring (and if there was to see what I could do to help) funny thing though, I haven’t seen anyone in front of your business. Do we have people that have active addictions? Yes. Do we have people that lack housing? Yes. Do I think that taking pictures of people at their most vulnerable state and posting it online is ethical? No.

There are hundreds of people in our community that work every day to try and help people get off the streets (or not get on them in the first place) but that doesn’t mean that all of the rest of the improvements in our community should stop until it’s “solved.” I’m sorry that your business has struggled but I don’t think what you are doing is ok.

Ken McCormick

Instead of taking the time to drive by, simply check the booking logs and you will see this person was arrested 2 days ago, no thanks to you. The issues surrounding City of Ukiah and your district are the result of the weak policy you have encouraged and supported. This is what Ukiah gets from relying on you. Thanks for the sentiments but if you don’t like what you see clean it up. I have given you examples of multiple cities the size of Ukiah that do not have this problem. This is your failure, you have the power to change it and don’t have the courage to do so. We will remain vigilant to keep T-Up customers comfortable and secure. As for the business Essence Roberson is the owner, she just celebrated her 1st year in operation March 2nd with Ukiah first Jazz Festival where 16 musicians from around the country performed; 10,000th golfer; 4th series of Escape Rooms; sang backup with a prodigy artist recorded in the T-Lounge; donated the T-Up portable course to sober grad SCRAM, and sold out cotton candy at concerts in the park last night. Shame on you for trying to create negativity for the only business of its kind to serve the families of your community. Instead of making excuses for addicts that are destroying property do the job you are paid to do like the public servant you are or step aside and let someone else do it.

Mulheren

Can you please tell me which policy it is that you think has created this problem and what role I specifically played in it? Just trying to better understand why you think one person is responsible for a community problem decades in the making.

McCormick

Here you go lying and gas lighting again. Who said business was struggling? Shame on you! Business is fine, but the support we get from the city is piss poor. If you have driven by that parking lot and claim to have not seen vagrants, then I question if you were I. The right place because activity has been high this week. If you are unable to impose change, then shut up! Why criminalize people who pay and work to make this community better. Maybe you should step down. You may have a conflict of interest. You have already admitted to hanging down and socializing with the vagrant population, which is not something advised.

Instead of calling people out to answer for policy questions, why don’t you list ANYTHING you have done to address the issues instead of make excuses for people who choose to do drugs and assail the public. Starting to think if this problem actually gets addressed, some “well to do” people in this city will lose access to their drug dealer.

I can’t stand liars and you are blatant with it, which is what makes it so offensive. If you have driven by T-Up, how did you miss the lady who was running around naked, the huge blue bus with the white top that is literally a drug bus, it cruises through town and when it stops better believe there are at least 5-6 people at a time in the bus getting high.

And they buy the drugs with the money they get from The bullshit programs that are doing nothing but coddling The behavior. I hope we get someone to run against you that has some morals, not sure how you even post the bs that you do with a straight face. I’d advise you refrain from gas lighting my business, I already have had to persevere through all the many Things the city has done to keep me from being successful, and I have risen above anyway! We have a great place that has become important to so many in the community despite you and others like you that have never supported my business and tried to sabotage it in the shadows.

Well please know that I see you, the bad haircuts, lazy comb overs and bad policy. Interesting you drive by but never came in; you are a joke.

I have already shared with you what other cities have implemented that do not tolerate this kind of behavior. Coronado is one, nearby Healdsburg is another. The proof of this only requires a visit to compare. You currently represent Ukiah at the county level and were our rep on the city council over multiple terms. You have been instrumental in shaping county and city policy involving this issue by supporting and voting for the current policies that have failed. This is the single most important issue facing the city and county yet it is rarely on agenda. The services and funding you support and have voted for enable street life; continuing a cycle of perpetual torture and slow death for many. Instead of cutting services that provide for a miserable existence which would force many who refuse to seek help i.e. cold beats crazy — they are encouraged to live outdoors with tents, blankets, free phones, cash for drugs, and more like the pictured individual herein taken today alongside the business you claim has no vagrants. While you may not currently sit on city council you have the means to encourage policy change such as strict no encampments, arrests for panhandling, trespassing, and other violent crimes that seem to never be pursued. You have the means to call the DA and courts to require submitting to rehab programs to forego sentencing i.e. drug court. You do not and have not supported these policies changes for the district and city you have represented over the years that this has progressed. Instead your reaction is to accuse me of being unethical for shedding the light on the human degradation caused by the policies you support. Bottom line is you represent the men, women, and children who live in this community and have the power to change it and you have not.

PRECEDENT SETTING

To the Editor:

Finally!

Vichy Springs Resort prevailed against Mendocino County -- decision many years in the making and which defended Vichy Springs Resort from the knuckleheads at County of Mendocino and the City of Ukiah.

The First District Court of Appeal just held that "the completion of project does not render CEQA violation claims moot so long as effectual mitigation measures remain available."

Not only has this case been featured in many current law school studies and subsequently mentioned by lawyers and students therein, a blog managed by a well-regarded land use and environmental law firm on significant new CEQA and land use court opinions also just featured this case:

https://blog.aklandlaw.com/2024/06/articles/first-district-court-of-appeal-holds-completion-of-project-does-not-render-ceqa-violation-claims-moot-so-long-as-effectual-mitigation-measures-remain-available/

The publication of the appellate court decision is a big deal, meaning it sets precedent for judges and lawyers and their clients in similar situations.

Similar situations?

Yes. Similar situations. Vichy Springs Resort had been singled out by the County of Mendocino and the City of Ukiah for malicious prosecution. I was interested in this case for years and filed numerous grand jury complaints, but the county grand jury was prohibited from investigating because the case was “ongoing litigation.”

I hope this precedent will be of help to others that find themselves in the situation of being bullied by the county and/or the city.

The case has practical applications for cannabis farmers fighting similar CEQA and land use battles against incompetent county bureaucrats.

John Sakowicz

Ukiah

THE WORLD’S LARGEST SALMON BBQ

Saturday, July 6, 2024. South Noyo Harbor, Fort Bragg

The World’s Largest Salmon Barbecue is held each year on the first Saturday of July, with great food, live music and all proceeds going to the Salmon Restoration Association to improve salmon populations along the Mendocino County coast. The meal features grilled wild caught salmon, fresh corn on the cob, salad, and local bread from Fort Bragg Bakery. Coffee is provided by Thanksgiving Coffee. A variety of craft brews from North Coast Brewery can also be purchased.

CATCHY TITLE; BAD POLICY

Editor,

It is becoming obvious we are all simply spectators in the social experiment which is playing out in California. Over the past several years residents of our state have continued to suffer from the effects of Proposition 47, which was sold as the “Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act.” This legislation was clearly set in place to reduce the population of prisons across the state by placing state prison inmates into county jails and rewriting laws making many criminals ineligible to receive meaningful consequences for many crimes. This legislation was sold to the voters through a catchy title which simply wasn’t true. Law enforcement clearly warned our legislators this would negatively affect public safety, but our words fell on deaf ears.

This legislation redefined burglaries and removed penalties for aggregate offenses which basically means a person can enter a business 20 times in a day, commit 20 thefts under $950 in a day and receive 20 citations. However, at no point would it become a felony and at no point can we arrest for these crimes; they simply get citations. This has been a terrible problem for retailers and in our area many of these retailers are family businesses.

Narcotics overdoses are killing many every year in our state and in Mendocino County. I think we can all see this legislation was lacking. Many of our retailers have moved to placing items behind security barriers and chaining up retail merchandise. We are also seeing severely addicted persons in homeless situations across the state. Unintended consequences are glaringly apparent.

After several attempts by legislators to clean up this problem were shot down in Sacramento, a new solution in the form of a ballot initiative was brought forward by Californians for Safer Communities, a bipartisan group made up of law enforcement, elected officials and businesses. Over 900,000 signatures in support of the measure have been collected hoping to roll back parts of Proposition 47.

This initiative is an opportunity for all of us in California to fix the laws and to get back to a balanced place where we have accountability and meaningful consequences which include treatment. This would also provide our judges with options for those who simply refuse take any responsibility for their actions. This ballot initiative is currently gaining momentum. Until now I believed Californians would be able to vote on this issue.

On June 10th Governor Newsom was quoted as saying “We don’t need to have this on the ballot.” Now we are seeing what many lawmakers are calling “political gamesmanship at its worst.” Many legislators don’t want this issue to be brought to the ballot. These folks have ignored the facts and now want to ignore the public. Taking this decision out of the hands of our voters is wrong. Have our legislators spoken with the victims of crime? These folks obviously haven’t and they are currently placing criminals above victims once again.

If legislators truly wanted to fix these issues, why did they kill bills which were taking steps to do so prior to the ballot initiative gaining the signatures needed to put it on the ballot? This is obviously a refusal to walk back bad legislation and allow the people who are affected by this to be heard.

If these issues are to be truly fixed, we have to get to the root of the problem. This will only be possible with education, opportunity, and accountability, in equal parts. Sadly these appear to be the three things California constantly struggles with.

In rural communities opportunities are often lacking, we constantly see jobs being legislated out of existence and California’s regulations killing businesses at an incredible pace. Is anyone looking at this?

Has Sacramento forgotten that stealing is wrong? Have they not heard fentanyl is killing people every day? As we continue to push forward with legislation which claims that suspects are victims and forgets victims exist, I am fearful problems will continue to grow.

I would invite everyone to pay attention to this legislative session, and to ask yourself if you agree with the direction we are heading in Sacramento. Without the voices of our voters, we are simply watching a well-orchestrated play which depicts a land headed to hell in a hand basket. Sadly we in Mendocino County are riding in the basket with the rest of the state.

Here is a link to an interesting article from the San Francisco Chronicle which talks about some of these issues.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/emilyhoeven/article/prop-47-ballot-california-19507776.php

Sheriff Matt Kendall

Ukiah

Big River Beach, Mendocino Coast (photo by Cal Winslow)

ANDERSON VALLEY BREWING WINS LAWSUIT

A California superior court judge has sided with Anderson Valley Brewing Company’s (AVBC) parent company Mainsheet Capital in a dispute with Reyes Holdings subsidiary Harbor Distributing/Golden Brands.

At issue in phase one of the trial was the definition of a “beer manufacturer” and a “successor beer manufacturer” under the California Alcoholic Beverage Control Act and whether Mainsheet was a successor beer manufacturer ahead of the acquisition of the brewery.…

https://www.brewbound.com/news/judge-rules-in-favor-of-anderson-valley-in-lawsuit-with-reyes-harbor

NEW GRAPHIC NOVEL FROM CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED WRITER

(March 18, 2024) Publishing this May, My Fairy Godfather underscores what many parents know and what new-to-parenting guardians may quickly discover: that lying beneath the façade of teenage cynicism is the profound desire to be understood and loved. Reeling from the death of her parents in a car crash, teenage Billie travels over the rainbow and under tangled concrete overpasses from her native Austin, Texas to the improbably named town of Liberal, Kansas. Her plan is to live with her godfather, Adam, a lonely gay film geek stuck inside a jock’s body. Adam and his partner Steven run the Starlite, a movie theater and safe haven for their eccentricities and artistic yearnings.

Liberal, the adopted home of Oz’s Dorothy, is also home to small-town intolerance. But Billie is still able to find kindred spirits: Clara — a goth, lesbian Dorothy impersonator who’s used to being an outsider — and Dylan — a teen who finds himself caught between his old allegiance to rigid cliques and his magnetic attraction to this new girl who rocks Frida Kahlo tees and cowboy boots.

It’s the story of grief, love, friendship, compromise, support, acceptance, and finding the path to one’s true self.

About The Author:

Robert Mailer Anderson is a San Francisco-based writer, producer, and activist. Among other honors, he is a San Francisco Library Laureate. His other works include the novel Boonville and the graphic novel Windows on the World, as well as a play entitled The Death of Teddy Ballgame. He also cowrote the films Pig Hunt and Windows on the World.

About The Artist:

Jon Sack is a US- and UK-based artist and writer. He graduated with an MFA from Goldsmiths College in 2006, and his work has been published and covered internationally. His comic books include La Lucha, which is about violence in Juárez and the lawyers working to combat it, and Iraqi Oil for Beginners, about the complicated history of oil in Iraq.

To learn more: www.jonsack.com

Publisher: ‎ Fantagraphics Underground; First edition (May 21,2024)

Paperback: ‎ 144 pages

ISBN-10: ‎ 1683969804

ISBN-13: ‎ 978-1683969808

Books available nationwide at bookstores and online.

What inspired the book?

The genesis of My Fairy Godfather character traces back to the birth of my niece, Audrey, and the unique familial dynamics that unfolded within my own family. Reflecting on the hypothetical scenario of Audrey being orphaned and raised by her godfather, a manager at the Castro Theater in San Francisco, sparked the initial concept for my book. Drawing from personal experiences and observations, I envisioned an alternate life path for Audrey, exploring themes of family, tragedy, and resilience.

How did you choose the setting of the book?

The choice of setting for my book was a deliberate reflection of what I perceived as a microcosm of America, representing a significant portion of its cultural and social fabric. After careful consideration, I stumbled upon Liberal, Kansas, despite its paradoxical name not aligning with typical liberal ideologies. However, the town's connection to Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, alongside its vibrant Dorothy theme park and festival, intrigued me. With the LGBTQ+ community’s long standing reverance to the legacy of Judy Garland, I felt compelled to situate my narrative within this unique backdrop.

How did you create the character Billy?

The creation of the main character, Billy, was a multifaceted process influenced by various aspects of my life and relationships. Initially inspired by my niece Audrey, and as a father of teenage daughters, my emotional investment in the character stemmed from contemplating their hypothetical experiences if they were ever separated from me. Billy exudes an alternative vibe, reflecting the aesthetic I observed in my daughters and their friends.

It’s interesting that music and film are an intricate part of your story. How did you come to that?

The rendition of Somewhere Over the Rainbow, a meaningful anthem within the LGBTQ+ community, has been sung by my daughters for years, and organically became a cornerstone in shaping Billy's identity. This mix of musical influence and personal observation, alongside a nod to the Molly Ringwald-esque thrift store style, seamlessly integrates into the vibrant backdrop of Austin, a city known for its boot-clad coolness and eclectic charm. As someone immersed in the music scene, from leading successful campaigns for cultural institutions like the SF Jazz Center to producing acclaimed jazz albums, music isn't just a passion—it's a guiding force for Billy's character.

What was it like writing a graphic novel after you success with your novel Boonville?

Novels are probably the toughest. It's a solitary road until you've got an editor, just you and the words grinding away. I'm all about those digressions that build a whole universe, but they don't exactly fit the A, B, C of a screenplay. Comics are in this sweet spot between writing a novel and making a movie. I really enjoyed woking with Jon, my illustrator.

Who is this book for?

This book is written for the moviegoers at the Castro Theater, a historic venue in San Francisco known for showcasing retro films with LGBTQ+ themes. It's dedicated to those who found solace in the darkness of the theater and emerged into the light with a new perspective. While it's intended for older audiences who lived through those experiences, it's also suitable for precocious 16-year-olds and up. The goal is to break down stereotypes and portray people as individuals, transcending conventional themes to focus on authentic storytelling.

The book explores identity and includes a lot of outsiders. Why is that important to you?

I'm really fascinated by how society labels people and how that can clash with their true selves. Like in Windows on the World, the main character's Mexican identity suddenly becomes a big deal when he crosses the border, even though he never saw it that way before. And in My Fairy Godfather, Adam's whole identity gets overshadowed by his sexuality, which isn't fair. It's something I've noticed in my own life too—I can define myself more freely than some of my characters. These conflicts and complexities, like intimacy issues, are what I love exploring in my writing, sparking conversations about how we portray people in stories.

MACKERRICHER STATE PARK: A WALK ON THE COOL SIDE

by Justine Frederiksen

There is no shortage of cool places to walk on the Mendocino Coast, so when you need a break from the heat in the Ukiah Valley, just about any spot you pick on the western half of Mendocino County will offer a nice respite.

But arguably one of the coolest, in all senses of the word, places to walk is on the boardwalk at MacKerricher State Park, which is located along Highway One just north of Fort Bragg.

Why? Well, first of all, day use at the park is free, so you can enjoy all the amenities of a state park, like convenient parking, restrooms and trash cans, without paying an entrance fee.

And once you’ve parked, preferably at the Laguna Point lot closest to the boardwalk, you’ll quickly discover the other reasons why MacKerricher offers one of the coolest walks anywhere, let alone In Mendocino County: Sweeping views of the Pacific Ocean reached by a flat, easy stroll on a boardwalk, where you can safely and peacefully meander along the rugged cliffs of the Mendocino Coast without twisting your ankles or getting your shoes wet. Best of all, those shoes could even be flip-flops!

Loren Rex, Chief Ranger for the Sonoma-Mendocino Coast District State Parks, who said

he grew up “just outside the park,” estimated that the boardwalk was first built in the early 1990s, but that over the years it has been repaired and upgraded to keep it in good shape.

Another boardwalk in the park, which used to border nearby Lake Cleone and its wetlands, offered another cool walk, but that structure unfortunately has not been repaired after becoming too unsafe to walk on several years ago.

Rex said he “had a group of volunteers willing to try and restore” the lake boardwalk, but that the repairs were put on hold pending studies to determine the extent the rising sea level will have on the park. When asked if he knew when the study was expected to be completed, Rex said he did not.

When asked if day use parking is always free there, Rex said it was, and that of the “17 designated park units on the Mendocino Coast, only three collect day use fees.” Those three are the interior parking lot in Van Damme State Park (it’s free to park west of the kiosk in the beach lot), Russian Gulch State Park, and Hendy Woods State Park in Philo.

Another free amenity offered at MacKerricher is a beach wheelchair, which the park website reports is “available upon request for use at California State Park beaches in the Mendocino coast area.

Call (707) 937-5721 at least seven days in advance to reserve the beach wheelchair. Please note the wheelchair does not fold up and you will need a truck or SUV to transport the wheelchair from the kiosk or Visitor Center to the beach.”

JEREMY JAMES (facebook)

Looking for a cheap operational treadmill. Fort Bragg Area

SHEEP TIGHT!

Spend the Night at Sheep Dung Properties in Boonville

You’re not going to have to count sheep to get a good night’s sleep at Sheep Dung’s beautiful property in Anderson Valley near Boonville. Sheep Dung is indeed a memorable name, and that suits this place perfectly: four modern cottages—tucked far apart from each other among 500 acres of rolling hills—create blissful solitude. And it's dog-friendly!

Couples will like the highest cottage in the area: “The Oaks” is spacious inside and out, with sweeping valley views enhanced by oak trees dotting the hillsides.

“The Breezeway” is a two-bedroom cottage that’s decked out, as in two decks to spread out on for some serious lounging. Whichever cottage you go for, you’re not going to go wrong … they’ve all got the goods with kitchens and barbecue spaces.

It’s really just a matter of how much room you want, and what’s available! These private gems can book out fast.

All the beautiful outdoors scenery flows indoors too because the cottages are almost exclusively windows where it counts! Not to worry though, you still get premier privacy, other than a quail or two sauntering across the grass or other birds flying by for a quick hi.

Adirondacks are set towards views of the famous wine valley below, with seclusion coming from the surrounding scenery of waving tall grasses and foothills, some being quietly groomed by… what else, sheep.

Mornings are peaceful as you sip coffee from the tranquility of your abode, and after a day of wine tasting or hiking in redwoods at nearby Hendy Woods State Park, come back and soak in a sunset from your patio, then grill up some dinner and open those bottles of Anderson Valley pinots!

On clear nights, the sky is a marvel of crisp stars, so sit back and stare at the cosmos before turning in for the night, to sheep tight!

Sheep Dung Properties’ cottages are collectively under the umbrella name of The Other Place, located two and a half hours north of San Francisco, 1.2 miles up a country road off Hwy. 128 just east of Boonville. Reservations can be made by calling (707) 895-3979. Anderson Valley Market in Boonville has food and drinks, or bring your own. Sheep Dung is dog-friendly!

LIFE IS ROYAL AT THE ROYAL

Motel life? How is it suiting you, Craig? More peaceful than Bridges?

The Royal Motel room is a double (2 queen size beds), Fridgidaire air conditioning, Sceptre color large TV screen, full sized refrigerator (bag o' ice in the top) loaded with deli food and rehydrating beverages, and a tub in the bathroom for soaking. Plus the new ASUS X515 computer and attenuating foldable Walmart furniture, a clamp on LED light bought at Friedman's for reading in bed, 2 pair of new shoes, and the new Body Armour eye glasses ordered from Dr. Dale Spencer ( the only Mendo optometrist who takes MediCal). Motel Life! P.S. Two more dental appointments (which are paid for) upcoming. That's it, amigo.

Prior to Non-Duality

Sitting still at Ocean Beach

In a circle made in the sand

Horseback riders trot on by

Beachcombers intently sandcastling

Above, dragon kites duel in the sky

Afternoon disappears and a dark night

Appears with the thick fog rolled in

Great Highway lights are dots and

Nobody's around, except at the Cliff House

Maya is neither real nor unreal; it's a mystery

— Craig Louis Stehr

ADVANCED NOTICE

Warmest spiritual greetings,

Please be advised that I will be in Ukiah, California until August 5th, and after that am free to go where I need to go and do what I need to do. Already the paranoiacs are encircling, warning me that if I selfishly enjoy being in the comfort zone for eight weeks and idiotically do nothing about obtaining housing, then I will be seriously at risk henceforth with suicide as my only option.

I cannot possibly tell you how very much I love living in postmodern America. After all, I could follow the advice of one of the finer fentanyl smoking local examples of schizophrenia, who cornered me at a crowded bus stop today, and informed me that my fortunes would change if only I started voting republican! Aside from the fact that the current representatives of republicanism are making Nixon look reasonable, if I would only help put them in power, then they would take care of me.

Maybe it is now time to break out of the confines of the mundane, and collectively be a spiritually guided force on planet earth. After all, "destroying the demonic and returning this world to righteousness" is the role of the avatar. It says so in the Bhagavad Gita, and no less than Krishna is the speaker. Consider this.

There is time, but the clock is ticking…

Craig Louis Stehr
Royal Motel
750 S. State Street, Ukiah, CA 95482
Telephone: (707) 462-7536 Room 206
Email: craiglouisstehr@gmail.com

*Daughter of Ceph Holland getting water.* (31 August 1946)

ED NOTES

WAY BACK I tried to get a look at the Satan files maintained by the Mendocino County Sheriff's Department only to be informed, "Sorry, since there were accusations of murder the case is technically still open so you can't read the files."

SOME OF US will recall the Satanist national hysteria of the 1980s, which took hold big time in Fort Bragg. The allegation was that devil worshippers were molesting and even murdering children in their ceremonies. Freud might be able unravel the deep perv-brain that could imagine this complicated evil, but Fort Bragg hysterics, supported by County social workers and therapists (!), claimed local toddlers were being helicoptered from daycare up the coast, ceremonially violated, then flown back to daycare in time for their parents to pick them up after work.

THE SEQUESTERED FILES must certainly contain a lot of the names of the screwballs, many of them public employees, who were promoting the non-existent phenomenon, hence the secrecy.

THE COAST BRANCH of the Satanist hysteria resulted in a modern-day witch hunt that saw the very real persecutions of several local women, two of whom, the Orr sisters of Fort Bragg, were driven from the area by death threats; they lost everything they had, including one sister's young daughter whom the county's helping professionals saved from Satan by taking her away from her mother and placing her in Trinity School, Ukiah, where she was raped and otherwise severely abused by older "children."

I BRING UP BEELZEBUB up simply to remind the smiley face mentalities how close we are to the tom-toms and chicken bones rattling in coffee cans, and to cite a salutary article that appeared in Science News ritten by Betty L. Bottoms, a professor at the University of Illinois, an expert in sex offenses committed by pedophiles. She writes: "…… the surveys uncovered no abuse by Satanic cults, a practice that received much publicity several years ago. More children are abused in the name of God than in the name of Satan."

MENDOCINO COUNTY Sheriff Tony Craver, a supervising sergeant with the Sheriff's Department in 1983, laughs as he remembers Fort Bragg's great Satanist hysteria. “Oh yeah,” Craver snorts. "To give you an idea of what we had to investigate, the mother of a 4-year-old told me her child, ‘who does not lie,’ up around Abalobadiah off Highway One, the boy was taken by submarine to an amusement park in a secret cavern under the bluffs where he was forced to perform in pornographic movies. It was all I could do to stay on my chair while mom told me all this. We couldn't find one shard of evidence to support any of the accusations going around. Kids — little kids — would say things like, ‘Debbie killed Bobby, and then she poured blood all over him and he would be ok again.’ Lots of mothers actually believed this Twilight Zone stuff. It was blown out of all proportion.”

https://theava.com/archives/70409

THE LATE ARLINE DAY, a Point Arena-Boonville old timer, aptly described summer fogs as “hot fogs,” meaning that the inland heat seems to overpower them before they can cool us off here in Anderson Valley.

FRISCO old timers call the fog, Karl? Never heard that before, and I landed in San Francisco in 1942.

DENIS JOHNSON, no longer with us, is a well-known writer who lived in Boonville and Point Arena long enough to be so horrified by Ukiah that he wrote a play set in the Mendocino County seat. It's called “Shoppers Carried By Escalators Into the Flames” and, according to the review blurb in the New Yorker, it's “faux Shepard meets low-rent O'Neill and the results aren't pretty. A blue collar family, some hangers-on, and a barking Chihuahua gather for a revelatory night at the home of the dad, Oliver Wendell Homes Cassandra, in Ukiah, California.”

SPEAKING of our beloved county seat, is there still a plaque at the Courthouse's west entrance inscribed, “The Mendocino County Superior Court is an active member of the California Chamber of Commerce, June - December 2002”?

OUR MEMBERS ARE THE UCCA!

If you have already become a member for our star-studded upcoming season, thank you very much!--we know you'll be thrilled by the performances we've selected. Please note that you can expect to receive your membership card by mid-September since we go to print at the end of our membership drive. Not a season member yet? You can purchase your season ticket on the UCCA website, and we thank you in advance because that is how we are able to pay the deposits to our artists. For 2024-25 (November through May) the cost for the season is still just $120 for four fabulous concerts! You can also make a donation to the UCCA on on our site if you wish. It is donations that enable us to finance the balance of artist fees, pay production, printing, and rental expenses, and continue our Educational Outreach programs for local students. For more information, contact the UCCA at 707-463-2738 or email us at info@ukiahconcerts.org Whether you're a season member or an individual ticket holder, we're looking forward to celebrating great music together with you! The UCCA Board of Directors Thank you for supporting the UCCA! Stay connected through our website, ukiahconcerts.org.

— Ukiah Community Concert Association | PO Box 844 | Ukiah

GOING DEEP IN 2002

Editor,

You call the left a non-existent entity. This may throw much of your readership into a crisis of self-identity. Perhaps I can be of some assistance with the following quiz:

If you think the United States was more responsible for the cold-war than the Soviet Union then you may be a leftie.

If you think that:

South Korea invaded North Korea,
Mumia is innocent along with Alger Hiss, the Rosenbergs, and Pretty Boy Floyd,
Professor Angela Davis was innocent and now is a notable scholar,
Christian fundamentalism is more of a threat to freedom than Islamic fundamentalism,
It was OK for the International Women’s Conference to be held in a country that systematically murders infant females,
The US has been harder on the environment than any nation that ever had the word Socialist in its name,
Israel attacked the Arabs in 1967 (not to mention 1948, 1956 and 1973),
In the Soviet Union mistakes were made,

…then you may be a leftie.

If you scored more than 50% on this quiz you’re not just a leftie, but a hopeless idiot as well.

Bob Trupin

Comptche

Ed reply: Here goes, Bob, and thanks for your concern:

Yes, the US and the rest of the capitalist world kicked off the Cold War, not that the Bolsheviks would have become any more like democratic socialists if international capitalism hadn't tried to smother their revolution in its cradle.
I don't “believe” South Korea invaded North Korea. Never have; never thought it was a question of religion, either.
Mumia, Hiss, the Rosenbergs are and were guilty. Hiss and the Rosenbergs, I confess, had me on the fence for years, and I think Mumia ought to get a new trial, although he and the screwball cult Mumia belonged to at the time he shot and killed the cop made a farce out of his first trial. There was no excuse for the execution of the Rosenbergs, however, since they hadn't told the Russians anything the Russians didn't already know. Pretty Boy Floyd did the best he could for his friends and family during the Great Depression. Never has been anything wrong with freelance re-distribution of the wealth, especially when it's concentrated in the wrong hands, as it was then and is now.
Professor Davis was guilty as hell but is now, my friend, a living tribute to the inspirational magnanimity of our fine, fat country! Where else can one pick up the gun and win a second home in the glorious hills of Anderson Valley, a Mercedes SUV and a cush job at Santa Cruz wowing hippie kids? I'm not competent to judge the professor's scholarship, but I've heard she's a truly excellent teacher.
The two fundamentalisms are spiritually identical, the diff being that our fundies are much less energetic than theirs. But all fundamentalisms are murderously the same, including the one that drives you, Bob, and General Sharon.
I wasn't consulted. I'd have insisted on the Boonville Fairgrounds if site selection had been my responsibility.
Hmmm. That's a tough one. Industrial civ, regardless of who's operating it, is rough on the environment. I'd say that America, being a lot richer, is better at preservation and protection than many countries because the desperation quotient isn't as great here. We can afford environmentalism, they can't.
Yes, Israel cleared the Arabs out in '48 on the lunatic grounds that the Old Testament told them Palestine belonged to them! Israel also started the '67 war on, I'd say, the reasonable assumption that the Arabs were about to attack them. Ditto for subsequent offensives since '67. I think it's clear that Israel is imperiling itself and, perhaps, much of the world, via General Sharon's theocratically-backed, ongoing campaign against Palestinians, a large majority of whom are only nominal Moslems. I don't see any difference between Sharon and al Qaeda.

By the way, Israel also attacked the US in 1967, as some of us are aware, when they deliberately attacked our spy ship, The Liberty, in international waters, strafing and killing American sailors even after they'd abandoned ship and were in their life rafts! LBJ should have strafed the Knesset for that one, but…

Soviet mistakes? The whole works was a “mistake,” as most people on the left would now agree. In any case, you're talking to a Menshevik here, dude, considered in the context of the Russian revolution. The dictatorship of the proletariat or anybody else's dictatorship never made any sense to me. I'm partial to anarcho-syndicalist theories myself, but I'd settle for Scandinavian-style socialism here at home, and so would most Americans if they got to vote on what should be the guaranteed basics of life for everyone everywhere — food, shelter, education, health care, meaningful work, and Giants tickets.

How'd I do, doctor?

TIME WASTING

Editor-

I’m probably wasting my time writing to the AVA, but preaching to the choir is an even more dismal task.

The term cold war is usually associated with post-World War II relations between the US and the USSR. Whatever went down in 1917 Russia we should save for another day.

The Vanona Documents and the Soviet archives as well as Sudoplatov’s Special Tasks and the research done by Ronald Rodash and Sol Stern, should convince anyone with an open mind of the damage wrought by the Rosenbergs. Of course giving the atom bomb to one of the worst psychopaths in history is nothing more than a minor embarrassment to the left, if that. As the likelihood of a nuclear attack on the US grows, the subject should become ever more embarrassing, but the left is incapable of being embarrassed.

Equating Christian fundamentalists with Moslem fundamentalists would have made sense in 16th century Spain, but today the killers are almost exclusively the sons of Mohammed. The Koran is the basis for a social and legal system, Sharia, which is far more cruel and vindictive than anything that can be found in Judaism or Christianity. The information is readily available and overwhelming to anyone who cares to look. Unfortunately asking lefties to look at anything that contradicts their moronic outlook is like asking pigs to fly.

The World Health Organization estimates that 130 million women (approximately 20% of all Muslim females) have suffered female genital mutilation (FGM), and a minimum of two-million children undergo this barbarism each year.

Your crude and mocking suggestion that I organize a Comptche Against Clitorectomy chapter, as well as your comparing mutilation with pornography and Connie Chung (???), only indicates indifference to this barbarism.

Another state-sponsored horror which you deny is the murder of female infants in China. Millions of these children have been abandoned as a direct result of government policy, and murdered by neglect in the dying rooms of government orphanages.

It is not a cause for celebration, as you so brilliantly pointed out. But your denial of governmental responsibility is consistent with your tendency to white-wash any atrocity, whenever the comrades of yester-year (waving Mao’s little red book) are involved.

Much of our wealth has indeed come from our fortunate geography. (We might take note that a Russia covering one-sixth the planet’s land mass has nothing to show for it but perpetual poverty). And as we rub ashes into our hair and wrap ourselves in a cloak of shame for having been born lucky, we might remember that much of our wealth was created by a work-ethic and by inventive genius, not to mention the excellence of our social system; that the Indians were killed by men long dead; that more Americans shed their blood to free the slaves than ever owned slaves. And while we pat ourselves on the back (naturally through our cloak of shame) we might also remember that we saved the world from Hitler, from Stalin, and are probably the only force that can save it from Islam with its goal of world-conquest.

As to the USS Liberty: Several boards of enquiry exonerated Israel of having launched a deliberate attack. The Liberty was mistaken for an Egyptian war-ship flying US colors. The US naval command had ordered all US ships out of the area, but failed to transmit the order to the Liberty. Israel had no reason to deliberately attack her only friend in the world.

The 1967 war, as all the wars Israel fought, was a struggle to survive. Israeli aggression exists only in the minds of people too indifferent, too biased, or too lazy to seek the truth. (Yes Bruce, there is such a thing as the truth). Why would a nation of 5 million commit aggression against an Arabia of tens of millions, against an Islam of 1.3 billion? Jews are reputedly evil, not stupid, stupid!

And why, pray tell, was no Palestinian state created before the 1967 War, when the whole of the west bank was in Arab hands? Are Jews such good nation-makers that the responsibility for creating a Palestinian state fell to them? Could the vast expanse of Arab lands and the wealth of Arab oil not have facilitated a happier solution to the Palestinian problem than this endless war? Must the Arab cause put Israel and the whole world in perpetual jeopardy?

Do you really believe that hatred for Jews plays no part in the conflict?

Do you really think that the Israelis want this war of attrition to continue forever; that they would not do anything short of national suicide to end it? Do you really believe that your obsessive hatred of Israel has no consequence? That it might not make its own small contribution to a blood-bath on the horizon?

Meanwhile you pretend to preach peace.

Spare me your hypocrisy!

Bob Trupin

Comptche

ED REPLY: Not to be too provincial about all this Big Think stuff, and unhappy to be placed by you in the position of defending the defunct Evil Empire that I never defended while it was up and running, I remind you, comrade, that my focus is Boonville, not global affairs. I try to keep up with events in the outside world but my beat extends mostly from Neil Diamond's new house on 128 southeast of Yorkville, west to Point Arena, east to Covelo, north to Orick. Beyond? All I know is what I read. Anyway…

The Cold War kicked off in 1917 under the auspices of the White armies funded by the capitalist countries. The USSR was besieged from the outset, although it's now clear that the Bolsheviks' dictatorship didn't need external enemies to justify internal repression.

I'll need a second opinion on how effective the Rosenbergs were as spies; Stalin was an equal opportunity killer.

We agree on Pretty Boy Floyd. Woody Guthrie, however, was a fellow traveler which, to your way of thinking, makes him a left idiot.

Fundamentalists, of whatever religion, including Judaism, don't co-exist, or co-exist only grudgingly. They're all a menace, some more than others at this particular time.

What “we” did right to accumulate more than our share of the global bounty is to arrive on a vast, resource rich, undeveloped continent, slaughter the people who lived here, import slaves to do much of the work of capital development up and down the east coast, produce a handful of geniuses whose brilliance enabled us to eventually replace the Brits as the world's primary imperialists and, regional disturbances like the Civil War aside, generally luck out. Until now as, a glance out one's window confirms, capitalism is killing US.

The murder of females in China is not state policy. Lots of people have written lots about it, and what's the point? I doubt if you'll find many Americans who think female infanticide is cause for celebration. But now that you mention female mutilation, how about pornography? Brittany? Connie Chung?

Millions of girls are not being mutilated in the Islamic countries, or at least not in most Islamic countries. Odd preoccupation of yours here, Bob. Have you considered forming a Comptche Against Clitorectomies chapter?

If Israel was established as a secular state, why not Nevada, as Fred Gardner has suggested, complete with an NBA franchise called The Runnin' Rebs?

I can't say my piece at any “liberal” venue on the Northcoast, so why would I want to try my luck in Iran? (

The affair of the USS Liberty was thoroughly investigated and found to be a case of straight up murder of a virtually unarmed, non-combatant American naval vessel in international waters. And Israel's refusal to honor the '67 peace agreement has got us where we are, on the brink of war with Iraq, an unhappy country with a very bad man running it but no threat whatsoever to US. This looming catastrophe is co-sponsored by US and Israel and is likely to intensify global terrorism even if Bush and Mad Dog Sharon bring it off with relatively light loss of life.

You used the word “mistake,” I didn't. The Soviet regimes, murderous as the first two were, did not kill “tens of millions.” I think the generally accepted figure is ten million, and most of them were Stalin's work.

PS. Israel didn't want US to know they'd launched the '67 war on a pre-emptive basis after promising US not to do it, hence the deliberate attack on the clearly marked Liberty as confirmed at the time by Israeli radio traffic intercepts. The truth of the event was also conceded by the Israeli government in private apologies to LBJ and, as I recall, damage awards to survivors, widows and orphans. Sharon's unchecked and ongoing rampages against the Palestinians have fueled great hatred for the US in the Moslem countries because we're viewed as what we are — Sharon's enabler and thus a sponsor of state terror. Because Bush, and Clinton before him, won't restrain Sharon and the minority of Israeli fanatics who comprise the bulk of his political base, Islamic maniacs, in turn, can be counted on to step up their murders of innocent people all over the world.

FROM E-BAY AN UNUSUAL BOONVILLE POSTCARD, circa 1908

(I have some doubts, but the card is postmarked Boonville. — Marshall Newman)

LIVING OFF THE LAND ON THE NORTH COAST

by Thad M. Van Bueren

Excerpt from Mendocino Historical Review Vol. XXVI, Summer, 2012. “Belonging to Places: The Evolution of Coastal Communities and Landscapes between Ten Mile River and Cottoneva Creek.”

The remoteness of the northern Mendocino County coast has for most of history demanded self-sufficiency of the people who have made their homes here. V. K. Chestnut and Edward Gifford discuss long lists of native plants harvested by indigenous peoples in the local area. Chestnut was a botanist who published Plants used by the Indians of Mendocino County, California in 1902. Gifford was an anthropologist at UC Berkeley whose ethnographies of California tribes were rich in detail. Both interviewed tribal people about their knowledge of local plants, mushrooms and seaweed, and how they were employed: food, medicine, basketry, cordage, and clothing. They also learned about the widely used practices of burning, pruning, and seed distribution.

Chestnut described how acorns were harvested and prepared. When they were ripe in the autumn, the men went and beat them off the tree while the women collected them in large conical carrying baskets. About 500 pounds were collected by each family, with the nuts dried in the sun, and then stored in special granary structures built above the ground on poles with loosely woven sides to allow air flow. The Coast Yuki stored them in conical baskets or on a shallowly sloping roof covered with slabs of redwood bark. Care was taken to prevent mold by drying the crop thoroughly.

To prepare the acorns for eating, the tannin had to be removed by leaching with water. The nuts were ground into a fine powder. A basin was then dug in a sandy area near a stream to receive the flour. Water was poured over the flour about a dozen times to remove the bitterness. The meal was removed by hand, with the final part placed in a basket with water to allow the sand to settle out. The leached meal could be prepared in many ways. Buckeyes were cooked by covering them with hot stones and then mashed. The nuts of the bay laurel (pepperwood) were also cooked in hot ashes and cracked open to eat.

Essie Parrish demonstrating the traditional method of pounding acorns into meal, 1960. Subsequent to pounding, the meal was leached of tannin with water in preparation for consumption.

Blackberries, huckleberries, wild strawberries, madrone berries, and rose hips were collected and eaten raw. Manzanita berries and the yerba buena plant (the Spanish name for a number of aromatic plants in the mint family) were both made into cider. Seeds of various plants were collected using a basket and seed beater while walking through a field. Several root crops like blue camas bulbs and wild onions were also gathered.

Mushrooms that grew under oak and madrone trees were eaten by the Yuki, although the species they took are uncertain. Chestnut reported the Native Americans were superstitious about some edible varieties that were collected for sale to settlers. James McGrew recalled collecting large numbers of mushrooms in the fields around Westport, with a particularly heavy crop in 1933, after the spring rain. They were probably the genus agaricus, which are common open-field mushroom species related to the variety sold commercially in grocery stores today. The yields of field mushrooms dropped radically, however, when pigs were turned loose in the fields in later years, according to McGrew. Even today, mushrooms, including chanterelles, boletes and hedgehogs, are collected for personal use or sold to local buyers as a cash crop.

A well-known Hopland Pomo weaver and elder, Elsie Allen, told Tooker on September 12th, 1965 that sea palms and bullwhip kelp were collected for food. In the later 1800s, they dried and sold large quantities to Chinese buyers.

Allen also told Tooker about the intertidal animals that were eaten by the Pomo when they visited the coast. Both fish and shellfish were dried on boards or smoked to preserve them. Surf fish were caught with fiber nets, while salmon were speared in local streams during their winter run. There is no archaeological evidence that local Native Americans caught ocean fish, but they did hunt many kinds of marine mammals for food.

Many practices of the settlers changed the availability of plants and animals used for subsistence by Native Americans. Widespread harvests of tanbark oaks decimated the acorns that were a traditional staple for the local Native American population. The newcomers also reduced herds of large game animals including deer and elk, as well as top predators such as mountain lions, bears, and bobcats. Contemporary historian Benjamin Madley writing about the Round Valley Yuki (in An American Genocide) notes that settlers took over the lush meadows for grazing lands and agriculture and “settlers’ hogs, cattle, and horses set out to pasture in these areas consumed to the core of the Yuki diet. Further, the settlers’ domesticated animals drove wild game away from prime grazing areas thus depriving the Yuki of meat.”

(Kelley House Museum)

CATCH OF THE DAY, Thursday, June 13, 2024

Basaldua, Cabezas, Escamilla, Langenderfer

TIMOTHY BASALDUA, Ukiah. Failure to appear, probation revocation.

OSCAR CABEZAS-TAFOYA, Ukiah. Recklessly causing fire.

DANIEL ESCAMILLA, Ukiah. Elder abuse resulting in great bodily injury or death, false imprisonment, county parole violation, resisting, probation revocation.

BRANDON LANGENDERFER, Laytonville. Failure to appear.

RICHARD OLSTAD, Fort Bragg. Controlled substance, parole violation.

AMBER RICETTI, Ukiah. Elder abuse-theft by caretaker.

NATHAN ROWELL, Willits. Domestic battery.

JOSHUA SHELLY, Willits. Assault with deadly weapon not a gun, criminal threats.

HOLLAND VANHORN, Willits. Narcotics for sale/transportation.

VICTORIA VASQUEZ, Ukiah. DUI, controlled substance, suspended license for DUI, disobeying court order, failure to appear.

“THERE ARE FEW THINGS I care about less than coffee. I have two big cups every morning: light and sweet, preferably in a cardboard cup. Any bodega will do. I don’t want to wait for my coffee. I don’t want some man-bun, Mumford and Son motherfucker to get it for me. I like good coffee but I don’t want to wait for it, and I don’t want it with the cast of Friends. It’s a beverage; it’s not a lifestyle.”

― Anthony Bourdain

NADYA WILLIAMS, Formerly of Elk, Celebrates Her 80th Birthday In San Francisco

THE IRISH WAY

Editor:

Forever campaigning.

I happened to be in Ireland before their recent general elections. As we traveled around the country, everything seemed as usual. Suddenly, on May 8, we saw lots of posters of a uniform size hung on places such as light posts. Somehow, the Republic of Ireland is able to perform democratically while allowing campaigning for only 30 days prior to an election. That includes posters, TV ads, and door-to-door campaigning. Is that not amazing?

I contend that the main reason we have such a dysfunctional democracy is that we never get a break from campaigning in some form, with its character attacks and loss of productivity by our elected representatives. When the main strategy of one party is to prevent the other from passing any legislation that would be good for the country or confirming essential appointments, then the work of governing is not getting done.

I place a good portion of the blame for this on our news media. Give it a rest. We need a news moratorium on political rhetoric as well as laws limiting the time overt campaigning is allowed. Let respectful speech and listening prevail, talking about something other than politics.

Pamela Tennant

Sebastopol

WHAT I'M READING

Here’s what’s come across my desk recently:

An unusual sort of winery acquisition: Laura Ness in the Mercury News reports that a conservative Christian college in Michigan has purchased David Bruce Winery in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The winery is considered a pioneer in its region, though it’s become less well known in recent years. It’s unclear why Hillsdale College would want to buy the winery, though apparently a member of the college’s board is an “avid collector” of David Bruce wines.

Omar Khan, the “wine grifter” who was convicted of fraud and identity theft in connection with a fine-wine scheme, was sentenced to two years in federal prison, reports James D. Walsh in New York magazine. (For the full story about Khan, here’s Walsh’s very engrossing investigation.)

Tim Mynett, the husband of U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota), has been sued by a former business partner over fraud connected to a Sonoma winery they started, eStCru. The Minnesota Reformer has details on the legal dispute.

In Vinous, Antonio Galloni takes an early look at Aerika Estate, a new vineyard on Napa Valley’s Mount Veeder. Even though vintners Rob Black and Julia van der Vink don’t have any estate fruit to vinify yet, Galloni calls their project “one of the most exciting and promising new ventures I have seen in Napa Valley in some time.”

Fans of Duran Duran have speculated for decades about the identity of the model on the cover of the band’s 1982 album “Rio.” Now, her identity has been revealed: She’s Marcie Hunt, co-owner of Dos Lagos Vineyards in Napa Valley. My colleague Aidin Vaziri has the story.

— Esther Mobley (SF Chronicle)

*Two Women at the Bar* (2000) by Malcolm Liepke

JERRY WEST, AS A PLAYER AND EXEC, SUSTAINED EXCELLENCE DURING A LIFETIME OF EMOTIONAL STRUGGLE

by David Aldridge

The night his Los Angeles Lakers, finally, would return to their place of glory atop the NBA, Jerry West would not be in attendance.

“Oh, I won’t be there,” he told me on the phone, referring to what was then called Staples Center.

Wait, what?

The 1999-2000 Lakers, the team West had, at the cost of his nerves and health, put together for this very purpose, winning L.A.’s first hoops title in more than a decade, were a game away from conquering the Indiana Pacers in the finals. They would be coronated on their home floor. It would be the franchise’s first championship since 1988. It would be the culmination of West’s singular quest, having moved heaven and earth and most of the existing roster to get both Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant on the same team, and having swallowed his own pride to bring Phil Jackson in to coach. It would be marvelous.

And it would be done without West’s presence.

This wasn’t new for West. Such moments, now that he no longer could bring his prodigious talents to the court and impact winning games as a player, drove him to severe distraction. During Lakers home games, he would often drive around town instead. Sometimes, he’d check in to Chick Hearn’s mellifluous voice to see how things were going. That night, though, he kept the car stereo silent. He drove up the Ventura Freeway to Santa Barbara, a hundred miles north of the city.

“I told my friend Bobby Freedman only to call me if there was good news,” West wrote in his searing autobiography, “West by West.”

It wasn’t because he didn’t care, of course. It was because he cared so very, very much.

West’s death Wednesday at 86 caused more than one person around the league to choke up.

“It’s a very sad day,” said West’s contemporary and fellow Hall of Famer, Oscar Robertson, on the phone Wednesday afternoon.

West was, for decades, the personification of the sport. Few people’s counsel was more courted, so synonymous was he with the dogged, relentless pursuit of excellence. He was part of a dynasty as a player that couldn’t solve the Celtics, and then built dynasties as an executive that finally did. He was a 14-time All-Star and 12-time All-NBA selection. Two Lakers behemoths were built on his watch as the team’s general manager: the Magic Johnson-led squad that captured five titles in the 1980s, then the O’Neal-Bryant squads that laid down a three-peat between 2000 and 2003.

As Red Auerbach did for the Celtics, 3,000 miles east, West constantly was at the center of teardowns and rebirths of the Lakers. Decade after decade, the Lakers continued to matter in the NBA, riding Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic and James Worthy through the ’80s, just as Boston continued to pile up the banners after the end of the Bill Russell Era, through John Havlicek, Jo Jo White and Dave Cowens in the 1970s, then Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish and Dennis Johnson. The Cs are currently hunting their 18th NBA title in their finals series this year with the Dallas Mavericks; the Lakers, their last title coming in the Orlando Bubble in 2020, are tied with the Celtics at 17.

I ranked Auerbach one and West two on my all-time list of NBA executives in 2017 for NBA.com. Nothing’s changed my mind in the intervening years. They were the ultimate architects, with Auerbach’s intimidating tactics and amazing motivational ability serving as the mechanical rabbit at a dog racing track, as West chased after the Celtics for a generation.

“I secretly liked and admire Red’s brazen ways, and he is one of the coaches I would have loved to compete for,” West wrote. “. … Red was the figure everyone loved to hate, and he didn’t mind it one bit. He didn’t mind being the villain. He would be anything you wanted him to be as long as it helped the Celtics win.”

But West doesn’t take a back seat to anyone when it comes to talent evaluation. He was the best ever. No former superstar as a player was in more gyms in more small towns and in more countries than West was, year after year, trying to find the next great talent. He didn’t get stuck in nostalgia; he still got excited about current players. He raved about Terance Mann when Mann was a little-known second-round pick playing for the Clippers in the Vegas Summer League in 2019.

He kept his own counsel about who, and what, he liked.

“It’s not so much trust,” he told me once. “I just think if you ask 10 people, you’re going to get more than one opinion. If you ask five people, you’re going to get more than one opinion. I’d rather not confuse myself by asking 10 people.”

Like Auerbach, West had eternal swag, the way Dr. J and Pat Riley and only a handful of aging luminaries still do. He was still in high demand after he left the Lakers in 2000, moving on to executive roles with the Memphis Grizzlies, Golden State Warriors and LA Clippers well into his 80s. It was West’s steadfast refusal to sign off on a proposed trade of Klay Thompson for Kevin Love in 2014 that kept Golden State’s ownership from pulling the trigger, and kept the Splash Brothers from being split up before they went on their franchise-changing championship run.

You still felt his crackling intensity in person, or on the phone. Well into middle age, I’d still get goose bumps when my phone would ring and the caller ID would identify who was on the other line. (He was “TLogo” in my contacts list, for obvious reasons.) He would always answer pleasantly: “David? Jerry West.”

As if it could have been someone else.

He was, given his pedigree, humble and deferential about his own successes. West was venerated for the 60-footer he hit at the end of regulation of Game 3 of the 1970 finals against New York to tie the game and send it into overtime. All West remembered, though, is that the Knicks won 111-108 in OT. He averaged an astounding 46.3 points per game in the Lakers’ Western Division series victory over Baltimore in 1965, which is still the record for highest average in a single postseason series.

He could be caustic and cutting about today’s players, the state of the game, David Stern and anyone else who didn’t measure up to his standards at a given moment. He could be withering about his own team. But if they weren’t winning doing it their way, he had very little patience for them. The portrayal of him in the HBO miniseries “Winning Time” was an ugly caricature of his manic intensity, one that made his friends and colleagues justifiably angry. He wasn’t someone who foamed at the mouth and spent his days trashing the offices at The Forum in some blinding rage. He didn’t big-time people.

And if anyone could have done so without argument, it was him.

But no one wanted to win more than Jerry West, and he spent his whole life proving it.

He won state titles in high school in West Virginia, at East Bank High School – which, every March 24, the day East Bank won the title in 1956, renames itself “West Bank” for a day in his honor. He won at West Virginia University, where he led the Mountaineers to the NCAA national championship game in 1959, which WVU lost by one point to the University of California, 71-70. He won on the celebrated 1960 U.S. Olympic team, a team just as dominant as the Dream Team would be 32 years later. The 1960 team won its eight games in Rome at the Summer Games by an average of 42.4 points per game. West, Robertson, Walt Bellamy, Jerry Lucas and coach Pete Newell all were inducted individually into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, as was the 1960 team itself as a unit, in 2010.

“We just melded right away,” Robertson said. “Pete Newell was the coach, and he put our starting five together. And we knew what was at stake, because we were all there to make the Olympic team. Jerry was a nice guy. Matter of fact, I knew him through Adrian Smith (who also played on the 1960 Olympic team). I met him through Adrian. He was there with the U.S. Army team. I’m sure our backgrounds sort of paralleled each other, because of where Jerry came from and I came from, we didn’t have anything except basketball.”

The word tortured is often used to describe West. Indeed. Demons, which took root during a difficult and lonely childhood in his native West Virginia, where his imagination was his best friend and he shot thousands of shots so that he wouldn’t have to return home, ate at him throughout his life. There was little love in the West home, and physical abuse of the children at the hand of their father. Jerry West was driven, in the best and worst sense of that word, to strive, to chase perfection, to be hollowed out by defeat and only briefly salved by victory.

“I am, if I may say so, an enigma (even to myself, especially to myself), and an obsessive, someone whose mind ranges far as wide and returns to the things that, for better of worse, hold me in their thrall,” West wrote in his book.

West played on the first great L.A. team, after its move from Minneapolis, in 1960, alongside fellow future Hall of Famer Elgin Baylor. They made pro basketball on the West Coast, setting a standard of excellence that was held off only by Auerbach, Bill Russell and the Celtics.

Six times during West’s playing career, the Lakers and Celtics met in the championship series. Six times, Boston defeated L.A. The last time, in 1969, West was named the finals MVP, becoming the only player to ever receive the award while on the losing team. The Lakers also played the Knicks in the finals three times between 1970 and 1973. Only in 1972 did West’s team win, giving him one NBA title in nine tries.

“It was great to compete against Jerry,” Robertson said. “Jerry was a tremendous athlete. I don’t know about other guys, but I love playing against great basketball players. Because you have to improve your basketball yourself. You don’t know where you are until you play against great basketball players. And Jerry was, no doubt about it, one of the best of all. I thought Jerry was a great basketball player, great shooter.”

But West could be as stubborn as he was talented.

When the NBA, with great fanfare and not insignificant calling in of decades-long chits, brought its 50 greatest players of all time to All-Star Weekend in Cleveland in 1997, 47 of the 49 living players attended. (Pete Maravich had died in 1988 while playing a pickup game, at age 40; O’Neal was recovering from knee surgery.) West was the only one who didn’t come. At the time, the reason given was that he had just undergone a recent surgery.

The surgery part was true. But that’s not why he didn’t show up. He didn’t show because he was angry with the Orlando Magic, who had accused him of tampering with O’Neal while he was still under contract with the Magic in order to secure Shaq as a free agent.

West was famously blown away by Bryant’s workout for the Lakers before the 1996 draft, and schemed with his close friend, Bryant’s agent, Arn Tellem, to get Bryant to the West Coast. When West was in your corner, you’d never have a fiercer advocate.

There was the famous story, that Lakers executive Mitch Kupchak re-told many years later, of how the Lakers took Vlade Divac in the 1989 draft, with West the single, lone voice opting for the Serbian center over the objections of everyone else in the front office.

“We all picked the other guy,” Kupchak said. “I think it was (Missouri center) Gary Leonard. We all agree. Then (West) leans down into the mic, which was hooked up to New York so that we can announce our choice. Our guy up there was Hampton Mears. And Jerry says, ‘Hampton’ – he’s looking at us when he says this – he says, ‘Hampton, the Lakers take Divac.’ The three of us were like, ‘Why are we even here?’ And he says, ‘He’s just too damned talented to pass on.’ And he walked out of the room.”

As ever, the Logo was alone, with his thoughts, his doggedness and imagination, once again, having served him well.

(David Aldridge is a senior columnist for The Athletic. He has worked for nearly 30 years covering the NBA and other sports for Turner, ESPN, and the Washington Post. In 2016, he received the Curt Gowdy Media Award from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the Legacy Award from the National Association of Black Journalists. He lives in Washington, D.C. Follow David on Twitter @davidaldridgedc). The Atlantic.)

54 YEARS AGO, the most impressive No-Hitter ever! Dock Ellis while high on LSD.

On 12 June 1970, Ellis hurled the first no-hitter of the 1970 season as he blanked the Padres 2-0 in the opening game of a double-header in San Diego. Ellis' feat was a bit unusual in that he seemed particularly wild that day, walking eight batters and hitting one, but many pitchers have achieved stellar results despite laboring with obvious control problems. (Yankee hurler Bill Bevens came within one out of throwing a no-hitter against Brooklyn in the fourth game of the 1947 World Series despite issuing the Dodgers an astounding ten bases on balls.) In post-game interviews Ellis said he had been thinking about a no-hitter from the fourth inning onward and attributed his wildness to his efforts to keep the ball away from hitters: "I know guys who don't want to talk about it, but if you're going to throw [a no-hitter], you're going to throw it. The ball I was throwing was moving. I was keeping the ball away from the hitters. That's why I walked so many."

Fourteen years later, however, Dock Ellis revealed an alternative explanation for his lack of control that day: he was under the influence of LSD at the time. According to accounts he gave the press in April 1984, Ellis had spent the morning of 12 June 1970 relaxing in his home town of Los Angeles, under the mistaken belief that the Pirates had the day off. Ellis said he ingested LSD around noon, but at about 1:00 PM his girlfriend picked up a newspaper and discovered that not only were the Pirates scheduled to play a double-header in San Diego that evening, but Ellis was slated to start the first game for Pittsburgh. Ellis' companion hustled him off to the airport by 3:30 PM and got him on a flight to San Diego, where arrived at 4:30 PM, in time for the double-header's 6:05 PM start.…

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/dock-ellis-lsd-nohitter

“A quiet secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people to whom it is easy to do good, and who are not accustomed to have it done to them; then work which one hopes may be of some use; then rest, nature, books, music, love for one's neighbor — such is my idea of happiness.”

— Leo Tolstoy

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Yup. There are NO viable candidates for US President. Reckon that Kennedy would be better than these two… but the Crips (Dems) and Bloods (Reps) won’t allow that. Can’t think of any good candidates… some are too old and some are not old enough. USA is facing a critical time in world history… with nobody to take the helm.

WAR CHARIOTS

by Tom Stevenson

The number of Trump administration officials who could be called “very competent” is small, but the former deputy national security adviser Matt Pottinger is one of them.

A private school boy from Massachusetts who learned to speak excellent Mandarin, Pottinger was once the Wall Street Journal’s correspondent in China (where he was punched in the face in a café by someone he described as a “government goon”). He was in New York during 9/11 and, in 2005, he joined the US marines as an intelligence officer after watching a video of al-Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi beheading the American hostage Nicholas Berg. Between tours in Iraq and Afghanistan he wrote about refining intelligence and counter insurgency, the old tools of imperial management.

Perhaps inevitably, Pottinger found his way back to the intellectual world of the US right. He has been associated with the neoconservative Foundation for the Defense of Democracies for at least two decades, and is a fellow at the right-wing Hoover Institution. He is also an old associate of the far-right Christian nationalist and QAnon supporter Mike Flynn, about whom he continues to speak with some affection. After Trump was elected, Pottinger joined the National Security Council as director for Asia. At the height of the Covid pandemic he delivered a twenty-minute speech in near-perfect Mandarin. Admittedly, Pottinger was never a true MAGA devotee (he resigned as deputy national security adviser on 6 January 2021 over the Capitol riots). But he also says he was proud of Trump’s “foreign policy accomplishments.”

Out of government, Pottinger has devoted himself to agitating for a confrontation between the US and China, often in the pages of Foreign Affairs. The American right has been infatuated with this thinking for some time, but it has rarely had such qualified champions. Still, the democrats under Biden have adopted many of their ideas. Rush Doshi, Biden’s former head of China strategy on the National Security Council, recently responded to an article by Pottinger and a co-author by saying “they propose steps that the administration is already taking.” It was Biden, not Trump, who overturned the decades-long US policy of strategic ambiguity on the military defense of Taiwan.

Senior US military officers, and several US political factions, are now invested in an imminent global crisis over Taiwan. Pottinger has recently published an edited volume (The Boiling Moat: Urgent Steps to Defend Taiwan) pushing the argument that the US should prepare for war with China.

The news sometimes seems to provide support for their position. On 23 May, China began major military exercises around Taiwan that it described as “punishment” for comments made by the new president in Taipei, Lai Ching-te, in his inauguration speech. The US navy announced plans to deploy MQ-4C surveillance drones to Okinawa for regional “over-water” surveillance.

For advocates of a Sino-American war over Taiwan, the logic is explicitly that of maintaining the US global empire. Taiwan’s democracy is mentioned in passing, and there is some Cold War style blather about China “propelling autocracy ahead in the contest of global systems.” But the main argument is that Taiwan is a strategic asset for the US.

Pottinger often brings up General Douglas MacArthur’s assertion that “the domination of Formosa by an unfriendly power” would be a disaster for American strategic interests. His former deputy on the National Security Council, Ivan Kanapathy, has pointed out that “avoiding war between the United States and China is relatively easy.” The problem is avoiding war while also “protecting substantial US interests.”

Why must the war be over Taiwan, which the US officially considers part of China? The end of the de facto US protectorate of Taiwan would be bad for Japan’s security. But Pottinger and his supporters go further. They claim that if China were to annex Taiwan it would somehow allow it to “project power throughout the Pacific, the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic.” How that would be the case, given the huge US naval advantage, is left to the imagination.

Should Trump be re-elected later this year, there’s every chance that Pottinger and other thinkers in the same orbit (Elbridge Colby, Oren Cass, Robert Lighthizer) will return to government. Their ideas have every chance of becoming US policy. Even in opposition they have currency. What is their plan?

The main recommendation is that the US immediately stockpile large amounts of munitions and prepare to fight “China’s Wehrmacht” with a view to making the Taiwan Strait a graveyard for the Chinese navy. The US should get to work on mass production of more LRASM missiles. Taipei should abandon its plan to acquire more submarines (leave that to the US) and focus on coastal defense, conscription and interoperability with US forces. Japan, Australia, Britain and France should be prepared to help. If the logistics sound difficult, Pottinger notes: “There is evidence already that US support for Ukraine has in some respects improved US procurement for a war with China.”

The idea that these actions might increase the risks of a global crisis is dismissed by advocates of war with China as a misconception. A Taiwan crisis can only be the result of China’s drive toward “building an empire.”

Chinese thinkers, unsurprisingly, tend to see things differently. After the US secretary of state, Anthony Blinken, visited Beijing in the summer of 2023, the director of the Centre for American Studies at Fudan University, Wu Xinbo, who advises the Chinese foreign ministry, remarked that the US “deals with China through what it calls “strategic competition”, which is actually containment and suppression.” Officials use stronger language still. At the Shangri-La dialogue in Singapore on 1 June, Lieutenant General Jing Jianfeng accused the American leaders of “tieing the region’s countries to the US war chariot.”

China has certainly contributed to the deterioration in relations with the US. It has, for example, been promoting an idiosyncratic reading of General Assembly Resolution 2758, which restored the PRC’s seat at the UN’s tables in 1971, in order to cajole other countries into referring to Taiwan as a “province of China.”

But to say that China alone has recklessly departed from the status quo is an inadequate account of recent history. It obfuscates fearful US attempts to restrict China’s industrial manufacturing economy, which has been the impetus for much of the deterioration in Sino-American relations.

The US and its allies regularly hold massive military exercises in the Pacific. Half of all US attack submarines are deployed in the Pacific theatre. Pottinger and his supporters want the share to increase and talk of using those submarines to “sink China’s navy.”

Pottinger’s view, like Trump’s, is that China has taken advantage of the US through trade manipulation. China, he says, is the major “propaganda and diplomatic supporter” of Russia and Iran. Xi Jinping is portrayed as a nefarious totalitarian leader who must be defeated by the US.

On 24 May, Malaysia’s former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad gave a different assessment. “Unfortunately, America likes to see a confrontation between Taiwan and China,” he said at the Future of Asia conference in Tokyo. “For us, there is no necessity.” Chinese leaders may sometimes make obstreperous territorial claims, “but they don’t do anything.”

David Daokui Li, the director of the Centre for China in the World Economy at Tsinghua University, has argued that, “facing the increasingly hawkish stance of the United States,” the consensus within China is “to respect and negotiate with the United States … but stand firm and not give in on issues of long-term interest to China” – including Taiwan.

A global crisis over Taiwan is possible and would be a disaster for the world. Yet in their talk of Wehrmachts and victory, supporters of a war with China appear to yearn for it. Perhaps that is because their discussions and designs all seem to take place in an alternative dimension – one where there are no nuclear weapons.

(London Review of Books)

UKRAINE DETAINS SOCIALIST WRITER, BANS WORLD SOCIALIST WEB SITE

Writer Bogdan Syrotiuk has been detained and a prominent socialist site blocked, while a new list of Ukrainian media enemies is released. The Western press response? Silence

by Matt Taibbi

At least Ukraine doesn’t discriminate, when it comes to detaining writers. On April 25, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) detained twenty-five-year-old socialist Bogdan Syrotiuk on a charge of treason. Just over a month later, while Syrotiuk remained in detention in the city of Mykolaiv, Ukraine banned one of the outlets with which he’s connected, the World Socialist Web Site (WSWS), which has faced suppression in the United States in the past, as noted on this site.

In January, Chilean-American writer Gonzalo Lira died in custody after a lengthy detention. Most American media condemned Lira even in death, with headlines like “Kremlin Shill Dies in Ukraine,” “Pro-Putin American Expat Dies in Ukrainian Jail” (Newsweek American Expat Dies in Ukrainian Jail ]), and “Anti-Ukraine Chorus Seeks to Exploit an American’s Death” (Substack’s own The Bulwark [). The SBU also sought to have The Grayzone’s Aaron Mate removed from Twitter, and several organizations have published lists of Ukrainian media “enemies,” with a new one called Texty.Org.UA listing everyone from Noam Chomsky to Carlson as well as ice cream magnate Ben Cohen, Chris Hedges, CODEPINK and others (including me) as spreaders of Russian propaganda. The WSWS doesn’t appear, but someone invested real money and time in an elaborate Western-style media enemies list with snazzy graphics:

*A Texti.Org.UA chart of left-leaning enemies of Ukraine. There are similar charts for the American conservatives*

The SBU detained Syrotiuk, who leads an organization called the Young Guard of Bolshevik Leninists, in an April raid of his party’s offices in his home city of Pervomais’k, in southern Ukraine. The Ukrainian intel agency somewhat absurdly claims to have found a Russian army greatcoat, a backpack marked with a “Z” (ostensibly representing Russian chauvinism), and a gas mask in the party meeting hall, in close proximity to a portrait of Lev Trotsky. Since his arrest, Syrotiuk has been denied contact with his affiliates at the WSWS. He has also been unable to obtain proper legal counsel or the blood pressure medication on which he relies, according to the WSWS. At one point, Syrotiuk was able to find a lawyer in Kyiv. A week later, his lawyers said that he would not be able to take the case, citing the danger of representing him.

Socialist or communist figures in both Ukraine and Russia have attracted particular official attention since Russia’s invasion in February 2022, perhaps because of the history of successful agitation in the region. Syrotiuk’s Young Guard, a Trotskyist group operating throughout the former Soviet Union, advocates for an end to the war and cooperation between the Russian and Ukrainian working classes, while opposing the governments of both Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky. A month before war broke out, in January of 2022, they made contact with the World Socialist Web Site, another Trotskyite organization that opposes “all governments” and “the defense of the national state,” not just in Ukraine but everywhere.

“The irony of this is, is that we could see our members who are active in Russia arrested by the Putin government,” says David North, chair of the Socialist Equality Party, which publishes the WSWS. North’s group blames “provocative and aggressive” policies of the U.S. and NATO for starting the conflict, but adds: “Nevertheless, we opposed Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.”

According to North, part of Syrotiuk’s offense is carrying out propaganda on behalf of a Russian state organ, by which they somehow mean the World Socialist Web Site, a consistent critic of Putin’s. Syrotiuk’s charging papers list North as a “leader of a Russian-controlled propaganda agency.” Ironically, North describes the WSWS as “bitter enemies of the Putin government” and says that the site is “very opposed to this view of Putin as some sort of great leader of a new multipolar movement.”

That the Zelensky government would take a hard line with a domestic war critic should be unsurprising to anybody who follows speech issues, but the broader question about Syrotiuk’s imprisonment is whether Ukraine’s American partners knew of or approved his detention. North claims Syrotiuk’s charging papers list information to which only he would be privy. After filing a FOIA request on his own behalf, he adds he was told the government could neither confirm nor deny that it was collecting information on his activities. The WSWS this week sent an open letter to the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, Oksana Makarova, but has not received a response.

It should be noted that similar jailings are taking place in Russia, with some hitting close to home. This past December, Russians arrested Boris Kagarlitsky, a longtime Moscow Times contributor who was the main writer on the “Russian Dissent “ Substack sponsored by this site. Boris, a socialist himself but not connected in any way to the WSWS, was denounced as an “inoagent” (a foreign agent) and given a five year sentence, which Russian authorities called “excessively lenient.” The case is one of the more absurd in the history of speech offenses. Kagarlitsky was initially accused of making light of a 2022 explosion on the Krimsky Bridge linking Russia to Crimea, thanks to a video titled “Explosive Congratulations to the Cat Mostik,” sarcastically putting a cat in the frame for the blast. The Russian news agency TASS noted Kagarlitsky’s “negative attitude toward authorities,” and Boris remains in prison. We’re trying to get more information about his status.

For all its horror, the Kagarlitsky case has attracted some coverage from outlets like the BBC and organizations like Amnesty International. Detained Ukrainian dissidents like Syrotiuk have received zero attention in the U.S. Incidentally, the Twitter Files list of social media accounts denounced by the SBU to the FBI, on which Aaron Mate’s name was found, contained a number of socialist or communist organizations, suggesting a broad interest in both old and new left-leaning groups. Syrotiuk is the kind of figure who’s rarely defended by American authorities, making his prospects for release poor, absent attention from international organizations. Will left-leaning outlets apart from the WSWS demand answers about our government’s role in this episode?…

https://www.racket.news/p/ukraine-detains-socialist-writer

"A breathtaking sculpture by Daniel Popper, titled 'Thrive,' invites visitors to connect with nature at the Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois. This monumental artwork symbolizes openness and the harmony between humanity and the natural world."

THE UN REPORT ON ISRAELI AND PALESTINIAN WAR CRIMES

The findings cite acts such as sexual violence and the deliberate killing or abducting of civilians by Hamas. They also accuse Israel of collective punishment and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

by Erika Solomon

Detained Palestinians were forced to “walk completely or partially undressed” in front of the public and to walk completely or partly undressed “while subjected to sexual harassment,” it said.

Most of these acts were perpetrated against men and boys, the commission said, while Palestinian women also experienced psychological violence and sexual harassment.

What have Israel and Hamas said about the report?

The commission said that Hamas had rejected all accusations that its forces used sexual violence against Israeli women during the Oct. 7 attack.

Israel’s mission to the United Nations in Geneva said the report was “reflective of the systematic anti-Israel discrimination of this commission of inquiry.”

Israel said the commission had ignored Hamas’s use of civilians as “human shields,” an accusation the report briefly addressed by noting that there was not enough evidence to substantiate claims that militants had embedded in the civilian population on a widespread scale.

The Israeli mission also said the commission had “outrageously and repugnantly” drawn a false equivalence between Hamas and the Israeli military in relation to sexual violence.

(nytimes.com)

40 Comments

George Hollister June 14, 2024

AV SKATEPARK PROJECT

I know I am being a contrarian here about something many people like. These children needing something to do would be much better off working for money in their spare time. They would be learning some valuable lessons instead of being self indulgent at someone else’s expense. Everyone of those who can skateboard can also run a string trimmer for money. That would be a good start.

Reply
- Joseph Turri June 14, 2024
  
  And they can ride their skateboard to work…
  
  Reply
  - Harvey Reading June 14, 2024
    
    Yeah, George. Put ’em to work early. Give ’em an early indoctrination to being good little wage slaves and to be happy with whatever the greedy employers pay them.
    
    Reply
- peter boudoures June 14, 2024
  
  You’re right George, with these prices it will take both parents and anyone over 6 years old to work full time.
  
  Reply
- Bernie Norvell June 14, 2024
  
  I’ve never been much of a skateboarder it I get it. Kids need an outlet There are worse things than congregating at a skatepark. That being said my sister and I were expected to put in the hours at the family business. Minding the counter, washing windows, sweeping and learning customer service. We were not allowed behind said counter until we could correctly count change. One day while we were in front of the building washing windows a customer pulled up and said “hey Jr what is your dad paying?” My sister correctly responded, “dinner if we are lucky”.
  
  The end of the day I would jump on my bmx and head straight to the bike track where Cvstarr now sits. Riding with my friends and burning pent up energy. Kids need both. The commitment and structure of a job and time to be a kid and do kid things. By the way that same bmx took me to school rain or shine until high school. Never rode a school bus until the ninth grade.
  
  Reply
- DD Hillway June 15, 2024
  
  Yes.
  
  Reply
George Hollister June 14, 2024

I miss Bob Trupin.

Reply
- Chuck Wilcher June 14, 2024
  
  I do too, George. Some of the conversations I had with him were quite lively. He always stuck to his guns no matter what you presented him.
  
  Reply
Mike J June 14, 2024

Here’s the URL for the “Ukiah CA Vagrant Watch” public group at Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1469130110673116/

The group description claims all empowered men and women here (elected officials, caregivers or service providers, cops, and of course Mo..) are enabling the perceived violation of private property and civil rights of business owners and law abiding housed citizens.

In the most recent post, accompanied by a picture of a barefoot homeless woman, the poster refers to the woman as an “animal”.

Reply
Cotdbigun June 14, 2024

Craig in the lap of luxury . The chances of getting more free stuff are better if you vote for the “I built it back better guy”. He is a lot nicer. Have a nice day.

Reply
- Craig Stehr June 14, 2024
  
  Thank you very much. Regarding the day, I’ll see what I can do. :-))
  
  Reply
MAGA Marmon June 14, 2024

Happy Birthday President Trump, and Happy Flag Day to the ONLY flag that should be flown in our schools!

MAGA Marmon

Reply
Stephen Rosenthal June 14, 2024

I don’t give a shit about the political debate between the Editor and Bob Trupin, but does Neil Diamond have a house in Yorkville? Sweet Caroline, Kentucky Woman, Cracklin’ Rosie, that Neil Diamond? Inquiring minds want to know.

Reply
- Mike Kalantarian June 14, 2024
  
  There used to be a mailbox along Highway 128, between Yorkville and Cloverdale, that had “Diamond” written on it. I don’t remember if it had the “N.” also, but it was fun to imagine it belonged to Neil. There was also a box, closer to Yorkville, with “LaLanne” on it, so I always gave that one to Jack. And Highway 253 has a “Spacek”…we’re crawling with celebrity.
  
  Reply
  - Stephen Rosenthal June 14, 2024
    
    Thanks Mike.
    
    Reply
Stephen Rosenthal June 14, 2024

Ms. Mulheren, you’re embarrassing yourself.

Reply
- Mike J June 14, 2024
  
  Mo critic:
  “You have already admitted to hanging down and socializing with the vagrant population, which is not something advised.”
  
  In the above repost of the exchange from Facebook postings, the critic of Mo (and cops, etc) is showing us a lot of displaced anger. In looking at this and further exchanges on FB, Mo shows respect for the critic while he calls her a liar, gaslighter, etc. Perhaps the critic could learn to show some respect to not only her, but also to those providing him frustrating moments at the business site? It’s possible to show respect while attempting to set firm limits on those displaying errant behavior that affects you.
  
  We recently had a lady here post that she was rudely bullied by Mo while expressing her online-delivered public comment during a BOS meeting. I saw this incident on YouTube and that assertion isn’t even close to what happened.
  
  At this point, the near-universal bashing of Mo in the AVA comment section has become an embarrassing feature.
  
  Reply
  - MAGA Marmon June 14, 2024
    
    Are you getting any of that Mikey, or just hoping to?
    
    MAGA Marmon
    
    Reply
    - Mike J June 14, 2024
      
      Another sick example making the AVA comment section an embarrassing read.
      
      Reply
  - Stephen Rosenthal June 14, 2024
    
    Mulheren deserves the opprobrium she receives from the AVA, editors and commenters alike. She is tone deaf to many issues that interfere/inconvenience her personal agendas. Driving by a business once or twice and claiming not to see any vagrants hanging out, dealing drugs or defecating on the sidewalk is insulting to the business owner and the community at large. Turning a blind eye and denying the problem exists because her friends are among the so-called “hundreds” of helping professionals won’t make it go away.
    
    Reply
    - Mike J June 14, 2024
      
      I checked the 10 most recent days of the police log for incidents at that address:
      One towing of a vehicle, one arrest for 602pc, one welfare check.
      The 602 PC is trespassing. Person was “ifo”, in front of.
      
      Reply
  - Call It As I See It June 14, 2024
    
    Your opinion, but what should we expect from one of Mo’s trolls. This is how media works and free speech. Mo spends a lot of time on social media especially her Facebook page, where she controls the conversation. This is what happens when she doesn’t control the dialogue, we get the truth. She can’t hide the lies and deception. The plain simple fact, she has been an elected as a city councilmember and Supervisor for 8 years or more, this issue spiraled out of control.
    
    Reply
    - Mike J June 14, 2024
      
      So, the MAGA crowd here is branding me as either a troll or a dirty old man. Your “truth here” is in fact defamatory delusions.
      Your assertion that she fueled homelessness here is not credible.
      
      Reply
  - Bernie Norvell June 14, 2024
    
    I’m not disagreeing with your comments but IMO this is the result of ignoring an issue and making the taxpayer deal try and solve the issue.
    
    Reply
    - Mike J June 14, 2024
      
      There won’t be a widespread solution until we shift from regarding housing as an asset/commodity to something that is seen as a universal need and right. That means also an end to housed people resisting affordable housing construction in their areas. Shelter is necessary for everyone, a foundational need. With that established, there is a secure position in place for a person’s mental health or substance abuse issues to be addressed. Locally, San Jose and others are building. Nationally, look at what Governor Gretchen Whitmer is doing in Michigan. They are on a fast track there, already surpassing past building goals.
      
      Psychologically, we seem to have lost that can do spirit. It’s not so difficult, but we seem to focus on shoring up our own little nest and are short on shoring up a healthy community of nests. We landed on the moon in July 1969. I’m sure we can do this. The urgency of the last two generations not being able to afford their own shelter, and many moving in with their parents, will hopefully stir up changes in perspective and community will to act (ie build, build, build).
      
      As for the gravely disabled, the move now to enable again widespread use of conservatorship and involuntary psych holds is going to be key also.
      
      Reply
      - Chuck Dunbar June 14, 2024
        
        Yes, for sure, well-said , Mike.
        
        Reply
      - Call It As I See It June 14, 2024
        
        It’s Liberals that fought in Montana to get the Circuit Court judge to rule you can’t arrest someone for being homeless. This is their agenda. Your post keeps people like Chuck Dunbar working and getting paid to never solve the problem.
        
        And yes, you are a Mo troll. Every time someone mentions Mo in a defaming manor, you rush in to say it’s not MO’s job. I bet you follow her on Facebook. My assumption is no different from you saying I’m a MAGA follower.
        
        P.S. Life and the world were way better when The Donald was President. Just look at where we are today after the dementia and diaper wearing Biden has had his chance.
        
        Reply
Iggy June 14, 2024

Iraq for Iran, a typo? Sharon for Bibi! The more things change…Mr. Trupin’s views are why I hesitate to ask political questions of seemingly pleasant people. Don’t ask, don’t tell. It will all be coming to a grand finale soon enough…Eat, drink and be merry, Comrades!

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- Lazarus June 14, 2024
  
  Whether I’m talking politics, medicine, the governments, the Fed through Local, and even the US Mail, I hear them say, “It’s all coming apart. The system is breaking down.” And in a generation, likely sooner, this country will be a member of the 3rd World…
  As always,
  Laz
  
  Reply
Mazie Malone June 14, 2024

Re; The drama of the Vagrancy Page..
Being frustrated, mad, upset and wanting change, I completely understand! How you go about that is important and is the key to how we accomplish solutions. We all know the solutions are not happening and it is really not ok to bash, threaten and demean people publicly, even when you do not like them or disagree with their view. The system sucks it does not work for those most in need although I do not agree with a lot of Mr. McCormicks ideas or his pushy demanding commands he and I both agree we need change. One of those changes should be how people act and treat others. When you have someone appointed to the BHAB who is being abusive and demeaning to others publicly it is imperative that the Board intervenes and at the very least gives a warning to the member who seems to have free range to say whatever he wants. That is not good representation for Veterans and Families who need a functioning stable board to work on our behalf. So if the head of the board sees no fault in the actions of a member who is threatening and irrational, denies they have any power to act, that is exactly why we are here with the Vagrant Watch Page leading the way.

mm 💕

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- MAGA Marmon June 14, 2024
  
  I’m also fed up with the mess on South State Street. I grew up at the Shady Grove Trailer Park on 776 South State Street entrance. the second entrance was off of Luce where the original Plowshares was located. Plowshares was just over the fence behind our doublewide. When Plowshares first came to be they fed a lot of folks who had been released from the State Hospital and starved by their so called helpers. Now, it’s come one come all, no matter where you’re from. The Homeless situation will never improve as long as Plowshares refuses to set limits. There are a lot of local folks who are in need of a good meal who are hesitant to go to Plowshares because of the vagrants, and their lawlessness.
  
  MAGA Marmon
  
  Reply
  - Mazie Malone June 14, 2024
    
    James,
    no doubt we all are, maybe for different reasons, regardless my point is there is no room for accepting abuse, neglect and denial! Which is in fact what the Mental Health System thrives on and why things remain unchanged.
    
    mm 💕
    
    Reply
    - MAGA Marmon June 14, 2024
      
      A lot of local’s made big money when the State Hospital shutdown. There was a lot of State and Federal dollars available for anyone who would house the folks being released into the Community. My mom who managed at the Salvation Army Store on Main Street became their de-facto case manager for a large number of them. Ukiah has a history of making the mentally ill and drug addicted its main source of revenue. Mental Illness and Addiction is who Ukiah is.
      
      MAGA Marmon
      
      Reply
  - Mazie Malone June 14, 2024
    
    Also James there are many people who will not utilize BB shelter for same reasons. There has to be order but if there is none at the top then the bottom self destructs.
    
    mm 💕
    
    Reply
MAGA Marmon June 14, 2024

I was eight years old
And running with a dime in my hand
To the bus stop to pick
Up a paper for my old man
I’d sit on his lap in that big old Buick
And steer as we drove through town
He’d tousle my hair
And say, “Son, take a good look around”
This is your hometown
This is your hometown
This is your hometown
This is your hometown”

In ’65 tension was running high
At my high school
There was a lot of fights
Between the black and white
There was nothing you could do
Two cars at a light on a Saturday night
In the back seat there was a gun
Words were passed in a shotgun blast
Troubled times had come
To my hometown
To my hometown
To my hometown
To my hometown

Now Main Street’s whitewashed windows
And vacant stores
Seems like there ain’t nobody
Wants to come down here no more
They’re closing down the textile mill
Across the railroad tracks
Foreman says, “These jobs are going, boys
And they ain’t coming back
To your hometown
To your hometown
To your hometown
To your hometown”

Last night me and Kate we laid in bed
Talking about getting out
Packing up our bags, maybe heading south
I’m thirty-five, we got a boy of our own now
Last night I sat him up behind the wheel
And said, “Son, take a good look around
This is your hometown”

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Bruce Springsteen

MAGA Marmon

Reply
- Mazie Malone June 14, 2024
  
  James…..lol 😂🤪
  
  The Last in Line……… RJD ….🤘💕
  
  We’re the ship without a storm
  The cold without the warm
  Light inside the darkness
  That it needs, yeah
  
  We’re a laugh without tear
  The hope without the fear
  We are coming, home
  
  We’re off to the witch
  We may never, never, never, come home
  But the magic that we’ll feel
  Is worth the lifetime
  
  We’re all born upon the cross
  We’re the throw before the toss
  You can release yourself
  But the only way is down
  
  We don’t come alone
  We are fire, we are stone
  We’re the hand that writes
  Then quickly moves away
  
  We’ll know for the first time
  If we’re evil or divine
  We’re the last in line, yeah
  We’re the last in line
  
  Two eyes from the east
  It’s the angel or the beast
  And the answer lies
  Between the good and bad
  
  We search for the truth
  We could die upon the tooth
  But the thrill of just the chase
  Is worth the pain
  
  We’ll know for the first time
  If we’re evil or divine
  We’re the last in line, yeah
  We’re the last in line, oh
  
  Yeah, we’re off to the witch
  We may never, never, never come home
  But the magic that we’ll feel
  Is worth a lifetime
  
  We’re all born upon the cross
  You know we’re the throw before the toss
  You can release yourself
  But the only way to go is down
  
  We’ll know for the first time
  If we’re evil or divine
  We’re the last in line, oh
  We’re the last in line
  See how we shine
  
  We’re the last in
  We’re the last in
  We’re the last in
  We’re the last in
  We’re the last in
  We’re the first in line, oh
  
  We’re a ship without a storm
  We’re the cold inside the warm
  We’re the laugh without tear
  We’re the smile without the mirror
  
  We’re the last in line
  We’re the last in line
  We’re the last in line
  See how we shine
  We’re the last in line
  
  mm 💕
  
  Reply
Marco McClean June 14, 2024

Re: “Frisco old timers call the fog, Karl?”

Probably for Carl Sandburg, who wrote that it comes in on little cat feet, sits looking over harbor and city on silent haunches and then moves on.

Reply
O sole mio June 14, 2024

Deer at Greenwood Beach (Jeff Goll)

Reply
John Sakowicz June 14, 2024

Upon reflecting about the case steming from a lawsuit filed by Vichy Springs Resort against the County of Mendocino and the City of Ukiah, I am certain it will have broad implications for many similar CEQA and land use disputes, including cannabis industry.

As most of us are aware, the cannabis industry is overregulated.

CEQA is perhaps the most significant legal regime impacting commercial cannabis activities in the State of California, second only to the Medicinal and Adult Use of Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (“MAUCRSA”). This is because all commercial cannabis businesses must comply with CEQA at both a state and local level in order to (1) be eligible to receive the local authorization(s) and state license(s) required by MAUCRSA, and (2) avoid the significant risk of litigation pursuant to CEQA.

The problem is that CEQA and land use regs impose enormous burdens on both licensed cannabis businesses and localities both in terms of regulatory compliance as well as potential litigation exposure.
The solution of course is for local jurisdictions to conduct Programmatic Environmental Impact Reports (PEIRs) for their respective permitting programs, then, ministerially permit all commercial cannabis activities including cultivation. But do they? No.

The ultimate solution is for cannabis farms to be regulated not as businesses but as farms — regulated by the California Department of Food & Agriculture (CDFA) like the wine industry.

Reply
O sole mio June 15, 2024

🏳️‍🌈

Reply

Mendocino County Today: Friday 6/14/24

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