Mendocino County Today: Monday 6/17/24

SNWMF Cancelled | Point Fire | Warming | Local Events | Clouds | Groundwater Meeting | Jughandle Beach | Unity Club | Noyo Center Fundraiser | Ed Notes | My Dad | Housing Needed | Chinaloa Recommendation | Local Reporters | Valley Light | Mendo Weed | Yesterday's Catch | Tased | Bay Stories | Streamlined | 8000 Doors | Writer Cats | Another Rerun | Tonto Gonzales | Woodstock Bound | Jewish Group | Israeli Regime | Bump Stock | Sucker | Trump Affair | Tied in Utah | Berryman | Graffiti

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POINT FIRE NEAR LAKE SONOMA burns structures, hundreds evacuated, 4,400 told to be ready to leave

The Point Fire, last estimated at more than 1,000 acres, is burning on the western rim of Dry Creek Valley. It has forced more than 400 people to evacuate, with thousands more told to be ready to leave.

by Colin Atagi, Madison Smalstig, Andrew Graham, Amie Windsor, Amy Moore And Martin Espinoza

A wind-driven wildfire erupted Sunday near Lake Sonoma, prompting evacuation orders covering rural homes and wineries in Dry Creek Valley, one of Sonoma County’s famed winemaking regions.

The Point Fire, first reported about 12:50 p.m. off Stewarts Point Skaggs Springs Road northwest of Healdsburg, grew quickly amid afternoon heat and gusts of at least 28 mph, sending smoke into Santa Rosa and southern Sonoma County.

More than 400 people were ordered to evacuate in the area nearest the blaze. About 4,000 others were put on notice to be ready to leave in case warnings were upgraded to evacuation orders for their area.

The fire was last reported at more than 1,000 acres, with 15% containment.

No new evacuation orders or warnings have been issued since 4:15 p.m. Sunday. An evacuation center has been set up at Laguna High School (the former El Molino campus) in Forestville.

No injuries were immediately reported by Cal Fire, but a 25-year-old inmate firefighter working on a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation crew off Mountain View Ranch Road was hit on the head by a tree branch and suffered a gash in his neck. He was last reported to be alert and conscious.

Press Democrat journalists also witnessed flames destroy at least three West Dry Creek Road structures, including a home.…

pressdemocrat.com/article/news/fire-lake-sonoma

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DRY WEATHER is expected for the foreseeable future. Interior temperatures begin a slow warming trend through the work week, with another heat possible late this week and this weekend. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): A cooler 46F this Monday morning on the coast. Some wind today but increasingly less the next few days. Chamber of Commerce weather until further notice it looks like.

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LOCAL EVENTS

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ARMED ROBBERY IN HOPLAND

On Friday, June 14, 2024 at about 10:51 P.M., the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office Dispatch Center received a panic alarm notification for Hopland Food and Gas located in the 13600 block of Mountain House Road in Hopland. Sheriff's Deputies immediately responded to the location as dispatchers attempted to obtain further information. While responding to the alarm, Deputies received additional information from Dispatch indicating a robbery just occurred at the location and the suspect was armed with a firearm.

Deputies along with Officers with the California Highway Patrol (CHP) arrived at the location and began an investigation into the incident along with canvasing the area for the suspect. During the investigation, Deputies learned a male subject had arrived at the location dressed all in black with a cover over his face. The subject brandished a semi-automatic pistol toward the employee at the location and demanded money. The subject then fled the scene with an undisclosed amount of U.S. currency.

Deputies continued to canvas the area for an extended period of time but were ultimately unable to locate the suspect. The suspect in this case is considered armed and dangerous. The employee of the business abided with the demands of the suspect and was not injured during the incident.

This case is still being actively investigated by the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office. Anyone with information that could assist with this investigation is urged to contact the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office Dispatch Center at 707-463-4086 or the non-emergency anonymous tip-line at 707-234-2100.

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ATTEND THE GROUNDWATER SUSTAINABILITY AGENCY MEETING

To the Editor, 

The Ukiah Valley Basin Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA) is considering adoption of a groundwater sustainability fee to fund local sustainable groundwater management. The fee resolution will be considered by the GSA Board on Tuesday, June 18th at 1p.m. at the County Board of Supervisors Chambers, 501 Lower Gap Road.

The GSA is an unfunded state mandate, coming from the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) passed in 2014 by then-Governor Jerry Brown. None of us are excited or happy about the levying of new taxes or fees. Fortunately, we as a community have been able to form our own local agency, the GSA, to lead the management of our groundwater. This community led approach is much more ideal, and successfully meeting the state’s requirements means that we will maintain that local control. 

The proposed regulatory fee structure has two components. First is a base fee, collected per acre ($4.07/acre) per year fee paid by all property owners and will be collected annually with property tax bills. The second portion is categorized by four different groundwater user groups. 

Group 1 is the public water systems, at $0.1352 per 1,000 gallons extracted. Group 2 is our agricultural lands, specifically crop land at $32.75 per cropped acre.  Group 3 is our homeowners, known as improved properties at $34.67 per acre of the entire parcel. Group 4 is all other at $0.00, so just the base fee. These amounts for each fee group is based on the amount of groundwater each group uses. The proposed income from this fee is set at $600,000 a year.

While $600,000 is no small amount, thankfully it has been reduced from amounts previously proposed by the consultants supporting our GSA. While we often need the technical expertise of consultants to complete specialty work, it does not mean we turn a blind eye to the cost of this work. There has been a collaborative effort by community members, stakeholders and many of those on our GSA Board of Directors to decrease the fee amount and insure that we are doing only the essential work at this time. I am thankful to all those that have dedicated their time and continue to be involved with the GSA. 

I encourage you to get involved. Ask questions of your representatives on the GSA Board, which can be found at https://ukiahvalleygroundwater.org/about-us/board-of-directors/. Question the budget and the fees being collected. We should all be asking if what is being done is effective and efficient.  

The meeting agenda, draft resolution, draft Rate & Fee Study, and additional information is posted at www.ukiahvalleygroundwater.org. Comments or questions about the public hearing or fee study may be sent to staff@ukiahvalleygroundwater.org. Please do not hesitate to reach out to me directly if you would like to discuss this in greater detail. 

Madeline Cline 

1st District Supervisor-Elect 

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UNITY CLUB NEWS

by Miriam Martinez

On June 6th the A.V. Unity Club installed the front allowing officers for the 2024-25 year:

President - Mary Ann Grzenda

Vice President - Val Muchowski

Vice President - Janet Lombard

Secretary - Ellen Fontaine

Treasurer - Jean Condon

Parliamentarian - Janet Lombard

These officers will serve one more year, then we will have new elections for the next 2 year term.

The Lending Library will be closed from last Saturday, the 15th of June, until the 25th. Great news! We will hold a "$5 a bag" Book Sale during the month of July.

Library hours are Tuesdays from 1 to 4 and Saturdays from 12:30 to 2:30 except when the Fairgrounds are rented out for other functions. On July 23 the Library will close until October, because of Apple Fair preparations.

See you around the Valley. Have a safe and nourishing Summer.

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Third Annual Music in the Redwoods Fundraiser for the Noyo Center for Marine Science. Saturday, June 22, 3-8. Music by Aaron Ford, The Steve Bates Band and Boonfire. Silent auction with awesome items to bid on. Food from Los Primos (with vegan option), beer, wine, non-alcoholic drinks and popcorn for sale. Takes places in a beautiful meadow on Charlene Lane, just north of Cleone. Look for signs. Tickets $20 online or $25 at the site.

noyocenter.org/music-in-the-redwoods

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ED NOTES

NO AND DOUBLE NO! To the lady who wonders if she's the only one who has watched Con Creek ebb and flow off and on, she might be reassured by my observation that I've also seen it stop and go. That said, I've never before seen the fine little year-round creek in a state anything less than vigorous, even in the dry months, as it flows down out of Peachland into what's left of Anderson Creek. When I was physically whole, I always checked Con Creek's health as I strode aerobically over the CCC-constructed bridge above it.

SOME EVENINGS the little creek that could and always has was running fast and clear, and some evenings it was down to a trickle. Or not running at all. As for who or what is periodically intercepting it upstream, maybe an Upper Peachland Person can let us know the name of the perp.

I REMEMBER watching steelhead and salmon run up Con Creek as late as 1978, but I haven't seen so much as a minnow since, and because it's widely believed that fish need water to live, any human interference with their habitat is your basic crime against nature. Viva, Con Creek!

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DOMPELING RECOVERING

On Monday, Aug. 19, a fully-loaded Roach Logging truck driven by Albert Dompeling went off the Albion River Bridge landing nose down wedged into the river bank 125 feet below. Dompeling has been in the Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital trauma center since the accident, but family members say his condition is slowly improving.

Beginning this week, information on the condition of Dompeling, and all other patients, is no longer available due to implementation of a federal act, enacted in 1996, protecting patient rights and privacy. The act covers any information that could identify a patient, even their room number. The government has established heavy fines for infractions of the act. Hospitals must have a written statement from the patient or close family member in order to give out patient information.

The California Highway Patrol has completed its accident report concluding that Neil Wood, driving a 1977 Toyota Celica, was at fault having crossed the center line on the bridge and hit the truck.

CHP Officer Rusty Smith said the results of Wood's blood test are not in, but it is suspected that the accident was alcohol related. Wood is also a patient at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital.

Smith said he especially wants to thank the people of Albion. He said there were many heroes that day, people who put out a fire that erupted in the truck, those who cleared brush for firefighters and skippers who ferried people across the river to rescue Dompeling.

A trust fund has been established for Dompeling at Washington Mutual Bank, account # 4906006980, 120 E. Alder St., Fort Bragg, CA 95437.

Besides damage to the railing of the bridge, some structural damage was sustained. Caltrans has done two assessments. They have repaired the damage to the railing and replaced a couple of minor cross bracings under the bridge that were damaged in the truck's fall. After a brief closure and one-way traffic only, Caltrans opened the bridge to two-way traffic, deeming it to be structurally sound.

The Albion River Bridge is the last wooden trestle bridge remaining on the coast. It was completed in 1944 by the Army Corps of Engineers.

THOSE PERPLEXED tourists we saw huddled over road maps in Boonville and Philo Monday morning were auslanders trying to figure out a route to the Mendocino Coast because Highway One was closed following an horrific accident on the Albion Bridge earlier that morning. At exactly 10:30am a double-trailer log truck, its driver frantically braking to avoid the Toyota Celica that had unaccountably appeared in the truck's lane near mid-span, struck the Celica then plunged over the side, falling 150 feet before landing on its roof on the river's southeast bank only a few feet from the water

THE NORTHBOUND Celica, driven by Neil Wood, 53, of Fort Bragg, was struck by the oncoming log truck and upended in the middle of the two-lane bridge, the last wood bridge in the state in use on a state-maintained highway. With Wood pinned inside the wreckage of his Celica on top of the bridge, Albert Oompling, 51, also of Fort Bragg, rode his now airborne log truck to the Albion River below, his eerily slow-motion fall witnessed by a horrified number of motorists, campers and fishermen at Albion Flat, and several residents of nearby homes on both sides of the river whose attentions had been drawn to the bridge by the ominous sound of screaming brakes.

MR. DOMPLING, the driver of the log truck, was apparently conscious throughout his terrifying fall and was talking to the rescuers who immediately sped across the river by boat from the campgrounds on the Mendocino side of the river to offer him whatever help they could. But Oompling was pinned in the wreckage of his cab amidst a pick-up stick array of scattered logs he'd been carrying north to the Gibney Lane mill in Fort Bragg. A jaws-of-life apparatus from the Mendocino Fire Department soon appeared on the north bank of the Albion. It was ferried across the river by boat where it was put to work to free Oompling, alert and talking to his rescuers, from what might well have been his death chamber. The trucker, fortunate to have survived the fall had, however, suffered major injuries. He was first taken to Coast Hospital before being airlifted to Memorial Hospital, Santa Rosa, where he remains in serious condition in the hospital's trauma ward.

MR. WOOD, the apparent cause of the accident, also had to be cut from the wreckage of his crushed, upturned Toyota, and also sustained major injuries. He remains at Coast Hospital. Both men are expected to recover.

CALTRANS FEARED that the bridge's south wooden support had been struck by the log truck as it fell, perhaps thus imperiling the bridge's structural integrity. As a small army of Caltrans personnel, emergency services workers and policemen swarmed the closed bridge, through traffic was turned around and routed through Comptche the rest of the day. One-way traffic shepherded by a Caltrans pilot car resumed Monday evening. Inspections of the old bridge are ongoing. It has not been announced when two-way traffic is likely to resume.

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AL DOMPELING was confined to Memorial Hospital in Santa Rosa for nearly a month, but his family said he was expected to make a full recovery. Dompeling was the driver of the Roach Brother's log truck that skidded off the east side of the Albion Bridge early the afternoon of August 19th 2002. As horrified fishermen and campers watched from the Albion Flats, Dompeling's double-trailer rig fell cab-first in what witnesses described as "slow-motion" 125 feet to the river bank. Dompeling was trapped in his cab until he was freed by Mendocino-based rescue workers who had to be ferried across the river to reach him. The valiant Dompeling was conscious throughout his terrifying fall and was said to be alert and helpful all during the painful ordeal of his rescue.

THE APPALLING accident was apparently caused when a Toyota Celica driven by Neil Wood, 53, of Fort Bragg unaccountably crossed the centerline and hit Dompeling's southbound truck head-on, causing Dompeling's truck to veer over the side, taking out five yards of wood rail as neatly as if they'd been intentionally removed. Wood also remains hospitalized in Santa Rosa but directed Memorial Hospital not to release any information about him other than his presence there.

A BENEFIT for Dompeling was held at the Albion River Flats Cafe last Saturday. Organized by the Cafe's spirited Gloria Vantassel, some 250 locals contributed more than $5,000 to a fund that will help pay some of the medical costs of Dompeling's prolonged hospitalization. Wood was found to have been driving drunk

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HAPPY FATHERS DAY TO MY DAD LEN LETTAU.

When I was in 5th grade there was a weekly Saturday basketball clinic; I eventually became a very good athlete, but at that age I just was’nt; I was always the last kid picked, even after the girls, I couldn't throw anything for distance or accuracy; and would strike out in baseball every time; so this one Saturdays, the other boys got very mean to me(and you know how 5th grade boys can be when they get on a roll….. when I got home I was in tears, my parents asked what had happened and I could barely talk, I managed to get it out; they made me a sandwich and I ate it, when it was gone my dad took the plate away and just said”get in the car”; he didn’t say why I had no idea WTF was happening but /i followed orders. We went to the sporting goods store and bought a basketball rim, then the hardware store for supplies, and by the end of the day we had mounted a basketball hoop on the garage roof, so I could practice!

I know many of you admire my resilience, particularly post stroke, and I suppose much of that is innate, but I can say this man certainly modeled it for me; that you Never give up, always keep moving forward, keep the prayers going, and things will happen; things haven't always been easy but I am forever grateful! Here we are pictured here from my trip home 2 years ago, in the gorge where he taught me to trout fish!

— Chris Skyhawk

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IN SEARCH OF HOUSING, temporary and/or long term for incoming AVES principal

Alyson is in search of a home for herself and her two dogs. A rental is preferred but will consider options for purchase. She is looking for a house that is within commutable distance, no more than 30-40 mins, to the school. The home will preferably have a couple bedrooms and outdoor space. Her two dogs are medium sized Labs. They are mature, well behaved and house trained. She is planning on arriving around July 8th and for work to start at the end of the month. All options and leads are greatly appreciated. She can be reached via email at rayogitano@gmail.com

Louise Simson
Superintendent
Anderson Valley Unified School District

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CHINALOA – Off State St in Ukiah

Been meaning to try this place for awhile. I love that I can get a plate with different things without ordering 3 or 4 different dishes. I got double orange chicken but there are other options. It came out hot and fresh and quickly! That little egg roll was delicious, it had cheese in it which I wasn’t sure about but then wished I’d gotten an order of them! Check it out!

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LAST OF THE INK-STAINED WRETCHES

by Tommy Wayne Kramer

Journalism, once a noble calling, is now an embarrassment; reporters have reputations worse than used car salesmen.

I did newspaper work 35 years, then morphed into a private investigator. Asked about my former career I tell people I managed a sunglass kiosk at Coddington.

It wasn’t always so, or even recently. In Ukiah during the 1980s and ‘90s there roamed honest reporters and editors determined to pierce veils of secrecy hiding unsavory deeds. Hard-edged reporters like Charlie Rappleye, Peter Page and Gale Holland kept their fingers on the pulse, noses in the air and eyes on the powerbrokers in Mendocino County.

That trio, and others, once made the Daily Journal a strong, respected publication statewide. Now KC Meadows, the Journal editor and a top shelf reporter herself, is down to one (1) reporter on a newspaper that for a time boasted a newsroom of more than a dozen.

(Justine Frederiksen would have complemented newspaper staffs of the 1980s and ‘90s but she was only about eight years old at the time.)

Today the world of journalism is a hollowed out remnant; famous newspapers once held in high esteem have withered and died or turned into weak online versions. They don’t get much funding, they don’t get much advertising and they don’t have many readers. They don’t have much future.

We needn’t wonder who is keeping an eye on government and its actors as they push big stacks of chips across the poker tables of municipal and national politics. It’s never been a pretty sight, watching laws being created in congress or state legislatures (the process is often compared to watching sausage made in a slaughterhouse) but in 2024 it must be ghastly.

Amid this grim business has come news the Anderson Valley Advertiser has succumbed to the triple onslaught of reduced circulation, lowered income and advanced age. Result, and probably only a temporary one, requires moving its operation out of the past (paper, ink, delivered to your door) and into the present (it would be charitable to call it the future) of online websites or whatever temporary stopover the Mighty AVA is forced to make.

And yet: Old school bolts of news from elderly veterans from days of yore, are once again splashing across front pages in local newspapers. Big stories are being covered comprehensively.

This sudden burst of punchy reporting is partly the work of the long-retired Mike Geniella, a veteran bear who recently emerged from his cave, looked about, and did not like what he saw. He may have growled.

Geniella, ex-Press-Democrat reporter, did some PR work for county DA Dave Eyster, and all went well until it didn’t; Geniella lumbered back to his cave.

But the pervasive scent of smelly business proved too much. A plea bargain for an ex-UPD police officer had a fishy aroma; Geniella took to the keyboard and said so repeatedly, always with a kidney punch for Eyster. From there Geniella became Born Again journalist, spreading the news that most of those in power would have preferred to keep behind the veil. He watched as county supervisors terminated elected officials and got to work railing at them. He dragged Eyster back into the spotlight for more abuse.

The past year has been uncomfortable for the DA, Ukiah boss Sage Sangiacomo and his heavy, Shannon Riley. Deals and the oily machinery that makes them run have come under scrutiny. Plans to rebuild the Palace Hotel were aired out and the fumes gagged readers and forcing leaders to interrupt meetings, re-schedule hearings and panic in private. Chips have fallen.

Geniella’s not alone. Doing the hard work but for a lot longer and minus the retirement frolics has been the unsung hero of the AVA, Mark Scaramella. Scaramella has toiled for decades within the penumbra of the countywide shadow cast by Emperor Bruce Anderson, but remains as anonymous as an offensive lineman with the 49ers.

Scaramella does the hard, tedious work of keeping every department in Mendocino County government under scrutiny. He reads the budgets, he interprets dodgy, misleading responses to straightforward questions, he knows where a lot of skeletons are buried and he’s forever in the hunt for more.

Mark Scaramella is a true hero, and I don’t have to ask if Geniella and Anderson agree. Mark has been at it so long and has done it so well that it’s a shame his work tends to blend in with the wallpaper of the AVA’s ever-gray columns (and columns and columns) of gray print.

He too grows old. We will not see any of their likes again. When Geniella, Anderson and Scaramella shuffle offstage, and that day can’t be far off, our information sources will suffer immediately and political operatives will rejoice heartily.

(To be absolutely clear, I finished this column on Tuesday, June 11, 2024, and emailed it to the Daily Journal for publication Sunday June 16. Minutes later wife Trophy read a sweet Facebookie thing by Geniella himself praising something I wrote. Quid pro Quo!?! I’d rather he paid me $50. TWK says to relax because nobody will read either.)

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ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Mendocino weed was always better- even back in the 70’s. The only reason Humboldt got the famous name was because Humboldt County did not eradicate or prosecute as hard as Mendocino County so more was grown in Humboldt. I remember in ’83 0r ’84 when CAMP really started busting hard in Humboldt all we heard was Humboldt Humboldt Humboldt…so when we went to lot with our pounds from Laytonville and Leggett we just called it “Humboldt” too. Why not let Humboldt catch more flack? They were already getting all the copters and busts….The growing environment was always better in Mendocino that Humboldt and our weed was always better than the early pull or moldy stuff up in Humboldt- back when early rains were a real concern. Indeed I’d wager that Mendocino grown is STILL better- people in Humboldt just still trying to float on their name. Anyways Humboldt with it’s lax enforcement caught the biggest part of the greenrush and all those greedy posers blew up low quality mids- THAT is Humboldt’s legacy now the commercial mega-grow mid market. Ha Ha! And now this article is telling everybody down south they don’t have to drive extra hours to get the finest weed on earth. Sounds about right and Humboldt (thanks to it’s idiot supervisors) is toast in the weed game. Enjoy that “legalization” everybody! Hope y’all are feeling “free” and “safe” now ha ha ha!!

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CATCH OF THE DAY, Sunday, June 16, 2024

BOBBI COLE, Potter Valley. Controlled substance, paraphernalia, disobeying court order.

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

RYAN FULWIDER, Campbell/Ukiah. Transient failure to register for annual update.

CALEB LISTON, Redwood Valley. DUI.

RAMON MACIEL, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol, failure to appear. (Frequent flyer.)

CALVIN MAGPIE, Sacramento/Ukiah. Paraphernalia, suspended license, county parole violation.

DIAMANTE MCCAIN, Willits. Domestic violence court order violation, probation revocation.

CYTHIA PHILLIBER, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

GABRIEL SERGENT-QUIRO, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

JOEL SHELTON, Eureka/Ukiah. DUI-alcohol&drugs, paraphernalia.

JALAHN TRAVIS, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-under influence, probation violation. (Frequent flyer.)

DANIEL YEOMANS, Fort Brgg. Disorderly conduct-alcohol, county parole violation. resisting. (Frequent flyer.)

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70 YEARS AGO HE FELL IN LOVE WITH S.F. BAY. NOW HE TELLS THE BAY’S STORIES

by Carl Nolte

When Michael Herz was the San Francisco Baykeeper, he used to patrol the bay in a small boat looking for polluters. Now he roams the bay looking for stories.

Herz fell in love with San Francisco Bay from the time he first set eyes on its waters more than 70 years ago. He saw the bay as the centerpiece of the region and the cities that had grown up around it. San Francisco Bay affects everything from the region’s commerce to its weather.

The bay has also affected Herz: He’s sailed on it, studied it, lived in its harbors and backwaters, and spent years trying to protect it. He was the founder of the San Francisco chapter of the Oceanic Society and in 1987 started San Francisco Baykeeper, operating as sort of an environmental detective, cruising the bay and keeping an eye out for people or governmental agencies harming the estuary. Herz has a unique perspective — he’s a scientist as well.

In one of the most noted cases, the Baykeeper patrol went out in a kayak and caught an operator in a polluted shipyard dredging the bay without a permit at night under cover of darkness. Baykeeper caught the workers red-handed, and the operator went to prison.

The waterkeeper movement started in the East — on the Hudson and other rivers. Herz brought it west. “Now it’s grown so there’s 350 waterkeeper units around the world,” he said.

A keeper he said, is “someone who cares about the water they live or sail on and want to save it.”

But hard-nosed activism is a job for younger people, and Herz is 87 now, seasoned, slim and lithe, a bit weather-beaten, thinking of a next project. In his work he had gone all over the bay, watching for problems, but talking and listening. He’d come home and tell his wife, Kate Josephs, about the problems and more. “I heard all these stories from him about the bay and life on the water,” she said. “Many of them were true.”

So the next project came naturally. “I wanted to get a boat and circumnavigate San Francisco Bay and find the stories,” Herz said.

The project is called “Once Upon a Bay.” Herz is the storyteller. Josephs, whose background is in finance and politics, is the producer. Putting it all in a book was one idea, but they settled on the internet instead. Podcasts begin in the fall, after a monthslong editing session this summer.

“Editing sound is a fascinating extension of editing the written word, but slower,” Josephs said. “We collect material faster than I can process it.”

So far there are 20 stories under construction and about 100 story elements in the can, a real mix of sounds and people: whales, cormorants, seals, music, sea shanties, a walking tour of the Benicia waterfront, ferries, fog, a boat tour of Alameda, algae blooms, stories about shipwrecks, sailors, labor leaders and park rangers, bay heroes and polluters. And they’ve only just begun.

When they are not out tracking down their stories, Herz and Josephs do most of their work aboard a 35-foot motorboat docked at Point San Pablo Yacht Harbor on the Richmond shoreline.

The place is a true backwater, reached by a winding road that runs on the edge of Chevron’s Richmond refinery. It’s no fancy yacht harbor with boats in Bristol condition, clean and polished. Point San Pablo looks like a harbor out of another time, a small harbor ringed by brown hills and rusty railroad tracks. It looks as if its best days were long ago.

Herz loves the place. “It looks the way the Bay Area was when I first came here,” he said, “It’s unvarnished, it’s real.”

“I call this place ‘Brigadoon,’ ” Josephs said, mentioning the mythical Scottish village that appears out of the mist once every hundred years. “You have to believe in it to stay here.”

Perhaps their bay project has a bit of a mythical quality to it. The subject is enormous — the bay is the largest estuary on the West Coast and one of the most complex. The market for stories about the bay itself is uncertain.

But Herz is driven by his love of the bay and determination. He reminds himself of a voyage he made when he was a member of the Singlehanded Sailing Society and made a trip by himself from San Francisco to Kauai in the Hawaiian Islands. He soon got into trouble. “I realized I was sailing beyond my capabilities,” he said. “If I knew everything I know today, I wouldn’t have done it. But I did it.”

Joseph sees it a bit differently. “This project is a joy to the both of us,” she said. “How fun it is to go around the bay and collect stories?”

(SF Chronicle)

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WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU KNOCK ON 8,000 DOORS

by Lea Page

In 2018, the district judge for our area of south-central Montana was retiring and encouraged my husband, Ray, to run to fill his seat. Ray, a lawyer with 30 years of experience in civil and criminal practice, was new to politics. He expected to be the underdog. While all judicial races in the state are nonpartisan, we were not members of the dominant Republican Party. And we had lived in Montana for only 20 years, long enough to know we would still be considered newcomers.

I told Ray: “They just need to get to know you. Then they’ll love you.”

The district covers three rural counties, too big to gather all those voters together at a campaign event, so wooing them with Ray’s barbecued brisket was out. We would, we decided, go to them.

Over six months, we knocked on the doors of over 8,000 registered voters from across the political spectrum. We didn’t know what to expect, but we certainly didn’t anticipate how eager people were to share very personal stories — not just eager, but, it seemed, compelled.

There’s an immediate intimacy in having a conversation on someone’s doorstep. It is, after all, a threshold between public and private, but who would have thought that political canvassing would be so conducive to such unvarnished honesty? Perhaps because of the fracturing of our communities, we encountered an almost universal need to be witnessed and validated, to trust.

Listening will not, alone, alleviate suffering — It has to be accompanied by, as a start, better access to public services. Neither is listening a magic cure for our political divisions. But I believe that any system in which some people feel they don’t matter is doomed to fail. I have no idea what it will take to heal our divisions, but I believe it will have something to do with sharing stories.

Instead of talking about ourselves, we focused on the people we met. We would take note of some detail around the house, most often their gardens or their dogs — there were always dogs, big dogs and little dogs, an abundance of old and cherished dogs.

A few people asked questions, usually, “Republican or Democrat?” When Ray reminded them that the race was nonpartisan, some pushed, but most seemed happy, relieved almost, to let the politics drop. And then, perhaps prompted by our initial curiosity, the stories flowed.

A former mechanic told us he spent his days in a recliner in his garage, listening to audiobooks after losing his sight. He kept his mint-condition ’58 Packard Hawk parked next to him for company. A Vietnam veteran told us he thought he had lost his moral compass until he learned about PTSD. He now runs a support group for other vets.

One man pushed a button on his throat and laughed off losing his voice to cancer because that was nothing compared to losing his child, who had been drowned by his mentally ill wife. Another man told us that just that morning he had taken his daughter to hospice after she had survived unexpectedly past Thanksgiving, and then Christmas and then Valentine’s Day.

A grandmother, a member of the Crow tribe whose father had been taken from his family and “re-educated” at a boarding school, told me, “They stole his voice.” She reached out and touched my wrist. “The men who suffered this way, they cannot speak of it yet. But we women can. We must tell the stories.”

As many stories as we heard involving abandonment and abuse, meth and alcohol addiction, we heard even more about adoptions — some formal, most not — of grandchildren, nieces and nephews and neighborhood kids, tapestries of makeshift families.

The encounters we had weren’t always positive. Sometimes people slammed doors in our faces, and I would wonder, “What’s the point?” We avoided any house with a sign warning of an aggressive dog or, as was more often the case, an aggressive gun owner.

Most often, we heard, “Come in!” sung out from somewhere inside. We were offered water, Gatorade, wine, pie, banana bread and landscaping rocks. We were grateful for the stories, most of all. Something important was built in those brief but intense conversations. We had an overwhelming sense that the people we talked to felt, at least in that moment, that they mattered to someone. We felt we mattered, too.

Ray’s ability to listen is what would have made him a compassionate judge. In the end, the voters chose Ray’s opponent, but it was close instead of the predicted landslide.

It never felt like a loss. We had stood together on porches and broken steps, among pots of petunias and cans of sodden cigarette butts, and we listened. People told stories full of pride and full of pain. Do you see me? they seemed to ask in a hundred different ways. Do you see my beauty? Do you see my struggle?

They were asking so little of us. It was easy to say yes.

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“A WRITER WITHOUT A CAT is like a blind man without a lazar.”

The solitary and individualistic character of cats makes writers identify with them. We could define the relationship between the two as an alliance between completely free beings.

Borges confessed himself anarchist, independent and lonely, without schedules that could condition his creativity. "He does what he wants, like me," the writer said about his faithful cat Beppo.

Felines are politically incorrect, nobodies,night lovers, bohemian, and freelancers.. The perfect mix for many of the writers who marked a before and after in the world of literature. Some of them managed to create imperceptible bonds for the remaining mortals, simplifying their magic into one.

Charles Bukowski wrote about cats: "They walk with astonishing dignity, they can sleep 20 hours a day without doubt and without remorse, these creatures are teachers." Alexandre Dumas had two cats, Mysouff I and Mysouff II, the latter being the writer's favorite, despite eating all of Dumas' exotic birds at one occasion.

Charles Dickens had a cat named William whom he renamed Williamina, due to the birth that months later the cat would have in Dickens' studio. Edgar Allan Poe had a cat named Catarina, who often lay on his shoulder as he wrote.. The cat inspired the play The Black Cat.

Ernest Hemingway's affection for cats is so well-known that the American journalist Carlene Fredericka Brennen decided to write the book Hemingway’s Cats, in which he narrates his relationship with these animals.

Julio Cortázar named his cat T.W. Adorno, after the German philosopher and sociologist. The writer mentions cats in several of his works, among them Rayuela and The Last Round. Hermann Hesse's cat was so restless, the writer spent his free moments running after him through his house. Jean-Paul Sartre's cat, a fluffy white animal, is said to be Nada, a name that fit perfectly with his owner's existentialism.

Patricia Highsmith lived happily with her cats; with them she managed to have a long-term closeness with people. She needed cats as psychological balance.

These felines have been inspiration, solitude and companionship in their lives. Faithful friends in the dark; free souls that united created magic.

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JOKE OF THE DAY

Guy boards the airplane, takes his seat, gets settled in and looks up. Just coming down the aisle is the most beautiful woman he has ever seen. An absolute show-stopper, and as luck might have it she’s pausing at his row, and in fact is taking the seat next to him!

Trying to break the ice he takes a deep breath and blurts out “So, are you traveling for Business or Pleasure?”

“Oh, I’m going to Boston for Business,” she says. “I’m going there to address the National Nymphomaniac Society of North America.” Trying to maintain his composure he asks nonchalantly “And what will your role be at the convention?”

“Well, I’m scheduled to give the keynote address. I’ll be using information I have learned from personal experience to debunk some popular myths about sexuality.”

“Myths?” he asks.”What kinds of myths?"

“Well, one popular misconception is that African-American men are the most well-endowed, whereas in fact it is the Native American man who holds that distinction. Another popular but mistaken notion is that men of French descent are the best lovers, when in reality I have found that trait belongs to Mexicans. And when it comes to the lover with the greatest stamina by far the most impressive are the Southern Redneck men.”

Blushing slightly she apologizes. “Oh, here I am talking about all this with you and I don’t even know your name.”

“Tonto,” the man answers. “Tonto Gonzales, but my friends all call me Bubba."

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NEW VIDEO RELEASE: THE MAN THE SF JCRC'S CROWD CALLED A "KAPO"

I. New Video; II. Fairfax Peace Activist David Glick Reveals A Heroic Family History; III. New Docs Released By San Rafael Shed Light on JCRC's Reach in Bay Area; IV. Marinites Review Spotswood Column

by Eva Chrysanthe/Marin County Confidential

Part I: Video Release. Last Sunday, I released an article with video showing the unlawful grabbing of my phone camera on June 5 by a member of a small gang of enraged, pro-Israel women linked to the San Francisco Jewish Community Relations Council (SF JCRC). This group had regularly appeared at Fairfax Town Council meetings to oppose any ceasefire resolution, and showed up most recently on June 5 to oppose the Council’s watered-down “peace proclamation”, which omitted any mention of the words genocide, war crimes, or famine.

The SF JCRC-linked group was made livid by the Council’s June 5 passage of the mild proclamation, and by the civil public comments of Jewish ceasefire advocates. They became even more enraged upon realizing I had filmed the tail end of their harassment of an older Jewish peace activist, David Glick. During this incident, they had crowded Glick, and called him a "kapo" and "Hamas".…

marincountyconfidential.substack.com/p/new-video-release-the-man-the-sf

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THAT BUMP STOCK, CLARENCE,

Fires automatic.
Fully.
Even little kids know that.
Why don't you know it?

— Jim Luther

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DREYFUS AFFAIR…TRUMP AFFAIR?

by Michael Köepf

The Dreyfus Affair. Alfred Dreyfus was a French military officer convicted of treason in 1894 for allegedly passing military secrets to the German embassy in Paris. Dreyfus was sentenced to life imprisonment and transported to Devil’s Island in French Guiana. Dreyfus was Jewish and antisemitism was a significant factor in his conviction. When it was proved that a different officer, Walsin-Esterhazy, was responsible for the espionage, Dreyfus was brought back to France for a second trail, but despite exonerating facts, Dreyfus was convicted again.

In January 1899 French novelist, Emile Zola, published J’Accuse…! in the newspaper L’Aurore. Zola accused the army and those in power of covering up the fallacious conviction of Dreyfus. Zola was at the forefront of the Dreyfusards, a political movement opposed to the unjust power of the state. For his efforts, Zola was accused of libeling the military, and in turn convicted and sentenced to a year in jail. Zola’s trail was marked by antisemitic riots and violence in support of the state. Loosing on appeal, Zola was forced to flee to England.

In 1899 to avoid further social conflict, President Emile Laubet pardoned Dreyfus, but France remained a tortured society. Antisemitism continued and Dreyfus’s innocence was never fully proclaimed until 1995!

The Dreyfus affair had lasting, historical consequences for France. It marked the beginning of a new phase in the history of the 3rd Republic, coalescing the Dreyfusards into a united front of state opposition. The Dreyfus Affair tarnished the reputation of France, and paradoxically, due to the antisemitic nature of Dreyfus’s persecution, it led to Theodor Herzl and the organized movement of Jews back to the Middle East. Beyond France, the Dreyfus Affair is historically significant, for it underscores the plight of the individual verses a powerful, merciless state.

The Trump Affair. Donald Trump is not Jewish, has never severed in the military, although he was commander-in-chief the Armed forces of the United States. As yet, he has not been sent to Riker’s Island, the Devil’s Island of New York, although James Comey, former FBI chief, recently championed this outcome. Trump’s recent felony convictions, essentially cite book keeping improprieties to quelch an alleged sexual blackmailer, which, hypothetically, according to DA Alvin Bragg, may have caused Donald Trump to win the election of 2016. Complicated and fanciful, but a conviction nonetheless.

As to specifics, there’s no comparison between Alfred Dreyfus and Donald Trump aside from one essential point—both men were and are targets of a powerful, unjust state. Dreyfus was targeted by the military and those in power in France. Trump has been targeted by those in power in behalf of our commander-in-chief, and specifically: the Democrat DA of New York city, judge Arthur Engoron, registered Democrat, and Jaun Merchan, small-change donor to President Biden, the Progressive Trust Project, and a group called Stop Republicans. Democrat Jack Smith in the classified documents trial, and Fani Willis in the voter fraud Georgia trial, may or may not, follow. So many trials, so many Democrats. No coincidence there.

On July 11th Donald Trump will face his Dryfus moment when he stands before Judge Merchan for sentencing. I believe Donald Trump will be sentenced to jail. As with the Dreyfusards of long ago, it will further inflame opponents of our current state of governance. Plato said it first with his metaphor ship of state, likening governing to the command of a ship. On our current ship of state, the captain may be unsteady at the helm, but he’s the captain none-the-less commanding strict obedience from his crew. Deck hand and registered Democrat, New York Judge Arthur Engoron, has already done his part in Trump’s initial New York trial fining Donald Trump an irrational, astronomical sum. To please the captain once more, why would Judge Merchan fail to follow in a similar vein? Orwell said it best: ignorance and prejudice are the ballast of our ship of state…

Donald Trump is not Alfred Dryfus, but is history repeating itself when it comes to one individual vs those in power? We may not realize it now, but Donald Trump’s most recent trial and conviction may have lasting, historical consequences when it comes to targeted state persecutions. In the meantime, where do we sail next–the reef of national chaos or safe harbor in a different state of command where justice reigns once more?

(Mike Koepf is a former commercial fisherman. Author: The Fisherman’s Son, Shelter Cove, Icarus, Save The Whale.)

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DEAD POET on dead poet: a poem by W. S. Merwin (1927-2019) about John Berryman (1914-1972); from Opening the Hand, 1983:

“Berryman"

I will tell you what he told me
in the years just after the war
as we then called
the second world war

don't lose your arrogance yet he said
you can do that when you're older
lose it too soon and you may
merely replace it with vanity

just one time he suggested
changing the usual order
of the same words in a line of verse
why point out a thing twice

he suggested I pray to the Muse
get down on my knees and pray
right there in the corner and he
said he meant it literally

it was in the days before the beard
and the drink but he was deep
in tides of his own through which he sailed
chin sideways and head tilted like a tacking sloop

he was far older than the dates allowed for
much older than I was he was in his thirties
he snapped down his nose with an accent
I think he had affected in England

as for publishing he advised me
to paper my wall with rejection slips
his lips and the bones of his long fingers trembled
with the vehemence of his views about poetry

he said the great presence
that permitted everything and transmuted it
in poetry was passion
passion was genius and he praised movement and invention

I had hardly begun to read
I asked how can you ever be sure
that what you write is really
any good at all and he said you can't

you can't you can never be sure
you die without knowing
whether anything you wrote was any good
if you have to be sure don't write”

― W.S. Merwin

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