Mendocino County Today: Saturday 6/22/24

Evening Light | Inland Heat | Laytonville Quake | Coastal Fog | CSD Notes | Local Events | Edu Seats | Bee Blossom | AVUSD News | Ukiah Construction | Endless Bummer | Last Durlin | Palestinian Event | Pulp Exhibition | Volunteers Needed | Old Highway | Ed Notes | Yesterday's Catch | Password Limit | Marco Radio | Cockburn Tree | Flying Flags | The Catch | Willie Mays | Mad Economist | Rickwood Field | W.C. Indian | Rewrite History | Go Vegan | Avocado Crime | Violent Incompetents | Domestic Violence | Pope Nuzzle | NYT Stories | Pone Weenie | Trump Cuckoo | Weird Cult | Debate Comments | Butchering Children | Bum Shot

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HOT INLAND TEMPERATURES will peak today. Temperatures will moderate on Sunday, but will remain hot and above average into mid next week. A late season trough will further moderate inland temperatures mid to late next week. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): A foggy 47F this Saturday morning on the coast. The fog bank looks much smaller but forecasting what we will have along the coast is a crap shoot at best. I'll go with a mix of sun & fog in varying amounts depending where you are. Our forecast is for more of the fog game in the near future.

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LAYTONVILLE SHAKER

A 4.3 magnitude earthquake rattled the area near Laytonville, Friday evening, the United States Geological Survey reported. The quake struck at 8:46 p.m. local time, centered 3.10 miles west-southwest of Laytonville. The earthquake's depth was measured at 1.98 miles below the surface. No immediate reports of damage have been made.

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CSD NOTES: MOUNTAIN HOUSE ROAD FIREBUG?

by Mark Scaramella

AV FIRE CHIEF Andres Avila told the Community Services District Board on Wednesday that three suspicious wildland fires were started along the roadside of Mountain House Road between Yorkville and Hopland on the mornings of June 11, 12 and 17, each at around 6am. Fortunately, conditions at the time were not conducive to fast spread and the fires were contained to relatively small areas. Chief Avila declined to provide additional details as the fires are under active investigation by local law enforcement and CalFire authorities. Some locals recall a series of (at least) six fires in the same general vicinity set by convicted arsonist David Valley back in 2005.

The popular Patty Liddy, popular local entertainer and Secretary to the Community Services District was honored Wednesday night with a formal resolution and recognition of outstanding service to the District for more than five years.

High Fire Danger: Chief Avila also noted that current wildland conditions are very hazardous and the Valley could see fires with “rapid growth” due to the high level of low-lying dry fuels, brisk winds and low humidity. Please be careful.

The Anderson Valley Ambulance has been advised of more delays in the delivery of their expensive new ambulance. The Ambulance service no longer has a backup unit because the older ambulance that the new one was to replaced was surplused last month due to a significant mechanical failure that was not economically repairable. The delays have been attributed to a combination of lingering covid impacts, continuing supply chain problems and the absorption of the US-based assembly company by an even bigger European outfit.

Local Water Sewer Project managers have finally succeeded in having the State Water Board senior staffers talk to senior staffers at Caltrans District 1 to coordinate plans and timing for pending roadwork along Highway 128 associated with the possible dovetailing of trench work for the water sewer system and Caltrans’ Highway 128 improvement plans. Whether these unwieldy state agencies can somehow manage to accommodate each other, or at least get things in the proper sequence, is a matter of speculation. Nevertheless, locals are pleased that they are at least talking to each other.

The County’s Fire Safe Council and the Mendocino Fire Chiefs Association (which is slated to get upwards of 25% of Measure P funds to distribute to local fire services and projects) have accepted Emily Tecchio’s expanded role as the Fire Chiefs Association county-wide rep. Ms. Tecchio was already the coordinator for the Mendocino Fire Safe Council; she will now also represent the Chiefs Association on County matters. Previously, Ms. Tecchio was a field rep for Assemblyman Jim Wood.

The Community Services District is in discussion with the County’s tax sharing ad hoc committee (Supervisors Mulheren and Gjerde) about annexing a number of parcels bordering the current District boundaries which, if implemented, would effectively double the size of the Community Services District. Talks are still preliminary. If approved by the Supervisors and the Local Area Formation Commission (LAFCO), the District might see more than $150k in new property tax revenues. (There are no sales or bed taxes involved in this annexation, unlike the recently approved city tax sharing/annexation agreement.) Chief Andres Avila noted that the parcels in question were already in the response area of the AV Fire Department and therefore would not necessitate any significant upgrades in fire department capabilities. At present responses to those parcels are subject to bills for service. If these parcels are annexed into the District, as property tax payers they would no longer be subject to out-of-district response bills.

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LOCAL EVENTS (this weekend)

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AN INVITATION TO RUN FOR THE COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION

This fall, two seats on the Mendocino County Board of Education are up for re-election in Trustee Areas Three (Covelo, Laytonville, Willits) and Four (Caspar, Cleone, Fort Bragg, Leggett, Piercy, Westport). Please join the Mendocino County Office of Education for a Board of Education candidate information meeting. Serving as a trustee on the Board of Education offers a unique opportunity to make a lasting impact on the education system.

The candidate information meeting is Tuesday, June 25, 5:30 - 6:30 PM at the MCOE River Campus, Alder Building, River Room; 2400 Old River Road, Ukiah. Mendocino County Superintendent of Schools Nicole Glentzer, Assessor, Clerk, Recorder, Registrar of Voters Katrina Bartolomie, and California School Boards Governance Consultant Jefferson Crain will present and answer questions about the role of the county board and the process of becoming a candidate. All registrants will be sent the Google Meet link on June 24 to join the meeting remotely, if needed. Please RSVP by June 24: https://bit.ly/BOEinfomeeting. While joining remotely is an option, we encourage individuals to attend in person, if possible.

The Mendocino County Board of Education consists of five trustees based on the Mendocino County supervisorial districts. Trustees are elected to four-year terms and must live in their respective trustee areas. Learn more about the statutory functions of county boards of education here.

(MCOE Presser)

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AV UNIFIED NEWS

Dear Anderson Valley Community,

Construction charged full stream ahead at the high school with all of the six classrooms and the adult bathrooms being fully gutted and abated. Now comes the hard work of putting everything back together. There has also been significant exterior grading and asphalt cutting as we prepare for the ADA path of travel improvements that are required as part of new construction. I want to remind everyone that the Junior/Senior High School site is not accessible at this time due to the construction and potential tripping hazards, etc. Please do not come on the property. .

The elementary school asphalt was completed and we are working on a plan to lay the flooring and deal with the required abatement. We will keep you posted.

The Bond Oversight Committee is meeting this Thursday at the District Office in the high school at 4:00 p.m. if you would like to attend. We are still seeking a member to represent a tax payer organization and the public is always welcome.

Summer school is set to begin on Monday, so please make sure that you are sending your student if they are signed up. Summer school for all grades is at the elementary site. The high school students participating in A-G or credit recovery will be in the classroom at the back of the elementary school which was formerly the family resource center. Elementary students will enjoy classes as usual. We are grateful to all the staff who have agreed to work the summer school schedule. The state requirement of 30 extra days of school is very difficult for us to staff, and we appreciate the partnership of our two unions and their members to make that happen for our kids.

Other than that, a pretty quiet week. I hope you enjoy a happy and safe weekend!

Sincerely yours,

Louise Simson, Superintendent

AV Unified School District

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UKIAH CONSTRUCTION UPDATES FOR THE WEEK OF JUNE 24

Great news—the final paving will occur at night! Sunday, June 30th will be the north side (Henry to Norton), and July1st and 2nd will be the south side (Mill to Gobbi), and will include the section from Gobbi to Cherry. Paving hours will be between 7pm and 6am.

Next week, work will continue to complete the medians. Landscaping crews will arrive back onsite soon to fill in the corner planters and medians. Traffic signals are scheduled to be activated between July 9th and 11th. Remember that these will be “smart” signals, like the ones currently installed at Perkins and Standley Street. They are demand based, rather than timed, and allow for left turns on flashing yellow lights, which ensures more efficient traffic flow. No more sitting at red lights for no reason!

The medians at the north and south ends of the project act as gateways to the downtown.

Scott Street (between State and School Streets) will be repaved in conjunction with the final layer of pavement on June 30th. This will require removal of the surface ahead of time, so we anticipate that that section of the street will be closed between June 28th and June 30th.

The “Urban Core” project (www.cityofukiah.com/ucrt), which consists of Main, Gobbi and Perkins Street, is jumping around a bit. In order to complete utility replacements on West Gobbi Street while school is out, crews will be moving from Main Street to Gobbi between Dora and State to begin the water lines. Main Street will be completely reopened, and there will be intermittent traffic control on West Gobbi. As usual, residents and delivery traffic will always be allowed access.

Low Gap is getting reconstructed between State and Bush! Starts July 8; will take about a week.

Work is planned for Median construction on both sides.

Construction hours will be Monday-Friday, 7 a.m. - 6 p.m., depending on the weather.

There will be very little dust and noise next week.

On-street parking has been restored on the north side between Henry and Norton. No major impacts to traffic are anticipated during median construction. Traffic signals at Gobbi/State and Mill/State and Scott/State will remain on flash.

Have a great weekend!

Shannon Riley, Deputy City Manager

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WHY MENDO-STYLE ‘ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT’ AND ‘JOB CREATION’ NEVER GOES ANYWHERE, a pictorial explanation.

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KZYX STATION MANAGER Marty Durlin announced Friday morning on her “Inside KZYX” show that this would be her last day and last show at KZYX after about five years running the small Philo station. Former Project Sanctuary Director (and current Board Chair) Dina Polkinghorne will replace Durlin as General Manager as of Monday and will preside over the pending re-location of KZYX’s main studio to the house they bought in Ukiah a few years ago. Apparently, Ukiah city permit issues have delayed the move to Ukiah. But they now hope to be moved in by the end of the year with a residual “studio” (aka trailer) in Philo at the Philo Fire Station. Durlin noted that the station’s most recent two-week-long fundraising drive in May fell thousands of dollars short of expectations. Durlin interviewed the station’s new “programmer representative” on the KZYX Board of Directors, a Fort Bragg-based music show host named Jeff Zolitor. Zolitor told Durlin that “terrestrial radio” is suffering like many other older forms of media to compete with cellphones, streaming services and video-oriented entertainment, especially with younger listeners.

(Mark Scaramella)

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PALESTINIAN CULTURAL CELEBRATION IN CASPAR THIS SUNDAY 11AM-5PM

Visit Palestine in Mendocino!

Sala'am Aleikoom! You are invited to join us on Sunday, June 23rd, in Caspar for a family event: a celebration of the vibrant and rich culture of Palestine. There will be food, kids crafts, a traditional dance, informational presentations, a feature-length film screening and fun from 11 am until 5 pm on June 23rd, at Good Bones restaurant, 14957 Caspar Road, in the heart of Caspar. Brought to you by the good people of Mendo for Palestine.org

(Tom Wodetzki)

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VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

Help support our Olde Time 4th of July event this July 4, 12-4pm at the Mendocino County Fairgrounds in Boonville.

If you haven't been before, it is an absolutely delightful family event with a kid's parade, balloon toss, tug-o-war, bounce house, face painting, watermelon eating contest, delicious BBQ, local beer and wine, a cake auction & more!

We still need more volunteers for the following:

Cake Auction: Want to bake a cake?

Parade: Love helping celebrate kids' creativity?

Bouncehouse: Experienced in keeping kids safe?

Face Painting: Need a creative outlet?

If interested, send me a text, or call (415) 713-3833. It Takes A Valley!

This year, the Olde Time 4th of July event will again be a collaborative event benefiting our local AV Firefighters, AV Elder Home, AV Skate Park, and AVUSD Wellness Committee's "Fresh Food" program.

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CHUCK ROSS:

To the left is 28, now Hwy 128 heading over the hills to Anderson Valley, and down the Navarro to the coast Highway 1.

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ED NOTES

WHATEVER HAPPENED to the Progressives' Festival in Petaluma and the Anarchist Book Festival in SF? With the Trumpers screeching about “marxist communists” destroying the country you'd think all us marxist communists would be rendezvousing like we used to do to plan our counter-attacks.

2002 was a rough year for me and Boonville's beloved weekly. Me and my newspaper were getting banned by marxist commies all over the place, but the most surprising ban occurred after having spent much of a Sunday afternoon at the “Progressives Festival” in Petaluma, but what do I get in Monday's mail? An express letter that cost its senders $13.65 to get from Petaluma to Boonville:

“Dear Bruce: After reading your comments in the AVA about the Progressives Festival, please be advised that we are withdrawing our invitation for you to have a booth at the Festival. Please find a check for $50 enclosed to refund your booth fee. Yours, The Petaluma Progressives.”

MY FRIENDS, this communique represented the final insult. Having been banned by “progressive” community radio KZYX even before it went on the air, having become an official non-person at KMUD and KPFA, having been kicked out of the left by at least a hundred leftists on a hundred different occasions, I was now informed that I couldn't even drag my garage sale card table to a public park in Petaluma to hawk the only truly progressive newspaper left anywhere in this doomed country! I ask you….

UNAWARE that I was unwelcome to attend, I went anyway. When I got there, nobody said anything to me about having been dis-invited, so I settled in and enjoyed myself, as did my neo-pariah tablemates, Mary Moore and Irv Sutley, both of them long-time pwogs. We spent the afternoon chatting with passersby, and not a hostile among them.

THE ONLY OTHER TABLE that caught my interest was one across the way manned by a young couple who looked like Mormon missionaries. They were passing out expensively printed anti-circumcision literature, an issue I thought was of interest only to the parents of infant males. “Is it too late for me to get my foreskin back?” I inquired, hoping to get some idea of what motivated the couple. “I'm glad you asked, sir, because in fact it's never too late to get a new foreskin.” I quickly retreated to my table before the guy could load me up with foreskin lit.

SAFE within the comfortable confines of Boont Berry Farm, I mentioned the foreskin table at the Petaluma pwog fest to a Boonville friend who said, “You know something? Every man I've ever known who hasn't been circumcised has been much nicer than the men I've known who have been circumcised." Another lady suggested that we poll Boont's male customers, beginning with a two-column sign-up sheet; one column for the circumcised, one for the uncircumcised. Once the raw data had been collected a committee of local women would assess the men listed for their relative niceness to see if foreskins or their absence correlated with the more desirable male personality traits.

MEANWHILE, back with the Petaluma Progressives, I was pleased to see Terrence Hallinan, then Frisco's DA, and undoubtedly one of the few persons in the crowd who knew the entire history of “progressive” up to and including the latter-day perversion of its otherwise grand etiology by tepid liberals who delude themselves they're to the left of Al Gore. Always liked and admired the guy, and hadn't seen him in person since way, way back in the CORE days. He shuffled over to say hello as I wondered what he could have made of a church mouse-like event pegged to the banner beneath which his pop ran for president back in '52? (The ava's very own Fred Gardner was, at the time, DA Hallinan's press guy. Shall the circle be unbroken!)

TO ME, THERE'S A HUGE DISCONNECT between the organizers of left or, in this case of Petaluma, pseudo-left events, and the people who identify with the left — the thousands of people who are naturally drawn to the left then repelled by what they find there. The left identifiers are the people I like; the organizers of left events are the kind of people I don't like. But somehow, some way, dwarf Stalinists have grabbed control of the few potentially progressive institutions there are in NorCal, being especially strong at the area's pseudo-public radio stations, which they've nearly destroyed by making them so piously, tediously, predictably boring that nobody outside the catechist circles tunes in to hear the few useful programs offered.

I NEVER DID SEE Petaluma's lead prog, this Chuck Sher character and, as I've said, I had no idea I was banned from the event until I opened Monday's mail. I wondered if my ban could be made retroactive? Could I pretend I wasn't a Petaluma Progressive if I didn't cash the refund check?

THE ANARCHIST BOOK FESTIVAL was fun, and maybe because of its book emphasis perhaps attracted a less pious, more sophisticated, more tolerant crowd. Convened in the House of Flowers on the edge of Golden Gate Park the venue was packed. Lots of ava readers stopped by to chat including our now regular contributor Terry (Ryder) Sites, and, memorably, Craig ‘Post Modern” Stehr.

Stehr was dressed like a door-to-door bible salesman, which made him stand out in a crowd heavy on tats and piercings. I can't remember what we talked about because the hall was all a-din, and also because a very odd man, cadaverous and clad in a black suit, was haranguing me about my numerous thought crimes he'd read in my paper. Craig smiled beatifically throughout our interface, and only some time later did I realize through his letters that he was perpetually blissed out, a plainclothes hari krishna who, years later, is a transient resident of Ukiah. Now in his golden years, Craig is looking for permanent housing, a helluva note for an old man in a rich country.

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CATCH OF THE DAY, Friday, June 21

CHRISTOPHER ASHURST, Ukiah. Domestic battery, narcotics for sale, false imprisonment, conspiracy, probation revocation.

JOE GUERRERO, Stockton/Ukiah. Felon-addict with firearm, loaded firearm on person.

DUSTIN JORDAN, Willits. Assault with deadly weapon not a gun, domestic battery, vandalism.

MARK PALLEY, Covelo. Disorderly conduct-alcohol&drugs.

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MEMO OF THE AIR: Good Night Radio show all night tonight on KNYO!

Soft deadline to email your writing for tonight's (Friday night's) MOTA show is 6pm or so. If you can't make that, that's okay, send it whenever it's done and I'll read it on the radio next week.

Memo of the Air: Good Night Radio is every Friday, 9pm to 5am PST on 107.7fm KNYO-LP Fort Bragg and KNYO.org. The first hour of the show is simulcast on KAKX 89.3fm Mendocino.

I'm back on the coast for the next several weeks, and I was going to do the show from the Franklin Street storefront tonight, because of the light available. evening before and morning after, to safely drive, but I'm feeling a bit low-energy and behind in prep and, considering the expense of the trip, and the hour-and-a-half of travel time (incl. setup time and teardown time), I'm just gonna do it in Albion*. If you planned to come in or call in this time because of what I told you last week, sorry.

Plus you can always go to https://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com and hear last week's MOTA show. By Saturday night I'll put up the recording of tonight's show. Also there you'll find an assortment of cultural-educational amusements to occupy you until showtime, or any time, such as:

Elise LeGrow - Drinking In The Day. https://nagonthelake.blogspot.com/2024/06/music-for-sunday-morning_0476784198.html

I learned many things from this woman, including that an "Adrian Vididini" is a kind of sweater that you can take the shoulder pads out of. And that she has such a sweater older than the boys who ask her out after this or that show of hers, and she tells them so. https://theferalirishman.blogspot.com/2024/06/men-will-never-change-everyone-take.html

And millions of magazines to read. Trade journals, comic books. All for free. Start your computer scraping the site, fill up a hard drive; after the apocalypse you can set up shop in a cave and be the fabled oracle of the Before Time, like the old man in Walter van Tilburg Clark's story /The Portable Phonograph/. It doesn't turn out well for him. Just prepare better. Set a trap for murderous intruders, of an electrified net that falls from above, or spring-loaded spears in the walls, or a big stone sphere that rolls down a channel. I've given you a few ideas. (via Everlasting Blort) https://archive.org/details/magazine_rack

*If you'd like to set up your own remote studio, to do radio, or record your real-life, non-A.I. music, or whatever, I can advise you. It's cheap and if you're reading this in the comfort of your own place, which you are, you already have most of the needed equipment.

Marco McClean, memo@mcn.org, https://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com

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JEFFREY ST CLAIR:

Here’s Nathaniel St. Clair standing in front of the Alexander Cockburn Memorial Tree in the small rancher cemetery where Alex’s remains were planted, which local grandees–to the extent Petrolia has them–wanted to cut down because the giant eucalyptus sheds its bark–making it look “unkempt” and in need of, as every MAGAmoron knows, occasional “raking.” A radical uprising of Alex’s friends has saved this beauty–so far…

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FLYING FLAGS

Editor:

This is in regard to Press Democrat columnist Robin Abcarian scratching her head about a lifeguard who objects to being forced to work under the rainbow flag at his place of work. He is filing a suit. What would she think about working at a public place where there was a requirement to fly a Christian cross flag, a Star of David flag, or a MAGA flag? There are such things. My neighbors have the right to fly the rainbow flag on their property, but does a public place of work have the same right? To this I scratch my head.

Christine Crawford

Napa

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STEVE HEILIG: Maybe first-ever two page NYT single-photo spread goes to…

Willie Mays!

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JIM SHIELDS

Willie Mays was a boyhood idol of mine, hell for my whole life. He was and is an All-Time Legend, All-Time Great Ballplayer, All-Time Great Human Being, All-Time Hero To Kids No Matter What Their Age.

Barack Obama said that he might have never become the first Black president if not for the way Mays charmed and captured the country’s imagination half a century earlier. “A few years ago, Willie rode with me on Air Force One. I told him then what I’ll tell all of you now. It’s because of giants like Willie that someone like me could even think about running for president.”

Obama went on to say, “Willie Mays wasn’t just a singular athlete, blessed with an unmatched combination of grace, skill and power. He was also a wonderfully warm and generous person — and an inspiration to an entire generation. I’m lucky to have spent time with him over the years, and Michelle and I send our deepest condolences to his family.”

Obama gave Mays a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015 during his second term in the White House.

Mays started playing for the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro American League in 1948 when he was 16 before being signed by the New York Giants in 1950. He started playing for the Giants in May of 1951 and never returned to the minor leagues. He served in the U.S. Army for most of 1952 and all of 1953 before returning to the major leagues in 1954.

The Hall of Famer played for the Giants for 21 seasons and was a 24-time All-Star, hitting 660 career home runs and ending his career with a .301 lifetime batting average.

Ironically, Mays passed Tuesday afternoon, just days before he and the Negro Leagues were scheduled to be honored during a game between the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals at Rickwood Field in Alabama.

I’ll tell you this, without any doubt at all, Willie was the greatest ballplayer I ever saw play the game. There will never be another. The one and only “Say Hey Kid.”

RIP Willie.

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GIANTS’ RICKWOOD FIELD GAME DOUBLED AS A LESSON ON RACISM IN OLD-TIME BASEBALL

by Scott Ostler

We all learned a lot from Thursday’s baseball game at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Ala., a memorable spectacle with notes of joy and anguish, a game for the ages.

Or, as it probably was reported in Florida: “Cardinals 6, Giants 5.”

Yes, history can be painful, a problem that some areas of America solve by pretending the ugly stuff never happened. But if you whitewash history, you don’t get moments like this game between the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals, a game that was a backdrop to a celebration of old-time baseball and a tribute to those who survived its horrors.

What did we learn? Here are some notes scribbled on my scorecard:

Willie Mays was pretty good. This game, and Mays’ death two days earlier, gave a lot of fans, especially younger ones, a microwave lesson on a man who played the game on his own lofty level, a world where caps fly off just for the hell of it.

Birmingham was a scary place. And not all that long ago. A stunning highlight of the game telecast on Fox was Reggie Jackson recounting his season as a minor leaguer in Birmingham in ’67.

That wasn’t hyperbole, Jackson said he might have gotten lynched had his teammates not had his back and kept him sane in the face of virulent racism. Although, to be historically accurate, at that time Birmingham racists were moving away from lynchings and favoring bombings.

History-wise, we only scratched the surface. For instance, Mays’ old Black Barons’ teammate Bill Greason was one of the honorees. He’s a preacher, still preaching at 99. Here’s a tidbit I stumbled upon: Rev. Greason was a preacher at Birmingham’s 16th Street Baptist church, which in 1963 was dynamited by four Ku Klux Klansmen, killing four little girls.

Mike Yastrzemski has some heart. No current player was more eloquent than Yaz in expressing why this Rickwood game was so historical and emotional. His dad and grandfather both played at Rickwood, but for Mike, this game went even deeper than that.

Before Greason threw out the first pitch, Yastrzemski sought out the old pitcher and shook his hand.

“It was just a feeling of constant humility being here,” Yastrzemski said. “It was being grateful. There was no one moment that made me feel that more than others, it was just the entire day, the ceremony, getting to meet all the old players, getting to meet Reverend Greason, getting to step out on that field. All of it was special.”

Really, MLB? All your talk about how important this game was for the history of Black people in baseball, and you can’t give LaMonte Wade Jr. a one-game exemption from the injured list so he can take his cuts at Rickwood?

How many MLB teams do you think would have protested? Hey, Rob Manfred, don’t you have a say in this stuff?

Barry Bonds still has swag. Asked on TV how he would do against Satchel Paige, Bonds said he would go deep. I’m not so sure about that. Paige faced busloads of major-league superstars in his barnstorming days and fared very well, by all accounts. Including the time he blew down a young Mays on three fastballs.

I guarantee you Paige wouldn’t walk Bonds. If someone can get their hands on a time machine and set this up, my money’s on ol’ Satch.

Fun can inspire learning. This game opened up a can of good worms. It will pique interest in Negro Leagues’ history. What baseball fan won’t want to read about Paige throwing his Midnight Creeper?

As a kid I was obsessed with baseball. I read everything … about the white guys. Turns out there was a whole ’nother world. Discovering that is like loving steak your whole life, then stumbling upon a plate of lobster.

Business is business. On every baseball telecast, computerized ads are plastered on the backstop. You would think that for one game, meant to transport us back to the old days, MLB and its sponsors would kiss off the revenue and leave the backstop blank. You would be wrong, you pathetic sap.

Intruding on our nostalgia trip were ads for Google, Budweiser and even for MLB. Thanks, fellas, you’re all heart.

Willie was there, in spirit. You know who wasn’t? George Wallace. He was busy shoveling hot lava with his tongue. One week before that ’63 church bombing, then-Alabama governor Wallace told the New York Times that in order to stop integration, his state needed “a few first-class funerals.”

History can sing. Bob Kendrick, president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Mo., dropped into the telecast and gave a rundown of Satchel Paige’s pitch repertoire. Paige’s “B ball”? “It be where I want it to be when I want it to be there.”

By the way, nominated for the smartest players in baseball history: Mays and Paige.

A little Manfred goes a long way. The commissioner took a bow of sorts for MLB bringing big-league baseball to a city known for its rich Black baseball history.

Meanwhile, also on Manfred’s resume: His role in yanking baseball forever out of Oakland, the city of Rickey Henderson, Vada Pinson, Frank Robinson, Dave Stewart, Vida Blue, Jackson and a solid core of diverse baseball fans.

Worth noting: Ownership groups that were eager to buy the A’s from John Fisher and keep them in Oakland, and still would do so, cannot let their intentions be known for fear of being blacklisted by Manfred. To make Fisher’s move look legit, Manfred wants to perpetuate the fiction that Oakland can’t support baseball.

Memories got dusted off. I visited Rickwood in 1994, while doing a story on Michael Jordan, who played in Birmingham during his short minor-league baseball stint. I wrote about the field, then rickety and all but abandoned. I spoke with Piper Davis, who had been Mays’ Black Barons manager.

“I started him in left field,” Davis told me, of the 17-year-old Mays being inserted into a big-league lineup. “After a week or two, I moved him to center. I gave the batboy the lineup to put up in the dugout. I could hear mumbling. Excuse my language. ‘What the hell’s wrong with the manager, putting that damn little boy in center field? ’ I said, ‘There’s the lineup, men. Anyone doesn’t like it, there’s the clubhouse, go in and take off your uniform.’

“Pretty soon, the ball would go into left-center, I’d hear the left fielder, ‘Come on, Willie!’ Ball go into right-center, I’d hear the right fielder, ‘Come on, Willie!’ I called ’em in, said, ‘You’d better start earnin’ your salary. I can get anybody to stand out there and yell, ‘Come on, Willie!’”

One they missed. I would have loved to have seen a TV camera shot from the Coal Bin. That was the name for the sections of seats on either side of the right field foul pole reserved for Black fans attending games of the white minor-league Barons. The Coal Bin.

All the stupid piped-in music and TV noise couldn’t kill the spirit at Rickwood on Thursday. If you listened closely, you could hear it:

“Come on, Willie!”

(SF Chronicle)

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Mark Scaramella Adds: Ostler’s write up captures the Birmingham event pretty well, with one exception: He left out noting the uncomfortable reactions of the Fox Sports Team who were listening to Reggie Jackson’s all-too-brief account of the violence he faced in Birmingham and how he might have tried to beat up some white guys, getting him in serious trouble, had his teammates not had his back. It was very refreshing to see the sports happy talkers, who preferred happy talk and vague racism references, reactions to Jackson’s much more real, more visceral recollections. My respect for Jackson (who I previously considered more of a hot dog/show-off) went way up with that one. A refreshing, impromptu, raw dose of reality injected an otherwise fairly canned aren’t-these-guys-great presentation.

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RE-WRITING D-DAY

by Ellen Taylor

At the end of WWII, it was generally recognized that the Soviet Union and saved Europe. Russians killed 80% of all German soldiers. The Nazi invasion of Russia, biggest military onslaught in history, happened 3 years before D-Day. During these three years Russia begged the UK and the US to open a western front. However, by the time they responded, Russia had already turned the tide, and was pushing the Nazis steadily to the German border.

In Germany’s “Ostplan” to conquer Russia, Slavs were “untermenschen”, to be exterminated. Germany intended to claim its Lebensraum and repopulate the resource-rich land. Nine million Russians were imprisoned in unsheltered concentration camps. Over four million were exterminated In this way. Altogether 27 million Russians died in the war.

Since then, US propaganda has erased the memory of Russian heroism during WWII. Most people now believe the US-UK invasion of Normandy won the war.

Russia is no longer Communist: it’s “as bourgeois as the West” as Putin puts it.

However, Slavs seem to be on NATO’s death list just as they were on Hitler’s. In its provocation of the war, NATO has already killed three-quarters of a million, ever nearer to the much-invoked “last Ukrainian.” Biden’s speech on D Day was a malevolent, war-mongering rewrite of history. And Zelensky, nearby, ubiquitous as the devil, used WWII as a metaphor for his own tragedy, revealing himself again as a pitiful NATO tool, in the traitorous act of destroying his own country.

(Ellen Taylor can be reached at ellenetaylor@yahoo.com)

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AVOCADO INSPECTORS ATTACKED, COULD LEAD TO SHORTAGE IN CALIFORNIA

by Ariana Bindman

Be patient with your bag of unripened avocados, because they might become more difficult to find in grocery stores pretty soon.

According to a translated June 18 news release from U.S. Ambassador Ken Salazar, two United States Department of Agriculture employees were attacked and detained while inspecting avocados in Michoacán, “the world’s leading producer” of the coveted fruit.

Though the inspectors have since been released, the department is halting avocado and mango inspections in the region as a safety measure. USDA press representatives told SFGATE via email that operations have been paused “until further notice.”

Salazar wrote that avocados will still be exported to the U.S. from other Mexican states, and that this pause will not affect produce currently in transit. Regardless, Daniel Sumner, a professor of agricultural and resource economics at UC Davis, said that fewer avocados overall could result in higher prices soon.

“The typical market response to a drop in imports would be for prices to rise to ration what little production is available to buyers who are willing to pay very high prices,” he told SFGATE via email. Overall, he anticipates that avocados will become more expensive if the disruption lasts longer than a week.

Mounting evidence also suggests that this could happen again, too.

While Michoacán Gov. Alfredo Ramirez Bedolla reportedly told Mexico’s Radio Formula that the USDA inspectors were never attacked or detained, plenty of reports point to the dangers of harvesting the lucrative fruit. For years now, news outlets have documented the corruption and violence that surrounds avocados, which have been dubbed the “green gold of Mexico.”

“The booming avocado industry has expanded in parallel to criminal organizations,” a 2023 report from the Greens-European Free Alliance reads. “Like limes, Michoacán avocados are a prime example of a flourishing legal market deeply infiltrated by criminal actors – and the free trade agreements acted as catalyzers for profit and market expansion, while violence has continued to rise.”

“The last political disruption scare was in 2022,” Sumner told SFGATE. “Then a threat of violence against inspectors caused the US to suspend imports for a few days, which was not long enough to affect the market much.”

(SF Chronicle)

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A DAY AT THE NATIONAL DOMESTIC VIOLENCE HOTLINE

by Marisa Schwartz Taylor, Rebecca Lieberman & Shannon Lin

To listen to the National Domestic Violence Hotline is to witness how a confluence of stressors — high prices, a lack of affordable housing, easy access to firearms and drugs, the ubiquity of technology — can leave a person vulnerable to another’s cruelty and manipulation.

Spikes in calls often align with highly publicized events: natural disasters, recession, quarantine during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, a celebrity’s acknowledgment of being a survivor of domestic abuse.

But in recent years, staff at the hotline said more of the spikes could be traced in part to crucial court rulings, as people press for answers about the impact of the decisions or how they have factored into the violence they have experienced at home.

Already, the number of calls that mention forced unprotected sex or a partner sabotaging birth control — as by puncturing condoms or hiding pills — nearly doubled in the first year since the Supreme Court eliminated the constitutional right to an abortion, according to an analysis of calls and surveys done by the hotline. And calls mentioning firearms rose 40 percent after an appeals court in New Orleans last February struck down a federal law blocking people subject to a domestic violence protection order from owning a gun.

Staff members had been focused on the outcomes of two cases resting with the nation’s highest court, involving gun access and the availability of a commonly used abortion pill. On Friday, the Supreme Court reversed the appeals court ruling, saying that the government may prohibit people subject to restraining orders from having guns.

But even before the courts took up the gun case, the hotline, understaffed and underfunded, struggled to keep pace with an escalating number of calls over the years. The legal battles have underscored the pervasiveness of domestic violence and the strains on existing support for survivors.

“That makes me sad that we need lives to be in jeopardy for this to become a national conversation around domestic violence, because it shouldn’t take a Supreme Court case,” said Katie Ray-Jones, the chief executive of the hotline.

To capture a snapshot of the experiences of domestic violence survivors, The New York Times observed some of the calls and messages the hotline received in one day. The Times agreed to only disclose certain nonidentifying details and limited excerpts from the conversations to protect the safety of those who consented to speaking with a reporter present.

Over 24 hours, the hotline received 2,002 incoming calls and messages and answered 1,348. Transcripts of calls to 1-800-799-7233 and website chats, observed with the consent of the caller, have been condensed to ensure anonymity.

Congress approved creation of a national hotline dedicated to domestic violence in 1994, including it in the landmark Violence Against Women Act. Founded two years later in Texas, the hotline now receives as many as 3,000 calls and messages a day. Everyone is kept anonymous, with the only formal record describing basic demographic and circumstantial categories, often leaving other details unclear.

They are typically women, but their ages, ethnicities and locations vary, as do the circumstances of their relationships. In a single day, those contacting the hotline included a 51-year-old Latina in California; an Asian mother, 38; and a white woman asking how to quietly document her partner’s physical abuse.

Sometimes it is a question of finding housing during a nationwide shortage or seeking protection after leaving. Other times, it is about wrestling with the emotional contradictions of still having love for someone who makes you feel alone.

Working under pseudonyms remotely or at its headquarters in Austin, Texas, staff respondents spend as much as an hour at a time on calls and messages sent through a digital chat that arrive from across the country, at any time of day.

They pose sensitive but probing questions to uncover how a relationship has spiraled into deceit or danger, before connecting the survivor to support nearby. Many of the 158 staff respondents are women and survivors themselves.

(NY Times)

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BIDEN GETS UNCOMFORTABLY CLOSE TO POPE FRANCIS

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SATURDAY'S LEAD STORIES FROM THE NYT

• Israel’s military said its fighter jets had targeted ‘Hamas military infrastructure.’
• As the war stretches on, Gaza’s high school students miss their final exams and put plans on hold.
• Here’s why Hezbollah has threatened Cyprus.
• An Israeli official described a government bid to cement control of the West Bank, and other news.
• U.N. chief warns Israel and Hezbollah of the risk of a wider war.
• It was not clear if the strike hit within a zone that Israeli forces had designated for the displaced.

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PRESIDENTIAL TRIVIA

Editor,

Lyndon Baines Johnson was born in Texas in 1908. When he was vice president, Kennedy staffers called him “uncle corn pone,” and referred to Lady Bird as “his little pork chop.” According to New York Times best-selling author Eleanor Herman, his sex organ was _ inches long:

A. 10.5 inches; B. 12.75 inches; C. 8.5 inches. D. 4.5 inches; E. 3.67 inches.

Name Withheld

Santa Cruz

(Ans: C.)

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JACK NICHOLSON WATCHES TRUMP

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C8U_4KfJKy6/?igsh=MTc4MmM1YmI2Ng==

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ON-LINE COMMENTS OF THE DAY

(1) In 1988, the League of Women Voters withdrew from sponsoring the presidential debates, saying It had “no intention of becoming an accessory to the hoodwinking of the American public.”

We’ve gone from that to 30 years of “debates” run by the corporate (and corrupt) Commission on Presidential Debates. And now to having no sanctioning body at all? Maybe Dana White and the UFC could step in? Hell, why not just put the thing on pay per view? The entertainment factor should be sky-high. That’s America for you.

(2) I’m not sure they are going to dump Sleepy Joe. Getting him re-elected would be the ultimate coup – a legendary wag-the-dog victory that would be discussed for the ages. First off, the most terrifying aspect of all of this was the unified cackling of “cheap fake” over the videos of the president looking like a Disney animatronic robot that had blown a fuse or two. You know that the newly coined term “cheap fake” had to have been something coined by a marketing company. After all, “deep fake” suggests some level of talent with some hacker wearing a hoodie in a dark room that looks like something out of the Matrix. Cheap Fake suggests that a MAGA Republican living in Florida can edit these videos while sitting in his un-airconditioned doublewide and do this “cheap” work on his “cheap” Samsung phone. That we were told not to believe our eyes and that the MSM jumped on it with all of them repeating the same talking points shows you just how far these monsters are willing to go to prop up Biden. BTW, I fully expect a masked actor to play Biden during the debate with a team of psychiatrists and marketing directors shouting directions into his hidden earpiece.

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SAYING “anti-Zionism is anti-semitism” over and over again while Zionists are butchering children by the thousands is an excellent way to get people to stop caring about anti-semitism.

— Caitlin Johnstone

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