Mendocino County Today: November 13, 2013

AS OF TUESDAY, November 12, the print edition of 8 November had still not reached San Francisco.

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IT'S THE THIRD anniversary of Susan Keegan's murder. Her husband, Dr. Peter Keegan, says his wife of 30 years died, drunk and stoned, in a bathroom fall. That's possible, one has to suppose, but Mrs. Keegan's death certificate says “Homicide,” not “Accidental.” Mrs. Keegan's death certificate says “Homicide” because, obviously, the only other person home at the time, her husband, bludgeoned her to death.

SO WHY HASN'T Dr. Keegan been arrested? Because, if you are a wealthy, well-connected person with the means to hire an ace defense attorney like Keith Faulder, you can get away with murder in Mendocino County. If Joe Tweek's wife was found dead in Mr. Tweek's bathroom under circumstances identical to those of Mrs. Keegan, he'd have been Inmate Tweek two years ago.

DA EYSTER persuaded the supervisors to hire a special prosecutor, Paul Sequeira, to take on the tough cases. But these tough guys between them haven't taken on a tough case yet, not one. There's no excuse for not prosecuting Dr. Peter Keegan for the murder of Susan Keegan. None.

OF COURSE there's plenty of prosecutor time to pursue Will Parrish, and any other Willits Bypass protesters who wander into the DA's skewed viewshed.

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THE STORY OF ‘ST. MARTIN OF THE BRIDGE’

Excerpt from Redleg Boogie Blues

by Jeff Costello

He was the only person I ever knew who went around calling everyone “brother” and really meant it. “Brother” Martin had all the characteristics of a religious pilgrim without belonging to any order or discipline, a “seeker” in the true sense. The problem was, he wasn't finding the answers and it frustrated him. Eventually, Brother Martin tried more and stronger drugs, including PCP — commonly known as rhinoceros tranquilizer — apparently to no avail. As his behavior became more and more unorthodox, people said he was crazy, and Brother Martin went on the Sausalito waterfront's growing list of tolerated borderline or outright lunatics.

But like any “crazy” or “psychotic” person, Martin had some clear insights into many human problems and contradictions. A gentle man, he sincerely wondered about the institution of marriage. His own wife had driven him away by having overt affairs with a number of different men. Rather than curse her or them, Martin stood back and examined the wisdom of rigid lifetime commitment, and not surprisingly found it lacking. Brother Martin was also troubled by money, and how it took over people's lives. When I discussed these matters with him, he didn't seem crazy at all.

The band was playing one night at Saul Rouda's movie studio at the old Bob's Boatyard by the Napa Street Pier. It was a typical Redlegs party, with everybody dancing and drunk or high on something, and utterly unpredictable. The first surprise that night was the arrival of June Pointer, who asked to sing with the band.

“What do you want to sing?” I asked her, having never heard a single Pointer Sisters record.

“Wang Dang Doodle.” She was tipping and teetering, and sort of giggling. This wasn't the first party she's been to that night. “ How's it go?”

“You know, Wang Dang Doodle...”

I didn't know. I looked the bass player and drummer, they didn't know. Joe, leader of the band was out somewhere, but was I sure he didn't know. So she just started singing. We found the key and faked it. Years later I heard the record and laughed because it only had one chord, so I figure it must have been all right.

After June dissolved into the crowd, we began another song and Brother Martin appeared in front of the band. He had an intense look in his eye, and he was staring right at me. As the band played on, he kept the intense eye-to-eye contact going and reached into his pocket. First, he pulled out a twenty dollar bill. Next, a Bic lighter. I was getting interested now.

“Go ahead, I yelled over the music. “Go for it.”

Martin shook his head.

“Do it, Martin! Burn it up!”

He shook his head again, but kept holding out the money and lighter. I pointed at myself and he nodded. He wanted me to do it. First, he gave me the bill, indicating that I could just keep it if I wanted, but something felt important about this, something bigger than a mere twenty dollars. But why didn't he just burn the twenty himself? Martin held out the lighter. I turned to the others and motioned them to keep playing.

With the bill in my left hand, the lighter in my right, the bass and drums churning away and Brother Martin standing there like a mad soothsayer, I lit the money and held it until only a burning corner remained in my hand. It fell to the floor, I stomped it out and that was it.

Or was it? Brother Martin continued to suffer under the strain of day-to-day mundane life, finding nothing to encourage his quest for meaning. Less than a year after the money burning incident he jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge, going down in the records as number six hundred thirty-something.

It wasn't long after Martin's death that I started getting strange phone calls from back east. The calls came in at the stern apartment of the Oakland, which was odd in itself. The place was occupied at the time by Jack Hurley. Jack had authored his own deck of tarot cards, and he and his wife, Rae, were into some occult and esoteric activities that would have been cause for much suspicion outside the waterfront, or a lynching outside of California. Hurley had predicted some sort of major event in my life. It was never made clear how or why the calls came to his place.

The first call was from Bob Shearer, who had been the singer in my first rock and roll band back in Unionville, Connecticut. He told me a detective was looking for me. The search had started at my ten-year high school reunion. No one there had known where I was, but my former classmates suggested the detective look up Shearer.

Shearer suggested I call a certain reporter from the Hartford Courant, who was also involved in the search, but he also advised me to be careful if I was involved with drugs or any other illegal activities. Which of course I was. So I told him to give Hurley's number to the reporter and she could call me if it was that big a deal.

The reporter called the next day. She was very excited and admitted that getting me on the phone meant a scoop for her. I was the object of a national search. She wouldn't give me all the details, but did tell me my grandmother had died and left me a sizable inheritance. I authorized her to give the phone number to the detective who called almost immediately. He drilled me with questions about my personal life and got some long-lost relatives in on a conference call. When the relatives were satisfied with who I was, the detective told me the amount of the inheritance was $20,000.

Somewhere between the time of the phone calls and the arrival of the check, I was struck with a vision of Brother Martin and the $20 bill. No one in the pragmatic world of scientific cause-and-effect would swallow this for a second, but there are times when you know something intuitively. And what I knew at that moment was that I had been given a twenty dollar bill by a “crazy” man who had clear and disturbing visions, I had burned the bill ceremoniously at his insistence, he had committed suicide in the most grandiose manner possible, dying in the water on which my home floated, and shortly thereafter I had received messages, at the home of a known psychic, telling me I had inherited twenty thousand dollars. As for the inheritance itself, I'll just say that it came at the worst possible time, and I made no sound investments.

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THE UKIAH POLICE DEPARTMENT reports that last week that the Mendocino Major Crimes Task Force arrest two Florida men believed to have been shipping marijuana to their home state for the past two months while living in a Ukiah motel. The UPD supported the Mendocino Major Crimes Task Force as it served a search warrant Nov. 6 at a hotel room occupied by Herman E. Battle, 41, of Florida, after Ukiah officers spotted him driving in the city and performed a high-risk traffic stop, according to the UPD. Officers arrested Battle and his passenger Audrey L. Rollins, 34, also of Florida, and detained them while the investigation continued. The officers found items used for packing and shipping marijuana inside the vehicle, according to the UPD. The following search of Battle's hotel room produced a small amount of marijuana, more packaging materials, “substances commonly used to mask the odor of marijuana,” cell phones and ammunition among Battle's possessions, according to the UPD. Battle was known to have “an extensive violent criminal history,” and authorities believe he is involved in gang activity. A convicted felon, Battle was not allowed to have firearms or ammunition, the UPD stated. The investigation led authorities to a Ukiah home, where investigators found evidence of marijuana cultivation. Serving a search warrant later that day, authorities found more than 40 pounds of processed marijuana in one-pound packages, 30 growing marijuana plants, about five ounces of the drug Ecstasy, two guns and items used to process, package and ship marijuana, according to the UPD. Investigators determined Battle and Rollins had been bringing marijuana to the home and packaging it for about two months, according to Capt. Justin Wyatt of the UPD, and that they had repeatedly shipped packages of marijuana of various sizes out of state. “This investigation was extensive and labor intensive, and required the assistance of the three Ukiah patrol officers throughout a large part of the day,” the UPD stated in a press release, adding that the officers “were simultaneously responsible for all police calls received during that time.” Also aiding the MMCTF in the investigation were agents were officers with the Mendocino County Probation Department and agents with the County of Mendocino Marijuana Eradication Team (COMMET). “This case is yet another example of the criminal activity the local illicit marijuana trade has produced, the manpower demands placed upon local law enforcement in dealing with it and the serious and violent criminals from out of state that remain in our community for extended periods of time committing serious criminal activity,” the UPD stated. Battle was arrested on suspicion of possessing marijuana for sale, being a felon in possession of ammunition and conspiracy, and Rollins was arrested on suspicion of possessing marijuana for sale and conspiracy.

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THE DYNASTIC HILLARY BANDWAGON: BAD FOR AMERICA

By Ralph Nader

The Hillary Clinton for President in 2016 bandwagon has started very early and with a purpose. The idea is to get large numbers of endorsers, so that no Democratic Primary competitors dare make a move. These supporters include Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY), financier George Soros and Ready for Hillary, a super PAC mobilizing with great specificity (already in Iowa).

Given this early bird launch, it is important to raise the pressing question:

Does the future of our country benefit from Hillary, another Clinton, another politician almost indistinguishable from Barack Obama’s militaristic, corporatist policies garnished by big money donors from Wall Street and other plutocratic canyons?

There is no doubt the Clintons are syrupy political charmers, beguiling many naïve Democrats who have long been vulnerable to a practiced set of comforting words or phrases camouflaging contrary deeds.

Everybody knows that Hillary is for women, children and education. She says so every day. But Democrats and others can’t get the Clintons even to support a $10.50 federal minimum wage that would almost equal the 1968 minimum wage, inflation-adjusted, and would raise the wages of 30 million workers mired in the gap between the present minimum wage of $7.25 and $10.50 an hour. It just so happens that almost two-thirds of these Americans are women, many of them single moms struggling to support their impoverished children. Nearly a million of these workers labor for Walmart, on whose Board of Directors Hillary Clinton once sat. Words hide the deeds.

As a Senator on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Hillary had to start proving that women, just like the macho men, can be belligerent and never see a weapons system and its use that they didn’t like. Never did she demonstrate any ongoing interest in debloating the massive, wasteful, duplicative military budget so as to free up big monies for domestic public works programs or other necessities.

As Senator she also admitted that she didn’t have time to read a critical National Intelligence Estimate Report, which had caveats that might have dissuaded her from voting with George W. Bush to invade Iraq in 2003. War-mongering and wars of Empire never bothered her then or now. Just a few weeks ago, she was photographed giving the recidivist war criminal, Republican Henry Kissinger, a big, smiling hug at a public event. It’s all part of the bi-partisan image she is cultivating under the opportunistic banner of “cooperation.” (For more information, read the New York Times’ Collateral Damage and Nixon and Kissinger’s Forgotten Shame, or Seymour Hersh’s The Price of Power: Kissinger in the Nixon White House.)

As Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton accelerated the Department’s militarization, belting far more war-like, threatening assertions toward governments of developing countries than did the Secretaries of Defense. She loved to give speeches on “force projection,” the latest synonym for “the Empire,” and “the pivot” toward East Asia and against the asserted looming threat of China. Taking due note, the Chinese generals demanded larger budgets.

The Secretary of State’s highest duty is diplomacy. Not for her. Despite her heavy travelling, she made little or no effort to get the government to sign onto the numerous international treaties which already had over a hundred nations as signatories. These include stronger climate change agreements and, as Human Rights Watch reports, unratified treaties “relating to children, women, persons with disabilities, torture, enforced disappearance and the use of anti-personal landmines and cluster munitions.” These tasks bore her.

Much more exciting was military action. Against the wishes of Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, she pulled Barack Obama into the Libyan war. There were consequences. Libya is now in militia chaos, having spilled over into Mali, but without Gaddafi, its overthrown dictator who had disarmed and was making peace with western nations and oil companies.
As a Yale Law School graduate, she was not in the least bothered that the attack on Libya occurred without any Congressional declaration, authorization or appropriation of funds – a classic Madisonian definition of impeachable high crimes and misdemeanors.

Like Bill Clinton, she is an unabashed cheerleader for corporate globalization under NAFTA, the World Trade Organization and the proposed sovereignty-stripping, anti-worker Trans-Pacific Partnership Free Trade Agreement. Secretary of State Clinton, in the words of trade expert Jamie Love, “put the hammer to India when the government took steps to grant compulsory licenses on cancer drug patents.”

Even regarding the easy clampdown on waste and fraud, Hillary Clinton fired Peter Van Buren, a 24-year-Foreign Service Officer, who exposed such waste and mismanagement by corporate contractors in Iraq. (For more information, see http://wemeantwell.com/).
Foreshadowing this season’s headlines, former Secretary of State Clinton ordered U.S. officials to spy on top UN diplomats including Secretary General of the UN, Ban Ki-Moon, and those from the United Kingdom. She ordered her emissaries around the world to obtain DNA data, iris scans and fingerprints along with credit card and frequent flier numbers. Not only was this a clear violation of the 1946 UN convention, but after admitting what happened she didn’t even make a public apology to the affected parties.

Under her watch, the advice and status of the Department’s foreign service officers and aid workers were marginalized in favor of the militarists – and not only in Iraq.
Many Wall Streeters like Hillary Clinton. Expecting their ample contributions, and socializing with their business barons, it is not surprising that Hillary Clinton avoids going after the crooked casino capitalism that collapsed the economy, drained investors, pensions, jobs and taxpayer bailouts. Hillary Clinton is a far cry from the stalwart Senator Elizabeth Warren on this towering pattern of unaccountable corporate abuse.

The surreal world of Hillary Clinton is giving $200,000 speeches, collecting prestigious awards she does not deserve, including one from the American Bar Association, and basking in the glory of her admirers while appropriately blasting the Republicans for their “War on Women” – the safe refrain of her forthcoming campaign.
It is true that the Republican madheads make it easy for any Democratic candidate to judge themselves by the cruel, rabid, ravaging Republicans. But, is that the kind of choice our country deserves?

A Clinton Coronation two years or more before the 2016 elections will stifle any broader choice of competitive primary candidates and more important a more progressive agenda supported by a majority of the American people.

Full Medicare for all, cracking down on corporate abuses, a fairer tax system, a broad public works program, a living wage, access to justice and citizen empowerment, clean election practices, and pulling back on the expensive, boomeranging Empire to come home to America’s necessities and legitimate hopes are some examples of what the people want.

Maybe the sugarcoating is starting to wear. Columnist Frank Bruni, writing in the New York Times (Hillary in 2016? Not so Fast), reports her polls are starting to slump. Apparently, as Bruni suggests, she’s being seen as part of the old Washington crowd that voters are souring on.

As I wrote to Hillary Clinton in early summer 2008, when calls were made by Obama partisans for her to drop out, no one should be told not to run. That’s everyone’s First Amendment right. However, not voting for her is the prudent decision.

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

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WHEN I WAS ABOUT FOURTEEN I obtained a book of Darwin's. It opened in my hands at a passage where he asks how can we explain the similarity between a man's hand and a bird's or a bat's wings except by evolution. I flung the book aside and rushed out into the open air — it was summer and we were in the country — the sky seemed to have lost its blue and the grass its green. I lay down and writhed in an agony of doubt...Incest and parricide were but a consequence of the idea that possessed me...Soon afterwards I turned my attention to works of Christian evidence, reading them at first with pleasure, soon with doubt, and at last in some cases with derision. — Synge

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OPEN WIDE

Editor,

As regards District Attorney Jill Ravitch, she was okay at first. A criminal lawyer. She busted Sonoma Sheriff sticking a listening bug in attorney-client visiting room inside Sonoma County jail. She cried her head off. I said good girl. Then Caroline Fowler, Sonoma County Counsel, shut attorney Ravitch up. The next thing we heard was that Sheriff Cogbill et al were endorsing Ravitch for District Attorney. I said no, you don't. I drove around town telling people to vote no for Jill Ravitch. Today she will take your babies away. Vote no for Ravitch. Today she'll take your ninos away. Vote no for Ravitch. Today she'll take your bambinos away. So she lost. Holy S___, did I cause one hell of a mess. Ravitch got sent to Ukiah by Fowler. Bob Fowler et al, Sheriff Cogbill quit. All hell broke loose. I was hidden in Napa for a 594 PC vandalism charge then held in solitary so Ms. Ravitch could run for District Attorney for the second time. So in her champagne wine campaign she was able to secure her job. As District Attorney I heard nothing but good news about Ms. Shanahan and hope she puts Ms. Split Tongue District Attorney Ravitch out on her bum. Mr. DA Eyster is a Sonoma resident. Eyster didn't want District Attorney Ravitch in his office. Fowler shut him up too. Ms. Fowler — she cannot shut me up as I have nothing to hide. No skeletons in my closet unlike all her constituents. Ms. Fowler is the head of the heads with the final say. As you can see she put Steve Freitas in office as County Sheriff of Sonoma. The truth is the truth and that's the truth.

Dean Stevens

Ukiah

PS. Duncan James, attorney at everything. He was district attorney from 1969-1979. Attorney James put puppet Eyster in office and if Bob Fowler and Carolyn Fowler tell Duncam James to shut DA Eyster up, then Eyster shuts his mouth. “The power,” “the power.” Absolute power corrupts absolutely. And it did. Sand castles crumble to the sea eventually — Jimi Hendrix. Raging against the machine.

PPS. Governor Jerry Brown's realignment of prisoners to jail program must go. Judge Behnke's court ordered me to undergo involuntary psychiatric medication. Two jail cops held me down while Dr. Robert Hurley injected psychiatric meds in my bum and put me in the rubber room. I feel as if I'm in the USSR. Ho-Lee Fuk. It's a police state. Even the probation officers are packing heat (guns). Under Governor Brown's new realignment program now I'm declared mentally ill by cops, and probation can kill me and justify it by saying, well he was mentally ill and on probation for vandalism. Is this America? No, it's a police state like the USSR. Even the District Attorney is pistol packing. Even 13 year old kids are shot on sight. Soon if not already the only job in America will be in law enforcement and the cops will have to arrest themselves and their kids because all of us will be in prison. A federal court judge has ordered Governor Brown to release thousands of inmates but he realigned us to jail and out-of-state prisons. But Eyster alone has put at least 75 years worth of inmates in prison in the last 10 months. How can Governor Brown shift all the prison overcrowding prisoners onto an already overcrowded jail and court system? And the taxpayers. The jail and prison conditions were just as deplorable and overcrowded. Now it's so bad Sheriff Allman wants three new jail units. Why not declare eminent domain and build a prison in the old courthouse in downtown Ukiah? This realignment program has screwed up everything. For every action there is a reaction and soon Judge Moorman, Behnke and Mayfield will all have guns under their robes. We could put a big fence around California. We taxpayers must repeal this realignment system or we won't have a jail or money to pay taxes unless you become a cop. You only need a GED anyway. Tell all the kids, because all our money will be spent on housing and medical care for a vandal in the County jail. I know a Mendocino County taxpayer with a mentally ill family member is not getting mental health treatment. But I sure the hell am, by force. Plus I have the jail's wellness program. All you have to do is have your mentally ill sons or daughters cut down a tree like George Washington or break a window like me. All I have is a f-in vandalism charge. Ten-month solitary confinement. The jail puts us in solitary confinement saying we are a danger to ourselves and others, or they say it's to protect us from harm and everything goes and we have no rights. Public Defender Linda Thompson doesn't even bring us to court but I get mental health treatment, dental, medical, food and shelter although I don't want or need it. Again it's all for free to me but not the taxpayers. They pay it all. Let me explain this as best I can. Governor Brown is a lawyer and so are all or most of the powers that be. Noreen Evans is a lawyer. And if it wasn't for the prisons and crime all the bar members would be in the food stamp line. Lawyers become supervisors, judges, district attorneys, senators… Lawmakers like Governor Brown and Goldstein and Congressmess. It's all lawyers, by lawyers for lawyers. Death row cases get appealed for 40 years while the taxpayers get the bill. Three strikers get appealed for however much time the person gets. The three strikes law was made up by lawyers in Santa Rosa using Richard Allen Davis and he got death, not life. Do you see what's going on or am I the only one? The rich do not pay taxes. Nevada is a tax-free zone. So get your Congress to petition the rich to pay taxes, then this fleecing of America will stop or slow down. If Nevada state paid taxes it would put us all in the black. So no more emergency laws enacted. We had the bad Act called the Habitual Act Life in Prison for habitual criminals. We had capital punishment and we could give you from one year to a hundred years in prison. That's without the Three Strikes law. So it's an emergency, we must appeal three strikes put a stop to it and to the fleecing of us all by the lawyers for the lawyers and the 1% by the 1% for them. To harm one is to harm all. So harm none and do thy will. Peace to all. Raging against the machine.

Attached: Inmate Grievance Form. Name: Dean Stevens. Location: Dentist Office. July 27, 2013 (on or about) at 9am.

Grievance: Dental malpractice. Temporary dentist on Saturday, July 27, 2013, stated he was not an oral surgeon and could not perform the proper dental treatment I needed. He then used the diamond tipped drill to grind my back right molar tooth down and number 13 upper right down on the left side. The CFMG nurse stated she was a dental assistant, false representation. The dentist was hired by CFMG also stated she, the nurse, was a trained dental assistant, misstating the fact that she was just a nurse. As deputy Page clearly stated, she was just a nurse and Officer Leon stated practice makes perfect. When I said that she, the nurse, did not know what she was doing nor was the dentist trained in oral surgery, clearly medical malpractice. She also took two x-rays. She is not an x-ray technician.

Level 1 response, Corrections Corporal: You are mistaken. The nurse is a licensed nurse who has been trained to assist the dentist. Her training is above and beyond that of a dental assistant. The dentist does not perform oral surgery here at the Mendocino County Jail. There has been no misrepresentation here. It was the deputies who did not know the training background of said nurse. Nor was there a misrepresentation of said dentist. He was acting under the scope of his training. As you wrote, he told you he was not an oral surgeon and he did not perform such. — Corrections Sergeant Knapp.

Inmate: Next level, please.

Resolution: The dentist is licensed by the state and operates under the guidelines set forth by his licensing. The dental assistant is a licensed vocational nurse trained to assist with dental treatments under the guidance and direction of the dentist. — Lt. Bodnar.

Inmate: The dentist ground down my teeth and I was in pain. It was unreal. The door to the dentist's office is open to the elements and the nurses hair was sucked up the air hose. Correction Officer Page and Correction Officer Leon said she was not a dental assistant. Next level, please.

Resolution: Your grievance is noted. Above responses are sufficient. Captain Tim Pearce.

Response: It's not sufficient and you know there are no more levels to appeal. The dentist is not trained in oral surgery and the nurse was not a dental assistant. Sufficient, you say.

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THE 2013 EMERALD CUP

Who Grows the Finest Outdoor Organic Cannabis In The Land?

by Emily Hobelmann

Legalizing cannabis for medicinal use in 1996 was the right thing for Californians to do. If Californians hadn’t stepped up, cannabis might still be in the Dark Ages. I won’t waste words defending that statement, I’ll just point to the following evidence: California is home to The Emerald Cup — “The World’s Longest Running Outdoor Organic Cannabis Competition.”

Fuckin’ A right it is.

It’s the 10th anniversary of The Emerald Cup this year. What a time for California’s outdoor organic cannabis farmers to be out-and-proud! And while many still regard indoor cannabis as superior, the outdoor-is-superior camp is growing larger all the time because sunshine, fresh air and sustainable, organic farming practices make for the best cannabis. It’s true: Bomb outdoor cannabis tastes better than indoor and it’s got a way better vibe.

The Emerald Cup is a cultivation competition to determine who grows the finest organic sun-grown can­nabis flowers in the land and who makes the best cold-water concentrates. (That’s cold-water hash as opposed to “super-concentrates” — solvent- or butane-derived hash.) This is a serious competition. There are a lot of highly skilled pot farmers out there. People loooove growing weed and some people are damn good at it. This is a call to California’s badass and legit organic medical pot farmers: It’s time to show off your bomb weed off to the world.

That’s right! The Emerald Cup is accepting entries until Dec. 1 for its cannabis flowers and cold-water hash competitions. There are entry drop off locations as far south as Torrance, as far north as Eureka and as far east as Sacramento. That’s, like, the entire state! This makes me wonder — will Emerald Triangle growers prevail at this 10th Anniversary Emerald Cup?

Well, we’ll find out at the main event on Dec. 14-15 at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds in Santa Rosa. But get this: Main event attendees with valid medical marijuana recommendations get to sample some of the Emerald Cup entries, so if you can make it, you might get a chance to sample some of the best organic outdoor medicinal cannabis in California! That alone is worth the trip south to Santa Rosa.

Cannabis flowers are judged on taste, smell, looks and high. Emerald Cup creator-producer-mastermind Tim Blake tells me that the scoring system is “weighted to the high, but all the other characteristics have to come in to play.” Make sure the flowers you bring in look good. If you plan to enter the competition, go through your pounds and find prime nugs. (Three ounces of sun-grown, organic cannabis is the amount required for entry into the flowers competition.)

Hash entries are judged on appearance, texture, how they burn and, of course, on the high. All of the hash and flowers entries will be tested for THC, THCA, CBD, CBDA and CBN compounds and the top 20 flowers and top 10 hash entries will be full-spectrum tested for cannabinoids, chemical residues and molds. Results of potency testing and pesticide/fungicide screenings will be available for all to see at the main event.

There are 10 judges for the flowers competition, including buyers from major dispensaries — we’re talk­ing like Harborside-major — and our own local experts Kevin Jodrey, the cultivation director of medical marijuana dispensary Garberville Grass, and Pearl Moon of The Bud Sisters and 707 Cannabis College fame. There are four judges for the hash competition (disclaimer!) including myself.

A word on the hash competition: Last year’s Emerald Cup only had 10 cold-water concentrate entries in con­trast to 40 “super concentrate” entries. (Super-concentrates are also known as “dabs.”) In lieu of the contro­versy around dabs, this year, the Emerald Cup is forgoing the super-concentrate contests. From the concentrates contest info page:

Due to the processing methods and limited informa­tion about how super concentrates affect health, we will discontinue the super concentrate contest. We welcome discussion about this topic at the event during the Dabs feature panel. Thank you for your understanding.

It’s true that there isn’t a super concentrates contest this year, but don’t fret. Blake says: “Nikka T — he’s an incredible hash-maker, and [Cup-winner] Taylor and some of the very best will be there, so we’ll have some great hash. I really hope many people enter.” If you’re still up on making the bomb coldwater hash, it is now time to represent.

This 10th anniversary Emerald Cup features a Breeder’s Cup too. “This year, if you bred the seed that you grew and you grew the seed yourself,” Blake says, “then you automatically get entered into the Breeder’s Cup.” He adds that there are “so many breeders coming in with new strains now — not just OG and Sour D and Chem Dog… This year there’s ‘Sherbert’ coming out. Two years ago it was the ‘Cookies’ — now there’s four kinds of Cookies.” (That’s Cookies as in the “Girl Scout Cookies” strain.)

Blake name-drops a strain called “Cherry Cola,” and he predicts that in the face of legalization, weed is going to become “strain-driven and brand-driven over the next few years.” He points to a boom in seed companies and to the popularity of feminized seeds in Europe. I wonder, is growing clones, like growing indoor, becoming less trendy? This question will surely be discussed at The Emerald Cup main event: There are expert panels on breeding and genetics plus workshops on trends in genetics and cloning.

There is also photography contest at The Emerald Cup. Anyone can enter by bringing prints of their epic cannabis photos to the main event, and Cup attendees choose the winner. Get more info about entering the photography contest and the flowers and hash contests, plus info on the main event panels, workshops and music at The Emerald Cup web site.

This is the first year the Emerald Cup is being held outside of the Emerald Triangle, and Blake says he’s feelin’ good about the move because by bringing it to Sonoma “we’re bringing the flowers and the products from up here down to a much larger audience… Now we can show off what’s being grown in the up here in these mountains to the whole world.”

This is a chance to prove there are farmers that grow high-quality organic cannabis in sustainable ways. “It’s not just a bunch of people in the mountains just sucking up the water and growing ‘chemy’ bud,” Blake says. (“Chemy” is slang for bud laden with chemicals — pesticides, fungicides.)

“Let’s show the other side.” ¥¥

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CRITICAL THINKING AT ITS BEST!

Woman: Do you drink beer?

Man: Yes

Woman: How many beers a day?

Man: Usually about 3

Woman: How much do you pay per beer?

Man: $5.00 which includes a tip

(This is where it gets scary !)

Woman: And how long have you been drinking?

Man: About 20 years, I suppose

Woman: So a beer costs $5 and you have 3 beers a day which puts your spending each month at $450. In one year, it would be approximately $5,400 — correct?

Man: Correct

Woman: If in 1 year you spend $5400, not accounting for inflation, the past 20 years puts your spending at $108,000, correct?

Man: Correct

Woman: Do you know that if you didn't drink so much beer, that money could have been put in a step-up interest savings account and after accounting for compound interest for the past 20 years, you could have now bought a Ferrari?

Man: Do you drink beer?

Woman: No.

Man: Where's your Ferrari?

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JODI TODD, LOCAL DENTAL HYGIENIST, REACHES OUT TO OUR COMMUNITY

Mendocino County Dental Hygienist, Jodi Todd, RDH will be graduating from UOP, School of Dentistry in December with an additional license, Registered Dental Hygienist in Alternative Practice. What is an RDHAP? An RDHAP has specialized training and an additional license that allows them to have their own independent business and work in settings other than a dental office and without the supervision of a dentist. The RDHAP was created to deliver quality preventive dental hygiene services to those who don’t have easy access to a traditional dental office. They can open their own office, provide service in schools, institutions, residence, and skilled nursing facilities, special needs and private homes of homebound persons.

How will Jodi Todd, RDHAP, be of value to our community? As of today, there is no known RDHAP in our area providing these services. Jodi Todd, RDHAP, will be the link between residential home administration and staff, families and community dental providers, and, she will be the conduit between the dentist and the consumer.

Some of the services that Jodi Todd, RDHAP will be able to provide are:

Oral Evaluations (including oral cancer screenings)

Oral Care Plans

Customized direct care staff in-service training for providing resident oral care.

In- residence and bed-side dental hygiene may include:

Oral Prophylaxis (cleaning of debris, bacteria and deposits above the gumline)

Non-Surgical periodontal therapies (scaling and root planning below the gumline which may require topical anesthetic)

Therapies for dry mouth

Fluoride treatments

Denture and partial cleanings

Strategies for prevention of cavities and gum disease.

Jodi Todd has over 22 years of experience in the Dental Field. With Dentistry being a passion of hers, she is excited to be able to provide care in a customized fashion and meet a need not being met in our community. To contact Jodi Todd, RDH call 707-272-4426 or email joditoddrdhap@gmail.com.