VERY HOT AND DRY weather will continue in the interior through Saturday. Interior heat is forecast to moderate Sunday and early next week. Coastal areas will remain cool with occasional fog and low clouds through the weekend. (NWS)
STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): 51F under clear skies this Thursday morning on the coast. Our forecast has a lot of "patchy fog" in it. (a real reach for the NWS, no?) Maybe some weather Fri night - Sat morning from the south, we'll see?
JULIE BEARDSLEY: Hey Ukiah Friends! Terry Poplawski has stepped down from his seat on the County's Civil Service Commission after 20+ years. We are looking to find possible candidates to put forward who live in District 2 (Ukiah) who would be interested and sympathetic to workers. The Commission meets once per month (currently the third Wednesday of each month at 9am). There are occasional additional special meetings to consider employee discipline. Anyone interested? It’s an important job since the County has been a little less than rigorous in following the Civil Service rules.
THE GJERDE DEFENSE
by Mark Scaramella
At Tuesday’s Supervisors meeting, the Board engaged in a lengthy un-agendized discussion of the recent State Controller’s office report which blamed the Supervisors for much of the County’s financial delays and difficulties. The unagendized discussion was allowed to ramble on at length without objection from County Counsel Charlotte Scott who should have told them they were violating the Brown Act by talking about it off-agenda. It arose after Acting Auditor-Controller/Treasurer Tax Collector Sara Pierce was reporting on some tax collection statistics. It is scheduled for discussion at the July 23 board meeting.
Lame Duck Supervisor Glenn McGourty harrumphed that the report was “offensive” to him because the State Controller’s office never talked to him before issuing their report.
The most pointed comments however were from Lame Duck Supervisor Dan Gjerde who objected to the report. His objections were:
- Former elected Auditor-Controller Treasurer-Tax Collector Chamise Cubbison “rebuffed” offers of outside assistance. “They did not want outside people in their office,” said Gjerde, going on to imply without a shred of evidence that something untoward was going on in the Auditor’s office under Cubbison. “It might raise a question from the public,” said Gjerde, “Why did they not want people from the outside in their office who were experts in those offices?”
Of course, as usual, Ms. Cubbison, abruptly ousted from her elected position almost a year ago now based solely on the DA’s filing of dubious charges against her, was not given an opportunity to respond to this near-slanderous implication.
- Gjerde then said, “It is only now, after Sara Pierce was appointed, that the overdue reports are finally being completed.”
How far along was Ms. Cubbison when she was ousted? Gjerde didn’t want to know.
- Gjerde said that the Controller’s office report was “probably political” and was prepared by “a relatively low level employee at the state controller’s office.”
There’s no evidence of a political agenda on the part of the State Controller’s office (of all things) other than that the Supervisors were criticized for a reckless and questionable consolidation of the County’s financial offices at a time when covid was already making things difficult and the County’s property tax software was (and still is) not workable. Calling the Controller’s dry report “political” does not change what it says. Gjerde offered no information about what the Controller’s office’s political agenda might be.
- Gjerde claimed that the State Controller’s office “leaped to conclusions.”
Nevermind that the conclusions were not disputed.
- “A lot of what took place was glaringly absent,” insisted Gjerde.
Like?
- “State legislation that enabled the two elected offices to be one elected office took place before I was elected,” said Gjerde. “There was only one position eliminated and that was one of the two elected officers. No staff was eliminated in either department. The incumbents would always run uncontested.”
This, of course, is irrelevant. The Controller’s office was under no obligation to note that the merger idea had been discussed — and rejected — by previous boards. Nor is the fact that there are very few people qualified to run for those offices in the small population of Mendocino County grounds for merging the offices.
Gjerde was told in blunt terms by everyone who had an opinion on the rash merger of the offices that it was a bad idea, that it would make financial problems worse, and that senior staff would leave. The Board ignored that input and proceeded anyway. As predicted, senior staff left, except for Cubbison, who bravely stayed on in the face of irrational animosity from the Supervisors. Gjerde claims that his Board didn’t eliminate any positions? Nobody said they did! The problem is staffing, not positions on an org chart.
- Gjerde concluded, “When this board tried to engage in discussion about the merger that would take place with the consolidated election of one officer, the incumbents chose not to engage in conversation!”
Absolutely false. Both incumbents went on the record strongly disagreeing with the merger. It was the Board who chose not to engage, much less plan. The State Controller was correct in simply pointing that out.
In December 2021, as the Board was considering the consolidation of the financial offices, then-Acting Auditor Chamise Cubbison “engaged” with the Board by writing:
“The Auditor-Controller’s office and the Treasurer Tax-Collector should not be combined into one elected office. No compelling reasons have been indicated and no in depth review of the offices has been conducted. There has been no communication with myself to discuss the consolidation beyond notifying me of the upcoming agenda items. There has been no discussion about Board concerns, nor desired goals or outcomes other than what may be taking place in other offices behind closed doors.
“In my opinion, there are no efficiencies to be realized and the risk of collapse of two functioning departments that are key to all County departments and functions is real. In each office, the elected department head is a working department head. Both offices require the experience and skills of the various positions within them and if combined would still have the same amount of work for at least the same number of FTEs [full-time equivalent employees], if not possibly more. In addition, consolidation would require yet another annual audit for the County to pay for and participate in. This new audit would be specifically to insure that the internal controls and the separation of duties required by [government] code are adhered to in the combined office.”
And that, more or less, was the beginning of the end for Cubbison. The Board made it clear that they wanted only yes-persons — and woe to anyone who didn’t like it.
Wednesday morning, the day after Gjerde’s attempt to refute the State Controller’s report, former Treasurer-Tax Collector Shari Schapmire, who retired right after the merger after 41 years in the office, told KZYX’s Karen Ottoboni that when Supervisor Dan Gjerde called Schapmire to discuss the proposed consolidation of the Treasurer-Tax Collector office with the Auditor-Controller office that “it was clear that they did not want Chamise [Cubbison] to be the Auditor.”
So “they” (the Board) were clearly tampering with an independent elected position long before DA Eyster filed charges. The consolidation had nothing to do with claimed efficiencies, or cost savings, or late financial reports. It was all about getting rid of Cubbison.
Schapmire said that Supervisors McGourty, Williams and Mulheren “never set foot in my office. I didn’t talk to them at all.”
Schapmire also said that the previous consolidations were also bad ideas. “The Assessor’s office [which was merged with the Clerk-Recorder in the early 2000s] deteriorated and has not recovered ever since. There was some brief talk [about merging the Auditor and Tax Collector] back in 2006 but nothing after that.” Then-Supervisor John McCowen talked to Schapmire about the possibility of merging the offices, and, said Schapmire, “I told him it was too much for one person. It will fail.” McCowen then withdrew the proposal.
“[The merger] was so reckless,” said Schapmire. “They can say whatever they want to the public. To me, their main goal was to get rid of the Auditor, that was the big thing, and they didn’t care what the risk was. They wanted to have control over that position, they were particularly interested in the Auditor. It was all about the Auditor. The Board wanted control over the Auditor function, basically. By combining the offices, they destabilized the whole financial engine of the County. … I lost a lot of respect for this Board. This was a very reckless move and I could no longer work with them. … They chose to go forward and it’s been a nightmare ever since.”
LOCAL EVENTS (this week)
AND a small town’s biggest yard sale of the year: Comptche Community Yard Sale, Saturday July 13, 11a.m. to 3 p.m., Comptche Community Hall, 30672 Comptche-Ukiah Rd., (no early birds please).
A READER WRITES:
It appears that the Supervisors already know what they want to do with the State Controller's report. They want to de-legitimize it. McGourty angrily decried that he was not asked any questions by the State Controller, and other Supervisors agreed. Of course, it doesn't matter what the opinion of individual Board members is, but their collective actions are what matters. He still doesn't understand that, even as he rides off into the sunset of retirement. Did the CEO interact with the State Controller? Hmm. They also accused the report of being written by a “low level” staffer, not worthy of any serious attention. They thought the State Controller would absolve them of any responsibility, but the report instead laid it squarely at their feet. They're angry about it. Now they're fearful a more robust $800,000 audit will expose even more information not to their liking. No doubt they were all on the phone with [state senator Mike] McGuire over the weekend upset that the party line, or more specifically that the Board's fantasy was not backed up. “We offered help!” an exasperated McGourty muddled out of his mouth. But did you plan beforehand? Openly? Did you work with those who actually perform the work? No you didn't, Glenn. McGourty shook the tree and is angry that an apple fell on his face.
ARREST MADE AFTER VANDALISM AT UKIAH CITY BUILDING CAUGHT ON VIDEO
On the morning of 06/23/2024, a vandalism to several doors with glass windows at the City of Ukiah building located at 300 Seminary Avenue occurred. The damage was discovered at a later date; however, video footage captured the incident and the person responsible for the damage. In total, there was $630.00 worth of damage to City of Ukiah property.
The video footage of the incident was turned over to the Ukiah Police Department (UPD) for investigation. Through an extensive investigation, the suspect was identified as Mariya Siddons, a 39-year-old female of Ukiah. On 07/07/2024, Siddons was located and placed under arrest. Siddons was charged with the above mentioned charge and booked at the Mendocino County Jail.
As always, our mission at UPD is to make Ukiah as safe a place as possible. If you would like to know more about crime in your neighborhood, you can sign up for telephone, cell phone, and email notifications by clicking the Nixle button on our website; http://www.ukiahpolice.com
HERE’S THE MAIN SOLUTION TO SOLVING THE MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS
by Jim Shields
Quick Weather Update
You don’t need a weatherman to know it’s been hotter than hell for a long spell.
In fact, I think we may have set a record for sustained days exceeding 100 degrees.
As always, I welcome the wisdom of our elders if they have information to the contrary.
So here are the temps for the past consecutive 8 days, all exceeding the century mark.
July 2, 103
July 3, 108
July 4, 107
July 5, 110
July 6, 114
July 7, 111
July 8, 109
July 9, 103
Let me know if you or anybody you know, has information on consecutive, above 100 degree days.
Geiger’s Closes Hopland Grocery Store
Well, can’t say it comes as any surprise but a Hopland acquaintance emailed me with the news that the Geiger’s Hopland grocery store shuttered its doors this past Sunday. She said other than a cursory post on social media, “No other kind of warning or public notice was given. What a way to not run a business. But you guys already had the same experience, except now you’ve got your store back and about to re-open under new ownership. Thanks for keeping us informed with your articles, you’re the best we know. Don’t you go and close down your writing business, then we really would be in trouble!”
As I said recently, the new owner, Haji Alam, of the newly re-named “Laytonville Long Valley Market,” appeared at our Town Advisory Council meeting on June 26, making a presentation and answering questions from the public. He’s also been on my radio show explaining his re-opening plans and other related matters.
The target date for re-opening is around July 15th
Alam is very personable, open and frank in his conversations, and quite engaging.
I’ve been able to verify that most, if not all, former Market employees have been contacted regarding job offers, and currently many employees are now busy preparing the store to re-open the doors
Alam also said he plans to apply for a County permit to open and operate six-pump gas station on the Market’s property. Of course, this proposed project will have to go through the County’s Planning and Building process for final approvals. At the meeting, Alam and some of the attendees discussed in some detail operational plans for the gas station, including how to route vehicles from the parking lot onto Highway 101.
I believe most folks in the Laytonville area would support and will welcome a second gas station since there’s definitely an established need for one.
The Most Important Step To Start Solving The Mental Health Treatment Crisis
I told you several weeks ago a reader sent me an email: “Thank you so much for the very thorough article (“Who Closed Mental Health Hospitals In California?”) about the history of mental health issues in California. I am wondering if you might offer another follow up article on possible real life solutions to the issues?”
So here we go.
Over the weekend, there were a number of posts on the Anderson Valley Advertiser website regarding long-standing mental health issues.
One post alleged that Pat Brown was governor, not Ronald Reagan when historic legislation created what was thought to be a model law for reforming mental treatment in California.
Speaking as a historian let me assure you that Ronald Reagan was elected governor of California in November of 1966, defeating incumbent Pat Brown.
Two legislative forces actually determined the fate of mental health care in this state. You might call them acts with unintended consequences. Here’s the condensed history.
Reagan had only been in office a few months in 1967, when the Lanterman–Petris–Short Act (LPS Act) a so-called “bill of rights” for those with mental health problems passed the Democratic-controlled Assembly 77-1. The Senate approved it by similar margins. Then-Gov. Reagan signed it into law.
It was co-authored by California State Assemblyman Frank Lanterman, a Republican, and California State Senators Nicholas C. Petris and Alan Short, both Democrats. LPS went into full effect on July 1, 1972.
I recently read a piece by Vern Pierson (El Dorado County District Attorney), and learned something I was not aware of: The movement of the “de-institutionalization” of the mentally ill started in the 1960’s. This movement, started in Europe, was supported by President John Kennedy and ultimately was complicated by a U.S. Supreme Court opinion and civil liberty concerns over forced treatment. Pierson has my respect, he’s one well-rounded D.A.
Anyway, the California bi-partisan law came about because of concerns about the involuntary civil commitment to mental health institutions in California. At the time, the act was thought by many to be a progressive blueprint for modern mental health commitment procedures, not only in California, but in the United States.
Its main purposes were:
- To end the inappropriate, indefinite, and involuntary commitment of mentally disordered persons, people with developmental disabilities, and persons impaired by chronic alcoholism, and to eliminate legal disabilities;
- To provide prompt evaluation and treatment of persons with serious mental disorders or impaired by chronic alcoholism;
- To guarantee and protect public safety;
- To safeguard individual rights through judicial review;
- To provide individualized treatment, supervision, and placement services by a conservatorship program for gravely disabled persons;
- To encourage the full use of all existing agencies, professional personnel and public funds to accomplish these objectives and to prevent duplication of services and unnecessary expenditures;
- To protect mentally disordered persons and developmentally disabled persons from criminal acts.
The second force at work in the mental health care issue were the courts and what is known as “deinstitutionalization.”
During the 1960s, many people began accusing the state mental hospitals of violating the civil rights of patients. Some families did, of course, commit incorrigible teenagers or eccentric relatives to years of involuntary confinement and unspeakable treatment. To get the picture, think of the movie “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest” and the sadistic Nurse Ratchett. The new law ended the practice of institutionalizing patients against their will.
By the late 1960s, the idea that the mentally ill were not so different from the rest of us, or perhaps were even a little bit more sane, became trendy. Reformers dreamed of taking the mentally ill out of the large institutions and housing them in smaller, community-based residences where they could live more productive and fulfilling lives.
A mental patient could be held for 72 hours only if he or she engaged in an act of serious violence or demonstrated a likelihood of suicide or an inability to provide their own food, shelter or clothing due to mental illness. But 72 hours was rarely enough time to stabilize someone with medication. Only in extreme cases could someone be held another two weeks for evaluation and treatment.
As a practical matter, involuntary commitment was no longer a legal option that created a whole new dilemma: How do you make a sick person better who refuses help? By definition a mentally ill person is incapable of making rational decisions concerning their health.
The LPS Act emptied out the state’s mental hospitals but resulted in an explosion of homelessness. Legislators never provided enough money for community-based programs to provide treatment and shelter.
Lanterman later expressed regret at the way the law was carried out. “I wanted the law to help the mentally ill,” he said. “I never meant for it to prevent those who need care from receiving it.”
But that’s exactly what has happened for the past five decades
As I'm always saying, problems just don't happen, people make them happen. But the history of mental health practice and policy in this state is one of abject failure caused by well-intentioned reformers back in the late 60s-early 70s who unknowingly unleashed something that no one envisioned or wanted.
The primary action to cure this ill has always been right in front of us. But it's been blocked from both view and implementation by a brick wall of political correctness combined with government capitulation to the Homeless-Mental Health Industrial Complex. Here in Mendocino County think “Schraeders” and you’ll know everything you need to know about what I’m saying.
The solution?
You have to re-introduce a meaningful, no-nonsense, balanced level of compulsion into the system so that we are not, as Assemblyman Lanterman so aptly put it many years ago, “preventing those who need care from receiving it.”
Absent that action, you’re left with what we have now: Decades of chaotic failure where the only success found is on the bottom-lines of the balance sheets of the Homeless-Mental Health Industrial Complex. Now that is true craziness.
Time to change all that don’t you think?
(Jim Shields is the Mendocino County Observer’s editor and publisher, observer@pacific.net, the long-time district manager of the Laytonville County Water District, and is also chairman of the Laytonville Area Municipal Advisory Council. Listen to his radio program “This and That” every Saturday at 12 noon on KPFN 105.1 FM, also streamed live: http://www.kpfn.org)
REDWOOD VALLEY ENTREPRENEURS
WHERE ARE THE TAX DEFAULT LISTS?
Dear Editor,
On July 9th I inquired with the Tax Collector's Office about the Default Property Tax list that I've been waiting to receive for over a year since Acting Auditor-Controller-Treasurer-Tax Collector Sara Pierce said there was now a Tax Lien list available.
On July 10th I was informed by Ms. Dailey, Deputy Treasurer-Tax Collector, that there is still no Default Property Tax list and that by Friday, this week, I would be emailed the Tax Lien list.
I'm not holding my breath.
How does it take five years to accumulate a report of default property taxes? There was a tax lien sale in 2019 and a current default property tax list printed in the Ukiah Daily Journal in that year. Note: I had to call the Ukiah Daily Journal last year to get the 2019 list from them as the County could not provide it.
Carrie Shattuck
Redwood Valley
PS/Update (by Mark Scaramella):
On Wednesday afternoon Ms. Shattuck received two excel spreadsheets listing the recipients of “Power to Sell” letters, and the delinquent taxpayers (so far). There are 284 parcels/names on the Delinquent list totaling about $1.1 million, and 167 parcels/names on the Power to Sell list totaling almost $3 million in taxes due. Legally, these lists are supposed to be published in a newspaper of general circulation before action is taken on them. The tax delinquent totals list includes a Mr. Michael Danna of Ukiah who owes $244,131 on one parcel. SWS Project Management LLC of Willits, a property management company, owes $258,605. There are several dozen who are delinquent to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars. The majority are under $10,000. The Power To Sell letters range from less than a thousand dollars up to almost $80k. Thanks to Ms. Cheyenne Gordon of the Auditor’s office for providing these lists in a timely manner. According to Acting Auditor-Controller/Treasurer Tax Collector Sara Pierce there are about $22 million in delinquent taxes, but her office is short of staff and experience and it’s not clear how they will go about collecting the rest of the estimated $22 million in tax delinquencies after they try to collect on these first two lists.
ESCAPED BURN PILE FIRE IN COVELO CLAIMS MISSING WOMAN; SHE DIED IN THE MINA FIRE
On Monday, July 8, 2024 at 2:17 PM, Mendocino County Sheriff's Office deputies responded to assist CalFire with a wildland fire in the 94500 block of Mina Road, north of Covelo. The fire was reported to be a rapidly-moving wildfire with one structure possibly fully involved and one person potentially missing. Upon arrival in the area, deputies contacted an adult male at the property who stated a burn pile had escaped and started the wildfire. The adult male reported that a family member, 66-year-old Dagmar Stankova, was missing and had last been seen in and around the residence attempting to extinguish flames. Due to the intensity of the fire, deputies were not able to access the area of the residence so they proceeded to work on evacuating people in the surrounding neighborhood. A missing person report was ultimately taken for Stankova as she was not able to be located.
On Tuesday, July 9, 2024 at approximately 2:00 A.M., the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office was notified by fire personnel that suspected burned human remains had been located in a structure that had burned during this fire. Mendocino County Sheriff's Office Detectives, along with CalFire Prevention Officers, responded to the scene which still had active fire burning. Investigators located the human remains and due to the burned condition of the body, investigators were not able to make a positive identification of the decedent. During the investigation, it was determined that Stankova had last been seen adjacent to the residence attempting to protect her home from the fire with a garden hose. The Mendocino County Sheriff's Office Coroner's Division is actively working to identify the human remains that were located; however the remains are believed to be Stankova based on the investigation and circumstances of the fire. Stankova's next of kin is aware of this case and is assisting with this investigation.
An autopsy for the decedent located during this investigation is being scheduled and the final cause and manner of death will not be released until the autopsy and toxicology reports are available. The coroner's case for the unidentified decedent is being investigated under Mendocino County Sheriff's Office case #2024-13948. CalFire Prevention Officers are conducting the investigation regarding the cause of the fire related to this incident.
Anyone with any information regarding this incident is encouraged to contact the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office Dispatch Center at 707-463-4086. Information can also be provided anonymously through the non-emergency tip-line at 707-234-2100.
SUMMER COVID SURGE IN NORTH BAY attributed to low vaccine rates, new contagious variant
by Martin Espinoza
The North Bay is experiencing a summer surge in COVID-19 infections, in part driven by highly contagious FLiRT subvariant and low vaccination rates, local health experts on Wednesday said.
Dr. Tanya Phares, Sonoma County’s health officer, said the current “summer wave“ of COVID-19 infections, though a familiar trend during the pandemic, has surpassed that of the previous year.
“The current summer wave has surpassed that of 2023 but not 2022,“ Phares said. ”That’s a national trend but it looks like we see that in Sonoma County, too.“
This year’s summer wave appears to be happening sooner than last year, according to the latest available local wastewater surveillance data for SARS-CoV-2, that causes COVID-19 illness.
On the same date last summer, it was 8 percent. For Santa Rosa alone the level on June 27 was 61 this summer and 8% on that date last summer.
Local wastewater detection of COVID-19 has been climbing since late April. Phares said it’s unclear if COVID-19 infections are simply peaking earlier this summer or if rates will continue to climb.
“It’s possible that it’s peaked earlier or that it's going to keep going up, but it's very hard to predict what it's going to do,” Phares said. “We've seen different variants with each peak over time so we're dealing with something different each time.”
Phares said national trends, as well as those in Europe, suggest continued spread of the so called FLiRT subvariants, which are descendants of the omicron variant. Nationally, the dominant FLiRT subvariant is KP.3, and KP.3.1.1 is expected to grow fairly quickly in the United States and Europe, she said.
Phares said the current surge is troubling given low vaccination rates in the county.
The overall vaccination rate — the share of the population that is up-to-date on their COVID-19 vaccinations — is 23%. Even the age-group that is most vulnerable, those 65 and older, has a vaccination rate of just under 56%.
The overall up-to-date vaccination rate in Napa County is nearly 21%; and 51% for those 65 and older.
Dr. Gary Green, an infectious disease expert at Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital, said vaccine and pandemic fatigue is likely partly behind the current summer surge and low vaccination rates.
Green said Sutter is experiencing a “summer ambulatory surge” in cases, meaning most of the COVID-19 patients are being seen as outpatients.
He noted that there has also been a “slight uptick” in COVID-19 hospitalizations and emergency visits, “but I wouldn’t call that a surge.”
Green said he suspects the bump is partly due to increased summer travel, along with waning immunity and people simply taking fewer precautions.
Summer heat waves across the country might also be driving more people indoors and in close contact, he said.
“I think the heat wave kind of brought everyone indoors, into the malls, indoor shopping … because it just too hot,” he said. “I think that crowding is going to propagate viral transmission.”
Green said that currently 30% of all nasal swabs done in outpatient clinics are turning up positive. For comparison purposes, he said the start of flu season is usually declared when swab positivity rates hit 10%.
Green said in the emergency department, 16% of all COVID-19 swabs are coming up positive.
Phares said COVID-19 deaths have remained low but stable, and a particular threat for the most vulnerable groups, including frail seniors, people with chronic illnesses and compromised immune systems.
Since the beginning of the year, there have been 39 COVID-19 deaths, she said, which amounts to fewer than 10 a month.
“The message is really we have to be cautious and we should make an effort to increase vaccination rates to protect ourselves, as well as to limit the spread of the disease and keep it from mutating,” she said.
(The Press Democrat)
ED NOTES
FROM THE MENDOCINO DISPATCH-DEMOCRAT of Friday, January 16th, 1903, as retrieved by Jody Martinez of the UDJ: “Rhodes held to answer. The preliminary examination of Martin Rhodes, the man who shot the colored man Thomas Lewis at Boonville, took place last Monday. In order to get the injured man's testimony the Court Reporter, Constable and Attorneys went out to the hospital with the accused. Rhodes was held to answer. Lewis is in a fair way to recovery.”
ED NOTE: Much of the true history of Mendocino County lies a'moldering in the basement of the County Courthouse. How the above matter was resolved is down there somewhere, and it's a shame an archivist or an historian hasn't been allowed to mine it and many other matters about which the old newspapers, insofar as they still exist, are silent.
HELLO! This is Red Beard here. I've been down here in Soledad Prison since I left Mendocino and I should have been writing you guys more, so I am going to start writing. I want to take my comic strip character to another level. I have some ideas that I can throw to you guys, Maybe you can get your artist to make some more. I also can get some comic strips made, but for now I could provide you with the ideas and then you guys can put it out there, etc. You know, The Adventures of Red Beard or something like that. I will write to you all soon with some ideas.
For now, I want you to listen to my friend Ryan here and hopefully publish his story. He is a well-known comedian who has been on TV and I've seen him on Comedy Central. He is a good dude who was viciously attacked by a well known drunken asshole and he was forced to defend himself and ended up killing the guy. But I'll let him tell you his story. It will blow your mind. His story is crazy, but he is not. I've talked with him quite a bit. Anyway, I told him I would try and hook him up with you guys to get his story heard. He is also a very talented writer. Ask him to send you a poem or something. They are pretty good, man. He has been done wrong by people he loves and the unjustice system. Let me know how it goes. If you publish his story, send it to him so I can read it, ok?
I want to write an apology letter to all my victims in Mendocino. For one thing I feel bad for not doing that already. We can make some comics that show me here in prison and all the crazy shit I'm dealing with in here, ok? I want Red Beard to go mainstream and then national and get a brewery to make Red Beard Ale. Stuff like that. I send peace and love to you. Say hi to Matt LaFever and Marilyn Davin.
THE BACK STORY: William Allan ‘Redbeard’ Evers, was our famously slippery fugitive, managing to elude whole posses of cops for nearly a year before he was finally arrested in November of 2021. Often spotted over the nine months he was being sought in the wilds between Elk and Albion, with more than one sympathetic resident of Mendo's vast outback leaving food and refreshments out for him, finally an alert resident of Albion Ridge Road spotted Evers the day before he was caught crouched beside an outbuilding on the man's property as Evers sprinted off into the nearby woods.
Sheriff's deputies were soon at the site where they saw Evers from a distance, but the fleet-footed wanted man again evaded his badged pursuers.
The next day, the last Thursday (4th November) Evers would be free, three deputies returned to the area known among Albion people as the “Doughnut Shop.”
Approximately 300 yards downhill from the “Doughnut Shop” two deputies encountered Evers when, unaware of the deputies, Evers suddenly emerged from brushy terrain “eight feet away from us,” as a deputy described the encounter. Evers ran back into the brush as police dog Takota took up the chase. Takota quickly overtook Evers who kicked him away. But Takota resumed the hunt, eventually knocking Evers to the ground and biting his quarry in the lower leg.
Deputies soon wrestled Evers into handcuffs. The foot chase had covered approximately 50 yards, but the determined Evers, handcuffed, again attempted to flee but was again restrained by deputies, this time permanently. He was placed in wrap leg restraints in the back of a patrol car.
Evers, not what you'd call a portrait in contrition, was transported to the Sheriff's Office Ukiah station to meet with Mendocino County District Attorney Investigators, Sheriff's Office detectives and to be medically cleared prior to being booked into the Mendocino County Jail.
Some of us had assumed Red Beard was invincible, that our famous fugitive would stay out there forever, the man slowly becoming myth when he was no more. We’d also suspected that some old Albion outlaw, Captain Fathom or Beth Bosk, or maybe even Pebs Trippett at her place at the foot the deep south bank of the Navarro River, had perhaps provided a winter home for Red Beard.
But the Albion of 2021 is not the outlaw Albion Nation of 1975.
Beard, with drenching early rains falling on the parched county, had been holed up in a kind of brush cave he'd fashioned for himself off Albion Ridge Road near the "donut shop."
As Sheriff Kendall assessed Redbeard’s situation, “What he was up to was not sustainable. It’s not like being a plumber. Even an accomplished outdoorsman like him couldn’t stay out there forever.”
The Sheriff said it was the fugitive’s bicycle tracks that helped deputies locate him, although the Sheriff's Department had previously done some impressive electronic tracking of the Beard.
A trio of lawmen — Lt. J.D. Comer; Brandon Juntz; Brandon McGregor, and the intrepid Takota, had a clear idea of where he was.
Combining electronic surveillance with sightings and numerous burglaries presumably committed by the Beard, deputies zeroed in on his location within a very small radius on Albion Ridge. Then, following tire tracks from Beard's bicycle, and moving stealthily down a barely discernible path with police dog Takota, the famous outlaw suddenly appeared strapped into his trademark backpack stuffed with many pounds of his daily essentials.
Beard did try to make one more dash from beneath the two deputies trying to wrestle him into compliance but was finally subdued. The Sheriff said “he didn't really resist” arrest by fighting or cursing his captors.
Sheriff Matt Kendall had said that “this guy runs like an Olympic athlete. Without his pack he might have even outrun the dog, and even with 60 or 70 pounds on his back he's very fast.”
The Sheriff recalled an earlier encounter with Red Beard when, after allegedly snapping off a rifle round at a pursuing deputies, the Beard, running blind in total darkness, hurdled a fence and easily outran the deputies chasing him.
Sheriff Kendall said that deputies searched the area where Beard was caught, but no weapon was found.
The famous fugitive seems to have developed a love for Mendocino County when he’d served here as a state prison firefighter. A former cellmate remembers, “Evers was my cell mate/bunky in Humboldt County Correction Facility in 2002. 385 Workers Dorm. He is a really nice guy. He was a wildlands firefighter. He was going to get me a job as a firefighter but I decided to just go back into growing cannabis which was why I was in jail in the first place. I hope the best for him!”
Evers had no history of violence. People who know him say they are surprised that he’d shoot at anybody, let alone a cop. An acquaintance said he does have a serious drinking problem — he stole numerous bottles of alcohol during break-ins in the vastness west of Ukiah out to the Coast — but that he’d never been violent so far as she was aware.
Researcher Deb Silva reported her Evers investigation. “I looked up Evers and found lots of court cases from Shasta County. He was born in Shasta County, his parents married there and are still married. He has one brother who has been in a bit of trouble, too. His parents now live in Arizona, which is where the Arizona connection comes in. I could not find Red Beard at Been Verified nor is he on either of his parents BV reports, although the brother is on the reports. I expect that is because Evers has had no stable address, besides prison, and no employment for many years. Court records do not state exactly what crimes he was charged with, they simply say whether or not they were misdemeanor or felony. One or two of the records say that he falls under the three strikes sentencing. He was on parole during his recent time on the lam in the Albion area. His parole was revoked in June of this year. I could not find any newspaper articles about his arrests in Shasta County.”
Evers was assumed to have spent hours watching homes west of Ukiah and farther west in the Elk and Albion areas. When the surveilled residents were away Beard would dart inside to re-supply, with his acquisition focus being alcohol.
Residents of the Coast, especially the newly bourgeoisie upper Albion, were of course unnerved at the Beard's numerous break-ins and have mostly welcomed his arrest.
In his arrest photograph, Evers doesn’t appear to be what we might call a picture of remorse, but looks rather more like an indomitable kind of dude who, at least to us, lives up to the spirited figure we imagined him to be. More than a few Mendo people were saddened when he was finally caught.
Beard was sentenced to 25-to-life in March of 2022. His sentence wouldn't have been nearly as severe if he hadn't fired a rifle shot at a pursuing deputy, a charge Beard denies, claiming he'd fired in the air merely to discourage the deputy's pursuit.
Soledad State Prison houses both maximum and minimum security prisoners. Given his legal history, the ebullient, and previously non-violent Beard, is probably locked up with the really bad boys.
HOPLAND WINE FACILITY CAUSING ‘INTENSE FOUL ODORS’ SLAPPED WITH CEASE-AND-DESIST NOTICE
by Susana Guerrero
A Hopland wine facility, which for years has been linked to foul odors, has been hit with a cease-and-desist letter following a series of inspections and violations.
Last Tuesday, Ray’s Station Winery, a massive wine production facility in Hopland was issued a cease-and-desist letter by the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board. The board ordered the Mendocino County facility, which is owned by Vintage Wine Estates, to immediately stop discharging waste to local basins not approved by the board. Ray’s Station Winery is known for producing as much as 11 million cases of wine annually, mostly made by Josh Cellars, according to the Press Democrat.
The move comes after years of complaints by Hopland residents who reported “intense foul-smelling odors” to the water board beginning in 2019. Local residents told the Press Democrat that the odors coming from Ray’s Station Winery facility smelled like rotten eggs, fecal matter and rotting teeth.
“There have been moments where, like, you walk outside and you gag physically,” Taylor Macri told the Press Democrat. “It’s so strong that you have to hold your breath and run to the car.”
After receiving several complaints from residents beginning in January 2019, the water board initiated its first inspection at Ray’s Station Winery facility on July 24, 2020, according to a December 2023 report by the agency. The report noted that a separate investigation was conducted in 2019 regarding the facility’s process wastewater pond subdrains and “the presence of sulfate reducing anerobic microbes in the underdrain water.” Following the 2019 inspection, the facility was issued a correction that included capping the underdrain to reduce the smell of sulfur.
But odor complaints persisted, and more inspections followed between 2022 and 2023, according to the report. Another inspection was conducted on March 29, 2023. At that time, staff at the wine facility admitted they smelled odors days before the inspection and said that the smells came from a pile of grape pomace that was partially submerged in water on the southeast corner of the property.
The following month, on April 28, 2023, inspectors toured the affected neighborhood around the wine facility and “detected foul-smelling odors at three separate neighboring homes.” They also allegedly witnessed the facility’s water truck discharge water along a grassy corner of the plant, in addition to the stormwater conveyance on the property. Both areas were flagged because they were prohibited areas for disposing of wastewater. Organic biofilms were also spotted in the drainage ditch of the stormwater retention pond. The water board issued a violation in May 2023 following the April 2023 inspection.
Vintage Wine Estates will need to submit a correction action plan, quarterly progress reports and more to the water board ahead of a hearing slated for early October. SFGate reached out to Vintage Wine Estates, Ray’s Station Winery and the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board for comment but did not hear back by publication.
(SFGate.com)
JUMPING OFF
Dear Editor,
They jumped off the frekking bridge!
I was appalled at the press releases you, us, and everybody printed about the young men who fled police, crashed into a car, and then proceeded to jump off the Jack Peters Creek Bridge! We all put in our stories and press releases the cop mumbo jumbo and buried the lede (I still like this spelling).
Have you ever heard of anybody jumping off that bridge? I remember a woman who was riding her bike in one lane and a big truck or camper went by the other way and blew her off the narrow bridge.
Exhibit A for Caltrans to replace it.
Back in 1988 or 1989, my mom then about 65, and I climbed up that cliff on the north side where they jumped. Mom, Betty Lou Hartzell was a wild lady on stuff like that. We tied ropes to a tree above and made this climb and were fascinated by all the history in that hillside. It's a rough hillside full of ancient boards, iron, and all kinds of stuff. We saw up close more bridges than should have been possible there.
We went back home to Fort Bragg and got Dad, who was an engineer, R and D man, and bridge builder up to the point the pilings and underground work was done. Dad was not a crazy climbing man like Mom and I, but he figured out what we were seeing was a wooden bridge built alongside the existing bridge while the new bridge was built during the Great Depression. It was needed because the canyon was so incredibly steep and narrow. He thought destroying the scaffold bridge must have been as hard as anything thus all the leftovers. And hard on that guy who at 21 is said to have a felony warrant and other stuff, drank, drove, fled police, wrecked some car, and jumped. I always wonder, were the two guys with him, one a minor and the other younger, in on it?
I have ridden with a few idiots in my life. if pulled over, everybody gets arrested. Bad way to start life guys! As far as the bridge, it's a two-year project. This will have closures for 2 years instead of 1 year like Pudding Creek Caltrans has a lot of bridges and projects urgently needing repair and the Biden admin has increased federal funding. When they held a meeting in Mendo, people didn't object to the 2-year timetable so they went with it.
The Hare Creek Bridge has also been taken off the table for now. In the days when Vince Taylor led the bridge rail revolution and locals got the Coastal Commission to turn down plans for the Ten Mile Bridge, Caltrans feared the activists in Mendo.
Albion River Bridge is another issue, we shall see what the Stewards do there. When I walked on the beach under the Jack Peters Bridge on the south side, I was showered with gravel and took a photo of a recently fallen guard rail and a teetering telephone pole above. (not the new ones but those are very close). At one time Caltrans planned to widen all roads here to 4 lanes, but that fell by the wayside long ago, I found out. Now they want to make all these bridges safer and wider. Russian gulch is also too narrow for modern standards as are Hare Creek and Little River bridges.
Interestingly readers today are offended when I want to question Caltrans about these things. I think the new leadership is the best they ever have had there, but they still have a job to do and its always good to look into these projects, but there is no market in 2024 for that sort of news, as it costs considerably. Sharon and Kate at Advocate News backed me when i did extensive stories on each bridge and people back then loved it. The world has changed and resistance is futile! You and I and Mark have to continue as we are no longer good for the sheep herding jobs anymore.
One other thing: DON'T walk the beach under Jack Peters. You will get stranded. I did from an hour before a super low tide to an hour after.
Frank Hartzell
Fort Bragg
MENDOCINO COUNTY FAIR & APPLE SHOW
Come Celebrate "100 YEARS of the Mendocino County Fair and Apple Show"
Entries are open.
If you're still old school paper entry those are due August 12th - If you need entry forms Call the Office we can help you out.
Online Entries Close Midnight August 30th
All Livestock entries Close September 2nd
Please check the exhibitor guide book for exact dates.
BEER PARK SZN IS HERE
30 Acres of Fairy Doors, Disc Golf, Live Music and Rotating Food Trucks
Kid-friendly, dog-friendly, antlered-bear friendly, fairy friendly. The AVBC Beer Park is just a friendly place, and it’s in full swing as we get into July. Stop by and see us, pull up a lawn chair and enjoy a full schedule of live music and rotating menu of food trucks. And if your palate is feeling curious, our Tap Room is the place to find rare and Tap Room-only creations from our Legendary Brewing Team (alongside the classic beers that made AVBC what it is, of course).
See the Schedule
MENDOCINO COLLEGE INTRODUCES CREATIVE WRITING CLASS AT POINT ARENA COAST COMMUNITY LIBRARY
Mendocino College is thrilled to announce its inaugural Creative Writing class at the Point Arena Coast Community Library (225 Main St.). Scheduled to run from August 23 to December 13, 2024, English 503 (5010): Creative Writing for Older Adults welcomes writers of all levels, aged 13 and above. Costing only $12 to enroll, this course provides a unique opportunity for both experienced authors and beginners to hone their literary skills in a supportive environment.
Vincent Poturica, a tenured Associate Professor of English and published author, will lead the course. With over a decade of experience guiding students in crafting compelling narratives across various genres, Poturica brings a wealth of expertise to aspiring and established writers on the Mendocino Coast. His passion for storytelling and commitment to nurturing local talent make him an ideal instructor for this innovative program.
"We are excited to bring the first-ever creative writing class to the Mendonoma community," said Dr. Amanda Fox Xu, Dean of Centers at Mendocino College. "This initiative underscores our dedication to fostering artistic expression and educational enrichment across our district in partnership with local institutions like the Coast Community Library."
Former students of Poturica's classes have praised his teaching style and its impact on their writing journey:
"Multi-faceted, dynamic, ultra-collaborative, and inspiring—Vincent's ENG-530 course is the best creative writing class I have ever taken,” shared Matthew Long, a past participant and Fort Bragg filmmaker. "Meshing classic writing techniques with modern sensibilities and a cinematic teaching style, this is the place to transform your writing ideas into poetic narratives."
Another former student and Mendocino Coast writer Dot Brovarney added, "Vincent brings his unbridled enthusiasm for writing to the classroom. He encourages new writers by providing practical ideas and tools to get started and keep going. He invites more experienced writers to expand their skill set by experimenting with new literary forms."
The course will run every Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 12:50 p.m., offering participants a structured yet flexible schedule to accommodate different writing styles and personal commitments. Sessions will include interactive exercises, discussions on craft elements such as character development and plot structure, as well as workshop opportunities for peer feedback and constructive critique.
"We designed this class to be inclusive and accessible," remarked Vincent Poturica. "Whether you're a seasoned writer looking to polish your skills or someone who's just beginning to explore, there's a place for you in our community of writers."
Participants can expect to explore various genres, from fiction to poetry to creative nonfiction, under Poturica's guidance. The course aims to empower writers to discover their unique voices and develop a deeper understanding of narrative techniques through practical exercises and collaborative learning.
Registration for Mendocino College's Creative Writing class at the Point Arena Coast Community Library is now open. Interested individuals are encouraged to secure their spots early. For more information on how to enroll, please visit www.mendocino.edu or contact the Mendocino College Coast Center by phone at (707) 961-2200. Additionally, all students who pay the $12 enrollment fee will also have free access to the college’s food pantry, mental health and career counseling, and other community services, including complimentary bus travel throughout Lake and Mendocino Counties.
About Mendocino College: Serving Lake and Mendocino Counties, Mendocino College, is a community college that provides equitable educational and career-training opportunities and services to diverse student populations at its campuses in Ukiah, Lakeport, Willits, and Fort Bragg, as well as at its learning sites in Anderson Valley, Covelo, and Point Arena. With a focus on innovation and rural community engagement, the college offers a wide range of academic programs, career certificates, and enrichment activities to support student success, career-technical education, and lifelong learning.
MAN WANTED FOR SANTA ROSA SHOOTING ARRESTED IN MENDOCINO COUNTY
by Madison Smalstig
A man wanted in connection to a shooting earlier this year in Santa Rosa was arrested late last week in Mendocino County after leading police on a chase and jumping from a bridge, authorities said.
Nathan Little Bear Hoaglin Jr., 21, was arrested Friday on suspicion of multiple charges related to a February shooting just south of downtown Santa Rosa and for fleeing police, according to a Fort Bragg police news release.
Hoaglin is suspected of shooting a 26-year-old man in the shoulder following an argument between two groups Feb. 18 in the 500 block of Barham Avenue. The man shot was treated and later released from the hospital.
During a preliminary investigation, police determined the fight was because of a “presumed gang affiliation,” Sgt. Patricia Seffens told The Press Democrat in February. Police had not determined who started the argument.
Authorities identified Hoaglin as the suspect about a week after the shooting and issued a reward from the Sonoma County Alliance Community Engagement and Safety Rewards Fund for information leading to his arrest.
On Friday, Fort Bragg police officers pulled over a vehicle Hoaglin was driving and noticed he was possibly intoxicated, the release said. But Hoaglin then took off in the vehicle, which also had two passengers.
He drove on Highway 1 for about 10 minutes, lost control of the car and crashed into another vehicle on the Jack Peters Creek Bridge in Mendocino. The three got out of the vehicle, jumped off the bridge and ran. The other driver was not injured.
Officers found a loaded unregistered handgun with a high capacity magazine in the Hoaglin’s vehicle.
Hoaglin was found and detained in the 45000 block of Main Street. He was booked into the Mendocino County jail for a warrant for attempted homicide and participation in a criminal street gang. He is also suspected of seven charges, including violating his post release community supervision, evading police, child endangerment, carrying a loaded firearm in public and leaving the scene of an accident.
He is being held in lieu of $1,030,000 bail.
The two passengers, a 19-year-old and 16-year-old, were later arrested and booked into the Mendocino County jail and Mendocino County Juvenile Detention Center, respectively.
All three had minor injuries after jumping from the bridge but were medically cleared before being booked.
Fort Bragg Police are asking that anyone with information on this incident contact Sgt. De Leon at 707-961-2800, ext. 214.
(Santa Rosa Press Democrat)
FROM THE ARCHIVE: "Off the Record" December 25, 2002
MEANWHILE, that same media ignore another Stanford grad, the presumably retired domestic terrorist living in Ukiah named Mike Sweeney, a truly dangerous man. Sweeney firebombed the old Navy airport in Santa Rosa back in 1980, made the bomb that failed to ignite L-P's Cloverdale office in 1990, and car bombed his ex-wife in Oakland a month later in 1990. Before 1980, Sweeney was demolitions man for a Stanford-based Maoist group called Venceremos. His fellow revolutionaries distinguished themselves in the late 1960's by murdering a young, unarmed family man named Hernandez who they'd handcuffed before they shot him to death at point blank range. They said afterwards that it had been a revolutionary act. Sweeney married a fellow Stanford Maoist named Cynthia Denenholtz, now a family court judge in Sonoma County. None of this can be written about in any of Mendocino County's Colorado-owned newspapers or in the New York Times-owned Santa Rosa Press Democrat. None of it can be talked about on tax-funded, tax-exempt free speech radio KMUD, KZYX, KPFA.
(I'M KEPT OFF these stations because, as a KMUD staffer informed a caller recently, "Bruce Anderson lies about the Bari case." The station's listeners can't be trusted, it seems, to sort out fact from fiction. The Bari-ites themselves are your standard issue cowards. They and their gutless attorneys, two of them millionaires, proving again that there's big money in the "movement," will not debate the case in any forum where they are likely to be challenged.)
THE DECEMBER 12th edition of the Ukiah Daily Journal on whose front page appeared a press release from Mike Sweeney of Keep Mendocino County Beautiful, aka Mendocino Solid Waste Management Authority. Accompanying the press release as news story was a big color photo of Wayne Ouellette, one of Sweeney's workers, all decked out in a hazmat uniform, his game face on, poised to save the public from mercury-laden trash.
THE FACTS: Mendocino County maintains two garbage agencies, Sweeney's MSWMA being the second, Solid Waste Division being the first and the only one Mendocino County should be paying for. So why the second trash bureaucracy, small as it is? Sweeney has friends sitting as supervisor, especially in the person of Richard Shoemaker. Sweeney, Shoemaker and Wes Chesbro created MSWMA on the pretext of a state mandate that half the county's recyclables would be recycled by the millennium. Sweeney has come nowhere near achieving that goal but his redundant agency cooks right along. It's time to disband MSWMA. It's also long past time to put Sweeney in jail for car bombing his ex-wife almost 13 years ago. But the guy's got some kind of a special free pass from law enforcement who won't even test his DNA to see if it matches the bombing's confession letter.
AND SWEENEY, unlike Tim Stoen, has a free media pass, especially on the Northcoast. Newspapers can't mention his name, radio stations won't discuss the bombing case in any context except The FBI Did It, Sweeney has his girl friend, Glenda Anderson of the Ukiah Daily Journal, getting him regular front page respectability in his hometown paper, local bureaucrats protect his job although he's failed to do what the job was created to do.
WITH THE PRESS DEMOCRAT shrinking from the bombing case as if Sweeney were a kind of journalo-kryptonite, his girl friend on perpetual guard duty at the Ukiah paper, Annie Esposito and Bruce Haldane at KZYX (and the "progressive" Haldane in charge of the county's grand jury on the off chance the case arrives there), Dennis Bernstein perpetuating Bari mythology at KPFA, Peter Phillips at Project Censored censoring the bombing story and all other local stories that might make Norcal's lockstep left uncomfortable, and the cops apparently defining terror in terms of Arabs only, Sweeney's gotten away with the slow-motion murder of his ex-wife. So far.
SO CLASS, don't expect to see a photo of Sweeney on the front page of the Ukiah Daily Journal either as psycho-bomber or recycler. And good luck trying to catch him at his tax-paid, hidden-away office on West Church Street. He's in when he's out and out when he's in. His home? It's in the hills west of Ukiah on Running Springs Road, although it's not identified beyond its number on a mail box out on Orr Springs Road. Mike doesn't act like a man with a clear conscience, does he? Nope, he acts like a man who thinks he's going to need an hour or so headstart when and if the cops get around to him, which is why he never answers his phone, why he never eats out, and if he does you'll see him put the DNA utensils in his pocket if he doesn't bring his own, why his failed, tax-paid efforts as the second of two county garbage agencies often get front page treatment at the Ukiah Daily Journal while the county's other tax-funded garbage agency gets zero media, while his primary alibi, who might also be the primary witness against him, Ms. Meredyth Rinehard, acts like she never even knew the guy. (Ms. Rinehard works as a helping professional just down the street from the Ukiah Daily Journal at the Mendocino County Department of Health. She still lives in Redwood Valley address she once shared with Sweeney.)
SWEENEY was with Ms. Rinehard two night's before the bomb went off in Judi Bari's car in downtown Oakland. After the bomb went off, and it was clear that Judi Bari had survived it, Sweeney wrote the Lord's Avenger Letter, pegging the bombing's timing to his presence in the company of Ms. Rinehard, not that that timeline was the true one, its falsity being the partial point of Sweeney's Lord's Avenger exercise, the second point of the letter being to blame the bombing on loggers, religious zealots or a combination of both. America's foremost literary sleuth, Professor Don Foster, says Sweeney wrote the Lord's Avenger Letter.
BARI KNEW SWEENEY bombed her, which is why she approached the FBI with a request for partial immunity from prosecution soon after the event. She never made that incriminating fact known to her followers, none of them what you would call committed critical thinkers in any case.
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT is not allowed to write about any aspect of the Bari case that mentions ex-husband Mike Sweeney. The Press Democrat is owned by the New York Times where the late Bari's sister, Gina Kolata, is the paper's lead science writer. Mrs. Kolata is also a best-selling author, but The New York Times is curiously uninterested in the spectacular events involving Kolata's relatively unknown sister.
DARRYL CHERNEY, eco-fraud proprietor of the mercenary environmentalism dominant in Southern Humboldt County, resists testing the DNA of any of the likely Bari Bombing perps; he says "the privacy" of Mendocino County's neo-respectable Sweeney should be honored. Why does Cherney resist the discovery of Who Bombed Judi Bari? The same reason he and the late Bari, together with a handful of co-conspirators grouped around Karen Pickett and Tanya Brannan, sold the bombing as (1) a case against the anti-democratic police state policies of the FBI and (2) as part of an effort to save redwood trees on the Northcoast. It pays good, a lot better than domestic violence, even a fancy episode of it like this one.
IN FACT, the Bari Bombing case had nothing to do with the FBI, nothing to do with free speech, and nothing to do with redwood trees. The defendants were a few low-level individual FBI agents and even lower-level Oakland cops, while the plaintiffs were two private individuals, Darryl Cherney and the estate of the late Bari. Even here in Drooling Credulity Country where the Bari drama played out, most people were surprised to learn that Darryl Cherney and Judi Bari, as private individuals, brought the federal lawsuit that they've now won. The suit never had anything to do with Earth First!, agents of political repression or redwood trees. But that's how it was sold for ten years, providing walking around money for the inner circle of scammers — Cherney, Karen Pickett, Tanya Brannan, Brannan's girl friend Noelle Hanrahan, and a dozen or so "movement" lawyers. The bombing, a month after it happened, became a great big money making scam, and still is, which is why Cherney and Co. have no interest in finding out Who Bombed Judi Bari. If they do, and Sweeney falls, he'll take the whole lying apparatus down with him because he's steered the post-bomb strategy all the way into a great big federal pay day.
THE REIGNING CLAQUES at KMUD and KZYX will not allow any discussion of any of this at their "free speech" venues while Cherney and Lies For Cash get as much air time as they feel they need, not only to hype the bogus bombing case but to hype themselves as forest defenders, a second fraud nearly as lucrative as the bombing case. Cherney and a creepy HumCo associate of his named Mark Drake, can put up $50,000 (anybody ever get a look at Cherney's tax returns?) for the arrest and conviction of Pacific Lumber's Charles Hurwitz, they can't manage so much as a dime to find out Who Bombed Judi Bari. Why? They know what they'll find, and they literally can't afford that.
CATCH OF THE DAY, Wednesday, July 10, 2024
ELLIOT ACOSTA, Fort Bragg. DUI.
BASILIO ANGUIANO, Ukiah. Failure to appear.
BRANDON CORNEJO, Ukiah. Vandalism, resisting.
JAVIER GARCIA, Willits. Probation revocation.
ANTHONY HOAGLIN, Ukiah. Domestic violence court order violation.
NICHOLAS HOGAN, Cornelius, Oregon/Ukiah. Parole violation.
REBECCA IRBY, Laytonville. DUI-alcohol&drugs.
KENDALL JENSEN, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol&drugs, resisting.
NICHOLAS KIRBY, McKinleyville/Ukiah. DUI.
JONNIE MIZE, Ukiah. Probation revocation.
MARK PALLEY, Covelo. Disorderly conduct-alcohol&drugs.
AUGUSTINE ROHLOFF, Redwood Valley. Domestic battery.
RYAN ROYDOWNEY, Covelo. Controlled substance, parphernalia, disobeying court order, false ID.
NATHAN TUPPER, Fort Bragg. Probation revocation.
ALEC WHYBURN, Ukiah. Narcotics for sale, paraphernalia, false ID, concealed dirk-dager, resisting.
After serving four years aboard the USS Alabama, "Bullet Bob" Feller, known as "The Heater from Van Meter," was discharged from the Navy on August 22, 1945. Bob Feller hadn’t pitched a game in 1,428 days.
Two days later, Bob Feller pitched a complete game, fanning 12, allowing 4 hits, and beating the Tigers 4-2 at Municipal Stadium before a crowd of 46,477.
No rehab starts, no pitch counts, no easing into things—just straight-up badassery.
DOMBEY AND SON conveyed the one idea of Mr. Dombey's life. The world was made for Mr. Dombey and Son to trade in, and the sun and moon were made to give them light. Rivers and seas were formed to float their ships; rainbows gave them promise of fair weather; winds blew for or against their enterprises; stars and planets circled in their orbits to preserve inviolate a system of which they were the center.
— Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son
A MAJOR PORTION OF THIS YEAR’S CALIFORNIA WINE HARVEST COULD GO TO WASTE
by Jess Lander
In late 2020, following a particularly severe fire season, many California vineyards were a sobering sight. They’d become temporary grape graveyards, where clusters — dried-up and wrinkly like prunes — clung to leafless vines or littered the frosty ground. Tainted by smoke, the grapes were ruined before wineries could harvest them and thus abandoned.
This year, many vineyards face a similar fate, though not because of smoke. While an early start to fire season is cause for concern, there’s a more pressing issue: Growers can’t sell their grapes.
This is the case for D’Ambrosio Vineyards in Napa, which has about 13 acres of grapes to sell between its two vineyards. For the first time in over 30 years, the company hasn’t sold a single ton of fruit to wineries, and the start of harvest is about a month away. One winery that’s bought fruit from D'Ambrosio for about five years just canceled its contracts. “They were my biggest buyers, and talking to everyone in (Napa Valley), we’re all in the same boat,” said Gloria Limon-Valentine, D’Ambrosio’s operations manager. “We’ve had to lower our price and offer payment plans to try to sell our fruit.”
Limon-Valentine originally listed Cabernet Sauvignon grapes at $9,000 a ton, which many wineries would use for a roughly $90 bottle of wine, but has dropped it to $8,000 and anticipates having to lower it more. If the vineyards don’t get any buyers, she estimates it will be a half-a-million-dollar loss.
D'Ambrosio's struggle is reflected in a report released this week from Wine Business, which revealed that June grape sale listings on its classifieds website jumped 93% from June 2023 and are up 113% year-to-date. For five months in 2024, grape listings have hit a five-year record high. Wineries aren’t renewing grape contracts, and it’s placing growers in a “pretty hairy situation,” said Jeff Bitter, president of Allied Grape Growers, a cooperative that represents 400 growers in California. Growers are forced to continue investing money into farming a crop that might end up on the ground.
This crisis comes when the entire wine industry is in turmoil. Global wine consumption is declining, and growers are ripping out their vineyards en masse due to a yearslong oversupply. Bitter has urged the California wine industry to remove 50,000 acres of grapevines statewide to correct the oversupply issue; thus far, he estimates about 30,000 acres have been removed this year.
Randy Heinzen, owner of Pro Vineyard Professional Services, a Central Coast vineyard management company, said he “can't recall a year when (grape sales have) been this quiet for this long.” Typically, buying activity increases throughout the spring, but he said it’s been “crickets.”
Growers have faced downturns before, but Natalie Collins, president of the California Association of Winegrape Growers, feels this one is the worst yet because “a whole bunch of separate issues have all come to a head at once.” These issues include “uncertainty” in demand and sluggish wine sales; increased consolidation in the wine industry; an influx of cheap imports in the U.S. bulk wine market; a backlog of bulk wine from previous vintages; and increased farming costs.
The industry’s struggles have driven many wineries to take a cautious approach this year and produce less wine than usual. “They don’t know what their sales are going to look like,” said Collins, “and it’s really leaving grape growers out on the line by themselves.”
Unsold grapes leave growers with only a few options, and none is ideal. Crop insurance doesn’t cover grapes that simply didn’t sell (as opposed to grapes that were damaged or destroyed from events like wildfire) and Collins predicts that many growers will choose to cut their losses and leave the grapes on the vine or drop them to the ground. Some growers, she said, have already made the difficult decision to cease farming for the year.
Historically, growers have tended to crush any leftover or rejected grapes and make wine themselves, which can later be sold on the bulk wine market. But bulk wine brings in a significantly smaller profit than grapes sold to wineries, especially after accounting for the grower’s own production costs. That market is oversaturated, too; according to Wine Business, bulk wine listings are already up 33% year-over-year. “There’s incredible volume, if not historic volume in (the bulk market) right now,” said Heinzen. “I don’t think that’s going to play a large part in solving this.”
In the past, growers could also sell their grapes to secondary markets for distillate or grape juice concentrate, but those are mostly nonexistent now, according to Bitter. “There’s not a safety net in the marketplace,” he said.
The grape market’s slump is good news for wineries looking to buy more fruit. Vintners can “cherry pick” through the available vineyards, said Bitter, and will likely snag a deal. For consumers, it could mean higher-quality wines at potentially lower prices — if wineries are willing to pass on their savings to customers.
Yet this good fortune for wineries could quickly sour, said Collins, who believes that after this year, many growers will rip out their vines with no intention of replanting. The current oversupply could turn into a shortage. “Many growers have lost confidence in winery buyers and the partnerships that were there in years past,” she said. “I do fear that decisions made today are going to have long-term rippling effects on the entire California wine industry.”
Heinzen, however, remains optimistic that most growers will stay committed, as they’re already well accustomed to weathering Mother Nature’s curveballs. “It’s going to be a fantastic harvest for the birds,” he said.
“You’re going to have a lot of fat starlings.”
(SF Chronicle)
CALIFORNIA HAS JUST APPROVED A NEW BLUEPRINT FOR OFFSHORE WIND. THE MASSIVE PROJECTS WILL COST BILLIONS
by Julie Cart
The California Energy Commission today unanimously approved a sweeping plan to develop a massive floating offshore wind industry in ocean waters — a first-of-its-kind undertaking that will require billions in public and private investments and could transform parts of the coast.
The new state plan sets the path for harnessing wind power from hundreds of giant turbines, each as tall as a 70-story building, floating in the ocean about 20 miles off Humboldt Bay and Morro Bay. The untapped energy is expected to become a major power source as California electrifies vehicles and switches to clean energy.
California’s wind farms represent a giant experiment: No other place in the world has floating wind operations in such deep waters — more than a half-mile deep — so far from shore.
The commission’s vote today came after representatives of various industries, environmentalists, community leaders and others expressed mostly support, along with some concerns.
State and federal officials use the word “urgency” to describe the frenetic pace needed to lay the groundwork for development of five areas that the federal government has leased to offshore wind companies.
“I feel the urgency to move forward swiftly,’ said energy commissioner Patty Monahan. “The climate crisis is upon us. Offshore wind is a real opportunity for us to move forward with clean energy.”
She added, though, that the plan “is a starting point…There are a lot of uncertainties about environmental impacts. We need to be clear-eyed and engage the right scientific interests and move carefully.”
The five energy companies are now assessing sites within the 583 square miles, which is expected to take five years. That will be followed by about two years of design, construction and environmental and technical reviews.
Energy Commission Chairman David Hochschild recently called it “one of the single most complex processes I’ve been involved with.”
That complexity was reflected in the heft of the strategic plan, which includes three volumes and 500 pages of public comment. The breadth of the document — which involved coordination among nine state agencies — reflects the sheer size and scope of what’s being envisioned. State officials said offshore wind requires an unprecedented level of planning and policy development in California.
The offshore wind industry must be created almost from scratch: a new manufacturing base for the still-evolving technology; a robust and reliable supply chain; transportation networks on land and sea; specially configured ports to make, assemble and maintain the gargantuan seagoing platforms; finding and training a highly specialized workforce; building a large transmission network where none exists and beefing up those that operate now.
The Energy Commission’s plan estimates that just the work to upgrade California’s ports will cost $11-$12 billion, much of it publicly funded. The plan identifies the large ports of Humboldt, Long Beach and Los Angeles as viable for storing, staging and assembling parts needed for offshore wind operations.
By 2045, 16 large and 10 small ports will be needed along California’s coast for various aspects of development and support, according to the plan. “Funding and permitting for these projects are a critical challenge to address,” the plan says. An estimated $475 million would be set aside for port infrastructure in a climate bond measure that will be on the November ballot.
Another pressing challenge is transmission — the complex job of getting the power onshore and distributing it to users. The Humboldt area presents the biggest challenge, the report says, given the rural region’s already sparse transmission network.
Capturing wind energy from giant floating ocean platforms is considered essential to achieving California’s ambitious goal of electrifying its grid with 100% zero-carbon energy. The state’s blueprint envisions offshore wind farms producing 25 gigawatts by 2045, powering 25 million homes and providing about 13% of California’s electricity.
Powering an expansive economy free of fossil fuels by 2045 means the state must triple its power generation capacity and deploy new solar and wind energy at almost five times the pace of the past decade.
The endeavor will require coordination with multiple state and federal agencies, as well as local and tribal governments, with overlapping jurisdictions and sometimes conflicting priorities.
That heavy lift, said Adam Stern, executive director of Offshore Wind California, an industry group, made it all the more remarkable that the strategic plan was finalized.
“This is tangible progress. It’s a remarkable record of intent and determination,” he said. “None of these things was happening a year ago. The plan mobilized the ecosystem of state agencies, industry, organized labor, environmental groups and tribes. There are lots of challenges ahead, but this is a great start.”
The Energy Commission missed its March deadline included in state law to approve the plan. Then the agency postponed a scheduled vote two weeks ago to give interested parties enough time to digest the dense package of documents.
The shipping industry is concerned that the plan doesn’t “address and ensure navigational safety and efficiency” for the commercial ships that serve California’s seaports. The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are the nation’s busiest.
“The plan lacks any effective identification and analysis of potential impacts to the commercial shipping industry,” the Pacific Marine Shipping Association wrote in a letter to the Energy Commission. “It is frankly confounding that there is resistance to include the maritime industry in this vital Plan; to be clear, the industry is not opposed to offshore wind development in practice.”
Environmental groups scoured the documents for answers to what have been unanswerable questions about offshore wind’s potential effects on marine life, migrating whales and birds, and the onshore environment.
Even state scientists have publicly noted a “data gap” when it came to understanding the impact of platforms in the sea, electrified underwater cables, huge spinning blades and increased boat traffic.
To answer those questions, the commission’s plan calls for a broad-based science consortium and a bird and bat conservation strategy, among other topics. Recreational and commercial fishing will be affected, the report says, and that will require continued research, officials say.
Some environmental groups have come to terms with the uneasy tradeoff between the need to address climate change with cleaner energy and the potential harmful impacts that come with any energy development.
Understanding that climate change is contributing to the rapid decline of bird populations means accepting some development, said Mike Lynes, director of public policy for Audubon California. “We want these projects to be successful. But we want to avoid impacts first and mitigate where we can.”
Dan Jacobson, senior adviser to the advocacy group Environment California, said he is becoming comfortable with the unknowns. “But we can’t slow down on the science and information that we need. We have to do things quickly, inexpensively and very smartly. You usually get two out of three of those things. How do we do this so that we cause the least harm and get the most good out of it?”
Assemblymember Dawn Addis, whose district includes 200 miles of the Central Coast, said it is clear to her that her constituents don’t have enough information to understand the implications of the new industry. Her 2023 bill to fund offshore wind scientific research was folded into the budget, with $3.6 million going to the state Ocean Protection Council to organize the research effort.
“Everyone’s hungry to understand the science,” said Addis, a Democrat from San Luis Obispo. “There’s still work to do to get that science into the world. This is a tremendous opportunity to study the deep ocean.”
Addis, who chairs the Legislature’s select committee on offshore wind energy, said lawmakers will analyze the strategic plan and “uncover needs that we just don’t know about yet. Getting this right is not just a slogan for me.”
Generally, the plan acknowledges environmental impacts but says that so-called “adaptive management” — flexibility to change an approach if it proves unexpectedly damaging — can address most concerns.
The projects will industrialize sections of the California coast with an indelible footprint, and could usher employment and revitalized economies to neglected regions. Nearly a fifth of Humboldt County households live in poverty.
Community groups and tribes along the North Coast, in particular, have been participating in formulating the state’s strategic plan to make sure that wind development doesn’t follow the boom-and-bust cycle of so many extractive industries, such as mining and timber. that have come and gone from the Humboldt region.
“We need to be part of the decision-making structure, to make sure that this industry delivers local community protection and investment, through legally binding and enforceable mechanism,” said Katerina Oskarsson, the executive-in-residence at CORE Hub and the Humboldt Area Foundation, part of a coalition of community groups and tribes.
“If this industry moves forward, host communities need to benefit.This is not just about jobs and economic benefit. It’s about justice beyond jobs. This needs to be transformational in a meaningful way,” she said.
(CalMatters)
HUFFMAN SUSPICIOUS
California congressman raises concerns on Feb. meeting with Biden: ‘Controlled and different’
by Shira Stein
WASHINGTON – When President Joe Biden sat down with Democratic House members for a yearly “issues conference” in February, the meeting was more tightly controlled than in previous years in which Biden and President Barack Obama before him had participated, one member of Congress told the Chronicle.
The incident has taken on new meaning for that House member as Biden, 81, faces intense scrutiny about the viability of his candidacy and whether he can ably serve another four years in office.
Biden’s uneven performance in a debate against 78-year-old former President Donald Trump on June 27 kicked off a panic about the president’s fitness for another term, a blaze that the White House has been unable to snuff out despite Biden’s assurances that he’s up to the job. Even though he has repeatedly insisted he plans to stay in the race, Democrats are still speculating and discussing whether he is the best candidate for their party.
At the issues conference, after the president gives remarks and members of the press leave the room, House members typically line up at microphones to ask the president questions, something Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, described as a “rare moment of give and take, of direct access.”
The most recent yearly event, which took place Feb. 7-9, was different, Huffman said. What is typically an unscripted and spontaneous Q&A was instead limited to a handful of members who had questions written on cue cards.
"It was very controlled and different than the open Q&A that we're accustomed to having,” Huffman said.
Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, D-Los Angeles, said she was one of the members who asked a question, but "can't remember" if anyone who wanted to ask a question was able to or whether people were selected in advance. Kamlager-Dove said, "I was asked if I wanted to ask a question. I said yes."
Huffman estimated that in years’ past, 15 to 20 members would question the president. This year, only three to four members did. He said he thought it was strange, and that the last few days made him "start to connect dots you didn’t even notice before."
A White House spokesman said the condensed Q&A session was a result of Democratic House leaders' desire to stay on schedule.
“After the President’s Q&A at the 2023 House Caucus meeting ran long, House Democratic leadership expressed an interest in keeping the 2024 session more limited in order to stay on schedule. For that purpose, House leadership chose a group of members to ask questions that touched on the issues their caucus was most interested in hearing from President Biden about. 15-20 questions would be abnormally long,” Andrew Bates, White House senior deputy press secretary, told the Chronicle. Bates did not say whether the White House was given the questions in advance.
Huffman has not called on Biden to drop out of the presidential race. He told News Nation on Tuesday that Biden “is the only one that can decide whether he stays at the top of the ticket or whether we make a change.”
Some elected Democrats have urged Biden to leave the race, including Rep. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon and Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont on Wednesday. But others, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom, have reiterated their support for Biden. San Francisco Mayor London Breed and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who both took part in an online meeting between Biden and Democratic mayors Tuesday, said Wednesday that they support Biden.
(sfchronicle.com)
ILLA IN MANILA: WILL HISTORY DEMAND TRUMP-HILLARY II?
Eight years of madness have brought America to the doorstep of its perfect WWE ending. Let's get ready to rumble
by Matt Taibbi
Politico yesterday cited a survey showing Hilly Clinton “slightly ahead” of Kamala Harris, leading Trump “43 percent to 41 percent.” The Hill followed up with an article that put Hillary’s name first in the headline, and noted that she outperformed a slew of other oft-mentioned candidates, including California’s Gavin Newsom and Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer.
Slowly, as if pulled by cats, the name of Hillary Clinton is making its way into editorial speculations about the Democratic nomination. My podcast partner Walter Kirn wrote the following on June 28th: "I see HRC." Why won’t he be right?
Clinton-Trump II is the disgusting, lurid, embarrassing, corrupt, pornographic, score-settling, possibly cathartic cage-fight the country needs to have. Hillary is also the best candidate. She’s the closest thing to a true representative of her party’s attitudes. More than “defending democracy” or beating back “fascism,” the dominant concern of blue-party politics for years has been the urge to re-litigate the Great Disobedience. The interfering Putin for his insolence will already spend eternity awaiting a missile up the pipe, the Pentagon has thrown hundreds of millions at war with “fake news” and “disinformation” (whatever prompted your mistaken dislike of the candidate), and even long-tamed Bernie Sanders remains unforgiven while this error of history stands. Tom Nichols in The Atlantic wrote just last week:
Party elders, led by Barack Obama and assisted by others such as Nancy Pelosi and Jim Clyburn, could then convene a war council and talk to almost every interested candidate. (Almost. Maybe, for once, Bernie Sanders… could sit this one out.) The Democrats… need a smoke-filled room.
They finally have the smoke-filled room, and papers across the country have been busy making passionate arguments for perhaps the only conceivable scenarios that could end with Hillary Clinton as nominee…
racket.news/p/illa-in-manila-will-history-demand
A life of action is much easier to me than writing. I have greater facility for action than for writing. In action I do not worry any more. Once it is bad enough you get a sort of elation because there is nothing you can do except what you are doing and you have no responsibility. But writing is something that you can never do as well as it can be done. It is a perpetual challenge and it is more difficult than anything else that I have ever done—so I do it. And it makes me happy when I do it well.
—Hemingway to Ivan Kashkin (1935)
THURSDAY'S LEAD STORIES IN THE NYT
For First Time, NATO Accuses China of Supplying Russia’s Attacks on Ukraine
Biden’s High-Stakes Moment: Tonight’s NATO News Conference
Hospitals in Houston ‘Backed Up’ After Hurricane, as Millions in U.S. Swelter
France Is Busing Homeless Immigrants Out of Paris Before the Olympics
Thermonuclear Blasts and New Species: Inside Elon Musk’s Plan to Colonize Mars
ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY
I’ve mentioned before Disney’s tv show Texas John Slaughter starring Tom Tryon (Texas John Slaughter made them do what they oughta ’cause if they didn’t they died). Anyway, one of the character’s shtiks was that when he sensed danger he would get this itch in the back of his neck.
Well, that’s how I feel. I’ve been getting this danger sense, stronger and stronger as time goes by.
I believe that every important thing that’s happening now is just an illusion that TPTB are trying to put over on us so we don’t realize what is really occurring. It’s like we’re taking the wrong pill in the Matrix.
Let me tell you, this feeling is very unsettling. I’m just waiting for the hammer to drop.
But still, I sleep well at night – for now.
Life is going to become very difficult for us, I’m afraid. I’m not even close to being properly prepped.
Last week my car unexpectedly had a computer glitch saying my brakes were malfunctioning – pull over now! I wasn’t going to do that as I was 20 miles from home. I did get home ok, and the next day brought my car to the dealership. The mechanics thought it was the computer messaging, not the brakes themselves. They said this was a common issue with hybrid cars. The problem was they had to find the defective part, order it and then re-set everything. The process took 6 days.
They had no loaner cars available, so we were carless for those 6 days. We had plenty of food and water, but it was very inconvenient.
It was then that I realized how unprepared we were, and how much we were dependent on a machine we couldn’t repair ourselves. I’ve been thinking maybe we should buy bicycles.
Thanks to Jim Shields for his knowledgeable history of mental illness policy in California, and the US.
Jim Shields…………..thank you for the nicely written article of psych facility closures and LPS …..
Its main purposes were:
To end the inappropriate, indefinite, and involuntary commitment of mentally disordered persons, people with developmental disabilities, and persons impaired by chronic alcoholism, and to eliminate legal disabilities;
To provide prompt evaluation and treatment of persons with serious mental disorders or impaired by chronic alcoholism;
To guarantee and protect public safety;
To safeguard individual rights through judicial review;
To provide individualized treatment, supervision, and placement services by a conservatorship program for gravely disabled persons;
To encourage the full use of all existing agencies, professional personnel and public funds to accomplish these objectives and to prevent duplication of services and unnecessary expenditures;
To protect mentally disordered persons and developmentally disabled persons from criminal acts.
Not one of those items is accomplishing its intended purpose, maybe they were way to farsighted……….
There is no end to involuntary treatment just takes a different form ……incarceration!
Calling for help in a mental crisis and no one comes yet we pour millions into different services that are defective in approach and protocol
Public Safety my ass if you try to call for help ……….commit a crime help will come….cops..
Judicial review…hahaha……..incompetency….the ability to say yes. please no and thank you does not equate to comprehension and understanding! Uggghh!
Gravely Disabled and Conservatorship. It takes an act of God for this to happen it is not easy at all with Prop 1 & SB43…. should be easier
Accomplish these goals and prevent duplication of services……hahaha….nothing. But on duplication of services that is a great topic because how does that work, individuals either get a multitude of services or nothing! How is duplication prevented?
I think unnecessary expenditures are having multiple services that do not accomplish the goal. Not the money necessarily but what is implemented and how it is working. Several services that are ineffective but look good.
Ahhhh yes criminal acts………..so many that could be prevented through appropriate crisis intervention.
Having a Mental Illness is a debilitating and devastating disability………….
mm 💕
Partnership HealthPlan of California now has an Advice Nurse 24/7
(866) 778-8873
Up early sitting in front of the PC, noshing on Meyer lemon hummus using the Armenian crackers as a spoon, and washing it down with an aloe vera juice drink. Took a trip via cyberspace to the morning aarti to view climate activists paying obeisances to the Holy Ice Lingam in the Shri Amarnath Ji cave in the Kashmiri Himalayas. Helicopter rides available, a pony, porters, and tent accommodations may be purchased through the shrine board at their website: https://jksasb.nic.in/ The pilgrimage is an annual event in July-August. As always, there are other life choices available than rotting in the quagmire of samsara. Jai Ho! Will amble out into the heat wave in Ukiah soon and visit the co-op for the hot bar food and a Guatemalan coffee. A visit to the public library is appropriate today, to read the New York Times, plus visiting the Mendocino Book Company to speed read the magazines. The more serious decision is whether or not to niche into The Forest Club for an early evening beer, or to spend the money for a taxi and attend the SF Mime Troupe performance at Ukiah High School’s cafeteria/auditorium. And then there is the unknown, which isn’t so much a choice as a possibility. I could just check “all of the above”, after visiting the Chase ATM.
Take 2
“We are excited to bring the first-ever creative writing class to the Mendonoma community,” said Dr. Amanda Fox Xu, Dean of Centers at Mendocino College.
Dr. Philip Zwerling was a Creative Writing Prof. at Coast Center in March of 2020 when Covid arrived. THE CLASS WAS COMPRISED OF MENDOCINO COLLEGE STUDENTS, AND OPEN TO ADULT/ELDER MEMBERS IN THE COMMUNITY.
Mendocino College Coast Center closed during Covid, but class continued on newly created Zoom. Fortunately, a elder student was a highly skilled IT individual, and made the transition flawless.
an
CALIFORNIA HAS JUST APPROVED A NEW BLUEPRINT FOR OFFSHORE WIND. THE MASSIVE PROJECTS WILL COST BILLIONS
Just more wishful thinking…how much energy and natural resources are going into this fiasco, and eyesore? Better to get the human monkey population down to the carrying capacity of its habitat.
Lemon Aid Kool Kids,
How many people will suffer thirst for lack of funds?
“Extraordinary times call for Extraordinary measures”
….M. Heller???……………………..Mark? MaryLou?……………….💕💕
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I saw that image and found it reminiscent of a Norman Rockwell painting. And although 2 bucks seems steep, during this heat I would’ve bought a glass.
I thought the exact same thing! And I would have thrown in another $2 just to reward the initiative.
HUFFMAN SUSPICIOUS
Why waste time and words? Eliminate these problems at their sources, the braindead sitting “president” and the brainless mutant running against him…the country, and the world would be a better place without them. Whadda stupid species. It’s almost as if it evolved for a purpose: to exist a few millions years, then commit collective suicide, after destroying what’s left of the nonrenewable natural resources of the planet trying to save its sorry butt.
Mary Mark & Lou
Which one are you?…..lol………………🤣😘💕
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For a preview of how floating offshore wind 20 miles offshore is going to go just look at how the Gaza floating pier went.
A couple of things.
As usual, a profound evisceration by The Major of Gjerde’s attempts to deflect blame from its source, viz., the BOS. I’ve commented many times that I’d like to see either the California Attorney General or the Feds look into what I believe is rampant corruption within Mendo County officialdom, a la the Bell, CA affair. Many people assume incompetency is to blame; there is certainly some validity to that. But it would not surprise me if there are far more sinister elements involved.
Didn’t CalFire initiate a countywide burn ban as of July 1? Unless he got special authorization, shouldn’t the guy in Covelo be charged with second degree murder, or involuntary manslaughter at the very least?
To the Editor:
Rep. Jared Huffman’s own town hall meetings with constituents are highly controlled and scripted affairs. Why? He doesn’t want to take questions about his own appalling behavior in being an apologist of Israel’s war crimes against the people of Gaza. And he doesn’t want to take questions about being an enabler of those very same war crimes by voting to approve U.S. military aid for Israel, including weapons of mass destruction, like cluster bombs and white phosphorous bombs.
It’s ironic that Huffman now observes, in an article in the San Francisco Chronicle by Shira Stein, in which Huffman is quoted, that President Biden’s meetings with Democratic House members are not the spontaneous and open Q&A affairs that members were accustomed to having, but. instead. the meetings are now “scripted and controlled” and limited to a handful of members who had questions written on cue cards.
When will a credible Democrat challenge Huffman in the next primary? It’s time for Huffman to go.
Maybe Huffman and his friend “Bibi” Netanyahu can retire together. Maybe they can retire to one of the West Bank outposts that are controlled by extremist Israeli group Lehava. Huff and Bibi could be happy together there. Lots of sunshine. Lots of hate. Volleyball on weekends.
John Sakowicz
Ukiah
“When will a credible Democrat challenge Huffman in the next primary? It’s time for Huffman to go.”
Boy John, that’s real fantasyland thinking for the next primary. How about when all the grant money dries up and the government is broke, and can’t budget for anything but interest on the debt.
“Former elected Auditor-Controller Treasurer-Tax Collector Chamise Cubbison “rebuffed” offers of outside assistance. “They did not want outside people in their office,” said Gjerde,”
The role of the Board is to provide oversight, and set policy. The implication from the quote in the article is the Board would bring in someone from the outside, at the Board’s judgement. Of course that is going to be “rebuffed”. To immerse themselves in making department management decisions is micromanaging, and counter productive at the very least. The right question to ask would have been, “Will the department need to hire more staffing, and do we need to budget more money in order to do that”?
There has been a long history of micromanaging by the Board, and the CEO, and the results are everywhere we look. Anyone who has worked as an employee in a work place environment, for a minimum amount of time, would understand that.
“Work with what I’ve got”, “Nothing but a good time”, and “It can always be done better when we pull out the Ego”.
Mantra’s I’ve used form day one of my public speaking. That first one I wish everyone else would highly prioritize themselves. I said get along with Chamise, one of my few hard cuts from the board. They ended taking their own course we will be paying for soon. I wanted Charlotte Scott where she is even if she did make a small error. I have learned to have nothing but respect for Ms. Pierce. A Heart of true Gold. And she’s good. I’ve made use of the board I was given and they if nothing else, they have brought Clarity. I also have great respect Ms. Shapmire, I believe her role and opinions important, but she is not that position any longer. The view from the outside is often quite easier, I hope she continues to share in a way that is supportive. Soon we will have everyone’s favorite Bernie Norvell, if they pay attention, they will soon find out he is just one man, and without a team, nothing works. We’ve addressed the three systems and outside accounts before as well. No actions to date. We must work with the board we are given, same for the CEO and everyone else. Everyone is trainable, we have a very small and relatively new team in almost all lead positions. Let’s give them a chance to start working us out of the hole. We’ll be depending on Ms. Pierce. I hope she will get the same support Ms. Cubbison should have had before being terminated, charges or not as they cannot determine innocence or guilt of anyone, most especially an elected official.
Lasty, behavioral health. People never stop running on but won’t show up to challenge the status quo with our service providers. Boo on you! I demand an immediate fully staffed CRU team. I expect and demand more structural attention and training for interventionists, intervention training, and public awareness. The public is often being a huge part of the problem through ignorance, anger, or both. The have no right, until they show up. The no time excuse ran out on me a long time ago. If it is that important, people make time.
Mark sir….
When you challenge the status quo they get rid of you !!!! Here there is no challenge just truth that is why I love the AVA!!!! The public is not the problem in matters of the complex ineffective system of Mental Health Care for those suffering debilitating Serious Mental Illness. There is not one iota of ignorance in this girl or the multitude of families enduring these horrid circumstances.
Every single one of us has the right to freedom of speech not attending a meeting does not remove that right! Anger is a necessary emotion as you should be aware in your healing practice, it needs to be acknowledged and released so you don’t hold on to it and cause yourself harm. I have no anger …. only passion and compassion for all of us including you.
mm 💕
Blowing anger at other people is not part of my healing practice. You’d tired of excuses??? You once again highlight why this attitude is part of the problem. Try once not to
be passive aggressive. That is healing.
“The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance.
It is the illusion of knowledge.”
Daniel Boorstin
Dude, there is a big difference between anger and passionate discussions about what it is important, I suppose its easy to get the 2 confused through a keyboard. I do not do excuses and that is exactly why I am here sharing my input with a great amount of clarity and understanding. There is no attitude or passive aggressiveness through me my stance has remained the same firm and unwavering. I have a great and friendly attitude, maybe we should discuss it in person, lol, then you would understand the scope of who I am and why I am here, I am not against you Mark but I also will not back down nor will I allow you to insult me, by all means I have shown you respect even when you had none for me. Thank God for free speech and the AVA….Have a nice day …………….
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