Mendocino County Today: Friday 9/13/2024

Dark Clouds | Fair Time | Sunny | Lorenzo Arrested | Gloriana Benefit | Senior Survey | Native Walk | 9/11 Lesson | McAbee Chat | Disaster Relief | Elected Officials | Fabulous Flowers | Homeless Plan | Local Events | Funding Opportunities | Route 128 | Local Farmstands | Boonville Pizza | Noyo Center | Wickson | Goll Notes | Commas | Ed Notes | Our Dogs | Yesterday's Catch | Losing It | Wine Shorts | Gothic Update | Contemporary Finance | Trans Alien | Homeless Crackdown | Muskets | Lead Stories | Kitty Man | Philly Catfight | Execution | Last Statements | Stoned

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FAIR TIME!

The Mendocino County Fair and Apple Show is celebrating its 100th Anniversary this weekend at the Boonville fairgrounds.

The Sept. 13-15 fair begins Friday, and will continue through Sunday. Hours are 9 a.m. to midnight daily.

Admission: adults – $10; juniors 13-18 – $8;  children 7-12 – $6; children 6 and under admitted free.

Special promotions: Friday – Seniors 65 and over $6 all day; Friday – children 12 and under – free admission. Three Day Pass for Seniors – 65 & over – $20 (purchase pre-fair)

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WEAK SHORTWAVE RIDGING builds back into the region for the end of the work week. Slightly gusty northwesterly winds are likely each afternoon. However, longwave troughing will persist aloft well into next week, with another shortwave trough expected to move through the region by the weekend. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): 48F under clear skies this Friday morning on the coast. Mostly sunny thru the weekend then a slight chance of rain early next week, we'll see.

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THE WRONGFUL OWNER

On Wednesday, September 5, 2024 at approximately 6:40 pm, Ukiah Police Department (UPD) Officers were alerted by the Flock automated license plate recognition system that a reported stolen vehicle was traveling the streets of Ukiah. UPD Dispatch was able to verify that the Dodge Ram had been reported stolen to the Ukiah branch of the California Highway Patrol, and the vehicle was still at large.

A short time later a UPD Officer located the stolen Dodge Ram parked and unoccupied in the 700 block of South Oak Street in Ukiah. UPD Officers then observed a female enter the driver’s side of the stolen vehicle, and a male get into the passenger’s seat. UPD Officers performed a high-risk felony stop on the vehicle, and the two occupants were detained without incident.

After questioning, it was determined that the female subject had no knowledge that the vehicle was stolen and had not driven the Dodge Ram to the location. The female was later released with no charges. The male subject, who was identified as Ukiah transient Lorenzo Cruz, 36, of Ukiah, admitted to driving the vehicle to the location and claimed to have gotten the vehicle from a friend.

Numerous items of evidence were found inside the vehicle linking it to Cruz, including rounds of ammunition, one of which was located on Cruz’s person. Cruz was a convicted felon with a long history of firearms-related offenses, prohibiting him from possessing ammunition. Cruz was also found in possession of methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia.

Cruz was arrested and booked into the Mendocino County Jail for charges of possession of a stolen vehicle, possession of ammunition by a convicted felon, possession of a controlled substance, and possession of drug paraphernalia. The stolen Dodge Ram was towed and stored so that it could be returned to its rightful owner.

As always, UPD’s mission is to make Ukiah as safe a place as possible, and we are grateful for the help and support that we receive from the community. If you would like to know more about crime in your neighborhood, you can sign up for telephone, cellphone, and email notifications by clicking the Nixle button on our website; http://www.ukiahpolice.com.

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GLORIANA BENEFIT

Saturday September 14, Big Band dance and concert benefits Gloriana Studio. Show starts at 7:00, at Gloriana Studio at the Boatyard Shopping Center, Fort Bragg. $15. singles, $25. per couple.

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ANDERSON VALLEY SENIOR SERVICES ASSESSMENT

Hello,

I'm so sorry for the confusion regarding the senior service assessment. Hopefully, the bugs are worked out and you may complete this survey.  You may print it out and send it in or use the link and do it on-line. Thanks for your patience as I continue to navigate this new job and its challenges.

ON-LINE SURVEY: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/HBLTN7V

HARD COPY SURVEY: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AsjK48jsoJ8jLcCDyUj0Iw8jq9KkSkhH/view?usp=sharing

Please let me know if there are any questions or problems,

Patty

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THE 29TH ANNUAL NOME CULT WALK commemorates a 100-mile forced march that occurred in the 1863 from Chico to Covelo. On Tuesday Sept. 10, walkers on the Nome Cult Trail headed up Mud Flat Road towards Black Bear Camp in western Tehama County. The climb is steep and the late afternoon sun unrelenting. On the original forced march, this section of trail is where about 150 Native Americans were left, too sick to go on. Today, participants walk to honor their ancestors and reconnect with family on a journey of healing.

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WHAT I LEARNED ON 9/11

Editor,

On the morning of 9/11, I was working as a corrections deputy for the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office. I was badge No. 2526. I was assigned to the county jail.

On the morning of 9/11, a group of about 10-15 inmates who were Pomo Indians were watching cartoons on Nickelodeon.

The live news coverage of the Twin Towers burning, then collapsing, was on every tv channel except for Nickelodeon.

When I asked the Pomo Indians why they weren’t watching live coverage of the terrorist attack, their leader said, “We don’t give a fuck. That’s your country under attack, not ours.”

The Pomo leader was a fearsome, charismatic, brilliant guy. He was a leader-warrior type. He was a wolverine among gangbangers. His name was Frank Whipple. Had he not chosen a life of crime, Frank Whipple could have been a U.S. Senator.

Frank was a stone-cold killer, but he taught me a lot. Frank taught me to respect the Sweat lodge, the Red Road, and the Recovery Medicine Wheel. He taught me to respect the American Indian Movement (AIM).

In time, I did research on my own. I learned about what Frank called the “Twenty Points”:

1. Restore treaty-making (ended by Congress in 1871).
2. Establish a treaty commission to make new treaties (with sovereign Native Nations).
3. Provide opportunities for Indian leaders to address Congress directly.
4. Review treaty commitments and violations.
5. Have unratified treaties reviewed by the Senate.
6. Ensure that all American Indians are governed by treaty relations.
7. Provide relief to Native Nations as compensation for treaty rights violations.
8. Recognize the right of Indians to interpret treaties.
9. Create a Joint Congressional Committee to reconstruct relations with Indians.
10. Restore 110 million acres (450,000 km2) of land taken away from Native Nations by the United States.
11. Restore terminated rights of Native Nations.
12. Repeal state jurisdiction on Native Nations (Public Law 280).
13. Provide Federal protection for offenses against Indians.
14. Abolish the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
15. Create a new office of Federal Indian Relations.
16. Remedy breakdown in the constitutionally prescribed relationships between the United States and Native Nations.
17. Ensure immunity of Native Nations from state commerce regulation, taxes, and trade restrictions.
18. Protect Indian religious freedom and cultural integrity.
19. Establish national Indian voting with local options and free national Indian organizations from governmental controls.
20. Reclaim and affirm health, housing, employment, economic development, and education for all Indian people.

In time, I also learned about of Women of All Red Nations (WARN). Established in 1974, WARN has put women and children at the forefront of the Native American movement, focusing its energies in combating sexism, government sterilization policies, domestic violence, child abuse, and other injustices.

I came to learn about Native K-12 charter schools, like the Heart of the Earth Survival School.

I learned about other Native American organizations, like NATIVE (Native American Traditions, Ideals, Values Educational Society). NATIVE is bringing back Native language, traditions and religion.

I quit the Sheriff’s Office in August 2004. Before I quit, Frank gave me the name, "John Good Iron". The name means I have "good iron" or "good medicine" in my badge. It means I will always be wearing that badge.

For me, all of the above started on 9/11 in the Mendocino County Jail.

Since I quit law enforcement, I have visited the "rez" in California, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and North and South Dakota -- a total of 20 different reservations. I have visited the place at Wounded knee which was occupied for 71 days by the Oglala Lakota and the American Indian Movement.

I have reached out to an old college classmate, Louise Erdrich. (Louise and I graduated from the writing seminars program at Johns Hopkins University.)

Louise is an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians of North Dakota, a federally recognized tribe of Ojibwe people.

In 2021, Louise was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and someday I am certain the Nobel Prize Foundation will recognize the body of her work -- 28 books in all -- which highlight the struggles between Native and non-Native cultures, as well as celebrating family, ties of kinship, autobiographical meditations, monologues, and love poetry. She incorporates elements of Ojibwe myths and legends in her work.

I have done peyote from the Chihuahuan Desert and bufo from the Colorado River toad with Native friends in traditional shamanistic ceremonies.

I started a public affairs show on public radio in 2008 on KZYX. We moved to KMEC at the Mendocino Environmental Center, then to KMUD in Humboldt County. Among other subjects, I have reported on the plight of indigenous peoples throughout the world, and on issues like genocide, racism, the extraction of non-renewable resources, and environmental degradation and tribal habitat destruction.

With Native friends, I have worked for the recognition of Native American tribes as sovereign states at the United Nations.

Again, my education all started on the morning of 9/11. It started with inmate Frank Whipple in the TV room in B-Mod at the Mendocino County Jail on a tragic September morning 23 years ago.

John Sakowicz

Ukiah

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UNITED DISASTER RELIEF CALLS FOR HELP TO MOVE INTO ITS FOREVER HOME

by Sara Reith

United Disaster Relief of Northern California is making what it hopes will be its final move, to a new location with its largest warehouse yet.

In addition to taking action to reduce your risk and having plans before a fire starts, part of being prepared to survive and thrive is knowing that your community also has plans and can help if there is a disaster. When large-scale disasters happen, government agencies will provide some aid. But smaller-scale disasters like the Grange fire or the Hopkins and Broiler fires can still result in community members losing their homes and all of their possessions. In those instances, it’s mostly up to us locally to have plans and the capacity to provide the help that people need to get back on their feet.

That’s why UDRNC is essential to our overall wildfire disaster readiness network. And now, they need our help to get back on their feet — or at least to have a new, long term home of their own. The lease at their current location on Airport Park Boulevard in Ukiah is up at the end of November. Escrow closed at their new location in August, but the building, a former Coca-Cola bottling facility at 650 Babcock Lane in Ukiah, does require a number of improvements.

An anonymous benefactor has offered to match up to $100,000 in community donations at the Building Hope campaign on Givebutter. The Ukiah Natural Foods Co-op is raising money through its November Change at the Register fundraiser.

Executive Director Danilla Sands recently reflected on the multifaceted mission of an organization that’s become a mainstay for anyone who’s been knocked down by disaster in the past few years.

Like any trauma, wildfire, she noted, is “overwhelming…What’s the priority? Where are the deadlines for grants? What resources are available to you? Meanwhile, you have your whole life to continue doing. You still might have to show up to work, you still have to take your kids to school. Now you’ve got to look at permits and soil testing and modulars…So we help them focus in the direction of recovery.” Sands says UDRNC is rare in that it continues to provide support for survivors throughout their recovery, which can take years. She pointed out that the effects of the Hopkins fire, which took place on September 12 of 2021, are far from over. The man who set the fire was just convicted on August first. And Sands observed that rebuilding has not been quick, even for people with ‘really good insurance’ the only stick builds out there in the Hopkins fire started just in the last month. Three years later.” United Disaster Relief is still involved with Hopkins fire survivors, including a three-year commemoration celebration on September 12.

The organization was originally located in a storefront in the wake of the Redwood Complex fire of 2017. It’s moved four times since its inception, and serves survivors throughout the region on a long-term as well as an immediate basis. Sands expects the upcoming move to be disruptive, but she doesn’t plan to give up on helping disaster survivors during the transition. The site on Airport Park Boulevard will be closed for the month of November, so volunteers can focus on moving inventory to Babcock Lane. “We’re going to be in here December first,” Sands declared. “But we don’t know what that looks like…If there’s a disaster, we’ll make it work. You know, people made it work with a table in front of a business back in 2017, right?”

Part of the 11,000 square foot warehouse will be walled off for client services, including an ADA bathroom, laundry, and food distribution. Insulation is a priority, as are heating and AC, electrical upgrades, and reconfiguring the reception area. In addition to serious storage space, the former plant has an adjustable loading dock, two acres of land, and a lot of potential, according to Sands. She led us around the premises on a hot September afternoon, just a few days before volunteers sprang into action to help evacuees fleeing the Boyles fire in Lake County.

While UDRNC made a robust attempt to buy the site on Airport Park Boulevard, Sands sees significant opportunities to expand the organization’s offerings at the new location. “There are some good possibilities,” she enthused, pointing out the three giant rollup doors and the broad expanse of fenced-in parking lot. “Maybe someday we’ll have a community garden or a gazebo out here,” where other organizations can hold events or where emergency vehicles can be staged for disaster response.

Even after the renovation, the warehouse will be vast compared to the 900 square feet UDRNC has now. Sands envisions displaying donated furniture the way it could look in clients’ future homes, instead of stuffing it all into a corner or storing it outside where it’s susceptible to damage by weather or vandalism. The adjustable dock means donations can come in on a semi, a box truck, or a pickup truck and be unloaded easily. There’s also an overhang, so the people doing the work are protected from the sun or the rain.

There are plenty of opportunities to help out with the effort to open the new site. Besides giving to the fundraisers, volunteers are welcome to put in some sweat equity at a work party on September 21. The fundraiser at Givebutter has reached 20% of its goal, which will help with safety modifications and code requirements that are necessary before UDRNC can open its doors to the public.

Sands also reported that a work party on August 24 was a resounding success, with about ten volunteers coming in to do some deep cleaning and prep for more skilled labor. “So on September 21st, we’re doing that again,” she declared; “because this is going to benefit the community. This is not just benefiting one person or one organization. This is a disaster resource center to benefit us all for the long term. And if we invest in it, imagine the possibility.”

You can find more information at the website, udrnc.org, where you can check out the photo gallery, donate to United Disaster Relief of Northern California, or sign up to volunteer.

And one more thing: “We’re not going to once again invest our time and our money, our energy and our love, and then have to move again,” Sands promised. “It’s going to be ours, it’s going to be for the clients. It’s going to be for the community, forever.”

You can learn about the Mendocino County Fire Safe Council, or tune in to our podcast series, at firesafemendocino.org.

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MEET & GREET YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS - LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS EVENT

The League of Women Voters of Mendocino County is pleased to again present our popular ‘Meet and Greet Your Elected Officials’. The event will be held at the Caspar Community Center on Friday, September 27, from 5-7pm. As in past years, there is no agenda and no speeches, just an opportunity to mingle with county, city and district leaders while enjoying appetizers and beverages in a casual setting. In this election year, candidates for various offices have also been invited to attend. Join us for an evening of lively conversation. For questions or more information, call 707-937-4952.

Pat Dunbar, Publicity

League of Women Voters of Mendocino County

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FORT BRAGG MAYOR BERNIE NORVELL’S PLAN TO ADDRESS HOMELESSNESS COUNTY-WIDE

by Mary Benjamin

Fort Bragg Mayor Bernie Norvell, recently elected by over 81% of the vote in District 4 to serve on the County Board of Supervisors, will take office on January 1, 2025. Coming to county government with him is his plan to replicate the success of the City of Fort Bragg’s Care Response Unit (CRU) for the entire county of Mendocino.

Norvell’s proposal is an adaptation of the city’s two-year-old program that so far has successfully served over 300 people in need of help. He can point to lower arrest numbers via proactive assistance for the homeless, drug and alcohol victims, and the mentally unstable.

The program he helped develop operates with the cooperation of social service agencies, including behavioral health, the county Sheriff’s Department, the county justice system of judges, district attorneys, defense attorneys, probation department, and juvenile hall.

The Care Response Unit operates under the auspices of the Fort Bragg Police Department under the leadership of Chief Neil Cervenka and management by Captain O’Neal. The unit is composed of three highly trained counselors who work directly with people on the street who are willing to accept help.

The city’s model was derived from a 2018 report delivered to the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors at their request by Robert Marbut, who was then the Executive Director for the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness. The homeless problem, particularly in the Ukiah Valley, had continued to grow.

After thorough research, including living on the street, Marbut’s report offered 28 recommendations. The supervisors opted to adopt a few of the recommendations, but according to Bernie Norvell, the County CoC at the time, “pushed back on that report pretty heavily.”

The board, he added, “thought the report was too harsh, but it was clear that what they were doing and had been doing wasn’t producing strong enough results.” However, despite local resistance, the Fort Bragg City Council opted to adopt 14 of Marbut’s recommendations.

“I took a big beating for trying to bring this to Fort Bragg,” recalled Norvell. “Nobody told me it wasn’t going to be successful, but everybody told me why I shouldn’t be doing it.” He continued, “For me, it was, what we’re doing now is more inhumane than trying to do better.”

Marbut’s “tough love” approach to those who live on the street brings discomfort to some people. The counseling crew asks each person they approach if they would like some help getting off the street. Those who refuse help are approached again until a solution is worked out.

Norvell commented, “I learned over these two years that the people who didn’t want to be helped realized they weren’t going to be able to live that lifestyle in the City of Fort Bragg anymore, certainly not camping and certainly not being a nuisance at night.”

Norvell acknowledges that the city’s program has pushed the homeless problem into the Ukiah Valley. He said, “We created a bigger problem for them. The sheriff told me point blank, ‘Yeah, you’re making it my problem now’.”

Norvell continued, “Sheriff Matt Kendall is a supporter. He sees the results, and he sees these people ending up in his jurisdiction. He’s going to be part of the first meeting we have in October.”

At an early point in the city’s program, Norvell had reached out to county officials. “I sent a letter to every elected official, city council member, and supervisor here in the county, telling them what we were doing, telling them the fear I had that our success would push these people to you.”

He continued, “I asked them to reach out and let us help them build their program. I got a response from a council member in Ukiah, but no follow-up. That’s what it turned out to be.”

The 2024 Point in Time count (PIT) of the homeless in the county provides current data showing a 22% increase. Of the county, a total of 774 persons were counted on the morning of January 24, 2024, and 22% were located along the coast.

20% of all those counted were experiencing “chronic homelessness,” meaning “multi-episodic or yearlong homelessness with a disabling health condition that prevents independent living.”

The report suggests that the count increase is most likely due to significant improvements in counting methods and the continuing upheavals triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Also, by law, the county’s count method must include “people in shelters or transitional housing.”

Norvell also acknowledged that “no one ever sees when families move from transitional to permanent housing.” What people can actually see is street-level homelessness. Norvell notes how this burdens the taxpayers and businesses.

“If people don’t want to be downtown,” he said, “businesses are affected. If they leave, there will be nobody left to pay the taxes to clean this up.”

He added, “ I’ve spent enough time in Ukiah to know their problem is not getting any better. I think we’d be fools to pretend what we’re doing is working and just stay the course.”

What Fort Bragg’s program pro-actively offers are any services that can improve the lives of those who struggle with daily life due to economic social, and personal issues. “A lot of what we do is handholding,” said Norvell. “We build relationships. I’m willing to bet any of our three CRU crew members can go downtown and talk to somebody, and that person already knows who they are.”

Those accepting help are housed, offered counseling, put into rehabilitation centers, assisted with charged crimes triggered by alcohol or drug use, provided with medical treatment as necessary, and monitored on a regular basis.

Norvell points to a success story of a mentally unstable woman who slept on the streets for more than a year. “The CRU crew stuck with her. It was a year to two years of handholding and building relationships, and that’s the part I think is not going on on a regular basis county-wide,” said Norvell.

With new Proposition 47 funds applied for, the plan to expand the Care Response Unit to serve the entire coast has already begun. The CRU crew team will work under a county deputy sheriff, and Norvell hopes to see Hospitality House become more mobile.

“What we want to do,” said Norvell, “is prove it can work in that rural area.” He sees possible failure as an opportunity to adjust the program. “We’re always going to fail forward,” he said.

He cautioned, “Know you might fail; don’t fear failure. Captain O’Neal is all in on this. He’s the one who has to deal with it every day, and he asked for help. We’ll make it work.”

Norvell does not think staffing a county-wide program will be a problem. He believes there are many county social workers who are frustrated with the current system.

“The county puts a lot of state funds into solving this issue, but they’re bound by the guidelines the state sets,” he said. “Help is voluntary. You can’t force someone into help.”

He explained, “The system isn’t set up to easily help people. A lot of what we’re doing is helping people who are willing to be helped. That’s where we’re making our most progress. We’re doing that be being pro-active. We’re going to them”

Norvell is relying upon county employees who “may recognize that they’re not helping people as well as they could.” He added, “I have always believed that we were already spending enough money to solve the problem. We’re not doing it right or well.”

Norvell also believes that, like the Fort Bragg Police Department, the Sheriff’s Department will discover that they have more time available for other law enforcement responsibilities. He also knows none of this will happen unless he can get three county supervisor votes.”

Norvell predicted, “There will be a lot of pushback. Once we get rolling, that tune will change just as it did in our own city.” In light of pushback, Norvell has a few pushbacks of his own.

After establishing the city’s program, Norvell invited Robert Marbut to come and take a look. “He was super impressed with what we did and the results,” recalls Norvell. “He thought our program could be scaled up to a city of a million.”

Norvell noted that Marbut still analyzes homeless problems in cities, and his reports “use the city of Fort Bragg as an example.”

UCLA is another highly respected entity interested in Fort Bragg’s success. According to Chief Neil Cervenka, given a federal grant to study the homeless problem, the UCLA research team plans to come to Fort Bragg to evaluate the program and its success.

Norvell’s belief in the city program led him to offer this challenge to any naysayers. “I challenge anyone to find and report an encampment in the city, and in three days tell me if it’s still there. I don’t think you could do that in Ukiah Valley.”

Norvell also noted, “The public needs to be patient. It won’t happen overnight, but I’m not going to rest on it.” He added, “It’s dear to my heart, and it’s important. I’m going to run with it as fast as I can.”

(Ukiah Daily Journal)

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LOCAL EVENTS

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CONTINUUM OF CARE PROGRAM FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

Ukiah, CA – The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently released two (2) Notices of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs) for funding through the Continuum of Care (CoC) Program. The 2024-2025 CoC Program Competition is a two (2) year NOFO that offers funding for Renewal CoC Projects and Permanent Supportive Housing, Rapid Re-Housing, Joint Transitional Housing/Rapid Re-Housing, Supportive Services Only Coordinated Entry, and Dedicated HMIS Projects that have not previously been awarded CoC Program funding. The 2024 CoCBuilds NOFO targets efforts within CoC geographic areas to address and reduce persons experiencing homelessness by adding new units of permanent supportive housing (PSH) through new construction, acquisition, or rehabilitation through one-time CoCBuilds awards under the CoC Program.

HUD will only review CoC Program applications submitted by the CoC-designated Collaborative Applicants that recommend local projects for funding. HUD requires each CoC to host local competitions to review and rank project applications submitted to provide services within the CoC’s jurisdiction. Eligible organizations and entities in Mendocino County interested in requesting funds must follow the local competition process described in the Processes for Applicant Review, Ranking, and Selection available on the Mendocino County Homeless Services Continuum of Care (MCHSCoC) website, https://mendocinococ.org/notice-of-funding-availability-nofa.

The Continuum of Care Program (24 CFR part 578) is designed to promote a community-wide commitment to the goal of ending homelessness; to provide funding for efforts by nonprofit providers, states, Indian Tribes or Tribally Designated Housing Entities (as defined in section 4 of the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996 (25 U.S.C. 4103) (TDHEs)), and local governments to quickly rehouse homeless individuals, families, persons fleeing domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking, and youth while minimizing the trauma and dislocation caused by homelessness; to promote access to and effective utilization of mainstream programs by homeless individuals and families, and to optimize self-sufficiency among those experiencing homelessness.

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LOCAL FARM STANDS

Petit Teton Farm

Petit Teton Farm is open Mon-Sat 9-4:30, Sun 12-4:30. Right now we have sungold and heirloom tomatoes along with the large inventory of jams, pickles, soups, hot sauces, apple sauces, and drink mixers made from everything we grow. We sell frozen USDA beef and pork from our perfectly raised pigs and cows, as well as stewing hens and eggs. Squab is also available at times. Contact us for what’s in stock at 707.684.4146 or farmer@petitteton.com. Nikki and Steve

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Velma’s Farm Stand at Filigreen Farm

Now Open On Sundays!!

Friday 2-5pm and Saturday-Sunday 11-4pm

For fresh produce this week: Dapple Dandy pluots, table grapes, pears, apples, melons, watermelons, summer squash, eggplant, tomatoes (heirlooms, cherry tomatoes, new girls), sweet peppers, hot peppers, cucumbers, sprouting broccoli, chinese cauliflower, green cabbage, hakurei turnips, new potatoes, celery, spring onions, spinach, lettuce mix, beets, carrots, kale, chard, basil and flowers. We will also have dried fruit, tea blends, olive oil, everlasting bouquets and wreaths available. Plus some delicious flavors of Wilder Kombucha!

All produce is certified biodynamic and organic.

Follow us on Instagram for updates @filigreenfarm or email annie@filigreenfarm.com with any questions. We accept cash, credit card, check, and EBT/SNAP (with Market Match)!

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Blue Meadow Farm

Open Tuesday - Sunday

10 AM - 7 PM

Closed Monday

Holmes Ranch Rd & Hwy 128

Philo, CA 95466

(707) 895-2071

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Brock Farms

M-T-W closed

TH-F-Sat-Sun open 10-6

Right now, I have potatoes, onions, some tomatoes, basil, cabbage, shishito peppers, and cabbage.

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NOYO CENTER COLLABORATIONS

by Linda Francis

Ten years ago, the Noyo Center for Marine Science was just a gleam in someone’s eye. Now ten years later, it is collaborating with some of California’s leading organizations working to keep our oceans, its animals and its plants healthy in a changing world. This article is an introduction to these organizations and how Noyo is contributing to and collaborating with them. Future articles will go into more detail of the work being done.

California Academy of Science

From the California Academy of Science (CAS) website: We’re an aquarium, planetarium, rainforest, and natural history museum in the heart of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park—and a powerful voice for biodiversity research and exploration, environmental education, and sustainability across the globe.

Noyo works with CAS in several ways. First, through this partnership, Noyo is part of the West Coast Marine Mammal Stranding Network, responding to dead mammals to better understand the general health of the mammals, of the ocean, and the impact of human interactions. In this capacity, Noyo contributes to the research collection and preservation of coastal marine mammals. Since Noyo joined the CAS team the number of marine mammal skeletons from Mendocino County available for research has gone from fewer than five to over 275, which are then available for research worldwide. Future collaborations on sunflower sea stars and kelp restoration are in the works.

The Marine Mammal Center

From The Marine Mammal Center (TMMC) web site: The ocean is in trouble. From the depletion of fish stocks to increasing ocean temperatures, human activity threatens marine ecosystems that are vital to the health of our ocean and all life on Earth. As a critical first responder to these threats, The Marine Mammal Center is leading the field in ocean conservation through marine mammal rescue, veterinary medicine, science, and education.

Noyo works with TMMC on necropsies of marine mammals, including our blue whale and orca. Additionally, Noyo has a small army of volunteer beach surveyors covering most of Mendocino’s beaches with eyes out for live stranded animals. When an injured mammal is spotted the call goes out to TMMC and volunteers transport the animal to Sausalito as soon as possible. Staff is working with TMMC to use the field station workspace in the future, so mammals found late in the day can be held and cared for overnight for safer next day transport.

The Exploratorium

From their website: Located in San Francisco, California, the Exploratorium is a public learning laboratory exploring the world through science, art, and human perception. Our mission is to create inquiry-based experiences that transform learning worldwide. Our vision is a world where people think for themselves and can confidently ask questions, question answers, and understand the world around them. We value lifelong learning, curiosity, and inclusion.

Noyo collaborates on exhibits, including Seeing Scientifically at the Discovery Center, that walk the audience through the scientific process and is helping with research about how to teach the general public about science.

Kashia Band of Pomo Indians

From the Kashia web site: The Kashia Band of Pomo Indians of the Stewarts Point Rancheria is a Federally Recognized Tribe located in Sonoma County of California. The Kashia Band of Pomo Indians has approximately 860 members, with the majority of Tribal members residing in Sonoma, Mendocino, Lake and Napa Counties, which is the service area for the Kashia Band of Pomo Indians of Stewarts Point Rancheria.

Noyo is collaborating with the Kashia tribe in a red abalone captive breeding restoration program being led by the tribe. Abalone is a sacred species for the tribe and is important for food security. Noyo’s contribution in phase 1 of the program is to assist in getting urchin divers to the area off tribal lands in Sonoma to clear the urchins so kelp can reestablish in restoration zones. Noyo will also collect and feed adult abalone until they become reproductive again, which can take up to 2 years!

Bodega Bay Marine Laboratory

From their website: The UC Davis Coastal and Marine Sciences Institute’s Bodega Marine Laboratory (BML) is a leading research and education facility at the forefront of national marine laboratories in providing science that serves society and informs solutions to complex environmental challenges. For over 50 years, BML’s multidisciplinary research discoveries have advanced ocean and coastal health, and its hands-on educational programs have been training the nation’s next generation of leaders in marine science and policy.

BML brings science support to the Kashia/Noyo red abalone project, teaching them what conditions are best to accomplish the goals of rehabilitating and spawning abalone. This includes understanding the genetics, using ultrasound to determine when they become reproductive, and best diet for most rapid growth.

Sea Grant

From their website: California Sea Grant is a unique partnership that unites the resources of the federal government, the State of California, and universities across the state to create knowledge, products, and services that benefit the economy, the environment, and the citizens of California. California Sea Grant’s mission is to provide integrated research, extension, outreach, and education to help Californians balance diverse interests that intersect with the coastal and marine environments and adapt to changing conditions and needs. We accomplish this by collaborating with a range of local, state, regional, national, and international partners to further the acquisition and application of relevant scientific knowledge.

Noyo works with two organizations under the Sea Grant program:

Moss Landing Marine Lab

From their website: Moss Landing Marine Lab (MLML) administers the Master of Science in marine science program for California State Universities in northern and central California and is dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in both education and research. San José State University oversees MLML. MLML Aquaculture Facility hopes to lead the way in developing a rigorous foundation and policy for aquaculture science and in training the workforce and leaders in sustainable aquaculture in California, the United States, and worldwide.

Noyo collaborates with MLML in developing urchin aquaculture, taking advantage of MLML’s leadership in this arena.

Scripps Institute of Oceanography

The second Sea Grant program is with Scripps Institute of Oceanography, looking at sea level rise along the coast. Fort Bragg is a focus community for this grant funded by NASA. Noyo is providing support for the establishment of local data via several water level monitors, and designing education and outreach materials for the community.

The Noyo Ocean Collective

This is the local brain trust working on the blue economy. The core organizations include the Noyo Center, West Business Development Center, the City of Fort Bragg, the Noyo Harbor District, Mendocino College, and local tribes. The goal is to assess the potential for and develop the components of a successful blue economy.

One of Noyo Center’s current projects is working with the college to develop an aquaculture certification program. The Noyo Field Station will be one of the training sites.

All of these programs take time and money. To contribute either, contact the noyocenter.org. Help make a difference for our oceans by being an active donor and participant in the work being done.

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JIM ROBERTS

Come Join Us Local’s Thursday Nights

20% off on any Pinsa share for the table, hospitality workers get a free glass of wine.

We are pivoting on the dinner menu. We will be serving a true Pinsa Romano as our flour blend from Italy is in. The oldest flatbread dough recipe with the combination of wheat, rice and soy flours makes a lower calorie and more digestible crust. Order as an entree or as a shared starter for the table.

Also always expect a 5 hour slow cooked Bolognese or Short Rib Ragu to be on the menu, as well as an Umbrian Style Cacciatora.

Reservations on Tock!

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JEFF GOLL NOTES:

AVA,

Good overview of the Russian River water situation. I was down in Healdsburg a few years back and noticed in the Russian River a coating of “Golden moss/algae” on the rocks. Looking closer, that moss/algae was sewage waste from shore to shore. I was in Windsor more recently and East of 101 is a huge new community of “Ticky Tack” expensive homes. I was taken aback at the expansiveness of this and you gotta wonder, is there enough water to maintain and sustain this growth?

And good retort to the commentator who didn’t like/accept J. Kunstler’s piece involving mail in ballots etc. Your query about who stated: “Let a hundred flowers bloom/ (Let a hundred schools of thought contend)” got in reply a definition of false equivalency and a follow-up response to himself rationalizing his first response. It’s funny that the Hundred Flowers Campaign in China (Mao), allowing (preferring) leading intellectuals and others to send in their constructive criticism to the government, was cancelled a year later as the “poisonous weeds” were plucked from the bed of flowers. Leading Chinese thinkers were sent to labor camps for “re-education” or to prison. The rest of 1957 involved the government ruthlessly crushing dissent. Nice bait and switch. And it can’t happen here, or is it?

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ED NOTES

COMPARING the two senilities, Biden’s is simple befuddlement, Trump’s has turned him into a raving nut, but Trump’s not wrong about everything. I’m probably wrong in agreeing with him that NATO ought to be abandoned by US because it was intended only as a temporary assist to war-ravaged Europe until Europe was able to defend itself, not a permanent imperial presence with American generals in charge. Ukraine, like Israel, should be forced by its funders, largely US, to negotiate immediate ceasefires, which will never happen given the entropic realities of American politics.

THE SECOND THING Trump is correct about is the weaponization of the justice system against him, as it parlayed a minor bookkeeping misdemeanor into 39 felonies, all of which will be tossed on appeal, not to mention Russiagate. Trump, imo, is only a grander ethical version of Adam Schiff.

HOW TO KEEP your children away from bad influences just keeps on getting more difficult, but I sure like the approach adopted by a guy in Springfield, Oregon. Having discovered that his teenage daughter had been spectacularly ripped off by a local car sales outfit, Pop took direct action. Little Debbie had no idea that she was obligating herself to seriously usurious interest rates to purchase a used vehicle worth maybe half its selling price before an in-cahoots car dealer and his loan guy co-vultured the kid into agreeing to an exorbitant interest rate. The typical high school graduate being unable to decode the lawyer lingo on a contract and just as helpless at calculating percentages with or without a pocket calculator, Little Deb simply signed the bottom line, probably drawing tiny hearts for the dots on her big, block kindergarten script. Enter Pop, a hardened veteran of life’s rip-offs. Unable to negotiate a new contract for his daughter, Dad stuck a .357 in the salesman’s ear, which immediately got a re-write agreement from the lead vulture but, unfortunately, also attracted police attention. The upshot? For doing his duty as a father and an American, Dad was arrested and booked into the Lane County Jail.

WHEN BIG BRO used to watch harmless me, I was approved to visit friends confined to the state prisons at Susanville and Salinas but not Pelican Bay where I’d hoped to visit my friend Jack Morris, a resident of Pelican Bay’s infamous SHU or Security Housing Unit. Pelican Bay sent me a form letter saying, “According to the Department of Justice, you have failed to list your complete arrest history.” My application had apparently been forwarded by Pelican Bay to the FBI, an agency that began tracking me back in 1962 on the basis of the political affiliations of my youth, I suppose. Pelican Bay had thoughtfully stamped my FBI file number on my visitor’s app: FBI-22648IRA5 and AO2109784, whatever these latter identifiers signify.

FOR THE RECORD, and although as a kid I kept regular company with subversives of all kinds, I am, philosophically, an anarcho-syndicalist, whose political theories are the only ones that have ever resonated with me, although reading Marx in my formative years was certainly revelatory as a guide to the way the world works.

WHAT COULD I do with this foul government intrusion? Write to the FBI to update me on my own interfaces with the lowest levels of the national security state? I can’t remember all of them, and even if I could, and even if I wrote them all down and sent them off to the feds, do I then get to visit my friend at Pelican Bay? I’ve always been flattered that the G-Men had taken such an intense interest in me, and I have no hesitation in declaring myself not only an enemy of the state but capitalism, the two being interchangeable in America. But I thought one’s belief systems were one’s own free enterprise in the land of the not-so-free, so what the hell? And me, an honorably discharged Marine, a married father of three, a homeowner, a patriot in his bones?

AT THE GATE to the transit area, the last time I flew anywhere, a grim-faced cop said to me, “Mr. Anderson, you’ve been selected for a security check.” Lucky me, I reply, noting that the cop is a Limited Ability, Automaton Personality Type. No playing around with this guy or it’s off to the cement side room for the bend over and spread ‘em interface. The cop waves a wand at my front bod. He tells me to turn around and he waves the wand at my rear bod. I hear a child say, “Look, Mommy, a bad man.” Then the cop runs the wand under my armpits, and sticks it a little too vigorously in the area of my pills. “Your wallet, please.” Your mother, you prick, I don’t say. He asks, “Why didn’t you put that stuff in your pocket in the tray?” I forgot, I reply. The cop glares at me. “What’s this thing?” he asks, holding up an inflatable rubber cushion I sit on for long-distance drives. It’s a life raft, I reply, explaining that I don’t trust Alaska Airlines’ seat cushions to float if the plane goes down in water. Another glare. “Turn your waistband out towards me.” He stares at the stitching for a long time before ordering, “Take your shoes off.” I’m wearing sandals, officer. Bunions, you know. I hike a lot. But just as I was picking up momentum to lay some serious smart ass on him, the cop silences me with, “Whatever you’ve got on your feet, take it off.” The little girl pipes up again. “Mommy? Is the bad man going on the airplane with us?” Mom says, “It looks like it.” The security robot says, “You can put your shoes on. Thank you.” And thank you, grandmother, for keeping America safe.

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CATCH OF THE DAY, Thursday, September 12, 2024

(Note from Sheriff’s booking log webpage: “Due to a recent ruling of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, in the case of Houston V. Maricopa, the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office is not posting photographs of arrestees on the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office booking log website.”)

ANALISE BECK, 28, Willits. Failure to appear, probation revocation.

JOY BUZZARD, 55, Redwood Valley. Elder abuse with great bodily harm or death.

NICHOLAS HALVORSEN, 52, Fort Bragg. Trespass-injure property, disorderly conduct-alcohol, probation violation. (Frequent flyer.)

CHRISTOPHER HEANEY, 36, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

RHONDA HIATT, 48, Fort Bragg. Probation revocation.

RICHARD JOHNSON, 56, Ukiah. Domestic violence court order violation.

EVAN KEYSER, 21, Ukiah. Domestic battery.

TRINIDAD MAGDALENO-PULIDO, 22, Ukiah. Domestic battery, damaging communication device.

SONEA MCMAHON, 41, Fort Bragg. Domestic battery.

JOSHUA NEESE, 26, Ukiah. Non-student refusing to leave campus, county parole violation.

ADAM PEARSON, 43, Ukiah. Parole violation.

JAY ROSENQUIST, 68, Fort Bragg. DUI.

ERIC WRIGHT, 29, Ukiah. Failure to appear.

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WHAT I’M READING

by Esther Mobley

A judge has denied vintner Lindsay Hoopes’ motion to dismiss Napa County’s case against her, reports Barry Eberling of the Napa Valley Register. Hoopes, who has been locked in a five-year battle with the County over her right to host tastings, filed the motion after she found evidence she believes proves the county manipulated her property rights, and the rights of others.

Cabernet Sauvignon’s reign as the king of Napa Valley is in jeopardy due to climate change, writes Lauren Sommer for NPR. While this was a hot topic of conversation in wine back in 2019, it remains a pressing issue.

Not a wine article, but this story from Chronicle food reporter Elena Kadvany about a Napa Valley baker who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis is a must-read. Plus, her cookies are to die for.

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FOR EVERY WINNER A LOSER

by John Lanchester

It is easy to misunderstand what contemporary finance is and does. Common sense, and the textbook, both say that finance is the business of moving money from A to B. There are times when money in place A, a saver’s bank account, say, would be usefully deployed in place B, a business needing cash to expand, or an individual wanting a mortgage to be able to buy somewhere to live. It’s easy to extrapolate from this that finance is mainly about supplying money to businesses and individuals that need it, as and when they need it. And modern finance does do that. But that isn’t what finance today is mainly about. In his indispensable guide to the current condition of the financial industry, Other People’s Money, published in 2015, John Kay talks about the state of the UK banking sector, whose assets then were about £7 trillion, four times the aggregate income of everyone in the country. But the assets of British banks ‘mostly consist of claims on other banks. Their liabilities are mainly obligations to other financial institutions. Lending to firms and individuals engaged in the production of goods and services – which most people would imagine was the principal business of a bank – amounts to about 3 per cent of that total.’

Lending money where it’s needed is what the modern form of finance, for the most part, does not do. What modern finance does, for the most part, is gamble. It speculates on the movements of prices and makes bets on their direction. Here’s a way to think about it: you live in a community that is entirely self-sufficient but produces one cash crop a year, consisting of a hundred crates of mangoes. In advance of the harvest, because it’s helpful for you to get the money now and not later, you sell the future ownership of the mango crop to a broker, for a dollar a crate. The broker immediately sells the rights to the crop to a dealer who’s heard a rumour that thanks to bad weather mangoes are going to be scarce and therefore extra valuable, so he pays $1.10 a crate. A speculator on international commodity markets hears about the rumour and buys the future crop from him for $1.20. A specialist ‘momentum trader’, who picks up trends in markets and bets on their continuation (yes, they do exist), comes in and buys the mangoes for $1.30. A specialist contrarian trader (they exist too) picks up on the trend in prices, concludes that it’s unsustainable and short-sells the mangoes for $1.20. Other market participants pick up on the short-selling and bid the prices back down to $1.10 and then to $1. A further speculator hears that the weather this growing season is now predicted to be very favourable for mangoes, so the crop will be particularly abundant, and further shorts the price to 90 cents, at which point the original broker re-enters the market and buys back the mangoes, which causes their price to return to $1. At which point the mangoes are harvested and shipped off the island and sold on the retail market, where an actual customer buys the mangoes, say for $1.10 a crate.

Notice that the final transaction is the only one in which a real exchange takes place. You grew the mangoes and the customer bought them. Everything else was finance – speculation on the movement of prices. In between the time when they were your mangoes and the time when they became the customer’s mangoes, there were nine transactions. All of them amounted to a zero-sum activity. Some people made money and some lost it, and all of that cancelled out. No value was created in the process.

That’s finance. The total value of all the economic activity in the world is estimated at $105 trillion. That’s the mangoes. The value of the financial derivatives which arise from this activity – that’s the subsequent trading – is $667 trillion. That makes it the biggest business in the world. And in terms of the things it produces, that business is useless. It does nothing and adds no value. It is just one speculator betting against another and for every winner, on every single transaction, there is an exactly equivalent loser.

The point bears repeating. There are other ways of getting rich, and in our society the classic three ways of making a fortune still apply: inherit it, marry it, or steal it. But for an ordinary citizen who wants to become rich through working at a salaried job, finance is by an enormous margin the most likely path. And yet, the thing they’re doing in finance is useless. I mean that in a strong sense: this activity produces nothing and creates no benefit for society in aggregate, because every gain is matched by an identical loss. It all sums to zero. The only benefit to wider society is the tax paid by the winners; though we need to remember that the losers will have their losses offset against tax, so the net tax benefit is not as clear as it might at first seem.

This, historically, is a unique state of affairs. Until now, most riches have been based on real assets of land or trade – often inherited rather than created ex novo, but no less real for that. This new form of riches is based on gambling. What does it mean about us that we reward so generously this work which does so little? What kind of society are we really? And what does it mean that we think about this so little? There was a brief moment during the pandemic when the question of valuable and worthwhile work was thrown into focus by the fact that the worst-paid jobs turned out to be the ones on which we all relied: retail staff, transport workers, delivery workers. We’ve done an excellent job of forgetting about that. At a societal level, this is unsatisfactory. To put it as mildly as possible, nobody would deliberately design a society that worked like this. But it turns out that the accumulation of near infinite riches based on zero-sum financial game playing has downsides for the winners too.

Every trade has a winner and a loser. Somebody makes money, and is therefore proved right; somebody loses money, and is therefore proved wrong. The binary nature of right or wrongness, repeated over thousands of transactions, confirms in many financially successful gamblers the feeling that they are right about everything. It’s not a question of being right more often than you’re wrong. It’s a question of being better than other people: right where others are wrong, clever where others are stupid, rational where others are emotional, insightful where they are blind, brave where they are timid, strong where they are weak. But awareness of superiority comes with a terrible sting, which is that the others don’t seem to see it that way. They see the riches, but think they are a matter of luck, or inequity, or unfair distribution of societal resources, or a bit of all the above. (For the record, I share that view.)

(London Review of Books)

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NO SLEEPING BAGS, KEEP MOVING: CALIFORNIA CITIES INCREASE CRACKDOWN ON HOMELESS ENCAMPMENTS

by Marisa Kendall

It’s been a little more than two months since the U.S. Supreme Court gave cities the green light to crack down on homeless encampments. Already, Santa Monica is considering barring its homeless residents from using sleeping bags, San Joaquin County is poised to force unhoused people to move 300 feet every hour, and Fresno has made it illegal to camp anywhere at any time — even if no shelter is available.

At least 14 California cities and one county have passed new ordinances that prohibit camping or updated existing ordinances to make them more punitive, another dozen are considering new bans, and at least four have dusted off old camping bans that hadn’t been fully enforced in years.

The cities taking action span the state, from the Bay Area, to the Central Valley, to Southern California. Many are places where voters lean conservative, but a few are cities run by Democrats, such as San Francisco, Long Beach and Antioch.

The trend toward criminalization marks a significant shift in how California manages the more than 120,000 people who sleep on its streets and sidewalks, and it could lead to more arrests, citations and fines.

“The problem is out of control, and residents are demanding a solution,” said Vista Mayor John Franklin. The city in San Diego County recently voted to resume enforcement of a 1968 ordinance that bans encampments city-wide.

But advocates for the rights of unhoused people worry the push toward enforcement will make the problem worse. Without opening more shelters or affordable housing, breaking up homeless camps will do nothing but shuffle people from one spot to another. Activists say displacing people from encampments can sever their ties to case workers, medical clinics and other vital services. That disruption — in addition to fines and arrests — makes it harder for people to find housing.

“A lot of communities, I think, rather than doing the hard work of providing housing and other services, are criminalizing homelessness and making it illegal for people to stand, sit, sleep or use anything like a blanket,” said Alex Visotzky, senior California policy fellow for the National Alliance to End Homelessness. “And these policies, of course, fail to reduce homelessness and also create additional barriers to housing people.”

‘We’re Going To Have Zero Tolerance’

In 2018, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled it was unconstitutional to punish someone for sleeping outside in a public place if there was nowhere else for them to go. For six years, California cities interpreted that to mean they couldn’t unilaterally ban camping, and they couldn’t remove a homeless encampment unless they had a shelter bed available for every person they displaced.

In the summer of this year, that all changed. The U.S. Supreme Court in June determined it was OK for the city of Grants Pass, Oregon to ban camping on all public property, even if there was no room in local homeless shelters. That ruling untied the hands of cities throughout California and other western states, allowing them to impose all manner of restrictions on camping.

A month after the court ruling, Newsom issued an executive order directing state agencies to clear encampments on state property, and encouraging local governments to do the same.

Not long after, the Vista City Council voted to resume enforcing an encampment ban that passed in the 1980s, but hadn’t been enforced since the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It doesn’t allow any daylight or any funny business,” said Mayor Franklin. “It very clearly does not allow you to sleep in any public space, or have a tent or anything else.”

Federal health guidelines recommended cities stop clearing encampments during the pandemic, in an effort to slow the spread of the virus. Vista, like many California cities, complied. As a result, the city saw a massive explosion in encampments, Franklin said.

Vista opened its first homeless shelter this year, with 36 beds for city residents. The city had 170 unsheltered homeless residents this year, according to its most recent point-in-time count. But Franklin says on most days, there are shelter beds available, and people decline them when offered.

Franklin hopes the ordinance will get people to agree to addiction treatment and other services as a way to stave off prosecution. But so far, many of the people who received a citation haven’t shown up in court — – and continue to live on the street.

The San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors this week OK’d changes to its camping ordinance that would prohibit sleeping in a tent, sleeping bag or car for more than 60 minutes. It would also prohibit someone from sleeping within 300 feet of anywhere they had previously slept within the past 24 hours.

“We’re going to have zero tolerance,” Supervisor Tom Patti told CalMatters. “We’re going to have definitive enforcement.”

The county will continue to offer people shelter, he said. But if they refuse, “We’re going to offer them the opportunity to visit our local county jail.”

The changes to the camping ordinance are up for final approval Sept. 24.

Homelessness more than doubled in San Joaquin County this year compared to 2022 — the largest increase of any county in California, according to a CalMatters analysis of point-in-time count data. The county changed the way it counted this year, which could account for at least some of the significant increase. But Krista Fiser, chair of the organization that conducted the count, acknowledged: “Anecdotally, you can see it’s getting worse.”

Several projects designed to help have yet to be completed, including new shelters in Stockton, Tracy and Manteca.

Other cities are ramping up enforcement without changing the rules. The Folsom Police Department created a new homeless outreach team in July, which will enforce the city’s existing camping ban, Police Chief Rick Hillman told ABC10.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed also has been vocal about her intention to aggressively crack down on encampments.

Court Orders, And Camping Bans With Caveats

For at least one city, cracking down on encampments isn’t as simple as passing a new ordinance.

In 2022, the city of Chico settled a lawsuit filed by eight homeless residents over the city’s enforcement of its anti-camping ordinances. Under the terms of that agreement, the city now has to jump through a series of hoops before it can remove an encampment, such as: Notifying plaintiffs’ lawyers, giving a 10-day warning to the camp occupants, and making sure there are enough shelter beds available for everyone about to be displaced. The city can’t clear more than three encampments at one time.

But that settlement was based on outdated legal precedents, according to Chico officials. Now that the tide has turned, with the Supreme Court giving cities more power to enforce camping bans, Chico wants out of the agreement.

“It’s absurdly restrictive,” City Manager Mark Sorensen said. The city filed a motion asking the judge to vacate the settlement, and is awaiting a ruling.

Other cities, at least on paper, are taking a cautious approach by allowing law enforcement to cite and arrest homeless people — but only in specific situations.

In July, the Palm Springs City Council banned camping on sidewalks and in parks and other public spaces — if shelter is available. The ban won’t go into effect until the city finishes construction of its new homeless shelter, which likely will be later this month.

“We want to do everything possible to ensure people have a roof over their heads and a place to stay, as opposed to just sweeping away the problem,” said Mayor Jeffrey Bernstein.

The Berkeley City Council on Tuesday green-lighted a resolution that says the city will continue to offer people shelter whenever “practicable.” When no shelter is available the city would be able to cite or arrest people only if their encampment meets certain criteria: If it poses a fire or health hazard, is on a street median, is a public nuisance or interferes with construction work.

That proposal didn’t pass muster with local activists, who sent a letter in opposition to the mayor and City Council. Council members will vote once more on the measure before it becomes final.

“If approved, the City will have moved forward with a resolution that undermines the City’s stated commitment to best practices and to housing first principles without taking any steps to actually resolve the homelessness crisis,” wrote the East Bay Community Law Center, joined by several other organizations. “ Instead, this resolution would effectively criminalize individuals for being unhoused; place unhoused residents at increased risk and subject them to loss of community.”

(CalMatters.org)

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FRIDAY'S LEAD STORIES, NYT

Trump Says He Won’t Do Another Debate as Harris Announces Cash Haul

Early Voting Is Beginning in These States

Biden Poised to Approve Ukraine’s Use of Long-Range Western Weapons in Russia

Boeing Workers Walk Off the Job in First Strike Since 2008

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NOTES FROM A PHONY CAMPAIGN: CATFIGHT IN PHILLY

by Jeffrey St. Clair

“When a politician is in opposition, he is an expert on the means to some end, and when he is in office, he is an expert on the obstacles to it.”

– G.K. Chesterton

• The title of this column comes from Jean-Paul Sartre’s diary of the first eight months of World War II, when he was stationed in Alsace, working as a meteorologist, watching weather balloons and recording barometric pressure, while waiting for something, anything, profound to happen.
• So Harris pretty effectively rebutted GOP accusations that she’s a communist, Marxist, socialist, pacifist, progressive, environmentalist, civil libertarian, or humanist.
• With Harris, it sounds like we will get Cheney’s foreign policy, AIPAC’s Middle East policy, Goldman Sachs’ economic policy, and Exxon’s climate policy.
• Fires are burning down towns and resorts in California, Texas is running out of water, and a hurricane is bearing down on Louisiana once again. Yet, neither candidate advanced a position on climate change last night that went much beyond drill, drill, drill and frack, frack, frack…
• Harris is fighting climate change by, checks notes, expanding fracking, boosting oil and gas production and building new factories!
• Can’t we all now agree that the Democrats are objectively worse than the Republicans on climate change? The Republicans don’t believe in climate change and do nothing about it. The Democrats say they believe in climate change and still do nothing about it.
• Harris’s emphasis on home ownership–instead of the cost of housing—appeals to a generation that no longer exists and is just as nostalgic as any backward-looking fantasy being peddled by Trump. Most young people have no interest in getting a 30-year mortgage. They want an affordable place to live while they spend 30 years paying off their student loans before being buried under medical debt in their 60s.
• Harris put more distance between herself and Biden than Trump did with JD Vance, but all in the wrong direction, such as trimming Biden’s proposed tax on capital gains from 40% to 28%–an indication that FTC Chair Lina Khan should be putting feelers out for a new job.
• A week after a school shooting in Georgia and a freeway shooting in Kentucky, Harris answered a question on gun control this way: “Both Tim and I own guns.”
• This was basically the same Trump we saw against Biden, where the polls showed Trump winning 67-33. This debate’s polls show Harris–who was scripted & robotic–winning by something like 66-34–which shows you what merely being coherent, audible & not having moments of drooling aphasia can do for a candidate…
• It’s evident that Harris could have won this debate just as decisively without the full spectrum of rightwing positions she’s adopted during the campaign, which suggests she will try to implement them if she’s elected.
• Listening to Kenneth Branaugh’s terrific reading of Heart of Darkness on my morning walk (in a glorious rain today), I was struck by a Conradian phrase (there are so many memorable ones) that serves as a pretty good description of Trump when exposed: “a papier-mache Mephistopheles.”
• Hot new MAGA conspiracy: Harris’s earrings were actually earbuds transmitting answers from HRC and Michelle Obama.
• Hot new MAGA conspiracy 2: Harris’s earrings were a trap to get MAGA activists to speculate that Harris’s earrings were earphones.
• It’s true that ABC’s moderators fact-checked Trump’s statements three times and let Harris spew falsehoods without correction. To compensate, they allowed Trump to blather on for six minutes more than Harris, though given what he had to say, this probably worked against him. In fact, at the next debate, Trump might want to have his mic muted for the entire 90 minutes.
• On Thursday morning, the Springfield, Ohio City Hall, which had shot down JD Vance’s racist fantasies about Haitians pet-knapping dogs, cats and geese for food, had to be evacuated after getting a bomb threat. Alexander Cockburn often got terribly incensed about meddlesome “fact checkers,” but never called in a bomb threat to The Nation or LA Times, as far as I know…
• Haiti will never be forgiven for its revolution, and 220 years later, its people are still being starved, immiserated, invaded, occupied, demeaned, and dehumanized…
• As the anti-immigrant conspiracy theories inflamed by Trump, Vance and Elon Musk spread, many Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, are keeping their children home and reporting vandalism to their homes and property.
• Aiden Clark’s father urged these MAGA creeps, led by creepoid-in-chief JD Vance, to stop using his son to further their rancid political views.
• I bet Usha Vance can’t wait to share a flight with Loomer…
• Childless Cat Lady Taylor Swift quickly eclipsed a dull debate by Tweeting out her endorsement of Harris to her 280 million followers.
• Her Tweet should have come with a trigger warning since it set off deeply buried anxieties, especially among Trump incels and women like Megyn Kelly, who, try as she might, still can’t manage to squirm her way back into Trump’s favor.
• Then there was Elon Musk’s depraved stalker Tweet: “Fine Taylor … you win … I will give you a child and guard your cats with my life.”
• In his new coffee table book, Save America, Trump includes ten pages of photos with Kim Jong-un, suggests Canada’s Justin Trudeau is Fidel Castro’s secret love child and claims that Mark Zuckerberg will “spend the rest of his life in prison” if he “does anything illegal.”
• Et tu, Matt?
• Sure, Bernie. Dick Cheney believes so firmly in the US’s “democratic foundations” that he helped steal the 2000 election, lied the country into a war and trashed the most basic Constitutional rights for eight years.

Bernie Sanders on Meet the Press: “Cheney and I agree on nothing. No issues. But what we do believe in is that the United States should retain its democratic foundations. I applaud the Cheneys for their courage in defending democracy.”

• After the debate, former Attorney General and torture legalizer Alberto Gonzales threw his backing behind Harris, writing in Politico: “I can’t sit quietly as Donald Trump — perhaps the most serious threat to the rule of law in a generation — eyes a return to the White House.” Too bad Rumsfeld isn’t alive to rejoin the old gang. Perhaps the Harris campaign can Ouija Board an endorsement from him. Does anyone know which Circle of Hell he’s been assigned to?
• Of course, Obama’s imprimatur is scarcely an upgrade.
• Not only did Obama indemnify the post-911 criminals of the Bush administration for lying the US into a war and committing heinous crimes against humanity in the process, he actually extended their crimes by using drones in the extra-judicial assassination of American citizens.
• Harris won the debate. However, there’s little evidence that winning a debate against Trump means much to the electorate. If you read the transcript of the Biden debate, Trump’s answers were filled with lies and nonsense. They received almost no attention. People know he’s a hybrid of a WWE character and the world’s most obnoxious used car salesman & at least 45% of the country doesn’t care.
• The one thing Harris could have done was use the debate to condemn the killing of Americans (if she can’t bring herself to condemn the killing of Palestinians) by Israeli forces and announce her support for an arms embargo. This is, of course, the one thing she would never risk doing (and didn’t).
• 40 years of neoliberalism has demonstrated that the answer to our current political crisis certainly isn’t for activists to continue compromising with the likes of Dick Cheney and Jamie Dimon on genocide, police brutality, austerity or the climate crisis. We know what compromising liberals have given us: Serbian war, don’t ask, don’t tell, welfare destruction, NAFTA, Iraq war, torture, Deepwater Horizon, Wall Street bailouts, Libyan war, assassination by drone, Trump, record oil production in the US, and genocide…
• Chicago Calling…

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82 SENTENCES, EACH TAKEN FROM THE ‘LAST STATEMENT’ OF A PERSON EXECUTED BY THE STATE OF TEXAS SINCE 1984

I don’t know what to say. I am not as strong as I thought I was going to be, but I guess it only hurts for a little while. I sat in my cell many days wondering what my last words would be. I’m not going to shout, use profanity, or make idle threats. I am not going to play a part in my own murder, no one should have to do that. Can you hear me? This here is a tragedy. They are fixing to pump my veins with a lethal drug the American Veterinary Association won’t even allow to be used on dogs. I should not have to be here. I’m not a killer. I know how it looks but I didn’t do it. I didn’t kill my wife. I did not kill those drug dealers. I did not murder your loved one. I am sure he died unjustly, just like I am. I have done everything to prove my innocence. If I am paying my debt to society, I am due a rebate and a refund. Everybody has problems. I allowed the devil to rule my life. I was a kid in a grown man’s world. I was sick, afraid, and looking for love in all the wrong ways. I messed up, made poor choices. But I am not guilty of this crime. I don’t think the world will be a better or safer place without me. I hereby protest my pending execution. There are a lot of things that are not right in this world, I have had to overcome them myself. You know this ain’t right. I don’t know why all of this happened. I just played the hand that life dealt me. I understand that you wanted this day to come, you got what you wanted. I’m sure you think this is wonderful in your eyes. If this takes the pain away, so be it. Whatever makes y’all happy. I know you believe that you’re going to have closure. The truth is that you are going to feel empty after tonight. A revenge death won’t get you anything. Sooner or later every one of y’all will be along behind me. You will answer to your Maker when God has found out that you executed an innocent man. I wouldn’t wish this on you. I forgive all y’all. It is all part of life, like a big full plate of food for the soul. Tell everyone I got full on chicken and pork chops. I am going to miss those pancakes and those old-time black-and-white shows. Sometimes it works out like this. I would like to tell my wife that I love her and thank her for all the years of happiness. I don’t want to leave you baby, see you when you get there. To my kids, stand tall and continue to make me proud. Don’t fight with each other. I know this is hard for y’all, but we are going to have to go through it. Don’t cry, it’s my situation. I’ll be fine. I won’t have to wake up in prison anymore. Don’t be angry at what is happening to me. Enjoy life’s moments because we never get them back. Yesterday was my birthday. Ain’t life a bitch? Where’s my stunt double when you need one? Oh, Lord. I am going home. I might have lost the fight but I’m still a soldier. I am taking it like a man, like a warrior. Preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Tell them I finished strong. Death before dishonor. With this let all debts be paid that I owed, real or imagined. Lord, send me a chariot. Hallelujah, holy, holy, holy. I guess that’s it. It’s my hour. Only the sky and the green grass goes on forever. I’m done. I have come here today to die, not make speeches. Warden, if you are going to murder someone, go ahead and do it, pull the trigger. Let’s give them what they want. I’m ready when y’all are. Are they already doing it? I can feel it, taste it. My left arm is killing me, it hurts bad. Let me know that I will be in Heaven tonight, please let me know, I don’t want to be in Hell with Satan or anyone else, please, that is something I need to know. I am starting to go. I am going to sleep now. (Begins singing: Amazing Grace.)

—Joe Kloc, New York Review of Books

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