Mendocino County Today: Friday 9/27/2024

By AVA News Service on September 27, 2024

HOT AND DRY conditions will persist through early next week for inland areas of northwest California. Coastal areas will remain more seasonal with overnight cloudiness and afternoon scattering. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): Clear skies & a cooler 50F this Friday morning on the coast. We have more sun than fog in the forecast for now, but you know how that goes.

ADAM GASKA: Re Jim Shields report on the Hopland Geigers market.

Not only is the building encumbered with $180,000 in debt for the CBDG loan, it’s also has a $500,000-1,000,000 PACE loan attached to it. It looks as though the County is paying the PACE loan obligations to the tune of $67,000 a year and the taxes are currently delinquent. Hopefully there is a faster recourse to collect than a tax lien sale.

The County needs to investigate how someone who was publicly known to be in financial duress was able to get approved for a second loan. Whoever signed off on it should be reprimanded and safeguards put in place to avoid such situations in the future.

GENERALLY OF UKIAH

A Mendocino County Superior Court jury returned from its time-efficient deliberations mid-afternoon Wednesday to announce it had found the trial defendant guilty as charged.

Defendant Justin Michael Hietala, age 41, generally of Ukiah, was convicted of three violent felonies and knife use sentencing allegations attached to each of the three substantive counts.

The defendant was found guilty of:

(1) Attempted Carjacking from a woman and her two children in the McDonald’s parking lot in central Ukiah the morning of June 24th by his personal use of a knife;

(2) Attempted Carjacking from the same woman and children in the Pear Tree Shopping Center parking lot again by his personal use of a knife on that same date after she had escaped his first attempt across the street; and

(3) a completed Carjacking from a patient transportation vehicle driver waiting to pick up a client at the dialysis clinic on South Orchard by the defendant’s personal use of the same knife on that same date after his first two attempts to get the other car up the street had failed.

All three convictions were entered into the record as felonies.

The law enforcement agencies that investigated and developed the evidence presented at trial were the Ukiah Police Department, the California Highway Patrol, the DA’s own Bureau of Investigations, and the California Department of Justice’s Latent Fingerprints Unit.

Special thanks are extended to the two adult victims for their cooperation with the law enforcement investigation, for their appearance before the jury, and their compelling testimony at the trial.

The prosecutor who presented the People’s evidence at trial was District Attorney David Eyster.

Presiding Mendocino County Superior Court Judge Keith Faulder presided over the three-day trial.

After the jury was excused, a further bench trial was calendared for October 11, 2024 at 10 o’clock in Department A of the Ukiah Courthouse for the prosecutor to present additional evidence not heard by the jury to support the DA’s filed allegations that the defendant’s three-crimes-in-one is an aggravated case.

The defendant’s case will be referred to the Mendocino County Adult Probation Department for a background study and sentencing recommendation and a sentencing hearing date picked after the October 11th evidentiary hearing.

Defendant Hietala will remain in-custody at the Low Gap Jail Facility. His bail was converted to a no bail hold after the verdicts were announced and entered into the record.

UKIAH CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATES ANSWER QUESTIONS

by Justine Frederiksen

Five candidates running for two seats on the Ukiah City Council this November answered questions at a forum held Tuesday night in Ukiah.

Held in the Council Chambers at the Ukiah Civic Center on Sept. 24, the forum was moderated by Wendy DeWitt, presented by the Mendocino Women’s Political Coalition and the American Association of University Women with the assistance of the Northern California Youth Policy Coalition, and featured all but one of the candidates vying for the seats currently occupied by incumbents Doug Crane and Josefina Duenas: Jacob Brown, Crane, Heather Criss, Duenas, and John Strangio.

The candidates’ answers to two questions are presented below:

Would you support closing off School Street as a pedestrian mall?

Jacob Brown: “Funny you mention that, because initially I would have said ‘no, absolutely not,’ but I recently drove through a cool little town called Hollister, and it absolutely changed my mind, (because they have a pedestrian mall in their downtown now that has) created its own little economic development area, and changed the whole dynamic of that town. So I am willing to take a hard look at that and consider it. And for those who wouldn’t, I encourage you to take a look at Hollister before you decide.”

John Strangio: “I think there’s a lot that needs to be discussed beforehand, because parking is in extremely short supply downtown. We need more parking, and closing off School Street would remove parking. I would represent the people, not just my own opinions, and so I would want to know: is that going to help the businesses downtown, or hurt them? I would like to encourage more events downtown, and shutting down that street for periods of time, but not permanently.”

Heather Kriss: “I am usually in favor of those things, but there is a lot of parking on School Street we would lose, and how would we mitigate that, especially in the neighborhoods. But (anything that would make downtown) much more tourist-friendly and invite more people to come to it definitely needs to be considered.”

Douglas Crane: “I am neither for Nor against the idea, which was seriously considered 30 to 40 years ago. I suggest that that is a topic discussed once there is a new courthouse, as those pieces go together.”

Josefina Duenas: “I think it is a great idea for vendors, for offering food and music, and as a way to get people to engage with each other. It’s something that we should be talking about it.”

When asked what ideas they had for creating more middle-income housing in Ukiah, most of the candidates pointed to the city’s annexation efforts as opening up avenues for that:

Kriss: “Annexation could create a lot of work-force housing opportunities.”

Duenas: “It is exciting to know that we are going to have more land and more space.”

Crane: “Infrastructure is key to supporting more housing, and the city has been reaching out and receiving grants, $73 million (worth of them) to stabilize utilities to support housing and businesses.”

Strangio: “One of my top three areas of concern is housing, so I’m pretty excited about (recent changes in the availability of water), because some of the hold-ups on expansion has been the availability of water.”

Brown: “Smart annexation is part of the plan to increasing middle-income housing, and infrastructure improvements are also important, much of which Ukiah is already doing.”

THE UKIAH CITY COUNCIL candidates forum on Tuesday was the usual Mendo blather fest with mostly vague questions, one-minute time limits for answers, and predictable cliche-filled remarks. Nobody was critical of anything. And, except for one brief aside, were remarkable for what they didn’t discuss. No questions about the pending new courthouse and its impact on downtown, no questions about the Palace Hotel, no questions about the Police Department, no questions about the city overlarge and overpaid bureaucracy, no questions about the pending ballot measure which would greatly increase the city’s transient occupancy tax. There were no questions about the City’s large homelessness problem or what should be done about its disproportionate share of the County’s walking wounded, although some of the candidates at least tried to bring that up on their own, a couple of them even mentioned the “Fort Bragg model.” One candidate at least brought up the high number of vacant buildings in Ukiah commercial area, but had no idea about what to do about it. One question asked the candidates their opinion of the City’s zoning code, what they’d keep and what they’d remove! Oh, and keep your answer to under a minute. Incumbent councilperson Josephina Duenas insisted on giving all her abbreviated answers in both Engish and Spanish, further reducing her time to respond. All-in-all, it was one of the least informative “forums” we’ve heard, and we’ve heard more than we care to remember.

(Mark Scaramella)

MARIANNE MCGEE

Jacob Patterson’s reply regarding Jade Tippet’s comments on the mysterious Alliance for a Better Fort Bragg illustrated who is the voice of the Skunk Train and used it to promote his 2 male candidates, including given them 45 minutes to campaign! While the proven misogynist claimed the 2 female candidates were there, it was shown they were not and was interesting that his Alliance endorsed the two male candidates.

Jacob actually pointed out some of the Skunk Train’s illegal actions, including how candidates were negatively affected by those illegal actions. Now they are promising to this group they will now obey all laws, including planning regulations. Now they are promising they will no longer engage in eminent domain; not mentioning the elderly woman in Fort Bragg, who lost her home, and the man in Willits, who spent his life savings protecting his home. I don’t trust empty promises from the Skunk Train, Mr. Hart or their companies to suddenly obey all planning policies and regulations on the most valuable piece of real estate in Fort Bragg.

I think it’s appropriate for City staff to attend community meetings, especially concerning improving Fort Bragg. While apparently this grew from unhappy city residents, there are always people with a gripe about government everywhere. The Skunk Train focus, with Jacob Patterson as the voice, kept me and other people from wanting to participate.

People may remember how the community and the City have supported the Skunk Train, such as when the tunnel first collapsed, and none of us want to see the Skunk Train destroyed. We all want legal, rational and planned growth for this City and it is unfortunate it has cost the City and Coastal Commission so much money to resolve this.

Lindy Peters is the only candidate who has government experience, is a proven leader and extremely knowledgeable about all these critical ongoing issues. Lindy has supported the female City staffs, who were harassed by Jacob Patterson, to the point they finally resigned. Jacob bombarded them with thousands of emails, phone calls, reams of irrelevant paper. (This is easily available in Council meeting minutes for years) Loss of competent and experienced staff has a negative impact on the growth and stability of Fort Bragg. It also has a negative impact on potential Council and Commission candidates, who do not want to endure this behavior.

RYAN BALLOU: You may recognize this location in Noyo Harbor even if you have never been there.

Located in Fort Bragg California, this exact spot was filmed during the making of the movie Overboard.

I was rewatching it the other night and felt like I was looking at my own pictures. The harbor hasn't changed much since filming that movie.

FORT BRAGG CITY COUNCIL ELECTION

In regards to my candidacy for Fort Bragg City Council Member, I want to take this opportunity to clarify some misinformation reported in the article “Dark Money in Fort Bragg Politics?” Anderson Valley Advertiser, 25 September 2024.

To date, I have not accepted campaign donations from Alliance For A Better Fort Bragg, or any other organization or individual. I am not in the pocket of the Skunk Train, nor anyone else. I will remain fair and objective in all matters.

The City of Fort Bragg and Skunk Train/Mendocino Railway dispute is a very complex issue. The rumor mill is ripe with ideas of what this lawsuit is about, what it covers, who is at fault and what is really the intended end result. This litigation does not change ownership of the former mill site property, it does not change the zoning issues, ongoing toxic clean up, or the permitting process for anything not train related.

The Skunk train is a major tourism attraction, bringing people to our area, filling shops, hotels, and restaurants, bringing income to our businesses and taxes to our city. It is an important part of our community.

That being said, I also believe in personal property rights and do not believe in the use of eminent domain on personal homes, ranches or properties, unless both parties are agreeable to the terms. My own family was adversely affected when the Skunk train built an unauthorized walking trail across the length of our property.

It is in the best interests of our community, its citizens and visitors, the City of Fort Bragg, and Mendocino Railway to work together. The City of Fort Bragg and Mendocino Railway need to come together and seek resolution sooner rather than later.

If elected, I will work with City Council members and Fort Bragg citizens to bring resolution to this ongoing conflict.

Scott Hockett

FORT BRAGG CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATES ANSWER QUESTIONS AT TOWN HALL FORUM

by Mary Benjamin

On Thursday, September 19, the Mendocino League of Women Voters hosted a forum for the five candidates on the November 5 election ballot for two open seats on the Fort Bragg City Council. Present were Bethany Brewer, Ryan Bushnell, Scott Hockett, Mel Salazar, and Lindy Peters, a current city council member who is running for reelection.

The time frame allowed for opening and closing statements and questions curated from those presented by the audience. A sizeable number of the questions were related to the City of Fort Bragg and the Skunk Train lawsuit. However, a number of key local issues were addressed as well.

All candidates noted that the housing crisis in Fort Bragg is the number one critical issue the city needs to resolve. All are aware of the problem’s impact on the community, from attracting healthcare workers to providing affordable housing for the city’s working class.

Mel Salazar commented, “No one should be forced to leave the town they love because they can’t afford to live here.” Ryan Bushnell shared that he had once been in the position of trying to find a home for a family of three kids and two dogs.

Lindy Peters listed housing units the city had already built or planned to build. All agreed to consider a proposal to apply a transient tax to Airbnb rentals, which are currently not contributing to the city’s TOT tax program. Many residents see Airbnb as keeping rental properties off the market for full-time residents.

Revitalizing the central business district found approval from all candidates as well. Three candidates mentioned new businesses that were coming in on Franklin Street. Bethany Brewer highlighted the city’s small business loan program and low interest rates. Scott Hockett suggested, “Relax a little on the permitting and maybe streamline it to get some businesses in here more easily.”

Peters agreed there were too many vacancies on Franklin Street. He listed examples of city efforts to bend regulations to accommodate businesses. He promoted a “vacancy tax” for storefronts left vacant for more than 60 days. “A lot of these are owned by out-of-town owners who don’t have an interest in our town locally. They’re not really involved,” he said.

Peters also stressed how sales taxes from local businesses affect the city’s economy. “Sales tax and TOT tax go into our general fund to pay police and City Hall staff.” He continued, “That’s what drives this town. You have to have businesses and sales tax coming in.”

All the candidates expressed concern about substance abuse, particularly fentanyl use. Most encouraged more intense youth education programs to stem the tide. Peters noted that the City Council had funded a school resource officer for the school district.

Brewer and Bushnell took the opportunity to praise the Fort Bragg Police Department and its CRU team for successfully addressing the problem of substance abuse and its causes.

Brewer described the FBPD Project Right Now, in which she had participated, a program that educated students about drugs and trained community members to use Narcan. She described the cooperation between the court system, the schools, and the parents.

“Everyone would come together in the same room,” she said, “and discuss what is the best plan for this child.” She added, “We worked with Juvenile DA and Probation Departments to transfer kids and young adults out of juvenile hall and into rehab instead. I’ve seen it work.”

Climate change and the city’s efforts to combat it was another issue of discussion. Both Bushnell and Hockett noted the city’s conversion to all-electric vehicles and the police department’s fleet of hybrid trucks. Both Brewer and Hockett praised the installation of solar panels on city buildings.

Salazar noted that she didn’t have much knowledge in the topic but offered a look into how she would determine support for further actions. “We live in a coastal town,” she said. “We live in a delicate ecosystem. We do have ethical and judiciary responsibilities to uphold to high standards to make sure we are conserving our ocean and forests.”

Peters said, “The city is fully aware that climate change is here and that it definitely affects this community. We need to keep our eyes on the future.” He reminded the audience that changes already include the loss of abalone, the dying off of the kelp forest, and the infestation of the purple urchins.

He continued, “Salt water intrusion already goes up the Noyo River, our main source of water. Sea level will rise, and the harbor will have to move. It’s coming sooner than you think.” He also added that the city intends to put in more charging stations for electric cars.

Peters then reminded the audience of his earlier comments about the city’s application for a PG&E grant that provides rural communities with a micro-grid to address sudden power shutdowns. “We need it for major PSPS events that cut off electricity, and generators can only go so far,” he said.

So many members of the audience presented questions about the city and Skunk Train lawsuit that the moderator combined all of them into one. She asked, “What are your thoughts about the use of the mill site as well as the Skunk Train situation?”

The candidates had responded earlier to a question about the Skunk Train, and four of them repeated what they had previously said. Salazar and Brewer said that without knowledge of any privileged information, they were not comfortable presenting viewpoints on the lawsuit.

All, however, agreed on how valuable the mill property is to Fort Bragg’s future for housing, cultural events, and new businesses, such as a dairy that Peters suggested. Bushnell added that he “doesn’t want a Disneyland or big box chains.” Fort Bragg should remain a small town.

Bushnell and Hockett stated that they would like to see a settlement. Hockett expressed ideas about the development of the mill site, such as housing, aquaculture, and bringing “serious paying jobs so our youth is able to stay in this community.” Bushnell stressed that “only the lawyers are winning, and mediation is a good thing.”

Lindy Peters gave an extended answer concerning the city’s lawsuit against the Mendocino Railway. He said, “I recognize the Skunk Train is a vital part of our community.” He continued, “That the Council is all against the Skunk Train is not true. However, the Skunk Train should play by the same rules everyone else is playing by.”

Peters then described the unsettled issue between the city and the Skunk Train. He said, “Right now, we think they are an excursion train, and the Skunk Train says they are a common carrier train.”

He continued, “A common carrier train carries passengers and freight to other destinations. An excursion train goes to the tunnel and back. That’s the core issue, and the courts have agreed with us every time on that.”

He explained the important difference between the two categories. “If you are a railroad, you can have puddles of oil. You can put anything you want on the ground out there, and there’s no environmental review.” As an excursion train, any construction or replacing of tracks or any other work would be subject to city and county regulations. A commercial train is not.

Peters pointed to the lack of a permit plan from the Skunk Train, which is postponing the city’s desire to rezone the mill site. He said, “They say the city is stopping them. We’re not stopping them. Come forward with some plans.”

Peters also informed the audience of the current status of the city’s lawsuit. With each ruling finding for the city, the Mendocino Railway has chosen to appeal to a higher court. At this time, the lawsuit is in the discovery phase in the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco.

Peters also shared that mediation was in progress “to try to work with the Skunk Train, out of the court system, to get a settlement done.”

In closing statements, the candidates took the opportunity to stress their most important reasons for seeking a City Council seat. Salazar spoke again of her “core belief” that “the strength of our community comes from working together.” She added, “It’s important to have leadership that represents all walks of life and actively collaborates to solve the challenges we face day in and day out.”

Hockett promised his full commitment, that he “won’t give up on the community.” He stressed again the need for youth activities to keep them focused and away from drugs.

Peters reminded the audience of his 22 years of service on the City Council and asserted, “I work well with others. I show up.” He described what the City Council achieved over the past four years and spoke about a student exchange program he began in 1997 that is still ongoing. “Right now, our students are in Japan. We will continue the success of the city.”

Brewer said, “I would like to emphasize that a seat on the City Council is a position of service. This is not a position of power.” She added, “I have proven myself to be a compassionate voice for the underserved members of our community, and if elected to the Council, I will promise to do the same for all the citizens of Fort Bragg.”

Ryan Bushnell spoke in the spirit of cooperation. He said, “These are five great people up here. I will support whoever wins and do what I can to help them. If I do win, I will work as a team to make Fort Bragg better. Fort Bragg does better when we all do better.”

RARE FIN WHALE, ‘GREYHOUND OF THE SEA’ FOUND DEAD ON MENDOCINO COAST; SUSPECTED VICTIM OF VESSEL STRIKE

The rare, stranded fin whale brought experts from around the North Coast to Ten Mile Beach near Fort Bragg, where investigation turned up blunt force injuries consistent with a ship strike.

by Mary Callahan

A young endangered fin whale found dead on the Mendocino Coast earlier this month had blunt force injuries consistent with a vessel strike.

But just how the 40-foot whale died will never be truly known because there were no external injuries observed when it was first reported, experts said.

The whale, a female, appeared to be in pristine condition ― well-fed, unscarred and only recently deceased ― when it first washed ashore Sept. 14 on Ten Mile Beach near Fort Bragg, said Sarah Grimes, marine mammal stranding coordinator with Noyo Center for Marine Science in Fort Bragg.

“She was breathtakingly beautiful” that first day, Grimes said Thursday, “just a stunning, perfect creature, really.”

But a necropsy performed two days later by a coalition of experts from around Northern California turned up internal injures at the base of its skull consistent with ship strike, said Moe Flannery, senior collections manager of ornithology and mammalogy at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco.

By then, the whale had been swept back into the ocean with the tides several times and had been scavenged by sharks in what would become at least a weeklong feast, as the tides returned it to the sea each day, Grimes said.

“Each night that she goes out, the sharks have more of her,” Grimes said. On shore, “the turkey vultures, the ravens and the gulls are all feasting.”

Fin whales are the second-largest animals on earth, second only to the mammoth blue whale, which can reach 110 feet in length and is considered the largest animal ever to have existed ― even when dinosaurs are taken into account.

Fin whales are smaller, reaching up to 85 feet in length and weighing up to 80 tons, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Like the blue whale, the fin whale has been listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act since the federal law was passed in 1973.

Both are baleen whales, or filter feeders, with pronounced throat grooves that expand and contract when the whale is eating. These grooves, or throat pleats, allow them to take great gulps of ocean water that they then force through their baleen structures to strain out krill, small fish and other food.

Fin whales are particularly sleek and very fast ― “the greyhound of the sea,” Grimes said.

They also have an amazing life span of 60 to 100 years.

It’s unclear how long the fin whale near Fort Bragg had lived, but it was neither calf nor grown adult, Grimes said.

Flannery said it was one of eight dead fin whales to have washed ashore over the past 20 years in the Cal Academy response area from the San Mateo/Santa Cruz County line to mid-Mendocino County.

They are more commonly found in Southern California, contributing to a count of 44 stranded fin whales between 2006 and 2023 off the California Coast, according to NOAA. Generally, two to four animals come ashore each year, though in 2021 the number spiked to nine.

Though numbers this year were not immediately available, there appeared to have been more than usual so far, said Justin Viezbicke, California stranding coordinator for NOAA Fisheries.

“Fin whales seem to be unusually visible and numerous this year,” said Michael Milstein, public information officer with NOAA’s West Coast Regional office. “Some of the biologists believe it is the combination of abundant anchovy and krill that are drawing them closer to shore where they are more visible. Of course the numbers of fin whales have also increased steadily over the years so there are an estimated at least 8,000 off the West Coast now.”

But ship strikes continues to be a threat, as it is for all whale species. They have been implicated in the deaths of seven fin whales from 2015 to 2019, according to a 2022 stock assessment report. In addition, most vessel strike incidents are never detected because the affected animals don’t come ashore or don’t have obvious signs of injury.

Unless there’s an obvious propeller strike, fin amputation or other external injury, it’s impossible to tell, Flannery said, except when a necropsy can be performed, which is not always possible if they strand in too remote a location or are too decomposed.

The Mendocino County fin whale washed up more than a mile south of its original location, Grimes said, and several teams of scientists authorized under permit to work on endangered species gathered from the California Academy of Sciences, The Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, the Noyo Center and Cal Poly Humboldt.

The group included different specialists and needed to be big enough to complete a necropsy within the 2-to-2 1/2-hour window allowed by shifting tides, Flannery said. Some took tissue samples and examined organs. Others inspected bones and muscles, discovering the blunt force injury.

“It’s a really important collaboration that we have all worked together on for years and years, to be able to do the scientific work that we’re able to do,” she said.

Fin whales are very rare to have wash ashore,” Grimes said. “We can learn about their natural history and the individual. That’s why teams drove from Arcata. This is an epic learning opportunity.”

All marine mammal stranding activities are conducted under authorization by the National Marine Fisheries Service through a Stranding Agreement issued to the California Academy of Sciences/Noyo Center for Marine Science (SA-WCR-2023-016) and MMPA/ESA Permit No. 24359.

Stevan Dohanos (1907-1994) - "Tending the Garden" for The Saturday Evening Post (May 26, 1951)

AV SKATEPARK NEWS

Thanks to our brilliant engineering and architecture team, our full site plan is now complete! Using the recently completed skatepark construction plans, Cornerstone Civil (Tyler Pearson) finalized a thoughtful drainage and grading design to address existing drainage problems in the park and accommodate new park improvements. The drainage and grading plan was designed in close coordination with the adjacent (and downstream!) AV Health Center.

During the summer months, we undertook an analysis to determine potential donor support for a broader re-envisioning of Anderson Valley's Community Park. In addition to a skatepark, the more ample scope included a range of other potential park improvements, such as toilets and drinking fountains, a pavilion for informal gatherings and cookouts, a climbing boulder, and an exercise pad.

The analysis is now complete, and we are grateful for the collective wisdom of the individuals who provided thoughtful feedback on our plans.

Insights from the study have helped tremendously in our process of honing the scope and phasing the project, as well as thoughtful structuring of a more formal fundraising campaign to build on our early success.

LOCAL FARM STANDS

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.

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

Blue Meadow Farm

Open Tuesday - Sunday

10 AM - 7 PM

Closed Monday

Blue Meadow Farm

Holmes Ranch Rd & Hwy 128

Philo, CA 95466 (707) 895-2071

Velma's Farm Stand at Filigreen Farm

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

For fresh produce this week: table grapes, pears, apples, winter squash (delicata and kabocha), eggplant, tomatoes (heirlooms, cherry tomatoes, new girls), sweet peppers, hot peppers, sprouting broccoli, green cabbage, hakurei turnips, potatoes, celery, onions, spinach, arugula, beets, carrots, kale, chard, basil and flowers. We will also have dried fruit, tea blends, frozen blueberries, 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)!

MONTHLY NATURE WALKS WITH PAUL

4th Saturday of each month
from 10AM to 12PM
this monthly guided tour begins at the MCBG entrance

Join MCBG Horticulturist Paul Ruiz-Lopez for our monthly nature walks! These guided tours will lead you through the horticultural and natural areas of the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens. The main focus of the walk will vary from month to month (see schedule below). Plants will be the main subject of observance and discussion, but we will also keep an eye out for animals such as birds, marine mammals, insects, amphibians, and more. The idea is to highlight the prominent “phenomenon” that is occurring in our garden and natural areas each month. Come explore the Gardens' natural history and learn to think like a naturalist!

September 28 – Fall Migrating Birds
Activity: Observance and discussion of fall migrating songbirds
Terrain: Mostly paved trails with some off-trail walking in the grassy areas
What to bring: Binoculars (if you have them), journal, pencil, and your smartphone with iNaturalist app

https://www.gardenbythesea.org/calendar/nature-walks

FRIENDS OF THE EEL RIVER: Over the summer we have been slowly working to update our website, and it’s finally ready to share! Frequent website visitors may have noticed it went live a few weeks ago, if you haven’t seen it yet please head over to eelriver.org and let us know what you think. We are always striving to improve information accessibility and ensure our supporters are informed about our work protecting the Eel River.

FLYNN CREEK CIRCUS RETURNS WITH THE NEW 2024 SEASON SHOW

Internationally acclaimed Flynn Creek Circus returns to Boonville, with a super star line up in their all new show, 'The Heavy Lift!'. Come enjoy the spectacle under the big top tent October 24th through 27th.

Featuring wild stunts and mind blowing skills, 'The Heavy Lift' is an original, film noir detective story. Flynn Creek Circus' distinctive presentation marked by high comedy, modern creativity, and playful absurdity promises to exceed expectations.

Follow the lovable Private Detective as he fumbles into the case of the missing pigeons. The capable Secretary, a band of rowdy newsies, and the terrifyingly polite Building Inspector are some of the vibrant characters in this moody mystery. Adults will find layered metaphor, children will giggle at cartoonish antics, and everyone will be stunned by the skill and polish of the acrobatic cast. Flynn Creek Circus' enchanting performances dazzle with unforgettable, animal-free entertainment.

In addition to the family friendly showings and the interactive children's camp program, Flynn Creek Circus also presents the wildly popular 'Adults Only Show' boasting outrageous acts, dark comedy, and an infamous party atmosphere. Check the website for select adults only showtimes.

Spectators for all showings are invited to the tent to experience the magic up to 30 minutes before each show. The event will offer beer, wine, and light concession for purchase and include a 15 minute intermission during the two hour show.

Tickets for Flynn Creek Circus are now available for purchase online at flynncreekcircus.com. Individual ticket prices start at $18 or table reservation options start at $81 for two attendees. Early booking is encouraged for this highly anticipated event.

For more information, press inquiries, or interview requests, please contact Blaze Birge at circus@flynncreekcircus.com. High-resolution images and media resources are also available upon request.

About Flynn Creek Circus:

Flynn Creek Circus was founded in 2002 as a rurally-based, internationally sourced, circus-theater company. Since then Flynn Creek Circus continues to offer entertainment to all ages and opportunity to exceptional artists. Touring in their regal red and champagne big top, the show presents award-winning talent to the villages and cities of the Pacific Northwest and beyond. Flynn Creek Circus' mission is to radically inspire audiences through disciplined artistic and athletic risk.

Site Location, Dates and Times:

Anderson Valley Brewing Company Lawn

Boonville, ca 95415

October 24th - 27th

Thursday, Oct 24 at 7pm (opening night, all tables $10 off)

Friday, Oct 25 at 7pm (adults only 21+)

Saturday, Oct 26 at 4pm

Saturday, Oct 26 at 7pm (adults only 21+)

Sunday, Oct 27 at 1pm

Sunday, Oct 27 at 4pm

MENDOCINO COAST CLINICS - DELIVERING BABIES ON THE COAST: THEN AND NOW

by Dr. Brent Wright

My wife and I moved to the Mendocino Coast in 1999 when I was hired as the physician director of the OB/GYN program at Mendocino Coast District Hospital. I was a brand new doctor, fresh out of medical residency.

For some people, Fort Bragg feels too quiet, too rural, and too geographically remote. For me and my wife (an adjunct professor), it is perfect. This area is beautiful and the community is close-knit. Since we also have a medically underserved population, I spent my career doing something meaningful by practicing medicine here.

Six years after I was hired, the hospital decided its obstetrics service was too expensive, so they closed the clinic; however, they would still allow women to give birth there through private providers. That’s when Mendocino Coast Clinics (MCC) jumped in, as they so often do, to find a way to salvage obstetrical care here on the coast. They hired me as an OB/GYN, a role I continued until I retired in 2022.

Starting in the mid-2000s, the hospital and MCC partnered to cover the costs that come with providing labor and delivery services. This worked well for quite a while, and we experienced growth—both in terms of the number of providers offering OB/GYN care and the number of patients we saw. And then, as often happens, things continued to change.

As the demographics of the area have shifted, the number of babies delivered in Mendocino County decreased in line with national birth rate trends. At the same time, some women opted for home births and others chose to drive over the hill to Ukiah for their OB/GYN care.

Through it all, MCC’s executive directors—first Paula Cohen and then Lucresha Renteria—have remained dedicated to ensuring pregnant patients have access to obstetric care here on the coast.

In early 2022, in response to the drop in the number of local births and the retirement of local obstetrical providers and nurses, the hospital determined it was no longer feasible to operate its Labor and Delivery department.

This was a significant change from 2005, when providers could still deliver babies at the hospital. This recent closure meant there would be no more births on the coast except in emergencies.

Those of us at MCC asked the kinds of questions community health centers do when they identify gaps in healthcare: What kind of planning could be done to keep women and babies safe? How could we assure that local obstetric care was available to women who lacked the means to travel to Ukiah for visits?

MCC came up with a plan to offer obstetric care for pregnant women here in Fort Bragg up to 28 weeks’ gestation, then transfer their care elsewhere for the duration of their pregnancy, most frequently to MCHC Health Centers in Ukiah.

I know clinics like ours will continue exploring every avenue for providing care when other options become unavailable, whether that’s making more use of technology or looking into options like a birth center that offers obstetric and delivery care for low-risk births.

I can’t predict what the future holds, but I know MCC will continue pursuing the best and most sustainable options for our area.

As we consider what comes next in healthcare, it’s important to look at who our residents are and what care they require. Regardless of someone’s financial means or health insurance status, MCC will continue to provide holistic care from primary care to OB/GYN, pediatrics, dental care, behavioral health and even street medicine for the unhoused. Right now, our coastal community includes many people with little or no insurance, from our older residents who depend on public insurance (Medicare) or Medi-Cal to an increasing number of young people in the service industry, many of whom do not have any health insurance. I think of MCC as the guardian angels of the medically underserved here.

As a physician, I love that our community isn’t the kind of place where you see a patient once, send them away, and never see them again. Much of the trend in America has been toward the corporatization of medicine, with a focus on business instead of service. MCC has been and continues to fight the battle to keep priorities focused on the needs of local patients.

I’ve personally delivered more than 1,000 babies on the coast (I lost track of the exact count at some point). It has meant a lot to me to care for a mother and later become the provider for her child. My wife and I used to joke that we had to allow an extra hour whenever we went out because I would run into patients and their kids everywhere—not just the clinic or the hospital, but also the grocery store. My patients have invited me to birthday parties, weddings, and anniversaries.

As much as the healthcare landscape has changed and will continue to, what won’t change is the meaningful, generations-long relationships formed by the people who choose to live here.

Mendocino County is the best place I’ve ever lived, and MCC is the best place I’ve ever worked. I am extremely grateful to MCC for providing me the opportunity to live and work here, and I’m grateful for their dedication to providing essential medical services for the underserved and for those at greatest risk.

Brent Wright worked as an obstetrician-gynecologist (OB/GYN) at Mendocino Coast Clinics from 2005 until his retirement in 2022.

ED NOTES

NAVARRO’S LOST SISTER CITY

by Bruce Anderson

Down the road from Navarro, very near the 1964 high water mark, there was once a thriving little town complete with post office, a school and a telephone exchange. It has disappeared almost without a physical trace, and when the last children of the last people who once lived there are gone, Hop Flat, a suburb of Navarro when Navarro itself was large enough to support three hotels and a round-the-clock brothel, won't even be a memory.

Hop Flatters are remembered as hard working people who danced every night until midnight and then fought each other until the sun came up when it was time to go to work, hence Hop Flat. The town boomed when the big mill at Navarro boomed and died when the big mill died with the end of World War Two.

Situated in a leisurely bend of the Navarro river, and almost hidden by that perpendicular point of upthrust rock which still rises 200 feet above the river bed, Hop Flat was spread out along the slopes above the Navarro less than a stone’s throw from the white stenciled high water memorial the traveler marvels at on that pinnacle today.

When winter floods forced the Hop Flatters out of their homes, they moved in with their neighbors higher up the hillside on the south side of the river. When the river dropped and the sun came back out, the Hop Flatters scrubbed their floors free of silt, lit a big, drying wood fire in the stove, and moved back in.

The banks of the Navarro River, which overflows almost every winter, especially at its narrow juncture where the town was unaccountably situated, would seem an unlikely place to build a town, but Hop Flat was up and thriving in the floodplain by 1880. The village, like a rainy day mushroom, simply seemed to appear, established by tough, resilient, resourceful families who worked the woods for the Navarro Lumber Mill and its adjacent railroad that ran up through Hop Flat to Comptche, and then on to its terminus at Albion where the mill’s lumber, and usually a few passengers, were loaded onto schooners bound for San Francisco.

The town got its name from the many weekend dances, or “hops” held there by the exuberant loggers and mill workers and their lively families. The 200-foot cliff where the Navarro River crested in the famous downpour of December 22, 1964, looked directly out at these spirited gatherings and the town hosting them. As late as 1970, there was a white post with “Hop Flat” lettered in black on it, and a small sign, also of wood, that said “Ray Gulch R” which marked the site of the railroad that ran up the canyon. They're gone now, but even if they survived who would believe that that narrow bend of the Navarro once rang with happy laughter and the merry sounds of fiddles?

Wholly a creature of the early timber industry, Hop Flat was reached by the also long gone train that ran from Christine, on the Boonville side of Navarro, up through Comptche and on out to Albion where passengers and lumber would make sea connections for points north and south. Rounding the high water bend on what is now Highway 128 by train, you soon burst into the throng and bustle of the thriving hamlet, and just as quickly the community was lost to view when the railroad took another turn, meandered through Ray Gulch and on up to Comptche.

If the train lingered at Hop Flat, the most imposing building a passenger would see was the tannery, then the surprisingly large, pleasingly ornate hotel, and next door to the hotel, a post office and a small structure housing a telephone office and a laundry. And there was the one-room schoolhouse in which all the town’s hopes were invested, as they were then invested in every hamlet of the Northcoast. The rest of the village consisted of neat little dwellings with carefully tended gardens surrounding them.

When they couldn't find any other housing, single mill workers stayed at the Hop Flat hotel not far from the barn that sheltered the bull teams that hauled the logs from the woods to the railroad. There were several cookhouses, each of them presided over by a Chinese cook.

The famous dance hall was unromantically located in a large room over the tannery vats. These much anticipated events temporarily helped the revelers forget how hard and for how little they worked. When the work ended, the Hop Flatters and their music moved on to new stands of timber, and there hasn't been a song sung in the high water place since, but the descendants of two generations of Witherells, Mains, Grants, McCartys, Hargraves, Quinns, Andreanis, Devers, Kings, Freemans, Whiteds, Simpsons, Stumps, Linscots, Rileys, Shirles, Bradburys, Franklins, and Dyers, if they pause on a still night at that unlikely bend in the road where the river one December night in 1964 ran higher than it ever had, they might hear laughter, and fiddles playing the old songs quick in time with dancing feet.

From the establishment of the first lumber mill at Mendocino in 1853, fires periodically destroyed much of San Francisco which, tragic as they were for San Francisco, provided a large impetus for Mendocino County's fledgling timber industry, and inspired the mills of Anderson Valley as the loggers worked their way inland from the coast. Sailing ships called dog schooners, many of them built at Fairhaven, a small town near Eureka, carried lumber to the larger ports from tiny landings on the Mendocino coast called “dog holes” because they were so small the sailors said that a dog could hardly turn around in them.

The Wawona, a Yosemite Indian word for Spotted Owl, was a lumber schooner built in Fairhaven in the late 1800s. The Indians believed the Spotted Owl was the guardian of the forests. Indians, however, were unlikely to appreciate the irony of a lumber schooner being named after their sacred bird, but they might be somewhat mollified that the owl would again become a talisman wielded by environmentalists, many of whom regard themselves as white Indians. The white Indians say if an area of forest is home to the owl, it is relatively healthy. No Spotty, no health.

Beginning in 1880, shipbuilders installed boilers on the old schooners, which meant that the new hybrid sail and steam vessels could now get up and down the California coast faster and mostly on time. Prior to the installation of the boilers, a sailing schooner, if the winds were right, could get from Fort Bragg to San Francisco in 15 hours. If there were no winds, the voyage might take a month.

The schooners were retired by the time of The Great Depression and they, along with the many dog hole ports and the little Hop Flat towns that went with them, in all those numerously improbable inlets from Bolinas to Crescent City, were gone.

In 1911 the Skunk rail line running between Willits and Fort Bragg linked the Mendocino Coast to the north-south rail line running between San Francisco and Eureka. By 1935, lumber was moving from Northcoast mills mostly by train, with a few trucks toting an increasing share of the load. Then the trucks replaced the trains and Hop Flat and the rest of us have been on the road ever since.

SCANDALS BREWING

by Kaylin Harr, Kelley House Museum summer intern

Coming home from a hard, day-long job, it’s likely that you want to sink onto your couch and pour yourself a beer. The loggers of Mendocino felt the same way 150 years ago. After chopping, milling, and shipping tons of redwood trees, sipping a cold one was a perfect way to relax and forget about the limbs you almost lost. Luckily, the area was not short on breweries, and the two largest, Mendocino Brewery and Pine Grove Brewery, produced beer for the town until Mendocino’s early prohibition law took effect in 1909. But for a little over 40 years, the actions of Mendocino’s brewers gave rise to gossip juicier than the fermenting hops used in their beer.

Mendocino’s first brewery was established in 1867 by an Austrian immigrant named Mathias Brinzing. He built it on the bluffs north of Mendocino where the Agate Cove Inn is now located. Advertised in the West Coast Star in 1874 as “brewing a superior article of beer,” Brinzing was able to fulfill the growing demand for alcohol in the town. Mathias’s niece, Maria Crezentia, had come to take care of his house and in 1874 she married a logger by the name of Johannes Christoff Sarowski. Martin Brinzing, Mathias’s nephew, also worked at the brewery. When Mathias died in 1877, the family members sold the brewery for $1800, then bought it back just four months later for the same $1,800. This odd series of transactions may have been inspired by a desire to avoid inheritance tax.

J.C. Sarowski had an ongoing inclination to avoid paying taxes, and in 1882 he was added to a delinquent tax list; again in October of 1887, he was arrested for “defrauding the government out of the tax on 150 barrels of beer.” When, in 1903, he was fined $500 for reusing revenue stamps (that indicated taxes had been paid), Maria decided to allow their business licenses to lapse, hoping that “Mendocino would soon be noted as a place of sobriety and safety.” Maria died in January, 1910, and four months later, J.C. married Amanda Sjolund; he died two years later and Amanda lived to the ripe age of 95 and died in 1951.

But, we digress. In 1873, five miles north of Mendocino in the small community of Pine Grove (at the current entrance to the Point Cabrillo Lighthouse), a man named Charles David Ferdinand Sass established the Pine Grove Brewery, providing beer to Mendocino, Fort Bragg, and the saloon and dance hall in Pine Grove itself. In 1878, the 37-year-old Sass built a home alongside the brewery to share with his new wife, 15-year-old Margaret Jane Gordon. Margaret’s first three children with Sass died before the age of seven. She had two more children while married to Sass; the first, from an extramarital affair; was given up for adoption. That prompted Sass to write Margaret out of his will, but Margaret gave birth to one more of his children before he was committed to the Napa Insane Asylum in 1888. After his death a year later, Margaret and the child inherited the brewery and surrounding land.

After a respectable period of mourning, in October of 1890, Margaret married Martin Brinzing, Mathias’s nephew, and the brewer at the Mendocino Brewery. Being in the same line of work, Brinzing and Sass had known each other and even worked together, but apparently Brinzing was also acquainted with Margaret as the rumor spread that he had fathered the child she gave up for adoption.

After their marriage, Brinzing took over the Pine Grove Brewery, calling it “the best beer on the coast.” He was not totally law-abiding himself, and in 1903 the same man that had fined Sarowski also fined Brinzing $100 for using uncancelled revenue stamps. That didn’t slow Brinzing down much, though, and he then rented the closed Mendocino Brewery and began to produce beer at the business his uncle had created over 30 years before. Unfortunately, just one year later Martin died from pneumonia. His brewmaster, Fritz Waschter, continued brewing at Pine Grove until 1908, when he died from an overdose of laudanum. The Pine Grove brewery was torn down in September of 1909, soon after both Mendocino and Caspar voted to go dry.

Martin Brinzing and Fritz Waschter in front of Pine Grove Brewery.

(www.kelleyhousemuseum.org)

CATCH OF THE DAY, Thursday, September 26, 2024

CHRISTOPHER ALLEN, 39, Clearlake/Ukiah. DUI, disorderly conduct-alcohol&drugs, paraphernalia, concealed dirk-dagger, bringing alcohol or drugs into jail.

JONATHAN DAVILA, 19, Covelo. Failure to appear.

ALDAR FRAGOSO, 31, Redwood Valley. Parole violation.

NICHOLAS HALVORSEN, 52, Fort Bragg. Trespassing, probation revocation. (Frequent flyer.)

MORNINGSTARR HOAGLIN, 47, Covelo. Paraphernalia, concealed weapon.

BRANDON LANGENDERFER, 31, Laytonville. Brandishing, criminal threats, controlled substance without prescription.

BUCK LEGGETT, 40, Willits. Concealed weapon, possession of ammo by prohibited person, felon-addict with firearm, county parole violation.

MANUEL RAMIREZ, 33, Redwood Valley. DUI, suspended license for reckless driving, probation revocation.

RYAN ROYDOWNEY, 35, Covelo. Concelaed weapon, paraphernalia, marijuana for sale, disobeying court order, failure to appear.

KENNETH TORRES, 48, Santa Rosa/Ukiah. Failure to appear.

JONATHAN WOLFE, 49, Potter Valley. Arson.

AS GRAPE POSTINGS SURGE, PRICES PLUMMET

The number of posts advertising grapes for sale on the WineBusiness Bulk Wine & Grape board continues to set new records with the total for August breaking the previous month’s record with 769 new listings. August listings were up 158% compared to August 2023. Year-to-date, listings now total 3,676, which is 48% more than the total number of listings through all of 2023.…

https://www.winebusiness.com/news/article/293048

ESTHER MOBLEY

We don’t need any more articles about the impact of the movie “Sideways” on the wine industry but I quite enjoyed this take from writer Adam McHugh for Food & Wine about how the film changed the Santa Ynez Valley. My favorite line: “You can still feed ostriches, but why would you want to?”

There’s a new development in the federal investigation into Napa County. The Press Democrat’s Phil Barber reports on a letter that shows the Department of Justice wiretapped the cell phone of Napa County Supervisor Alfredo Pedroza, who was recently at the center of a vineyard development controversy.

Last week I reported on the winning bids in the bankruptcy auction of Vintage Wine Estate’s assets. Final approval was granted this week in a hearing for sales totaling $140 million, according to the North Bay Business Journal.

(SF Chronicle)

BILL KIMBERLIN

One of my friends setting up a shot for the mine sequence in, ‘Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom.’ Tom St. Amand doing his thing as a “stop motion” animator. This takes great skill and patience. In the final film sequence I defy you to tell which are the full size shots with Indy and friends and which are the miniatures such as this one.

GETTING AWAY WITH IT

Editor:

How does PG&E get away with it? PG&E’s long neglect of infrastructure created a situation where we had terrible fires with loss of homes and loss of life. Then PG&E declared bankruptcy so it wouldn’t have to pay for its neglect of infrastructure. Then PG&E decided that it needed to raise rates for the people who pay for its services, so that it could begin to recover some of the money it through its negligence. And the California Public Utilities Commission went along with it, as it always does. That’s how you commit a crime and then profit from it. It’s time to break up the monopoly of PG&E and start getting some decent treatment. I speak as an enraged taxpayer.

Connie Kellogg

Sebastopol

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

A yurt is one thing. Nailing together some discarded wooden pallets is another. Are any small children living in one of these places? If so, is there access to clean water and sanitation? Or how about elderly? They also need to be kept safe. Heating is another issue. If using a wood stove, is it safe or is it a fire hazard that can start a fire that can spread to other structures or start a wildfire?

We have building codes for a reason. If we allow people to just slap together anything and call it good, then what’s to stop someone from cobbling together a three bedroom shack? Or to allow raw sewage to drain into sensitive watersheds? Or for some idiot to load a bag of briquettes into a hibachi to keep Grandma and the kids warm?

FARMERS MARKET FOLLIES

by Paul Modic

Well, I got in trouble again with my flowers. My hobby is making bouquets and giving them to attractive women, married or not. When I babysat for Abbie Hoffman's kid Amerika back in New York when I was twenty, his wife Anita told me Abbie doesn't play by the rules and neither do I.

On the last day of the farmers market in Garberville last year I passed out high class cupcakes to each of the vendors in appreciation for all the delicious, albeit pricy, organic food they brought us that summer.

Am I a horny lonely dirty-old-man? Well, yeah, but that's beside the point, that's just the cultural subtext behind the reckless giving, but yes the flower story:

Early this Summer I was telling one of the vendors, a smoking hot purveyor of meats and vegetables, that all I wanted to find at the upcoming Summer Arts Faire was a new shirt, as my current wardrobe was plain and lacking. She suggested I visit the booth of a friend of hers who sold African clothing.

I took the shuttle down, got some free legal advice from local lawyer Eric Kirk, who I was sitting next to, and soon found her booth.

This woman was all about Africa: African husband, African kids, African dance, African food, goes to Africa to buy clothes and get clothes made, and sells them at festivals on the Northcoast.

She didn't have any on hand because at this faire you could only sell hand-made, so we connected online and she sent me some shirts. The only ones in my size were very vibrant which just didn't feel like me for if you wear a shirt like that don't you have to be as vibrant as your shirt? I told the farmers market lady and she encouraged me to wear one to the market, which I finally did.

I finally wore one out on the town, had a fun time dancing, and wrote a little story about the experience. Since the farmers market lady had turned me on to the shirt lady I decided to share the story with her. Last Friday I printed it out, put it in a folder, taped a pretty red zinnia to the folder, and took it up to the market.

“Hey, would you like to read a story about that shirt?” I asked.

“Well, I'm really busy right now and…” she said.

“Here, just read it later,” I said and handed it over.

This Summer I've given a bouquet to my possible new editor (in a relationship), my favorite bank teller (married), my one female friend (status unknown), and the counter woman at Amellia's (status unknown). One day when I didn't see a likely woman I stuck one on the car of this guy I know, then sat there in the parking lot watching him find it when he got back from the post office. So this week when I went back to the farmers market I stopped at the booth of the hot woman and proceeded to fill my bag with a ham hock, sliced ham, and sausages.

“I read your story,” she said. “My whole family read it.” She seemed very serious.

“Oh, you read it out loud?” I asked.

“We each read it and we think its very sexual and I'm a married woman and…” she said.

“Ohh,” I said. “It was actually one of my cleaner ones. So you're so hot that you have to keep the horn-dog men at bay, nip this in the bud right now?” There was one risque line in the story that went “I drank, I smoked, I came, and then I came uptown to dance.”

I bought my meats and vegetables and went on to the next booth. It was kind of embarrassing that she would think that I would think that I'm in her league, and that I was hitting on her.

I was a bit shocked, with a beatific smile glued to my face, and laughing inside at the unexpected response. I went down to the apple juice lady who last year had read some of my dialogs with me right there on the Town Square.

After a few tame ones I had said, “Well, I have a few more but they're kind of dirty.”

“Let's read 'em!” She said with a laugh, and we did.

When I got to her booth I said, “Would you like your yearly hug?”

“Yearly?” She said. “How about weekly?”

So that's something to look forward to.

CALIFORNIA HAS A MAJOR ARSON WILDFIRE PROBLEM THIS YEAR

by Julie Johnson

Power lines and lightning have ignited some of the largest wildfires that have menaced Californians in the past decade. This year so far, the big menace has been arson.

Nearly half of the acres burned in wildfires so far this year in California involve suspected cases of arson. That’s roughly 475,000 acres out of 995,974 total acres burned, which is about four times more than the last seven years combined.

The largest is the Park Fire, a nearly 430,000-acre wildfire that started July 2 in Chico and burned all the way to Lassen National Park, nearly 100 miles to the north, destroying 709 buildings in Butte and Tehama counties. Prosecutors have accused a Chico man of letting his burning car crash off a cliff in a city park.

Cal Fire officials said the number of arson fires this year isn’t unusual, and arson cases represent between 10% and 15% of fires in any given year — and this year’s numbers fit that pattern, though the acreage is greater.

“These are hundreds of fires each year that do not need to happen,” said Gianni Muschetto, staff chief in Cal Fire’s law enforcement division.

Authorities had arrested 91 people suspected of arson this year by the end of August, the most recent data available. Last year, Cal Fire reported 111 arrests and 359 cases of arson that collectively burned 2,587 acres. There were 162 arrests in 2022, 149 in 2021 and 120 in 2020.

In another arson case, firefighters in San Bernardino County were still working to contain the 40,000-acre Line Fire, which destroyed four buildings and forced thousands of people to evacuate communities in the surrounding mountains. Prosecutors have accused a 34-year-old man from Riverside County of intentionally starting the fire in a neighborhood in Highland.

The 3,789-acre Thompson Fire, which ignited July 2 just outside Oroville, is also a case of suspected arson. Investigators suspect a 26-year-old man of tossing a firework out a car window as he drove on a rural road near the Oroville dam. He faces up to 21 years in prison if convicted of all charges.

Muschetto said that arson is an incredibly serious crime because there is no way to predict the consequences. He said Cal Fire receives reports of suspected arson every day.

“Once they light that fire, they don’t know how big it will get, who it’s going to hurt or whose house will burn down,” Muschetto said. “It’s a dangerous crime.”

Lightning is the only natural cause of wildfires (along with vanishingly rare volcanic eruptions), but these are are most common in wilderness areas. All other fires are caused by people — either their actions or infrastructure.

Most cases involve accidents and don’t meet the level of arson, Muschetto said. To charge a person with arson, investigators must find evidence that the person acted recklessly or maliciously. Many fires are started by incidents such as car or machinery backfiring.

The most recent arson case is unfolding in Sonoma County, where prosecutors this week charged a Cal Fire engineer with igniting five separate blazes since August. Luckily, the fires were extinguished while still small.

Cal Fire engineer Robert Hernandez of Healdsburg was charged Tuesday with five counts of felony arson. Hernandez started his career as an inmate firefighter while serving out a sentence for a vehicular manslaughter conviction before joining Cal Fire, court records show.

Muschetto said he couldn’t yet reveal details about their investigation into Hernandez, such as how Hernandez came under suspicion or whether he’s under investigation for lighting additional fires.

His arrest came just two weeks after another September arrest in Sonoma County involving a man accused of setting a series of small grass fires, including a quarter-acre fire near an elementary school.

(SF Chronicle)

“Weatherman Was Right” by Stevan Dohanos (1946)

A’S ARE OFFICIALLY GONE FROM OAKLAND, a fatal blow to blue-collar MLB fan experience

by Ann Killion

It’s over.

No more games. No more Oakland datelines. No more superstars roaming the prettiest expanse of grass in sports. No more “Let’s Go Oakland” chants.

All gone. And if you believe Rickey Henderson — who threw out the last first pitch on Thursday, along with fellow Oakland native Dave Stewart — major league baseball is never coming back.

But this is more than just the physical A’s team leaving town. Also departing is a long legacy of cool, in a game that has been desperately trying to locate hipness for decades.

And it is, sadly, a goodbye to a kind of fan experience. Thursday was farewell to the last truly democratic venue in the Bay Area. The phrases “blue collar” and “working class” get tossed around in sports; a “lunch bucket” mentality is a tired cliche.

But the Oakland A’s were truly one of the last — the very last? — vestiges of blue collar in a sport that increasingly grasps for the corporate dollar, tries to market an elite experience, caters to the high-end fan.

On Thursday, in a packed house of 46,889 awash in sentimentality and tears, fans, employees and ballplayers weren’t just mourning the death of the Oakland A’s. They were mourning a kind of ballgame experience. One that is vanishing.

Over the decades, for multiple generations, we could all go to A’s games. We could take BART. Or we could tailgate and spend time in the vast parking lot, bringing our own food and drink. We could sit in the bleachers or on the top deck. We could afford to go as kids. And, later, we could afford to bring our kids.

The beers didn’t have to be artisan or the food choices carefully curated. We could get a dog and a chocolate malt, with a wooden spoon like something the doctor stuck in your mouth. When we were older, we could get a cold brew and bring our own sandwich.

“I used to look forward to dollar hot dog days, $10 bleacher tickets or whatever it was,” said Texas Rangers second baseman Marcus Semien, who grew up in El Cerrito. “That’s how we got to get in here as kids.

“Business is business. Things get more expensive. But in this game, business has definitely taken over a lot of ball clubs and made things more expensive and it’s made the crowd a little bit different. But Oakland is one of those places where you still felt that authenticity.”

Authenticity and access for the average fan has given way to high-end suites, club lounges and everything geared around an opulent experience that has little to do with the game on the field. The 49ers headed south to Santa Clara for sterile luxury suites and clubs. The Warriors built an entertainment palace across the Bay with top-end amenities. Sure, you can occasionally get a Giants ticket for under $40, but only because the team has been so boring. The cost of food and drink at Oracle Park is eye-popping.

“Yes, the Giants are still here, but this was a place that you could come to if you couldn’t afford the Giants games,” Semien said. “And you could take BART and get here easier.”

Semien, whose parents and grandparents were in the stands for the final game, wasn’t the only East Bay big leaguer soaking up memories. So were Stewart and Henderson, who grew up going to A’s games, both saying they used to sneak in through the outfield fence.

They grew up in an Oakland that had a swagger because of its sports teams.

“This was the center of the sports universe, right here,” said Henderson.

“This city was the center of everything,” Stewart said. “This is a sports town.”

Now, the Raiders, Warriors and A’s are all gone.

The Oakland teams reflected the community. Gritty. Grinding. Combative. Quirky. Semien spoke of bragging about homegrown sons like Henderson and Marshawn Lynch.

“Oakland is cool, it has a certain swagger that’s different from the rest of the country,” Semien said. “People not from here might not understand it.”

For decades the A’s had a brand of cool. Mustaches and white shoes and swingin’ bats. Billy Ball and running Rickey. The Bash Brothers, glowering Stewart and Dennis Eckersley to close a game. And then Moneyball, cool enough, novel enough, to both launch a revolution and get Brad Pitt onboard.

Rangers manager Bruce Bochy was a teenaged ballplayer when the Swingin’ A’s were winning World Series.

“Charlie Finley created that culture, that swagger, that identity,” Bochy said. “He was different. He changed traditional baseball.

“Baseball will miss Oakland. There was always a coolness of coming here, this ballpark, the A’s. There’s a lot of tradition.”

From the visiting clubhouse and dugout, Bochy found himself getting caught up in the emotion. He was asked how he’ll feel next season heading to Sacramento, a place he went to plenty as Giants manager to see the Triple-A affiliate.

“I’ve been there,” he said. “I’m going to miss this. You’re asking me, I’d rather be coming here and playing games.”

The Coliseum has been the repository for our collective sports memories (not to mention music memories from Days on the Green), especially since it outlasted Candlestick and housed more baseball magic. Many of us saw our first World Series games at the Coliseum, first saw a local team become champion.

As I’ve learned over the years, virtually everyone who’s been in the Bay Area for more than a hot second has a Coliseum memory. An Oakland A’s moment. A personal touchstone.

This massive stretch of asphalt bordered by BART and Interstate 880 was once the center of the sports universe.

“It’s a place where I love to play baseball,” Semien said.

“And it won’t be here anymore.”

It’s a place that belonged to the fans, and it won’t be here anymore. It didn’t have to be this way.

(SF Chronicle)

PUBLIC RADIO, PUBLIC MEDIA & LOCAL NEWS DESERTS

by Ralph Nader

The late sixties was a heady time for the civic pioneers who persuaded Congressional lawmakers to provide the American people with radio and television programs with real news – local and national – and also report what civic advocates and civic communities were proposing or doing. In 1961 commercial television stations were described by the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission Newton Minow as a “vast wasteland,” before the National Association of Broadcasters. The audience was startled. (He could have included radio in his critique.) But things only got more commercial, profit-driven, and violative of the Communications Act of 1934 standard of providing for the “public interest, convenience and necessity,” information needs of viewers and listeners.

Encouraged by pragmatic visionaries like the former president of CBS Fred Friendly, the Carnegie Corporation, and the Ford Foundation, Congress acted and, in 1969, gave birth to Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and in 1970 the National Public Radio (NPR). They were mandated to be publicly-funded serious news gatherers, featuring presenters and reflectors of diverse voices, political and civic institutions, culture, and people in their communities. Commercial entertainment, music, sports, and incessant advertisements were left for the commercial stations.

As Bill Siemering, one of the organizers and first program director of NPR, said in 1970: “National Public Radio will not regard its audience as a ‘market’ or in terms of disposable income…”

Fast forward, NPR’s budget, mostly stripped of Congressional funding, became reliant on funding from corporations and wealthy donors and has indeed become a “market” with all that such commercialization entails for its programming priorities and biases.

Today, NPR and its affiliate stations have about 30 ads an hour using the repetitive phrase “support for this station comes from…” It has too many entertainment-celebrity stories, too much music time (especially after 6:00 pm on weekends), too little local content being produced by NPR’s hundreds of local station affiliates, too much self-censorship regarding corporate malfeasance and power, too much indifference to the civic community, too much aloof smugness. Many of their editors and reporters are uncommunicative and many of their managers are obsessed with raising money and shaping programming decisions accordingly.

NPR has been largely ignored by Congress because the former critics – conservative Republicans – now like its receptivity to their opinions and because commercial interests like Walmart, Chevron, Eli Lilly, Amazon, Raymond James Brokers, and large Banks advertise and support NPR and PBS. As a result, there has been a serious absence of supportive Congressional hearings and oversight. The House Energy & Commerce Committee did, however, hold a hearing because House Speaker Mike Johnson believes NPR needs to be held “accountable for its ideological bias and contempt for facts.” Speaker Johnson is not known for his appreciation of facts.

Public media escapes scrutiny and higher expectation levels by its audience because comparisons with the rancid commercial radio/TV stations makes it look good. NPR and PBS do have some good programs – documentaries, features from the field, and some investigative reports, especially when, for example, NPR collaborates with nonprofit media groups like Pro Publica.

However, its news slots raise the issue of mimicry of their commercial counterparts. Top-of-the-hour news by NPR is just like that of CBS or ABC – just three minutes or less of often the same news bite stories. The local affiliates are not much better with the exception of several stations like WNYC-FM (New York) or WAMC (Albany), WGBH (Boston), KQED-FM (San Francisco), and KAXE (Northern Minnesota) that have numerous full-time local reporters. Restoring public media to its founding purposes is more essential than ever as financing for the private press has collapsed and 1800 counties now lack a daily local news source.

Michael Swerdlow, the author of our report, “The Public’s Media: The Case for a Democratically Funded and Locally Rooted News Media in an Era of Newsroom Closures” , demonstrated that NPR’s “commercialization means that public media remains reliant on the satisfaction of corporate donors and is obsessed with treating its ‘audience’ as a market….” This has meant that many of its talented, experienced reporters are underchallenged, working on routine, repetitive abbreviated deliveries that invoke pathos.

Our report is designed to spark support to return Public Media to its original public interest missions and decrease corporate domination on its national and local station Boards of Directors. The report notes that “The United States spends $3 per person, New Zealand spends $21, Canada spends $33, Australia $53, Japan spends $67, the U.K. spends $97, and Germany spends 41 times more at $124.” Public Media needs more adequate public and per capita funding. The Public Media must become structurally more open to the civic communities’ information needs and inputs which were the legislation’s original inspiration.

Swerdlow’s report is deep on constructive reforms, innovative proposals, and references to other Western nations’ approaches to governance and funding of their Public Media. His analysis explains how the collapses of the “business model” for local for-profit news media – hundreds of daily and weekly newspaper closings or retrenchments – leaves Public Media with even greater responsibilities to fill gaps created by the spread of news deserts in county after county.

We invite audiences to raise their expectation levels for Public Media’s daily performance and demand an annual public budget of about $10 billion dollars (the cost of two-thirds of an unneeded aircraft carrier) to provide the information and two-way engagements with the audience that gives meaning to the functioning of our First Amendment protections. We also invite PBS and NPR staff to share their concerns about the decline of Public Media with us by sending an email to: info@csrl.org or sending a letter to the address below.

You can receive a printed copy of our report by sending a check for $15.00 to: CSRL, P.O. Box 19367, Washington, DC, 20036 (a PDF version is available online at CSRL.ORG).

You should find it troubling, fascinating, empowering, and quite original in its analysis, data, and recommendations.

I had a rough, rough upbringing. My father learned to survive, so he passed that onto us. But in doing that he told us ‘you’re no good, you’re a failure, you won’t amount to anything, don’t trust nobody’. To be tough guys. That was his generation, he left home early, joined the merchant navy and that’s what he did to survive. But it was a tough upbringing for me, for all of us. I had that on my back all my life. He was a very abusive man. He was a heavy drinker. For the last nine years [of his life] he stopped drinking, but I wish he’d kept drinking because he was so angry. He took it out on my mother…everybody. I hid in the basement, there was a nice warm pipe I used to hold onto. If he couldn’t see me, he couldn’t hurt me. But I loved my father, he…he never got help. I got help. I changed the story for my life.

— Gerry Cooney

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DRILL, DEMOCRATS, DRILL

by Jonathan Thompson

Kamala Harris tries to navigate the convoluted politics of oil and gas

During the Sept. 10 presidential debate, Vice President Kamala Harris not only walked back her 2020 vow to "end fracking once and for all," but seemed to embrace the technology, bragging about record oil and gas production under the Biden administration’s watch.

It was a sharp blow to climate advocates, whose reactions ranged from outright dismay and bewilderment to deflated resignation. Was Harris saying this in a clumsy attempt to appeal to a wider range of voters? Or had four years in the executive branch genuinely moderated her views?

Either way, it displayed the treacherous nature of oil and gas politics, especially for progressives. Republicans can please their base simply by chanting "Drill, Baby, Drill," as meaningless as the mantra might be. Democrats, however, must walk a fine and wavy and often contradictory line to avoid alienating environmentalists, their oil-state colleagues and the voting public.

The debate was held in Pennsylvania, one of the nation’s largest natural gas producers and both a beneficiary and a victim of what’s come to be known as "fracking," a combination of horizontal drilling and multi-stage hydraulic fracturing that targets previously unrecoverable oil and gas in shale formations. So it makes sense to see Harris’ about-face on the issue as a "sprint to the center" to appeal to voters in the battleground state. That was surely part of it, anyhow.

But this is where it gets tricky. The record-breaking energy production that Harris takes partial credit for has also harmed places like Pennsylvania and the San Juan and Piceance basins in New Mexico and Colorado, areas that are natural gas-rich but oil-poor. That’s because fracking freed up so much natural gas that it glutted the market; the price of the fuel crashed, and new drilling — which is where the jobs are — was brought to a near halt.

The record oil production in the Permian Basin has exacerbated the pain, because every barrel of oil pulled out of the ground has natural gas, or methane, mixed in with it, and that only adds to the supply, bringing prices further down and making new natural gas drilling unprofitable. Only about 14 drill rigs are operating in Pennsylvania now, less than one-third the number of a decade ago. Meanwhile, more than 300 rigs are drilling in the Permian Basin at any given time.

At the same time, those low natural gas prices are good for consumers, who appreciate having lower gas and electricity bills. It’s even good, in a twisted sort of way, for the environment: The decline in coal burning is mostly the result of cheap natural gas, which is why, a few presidential races ago, Democrats were all gung-ho about drilling as a climate solution. On the other hand, those low prices also harm the environment: The oil companies lack any incentive to pipe and market the fuel, and so they flare it instead, pouring yet more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

And thus a Democratic presidential candidate finds herself trying to appeal not only to the general public, which wants cheap oil and gas, but also to oil and gas state politicians, especially those of her own party, whose support she will need in Congress. For Harris to adhere to her earlier promise to ban fracking would draw the ire of the entire Democratic congressional delegation of New Mexico, a state that fills its coffers with oil and gas money. And it would alienate Rep. Mary Peltola, the drilling-friendly Alaska Democrat, who has received $16,400 in donations from ConocoPhillips and its employees, plus another $300,000 from the ConocoPhillips-supported Center Forward Committee PAC. Republicans generally get more money from fossil fuels than Democrats, but they don’t have a monopoly on it by any means.

Harris may also be trying to avoid Joe Biden’s mistake of falsely raising climate advocates’ hopes by making a promise — to end drilling on federal land — that he could not keep.

For many climate hawks, that failure has outweighed everything else Biden has done to rein in drilling and mining and mitigate their impacts: canceling the Keystone XL pipeline, restoring Donald Trump’s litany of regulatory rollbacks, targeting fossil fuel demand by promoting electric vehicles, incentivizing clean energy manufacturing and — to the chagrin of many environmentalists — expediting solar and wind development and battery-metal mining on public lands.

Biden tackled the supply side by issuing new regulations and withdrawing land from new drilling. And, although it went almost unnoticed, his administration leased fewer acres of public land to oil and gas companies than any other administration has in at least three decades — a sort of stealth approach to phasing out drilling on federal lands. In just one term, Biden has arguably done more to combat the climate crisis than any president before him, though it may take a decade or more to see tangible results — something that will only happen if those policies remain in place.

Harris has revealed few details about her energy and public-land plans, but based on her record as a prosecutor, senator and vice president, it’s reasonable to expect she will continue the Biden administration’s policies and even build upon them.

Meanwhile, Trump’s potential policies are muddled by his erratic rhetoric, which often seems like a random assemblage of whatever comes into his brain while he is speaking. Trump told Nevadans that he wants to open vast tracts of public land to real estate developers, not just for housing, but to construct film studios, and proposed building 10 "Freedom Cities" on public land, populated by folks who will be paid to have children. And he thinks the West’s water crises could be solved by turning on some mysterious "giant faucet" that would magically deliver oodles of Canadian water to California’s farms and forests.

Yet, judging from his first term in office, Project 2025, Trump’s own Agenda 47 and the Republican Party’s platform, it’s clear that his primary goal is to remove what he sees as regulatory burdens on corporations — i.e., dismantle the administrative state. That means eviscerating the many environmental and health protections passed by the current administration and weakening the various landmark laws enacted over the last 50 years, all for the sake of achieving "energy dominance," whatever that is. It also means further slashing taxes on fossil fuel corporations and axing the Inflation Reduction and Infrastructure acts, including all the funding for cleaning up abandoned oil and gas wells and clean energy incentives.

No matter who wins in November, the petroleum industry will be just fine — at least for now. Under Trump, it may be able to use more of its profits to enrich its executives and stakeholders rather than paying taxes or mitigating the industry’s environmental impacts. But it still won’t end up producing more oil and gas or providing more jobs or lowering the prices at the pump. Nor will Harris’ policies have any meaningful impact on the climate in the short term; oil companies will continue to pump out hydrocarbons, and the world will continue to burn them. Politics is about patience. It’s not about the grand and beautiful pie-in-the-sky promises, but about the quiet and often maddeningly incremental steps and compromises that, hopefully, will pay off in the long term.

(High Country News/Landline)

TRUMP TO REVEAL ORANGE ZONES ACROSS U.S. ON ELECTION DAY

by Andrew Lutsky

Building on the media buzz he created by announcing the discovery of eleven Red, White and Blue Zones on Independence Day, former president Trump promised his followers on Tuesday that he would recognize and begin to “fortify” a number of Orange Zones, locales with clear majorities of MAGA partisans, throughout the United States on Tuesday, November 5, Election Day in the U.S.

These sites will soon be walled and their perimeters monitored by volunteer “freedom-loving MAGA men and women,” the former president said, adding that he would personally authenticate and certify these regions. “We need these zones recognized and strengthened, period,” said the former president, speaking to reporters Tuesday. “In November we’re going to be honoring and fortifying these zones, which are filled with American heroes.”

Mr. Trump suggested that prominent leaders in the MAGA-verse, “Tucker, RFK Jr., of course,” and others would assume leadership roles in the promotion and management of the newly established Orange Zones, or “Oh-Zoes,” a shorthand suggested by Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung.…

https://truezonesolution.substack.com/p/trump-to-reveal-orange-zones-across

THE DEBATE

by Eliot Weinberger

Poor Don. He thought it would be an easy golf-cart ride back to the White House, rolling over the recumbent body of Sleepy Joe. Then the Dems pulled a switcheroo and suddenly he was faced with a middle-of-the-roader without much of a damaging paper trail, whose demeanor was the unlikely combination of tough prosecutor and warm human. Worse, she was a woman. And even worse, a woman of color, like those vengeful district attorneys burning him at the stake in the courts of New York and Georgia, or the journalists who laughed when he said he was the greatest president for Blacks since Lincoln.

Don has always been a Las Vegas kinda guy, with his showgirls and gold-plated toilets, a long-running joke in New York high society, and his rhetorical style is modelled on the Rat Pack’s favorite comedian, another Don – Rickles, the king of insults. He’s been pretty good at it: “Little Marco Rubio,” “Low Energy Jeb Bush,” “Birdbrain Nikki Haley” doomed them in the primaries. But Kamala Harris had him flummoxed. He tried recycling some of the old Hillary Clinton epithets – “Crooked Kamala,” “Lyin’ Kamala” – but they didn’t stick, since Harris is attached to no known scandals. He tried the old “Barack HUSSEIN Obama” un-American birther line, deliberately mispronouncing her name at his rallies and spelling it “Kamabla” – rather oblique as a joke – on his incessant Truth Social posts. He called her a Marxist, “Comrade Kamala,” and posted AI-generated images of her in a Red Army uniform, but Harris is an establishment Democratic centrist who has never been an icon of the progressive left like Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. “Dumb as a rock” and “low IQ” – he may be the last person on earth who mentions IQ – had no traction, considering that the stars of MAGA include the congresswomen Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene, with their “gazpacho police” and California wildfires started by Rothschild space lasers. In the end he was reduced to blowjob jokes on his dismal social media platform.

The Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, when Biden was still in the race, had been his triumph. He had – it is astonishing – completely purged the party. Almost no Republican who was prominent 15 years ago showed up, nor did his own former vice president or most of the former members of his cabinet. Instead they had aged wrestlers, obscure rockers, Z-list actors, a star of the “adult” website OnlyFans and the Twitterati faction of Congress addressing the flocks of red-crested warblers in their MAGA caps.

Dizzying for those of us who grew up in the Cold War, this was a Republican Party that was now the enemy of the FBI, the CIA, NATO, the Department of Education and Walt Disney, and was the ally of Russia.

Don was so confident of his party’s eternal rule that he allowed Don Jr. and Tucker Carlson to persuade him to anoint, without any vetting, a successor who would embody “MAGA: The Next Generation.” JD Vance, formerly known as James Donald Bowman, James David Hamel and J.D. Vance, now strangely rebranded without the stops, is a self-styled “hillbilly” whose backwoods was Middletown, Ohio, an industrial suburb of Cincinnati (pop. 50,987), where he went from poverty to Yale Law School. He wrote a bestselling book excoriating poor white people for being lazy and not as self-motivated as himself, then became the disciple of the über-libertarian billionaire Peter Thiel, who believes that “freedom and democracy” are not “compatible,” that it was a mistake for women to be given the right to vote, and that the future lies in colonies in space and on the oceans, free from government repression. Thiel hired Vance for a few years as a venture capitalist in Silicon Valley, then gave him $15 million to run for the Senate in Ohio.

Vance turned out to be the first vice-presidential pick with an immediate “unfavorable” rating in the polls – even the matchless Sarah Palin had her fans – for it was soon discovered that JD held some unusual opinions. People who do not have children are “sociopaths.” “Our country is basically run by childless Democrats who are miserable in their own lives and want to make the rest of the country miserable too.” The childless should not be allowed to teach in schools. (Although a recent convert to Catholicism, he seemed to have forgotten the nuns.) And he unpolitically characterized those sociopaths as “childless cat ladies,” swiftly alienating tens of millions of cat lovers, as well as Taylor Swift.

Vance said he doesn’t “really care what happens to Ukraine one way or another.” Attacked by white supremacists for being married to an Indian (and having a son named Vivek), he said: “Obviously, she’s not a white person … but I just, I love Usha. She’s such a good mom.” (Usha Vance was, until a few weeks before the campaign, a corporate litigator.) He appears to wear eyeliner. A totally false story that the young JD had a predilection for sex with his couch went viral because it didn’t seem all that unlikely.

In contrast, Harris made a brilliant selection: Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, who was largely unknown nationally and is the type of Midwestern progressive populist that American politics hasn’t seen in decades. He is straight out of a 1950s sitcom as All-American Dad: beloved teacher, coach who took the losing high school football team to the state championship, long-term military man, hunter and fisherman, star of YouTube videos where he fixes his car or talks about the importance of cleaning out the gutters on your house. Yet he has also been perhaps the most progressive governor in the country: strong supporter of unions, veterans, LGBTQ and reproductive rights, provider of free breakfasts and lunches to schoolchildren and free university tuition for poor students. Most of all, he is the plainest plain speaker on a presidential ticket since Harry Truman. It took just two remarks to launch him out of obscurity. After months of the Democrats treating Trump as a Godzilla who will trample democracy, Walz deflated Trump and Vance in a single sentence: “These guys are weird as hell.” (Trump responded: “They’re the weird ones! Nobody’s ever called me weird.” He later clarified, “I think we’re extremely normal people,” and suggested that Walz was talking about Vance, not him.) And, in the most perfect defense of the right to abortion, Walz said that in the Midwest “we respect our neighbors and the personal choices they make… We’ve got a golden rule: mind your own damn business.”

The Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade has proven to be immensely unpopular, and the Republican convention was notable for the near total absence of the word “abortion.” Gay marriage, the major threat to American values in George W. Bush’s campaigns, turned out not to destroy the country after all when Obama enacted it. Now the enemy within is transgender people. According to Trump, “You’re a parent and your son leaves the house and you say, ‘Jimmy, I love you so much. Go have a good day in school.’ And your son comes back with a brutal operation!” (It’s a MAGA meme that those childless liberal teachers are forcibly transitioning our kids at school.) This threat has now spread beyond the actually transgendered. The theocrat and Thiel disciple Senator Josh Hawley says that “no menace to this nation is greater than the collapse of American manhood.” Tucker Carlson recommends that men tan their testicles, as “bromeopathy.” Jesse Watters, who replaced Carlson as the most popular anchor on Fox News, notes: “I heard the scientists say the other day that when a man votes for a woman, he actually transitions into a woman.” (Watters also attacked Walz as unmanly for drinking a milkshake with a straw at the Minnesota State Fair. The problem, he made clear, was the straw, not the milkshake.)

At the presidential debate – the first time Trump and Harris had ever met, as he refused to attend Biden’s inauguration – Trump was hunched over and permanently fixed in his famous scowl (modelled, he has said, on Winston Churchill). He was, once again, the Messenger of Doom: “Our country is being lost, we’re a failing nation.” The prisons of the world are empty because they have sent all the criminals across our border. Doctors in blue states are performing abortions after the baby is born. World War Three is imminent. “People can’t go out and buy cereal or bacon or eggs or anything else. The people of our country are absolutely dying.” And, as usual, there were the delusions of grandeur. Had he been president, Russia would never have invaded Ukraine, Hamas would never have attacked Israel, but he can end both wars overnight. He even provided a character reference: “Viktor Orbán… said the most respected, most feared person is Donald Trump.”

Trump seemed to think he was still running against Biden. He made Sleepy Joe jokes, claimed that Biden had personally received millions from the wife of the mayor of Moscow and, almost inevitably, mentioned the hapless Hunter Biden. Harris had to remind him that he was running against her. She feigned astonishment at some of his wackier comments, and could barely suppress her glee when Trump couldn’t help himself and went ballistic as she pushed his buttons: his rallies are boring, he got a lot of money from his father and mainly lost it, hundreds of Republican former officials and even Dick Cheney support her. She almost laughed when Trump claimed that Biden “hates” her and that she, with a Jewish husband, “hates” Israel.

And of course Trump had to bring up the cats. Vance’s cat lady crack wasn’t going away, so the Republicans had demonstrated their cat-loving credentials by creating the completely false story that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were stealing cats off the front porches of real Americans and eating them. This led Senator Ted Cruz and countless Russian bots to post cute kitten pictures with captions like “Don’t let the immigrants eat me!” When the debate moderator pointed out that the story was untrue, Trump shrugged and said he had seen it on TV.

The actual issues being discussed at presidential debates hardly ever matter. (In the famous Nixon-Kennedy debate, the main question was the fate of the islands of Quemoy and Matsu.) What matters is the image. Trump was grumpy and sometimes angry, rambling and unfocused and, in the absence of an even more elderly Biden, just plain old. Harris was calm and prosecutorial, and had anticipated all the questions. She has wisely avoided Hillary Clinton’s continual rhetoric about breaking the glass ceiling, making it seem merely normal to have an intelligent and qualified woman of color as president.

Above all, Harris seemed sincere. All winning presidential candidates, regardless of ideology or policy, have been perceived – rightly or wrongly – as believing what they say: Biden, Trump, Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Reagan, Carter. The losers – Hillary Clinton, Romney, Kerry – were seen as repeating whatever they thought the voters wanted to hear. (John McCain, Trump’s nemesis, was a special case, and may prove exemplary for Trump. A sincere guy, now a Republican saint, he appeared to be in poor health and possibly incapable of completing his term. The spectre of Sarah Palin as president made the choice of Obama, the “guy with the funny name,” less risky. Vance may well be Trump’s Palin.)

At the time of writing, the polls indicate the race is in a dead heat. It seems incredible that almost half the country still supports Trump, despite the felony convictions, the porn stars, the blatant graft, the endless lies, the allegations of assault and rape, the January 6 insurrection, the continuing refusal to accept his defeat in 2020, the classified documents in his bathroom at Mar-a-Lago, the vows to prosecute all his many enemies, including journalists, and to fire everyone in the government bureaucracy who is not loyal to him, the claims to dictatorial power. Even more incredible is that there is a slice of the voting population that is still “undecided.” Republican legislatures in various states have already set in motion procedures to keep people from voting and to deny the results if Trump loses. A Harris victory may well be dependent on a landslide, and that is unlikely to happen.

(Eliot Weinberger’s first book of essays, Works on Paper, was published in 1986. Nineteen Ways of Looking at Wang Wei: How a Chinese Poem Is Translated came out the following year. He has translated the work of Octavio Paz, Jorge Luis Borges and others from Spanish. ‘What I Heard about Iraq’ was published in the LRB of 3 February 2005 and soon afterwards as a short book by Verso. Angels and Saints came out in 2020. His most recent book is The Life of Tu Fu, a fictional autobiography of the Tang Dynasty poet. London Review of Books)

Mrs. Willis Cooper baking and canning in the kitchen of her farmhouse near Radcliffe, Iowa. Photo by Jim Hansen for Life, September 9, 1957.

11 Comments

Stanley Kelley September 27, 2024

It would be nice to see any sort of maps about Hop Flat another mentioned old places and associated routes

Reply
Iggy September 27, 2024

Yes the orange beast lies incessantly and is very ignorant/ delusional on most topics, but when he says the Ukraine fiasco will lead to WW3, he is probably, unfortunately telling the truth. Putin may not be bluffing…

Reply
- Zanzibar to Andalusia September 27, 2024
  
  “Well there is fortunately one statesman in the United States and Europe who has laid out… a person… of a high political figure who has made a very sensible statement about how you can solve the crisis namely by facilitating negotiations instead of undermining them and moving towards establishing some kind of accommodation in Europe maybe a long in which there are no military alliances which is mutual accommodation… his name is Donald J. Trump” — Noam Chomsky
  
  Sure, the Mango Mussolini might be right about some things. But it’s not an accident that a thoroughly reasonable and desirable position (in this case, peace in Ukraine) is being represented by a cartoon character who also hawks $30 silver coins for $100. It might also be that he’s not in on the profit pipeline – over $100 billion sent so far – and he’s willing to shut down the operation if he doesn’t get a cut.
  
  Meanwhile, he’ll do every single thing Tel Aviv tells him to do. He’ll relish the role of exterminator of Palestinian children every bit as much as Kamala and Joe enjoy it. And eventually, he’ll attack Iran.
  
  Globalist Neoliberals (Kablahblah Harris and Tim “The Last” Walz) want confrontation with Russia.
  Neoconservative Zionists want confrontation with Iran, which leads to confrontation with Russia.
  
  The people who rule over us – and the people who rule over Russia – are criminally insane.
  
  Reply
Chuck Dunbar September 27, 2024

TRUMP TO REVEAL ORANGE ZONES ACROSS U.S. ON ELECTION DAY

Serious stuff these “Orange Zones” are—vote Harris-Walz to avoid this horror. Here’s a little more from this news piece, shows what a real threat they are:

“…All residents of the newly named Orange Zones will receive a set of five golf tees inscribed with the quotation, “The Boss is not going to leave,’ the now historic comment made by Mr. Trump’s advisor and former caddie Dan Scavino shortly after Trump’s 2020 election defeat. Residents will also be entered in a drawing to win an NFT of a video of Mr. Trump drinking a can of Diet Coke, his signature beverage. Orange Zones dwellers will also enjoy a fifteen percent discount on Mr. Trump’s proprietary Bible and his line of sneakers, which will soon include special edition ‘Oh-Zo’ high tops and golf shoes…”

Reply
- Harvey Reading September 28, 2024
  
  What about the continued horror the Zionist savages are inflicting on Palestine? You’re just trading one horror for another.
  
  Reply
Me September 27, 2024

Geiger market: Yes, who at the county signed off on the loan? Public information right? Just another example of mismanagement of public funds. It never ends and no one ever learns to do better. There is no incentive to do so.

Reply
Jacob September 27, 2024

For Lindy But Not For Accuracy

Marianne McGee writes more about me than about Lindy. Guess what, I am not running for City Council and neither is my mother in this election. I am not sure what point she is trying to make with her inaccurate rants (not just today’s post but a few over the last several days). Here are some inaccuracies: She has mentioned Michelle Roberts running last time but Michelle ran for the four-year seat and not for the two-year seat Lindy pursued so I am not sure how that relates at all to this time other than Lindy is running again–at least he didn’t try to commit fraud again by illegally altering his nomination papers by colluding with tess Albin-Smith, former City Manager Peggy Ducey, and the former City Clerk. That really shows the kind of character Marianne appears to want on the City Council.

Marianne claims I am a proven misogynist but that is false and defamatory and she may be receiving a cease and desist letter from my attorneys as a result. I think she should look up the definition of “proven” in a dictionary; it doesn’t mean alleged, it means supported by verified facts and misogyny has to involve an animus towards women not mere coincidence that some people who were criticized were women when men received the exact same treatment. My civic engagement and criticism, all of which are legally protected activities that more people should pursue, has led to the departure of several staff but just as many of them have been male as female and there is not a single word in my “thousands” of pages of comments or emails that can be described a gender-based attack. Anyone who knows me knows I am not sexist and am an equal opportunity critic. Lindy, on the other hand, actually fits the definition of misogynist and that is even evident in how he treats his female councilmembers with his constant mansplaining and telling them what he thought they meant by what they just said. Talk about a self-appointed spokesperson…! Don’t take my word for it, ask any of his female colleagues. Tess has described his remarks and demeanor during council meetings as disgusting, particularly during their deliberations about changes to our cannabis ordinance and the appeal of a denied dispensary permit in the central business district. (See Marianne, if you want to make a point, you shouldn’t just make wild assertions, you should back it up with factual support so people can verify your claims.)

Marianne mentions the Parents & Friends housing project on Cypress Street, falsely accusing me of opposing it. I did no such thing, you can check the meeting videos for its approval by the Planning Commission and I made supportive comments encouraging approval and even remarked about how it was nice (for a change) that I was able to recommend approval because the planning review was thorough and factually supported. Does she just make things up to support her positions? It appears so! No wonder she supports Lindy Peters, he does the same thing, including his totally false claim that he and the City swooped in to backfill the Humane Society’s funding after it was cut by the County when the truth is that the County didn’t cut any funding because they didn’t fund the Humane Society, they ran their own animal control facility next door, which they closed. Marianne tried to “correct” me about that yesterday but again she appears to just parrot Lindy’s lies without verifying anything for herself.

Marianne must not speak with people who work at City Hall because I do all the time. I am friends with some of them and get along well with many who work there now–not always true for some who no longer work there because they were terrible at their jobs or presented dishonest work but why would anyone want to get along with so-called public servants who misrepresent information in staff reports effectively lying to the public and the City Council who should be able to rely on their

I am not a spokesperson for anyone other than myself and certainly not for the new group called the Alliance for a Better Fort Bragg. I am however a spokesperson for the truth and not misrepresenting things. That is why some people don’t like me because I am constantly exposing when government officials are misrepresenting thigs whether it is intentional or merely due to their own negligence, I want people to be able to form their own opinions based on accurate information. I attended the Alliance meeting like many others and what I read afterward was wildly inaccurate so I wrote to correct the record and counter the falsehoods, just like I am doing now.

By all means, Marianne should support whomever she wants for City Council as will I. I just don’t want to support candidates who lie about their alleged accomplishments. I don’t want to support candidates who do whatever it takes to try to retain their seat on the City Council, including arguably committing crimes to do so–not technically a criminal because never tried and convicted but it is my opinion he could have been charged, unfortunately we will never know what a court process would have determined. And I do not want to support candidates who basically only look to the past rather than providing fresh solutions for the future and whose long service might provide for better institutional knowledge about what has happened but whose decisions have led to a dysfunctional city government that isn’t serving the public well even if they do have some accomplishments worth crowing about, albeit things that Lindy didn’t really have anything to do with but is quick to claim the credit when he is asking for our votes.

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Jacob September 27, 2024

Re Mary Benjamin on FORT BRAGG CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATES ANSWER QUESTIONS AT TOWN HALL FORUM

I want to correct one inaccuracy in her coverage of the LWV event. It is not accurate to say that short-term rentals (aka AirBnBs) in Fort Bragg are not subject to the Transit Occupancy Tax (TOT), they are. Permitted short-term rentals pay TOT just like all other short-term lodging types. The AirBnBs that don’t pay TOT are unpermitted and thus not being assessed applicable taxes because they are violating the rules. In Fort Bragg, we only have a handful of legally permitted short term rentals, which are only allowed in the Central Business District (CBD) above or behind commercial space. Those units pay TOT. Other short term rentals, including any outside the downtown CBD area, are not legally permitted and obviously don’t pay taxes since they would be shut down by code enforcement first. As such, we have no need to apply TOT to AirBnBs because that is already in place. That said, the City might want to increase oversight and enforcement of illegal short-term rentals outside the CBD.

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Chris Hart September 27, 2024

MARIANNE MCGEE
Since you are repeating your post from 2 days ago, Marianne, I guess I’ll repeat my response.

Marianne, the openly stated purpose of the Alliance event was to provide information about our organization and have a Q&A session with the 2 candidates we endorsed. What is so wrong with that? And what is your emphasis about the 2 candidates being male? For whatever reason, Salazar and Brewer (the two female candidates) did not submit a response, despite email, text and verbal efforts to encourage them to do so. And yes, we tried to get Peters to submit a response to the 10 questions regarding the town’s economic future.

You make a slanderous accusation that we did something illegal. I think you are greatly confusing your terms since we have not done anything illegal.

I thought the planning regulations issue was addressed in 2019 with the concept of a master development agreement suggested by the City for the millsite where everything would have been laid out in advance. We agreed that we would do it. For three years we then worked within the City process. The City apparently filed its lawsuit not for what we did, but their fears of what we MIGHT do. Did they discuss their concerns with us before suing us? No, they wouldn’t even accept a meeting for 6 months. Did the City challenge any actions they felt wrong? No. This was like the police arresting you since they think you will do something wrong in the future. The City has wasted over $1 million in their case to hurt us, based on unfounded fears of what they thought we MIGHT do.

You write about stealing an elderly woman’s home in Fort Bragg. Well that is a complete mischaracterization. The house had been overrun and used as a drug den. The City ASKED US to intervene, as did the family. Our first time every using eminent domain was at the request of the former City Manager. The family wrote the following letter a couple years ago:
“Mr. Mayor, Fort Bragg City Council, and Whomever Else It May Concern,
I am aware that much misinformation, rumors and accusations are circulating about the property at 476 Alger Street, which was acquired by Mendocino Railway in an eminent domain proceeding.
I am the daughter of the former property owner. I want to make it very clear that Mendocino Railway did nothing wrong. They did not “steal” the property from my mother.
Their acquisition of the property actually provided a perfect solution to an ongoing problem. My mother was in no position to maintain or sell her own property. Mendocino Railway was kind, considerate and respectful throughout the entire process, and the family was completely on board with the proceeding. I, personally, am very happy to see it owned by the railroad, who appreciates natural beauty and wildlife, and are in the business of sharing that, instead of destroying and developing it. – Karen Shea”

For the Willits issue, there is a lot more do that story, but I’ll say this. Meyers contested the action and he won. That is how the system works.

Our company has zero connection with Jacob. As one of the few people in town who are actually pays attention to council activities, we do speak with him, but Jacob speaks with everyone! I often disagree with him on issues and he most certainly is not our voice.

You state you didn’t participate in the Alliance meeting because Jacob was attending and the “Skunk Train focus” . Well, the next night at the League of Woman’s Voters meeting, Jacob attended and the first & last question for the candidates was regarding Skunk Train. Did you avoid that meeting too?

The City started this by betraying our company. The City then sued us. When we agreed to start trying to settle, the City refused to stay the court proceedings, which are now costing each side $70,000+ per month. FYI, a stay does not diminish your case in any way but rather pauses the proceedings to save costs if you think you can work things out. That is a horrendous mischaracterization by you that the railroad is the cause of all this waste. The City had no idea how to work through conflict. They launched a legal action based on speculation of future actions that is financially taking us both down, and they have no idea where this is heading or how to get out of it.

You may like Lindy Peters. He certainly grabs credit and photo ops wherever he can find them. At the candidates forum, he make a big point that he was on the litigation team standing up to my company. He sounded so heroic, calling us his “adversary”. In reality, Lindy has only been on the litigation team for 3 days at the point. In reality, he has not been in any of the settlement meetings in FB or in San Francisco. If Peters had actually ever been to a litigation meeting he might have been able to correctly state the purpose of the City’s lawsuit and would know that we are not down to just one item. Pure grandstanding without substance, again. This is disrespectful to the other councilmembers and city manager who have put in tremendous time trying to work through the issues.

Peters spoke out about “puddles of oil” and how there is no environmental review. Hardly. No railroad in the US is beyond environmental review. Period. The problem is that Peters and the City Council want to have municipal, state, and federal powers, rather than working through the existing CPUC (state) and FRA (federal) authorities.

Everybody knew Peters would do well at the forum because he has a career of talking and public service. Unfortunately, the City of FB is on a downward decline as we lose economic vitality. Further we have high crime and cost of living, which isn’t helped by a limited City response to the housing situation. Peters said the millsite is “our future” but he personally is one of the main reasons why nothing may happen on the millsite for another 20 years. As someone with 22 years of guiding the town, he is as much to blame as anyone for this situation. It’s time for some new faces who see the problems and will act with greater urgency, rather than grandstanding for the next photo op or promotional video.

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Chris Morris September 27, 2024

Thank you Brent for helping bring our two amazing children into this world at the coast hospital in Fort Bragg!

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Bob Abeles September 27, 2024

Just in case you’re interested in reading the JD Vance dossier, here’s a link to the whole shebang: https://www.kenklippenstein.com/api/v1/file/fc39e78d-f510-4918-935b-95701be97310.pdf

Aside from documenting clearly the unplumbed depths of his hypocrisy, not much else about this silly excuse for a person we didn’t already know. Keep in mind when reading this material that it is the fruit of Republican research.

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Mendocino County Today: Friday 9/27/2024

4th Saturday of each monthfrom 10AM to 12PMthis monthly guided tour begins at the MCBG entrance

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4th Saturday of each month
from 10AM to 12PM
this monthly guided tour begins at the MCBG entrance