Mendocino County Today: Friday 10/11/2024

Showers Tonight | Ballots Mailed | Capsicum | Albion Cougars | Farmers Market | Coast Hospital | Shadows | Prop 36 | Sigh | Football Matchup | Church/State | Defendant Johnson | Elder Vision | Pointless Debacle | Basement | Name Changers | Redneck Houseboat | Halloween Dance | Vine Trouble | Library November | Early Mendo | Tomatoes | Peace Sidelined | Blair Mitch | Flynn Zapped | Free | White Man | Khrushchev Entourage | Yesterday's Catch | Loneliest Moment | QB Purdy | Niners Win | Readers | Free Tastings | Alexander Calder | Marijuana Risks | US Casualties | Peace Prize | Finland Station | Lead Stories | War Crimes | Made In The USA

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CLOUD COVER will increase again today as an upper level disturbance approaches the region and produces rainfall late tonight into Saturday. Seasonable temperatures will resume this weekend before another another potential rainfall event by mid-next week. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): A crisp 44F under clear skies this Friday morning on the coast. A lot of high clouds are heading our way & the fog is up to Pt. Arena so clear skies might not last long. A good chance of rain tonight & tomorrow morning then another shot of rain next Wednesday. It is October after all.

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ELECTION NOTE

Ballots have been mailed. If you plan to wait until election day to vote that ballot, set it aside so you can find it on election day. If you come in to the polls without your ballot, and its envelope, you will have to vote provisionally. Provisional votes are counted last and require a lot more time and effort from pollworkers and voters.

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MOUNTAIN LIONS IN OUR ALBION COMMUNITY

There are two Mountain lions working together in our Albion Community. Many people have lost their house cats. I have lost a goat. It appears that one lion is the Mama (very large) and one is the offspring (possibly two years old but not small). The lions have been on Videos as well as photos on Facebook. The offspring is not afraid and was shown in a photo 9-26-2024 at a location near by my place. That neighbor reported that he was only 15' feet away when he took the photo of the lion. He said the lion left and returned three times after he tried to scare it with a snare drum pounding. This he said was about 10:45 am It is the same day my goat was killed. The evening of 9-26-2024 I was on a Web X conference call with our Community and Cal Trans. At about 7:30pm a lion jumped up on my deck and was about 5' away from me where I was sitting in my chair. My reaction was to jump up and slam my hand on one of the ten light window panes in my door. The lion quickly left the deck.

Seeing this lion made me believe it was the predator that killed my goat. My goat was alive when I fed it at 8am on 9-26-2024 and dead when I went to feed at 6pm that same day. The lions killed my goat during the day time. Friday morning (the 27th) about 7:30 am I saw the very large Mama lion just lying down in front of my goat pen. I scared it and it slowly got up and walked away. At Noon the same day Mama was back again walking close to the goat pen. At about 1:00pm the Mama was back and I scared it and again it slowly walked away. At 4:45pm the offspring came back and I scared it and it slowly walked away. At 7:30 pm they both came back and i scared them and they slowly walked away. They were back to the dead goat that night as the carcass was moved by Saturday morning. At about 2:30pm (Saturday the 28th) afternoon I see the offspring walking past my goat pen toward and around my round pen and down toward the paddock of my two Haflinger horses. I went out and got in my truck and drove over and could guess the lion walked East and down below out of my sight. (the two Haflinger's were very nervous) I then turned my truck back toward my cabin and could see the Mama lion walking East and went behind my laundry room then passed my second horse paddock (where I have a third horse) and down below out of my sight. The horses were being 'stocked' by the lions with one on the South side and one on the North side. This was making my three horses very very nervous. About a half hour later I received a phone call from my neighbor who told me both lions had just walked right by the front porch as his trail cam took a video. I did not see the lions again that day but I know they came in the night because they again moved the carcass. Sunday the 29th I did not see either lion but again they had moved the carcass during the night. At about 6:00pm it did not appear the carcass had been moved. I called Camden at 707-738-3099 and left a message to please call me. Her machine said to call 707-445-6493 if I need to speak to someone right away. (That machine said to call Monday through Friday) So I called 911 and reached dispatch in Redding who routed my call to Mendocino County who I then asked to speak to some one that might be able to help me. A gentleman came on the line but we were disconnected. I called 911 again reaching dispatch in Redding who routed my call to Mendocino County where that gentleman said a warden would be calling me and that number would show up on my phone as a private number. No warden called or left a message. This morning Monday the 30th it did not appear the carcass was moved. At 8:45am I received a text from Camden saying she will call me about 10am which she did and has made a plan to come to my place to take a report at about 4pm today. In my 74 years of life here in Albion, CA this is the first time I have ever seen a Mountain lion in real life. The offspring is not afraid and they are hunting during the day time. This is too close for comfort. My biggest concern is for the children in our Albion Community. The Albion Grammar School shares a property line with me. The entire community has been sharing information on social media of the lion sightings and many have lost their house cats. I am told someone lost at least one goat at their place very recently that live on 'C' Road. First the house cats, then the goats. Please help …. the next victim could be a child. Please send someone to trap these two lions while I have the dead goat as bait. Or give me a permit to take care of it myself. Please help….'Thank you'…..

— Janet Eklund

If you have any Wildlife Incidents to Report please contact: Camden Esch (came to my property and confirmed my goat was killed by lions). She is the Unit Biologist for Mendocino County CDFW 660 Main Street Willits, CA. She can be reached at email: Camden.esch@wildlife.ca.gov cell: 707-738-3099

PS, The CDFW information (in writing) says to call 911 if there is a Mountain Lion attack on a human. WOW! They have also said they do not see these two lions are doing anything unusual. These two lions are not afraid of people…. To me this is extremely unusual as these predators like to stay hidden.

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COAST HOSPITAL DISTRICT CANDIDATE FORUM

by Mary Benjamin

The Mendocino Coast Health Care District (MCHCD) Board of Directors received a Restructure Notice of Lease Agreement dated September 30, 2024, from Eric Stevens, the Roseville Adventist Health Network President, stating the intention to renegotiate or possibly terminate its lease with MCHCD to provide medical care at the hospital site on Cypress Drive in Fort Bragg.

Public concern about the future of the local hospital has been widespread for a few weeks and was a main topic of discussion at the MCHCD Candidate Forum Night held on October 2, 2024. All the candidates pledged to work with Adventist Health and keep the hospital open.

When the hospital was in financial straits too serious to keep medical care available to the public, MCHCD searched for hospital corporations that would be willing to provide medical care to the district’s area. Adventist Health was the only proposal that MCHCD received.

The 30-year lease agreement between Adventist Health and MCHCD was signed on July 1, 2020.

The Adventist Health letter referenced Section 19.11 of the Lease and Transfer of Business Operations Agreement (TBOA), which allows the legal right, under certain conditions, for one party to open lease renegotiations prior to the date agreed upon in the lease itself. The letter is a “follow-up to discussions” on September 26, 2024.

In the letter, Eric Stevens wrote his assertion that renegotiation now is “the best path forward to allow us time to evaluate our relationship under the Lease and the implications these discussions may have on the TBOA, using the 60-day period to evaluate our relationship and setting an agreed upon termination date in the event we are unable to restructure our relationship.”

Stevens cites the Section 19.11 qualifying opportunity to renegotiate because Adventist Health has achieved “less than 5% EBITDA for the previous 12-month period.” EBITDA, meaning “earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization,” is a term for the measure of the overall financial performance of a business. A good EBITDA margin is commonly seen as between 10% and 25% and is used as a profitability measure.

The letter states that the 60-day negotiation process “shall begin immediately and end at the close of business, Friday, November 29, 2024.”

Stevens also requests a signed copy of the letter be returned “no later than October 2” and that if no signed copy is received, “It will be notice of termination.”

Stevens then lays out the process that will take place if no agreement is reached during the 60-day period. “Adventist Health Mendocino Coast (AHMC) may terminate the lease and TBOA. Such termination will be effective at midnight on June 30, 2025.”

The letter continues, “Upon delivery of termination notice, parties will meet and confer within 30 days to begin negotiations for the necessary transfer of hospital assets and operations back to the district.”

The terms and conditions of the lease and TBOA would remain in effect until the June 2025 termination date.

On October 1, 2024, Paul Garza, the Board Chair of MCHCD, returned a signed and dated copy of the letter to Adventist Health. In a public statement, he wrote, “The MCHCD Board of Directors will review the Restructure Notice and explore every possible option to continue to provide access to healthcare services to residents on the Coast.”

Garza also announced, “We will keep the public apprised of the situation as we know more.”

(Ukiah Daily Journal)

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UKIAH CITY COUNCIL CHICKENS OUT ON PROP 36

by Jim Shields

The state of California needs to abandon the Pandemic-era failed experiment with emptying its jails via “catch-and-release” policies that allow crooks and criminal misfits to avoid incarceration. Some of these new laws and policies seriously undermine basic public safety. To what end?

On the November 5th ballot is Proposition 36 that aims to implement tougher, more appropriate penalties for theft and drug trafficking in a state that’s earned a reputation for being “soft on crime.” If passed, some of these crimes that were previously classified as misdemeanors would be re-categorized as felonies, reversing Prop 47 which was passed back in 2014 that transformed what were felonies into misdemeanors.

Got it, make sense?

Only in California can this sort of absurdity occur on a regular basis.

If you review MCSO booking logs and arrest records you’ll find that probably a little less than a hundred or so offenders commit an outsized share of crime in this county, often without any, or very short periods of time detained in jail, that would have interrupted, or at least slowed the frequency of their criminal and anti-social activity.

Sheriff Kendall will tell you that when they’re successful in keeping some of these serial offenders locked up for a while, there’s an immediate nosedive in crime in the areas they hail from. It’s a fact that jail’s revolving doors allow suspects to pirouette in and out of jail, giving crooks the freedom to carry out even more crimes and anti-social mischief, and worse.

All across California out-of-control shoplifting is causing business owners — large and small — to either close their doors or reduce their hours of operations. Businesses are doing this because state law holds that stealing merchandise worth $950 or less is just a misdemeanor, which means that law enforcement probably won’t bother to investigate, and if they do, prosecutors will let it go.

Clearly these sorts of incidents and situations point to disturbing indications that our vital and indispensable institutions critical to fostering and protecting public safety are not functioning as they should.

Proposition 36 would make three changes to primary drug and theft laws and sentence enhancements: turning theft misdemeanors into felonies for repeat offenders; lengthening sentences for major drug sales and crimes committed by groups; and requiring prison time for some drug-related felonies instead of county jail sentencing.

Additionally, the proposition would establish a new court process for individuals repeatedly convicted of drug possession. This process will allow them to receive treatment instead of harsher penalties, with charges dismissed upon successful completion. If treatment is not completed, individuals will serve up to three years in prison.

Finally, courts would have to warn those convicted of selling drugs that they could face murder charges if the drugs they distribute lead to an individual’s death.

It’s a foundational concept in our democracy that people should never be asked to determine just what and how much they can put up with to live in society.

All people, but especially elected officials, should not need to be told to do the right thing.

At their Oct. 2 meeting, the Ukiah City Council discussed the possible approval of a resolution to support Prop 36.

Council members Doug Crane and Juan Orozco did the right thing recognizing that Prop 36’s primary purpose is to protect, restore and enhance public safety. Unfortunately, Mayor Josefina Dueñas and council members Mari Rodin and Susan Sher couldn’t quite bring themselves to do the right thing.

Anyway, here’s a report by Adam Gaska providing details on the Ukiah City Council meeting regarding Prop 36. Gaska is is a member of the Redwood Valley Municipal Advisory Council, as well as one of the leaders of efforts in Ukiah to clean up illegal homeless camps along streams and the Russian River in the Ukiah Valley.

Ukiah City Council On The Wrong Side Of History

By Adam Gaska

On Wednesday evening, October 2nd, I attended the Ukiah City Council’s regular meeting to speak in support of the council passing a resolution to support State Proposition 36. I made a comment, urging the council to pass a resolution supporting Prop 36.

City Manager, Sage Sangiacomo did an excellent job putting together information to back up the staff recommendation to support the resolution. He presented the case well, making strong arguments why our community, and many in California, need Prop 36 to pass. Council members Crane and Orozco acknowledged that Prop 36 wouldn’t entirely or immediately fix the issues our community is facing in regards to rampant theft, substance misuse, and homelessness, but felt it would be a step in the right direction.

Council members Rodin and Duenas didn’t do enough research prior to the meeting to productively contribute to the discussion. Coming unprepared to a council meeting is unacceptable and a disservice to the community you are elected to represent. Because they did not come prepared with enough information, they voted to abstain.

Council member Sher, who solidly voted no, claimed that Prop 36 would lead us back to mass incarcerations and The War on Drugs. I strongly disagree with this claim.

Prop 36 does not mandate that prosecutors seek a felony charge for theft or drug offenses. Prop 36 gives them the discretion to charge certain crimes as felonies if there are two prior charges for the same offense. Repeat offenders that now qualify for a felony charge, could be held without bail until their arraignment instead of being released within hours which is currently the policy for misdemeanor offenses.

The punishment for theft and drug offenses has become so inconsequential that they have been effectively decriminalized, leading to rampant retail theft and open drug abuse. While drug and mental health diversion options still exist, the threat of state prison is gone because effectively, we have no stick to push people suffering from substance abuse disorder to accept the carrot of treatment. This situation very likely is contributing to the epidemic of drug abuse, overdoses and suicide we are seeing today. Mendocino County is in the top ten of California counties in per capita opioid deaths and suicides. This isn’t something to be proud of.

Passage of Prop 36 won’t bring us back to the War on Drugs. Cannabis, which historically accounted for a substantial portion of drug arrests, is now legal. Drug offenses will still be charged as misdemeanors until the third offense and up charging to a felony will be at the discretion of the DA. With the scourge of drugs such as fentanyl, having that stick of a prison sentence should push more people into treatment programs and if not, they can sit in prison which is better than watching them die on the streets of an overdose.

While the vote of the Ukiah City Council was disappointing, not all is lost. Ultimately, this issue will be decided by the voters and polling shows very strong statewide support. Hopefully the three council members who did not support Proposition 36 will be on the wrong side of history. One of those council members is now up for re-election. Hopefully the voters of Ukiah are savvy enough to remember how they voted against the best interest of public safety when they get their ballots and vote accordingly.

(Jim Shields is the Mendocino County Observer’s editor and publisher, observer@pacific.net, the long-time district manager of the Laytonville County Water District, and is also chairman of the Laytonville Area Municipal Advisory Council. Listen to his radio program “This and That” every Saturday at 12 noon on KPFN 105.1 FM, also streamed live: http://www.kpfn.org)

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MENDO FOOTBALL

Montgomery (3-2) at Ukiah (3-2), 7 p.m. Friday

This REC-Bay opener not only features what should be a fun, competitive matchup, but one that could carry some historical significance.

With Ukiah’s 52-34 win over Carlmont last week, Ukiah head coach Paul Cronin now has 232 career coaching wins (according to records compiled by CalHi Sports), tying him with late Montgomery head coach Jason Franci, the winningest head coach in Sonoma County history. Cronin now has a chance to pass Franci for most wins in the region with a victory over the team Franci led for more than 30 years.

Ukiah emerged from a very difficult nonleague schedule with a 3-2 record that featured a three-point loss to North Bay power San Marin and quality wins over Chico (28-21) and Carlmont. Junior quarterback Beau David has led the Wildcats’ prolific offense with averages of over 250 passing yards and nearly 100 rushing yards per game and 18 total touchdowns, while senior wide receiver Omaurie Phillips-Porter is having an all-star season with 697 receiving yards and nine touchdowns so far.

Montgomery has a sophomore-heavy group that’s full of rising stars. Quarterback Thor Boswell has 14 passing touchdowns, running back Joe Laqere has four touchdowns and 431 rushing yards and receiver Owen Grafe has five receiving touchdowns and 408 yards. The Vikings were on bye last week.

CalPreps computer projection: Ukiah 35, Montgomery 27

(Santa Rosa Press Democrat)

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HOPKINS FIRE ARSONIST CONVICTED OF ADDITIONAL CHARGE; ADDITIONAL FIRE RESTITUTION HEARING CALENDARED FOR DECEMBER.

While convicted Hopkins Fire arsonist Devin Lamar Johnson, age 23, formerly of Calpella, was sentenced to 15 years in state prison on September 16th in the Marin County Superior Court, there have been two additional criminal cases awaiting him back in the Mendocino County Superior Court. Those two additional cases were finally resolved Wednesday afternoon.

First, with a jury trial fast approaching and scheduled to begin on October 21st, defendant Johnson instead entered a no contest plea today to having committed a battery on a correctional officer, a misdemeanor.

While being moved in the Low Gap jail facility during the pendency of the arson case, the defendant head-butted a correctional deputy, a crime reported by the victim and captured on jail surveillance video.

The DA explained in court Wednesday afternoon the importance that this misdemeanor attack on a correctional officer be resolved and the conviction documented.

Albeit a misdemeanor, this conviction can now be factored into the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s placement assessment of the defendant and his risk level to prison guards and others when he's transported to CDCR for intake procedures, classification, and state prison facility assignment.

Second, defendant Johnson admitted several violation of probation allegations charged by the DA alleging that the defendant had violated terms of his July 2021 supervised probation on his felony conviction for attempted robbery.

The defendant’s admissions included the Marin County arson conviction, today’s battery conviction, unlawful possession of nitrous oxide days after the fire, and failing to cooperate with probation supervision leading up to the fire.

The violation of probation admissions and the misdemeanor battery conviction were referred to the Mendocino County Adult Probation Department for a sentencing report.

The defendant was ordered to return to court for sentencing on Tuesday, November 5th at 11 o’clock in the morning in Judge Faulder’s Department A in the downtown Ukiah courthouse.

Because of the multiple conviction sentencing methodology mandated by the California Legislature, defendant Johnson is only facing up to 171 additional days of prison time for violating his attempted robbery probation, assuming the local court orders those violation days to run consecutive to the defendant’s 15-year arson sentence out of Marin County.

At the request of the District Attorney, an additional hearing on victim restitution was calendared for Friday, December 13th at 10 o’clock in the morning in Department A in Ukiah.

All Hopkins Fire victims who submitted restitution claims through the District Attorney’s Victim/Witness unit prior to the Marin County sentencing in September have had restitution ordered and court orders documenting same have been or will be delivered to those individuals, families, and estate representatives.

However, if you are a Hopkins fire victim who did not submit a claim for restitution but would still like to, please contact Ingrid in the DA’s Victim/Witness unit on the top floor of the courthouse as soon as possible.

Fast action by interested parties will allow the DA to complete necessary paperwork to seek orders for additional restitution requests/claims at the December hearing when received and processed on or before Monday, December 2, 2024.

(DA Presser)

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THE DA’S VINDICTIVE ESCAPADE

Editor,

It appears increasingly likely that D.A. David Eyster’s case against suspended County Auditor Chamise Cubbison and fired County Payroll Manager Paula Kennedy will fall apart. It never seemed to hold much, if any, water.

Eyster doesn’t recognize and seems unconcerned with the costs he’s incurred on taxpayers’ behalf — first in trying to get us to pay for “training” in the form of steak dinners for staff and their spouses, and then by running up court costs, sheriff’s department hours, and outside counsel’s legal fees (at $400/hour!). Most likely, expensively, and deservedly: Coming soon! A wrongful termination suit from Cubbison, for back pay and benefits, mental distress, her legal fees, etc.

How much has this pointless debacle cost us? Is someone keeping track? It’s got to be far more than the $68,000 in question.

Is Eyster going to reimburse the County for this vindictive escapade?

Jean Arnold

Mendocino

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CHANGE OUR NAME - FORT BRAGG

This month’s Change Our Name Business Meeting will be Saturday, October 19 at 2 p.m. Please let us know if you would like to attend at changeournamefortbragg@gmail.com

Our next teach-in will be Thursday November 14 at 6 p.m at Harbor Lite Lodge, 120 North Harbor Drive, FB.

Envisioned as a program to educate attendees about the issues involved in the name change and to hear neighbors’ ideas, the teach-in will last about one hour and will feature two speakers and a question and answer/discussion period.

Speakers will be:

Holly Tannen who sings traditional English and Scottish ballads and writes satirical songs about Mendocino and the Internet. She holds a master’s degree in Folklore from U.C. Berkeley, where she studied neo-Pagan music, the folklore of the AIDS epidemic, and the singing of Scotland’s Traveling People. She also wrote and performs The Braxton Bragg song which can be found on our website here: https://www.changeournamefortbragg.com/bragg-song

Troyle Tognoli.

What was once intended as a two week visit, quickly turned into 47 years of Troyle living, working and raising a son in Mendocino County. Troyle formed and spearheaded Black Lives Matter Mendocino County chapter and currently serves on the City of Ukiah Equity and Diversity committee. Troyle rallied the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors to support the Mendocino County (PSAB) Public Safety Advisory Board. She served as the youngest member of the Mendocino County Grand Jury, She also served as President of SEIU local 1021. Recently retired, Troyle now enjoys an array of political, social and practical endeavors.

Heavy traffic use on Blues Beach shows on the beach. Cars and trucks are driven on the beach on a daily basis. State Sen. Mike McGuire has a bill that would transfer the beach and about 170 acres of coastline to a Native American non profit./Frank Hartzell

Letter To The Editor

The recent front-page article in The Advocate, “Where the Heck is Blues Beach?” missed the most intriguing fact about this Mendocino County oceanfront property: the land was recently returned to its original owners.

Senate Bill 231, signed by governor Newsom three years ago, returned Blues Beach to a nonprofit organized by three local tribal governments: the Sherwood Valley Band of Pomo Indians, the Round Valley Indian Tribes, and the Coyote Valley Band of Pomo.

The tribes and their nonprofit protect the beach environment and preserve its cultural value while allowing continued public access.

The Blues Beach agreement serves as a model for successful restoration of tribal sovereignty over their ancestral lands.

Everyone should know where Blues Beach is and what it now signifies as a successful example of the Land Back movement.

Philip Zwerling

Fort Bragg

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THE 2024 HALLOWEEN SEASON WITH DANCE MUSIC FROM THE MUSICAL SHAMAN KYLE MADRIGAL, OPENING FOR THE ONE AND ONLY ROOTS ROCK SENSATION, THE STEVEN BATES BAND, LIVE FROM THE MENDOCINO COAST!

Willits Center for the Arts will kick off the 2024 Halloween season with dance music from the musical shaman Kyle Madrigal, opening for the one and only roots rock sensation, The Steven Bates Band, live from the Mendocino coast!

The Center for the Arts will be transformed into a spectacularly spooky haunted house, where you can eat, drink, and bid on on some great and groovy silent auction items, win a prize with that special creepy costume, get your fabulous fortune read, and take a Halloween photo at our freaky photo booth!

Get ready to party with your friends and neighbors, and join us on the dance floor all night long.

We look forward to seeing you at Willits Center for the Arts to rock out to these great musicians on Saturday October 19 starting at 7pm! Tickets are on sale online and at WCA's gallery desk during open hours. For more information see our website at https://www.willitscenterforthearts.org or call 707 459 1726.

This is a 21 and over event.

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NOVEMBER 2024 AT FORT BRAGG LIBRARY

Teen D & D

Teens, 12-18! Bring yourself; bring a friend to Teen Dungeons and Dragons. No experience necessary. Snacks and materials provided.

1st & 3rd Wednesday Nov 6 & 20, 2024, 3-5 pm

Contact: fortbragglibrary@gmail.com

707-964-2020

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Salmon: Forest Superheroes

Anica Williams from California State Parks offers families information, games, and crafts, all about salmon. Plus, learn about the free California State Park Adventure Pass for fourth-graders!

Saturday, Nov 9, 2024, 2-3 pm

Contact: fortbragglibrary@gmail.com

707-964-2020

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Writers of the Mendocino Coast Creative Writing Workshop

A monthly workshop taught by published authors. Each month will feature a different genre/style/or theme.

Open and free to all adults. Bring your notebooks and pencils.

This month: PROMPTS for All Reasons and Seasons with Earlene Gleisner

Wednesday, Nov 13, 2024, 2-3:30 pm

Contact: fortbragglibrary@gmail.com

707-964-2020

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Seed Saving Workshop

Seed expert, Julia Dakin and her friends from Going to Seed, will be showing us different techniques for saving seed from our summer garden crops. Seeds for saving will be provided but you are welcome to bring your own.

Saturday, November 16, 2024, 1-4 pm

Contact: fortbragglibrary@gmail.com

707-964-2020

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Make Your Own Seed Paper Adult Craft

Alan Foss from the Fort Bragg Garden Club will show us how to make our own seed paper. All supplies provided. This activity has limited space. Reservations are required. Call the library to reserve your spot.

Saturday, November 23, 2024, 2-3 pm, by reservation only

Contact: fortbragglibrary@gmail.com

707-964-2020

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Friends of the Fort Bragg Library Holiday Sale

Books, CDs, DVDs & much more! Sales are held in the Community Room at the Library.

Saturday & Sunday, November 30 & December 1, 10 am-4 pm

Members only sale: Friday, November 29, 4-7 pm

Contact: ffblnews@gmail.com

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All events and programs are FREE!

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MUDTIME IN MENDOCINO

by Dorothy Bear

In 1984, the Kelley House supplied local historian Robert Winn with material he used in his College of the Redwoods course, “New England in Mendocino.” Dorothy Bear shared some of that information in the column below, which was first published in the November 8, 1984 Mendocino Beacon.

The best sources in our files were the letters written between 1865 and 1869 by Dr. Robert Foster Andrews and Cornelia Haskins Andrews from Mendocino to their families back in New Salem, Massachusetts. The first doctor to practice in Mendocino, Robert Andrews came from a family of physicians and graduated from Dartmouth Medical College when he was 21. The Andrews married in May of 1862, and were in their late twenties when they came to California.

Mostly Cornelia was the letter writer, though occasionally her husband “Fot” felt inspired, and his letters tend to tell more of conditions here. The Andrews house, which was directly across from the Ford House on Main Street, also served as the doctor’s office. [It would have been about where the Prentice Gallery is today.]

“Mendocino, March 6th, 1866

Dear Dad & Ma’am,

We are having one of California stormy days and thus far I have not been molested or made afraid by a summons to travel, a rather unusual circumstance. My [horse] Major seems to enjoy a day’s rest as much as myself having eaten his fill he was soaking his back in the rain as if he had determined to “stand the storm and anchor bye and bye.” When there is to be a severe storm he shakes his head and lays back his ears. He has commenced to shed his coat and is rather thin in flesh. He can do the work of two such horses as you have at home. There is something in the climate or purity of the atmosphere which makes man and beast endure more hard work than in the Eastern States. If I had your horse think I could give all the exercise she needs.

Cornelia is mending my old coat which, being grey, one of my genteel neighbors says makes me look like a grizzly. This place is building up quite rapidly, many new buildings have been erected during the past year and half and many more soon to be. There is to be a shoemaker shop built the other side of us and, with that one side and an Irish family with children the other, we shall no doubt realize that there is such a thing as having too near neighbors. There are two barbers, two tailors, three blacksmiths, two drug stores, one and one half dentists, two shoemakers, three hotels, three stores, three fruit stores, one whiskey mill and six other stores in my range of practice.

The Catholics have nearly completed their Church. The roads are being improved, new bridges built and also the hills graded but for a long time to come the roads will be difficult to travel and sometimes dangerous. New inhabitants are arriving who are clearing up new land and settling down to live thus adding to the wealth and prosperity of the country; everything raised from a farm soon finds a market though back in the valleys their crops are troublesome to get to market. The soil here on the coast is a rich black loam which will grow anything without manure. But owing to the northwest winds, Fruit is rather hard to raise unless they build high board fences to break it off.

We enjoy ourselves quite well enough, but as we expected before we came, we are obliged to forego some comforts and privileges which are not to be obtained in any new country as well as the pleasure of visiting with our friends and relatives. We hope that when we shall think best to return, we shall find them all in as good health and as prosperous as when we left home. All the old settlers say this has been a very severe winter; I find it much more severe than last, more water fallen and of course more mud.

Yours truly, R.F. Andrews”

Perhaps the good doctor tired of making house calls in bad weather because the Andrews returned to Massachusetts and in 1870 settled in Gardner, the “Furniture Capital of New England,” where Robert practiced for many years until his death on July 11, 1911.

(The Kelley House Museum is open from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM Thursday through Monday. Walking tours of the historic district depart from the Kelley House regularly; for a tour schedule, visit kelleyhousemuseum.org. During October, there will be Haunted Mendocino Walking Tours every Saturday at 1:30 pm and at 7:00 pm on Halloween. $25 adults, $15 under 12. Purchase advance tickets at kelleyhousemuseum.org.)

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Haunted Mendocino Walking Tour

Wear your sweater since you're bound to get goosebumps listening to the ghostly tales of some of Mendocino's more infamous residents. We’ll stop at the homes, hideouts, and hangouts of all the well-known specters, and learn a little of the town’s history along the way. Gaze into a mirror where people have seen a woman in Victorian dress looking back at them. Peer into the waves in search of a stallion and the rider who took it into the sea. Did you know not all hauntings are about scary visions or terrifying noises, but that some ghosts haunt with scents? What is that thing that goes bump in the night, followed by sounds of a taut rope swinging from the rafters? Why can guests hear the pitter patter of pets in a building where pets aren’t allowed? What is the area’s oldest known ghost story? And how many spooks haunt the streets of Mendocino? All questions will be answered on this hour and a half long tour through Haunted Mendocino. Join us… if you’re not too scared.

Tickets are $25 for adults and $15 for youth.

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MEET ALL the varieties of tomatoes in the world.

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HIS ATTENTION SEEMS TO WANDER, THOUGH

God Is the Eternal Witness

With the Washington, D.C. Peace Vigil pushed way back behind a fence, due to construction of the presidential inaugural reviewing stands, there is scant visibility now to get out any political messages. And no media attention. Meanwhile, am getting up each morning at the Adam’s Place Homeless Shelter, and following morning ablutions, head out for a nosh and coffee before going to Catholic University to use a guest computer at the student library, and then, attend Mass in the lower Crypt Church in the Basilica. After that, there is nothing else to do but be mindful, and eventually return to the shelter by 5 p.m. in order to keep the bed and locker.

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SOMETIMES YOU GET LUCKY.

by Flynn Washburne

“Yes,” someone even casually acquainted with me might say, “sometimes you do. And sometimes you go through life with a shamrock-festooned horseshoe hovering over your head like a protective halo, allowing you to continue drawing breath as you continuously drop trou and waggle your pale behind at Death hisself, daring him to thrust his tripartite come-along into your fundament and drag you away to an all-inclusive cruise down the River Styx (derisive snort).”

It’s true — I have been fortunate in that regard. I haven’t won any lotteries or gotten to marry the girl of my dreams, but after spending countless hours ambling blithely down Harm’s Way and casually swimming in Shit’s Creek, I not only exist but thrive in a manner rarely encountered in a chap of my years. I’ve accumulated some scars and absorbed some trauma, to be sure, but I’m still spry as a ferret and curious as a cat. I have what people generally refer to as a “knack” for slipping out of precarious situations. Of course, I’m even knackier at getting into them, so it more or less evens out, but still. Lucky.

So I’m at work one day and feeling unaccountably fatigued. Not just tired, but every minor exertion feeling difficult and draining. I assume it will pass and soldier on, but it worsens, and so I go to the bathroom and cut myself a rail. This has the desired effect of getting me through the rest of the day, but I still don’t feel right. I’m short of breath and feel flushed. I get home and wisely decide to abstain and go to sleep, but as I’m laying there with a hand alongside my neck I feel what ought to be my pulse, that is, a rhythmic throbbing indicating the ebb and flow of circulatory pressure, but it’s not the reassuring cut-time ka-thump ka-thump I’ve grown used to, more like Gene Krupa trying to play at 11/8 while drunk. And fast, like tongue-trill fast. I remove my hand from my neck, take a few deep breaths and think to myself, Well, whatever that is, and it may not be my heart at all, could be a neck spasm or blood gremlins, it’ll either kill me or it won’t, and I’m fine with a coin-flip. After all, I’m lucky.

I wake up in the morning not dead, so I assume the danger has passed. Off I go to work, feeling more or less ok, more less than more, really, but able to get through another day, I think. But every time I bend over, something I have to do about every thirty seconds at my job, and straighten up I feel dizzy and the periphery of my vision darkens. I finally admit to myself there may be something wrong and inform my boss that I’m going to the hospital. At the ER they take a listen to my pump and immediately strip me down and commence poking holes and applying sensors, then arrive at the conclusion that I’m in a condition of atrial fibrillation.

They outline their plan of action to deal with it, an IV drip of some kind of medication that’s supposed slow the heart rate and reset the proper rhythm — I’m at upwards of 200 bpm — and wait and see. After six or eight hours of this my heart has slowed somewhat, hovering around the 140-160 range, but still about as rhythmic as a box of tennis balls being emptied out on a staircase, which is to say not at all. Further action must be taken, say the medical professionals.

What say we knock you out and zap you with the paddles? Let’s do it, I say, charge ‘em up and have at it. An alarming number of personnel comes into my room, wheeling in expensive-looking machinery and thrusting papers at me to sign, presumably absolving them of responsibility in the event I croak, and at this point I’m fine either way. I just want it to be over. The anasthesiologist steps to the plate and the first pleasant sensation I’ve had since this shit started ensues, that first few seconds of Propyphyl before the curtain falls.

When I wake up, my bed is ringed with smiling medical professionals. I look at the monitor and there, by the little heart icon, I see the number: 60. And just as regular as you please, ba-bump, ba-bump. “Everything went great,” says a doctor. “One application of the zapper set things right.”

When the sawbones and I have the post-procedural discussion, he tells me the echocardiogram revealed a good strong muscle with none of the attendant damage associated with chronic amphetamine abuse. How in the hell I managed that I don’t know, but knock wood. However, he continued, after an incident like this the atrial valve tends to get a little floppy and create turbulence instead of a smooth flow which can create blood clots, so we’re going to put you on a blood thinner to prevent your brain from exploding. Good enough, I say. Thin blood it is. Other than that, the advice is go forth and live your life.

The luck I spoke of in the initial paragraphs is not surviving this incident. I don’t know if it qualifies as a near-death experience. I’m pretty sure a creature of my mass can’t sustain that much cardiac exertion for too long — heartbeats of that rapidity might suit gerbils or hummingbirds, not me — but the neat and briskly effective manner in which it was resolved says maybe it was not such a big deal.

What’s lucky is the aftereffect of the issue. As I walked out of the hospital, I knew — I mean I knew, as deeply and certainly as ever I knew anything — that I was done with drugs. Permanently and forever.

Reader, I sense your skepticism. I remember reading an interview with Robert Downey Jr. after he got out of prison, saying he didn’t go to rehab, he didn’t twelve step, he just decided one day not to be an addict and presto-change-o, he wasn’t. Right, I thought. That sumbitch will be dead in a month. Well, we all know how that turned out.

Not just drugs, either. I decided to quit fucking around in any manner. To stop doing anything injurious to my health. To stop wasting time, and god, have I wasted a lot of it. To be productive, and focused, and goal-oriented. To be personally responsible, and pick up after myself, and pay attention to details, and be aware of how my actions affect others, and adjust them accordingly. And most importantly, to throw out the addict’s perverse need to avoid discomfort at any cost.

Detoxification from meth is not a pleasant thing, but it is not unbearable. You feel like shit for a week or so, and then you don’t. I was absolutely terrified of the prospect, but as it was happening I thought, What was I so scared of? Who am I to complain of discomfort? The reward for sucking it up and toughing it out is you get to come out the other side and live again. And that, I realized when I did it, is something of inestimable value.

I put myself on a 100% plant-based diet and a strict daily exercise regimen, gave up all sugar except fruit, and what’s happening now is I wake up every day well-rested and smiling, having slept through the night without having to get up and piss five times, and I’m ready and eager to start my day. I work long hours at a difficult and physically demanding job and I do it well, and I take pride and pleasure in that. What free time I have, and it’s not much, is spent productively: fixing, cleaning, reading, writing, playing music, helping others. I am bound and determined to live as I’ve always felt I was meant to but never could, and to try and balance the karmic scales as much as possible.

I am fully aware of Life’s love of ironic twists and the possibility of it answering my new-found appreciation of it with metastastic cancer or a speeding bus flattening me, but if so, I say at least I’ll finish with a clear head and an open heart. The idea of dying the ignominious and completely expected death of the active addict always depressed the hell out of me, and I’m happy to say it is no longer my future.

Finally, I’d like to say to the AVA’s readership, and especially to anyone who ever enjoyed my efforts there or expressed any concern for my well-being, and those who wrote in with support and praise, I don’t have the words to tell you how much that meant to me, or how rotten and guilty I felt letting everyone down again and again. I do hope reading this will make you a little bit glad for me, because it’s true, it’s real, and I am me again.

Finally finally, I would ask Mr. Volt Voort to please contact me at lettersandsodas77@gmail.com. I have a thing or two to discuss with you.

Cheers, Mendocino County. I’ll be back there briefly next month and will stop in Boonville to pay my respects and allow the Chief to put a stamp of credibility on my claims.

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REVISITING WHITE MAN

by Bruce Anderson

My sorta friend, White Man, was ecstatic at San Francisco’s growing Asian population. Chuckling in anticipation of a Tiananmen-like purge of the hundreds of metropolitan irritations besieging him, White Man would say, “When the Chinese take over, and it won’t be long now, all the bullshit will be over!” bringing his arm down like a guillotine after each word. “You hear me? No! More! Bullshit! When! The! Chinese! Run! The! Whole! Goddam! Show!”

White Man, a retired merchant seaman, split apoplectic time between Boonville and The City. He owned a couple of buildings in the Mission District. He said he was in a constant battle to prevent his Latin tenants from destroying his investment. While White Man’s sinophilia left no room for detailed investigations of San Francisco’s many other ethnicities; he seemed to regard blacks as either comic or menacing, Italians as “a bunch of crooks,” Jews as “Italians with brains,” and gays as “pathetic but great tenants.”

No, White Man reserved his fiercest racial opinions for Hispanics, pegging those opinions to his perceptions of the housekeeping habits of his very narrow sample — the occupants of his two exorbitantly lucrative tenements. White Man said that he could walk past a building anywhere in the Mission and know at a glance the national origins of the inhabitants: Nicaraguans were messy and tended to duck out on their rent; Mexicans were scrupulously orderly indoors, total slobs beyond their own portals. White Man said Mexicans felt no compunction about simply airmailing their trash out their windows and into the street. He said Cubans never failed to pay their rent on time but could be dangerous in ways he did not specify. Colombians were a total no-go zone. “They won’t pay their rent and they’ll kill you if you ask them for it in the wrong way.”

White Man also claimed to be a Marxist, and he was a gun guy. Need it be said that here was a citizen utterly without irony, a walking contradiction?

“I’m always packin’ when I go around my buildings, you can be sure of that,” White Man would say, apparently thinking that I’d be reassured that one more crazed individual was walking around the city with a couple of loaded guns down his pants. The only hint of mental illness in his appearance was how fanatically neat he was. He was a little too neat — precisely maintained white hair, cleaner than clean Levi’s, ironed shirt, shined shoes. (In Boonville shined shoes are seen only at funerals, if there.)

White Man’s teeming manias were perfectly concealed by this respectable visual he presented. Just looking at him you’d never know behind that benign, grandfatherly facade the guy was all bombs bursting in air and the rocket’s red, red glare.

He’d been married several times. “I just couldn’t live with her,” White Man would say about his apparently interchangeable wives. “She was totally unreasonable,” the man wholly without reason would invariably add whenever he mentioned his love life. More likely the wives had been wafted out the door on White Man’s incessant gulf stream of one-way rhetorical gusts.

When I knew him, White Man’s love interest was a multi-substance abuser who kept herself in a perpetual chemically-induced catatonic state. One day, eating lunch at Libby’s Philo restaurant, the drug lady suddenly asked me if I had a Muni fast pass. “I need to go to Macy’s.” That was all she said in the hour I shared her company. Union Square by bus from Philo is an all-day adventure. I guess she thought we were in the city somewhere.

You won’t be surprised that White Man was the kind of guy who got very angry when you disagreed with him, even mildly disagreed, as in, “I’m sorry but I don’t see it that way.”

White Man would go right off.

“Then you’re an idiot,” he’d say and stomp off.

He was a difficult friend.

White Man liked to drive out to the Coast with me while I delivered papers, and I should say here that I made a sort-of living as editor and publisher of this fine publication, and I should also say our friendship, such as it was, probably arose from our shared vintage and, less than more, the same general frame of psycho-social reference as it played out between 1945-2000. To me, the guy was like muzak. I half-listened to his monologues, only tuning all the way in for the uniquely crazy stuff, like the day he said, “You know what my shrink told me?” I hadn’t known he had a shrink, and I didn’t know whether to be scared or relieved, so I answered, No, comrade, what did your shrink tell you? (I always called him “comrade” to see if I could rouse the Marxist in him. I never did stir that beast.) “She said I’m on more Prozac than anyone else on her entire caseload!”

What do you say to a confidence like that? Congratulations? Way to go, White Man?

White Man read the New York Times cover-to-cover every day. I’ve never known a true political nut who wasn’t a devout Times reader. I was not surprised that White Man seemed to need the paper even more than he needed his Prozac. He cited it endlessly as the last word on all current events. I once mentioned to him Chomsky’s recommendation that the best way to read the Times was upside down, the last paragraphs first because that’s where the truth was buried, if there was any truth at all anywhere in the story.

“Chomsky’s full of shit!” White Man yelled. “I need the goddam facts, not a bunch of bullshit like you put out in your paper every week.”

One day I was arguing with him about fascism, which White Man said had already taken over America. I said it hadn’t, and cited the more obvious reasons that the fascisti hadn’t yet made their move in the incompetent, deteriorated, haphazardly-policed corporate fun palace we actually do have in this country. Hysterics have been saying that America is a fascist state since at least 1961 when I first parted the political fogs to emerge as a half-assed socialist myself.

I told White Man that while it’s true that there are lots of natural-born goose steppers loose in the land, we’re not even half-way there. Yet. Anyway, I said, White Man old boy, given your imagined Chinese takeover of San Francisco’s municipal management with its No! More! Bullshit! bugles and gongs patrols and summary executions of people who don’t pay their rent on time, aren’t you kinda fascist-oriented yourself?

“The trouble with morons like you,” White Man had said the day of the fascism seminar, “is that you’re unable to make simple distinctions; the Chinese aren’t fascists; they’re orderly.”

I hadn’t said anything about the Chinese as a people; I’d said China looks more like a fascist state than a communist one.

The day after I’d told him he didn’t know fascism from fajitas, here comes White Man with a whole box of books on fascism.

“You assholes” — a visitor to the office was startled to be included — ”think I don’t know about fascism? You think all these books are just for show?”

I expect any day now to pick up the Chron, and right on the front page there’ll be a story about a 65-year-old white guy who went nuts in the Mission, gunning down twenty-five random Hispanics and three Chinese millionaires who got caught in the crossfire. The sub-hed will read, “In Boonville They Called Him White Man.”

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CATCH OF THE DAY, Thursday, October 10, 2024

DELBERT ALFORD, 37, Covelo. Parole violation.

RODOLFO CEJA III, 33, Talmage. County parole violation.

LITTLEFEATHER FARIAS-VANSICKLE, 23, Willits. Controlled substance while armed with loaded firearm, loaded firearm in public, conspiracy, resisting.

SARA JUDICE, 38, Ukiah. Paraphernalia, failue to appear.

JAKE LEWIS-KOOY, 28, Ukiah. Failure to appear. (Frequent flyer.)

ROMERO LOPEZ, 22, Willits. Controlled substance while armed with loaded firearm, DUI with blood-alcohol over 0.15%, loaded firearm in public, no license, conspiracy, resisting.

SIXTO RAMOS-OCONNELL, 33, Ukiah. Stolen property, controlled substance, paraphernalia.

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"The loneliest moment in someone's life is when they are watching their whole world fall apart, and all they can do is stare blankly. It's not the shattering itself that breaks you--it's the silence that follows, the quiet space where you realize there's nothing left to salvage. And in that moment, you know that you'll never be the same again. You'll build something new, perhaps, but it will never be what you lost."

— F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

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49ERS DESPERATELY NEEDED THIS WIN. But was beating the Seahawks really enough?

by Ann Killion

Most people probably watched the San Francisco 49ers’ game on Thursday with a glass of something: hot tea, an adult beverage, alka seltzer. At the end of the game around 8:30 p.m., was your glass half full?

If it was, and you had plenty more of your favorite beverage to enjoy, it means that you saw the 49ers’ 36-24 win over Seattle as a sign of order being restored in the NFC West. Perhaps it was even a righting of the broader NFL picture.

With the win, the 49ers pulled their record even at 3-3 and – somewhat improbably – moved into first place in the NFC West. Both the Seahawks and the 49ers are now .500 after six games and the 49ers’ victory at Lumen Field gives them the edge in the standings.

The optimists saw the 49ers mount a dramatic fourth-quarter surge. Saw raw rookies make key contributions. Saw Brock Purdy make heady plays with his feet and arm.

But if you were looking down into your glass and wondering why so much of your favorite liquid was gone, wondering why that vessel was half empty, then you had probably paid pretty close attention to the way the game unfolded.

Two weeks ago, after a feel-good victory over hapless New England, Nick Bosa noted that with the team’s two straight losses to Minnesota and the Rams, the online reactions made one think “the building’s burning down.” But after last Sunday’s home loss to Arizona, the 49ers’ players were the ones looking for the fire extinguishers. They didn’t need any online chatter to know how dire the situation was.

“When your backs are against the wall, it kind of brings (a sense of urgency) out of you,” Bosa said.

Their reaction after the win was jubilance, joy, relief. Though this was technically not a “must win,” for the 49ers and their self-image, it really was exactly that.

“At the end of the day we treated it as a must win, to get back on track,” Deebo Samuel said. 

The 49ers got back on track. But for much of Thursday night, they did not look like a team capable of handing Kansas City its first loss of the season next week. They didn’t look like a team that had fully righted itself. The 49ers were once again on the precipice of squandering a double-digit lead. They were once again decimated by injuries. They again struggled in the red zone, again had issues with special teams. They were, once again, giving a team and its fan base hope when hope should have been extinguished.

The 49ers had a 20-point lead with 10:07 to play in the third quarter. Less than nine minutes later, their lead had evaporated to just six points. 

“I was trying to not get any negative feelings,” said Kyle Shanahan. “Our goal was to be locked in.”

Plenty of other people were getting negative feelings. 

The 49ers survived on Thursday and have ten days before they host Kansas City on October 20. The undefeated Chiefs will be coming off a bye; Andy Reid’s teams are famously 24-6 – including in Super Bowls – after bye weeks. 

That game begins what is, on paper, the hardest part of the 49ers’ schedule: home games against the Super Bowl champions and Dallas before their bye, and then road trips to challenging opponents in Tampa Bay, Green Bay and the Bills, plus another game against Seattle.

The Seahawks, who started the season 3-0, looked inept most of the first half and were being booed in their own building by the “12s.” The 49ers kept driving into the red zone against the Seahawks defense, but kept settling for field goals, allowing the Seahawks to hang around. 

In the third quarter, the Seahawks and their crowd were sparked by another 49ers special teams gaffe, when the Seahawks returned a kickoff for a touchdown and all the momentum shifted. Christian McCaffrey’s standout backup Jordan Mason left the game with an injury.  Very familiar, very bad things were happening for the 49ers. 

But the 49ers battled back. They stopped Seattle’s momentum. They scored in the red zone. They forced turnovers. They reasserted themselves as the 49ers.

“We’re sick about those two losses we had,” Shanahan said.  “When you feel like you had them, especially in division games.

“We’ve gone on a stretch here the last two years where we’ve won a lot of games in a row and some of those haven’t been tight. ... I think we got a little spoiled that way, just human nature, of sometimes feeling too relaxed.”

But the NFL is not easy. You can never relax. You can never assume the other team will fade.

“Those two losses are a reminder of how the NFL works,” Shanahan said.

That is a very glass-half-full way to look at the 49ers’ situation: they’ve been reminded how hard this job is, how desperate they have to be to succeed. Thursday’s game was the start.

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49ERS GAME GRADES: Another wobbly second half, but a much-needed victory

by Mike Lerseth

The San Francisco 49ers built a first-half lead, again turned wobbly in the second, but had enough to fend off the Seattle Seahawks for a 36-24 victory to even their record at 3-3.

OFFENSE: C

The Niners took a 16-3 lead into halftime, but it should have been 24-3. They had a 90-yard drive that resulted in a field goal. And a 77-yard drive that resulted in a field goal. And, after a fumble recovery at the Seattle 29, the 49ers gained six yards and — yep — kicked a field goal. A 483-yard night is eye-opening, but 152 of that came on two plays — Deebo Samuel’s 76-yard catch-and-run TD and Isaac Guerendo’s breathing-room 76-yard rip with 1:24 to go. The big concern is the status of breakout RB Jordan Mason, who collected 73 yards on nine rushes, but had only one second-half carry after injuring his shoulder.

DEFENSE: B

There was, again, some obvious wilting in the second half, but Renardo Green’s interception midway through the fourth quarter — the unit’s third turnover of the night with Malik Mustapha’s first-half INT and Tatum Bethune’s fumble recovery — tapped the brakes on a possible collapse. The Niners went into the game expecting more of Seattle RB Kenneth Walker III and wary of not having Charvarius Ward to cover DK Metcalf. But Warner gained only 32 yards on 14 carries and Metcalf — despite being targeted a game-high 11 times — had just three catches for 48 yards.

SPECIAL TEAMS: B

Matthew Wright’s hurried debut for the Niners was almost perfect. The place-kicking temp hire made all three of his field goals (25, 41 and 35 yards) and all four extra points in his first week of standing in for Jake Moody. Leg strength might be an issue as, instead of booming his kickoffs into the end zone, Wright repeatedly allowed returns by Seahawks — one of which Laviska Shenault Jr. brought back 97 yards for Seattle’s first TD. Even tossing that one aside, Seattle averaged 26.5 per return. Erstwhile kicker Mitch Wishnowsky averaged 43.3 on his four punts, two of which were downed inside the 10.

COACHING: B

Hear me out. The 49ers coaching staff has earned its money this season for this reason: they have clearly prepared the team’s backups to be ready if needed. And boy have they been needed. Guerendo, Mustapha, Green and Patrick Taylor all had highlight moments. Include the Tuesday signing of Wright to that list and Kyle Shanahan’s staff has somehow managed to keep this season from completely going off the rails — so far.

OVERALL: C

My oh my did they look to be on their way to giving away another game. But these aren’t Pete Carroll’s Seahawks and Geno Smith is no Russell Wilson so the 49ers get to 3-3 on a short week, remarkably tied for the lead in the NFC West. The extra time off will be much needed for a team that seems to suffer a critical injury every week, but waiting for them when they return are the Chiefs and the Cowboys.

(sfchronicle.com)

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WHY SOME NAPA AND SONOMA WINERIES ARE MAKING TASTINGS FREE THIS MONTH

(Here’s wine reporter Jess Lander.)

The days of free wine tasting in Napa and Sonoma are a foggy, distant memory. But this month, a handful of wineries are bringing them back.

During October, Jackson Family Wines, which owns more than 25 California wineries and brands, is offering free tastings at seven of its estates: Napa Valley’s Freemark Abbey and Sonoma County’s Matanzas Creek, Siduri, Stonestreet, Copain, La Crema and Kendall-Jackson. The company is also hosting complimentary events, including two on Oct. 19 at Kendall-Jackson and Freemark Abbey.

Jackson Family’s free tastings are part of a grassroots wine industry movement promoting the social benefits of drinking wine. Named Come Over October, it was created as a direct counter to Sober October, the lesser-known sequel to Dry January that encourages people to abstain from alcohol for a month. Come Over October doesn’t quite roll off the tongue as easily as Sober October, but the intention behind it is of urgent concern for the wine industry, because wine consumption is down and a sober movement has undeniably taken off.

The nonalcoholic beverage market is booming: According to analyst IWSR, nonalcoholic drinks volume jumped 29% in 2023 year-over-year, and nonalcoholic wine volume rose 18%. Recent Gallup polling states that a record-high 45% of Americans believe that moderate consumption — one or two alcoholic beverages per day — is bad for them. A slew of recent studies claim that alcohol consumption comes with significant health risks, like heart issues and cancer, and debunk long-held claims that moderate consumption of wine can offer health benefits. Last year, the World Health Organization stated that no level of alcohol consumption is safe, and the alcohol industry fears that next year, the U.S. Dietary Guidelines could also reduce its recommendation on the level of safe drinking.

But while Jackson Family Wines is one of Come Over October’s biggest backers, proprietor Barbara Banke called the sober movement “overblown.”

“It’s touting itself as being a movement, but it hasn’t really caught on,” she said, pointing to Gallup poll data that shows the same percentage of Americans — 62% — reported drinking alcohol in 1960 and 2023. (That percentage has declined in recent years, from 67% in 2022 to 58% in 2024.) “We have the same percentage of people drinking wine as we had in the past.”

Banke seems more focused on promoting inclusivity and accessibility. “It’s a good way to encourage people to try things,” she said of the free tastings. “We looked at it and thought, let’s roll back the times and make it free. You can come on in, taste and hopefully, you’ll like something in particular and you can buy it, or look for it at your local wine store or a restaurant where you live.”

While I personally believe the sober movement is something wineries should be taking seriously, Banke’s approach is smart. In the past few years, the Chronicle wine team has reported extensively on the rising costs of visiting Wine Country. Tasting fees are up. Wine prices are up. Hotel costs are up, too. We’ve tried our best to suggest affordable options; I’ve created budget-friendly itineraries and we hunted down the best tastings for $30 and under. We went outside of Napa and Sonoma and recommended the top wineries to visit in Anderson Valley, an ultra-chill and inexpensive alternative. So, when I heard there were free tastings and events in Wine Country this October, I wanted our readers to know about them.

Yet when I went to scroll through the local wine events on Come Over October’s website, I was disappointed to see that outside of Jackson Family’s offerings, most of the others taking place in Napa and Sonoma were still expensive, upwards of $100.

Confusingly, a lot of the local events listed on Come Over October’s events page aren’t about wine at all, centered instead around beer and spirits — and even coffee, sushi and marijuana. It’s clear that most of these events weren’t created specifically for Come Over October and appear aggregated from the campaign’s partner, Local Wine Events. Some of the most compelling events (in my opinion) — like oysters and Schramsberg sparkling wine — are offered only on weekdays, which may appeal to tourists, but likely not to Bay Area locals. (Perhaps you have some vacation days to use before the end of the year.)

I did find a handful of other creative and accessible events that might inspire an October visit to Wine Country. Healdsburg’s Rodney Strong Vineyards is hosting a free makers market on Saturday, Oct. 12. On Sunday, Oct. 13, there’s a yoga class in the vineyard ($25, includes wine) at Tedeschi in Calistoga. Kenwood’s Deerfield Ranch Winery will have a comedy night on Oct. 19 ($35, wine purchases separate) and on Oct. 20, St. Helena’s Ballentine Vineyards will live-stream the 49ers gamein the vineyard ($80 gets you two glasses of wine and snacks). Oakville’s Silver Oak Cellars is pairing its Cabernet with pizza — like short rib with caramelized onion and smoked queso sauce — and a DJ on Sundays this month. Guests can either pay $80 for a pizza and wine flight, or $20 for a pizza and then order wine by the glass or bottle.

I feel strongly that if the wine industry truly wants to recruit new drinkers, the entry point can’t be $75 formal wine tastings and fancy $150 wine dinners. More wineries should follow these wineries’ lead and create fun, low-key and reasonably priced experiences that will show consumers that wine is simply a great accessory to everyday activities and gatherings, which seems to be the very mission of Come Over October.

(via Esther Mobley, SF Chronicle)

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ALEXANDER CALDER

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'IT TOOK OVER EVERYTHING’: STORIES OF MARIJUANA’S LITTLE-KNOWN RISKS

A growing number of marijuana users in the U.S. are experiencing severe health problems like these.

by Megan Twohey, Danielle Ivory & Carson Kessler

As marijuana legalization spreads across the country, people are consuming more of the drug, more often and at ever-higher potencies. Most of the tens of millions of people using marijuana, for health benefits or for fun, don’t experience problems. But a growing number, mainly heavy users, have experienced addiction, psychosis and other harmful effects, The New York Times found.

“Cannabis is a lot of things at once,” said Dr. Kevin Gray, a psychiatrist and specialist in bio-behavioral medicine at Medical University of South Carolina Health. “It can be medically therapeutic. It also can be highly problematic.”

In interviews and surveys, hundreds of people told The Times about serious — sometimes frightening — symptoms that they were stunned to learn could be caused by cannabis. Here are some of their stories.

‘A Real Danger’

David Krumholtz, an actor known for films like “10 Things I Hate About You” and TV shows like “Numb3rs,” resumed smoking marijuana in 2016, after a decade-long break. Within months, he started to experience cycles of intense nausea and vomiting — a sometimes debilitating condition called cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome. It can lead to dehydration, seizures, kidney failure, cardiac arrest and even death in rare instances.

He lost 100 pounds and was in and out of emergency departments. At home in New Jersey, he would spend 10 hours at a time in hot baths, which for unknown reasons can temporarily relieve symptoms.

“I had numbness in my extremities, pain in my chest and my blood pressure skyrocketed,” he said.

Mr. Krumholtz, 46, believes he would have eventually died had he not suffered an episode that almost derailed his dream job, a role in the blockbuster 2023 film “Oppenheimer,” and inspired him to quit marijuana for good.

“It seems like such an innocent drug,” he said. “But for some of us, there is a real danger, a really harmful side effect.”

‘Every Day, All Day’

Aimee Washington, a 44-year-old mother of four in Grand Rapids, Mich., starts smoking cannabis within a half-hour of getting up and consumes six joints. “It’s like an every day, all day thing,” she said.

She can’t sleep without it. She can’t eat without it. When she tries to stop, she has panic attacks. “It took over everything,” she said.

This summer, she thought again about quitting, but was daunted by the withdrawal symptoms she had experienced in the past: headaches, no appetite, mood swings, increased anxiety and insomnia so bad that she once stayed awake for several days.

“If I don’t smoke,” she said, “my anxiety is so high.”

In August, Ms. Washington started work at a local dispensary. The job has flexible hours and benefits, but it has made it even harder for her to quit using marijuana.

‘Like a Constant Whispering’

While working a data-entry job at home in Richfield, Utah, during the pandemic, Annika Sheehan escalated her use of high-potency cannabis concentrates, eventually smoking every 15 minutes. She began hearing voices, seeing demons and experiencing other hallucinations.

These psychotic symptoms have trailed her over the past three years, as she has been diagnosed variously with PTSD, obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety and substance use disorder, and at times used marijuana heavily.

“Especially when I’m smoking, those voices become so much louder,” said Ms. Sheehan, 24. “It’s like a constant whispering in my ear and like these intrusive thoughts.”

This year, a physician in a drug-treatment program who diagnosed her with borderline personality disorder explained that cannabis was likely contributing to her psychosis. “It was the first time someone connected the dots,” she said.

Now three months sober, she still sometimes hears voices and footsteps that aren’t there.

(NY Times)

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NIHON HIDANKYO WINS NOBEL PEACE PRIZE for demonstrating through witness testimony that nuclear weapons must never be used again.

The two American atomic bombs that were dropped over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 killed approximately 120 000 people. A comparable number died later of burn and radiation injuries. It is estimated that 650 000 people survived the attacks. These survivors are known as Hibakusha in Japanese.

The fate of the survivors was long concealed and ignored. In 1956, local Hibakusha associations along with victims of nuclear weapons tests in the Pacific formed The Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organisations, shortened in Japanese to Nihon Hidankyo. This grassroots movement soon became the largest and most widely representative Hibakusha organisation in Japan.

Nihon Hidankyo has two main objectives. The first is to promote the social and economic rights of all Hibakusha, including those living outside Japan. The second is to ensure that no one ever again is subjected to the catastrophe that befell the Hibakusha.

Through personal witness statements, Nihon Hidankyo has carried out extensive educational work on the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of the use of nuclear weapons. Hence the motto “No more Hibakusha”.

(nobelprize.org)

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TO THE FINLAND STATION!

(Finland Station, early 1900s. Idyllic destination of Lenin…)

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LEAD STORIES, FRIDAY'S NYT

Dire Hurricane Warnings Got Floridians’ Attention, Saving Lives

Bizarre Falsehoods About Hurricanes Helene and Milton Disrupt Recovery Efforts

In a Rambling Speech, Trump Offers Gripes and Yet Another Tax Cut

A Stern Obama Tells Black Men to Drop ‘Excuses’ and Support Harris

Nobel Peace Prize Is Awarded to Japanese Group of Atomic Bomb Survivors

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UN INQUIRY ACCUSES ISRAEL OF CRIME OF 'EXTERMINATION' IN DESTRUCTION OF GAZA HEALTH SYSTEM

by Emma Farge

A United Nations inquiry said on Thursday it found that Israel carried out a concerted policy of destroying Gaza's healthcare system in the Gaza war, actions amounting to both war crimes and the crime against humanity of extermination.

A statement by former U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay that accompanied the report accused Israel of "relentless and deliberate attacks on medical personnel and facilities" in the war, triggered by Hamas militants' deadly cross-border attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

"Children in particular have borne the brunt of these attacks, suffering both directly and indirectly from the collapse of the health system," said Pillay, whose 24-page report covering the first 10 months of the war will be presented to the U.N. General Assembly on Oct. 30.…

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/un-inquiry-accuses-israel-crime-extermination-destruction-gaza-health-system-2024-10-10/

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