Mendocino County Today: Friday 12/13/2024

RAINFALL (past 24 hours): Laytonville 0.87" - Boonville 0.54" - Hopland 0.50" - Yorkville 0.48" - Covelo 0.45" - Ukiah 0.39"

STRONG SOUTHERLY WINDS develop ahead of an approaching winter system today and tonight. Heavy Mountain Snow is anticipated into Saturday morning, with lightning a possibility on Saturday. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): 48F with light rain this Friday morning on the coast & .42" of rainfall in the last 24 hours. The forecast seems to be fluid with the current runs calling for windy & rainy today, showers tomorrow then dry on Sunday. More rain Monday then dry next several days. We'll see.

WIND ADVISORY in effect from 10 am this morning to 10 pm pst this evening. (NWS)

JIM SHIELDS:

Another round of atmospheric water vapor condensation is upon us. This event started Tuesday at 6:45pm with 1.48 inches on the valley floor of Long Valley, with snow on the Coastal ridges. Today on Dec.12th at 8pm we've recorded 1.12 inches, for a 2-day total of 2.60 inches. Total rainfall for the the precip season that began on July 1 is now 27.14 inches. The historical average for rainfall on Dec. 12 is 20.89 inches so we're comfortably on top of that mark.

The historical annual average precip for the Laytonville area is an insanely high 67 inches. At the Laytonville Water District that I manage, we learned during the recent five-year drought, that our aquifer (the pre-historic, prodigious Lake Laytonville that receded underground between the east-west divide of the Coastal Mountain Range that forms the floor of Long Valley) re-charges itself at 30 inches of annual rainfall. So we sit pretty with our historical annual precip of 67 inches. Historically, November commences five consecutive months of 10-plus inches of precipitation.

The Observer is an official weather station, and our records are often requested by different parties for different reasons: criminal court proceedings, civil lawsuits (mostly auto and property damages), and prospective buyers of ag property or people starting businesses.

Got a kick out of the December 17th Board of Supervisors agenda. Under the CEO's Report, is the following caption:

"In May 2022, the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors approved the first five-year strategic plan that will help guide the critical decisions the Board of Supervisors will face over the next five years with the ultimate goal of improving the quality of life for County residents. Departmental reporting will align with the strategic plan. Click HERE to download the Strategic Plan."

When you click the hyperlink for the strategic plan, there's nothing there. Which has always been my opinion regarding the value of "strategic plans": There's nothing there and never has been.

Stormy seas at Noyo Bay (Dick Whetstone)

SCOTT HOCKETT JOINS CITY COUNCIL AS JASON GODEKE IS APPOINTED NEW MAYOR

by Megan Wutzke

During the city council meeting on Monday, Mayor Bernie Norvell announced his farewell after being elected County Supervisor. Jason Godeke was appointed mayor, and Marcia Rafanan was appointed vice mayor. Scott Hockett was sworn in as a new council member.

The council also approved several measures to address Fort Bragg’s housing shortage. This includes a pilot project with 4-Leaf Inc. to expedite permit plan checks and updates to the Municipal Code for recovering code enforcement costs. Additionally, the council approved a rate increase for solid waste services, awarded contracts for replacing the EV Fleet Charging Station and the HVAC systems at the C.V. Starr Center, and discussed financial challenges.

Scott Hockett was sworn into the city council as the council said farewell to Mayor Norvell. Following Norvell’s departure, the council members discussed the process for appointing a new mayor. Councilmember Tess Albin-Smith proposed a rotating mayorship with one- or two-year terms, similar to past practices in Fort Bragg. However, the council ultimately decided against this idea and appointed Jason Godeke as the new mayor.

Councilmember Marcia Rafanan was appointed as vice mayor. However, her nomination led to negative remarks from Albin-Smith regarding Rafanan’s qualifications. Albin-Smith claimed that Rafanan could not independently read, understand, and write decisions. She also criticized Rafanan’s public speaking skills and suggested that Rafanan often allowed others to influence her opinions, lacking original thoughts.

“The roles of mayor and vice mayor are too important to entrust to someone without leadership skills. We need a perso with a firm hand, quick decision-making ability, and fortitude who doesn’t need others to dictate what they say. I don’t believe Marcia is qualified,” Albin-Smith stated.

In response, Rafanan acknowledged that public speaking was not her strong suit but emphasized her experience as a working-class council member. She insisted that she did significant work behind the scenes and understood the needs of Fort Bragg better than many on the council.

“We don’t need another polished politician. We need someone real—someone who knows the struggles of living and working here,” Rafanan asserted.

Many members of the public defended Rafanan, labeling Albin-Smith’s comments as rude and embarrassing.

The council also updated the Municipal Code to allow the city to recover costs for Code Enforcement activities when property owners do not comply voluntarily. Following feedback from the Community Development Committee and City Council, the city can now cover costs related to investigations. The ordinance aims to offset staff time and expenses and encourage property owners to comply without requiring enforcement action. There are no initial administrative costs, and this change does not impact how citations or penalties are issued.

The council approved a pilot project with 4-Leaf Inc. for building inspection services to speed up permit plan checks. Previously, plan reviews by the Mendocino County Planning and Building Department took 6 to 8 weeks. The goal for this pilot is for 4-Leaf to complete most plan checks within ten business days and offer expedited options for an extra fee. The program will be limited to $25,000 and last six months or until the budget runs out. Afterward, staff will report the results to the City Council for further decisions.

The council aims to solve Fort Bragg’s housing shortage by adding over 200 housing units by 2026. The city focuses on creating incentives for property conversions and increasing housing options. It is applying for a Pro-Housing Designation from the state to get funding for housing initiatives. The City Council is looking at changes to its Design Review process for multifamily projects to support this effort. They plan to replace vague guidelines with clear, objective standards to speed up approvals while following state laws and allowing design flexibility.

The council approved a 1.92% rate increase for solid waste services provided by Redwood Waste Solutions (RWS), effective January 1, 2024. This increase accounts for fuel, cost-of-living, and disposal costs as outlined in the city’s agreement with RWS. A typical residential customer will see their monthly rate rise from $38.11 to $38.84. City staff have confirmed that the rate calculations align with the agreement’s provisions for annual adjustments.

The council approved a contract with Akeff Construction Services to replace the Electric Vehicle (EV) Fleet Charging Station. Akeff Construction Services, Inc. submitted the lowest bid of $159,897 for the base project, which totals $370,187 when including optional fencing and gates. Staff recommended accepting the base project bid to stay within budget limits. This initiative, which began in 2022, involves purchasing five electric Ford Lightning F-150 trucks for the Police Department and installing charging stations. Global supply chain issues caused delays in the project, but construction is now ready to begin.

The council also awarded Kevin M. Sullivan & Associates Inc. a contract for $870,000 to replace the HVAC system and upgrade electrical systems at the C.V. Starr Center. Fort Bragg issued a design proposal request in January 2024, and the contract was awarded to Whitchurch Engineering Inc. on March 11, 2024. Completed plans were submitted by October 1, 2024, and construction bids were requested on October 31, 2024.

The city received bids from Kevin M. Sullivan & Associates Inc. and Dowdle & Sons Mechanical Inc. Staff recommended awarding the contract to Kevin M. Sullivan & Associates Inc. for $870,000, lower than Dowdle & Sons’ bid of $1,057,930 and within budget.

The council received a presentation about the General Fund, the main operating fund, which relies heavily on the Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) and Sales Tax. The city found that both revenue streams performed well in FY 2020/21 and FY 2021/22, but there was a slight decline in the early quarters of FY 2022/23 and FY 2023/24. For FY 2024/25, Q1 revenues reached $2.84 million, 23% of the annual budget, while expenditures totaled $2.86 million, resulting in a shortfall of $22,036. Staff will closely monitor revenue trends, and a mid-term budget workshop in March 2024 will evaluate the potential impact of the expected recession on the city’s finances.

(Ukiah Daily Journal)

A Christmas boat, Noyo harbor, Fort Bragg, California (Cristelle Hein)

ELIZABETH ANNE WEAVER

Elizabeth Anne ‘Eli’ Weaver, a devoted mother, paramedic, and cherished pillar of her community, passed away on November 14th, 2024, at the age of 61.

Eli was born on November 5th, 1963 in Big Spring, Texas. She was raised in Arcata and graduated from Arcata High School-Class of 1981.

Eli grew up with a heart full of compassion and a love for animals, especially horses. She spent many hours during her formative years on horseback, and had a wealth of adventures she loved to share. She enjoyed dancing in her youth as well and participated in ballet for ten years growing up. In her young adult years she served an eighteen month long mission for the LDS church in Seoul, Korea. Her faith was a defining factor and driving force in her life.

As an adult, she made her home in Comptche, where she raised her beloved family and built a life centered on service and love. Eli dedicated more than 25 years as a paramedic and firefighter on the Mendocino Coast, saving countless lives and embodying the true spirit of selflessness and bravery. Her unwavering commitment to her work was only matched by her deep devotion to her family.

As a mother, Eli’s greatest joy was her four children and, more recently, her four grandchildren. She devoted every moment to them, creating memories filled with love, laughter, and care.

Eli will be remembered for her caring nature, boundless compassion, and tireless dedication to serving others. Her legacy lives on in the lives she touched and the example she set for her family and community.

Eli will be forever remembered and held dear by her children, Veronica, Mallory, Justena and Dominique and her brother Shawn Cornwell. Eli will also be ever cherished by her grandchildren Logan, Porter, Lincoln and EmmaLee Elizabeth. She was preceded in death by her beloved mother, Wanda Elaine Shandel and grandmother Justena Agnes Mallory.

A memorial service to honor Eli’s incredible life and legacy will be held at a time yet to be determined in Fort Bragg before laying her ashes to rest in Eureka, California next to her beloved family members.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you honor Eli’s memory by performing an act of kindness or supporting your local first responders.

She will be deeply missed but never forgotten. Rest in peace, Eli.

MCGOURTY & GJERDE GET THEIR WHEREASES

(and you’d be hard pressed to find more vapid, perfunctory whereases anywhere in Mendocino County Whereas history…)

Proclamation Of The Mendocino County Board Of Supervisors Recognizing Supervisor Glenn McGourty For His Service On The Mendocino County Board Of Supervisors And His Service To The County Of Mendocino

Whereas, Supervisor Glenn McGourty was elected in 2020 to represent Mendocino County’s First District, and has served with integrity and dedication for 4 years, working tirelessly for the benefit of all County residents; and

Whereas, Supervisor McGourty’s career as a University of California Cooperative Extension Advisor advanced local agriculture, water management, and environmental sustainability, benefiting Mendocino County residents; and

Whereas, during his time on the Board, Supervisor McGourty has addressed critical issues, including wildfire prevention, water conservation, and economic development, with a focus on securing a sustainable future; and

Whereas, Supervisor McGourty has served with distinction on numerous boards and committees, including the Mendocino County Inland Water & Power Commission (IWPC), the Rural County Representatives of California (RCRC), and the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO), advocating for policies that support resource management, infrastructure improvements, and equitable access to services; and

Whereas, the citizens of Mendocino County deeply appreciate Supervisor McGourty’s dedication to public service and his commitment to improving the quality of life for all residents.

Now, Therefore, Be It Resolved, that the Board of Supervisors of the County of Mendocino, hereby proclaims the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors honors Supervisor Glenn McGourty for his outstanding service and dedication to Mendocino County.

Proclamation Of TheMendocino County Board Of Supervisors Recognizing Supervisor Dan Gjerde For His Service On The Mendocino County Board Of Supervisors And His Service To The County Of Mendocino

Whereas, Supervisor Dan Gjerde was elected in 2012 to represent Mendocino County’s Fourth District and has served with integrity and dedication for 12 years, working tirelessly for the benefit of all County residents; and

Whereas, prior to joining the Board of Supervisors, Supervisor Gjerde served on the Fort Bragg City Council, earning respect for his leadership and commitment to revitalizing his community; and

Whereas, during his time as Supervisor, Dan Gjerde has served on numerous boards and committees, including the Mendocino County Board of Retirement, and Mendocino Council of Governments (MCOG), where he championed equitable access to transportation and sustainable planning; and

Whereas, Supervisor Gjerde has been a strong advocate for environmental stewardship and public safety, securing funding for fire preparedness, clean energy projects, and permanent support for the County library system; and

Whereas, through sound public policy and active community engagement, Supervisor Gjerde has positively impacted the safety, welfare, and quality of life of Mendocino County residents; and

Whereas, the people of Mendocino County deeply appreciate Supervisor Gjerde’s leadership, dedication, and commitment to public service.

Now, Therefore, Be It Resolved, that the Board of Supervisors of the County of Mendocino, hereby honors Supervisor Dan Gjerde for his outstanding service, significant contributions, and lasting impact on the County of Mendocino.

VANDALISM COUNTS, LOTS OF THEM…

A Mendocino County Superior Court jury returned from its deliberations just before the close of business on Wednesday to announce it had found the defendant guilty as charged.

Defendant Aldar Sebastian Fragoso, age 31, of Redwood Valley, was found guilty of two counts of felony vandalism and four counts of misdemeanor vandalism.

The difference between a felony vandalism and a misdemeanor vandalism is the amount of financial damage inflicted by the perpetrator on a property owner. A charge of felony vandalism is appropriate when the financial damage inflicted is $400 or more to fix, while a misdemeanor is charged when the cost to fix the damage is less than $400.

During the night of September 19, 2024, the defendant spray-painted graffiti across town, causing damage to at least six local businesses. The victim businesses that were affected were Schat’s Bakery, Ukiah Brewing Company, Jax Boutique, Pete’s Power Wash, Super Chavez Market, and Willow County Water District.

After the jury was excused, further criminal proceedings not requiring jury involvement (aggravating factors, the truth of a Strike allegation, finding of a parole violation, etc.) were scheduled for December 23rd at 11 o’clock in the morning in Department A in the Ukiah Courthouse.

Unbeknownst to the jury, the defendant was on parole at the time of the September crime spree for a prior felony animal abuse conviction. That animal abuse conviction was also alleged by the DA as a Strike (within the meaning of California’s voter-modified Three Strikes law) because of the defendant’s use of a weapon in that prior case to inflict harm on the victim (and deceased) canine.

This week’s convictions will be referred to the Mendocino County Adult Probation Department for a background investigation and sentencing recommendation after the proceedings on December 23rd are concluded.

If the Strike allegation is found true on the 23rd, the defendant’s state prison exposure will be up to 88 months in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

The law enforcement agencies that developed the evidence underlying Wednesday’s convictions were the Ukiah Police Department, the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office, and the DA’s Bureau of Investigations.

The prosecutor who presented the People’s evidence to the jury and argued for the verdicts returned was Deputy District Attorney Jamie Pearl.

DA David Eyster and DDA Pearl both expressed their appreciation to the business owners and other witnesses who took time out from operating their businesses during this busy holiday time of year to willingly appear and testify in court.

Mendocino County Superior Court Judge Keith Faulder presided over the two-day trial. Judge Faulder will also preside over the December 23rd hearing and, eventually, a sentencing hearing.

CATCH AND RELEASE, A RATHER EXTREME CASE (September 26, 2024)

Ukiah PD Reports: In the early morning hours of Friday, September 20, 2024, a Ukiah Police Department Officer was dispatched to Schat’s Bakery in the 100 block of West Perkins Street in Ukiah for a report of graffiti. The officer arrived and spoke with the business owner, who showed him that a large flower planter in front of his business had been vandalized with spray paint. The local business owner then pointed out several other graffiti taggings on the properties of the Ukiah Brewing Company and Jax Boutique.

The suspect had been captured on video in the commission of the tagging, and was immediately recognized by UPD Officers as Aldar Fragoso, 31, of Redwood Valley. At the time that the graffiti was discovered, Fragoso was already in custody at the Mendocino County Jail, after having been arrested by the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office for a separate misdemeanor graffiti vandalism on South State Street. A UPD Officer responded to the Mendocino County Jail and rebooked Fragoso for a felony vandalism charge, with the hope that the new charge would keep him in custody pending his arraignment. At the time of this incident, Fragoso had two additional pending UPD cases for felony vandalism by way of graffiti, and was also pending being placed on Parole through the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation for animal cruelty. Fragoso posted bail and was released later that day.

At approximately 6:45pm on Saturday, September 21, 2024, a UPD Officer was on routine patrol in a marked vehicle in the 1000 block of South State Street, when a bicyclist came racing out in front of his patrol vehicle, nearly causing an accident. The reckless bicyclist turned into the parking lot of 1104 South State Street, and the officer followed to attempt to stop the cyclist and admonish him for his dangerous riding.

The bicycle rider failed to obey the officer’s commands to stop, and continued riding through the parking lot, and down into a drainage creek. The officer requested assistance, and other officers arrived and began checking the area.

The bicyclist was found hiding in the bushes to the south of Washington Avenue, and identified as Aldar Fragoso. Fragoso, who had been out of custody for less than twelve hours was found in possession of multiple cans of spray paint and permanent markers.

Fragoso was arrested for resisting arrest and possession of graffiti tools. He was booked into the Mendocino County Jail for charges of possession of vandalism tools and resisting arrest. Fragoso was later released from custody on a signed promise to appear at a future date in Ukiah Superior Court.

On Line Comments:

This clown has an arrest record in every county from here to San Diego. He tortured animals, was involved in burglary, and every type of theft and vandalism imaginable, and they allowed him back on the streets. Unbelievable.

But he promised.

This dude is blatantly TWEEKIN’ and any real graffiti writer knows this Aldar Fragoso guy is a complete toy.

Trash ass toy. Making Street art look bad (figurately and literally). This guy killed his dog with Garden shears a few years ago. That is the real tragedy. I am so tired of watching these amazing loving dogs being dragged through hell and back only to be abused for their trouble.

ANIMAL CRUELTY (2021)

On May 24, 2021, at about 3:22 PM, A Ukiah PD officer noticed a vehicle stopped, blocking the driveway of the E. Perkins St. Chevron. The officer initiated a vehicle check and contacted a male occupant who was identified as Aldar Fragoso, 28, of Redwood Valley. Fragoso was uncooperative and exhibited bizarre behavior. Fragoso had red stains on much of his clothing as well as congealed blood in the center console of the vehicle. Fragoso was not cooperative and concerns grew for the subject’s safety as a bloody pair of pruning sheers was located and removed from the vehicle.

Mendocino County Sheriff’s Department deputies, Paramedics, Firefighters, and Mental Health workers all responded to the scene, but could not gain compliance or cooperation from the subject. MCSO deputies had contacted Fragoso earlier in the day and informed UPD officers that he had a dog with him. When asked about the dog, Fragoso said he did not have a dog. The shears were presumptively tested on scene and were positive for blood but negative for human blood. Fragoso’s bizarre behavior and the scene led mental health and police officers to detain the subject for further evaluation.

Fragoso’s vehicle was parked in a position that it blocked the driveway and was out of gas. A tow truck was called and an inventory search of the vehicle was conducted. UPD Officers located Fragoso’s deceased dog in a suitcase. The MCSO deputies who had contacted him earlier advised that it was the same dog they had seen alive during their earlier contact. Based on the described circumstances and the evidence on scene officers charged Fragoso with animal cruelty and he was booked at the Mendocino County Jail.

(Ukiah Police Presser)

MENDOCINO COUNTY FIRE SAFE COUNCIL WELCOMES GRIZZLYCORPS FELLOW EMILY LORD

December’s big wildfire in Malibu is a reminder of the new reality that fire season in California is year-round. In addition to home hardening and defensible space, prescribed burns are a prime strategy to reduce fuels that can feed wildfires. Native Americans practiced cultural burning for thousands of years before contact with European settlers, who forced them to stop using fire on the landscape.

Far from being a form of glorified arson, a well-run prescribed burn takes place only after permits and weather conditions have been scrupulously analyzed, the land is prepared, and safety measures are in place. Burns are also labor and knowledge intensive, with trained burn bosses running crews that have been briefed and briefed again on what to look out for, safety contingencies and specialized roles.

In the season of 2024-25, the Mendocino County Fire Safe Council is promoting prescribed burns through its new GrizzlyCorps fellow, Emily Lord.

GrizzlyCorps, which is part of AmeriCorps, is a science-based vocational fellowship that was designed by UC Berkeley’s Center for Law, Energy and the Environment. The program sends recent college graduates into rural parts of California to work on practical responses to climate change.

One of Emily’s main focuses this year is to help expand the number of prescribed burns throughout the county. She started in mid-September and had Fire Fighter 2 training under her belt before the end of the month.

By October, following a late-summer heat wave, Emily’s feet were firmly on the ground. She had taken part in burns with Cal Fire in Jackson Demonstration State Forest, the Eel River Recovery Project in Laytonville, and with TERA, the Tribal Ecosystem Restoration Alliance, in Lake County. She was all in, waxing poetic about the view of smoke through the canopy on thirty acres of former timberland in Laytonville. “I have such a strong visual of the madrone trees on the eastern side of the burn unit,” she recalled. “I was walking through there in the late afternoon. All the litter had been burned away, and there were all these beautiful red madrone trees. The smoke was clearing, and the sunbeams were coming through the smoke. It was really awesome.”

A photo of smoke through a canopy, which Emily took at a burn in Laytonville.

On another burn at the Middletown Rancheria of Pomo Indians with TERA, she observed the return of indigenous land management practices. In Middletown, Emily had the chance to witness three generations caring for the land, as the burn boss brought along his mother and two little girls. The personality of this fire was completely different from the one in the oak woodlands by the Eel River. “It’s really interesting to watch how quickly grass catches, as opposed to tanoak litter,” she noted, adding that the burn was done in about an hour.

She’s not just here to take in impressions, though. She also took part in a study led by Mike Jones, the University of California Cooperative Extension’s Forest Advisor for Mendocino, Lake and Sonoma Counties. A founding member of the Mendocino County Prescribed Burn Association, Dr. Jones runs research burns in Jackson Demonstration State Forest. Emily was there on the day of a 400-acre burn to gather observations about weather conditions and fire behavior. She was hand to make notes about the rate of spread, flame lengths, scorch height, smoke columns, and to “take a lot – a lot of pictures,” she concluded. “It was really awesome to be part of such a large burn – Watching fire run through a redwood forest was definitely a first for me.”

By the first week of December, she was training to become a firing boss, who is second in command to the burn boss at a prescribed burn. She was ready for her quiz a few days later, rattling off the variables that come into a firing boss’ purview. These include squad dynamics, how to give a tight five-minute firing briefing, what kind of paperwork needs to be handled, and, oh yes, fire behavior. “I got to meet a lot of fire practitioners from the area and some far-flung ones,” she reported. She also learned how to design a firing plan, which demands a full understanding of fuel conditions, moisture, seasonal variables, “and how you would eventually put fire on the ground.”

She got a lot of drip torch time the next day on a burn in Potter Valley, hiking into the wilderness with a lighter and a prescription, which is a set of objectives and permissible weather conditions. The procedural nature of the operation is designed to turn something with potentially catastrophic power into a routine set of surmountable tasks.

During the first of several briefings, the burn boss will inform everyone of the objectives of the burn: is it for fuels reduction or habitat restoration, like protecting mature oaks? How is the weather going to change throughout the day? What is the plan if conditions slip outside the prescription? Safety and medical information, from the proximity of the closest hospital to advisories about poison oak and rattlesnakes, are also included.

A photo by Mendocino Fire Safe Council of Emily — ‘Torque is a Beautiful Thing’ — helping out at a work party, just a few days after her arrival in Mendocino County.

In short, she’s packed in a lot of learning about what it takes to run a prescribed burn. There is a lot of successful burning activity already happening in the area. But not nearly as much as we need to bring down our risk of intense wildfires. We need to pick up the pace. That is where all of that training will pay off as Emily begins putting together things like guides for landowners on how to navigate the permitting process and helping them with tools to assess potential burns. Planning and preparing for a burn can take months or even years, as crews prepare the site for maximum safety and effectiveness. Emily is working to help make that process as short and easy to understand as possible.

So why, with so many contingencies, permitting hurdles, and the primal fear of flames, would anyone deliberately set their property on fire? “It does seem counterintuitive,” Emily agreed. But “prescribed fire is very different than wildfire. There’s less smoke, the flame lengths are lower, (and) it’s low intensity. You’re not killing everything in its path, by any means. We have a fuels problem in California. There’s been a historical regime of suppression for a hundred, a hundred and fifty years, when indigenous people were banned from burning their own land, after doing it for thousands and thousands of years – now we have a problem where every time a wildfire comes through, it burns so hot it burns everything in its path. Prescribed burning is a tool. It’s not the only tool, but it’s certainly a very valuable one, in reducing the amount of fuel on the land in order to not prevent wildfire entirely, but lessen its intensity when it does inevitably come.”

To learn more about prescribed burns and how you can use this ancient tool to manage your property, visit California’s hub for Prescribed Burn Associations at https://calpba.org/.

THE PALACE, UP CLOSE & PERSONAL

Editor,

Being a born/raised Ukiah Native, I have experienced the late 1970's-1980's glory days of the Palace Hotel, Bar & Grill, and Back Room. Granted, it's a sore sight currently and I have varied interest in it's stature. Last weekend I bought Karen Rifkin's book (an autographed version, thank you, Karen) The History of Ukiah's Palace Hotel. Right away, I opened the book and began reading with much enjoyment, and had a difficult time putting it down. I'm not a History major, but a real history 'Hobbiest" when it comes to my home town or county. The early stories are incredible, as well as the chronological timespan. Karen Rifkin did a fabulous job, and I highly recommend picking this book up. She worked very hard, and definitely made the right historical connections, as well as amazing photos. It brought back some great memories of my experiences, as well as some of the people I knew…..

Thank You,

Name Withheld, Ukiah

PETIT TETON FARM

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

VELMA'S FARM STAND AT FILIGREEN FARM

Last Weekend Of The Season!

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

For fresh produce this week: Sweet potatoes, pears, apples, winter squash, broccoli, cauliflower, potatoes, cabbage, chicories, garlic, onions, beets, carrots, kale, chard, and more. We will also have evergreen wreaths, 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)!

FOUNTAIN GRASS (my camera can’t capture it but extremely long strands of spider web-like filaments rise and and glisten in the sun, and mist like wisps or cloudlets of smoke appear and vanish o’er the oak tops, a swarm of midges, gnats or ??? (Bruce McEwen)

ED NOTES

LAST YEAR, a social media team asked SF 49er players how they would prepare for a zombie apocalypse. Niner's running back, Patrick Taylor, replied, “First things first, rummage through all the stores — you know, Target, Walmart — get all the canned foods. Get you some peanut butter. Can’t really use bread ’cause it goes bad. Get you some rice, and then once you get the rice, you go to Home Depot. Go get you a sledgehammer. Go get you a shovel. Go get you some spikes. Go get you a baseball bat. Wrap them spikes in the baseball bat, you know what I mean?”

ANTHONY TROLLOPE WRITES in 1871: “I came across America from San Francisco to New York, visiting Utah and Brigham Young on the way. I did not achieve great intimacy with the great polygamist of the Salt Lake City. I called upon him, sending to him my card, apologizing for doing so without an introduction, and excusing myself by saying that I did not like to pass through the territory without seeing a man of whom I had heard so much. He received me in his doorway, not asking me to enter, and inquired whether I were not a miner. When I told him that I was not a miner, he asked me whether I earned my bread. I told him I did. 'I guess you're a miner,' said he. I again assured him that I was not. 'Then how do you earn your bread?' I told him that I did so by writing books. 'I'm sure you're a miner,' said he. Then he turned upon his heel, went back into the house, and closed the door. I was properly punished, as I had been vain enough to conceive that he would have heard my name.”

THE LATE MARK REISNER'S posthumously published warning, "A Dangerous Place: California's Unsettling Fate," is a brusque reminder that most Californians have settled "where they shouldn't have," with some 80 percent of the state's population now teetering atop active seismic zones -- earth that wants to move.

BUT THIS LITTLE BOOK goes beyond the usual Chicken Little routine about earthquakes, familiar to any West Coast kid schooled in the basics of subduction and lurching continental plates. Reisner, who died of cancer in 2000 at the age of 51 before finishing the manuscript for "A Dangerous Place," made the history and politics of water in the arid West into a page-turning narrative for non-hydrologists with his 1986 opus "Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water."

IN HIS FINAL WORK, Reisner links the prospect of the Big One hitting the Bay Area or L.A. to the staggering network of dams and levees that bring water hundreds of miles to California's sprawling urban centers (and also keep water from flooding the Central Valley's rich farmlands). When the plates of the earth shift, so does all that water, and that great sucking sound you heard is the echoing of this well-worn truth -- nature abhors a vacuum. In a 7.2 quake, Reisner fears not only for the thousands of lives likely to be lost in the collapse of bridges, unreinforced masonry buildings and cheaply built retail stores. He's worried about the state's whole way of life, which is balanced precariously on its improbable water supply. "If the contrived flow of water should somehow just stop, California's economy, which was worth about a trillion dollars as the new millennium dawned, would implode like a neutron star," he writes.

I THINK SYLVIA BARTLEY'S collection of local earthquake recollections is still available from local libraries. It's called “The 1906 earthquake on California's North Coast: a collection of the reminiscences of survivors and the scientific reports that followed.” Published in 2006 by the Fort Bragg-Mendocino Coast Historical Society and the Mendocino County Museum, I found this interesting little book at the Mendocino County Museum in Willits.

LILA ROHMER'S is one of several Valley recollections of the memorable 1906 event recorded by Mrs. Bartley: “I remember the 1906 earthquake. We were still living in Boonville. My father was out milking the cow and he said it shook the cow from one side of the corral and him to the other. He had quite a time getting to the house. When he got to the house, Mama had got all three of us girls into one bed because she couldn't get us outdoors. Here she was hovering over the three little girls. The thing I remember the most was lying there in bed with Mama trying to protect us and the bricks on the fireplace shaking loose outside and hitting the roof. Of course we were terrified!”

MONTE BLOYD REMEMBERED: “The Indians had a dam built out of willows at Grassy Flat on the Navarro River to trap fish. They made the dam like baskets with the sticks pointing out so the fish could swim down but couldn't swim back. When the earthquake came in 1906 they left. Big rocks came out of the mountains and landed in the river and the Indians stepped out and never did come back. They disappeared after the earthquake. It shook for years afterward. It shook the squirrels right out of the trees!”

MAURICE TINDALL, a near contemporary of Lila Rohmer and Monte Bloyd, and all three more of the 19th century than the 20th, told me that he was 16 when the Big One struck. Tindall said he was at a hunting camp up on Signal Ridge, awake and on his feet when, in the early light, he felt everything move at once and, looking east down into the Anderson Valley, he said the forests were violently swaying, but in unison, like a vast kelp bed in an underwater sea.

I READ SOMEWHERE the speculation that the earth is like a cracked boiled egg with the entire globe's earthquake faults connected, however tenuously.

THE ALL-TIMER was the New Madrid earthquakes of 1811–12, a series of three large earthquakes that occurred near New Madrid, Missouri, between December 1811 and February 1812. It was said that one of the three was so great it caused the mighty Mississippi to run backwards for much of a day. There were thousands of aftershocks, of which 1,874 were large enough to be felt in Louisville, Kentucky, about 190 miles (300 km) away. The number of lives lost from the earthquakes remains unknown; however, scholars note that the number was probably not great, because the region had only a sparse rural population.

2009 BEGINS AT TEN MILE JUSTICE COURT: BLIND JUSTICE

by Bruce McEwen (January 2009)

As the court bailiff told me when I first took this beat, “It’s mostly the working poor who come through here.” Build your own gallows, dig your own grave and don’t forget to tip the hangman! But as a result the cops and the judge are being made to work harder for their money.

Effective January 1, 2009, the Ten Mile Court has been collecting new and increased criminal and traffic fees, penalties and assessments. There are new civil fees, as well. The changes result from enactment of Senate Bill 1409 (Perata) on September 26, 2008. This legislation authorized up to $5 billion in lease-revenue bonds to finance the construction, rehabilitation, renovation and replacement of state court facilities. (Including the monstrosity of a courthouse about to be built in Ukiah.)

Parking penalties went up too.

Consider a simple moving violation like easing through an empty intersection without coming to a complete stop. In days past you might contradict the officer and grumble sourly at the citation, but you’d probably just go ahead and send in the fine.

Not now. When the fine is $182.50 with a $20 security assessment and a $35 construction fee, making your failure to stop total $237.50 in fines and fees plus a possible boost in your car insurance with another $54 in court fees and $25-$50 more for traffic school, you are probably inclined to go to court.

On Friday, January 9, 2009 most of the morning was taken up with disputed failure to stop violations. Two of the defendants brought photos as evidentiary exhibits to prove their points. One guy’s hearing was continued to another date when a witness could be in court.

All to no avail, however. The verdicts were all guilty and the money comes rolling in for newer, safer and more lavish temples of law where we may go in the future to pay tribute to the Goddess of Justice. Oh, and remember this before you go to a lot of trouble and expense to bring photos: Lady Justice wears a blindfold.

The Wild Pig Caper

Visiting Judge Kemp referred to the case as “the wild pig caper.” It involved three defendants charged with taking game after dark using inappropriate methods. The first defendant, David Covey, explained to the judge what happened.

He said his neighbor, Will Dennison, owns a vineyard on Old River Road in Ukiah. Dennison, asked for help with wild pigs that were rooting up his vineyard and Covey and two friends had come with his dog to do something about it. It was dark, past 10pm, when the dogs caught a pig, and due to the resulting melee Covey felt it would be too risky to dispatch the pig with a firearm so he killed it with a knife.

Apparently game warden Dan Powers arrived at about this time and cited the three men for taking game after dark and using inappropriate methods. The other two defendants, William Knight and Lewis Scott, both corroborated Covey’s story and they all pled no contest.

Deputy District Attorney Tim Stoen, following Warden Powers’ suggestion, recommended the minimum fines and sentences, with the exception of Lewis Scott who had no hunter safety card. The judge ordered Scott to complete a hunter safety course, fined the three defendants $545 each, and sentenced them to 12 months probation.

Badger v. Badger

There wasn't much on the docket at the Ten Mile Court in Fort Bragg last Tuesday morning and, all other business being taken care of by 9:30am, we were ready to hear the case of The People versus Badger. However, the defendant, Renee L. Badger had phoned to advise her attorney, Deputy Public Defender Thomas Croak (now deceased), that she was running late, coming from Cloverdale. Judge Kemp called a recess until 10:30am, Deputy District Attorney Timothy Stoen being amiable about the delay.

Ms. Badger arrived at 10:30am. After a brief conference with Mr. Croak the trial began at about 10:55. She was visibly upset and had cried and complained to her probation officer as she angrily enumerated her troubles. Mr. Croak beckoned her to the defense table and asked if she was okay.

“No, I'm not okay!” Ms. Badger responded, daubing her nose with a tissue.

The District Attorney called the first witness, the defendant's father, Ronald Badger, who testified that on or about April 8 of this past year his daughter, Renee, the defendant, had come to his Fort Bragg home, ostensibly to feed the cat while Mr. Badger and his wife went to Santa Rosa for medical appointments where Mr. Badger and his wife stayed with the wife's mother until on or about April 21. I say “on or about” because the witness proved to have some difficulties about dates, especially when he was being cross-examined by Mr. Croak. When the couple returned to their Fort Bragg home their daughter, the cat sitter, was gone and their house had been burglarized. The bedroom door had been forced open and the valuables Mr. Badger had locked away in there were gone.

Mr. Stoen presented Exhibit A to the witness — over the repeated objections of Mr. Croak, all of which were overruled by Judge Kemp. The exhibit was a list of items allegedly taken from the bedroom. Mr. Croak maintained that the list, compiled by the witness, Mr. Badger, and prepared by Deputy Sheriff Keith Walmsley, had no foundation and was therefore inadmissible hearsay.

Overruled.

Every time the District Attorney tried to question the witness about an item on the list the public defender would object and the judge would overrule the objection. This went on until considerable hostility between the defense attorney and the witness, Mr. Badger, developed. During the course of the testimony, it was established that the witness was a retired corrections officer. The presumption was that no hostility existed beforehand between defense attorney and Mr. Badger. By the time Mr. Croak had an opportunity to cross-examine the witness, Mr. Badger’s difficulty with recalling dates had metastasized into an inability to remember even approximate timeframes and even at the end of the trial it was impossible to tell whether the defendant had been staying at the home before the parents left or if she'd remained afterwards.

Allegedly two firearms, a .45 and a .22, both handguns, some jewelry, assorted stereo equipment and some miscellaneous tools were missing — along with a credit card.

Another document, Exhibit 2, was presented by the prosecution — and it too was objected to by the defense. It was a statement from the credit union and represented some $200 in charges attributed to the witness, holder of the missing card — namely, daughter Renee.

On cross examination, Mr. Badger acknowledged that he had in his wallet another card with which he could access the account in question. But when Croak asked if he'd been using the card while he was in Santa Rosa his memory failed again.

During the time that Mr. Badger was on the witness stand he and his daughter glared at one another with such hateful intensity that it was something of a relief in the ambient tension when he was obliged to leave the courtroom after his testimony was concluded.

The next witness was Deputy Sheriff Walmsley, the officer who had investigated the case. From his testimony it became apparent that Ms. Badger, the defendant, had not been at the Fort Bragg residence during the period of Mr. and Mrs. Badger's absence — that she may possibly have been there on the 17th or 18th when a call to Mrs. Badger from Renee allegedly told Mrs. Badger the .22 was stashed in the carport at the center of the house and that she “should use it on herself.”

This dreadful remark inclined the judge to find Ms. Badger guilty on the grand theft charge. (It is grand theft to steal a firearm.) The judge also found her guilty of first-degree burglary and, count three, unauthorized use of a credit card. She was scheduled to be arraigned on some five other misdemeanor charges on February 2 at 1:30pm.

I overheard Renee venting in the foyer afterward to the effect, “It was disgusting that this dispute had ever come to trial.”

As for myself, I was disgusted that the cat apparently starved for two weeks.

THE LYLE GUN

by Chuck Bush

Back in January [of 1993], Hugh Curtis from Ukiah asked if we would be interested in taking possession of a cannon he had found back in 1959 while snorkeling for abalone in Buckhorn Cove, south of Little River. "Well OF COURSE we would," said I. It appears that it was not actually a cannon, but a Lyle Gun made in the 1880s or '90s.

From the Revolutionary War period onward, many U.S. ocean-going vessels have carried some sort of line-throwing guns designed to fire a projectile attached to a rope at a boat or victim in distress. The gun shoots a line about 400 yards that is then pulled in until victims can reach it and be towed to safety. Towards the end of the 19th century, there were a number of companies manufacturing the devices, mostly following the general specifications made in 1877 by Captain David A. Lyle, a graduate of both West Point and MIT. Manufacturer David Kahnweiler of New York made many of the guns, as well as lifeboats and other safety equipment.

When Curtis and his friend, Jack Hubbard, were diving, they spotted what looked like a bronze cannon about 20 feet from shore. After some heavy lifting (the cannon weighs 99 pounds), they brought it home. Curtis then corresponded with the Smithsonian Institute in Washington and was informed that he had found a line-throwing cannon that dated back to the 19th century.

Upon acquiring the gun, we contacted local historian Oliver Seeler, who turned out to be a font of knowledge about Lyle Guns; he brought us a copy of a treatise about them written by world expert J.P. Barnett. After examining our gun, it was Oliver's strong feeling that it was built by Kahnweiler because it fit the general specifications and it looked exactly like a picture of one of his bronze Lyle Guns.

Lyle Gun on display in one of the upstairs bedrooms at the Kelley House. (Photo: Carol Dominy)

To try to nail this down further, I went to see Leigh Newcomb, at the Maritime Museum collection storage facility at Fort Mason. Leigh is very knowledgeable about many local historic marine artifacts. We looked over his Lyle Guns (as well as many other fascinating objects stored there), and he agreed that our cannon was likely made by Kahnweiler.

But why was this cannon in Buckhorn Cove? We've reviewed all of our wreck records and those at the Maritime Museum Library, and find nothing that fits, although of course a Lyle Gun could have fallen overboard from any number of ships during storms [they were mounted on wooden carriages with wheels]. Dean Creath, who lived for many years nearby, remembers that there was a small mill at Buckhorn Cove (earlier called Stillwell Cove) built by Silas Coombs of Little River, and schooners did come in there to load up with lumber.

The cannon may have been used by the mill to send a line out to incoming ships after they moored. That line would then have been used to convey a heavier line or cable on which the lumber bundles were transported to the ship. These guns were also used at shore-based life-saving stations, but it would have been highly unlikely that there was such a station at Buckhorn Cove.

Bill Wagner, our photo-archivist, is going to build an oak carriage for it as the carriage that originally held the cannon long since deteriorated in the water. It will then be on display in the museum.

— Reprinted from the March 25, 1993 Mendocino Beacon.

LONDON CALLING

by Tonia Hurst Kelley

On June 19, 1911, Jack London, the notorious bad boy of literature, rumbled into Mendocino City driving a four-in-hand stagecoach.

A regular visitor to Greenwood (Elk), and to the Vichy Hot Springs near Ukiah, London had canvassed Mendocino County on horseback after the 1906 earthquake.

At the height of his prolific career, he was hired by the North of Bay Counties Association to promote tourism in the area. Though modern advertising was still in its infancy, the story was slated for publication in “Sunset Magazine,” with a substantial run of 50,000 copies. According to the Petaluma Daily Morning Courier, “it will be one of the greatest advertising projects ever attempted in the territory.”

Traveling with his second wife, Charmain, their path crisscrossed Mendocino, Sonoma, Humboldt, Lake, Marin and Napa counties in a manner befitting the energetic couple. When questioned on his choice of old school transportation, London noted, “We don’t mix very well with gasoline.”

One can only imagine the scene that unfolded when Jack London telephoned the town of Mendocino to say he was dropping by for a visit.

Though the great literary man was once seen driving his wagon at a breakneck speed down 10 Mile Grade — while standing upright and cracking his whip — he did not on this occasion risk it. The coast road, known to us as Highway 1, was a narrow, unpaved strip of torment clinging to the cliffs.

London extolled the abundance of local trout and sidehill salmon (deer). He praised the profusion of wild lilacs, golden poppies and giant lupines.

“Charmain caused many delays by insisting on getting out to pick the wild blackberries, strawberries and thimbleberries which grew so profusely. And ever we caught peeps, far down, of steam schooners loading lumber in the rocky coves; ever we skirted the cliffs, day after day, crossing stretches of rolling farms and passing thriving villages and saw mill towns.” What he noticed, whether it be the behavior of his horses or the land that lay before him, he noted in exquisite detail.

Upon their arrival, the Londons savored lunch with local businessmen and Jack regaled them with tales of high adventure. The Beacon noted that, “Mrs. London’s enthusiasm over the beauty of our town and its surroundings made a warm spot in our hearts for this vivacious woman.”

The couple was further treated to a tour of the mill complex. “Memorable was our launch trip from Mendocino City upon Big River, where the steering gears of the launches work the reverse of anywhere else in the world; where we saw a stream of logs, of six to twelve and fifteen feet in diameter, which filled the river-bed for miles to the obliteration of any sign of water.”

In his completed article, “Navigating Four Horses North of the Bay,” London enthused, “This region of the six counties alone will someday support a population of millions. In the meanwhile, O you homeseekers, you wealth-seekers, and, above all, you climate seekers, now is the time to get in on the ground floor.”

(Discover more tales of adventure from Mendocino’s early days at the Kelley House Museum, Fridays through Mondays, 11am-3pm. visit kelleyhousemuseum.org for more information.)

CATCH OF THE DAY, Thursday, December 12, 2024

KELISHA ALVAREZ, 36, Ukiah. Paraphernalia, county parole violation. (Ms. Alvarez is now listed as 5-3 and 450 pounds. Frequent flyer.)

JOEL COWAN, 36, Willits. Controlled substance, paraphernalia, ammo possession by prohibited person, suspended license for DUI, no license.

JULIO NAJERA-LEON, 32, Elk. Domestic battery, vandalism, parole violation.

LAKE COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS DEFY VOTERS: KELSEYVILLE COULD BECOME KONOCTI

Kelseyville is named for Andrew Kelsey, who enslaved, starved, raped and killed an untold number of Indigenous Pomos in the mid-1800s.

by Austin Murphy

Ten months after a federal agency asked for its input on whether to change the name of Kelseyville the Lake County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 on Tuesday to recommend the name be changed to Konocti.

With their “yes” votes, Supervisors Moke Simon, E.J. Crandell and Michael Green bucked a wide majority of Lake County voters, who voted against a name change, 70.6% to 29.4%, in a nonbinding November referendum.

Board chair Bruno Sabatier, who seemed strongly in favor of the name change in July, when the supervisors last discussed the topic, was a surprise “no” vote. Supervisor Jessica Pyska, whose district includes Kelseyville, and who has long vowed to remain neutral on the issue, also voted no.

“I insisted the vote of the people be included in the recommendation,“ she said in an email Wednesday morning, referring to the lopsided results of the ballot measure, ”and I voted ‘no’ because I did not support a recommendation by the Board.“

Kelseyville is named for Andrew Kelsey, who along with his brothers and business partner, Charles Stone, enslaved, starved, raped and killed an untold number of Indigenous Pomos in the mid-1800s.

Konocti, so named by the East Lake tribe of Elem, is the dormant volcano lording 3,500 feet over the western shore of Clear Lake.

In October 2023, a Lake County-based group called Citizens for Healing (C4H) proposed to the U.S. Board on Geographic Names that Kelseyville be changed to Konocti. The board has the authority to change a name that’s been determined to be “derogatory or offensive.”

In a contentious July 30 meeting, supervisors voted to put the issue on the November Lake County ballot in the form of advisory Measure U, which lost in a landslide.

Despite that result, the supervisors voted Tuesday to send a recommendation to the U.S. Board on Geographic Names which stated, in part:

“Our collective awareness of the violent acts by Kelsey and Stone demand change. Therefore, it is our collective recommendation your Committee approve the proposed name change.”

Just as the Board of Supervisors wasn’t bound by the final tally on Measure U, the Board on Geographic Names need not follow the recommendation approved by Crandell, Green and Simon. But it will certainly be taken into consideration.

Neutral, To A Point

Pyska’s neutrality didn’t prevent her from criticizing the Board on Geographic Names for “its lack of support” during the process, and Citizens for Healing for submitting the application “without the consent of many of the people who are most affected and without the support of the community.”

Rebutting that claim after the meeting, Alan Fletcher of C4H pointed out that his group had been inviting members of the public to informational meetings around the lake “for a year, before we did anything else.”

When Lorna Sue Sides of Citizens for Healing submitted her proposal to the BGN, he added, it was with the backing of elders from all seven tribes around the lake.

In the Native American world, that backing extends far beyond Lake County. Supervisor Crandell, who also serves as vice chair for the Robinson Rancheria of Pomo Indians, sponsored a resolution in favor of the name change at the recent convention of the National Congress of American Indians, which consists of 574 federally recognized tribes, he said. The resolution passed.

Harming Democracy?

Explaining his vote against the name change, Sabatier agreed that the name of Kelseyville is offensive. By ignoring the results of Measure U, however — by telling voters “we don’t care,” he said — the board would be harming the democratic process. A “yes” vote could “break a system I care greatly about.”

Barbara Hollenkamp of Kelseyville spoke for many when she told the board during public comment that it had “an obligation, legally and morally” to obey the will of Lake County voters, as expressed in Measure U.

“Why vote? If you're not going to accept what the vote was?”

“If you don’t want to do what the people want,” John Costa told the board, “resign. We took a vote. Why should we vote, if you’re not going to follow it?”

Dwain Goforth, also of Kelseyville, held an opposing view, noting that the town’s name “represents a past pretty much none of us are proud of.

“I love my town,” he said. “I love the people that's in it, but I want to be proud of the name.”

The decision before the board “transcends the mere renaming of a town,” said Kyle Bill, a Lake County voter who is a member of the Kletsel Dehe Wintun Nation.

“It's about righting a wrong of our collective history and taking a step toward healing and deep wounds inflicted on our people.”

The name of Kelseyville, he said, “is a constant reminder of a violent legacy of Andrew Kelsey and Charles Stone.” It “continues to honor a past that has inflicted tremendous suffering on Indigenous people.”

‘Game, Set, Match’

Supervisor Michael Green picked up on that point, while reviewing the criteria considered by the Board on Geographic Names.

“The policy allows the BGN to consider, on a case-by-case basis, whether a place name is derogatory or offensive.”

On this subject, when it comes to Kelseyville, he said, “it’s game, set, match.”

Before casting his “yes” vote, Supervisor Moke Simon, longtime Tribal Chairman of the Middletown Rancheria of Pomo Indians, acknowledged that, even if name change proponents carried the day, their decision could be overturned by the new board, to be seated in early 2025.

Yet he seemed upbeat, not worried.

“The education has started,” he said. “There’s no turning it off.

“The town of Kelseyville name will change before they put me back in this Earth.”

(Santa Rosa Press Democrat)

UNPAID WORKERS at bankrupt Reynoso Vineyards demand wages owed to them as far back as May; bounced checks and unpaid wages for field hands represent the latest public fallout from one of a pair of now-bankrupt businesses linked to Joe Reynoso, a longtime investments trader and financial technology entrepreneur.

https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/reynoso-vineyards-sugarloaf-wine-unpaid-workers

ESTHER MOBLEY

Vineyard workers are demanding unpaid wages from Joe Reynoso, a Sonoma County vintner who owns the custom-crush facility Sugarloaf Wine Co. and recently filed for bankruptcy. In a statement to the Press Democrat’s Martin Espinoza, Reynoso said he was working to repay his former employees.

Craft cocktail bars are increasingly moving away from craft spirits in favor of mass-produced liquor, reports Wayne Curtis in Punch. The reason, maybe unsurprisingly, seems to be economic: “Bar managers found themselves caught between using a mass-market spirit that cost $18 a bottle … and a craft quality spirit that was $40,” Curtis writes. “They chose survival.”

Are you an eggnog person? I have historically not been an eggnog person, but I’m coming around. Just in time, because this year it suddenly seems as if eggnog. is. everywhere. For those of you without the time to make it from scratch, several groups of thirsty editors have undertaken a taste test to discern which store-bought eggnogs are superior; here’s the winning roundup from the Kitchn.

(SF Chronicle)

FORMER POLL WORKER APPROVES OF TIME NEEDED

Editor,

I am writing to all who complained that the election count in California took too long. I suggest that they sign up to be a poll worker in the next election. I have done it several times. That experience taught me why we need a diligent and thorough vote-counting process.

First, voters must sign the outside envelope of a mail-in ballot. If their signature is missing or is mismatched from the signature on file, the county reaches out to the voter and offers them time (Dec. 1 for this election) to “cure” the problem.

Second, voters can mail in ballots up to and on Election Day. Thus, some ballots may not arrive until several days after.

Third, voters are allowed to vote in-person at a polling location but must surrender their mail-in ballot. If they do not bring their mail-in ballot to surrender, their in-person ballot is segregated and then later confirmed that a mail-in ballot was not also received from that same voter.

Each of these issues extends the process of determining the final vote count, but insures the integrity of our election process. Thus, while the vote counting process may be frustratingly slow to some, it ensures that every vote and voter count.

Larry Andow

San Rafael

PACIFIC HEIGHTS, SAN FRANCISCO (1940s)

Pacific Heights in the 1940s was one of San Francisco’s most prestigious residential neighborhoods, known for its grand mansions, well-kept gardens, and sweeping views of the bay. The stately Victorian and Edwardian homes, many of which were owned by the city’s wealthiest families, lined the quiet, tree-shaded streets. The views from Pacific Heights were among the most sought-after in the city, offering unobstructed sightlines to Alcatraz, Angel Island, and the Golden Gate Bridge. Life in this neighborhood was marked by elegance and exclusivity, as many of the homes had been passed down through generations of prominent San Francisco families. During the 1940s, while other parts of the city saw changes driven by wartime industry and migration, Pacific Heights maintained its position as a bastion of wealth and stability. The neighborhood remains one of San Francisco’s most iconic and desirable residential areas to this day.

A DAY IN THE LIFE

Editor,

Sometimes the day’s headlines perfectly illustrate the surrealistic and perhaps tragic world in which we now live.

Take these from Tuesday’s Chronicle print edition: “Police say woman threatened workers with gun over missing fries,” “Go-kart driver dies after crash into pole,” “Ladybugs fly away home to East Bay,” “Kindergartners shot in Butte County make it through surgeries,” “Benioff defends cheerleading for Trump.”

Philip Kipper

San Francisco

Still documenting the GGB. Every supervisor in San Francisco voted against approving it. So the chief engineer, Joseph Strauss, told his secretary to deliver a brown bag stuffed with money to each supervisor once a month. Guess how they voted.

49ERS LOSE ANOTHER WINNABLE GAME, fall to Rams 12-6 as playoff odds evaporate

by Michael Lerseth,

49ers Game Grades: Playoff dreams fade after a dreadful offensive effort

The dreary conditions at Levi’s were the perfect setting for the San Francisco 49ers’ 12-6 loss to the Los Angeles Rams, a setback that squelched their playoff hopes.

OFFENSE: F
A forgettable night in all aspects. Brock Purdy (14-of-31, 142 yards, an interception, and three sacks) was repeatedly off the mark. Isaac Guerendo rushed for 57 yards, but 16 of them came on a meaningless draw when the 49ers faced 3rd-and-20. And then there was Deebo Samuel, whose play didn’t exactly scream out for him to get more touches. Samuel rushed for 3 yards, caught three passes for 16 yards and dropped what might have been a 29-yard TD pass on the opening possession of the third quarter. Purdy’s biggest gaffe — one that all but sealed the outcome — was his interception in the end zone with 5:20 to play.

DEFENSE: B
The returns of Nick Bosa and Dre Greenlaw were welcome sights for the Niners, who — for the second week in a row — forced the opposition to punt on its first five possessions. Greenlaw, back in action after his Achilles injury in the Super Bowl, had eight tackles before spending a good portion of the second half on the sideline working the back of his leg with a massage gun. Bosa had six and Fred Warner a game-high 15, but the Rams used Kyren Williams as a human pestle as he ground out 108 yards on 29 carries.

SPECIAL TEAMS: B
Jake Moody can someday tell his grandkids about the game in which he scored all of his team’s points: field goals of 53 and 47 yards. Punter Pat O’Donnell touched the ball as much as Samuel, averaging 45.1 yards on seven punts — two of which were downed inside the 20. Samuel returned two kickoffs, one of which went for 41 yards in the game’s final half minute.

COACHING: D
It was obvious early on that Kyle Shanahan wanted to get the ball to Samuel — and it was equally obvious that, again, such an endeavor was folly. He was targeted seven times with passes, but caught only three. The first of those was an incomplete pass on the Niners’ first play. Samuel ended the first half — and the game — with five touches for 19 yards. Concern has to be raised about Purdy’s continued regression.

OVERALL: F
Dreary… windy… rainy. The perfect setting for the curtain to come down on the 49ers’ season. Thursday’s was a must-win game and instead turned into a display of nearly unrivaled Shanahan-era offensive ineptitude. Return trips to the Super Bowl are incredibly difficult, but it’s hard to imagine anyone thinking the 49ers would go from first-to-worst in the NFC West in one season.

MARSHALL NEWMAN: After looking at the Chicago skyline photograph in today's paper, I thought you might need one a little closer to home. This postcard was shot when the Bay Bridge was under construction in the early 1930s. It is an interesting view, one I had not seen previously.

THE 49ERS LOST ANTHONY BECKER, BUT NOT THEIR GRIP ON SANTA CLARA WITH SUPER BOWL, WORLD CUP COMING

by Ann Killion

The San Francisco 49ers haven’t looked very good on the field this year. They’ve managed to look even worse off of it.

The organization’s dirty laundry was exposed in the recently concluded Anthony Becker perjury trial, and the revelations should alarm not only the citizens of Santa Clara but any advocates of transparent government and taxpayer rights.

For those who weren’t paying attention to a courtroom in Morgan Hill, Becker — one of the Santa Clara City Council members whom the 49ers back — was convicted of perjury last week in Santa Clara County Superior Court. He was found guilty of leaking a confidential grand jury report to the 49ers and then lying about it under oath. It took the jury less than three hours to reach the verdict.

Becker received a startling $2.5 million in campaign support from the 49ers during his unsuccessful 2022 run for mayor, and he had to immediately resign his City Council seat after his conviction. But that doesn’t change much for the 49ers: They will retain a 5-2 majority on the new council, still seem set on vilifying Mayor Lisa Gillmor and outgoing council member Kathy Watanabe, who have tried to hold the team accountable, and still refuse transparency with local taxpayers.

Were the 49ers embarrassed by the ugly revelations in the trial, including — as previously reported by the Chronicle — their hiring of opposition researchers to dig up dirt on grand jury members, a group of private citizens supervised by a judge? Do they feel any shame over the grand jury report that accuses them of meddling in City Council business for their own financial gain? Any chagrin over their purchasing of a team-friendly City Council to the tune of $10 million over four years, an absolutely wild amount in a city of 130,000 people?

As if. These are the 49ers, who convinced Santa Clara almost 15 years ago that building a huge stadium in their town was a grand idea. This is an NFL team, operating in a league where accountability is in short supply, and used to running roughshod to get what it wants.

Chagrined? Hardly. The 49ers will likely keep conducting business the same way.

That’s troubling for the citizens of Santa Clara because in 2026 Levi’s Stadium will host not only a Super Bowl, but six World Cup games — each one requiring logistics, planning and expenditures close to that of a Super Bowl. And the 49ers’ previous pattern of hiding financial records from the citizens of Santa Clara seems to be the strategy for these events.

The World Cup commitment was made without consultation with city officials. The agreement between the 49ers, FIFA and the city is written to keep the financial documents out of public view. Only heavily redacted documents have been released, and City Council members were required to sign non-disclosure agreements to view them. Gillmor and Watanabe declined to sign.

In the spring, the Santa Clara city attorney told the council that the city stands to lose millions on the World Cup: a $38 million deficit was projected at the time. Because of the restrictions of Measure J, the ballot measure that brought the 49ers to the city, Santa Clara can’t use public funds to close the gap on stadium events. The World Cup was scheduled to be discussed this week at the council’s regular Tuesday meeting.

Where the money to cover the deficit will come from is unclear, but likely not from the 49ers. Another critical grand jury report entitled “Outplayed” — not the one that Becker leaked, which was labeled “Unsportsmanlike Conduct” — concluded that Santa Clara has probably lost out on significant revenue from non-NFL events at the stadium, because the city agreed to allow the 49ers to manage the stadium and has ceded control to the team.

The city has lost legal leverage against the team, thanks to the pro-49ers City Council members voting to settle litigation with the team, despite the vociferous objections of Watanabe and Gillmor, who called the settlement a bad deal for the city.

This all may be great for the coffers of the 49ers, who are worth an estimated $6.8 billion, but it’s a very bad look for the organization. That unsavoriness includes the quality of the candidates the 49ers have thrown their considerable weight behind. Yet another grand jury report had a harsh assessment of the City Council members the 49ers have supported, accusing them of “insulting and unethical” conduct, and “abusive and belittling behavior.”

Becker was not only abusive and insulting, but he also doesn’t seem very bright. He testified — and lied — to the grand jury without a lawyer’s advice. He communicated with the 49ers via an encrypted digital app — very cloak and dagger — and then deleted it from his phone, something a forensic examination easily uncovered.

“Without the 49ers, (Becker’s) got nothing,” deputy district attorney Jason Malinsky told the jury.

It all feels so sleazy from the organization that has long crowed about “winning with class.”

Thomas Shanks, the former executive director of Santa Clara University’s Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, told the Chronicle that the verdict in the Becker trial was “a major warning to Santa Clara residents that the 49ers have corrupted local politics and city government.”

But the 49ers keep buying their candidates, conducting ugly election campaigns and hiding their profits. It’s working for them. They’re unlikely to change.

ROAD WARRIOR

by Bill Brundage

From the classified ad I guessed the job was delivering packages and paperwork, but in no time at all I found myself with a badge on my chest, a gun on my hip, roaring around in an armored car. What was I thinking? I didn't let myself think about the danger: I figured that if anybody ever tried to stick me up I’d just hand over the money. In a few weeks I had the combinations to the safes in dozens of businesses and banks in Honolulu memorized, and I was bonded in case I absconded with the funds.

The hours were good: just weekends and filling in for regular drivers when sick or on vacation from time to time. It was enough money to survive and it left me time during the week to write the Great American Novel. I hoped the job might give me some exciting adventures to write about, but once the novelty wore off, the greatest danger by far was utter boredom. To keep things interesting, the genius of the shop was to drive as fast as possible at all times, tailgating and honking at the traffic in front of you until it parted like the Red Sea.

The driver was supposed to stay with the car while the courier, who rode in the back where the money was kept, made the pickups and deliveries, the more risky of the two jobs. With a little seniority, the latter was usually mine. Though the outfit was called the “Security Armored Car And Courier Service,” one time when my partner and I locked ourselves out of the car we were able to break in with a coat hanger. When there was enough time between stops, smoking a joint was de rigueur.

Newspaper stories about the armored car business were put up on the bulletin board in the office. There was one which described a big shootout in France, complete with automatic weapons and explosives, and casualties on both sides, before the attackers were driven off by our valiant brotherhood.

But there was one that really spoke to us all. A courier somewhere had worked it out with a driver so that he could visit his girlfriend over lunchtime a couple of days a week. The arrangement went on for months, perhaps years. One day he arrived at work with a couple of suitcases which, he explained, he wanted to drop off at his girlfriend's place for the weekend getaway they'd planned. There was no girlfriend. He was never seen again, nor was the money he had stuffed into the suitcases.

Not long after a friend called me a “rent a cop” I turned in my gun and badge.

MY OLD MAN had told me, “Get into anything where they hand you the money first and then hope to get it back. That’s banking and insurance. Take the real thing and give them a piece of paper for it. Use their money, it will keep coming. Two things drive them: greed and fear. One thing drives you: opportunity.” Seemed like good advice. Only my father died broke.

— Charles Bukowski

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ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

While Brian Thompson was an executive at the company, UnitedHealthcare used an AI system to automate the denial of medical services. The program had a 90% error rate, resulting in thousands of people being denied medically necessary and fully covered treatments.

Santa Claus at Lunch, NY (1963) by Mary Ellen Mark

REST IN PEACE, WORLD PEACE

by Ayton-Lewis Avery

I do not know if this is strange or not, but I like to go walking in cemeteries.

When I move to a new place, the cemetery introduces me to the land, giving me a feel of the people that inhabit this place. So as I have just moved to California, I visited my own local cemetery, the Hillcrest Cemetery in Mendocino last Friday.

Looking at pictures online earlier that morning, I expected green rolling hills. But instead, it is built on dirt and dust. No one has even bothered to evenly place the tombstones. Indeed, this place is almost ill-suited for a graveyard. It is a typical hill, set beside the street, and it seems as if one day someone had the idea in their mind to bury a corpse at the top. Thus, a few unseemly and haggard headstones are placed irregularly in the dirt. No one knows where the cemetery begins and the unclaimed land begins. Nonetheless, some people may call it a stunning little neck of the woods. The few flowers left by mourners light up against the dull and depressing backdrop of the tombs.

But the real beauty of the cemetery is the history contained within. Nearby there was a house of worship. I tried to go inside to ask a few questions, but strangely, the church was shut. However, just by reading the tombstones I could uncover this town’s greatest secrets. The greatest oddity I saw was the burial of Francisco Faria, who was born in 1798 and died in 1904. How is it possible, to live through three centuries, and see the greatest changes in human history, all in this town? Then there was a family: Victorino, Barbara, and their son Joseph. The wife was about twenty years younger than the husband, and their son was born when she was 22. Perhaps not so unusual. There was also tragedy looming nearby: another Barbara died when she was seventeen, and was buried in a grave alone. Fittingly, she was near a cherub. But she was not as unfortunate as Arnest Borgna, who died at age three in 1911, and got a large marker with a lion and a cross to commemorate his fall. At least he was buried with his family.

And then there was a plague. John Williams, Freddie Lemos and John Brown, all in the prime of their lives, perished in 1918, most likely of the Spanish flu. Of course, everyone has forgotten about them now. And history repeated itself. Starting in 2020, there was a plague nearly as bad as that influenza pandemic. But none of the bodies it claimed were buried here, because by that time, not only were the victims forgotten, but the cemetery had been too.

And then there was a war. There is a spacious nook for those who fought in wars, World War I, mainly. That was the only war old enough for this cemetery. And even though I saw a few flowers on these hallowed sites, most of the stones were pockmarked, chipped and scratched, beaten down and trodden upon. The rain had made them look all spongy, and moss had taken over the heads. It is not surprising. The world has seen another world war, and many decades of battle since these soldiers fought. Of course, one may say that War World I was the father of all 20th century conflicts. It is no wonder we no longer understand the justifications for violence—we have forgotten the origins. So much history can be found on the roadside, only no one goes looking for it.

The abundance of Italian names (as well as the large cross against the trees) at once told me that this was a Catholic cemetery. The place where Protestants go to rest was a few minutes away. It is strange that this relic to a type of religious segregation still exists. There is also a corner in the cemetery for Chinese deaths: another couple of derelict stones.

A few blocks down, a neighbor, Charles, was listening to a jubilant country medley in his car. It was a song about history, time, and love. I asked him if he knew the cemetery.

“No. But of course I drive up and down it every day. It's a jolly place, because no burials hardly ever happen.”

Even when he does drive by it, he can hardly see the tombstones, as they are hidden by the crest of the hill.

Out of all the cemeteries I have seen, this one has the most mistakes. The biggest mistake of all is forgetting about history. However, that does not mean all hope is gone. For there we're still the few stragglers, those who honoured the past with flowers, and the man fixing the rickety fencing separating the cemetery from the road.

Margaret Anderson and Jane Heap; illustration by Fanny Blanc

WHAT HAPPENS when you don’t pay your exorcist? You get repossessed.

— Johnny Carson

THE RIVER

Yes, we'll gather by the river,
the beautiful, the beautiful river.
They say it runs by the throne of God.
This is where God invented fish.
Wherever, but then God's throne is as wide
as the universe. If you're attentive you'll
see the throne's borders in the stars. We're on this side
and when you get to the other side we don't know
what will happen if anything. If nothing happens
we won't know it, I said once. Is that cynical?
No, nothing is nothing, not upsetting just
nothing. Then again maybe we'll be cast
at the speed of light through the universe
to God's throne. His hair is bounteous.
All the 5,000 birds on earth were created there.
The firstborn cranes, herons, hawks, at the back
so as not to frighten the little ones.
Even now they remember this divine habitat.
Shall we gather at the river, this beautiful river?
We'll sing with the warblers perched on his eyelashes.

— Jim Harrison

I had a fried bologna sandwich from this store yesterday. I washed it down with an IBC root beer in a glass bottle. These places still exist. This one is in Hollis, Arkansas

12 Comments

Amen December 13, 2024

PRESCRIBED fire

Malibu -Dick Van Dyke crawled to his car to avoid the smoke, exhausted, and felt he was passing out, three neighbors rescued him.

https://variety.com/2024/film/news/dick-van-dyke-wildfire-evacuation-saved-by-neighbors-1236246969/

Dick Van Dyke turns 99 years old, today, and the latest drop in Coldplay’s new vid.

Watch “Coldplay – ALL MY LOVE (Official Video) (Directors’ Cut)” on YouTube
https://youtu.be/o4OlL0OpbW8?feature=shared

Craig Stehr December 13, 2024

Enjoying a dry and cool day in Washington, D.C. Left the homeless shelter after the usual reverse racist bullshit played out, and then had a breakfast wrap at Whole Foods, and then visited an acupuncturist (which a Chinatown herbalist recommended); not accepting any insurance, the conversation ended quickly. Presently at the public library near Howard University on a guest computer, after a woman told me that I couldn’t sit at the same table as she, where one of the guest computers is located. Moved to the other table with a guest computer. Chocolate City has problems. Meanwhile, on capitol hill, all is quiet. Unsure what is planned in terms of radical action during the re-inauguration spectacle. It’s all not real, and it is not unreal. It’s all a mystery! Am free to do whatever at this point. End of reportage from America’s national capital.
Craig Louis Stehr Friday the 13th Washington, D.C.

Chuck Dunbar December 13, 2024

THOSE WERE THE DAYS–ANDY GRIFFITH AND IS MAYBERRY FRIENDS

A letter to the editor takes us back in time:

“Re “What if Trump’s Second Term Gets Really Bad?” (Opinion, Dec. 1):

I watched an episode of ‘The Andy Griffith Show’ last week, having turned to the show more often since the election. After a day of being assaulted by the incoming administration’s intended plans, Mayberry has never seemed more appealing.

Originally telecast on March 4, 1963, ‘Andy Discovers America’ centers on Andy’s son, Opie, learning the importance of our country’s origin story. As a retired teacher, I relate to Helen Crump’s passion for instilling the value of her lessons, and her frustration when the boys admit they haven’t done their homework and don’t care.

Andy saves the day with a class discussion of how this country got started that is homespun, embellished, gripping. Later, when Miss Crump asks her students if the Pledge of Allegiance means anything to them, she is delighted by Opie and his friends’ newfound unbridled enthusiasm for our history. I was brought to tears, accompanying the sickening thud I’ve felt since Donald Trump was elected again.

Was our country flawed in 1963? Deeply. But we could rely, even as children, on the assurance that our government was in place, democracy without question would endure, and grown-ups in charge would protect us.

If life in Mayberry seems simple, perhaps we should ask more simple questions, beginning with ‘What will it take for the Pledge of Allegiance to mean anything again?’ ”
Diane Corley Summit, N.J.
NYT, 12/12/24

- gary smith December 14, 2024
  
  Allegiance to a flag? Allegiance to a nation committing genocide in foreign lands? Nah, not gonna do it, not gonna make kids do it
  
- Harvey Reading December 14, 2024
  
  “Allegiance” is just a form of voluntary slavery. Why be “allegiant” to a country that commits, and supports, genocide, and has done so since its “founding”.
  
Chuck Artigues December 13, 2024

For the pledge to mean something again; start with removing the god provision that was added by opportunists in the 50s.

- Chuck Dunbar December 13, 2024
  
  Yep.
  
- Do Not Comment December 13, 2024
  
  The modern pledge, pre-god, was written by a socialist to encourage fealty to the state, and was rolled out to celebrate the life and accomplishments of a child rapist and child sex trafficker, Christopher Columbus. Even as an eight year old I knew better than to utter the words, I only mouthed them because recitation was required by law, and you got sent to the principal’s office if you got caught not participating.
  
Do Not Comment December 13, 2024

I had to fly out to NYC for a few days, so I downloaded The Apprentice (2024), a dramatized account of the relationship between Roy Cohn and Donald Trump, from their first meeting to Cohn’s death from AIDS in 1986.

While the movie as a whole is a one or two dimensional portrayal of the events and the 1970s NYC millieu in which they happened, the standout is the casting and performance of Jeremy Strong as Cohn. We’re introduced to the pre-Cohn Trump, a clumsy but ambitious real estate developer and slum lord seeking out Cohn’s help because The Trump Organization, then headed by the father Fred Trump, was being sued for racial discrimination. Cohn teaches Trump his rules, and the art of extortion, which transforms Trump into the rabid and vicious cartoon character we know him as today.

While the movie will obviously appeal to Trump haters, it really needs to be viewed by his supporters to better understand with whom they are getting into bed (pun intended). I hadn’t realized it was rated R, and for a handful of scenes, including a rather explicit gay sex scene, I had to cover my screen as a courtesy to my fellow passengers – I wasn’t sure if there were any kids behind me.

I also brought along Whitney Webb’s One Nation Under Blackmail, Volume 2, but I fell asleep after the movie and didn’t wake up until the pilot announced our approach into Newark. I slid the window cover open hoping to catch glimpse of one of those ‘car sized drones’ we’re hearing about, but no luck… After reading Volume One, I maintain that Webb is the top investigative journalist working today.

Mike Jamieson December 13, 2024

A real mystery of strange large drones and spheres is manifesting in the skies, worldwide and with a focus on sensitive military sites. The publicity on this has also manifested signs of hysteria with misidentification of normal planes, when approaching for landing. All sorts of speculation is happening with no real answers yet. There are elements of high strangeness and hypothesis involving non human intelligences are in the mix.

- Harvey Reading December 13, 2024
  
  The scum will do, and peddle, anything to get our minds off the reality of how the US has fallen, because of THEIR actions and lies.
  
  - Mike Jamieson December 13, 2024
    
    Audio from several flights near Eugene the other night:
    https://x.com/lesternare/status/1867719532863009114
    
    The White House now is taking the same stance as you, Harvey (or Admiral Kirby and Mayorkas are).

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