Mendocino County Today: Wednesday 2/26/2025

UNSEASONABLY WARM temperatures will remain through Friday as a high pressure ridge builds into the region. A cutoff low will spin off the central California coast late-week, potentially bringing cloud cover and a few very light showers. More unsettled weather is expected through the weekend. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): 39F under clear skies this Wednesday morning on the coast. All looks quiet until this weekend. Next week brings chances of rain back, but has yet to give further details so far, we'll see.

JUDGE TOSSES CUBBISON CRIMINAL CASE

by Mike Geniella

Superior Court Judge Ann Moorman on Tuesday dismissed a contentious criminal case against suspended Mendocino County Auditor Chamise Cubbison and former Payroll Manager Paula June Kennedy, ending a politically laced prosecution that spanned two years.

Civil attorneys for Cubbison, a 16-year county veteran, said Tuesday evening they will push for her return as the elected Mendocino County Auditor/Controller/Treasurer/Tax Collector now that she is free of the criminal case.

San Francisco attorney Therese Cannata said, “On behalf of Ms. Cubbison, we will be demanding immediate reinstatement.”

Cannata said Cubbison, who was suspended from her $176,000 post without pay and benefits in October 2023, also will vigorously pursue her pending civil lawsuit against the County Board of Supervisors for denying her due process.

Cubbison’s potential for collecting significant civil damages from the county including attorney fees, loss of wages and benefits, and professional reputation is increased with the court’s dismissal of the criminal case.

The financial stakes are high.

DA prosecution and County costs defending against the civil litigation are already estimated to be 3-4 times the $68,000 in disputed extra pay paid to Kennedy for work during the Covid pandemic that DA David Eyster claimed in October 2023 amounted to felony misappropriation of public funds.

Eyster stepped up the ante for taxpayers when within four months of accusing Cubbison of criminal misconduct he chose to hire outside prosecutor Traci Carrillo of Santa Rosa at the rate of $400 per hour to try the case. Civil attorneys defending the County Board of Supervisors already have billed about $120,000 in fees and services.

Cubbison had retained out of pocket noted Sonoma County defense attorney Chris Andrian and his investigator Chris Reynolds to fight Eyster’s criminal charges.

Tuesday’s dismissal was a stinging defeat for Eyster, who Cubbison supporters believe targeted her for challenging him over DA’s office spending. Eyster supported a plan to merge the county’s two key financial offices in apparent hope of knocking Cubbison from her position. When the disputed internal pay issue surfaced, Eyster acted, turning his own team of investigators on the case after the Sheriff’s Office turned over its results.

For Cubbison, Tuesday’s dismissal was a big victory and vindication for being the target of board critics besides Eyster. Cubbison risked a criminal record after she refused Eyster’s original offer to only face a misdemeanor charge if she resigned her post.

From the beginning the Cubbison case was complicated by Eyster’s contentious relationship with the Auditor, and two other Auditors who served before her.

Cubbison ran afoul of Eyster after she challenged DA office spending, including for expenses for staff dinners he labeled “training sessions.” Eyster retaliated by successfully blocking her interim appointment as Auditor in 2021 after publicly denouncing her at a board meeting. When the disputed extra pay for Kennedy surfaced, Eyster had his own team of investigators do follow up work before filing formal criminal charges against her.

Cubbison, her civil attorneys, and her supporters believe Eyster targeted her even though circumstances surrounding the alleged criminal case were fuzzy from the beginning.

Sheriff Lt. Andrew Porter, a 30-year law enforcement veteran, came under scrutiny during the preliminary hearing. Porter acknowledged on the witness stand that he had access to county emails and other documentation when he started to probe the Kennedy extra pay but he did not act to preserve them. Within months it was discovered that the county email archival system had collapsed, throwing case documentation efforts into disarray. Eventually many documents were retrieved but no one could determine what relevant material might be missing.

Then in recent days documentation issues took another turn when it was learned that top county officials and former Auditor Lloyd Weer in fact had been provided regular bi-monthly reports since 2019 showing Kennedy had been open about using a miscellaneous county pay code to add extra money to her own paycheck.

During testimony at the preliminary hearing, Weer, CEO Antle and others said they were unaware of the payments but the internal payroll documents produced by the DA’s office at the last minute showed otherwise.

Moorman said in fact Kennedy had been transparent in her actions.

“If anybody had read the reports, it was clear what she was doing. She was transparent about a serious pay issue that no one at the management level had resolved,” said Moorman.

Moorman said she believed Cubbison did not know the details of a likely extra pay arrangement made between Kennedy and Weer.

Cubbison in fact acted as a “whistleblower” when she informed the County Counsel’s Office of threatened legal action by Kennedy if her chronic pay issues were not resolved, according to Moorman.

Moorman said, “She did the right thing. She did not try to cover anything up.”

Moorman placed evidentiary problems at the feet of Lt. Porter, who she felt had acted unprofessionally about the white-collar crimes issues involved.

“He failed to preserve email evidence when he had access to it before the system collapsed,” said Moorman. “The system collapse wasn’t his fault but his failure to preserve evidence when he had access was,” said Moorman.

The judge also found that the investigator didn’t follow up on questionable issues relating to retired Auditor Weer, and Kennedy.

Moorman was scornful of Weer’s role in the case, and his denial on the witness stand that he might have let Kennedy think she had permission to use the obscure county pay code to reimburse herself, a salaried employee, for the chronic hours she was putting in.

“I don’t believe him,” declared Moorman. The judge cited Weer’s evasive answers as a prosecution witness, and his “defensive demeanor.”

Moorman spoke scornfully about “willful ignorance” shown by county officials who testified during the preliminary hearing they didn’t know anything about the obscure County pay code Kennedy was accused of using to pay herself.

Moorman said the exculpatory evidence turned over by District Attorney Chief Investigator Andrew Alvarado during the final days of the hearing only underscored in her mind how “transparent” the defendants had been about events leading up to Eyster’s decision to file felony charges.

The documents showed that county payroll reports faithfully detailed how Kennedy’s extra pay had been distributed widely to administrators including CEO Darcie Antle and her staff over a three-year period yet no one questioned why.

“It was all there if anyone had bothered to take a look,” said Moorman.

Moorman’s decision to dismiss the criminal case brought relief to the faces of Cubbison, Kennedy and their lawyers. They hugged each other after Moorman finished her statement, and declared the case dismissed.

Public Defender FredRicco McCurry had asked Moorman to toss out the case against Kennedy “in the interest of justice.”

“There is no evidence of any criminal intent. There is only evidence that this employee worked herself into a state of exhaustion,” said McCurry.

McCurry added, “The taxpayers still owe her for work done under very difficult circumstances.”

Cubbison lawyer Andrian said the judge “did the right thing here.”

“There was no evidence to take this case to trial,” said Andrian.

Prosecutor Traci Carrillo said she respected Moorman’s decision “based on how the evidence came out and the various issues that presented themselves.”

“This is exactly the type of case that sometimes needs to simply play out and be challenged at a preliminary hearing in a transparent manner (versus a grand jury proceeding) to further evaluate the totality of the evidence,” said Carrillo.

CHRIS SKYHAWK: Something good happened Tuesday. A good woman was exonerated. She was set up for failure by our Board of Supervisors. Everyone knew combining Auditor-Controller with the Treasurer-Tax Collector was a recipe for failure. It’s FAR too much for one office. And despite her valiant efforts, she has been made a scapegoat. It’s shameful and Exhibit A on why we have a failing county. Again, our Board of Supervisors including Ted Williams should be ashamed of themselves. They won’t be, but at least they’ve been rebuked.

TALKING RATHWICK DOWN

On 02/22/2025 at approximately 10:30am Ukiah Police Department (UPD) Officers were alerted by the Flock automated license plate recognition system that a reported stolen vehicle was traveling the streets of Ukiah. UPD Dispatch was able to verify that the Mazda CX-5 SUV had been reported stolen by Enterprise Rental Car, and the vehicle was still at large.

A short time later officers located the stolen Mazda in the parking lot of the Rite Aid in Ukiah. Officers noted that a male, later identified as George Rathwick of Riverdale, California was seated in the driver’s seat. Due to the propensity of vehicle thieves carrying weapons, a high-risk felony stop was attempted, but Rathwick put the stolen vehicle into reverse, backed up, and drove out of the parking lot. Rathwick drove across the street and pulled into the parking lot of the Chase Bank, because as he later told the officers, it was an open parking lot where he could force the officers into shooting him without putting anyone else in danger.

A standoff ensued in the Chase Bank parking lot, and Rathwick told the officers that he was armed with a firearm and intended to shoot himself. UPD Officers spent several minutes speaking with Rathwick to deescalate the situation, and Rathwick eventually exited the vehicle and was taken into custody without incident. Rathwick was not found to be in possession of a firearm.

During a search of Rathwick’s person he was found to be in possession of a baggie of methamphetamine. Rathwick told the Officers that he had spent a great deal of time in prison, and he had told himself that if he was ever in trouble with the law again, he was going to die before being sent back to prison.

Rathwick was arrested and booked into the Mendocino County Jail for charges of 496d(a) PC – possession of a stolen vehicle, 69(a) PC – resisting arrest by force or threat, and 11377(a) H&S – possession of a controlled substance. The stolen Mazda was towed and stored so that it could be returned to Enterprise Rental Car.

DID SKUNK AND CITY GO TOO FAR IN CREATING DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENTS WITH ARBITRATION PROCESS?

by Frank Hartzell

Fibbing by Georgia Pacific, environmental extremism and Skunk-city squabbles may be put in the past, but should hotel, trolley, housing be in the future?…

https://mendocinocoast.news/did-skunk-and-city-go-too-far-in-creating-development-agreements-with-arbitration-process/

REAL ESTATE FIRM SOUGHT TO MARKET FORMER REDWOOD VALLEY SCHOOL PROPERTY

Ukiah Unified School District (UUSD) has issued a Request for Qualifications/Proposals (RFQ/P) to identify and select a qualified real estate firm to market and facilitate the sale or lease of the former Redwood Valley Elementary School property in Redwood Valley.

Originally purchased by the district in 1920, the 12.4-acre property served as a thriving school site for nearly a century. Over the years, UUSD invested millions of dollars to develop and operate the school.

However, changes in state building codes and declining enrollment ultimately led to the school’s closure.

One of the primary challenges was the site’s unique topography — with school facilities located at one elevation and athletic fields at a much lower elevation adjacent to the Russian River — making compliance with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards financially unfeasible.

Following a series of public meetings, the Ukiah Unified Board of Trustees formally designated the property as surplus, allowing it to be sold. UUSD initially pursued state-mandated open bidding procedures to sell the property, but those efforts were unsuccessful.

To expand its options, the district sought and received a waiver from the California State Board of Education, enabling it to work directly with a real estate broker to market and sell the property.

With the release of this RFQ/P, UUSD is looking for a real estate firm with experience in marketing surplus public properties. The selected firm will assist with property valuation, marketing, outreach, and negotiations to help the district find a buyer or lessee for the site.

Qualified firms are invited to submit proposals by March 21, 2025, at 5 p.m. For more details, including submission guidelines and proposal requirements, visit www.uusd.net.

(Ukiah Unified Presser)

POTTER VALLEY PROJECT - DISPUTED PROJECT - Stakeholders weigh in on PG&E decommission and license surrender plan

by Robert Schaulis

The early months of 2025 marked a milestone for stakeholders along the Eel River and Russian River watershed. PG&E announced that it has readied a final version of the company’s surrender application for the Potter Valley Project.

The application outlines the utility company’s plan for closing and removing facilities associated with the project — including the more than 100-year-old Scott and Cape Horn dams, repurposing portions of the project’s infrastructure and introducing a new diversionary facility where once stood a now-defunct hydroelectric power plant to continue water diversion from the upper Eel River watershed to agricultural interests along the Russian River.

Additionally, the plan will put in place a continued source of funding from the beneficiaries of Russian River diversion to support ecological restoration of the Eel River, and it will return water rights to Indigenous communities in the Eel River watershed.

Stakeholders throughout the project, including the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors, approved a memorandum of understanding — or MOU — recently, affirming their support for the decommission and dam removal plan.

Still, some communities in the upper Eel River watershed are continuing efforts to combat the plan.

Restoration of watershed

Over the course of the past several years, the decommissioning effort has gained support from a number of disparate parties.

Those parties include Mendocino and Sonoma county stakeholders worried about losing access to their water supply. They also include ecological groups eager to see the dams removed and an ecological equilibrium restored — even some who have expressed concerns about or ideological opposition to diversion from the Eel River to the Russian River.

“I think that this is a good deal … I will continue to be worried about diversions, but the plan in place at present is probably as good as we can hope for here on the North Coast given the importance of Eel River water to the Potter Valley Project,” Tom Wheeler, executive director and staff attorney for the Arcata-based Environmental Protection Information Center

told the Times-Standard. “A lot of thanks goes to Congressman Huffman who has been pushing for this (despite) a bit of a split in his district given the various interests here.”

Alicia Hamann, executive director of the Friends of the Eel River, told the Times-Standard that dam removal represents the culmination of years of work on behalf of her organization and others.

“In the late 90s, I think people kind of chuckled at the idea, but from the very beginning, we have been very intent on seeing the dams removed,” said Hamann. “In fact, some of our very first actions were to file comments with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the federal agency that oversees hydropower projects.”

Still, Hamann said, though stakeholders have signed off on PG&E’s plan moving forward, no one stakeholder has been perfectly appeased by the plan. And she says it’s a good sign.

“One tenet of negotiation that I was recently reminded of is that a negotiation is probably successful if everyone walks away from the table equally unhappy,” said Hamann. “Frankly, I think we have a lot to be happy about on the Eel River side.”

‘Cautiously optimistic’

Rep. Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) represents Californians from Marin County, just north of San Francisco, to Del Norte County on the Oregon border.

The congressman’s office was among the advocates for a post-Potter Valley Project “two-basin solution” that would contribute to the restoration of the Eel River watershed while preserving limited diversion to the Russian River. He says, though there might still be bumps in the road, he is cautiously optimistic about the advancement of the decommissioning plan.

“It’s a very thoughtful framework where they’re doing more than just knocking down a couple dams and building a new fish-friendly diversion structure,” said Huffman. “They’re creating a long-term funding stream that will benefit projects throughout the Eel River watershed. They are lifting up tribal equity and economic development for the Round Valley tribes — and returning a water right that, frankly, they should have always held.

“And (they are) ensuring water supply stability for hundreds of thousands of people in the Russian River watershed. All of that is critically important, and I think they found a way to do it that is broadly equitable and viable.”

Enduring concerns

There are, however, stakeholders in the upper Eel River watershed that oppose PG&E’s current plans and feel left behind by efforts to advance that plan. One of those stakeholders is Lake County — where the board of supervisors continues to struggle against the machinations of PG&E’s decommission plan.

In a letter addressed to PG&E in 2023, the county said that PG&E’s “Initial Draft Surrender Application discusses a major, environmentally transformative project in Lake County without talking about Lake County.” The board noted that there were only two passing references to the county within that document (PG&E’s final draft contains 212 references to the county).

Scott Dam and Lake Pillsbury sit squarely within the county’s northern boundaries, a 40-mile drive from the county seat in Lakeport.

“There is no content addressing Lake County’s priorities and needs, whereas other parties are more directly referenced,” the 2023 letter, signed by Bruno Sabatier, acting chair of the board, said. “No commitments are made to (ensure) the County of Lake and area property owners are kept whole should decommissioning proceed.

The letter also noted that “Lake is a rural and under-resourced county,” and said that “PG&E needs to demonstrate (that they) are committed to ensuring conditions in our county are not severely worsened by decommissioning.”

County Treasurer Patrick Sullivan estimated, at that time, that the decommissioning of the Potter Valley Project and subsequent draining of Lake Pillsbury, the reservoir formed behind the Scott Dam, would cost the county more than $750,000 in annual tax revenue for the foreseeable future. He also said the depreciation of properties built around the infrastructure of the lake could result in more than $40 million in lost property value.

Those numbers represent a difficult loss to absorb for a large county with just under 70,000 residents.

Opponents of the decommissioning project within the county also say that the reservoir is invaluable for downstream water users during dry times and a useful resource for crews combatting wildfires in the area. They also contend that the more-than-100-year-old water project has become a nigh-irreversible part of the region’s ecology — one that dam removal would put in peril.

In a press release published in May 2024, Lake County said: “The Lake County Board of Supervisors has been steadfast in affirming Scott Dam remaining in place as a significant matter of priority … 600,000 Californians depend on water releases from Lake Pillsbury and the Potter Valley Project for drinking and agricultural water security, and adequate water supply is essential to every facet of our daily lives.”

That press release was occasioned by a $700,000 grant from the California Department of Water Resources. This Water Shortage Management Program funding was granted to support the “Lake County Resource Assessment, Impact Analysis and Adaptation Strategy Evaluation Project” — a project aimed at assessing the decommission’s impact on county “recreation, wildfire suppression, ecosystem, power, sediment, water supply and infrastructure” — areas in which, the county contends, that dam removal could have catastrophic consequences.

The nonprofit Lake Pillsbury Alliance, an advocacy group attempting to preserve the Scott Dam and Lake Pillsbury, also expressed disapproval of the decommission of the Potter Valley Project.

“PG&E’s final draft surrender plan offers generalized statements regarding anticipated construction-related impacts for which PG&E will develop future plans,” Frank Lynch, a spokesperson for the Lake Pillsbury Alliance, told the Times-Standard in an email. “This ‘plan to have a plan’ is devoid of any significant environmental analysis, mitigation specifics and long-term mitigation monitoring plans, and it provides no guarantees of a viable future vision for local and regional communities. Without this information, how can anyone determine whether their concerns are being met?”

Losers in ecological restoration?

Huffman, while sympathetic to the concerns expressed by Lake Pillsbury’s local leaders, disputes the notion that Lake County residents are losers in PG&E’s decommission plan. He says that, ultimately, Lake County and its residents will be among the beneficiaries of the decommission plans’ provisions for ecological restoration and the revitalization of critical fisheries — particularly those for salmonids — in the upper Eel River watershed.

“I get it. There are a lot of fond memories and … marinas and other businesses that have built up around Lake Pillsbury, and change is very threatening from that local perspective,” Huffman said. “But … that area is not going to be a blighted wasteland. It is going to be restored to a free-flowing river with incredible viewsheds and environmental values — probably a world-class elk preserve. It’s going to be spectacular … It’s still going to be an awesome place to visit and recreate, and there will be new — and in many ways better — opportunities to do that.”

Huffman also alluded to the notion that the decommissioning process through FERC is, in many ways, set up as it is because the commission cannot compel a private company like PG&E to continue running facilities at a loss in perpetuity.

“I think there has been, with that particular stakeholder group, an unwillingness to acknowledge that PG&E is a private corporation that owns the dam and was losing $9 million a year on it,” said Huffman. “The idea that somehow anyone, much less the public, was going to take over the project and keep things exactly the way they were for aesthetic and recreational interests at Lake Pillsbury was always unrealistic.”

Fisheries

Hamann told the Times-Standard that in addition to eliminating barriers to fish passage, dam removal would restore continuity between the lower Eel River and some extremely ecologically significant habitat that could contribute to the restoration of salmonid populations along the entire watershed.

“Behind Scott Dam are hundreds of miles of really excellent cold water habitat. It’s habitat that’s been described in recent studies as some of the best habitat in the entire watershed — maybe only second to the entire Van Duzen River,” Hamann said. “It also is habitat that stays thermally optimal in hot summers, particularly hot years, which is a really big deal because there are a lot of reaches of the Eel that actually see near-lethal temperatures for salmonids, and so it can act as a kind of climate change refugia.

“And it also is a place where steelhead (trout), a particularly athletic fish, can pass some barriers that the invasive pike minnow wouldn’t be able to pass, and so there’s a protected area from these invasive species that can (otherwise) outcompete with them and prey on their juveniles.”

Hamann also noted rainbow trout in Lake Pillsbury that bear genetic similarity to summer steelhead could, upon removal of the Scott and Cape Horn dams, contribute to the restoration of steelhead populations throughout the watershed.

“There are a lot of really great environmental reasons to remove these dams,” Hamann said.

Risk of failure

“What we learned between 2023 and now is that PG&E has finally started to wake up to the reality of these dam safety issues, and that has been a really key driver in pushing the utility to finally rid themselves of this project,” said Hamann.

Both Hamann and Huffman point to ongoing seismic concerns as a driving force behind PG&E’s efforts to decommission the Potter Valley Project.

“Many of us, particularly at Friends of the Eel River, have always known that dam safety is a really huge liability with this project,” Hamann said. “Scott Dam is rated as a high-hazard facility, which means that if it fails when the reservoir is full, it’s likely to cause fatalities downstream. And a failure is a real possibility because it’s on a fault line, (and) it’s this 100-year-old structure.”

Huffman also noted that PG&E’s aging Potter Valley infrastructure represents a considerable seismic risk. He says that risk has created an “irreversible momentum” for the project of dam removal.

“PG&E has a new CEO who experienced a dam failure, a tragic dam failure in Michigan that flooded downstream communities, when she was part of the Michigan utility (DTE Energy),” Huffman said. “When PG&E figured out that Scott Dam is seismically vulnerable and they could no longer fill up the reservoir safely — it’s been maintained at lower (water) levels for more than a year now — I think that was the final straw.”

Since 2023, PG&E has reduced the amount of water stored in reservoirs in the upper Eel River watershed as a result of safety concerns.

Probing options

Lake County’s board of supervisors is scheduled to meet on Feb. 25. The board’s agenda includes next steps in the county’s ongoing efforts to oppose PG&E’s decommission plan.

Those steps include “consideration of comments to (PG&E) in response to their Draft Application for Surrender of License and Application for Non-Project Use of Project Lands,” and “consideration of a letter to California Governor Gavin Newsom highlighting considerations regarding Scott Dam decommissioning in consideration of Executive Order N-16-25.”

Executive Order N-16-25 is an executive order, signed by Gov. Newsom on Jan. 31, intended to maximize the recharge of reservoirs and groundwater to serve California counties that have experienced protracted drought conditions between 2021 and now.

The board is also considering “a letter to federal agencies regarding Scott Dam decommissioning in relation to recent executive orders from President Donald Trump.”

The Times-Standard reached out to representatives of the Round Valley Indian Tribes, as well as tribal authorities throughout the Eel River watershed including the Wiyot Tribe, leaders from which had expressed concerns about PG&E’s initial draft proposal. Neither could be reached by the time of publication.

(Eureka Times-Standard/Ukiah Daily Journal)

KZYX CAN DO BETTER THAN CULBERTSON

To The Mendocino County Public Broadcasting (Kzyx) Board Of Directors:

Regarding Rich Culbertson’s dustup at KZYX, the station simply deserves better than this dude. I was a programmer for many years at KZYX and was also a member of the station’s Board of Directors, and I knew Culbertson well.

First, and maybe worst of all, Culbertson may be a prescription drug addict. In his open letter, Culbertson admits he is currently taking pain meds. He admits he is having both medical and psychological problems. The station has had issues in this regard with Culbertson in the past. Let’s not forget Culbertson has been fired by KZYX in the past. Don’t believe me? Ask Culbertson to make his personnel file public.

Let’s also not forget Culbertson once lived as a homeless person in the old caboose on station property in Philo.

Another thing. Culbertson feels entitled to life-long employment at KZYX. I’ve heard some old timers refer to Culbertson as a “fixture,” a connection to the “good ole days”. For heaven’s sakes, Culbertson has been at KZYX for 17 years. For much of that time, the station didn’t even have an adequate website. In truth, Culbertson should have left years ago when John Coate and Mary Aigner left, and the station shifted to more transparency, more inclusiveness and better management.

Worst of all, in my opinion, Culbertson is not up to speed on the latest broadcasting technology. Culbertson’s self-described new engineering credentials, notwithstanding, Culbertson was not keeping KZYX competitive in an ever-more competitive and evolving media marketplace.

Let me count the ways:

I don’t see Culbertson helping KZYX keep up with the new age of media — simple things, like podcasting.

I don’t see Culbertson using technology to help KZYX with other basic things like audience engagement and content management.

I don’t see Culbertson doing more sophisticated things, like metadata tagging, content personalization, subtitle generation, and data-driven analytics to provide insights into viewer preferences, enabling tailored content creation.

I don’t see Culbertson developing a media management toolkit for automatically tagging content and offering a search engine to make content libraries (the station’s archives) instantly useable and searchable.

I don’t see Culbertson developing natural language generation tools that can help the KZYX news department with story creation. In the future, journalists will need help extracting data from spreadsheets and plugging it into story templates to generate news updates. The KZYX news department of the future will also need help with editorial platforms and doing cloud-based research and production.

Hell, Culbertson can’t even do the most basic things, like connecting the new station in Ukiah to the Internet or keeping the broadcast signal up at the old station in Philo. Too little connectivity. Too much dead air.

Finally, as President Trump, Elon Musk and DOGE put federal funding for public media on the chopping block, we in public media face increasingly tough times. Old timers doing the same old things will only hurt us, not help us. KZYX needs young, bright people working in its IT department. KZYX needs young, bright people doing fresh, relevant, current programming.

Podcasting, audience engagement, content management and strong local news — all brought together by technology — are the keys to our survival.

Support KZYX. Support KMUD. Support KQED.

I have been a member at each. You should, too. Together, they are “our” community radio!

John Sakowicz

Ukiah

MENDOCINO WHALE WAR EXHIBIT, March 1^st – 30th, 2025

Did you know that the Mendocino Whale Festival started as an act of protest against commercial whaling? Visit the Kelley House Museum during March for a special exhibit about the Mendocino Whale War, started by a group of locals who launched the first Whale Festival to educate the public about the plight of endangered whales on the Coast. Posters, photographs, and clippings will be on display, along with a slideshow from founding member and photographer Nicholas Wilson. Suggested donation: $5. Fri-Sun, 11am-3pm.

Organizers of the First Annual Mendocino Whale Festival pose outside Crown Hall with J.D. Mayhew’s poster, March 20, 1976. L to R: Ellen Findlay, Bill Wilson, Sue Golden, Brendan, Heidi and Barry Cusick, Sally and Lee Welty. Photo by Nicholas Wilson.

MILLIONAIRE PROMOTION

Dear Esteemed Dignitaries and Members of the Press,

On behalf of the Coyote Valley Casino, it is with great excitement that we invite you to attend the Instant Millionaire promotion and ribbon-cutting ceremony. This special event will kick off with breakfast pastries and coffee at 9:00 AM on Saturday, March 8th, 2025 with the official ribbon-cutting taking place promptly at 10:00 AM in front of the bubble wall inside the casino.

Your presence would mean a great deal to us as we celebrate this milestone and offer our community a chance to experience the thrill of this exciting new promotion. Please RSVP by end of day Mon., 3/3/25 to Lynda Steely at Isteely@coyotevalleycasino.com or 707-467-4756.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Sincerely,

Matthew Shunkamolah, General Manager

Kevin McNair, Marketing Director

Coyote Valley Casino

HISTORY TALK: HOPLAND RESEARCH & EXTENSION CENTER

Exploring the History and Development of the Hopland Research & Extension Center

The Historical Society of Mendocino County invites you to a special program on March 9th in Hopland, examining the history and development of the University of California Hopland Research & Extension Center (HREC) and the land on which it is located.

This event will feature presentations from:

Chairman Sonny Elliott, Hopland Band of Pomo Indians

Bob Keiffer, retired superintendent of HREC with over 30 years of service at UC

John Bailey, current director of HREC

Speakers will discuss the history of the land, the Saqowa (Sho-Ka-Wah) people, the establishment and development of the HREC, and their current projects.

Following the presentations, attendees are invited to participate in a guided site visit to observe one of HREC’s current rehabilitation projects.

Beverages and delicious desserts by Beth Keiffer will be available.

$10 at the door

Where: HREC 4070 University Rd, Hopland, CA

When: Sunday March 9th at 1PM

Directions: from downtown Hopland (intersection of Highways 101 and 175), take highway 175 east toward Lakeport. Cross the Russian River, drive straight across the traffic circle (second exit) onto Old River Road (also marked Road 201). Turn right onto University Road (there is a UC sign at the intersection). Drive up University Road for approximately 3.5 miles, following signs to event parking. Please park in this area and walk across the road to the Rod Shippey Hall. Blue badge parking is also available if you drive a little further along University Road.

Please RSVP to the Historical Society by March 6th (so we can get a rough count). (707) 462-6969 or go to mendocinocountyhistory.org.

TAKE ACTION! Postcard writing party March 13 at Alex Rorabaugh Rec Center

The Inland Mendocino Democratic Club invites you to our monthly meeting Thursday March 13 at 6:30 - 7:30 pm for a Postcard Writing Party in support for Judge Susan Crawford for the Wisconsin State Supreme Court.

At the Alex Rorabaugh Recreation Center 1640 S.State St., Ukiah

Watch documentary Vigilantes by Greg Palast while writing postcards. Free pizza and other snacks

Join us on - ZOOM

ID 825 6635 3751| 518110

Dial in : +1 669 900 6833

COUNTRY LIVING: WHAT DO YOU DO?

by Terry Sites

When you move to the country the first question-visiting city friends ask is “What do you do?” To their uninitiated eyes your new home has trees, small animals, sky with the sun in the morning and the moon at night. Not much else. Their vision of your typical day is: get up, drink coffee, feed wild birds, eat lunch, watch grass grow, eat dinner, go to bed.

Those of us who live in the country have to smile. In our former citified lives we mostly worked at jobs that took the greater part of five days. On weekends we maybe ate in restaurants and enjoyed cultural opportunities or stayed in our pajamas noodling around on our TV’s, computers or cell phones. Occasionally we would visit other city dwellers for dinner parties or festive outings. Truth be told, when not at work we spent the largest part of our time wandering around alone. It is easy to work with people during the working years but harder to really know them.

When you move to the country everything changes. In the case of Anderson Valley, suddenly you are one in around 3.000 instead of one in 300,000.

If you choose to be a joiner there are so many things you can join. At each one of these organizations and their get-togethers you will meet any number of people who will be interested to get to know you, a newbie. You instantly become a P.L.U. (People Like Us). After awhile on your daily rounds you will find that more and more people greet you by name. A small town is a little like the old TV show “Cheers” where “Everybody knows your name.” When people who come to visit you or walk through town at your side they marvel at your connectedness as you are stopped for a word here and a word there by people you know or recognize.

A natural outgrowth of acquaintances with many people is the chance to participate in the multitude of activities on offer. When you are thrown upon your own resources for entertainment in a small town creativity is called for. This is where the smile comes in. What do we do? The answer is a lot more than we used to do in our city lives.

First in the line-up are the clubs, groups of people with common interests coming together to serve the community and at the same time socializing. The Lion’s Club raises money that they immediately plow back into the community in response to various requests from community-serving petitioners. Need new football helmets? Swimming Safety lessons for kids?, Senior Center support? No community-benefitting reasonable requests are denied by the Lions Club. For those who served their country in the armed forces there is the American Legion. To get to know a really vital group of people who put their service where their mouth is joining the Ambulance Crew or the Volunteer Fire Department is a great option, no doubt about it. Just ask anyone involved.

The Unity Club is an old-fashioned women’s organization that does a multitude of good works crowned each year by both their Wildflower Show and the big Christmas Bazaar. They also run our wonderful local community library. The Independent Career Women (ICW) gather monthly to dine and drink wine while sponsoring high school scholarships. This is a chance for women to relax, visit, and make new friends.

All of these organizations welcome all comers; there is no secret handshake. The Grange makes their hall available for all sorts of gatherings including the yearly Seed and Scion Exchange and the Annual Variety Show (which is coming right up, by the way — don’t miss it). The all-volunteer Food Bank provides food to anyone in need and also operates out of the Grange Hall. The Fairgrounds is another great venue for gatherings. In fact, the most outstanding and widely attended event of the year the Mendocino County Fair and Apple Show. The Senior Center provides lunches, classes, referrals and socializing for not only seniors but also many others. The Senior Center building, which is run by the American Legion, is also available for local events. The Foodshed group is another organization that shares resources, information and friendships involving food, gardens, events and more. The AV History Museum and its Historical Society is a great stop when you are entertaining visitors or if you just want to delve into the Valley past. Their programs are always interesting; a veteran of the popular Antique Road Show is scheduled to appear soon allowing locals to bring their treasures in for valuation and identification.

There are also lots of less formal groups that meet regularly. They play Mah Jong and Bunco, fix antique machinery, read books and discuss them, do creative writing together, ride horseback, produce art, sew, study military history, exercise, do Yoga, dance, sing. Something for everyone.

So for anyone wondering, “What do you do?,” consult this list. The only limit on activities you can participate in is the amount of time you’re willing to spend. If you wanted to you could literally be busy all the time. If I moved back to the city now I fear I would feel very lonely. Yes, I could eat a lot of great food. I could revel in wonderful art and fabulous music. But, when I walked to the post office would three or four different people “tip their hats” to me? I think I’m happiest as a sort-of big fish in this very tiny pond. Really, almost just a puddle.

CHUCK DUNBAR: It’s my 78th birthday week and just finished—after lots of revising—a poem to my garden, pictured here with colors from last fall.

IN THE GARDEN
 
On fine land found
By my dear wife,
Love and fate led me
To the garden of my life.

Planted first by Ms. Eileen,
A garden in the making sweet —
River Birch and Alder groves,
Gardenia Rose lush near street.

20 years now gone by —
In the garden, hands in soil.
Hard at nature’s enchanting work,
Uplifted daily in my garden toil.

Beginnings: small plants—open space—
Plans evolving—a work in progress.
Years pass — trees, shrubs grown,
A woodland garden in rustic dress.

Countless garden hours over time:
Digging—planting—feeding—mulching—
Pruning—grooming—tending—caring.
In garden’s growing beauty basking.

Woodland trees now abound:
Birch—Maple—Willow—Cedar—
Dawn Redwood—Cypress—Ginkgo—
Pine—Cherry—Apple—Alder.
 
Shrubs, vines, flowers all around:
Lilac—Daffodil—Violet—Elderberry—
Rose—Columbine—Clematis—Hydrangea
Quince—Camellia—Anemone—Blueberry.

Spring brings roses fair:
Madame Alfred Carriere—Kathleen-
Blush Noisette—Magnifique—LydaRose.
Roses of beauty fit for a queen.
 
Fall comes, ablaze in color:
Red—yellow—orange—bronze—gold.
Then a changed, dying beauty,
Bare branches soon to behold.

Cat friends revel in garden play.
Beloved Shimmer, Dapple, Puck—
Exploring—climbing—racing.
In awe, we bow to kitty pluck.

Now my weary body,
No longer young and strong,
Yet out working most days —
Old gardeners trudge along.

It’s sweet Mother Nature
I’ve prayed to ever please.
Then finding in the garden
Earthly joy with no surcease.
 
My heart and my soul
In the garden rest.
Grateful and at peace —
This old gardener’s done his best.

ED NOTES

AN IMPERTINENT READER DEMANDS: “Who are you to pronounce on art and architecture?” Well, some years ago I read all of “Essential History of American Art” and I go to different museums a lot, mostly though, like you probably, I know what I like, and I don’t like Chuck Close and I don’t like to pay $20 to get into SF MOMA to look at a bunch of rocks hauled down out of the Sierras by some scamming Englishman who arranged the rocks on the floor in a V and sold it to the saps at SF MOMA as art. Pretty thin credentials, I admit, but there they are. I even buy a painting now and then if I can find one in my price range that I really, really like and I can talk my wife and the artist into an E-Z payment plan. I am the proud owner of two Mary Robertsons and one Nikki Ausschnitt which, if I think you can be trusted not to steal them, I might let you see some time.

IN THE EARLY 1960’s, the Reverend Jim Jones read an article in Esquire magazine that said Belo Horizonte, Brazil, and Mendocino County, America, were the two best places to be during the inevitable nuclear holocaust. Jones, who took the possibility of plutonium poisoning and Esquire more seriously than most people, soon set up a church in Belo Horizonte but just as soon returned to his home base in Indianapolis where, apparently, his Hoosier mother church had nearly collapsed without his charismatic presence. Jones returned from Brazil and, in 1965, moved his small congregation and a Brazilian monkey to Redwood Valley where both were soon on exhibit. The preacher man was so broke when he arrived in Mendo in 1965 that he had to take a job as a teacher in Boonville, which he got through a fellow transplanted Hoosier who was then Boonville’s superintendent of schools and, like Jones, a Christian. Of sorts. But very soon, roughly three years, via a series of welfare scams and the importation of mostly black parishioners from the San Francisco Bay Area whose properties Jones appropriated for himself and whose persons he used as funding units for his church, Jones was a very big shot in Mendocino County, America’s rural home of the political low bar. The rev was soon foreman of the Grand Jury and a go-to guy for outback politicos. By the early 1970s, having outgrown the rubes of Ukiah, Jones left Redwood Valley for San Francisco where the Democratic Party apparatus did a lot more to advance him than any single individual did and the rest, as they say, is history. It’s clear (to me anyway) that given the porousness of today’s local, state and federal institutions — total strangers, often reinventions of themselves, are routinely elected to office, often here in Mendocino County where, from your local public radio station to your local school board, implausible persons are making decisions that affect your life, and seldom for the better. Jones is as likely in Mendocino County today as he was then.

A OLD POT GROWER wrote back before “legalization”: “That thing you ran about that grower who said it costs him a thousand dollars to grow eight hundred dollars of bud. He’s either incompetent or he’s lying. I’ve grown since 1969, and still grow some for personal use but well within the County guidelines. I haven’t gotten formal permission because who in their right mind would go to the cops for something like this? In reality to grow good marijuana is simply a matter of good seeds in good soil. Nutrients and so on are available free, as is manure from anybody who owns a horse or who can walk out to the beach for some seaweed. Nothing you need to buy. People whine about how hard they work and then you see them, or used to see them until recently, buying cars and trucks for cash and paying their $6,000 power bills for a month in hundreds and fifties. Cash. I believe in medical marijuana but I get tired of all the whining. Whether pot is 6% or 22%, who cares? But this guy saying that it costs him a thousand bucks to produce one pound of pot is a moron and a liar. There is something in this plant that really makes a diff in our normal life. Call me hippie dippie or whatever. Putting high tech chemicals on this blessed substance is incorrect. It’s a weed. Give it good soil it does well. Who the hell wants a six pound plant? Most of the dope out there is bad dope. “Knocks you down”? What’s the point of that? Maybe he’s paying so many people that it runs up his costs, but the whole price structure of this stuff is ludicrous.”

WILLITS is the only in-County school district to maintain the gracefully attractive old columns and arches of its original high school, a pleasing facade from the days when it was assumed that schools were so central to American society that it was crucial to make their buildings look like something important went on inside them. Those days are long gone, of course, and in today’s Willits architectural beauty is mostly unavailable beyond the high school grounds, although it remains, if the light is right, in a few ghostly, decaying Victorians arrayed near what used to be the town’s center, remnants from a forgotten time when Americans still cared what their towns looked like. These days Willits is a seemingly endless, unplanned six miles of fast food dumps and cranker motels apparently inspired by the visual splendors of Ukiah’s equivalently hideous main drag. And does it even need saying to school boards that modular buildings are soul destroying excrescences composed of cancer causing toxics that even the least conscientious parent would be reluctant to assign the family dog to, never mind their little heirs and assignees?

I’M NOT the only fan bedeviled by this question: “How do seagulls know when a baseball game is almost over? In my experience at AT&T, the first gulls begin to appear about the 7th inning but the whole mob doesn’t arrive until most human-type people have either left the ballpark or are on their way out. Then, like something out of Hitchcock’s ‘The Birds,’ great flocks of hungry gulls swoop down on the garlic fries and hot dog buns to commence feasting. Marian Dawkins of the Department of Zoology at Oxford claims “that the 7th inning stretch is what cues the gulls to prepare for a feast. The commotion of 40,000 people simultaneously standing and singing is the tip off. Gulls are very good at recognizing predictors for when food is going to become available. They have learned that the 7th inning stretch means that people will soon be clearing out of the stadium, leaving behind a plethora of half eaten, (and luckily in our ballpark) gourmet food.” Professor Dawkins suggests that “the field itself becomes a buffet — the players cleats have spent the past few hours churning up the soil, exposing delectable insects. I’m sure we are all happy to leave that particular delicacy to the gulls. We will stick with the Cha-Cha bowls and Crazy Crab sandwiches.”

MYSELF, I think it’s more a simple matter of birds knowing that where the people are the food is, and where there’s lots of people there’s lots of food. When I go, I get to the ballpark early and stay late, long after Tony Bennett has sung about leaving his heart in San Francisco as he boards the cable car that climbs halfway to the stars, which Tony sings only if the Giants win, and which never sounds better than when you hear it at the ballpark because every other place from dentist’s waiting rooms to primitive piano bars it’s merely one more of modern life’s myriad annoyances. No sooner has Tony left his heart high on the hill commences the eerie sight of thousands of attacking gulls descending on the empty stadium, diving into the seats to carry off the negative food value remnants, veering around the mysterious young men collecting the giant plastic drink containers for, I guess, resale in some obscure market. Twenty minutes after the last pitch, the place is pretty much empty, just me, the gulls and the grounds crew fussing with the pitcher’s mound. I’d like to stay long enough to watch the clean-up process, but the one-time I hung around for a full hour after the game hoping to see how it was done, an age-appropriate usher, another old guy, walked up to me and said, “You gotta go now, sir, we’re closing up.” But I wanna see how they clean this place. “Nah. They don’t do that for another couple of hours, at least. Sorry.”

REILLY HEIGHTS

The Reilly Heights story is given at least in part, right here: https://theava.com/archives/920

JEFF BURROUGHS:

This is what I know, but others will know more I’m sure. Joe Reilly commissioned this house to be built in 1890 for him and his family. He married Christine Gschwyn, the daughter of John Gschwyn, a pioneer family who arrived in A.V. around the 1860’s. Joe was a logging bull team operator and a constable for Wendling Navarro when it was a boom town of around 1,500+ people. The family ran a kind of dude ranch on their property that reached the Navarro River for a few years. Ester Reilly (Clark), Joe’s daughter?, inherited the home and property and she married Earl Clark and the two of them raised sheep and apples for quite a few years. Their daughter, Christine Clark, inherited everything when Earl and Ester passed away. She still owns the house and the property that runs to the Navarro River, but the acres of apple trees, behind the house, were sold to ?? can’t remember their name, but they turned it into Vineyards and built the big winery that sits on the hills just South of the Reilly Heights building. I hope I got this information correct.

JDSF SCIENTISTS, STAFF AT THE L.A. FIRES, A FUN-GI COLORING PAGE

A READER WRITES: Thirty plus years on from the intense activism around the Mushroom Corners Timber Harvest Plan, JDSF now recognizes our fungi as a valued resource. Happy to celebrate whatever progress we can.

Color Your Way Through the Wonderful World of JDSF’s Mushrooms

Damp winter weather has meant that mushroom season has been in full effect at JDSF in recent weeks! Did you know, many edible mushrooms are ectomycorrhizal, meaning they form symbiotic relationships with trees or plants through their hyphae, exchanging water and nutrients for sugars. Mushrooms play a crucial role in nutrient cycling and carbon management in our forests.

In celebration of JDSF’s fantastic fungi check out this amazing JDSF Mushroom Coloring Page. Share a photo of your best JDSF Coloring Page efforts with us on our Facebook Page.

FROM E-BAY, TWO PHOTOGRAPHS OF LOCAL INTEREST (via Marshall Newman)

Navarro by the Sea, circa 1930s(?)

THE WRECK OF THE SCHOONER ALFRED

by Carol Dominy

On Wednesday, January 20, 1886, a fierce storm battered the Mendocino coast, leaving destruction in its wake both on land and at sea. Strong winds and relentless rain swept through the region before gradually subsiding.

According to the Beacon, the storm “broke upon us quite suddenly, although the cold weather and extremely low barometer of the three previous days were the sure harbingers of an approaching storm. Fleecy clouds hung treacherously across the sky on Tuesday evening, and the immense circle around the moon bespoke something unusual. Before morning all these precursory symptoms were receiving their verification, and a terrible storm of wind and rain was raging from the southwest. As the day grew it increased in violence, until at noon it was blowing a perfect cyclone. It reached its limit at about half-past twelve, and during the afternoon gradually lulled itself to a stiff breeze, which prevailed during the night.”

Among the storm’s casualties was the schooner Alfred, which had been moored in Mendocino Bay. The Alfred was a two-masted schooner built in 1870 and weighing 88 tons. “The schooner Alfred lay at the moorings, gallantly riding the heavy swells as they washed her fore and aft. It was believed that she would outride the storm, but at 10:30 PM the mooring chain parted. A few moments sufficed to snap the remaining lines asunder, and stately as a queen she rode the breakers and made straightway for the sandbar at the mouth of the river. The moon was shining through a thin veil of clouds, and the spectators who had gathered along the bluffs had a splendid opportunity to witness the destruction of the stout little craft. After striking the sandbar the vessel slowly worked out into the river channel, and as it was ebb tide and the river running full banks, she was carried back along the edge of the bluffs and washed into a little cove back of Mr. C. W. Denslow’s residence [the Freundt House, which was located on the bluff just south of the Ford House], where she was slowly pounded to pieces. There were 34,000 feet of lumber in her hold, which was ground almost to sawdust.”

Wreck of the Alfred, 1886. (Gift of Emery Escola)

The schooner Alfred was jointly owned by Captain Olson, Captain Samuel Blair, Captain Hendricks, E. C. Williams, and Jerome C. Ford. The vessel, valued at $10,000 and insured for $6,000, was a significant loss for its owners. The wreck was sold to Captain Nelson for $85, who then resold it to the Mendocino Lumber Company. The ship was pulled ashore, and workmen salvaged anything of value that remained.

(kelleyhousemuseum.org)

CATCH OF THE DAY, Tuesday, February 25, 2025

SHANNON ARNOLD, 45, Fort Bragg. Disorderly conduct-alcohol, probation revocation.

RONALD BLOYD, 56, Navarro. Disobeying court order.

CHANDLER BOWERS-PIERCE, 24, Willits. Domestic violence court order violation.

TINA CORNWALL, 31, Ukiah. Disobeying court order, paraphernalia, storing camping paraphernalia on private property, failure to appear, probation revocation.

JOSE FLORES-VALDEZ, 28, Fort Bragg. Marijuana for sale, controlled substance while armed with loaded firearm, concealed weapon in vehicle, loaded firearm in public, no license, smuggling controlled substance into jail, resisting.

JUSTIN GOODNOUGH, 33, Fort Bragg. Domestic battery.

CASEY IRELAND, 31, Willits. Probation revocation.

ROBERT JAMES JR., 30, Ukiah. Concealed dirk-dagger, controlled substance, paraphernalia, county parole violation, false ID.

LUIS MAGANA-ALVAREZ, 26, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

TYLIEGH PEREZ, 19, Hopland. Domestic battery.

CHANCE SMITH, 19, Clearlake/Ukiah. Failure to appear.

AM I ON MODERATION?

by Paul Modic

Am I on moderation and should I be able to tell without having to ask? Are there some obvious signs or clues? Does anyone commenting know for sure that they’re on, or not on, moderation? (When I comment my comment goes up, then when I check back a few minutes or an hour later it’s gone, though eventually it’s up there so what does all that mean?)

Every comment I’ve made since last March has not been censored, so does that mean I’m playing by the rules and shouldn’t be on moderation? A few years ago I didn’t know how this worked, didn’t realize that admin (website administrator, editor, or owner) controlled literally every word anyone posted:

I was commenting on an obscure thread and it had become a conversation between me and another anonymous commenter. I gave him some examples of local comedy which were very risque and when I went back to check if the other guy had responded my comments had disappeared. That’s when I realized that every word was scrutinized, approved, or censored, as is probably the custom of most or all professional media.

Lesson learned, there may be a little more free speech in the comments but society’s taboos or admin’s standards will be enforced if she wants to run a clean scene. (I had been under the illusion I was having a semi-private conversation with just another commenter.)

How many accounts are on moderation? Are any people who use their real names on moderation? If I’m the only one who uses his real name who is on moderation then I’d like a medal or something, right? I won’t even ask why, I know why: I’m a free spirit who is probably annoying to try to control, therefore better to keep a leash on just in case I stray, but really what rule am I breaking?

(If I’m not on moderation and just don’t understand how it’s supervised then I apologize and will slink away in embarrassment and self-ban for a while.)

I’m curious about how a social media website is run, the economics and especially the comments, and here are some more questions about the process:

When a commenter is banned are they banned from even seeing the site or just from commenting? (Half and half?)

How long does it take for the site administrator to track down the real name of an anonymous commenter from their IP address? Are there other ways?

Is the IP address readily available?

Are clear IP addresses mandatory or are their ways to disguise them? How?

Can you track who has been to which post or comment?

Can my comment appear to me on the comment thread but not to anyone else?

Can the site admin track how many views there are for specific posts as well as for comments?

Is it counted when someone comes back to look again?

Can you go back a days, months, or years to an old post or comment and see how many views there were?

Is there more advertising revenue generated on a post if there are more views of comments there, or are rates set arbitrarily in advance?

How much does it cost to run a site for a day, not including paying writers? For a week? For a month? For a year?

How much does it cost to pay a webmaster to help administer a site?

What does the webmaster do that the site owner is not able to?

Does the site owner gradually learn to manage the site with limited help from the webmaster? What is the hourly pay for the webmaster?

Can the owner delete the site by mistake and could it be restored? How?

If the site closes down how much would it cost to leave it up on the net as an historical relic, or would it be deleted?

(If anyone has any more questions they want answered please share, though it’s possible the website owners may not want to give up “the secrets of the temple” for some reason, si?)

LAKE COUNTY: CANNABIS IN CRISIS: URGENT NEED FOR POLICY REFORM

Editor,

With failed and broken promises of success and prosperity for our communities, cannabis cultivation in Lake County is at a crossroads.

Recall in 2016, ballot Measure C proposed a tax on cannabis cultivation within our County.The Measure promised a tax rate of $1.00 per square foot of an outdoor cultivation site, $2.00 per square foot of a mixed-light cultivation site, and $3.00 per square foot of an indoor cultivation site, subject to annual Consumer Price Index increases, and generating annual revenue of approximately $8 million per average year.

With these promises, on November 8, 2016, Lake County voters overwhelmingly voted “Yes” on Measure C. So what has happened since then?

In 2018, the County approved a new cannabis ordinance, and the floodgates opened. Permits of all sizes were presented and approved by the County Planning Department and tie Planning Commission. Today, more than 150 approved cultivation projects are in Lake County, totaling over 20 million square feet. Based on Measure C’s rates, cannabis should provide over $24 million of annual tax revenue to help our communities.

But the County isn’t realizing $24 million in tax revenue - not even close. After 2020, the cannabis industry began spiraling relentlessly downward — not just in Lake County but statewide and nationwide. In an effort to support the failing industry, in 2022 the Board of Supervisors (BoS) approved a temporary 50% cannabis tax cut and applied it to the smaller canopy area, further reducing anticipated revenues — this was extended through December 2025.Still, the County should be realizing about $11 million in cannabis tax revenue.

But the County isn’t receiving $11 million in cannabis tax revenue - again, not even close. At the recent 1/28/25 Governance Presentation to the BoS, Lake County’s Administrative Office reported 2023/2024 cannabis tax revenue of $2,582,315 — a vast reduction from what was promised by Measure C.Equally concerning is that the expenditures to manage cannabis were $2,517,150, a difference of barely $65,165.

Now we are at a crossroads. In the County Treasurer’s August 27, 2024 report to the BoS, active cultivation is down 80%. Many growers opt out, scale back or abandon their sites altogether.The dream of cannabis-funded success promised by Measure C is gone. As a community we need to be proactive and take a fact-based approach - are we better off placing our limited staff resources in more productive areas?

We request the Board of Supervisors hold a public meeting to address these financial discrepancies, look at the cannabis revenue generated versus the expenses and determine if the County is receiving the return on investment the voters expected.

Also, as 70% of the permits in Lake County are for small cannabis growers — many struggling to make it work - we request a robust discussion on how to restore their prosperity. With another 100 pending small and large cannabis applications in the queue, does the County run the risk of dooming these remaining growers to failure?

Lake CAP Community Action Project Founding Members:

Peter Luchetti, Angela Amaral, Jesse Cude, Holly Harris, Margaux Kambara, Tom Lajcik, Chuck Lamb, Monica Rosenthal

Lake County

‘IT CAN HAPPEN TO ANYONE’: Family of Cloverdale woman who died from fentanyl urges vigilance

Samantha Azzolino died from fentanyl in 2023. The man who supplied the drug was sentenced to five years in jail Monday.

by Kerry Benefield

On that day in August 2023 when a frantic Jane Lyons called the hospital to see if it was true, that her daughter was dead, Lyons was told there was no Samantha Azzolino at Novato Community Hospital.

It gave her the tiniest sliver of hope.

It did not last.

Because when Lyons called the coroner, it confirmed her worst fears. Azzolino, 30, was dead. Lyons had been unable to confirm her death with hospital because she was not listed as Samantha Azzolino. She was listed as a “Jane Doe.”

Samantha, a Cloverdale woman just shy of her 31st birthday, had suffered a fatal overdose after ingesting cocaine and fentanyl.

On Monday, in a Marin County courtroom, Lyons and about 10 other friends and family members, were in court when Judge Kelly Simmons sentenced Callen Micheal Scheffler, 35, of Santa Rosa, to five years and four months in the Marin County Jail.

Reading her victim impact statement and unable to hold back her tears, Lyons told those in the courtroom that Scheffler not only supplied her daughter with drugs, but did little to nothing when Azzolino and another woman began to overdose.

The second woman was placed in a medically induced coma and survived.

“He could have saved her. He could have,” Lyons read.

Scheffler’s sentence reflects a growing trend in which more prosecutors are charging suspected drug suppliers with overdose-related death.

In August 2023, just three weeks before Azzolino’s death, Chase Kirby, 28, was sentenced to four years in prison for providing fentanyl to Ruby Torrens, 23, of Cotati who died from an overdose.

On Oct. 30, Luis Fajardo Melgoza, 21, of Santa Rosa, entered a no-contest plea, agreeing not to challenge a charge of second degree murder in the fentanyl overdose death of 17-year-old Monica Flores of Napa in 2022.

A second defendant in that case, Alan Jazeel Martinez, has pleaded not guilty.

After the sentencing Monday, prosecutor Sean Kensinger said he hoped the resolution would give Azzolino’s family some measure of comfort, but also shine a light on fentanyl in the community.

In his final statement to the court, Kensinger said Scheffler knew that the man who sold him the drugs that night had provided him with a bad dose just days prior.

When both women immediately began to show signs of overdosing, “in that moment, the defendant had a choice,” Kensinger said.

Instead of seeking help, Scheffler reportedly drove miles, calling 911 once and immediately hanging up, before finally dropping Azzolino and the other woman at Novato Community Hospital.

“The decision to save himself demonstrates the true callousness of the crime,” Kensinger told the court. “He chose himself.”

“The defendant had left without ever providing her name,” he said. “He chose himself.”

Scheffler’s attorney, Jon Rankin, argued Monday that there were mitigating circumstances affecting the case and his client’s behavior that night.

“He panicked,” he said. “He could have done more, no question about it.”

But he also urged Simmons to sentence his client based on facts and not Azzolino’s family’s desire for “vengeance.”

That didn’t sit well with Azzolino’s family.

They wear bright T-shirts and sweatshirts with a photo of Azzolino’s face on the front and “Justice for Samantha” in large letters on the back to remind people that Azzolino was a person — who loved makeup, music and cars in equal measure — not a Jane Doe.

Few know this like Brittany Merz. Azzolino was her younger sister.

In this process that has stretched past one year, Merz has missed just one court date. It has been a mission of sorts. For her sister, but for her as well.

“Part of the fight kind of actually helped keep me going, so now I will have to worry about mental health after this, because this has been a fight,” she said.

It has kept her sister’s memory at the fore, to show up to every court date, wearing the T-shirts and sweatshirts, she said.

“This keeps us going. It is so important to us,” she said. “This is my way to show Sammy that I will always be there for her and I will do anything for her. I want him (Scheffler) to see how loved she was and what he took.”

“He has to see her face, so he knows we know what he did,” she said.

For Merz, there is also an advocacy piece to wearing the sweatshirts, to speaking out. Fentanyl is killing people who aren’t seeking it out, who in some cases don’t know they are taking it, she said.

“I hope to bring awareness,” she said. “I think that people just automatically assume, ‘Oh, they bought drugs’ and this automatic assumption that she was a user. I think that people need to know it can happen to anyone.”

After years of astronomical spikes in overdose deaths related to fentanyl in the U.S. there has been some glimmer of hope in 2024.

Between April 2023 and April 2024 fentanyl-related overdose deaths declined for the first time since 2018, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

The decrease represents as many as 20,000 deaths averted in one year.

However, the synthetic opioid remains a terrifying problem, killing more than 100,000 people a year.

Education and the increased availability of Narcan, the anti-overdose medication, is credited with some of the decline in overdose deaths.

For the Azzolino family, the shirts, the showing up, the statements, none of it is about anger, or vengeance, Lyons said.

It’s about love.

“I’m not here for revenge. I’m not angry. I’m going to be forever sad,” Lyons said. “I have a picture of my daughter on my shirt because I want her to be known as a person, a face. You see a face. It’s Samantha … I didn’t do it for revenge. I did it because he got it wrong. He didn’t get any help.”

(Santa Rosa Press Democrat)

CAL FIRE’S NEW FIRE RISK MAPS MEAN BIG CHANGES FOR CALIFORNIA HOMEOWNERS

Cal Fire on Monday published updated fire maps for 125 cities from the Bay Area north to the Oregon border.

by Julie Johnson & Harsha Devulapalli

California fire officials released long-awaited maps on Monday showing fire risk in cities across the Bay Area and along the northern coast of California.

The maps, which are still in draft form, will have major implications: They will guide where stricter fire-resistant building and landscape rules apply, and are an update to fire risk maps issued more than a decade ago. For example, the state’s pending ban of plants and other combustible materials within five feet of homes will apply to properties categorized on the new maps (i.e., in local responsibility areas) as having “very high fire severity hazard.” That includes parts of Bay Area cities like Berkeley, Oakland, Tiburon, Mill Valley, Santa Rosa, San Bruno, San Jose and Palo Alto.

Property owners in areas with some degree of fire risk must also follow stricter codes when building or renovating homes by using materials more resistant to flames and embers, such as vents with fine mesh and hardier roofing materials. Property owners in “very high” fire danger areas face the strictest codes, and those in “high” risk areas also must meet certain building standards. Cal Fire provides guidelines for building in fire-prone areas and a basic outline of the various codes.

“We as Californians have to shift our minds as to how we landscape and how we design our homes,” state Fire Marshal Daniel Berlant told the Chronicle.

In San Francisco County, 561 acres were classified as having some degree of fire risk in the new maps, and that included areas of Angel Island and south of Fort Funston. The older maps showed no fire hazard in the county.

The maps are not expected to change how insurance companies weigh fire risk and make policy decisions, according to the California Department of Insurance. The department published a Q&A about the maps that said insurance companies are required to provide “discounts for wildfire safety actions such as community mitigation and home-hardening, which Cal Fire’s maps do not assess.”

“Insurance companies are already using risk analysis tools and models that go beyond Cal Fire’s proposed maps in determining what properties they will underwrite,” the department said.

The maps released Monday only cover cities and towns protected by local fire departments, which Cal Fire calls “local responsibility areas,” for 17 counties from the Bay Area and north to the Oregon border. It’s the second batch of maps released by Cal Fire this year, and will be followed March 10 by another group covering a large swath of central California (including Sacramento) then a final group of maps covering Southern California will be published March 24.

The biggest change in the Bay Area occurred in Sonoma County, where Cal Fire now considers nearly 7,600 acres to fall within the state’s very high fire severity zone – compared to just 11 acres about 15 years ago. Since then, major wildfires including the 2017 Tubbs Fire have burned thousands of homes in the county.

Berlant said that the state’s modeling programs have improved dramatically and today’s maps are considered far more accurate.

Other places had the number of “very high” fire hazard acres reduced. For example, in Oakland, the amount of land considered to be a “very high” fire hazard zone dropped from 10,838 acres in 2007-2011 to 1,945 acres in Monday’s maps. Some of those acres were reclassified as “high fire severity hazard” (2,498 acres) and “moderate” (2,553 acres).

Local jurisdictions have 120 days to study the maps and request adjustments to ensure the maps align with local boundaries like roads and property lines. They can add areas to the maps but cannot remove any areas, according to Berlant.

Berlant said Cal Fire will take input from local jurisdictions and finalize the maps later this year.

The maps do not take account of homeowners’ mitigation efforts.

Last year, Cal Fire published new fire hazard maps for the areas of the state it protects, which includes most but not all of non-incorporated California, dubbed “state responsibility areas.” All homes in these areas must adhere to the state’s strictest fire-safe standards for buildings and landscapes, including the state’s upcoming “zone zero” landscape rules that will require homeowners to keep five feet around their homes clear of most plants and other flammable materials like bark mulch.

Cal Fire developed the new draft maps using scientific models that evaluated factors like terrain and vegetation. These new models found the risk of fire had grown in cities and towns, and expanded by 1.4 million acres the California areas designated as either “high” or “very high” fire hazard.

(SF Chronicle)

A MONUMENT TO FAILURE

Editor:

The California bullet train project just may be the biggest failure our state government has ever taken on. Billions of dollars over budget. Nothing to show for it. No trains filled with passengers rolling down the tracks. Photo ops for a short piece of track being set in place. Politicians wearing construction hats, cheering and patting themselves on the back for their efforts.

Just think about it. If Jerry Brown and Gavin Newsom had approached Elon Musk to build a bullet train it would probably have come in on budget, on time and be carrying passengers. A train system reaching from Redding to Oakland, Fresno, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and San Diego and feeder rail to many smaller cities and towns to the east and west of the main line.

This debacle seems to never end. Maybe it is time to cut our losses. Leave whatever is built as is; don’t touch it. Maybe a few thousand years from now it will stand as a monumental historical landmark along with Stonehenge and the Great Wall of China. Millions will visit it, only to wonder what it meant in 2025.

Anthony Morgan

Cotati

BRING BACK LOGGING TO REDUCE WILDFIRE RISK

Editor,

I think there is a correlation between the catastrophic wildfires and California officials putting heavy restrictions on logging. We need to evaluate how we keep our forest under control.

I know the impacts of climate change cause some of the problems, but there has to be more to it. The threat remains, even as we all try to keep our property cleared. Maybe it is time to start clearing our forests, so fires can be brought under control. Our skyrocketing home insurance costs are unsustainable.

Virginia Kerbs

Woodacre

‘FUTURE SOLDIERS’

by Fred Gardner

Many US citizens who want to join the Armed Services are too overweight or too poorly educated to qualify. (Eighth-grade level math and reading skills are required.) To meet its recruiting goals, in 2022 the Army created the “Future Soldiers Preparatory Course” –90 days at a training base to get in shape and cram for the written test.

The New Yorker’s war correspondent Dexter Filkins described the program at Fort Jackson in a 2/10 piece about our nation’s overall readiness. An officer explained to him that many applicants “have never eaten healthy foods or exercised regularly in their lives –that’s just the reality of the America we’re dealing with.” To become a Future Soldier, applicants have to be within 10 percent of certain body-fat levels, Filkins reported. The regimen consists of three exercise sessions/day and three healthy meals, with no access to snacks. Those who get to within two percent of their goal advance to basic training, They then have to lose the excess weight within a year and keep it off throughout their careers.

Staying fit may be challenging, because the food served at US Army bases has been getting steadily less nutritious (and less available) in recent years. “The Army is repurposing more than half of the money it collects from junior enlisted soldiers for food,” according to a shocking piece by Steve Beynon on Military.com,

”The money is collected in what amounts to a tax on troops taken from their Basic Allowance for Subsistence (BAS) payments, roughly $460 per month that is automatically deducted from the paychecks of service members who live in barracks and is intended to help cover food costs. For junior enlisted troops who earn about $30,000 annually, the cost can be consequential.

“2024 financial records provided by the service from 11 of the Army’s largest bases show that more than $151 million of $225 million collected from soldiers was not spent on food. Given that the Army operates 104 garrisons, the true amount of unspent funds is likely far higher.”

Beynon questioned the Army public affairs office and was told that the soldiers’ BAS money not spent food is “returned to the big pool of Army funds, and it’s used someplace else.”

Who is rewarded for kicking back to the Army the soldiers’ Basic Allowance for Subsistence? Beynon doesn’t speculate. Just the facts, ma’am:

At Fort Stewart, Georgia, “soldiers contributed $17 million, but the base spent just $2.1 million –redirecting 87% of the funds. Schofield Barracks in Hawaii collected $14.5 million but used only $5.3 million, meaning 63% of the money was used elsewhere.

“It’s unclear what specifically the additional funds taken from soldiers are being spent on, but they do not appear to be going toward feeding soldiers. Major expenses such as dining hall infrastructure and food service worker salaries come from separate funding sources and, when pressed repeatedly by Military.com, Army officials declined to provide additional financial data…

“The Army has a nutrition policy on what it is supposed to feed soldiers, though it’s rarely followed and in some cases outright ignored. The service has invested in so-called kiosks, which are cheap alternatives to major dining facilities. Instead of cooked meals, soldiers have access to grab-and-go snacks and prepackaged sandwiches akin to the quality of prepared meals at a gas station.

“Military.com reviewed the menus at those kiosks and found that it’s virtually impossible for soldiers to stay within healthy nutrition guidelines, with most offerings being heavy in sugar and low in protein. The service’s previous top enlisted leader, Sergeant Major of the Army Michael Grinston, sought to heavily invest in healthy foods, seeking to feed soldiers more like professional athletes and dramatically expand meal options to include fresh protein shakes. But those efforts never came to fruition after getting snagged in bureaucratic difficulties.

“Army officials declined to answer detailed, or even broad, questions about how so much money is diverted and how budgets for food are decided. The service also declined to make any senior officials available on the record for interviews.

“Reports from service members frequently describe undercooked meat, unseasoned meals, a lack of fresh ingredients, and unhealthy menu options. The substandard, and sometimes dangerous, food in turn leads to fewer soldiers using the facilities –a downward spiral that results in even less money being spent on meals.

“The issue is not new. In 2020, Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, who has since left Congress, pressed then-Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy on the matter during a budget hearing, saying the Army is either ‘wasting half the food, or the money is not being spent on the soldiers’ food and it’s being spent on something it’s not appropriated for.’ However, there was seemingly no follow-up to that inquiry, which came just before the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Military.com is a very informative site, and the people running it are not in thrall to the brass.

Take Two

As I was about to send this piece to the AVA on 2/25/25, Steve Beynon posted a piece on Military.com that is less glowing about the “Future Soldiers” program than Filkins’s in the New Yorker. Extensive excerpts follow, with a key fact boldfaced.

“The Army has been recruiting applicants who far exceed its body fat standards and not providing them the necessary medical services as they try to shed the weight and come into compliance, according to a new Defense Department inspector general report.

“The Army’s Future Soldier Preparatory Course was designed to expand enlistment eligibility for those who historically struggled to meet either academic or physical requirements. Under the fitness track, recruits get 90 days to slim down to Army standards; if they fail to do so, their military career is over before it begins.

The fitness track of the preparatory course allows applicants who are as much as 8% above Army body fat standards to enlist… But the inspector general found that 14% of 1,100 trainees between February and May 2024 far exceeded even those expanded limits.

“The news comes after years of high praise for the courses across the senior ranks and national security experts for turning around a recruiting slump.

“According to the report, trainees have been allowed to join at up to 19% above the standard -- meaning some male recruits may have had body fat percentages as high as 45% and female recruits reaching 55%, levels that would likely be considered morbidly obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“The service declined to comment on questions regarding how applicants so severely overweight are making it through initial screening processes.

Gen. Gary Brito, head of Army Training and Doctrine Command, or TRADOC, who ultimately oversees the course, enacted a policy to accept trainees at 10% above the body fat standard, meaning a recruit could enlist and show up to the preparatory course more overweight than was allowed. [Filkins failed to note Gen. Brito’s maneuver.]

“Service officials have not fielded enough dieticians or medical personnel, the inspector general found.

“Trainees ‘did not consistently receive required medical services,’ with incomplete medical clearances before moving on to basic training or not receiving assessments for metabolic health throughout the prep course as required by Army policy, according to the report…

“Last year, the service hit its recruiting goal of 55,300 new active-duty troops, an achievement largely attributable to the prep courses. Nearly one-quarter of new enlistees went through the courses and would have otherwise not been allowed to join.

“The Navy also mimicked the effort with its own prep courses in 2023.”

“THERE IS NOTHING MORE POLITICAL THAN FOOD.

The things that we eat are the direct reflection of our histories. The ingredients, whether they are dried, they are pickled or preserved, these are reflections of long, often painful histories. That’s how we got to these dishes.”

—Anthony Bourdain

TRUMP TO AUCTION OFF CITIZENSHIP via his ‘gold cards’ for $5m to foreigners who create jobs

by Kelly Rissman

President Donald Trump announced a new path to U.S. citizenship: a pricey gold card.

The U.S. is going to “sell” gold cards for $5 million, Trump announced in the Oval Office Tuesday.

“We're going to be putting a price on that card of about $5 million and that's going to give you [permanent resident] Green Card privileges, plus it's going to be a route to citizenship,” the president said. He branded it as “somewhat like a Green Card, but at a higher level of sophistication.”

“Wealthy people will be coming into our country by buying this card,” he continued. “They'll be wealthy and they'll be successful and they'll be spending a lot of money and paying a lot of taxes and employing a lot of people. And we think it's going to be extremely successful and never been done before.”…

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-gold-card-immigration-buy-citizenship-green-b2704646.html

POLIO VACCINE

On this day in 1954, children at Arsenal Elementary School in Pittsburgh received the first injections of Dr. Jonas Salk’s polio vaccine. Dr. Salk displayed his confidence in the vaccine by using it on his family during the trial stage.

Within just a few years, the Salk vaccine decreased the number of polio cases in the United States by fifty percent, and by the early 1960s, the number of Americans contracting polio fell to a few thousand annually.

LEAD STORIES, WEDNESDAY'S NYT

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Judge Blocks Trump Executive Order to Suspend Refugee Program

To Identify Suspect in Idaho Killings, F.B.I. Used Restricted Consumer DNA Data

Christianity’s Decline in U.S. Appears to Have Halted, Major Study Shows

JAMES CARVILLE: THE BEST THING DEMOCRATS CAN DO IN THIS MOMENT

The Republican Party is all too often effective at campaigning and winning elections, but there’s another fact about it that a lot of Americans forget: The Republican Party flat out sucks at governing.…

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/25/opinion/democrats-trump-congress.html

BEWARE THE MAN WHOSE HANDWRITING SWAYS LIKE A REED IN THE WIND

by Anne Carson

This is an essay about hands and handwriting. I think of handwriting as a way to organise thought into shapes. I like shapes. I like organising them. But because of recent neurological changes in my brain I find shapes fall apart on me. My responsibility to forms can’t be gracefully fulfilled. Nonetheless, I offer the following in the hope it does not strike you as dishevelled or depressing.

To right away avoid being depressing, and because beginnings are important, I’ll begin with a poem by the Roman poet Catullus, who lived in the first century BC and died at the age of thirty. He was himself the beginning of the Roman lyric poetry tradition. This is fragment 46, a poem invoking the start of spring…

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v47/n04/anne-carson/beware-the-man-whose-handwriting-sways-like-a-reed-in-the-wind

I HAD THE CURIOSITY to inquire in a particular manner, by what methods great numbers had procured to themselves high titles of honour, and prodigious estates; and I confined my inquiry to a very modern period: however, without grating upon present times, because I would be sure to give no offence even to foreigners (for I hope the reader need not be told, that I do not in the least intend my own country, in what I say upon this occasion), a great number of persons concerned were called up; and, upon a very slight examination, discovered such a scene of infamy, that I cannot reflect upon it without some seriousness. Perjury, oppression, subornation, fraud, pandarism, and the like infirmities, were among the most excusable arts they had to mention; and for these I gave, as it was reasonable, great allowance. But when some confessed they owed their greatness and wealth to sodomy, or incest; others, to the prostituting of their own wives and daughters; others, to the betraying of their country or their prince; some, to poisoning; more to the perverting of justice, in order to destroy the innocent, I hope I may be pardoned, if these discoveries inclined me a little to abate of that profound veneration, which I am naturally apt to pay to persons of high rank, who ought to be treated with the utmost respect due to their sublime dignity, by us their inferiors.

I had often read of some great services done to princes and states, and desired to see the persons by whom those services were performed. Upon inquiry I was told, “that their names were to be found on no record, except a few of them, whom history has represented as the vilest of rogues and traitors.” As to the rest, I had never once heard of them. They all appeared with dejected looks, and in the meanest habit; most of them telling me, “they died in poverty and disgrace, and the rest on a scaffold or a gibbet.”

— Jonathan Swift, ‘Gulliver’s Travels’

9 Comments

Lee Edmundson February 26, 2025

RE: The Cubbison/Kennedy case – Once again the arc of history bends towards justice.

- Casey Hartlip February 26, 2025
  
  So good to see this news. Now get ready for the county shell out a sizeable sum in the upcoming civil suit.
  Casey Hartlip Lakeside AZ
  
- Jacob February 26, 2025
  
  It is about time! Chamise needs to be reinstated and Darcie likely should be terminated for her role in this debacle.
  
Craig Stehr February 26, 2025

About to exit the MLK Public Library and move on to the Washington, D.C. Peace Vigil. Nothing left to do but this.

John Sakowicz February 26, 2025

The Mendocino County Board of Supervisors needs to immediately reinstate wrongly suspended Mendocino County Auditor Chamise Cubbison and former Payroll Manager Paula June Kennedy, and to reinstate them with back pay. The Board should also immediately enter into closed door negotiations to immediately and generously settle any lawsuit for wrongful termination.

Accolades to Mike Geniella for his superb reporting on this case over the last two years.

Question: Does District Attorney Dave Eyster have limited immunity for maliciously charging Cubbison and Kennedy? Or is Eyster personally liable? (Personally, I like Dave, and I have always thought this case was out of character.) Victims of malicious prosecution—the filing of criminal charges without probable cause and for an improper purpose—can sue for damages but it’s usually a tall order.

A malicious prosecution lawsuit will hinge on three factors: whether Dave Eyster was actively involved in the case, had probable cause to file the criminal case, and initiated or pursued the criminal case for improper purposes.

A similar case to follow?

Alec Baldwin is suing prosecutors for malicious prosecution for involuntary manslaughter in the October 2021 shooting death of Halyna Hutchins on the set of “Rust” while she working as a cinematographer on the film. His trial began in the summer of 2024 but abruptly ended when the judge dismissed the charges because prosecutors willfully withheld important evidence about the source of the live round that killed Hutchins.

Hannah Gutierrez Reed, the armorer on set, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in earlier in 2024 in connection with the fatal shooting. Prosecutors argued that she was responsible for putting a live round in the revolver.

Baldwin’s lawsuit goes to trial in 2025. It’s an important test for government immunity.

Lazarus February 26, 2025

“County costs defending against the civil litigation are already estimated to be 3-4 times the $68,000 in disputed extra pay”
M.G.

Following this situation all the way back to where and why it began, the money in question was far less than the 68K.
The vendetta began over a $2500.00 bar bill for food and booze at “The Broiler Steak House.”

There is no doubt, that eventually the taxpayers of the County will pay millions of dollars, for a $2500.00 Christmas party.
However, aside from the money, what happens to the people who lied in court, and conveniently lost evidence damaging to the prosecution and vital for the defense?
And where do Ms. Cubbinson and Ms Kennedy go to get their reputations back?
The shit has hit the fan, and it has splatter all over our County and will likely continue for years…
Ask around.
Laz

- Jacob February 26, 2025
  
  IMO, all people who appeared to have lied in court (or relied on willful ignorance per Judge Moorman) should be terminated starting with Darcie Antle, who received the payroll reports showing the disputed pay actions. Our County government seems embarrassingly bad compared to most jurisdictions…
  
David Stanford February 26, 2025

AM I ON MODERATION?

by Paul Modic..

I use my real name, if you don not post stupid shit, chances are you will not get moderated go figure that one!!!!

- Bob Abeles February 26, 2025
  
  Not sure what Paul is driving at, but I doubt anyone involved with the AVA is making bank. I’ve helped out with technical issues from time to time simply for the satisfaction of supporting a publication I believe in. As for Paul’s speculation about IP address tracking, I think he’s reading in more technical sophistication than there actually is or could possibly be. And seriously, if he looks at the right hand gutter under the head “RECENT COMMENTS” he’ll see, wait for it, recent comments. How anyone might think their conversation is in any way private, semi or otherwise, is a complete mystery to me.

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