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WIND ADVISORY in effect until 5pm this afternoon. South winds 15 to 30 mph with gusts up to 50 mph expected.…A series of storms will bring multiple hazards to Northwest California through early next week. Strong winds expected again today with heavy snow in the mountains. Snow levels plunging with small hail and low elevation snowfall creating very slippery road conditions tonight through Thursday. (NWS)
STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): It started raining about 4:30am this Wednesday morning on the coast, a much warmer 49F so far. 3 systems are on deck for today, Friday & Sunday night with scattered showers in between. Maybe a break on Tuesday then MORE RAIN??? later next week?
LOCAL COALITION CALLS FOR RESTORATION OF INDEPENDENT FINANCIAL OFFICES
ADAM GASKA:
Below is what I have sent out, representing MCFB. The other organizations will likely draft their own narrative as they promote the change.org petition.
In August 2021, the Mendocino County Auditor Controller (AC) retired early and recommended the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors (BOS) appoint the Assistant Auditor Controller to the position. During the September 5th, 2021 board meeting, the BOS declined to appoint the assistant AC as Acting AC after protests by the Mendocino County District Attorney (DA), who had historic grievances against the AC office due to their refusal to accept his questionable reimbursements for expenses deemed personal.
On November 15th, 2021 the majority of the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors voted to consolidate the two elected, financial offices of Treasurer Tax Collector and Auditor Controller into one elected office against the wishes of the two incumbent elected office holders and many local individuals and organizations. This led to the early retirement of the MC Treasurer Tax Collector and departure of other senior staff.
The Assistant AC was the sole candidate for the now consolidated office, eventually being elected as the MC Auditor Controller Treasurer Tax Collector (ACTTC), much to the chagrin of the BOS, the County CEO, and the DA.
Since the beginning of the ACTTC’s term, it has been obvious that the BOS and CEO have no interest in working with or supporting the duly elected financial official. Instead, they have built a financial team under the CEO’s office making efforts to consolidate power with the goal of eventually transitioning fiscal oversight to a Chief Financial Officer chosen by the BOS and CEO rather than supporting the officer elected by the voters of MC. There was never public support for the elimination of one, let alone two elected financial officers. This is an affront to democracy.
Last year the BOS and CEO removed the ACTTC from office before formal charges were brought against her. After 18 months of litigation, tens of thousands (likely more) spent in outside legal counsel, the case has been dismissed and the ACTTC has returned to work, vindicated for being innocent and afforded whistleblower protections against further retaliations related to the case brought. In light of this debacle, now is the time to acknowledge the mistakes that have been made and make amends.
Please support the effort to restore fiscal independence and accountability to Mendocino County government. This petition urges the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors to reverse direction and return the power to the voters by restoring the offices of Treasurer Tax Collector and Auditor Controller to two separate elected offices.
Restore Our Treasurer Tax Collector and Auditor Controller To Two Elected Offices
The Issue
We, the undersigned, formally request that the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors take the necessary steps to return the positions of Auditor Controller and Treasurer Tax Collector to two separate, independent offices that are elected by Mendocino County voters.
Whereas the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors voted December 14, 2021 to consolidate the offices of Auditor Controller and Treasurer Tax Collector without a risk assessment analysis and against the recommendations of the offices involved.
Whereas the offices of Auditor Controller and Treasurer Tax Collector should be separate and independently elected to maintain the integrity, transparency and accountability of County finances
We hereby request that Mendocino County Board of Supervisors repeal ordinance No. 4500, reinstating Mendocino County Code Section 2.16.041, removing Section 2.16.070 and amending Chapter 2.36 for the purpose of reinstating the elected offices of the Auditor Controller and Treasurer Tax Collector.
This petition is co-sponsored by the Mendocino County Democratic Central Committee and the Mendocino Women's Political Coalition.
BOONVILLE-ANDERSON VALLEY FFA: Thank you everyone who came to Donkey Basketball tonight! It was so much fun! We want to thank the Anderson Valley Fire Dept for playing against us. They won in sudden death overtime.
FORT BRAGG FENTANYL TASK FORCE HOSTS IMPACTFUL COMMUNITY WORKSHOP, UNVEILING BOLD NEW SOLUTIONS TO COMBAT FENTANYL CRISIS
March 10, 2025; Fort Bragg, CA - The City of Fort Bragg held a Fentanyl Task Force Community Workshop on March 1st, 2025, at Town Hall. Community Members in attendance received an update on the Fentanyl Task Forces efforts over the last year and then engaged in a question and answer session with a panel consisting of Police Chief Neil Cervenka, Captain Thomas O’Neal and Social Service Liaisons Mellisa Johnson and Janette Ornelas.
During the workshop portion of the session, the community came up with multiple concepts that the City of Fort Bragg will be researching. These concepts included:
- Increased communication with our tribal partners in the community.
- Ensuring that mental health treatment is included in any plans to create an in-patient treatment facility in Northern California.
- Request that the Mendocino County Probation Department notify the Care Response Unit (CRU) when a probationer fails a urinalysis so CRU can immediately offer treatment.
- Explore increasing sober-living options in our community.
- Increased transparency from the Police Department on their efforts to investigate and prosecute fentanyl dealers.
- Research the potential to trade clients with other communities to allow individuals recently discharged from in- patient treatment for substance use disorder to have a temporary fresh start.
- Make information publicly available related to medicated aided treatment options for individuals experiencing a substance use disorder.
The City of Fort Bragg anticipates holding a second community workshop in May in order to report back on the above issues. The City of Fort Bragg would like to thank Vice-Mayor Marcia Rafanan for being present during the workshop and helping to guide the conversation. Vice-Mayor Rafanan was the original driving force behind the formation of the Fentanyl Task Force and the community efforts that have accompanied it. The City would also like to extend a heartfelt thank you to the family members impacted by the fentanyl crisis who bravely engaged in difficult conversations. Their voices and passion help keep these efforts moving forward. Individuals or families of individuals struggling with a substance use disorder may reach out to the Care Response Unit at 707-961-2800 Option 6, to be connected with additional resources.
CAL FIRE SEEKING PUBLIC COMMENT ON NEWLY RELEASED FIRE HAZARD SEVERITY ZONES IN LOCAL RESPONSIBILITY AREAS
On 2/24/2025, CAL FIRE released an update to the Fire Hazard Severity Zone (FHSZ) map for Mendocino County and is seeking public comment. The State Fire Marshal identifies areas in the State as moderate, high, and very high hazard severity zones based on consistent statewide criteria and the severity of fire hazard that is expected to prevail in those areas. Previously, the FHSZ maps were only applicable to the State Responsibility Area (SRA), where the State has financial responsibility for wildland fire protection and prevention. The updated map now covers portions of the Local Responsibility Area (LRA), where the local government is responsible for wildfire protection.
The updated FHSZ map can be accessed at: https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/6a9cb66bb1824cd98756812af41292a0
Mendocino County Office of Emergency Services (OES) is collecting public comment on behalf of the CAL FIRE via survey responses. OES encourages all residents and stakeholders to review the proposed maps, ask questions, and submit their comments. The survey can be accessed at: https://arcg.is/1jPL98 and verbal comments can be left at: 707-234-6398.
Fire Hazard Severity Zone maps are created by CAL FIRE under the direction of the State Fire Marshal. Local agencies, including the County of Mendocino and the Cities of Fort Bragg, Point Arena, Ukiah, and Willits, do not control the creation of the maps but are required to ensure the community has the opportunity to review and provide feedback.
Your participation is a vital part of this state-mandated process and contributes to a safer, more informed community.
The 90-day public comment period opened on 2/24/2025. If you have any questions about the maps and the process, you may contact the Office of the State Fire Marshal at [email protected] or by calling (916) 633-7655.
HEARING SET FOR WEDNESDAY FOR 87-UNIT FORT BRAGG APARTMENTS PROJECT
by Frank Hartzell
FORT BRAGG, CA., 3/11/25 – An 87-unit apartment complex proposed just south of the Noyo River Bridge would be Fort Bragg’s largest housing project of the century if approved.
In a town starved for rentals in all income categories, an unrelated 49-unit housing project for seniors is also now on the books adjacent to Moura Senior Housing near Adventist Health Mendocino Coast Hospital. And the city is also in the process of considering master developer agreements with the Skunk Train to develop the former lumber millsite that comprises most of the city’s oceanfront, with even more housing.
The Fort Bragg Apartments project is proposed by Kosh Petroleum of Roseville between the Emerald Dolphin Inn and Fort Bragg Outlets on the west side of State Route 1. The public will get its first chance to talk to the city about the plans at the Fort Bragg Planning Commission meeting on Wednesday, March 12.…
https://mendovoice.com/2025/03/hearing-set-for-wednesday-for-87-unit-fort-bragg-apartments-project/
THEY’RE HERE! DO NOT COOPERATE!
Editor,
The ICE Man Cometh…
Today, friends who live in the Calpella area had their (Spanish-named) landscapers out to take care of some yard work. Answering a knock at the door while the crew was at work, they were confronted by a man in some kind of a uniform who asked if “Mario” was there. Our friend said nope, and the man proceeded to tell them that “Mario” was missing and then asked how long they had lived at the house. She responded, but then started to wonder who this person was. Turns out it was ICE.
They are here. Be careful everyone.
Alison de Grassi
Ukiah
VENUE CHANGE
Due To The Expected Sunday Weather, we are MOVING the Historical Society's Witherell Evaluation Event to the Anderson Valley Senior Center, 14400 Hwy 128, Boonville. Hope to see you there on Sunday March 16, evaluation hours 10a-2p.
NAME CHANGE FORT BRAGG, an on-line comment:
It’s disgusting that this group continues to pimp out children in a vain attempt to keep alive their failed effort to change the name. But it’ll be a financial windfall for the students who play the game — pro tip for participants: be sure and argue in support of the name change — the “independent” judges have never picked a winner that argued against the name change.
VICTIM/WITNESS SERVICES IN MENDOCINO COUNTY
by Terry Sites
Athena Bolton is the Victim Advocate/Victim Witness Assistant for the office of the District Attorney in Mendocino County. She was the guest speaker at Anderson Valley’s Unity Club on Thursday, March 6th. Sheriff Matt Kendall introduced her by commenting that she has an excellent reputation in law enforcement helping them deal with domestic issues. He told us that these are some of the most volatile situations and can be very dangerous unless skillfully defused. Ms. Bolton’s mandate is to support both victims and witnesses through what is a often a complicated and intimidating process.
The audience was riveted when she shared her personal story. As a young girl she was in a violent abusive relationship. Turning to Project Sanctuary in Fort Bragg for help, she made a vow that when she became stronger she would work to help others who were trapped and in danger. As good as her word, she continued working with Project Sanctuary as a volunteer when her life became more stable. Eventually she was hired by the Project and went on to help many others while her reputation as an advocate grew.
The District Attorney’s Office and Law Enforcement was well aware of her accomplishments and offered her a position designed specifically to her skills. She now has twenty years of experience behind her. The Sheriff pointed out that the D.A. has a conviction rate of over 90% in these cases.
There is a clearly written brochure published by the District Attorney’s office outlining the services of the Victim/Witness Assistance Program. Their main goals are to reduce trauma and insensitive treatment of victims/witnesses and to assist them in participating in the criminal justice system (while improving the system’s understanding of the victim’s needs).
Program Services include crisis intervention by helping the victims/witnesses cope with the emotional trauma following a crime. Emergency assistance for victims makes arrangements and payments for emergency medical, food, clothing, childcare and temporary lodging. Referrals are provided to appropriate community resources. Support services for both translation and transportation are available. Orientation to the criminal justice system whereby victims/witnesses are helped to understand the system, obtain case information, find support during pre-court interviews and court appearances, counseling for employers of victims on their needs and help retrieving property taken in evidence. The victim compensation program helps eligible victims apply to the California State Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board for incurred and on going out of pocket expenses. The brochure describes in some detail how eligibility for compensation is determined.
Tremendously personable, Athena is completely approachable and very down to earth. It is easy to see how she would put her clients at ease and help them build the confidence they need to move forward with their lives. Touchingly, she was actually nervous to speak before the Unity Club but her reservations melted away as she warmed to her subject, one she is obviously passionate about and totally committed to. The District Attorney’s Office is lucky to have her, as are the people of Mendocino County.
If you are a victim or a witness to a domestic incident or if you have questions about the process you can contact Athena Bolton at: (707) 964-5624 or ((707) 961-2651. Her office is at the Justice Center at 700 Franklin Street in Fort Bragg 95437 and her email is [email protected].
To report an emergency call 911. To report a crime or other non-emergency call the Ukiah Sheriff’s Office at 707/463-4086; the Ukiah police at 707/463-6262, the Willits Police at 707/459-6122, or the Fort Bragg Police at 707/964-0200.
SOCIAL WORK SUPPORTS OUR COMMUNITIES
March is Social Worker Appreciation Month, a time to recognize those who dedicate their lives to helping others. Connie Rodriguez is one of those individuals, though her path is not the traditional social work role many might imagine. Instead of child welfare or hospital settings, Connie works behind the scenes, supporting teens and families who rely on CalWORKs and CalWORKs Job Services.
Connie’s journey began at 19 when she met Abby, an Employment Services Representative. At the time, Connie was a young mother with a 2-year-old son undergoing chemotherapy. She hadn’t completed high school and was unsure about her future. “What do you want to do for a career?” Abby asked—a question that would set Connie on a path of helping others.
Through CalWORKs Job Services, Connie secured a payroll position. However, as her son’s medical needs grew, she found herself back in Abby’s office, struggling to balance work, travel, and caregiving. A social worker then referred her to In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS), allowing her to become her son’s caregiver while he underwent treatment.
Years later, Connie and her family welcomed a daughter, and she found herself drawn to education, working as a paraprofessional at Round Valley Elementary School. Over the next 13 years, she thrived in roles supporting children, particularly students with special needs.
Life’s twists and turns eventually brought Connie and her family to Ukiah, where she returned to Employment & Family Assistance Services—this time, on the other side of the desk. After several years, she had the opportunity to apply for an Employment Services Representative position. Motivated by the encouragement she once received from Abby, she embraced the role. “I wanted to do this work because of the seed Abby planted,” Connie shares. “She helped build my self-esteem, and I wanted to do the same for others.”
Her aspirations grew, and in 2016, she stepped into her current role as a social worker. “I wanted to work with pregnant teens because I was one giving them the supports I didn’t have,” she explains.
While the teen birth rate in Mendocino County has declined—from 24.9 per 1,000 in 2014-2016 to 17.1 in 2020-2022 (healthymendocino.org)—Connie now sees new challenges: lack of transportation, stable housing, and educational advocacy. To help address these barriers, she developed the Sanction Prevention Intervention Transportation (SPIT) program, which provides families with transportation through a Social Services van, ensuring access to vital services from Leggett to Covelo to Gualala.
“I advocate for these teens, so they know they have the power to succeed,” Connie says. The work in her division focuses on family stabilization, helping young people and their families achieve self-sufficiency and break the cycle of poverty.
“I hope someone remembers me the way I remember Abby,” Connie reflects. With her passion and dedication, she plans to continue this work until retirement—leaving behind a legacy of empowerment, advocacy, and compassion.
Mendocino County Department of Social Services Employment & Family Assistance Services provides assistance for community members seeking support through CalFresh, Medi-Cal, CalWORKs, and CalWORKs Job Services.
For more information, please visit: https://www.mendocinocounty.gov/departments/social-services/employment-family-assistance-services.
ED NOTES
SO FAR, nothing new, really, in the latest release of Kennedy Assassination files. I remain an Oswald Did It Alone guy while conceding other possibilities. As a Marine of the same vintage and qualifying marksmanship as Oswald — he was at Camp Pendleton the same time I was, and, I think, may even have been in the same ITR (infantry training regiment).
HAVING seen the charts of the distances between the Book Depository window and the fatal street below, and having read up on Oswald’s imported, perfectly functional, scoped rifle, my dear old mum could have hit Kennedy twice from that vantage point without getting out of her wheelchair. I could have hit that easy target at least three times, and I barely qualified as a Marksman, the lowest rung on the Corps’ qualifying ladder, but still making me a pretty good shot by most standards. (The training was infallible.)
OSWALD, by the lock-step psycho-social standards of the 1950s, was indeed one strange dude, a self-taught Marxist who apparently thought Stalin’s Russia would make a congenial home for an American expatriate with left-wing sympathies. When the skeptical Russkies shunted Lee off to a factory job, he was soon homesick and returned to the U.S. with a Russian bride and a baby daughter. Mrs. Oswald was the daughter of a KGB colonel, whom her weird husband mentally and physically abused.
FOR A YOUNG GUY, the kid sure got around.
AS the only person in America with his uniquely peculiar bona fides, Oswald aroused the slumbering attentions of the CIA and the FBI, who tracked his adventures as a noisy pro-Castro partisan on the streets of Miami where he was attacked by Cuban exiles to his trip to Mexico where he visited the Cuban embassy, and at all times in between. It was as if Oswald coveted federal attention.
(NOTE: I think he probably was a proto-communist. He took a shot at a John Bircher general named Walker, and was angry at Kennedy for trying to overthrow the Cuban government.)
(Note: It’s ironic that the FBI, founded by a blackmailing closet case who spent his nights in cocktail dresses, the same lady-man who hounded the American left all his days with a special animus for black radicals and Martin Luther King, is now lamented by many libs as being “corrupted” by the Trump lunatics now in charge of it.)
BE ALL THIS as it is so far documented, the only smoking gun all these years later is Oswald’s Italian carbine, a rifle similar to the Marine Corps’ M-1. If there is incriminating documentation of his involvement in a government conspiracy to kill Kennedy, it long ago would have been destroyed by the conspiracists
(I HUGELY ENJOYED Oliver Stone’s movie on the assassination primarily because it indicts all the right people and institutions, but there’s no evidence for any of it, and it’s the basis for whatever information on the case succeeding generation will have on it.)
NO INSULT intended to any of my conspiracy buds, but what strikes me about conspiracy theorizing, on any subject, is the seemingly dire emotional need of the theorizers to believe there was one, and their equivalently intense need to damn non-believers.
ANYWAY there are, after all, larger conspiracies, real ones, one of which was mounted right here in Mendocino County by the FBI who managed to exclude Judi Bari’s ex-husband from the primary suspect pool.
BEST book on Oswald will probably always be Norman’s Mailer’s ‘Oswald’s Tale.’ Don Delillo’s ‘Libra’ is also a must read for anyone interested in the Kennedy assassination.
LOG RAFTS
by Carol Dominy
For decades, log rafts were a vital part of transporting timber down Big River to the Mendocino Mill. Francis Jackson’s book, “Big River Was Dammed,” offers a fascinating glimpse into this process, detailing the challenges of controlling logs as they made their way toward the mill pond.
Logs cut in the forest were floated downstream to the Boom, where they were carefully bundled into rafts. Without rafts, the logs could have easily drifted out of control with the tides, making the task of retrieving them both difficult and dangerous.
In the early days, the rafting process relied entirely on manpower. Logs were secured together using wooden pegs and manila ropes, then guided downriver by men standing atop them with long poles. This job was not for the faint of heart—it took balance, strength, and no small amount of courage. Eventually, rowboats were introduced to assist with the process, allowing men to steer from a safer vantage point. Joshua Grindle and his partner J. L. Clark "oared a double-ender boat,” and on their return trip upriver for another raft, would transport passengers or freight for a fee.
Everything changed in 1902 with the introduction of the Maru, a flat-bottomed scow equipped with a steam-powered paddle wheel. Unlike oxen pulling logs along the ground, the Maru didn’t drag the rafts but simply kept a strain on the connecting rope to keep the raft within the river channel.
All log rafts were brought down the river on an outgoing tide. Many of these trips were made at night, with only moonlight (if they were lucky) to guide the way. It must have been eerie to drift down a dark river, listening to the creak of logs and the steady churn of the paddle wheel, relying on instinct and experience to avoid running aground.
Once the Maru reached the mill pond, the raft was released into the storage area where a swing gate helped trap it inside. Here, the logs floated freely, waiting to be processed into lumber. The whole system was a perfect blend of natural forces, ingenuity, and sheer grit—one more example of how early Mendocino pioneers found clever ways to work with the landscape to get the job done.
(kelleyhousemuseum.org)
CATCH OF THE DAY, Tuesday, March 11, 2025
ANGEL CARILLO-LOPEZ, 22, Ukiah. Rape-unlawful sexual intercourse with person under 18 years old, possession of obscene matter of minor in sexual act.
DAVID COPE, 54, Fort Bragg. Unspecified offense.
DANIEL ESCAMILLA, 36, Ukiah. Battery with serious injury, vandalism, county parole violation, resisting, unspecified offense.
ALEJUANDRO LOPEZ-GARCIA, 19, Fort Bragg. Failure to appear.
MIGUEL MARIN, 30, Ukiah. Paraphernalia, county parole violation.
JAIME MARIN-JUAREZ, 27, Ukiah. Evidence tampering, county parole violation.
SEQUOIA MARTELL-TASH, 25, Little River. Probation revocation.
REMO MCOSKER, 44, Ukiah. Unspecified offense.
MATTHEW RUSSELL, 43, Fort Bragg. Burglary, controlled substance, paraphernalia.
MALISSA WARNER, 47, Public nuisance, probation revocation. (Frequent flyer.)
ASHLEY WILSON, 35, Fort Bragg. Failure to appear.
WHAT CAN I GET FROM YOU, AND HOW SOON CAN I GET IT?
Okay, I have fulfilled everything that I had committed to in Washington, D.C. six months ago. I could fly back to California with four grand in the checking account, and I need a place to go to. Six months of doing what I was told to do resulted in NOT being offered subsidized senior housing in the District of Columbia. This is on top of being offered nothing whatsoever in California’s Mendocino County the two years prior. As the politician Mo Mulheren (whom I voted for) said: “The government doesn’t owe you anything.” But the government is here to serve me. Otherwise, I have no need of the government. Assuming that I am even living in a society, I want cooperation for a place to go to upon arrival in California (or anywhere else that I am welcome). I want cooperation for long term housing. I want everything that the body-mind complex needs until it is no longer here.
Craig Louis Stehr, [email protected]
ED NOTE: Not so fast Hari-Hari, you were offered a very nice little place, which you haughtily rejected because you said it was too far from the fleshpots of central Ukiah, making you a clear case of a beggar choosing to remain homeless.
ZELLMAN’S TIPS FOR VETS
A Naval Academy graduate, Andrew Zellman went on to serve in the Navy for almost seven years where, after serving aboard the U.S. Navy’s ballistic missile submarine fleet and attack submarine fleet, he served as a Submarine Tactics Instructor at our nuclear base in Groton CT:
● Instructed prospective submarine department heads on watchteam dynamics, operational planning, submarine tactics, and foreign naval capabilities
● Trained and evaluated submarine captains to certify crew readiness for oversea operations
● Analyzed fleet wide submarine evaluations to identify weaknesses and root causes of possible submarine vs. submarine battle defeats and created training solution recommendations
Andrew Zellman, FTMBA 22 - Tips on Navigating a Career Post-Military - Haas Podcasts
(John Sakowicz)
49ERS RELEASE PRO BOWL FULLBACK KYLE JUSZCZYK IN COST-CUTTING MOVE
by Eric Branch
The San Francisco 49ers released Pro Bowl fullback Kyle Juszczyk on Monday, marking the second straight year they’ve cut ties with their longest-tenured player in a cost-cutting move.
The decision wasn’t entirely unexpected. The 49ers asked Juszczyk, 33, to take a pay cut last year and the nine-time Pro Bowl pick and team captain acknowledged his future with the franchise was uncertain after the regular-season finale in January.
On Monday, before releasing Juszczyk, the 49ers agreed to terms with Jaguars tight end Luke Farrell, 27, on three-year deal with a maximum value of $20.25 million, with $11 million guaranteed. The contract terms suggested the 49ers might envision Farrell serving as primary backup to tight end George Kittle, but also assuming some of Juszczyk’s fullback duties.
Last year, the 49ers released high-priced defensive tackle Arik Armstead, ending his nine-season tenure with the team. By releasing Juszczyk, who signed with the 49ers in 2017, the 49ers will create $4.2 million in salary cap space in 2025 and assume a $2.2 million dead money charge.
Juszczyk’s nine Pro Bowl selections are the most by a fullback in NFL history. And he plans to continue adding to his resume. In January, he said he’d seen “zero regression” in his performance in his 12th NFL season, but he admitted that didn’t mean the 49ers would being him back for a ninth season.
“I am aware of the situation that we have,” Juszczyk said. “There’s a lot up in the air. Who’s going to be here? Who’s not? Whose contracts need to be figured out? So I’m aware of that. I just hope it doesn’t affect me.”
General manager John Lynch was noncommittal when asked about Juszczyk’s future last month and noted the 49ers were dealing with tighter financial “constraints” this offseason than in past years. Lynch also noted the need to get younger, which also wasn’t a promising sign for Juszczyk, who carried a $6.4 million cap charge and was their second-oldest player under contract for 2025.
Juszczyk’s release was part of a day in which the 49ers had four other starters exit by agreeing to terms on big-money deals in free agency: Linebacker Dre Greenlaw and safety Talanoa Hufanga joined the Broncos, guard Aaron Banks landed with the Packers and cornerback Charvarius Ward went to the Colts.
The wave of departures suggest a rebuild on the heels of a 6-11 season, but Lynch has said the 49ers are slowing their cash spending after signing players such as Kittle, linebacker Fred Warner, pass rusher Nick Bosa, left tackle Trent Wiliams, running back Christian McCaffrey and wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk to top-of-the-market extensions in recent years. The 49ers are also working to sign quarterback Brock Purdy to a big-money extension this offseason.
Lynch termed Juszczyk an “O.W.” – offensive weapon – when the 49ers signed him in 2017. And head coach Kyle Shanahan prized the versatility of a player who often lined up at tight end and wide receiver because his presence on the field didn’t signal whether the 49ers were prepared to run or pass.
Juszcayk, a Harvard graduate, changed his blocking style early in his career with the Ravens because his battering-ram approach resulted in a string of neck injuries, shoulder stingers and AC joint sprains. With Juszczyk wondering if he could achieve his goal of playing six NFL seasons, he began using angles and leverage to lessen impacts, and he also deployed cut blocks to avoid huge collisions.
Last year, Juszczyk expressed confidence he could play five more seasons and also credited his longevity to his off-the-field commitment. His regimen includes red-light therapy, two trips to Panama City with Kittle each offseason for stem-cell treatments and healthy eating. Juszczyk is passionate about gardening and his diet includes plenty of his home-grown vegetables.
Juszczyk admitted his confidence was shaken when the 49ers forced to take a pay cut last year. By the summer, however, he regained the belief that he could keep playing indefinitely, a goal he’ll try to realize elsewhere starting this season.
“I told myself — it was really so early in training camp, the first couple practices — that I still think I’m one of the best players in the world at my position,” Juszczyk said. “And regardless of what my contract is, I can still do this stuff at a really high level. That just gave me all the assurance that I need that I can keep doing this for a really long time.”
(SF Chronicle)
ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY
I remember at least three restaurant jobs I quit for the bad behavior of the boss. One was a well-known country club owned by a famous golfer in Orlando. The chef chased me with a butcher knife. One time I got locked in the walk in till someone needed something and opened the door. The third time I got groped by a chef who was allegedly teaching me some cooking. I was poor, but there were limits.
NEWSOM’S TOP WATER OFFICIAL WILL WORK WITH TRUMP TO WEAKEN CALIFORNIA DELTA WATER PROTECTIONS
by Dan Bacher
Bakersfield — Karla Nemeth, Governor Gavin Newsom’s top water official, told an audience of growers and water managers at the Kern County Water Summit on March 6 that the state is willing to work with the Trump Administration to weaken environmental rules that restrict the pumping of water, allowing them to over-pump the imperiled Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.
“She said that she expected updating one particular rule governing pumping water in the state’s main water hub, called the Old and Middle River flow limit, to be part of ongoing regulations with federal counterparts this spring and throughout the year,” according to Politico.
“My spidey sense is that’s probably going to be part of what plan comes out of the federal administration’s plan to implement the executive order,” said Nemeth, the Director of the California Department of Water Resources. “The state is open to that. We’re looking for a federal partner to help us work through that information together.”…
SPANISH OFFICER GABRIEL MORAGA twice explored inland California, finding, re-naming, and describing over 17 rivers and 24 Native villages that commonly had over 100 individuals. His 1806 report is in “Colonial Expeditions To The Interior." His 1808 report is in “Diary of Ensign Gabriel Moraga’s Expedition…,” both fascinating to read. I mapped his two historic approximated routes.
A CALIF. AGENCY ANGERED MUSK. NOW A TRUMP-BACKED CONGRESSMAN AIMS TO GUT IT.
by Farley Elliott
A local Republican congressman has set his sights on the California Coastal Commission, the vital agency tasked with protecting roughly 1,100 miles of ocean coastline from Oregon to Mexico. On March 5, Rep. Kevin Kiley announced the introduction of the Coastal Commission Accountability Act, which he said on X would “strip the CA Coastal Commission of its powers under federal law.”
Kiley called the more-than-50-year-old Coastal Commission “out-of-control” and said the work being done by the commission “has repeatedly threatened the safety of Californians and weakened our national defense, while needlessly undercutting innovation and economic progress.”
Kiley represents California’s massive 3rd District, which stretches from north of Tahoe and the suburbs of Sacramento through Mammoth Lakes and down to Death Valley. (Notably, his district does not touch on any areas along the coast.) Kiley, whom President Donald Trump has backed in the past, is a Placer County-based Republican known for his often incendiary remarks about California. He has called California a state in “total freefall.”
Kiley’s proposed legislation would amend California’s landmark coastal conservation law to essentially align with any federal rulings that affect the jurisdiction of the Coastal Commission. “In general,” the legislation states, “… a coastal state shall be conclusively presumed to concur with” any ruling, determination or certification made by federal agencies, thus overriding the state’s rights to manage its own coastline. In essence, anything the federal government decided to do with regard to California’s coastline, the state would be legally bound to uphold — thus limiting the Coastal Commission’s independent power.
In a general speech on the House Floor last week, Kiley called the Coastal Commission a “rogue agency,” adding that he is “looking forward to advancing the Coastal Commission Accountability Act through the House and getting it signed by the president, who I know agrees with me on this issue.”
A representative for the Coastal Commission declined to comment on the proposed legislation. The Coastal States Organization, a nonprofit that lobbies for coastal protections nationwide, published a statement on Instagram saying that the “legislation undermines all coastal states and territories with federally approved coastal zone management programs. The bill attacks the long-established right of coastal states’ to review federal actions under the CZMA,” referring to the Coastal Zone Management Act.
The powerful Coastal Commission agency, which started in 1972 after the passage of the California Coastal Zone Conservation Act (known then as Proposition 20), is “committed to protecting and enhancing California’s coast and ocean for present and future generations,” per its website. In practice, that means everything from conservation oversight and decisions around how to deal with the encroachment of climate change to land use regulations and permitting for housing and developments. The agency oversees not only 1,100 miles of mainland coastline but also the state’s island coastlines and offshore water ecosystems.
The commission plays an outsize role in anything that happens along the water. The Coastal Commission specifically oversees the Coastal Zone, a land area that varies in size but can stretch up to 5 miles inland and 3 miles offshore. In short, nothing gets built — or rebuilt, in the case of the recent Los Angeles fires — there without Coastal Commission approval.
The agency’s power has drawn the ire of developers, politicians and homeowners many times over the years, leading to lawsuits and coastal access complaints galore. In his post on X last week, Kiley specifically mentioned that the commission has been “blocking SpaceX launches”; the Elon Musk-owned spaceflight company sued the commission last year after it stopped SpaceX from increasing the frequency of SpaceX’s rocket launches from Vandenberg Space Force Base on the Central Coast. Blocking the commission’s ability to regulate SpaceX launches would be a major business win for Musk, who donated $288 million to Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign.
(SFGate.com)
I KNOW WHAT LIES BEHIND THE SMILES OF GENE HACKMAN’S DAUGHTERS. NO PARENT SHOULD END THEIR DAYS IN THAT MANNER
by Liz Jones
It’s a story that sent shivers down the spine of anyone with an aged parent.
Gene Hackman, 95, and his wife, Betsy, 65, dead within days of each other. They weren’t found for so long that the bodies were mummified.
There but for the grace of God go so many of us. In our fractured, selfish, insular lives.
Of course the Hackmans had each other. They cannot have guessed she would die first, if only by days, of a rare rat-borne disease.
I can only imagine what Gene Hackman, suffering from Alzheimer’s, went through until he too died. And the poor dog, left in a crate. Hackman had spoken of how his wife had become his care-giver. His everything.
There has been much anger online that Hackman’s children had not checked up on them. An unanswered phone call should have sent them speeding to the house.
Photos showed Hackman’s daughters Elizabeth and Leslie walking into a restaurant the day after he died.
The sisters, who claimed their “reclusive” father had been in good shape before his death, seemed to be coping well and even managed to raise a smile as they left the diner.
Leslie had said her father had been “in good health” in the lead up to his death, revealing that “he liked to do Pilates and yoga, and he was continuing to do that several times a week.”
As she lives in California, she said it’s been a “few months” since she had last seen or even heard from her father.
“We were close. I hadn’t talked to them for a couple months, but everything was normal and everything was good.”
There are many reasons children fail their fragile parents — as I should know.
After my dad died in his 80s, my mum went downhill. She stopped baking, gardening, even listening to the “wireless.” She then stopped talking, parroting just two phrases: “I’m fine” and “I’m getting better.” Which she of course wasn’t.
The NHS sent drop-in care-givers but the changing cast confused my mum. Alone at night she feared someone had broken in. So I hired a live-in care-giver, who over the ten years my mum lay in her bed, surrounded by pulleys and commodes and hoists, cost me £30,000, and I’m not the child of a Hollywood star.
But I admit I was remiss in practicalities. The care-giver Daria would put up the Christmas tree while I was too busy with my glamorous life to turn up.
But parents need you to show up.
I imagine the Hackman children were used to a gilded life, red carpets. What a shock to see their father in this state. I know fear was a factor in my distance: I didn’t know how to help my mum without bruising her. I found the smells revolting. I didn’t want to see her in that state. I used her confusion to say I’d been there for an hour when it had only been ten minutes. I resented the hour-long drive from London to Essex and her shabby rented house while Daria, no relation at all, kept the downstairs spotless, the garden weeded for a pair of twinkly blue eyes that would never see anything but her bedroom ceiling.
And of course our mum’s incapacity caused rows: why don’t our brothers do more? Their excuse was that our mum would not have wanted them to see her naked or worse. Which is doubtless true. But they were wrapped up in their own families.
The Hackman children might, as they smile, be masking guilt. Shame. No parent or indeed anyone should end their days in that manner.
Dear God. People who leave a dog at home these days leave a camera running to check they are okay. I know I do. One of the greatest stars of film suddenly went unseen. Shame on all of us.
(DailyMail.uk)
AMERICA IS GREAT AGAIN
Editor:
Congratulations, everyone! At last, we have a handsome, bold and brilliant leader who knows how to do everything as well as is humanly possible, and possibly divinely inspired. He is picking the absolute best people to run all our government departments with the power and freedom of not being encumbered by knowledge and experience. What a genius!
Our leader understands that our Constitution is oh so antiquated; I mean it was written at a time when kings ruled with their inherent and obvious entitlement. Now the righteous rich can control the little people, as ordained by our God in alignment with the order of the universe.
We are shaking free from all those ridiculous domestic and foreign obligations where we assisted intrinsically pathetic others.
Our co-presidents are strong and wise enough to win in this dog-eat-dog world, where having concern for other people is for fools and losers. Rules are a joke and successfully prevent the masses from taking what they can get. Oh, and it is such a relief to let go of all that freedom talk, isn’t it?
If you believe my rubbish, I have a bridge to sell you.
Michael Nehm
Sebastopol
SHERWOOD ANDERSON’s life took a dramatic and almost mythic turn in 1912 — an event that would not only redefine his own destiny but also leave a lasting mark on American literature. At the time, Anderson was living what many would have considered a successful, respectable life: a businessman in Elyria, Ohio, with a family and a steady career. Yet beneath this veneer of stability, there simmered an unrelenting creative restlessness.
Then came the pivotal moment — one day, Anderson simply walked out of his office, abandoning his work, his responsibilities, even his very identity. He was later found wandering the streets of Cleveland, disoriented and unable to recall his own name.
What followed was an audacious act of reinvention. Anderson turned his back on the business world, choosing instead to pursue writing — a decision that seemed reckless to those around him but was, in reality, an act of fierce self-liberation. This moment of collapse and awakening became the catalyst for the deeply human and painfully honest stories that would define Winesburg, Ohio — his masterpiece and a cornerstone of modernist American fiction.
SELF-DESTRUCTION
From The Contrarian:
…Why does he needlessly make such objectively self-destructive moves? His tariffs certainly cannot be justified economically, and the predictable results are so severe they make even less political sense.
We know that Trump—who reads nothing, lacks the least bit of curiosity, and surrounds himself with thick-headed sycophants—often gets fixated on a wrongheaded idea (e.g., NATO is ripping us off).
When challenged by numerous informed people, he digs deeper into his ignorant stances. Agreement with him (or at the very least silent acquiescence) becomes a sign of MAGA loyalty.
Trump delights in playing the schoolyard bully. He is entirely uninterested in whether Americans get hurt or not.
Similarly, he seems thrilled with his ability to threaten loyal allies (e.g. Denmark), as he did in his speech to Congress, simply because he can….
Rob Anderson’s comment:
Yes, morally and intellectually Trump is a boob and a rube. And of course he’s a bully.
He’s also a know-it-all, hates animals---he tried to overturn the Endangered Species Act in his first term---and he’s a crybaby who apparently sees himself as a victim.
Poor little rich boy whose mommy didn’t love him. A barely functional and profoundly neurotic guy, but he’s our president, thanks to our proto-fascist Republican Party!
(via District5Diary)
TRUMP TO AMERICA: LET THEM EAT EGGS
by David Schultz
As Donald Trump, Elon Musk and the cabal of plutocratic billionaires that the President calls his cabinet pursue their self-interested agenda, they are telling Americans that they need to prepare to sacrifice and feel economic pain for the good of society.
Why is it that the least advantaged in our society are always the ones asked to sacrifice for the greater good?
Trump’s speech to Congress foretold economic pain for Americans. Supposedly, tariffs, budget costs, layoffs and the elimination of the already decimated social welfare net will be good for America in the long run. It will require sacrifice by farmers, laborers, people of color, and anyone who buys products or receives services from the government.
Perhaps sacrifice is occasionally necessary. Yet it never seems that the rich are the ones who are asked to sacrifice.
At one time the demand to ask the poor and the middle class to sacrifice was called trickle-down economics under the Reagan administration. Tax cuts for the rich, coupled with a loosening of the regular regulatory system and cuts to the social welfare system would eventually trickle down and benefit all Americans.
Then the call for the poor to sacrifice for the country was called free trade under the Clinton administration. Yet again, the argument was that by opening borders with free trade America would prosper, even though some in manufacturing and among the poor, the working class, and the people of color would have to sacrifice.
Then it was the demand under the Obama administration that people lose their homes so that we could afford to bail out the too big to fail banks.
The result of all those sacrifices were to produce an America with a gap between the rich and poor greater than we’ve seen in American history. It was to produce an America in where nearly one out of six children lived in poverty, where economic mobility has nearly come to a halt, and the American dream of homeownership has become something that only a few can hope for.
Many years ago, philosopher John Rawls wrote his book A Theory of Justice. He argued that disinterested individuals constructing the rules of societal justice would agree to two principles. The first would be like liberty consistent with the same liberty for everybody else. Two, what came to be known as the difference principle, specified that inequalities should be treated as arbitrary unless they work first to the advantage of the least advantaged person in our society.
Rawls’ book was a call for both political liberty and a challenge regarding the economy and social welfare. The challenge was to say inequalities were presumptively impermissible unless one could show that they were first advantageous to those who were poor. Yet in the more than fifty years since his book was published, social policy has gone the other way. It has gone not to presuming inequalities are impermissible, and that the poor should not be to ask to sacrifice first, but that instead the poor should be asked to sacrifice ahead of the rich, ahead of the affluent, and that the inequalities in our society are somehow reflective of some basic principles of justice.
Trump’s declaration that there will be pain for those who can least shoulder it is yet the latest manifestation of a series of social policies over the last half century that have wrecked the ship of American democracy. They are doing damage to the very framework of what has come to knit our society together. Somehow it is the belief that making people’s lives miserable will motivate them to work harder, when in fact, making people more secure, economically, socially and politically, is what motivates people to work harder than what makes us all prosper.
In the end, Trump, Musk and his cabal of billionaires have adopted a modern-day Marie Antoinette view of the world. When Marie Antoinette was once told there was not enough bread to feed the French masses, she remarked: “Let them eat cake.” Perhaps now the adage for Trump fittingly would be: “Let them eat eggs.”
(David Schultz is a professor of political science at Hamline University. He is the author of Presidential Swing States: Why Only Ten Matter. CounterPunch.org)
EUROPE NEEDS A REAL FOREIGN POLICY (Jeffrey Sachs)
A Reader notes: This guy is mind-blowing.
LEAD STORIES, WEDNESDAY'S NYT
He Voices Porky Pig, and That’s Not All, Folks
Education Department Fires 1,300 Workers, Gutting Its Staff
E.P.A. Plans to Close All Environmental Justice Offices
Ukraine Supports 30-Day Cease-Fire as U.S. Says It Will Resume Military Aid
House G.O.P. Passes Bill to Avert a Shutdown, Daring the Senate to Accept It
Trump’s Tariffs on Steel and Aluminum Go Into Effect
Who Likes Tariffs? Some U.S. Industries Are Eager for Them
Trump, an E.V. Naysayer, Gives Tesla and Musk a White House Exhibition
Musk Seeks to Put $100 Million Directly Into Trump Political Operation
CEASEFIRE?
Ukraine has agreed to a U.S. proposal for a 30-day ceasefire with Russia as President Donald Trump lifts a pause on military aid and intelligence sharing to the country.
The agreement, under intense pressure from the U.S. side, now puts the ball in Moscow’s court, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at the conclusion of a day of talks with Ukrainian officials in Saudi Arabia.
‘Today, we’ve made an offer that the Ukrainians have accepted, which is to enter into a ceasefire and into immediate negotiations to end this conflict in a way that’s enduring and sustainable,’ said Rubio.
The Trump administration now plans to present the temporary ceasefire offer to Moscow, which has raised a series of demands.
Those include the removal of President Volodymyr Zelensky, recognizing seized territory as now independent states, and a prohibition on Ukraine joining the NATO alliance.
(DailyMail.uk)
For all the “Oswald acted alone” theorists I recommend the movie “Parkland: What the Doctors Saw”. Interviewed are a number of the doctors who attended JFK in Parkland Hospital’s Trauma Room 1.
They explain that FBI and Secret Service personnel told them individually and collectively that if any information ever leaked about JFK’s condition, their careers would be over.
As one of them explained (I’m paraphrasing) We were young and just starting out. Now we’re retired and have nothing to lose.
The consensus of the doctors — not one of them disagreed — was that the shot that took off the back of JFK’s skull came from the front. Which, to anyone with a modicum of knowledge of ballistics, squares with what the Zapruder film shows. “Back and to the left, back and to the left.”
The movie is available — or was — on Paramount Plus.
CAL FIRE SEEKING PUBLIC COMMENT The state firemarshall and CalFire have nothing to do with what the insurance companies consider extreme fire danger. The insurance companies have their own risk areas mapped out and ignore CalFire and the State Fire Chief. So, this study is a waste of time.
“Let them eat cake.” The correct phrase is, “Let them eat brioche” not cake, as we understand cake as wholely something else. Jean-Jacques Rousseau coined the phrase “qu’ils mangent de la brioche” in 1765. In the years following the French Revolution, the quotation became attributed to Marie Antoinette but she was not yet in France in the year this was publshed. In 1765 she was ten years old.
A SIMPLE PRAYER
Trump Gets a Tesla
Now Trump gets a Tesla,
It’s so fitting for him.
He and Elon Musk—
They’re rich twins in sin.
In his fancy red car
Hope he flies down the road.
Make it far, far away—
Hope he finds a new abode.
Out of the White House
Into some old shack—
Please, dear Lord,
Don’t ever bring him back!
Philip Madera -foto
Did you know ‘madera’ means wood?
Oswald. Editor’s right. I’ve been to the Texas School Book Depository, one window over from the window where Oswald took the shots. (cordoned off) A tree has grown up to partially obscure the view now, but it was a very easy shot.
Take a look-see at the movie I’ve recommended, Michael. “Parkland: What the Doctors Saw”. Paramount Plus.
Also, I failed to mention the Doctors also revealed that JFK’s throat wound was an entrance — not exit — wound. The hole had been surgically enlarged so that a ventilation could be inserted.
There is pretty interesting video on You Tube. Search the name James Files. He claims he was one of the shooters. He says he was driver for a mafia figure and did other duties. He says he was sent to Texas about a week before assassination. He stayed in a motel on the outskirts of Dallas. In the days leading up to Nov. 22 he claims Oswald visited him and he was in a diner with Jack Ruby. He says, Oswald shot from depository, mafia guy he drove for shot from street and he was behind a fence on grassy knoll. His story has Oswald missing, and he and mafia figure hit target. Their positions would put them slightly in front of Kennedy. Interesting video!