Mendocino County Today: January 3, 2014

SO YOU THINK IT’S BEEN DRY & COLD

by Ken Montgomery, Anderson Valley Nursery

During the past twelve months (calendar year January 1 through December 31, 2013), I’ve recorded 8.5 inches of rainfall at my nursery in Boonville. The 77-year annual average around here is slightly more than 42 inches. That makes 2013 only about 20% of “normal.” Maybe it’s just me, but shouldn’t we be worried?

I thought it might be fun and of some interest to see how 2013 stacks up against other dry years. The driest calendar year for which there are local records turns out to be 1976 with 16.8 inches. As folks may recall, that was in the middle of the worst drought in California history — remember the huge pipe across the upper deck of the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge taking water from the East Bay to a desperate Marin County? There were other really dry years in the mid-1940s and from 1984 to 1992 with rainfall totals ranging from 22 to 30 inches. But without a doubt, 2013 was by far our driest year in a long time at only 50% of 1976 and at 28 to 38% of other “critically dry” years.

Equally worrisome for me is the dismal start to the 2013-14 rainy season. I recorded only 2.5 inches of rain from September 20^th to the end of December. There wasn’t even a trace in October and less than 0.5 inch in December. What’s scary is that by mid-January the season will already be half over!

Monthly rainfall totals from the nearby Caltrans Maintenance Yard dating from 1936-37 and my own daily records since 1978 tell the story. Average September-December rainfall is about 16 inches. The driest year was 1936 with 3.9 inches. A number of other years were also very dry, ranging from 4.5 to 5.5 inches. Incredibly, fall 2013 was only half of that!

With so little rain to warm things up, freezing morning temperatures began early and have continued almost non-stop. Frost hit the nursery for the first time on October 4th. The whole month was unusually chilly, and I recorded a total of 14 light frosts (31° to 34°F.). “Hard” freezes began on November 4thwhen the temperature fell to 26°F. Of the 61 days from November 1st to the end of December, we experienced 40 mornings at or below freezing with 15 of those in the mid-to-low 20s. By early December the weather turned really cold with frigid north winds, and we had five days with lows of 15° to 19°F. Even into early January, morning temperatures are still in the 20s. Will this never end?

Another thing I thought might be interesting is to compare fall 2013 temperatures with past years. Looking over daily lows I’ve tracked since 1978, I found several years in which the fall months were very cold and, by no coincidence, very dry. But 1990 really stands out. That year had the coldest December on record and the fourth driest fall in at least 77 years with only 4.7 inches. Folks who were here then will surely remember the devastating “Christmas Freeze” from December 20th to the 26th and the bitter cold that continued well into the new year. Snow blanketed the Valley floor for more than a week. Temperatures plunged to 12° to 14°F. (Some exposed spots reached 8°F.). Daytime highs didn’t reach 32°F. for several days.

Yet, despite all that, the last three months of 2013 were actually colder overall than the same period in 1990. If we add up the total number of days below 34°F, there were 57 in 2013 versus 44 in 1990. Who would’a thought? Luckily, our lows this time didn’t go much below 16°F for extended periods so physical damage to water systems and other things hasn’t been as bad. Also, neighbors I’ve talked to seem to be dealing with the weather just fine. Here at the nursery we have a large number of dead or dying plants but otherwise are in pretty good shape. Now if it would only rain! To borrow from John Lennon, “All you need is love” — and rain!

THE US NATIONAL WEATHER Service just posted this graphic this morning on Facebook. The photo of Lake Mendocino is particularly haunting.

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IN THE LATEST fiction from CalTrans spokesman, Phil Frisbie, Caltrans is claiming that bypass protests have cost at least $4.6 million. “This includes all California Highway Patrol costs, direct construction delay costs, and other costs associated with removal of protestors from trees and equipment,” says Frisbie. “Our contractor has filed an additional claim for global impacts due to construction delays and inefficiencies caused by the protests. This claim will likely add millions of dollars more to the total cost, and we anticipate resolving it before construction begins next spring.”

CALTRANS has been paying CHP officers between $6,120 and $8,160 per day to guard the construction site, based on between six and eight officers being assigned. This amounts to about $1.5 million of the estimated $4.6 million.

ACCORDING TO FRISBIE-MATH, Will Parrish's demo alone, which occurred as Parrish chained himself to a machine called a wick drain stitcher, cost CalTrans $481,588, including $39,000 in rental charges for the idle equipment. The contractor billed CalTrans for $328,000 for production delays and for daily overhead during this period. The cost to CalTrans for idle workers for the wick machines was $17,000. The cost for the CHP officers and their equipment was $98,000.

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DA DROPS SKAGGS' ATTEMPTED MURDER CHARGE; GUILTY PLEA IN BURGLARY

by Tiffany Revelle

The attempted murder charge against a Redwood Valley man accused of driving a speeding Thunderbird while his passenger shot at a sheriff deputy's car was dropped in Mendocino County Superior Court Tuesday.

Christopher Skaggs, 31, accepted an offer from the Mendocino County District Attorney's Office to drop that and other charges in exchange for his guilty plea to first-degree burglary in the case for breaking into a Potter Valley home earlier the same day and stealing guns -- including the one passenger Walter K. Miller used in the shooting -- and other items on the night of Feb. 25.

The plea, which exposes Skaggs to an agreed-upon 13-year prison sentence (of which he will serve half), comes two weeks and a day after Miller was convicted of attempted murder, assault with a firearm, the same burglary and other charges.

"Now that we've gone through a trial and have tested all the witnesses, I think that this was the right result," said Mendocino County District Attorney David Eyster, who prosecuted Miller and was handling Skaggs' case separately.

Eyster said the plea "accurately depicts ... and addresses the culpability of Mr. Skaggs," who, according to witness accounts, sped away from a traffic stop south of Ukiah on the night of the chase just as Mendocino County Sheriff's Office Deputy Darren Brewster approached the driver's window.

Eyster gave Skaggs the benefit of the doubt after a jury heard Skaggs' then-girlfriend, Tracy Cox, who was in the T-bird's back seat, testify that Skaggs drove away from the traffic stop because Miller had a gun in his hand and meant to shoot the deputy.

"There was some testimony during (Miller's) trial that Mr. Skaggs may have been doing something altruistic, and maybe not," Eyster said in court. "We are taking that in the light that's most advantageous for Mr. Skaggs."

Skaggs' plea was part of a deal Eyster offered that involved dropping the attempted murder charge, a "vicarious" charge of assaulting a peace officer with a firearm, and charges of recklessly evading a peace officer and reckless evasion while driving in the oncoming traffic lane. Video footage taken from Brewster's patrol car showed the T-bird crossing the center lines of the winding Highway 253 (known as the Boonville Road) several times during the chase.

Skaggs also pleaded guilty to committing the Potter Valley burglary while out on bail in another felony matter, a Nov. 14, 2012 incident where he led authorities on a high-speed chase that left a pursuing California Highway Patrol officer injured. The deal involved Skaggs pleading guilty in that case to charges of reckless evasion of a peace officer causing injury and reckless evasion by driving in the oncoming lane.

The attempted murder charge and the others Eyster dropped in the plea bargain could have added at least seven years to the 13-year sentence Skaggs faces, according to Eyster. The Potter Valley burglary is Skaggs' first strike under California's Three Strikes Law, so he is eligible for release after six-and-a-half years under the state's realignment initiative, designed to relieve overcrowding in state prisons, according to Eyster.

If Skaggs commits another felony, having a strike on his record could double a potential sentence, according to Eyster.

"Hopefully Mr. Skaggs gives up his life of crime," Eyster said.

Skaggs is due back in court for formal sentencing Jan. 17.

Tiffany Revelle can be reached at udjtr@ukiahdj.com, on Twitter @TiffanyRevelle or at 468-3523.

(Courtesy, the Ukiah Daily Journal)

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GIVE DENNIS O'BRIEN high marks for doggedness. He is now in settlement negotiations with the County over a matter 18 months old.

ON August 13, 2012, O’Brien, of the Mendocino Environmental Center, filed a $10,000 claim against Mendocino County “for actions of Detective Andrew Whiteaker, failure to process timely complaint by Captain Randy Johnson, failure to initiate an investigation by Sheriff Allman, violation of civil rights, infliction of emotional distress, false authority and imprisonment.”

THE INCIDENT OCCURRED at the Ukiah Crossroads Shopping Center on North State Street near Empire Road and at the Sheriff's office on nearby Low Gap Road.

WHEN O'BRIEN brought his complaint to the Supervisors in late 2012 he and it elicited rude impatience and yawning indifference from them.

THIS IS HIS STATEMENT:

“On April 16, 2012 at approximately 3:30pm I parked in the parking lot of the Ukiah Crossroads Shopping Center at the end of North State Street. As I walked toward Raley's Supermarket I saw a woman on the sidewalk with a clipboard in her hand. She was standing near a large stone pillar on the opposite side from the entrance to Raley's. She was not in any way interfering with foot traffic. If anyone tried to enter the store using the space she was occupying, they would have run into a stone pillar. As I approached, the woman asked me if I would like to sign some ballot petitions. I said I would. She had at least three petitions to get ballot measures on the ballot. I signed two of them. Before I could get to the next one Detective Andrew Whiteaker appeared. He was wearing a shirt with a Sheriff's logo on the left breast and Sheriff's Office badge on his belt. He stated that the woman seeking signatures to the ballot measure must leave. The woman stated what she was doing and said she was just exercising her free-speech rights. Detective Whiteaker stated she was on private property and that the store manager had requested that she leave. I then stated that the Supreme Court had held then a shopping center was the equivalent of a town square and that it could be used for gathering signatures for political purposes. Detective Whiteaker replied that he was enforcing California law and that the owner had the right to ask anyone to leave the place of business. I then asked him to identify himself. He stated he was Detective Whiteaker and confirmed he was a member of the Mendocino County Sheriff's Department. I asked if he was on duty and he said Yes. I asked him if he was aware of the First Amendment, and he said Yes. I asked him if he knew that the First Amendment applied to the states. He said that did not affect his enforcement of private property laws. When I stated that I believed that Sheriff Allman would disagree, Detective Whiteaker replied that Sheriff Allman could not tell him how to enforce the law. I replied that Sheriff Allman could tell him if he was making a mistake. Detective Whiteaker then stated that if we did not stop he would have to arrest us for trespassing on private property. The woman gathering signatures left immediately and I walked into the store. I was not able to review or sign the additional ballot petitions that the woman had left with her. This is a sworn declaration that I have submitted to the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office as a formal complaint. The back page of what I've just passed out has my conversation with Captain Greg Van Patten who is the immediate supervisor of Detective Whiteaker. If you would like to hear more of that, one of you will have ask me. I'm out of time.”

THEN BOARD CHAIR John McCowen, who owns the building at 106 West Standley which houses O'Brien and his activist colleagues, said, “Thank you Mr. O'Brien. As you know, we are not allowed to consider items not on the agenda.”

O'Brien: “You are not allowed to act on them. You are allowed to discuss them.”

Mr. O’Brien is correct, according to the Brown Act and the Board’s own rules. Supervisors routinely engage members of the public in dialog on matters that citizens bring up. They just can’t vote on them.

McCowen: “Well, we are not really allowed to discuss it without having it on the agenda, so thank you for the information.”

In fact, however, soon after Mr. O'Brien shuffled from the podium, acting County librarian Annette DeBacker and the Supervisors chirpily discussed her new job and the extra money she’s got to work with since Measure A passed last year giving the Library a big infusion of new funds. It was not on the agenda.

O'Brien: “You're allowed to ask questions.”

O’Brien is again correct.

McCowen exasperated and raising his voice: “Thank you!”

O'Brien: “And you have 10 minutes to do that…”

O’Brien is again correct.

McCowen: “Well, thank you for the inform—”

O'Brien: “If any supervisor would like to hear the rest of the issue—”

McCowen: “Thank you, Mr. O'Brien. Thank you.”

No supervisors, including Supervisor Hamburg, who, with others, not long ago won a nearly identical free speech lawsuit against Walmart, had any questions.

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IT APPEARS NOW, however, that the County Counsel's office agrees that O'Brien was and is correct. We hope he gets the full ten grand.

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ON JANUARY 1, 2014 at 4:45am Coyote Valley Tribal Police and deputies from the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office were dispatched to a reported stabbing in the 100 block of Campbell Drive on the Coyote Valley Rancheria. Upon arrival officers and deputies located the victim, a 20-year-old male, with numerous stab wounds to his neck and abdomen. The victim was bleeding profusely and his injuries were life threatening. Medical personnel responded to the scene and transported the victim to the Ukiah Valley Medical Center. The victim was later flown to an out of area hospital for additional medical treatment. Officers and deputies interviewed several witnesses and learned the victim had been involved in an argument with 16-year-old Victor De La Cruz who resides in Ukiah, California. The argument escalated into a physical confrontation, which resulted in De La Cruz stabbing the victim numerous times. De La Cruz fled the area on foot and his current whereabouts are unknown. Sheriff’s Detectives are continuing investigations in the incident and De La Cruz should be considered armed and dangerous. Anyone with information concerning De La Cruz’s whereabouts should contact the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office dispatch center at 707-463-4086 or the Sheriff's Office tip line at 707-234-2100. (Sheriff’s Press Release)

UPDATE:

A Ukiah teenager suspected of stabbing a man several times in the neck and abdomen on New Year's Day is in custody after he turned himself in to authorities in Sonoma County Thursday night, according to the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office.

Victor De La Cruz, 16, accompanied by a Ukiah attorney not identified, surrendered himself to MCSO detectives in Sonoma County at about 6 p.m. Jan. 2 after being at large for about a day and a half following the alleged stabbing. His surrender was facilitated by a Ukiah private attorney, the MCSO stated.

The incident started just before 5 a.m. Jan 1 in the 100 block of Campbell Drive in Redwood Valley when De La Cruz and a 20-year-old man argued, according to the MCSO. Witnesses reported that the fight became physical and De La Cruz allegedly stabbed the older man several times in the neck and abdomen, then ran from the scene.

The victim was taken to Ukiah Valley Medical Center with life-threatening injuries and was later flown to a hospital outside the area. By the close of business Thursday, the victim was still in critical condition, according to the MCSO. The motive for the incident was still under investigation.

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FORT BRAGG CRIME REPORT.

Sgt. Brandon Lee was parked at 12:41am on Dec. 29 on River View Drive near Coast hospital in his patrol car when he saw a 2003 VW Passat try to turn while speeding and hit a light pole, according to the FBPD. The driver, identified as Jose Alberto Peralta, was getting out of the vehicle when the sergeant spoke to him, and there were two passengers inside. One of them complained of pain, the other wasn't injured and Peralta had minor injuries. The Passat had major damage and had to be towed from the scene. Medical staff took the injured passenger into the emergency room for treatment. Peralta showed signs of being under the influence of alcohol and was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence. He was released to family members because of his injuries. The FBPD is preparing a DUI collision report to forward to the Mendocino County District Attorney's Office for review and a charging decision.

Officers were summoned at 1:30am on Dec. 21 to an argument at a home in the 300 block of East Pine Street, and arrived to find broken glass from a door. A witness said two men who lived there had argued and told officers to speak with Ivan Cenacruz, 23, who had blood on his wrist but no apparent injury. Officers found two knives in an alley near the home, and also found Jose Manual Flores-Castro at a nearby apartment, bleeding from a cut on his ear. Flores-Castro told officers Cenacruz threw a knife at him during the argument, hitting his ear. Cenacruz was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and booked at the Mendocino County Jail.

Fort Bragg police are asking for the public's help in quelling a recent rash of car burglaries. The Fort Bragg Police Department reported Monday that between Dec. 21 and Monday, officers had responded to numerous reported car burglaries inside the city. The majority of them happened on the northern end of the city, and a few were reported downtown and in residential areas. The suspect or suspects typically break a car window to get valuable items inside that are in plain view. “It is important that residents and visitors of the city secure valuable items out of view in their car trunks, under seats or in their homes,” the FBPD stated. The department is following several leads. Anyone with information about the burglaries is urged to call the FBPD at 961-2800, or the anonymous tip line at 961-3049.

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ON LINE COMMENT OF THE PERTINENT TYPE

It really is over. Here in Portland Oregon, which is far from wealthy but reasonably middle-class,, every mall Macy’s I went into seemed to have fully stocked ladies coats and clothes on the racks right up til Christmas. If people can’t afford to buy clothes, how long until they can’t afford to maintain a car? We have great public transportation, but no doubt about it, droves of people here are car-dependent. The winding down of Happy Motoring is happening. I can also see homeowners becoming so cash-strapped that they cannot afford to replace their furnace. Or cannot afford the power bill. Just a few years ago I saw Coach handbags everywhere. Now I rarely see them. In McDonalds, I rarely see people ordering the Big Mac and Quarter Pounders; they buy the cheap McChicken and the cheapest burgers. On Fridays they’re all ordering the 2-for-1 fish sandwich. The cash-crunch is everywhere you look. Even upper-middle class families are in trouble because many of their adult children are not pulling their weight financially, and those seemingly juicy inheritances do not go far when you add up all the expenses and luxuries people require on a monthly/yearly basis. The money will not last.

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LETTER TO THE EDITOR

The Internal Combustion Engine and the Culture of Impotent Juvenile Rage Out on the street civil society hasn't got a chance. The street being the place where all the extras parade their flimsy excuses for freedom and liberty.By street I don,t mean the road only but any public place. The road just being where civility is most obviously and rudely under assault. Thanks to the car cult and now the hand held devise cult, public space is little more than an industry driven free-for-all that promotes self aggrandizing rudeness while sacrificing meaningful social behavior.

Sociopaths abound! There is one especially deviant form of antisocial grandstanding that renders public space so ugly these days. That would be the rude-boy diesel pickup idiots with their illegal noise polluting off-road exhaust systems. With their loud illegal over sized rock throwing tires and their tendency to drive just as you'd expect a juvenile moron asshole to drive. Remember those rude little pricks in school who had to compensate for small minds or small stature or small what have you, by being loud, obnoxious and annoying? Now they have 9,000-pound trucks and no social skills to speak of. And tacit approval and guns. This is the really disturbing thing behind the diesel pickup truck craze. Apparently these macho chips have been given some kind of unwritten exemption from laws meant to protect society from noise pollution and unsafe vehicle code violations. The same kind of ear that allows Harley Davidson jerks to terrorize society with their all American rudeness. This is a very bad situation. Why this blatant complicity on the part of government and law enforcement? Has the average citizen really been so successfully over stimulated that they've effectively gone deaf? Well that is certainly a large part of the problem. It's all too obvious that all levels of government have become corrupt, inept and unresponsive. Also more than likely even if citizens and government gave a hoot about noise pollution or vehicle safety codes, law enforcement is itself over staffed with big truck little boys. No problem enforcing vehicle codes when it comes to little brown people in their loud lowered Hondas. Look the other way for that tobacco chewing redneck with his truck jacked up so high that his front axle would decapitate anyone in a frontal collision driving a non-deformed vehicle. I'm trying to get a full picture as to how a subculture of four-wheel drive enthusiast became an invasion by industry and it's faithful trend lackeys. Because clearly this fuel hog road hog aftermarket resource wasting idiot show is not sustainable or sane. It brings society nothing but the burdens of megalomania and the vagaries of vanity. All the while polluting eye, ear and lung. Why is main street being militarized by pop culture rude machine mania? How do these inane distortions become normal? Seriously. The corporate tyranny of the personal mobility factory, especially the junkyard dog shit fostered on hoodwinked Americans by Detroit was always bad enough. But now this after market meathead dipshit trendorama has gone right into the auto industry globally to give the morns what they want instead of what they need. Mediocrity co-opted. This could only be the last dying contortions of cheap oil distortions. No playwright in any state of mind could create a tragedy this deeply poignantly pathetic! The poor and the poorest for obvious reasons aren't part of the rude scene that dominates the motor vehicle saturated landscape. It's not the carless or the homeless shuffling along with their dogs. It's the car cult with it's own class strata actual or implied with absurd strutting pretense that makes a trip to town like enduring a really really bad movie. There is a tarnished silver lining to the growing numbers of Americans becoming too poor to operate big fuel hog diesel pickups and such. Less fuel burning and fewer idiot parade vehicles menacing our roads and clogging up parking space.

“Just look around at America itself: a wasteland of futile motoring and discount shopping populated by depressed overfed clowns bedizened with sinister tattoos, pretending to be Star Warriors. No nation ever seen in human history ever laid such a disappointing egg. Only to have it fry on the sidewalk.” — James Kunstler

Based on the idiocy of the 4-wheel drive SUV craze that what's left of the middle class has so gullibly embraced, I'd say we should be very thankful to all the masters of Greed Inc. for so effectively destroying the upwardly mobile middle class. Clearly upwardly mobile given so many fuel hog morons is nothing but a race to the downwardly immobile bottom. An American middle class that is so brainwashed as to equate self aggrandizing gas guzzling with patriotism and or jingoistic entailment is a middle class unworthy of its affluence. So all said and done, the more Americans in poverty the better. The world and the earth never could support a growing all consuming American middle class to say nothing of all the wanna be clones in other lands copying rapacious dead end. The car cult urban shopping spree is over except in affluent fantasy bubbles like Santa Rosa California where more and ugly and rude are in high gear. Going there is like visiting a movie set with no budget constraints. A movie set in 2029 to depict for all the nostalgia dupes America at its peak. Grand follies based the shere momentum of this slow motion train wreck called capitalism. The conductors name is Immaculate Misconception. The tracks are made of an alloy of wishful thinking, computer generated pie-in-the-sky 3-D models and accounting fraud. "When nations grow old, the Arts grow cold, and commerce settles on every tree." — William Blake 1800 " When a nation grows stale, the Arts land in a garbage pail and commerce settles in every living cell."-

Marvin Blake, Philo

PS. Happy 2014 and don't forget to look up where even the clouds are a lie!

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EUREKA POLICE DEPARTMENT PRESS RELEASE:

“The Eureka Police Department announces an arrest warrant for Gary Lee Bullock has been obtained for the murder of Father Erick Freed. Bullock is a white male 6’1”, 195 pounds and has dark colored hair. His last known address was Redway, California. The facts of the case are as follows:

On Dec. 31, 2013 Bullock was the subject of a radio call regarding a person who was acting strangely in the Garberville area of southern Humboldt County. Humboldt County deputies located and arrested Bullock for public intoxication. He was taken to jail where he was rejected due to his erratic behavior.

BULLOCK was then taken to the hospital for evaluation where he became more agitated and had to be physically restrained by deputies. Bullock was ultimately booked into jail at 1634 hours.

Gary Bullock was released at 0043 hours on January 1, 2014. At about 0200 hours officers from Eureka Police Department were dispatched to 615 H Street, regarding a suspicious person. Officers contacted Bullock and found that Bullock was not intoxicated and did not qualify for an emergency psychological hold. Officers referred Bullock to an emergency shelter for the night.

Later that evening a security guard heard noise in the area of the church and went to investigate. He saw a person matching Bullock’s description and directed him to leave the property after a short conversation.

At about 9am officers were dispatched to to the church Rectory where parishioners found Reverend Fathers Eric Freed badly injured. Officers and a doctor, who is a parishioner at St. Bernard, observed that he was deceased. The exact cause of death has yet to be determined and an autopsy is scheduled for Saturday. It does appear that there was blunt force trauma to the victim.

EPD’s investigation into this homicide has revelaed that forced entry was made into the parsonage and a violent struggle ensued. The pastor’s vehicle was also noticed missing during the crime scene search. That vehicle is a 2010 Nissan Hybrid bearing California license plate 6NDW400.

Residents are asked to be on the lookout for Gary Bullock and the Pastor’s missing vehicle. If spotted the should immediately contact ocal law enforcement and do not approach the subject.

There are currently more than 25 officers, detectives and agents assigned to the task of finding Gary BULLOCK and bringing him to justice.

If friends, family or associates have contact with Bullock they need to call Detective Sergeant Bill Nova immediately. He can be reached at (707) 268-5261”

UPDATE: Gary Lee Bullock, a resident of Redway, Southern Humboldt, , has been arrested as the sole suspect in the murder of father Eric Freed of the St. Bernard’s parsonage, Eureka. Father Freed was murdered sometime after midnight New Year's Day.

BULLOCK had been in and out of police custody in the hours leading up to Freed's death. He was first arrested by Humboldt County deputies for public intoxication in Garberville on New Year's Eve and driven 67 miles north to jail in Eureka where he was "rejected due to his erratic behavior." Bullock was then taken to a hospital for an evaluation and became so agitated that deputies had to restrain him. He was booked into jail for about eight hours, then released shortly after midnight.

AT 1AM NEW YEAR'S MORNING, Eureka Police responded to a call about a suspicious person a couple blocks from the jail and not far from the St. Bernard's rectory. It was Bullock. He was referred to an emergency shelter for the night. Later that evening, a security guard heard noise near the church and went to investigate. He saw a man matching Bullock's description and, after a short conversation, told him to leave the property, police said.

FATHER FREED was last seen alive during Tuesday evening Mass. He was found at 9 a.m. Thursday at St. Bernard Church rectory after he didn't appear for early morning Mass. Police found signs of forced entry and a struggle. Police surmise that Bullock, after bludgeoning the popular priest, drove Freed's 2010 Nissan hybrid to the home Bullock shares with his brother in Redway, where he was arrested early Thursday afternoon.

FATHER FREED, an accomplished academic, had taught classes on religion at Humboldt State University since 2007, including "Introduction to Christianity" and a class on Japanese calligraphy. He was a graduate of Loyola Marymount University. He completed his graduate studies in linguistics in Italy where he also mastered Italian.

A WIRE SERVICE ACCOUNT of the Freed murder concludes: “Humboldt is a diverse community known for dairy farming, fishing, a declining logging industry and marijuana and methamphetamine production.”

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ON SATURDAY, January 11th at 7 p.m and Sunday, January 12 at 2 p.m., the 22nd annual Professional Pianist Concert will be held at the Mendocino College Center Theatre. Featured performers are Spencer Brewer, Elena Casanova, Tom Ganoung, Elizabeth MacDougall, John Simon and Ed Reinhart. Tickets are on sale at Mendocino Book Co. in Ukiah, Mazahar in Willits and Watershed Books in Lakeport. Tickets are the same they have been for 15 years, $10/students and seniors; $15 general and $25 "I 'Wanna' See the Hands" limited seating. For more information call (707) 391-8374. This concert features all six pianists on stage in a living room environment throughout the concert trading stories and songs with two pianos on stage to accommodate impromptu collaborations. This popular event is an annual sellout because of the diversity and quality of all the diverse music and humor that takes place throughout the evening. The musical selections can range from classical to jazz, boogie woogie to Cuban and.....who knows till that evening! The Ukiah concert benefits the Ukiah Educational Foundation and the Allegro Scholarship Program. Sponsors are Sparetime Supply in Willits, Savings Bank of Mendocino, Ukiah Valley Medical Center, Ukiah Civic Light Opera, Willits Furniture Center, Waterman Plants, K-WINE/MAX, KOZT-The Coast and KZYX/Z. There will be autographed CD's by the artists for sale in lobby. Refreshments will be provided by Ukiah Civic Light Opera.

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HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Tuesday, 31 December 2013

Wishing all of the D.C. radical environmentalists, anarchists, and those who have additionally cultivated a spiritual life a Happy New Year! On to the spring offensive, y'all. Please accept my most profound wishes for a spiritually centered, effectively active, and mentally peaceful twelve months. Know that I have received an email from Jesse Schultz, in which he informs me that the reason the politically liberal activist houses in Washington D.C. do not welcome me to live there, is because I have been mis-branded a sex pervert due to so-called "lewd comments", which I am accused of having made on my previous DC IMC newswire postings. I state here clearly that I am the straightest arrow in the heterosexual quiver, (but am not narrow minded). I do support gay rights, am pro-choice, and support the legal rights of sex workers, but myself have never had a kinky relationship, and am thoroughly sane. It is true that I am a developed writer, editor, and have been active with radical publications for decades. Beyond this, I spend most of my time chanting ancient powerful mantras which originated in India, and having thus centered my good mind, take action in a radically environmentally effective manner, which simultaneously promotes peace and justice. I am interested in permanently relocating to the Washington D.C. area. Happy New Year Craig Louis Stehr (craigstehr@hushmail.com) Blog: http://craiglstehr.blogspot.com