Mendocino County Today: Friday 6/27/2025

Hot Weekend | Redwood Stump | Stolen Equipment | Bridge Replacement | Darrol Cox | Hardy Creek | Conservatorships | Saturday Events | Terminate Request | Both Sides | Klamath Classic | Skunk Exchange | Local Events | Stuff Done | Salooniverse | DUI Guilty | Water Tower | Miller Sharpening | Velma's Farmstand | Cabin Available | Music Festival | Deputy Nystrom | Meeting Jones | Old Photos | Yesterday's Catch | Trade Fair | Wine Shorts | Hegseth Tonight | Handshaker | Disgruntled Fans | 197 Pitches | Giants Lose | Opening Day | Carbon Setback | Doesn't Care | ICE Data | Jello Show | Mamdani Message | CowardICE | Lead Stories | Quake Fire | Privatization Provision | Smart Bomb | Super Sexy | I, Moderate | Quick Draw | Hitchhiking Family

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HOT AND DRY weather will peak this weekend with highs near 100 for the interior. Warm and Sunny weather will even approach the coast by Sunday. There is a chance for scattered thunderstorms over the interior early next week. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): 48F under clear skies this Friday morning on the coast. I'll go with mostly clear skies the next couple days before the fog comes back to follow. Keeping in mind the fog is not far out at sea right now so as always, we'll see.

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ANDREA GARCIA

We need some Valley help. Last night at 9:47pm, my husband's equipment (chainsaws) was stolen right from our unit. This Valley is just too small for this type of stuff. The equipment that was stolen is used to live on and it is heartbreaking and disgusting that this happened. It was stolen from right off my family's property we live on really makes me feel uneasy. They came from the Ukiah direction and left towards Boonville. It is clear that this individual or maybe those, if any involved, targeted this unit. Please also keep an eye out for 2 small chainsaws and one large being sold. Will get specifics on types. Please reach out to me privately if you have any leads. This doesn't only affect us, but a long time Small, Local, Family Business.

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WORK IS WELL UNDERWAY on the Lambert Lane/Robinson Creek Bridge replacement in Boonville. This week the contractor, West Coast Contractors (WCC) out of Coos Bay Oregon cleared the area in preparation for the specially designed temporary steel girder bridge that will allow traffic to pass while the existing WW2 war surplus Bailey Bridge is dismantled. Overseen by at least three County Transportation Department staffers, a lot of attention is being paid to detail, including the removal and relocation of a surprisingly large 100 steelhead in the summer flow of Robinson Creek as well as carefully positioned exclusion fences to keep frogs, salamanders and turtles (we didn’t know Robinson Creek had turtles) out of the project area. Special attention is being given to keeping the area where the heavy equipment is working wet so reduce fire hazards. Sometime next week the cantilevered steel bridge will be delivered and probably installed with a crane.

(Mark Scaramella)

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HANK COX

I just found out that my very good elementary school buddy, ‘Hank’ Darrol Cox died October 9th, 2024 in Cosmopolis, Washington state, age 62. (Born Oct 11,1961)

The Cox family lived on the Nash ranch (Nash Mill Road). We lived on Clow Ridge Road that branches off Nash Mill Road, and we became fast friends from kindergarten (1965/66) through elementary school until they moved to Missoula, Montana. We did everything together. Biking, swimming, building hay forts in the barn. His mom, Carol would milk our cows when we were away. Our families were even on the same phone party line.

I visited him briefly in Missoula once in my teen years in the mid-70's. He came to visit us in Boonville around 2007, the last time I saw him. I lost contact about 8 years ago I think.

There was no obit, and Hank was the last surviving member of his family. I have no recent picture of him to post.

His Dad was Henry and Mom, Carol. Older brother Don (deceased) and older sister Laurie (deceased). I know Hank lived near his Mom, Carol in Anacortes before she passed.

Farewell my friend.

Eric Peterman

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MENTAL HEALTH CONSERVATORSHIPS

by Mark Scaramella

At last Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting after the big Annexation Cancellation agenda item, there was a discussion of the County’s “C.O.R.E.” (Community Outreach Response & Engagement) program in which the Sheriff’s Office, Behavioral Health, and Social Services are conducting a pilot program (ten people so far) to see if they can deal with some of the more difficult street people in the Ukiah Valley with more compassion. After the presentation Supervisor Bernie Norvell asked Behavioral Health Director Dr. Jenine Miller about conservatorships.

“The weakest link in the system that these officers are forced to work under is that the system is voluntary,” said Norvell. “So, as hard as they try, it’s not easy to help people. Can you describe what happens when you encounter a person who’s living on the street and is mentally ill and using drugs and refusing services? All those things that the public sees? What are the hurdles you face with conservatorships? How successful have you been with them?”

Miller: Conservatorships. There are different types of conservatorships. There are temporary ones that are done on the mental health side. There’s permanent ones that are done on the social services side. Those are more about cognitive decline than they are mental illness — people who are unable to meet their basic needs of food, shelter, and clothing. To consider someone for a mental health conservatorship, they have to meet the criteria for a mental health diagnosis of a grave disability. You have to meet the criteria on the level that you are not able to handle your basic needs, that the medication you are being offered is not able to get you back to your baseline. It’s not something we can easily do. First, you have to have the individual assessed by a licensed clinician or psychiatrist to determine if the individual needs conservatorship. A professional does that. Then, if they do, you have to go to court. The court determines if someone meets the criteria. We have contracted professionals to do the assessments. We then notify the court and the court can then agree or disagree with us. The individual has a right to a trial, a jury trial or a judge trial. They have a right to a petition every six months to have their conservatorship reviewed. There have been times when we wanted to conserve people and we have lost in court. If they can go to court and present that they look better and they will do better if medicated and they can show that they have a plan to care for themselves we may not win. Therefore, they may not be conserved or they may get released from conservatorship. Sometimes also we struggle with third parties. People have a right to offer a third-party who can say that they will be there to help the person. We usually don’t win if they have a third-party unless we can prove that the third-party really isn’t able to care for the individual. What usually happens is the third-party will show up and they are either successful or unsuccessful and then if they are unsuccessful, we have to conserve them or reconserve them. Then sometimes the third-party will come back again and offer to be released from third-party responsibility. But it really comes down to meeting that criteria and for everyone to agree to the criteria and the assessment and be able to know that you can go to court, and the individual can represent that they can meet their basic needs and that they have a plan. A lot of times they will look at that. We have been relatively successful with conservatorships, considering our per capita. I have worked with the courts and we have conserved a lot of people. On any given day in Mendocino County we have about 64 people conserved, which is a lot when you compare it to counties across the state. That does not mean we are over-conserving, but we are conserving people who meet the criteria. I’m sure there are other individuals out there who need to be conserved. The first time we try we usually don’t get conservatorships. You have to be able to show that they have a history of not being able to take care of themselves. But we do conserve more than other counties. We provide free shelter and clothing when we can. We’ve had conversations about that and it doesn’t always happen. It’s a process. There was a case where we fought to keep the person from being released from conservatorship. They were on a temporary conservatorship. And then we had to follow that up with an application for permanent conservatorship and we had to prepare the case and do all the assessments and the individual was released from conservatorship by the Court. We knew that immediately after that we would get a call any day and we did. Twenty-four hours after this person was released we got a call asking why in the world did we release this person? We said that we didn’t release them, it was the court. It’s not always easy. Sometimes it’s not our decision. It’s up to the experts and the court and they have a public defender representing them in court to advocate for them in their best interest.

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LOCAL EVENTS (tomorrow)

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JIM SHIELDS:

At Tuesday's Board of Supervisors meeting on June 24, the Supes took no action to terminate the tax-sharing/annexation agreement with the city of Ukiah. Instead, they decided to continue to monitor the sketchy deal with an ad hoc committee of Supes Madeline Cline and Bernie Norvell, who are supposed to report on a regular basis any developments and additional information relative to the proposed annexation/tax sharing proposal.

A day after that June 24th meeting, the Laytonville Municipal Advisory Council met for our monthly meeting. The Council voted unanimously requesting the Board of Supervisors to terminate the annexation/tax-sharing agreement with Ukiah.

I'll keep you updated on this issue.

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SUPERVISOR MAUREEN MULHEREN:

If you’re interested in listening to both sides of the Annexation conversation here are a couple of Links:

Shannon Riley, Deputy City Manager from City of Ukiah on Like it Or Not and Ross Liberty from the No on Annexation campaign on TKO Wedneaday 6/25 at 9am https://jukebox.kzyx.org

https://youtu.be/5pVpkGgZQik?si=2TNwHt-S8wafBZ88

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IN THE SECOND VIDEO, among many other things, Riley insists that under the existing tax sharing agreement the County would not lose any existing taxes, only new ones for new developments or taxes that apply to the city that would increase when they apply to annexed areas. If that’s true, and it might be, Ukiah needs to show the County the numbers. Riley also insists that the proposed annexation area got as large as it is because 1. they targeted entire water districts on the north and south ends of town, and 2. the County wouldn’t let Ukiah annex only the more lucrative retail businesses on the north end of town unless they also annexed some undeveloped property on the south end. Riley added, as her press release on Monday stated, that they are open to changing the annexation proposal. Riley also said that the County will “save” money by not having to improve annexed area roads and shifting that road improvement cost to Ukiah. Riley added that Ukiah would have more police coverage in the annexed areas. (Mark Scaramella)

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KATHY DAWN:

I support the city of Fort Bragg and the Skunk Train working together.

Here is an exchange from Skunk train owner Chris Hart and a local:

Chris Hart responding to DP accusations below:

In future public workshops the remediation details will be addressed, and we’ll use info more current than 2009 data. Also, I agree that you should not build on a poisoned site, but it sounds like you have a very outdated understanding of the property.

The berm and ponds are part of the to-be-finalized remediation plan.

Regarding the strategy report, it was an effort to organize the process; not a package of deals. Further, it lays out a plan for months of the public meetings – the very thing you say don’t exist. I’m hard pressed to think of any details that are set. We still have to get through all of Phase 2 and Phase 3 before the details would be finalized. During this time there are a series of public workshops to discuss the details. Del, did you attend the meeting or even bother to watch the hearing? This was explained repeatedly during the June 9th but anti-growth people simple refuse to listen to facts. And speaking of facts, the vote was not 3-2 as you write. There was a 3-1 vote to accept the report, and 4-0 to proceed with the process.

Your comment that the industrial portion would be exempt is a complete falsehood. The industrially zoned land is part of the proposed 92% of the millsite that would have normal city oversight. This was explained at a public workshop on 2/25 and again on 6/9.

So is it your contention that our 6.5 acres of rail on the 429 acre millsite are going to harm migrating whales?

Regarding the loan application, that has nothing to do with the millsite. But for what its worth, you misrepresent what was stated and show a complete misunderstanding of the federal loan process. The very intensive process went through years of review to help ensure the project was useful, financial doable, and that repayment was ensured.

From: DP

Subject: Re: [MCN-Announce]- Meeting re Fort Bragg Mill Site Development this Thur eve in Cotton Auditorium

Legacy contamination from Georgia-Pacific: Soil tests from 2009 reveal arsenic levels above human-health thresholds; PCBs, dioxins, and fly ash remain from mill-era operations.

At risk infrastructure: That toxic berm holding mill ponds off the cliff is failing and eroding—especially during storms or high tides—a ticking public health and environmental disaster.

Incomplete remediation: Mendocino Railway bought ~70% of the site but has yet to finalize cleanup plans for Operable Unit E. DTSC still awaits a full feasibility study that properly addresses seismics, berm failure, sediment containment, sea-level rise, and tidal impacts.

You cannot build homes, shops, rails, or tourism infrastructure on a poisoned site without risking toxic exposure in soil, air, groundwater, and the ocean. Any push to develop now ignores publicly documented health threats and endangers generations.

Back-room deals, bait-and-switch transparency: The “Strategy Report” slipped into public view just five days before the City Council moved forward—a document six months in the making, negotiated privately between the City and Railway. Despite demanding public hearings and workshops, a 3–2 council majority advanced an MOU before community input occurred.

Mendocino Railway wants to exempt its industrial plan from State and local landuse, health, safety, and environmental oversight—even in areas under Coastal Act protections. The Coastal Commission has repeatedly challenged Railway determinations that skirt environmental review, especially tunnel rebuilds and berm work. Headlands and bluffs fall squarely within the Commission’s jurisdiction—and their protections matter for public access, habitat preservation, scenic value, and community resilience. Subverting Coastal Act authority in favor of private profit is reckless, illegal, and an affront to public trust.

The headlands are home to rare species like tidewater goby, Mendocino spineflower, harbor seals, and migrating whales. These ecosystems have taken centuries to form—and can be damaged in hours by heavy rail, increased industrial noise, vibration, pollution, and runoff.

As to economics: the Railway’s own federal loan applications indicate the Skunk Train cannot sustain itself financially without heavy subsidies. Incursion and deferred maintenance will lead to eventual environmental and taxpayer costs.

Fort Bragg taxpayers are eyeing tens, possibly hundreds of millions in infrastructure needs—roads, sidewalks, sewage, policing, emergency services—without any credible cost estimate or committed financing. Meanwhile, legal and planning consultant fees—hundreds of thousands spent already—give no assurance of Coastal or DTSC approvals . If anything goes wrong—storm damage, toxicity, rail accident—liability and cleanup cost revert to taxpayers. Without bonding, escrow, or enforceable agreements, debt and risk shift to the community while profits flow privately.

For years, residents advocated for ecologically focused reuse: daylighting creeks, restoring wetlands, creating coastal trails and public spaces.

The Coastal Commission urged public-facing, science-based reuse—not heavy industry and little oversight. Mendocino Railway’s plan replaces a community-built, coast-facing vision with a railroad-centered, cloaked-in-jargon development strategy that puts private profit above public benefit.

Fort Bragg deserves a cleanup-first, restoration-first plan—NOT a developer-led heavy-industrial boondoggle.

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MENDO GETS STUFF DONE! (Well, at least this stuff… Other stuff? Not so much.)

Fort Bragg Relocation, Sustainability Projects, and Legislative Monitoring

Mendocino County continues to improve public access, safety, and sustainability through key projects, including office relocations, EV infrastructure, fire mitigation, park upgrades, and legislative monitoring.

Fort Bragg Office Relocation Completed

Environmental Health (EH) and Planning & Building Services (PBS) teams have successfully completed the relocation of their Fort Bragg office. After a brief period of limited counter service, both departments resumed full operations at their new location, 752 South Franklin Street, on June 16, 2025.

EV Charging Project

As part of the County’s sustainability efforts, new EV charging stations will be installed this summer at 501 Low Gap Road and 737 South State Street. Temporary parking closures are expected. Due to supply delays, activation may be pushed to 2026. Once operational, the stations will provide convenient access for both County staff and the public.

Fire Mitigation at Low Gap Park

The County, in collaboration with the Ukiah Valley Fire Authority, will conduct proactive fire mitigation work at Low Gap Park this summer. Planned activities include mowing, trimming, and removing hazardous tree limbs to help protect the park and surrounding areas from wildfire threats.

Bainbridge Park Improvements

As the City of Fort Bragg moves forward with upgrades to Bainbridge Park, they will also include improvements to the surrounding County-owned area near the Veterans Memorial Building. Upgrades include landscaping, new paths, and a stage pavilion.

Monitoring Legislative Impacts

The Executive Office, in collaboration with Public Health, Social Services and community partners continue tracking State and Federal legislation to stay responsive to policy changes affecting local services.

These efforts reflect Mendocino County’s ongoing dedication to serving the community through thoughtful planning, strong partnerships, and strategic investments that support long-term access, safety, and sustainability for all residents.

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DA EYSTER IN ANOTHER BRILLIANT PROSECUTION (and a visiting judge, too, as if Mendocino County doesn't have enough judges — 9 for a population of 90,000)

A Mendocino County Superior Court jury returned from its deliberations before noon Wednesday morning to announce it had found the trial defendant guilty as charged.

Defendant Luis Manuel Pamatz Martinez, age 33, of Santa Rosa, was found guilty of driving a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol, and driving a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol .08 or greater, both as misdemeanors.

In March of this year the defendant backed out of a Ukiah motel parking spot and hit a parked vehicle. When the owner of the parked car attempted to obtain insurance information from the defendant, the defendant balked so the Ukiah Police Department was called. In talking with the defendant, the responding officer determined the defendant was under the influence of alcohol.

A breath test further determined the defendant had been driving with a blood alcohol of .14/.14.

The law enforcement agencies that gathered the evidence used at trial were the Ukiah Police Department, the California Department of Justice forensic laboratory, and the DA’s own Bureau of Investigations.

A special “thank you” is extended to the witness who traveled on short notice to Ukiah from San Jose to testify to having witnessed the DUI vehicle back into the parked car, the reason why the police needed to be called, and to identify defendant Pamatz Martinez in court as the DUI driver who didn’t want to share his insurance information.

The prosecutor who presented the People’s evidence to the jury was Deputy District Attorney Sarah Drlik.

Retired Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Janet Clark presided over the three-day trial.

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RE: THE OLD MENDOCINO WATER TOWER

Nancy Stewart: Is there any way it can be salvaged and moved to another location like they do with old houses? Probably very expensive.

Nick Wilson: I took photos of that water tower being erected decades ago by Barry Cusick and a partner. It was built with timbers from an older water tower further east in town. Essentially it is a tower moved in pieces to its current location. That may be why the timbers aren't in good condition now. I'll try to find the negatives, but can't promise, because it would probably take hours of searching. Then hours more to scan negs and print or post the pics. Probably a full day job in total.

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In January 1976, the old water tower behind Mendosa’s general merchandise store was dismantled after it was found to be structurally unsafe. Barry Cusick, Jim Coupe, and Gus Costa salvaged what they could, transported the materials, and rebuilt the tower east of The Deli building on Main Street.

Deli owner Jim Coupe told the Beacon, “we’ve been trying to maintain the historical integrity of the tower, which was built in the 1920’s.” Most of the original beams were used in the reconstruction, though some had to be cut a few feet where the ends were rotting. It is the same design as the original tower, too, but shored up to meet present-day building codes. Coupe called it a “98 per cent original.”

— Carol Dominy, "Mendosa Water Tower on Main Street"

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SCOTT MILLER MOBILE SHARPENING

Scott and his dog Bocci will be at Pilar's Mosswood Cafe Wednesday morning at 9 am til about 10:30 am - just enough time to sharpen your knife set! Or all your yard tools!

Scott Miller: 707-272-7274

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VELMA'S FARM STAND AT FILIGREEN FARM

Friday 2-5pm and Saturday 11-4pm

This week's offerings include: blueberries, carrots, sprouting broccoli, lettuce mix, butterhead lettuce and little gems, scallions, summer squash, kale, chard, beets, cabbage, cauliflower, fresh garlic, kohlrabi, basil, parsley, olive oil, and dried fruit!

Our hours are Friday from 2 PM to 5 PM and Saturday from 11 AM to 4 PM. Follow us on Instagram for updates @filigreenfarm or email [email protected] with any questions. All produce is certified biodynamic and organic.

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IT IS AVAILABLE AGAIN!

We are looking for a tenant for our 1 bedroom cabin, available July 1. It is on our property up off of Indian Creek Road in Philo. It is small but charming and comfortable. It is quiet and has great views of the Valley. The cabin has wood stove and gas heat. Appliances (fridge + stove) are included and some furniture can be included if you would like. Internet and utilities are included. Parking for ONE car is included. Sorry, no pets. The monthly rent, all in, is $1,250. First month rent and a one month deposit will be required prior to move in. 1 year lease.

The place is ideal for one person or an adventurous couple!

Plenty of shared vegetable garden space and chickens if you would like.

It is really a great and unique place… I have great references from previous tenants I would be happy to discuss with you on the phone.

Because responses have been numerous in the past, please do not D.M. me (facebook). Rather, complete a quick contact questionnaire by clicking here: https://forms.gle/nUmR9p7MiSu6z8rA9 I will get back to you within 5 days.

Looking forward to hearing from you via the form! Don't delay… It will go fast!

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39TH ANNUAL MENDOCINO MUSIC FESTIVAL

Music! Music! Music! Celebrate music on the coast with the 39th Annual Mendocino Music Festival, July 12th - 26th. Featuring world class musicians and performances, special events and gracious hospitality, this two week festival encompasses numerous genres of music - Classical, Jazz, Bluegrass, Orchestral, Big Band, Blues and much more. Get your tickets (https://mendocinomusic.org/events/2025-07/) and make reservations today for a lively and enriching musical outing.

Special events before and during the festival include the New Orleans Gala (https://mendocinomusic.org/event/new-orleans-gala/) at Mendocino Grove on July 10th and the Iconic Festival Dinner Party (https://mendocinomusic.org/event/ledford-2025/) at Ledford House on July 21st.

Visit Mendocino County for a magical Music Fest experience!

https://mendocinomusic.org

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JIM TUSO

Some of my friends may recognize this young Deputy Sheriff. His name was Ken (Kenny) Nystrom, a Resident Deputy Sheriff in the Round Valley (Covelo) area in the 70's.

He, and Ross Duke, were very well respected Lawman in the area. I got got to know both of them when I was a Resident Deputy Sheriff in Willits. I backed them up on occasion, and picked up prisoners from them. Enjoyed working with them.

When both of them quit at the same time, my partner, Chuck Jackson (RIP), and I were both assigned to Covelo where we lived at the Wagon Wheel Motel for a year. That was exciting to say the least.

Photo Courtesy of Covelo, Back in the Day.

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ANDY JOHNSTON MEETS JIM JONES

by Andy Johnson

I was remiss in not mentioning what Vern Piver did for our baseball team at Fort Bragg High School. When Cob Berger took over as varsity coach, he knew little about baseball but was a good football coach. In his first year he called me and asked if I would be interested in helping his pitchers. I did and it started a 10-year stint as pitching coach for the Timberwolves. In 1983 we had an exceptional bunch of kids. Prior to the season the coach said we needed to do something special for this bunch. Mr. Berger was born in Hawaii and had some connections there, so he suggested we take our team to Hawaii and participate in the Good Will Games. Each year a different team from California was invited to Hawaii to play, and Berger got us in.

But how to raise money?

Well, we had raffles, pie sales, donations, all the stuff you do to raise funds. But we needed about $25K to pull it off (a lot more in those days). One of the ideas came from Vern to cut and sell firewood. We found out that there were many obstacles for that though. We cut maybe 10 cords and ran out of wood sources. Then Vern called and said, “Bring all the saws you can round up. I found some wood!” So, we showed up at the then L.P. Mill south of Fort Bragg and here was a whole pile of logs that probably had 100 cords of wood. Vern had talked the bosses into donating these logs that were not a good enough quality for lumber but were being set aside for pulp. We probably made $15K from this donation thanks to Vern.

We paid for airfare, meals, and lodging for the whole team, stats people, etc. Most of the parents came too. There were 82 of us! We had a great time. The boys were invited to a luau. We visited a great snorkeling area and above all we won the tournament, beating a team from Miliani who had not lost a game in two years.

Prior to this when I first started coaching with Berger and during my first year, we had John DeSilva. John was one of the most coachable kids I ever had the pleasure to work with. He was a pitcher and as you know pitched in the Bigs for Cincinnati including a featured Sunday night game on ESPN.

John only threw in the high 80s, but he had excellent control. He did not last too long but was a big deal for little Fort Bragg. We had another pitcher, Mike Jones, who threw harder than John but had little control. He would walk 8-10 a game but would also have 14-15 strikeouts. Mike pitched for the Tigers. The whole DeSilva family was athletic, and his brother Brian was a very good basketball player who played for Vern who also coached basketball when his son Tony played.

One of Vern's teams went to the CIF finals, but they ran into Jason Kidd and his team from the Bay Area. Vern knew Kidd was a future hall of famer way back then.

When I finished college, I went to work for the County Public Works Department in Ukiah, now the Transportation Department. We eventually ended up in Redwood Valley where I bought a small house on two acres with a barn for $7,900. Soon I got involved in Little League and was responsible for building a baseball field on a small parcel the Lions Club had donated for a park. I put out the word for volunteers and on our first workday lots of folks showed up to help.

One I will never forget approached me and said I can bring about a dozen helpers if we want. Wow, that would be great, so we introduced one another. He said, “I am Jim Jones!”

Sure enough, a short time later he showed up with his flock. Mostly black ladies and most had children. They worked their asses off and it was very helpful. What I remember most was the ladies called him “Mista Jones.” After several work parties I learned more about Jim and his People’s Temple Church built just south of Redwood Valley Center. Jim Jones by this time had made inroads in the community and was a favorite around the courthouse. This was the beginning of his relationship with Tim Stoen who I knew very well working with him. I was in charge of the Land Improvement Division and had lots of legal questions that Tim would give me an opinion on. I investigated land violations for the DA's office and Tim would handle those too.

Lots of opinions have been offered on Tim but he is a very good guy in my opinion. He just got sidetracked by Jones. Jones was very persuasive. So I could see how Tim and others went astray. I had my own experience with that also.

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CATCH OF THE DAY, Thursday, June 26, 2025

GABRIEL ASBURY, 18, Ukiah. Vandalism.

JESSICA BELL, 36, Willits. Taking vehicle without owner’s consent.

DANIEL BOWES, 40, Covelo. Domestic battery. Assault with deadly weapon not a gun, paraphernalia, parole violation.

YECSON DELAHERRA-RIVERA, Ukiah. County parole violation.

CELINE DUMONT, 33, Redwood Valley. Controlled substance, paraphernalia, petty theft with priors, conspiracy, smuggling firearms, deadly weapon or gas weapon into jail.

DEREK EASTER, 39, Ukiah. Petty theft, paraphernalia, conspiracy.

COLE ICKES, 34, Fort Bragg. Domestic violence court order violation, parole violation.

JENNIFER MARTIN, 60, Ukiah. DUI-any drug, no license.

JEROME MCMURPHY, 54, Ukiah. Parole violation.

MICHAEL MILLER, 22, San Francisco/Ukiah. DUI with blood-alcohol over 0.04 while passenger is for hire, no license.

RILEY MITCHELL, 42, Comptche. Failure to appear.

TONY NELSON, 55, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

HERNAN ROJAS-PEREZ, 24, Santa Rosa/Ukiah. DUI.

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TRADE FAIR

by Paul Modic

While driving out to the May Day trade fair I was thinking that there was no one out there I was particularly interested in seeing and no one who was interested in seeing me. If either of us were, I reasoned, then we’d already be relating, hanging out some, but since I left the Gulch six years ago I’ve had little contact with anyone from there. Then again maybe I was wrong and didn’t realize that I needed the social contact I was heading toward?

Driving the winding river road I realized once again how dangerous it was, with many blind turns that I’d been slowing down for even before leaving that coastal enclave of former hippies, where I had lived starting at about twenty. (And because of Peter Pan Syndrome, caused by living in the middle of nowhere for decades, I stayed twenty until about, oh, twenty minutes ago.)

It was a dispiriting drive, or maybe I was projecting my own attitudes or anxieties, and a little like Appalachia when passing junk cars, rundown buildings in downtown Whitethorn, and even an abandoned boat by the side of the road. I saw some greenhouse scenes out the window and wondered if these were currently functioning or abandoned enterprises? So many questions.

I had my bag of tricks with me, my trade fair gifts to hand out, including back issues of my nineties zine The Gulch Mulch which were enthusiastically snapped up by old timers, newcomers, and children of the old hippies now in their forties and fifties.

What I found at the party were former weed growers struggling to make it in the post-pot reality by selling or trading their extra stuff, including home made art. I saw some of my aging peers still living out in the woods, trapped there with no obvious resources with which to move to a place in town or anywhere else, as they trudged into their eighties.

It made me think, damn, how can they still live like that, a way I lived for thirty years? Some have moved out to the now lively Shelter Cove and many have died. (I met the new owner of the land next to my old place, a nice guy from LA, and was moderately shocked that the twenty acres had recently sold for only $150K. A few other professionals and digital nomads had bought into the area recently and I thought about interviewing them, maybe doing a demographic study?)

As I entered the meadow I ran into Charley, down from his Ferndale retirement home, one who had escaped the woods with his wife. He pointed to a picnic table in the middle of the meadow and said, “There’s a bag of Dave Taylor’s ashes over there, get a bag and plant a pot plant mixed in the dirt.” (As soon as he said it I forgot, spending the next two enjoyable hours talking to people and handing out old zines.)

In my carry bag I also had some of my English-Spanish dictionaries, Mexican armadillos, and even a couple of vacuum-sealed bags of marijuana, which were impossible to give away of course, though I gave it a try.

Some people responded to my gifts with items spread out to trade on their blankets and I returned home with a cactus and a Country Joe album I didn’t need. (The cactus lady, also a KMUD dj, said with a sigh that her partner has decided to identify as “not human,” and I wondered how that worked in daily life?)

I realized that my initial surmisal, about no one being interested in me or me in them, was actually how life was when living out there all those years: We mostly had little to do with each other, after the partying seventies, except for our own tight little neighborhoods, and would meet and socialize at these community gatherings and not much more. (Well, at least that was me and my hermit life.)

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ESTHER MOBLEY: WHAT I’M READING

Italian residents are complaining on Instagram about the tourism spike resulting from the TV show “Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy,” writes Sarah Neish in the Drinks Business. One Florentine is particularly upset about the swell of visitors to “that overhyped wine window (Tucci) made so famous,” which has become “unbearable for our family” due to the trash, wine glasses and cigarettes littered around it.

U.S. senators are making noise about the Department of Energy’s canceled $75 million grant to Gallo’s glass manufacturer, which would have funded green energy projects, reports Kathleen Quinn in the Modesto Bee.

In Wine Business, Alex Koral reflects on the legacy of Granholm v. Heald on its twentieth anniversary. The Supreme Court ruling enabled direct-to-consumer wine shipping to proliferate across the U.S., but Koral argues that courts have misinterpreted it in the years since.

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HEGSETH TONIGHT

Mr. Secretary
You need a drink
And Mr. President
You need a Valium
And a brain
And then maybe we’ll all
Get through this
Somehow

— Jim Luther

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BILL KIMBERLIN: If you shook this guy's hand you got ranked. I'm pretty sure that "Gay" didn't mean what they meant then.

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SF GIANTS COACH UNDER MAJOR FAN FIRE AFTER DECISIONS BACKFIRE

The Giants have had runners easily thrown out at home plate in back-to-back losses

by Alex Simon

Matt Williams was a longtime Giants star as a third baseman in the 1990s. But that isn’t stopping the fan base from wanting him fired as the third base coach after back-to-back losses to the lowly Marlins where the Giants had a runner thrown out at home plate in each game.

On Tuesday night, the Giants were down 3-2 in the fifth inning with Rafael Devers on first with two outs when Heliot Ramos laced a double down the left field line. As left fielder Kyle Stowers fielded the ball, Williams decided to wave Devers — who is playing through a minor groin injury — home.

The Marlins relay got to the catcher before Devers even reached the dirt cutout for the home plate area, leading to an inning-ending tagout instead of giving Wilmer Flores a chance to hit with runners in scoring position. The Giants wouldn’t score again in a 4-2 loss, but after the game, Giants manager Bob Melvin defended Williams’ decision.

“You’ve got to make two perfect throws,” he said. “We’re not swinging the bats. Sometimes you’ve got to take some risks as far as sending guys. When the ball was down in the corner, I was going, ‘Send him!’ We’re trying to tie a game right there.”

Williams also defended his send to the San Francisco Chronicle: “We’ve got to try to score when we can. I made the decision — if it’s the wrong decision, it’s the wrong decision, but I made it.”

The very next night, the Giants entered the ninth inning down 4-2 again, but this time, they loaded the bases with no outs after back-to-back hit batsmen and a walk. Willy Adames nearly ended the game on a deep fly ball to left field, but the ball died a few feet short of the fence and became a sacrifice fly. Still, it gave the Giants runners on second and third with one out, down a run.

Patrick Bailey then laced a single to left field, bringing home the tying run and sending Jung Hoo Lee flying around third. Stowers once again fielded the ball cleanly and was rather shallow in left, but Williams sent Lee to the plate anyway. Stowers’ throw got to the home plate as Lee was halfway down the line, and even though the throw wasn’t close, Miami’s catcher had enough time to get back in Lee’s path and tag him out. The Giants then lined out to end the inning and gave up four runs in the top of the 10th to eventually lose, 8-5.

Almost instantaneously, all corners of the Giants internet pounced on Williams, with many calling for the team to replace him. Melvin once again defended his former Giants teammate-turned-fellow coach: “We’re trying to win a game there, and give him credit in left field. It wasn’t hit that deep, and he charged hard to get it, had to get it perfectly and make a good throw. We’re trying to win a game there.”

Of course, it’d help the third base coach if the Giants offense could actually produce more than the five hits a game it’s done in each of the past two nights. Even with Devers in town now, the Giants offense hasn’t been producing, so it’s understandable if Williams is trying to help force the issue with aggressive decisions on the basepaths.

But the past two nights have been overly aggressive and cost the Giants chances in games they lost to a National League bottom-dweller. And even being a longtime fan favorite as a player isn’t sparing Williams from the current fans calling for him to get fired.

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GIANTS EVEN THE SCORE ON HIT BATTERS, BUT MARLINS PULL AWAY TO COMPLETE SWEEP

by Susan Slusser

The San Francisco Giants got the hit-batter portion of the day over quickly enough, with Hayden Birdsong plunking Otto Lopez in the first inning and both benches immediately getting warned.

Birdsong, though, had a rough outing from that point on, and even though the Giants perked up from five runs down to tie the game in the fourth, it wasn’t enough to withstand the walks and homers Birdsong allowed in Thursday’s 12-5 loss to Miami. At the halfway point of the season, the Giants are 44-37 and a half-game out of a wild-card spot.

The Marlins are 11 games below .500 and not considered contenders, but they became the first opponent to sweep the Giants at home this year.

San Francisco had been doing a good job beating sub-.500 clubs most of the first half, entering the series 21-12 against such teams, and they now go on to Chicago to play the AL-worst White Sox. But dropping three in a row to the youngest club in the majors, at home, isn’t ideal for a team with playoff aspirations, nor is losing eight of the past 11 games overall.

“I don’t know if there’s anything to say,” shortstop Willy Adames said. “I mean, we played like crap. They played good, obviously they took advantage of it.”

While a beanball war was avoided, Wilmer Flores, usually staid, flared at Marlins reliever Cade Gibson after striking out on a checked swing in the seventh. Gibson gave a few emphatic fist pumps, and Flores appeared to take exception to something Gibson or someone from the Marlins dugout said, yelled at Gibson and took several steps toward him as Gibson was coming off the field. Both benches emptied and Adames blocked Flores’ progress as order was restored.

“You know that something happened when he gets mad,” Adames said of Flores. “So you’ve got to be there for him, because he doesn’t get mad very often.”

Flores left before speaking to reporters. Manager Bob Melvin speculated that Flores had been looking at first base umpire Carlos Torres after the checked-swing call and that Gibson had responded to that, but he wasn’t sure. First base coach Mark Hallberg also was unsure about what had happened.

Going into the day, the chatter centered around the fact that Giants batters had been hit by pitches nine times over the previous nine games, including three times Wednesday. Giants right-hander Logan Webb said after that game that the team’s pitchers needed to do a better job of protecting batters, so there was little surprise when, with two outs and the bases empty in the first, Birdsong drilled Lopez. Lopez had been enjoying a nice series, going 5-for-9 with a walk and four RBIs in the first two games.

No Giants were hit after that, especially with the benches warned — Miami manager Clayton McCullough was tossed for protesting the quick warning — but hitting Lopez didn’t pay off from a scoreboard standpoint. Agustín Ramírez followed with a double and Kyle Stowers, who played at Stanford, then walloped a three-run homer to center.

“A guy got hit, we got hit three times last night,” Melvin said. “Birdie’s command wasn’t great today, and then kind of blew up right after that for three runs. Regardless how that went down, we just didn’t respond well.”

In the third, with a man on after a walk, Ramírez smacked an 0-2 slider from Birdsong out. “Things to learn,” he said. “I’ve got to get out of the zone whenever I’ve got two strikes.”

The Giants got two back in the third on Rafael Devers’ second homer since being acquired from Boston on June 15, and Jung Hoo Lee opened the fourth with a triple off Janson Junk and scored on Adames’ single. Christian Koss and Brett Wisely supplied doubles, the second scoring both runners to knot it at 5-5.

Birdsong, facing the top of the order in the fifth, walked the first two batters and looked as if he had lost the location with his fastball, in particular.

“I don’t know what happened,” he said. “Maybe after the first walk, I was like, ‘I don’t want to get another bomb.’ It wasn’t good enough.”

Out he came, and Spencer Bivens took over and got two quick strikeouts before Eric Wagaman doubled home both runners. Connor Norby’s RBI single made it 8-5.

To recap, three of four of the men Birdsong walked scored, as did the guy he hit. He allowed a career-high-tying seven runs and has given up 17 earned runs in 24 innings this month.

Newark’s Joey Lucchesi worked two scoreless innings, allowing one walk and striking out two. Sean Hjelle gave up Xavier Edwards’ two-run double in the eighth and RBI singles by Lopez and Ramírez; San Francisco’s bullpen, which has had to throw an inordinate number of high-leverage innings all season, has allowed 16 earned runs in 24⅔ innings over the past six games.

The Giants did get good news amid the gloom of getting swept: Infielder Casey Schmitt, who needed X-rays after being hit on the hand by a pitch the night before, had a CT scan Thursday that showed no damage. He was hoping to be able to play against the White Sox in Chicago on Friday.

(SF Chronicle)

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SETBACKS FOR CALIFORNIA’S WAR ON CARBON EMISSIONS

by Dan Walters

New laws, a future Supreme Court decision and consumer hesitance are some of the obstacles California must overcome if it's going to see a carbon neutral future.

California’s self-designated deadline for achieving net zero emissions of greenhouse gases is 20 years away. But what is happening — or not happening — in multiple arenas now may determine whether that goal is met.

The largest single source of emissions is the nearly 1 billion miles that Californians drive each day. Accordingly the state has ordered that by 2035, all new cars sold must be zero-emission vehicles. However, the state has interim goals and, so far, purchases of electric vehicles are falling well short.

This year’s goal was to be 35%, but sales have been running about 10 percentage points behind, compelling the Air Resources Board to push the 2026 goal of 43% off until 2027.

Meanwhile the Republican-controlled Congress, in response to pleas from automakers, has passed and President Donald Trump has signed legislation to cancel the state’s authority to deviate from national emission standards, effectively halting the zero-emission mandate.

“We officially rescue the U.S. auto industry from destruction by terminating California’s electric vehicle mandate,” Trump said. “And they’re never coming back.”

The state is challenging the new legislation in court, leaving the issue up in the air. However, even if the state’s waiver from federal standards is reinstated, the underlying issue of persuading Californians to buy electric vehicles would remain.

“To meet the revised 2027 target, California would need to increase (zero emission vehicle) sales by about 50% from current levels — rising from approximately 23% today to 43% in less than 24 months,” Rob Lapsley, president of the California Business Roundtable, notes in a recent analysis of the situation.

Obviously, the state cannot directly force motorists to buy electric cars and trucks and can only offer subsidies or make it impossible to purchase anything other than a zero-emission vehicle. On paper, the legal onus is on automakers to meet the year-by-year goals, with hefty fines — thousands of dollars per vehicle — for falling short.

Another major front in the carbon war is the Air Resources Board’s “low carbon fuel standard” aimed at compelling refineries to lower the amount of carbon in gasoline.

While the board wanted it to take effect earlier this year, its regulations hit a snag in the Office of Administrative Law, which declared the regulations lacked the “clarity” needed to make them understood by those affected. The air board has rewritten some passages of the regulations, which are hundreds of pages long, and has indicated that they may take effect in July.

The big issue, at least to motorists, is how they will affect pump prices.

In 2023, the board estimated that adoption could immediately increase gas prices by 47 cents a gallon, and then “on average, from 2031 through 2046 the proposed amendments are projected to potentially increase the price of gasoline by $1.15 per gallon, the price of diesel by $1.50 per gallon and fossil jet fuel by $1.21 per gallon.”

The estimate generated a storm of media attention, and the board responded by refusing to put firm numbers on potential price effects, thus creating a guessing game that will end only when the mandate takes effect.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court declared last week that oil companies have the right to challenge the state’s emission regulations in court.

“The whole point of the regulations is to increase the number of electric vehicles in the new automobile market beyond what consumers would otherwise demand,” Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in the majority opinion.

“The government generally may not target a business or industry through stringent and allegedly unlawful regulation, and then evade the resulting lawsuits by claiming that the targets of its regulation should be locked out of court.”

The 7-2 decision implies that whatever else happens, the Supreme Court could have the last word, and it might not favor California.

(CalMatters.org)

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TRUMP SAYS HE’S DEPORTING ‘THE WORST OF THE WORST.’ Here’s what California ICE data really shows

Nationally, ICE arrests surged after President Donald Trump took office, though they remain far below his deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller’s goal of 3,000 arrests a day.

by Christian Leonard

A Chronicle analysis of ICE arrest data, released last week by the UC-affiliated Deportation Data Project, appears to contradict a persistent claim by the Trump administration that its efforts to deport undocumented immigrants targets “the worst of the worst.”

ICE arrested about 1,730 people in the San Francisco “area of responsibility” in just over five months from the start of 2025 to June 10, a 70% increase from the final six months of the Biden administration. The area covers a wide swath of California — Kern County and the counties north of it — as well as Hawaii, Guam and Saipan. The Chronicle’s analysis excluded arrests that occurred outside of California.

While the number of arrests of convicted criminals did grow, the number of arrests of people suspected only of immigration-related violations — or those whose charges were still pending — grew much faster. In December, about 10% of the people ICE arrested had no criminal convictions. That share jumped to nearly 30% in January, and then about 40% in May. Data from the first 10 days of June showed that more than half of the people arrested didn’t have a criminal conviction.

Those convictions ranged broadly, from homicide and sexual assault to marijuana possession and reckless driving. Being in the U.S. without legal documentation is a civil offense rather than a crime, despite Trump administration officials labeling unauthorized migrants as “criminals.” Many people arrested by ICE were in the process of seeking asylum or other relief.

While some of the people ICE arrests are allowed to avoid detention while they wait for their court date, many are booked into a detention center or deported.

National data compiled by the Transaction Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University indicates that the number of people detained by ICE — excluding those arrested by Customs and Border Protection — spiked in late January, nearly doubling from about 14,900 on January 26 to 28,900 on April 6.

The largest relative increase in detentions was also among people with no criminal convictions nationally, jumping from 900 in late January to more than 5,000 in March. The number soon surged again as ICE continued its mass deportation efforts, nearing 11,800 as of mid-June, compared to 14,500 detainees with convictions.

Nationally, ICE arrests surged after President Donald Trump took office, though they remain far below his deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller’s goal of 3,000 arrests a day. Researchers and immigration advocates previously warned that setting such a high minimum would require ICE and Customs and Border Protection to begin arresting people who aren’t suspected of the serious crimes the Trump administration said it was focusing on.

Those orders have resulted in chaotic immigration raids in Southern California, which mostly resulted in arrests of people without criminal convictions, the Los Angeles Times reported.

ICE did not respond to a request for comment.

Austin Kocher, an immigration researcher at Syracuse University, argued in a recent blog post that the Trump administration’s lofty goals may be intentionally impossible,

“The goal is not to solve a real problem, but to manufacture an ever-expanding crisis that justifies ever-expanding unregulated power,” Kocher said.

(sfchronicle.com)

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WHAT THE SHOCKING NYC MAYORAL RACE MEANS FOR TWO OF CALIFORNIA’S BIGGEST POLITICIANS

by Joe Garofoli

A Democratic Socialist winning New York’s Democratic mayoral primary doesn’t mean the Big Apple is more progressive than San Francisco. But the victory by 33-year-old Zohran Mamdani over former New York Gov. and political scion Andrew Cuomo, 67, sends a loud message that is reverberating to the West Coast: Democratic voters want candidates with a fresh voice and a more populist economic message.

That could portend bad news for former Vice President Kamala Harris, the epitome of an establishment candidate who is pondering running for California governor next year. She has said she will announce her decision before the end of the summer.

Lorena Gonzalez, president of the 2.1 million-member California Labor Federation, said Mamdani’s win taps into the same sentiments she has been hearing from focus groups the federation has been conducting with working-class voters for the past six months across California.

“It’s clear that there is a hunger for an economic message that is just not being satisfied by either party,” Gonzalez said Wednesday. “It’s time for the party to step up on economic issues.”

Ludovic Blain, executive director of the California Donor Table, an organization that has invested over $50 million in progressive candidates and ballot measures over the past two decades, said, “What we saw in New York is an echo of what’s been happening around the country, concentrated here in California.” He pointed to progressive mayors being elected in Los Angeles, Chicago and Oakland over the past two years.

While the winner of Democratic primary in deep blue New York City starts with a huge advantage, Mamdani’s road will be tougher than many previous primary winners. In the general election, he will face the incumbent, Mayor Eric Adams, running as an independent after federal corruption charges against him were dismissed at the behest of President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice. Cuomo also may run as an independent, potentially splintering the Democratic vote.

Warning signs for Harris: “The NYC mayoral election results are a bad sign for an establishment politician trying to make a comeback like Kamala Harris,” said San Francisco Democratic pollster Ben Tulchin, who has helped to elect California governors (Gray Davis and Gavin Newsom) and a New York mayor (Adams in 2021). Mamdani’s win is a “an encouraging sign for candidates focusing on pocketbook issues, such as (former Los Angeles Mayor) Antonio Villaraigosa, who has been emphasizing the high cost of groceries and gas prices.”

Harris, much like Cuomo, would enter the governor’s race with near universal name recognition, deep pockets and likely the backing of the party’s establishment. But Cuomo didn’t grow his base during the campaign while Mamdani surged.

Mamdani’s win was a rebuke of the Democratic establishment: Cuomo was backed by a record-breaking $25 million super PAC, privilege (his father, Mario Cuomo, served two terms as New York’s governor) and endorsements from the party’s elders like former President Bill Clinton. His super PAC was funded with $8.3 million from billionaire former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, $1 million from DoorDash and $500,000 from investor Bill Ackman, a Trump supporter. The message: Billionaires, Trump supporters and yesterday’s leaders are not the path to victory in a blue city in the Trump 2.0 era.

Meanwhile, candidates supported by Run for Something, which backs progressive younger candidates, have won 50 races nationwide this year.

“The next generation of leaders isn’t coming — it’s already here,” said Run for Something President Amanda Litman. “Young people have lived the consequences of the gerontocracy’s failures and are doing something about it. They’ve won elections, yes, but they’ve also won real concessions for the people they represent. Voters are hungry for change. If their leaders don’t give it to them, they’ll happily find someone else who will.”

Former Barack Obama adviser and San Francisco-based “Pod Save America” co-host Dan Pfeiffer wrote Wednesday on X: “What’s happening in NYC is a blaringly loud message to those in the Dem establishment who cling to the old politics, recite focus-grouped talking points and are too afraid to say what needs to be said. We have a lot to learn from (Mamdani’s) campaign.”

One San Franciscan bolstered by Mamdani’s win was Saikat Chakrabarti, 39, who is challenging Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, 84, for Congress in 2026. Chakrabarti, who was a founding software engineer at the tech firm Stripe, led the Justice Democrats progressive group and was chief of staff to New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. Pelosi has not announced if she is running for re-election.

“The next (Mamdani) could be (Chakrabarti) running against Nancy Pelosi,” wrote Cenk Uygur, CEO of “The Young Turks,” progressive online news show. “If he beats Pelosi, the old guard of the party will be devastated. Time for a new Democratic Party.”

Gonzalez said being a Democratic Socialist didn’t hurt Mandami, just like it hasn’t impeded Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez, who both endorsed Mandami, from drawing huge crowds across the country this year for their “Fighting Oligarchy” tour.

“Young people especially don’t care (about the socialist label). ‘They’re not buying into that in the same way that older voters have historically,’ Gonzalez said.

It’s about the economy — and joy: In a fundraising email to supporters Wednesday, the progressive Justice Democrats group praised Mamdani for campaigning “on lowering costs for New Yorkers through free buses, a rent freeze, no-cost childcare, city-owned grocery stores, taxing corporations and the 1 percent, raising the minimum wage to $30 by 2030, and more. Surprise! That’s what working people want from their leader.”

Adams previewed his general election campaign strategy Wednesday when he slammed Mamdani’s agenda Wednesday as the unrealistic promises of a “snake oil salesman” during a Fox News interview.

In an fundraising email to supporters Wednesday, Justice Democrats contrasted Mamdani with other Democrats, saying he “notably did not throw marginalized communities like trans youth, immigrants, or Palestinians under the bus like so many in the Democratic Party are so quick to do in an attempt to win elections.” Earlier this year, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said on his podcast that it was “deeply unfair” for transgender athletes to participate in girls’ sports during a podcast with conservative activist Charlie Kirk — an attempt by Newsom to try to broaden the party’s appeal by talking with conservatives, but which offended many core Democratic supporters.

Mamdani appeared as a guest on many podcasts from across the political spectrum without betraying his base.

“Enthusiasm and energy carried the day in New York,” said Graeme Joeck, director of organizing and advocacy for Abundance San Francisco, a centrist group. “What Zohran offered New Yorkers was positivity, authenticity and energy. And we Democrats are operating with quite the deficit of those characteristics at present.”

(SF Chronicle)

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LEAD STORIES, FRIDAY'S NYT

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Honey, We Shrunk the Cod

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MAGA AND THE DEVELOPERS ARE COMING FOR YOUR PUBLIC LANDS

Sen. Mike Lee slips federal land privatization provision into Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill.”

by Jonathan Thompson

Jumbo Mountain’s sandstone cliffs look out over the mesas and irrigated valleys of western Colorado’s North Fork Valley. Jumbo’s lower slopes tumble down into sage, juniper and piñon-strewn ridges and valleys — Bureau of Land Management public land that abuts residential neighborhoods in nearby Paonia, a town that runs on agriculture and, increasingly, tourism. Deer, elk, coyotes, bears and even mountain lions share this space — however grudgingly — with mountain bikers, runners, hikers, hunters and solitude-seekers taking advantage of the network of single-track trails.

This 120-acre parcel would be among the BLM land that would be available to be nominated for “disposal” under a provision in the Republicans’ “Big, Beautiful Bill” that is currently being debated in Congress. As it stands now, the provision would mandate the sale of up to about 1.9 million acres of public land over five years, theoretically for housing, and set a dangerous precedent for future privatization. The pool of eligible land is vast. A previous version included thousands of acres of remote, wilderness-quality tracts, but after a ferocious public backlash, Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee appears to have backed off. On Monday, he tweeted that the bill would propose no sales of Forest Service land, limiting sales to BLM land within five miles of “population centers.” That would include beloved local areas like the slopes of lower Jumbo — undeveloped acreage on the fringe of public-land gateway towns and cities that is of immeasurable value to the people of those communities and the wildlife they share it with.

After a smaller land sale proposal was stripped from the House version of the bill in May, Lee resuscitated the sell-offs in the Senate, in a much broader and even more destructive form. Rather than targeting specific parcels, Lee’s initial amendment would have required the secretaries of Interior and Agriculture to “select for disposal not less than 0.50 percent and not more than 0.75 percent” of BLM and National Forest System land, and “dispose of all right, title, and interest of the United States in and to those tracts selected for disposal under this section.”*

In other words, it ordered the agency to sell off between 2.2 million to 3.3 million acres of land, to be taken from a pool that The Wilderness Society estimated to be about 258 million acres(that before Lee announced the removal of Forest Service parcels.). Excluded from this would be all the public lands in Montana — likely in an attempt to guarantee support from Republican Sen. Steve Daines and Rep. Ryan Zinke while sheltering them from political blowback. Other federally protected lands, such as national monuments and conservation areas and wilderness areas, will also be exempt from sale.

Also excluded are lands “subject to existing rights,” including active, valid mining claims and oil and gas and other energy leases. An earlier version of the amendment specifically included grazing allotments in this category. But Lee’s revised version deliberately left it out, vastly enlarging the pool of available land and, apparently, clearing the way for public-land ranchers to have their allotments sold out from under them to real estate developers. Lee’s betrayal of his cowboy constituency has given new relevance to the old saying: “I’d rather see a cow than a condo.” It’s not clear how Lee’s latest update will affect grazing leases.

The amendment has spurred outrage among Westerners, along with more than a bit of confusion. In his newsletter, outdoor journalist Wes Siler reported that the bill would have “authorized” the sale of the entire 258 million-acre pool — a figure later enlarged to 295 million acres. This language was then repeated by historian Heather Cox Richardson in her widely read newsletter, giving her many readers the false impression that federal agencies would sell off nearly half of the nation’s public lands over the next five years. For now, at least, the agencies will be limited to disposing of “not more than” .75% of the public’s land — or about 1.9 million acres. Still, Siler is surely correct in saying that if this land sell-off makes it through Congress, it will open the door to future sales and mark the biggest shift in public-land management since the Federal Land Policy Management Act passed nearly 50 years ago.

In any case, rather than speculating and fretting about potential future sell-offs, or worrying about some of the more remote and rugged parcels that appeared on The Wilderness Society’s maps, public-land lovers might want to stay focused on the nearly 2 million acres that would likely hit the auction block within weeks if the bill became law.

Those tracts, according to the latest version of Lee’s amendment, “shall be used solely for the development of housing or to address associated infrastructure to support local housing needs.” The affordability of that housing, however, is not addressed; the amendment carefully avoids mentioning any such requirement. Priority would be given to tracts that are nominated for disposal by states or local governments, adjacent to existing developed areas, have access to existing infrastructure and are suitable for residential housing.

In other words, we could soon be looking at a fire sale of millions of acres of public open space on the fringes of housing-constrained amenities communities across the West. Once privatized, those spaces could be flooded with residential developments. And since no restrictions apply to the type of housing, much of that once-public land could be dotted with lone multimillion-dollar mansions and estates, surely enclosed by fences and protected by security. That won’t solve any housing crises, but it will certainly line the pockets of a chosen few real estate developers.

Lower Jumbo Mountain fits the bill perfectly, meaning that the people of Paonia might not only lose their prized trail system, but also access to any BLM lands beyond those available parcels. On either side of Moab, vast slickrock landscapes — note that wilderness study areas, or WSAs, and areas of critical environmental concern are also eligible for disposal under the amendment — could be sold off and transformed into luxury developments. Durango, Colorado’s Animas Mountain and upper Horse Gulch could go up for auction. Vast tracts of desert tortoise habitat between Las Vegas and Mesquite, Nevada, would be made available to developers of Freedom Cities. Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef and Zion national parks are all surrounded by BLM lands within several miles of population centers, meaning they could be privatized, too.

There is a certain irony here. The West’s most picturesque and therefore gentrified communities, the ones with the most intense housing affordability crises, are as desirable as they are largely because of their proximity to public lands. Lee’s effort, which purports to address this crisis, would simply take those same lands out of the public’s hands and cover them with pavement and buildings, cutting off all access to everyone else, including the myriad wildlife that call these places home. If this legislation succeeds, it won’t be long before tall fences and “NO TRESPASSING” signs pop up on many a cherished hiking trail. This isn’t just about these ecologically rich lands, but also about the communities — human and otherwise — that rely on and are nourished by them. They, too, may all soon be sacrificed to the insatiable Growth Machine.

*This is a fast-moving and constantly changing story. At about the same time Lee made his latest changes to the provision, the Senate parliamentarian ruled that the land sell-off provision and several other energy related sections of the “Big, Beautiful Bill” would be subject to a 60-vote threshold, making it more likely they would be dropped from the final legislation. Nevertheless, Lee vowed to fight on and to push the bill through in one form or another.

(High Country News)

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ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

History in schools consists of little more than learning why America sucks. I've got 2 kids in HS and one in college. The only actual history they know is from books we read together, and stories they hear from friends & family that have lived abroad. The second is that too much information for younger people comes via "influencers," people that look good on short videos. No one has the patience to listen to older people like my mom tell stories. If the message isn't short and delivered by someone super-sexy, it just won't register.

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WHAT AM I FOR?

Responding to a perturbed reader

by Matt Taibbi

From subscriber Paul Edwards:

Okay, good to lampoon foolishness, regardless of the source, and Democrats are now as soaked in bullshit and rot as Republicans, and your grandpa's half-assed socialism has failed and disgraced itself around the world, but what the fuck are you for, Taibbi? Anything? Have you become a convert to fucking vicious, evil, and stupid predatory Capitalism? Is that what you've decided is the wave of the future? It's hard to tell from your smarmy negativity.

It’s a fair question. I do a lot of ridiculing here and don’t advocate for much. But to answer seriously: it’s strange to ask if someone is a “convert” to “fucking vicious, evil, and stupid predatory capitalism,” since it presupposes I started out as something other than a capitalist, which most Americans (including those ostensibly socialist podcasters) naturally are. I’m certainly no zealot about it, but I favor free markets, because I like the idea of people starting their own restaurant or bank or rock band or whatever and being rewarded if they do a good job, a beautiful thing when it happens. I’m not in favor of big enterprises like Goldman Sachs or GM being backstopped by the government and insulated from failure when smaller companies don’t enjoy the same privilege. I don’t think everything should be private, and do favor some relief programs to take the harder edges off a free-market system, though I think those work better when they’re universally available. I think government should be small and prioritize protecting rights and freedoms over solving the world’s problems. In short I’m what used to be called a moderate, and believe society isn’t that far from being in great shape, if we could just calm down, find fixes for a problem or two, and learn to appreciate what we have. Hope that answers your question.

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QUICK DRAW

If Sheriff Kendall, with his trusty service revolver, can squeeze off 6 rounds in 60 seconds, how long would it take him to fire 3 shots?

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