A LETTER TO THE EDITOR in this week’s edition of Jim Shields’ Mendocino Observer from a writer calling himself “The Thorn, Laytonville” entitled “Yet Another of Five Stupid Mistakes Made by Mendocino County Administrators — #4” complains about the County’s failed cannabis program and its oversight or lack thereof or code enforcement and related complaints. At one point in the letter, however, Mr. Thorn claims that “back in the day a wife of a member of the DA’s office was apprehended with 165 pounds of weed in the Chicago area.”
Not exactly. The woman was the wife of colorful Ukiah-based defense attorney Bert Schlosser (who was never a member of the DA’s office), Mrs. Deborah Schlosser. She was arrested in Utah (not Chicago) in 2009 with 162 pounds of processed and bagged primo Mendo bud while driving her covered Toyota pickup to Minnesota. She got 18 months probation which irked lots of local pot growers who had been jailed for a lot less than 162 pounds of pot, especially while doing interstate transportation and presumed sale of a controlled substance. Around that time, (the late) Bert Schlosser was running for District Attorney against (now judge) Keith Faulder and (now former DA) Meredith Lintott in a special election following the death of DA Norman Vroman in 2006 at the age of 69. Schlosser got about 12% of the vote, if I recall correctly. Lintott won and served one very undistringuished four-year term and then lost to current DA David Eyster. It wasn’t that long ago, actually, but it seems like a different age entirely now. I would guess that processed bud in 2009 pre-legalization was going for maybe $2,000 a pound in those days, so 162 pounds of it could have been worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. (Mark Scaramella)
FROM THE ARCHIVE (September 2009) — Tim Lincecum Arrested For Marijuana Possession…
THE FURIES are unleashed daily.
Tim Lincecum, the Giants ace pitcher, gets stopped for speeding at Hazel Dell, Washington. His Mercedes smells like pot, and by golly Lincecum fesses right up. “And here’s the pot itself, officer.” As sports fans know, Lincecum is a little guy who maintains a retro-stoner look, circa 1975, complete with unfashionably long hair that flows to un-jock lengths down his back. If you didn’t know he was a famous ballplayer, just saw him on the street, you’d think, “There’s a toker right there.”
It’s not like drugs are unknown in sports world, they’re integral to it. We all remember that Dock Ellis pitched a no hitter on LSD, which seems to me improbable beyond all improbability, but he did. Ellis said when he saw three hitters at the plate he simply pitched to the middle one, a take off on the old joke by Babe Ruth that when he was playing drunk he swung at the ball in the center of the three coming at him. A huge fan favorite, Lincecum is smart and funny, witty even, which sets him apart in the sports world. Little kids in droves show up at the ballpark in their Lincecum jerseys with their hair growing as long as Mom will allow. Judging from the response of Giants fans to Lincecum’s pot bust — “We love him even more now” to “Maybe he should get a High Young to go with his Cy Young,” nobody cares if he smokes pot. Except for an 88-year-old grandmother who said she was so disappointed in Lincecum that she wouldn’t be going out to the ballpark with the kids again, that he should take his inescapable role model responsibilities much more seriously. When I was a kid I read every thing I could find on Babe Ruth, who sometimes played drunk, often played with serious hangovers and was known to enjoy late nights with women he wasn’t married to. The rounders I knew as a child seemed to be nicer people, more human, more understanding than, say, the school teachers and other authority figures I encountered. Role models? If a kid has to look outside his family for role models he’s already on a tough road, but holding up celebrities and athletes for kids to emulate is sad, pathetic even, and Lincecum is better than most, although he might explain to little kids that dope at an early age is a very bad thing to get into.
Here’s a sampling of Bay Area opinion on the Lincecum bust:
- “Least surprising pot bust ever.”
- “State lines are notorious speed traps. Guess TL will know that now. What I want to know is how do you drive Hwy 5 and not get high?”
- “The smells of burned and unburned weed are quite different, and easy to tell apart (even to Partnership for a Drug Free America types like some of you commenters, and especially to trained cops). There is no indication whatsoever that he was ‘tokin’,’ while driving; actually quite the opposite. He had to get from point A to point B. He had to bring his weed and pipe, they weren’t gonna get there by themselves. (Timmy: put it in the trunk next time or just buy some more when you get to Seattle, brah.) The speeding is just laughable. 74 on I-5 in a Mercedes? He must have felt like he was jogging. What a non-story all around. Do NOT apologize, Tim!”
- “The funniest thing about this is that my friends and I had nicknamed Lincecum ‘The Stoner’ for the past two years while we’ve been rooting for him. He just always looked kind of stoned when he’d go out there and take the mound, but it didn’t seem to affect his performance. Now he’s officially ‘The Stoner’.”
- “How come the story doesn’t mention the fact that Zito was in the backseat packing another bowl? You know that’s where he got it. Gooooooooooo Giants! Another playoff-less, world series championship-less season awaits you.”
- “No wonder Lincecum’s best pitch is the High Heat.”
- “It’s tragic the way drugs have stunted his career.”
- “Weed is a performance enhancing drug, for some of us lucky types who don’t vegetate while stoned. I can ride my bike better and faster and wreck less cause I’m in the zone. And when peddling up a big climb, the question is not ‘do my lungs hurt more?,’ but rather, ‘who gives a dern about this hill?’ Perhaps Lincecum CAN pitch best whilst he is baked!”
- “You’d smoke too if your win total depended on guys like Renteria, Rowand, Wynn, Garko and Ishikawa! Oh well, there goes the picture on the Wheaties box!”
- “‘It was determined he was not impaired. He was cited and released at the scene…’ Love it. Did the cops put on a catcher outfit, and ask him to throw it right down the middle? Ha ha. Those cops now have a priceless autograph.”
- “So what? How many San Franciscans, and Bay Area folk DON’T get busted? Everyone engages every so often, even if you don’t, who cares? And speeding? C’mon, kid. 74? That’s not even his slowest curve ball. Pick it up a notch.”
- “Unless you have never smoked some weed, then just shut the eff up. And if you never have, I don’t want to know you or hear from you. Timmeh just got a lot more real to all us Giants fans!”
- “I’d have to get high too if I had to play for the Giants. I guess he has to smoke dope to cope. Lemme guess: when he gets high it makes him concentrate more and makes him become a better pitcher. Wow, what genius!”
- “Maybe the Giants hitters should smoke a bowl or two.”
- “Hey Tim! Light it up at home, in private! Didn’t you learn anything from Michael Phelps?! Regarding this affecting his contract negotiations, Uh, nope not this guy and not in SF!”
- “There is an old formula that says ‘If A equals B and B equals C than A equals C.’ If Tim is one of, if not the best, pitchers in baseball and he smokes some pot, than give some to the whole darned team. Maybe a World Series will be the result.”
- “Well, as far as I’m concerned…. We should… there should be… um… What were we talking about again????”
- “Oh no, a baseball player with drugs! Amazing. I am shocked, not a major leaguer. (Insert sarcastic facial expression here)”
- “Rather than rat out his dealer, I hope he had the presence of mind to say, ‘I bought it off a guy in Golden Gate Park.’ That’s what every conscientious grass smoker did when I was a kid.”
- “See, it’s just like what they used to tell us kids: Smoke pot and you’ll never amount to anything in life.”
- “A budding superstar!”
MAZIE & MATT TALK ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH RESPONSES
Mazie Malone
For Sheriff Kendall,
I am curious what you think about the suggested new education requirements for law enforcement? Also the article stated that the police recruiting crisis is a myth. Do you disagree with that statement?
Also remember a few years back when Riley Hsieh went missing? Right before that happened officials made mandatory training for all County employees to be educated in DEI; it was supposed to be ongoing and tracked and reviewed. Curious if that is happening because I have yet to see any information that it is continuing.
DEI ongoing education would solve some of the issues faced by the public through police interactions.
Law Enforcement may not be Mental Health Workers but you are often the first line of intervention so being aware and knowledgeable is key in discerning proper action to take.
Sheriff Matt Kendall
There’s a lot to unpack here.
I have always been a proponent of more training for law enforcement personnel. I just want it to be regarding what law enforcement should be doing. That being said the state can easily extend the hours of police academies to include more in-depth training for various topics.
Many of the changes in law enforcement are largely due to the state wanting law enforcement officers to take on roles which don’t belong to them. Which is in direct conflict with what the courts are saying.
Specifically, a Ninth Circuit ruling has impacted how qualified immunity applies to officers responding to non-criminal mental health calls. The court’s decision suggests that officers won’t have qualified immunity if they use force in these situations, as it might be viewed as outside their scope of duties typically covered by such protections.
This case decision caused some law enforcement agencies to have concerns and they have reconsidered their response policies for mental health calls that don’t involve criminal activity.
For example, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office announced they would no longer respond to such calls unless a crime had occurred or someone other than the person in crisis was deemed to be in imminent danger
My father was a fireman and before that he was a soldier. He and I had a discussion about roles and duties. When you’re a fireman you put out fires, or train to put out fires or care for the equipment used to put out fires. That makes life much simpler. Many folks will say they have a duty to respond to vehicle accidents and provide basic life support care as well. That is an optional response for firefighters.
Law enforcement is being asked to take on roles which were never intended for law enforcement officers. We aren’t counselors or clinicians or mental health specialists. The court decisions regarding these roles are based on the belief that law enforcement should be investigating crime and enforcing the laws; they have been clear. When we arrive on scene we need stay within our lane which has been set for us. And if the call we receive isn’t criminal, we shouldn’t be going. That’s the direction of several court decisions, but law enforcement has remained the easy button for many things.
I hope that answers some of your questions. Hang in there and I hope you have a great summer!!
Mazie Malone
Thanks Sheriff,
I have to be honest, you didn’t actually answer my original questions.
Do you believe the police recruiting crisis is a myth, as mentioned in the article?
Is the DEI training that was implemented before Riley Hsieh’s disappearance still happening? Is it ongoing and being tracked as intended?
I do appreciate the broader context you provided about qualified immunity and the scope of law enforcement roles, but those weren’t the questions I had asked. My concern is about accountability and appropriate interventions.
You said, “We aren’t counselors or clinicians or mental health specialists,” which I understand. But when your agency is the first response when someone is in a serious mental health crisis, training, compassion, and consistency are necessary.
As a side note an interaction, an intervention, a transport to the hospital to have psych eval by no means makes LE the Mental Health Experts in charge.
That narrative has not budged probably never will. Imagine saying we are part of the solution instead of, Nope not our job, not qualified to do it.
I’m asking these questions as someone who has had to live through the disparity in how these situations are handled; this is not just theoretical to me. It’s deeply personal.
Sheriff Kendall
Ok Mazie lots to unpack again. And I am not sure exactly what it is you’re asking.
Not certain on the question of DEI but… I have officers scheduled for the CIT [Crisis Intervention Team] international training this year and we complete the MCIT training in Mendocino County as well.
Law enforcement recruitment issues are not a myth. I can tell you when I was young (long time ago, and I know we are the same age but you’re holding up better) we would have 50 qualified applicants for one job opening. Now we have 5 and most won’t pass the background.
The courts have clearly weighed in on “That is not the job of law enforcement” to the point that officers can be personally sued for actions on non-criminal calls. That was a very clear statement from the court of appeals. Therefore, many law enforcement agencies just won’t respond to non-criminal calls, (mental health issues absent a crime) that is simply the outcome of many court decisions which have created case law.
I believe in caring compassionate interventions, but the job is to investigated crime and enforce the law. Our responses to MH are with Mental Health professionals whenever possible, as our job in that case is to protect the mental health professionals and not do their jobs. With the new case law even that is a slippery slope.
Firefighters respond to a lot of calls. At times people perish in fires and that is a sad reality. If a fireman could be jailed or sued and lose their livelihood over a house burning to the ground or a person losing their life to smoke exposure, I’m certain there would be a lot less firefighters applying for jobs in the fire service. Would that cause a recruiting problem for the fire service? I think there’s a good possibility it would.
We are humans and therefore we are flawed imperfect beings, that doesn’t mean we don’t try.
Many times assistance is offered and turned down by those suffering and in need. That SUCKS for everyone, for sure. But it doesn’t make the person offering the service guilty of something, it’s just a crummy situation. Sometimes it leaves us shaking our fist at the Almighty because that’s all we can do and there certainly isn’t much satisfaction in that.
Mazie
Oh yes, lots to unpack. I’ve been doing it for five years. Sometimes my brain wants to burst with all these puzzles and conundrums. Seriously though, these issues run deep, and our response to them is deeply flawed for many reasons.
What I was specifically asking, in regards to the article on education for law enforcement, was what you thought of it. You’re right, though — it was a loaded question because I threw DEI into the mix: diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Here’s the thing, I don’t necessarily believe police officers need a college degree to do police work. (Maybe a psych evaluation… but not a degree. Just kidding. Kinda.
But DEI training? That’s different. That’s something that could and should be implemented. It helps officers understand real-world circumstances better, especially when dealing with people in crisis or on the margins.
And I’m going to say what no one else will: I know the only reason the response for missing Riley Hsieh was so swift and profound was because the county had just implemented DEI training a week or so earlier. As much as that’s wonderful, it’s also disgraceful. Why? Because not everyone gets that kind of response.
And here’s the part that gets me: Riley is the exact same age as my son. All I ever heard was: No. We can’t help you.
Now about officers being sued for responding to non-criminal calls: how likely is that, really?
As for the staffing shortages, I hear you. You answered that well.
But for me? It’s not about trying. That’s for the birds. It’s about doing what’s right!
Ahhh yes — the narrative that “We offered, but they refused.” Did they? What was actually offered? And more importantly what was understood about the needs of those people?
If you offer someone food, shelter, or a safe place to rest would they really refuse?
I have a well mind. If you offered me something unnecessary to my immediate survival, I’d probably decline too.
All that said, I am grateful for you. You always step up, and I do appreciate that.
WELCOME TO THE DARK SIDE of the Hamptons, where too much is never enough. America’s wealthiest, unhappiest people congregate here every summer, solely to compete for A-list party invites, the best tables at the most exclusive restaurants, the last $100 pound of fresh lobster, and the chance to splash their vacuous, conspicuous consumption all over social media. The unspoken question: Don’t you wish you were me? As a Hamptons local, trust me: You don’t. No one does. No one sane, anyway.
— Maureen Callahan
SUPERVISOR MAUREEN MULHEREN (Facebook):
“A big thank you to our outgoing Mendocino County Civil Grand Jury Foreperson for their dedication and service this past year. I’d like to also extend a warm welcome to the incoming Foreperson as the new term begins.
The Civil Grand Jury plays a vital role in promoting transparency, accountability, and good governance by investigating local government operations and making recommendations that benefit our entire community.
We appreciate the commitment of these volunteers who help strengthen public trust and ensure taxpayer dollars are used wisely."
Mark Scaramella Notes: Supervisor Mulheren forgot to thank the Grand Jury for not looking at the Supervisors, the CEO, the Cubbison fiasco, the cannabis program, the ill-advised consolidation of the Auditor and Treasurer offices, former Supervisor Glenn McGourty’s obvious conflict of interest (too late now), the amount of money spent on high-priced San Francisco lawyers, the tax sharing agreement with the cities, failure to collect taxes due, the multitude of unmonitored slush funds including the Teeter Plan, Asset Forfeiture Fund, the Mental Health Fund, the Measure B fund, and the Road fund, the failure to honor most publicly voted-in measures, especially Measure B… Something tells us that if the Grand Jury had looked at any of these obvious and well-documented fiascos and failures, Supervisor Mulheren wouldn’t be quite as thankful. Unfortunately, the Grand Jury made it clear back in April when they were impaneled that they were Official Nice People who look the other way when it comes to top County officials and are happy to be glad-handed by the oh-so friendly and cozy Board of Supervisors — and Judge Moorman.
ERIC ENRIQUEZ (formerly of Ukiah, registered Pomo):
Did I ever tell you about the time that we got to go home early from school because Reagan had been shot at the Hilton in DC? My Mom and Grandma had been shopping in Santa Rosa or something and returned to find me home and giddy with the news. Grandma Dot told me never to laugh at a tragedy befalling a US President. She also believed in the BS spewed by Jimmy Swaggart and Oral Roberts. I gave it a shot. I completed a bible school via mail and spent a lot of time in my Bible Concordance.
I loved her very much, but our elders were frequently very damaged by our culture. Vote out the old Democrats, y’all… They broken.
JEFFREY ST. CLAIR: Yes, Zohran Mamdani was only seven when he was “permitted in” and apparently, as much as his parents tried to gag their precocious child, they couldn’t stop him from reciting “The 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte” from memory during his immigration interview, but at the end of the day the CBP agent decided that what he heard made a lot of sense and let the pipsqueak revolutionary in…
In one of his books, Zohran’s father, the acclaimed political scientist Mahmoud Mamdani, described how his own introduction to Marx came courtesy of the FBI, during his interrogation after being arrested at a SNCC civil rights protest in Selma, Alabama…
“They wanted to know who had influenced me. After one hour of probing, the guy said, ‘Do you like Marx?’
I said, ‘I haven’t met him.’
Guy said, ‘No, no, he’s dead.’
‘Wow, what happened?’
‘No, no, he died long ago.’
I thought the guy Marx had just died. So then, “Why are you asking me if he died long ago?”
‘No, he wrote a lot. He wrote that poor people should not be poor.’
I said, ‘Sounds amazing.’
I’m giving you a sense of how naive I was. After they left, I went to the library to look for Marx. So that was my introduction to Karl Marx.”
JEFFREY ST. CLAIR: When asked at the Alligator Auschwitz press conference on July 1, if there was an expected timeline for how long detainees would be kept in the concentration camp in the Everglades swamp, “Would it be days, weeks, months?” Trump rambled on incoherently about how long he will stay in Florida:
“In Florida? I’m going to spend a lot in my home state. I love it. I love your government. I love all of the people around. These are all friends of mine. They know them very well. I’m not surprised that they do so well. These are great people. Ron has been a friend of mine for a long time. I feel very comfortable in the state. I will spend a lot of time here. I want to, you know, for four years I’ve got to be in Washington. And I’m okay with it because I love the White House. I even fixed up the little Oval Office. I think it’s like a diamond. It’s beautiful. So beautiful. Wasn’t maintained properly. I will tell you that. But even when it wasn’t, it’s still the Oval Office, so it meant a lot. But I’ll spend as much time as I can. You know, my vacation is generally here because it’s convenient. I live in Palm Beach. It’s my home. And I have a very nice little place with a nice little cottage to stay. All right? But we have a lot of fun. And I’m a big contributor to Florida and pay a lot of tax. And a lot of people move from New York and I don’t know what New York is going to do. A lot of people move to Florida from New York, and it’s for a lot of reasons, but one of them is taxes. The taxes are so high in New York, they’ll leave. I don’t know what New York is going to do about that, because some of the biggest and wealthiest people, and some of the people who pay the most taxes of any people in the world, for that matter. They’re moving to Florida and other places. So we’re going to have to help some of these states out, I think. But thank you very much! I’ll be here as much as I can. Very nice question.”
A READER WRITES:
I asked Google AI search, “Why do the network news shows cover the same stories?”
Google AI replied: “Network news shows often cover the same stories due to a combination of factors, including media consolidation, shared content, and the desire to maximize viewership and revenue. When major events occur, many news outlets will report on them, leading to a perception of duplication.”
“A perception of duplication”? “Shared content”? “Consolidation”? “Maximize revenue”? In other words, they’re all just one news monopoly but with different branches and names with making money as their prime purpose. Kind of like the political parties.
FROM THE ARCHIVE: WI TO LO
REMEMBER WHEN that Asiana Airlines plane belly-flop landed on approach at SFO in the summer of 2013, inspiring one of the most memorable all-time media pranks? Tori Campbell, a long-time newsreader at KTVU, went live at noon to announce the names of the Asiana pilots at the controls of Flight 214 as “Captain Sum Ting Wong; Wi Tu Lo; Ho Lee Fuk; and Bang Ding Ow.”
MS. CAMPBELL, even as she plowed phonetically on through the joke roster, remained oblivious that she and the station had been pranked. They thought they had a scoop and, as it turned out, they did — after a fashion.
WHAT SEEMS to have happened was that KTVU received a call from a man — probably a man, this being a white guy kind of gag — alerting the station that he had the names of the pilots. The station duly called the National Transportation Safety Board where an “intern” confirmed that the joke names were indeed the true names of the pilots, which means not only had KTVU been pranked so had the NTSB intern, with Ms. Campbell as the fall guy (sic).
AS THE JOKE went viral and a global laugh went up, we all wondered why nobody at KTVU caught it before the uncomprehending Ms. Campbell ran with it on the air.
MS. CAMPBELL soon issued an on-air statement that the names were wrong, but laying off KTVU’s gaffe on the “intern” at NTSB, who has remained unidentified but was “fired” as everyone ran for cover while shoving whatever scapegoats they could find into the breech. The names, Ms. Campbell sort of apologized, were “inaccurate and offensive” and had been “mistakenly confirmed” by the NTSB.
THE NTSB announced that “the intern had acted outside his authority” but had been “trying to be helpful.” I like to think he was a young person who instantly seized upon the amazing sab-op he’d been presented with when KTVU called for confirmation, perhaps thinking to himself, “If these idiots believe these are the names of the pilots, who am I to get in the way of American media?” (Whoever and wherever you are, kid, we salute you!)
ADDING to the global hilarity, KTVU had just been promoting itself as “being first on air and on every platform in all aspects of our coverage (of the crash at SFO) was a great accomplishment, but being 100 percent accurate, effectively using our great sources and social media without putting a single piece of erroneous information on the air, is what we are most proud of as a newsroom.”
ADMIT IT, YOU LAUGHED. I did, my wife did too, and she’s Chinese. “Captain Sum Ting Wong; Wi Tu Lo; Ho Lee Fuk; and Bang Ding Ow.”
BEFORE YOU DENOUNCE ME as a racist dog-pig, please read Freud’s essay on jokes. All kinds of “inappropriate” material can be converted to humor, and one man’s funny has always been another man’s insult.
ON THE OTHER HAND, was that a Chicago newspaper whose headline read, “Fright 214”? The joke was supposed to be the perceived Asian inability to pronounce “L.” Ho hum. That one’s been done to death, and wildly unfunny in the context.
A READER NOTED: “The thirteen year-old in me loved the sum ting wong prank. I watched a youtube of the newscaster reading the names, and when she paused at ‘fuk,’ and then mispronounced it, it seemed like some part of her was catching on to the game. The problem was most of her was still too busy being a very serious person (which prevents one from being actually real and alive). After she dutifully read through the prank names she said something remarkably stupid, to the effect of: ‘we’re on the case to find out what role each pilot had in this event.’ Talk about not getting it! And now we hear that Asiana will sue, which makes perfect sense in a world where name-calling and ‘insensitivity’ has become the worst possible crime.”
PS. A couple of days later, Asiaia Airlines withdrew their suit against KTVU.
QUOTE OF THE YEAR:
“For nearly four years you have had an Administration which instead of twirling its thumbs has rolled up its sleeves. We will keep our sleeves rolled up. We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace — business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering. They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob. Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me — and I welcome their hatred. I should like to have it said of my first Administration that in it the forces of selfishness and of lust for power met their match. I should like to have it said of my second Administration that in it these forces met their master.” — Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1936
SUPERVISOR JOHN HASCHAK:
When the board voted 4-1 (with me as the dissenting vote) to approve the Master Tax Sharing Agreement with the cities of Mendocino County, it was said at the time that it would be a big hit on the county’s budget. Since then, the City of Ukiah has been pursuing the annexation of large parts mostly north, south, and east of the city limits. The board again discussed the agreement and proposal on June 24, considering the pros and cons of this annexation. Mostly the pros are for the City of Ukiah, and the cons are for the county. The public was overwhelmingly against the proposal. The board was very skeptical of Ukiah’s plans. Two members of the Ukiah City Council said that they would go back and reconsider the proposal’s size and scope. They need to do that.
DOWNTOWN UKIAH EVACUATED AFTER CONTRACTOR STRIKES GAS MAIN
For the second time in four days, emergency personnel responded to a major gas leak in downtown Ukiah, prompting evacuations and road closures on Monday afternoon. This latest incident was reported at approximately 1:52 p.m. on Monday, July 14, when a construction crew struck a six-inch gas main while grading the roadway near North Main and Smith streets.
Ukiah Police and Fire, along with PG&E, initiated evacuations spanning several blocks, including the 100–300 blocks of North Main Street and portions of South Main, extending from Norton to Perkins streets and from State Street to Main. The evacuation zone expanded over the next hour, with officials requesting assistance clearing apartment buildings and businesses along Main and Standley streets.
PG&E spokesperson Megan McFarland confirmed the leak and stated that a third-party contractor, Ghilotti Construction, was responsible for striking the gas line while performing road work in the area. “It is a complicated repair,” McFarland said around 4:30 p.m. “We’re bringing in extra resources. It will be a couple of hours at least.” She explained that crews need to dig up three separate isolation points to shut off the flow and safely begin repairs.
A City of Ukiah representative said evacuations are currently expected to remain in place until 10 p.m. tonight, though that timeline may change. Residents are encouraged to follow the City of Ukiah Facebook page for real-time updates. An evacuation center has been established at the Ukiah Valley Conference Center, 200 South School Street, offering cooling, water, restrooms, and Wi-Fi for those affected.
This follows a similar incident on Friday, July 11, when Ghilotti reportedly struck a smaller two-inch line near the Mendocino County Library. That leak was resolved quickly, but it required evacuations and temporarily closed the library.
Residents are asked to avoid the area while emergency personnel and utility workers continue to secure the scene and begin the repair process.
Evacuation orders were lifted at 7:58 p.m.
On Line Comments
- Time to get real contractors
- Maybe quit taking the lowest bid from Ghilotti. They seem to have a hard time doing good work, as other streets they’ve done break down quick. It’s a hot day and I can’t imagine how disruptive this is to businesses in the evacuated area.
- Most likely inadaquate marking by utility co. Nobody wants to hit a gas main.
- City of Ukiah: “These gas lines that were hit, both today and last Friday, were unmarked/unknown to PG&E. We are coordinating with PG&E to avoid additional mishaps as this project continues.”
- Neener, neener, Told you so!
- Ghilotti has been around since 1914. There are lots of laws to cover this sort of excavation, pretty sure that they ‘called ahead’ and and probably there were lots of surveys and markings conducted. I am also pretty sure that the underground location of the gas mains was er… ‘poorly known’. Somebody, somewhere is ‘on the carpet’ to explain what happened. They may need (and probably will) to go to an alternative excavation method. Probably Vacuum Trucks. Expensive to do for a large excavation. But given the double gas line contacts… probably worth it.
- “Call before you dig” ?
- Time for the city to stop contracting with a crap company, instead of being short-sighted.
- I don’t mean to be petty, however, the photo is a water main. Any contractor would know that. Many lines are not color coded. However if any line is identified by color it will be identified by a standard color code.
- Yellow: Indicates gas, oil, steam, petroleum, or other flammable or gaseous materials. Red: Indicates electric power lines, cables, conduit, and lighting cables. Orange: Indicates communication lines, including telephone, cable, and fiber optic lines. Blue: Indicates potable (drinking) water. Green: Indicates sewer and drain lines. Purple: Indicates reclaimed water, irrigation, and slurry lines. These color codes are used by utility companies and construction crews to identify underground utilities and ensure safety during excavation and other work.
- Twice? Time to hire a different contractor.
- Spot on. Don’t give them a third chance to blow up Ukiah…
- But think of all the jobs rebuilding it. And it will certainly look better… Disclaimer: I have spent many hours in Ukiah not really enjoying that place…or its people
- Jumping to conclusions does absolutely no good and is often wrong, such as this case. PG&E who owns and utilizes the gas mains in BOTH incidences did not mark nor even know the lines were there. Fault lies with PG&E not the contractor.
- I want to know when people are going to wake up and start holding PG&E accountable for their negligence?
- Pffft. When you are a monopoly, and own the board that is supposed to hold you accountable (and keep rates affordable for the public), you can get away with just about anything. Remember the San Bruno gas explosions?
ON LINE COMMENTS OF THE WEEK
[1] You might get hauled off by ICE today for having a funny sounding name. Perhaps not. Bou may leave your shoes on now while going through airport security. And what if I have a funny sounding name and I like to go barefoot; or worse, what if I like to wear huaraches?
[2] Kakistocracy Government by the worst, least qualified, and most unscrupulous people. Well done, voters.
[3] For decades, the lots at the end of my parents’ neighborhood sat empty and unsold, because just beyond them is a slow-moving but wide river that swells and overflows during big rainstorms. But people eventually bought those lots, and built large homes on them. Now that there is a “100 year flood” every few years, those homes have flooded, again and again. I’ve never understood the communities on the banks of the Mississippi River that rebuild after storms wipe them out, over and over and over.
[4] SNAP (formerly food stamps) has been cut to the bone. As a senior full-time spousal caregiver and elderly disabled wife, our SNAP has been cut to $23.00 a month for both of us -- and grocery prices are high. Those groceries will likely become scarcer and more expensive due to ICE raids and the disappearing of agriculture and food processing workers. Our Medicaid will be next now that Trump’s big ugly bill has passed. Trump’s malign reign of vengeance is an assault on working people, seniors, minorities, children and the most vulnerable as well as hard-working immigrants, refugees, and any who dare to speak out. This is a national security issue and must be brought to an end.
[5] I believe Trump thinks he has things well in hand… he just doesn't know which hand or how many hands he has. Old boy is confused and it becomes more apparent every day.
[6] LAYTONVILLIAN: Highway 101 was known colloquially as The Gauntlet. It was a numbers game; you pull over enough cars heading south and you’re bound to come across some pounds. This was before licensed distros; it was all medicine and the providers (in the hills around here) had to get it to the patients (many of them in the Bay Area and Southern California). Lots of ten packs in trucks whose drivers had desperately tried to wash the mud off of were passing through Sonoma County at any given time. There will forever be something very comforting to me about hitting the Mendocino County line on my way back north. Like a zone of protection. Or a Pirate Bay. LOL.
[7] MAMDANI, an on-line comment:
Exactly what’s so frightening to Americans or New Yorkers or the elites (who never ride the buses or take the subways) that would make buses free and child care free? For a city that’s rapacious to a fault and thrives on crimson capitalism, is it anathema to bring in a little humaneness to the have-nots? Those (newspapers) who decry the current incumbent of the white house and devote columns and op-eds and main page real estate to decry the current administration policies as too radical actually think free bus rides and protections for the poorest is frightful? What am I not getting? Have they visited countries like Sweden, Germany and Italy? Socialist Democracies all. With high per capita incomes. Have they not thrived and are sought after by refugees? So, if you can actually in your mind accepted a man like RFK Jr to be your health secretary, then this Mamdani guy is a centrist politician by comparison, not a leftie.
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